Ch.iii. Of Systems of Eqiudlti), continued. 39 



in some quarters, and want in others ; and the 

 natural and obvious remedy seems to be an equal 

 division of the produce. They see a prodigious 

 quantity of human exertion wasted upon tri- 

 vial, useless, and sometimes pernicious objects, 

 which might either be wholly saved or more 

 effectively employed. They see invention after 

 invention in machinery brought forward, which 

 is seemingly calculated, in the most marked man- 

 ner, to abate the sum of human toil. Yet with 

 these apparent means of giving plenty, leisure and 

 happiness to all, they still see the labours of the 

 great mass of society undiminished, and their 

 condition, if not deteriorated, in no very striking 

 and palpable manner improved. 



Under these circumstances, it cannot be a 

 matter of wonder that proposals for systems of 

 equality should be continually reviving. After 

 periods when the subject has undergone a thorough 

 discussion, or when some great experiment in 

 improvement has failed, it is likely that the ques- 

 tion should lie dormant for a time, and that the 

 opinions of the advocates of equality should be 

 ranked among those errors which had passed away 

 to be heard of no more. But it is probable that 

 if the world were to last for any number of thou- 

 sand years, systems of equality would be among 

 thoseerrors, which like the tunes of abarrel organ, 

 to use the illustration of Dugald Stewart,* will 

 never cease to return at certain intervals. 



I am induced to make these remarks, and to 



* Prcliininai-y Dissertation to Supplement to the Eucyclopajdia 

 Britamiica, p. 121. 



