CAROLINE

WELL, my dear Mrs. B., since you have reconciled me to wealth, and convinced me how essential it is to the happiness and prosperity of nations, I begin to grow impatient to learn what are the best means of obtaining this desirable object.

MRS. B

Do not leave every thing to me, Caroline, I have told you that you were not without some general notions of political economy, though they are but ill arranged in your mind. Endeavour therefore, to unravel the entangled thread, and discover yourself what are the principal causes of the production of wealth in a nation.

CAROLINE

I assure you that I have been reflecting a great deal upon the subject. I do not know whether I am right, but I think it is labour which is the cause of wealth. Without labour the earth would yield but very little for our subsistence. How insignificant are its spontaneous productions compared with those derived from agriculture! The crab with the apple; the barren heath with the rich pasture of the meadow!

MRS. B

It is very true that labour is a most essential requisite to the creation of wealth, and yet it does not necessarily insure its production. The labour of the savage who possesses no wealth is often more severe than that of our common ploughman, whose furrows team with riches. The long and perilous excursions of savages in search of prey, the difficulty which, from want of skill, they must encounter in every process of industry, in constructing the simplest habitations, fabricating the rudest implements;—all concur to increase their toil.