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BOOK to make them became the bufinefs of a peculiar trade; and fome by that of those who are called philofophers or men of fpeculation, whofe trade it is not to do any thing, but to obferve every thing; and who, upon that account, are often capable of combining together the powers of the most distant and diffimilar objects. In the progrefs of fociety, philofophy or fpeculation becomes, like every other employment, the principal or fole trade and occupation of a particular clafs of citizens. Like every other employment too, it is fubdivided into a great number of dif ferent branches, each of which affords occupation to a peculiar tribe or clafs of philofophers; and this fubdivifion of employment in philo. fophy, as well as in every other bufinefs, improves dexterity, and faves time. Each individual becomes more expert in his own peculiar branch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of fcience is confiderably increased by it.

It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in confequence of the divifion of labour, which occafions, in a well-governed fociety, that univerfal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his own work to dispose of beyond what he himself has occafion for; and every other workman being exactly in the fame fituation, he is enabled to exchange a great quantity of his own goods for a great quantity, or, what comes to the fame thing, for the price of a great quan

I.

tity of theirs. He fupplies them abundantly CHA P. with what they have occafion for, and they accommodate him as amply with what he has occafion for, and a general plenty diffuses itself through all the different ranks of the society.

Obferve the accommodation of the moft common artificer or day-labourer in a civilized and thriving country, and you will perceive that the number of people of whofe industry a part, though but a small part, has been employed in procuring him this accommodation, exceeds all computation. The woollen coat, for example, which covers the day-labourer, as coarse and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen. The fhepherd, the forter of the wool, the woolcomber or carder, the dyer, the fcribbler, the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dreffer, with many others, muft all join their different arts in order to complete even this homely production. How many merchants and carriers, befides, muft have been employed in transporting the materials from fome of thofe workmen to others who often live in a very distant part of the country! how much commerce and navigation in particular, how many fhip-builders, failors, failmakers, rope-makers, must have been employed in order to bring together the different drugs made ufe of by the dyer, which often come from the remoteft corners of the world! What a variety of labour too is neceffary in order to produce the tools of the meaneft of those workTo fay nothing of fuch complicated

men!

VOL. II.

C

machines

İ.

BOOK machines as the fhip of the failor, the mill of the fuller, or even the loom of the weaver, let us confider only what a variety of labour is requifite in order to form that very simple machine, the fhears with which the fhepherd clips the wool. The miner, the builder of the furnace for fmelting the ore, the feller of the tim ber, the burner of the charcoal to be made use of in the smelting-houfe, the brick-maker, the bricklayer, the workmen who attend the furnace, the mill-wright, the forger, the fmith, muft all of them join their different arts in order to produce them. Were we to examine, in the fame manner, all the different parts of his drefs and . household furniture, the coarfe linen fhirt which he wears next his fkin, the shoes which cover his feet, the bed which he lies on, and all the different parts which compofe it, the kitchen-grate at which he prepares his victuals, the coals which he makes ufe of for that purpofe, dug from the bowels of the earth, and brought to him perhaps by a long fea and a long land carriage, all the other utenfils of his kitchen, all the furniture of his table, the knives and forks, the earthen or pewter plates upon which he ferves up and divides his victuals, the dif ferent hands employed in preparing his bread and his beer, the glass window which lets in the heat and the light, and keeps out the wind and the rain, with all the knowledge and art requifite for preparing that beautiful and happy invention, without which these northern parts of the world could fcarce have afforded a very

comfort

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comfortable habitation, together with the tools CHAP. of all the different workmen employed in producing those different conveniences; if we examine, I fay, all these things, and confider what a variety of labour is employed about each of them, we shall be fenfible that without the affift ance and co-operation of many thousands, the very meanest perfon in a civilized country could not be provided, even according to, what we very falfely imagine, the eafy and fimple manner in which he is commonly accommodated. Com pared, indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great, his accommodation muft no doubt appear extremely fimple and eafy; and yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an European prince does not always fo much exceed that of an induftrious and frugal peafant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the abfolute mafter of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked favages.

CHAP. II.

Of the Principle which gives occafion to the Divi

THE

fion of Labour.

HIS divifion of labour, from which fo CHA P. many advantages are derived, is not ori

ginally the effect of any human wisdom, which forefees and intends that general opulence to

II.

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BOOK which it gives occafion. It is the neceffary, though very flow and gradual, confequence of a certain propenfity in human nature which has in view no fuch extenfive utility; the propenfity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.

Whether this propenfity be one of those original principles in human nature, of which no further account can be given; or whether, as feems more probable, it be the neceffary confequence of the faculties of reafon and speech, it belongs not to our prefent fubject to enquire. It is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals, which feem to know neither this nor any other species of contracts. Two greyhounds, in running down the fame hare, have fometimes the appearance of acting in fome fort of concert. Each turns her towards his companion, or endeavours to intercept her when his companion turns her towards himself. This, however, is not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their paffions in the fame object at that particular time. Nobody ever faw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog. Nobody ever faw one animal by its geftures and natural cries fignify to another, this is mine, that yours; I am willing to give this for that. When an animal wants to obtain fomething either of a man or offanother animal, it has no other means of perfuafion but to gain the favour of those whofe fervice it requires. A puppy fawns upon its dam, and a spaniel endea