proportionally greater profits. The chances of gain must balance the chances of loss. If he be so skilful or so fortunate as to make more than his average share of gains, he will accumulate wealth with greater rapidity than a farmer; but should either a deficiency of talents or of fortunate circumstances occasion an uncommon share of losses, he may become a bankrupt. The rate of profits, therefore, upon any employment of capital is proportioned to the risks with which it is attended; but if calculated during a sufficient period of time, and upon a sufficient number of instances to afford an average, these different modes of employing capital will be found to yield similar profits. It is thus that the distribution of capital to the several branches of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, preserves a due equilibrium, which, though it may be accidentally disturbed, cannot, whilst allowed to pursue its natural course, be permanently deranged. A remarkably abundant harvest may occasionally raise the rate of agricultural profits. or a very bad season may reduce them below their level. The opening of a trade with a new country, or the breaking out of a war which impedes foreign commerce, will affect the profits of the merchant but these accidents disturb the equal rate of profits, as the winds disturb the sea; and when they cease, it returns to its natural level.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is commerce? 2. Trade? 3. How does commerce or trade increase the wealth of a nation? 4. To what end is the whole system of commerce subservient? 5. What are manufactures? 6. What is said of the connexion of manufactures with trade? 7. How do the sciences of mechanics and chemistry assist the manufacturer? 8. What is said of the profits arising from agriculture, commerce, and manufactures?

LESSON 109.

Money.

Specie, gold and silver coin, distinguished from paper money. GOLD and silver, when first introduced into commerce were probably bartered like other commodities, by bulk merely; but shortly, instead of being given loosely by bulk, every portion was weighed in scales, but weight was no se

curity against mixing gold and silver with base metals. To prevent that fraud, pieces of gold and silver are impressed with a public stamp, vouching both the purity and the quantity; and such pieces are termed coin. This was an improvement in commerce, and at first, probably, deemed complete. It was not foreseen that these metals wear by much handling in the course of circulation, and consequently, that in time the public stamp is reduced to be a voucher of the purity only, not of the quantity. This embarrassment is remedied by the use of paper money; and paper money is attended with another advantage, that of preventing the loss of much gold and silver by wearing.

Before the invention of money, men were much at a loss how to estimate the value of their property. In order to express that value they were necessarily obliged to compare it to something else, and having no settled standard, they would naturally choose objects of known and established value. Accordingly we read both in Scripture and in the ancient poets, of a man's property being worth so many oxen and so many flocks and herds. We are informed that even at the present day the Calmuc Tartars reckon the value of a coat of mail from six to eight, and up to the value of fifty horses. In civilized countries every one estimates his capital by the quantity of money it is worth ;-he does not really possess the sum in money, but his property, whatever be its nature or kind, is equivalent to such a sum of money.

It is common to imagine that the more money a country possesses, the more affluent is its condition. And that is usually the case. But the cause is often mistaken for the effect. A great quantity of money is necessary to circulate a great quantity of commodities. Rich flourishing countries require abundance of money, and possess the means of obtaining it; but this abundance is the consequence, not the cause of their wealth, which consists in the commodities circulated, rather than in the circulating medium. The increase of European comforts, of affluence, of luxury, is attributed to the influx of the treasures of the new world--and with reason; but those treasures are the sugar, the coffee, the indigo, and other articles, which America exports, to obtain which Europe must send her commodities that have been produced by the employment of their people. Gold and silver, though they have greatly excited their avarice

and ambition, have eventually contributed but little to stimu late their industry. It has been remarked of Spain, that the gold and silver of America, instead of animating the country and promoting industry, instead of giving life and vigour to the whole community, by the increase of arts, of manufactures, and of commerce, had an opposite effect, and produced in the event weakness, poverty, and depopulation. The wealth which proceeds from industry resembles the copious yet tranquil stream, which passes silent, and almost invisible, enriches the whole extent of country through which it flows; but the treasures of the new world, like a swelling torrent, were seen, heard, felt, and admired; yet their first operation was to desolate and lay waste the spot on which they fell. The shock was sudden; the contrast was too great. Spain overflowed with specie, whilst other nations were comparatively poor in the extreme. The price of labour, of provisions, and of manufactures, bore proportion to the quantity of circulating cash. The consequence is obvious; in the poor countries industry advanced; in the more wealthy it declined.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is probable respecting gold and silver on their first introduction? 2. Why were gold and silver coined? 3. To what is the public stamp in time reduced? 4. What is the advantage of paper-money? 5. How did men estimate the value of their property before the invention of money? 6. How is capital estimated in civilized countries? 7. What is said of an abundance of money? 8. What has been remarked of Spain?

