An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. With a life of the author. Also, a view of the doctrine of Smith compared with that of the French economists with a method of facilitating the study of his works from the French of Garnier

INdUIRY

INTO THE

NATURE ANB CAUSES

OF THE

of -ft ntt'ons;

BY ADAM SMITH, LL.D. F.R.S.

A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

ALSO,

A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF SMITH,

COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE FRENCH ECONOMISTS; WITH A METHOD

OF FACILITATING THE STUDT£.OF HIS WORKS ; FROM

THE FRENCH OF M. GARNIER.

m. THREE VOLUMES.

VOLUME FIRST.

LONDON:

MINTED FOE WILLIAM ALLASON, NO. 31, NEW BOND STREET,

AND J. MAYNARD, PANTON STREET, HAYMARKET,

LONDON ; AND W. BLAIR, EDINBURGH.

1819.

H6

1 1 1 ,s,

Sts-

ifci?

v-/

ADVERTISEMENT

THIRD EDITION.

THE first Edition of the following Work was
printed in the end of the year 1775, and in the be-
ginning of the year 1776. — Through the greater
part of the Book, therefore, whenever the present
state of things is mentioned, it is to be understood
of the state they were in, either about that time, or
at some earlier period, during the time I was em-
ployed in writing the book. To the third Edition,
however, I have made several additions, particularly
to the Chapter upon Drawbacks, and to that upon
Bounties; likewise a new Chapter, entitled, The
Conclusion of the Mercantile System ; and a new
article to the Chapter, upon the Expenses of the
Sovereign. — In all these additions, the present state
of things means always the state in which they were
during the year 1783, and the beginning of the year
1784.

VOL. I.

ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE

FOURTH EDITION.

IN this fourth Edition, I have made no altera-
tions of any kind. I now, however, find myself at
liberty to acknowledge my very great obligation to
Mr Henry Hope of Amsterdam. To that gentle-
man I owe the most distinct, as well as liberal in-
formation, concerning a very interesting and im-
portant subject, the Bank of Amsterdam, of which
no printed account had ever appeared to me satis-
factory, or even intelligible. The name of that
gentleman is so well known in Europe, the infor-
mation which comes from him must do so much
honour to whoever has been favoured with it, and
my vanity is so much interested in making this ac-
knowledgment, that I can no longer refuse myself
the pleasure of prefixing this advertisement to this
new Edition of my Book.

ADVEKTISEMENT

TO THE

PRESENT EDITION.

FOR this Edition an Account of the Life of the
Author has been drawn up ; and although it cannot
be said that any Facts relating to that truly great
Man are given, in addition to those which have al-
ready appeared, yet a more satisfactory Account, it
is presumed, will now be found of his Studies and
Doctrines, than has been prefixed to any other Edi-
tion of the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations.

There are likewise prefixed, a Comparative
View of the Doctrines of Smith and the French
Economists, and a Method of facilitating the Study
of Mr Smith's Inquiry, by Germain Gamier, of the
National Institute, Translator of this Work into
the French Language.

The Advantage of some Directions to the Read-
ers of this immortal Work, as it has justly been
called, particularly to those who have not previous-

6

ly made the Science of Political Economy their
Study, has been generally acknowledged. The fol-
lowing Observations are extracted from a Review
which appeared of M. Garnier's Translation : —

' M. Gamier, in order to facilitate the understanding of
his author, has laid down the heads of the work in the or-
der in which he conceives they ought to have been treated ;
and no doubt, had the course now sketched been followed
by Dr Smith, his book would have been read with more
pleasure and interest, and his doctrines would have been
more easily apprehended. We are of opinion, therefore,
that the arrangement here given, or something on the same
plan, might be advantageously prefixed to a future edition,
of the original.' — App. to Monthly Review, 1802.

October 1811.

CONTENTS

OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Life of the Author ; with a short View of the Doc-
trine of Smith, compared with that of the French
Economists , . . p. i.

Introduction . . * .w/.j •> . . . . 1

BOOK I.

OP THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IK THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS
OF LABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER ACCORDING TO WHICH ITS
PRODUCE IS NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT
RANKS OF THE PEOPLE . . . H f(i , :, ':., 6

CHAP. I.

Of the Division of Labour . . ^ . ib.

CHAP. n.

Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division
of Labour fcn *••"•. i .. •«• /I«^2 ^(>. '.>•' trf 18

CHAP. III.

That the Division of Labour is limited by the Extent
of the Market 28

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAP. IV.

Of the Origin and Use of Money . . . 30

CHAP. v.

Of the real and nominal Price of Commodities, or of
their Price in Labour, and their Price in money 39

CHAP. VI.

Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities 63

CHAP. VII.

Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities 73

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Wages of Labour . . ... 86

CHAP. IX.

Of the Profits of Stock hf ' *'''^h '*'."«' . 118

CHAP. X.

Of Wages and Profit in the different Employments
of Labour and Stock >H>O3 • • • • 1^
PART I. Inequalities arising from the Nature of
the Employments themselves ' . : » «tft*i /> . '« 135

PART II. Inequalities occasioned by the Policy
of Europe ... . . <wr . 162

CHAP. XI.

Of the Rent of Land .^'H j .. :l. . 197
PART I. Of the Produce of Land which always
affords Rent . ^ . •./,... • 201

PART II. Of the Produce of Land which some-
times does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent

PART III. Of the Variations in the Proportion
between the respective Values of that Sort of

CONTENTS. IX

Produce which always affords Rent, and of
that which sometimes does, and sometimes does

not afford Rent 242

Digression concerning the Variations in the value of Sil-
ver during the Course of the four last centuries . 245
First Period ..... ib.
Second Period .... 265

Third Period . - . .267

Variations in the Proportion between the re-
spective Values of Gold and Silver . 292

Grounds of the Suspicion that the value of Sil-
ver still continues to decrease . . 300

Different Effects of the Progress of Improve-
ment upon the real Price of three different
Sorts of rude Produce .... 301
First Sort ... . 302

Second Sort 304

Third Sort . . . . 318

Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Va-
riations in the Value of Silver . . 332

Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real
Price of Manufactures 340

Conclusion of the Chapter ... . 347

SHORT ACCOUNT

LIFE AND WRITINGS

DR ADAM SMITH.

ADAM SMITH, the celebrated author of ' An In-
quiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations,' was born in the town of Kirkaldy, on the
5th of June 1723. His father, at an early period of
life, practised as a writer to the signet in Edinburgh,
and officiated as private secretary to the Earl of
Loudon, during the time his Lordship was principal
secretary of state of Scotland and keeper of the great
seal, but afterwards settled at Kirkaldy, where, for
some time before his death, he held the office of
comptroller of the customs. He died a few months
before the birth of his son.

The constitution of young Smith, during infancy,
was so sickly as to require all the care and solicitude
of his surviving parent, whose only child he was.
The duty which thus devolved on his mother, it is
allowed, she discharged in the most ample manner ;
and indeed carried her indulgence so far as to have

VOL. if a

ii THE LIFE OF

drawn on herself, it has been said, some degree of
blame. - But it certainly does not appear that any
bad consequences resulted, on this occasion, from
unbounded parental fondness ; nor can it be said,
that any permanent disadvantage was felt by the
retirement, and even seclusion, which long-conti-
nued weakness rendered necessary. To the inability
of young Smith to engage in the active sports of his
early companions, we ought, perhaps, to trace the
foundation of those habits, and love of retirement,
which distinguished him, in a peculiar manner, du-
ring a long life *.

We are informed that Smith received the rudi-
ments of education at the grammar school of Kirk-
aldy ; and, at that time, attracted some notice by
his passion for books, and by the extraordinary
powers of his memory. He was also observed,
even at this early period of life, to have contract-
ed those habits of absence in company, and of talk-
ing to himself, for which he was afterwards so re-
markable.

* It is mentioned, that when about three years old, he was
stolen from the door of his uncle, Mr Douglas, in Strathenry,
where his mother had been on a visit, by some tinkers, or gyp-
sies. He was rescued in Leslie wood by his uncle, who was
thus the happy instrument, Mr Stewart observes, of preserving
to the world, a genius, which was destined, not only to extend
the boundaries of science, but to enlighten and reform the com-
mercial policy of Europe.

DR ADAM SMITH. ill

In 1737, he was sent to the university of Glas-
gow, where, it is said, he evinced an uncommon
partiality for the study of mathematics and natural
philosophy. Being designed for the English church,
he left that place in about three years, and entered,
in 1740, an exhibitioner on Snell's foundation, at
JBaliol college, Oxford. But to this celebrated se-
minary he acknowledged very slender obligations.
He had, however, attained a solid foundation of
knowledge, and also the precious habits of atten-
tion, and the most industrious application. Here
he diligently pursued his favourite speculations in
private, interrupted only by the regular calls of
scholastic discipline. He cultivated with the great-
est assiduity and success the study of the languages,
both ancient and modern ; and formed an intimate
acquaintance with the works of the poets of his own
country, as well as with those of Greece and Rome,
France and Italy. Of the turns and delicacies of
the English tongue, it has been observed, he then
gained such a critical knowledge, as was scarcely
to be expected from his northern education. With
the view of improving his style, he employed him-
self in frequent translations, particularly from the
French ; a practice which he used to recommend
to all who cultivate the art of writing. His modest
deportment, and his secret studies, however, pro-
voked, it has been said, the jealousy or the suspicion
of his superiors. It has been mentioned, that the

IV THE LIFE OF

heads of the college having thought proper to visit
his chamber, found him engaged in perusing Hume's
Treatise of Human Nature, then recently published.
This the reverend inquisitors seized, while they se-
verely reprimanded the young philosopher.

After a residence of seven years at Oxford, he re-
turned, against the wishes of his friends, to Kirkaldy,
the place of his nativity, where he lived, for some
time, with his mother, without determining on any
fixed plan of life ; Mr Smith having thus chosen to
forego every prospect of church preferment, rather
than do violence to his conscience by preaching a
particular system of tenets.

In 1748, being then in the twenty-fifth year of his
age, he took up his residence in the capital of Scot-
land, when he first entered into public life, by deli-
vering lectures, under the patronage of Lord Kames,
on rhetoric and the belles lettres, which he conti-
nued for two years. These lectures were never
published ; but the substance of them appears to have
been afterwards communicated to Dr Blair, as he
acknowledges, in his Lectures, to have been indebt-
ed to Dr Smith for a manuscript treatise, from which
he had taken several ideas, in the 18th lecture, on
the general characters of style, particularly the plain
and the simple ; and also the characters of those
English authors belonging to the several classes in
that and the following lecture.

DR ADAM SMITH. V

In 1751, he was chosen professor of logic in the
university of Glasgow. Of the manner in which he
discharged the duties of this important situation, it
would be difficult now to present a more satisfactory
account than that which has been given by one of
his own pupils. * In the professorship of logic,' it is
observed, ' Mr Smith soon saw the necessity of de-
parting widely from the plan that had been followed
by his predecessors, and of directing the attention of
his pupils to studies of a more interesting and useful
nature than the logic and metaphysics of the schools.
Accordingly, after exhibiting a general view of the
powers of the mind, and explaining so much of the
ancient logic as was requisite to gratify curiosity
with respect to an artificial mode of reasoning, which
had once occupied the universal attention of the learn-
ed, he dedicated all the rest of his time to the deli-
very of a system of rhetoric and belles lettres.'

During the following year, he was nominated pro-
iessor of moral philosophy in the same university.
By this appointment he was peculiarly gratified, and
the duties of it he was well fitted to discharge, as it
embraced the study of his favourite science, political
economy, many of the doctrines of which, even then,
had been familiarized to his mind. After entering
on the duties of his new situation, he appears to have
turned his attention to the division of the science of
morals, which he was induced to divide into four
parts : The first contained Natural Theology, in

VI THE LIFE OF

which he considered the proofs of the being and at-
tributes of God, and those principles of the human
mind upon which religion is founded. The second
comprehended ethics, strictly so called. In the third,
he treated at more length of that branch of mora-
lity which relates to Justice, and which, being sus-
ceptible of precise and accurate rules, is capable of
a more systematic demonstration. In the fourth,
he examined those political regulations which are
founded upon Expediency, and which are calculated
to increase the riches, the power, and the prosperity
of a state.

His lectures on these subjects were always dis-
tinguished by a luminous division of the subject,
and by fulness and variety of illustration ; and as
they were delivered in a plain unaffected manner,
they were well calculated to afford pleasure, as well
as instruction. They, accordingly, excited a de-
gree of interest, and gave rise to a spirit of in-
quiry in the great commercial city of Glasgow,
from which the most favourable consequences re-
sulted. His reputation extended so widely, that,
on his account alone, a considerable number of stu-
dents, from different parts of the country, were
attracted to the university of that city; and the
science which he taught became so popular, that
even the trifling peculiarities in his pronunciation
and manner of speaking were often objects of imi-
tation.

DR ADAM SMITH. Vll

During the time Mr Smith was thus successfully
engaged in his academical labours, he was gradually
laying the foundation of a more extensive reputa-
tion. In the year 1759, he published his * Theory
of Moral Sentiments, or an Essay towards an Ana-
lysis of the Principles by which Men naturally judge
concerning the Conduct and Character, first of their
Neighbours, and afterwards of themselves.' This
work was founded on the second division of his lec-
tures, and was divided into six parts : — The pro-
priety of action : Merit and demerit, or the objects
of reward and punishment : The foundation of our
judgments concerning our own sentiments and con-
duct, and of the sense of duty : The effect of uti-
lity upon the sentiment of approbation : The influ-
ence of custom and fashion upon the sentiments of
moral approbation and disapprobation : And, lastly,
the character of virtue. To these, were added, a
brief view of the different systems of ancient and
modern philosophy, which is universally acknow-
ledged to be the most candid and luminous that has
yet appeared.

This Essay soon attracted a great share of the
public attention, by the ingenuity of the reasonings
and the perspicuity with which they were displayed.
The principle on which it is founded may be said to
be, That the primary objects of our moral percep-
tions are the actions of other men ; and that our mo-
ral judgments, witti respect to our own conduct, are

Vlll THE LIFE OV

only applications to ourselves of decisions which we
have already passed on the conduct of others. With
this doctrine the author thinks all the most cele-
brated theories of morality coincide in part, and from
some partial view of it he apprehends they are all
derived. To the same work was subjoined a short
treatise on the first Formation of Language, and
Considerations on the different genius of those which
were original and compounded.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments, immediately on
its publication, procured a splendid reputation to the
author, and led to a change in his situation in life,
that was to him no less pleasing in itself, than grati-
fying from the means by which it was brought about.
But the following lively letter to him, at that time,
from his friend Mr Hume, dated London, 12thApril
1759, will best shew the manner in which this work
was received, and the influence which it had in de-
ciding on the future life of its author : —

' I give you thanks for the agreeable present of your
Theory. Wedderburn and I made presents of our copies
to such of our acquaintances as we thought good judges,
and proper to spread the reputation of the book. I sent
one to die Duke of Argyll, to Lord Lyttleton, Horace
Walpole, Soame Jenyns, and Burke, an Irish gentleman,
who wrote lately a very pretty treatise on the sublime.
Millar desired my permission to send one, in your name,
to Dr Warburton. I have delayed writing to you till I
could tell you something of the success of the book, and
could prognosticate, with some probability, whether it

DR ADAM SMITH, IX

should be finally damned to oblivion, or should be registered
n the temple of immortality. Though it has been publish-
ed only a few weeks, I think there appear already such
strong symptoms, that I can almost venture to fortel its

fate. It is, in short, this. But I have been interrupted

in my letter, by a foolish impertinent visit of one who has
lately come from Scotland. He tells me, that the univer-
sity of Glasgow intend to delare Rouet's office vacant, up-
on his going abroad with Lord Hope. I question not but
you will have our friend Ferguson in your eye, in case an-
other project for procuring him a place in the university of
Edinburgh should fail. Ferguson has very much polished
and improved his treatise on Refinement, and, with some
amendments, it will make an admirable book, and disco-
vers an elegant and a singular genius. The Epigoniad, I
hope, will do; but it is somewhat up-hill work. As I
doubt not but you consult the reviewers sometimes at pre-
sent, you will see in the Critical Review a letter upon that
poem, and I desire you to employ your conjectures in find-
ing out the author. Let me see a sample of your skill in
knowing hands, by your guessing at the person. I am
afraid of Lord Kames's Law Tracts. A man might as well
think of making a fine sauce by a mixture of wormwood
and aloes, as an agreeable composition by joining meta-
physics and Scotch law. However, the book, I believe,
has merit, though few people will take the pains of diving
into it. But to return to your book, and its success in this
town, I must tell you A plague of interruptions ! I or-
dered myself to be denied ; and yet here is one that has
broke in upon me again. He is a man of letters, and we
have had a good deal of literary conversation. You told
me that you was curious of literary anecdotes, and there-
fore I shall inform you of a few that have come to my
knowledge. I believe I have mentioned to you already
Helvetius's book De TEsprit. It is worth your reading,
not for its philosophy, which I do not highly value, but
for its agreeable composition. I had a letter from him a
few days ago, wherein he tells me, that my name was much

X THE LIFE OF

oftener in the manuscript, but that the censor of books at
Paris obliged him to strike it out. Voltaire has lately pub-
lished a small work, called Candide, ou TOptimisme. I

shall give a detail of it. But what is all this to my

book? say you. My dear Mr Smith, have patience;

compose yourself to tranquillity ; show yourself a philoso-
pher in practice as well as profession : think on the empti-
ness, and rashness, and futility, of the common judg-
ments of men ; how little they are regulated by reason in
any subject, much more in philosophical subjects, which
so far exceed the comprehension of the vulga.

Non si quid turbida Roma
Elevet, acccdas ; exainenve improbum in ilia
Castiges trutina ; nee te qusesiveris extra.

A wise man's kingdom is in his own breast, or, if he ever
looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select
few, who are free from prejudices, and capable of exami-
ning his work. Nothing, indeed, can be a stronger pre-
sumption of falsehood than the. approbation of the multi-
tude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself
of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses
of the populace.

' Supposing, therefore, that you have duly prepared your-
self for the worst, by all these reflections, I proceed to tell
you the melancholy news, — that your book has been very
unfortunate ; for the public seem disposed to applaud it
extremely. It was looked for by the foolish people with
some impatience, and the mob of literati are beginning al-
ready to be very loud in its praises. Three bishops called
yesterday at Millar's shop, in order to buy copies, and to ask
questions about the author. The bishop of Peterborough
said he had passed the evening in a company where he
heard it extolled above all books in the world. The Duke
of Argyll is more decisive than he uses to be in its favour.
I suppose he either considers it as an exotic, or thinks the
author will be serviceable to him in the Glasgow elections.

DR ADAM SMITH. XI

Lord Lyttleton says, that Robertson, and Smith, and Bower,
are the glories of English Jiterature. Oswald protests, he
does not know whether he has reaped more instruction or
entertainment from it. But you may easily judge what re-
liance can be put on his judgment, who has been engaged
all his life in public business, and who never sees any faults
in his friends. Miller exults, and brags that two-thirds of
the edition are already sold, and that he is now sure of suc-
cess. You see what a son of the earth that is, to value books
only by the profit they bring him. In that view, I believe,
it may prove a very good book.

< Charles Townsend, who passes for the cleverest fellow
in England, is so taken with the performance, that he said
to Oswald, he would put the Duke of Buccleugh under the
author's care, and would make it worth his while to accept
of that charge. As soon as I heard this, I called on him
twice, with a view of talking with him about the matter,
and of convincing him of the propriety of sending that
young nobleman to Glasgow ; for I could not hope, that
he could offer you any terms which would tempt you to re-
nounce your professorship. But I missed him. Mr Towns-
end passes for being a little uncertain in his resolutions ; so,
perhaps, you need not build much on this sally.

* In recompense for so many mortifying things, which
nothing but truth could have extorted from me, and which
I could easily have multiplied to a greater number, I doubt
not but you are so good a Christian as to return good for
evil, and to flatter my vanity, by telling me, that all the
godly in Scotland abuse me for my account of John Knox
and the reformation.*

Mr Smith having completed, and given to the
world his system of ethics, that subject afterwards
occupied but a small part of his lectures. His atten-

Xll THE LIFE OP

tion was now chiefly directed to the illustration of
those other branches of science which he taught ;
and, accordingly, he seems to have taken up the
resolution, even at that early period, of publishing
an investigation into the principles of what he con-
sidered to be the only other branch of Moral Philoso-
phy,— Jurisprudence, the subject of which formed
the third division of his lectures. At the conclusion
of the Theory of Moral Sentiments, after treating of
the importance of a system of Natural Jurispru-
dence, and remarking that Grotius was the first,
and perhaps the only writer, who had given any
thing like a system of those principles which ought
to run through, and be the foundation of the law of
nations, Mr Smith promised, in another discourse,
' to give an account of the general principles of law
and government, and of the different revolutions
they have undergone in the different ages and pe-
riods of society, not only in what concerns justice,
but in what concerns police, revenue, and arms, and
whatever else is the object of law.'

Four years after the publication of this work,
and after a residence of thirteen years in Glas-
gow, Mr Smith, in 1763, was induced to relin-
quish his professorship, by an invitation from the
Hon. Mr Townsend, who had married the Duchess
of Buccleugh, to accompany the young Duke, her
son, in his travels. Being indebted for this invita-
tion to his own talents alone, it must have appear-

DR ADAM SMITH.

cd peculiarly flattering to him. Such an appoint-
ment was, besides, the more acceptable, as it afford-
ed him a better opportunity of becoming acquainted
with the internal policy of other states, and of com-
pleting that system of political economy, the prin-
ciples of which he had previously delivered in his
lectures, and which it was then the leading object
of his studies to perfect. /

Mr Smith did not, however, resign his professor-
ship till the day after his arrival in Paris, in Febru-
ary 1764. He then addressed the following letter
to the Right Honourable Thomas Miller, lord ad-
vocate of Scotland, and then rector of the college
of Glasgow : —

« MY LORD, — I take this first opportunity after my ar-
rival in this place, which was not till yesterday, to resign
my office into the hands of your lordship, of the dean of
faculty, of the principal of the college, and of all my other
most respectable and worthy colleagues. Into your and
their hands, therefore, I do resign my office of professor of
moral philosophy in the university of Glasgow, and in the
college thereof, with all the emoluments, privileges, and
advantages, which belong to it. I reserve, however, my
right to the salary for the current half-year, which com-
menced at the 10th of October, for one part of my salary,
and at Martinmas last for another ; and I desire that this
salary may be paid to the gentleman who does that part of
my duty which I was obliged to leave undone, in the man-
ner agreed on between my very worthy colleagues and me
before we parted. I never was more anxious for the good
of the college than at this moment ; and I sincerely

XIV THE LIFE OF

that whoever is my successor, he may not only do credit to
the office by his abilities, but be a comfort to the very excel-
lent men with whom he is likely to spend his life, by the
probity of his heart and the goodness of his temper.'

His Lordship having transmitted the above to the
professors, a meeting was held ; on which occasion
the following honourable testimony of the sense they
entertained of the worth of their former colleague
was entered in their minutes : —

4 The meeting accept of Dr Smith's resignation in terms
of the above letter ; and the office of professor of moral phi-
losophy in this university is therefore hereby declared to be
vacant. The university, at the same time, cannot help ex-
pressing their sincere regret at the removal of Dr Smith,
whose distinguished probity and amiable qualities procu-
red him the esteem and affection 'of his colleagues ; whose
uncommon genius, great abilities, and extensive learning,
did so much honour to this society. His elegant and inge-
nious Theory of Moral Sentiments having recommended
him to the esteem of men of taste and literature throughout
Europe, his happy talents in illustrating abstracted sub-
jects, and faithful assiduity in communciating useful know-
ledge, distinguished him as a professor, and at once afford-
ed the greatest pleasure and the most important instruction
to the youth under his care.'

In the first visit that Mr Smith and his noble pu-
pil made to Paris, they only remained ten or twelve
days; after which, they proceeded to Thoulouse,
where, during a residence of eighteen months, Mr
Smith had an opportunity of extending his informa-
tion concerning the internal policy of France, by

DR ADAM SMITH. XV

the intimacy in which he lived with some of the
members of the parliament. After visiting several
other places in the south of France, and residing
two months at Geneva, they returned about Christ-
mas to Paris. Here Mr Smith ranked among his
friends many of the highest literary characters, a-
mong whom were several of the most distinguished
of those political philosophers who were denominat-
ed Economists.

Before Mr Smith left Paris, he received a flatter-
ing letter from the unfortunate Duke of Rochefou-
cault, with a copy of a new edition of the Maxims
of his grandfather. Not withstanding the unfavour-
able manner in which the opinions of the author of
that work were mentioned in the Theory of Moral
Sentiments, the Duke informed Mr Smith, on this
occasion, that he had been prevented only from
finishing a translation, which he had begun, of his
estimable system of morals, into French, by the
knowledge of having been anticipated in the de-
sign. He also observed, that some apology might
be made for his ancestor, when it was considered,
that he formed his opinions of mankind in two of
the worst situations of life, — a court and a camp.
The last communication Mr Smith had with this
nobleman was in 1789, when he gave him to un-
derstand that he would no longer rank the name of
Rochefoucault with that of the author of the Fable
of the Bees ; and, accordingly, in the first edition

XVI THE LIFE OF

that was afterwards published of the Theory of
Moral Sentiments, this promised alteration was
made.

The next ten years of his life, after his arrival
from the continent, Mr Smith passed with his
mother at Kirkaldy, though he occasionally, during
that time, visited London and Edinburgh. Mr
Hume, who considered a town as the proper scene
for a man of letters, made many attempts to prevail
on him to leave his retirement.

At length, in the beginning of the year 1776, Mr
Smith accounted to the world for his long retreat, by
the publication of his * Inquiry into the Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations.' This work chiefly
comprehended the subject ofthejburth and last divi-
sion of his lectures, namely, those political regulations
that have their origin in expediency. For about
twenty years of his life, his attention had been chiefly
devoted to the study of subjects connected with the
science of political economy. His long residence in
the mercantile city of Glasgow afforded him oppor-
tunities of deriving information, in many particulars,
from the best sources ; his travels on the continent
contributed to extend his knowledge, and correct
many of those misapprehensions of life and manners
which the best descriptions of them are found to
convey ; and the intimacy in which he lived with
some of the leaders of the sect of economists, and

DR ADAM SMITH. XV11

other writers on the subject of political economy,
could not fail to assist him in methodizing his spe-
culations, and of adding to the soundness of his con-
clusions.— After his arrival in this country, he want-
ed nothing more than leisure, to arrange his mate-
rials, and prepare them for publication ; and, for this
purpose, he passed in retirement the subsequent ten
years.

The great aim of Mr Smith's Inquiry, the fruit
of so much research, and the work of so many years,
is, as Professor Stewart observes, to direct the po-
licy of nations with respect to one most important
class of its laws, — those which form its system of
political economy : * and he has unquestionably,'
the same eloquent writer adds, * had the merit of
presenting to the world the most comprehensive
and perfect work that has yet appeared on the gene-
ral principles of any branch of legislation.'

A great and leading object of Mr Smith's specu-
lations, as Mr Stewart also observes, is * to demon-
strate, that the most effectual plan for advancing a
people to greatness, is to maintain that order of
things which nature has pointed out, by allowing
every man, as long as he observes the rules of jus-
tice, to pursue his own interest in his own way,
and to bring both his industry and his capital into

VOL. i. b

XV111 THE LIFE OF

the freest competition with those of his fellow-ci-
tizens.'

Several authors, in this country, had before writ-
ten on commercial affairs, but Mr Smith was the first
who reduced to a regular form and order the infor-
mation that was to be obtained on that subject, and
deduced from it the policy which an enlightened com-
mercial nation ought to adopt. The successful man-
ner in which he has treated this unlimited freedom
of trade, as well as some others, and his able expo-
sure of the errors of the commercial system, have
rendered the science of which he treats highly inte-
resting to the great body of the people ; and a spirit
of inquiry, on every branch of political economy, has,
in consequence, been excited, which promises now,
more than ever, to be attended with the most bene-
ficial effects. This intricate science, the most impor-
tant to the interests of mankind, though long ne-
glected, Dr Smith has had the merit of advancing so
far, as to lay a foundation, on which, it may safely
be said, investigation may for a long time proceed.

It has frequently been alleged that Dr Smith was
indebted for a large portion of the reasonings in his
Inquiry to the French economists, and that the co-
incidence between some branches of his doctrine and
theirs, particularly those which relate to freedom of
trade and the powers of laboui*, is more than casual.

DR ADAM SMITH. XIX

— But Professor Stewart has ably vindicated him
from this charge, arid established his right to the
general principles of his doctrine, which, he thinks,
were altogether original, and the result of his own
reflections. That he, however, derived some ad-
vantage from his intimacy with Turgot, and those
great men who were at the head of the sect of eco-
nomists, and, perhaps, adopted some of their illus-
trations, it would be as unnecessary to deny, as it
would be far from discreditable to his talents to ac-
knowledge.

There is also a similar, or perhaps a greater, coin-
cidence between many parts of his doctrine and the
opinions of Sir James Stewart, as detailed in his
' Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy.'
This congruity of opinion is chiefly apparent in their
respective conclusions concerning the effects of com-
petition,— the principle of exchangeable value, — the
relation between the interest of money and the profit
of stock, — the functions of coin, — the rise and pro-
gress of credit, — and the sources and limits of taxa-
tion. As this author had published his Inquiry many
years before Dr Smith's work appeared, and had,
besides, lived in great intimacy with him, there was
some reason to believe, what has been often assert-
ed, that he possessed a just claim to some of the
doctrines contained in that work, though Dr Smith
never once mentioned his name in any part of his

XX THE LIFE OF

work. But the present Sir James Stewart, who has
recently published a full edition of the writings of his
father, relinquishes, on his part, all such pretensions.
With the partiality of a friend, in ranking his father
with Dr Smith, he gives it as his opinion, however,
that both had, with original powers of equal strength,
drawn their knowledge from the same source, the
French economists.

Dr Mandeville has also, of late, got the credit of
being the author of those Principles of Political Eco-
nomy, which have interested the world for the last
fifty years ; and to him alone, it is said, not only
the English, but also the French writers, are indebt-
ed for their doctrines in that science. In the work
of this eccentric writer, there seems, indeed, a simi-
larity of opinion on some of the more obvious sources
of wealth, particularly in the division of labour,
which Dr Smith investigates so fully ; and in the
erroneous doctrine of productive and non-productive
labours ; and also, perhaps, on some other points: but
it would be difficult to shew, that he ought, on this
account, to be considered the author of all, or even
the chief part of what has been written on the sub-
ject. On this, as well as on all questions of a simi-
lar nature, a great diversity of opinions will subsist.
But it may be a matter of curiosity to those wiio
are unacquainted with his work, the Fable of the
Bees, not only to trace the connection of that an-

DR ADAM SMITH. XXI

thor's sentiments with what is advanced by subse-
quent writers on this important subject, but also to
learn his peculiar notions of morality, that attracted,
at one time, so much attention. These last, Dr
Smith says, though described by a lively and hu-
morous, yet coarse and rustic eloquence, which throws
an air of truth and probability on them, are almost,
in every respect, erroneous.

Soon after the publication of the Wealth of Na-
tions, Mr Smith received the following congratula-
tory letter from Mr Hume, six months before his
death, Edinburgh, 1st April 1776,—

Euge ! Belle ! Dear Mr Smith — I am much pleased with
your performance, and the perusal of it has taken me from
a state of great anxiety. It was a work of so much ex-
pectation, by yourself, by your friends, and by the public,
that I trembled for its appearance ; but am now much re-
lieved ; not but that the reading of it necessarily requires
so much attention, and the public is disposed to give so
little, that I shall still doubt for some time of its being at
first very popular. But it has depth and solidity, and a-
cuteness, and is so" much illustrated by curious facts, that
it must at last take the public attention. It is probably
much improved by your last abode in London. If you
were here at my fire-side, I should dispute some of your
principles. But these, and a hundred other points, are fit
only to be discussed in conversation. I hope it will be soon ;
for I am in a very bad state of health, and cannot afford a
long delay.

The publication of this great work drew praise
to its author, indeed, from many different quarters
— Dr Barnard, in a poetical epistle, addressed to

THE LIFE OF

Sir Joshua Reynolds, where the characteristic qua-
lities of some eminent literary men of that time are
brought forward, spoke of Smith as one who would
teach him how to think : Gibbon made honourable
mention of him in his Roman history ; and Mr Fox
contributed, in no small degree, to extend his repu-
tation, by observing in the house of commons, that
* the way, as my learned friend Dr Adam Smith
says, for a nation, as well as an individual, to be
rich, is for both to live within their income.'

The opinion which Dr Johnson delivered, at that
time, on its being alleged by Sir John Pringle, that
a person who, like Dr Smith, was not practically
acquainted with trade, could not be qualified to
write on that subject, may also be mentioned here,
though somewhat erroneous, as far as it respects
the received doctrines of political economy, — * He
is mistaken,' said Johnson. * A man who has never
been engaged in trade himself, may undoubtedly
write well on trade ; and there is nothing which
requires more to be illustrated by philosophy than
trade does. As to mere wealth, that is to say,
money, it is clear that one nation, or one indivi-
dual, cannot increase its store but by making an-
other poorer ; but trade procures what is more valu-
able, the reciprocation of the peculiar advantages
of different countries. A merchant seldom thinks
of any but his own trade. To write a good book
upon it, a man must have extensive views. It is

DR ADAM SMITH. XXlll

not necessary to have practised, to write well upon
a subject *."

On the Inquiry into the Causes of the Wealth of
Nations, it only remains farther to be observed, that
its success has been every way commensurate to its
merits. It has, however, been often regretted, that
the author did not live to favour the world with his
reasonings on those important events which have
taken place since 1784, when he put the last hand to
his invaluable work. That another, with competent
talents, and a mind disposed to the task, should soon
appear, to treat of these occurrences, and give a sa-
tisfactory view of the progress of the science from
that time to the present, is not to be expected. But
as the honour to be gained from a successful execu-
tion of such an undertaking is very considerable, it
is not to be wondered at that an attempt of this
kind should be made. Accordingly, Mr Playfair of
London has had the boldness to follow Smith, by
endeavouring to supply, in part, this desideratum,
by adding supplementary chapters and notes to the
Wealth of Nations.

But it is greatly to be feared, that there are few
persons who have read this improved edition, as it
is called, of Dr Smith's Inquiry, but will still look
forward to the accomplishment of the wishes they

* Bos well's Life of Johnson, vol. iv. p. !?•

XXIV THE LIFE OF

must previously have formed, for a continuation,
and probably an illustration, of the discussions con-
tained in that work. Leaving, therefore, the supple-
mentary chapters and elucidations of Mr Playfair,
it must be observed, that Dr Smith has, on this oc-
casion, been equally unfortunate in a biographer.
The detail of his peaceful life is almost lost among
dissertations on the wickedness of atheism and the
horrors of a revolution. But these dissertations,
strangely misplaced as they appear to be, would cer-
tainly not alone have been sufficient to attract ob-
servation here, whatever latitude the author might
have allowed to himself on such subjects. When he
goes on, however, to apologise for Dr Smith's ac-
quaintance with some individuals among the econo-
mists, and to connect the whole of that sect with
those philosophers to whom he ascribes the evils
which have so long afflicted France, his opinions be-
come still more insupportable. It will, perhaps, be
said, and with some reason, that in this instance,
at least, the writer has followed those alarmists,
who, on any men of learning belonging to that
country being mentioned, immediately ally them to
the revolutionists, without regard to difference of
opinion, or distance of time.

The reputation, however, of the economists is too
well established to be affected, either by the clamours
of the ignorant, or the mad intemperance of political
alarmists. The doctrine of the great men who form-

DR ADAM SMITH. XXV

cd the school of the economists was, that the pro-
duce of the land is the sole, or principal source of the
revenue and wealth of every country ; and this doc-
trine, with the manner of deriving from it the greatest
possible advantage, it is almost universally acknow-
ledged, engaged entirely their attention. Dr Smith,
who lived in great intimacy with many of the found-
ers of that sect, does ample justice, on every occa-
sion, to the purity of their views ; and indeed they,
as well as himself, it has always been said, by the
impartial and well informed, were ever animated
by a zeal for the best interests of society.

M. Quesnai, the first of that sect, and the author
of the Economical Table, a work of the greatest pro-
foundness and originality, N was, in particular, repre-
sented by Mr Smith as a man of the greatest modesty
and simplicity ; and his system, he pronounced, with
all its imperfections, to be the nearest approximation
to the truth, of any that had then been published on
the principles of political science. His veneration for
this worthy man was even so great, that, had he
lived, it was his intention, to have inscribed to him
the Inquiry into the Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

Nor will the memory of those illustrious men be
soon forgotten, notwithstanding the calumnies with
which it has been charged. It may safely be predicted,
in the words of a highly respectable periodical publi-

XXVi THE LIFE OF

cation, that * Those prospects of political improve-
ments which flattered the benevolent anticipations
of the economists, will soon be recognised as sound
conclusions of science ; and it will at length be ac-
knowledged that Turgot, Mirabeau, and Quesnai,
were the friends of mankind, and that their genius
and their labours were devoted to the refinement of
social happiness, and the consolidation of the politi-
cal fabric*.'

The life of Mr Smith, after the publication of his
Inquiry, might be said to draw towards a close. —
The following particulars of the last years, are most-
ly extracted from Professor Stewart's Life of this
incomparable writer.

After residing some time in London, he was ap-
pointed one of the commissioners of customs in Scot-
land in 1778, when he removed to Edinburgh. He
was accompanied by his mother, who, though in ex-
treme old age, possessed a considerable share of good
health ; and his cousin Miss Douglas, who had long
resided with him at Glasgow, undertook to superin-
tend his domestic economy.

The Duke of Buccleugh had continued to allow
Mr Smith £300 a- year, and the accession which he
now received to his income, enabled him to live, not

* Edinburgh Review, vol. i. p. 432.

DR ADAM SMITH. XXV11

only with comfort and independence, but to indulge
the benevolence of his heart, in making numerous
private benefactions.

During the remaining period of his life, he appears
to have done little more than to discharge, with pe-
culiar exactness, the duties of his office, which,
though they required no great exertion, were suffi-
cient to divert his attention from his studies. He
very early felt the infirmities of old age, but his
health and strength were not greatly affected till he
was left alone, by the death of his mother in 1784,
and of his cousin four years after. They had been
the objects of his affection for more than 60 years ;
and in their society he had enjoyed, from his infan-
cy, all that he ever knew of the endearments of a
family. In return for the anxious and watchful so-
licitude of his mother during infancy, he had the
singular good fortune of being able to shew his gra-
titude to her during a very long life ; and it was of- /
ten observed, that the nearest avenue to his heart
was through his mother.

He now gradually declined till the period of his
death, which happened in 1790. His last illness,
which arose from a chronic obstruction in the bowels,
was lingering and painful ; but he had every conso-
lation to soothe it which he could desire, from the
tenderest sympathy of his friends, and from the
completest resignation of his own mind.

XXVlii .1; THE LIFE OF

His friends had been in use to sup with him every
Sunday. The last time he received them, which was
a few days before his death, there was a pretty nu-
merous meeting ; but not being able to sit up as
usual, he retired to bed before supper. On going
away, he took leave of the company, by saying : ' I
believe we must adjourn this meeting to some other
place.'

In a letter addressed, in the year 1787, to the
principal of the university of Glasgow, in conse-
quence of his being elected rector of that learned
body, a pleasing memorial remains of the satisfaction
with which he always recollected that period of his
literary career, which had been more peculiarly con-
secrated to his academical studies. On that occasion
he writes : —

' No preferment could have given me so much real sa-
tisfaction. No man can owe greater obligations to a socie-
ty than I do to the university of Glasgow. They edu-
cated me ; they sent me to Oxford. Soon after my return
to Scotland, they elected me one of their own members ;
and afterwards preferred me to another office, to which the
abilities and virtues of the never-to-be-forgotten Dr Hut-
cheson had given a superior degree of illustration. The
period of thirteen years, which I spent as a member of that
society, I remember as by far the most useful, and there-
fore as by far the happiest and most honourable period of
my life ; and now, after three-and-twenty years absence,
to be remembered in so very agreeable a manner by my old
friends and protectors, gives me a heart-felt joy, which I
cannot easily express to you.'

DR ADAM SMITH. XXIX

Not long before the death of Smith, finding hig
end approach rapidly, he gave orders to destroy all
his manuscripts, excepting some detached essays,
which he entrusted to the care of his executors.
With the exception of these essays, all his papers
were committed to the flames. What were the par-
ticular contents of these papers were not known,
even to his most intimate friends. The additions
to the Theory of Moral Sentiments, most of which
were composed under severe illness, had fortunately
been sent to the press in the beginning of the pre-
ceding winter; and the author lived to see the pub-
lication of this new edition *.

Some time before his last illness, when he had oc-
casion to go to London, he enjoined his friends, to
whom he had entrusted the disposal of his manu-
scripts, to destroy, in the event of his death, all the
volumes of his lectures, doing with the rest what
they pleased. When he had become weak, and saw
the last period of his life approach, he spoke to his

* It may not be uninteresting to mention what has been said
*f the manner in which the writings of Mr Smith were compo-
sed.— ' Mr Smith observed to me, not long before his death/
says Mr Stewart, ' that after all his practice in writing, he com-
posed as slowly, and with as great difficulty as at first.' He add-
ed, at the same time, that Mr Hume had acquired so great a fa-
cility in this respect, that the last volume of his History was
printed from the original copy, with a few marginal corrections.
Mr Smith, when he was employed in composition, generally
•walked up and down his apartment, dictating to a secretary.
All Mr Hume's works (it has been said) were written with his
own hand.

XXX THE LIFE OF

friends again upon the same subject. They entreat-
ed him to make his mind easy, as he might depend
upon their fulfilling his desire. Though he then
seemed to be satisfied, he, some days afterwards,
begged that the volume might be immediately de-
stroyed ; which was accordingly done.

Mr Riddell, an intimate friend of Mr Smith,
mentions, that on one of these occasions, he regret-
ted he had done so little ; ' but I meant,' he added,
' to have done more ; and there are materials in my
papers of which I could make a great deal. — But
that is now out of the question.'

That the idea of destroying such unfinished works
as might be in his possession at the time of his death,
was not the effect of any sudden or hasty resolution,
appears from the following letter to Mr Hume,
written in 1773, at a time when he was preparing
for a journey to London, with the prospect of a
pretty long absence from Scotland.

f My dear friend, — As I have left the care of all my li-
terary papers to you, I must tell you, that, except those
which I carry along with me, there are none worth the pub-
lication, but a fragment of a great work, which contains a
history of the astronomical systems that were successively
in fashion down to the time of Descartes. Whether that
might not be published as a fragment of an intended juve-
nile work, I leave entirely to your judgment, though I be-
gin to suspect myself that there is more refinement than
solidity in some parts of it. This little work you will find

DR ADAM SMITH. XXXI

in a thin folio paper book in my back-room. All the other
loose papers which you will find in that desk, or within
the glass folding doors of a bureau which stands in my bed- ,
room, together with about eighteen thin paper folio books, j
which you will likewise find within the same glass folding
doors, I desire may be destroyed without any examination.
Unless I die very suddenly, I shall take care that the pa- '
pers I carry with me shall be carefully sent to you."* \

But he himself long survived his friend Mr Hume.
The persons entrusted with his remaining papers
were Dr Black and Dr Hutton, his executors,
with whom he had long lived in habits of the closest
friendship. These gentlemen afterwards collected
into a volume such of the writings of Dr Smith as
were fitted for publication : and they appeared in
1795, under the title of Essays on Philosophical Sub-
jects. These essays had been composed early in life,
and were designed to illustrate the principles of the
human mind, by a theoretical deduction of the pro-
gress of the sciences and the liberal arts. The most
considerable piece in this volume is, on the principles
which lead and direct philosophical inquiries, illus-
trated by the history of astronomy, ancient physics,
and ancient logic and metaphysics. The others, with
the exception of an essay on the external senses, re-
late to the imitative and liberal arts. The contents of
this volume, Mr Smith's executors observe, appear
to be parts of a plan he once had formed for giving
a connected history of the liberal sciences and elegant

XXXii THE LIFE OF

arts ; but which he had been obliged to abandon, as
being far too extensive ; and these parts lay beside
him neglected till after his death. In them, how-
ever, will be found that happy connection, that full
and accurate expression, and the same copiousness
and facility of illustration, which are conspicuous in
the rest of his writings.

As a writer, the character of Mr Smith is so well
known, that any observation on his merits must ap-
pear almost unnecessary. His literary fame is cir-
cumscribed by no ordinary limits. To the voice of
his own country, is added the testimony of Europe,
and, indeed, of the civilized world. And had even
only one volume of his inestimable writings appear-
ed, his name would have been carried down to pos-
terity in the first rank of those illustrious characters
that adorn the last century.

In the words of Professor Stewart, it may be said,
that, — of the intellectual gifts and attainments by
which he was so eminently distinguished ; — of the
originality and comprehensiveness of his views ; the
extent, the variety, and the correctness of his infor-
mation ; the inexhaustible fertility of his invention ;
and the ornaments which his rich and beautiful ima-
gination had borrowed from classical culture ; — he
has left behind him lasting monuments.

DR ADAM SMITH. XXXU1

One observation more may be added to what is
now said on his writings, that, whatever be the na-,
ture of his subject, he seldom misses an opportunity
of indulging his curiosity, in tracing, from the prin-
ciples of human nature, or from the circumstances
of society, the origin of the opinions and the insti-
tutions which he describes.

With regard to the private character of this ami-
able and enlightened philosopher, it fortunately hap-
pens, that the most certain of all testimonies to his
private worth may be found in the confidence, re-
spect, and attachment, which followed him through
all the various relations of life. There were many
peculiarities, indeed, both in his manners and in his
intellectual habits ; but to those who knew him,
these peculiarities, so far from detracting from the
respect which his abilities commanded, added an ir-
resistible charm to his conversation, and strongly dis-
played the artless simplicity of his heart. The com-
prehensive speculations with which he had always
been occupied, and the variety of materials which
his own invention continually supplied to his
thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to
familiar objects, and to common occurrences. On
this account, he was remarkable, throughout the
whole of life, for speaking to himself when alone,
and for being so absent in company, as, on some
occasions, to exceed almost what the fancy of a
Bruyere could imagine. In company, he was apt
VOL. I. c

XXXIV THE LIFE OF DR ADAM SMITH.

to be engrossed by his studies ; and appeared, at
times, by the motion of his lips, as well as by his
looks and gestures, to be in the fervour of compo-
sition. It was observed, that he rarely started a
topic himself, or even fell in easily with the com-
mon dialogue of conversation. When he did speak,
however, he was somewhat apt to convey his ideas
in the form of a lecture ; but this never proceeded
from a wish to engross the discourse, or to gratify
his vanity. His own inclination disposed him so
strongly to enjoy, in silence, the gaiety of those
around him, that his friends were often led to con-
cert little schemes, in order to bring on the subjects
most likely to interest him.

SHORT VIEW

OF THE

DOCTRINE OF SMITH, COMPARED WITH THAT OF
THE FRENCH ECONOMISTS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF M. GARNIER.

THE ancient philosophers were little accustomed to
employ themselves in the observation of those laws
which regulate the distribution of riches among the
different orders of society in a nation, or in the
search after the sources of the increase of its wealth.
In fact, political economy is a science of very mo-
dern origin ; for although, towards the end of the
seventeenth century, several writers, both of France
and England, had begun to discuss the comparative
advantages of agriculture and commerce, yet it was
not till the middle of the eighteenth, that any thing
like a complete system appeared upon the growth
and distribution of national weight At this period,
the philosophical Quesnai directed his attention to
this very abstract subject, and became the founder
of a celebrated school, which may boast among its
adherents many distinguished men of talents and
extensive knowledge.

XXXVi DOCTRINE, &C.

All philosophical sects owe their first origin and
foundation to the discovery of some great truth;
and it is the madness inspiring their members, to
deduce every thing from this new discovery, that
contributes most to their downfal. Thus it was
with the economists. They saw that the original
source of all wealth was the soil, and that the la-
bour of its cultivation produced not only the means
of subsisting the labourer, but also a neat surplus,
which went to the increase of the existing stock :
while, on the other hand, the labour applied to the
productions of the earth, the labour of manufactures
and commerce, can only add to the material a value
exactly equal to that expended during the execution
of the work ; by which means, in the end, this spe-
cies of labour operates no real change on the total
sum of national riches. They perceived that the
landed proprietors are the first receivers of the
whole wealth of the community ; and that what-
ever is consumed by those who are not possessed of
land, must come, directly or indirectly, from the for-
mer ; and hence, that these receive wages from the
proprietors, and that the circulation of national
wealth is, in fact, only a succession of exchanges
between these two classes of men, the proprietors
furnishing their wealth, the non- proprietors giving
as an equivalent their labour and industry. They
perceived that a tax, being a portion of the national
wealth applied to public use, in every instance, how-
ever levied, bears finally upon the landed proprietors,
inasmuch as they are the distributors of that wealth,
either by retrenching their luxuries, or by loading
them with an additional expense ; and that, there-
fore, every tax which is not levied directly on the

OF SMITH. XXXV11

rude produce of the earth, falls in the end on the
landed proprietors, with a surplus produce, from
which the amount of the revenue receives no ad-
dition.

These assertions are almost all incontestible, and
capable of a rigorous demonstration ; and those who
have attempted to shew their falsity, have, in general,
opposed them only with idle sophistry. Why, then,
has this doctrine met with so little success, and why
does every day diminish its reputation ? because it
agrees in no one point with the moral condition,
either of societies or of individuals ; because it is
continually contradicted by experience, and by the
infallible instinct of self-interest ; because it does
not possess that indispensable sanction of all truths,
utility. In fact, of what consequence is it, that the
labour of agriculture produces not only what covers
its own expenses, but new beings which would never
have existed without it, and that it has this ad-
vantage over the labour of manufactures and com-
merce ? Does it by any means follow from this,
that the former kind of labour is more profitable
to the community than the latter? The real es-
sence of all wealth, and that which determines its
value, is the necessity under which the consumer
lies to purchase it ; for, in truth, there is no such
thing as wealth properly so called, nor absolute va-
lue ; but the words wealth and value are really no-
thing more than the co-relatives of consumption
and demand. Even the necessaries of life, in a
country which is inhabited, but incapable of com-
mercial intercourse, will not form wealth ; and to
whatever degree of civilization that country may
have reached, still the same principle will hold with-

xxxviii DOCTRINE, &c.

out alteration. If the sum of national wealth shall
in any case have exceeded the sum of demands, then
a part of the former sum will cease to bear the name
of wealth, and will again be without value. In vain,
then, will agriculture multiply her produce ; for the
instant that it exceeds the bounds of actual consump-
tion, a part will lose its value ; and self-interest, that
prime director of all labour and industry, seeing her-
self thus deceived in her expectations, will not fail to
turn her activity and efforts to another quarter.

In almost every instance, it is an idle refinement
to distinguish between the labour of those employ-
ed in agriculture, and of those employed in manu-
factures and commerce ; for wealth is necessarily
the result of both descriptions of labour, and con-
sumption can no more take place independently of
the one than it can independently of the other. It
is by their simultaneous concurrence that anything
becomes consumable, and, of course, that it comes
to constitute wealth. How, then, are we entitled
to compare their respective products, since it is im-
possible to distinguish these in the joint product,
and thus appreciate the separate value of each?
The value of growing wheat results as much from
the industry of the reaper who gathers it in, of
the thrasher who separates it from the chaff and
straw, of the miller and baker who converts it suc-
cessively into flour and bread, as it does from that
of the ploughman and of the sower. Without the
labour of the weaver, the raw material of flax would
lose all its value, and be regarded as no way supe-
rior to the most useless weed that grows. What,
then, can we gain by any attempts to determine
which of these two species of labour conduces most

OF SMITH. XXXIX

to the advancement of national wealth ; or are they
not as idle, as if we busied ourselves in inquiring,
whether the right or the left foot is most useful in
walking ?

It is true, indeed, that in every species of manu-
facture, the workman adds, to the value of the raw
material, a value exactly equal to that which was
expended during the process of manufacture ; and
what is the conclusion we are to draw from this ?
It is merely, that a certain exchange has taken
place, and that the food consumed by the manufac-
turer is now represented by the increase of value
resulting from his manual labour. Thus wool, when
converted into cloth, has gained a value precisely
equal to that expended by the manufacturer during
the conversion. But, if it is shewn that, without
this exchange, the wool would have remained with-
out value, while, on the other hand, the food of the
manufacturer would have been without a consumer ;
it will then appear, that this exchange has, in fact,
done what is equivalent to creating these two va-
lues, and that it has proved to the society an ope-
ration infinitely more useful, than if an equal quan-
tity of labour had been spent in the increase of that
rude produce, which already existed in overabun-
dance. The first description of labour has been
truly productive; while the last would have been
altogether unproductive, since it would not have
created any value.

' The soil,' say the economists, * is the source of
* all wealth.' But, to prevent this assertion from
leading us into erroneous conclusions, it will be ne-
cessary to explain it. The materials of all wealth
originate primarily in the bosom of the earth ; but

xl DOCTRINE, &C.

it is only by the aid of labour that they can ever
truly constitute wealth. The earth furnishes the
means of wealth ; but wealth itself cannot possibly
have any existence, unless through that industry
and labour which modifies, divides, connects, and
combines the various productions of the soil, so as
to render them fit for consumption. Commerce, in-
deed, regards those rude productions as real wealth ;
but it is only from the consideration, that the pro-
prietor has it always in his power to convert them,
at will, into consumable goods, by submitting them
to the necessary operations of manufacture. They
possess, as yet, merely the virtual value of a pro-
missory-note, which passes current, because the
bearer is assured that he can, at pleasure, convert
it into cash. Many gold mines, which are well
known, are not worked, because their whole pro-
duce would not cover the incidental expenses ; but
the gold which they contain is, in reality, the same
with that of our coin ; and yet no one would be
foolish enough to call it wealth, for there is no pro-
bability it will ever be extracted from the mine, or
purified ; and, of course, it possesses no value. The
wild fowl becomes wealth the moment it is in pos-
session of the sportsman ; while those of the very
same species, that have escaped his attempts, remain
without any title to the term.

It is further, without question, true, that all who
do not possess property in land must draw their sub-
sistence from wages received, directly or indirectly,
from the proprietors, unless they violate all rights,
and become robbers. In this respect, every service
is alike ; the most honourable and the most disgrace-
ful receives each its wages. It is certain, too, that

OF SMITH. Xli

if the circumstances determining the rate of the va-
rious kinds of wages remain the same, that is, if the
offers of service, and the demand, preserve the same
proportion to each other, after as well as before the
imposition of a tax; then, of course, the wages will
continue at the same rate, and thus the tax, how-
ever imposed, will uniformly, in the end, fall on that
class in the community who furnish the wages ; so
that they must suffer, either an addition to their for-
mer expenses, or a retrenchment of those luxuries
they enjoyed. And according as the tax is less di-
rectly levied, the greater will be the burden they
are subjected to ; for, besides indemnifying all the
other classes who have advanced the tax-money, a
further expense must be incurred, in the additional
number of persons now necessary to collect it. The
natural conclusion we must draw from the theory is,
that a tax, directly levied on the neat revenue of the
landed proprietors, is that which agrees best with
reason and justice, and that which bears lightest on
the contributors.

If, however, this theory should be found to throw
entirely out of consideration a multitude of circum-
stances, which possess a powerful influence over the
facility of collecting a tax, as well as over its conse-
quences ; and if the general result of this influence
be of far more importance than the single advantage
of a less burden ; then the theory, inasmuch as it
neglects a part of those particulars which have their
weight in the practice, is contradicted by this last.
And this is exactly what happens in the question re-
specting the comparative advantages and inconve-
niences of the two modes of levying taxes.

The habit which men have acquired, of viewing

Xlii DOCTRINE, &C.

money as the representation of every thing which
contributes to the support or comfort of life, makes
them naturally very unwilling to part with what por-
tion of it they possess, unless it be to procure some
necessary or enjoyment. We spend money with
pleasure ; but it requires an effort to pay a debt, and
particularly so when the value received in exchange
is not very obvious to the generality, as in the case
of a tax. But by levying the tax on some object of
consumption, by thus confounding it with the price
of the latter, and by making the payment of the
duty and of the price of enjoyment become one
and the same act, we render the consumer desirous
to pay the impost. It is amid the profusion of en-
tertainments, that the duties on wine, salt, &c. are
paid ; the public treasury thus finding a source of
gain in the excitements to expense, produced by the
extravagance and gaiety of feats.

Another advantage of the same nature, possessed
by the indirect mode of taxation, is its extreme di-
visibility into minute parts, and the facility which it
affords to the individual, of paying it offday by day,
or even minute by minute. Thus the mechanic, who
sups on a portion of his day's wages, will sometimes,
in one quarter of an hour, pay part of four or five
different duties.

In the plan of direct taxation, the impost appears
without any disguise ; it comes upon us unexpected-
ly, from the imprudence so common to the bulk of
mankind, and never fails to carry with it constraint
and discouragement.

All these considerations are overlooked by the
friends of direct taxation ; and yet their importance

OF SMITH. xliii

must be well known to all who have ever attended
to the art of governing men.

But, perhaps, this is not all. An indirect tax, by
increasing from time to time the price of the objects
of general consumption, when the members of the
community have contracted the habit of this con-
sumption, renders these objects a little more costly,
and thus gives birth to that increase of labour and
industry which is now required to obtain them. But
if this tax be so proportioned as not to discourage
the consumption, will it not then operate as an
universal stimulus upon the active and industrious
part of the community? Will it not incite that
part to redoubled efforts, by which it may still
enjoy those luxuries which, by habit, have become
almost necessaries, and, of course, produce a further
developement of the productive powers of labour,
and of the resources of industry ? Are we not, in
such a case, to conclude, that after the imposition
of a tax, there will exist not only the quantity of
labour and industry which was formerly requisite
to procure the necessaries and habitual enjoyments
of the active class of mankind, but also such an ad-
dition to this, as will suffice for the payment of the
tax ? And will not this tax, or increase of produce
required for the tax — as it is spent by the govern-
ment that receive it — will it not serve to support a
new class of consumers, requiring a variety of com-
modities which the impost enables them to pay ? If
these conjectures are well founded, it will follow,
that indirect taxation, far from having any hurtful
influence on wealth and population, must, when
wisely regulated, tend to increase and strengthen
these two great foundations of national prosperity

DOCTRINE, &C.

and power. And it will tend to do this, inasmuch
as it bears immediately on the body of the people,
and operates on the working and industrious class,
which forms the active part of the community;
while, on the other hand, direct taxation operates
solely on the idle class of landed proprietors — which
furnishes us with the characteristic difference exist-
ing between these two modes of taxation *. These
hints, which seem to afford an explanation of that
most extraordinary phenomenon in political econo-
my, viz. the rapid and prodigious increase of wealth
in those nations which are most loaded with indi-
rect taxes, deserve to be discussed at greater length
than our limits will allow. Enough, however, has
been said to shew, that no rigorous and purely
mathematical calculation will ever enable us to ap-
preciate the real influence of taxes upon the pro-
sperity of a nation. Thus, some of the truths per-
ceived by the economists are of little use in prac-
tice ; while others are found to be contradicted in
their application, by those accessory circumstances
which were overlooked in the calculations of the
theory.

While this sect of philosophers filled all Europe
with their speculations, an observer of more depth
and ability directed his researches to the same
subject, and laboured to establish, on a true and
lasting foundation, the doctrines of political eco-
nomy.

* This observation, as may easily be perceived, cannot apply
to certain indirect imposts, such as those for the support of the
roads ; which, as they cannot be confounded with the price of
any consumable commodity, combine all the inconveniences of
indirect, with those of direct impost.

OF SMITH.

DrSmith succeeded in discovering a great truth, —
the most fruitful in consequences, the most useful
in practice, the origin of all the principles of the
science, and one which unveiled to him all the mys-
teries of the growth and distribution of wealth.
This great man perceived, that the universal agent
in the creation of wealth is labour ; and was thence
led to analyse the powers of this agent, and to search
after the causes to which they owe their origin and
increase.

The great difference between the doctrine of
Smith and of the economists, lies in the point from
which they set out, in the reduction of their conse-
quences. The latter go back to the soil as the pri-
mary source of all wealth ; while the former re-
gards labour as the universal agent which, in every
case, produces it. It will appear, at first sight, how
very superior the school of the Scotch professor is
to that of the French philosophers, with regard to
the practical utility, as well as to the publication
of its precepts. Labour is a power of which man
is the machine ; and, of course, the increase of this
power can only be limited by the indefinite bounds
of human intelligence and industry ; and it pos-
sesses, like these faculties, a susceptibility of being
directed by design, and perfected by the aid of study.
The earth, on the contrary, if we set aside the in-
fluence which labour has over the nature and quan-
tity of its productions, is totally out of our power,
in every respect which can render it more or less
useful — in its extent, in its situation, and in its phy-
sical properties.

Thus the science of political economy, considered
according to the view of the French economists,

DOCTRINE, &C.

must be classed with the natural sciences, which are
purely speculative, and can have no other end than
the knowledge of the laws which regulate the ob-
ject of their researches; while viewed according
to the doctrine of Smith, political economy becomes
connected with the other moral sciences, which
tend to ameliorate the condition of their object, and
to carry it to the highest perfection of which it is
susceptible. . — ___

A few words will suffice to explain the grounds
of the doctrine of Smith. The power by which a
nation creates its wealth is its labour; and the
quantity of wealth created will increase in direct
proportion as the power increases. But the increase
of this last may take place in two ways ; in energy,
and in extent. Labour increases iri energy, when
the same quantity of labour furnishes a more abun-
dant product ; and the two great means of effect-
ing the increase, or of perfecting the productive
powers of labour, are the division of labour, and
the invention of such machines as shorten and faci-
litate the manual operations of industry. Labour
increases in extent, when the number of those en-
gaged in it augments in proportion to the increas-
ing number of the consumers, which can take place
only in consequence of an increase of capitals, and
of those branches of business in which they are em-
ployed.

Now, to accomplish the increase of labour in both
these ways, and to conduct it gradually to the ut-
most pitch of energy and extent to which it can reach
in any nation, considering the situation, the nature,
and the peculiarities of its territories, what are the
exertions to be made by its government ?

OF SMITH.

The subdivision of labour, and the invention and
perfecting of machines. These two great means of
augmenting the energy of labour, advance in pro-
portion to the extent of the market, or, in other
words, in proportion to the number of exchanges
which can be made, and to the ease and readiness
with which these can take place. Let the govern-
ment, then, direct all its attention to the enlarge-
ment of the market, by forming safe and convenient
roads, by the circulation of sterling coin, and by se-
curing the faithful fulfilment of contracts; all of
which are indispensable measures, at the same time
that, when put in practice, they will never fail to
attain the desired end. And the nearer a govern-
ment approaches to perfection in each of these three
points, the more certainly will it produce every pos-
sible increase of the national market. The first of
the three means is, without doubt, the most essen-
tial, as no other expedient whatever can possibly
supply its place.

The gradual accumulation of capitals is a neces-
sary consequence of the increased productive powers
of labour, and it becomes also a cause of still farther
increase in these powers ; but, in proportion as this
accumulation becomes greater and greater, it serves
to increase the extent of labour, inasmuch as it mul-
tiplies the number of labourers, or the sum of na-
tional industry. This increase, however, of the num-
ber of hands in the nation employed, will always
be regulated by the nature of the business to which
the capitals are dedicated.

Under this second head of the increase of the pro-
ducts of labour, the exertions of government are
much more easy. In fact, it has only to refrain from

xlviii DOCTRINE, &c.

doing harm. It is only required of it, that it shall
protect the natural liberty of industry ; that it shall
leave open every channel into which, by its own
tendencies, industry may be carried ; that govern-
ment shall abandon it to its own direction, and shall
not attempt to point its efforts one way more than
another ; for private interest, that infallible instinct
which guides the exertions of all industry, is infi-
nitely better suited than any legislator to judge of
the direction which it will with most advantage fol-
low. Let government, then, renounce alike the sys-
tem of prohibitions and of bounties ; let it no longer
attempt to impede the efforts of industry by regu-
lations, or to accelerate her progress by rewards ;
let it leave in the most perfect freedom the exer-
tions of labour and the employment of capital ; let
its protecting influence extend only to the removal
of such obstacles as avarice or ignorance have raised
up to the unlimited liberty of industry and com-
merce ; then capitals will naturally develope them-
selves, by their own movement in those directions
which are at once most agreeable to the private in-
terest of the capitalist, and most favourable to the
increase of the national wealth.

OF SMITH.

xlix

METHOD OF FACILITATING THE STUDY OF
DR SMITH'S WORK.

SUCH are the result of the doctrine of Smith, and
the fruits we are to reap from his immortal work.
The proofs of the principle upon which his opinions
are grounded, and the natural and easy manner in
which his deductions flow from it, give it an air of
simplicity and truth, which renders it no less ad-
mirable than convincing. This simplicity, however,
to be fully perceived, requires much study and con-
sideration ; for it cannot be denied, that the ' Wealth
' of Nations' exhibits a striking instance of that de-
fect for which English authors have so often been
blamed, viz. a want of method, and a neglect, in
their scientific works, of thos'e divisions and arrange-
ments which serve to assist the memory of the reader,
and to guide his understanding. The author seems
to have seized the pen at the moment when he was
most elevated with the importance of his subject,
and with the extent of his discoveries. He begins,
by displaying before the eyes of his reader the in-
numerable wonders effected by the divisions of la-
bour ; and with this magnificent and impressive pic-
ture, he opens his course of instructions. He then
goes back, to consider those circumstances which
give rise to or limit this division ; and is led by his
subject to the definition lvalues — to the laws which
regulate them, to the analysis of their several ele-
ments, and to the relations subsisting between those
of different natures and origin : all of which are pre-

VOL. i. d

1 DOCTRINE, &C,

liminary ideas, which ought naturally to have been
explained to the reader, before exhibiting to him
the complicated instrument of the multiplication of
wealth, or unveiling the prodigies of the most power-
ful of its resources.

On the other hand, he has often introduced long
digressions, which interrupt the thread of his dis-
cussion, and, in many cases, completely destroy the
connection of its several parts. Of this description
is the digression

On the variations in the value of the precious metals during
the four last centuries, with a critical examination of the
opinion that their value is decreasing — book 1. chap. xi.

Upon banks of circulation and paper money — book 2,
cbap..ii.

Upon banks of deposit, and particularly that of Amster-
dam— book 4. chap. iii.

Upon the advantage ofseignorage in the coining of money —
book 4. chap. vi.

Upon the commerce of grain, and the laws regarding thii
trade — book 4. chap. v.

These different treatises, although they are un-
questionably the best that have ever been written
on the subject to which they relate, are, however,
so introduced, as to distract the reader's attention
— to make him lose sight of the principal object oi
the work — and to lessen the general effect of it as a
whole.

To remedy, as far as I am able, these inconve
niencies, and to facilitate to beginners the study oi
the doctrine of Smith, I have thought proper to
point out the order which appears to me most agree-
able to the natural progress of ideas, and, on this

OF SMITH. H

account, best calculated for the purpose of instruc-
tion.

I would begin by remarking, that the whole doc-
trine of Smith, upon the origin, multiplication, and
distribution of wealth, is contained in his two first
books ; and that the three others may be read sepa-
rately, as so many detached treatises, which, no
doubt, confirm and develope his opinions, but do not
by any means add to them.

The third book is an historical and political dis-
cussion on the progress which wealth would make
in a country where labour and industry were left
free ; and upon the different causes which have tend-
ed, in all the countries of Europe, to reverse this
progress.

In the fourth book, the author has endeavoured
to combat the various systems of political economy
which were popular previous to his time ; and, in a
particular manner, that which is denominated the
mercantile system, which has exercised so strong an
influence over the financial regulations of the Eu-
ropean governments, and particularly over those of
England.

In the fifth and last book, he considers the ex-
penses of government ; the most equitable and con-
venient modes of providing for these expenses ; and,
lastly, public debts, and the influence they have over
the national prosperity.

The three last books may be read and studied in
the same order and arrangement in which they were
written, without any difficulty, by one who is com-
pletely master of the general doctrine contained in
the two first.

In DOCTRINE, &C.

I regard, then, the two first books, as a complete
work, which I would divide into- three parts

The 1st relates to values in particular. It con-
tains their definition ; the laws which regulate them;
the analysis of the elements which constitute a va-
lue, or enter into its composition ; and the relations
which values of different origin bear to each other.

The 2d part treats of the general mass of national
wealth, which is here divided into separate classes,
according to its destination or employment.

The 3d and last part explains the manner in which
the growth and distribution of national wealth takes
place.

•

PART FIRST. — Of Values in particular.

THE essential quality which constitutes wealth,
and without which it would not be entitled to the
name, is its exchangeable value.

Exchangeable value differs from the value of uti-
lity— book 1. end of chap. iv.

The relation existing between two exchangeable
values, when expressed by a value generally agreed
upon, is denominated price.

The value generally agreed on among civilized
nations, is that of metals. Motives to this prefe-
rence. Origin of money — book 1. chap. iv. Relation
between money and the metal in the state of bullion
— book 1. chap. v.

The price in money, or nominal price of a thing,
differs from its real price, which is its valuation by
the quantity of labour expended upon it, or which
it represents — ibid.

Laws, according to which the price of wealth is

OP SMITH. liii

naturally fixed ; and those accidental circumstances
which occasion the actual to differ from the natural
price, and which gave rise to a distinction between
the natural and the market price — book 1. chap. vii.

The price of a thing, in most cases, consists of
three distinct elements — the wages of the labour, the
profit of the master who directs the labour, and the
rent of the ground that furnishes the materials on
which it is erected. There are, however, some de-
scriptions of merchandize in which the rent forms
no part of the price ; and others, in which the profit
forms no part of it ; but none, in which it is not
formed principally by the wages — book 1. chap. vi.

Of wages. Laws, according to which the natural
rate of wages is fixed; accidental circumstances
which cause them to vary/ during a short period,
from that natural rate — book 1. chap. viii.

Of the profit of capitals. Laws, by which the na-
tural right of profit is fixed : accidental circum-
stances which, for a long while, increase or diminish
it beyond that rate — book 1. chap. ix.

