288 Public Establishment for 



measures which were adopted for that purpose. It 

 remains for me to pursue this interesting subject, and 

 to treat it, in all its details, with that care and attention 

 which its importance so justly demands. 



Though a very generous price was paid for labour 

 in the different manufactures in which the poor were 

 employed, yet that alone was not enough to interest 

 them sufficiently in the occupations in which they were 

 engaged. To excite their activity, and inspire them 

 with a true spirit of persevering industry, it was neces- 

 sary to fire them with emulation, to awaken in them 

 a dormant passion whose influence they had never 

 felt, — the love of honest fame, an ardent desire to excel, 

 the love of glory, or by what other more humble or 

 pompous name this passion, the most noble and most 

 beneficent that warms the human heart, can be distin- 

 guished. 



To excite emulation, praise, distinctions, rewards, 

 are necessary; and these were all employed. Those 

 who distinguished themselves by their application, by 

 their industry, by their address, were publicly praised 

 and encouraged, brought forward, and placed in the 

 most conspicuous situations, pointed out to strangers 

 who visited the establishment, and particularly named 

 and proposed as models for others to copy. A particular 

 dress, a sort of uniform for the establishment, which, 

 though very economical, as may be seen by the details 

 which will be given of it in another place, was neverthe- 

 less elegant, was provided ; and this dress, as it was given 

 out gratis, and only bestowed upon those who particu- 

 larly distinguished themselves, was soon looked upon 

 as an honourable mark of approved merit and served 

 very powerfully to excite emulation among the com- 



