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chanfs counting-houfe. The capital is 

 Icarccly fuHicicnt for the partner of a filk 

 mercer j and Httle Aiperior to a haber- 

 dadier of fmall wares. But on the con- 

 trary, what imnfienfe profit attends the 

 culture of the earth ? and in relpcc^ to ho- 

 nour^ where will a more liberal profeiTion 

 be found ? Heroes retire to the plough, but 

 never to the counter *. 



Where 



* Nothing is here meant in refleftion upon trade ; I 

 honour it, as every B'iion ought ; but I cannot fee the 

 propriety of the pra£tice, which every day grows more 

 common, of fending fo mnny lads ot quality into the 

 city : fome, it is true, fucceed and make fortunes, but 

 it muft be under the influence of very fortunate circum- 

 ftances : from the cradle, they imbibe maxims and 

 ideas totally contrary to that ri,i,id frugality, and con- 

 tradled fphcre of ideas whkh are requifite to ftia.ke a 

 fortune : the bufinefs to which a man is brought up, 

 ought furely to be adapted to his birth, his education, 

 and the ftation of his pareiits in life. Let a poor Scctch 

 ]ad be turned out of his father's houfein the Highland?, 

 with fivpence in his pocicet, and the blefrmg.— — — 

 " There ! — Go, make your fortune" — I v/ijl bet upon 

 him againlt any of your otiKr end of the toivfi gentry; all 

 whofe advantages, as they are called, arc the very rocks 

 on which they fplit. Suppofe one of them fails in his 

 aim, what becomes of him ? /i^% ')e is my Lo>dfttch a 

 cnisfon^ he iv'iil be mode Joir.ethlri.g elfe of: this idea muft 

 ever be ftrong in the lad ; and as any profeffion might 

 probably be more agreeable to him, twenty to one but 

 he takes his meafures accordingly. But a lad, whofc 

 grand advancement is to fweep the countiog houie, 

 gains ground by very flow but fure degrees : induftry, 

 fobriety, and frugality are food, raiment and lodging 



— he 