Labourand capitals tend naturally to diffuse them-
selves through every species of employment ; and,
as certain employments are, by their nature, accom-
panied with inconveniences and difficulties which
do not occur in others ; while these, on the contrary,
offer some real or imaginary advantages which are
peculiar to themselves; wages and profits should
rise and fall in proportion to these advantages and
disadvantages ; thus forming a complete equilibrium
between the various kinds -of employment. The
arbitrary and oppressive policy of Europe, in many
instances, opposes the establishment of this equili-

Hv DOCTRINE, &C.

brium, which is conformable to the order of nature
— book 1. chap. x.

Of the rent of the ground. The nature of rent :
the manner in which it enters into the price of
wealth ; and according to what principles it in some
cases forms an integral part of that price, while in
others it does not — book 1. chap. xi.

Division of the rude produce of the earth into
two great classes :

1. That produce which is always necessarily disposed of
in such a way as to bring a rent to the landed pro-
prietor.

9,. That which, according to circumstances, may be dis-
posed of so as to bring, or so as not to bring, a rent.

The produce of the first description is derived
from the ground appropriated to furnishing subsist-
ence for man, or for those animals which he uses
as food. The value of the produce of the ground
cultivated for the support of man, determines the
value of the produce of all other ground proper for
this species of culture. This general rule allows of
some exceptions. Causes of these exceptions.

The produce of the second class consists of the
materials of clothing, lodging, fuel, and the orna-
ments of dress and furniture. The value of this spe-
cies of produce depends on that of the first descrip-
tion. Some circumstances render it possible that
the produce of the second kind may be disposed of
in such a way as to furnish a rent to the landed pro-
prietor. Principles which regulate the proportion
of the price of these products, which is formed by
the rent — book 1. chap. xi.

OF SMITH. IV

Relation between the respective values of the
produce of the first class, and those of the produce
of the second. Variations which may take place
in this relation, and the causes of such variations —
ibid.

Relation existing between the values of the two
descriptions of rude produce above mentioned, and
the values of the produce of manufacture. Varia-
tions which may occur in this relation — ibid.

Certain kinds of rude produce, procured from very
different sources, are, however, intended for the
same kind of consumption ; and hence it happens,
that the value of one determines and limits that of
another — ibid.

The relations between values of different natures
vary according to the state of society. This state is
improving, declining, or stationary ; that is to say,
society is either increasing in wealth, or falling into
poverty, or remaining in the same unchanged state
of opulence.

Of the effects of these different states of society.

Upon the price of wages — book 1. chap. viii.
Upon the rate of profit— book 1. chap. ix.
Upon the value of the rude produce of the earth, and on
that of the produce of manufacture — book 1. chap. xi.

Difference, in this respect, between the various kinds of
rude produce, viz. 1. Those which the industry of man
cannot multiply ; 2. Those which his industry can al-
ways multiply in proportion to the demand : #. Those
over which human exertions have only an uncertain or
limited influence— ibid.

Ivi DOCTRINE, &C.

PART SECOND.-— Of stock and its employment,

WEALTH, accumulated in the possession of an in-
dividual, is of two descriptions, according to its des-
tination or employment :

1 . That reserved for immediate consumption.
2. That employed as capital, for the production of a
revenue — book 2. chap. i.

Capital is also of two kinds :

1. Fixed capital, which produces a revenue, and still re-
mains in the same hands.

2. Circulating capital, which yields no revenue unless it
be employed in trade — book 2. chap. i.

The whole accumulated wealth of any communi-
ty may be divided into these three parts :

1. The fund appropriated to the immediate consumption
of the proprietors of wealth.

2. The fixed capital of the community.

3. Its circulating capital.

of the society consists,

1. Of all machines and instruments of labour ;

2. Of all' buildings and edifices erected for the purposes
of industry; .',"»

8. Of every kind of agricultural improvement which can

tend to render the soil more productive ;
4. Of the talents and skill certain members of the com-

munity have acquired by time and expense.

The circulating capital of a community consists,

1. In the money in circulation ;

2. In the stock of provisions in the hands both of the
producers and of the merchants, and from the sale of
which they expect to derive a profit ;

OF SMITH. Ivii

3. In the materials of lodging, clothing, dress, and orna-
ment, more or less manufactured, which are in the
hands of those who are employed in rendering them
fit for use and consumption ;

4. In the goods more completely fit for consumption, and
preserved in warehouses and shops, by merchants who
propose, to sell them with a profit — book 2. chap. i.

Of the relation existing between the employment
of these two kinds of capital — ibid.

Of the mode in which the capital withdrawn from
circulation is disposed of — ibid.

The sources which continually renew the circula-
ting capital, as soon as it enters into the fixed capi-
tal, or the stock for immediate consumption, are,

1. Lands;

J2. Mines and quarries ;

3. Fisheries — ibid.

Of the purposes accomplished by circulating coin
— book 2. chap, ii.; and the expedients which may be
resorted to, in order to attain these with less ex-
pense, and fewer of those inconveniences to which
money is subjected — ibid.

Of the stock lent at interest ; and of those things
which regulate the proportion that this kind of stock
bears to the whole existing stock of the community.
The quantity of stock which may be lent depends
in no degree upon the quantity of money in circula-
tion— book 2. chap. iv.

Of the principles which determine the rate of in-
terest— ibid.

There exists a necessary relation between this
and the price of land — ibid.

Iviii DOCTRINE, &C.

PART THIRD.- — Of the Manner in which the Multiplication
and Distribution of Wealth takes place.

WEALTH uniformly increases in proportion to the
augmentation which the power producing it re-
ceives, whether that be in energy or in extent —
book 1. introduction.

Labour, which in this power increases in energy ,

1. By the division of the parts of the same work ;

2. By the invention of such machines as abridge and fa-
cilitate labour — book 1. chap. 1.

The division of labour adds to its energy,

1. By the skill which the workman in this way acquires ;

2. By the saving of time — ibid.

The invention of machines is itself an effect of
the division of labour — ibid.

The natural disposition of mankind to exchange
with each other the different productions of their
respective labours and talents, is the principle which
has given birth to the division of labour — book 1.
chap. ii.

The division of labour must of course be limited
by the extent of the market ; therefore, whatever
tends to widen the market, facilitates the progress
of a nation towards opulence — book 1. chap. iti.

Labour gains in extent,

1. In proportion to the accumulation of capital ;

2. In proportion to the manner in which these are em-
ployed— book 1. introduction.

The accumulation of capitals is hastened by the
increase of the proportion existing between the
productive and unproductive consumers — book 2.
chap. iii.

OF SMITH. lix

The proportion between these two classes of con-
sumers is determined by the proportion existing be-
tween that part of the annual produce destined to
the replacement of capital, and that destined for the
purpose of revenue — ibid.

The proportion between that part of the annual
produce which goes to form capital, and that which
goes to form revenue, is great in a rich country, and
small in a poor one — ibid.

In a wealthy country, the rent of land, taken ab-
solutely, is much greater than in a poor country ;
but, taken in relation to the capital employed, it is
much less — book 2. chap. iii.

In a wealthy country, the whole profits of its capi-
tal are infinitely greater than one that is poor ; al-
though a given quantity of capital will, in a country
of the latter description, produce profits much greater
than in an opulent one — ibid.

It is industry that furnishes the produce ; but it is
economy that places in the capital that part of it
which would otherwise have become revenue — ibid.

The economy of individuals arises from a principle
which is universally diffused, and one that is conti-
nually in action ; the desire of ameliorating their con-
dition. This principle supports the existence and
increase of national wealth, in spite of the prodiga-
lity of some individuals ; and even triumphs over the
profusion and errors of governments — ibid.

Of the different modes of spending money, some
are more favourable than others to the increase of
national wealth — ibid.

Those branches of employment which require a
capital, never fail to call forth more or less labour ;

IX DOCTRINE, &C.

and thus contribute, in a greater or less degree, to
increase the extent of national labour.

Capital can be employed only in four ways :

1. In cultivating and improving the earth, or, in other
words, multiplying its rude produce ;

2. In supporting manufactures ;

3. In buying by the gross, to sell in the same manner ;

4. In buying by the gross, to sell by retail.

These four modes of employing capital are equally
necessary to, and serve mutually to support, each
other. The first supports, beyond all comparison,
the greatest number of productive hands ; the se-
cond occupies more than the two remaining ; and
the fourth, the fewest of any.

Capital may be employed, according to the third
mode, in three different ways ; each contributing in
a very different degree to the support and encou-
ragement of national industry.

When capital is employed in exchanging one de-
scription of the produce of national industry for an-
other, it then supports as great a portion of in-
dustry as can be done by any capital employed in
commerce.

When it is employed in exchanging the produce
of national for that of foreign industry, for the pur-
poses of home consumption, half of it goes to the
support of foreign industry ; by which means, it is
only of half that service to the industry of the na-
tion which it would have been had it been employ-
ed another way.

Lastly, When it is employed in exchanging one
description of the produce of foreign industry for
another, or in what is termed the carrying trade, it

OP SMITH. Ixi

then serves wholly for the support and encourage-
ment of the industry of the two foreign nations, and
adds only to the annual produce of the country the
profits of the merchant — book 2. chap. v.

Self-interest, when left uncontrouled, will neces-
sarily lead the proprietors of capitals to prefer that
species of employment which is most favourable to
national industry, because it is, at the same time,
most profitable for themselves — ibid. For, when
capitals have been employed in a way different from
that suggested by the infallible instinct of self-inte-
rest, it has always been in consequence of the pecu-
liar circumstances of the European governments,
and of that influence which the vulgar prejudices
of merchants have had over the system of admini-
stration which these governments have adopted.

The account of these circumstances, with the dis-
cussion of the errors of this system, form the matter
of the third and fourth books.

POLITICAL ECONOMY is, of all sciences, that which
affords most room for prejudices, and in which they
are most liable to become deeply rooted. The de-
sire of improving our condition, that universal prin-
ciple, which continually acts upon every member of
the community, is ever directing the thoughts of
each individual to the means of increasing his private
fortune. But should this individual ever chance to
raise his views to the management of the public
money, he would naturally be led to reason from ana-
logy, and apply to the general interest of his county

Ixii DOCTRINE, &C.

those principles which reflection and experience have
led him to regard as the best guides in the conduct
of his own private affairs. Thus, from attending to
the fact, that money constitutes a part of the pro-
ductive stock in the fortune of an individual, and
that his fortune increases in proportion to the in-
crease of this article, there arises that erroneous
opinion so generally received, that money is a con-
stituent part of national wealth, and that a country
becomes rich, in proportion as it receives money
from those countries with which it has commercial
connections.

Merchants who have been accustomed to retire
each night to their desks, to count, with eagerness,
the quantity of currency, or of good debts, which
their day's sale has produced, calculating their pro-
fits only by this result, and confident that such a
calculation has never deceived them, are naturally
led to think that the affairs of the nation must fol-
low the same rule ; and they have been strengthened
in this opinion by that unshaken confidence which
a long and never-failing experience, that has been
the source of wealth and prosperity, inspires. Hence
those extravagant opinions respecting the advan-
tages and profits of foreign commerce, and the im-
portance of money ; hence those absurd calcula-
tions that have been made regarding what is termed
the balance of trade, the thermometer of public
prosperity ; hence those systems of regulations, and
those oppressive monopolies, which are resorted to
for the purpose of making one side of the balance
preponderate ; hence, too, those bloody and destruc-
tive wars which have raged in both hemispheres,
from the period in which the road to the Indies,

OF SMITH. Ixiii

and to the new world, became familiar to European
nations.

When we observe, that the many bloody wars
that have been waged in the different parts of the
world for these two last centuries, and even the
present war, in many points of view, have had, as
their principal end, the maintenance of some mono-
poly, contrary even to the interest of the nation
armed to protect it ; we shall feel the full impor-
tance of those benefits which the illustrious author
of the * Wealth of Nations' has endeavoured to con-
fer upon mankind, by victoriously combating such
strong and baneful prejudices. But we cannot help
deeply lamenting, to see how slowly, and with what
difficulty, reason in all its strength, and truth in all
its clearness, regain the possession of these terri-
tories which error and passion have so rapidly over-
run.

The prejudices so successfully attacked by Dr
Smith, appear again and again, with undiminished
assurance, in the tribunals of legislature, in the
councils of administration, in the cabinets of mini-
stry, and in the writings of politicians. They still
talk of the importance of foreign and colonial com-
merce ; they still attempt to determine the balance
of trade ; they renew all the reveries of political
arithmetic, as if these questions had not been deter-
mined by Smith, in a way which renders them no
longer capable of controversy.

It was in the midst of a country, the most deeply
imbued with mercantile prejudices ; the most com-
pletely subjected to its prohibitory policy, that Dr
Smith sapped the foundations of this absurd and
tyrannical system : it was at the very moment when

DOCTRINE, &C.

England, in alarm, saw, with terror, the possibility
of a separation from her American colonies : it was
then that he derided the universal fear, and proudly
prophesied the success of the colonists, and their
approaching independence ; and that he confidently
announced, what experience has since completely
affirmed, the happy consequences which this separa-
tion and this independence, so much dreaded, would
produce upon the prosperity, both of Great Britain
and her colonies — book 4. chap. vii. part iii.

The wealth of communities is so intimately con-
nected with their civil and political existence, that
the author has been drawn by his subject into nu-
merous other discussions, which seem more or less
removed from it; and in which we discover the
same sagacity of observation, the same depth of re-
search, and the same force of reasoning.

The advantages of a complete and permanent free-
dom in the corn trade have never been better shewn ;
and they have been proved by Dr Smith, to arise
from that fruitful source of wealth, the division of
labour — book 4. chap. v.

The national defence and public education, two
objects of very high importance, have also been dis-
cussed at length by our author.

He proves, that in conformity to that desire to
better our condition, by which all men are directed,
and upon which the author has founded his whole
doctrine, that the teacher, whose wages are a fixed
salary, will have no other end than to spare himself
every trouble, and dedicate as little attention as pos-
sible to his pupils ; while he that is paid in propor-
tion to his labour, will naturally endeavour, by every
means in his power, to increase his success, at the

OF SMITH.

Ixv

same time that he confers a great advantage on his
scholars and on society. He confirms his theoreti-
cal opinions by incontestible examples — book 5.
chap. i. part 3.

The superiority of regular troops over national
militia is proved in theory, by the division of labour ;
and in practice, by the most remarkable facts in
history — book 5. chap. i. part 1.

VOL. I.

AN

INQUIRY

INTO THE

NATURE AND CAUSES

OF THE

WEALTH OF NATIONS.

INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK.

1 HE annual labour of every nation is the fund
which originally supplies it with all the necessaries
and conveniencies of life which it annually con-
sumes, and which consist always either in the imme-
diate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased
with that produce from other nations.

According, therefore, as this produce, or what is
purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller propor-
tion to the number of those who are to consume it,
the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the
necessaries and conveniencies for which ithas occasion.

But this proportion must in every nation be regu-
lated by two different circumstances : first, by the
skill, dexterity, and judgment with which its labour
is generally applied ; and, secondly, by the proper-
tion between the number of those who are employed
in useful labour, and that of those who are not so
employed. Whatever be the soil, climate, or extent
of territory of any particular nation, the abundance
or scantiness of its annual supply must, in that parti-
cularsituation, depend upon those two circumstances.

VOL. i. A

2 INTRODUCTION.

The abundance or scantiness of this supply, too,
seems to depend more upon the former of those two
circumstances than upon the latter. Among the sa-
vage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual
who is able to work, is more or less employed in use-
ful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he
can, the necessaries and conveniencies of life, for him-
self, and such of his family or tribe as are either too
old, or too young, or too infirm, to go a-hunting and
fishing. Such nations, however, are so miserably poor,
that, from mere want, they are frequently reduced,
or at least think themselves reduced, to the necessity
sometimes of directly destroying, and sometimes of
abandoning their infants, their old people, and those
afflicted with lingering diseases, to perish with hunger,
or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among civilized
and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great
number of people do not labour at all, many of whom
consume the produce of ten times, frequently of a
hundred times, more labour than the greater part of
those who work ; yet the produce of the whole labour
of the society is so great, that all are often abundantly
supplied ; and a workman, even of the lowest and
poorest order, if he is frugal and industrious, may en-
joy a greater shareof the necessaries and conveniencies
of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire.

The causes of this improvement in the productive
powers of labour, and the order according to which
its produce is naturally distributed among the differ-
ent ranks and conditions of men in the society, make
the subject of the first book of this Inquiry.

Whatever be the actual state of the skill, dexte-
rity, and judgment, with which labour is applied in
any nation, the abundance or scantiness of its annual

INTRODUCTION. 3

supply must depend, during the continuance of that
state, upon the proportion between the number of
those who are annually employed in useful labour,
and that of those who are not so employed. The
number of useful and productive labourers, it will
hereafter appear, is everywhere in proportion to the
quantity of capital stock which is employed in setting
them to work, and to the particular way in which it
is so employed. The second book, therefore, treats
of the nature of capital stock of the manner in which
it is gradually accumulated, and of the different quan-
tities of labour which it puts into motion, according
to the different ways in which it is employed.

Nations tolerably well advanced as to skill, dexte-
rity, and judgment, in the application of labour, have
followed very different plans in the general conduct
or direction of it ; and those plans have not all been
equally favourable to the greatness of its produce.
The policy of some nations has given extraordinary
encouragement to the industry of the country ; that
of others to the industry of towns. Scarce any nation
has dealt equally and impartially with every sort of
industry. Since the downfall of the Roman empire,
the policy of Europe has been more favourable to arts,
manufactures, and commerce, the industry of towns,
than to agriculture, the industry of the country.
The circumstances which seem to have introduced
and established this policy are explained in the third
book.

Though those different plans were, perhaps, first
introduced by the private interests and prejudices of
particular orders of men, without any regard to, or
foresight of, their consequences upon the general wel-
fare of the society ; yet they have given occasion to

4 INTRODUCTION.

very different theories of political economy; of which
some magnify the importance of that industry which
is carried on in towns, others of that which is car-
ried on in the country. Those theories have had a
considerable influence, not only upon the opinions
of men of learning, but upon the public conduct of
princes and sovereign states. I have endeavoured,
in the fourth book, to explain as fully and distinct-
ly as I can, those different theories, and the princi-
pal effects which they have produced in different
ages and nations.

To explain in what has consisted the revenue of
the great body of the people, or what has been the
nature of those funds, which, in different ages and
nations, have supplied their annual consumption, is
the object of these four first books. The fifth and
last book treats of the revenue of the sovereign, or
commonwealth. In this book I have endeavoured to
shew, first, what are the necessary expenses of the
sovereign, or commonwealth ; which of those expen-
ses ought to be defrayed by the general contribution
of the whole society, and which of them by that of
some particular part only, or of some particular mem-
bers of it : secondly, what are the different methods
in which the whole society may be made to contri-
bute towards defraying the expenses incumbent on
the whole society, and what are the principal advan-
tages and inconveniences of each of those methods ;
and, thirdly and lastly, what are the reasons and
causes which have induced almost all modern go-
vernments to mortgage some part of this revenue,
or to contract debts ; and what have been the effects
of those debts upon the real wealth, the annual pro-
duce of the land and labour of the society.

BOOK I.

Of the Causes of improvement in the Productive
Powers of Labour, and of the Order according to
which its Produce is naturally distributed among
the different Hanks of the People.

CHAP. I.

Of the Division of Labour.

THE greatestimprovements in the productive powers
of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity,
and judgment, with which it is anywhere directed,
or applied, seem to have been the effects of the di-
vision of labour.

The effects of the division of labour, in the gene-
ral business of society, will be more easily understood,
by considering in what manner it operates in some
particular manufactures. It is commonly supposed
to be carried furthest in some very trifling ones; not
perhaps that it really is carried further in them than
in others of more importance ; but in those trifling
manufactures which are destined to supply the small
wants of but a small number of people, the whole
number of workmen must necessarily be small ; and
those employed in every different branch of the work
can often be collected into the same workhouse, and
placed at once under the view of the spectator In
those great manufactures, on the contrary, which are
destined to supply the great wants of the great body

t> DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

of the people, every different branch of the work
employs so great a number of workmen, that it is
impossible to collect them all into the same work-
house. We can seldom see more, at one time, than
those employed in one single branch. Though in
such manufactures, therefore, the work may really
be divided into a much greater number of parts,
than in those of a more trifling nature, the division
is not near so obvious, and has accordingly been
much less observed.

To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling
manufacture, but one in which the division of la-
bour has been very often taken notice of, the trade
of the pinmaker ; a workman not educated to this
business (which the division of labour has rendered
a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the
machinery employed in it (to the invention of which
the same division of labour has probably given occa-
sion), could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost indus-
try, make one pin in a day, and certainly could not
make twenty. But in the way in which this business
is now carried on, not only the whole work is a pe-
culiar trade, but it is divided into a number of
branches, of which the greater part are likewise pe-
culiar trades. One man draws out the wire; an-
other straights it ; a third cuts it ; a fourth points it ;
a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head ; to
make the head requires two or three distinct opera-
tions ; to put it on is a peculiar business ; to whiten
the pins is another ; it is even a trade by itself to put
them into the paper ; and the important business of
making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about
eighteen distinct operations, which, in some manu-

CHAP. I. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 7

factories, are all performed by distinct hands, though
in others the same man will sometimes perform two
or three of them. I have seen a small manufactory
of this kind, where ten men only were employed,
and where some of them consequently performed two
or three distinct operations. But though they were
very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommo-
dated with the necessary machinery, they could,
when they exerted themselves, make among them
about twelve pounds of pins in a day. There are in a
pound upwards of four thousand pins of a middling
size. Those ten persons, therefore, could make a-
mong them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in
a day. Each person, therefore, making a tenth part
of forty-eight thousand pins, might be considered as
making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day.
But if they had all wrought separately and independ-
ently, and without any of them having been educated
to this peculiar business, they certainly could not
each of them have made twenty, perhaps not one pin
in a day ; that is, certainly, not the two hundred and
fortieth, perhaps not the four thousand eight hun-
dredth, part of what they are at present capable of
performing, in consequence of a proper division and
combination of their different operations.

In every other art and manufacture, the effects of
the division of labour are similar to what they are in
this very trifling one, though, in many of them, the
labour can neither be so much subdivided, nor re-
duced to so great a simplicity of operation. The di-
vision of labour, however, so far as it can be intro-
duced, occasions, in every art, a proportionable in-
crease of the productive powers of labour. The se-

8 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

paration of different trades and employments from
one another, seems to have taken place in conse-
quence of this advantage. This reparation, too, is
generally carried farthest in those countries which en-
joy the highest degree of industry and improvement;
what is the work of one man, in a rude state of so-
ciety, being generally that of several in an improved
one. In every improved society, the farmer is gene-
rally nothing but a farmer; the manufacturer, no-
thing but a manufacturer. The labour, too, which
is necessary to produce any one complete manufac-
ture, is almost always divided among a great number
of hands. How many different trades are employed
in each branch of the linen and woollen manufac-
tures, from the growers of the flax and the wool, to
the bleachers and smoothers of the linen, or to the
dyers and dressers of the cloth ? The nature of agri-
culture, indeed, does not admit of so many subdivi-
sions of labour, nor of so complete a separation of
one business from another, as manufactures. It is
impossible to separate so entirely the business of the
grazier from that of the corn- farmer, as the trade of
the carpenter is commonly separated from that of the
smith. The spinner is almost always a distinct per-
son from the weaver ; but the ploughman, the nar-
rower, the sower of the seed, and the reaper of the
corn, are often the same. The occasions for those
different sorts of labour returning with the different
seasons of the year, it is impossible that one man
should be constantly employed in any one of them.
This impossibility of making so complete and entire
a separation of all the different branches of labour
employed in agriculture, is perhaps the reason why

CHAP. I. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 9

the improvement of the productive powers of labour,
in this art, does not always keep pace with their im-
provement in manufactures. The most opulent na-
tions, indeed, generally excel all their neighbours in
agriculture as well as in manufactures ; but they are
commonly more distinguished by their superiority in
the latter than in the former. Their lands are in ge-
neral better cultivated, and having more labour and
expense bestowed upon them, produce more in propor-
tion to the extent and natural fertility of the ground.
But this superiority of produce is seldom much more
than in proportion to the superiority of labour and
expense. In agriculture, the labour of the rich coun-
try is not always much more productive than that of
the poor ; or, at least, it is never so much more pro-
ductive, as it commonly is in manufactures. The
corn of the rich country, therefore, will not always,
in the same degree of goodness, come cheaper to
market than that of the poor. The corn of Poland,
in the same degree of goodness, is as cheap as that of
France, notwithstanding the superior opulence and
improvement of the latter country. The corn of
France is, in the corn provinces, fully as good, and
in most years nearly about the same price with the
corn of England, though, in opulence and improve-
ment, France is perhaps inferior to England. The
corn-lands of England, however, are better cultivated
than those of France, and the corn-lands of France
are said to be much better cultivated than those of
Poland. But though the poor country, notwithstand-
ing the inferiority of its cultivation, can, in some
measure, rival the rich in the cheapness and goodness
of its corn, it can pretend to no such competition in
its manufactures, at least if those manufactures

10 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK L

suit the soil, climate, and situation of the rich coun-
try. The silks of France are better and cheaper
than those of England, because the silk manufac-
ture, at least under the present high duties upon
the importation of raw silk, does not so well suit
the climate of England as that of France. But the
hard-ware and the coarse woollens of England are
beyond all comparison superior to those of France,
and much cheaper, too, in the same degree of good-
ness. In Poland there are said to be scarce any ma-
nufactures of any kind, a few of those coarser house-
hold manufactures excepted, without which no coun-
try can well subsist.

This great increase in the quantity of work, which,
in consequence of the division of labour, the same
number of people are capable of performing, is ow-
ing to three different circumstances ; first, to the in-
crease of dexterity in every particular workman; se-
condly, to the saving of the time which is commonly
lost in passing from one species of work to another ;
and, lastly, to the invention of a great number of
machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and
enable one man to do the work of many.

First, the improvement of the dexterity of the
workman necessarily increases the quantity of the
work he can perform ; and the division of labour,
by reducing every man's business to some one simple
operation, and by making this operation the sole
employment of his life, necessarily increases very
much the dexterity of the workman. A common
smith, who, though accustomed to handle the ham-
mer, has never been used to make nails, if, upon some
particular occasion, he is obliged to attempt it, will
scarce, I am assured, be able to make above two or

CHAP. I. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 11

three hundred nails in a day, and those, too, very
bad ones. A smith who has been accustomed to
make nails, but whose sole or principal business
has not been that of a nailer, can seldom, with
his utmost diligence, make more than eight hun-
dred or a thousand nails in a day. I have seen
several boys, under twenty years of age, who had
never exercised any other trade but that of mak-
ing nails, and who, when they exerted themselves,
could make, each of them, upwards of two thou-
sand three hundred nails in a day. The making
of a nail, however, is by no means one of the
simplest operations. The same person blows the
bellows, stirs or mends the fire as there is occa-
sion, heats the iron, and forges every part of the
nail : in forging the head, too, he is obliged to
change his tools. The different operations into
which the making of a pin, or of a metal button,
is subdivided, are all of them much more simple,
and the dexterity of the person, of whose life it has
been the sole business to perform them, is usually
much greater. The rapidity with which some of
the operations of those manufactures are performed,
exceeds what the human hand could, by those who
had never seen them, be supposed capable of ac-
quiring.

Secondly, the advantage which is gained by sav-
ing the time commonly lost in passing from one sort
of work to another, is much greater than we should
at first view be apt to imagine it. It is impossible to
pass very quickly from one kind of work to another,
that is carried on in a different place, and with quite
different tools. A country weaver, who cultivates a
small farm? must lose a good deal of time in pass-

12 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

ing from his loom to the field, and from the field
to his loom. When the two trades can be car-
ried on in the same workhouse, the loss of time
is, no doubt, much less. It is, even in this case,
however, very considerable. A man commonly
saunters a little in turning his hand from one sort
of employment to another. When he first begins
the new work, he is seldom very keen and hearty ;
his mind, as they say, does not go to it, and for
some time he rather trifles than applies to good
purpose. The habit of sauntering, and of indolent
careless application, which is naturally, or rather
necessarily, acquired by every country workman
who is obliged to change his work and his tools
every half hour, and to apply his hand in twenty
different ways almost every day of his life, renders
him almost always slothful and lazy, and incapable
of any vigorous application, even on the most press-
ing occasions. Independent, therefore, of his defi-
ciency in point of dexterity, this cause alone must
always reduce considerably the quantity of work
which he is capable of performing.

Thirdly, and lastly, every body must be sensible
how much labour is facilitated and abridged by the
application of proper machinery. It is unnecessary
to give any example. I shall only observe, there-
fore, that the invention of all those machines by
which labour is so much facilitated and abridged,
seems to have been originally owing to the division
of labour. Men are much more likely to discover
easier and readier methods of attaining any object,
when the whole attention of their minds is directed
towards that single object, than when it is dissipated
among a great variety of things. But, in conse-

CHAP. I. DIVISION OF LABOUR. IS

quence of the division of labour, the whole of
every man's attention comes naturally to be di-
rected towards some one very simple object. It
is naturally to be expected, therefore, that some
one or other of those who are employed in each
particular branch of labour should soon find out
easier and readier methods of performing their own
particular work, wherever the nature of it admits
of such improvement. A great part of the ma-
chines made use of in those manufactures in which
labour is most subdivided, were originally the in-
ventions of common workmen, who, being each of
them employed in some very simple operation, na-
turally turned their thoughts towards finding out
easier and readier methods of performing it. Whoever
has been much accustomed to visit such manufac-
tures, must frequently have been shewn very pretty
machines, which were the inventions of such work-
men, in order to facilitate and quicken their own
particular part of the work. In the first fire-
engines, a boy was constantly employed to open
and shut alternately the communication between the
boiler and the cylinder, according as the piston
either ascended or descended. One of those boys,
who loved to play with his companions, observed
that, by tying a string from the handle of the valve
which opened this communication to another part
of the machine, the valve would open and shut with-
out his assistance, and leave him at liberty to divert
himself with his play-fellows. One of the greatest
improvements that has been made upon this ma-
chine, since it was first invented, was in this manner
the discovery of a boy who wanted to save his own
labour.

14 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

All the improvements in machinery, however,
have by no means been the inventions of those
who had occasion to use the machines. Many
improvements have been made by the ingenuity
of the makers of the machines, when to make
them became the business of a peculiar trade;
and some by that of those who are called philo-
sophers, or men of speculation, whose trade it is
not to do any thing, but to observe every thing,
and who, upon that account, are often capable
of combining together the powers of the most
distant and dissimilar objects. In the progress
of society, philosophy or speculation becomes, like
every other employment, the principal or sole
trade and occupation of a particular class of citi-
zens. Like every other employment, too, it is
subdivided into a great number of different branches,
each of which affords occupation to a peculiar tribe
or class of philosophers ; and this subdivision of
employment in philosophy, as well as in every
other business, improves dexterity, and saves time.
Each individual becomes more expert in his own
peculiar branch, more work is done upon the
whole, and the quantity of science is considerably
increased by it.

It is the great multiplication of the produc-
tions of all the different arts, in consequence of
the division of labour, which occasions, in a well
governed society, that universal opulence which
extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.
Every workman has a great quantity of his own
work to dispose of beyond what he himself has
occasion for ; and every other workman being ex-
actly in the same situation, he is enabled to ex.-

CHAP. I. DIVISION OP LABOUR. 15

change a great quantity of his own goods for a
great quantity, or, what comes to the same thing,
for the price of a great quantity of theirs. He
supplies them abundantly with what they have
occasion for, and they accommodate him as amply
with what he has occasion for, and a general plenty
diffuses itself through all the different ranks of the
society.

Observe the accommodation of the most common
artificer or day labourer in a civilized and thriv-
ing country, and you will perceive that the num-
ber of people, of whose industry a part, though
but a small part, has been employed in procur-
ing him this accommodation, exceeds all compu-
tation. The woollen coat, for example, which
covers the day labourer, as coarse and rough as
it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour
of a great multitude of workmen. The shepherd,
the sorter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder,
the dyer, the scribbler, the spinner, the weaver,
the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must
all join their different arts in order to complete
even this homely production. How many mer-
chants and carriers, besides, must have been em-
ployed in transporting the materials from some of
those workmen to others who often live in a very
distant part of the country ? How much commerce
and navigation in particular, how many ship-build-
ers, sailors, sail-makers, rope-makers, must have
been employed in order to bring together the dif-
ferent drugs made use of by the dyer, which of-
ten come from the remotest corners of the world ?
What a variety of labour, too, is necessary in order

16 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

to produce the tools of the meanest of those work-
men ? To say nothing of such complicated machines
as the ship of the sailor, the mill of the fuller, or
even the loom of the weaver, let us consider only
what a variety of labour is requisite in order to
form that very simple machine, the shears with
which the shepherd clips the wool. The miner,
the builder of the furnace for smelting the ore,
the feller of the timber, the burner of the charcoal
to be made use of in the smelting- house, the brick-
maker, the brick- layer, the workmen who attend
the furnace, the mill-wright, the forger, the smith,
must all of them join their different arts in order
to produce them. Were we to examine, in the
same manner, all the different parts of his dress
and household furniture, the coarse linen shirt which
he wears next his skin, the shoes which cover his
feet, the bed which he lies on, and all the different
parts which compose it, the kitchen-grate at which
he prepares his victuals, the coals which he makes
use of for that purpose, dug from the bowels of
the earth, and brought to him, perhaps, by a long
sea and a long land-carriage, all the other utensils of
his kitchen, all the furniture of his table, the knives
and forks, the earthen or pewter plates upon which
he serves up and divides his victuals, the different
hands employed in preparing his bread and his beer,
the glass window which lets in the heat and the light,
and keeps out the wind and the rain, with all the
knowledge and art requisite for preparing that beau-
tifuland happy invention, without which these north-
ern parts of the world could scarce have affoi ued
a very comfortable habitation, together with the

CHAP. I. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 17

tools of all the different workmen employed in pro-
ducing those different conveniences ; if we examine,
I say, all these things, and consider what a variety
of labour is employed about each of them, we shall
be sensible that, without the assistance and co-ope-
ration of many thousands, the very meanest person
in a civilized country, could not be provided, even
according to, what we very falsely imagine, the easy
and simple manner in which he is commonly accom-
modated. Compared, indeed, with the more extra-
vagant luxury of the great, his accommodation must
no doubt appear extremely simple and easy ; and yet
it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of
an European prince does not always so much exceed
that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the ac-
commodation of the latter exceeds that of many an
African king, the absolute masters of the lives and

O7

liberties often thousand naked savages.

CHAP. II.

Of the principle which gives occasion to the divi-
sion of Labour.

THIS division of labour, from which so many ad-
vantages are derived, is not originally the effect of
any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that
general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is
the necessary, though very slow and gradual, conse-
quence of a certain propensity in human nature,
which has in view no such extensive utility ; the
propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing
for another.

VOL. i. u

18 PRINCIPLE WHICH CAUSES BOOK I.

Whether this propensity be one of those original
principles in human nature, of which no further ac-
count can be given, or whether, as seems more pro-
bable, it be the necessary consequence of the facul-
ties of reason and speech, it belongs not to our pre-
sent subject to inquire. It is common to all men,
and to be found in no other race of animals, which
seem to know neither this nor any other species of
cohtractsT Two greyhounds, in running down the
same hare, have sometimes the appearance of acting
in some sort of concert. Each turns her towards
his companion, or endeavours to intercept her when
his companion turns her towards himself. This,
however, is not the effect of any contract, but of
the accidental concurrence of their passions in the
-same object at that particular time. Nobody ever
saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of
one bone for another with another dog. Nobody
ever saw one animal, by its gestures and natural
cries, signify to another, this is mine, that yours ; I
am willing to give this for that. When an animal
wants to obtain something either of a man, or of an-
other animal, it has no other means of persuasion,
but to gain the favour of those whose service it re-
quires. A puppy fawns upon its dam, and a spaniel
endeavours, by a thousand attractions, to engage
the attention of its master who is at dinner, when it
wants to be fed by him. Man sometimes uses the
same arts, with hisbrethren, and when hehas noother
means of engaging them to act according to his incli-
nations, endeavours by every servile and fawning at-
tention to obtain their good will. He has not time,
however, to do this upon every occasion. In civilized
society he stands at all times in need of the co opera-

"~~^s^ *•

CHAP. II. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 19

tion and assistance of great multitudes, while his
whole life is scarce sufficient to gain the friendship
of a few persons. In almost every other race of .ani-
mals, eaxjh individual, when it is grown up to matu-
rity, is entirelyjudependent, and its natural state
has occasion for the assistance of no other living
creature. But man has almost constant occasion for
the help of hisHBretfirehT aTictit is in vain for him to
expect it fromTtKeir Benevolence only. He will be
more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-
love in his favour, and shew them that it is for their
own advantage to do for him what he requires of
them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any
kind, proposes to do this. .^riv*1 rue— that which I
want, arid you shall have this which you want^jjjjJia.
IBaeanjng^feye.r^such otter ; anofit is in this manner
that we obtain from one another the far_greater part
ofthgsg good offices which, .we standin new! ni/gft-
is not from the benevolencejrfthe butcher, the brew-
er, or the baker, that we expectour dinner,j3uJj(jQm,
their regard to fneifown interest, w e address our-
selves, not to their hnnnariityr but to their self-love,
and never talk t" frhejn of ™™ "wn npnpgsiries, hut
of their advantages!] Nobody but a beggar chuses
fhipfly npnnTTi'p hpnpvnIiHif'fl ^f his fHl^-

^citizens. Even a beggar does not depend upon it
entirely. The charity of well-disposed people, indeed,
supplies him with the whole fund of his subsistence.
But though this principle ultimately provides him
with all the necessaries of life which he has occasion
for, it neither does nor can provide him with them
as he has occasion for them. The greater part of
his occasional wants are supplied in the same manner
as those of other people, by treaty, by barter, and

t

20 PRINCIPLE WHICH CAUSES BOOK I,

by purchase. With the money which one man gives
him he purchases food. The old clothes which an-
other bestows upon him he exchanges for other
clothes which suit him better, or for lodging, or for
food, or for money, with which he can buy either
food, clothes, or lodging, as he has occasion.

As it is by treaty, by barter, and by purchase,
that we obtain from one another the greater part of
those mutual good offices which we stand in need
of, so it is this same trucking disposition which ori-
ginally gives occasion to the division of labour. In
a tribe of hunters or shepherds, a particular person
makes bows and arrows, for example, with more
readiness and dexterity than any other. He fre-
quently exchanges them for cattle or for venison
with his companions ; and he finds at last that he
can, in this manner, get more cattle and venison,
than if he himself went to the field to catch them.
From a regard to his own interest, therefore, the
making of bows and arrows grows to be his chief
business, and he becomes a sort of armourer. An-
other excels in making the frames and covers of their
little huts or moveable houses. He is accustomed
to be of use in this way to his neighbours, who re-
ward him in the same manner with cattle and with
venison, till at last he finds it his interest to dedicate
himself entirely to this employment, and to become
a sort of house-carpenter. In the same manner a third
becomes a smith or a brazier ; a fourth, a tanner or
dresser of hides or skins, the principal part of the
clothing of savages. And thus the certainty of being
able to exchange all that surplus part of the produce
of his own labour, which is over and above his own
consumption, for such parts of the produce of other

CHAP. II. DIVISION OF LABOUR. 21

men's labour as he may have occasion for, encou-
rages every man to apply himself to a particular oc-
cupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection
whatever talent or genius he may possess for that
particular species of business.
k The difference of natural talents in different men,
is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and
the very different genius which appears to distinguish
men of different professions, when grown up to ma-
turity, is not upon many occasions so much the cause,
as the effect of the division of labour. The difference
between the most dissimilar characters, between a
philosopher and a common street porter, for example,
seems to arise not so much from

habit, custom, and education. When they came into
the world, and for the first ^six or eight years of their
existence, they were, perhaps, very much alike, and
neither their parents nor playfellows could perceive
any remarkable difference. About that age, or soon
after, they come to be employed in very different
occupations. The difference of talents comes then
to be taken notice of, and widens by degrees, till at
last the vanity of the philosopher is willing to ac-
knowledge scarce any resemblance. But without the
disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, every man
must have procured to himself every necessary and
conveniency of life which he wanted. All must have
had the same duties to perform, and the same work
to do, and there could have been no such difference
of employment as could alone give occasion to any
great difference of talents.

As itis this disposition which forms that difference
of talents, so remarkable among men of different pro-
fessions, so it is this same disposition which renders

22 PRINCIPLE OF DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

that difference useful. Many tribes of animals, ac-
knowledged to be all of the same species, derive from,
nature a much more remarkabledistinction of genius,
than what, antecedent to custom and education, ap-
pears to take place among men. By nature a phi-
losopher is not in genius and disposition half so dif-
ferent from a street porter, as a mastiff i.s from a grey-
hound, or a greyhoundfrom a spaniel, orthis last from
a shepherd's dog. Those different tribes of animals,
however, though all of the same species, are of scarce
any use to one another. The strength of the mastiff
is not in theleast supported either by the swiftness of
the greyhound, or by the sagacity of the spaniel, or
by the docility of the shepherd's dog. The effects of
those different geniuses and talents, for \vant of the
power or disposition to barter and exchange, cannot
be brought into a common stock, and do not in the
least contribute to the better accommodation d
conveniency of thespecies. Each animal is still oblig-
ed to support and defend itself, separately and inde-
pendently, andderives no sort of ad vantage from that
variety of talents with which nature has distinguished*
its fellows. Among men, on the contrary, the most
dissimilar geniuses are of use to one another ; the
different produces of their respective talents, by the
general disposition to truck, barter, and exchange,
being brought, as it were, into a common stock,
where every man may purchase whatever part of the
produce of other men's talents he has occasion for.

CHAP. III. LIMITS TO DIVISION OF LABOUR. 23

CHAP. III.

That the division of labour is limited by the extent
of the market.

As it is the power of exchanging that gives occasion
to the division of labour, so the extent of this divi-
sion must always be limited by the extent of that
power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market.
When the market is very small, no person can have
any encouragement to dedicate himself en tirelytoone
employment, for want of the power to exchange all
that surplus part of the produce of his own labour,
which is over and above his own consumption, for
such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he
has occasion for.

. There are some sorts of industry, even of the low-
est kind, which can be carried on nowhere but in a
great town. A porter, for example, can find employ-
ment and subsistence in no other place. A village is
by much too narrow a sphere for him ; even an ordi-
nary market town is scarce large enough to afford
him constant occupation. In the lone houses and very
small villages which are scattered about in so desert
a country as the highlands of Scotland, every farmer
must be butcher, baker, and brewer, for his own fami-
ly. In such situations we can scarce expect to find
even a smith, a carpenter, ora mason, within less than
twenty miles of another of the same trade. The scat-
tered families that live at eight or ten miles distance
from the nearest of them, mustlearnto perform them-
selves a great number of little pieces of work, for

24 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

which, in more populous countries, they would call
in the assistance of those workmen. Country work-
men are almost everywhere obliged to apply them-
selves to all the differentbrarichesof industry thathave
so much affinity to one an other as to be employedabout
the same sort of materials. A country carpenter deals
in every sort of work that is made of wood ; a coun-
try smith in every sort of work that is made of iron.
The former is not only a carpenter, but a joiner, a
cabinet-maker, and even a carver in wood, as well as
a wheel-wright, a plough-wright, a cart and waggon
maker. The employments of the latter are still more
various. It is impossible there should be such a trade
as even that of a nailer in the remote and inland parts
of the highlands of Scotland. Such a workman at
the rate of a thousand nails a-day, and three hundred
working days in the year, will make three hundred
thousand nails in the year. But in such a situation
it would be impossible to dispose of one thousand,
that is, of one day's work in the year.

As by means of water carriage, a more extensive
market is opened to every sort of industry than what
land carriage alone can afford it, so it is upon the sea-
coast, and along the banks of navigable rivers, that
industry of every kind naturally begins to subdivide
and improve itself, and it is frequently not till a long
time after thatthose improvementsextend themselves
to the inland parts of the country. A broad-wheeled
waggon, attended by two men, and drawn by eight
horses, in about six weeks time, carries and brings
back between London and Edinburgh near four ton
weight of goods. In about the same time a ship na-
vigated by six or eight men, and sailing between the
ports of London and Leith, frequently carries and

CHAP. III. LIMITED BY EXTENT OP MARKET. 25

brings back two hundred ton weight of goods. Six
or eight men, therefore, by the help of water car-
riage, can carry and bring back, in the same time,
the same quantity of goods between London and
Edinburgh as fifty broad-wheeled waggons, attend-
ed by a hundred men, and drawn by four hundred
horses. Upon two hundred tons of goods therefore,
carried by the cheapest land carriage from London
to Edinburgh, there must be charged the mainten-
ance of a hundred men for three weeks, and both
the maintenance, and what is nearly equal to main-
tenance, the wear and tear of four hundred horses,
as well as of fifty great waggons. Whereas, upon
the same quantity of goods carried by water, there
is to be charged only the maintenance of six or
eight men, and the wear and tear of a ship of two
hundred tons burthen, together with the value of
the superior risk, or the difference of the insurance
between land and water carriage. Were there no
other communication between those two places,
therefore, but by land carriage, as no goods could
be transported from the one to the other, except
such whose price was very considerable in proportion
to their weight, they could carry on but a small
part of that commerce which at present subsists be-
tween them, and consequently could give but a small
part of that encouragement which they at present
mutually afford to each other's industry. There could
be little or no commerce of any kind between the
distant parts of the world. What goods could bear
the expense of land carriage between London and
Calcutta ? Or if there were any so precious as to
be able to support this expense, with what safety
could they be transported through the territories of

26 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

so many barbarous nations ? Those two cities, how-
ever, at present carry on a very considerable com-
merce with each other, and by mutually affording a
market, give a good deal of encouragement to each
other's industry.

Since such, therefore, are the advantages of water
carriage, it is natural that the first improvements of
art and industry should be made where this conveni-
ency opens the whole world for a market to the pro-
duce of every sort of labour, and that they should
always be much later in extending themselves into
the inland parts of the country. The inland parts
of the country can for a long time have no other
market for the greater part of their goods, but the
country which lies round about them, and separates
them from the sea-coast, and the great navigable
rivers. The extent of the market, therefore, must
for a long time be in proportion to the riches and
populousness of that country, and consequently their
improvement must always be posterior to the im-
provement of that country. In our North Ameri-
can colonies, the plantations have constantly fol-
lowed either the sea- coast, or the banks of the na-
vigable rivers, and have scarce anywhere extended
themselves to any considerable distance from both.

The nations that, according to the best authen-
ticated history, appear to have been first civi-
lized, were those that dwelt round the coast of
the Mediterranean sea. That sea, by far the
greatest inlet that is known in the world, having
no tides, nor consequently any waves, except such
as are caused by the wind only, was, by the
smoothness of its surface, as well as by the mul-
titude of its islands, and the proximity of its

GHAP. III. LIMITED BY EXTENT OF MARKET. 27

neighbouring shores, extremely favourable to the in-
fant navigation of the world ; when, from their ig-
norance of the compass, men were afraid to quit the
view of the coast, and from the imperfection of the
art of ship-building, to abandon themselves to the
boisterous waves of the ocean. To pass beyond the
pillars of Hercules, that is, to sail out of the straits
of Gibraltar, was, in the ancient world, long consi-
dered as a most wonderful and dangerous exploit of
navigation. It was late before even the Phoenicians
and Carthaginians, the most skilful navigators and
ship-builders of those old times, attempted it, and
they were, for a long time, the only nations that did
attempt it.

Of all the countries on the coast of the Mediter-
ranean sea, Egypt seems to have been the first in
which either agriculture or manufactures were culti-
vated and improved to any considerable degrea Up-
per Egypt extends itself nowhere above a few miles
from the Nile, and in Lower Egypt, that great river
breaks itself into many different canals, which, with
the assistance of a little art, seem to have afforded a
communication by water carriage, notonly bet ween all
the great towns, but between all the considerable vil-
lages, and even to many farm-houses in the country,
nearly in the same manner as the Rhine and the Maese
do in Holland at present. The extent and easiness of
this inland navigation was probably one of the prin-
cipal causes of the early improvement of Egypt.

The improvementsin agriculture and manufactures
seem likewise to have been of very great antiquity
in the provinces of Bengal in the East Indies, and
in some of the eastern provinces of China, though
the great extent of this antiquity is not authenticated

28 DIVISION OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

by any histories of whose authority we, in this part
of the world, are well assured. In Bengal, the
Ganges, and several other great rivers, form a great
number of navigable canals, in the same manner as
the Nile does in Egypt. In the eastern provinces of
China, too, several great rivers form, by their dif-
ferent branches, a multitude of canals, and, by com-
municating with one another, afford an inland navi-
gation much more extensive than that either of the
Nile or the Ganges, or, perhaps, than both of them
put together. It is remarkable, that neither the an-
cient Egyptians, nor the Indians, nor the Chinese,
encouraged foreign commerce, but seem all to have
derived their great opulence from this inland navi-
gation.

All the inland parts of Africa, and all that part of
Asia which lies any considerable way north of the
Euxine and Caspian seas, the ancient Scythia, the
modern Tartary and Siberia, seem, in all ages of the
world, to have been in the same barbarous and unci-
vilized state in which we find them at present. The
sea of Tartary is the frozen ocean, which admits of no
navigation, and though some of the greatest rivers in
the world run through that country, they are at too
great a distance from one another to carry commerce
and communication through the greater part of it.
There are in Africa none of those great inlets, such
as the Baltic and Adriatic seas in Europe, the Medi-
terranean and Euxine seas in both Europe and Asia,
and the gulfs of Arabia, Persia, India, Bengal, and
Siam, in Asia, to carry maritime commerce into the
interior parts of that great continent ; and the great
rivers of Africa are too great a distance from one
another to give occasion to any considerable inland

CHAP. III. LIMITED BY EXTENT OF MARKET. 29

navigation. The commerce, besides, which any nation
can carry on by means of a river which does not
break itself into any great number of branches or ca-
nals, and which runs into another territory before it
reaches the sea, can never be very considerable, be-
cause it is always in the power of the nations who
possess that other territory to obstruct the communi-
cation between the upper country and the sea. The
navigation of the Danube is of very little use to the
different states of Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary, in
comparison of what it would be, if any of them pos-
sessed the whole of its course, till it falls into the
Black sea.

CHAP. IV.

Of the Origin and Use of Money.

WHEN the division of labour has been once tho-
roughly established, it is but a very small part of a
man's wants which the produce of his own labour can
supply. He supplies the far greater part of them by
exchanging that surplus part of the produce of his
own labour, which is over and above his own con-
sumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's
labour as he has occasion for. Every man thus lives
by exchanging, or becomes, in some measure, a mer-
chant, and the society itself grows to be what is
properly a commercial society.

But when the division of labour first began to take
place, this power of exchanging must frequently
have been very much clogged and embarrassed in its

30 ORIGIN AND USE BOOK I,

operations. One man, we shall suppose, has more
of a certain commodity than he himself has occasion
for, while another has less. The former, consequently,
would be glad to dispose of, and the latter to pur-
chase, a part of this superfluity. But if this latter
should chance to have nothing that the former stands
in need of, no exchange can be made between them.
The butcher has more meat in his shop than he him-
self can consume, and the brewer and the baker
would each of them be willing to purchase a part of
it. But they have nothing to offer in exchange,
except the different productions of their respective
trades, and the butcher is already provided with all
the bread and beer which he has immediate occasion
for. No exchange can, in this case, be made be-
tween them. He cannot be their merchant, nor they
his customers : and they are all of them thus mutually
less serviceable to one another. In order to avoid the
inconveniency of such situations, every prudent man in
every period of society, after the first establishment of
the division of labour, mustnaturally have endeavour-
ed to manage his affairs in such a manner, as to have
at all times by him, besides the peculiar produce of
his own industry, a certain quantity of some one
commodity or other, such as he imagined few people
would be likely to refuse in exchange for the produce
of their industry. Many different commodities, it is
probable, were successively both thought of and em-
ployed for this purpose. In the rude ages of society,
cattle are said to have been the common instrument of
commerce ; and, though they must have been a most
inconvenientone, yet, in old times, wefind things were
frequently valued according to the number of cattle
which had been given in exchange for them. The

CHAP, IV. OF MONEY. 31

armourofDiomede, says Homer, costonlynine oxen;
but that of Glaucus cost an hundred oxen. Salt is
said to be the common instrument of commerce and
exchanges in Abyssinia; a species of shells in some
parts of the coast of India ; dried cod at Newfound-
land ; tobacco in Virginia ; sugarin some of our West
India colonies ; hides or dressed leather in some-other
countries ; and there is at this day a village in Scot-
land, where it is not uncommon, 1 am told, for a
workman to carry nails instead of money to the
baker's shop or the ale-house.

In all countries, however, men seem at last to
have been determined by irresistible reasons to give
the preference, for this employment, to metals above
every other commodity. Metals can not only be
kept with as little loss as any other commodity,
scarce any thing being less perishable than they are,
but they can likewise, without any loss, be divided
into any number of parts, as by fusion those parts can
easily be re-united again ; a quality which no other
equally durable commodities possess, and which,
more than any other quality, renders them fit to be
the instruments of commerce and circulation. The
man who wanted to buy salt, for example, and had
nothing but cattle to give in exchange for it, must
have been obliged to buy salt to the value of a whole
ox, or a whole sheep, at a time. He could seldom
buy less than this, because what he was to give for
it could seldom be divided without loss ; and if he
had a mind to buy more, he must, for the same rea-
sons, have been obliged to buy double or triple the
quantity, the value, to-vvit, of two or three oxen, or
of two or three sheep. If, on the contrary, instead of
sheep or oxen, he had metals to give in exchange for

32 ORIGIN AND USE HOOK I.

it, he could easily proportion the quantity of the
metal to the precise quantity of the commodity
which he had immediate occasion for.

Different metals have been made use of by diffe-
rent nations for this purpose. Iron was the common
instrument of commerceamong the ancient Spartans,
copper among the ancient Romans, and gold and sil-
ver among all rich and commercial nations.

Those metals seem originally to have been made
use of for this purpose in rude bars, without any
stamp or coinage. Thus we are told by Pliny*, up-
on the authority of Timaeus, an ancient historian,
that, till the time of Servius Tullius, the Romans
had no coined money, but made use of unstamped
bars of copper, to purchase whatever they had occa-
sion for. These rude bars, therefore, performed at
this time the function of money.

The use of metals in this rude state was attended
with two very considerable inconveniences; first,
with the trouble of weighing, and, secondly, with
that of assaying them. In the precious metals,
where a small difference in the quantity makes a
great difference in the value, even the business of
weighing, with proper exactness, requires at least
very accurate weights and scales. The weighing
of gold, in particular, is an operation of some nice-
ty. In the coarser metals, indeed, where a small
error would be of little consequence, less accura-
cy would, no doubt, be necessary. Yet we should
find it excessively troublesome, if every time a poor
man had occasion either to buy or sell a farthing's
worth of goods, he was obliged to weigh the far-
thing. The operation of assaying is still more dif-

* PHn. Hist. Nat. lib. 33. cap. 3.

CHAP. IV. OF MONEY. 33

ficult, still more tedious ; and, unless a part of the
metal is fairly melted in the crucible, with proper
dissolvents, any conclusion that can be drawn from
it, is extremely uncertain. Before the institution
of coined money, however, unless they went through
this tedious and difficult operation, people must al-
ways have been liable to the grossest frauds and
impositions, and instead of a pound weight of pure
silver, or pure copper, might receive, in exchange
for their goods, an adulterated composition of the
coarsest and cheapest materials, which had, how-
ever, in their outward appearance, been made to re-
semble those metals. To prevent such abuses, to
facilitate exchanges, and^thereby to encourage all
sorts of industry and commerce, it has been found
necessary, in all countries that have made any consi-
derable advances towards improvement, to affix a pub-
lic stamp upon certain quantities of such particular
metals, as were in those countries commonly made use
of to purchase goods. Hence the origin of coined
money, andof thosepublicofficescalledmints; institu-
tions exactly of the same nature with those of the aul-
nagers and stamp-masters of woollen and linen cloth.
Allofthemare equally meant toascertain, by means of
a public stamp, the quantity and uniform goodnessof
those different commodities when brought to market

The first public stamps of this kind that were af-
fixed to the current metals, seem in many cases to
have been intended to ascertain, what it was both
most difficult and most important to ascertain, the
goodness or fineness of the metal, and to have resem-
bled the sterling mark which is at present affixed to
plate and bars of silver, or the Spanish mark which

VOL. i. c

34 ORIGIN AND USE BOOK I.

is sometimes affixed to ingots of gold, and which,
being struck only upon one side of the piece, and not
covering the whole surface, ascertains the fineness,
but not the weight of the metal. Abraham weighs
to Ephron the four hundred shekels of silver which
he had agreed to pay for the field of Machpelah.
They are said, however, to be the current money of
the merchant, and yet are received by weight, and
not by tale, in the same manner as ingots of gold
and bars of silver are at present. The revenues of
the ancient Saxon kings of England are said to have
been paid, not in money, but in kind, that is, in vic-
tuals and provisions of all -sorts. William the Con-
queror introduced the custom of paying them in mo-
ney. This money, however, was, for a long time, re-
ceived at the exchequer, by weight, and not by tale.

The inconveniency and difficulty of weighing those
metals with exactness, gave occasion to the institu-
tion of coins, of which the stamp, covering entirely
both sides of the piece, and sometimes the edges too,
was supposed to ascertain not only the fineness, but
the weight of the metal. Such coins, therefore,
were received by tale, as at present, without the
trouble of weighing.

The denominations of those coins seem originally
to have expressed the weight or quantity of metal
contained in them. In the time of Servius Tullius,
who first coined money at Rome, the Roman as or
pondo contained a Roman pound of good copper.
It was divided, in the same manner as our Troyes
pound, into twelve ounces, each of which contained
a real ounce of good copper. The English pound
sterling, in the time of Edward I. contained a pound,
Tower weight, of silver of a known fineness. The

CHAP. II. OF MONEY. 35

Tower pound seems to have been something more
than the Roman pound, and something less than the
Troyes pound. This last was not introduced into the
mint of England till the 18th of Henry VIII. The
French livre contained, in the time of Charlemagne,
a pound, Troyes weight, of silver of a known fine-
ness. The fair of Troyes in Champaign was at that
time frequented by all the nations of Europe, and
the weights and measures of so famous a market
were generally known and esteemed. The Scots
money pound contained, from the time of Alexander
the First to that of Robert Bruce, a pound of silver
of the same weight and fineness with the English
pound sterling. English, French, and Scots pennies,
too, contained all of them originally a real penny-
weight of silver, the twentieth part of an ounce, and
the two hundred-and-fortieth part of a pound. The
shilling, too, seems originally to have been the deno-
mination of a weight. When wheat is at twelve shil-
lings the quarter, saysan ancient statuteof Henry HI.
then wastel bread of afarthingshall weigh elevenshil-
lings andjourpence. The proportion, however, be-
tween the shilling, and either the penny on the one
hand, or the pound on the other, seems not to have
been so constant and uniform as that between the
penny and the pound. During the first race of the
kings of France, the French sou or shilling appears
upon different occasions tohavecontainedfive, twelve,
twenty, and forty pennies. Among the ancient Sax-
ons, a shilling appears at one time to have contained
only five pennies, and it is not improbable that it
may have been as variable among them as among
their neighbours, the ancient Franks. From the time

36 ORIGIN AND USE BOOK I.

of Charlemagne among the French, and from that of
William the Conqueror among the English, the pro-
portion between the pound, the shilling, and the pen-
ny, seems to have been uniformly the same as at
present, though the value of each has been very dif-
ferent ; for in every country of the world, 1 believe,
the avarice and injustice of princes and sovereign
states, abusing the confidence of their subjects, have
by degrees diminished the real quantity of metal,
which had been originally contained in their coins.
The Roman as, in the latter ages of the republic,
was reduced to the twenty- fourth part of its original
value, and, instead of weighing a pound, came to
weigh only half an ounce. The English pound and
penny contain at present about a third only ; the
Scots pound and penny about a thirty- sixth; and the
French pound and penny about a sixty- sixth part of
their original value. By means of those operations,
the princes and sovereign states which performed
them were enabled, in appearance, to pay their debts
and fulfil their engagements with a smaller quantity
of silver than would otherwise have been requisite.
It was indeed in appearance only ; for their creditors
were really defrauded of a part of what was due to
them. All other debtors in the state were allowed
the same privilege, and might pay with the same no-
minal sum of the new and debased coin whatever
they had borrowedinthe old. Such operations, there-
fore, have always proved favourable to the debtor,
and ruinous to the creditor, and have sometimes pro-
duced a greater and more universal revolution in the
fortunes of private persons, than could have been oc-
casioned by a very great public calamity.

CHA1*. IV. OF MONEY.

It is in this manner that money has become, in all
civilized nations, the universal instrument of com-
merce, by the intervention of which goods of all kinds
are bought and sold, or exchanged for one another.

What are the rules which men naturally observe,
in exchanging them either for money, or for one an-
other, I shall now proceed to examine. These rules
determine what may be called the relative or ex-
changeable value of goods.

The word VALUE, it is to be observed, has two
different meanings, and sometimes expresses the
utility of some particular object, and sometimes the
power of purchasing other goods which the posses-
sion of that object conveys. The one may be called
' value in use;' the other, ' value in exchange.'
The things which have the greatest value in use have
frequently little or no value in exchange ; and, on
the contrary, those which have the greatest value in
exchange have frequently little or no value in use.
Nothing is more useful than water ; but it will pur-
chase scarce any thing ; scarce any thing can be had
in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has
scarce any value in use ; but a very great quantity of
other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.

In order to investigate the principles which regu-
late the exchangeable value of commodities, I shall
endeavour to shew,

First, what is the real measure of this exchange-
able value ; or, wherein consists the real price of all
commodities.

Secondly, what are the different parts of which
this real price is composed or made up.

And, lastly, what are the different circumstances
which sometimes raise some or all of these different

38 ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY. BOOK 1.

parts of price above, and sometimes sink them below,
their natural or ordinary rate ; or, what are the causes
which sometimes hinder the market price, that is,
the actual price of commodities, from coinciding ex-
actly with what may be called their natural price.

1 shall endeavour to explain as fully and distinctly
as I can, those three subjects in the three following
chapters, for which I must very earnestly entreat
both the patience and attention of the reader; his
patience, in order to examine adetail which may,per-
haps, in some places, appear unnecessarily tedious ;
and his attention, in order to understand what may,
perhaps, after the fullest explication which I am ca-
pable of giving it, appear still in some degree ob-
scure. I am always willing to run some hazard of
being tedious, in order to be sure that 1 am perspi-
cuous ; and, after taking the utmost pains that I can
to be perspicuous, some obscurity may still appear to
remain upon a subject, in its own nature extremely
abstracted.

CHAP. V.

Of the real and nominal Price of Commodities, or of
their Price in Labour, and their Price in Money.

EVERY man is rich or poor according to the degree
in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries,
conveniencies, and amusements of human life. But
after the division of labour has once thoroughly
taken place, it is but a very small part of these with
which a man's own labour can supply him. The far

CHAP. V. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 39

greater part of them he must derive from the labour
of other people, and he must be rich or poor ac-
cording to the quantity of that labour which he can
command, or which he can afford to purchase. The
value of any commodity, therefore, to the person
who possesses it, and who means not to use or con-
sume it himself, but to exchange it for other com-
modities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it
enables him to purchase or command. Labour, there-
fore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value
of all commodities.

The real price of every thing, what every thing
really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is
the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every
thing is really worth to the man who has acquired
it, and who wants to dispose of it, or exchange it for
something else, is the toil and trouble which it can
save to himself, and which it can impose upon other
people. What is bought with money, or with goods,
is purchased by labour, as much as what we acquire
by the toil of our own body. That money, or those
goods, indeed, save us this toil. They contain the
value of a certain quantity of labour, which we ex-
change for what is supposed at the time to contain
the value of an equal quantity. Labour was the first
price, the original purchase-money that was paid for
all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by
labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally
purchased ; and its value, to those who possess it,
and who want to exchange it for some new produc-
tions, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour
which it can enable them to purchase or command.

Wealth, as Mr Hobbes says, is power. But the

40 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

person who either acquires, or succeeds to a great
fortune, does not necessarily acquire or succeed to
any political power, either civil or military. His for-
tune may, perhaps, afford him the means of acquir-
ing both; but the mere possession of that fortune does
not necessarily convey to him either. The power
which that possession immediately and directly con-
veys to him, is the power of purchasing a certain
command over all the labour, or over all the pro-
duce of labour which is then in the market. His
fortune is greater or less, precisely in proportion to
the extent of this power, or to the quantity either
of other men's labour, or, what is the same thing, of
the produce of other men's labour, which it enables
him to purchase or command. The exchangeable
value of every thing must always be precisely equal
to the extent of this power which it conveys to its
owner.

But though labour be the real measure of the ex-
changeable value of all commodities, it is not that by
which their value is commonly estimated. It is often
difficult to ascertain the proportion between two dif-
ferent quantities of labour. The time spent in two
different sorts of work will not always alone deter-
mine this proportion. The different degrees of hard-
ship endured, and of ingenuity exercised, must like-
wise be taken into account. There may be more
labour in an hour's hard work, than in two hours
easy business ; or in an hour's application to a trade
which it cost teBvyears labour to learn, than in a
month's industry, at an ordinary and obvious em-
ployment. But it is not easy to find any accurate
measure either of hardship or ingenuity. In exchang-

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 41

ing indeed the differentproductions of different sorts
of labour for one another, some allowance is com-
monly made for both. It is adjusted, however, not
by any accurate measure, but by the higgling and
bargaining of the market, according to that sort of
rough equality which, though not exact, is sufficient
for carrying on the business of common life.

Every commodity, besides, is more frequently ex-
changed for, and thereby compared with, other com-
modities, than with labour. It is more natural, there-
fore, to estimate its exchangeable value by the quan-
tity of some other commodity, than by that of the la-
bour which it can purchase. The greater part of
people, too, understand better what is meant by a
quantity of a particular commodity, than by a quan-
tity of labour. The one is a plain palpable object ;
the other an abstract notion, which, though it can be
made sufficiently intelligible, is not altogether so na-
tural and obvious.

But when barter ceases, and money has become
the common instrument of commerce, every parti-
cular commodity is more frequently exchanged for
money than for any other commodity. The butcher
seldom carries his beef or his mutton to the baker
or the brewer, in order to exchange them for bread
or for beer ; but he carries them to the market,
where he exchanges them for money, and afterwards
exchanges that money for bread and for beer. The
quantity of money which he gets for them regulates,
too, the quantity of bread and beer which he can af-
terwards purchase. It is more natural and obvious
to him, therefore, to estimate their value by the
quantity of money, the commodity for which he im-

42 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

mediately exchanges them, than by that of bread and
beer, the commodities for which he can exchange
them only by the intervention of anothercommodity;
and rather to say that his butcher's meat is worth
threepence or fourpence a pound, than that it is
worth three or four pounds of bread, or three or four
quarts of small beer. Hence it comes to pass, that
the exchangeable value of every commodity is more
frequently estimated by the quantity of money, than
by the quantity either of labour or of any other com-
modity which can be in exchange for it.

Gold and silver, however, like every other com-
modity, vary in their value ; are sometimes cheaper
and sometimes dearer, sometimes of easier and some-
times of more difficult purchase. The quantity of
labour which any particular quantity of them can
purchase or command, or the quantity of other goods
which it will exchange for, depends always upon the
fertility or barrenness of the mines which happen to
be known about the time when such exchanges are
made. The discovery of the abundant mines of A-
merica, reduced, in the sixteenth century, the value
of gold and silver in Europe to about a third of what
it had been before. As it cost less labour to bring
those metals from the mine to the market, so when
they were brought thither, they could purchase or
command less labour ; and this revolution in their
value, though perhaps the greatest, is by no means
the only one of which history gives some account.
But as a measure of quantity, such as the natural
foot, fathom, or handful, which is continually vary-
ing in its own quantity, can never be an accurate
measure of the quantity of other things ; so a com-

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 43

modity which is itself continually varying in its own
value, can never be an accurate measure of the value
of other commodities. Equal quantities of labour, at
all times and places, may be said to be of equal value
to the labourer. In his ordinary state of health.,
strength, and spirits ; in the ordinary degree of his
skill and dexterity, he must always lay down the
same portion of his ease, his liberty, and his happi-
ness. The price which he pays must always be the
same, whatever may be the quantity of goods which
he receives in return for it. Of these, indeed, it
may sometimes purchase a greater and sometimes a
smaller quantity ; but it is their value which varies,
not that of the labour which purchases them. At all
times and places, that is dear which it is difficult to
come at, or which it costs much labour to acquire ;
andthat cheap which is to be had easily, or with very
little labour. Labour alone therefore never varying
in its own value, is alone the ultimate and real stand-
ard by which the value of all commodities can at all
times and places be estimated and compared. It is
their real price ; money is their nominal price only.

But though equal quantities of labour are always
of equal value to the labourer, yet to the person who
employs him they appear sometimes to be of greater,
and sometimes of smaller value. He purchases them
sometimes with a greater, and sometimes with a
smaller quantity of goods, and to him the price of
labour seems to vary like that of all other things. It
appears to him dear in the one case, and cheap in the
other. In reality, however, it is the goods which
are cheap in the one case, and dear in the other.

In this popular sense, therefore, labour, like com-

44 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

modities, may be said to have a real and a nominal
price. Its real price may be said to consist in the
quantity of the necessaries and conveniences of life
which are given for it ; its nominal price, in the
quantity of money. The labourer is rich or poor, is
well or ill rewarded, in proportion to the real, not
to the nominal price of his labour.

The distinction between the real and the nominal
price of commodities and labour is not a matter of
mere speculation, but may sometimes be of consider-
able use in practice. The same real price is always
of the same value ; but on account of the variations
in the value of gold and silver, the same nominal
price is sometimes of very different values. When a
landed estate therefore, is sold with a reservation of
a perpetual rent, if it is intended that this rent should
always be of the same value, it is of importance to
the family in whose favour it is reserved, that it
should not consist in a particular sum of money. Its
value would in this case be liable to variations of two
different kinds : first, to those which arise from the
different quantities of gold and silver which are con-
tained at different times in coin of the same denomi-
nation ; and, secondly, to those which arise from the
different values of equal quantities of gold and silver
at different times.

