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
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
Add to this the great Numbers who are employed in Offices about the Revenue Men who might have been serviceable either in Husbandry or Manufactures but now they and their Families are wholly taken off from both the Fathers chief Aim being to get the Son into the same way of Living What Multitudes of Coffee-houses are there in London and other places who keep lusty Servants and breed them up to nothing whereby they may be profitable to the Kingdom What swarms of Youth go off to the Law who being the Sons of Yeomen and Handecrafts Trades had been more useful to the Nation if bred up in their Father's Imployments Besides those who live only by Buying and Selling wherein wanting Success they have no way to maintain themselves or their Families But above all our Laws to put the Poor at work are short and defective tending rather to maintain them so then to raise them to a better way of Living 't is true those Laws design well but consisting only in generals and not reducing things to practicable Methods they fall short of answering their Ends and thereby render the Poor more bold when they know the Parish Officers are bound either to provide them Work or give them Maintenance Now if England delighted more in improving its Manufactures ways might be found out to imploy all its Poor and then 't would be a shame for any Person capable of Labour to live idle which leads me to the second consideration what must be done to restrain this habit of Idleness from growing farther Here I find that nothing but good Laws can do it such as will provide work for those who are willing and force them to work that are able To begin with Manufactures Here I should think Work-houses very expedient but then they must be founded on such Principles as may employ the Poor which can never be done on any thing I have hitherto seen nor will such Work-houses take effect till the Poor can every Week make Returns of their Stock which might be contrived did the Genius of the Nation set in earnest about it they must be fitted for the Poor and the Poor for them Imployments must be provided in them for all sorts of People who must also be compelled to go thither when sent and the Work-houses to receive them the Stocks whereby they are maintained must likewise turn often for to put the Poor on ways of Traffick is too dilatory for the Ends intended they must be rather Assistants to the Manufacturers than such themselves Now the Materials which seem most proper for these Work-houses are Simples such as Wool Hemp Cotten and many others which might either be sent in by the Manufacturers on such equal Shares as the Justices should think fit or be bought up on a stock raised for that end in both cases to be taken off and paid for when brought to such a perfection as the Rules of the House should direct and that every week or so often as the Stock should require to let the Poor have their Wages to serve their Occasions these things would employ great Numbers of People of both Sexes and all Ages either by beating and fitting the Hemp for the Ropemaker or dressing the Flax for the Shops or more especially by Carding and Spinning the Wool and Cotten of different finenesses which would be used in the various sorts of Manufactures we make and if a reward were given to that Person who should spin the finest Thread of either to be adjudged yearly and paid by the County 't would very much promote Industry and Ingenuity whilst every one being prickt on by Ambition and Hopes of Profit would endeavour to exceed the rest by which means we should grow more excellent in our Manufactures Nor should these Houses hinder any who desire to work at home or the Manufacturers from imploying them in their own the design is to provide places for those who care not to work any where and to make the Officers of Parishes industrious to find out such Vermin when they shall know where to send them by which means they would be better able to maintain the Impotent It seems also convenient that these Work-Houses when setled in Cities and great Towns should not be Parochial only but one or more in each place as will best suit it which would prevent the Poor's being sent from Parish to Parish as now they are and provided for no where Oakham also is a fit Material for them which might be beat there and for that end Old Junk be bought up and those who caulk Ships be obliged to take it off at a certain Price Tobacco also would imploy multitudes of People in picking stripping cutting and rowling it which might be wrought up either in Publick or Private Work-houses where Boys might be imploy'd till they came to Years fit for the Sea and when once the Poor shall come by use to be in Love with Labour 't will be strange to see an idle Person then they will be so far from being a Burthen to the Nation that they will be its Wealth and their Lives also will become more comfortable to themselves There are other things which will employ the Poor besides our Manufactures and more proper for Men which are also equally beneficial to the Nation such as are Navigation Husbandry and Handecrafts Here if these or such like Rules were observed they might be made more Advantageous to all As first let every Gentleman who takes a Footboy be obliged to put him into some way for his future Livelihood to whom he should be bound for a certain number of Years and no Person should be permitted to continue so after such an Age. Let every Merchant or Trader who keeps a Foot-boy be also obliged to breed him up in Business and at a certain Age to set him to some Trade or imploy him in Navigation wherein he should cause him to be instructed by this Means that which now makes lazy Beggars would then be the Nation 's Advantage I think it a comely sight when I see Commanders of Ships attended on by such Boys because 't is rarely seen but that they breed them up to be useful Men and when the Pride of Living tends to the Common Good 't is very well directed Another way to provide for our Youth would be by giving a Power to Justices of the Peace to assign them to Artificers Husbandmen Manufacturers and Marriners at such Ages as they shall think them fit to go on those Imployments who should also be obliged to receive them and tho' at first this may seem hard as hindring their Masters from taking Servants who might bring them Money yet after some time it would not when those who were so bound out shall only do for others what was done for them before and this also may now be made good to them by such an Overplus of Years in their Apprentiships as may countervail the Money I allow that these Methods are