two Manufactures of Sugar and Tobacco more advantageous to the Nation than ever hitherto they have been Tanning of Leather is an Employment which ought to be encouraged as it furnishes us with a Commodity fit to be manufactured at home and also to be transported into Foreign Countrys I know the Exportation of Leather hath been much opposed by the Shooe-makers and others who cut it at home and represented as attended with ill Consequences one whereof is the making it dear here but would it not be of much worse to confine and limit that Employment to an Inland Expence on the other side would it not naturally follow that when Leather rises to a great Price the Exportation must cease because Ireland would under-sell us and would it not seem an unreasonable Discouragement to Trade if Tobacco Sugar and Woollen Manufactures were debarred from Exportation only because they should be sold cheaper here for suppose the occasions of the Nation could not consume all the Leather that is made to what a low price must Hides be reduced for no other reason but that the Shooemakers may get more by their Shooes 'T is true if they could make out that those Countrys must then have their Shooes from us who now have their Leather I should be of their Minds but it must needs have a quite contrary effect especially whilst Ireland is able to supply them This proceeds from a very narrow Spirit and such as ought not to be encouraged in a Trading Nation Ireland hath already made great Progress in this Mistery occasioned by our Imprudence and should we give Encouragement to other Countrys we might too late repent it A good Export for Leather would cause a great Import of Raw Hides which would be more Advantage to the Nation than if they were tann'd in Ireland and sent abroad thence Nor can I omit Iron which is the great foundation of sundry Manufactures not only used at home but wherewith we supply our Plantations and other Places abroad as Howes Bills Axes Cases Locks Nailes and a thousand such Necessaries the Workmanship whereof adds much to their Value There are many other things which may be and are daily improved amongst us as Clockwork wherein we sell nothing but Art and Labour the Materials thereof being of small value I have seen Watches and Clocks of great Prizes made for the Courts of Foreign Princes Paper-Mills are a Benefit to the Nation as they make that Commodity from things of themselves worth little so are are Powder-Mills also Artificers who bring advantage to the Nation by supplying it with things which must otherwise be had from abroad for its own use as also with others proper to be sent thither for Sales and when Exported are more or less profitable as the labour of the Subject adds to their value In like manner things are cheaper to us when we pay only for the first Materials whereof they are made the rest being work done at home is divided amongst our selves so that on the whole it appears to be the great Interest of England to advance its Manufactures and this I humbly conceive may be doâ—e these several ways 1. By providing Work-houses for the Poor and making good Laws both to force and encourage them to work but designing to speak larger to this before I close this Tract shall referr the Reader to it 2. By discharging all Customs payable on them at their Exportation and also on the Materials used in making them at their Importation for as the one would encourage the Merchant to send more abroad so the other would enable the Manufacturers to afford them cheaper at home and 't is strange that a Nation whose Wealth depends on Manufactures and whose Interest it is to outdo all others especially in the Woollen by underselling them in Foreign Markets should load either with Taxes Here I cannot but mention that of Logwood a Commodity much used in Dying which pays Five Pounds per Tun Custom in and draws back Three Pounds Fifteen Shillings when shipt out by which means the Dyers in Holland use it so much cheaper than ours now if it was Imported Custom Free and paid Twenty five Shillings per Tun at its Export the Dyers there would use it so much dearer than ours here and I think it would be well worth Inquiry whither a Prohibition either total or in part of Shipping out our Manufactures thither and to the Northern Kingdoms undyed or undrest might not be made I am sure it would be of great Advantage to this Kingdom if it might be done without running into greater Inconveniencies which for my part I do not foresee the Dutch discourage their being brought in dyed or drest that they may thereby give Employments to their own People and increase their Navigation by the consumption of great quantities of Dye-stuff and the same reasons should prevail with us to dye and dress them here But this deserves the consideration of a Committee of Parliament to hear what may be said both for and against it 3. By discouraging the Importation of Commodities already manufactured either from our own Plantations or other Places such as clay'd and refined Sugars wrought Silks Calicoes Brandy Glass Earthen Ware Irish Frizes Tann'd Leather Gloves Lace c. and instead thereof we should encourage bringing in the Materials whereof they are made to be wrought up here this may be done by Laws and also by being in love with our Home Manufactures and bringing their Wearing into Fashion 4. By freeing the Manufactures from burthensome Excises which do much discourage small Stocks who are not able to carry on their Trades and make Provision for such great Payments the Distillers have long groaned under them and I fear the Glass-makers