consider what is paid by, or by Means of, the meanest No. 200. Subjects, in order to compute the Value of every Friday, Subject to the Prince. For my own Part, I should believe that seven Eighths of the People are without Property in themselves or the Heads of their Families, and forc'd to work for their daily Bread; and that of this Sort there are seven Millions in the whole Island of Great Britain: And yet one would imagine that seven Eighths of the whole People should consume at least three Fourths of the whole Fruits of the Country. If this is the Case, the Subjects without Property pay three Fourths of the Rents, and consequently enable the landed Men to pay three Fourths of their Taxes. Now if so great a Part of the Land Tax were to be divided by seven Millions, it would amount to more than three Shillings to every Head. And thus as the Poor are the Cause, without which the Rich could not pay this Tax, even the poorest Subject is upon this Account worth three Shillings yearly to the Prince. Again: One would imagine the Consumption of seven Eighths of the whole People should pay two Thirds of all the Customs and Excises, And if this Sum too should be divided by seven Millions, viz. the Number of poor People, it will amount to more than seven Shillings to every Head: And therefore with this and the former Sum, every poor Subject, without Property, except of his Limbs or Labour, is worth at least ten Shillings yearly to the Sovereign So much then the Queen loses with every one of her old, and gains with every one of her new Subjects, When I was got into this way of thinking, I presently grew conceited of the Argument, and was just preparing to write a letter of Advice to a Member of Parliament, for opening the Freedom of our Towns and Trades, for taking away all manner of Distinctions between the Natives and Foreigners, for repealing our Laws of Parish Settlements, and removing every other Obstacle to the Increase of the People. But as soon as I had recollected with what inimitable Eloquence my Fellow Labourers had exaggerated the Mischiefs October 19, 1711. of No. 200, of selling the Birth-right of Britons for a Shilling, of spoiling the pure British Blood with foreign Mixtures, of introducing a Confusion of Languages and Religions, and of letting in Strangers to eat the Bread out of the Mouths of our own People, I became so humble as to let my Project fall to the Ground, and leave my Country to encrease by the ordinary way of Generation. As I have always at Heart the Publick Good, so I am ever contriving Schemes to promote it; and I think I may without Vanity pretend to have contriv'd some as wise as any of the Castle-builders. I had no sooner given up my former Project, but my Head was presently full of draining Fens and Marshes, banking out the Sea, and joining new Lands to my Country; for since it is thought impracticable to increase the People to the Land, I fell immediately to consider how much would be gained to the Prince by increasing the Land to the People, If the same Omnipotent Power which made the World, should at this Time raise out of the Ocean and join to Great Britain an equal Extent of Land, with equal Build ings, Corn, Cattle, and other Conveniences and Neces saries of Life, but no Men, Women, nor Children, I should hardly believe this would add either to the Riches of the People or Revenue of the Prince; for since the present Buildings are sufficient for all the Inhabitants, if any of them should forsake the old to inhabit the new Part of the Island, the Increase of House-Rent in this would be attended with at least an equal Decrease of it in the other: Besides, we have such a Sufficiency of Corn and Cattle, that we give Bounties to our Neigh bours to take what exceeds of the former off our Hands, and we will not suffer any of the latter to be imported upon us by our Fellow Subjects; and for the remaining Product of the Country, 'tis already equal to all our Markets: But if all these things should be doubled to the same Buyers, the Owners must be glad with half their present Prices, the Landlords with half their present Rents; and thus by so great an Enlargement of the Country, the Rents in the whole would not increase, nor the Taxes to the Publick. On October 19, 1711. On the contrary, I should believe they would be No. 200, very much diminished; for as the Land is only valu Friday, able for its Fruits, and these are all perishable, and for the most Part must either be used within the Year, or perish without Use, the Owners will get rid of them at any Rate, rather than they should waste in their Possession: So that 'tis probable the annual Production of those perishable things, even of one Tenth Part of them, beyond all Possibility of Use, will reduce one half of their Value. It seems to be for this Reason that our Neighbour Merchants who engross all the Spices, and know how great a Quantity is equal to the Demand, destroy all that exceeds it. It were natural then to think that the Annual Production of twice as much as can be used, must reduce all to an Eighth Part of their present Prices; and thus this extended Island would not exceed one Fourth Part of its present Value, or pay more than one Fourth Part of