[ "8 ] 



creafed frugality of the poor, which may reafonablyi 

 be cxpcded, the prevention of impofition on pa- 

 rifhcs, (to an aftonifhing amount) by the clamorous 

 and idle J the expence of removing paupers, the 

 litigations concerning fcttlements, the number of 

 payable males now abfent in the army and navyJf orl3 

 the furplus which conftantly takes place in all pri-» ^ 

 vate inftitutions of this nature ^ all which circum-' 

 llances taken together would certainly amount to 2s 

 fum not far Ihort of the 1,015^1151. unprovided 

 for; nay, perhaps this inftitution may hereafter be 

 brmight, by proper management, to afford a con- 

 fiderable furplus for the ufe of the ftate; and thus 

 the lower orders of the community, inftead of being 

 a burthen, would become, in every fenfe of the word, 

 beneficial to the nation j whereas the poor laws now 

 in being, however benevolent in their original in- 

 tention, do certainly operate as a fevere tax upon 

 honefi indufiry^ and as a bounty upon extravagance, 



" In Do6lor Davenant's time (fays Lord Kaims) 

 " the peor-rates were about 700,0001. annually; ta 

 ** the year 1764 they amounted to 2,ioo,oool. in 

 " the year 177 J they amounted to 3,000,000!. 

 " equal to iix Hiillings in the pound land-tax. "f 



• This was written in the year 1783, during the American war. 

 t ^ketches of the Hiftory of Man. Sketch 10. 



Now 



