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"chafed as much as poffible of his own Livelihood by "the Labour of his own Hands; and then the Publick "ought only to be taxed to make good the Deficiency.. "If this Rule was ftrictly obferved, we should fee every “where such a multitude of new Labourers, as would "in all probability reduce the Prices of all onr Manufac"tures. It is the very Life of Merchandise to buy cheap. “ and fell dear. The Merchant ought to make his Out-fet as cheap as poffible, that he may find the greater Profit upon his Returns; and nothing will enable him to do. "this like the Reduction of the Price of Labour upon all our Manufactures. This too would be the ready Way. to increase the Number of our Foreign Markets: The "Abatement of the Price of the Manufacture would pay. "for the Carriage of it to more diftant Countries; and "this Confequence would be equally beneficial both to "the Landed and Trading Interefts. As fo great an Ad"dition of labouring Hands would produce this happy

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Confequence both to the Merchant and the Gentleman; our Liberality to common Beggars, and every other "Obstruction to the Increase of Labourers, muft be "equally pernicious to both.

SIR Andrew then went on to affirm, That the Reduction of the Prices of our Manufactures by the Addition of fo many new Hands, would be no Inconvenience to any Man: But obferving I was fomething ftartled at the Affertion, he made a fhort Pause, and then refumed the Discourse. "It may feem, says he, a Pa6.6 radox, that the Price of Labour fhould be reduced "without an Abatement of Wages, or that Wages can "be abated without any Inconvenience to the Labourer, "and yet nothing is more certain than that both these. "Things may happen. The Wages of the Labourers. "make the greatest Part of the Price of every Thing "that is ufefnl; and if in Proportion with the Wages. "the Prices of all other Things fhall be abated, every "Labourer with lefs Wages would ftill be able to pur"chafe as many Neceffaries of Life; where then would "be the Inconvenience? But the Price of Labour may "be reduced by the Addition of more Hands to a Manu facture, and yet the Wages of Perfons remain as high

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as ever. The admirable Sir William Petty has given

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"Examples of this in fome of his Writings: One of them, as I remember, is that of a Watch, which I shall en"deavour to explain fo as fhall fuit my present Purpose. "It is certain, that a fingle Watch could not be made fo "cheap in Proportion by one only Man, as a hundred "Watches by a hundred; for as there is vaft Variety in "the Work, no one Perfon could equally fuit himself to "all the Parts of it; the Manufacture would be tedious, "and at laft but clumfily performed: But if an hundred "Watches were to be made by a hundred Men,the Cafes 66 may be affigned to one, the Dials to another,the Wheels to another, the Springs to another, and every other "Part to a proper Artift; as there would be no need of perplexing any one Perfon with too much Variety, every one would be able to perform his fingle Part " with greater Skill and Expedition; and the hundred "Watches would be finished in one fourth Part of the "Time of the first one, and every one of them at one "fourth Part of the Coft, tho' the Wages of every Man 66 were equal. The Reduction of the Price of the Manu"facture would increafe the Demand of it, all the fame "Hands would be still employed and as well paid. The "fame Rule will hold in the Clothing, the Shipping, "and all other Trades whatfoever. And thus an Addi"tion of Hands to our Manufactures will only reduce "the Price of them; the Labourer will still have as much "Wages, and will confequently be enabled to purchase "more Conveniencies of Life; fo that every Interest in "the Nation would receive a Benefit from the Increase " of our Working People.

"BESIDES, I fee no Occafion for this Charity to "common Beggars, fince every Beggar is an Inhabitant "of a Parish, and every Parish is taxed to the Mainte

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nance of their own Poor. For, my own part, I cannot "be mightily pleased with the Laws which have done "this, which have provided better to feed than employ "the Poor. We have a Tradition from our Forefathers, "that after the first of thofe Laws was made, they were "infulted with that famous Song;

Hang Sorrow, and caft away Care,
The Parish is bound to find us, &C.

" And

"And if we will be fo good-natured as to maintain "them without Work, they can do no less in Return "than fing us The Merry Beggars.

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"WHAT then? Am I against all Acts of Charity? "God forbid! I know of no Virtue in the Gospel that "is in more pathetick Expreffions recommended to our "Practice. I was hungry and ye gave me no Meat, thirsty " and ye gave me no Drink, naked and ye cloathed me not, a Stranger and ye took me not in, fick and in Prison "and ye vifited me not. Our Bleffed Saviour treats the "Exercife or Neglect of Charity towards a poor Man, "as the Performance or Breach of this Duty towards " himself. I fhall endeavour to obey the Will of my "Lord and Mafter: And therefore if an industrious "Man fhall fubmit to the hardest Labour and coarfeft "Fare, rather than endure the Shame of taking Relief "from the Parish, or afking it in the Street, this is the