now will especially those in and about London who have another load by the Duty of Coals besides the Swarms of Officers to which we lay open the Houses of those Men who deserve all the Encouragement we can give them and ought to have things made as easie to them as may be had the like Methods been used to our Wollen and Leather as was intended we might have repented it at Leisure Taxes when laid on our Manufactures ought to be raised by such easie Methods as shall give least trouble to the Makers Trade ought to be handled gently and he that considers the Expences of this Nation at Five Pounds per Head comes to Forty Millions and the Lands of England but to Twelve will imagine easie Methods may be found out to raise a greater Tax annually then we pay without loading either Land or Trade as now we do a Scheme whereof may be easily drawn up 5. By prohibiting as much as may be the Exportation of things to the Plantations fit to be manufactured there till they are first done here thus ' t vvas better Shooes vvere Transported to the Plantations than Leather so things
for the latter to some of our Neighbouring Nations but their Flesh is of no use their Skins of little the Leather made thereof is very ordinary only the longest of their Hair is used in Weaving There are many other sorts of Beasts some whereof require no care in raising others little others are more tender such are the Stag the Dear the Rabbit the Hare the Fox the Badger the Goat whose Skins are necessary for our Trade and assist in our Manufactures Agriculture is that whereby we raise our Corn by turning up the Earth the several sorts whereof are Wheat Rye Barly Pease Beans Fetches Oats which not only afford nourishment to our selves and the Beasts we use in labour but serve for Trade as they give Imployment to our People at home and are Transported abroad more or less according to the overplus of onr expence and the want of our Neighbours besides the great Quantities used in our Navigation These Products of both sorts are clear profit to the Nation as they are raised from Earth and Labour whose Advantages arise chiefly from their being Exported either in their own kind or when Manufactered the Remainder spent at Home tending only to supplying the use not advancing the Wealth of the Nation now these Exports being according to the Rates and Prizes they bear in other Countries and those Rates arising from the Proportion their Lands hold with ours in their Yearly Rents are not so great in specie as when workt up Butter is the greatest wherewith we supply many Forreign Markets and did formerly more till by making it bad and using Tricks to increase its weight we have much lost that Trade and are now almost beat out of it by Ireland which every day makes better as we make worse besides they undersell us in the Price as they do also in Beef occasioned by the low Rents of their Lands and more especially by the Act of Prohibition which put that Nation on finding out a Trade in Forreign Markets for what they were denyed to bring hither which being Exported thence direct yeilds them greater profit the sweetness whereof hath encouraged them to take more care and this hath raised them from a Sloathful to be an Industrious People As for Corn Forreign Markets are supplyed therewith both from thence and other places in the Sound also from the Western Islands cheaper then the price of our Lands will admit But our Plantations have still some Dependance on us for our Product and would more if that Act was removed and Ireland made a Colony on the same Terms with them The other Fruits of the Earth as Apples Pears Cherries Plumbs together with the Herbs and Plants also the Fowls and Fish taken in this Land serve rather for our Delight and Food than Trade Some Cider we do Export also Spirits raised by the Distiller both from some of these and also from many other things On the Sea Coasts we catch great Quantities of Herrings and Pilchards which we save and sell in Forreign Markets Nor is this all the Product of our Earth whose Womb being big with Treasure longs to be Delivered and after many Throws brings forth Lead Tin Copper Calamy Coal Culm Iron Allom Copperas and sundry other Minerals which return us great Treasure from Forreign Markets whither they are Exported besides the several Shrubs and Trees that adorn our Fields among which the Oak the Ash and the Elm are the chiefest these not only serve in Building our Sips but do also furnish us with Materials wherewith our Arificers make many things fit for Forregn Commerce and it were much to be wisht better care were taken for preserving Timber lest out Posterities want what we so Prodigally squander away The next thing is our Manufactures whereby we Improve the value of our Products by the Labour of our Inhabitants and make them useful in sundry manners both for our selves and others fitting them for such Services as of their own Natures without the help of Art they would not have been proper and those to suit the Necessities and Humours both of our own and Foreign Countries to which we Export them where they yield a price not only according to the true value of the Materials and Labour but an overplus likewise suitable to the Necessity and Fancy of the Buyer and this adds to the profit of the Nation and increases its Wealth These Manufactures as they Imploy Multitudes of People in their making so also in Transporting them and fetching several Forreign Materials used with our own such as Oyl Dye-stuffe Silk Wool Cotten Barrilia and many others which are either Manufactured here of