Puffendorf, whose treatise on the “Laws of Nature and of Nations,” was published in England in 1710, says: “The arguments which are brought against Usury are easily answered. It is urged that the loan of a consumable commodity ought to be given gratis, because the loan of all other things is so. But I answer that I have the power of granting the use of my goods that are not consumable either gratis, or for rent: whereof, the one is a _loan_, the other a _letting_. So what should hinder me from granting the use of my money also, either gratis, or for a certain recompense? When one man borrows to increase his wealth, or improve his condition, why should another lend to him for nothing? Nay, ’tis an unreasonable thing, when you vastly improve your fortune with my money, not to admit me to some share of the gain. For I, in the meantime, am debarred from making that advantage which I might have otherwise expected, by applying it to my own use. Besides, I have parted with something valuable, which ought therefore to be considered: for in lieu of my money, I have only an action against your person, which cannot be prosecuted without some trouble. It may also happen by some accident that the debt may be lost. Nay, sometimes the debtor must be courted and caressed, that it be not lost. And some borrow on purpose to make their creditors dependent on them. As, the Marechal de Rochelause, when he was taxed by Louis XIII. with taking part with the Duke of Mayenne, pleaded in excuse, that he did not follow the Duke, but his money: for his debt would be in a desperate condition if he did not stick close to his debtor. “Besides, it is not seldom that we lend to persons who are utterly unable to pay; and therefore some are of the opinion that it would be for the advantage of the public, to allow none but merchants to take up money at use; for this would make the poor industrious, and force them to frugality, who, some of them, are not afraid to pay Interest for money to maintain their extravagancies. And monied men, rather than let their money lie dead, would either take to merchandise themselves or would put out their money to those who do: which would make trade flourish to the great benefit of the commonwealth. Grotius is of the opinion, “that the legal interest ought to be stated, not according to the gains of the borrower, but the loss that thereby accrues to the lender: as in buying and selling, and other contracts, no regard is had to what the receiver may make of the commodity, but what goes away from the seller.”