In foreign bills, the term “usance” is sometimes employed to express the period of running in foreign bills. It means a certain time fixed by custom, as between any two places. An usance between this kingdom and Rotterdam, Hamburg, Altona, or Paris, or any place in France, is _one_ calendar month from the date of the bill; an usance between us and Cadiz, Madrid or Bilboa, _two_; an usance between us and Leghorn, Genoa, or Venice, _three_.] FOOTNOTES [499] Disp. i. quæst. 4. n. 23. [500] Consil. 348. [501] Memorias Historicas sobre la Marina Commercio, etc. de Barcelona, por D. Ant. de Capmany. Madrid, 1779, 2 vols. 4to. The following important articles will be found in this work:--A custom-house tariff, written in Latin, of the year 1221, in which occur a great number of remarkable names and articles of merchandise not explained. Another of the like kind, of the year 1252. Letters of power to appoint consuls in distant countries, such as Syria, Egypt, &c., dated in the years 1266, 1268, and 1321. An ordinance of the year 1458, respecting insurance, which required that under-writing should be done in the presence of a notary, and declared _polices o scriptures privades_ to be null and void. A _privilegium_ of the emperor Andronicus II. to the merchants of Barcelona, written in Greek and Spanish, in 1290. Account of the oldest Spanish trade with wool, silk, salt, and saffron; and of the oldest guilds or incorporated societies of tradesmen at Barcelona, &c. [502] Vol. ii. p. 382. TIN. TINNING. It is generally believed that the metal called at present tin was known and employed in the arts, not only in the time of Pliny, but as early as that of Herodotus, Homer, and Moses. This I will not venture to deny; but I can only admit that it is probable, or that the great antiquity of this metal cannot be so fully proved as that of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and quicksilver. Tin is one of those minerals which hitherto have been found in quantity only in a few countries, none of which ever belonged to the Greeks or the Romans[503], or were visited, at an early period, by their merchants. As it never occurs in a native state[504], the discovery of it supposes some accident more extraordinary than that of those metals which are commonly, or at any rate, often found native. I cannot, however, attach much importance to this circumstance, as the ancients became acquainted with iron at an early period, though not so early as with copper. I must also admit that tin might have been more easily discovered, because it is frequently found near the surface of the earth; does not require a strong heat or artificial apparatus for fusing it, and therefore can be more easily won than copper.