themselves or wrought up with our Product And first to begin with Sheeps Wool whereof either by it self or mixt with Silk or Linnen we make various sorts of pretty things fit for all Climates and proper for the wearing of both Sexes wherein the Invention and Imitation of our Workmen is so great that they have no Idea represented or Pattern set before them that is not soon out done from a strong heavy Cloath fit to keep out cold in Winter they turn their Hands to a fine thin sort which will scarse keep warm in Summer Ladies may now wear Gowns thereof so light that they can hardly know they have them on from hence they fell on Perpets Serges Crapes Stuffs Says Rattoons Gauzes Anthrines and many other sorts fit both for outward Garments and inward Linings of various Colors Stripes and Flowers some of them so fine and pleasant scarse to be known from Silk besides those multitudes of courser Clothes for the Poor also Rugs Blankets and all Furniture for Houses and such a Progress have they made in this sort of Manufactures that a Man may have his Picture wrought in Tapestry with the same exactness both for Life and Colors as if drawn with a curious Pencil for this I refer the Reader to those Hangings at the Custom-House in London where he may see the several Officers so lively represented in their Stations that want of Motion seems to be the only thing which differs them from their Originals One Workman endeavouring to exceed another they make things to answer all the ends of Silks Calicoes and Linnen of bare Sheeps Wool which if they were by Fashion brought into wearing would then be thought as handsom fine Flannel for Shirts white Crape for Neckclothes Cuffs and Head-Dresses besides the pretty Laces whereof we see various sorts used about the Dead and Caduce of several Colours in imitation of Ribbons also Hats Stockings and many such things are made of Wool and other Mixtures both worn at home and Exported abroad The next Material for our Manufactures is Cotton-Wool which is now become a great Imployment for the Poor and so adds to the Wealth of the Nation this being curiously pickt and spun makes Dimities Tapes Stockings Gloves besides several things wove fit for use as Petticoats wastcoats and Drawers
of different Fancies and Stripes and I doubt not our Workmen would exceed the East Indies for Calicoes had they Incouragment with all which we supply Forreign Markets besides the Consumption at home Hemp and Flax are the Grounds for another Manufacture for though Weaving of Linnen is not so much used here as of Woollen yet several Counties are maintained thereby who not only supply themselves but furnish those Bordering on them with such Cloth as answers the ends of French Linnens besides which great Quantities of Ticking of all finenesses Incle Tapes Sacking Girtwhip are daily made thereof also Cordage Twine Nets with multitudes of other Manufactures which Imploy the Poor and bring by their Exports Profit to the Nation Glass is a Manufacture lately fallen on here and in a short time brought to a great Perfection which keeps many at work the Materials whereof its made being generally our own and in themselves of small value costs the Nation little in Comparison of what it formerly did when fetcht from Venice those noble Plate Glases of all sizes both for Coaches and Houses are things of great Ornament and much used which also shew forth the Genius of the English People and for common uses what various sorts of Utensils are made of Flint fit for all the occasions of a Family which look as well as Silver and 't would be better for the Nation they were more used in its stead besides the ordinary Glass for Windows and also Glass Bottles all which find a greater expence both at home and abroad by their cheapness And as for Earthen Ware though the Progress we have made therein is not suitable to the other yet it hath been such as may give us cause to hope that time and Industry will bring it to a perfection equal if not to exceed the Dutch Silk is another Material for a great Manufacture which being brought from abroad Raw we here twist dye and weave into different goodness both plain stript and flowered either by it self or mix'd with Gold and Silver so richly brocadoed that we exceed those from whom at first we had the Art besides great Quantities of Ribbons Silk Stockings and other things daily made not only to serve our selves but also to Export Distilling is an Art so exceedingly Improved in a few Years that had it not met with Discouraging Laws 't would by this time have attained to a great height this brings great profit to the Nation for next to that of making something out of nothing is the making somthing of what is worth nothing therefore this Art ought to have been Handled very chearily to have been trained up with a great deal of gentleness and not loaden with Taxes in its Infancy like the Hen in the Fable we had not Patience to expect its Treasure as Time and Nature could produce it but by our Avarice were like to discourage it in the beginning however it hath still bore up under all the weight laid upon it 'T was a great mistake to appoint Measures by Act of Parliament to the Distillers in their workings Mens knowledge increases by Observation and this is the reason why one Age exceeds another in any sort of Mistery because they improve the Notions of their Predecessors therefore confining Distilling only to Corn was an Error 't is true other things were allowed to be used but on such Terms and Restrictions as were next to a Prohibition had the makers of that Law then Prohibited