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ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL 



towns, is remarkable ; and I was well informed, that, in an hofpital 

 in London, where they take in children, out of feventy-four there 

 died feventy-one in a year. 



That thefe vices and difeafes mufl: weaken the individual, there 

 can be no doubt ; and I think there is as little that it will weaken 

 the race, unlefs we believe that it is a matter of mere accident whe- 

 ther men beget weak or ftrong children. What, then, muft be the 

 Gonfequence, if vices and difeafes, and the moft unnatural way of 

 living, fhall go on from generation to generation, for hundreds, 

 perhaps, thoufands of years ? In what condition muft men be that 

 have the vices, difeafes, and weaknelfes, of ten generations upon 

 their backs ? yet, I am afraid, that is the cafe of all the prefent inha- 

 bitants of Britain, more or lefs, but particularly of the families of 

 our nobility and gentry. 



Befides all thofe evils of modern times, which I have mentioned, 

 there is, in fome countries of Europe and particularly in England, 

 another evil, peculiar to civilized countries, but quite unknown in 

 barbarous nations. The evil I mean is indigence ; and the reader 

 will be ftill more furprifed, when I tell him, that it is greateft in the 

 richeft countries : And, therefore, in England, which, I believe, is 

 the licheft country in Europe, there is more indigence than in any- 

 other ; for the number of people that are there maintained upon 

 public or private charity, and Vvrho, therefore, may be called beg- 

 gars^ is prodigious. What proportion they may bear to the whole 

 people, 1 have never heard computed j but 1 am fure it muft be very 

 great. 



And I am afraid, in thefe countries they call rich, indigence is 

 not confined to the lower fort of people, but extends even to the 



better 