Princes and sovereign states have frequently fan-
cied that they had a temporary interest to diminish
the quantity of pure metal contained in their coins ;
but they seldom have fancied that they had any to
augment it. The quantity of metal contained in the
coins, I believe of all nations, has accordingly been
almost continually diminishing, and hardly ever aug-

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 45

menting. Such variations, therefore, tend almost al-
ways to diminish the value of a money rent.

The discovery of the mines of America diminished
the value of gold and silver in Europe. This dimi-
nution, it iscommonly supposed, though I apprehend
without any certain proof, is still going on gradually,
and is likely to continue to do so for a long time.
Upon this supposition, therefore, such variations are
more likely to diminish than to augment the value of
a money rent, even though it should be stipulated to
be paid, not in such a quantity of coined money of
such a denomination (in so many pounds sterling, for
example), but in so many ounces, either of pure sil-
ver, or of silver of a certain standard.

The rents which have been reserved in corn, have
preserved their value much better than those which
have been reserved in money, even where the deno-
mination of the coin has not been altered. By the
18th of Elizabeth, it was enacted, that a third of the
rent of all college leases should be reserved in corn,
to be paid either in kind, or according to the current
prices at the nearest public market. The money aris-
ing from this corn rent, though originally but a third
of the whole, is, in the present times, according to
Dr Blackstone, commonly near double of what arises
from the other two thirds. The old money rents of
colleges must, according to this account, have sunk
almost to a fourth part of their ancient value, or are
worth little more than a fourth part of the corn which
they were formerly worth. But since the reign of
Philip and Mary, the denomination of the English
coin has undergone little or no alteration, and the
same number of pounds, shillings, and pence, have

46 *EAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

contained very nearly the same quantity of pure sil-
ver. This degradation, therefore, in the value of the
money rents of colleges, has arisen altogether from
the degradation in the price of silver.

When the degradation in the value of silver is
combined with the diminution of the quantity of it
contained in the coin of the same denomination, the
loss is frequently still greater. In Scotland, where
the denomination of the coin has undergone much
greater alterations than it ever did in England, and
in France, where it has undergone still greater than
it ever did in Scotland, some ancient rents, originally
of considerable value, have, in this manner, been re-
duced almost to nothing.

Equal quantities of labour will, at distant times, be
purchased more nearly with equal quantities of corn,
the subsistence of the labourer, than with equal quan-
tities of gold and silver, or, perhaps, of any other com-
modity. Equal quantities of corn, therefore, will, at
distant times, be more nearly of the same real va-
lue, or enable the possessor to purchase or command
more nearly the same quantity of the labour of other
people. They will do this, I say, more nearly than
equal quantities of almost any other commodity ; for
even equal quantities of corn will not do it exactly.
The subsistence of the labourer, or the real price of
labour, as I shall endeavour to shew hereafter, is
very different upon different occasions ; more liberal
in a society advancing to opulence, than in one that
is standing still, and in one that is standing still, than
in one that is going backwards. Every other com-
modity, however, will, at any particular time, pur-
chase a greater or smaller quantity of labour, in pro-

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 47

portion to the quantity of subsistence which it can
purchase at that time. A rent, therefore, reserved
in corn, is liable only to the variations in the quan-
tity of labour which a certain quantity of corn can
purchase. But a rent reserved in any other com-
modity is liable, not only to the variations in the
quantity of labour which any particular quantity of
corn can purchase, but to the variations in the quan-
tity of corn which can be purchased by any particu-
lar quantity of that commodity.

Though the real value of a corn rent, it is to be
observed, however, varies much less from century to
century than that of a money rent, it varies much
more from year to year. The money price of labour,
as I shall endeavour to shew hereafter, does not fluc-
tuate from year to year with the money price of corn,
but seems to be everywhere accommodated, not to
the temporary or occasional, but to the average or
ordinary price of that necessary of life. The average
or ordinary price of corn, again, is regulated, as I
shall likewise endeavour to shew hereafter, by the
value of silver, by the richness or barrenness of the
mines which supply the market with that metal, or
by the quantity of labour which must be employed,
and consequently of corn which must be consumed,
in order to bring any particular quantity of silver
from the mine tolhe market. But the value of silver,
though it sometimes varies greatly from century to
century, seldom varies much from year to year, but
frequently continues the same, or very nearly the
same, for half a century or a century together. The
ordinary or average money price of corn, therefore,
may, during so long a period, continue the same, or
very nearly the same, too, and along with it the mo-

48 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

ney price of labour, provided, at least, the society
continues, in other respects, in the same, or nearly
in the same, condition. In the mean time, the tempo-
rary and occasional price of corn may frequently be
double, one year, of what it had been the year be-
fore, or fluctuate, for example, from five- and- twenty
to fifty shillings the quarter. But when corn is at
the latter price, not only the nominal, but the real
value of a corn rent, will be double of what it is
when at the former, or will command double the
quantity either of labour, or of the greater part of
other commodities; the money price of labour, and
along with it that of most other things, continuing
the same during all these fluctuations.

Labour, therefore, it appears evidently, is the on-
ly universal, as well as the only accurate, measure
of value, or the only standard by which we can com-
pare the values of different commodities, at all times,
and at all places. We cannot estimate, it is allowed,
the real value of different commodities from century
to century by the quantities of silver which were
given for them. We cannot estimate it from year
to year by the quantities of corn. By the quantities
of labour, we can, with the greatest accuracy, esti-
mate it, both from century to century, and from
year to year. From century to century, corn is a
better measure than silver, because, from century to
century, equal quantities of corn will command the
same quantity of labour more nearly than equal
quantities of silver. From year to year, on the con-
trary, silver is a better measure than corn, because
equal quantities of it will more nearly command the
same quantity of labour.

But though, inestablishingperpetual rents, oreven

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 49

in letting very long leases, it may be of use to dis-
tinguish between real and nominal price; it is of none
in Buying and selling, the more common and ordi-
nary transactions of human life.

At the same time and place, the real and the no-
minal price of all commodities are exactly in propor-
tion to one another. The more or less money you
get for any commodity, in the London market, for
example, the more or less labour it will at that time
and place enable you to purchase or command. At
the same time and place, therefore, money is the ex-
act measure of the real exchangeable value of all
commodities. It is so, however, at the same time
and place only.

Though at distant places there is no regular pro-
portion between the real and the money price of com-
modities, yet the merchant who carries goods from
the one to the other, has nothing to consider but the
money price, or the difference between the quantity
of silver for which he buys them, and that for which
he is likely to sell them. Half an ounce of silver at
Canton in China may command a greater quantity
both of labour and of the necessaries and convenien-
ces of life than an ounce at London. A commodi-
ty, therefore, which sells for half an ounce of silver
at Canton, may there be really dearer, of more real
importance to the man who possesses it there, than a
commodity which sells for an ounce at London is to
the man who possesses it at London. If a London
merchant, however, can buy at Canton, for half an
ounce of silver, a commodity which he can afterwards
sell at London for an ounce, he gains a hundred per
cent, by the bargain, just as much as if an ounce of

VOL. i. D

50 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

silver was at London exactly of the same value as at
Canton. It is of no importance to him that half an
ounce of silver at Canton would have given him the
command of more labour, and of a greater quantity
of the necessaries and conveniences of life than an
ounce can do at London. An ounce at London will
always give him the command of double the quantity
of all these, which half an ounce could have done
there, and this is precisely what he wants.

Asit is the nominal or money price of goods, there-
fore, which finally determines the prudence or im-
prudence of all purchases and sales, and thereby re-
gulates almost the whole business of common life in
which price is concerned, we cannot wonder that it
should have been so much more attended to than the
real price.

In such a work as this, however, it may sometimes
be of use to compare the different real values of a par-
ticular commodity at different timesand places, or the-
different degrees of power over the labour of other
people which it may, upon different occasions, have
given to those who possessed it. We must in this
case compare, not so much the different quantities of
silver for which it was commonly sold, as the diffe-
rent quantities of labour which those different quanti-
ties of silver could have purchased. But the current
prices of labour, at distant times and places, can scarce
ever be known with any degree of exactness. Those
of corn, though they have in few places been regular-
ly recorded, are in general better known, and have
been more frequently taken notice of by historians
and other writers. We must generally, therefore,
content ourselves with them, not as being always ex-

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 51

actly in the same proportion as the current prices of
labour, but as being the nearest approximation which
can commonly be had to that proportion. I shall
hereafter have occasion to make several comparisons
of this kind.

In the progress of industry, commercial nations
have found it convenient to coin several different
metals into money ; gold for larger payments, silver
for purchases of moderate value, and copper, or some
other coarse metal, for those of still smaller conside-
ration. They have always, however, considered one of
those metals as more peculiarly the measure of value
than any of the other two ; and this preference seems
generally to have been given to the metal which they
happen first to make use of as the instrument of com-
merce. Having once begun to use it as their stand-
ard, which they must have done when they had no
other money, they have generally continued to do so
even when the necessity was not the same.

The Romans are said to have had nothing but cop-
per money till within five years before the first Punic
war *, when they first began to coin silver. Copper,
therefore, appears to have continued always the mea-
sure of value in that republic. At Home all accounts
appear to have been kept, and the value of all estates
to have been computed, either in asses or in sestertii.
The as was always the denomination of a copper
coin. The word sestertius signifies two asses and a
half. Though the sestertius, therefore, was original-
ly a silver coin, its value was estimated in copper.
At Rome, one who owed a great deal of money was
said to have a great deal of other people's copper.

* Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 3.

52 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

The northern nations who established themselves
upon the ruins of the Roman empire, seem to have
had silver money from the first beginning of their
settlements, and not to have known either gold or
copper coins for several ages thereafter. There were
silver coins in England in the time of the Saxons ;
but there was little gold coined till the time of Ed-
ward III. nor any copper till that of James I. of Great
Britain. In England, therefore, and for the same rea-
son, I believe, in all other modern nations of Europe,
all accounts are kept, and the value of all goods and
of all estates is generally computed, in silver : and
when we mean to express the amount of a person's
fortune, we seldom mention the number of guineas,
but the number of pounds sterling which we suppose
would be given for it.

Originally, in all countries, 1 believe, a legal tender
of payment could be made only in the coin of that
metal which was peculiarly considered as the stand-
ard or measure of value. In England, gold was not
considered as a legal tender for a long time after it
was coined into money. The proportion between the
values of gold and silver money was not fixed by any
public law or proclamation, but was left to be settled
by the market. If a debtor offered payment in gold,
the creditor might either reject such payment alto-
gether, or accept of it at such a valuation of the gold
as he and his debtor could agree upon. Copper is
not at present a legal tender, except in the change of
the smaller silver coins. In this state of things, the
distinction between the metal which was the stand-
ard, and that which was not the standard, was some-
thing more than a nominal distinction.

CHAP. V. OP COMMODITIES. 53

In process of time, and as people became gradually
more familiar with the use of the different metals in
coin, and consequently better acquainted with the
proportion between ther respective values, it has, in
most countries, I believe, been found convenient to
ascertain this proportion, and to declare by a public
law, that a guinea, for example, of such a weight and
fineness, should exchange for one-and-twenty shil-
lings, or be a legal tender for a debt of that amount.
In this state of things, and during the continuance
of any one regulated proportion of this kind, the dis-
tinction between the metal, which is the standard,
and that which is not the standard, becomes little
more than a nominal distinction.

In consequence of any change, however, in this re-
gulatedproportion, this distinction becomes, or at least
seemsto become, something more than nominalagain.
If the regulated value of a guinea, for example, was
either reduced to twenty, or raised to two- and- twenty
shillings, all accounts being kept, and almost all obli-
gations for debt being expressed, in silver money, the
greater part of payments could in either case be made
with thesame quantity of silver money as before ;. but
wouldrequire very differentquantitiesof gold money ;
a greater in the one case, and a smaller in the other.
Silver would appear to be more invariable in its value
than gold. Silver would appear to measure the value
of gold, and gold would not appear to measure the
value of silver. The value of gold would seem to
depend upon the quantity of silver which it would
exchange for, and the value of silver would not seem
to depend upon the quantity of gold which it would
exchange for. This difference, however, would be

54 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

altogether owing to the custom of keeping accounts,
and of expressing the amount of all great and small
sums rather in silver than in gold money. One of
Mr Drummond's notes for five-and-twenty or fifty
guineas would, after an alteration of this kind, be still
payable with five-and-twenty or fifty guineas, in the
same manner as before. It would, after such an al-
teration, be payable with the same quantity of gold
as before, but with very different quantities of silver.
In the payment of such a note, gold would appear to
be more invariable in its value than silver. Gold
would appear to measure the value of silver, and sil-
ver would not appear to measure the value of gold.
If the custom of keeping accounts, and of expressing
promissory -notes and other obligations for money in
this manner, should ever become general, gold, and
not silver, would be considered as the metal which
was peculiarly the standard or measure of value.

In reality, during the continuance of any one re-
gulated proportion between the respective values of
the different metals in coin, the value of the most
precious metal regulates the value of the whole coin.
Twelve copper pence contain half a pound avoirdu-
pois of copper, of not the best quality, which, before
it is coined, is seldom worth sevenpence in silver.
But as, by the regulation, twelve such penceareorder-
ed to exchange fora shilling, they are in the market
considered as worth a shilling, and a shilling can, at
any time, be had for them. Even before the late re-
formation of the gold coin of Great Britain, the gold,
that part of it at least which circulated in London
and its neighbourhood, was in general less degraded
below its standard weight than the greater part of

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 55

the silver. One-and-twenty worn and defaced shil-
lings, however, were considered as equivalent to a
guinea, which, perhaps, indeed, was worn and de-
faced too, but seldom so much so. The late regula-
tions have brought the gold coin as near, perhaps, to
its standard weight as it is possible to bring the cur-
rent coin of any nation ; and the^order to receive no
gold at the public offices but by weight, is likely
to preserve it so, as long as that order is enforced.
The silver coin still continues, in the same worn and
degraded state as before the reformation of the gold
coin. In the market, however, one-and-twenty shil-
lings of this degraded silver coin are still considered
as worth a guinea of this excellent gold coin.

The reformation of the gold coin has evidently
raised the value of the silver coin, which can be ex-
changed for it.

In the English mint, a pound weight of gold is
coined into forty-four guineas and a half, which, at
one-and-twenty shillings the guinea, is equal to forty-
six pounds fourteen shillings and sixpence. An ounce
of such gold coin, therefore, is worth £3 : 17 : 10£
in silver. In England, no duty or seignorage is paid
upon the coinage, and he who carries a pound weight
or an ounce weight of standard gold bullion to the
mint, gets back a pound weight or an ounce weight
of gold in coin, without any deduction. Three pounds
seventeen shillings and tenpence halfpenny an ounce,
therefore, is said to be the mint price of gold in
England, or the quantity of gold coin which the
mint gives in return for standard gold bullion.

Before the reformation of the gold coin, the price
of standard gold bullion in the market had, for many

56 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

years been upwards of £3 : 18s. sometimes £3 : 19s.
and very frequently £4 an ounce ; that sum, it is pro-
bable, in the worn and degraded gold coin, seldom
containing more than an ounce of standard gold.
Since the reformation of the gold coin, the mar-
ket price of standard gold bullion seldom exceeds
£3 : 17 : 7 an ounce. Before the reformation of the
gold coin, the market price was always more or less
above the mint price. Since that reformation, the
market price has been constantly below the mint
price. But that market price is the same whether it
is paid in gold or in silver coin. The late reforma-
tion of the gold coin, therefore, has raised not only
the value of the gold coin, but likewise that of the
silver coin in proportion to gold bullion,and probably,
too, in proportion to all other commodities ; though
the price of the greater part of other commodities
being influenced by so many other causes, the rise in
the value of either gold or silver coin in proportion
to them may not be so distinct and sensible.

In the English mint, a pound weight of standard
silver bullion is coined into sixty-two shillings, con-
taining, in the same manner, a pound weight of stand-
ard silver. Five shillings and twopence an ounce,
therefore, is said to be the mint price of silver in Eng-
land, or the quantity of silver coin which the mint
gives in return for standard silver bullion. Before
the reformation of the gold coin, the market price of
standard silver bullion was, upon different occasions,
five shillings and fourpence, five shillings and five-
pence, five shillings and sixpence, five shillings and
sevenpence, and very often five shillings and eight-
pence ah ounce. Five shillings and sevenpence, how-

GHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 57

ever, seems to have been the most common price.
Since the reformation of the gold coin, the market
price of standard silver bullion has fallen occasionally
to five shillings and threepence, five shillings and
fourpence, and five shillings and fivepence an ounce,
which last price it has scarce ever exceeded. Though
the market price of silver bullion has fallen consider-
ably since the reformation of the gold coin, it has not
fallen so low as the mint price.

In the proportion between the different metals in
the English coin, as copper is rated very much above
its real value, so silver is rated somewhat below it.
In the market of Europe, in the French coin and in
the Dutch coin, an ounce of fine gold exchanges for
about fourteen ounces of fine silver. In the English
coin, it exchanges for about fifteen ounces, that is,
for more silver than it is worth, according to the com-
mon estimation of Europe. But as the price of cop-
per in bars is not, even in England, raised by the
high price of copper in English coin, so the price of
silver in bullion is not sunk by the low rate of silver
in English coin. Silver in bullion still preserves its
proper proportion to gold, for the same reason that
copper in bars preserves its proper proportion to
silver.

Upon the reformation of the silver coin, in the
reign of William III. the price of silver bullion still
continued to be somewhat above the mint price. Mr
Locke imputed this high price to the permission of
exporting silver bullion, and to the prohibition of ex-
porting silver coin. This permission of exporting, he
said, rendered the demand for silver bullion greater

o

than the demand for silver coin. But the number of

58 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE iJOOK 1.

people who want silver coin for the common uses of
buying and selling at home, is surely much greater
than that of those who want silver bullion either for
the use of exportation, or for any other use. There
subsists at present a like permission of exporting gold
bullion, andalike prohibition of exporting goldcoin;
and yet the price of gold bullion has fallen below the
mint price. But in the English coin, silver was then,
in the same manner as now, under-rated in propor-
tion to gold ; and the gold coin (which at that time,
too, was not supposed to require any reformation),
regulated then, as well as now, the real value of the
whole coin. As the reformation of the silver coin
did not then reduce the price of silver bullion to the
mint price, it is not very probable that a like refor-
mation will do so now.

Were the silver coin brought back as near to its
standard weight as the gold, a guinea, it is probable,
would, according to the presentproportion, exchange
for more silver in coin than it would purchase in bul-
lion. The silver coin containing its full standard
weight, there would, in this case, be a profit in melt-
ing it down, in order, first, to sell the bullion for gold
coin; and afterwards to exchange this gold coin for
silver coin, to be melted down in the same manner.
Some alteration in the presentproportion seems to be
the only method of preventing this inconveniency.

The inconveniency, perhaps, would beless, if silver
was rated in the coin as much above its proper pro-
portion to gold as it is at present rated below it,
provided it was at the same time enacted, that silver
should not be a legal tender for more than the change
of a guinea, in the same manner as copper is not a

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 59

legal tender for more than the change of a shilling.
No creditor could, in this case, be cheated in conse-
quence of the high valuation of silver in coin ; as no
creditor can at present be cheated in consequence of
the high valuation of copper. The bankers only
would suffer by this regulation. When a run comes
upon them, they sometimes endeavour to gain time,
by paying in sixpences, and they would be precluded
by this regulation, from this discreditable method of
evading immediate payment. They wouH be obliged,
in consequence, to keep at all times in their coffers a
greater quantity of cash than at present; and though
this might, no doubt, be a considerable inconveniency
to them, it would, at the same time, be a considerable
security to their creditors.

Three pounds seventeen shillings and tenpence
halfpenny (the mint price of gold) certainly does not
contain, even in our present excellent gold coin,
more than an ounce of standard gold, and it may be
thought, therefore, should not purchase more stand-
ard bullion. But gold in coin is more convenient
than gold in bullion, and though, in England, the
coinage is free, yet the gold which is carried in bul-
lion to the mint, can seldom be returned in coin to
the owner till after a delay of several weeks. In the
present hurry of the mint, it could not be returned
till after a delay of several months. This delay is
equivalent to a small duty, and renders gold in coin
somewhat more valuable than an equal quantity of
gold in bullion. If, intheEnglishcoin, silver wasrated
according to its proper proportion to gold, the price
of silver bullion would probably fall below the mint
price, even without any reformation of the silvercoin;

60 REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE BOOK I.

the value even of the present worn and defaced silver
coin being regulated by the value of the excellent
gold coin for which it can be changed.

A small seignorage or duty upon the coinage of
both gold and silver, would probably increase still
more the superiority of those metals in coin above
an equal quantity of either of them in bullion. The
coinage would, in this case, increase the value of the
metal coined in proportion to the extent of this small
duty, for the same reason that the fashion increases
the value of plate in proportion to the price of that
fashion. The superiority of coin above bullion would
prevent the melting down of the coin, and would dis-
courage its exportation. If, upon any public exigency,
it should become necessary to export the coin, the
greater part of it would soon return again, of its own
accord. Abroad, it could sell only for its weight in
bullion. At home, it would buy more than that
weight. There would be a profit, therefore, in bring-
ing it home again. In France, a seignorage of about
eight per cent, is imposed upon the coinage, and the
French coin, when exported, is said to return home
again, of its own accord.

The occasional fluctuations in the market price of
gold and silver bullion arise from the same causes as
the like fluctuations in that of all other commodities.
The frequent loss of those metals from various acci-
dents by sea and by land, the continual waste of them
in gilding and plating, in lace and embroidery, in the
wear and tear of coin, and in that of plate, require,
in all countries which possess no mines of their own,
a continual importation, in order to repair this loss
and this waste. The merchant importers, like all

CHAP. V. OF COMMODITIES. 61

other merchants, we may believe, endeavour, as well
as they can, to suit their occasional importations to
what, they judge, is likely to be the immediate de-
mand. With all their attention, however, they some-
times overdo the' business, and sometimes underdo
it. When they import more bullion than is wanted,
rather than incur the risk and trouble of exporting
it again, they are sometimes willing to sell a part of it
for something less than the ordinary or average price.
When, on the other hand, they, import less than is
wanted, they get something more than this price. But
when, under all those occasional fluctuations, the mar-
ket price either of gold or silver bullion continues for
several years together steadily and constantly* either
more or less above, or more or less below, the mint
price, we may be assured that this steady and con-
stant, either superiority or inferiority of price, is the
effect of something in the state of the coin, which, at
that time, renders a certain quantity of coin either of
more value or of less value than the precise quantity
of bullion which it ought to contain. The constancy
and steadiness of the effect supposes a proportionable
constancy and steadiness in the cause.

The money of any particular country is, at any par-
ticular time and place, more or less an accurate mea-
sure of value, according as the current coin is more
or less exactly agreeable to its standard, or contains
more or less exactly the precise quantity of pure gold
or pure silver which it ought to contain. If in Eng-
land, for example, forty-four guineas and a half con-
tained exactly a pound weight of standard gold, or
eleven ounces of fine gold and one ounce of alloy, the
gold coin of England would be as accurate a measure

02 PRICES OF COMMODITIES. BOOK I.

of the actual value of goods at any particular time
and place as the nature of the thing would admit.
But if, by rubbing and wearing, forty four guineas
and a half generally contain less than a pound weight
of standard gold, the diminution, however, being
greater in some pieces than in others, the measure of
value comes to be liable to the same sort of uncer-
tainty to which all other weights and measures are
commonly exposed. As it rarely happens that these
are exactly agreeable to their standard, the merchant
adjusts the price of his goods as well as he can, not
to what those weights and measures ought to be, but
to what, upon an average, he finds, by experience,
they actually are. In consequence of a like disorder
in the coin, the price of goods comes, in the same
manner, to be adjusted, not to the quantity of pure
gold or silver which the coin ought to contain, but
to that which, upon an average, it is found, by expe-
rience, it actually does contain.

By the money price of goods, it is to be observed,
I understand always the quantity of pure gold or sil-
ver for which they are sold, without any regard to
the denomination of the coin. Sixshillings and eight-
pence, for example, in the time of Edward I: I con-
sider as the same money price with a pound sterling
in the present times, because it contained, as nearly
as we can judge, the same quantity of pure silver.

CHAP. VI. COMPONENT PARTS, &C. 63

CHAP. VI.

*

Of the component Parts of the Price of Commodities,

IN that early and rude state of society which pre-
cedes both the accumulation of stock and the ap-
propriationof land, the proportion between the quan-
tities of labour necessary for acquiring different ob-
jects seems to be the only circumstance which can af-
ford any rule for exchanging them for one another.
If among a nation of hnnters, for example, it usually
costs twice the labour to kill a beaver which it does
to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange
for or be worth two deer. It is natural that what is
usually the produce of two days or two hours labour,
should be worth double of what is usually the pro-
duce of one day's or one hour's labour.

If the one species of labour should be more severe
than the other, some allowance will naturally be made
for this superior hardship ; and the produce of one
hour's labourin theone way may frequently exchange
for that of two hours labour in the other.

Or if the one species of labour requires an uncom-
mon degree of dexterity and ingenuity, the esteem
which men have for such talents, will naturally give
a value to their produce, superior to what would be
due to the time employed about it. Such talents can
seldom be acquired but in consequence of long appli-
cation, and the superior value of their produce may
frequently be no more than a reasonable compensa-
tion for the time and labour which must be spent in
acquiring them. In t he-advanced state of society, al-

64 COMPONENT PARTS OF THE BOOK I.

lowances of this kind, for superior hardship and su-
perior skill, are commonly made in the wages of la-
bour ; and something of the same kind must proba-
bly have taken place in its earliest and rudest period.

In this state of things, the whole produce of labour
belongs to the labourer ; and the quantity of labour
commonly employed in acquiring or producing any
commodity, is theonly circumstance which can regu-
late the quantity of labour which it ought commonly
to purchase, command, or exchange for.

As soon as stock has accumulated in the hands of
particular persons, some of them will naturally em-
ploy it in setting to work industrious people, whom
they will supply with materials and subsistence, in
order to make a profit by the sale of their work, or
by what their labour adds to the value of the mate-
rials. In exchangingthe complete manufacture either
for money, for labour, or for other goods, over and
above what may be sufficient to pay the price of the
materials, and the wages of the workmen, something
must be given for the profits of the undertaker of
the work, who hazards his stock in this adventure.
The value which the workmen add to the materials,
therefore, resolves itself in this case into two parts,
of which the one pays their wages, the other the pro-
fits of their employer upon the whole stock of ma-
terials and wages which he advanced. He couldhave
no interest to employ them, unles he expected from
the sale of their work something more than what was
sufficient to replace his stock to him ; and he could
have no interest to employ a great stock rather than
a small one, unless his profits were to bear some pro-
portion to the extent of his stock.

The profits of stock, it may perhaps be thought,

CHAP. VI. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 65

are only a different name for the wages of a parti-
cular sort of labour, the labour of inspection and
direction. They are, however, altogether differ-
ent, are regulated by quite different principles, and
bear no proportion to the quantity, the hardship,
or the ingenuity of this supposed labour of inspection
and direction. They are regulated altogether by
the value of the stock employed, and are greater or
smaller in proportion to the extent of this stock.
Let us suppose, for example, that in some particular
place, where the common annual profits of manu-
facturing stock are ten per cent, there are two dif-
ferent manufactures, in each of which twenty work-
men are employed, at the rate of fifteen pounds a-
year each, or at the expense of three hundred a-year
in each manufactory. Let us suppose, too, that the
coarse materials annually wrought up in the one
cost only seven hundred pounds, while the finer ma-
terials in the other cost seven thousand. The capi-
tal annually employed in the one will, in this case,
amount only to one thousand pounds ; whereas that
employed in the other will amount to seven thou-
sand three hundred pounds. At the rate of ten per
cent, therefore, the undertaker of the one will ex-
pect an yearly profit of about one hundred pounds
only ; while that of the other will expect about
seven hundred and thirty pounds. But though their
profits are so very different, their labour of inspec-
tion and direction may be either altogether or very
nearly the same. In many great works, almost the
whole labour of this kind is committed to some prin-
cipal clerk. His wages properly express the value
of this labour of inspection and direction. Though
in settling them some regard is had commonly, not
VOL. i. E

66 COMPONENT PARTS OF THE BOOK 1.

only to his labour and skill, but to the trust which
is reposed in him, yet they never bear any regular
proportion to the capital of which he oversees the
management ; and the owner of this capital, though
he is thus discharged of almost all labour, still ex-
pects that his profits should bear a regular propor-
tion to his capital. In the price of commodities,
therefore, the profits of stock constitute a com-
ponent part altogether different from the wages of
labour, and regulated by quite different principles.

In this state of things, the whole produce of la-
bour does not always belong to the labourer. He
must in most cases share it with the owner of the
stock which employs him. Neither is the quantity
of labour commonly employed in acquiring or pro-
ducing any commodity, the only circumstance which
can regulate the -quantity which it ought commonly
to purchase, command, or exchange for. An addi-
tional quantity, it is evident, must be due for the
profits of the stock which advanced the wages and
furnished the materials of that labour.

As soon as the land of any country has all be-
come private property, the landlords, like all other
men, love to reap where they never sowed, and de-
mand a rent even for its natural produce. The
wood of the forest, the grass of the field, and all
the natural fruits of the earth, which, when land
was in common, cost the labourer only the trouble
of gathering them, come, even to him, to have an
additional price fixed upon them. He must then
pay for the licence to gather them, and must give
up to the landlord a portion of what his labour
either collects or produces. This portion, or, what
comes to the same thing, the price of this portion,

CHAP. VI. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 67

constitutes the rent of land, and in the price of the
greater part of commodities makes a third com-
ponent part. • —

The real value of all the different component parts
of price, itmust be observed, is measured by the quan-
tity of labour which they can, each of them, purchase
or command. Labour measures the value, not only
of that part of price which resolves itself into labour,
but of that which resolves itself into rent, and of
that which resolves itself into profit.

In every society, the price of every commodity
finally resolves itself into some one or other, or all of
those three parts ; and in every improved society, all
the three enter, more or less, as component parts,
into the price of the far greater part of commodities.
In the price of corn, for example, one part pays
the rent of the landlord, another pays the wages or
maintenance of the labourers and labouring cattle
employed in producing it, and the third pays the
profit of the farmer. These three parts seem either
immediately or ultimately to make up the whole
price of corn. A fourth part, it may perhaps be
thought, is necessary for replacing the stock of the
farmer, or for compensating the wear and tear of his
labouringcattle, and other instruments of husbandry.
But it must be considered, that the price of any in-
strument of husbandry, such as a labouring horse, is
itself made up of the same three parts ; the rent of
the land upon which he is reared, the labour or tend-
ing and rearing him, and the profits of the farmer,
who advances both the rent of this land, and the
wages of this labour. Though the price of the corn,
therefore, may pay the price as well as the main-
tenance of the horse, the whole price still resolves

68 COMPONENT PARTS OF THE BOOK I.

itself, eitherimmediately or ultimately, into the same
three parts of rent, labour, and profit.

In the price of flour or meal, we must add to the
price of the corn, the profits of the miller, and the
wages of his servants; in the price of bread, the
profits of the baker, and the wages of his servants ;
and in the price of both, the labour of transporting
the corn from the house of the farmer to that of the
miller, and from that of the miller to that of the
baker, together with the profits of those who advance
the wages of that labour.

The price of flax resolves itself into the same three
parts as that of corn. In the price of linen we must
add to this price the wages of the flax-dresser, of the
spinner, of the weaver, of the bleacher, &c. together
with the profits of their respective employers.

As any particularcommodity comes to be more ma-
nufactured, that part of the price which resolves it-
self into wages and profit, comes to be greater in pro-
portion to that which resolves itself into rent. In
the progress of the manufacture, not only the num-
ber of profits increase, but every subsequent profit is
greater than the foregoing ; because the capital from
which it is derived, must always be greater. The
capital which employs the weavers, for example,
must be greater than that which employs the spin-
ners ; because it not only replaces that capital with
its profits, but pays, besides, the wages of the weav-
ers : and the profits must always bear some propor-
tion to the capital.

In the most improved societies, however, there are
always a few commodities of which the price resolves
itself into two parts only, the wages of labour, and
the profits of stock ; and a still smaller number, in

CHAP. VI. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 69

which it consists altogether in the wages of labour.
In the price of sea-fish, for example, one part pays
the labour of the fishermen, and the other the profits
of the capital employed in the fishery. Rent very
seldom makes any part of it, though it does some-
times, as I shall shew hereafter. It is otherwise, at
least through the greater part of Europe, in river
fisheries. A salmon fishery pays a rent ; and rent,
though it cannot well be called the rent of land,
makes a part of the price of a salmon, as well as
wages and profit. In some parts of Scotland, a few
poor people make a trade of gathering, along the
sea-shore, those little variegated stones commonly
known by the name of Scotch pebbles. The price
which is paid to them by the stone-cutter, is alto-
gether the wages of their labour ; neither rent nor
profit make any part of it.

But the whole price of any commodity must still
finally resolve itself into some one or other, or all
of those three parts ; as whatever part of it remains
after paying the rent of the land, and the price of
the whole labour employed in raising, manufactur-
ing, and bringing it to market, must necessarily be
profit to somebody.

As the price or exchangeable value of every par-
ticular commodity, taken separately, resolves itself
into some one or other, or all of those three parts ;
so that of all the commodities which compose the
whole annual produce of the labour of every coun-
try, taken complexly, must resolve itself into the
same three parts, and be parcelled out among diffe
rent inhabitants of the country, either as the wages
of their labour, the profits of their stock, or the rent
of their land. The whole of what is annually either

70 COMPONENT PAKTS OF THE BOOK I.

collected or produced by the labour of every society,
or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price
of it, is in this manner originally distributed among
some of its different members. Wages, profit, and
rent, are the three original sources of all revenue, as
well as of all exchangeable value. All other revenue
is ultimately derived from someone or other of these.
Whoever derives his revenue from a fund which
is his own, must draw it either from his labour, from
his stock, or from his land. The revenue derived
from labour is called wages; that derived from
stock, by the person who manages or employs it, is
called profit ; that derived from it by the person
who does not employ it himself, but lends it to an-
other, is called the interest or the use of money. It
is the compensation which the borrower pays to the
lender, for the profit which he has an opportunity of
making by the use of the money. Part of that pro-
fit naturally belongs to the borrower, who runs the
risk and takes the trouble of employing it, and part
to the lender, who affords him the opportunity of
making this profit. The interest of money is always
a derivative revenue, which, if it is not paid from the
profit which is made by the use of the money, must
be paid from some other source of revenue, unless
perhaps the borrower is a spendthrift, who contracts
a second debt in order to pay the interest of the first.
The revenue which proceeds altogether from land,
is called rent, and belongs to the landlord. The re-
venue of the farmer is derived partly from his la-
bour, and partly from his stock. To him, land is
only the instrument which enables him to earn the
wages of this labour, and to make the profits of this
stock. AJ1 taxes, and all the revenue which is found-

CHAP. VI. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 71

ed upon them, all salaries, pensions, and annuities of
every kind, are ultimately derived from some one or
other of those three original sources of revenue, and
are paid either immediately or mediately from the
wages of labour, the profits of stock, or the rent of
land.

When those three different sorts of revenue be-
long to different persons, they are readily distinguish-
ed ; but when they belong to the same, they are
sometimes confounded with one another, at least in
common language.

A gentleman who farms a part of his own estate,
after paying the expense of cultivation, should gain
both the rent of the landlord and the profit of the
farmer. He is apt to denominate, however, his
whole gain, profit, and thus confounds rent with pro-
fit, at least in common language. The greater part
of our North American and West Indian planters
are in this situation. They farm, the greater part
of them, their own estates ; and accordingly we sel-
dom hear of the rent of a plantation, but frequently
of its profit.

Common farmers seldom employ any overseer to
direct the general operations of the farm. They ge-
nerally, too, work a good deal with their own hands,
as ploughmen, harrowers, &c. What remains of
the crop, after paying the rent, therefore, should not
only replace to them their stock employed in culti-
vation, together with its ordinary profits, but pay
them the wages which are due to them, both as la-
bourers and overseers. Whatever remains, however,
after paying the rent and keeping up the stock, is
called profit. But wages evidently make a part of

72 COMPONENT PARTS OF THE BOOK I.

it. The farmer, by saving these wages, must neces-
sarily gain them. Wages, therefore, are in this case
confounded with profit.

An independent manufacturer, who has stock e-
nough both to purchase materials, and to maintain,
himself till he can carry his work to market, should
gain both the wages of a journeyman who works un-
der a master, and the profit which that master makes
by the sale of that journeyman's work. His whole
gains, however, are commonly called profit, and
wages, are, in this case, too, confounded with profit.

A gardener who cultivates his own garden with
his own hands, unites in his own person the three
different characters, of landlord, farmer, and labour-
er. His produce, therefore, should pay him the rent
of the first, the profit of the second, and the wages
of the third. The whole, however, is commonly con-
sidered as the earnings of his labour. Both rent and
profit are, in this case, confounded with wages.

As in a civilized country there are but few com-
modities of which the exchangeable value arises from
labour only, rent and profit contributing largely to
that of the far greater part of them, so the annual
produce of its labour will always be sufficient to pur-
chase or command a much greater quantity of la-
bour than what was employed in raising, preparing,
and bringing that produce to market. If the society
were annually to employ all the labour which it can
annually purchase, as the quantity of labour would
increase greatly every year, so the produce of every
succeeding year would be of vastly greater value than
that of the foregoing. But there is no country in
which the whole annual produce is employed in

CHAP. VI. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 73

maintaining the industrious. The idle everywhere
consume a great part of it; and, according to the
different proportions in which it is annually divided
between those two different orders of people, its or-
dinary or average value must either annually in-
crease or diminish, or continue the same from one
year to another.

CHAP. VII.

Of the natural and Market price of commodities.

THERE is in every society or neighbourhood an or-
dinary or average rate, both of wages and profit,
in every different employment of labour and stock.
This rate is naturally regulated, as I shall shew here-
after, partly by the general circumstances of the so-
ciety, their riches or poverty, their advancing, sta-
tionary, or declining condition, and partly by the
particular nature of each employment.

There is likewise in every society orneighhourhood
an ordinary or average rate of rent, which is regulat-
ed, too, as I shall shew hereafter, partly by the ge-
neral circumstances of the society or neighbourhood
in which the land is situated, and partly by the na-
tural or improved fertility of the land.

These ordinary or average rates may be called the
natural rates of wages, profit, and rent, at the time
and place in which they commonly prevail.

When the price of any commodity is neither more
nor less than what is sufficient to pay the rent of the
land, the wages of the labour, and the profits of the
stock employed in raising, preparing, and bringing it

74 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK I.

to market, according to their natural rates, the com-
modity is then sold for what may be called its natu-
ral price.

The commodity is then sold precisely for what it is
worth, or for what it really costs theperson who brings
it to market ; for though, in common language, what
is called the prime cost of any commodity does not
comprehend the profit of the person who is to sell it
again, yet, if he sells it at a price which does not al-
low him the ordinary rate of profit in his neighbour-
hood, he is evidently a loser by the trade ; since, by
employing his stock in some other way, he might
have made that profit. His profit, besides, is his re-
venue, the proper fund of his subsistence. As, while
lie is preparing and bringing the goods to market, he
advances to his workmen their wages, or their sub-
sistence ; so he advances to himself, in the same man-
ner, his own subsistence, which is generally suitable
to the profit which he may reasonably expect from
the sale of his goods. Unless they yield him this
profit, therefore, they do not repay him what they
may very properly be said to have really cost him.

Though the price, therefore, which leaves him this
profit, is not always the lowest at which a dealer may
sometimes sell his goods, it is the lowest at which he
is likely to sell them for any considerable time ; at
least where there is perfect liberty, or where he may
change his trade as often as he pleases.

The actual price at which any commodity is com-
monly sold, is called its market price. It may either
be above, or below, or exactly the same with its na-
tural price.

The market price of every particular commodity is
regulated by the proportion between the quantity

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 75

which is actually brought to market, and the demand
of those who are willing to pay the natural price of
the commodity, or the whole value of the rent, la-
bour, and profit, which must be paid in order to bring
it thither. Such people may be called the effectual
demanders, and their demand the effectual demand ;
since it may be sufficient to effectuate the bringing of
the commodity to market. It is different from the
absolute demand. A very poor man may be said, in
some sense, to have a demand for a coach and six ;
he might like to have it ; but his demand is not an
effectual demand, as the commodity can never be
brought to market in order to satisfy it.

When the quantity of any commodity which is
brought to market falls short of the effectual demand,
all those who are willing to pay the whole value of
the rent, wages, and profit which must be paid in
order to bring it thither, cannot be supplied with the
quantity which they want. Rather than want it al-
together, some of them will be willing to give more.
A competition will immediately begin among them,
and the market price will rise more or less above the
natural price, according as either the greatness of the
deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the
competitors, happen to animate more or less the ea-
gerness of the competition. Among competitors of
equal wealth and luxury, the same deficiency will ge-
nerally occasion a more or less eager competition, ac-
cording as the acquisition of the commodity happens
to be of more or less importance to them. Hence
the exorbitant price of the necessaries of life during
the blockade of a town, or in a famine.

When the quantity brought to market exceeds the

76 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK 1.

effectual demand, it cannot be all sold to those who
are willing to pay the whole value of the rent, wages,
and profit, which must be paid in order to bring it
thither. Some part must be sold to those who are
willing to pay less, and the low price which they give
for it must reduce the price of the whole. The mar-
ket price will sink more or less below the natural
price, according as the greatness of the excess in-
creases more or less the competition of the sellers, or
according as it happens to be more or less important
to them to get immediately rid of the commodity.
The same excess in the importation of perishable, will
occasion a much greater competition than in that of
durable, commodities ; in the importation of oranges,
for example, than in that of old iron.

When the quantity brought to market is just suffi-
cient to supply the effectual demand, and no more,
the market price naturally comes to be either exactly,
or as nearly as can be judged of, the same with the
natural price. The whole quantity upon hand can
be disposed of for this price, and cannot be disposed
of for more. The competition of the different deal-
ers obliges them all to accept of this price, but does
not oblige them to accept of less.

The quantity of every commodity brought to mar-
ket naturally suits itself to the effectual demand. It
is the interest of all those who employ their land, la-
bour, or stock, in bringing any commodity to market,
that the quantity never should exceed the effectual
demand ; and it is the interest of all other people
that it never should fall short of that demand.

If at any time it exceeds the effectual demand,
some of the component parts of its price must be

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 77

paid below their natural rate. If it is rent, the in-
terest of the landlords will immediately prompt them
to withdraw a part of their land ; and if it is wages
or profit, the interest of the labourers in the one case,
and of their employers in the other, will prompt
them to withdraw a part of their labour or stock,
from this employment. The quantity brought to
market will soon be no more than sufficient to sup-
ply the effectual demand. All the different parts of
its price will rise to their natural rate, and the whole
price to its natural price.

If, on the contrary, the quantity brought to market
should at any time fall short of the effectual demand,
some of the component parts of its price must rise
above their natural rate. If it is rent, the interest of
all other landlords will naturally prompt them to pre-
pare more land for the raising of this commodity ; if
it is wages or profit, the interest of all other labourers
and dealers will soon prompt them to employ more
labour and stock in preparing and bringing it to
market. The quantity brought thither will soon be
sufficient to supply the effectual demand. All the
different parts of its price will soon sink to their na-
tural rate, and the whole price to its natural price.

The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the
central price, to which the prices of all commodities
are continually gravitating. Different accidents may
sometimes keep them suspended a good deal above
it, and sometimes force them down even somewhat
below it. But whatever may be the obstacles which
hinder them from settling in this centre of repose
and continuance, they are constantly tending to-
wards it.

The whole quantity of industry annually employed

78 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK I.

in order to bring any commodity to market, natu-
rally suits itself in this manner to the effectual de-
mand. It naturally aims at bringing always that
precise quantity thither which may be sufficient to
supply, and no more than supply, that demand.

But, in some employments, the same quantity of
industry will, in different years, produce very diffe-
rent quantities of commodities ; while, in others, it
willproduce alwaysthe same, or very nearly the same.
The same number of labourers in husbandry will, in
different years, produce very different quantities of
corn, wine, oil^ hops, &c. But the same number of
spinners or weavers will every year produce the same,
or very nearly the same, quantity of linen and woollen
cloth. It is only the average produce of the one spe-
cies of industry which can be suited, in any respect,
to the effectual demand ; and as its actual produce is
frequently much greater, and frequently much less,
than its average produce, the quantity of the com-
modities brought to market will sometimes exceed a
good deal, and sometimes fall short a good deal, of
the effectual demand. Even though that demand,
therefore, should continue always the same, their
market price will be liable to great fluctuations, will
sometimes fall a good deal below, and sometimes rise
a good deal above, their natural price. In the other
species of industry, the produce of equal quantities
of labour being always the same, or very nearly the
same, it can be more exactly suited to the effectual
demand. While that demand continues the same,
therefore, the market price of the commodities is
likely to do so too, and to be either altogether, or as
nearly as can be judged of, the same with the na-
tural price. That the price of linen and woollen

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 79

cloth is liable neither to such frequent, nor to such
great variations, as the price of corn, every man's
experience will inform him. The price of the one
species of commodities varies only with the varia-
tions in the demand ; that of the other varies not
only with the variations in the demand, but with the
much greater, and more frequent, variations in the
quantity of what is brought to market, in order to
supply that demand.

The occasional and temporary fluctuations in the
market price of any commodity fall chiefly upon those
parts of its price which resolve themselves into wages
and profit. That part which resolves itself into rent
is less affected by them. A rent certain in money is
not in the least affected by them, either in its rate or
in its value. A rent which consists either in a cer-
tain proportion, or in a certain quantity, of the rude
produce, is no doubt affected in its yearly value by
all the occasional and temporary fluctuations in the
market price of that rude produce ; but it is seldom
affected by them in its yearly rate. In settling the
terms of the lease, the landlord and farmer endea-
vour, according to their best judgment, to adjust that
rate, trot to the temporary and occasional, but to the
average and ordinary, price of the produce.

Such fluctuations affect both the value and the rate,
either of wages or of profit, according as the market
happens to be either overstocked or understocked
with commodities or with labour, with work done,
or with work to be done. A public mourning raises
the price of black cloth (with which the market is
almost always understocked upon such occasions),
and augments the profits of the merchants who pos-

80 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK I.

sess any considerable quantity of it. It has no effect
upon the wages of the weavers. The market is
understocked with commodities, not with labour,
with work done, not with work to be done. It raises
the wages of journeymen tailors. The market is
here understocked with labour. There is an effec-
tual demand for more labour, for more work to be
done, than can" be had. It sinks the price of coloured
silks and cloths, and thereby reduces the profits of
the merchants who have any considerable quantity
of them upon hand. It sinks, too, the wages of the
workmen employed in preparing such commodities,
for which all demand is stopped for six months, per-
haps for a twelvemonth. The market is here over-
stocked both with commodities and with labour.

But though the market price of every particular
commodity is in this manner continually gravitat-
ing, if one may say so, towards the natural price ;
yet sometimes particular accidents, sometimes natu-
ral causes, and sometimes particular regulations of
police, may, in many commodities, keep up the mar-
ket price, for a long time together, a good deal above
the natural price.

When, by an increase in the effectual demand, the
market price of some particular commodity happens
to rise a good deal above the natural price, those who
employ their stocks in supplying that market are ge-
nerally careful to conceal this change. If it was com-
monly known, their great profit would tempt so
many new rivals to employ their stocks in the same
way, that, the effectual demand being fully supplied,
the market price would soon be reduced to the natu-
ral price, and, perhaps, for some time even below it.

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 81

If the market is at a great distance from the resi-
dence of those who supply it, they may sometimes
be able to keep the secret for several years together t
and may so long enjoy their extraordinary profits
without any new rivals. Secrets of this kind, how-
ever, it must be acknowledged, can seldom be long
kept ; and the extraordinary profit can last very little
longer than they are kept.

Secrets in manufactures are capable of being
longer kept than secrets in trade. A dyer who has
found the means of producing a particular colour
with materials which cost only half the price of
those commonly made use of, may, with good ma-
nagement, enjoy the advantage of his discovery as
long as he lives, and even leave it as a legacy to his
posterity. His extraordinary gains arise from the
high price which is paid for his private labour.
They properly consist in the high wages of that
labour. But as they are repeated upon every part
of his stock, and as their whole amount bears, up-
on that account, a regular proportion to it, they
are commonly considered as extraordinary profits of
stock.

Such enhancements of the market price are evi-
dently the effects of particular accidents, of which,
however, the operation may sometimes last for many
years together.

Some natural productions require such a singula-
rity of soil and situation, that all the land in a great
country, which is fit for producing them, may not be
sufficient to supply the effectual demand. The whole
quantity brought to market, therefore, may be dis-
posed of to those who are willing to give more thin
what is sufficient to pay the rent of the land which

VOL. i. F

82 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK I.

produced them, together with the wages of the la-
bour and the profits of the stock which were employ-
ed in preparing and bringing them to market, ac-
cording to their natural rates. Such commodities
may continue for whole centuries together to be sold
at this high price ; and that part of it which resolves
itself into the rent of land, is in this case the part
which is generally paid above its natural rate. The
rent of the land which affords such singular and
esteemed productions, like the rent of some vine-
yards in France of a peculiarly happy soil and situa-
tion, bears no regular proportion to the rent of other
equally fertile and equally well cultivated land in its
neighbourhood. The wages of the labour, and the
profits of the stock employed in bringing such com-
modities to market, on the contrary, are seldom out
of their natural proportion to those of the other em-
ployments of labour and stock in their neighbourhood.

Such enhancements of the market price are evi-
dently the effect of natural causes, which may hinder
the effectual demand from ever being fully supplied,
and which may continue^ therefore, to operate for
ever.

A monopoly granted either to an individual or to
a trading company, has the same effect as a secret in
trade or manufactures. The monopolists, bykeeping
the market constantly understocked by never fully
supplying the effectual demand, sell their commo-
dities much above the natural price, and raise their
emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit,
greatly above their natural rate.

The price of monopoly is upon every occasion the
highest which can be got. The natural price, or the
price of free competition, on the contrary, is the low-

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 83

est which can be taken, not upon every occasion in-
deed, but for any considerable time together. The
one is upon every occasion the highest which can be
squeezed out of the buyers, or which it is supposed
they will consent to give ; the other is the lowest
which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and
at the same time continue their business.

The exclusive privileges of corporations, statutes
of apprenticeship, and all those laws which restrain
in particular employments, the competition to a
smaller number than might otherwise go into them,
have the same tendency, though in a less degree.
They are a sort of enlarged monopolies, and may
frequently, for ages together, and in whole classes
of employments, keep up the market price of par-
ticular commodities above the natural price, and
maintain both the wages of the labour and the pro-
fits of the stock employed about them somewhat
above their natural rate.

Such enhancements of the market price may last
as long as the regulations of police which give occa-
sion to them.

The market price of any particular commodity,
though it may continue long above, can seldom con-
tinue long below, its natural price. Whatever part
of it was paid below the natural rate, the persons
whose interest it affected would immediately feel the
loss, and would immediately withdraw either so much
land or so much labour, or so much stock, from being
employed about it, that the quantity brought to mar-
ket would soon be no more than sufficient to supply
the effectual demand. Its market price, therefore,
would soon rise to the natural price : this at least
would be the case where there was perfect liberty.

84 NATURAL AND MARKET BOOK I.

The same statutes of apprenticeship and other cor-
poration laws, indeed, which, when a manufacture is
in prosperity, enable the workman to raise his wages
a good deal above their natural rate, sometimes
oblige him, when it decays, to let them down a good
deal below it. As in the one case they exclude
many people from his employment, so in the other
they exclude him from many employments. The ef-
fect of such regulations, however, is not near so du-
rable in sinking the workman's wages below, as in
raising them above their natural rate. Their opera-
tion in the one way may endure for many centuries,
but in the other it can last no longer than the lives
of some of the workmen who were bred to the
business in the time of its prosperity. When they
are gone, the number of those who are afterwards

o *

educated to the trade will naturally suit itself to the
effectual demand. The police must be as violent as
that of Indostan or ancient Egypt (where every man
was bound by a principle of religion to follow the
occupation of his father, and was supposed to com-
mit the most horrid sacrilege if he changed it for
another), which can in any particular employment,
and for several generations together, sink either the
wages of labour or the profits of stock below their
natural rate.

This is all that I think necessary to be observed
at present concerning the deviations, whether occa-
sional or permanent, of the market price of commo-
dities from the natural price.

The natural price itself varies with the natural rate
of each of its component parts, of wages, profit, and
rent ; and in every society this rate varies according
to their circumstances, according to their riches or

CHAP. VII. PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 85

poverty, their advancing, stationary, or declining
condition. I shall, in the four following chapters,
endeavour to explain, as fully and distinctly as I can,
the causes of those different variations.

First, I shall endeavour to explain what are the
circumstances which naturally determine the rate of
wages, and in what manner those circumstances are
affected by the riches or poverty, by the advancing,
stationary, or declining state of the society.

Secondly, I shall endeavourto shew what are the cir-
cumstances which naturally determinethe rate of pro-
fit ; and in what manner, too, those circumstances are
affected by thelikevariationsin the state of thesociety.

Though pecuniary wages and profit are very diffe-
rent in thedifferent employments oflabour and stock ;
yet a certain proportion seems commonly to take
place between both the pecuniary wages in all the
different employments of labour, and the pecuniary
profits in all the different employments of stock. This
proportion, it will appear hereafter, depends partly up-
on the nature of thedifferent employments, and partly
upon the different laws and policy of the society in
which they are carried on. But though in many re-
spects dependent upon the laws and policy, this pro-
portion seems to be little affected by the riches or po-
verty of that society, by its advancing, stationary, or
declining condition, but to remain the same, or very
nearly the same, in all those different states. I shall,
in the third place, endeavour to explain all the diffe-
rent circumstances which regulate this proportion.

In the fourth and last place, I shall endeavour to
shew what are the circumstances which regulate the
rent of land, and which either raise or lower the real
price of all thedifferent substances which it produces.

86 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Wages of Labour.

THE produce of labour constitutes the natural re-
compense or wages of labour.

In that original state of things which precedes
both the appropriation of land and the accumulation
of stock, the whole produce of labour belongs to the
labourer. He has neither landlord nor master to
share with him.

Had this state continued, the wages of labour
would have augmented with all those improvements
in its productive powers, to which the division of la-
bour gives occasion. All things would gradually
have become cheaper. They would have been pro-
duced by a smaller quantity of labour ; and as the
commodities produced by equal quantities of labour
would naturally in this state of things be exchanged
for one another, they would have been purchased
likewise with the produce of a smaller quantity.

But though all things would have become cheaper
in reality, in appearance many things might have be-
come dearer, than before, or have been exchanged
for a greater quantity of other goods. Let us sup-
pose, for example, that in the greater part of employ-
ments the productive powers of labour had been im-
proved to tenfold, or that a day's labour could pro-
duce ten times the quantity of work which it had
done originally ; but that in a particular employment
they had been improved only to double, or that a
day's labour could produce only twice the quantity

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 87

of work which it had done before. In exchanging
the produce of a day's labour in the greater part of
employments for that of a day's labour in this par-
ticular one, ten times the original quantity of work
in them would purchase only twice the original
quantity in it. Any particular quantity in it, there-
fore, a pound weight, for example, would appear to
be five times dearer than before. In reality, how-
ever, it would be twice as cheap. Though it requir-
ed five times the quantity of other goods to purchase
it, it would require only half the quantity of labour
either to purchase or to produce it. The acquisition,
therefore, would be twice as easy as before.

But this original state of things, in. which the la-
bourer enjoyed the whole produce of his own labour,
could not last beyond the first introduction of the
appropriation of land and the accumulation of stock.
It was at an end, therefore, long before the most con-
siderable improvements were made in the productive
powers of labour ; and it would be to no purpose to
trace further what might have been its effects upon
the recompense or wages of labour.

As soon as land becomes private property, the
landlord demands a share of almost all the produce
which the labourer can either raise or collect from it.
His rent makes the first deduction from the produce
of the labour which is employed upon land.

It seldom happens that the person who tills the
ground has wherewithal to maintain himself till he
reaps the harvest. His maintenance is generally ad-
vanced to him from the stock of a master, the far-
mer who employs him, and who would have no in-
terest to employ him, unless he was to share in the
produce of his labour, or unless his stock was to be

88 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

replaced to him with a profit. This profit makes a
second deduction from the produce of the labour
which is employed upon land.

The produce of almost all other labour is liable to
the like deduction of profit. In all arts end manu-
factures, the greater part of the workmen stand in
need of a master, to advance them the materials of
their work, and their wages and maintenance, till it
be completed. He shares in the produce of their
labour, or in the value which it adds to the materials
upon which it is bestowed ; and in this share con-
sists his profit.

It sometimes happens, indeed, that a single inde-
pendent workman has stock sufficient both to pur-
chase the materials of his work, and to maintain
himself till it be completed. He is both master and
workman, and enjoys the whole produce of his own
labour, or the whole value which it adds to the ma-
terials 'upon which it is bestowed. It includes what
are usually two distinct revenues, belonging to two
distinct persons, the profits of stock, and the wages
of labour.

Such cases, however, are not very frequent ; and
in every part of Europe twenty workmen serve un-
der a master for one that is independent ; and the
wages of labour are everywhere understood to be,
what they usually are, when the labourer is one per-
son, and the owner of the stock which employs him
another.

What are the common wages of labour, depends
everywhere upon the contract usually made between
those two parties, whose interests are by no means
the same. The workmen desire to get as much, the
masters to give as little, as possible. The former

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OP LABOUR. 89

are disposed to combine in order to raise, the latter
in order to lower, the wages of labour.

It is not, however, difficult to foresee which of the
two parties must, upon all ordinary occasions, have
the advantage in the dispute, and force the other
into a compliance with their terms. The masters,
being fewer in number, can combine much more ea-
sily ; and the law, besides, authorises, or at least does
not prohibit, their combinations, while it prohibits
those of the workmen. We have no acts of parlia-
ment against combining to lower the price of work,
but many against combining to raise it. In all such
disputes, the masters can hold out much longer. A
landlord, a farmer, a master manufacturer, or mer-
chant, though they did not employ a single work-
man, could generally live a year or two upon the
stocks which they have already acquired. Many
workmen could not subsist a week, few could sub-
sist a month, and scarce any a year, without employ-
ment. In the long run, the workman may be as ne-
cessary to his master as his master is to him ; but
the necessity is not so immediate.

We rarely hear, it .has been said, of the combina-
tions of masters, though frequently of those of work-
men. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that
masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world
as of the subject. Masters are always and every-
where in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform,
combination, not to raise the wages of labour above
their actual rate. To violate this combination is
everywhere a most unpopular action, and a sort of
reproach to a master among his neighbours and
equals. We seldom, indeed, hear of this combina-
tion, because it is the usual, and, one may say, the

90 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

natural state of things, which nobody ever hears
of. Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular
combinations to sink the wages of labour even be-
low this rate. These are always conducted with the
utmost silence and secrecy till the moment of exe-
cution ; and when the workmen yield, as they some-
times do, without resistance, though severely felt by
them, they are never heard of by other people. Such
combinations, however, are frequently resisted by a
contrary defensivecombination of the workmen, who
sometimes, too, without any provocation of this kind,
combine, of their own accord, to raise the price of
their labour. Their usual pretences are, sometimes
the high price of provisions, sometimes the great
profit which their masters make by their work. But
whether their combinations be offensive or defensive,
they are always abundantly heard of. In order to
bring the point to a speedy decision, they have al-
ways recourse to the loudest clamour, and sometimes
to the most shocking violence and outrage. They
are desperate, and act with the folly and extrava-
gance of desperate men, who must either starve, or
frighten their masters into an immediate compliance
with their demands. The masters, upon these occa-
sions, are just as clamorous upon the other side, and
never cease to call aloud for the assistance of the
civil magistrate, and the rigorous execution of those
laws which have been enacted with so much seve-
rity against the combination of servants, labourers,
and journeymen. The workmen, accordingly, very
seldom derive any advantage from the violence of
those tumultuous combinations, which, partly from
the interposition of the civil magistrate, partly from
the superior steadiness of the masters, partly from

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 91

the necessity which the greater part of the workmen
are under of submitting for the sake of present sub-
sistence, generally end in nothing but the punish-
ment or ruin of the ringleaders.

But though, in disputes with their workmen, mas-
ters must generally have the advantage, there is,
however, a certain rate, below which it seems im-
possible to reduce, for any considerable time, the or-
dinary wages even of the lowest species of labour.

A man must always live by his work, and his
wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him.
They must even upon most occasions be somewhat
more, otherwise it would be impossible for him to
bring up a family, and the race of such workmen
could not last beyond the first generation. M. Can-
tillon seems, upon this account, to suppose that the
lowest species of common labourers must everywhere
earn at least double their own maintenance, in or-
der that, one with another, they may be enabled to
bring up two children ; the labour of the wife, on
account of her necessary attendance on the children,
being supposed no more than sufficient to provide
for herself. But one half the children born, it is
computed, die before the age of manhood. The
poorest labourers, therefore, according to this ac-
count, must, one with another, attempt to rear at
least four children, in order that two may have an
equal chance of living to that age. But the neces-
sary maintenance of four children, it is supposed,
may be nearly equal to that of one man. The la-
bour of an able-bodied slave, the same author adds,
is computed to be worth double his maintenance ;
and that of the meanest labourer, he thinks, cannot
be worth less than that of an able-bodied slave.

92 WAGES OF LABOUIl. BOOK I.

Thus far at least seems certain, that, in order to
bring up a family, the labour of the husband and
wife together must, even in the lowest species of
common labour, be able to earn something more than
what is precisely necessary for their own mainte-
nance; but in what proportion, whether in that
above mentioned, or in any other, I shall not take
upon me to determine.

There are certain circumstances, however, which
sometimes give the labourers an advantage, and en-
able them to raise their wages considerably above
this rate, evidently the lowest which is consistent
with common humanity.

When in any country the demand for those who
live by wages, labourers, journeymen, servants of
every kind, is continually increasing ; when every
year furnishes employment for a greater number
than had been employed the year before, the work-
men have no occasion to combine in order to raise
their wages. The scarcity of hands occasions a
competition among masters, who bid against one
another in order to get workmen, and thus volunta-
rily break through the natural combination of mas-
ters not to raise wages.

The demand for those who live by wages, it is
evident, cannot increase but in proportion to the in-
crease of the funds which are destined to the pay-
ment of wages. These funds are of two kinds ; first,
the revenue which is over and above what is neces-
sary for the maintenance ; and, secondly, the stock
which is over and above what is necessary for the
employment of their masters.

When the landlord, annuitant, or monied man,
has a greater revenue than what he judges sufficient

GHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 93

to maintain his own family, he employs either the
whole or a part of the surplus in maintaining one or
more menial servants. Increase this surplus, and he
will naturally increase the number of those servants.

When an independent workman, such as a weaver
or shoemaker, has got more stock than what is suffi-
cient to purchase the materials of his own work, and
to maintain himself till he can dispose of it, he na-
turally employs one or more journeymen with the
surplus, in order to make a profit by their work.
Increase this surplus, and he will naturally increase
the number of his journeymen.

The demand for those who live by wages, there-
fore, necessarily increases with the increase of the
revenue and stock of every country, and cannot pos-
sibly increase without it. The increase of revenue
and stock is the increase of national wealth. The
demand for those who live by wages, therefore, na-
turally increases with the increase of national wealth,
and cannot possibly increase without it.

It is not the actual greatness of national wealth,
but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in
the wages of labour. It is not, accordingly, in the
richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in
those which are growing rich the fastest, that the
wages of labour are highest. England is certainly,
in the present times, a much richer country than any
part of North America. The wages of labour, how-
ever, are much higher in North America than in any
part of England. In the province of New York,
common 'labourers earn * three shillings and six-
pence currency, equal to two shillings sterling, a-

* This was written in 1773, before the commencement of the
late disturbances.

94 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

day ; ship carpenters, ten shillings and sixpence cur-
rency, with a pint of rum, worth sixpence sterling,
equal in all to six shillings and sixpence sterling ;
house carpenters and bricklayers, eight shillings cur-
rency, equal to four shillings and sixpence sterling ;
journeymen tailors, five shillings currency, equal to
about two shillings and ten pence sterling. These
prices are all above the London price ; and wages are
said to be as high in the other colonies as in New
York. The price of provisions is everywhere in
North America much lower than in England. A
dearth has never been known there. In the worst
seasons they have always had a sufficiency for them-
selves, though less for exportation. If the money
price of labour, therefore, be higher than it is any-
where in the mother-country, its real price, the real
command of the necessaries and conveniences of life
which it conveys to the labourer, must be higher in
a still greater proportion.

But though North America is not yet so rich as
England, it is much more thriving, and advancing
with much greater rapidity to the further acquisi-
tion of riches. The most decisive mark of the pros-
perity of any country is the increase of the number
of its inhabitants. In Great Britain, and most other
European countries, they are not supposed to double
in less than five hundred years. In the British co-
lonies in North America, it has been found that they
double in twenty or five-and-twenty years. Nor in
the present times is this increase principally owing
to the continual importation of new inhabitants, but
to the great multiplication of the species. Those
who live to old age, it is said, frequently see there
from fifty to a hundred, and sometimes many more,

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 95

descendants from their own body. Labour is there
so well rewarded, that a numerous family of chil-
dren, instead of being a burden, is a source of opu-
lence and prosperity to the parents. The labour of
each child, before it can leave their house, is com-
puted to be worth a hundred pounds clear gain to
them. A young widow with four or five young chil-
dren, who, among the middling or inferior ranks of
people in Europe, would have so little chance for a
second husband, is there frequently courted as a sort
of fortune. The value of children is the greatest of
all encouragements to marriage. We cannot, there-
fore, wonder that the people in North America
should generally marry very young. Notwithstand-
ing the great increase occasioned by such early mar-
riages, there is a continual complaint of the scarcity
of hands in North America. The demand for la-
bourers, the funds destined for maintaining them,
increase, it seems, still faster than they can find la-
bourers to employ.

Though the wealth of a country should be very
great, yet if it has been long stationary, we must not
expect to find the wages of labour very high in it.
The funds destined for the payment of wages, the
revenue and stock of its inhabitants, may be of the
greatest extent ; but if they have continued for seve-
ral centuries of the same, or very nearly of the same
extent, the number of labourers employed every year
could easily supply, and even more than supply, the
number wanted the following year. There could
seldom be any scarcity of hands, nor could the mas-
ters be obliged to bid against one another in order
to get them. The hands, on the contrary, would,
in this case, naturally multiply beyond their employ -

96 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I

ment. There would be a constant scarcity of em-
ployment, and the labourers would be obliged to bid
against one another in order to get it. If in such a
country the wages of labour had ever been more
than sufficient to maintain the labourer, and to en-
able him to bring up a family, the competition of the
labourers and the interest of the masters would soon
reduce them to the lowest rate which is consistent
with common humanity. China has been long one
of the richest, that is, one of the most fertile, best
cultivated, most industrious, and most populous,
countries in the world. It seems, however, to have
been long stationary. Marco Polo, who visited it
more than five hundred years ago, describes its cul-
tivation, industry, and populousness, almost in the
same terms in which they are described by travellers
in the present times. It had, perhaps, even long be-
fore his time, acquired that full complement of rich-
es which the nature of its laws and institutions per-
mits it to acquire. The accounts/ of all travellers,
inconsistent in many other respects, agree in the low
wages of labour, and in the difficulty which a labour-
er finds in bringing up a family in China. If by dig-
ging the ground a whole day he can get what will
purchase a small quantity of rice in the evening, he
is contented. The condition of artificers is, if pos
sible, still worse. Instead of waiting indolently in
their work- houses for the calls of their customers, as
in Europe, they are continually running about the
streets with the tools of their respective trades, offer-
ing their services, and, as it were, begging employ-
ment. The poverty of the lower ranks of people in
China far surpasses that of the most beggarly nations
in Europe. In the neighbourhood of Canton, many
hundred, it is commonly said, many thousand fami*

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 97

lies, have no habitation on the land, but live constant-
ly in little fishing-boats upon the rivers and canals.
The subsistence which they find there is so scanty,
that they are eager to fish up the nastiest garbage
thrown overboard from any European ship. Any
carrion, the carcase of a dead dog, or cat, for example,
though half putrid and stinking, is as welcome to
them as the most wholesome food to the people of
other countries. Marriage is encouraged in China,
not by the profitableness of children, but by the li-
berty of destroying them. In all great towns, seve-
ral are every night exposed in the street, or drowned
like puppies in the water. The performance of this
horrid office is even said to be the avowed business
by which some people earn their subsistence.

China, however, though it may perhaps stand still,
does not seem to go backwards. Its towns are no-
where deserted by their inhabitants. The lands
which had once been cultivated, are nowhere ne-
glected. The same, or very nearly the same, annual
labour, must, therefore, continue to be performed,
and the funds destined for maintaining it must not,
consequently, be sensibly diminished. The lowest
class of labourers, therefore, notwithstanding their
scanty subsistence, must some way or another make
shift to continue their race so far as to keep up their
usual numbers.

But it would be otherwise in a country where the
funds destined for the maintenance of labour were
sensibly decaying. Every year the demand for ser-
vants and labourers would, in all the different classes
of employments, be less than it had been the year
before. Many who had been bred in the superior
classes, not being able to find employment in their

VOL. i. G

98 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

own business, would be glad to seek it in the lowest.
The lowest class being not only overstocked with its
own workmen, but with the overflowings of all the
other classes, the competition for employment would
be so great in it, as to reduce the wages of labour
to the most miserable and scanty subsistence of the
labourer. Many would not be able to find employ-
ment even upon these hard terms, but would either
starve, or be driven to seek a subsistence, either by
begging, or by the perpetration, perhaps, of the great-
est enormities. Want, famine, and mortality, would
immediately prevail in that class, and from thence
extend themselves to all the superior classes, till the
number of inhabitants in the country was reduced
to what could easily be maintained by the revenue
and stock which remained in it, and which had es-
caped either the tyranny or calamity which had de-
stroyed the rest. This, perhaps, is nearly the present
state of Bengal, and of some other of the English
settlements in the East Indies. In a fertile country,
which had before been much depopulated, wheresub-
sistence, consequently, should not be very difficult,
and where, notwithstanding, three or four hundred
thousand people die of hunger in one year, we may
be assured that the funds destined for the mainte-
nance of the labouring poor are fast decaying. The
difference between the genius of the British consti-
tution, which protects and governs North America,
and that of the mercantile company which oppresses
and domineers in the East Indies, cannot, perhaps,
be better illustrated than by the different state of
those countries.