Coffee and Tea to be drank in Publick Houses it might more probably have answered their ends in advancing the price of Barly by a greater consumption of Ale and by degrees the Distillers would have fallen on that Commodity themselves using it with other mixtures and thereby drawing from it a cleaner Spirit then it doth afford of it self which they might in time have Rectified to such a fineness as to have increased very much its use No Nation can give more incouragement to the Mistery of Distilling then England whose Plantations being many and well Peopled where those Spirits are so necessary and useful for the Inhabitants and these depending wholly on us for all things might have been supplied with them hence only besides the great Quantities used in our Navigation therefore a total Prohibition of their Importation from other Nations who make them generally of such things which are else of little value would be very convenient We have many Materials of our own Product to work on such as are Melasses Cyder Perry Barly c. all which in time they would have used for as the Distillers found their sales increased they would have made new Essays It was a great discouragement both to them and also to the Sugar Bakers and Brewers to hinder Distilling on Mellasses Scum Tilts and Wash a fault the Dutch nor no Trading Nation besides our selves would have been guilty of and proceeded from ill Advice given that Parliament by those who under pretence of advancing Corn designed to discourage Distilling only took it by that handle they thought would be best received in the House which being generally made up of Gentlemen unskilful in Trade lookt no deeper into it than as it answered that plausible pretence whereas were Trading Cities and Towns more careful in chusing Men well Verst in Trade 〈◊〉 't would be much better for the Nation I cannot omit what a worthy Member of the House once told me in private Discourse says he I have always observed that when we have meddled with Trade we have left it worse than we found it which proceeds from want of more Traders in the House the places we depend on for them sending such Members as are able to give us but little Information 〈◊〉 so partial that we can take no true measures of them The truth is great Cities are to blame in this who ought to think none so fit to represent them in Parliament as those who have their Heads fill'd with good Notions of Trade such who can speak well to it and be heard when they speak Trade and Land go Hand in Hand as to their Interest if one flourish so will the other encourage Distilling and it will spend Hundreds of things now thrown away Refining of Sugars hath given Employment to our People and added to their value in Foreign Parts where we found great Sales till the Dutch and French beat us out and this was much to be attributed to the Duty of Two Shillings and Four Pence per Cent lately laid on Muscovado Sugars whereby they were wrought up abroad above Twelve per Cent cheaper than at home and though that Law is now expired yet 't is harder to regain a Trade when lost than keep it when we have it Tobacco also hath employed our Poor by Cutting and Rowling it both for a home Consumption and also for Exportation the latter we decay in every Year but Methods may be offered in Parliament to render those
to his Landlord who will be enabled to keep a more Plentiful Table spend more Wines Fruit Sugars Spices and other things wherewith he is furnished from the City wear better Cloaths suit himself and his Family oftner and carry on a greater Splendor in every thing The Farmer according to his condition may do the same and give higher Wages to the Labourers imployed in Husbandry who might then live more plentifully and buy new Cloaths oftner instead of patching up old by this means the Manufacturer would be encouraged to give a better price for Wool when he should find a Vent as fast as he could make and a Flux of Wealth causing variety of Fashions would add Wings to Mens Inventions when they shall see their Manufactures advanced in their Values by the Buyer's Fancy this likewise would encourage the Merchant to increase his Exports when he shall have a quick Vent for his Imports by which regular Circulation Payments would be short and all would grow rich but when Trade stops in the Fountain when the Gentleman and Farmer are kept poor every one in his order partakes of the same fate and this hath been a certain Rule grounded on the Observation of all Men who have spent time to look into it that in those Countrys where Provisions are low the People are generally poor both proceeding from the want of Trade So that he who would give a right judgment must not always consider things primâ facie as they offer themselves to us at first sight but as they appear to be in their Consequences Having thus gone through the State of this Nation in respect to its Trade we will next consider it with respect to the Poor And here it cannot but seem strange that England which so much abounds in Product and Manufactures besides the Imployment given in Navigation shouldwaâ—â— work for any of its People the Dutch who have little of the two former if compar'd with us and do not exceed us in the latter suffer no Beggars whereas we whose Wealth consists in the labour of our Inhabitants seem to encourage them in an idle way of living contrary both to their own and the Nation 's Interest Idleness though it cannot be called the Image of the Devil who is a busie active Spirit yet fits for any Impression for whilst People neglect by some honest Labour to serve