x PREFACE

pared, we may often reft afflured, that the partiesdonot underftand each other. Luxury, favs one, isincompatible with the protperity of a{tate. Luxury isthe founuain of anation’s welfare and happinels, fiysanother. There may, in reality, be no differencein the fentiments of thele two perfons. The trftmay confider luxury as prejudicial ro foreign trade,and as corrupting the morals ofa people. The othermay confider luxury as the means of providing em-ployment for fuch as muft live by their induftry,and of promoting an equable circulation of wealthand{ubfiftence, through all the clufles of inhabitants.Yfeach of them had attended to the combination ofthe other's complex idea of luxury, with all its con-fequences, they would have rendered their propo-fitions lefs general.

The difference, therefore, of opinion betweenmen is frequently more apparent than real. Whenwe compare our own ideas, we couflantly fee theirrelations with perfpicuity; but when we come tocommunicate thofe relations to otlier people, it isoften impoflible to put them into words fufficientlyexpreffive of the precife combination we have madein our own minds.

This being the cafe, I haveavaided, asmuchaspoffible, condemning fich epinionsas[ have takenthe liberty toreview; becanfe have examined fuchonly as have been advanced by men of genius andreputation: and fince all mauers of controverfyvegard the comparifon of our ideas, if the terms we ufe

-A