these expences a reasonable profit to myself. Now what is there of scandal in this skill? What has the merchant done, that he should be so little in the good graces of Sir Roger? He throws down no man's inclosures, and tramples upon no man's corn; he takes nothing from the industrious labourer; he pays the poor man for his work; he communicates his profit with mankind; by the preparation of his cargo, and the manufacture of his returns, he furnishes employment and subsistence to greater numbers than the richest nobleman; and even the nobleman is obliged to him for finding out foreign markets for the produce of his estate, and for making a great addition to his rents; and yet it is certain that none of all these things could be done by him without the exercise of his skill in numbers.

This is the economy of the merchant; and the conduct of the gentleman must be the same, unless by scorning to be the steward, he resolves the steward shall be the gentleman. The gentleman, no more than the merchant, is able, without the help of numbers, to account for the success of any action, or the prudence of any adventure. If, for instance, the chace is his whole adventure, his only returns must be the stag's horns in the great hall, and the fox's nose upon the stable door. Without doubt Sir Roger knows the full value of these returns and if beforehand he had computed

argent, et qu'il y ait en outre un honnête profit pour moi. Qu'y a-t-il donc de scandaleux dans cette industrie? Qu'a fait le marchand dans tout cela pour être si peu dans les bonnes grâces de Sir Roger? Il ne renverse point les clôtures, et ne foule pas les blés de ses voisins; il n'ôte rien à l'industrieux laboureur; il paye le travail du pauvre; il communique ses profits à tout le monde; par ses cargaisons et par ses retours, il fait subsister un plus grand nombre de personnes que le plus riche seigneur n'en sauroit entretenir; tous les nobles même lui doivent avoir obligation de ce qu'il trouve les moyens de vendre au-dehors le produit de leurs terres, et de ce qu'il augmente ainsi leurs revenus; mais il est certain qu'il ne viendroit jamais à bout d'un si grand détail, s'il n'étoit fort expert dans la science des nombres.

que son

« Telle est l'économie du marchand; et le gentilhomme doit agir de même, à moins qu'ayant honte d'être lui-même son économe, il ne veuille intendant prenne sa place. Le gentilhomme, non plus que le marchand, ne peut jamais rendre compte du succès d'aucune occupation, d'aucune entreprise, qu'à la faveur du calcul. Si la chasse, par exemple, est sa seule occupation, il ne lui en doit revenir que la tête du cerf pour servir à l'ornement de sa grande salle, et le museau du renard, pour être cloué à la porte de son écurie. Sir Roger connoît sans doute tout le prix de ces retours;

the charges of the chace, a gentleman of his discretion would certainly have hanged up all his dogs; he would never have brought back so many fine horses to the kennel; he would never have gone so often, like a blast, over the fields of corn. If such too had been the conduct of all his ancestors, he might truly have boasted at this day, that the antiquity of his family had never been sullied by a trade; a merchant had never been permitted with his whole estate to purchase a room for his picture in the gallery of the Coverley's, or to claim his descent from the maid of honour. But it is very happy for Sir Roger that the merchant paid so dear for his ambition. It is the misfortune of many other gentlemen to turn out of the seats of their ancestors, to make way for such new masters as have been more exact in their accounts than themselves; and certainly he deserves the estate a great deal better who has got it by his industry than he who has lost it by his negligence.'

STEELE,

Of paternal affection.

I STOOD the other day, and beheld a father sitting in the middle of a room with a large family of children about him; and methought I could observe in his countenance different motions of

mais s'il avoit bien calculé d'avance tous les frais de la chasse, j'ai trop bonne opinion de lui pour ne pas croire qu'il auroit pendu tous ses chiens, plutôt que d'y avoir ruiné tant de bons chevaux, et fait un aussi terrible dégât que la foudre dans les blés de ses voisins. Si tous ses ancêtres avoient eu le même principe, il pourroit se vanter aujourd'hui que sa famille ne s'est jamais déshonorée par aucune alliance avec la bourgeoisie; un marchaud, avec tout son bien, n'auroit jamais eu l'honneur d'obtenir une place dans la galerie des Coverleys, ni osé prétendre sortir de la même tige. Mais Sir Roger a été fort heureux de ce que le marchand a bien voulu payer si cher son ambition. C'est le sort de beaucoup d'autres gentilshommes, de se voir réduits à céder l'héritage de leurs pères à de nouveux maîtres, qui ont été plus exacts qu'eux à tenir leurs comptes; et certes, celui qui s'est acquis un domaine par son industrie mérite beaucoup mieux de le posséder que celui qui l'a perdu par sa négligence. »

STEELE.

De l'amour paternel.

Je m'arrêtai l'autre jour à examiner un père, qui étoit assis au milieu d'une chambre avec une troupe de ses enfans, et il me sembla remarquer une joie secrète sur son visage, lorsqu'il tournoit

delight, as he turned his eye toward the one and the other of them. The man is a person moderate in his designs for their preferment and welfare and as he has an easy fortune, he is not solicitous to make a great one. His eldest son is a child of a very towardly disposition, and as much as the father loves him, I dare say he will never be a knave to improve his fortune. I do not know any man who has a juster relish of life than the person I am speaking of, or keeps a better guard against the terrors of want, or the hopes of gain. It is usual in a crowd of children, for the parent to name out of his own flock all the great officers of the kingdom. There is something so very surprising in the parts of a child of a man's own, that there is nothing too great to be expected from his endowments. I know a good woman who has but three sons, and there is, she says, nothing she expected with more certainty, than that she shall see one of them a bishop, the other a judge, and the third a court-physician. The humour is, that any thing which can happen to any man's child, is expected by every man for his But my friend, who I was going to speak of, does not flatter himself with such vain expectations, but has his eye more upon the virtue and disposition of his children, than their advancement or wealth. Good habits are what will certainly improve a man's fortune and reputation;

own.