Ch. viii. in England. 399 



'a 



complaint ; and the competition in every kind of 

 business is so great, that it is not possible that all 

 should be successful. Among the clerks in,count- 

 ing-houses, and the competitors for all kinds of 

 mercantile and professional employment, it is 

 probable that the preventive check to population 

 prevails more than in any other department of so- 

 ciety. 



The labourer who earns eighteen pence or two 

 shillings a day, and lives at his ease as a single 

 man, will hesitate a little before he divides that 

 pittance among four or five, which seems to be 

 not more than sufficient for one. Harder fare 

 and harder labour he would perhaps be willing to 

 submit to for the sake of living with the woman 

 he loves ; but he must feel conscious, that, 

 should he have a large family and any ill fortune 

 whatever, no degree of frugality, no possible ex- 

 ertion of his manual strength, would preserve him 

 from the heart-rending sensation of seeing his 

 children starve, or of being obliged to the parish 

 for their support. The love of independence is a 

 sentiment that surely none would wish to see 

 eradicated ; though the poor-laws of England, it 

 must be confessed, are a system of all others the 

 most calculated gradually to weaken this senti- 

 ment, and in the end will probably destroy it 

 completely. 



The servants who live in the families of the 

 rich have restraints yet stronger to break through 

 in venturing upon marriage. They possess the 

 necessaries, and even the comforts of life, almost 