The liberal reward of labour, therefore, as it is the
necessary effect, so it is the natural symptoms of in-

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 99

creasing national wealth. The scanty maintenance
of the labouring poor, on the other hand, is the na-
tural symptom that things are at a stand, and their
starving condition that they are going fast back-
wards.

In Great Britain, the wages of labour seem, in the
present times, to be evidently more than what is pre-
cisely necessary to enable the labourer to bring up a
family. In order to satisfy ourselves upon this point,
it will not be necessary to enter into any tedious or
doubtful calculation of what may be the lowest sum
upon which it is possible to do this. There are
many plain symptoms, that the wages of labour are
nowhere in this country regulated by this lowest
rate, which is consistent with common humanity.

First, in almost every part of Great Britain there
is a distinction, even in the lowest species of labour,
between summer and winter wages. Summer wages
are always highest. But, on account of the extraor-
dinary expence of fuel, the maintenance of a family
is most expensive in winter. Wages, therefore, be-
ing highest when this expense is lowest, it seems
evident that they are not regulated by what is neces-
sary for this expense, but by the quantity and sup-
posed value of the work. A labourer, it may be said,
indeed, ought to save part of his summer wages, in
order to defray his winter expense; and that, through
the whole year, they do not exceed what is neces-
sary to maintain his family through the whole year.
A slave, however, or one absolutely dependent on us
for immediate subsistence, would n.ot be treated in
this manner. His daily subsistence would be pro-
portioned to his daily necessities.'

Secondly, the wages of labour do not, in Great

100 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

Britain, fluctuate with the price of provisions. These
vary everywhere from year to year, frequently from
month to month. But, in many places, the money
price of labour remains uniformly the same, some-
times for half a century together. If, in these
places, therefore, the labouring poor can maintain
their families in dear years, they must be at their
ease in times of moderate plenty, and in affluence in
those of extraordinary cheapness. The high price
of provisions during these ten years past, has not,
in many parts of the kingdom, been accompanied
with any sensible rise in the money price of labour.
It has, indeed, in some, owing, probably, more to
the increase of the demand for labour, than to that
of the price of provisions.

Thirdly, as the price of provisions varies more
from year to year than the wages of labour, so, on
the other hand, the wages of labour vary more from
place to place than the price of provisions. The
prices of bread and butchers' meat are generally the
same, or very nearly the same, through the greater
part of the united kingdom. These, and most other
things which are sold by retail, the way in which
the labouring poor buy all things, are generally fully
as cheap, or cheaper, in great towns than in the
remoter parts of the country, for reasons which I
shall have occasion to explain hereafter. But the
wages of labour in a great town and its neighbour-
hood, are frequently a fourth or a fifth part, twenty
or five-and-twenty per cent, higher than at a few
miles distance. Eighteen pence a day may be reck-
oned the common price of labour in London and its
neighbourhood. At a few miles distance, it falls to
fourteen and fifteen pence. Tenpence may be reck-

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 101

oned its price in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood.
At a few miles distance, it falls to eightpence, the
usual price of common labour through the greater
part of the low country of Scotland, where it varies
a good deal less than in England. Such a difference
of prices, which, it seems, is not always sufficient to
transport a man from one parish to another, would
necessarily occasion so great a transportation of the
most bulky commodities, not only from one parish to
another, but from one end of the kingdom, almost
from one end of the world to the other, as would
soon reduce them more nearly to a level. After all
that has been said of the levity and inconstancy of
human nature, it appears evidently from experience,
that man is, of all sorts of luggage, the most difficult
to be transported. If the labouring poor, therefore,
can maintain their families in those parts of the
kingdom where the price of labour is lowest, they
must be in affluence where it is highest.

Fourthly, the variations in the price of labour not
only do not correspond, either in place or time, with
those in the price of provisions, but they are fre-
quently quite opposite.

Grain, the food of the common people, is dearer
in Scotland than in England, whence Scotland re-
ceives almost every year very large supplies. But
English corn must be sold dearer in Scotland, the
country to which it is brought, than in England, the
country from which it comes ; and in proportion to
its quality it cannot be sold dearer in Scotland than
the Scotch corn that comes to the same market in
competition with it. The quality of grain depends
chiefly upon the quantity of flour or meal which it
yields at the mill ; and, in this respect, English grain

102 "WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK i.

is so much superior to the Scotch, that though often
dearer in appearance, or in proportion to the mea-
sure of its bulk, it is generally cheaper in reality, or
in proportion to its quality, or even to the measure
of irs weight. The price of labour, on the contrary,
is dearer in England than in Scotland. If the la-
bouring poor, therefore, can maintain their families
in the one part of the united kingdom, they must
be in affluence in the other. Oat meal, indeed, sup-
plies the common people in Scotland with the great-
est and the best part of their food, which is, in gene-
ral, much inferior to that of their neighbours of the
same rank in England. This difference, however,
in the mode of their subsistence, is not the cause,
but the effect, of the difference in their wages ;
though, by a strange misapprehension, I have fre-
quently heard it represented as the cause. It is not
because one man keeps a coach, while his neighbour
walks a-foot, that the one is rich, and the other poor;
but because the one is rich, he keeps a coach, and
because the other is poor, he walks a-foot.

During the course of the last century, taking one
year with another, grain was dearer in both parts of
the united kingdom than during that of the present.
This is a matter of fact which cannot now admit of
any reasonable doubt ; and the proof of it is, if pos-
sible, still more decisive with regard to Scotland than
with regard to England. It is in Scotland supported
by the evidence of the public fiars, annual valuations
made upon oath, according to the actual state of the
markets,, of all the different sorts of grain in every
different county of Scotland. If such direct proof
could require any collateral evidence to confirm it,
I would observe, that this has likewise been the case

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 103

in France, and probably in most other parts of Eu-
rope. With regard to France, there is the clearest
proof. But though it is certain, that in both parts
of the united kingdom grain was somewhat dearer
in the last century than in the present, it is equally
certain that labour was much cheaper. If the la-
bouring poor, therefore, could bring up their fami-
lies then, they must be much more at their ease now.
In the last century, the most usual day-wages of
common labour through the greater part of Scot-
land, were six-pence in summer, and five-pence in
winter. Three shillings a- week, the same price, very
nearly, still continues to be paid in some parts of
the Highlands and Western islands. Through the
greater part of the Low country, the most usual
wages of common labour are now eight-pence a-day ;
ten- pence, sometimes a shilling, about Edinburgh,
in the counties which border upon England, proba-
bly on account of that neighbourhood, and in a few
other places where there has lately been a consider-
able rise in the demand for labour, about Glasgow,
Carron, Ayrshire, &c. In England, the improve-
ments of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce,
began much earlier than in Scotland. The demand
for labour, and consequently its price, must neces-
sarily have increased with those improvements. In
the last century, accordingly, as well as in the pre-
sent, the wages of labour were higher in England
than in Scotland. They have risen too consider-
ably since that time, though, on account of the
greater variety of wages paid there in different
places, it is more difficult to ascertain how much.
In 1614, the pay of a foot soldier was the same as
in the present times, eight- pence a-day. When it

104 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

was first established, it would naturally be regulated
by the usual wages of common labourers, the rank of
people from which foot soldiers are commonly drawn.
Lord-chief- justice Hales, who wrote in the time of
Charles II. computes the necessary expense of a la-
bourer's family, consisting of six persons, the father
and mother, two children able to do something, and
two not able, at ten shillings a- week, or twenty-
six pounds a-year. If they cannot earn this by their
labour, they must make it up, he supposes, either
by begging or stealing. He appears to have enquir-
ed very carefully into this subject *. In 1688, Mr
Gregory King, whose skill in political arithmetic is
so much extolled by Dr Davenant, computed the
ordinary income of labourers and out-servants to be
fifteen pounds a-year to a family, which he supposed
to consist, one with another, of three and a half per-
sons. His calculation, therefore, though different
in appearance, corresponds very nearly at bottom
with that of Judge Hales. Both suppose the week-
ly expense of such families to be about twenty pence
a-head. Both the pecuniary income and expense of
such families have increased considerably since that
time through the greater part of the kingdom, in
some places more, and in some less, though perhaps
scarce anywhere so much as some exaggerated ac-
counts of the present wages of labour have lately
represented them to the public. The price of la-
bour, it must be observed, cannot be ascertained
very accurately anywhere, different prices being of-
ten paid at the same place and for the same sort of
labour, not only according to the different abilities

* See his scheme for the maintenance of the poor, in Burn's
History of the poor laws.

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 105

of the workmen, but according to the easiness or
hardness of the masters. Where wages are not re-
gulated by law, all that we can pretend to determine
is, what are the most usual ; and experience seems
to shew that law can never regulate them properly,
though it has often pretended to do so.

The real recompense of labour, the real quantity
of the necessaries and conveniences of life which it
can procure to the labourer, has, during the course
of the present century, increased perhaps in a still
greater proportion than its money price. Not only
grain has become somewhat cheaper, but many other
things, from which the industrious poor derive an
agreeable and wholesome variety of food, have be-
come a great deal cheaper. Potatoes, for example,
do not at present, through the greater part of the
kingdom, cost half the price which they used to do
thirty or forty years ago. The same thing may be
said of turnips, carrots, cabbages ; things which were
formerly never raised but by the spade, but which
are now commonly raised by the plough. All sort
of garden stuff, too, has become cheaper. The
greater part of the apples, and even of the onions,
consumed in Great Britain, were, in the last cen-
tury, imported from Flanders. The great improve-
ments in the coarser manufactories of both linen
and woollen cloth, furnish the labourers with cheap-
er and better clothing ; and those in the manufac-
tures of the coarser metals, with cheaper and better
instruments of trade, as well as with many agree-
able and convenient pieces of household furniture.
Soap, salt, candles, leather, and fermented liquors,
have, indeed, become a good deal dearer, chiefly from
the taxes which have been laid upon them. The

106 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

quantity of these, however, which the labouring poor
are under any necessity of consuming, is so very
small, that the increase in their price does not com-
pensate the diminution in that of so many other
things. The common complaint, that luxury ex-
tends itself even to the lowest ranks of the people,
and that the labouring poor will not now be content-
ed with the same food, clothing, and lodging, which
satisfied them in former times, may convince us that
it is not the money price of labour only, but its real
recompense, which has augmented.

Is this improvement in the circumstances of the
lower ranks of the people to be regarded as an ad-
vantage, or as an inconveniency, to the society ? The
answer seems at first abundantly plain. Servants,
labourers, and workmen of different kinds, make up
the far greater part of every great political society.
But what improves the circumstances of the greater
part, can never be regarded as any inconveniency to
the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and
happy, of which the far greater part of the members
are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides,
that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body
of the people, should have such a share of the pro-
duce of their own labour as to be themselves to-
lerably well fed, clothed, and lodged.

Poverty, though it no doubt discourages, does not
always prevent, marriage. It seems even to be fa-
vourable to generation. A half- starved Highland
woman frequently bears more than twenty children,
while a pampered fine lady is often incapable of bear-
ing any, and is generally exhausted by two or three.
Barrenness, so frequent among women of fashion, is
very rare among tnose of inferior station. Luxury, in

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 107

the fair sex, while it inflames, perhaps, the passion
forenjoyment, seems always to weaken, and frequent-
ly to destroy altogether, the powers of generation.

But poverty, though it does not prevent the gene-
ration, is extremely unfavourable to the rearing, of
children. The tender plant is produced ; but in so
cold a soil, and so severe a climate, soon withers and
dies. It is not uncommon, I have been frequently
told, in the Highlands of Scotland, for a mother who
has born twenty children not to have two alive. Se-
veral officers of great experience have assured me,
that, so far from recruiting their regiment, they have
never been able to supply it with drums and fifes,
from all the soldiers' children that were born in it.
A greater number of fine children, however, is sel-
dom seen anywhere than about a barrack of soldiers.
Very few of them, it seems, arrive at the age of thir-
teen or fourteen. In some places, one half the chil-
dren born die before they are four years of age, in
many places before they are seven, and in almost all
places before they are nine or ten. This great mor-
tality, however, will everywhere be found chiefly
among the children of the common people, who can-
not afford W tend them with the same care as those
of better station. Though their marriages are gene-
rally more fruitful than those of people of fashion, a
smaller proportion of their children arrive at matu-
rity. In foundling hospitals, and among the children
brought up by parish charities, the mortality is still
greater than among those of the common people.

Every species of animals naturally multiplies in
proportion to the means of their subsistence, and no
species can ever multiply beyond it. But in ci\ iiized
society, it is only among the interior ranks of people

108 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

that the scantiness of subsistence can set limits to the
further multiplication of the human species ; and itcan
do so in no other way than by destroying a great part
of the children which theirfruitful marriages produce.
The liberal reward of labour, by enabling them to
provide better for their children, and consequently to
bring up a greater number, naturally tends to widen
and extend those limits. It deserves to be remark-
ed, too, that it necessarily does this as nearly as pos-
sible in the proportion which the demand for labour
requires. If this demand is continually increasing,
the reward of labour must necessarily encourage in
such a manner the marriage and multiplication of
labourers, as may enable them to supply that conti-
nually increasing demand by a continually increasing
population. If the reward should at any time be
less than what was requisite for this purpose, the de-
ficiency of hands would soon raise it ; and if it should
at any time be more, their excessive multiplication
would soon lower it to this necessary rate. The
market would be so much understocked with labour
in the one case, and so much overstocked in the
other, as would soon force back its price to that pro-
per rate which the circumstances of the society re-
quired. It is in this manner that the demand for
men, like that for any other commodity, necessarily
regulates the production of men, quickens it when it
goes on too slowly, and stops it when it advances
too fast. It is this demand which regulates and de-
termines the state of propagation in all the diffe-
rent countries of the world ; in North America, in
Europe, and in China ; which renders it rapidly pro-
gressive in the first, slow and gradual in the second,
and altogether stationary in the last.

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 109

The wear and tear of a slave, it has been said, is
at the expense of his master ; but that of a free ser-
vant is at his own expense. The wear and tear of
the latter, however, is, in reality, as much at the ex-
pense of his master as that of the former. The
wages paid to journeymen and servants of every kind
must be such as may enable them, one with another,
to continue the race of journeymen and servants, ac-
cording as the increasing, diminishing, or stationary
demand of the society, may happen to require. But
though the wear and tear of a free servant be equally
at the expense of his master, it generally costs him
much less than that of a slave. The fund destined
for replacing or repairing, if I may say so, the wear
and tear of the slave, is commonly managed by a ne-
gligent master or careless overseer. That destined
for performing the same office with regard to the
freeman is managed by the freeman himself. The
disorders which generally prevail, in the economy of
the rich, naturally introduce themselves into the ma-
nagement of the former ; the strict frugality and
parsimonious attention of the poor as naturally esta-
blish themselves in that of the latter. Under such
different management, the same purpose must re-
quire very different degrees of expense to execute it.
It appears, accordingly, from the experience of all
ages and nations, I believe, that the work done by
freemen comes cheaper in the end than that perform-
ed by slaves. It is found to do so even at Boston,
New- York, and Philadelphia, where the wages of
common labour are so very high.

The liberal reward of labour, therefore, as it is the
effect of increasing wealth, so it is the cause of in-
creasing population. To complain of it, is to lament

HO WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

over the necessary cause and effect of the greatest
public prosperity.

It deserves to be remarked, perhaps, that it is in
the progressive state, while the society is advancing
to the further acquisition, rather than when it has
acquired its full complement of riches, that the con-
dition of the labouring poor, of the great body of the
people, seems to be the happiest and the most com-
fortable. It is hard in the stationary, and miserable
in the declining, state. The progressive state is, in
reality, the cheerful and the hearty state to all the
different orders of the society ; the stationary is dull ;
the declining melancholy.

The liberal reward of labour, as it encourages the
propagation, so it increases the industry of the com-
mon people. The wages of labour are the encou-
ragement of industry, which, like every other human
quality, improves in proportion to the encouragement
it receives. A plentiful subsistence increases the
bodily strength of the labourer, and the comfortable
hope of bettering his condition, and of ending his
days, perhaps, in ease and plenty, animates him to
exert that strength to the utmost. Where wages are
high, accordingly, we shall always find the work-
men more active, diligent, and expeditious, than
where they are low in England, for example, than
in Scotland ; in the neighbourhood of great towns,
than in remote country places. Some workmen,
indeed, when they can earn in four days what will
maintain them through the week, will be idle the
other three. This, however, is by no means the case
with the greater part Workmen, on the contrary,
when they are liberally paid by the piece, are very
apt to overwork themselves, and to ruin their health

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. Ill

and constitution in a few years. A carpenter in Lon-
don, and in some other places, is not supposed to last
in his utmost vigour above eight years. Something
of the same kind happens in many other trades,
in which the workmen are paid by the piece; as
they generally are in manufactures, and even in
country labour, wherever wages are higher than
ordinary. Almost every class of artificers is subject
to some peculiar infirmity, occasioned by excessive
application to their peculiar species of work. Ha-
muzzini, an eminent Italian physician, has written
a particular book concerning such diseases. We do
not reckon our soldiers the most industrious set of
people among us ; yet when soldiers have been em-
ployed in some particular sorts of work, and liberal-
ly paid by the piece, their officers have frequently
been obliged to stipulate with the undertaker, that
they should not be allowed to earn above a cer-
tain sum every day, according to the rate at which
they were paid. Till this stipulation was made,
mutual emulation, and the desire of greater gain,
frequently prompted them to overwork themselves,
and to hurt their health by excessive labour. Ex-
cessive application, during four days of the week, is
frequently the real cause of the idleness of the other
three, so much and so loudly complained of. Great
labour, either of mind or body, continued for several
days together, is, in most men, naturally followed by
a great desire of relaxation, which, if not restrained
by force, or by some strong necessity, is almost ir-
resistible. It is the call of nature, which requires
to be relieved by some indulgence, sometimes of
ease only, but sometimes too of dissipation and di-
version. If it is not complied with, the conseqnen-

112 WAGES OF LABOUll. BOOK I.

ces are often dangerous, and sometimes fatal, and
such as almost always, sooner or later, bring on the
peculiar infirmity of the trade. If masters would
always listen to the dictates of reason and humanity,
they have frequently occasion rather to moderate,
than to animate the application of many of their
workmen. It will be found, I believe, in every sort
of trade, that the man who works so moderately, as
to be able to work constantly, not only preserves his
health the longest, but, in the course of the year,
executes the greatest quantity of work.

In cheap years, it is pretended, workmen are ge-
nerally more idle, and in dear times more industri-
ous than ordinary. A plentiful subsistence, there-
fore, it has been concluded, relaxes, and a scanty
one quickens, their industry. That a little more
plenty than ordinary may render some workmen
idle, cannot be well doubted ; but that it should
have this effect upon the greater part, or that men
in general should work better when they are ill fed,
than when they are well fed, when they are dis-
heartened than when they are in good spirts, when
they are frequently sick than when they are gene-
rally in good health, seems not very probable. Years
of dearth, it is to be observed, are generally among
the common people years of sickness and mortality,
which cannot fail to diminish the produce of their
industry.

In years of plenty, servants frequently leave their
masters, and trust their subsistence to what they can
make by their own industry. But the same cheap-
ness of provisions, by increasing the fund which is
destined for the maintenance of servants, encourages
masters, farmers especially, to employ a greater num-

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 113

her. Farmers, upon such occasions, expect more
profit from their corn by maintaining a few more
labouring servants, than by selling it at a low price
in the market. The demand for servants increases,
while the number of those who offer to supply that
demand diminishes. The price of labour, therefore,
frequently rises in cheap years.

In years of scarcity, the difficulty and uncertainty
of subsistence make all such people eager to return
to service. But the high price of provisions, by di-
minishing the funds destined for the maintenance
of servants, disposes masters rather to diminish than
to increase the number of those they have. In dear
years, too, poor independent workmen frequently
consume the little stock with which they had used
to supply themselves with the materials of their
work, and are obliged to become journeymen for
subsistence. More people want employment than
easily get it; many are willing to take it upon
lower terms than ordinary ; and the wages of both
servants and journeymen frequently sink in dear
years.

Masters of all sorts, therefore, frequently make
better bargains with their servants in dear than in
cheap years, and find them more humble and depen-
dent in the former than in the latter. They natu-
rally, therefore, commend the former as more favour-
able to industry. Landlords and farmers, besides,
two of the largest classes of masters, have another
reason for being pleased with dear years. The rents
of the one, and the profits of the other, depend very
much upon the price of provisions. Nothing can be
more absurd, however, than to imagine that men in
general should work less when they work for them-
VOL. i. H

114 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

selves, than when they work for other people. A
poor independent workman will generally be more
industrious than even a journeyman who works by
the piece. The one enjoys the whole produce of his
own industry, the other shares it with his master.
The one, in his separate independent state, is less
liable to the temptations of bad company, which, in
large manufactories, so frequently ruin the morals
of the other. The superiority of the independent
workman over those servants who are hired by the
month or by the year, and whose wages and main-
tenance are the same, whether they do much or do
little, is likely to be still greater. Cheap years tend
to increase the proportion of independent workmen
to journeymen and servants of all kinds, and dear
years to diminish it.

A French author of greatknowledgeand ingenuity,
M. Messance, receiver of the tallies in the election
of St Etienne, endeavours to shew that the poor do
more work in cheap than in dear years, by comparing
the quantity and value of the goods made upon those
different occasions in three different manufactures ;
one of coarse woollens, carried on at Elbeuf ; one of
linen, and another of silk, both which extend through
the whole generality of Rouen. It appears from his
account, which is copied from the registers of the
public offices, that the quantity and value of the goods
made in all those three manufactories has generally
been greater in cheap than in dear years, and that it
has always been greatest in the cheapest, and^least in
the dearest .years. All the three seem to be station-
ary manufactures, or which, though their produce
may vary somewhat from year to year, are, upon the
whole, neither going backwards nor forwards.

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 115

The manufacture of linen in Scotland, and that of
coarse woollens in the west riding of Yorkshire, are
growing manufactures, of which the produce is ge-
nerally, though with some variations, increasing both
in quantity and value. Upon examining, however,
the accounts which have been published of their an-
nual produce, I have not been able to observe that
its variations have had any sensible connection with
the dearness or cheapness of the seasons. In 1740,
a year of great scarcity, both manufactures, indeed,
appear to have declined very considerably. But in
1756', another year of great scarcity, the Scotch ma-
nufacture made more than ordinary advances. The
Yorkshire manufacture, indeed^ declined, and its
produce did not rise to what it had been in 1755,
till 1766, after the repeal of the American stamp
act. In that and the following year, it greatly ex-
ceeded what it had ever been before, and it has con-
tinued to advance ever since.

The produce of all great manufactures for distant
sale must necessarily depend, not so much upon the
dearness or cheapness of the seasons in the countries
where they are carried on, as upon the circumstances
which affect the demand in the countries where they
are consumed ; upon peace or war, upon the prospe-
rity or declension of other rival manufactures, and
upon the good or bad humour of their principal cus-
tomers. A great part of the extraordinary work,
besides, which is probably done in cheap years, never
enters the public registers of manufactures. The
men-servants, who leave their masters, become inde-
pendent labourers. The women return to their pa-
rents, and commonly spin, in order to make clothes
for themselves and their families. Even the inde-

116 WAGES OF LABOUR. BOOK I.

pendent workmen do not always work for public
sale, but are employed by some of their neighbours
in manufactures for family use. The produce of
their labour, therefore, frequently makes no figure
in those public registers, of which the records are
sometimes published with so much parade, and from
which our merchants and manufacturers would often
vainly pretend to announce the prosperity or declen-
sion of the greatest empires.

Though the variations in the price of labour not
only do not always correspond with those in the price
of provisions, but are frequently quite opposite, we
must not, upon this account, imagine that the price
of provisions has no influence upon that of labour.
The money price of labour, is necessarily regulated
by two circumstances ; the demand for labour, and
the price of the necessaries and conveniences of life.
The demand for labour, according as it happens to
be increasing, stationary, or declining, or to require
an increasing, stationary, or declining population,
determines the quantities of the necessaries and con-
veniences of life which must be given to the labourer;
and the money price of labour is determined by what
is requisite for purchasing this quantity. Though
the money price of labour, therefore, is sometimes
high where the price of provisions is low, it would
be still higher, the demand continuing the same, if
the price of provisions was high.

It is because the demand for labour increases in
years of sudden and extraordinary plenty, and dimi-
nishes in those of sudden and extraordinary scarcity,
that the money price of labour sometimes rises in
the one, and sinks in the other.

In a year of sudden and extraordinary plenty, there

CHAP. VIII. WAGES OF LABOUR. 117

are funds in the hands of many of the employers of
industry, sufficient to maintain and employ a greater
number of industrious people than had been employ-
ed the year before; and this extraordinary number
cannot always be had. Those masters, therefore,
who want more workmen, bid against one another,
in order to get them, which sometimes raises both
the real and the money price of their labour.

The contrary of this happens in a year of sudden
and extraordinary scarcity. The funds destined for
employing industry are less than they had been the
year before. A considerable number of people are
thrown out of employment, who bid one against an-
other, in order to get it, which sometimes lowers
both the real and the money price of labour. In
1740, a year of extraordinary scarcity, many people
were willing to work for bare subsistence. In the
succeeding years of plenty, it was more difficult to
get labourers and servants.

The scarcity of a dear year, by diminishing the
demand for labour, tends to lower its price, as the
high price of provisions tends to raise it. The plenty
of a cheap year, on the contrary, by increasing the
demand, tends to raise the price of labour, as the
cheapness of provisions tends to lower it. In the
ordinary variations of the prices of provisions, those
two opposite causes seem to counterbalance one an-
other, which is probably, in part, the reason why the
wages of labour are everywhere so much more steady
and permanent than the price of provisions.

The increase in the wages of labour necessarily
increases the price of many commodities, by increas-
ing that part of it which resolves itself into wages,
and so far tends to diminish their consumption, both
at home and abroad. The same cause, however,

118 WAGES OF LABOUR, BOOK I.

which raises the wages of labour, the increase of
stock, tends to increase its productive powers, and to
make a smaller quantity of labour produce a greater
quantity of work. The owner of the stock which
employs a great number of labourers necessarily en-
deavours, for his own advantage, to make such a pro-
per division and distribution of employment, that
they may be enabled to produce the greatest quan-
tity of work possible. For the same reason, he en-
deavours to supply them with the best machinery
which either he or they can think of. What takes
place among the labourers in a particular workhouse,
takes place, for the same reason, among those of a
great society. The greater their number, the more
they naturally divide themselves into different classes
and subdivisions of employments. More heads are
occupied in inventing the most proper machinery for
executing the work of each, and it is, therefore, more
likely to be invented. There are many commodities,
therefore, which, in consequence of these improve-
ments, come to be produced by so much less labour
than before, that the increase of its price is more than
compensated by the diminution of its quantity.

CHAP. IX.
Of the Profits of Stock.

THE rise and fall in the profits of stock depend upon
the same causes with the rise and fall in the wages
of labour, the decreasing or declining state of the
wealth of the society ; but those causes affect the one
and the other very differently.

The increase of stock, which raises wages, tends

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 119

to lower profit. When the stocks of many rich
merchants are turned into the same trade, their mu-
tual competition naturally tends to lower its profit ;
and when there is a like increase of stock in all the
different trades carried on in the same society, the
same competition must produce the same effect in
them all.

It is not easy, it has already been observed, to as-
certain what are the average wages of labour, even
in a particular place, and at a particular time. We
can, even in this case, seldom determine more than
what are the most usual wages. But even this can
seldom be done with regard to the profits of stock.
Profit is so very fluctuating, that the person who
carries on a particular trade cannot always tell you
himself what is the average of his annual profit. It
is affected, not only by eveiy variation of price in the
commodities which he deals in, but by the good or
bad fortune both of his rivals and of his customers,
and by a thousand other accidents, to which goods,
when carried either by sea or by land, or even when
stored in a warehouse, are liable. It varies, there-
fore, not only from year to year, but from day to
day, and almost from hour to hour. To ascertain
what is the average profit of all the different trades
carried on in a great kingdom, must be much more
difficult ; and to judge of what it may have been for-
merly, or in remote periods of time, with any degree
of precision, must be altogether impossible.

But though it may be impossible to determine,
with any degree of precision, what are or were the
average profits of stock, either in the present, or in
ancient times, some notion may be formed of them
from the interest of money. It may be laid down

120 PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

as a maxim, that wherever a great deal can be made
by the use of money, a great deal will commonly be
given for the use of it ; and that, wherever little can
be made by it, less will commonly be given for it.
According, therefore, as the usual market rate of in-
terest varies in any country, we may be assured that
the ordinary profits of stock must vary with it, must
sink as it sinks, and rises as it rises. The progress
of interest, therefore, may lead us to form some no-
tion of the progress of profit.

By the 37th of Henry VIII. all interest above ten
per cent, was declared unlawful. " More, it seems,
had sometimes been taken before that. In the reign
of Edward VI. religious zeal prohibited all interest.
This prohibition, however, like all others of the same
kind, is said to have produced no effect, and proba-
bly rather increased than diminished the evil of usury.
The statute of Henry VIII. was revived by the
13th of Elizabeth, cap. 8. and ten per cent, conti-
nued to be the legal rate of interest till the 21st of
James I. when it was restricted to eight per cent.
It was reduced to six per cent, soon after the Resto-
ration, and by the 12th of Queen Anne, to five per
cent. All these different statutory regulations, seem
to have been made with great propriety. They
seem to have followed, and not to have gone before,
the market rate of interest, or the rate at which
people of good credit usually borrowed. Since the
time of Queen Anne, five per cent, seems to have
been rather above than below the market rate. Be-
fore the late war, the government borrowed at three
per cent. ; and people of good credit in the capital,
and in many other parts of the kingdom, at three
and a- half, four, and four and a- half per cent.

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 121

Since the time of Henry VIII. the wealth and re-
venue of the country have been continually advan-
cing, and, in the course of their progress, their pace
seems rather to have been gradually accelerated
than retarded. They seem not only to have been
going on, but to have been going on faster and faster.
The wages of labour have been continually increasing
during the same period, and, in the greater part of
the different branches of trade and manufactures,
the profits of stock have been diminishing.

It generally requires a greater stock to carry on
any sort of trade in a great town than in a country
village. The great stocks employed in every branch
of trade, and the number of rich competitors, gene-
rally reduce the rate of profit in the former below
what it is in the latter. But the wages of labour are
generally higher in a great town than in a country
village. In a thriving town, the people who have
great stocks to employ, frequently cannot get the
number of workmen they want, and therefore bid
against one another, in order to get as many as they
can, which raises the wages of labour, and lowers
the profits of stock. In the remote parts of the coun-
try, there is frequently not stock sufficient to em-
ploy all the people, who therefore bid against one
another, in order to get employment, which lowers
the wages of labour, and raises the profits of stock.

In Scotland, though the legal rate of interest is
the same as in England, the market rate is rather
higher. People of the best credit there seldom bor-
row under five per cent. Even private bankers in
Edinburgh give four per cent, upon their promissory-
notes, of which payment, either in whole or in part,
may be demanded at pleasure. Private bankers in

122 PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

London give no interest for the money which is de-
posited with them. There are few trades which
cannot be carried on with a smaller stock in Scot-
land than in England. The common rate of profit,
therefore, must be somewhat greater. The wages
of labour, it has already been observed, are lower in
Scotland than in England. The country, too, is not
only much poorer, but the steps by which it advances
to a better condition, for it is evidently advancing,
seem to be much slower and more tardy.

The legal rate of interest in France has not, dur-
ring the course of the present century, been always
regulated by the market rate *. In 1 720, interest
was reduced from the twentieth to the fiftieth penny,
or from five to two per cent. In 1724, it was rais-
ed to the thirtieth penny, or to three and a third
per cent. In 1725, it was again raised to the twen-
tieth penny, or to five per cent. In 1766, during the
administration of M. Laverdy, it was reduced to the
twenty-fifty penny, or to four per cent. The Abbe
Terray raised it afterwards to the old rate of five
per cent. The supposed purpose of many of those
violent reductions of interest was to prepare the way
for reducing that of the public debts ; a purpose
which has sometimes been executed. France is, per-
haps, in the present times, not so rich a country as
England ; and though the legal rate of interest has
in France frequently been lower than in England,
the market rate has generally been higher ; for there,
as in other countries, they have several very safe
and easy methods of evading the law. The profits
of trade, I have been assured by British merchants
who had traded in both countries, are higher in

* See Denisart, Article Taux des Interets, torn. iii. p. 1 8.

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 123

France than in England ; and it is no doubt upon
this account, that many British subjects chuse rather
to employ their capitals in a country where trade is
in disgrace, than in one where it is highly respect-
ed. .The wages of labour are lower in France than
in England. When you go from Scotland to Eng-
land, the difference which you may remark between
the dress arid countenance of the common people in
the one country and in the other, sufficiently indi-
cates the difference in their condition. The contrast
is still greater when you return from France. France,
though no doubt a richer country than Scotland,
seems not to be going forward so fast. It is a com-
mon, and even a popular opinion in the country,
that it is going backwards ; an opinion which, I ap-
prehend, is ill founded, even with regard to France,
but which nobody can possibly entertain with regard
to Scotland, who sees the country now, and who
saw it twenty or thirty years ago.

The province of Holland, on the other hand, in
proportion to the extent of its territory and the num-
ber of its people, is a richer country than England.
The government there borrow at two per cent, and
private people of good credit at three. The wages
of labour are said to be higher in Holland than in
England, and the Dutch, it is well known, trade up-
on lower profits than any people in Europe. The
trade of Holland, it has been pretended by some
people, is decaying, and it may perhaps be true that
some particular branches of it are so; but these
symptoms seem to indicate sufficiently that there is
no general decay. When profit diminishes, mer-
chants are very apt to complain that trade decays,
though the diminution of profit is the natural effect

124 PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

of its prosperity, or of a greater stock being employ-
ed in it than before. During the late war, the
Dutch gained the whole carrying trade of France,
of which they still retain a very large share. The
great property which they possess both in French
and English funds, about forty millions, it is said
in the latter, (in which, I suspect, however, there
is a considerable exaggeration) the great sums which
they lend to private people, in countries where the
rate of interest is higher than in their own, are
circumstances which no doubt demonstrate the re-
dundancy of their stock, or that it has increased be-
yond what they can employ with tolerable profit in
the proper business of their own country ; but they
do not demonstrate that that business has decreased.
As the capital of a private man, though acquired
by a particular trade, may increase beyond what he
can employ in it, and yet that trade continue to in-
crease too, so may likewise the capital of a great
nation.

In our North American and West Indian colonies,
not only the wages of labour, but the interest of mo-
ney, and consequently the profits of stock, are higher
than in England. In the different colonies, both the
legal and the market rate of interest run from six to
eight per cent. High wages of labour and high profits
of stock, however, are things, perhaps, which scarce
ever go together, except in the peculiar circumstances
of new colonies. A new colony must always, for
some time, be more understocked in proportion to
the extent of its territory, and more underpeopled
in proportion to the extent of its stock, than the
greater part of other countries. They have more
land than they have stock to cultivate. What they

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 125

have, therefore, is applied to the cultivation only of
what is most fertile and most favourably situated,
the land near the sea-shore, and along the banks
of navigable rivers. Such land, too, is frequently
purchased at a price below the value even of its na-
tural produce. Stock employed in the purchase
and improvement of such lands, must yield a very
large profit, and, consequently, afford to pay a very
large interest. Its rapid accumulation in so profit-
able an employment enables the planter to increase
the number of his hands faster than he can find
them in a new settlement. Those whom he can
find, therefore, are very liberally rewarded. As the
colony increases, the profits of stock gradually di-
minish. When the most fertile and best situated
lands have been all occupied, less profit can be made
by the cultivation of what is inferior both in soil
and situation, and less interest can be afforded for
the stock which is so employed. In the greater part
of our colonies, accordingly, both the legal and the
market rate of interest have been considerably re-
duced during the course of the present century. As
riches, improvement, and population, have increased,
interest has declined. The wages of labour do not
sink with the profits of stock. The demand for la-
bour increases with the increase of stock, whatever
be its profits ; and after these are diminished, stock
may not only continue to increase, but to increase
much faster than before. It is with industrious na-
tions, who are advancing in the acquisition of riches,
as with industrious individuals. A great stock,
though with small profits, generally increases faster
than a small stock with great profits. Money,
says the proverb, makes money. When you have

126 TllOFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I,

got a little, it is often easy to get more. The great
difficulty is to get that little. The connection be-
tween the increase of stock and that of industry, or
of the demand for useful labour, has partly been ex-
plained already, but will be explained more fully
hereafter, in treating of the accumulation of stock.

The acquisition of new territory, or of new
branches of trade, may sometimes raise the profits
of stock, and with them the interest of money, even
in a country which is fast advancing in the acquisi-
tion of riches. The stock of the country, not being
sufficient for the whole accession of business which
such acquisitions present to the different people
among whom it is divided, is applied to those par-
ticular branches only which afford the greatest
profit. Part of what had before been employed in
other trades, is necessarily withdrawn from them,
and turned into some of the new and more profitable
ones. In all those old trades, therefore, the compe-
tition comes to be less than before. The market
comes to be less fully supplied with many different
sorts of goods. Their price necessarily rises more
or less, and yields a greater profit to those who deal
in them, who can therefore afford to borrow at a
higher interest. For some time after the conclusion
of the late war, not only private people of the best
credit, but some of the greatest companies in Lon-
don, commonly borrowed at five per cent, who,
before that, had not been used to pay more than
four, and four and a half per cent. The great ac-
cession both of territory and trade, by our acqui-
sitions in North America and the West Indies, will
sufficiently account for this, without supposing any
diminution in the capital stock of the society. So

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 127

great an accession of new business to be carried on
by the old stock, must necessarily have diminished
the quantity employed in a great number of parti-
cular branches, in which, the competition being less,
the profits must have been greater. I shall hereaf-
ter have occasion to mention the reasons which dis-
pose me to believe that the capital stock of Great
Britain was not diminished, even by the enormous
expense of the late war.

The diminution of the capital stock of the society,
or of the funds destined for the maintenance of in-
dustry, however, as it lowers the wages of labour,
so it raises the profits of stock, and consequently
the interest of money. By the wages of labour being
lowered, the owners of what stock remains in the
society can bring their goods at less expense to
market than before ; and less stock being employed
in supplying the market than before, they can sell
them dearer. Their goods cost them less, and
they get more for them. Their profits, therefore,
being augmented at both ends, can well afford
a large interest. The great fortunes so suddenly
and so easily acquired in Bengal and the other Bri-
tish settlements in the East Indies, may satisfy us,
that as the wages of labour are very low, so the pro-
fits of stock are very high in those ruined countries.
The interest of money is proportionably so. In
Bengal, money is frequently lent to the farmers at
forty, fifty, and sixty per cent, and the succeeding
crop is mortgaged for the payment. As the pro-
fits which can afford such an interest must eat up
almost the whole rent of the landlord, so such enor-
mous usury must in its turn eat up the greater part
of those profits. Before the fall of the Roman re-

PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

public, a usury of the same kind seems to have been
common in the provinces, under the ruinous admi-
nistration of their proconsuls. The virtuous Brutus
lent money in Cyprus at eight-and-forty per cent, as
we learn from the letters of Cicero.

In a country which had acquired that full comple-
ment of riches which the nature of its soil and cli-
mate, and its situation with respect to other coun-
tries, allowed it to acquire, which could, therefore,
advance no further, and which was not going back-
wards, both the wages of labour and the profits of
stock would probably be very low. In a country
fully peopled in proportion to what either its terri-
tory could maintain, or its stock employ, the compe-
tition for employment would necessarily be so great
as to reduce the wages of labour to what was bare-
ly sufficient to keep up the number of labourers, and
the country being already fully peopled, that num-
ber could never be augmented. In a country fully
stocked in proportion to all the business it had to
transact, as great a quantity of stock would be em-
ployed in every particular branch as the nature and
extent of the trade would admit The competition^
therefore, would everywhere be as great, and, conse-
quently, the ordinary profit as low as possible.

But, perhaps, no country has ever yet arrived at
this degree of opulence. China seems to have been
long stationary, and had, probably, long ago acquired
that full complement of riches which is consistent
with the nature of its laws and institutions. But this
complementmaybemuch inferior to what, with other
laws and institutions, the nature of its soil, climate,
and situation, might admit of. A country which ne-

CHAP. IX, PROFITS OF STOCK. 129

gleets or despises foreign commerce, and which ad-
mits the vessels of foreign nations into one or two
of its ports only, cannot transact the same quantity
of business which it might do with different laws
and institutions. In a country, too, where, though
the rich, or the owners of large capitals, enjoy a good
deal of security, the poor, or the owners of small ca-
pitals, enjoy scarce any, but are liable, under the
pretence of justice, to be pillaged and plundered at
any time by the inferior mandarins, the quantity of
stock employed in all the different branches of busi-
ness transacted within it, can never be equal to what
the nature and extent of that business might ad-
mit. In every different branch, the oppression of
the poor must establish the monopoly of the rich,
who, by engrossing the whole trade to themselves,
will be able to make very large profits. Twelve
per cent, accordingly, is said to be the common
interest of money in China, and the ordinary pro-
fits of stock must be sufficient to afford this large
interest.

A defect in the law may sometimes raise the rate
of interest considerably above what the condition of
the country as to wealth or poverty would require.
When the law does not enforce the performance of
contracts, it puts all borrowers nearly upon the same
footing with bankrupts, or people of doubtful credit,
in better regulated countries. The uncertainty of re-
covering his money makes the lender exact the same
usurious interest which is usually required from
bankrupts. Among the barbarous nations who over-
ran the western provinces of the Roman empire, the
performance of contracts was left for many ages to
the faith of the contracting parties. The courts of

VOL. I. I

130 PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

justice of their kings seldom intermeddled in it.
The high rate of interest which took place in those
ancient times may, perhaps, be partly accounted for
from this cause.

When thelaw prohibits interest altogether, it does
not prevent it. Many people must borrow, and no-
body will lend without such a consideration for the
use of their money as is suitable, not only to what
can be made by the use of it, but to the difficulty
and danger of evading the law. The high rate of
interest among all Mahometan nations is accounted
for by M. Montesquieu, not from their poverty, but
partly from this, and partly from the difficulty of re-
covering the money

The lowest ordinary rate of profit must always be
something more than what is sufficient to compen-
sate the occasional losses to which every employment
of stock is exposed. It is this surplus only which
is neat or clear profit. What is called gross profit,
comprehends frequently not only this surplus, but
what is retained for compensating such extraordi-
nary losses. The interest which the borrower can
afford to pay is in proportion to the clear profit only.

The lowest ordinary rate of interest must, in the
same manner, be something more than sufficient to
compensate the occasional losses to which lending,
even with tolerable prudence, is exposed. Were it
not, mere charity or friendship could be the only
motives for lending.

In a country which had acquired its full comple-
ment of riches, where, in every particular branch of
business, there was the greatest quantity of stock that
could be employed in it, as the ordinary rate of clear
profit would be very small, so the usual market-rateof
interest which could be afforded out of it would be

CHAP. V. PROFITS OF STOCK. 131

so low as to render it impossible for any but the very
wealthiest people to live upon the interest of their
money. All people of small or middling fortunes
would be obliged to superintend themselves the em-
ployment of their own stocks. It would be neces-
sary that almost every man should be a man of busi-
ness, or engage in some sort of trade. The pro-
vince of Holland seems to be approaching near to
this state. It is there unfashionable not to be a man
of business. Necessity makes it usual for almost
every man to be so, and custom everywhere regu-
lates fashion. As it is ridiculous not to dress, so is
it, in some measure, not to be employed like other
people. As a man of a civil profession seems awk-
ward in a camp or a garrison, and is even in some
danger of being despised there, so does an idle man
among men of business.

The highest ordinary rate of profit may be such
as, in the .price of the greater part of commodities,
eats up the whole of what should go to the rent of
the land, and leaves only what is sufficient to pay
the labour of preparing and bringing them to mar-
ket, according to the lowest rate at which labour
can anywhere be paid, the bare subsistence of the
labourer. The workman must always have been fed
in some way or other while he was about the work,
but the landlord may not always have been paid.
The profits«of the trade which the servants of the
East India company carry on in Bengal may not,
perhaps, be very far from this rate.

The proportion which the usual market-rate of
interest ought to bear to the ordinary rate of clear
profit, necessarily varies as profit rises or falls.
Double interest is in Great Britain reckoned what

132 PROFITS OF STOCK. BOOK I.

the merchants call a good, moderate, reasonable pro-
fit ; terms which, I apprehend, mean no more than a
common and usual profit. In a country where the
ordinary rate of clear profit is eight or ten per cent,
it may be reasonable that one half of it should go
to interest, wherever business is carried on with bor-
rowed money. The stock is at the risk of the bor-
rower, who, as it were, insures it to the lender; and
four or five per cent, may, in the greater part of
trades, be both a sufficient profit upon the risk of
this insurance, and a sufficient recompense for the
trouble of employing the stock. But the proportion
between interest and clear profit might not be the
same in countries where the ordinary rate of profit
was either a good deal lower, or a good deal higher.
If it were a good deal lower, one half of it, perhaps,
could not be afforded for interest ; and more might
be afforded if it were a good deal higher.

In countries wnich are fast advancing to riches,
the low rate of profit may, in the price of many com-
modities, compensate the high wages of labour, and
enable those countries to sell as cheap as their less
thriving neighbours, among whom the wages of la-
bour may be lower.

In reality, high profits tend much more to raise the
price of work than high wages. If, in the linen manu-
facture, for example, the wages of the different work-
ing people, the flax-dressers, tjie spinners, the wea-
vers, &c. should all of them be advanced twopence
a-day, it would be necessary to heighten the price of
a piece of linen only by a number of twopences equal
to the number of people that had been employed
about it, multiplied by the number of days during

CHAP. IX. PROFITS OF STOCK. 133

which they had been so employed. That part of the
price of the commodity which resolved itself into the
wages, would, through all the different stages of the
manufacture, rise only in arithmetical proportion to
this rise of wages. But if the profits of all the diffe-
rent employers of those working people should be
raised five per cent, that part of the price of the
commodity which resolved itself into profit would,
through all the different stages of the manufacture,
rise in geometrical proportion to this rise of profit.
The employer of the flax dressers would, in selling
his flax, require an additional five per cent, upon the
whole value of the materials and wages which he
advanced to his workmen. The employer of the
spinners would require an additional five per cent,
both upon the advanced price of the flax, and upon
the wages of the spinners. And the employer of the
weavers would require a like five per cent, both
upon the advanced price of the linen-yarn, and upon
the wages of the weavers. In raising the price of
commodities, the rise of wages operates in the same
manner as simple interest does in the accumulation
of debt. The rise of profit operates like compound
interest. Our merchants and master manufacturers
complain much of the bad effects of high wages in
raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of
their goods, both at home and abroad. They say
nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits ;
they are silent with regard to the pernicious effects
of their own gains ; they complain only of those of
other people.

134 WAGES AND PROFIT BOOK I.

CHAP. X.

Of wages and profit in the different employments of
labour and stock.

THE whole of the advantages and disadvantages of
the different employments of labour and stock, must,
in the same neighbourhood, be either perfectly
equal, or continually tending to equality. If, in the
same neighbourhood, there was any employment evi-
dently either more or less advantageous than the
rent, so many people would crowd into it in the one
case, and so many would desert it in the other, that
its advantages would soon return to the level of
other employments. This, at least, would be the
case in a society where things were left to follow
their natural course, where there was perfect liberty,
and where every man was perfectly free both to
chuse what occupation he thought proper, and to
change it as often as he thought proper. Every
man's interest would prompt him to seek the advan-
tageous, and to shun the disadvantageous employ-
ment.

Pecuniary wages and profit, indeed, are every-
where in Europe extremely different, according to
the different employments of labour and stock. But
this difference arises, partly from certain circum-
stances in the employments themselves, which, either
really, or at least in the imagination of men, make
up for a small pecuniary gain in some, and counter-
balance a great one in others, and partly from the
policy of Europe, which nowhere leaves things at
perfect liberty.

Theparticularconsideration ofthose circumstances,

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 135

and of that policy, will divide this chapter into two
parts.

PART I. — Inequalities arising- from the nature of the employ-
ments themselves.

THE five following are the principal circumstances
which, so far as I have been able to observe, make
up for a small pecuniary gain in some employments,
and counterbalance a great one in others. First, the
agreeableness or disagreeablenessof the employments
themselves ; secondly, the easiness and cheapness, or
the difficulty and expense of learning them ; thirdly,
the constancy or inconstancy of employment in them ;
fourthly, the small or great trust which must be re-
posed in those who exercise them ; and, fifthly, the
probability or improbability of success in them.

First, the wages of labour vary with the ease or
hardship, the cleanliness or dirtiness, the honour-
ableness or dishonourableness, of the employment.
Thus in most places, take the year round, a jour-
neyman tailor earns less than a journeymen weaver.
His work is much easier. A journeyman weaver
earns less than a journeyman smith. His work is
not always easier, but it is much cleanlier. A jour-
neyman blacksmith, though an artificer, seldom earns
so much in twelve hours, as a collier, who is only a
labourer, does in eight. His work is not quite so
dirty, is less dangerous, and is carried on in day-
light, and above ground. Honour makes a great
part of the reward of all honourable professions. In
point of pecuniary gain, all things considered, they
are generally under- recompensed, as I shall endea-
vour to shew by and by. Disgrace has the contrary
effect. The trade of a butcher is a brutal and an

136 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

odious business ; but it is in most places more pro-
fitable than the greater part of common trades. The
most detestable of all employments, that of public
executioner, is, in proportion to the quantity of work
done, better paid than any common trade whatever.

Hunting and fishing, the most important employ,
ments of mankind in the rude state of society, be-
come, in its advanced state, their most agreeable
amusements, and they pursue for pleasure what they
once followed from necessity. In the advanced state
of society, therefore, they are all very poor people
who follow as a trade, what other people pursue as
a pastime. Fishermen have been so since the time
of Theocritus *. A poacher is everywhere a very
poor man in Great Britain. In countries where the
rigour of the law suffers no poachers, the licensed
hunter is not in a much better condition. The na-
tural taste for thoseemployments makes more people
follow them, than can live comfortably by them ;
and the produce of their labour, in proportion to its
quantity, comes always too cheap to market, to af-
ford any thing but the most scanty subsistence to
the labourers.

Disagreeableness and disgrace affect the profits of
stock in the same manner as the wages of labour.
The keeper of an inn or tavern, who is never master
of iiis own house, and who is exposed to the bru-
tality of every drunkard, exercises neither a very
agreeable nor a very creditable business. But there
is scarce any common trade in which a small stock
yields so great a profit.

Secondly, the wages of labour vary with the easi-

* See Idyllium, xxi.

-^

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 137

ness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense, of
learning the business.

When any expensive machine is erected, the ex-
traordinary work to be performed by it before it is
worn out, it must be expected, will replace the ca-
pital laid out upon it, with at least the ordinary pro-
fits. A man educated at the expense of much la-
bour and time to any of those employments which
require extraordinary dexterity and skill, may be
compared to one of those expensive machines. The
work which he learns to perform, it must be expect-
ed, over and above the usual wages of common la-
bour, will replace to him the whole expense of his
education, with at least the ordinary profits of an
equally valuable capital. It must do this too in a
reasonable time, regard being had to the very uncer-
tain duration of human life, in the same manner as
to the more certain duration of the machine.

The difference between the wages of skilled la-
bour and those of common labour, is founded upon
this principle.

The policy of Europe considers the labour of all
mechanics, artificers, and manufacturers, as skilled
labour ; and that of all country labourers as common
labour. It seems to suppose that of the former to
be of a more nice and delicate nature than that of
the latter. It is so perhaps in some cases ; but in
the greater part it is quite otherwise, as 1 shall en-
deavour to shew by and by. The laws and customs
of Europe, therefore, in order to qualify any person
for exercising the one species of labour, impose the
necessity of an apprenticeship, though with different
degrees of rigour in different places. They leave
the other free and open to every body. During the

138 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

continuance of the apprenticeship, the whole labour
of the apprentice belongs to his master. In the
mean time he must, in many cases, be maintained by
his parents or relations, and, in almost all cases, must
be clothed by them. Some money, too, is common-
ly given to the master for teaching him his trade.
They who cannot give money, give time, or become
bound for more than the usual number of years ; a
consideration which, though it is not always advan-
tageous to the master, on account of the usual idle-
ness of apprentices, is always disadvantageous to the
apprentice. In country labour, on the contrary, the
labourer, while he is employed about the easier,
learns the more difficult parts of his business, and
his own labour maintains him through all the diffe-
rent stages of his employment. It is reasonable,
therefore, that in Europe the wages of mechanics,
artificers, and manufacturers, should be somewhat
higher than those of common labourers. They are
so accordingly, and their superior gains make them,
in most places, be considered as a superior rank of
people. This superiority, however, is generally very
small : the daily or weekly earnings of journeymen
hi the more common sorts of manufactures, such as
those of plain linen and woollen cloth, computed at
an average, are, in most places, very little more
than the day- wages of common labourers. Their
employment, indeed, is more steady and uniform,
and the superiority of their earnings, taking the
whole year together, may be somewhat greater. It
seems evidently, however, to be no greater than
what is sufficient to compensate the superior expense
of their education.

Education in the ingenious arts, and in the liberal

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 139

professions, is still more tedious and expensive. The
pecuniary recompense, therefore, of painters and
sculptors, of lawyers and physicians, ought to be
much more liberal ; and it is so accordingly.

The profits of stock seem to be very little affected
by the easiness or difficulty of learning the trade in
which it is employed. All the different ways in
which stock is commonly employed in great towns
seem, in reality, to be almost equally easy and equal-
ly difficult to learn. One branch, either of foreign
or domestic trade, cannot well be a much more in-
tricate business than another.

Thirdly, the wages of labour in different occupa-
tions vary with the constancy or inconstancy of em-
ployment.

Employment is much more constant in some
trades than in others. In the greater part of manu-
factures, a journeyman may be pretty sure of em-
ployment almost every day in the year that he is
able to work. A mason or bricklayer, on the con-
trary, can work neither in hard frost nor in foul
weather, and his employment at all other times de-
pends upon the occasional calls of his customers.
He is liable, in consequence, to be frequently with-
out any. What he earns, therefore, while he is em-
ployed, must not only maintain him while he is idle,
but make him some compensation for those anxious
and desponding moments which the thought of so
precarious a situation must sometimes occasion.
Where the computed earnings of the greater part of
manufacturers, accordingly, are nearly upon a level
with the day-wages of common labourers, those of
masons and bricklayers are generally from one half
more to double those wages. Where common la-

140 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

bourers earn four or five shillings a- week, masons
and bricklayers frequently earn seven and eight;
where the former earn six, the latter often earn nine
and ten ; and where the former earn nine and ten,
as in London, the latter commonly earn fifteen and
eighteen. No species of skilled labour, however,
seems more easy to learn than that of masons and
bricklayers. Chairmen in London, during the sum-
mer season, are said sometimes to be employed as
bricklayers. The high wages of those workmen,
therefore, are not so much the recompense of their
skill, as the compensation for the inconstancy of their
employment.

A house carpenter seems to exercise rather a
nicer and a more ingenious trade than a mason.
In most places, however, for it is not universally
so, his day-wages are somewhat lower. His em-
ployment, though it depends much, does not de-
pend so entirely upon the occasional calls of his
customers ; and it is not liable to be interpreted by
the weather.

When the trades which generally afford constant
employment, happen in a particularplacenotto do so,
the wages of the workmen always rise a good deal a-
bove their ordinary proportion tothose of common la-
bour. In London, almostall journeymen artificersare
liable to be called upon and dismissed by their mas-
ters from day to day, and from week to week, in the
same manner as day-labourers in other places. The
lowest order of artificers, journeymen tailors, accord-
ingly, earn their half a-crown a- day, though eigh-
teen pence may be reckoned the wages of common
labour. In small towns and country villages, the
wages of journeymen tailors frequently scarce equal

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 141

those of common labour ; but in London they are
often many weeks without employment, particularly
during the summer.

When the inconstancy of employment is combined
with the hardship, disagreeableness, and dirtiness of
the work, it sometimes raises the wages of the most
common labour above those of the most skilful arti-
ficers. A collier working by the piece is supposed,
at Newcastle, to earn commonly about double, and,
in many parts of Scotland, about three times, the
wages of common labour. His high wages arise al-
together from the hardship, disagreeableness, and
dirtiness of his work. His employment may, upon
most occasions, be as constant as he pleases. The
coal- heavers in London exercise a trade which, in
hardship, dirtiness, and disagreeableness, almost
equals that of colliers ; and, from the unavoidable
irregularity in the arrivals of coal-ships, the employ-
ment of the greater part of them is necessarily very
inconstant. If colliers, therefore, commonly earn
double and triple the wages of common labour, it
ought not to seem unreasonable that coal-heavers
should sometimes earn four and five times those
wages. In the inquiry made into their condition a
few years ago, it was found that, at the rate at
which they were then paid, they could earn from six
to ten shillings a- day. Six shillings are about four
times the wages of common labour in London; and,
in every particular trade, the lowest common earn-
ings may always be considered as those of the far
greater number. How extravagant soever those
earnings may appear, if they were more than suf-
ficient to compensate all the disagreeable circum-
stances of the business, there would soon be so great

142 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

a number of competitors, as, in a trade which has no
exclusive privilege, would quickly reduce them to
a lower rate.

The constancy or inconstancy of employment can-
not affect the ordinary profits of stock in any parti-
cular trade. Whether the stock is or is not con-
stantly employed, depends, not upon the trade, but
the trader.

Fourthly, the wages of labour vary according to
the small or great trust which must be reposed in
the workmen.

The wages of goldsmiths and jewellers are every-
where superior to those of many other workmen,
not only of equal, but of much superior ingenuity,
on account of the precious materials with which
they are entrusted.

We trust our health to the physician, our fortune,
and sometimes our life and reputation, to the lawyer
and attorney. Such confidence could not safely be
reposed in people of a very mean or low condition.
Their reward must be such, therefore, as may give
them that rank in the society which so important a
trust requires. The long time and the great expense
which must be laid out in their education, when
combined with this circumstance, necessarily enhance
still further the price of their labour.

When a person employs only his own stock in
trade, there is no trust ; and the credit which he
may get from other people, depends, not upon the
nature of the trade, but upon their opinion of his
fortune, probity, and prudence. The different rates
of profit, therefore, in the different branches of trade,
cannot arise from the different degrees of trust re-
posed in the traders.

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 143

Fifthly, the wages of labour in different employ-
ments vary according to the probability or improba-
bility of success in them.

The probability that any particular person shall
ever be qualified for the employments to which he is
educated, is very different in different occupations.
In the greatest part of mechanic trades, success is
almost certain ; but very uncertain in the liberal
professions. Put your son apprentice to a shoe-
maker, there is little doubt of his learning to make
a pair of shoes ; but send him to study the law, it
is at least twenty to one if he ever makes such pro-
ficiency as will enable him to live by the business.
In a perfectly fair lottery, those who draw the prizes
ougfct to gain all that is lost by those who draw the
blanks. In a profession, where twenty fails for one
that succeeds, that one ought to gain all that should
have been gained by the unsuccessful twenty. The
counsellor at law, who, perhaps, at near forty years
of age, begins to make something by his profession,
ought to receive the retribution, not only of his own
so tedious and expensive education, but of that of
more than twenty others, who are never likely to
make any thing by it. How extravagant soever the
fees of counsellors at law may sometimes appear,
their real retribution is never equal to this. Com-
pute, in any particular place, what is likely to be
annually gained, and what is likely to be annually
spent, by all the different workmen in any common
trade, such as that of shoemakers or weavers, and
you will find that the former sum will generally ex-
ceed the latter. But make the same computation
with regard to all the counsellors and students of
law, in all the different inns of court, and you will

144 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

find that their annual gains bear but a very small
proportion to their annual expense, even though
you rate the former as high, and the latter as low,
as can well be done. The lottery of the law, there-
fore, is very far from being a perfectly fair lottery ;
and that, as well as many other liberal and honour-
able professions, is, in point of pecuniary gain, evi-
dently under-recompensed.

Those professions keep their level, however, with
other occupations ; and, notwithstanding these dis-
couragements, all the most generous and liberal spi-
rits are eager to crowd into them. Two different
causes contribute to recommend them. First, the
desire of the reputation which attends upon supe-
rior excellence in any of them ; and, secondly, the
natural confidence which every man has, more or less,

not only in his own abilities, but in his own good

•"

fortune.

To excel in any profession, in which but few ar-
rive at mediocrity, it is the most decisive mark of
what is called genius, or superior talents. The pub-
lic admiration which attends upon such distinguish-
ed abilities makes always a part of their reward^;
a greater or smaller, in proportion as it is higher or
lower in degree. It makes a considerable part of
that reward in the profession of physic ; a still greater,
perhaps, in that of law ; in poetry and philosophy it
makes almost the whole.

There are some very agreeable and beautiful ta-
lents, of which the possession commands a certain
sort of admiration, but of which the exercise, for the
sake of gain, is considered, whether from reason or
prejudice, as a sort of public prostitution. The pe-
cuniary recompense, therefore, of those who exer-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 145

cise them in this manner, must be sufficient, not
only to pay for the time, labour, and expense of ac-
quiring the talents, but for the discredit which at-
tends the employment of them as the means of sub-
sistence. The exorbitant rewards of players, opera-
singers, opera- dancers, &c. are founded upon those
two principles; the rarity and beauty of the ta-
lents, and the discredit of employing them in this
manner. It seems absurd at first sight, that we
should despise their persons, and yet reward their
talents with the most profuse liberality. While we
do the one, however, we must of necessity do the
other. Should the public opinion or prejudice ever
alter with regard to such occupations, their pecu-
niary recompense would quickly diminish. More
people would apply to them, and the competition
would quickly reduce the price of their labour.
Such talents, though far from being common, are
by no means so rare as imagined. Many people
possess them in great perfection, who disdain to
make this use of them ; and many more are capable
of acquiring them, if any thing could be made ho-
nourably by them.

The over- weening conceit which the greater part
of men have of their own abilities, is an ancient evil
remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all
ages. Their absurd presumption in their own good
fortune has been less taken notice of. It is, how-
ever, if possible, still more universal. There is no
man living, who, when in tolerable health and spi-
rits, has not some share of it. The chance of gain
is by every man more or less over valued, and the
chance of loss is by most men under- valued, and by
scarce any man, who is in tolerable health and spi-
rits, valued more than it is worth.

VOL. i. K

146 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

That the chanceof gain isnaturallyover-valued,we
may learn from the universal success of lotteries The
world neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly
fair lottery, or one in which the whole gain com-
pensated the whole loss ; because the undertaker
could make nothing by it. In the state lotteries, the
tickets are really not worth the price which is paid
by the original subscribers, and yet commonly sell in
the market for twenty, thirty, and sometimes forty
per cent, advance. The vain hopes of gaining some
of the great prizes is the sole cause of this demand.
The soberest people scarce look upon it as a folly to
pay a small sumforthechanceof gainingten ortwenty
thousand pounds, though they know that even that
small sum is perhaps twenty or thirty per cent, more
than the chance is worth. In a lottery in which no
prize exceeded twenty pounds, though in other re-
spects it approached much nearer to a perfectly fair
one than the common state lotteries, there would
not be the same demand for tickets. In order to
have a better chance for some of the great prizes,
some people purchase several tickets ; and others,
small shares in a still greater number. There is not,
however, a more certain proposition in mathematics,
than that the more tickets you adventure upon, the
more likely you are to be a loser. Adventure upon
all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for cer-
tain ; and the greater the number of your tickets, the
nearer you approach to this certainty.

That the chance of loss is frequently under- va-
lued, and scarce ever valued more than it is worth,
we may learn from the very moderate profit of in-
surers. In order to make insurance, either from fire
or sea- risk, a trade at all, the common premium must
be sufficient to compensate the common losses, to pay

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 147

theexpense of management, and to afford such a pro-
fit as might have been drawn from an equal capital
employed in any common trade. The person who
pays no more than this, evidently pays no more than
the real value of the risk, or the lowest price at which
he can reasonably expect to insure it. But though
many people have made a little money by insurance,
very few have made a great fortune ; and, from this
consideration alone, it seems evident enough that
the ordinary balance of profit and loss is not more
advantageous in this than in other common trades,
by which so many people make fortunes. Moderate,
however, as the premium of insurance commonly is,
many people despise the risk too much to care to pay
it. Taking the whole kingdom at an average, nine-
teen houses in twenty, or rather, perhaps, ninety-nine
in an hundred, are not insured from fire. Sea-risk is
more alarming to the greater part of people ; and the
proportion of ships insured to those not insured is
much greater. Many sail, however, at all seasons,
and even in time of war, without any insurance.
This may sometimes, perhaps, be done without any
imprudence. When a great company, or even a
great merchant, has twenty or thirty ships at sea,
they may, as it were, insure one another. The pre-
mium saved upon them all may more than compen-
sate such losses as they are likely to meet with in the
common course of chances. The neglect of insur-
ance upon shipping, however, in the same manner as
upon houses, is, in most cases, the effect of no such
nice calculation, but of mere thoughtless rashness,
and presumptuous contempt of the risk.

The contempt of risk, and the presumptuous hope
of success, are in no period of life more active than

148 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

at the age at which young people chuse their profes-
sions. How little the fear of misfortune is then ca-
pable of balancing the hope of good luck, appears
still more evidently in the readiness of the common
people to enlist as soldiers, or to go to sea, than in
the eagerness of those of better fashion to enter into
what are called the liberal professions.

What a common soldier may lose is obvious
enough. Without regarding the danger, however,
young volunteers never enlist so readily as at the be-
ginning of a new war ; and though they have scarce
any chance of preferment, they figure to themselves,
in their youthful fancies, a thousand occasions of
acquiring honour and distinction which never occur.
These romantic hopes make the whole price of their
blood. Their pay is less than that of common la-
bourers," and, in actual service, their fatigues are
much greater.

The lottery of the sea is not altogether so disad-
vantageous as that of the army. The son of a cre-
ditable labourer or artificer may frequently go to sea
with his father's consent ; but if he enlists as a sol-
dier, it is always without it. Other people see some
chance of his making something by the one trade ;
nobody but himself sees any of his making any thing
by the other. The great admiral is less the object
of public admiration than the great general ; and the
highest success in the sea service promises a less bril-
liant fortune and reputation than equal success in
the land. The same difference runs through all the
inferior degrees of preferment in both. By the rules
of precedency, a captain in the navy ranks with a
colonel in the army ; but he does not rank with him
in the common estimation. As the great prizes in

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 149

the lottery are less, the smaller ones must be more
numerous. Common sailors, therefore, more fre-
quently get some fortune and preferment than com-
mon soldiers ; and the hope of those prizes is what
principally recommends the trade. Though their
skill and dexterity are much superior to that of al-
most any artificers ; and though their whole life is
one continual scene of hardship and danger; yet for
all this dexterity and skill, for all those hardships
and dangers, while they remain in the condition of
common sailors, they receive scarce any other recom-
pense but the pleasure of exercising the one and of
surmounting the other. Their wages are not greater
than those of common labourers at the port which
regulates the rate of seamen's wages. As they are
continually going from port to port, the monthly
pay of those who sail from all the different ports of
Great Britain, is more nearly upon a level than that
of any other workmen in those different places ; and
the rate of the port to and from which the greatest
number sail, that is, the port of London, regulates
that of all the rest. At London, the wages of the
greater part of the different classes of workmen are
about double those of the same classes at Edinburgh.
But the sailors who sail from the port of London, sel-
dom earn above three or four shillings a- month more
than those who sail from the port of Leith, and the
difference is frequently not so great. In time of
peace, and in the merchant-service, the London price
is from a guinea to about seven-and- twenty shillings
the calendar month. A common labourer in Lon-
don, at the rate of nine or ten shillings a- week, may
earn in the calendar month from forty to five-and-
forty shillings. The sailor, indeed, over and above

150 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

his pay, is supplied with provisions. Their value,
however, may not perhaps always exceed the diffe-
rence between his pay and that of the common la-
bourer ; and though it sometimes should, the excess
will not be clear gain to the sailor, because he can-
not share it with his wife and family, whom he must
maintain out of his wages at home.

The dangers and hair-breadth escapes of a life of
adventures, instead of disheartening young people,
seem frequently to recommend a trade to them. iA
tender mother, among the inferior ranks of people,
is often afraid to send her son to school at a sea-port
town, lest the sight of the ships and the conversation
and adventures of the sailors should entice him to
go to sea. The distant prospect of hazards, from
which we can hope to extricate ourselves by courage
and address, is not disagreeable to us, and does not
raise the wages of labour in any employment. It is
otherwise with those in which courage and address
can be of no avail. In trades which are known to
be very unwholesome, the wages of labour are al-
ways remarkably high. Unwholesomeness is a spe-
cies of disagreeableness, and its effects upon the wages
of labour are to be ranked under that general head.

In all the different employments of stock, the or-
dinary rate of profit varies more or less with the cer-
tainty or uncertainty of the returns. These are, in
general, less uncertain in the inland than in the
foreign trade, and in some branches of foreign trade
than in others ; in the trade to North America, for
example, than in that to Jamaica. The ordinary
rate of profit always rises more or less with the risk.
It does not, however, seem to rise in proportion to
it, or so as to compensate it completely. Bankrupt-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 151

cies are most frequent in the most hazardous trades.
The most hazardous of all trades, that of a smug-
gler, though, when the adventure succeeds, it is like-
wise the most profitable, is the infallible road to
bankruptcy. The presumptuous hope of success
seems to act here as upon all other occasions, and to
entice so many adventurers into those hazardous
trades, that their competition reduces the profit be-
low what is sufficient to compensate the risk. To
compensate it completely, thecommonreturnsought,
over and above the ordinary profits of stock, not on-
ly to make up for all occasional losses, but to afford
a surplus profit to the adventurers, of the same na-
ture with the profit of insurers. But if the common
returns were sufficient for all this, bankruptcies
would not be more frequent in these than in other
trades.