the publick Good they too often fall on such Courses as render them publick Evils Livy that famous Historiographer observed it was the greatest Sedition that ever was in Rome when the Citizens went about with their Hands in their Pockets and would do nothing Hence it is that so many die Spectacles at Tyburn and offer themselves up Victims to Vice no councels could perswade nor Examples fright them from those evil Habits they had contracted by Idleness The Curse under which Man first fell was Labour That by the Sweat of his Brows he should eat his Bread this is a State of Happiness if compared to that which attends Idleness he that walks the Streets of London and observes the Fatigues used by the Beggars to make themselves seem Objects of Charity must conclude that they take more pains than an honest Man doth at his Trade and yet seem to me not to get Bread to eat and I wish that was all the Encouragement they met with I fear it is not such swarms of idle Drones would not then fill the Streets who are a Nursery of Vice Beggary is now become an Art or Mystery to which Children are educated from their Cradles any thing which may move Compassion seems a livelihood a sore Leg or Arm or for want thereof a pretended one the Tricks and Devices I have observed therein have often made me think that those parts if better imployed might be more useful to the Common-Wealth In handling this subject let us consider 1. What hath been the cause of this Mischief of Idleness and how it hath crept in on the Nation 2. What must be done to restrain it from growing farther 3. What Methods may be used to provide for those who are past their Labours As to the first we shall find that Sloath and a Desire of Ease is the principal Cause which appears by People's setting themselves on such ways of Living as our Fore-fathers would have been ashamed of nothing but this could induce young Men in their full Strengths slavishly to attend on selling a Cup of Ale or depreciate themselves to be Pimps to Vice they think by these ways to be maintained in Sloth Hereby Religion is despised and Vice promoted Men thinking if they should profess the first or discountenance the last they could not live on such lazy Terms and whence doth this proceed Truly partly from the abuse of those Laws we have and partly from want of better Licenses for Ale-houses were heretofore granted for good Ends not to draw Men aside from their Labour by Games and Sports but to support and refresh them under it And as they were then a Maintenance to the aged so poor Families had opportunities of being supplyed with a Cup of Ale from Abroad who could not keep it at Home great observation was also made to prevent idle Tipling our Forefathers considered that time so spent was a loss to the Nation whose Interest was improved by the work of its Inhabitants whereas now Ale-houses are encouraged principally to promote the Income of Excise on whom there must be no Restraint lest the King's Revenue be lessened thus we live by Sence and look only to things we see without revolving what the Issue will be not considering that the Labour of each Man if well imployed whilst he sits in an Ale-house would be worth more both to the King and Nation than all the Excise he pays Industry usually brings Wealth as its Concomitant and though Success may not always accompany private Men's Labours yet the Publick gets thereby Nor did we fall into this Habit of Sloath at once but by degrees when Luxury first crept in this was in the Embrio but hath been cocker'd up under it to the Pitch 't is now arrived much proceeds from Imitation our Gentry who have Estates betaking themselves to an useless way of Living those who had them not soon fell in love therewith and to this much of the Misery of the Nation is owing Men affect to be thought what they are not and leaving honest Labour spend their Patrimonies in fine Cloaths and keeping Company till being put to their shifts they are forced to betake themselves to play or begging Another thing which hath increased our useless People is the Nobility and Gentrys leaving the Country and choosing to reside in London whither they bring up with them Multitudes of lusty young Fellows who might have done good Service at the Plough had they continued there but having now no other Imployments than to hang on their Masters Coaches forget to work and rarely or never return again to Labour
more proper for younger People than for those of elder Years As for such who will rather choose to beg than work let them be forced to serve the King in his Fleet or Merchants on board their Ships the Sea is very good to cure sore Legs and Arms especially such as are counterfeit through Sloath against which the Capster accompanied with the Taunts of the Saylors is a certain Remedy Next for Ale-Houses Coffee-Houses and such like Imployments let them be kept only by aged People or such who have numerous Families and tended by Youth before they are fit to be put abroad And as for Maid-Servants let them be restrained from Excess in Apparrel and not permitted to leave their Services without Consent nor be entertained by others without Testimonials this will make them more orderly and governable than now they are No Servant should be permitted to wear a Sword except when Travelling and if all People of mean Qualities were prohibited the same 't would be of good consequence for when once they come to this they think themselves above Labour 'T would likewise be of great use to the Nation if Masters of Ships were obliged to carry with them some Land-men every Voyage