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ing the public neceffities. But when the riches are difperfed among multitudes, the burthen feels light on every shoulder, and the taxes make not a very fenfible difference on any one's way of living.

ADD to this, that where the riches are in few hands, these must enjoy all the power, and will readily confpire to lay the whole burthen on the poor, and oppress them ftill farther, to the difcouragement of all industry.

In this circumstance confifts the great advantage of ENGLAND above any nation at present in the world, or that appears in the records of any ftory. 'Tis true, the ENGLISH feel fome disadvantages in foreign trade by the high price of labor, which is in part the effect of the riches of their artifans, as well as of the plenty of money: But as foreign trade is not the moft material circumftance, 'tis not to be put in competition with the happiness of so many millions. And if there were no more to endear to them that free government under which they live, this alone were fufficient. The poverty of the common people is a natural, if not an infallible effect of abfolute monarchy; tho' I doubt, whether it be always true, on the other hand, that their riches are an infallible refult of liberty. Liberty must be attended with particular accidents, and a certain turn of thinking, in order to produce that effect. Lord BACON, accounting for the great advantages obtained by the ENGLISH in their wars with FRANCE, afcribes them chiefly to the fuperior eafe and plenty of the common people amongst the former; yet the governments of the two kingdoms were, at that time, pretty much alike. Where the laborers and artifans are accustomed to work for low wages, and to retain but a small part of the fruits of their labor, 'tis difficult for them, even in a free government, to better their condition, or confpire among themselves to heighten their wages. But even where they are accustomed to a more plentiful way of life, 'tis easy for the rich, in a defpotic government, to confpire against them, and throw the whole. burthen of the taxes on their fhoulders.

Ir may feem an odd pofition, that the poverty of the common people in FRANCE, ITALY, and SPAIN, is, in fome meafure, owing to the fuperior riches of the foil and happiness of the climate; and yet there want not many reasons to juftify this paradox, In fuch a fine mold or foil as that of those more fouthern regions, agriculture is an easy art; and one man, with a couple of forry horses, will be able, in a feafon, to cultivate as much land as will pay a pretty confiderable rent to the proprietor. All the art, which the farmer knows, is to leave his ground fallow for a year, fo foon as it is exhaufted; and the warmth of the fun alone and temperature of the climate enrich it, and reftore its fertility. Such poor peafants, therefore, require only a fimple maintenance for their labor. They have no ftock nor riches, which claim more; and at the fame time, they are for ever dependant on their landlord, who gives no leafes, nor fears that his land will be fpoiled by the ill methods of cultivation. In ENGLAND, the land is rich, but coarfe; muft be cultivated at a great expence; and produces flender crops, when not carefully managed, and by a method which gives not the full profit but in a course of several years. A fariner, therefore, in ENGLAND must have a confiderable ftock and a long leafe; which beget proportional profits. The fine vineyards of CHAMPAGNE and BURGUNDY, that oft yield to the landlord above five pounds per acre, are cultivated by peasants, who have fcarce bread: And the reafon is, that fuch peasants need no ftock but their own limbs, with inftruments

of husbandry, which they can buy for twenty fhillings. The farmers are commonly in fome better circumstances in thofe countries. But the grafiers are most at their ease of all thofe who cultivate the land. The reafon is ftill the fame. Men must have profits proportionable to their expence and hazard. Where fo confiderable a number of the laboring poor as the peasants and farmers, are in very low circumstances, all the reft muft partake of their poverty, whether the government of that nation be monarchical or republican.

We may form a fimilar remark with regard to the general history of mankind. What is the reafon, why no people living betwixt the tropics could ever yet attain to any art or civility, or reach even any police in their government, and any military difcipline; while few nations in the temperate climates have been altogether deprived of these advantages? 'Tis probable, that one caufe of this phænomenon is the warmth and equality of weather in the torrid zone, which render cloaths and houses lefs requifite for the inhabitants, and thereby remove, in part, that neceffity, which is the great fpur to industry and invention. Curis acuens mortalia corda. Not to mention, that the fewer goods or poffeffions of this kind any people enjoy, the fewer quarrels are likely to arife amongst them, and the less neceffity will there be for a fettled police or regular authority to protect and defend them from foreign enemies, or from each other.

