APPENDIX. ii$ 



pagation of Hplt and refinement arifing from the influence of 

 the prefs, aided by the fpirit of commerce, feems to be the re- 

 medy provided by nature, againfl the fatal effects which would 

 otherwife be produced, by the fubdivifron of labour accom- 

 panying the progrefs of the mechanical arts : Nor is any thing 

 wanting to make the remedy effectual, but wife inftitutions to 

 facilitate general inftruction, and to adapt the education of 

 individuals to the ftations they are to occupy. The mind of 

 the artift, which, from the limited fphere of his activity, would 

 link below the level of the peafant or the favage, might receive 

 in infancy the means of intellectual enjoyment, and the feeds of 

 moral improvement ; and even the infipid uniformity of his 

 profeffional engagements, by prefenting no object to awaken his 

 ingenuity or to diflract his attention, might leave him at liberty 

 to employ his faculties, on fubjects more interefting to himfelf, 

 and more extenfively ufeful to others. 



These effects, notwithftanding a variety of oppofing caufes 

 which (till exift, have already refulted, in a very fenfible 

 degree, from the liberal policy of modern times. Mr 

 Hume, in his EfTay on Commerce, after taking notice of the 

 numerous armies raifed and maintained by the fmall repu- 

 blics in the ancient world, afcribes the military power of 

 thefe ftates to their want of commerce and luxury. " Few 

 " artifans were maintained by the labour of the farmers, and 

 " therefore more foldiers might live upon it." He adds, how- 

 ever, that " the policy of ancient times was violent, and con- 

 " trary to the natural courfe of things ;" — by which, 1 pre- 

 fume, he means, that it aimed too much at modifying, by the 

 force of pofitive inftitutions, the order of fociety, according to 

 fome preconceived idea of expediency ', without trufling fufE- 

 ciently to thofe principles of the human conftitution, which, 

 wherever they are allowed free fcope, not only conduct man- 

 kind to happinefs, but lay the foundation of a progrefTive im- 



Vol. III. (P) provement 



Account of 

 Pr Smith, 