Of the five circumstances, therefore, which vary
the wages of labour, two only affect the profits of
stock ; the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the
business, and the risk or security with which it is
attended. In point of agreeableness or disagree-
ableness, there is little or no difference in the far
greater part of the different employments of stock,
but a great deal in those of labour ; and the ordinary
profit of stock, though it rises with the risk, does
not always seem to rise in proportion to it. It should
follow from all this, that, in the same society or
neighbourhood, the average and ordinary rates of
profit in the different employments of stock should
be more nearly upon a level than the pecuniary
wages of the different sorts of labour.

They are so accordingly. The difference between
the earnings of a common labourer and those of a

152 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

well employed lawyer or physician, is evidently much
greater than that between the ordinary profits in
any two different branches of trade. The apparent
difference, besides, in the profits of different trades,
is generally a deception arising from our not always
distinguishing what ought to be considered as wages,
from what ought to be considered as profit.

Apothecaries' profit is become a bye-word, denot-
ing something uncommonly extravagant. This great
apparent profit, however, is frequently no more than
the reasonable wages of labour. The skill of an apo-
thecary is a much nicer and more delicate matter
than that of any artificer whatever ; and the trust
which is reposed in him is of much greater import-
ance. He is the physician of the poor in all cases,
and of the rich when the distress or danger is not
very great. His reward, therefore, ought to be suit-
able to his skill and his trust, and it arises gene-*
rally from the price at which he sells his drugs.
But the whole drugs which the best employed apo-
thecary in a large market town, will sell in a year,
may not perhaps cost him above thirty or forty
pounds. Though he should sell them, therefore, for
three or four hundred, or at a thousand per cent,
profit, this may frequently be no more than the rea-
sonable wages of his labour, charged, in the only
way in which he can charge them, upon the price of
his drugs. The greater part of the apparent profit
is real wages disguised in the garb of profit.

In a small sea-port town, a little grocer will make
forty or fifty per cent, upon a stock of a single hun-
dred pounds, while a considerable wholesale mer-
chant in the same place will scarce make eight or
ten per cent, upon a stock of ten thousand. The

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 153

trade of the grocer may be necessary for the conve-
niency of the inhabitants, and the narrowness of the
market may not admit the employment of a larger
capital in the business. The man, however, must
not only live by his trade, but live by it suitably to
the qualifications which it requires. Besides possess-
ing a little capital, he must be able to read, write,
and account, and must be a tolerable judge, too, of
perhaps fifty or sixty diiferent sorts of goods, their
prices, qualities, and the markets where they are to
be had cheapest. He must have all the knowledge,
in short, that is necessary for a great merchant,
which nothing hinders him from becoming but the
want of a sufficient capital. Thirty or forty pounds
a-year cannot be considered as too great a recom-
pense for the labour of a person so accomplished.
Deduct this from the seemingly great profits of his
capital, and little more will remain, perhaps, than
the ordinary profits of stock. The greater part of
the apparent profit is, in this case too, real wages.

The difference between the apparent profit of the
retail and that of the wholesale trade, is much less
in the capital than in small towns and country vil-
lages. Where ten thousand pounds can be employ-
ed in the grocery trade, the wages of the grocer's la-
bour must be a very trifling addition to the real pro-
fits of so great a stock. The apparent profits of the
wealthy retailer, therefore, are there more nearly
upon a level with those of the wholesale merchant.
It is upon this account that goods sold by retail are
generally as cheap, and frequently much cheaper, in
the capital than in small towns and country villages.
Grocery goods, for example, are generally much
cheaper ; bread and butchers meat frequently as
cheap. It costs no more to bring grocery goods to

154 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

the great town than to the country village ; but it
costs a great deal more to bring corn and cattle, as
the greater part of them must be brought from a
much greater distance. The prime cost of grocery
goods, therefore, being the same in both places, they
are cheapest where the least profit is charged upon
them. The prime cost of bread and butchers meat
is greater in the great town than in the country vil-
lage ; and though the profit is less, therefore they
are notalways cheaper there, but often equally cheap.
In such articles as bread and butchers meat, the same
cause which diminishes apparent profit, increases
prime cost. . The extent of the market, by giving
employment to greater stocks, diminishes apparent
profit ; but by requiring supplies from a greater dis-
tance, it increases prime cost. This diminution of
the one and increase of the other, seem, in most
cases, nearly to counterbalance one another ; which
is probably the reason that, though the prices of corn
and cattle are commonly very different in different
parts of the kingdom, those of bread and butchers
meat are generally very nearly the same through
the greater part of it.

Though the profits of stock, both in the wholesale
and retail trade, are generally less in the capital than
in small towns and country villages, yet great for-
tunes are frequently acquired from small beginnings
in the former, and scarce ever in the latter. In small
towns and country villages, on account of the nar-
rowness of the market, trade cannot always be. ex-
tended as stock extends. In such places, therefore,
though the rate of a particular person's profits may
be very high, the sum or amount of them can never
be very great, nor consequently that of his annual
accumulation. In great towns, on the contrary,

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 155

trade can be extended as stock increases, and the
credit of a frugal and thriving man increases much
faster than his stock. His trade is extended in pro-
portion to the amount of both; andthesumoramount
of his profits is in proportion to the extent of his
trade, and his annual accumulation in proportion to
the amount of his profits. It seldom happens, how-
ever, that great fortunes are made, even in great
towns, by any one regular, established, and well-
known branches of business, but in consequence of a
long life of industry, frugality, and attention. Sud-
den fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such
places, by what is called the trade of speculation.
The speculative merchant exercises no one regular,
established, or well-known branch of business. He
is a corn merchant this year, and a wine merchant
the next, and a sugar, tobacco, or tea merchant the
year after. He enters into every trade, when he
foresees that it is likely to be more than commonly
profitable, and he quits it when he foresees that its
profits are likely to return to the level of other
trades. His profits and losses, therefore, can bear
no regular proportion to those of any one established
and well-known branch of business. A bold adven-
turer may sometimes acquire a considerable fortune
by two or three successful speculations, but is just
as likely to lose one by two or three unsuccessful
ones. This trade can be carried on nowhere but in
great towns. It is only in places of the most exten-
sive commerce and correspondence that the intelli-
gence requisite for it can be had.

The five circumstances above mentioned, though
they occasion considerable inequalities in the wages
of labour and profits of stock, occasion none in the
whole of the advantages and disadvantages, real or

156 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

imaginary, of the different employments of either.
The nature of those circumstances is such, that they
make up for a small pecuniary gain in some, and
counterbalance a great one in others.

In order, however, that this equality may take
place in the whole of their advantages or disadvan-
tages, three things are requisite, even where there
is the most perfect freedom. First, the employ-
ments must be well known and long established
in the neighbourhood ; secondly, they must be in
their ordinary, or what may be called their natural
state ; and, thirdly, they must be the sole or princi-
pal employments of those who occupy them.

First, This equality can take place only in those
employments which are well known, and have been
long established in the neighbourhood.

Where all other circumstances are equal, wages
are generally higher in new than in old trades. —
When a projector attempts to establish a new manu-
facture, he must at first entice his workmen from
other employments, by higher wages than they can
either earn in their own trades, or than the nature of
his work would otherwise require ; and a consider-
able time must pass away before he can venture to
reduce them to the common level. Manufactures for
which the demand arises altogether from fashion and
fancy, are continually changing, and seldom last long
enough to be considered as old established manufac-
tures. Those, on the contrary, for which the de-
mand arises chiefly from use or necessity, are less
liable to change, and the same form or fabric may con-
tinue in demand for whole centuries together. The
wages of labour, therefore, are likely to be higher in
manufactures of the former, than in those of the

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 157

latter kind. Birmingham deals chiefly in manufac-
tures of the former kind ; Sheffield in those of the
latter ; and the wages of labour in those two differ-
ent places are said to be suitable to this difference
in the nature of their manufactures.

The establishment of any new manufacture, of
any new branch of commerce, or of any new practice
in agriculture, is always a speculation from which the
projector promises himself extraordinary profits. —
These profits sometimes are very great, and some-
times, more frequently, perhaps, they are quite other-
wise : but, in general, they bear no regular propor-
tion to those of other old trades in the neighbour-
hood. If the project succeeds, they are commonly
at first very high. When the trade or practice be-
comes thoroughly established and well known, the
competition reduces them to the level of other trades.

Secondly, This equality in the whole of the advan-
tages and disadvantages of the different employ-
ments of labour and stock, can take place only in
the ordinary, or what may be called the natural state
of those employments.

The demand for almost every different species of
labour is sometimes greater and sometimes less than
usual. In the one case, the advantages of the employ-
ment rise above, in the other they fall below the
common level. The demand for country labour is
greater at hay-time and harvest than during the
greater part of the year ; and wages rise with the
demand. In time of war, when forty or fifty thou-
sand sailors are forced from the merchant service
into that of the king, the demand for sailors to mer-
chant ships necessarily rises with their scarcity ; and
their wages, upon such occasions, commonly rise

158 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

from a guinea and seven-and-twenty shillings to
forty shillings and three pounds a month. In a de-
caying manufacture, on the contrary, many work-
men, rather than quit their own trade, are contented
with smaller wages than would otherwise be suit-
able to the nature of their employment.

The profits of stock vary with the price of the
commodities in which it is employed. As the price
of any commodity rises above the ordinary or ave-
rage rate, the profits of at least some part of the stock
that is employed in bringing it to market, rise above
their proper level, and as it falls they sink below it.
All commodities are more or less liable to variations
of price, but some are much more so than others.
In all commodities which are produced by human
industry, the quantity of industry annually employ-
ed is necessarily regulated by the annual demand,
in such a manner that the average annual produce
may, as nearly as possible, be ejjual to the average
annual consumption. In some employments, it has
already been observed, the same quantity of indus-
try will always produce the same, or very nearly the
same quantity of commodities. In the linen or wool-
len manufactures, for example, the same number of
hands will annually work up very nearly the same
quantity of linen and woollen cloth. The variations
in the market price of such commodities, therefore,
can arise only from some accidental variation in the
demand. A public mourning raises the price of
black cloth. But as the demand for most sorts of
plain linen and woollen cloth is pretty uniform, so is
likewise the price. But there are other employ-
ments in which the same quantity of industry will
not always produce the same quantity of commo-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 159

dities. The same quantity of industry, for example,
will, 111 different years, produce very different quan-
tities of corn, wine, hops, sugar, tobacco, &c. The
price of such commodities, therefore, varies not only
with the variations of demand, but with the much
greater and more frequent variations of quantity,
and is consequently extremely fluctuating; but the
profit -of some of the dealers must necessarily fluc-
tuate with the price of the commodities. The ope-
rations of the speculative merchant are principally
employed about such commodities. Heendeavours to
buy them up when he foresees that their price is like-
ly to rise, and to sell them when it is likely to fail.

Thirdly, this equality in the whole of the advan-
tages and disadvantages of the different employ-
ments of labour and stock, can take place only in
such as are the sole or principal employments of
those who occupy them.

When a person derives his subsistence from one
employment, which does not occupy the greater part
of his time, in the intervals of his leisure he is often
willing to work at another for less wages than would
otherwise suit the nature of the employment.

There still subsists, in many parts of Scotland, a
set of people called cottars or cottagers, though they
were more frequent some years ago than they are
now. They are a sort of out-servants of the land-
lords and farmers. The usual reward which they
receive from their master is a house, a small garden
for pot-herbs, as much grass as will feed a cow, and,
perhaps, an acre or two of bad arable land. When
their master has occasion for their labour, he gives
them, besides, two pecks of oatmeal a- week, worth
about sixteen pence sterling. During a great part

160 WAGES AND PROFIT BOOK I.

of the year, he has little or no occasion for their la-
bour, and the cultivation of their own little posses-
sion is not sufficient to occupy the time which is left
at their own disposal. When such occupiers were
more numerous than they are at present, they are
said to have been willing to give their spare time
for a very small recompense to any body, and to
have wrought for less wages than other labourers.
In ancient times, they seem to have been common
all over Europe. In countries ill cultivated, and
worse inhabited, the greater part of landlords and
farmers could not otherwise provide themselves with
the extraordinary number of hands which country
labour requires at certain seasons. The daily or
weekly recompense which such labourers occasion-
ally received from their masters, was evidently not
the whole price of their labour. Their small tene-
ment made a considerable part of it. This daily or
weekly recompense, however, seems to have been
considered as the whole of it, by many writers who
have collected the prices of labour and provisions in
ancient times, and who have taken pleasure in re-
presenting both as wonderfully low.

The produce of such labour comes frequently
cheaper to market than would otherwise be suitable
to its nature. Stockings, in many parts of Scotland,
are knit much cheaper than they can anywhere be
wrought upon the loom. They are the work of ser-
vants and labourers, who derive the principal part of
theirsubsistence from some other employment. More
than a thousand pair of Shetland stockings are an-
nually imported into Leith, of which the price is from
fivepence to sevenpence a pair. At Lerwick, the small
capital of the Shetland islands, tenpence a-day, I

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 161

have been assured, is a common price of common
labour. In the sameislands, they knit worsted stock-
ings to the value of a guinea a pair and upwards.

The spinning of linen yarn is carried on in Scot-
land nearly in the same way as the knitting of stock-
ings, by servants, who are chiefly hired for other pur-
poses. They earn but a very scanty subsistence, who
endeavour to get their whole livelihood by either of
those trades. In most parts of Scotland, she is a good
spinner who can earn twentypence a-week.

In opulent countries, the market is generally so
extensive, that any one trade is sufficient to employ
the whole labour and stock of those who occupy it.
Instances of people living by one employment, and,
at the same time, deriving some little ad vantage from
another, occur chiefly in poor countries. The fol-
lowing instance, however, of something of the same
kind, is to be found in the capital of a very rich one.
There is no city in Europe, I believe, in which house-
rent is dearer than in London, and yet I know no
capital in which a furnished apartment can be hired
so cheap. Lodging is not only much cheaper in
London than in Paris ; it is much cheaper than in
Edinburgh, of the same degree of goodness; and,
what may seem extraordinary, the dearness of house-
rent is the cause of the cheapness of lodging. The
dearness of house-rent in London arises, not only
from those causes which render it dear in all great
capitals, the dearness of labour, the dearness of all
the materials of building, which must generally be
brought from a great distance, and, above all, the
dearness of ground-rent, every landlord acting the
part of a monopolist, and frequently exacting ahigher
rent for a single acre of bad land in a town, than
VOL. i. L

162 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK 1.

can be had for a hundred of the best in the country;
but it arises in part from the peculiar manners and
customs of the people, which oblige every master of
a family to hire a whole house from top to bottom.
A dwelling-house in England meansevery thing that
is contained under the same roof. In France, Scot-
land, and many other parts of Europe, it frequently
means no more than a single storey. A tradesman in
London is obliged to hire a whole house in that part of
the town where his customers live. His shop is upon
the ground floor, and he and his family sleep in the
garret ; and he endeavours to pay a part of his house-
rent by letting the two middle storeys to lodgers.
He expects to maintain his family by his trade, and
not by his lodgers. Whereas at Paris andEdinburgh,
people who let lodgings have commonly no other
means of subsistence ; and the price of the lodging
must pay, not only the rent of the house, but the
whole expense of the family.

PART II. — Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe.

SUCH are the inequalities in the whole of the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of the different employ-
ments of labour and stock, which the defect of any
of the three requisites above mentioned must occa-
sion, even where there is the most perfect liberty.
But the policy of Europe, by not leaving things at
perfect liberty, occasions other inequalities of much
greater importance.

It does this chiefly in the three following ways.
First, by restraining thecompetitionin some employ-
ments to a smaller number than would otherwise be
disposed to enter into them ; secondly, by increasing

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 163

it in others beyond what it naturally would be ; and,
thirdly, by obstructing the free circulation oflabour
and stock, both from employment to employment,
and from place to place.

First, The policy of Europe occasions a very im-
portant inequality in the whole of the advantages
and disadvantages of the different employments of
labour and stock, by restraining the competition in
some employments to a smaller number than might
otherwise be disposed to enter into them.

The exclusive privileges of corporations are the
principal means it makes use of for this purpose.

The exclusive privilege of an incorporated trade
necessarily restrains the competition, in the town
where it is established, to those who are free of the
trade. To have served an apprenticeship in the
town, under a master properly qualified, is commonly
the necessary requisite for obtaining this freedom.
The bye-laws of the corporation regulate sometimes
the number of apprentices which any master is al-
lowed to have, and almost always the number of
years which each apprentice is obliged to serve. The
intention of both regulations is to restrain the com-
petition to a much smaller number than might other-
wise be disposed to enter into the trade. The limi-
tation of the number of apprentices restrains it di-
rectly. A long term of apprenticeship restrains it
more indirectly, but as effectually, by increasing the
expense of education.

In Sheffield, no master cutler can have more than
one apprentice at a time, by a bye law of the corpo-
ration. In Norfolk and Norwich, no master weaver
can have more than two apprentices, under pain of
forfeiting five pounds a-month to the king. No

164 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

master hatter can have more than two apprentices
anywhere in England, or in the English plantations,
under pain of forfeiting five pounds a- month, half to
the king, and half to him who shall sue in any court
of record. Both these regulations, though they
have been confirmed by a public law of the king-
dom, are evidently dictated by the same corporation
spirit which enacted the bye-law of Sheffield. The
silk- weavers in London had scarce been incorporated
a year, when they enacted a bye-law, restraining
any master from having more than two apprentices
at a time. It required a particular act of parliament
to rescind this bye-law.

Seven years seem anciently to have been, all over
Europe, the usual term established for the duration
of apprenticeships in the greater part of incorporated
trades. All such incorporations were anciently called
universities, which, indeed, is the proper Latin name
for any incorporation whatever. The university of
smiths, the university of tailors, &c. are expressions
which we commonly meet with in the old charters of
ancient towns. When those particular incorporations,
which are nowpeculiarlycalled universities, were first
established, the term of years which it was necessary
to study, in order to obtain the degree of master of
arts, appear evidently to have been copied from the
term of apprenticeship in common trades, of which
the incorporations were much more ancient. As to
have wrought seven years under a master properly
qualified, was necessary, in order to entitle any person
to become a master, and to have himself apprentices
in a common trade ; so to have studied seven years
under a master properly qualified, was necessary to
entitle him to become a master, teacher, or doctor,

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 165

(words anciently synonymous) in the liberal arts, and
to have scholars or apprentices (words likewise ori-
ginally synonymous) to study under him.

By the 5th of Elizabeth, commonly called the Sta-
tute of Apprenticeship, it was enacted, that no person
should, for the future, exercise any trade, craft, or
mystery, at that time exercised in England, unless he
had previously served to it an apprenticeship of seven
years at least ; and what before had been the bye-law
of many particular corporations, became in England
the general and public law of all trades carried on in
market towns. For though the words of the statute
are very general, and seem plainly to include the
whole kingdom, by interpretation its operation has
been limited to market towns ; it having been held
that, in country villages, a person may exercise seve-
ral different trades, though he has not served a seven
years apprenticeship to each, they being necessary
for the conveniency of the inhabitants, and the num-
ber of people frequently not being sufficient to supply
each with a particular set of hands.

By a strict interpretation of the words, too, the
operation of this statute has been limited to those
trades which were established in England before the
5th of Elizabeth, and has never been extended to
such as have been introduced since that time. This
limitation has given occasion to several distinctions,
which, considered as rules of police, appear as foolish
as can well be imagined. It has been adjudged, for
example, that a coach-maker can neither himself
make or employ journeymen to make his coach-
wheels, but must buy them of a master wheel- wright;
this latter trade having been exercised in England
before the 5th of Elizabeth. But a wheel-wright,

166 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

though he has never served an apprenticeship to a
coach-maker, may either himself make or employ
journeymen to make coaches ; the trade of a coach-
maker not being witnin the statute, because not exer-
cised in England at the time when it was made. The
manufacturers of Manchester, Birmingham, andWol-
verhampton, are many of them, upon this account,
not witnin the statute, not having been exercised in
England before the 5th of Elizabeth.

In France, the duration of apprenticeships is diffe-
rent in different towns and in different trades. In
Paris, five years is the term required in a great num-
ber ; but, before any person can be qualified to exer-
cise the trade as a master, he must, in many of them,
serve five years more as a journeyman. During this
latter term, he is called the companion of his master,
and the term itself is called his companionship.

In Scotland, there is no general law which regu-
lates universally the duration of apprenticeships. The
term is different in different corporations. Where
it is long, a part of it may generally be redeemed
by paying a small fine. In most towns, too, a very
small fine is sufficient to purchase the freedom of any
corporation. The weavers of linen and hempen
cloth, the principal manufactures of the country, as
well as all other artificers subservient to them, wheel-
makers, reel-makers, &c. may exercise their trades in
any town-corporate without paying any fine. In all
towns-corporate, all persons are free to sell butchers'
meat upon any lawful day of the week. Three years
is, in Scotland, a common term of apprenticeship,
even in some very nice trades ; and, in general, I
know of no country in Europe, in which corporation
laws are so little oppressive.

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 167

The property which every man has in his own la-
bour, as it is the original foundation of all other pro-
porty, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The
patrimony of a poor man lies in the strength and
dexterity of his hands ; and to hinder him from em-
ploying this strength and dexterity in what manner
he thinks proper, without injury to his neighbour, is
a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is
a manifest encroachment upon the just liberty, both
of the workman, and of those who might be disposed
to employ him. As it hinders the one from working
at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others
from employing whom they think proper. To judge
whether he is fit to be employed, may surely be
trusted to the discretion of the employers, whose in-
terest it so much concerns* The affected anxiety of
the lawgiver, lest they should employ an improper
person, is evidently as impertinent as it is oppressive.

The institution of long apprenticeships can give no
security that insufficient workmanship shall not fre-
quently be exposed to public sale. When this is done,
it is generally the effect of fraud, and not of inabili-
ty ; and the longest apprenticeship can give no secu-
rity against fraud. Quite different regulations are ne-
cessary to prevent this abuse. The sterling mark up-
on plate, and the stamps upon linen and woollen cloth,
give the purchaser much greater security than any
statute of apprenticeship. Hegenerally looks at these,
but never thinks it worth while to inquire whether
the workman had served a seven years apprenticeship.

The institution of long apprenticeships has no ten-
dency to form young people to industry. A jour-
neyman who works by the piece is likely to be in.
dustrious, because he derives a benefit from every

168 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

exertion of his industry. An apprentice is likely to
be idle, and almost always is so, because he has no
immediate interest to be otherwise. In the inferior
employments, the sweets of labour consist altogether
in the recompense of labour. They who are soonest
in a condition to enjoy the sweets of it, are likely
soonest to conceive a relish for it, and to acquire the
early habit of industry. A young man naturally
conceives an aversion to labour, when for a long time
he receives no benefit from it. The boys who are
put out apprentices from public charities are general-
ly bound for more than the usual number of years,
and they generally turn out very idle and worthless.

Apprenticeships were altogether unknown to the
ancients. The reciprocal duties of master and ap-
prentice make a considerable article in every mo-
dern code. The Roman law is perfectly silent with
regard to them. I know no Greek or Latin word
(I might venture, I believe, to assert that there is
none) which expresses the idea we now annex to
the word apprentice, a servant bound to work at a
particular trade for the benefit of a master, during
a term of years, upon condition that the master shall
teach him that trade.

Long apprenticeships are altogether unnecessary.
The arts, which are much superior to common trades,
such as those of making clocks and watches, contain
no such mystery as to require a long course of in-
struction. The first invention of such beautiful
machines, indeed, and even that of some of the
instruments employed in making them, must no
doubt have been the work of deep thought and long
time, and may justly be considered as among the
happiest efforts of human ingenuity. But when

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 169

both have been fairly invented, and are well under-
stood, to explain to any young man, in the complet-
est mariner, how to apply the instruments, and how
to construct the machines, cannot well require more
than the lessons of a few weeks ; perhaps those of a
few days might be sufficient. In the common me-
chanic trades, those of a few days might certainly
be sufficient. The dexterity of hand, indeed, even
in common trades, cannot be acquired without
much practice and experience. But a young man
would practise with much more diligence and at-
tention, if, from the beginning, he wrought as a
journeyman, being paid in proportion to the little
work which he could execute, and paying in his
turn for the materials which he might sometimes
spoil through awkwardness and inexperience. His
education would generally in this way be more ef-
fectual, and always less tedious and expensive. The
master, indeed, would be a loser. He would lose
all the wages of the apprentice, which he now saves,
for seven years together. In the end, perhaps, the
apprentice himself would be a loser. In a trade so
easily learnt he would have more competitors, and
his wages, when he came to be a complete work-
man, would be much less than at present. The
same increase of competition would reduce the pro-
fits of the masters, as well as the wages of work-
men. The trades, the crafts, the mysteries, would
all be losers. But the public would be a gainer, the
work of all artificers coming in this way much cheaper
to market.

It is to prevent this reduction of price, and conse-
quently of wages and profit, by restraining that free
competition which would most certainly occasion it,

170 WAGES AND PKOF1TS BOOK I.

that all corporations, and the greater part of cor-
poration laws, have been established. In order to
erect a corporation, no other authority in ancient
times was requisite in many parts of Europe, but
that of the town corporate in which it was establish-
ed. In England, indeed, a charter from the king
was likewise necessary. But this prerogative of the
crown seems to have been reserved rather for extort-
ing money from the subject, than for the defence of
the common liberty against such oppressive mono-
polies. Upon paying a fine to the king, the charter
seems generally to have been readily granted ; and
when any particular class of artificers or traders
thought proper to act as a corporation, without a
charter, such adulterine guilds, as they were called,
were not always disfranchised upon that account, but
obliged to fine annually to the king, for permission
to exercise their usurped privileges *. The immediate
inspection of all corporations, and of the bye-laws
which they might think proper to enact for their own
government, belonged to the town corporate in which
they were established ; and whatever discipline was
exercised over them, proceeded commonly, not from
the king, but from that greaterincorporation of which
those subordinate ones were only parts or members.
The government of towns corporate was altoge-
ther in the hands of traders and artificers ; and it
was the manifest interest of every particular class
of them, to prevent the market from being over-
stocked, as they commonly express it, with their
own particular species of industry ; which is in rea-
lity to keep it always under- stocked. Each class

* See Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 26, &c.

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 171

was eager to establish regulations proper for this
purpose, and, provided it was allowed to do so, was
willing to consent that every other class should do
the same. In consequence of such regulations, in-
deed, each class was obliged to buy the goods they
had occasion for from every other within the town,
somewhat dearer than they otherwise might have
done. But in recompense, they were enabled to sell
their own just as much dearer ; so that, so far it was
as broad as long, as they say ; and in the dealings of
the different classes within the town with one another,
none of them were losers by these regulations. But
in their dealings with the country they were all great
gainers; andin these latterdealingsconsists the whole
trade which supports and enriches every town.

Every town draws its whole subsistence, and all
the materials of its industry, from the country. It
pays for these chiefly in two ways. First, by send-
ing back to the country a part of those materials
wrought up and manufactured ; in which case, their
price is augmented by the wages of the workmen,
and the profits of their masters or immediate em-
ployers ; secondly, by sending to it a part both of
the rude and manufactured produce, either of other
countries, or of distant parts of the same country,
imported into the town ; in which case, too, the ori-
ginal price of those goods is augmented by the wages
of the carriers or sailors, and by the profits of the
merchants who employ them. In what is gained
upon the first of those branches of commerce, con-
sists the advantage which the town makes by its
manufactures ; in what is gained upon the second,
the advantage of its inland and foreign trade. The
wages of the workmen, and the profits of their dif-

172 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

ferent employers, make up the whole of what is
gained upon both. Whatever regulations, therefore,
tend to increase those wages and profits beyond what
they otherwise would be, tend to enable the town to
purchase, with a smaller quantity of its labour, the
produce of a greater quantity of the labour of the
country. They give the traders and artificers in the
town an advantage over the landlords, farmers, and
labourers, in the country, and break down that na-
tural equity which would otherwise take place in
the commerce which is carried on between them.
The whole annual produce of the labour of the so-
ciety is annually divided between those two differ-
ent sets of people. By means of those regulations,
a greater share of it is given to the inhabitants of
the town than would otherwise fall to them, and a
less to those of the country.

The price which the town really pays for the pro-
visions and materials annually imported into it, is
the quantity of manufactures and other goods an-
nually exported from it. The dearer the latter are
sold, the cheaper the former are bought. The in-
dustry of the town becomes more, and that of the
country less advantageous.

That the industry which is carried on in towns is,
everywhere in Europe, more advantageous than that
which is carried on in the country, without entering
into any very nice computations, we may satisfy
ourselves by one very simple and obvious observa-
tion. In every country of Europe, we find at least
a hundred people who have acquired great fortunes,
from small beginnings, by trade and manufactures,
the industry which properly belongs to towns, for
one who has done so by that which properly be-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 173

longs to the country, the raising of rude produce by
the improvement and cultivation of land. Industry,
therefore, must be better rewarded, the wages of
labour and the profits of stock must evidently be
greater, in the one situation than in the other. But
stockandlabour naturally seek the most advantageous
employment. They naturally , therefore, resort as much
as they can to the town, and desert the country.

The inhabitants of a town being collected into one
place, can easily combine together. The most insig-
nificant trades carried on in towns have, accordingly,
in some place or other, been incorporated ; and even
where they have never been incorporated, yet the
corporation spirit, the jealousy of strangers, the
aversion to take apprentices, or to communicate
the secret of their trade, generally prevail in them,
and often teach them, by voluntary associations and
agreements, to prevent that free competition which
they cannot prohibit by bye- laws. The trades which
employ but a small number of hands, run most ea-
sily into such combinations. Half a dozen wool-
combers, perhaps, are necessary to keep a thousand
spinners and weavers at work. By combining not
to take apprentices, they can not only engross the
employment, but reduce the whole manufacture into
a sort of slavery to themselves, and raise the price
of their labour much above what is due to the na-
ture of their work.

The inhabitants of the country, dispersed in distant
places, cannot easily combine together. They have
not only never been incorporated, but the incorpora-
tion spirit never has prevailed among them. No
apprenticeship has ever been thought necessary to
qualify for husbandry, the great trade of the coun-

174 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

try. After what are called the fine arts, and the li-
beral professions, however, there is perhaps no trade
which requires so great a variety of knowledge and
experience. The innumerable volumes which have
been written upon it in all languages, may satisfy
us, that among the wisest and most learned nations,
it has never been regarded as a matter very easily
understood. And from all those volumes we shall
in vain attempt to collect that knowledge of its va-
rious and complicated operations which is common-
ly possessed even by the common farmer ; how con-
temptuously soever the very contemptible authors
of some of them may sometimes affect to speak of
him. There is scarce any common mechanic trade,
on the contrary, of which all the operations may
not be as completely and distinctly explained in a
pamphlet of a very few pages, as it is possible for
words illustrated by figures to explain them. In
the history of the arts, now publishing by the French
academy of sciences, several of them are actually ex-
plained in this manner. The direction of operations,
besides, which must be varied with every change of
the weather, as well as with many other accidents,
requires much more judgment and discretion, than
that of those which are always the same, or very
nearly the same.

Not only the art of the farmer, the general direc-
tion of the operations of husbandry, but many in-
ferior branches of country labour, require much
more skill and experience than the greater part of
mechanic trades. The man who works upon brass
and iron, works with instruments, and upon mate-
rials of which the temper is always the same, or
very nearly the same. But the man who ploughs

CHAP. X.- IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 175

the ground with a team of horses or oxen, works
with instruments of which the health, strength, and
temper, are very different upon different occasions.
The condition of the materials which he works upon,
too, is as variable as that of the instruments which
he works with, and both require to be managed with
much judgmentanddiscretion. Thecommon plough-
man, though generally regarded as the pattern of stu-
pidity and ignorance, is seldom defecti vein this judg-
ment and discretion. He is less accustomed, indeed,
to social intercourse, than the mechanic who lives in
a town. His voice and language are more uncouth,
and more difficult to be understood by those who
are not used to them. His understanding, how-
ever, being accustomed to consider a greater variety
of objects, is generally much superior to that of the
other, whose whole attention, from morning till
night, is commonly occupied in performing one or
two very simple operations. How much the lower
ranks of people in the country are really superior
to those of the town, is well known to every man
whom either business or curiosity has led to con-
verse much with both. In China and Indostan, ac-
cordingly, both the rank and the wages of country
labourers are said to be superior to those of the
greater part of artificers and manufacturers. They
would probably be so everywhere, if corporation laws
and the corporation spirit did not prevent it.

The superiority which the industry of the towns
has everywhere in Europe over that of the country,
is not altogether owing to corporations and corpora-
tion laws. It is supported by many other regulations.
The high duties upon foreign manufactures, and up-
on all goods imported by alien merchants, all tend

176 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK i.

to the same purpose. Corporation laws enable the
inhabitants of towns to raise their prices, without
fearing to be undersold by the free competition of
their own countrymen. Those other regulations
secure them equally against that of foreigners. The
enhancement of price occasioned by both is every-
where finally paid by the landlords, farmers, and la-
bourers, of the country, who have seldom opposed
the establishment of such monopolies. They have
commonly neither inclination nor fitness to enter in-
to combinations ; and the clamour and sophistry of
merchants and manufacturers easily persuade them,
that the private interest of a part, and of a subor-
dinate part, of the society, is the general interest of
the whole.

In Great Britain, the superiority of the industry of
the towns over that of the country, seems to have
been greater formerly than in the present times.
The wages of country labour approach nearer to
those of manufacturing labour, and the profits of
stock employed in agriculture to those of trading and
manufacturing stock, than they are said to have done
in the last century, or in the beginning of the pre-
sent. This change may be regarded as the necessary,
though very late consequence of the extraordinary
encouragement given to the industry of the towns.
The stocks accumulated in them come in time to be
so great, that it can no longer be employed with the
ancient profit in that species of industry which is pe-
culiar to them. That industry has its limits like
every other ; and the increase of stock, by increasing
the competition, necessarily reduces the profit. The
lowering of profit in the town forces out stock to the
country, where, by creating a new demand for coun-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 177

try labour, it necessarily raises its wages. It then
spreads itself, if I may say so, over the face of the
land, and, by being employed in agriculture, is in
part restored to the country, at the expense of which,
in a great measure, it had originally been accumu-
lated in the town. That everywhere in Europe the
greatest improvements of the country have been
owing to such overflowings of the stock originally
accumulated in the towns, I shall endeavour to shew
hereafter, and, at the same time, to demonstrate,
that though some countries have, by this course, at-
tained to a considerable degree of opulence, it is in
itself necessarily slow, uncertain, liable to be dis-
turbed and interrupted by innumerable accidents,
and, in every respect, contrary to the order of nature
and of reason. The interests, prejudices, laws, and
customs, which have given occasion to it, I shall en-
deavour to explain as fully and distinctly as I can in
the third and fourth books of this Inquiry.

People of the same trade seldom meet together,
even for merriment and diversion, butthe conversation
ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some
contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible, indeed,
to prevent such meetings, by any law which either
could be executed, or would be consistent with liber-
ty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder
people of the same trade from sometimes assembling
together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such
assemblies, much less to render them necessary.

A regulation which obliges all those of the same
trade in a particular town to enter their names and
places of abode in a public register, facilitates such
assemblies. It connects individuals who might never
otherwise be known to one another, and gives every

VOL. i. M

178 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

man of the trade a direction where to find every
other man of it.

A regulation which enables those of the same trade
to tax themselves, in order to provide for their poor,
their sick, their widows and orphans, by giving
them a common interest to manage, renders such
assemblies necessary.

An incorporation not only renders them necessary,
but makes the act of the majority binding upon the
whole. In a free trade, an effectual combination
cannot be established but by the unanimous consent
of every single trader, and it cannot last longer than
every single trader continues of the same mind.
The majority of a corporation can enact a bye-law,
with proper penalties, which will limit the competi-
tion more effectually and more durably than any vo-
luntary combination whatever.

The pretence that corporations are necessary for
the better government of the trade, is without any
foundation. The real and effectual disciplinewhichis
exercised over a workman, is not that of his corpora-
tion, but that of his customers. It is the fear of losing
their employment which restrains his frauds and cor-
rects his negligence. An exclusive corporation neces-
sarily weakens the force of this discipline. A particu-
lar set of workmen must then be employed, let them
behave well or ill. It is upon this account that, in
many large incorporated towns, no tolerable workmen
are to be found, even in some of the most necessary
trades. If you would have your work tolerably exe-
cuted, it must be done in the suburbs, where the
workmen, havingno exclusive privilege, havenothing
but their character to depend upon, and you must
then smuggle it into the town as well as you can.

CHAP, X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 179

It is in this manner that the policy of Europe, by
restraining the competition in some employments to a
smaller number than would otherwise be disposed to
enter into them, occasions a very important inequa-
lity in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages
of the different employments of labour and stock.

Secondly, the policy of Europe, by increasing the
competition in some employments beyond what it
naturally would be, occasions another inequality, of
an opposite kind, in the whole of the ad vantages and
disadvantages of the different employments of labour
and stock.

It has been considered as of so much importance
that a proper number of young people should be
educated for certain professions, that sometimes the
public, and sometimes the piety of private founders,
have established many pensions, scholarships, exhi-
bitions, bursaries, &c. for this purpose, which draw
many more people into those trades than could other-
wise pretend to follow them. In all Christian coun-
tries, I believe, the education of the greater part of
churchmen is paid for in this manner. Very few of
them are educated altogether at their own expense.
The long, tedious, and expensive education, there-
fore, of those who are, will not always procure them
a suitable reward, the church being crowded with
people, who, in order to get employment, are wil-
ling to accept of a much smaller recompense than
what such an education would otherwise have en-
titled them to ; arid in this manner the competition
of the poor takes away the reward of the rich. It
would be indecent, no doubt, to compare either a
curate or a chaplain with a journeyman in any com-
mon trade. The pay of a curate or chaplain, how-

180 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

ever, may very properly be considered as of the same
nature with the wages of a journeyman. They are
all three paid for their work according to the con-
tract which they may happen to make with their
respective superiors. Till after the middle of the
fourteenth century, five merks, containing about as
much silver as ten pounds of our present money,
was in England the usual pay of a curate or a sti-
pendiary parish priest, as we find it regulated by the
decrees of several different national councils. At
the same period, fourpence a-day, containing the
same quantity of silver as a shilling of our present
money, was declared to be the pay of a master ma-
son ; and threepence a-day, equal to ninepence of
our present money, that of a journeyman mason *.
The wages of both these labourers, therefore, sup-
posing them to have been constantly employed, were
much superior to those of the curate. The wages of
the master mason, supposing him to have been with-
out employment one-third of the year, would have
fully equalled them. By the 12th of Queen Anne,
c. 12. it is declared, ' That whereas, for want of suf-
' ficient maintenance and encouragement to curates,
' the cures have, in several places, been meanly sup-
' plied ; the bishop is, therefore, empowered to ap-
' point, by writing under his hand and seal, a suf-
' ficient certain stipend or allowance, not exceeding
' fifty, and not less than twenty poundsa-year.' Forty
pounds a- year is reckoned at present very good pay
for a curate; and, notwithstanding this act of parlia-
ment, there are many curacies under twenty pounds
a-year. There are journeymen shoemakers in Lon-
don who earn forty pounds a-year, and there is scarce
* See the statute of labourers, 25 Ed. III.

CHAP. X, IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 181

an industrious workman of any kind in that metro-
polis who does not. earn more than twenty. This
last sum, indeed, does not exceed what is frequently
earned by common labourers in many country pa-
rishes. Whenever the law has attempted to regu-
late the wages of workmen, it has always been ra-
ther to lower them than to raise them. But the law
has, upon many occasions, attempted to raise the
wages of curates, and, for the dignity of the church,
to oblige the rectors of parishes to give them more
than the wretched maintenance which they them-
selves might be willing to accept of. And, in both
cases, the law seems to have been equally ineffectual,
and has never either been able to raise the wages of
curates, or to sink those of labourers to the degree
that was intended ; because it has never been able to
hinder either the one from being willing to accept of
less than the legal allowance, on account of the in-
digence of their situation and the multitude of their
competitors, or the other from receiving more, on
account of the contrary competition of those who ex-
pected to derive either profit or pleasure from em-
ploying them.

The great benefices and other ecclesiastical digni-
ties support the honour of the church, notwithstand-
ing the mean circumstances of some of its inferior
members. The respect paid to the profession, too,
makes some compensation even to them for the mean-
ness of their pecuniary recompense. In England,
and in all Roman catholic countries, the lottery of
the church is in reality much more advantageous
than is necessary. The example of the churches of
Scotland, of Geneva, and of several other protestant
churches, may satisfy us, that in so creditable a pro-

182 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

fession, in which education is so easily procured, the
hopes of much more moderate benefices will draw a
sufficient number of learned, decent, and respectable
men into holy orders.

In professions in which there are no benefices, such
as law and physic, if an equal proportion of people
were educated at the public expense, the competition
would soon be so great as to sink very much their
pecuniary reward. It might then not be worth any
man's while to educate his son to either of those pro-
fessions at his own expense. They would be entirely
abandoned to such as had been educated by thosepub-
lic charities, whose numbersand necessities would ob-
lige them ingeneral to contentthemselves with a very
miserable recompense, to the en tire degradation of the
now respectable professions of law and physic.

That unprosperous race of men, commonly called
men of letters, are pretty much in the situation which
lawyers and physicians probably would be in, upon
the foregoing supposition. In every part of Europe,
the greater part of them have been educated for the
church, but have been hindered by different masons
from entering into holy orders. They have gene-
rally, therefore, been educated at thepublic expense ;
and their numbers are everywhere so great, as com-
monly to reduce the price of their labour to a very
paltry recompense.

Before the invention of the art of printing, the
only employment by which a man of letters could
make any thing by his talents, was that of a public
or private teacher, or by communicating to other
people the curious and useful knowledge which he
had acquired himself; and this is still surely a more
honourable, a more useful, and, in general, even a

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS.

more profitable employment, than that other of writ-
ing for a bookseller, to which the art of printing has
given occasion. The time and study, the genius,
knowledge, and application, requisite to qualify an
eminent teacher of the sciences, are at least equal to
what is necessary for the greatest practitioners in law
and physic. But the usual reward of the eminent
teacher bears no proportion to that of the lawyer or
physician, because the trade of the one is crowded
with indigent people, who have been brought up to
it at the public expense ; whereas those of the other
two are encumbered with very few who have not
been educated at their own. The usual recompense,
however, of public and private teachers, small as it
may appear, would undoubtedly be less than it is, if
the competition of those yet more indigent men of
letters, who write for bread, was not taken out of the
market. Before the invention of the art of printing,
a scholar and a beggar seem to have been terms very
nearly synonymous. The different governors of the
universities, before that time, appear to have often
granted licences to their scholars to beg.

In ancient times, before any charities of this kind
had been established for the education of indigent
people to the learned professions, the rewards of
eminent teachers appear to have been much more
considerable. Isocrates, in what is called his dis-
course against the sophists, reproaches the teachers
of his own times with inconsistency. ' They make
' the most magnificent promises to their scholars,'
says he, ' and undertake to teach them to be wise,
' to be happy, and to be just ; and, in return for so
' important a service, they stipulate the paltry re-
* ward of four or five minse.' — * They who teach wis-

184 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

* dom,' continues he, ' ought certainly to be wise

* themselves ; but if any man were to sell such a
' bargain for such a price, he would be convicted of

* the most evident folly.' He certainly does not
mean here to exaggerate the reward, and we may
be assured that it was not less than he represents it.
Four minae were equal to thirteen pounds six shil-
lings and eightpence; five mina? to sixteen pounds
thirteen shillings and fourpence. Something not
less than the largest of those two sums, therefore,
must at that time have been usually paid to the most
eminent teachers at Athens. Isocrates himself de-
manded ten minas, or £33 : 6 : 8 from each scholar.
When he taught at Athens, he is said to have had
an hundred scholars. I understand this to be the
number whom he taught at one time, or who at-
tended what we would call one course of lectures ;
a number which will not appear extraordinary from
so great a city to so famous a teacher, who taught,
too, what was at that time the most fashionable of all
sciences, rhetoric. He must have made, therefore, by
each course of lectures, a thousand minae, or £3333,
6s. 8d. A thousand mines, accordingly, is said by
Plutarch, in another place, to have been his didactron,
or usual price of teaching. Many other eminent teach-
ers in those times appeared to have acquired great
fortunes. Georgias made a present to the temple of
Delphi of his own statue in solid gold. We must
not, I presume, suppose that it was as large as the
life. His way of living, as well as that of Hippias
and Protagoras, two other eminent teachers of those
times, is represented by Plato as splendid, even to
ostentation. Plato himself is said to have lived with
a good deal of magnificence. Aristotle, after having

CHAP, X. TN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 185

been tutor to Alexander, and most munificently re-
warded, as it is universally agreed, both by him and
his father Philip, thought it worth while, notwith-
standing, to return to Athens, in order to resume the
teaching of his school. Teachers of the sciences
were probably in those times less common than they
came to be in an age or two afterwards, when the
competition had probably somewhat reduced both
the price of their labour and the admiration for their
persons. The most eminent of them, however, ap-
pear always to have enjoyed a degree of considera-
tion much superior to any of the like profession in the
present times. The Athenians send Carneades the
academic, and Diogenes the stoic, upon a solemn
embassy to Rome ; and though their city had then
declined from its former grandeur, it was still an in-
dependent and considerable republic. Carneades, too,
was a Babylonian by birth ; and as there never was a
people more jealous of admitting foreigners to public
offices than the Athenians, their consideration for
him must have been very great.

This inequality is, upon the whole, perhaps rather
advantageous than hurtful to the public. It may
somewhat degrade the profession of a public teacher ;
but the cheapness of literary education is surely an
advantage which greatly overbalances this trifling
inconveniency. The public, too, might derive still
greater benefit from it, if the constitution of those
schools and colleges, in which education is carried on,
was more reasonable than it is at present through
the greater part of Europe.

Thirdly, The policy of Europe, by obstructing
the free circulation of labour and stock, both from

186 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

employmentto employment, and from place to place,
occasions, in some cases, a very inconvenient inequali-
ty in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages
of their different employments.

The statute of apprenticeship obstructs the free
circulation of labour from one employment to an-
other, even in the same place. The exclusive privi-
leges of corporations obstruct it from one place to
another, even in the same employment.

It frequently happens, that while high wages are
given to the workmen in one manufacture, those in
another are obliged to content themselves with bare

(j

subsistence. The one is in an advancing state, and
has therefore a continual demand for new hands ;
the other is in a declining state, and the superabun-
dance of hands is continually increasing. Those two
manufactures may sometimes be in the same town,
and sometimes in the same neighbourhood, without
being able to lend the least assistance to one another.
The statute of apprenticeship may oppose it in the
one case, and both that and an exclusive corporation
in the other. In many different manufactures, how-
ever, the operations are so much alike, that the
workmen could easily change trades with one an-
other, if those absurd laws did not hinder them.
The arts of weaving plain linen and plain silk,
for example, are almost entirely the same. That
of weaving plain woollen is somewhat different ;
but the difference is so insignificant, that either a
linen or a silk weaver might become a tolerable
workman in a very few days. If any of those three
capital manufactures, therefore, were decaying, the
workmen might find a resource in one of the other

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 187

two which was in a more prosperous condition ; and
their wages would neither rise too high in the thriv-
ing, nor sink too low in the decaying manufacture.
The linen manufacture, indeed, is in England, by a
particular statute, open to every body ; but as it is
not much cultivated through the greater part of the
country, it can afford no general resource to the
workmen of other decaying manufactures, who,
wherever the statute of apprenticeship takes place,
have no other choice, but either to come upon the
parish, or to work as common labourers ; for which,
by their habits, they are much worse qualified than
for any sort of manufacture that bears any resem-
blance to their own. They generally, therefore,
chuse to come upon the parish.

Whatever obstructs the free circulation of labour
from one employment to another, obstructs that of
stock likewise ; the quantity of stock which can be
employed in any branch of business depending very
much upon that of the labour which can be employ-
ed in it. Corporation laws, however, give less ob-
struction to the free circulation of stock from one
place to another, than to that of labour. It is every-
where much easier for a wealthy merchant to obtain
the privilege of trading in a town corporate, than
for a poor artificer to obtain that of working in it.

The obstruction which corporation laws give to
the free circulation of labour is common, I believe,
to every part of Europe. That which is given to it
by the poor laws is, so far as I know, peculiar to
England. It consists in the difficulty which a poor
man finds in obtaining a settlement, or even in being
allowed to exercise his industry in any parish but that
to which he belongs. It is the labour of artificers

188 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

and manufactures only of which the free circulation
is obstructed by corporation laws. The difficulty of
obtaining settlements obstructs even that of com-
mon labour. It may be worth while to give some
account of the rise, progress, and present state of
this disorder, the greatest, perhaps, of any in the
police of England.

When, by the destruction of monasteries, the poor
had been deprived of the charity of those religious
houses, after some other ineffectual attempts for their
relief, it was enacted, by the 43d of Elizabeth, c. 2.
that every parish should be bound to provide for its
own poor, and that overseers of the poor should be
annually appointed, who, with the church -wardens,
should raise, by a parish rate, competent sums for
this purpose.

By this statute, the necessity of providing for their
own poor was indispensably imposed upon every pa-
rish. Who were to be considered as the poor of each
parish became, therefore, a question of some import-
ance. This question, after some variation, was at
last determined by the 13th and 14th of Charles II.
when it was enacted, that forty days undisturbed
residence should gain any person a settlement in any
parish ; but that within that time it should be lawful
for two justices of the peace, upon complaint made
by the church- wardens or overseers of the poor, to
remove any new inhabitant to the parish where he
was last legally settled ; unless he either rented a te-
nement of ten pounds a-year, or could give such se-
curity for the discharge of the parish where he was
then living, as those justices should judge sufficient.

Some frauds, it is said, were committed in conse-
quence of this statute; parish officers sometimes brib-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 189

ing their own poor to go clandestinely to another
parish, and, by keeping themselves concealed for for-
ty days, to gain a settlement there, to the discharge
of that to which they properly belonged. It was
enacted, therefore, by the 1st of James II. that the
forty days undisturbed residence of any person ne-
cessary to gain a settlement, should be accounted
only from the time of his delivering notice, in writ-
ing, of the place of his abode and the number of his
family, to one of the church-wardens or overseers of
the parish where he came to dwell.

But parish officers, it seems, were not always
more honest with regard to their own than they had
been with regard to other parishes, and sometimes
connived at such intrusions, receiving the notice,
and taking no proper steps in consequence of it. As
every person in a parish, therefore, was supposed to
have an interest to prevent as much as possible their
being burdened by such intruders, it was further en-
acted by the 3d of William III. that the forty days
residence should be accounted only from the publi-
cation of such notice in writing on Sunday in the
church, immediately after divine service.

' After all,' says Doctor Burn, * this kind of set-

* tlement, by continuing forty days after publication

* of notice in writing, is very seldom obtained ; and
' the design of the acts is not so much for gaining of
' settlements, as for the avoiding of them by persons
' coming into a parish clandestinely, for the giving
' of notice is only putting a force upon the parish to
' remove. But if a person's situation is such, that

* it is doubtful whether he is actually removeable or
' not, he shall, by giving of notice, compel the pa-

* rish either to allow htm a settlement uncontested,

190 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

« by suffering him to continue forty days, or by re-
' moving him to try the right.'

This statute, therefore, rendered it almost imprac-
ticable for a poor man to gain a new settlement in
the old way, by forty days inhabitancy. But that it
might not appear to preclude altogether the common
people of one parish from ever establishing them-
selves with security in another, it appointed four
other ways by which a settlement might be gained
without any notice delivered or published. The first
was, by being taxed to parish rates and paying them;
the second, by being elected into an annual parish
office, and serving in it a year ; the third, by serving
an apprenticeship in the parish ; the fourth, by being
hired into service there for a year, and continuing
in the same service during the whole of it.

Nobody can gain a settlement by either of the
two first ways, but by the public deed of the whole
parish, who are too well aware of the consequences
to adopt any new-comer, who has nothing but his la-
bour to support him, either by taxing him to parish
rates, or by electing him into a parish office.

No married man can well gain any settlement in
either of the two last ways. An apprentice is scarce
ever married ; and it is expressly enacted, that no
married servant shall gain any settlement by being
hired for a year. The principal effect of introducing
settlement by service, has been to put out in a great
measure the old fashion of hiring for a year ; which
before had been so customary in England, that even
at this day, if no particular term is agreed upon, the
law intends that every servant is hired for a year.
But masters are not always willing to give their ser-
vants a settlement by hiring them in this manner ;

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 191

and servants are not always willing to be so hired,
because, as every last settlement discharges all the
foregoing, they might thereby lose their original set-
tlement in the places of their nativity, the habita-
tion of their parents and relations.

No independent workman, it is evident, whether
labourer or artificer, is likely to gain any new set-
tlement, either by apprenticeship or by service.
When such a person, therefore, carried his industry
to a new parish, he was liable to be removed, how
healthy and industrious soever, at the caprice of any
church- warden or overseer, unless he either rented a
tenement of ten pounds a-year, a thing impossible
for one who has nothing but his labour to live by, or
could give such security for the discharge of the pa-
rish as two justices of the peace should judge suffi-
cient.

What security they shall require, indeed, is left
altogether to their discretion ; but they cannot well
require less than thirty pounds, it having been en-
acted, that the purchase even of a freehold estate of
less than thirty pounds value, shall not gain any per-
son a settlement, as not being sufficient for the dis^
charge of the parish. But this is a security which
scarce any man who lives by labour can give ; and
much greater security is frequently demanded.

In order to restore, in some measure, that free cir-
culation of labour which those different statutes had
almost entirely taken away, the invention of certifi-
cates was fallen upon. By the 8th and 9th of Wil-
liam III. it was enacted, that if any person should
bring a certificate from the parish where he was last
legally settled, subscribed by the church- wardens and
overseers of the poor, and allowed by two justices of

192 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

the peace, that every other parish should be obliged
to receive him ; that he should not be removeable
merely upon account of his being likely to become
chargeable, but only upon his becoming actually
chargeable ; and that then the parish which granted
the certificate should be obliged to pay the expense
both of his maintenance and of his removal. And
in order to give the most perfect security to the pa-
rish where such certificated man should come to re-
side, it was further enacted by the same statute, that
he should gain no settlement there by any means
whatever, except either by renting a tenement often
pounds a-year, or by serving upon his own account
in an annual parish office for one whole year ; and
consequently neither by notice nor by service, nor by
apprenticeship, nor by paying parish rates. By the
12th of Queen Anne, too, stat. i. c. 18. it was further
enacted, that neither the servants nor apprentices of
such certificated man should gain any settlement in
the parish where he resided under such certificate! *
How far this invention has restored that free cir-
culation of labour, which the preceding statutes had
almost entirely, taken away, we may learn from the
following very judicious observation of Doctor Burn.
' It is obvious,' says he, * that there are divers good
' reasons for requiring certificates with persons com-

* ing to settle in any place ; namely, that persons re-
' siding under them can gain no settlement, neither

* by apprenticeship, nor by service, nor by giving
' notice, nor by paying parish rates ; that they can
' settle neither apprentices nor servants ; that if they
' become chargeable, it is certainly known whither
' to remove them, and the parish shall be paid for
« the removal, and for their maintenance in the mean

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 193

time ; and that, if they fall sick, and cannot be re-
moved, the parish which gave the certificate must
maintain them ; none of all which can be without
a certificate. Which reasons will hold proportion-
ably for parishes not granting certificates in ordi-
nary cases ; for it is far more than an equal chance,
but that they will have the certificated persons
again, and in a worse condition.' The moral of
this observation seems to be, that certificates ought
always to be required by the parish where any poor
man comes to reside, and that they ought very sel-
dom to be granted by that which he purposes to
leave. * There is somewhat of hardship in this mat-
' ter of certificates,' says the same very intelligent
author, in his History of the Poor Laws, ' by putting
' it in the power of a parish officer to imprison a
' man as it were for life, however inconvenient it
' may be for him to continue at that place where he
' has had the misfortune to acquire what is called a
* settlement, or whatever advantage he may propose
' to himself by living elsewhere.'

Though a certificate carries along with it no tes-
timonial of good behaviour, and certifies nothing but
that the person belongs to the parish to which he
really does belong, it is altogether discretionary in
the parish officers either to grant or to refuse it. A
mandamus was once moved for, says Dr Burn, to
compel the churchwardens and overseers to sign a
certificate ; but the court of King's Bench rejected
the motion as a very strange attempt.

The very unequal price of labour which we fre-
quently find in England, in places at no great dis-
tance from one another, is probably owing to the
obstruction which the law of settlements gives to a
VOL. i. N

194 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

poor man who would carry his industry from one
parish to another without a certificate. A single
man, indeed, who is healthy and industrious, may
sometimes reside by sufferance without one ; but a
man with a wife and farm'ly who should attempt to
do so, would, in most parishes, be sure of being re-
moved ; and, if the single man should afterwards
marry, he would generally be removed likewise.
The scarcity of hands in one parish, therefore, can-
not always be relieved by their superabundance in
another, as it is constantly in Scotland, and, I be-
lieve, in all other countries where there is no diffi-
culty of settlement. In such countries, though wages
may sometimes rise a little in the neighbourhood of
a great town, or wherever else there is an extraor-
dinary demand for labour, and sink gradually as the
distance from such places increases, till they fall
back to the common rate of the country ; yet we
never meet with those sudden and unaccountable
differences in the wages of neighbouring places which
we sometimes find in England, where it is often
more difficult for a poor man to pass the artificial
boundary of a parish, than an arm of the sea, or a
ridge of high mountains, natural boundaries which
sometimes separate very distinctly different rates of
wages in other countries.

To remove a man who has committed no misde-
meanour, from the parish where he chuses to reside,
is an evident violation of natural liberty, and justice.
The common people of England, however, so jealous
of their liberty, but, like the common people of most
othercountries, never rightly understanding wherein
it consists, have now, for more than a century toge-
ther, suffered themselves to 'be exposed to this op-

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 195

pression without a remedy. Though men of reflec-
tion, too, have sometimes complained of the law of
settlements as a public grievance ; yet it has never
been the object of any general popular clamour, such
as that against general warrants, an abusive prac-
tice undoubtedly, but such a one as was not likely
to occasion any general oppression. There is scarce
a poor man in England, of forty years of age, I will
venture to say, who has not, in some part of his life,
felt himself, most cruelly oppressed by this ill- con-
trived law of settlements.

I shall conclude this long chapter with' observing,
that though anciently it was usual to rate wages,
first by generaj laws extending over the whole king-
dom, and afterwards by particular orders of the jus-
tices of peace in every particular county, both these
practices have now gone entirely into disuse. * By

* the experience of above four hundred years,' says
Dr Burn, * it seems time to lay aside all endeavours

* to bring under strict regulations, what in its own

* nature seems incapable of minute limitation ; for

* if all persons in the same kind of work were to re-
' ceive equal wages, there would be no emulation,
' and no room left for industry or ingenuity.'

Particular acts of parliament, however, still at-
tempt sometimes to regulate wages in particular
trades, and in particular places. Thus the 8th of
George III. prohibits, under heavy penalties, all
master tailors in London, and five miles round it,
from giving, and their workmen from accepting,
more than two shillings and sevenpence halfpenny
a- day, except in the case of a general mourning.
Whenever the legislature attempts to regulate the
differences between masters and their workmen, its

196 WAGES AND PROFITS BOOK I.

counsellors are always the masters. When the re-
gulation, therefore, is in favour of the workmen, it
is always just and equitable ; but it is sometimes
otherwise when in favour of the masters. Thus the
law which obliges the masters in several different
trades to pay their workmen in money, and not in
goods, is quite just and equitable. It imposes no
real hardship upon the masters. It only obliges them
to pay that value in money, which they pretended to
pay, hut did not always really pay, in goods. This
law is in favour of the workmen ; but the 8th of
George III. is in favour of the masters. When mas-
ters combine together, in order to reduce the wages
of their workmen, they commonly enter into a pri-
vate bond or agreement, not to give more than a cer-
tain wage, under a certain penalty. Were the work-
men to enter into a contrary combination of the same
kind, not to accept of a certain wage, under a certain
penalty, the law would punish them very severely ;
and, if it dealt impartially, it would treat the masters
in the same manner. But the 8th of George III. en-
forces by law that very regulation which masters
sometimes attempt to establish by such combinations.
The complaint of the workmen, that itputsthe ablest
and most industrious upon the same footing with an
ordinary workman, seems perfectly well-founded.

In ancient times, too, it was usual t*o attempt to
regulate the profits of merchants and other dealers,
by regulating the price of pro visions and other goods.
The assize of bread is, so far as I know, the only
remnant of this ancient usage. Where there is an
exclusive corporation, it may, perhaps, be proper to
regulate the price of the first necessary of life ; but,
where there is none, the competition will regulate it

CHAP. X. IN DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS. 197

much better than any assize. The method of fixing
the assize of bread established by the 31st of Geo. II.
could not be put in practice in Scotland, on account
of a defect in the law, its execution depending up-
on the office of clerk of the market, which does not
exist there. This defect was not remedied till the
3d of Geo. III. The want of an assize occasioned
no sensible inconveniency; and the establishment of
one in the few places where it has yet taken place
has produced no sensible advantage. In the greater
parts of the towns in Scotland, however, there is an
incorporation of bakers, who claim exclusive privi-
leges, though they are not very strictly guarded.

The proportion between the different rates, both
of wages and profit, in the different employments of
labour and stock, seems not to be much affected, as
has already been observed, by the riches or poverty,
the advancing, stationary, or declining state of the
society. Such revolutions in the public welfare,
though they affect the general rates both of wages
and profit, must, in the end, affect them equally in all
different employments. The proportion between
them, therefore, must remain the same, and cannot
well be altered, at least for any considerable time,
by any such revolutions.

CHAP. XI.

Of the Rent of Land.

RENT, considered as the price paid for the use of
land, is naturally the highest which the tenant can
afford to pay in the actual circumstances of the land.

198 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

In adjusting the terms of the lease, the landlord en-
deavours to leave him no greater share of the pro-
duce than what is sufficient to keep up the stock
from which he furnishes the seed, pays the labour,
and purchases and maintains the cattle and other in-
struments of husbandry, together with the ordinary
profits of farming stock in the neighbourhood. This
is evidently the smallest share with which the tenant
can. content himself, without being a loser, and the
landlord seldom means to leavehim any more. What-
ever part of the produce, or, what is the same thing,
whatever part of its price, is over and above this
share, he naturally endeavours to reserve to himself
as the rent of his land, which is evidently the highest
the tenant can afford to pay in the actual circum-
stances of the land. Sometimes, indeed, the libera-
lity, more frequently the ignorance, of the landlord,
makes him accept of somewhat less than this por-
tion ; and sometimes, too, though more rarely, the
ignorance of the tenant makes him undertake to pay
somewhat more, or to content himself with some-
what less, than the ordinary profits of farming stock
in the neighbourhood. This portion, however, may
still be considered as the natural rent of land, or the
rent at which it is naturally meant that land should,
for the most part, be let.

The rent of land, it may be thought, is frequently
no more than a -reasonable profit or interest for the
stock laid out by the landlord upon its improvement.
This, no doubt, may be partly the case upon some
occasions ; for it can scarce ever be more than partly
the case. The landlord demands a rent even for un-
improved land, and the supposed interest or profit
upon the expense of improvement is generally an

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 199

addition to this original rent. Those improvements,
besides, are not always made by the stock of the
landlord, but sometimes by that of the tenant. When
the lease comes to be renewed, however, the landlord
commonly demands the same augmentation of rent
as if they had been all made by his own.

He sometimes demands rent for what is altogether
incapable of human improvement. Kelp is a species
of sea- weed, which, when burnt, yields an alkaline
salt, useful for making glass, soap, and for several
other purposes. It grows in several parts of Great
Britain, particularly in Scotland, upon such rocks
only as lie within the high- water mark, which are
twice every day covered with the sea, and of which
the produce, therefore, was never augmented by hu-
man industry. The landlord, however, whose estate
is bounded by a kelp shore of this kind, demands a
rent for it as much as for his corn fields.

The sea in the neighbourhood of the islands of
Shetland is more than commonly abundant in fish,
which makes a great part of the subsistence of their
inhabitants. But, in order to profit by the produce
of the water, they must have a habitation upon the
neighbouring land. The rent of the landlord is in
proportion, not to what the farmer can make by the
land, but to what he can make both by the land and
the water. It is partly paid in sea-fish; and one
of the very few instances in which rent makes a part
of the price of that commodity, is to be found in that
country.

The rent of land, therefore, considered as the price
paid for the use of the land, is naturally a monopoly
price. It is not at all proportioned to what the land-
lord may have laid out upon the improvement of the

200 11ENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

land, or to what he can afford to take, but to what
the farmer can afford to give.

Such parts only of the produce of land can com-
monly Jbe brought to market, of which the ordinary
price is sufficient to replace the stock which must be
employed in bringing them thither, together with its
ordinary profits. If the ordinary price is more than
this, the surplus part of it will naturally go to the
rent of the land. If it is not more, though the com-
modity may be brought to market, it can afford no
rent to the landlord. Whether the price is, or is not
more, depends upon the demand.

There are some parts of the produce of land, for
which the demand must always be such as to afford
a greater price than what is sufficient to bring them
to market ; and there are others for which it either
may or may not be such as to afford this greater
price. The former must always afford a rent to the
landlord. The latter sometimes may, and sometimes
may not, according to different circumstances.

Rent, it is to be observed, therefore, enters into
the composition of the price of commodities in a dif-
ferent way from wages and profit. High or low
wages and profit are the causes of high or low price ;
high or low rent is the effect of it. It is because
high or low wages and profit must be paid, in order
to bring a particular commodity to market, that its
price is high or low. But it is because its price is
high or low, a great deal more, or very little more,
or no more, than what is sufficient to pay those
wages and profit, that it affords a high rent, or a
low rent, or no rent at all.

The particular consideration, first, of those parts
of the produce of land which always afford some

CHAP. XI. RENT OP LAND. 201

rent ; secondly, of those which sometimes may and
sometimes may not afford rent ; and, thirdly, of the
variations which, in the different periods of improve-
ment, naturally take place in the relative value of
those two different sorts of rude produce, when
compared both with one another and with manu-
factured commodities, will divide this chapter into
three parts.

PART I. — Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent.

As men, like all other animals, naturally multiply
in proportion to the means of their subsistence, food
is always more or less in demand. It can always
purchase or command a greater or smaller quantity
of labour, and somebody can always be found who is
willing to do something in order to obtain it. The
quantity of labour, indeed, which it can purchase, is
not always equal to what it could maintain, if ma-
naged in the most economical manner, on account
of the high wages which are sometimes given to la-
bour ; but it can always purchase such a quantity
of labour as it can maintain, according to the rate
at which that sort of labour is commonly maintained
in the neighbourhood.

But land, in almost any situation, produces a
greater quantity of food than what is sufficient to
maintain all the labour necessary for bringing it to
market, in the most liberal way in which that labour
is ever maintained. The surplus, too, is always more
than sufficient to replace the stock which employed
that labour, together with its profits. Something,
therefore, always remains for a rent to the landlord.

The most desert moors in Norway and Scotland

202 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

produce some sort of pasture for cattle, of which the
milk and the increase are always more than suffi-
cient, not only to maintain all the labour necessary
for tending them, and to pay the ordinary profit to
the farmer or the owner of the herd or flock, but to
afford some small rent to the landlord. The rent
increases in proportion to the goodness of the pas-
ture. The same extent of ground not only main-
tains a greater number of cattle, but as they are
brought within a smaller compass, less labour be-
comes requisite to tend them, and to collect their
produce. The landlord gains both ways ; by the in-
crease of the produce, and by the diminution of the
labour which must be maintained out of it.

The rent of land not only varies with its fertility,
whatever be its produce, but with its situation, what-
ever be its fertility. Land in the neighbourhood of
a town gives a greater rent than land equally fertile
in a distant part of the country. Though it may
cost no more labour to cultivate the one than the
other, it must always cost more to bring the produce
of the distant land to market. A greater quantity
of labour, therefore, must be maintained out of it ;
and the surplus, from which are drawn both the pro-
fit of the farmer and the rent of the landlord, must
be diminished. But in remote parts of the country,,
the rate of profit, as has already been shewn, is ge-
nerally higher than in the neighbourhood of a large
town. A smaller proportion of this diminished sur-
plus, therefore, must belong to the landlord.

Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by di-
minishing the expense of carriage, put the remote
parts of the country more nearly upon a level with
those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 203

upon that account the greatest of all improvements.
They encourage the cultivation of the remote, which
must always be the most extensive circle of the coun-
try. They are advantageous to the town, by break-
ing down the monopoly of the country in its neigh-
bourhood. They are advantageous even to that part
of the country. Though they introduce some rival
commodities into the old market, they open many
new markets to its produce. Monopoly, besides, is
a great enemy to good management, which can never
be universally established, but in consequence of that
free and universal competition which forces every
body to have recourse to it for the sake of self-de-
fence. It is not more than fifty years ago, that some
of the counties in the neighbourhood of London pe-
titioned the parliament against the extension of the
turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Those re-
moter counties, they pretended, from the cheapness
of labour, would be able to sell their grass and corn
cheaper in the London market than themselves, and
would thereby reduce their rents, and ruin their cul-
tivation. Their rents, however, have risen, and their
cultivation has been improved since that time.

A corn field of moderate fertility produces a much
greater quantity of food for man, than the best pas-
ture of equal extent, Though its cultivation requires
much more labour, yet the surplus which remains,
after replacing the seed and maintaining all that la-
bour, is likewise much greater. If a pound of but-
chers meat, therefore, was never supposed to be
worth more than a pound of bread, this greater sur-
plus would everywhere be of greater value, and con-
stitute a greater fund, both for the profit of the far-
mer and the rent of the landlord. It seems to have

204 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

done so universally in the rude beginnings of agri-
culture.