UXURY is a word of a very uncertain fignification, and may be taken in a good as well as a bad fenfe. In general, it means great refinement in the gratification of the fenfes; and any degree of it may be innocent or blameable, according to the age, or country, or condition of the perfon. The bounds between the virtue and the vice cannot here be fixed exactly, more than in other moral fubjects. To imagine, that the gratifying any of the fenfes, or the indulging any delicacy in meats, drinks, or apparel, is of itfelf a vice, can never enter into a head, that is not difordered by the frenzies of enthufiafm. I have, indeed, heard of a monk abroad, who, because the windows of his cell opened. upon a very noble profpect, made a covenant with his eyes never to turn that way, or receive fo fenfual a gratification. And fuch is the crime of drinking CHAMPAGNE OF BURGUNDY, preferably to fmall beer or porter. These indulgences are only vices, when they are pursued at the expence of fome virtue, as liberality or charity; in like manner as they are follies, when for them a man ruins his fortune,, and reduces himself to want and beggary. Where they entrench upon no virtue, but leave ample fubject whence to provide for friends. family, and every proper object of generofity or compaffion, they are entirely innocent, and have in every age been acknowleged fuch by almost all moralifts. To be entirely occupied with the luxury of the table, for inftance, without any relifh for the pleasures of ambition, study, or converfation, is a mark of grofs ftupidity, and is incompati

ble

ble with any vigor of temper or genius. To confine one's expence entirely to fuch a gratification, without regard to friends or family, is an indication of a heart entirely devoid of humanity or benevolence. But if a man referve time fufficient for all laudable purfuits, and money fufficient for all generous purposes, he is free from every fhadow of blame or reproach.

SINCE luxury may be confidered either as innocent or blameable, one may be furprized at thofe prepofterous opinions which have been entertained concerning it; while men of libertine principles beftow praifes even on vitious luxury, and reprefent it as highly advantageous to fociety; and on the other hand, men of fevere morals blame even the most innocent luxury, and reprefent it as the fource of all the corruptions, diforders, and factions, incident to civil government. We fhall here endeavor to correct both thefe extremes, by proving, firft, that the ages of refinement and luxury are both the happiest and most virtuous; fecondly, that where-ever luxury ceases to be innocent, it alfo ceases to be beneficial; and when carried a degree too far, is a quality pernicious, tho' perhaps not the most pernicious, to political fociety.

To prove the first point, we need but confider the effects of luxury both on private and on public life. Human happiness, according to the most received notions, feems to confift in three ingredients; action, pleasure, and indolence and tho' these ingredients ought to be mixed in different proportions, according to the particular difpofitions of the perfon, yet no one ingredient can be entirely wanting, without deftroying, in fome measure, the relish of the whole compofition. Indolence or repofe, indeed, feems not of itself to contribute much to our enjoyment; but, like fleep, is requifite as an indulgence to the weakness of human nature, which cannot fupport an uninterrupted courfe of bufinefs or pleasure. That quick march of the fpirits, which takes a man from himself, and chiefly gives fatisfaction, does in the end exhaust the mind, and requires fome intervals of repose, which, tho' agreeable for a moment, yet, if prolonged, beget a languor and lethargy, that deftroy all enjoyment. Education, cuftom, and example, have a mighty influence in turning the mind to any of these pursuits; and it must be owned, that where they promote a relifh for action and pleasure, they are so far favorable to human happiness. In times when induftry and arts flourish, men are kept in perpetual occupation, and enjoy, as their reward, the occupation itself, as well as thofe pleasures which are the fruits of their labor. The mind acquires new vigor; enlarges its powers and faculties; and by an affiduity in honeft industry, both fatisfies its natural appetites, and prevents the growth of unnatural ones, which commonly fpring up, when nourished with eafe and idleness. Banifh those arts from fociety, you deprive men both of action and of pleafure; and leaving nothing but indolence in their place, you even destroy the relifh of indolence, which never is agreeable, but when it fucceeds to labor, and recruits the fpirits, exhausted by too much application and fatigue.

ANOTHER advantage of industry and of refinements in the mechanical arts, is, that they commonly produce fome refinements in the liberal arts; nor can the one be carried to perfection, without being accompanied, in fome degree, with the other. The fame age which produces great philofophers and politicians, renowned generals and poets, ufually abounds with fkilful weavers and fhip-carpenters. We cannot reasonably expect, that a piece of woollen cloth will be wrought

to

to perfection in a nation which is ignorant of aftronomy, or where ethics are neglected. The fpirit of the age affects all the arts; and the minds of men, being once roufed from their lethargy, and put into a fermentation, turn themselves on all fides, and carry improvements into every art and science. Profound ignorance is totally banished, and men enjoy the privilege of rational creatures, to think as well as to act, to cultivate the pleasures of the mind as well as thofe of the body.

THE more these refined arts advance, the more fociable do men become; nor is it poffible, that, when enriched with fcience, and poffeffed of a fund of converfation, they should be contented to remain in folitude, or live with their fellow-citizens in that diftant manner which is peculiar to ignorant and barbarous nations. They flock into cities; love to receive and communicate knowlege; to show their wit or their breeding; their tafte in converfation or living, in cloaths or furniture. Curiofity allures the wife; vanity the foolish; and pleasure both. Particular clubs and focieties are every where formed: Both fexes meet in an eafy and fociable manner; and the tempers of men, as well as their behavior, refine apace. So that, befide the improvements which they receive from knowlege and the liberal arts, 'tis impoffible but they must feel an increase of humanity, from the very habit of converfing together, and contributing to each other's pleasure and entertainment. Thus industry, knowlege, and humanity, are linked together by an indiffoluble chain, and are found, from experience as well as reafon, to be peculiar to the more polished and luxurious ages.

