Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Increase Of Buildings No Proof Of The Riches Of A Kingdom.
INCREASE OF BUILDINGS NO PROOF OF THE RICHES OF A KINGDOM .
WHEN a stranger from the country , enters London , either by . Portman-7 Square , Blackfriars-Bridge , Hyde-Park- ? Corner , or Moorfields , he is immediately struck with the vast increase of new buildings . Some actual ' y finished . ' and more on the stocks ! He foolishly thinks all this is from superfluity of money arising- from trade and merchandise ; and that we are the wealthiest
people in Europe , or , perhaps in the world : but , I believe , lean very easily prove , much building is a sign of much distress ; and that every new house is a new symptom of this kingdom ' s misery . A man who has toiled ail his life in a little shop , and with great care , industry , and integrity , to glean up about coool . which formerly was a decent retiring fortune , now cannot subsist on it . His
certain interest of the funds will not allow it : and the uncertain one of any private security , though seemingly larger , is in the end much less . Weil then , what does he do ? Live he must ; and , as Bobadil says , the orifice of his stomach must be closed with something , though ever so cheap and indifferent : after being pinched a great while , and clambering up the steep hill of Parsimony , where the least fallen step throws you to the bottom he cries , Why , let the Devil hike ihe hindmost ! and so , being sprightly enough to find that posterity never did any thing for him , he grows careless about
posterity at ence , and immediately builds away , to gain a temporary increase of income ; careless , so he lives well , who lives ill after he is departed . -, But , you cry , there are always tenants for these houses , which proves a great increase of inhabitants ; and this is ever allowed to be the riches of a kingdom . Why , sir , , these people , who flock to town , can ' t " stay-in the country . They are pensioners in the
disguise of men of fortune , and are drawing what little they have left to the capital , to look big , and make a figure with here ; which pror perty . diffused in their village would make hundreds happy . But , by this means , the extreme parts grow cold ; -tvhich , in the human body , declares an approaching dissolution ; and wh y not in the political body also ?
_ These , then , are the people who fill your new streets with inhabitants ; they must attend the Stock-Exchange or their daily subsistence would be at an end . They must swell the levees of their patron , or he will set a mark upon them ; , and , If they have no coaches of their oxvn , they must hire them ; for I will be respected , and I will have coaches at my levee ( says a certain lord ) or Til mark those who neglect me . _ . To conquer a country , the surest way is to soften their minds ; as your basket weavers steep their osiers ' in water some days before
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Increase Of Buildings No Proof Of The Riches Of A Kingdom.
INCREASE OF BUILDINGS NO PROOF OF THE RICHES OF A KINGDOM .
WHEN a stranger from the country , enters London , either by . Portman-7 Square , Blackfriars-Bridge , Hyde-Park- ? Corner , or Moorfields , he is immediately struck with the vast increase of new buildings . Some actual ' y finished . ' and more on the stocks ! He foolishly thinks all this is from superfluity of money arising- from trade and merchandise ; and that we are the wealthiest
people in Europe , or , perhaps in the world : but , I believe , lean very easily prove , much building is a sign of much distress ; and that every new house is a new symptom of this kingdom ' s misery . A man who has toiled ail his life in a little shop , and with great care , industry , and integrity , to glean up about coool . which formerly was a decent retiring fortune , now cannot subsist on it . His
certain interest of the funds will not allow it : and the uncertain one of any private security , though seemingly larger , is in the end much less . Weil then , what does he do ? Live he must ; and , as Bobadil says , the orifice of his stomach must be closed with something , though ever so cheap and indifferent : after being pinched a great while , and clambering up the steep hill of Parsimony , where the least fallen step throws you to the bottom he cries , Why , let the Devil hike ihe hindmost ! and so , being sprightly enough to find that posterity never did any thing for him , he grows careless about
posterity at ence , and immediately builds away , to gain a temporary increase of income ; careless , so he lives well , who lives ill after he is departed . -, But , you cry , there are always tenants for these houses , which proves a great increase of inhabitants ; and this is ever allowed to be the riches of a kingdom . Why , sir , , these people , who flock to town , can ' t " stay-in the country . They are pensioners in the
disguise of men of fortune , and are drawing what little they have left to the capital , to look big , and make a figure with here ; which pror perty . diffused in their village would make hundreds happy . But , by this means , the extreme parts grow cold ; -tvhich , in the human body , declares an approaching dissolution ; and wh y not in the political body also ?
_ These , then , are the people who fill your new streets with inhabitants ; they must attend the Stock-Exchange or their daily subsistence would be at an end . They must swell the levees of their patron , or he will set a mark upon them ; , and , If they have no coaches of their oxvn , they must hire them ; for I will be respected , and I will have coaches at my levee ( says a certain lord ) or Til mark those who neglect me . _ . To conquer a country , the surest way is to soften their minds ; as your basket weavers steep their osiers ' in water some days before