But the relative values of those two different spe-
cies of food, bread and butchers meat, are very dif-
ferent in the different periods of agriculture. In its
rude beginnings, the unimproved wilds, which then
occupy the far greater part of the country, are all
abandoned to cattle. There is more butchers meat
than bread ; and bread, therefore, is the food for
which there is the greatest competition, and which
consequently brings the greatest price. At Buenos
Ayres, we are told by Ulloa, four reals, one-and-
twenty pence halfpenny sterling, was, forty or fifty
years ago, the ordinary price of an ox, chosen from
a herd of two or three hundred. He says nothing
of the price of bread, probably because he found no-
thing remarkable about it. An ox, there, he says,
costs little more than the labour of catching him.
But corn can nowhere be raised without a great deal
of labour ; and in a country which lies upon the
river Plate, at that time the direct road from Europe
to the silver mines of Potosi, the money-price of la-
bour could not be very cheap. It is otherwise when
cultivation is extended over the greater part of the
country. There is then more bread than butchers
meat. The competition changes its direction, and
the price of butchers meat becomes greater than the
price of bread. — —

By the extension, besides, of cultivation, the un-
improved wilds become insufficient to supply the de-
mand for butchers meat. A great part of the cul-
tivated lands must be employed in rearing and fat-
tening cattle ; of which the price, therefore, must be
sufficient to pay, not only the labour necessary for

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 205

tending them, but the rent which the landlord, and
the profit which the farmer, could have drawn from
such land employed in tillage. The cattle bred up-
on the most uncultivated moors, when brought to
the same market, are, in proportion to their weight
or goodness, sold at the same price as those which
are reared upon the most improved land. The pro-
prietors of those moors profit by it, and raise the
rent of their land in proportion to the price of their
cattle. It is not more than a century ago, that in
many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, butchers
meat was as cheap or cheaper than even bread made
of oatmeal. The Union opened the market of Eng-
land to the Highland cattle. Their ordinary price,
at present, is about three times greater than at the
beginning of the century, and the rents of many
Highland estates have been tripled and quadrupled
in the same time. In almost every part of Great
Britain, a pound of the best outchers meat is, in the
present times, generally worth more than two pounds
of the best white bread ; and in plentiful years it is
sometimes worth three or four pounds.

It is thus that, in the progress of improvement,
the rent and profit of unimproved pasture come to
be regulated in some measure by the rent and pro-
fit of what is improved, and these again by the rent
and profit of corn. Corn is an annual crop ; but-
chers meat, a crop which requires four or five years
to grow. As an acre of land, therefore, will pro-
duce a much smaller quantity of the one species of
food than of the other, the inferiority of the quan-
tity must be compensated by the superiority of the
price. If it was more than compensated, more corn
land would be turned into pasture ; and if it was

206 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

not compensated, part of what was in pasture would
be brought back into corn.

This equality, however, between the rent and pro-
fit of grass and those of corn ; of the land of which
the'immediate produce is food for cattle, and of that
of which the immediate produce is food for men,
must be understood to take place only through the
greater part of the improved lands of a great coun-
try. In some particular local situations it is quite
otherwise, and the rent and profit of grass are much
superior to what can be made by corn.

Thus, in the neighbourhood of a great town, the
demand for milk, and for forage to horses, frequent-
ly contribute, together with the high price of but-
chers meat, to raise the value of grass above what
may be called its natural proportion to that of corn.
This local advantage, it is evident, cannot be com-
municated to the lands at a distance.

Particular circumstances have sometimes render-
ed some countries so populous, that the whole terri-
tory, like the lands in the neighbourhood of a great
town, has not been sufficient to produce both the
grass and the corn necessary for the subsistence of
their inhabitants. Their lands, therefore, have been
principally employed in the production of grass, the
more bulky commodity, and which cannot be so ea-
sily brought from a great distance ; and corn, the
food of the great body of the people, has been chief,
ly imported from foreign countries. Holland is at
present in this situation ; and a considerable part
of ancient Italy seems to have been so during the
prosperity of the Romans. To feed well, old Cato
said, as we are told by Cicero, was the first and most
profitable thing in the management of a private

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 207

estate ; to feed tolerably well, the second ; and to
feed ill, the third. To plough, he ranked only in
the fourth place of profit and advantage. Tillage,
indeed, in that part of ancient Italy which lay in the
neighbourhood of Rome, must have been very much
discouraged by the distributions of corn which were
frequently made to the people, either gratuitously
or at a very low price. This corn was brought from
the conquered provinces, of which several, instead
of taxes, were obliged to furnish a tenth part of
their produce at a stated price, about six-pence a-
peck to the republic. The low price at which this
corn was distributed to the people, must necessarily
have sunk the price of what could be brought to the
Roman market from Latium, or the ancient terri-
tory of Rome, and must have discouraged its culti-
vation in that country.

In an open country, too, of which the principal
produce is corn, a well-inclosed piece of grass will
frequently rent higher than any corn field in its
neighbourhood. It is convenient for the mainte-
nance of the cattle employed in the cultivation of
the corn ; and its high rent is, in this case, not so .
properly paid from the value of its own produce, as
from that of the corn lands which are cultivated by
means of it. It is likely to fall, if ever the neigh-
bouring lands are completely inclosed. The present
high rent of inclosed land in Scotland, seems owing
to the scarcity of inclosure, and will probably last
no longer than that scarcity. The advantage of in-
closure is greater for pasture than for corn. It saves
the labour of guarding the cattle, which feed better,
too, when they are not liable to be disturbed by
their keeper or his dog.

208 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

But where there is no local advantage of this
kind, the rent and profit of corn, or whatever else is
the common vegetable food of the people, must na-
turally regulate, upon the land which is fit for pro-
ducing it, the rent and profit of pasture.

The use of the artificial grasses, of turnips, car-
rots, cabbages, and the other expedients which have
been fallen upon to make an equal quantity of land
feed a greater number of cattle than when in natural
grass, should somewhat reduce, it might be expect-
ed, the superiority which, in an improved country,
the price of butchers meat naturally has over that
of bread. It seems accordingly to have done so;
and there is some reason for believing that, at least
in the London market, the price of butchers meat,
in proportion to the price of bread, is a good deal
lower in the present times than it was in the begin-
ning of the last century.

In the Appendix to the Life of Prince Henry,
Doctor Birch has given us an account of the prices
of butchers meat as commonly paid by that prince.
It is there said, that the four quarters of an ox,
weighing six hundred pounds, usually cost him nine
pounds ten shillings, or thereabouts ; that is, thirty-
one shillings and eightpence per hundred pounds
weight. Prince Henry died on the 6th of Novem-
ber, 1612, in the nineteenth year of his age.

In March 1764, there was a parliamentary in-
quiry into the causes of the high price of provisions
at that time. It was then, among other proof to
the same purpose, given in evidence by a Virginia
merchant, that in March 1763, he had victualled his
ships for twenty-four or twenty-five shillings the
hundred weight of beef, which he considered as the

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 209

ordinary price; whereas, in that dear year, he had
paid twenty- seven shillings for the same weight and
sort. This high price in 1764 is, however, four
shillings and eightpence cheaper than the ordinary
price paid by Prince Henry ; and it is the best beef
only, it must be observed, which is fit to be salted
for those distant voyages.

The price paid by Prince Henry amounts to 3^d.
per pound weight of the whole carcase, coarse and
choice pieces taken together ; and at that rate the
choice pieces could not have been sold by retail for
less than 4^d. or 5d. the pound.

In the parliamentary inquiry in 1764, the witness-
es stated the price of the choice pieces of the best
beef to be to the consumer 4d. and 4£d. the pound ;
and the coarse pieces in general to be from seven
farthings to 2£d. and 2fd. ; and this, they said, was
in general one halfpenny dearer than the same sort
of pieces had usually been sold in the month of
March. But even this high price is still a good deal
cheaper than what we can well suppose the ordinary
retail price to have been in the time of Prince Henry.

During the first twelve years of the last century,
the average price of the best wheat at the Windsor
market was £l :18 : 3^d. the quarter of nine Win-
chester bushels.

But in the twelve years preceding 1764, including
that year, the average price of the same measure of
the best wheat at the same market was £2:1: 9£d.

In the first twelve years of the last century, there--
fore, wheat appears to have been a good deal cheap-
er, and butchers meat a good deal dearer, than in
the twelve years preceding 1764, including that
year.

VOL. i. o

210 RENT OF LAND. HOOK I.

In all great countries, the greater part of the cul-
tivated lands are employed in producing either food
for men or food for cattle. The rent and profit ot'
these regulate the rent and profit of all other culti-
vated land. If any particular produce afforded less,
the land would soon be turned into corn or pasture ;
and if any afforded more, some part of the lands in
corn or pasture would soon be turned to that pro-
duce.

Those productions, indeed, which require either a
greater original expense of improvement, or a great-
er annual expense of cultivation, in order to fit the
land for them, appear commonly to afford, the one a
greater rent, the other a greater profit, than corn or
pasture. This superiority, however, will seldom be
found to amount to more than a reasonable interest
or compensation for this superior expense.

In a hop garden, a fruit garden, a kitchen garden,
both the rent of the landlord, and the profit of the
farmer, are generally greater than in a corn or grass
field. But to bring the ground into this condition
requires more expense. Hence a greater rent be-
comes due to the landlord. It requires, too, a more
attentive and skilful management. Hence a greater
profit becomes due to the farmer. The crop, too, at
least in the hop and fruit garden, is more precarious.
Its price, therefore, besides compensating all occa-
sional losses, must afford something like the profit
of insurance. The circumstances of gardeners, ge-
nerally mean, and always moderate, may satisfy us
that their great ingenuity is not commonly over-
recoirjpensed. Their delightful art is practised by so
many rich people for amusement, that little advan-
tage is to be made by those who practise it for pro-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 211

fit; because the persons who should naturally be
their best customers, supply themselves with all
their most precious productions.

The advantage which the landlord derives from
such improvements, seems at no time to have been
greater than what was sufficient to compensate the
original expense of making them. In the ancient
husbandry, after the vineyard, a well-watered kit-
chen garden seems to have been the part of the farm
which was supposed to yield the most valuable pro-
duce. But Democritus, who wrote upon husbandry
about two thousand years ago, and who was regard-
ed by the ancients as one of the fathers of the art,
thought they did not act wisely who inclosed a kit-
chen garden. The profit, he said, would not com-
pensate the expense of a stone-wall : and bricks (he
meant, I suppose, bricks baked in the sun) moulder-
ed with the rain and the winter-storm, and required
continual repairs. Columella, who reports this judg-
ment of Democritus, does not controvert it, but pro-
poses a very frugal method of inclosing with a hedge
of brambles and briars, which he says he had found
by experience to be both a lasting and an impene-
trable fence ; but which, it seems, was not common-
ly known in the time of Democritus. Palladius
adopts the opinion of Columella, which had before
been recommended by Varro. In the judgment of
those ancient improvers, the produce of a kitchen
garden, had, it seems, been little more than sufficient
to pay the extraordinary culture and the expense
of watering ; for in countries so near the sun, it was
thought proper, in those times as in the present, to
have the command of a stream of water, which coulcl
be conducted to every bed in the garden. Through

212 RENT OF LANIX BOOK 1.

the greater part of Europe, a kitchen garden is not
at present supposed to deserve a better inclosure
thai) that recommended by Columella. In Great
Britain, and some other northern countries, the finer
fruits cannot be brought to perfection but by the as-
sistance of a wall. Their price, therefore, in such
countries, must be sufficient to pay the expense of
building and maintaining what they cannot be had
without The fruit- wall frequently surrounds the kit-
chen garden, which thusenjoys thebenefit of aninclo-
sure which its own produce could seldom pay for.

That the vineyard, when properly planted and
brought to perfection, was the most valuable part of
the farm, seems to have been an undoubted maxim
in the ancient agriculture, as it is in the modern,
through all the wine countries. But whether it was
a*d vantageous to plant a new vineyard, was a matter
of dispute among the ancient Italian husbandmen,
as we learn from Columella. He decides, like a true
lover of all curious cultivation, in favour of the vine-
yard ; and endeavours to shew, by a comparison of
the profit and expense, that it was a most advantage-
ous improvement. Such comparisons, however, be-
tween the profit and expense of new projectsare com-
monly very fallacious ; and in nothing more so than
in agriculture. Had the gain actually made by such
plantations been commonly as great as he imagined
it might have been', there could have been no dispute
about it. The same point is frequently at this day a
matter of controversy in the wine countries. Their
writers on agriculture, indeed, the lovers and pro-
moters of high cultivation, seem generally disposed
to decide with Columella in favour of the vineyard.
In France, the anxiety of the proprietors of the old
vineyards to prevent the planting of any new ones*

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 213

seems to favour their opinion, and to indicate a con-
sciousness in those who must have the experience,
that this species of cultivation is at present in that
country more profitable than any other. It seems,
at the same time, however, to indicate another opi-
nion, that this superior profit can last no longer than
the laws which at present restrain the free cultiva-
tion of the vine. In 1731, they obtained an order
of council, prohibiting both the planting of new
vineyards, and the renewal of these old ones, of
which the cultivation had been interrupted for two
years, without a particular permission from the king,
to be granted only in consequence of an information
from the intendant of the province, certifying that
he had examined the land, and that it was incapable
of any other culture. The pretence of this order
was the scarcity of corn and pasture, and the super-
abundance of wine. But had this superabundance
been real, it would, without any order of council,
have effectually prevented the plantation of new
vineyards, by reducing the profits of this species of
cultivation below their natural proportion to those
of corn and pasture. With regard to the supposed
scarcity of corn occasioned by the multiplication of
vineyards, corn is nowhere in France more carefully
cultivated than in the wine provinces, where the
land is fit for producing it: as in Burgundy, Guienne,
and the Upper Languedoc. The numerous hands
employed in the one species of cultivation necessarily
encourage the other, by affording a ready market
for its produce. To diminish the number of those
who are capable of paying it, is surely a most un-
promising expedient for encouraging the cultivation
of corn It is like the policy which would promote
agriculture, by discouraging manufactures.

RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

The rent and profit of those productions, there-
fore, which require either a greater original expense
of improvement in order to fit the land for them, or
a great annual expense of cultivation, though often
much superior to those of corn and pasture, yet when
they do no more than compensate such extraordinary
expense, are in reality regulated by the rent and
profit of those common crops.

It sometimes happens, indeed, that the quantity
of land which can be fitted for some particular pro-
duce, is too small to supply the effectual demand.
The whole produce can be disposed of to those who
are willing to give somewhat more than what is
sufficient to pay the whole rent, wages, and profit,
necessary for raising and bringing it to market, ac-
cording to their natural rates, or according to the
rates at which they are paid in the greater part of
other cultivated land. The surplus part of the price
which remains after defraying the whole expense of
improvement and cultivation, may commonly, in
this case, and in this case only, bear no regular pro-
portion to the like surplus in corn or pasture, but
may exceed it in almost any degree ; and the great-
er part of this excess naturally goes to the rent of
the landlord.

The usual and natural proportion, for example,
between the rent and profit of wine, and those of
corn and pasture, must be understood to take place
only with regard to those vineyards whicli produce
nothing but good common wine, such as can be
raised almost anywhere, upon any light, gravelly, or
sandy soil, and which has nothing to recommend it
but its strength and wholesomeness. It is with such
vineyards only, that the common land of the country

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 215

can be brought into competition ; for with those of
a peculiar quality it is evident that it cannot.

The vine is more affected by the difference of
soils than any other fruit-tree. From some it derives
a flavour which no culture or management can equal,
it is supposed, upon any other. This flavour, real
or imaginary, is sometimes peculiar to the produce
of a few vineyards ; sometimes it extends through
the greater part of a small district, and sometimes
through a considerable part of a large province.
The whole quantity of such wines that is brought to
market falls short of the effectual demand, or the
demand of those who would be willing to pay the
whole rent, profit, and wages, necessary for preparing
and bringing them thither, according to the ordinary
rate, or according to the rate at which they are paid
in common vineyards. The whole quantity, there-
fore, can be disposed of to those who are willing to
pay more, which necessarily raises their price above
that of common wine. The difference is greater or
less, according as the fashionableness and scarcity of
the wine render the competition of the buyers more
or less eager. Whatever it be, the greater part of
it goes to the rent of the landlord. For though
such vineyards are in general more carefully culti-
vated than most others, the high price of the wine
seems to be, not so much the effect, as the cause of
this careful cultivation. In so valuablea produce, the
loss occasioned by negligence is so great, as to force
even the most careless to attention. A small part of
this high price, therefore, is sufficient to pay the
wages of the extraordinary labour bestowed upon
their cultivation, and the profits of the extraordinary
stock which puts that labour into motion.

216 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

The sugar colonies possessed by the European na-
tions in the West Indies may be compared to those
precious vineyards. Their whole produce falls short
of the effectual demand of Europe, and can be dis-
posed of to those who are willing to give more than
what is sufficient to pay the whole rent, profit, and
wages, necessary for preparing and bringing it to
market, according to the rate at which they are com-
monly paid by any other produce. In Cochin China,
the finest white sugar generally sells for three piastres
the quintal, about thirteen shillings and sixpence of
our money, as we are told by M. Poivre *, a very
careful observer of the agriculture of that country.
What is there called the quintal, weighs from a hun-
dred and fifty to two hundred Paris pounds, or a
hundred and seventy-five Paris pounds at a medium,
which reduces the price of the hundred weight Eng-
lish to about eight shillings sterling, not a fourth
part of what is commonly paid for the brown or
muscovada sugars imported from our colonies, and
not a sixth part of what is paid for the finest white
sugar. The greater part of the cultivated lands in
Cochin China are employed in producing corn and
rice, the food of the great body of the people. The
respective prices of corn, rice, and sugar, are there
probably in the natural proportion, or in that which
naturally takes place in the different crops of the
greater part of cultivated land, and which recom-
penses the landlord and farmer, as nearly as can be
computed, according to what is usually the original
expense of improvement, and the annual expense of
cultivation. But in our sugar colonies, the price of
sugar bears no such proportion to that of the produce

* Voyages d'un Philosophe.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 217

of a rice or corn field either in Europe or America.
It is commonly said, that a sugar planter expects that
the rum and the molasses should defray the whole
expense of his cultivation, and that his sugar should
be all clear profit. If this be true, for I pretend not
to affirm it, it is as if a corn farmer expected to defray
the expense of his cultivation with the chaff and the
straw, and that the grain should be all clear profit.
We see frequently societies of merchants in London,
and other trading towns, purchase waste lands in our
sugar colonies, which they expect to improve and cul-
tivate with profit, by means of factors and agents,
notwithstanding the great distance and the uncertain
returns, from the defective administration of justice in
those countries. Nobody will attempttoim prove and
cultivate in the same manner the most fertile lands
of Scotland, Ireland, or the corn provinces of North
America, though, from the more exact administra-
tion of justice in these countries, more regular re-
turns might be expected.

In Virginia and Maryland, the cultivation of to-
bacco is preferred, as most profitable, to that of corn.
Tobacco might be cultivated with advantage through
the greater part of Europe ; but, in almost every
part of Europe, it has become a principal subject of
taxation ; and to collect a tax from every different
farm in the country where this plant might happen
to be cultivated, would be more difficult, it has been
supposed, than to levy one upon its importation at
the custom-house. The cultivation of tobacco has,
upon this account, been most absurdly prohibited
through the greater part of Europe, which necessa-
rily gives a sort of monopoly to the countries where it
is allowed ; and as Virginia and Maryland produce

218 KENT OF LAND. BOOK I-

the greatest quantity of it, they share largely, though
with some competitors, in the advantage of this mo-
nopoly. The cultivation of tobacco, however, seems
not to be so advantageous as that of sugar. I have
never even heard of any tobacco plantation that was
improved and cultivated by the capital of merchants,
who resided in Great Britain ; and our tobacco colo-
nies send us home no such wealthy planters as we see
frequently arrive from our sugar islands. Though,
from the preference given in those colonies to the
cultivation of tobacco above that of corn, it would
appear that the effectual demand of Europe for to-
bacco is not completely supplied, it probably is more
nearly so than that for sugar ; and though the pre-
sent price of tobacco is probably more than sufficient
to pay the whole rent, wages, and profit, necessary
for preparing and bringing it to market, according
to the rate at which they are commonly paid in corn
land, it must not be so much more as the present
price of sugar, Our tobacco planters, accordingly,
have shewn the same fear of the superabundance of
tobacco, which the proprietors of the old vineyards in
France have of the superabundance of wine. By
act of assembly, they have restraned its cultivation
to six thousand plants, supposed to yield a thousand
weight of tobacco, for every negro between sixteen
and sixty years of age. Such a negro, over and
above this quantity of tobacco, can manage, they
reckon, four acres of Indian corn. To prevent thj?
market from being overstocked, too, they have some'*-
times, in plentiful years, we are told by Dr Dou-
glas *, (I suspect he has been ill informed), burnt a
certain quantity of tobacco for every negro, in the

* Douglas's Summary, vol. ii. p. 372, 373.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 219

same manner as the Dutch are said to do of spices.
If such violent methods are necessary to keep up the
present price of tobacco, the superior advantage of
its culture over that of corn, if it still has any, will
not probably be of long continuance.

It is in this manner that the rent of the cultivated
land, of which the produce is human food, regulates
the rent of the greater part of other cultivated land.
No particular produce can long afford less, because
the land would immediately be turned to another
use ; and if any particular produce commonly affords
more, it is because the quantity of land which can
be fitted for it is too small to supply the effectual
demand.

In Europe, corn is the principal produce of land,
which serves immediately for human food. Except in
particular situations, therefore, the rent of corn land
regulates in Europe that of all other cultivated land.
Britain need envy neither the vineyards of France,
northeolive plantations of Italy. Except in particular
situations, the value of these is regulated by that of
corn, in which the fertility of Britain is not much in-
ferior to that of either of those two countries.

If, in any country, the common and favourite ve-
getable food of the people should be drawn from a
plant, of which the most common land, with the
same, or nearly the same culture, produced a much
greater quantity than the most fertile does of corn ;
the rent of the landlord, or the surplus quantity of
food which would remain to him, after paying the
labour, and replacing the stock of the farmer, to-
gether with its ordinary profits, would necessarily be
much greater. Whatever was the rate at which la-

220 BENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

bour was commonly maintained in that country, this
greater surplus could always main tain a greater quan-
tity of it, and, consequently, enable the landlord to
purchase or command a greater quantity of it. The
real value of his rent, his real power and authority,
his command of the necessaries and conveniences of
life with which the labour of other people could sup-
ply him, would necessarily be much greater.

A rice field produces a much greater quantity of
food than the most fertile corn field. Two crops in
the year, from thirty to sixty bushels each, are said
to be the ordinary produce of an acre. Though its
cultivation, therefore, requires more labour, a much
greater surplus remains after maintaining all that
labour. In those rice countries, therefore, where
rice is the common and favourite vegetable food of
the people, and where the cultivators are chiefly
maintained with it, a greater share of this greater
surplus should belong to the landlord than in corn
countries. In Carolina, where the planters, as in
other British colonies, are generally both farmers
and landlords, and where rent, consequently, is con-
founded with profit, the cultivation of rice is found
to be more profitable than that of corn, though their
fields produce only one crop in the year, and though,
from the prevalence of the customs of Europe, rice is
not there the common and favourite vegetable food
of the people.

A good rice field is a bog at all seasons, and at
one season a bog covered with water. It is unfit ei-
ther for corn, or pasture, or vineyard, or, indeed, for
any other vegetable produce that is very useful to
men ; and the lands which are fit for those purposes

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 221

are not fit for rice. Even in the rice countries, there-
fore, the rent of rice lands cannot regulate the rent
of the other cultivated land which can never be turn-
ed to that produce.

The food produced by a field of potatoes is not
inferior in quantity to that produced by a field of
rice, and much superior to what is produced by a
field of wheat. Twelve thousand weight of potatoes
from an acre of land is not a greater produce than
two thousand weight of wheat. The food or solid
nourishment, indeed, which can be drawn from each
of those two plants, is not altogether in proportion
to their weight, on account of the watery nature of
potatoes. Allowing, however, half the weight of
this root to go to water, a very large allowance,
such an acre of potatoes will still produce six
thousand weight of solid nourishment, three times
the quantity produced by the acre of wheat. An
acre of potatoes is cultivated with less expense than
an acre of wheat ; the fallow, which generally pre-
cedes the sowing of wheat, more than compensating
the hoeing and other extraordinary culture which is
always given to potatoes. Should this root ever be-
come in any part of Europe, like rice in some rice
countries, the common and favourite vegetable food
of the people, so as to occupy the same proportion of
the lands in tillage, which wheat and other sorts of
grain for human food do at present, the same quan-
tity of cultivated land would maintain a much great-
er number of people; and the labourers being gene-
rally fed with potatoes, a greater surplus would re-
main after replacing all the stock, and maintaining
all the labour employed in cultivation. A greater
share of this surplus, too, would belong to the land-

222 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

lord. Population would increase, and rents would
rise much beyond what they are at present

The land which is fit for potatoes, is fit for almost
every other useful vegetable. If they occupied the
same proportion of cultivated land which corn does
at present, they would regulate, in the same man-
ner, the rent of the greater part of other cultivated
land.

In some parts of Lancashire, it is pretended, I
have been told, that bread of oatmeal is a heartier
food for labouring people than wheaten bread, and
I have frequently heard the same doctrine held in
Scotland. *I am, however, somewhat doubtful of
the truth of it. The common people in Scotland,
who are fed with oatmeal, are in general neither so
strong nor so handsome as the same rank of people
in England, who are fed with wheaten bread. They
neither work so well, nor look so well ; and as there
is not the same difference between the people of
fashion in the two countries, experience would seem
to shew, that the food of the common people in
Scotland is not so suitable to the human constitu-
tion as that of their neighbours of the same rank in
England. But it seems to be otherwise with pota-
toes. The chairmen, porters, and coal-heavers in
London, and those unfortunate women who live by
prostitution, the strongest men and the most beau-
tiful women perhaps in the British dominions, are
said to be, the greater part of them, from the low-
est rank of people in Ireland, who are generally
fed with this root. No food can afford a more de*
cisive proof of its nourishing quality, or of its being
peculiarly suitable to the health of the human con-
stitution,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 223

It is difficult to preserve potatoes through the
year, and impossible to store them like corn, for
two or three years together. The fear of not being
able to sell them before they rot, discourages their
cultivation, and is, perhaps, the chief obstacle to
their ever becoming, in any great country, like
bread, the principal vegetable food of all the diffe-
rent ranks of the people.

PART II.— Of the Produce of Land, which sometimes does
and sometimes does not, afford Rent.

HUMAN food seems to be the only produce of land,
which always and necessarily affords some rent to the
landlord. Other sorts of produce sometimes may,
and sometimes may not, according to different cir-
cumstances.

After food, clothing and lodging are the two great
wants of mankind.

Land, in its original rude state, can afford the
materials of clothing and lodging to a much greater
number of people than it can feed. In its improved
state, it can sometimes feed a greater number of
people than it can supply with those materials ; at
least in the way in which they require them, and
are willing to pay for them. In the one state, there-
fore, there is always a superabundance of those ma-
terials, wh^ch are frequently, upon that account,
of little or no value. In the other there is often a
scarcity, which necessarily augments their value.
In the one state, a great part of them is thrown
away as useless ; and the price of what is used is
considered as equal only to the labour and expense
of fitting it for use, and can, therefore, afford no

224 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

rent to the landlord. In the other, they are all
made use of, and there is frequently a demand for
more than can be had. Somebody is always willing
to give more for every part of them, than what is
sufficient to pay the expense of bringing them to
market. Their price, therefore, can always afford
some rent to the landlord.

The skins of the larger animals were the original
materials of clothing. Among nations of hunters
and shepherds, therefore, whose food consists chiefly
in the flesh of those animals, every man, by pro-
viding himself with food, provides himself with the
materials of more clothing than he can wear. If
there was no foreign commerce, the greater part of
them would be thrown away as things of no value.
This was probably the case among the hunting na-
tions of North America, before their country was
discovered by the Europeans, with whom they now
exchange their surplus peltry, for blankets, fire-arms,
and brandy, which gives it some value. In the pre-
sent commercial state of the known world, the most
barbarous nations, I believe, among whom land pro-
perty is established, have some foreign commerce of
this kind, and find among their wealthier neigh-
bours such a demand for all the materials of cloth-
ing, which their land produces, and which can nei-
.ther be wrought up nor consumed at home, as raises
their price above what it costs to send them to those
wealthier neighbours. It affords, therefore, some
rent to- the landlord. When the greater part of the
^Highland cattle were consumed on their own hills,
the exportation of their hides made the most con-
siderable article of the commerce of that country,
and what they were exchanged for afforded some

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 225

addition to the rent of the Highland estates. The
wool of England, which, in old times, could neither
be consumed nor wrought up at home, found a mar-
ket in the then wealthier and more industrious
country of Flanders, and its price afforded something
to the rent of the land which produced it. In coun-
tries not better cultivated than England was then, or
than the Highlands of Scotland are now, and which
had no foreign commerce, the materials of clothing
would evidently be so superabundant, that a great
part of them would be thrown away as useless, and
no part could afford any rent to the landlord.

The materials of lodging cannot always be trans-
ported to so great a distance as those of clothing,
and do not so readily become an object of foreign
commerce. When they are superabundant in the
country which produces them, it frequently happens,
even in the present commercial state of the world,
that they are of no value to the landlord. A good
stone quarry in the neighbourhood of London would
afford a considerable rent. In many parts of Scot-
land and Wales it affords none. Barren timber for
building is of great value in a populous and well-
cultivated country, and the land which produces it
affords a considerable rent. But in many parts of
North America, the landlord would be much obliged
to any body who would carry away the greater part
of his large trees. In some parts of the Highlands
of Scotland, the bark is the only part of the wood
which, for want of roads and water-carriage, can be
sent to market : the timber is left to rot upon the
ground. When the materials of lodging are so su-
perabundant, the part made use of is worth only
the labour and expense of fitting it for that use. It

VOL. i. p

RENT OF LAND. BOOK L

affords no rent to the landlord, who generally grants
the use of it to whoever takes the trouble of asking
it. The demand of wealthier nations, however,
sometimes enables him to get a rent for it. The
paving of the streets of London has enabled the
owners of some barren rocks on the coast of Scotland
to draw a rent from what never afforded any before.
The woods of Norway, and of the coasts of the
Baltic, find a market in many parts of Great Britain
which they could not find at home, and thereby af-
ford some rent to their proprietors.

Countries are populous, not in proportion to the
number of people whom their produce can clothe
and lodge, but in proportion to that of those whom
it can feed. When food is provided, it is easy to
find the necessary clothing and lodging. But though
these are at hand, it may often be difficult to find
food. In some parts of the British dominions, what
is- called a house may be built by one day's labour
of one man. The simplest species of clothing, the
skins of animals, require somewhat more labour to
dress and prepare them for use. They do not, how-
ever, require a great deal. Among savage or bar-
barous nations, a hundredth, or little more than a
hundredth part of the labour of the whole year, will
be sufficient to provide them with such clothing and
lodging as satisfy the greater part of the people. All
the other ninety- nine parts are frequently no more
than enough to provide them with food.

But when, by the improvement and cultivation of
land, the labour of one family can provide food for
two, the labour of half the society becomes sufficient
to provide food for the whole. The other half, there-
fore, or at least the greater part of them, can be em-
ployed in providing other things, or in satisfying the

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 227

other wants and fancies of mankind. Clothing and
lodging, household furniture, and what is called
equipage, are the principal objects of the greater
part of those wants and fancies. The rich man con-
sumes no more food than his poor neighbour. In
quality it may be very different, and to select and
prepare it may require more labour and art : but in
quantity it is very nearly the same. But compare
the spacious palace and great wardrobe of the one,
with the hovel and the few rags of the other, and
you will be sensible that the difference between their
clothing, lodging, and household furniture, is almost
as great in quantity as it is in quality. The desire
of food is limited in every man by the narrow capa-
city of the human stomach ; but the desire of the
conveniences and ornaments of building, dress, equi-
page, and household furniture, seems to have no li-
mit or certain boundary. Those, therefore, who
have the command of more food than they them-
selves can consume, are always willing to exchange
the surplus, or, what is the same thing, the price of
it, for gratifications of this other kind. What is
over and above satisfying the limited desire, is given
for the amusement of those desires which cannot be
satisfied, but seem to be altogether endless. The
poor, in order to obtain food, exert themselves to
gratify those fancies of the rich ; and to obtain it
more certainly, they vie with one another in the
cheapness and perfection of their work. The num-
ber of workmen increases with the increasing quan-
tity of food, or with the growing improvement and
cultivation of the lands ; and as the nature of their
business admits of the utmost subdivisions of labour,
.the quantity of materials which they can work up,

£28 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I4

increases in a much greater proportion than their
numbers. Hence arises a demand for every sort of
material which human invention can employ, either
usefully or ornamentally, in building, dress, equi-
page, or household furniture ; for the fossils and mi-
nerals contained in the bowels of the earth, the pre-
cious metals, and the precious stones.

Food is, hi this manner, not only the original
source of rent, but every other part of the produce
of land which afterwards affords rent, derives that
part of its value from the improvement of the
powers of labour in producing food, by means of the
improvement and cultivation of land.

Those other parts of the produce of land, how-
ever, which afterwards afford rent, do not afford it
always. Even in improved and cultivated countries,
the demand for them is not always such as to afford
a greater price than what is sufficient to pay the la-
bour, and replace, together with its ordinary profits,
the stock which must be employed in bringing them
to market. Whether it is or is not such, depends
upon different circumstances.

Whether a coal mine, for example, can afford any
rent, depends partly upon its fertility, and partly
upon its situation.

A mine of any kind may be said to be either fer-
tile or barren, according as the quantity of mineral
which can be brought from it by a certain quantity
of labour, is greater or less than what can be brought
by an equal quantity from the greater part of other
mines of the same kind.

Some coal mines, advantageously situated, cannot
be wrought on account of their barrenness. The

CHAP. XL RENT OF LAND. 229

produce does not pay the expense. They can afford
neither profit nor rent.

There are some, of which the produce is barely
sufficient to pay the labour, and replace, together
with its ordinary profits, the stock employed in
working them. They afford some profit to the un-
dertaker of the work, but no rent to the landlord.
They can be wrought advantageously by nobody but
the landlord, who, being himself the undertaker of
the work, gets the ordinary profit of the capital
which he employs in it. Many coal-mines in Scot>
land are wrought in this manner, and can be
wrought in no other. The landlord will allow no-
body else to work them without paying some rent,
and nobody can afford to pay any.

Other coal-mines in the same country, sufficiently
fertile, cannot be wrought on account of their situa-
tion. A quantity of mineral, sufficient to defray the
expense of working, could be brought from the
mine by the ordinary, or even less than the ordinary
quantity of labour : but in an inland country, thinly
inhabited, and without either good roads or water-
carriage, this quantity could not be sold.

Coals are a less agreeable fuel than wood : they
are said too to be less wholesome. The expense of
coals, therefore, at the place where they are consumed,
must generally be somewhat less than that of wood.

The price of wood again, varies with the state of
agriculture nearly in the same manner, and exactly
for the same reason, as the price of cattle. In its
rude beginnings, the greater part of every country
is covered with wood, which is then a mere incum-
brance, of no value to the landlord, who would glad-
ly give it to any body for the cutting. As agricul-

230 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

-ture advances, the woods are partly cleared by the
progress of tillage, and partly go to decay in conse-
quence of the increased number of cattle. These,
though they do not increase in the same proportion
as corn, which is altogether the acquisition of hu-
man industry, yet multiply under the care and pro-
tection of men, who store up in the season of plenty
what may maintain them in that of scarcity ; who,
through the whole year, furnish them with a great-
er quantity of food than uncultivated nature pro-
vides for them ; and who, by destroying and extir-
pating their enemies, secure them in the free enjoy-
ment of all that she provides. Numerous herds of
cattle, when allowed to wander through the woods,
though they do not destroy the old trees, hinder any
young ones from coming up ; so that, in the course
of a century or two, the whole forest goes to ruin.
The scarcity of wood then raises its price. It af-
fords a good rent ; and the landlord sometimes finds
that he can scarce employ his best lands more advan-
tageously than in growing barren timber, of which
the greatness of the profit often compensates the late-
ness of the returns. This seems, in the present times,
to be nearly the state of things in several parts of
Great Britain, where the profit of planting is found
to be equal to that of either corn or pasture. The
advantage which the landlord derives from planting
can nowhere exceed, at least for any considerable
time, the rent which these could afford him ; and in
an inland country, which is highly cultivated, it
will frequently not fall much short of this rent.
Upon the sea-coast of a well improved country, in-
deed, if coals can conveniently be had for fuel* it
may sometimes be cheaper to bring barren timber

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 231

for building from less cultivated foreign countries,
than to raise at home. In the new town of Edin-
burgh, built within these few years, there is not,
perhaps, a single stick of Scotch timber.

Whatever may be the price of wood, if that of
coals is such that the expense of a coal-fire is near-
ly equal to that of a wood one, we may be assured,
that at that place, and in these circumstances, the
price of coals is as high as it can be. It seems to
be so in some of the inland parts of England, parti-
cularly in Oxfordshire, where it is usual, even in the,
fires of the common people, to mix coals and wood
together, and where the difference in the expense of
those two sorts of fuel cannot therefore be very great.

Coals, in the coal countries, are every where much
below this highest- price. If they were not, they
could not bear the expense of a distant carriage, ei-
ther by land or by water. A small quantity only
could be sold ; and the coal masters and the coal
proprietors find it more for their interest to sell a
great quantity at a price somewhat above the lowest,
than a small quantity at the highest. The most
fertile coal-mine, too, regulates the price of coals at
all the other mines in its neighbourhood. Both the
proprietor and the undertaker of the work find, the
one that he can get a greater rent, the other that he
can get a greater profit, by somewhat underselling
all their neighbours. Their neighbours are soon
obliged to sell at the same price, though they cannot
so well afford it, and though it always diminishes,,
and sometimes takes away altogether, both their rent
and their profit. Some works are abandoned alto-
gether; others can afford no rent, and can be wrought
only by the proprietor.

232 RENT* OF LAND. BOOK 1.

The lowest price at which coals can be sold for
any considerable time, is, like that of all other com-
modities, the price which is barely sufficient to re-
place, together with its ordinary profits, the stock
which must be employed in bringing them to market.
At a coal-mine for which the landlord can get no
rent, but which he must either work himself or let
it alone altogether, the price of coals must generally
be nearly about this price.

Rent, even where coals afford one, has generally
a smaller share in their price than in that of most
other parts of the rude produce of land. The rent of
an estate above ground, commonly amounts to what
is supposed to be a third of the gross produce ; and
it is generally a rent certain and independent of the
occasional variations in the crop. In coal mines, a
fifth of the gross produce is a very great rent, a
tenth the common rent ; and is seldom a rent cer-
tain, but depends upon the occasional variations in
the produce. These are so great, that in a country
where thirty years purchase is considered as a mo-
derate price for the property of a landed estate, tea
years purchase is regarded as a good price for that
of a coal mine.

The value of a coal mine to the proprietor, fre-
quently depends as much upon its situation as upon
its fertility. That of a metallic mine depends more
upon its fertility, and less upon its situation. The
coarse, and still more the precious metals, when se-
parated from the ore, are so valuable, that they can
generally bear the expense of a very long land, and
of the most distant sea carriage. Their market is
not confined to the countries in the neighbourhood
•f the mine, but extends to the whole world. The

GHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND.

copper of Japan makes an article of commerce in
Europe ; the iron of Spain in that of Chili and Peru.
The silver of Peru finds its way, not only to Europe,
but from Europe to China.

The price of coals in Westmoreland or Shropshire
can have little effect on their price at Newcastle ;
and their price in the Lionnois can have none at all.
The productions of such distant coal mines can ne-
ver be brought into competition with one another.
But the productions of the most distant metallic
mines frequently may, and in fact commonly are.

The price, therefore, of the coarse, and still more
that of the precious metals, at the most fertile mines
in the world, must necessarily more or less affect
their price at every other in it. The price of cop-
per in Japan must have some influence upon its price
at the copper mines in Europe. The price of silver
in Peru, or the quantity either of labour or of other
goods which it will purchase there, must have some
influence on its price, not only at the silver mines of
Europe, but at those of China. After the discovery
of the minesof Peru, thesilver mines of Europe were,
the greater part of them, abandoned. The value of
silver was so much reduced, that their produce could
no longer pay the expense of working them, or re-
place, with a profit, the food, clothes, lodging, and
other necessaries which were consumed in that ope-
ration. This was the case, too, with the mines of
Cuba and St Domingo, and even with the ancient
mines of Peru, after the discovery of those of Potosi.

The price of every metal, at every mine, there-
fore, being regulated in some measure by its price at
the most fertile mine in the world that is actually
wrought, it can, at the greater part of mines, do very

RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

little more than pay the expense of working, and can
seldom afford a very high rent to the landlord. Rent,
accordingly, seems at the greater part of mines to
have but a small share in the price of the coarse, and
a still smaller in that of the precious metals. La-
bour and profit make up the greater part of both.

A sixth part of the gross produce may be reckon-
ed the average rent of the tin mines of Cornwall,
the most fertile that are known in the world, as we
are told by the Rev. Mr Borlace, vice- warden of the
stannaries. Some, he says, afford more, and some
do not afford so much, A sixth part of the gross
produce is the rent, too, of several very fertile lead
mines in Scotland.

In the silver mines of Peru, we are told by Frezier
and Ulloa, the proprietor frequently exacts no other
acknowledgment from the undertaker of the mine,
but that he will grind the ore at his mill, paying him
the ordinary multure or price of grinding. Till
1736, indeed, the tax of the king of Spain amount-
ed to one fifth of the standard silver, which till then
might be considered as the real rent of the greater
part of the silver mines of Peru, the richest which
have been known in the world. If there had been
no tax, this fifth would naturally have belonged to
the landlord, and many mines might have been
wrought which could not then be wrought, because
they could not afford this tax. The tax of the duke
of Cornwall upon tin is supposed to amount to more
than five per cent, or one twentieth part of the va-
lue; and whatever may be his proportion, it would
naturally, too, belong to the proprietor of the mine,
if tin was duty free. But if you add one twentieth
to one sixth, you will find that the whole average

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 235

rent of the tin mines of Cornwall, was to the whole
average rent of the silver mines of Peru, as thirteen
to twelve. But the silver mines of Peru are not now
able to pay even this low rent ; and the tax upon
silver was, in 1736, reduced from one fifth to one
tenth. Even this tax upon silver, too, gives more
temptation to smuggling than the tax of one twen-
tieth upon tin ; and smuggling must be much easier
in the precious than in the bulky commodity. The
tax of the king of Spain, accordingly, is said to be
very ill paid, and that of the Duke of Cornwall very
well. Rent, therefore, it is probable, makes a greater
part of the price of tin at the most fertile tin mines,
than it does of silver at the most fertile silver mines
in the world. After replacing the stock employed
in working those different mines, together with its
ordinary profits, the residue which remains to the
proprietor is greater, it seems, in the coarse, than in
the precious metal.

Neither are the profits of the undertakers of silver
mines commonly very great in Peru. Thesame most
respectable and well-informed authors acquaint us,
that when any person undertakes to work a new
mine in Peru, he is universally looked upon as a
man destined to bankruptcy and ruin, and is upon
that account shunned and avoided by every body. —
Mining, it seems, is considered there in the same
light as here, as a lottery, in which the prizes do not
compensate the blanks, though the greatness of some
tempts many adventurers to throw away their for-
tunes in such unprosperous projects.

As the sovereign, however, derives a considerable
part of his revenue from the produce of silver mines,
the law in Peru gives every possible encouragement

336 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

to the discovery and working of new ones. Who-
ever discovers a new mine, is entitled to measure off
two hundred and forty-six feet in length, according
to what he supposes to be the direction of the vein,
and half as much in breadth. He becomes proprie-
tor of this portion of the mine, and can work it
without payingany acknowledgment to the landlord.
The interest of the duke of Cornwall has given oc-
casion to a regulation nearly of the same kind in
that ancient duchy. In waste and uninclosed lands,
any person who discovers a tin mine may mark out
its limits to a certain extent, which is called bound-
ing a mine. The bounder becomes the real proprie-
tor of the mine, and may either work it himself, or
give it in lease to another, without the consent of
the owner of the land, to whom, however, a very
small acknowledgment must be paid upon working
it. In both regulations, the sacred rights of private
property are sacrificed to the supposed interests of
public revenue.

The same encouragement is given in Peru to the
discovery and working of new gold mines ; and in
gold the king's tax amounts only to a twentieth part
of the standard metal. It was once a fifth, and af-
terwards a tenth, as in silver ; but it was found that
the work could not bear even the lowest of these
two taxes. If it is rare, however, say the same au-
thors, Frezier and Ulloa, to find a person who has
made his fortune by a silver, it is still much rarer to
find one who has done so by a gold mine. This
twentieth part seems to be the whole rent which is
paid by the greater part of the gold mines of Chili and
Peru. Gold, too, is much more liable to be sm uggled
than even silver ; not only on account of the supe-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 237

rior value of the metal in proportion to its bulk, but
on account of the peculiar way in which nature pro-
duces it. Silver is very seldom found virgin, but,
like most other metals, is generally mineralized with
some other body, from which it is impossible to se-
parate it in such quantities as will pay for the ex-
pense, but by a very laborious and tedious operation,
which cannot well be carried on but in work-houses
erected for the purpose, and, therefore, exposed to
the inspection of the king's officers. Gold, on the
contrary, is almost always found virgin. It is some-
times found in pieces of some bulk ; and, even when
mixed, in small and almost insensible particles, with
sand, earth, and other extraneous bodies, it can be
separated from them by a very short and simple ope-
ration, which can be carried on in any private house,
by any body who is possessed of a small quantity of
mercury. If the king's tax, therefore, is but ill paid
upon silver, it is likely to be much worse paid upon
gold ; and rent must make a much smaller part of
the price of gold than even of that of silver.

The lowest price at which the precious metals can
be sold, or the smallest quantity of other goods for
which they can be exchanged, during any consider-
able time, is regulated by the same principles which
fix the lowest ordinary price of all other goods. The
stock which must commonly be employed, the food,
clothes, and lodging, which must commonly be con-
sumed in bringing them from the mine to the mar-
ket, determine it. It must at least be sufficient to
replace that stock, with the ordinary profits.

Their highest price, however, seems not to be ne-
cessarily determined by any thing but the actual
scarcity or plenty of those metals themselves. It is

238 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

not determined by that of any other commodity, in
the same manner as the price of coals is by that of
wood, beyond which no scarcity can ever raise it.
Increase the scarcity of gold to a "certain degree, and
the smallest bit of it may become more precious
than a diamond, and exchange for a greater quantity
of other goods.

The demand for those metals arises partly from
their utility, and partly from their beauty. If you
except iron, they are more useful than, perhaps, any
other metal. As they are less liable to rust and im-
purity, they can more easily be kept clean ; and the
utensils, either of the table or the kitchen, are often,
upon that account, more agreeable when made of
them. A silver boiler is more cleanly than a lead,
copper, or tin one ; and the same quality would ren-
der a gold boiler still better than a silver one. Their
principal merit, however, arises from their beauty,
which renders them peculiarly fit for the ornaments
of dress and furniture. No paint or dye can give
so splendid a colour as gilding. The merit of their
beauty is greatly enhanced by their scarcity. With
the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment
of riches consists in the parade of riches ; which, in
their eye, is never so complete as when they appear
to possess those decisive • marks of opulence which
nobody can possess but themselves. In their eyes,
the merit of an object, which is in any degree either
useful or beautiful, is greatly enhanced by its scar-
city, or by the great labour which it requires to col-
lect any Considerable quantity of it ; a labour which
nobody can afford to pay but themselves. Such ob-
jects they are willing to purchase at a higher price
than things much more beautiful and useful, but

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 239

more common. These qualities of utility, beauty,
and scarcity, are the original foundation of the high
price of those metals, or of the great quantity of
other goods for which they can everywhere be ex-
changed. This value was antecedent to, and inde-
pendent of, their being employed as coin,- and was
the quality which fitted them for that employment.
That employment, however, by occasioning a new
demand, and by diminishing thequantity which could
be employed in any other way, may have afterwards
contributed to keep up or increase their value.

The demand for the precious stones arises altoge-
ther from their beauty. They are of no use but as
ornaments ; and the merit of their beauty is greatly
enhanced by their scarcity, or by the difficulty and
expense of getting them from the mine. Wages and
profit accordingly make up, upon most occasions,
almost the whole of the high price. Rent comes in
but for a very small share, frequently for no share ;
and the most fertile mines only afford any consider-
able rent. When Tavernier, a jeweller, visited the
diamond mines of Golconda and Visiapour, he was
informed that the sovereign of the country, for whose
benefit they were wrought, had ordered all of them
to be shut up, except those which yielded the largest
and finest stones. The other, it seems, were to the
proprietor not worth the working.

As the price, both of the precious metals and of
the precious stones, is regulated all over the world
by their price at the most fertile mine in it, the rent
which a mine of either can afford to its proprietor is
in proportion, not to. its absolute, but to what may
be called its relative fertility, or to its superiority
over other mines of the same kind. If new mines

240 EENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

were discovered, as much superior to those of Potosi
as they were superior to those of Europe, the value
of silver might be so much degraded as to render
even the mines of Potosi not worth the working.
Before the discovery of the Spanish West Indies, the
most fertile mines in Europe may have afforded as
great a rent to their proprietor as the richest mines
in Peru do at present. Though the quantity of sil-
ver was much less, it might have exchanged for an
equal quantity of other goods, and the proprietor's
share might have enabled him to purchase or com-
mand an equal quantity either of labour or of com-
modities.

The value, both of the produce and of the rent, the
real revenue which they afforded both to the public
and to the proprietor, might have been the same.

The most abundant mines, either of the precious
metals, or of the precious stones, could add little to
the wealth of the world. A produce, of which the
value is principally derived from its scarcity, is ne-
cessarily degraded by its abundance. A service of
plate, and the other frivolous ornaments of dress and
furniture, could be purchased for a smaller quantity
of labour, or for a smaller quantity of commodities ;
and in this would consist the sole advantage which
the world could derive from that abundance.

It is otherwise in estates above ground. The va-
lue, both of their produce and of their rent, is in pro-
portion to their absolute, and not to their relative fer-
tility. The land which produces a certain quantity
of food, clothes, and lodging, can always feed, clothe,
and lodge, a certain number of people ; and what-
ever may be the proportion of the landlord, it will
always give him a proportionable command of the

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 241

labour of those people, and of the commodities with
which that labour can supply him. The value of the
most barren land is not diminished by the neigh-
bourhood of the most fertile. On the contrary, it is
generally increased by it. The great number of
people maintained by the fertile lands afford a mar-
ket to many parts of the produce of the barren,
which they could never have found among those
whom their own produce could maintain.

Whatever increases the fertility of land in pro-
ducing food, increases not only the value of the
lands upon which the improvement is bestowed, but
contributes likewise to increase that of many other
lands, by creating a new demand for their produce.
That abundance of food, of which, in consequence
of the improvement of land, many people have the
disposal beyond what they themselves can consume,
is the great cause of the demand, both for the pre-
cious metals and the precious stones, as well as for
every other conveniency and ornament of dress,
lodging, household furniture, and equipage. Food
not only constitutes the principal part of the riches
of the world, but it is the abundance of food which
gives the principal part of their value to many other
sorts of riches. The poor inhabitants of Cuba and
St Domingo, when they were first discovered by the
Spaniards, used to wear little bits of gold as orna-
ments in their hair and other parts of their dress.
They seemed' to value them as we would do any lit-
tle pebbles of somewhat more than ordinary beauty,
and to consider them as just worth the picking up,
but not worth the refusing to any body who asked
them. They gave them to their new guests at the
first request, without seeming to think that they had

VOL. i. Q

242 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

made them any very valuable present. They were
astonished to observe the rage of the Spaniards to
obtain them ; and had no notion that there could
anywhere be a country in which many people had the
disposal of so great a superfluity of food ; so scanty
always among themselves, that for a very small
quantity of those glittering baubles they would wil-
lingly give as much as might maintain a whole fa-
mily for many years. Could they have been made
to understand this, the passion of the Spaniards
would not have surprised them.

PART III. — Of the Variations in the Proportion between the
respective Values of that sort of Produce which always of-
fords Rent, and of that z&hich sometimes does, and sometimes
does not afford Rent.

THE increasing abundance of food, in consequence
of the increasing improvement and cultivation, must
necessarily increase the demand for every part of the
produce of land which is not food, and which can be
applied either to use or to ornament. In the whole
progress of improvement, it might, therefore, be
expected there should be only one variation in the
comparative values of those two different sorts of
produce. The value of that sort which sometimes
does, and sometimes does not afford rent, should con-
stantly rise in proportion to that which always af-
fords some rent- As art and industry'advance, the
materials of clothing and lodging, the useful fossils
and materials of the earth, the precious metals and
the precious stones, should gradually come to be
moreandmore in demand, should gradually exchange
for a greater and a greater quantity of food ; or, in

CHAP. XI. BENT OF LAND. 243

other words, should gradually become dearer and
dearer. This, accordingly, has been the case with
most of these things upon most occasions, and would
have been the case with all of them upon all occa-
sions, if particular accidents had not, upon some oc-
casions, increased the supply of some of them in a
still greater proportion than the demand.

The value of a free-stone quarry, for example,
will necessarily increase with the increasing im-
provement and population of the country round
about it, especially if it should be the only one in
the neighbourhood. But the value of a silver mine,
even though there should not be another within a
thousand miles of it, will not necessarily increase
with the improvement of the country in which it is
situated. Tiie market for the produce of a free-
stone quarry can seldom extend more than a few
miles round about it, and the demand must gene-
rally be in proportion to the improvement and po-
pulation of that small district ; but the market for
the produce of a silver mine may extend over the
whole known world. Unless the world in general,
therefore, be advancing in improvement and popu-
lation, the demand for silver might not be at all in-
creased by the improvement even of a large country
in the neighbourhood of the mine. Even though
the world in general were improving, yet if, in the
course of its improvements, new mines should be dis-
covered, much more fertile than any which had been
known before, though the demand for silver would
necessarily increase, yet the supply might increase
in so much a greater proportion, that the real price
of that metal might gradually fall ; that is, any given
quantity, a pound weight of it, for example, might

244 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

gradually purchase or command a smaller and a
smaller quantity of labour, or exchange for a smaller
and a smaller quantity of corn, the principal part of
the subsistence of the labourer.

The great market for silver is the commercial and
civilized part of the world.

If, by the general progress of improvement, the
demand of this market should increase, while, at the
same time, the supply did not increase in the same
proportion, the value of silver would gradually rise
in proportion, to that of corn. Any given quantity
of silver would exchange for a greater and a greater
quantity of corn ; or, in other words, the average
money price of corn would gradually become cheaper
and cheaper.

If, on the contrary, the supply, by some accident,
should increase, for many years together, in a greater
proportion than the demand, that metal would gra-
dually become cheaper and cheaper; or, in other
words, the average money price of corn would, in
spite of all improvements, gradually become dearer
and dearer.

But if, on the other hand, the supply of that me-
tal should increase nearly in the same proportion as
the demand, it would continue to purchase or ex-
change for nearly the same quantity of corn ; and the
average money price of corn would, in spite of all
improvements, continue very nearly the same.

These three seem to exhaust all the possible com-
binations of events which can happen in the progress
of improvement ; and during the course of the four
centuries preceding the present, if we may judge by
what has happened both in France and Great Bri-
tain, each of those three different combinations seems

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 245

to have taken place in the European market, and
nearly in the same order, too, in which I have here
set them down.

Digression concerning the Variation in the Value of Silver
during the Course of the Four last Centuries.

first Period. — In 1350, and for some time before,
the average price of the quarter of wheat in Eng-
land seems not to have been estimated lower than
four ounces of silver, Tower weight, equal to about
twenty shillings of our present money. From this
price it seems to have fallen gradually to two ounces
of silver, equal to about ten shillings of our present
money, the price at which we find it estimated in
the beginning of the sixteenth century, and at which
it seems to have continued to be estimated till about
1570.

In 1350, being the 25th of Edward III. was en-
acted what is called the statute of labourers. In
the preamble, it complains much of the insolence of
servants, who endeavoured to raise their wages up-
on their masters. It therefore ordains, that all ser-
vants and labourers should, for the future, be con-
tented with the same wages and liveries (liveries in
those times signified not only clothes, but provisions)
which they had been accustomed to receive in the
20th year of the king, and the four preceding years ;
that,'upon this account, their livery-wheat should no-
where be estimated higher than tenpence a-bushel,
and that it should always be in the option of the
master to deliver them either the wheat or the
money. Tenpence a-bushel, therefore, had, in the
25th of Edward III. been reckoned a very moderate

246 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

price of wheat, since it required a particular statute
to oblige servants to accept of it in exchange for
their usual livery of provisions ; and it had been
reckoned a reasonable price ten years before that, or
in the 16th year of the king, the term to which the
statute refers. But, in the 16th year of Edward III.
tenpence contained about half an ounce of silver,
Tower weight, and was nearly equal to half-a-crown
of our present money. Four ounces of silver, Tower
weight, therefore, equal to six shillings and eight-
pence of the money of those times, and to near
twenty shillings of that of the present, must have
been reckoned a moderate price for the quarter of
eight bushels.

This statute is surely a better evidence of what
was reckoned, in those times, a moderate price of
grain, than the prices of some particular years, which
have generally been recorded by historians and other
writers, on account of their extraordinary dearness
or cheapness, and from which, therefore, it is diffi-
cult to form any judgment concerning what may
have been the ordinary price. There are, besides,
other reasons for believing that, in the beginning of
the fourteenth century, and for some time before,
the common price of wheat was not less than four
ounces of silver the quarter, and that of other grain
in proportion.

In 1309, Ralph de Born, prior of St Augustine's,
Canterbury, gave a feast upon his installation- day,
of which William Thorn has preserved, not only the
bill of fare, but the prices of many particulars. In
that feast were consumed, 1st, fifty-three quarters
of wheat, which cost nineteen pounds, or seven shil-
lings and twopence a-quarter, equal to about one-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 247

and-twenty shillings and sixpence of our present
money ; 2dly, fifty-eight quarters of malt, which cost
seventeen pounds ten shillings, or sixshillingsa-quar-
ter, equal to about eighteen shillings of our present
money ; 3dly, twenty quarters of oats, which cost
four pounds, or four shillings a-quarter, equal toabout
twelve shillings of our present money. The prices
of malt and oats seem here to be higher than their
ordinary proportion to the price of wheat.

These prices are not recorded, on account of their
extraordinary dearness or cheapness, but are men-
tioned accidentally, as the prices actually paid for
large quantities of grain consumed at a feast, which
was famous for its magnificence.

In 1262, being the 51st of Henry III. was revived
an ancient statute, called the assize of bread and ale,
which, the king says in the preamble, had been made
in the times of his progenitors, some time kings of
England. It is probably, therefore, as old at least
as the time of his grandfather, Henry II. and may
have been as old as the Conquest. It regulates the
price of bread according as the prices of wheat may
happen to be, from one shilling to twenty shillings
the quarter of the money of those times. But sta-
tutes of this kind are generally presumed to provide
with equal care for all deviations from the middle
price, for those below it, as well as for those above
it. Ten shillings, therefore, containing six ounces
of silver, Tower weight, and equal to about thirty
shillings of our present money, must, upon this sup-
position, have been reckoned the middle price of the
quarter of wheat when this statute was first enacted,
and must have continued to be so in the 51st of
Henry III. We cannot, therefore, be very wrong in

248 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

supposing that the middle price was not less than
one-third of the highest price at which this statute
regulates the price of bread, or than six shillings
and eightpence of the money of those times, con-
taining four ounces of silver, Tower weight.

From these different facts, therefore, we seem to
have some reason to conclude that, about the middle
of the fourteenth century, and for a considerable time
before, the average or ordinary price of the quarter
of wheat was not supposed to be less than four
ounces of silver, Tower weight.

From about the middle of the fourteenth to the
beginning of the sixteenth century, what was reckon-
ed the reasonable and moderate, that is, the ordinary
or average price of wheat, seems to have sunk gra-
dually to about one half of this price ; so as at last
to have fallen to about two ounces of silver, Tower
weight, equal to about ten shillings of our present
money. It continued to be estimated at this price
till about 1570.

In the household book of Henry, the fifth earl
of Northumberland, drawn up in 1512, there
are two different estimations of wheat. In one of
them it is computed at six shillings and eightpence
the quarter, in the other at five shillings and eight-
pence only. In 1512, six shillings and eightpence
contained only two ounces of silver, Tower weight,
and were equal to about ten shillings of our present
money.

From the 25th of Edward III. to the beginning
of the reign of Elizabeth, during the space of more
than two hundred years, six shillings and eight-
pence, it appears from several different statutes, had
continued to be considered as what is called the

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 249

moderate and reasonable, that is, the ordinary or
average price of wheat. The quantity of silver,
however, contained in that nominal sum was, during
the course of this period, continually diminishing,
in consequence of some alterations which were made
in the coin. But the increase of the value of silver
had, it seems, so far compensated the diminution of
the quantity of it contained in the same nominal
sum, that the legislature did not think it worth
while to attend to this circumstance.

Thus, in 1436, it was enacted, that wheat might
be exported without a licence when the price was
so low as six shillings and eightpence : and in 1463,
it was enacted, that no wheat should be imported if
the price was not above six shillings and eightpence
the quarter. The legislature had imagined, that
when the price was so low, there could be no incon-
veniency in exportation, but that when it rose higher
it became prudent to allow of importation. Six shil-
lings and eightpence, therefore, containing about
the same quantity of silver as thirteen shillings and
fourpence of our present money (one third part less
than the same nominal sum contained in the time
of Edward III.), had, in those times, been considered
as what is called the moderate and reasonable price
of wheat.

In 1554, by the 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary,
and in 1558, by the 1st of Elizabeth, the exporta-
tion of wheat was in the same manner prohibited,
whenever the price of the quarter should exceed six
shillings and eightpence, which did not then con-
tain twopenny worth more silver than the same
nominal sum does at present. But it had soon been
found, that to restrain the exportation of .wheat till

250 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

the price was so very low, was, in reality, to pro-
hibit it altogether. In 1562, therefore, by the 5th
of Elizabeth, the exportation of wheat was allowed
from certain ports, whenever the price of the quar-
ter should not exceed ten shillings, containing near-
ly the same quantity of silver as the like nominal
sum does at present. This price had at this time,
therefore, been considered as what is called the mo-
derate and reasonable price of wheat. It agrees
nearly with the estimation of the Northumberland
book in 1512.

That in France the average price of grain was, in
the same manner, much lower in the end of the fif-
teenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, than
in the two centuries preceding, has been observed
both by M. Dupre de St Maur, and by the elegant
author of the Essay on the police of grain. Its price,
during the same period, had probably sunk in the
same manner through the greater part of Europe.

This rise in the value of silver, in proportion to
that of corn, may either have been owing altogether
to the increase of the demand for that metal, in con-
sequence of increasing improvement and cultivation,
the supply, in the mean time, continuing the same as
before ; or, the demand continuing the same as be-
fore, it may have been owing altogether to the gra-
dual diminution of the supply ; the greater part of
the mines which were then known in the world being
much exhausted, and, consequently, the expense
of working them much increased ; or it may have
been owing partly to the one, and partly to the other
of those two circumstances. In the end of the fif-
teenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, the
greater part of Europe was approaching towards a
more settled form of government than it had enjoy-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 251

ed for several ages before. The increase of securi-
ty would naturally increase industry and improve-
ment ; and the demand for the precious metals, as
well as for every other luxury and ornament, would
naturally increase with the increase of riches. A
greater annual produce would require a greater
quantity of coin to circulate it ; and a greater num-
ber of rich people would require a greater quantity
of plate and other ornaments of silver. It is natural
to suppose, too, that the greater part of the mines
which then supplied the European market^ with
silver might be a good deal exhausted, and have
become more expensive in the working. They had
been wrought, many of them from the time of the
Romans.

It has been the opinion, however, of the greater
part of those who have written upon the prices of
commodities in ancient times, that, from the con-
quest, perhaps from the invasion of Julius Caesar till
the discovery of the mines of America, the value of
silver was continually diminishing. This opinion
they seem to have been led into, partly by the ob-
servations which they had occasion to make upon the
prices both of corn and of some other parts of the
rude produce of land, arid partly by the popular no-
tion, that as the quantity of .silver naturally increases
in every country with the increase of wealth, so its
value diminishes as its quantity increases.

In their observations upon the prices of corn, three
different circumstances seem frequently to have mis-
led them.

First, in ancient times, almost all rents were paid
in kind ; in a certain quantity of corn, cattle, poul-
try, &c. It sometimes happened,' however, that the
landlord would stipulate, that he should be at liberty

252 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

to demand of the tenant, either the annual payment
in kind or a certain sum of money instead of it. —
The price at which the payment in kind was in this
manner exchanged for a certain sum of money, is in
Scotland called the conversion price. As the option
is always in the landlord to take either the sub-
stance or the price, it is necessary, for the safety of
the tenant, that the conversion price should rather
be below than above the average market price. In
many places, accordingly, it is not much above one
half of this price. Through the greater part of
Scotland this custom still continues with regard to
poultry, and in some places with regard to cattle.
It might probably have continued to take place, too,
with regard to corn, had not the institution of the
public fiars put an end to it. These are annual va-
luations, according to the judgment of an assize, of
the average price of all the different sorts of grain,
and of all the different qualities of each, according
to the actual market-price in every different county.
This institution rendered it sufficiently safe for the
tenant, and much more convenient for the landlord,
to convert, as they call it, the corn-rent, rather at
what should happen to be the price of the fiars of
each year, than at any certain fixed price. But the
writers who have collected the prices of corn in an-
cient times seem frequently to have mistaken what
is called in Scotland the conversion price for the ac-
tual market-price. Fleet wood acknowledges, upon
one occasion, that he had made this mistake. As he
wrote his book, however, for a particular purpose,
he does not think proper to make this acknow-
ledgment till after transcribing this conversion price
fifteen times. The price is eight shillings the quarter
of wheat. This sum in 1423, the year at which he

CHAP. XI. HENT OF LAND. 233

begins with it, contained the same quantity of sil-
ver as sixteen shillings of our present money. But
in 1562, the year at which he ends with it, it con-
tained no more than the same nominal sum does at
present.

Secondly, they have been misled by the slovenly
manner in which some ancient statutes of assize had
been sometimes transcribed by lazy copiers, and
sometimes, perhaps, actually composed by the legis-
lature.

The ancient statutes of assize seem to have begun
always with determining what ought to be the price
of bread and ale when the price of wheat and barley
were at the lowest ; and to have proceeded gradually
to determine what it ought to be, according as the
prices of those two sorts of grain should gradually
rise above this lowest price. But the transcribers
of those statutes seem frequently to have thought it
sufficient to copy the regulation as far as the three
or four first and lowest prices ; saving in this manner
their own labour, and judging, I suppose, that this
was enough to shew what proportion ought to be
observed in all higher prices.

Thus, in the assize of bread and ale, of the 51st
of Henry III. the price of bread was regulated ac-
cerding to the different prices of wheat, from one
shilling to twenty shillings the quarter of the money
of those times. But in the manuscripts from which
all the different editions of the statutes, preceding
that of Mr Ruffhead, were printed, the copiers had
never transcribed this regulation beyond the price
of twelve shillings. Several writers, therefore, being
misled by this faulty transcription, very naturally
concluded that the middle price, or six shillings the

254 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

quarter, equal to about eighteen shillings of our pre-
sent money, was the ordinary or average price of
wheat at that time.

In the statute of Tumbrel and Pillory, enacted
nearly about the same time, the price of ale is regu-
lated according to every sixpence rise in the price
of barley, from two shillings to four shillings the
quarter. That four shillings, however, was not con-
sidered as the highest price to which barley might
frequently rise in those times, and that these prices
were only given as an example of the proportion
whichoughttobe observed in all otherprices, whether
higher or lower, we may infer from the last words of
the statute: ' Et sicdeinceps cresceturveldiminuetur
' per sex denarios.' The expression is very slovenly,
but the meaning is plain enough, * that the price of
**ale is in this manner to be increased or diminish-
* ed according to. every sixpence rise or fall in the
' price of barley.' In the composition of this statute,
the legislature itself seems to have been as negli-
gent as the copiers were in the transcription of the
other.

In an ancient manuscript of the Regiam Majesta-
tem, an old Scotch law book, there is a statute of as-
size, in which the price of bread is regulated according
to all the different prices of wheat, from tenpence to
three shillings the Scotch boll, equal to about half an
English quarter. Three shillings Scotch, at the time
when this assize is supposed tohavebeenenacted, were
equal to about nine shillings sterling of our present
money. Mr Ruddiman seems * to conclude from this,
that three shillings was the highest price to which

* See his Preface to Anderson's Diplomata Scotiae.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 255

wheat ever rose in those times, and that tenpence, a
shilling, or at most two shillings, were the ordinary
prices. Upon consulting the manuscript, however,
it appears evidently, that all these prices are only set
down as examples of the proportion which ought to
be observed between the respective prices of wheat
and bread. The last words of the statute are, ' re-
' liqua judicabis secundum prcescripta habendo re-
( spectum ad pretium bladi.\ — * You shall judge of
' the remaining cases, according to what is above
* written, having a respect to the price of corn.'

Thirdly, they seem to have been misled, too, by
the very low price at which wheat was sometimes
sold in very ancient times ; and to have imagined,
that as its lowest price was then much lower than
in latter times, its ordinary price must likewise have
been much lower. They might have found, how-
ever, that in those ancient times its highest price
was fully as much above, as its lowest price was be-
low any thing that had ever been known in later
times. Thus, in 127Q, Fleetwood gives us two
prices of the quarter of wheat. The one is four
pounds sixteen shillings of the money of those times,
equal to fourteen pounds eight shillings of that of
the present ; the other is six pounds eight shillings,
equal to nineteen pounds four shillings of our pre-
sent money. No price can be found in the end of
the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth century,
which approaches to the extravagance of these.
The price of corn, though at all times liable to va-
riation, varies most in those turbulent and disorder-
ly societies, in which the interruption of all com-
merce and communication hinders the plenty of
one part of the country from relieving the scarcity

256 RENT «F LAND. BOOK I.

of another. In the disorderly state of England un-
der the Plantagenets, who governed it from about
the middle of the twelfth till towards the end of the
fifteenth century, one district might be in plenty,
while another, at no great distance, by having its
crop destroyed, either by some accident of the sea-
sons, or by the incursion of some neighbouring ba-
ron, might be suffering all the horrors of a famine ;
and yet if the lands of some hostile lord were inter-
posed between them, the one might not be able to
give the least assistance to the other. Under the
vigorous administration of theTudors, whogoverned
England during the latter part of the fifteenth, and
through the whole of the sixteenth century, no baron
was powerful enough to dare to disturb the public
security.

