Scottish Money Lender

George Heriot, an Edinburgh jeweller and money lender, of the seventeenth century, visited the Royal apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, and found King James the Sixth basking before a fire of exotic perfumed wood from the Orient.
"Your Majesty, if you will step along to my shop, I will show you an even more costly flame," said Heriot. The King made his way to Heriot's tiny shop and found an unspectacular fire in the grate. Then the jeweller took from his pocket an I0U note from the King for two thousand pounds, casually tossed it on to the fire, and asked:
"Now, sire, is Your Majesty's fire or mine the more expensive one?"