It seems to be a law of nature,that the poor should be to a certain degree improvident,that there may always be some tofulfil the most servile,the most sordid,and the most ignoble offices in the community.The stock of human happiness isthereby much increased,whilst the more delicate are not only relieved from drudgery,and freed from those occasionalemployments which would make them miserable,but are left at liberty,without interruption,to pursue those callings whichare suited to their various dispositions,and most useful to the state.As for the lowest of the poor,by custom they arereconciled to the meanest occupations,to the most laborious works,and to the most hazardous pursuits;whilst the hope oftheir reward makes them chearful in the midst of all their dangers and their toils.The fleets and armies of a state wouldsoon be in want of soldiers and of sailors,if sobriety and diligence universally prevailed:for what is it but distress andpoverty which can prevail upon the lower classes of the people to encounter all the horrors which await them on thetempestuous ocean,or in the field of battle?Men who are easy in their circumstances are not among the foremost toengage in a seafaring or military life.There must be a degree of pressure,and that which is attended with the least violencewill be the best.When hunger is either felt or feared,the desire of obtaining bread will .quietly dispose the mind to undergothe greatest hardships,and will sweeten the severest labours.The peasant with a sickle in his hand is happier than theprince upon his throne.
Now a fixed,a certain,and a constant provision for the poor weakens this spring;it increases their improvidence,but doesnot promote their chearful compliance with those demands,which the community is obliged to make on the most indigentof its members;it tends to destroy the harmony and beauty,the symmetry and order of that system,which God and naturehave established in the world.The improvident among the poor have been advancing in their claims:they now begin tounderstand that they have a legal right to all.When this,which hitherto has been only felt,shall be clearly seen,anduniversally acknowledged,nothing will remain but to cast lots,who among the active and the virtuous shall perform thevilest offices for the indolent and vicious.
