( 9 ) 



" of neceffity, would have dozed on in the 

 " fame lifelefs purfuits. We have let go the 

 " opportunity, and I am afraid we mall find 

 " this axiom true : It is eafier to prevent a 

 " mifchief than repair it. This was too 

 " great a bleffing for an Englifhman to be 

 ' c fatisfied long with. The farmer, tempted 

 ' by avarice, advanced the price of grain 

 " above the ratio of the demands for the dif- 

 f ferent forts of it ; the fa<5lor, unwilling 

 " that induftry fhould run away with all the 

 " advantage the times fo favourably offered, 

 " fet a profit upon the farmer's advance; 

 " thefe people growing fo fuddenly into 

 ' wealth, alarmed the jealoufy of the land- 

 " holders ; and they, to be upon a par with 

 " both, augmented their rents. This was 

 " the firft iliock. When foon after, the 

 " commifTaries, contradlors, and paymai- 

 " ters, from the North and Weft, together 

 " with the mighty plunderers of the Eaft, 

 " gulhing into England with a confluence of 

 ** wealth, compleated the ruin of this falu- 

 "' tary fcheme." 



Another caufe of the increafing price of 

 proviiions, is the vaft numbers of monopo- 



