L U X 



L U Z 



\ek will they indulge in~ cxcefTes of any kind ; bccaufo 

 nothing is more dcllniftive to true plcafure than fuclx ex- 

 ceffes. Belides, indiiftry, knowledge, and humanity dilTufe 

 their beneficial influence beyond the fphere of private life, 

 en the ptdblic, and render the government as great pnd flou- 

 rilhing as they nnakc individuals profporous and happy- 

 Our author concludes his Efiay on " Relincinent m the 

 Arts," with the following obfervations. " Luxury, wlien 

 exccfTive, is the fource of many ills ; but is in general pre- 

 ferable to floth and idlencfs, which would commonly fuc- 

 ceed in its place, and are more hur;ful both to private 

 pcrfons and to the public. When floth reigns, a mean un- 

 cultivated way of life prevails araongll individuals, without 

 fociety, without enjoyment. And if the fovereign, in fuch 

 a fituation, demands the fervice of his fiibjcCts, the labour 

 of the (late inffices only to furniih the neceffaries of life to 

 the labourers, and can afford nothing to ihofe who are em- 

 ployed in the public fervice."' 



An excellent writer, to whom we fhall next refer, takes 

 occaiion, from a confideratioii of the mode of living wliich 

 aiStually obtains in any country, to illiiftrate the true evil and 

 proper dai]ger of luxury Luxury, as it fupplies employ- 

 inent and promotes induftry, afllits population. But it is 

 attended with a conftquence, whicli countcrafts and often 

 overbalances thcfe advantages. When, by introducing more 

 fuperfluities into general reception, hixury has rendered the 

 ufual accommodations of life more expenfive, artificial, and 

 elaborate ; the difficulty\of maintainnig a family, conform- 

 bly with tlie ellabliilied mode of lining, becomes greater, 

 and what each man has to fpare from his perfonal con- 

 fumption proportionably lefs : the clfeft of which is, that 

 marriages become lefs frequent, agreeably to the maxim, 

 ivhich lies at the foundation of this reafoning, that men will 

 not marry to frnk their place or condition in fociety, or to 

 forego tbofe indulgences, which their own habits, or what 

 they obferve amonglt their equals, liave rendered neceffary 

 to their fatisfaftioii. This principle is applicable to every 

 article of diet and drefs, to houfcs, furniture, and atten- 

 dance ; and this eifeft will be felt in every clafs of the 

 community. For inltance, the cndom of wearing broad 

 cloth and fine linen repays the fliepherd and flax-grower, 

 feeds the manufa6lurer, enriches the merchant, gives not 

 only fupport but exiftence to multitudes of famdies : hitherto, 

 therefore, the effects are beneficial : and were ihefe the 

 only effefts, fuch elegancies, or, if they may be fo called, 

 fuch luxuries, could not be too general. But here follows 

 the raifchief : when once fafliion hath annexed the ufe of 

 thefe articles of drefs to any certaiii claff, to the middling 

 ranks, for example, of the community, each individual of 

 that rank finds them to be neceffaries of life ; that is, finds 

 himfelf obliged to comply with tlie example of his equals, 

 and to maintain that appearance which the cuftom of fociety' 

 requires. This obligation creates fuch a demand upon his 

 income, and withal adds fo much to the coft and burthen of 

 ' a family, as to put it out of his power to marry, with the 

 profpert of continuing his habits or of maintaining his 

 place and fituation in the world. We fee, in this defcrlp- 

 tion, fays our author, the caufe which induces men to wafte 

 their lives in a barren celibacy ; and this caufe, which im- 

 pairs the very fource of jiopulation, is jullly placed to the 

 account of luxury. It appears, upon the whole, to be the 

 tendency of luxury to diminilh man iages, and that in this 

 tendency the evil of it refides. Hence it maybe inferred, 

 . that of diflerent kinds of luxury, thofe are the moll inno- 

 cent which ailbrd employment to the greateft number of 

 p.rtifts and manufafturers ; as thofe, in other words, in which 

 the price of the work bears the greateft proportion to that 



of the raw material. Thus, luxury in drefs, in furniture, 

 is univerfally preferable to luxury in eating, becaufe the ar- 

 ticles which contlitnte the one, arc more the produflion of 

 human art and induftry, than thofe which fupply the other. 

