39 CONCLUSION. 



and national defence, resources not only plen- 

 tiful, and at hand, but subject to none of the 

 difficulties and uncertainties, to which those 

 drawn from foreign territory and foreign trade, 

 are unavoidably exposed. 



Besides, Agriculture is peculiarly friendly to 

 the health and morals of the people. The exer- 

 cises, in which it employs them, are generally 

 in the open air, and of such a nature as to ren- 

 der them hardy and robust, and to preserve 

 them from those diseases, to which men em- 

 ployed in sedentary occupations, or confined 

 within the noxious atmosphere of large towns, 

 are usually liable. 



And as Agriculture contributes to bodily health 

 and vigour, so it tends to preserve innocency and 

 simplicity of manners. At the same time that 

 it promotes population, it obliges the people to 

 continue in a divided and scattered state, there- 

 by preventing that growth and prevalence of 

 corruption which an easy and frequent inter- 

 course is so apt to produce. And as every day 

 hath its particular task, which can seldom be 

 anticipated or postponed, they have neither lei- 

 sure nor opportunity allowed them for contract- 

 ing habits of idleness and intemperance. By 

 their situation and manner of life, they are pre- 

 vented from being often witnesses to scenes of 

 profligacy and vice, and thereby kept in a great 

 measure free from the contagion of bad exam- 

 ple, the frequency of which proves so destruc- 

 tive of the morals of the crowded city. Hard 

 and constant labour serves to keep the passions 

 in check, and affords no time for the contriv- 

 ance and execution of deliberate schemes of 