the present Tax It is generally observed, That in Countries of the greatest Plenty there is the poorest Living; like the Schoolmen's Ass, in one of my Speculations, the People almost starve between two Meals. The Truth is, the Poor, which are the Bulk of a Nation, work only that they may live; and if with two Days Labour they can get a wretched Subsistence for a Week, they will hardly be brought to work the other four: But then with the Wages of two Days they can neither pay such Prices for their Provisions, nor such Excises to the Goverment. That Paradox therefore in old Hesiod Téov μov avrós, or Half is more than the Whole, is very applicable to the present Case; since nothing is more true in political Arithmetick, than that the same People with half a Country is more valuable than with the whole. I begin to think there was nothing absurd in Sir W. Petty, when he fancied if all the Highlands of Scotland, and the whole Kingdom of Ireland were sunk in the Ocean, so that the People were all saved and brought into the Lowlands of Great Britain; nay tho' they were to be reimburst the Value of their Estates by the Body of the People, yet both the Sovereign and the Subjects in general would be enriched by the very Loss. If No. 200, If the People only make the Riches, the Father of ten Children is a greater Benefactor to his Country than he who has added to it 10000 Acres of Land and no People. It is certain Lewis has join'd vast Tracts of Land to his Dominions: But if Philarithmus says true, that he is not now Master of so many Subjects as before; we may then account for his not being able to bring such mighty Armies into the Field, and for their being neither so well fed, nor cloathed, nor paid as formerly, The Reason is plain, Lewis must needs have been impoverished not only by his Loss of Subjects, but by his Acquisition of Lands. No, 201, IT Saturday, October 20, Religentem esse oportet, religiosum nefas, Τ T is of the last Importance to season the Passions of a Child with Devotion, which seldom dies in a Mind that has received an early Tincture of it. Though it may seem extinguished for a while by the Cares of the World, the Heats of Youth, or the Allurements of Vice, it generally breaks out and discovers it self again as soon as Discretion, Consideration, Age or Misfortunes have brought the Man to himself. The Fire may be covered and overlaid, but cannot be entirely quenched and smothered, A State of Temperance, Sobriety and Justice without Devotion, is a cold, lifeless, insipid Condition of Virtue; and is rather to be stiled Philosophy than Religion. Devotion opens the Mind to great Conceptions, and fills it with more sublime Ideas than any that are to be met with in the most exalted Science; and at the same time warms and agitates the Soul more than sensual Pleasure, It has been observed by some Writers, that Man is more distinguished from the Animal World by Devotion than by Reason, as several Brute Creatures discover in their Actions something like a faint glimmering of Reason, though they betray in no single Circumstance of their Behaviour any thing that bears the least Affinity to October 20, 1711 to Devotion. It is certain, the Propensity of the Mind No. 201 to Religious Worship; the Natural Tendency of the Soul Saturday, to fly to some Superior Being for Succour in Dangers and Distresses; the Gratitude to an invisible Superin tendent which rises in us upon receiving any extra ordinary and unexpected good Fortune; the Acts of Love and Admiration with which the Thoughts of Men are so wonderfully transported in meditating upon the Divine Perfections; and the universal Concurrence of all the Nations under Heaven in the great Article of Adora tion, plainly shew that Devotion or Religious Worship must be the effect of a Tradition from some first Founder of Mankind, or that it is conformable to the Natural Light of Reason, or that it proceeds from an Instinct implanted in the Soul it self For my part I look upon all these to be the concurrent Causes, but which ever of them shall be assigned as the Principle of Divine Worship, it manifestly points to a Supreme Being as the first Author of it. I may take some other Opportunity of considering those particular Forms and Methods of Devotion which are taught us by Christianity, but shall here observe into what Errors even this Divine Principle may some times lead us, when it is not moderated by that right Reason which was given us as the Guide of all our Actions, The two great Errors into which a mistaken De votion may betray us, are Enthusiasm and Super stition. There is not a more melancholy Object than a Man who has his Head turned with Religious Enthusiasm. A Person that is crazed, though with Pride or Malice, is a Sight very mortifying to Human Nature; but when the Distemper arises from any indiscreet Fervours of Devotion, or too intense an Application of the Mind to its mistaken Duties, it deserves our Compassion in a more particular manner. We may however learn this Lesson from it, that since Devotion it self (which one would be apt to think could not be too warm) may disorder the Mind, unless its Heats are tempered with Caution and Prudence, we should be particularly careful to |