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TIIE NATURE AND CAUSES OK

They naturally, therefore, resort as much as they can to thetown, and desert the country.

The inhabitants of a town being collected into one place,can easily combine together. The most insignilicant tradescarried on in towns have accordingly, in some place or other,been incorporated, yet the corporation spirit, the jealousy ofstrangers, the aversion to take apprentices, or to communi-cate the secret of their trade, generally prevail in them, andoften teach them, by voluntary associations and agreements,to prevent that free competition which they cannot prohibit,by by-laws. The trades which employ but a small numberof hands run most easily into such combinations. Half adozen wool-combers, perhaps, are necessary to keep a thou-sand spinners and weavers at work. By combining not totake apprentices, they can not only engross the employment,but reduce the whole manufacture into a sort of slavery tothemselves, and raise the price of their labour much abovewhat is due to the nature of their work.

The inhabitants of the country, dispersed in distant places,cannot easily combine together. They have not only neverbeen incorporated, but the corporation spirit never has pre-vailed among them. No apprenticeship has ever been thoughtnecessary to qualify for husbandry, the great trade of thecountry. After what are called the fine arts, and the liberalprofessions, however, there is perhaps no trade which re-quires so great a variety of knowledge and experience. Theinnumerable volumes which have been written upon it in alllanguages may satisfy us, that among the wisest and mostlearned nations it has never been regarded as a matter veryeasily understood. And from all those volumes we shall invain attempt to collect that knowledge of its various and com-plicated operations, which is commonly possessed even bythe common farmer; how contemptuously soever the verycontemptible authors of some ol them may sometimes affectto speak of him. There is scarce any common mechanictrade, on the contrary, of which all the operations may notbe as completely and distinctly explained in a pamphlet of avery few pages, as it is possible for words illustrated byfigures to explain them. In the history of the arts, now pub-lishing by the French academy of sciences, several of themare actually explained in this manner. The direction ofoperations, besides, which must be varied with every changeof the weather, as well as with many other accidents, requires