ee 
upon linen or woollen cloth, give the purchafer much greater 
fecurity than any ftatute of apprenticefhip: he generally looks 
at thefe, but never thinks it worth his while to inquire whe- 
ther the workman had ferved a feven years apprenticefhip. 
Can it be doubted that a man poffeffed of eminent genius, 
or induftry, or both, may not acquire perfection in his art 
fooner than one who hath neither abilities nor application? 
And is it confiftent with the natural rights of man to put 
forth laws of form and ceremony which {hall inhibit any one’ 
from the profitable exercife of his talents? 
Tue fkill and the labour of every man are his moft in- 
difputable, and ought to be his moft unviolated property. 
The poor man’s liberty to earn his bread by whatever honeft 
means Providence has put in his power is a charter granted 
by Heaven, which ought to be held facred upon earth, 
Tuts is a liberty which can never degenerate into licen- 
tioufnefs ; for who will employ a labourer not worthy of his 
hire? but if worthy, why fhould he be debarred of employ- 
ment? 
Can it efcape the moft fuperficial obferver that all bufinefs 
which is carried on in the open air muft neceflarily be pre- 
carious, depending on the concordance between the feafon and 
the work? The mafon is idle in froft, the flater in ftorms, 
- the bleacher in fnow. Befides, the demand for different ma- 
nufactures 