which would much increase our Seamen therefore the Justices should have power to force them to enter such as were willing and to settle the Rates of their Wages I mean by Land-men those who have not been above three Voyages at Sea Young People should be prohibited from Hawking about the Streets and from selling Ballads if these things must be allowed they are fitter for the Aged Stage-Plays Lotteries and Gaming should be more strictly look'd after Youth in this Age of Idleness and Luxury being not only drawn aside by them but more willing to put themselves on such easie ways of living than Labour These and such like Methods being improved by the Wisdom of a Parliament may tend not only to the introducing a habit of Vertue amongst us but also to the making Multitudes of People serviceable who are now useless to the Nation there being scarce any one who is not capable of doing something towards his Maintenance and what his Labour doth fall short must be made up by Charity but as things now are no Man knows where 't is rightly placed by which means those who are truly Objects do not partake thereof And let it be also considered that if every Person did by his Labour get one Half Penny per diem to the Publick 't would bring in Six Millions Eighty Three Thousand Three Hundred Thirty Three Pounds Six Shillings and Eight Pence per Annum accounting Eight Millions of People to be in the Kingdom which would pay the Charge of the War so vast a Summ may be raised from the Labours of a Multitude if every one paid a little Nor is the sending lazy People to our Plantations abroad who can neither by good Laws be forced or by Rewards encouraged to work at Home so Prejudicial to the Nation as some do dream they still serve it in one of its Limbs where they must expect another sort of Treatment if they will not labour 't is true they give no help to the Manufactures here but that is made up in the Product they raise there which is also Profit to the Nation besides the Humours and other Circumstances of People are to be inquired into some have been very useful there who would never have been so here and if the People of England are imployed to the advantage of the Community no matter in what part of the King's Dominions it is many Hundreds by going to those Plantations have become profitable Members to the Common-Wealth who had they continued here had still remained idle Drones now they raise Sugar Cotten Tobacco and other things which imploy Saylors abroad and Manufacturers at Home all which being the Product of Earth and Labour I take to be the Wealth of the Nation The Imployment of Watermen on the River Thames breeds many Saylors and it were good to keep them still fill'd with Apprentices also the Imployment of Bargemen Lighter-men and Trow-men both on that and other Rivers does the same who should be encouraged to breed up Land-men and fit them for the Sea Confining the Importation of Sugars from the Plantations to Muscovadoes would give Life to our Refining Houses at Home so would prohibiting as much as may be the Shipping thither things unwrought give Encouragement to our Manufactures both which would imploy the Poor Idleness is the Foundation of all those Vices which prevail amongst us People aiming to be maintained any way rather than by Labour betake themselves to all sorts of Villanies the ill Consequences whereof cannot be prevented but by encouraging Youth in an early Delight of Living by Industry which would keep up a true English Spirit in them and create a Desire to secure a Property in what they have whereas a sloathful Dependance on another's Bounty makes Men slavishly give up all at the Will of their Benefactors and having no Properties of their own to secure are easily perswaded to part with their Liberties this a former Reign knew well when the Ministers of that Court found an Inclination in the People to sell their Priviledges for Luxury and ease And certainly nothing hath so much supported the Rights and Priviledges of the Commons of England as making so many of them Free-holders whereby they are encouraged to make Improvements where they have Properties and to defend them when made Estates raised by their own Industry and Labours which likewise stirrs up Tenants to endeavour by the same means to attain the same ends a Spirit great where-ever it is tho in the meanest Peasants when they rather desire to live of their own than by Dependance on others this puts them on honest Endeavours these get them Credit and Reputation which gives Opportunities of advancing their Fortunes and if this Emulation went through the Kingdom we should not have so many lazy Beggars or Licentious Livers as now there are nor is God more honoured among any than He is among these industrious People who abhor Vice on equal Principles of Religion and good Husbandry Labour being usually a Barrier against Sin which doth generally come in at the Doors of Idleness The third Consideration is what Methods may be used to provide for those who either are not able to work or whose Labours cannot support their Charge Here I take Alms-Houses to be good Gifts where they are designed to relieve Impotent old Age or educate Youth not to maintain idle Beggars or ease rich Parishes but to provide for those who have been bred up in careful Imployments though notable to stem the Current of a cross Fortune Such a one is magnificently built and suitably endowed by a certain Gentleman near a great City for which he deserves to be truly honoured though perhaps he may scarce be imitated Another way to provide for those who are true