BOOK regard to their own intereft. We addrefs ourI. felves, not to their humanity but to their felf love, and never talk to them of our own neceffities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chufes to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens. Even a beggar does not depend upon it entirely. The charity of well-difpofed people, indeed, fupplies him with the whole fund of his subfiftence. But though this principle ultimately provides him with all the neceffaries of life which he has occafion for, it neither does nor can provide him with them as he has occafion for them. The greater part of his occafional wants are fupplied in the fame manner as those of other people, by treaty, by barter, and by purchase. With the money which one man gives him he purchases food. The old cloaths which another beftows upon him he exchanges for other old cloaths which fuit him better, or for lodging, or for food, or for money, with which he can buy either food, cloaths, or lodging, as he has occafion. As it is by treaty, by barter, and by purchase, that we obtain from one another the greater part of those mutual good offices which we ftand in 'need of, fo it is this fame trucking disposition which originally gives occafion to the divifion of labour. In a tribe of hunters or fhepherds a particular perfon makes bows and arrows, for example, with more readiness and dexterity than any other. He frequently exchanges them for cattle or for venifon with his companions; and he In II. he finds at last that he can in this manner get CHA P. more cattle and venison, than if he himself went to the field to catch them. From a regard to his own interest, therefore, the making of bows and arrows grows to be his chief business, and he becomes a fort of armourer. Another excels in making the frames and covers of their little huts or moveable houfes. He is accuftomed to be of use in this way to his neighbours, who reward him in the fame manner with cattle and with venifon, till at laft he finds it his interest to dedicate himself entirely to this employment, and to become a fort of houfe-carpenter. the fame manner a third becomes a fmith or a brazier; a fourth a tanner or dreffer of hides or fkins, the principal part of the clothing of favages. And thus the certainty of being able to exchange all that furplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for fuch parts of the produce of other men's labour as he may have occafion for, encourages every man to apply to apply himself to a particular occupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever talent or genius he may poffefs for that particular fpecies of bufinefs. THE difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different profeffions, when grown up to maturity, is not upon many occafions fo much the cause, as the effect of the divifion of labour. The difference between the most C 4 BOOK most diffimilar characters, between a philofopher I. and a common street porter, for example, feems to arife not fo much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education. When they came into the world, and for the firft fix or eight years of their existence, they were, perhaps, very much alike, and neither their parents nor playfellows could perceive any remarkable difference. About that age, or foon after, they come to be employed in very different occupations. The difference of talents comes then to be taken notice of, and widens by degrees, til at last the vanity of the philofopher is willing to acknowledge scarce any resemblance. But without the disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, every man must have procured to himself every neceffary and conveniency of life which he wanted. All must have had the fame duties to perform, and the fame work to do, and there could have been no fuch difference of employment as could alone give occafion to any great difference of talents. As it is this difpofition which forms that difference of talents, fo remarkable among men of different profeffions, fo it is this fame difpofition which renders that difference useful. Many tribes of animals acknowledged to be all of the fame fpecies, derive from nature a much more remarkable diftinction of genius, than what, antecedent to custom and education, appears to take place among men. By nature a philofopher is not in genius and difpofition half fo different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from a greyhound, or a greyhound from a spaniel, or this laft II. laft from a fhepherd's dog. Thofe different CHA P. tribes of animals, however, though all of the fame fpecies, are of scarce any use to one another. The strength of the maftiff is not in the least supported either by the swiftness of the greyhound, or by the fagacity of the spaniel, or by the docility of the fhepherd's dog. The effects of thofe different geniuses and talents, for want of the power or difpofition to barter and exchange, cannot be brought into a common stock, and do not in the leaft contribute to the better accommodation and conveniency of the fpecies. Each animal is ftill obliged to fupport and defend itself, feparately and independently, and derives no fort of advantage from that variety of talents with which nature has diftinguished its fellows. Among men, on the contrary, the most diffimilar geniuses are of use to one another; the different produces of their respective talents, by the general difpofition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occafion for. 事 CHAP. CHA P. III. That the Divifion of Labour is limited by the S it is the power of exchanging that gives occafion to the divifion of labour, fo the extent of this divifion must always be limited by the extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market. When the market is very fmall, no perfon can have any encouragement to dedicate himself entirely to one employment, for want of the power to exchange all that furplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own confumption, for fuch parts of the produce of other men's labour as he has occafion for. THERE are fome forts of industry, even of the lowest kind, which can be carried on no where but in a great town. A porter, for example, can find employment and fubfiftence in no other place. A village is by much too narrow a fphere for him; even an ordinary market town is fcarce large enough to afford him conftant occupation. In the lone houfes and very small villages which are fcattered about in fo defert a country as the Highlands of Scotland, every farmer must be butcher, baker and brewer for his own family. In fuch fituations we can scarce expect to find even a fmith, a carpenter, or a mafon, within lefs than twenty miles of another of the fame trade. The scattered families that |