The reader will find at the end of this chapter
all the prices of wheat which have been collected by
Fleetwood, from 1202 to 1597, both inclusive, re-
duced to the money of the present times, and digest-
ed, according to the orderof time, into seven divisions
of twelve years each. At the end of each division,
too, he will find the average price of the twelve
years of which it consists. In that long period of
time, Fleetwood has been able to collect the prices
of no more than eighty years ; so that four years are
wanting to make out the last twelve years. I have
added, therefore, from the accounts of Eton college,
the prices of 159$, 1599, 1600, and 1601. It is
the only addition which I have made. The reader
will see, that from the beginning of the thirteenth
till after the middle of the sixteenth century, the
average price of each twelve years grows gradually
lower and lower ; and that towards the end of the

GHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 257

sixteenth century it begins to rise again. The prices,
indeed, which Fleetwood has been able to collect,
seem to have been those chiefly which were remark-
able for extraordinary dearness or cheapness ; and I
do not pretend that any very certain conclusion can
be drawn from them. So far, however, as they
prove any thing at all, they confirm the account
which I have been endeavouring to give. Fleetwood
himself however, seems, with most other writers,
to have believed, that, during all this period, the va-
lue of silver, in consequence of its increasing abun-
dance, was continually diminishing. The prices of
corn, which he himself has collected, certainly do
not agree with this opinion. They agree perfectly
with that of M. Dupre de St Maur, and with that
which I have been endeavouring to explain. Bishop
Fleetwood and M. Dupre de St Maur are the two
authors who seem to have collected, with the great-
est diligence and fidelity, the prices of things in an-
cient times. It is somewhat curious, that, though
their opinions are so very different, their facts, so far
as they relate to the price of corn at least, should
coincide so very exactly.

It is not, however, so much from the low price of
corn, as from that of some other parts of the rude
produce of land, that the most judicious writers have
inferred the great value of silver in those very ancient
times. Corn, it has been said, being a sort of ma-
nufacture, was, in those rude ages, much dearer in
proportion than the greater part of other commodi-
ties ; it is meant, I suppose, than the greater part of
unmanufactured commodities, such as cattle, poultry,
game of all kinds, &c. That in those times of po-
verty and barbarism these were proportionably much

VOL. I. R

2158 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

cheaper than corn, is undoubtedly true. But this
cheapness was not the effect of the high value of sil-
ver, but of the low value of those commodities. It
was not because silver would in such times purchase
or represent a greater quantity of labour, but because
such commodities would purchase or represent a
much smaller quantity than in times of more opu-
lence and improvement, Silver must certainly be
cheaper in Spanish America than in Europe ; in the
country where it is produced, than in the country
to which it is brought, at the expense of a long car-
riage both by land and by sea, of a freight, and
an insurance. One-and-twenty pence halfpenny
sterling, however, we are told by Ulloa, was, not
many years ago, at Buenos Ayres, the price of an
ox chosen from a herd of three or four hundred.
Sixteen shillings sterling, we are told by Mr Byron,
was the price of a good horse in the capital of
Chili. In a country naturally fertile, but of which
the far greater part is altogether uncultivated, cattle,
poultry, game of all kinds, &c. as they can be ac-
quired with a very small quantity of labour, so they
will purchase or command but a very small quantity.
The low money price for which they may be sold, is
no proof that the real value of silver is there very
high, but that the real value of those commodities
is very low.

Labour, it must always be remembered, and not
any particular commodity, or set of commodities, is
the real measure of the value both of silver and of
all other commodities.

But in countries almost waste, or but thinly inha-
bited, cattle, poultry, game of all kinds, &c. as they
are the spontaneous productions of Nature, so shefre-

CHAP. XI. KENT OF LAND. 25$

quently produces them in much greater quantities
than the consumption of the inhabitants requires.
In such a state' of things, the supply commonly ex-
ceeds the demand. In different states of society, in
different stages of improvement, therefore, such com-
modities will represent, or be equivalent, to very dif-
ferent quantities of labour.

In every state of society, in every stage of im-
provement, corn is the production of human indus-
try. But the average produce of every sort of in-
dustry is always suited, more or less exactly, to the
average consumption ; the average supply to the ave-
rage demand. In every different stage of improve-
ment, besides, the raising of equal quantities of corn
in the same soil and climate, will, at an average, re-
quire nearly equal quantities of labour; or, what
comes to the same thing, the price of nearly equal
quantities ; the continual increase of the productive
powers of labour, in an improved state of cultivation,
being more or less counterbalanced by the continual
increasing price of cattle, the- principal instruments
of agriculture. Upon all these accounts, therefore,
we may rest assured, that equal quantities of corn'
will, in every state of society, in every stage of im-
provement, more nearly represent, or be equivalent
to, equal quantities of labour, than equal quantities
of any other part of the rude produce of land. Corn,
accordingly, it has already been observed, is, in all
the different stages of wealth and improvement, a
more accurate measure of value than any other com-
modity or set of commodities. In all those different
stages, therefore, we can judge better of the real value
of silver, by com paring it with corn, than by comparing
it with any other commodity or set ofrcommodities^

J260 »ENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

Corn, besides, or whatever else is the common and
favourite vegetable food of the people, constitutes,
in every civilized country, the principal part of the
subsistence of the labourer. In consequence of the
extension of agriculture, the land of every country
produces a much greater quantity of vegetable than
of animal food, and the labourer everywhere lives
chiefly upon the wholesome food that is cheapest and
most abundant. Butchers meat, except in the most
thriving countries, or. where labour is most highly
rewarded, makes but an insignificant part of his sub-
sistence ; poultry makes a still smaller part of it,
and game no part of it. In France, and even in
Scotland, where labour is somewhat better rewarded
than in France, the labouring poor seldom eat but-
chers meat, except upon holidays, and other extra-
ordinary occasions. The money price of labour,
therefore, depends much more upon the average
money price of corn, the subsistence of the labourer,
than upon that of butchers meat, or of any other
part of the rude produce of land. The real value of
gold and silver, therefore, the real quantity of la-
* bour which they can purchase or command, depends
much more upon the quantity of corn which they
can purchase or command, than upon that of but-
chers meat, or any other part of the rude produce
of land.

Such slight observations, however, upon the prices
either of corn or of other commodities, would not
probably have misled so many intelligent authors
had they not been influenced, at the same time, by
the popular notion, that as the quantity of silver na-
turally increases in every country with the increase
of wealth, sd its value diminishes as its quantity in-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 26l

creases. This notion, however, seems to be altoge-
ther groundless.

The quantity of the precious metals may increase
in any country from two different causes ; either, first,
from the increased abundance of the mines which
supply it ; or, secondly, .from the increased wealth
of the people, from the increased produce of their
annual labour. The first of these causes is no doubt
necessarily connected with the diminution of the va-
lue of the precious metals ; but the second is not.

When more abundant mines are discovered, a
greater quantity of the precious metals is brought to
market ; and the quantity of the necessaries and con-
veniences of life for which they must be exchanged
being the same as before, equal quantities of the me-
tals must be exchanged for smaller quantities of com-
modities. So far, therefore, as the increase of the
quantity of the precious metals in any country arises
from theincreased abundance of the mines, it is neces-
sarily connected with some diminution of their value.

When, on the contrary, the wealth of any country
increases, when the annual produce of its labour be-
comes gradually greater and greater, a greater quan-
tity of coin becomes necessary in order to circulate
a greater quantity of commodities ; and the people,
as they can afford it, as they have more commodities
to give for it, will naturally purchase a greater and a
greater quantity of plate. The quantity of their
coin will increase from necessity : the quantity of
their plate from vanity and ostentation, or from the
same reason that the quantity of fine statues, pic-
tures, and of every other luxury, and curiosity, is
likely to increase among them. But as statuaries
and painters are not likely to be worse rewarded in

RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

times of wealth and prosperity, than in times of po-
verty and depression, so gold and silver are not like-
ly to be worse paid for.

The price of gold and silver, when the accidental
discovery of more abundant mines does not keep it
down, as it naturally rises with the wealth of every
country ; so, whatever be the state of the mines, it is
at all times naturally higher in a rich than in a poor
country. Gold and silver, like all other commodi-
ties, naturally seek the market where the best price
is given for them, and the best price is commonly
given for every thing in the country which can best
afford it. Labour, it must be remembered, is the
ultimate price which is paid for every thing ; and in
countries where labour is equally well rewarded, the
money price of labour will be in proportion to that
of the subsistence of the labourer. But gold and
silver will naturally exchange for a greater quantity
of subsistence in a rich than in a poor country ; in a
country which abounds with subsistence, than in one
which is but indifferently supplied with it. If the
two countries areat a great distance, the difference may
be very great; because, though the metals naturally fly
from the worse to the better market, yet it may be
difficult to transport them in such quantities as to
bring their price nearly to a level in -both. If the
countries are near, the difference will be smaller, and
may sometimes be scarce perceptible ; because in this
case the transportation will be easy. China is a much
richer country than any part of Europe, and the dif-
ference between the price of subsistence in China and
in Europe is very great. Rice in China is much
cheaper than wheat is anywhere in Europe. England
is a much richer country than Scotland, but the dif-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 263

ference between the money price of corn in those
two countries is much smaller, and is but just per-
ceptible. In proportion to the quantity or measure,
Scotch corn generally appears to be a good deal
cheaper than English ; but, in proportion to its qua-
lity, it is certainly somewhat dearer. Scotland re-
ceives' almost every year very large supplies from
England, and every commodity must commonly be
somewhat dearer in thecountry to which it isbrought
than in that from which it comes. English corn,
therefore, must be dearer in Scotland than in Eng-
land ; and yet in proportion to its quality, or to the
quantity and goodness of the flour or meal which can
be made from it, it cannot commonly be sold higher
there than the Scotch corn which comes to market
in competition with it.

The difference between the money price of labour
in China and in Europe, is still greater than that
between the money price of subsistence ; because the
real recompense of labour is higher in Europe than
in China, the greater part of Europe being in an im-
proving state, while China seems to be standing still.
The money price of labour is lower in Scotland than
in England, because £he real recompense of labour
is much lower: Scotland, though advancing to great-
er wealth, advances much more slowly than Eng-
land. The frequency of emigration from Scotland,
and the rarity of it from England, sufficiently prove
that the demand for labour is very different in the
two countries. The proportion between the real re-
compense of labour in different countries, it must be
remembered, is naturally regulated, not by their ac-
tual wealth or poverty, but by their advancing, sta-
tionary, or declining condition.

264 RENT OF LAND. BOOK L

Gold and silver, as they are naturally of the
greatest value among the richest, so they are natu-
rally of the least value among the poorest nations.
Among savages, the poorest of all nations, they are
of scarce any value.

In great towns, corn is always dearer than in re-
mote parts of the country. This, however, 'is the
effect, not of the real cheapness of silver, but of the
real dearness of corn. It does not cost less labour
to bring silver to the great town than to the remote
parts of the country ; but it costs a great deal more
to bring corn.

In some very rich and commercial countries, such
as Holland and the territory of Genoa, corn is dear
for the same reason that it is dear in great towns.
They do not produce enough to maintain their in-
habitants. They are rich in the industry and skill
of their artificers and manufacturers, in every sort of
machinery which can facilitate and abridge labour ;
in shipping, and in all the other instruments and
means of carriage and commerce : but they are poor
in corn, which, as it must be brought to them from
distant countries, must, by an addition to its price,
pay for the carriage from those countries. It does
not cost less labour to bring silver to Amsterdam
than to Dantzic ; but it costs a great deal more to
bring corn. The real cost of silver must be nearly
the same iq both places ; but that of corn must be
very different. Diminish the real opulence either of
Holland or of the territory of Genoa, while the num-
ber of their inhabitants remains the same ; diminish
their power of supplying themselves from distant
countries ; and the price of corn, instead of sinking
with that diminution in the quantity of their silver,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 265

which must necessarily accompany this declension,
either as its cause or as its effect, will rise to the
price of a famine. When we are in want of neces-
saries, we must part with all superfluities, of which
the value, as it rises in times of opulence and pros-
perity, so it sinks in times of poverty and distress.
It is otherwise with necessaries. Their real price,
the quantity of labour which they can purchase or*
command, rises in times of poverty and distress, and
sinks in times of opulence and prosperity, which are
always times of great abundance ; for they could not
otherwise be times of opulence and prosperity. Corn
is a necessary, silver is only a superfluity.

Whatever, therefore, may have been the increase
in the quantity of the precious metals, which, during
the period between the middle of the fourteenth and
that of the sixteenth century, arose from the increase
of wealth and improvement, it could have no ten-
dency to diminish their value, either in Great Bri-
tain, or in any other part of Europe. If those who
have collected, the prices of things in ancient times,
therefore, had, during this period, no reason to infer
the diminution of the value of silver from any obser-
vations which they had made upon the prices either
of corn, or of other commodities, they had still less
reason to infer it from any supposed increase of
wealth and improvement.

Second Period. — But how various soever may
have been the opinions of the learned concerning
the progress of the value of silver during the first
period, they are unanimous concerning it during the
second.

From about 1570 to about 1640, during a period

266 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

of about seventy years, the variation in the propor-
tion between the value of silver and that of corn
held a quite opposite course. Silver sunk in its real
value, or would exchange for a smaller quantity of
labour than before ; and corn rose in its nominal
price, and, instead of being commonly sold for about
two ounces of silver the quarter, or about ten shil-
lings of our present money, came to be sold for six
and eight ounces of silver the quarter, or about thirty
and forty shillings of our present money.

The discovery of the abundant mines of America
seems to have been the sole cause of this diminution
in the value of silver, in proportion to that of corn.
It is accounted for, accordingly, in the same manner
by every body ; and there never has been any dis-
pute, either about the fact, or about the cause of it.
The greater part of Europe was, during this period,
advancing in industry and improvement, and the de-
mand for silver must consequently have been in-
creasing ; but the increase of the supply had, it
seems, so far exceeded that of the demand, that the
value of that metal sunk considerably. The disco-
very of the mines of America, it is to be observed,
does not seem to have had any very sensible effect
upon the prices of things in England till after 1570 ;
though even the mines of Potosi had been discover-

o

ed more than twenty years before.

From 1595 to 1620, both inclusive, the average
price of the quarter of nine bushels of the best wheat,
at Windsor market, appears, from the accounts of
Eton college, to have been ^2:1: 6TV Fjom
which sum, neglecting the fraction, and deducting a
ninth, or 4s. Tad. the. price of the quarter of eight
bushels comes out to have been ^1 : 16 : lOl. And

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 267

from this sum, neglecting likewise the fraction, and
deducting a ninth, or 4s. lid. for the difference be-
tween the price of the best wheat and that of the
middle wheat, the price of the middle wheat comes
out to have been about £i : 12 : 8|, or about six
ounces and one third of an ounce of silver.

From 1621 to 1636, both inclusive, the average
price of the same measure of the best wheat, at the
same market, appears, from the same accounts, to
have been £2 : 10s. ; from which, making the like
deductions as in the foregoing case, the average
price of the quarter of eight bushels of middle wheat
comes out to have been £l : 19 : 6, or about seven
ounces and two thirds of an ounce of silver.

Third Period. — Between 1630 and 1640, or about
1636, the effect of the .discovery of the mines of
America, in reducing the value of silver, appears to
have been completed, and the value of that metal
seems never to have sunk lower in proportion to
that of corn than it was about that time. It seems
to have risen somewhat in the course of the present
century, and it had probably begun to do so, even
some time before the end of the last.

From 1637 to 1700, both inclusive, Being the six-
ty-four last years of the last century, the average
price of the quarter of nine bushels of the best
wheat, at Windsor market, appears, from the same
accounts, to have been £2:11:0?, which is only
Is. O^d. dearer than it had been during the sixteen
years before. But, in the course of these sixty-four
years, there happened two events, which must have
produced a much greater scarcity of corn than what

268 BENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

the course of the seasons would otherwise have occa-
sioned, and which, therefore, without supposing any
further reduction in the value of silver, will much
more than account for this very small enhancement
of price.

The first of these events was the civil war, which,
by discouraging tillage and interrupting commerce,
must have raised the price of corn much above what
the course of the seasons would otherwise have occa-
sioned. It must have had this effect, more or less,
at all the different markets in the kingdom, but par-
ticularly at those in the neighbourhood of London,
which require to be supplied from the greatest dis-
tance. In 1648, accordingly, the price of the best
wheat, at Windsor market, appears, from the same
accounts, to have been ^4 : 5s. and, in 1649, to have
been <£4, the quarter of nine bushels. The excess of
those two years above •£% : 10s. (the average price of
the sixteen years preceding 1637) is &3 : 5s. which,
divided among the sixty-four last years of the last
century, will alone very nearly account for that small
enhancement of price which seems to have taken
place in them. These, however, though the highest,
are by no means the only high prices which seem to
have been oct&sioned by the civil wars.

The second event was the bounty upon the ex-
portation of corn, granted in 1688. The bounty, it
has been thought by many people, by encouraging
tillage, may, in a long course of years, have occa-
sioned a greater abundance, and, consequently, a
greater cheapness of corn in the home market, than
what would otherwise have taken place there. How
far the bounty could produce this effect at any time,

€HAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 269

I shall examine hereafter : I shall only observe at
present, that between 1688 and 1700, it had not
time to produce any such effect. During this short
period, its only effect must have been, by encouraging
the exportation of the surplus produce of every
year, and thereby hindering the abundance of One
year from compensating the scarcity of another, to
raise the price in the home market. The scarcity
which prevailed in England, from 1693 to 1699,
both inclusive, though no doubt principally owing
to the badness of the seasons, and, therefore, ex-
tending through a considerable part of Europe,
must have been somewhat enhanced by the bounty.
In 1699, accordingly, the further exportation of
corn was prohibited for nine months.

There was a third event which occurred in the
course of the same period, and which, though it
could not occasion any scarcity of corn, nor, per-
haps, any augmentation in the real quantity of silver
which was usually paid for it, must necessarily have
occasioned some augmentation in the nominal sum.
This event was the great debasement of the silver
coin, by clipping and wearing. This evil had begun
in the reign of Charles II. and had gone on conti-
nually increasing till 1695 ; at which time, as we
may learn from Mr Lowndes, the current silver coin
was, at an average, near five-and- twenty per cent,
below its standard value. But the nominal sum
which constitutes the market price of every commo-
dity is necessarily regulated, not so much by the
quantity of silver, which, according to the standard,
ought to be contained in it, as by that which, it is
found by experience, actually is contained in it.
This nominal sum, therefore, is necessarily higher

270 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

when the coin is much debased by clipping and
wearing, than when near to its standard value.

In the course of the present century, the silver
coin has not at any time been more below its stand-
ard weight than it is at present. But though very
much defaced, its value has been kept up by that of
the gold coin, for which it is exchanged. For though,
before the late recoinage, the gold coin was a good
deal defaced too, it was less so than the silver. In
1695, on the contrary, the value of the silver coin
was not kept up by the gold coin ; a guinea then
commonly exchanging for thirty shillings of the
worn and dipt silver. Before the late recoinage of
the gold, the price of silver bullion was seldom high-
er than five shillings and sevenpence an ounce,
which is but fivepence above the mint price. But
in 1695, the common price of silver bullion was six
shillings and fivepence an ounce *, which is fifteen
pence above the mint price. Even before the late
recoinage of the gold, therefore, the coin, gold and
silver together, when compared with silver bullion,
was not supposed to be more than eight per cent,
below its standard value. In 1695, on the contrary,
it had been supposed to be near five-and-twenty per
cent, below that value. But in the beginning of the
present century, that is, immediately after the great
recoinage in King William's time, the greater part
of the current silver coin must have been still nearer
to its standard weight than it is at present. In the
course of the present century, too, there has been
no great public calamity, such as the civil war, which
could either discourage tillage, or interrupt the in-
terior commerce of the country. And though the

* Lpwndes's Essay on the silver coin, p. 68.

GHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 271

bounty which has taken place through the greater
part of this century, must always raise the price of
corn somewhat higher than it otherwise would be in
the actual state of tillage ; yet, as in the course of
this century, the bounty has had full time to pro-
duce all the good effects commonly imputed to it to
encourage tillage, and thereby to increase the quan-
tity of corn in the home market, it may, upon the
principles of a system which I shall explain and exa-
mine hereafter, be supposed to have done something
to lower the price of that commodity the one way,
as well as to raise it the other. It is by many people
supposed to have done more. In the sixty-four
years of the present century, accordingly, the ave-
rage price of the quarter of nine bushels of the best
wheat, at Windsor market, appears, by the accounts
of Eton college, to have been £2:0: 6±% , which is
about ten shillings and sixpence, or more than five-
and- twenty per cent, cheaper than it had been during
the sixty-four last years of the last century ; and
about nine shillings and sixpence cheaper than it
had been during the sixteen years preceding 1636,
when the discovery of the abundant mines of Ame-
rica may be supposed to have produced its full ef-
fect; and about one shilling cheaper than it had
been in the twenty-six years preceding 1620, before
that discovery can well be supposed to have pro-
duced its full effect. According to this account, the
average price of middle wheat, during these sixty-
four first years of the present century, comes out to
have been about thirty-two shillings the quarter of
eight bushels.

The value of silver, therefore, seems to have risen
somewhat in proportion to that of corn during the

272 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

course of the present century, and it had probably
begun to do so even some time before the end of
the last. .

In 1087, the price of the quarter of nine bushels of
the best wheat, at Windsor market, was £1:5:2, the
lowest price at which it had ever been from 1595.

In 1688, Mr Gregory King, a man famous for his
knowledge in matters of this kind, estimated the
average price of wheat, in years of moderate plenty,
to be to the grower 3s. 6d. the bushel, or eight-and-
twenty shillings the quarter. The grower's price I
understand to be the same with what is sometimes
called the contract price, or the price at which a farm-
er contracts for a certain number of years to deli-
ver a certain quantity of corn to a dealer. As a con-
tract of this kind saves the farmer the expense and
trouble of marketing, the contract price is generally
lower than what is supposed to be the average mar-
ket price. Mr King had judged eight-and-twenty
shillings the quarter to be at that time the ordinary
contract price in years of moderate plenty. Before
the scarcity, occasioned by the late extraordinary
course of bad seasons, it was, I have been assured,
the ordinary contract price in all common years.

In 1688 was granted the parliamentary bounty
upon the exportation of corn. The country gentle-
men, who then composed a still greater proportion
of the legislature than they do at present, had felt
that the money price of corn was falling. The bounty
was an expedient to raise it artificially to the high
price at which it 'had frequently been sold in the
times of Charles I. and II. It was to take place,
therefore, till wheat was so high as forty- eight shil-
lings the quarter ; that is, twenty shillings, or the

CHAP. XI. RENT OP LAND. 278

dearer than Mr King had, in that very year, esti-
mated the grower's price to be in times of moderate
plenty. If his calculations deserve any part of the
reputation which they have obtained very univer-
sally, eight-and-forty shillings the quarter was a price
which, without some such expedient, as the bounty
could not at that time be expected, except in years
of extraordinary scarcity. But the government of
King William was not then fully settled. It was
in no condition to refuse any thing to the country
gentlemen, from whom it was, at that very time,
soliciting the first establishment of the annual land-
tax.

The value of silver, therefore, in proportion to
that of corn, had probably risen somewhat before the
end of the last century ; and it seems to have con-
tinued to do so during the course of the greater part
of the present, though the necessary operation of
the bounty must have hindered that rise from being
so sensible as it otherwise would have been in the
actual state of tillage.

In plentiful years, the bounty, by occasioning an
extraordinary exportation, necessarily raises the price
of corn above what it otherwise would be in those
years. To encourage tillage, by keeping up the price
of corn, even in the most plentiful years, was the
avowed end of the institution.

In years of great scarcity, indeed, the bounty has
generally been suspended. It must, however, have
had some effect upon the prices of many of those
years. By the extraordinary exportation which it
occasions in years of plenty, it must frequently hin-
der the plenty of one year from compensating the
scarcity of another.

VOL. i. s

274 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

Both in years of plenty and in years of scarcity,
therefore, the bounty raises the price of corn above
what it naturally would be in the actual state of til-
lage. If, during the sixty-four first years of the
present century, therefore, the average price has
been lower than during the sixty-four last years of
the last century, it must, in the same state of tillage,
have been much more so, had it not been for this
operation of the bounty.

But, without the bounty, it may be said the state
of tillage would not have been the same. What
may have been the effects of this institution upon
the agriculture of the country, I shall endeavour to
explain hereafter, when I come to treat particularly
of bounties. I shall only observe at present, that
this rise in the value of silver, in proportion to that
of corn, has not been peculiar to England. It has
been observed to have taken place in France during
the same period, and nearly in the same proportion,
too, by three very faithful, diligent, and laborious
collectors of the prices of corn, M. Dupre de St
Maur, M. Messance, and the author of the Essay on
the Police of Grain. But in France, till 1764, the
exportation of grain was by law prohibited ; and it
is somewhat difficult to suppose, that nearly the
same diminution of price which took place in one
country, notwithstanding this prohibition, should, in
another, be owing to the extraordinary encourage-
ment given to exportation.

It would be more proper, perhaps, to consider this
variation in the average money price of corn as the
effect rather of some gradual rise in the real value
of silver in the European market, than of any fall
in the real average value of corn. Corn, it has al-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 275

ready been observed, is, at distant periods of time, a
more accurate measure of value than either silver,
or, perhaps, any other commodity. When, after the
discovery of the abundant mines of America, corn
rose to three and four times its former money price,
this change was universally ascribed, not to any rise
in the real value of corn, but to a fall in the real va-
lue of silver. If, during the sixty-four first years of
the present century, therefore, the average money
price of corn has fallen somewhat below what it had
been during the greater part of the last century, we
should, in the same manner, impute this change, not
to any fall in the real value of corn, but to some rise
in the real value of silver in the European market.
The high price of corn during these ten or twelve
years past, indeed, has occasioned a suspicion that
the real value of silver still continues to fall in the
European market. This high price of corn, how-
ever, seems evidently to have been the effect of the
extraordinary unfavourableness of the seasons, and
ought, therefore, to be regarded, not as a permanent,
but as a transitory and occasional event. The sea-
sons, for these ten or twelve years past, have been
unfavourable through the greater part of Europe;
and the disorders of Poland have very much increased
the scarcity in all those countries, which, in dear
years, used to be supplied from that market. So
long a course of bad seasons, though not a very com-
mon event, is by no means a singular one ; and who-
ever has inquired much into the history of the prices
of corn in former times, will be at no loss to recol-
lect several other examples of the same kind. Ten
years of extraordinary scarcity, besides, are not
more wonderful than ten years of extraordinary

276 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

plenty. The low price of corn, from 1741 to 1750,
both inclusive, may very well be set in opposition
to its high price during these last eight or ten years.
From 1741 to 1750, the average price of the quar-
ter of nine bushels of the best wheat, at Windsor
market, it appears from the accounts of Eton col-
lege was only £l : 13 : 91, which is nearly 6s. 3d.
below the average price of the sixty-four first years
of the present century. The average price of the
quarter of eight bushels of middle wheat comes out,
according to this account, to have been, during these
ten years, only £l : 6 : 8.

Between 1741 and 1750, however, the bounty
must have hindered the price of corn from falling so
low in the home market as it naturally would have
done. During these ten years, the quantity of all sorts
of grain exported, it appears from the custom-house
books, amounted to no less than 8,029,156 quarters,
one bushel. The bounty paid for this amounted to
^1,514,962 : 17 : 4^. In 1749, accordingly, Mr
Pelham, at that time prime minister, observed to
the house of commons, that, for the three years pre-
ceding, a very extraordinary sum had been paid as
bounty for the exportation of corn. He had good
reason to make this observation, and in the following
year he might have had still better. In that single
year, the bounty paid amounted to no less than
,£324,176 : 10 : 6 *. It is unnecessary to observe how
much this forced exportation must have raised the
price of corn above what it otherwise would have
been in the home market.

At the end of the accounts annexed to this chap-
ter, the reader will find the particular account of
* See Tracts on the Corn Trade, Tract 3.

CHAP. XL EENT OF LAND.

those ten years separated from the rest. He will find
there, too, the particular account of the preceding ten
years, of which the average is likewise below, though
not so much below, the general average of the sixty-
four first years of the century. The year 1740, how-
ever, was a year of extraordinary scarcity. These
twenty years preceding 1750 may very well be set in
opposition to the twenty preceding 1770. As the for-
mer were a good deal below thegeneral averageof the
century, notwithstanding the intervention of one or
two dear years ; so the latter have been a good deal
above it, notwithstanding the intervention of one or
two cheap ones, of 1759, for example. If the for-
mer have not been as much below the general ave-
rage as the latter have been above it, we ought pro-
bably to impute it to the bounty. The change has
evidently been toosudden tobeascribed toany change
in the value of silver, which is always slow and gra-
dual. The suddenness of the effect can be account-
ed for only by a cause which can operate suddenly,
the accidental variation of the seasons.

The money price of labour in Great Britain has,
indeed, risen during the course of the present centu-
ry. This, however, seems to be the effect, not so
much of any diminution in the value of silver in the
European market, as of an increase in the demand
for labour in Great Britain, arising from the great,
and almost universal prosperity of the country. In
France, a country not altogether so prosperous, the
money price of labour has, since the middle of the
last century, been observed tosink gradually with the
average money price of corn. Both in the last cen-
tury and in the present, the day wages of common
labour are there said to have been pretty uniformly

278 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

about the twentieth part of the average price of the
septier of wheat; a measure which contains a little
more than four Winchester bushels. In Great Bri-
tain, the real recompense of labour, it has already
been shewn, the real quantities of the necessaries
and conveniences of life which are given to the la-
bourer, has increased considerably during the course
of the present century. The rise in its money price
seems to have been the effect, not of any diminution
of the value of silver in the general market of Eu-
rope, but of a rise in the real price of labour, in the
particular market of Great Britain, owing to the
peculiarly happy circumstances of the country.

For some time after the first discovery of Ame-
rica, silver would continue to sell at its former, or
not much below its former price. The profits of
mining would for some time be very great, and
much above their natural rate. Those who import-
ed that metal into Europe, however, would soon
find that the whole annual importation could not
be disposed of at this high price. Silver would gra-
dually exchange for a smaller and a smaller quan-
tity of goods. Its price would sink gradually lower
and lower, till it fell to its natural price ; or to
what was just sufficient to pay, according to their
natural rates, the wages of the labour, the profits
of the stock, and the rent of the land, which must
be paid in order to bring it from the mine to the
market. In the greater part of the silver mines
of Peru, the tax of the king of Spain, amounting
to a tenth of the gross produce, eats up, it has al-
ready been observed, the whole rent of the land.
This tax was originally a half; it soon afterwards
fell to a third, then to a fifth, and at last to a tenth,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 279

at which rate it still continues. In the greater part
of the silver mines of Peru, this.it seems, is all that
remains, after replacing the stock of the undertaker
of the work, together with its ordinary profits ; and
it seems to be universally acknowleged that these
profits, which were once very high, are now as low
as they can well be, consistently with carrying on
the works.

The tax of the king of Spain was reduced to a fifth
of the registered silver in 1504*, one-and-forty years
before 1545, the date of the discovery of the mines
of Potosi. In the course of ninety years, or before
1636, these mines, the most fertile in all America,
had time sufficient to produce their full effect, or to
reduce the value of silver in the European market as
low as it could well fall, while it con tinned to pay this
tax to the king of Spain. Ninety years, is time suffi-
cient to reduce any commodity, of which there is no
monopoly to its natural price, or to the lowest price
at which, while it pays a particular tax, it. can conti-
nue to be sold for any considerable time together.

The price of silver in the European market might,
perhaps, have fallen still lower, and it might have be-
come necessary either to reduce the tax upon it, not
only to cine tenth, as in 1736, but to one twentieth,
in the same manner as that upon gold, or to give up
working the greater part of the American mines
which are now wrought. The gradual increase of
the demand for silver, or the gradual enlargement of
the market for the produce of the silver mines of
America, is probably the cause which has prevented
this from happening, and which has not only kept
up the value of silver in the European market, but
* Solorzano, vol. ii.

280 RENT Ot1 LAND. BOOK I.

has perhaps even raised it somewhat higher than it
was about the middle of the last century.

Since the first discovery of America, the market
for the produce of its silver mines has been growing
gradually more and more extensive.

First, the market of Europe has become gradual-
ly more and more extensive. Since the discovery of
America, the greater part of Europe has been much
improved, England, Holland, France, and Ger-
many ; even Sweden, Denmark, and Russia, have
all advanced considerably, both in agriculture and
in manufactures. Italy seems not to have gone
backwards. The fall of Italy preceded the conquest
of Peru. Since that time it seems rather to have
recovered a little. Spain and Portugal, indeed, are
supposed to have gone backwards. Portugal, how-
ever, is but a very small part of Europe, and the de-
clension of Spain is not, perhaps, so great as is com-
monly imagined. In the beginning of the sixteenth
century, Spain was a very poor country, even in com-
parison with France, which has been so much im-
proved since that time. It was the well known re-
mark of the emperor Charles V. who had travelled
so frequently through both countries, that every
thing abounded in France, but that every thing was
wanting in Spain. The increasing produce of the
agriculture and manufactures of Europe must ne-
cessarily have required a gradual increase in the
quantity of silver coin to circulate it ; and the in-
creasing number of wealthy individuals must have
required the like increase in the quantity of their
plate and other ornaments of silver.

Secondly, America is itself a new market for the
produce of its own silver mines ; and as its advances

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 281

in agriculture, industry, and population, are much
more rapid than those of the most thriving countries
in Europe, its demand must increase much more
rapidly. The English colonies are altogether a new
market, which, partly for coin, and partly for plate,
requires a continual augmenting supply of silver
through a great continent where there never was
any demand before. The greater part, too, of the
Spanish and Portuguese colonies, are altogether new
markets. New Granada, the Yucatan, Paraguay,
and the Brazils, were, before discovered by the Eu-
ropeans, inhabited by savage nations, who had nei-
ther arts nor agriculture. A considerable degree of
both has now been introduced into all of them.
Even Mexico and Peru, though they cannot be con-
sidered as altogether new markets, are certainly
much more extensive ones than they ever were be-
fore. After all the wonderful tales which have been
published concerning the splendid state of those
countries in ancient times, whoever reads, with any
degree of sober judgment, the history of their first
discovery and conquest, will evidently discern that,
in arts, agriculture, and commerce, their inhabitants
were much more ignorant than the Tartars of
the Ukraine are at present. Even the Peruvians,
the more civilized nation of the two, though they
made use of gold and silver as ornaments, had no
coined money of any kind. Their whole commerce
was carried on by barter, and there was accordingly
scarce any division of labour among them. Those
who cultivated the ground, were obliged to build
their own houses, to make their own household fur-
niture, their own clothes, shoes, and instruments of
agriculture. The few artificers among them are

282 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

said to have been all maintained by the sovereign,
the nobles, and the priests, and were probably their
servants or slaves. All the ancient arts of Mexico
and Peru have never furnished one single manufac-
ture to Europe. The Spanish armies, though they
scarce ever exceeded five hundred men, and frequent-
ly did not amount to half that number, found almost
everywhere great difficulty in procuring subsistence.
The famines which they are said to have occasioned
almost wherever they went, in countries, too, which
at the same time are represented as very populous
and well cultivated, sufficiently demonstrate that the
story of this populousness and high cultivation is in
a great measure fabulous. The Spanish colonies
are under a government in many respects less fa-
vourable to agriculture, improvement, and popula-
tion, than that of the English colonies. They seem,
however, to be advancing in all these much more
rapidly than any country in Europe. In a fertile
soil and happy climate, the great abundance and
cheapness of land, a circumstance common to all
new colonies, is, it seems, so great an advantage, as
to compensate many defects in civil government.
Frezier, who visited Peru in 1713, represents Lima
as containing between twenty-five and twenty- eight
thousand inhabitants. Ulloa, who resided in the
same country between 1740 and 1746, represents it
as containing more than fifty thousand. The diffe-
rence in their accounts of the populousness of several
other principal towns in Chili and Peril is nearly
the same ; and as there seems to be no reason to
doubt of the good information of either, it marks an
increase which is scarce inferior to that of the Eng-
lish colonies. America, therefore, is a new market

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 283

for the produce of its own silver mines, of which
the demand must increase much more rapidly than
that of the most thriving country in Europe.

Thirdly, the East Indies is another market for
the produce of the silver mines of America, and a
market which, from the time of the first discovery
of those mines, has been continually taking off a
greater and a greater quantity of silver. Since that
time, the direct trade between America and the East
Indies, which is carried on by means of the Acapul-
co ships, has been continually augmenting, and the
indirect intercourse by the way of Europe has been
augmenting in a still greater proportion. During
the sixteenth century, the Portuguese were the on-
ly European nation who carried on any regular trade
to the East Indies. In the last years of that cen-
tury, the Dutch began to encroach upon this monopo-
ly, and in a few years expelled them from their prin-
cipal settlements in India. During the greater part
of the last century, those two nations divided the
most considerable part of the East India trade be-
tween them ; the trade of the Dutch continually
augmenting in a still greater proportion than that of
the Portuguese declined. The English and French
carried on some trade with India in the last century,
but it has been greatly augmented in the course of
the present. The East India trade of the Swedes
and Danes began in the course of the present cen-
tury. Even the Muscovites now trade regularly
with China, by a sort of caravans which go over
land through Siberia and Tartary to Pekin. The
East India trade of all these nations, if we except
that of the French, which the last war had well nigh
annihilated, has been almost continually augment-

284 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

ing. The increasing consumptions of East India
goods in Europe is, it seems, so great, as to afford a
gradual increase of employment to them all. Tea,
for example, was a drug very little used in Europe
before the middle of the last century. At present,
the value of the tea annually imported by the Eng-
lish East India company, for the use of their own
countrymen, amounts to more than a million and a
half a-year ; and even this is not enough ; a great
deal more being constantly smuggled into the coun-
try from the ports of Holland, from Gottenburgh in
Sweden, and from the coast of France, too, as long
as the French East India company was in prosperi-
ty. The consumption of the porcelain of China, of
the spiceries of the Moluccas, of the piece goods of
Bengal, and of innumerable other articles, has in-
creased very nearly in a like proportion. The ton-
nage, accordingly, of all the European shipping em-
ployed in the East India trade, at any one time dur-
ing the last century, was not, perhaps, much greater
than that of the English East India company before
the late reduction of their shipping.

But in the East Indies, particularly in .China and
Indostan, the value of the precious metals, when the
Europeans first began to trade to those countries,
was much higher than in Europe; and it still conti-
nues to be so. In rice countries, which generally
yield two, sometimes three crops in the year, each
of them more plentiful than any common crop of
corn, the abundance of food must be much greater
than in any corn country of equal extent. Such
countries are accordingly much more populous. In
them, too, the rich, having a greater superabundance
of food to dispose of beyond what they themselves

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 285

can consume, have the means of purchasing a much
greater quantity of the labour of other people. The
retinue of a grandee in China or Indostan accord-
ingly is, by all accounts, much more numerous and
splendid than that of the richest subjects in Europe.
The same superabundance of food, of which they
have the disposal, enables them to give a greater
quantity of it for all those singular and rare produc-
tions which nature furnishes but in very small quan-
tities ; such as the precious metals and the precious
stones, the great objects of the competition of the
rich. Though the mines, therefore, which supplied
the Indian market, had been as abundant as those
which supplied the European, such commodities
would naturally exchange for a greater quantity of
food in India than in Europe. But the mines which
supplied the Indian market with the precious metals
seem to have been a good deal less abundant, and
those which supplied it with the precious stones a
good deal more so, than the mines which supplied
the European. The precious metals, therefore,
would naturally exchange in India for somewhat a
greater quantity of the precious stones, and for a
much greater quantity of food than in Europe. The
money price of diamonds, the greatest of all super-
fluities, would be somewhat lower, and that of food,
the first of all necessaries, a great deal lower in one
country than in the other. But the real price of
labour, the real quantity of the necessaries of life
which is given to the labourer, it has already been
observed, is lower both in China and Indostan, the
two great markets of India, than it is through the
greater part of Europe. The wages of the labourer
will there purchase a smaller quantity of food ; and

286 BENT OF LAND. BOOK 1.

as the money price of food is much lower in India
than in Europe, the money price of labour is there
lower upon a double account, upon account both of
the small quantity of food which it will purchase,
and of the low price of that food. But in countries
of equal art and industry, the money price of the
greater part of manufactures will be in proportion
to the money price of labour ; and in manufacturing
art and industry, China and Indostan, though infe-
rior, seem not to be much inferior to any part of
Europe. The money price of the greater part of
manufactures, therefore, will naturally bemuch lower
in those great empires than it is anywhere in Eu-
rope. Through the greater part of Europe, too, the
expense of land-carriage increases very much both
the real and nominal price of most manufactures.
It costs more labour, and therefore more money, to
bring first the materials, and afterwards the com-
plete manufacture to market. In China and Indo-
stan, the extent and variety of inland navigations
save the greater part of this labour, and consequently
of this money, and thereby reduce still lower both
the real and the nominal price of the greater part
of their manufactures. Upon all these accounts,
the precious metals are a commodity which it always
has been, and still continues to be, extremely advan-
tageous to carry from Europe to India. There is
scarce any commodity which brings a better price
there ; or which, in proportion to the quantity of
labour and commodities which it costs in Europe,
will purchase or command a greater quantity of la-
bour and commodities in India. It is more advan-
tageous, too, to carry silver thither than gold ; be-
cause in China, and the greater part of the other

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 287

markets of India, the proportion between fine silver
and fine gold is but as ten, or at most as twelve to
one; whereas in Europe it is as fourteen or fifteen
to one. In China, and the greater part of the other
markets of India, ten, or at most twelve ounces of
silver, will purchase an ounce of gold ; in Europe, it
requires from fourteen to fifteen ounces. In the
cargoes, therefore, of the greater part of European
ships which sail to India, silver has generally been
one of the most valuable articles. It is the most
valuable article in the Acapulco ships which sail to
Manilla. The silver of the new continent seems, in
this manner, to be one of the principal commodities
by which the commerce between the two extremi-
ties of the old one is carried on ; and it is by means
of it, in a great measure, that those distant parts of
the world are connected with one another.

In order to supply so very widely extended a mar-
ket, the quantity of silver annually brought from
the mines must not only be sufficient to support
that continued increase, both of coin and of plate,
which is required in all thriving countries ; but to
repair that continual waste and consumption of sil-
ver which takes place in all countries where that
metal is used. J7 *

The continual consumption of the precious metals
in coin by wearing, and in plate both by wearing
and cleaning, is very sensible ; and in commodities
of which the use is so very widely extended, would
alone require a very great annual supply. The con-
sumption of those metals in some particular manu-
factures, though it may not perhaps be greater upon
the whole than this gradual consumption, is, how-
ever, much more sensible, as it is much more rapid.
In the manufactures of Birmingham alone, the

288 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

quantity of gold and silver annually employed in
gilding and plating, and thereby disqualified from
ever afterwards appearing in the shape of those me-
tals, is said to amount to more than fifty thousand
pounds sterling. We may from thence form some
notion how great must be the annual consumption
in all the different parts of the world, either in ma-
nufactures of the same kind with those of Birming-
ham, or in laces, embroideries, gold and silver stuffs,
the gilding of books, furniture, &c. A considerable
quantity, too, must be annually lost in transporting
those metals from one place to another, both by sea
and by land. In the greater part of the govern-
ments of Asia, besides, the almost universal custom
of concealing treasures in the bowels of the earth,
of which the knowledge frequently dies with the
person who makes the concealment, must occasion
the loss of a still greater quantity.

The quantity of gold and silver imported at both
Cadiz and Lisbon (including not only what comes
under register, but what may be supposed to be
smuggled) amounts, according to the best accounts,
to about six millions sterling a-year.

According to Mr Meggens *, the annual importa-
tion of the precious metals into Spain, at an average
of six years, viz. from 1748 to 1753, both inclu-
sive, and into Portugal, at an average of seven
years, viz. from 1747 to 1753, both inclusive,
amounted in silver to 1,101,107 pounds weight, and
in gold to 49,940 pounds weight. The silver, at

* Postscript to the Universal Merchant, p. 15 and 16. This
postscript was not printed till 1756, three years after the publi-
cation of the book, which has never had a second edition. The
postscript is, therefore, to be found in few copies ; it corrects
several erorrs in the book.

GHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 289

sixty-two shillings the pound troy, amounts to
£3,413,431 : 10s. sterling. The gold, at forty -four
guineas and a half the pound troy, amounts to
£2,333,446 : 14s. sterling. Both together amount to
.£5,746,878 : 4s. sterling. The account of what was
imported under register, he assures us, is exact. He
gives us the detail of the particular places from which
the gold and silver were brought, and of the parti-
cular quantity of each metal, which, according to the
register, each of them afforded. He makes an al-
lowance, too, for the quantity of each metal which,
he supposes, may have been smuggled. The great
experience of this judicious merchant renders his
opinion of considerable weight.

According to the eloquent, and sometimes well-
informed, author of the Philosophical and Political
History of the Establishment of the Europeans in
the two Indies, the annual importation of registered
gold and silver into Spain, at an average of eleven
years, viz. from 1754 to 1 764, both inclusive, amount-
ed to 13,984, 185f piastres often reals. On account
of what may have been smuggled, however, the
whole annual importation, he supposes, may have
amounted to seventeen millions of piastres, which, at
4s. 6d. the piastre, is equal to -£3,825,000 sterling.
He gives the detail, too, of the particular places
from which the gold and silver were brought, and
of the particular quantities of each metal, which,
according to the register, each of them afforded.
He informs us, too, that if we were to judge of the
quantity of gold annually imported from the Bra-
zils to Lisbon by the amount of the tax paid to
the king of Portugal, which, it seems, is one fifth,
of the standard metal, we might value it at eighteen

VOL. I. T

290 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

millions of cruzadoes, or forty-five millions of French
livres, equal to about twenty millions sterling. On
account of what may have been smuggled, however,
we may safely, he says, add to this sum an eighth
more, or £250,000 sterling, so that the whole will
amount to £2,250,000 sterling. According to this
account, therefore, the whole annual importation of
the precious metals into both Spain and Portugal,
amounts to about ,£6,075,000 sterling.

Several other very well authenticated, though ma-
nuscript accounts, I have been assured, agree in
making this whole annual importation amount, at an
average, to about six millions sterling ; sometimes a
little more, sometimes a little less.

The annual importation of the precious metals
into Cadiz and Lisbon, indeed, is not equal to the
whole annualproduceof theminesof America. Some
part is sent annually by the Acapulco ships to Ma-
nilla ; some part is employed in a contraband trade,
which the Spanish colonies carry on with those of
other European nations ; and some part, no doubt,
remains in the country. The mines of America, be-
sides, are by no means the only gold and silver mines
in the world. They are, however, by far the most
abundant. The produce of all the other mines
which are known is insignificant, it is acknowledged,
in comparison with theirs ; and the far greater part
of their produce, it is likewise acknowledged, is an-
nually imported into Cadiz and Lisbon. But the
consumption of Birmingham alone, at the rate of
fifty thousand pounds a-year, is equal to the hun-
dred-and- twentieth part of this annual importation,
at the rate of six millions a-year. The whole an-
nual consumption of gold and silver, therefore, in

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 291

all the different countries of the world where those
metals are used, may, perhaps, be nearly equal to the
whole annual produce. The remainder may be no
more than sufficient to supply the increasing demand
of all thriving countries. It may even have fallen
so far short of this demand, as somewhat to raise
the price of those metals in the European market

The quantity of brass and iron annually brought
from the mine to the market, is out of all proportion
greater than that of gold and silver. We do not,
however, upon this account, imagine that those
coarse metals are likely to multiply beyond the de-
mand, or to become gradually cheaper and cheaper.
Why should we imagine that the precious metals
are likely to do so? The coarse metals, indeed,
though harder, are put to much harder uses, and, as
they are of less value, less care is employed in their
preservation. The precious metals, however, are
not necessarily immortal any more than they, but
are liable, too, to be lost, wasted, and consumed, in a
great variety of ways.

The price of all metals, though liable to slow and
gradual variations, varies less from year to year than
that of almost any other part of the rude produce
of land; and the price of the precious metals is even
less liable to sudden variations than that of the
coarse ones. The durableness of metals is the foun-
dation of this extraordinary steadiness of price. The
corn which was brought to market last year will be
all, or almost all, consumeii, long before the end of
this year. But some part of the iron which was
brought from the mine two or three hundred years
ago, may be still in use, and, perhaps, some part of
the gold which was brought from it two or three

292 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

thousand years ago. The different masses of corn,
which, in different years, must supply the consump-
tion of the world, will always be nearly in proportion
to the respective produce of those different years.
But the proportion between the different masses of
iron which may be in use in two different years, will
be very little affected by any accidental difference in
the produce of the iron mines of those two years;
and the proportion between the masses of gold will
be still less affected by any such difference in the
produce of the gold mines. Though the produce of
the greater part of metallic mines, therefore, varies,
perhaps, still more from year to year than that of
the greater part of corn-fields, those variations have
not the same effect upon the price of the one species
of commodities as upon that of the other.

Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of
Gold and Silver,

Before the discovery of the mines of America, the
value of fine gold to fine silver was regulated in the
different mines of Europe, between the proportions
of one to ten and one to twelve ; that is, an ounce
of fine gold was supposed to be worth from ten to
twelve ounces of fine silver. About the middle of
the last century, it came to be regulated, between
the proportions of one to fourteen and one to fif-
teen ; that is, an ounce of fine gold came to be sup-
posed worth between fourteen and fifteen ounces of
fine silver. Gold rose in its nominal value, or in
the quantity of silver which was given for it. Both
metals sunk in their real value, or in the quantity
of labour which they could purchase ; but silver sunk

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 293

more than gold. Though both the gold and silver
mines of America exceeded in fertility all those
which had ever been known before, the fertility of
the silver mines had, it seems, been proportionally
still greater than that of the gold ones.

The great quantities of silver carried annually
from Europe to India, have, in some of the English
settlements, gradually reduced the value of that me-
tal in proportion to gold. In the mint of Calcutta,
an ounce of fine gold is supposed to be worth fifteen
ounces of fine silver, in the same manner as in Eu-
rope. It is in the mint, perhaps, rated too high for
the value which it bears in the market of Bengal
In China, the proportion of gold to silver still conti-
nues as one to ten or one to twelve. In Japan, it
is said to be as one to eight.

The proportion between the quantities of gold
and silver annually imported into Europe, according
to Mr Meggens's account, is as one to twenty-two
nearly ; that is, for one ounce of gold there are im-
ported a little more than twenty-two ounces of sil-
ver. The great quantity of silver sent annually to
the East Indies, reduces, he supposes, the quantities
of those metals which remain in Europe to the pro-
portion of one to fourteen or fifteen, the proportion
of their values. The proportion between their va-
lues, he seems to think, must necessarily be the same
as that between their quantities, and would there-
fore be as one to twenty- two, were it not for this
greater exportation of silver.

But the ordinary proportion bet ween the respective
values of two commodities is not necessarily the same
as that between the quantities of them which are com-
monly in the market. The price of an ox, reckoned

294 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

at ten guineas, is about threescore times the price
of a lamb, reckoned at 3s. 6d. It would be absurd,
however, to infer from thence, that there are com-
monly in the market threescore lambs for one ox ;
and it would be just as absurd to infer, because an
ounce of gold will commonly purchase from four-
teen to fifteen ounces of silver, that there are com-
monly in the market only fourteen or fifteen ounces
of silver for one ounce of gold.

The quantity of silver commonly in the market,
it is probable, is much greater in proportion to that
of gold, than the value of a certain quantity of gold
is to that of an equal quantity of silver. The whole
quantity of a cheap commodity brought to market,
is commonly not only greater, but of greater value,
than the whole quantity of a dear one. The whole
quantity of bread annually brought to market, is not
only greater, but of greater value, than the whole
quantity of butchers meat ; the whole quantity of
butchers meat, than the whole quantity of poultry ;
and the whole quantity of poultry, than the whole
quantity of wild fowl. There are so many more
purchasers for the cheap than for the dear commo-
dity, that, not only a greater quantity of it, but a
greater value can commonly be disposed of. The
whole quantity, therefore, of the cheap commodity,
must commonly be greater in proportion to the
whole quantity of the dear one, than the value of a
certain quantity of the dear one is to the value of
an equal quantity of the cheap one. When we com-
pare the precious, metals with one another, silver is
a cheap, and gold a dear commodity. We ought
naturally to expect, therefore, that there should al-
ways be in the market, not only a greater quantity,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 295

but a greater value of silver than of gold. Let any
man, who has a little of both, compare his own sil-
ver with his gold plate, and he will probably find,
that not only the quantity, but the value of the for-
mer, greatly exceeds that of the latter. Many peo-
ple, besides, have a good deal of silver who have no
gold plate, which, even with those who have it, is
generally confined to watch-cases, snuff-boxes, and
such like trinkets, of which the whole amount is sel-
dom of great value. In the British coin, indeed, the
value of the gold preponderates greatly, but it is not
so in that of all countries. In the coin of some
countries, the value of the two metals is nearly
equal. In the Scotch coin, before the union with
England, the gold preponderated very little, though
'it did somewhat *, as it appears by the accounts of
the mint. In the coin of many countries the silver
preponderates. In France, the largest sums are com-
monly paid in that metal, and it is there difficult to
get more gold than what is necessary to carry about
in your pocket. The superior value, however, of
the silver plate above that of the gold, which takes
place in all countries, will much more than compen-
sate the preponderancy of the gold coin above the
silver, which takes place only in some countries.

Though, in one sense of the word, silver always
has been, and probably always will be, much cheap-
er than gold ; yet, in another sense, gold may per-
haps, in the present state of the Spanish market, be
said to be somewhat cheaper than silver. A com-
modity may be said to be dear or cheap, not only
according to the absolute greatness or smallness of
its usual price, but according as that price is more

* See Ruddiman's Preface to Anderson's Diplomat*, &c. Scotise.

296 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

or less above the lowest for which it is possible to
bring it to market for any considerable time to-
gether This lowest price is that which barely re-
places, with a moderate profit, the stock which must
be employed in bringing the commodity thither. It
is the price which affords nothing to the landlord, of
which rent makes not any component part, but which
resolves itself altogether into wages and profit. But,
in the present state of the Spanish market, gold is
certainly somewhat nearer to this lowest price than
silver. The tax of the king of Spain upon gold is
only one twentieth part of the standard metal, or
five per cent. ; whereas his tax upon silver amounts
to one tenth part of it, or to ten per cent. In these
taxes, too, it has already been observed, consists the
whole rent of the greater part of the gold and silver
mines of Spanish America ; and that upon gold is
still worse paid than that upon silver. The profits
of the undertakers of gold mines, too, as they more
rarely make a fortune, must, in general, be still
more moderate than those of the undertakers of sil-
ver mines. The price of Spanish gold, therefore, as
it affords both less rent and less profit, must, in the
Spanish market, be somewhat nearer to the lowest
price for which it is possible to bring it thither, than
the price of Spanish silver. When all expenses are
computed, the whole quantity of the one metal, it
would seem, cannot, in the Spanish market, be dis-
posed of so advantageously as the whole quantity of
the other. The tax, indeed, of the king of Portu-
gal upon the gold of the Brazils, is the same with
the ancient tax of the king of Spain upon the silver
of Mexico and Peru ; or one fifth part of the stand-
ard metal. It may therefore be uncertain, whether,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 297

to the general market of Europe, the whole mass of
American gold comes at a price nearer to the lowest
for which it is possible to bring it thither, than the
whole mass of American silver.

The price of diamonds and other precious stones
may, perhaps, be still nearer to the lowest price at
which it is possible to bring them to market, than
even the price of gold.

Though it is not very probable that any part of
a tax, which is not only imposed upon one of the
most proper subjects of taxation, a mere luxury and
superfluity, but which affords so very important a
revenue as the tax upon silver, will ever be given
up as long as it is possible to pay it; yet the same
impossibility of paying it, which, in 1736, made it
necessary to reduce it from one fifth to one tenth,
may in time make it necessary to reduce it still fur-
ther ; in the same manner as it made it necessary to
reduce the tax upon gold to one,twentieth. That
the silver mines of Spanish America, like all other
mines, becomegradually moreexpensive in the work-
ing on account of the greater depths at which it is
necessary to carry on the works, and of the greater
expense of drawing out the water, and of supplying
them with fresh air, at those depths, is acknowledged
by every body who has inquired into the state of
those mines.

These causes, which are equivalent to a growing
scarcity of silver (for a commodity may be said to
grow scarcer when it bt comes more difficult and ex-
pensive to collect a certain quantity of it) must, in
time, -produce one or other of the three following
events. — The increase of the expense must either,
first, be compensated altogether by a proportionable

298 BENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

increase in the price of the metal ; or secondly, it
must be compensated altogether by a proportionable
diminution of the tax upon silver ; or, thirdly, it
must be compensated partly by the one and partly
by the other of those two expedients. This third
event is very possible. As gold rose in its price in
proportion to silver, notwithstanding a great dimi-
nution of the tax upon gold, so silver might rise in
its price in proportion to labour and commodities,
notwithstanding an equal diminution of the tax up-
on silver.

Such successive reductions of the tax, however,
though they may not prevent altogether, must cer-
tainly retard, more or less, the rise of the value of
silver in the European market. In consequence of
such reductions, many mines may be wrought which
could not be wrought before, because they could not
afford to pay the old tax ; and the quantity of silver
annually brought to market must always be some-
what greater, and, therefore, the value of any given
quantity somewhat less, than it otherwise would
have been. In consequence of the reduction in
1736, the value of silver in the European market,
though it may not at this day be lower than before
that reduction, is, probably, at least ten per cent,
lower than it would have been, had the court of
Spain continued to exact the old tax.

That, notwithstanding this reduction, the value
of silver has, during the course of the present centu-
ry, begun to rise somewhat in the European market,
the facts and arguments which have been alleged
above, dispose me to believe, or more properly to
suspect and conjecture ; for the best opinion which
I can form upon this subject, scarce, perhaps, de-

CHA*. XI. RENT OP LAND. 299

serves the name of belief. The rise, indeed, sup-
posing there has been any, has hitherto been so very
small, that after all that has been said, it may, per-
haps, appear to many people uncertain, not only
whether this event has actually taken place, but
whether the contrary may not have taken place, or
whether the value of silver may not still continue to
fall in the European market.

It must be observed, however, that whatever may
be the supposed annual importation of gold and sil-
ver, there must be a certain period at which the
annual consumption of those metals will be equal to
that annual importation. Their consumption must
increase as their mass increases, or rather in a much
greater proportion. As their mass increases, their
value diminishes. They are more used, and less
cared for, and their consumption consequently in-
creases in a greater proportion than their mass. Af-
ter a certain period, therefore, the annual consump-
tion of those metals must, in this manner, become
equal to their annual importation, provided that im-
portation is not continually increasing ; which, in the
present times, is not supposed to be the case.

If, when the annual consumption has become
equal to the annual importation, the annual impor-
tation should gradually dimmish, the annual con-
sumption may, for some time, exceed the annual im-
portation. The mass of those metals may gradual-
ly and insensibly diminish, and their value gradually
and insensibly rise, till the annual importation be-
coming again stationary, the annual consumption
will gradually and insensibly accommodate itself to
what that annual importation can maintain.

300 BENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

Grounds of the suspicion that the Value of Silver still conti-
nues to decrease.

The increase of the wealth of Europe, and the
popular notion, that as the quantity of the precious
metals naturally increases with the increase of wealth,
so their value diminishes as their quantity increases,
may, perhaps, dispose many people to believe that
their value still continues to fall in the European
market; and the still gradually-increasing price of
many parts of the rude produce of land may con-
firm them still further in this opinion.

That that increase in the quantity of the precious
metals, which arises in any country from the in-
crease of wealth, has no tendency to diminish tneir
value, I have endeavoured to shew already. Gold
and silver naturally resort to a rich country, for the
same reason that all sorts of luxuries and curiosities
resort to it ; not because they are cheaper there than
in poorer countries, but because they are dearer, or
because a better price is given for them. It is the
superiority of price which attracts them ; and as soon
as that superiority ceases, they necessarily cease to
go thither.

If you except corn, and such other vegetables as
are raised altogether by human industry, that all
other sorts of rude produce, cattle, poultry, game
of all kinds, the useful fossils and minerals of the
earth, &c. naturally grow dearer, as the society ad-
vances in wealth and improvement, I have endea-
voured to shew already. Though such commodities,
therefore, come to exchange for a greater quantity
of silver than before, it will not from thence follow

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 301

that silver has become really cheaper, or will pur-
chase less labour than before ; but that such com-
modities have become really dearer, or will purchase
more labour than before. It is not their nominal
price only, but their real price, which rises in the
progress of improvement. The rise of their nomi-
nal price is the effect, not of any degradation of the
value of silver, but of the rise in their real price.

Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon three
different sorts of rude Produce.

These different sorts of rude produce may be di-
vided into three classes. The first comprehends
those which it is scarce in the power of human in-
dustry to multiply at all. The second, those which
it can multiply in proportion to the demand. The
third, those in which the efficacy of industry is ei-
ther limited or uncertain. In the progress of wealth
and improvement, the real price of the first may
rise to any degree of extravagance, and seems not
to be limited by any certain boundary. That of the
second, though it may rise greatly, has, however, a
certain boundary, beyond which it cannot well pass
for any considerable time together. That of the
third, though its natural tendency is to rise in the
progress of improvement, yet in the same degree of
improvement it may sometimes happen even to fall,
sometimes to continue the same, and sometimes to
rise more or less, according as different accidents
render the efforts of human industry, in multiplying
this sort of rude produce, more or less successful.

First sort— The first sort of rude produce, of

302 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

which the price rises in the progress of improve-
ment, is that which it is scarce in the power of hu-
man industry to multiply at all. It consists in those
things which nature produces only in certain quan-
tities, and which being of a very perishable nature,
it is impossible to accumulate together the produce
of many different seasons. Such are the greater
part of rare and singular birds and fishes, many dif-
ferent sorts of game, almost all wild-fowl, all birds of
passage in particular, as well as many other things.
When wealth, and the luxury which accompanies it,
increase, the demand for these is likely to increase
with them, and no effort of human industry may be
able to increase the supply much beyond what it
was before this increase of the demand. The quan-
tity of such commodities, therefore, remaining the
same, or nearly the same, while the competition to
purchase them is continually increasing, their price
may rise to any degree of extravagance, and seems
not to be limited by any certain boundary. If -wood-
cocks should become so fashionable as to sell for
twenty guineas a-piece, no effort of human industry
could increase the number of those brought to mar-
ket, much beyond what it is at present. The high
price paid by the Romans, in the time of their great-
est grandeur, for rare birds and fishes, may in this
manner easily be accounted for. These prices were
not the effects of the low value of silver in those
times, but of the high value of such rarities and cu-
riosities as human industry could not multiply at
pleasure. The real value of silver was higher at
Rome, for some time before and after the fall of the
republic, than it is through the greater part of Eu-
rope at present. Three sestertii, equal to about six*

CHAP. XI. KENT OF LAND. 303

pence sterling, was the price which the republic paid
for the modius or peck of the tithe wheat of Sicily.
This price, however, was probably below the ave-
rage market price, the obligation to deliver their
wheat at this rate being considered as a tax upon
the Sicilian farmers. When the Romans, therefore,
had occasion to order more corn than the tithe of
wheat amounted to, they were bound by capitulation
to pay for the surplus at the rate of four sestertii, or
eightpence sterling the peck ; and this had probably
been reckoned the moderate and reasonable, that
is, the ordinary or average contract price of those
times ; it is equal to about one-and-twenty shillings
the quarter. Eight-and-twenty shillings the quar-
ter was, before the late years of scarcity, the ordi-
nary contract price of English wheat, which in qua-
lity is inferior to the Sicilian, and generally sells for
a lower price in the European market. The value
of silver, therefore, in those ancient times, must
have been to its value in the present, as three to
four inversely ; that is, three ounces of silver would
then have purchased the same quantity of labour
and commodities which four ounces will do at pre-
sent. When we read in Pliny, therefore, that Seius *
bought a white nightingale, as a present for the em-
press Agrippina, at the price of six thousand sester-
tii, equal to about fifty pounds of our present mo-
ney ; and that Asinius Celer f purchased a surmul-
let at the price of eight thousand sestertii, equal to
about sixty-six pounds thirteen shillings and four-
pence of our present money ; the extravagance of
those prices, how much soever it may surprise us, is

* Lib. x. c. 2p. t Lib. ix. c. 17.

304 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

apt, notwithstanding, to appear to us about one
third less than it really was. Their real price, the
quantity of labour and subsistence which was given
away for them, was about one third more than their
nominal price is apt to express to us in the present
times. Seius gave for the nightingale the command
of a quantity of labour and subsistence, equal to
what ^06 : 13 : 4 would purchase in the present
times ; and Asinius Celer gave for a surmullet the
command of a quantity equal to what £88 : 17: 9^
would purchase. What occasioned the extravagance
of those high prices was, not so much the abundance
of silver, as the abundance of labour and subsistence,
of which those Romans had the disposal, beyond
what was necessary for their own use. The quan-
tity of silver, of which they had the disposal, was a
good deal less than what the command of the same
quantity of labour and subsistence would have pro-
cured to them in the present times.

Second sort— The second sort of rude produce, of
which the price rises in the progress of improve-
ment, is that which human industry can multiply
in proportion to the demand. It consists in those
useful plants and animals, which, in uncultivated
countries, nature produces with such profuse abun-
dance, that they are of little or no value, and which,
as cultivation advances, are therefore forced to give
place to some more profitable produce. During a
long period in the progress of improvement, the
quantity of these is continually diminishing, while,
at the same time, the demand for them is continual-
ly increasing. Their real value, therefore, the real
quantity of labour which they will purchase or com-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 305

mand, gradually rises, till at last it gets so high as to
render them as profitable a produce as any thing else
which human industry can raise upon the most fer-
tile and best cultivated land. When it has got so
high, it cannot well go higher. If it did, more land
and more industry would soon be employed to in-
crease their quantity.

When the price of cattle, for example, rises so
high, that it is as profitable to cultivate land in or-
der to raise food for them as in order to raise food
for man, it cannot well go higher. If it did, more
corn land would soon be turned into pasture. The
extension of tillage, by diminishing the quantity of
wild pasture, diminishes the quantity of butchers
meat, which the country naturally produces without
labour or cultivation ; and, by increasing the num-
ber of those who have either corn, or, what comes
to the same thing, the price of corn, to give in ex-
change for it, increases the demand. The price of
butchers meat, therefore, and, consequently, ofcattle,
must gradually rise, till it gets so high, that it be-
comes as profitable to employ the most fertile and
best cultivated lands in raising food for them as in
raising corn. But it must always be late in the pro.
gress of improvement before tillage can be so far ex-
tended as to raise the price of cattle to this height ;
and, till it has got to this height, if the country is ad-
vancing at all, their price must be continually rising.
There are, perhaps, some parts of Europe in which
the price of cattle has not yet got to this height. It
had not got to this height in any part of Scotland
before the union. Had the Scotch cattle been always
confined to the market of Scotland, in a country in
which the quantity of land, which can be applied to

VOL. i. u

306 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

no other purpose but the feeding of cattle, is so great
in proportion to what can be applied to other pur-
poses, it is scarce possible, perhaps, that their price
could ever have risen so high as to render it profit-
able to cultivate land for the sake of feeding them.
In England, the price of cattle, it has already been
observed, seems, in the neighbourhood of London, to
have got to this height about the beginning of thelast
century ; but it was much later, probably, before it
got through the greater part of the remoter counties,
in some of which, perhaps, it may scarce yet have
got to it. Of all the different substances, however,
which compose this second sort of rude produce, cattle
is, perhaps, that of which the price, in the progress
of improvement, rises first to this height.

Till the price of cattle, indeed, has got to this
height, it seems scarce possible that the greater part,
even of those lands which are capable of the highest
cultivation, can be completely cultivated. In all
farms too distant from any town to carry manure
from it, that is, in the far greater part of those of
every extensive country, the quantity of well culti-
vated land must be in proportion to the quantity of
manure which the farm itself produces ; and this,
again, must be in proportion to the stock of cattle
which are maintained upon it. The land is ma-
nured, either by pasturing the cattle upon it, or by
feeding them in the stable, and from thence carry-
ing out their dung to it. But unless the price of
the cattle be sufficient to pay both the rent and pro-
fit of cultivated land, the farmer cannot afford to
pasture them upon it ; arid he can still less afford to
feed them in the stable. It is with the produce of
improved and cultivated land only that cattle can

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 307

be fed in the stable ; because, to collect the scanty
and scattered produce of waste and unimproved
lands, would require too much labour, and be too
expensive. If the price of the cattle, therefore, is
not sufficient to pay for the produce of improved
and cultivated land, when they are allowed to pas-
ture it, that price will be still less sufficient to pay
for that produce, when it must be collected with a
good deal of additional labour, and brought into the
stable to them. In these circumstances, therefore,
no more cattle can with profit be fed in the stable
than what are necessary for tillage. But these can
never afford manure enough for keeping constantly
in good condition all the lands which they are ca-
pable of cultivating. What they afford being insuf-
ficient for the whole farm, will naturally be reserved
for the lands to which it can be most advantageously
or conveniently applied ; the most fertile, or those,
perhaps, in the neighbourhood of the farm-yard.
These, therefore, will be kept constantly in good
condition, and fit for tillage. The rest will, the
greater part of them, be allowed to lie waste, pro-
ducing scarce any thing but some miserable pasture,
just sufficient to keep alive a few straggling, half-
starved cattle ; the farm, though much overstocked
in proportion to what would be necessary for its com-
plete cultivation, being very frequently overstocked
in proportion to its actual produce. A portion of
this waste land, however, after having been pastured
in this wretched manner for six or seven years to-
gether, may be ploughed up, when it will yield, per-
haps, a poor crop or two of bad oats, or of some
other coarse grain ; and then, being entirely exhaust-
ed, it must be rested and pastured again as before,

308 KENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

and another portion ploughed up, to be in the same
manner exhausted and rested again in its turn.
Such, accordingly, was the general system of ma-
nagement all over the low country of Scotland be-
fore the union. The lands which were kept con-
stantly well manured and in good condition seldom
exceeded a third or fourth part of the whole farm,
and sometimes did not amount to a fifth or a sixth
part of it. The rest were never manured, but a cer-
tain portion of them was in its turn, notwithstand-
ing, regularly cultivated and exhausted. Under
this system of management, it is evident, even that
part of the lands of Scotland which is capable of
good cultivation, could produce but little in compa-
rison of what it may be capable of producing. But
how disadvantageous soever this system may appear,
yet, before the union, the low price of cattle seems to
have rendered it almost unavoidable. If, notwith-
standing a great rise in the price, it still continues
to prevail through a considerable part of the coun-
try, it is owing, in many places, no doubt, to igno-
rance and attachment to old customs, but, in most
places, to the unavoidable obstructions which the
natural course of things oppose to the immediate or
speedy establishment of a better system: first, to
the poverty of the tenants, to their not having yet
had time to acquire a stock of cattle sufficient to
cultivate their lands more completely, the same rise
of price, which would render it advantageous for
them to maintain a greater stock, rendering it more
difficult for them to acquire it ; and, secondly, to
their not having yet had time to put their lands in
condition to maintain this greater stock properly,
supposing they were capable of acquiring it. The

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 309

increase of stock, and the improvement of land, are
two events which must go hand in hand, and of
which the one can nowhere much outrun the other.
Without some increase of stock, there can be scarce
any improvement of land ; but there can be no con-
siderable increase of stock but in consequence of a
considerable improvement of land ; because other-
wise the land could not maintain it. These natural
obstructions to the establishment of a better sys-
tem cannot be removed but by a long course of fru-
gality and industry; and half a century, or a century
more, perhaps, must pass away before the old sys-
tem, which is wearing out gradually, can be com-
pletely abolished through all the different parts of
the country. Of all the commercial advantages,
however, which Scotland has derived from the union
with England, this rise in the price of cattle is, per-
haps, the greatest. It has not only raised the value
of all highland estates, but it has, perhaps, been the
principal cause of the improvement of the low coun-
try.

