ldren not
to know the existence of necessity, others, who are depressed below
the natural situation of men, are bringing them up to feel the extreme
pressure of want.

There is no situation of things in which a man, with natural strength,
and a very slender capacity, may not gain sufficient to maintain
himself, if he will be industrious; but, in a wealthy country, numbers
are so pressed upon by penury, in their younger years, that neither the
powers of their body, nor of their mind, arrive at maturity.

Accustomed, from an early age, to depend rather upon chance, or
charity, for existence, than upon industry, or energy of their own, they
neither know the value of labour, nor are they accustomed to look to it
for a supply to their wants.

Whilst the foundation of idleness and poverty is laid in, for one part of
a nation, from the affluence of their parents, another portion seems as
if it were chained down to misery, from the indigence in which they
were born and brought up. [end of page #156]

The depressed and degraded populace of great and wealthy cities are
not the accidental victims of misfortune; they are born to its hard
inheritance, and their numbers contaminate more, who, were it not for
their own misconduct and imprudence, might have shared a better lot.

When nations increase in wealth, the fate of individuals ceases to
become an object of attention; and, of all the animals that exist, and
are capable of labour, the least value is set upon the human species.
{135} Like individuals who rise to wealth, and forget their origin,
societies forget the first foundation of all wealth, happiness, and
power. That individuals should do so is not to be wondered at. They
never saw society in an infant state; nor is it the business of individual
citizens to occupy themselves with public affairs; but those who are
intrusted with their management, and whose business is to know the
original sources of prosperity, ought to attend to and counteract this
growing evil.

When the Romans were poor, the people depended on exertion, and
they enjoyed plenty; but when Lucullus and other citizens were
squandering millions, at a single banquet, the people were clamouring
for bread. While the person of a Roman lady was ornamented with the
wealth of a province, the multitude were covered with rags, and
depressed with misery. It would have been no hard matter, then, to
have foretold the fate of Rome. The natural order of things was
de