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THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

in a civilized country could not.be provided, even according’to, what we very falsely imagine, the easy and simple man-ner in which he is commonly accommodated. Compared,indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great, hisaccommodation must no doubt appear extremely simple andeasy; and yet it maybe true, perhaps, that the accommoda-tion of an European prince does not always so much exceedthat of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommo-dation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king,the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousandnaked savages.

CHAP. II.

Of the Principle which gives Occasion to theDivision of Labour .

This division of Labour, from which so many advantagesare derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdomwhich foresees and intends that general opulence to whichit gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow andgradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human na-ture which has in view no such extensive utility; the pro-pensity to truck, barter, and exchange one tiling for another.

Whether this propensity be one of those original princi-ples in human nature, of which no further account can begiven; or whether, as seems more probable, it be the neces-sary consequence of the faculties of reason and speech, itbelongs not to our present subject to inquire. It is commonto all men, and to be found in no other race of animals,which seem to know neither this nor any other species ofcontracts. Two greyhounds, in running down the samehare, have sometimes the appearance of acting in some sortof concert. Each turns her towards his companion, or en-deavours to intercept her when his companion turns her to-wards himself. This however is not the effect of any con-tract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions inthe same object at that particular time. Nobody ever saw adog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for an-other with another dog. Nobody ever saw one animal by itsgestures and natural cries signify to another this is mine,that yours; I am willing to give this for that. When an ani-mal wants to obtain something either of a man, or of anotheranimal, it has no other means of persuasion, but to gain the