try-feat, is enormous. But if to these there be added the charge of a miftrefs, that alone will furmount all the reft; and the expence of a fteward will exceed all the others put together: For as none of the other dependents upon a great man have it in their power to do more than run away with a little of his cafh, or the provifions of his houfe from time to time, they cannot utterly ruin him without his own knowledge: But the fteward, having the receiving and paying of all in his own hands, may very eafily, in a fhort time, if his accounts are not looked into, appropriate to himself the bulk of the estate, and ruin his mafter before he has any fufpicion of his affairs being out of order.

Is it

It seems to me very unaccountable, that men of fortune fhould think it neceffary to go to the utmost stretch of their incomes, and generally beyond them; when they muft find, that a crowd of fervants and dependents is but a disturbance to happiness, which requires peace and tranquillity, and flies from noife and oftentation. neceffary for popularity? By no means. Half the money laid out for the service of the public, or in judicious charities, would procure a gentleman the real efteem and affection of his neighbours; whereas the greatest expence laid out upon thofe blood-fuckers, which generally feed upon the great, does but expofe him to their contempt, who laugh in their fleeve to find they can fo grofsly gull him out of his money.

The employing a number of working people in improving barren grounds, in laying out plantations, in raifing buildings for a continual increase of tenants upon a thriving eftate, with the acquifition of new inhabitants, the encouragement of manufactures, and providing for the poor; there are the arts that will gain a countrygentleman more popularity, than keeping open house the whole year round.

Let me advise young people to be particularly cautious of new fchemes or projects. There is not one of a hundred that ever fucceeds at all; nor one of many hundreds that brings their inventors any thing but difappointment and ruin. The reafon is pretty plain. It requires a great expence to fet any new fcheme on foot.

The

The bulk of mankind are prejudiced against novelties, and confequently are apt to oppofe them. The generality of people are likewife jealous of every scheme that may any way affect their intereft; and many from pure envy, take a pleasure in oppofing and depreciating every new propofal. The contriver himself is greatly at a lofs, being obliged to try various methods to bring his defigns to bear, and to lay out a certain expence for an uncertain profit. So that we obferve accordingly, whoever projects any thing new in fcience, in mechanics, or in trade, feldom does more than open the way for others to profit by his ingenuity.

What fhall be faid upon the fubject of pleasures and diverfions in an age, in which all ranks, fexes, and ages fun to excess in this refpe&? And yet to make the amufements of life the bufinefs of life, is abfurd in any rational being who has ever heard of a judgment to come, and who is not abfolutely certain (which I believe hardly any one will pretend) that he never fhall be called to give an account of the ufe he has made of his time. But if there be any abfurdity greater than another, it is, That a man of bufinefs fhould fet up for a man of taste and pleafures: Yet we fee the public diverfions of this great city crowded and fupported chiefly by the citizens. We fee those whose business is in town outvying one another in the elegancy of their countryhoufes; plays, balls, operas, mufic-gardens, concerts, reforted to by the loweft mechanics-the confequences of which extravagances are bankruptcies innumerable; -not to mention frauds, robberies, forgeries, and fo forth. It is no eafy matter to fupport a family in the most frugal way; but when to the ordinary conveniences of life, the above extravagances are to be added, there is no end of it; and the covetoufnefs of a spendthrift is incomparably more mifchievous than that of a mifer: The latter will, at worít, only grind the face of the poor, and take the advantage of all that are lefs cunning than himfelf; but the former will not flick at forgery, robbery, or murder.

At the fame time, that it is hardly poffible to fay too much against the inordinate purfuit of diverfions, which

even defeats its own end, becoming, through excess, a burden and fatigue, inftead of a relaxation; after all, I fay, that may be urged against this reigning folly of our times, I know no juft reason why a man of business fhould deny himself the moderate ufe of fuch innocent amufements as his fortune or leifure will allow; his fortune, in a confiftency with fupporting his family, and contributing to the relief of the indigent, and his leifure, in a consistency with the thorough knowledge of the ftate of his own affairs, and doing offices of kindness to thofe about him. Some of the most innocent amufements I know, are reading, viz. hiftory, lives, geography, and natural philofophy, with a very little choice poetry; the converfation of a few agreeable friends, and drawing, where there is a genius for it. To these may be added, riding on horfeback once or twice in a week, where it can be done conveniently.

