ANTICIPATED EFFECTS OF FLAX CULTURE. 



187 



would more than counterbalance the good effected ; for as idle- 

 ness is the root of all evil, so is employment at the root of all 

 civil, moral, and religious order. If, then, alms-giving, when 

 substituted for employment, is an evil in itself, it becomes the 

 duty and privilege of every religious and benevolent mind 

 to co-operate in the furtherance of any reasonable plan, 

 havingfor its object the employment of a redundant population. 

 I desire to see Mousehold-heath dug up principally as a relief 

 for the present exigency, and as a preliminary step to the 

 future introduction of the linen trade to the city ; preparatory 

 to which, of course, a large supply of flax would be required, 

 and from no source, I argue, could that supply be obtained at 

 so cheap a rate as through the labour of those who are now 

 maintained in idleness, and through the cultivation of land that 

 is now lying waste. I by no means despair of a flourishing 

 business being established ; for a piece of linen has already 

 been woven in Norwich during the past few weeks, and I believe 

 another is now in hand ; but the progress of private enterprise 

 must, of necessity, like the grass that grows before the starving 

 steed, be too slow to benefit the present generation ; whereas, 

 an immediate and simultaneous adoption of my plan would, 

 in the course of a few months, produce the desired effect. For 

 if the people were now set to dig, manure, and prepare the soil, 

 the seed might be sown in March or April — the crop be fit to 

 carry off the land in June or July, which could then be sown 

 with turnips, and the flax be ready in August for the manu- 

 facturer. 



Thus would the groundwork be laid, I repeat, for the estab- 

 lishment of a new, lucrative, and permanent branch of business, 

 conducive to the best interests of home commerce on the one 

 hand, and of foreign trade on the other ; permanent, because as 

 linen ever has been one of the most useful and favourite articles 

 for domestic purposes, so it will remain till the end of time. 

 The citizens of Norwich therefore have no cause to fear a re- 

 currence of those melancholy consequences which have often 

 resulted from failures in the manufacture of fancy goods, and 

 which are too truly depicted in the wretched state of those who 

 have fallen victims to the change of fashion. Neither need the 

 farmers of Norfolk apprehend the want of a ready market for 



