at least quadruple of what should naturally circulate in such a petty state; and yet no one who travels into the Pais de Vaux, or any part of that canton, observes any want of money more than could be supposed in a country of that extent, soil, and situation. On the contrary, there are scarce any inland provinces in the countries of France or Germany where the inhabitants are at this time so opulent, though that canton has vastly increased its treasure since 1714, the time when Stanyan wrote his judicious account of Switzerland.21
The account given by Appian of the treasure of the Ptolemies is so prodigious that one cannot admit of it, and so much the less because the historian says the other successors of Alexander were all so frugal, and had many of them treasures not much inferior; for this saving humour of the neighbouring princes must necessarily have checked the frugality of the Egyptian monarchs, according to the foregoing theory. The sum he mentions is 740,000 talents, or £191,166,666 13s. 4d., according to Dr. Arbuthnot’s computation; and yet Appian says that he extracted his account from the public records, and he was himself a native of Alexandria.