282 Moderation in Expence indifpenfibly necejfary. 
infeparable from all great dates: but we exceed the due measure, 
not fo much in the degree of fuch magnificence, as in the ex- 
pence of it. In general we feem to try who fhall didrefs the 
other raoft, by paying for every thing more than ’tis worth. 
It feems to be one of the defers of the lead; imperfecd forms* 
of government which has been hitherto devifed, I mean our 
own, that the different ranks of people are too much con- 
founded : the lower claffes prefs fo hard on the heels of the 
higher, if fome remedy is not ufed, the lord will be in danger 
of becoming the valet of his gentleman : the noble who, thro*’ 
idlenefs, truds his money, if not his fecrets, with his fervants,. 
and confents to their raifing contributions on his friends, mud 
often fee his footman with more money in his purfe than him- 
felf ; and I fuppofe ’tis the cafe fometimes with your hand- 
maids. If sumptuary laws are not reconcileable with the na- 
ture of our government, let us endevor to edablifh fashions 
to anfwer the fame end, and abolifh thofe cudoms which we 
find grievous and burthenfome. 
The notions we entertain of liberty, joined to the vanity 
which ufually attends on riches, feem now to lead all forts of 
people into errors with regard to expence; and when they are 
once engaged, pride forbids them to retrench and alter their 
method of life. When wealth, eafe, and fecurity, intoxicate 
with desires, which have no better fupport than fancy and 
opinion, in proportion as thefe evils increafe, the good order and 
oeconomy of private life mud decline. And if we forget what 
we 
