W A G 



W A G 



life they will be given for the encouragement of idlcnefs, 



and for the increafe of the excife revenue. Idlencfs is the 

 root of all evil, it is faid ; — articles of excife are the moif- 

 ture which nourifhes that root. 



The increafing number of public-houfes is confequently 

 to be greatly deplored as it operates in this way. As there 

 the poor and thoughtlefs labourers are irrefiftibly, it is faid, 

 tempted to fquander their money, in bad beer and fpirits, 

 to the manifeft injury of their conftitutions ; whereas, it is 

 thought, a fubftantial meal at home, with a little good ale, 

 would enfure that health and vigour fo elFential to thofe 

 who muft earn their bread by the fweat of their brows. It 

 cannot but be noticed, it is faid, that the increafe of thefe 

 forts of houfes is more ruinous to the loweft orders of fociety 

 than all other evils put together. The depravity of morals, 

 and the frequent diftrefs of the poor labourers' families, it 

 traced to their true fource, would, it is thought, be gene- 

 rally found to originate in the public-houfe. That, on the 

 contrary, where there is not fuch a houfe in the pariih, and 

 feme fuch parifhcs there ftill are, tho\igh in diftant fituations, 

 the wife and children of the labourer, generally fpeaking, it 

 is faid, enjoy happinefs, compared with thofe where many 

 public-houfes are feen. They are alfo, it is thought, lefs 

 difoofed to deceive and pilfer ; are better clothed, more 

 cleanly in their perfons, and agreeable in their manners. 



In all cafes, a great deal more, probably, depends upon 

 the manner of training and bringing up the working clafs 

 than is commonly fuppofed ; as where they are taught and 

 accuftomed from infancy to depend upon themfelves and 

 their own indullry, exertion, hard labour, and honefty, they 

 will form much better and more orderly fervants and la- 

 bourers than where they are made to place their dependance, 

 from fuch an early period, on the bounty or charity of 

 others, as is too much the cafe, without having the exam- 

 ple of fuch habits of honed induftry, exertion, and in- 

 dependance before them. A better, more induftrious, and 

 foitable mode of educating and bringing up the children of 

 the labouring poor, is indeed a matter which is much to be 

 defired. 



The wages of fervants and labourers differ greatly, in dif- 

 ferent diftrifts and fituations, as the nature of them may be, 

 and according to the goodnefs or indifference of the workmen 

 they may contain, but in all they have confidcrably increafed 

 for the laft fifteen or twenty years, except very lately. They 

 may, perhaps, be dated, as varying under different circum- 

 dances, from eight or nine to fixteen or eighteen {hillings 

 by the week, and from eight or nine pounds to fourteen or 

 fifteen by the year. This is nearly the cafe in the two 

 great arable didrifts of Edex and Norfolk. 



However, in addition to the dipulated wages, the la- 

 bourers have often other advantages from their employers, 

 fuch as corn or meal at a reduced price, pieces of potatoe 

 grounds or gardens, cow grounds, or cows kept, fmall 

 houfes, and many others, which increafe the real, though 

 not the nominal wages. 



A plan and form of book for regulating and keeping an 

 account of the time and wages of all forts of work-people 

 employed by the day, or in other ways, have lately been 

 prepared and printed at Liverpool, by which, it is faid, the 

 trouble of arranging and managing fuch accounts will not 

 be a tenth of what it is in the ufual modes of proceeding in 

 fuch bufinefs. If thefe means diould be found capable of 

 leffening the difficulty and trouble of this fort of accounts 

 on a full trial, they will certainly be of great utdity in many 

 departments of labour, as fomething of this fort has long 

 been wanting. 



VTAGGAMAW, in Geography, a lake of North Caro- 



lina ; 30 miles S.W. of Exeter — Alfo, a river of North 

 Carolina, which runs into the Great Pedee, 15 miles S. of 

 Kingfton, in South Carolina. 



WAGGEL, in Ornithology, a name given by the people 

 of Cornwall to a fpecies of the larus, or fea-guU, known 

 among authors by the name of martinazzo. 



WAGGON, in ylgriculture and Rural Economy, a kind 

 of vehicle or carriage in common ufe. There are divers 

 forms of waggons, accommodated to the divers ufes they 

 are intended for. The common waggon confids of the 

 Jhafts, or rndj, which are the two pieces the hind horfe bears 

 up ; the ivelcls ; the Jlotes, which are the crofs pieces that 

 hold the fhafts together ; the holjler, being that part on 

 which the fore-wheels and axle-tree turn, in wheehng the 

 waggon acrofs the road ; the chejl, or body of the waggon, 

 having the daves or rails fixed thereon ; the bales, or hoops, 

 which compofe the top ; the tilt, the cloth thrown over the 

 hoops ; befides the wheels, axle-tree, &c. 



Waggons are too frequently condrufted without that 

 proper attention to the nature of the roads, or the forts 

 of articles which are to be conveyed by them, which is necef- 

 fary, being in general heavy, clumfy, and inconvenient convey- 

 ances. There i3,however, awaggonof this kind,which is much 

 employed in the county of Berks, that is formed and built 

 on a more fimple and convenient principle than thofe com- 

 monly met with in mod other fouthern parts of the country, 

 and which has not either the height or weight of them, 

 while it pofTefTes fufficient drength, and is eafy in the 

 draught. The writer of the iird account of the agricul- 

 ture of that diftrift has, however, fuggeded an improve- 

 ment to be made in it, which is that of leaving the fpace 

 fufficiently deep in the body or bed for the fore-wheels to 

 lock round in the fhorted pofTible curve, as in the prefent 

 manner of its conftruftion, a great deal of time is neceffarily 

 lod in the turning at the ends of the fwaths and plats in 

 carrying hay or corn, as well as on fome other occafions, as 

 in this way the inconvenience may be removed without 

 doing the fmalled injury, it is faid, to the fymmetry or 

 drength of the carriage or waggon. 



In the correfted report on the agriculture of that diilrift, 

 which has been more lately drawn up, it is however noticed, 

 that fome farmers of the fored part remark on the above, 

 that the waggon would be much weakened by the propofed 

 alteration ; and add, that an improvement has lately been 

 made on the waggons of this county, which is found to an- 

 fwer the purpofe of the above fuggeded alteration, which 

 is the locking chain, as it is called ; which is a chain from 

 the pillar of the waggon, to about fix inches before the 

 middle bed day, which is made of fuch a length, as effec- 

 tually to prevent the waggon catching on the lock. Where 

 the beds of the waggons are draight, as is common, it is 

 faid, in the fouthern parts of the fame county, the improve- 

 ment fird propofed would probably, it is thought, be ufe- 

 ful ; but that in the vale and middle parts, the beds are 

 otherwife conftrufted, and fcarcely admit of alteration for 

 the better. 



A waggon, too, which is peculiar to Cornwall, is faid to be 

 light and elegant, being ufed there for carrying corn and hay 

 in harved time, and faggot -wood, as well as for many other 

 purpofes. The body is open, which with a lade of five 

 bars fixed before and behind gives it great length, while an 

 arch put over the hind wheels gives it breadth ; the fore- 

 wheels turn clear under ihe body, fo that it can fweep round 

 in a very narrow compafs ; the load is fecured by two ropes 

 tightened by a fort of winch fixed behind the waggon ; it 

 carries about three hundred (heaves of corn at a tiree. A 

 tongue tree, foractimcs called a middle tree, or (hafts, are 



oeca« 



