292 liURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



farm-houses, which were at one time so poor, present a 

 striking appearance of comfort at the present day. 



In addition to the excellent principle of leases, there is 

 another cause of progress which we do not find existing 

 to the same extent in England, and that is the superior 

 system of credit which prevails in Scotland. 



The English have for a long period extensively availed 

 themselves of credits, and one of the chief elements of 

 their power has been the old-established practice of 

 banking ; but this very antiquity is the reason why the 

 organisation of these banks is imperfect in many respects ; 

 though the abundance of capital supplies to a certain 

 extent that wherein they are deficient. There is besides 

 in England a spirit of speculation and extravagance, which 

 might make it dangerous to give a greater extension to an 

 instrument so powerful for evil as well as for good. In 

 Scotland, on the other hand, the character of the people 

 is so cool, calculating, and correct, that the widest system 

 of credit has not only been unattended with any disad- 

 vantages, but productive of the most magnificent results. 

 Adam Smith was a Scotchman, and we find all his coun- 

 trymen more or less endowed with the sagacious and 

 decided character which belonged to that great man. 

 There is no country where the true value of money is 

 better understood than in Scotland. Banks were already 

 in existence in Adam Smith's time, and he has given a 

 careful account of their working. It is with reference to 

 them that he wrote the following often-quoted passage : 

 " The gold and silver which circulates in a country may 

 be compared to a highway which, although instrumental 

 for the conveyance of corn and hay to market, yet does 

 not itself produce a single grain of corn. The operations 

 of a well-conducted bank, by opening up, as it were, a 

 road in the air, allows a country to turn its roads into 



