of Induſtry, and of the real Effects of its Progreſs.
Such are the evident Cauſes of all the Miſeries into which Opulence at length precipitates the moſt admired Nations. In proportion as Induſtry and Arts ſpread and flouriſh, the ſlighted Huſbandman, loaded with Taxes neceſſary for the Support of Luxury, and condemned to ſpend his Life between Labour and Hunger, leaves his Fields to ſeek in Town the Bread he ſhould carry there. The more our Capital Cities ſtrike with Admiration the Eyes of the ſtupid Vulgar; the greater Reaſon is there to weep, conſidering what large Tracts of Land are utterly deſerted, what fruitful Fields lie uncultivated, how the High-Roads are crowded with unhappy Citizens turned Beggars or Highwaymen, and doomed, ſooner or later to lay down their wretched Lives on the Wheel or the Dunghill. It is thus, that while States grow rich on one hand, they grow weak, and are depopulated on the other; and the moſt powerful Monarchies, after innumerable Labours to enrich and thin themſelves, fall at laſt a Prey
