ISO 



labour, is in other respects scarcely inferior to tliat of the 

 poor. From the number of hospitals, poor houses, and other 

 charitable institutions in all parts of Europe; and the libe- 

 rality of the convents in those of the Latin communion ; and 

 the general commisseration of the rich in all Christian and 

 even Mahometan countries, the indigent are seldom in want 

 of food, habitation or raiment : In so much, that many of 

 them prefer the state of mendicity to that of the labouring 

 poor. 



It now remains to consider the condition of another des- 

 cription of men to be found in most civilized countries, 

 though too few perhaps in any, to form one of the great sub- 

 divisions of the social body : It consists of persons possessed 

 of competent fortunes*, and of others attached to learned 

 professions, enjoying sufficient leisure and property ; whose 

 principal occupation is the exercise of their understanding 

 in philosophical pursuits. The pleasures attending this ex- 

 ercise are so intense, as to engross the whole attention ; so nu- 

 merous, as to admit no limit; and as durable as the health 

 of those engaged in it. They are perfectly innocent, and 

 generally useiul ; they neither exact the multiplied labours of 

 the legal profession; nor are they attended with the disgusts 



and 



• By a competent fortune I understand that which is sufficient for procurinfj, not on?y 

 the necessaries anJ comforts, but also the decencies suited to one's situation and rank in 

 society. 