LESSON 110.

Ship-building and Navigation.

No art or profession has appeared more astonishing and marvellous than that of navigation, in the state in which it is at present. This cannot be made more evident than by taking a retrospective view of the tottering, inartificial craft to which navigation owes its origin: and by comparing them with the noble and majestic edifices now in use, containing a thousand men, with their provisions, drink, furniture, wearing-apparel, and other necessaries for many months, besides a hundred pieces of heavy ordnance, and carrying

all this vast apparatus safely, on the wings of the wind, across immense seas.

These majestic floating structures are the result of the ingenuity and united labour of many hundred of hands, and are composed of a great number of well-proportioned pieces of timber, nicely fastened together by means of iron nails and bolts, and rendered so tight with tow and pitch, that no water can penetrate into any part.

To give motion to these enormous machines, lofty pieces of timber called masts, have been fixed upright in them; and sails of linen cloth are placed for the purpose of catching the wind, and receiving its propelling power. It has been requisite also to add vast quantities of cordage and tackling. Yet all these would be insufficient for the perfect government and direction of the vessel, if there were not fastened to the hinder part of it, by means of hinges and hooks, a moveable piece of wood called the rudder, very small in proportion to the whole machine, but the least inclination of which to either side is sufficient to give immediately a different direction to the enormous mass; so that two men may direct and govern this floating town, with the same or with greater ease than a single man can direct a boat.

Even the vaulted part of the fabric, together with its sharp termination underneath, is proportioned according to the nicest calculations; and the length, width, and strength of the sails and tackling, are all in due proportion to one another, according to certain rules founded upon the principles of the art of ship-building.

A large ship carries at least 2200 tons burden, that is, 4,500,000lb., and at the same time is steered and governed with as much ease as the smallest boat. And yet if such a ship sailed along the coast only, and, like the navigators of old, never lost sight of the shore, we might still look on navigation as an easy business. But to find the shortest way across an ocean from 4000 to 6000 miles in width, sailing by day or by night, in fair weather or in foul, as well when the sky is overcast, as when it is clear, with no other guide than the compass, or the height of the sun, the moon and stars, with exactness and precision, is the extraordinary and surpris ing task of him who is skilled in the science of navigation. A violent storm of wind will make us tremble with fear in

a well-built house, in the midst of a populous city; but the seaman, provided he has a good ship, rides with unshaken courage, amidst the enraged waves, when the whole surface of the ocean presents to the eye an awful scene of immense watery mountains and bottomless precipices.

LESSON 111.

Architecture.

AMONGST the various arts cultivated in society, some are only adapted to supply our natural wants or assist our infirmities; some are instruments of luxury merely, and calculated to flatter our pride, or gratify our desires: whilst others tend at once to secure, to accommodate, delight, and give consequence to the human species.-Architecture is of this latter kind; and when viewed in its full extent, may truly be said to have a very considerable part in almost every comfort or luxury of life. Houses are among the first steps towards civilization, and have great influence both on the body and mind. Secluded from each other, and inhabitants of woods, of caves, or of wretched huts, men are generally indolent, dull, and abject, with faculties benumbed, and views limited to the gratification of their most pressing ne-, cessities; but wherever societies are formed, and commodious dwellings are found, in which, well sheltered, they may breathe a temperate air, amid the summer's heat or winter's cold; sleep when nature calls, at ease and in security; study unmolested; converse and taste the sweets of social enjoyments; there they are spirited, active, ingenious, and enterprising; vigorous in body, speculative in mind; agriculture and arts improve; the necessaries, the conveniences, and soon even the luxuries of life become abundant.

The immediate and most obvious advantages of building are, employing many ingenious artificers, many industrious workmen, and labourers of various kinds; converting materials of little value into the most stately productions of human skill; beautifying the face of countries; and multiplying the comforts of life. But these, however great, are not the most considerable; that numerous train of arts and