NOR are these advantages attended with difadvantages which bear any proportion to them. The more men refine upon pleasure, the lefs will they indulge in exceffes of any kind; because nothing is more deftructive to true pleasure than fuch exceffes. One may fafely affirm, that the TARTARS are oftener guilty of beaftly gluttony, when they feaft on their dead horses, than EUROPEAN courtiers with all their refinements of cookery. And if libertine love, or even infidelity to the marriage-bed, be more frequent in polite ages, when it is often regarded only as a piece of gallantry; drunkenness, on the other hand, is much lefs common: A vice more odious and more pernicious both to mind and body. And in this matter I would appeal, not only to an OVID or a PETRONIUS, but to a SENECA or а Сато. We know, that CASAR, during CATALINE'S confpiracy, being neceffitated to put into CATO's hands a billet-doux, which difcovered an intrigue with SERVILIA, CATO's own fifter, that ftern philofopher drew it back to him with indignation; and, in the bitterness of his wrath, gave him the appellation of drunkard, as a term more opprobrious than that with which he could more juftly have reproached him.

BUT industry, knowlege, and humanity, are not advantageous in private life alone: They diffufe their beneficial influence on the public, and render the government as great and flourishing as they make individuals happy and profperous. The increase and confumption of all the commodities which ferve to the ornament. and pleasure of life, are advantageous to fociety; because at the fame time that they multiply thofe innocent gratifications to individuals, they are a kind of foreboufe of labor, which, in the exigencies of ftate, may be turned to the public fervice. In a nation, where there is no demand for fuch fuperfluities, men fink into indolence, lofe all the enjoyment of life, and are useless to the public, which

cannot

cannot maintain nor fupport its fleets and armies, from the industry of such slothful members.

THE bounds of all the EUROPEAN kingdoms are, at prefent, pretty near the fame they were two hundred years ago: But what a difference is there in the power and grandeur of thofe kingdoms? Which can be afcribed to nothing but the increase of art and industry. When CHARLES VIII. of F ANCE invaded ITALY, he carried with him about 20.000 men: And yet this armament fo exhaufted the nation, as we learn from GUICCIARDIN, that for fome years it was not able to make fo great an effort. The late king of FRANCE, in time of war, kept in pay above 400,000 men ; tho', from MAZARINE's death to his own, he was engaged in a courfe of wars that lasted near thirty years.

THIS induftry is much promoted by the knowlege infeparable from the ages of arts and luxury; as, on the other hand, this knowlege enables the public to make the best advantage of the industry of its fubjects. Laws, order, police, difcipline; these can never be carried to any degree of perfection, before human reafon has refined itself by exercife, and by an application to the more vulgar arts, at least, of commerce and manufactures. Can we expect, that a government will be well modelled by a people, who know not how to make a spinningwheel, or to employ a loom to advantage? Not to mention, that all ignorant ages are infefted with fuperftition, which throws the government off its bias, and difturbs men in the purfuit of their intereft and happiness.

KNOWLEGE in the arts of government naturally begets mildness and moderation, by instructing men in the advantages of humane maxims above rigor and feverity, which drive fubjects into rebellion, and render the return to fubmiffion impracticable, by cutting off all hopes of pardon. When the tempers of men are softened as well as their knowlege improved, this humanity appears still more confpicuous, and is the chief characteristic which diftinguishes a civilized age from times of barbarity and ignorance. Factions are then lefs inveterate, revolutions lefs tragical, authority lefs fevere, and feditions lefs frequent. Even foreign wars abate of their cruelty; and after the field of battle, where honor and interest steel men against compaffion as well as fear, the combatants diveft themselves of the brute, and refume the man.

NOR need we fear, that men, by lofing their ferocity, will lofe their martial fpirit, or become lefs undaunted and vigorous in defence of their country or their liberty. The arts have no fuch effect in enervating either the mind or body. On the contrary, industry, their infeparable attendant, adds new force to both. And if anger, which is faid to be the whetstone of courage, lofes fomewhat of its afperity, by politeness and refinement; a sense of honor, which is a ftronger, more conftant, and more governable principle, acquires fresh vigor by that elevation of genius, which arifes from knowlege and a good education. Add to this, that courage can neither have any duration, nor be of any use, when not accompanied with difcipline and martial fkill, which are feldom found among a barbarous people. The antients remarked, that DATAMES was the only barbarian that ever knew the art of war. And PYRRHUS seeing the ROMANS marfhal their army with fome art and skill, faid with furprife, Thefe barbarians have nothing barbarous in their *The infcription on the PLACE-DE-VENDOME fays 440,000.