COTTAGE ECONOMY. 



No. I. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



To THE LABOURING CLASSES OF THIS KINGDOM. 



1. THROUGHOUT this little work, I shall number 

 the Paragraphs, in order to be able, at some stages of 

 the work, to refer, with the more facility, to parts that 

 have gone before. The last Number will contain an 

 Index, by the means of which the several matters may 

 be turned to without loss of time ; for, when economy 

 is the subject, time is a thing which ought by no means 

 to be overlooked. 



2. The word Economy ', like a great many others, 

 has, in its application, been very much abused. It is 

 generally used as if it meant parsimony, stinginess, or 

 niggardliness ; and, at best, merely the refraining from 

 expending money. Hence misers and close-fisted men 

 disguise their propensity and conduct under the name 

 of economy ; whereas the most liberal disposition, a 

 disposition precisely the contrary of that of the miser, 

 is perfectly consistent with economy. 



3. ECONOMY means management, and nothing 

 more ; and it is generally applied to the affairs of a 

 house and family, \vhich affairs are an object of the 

 greatest importance, whether as relating to indivi- 

 duals or to a nation. A nation is made powerful and 

 to be honoured in the world, not so much by the num- 

 ber of its people as by the ability and character of that 

 people ; and the ability and character of a people de- 

 pend, in a great measure, upon the economy of the 

 several families, which, all taken together, make up 

 the nation. There never yet was, and never will be, 



1* 