Mufic is never fafely indulged, where there is too great a defire to excel in it; for that generally draws people into an expence of time and money, above what the accomplishment, carried to the greatest length, is worth.

As for cards, and all other ways of gaming, they are the ruin of rational converfation, the bane of society, and the curfe of the nation.

SECT. IV.

Of Over-trading. Of Integrity prudentially confidered. Of Credulity. Of prudent Conduct in cafe of a reverse of Fortune. Of the different Characters of Men, and how to apply them.

THE

HERE is one error in the conduct of the induftrious part of mankind, whofe effects prove as fatal to their fortunes as thofe of fome of the firft vices, though it is generally the most active and the ableft men who run into it: I mean, over-trading. Profufion itself is not more dangerous; nor does idleness bring more people to ruin, than launching out into trade beyond their abilities. The exuberant credit given in trade, though it is fometimes of advantage, efpecially

to

!

people whofe capitals are small, is yet perhaps upon the whole more detrimental than a general diffidence would be. For a young trader to take the utmoft credit he can have, is only running the utmost rifque he can run. And if he would confider, that as others truft him to a great extent, he mutt lay his account with trufting those he deals with to a great value likewife; and that confequently he must run a great many hazards of his own payments falling fhort, and that the failure or difappointment of two or three confiderable fums at the fame time, may difable him from making his payments regularly, which is utter ruin to his credit; if, I fay, a young trader were to confider in this manner the confequence of things, he would not think the offer of large credit fo much a favour as a foare; efpecially if he likewife reflected, that whoever offers him large credit, and for long time, without fufficient fecurity, will think he has a right to charge a very confiderable profit upon the commodities he feils him; and confequently the advantage he can gain by them, must be too inconfiderable to make up for the rifk he muft run. The trader who gives and takes large credit, efpecially if he has large concerns in foreign parts, and is not poffeffed of a very confiderable fortune, muft be liable to fuch hazards, and fuch terror and anxiety, that I should think a very moderate profit arifing from trading fafely, and within a reasonable compafs, much the most eligible. I know but one fort of trade in which large credit might be fafely taken, viz. where one could quickly make fales of large quantities of goods for ready money; and in fuch a trade, to take credit when one might buy to greater advantage for ready money, would be very abfurd.

There is no fubject which men of business ought to have oftener in their view, than the precariousness of human affairs. In order to the fuccefs of any scheme, it is neceffary that every material circumftance take place; as, in order to the right going of a watch or clock, it is neceffary that every one of the wheels be in order. To fucceed in trade, it is neceffary that a man be poffeffed of a large capital; that he be well qualified (which E 2 alone

alone comprehends a great many particulars); that his integrity be unfufpected; that he have no enemies to blaft his credit; that foreign and home markets keep nearly according to his expectations; that thofe he deals with, and credits to any great extent, be both as honeft and as fufficient as he believes them to be; that his funds never fail him when he depends on them; and that, in fhort, every thing turn out to his expectation. But furely it muft require a very great degree of that fanguine temper, fo common in youth to make a man perfuade himself that there is no manner of hazard of his finding himself deceived or difappointed in fome one among fo many particulars. Yet we commonly fee inftances of bankruptcies, where a trader fhall have gone to the extent of perhaps ten times the value of his capital; and by means of large credit, and raifing money with one hand, to pay with the other, has fupported himself upon the effects of other people, till at length fome one or other of his laft fhifts failing him, down he finks with his own weight, and brings hundreds to ruin with him.

Upon the head of over-trading, and haftening to be rich, I cannot help making a remark on the conduct of many traders of large capitals, who, for the fake of adding to a heap, already too great, monopolize the market, or trade for a profit which they know dealers of fmaller fortunes cannot poffibly live by. If fuch men really think, that their raifing themfelves thus on the ruin of others is juftifiable, and that riches got in this manner are fairly gained, they muft either have neglected properly informing their confciences, or muft have ftifled their remonftrances.

Whoever would thrive in trade, let him take care, above all things, to keep up to ftrict integrity. If a trader is once known to be guilty of taking exorbitant profits, or other unfair advantages of thofe he deals with, there is an end of his character: And unless a man can get a fortune by one tranfaction, it is madness in prudentials to hazard his whole reputation at once: And even if he could, giving his foul for an cftate would be but a lofing trade. But of this more hereafter.

When