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causes, and the disposition, for contradistinction, being referred to the minds of the individuals. We have seen that, under the hypothesis of which I treated in the last Lecture, both these elements are deficient, but under that of which I have just concluded the examination, they are present in considerable force. Now, the former hypothesis, as I have already intimated, corresponds very nearly with the actual condition of the labouring classes in this country. The latter, in like manner, corresponds with that of persons engaged either in the learned professions, or in those other arts, in which the excellency of the product depends rather on mental, than on bodily attainments. And, though it corresponds solely with that of these persons, according to the strictness of the terms in which it is expressed, yet, substantially and in effect, it corresponds with that of all the higher and middling classes of society. For the conclusions do not depend on the mode by which an increased income is acquired with the advance of life, but, solely and simply, on the circumstance of the command of wealth residing chiefly with the old, without reference to the source from which that command is obtained.