 We may alfo conclude, that it is the difference, rather than 

 the degree, of luxury, which is to be dreaded as a national 

 evil. The mifchief of luxury conllfts in the obllrudion 

 that it forms to marriage. But, as it is only a fmall part of 

 the people i.n any country that is compoled by thofe of 

 higher rank, the facility, or the difficulty, of lupporting 

 the expence of their llatlon, and the confequcnt increafe 

 or diminution of marriages among them, will have but 

 little influence on the ftate of population. As long as the 

 prevalence of luxury is confined to a few of elevated rank, 

 much of the benefit is felt, and little of the inconvenience. 

 But when the imitation of the fame manners defcend?, as it 

 always will do, into tlie mafs of the people ; when it ad- 

 vances the rcqulfites of living beyond what it add,s to men's 

 abilities to purchafe them, then it is that luxury check* 

 the formation of families, in a degree that ought to alarm 

 the public. To all which we may add, that the condition 

 moft favourable to population is that of a laborious, frugal 

 people, minillering to the demands of an opulent, hixurinus 

 nation ; becaufe this fituation, while it leavts thera every 

 advantage of luxury, exempts them from the evils wliich 

 naturally accompany Its admifiion into any country. Paley'B 

 I'riioc. of Mor and Pol. Philof. vol. i'. 



In our country there was formerly a multitude of peral 

 laws intended for reftraining excels in apparel ; chiefly made 

 in the reigns of Edward III., Edward IV^., and Henry 

 VIII., againil piked flioes, (liort doublets, and long coats, 

 all of which were repealed by llatute i Jac. 1. c. 25. Excels 

 of diet, which is one fpecies of Inxury, is flill prohibited 

 by 10 Edward III. flat. 3, wdiich ordains that no man 

 fliall be ferved at dinner or fupper with more than two 

 courfes : except upon fome great holidays there fpecified, 

 in which he may be ferved with three. See Sumptuaky 

 Latvi. 



LUYTS, John, in Biography, a philofopher and ailro- 

 nomer, was born in North Holland in 1665. He became 

 profelfor of philofophy and mathematics at Utrecht, where 

 he died innyai. He wrote I. An Allronomical Work, 

 in which he lejetled the Copernican fyftem, entitled " In- 

 ilitutio aftronomica in qua doftrina fplia;rica, atque theo- 

 rica, intermixto iifu fphsrae cceleftis, et varils chronologicis, 

 pertrattantur.'' 2. An IntroduAion to Modern and An- 

 cient Geography, with many plates. In all that he wrote 

 and taught he ihewed hiir.ieif a great partifan of the Arif- 

 totellan philolophy, in oppofition to that of Dcfcaites. 

 Moreri. 



I..UZ, La, in Geegraphy, a fea-port town of the ifland 

 of Canary; five miles N. of Civdad de los Palmas. — Alfo, a 

 town of France, in the department of the Hilgfier Py- 

 renees^ and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict of Ar- 

 geles. The place contains 2135, and the canton 6222 inha- 

 bitants, on a territory of J52.', kiiiometres, in 17 communes. 

 LUZARA, a town ot Italy, m the department of Min- 

 cio ; 16 miles 8. of Mantua. 



LUZ.ARCHES, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Seine and Oife, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 dillrift of Pontoife; 5 leagues N. of Pari*. The place 

 contains 1696, and the canton 11,411 inhabitants, on a ter- 

 ritory of 180 kiiiometres, in 22 communes. N. lat. 49° 7'. 

 E. long. 2° 30'. 



LUZECH, a town of France, in the department of the 



Lot, and chief place of a canton, in the diftricl of Cahors ; 



2 i leagues from Cahors. The place contains 2049, and the 



6 cantca 



