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and enterprising. I have often seen men carry ou their shoulders baskets of manure up steep ascents inaccessible to beasts of burden, and this for the purpose of cultivating some little insulated spot of ground, which did not appear worth any such labour. The country-women wear their knitting fastened round their waists, in order to have it at hand to fill up every little interval that occurs in their domestic employments. If a Swiss woman goes to fetch water from the fountain, or faggots from the wood, her burden is skilfully poised on her head, whilst her fingers busily ply the needles. But industrious as they are, the resources of the country are too limited to enable a father of a family to provide for all his children; some of them are therefore obliged to emigrate, and seek their fortune in a foreign land, which offers greater resources to their industry. Hence the number of Swiss merchants, governesses, shopkeepers, and servants, that are to be met with in almost all countries would not these people be happier if they found means of exercising their industry and their talents in a country to which they are all so much attached, and which they have so much reason to love. In the energy of youthful vigour men may often quit their own country, and live happily in a foreign land; but enquire of the parents who are on the point of separating from their children as soon as they have attained the hopeful age of

manhood, whether their country would be less happy for offering them the means of employment and maintenance at home.

The Swiss cannot afford to support a standing army for the defence of their territory; they are therefore under the necessity of engaging their troops in the service of foreign potentates, in order to provide for a part of their population, and to have a resource by calling them home in times of danger. Would not these soldiers be happier in defending their own country, than in shedding their blood as mercenaries in the cause of foreigners? We have a remarkable proof of it, in the effect which their patriotic songs are said to produce on them; when these simple airs recall to their minds their beloved and regretted country, it either drives them to desertion, or renders their lives miserable; and so deep is the impression made by these national airs, that it was found necessary to forbid their being sung by the troops in foreign service.

CAROLINE.

There is no withstanding your attacks, Mrs B. You drive me from all my strong holds. I expected to have found a safe asylum in the mountains of Switzerland, but I see that I must once more take refuge in London, where I am sure you will admit that the contrast between the luxuries of

the rich and the wretchedness of the poor is shocking to every person of common feeling.

MRS. B.

If the wretchedness of the poor were the effect of the luxuries of the rich, I should certainly agree with you on that point; but I believe it to be otherwise. However, as the people, whose progress towards wealth and civilisation we have been tracing in our two last conversations, are yet far from being sufficiently advanced in their career to be guilty of any great excess in luxury, we must patiently follow them in their advancement in knowledge and the acquisition of wealth before we treat of the subject of luxury.

CONVERSATION V.

ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.

ORIGIN OF BARTER. DIVISION OF LABOUR. EXTRACTS FROM SMITH'S WEALTH OF NATIONS ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.-ADVANTAGES OF MACHINERY. EFFECTS OF THE

DIVISION OF

LABOUR ON THE MORALS AND INTELLECTS OF THE PEOPLE.

RECAPITULATION.

MRS. B.

WE have ascertained that the establishment and security of property were the chief causes of the emancipation of mankind from the shackles of sloth and ignorance; but there are other subordinate causes which tend greatly to promote the progress of industry and civilisation. The first of these is the introduction of exchange or barter.

We observed that when men found they could

they laboured with redoubled activity, and far from being satisfied with a scanty and temporary maintenance, they provide for the future, they accumulate a little store not only of the necessaries, but of the comforts and conveniencies of life. The one has a stock of arrows for the chase, another of provisions for the winter, a third of clothes or ornaments for his person. They will remain in undisturbed possession of this little property; but those who can no longer obtain it by force or fraud will endeavour to procure it by other means. In the hunting season they will apply to the fabricator of arrows; but they will not go to him with empty hands; they must be provided with something to offer in exchange for the arrows, something which they think will tempt him to part with them whilst those who have nothing to give in return will wish in vain to obtain them.

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Here then is a new incitement to a spirit of industry. Whoever has accumulated more than he wants of any commodity, may find means of exchanging the surplus for something that will gratify other desires. As objects of desire increase, the wish to possess and the effort to obtain them increase also; and the industry of man is exerted either in producing them himself, or in producing something by means of which he may obtain them. Thus the torpid apathy and languid indolence of a savage

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