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THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

PART I.

Inequalities arising from the Nature of theEmployments themselves.

The five following are the principal circumstances which,so far as I have been able to observe, make up for a smallpecuniary gain in some employments, and counter-balancea great one in others : first, the agreeableness or disagreeable-ness of the employments themselves; secondly, the easinessand cheapness, or the difficulty and expense of learning them ;thirdly, the constancy or inconstancy of employment in them ;fourthly, the small or great trust which must be reposed inthose who exercise them ; and fifthly, the probability or im-probability of success in them. ■

I First, the wages of labour vary with the ease or hardship,the cleanliness or dirtiness, the honourableness or dishonour-ableness of the employment. Thus in most places, take theyear round, a journeyman tailor earns less than a journeymanweaver. His work is much easier. A journeyman weaverearns less than a journeyman smith. His work is not alwayseasier, but it is much cleanlier. A journeyman blacksmith,though an artificer, seldom earns so much in twelve hours,as a collier, who is only a labourer, does in eight. His workis not quite so dirty, is less dangerous, and is carried on inday-light, and above ground. Honour makes a great partof the reward of all honourable professions. In point ol pe-cuniary gain, all things considered, they are generally under-recompensed, as I shall endeavour to shew by and by.Disgrace has the contrary effect. The trade of a butcher is abrutal and an odious business ; but it is in most places moreprofitable than the greater part of common trades. The mostdetestable of all employments, that of public executioner, is,in proportion to the quantity of work done, better paid thanany common trade whatever.

Hunting and fishing, the most important employments ofmankind in the rude slate of society, became in its advancedstate their most agreeable amusements, and they pursue forpleasure what they once followed from necessity. In theadvanced state of society, therefore, they are all very poorpeople who follow as a trade what other people pursue as apastime. Fishermen have been so since the time of Theo-