In all new colonies, the great quantity of waste
land, which can for many years be applied to no
other purpose but the feeding of cattle, soon renders
them extremely abundant ; and in every thing great
cheapness is the necessary consequence of great
abundance. Though all the cattle of the European
colonies in America were originally carried from Eu-
rope, they soon multiplied so much there, and be-
came of so little value, that even horses were allow-
ed to run wild in the woods, without any owner
thinking it worth while to claim them. It must be
a long time after the first establishment of such co-
lonies, before it can become profitable to feed cattle

310 RENT OF LAfrD. BOOK I.

upon the produce of cultivated land. The same
causes, therefore, the want of manure, and the dis-
proportion between the stock employed in cultiva-
tion and the land which it is destined to cultivate,
are likely to introduce there a system of husbandry,
not unlike that which still continues to take place
in so many parts of Scotland. Mr Kalm, the Swe-
dish traveller, when he gives an account of the hus-
bandry of some of the English colonies in North
America, as he found it in 174-9, observes, accord-
ingly, that he can with difficulty discover there the
character of the English nation, so well skilled in
all the different branches of agriculture. They
make scarce any manure for their corn fields, he
says ; but when one piece of ground has been ex-
hausted by continual cropping, they clear and culti-
vate another piece of fresh land ; and when that is
exhausted, proceed to a third. Their cattle are al-
lowed to wander through the woods and other un-
cultivated grounds, where they are half-starved; hav-
ing long ago extirpated almost all the annual grasses,
by cropping them too early in the spring, before
they had time to form their flowers, or to shed their
seeds*. The annual grasses were, it seems, the best
natural grasses in that part of North America ; and
when the Europeans first settled there, they used to
grow very thick, and to rise three or four feet high.
A piece of ground which, when he wrote, could not
maintain one cow, would in former times, he was
assured, have maintained four, each of which would
have given four times the quantity of milk which
that one was capable of giving. The poorness of
the pasture had, in his opinion, occasioned the de-

* Kalm's Travels, vol. i. p. 343, 344.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 311

gradation of their cattle, which degenerated sensibly
from one generation to another. They were pro-
bably not unlike that stunted breed which was com-
mon all over Scotland thirty or forty years ago, and
which now so much mended through the greater
part of the low country, not so much by a change
of the breed, though that expedient has been em-
ployed in some places, as by a more plentiful method
of feeding them.

Though it is late, therefore, in the progress of
improvement, before cattle can bring such a price
as to render it profitable to cultivate land for the
sake of feeding them ; yet, of all the different parts
which compose this second sort of rude produce,
they are perhaps the first which bring this price ;
because, till they bring it, it seems impossible that
improvement can be brought near even to that de-
gree of perfection to which it has arrived in many
parts of Europe.

As cattle are among the first, so perhaps venison
is among the last parts of this sort of rude produce
which bring this price. The price of venison in
Great Britain, how extravagant soever it may ap-
pear, is not near sufficient to compensate the ex-
pense of a deer park, as is well known to all those
who have had any experience in the feeding of deer.
If it was otherwise, the feeding of deer would soon
become an article of common farming in the same
manner as the feeding of those small birds, called
turdi, was among the ancient Romans. Varro and
Columella assure us, that it was a most profitable
article. The fattening of ortolans, birds of passage
which arrive lean in the country, is said to be so in
some parts of France. If venison continues in fa-

312 RENT OF LAND.

shion, and the wealth and luxury of Great Britain
increase as they have done for some time past, its
price may very probably rise still higher than it is
at present.

Between that period in the progress of improve-
ment, which brings to its height the price of so ne-
cessary an article as cattle, and that which brings
to it the price of such a superfluity as venison, there
is a very long interval, in the course of which many
other sorts of rude produce gradually arrive at their
highest price, some sooner and some later, according
to different circumstances.

Thus, in every farm, the offals of the barn and
stables will maintain a certain number of poultry.
These, as they are fed with what would otherwise
be lost, are a mere save-all ; and as they cost the
farmer scarce any thing, so he can afford to sell
them for very little. Almost all that he gets is pure
gain, and their price can scarce be so low as to dis-
courage him from feeding this number. But in
countries ill cultivated, and therefore but thinly in-
habited, the poultry, which are thus raised without
expense, are often fully sufficient to supply the whole
demand. In this state of things, therefore, they are
often as cheap as butchers meat, or any other sort
of animal food. But the whole quantity of poultry,
which the farm in this manner produces without ex-
pense, must always be much smaller than the whole
quantity of butchers meat which is reared upon it ;
and in times of wealth and luxury, what is rare,
with only nearly equal merit, is always preferred to
what is common. As wealth and luxury increase,
therefore, in consequence of improvement and cul-
tivation, the price of poultry gradually rises above

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 313

that of butchers meat, till at last it gets so high,
that it becomes profitable to cultivate land for the
sake of feeding them. When it has got to this
height, it cannot well go higher. If it did, more
land would soon be turned to this purpose. In se-
veral provinces of France the feeding of poultry is
considered as a very important article in rural eco-
nomy, and sufficiently profitable to encourage the
farmer to raise a considerable quantity of Indian corn
and buck-wheat for this purpose. A middling far-
mer will there sometimes have four hundred fowls
in his yard. The feeding of poultry seems scarce
yet to be generally considered as a matter of so
much importance in England. They are certainly,
however, dearer in England than in France, as Eng-
land receives considerable supplies from France. In
the progress of improvement, the period at which
every particular sort of animal food is dearest, must
naturally be that which immediately precedes the
general practice of cultivating land for the sake of
raising it. For some time before this practice be-
comes general, the scarcity must necessarily raise
the price. After it has become general, new me-
thods of feeding are commonly fallen upon, which
enable the farmer to raise upon the same quantity
of ground a much greater quantity of that particu-
lar sort of animal food. The plenty not only obliges
him to sell cheaper, but, in consequence of these im-
provements, he can afford to sell cheaper ; for if he
could not afford it, the plenty would not be of long
continuance. It has been probably in this manner
that the introduction of clover, turnips, carrots, cab-
bages, &c. has contributed to sink the common price
of butchers meat in the London market, somewhat

314 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

below what it was about the beginning of the last
century.

The hog, that finds his food among ordure, and
greedily devours many things rejected by every
other useful animal, is, like poultry, originally kept
as a save-all. As long as the number of such ani-
mals, which can thus be reared at little or no ex-
pense, is fully sufficient to supply the demand, this
sort of butchers meat comes to market at a much
lower price than any other, But when the demand
rises beyond what this quantity can supply, when it
becomes necessary to raise food on purpose for feed-
ing and fattening hogs, in the same manner as for
feeding and fattening other cattle, the price neces-
sarily rises, and becomes proportion ably either high-
er or lower than that of other butchers meat, accord-
ing as the nature of the country, and the state of
its agriculture, happen to render the feeding of hogs
more or less expensive than that of other cattle. In
France, according to M. Buffon, the price of pork
is nearly equal to that of beef. In most parts of
Great Britain, it is at present somewhat higher.

The great rise in the price both of hogs and poul-
try, has, in Great Britain, been frequently imputed
to the diminution of the number of cottagers and
other small occupiers of land ; an event which has in
every part of Europe been the immediate forerunner
of improvement and better cultivation, but which at
the same time may have contributed to raise the
price of those articles, both somewhat sooner and
somewhat faster than it would otherwise have risen.
As the poorest family can often maintain a cat or a
dog without any expense, so the poorest occupiers
of land can commonly maintain a few poultry, or a

GHAP. XI. BENT OF LAND. 315

sow and a few pigs, at very little. The little offals
of their own table, their whey, skimmed milk, and
butter milk, supply those animals with a part of
their food, and they find the rest in the neighbour-
ing fields, without doing any sensible damage to any
body. By diminishing the number of those small
occupiers, therefore, the quantity of this sort of pro-
visions, which is thus produced at little or no ex-
pense, must certainly have been a good deal dimi-
nished, and their price must consequently have been
raised both sooner and faster than it would other-
wise have risen. Sooner or later, however, in the
progress of improvement, it must at any rate have
risen to the utmost height to which it is capable of
rising ; or to the price which pays the labour and
expense of cultivating the land which furnishes them
with food, as well as these are paid upon the great-
er part of other cultivated land.

The business of the dairy, like the feeding of hogs
and poultry, is originally carried on as a save- all.
The cattle necessarily kept upon the farm produce
more milk than either the rearing of their own young,
or the consumption of the farmer's family requires ;
and they produce most at one particular season.
But of all the productions of land, milk is perhaps
the most perishable. In the warm season, when it
is most abundant, it will scarce keep four- and- twen-
ty hours. The farmer, by making it into fresh but-
ter, stores a small part of it for a week ; by making
it into salt butter, for a year ; and by making it in-
to cheese, he stores a much greater part of it for se-
veral years. Part of all these is reserved for the use
of his own family ; the rest goes to market, in or-
der to find the best price which is to be had, and

316 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

which can scarce be so low as to discourage him from
sending thither whatever is over and above the use
of his own family. If it is very low indeed, he will
be likely to manage his dairy in a very slovenly and
dirty manner, and will scarce, perhaps, think it
worth while to have a particular room or building
on purpose for it, but will suffer the business to be
carried on amidst the smoke, filth, and nastiness of
his own kitchen, as was the case of almost all the
farmers' dairies in Scotland thirty or forty years ago,
and as is the case of many of them still. The same
causes which gradually raise the price of butchers
meat, the increase of the demand, and, in conse-
quence of the improvement of the country, the di-
minution of the quantity which can be fed at little
or no expense, raise, in the same manner, that of
the produce of the dairy, of which the price natu-
rally connects with that of butchers meat, or with
the expense of feeding cattle. The increase of price
pays for more labour, care, and cleanliness. The
dairy becomes more worthy of the farmer's atten-
tion, and the quality of its produce gradually im-
proves. The price at last gets so high, that it be-
comes worth while to employ some of the most fer-
tile and best cultivated lands in feeding cattle mere-
ly for the purpose of the dairy ; and when it has got
to this height, it cannot well go higher. If it did,
more land would soon be turned to this purpose. It
seems to have got to this height through the great-
er part of England, where much good land is com-
monly employed in this manner. If you except the
neighbourhood of a few considerable towns, it seems
not yet to have got to this height anywhere in Scot-
land, where common farmers seldom employ much

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. Si 7

good land in raising food for cattle, merely for the
purpose of the dairy. The price of the produce,
though it has risen very considerably within these
few years, is probably still too low to admit of it.
The inferiority of the quality, indeed, compared with
that of the produce of English dairies, is fully equal
to that of the price. But this inferiority of quality
is, perhaps, rather the effect of this lowness of price,
than the cause of it. Though the quality was much
better, the greater part of what is brought to mar-
ket could not, I apprehend, in the present circum-
stances of the country, be disposed of at a much bet-
ter price ; and the present price, it is probable, would
not pay the expense of the land and labour neces-
sary for producing a much better quality. Through
the greater part of England, notwithstanding the
superiority of price, the dairy is not reckoned a more
profitable employment of land than the raising of
corn, or the fattening of cattle, the two great objects
of agriculture. Through the greater part of Scot-
land, therefore, it cannot yet be even so profitable.

The lands of no country, it is evident, can ever
be completely cultivated and improved, till once the
price of every produce, which human industry is
obliged to raise upon them, has got so high as to pay
for the expense of complete improvement and culti-
vation. In order to do this, the price of each par-
ticular produce must be sufficient, first, to pay the
rent of good corn-land, as it is that which regulates
the rent of the greater part of other cultivated land ;
and, secondly, to pay the labour and expense of the
farmer, as well as they are commonly paid upon
good corn- land ; or, in other words, to replace with
the ordinary profits the stock which he employs
about it. This rise in the price of each particular

318 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

produce, must evidently be previous to the improve-
ment and cultivation of the land which is destined
for raising it. Gain is the end of all improvement ;
and nothing could deserve that name, of which loss
was to be the necessary consequence. But loss
must be the necessary consequence of improving
land for the sake of a produce of which the price
could never bring back the expense. If the com-
plete improvement and cultivation of the country be,
as it most certainly is, the greatest of all public ad-
vantages, this rise in the price of all those different
sorts of rude produce, instead of being considered as
a public calamity, ought to be regarded as the ne-
cessary forerunner and attendant of the greatest of
all public advantages.

This rise, too, in the nominal or money-price of all
those different sorts of rude produce, has been the
effect, not of any degradation in the value of silver,
but of a rise in their real price. They have become
worth, not only a greater quantity of silver, but a
greater quantity of labour and subsistence than be-
fore. As it costs a greater quantity of labour and
subsistence to bring them to market, so, when they
are brought thither, they represent, or are equivalent
to a greater quantity.

Third sort. — The third and last sort of rude pro-
duce, of which the price naturally rises in the pro-
gress of improvement, is that in which the efficacy
of human industry, in augmenting the quantity, is
either limited or uncertain. Though the real price
of this sort of rude produce, therefore, naturally
tends to ries in the progress of improvement, yet,
according as different accidents happen to render
the efforts of human industry more or less success-

CHAP. XL RENT OF LAND. 319

ful in augmenting the quantity, it may happen
sometimes even to fall, sometimes to continue the
same, in very different periods of improvement, and
sometimes to rise more or less in the same period.

There are some sorts of rude produce which na-
ture has rendered a kind of appendages to other
sorts; so that the quantity of the one which any
country can afford, is necessarily limited by that of
the other. The quantity of wool or of raw hides,
for example, which any country can afford, is neces-
sarily limited by the number of great and small cattle
that are kept in it. The state of its improvement,
and the nature of its agriculture, again necessarily
determine this number.

The same causes which, in the progress of im-
provement, gradually raise the price of butchers
meat, should have the same effect, it may be thought,
upon the prices of wool and raw hides, and raise
them, too, nearly in the same proportion. It proba-
bly would be so, if, in the rude beginnings of im-
provement, the market for the latter commodities
was confined within as narrow bounds as that for
the former. But the extent of their respective mar-
kets is commonly extremely different.

The market for butchers meat is almost every-
where confined to the country which produces it
Ireland, and some part of British America, indeed,
carry on a considerable trade in salt provisions ; but
they are, I believe, the only countries in the com-
mercial world which do so, or which export to other
countries any considerable partof their butchers meat.
The market for wool and raw hides, on the con-
trary, is, in the rude beginnings of improvement,
very seldom confined to the country which produces
them. They can easily be transported to distant

RENT OF LA1SJD. BOOK I.

countries ; wool without any preparation, and raw
hides with very little ; and as they are the materials
of many manufactures, the industry of other coun-
tries may occasion a demand for them, though that
of the country which produces them might not oc-
casion any.

In countries ill cultivated, and therefore but thin-
ly inhabited, the price of the wool and the hide bears
always a much greater proportion to that of the
whole beast, than in countries where, improvement
and population being further advanced, there is more
demand for butchers meat. Mr Hume observes,
that in the Saxon times, the fleece was estimated at
two fifths of the value of the whole sheep, and that
this was much above the proportion of its present
estimation. In some provinces of Spain, I have been
assured, the sheep is frequently killed merely for the
sake of the fleece and the tallow. The carcase is
often left to rot upon the ground, or to be devoured
by beasts and birds of prey. If this sometimes hap-
pens even in Spain, it happens almost constantly in
Chili, at Buenos Ayres, and in many other parts of
Spanish America, where the horned cattle are almost
constantly killed merely for the sake of the hide and
the tallow. This, too, used to happen almost con-
stantly in Hispaniola, while it was infested by the
buccaneers, and before the settlement, improvement,
and populousness of the French plantations (which
now extend round the coast of almost the whole
western half of the island) had given some value to
the cattle of the Spaniards, who still continue to pos-
sess, not only the eastern part of the coast, but the
whole inland and mountainous part of the country.

Though in the progress of improvement and po-
pulation, the price of the whole beast necessarily

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 321

rises, yet the price of the carcase is likely to be
much more affected by this rise than that of the
wool and the hide. The market for the carcase be-
ing in the rude state of society confined always to
the country which produces it, must necessarily be
extended in proportion to the improvement and po-
pulation of that country. But the market for the
wool and the hides, even of a barbarous country, of-
ten extending to the whole commercial world, it can
very seldom be enlarged in the same proportion.
The state of the whole commercial world can seldom
be much affected by the improvement of any parti-
cular country ; and the market for such commodities
may remain the same, or very nearly the same, after
such improvements, as before. It should, however,
in the natural course of things, rather, upon the
whole, be somewhat extended in consequence of
them. If the manufactures, especially, of which
those commodities are the materials, should ever
come to flourish in the country, the market, though
it might not be much enlarged, would at least be
brought much nearer to the place of growth than
before ; and the price of those materials might at
least be increased by what had usually been the ex-
pense of transporting them to distant countries.
Though it might not rise, therefore, in the same pro-
portion as that of butchers meat, it ought naturally
to rise somewhat, and it ought certainly not to fall.

In England, however, notwithstanding the flou-
rishing state of its woollen manufacture, the price
of English wool has fallen very considerably since
the time of Edward III. There are many authentic
records which demonstrate, that, during the reign of
that prince (towards the middle of the fourteenth

VOL. i. x

322 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

century, or about 1339), what was reckoned the mo-
derate and reasonable price of the tod, or twenty-
eight pounds of English wool, was not less than ten
shillings of the money of those times *, containing
at the rate of twenty pence the ounce, six ounces of
silver, Tower weight, equal to about thirty shillings
of our present money. In the present times, one-
and-twenty shillings the tod may be reckoned a good
price for very good English wool. The money price
of wool, therefore, in the time of Edward III. was
to its money price in the present times as ten to se-
ven. The superiority of its real price was still
greater. At the rate of six shillings and eightpence
the quarter, ten shillings was in those ancient times
the price of twelve bushels of wheat. At the rate
of twenty-eight shillings the quarter, one-and-twenty
shillings is in the present times the price of six bu-
shels only. The proportion between the real price
of ancient and modern times, therefore, is as twelve
to six, or as two to one. In those ancient times, a
tod of wool would have purchased twice the quanti-
ty of subsistence which it will purchase at present ;
and consequently twice the quantity of labour, if
the real recompense of labour had been the same in
both periods.

This degradation, both in the real and nominal
value of wool, could never have happened in conse-
quence of the natural course of things. It has ac-
cordingly been the effect of violence and artifice. —
First, of the absolute prohibition of exporting wool
from England: secondly, of the permission of import-
ing it from Spain, duty free : thirdly, of the prohi-
bition of exporting it from Ireland to any other

* See Smith's Memoirs of Wool, vol. i. c. 5, 6, 7 ; also vol. ii.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. . 323

country but England. In consequence of these re-
gulations, the market for English wool, instead of
being somewhat extended in consequence of the im-
provement of England, has been confined to the home
market, where the wool of several other countries is
allowed to come into competition with it, and where
that of Ireland is forced into competition with it.
As the woollen manufactures, too, of Ireland, are
fully as much discouraged as is consistent with jus-
tice and fair dealing, the Irish can work up but a
small part of their own wool at home, and are there-
fore obliged to send a greater proportion of it to
Great Britain, the only market they are allowed.

I have not been able to find any such authentic
records concerning the price of raw hides in ancient
times. Wool was commonly paid as a subsidy to the
king, and its valuation in that subsidy ascertains, at
least in some degree, what was its ordinary price.
But this seems not to have been the case with raw
hides. Fleetwood, however, from an account in
1425, between the prior of Burcester Oxford and
one of his canons, gives us their price, at least as it
was stated upon that particular occasion, viz. five ox
hides at twelve shillings ; five cow hides at seven
shillings and threepence ; thirty-six sheep skins of
two years old at nine shillings ; sixteen calf skins at
two shillings. In 1425, twelve shillings contained
about the same quantity of silver as four-and-twenty
shillings of our present money. An ox hide, there-
fore, was in this account valued at the same quanti-
ty of silver as 4s. |ths of our present money. Its
nominal price was a good deal lower than at present.
But at the rate of six shillings and eightpencc the
quarter, twelve shillings would in those times have
purchased fourteen bushels and four-fifth of a

324 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

bushel of wheat, which, at three and sixpence the
bushel, would in the present times cost 51s. 4d. An
ox hide, therefore, would in those times have pur-
chased as much corn as ten shillings and threepence
would purchase at present. Its real value was equal
to ten shillings and threepence of our present mo-
ney.. In those ancient times, when the cattle were
half starved during the greater part of the winter,
we cannot suppose that they were of a very large
size. An ox hide which weighs four stone of sixteen
pounds of avoirdupois, is not in the present times
reckoned a bad one ; and in those ancient times
would probably have been reckoned a very good one.
But at half-a-crown the stone, which at this mo-
ment (February 1773) I understand to be the com-
mon price, such a hide would at present cost only
ten shillings. Though its nominal price, therefore,
is higher in the present than it was in those ancient
times, its real price, the real quantity of subsistence
which it will purchase or command, is rather some-
what lower. The price of cow hides, as stated in
the above account, is nearly in the common propor-
tion to that of ox hides. That of sheep skins is a
good deal above it. They had probably been sold
with the wool. That of calves skins, on the contra-
ry, is greatly below it. In countries where the price
of cattle is very low, the calves, which are not in-
tended to be reared in order to keep up the stock,
are generally killed very young, as was the case in
Scotland twenty or thirty years ago. It saves the
milk, which their price would not pay for. Their
skins, therefore, are commonly good for little.

The price of raw hides is a good deal lower at pre-
sent than it was a few years ago ; owing probably to
the taking off the duty upon seal skins, and to the

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 325

allowing, for a limited time, the importation of raw
hides from Ireland and from the plantations, duty
free, which was done in 1769. Take the whole of
the present century at an average, their real price
has probably been somewhat higher than it was in
those ancient times. The nature of the commodity
renders it not quite so proper for being transported
to distant markets as wool. It suffers more by
keeping. A salted hide is reckoned inferior to a
fresh one, and sells for a lower price. This cir-
cumstance must necessarily have some tendency to
sink the price of raw hides produced in a country
which does not manufacture them, but is obliged to
export them, and comparatively to raise that of those
produced in a country which does manufacture
them. It must have some tendency to sink their
price in a barbarous, and to raise it in an improved
and manufacturing country. It must have had
some tendency, therefore, to sink it in ancient, and
to raise it in modern times. Our tanners, besides,
have not been quite so successful as our clothiers,
in convincing the wisdom of the nation, that the
safety of the commonwealth depends upon the pro-
sperity of their particular manufacture. They have
accordingly been much less favoured. The exporta-
tion of raw hides has, indeed, been prohibited, and
declared a nuisance; but their importation from
foreign countries has been subjected to a duty ; and
though this duty has been taken off from those of
Ireland and the plantations (for the limited time of
five years only), yet Ireland has not been confined to
the market of Great Britain for the sale of its sur-
plus hides, or of those which are not manufactured
at home. The hides of common cattle have, but

326 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

within these few years, been put among the enume-
rated commodities which the plantations can send
nowhere but to the mother country ; neither has the
commerce of Ireland been in this case oppressed
hitherto, in order to support the manufactures of
Great Britain.

Whatever regulations tend to sink the price, ei-
ther of wool or of raw hides, below what it natural-
ly would be, must, in an improved and cultivated
country, have some tendency to raise the price of
butchers meat. The price both of the great and
small cattle, which are fed on improved and culti-
vated land, must be sufficient to pay the rent which
the landlord, and the profit which the farmer, has
reason to expect from improved and cultivated land.
If it is not, they will soon cease to feed them.
Whatever part of this price, therefore, is not paid
by the wool and the hide, must be paid by the car-
case. The less there is paid for the one, the more
must be paid for the other. In what manner this
price is to be divided upon the different parts of the
beast, is indifferent to the landlords and farmers,
provided it is all paid to them. In an improved and
cultivated country, therefore, their interest as land-
lords and farmers cannot be much affected by such
regulations, though their interest as consumers may,
by the rise in the price of provisions. It would be
quite otherwise, however, in an unimproved and
uncultivated country, where the greater part of the
lands could be applied to no other purpose but the
feeding of cattle, and where the wool and the hide
made the principal part of the value of those cattle.
Their interest as landlords and farmers would in
this case be very deeply affected by such regula-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 327

tions, and their interests as consumers very little.
The fall in the price of the wool and the hide would
not in this case raise the price of the carcase ; because
the greater part of the lands of the country being
applicable to no other purpose but the feeding of
cattle, the same number would still continue to be
fed. The same quantity of butchers meat would still
come to market. The demand for it would be no
greater than before. Its price, therefore, would be
the same as before. The whole price of cattle would
fall, and along with it both the rent and the profit
of all those lands of which cattle was the principal
produce, that is, of the greater part of the lands of
the country. The perpetual prohibition of the ex-
portation of wool, which is commonly, but very
falsely, ascribed to Edward III. would, in the then
circumstances of the country, have been the most
destructive regulation which could well have been
thought of. It would not only have reduced the
actual value of the greater part of the lands in the
kingdom, but by reducing the price of the most im-
portant species of small cattle, it would have re-
tarded very much its subsequent improvement.

The wool of Scotland fell very considerably in its
price in consequence of the union with England, by
which it was excluded from the great market of
Europe, and confined to the narrow one of Great
Britain. The value of the greater part of the lands
in the southern counties of Scotland, which are
chiefly a sheep country, would have been very deeply
affected by this event, had not the rise in the price
of butchers meat fully compensated the fall in the
price of wool.

As the efficacy ofhuman industry, in increasing the
quantity either of wool or of raw hides, is limited, so

328 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

far as it depends upon the produce of the country
where it is exerted ; so it is uncertain so far as it de-
pends upon the produce of other countries. It so far
depends not so much upon the quantity which they
produce, as upon that which they do not manufac-
tute ; and upon the restraints which they may or
may not think proper to impose upon the exporta-
tion of this sort of rude produce. These circumstan-
ces, as they are altogether independent of domestic
industry, so they necessarily render the efficacy of
its efforts more or less uncertain. In multiplying
this sort of rude produce, therefore, the efficacy of
human industry is not only limited, but uncertain.
In multiplying another very important sort of rude
produce, the quantity offish that is brought to mar-
ket, it is likewise both limited and uncertain. It is
limited by the local situation of the country, by the
proximity or distance of its different provinces from
the sea. by the number of its lakes and rivers, and
by what may be called the fertility or barrenness of
those seas, lakes, and rivers, as to this sort of rude
produce. As population increases, as the annual
produce of the land and labour of the country grows
greater and greater, there come to be more buyers
offish ; and those buyers, too, have a greater quan-
tity and variety of other goods, or, what is the
same thing, the price of a greater quantity and va-
riety of other goods, to buy with. But it will ge-
nerally be impossible to supply the great and extend-
ed market, without employing a quantity of labour
greater than in proportion to what had been requi-
site for supplying the narrow and confined one. A
market which, from requiring only one thousand,
comes to require annually ten thousand ton of fish,
can seldom be supplied, without employing more

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 329

than ten times the quantity of labour which had be-
fore been sufficient to supply it. The fish must ge-
nerally be sought for at a greater distance, larger
vessels must be employed, and more, expensive ma-
chinery of every kind made use of. The real price
of this commodity, therefore, naturally rises in the
progress of improvement. It has accordingly done
so, I believe, more or less in every country.

Though the success of a particular day's fishing
may be a very uncertain matter, yet the local situa-
tion of the country being supposed, the general ef-
ficacy of industry in bringing a certain quantity of
fish to market, taking the course of a year, or of se-
veral years together, it may perhaps be thought is
certain enough ; and it, no doubt, is so. As it de-
pends more, however, upon the local situation of
the country, than upon the state of its wealth and
industry ; as upon this account it may in different
countries be the same in very different periods of
improvement and very different in the same period;
its connection with the state of improvement is un-
certain ; and it is of this sort of uncertainty that I
am here speaking.

In increasing the quantity of the different minerals
and metals which are drawn from the bowels of the
earth, that of the more precious ones particularly,
the efficacy of human industry seems not to be li-
mited, but to be altogether uncertain.

The quantity of the precious metals which is to
be found in any country, is not limited by any thing
in its local situation, such as the fertility or barrenness
of its own mines. Those metals frequently abound
in countries which possess no mines. Their quan-
tity, in every particular country, seems to depend

330 RENT OF LAND. BOOK i.

upon two different circumstances; first, upon its
power of purchasing, upon the state of its industry,
upon the annual produce of its land and labour, in
consequence of which it can afford to employ a great-
er or a smaller quantity of labour and subsistence,
in bringing or purchasing such superfluities as gold
and silver, either from its own mines, or from those
of other countries ; and, secondly, upon the fertility
or barrenness of the mines which may happen at any
particular time to supply the commercial world with
those metals. The quantity of those metals in the
countries most remote from the mines, must be more
or less affected by this fertility or barrenness, on ac-
count of the easy and cheap transportation of those
metals, of their small bulk and great value. Their
quantity in China and Indostan must have been
more or less affected by the abundance of the mines
of America.

So far as their quantity in any particular country
depends upon the former of those two circumstances,
(the power of purchasing), their real price, like that
of all other luxuries and superfluities, is likely to
rise with the wealth and improvement of the coun-
try, and to fall with its poverty and depression.
Countries which have a great quantity of labour
and subsistence to spare, can afford to purchase any
particular quantity of those metals at the expense of
a greater quantity of labour and subsistence, than
countries which have less to spare.

So far as their quantity in any particular country
depends upoYi the latter of those two circumstances
(the fertility or barrenness of the mines which happen
to supply the commercial world), their real price, the
real quantity of labour and subsistence which they

CHAP. XL RENT Of LAND. 331

will purchase or exchange for, will, no doubt, sink
more or less in proportion to the fertility, and rise
in proportion to the barrenness of those mines.

The fertility or barrenness of the mines, however,
which may happen at any particular time to supply
the commercial world, is a circumstance which, it is
evident, may have no sort of connection with the
state of industry in a particular country. It seems
even to have no very necessary connection with that
of the world in general. As arts and commerce,
indeed, gradually spread themselves over a greater
and a greater part of the earth, the search for new
mines, being extended over a wider surface, may
have somewhat a better chance for being successful
than when confined within narrower bounds. The
discovery of new mines, however, as the old ones
come to be gradually exhausted, is a matter of the
greatest uncertainty, and such as no human skill or
industry can insure. All indications, it is acknow-
ledged, are doubtful ; and the actual discovery and
successful working of a new mine can alone ascer-
tain the reality of its value, or even of its existence.
In this search there seem to be no certain limits, ei-
ther to the possible success, or to the possible disap-
pointment of human industry. In thecourse of a cen-
tury or two, it is possible that new mines may be
discovered, more fertile than any that have ever
yet been known ; and it is just equally possible,
that the most fertile mine then known may be
more barren than any that was wrought before the
discovery of the mines of America. Whether the one
or the other of those two events may happen to take
place, is of very little importance to the real wealth
and prosperity of the world, to the real value of the

332 EENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

annual produce of the land and labour of mankind.
Its nominal value, the quantity of gold and silver by
which this annual produce could be expressed or re-
presented, would, no doubt, be very different ; but
its real value, the real quantity of labour which it
could purchase or command, would be precisely the
same. A shilling might in the one case represent no
more labour than a penny does at present ; and a
penny in the other might represent as much as -a
shilling does now. But in the one case, he who had
a shilling in his pocket would be no richer than he
who has a penny at present ; and in the other, he
who had a penny would be just as rich as he who has
a shilling now. The cheapness and abundance of
gold and silver plate, would be the sole advantage
which the world could derive from the one event ;
and the dearness and scarcity of those trifling su-
perfluities, the only inconveniency it could suffer
from the other.

Conclusion of the digression concerning the variations in the
value of Silver.

THE greater part of the writers who have collected
the money price of things in ancient times, seem to
have considered the low money price of corn, and
of goods in general, or, in other words, the high
value of gold and silver, as a proof, not only of the
scarcity of those metals, but of the poverty and bar-
barism of the country at the time when it took place.
This notion is connected with the system of political
economy, which represents national wealth as con-
sisting in the abundance, and national poverty in the
scarcity, of gold and silver ; a system which I shall
endeavour to explain and examine at great length

CHAP. XI. RENT OP LAND.

in the fourth book of this Inquiry. I sfiali only ob-
serve at present, that the high value of the precious
metals cam be no proof of the poverty or barbarism
of any particular country at the time when it took
place. It is a proof only of the barrenness of the
mines which happened at that time to supply the
commercial world. A poor country, as it can-
not afford to buy more, so it can as little afford
to pay dearer for gold and silver than a rich one ;
and the value of those metals, therefore, is not
likely to be higher in the former than in the latter.
In China, a country much richer than any part of
Europe, the value of the precious metals is much
higher than in any part of Europe. As the wealth
of Europe, indeed, has increased greatly since the
discovery of the mines of America, so the value of
gold and silver has gradually diminished. This di-
minution of their value, however, has not been ow-
ing to the increase of the real wealth of Europe, of
the annual produce of its land and labour, but to
the accidental discovery of more abundant mines
than any that were known before. The increase of
the quantity of gold and silver in Europe, and the
increase of its manufactures and agriculture, are
two events which, though they have happened nearly
about the same time, yet have arisen from very dif-
ferent causes, and have scarce any natural connec-
tion with one another. The one has arisen from a
mere accident, in which neither prudence nor policy
either had or could have any share ; the other, from
the fall of the feudal system, and from the establish-
ment of a government which afforded to industry
the only encouragement which it requires, some to-
lerable security that it shall enjoy the fruits of its

334 KENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

own labour. Poland, where the feudal system still
continues to take place, is at this day as beggarly a
country as it was before the discovery of America.
The money price of corn, however, has risen ; the
real value of the precious metals has fallen in Po-
land, in the same manner as in other parts of Eu-
rope. Their quantity, therefore, must have in-
creased there as in other places, and nearly in the
same proportion to the annual produce of its land
and labour. This increase of the quantity of those
metals, however, has not, it seems, increased that an-
nual produce, has neither improved the manufactures
and agriculture of the country, nor mended the cir-
cumstances of its inhabitants. Spain and Portugal;
the countries which possess the mines, are, after Po-
land, perhaps the two most beggarly countries in
Europe. The value of the precious metals, however,
must be lower in Spain and Portugal than in any
other part of Europe, as they come from those coun-
tries to all other parts of Europe, loaded, not only
with a freight and an insurance, but with the expense
of smuggling, their exportation being either prohi-
bited or subjected to a duty. In proportion to the
annual produce of the land and labour, therefore,
their quantity must be greater in those countries
than in any other part of Europe ; those countries,
however, are poorer than the greater part of Europe.
Though the feudal system has been abolished in Spain
and Portugal, it has not been succeeded by a much
better.

As the low value of gold and silver, therefore, is
no proof of the wealth and flourishing state of the
country where it takes place ; so neither is their high
value, or the low money price either of goods in ge-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 335

neral, or of corn in particular, any proof of its po-
verty and barbarism.

But though the low money price, either of goods
in general, or of corn in particular, be no proof of
the poverty or barbarism of the times, the low mo-
ney price of some particular sorts of goods, such as
cattle, poultry, game of all kinds, &c. in proportion
to that of corn, is a most decisive one. It clearly
demonstrates, first, their great abundance in propor-
tion to that of corn, and, consequently, the great ex-
tent of the land which they occupied in proportion
to what was occupied by corn ; and, secondly, the
low value of this land in proportion to that of corn
land, and, consequently, the uncultivated and unim-
proved state of the far greater part of the lands of
the country. It clearly demonstrates, that the stock
and population of the country did not bear the same
proportion to the extent of its territory, which they
commonly do in civilized countries ; and that society
was at that time, and in that country, but in its in-
fancy. From the high or low money price, either of
goods in general, or of corn in particular, we can
infer only, that the mines, which at that time hap-
pened to supply the commercial world with gold and
silver, were fertile or barren, not that the country
was rich or poor. But from the high or low money
price of some sorts of goods in proportion to that of
others, we can infer, with a degree of probability
that approaches almost to certainty, that it was rich
or poor, that the greater part of its lands were im-
proved or unimproved, and that it was either in a
more or less barbarous state, or in a more or less
civilized one.

Any rise in the money price of goods which pro-

336 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

ceeded altogether from the degradation of the value
of silver, would affect all sorts of goods equally, and
raise their price universally, a third, or a fourth, or
a fifth part higher, according as silver happened to
lose a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part of its former
value. But the rise in the price of provisions, which
has been the subject of so much reasoning and con-
versation, does not affect all sorts of provisions
equally. Taking the course of the present, century
at an average, the price of corn, it is acknowledged,
even by those who account for this rise by the de-
gradation of the value of silver, has risen much less
than that of some other sorts of provisions. The rise
in the price of those other sorts of provisions, there-
fore, cannot be owing altogether to the degradation
of the value of silver. Some other causes must be
taken into the account ; and those which have been
above assigned will, perhaps, without having;recourse
to the supposed degradation of the value of silver,
sufficiently explain this rise in those particular sorts
of provisions, of which the price has actually risen in
proportion to that of corn.

As to the price of corn itself, it has, during the
sixty-four first years of the present century, and
before the late extraordinary course of bad seasons,
been somewhat lower than it was during the sixty-
four last years of the preceding century. This fact
is attested, not only by the accounts of Windsor
market, but by the public fiars of all the different
counties of Scotland, and by the accounts of several
different markets in France, which have been col-
lected with great diligence and fidelity by M. Mes-
sance and by M. Dupre de St Maur. The evidence
is more complete than could well have been expect-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 337

ed in a matter which is naturally so very difficult to
be ascertained.

As to the high price of corn during these last ten
or twelve years, it can be sufficiently accounted for
from the badness of the seasons, without supposing
any degradation in the value of silver.

The opinion, therefore, that silver is continually
sinking in its value, seems not to be founded upon
any good observations, either upon the prices of
corn, or upon those of other provisions.

The same quantity of silver, it may perhaps be
said, will, in the present times, even according to
the account which has been here given, purchase a
much smaller quantity of several sorts of provisions
than it would have done during some part of the
last century ; and to ascertain whether this change
be owing to a rise in the value of those goods, or to
a fall in the value of silver, is only to establish a
vain and useless distinction, which can be of no sort
of service to the man who has only a certain quan-
tity of silver to go to market with, or a certain fix-
ed revenue in money. I certainly do not pretend
that the knowledge of this distinction will enable
him to buy cheaper. It may not, however, upon
that account be altogether useless.

It may be of some use to the public, by affording
an easy proof of the prosperous condition of the
country. If the rise in the price of some sorts of
provisions be owing altogether to a fall in the value
of silver, it is owing to a circumstance, from which
nothing can be inferred but the fertility of the Ame-
rican mines. The real wealth of the country, the
annual produce of its land and labour, may, not-
withstanding this circumstance, be either gradually

VOL. i. Y

RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

declining, as in Portugal and Poland ; or gradually
advancing, as in most other parts of Europe. But
if this rise in the price of some sorts of provisions be
owing to a rise in the real value of the land which
produces them, to its increased fertility, or, in con-
sequence of more extended improvement and good
cultivation, to its having been rendered fit for pro-
ducing corn ; it is owing to a circumstance which in-
dicates, in the clearest manner, the prosperous and
advancing state of the country. The land consti-
tutes by far the greatest, the most important, and
the most durable part of the wealth of every exten-
sive country. It may surely be of some use, or, at
least, it may give some satisfaction to the public, to
have so decisive a proof of the increasing value of
by far the greatest, the most important, and the
most durable part of its wealth.

It may, too, be of some use to the public, in regu-
lating the pecuniary reward of some of its inferior
servants. If this rise in the price of some sorts of
provisions be owing to a fall in the value of silver,
their pecuniary reward, provided it was not too large
before, ought certainly to be augmented in propor-
tion to the extent of this fall. If it is not augment-
ed, their real recompense will evidently be so much
diminished. But if this rise of price is owing to the
increased value, .in consequence of the improved fer-
tility of the land which produces such provisions, it
becomes a much nicer matter to judge, either in
what proportion any pecuniary reward ought to be
augmented, or whether it ought to be augmented at
all. The extension of improvement and cultivation,
as it necessarily raises more or less, in proportion to
the price of corn, that of every sort of animal food,

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 339

so it as necessarily lowers that of, I believe, every sort
of vegetable food. It raises the price of anirral
food ; because a great part of the land which pro-
duces it, being rendered fit for producing corn, must
afford to the landlord and farmer the rent and pro-
fit of corn land. It lowers the price of vegetable
food ; becaifse, by increasing the fertility of the land,
it increases its abundance. The improvements of
agriculture, too, introduce many sorts of vegetable
food, which requiring less land, and not more labour
than corn, come much cheaper to market. Such are
potatoes and maize, or what is called Indian corn,
the two most important improvements which the
agriculture of Europe, perhaps, which Europe itself,
has received from the great extension of its com-
merce and navigation. Many sorts of vegetable
food, besides, which in the rude state of agriculture
are confined to the kitchen-garden, and raised only
by the spade, come, in its improved state, to be intro-
duced into common fields, and to be raised by the
plough ; such as turnips, carrots, cabbages, &c. If,
in the progress of improvement, therefore, the real
price of one species of food necessarily rises, that of
another as necessarily falls ; and it becomes a matter
of more nicety to judge how far the rise in the one
may be compensated by the fall in the other. When
the real price of butchers meat has once got to its
height (which, with regard to every sort, except
perhaps that of hogs flesh, it seems to have done
through a great part of England more than a centu-
ry ago), any rise which can afterwards happen in
that of any other sort of animal food, cannot much
affect the circumstances of the inferior ranks of peo-
ple. The circumstances of the poor, through a great

340 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

part of England, cannot surely be so much distress-
ed by any rise in the price of poultry, fish, wild-fowl,
or venison, as they must be relieved by the fall in
that of potatoes.

In the present season of scarcity, the high price
of corn no doubt distresses the poor. But in times
of moderate plenty, when corn is at its ordinary or
average price, the natural rise in the price of any
other sort of rude produce cannot much affect them.
They suffer more, perhaps, by the artificial rise
which has been occasioned by taxes in the price of
some manufactured commodities, as of salt, soap,
leather, candles, malt, beer, ale, &c.

Effects of the progress of improvement upon the real price of
mamifactures.

It is the natural effect of improvement, however,
to diminish gradually the real price of almost all ma-
nufactures. That of the manufacturing workman-
ship diminishes, perhaps, in all of them without ex-
ception. In consequence of better machinery, of
greater dexterity, and of a more proper division and
distribution of work, all of which are the natural ef-
fects of improvement, a much smaller quantity of la-
bour becomes requisite for executing any particular
piece of work ; and though, in consequence of the
flourishing circumstances of the society, the real
price of labour should rise very considerably, yet the
great diminution of the quantity will generally much
more than compensate the greatest rise which can
happen in the price.

There are, indeed, a few manufactures, in which
the necessary rise in the real price of the rude mate-
rials will more than compensate all the advantages

GHAP. XI. IlENT OF LAND. 341

which improvement can introduce into the execution
of the work. In carpenters' and joiners' work, and
in the coarser sort of cabinet work, the necessary
rise in the real price of barren timber, in consequence
of the improvement of land, will more than compen-
sate all the advantages which can be derived from
the best machinery, the greatest dexterity, and the
most proper division and distribution of work.

But in all cases in which the real price of the rude
materials either does not rise at all, or does not rise
very much, that of the manufactured commodity
sinks very considerably.

This diminution of price has, in the course of the
present and preceding century, been most remark-
able in those manufactures of which the materials are
the coarser metals. A better movement of a watch,
than about the middle of the last century eould have
been bought for twenty pounds, may now, perhaps,
be had for twenty shillings. In the work of cutlers
and locksmiths, in all the toys which are made of
the coarser metals, and in all those goods which are
commonly known by the name of Birmingham and
Sheffield ware, there has been, during the same pe-
riod, a very great reduction of price, though not al-
together so great as in watch-work. It has, how-
ever, been sufficient to astonish the workmen of
every other part of Europe, who in many cases ac-
knowledge that they can produce no work of equal
goodness for double, or even for triple the price.
There are perhaps no manufactures, in which the
division of labour can be carried further, or in which
the machinery employed admits of a greater variety
of improvements, than those of which the materials
are the coarser metals.

342 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

In the clothing manufacture there has, during the
same period, been no such sensible reduction of price.
The price of superfine cloth, I have been assured,
on the contrary, has, within these five-arid-twenty
or thirty years, risen somewhat in proportion to its
quality, owing, it was said, to a considerable rise in
the price of the material, which consists altogether
of Spanish wool. That of the Yorkshire cloth,
which is made altogether of English wool, is said,
indeed, during the course of the present century, to
have fallen a good deal in proportion to its quality.
Quality, however, is so very disputable a matter,
that I look upon all information of this kind as some-
what uncertain. In the clothing manufacture, the
division of labour is nearly the same now as it was
a century ago, and the machinery employed is not
very different. There may, however, have been
some small improvements in both, which may have
occasioned some reduction of price.

But the reduction will appear much more sensible
and undeniable, if we compare the price of this ma-
nufacture in the present times with what it was in
a much remoter period, towards the end of the fif-
teenth century, when the labour was probably much
less subdivided, and the machinery employed much
more imperfect, than it is at present

In 1487, being the 4th of Henry VII. it was en-
acted, that * whosoever shall sell by retail a broad

* yard of the finest scarlet grained, or of other grain-
' ed cloth of the finest making, above sixteen shil-
' lings, shall forfeit forty shillings for every yard so

* sold.' Sixteen shillings, therefore, containing about
the same quantity of silver as four-and- twenty shil-
lings of our present money, was, at that time, reck-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 343

oned not an unreasonable price for a yard of the
finest cloth ; and as this is a sumptuary law, such
cloth, it is probable, had usually been sold somewhat
dearer. A guinea may be reckoned the highest price
in the present times. Even though the quality of
the cloths, therefore, should be supposed equal, and
that of the present times is most probably much su-
perior, yet, even upon this supposition, the money
price of the finest cloth appears to have been consi-
derably reduced since the end of the fifteenth centu-
ry. But its real price has been much more reduced.
Six shillings and eightpence was then, and long af-
terwards, reckoned the average price of a quarter of
wheat. Sixteen shillings, therefore, was the price
of two quarters and more than three bushels of
wheat. Valuing a quarter of wheat in the present
times at eight-and-twenty shillings, the real price of
a yard of fine cloth must, in those times, have been
equal to at least three pounds six shillings and six-
pence of our present money. The man who bought
it must have parted with the command of a quanti-
ty of labour and subsistence equal to what that sum
would purchase in the present times.

The reduction in the real price of the coarse ma-
nufacture, though considerable, has not been so
great as in that of the fine.

In 1463, being the 3d of Edward IV. it was en-
acted, that ' no servant in husbandry, nor common
' labourer, nor servant to any artificer inhabiting

* out of a city or burgh, shall use or wear in their

* clothing any cloth above two shillings the broad
« yard.' In the 3d of Edward IV. two shillings
contained very nearly the same quantity of silver as
four of our present money. But the Yorkshire cloth,

344 RENT OP LAND. BOOK I.

which is now sold at four shillings the yard, is pro-
bably much superior to any that was then made for
the wearing of the very poorest order of common
servants. Even the money-price of their clothing,
therefore, may, in proportion to the quality, be
somewhat cheaper in the present than it was in those
ancient times. The real price is certainly a good
deal cheaper. Ten pence was then reckoned what
is called the moderate and reasonable price of a
bushel of wheat. Two shillings, therefore, was the
price of two bushels and near two pecks of wheat,
which in the present times, at three shillings and
sixpence the bushel, would be worth eight shillings
and nine pence. For a yard of this cloth the poor
servant must have parted with the power of pur-
chasing a quantity of subsistence equal to what eight
shillings and nine pence would purchase in the pre-
sent times. This is a sumptuary law, too, restrain-
ing the luxury and extravagance of the poor. Their
clothing, therefore, had commonly been much more
expensive.

The same order of people are, by the same law,
prohibited from wearing hose, of which the price
should exceed fourteen pence the pair, equal to
about eight-and-twenty-pence of our present money.
But fourteen pence was in those times the price of
a bushel and near two pecks of wheat ; which, in
the present times, at three and sixpence the bushel,
would cost five shillings and three pence. We should
in the present times consider this as a very high price
for a pair of stockings to a servant of the poorest
and lowest order. He must, however, in those
times, have paid what was really equivalent to this
price for them.

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 345

In the time of Edward IV. the art of knitting
stockings was probably not known in any part of
Europe. Their hose were made of common cloth,
which may have been one of the causes of their dear-
ness. The first person that wore stockings in Eng-
land is said to have been Queen Elizabeth. She
received them as a present from the Spanish ambas-
sador.

Both in the coarse .and in the fine woollen ma-
nufacture, the machinery employed was much more
imperfect in those ancient, than it is in the present
times. It has since received three very capital im-
provements, besides, probably, many smaller ones,
of which it may be difficult to ascertain either the
number or the importance. The three capital im-
provements are, first, the exchange of the rock and
spindle for the spinning-wheel, which, with the same
quantity of labour, willperform more than double the
quantity of work. Secondly, the use of several very
ingenious machines, which facilitate and abridge, in
a still greater proportion, the winding of the worsted
and woollen yarn, or the proper arrangement of the
warp and woof before they are put into the loom ; an
operation which, previous to the invention of those
machines, must have been extremely tedious and
troublesome. Thirdly, the employment of thefulling-
mill for thickening the cloth, instead of treading it in
water. Neither wind nor water mills of any kind
were known in England so early as the beginning
of the sixteenth century, nor, so far as I know, in
any other part of Europe north of the Alps. They
had been introduced into Italy some time before.

The consideration of these circumstances may, per-
haps, in some measure, explain to us why the rea-

346

RENT OF LAND.

BOOK I.

price both of the coarse and of the fine manufacture
was so much higher in those ancient than it is in the
present times. It cost a greater quantity of labour
to bring the goods to market. When they were
brought thither, therefore, they must have purchased,
or exchanged for the price of a greater quantity.

The coarse manufacture probably was, in those
ancient times, carried on in England in the same
manner as it always has been in countries where arts
and manufactures are in their infancy. It was pro-
bably a household manufacture, in which every dif-
ferent part of the work was occasionally performed
by all the different members of almost every private
family, but so as to be their work only when they
had nothing else to do, and not to be the principal
business from which any of them derived the greater
part of their subsistence. The work which is per-
formed in this manner, it has already been observed,
comes always much cheaper to market than that
which is the principal or sole fund of the workman's
subsistence. The fine manufacture, on the other
hand, was not, in those times, carried on in Eng-
land, but in the rich and commercial country of
Flanders ; and it was probably conducted then, in
the same manner as now, by people who derived the
whole, or the principal part of their subsistence
from it. It was, besides, a foreign manufacture, and
must have paid some duty, the ancient custom of
tonnage and poundage at least, to the king. This
duty, indeed, would not probably be very great. It
was not then the policy of Europe to restrain, by
high duties, the importation of foreign manufactures,
but rather to encourage it, in order that merchants
might be enabled to supply, at as easy a rate as pos-

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 347

sible, the great men with the conveniences and
luxuries which they wanted, and which the industry
of their own country could not afford them.

The consideration of tnese circumstances may, per-
haps, in some measure explain to us why, in those
ancient times, the real price of the coarse manufac-
ture was, in proportion to that of the fine, so much
lower than in the present times.

Conclusion of the Chapter.

I shall conclude this very long chapter with obser-
ving, that every improvement in the circumstances
of the society tends, either directly or indirectly, to
raise the real rent of land, to increase the real wealth
of the landlord, his power of purchasing the labour,
or the produce of the labour of other people.

The extension of improvement and cultivation
tends to raise it directly. The landlord's share of
the produce necessarily increases with the increase of
the produce.

That rise in the real price of those parts of the rude
produce of land, which is first the effect of the ex-
tended improvement and cultivation, and afterwards
the cause of their being still further extended, the
rise in the price of cattle, for example, tends, too, to
raise the rent of land directly, and in a still greater
proportion. The real value of the landlord's share,
his real command of the labour of other people, not
only rises with the real value of the produce, but
the proportion of his share to the whole produce
rises with it.

That produce, after the rise in its real price, re-
quires no more labour to collect it than before. A

348

RENT OF LAND.

BOOK I.

smaller proportion of it will, therefore, be sufficient
to replace, with the ordinary profit, the stock which
employs that labour. A greater proportion of it
must consequently belong to the landlord.

All those improvements in the productive powers
of labour, which tend directly to reduce the real
price of manufactures, tend indirectly to raise the
real rent of land. The landlord exchanges that
part of his rude produce, which is over and above
his own consumption, or, what comes to the same
thing, the price of that part of it, for manufactured
produce. Whatever reduces the real price of the
latter, raises that of the former. An equal quan-
tity of the former becomes thereby equivalent to a
greater quantity of the latter ; and the landlord is
enabled to purchase a greater quantity of the con-
veniences, ornaments, or luxuries which he has oc-
casion for.

Every increase in the real wealth of the society,
every increase in the quantity of useful labour em-
ployed within it, tends indirectly to raise the real
rent of land. A certain proportion of this labour
naturally goes to the land. A greater number of
men and cattle are employed in its cultivation, the
produce increases with the increase of the stock
which is thus employed in raising it, and the rent
increases with the produce.

The contrary circumstances, the neglect of culti-
vation and improvement, the fall in the real price of
any part of the rude produce of land, the rise in the
real price of manufactures from the decay of manu-
facturing art and industry, the declension of the real
wealth of the society, all tend, on the other hand,
to lower the real rent of land, to reduce the real

CHAP. XL RENT OF LAND. 349

wealth of the landlord, to diminish his power of pur-
chasing either the labour, or the produce of the la-
bour, of other people.

The whole annual produce of the land and labour
of every country, or, what comes to the same thing,
the whole price of that annual produce, naturally
divides itself, it has already been observed, into
three parts ; the rent of land, the wages of labour,
and the profits of stock ; and constitutes a revenue
to three different orders of people ; to those who
live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to
those who live by profit. These are the three great,
original, and constituent orders of every civilized
society, from whose revenue that of every other or-
der is ultimately derived.

The interest of the first of those three great orders,
it appears from what has been just now said, is strict-
ly and inseparably connected with the general in-
terest of the society. Whatever either promotes or
obstructs the one, necessarily promotes or obstructs
the other. When the public deliberates concerning
any regulation of commerce or police, the proprie-
tors of land never can mislead it, with a view to pro-
mote the interest of their own particular order ; at
least, if they have any tolerable knowledge of that in-
terest. They are, indeed, too often defective in this
tolerable knowledge. They are the only one of the
three orders whose revenue costs them neither labour
nor care, but comes to them, as it were, of its own
accord, and independent of any plan or project of
their own. That indolence which is the natural ef-
feet of the ease and security of their situation, renders
them too often, not only, ignorant, but incapable of
that application of mind, which is necessary in order

350 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

to foresee and understand the consequences of any
public regulation.

The interest of the second order, that of those
who live by wages, is as strictly connected with the
interest of the society as that of the first. The
wages of the labourer, it has already been shewn,
are never so high as when the demand for labour is
continually rising, or when the quantity employed
is every year increasing considerably. When this
real wealth of the society becomes stationary, his
wages are soon reduced to what is barely enough to
enable him to bring up a family, or to continue the
race of labourers. When the society declines, they
fall even below this. The order of proprietors may
perhaps gain more by the prosperity of the society
than that of labourers : but there is no order that
suffers so cruelly from its decline. But though the
interest of the labourer is strictly connected with
that of the society, he is incapable either of com-,
prehending that interest, or of understanding its
connection with his own. His condition leaves him
no time to receive the necessary information, and
his education and habits are commonly such as to
render him unfit to judge, even though he was fully
informed. In the public deliberations, therefore, his
voice is little heard, and less regarded ; except upon
some particular occasions, when his clamour is ani-
mated, set on, and supported by his employers, not
for his, but their own particular purposes.

His employers constitute the third order, that of
those who live by profit. It is the stock that is em-
ployed for the sake of profit, which puts into motion
the greater part of the useful labour of every socie-
ty. The plans and projects of the employers of

CHAP. XI. RENT OF LAND. 351

stock regulate and direct all the most important ope-
rations of labour, and profit is the end proposed by
all those plans and projects. But the rate of profit
does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prospe-
rity, and fall with the declension of the society. On
the contrary, it is naturally low in rich, and high in
poor countries, and it is always highest in the coun-
tries which are going fastest to ruin. The interest
of this third order, therefore, has not the same con-
nection with the general interest of the society, as
that of the other two. Merchants and master ma-
nufacturers are, in this order, the two classes of
people who commonly employ the largest capitals,
and who by their wealth draw to themselves the
greatest share of the public consideration. As dur-
ing their whole lives they are engaged in plans and
projects, they have frequently more acnteness of un-
derstanding than the greater part of country gentle-
men. As their thoughts, however, are commonly
exercised rather about the interest of their own par-
ticular branch of business, than about that of the
society, their judgment, even when given with the
greatest candour, (which it has not been upon every
occasion), is much more to be depended upon with
regard to the former of those two objects, than with
regard to the latter. Their superiority over the
country gentleman is, not so much in their know-
ledge of the public interest, as in their having a bet-
ter knowledge of their own interest than he has of
his. It is by this superior knowledge of their own
interest that they have frequently imposed upon his
generosity, and persuaded him to give up both his
own interest and that of the public, from a very sim-
ple but honest conviction, that their interest, and

352 RENT OF LAND. BOOK I.

not his, was the interest of the public. The interest
of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of
trade or manufactures, is always in some respects
different from, and even opposite to, that of the
public. To widen the market, and to narrow the
competition, is always the interest of the dealers.
To widen the market may frequently be agreeable
enough to the interest of the public ; but to narrow
the competition must always be against it, and can
only serve to enable the dealers, by raising their pro-
fits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for
their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of
their fellow-citizens. The proposal of any new law
or regulation of commerce which comes from this
order, ought always to be listened to with great pre-
caution, and ought never to be adopted till after
having been long and carefully examined, not only
with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspi-
cious attention. It comes from an order of men,
whose interest is never exactly the same with that
of the public, who have generally an interest to de-
ceive, and even to oppress the public, and who ac-
cordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived
and oppressed it.

PRICES OF WHEAT.

Years
XII.

Price of the Quarter of
Wheat each year.

Average of the differ-
ent Prices of the
same Year.

The average Price of
each year in Money
ofthepresent Times.

£ s. rf.

£ 5. d.

£ s. d.

1202

0 12 0

_ _ _

1 16 0

1205

To 12 0}

-?0 13 4V
(0 15 Oj

0 13 5

203

1223

0 12 0

_ _ _

1 16 0

1237

034

— — —

0 10 0

1243

020

_ _ —

000

1244

020

_ _ _

060

1246

0 16 0

_ _ _

280

1247

0 13 5

_ - -

* 0 0

1257

140

_ _ _

3 12 0

!1 0 0)

1258

0 15 0 >

0 17 -0

2 11 0

o 16 oJ

1270

4 16 0\
68 Of

5 12 0

16 16 0

1286

y o 2 si

l_0 16 o|

09*

180

Total

, £35 9 8

Average price, 2 19 H

VOL. I. Z

PRICES OF WHEAT.

BOOK I.

Years
XII.

Price of the Quarter of
Wheat each Year.

Average of the differ-
ent Prices of the
same year.

The average Price of
each Year in Money
of thepresent Times.

£ s.

d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

128?

0 3

4

_ _ _

0 10 0

'0 0

8"

0 1

0

0 1

4

1288

, ° 1
0 1

6

8

0 3 0£

0 9 Of

0 2

0

0 3

4

0 9

4

0 12

o'

0 6

0

1289

4 0 *

0 -

0 10 If

1 10 4|

1 0 10

* 1

U o

oj

1296

o 16

0

_ _ -

280

1294

0 16

0

_ _ _

280

1302

0 4

0

— _ —

0 12 0

1309

. 0 7

2

_ _ _

1 1 6

1315

1 0

0

- -. -

300

1316

n o

J 1 10

~\ I 12
^2 0

ov

°>
°f

oj

1 10 6

4 11 6

12 4

°1

0 14

0

131?

2 13

°r

i 19 6

5 18 6

4 0

°

0 6

8j

1386

0 2

0

_ _ _

060

1338

0 3

4

- - -

0 10 0

Total, £23 4

Average price,

1 18 8

CHAP. XI.

PRICES OF WHEAT.

355

Years
XII.

Price of the Quarter of
Wheat each Year.

Average of the differ-
ent prices of the
same year.

The average Price of
each Year, in Money
ofthepresentTimes.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

1339

090

_ _ - 4

170

13i9

020

_ - _

052

1359

168

_ _ _

322

1361

020

_ _ —

048

1363

0 15 0

_ _ _

1 15 0

1369

(I 0 01
\1 4 Of

1 £ 0

2 9 *

1379

040

— _ _

09*

1387

020

_ _ _

048

1390

(0 13 4)
•Jo 14 0V
U 16 OJ

0 14 5

1 18 7

1401

0 16 0

— _ _

1 17 6

1407

/O 4 4f\
(0 3 4 /

0 3 10

0 8 11

1416

0 Ifr 0

- - -

1 12 0

Total, £15 9 *

Average price, 1 5 94

Years

XII.

£ .y. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d

1423

080

_ _ _

0 16 0

1425

040

_ _ _

080

1434

1 6 S

_ _ _

2 13 4

1435

054

_ _ _

0 10 8

1439

f I 0 01

1 3 4

268

1440

140

_ _ _

280

1444

/O 4 4 \
\040f

042

084

1443

046

_ — _

090

144?

080

_ _ _

0 16 0

144S

068

- _ -

0 13 4

144£

050

_ — _

0 10 0

1451

080

- _ -

0 16 0

Total, £12 15 4

Average price, 1 1 S£

PRICES OF WHEAT.

BOOK I.

Years
XII.

Price of the Quarter of
Wheat each Year.

Average of the differ-
ent Prices of the
same Year.

The Average Price of
each Year, in Money
of the present Times.

£ #. d.

£ s. d.

,£ t. d.

1453

054

...

0 10 8

1455

0 1 2

.

024

145?

078

-

0 15 4

1459

050

...

0 10 0

1460

080

_

0 16 0

1463

/O 2 0\
\0 1 Bf

0 1 10

038

1464

068

...

0 10 0

1486

1 4 0

...

1 17 0

14.91

0 14 8

i

120

1494

040

. - .

060

1495

034

...

050

1497

1 0 0

...

1 11 0

Total,

£890

Average Price, 0 14 1

Years

XII.

..

L £ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

1499

040

...

060

1504

058

...

086

1521

100

...

1 10 0

1551

080

. _

080

1553

080

...

080

1554

080

...

080

1555

080

...

080

155S

080

...

080

1557

f° * °)
JO 5 Of

) 0 8 Of
(2 13 4j

0 17 8-4

0 17 8£

1558

080

...

080

1559

080

. .

080

1560

080

...

080

i»"f ••

Total,

£6 0 2£

Average price, 010 0/V

€HAP. XI.

PRICES OP WHEAT.

357

Years
XII.

Price of the Quarter 01
Wheat each Year.

Average of the differ
ent prices of th
same Year.

The average Price of
each Year m Money
ofthepresentTimes.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ J. d.

1561

080

080

1562

080

...

080

1574

(2 16 01
\1 4 Of

200

200

1587

340

...

340

1594

2 16 0

...

2 16 0

1595

2 13 0

...

2 13 0

1596

400

...

400

1597

5"5 4 Ol
14, 0 OJ*

4 12 0

4 12 0

1598

2 16 8

. - -

2 16 8

3599

1 19 2

.-.

1 19 2

1600

1 17 8

.

1 17 8

1601

1 14 10

. . .

1 14 10

Total, £28 9 4

Average price, 2 7 5£

Prices of the Quarter of nine BusJiels of the best or higfiest
priced Wheat at Windsor Market, on Lady-day and
Michaelmas, from 1595 to 1764, botli inclusive ,- the price
of each year being the medium between the highest prices of
tftose two market-days.

Years.

1595

1596

1597

1598

1599

1600

1601

1602

1603

1604

1605

1606

1607

1608

1609 - ' •

£ s. d.

Years.

200

1610

280

1611

396

1612

2 16 8

1613

1 19 2

1614

1 17 8

1615

1 14 1O

1616

194

1617

1 15 4

1618

1 10 8

1619

1 15 10

1620

1 13 0

1 16 8

2 16 8

2 10 0

£

s.

d.

1

15

10

-

1

IS

8

.

2

2

4

_

2

8

8

•

2
1

1

18

8*
8

_

2

0

4

_

2

8

8

.

2

6

S

_

1

15

4

-

1

10

4

26)54

0

6*

2

1

G&

358

PRICES OF WHEAT.

BOOK I.

Years.

Wheat per Quarter.
£ g. d.

Years.

Wheat per Quarter.
£ *. d.

1621

I 10 4

1631

380

1622

2 18 8

1632

2 13 4

1623

2 12 0

1633

2 18 0

1624

#..fi , 280

1634

2 16 0

1625

2 12 0

1635

2 16 0

1626

294

11 £? f\

1636

2 16 8

1627
1628

t £s^f\

10 o
1 8 0
2 a n

16)40 0 0

1029
1630

z U
2 15 8

2 10 0

1637

2 13 0

1671

220

1638

2 17 4

1672

2 1 0

1639

2 4 10

1673

268

1640

248

167*

- - 388

1641

. -V. - 280

1675

348

1642^
1643 (^

Wanting in the "
account. The 000

1676
1677

1 18 0

220

1644 i
1645J

year 1646 sup-
plied by Bishop 000
fceetwood. 000

1678
1679

£ 19 0
300

1646

280

1680

250

1647

3 13 0

1681

268

1648

450

1682

240

1649

400

1683

200

1650

& 16 8

1684

240

1651

3 13 4

1685

268

1652

296

1686

1 14 0

1653

1 15 6

1687

152

1654

1 6 0

1688

260

1655

1 18 4

1689

1 10 0

1656

230

1690

1 14 8

1657

268

1691

1 14 0

1658

35 0

1692

268

1659

, - 360

1693

378

1660

2 16 6

1694

340

1661

3 10 0

1695

2 13 0

1662

3 14 0

1696

3 11 0

1663

2 17 0

1697

300

1664

, - 206

1698

384

1665

294.

1699

340

1666

1 16 0

1700

200

ififi?

116 o

1UU 1

1668

• • JL J, \J \J

200

60)153 1 8

1 fZf\(\

2 4. 4

1670

M — <6 ^j? T:

218

2 11 0£

GHAP. XI.

PRICES OP WHEAT.

359

Years.

Wheat per Quarter.

£ s. d.

Years.

Wheat per Quarter.
<£ *. rf.

1701

1 17 8

1735 -

230

1702

l 9 6

1736 -

204

1703

1 16 0

1737 -

1 18 0

1704

266

1738 -

1 15 6

1705

- 1 10 0

1739 -

1 18 6

1706

1 6 0

1740 -

2 10 8

1707

186

1741 -

268

1708

216

1742 -

1 14 0

1709

3 18 6

1743 -

1 4 10

1710

3 lg 0

1744 -

1 4 10

1711

2 14 0

1745 -

* 176

1712

264

1746 -

1 19 0

1713

2 11 0

1747 -

1 14 10

1714

2 10 4

1748 -

1 17 0

1715

230

1749 -

1 17 0

1716

280

1750 -

1 12 6

1717

258

1751 -

1 18 6

1718

1 18 10

1752 -

2 1 10

1719

1 15 0

1753 -

248

1720

1 17 0

1754 -

1 14 8

1721

1 17 6

1755 -

1 13 10

1722

1 16 0

1756 -

253

1723

1 14 8

1757 -

300

1724

1 17 0

1758 -

2 10 0

1725

286

1759 -

1 19 10

1726

260

1760 -

1 16 6

1727

220

1761 -

1 10 3

1728

2 14 6

1762 -

1 19 0

1729

2 6 10

1763 -

209

1730

1 16 6

1764 -

269

1731

i 19 in

.1 | «./ J.

1732

* • J. 155 1 v

-168
184

64)129 13 6

1734

1 18 10

2 0 6££

360

Years.

1731

1732

1733

1734

1735

1736

1737

1738

1739

1740

PRICES OF WHEAT.

BOOK I.

Wheat per Quarter.

Wheat per Quarter.

£ s. d.

Years.

£ s. d.

1 12 10

1741 -

268

1 6 8

1742 -

1 14 0

184

1743 -

1 4 10

1 18 10

1744 -

1 4 10

230

1745 -

1 7 6

204

1746 -

1 19 0

1 18 0

1747 -

1 14 10

1 15 6

1748 -

1 17 0

- 1 18 6

1749 -

1 17 0

2 10 8

1750 -

1 12 6

10)18 12 8

10)16 18 2

1 17 3f

1 13 91

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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