brushed by the
waves, and tumbles over those that seem to tumble against her; in which
case I have perceived in the dark that light has been struck even out of
the sea, as in this place, where my Lord Epimonus feigning to give us
a demonstration of one thing, has given it of another, and of a better.
For the people of this nation, if they amount in each tribe to 2,000
elders and 2,000 youths upon the annual roll, holding a fifth to
the whole tribe, then the whole of a tribe, not accounting women and
children, must amount to 20,000; and so the whole of all the tribes,
being fifty, to 1,000,000.

"Now you have 10,000 parishes, and reckoning these one with another,
each at L1,000 a year dry-rent, the rent or revenue of the nation, as it
is or might be let to farm, amounts to L10,000,000; and L10,000,000 in
revenue divided equally to 1,000,000 of men, comes but to L10 a year to
each wherewith to maintain himself, his wife and children. But he that
has a cow upon the common, and earns his shilling by the day at his
labor, has twice as much already as this would come to for his share;
because if the land were thus divided, there would be nobody to set him
on work. So my Lord Epimonus's footman, who costs him thrice as much as
one of these could thus get, would certainly lose by his bargain. What
should we speak of those innumerable trades whereupon men live, not only
better than others upon good shares of lands, but become also purchasers
of greater estates? Is not this the demonstration which my lord meant,
that the revenue of industry in a nation, at least in this, is three
or four-fold greater than that of the mere rent? If the people then
obstruct industry, they obstruct their own livelihood; but if they
make a war, they obstruct industry. Take the bread out of the people's
mouths, as did the Roman patricians, and you are sure enough of a war,
in which case they may be levellers; but our agrarian causes their
industry to flow with milk and honey. It will be owned that this is
true, if the people were given to understand their own happiness; but
where is it they do that? Let me reply with the like question, where
do they not? They do not know their happiness it should seem in France,
Spain, and Italy; but teach them what it is, and try whose sense is the
truer.

"As to the late wars in Germany, it has been affirmed to me there, that
the princes could never make the people to take arms while they had
bread, and have ther