STUDY XIII. 113 



though fubjed to dangerous abufe : it ought, at 

 lead, to be converted, to it's full extent, to the 

 profit of the poor, by a prohibition of the intro- 

 duftion of every article of fore'gn luxury into 

 France ; for it would be very inhuman in the 

 rich, who engrofs all the money in the Nation, to 

 fend out of it immenfe fums annually, to the In- 

 dies and to China, for the purchafe of mullins, 

 filks, and porcelains, which are all to be had within 

 the kingdom. The trade to India and China is 

 neceflary only to Nations which have neither mul- 

 berry-trees nor filk worms, as the Englifh and 

 Dutch. They, too, may indulge themfelves in 

 the ufe of tea, becaufe their country produces no 

 wine. But every piece of callico we import from 

 Bengal, prevents an inhabitant of our own iflands 

 from cultivating the plant which would have fur- 

 nifhed the raw material, and a family in France 

 from fpinning and weaving it into cloth. There 

 is another political and moral obligation which 

 ough to be enforced, that of giving back to the 

 female fex the occupations which properly belong- 

 to them, fuch as midwifery, millinery, the employ- 

 ments of the needle, linen-drapery, trimming, and 

 the like, which require only tafte and addrefs, and 

 are adapted to a fedentary way of life ; in order to 

 refcue great numbers of them from idlenefs, and 

 from proftitution, in which fo many feek the means 

 of fupporting a miferable exiftence. 



VOL. lY. I Again, 



