I.

BOOK is no city in Europe, I believe, in which houserent is dearer than in London, and yet I know no capital in which a furnished apartment can be hired fo cheap. Lodging is not only much cheaper in London than in Paris; it is much cheaper than in Edinburgh of the fame degree of goodness; and what may feem extraordinary, the, dearness of houfe-rent is the cause of the cheapnefs of lodging. The dearnefs of houferent in London arifes, not only from thofe caufes which render it dear in all great capitals, the dearnefs of labour, the dearnefs of all the materials of building, which muft generally be brought from a great distance, and above all the dearness of ground-rent, every landlord acting the part of a monopolift, and frequently exacting a higher rent for a single acre of bad land in a town, than can be had for a hundred of the beft in the country; but it arifes in part from the peculiar manners and cuftoms of the people, which oblige every mafter of a family to hire a whole houfe from top to bottom. A dwellinghoufe in England means every thing that is contained under the fame roof. In France, Scotland, and many other parts of Europe, it frequently means no more than a single story. A tradesman in London is obliged to hire a whole house in that part of the town where his cuftom- ` ers live. His fhop is upon the ground-floor, and he and his family fleep in the garret; and he endeavours to pay a part of his houfe-rent by letting the two middle ftories to lodgers. He expects to maintain his family by his trade, and

not

X.

not by his lodgers. Whereas, at Paris and CHA P. Edinburgh, the people who let lodgings have commonly no other means of fubfiftence; and the price of the lodging must pay, not only the rent of the house, but the whole expence of the family.

PART II.

Inequalities occafioned by the Policy of Europe.

SUCH

UCH are the inequalities in the whole of the advantages and difadvantages of the different employments of labour and stock, which the defect of any of the three requifites abovementioned muft occafion, even where there is the most perfect liberty, But the policy of Europe, by not leaving things at perfect liberty, occafions other inequalities of much greater importance.

Ir does this chiefly in the three following ways. First, by reftraining the competition 'in fome employments to a fmaller number than would otherwife be difpofed to enter into them; fecondly, by increafing it in others beyond what it naturally would be; and, thirdly, by obftructing the free circulation of labour and ftock, both from employment to employment and from place to place.

FIRST, The policy of Europe occasions a very important inequality in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages of the different employments of labour and ftock, by reftraining the competition

N 4

BOOK competition in, fome employments to a smaller I. number than might otherwise be disposed to enter

into them.

THE exclufive privileges of corporations are the principal means it makes ufe of for this purpofe.

THE exclufive privilege of an incorporated trade neceffarily reftrains the competition, in the town where it is established, to those who are free of the trade. To have ferved an apprenticeship in the town, under a master properly qualified, is commonly the neceffary requifite for obtaining this freedom. The bye-laws of the corporation regulate fometimes the number of apprentices which any master is allowed to have, and almost always the number of years which each apprentice is obliged to ferve. The intention of both regulations is to reftrain the competition to a much fmaller number than might otherwise be difpofed to enter into the trade. The limitation of the number of apprentices restrains it directly. A long term of apprenticeship reftrains it more indirectly, but as effectually, by increafing the expence of education.

1

IN Sheffield no mafter cutler can have more than one apprentice at a time, by a bye-law of the corporation. In Norfolk and Norwich na mafter weaver can have more than two apprentices, under pain of forfeiting five pounds a month to the king. No mafter hatter can have more than two apprentices any-where in England, or in the English plantations, under pain of forfeiting five pounds a month, half to the

1

X.

king, and half to him who fhall fue in any court CHA P.
of record. Both these regulations, though they
have been confirmed by a public law of the
kingdom, are evidently dictated by the fame
corporation spirit which enacted the bye-law of
Sheffield. The filk weavers in London had
fcarce been incorporated a year when they en-
acted a bye-law, reftraining any master from
having more than two apprentices at a time. It
required a particular act of parliament to refcind
this bye-law.

SEVEN years feem anciently to have been, all
over Europe, the ufual term established for the
duration of apprenticeships in the greater part of
incorporated trades. All fuch incorporations
were anciently called univerfities; which indeed
is the proper Latin name for any incorporation
whatever. The univerfity of fmiths, the uni-
verfity of taylors, &c. are expreffions which we
commonly meet with in the old charters of an-
cient towns. When those particular incorpora-
tions which are now peculiarly called univer-
fities were first established, the term of years
which it was neceffary to study, in order to ob-
tain the degree of mafter of arts, appears evi-
dently to have been copied from the term of
apprenticeship in common trades, of which the
incorporations were much more ancient. As to
have wrought feven years under a master pro-
perly qualified, was neceffary, in order to entitle
any perfon to become a mafter, and to have him-
felf apprentices in a common trade; fo to have
ftudied feven years under a mafter properly qua-

lified,

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BOOK lified, was neceffary to entitle him to become a mafter, teacher, or doctor (words anciently fynonimous) in the liberal arts, and to have scholars or apprentices (words likewife originally fynonimous) to ftudy under him.

By the 5th of Elizabeth, commonly called the Statute of Apprenticeship, it was enacted, that no perfon fhould for the future exercise any trade, craft, or mystery at that time exercised in England, unless he had previously served to it an apprenticeship of feven years at leaft; and what before had been the bye-law of many particular corporations, became in England the general and public law of all trades carried on in market towns. For though the words of the ftatute are very general, and feem plainly to include the whole kingdom, by interpretation its operation has been limited to market towns, it having been held that in country villages a perfon may exercise feveral different trades, though he has not ferved a feven years apprenticeship to each, they being neceffary for the conveniency of the inhabitants, and the number of people frequently not being fufficient to fupply each with a particular fet of hands.

By a ftrict interpretation of the words too the operation of this ftatute has been limited to those trades which were established in England before the 5th of Elizabeth, and has never been extended to fuch as have been introduced fince that time. This limitation has given occafion to feveral diftinctions which, confidered as rules of police, appear as foolish as can well be ima