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Hungry, the Thirsty, the Naked; and I ought to "believe, if any Man is come hither for Shelter against "Perfecution or Oppreffion, this is the Stranger, and "I ought to take him in. If any Countryman of our "own is fallen into the Hands of Infidels, and lives in "a State of miferable Captivity, this is the Man in "Prison, and I fhould contribute to his Ranfom. I 66 ought to give to an Hofpital of Invalids, to recover as many ufeful Subjects as I can; but I shall bestow none of my Bounties upon an Alms-house of idle "People; and for the fame Reason I fhall not think "it a Reproach to me if I had withheld my Charity "from those common Beggars. But we prefcribe better "Rules than we are able to practife; we are afhamed "not to give into the mistaken Customs of our Country: "But at the fame time, I cannot but think it a Re"proach worse than that of common Swearing, that "the Idle and the Abandoned are fuffered in the "Name of Heaven and all that is facred, to extort "from chriftian and tender Minds a Supply to a profligate Way of Life, that is always to be fupported, but "never relieved,

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Tuesday

No. 233. Tuesday, November 27.

Tanquam hæc fint noftri medicina furcris, Aut Deus ille malis hominum mitefcere difcat.

Virg. Ecl. 10. v. 60.

As if by thefe my Sufferings I cou'd eafe,
Or by my Pains the God of Love appease.

DRYDEN.

Shall, in this Paper, discharge my felf of the Promise I have made to the Publick, by obliging them with a Translation of the little Greek Manufcript, which is faid to have been a Piece of thofe Records that were preserved in the Temple of Apollo, upon the Promontory of Leucate: It is a fhort Hiftory of the Lover's Leap, and is infcribed, An Account of Perfons Male and Female, vbo offered up their Vows in the Temple of the Pythian Apollo, in the Forty fixth Olympiad, and leaped from the Promontory of Leucate into the Ionian Sea, in order to cure themselves of the Paffion of Love.

THIS Account is very dry in many Parts, as only mentioning the Name of the Lover who leaped, the Perfon he leaped for, and relating, in short, that he was either cured, or killed, or maimed by the Fall. It indeed gives the Names of fo many who died by it, that it would have looked like a Bill of Mortality, had I tranflated it at full length; I have therefore made an Abridgment of it, and only extracted fuch particular Paffages as have fomething extraordinary, either in the Cafe, or in the Cure, or in the Fate of the Perfon who is mentioned in it. After this fhort Preface take the Account as follows.

BATTUS, the Son of Menalcas the Sicilian, leaped for Bombyca the Musician: Got rid of his Paffion with the Lofs of his Right Leg and Arm,which were broken in the Fall. MELISSA, in Love with Daphnis, very much bruised, but escaped with Life.

CYNISCA, the Wife of Efchines, being in Love with Lycus; and Æfchines her Hufband being in Love with Eurilla; (which had made this married Couple

very uneafy to one another for several Years) both the Husband and the Wife took the Leap by Confent; they both of them escaped, and have lived very happily toge

ther ever fince.

LARISSA, a Virgin of Theffaly, deferted by Plexippus, after a Courtship of three Years; fhe ftood upon the Brow of the Promontory for fome time, and after having thrown down a Ring,a Bracelet, and a little Picture, with other Prefents which fhe had received from Plexippus, fhe threw herself into the Sea, and was taken up alive.

N. B. Lariffa, before fhe leaped, made an Offering of a Silver Cupid in the Temple of Apollo.

SIMETHA, in Love with Daphnis the Myndian, perished in the Fall.

CHARIXUS, the Brother of Sappho, in Love with Rhodope the Courtefan, having spent his whole Estate upon her, was advised by his Sister to leap in the Beginning of his Amour, but would not hearken to her till he was reduced to his laft Talent; being forfaken by Rhodope, at length refolved to take the Leap. Perished in it.

ARIDEUS, a beautiful Youth of Epirus, in Love with Praxinoe, the Wife of Thefpis: efcaped without Damage, faving only that two of his Foreteeth were struck out, and his Nofe a little flatted.

CLEORA, a Widow of Ephefus, being inconfolable for the Death of her Husband, was refolved to take this Leap in order to get rid of her Paffion for his Memory; but being arrived at the Promontory, fhe there met with Dimmachus the Miletian, and after a fhort Conversation with him, laid afide the Thoughts of her Leap, and married him in the Temple of Apollo.

N. B. Her Widow's Weeds are ftill feen hanging up in the Western Corner of the Temple.

OLPHIS, the Fisherman, having received a Box on the Ear from Theftylis the Day before, and being determined to have no more to do with her, leaped, and efcaped with Life.

ATALANTA, an old Maid, whofe Cruelty had feveral Years before driven two or three despairing Lovers to this Leap; being now in the fifty fifth Year of her Age, and in Love with an Officer of Sparta, broke her Neck in the Fall.

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