[ 26i ] 



with that additional incumbrance in the 

 rates ; becaufe when once a poor man is 

 obliged to have recourfe to the parlfh, he 

 thinks it no greater difgrace to be behol- 

 den to it for a crow^n, than a fhillingj 

 and therefore, when he cannot wholly 

 fupport his family by labour, he will not 

 care how little he contributes towards it. 



If owners and occupiers of land w^ould 

 confent to raife the price of labour, in 

 proportion to the increafe of their pro- 

 fits, a great part of the diftrefs among 

 the poor would be removed. At pre- 

 fent they cannot live by their labour ; let 

 us examine their condition. We wdll 

 firft fuppofe that the rent of the cottage 

 is paid, by the extra-earnings of the fa- 

 mily, in time of harvefl ; and then we 

 may allow fourteen pence a day, as a 

 medium of wages for the man, which is 

 nearly the prefcnt rate of wages, taking 

 one place w^ith another. The wife we 



will 



