THE FARMER AT HOME. 



into Egypt, and the western parts of Asia, by the Arabian, Egyptian, 

 and Tyrian merchants. The Egyptians, especially, might bring a 

 considerable part of them by their caravans, which> from time imme- 

 morial, travelled into Ethiopia, under which .name all the interior and 

 southern parts of Africa were formerly comprehended ; as the Ethio- 

 pian caravans in like manner traded into Egypt. 



In the flourishing ages of Greece, gold and silver began to be 

 plentifully introduced into that country, particularly after the conquest 

 of Persia by Alexander, which caused the wealth of that empire to 

 circulate westward. During this time Rome was exceedingly poor, 

 and her warlike citizens possessed a very small quantity of those 

 valuable metals, until the conquest of Macedonia and the Grecian 

 kingdoms of Asia, caused the riches of the east to flow into her bosom. 

 After the Goths and other northern nations began to make successful 

 inroads into the Roman empire, the plunder of its provinces put them 

 in possession of part of its riches ; and gold and silver, with which 

 they had before been almost wholly unacquainted, began by their pre- 

 datory wars to be introduced among them. After the total subversion 

 of the western empire, those riches, which Rome had accumulated by 

 so many centuries of successful rapine, were by degrees diffused over 

 all Europe, and gold and silver introduced into the regions of the north. 



It is common to imagine that the more money a country possesses 

 the more affluent is its condition. And that is usually the case. But 

 the cause is often mistaken for the effect. A great quantity of it is 

 necessary to circulate a great quantity of commodities. Rich flourish- 

 ing countries require abundance of money, and possess the means of 

 obtaining it; but this abundance is the consequence, not the cause 

 of their wealth, which consists in the commodities circulated, rather 

 than in the circulating medium. The wealth which proceeds from 

 industry resembles the copious yet tranquil stream, whicfrpassing silent- 

 ly, and almost invisibly, enriches the whole extent of country through 

 which it flows ; but the treasures of the new world, like a swelling 

 torrent, were seen, heard, felt, and admired ; yet their first operation 

 was to desolate and lay waste the spot on which they fell. The shock 

 was sudden ; the contrast was too great. Spain overflowed with 

 specie, while other nations were comparatively poor in the extreme. 

 The prices of labor, of provisions, and of manufactures, bore propor- 

 tion to the quantity of circulating cash. The consequence is obvious ; 

 in the poor countries industry advanced ; in the more wealthy it de- 

 clined. 



MONKEY. The general name of the ape, baboon, and simia 

 tribe, the several varieties of which are principally found in the tro- 

 pical climates. They inhabit forests in prodigious numbers, and, 

 though mischievous, their manners are fantastical and interesting. 

 They have hands like man, and also walk on two legs, but they prac- 

 tice no arts beyond the necessities of the hour. They are affectionate 



