250 ADAM SMITH. 



very decided opinion against an establishment supported 

 by law and by the State, but all, or nearly all his 

 reasoning tends towards that negative ; and he gets the 

 better of Mr. Hume's argument, (which he cites as that 

 of " by far the greatest philosopher and historian of the 

 present age,") that there is no better way of preventing 

 the dangers of fanaticism than paying a clergy to be 

 quiet,* by stating that this mischief may be counter- 

 acted in two ways : encouraging the study of science 

 not by foundations, but by requiring certain qualifica- 

 tions in philosophical knowledge as the title to offices ; 

 and encouraging the arts and amusements, including 

 dramatic exhibitions by which he sets great store. In 

 discussing establishments he touches but slightly on 

 tithes, which he regards as a tax upon the landlord, 

 overlooking the consideration that they are a property 

 which never belonged to him, and are by many rea- 

 soners held to be, I think on very doubtful grounds, 

 no more a tax than a rent-charge on his land is. He 

 afterwards recurs to the subject, but no where enters 

 fully into it. 



(4.) The expense of maintaining the sovereign's 

 dignity necessarily increases with the progress of 

 luxury and refinement : when all ranks live expen- 

 sively, the sovereign must be maintained in greater 

 and more expensive luxury than any. 



ii. Having considered the expenses which fall upon 

 the government in performing its functions and dis- 

 charging its duties, we come next to examine the 

 sources from which the funds are derived, to meet 

 those expenses. These funds are of two descriptions; 

 funds belonging to the Sovereign or the State, the 

 revenue of which forms a public income or income 

 levied from the subjects of the State in the form of 

 taxes. This division of the subject, therefore, is sub- 

 divided into two parts. 



* '' Qui otium reipublicae perturbant, reddam otiosos." (Cic.) 



