BOOK

II.

The revenue of an individual may be spent, either in things which are confumed immediately, and in which one day's expence can neither alleviate nor fupport that of another; or it may be fpent in things more durable, which can therefore be accumulated, and in which every day's expence may, as he chufes, either alleviate or fupport and heighten the effect of that of the following day. A man of fortune, for example, may either spend his revenue in a profufe and fumptuous table, and in maintaining a great number of menial fervants, and a multitude of dogs and horfes; or contenting himfelf with a frugal table and few attendants, he may lay out the greater part of it in adorning his houfe or his country villa, in useful or ornamental buildings, in useful or ornamental furniture, in collecting books, ftatues, pictures; or in things more frivolous, jewels, baubles, ingenious trinkets of different kinds; or, what is moft trifling of all, in amaffing a great wardrobe of fine clothes, like the favourite and minifter of a great prince who died a few years ago. Were two men of equal fortune to spend their revenue, the one chiefly in the one way, the other in the other, the magnificence of the perfon whofe expence had been chiefly in durable commodities, would be continually increafing, every day's expence contributing fomething to fupport and heighten the effect of that of the following day that of the other, on the contrary, would be no greater at the end of the period than at the beginning. The former too would, at the end of the period,

be

be the richer man of the two. He would have C HA P. III. a ftock of goods of fome kind or other, which, though it might not be worth all that it cost, would always be worth fomething. No trace or veftige of the expence of the latter would remain, and the effects of ten or twenty years profufion would be as completely annihilated as if they had never existed.

As the one mode of expence is more favourable than the other to the opulence of an individual, fo is it likewife to that of a nation. The houfes, the furniture, the clothing of the rich, in a little time become useful to the inferior and middling ranks of people. They are able to purchase them when their fuperiors grow weary of them, and the general accommodation of the whole people is thus gradually improved, when this mode of expence becomes univerfal among men of fortune. In countries which have long been rich, you will frequently find the inferior ranks of people in poffeffion both of houfes and furniture perfectly good and entire, but of which neither the one could have been built, nor the other have been made for their ufe. What was formerly a feat of the family of Seymour, is now an inn upon the Bath road. The marriage bed of James the First of Great Britain, which his Queen brought with her from Denmark, as a prefent fit for a fovereign to make to a fovereign, was, a few years ago, the ornament of an alehouse at Dunfermline. In fome ancient cities, which either have been long stationary, or have gone fomewhat to decay, you will fometimes fcarce

4

II.

BOOK fcarce find a fingle houfe which could have been built for its prefent inhabitants. If you go into thofe houfes too, you will frequently find many excellent, though antiquated pieces of furniture, which are still very fit for ufe, and which could as little have been made for them. Noble palaces, magnificent villas, great collections of books, ftatues, pictures, and other curiofities, are frequently both an ornament and an honour, not only to the neighbourhood, but to the whole country to which they belong. Verfailles is an ornament and an honour to France, Stowe and Wilton to England. Italy ftill continues to command fome fort of veneration by the number of monuments of this kind which it poffeffes, though the wealth which produced them has decayed, and though the genius which planned them feems to be extinguished, perhaps from not having the fame employment.

The expence too, which is laid out in durable commodities, is favourable, not only to accumulation, but to frugality. If a perfon fhould at any time exceed in it, he can easily reform with. out expofing himself to the cenfure of the public. To reduce very much the number of his fervants, to reform his table from great profufion to great frugality, to lay down his equipage after he has once fet it up, are changes which cannot efcape the obfervation of his neighbours, and which are fuppofed to imply fome acknowledgement of preceding bad conduct. Few, therefore, of thofe who have once been fo unfortunate as to launch out too far into this fort of expence,

III.

have afterwards the courage to reform, till ruin CHAP. and bankruptcy oblige them. But if a perfon has at any time, been at too great an expence in building, in furniture, in books or pictures, no imprudence can be inferred from his changing his conduct. Thefe are things in which further expence is frequently rendered unneceflary by former expence; and when a perfon ftops fhort, he appears to do fo, not becaufe he has exceeded his fortune, but becaufe he has fatisfied his fancy.

The expence, befides, that is laid out in durable commodities, gives maintenance, commonly, to a greater number of people, than that which is employed in the moft profufe hofpitality. Of two or three hundred weight of provifions, which may fometimes be ferved up at a great festival, one-half, perhaps, is thrown to the dunghill, and there is always a great deal wafted and abufed. But if the expence of this entertainment had been employed in fetting to work mafons, carpenters, upholsterers, mechanics, &c. a quantity of provifions, of equal value, would have been diftributed among a ftill greater number of people, who would have bought them in penny-worths and pound weights, and not have loft or thrown away a fingle ounce of them. In the one way, befides, this expence maintains productive, in the other unproductive hands. In the one way, therefore, it increafes, in the other, it does not increafe, the exchangeable value of the annual produce of the land and labour of the country.

I would

II.

BOOK. I would not, however, by all this be underflood to mean, that the one fpecies of expence always betokens a more liberal or generous fpirit than the other. When a man of fortune fpends his revenue chiefly in hofpitality, he shares the greater part of it with his friends and companions; but when he employs it in purchafing fuch durable commodities, he often spends the whole upon his own person, and gives nothing to any body without an equivalent. The latter fpecies of expence, therefore, especially when directed towards frivolous objects, the little ornaments of drefs and furniture,jewels, trinkets, gewgaws, frequently indicates, not only a trifling, but a base and selfish difpofition. All that I mean is, that the one fort of expence, as it always occafions fome accumulation of valuable commodities, as it is more favourable to private frugality, and, confequently, to the increase of the public capital, and as it maintains productive, rather than unproductive hands, conduces more than the other to the growth of public opulence.

CHAP.