wealthy. These desires create wealth. It is not the gifts of nature, nor the constraints of law, that heap up the stores of value. It is the force with which man moves to production, wholly determined, as that is, by his economic desires. The luxury of European courts has no elevating influence upon the masses: quite otherwise. Robbed to furnish the means of others, they are hopeless of ever attaining to such fortune themselves. But where the grades of society are fixed only by differences of natural endowment, and so are moderate and regular, rising by easy steps, the entire population becomes inspired with the purpose of reaching a higher position. In such a state, the imagination can hardly run ahead of wealth.

We have, then, attained the principle, that luxurious consumption, while it directly gives no help to industry, but rather spends in one hour's enjoyment the provision of months or years, may yet, by its influence on man's desires, create a productive force which shall make its extravagance seem economy, its waste appear frugality itself.

But this is only true of harmonious, temperate, and wellproportioned luxury. There are indulgences, great courses of indulgence, which, while they excite, momentarily to production for the means of gratification, do yet, by their certain and inevitable effect on the physical and mental powers of the individual, by their demoralizing and perverting influence on the community, prostrate industry, and overturn the foundations of the state. Many as are the unfortunate possibilities which attend upon production and distribution, they are all inferior in interest to the momentous decisions of consumption; and here in luxury, as we find the spring of all beneficent activity, we also find the root of all economic evils. So vast and so important are the issues here involved, that many of them are taken away from the political economist by the statesman or the moralist. We do not propose to follow these principles into all their results; content with only indicating their starting-point and direction.

Such is luxurious consumption, in its definition and its general principles. We shall further discuss the degree to which it is, or may be, carried in any community.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE DEGREE OF LUXURIOUS CONSUMPTION.

WE mistake, if we attribute luxuries to the rich alone. It is estimated, on the best authority, that of the taxes paid by the laboring poor of England, out of every twenty-one shillings, eleven shillings and fourpence were paid for what was, in the economic view, not necessary, and, in the sanitary view, not beneficial. If we estimate the amount expended for luxuries by the corresponding class in our own country, we shall find it as much greater as nature is more liberal, labor more free, taxes lighter, and the workingman more ambitious and sanguine; while, if we turn to France, we find the proportion much smaller; yet even here the laborer has his holiday, and his theatre or fair.

Paradoxical as it may sound, it may be said that a certain amount of luxuries forms a part of the necessary wages of the laborer in these countries. Indeed, it is true of all countries; for the human mind and the human body will have rest and recreation in some form. Man is not all laborer. Some indulgence is the demand of that part of his nature which looks out on another field than production and accumulation. And in this light we see the vast importance of such social and moral influences as shall determine the laboring classes to those relaxations and amusements which really refresh both mind and body, and elevate the whole tone of being. If we mistake not, a mighty industrial revolution, that promises effects more searching and permanent than many illustrious victories in arms, is now being accomplished by the divergence in taste

and amusements of two nations. Great Britain has, thus far, maintained supremacy in useful and ponderous manufactures; while the artisans of France have been almost alone in the department of elegant and delicate fabrics. But the signs are clear that France is rapidly rising into superiority in the former class of industries, and may yet attain the primacy throughout the world. The French workman is so economical, not only in his personal habits, but, in handling materials and tools, has such generally correct and wholesome tastes, and is so simple in his wants, that his work is cheap as well as efficient. On the contrary, the English laborer seeks more and more the delusive relief of strong and impure liquors, and, by this, adds so much to his expenses, and takes so much from his power in production, as to place him at a real and increasing disadvantage. It hardly admits of question, that, if the present causes operate for twenty years to come, the close of that period will find the most mercurial and sensitive people of the world enjoying the supremacy of its weighty and useful manufactures.

National taste determines, in a great measure, the demands of wages. It is only required, by our present object, that we take a good look at the luxuries of the poor; not by any means grudgingly. Indeed, we may ask why laborers are not everywhere allowed more time and means for enjoyment, outside the dull routine of work and the dry subsistence of life. It is a wise and Christian statesmanship that seeks to enlarge the simple pleasures of the poor. It is a capital charge against despotism in every form, that it breaks down the power of the humbler classes, to claim them. As the intelligence of laborers increases, and their political franchises extend, they will assert a larger share of the products of industry; and very much of this will go into what we call, not invidiously, luxuries.

But it is with regard to the richer classes that the question of luxuries becomes especially important. The amount

of wealth directed to these objects can hardly be overestimated.

The excise and customs authorities of Great Britain recently made an attempt to ascertain the shares of certain articles consumed, severally, by three classes into which they divided the population of the kingdom. The result is shown in the following table: *_

In these simple articles, which are almost included in the strict necessaries of life, we see the great excess of the expenditure of the upper classes. When we rise to take in services of plate and sets of jewelry, galleries of pictures and parks of deer, studs of horses and packs of hounds, we shall be impressed with the immensity of outlay devoted to the luxuries of society.

We are not surprised to hear that at Rome "almost any profession, either liberal or mechanical, might be found in the household of, an opulent senator;"† that one thousand barbers, one thousand cooks, and one thousand cup-bearers were employed in the imperial service of Con-. stantinople, while the chief cook had a retinue of twenty menials; that the baggage of a Persian monarch was carried by twenty thousand camels, even in campaign; that Zingis Khan maintained seven thousand huntsmen and seven thousand falconers; that the revenue of two thousand villages supported the temple of Sournat; that four cities were allowed for the personal expenses of the dogs of a royal establishment; that the household of Philip II.

The poodle of the Empress Livia seems to have been neglected. If the authorities may be accepted, it enjoyed the entire services of only one man. -Gibbon, ch. 49, n. 155.

numbered one thousand five hundred, while the queen was attended by four physicians.

Nor was the luxury of those times of barbarous might greater than that of to-day. An easy walk with any people, whether in city or country, will afford contrasts as striking and painful as that between the palaces of Susa and the corners into which the common people crept for sleep; between the mansions on the Quirinal and the holes in which "Rome's rats" hid their wretched lives.

1st, What are the causes that set wealth apart for luxury?

(a) The most essential is the existence of a surplus. Other things equal, the degree of luxury will be as the surplus. The latter, however, will depend not so much on the general mass of wealth as on its apportionment among producers.

(b) The desire to gain and the desire to spend are antagonistic. They meet in every act of life, and one or the other must have its way. Luxury is the victory of the latter passion. The mere possession of a surplus is not enough. Some men remain eagerly devoted to gain, when their wealth is counted in millions: others retire, satisfied with the most moderate competency. The force of either motive will be greatly influenced, both by the security and the profitableness of investments. Every thing that renders business unsafe, makes withdrawal more desirable. On the other hand, every thing which raises the reward of capital, takes something from the zest of luxury.

2d, To what extent can wealth be devoted to luxury? Gibbon gives countenance to the theory, that no state can, without soon becoming exhausted, support more than a hundreth part of its population in arms and idleness. This is to be understood as a hundredth part of the population, taken out of the able-bodied males; say, a twentieth part of these. The estimate is interesting, and has a certain share of truth; but its form shows it to be a very rude one.