It would be necessary to have all sorts of employment, that the persons in such places can, with advantage, be occupied in doing, and a small allowance should be made to defray general expenses; amongst which, ought to be that of surveyors of districts, who should, like those employed by the excise-office, inspect into the state of the different poor-houses, and the whole should be reported, in a proper and regular manner, to the government of the country, from time to time.
Those little paltry parish democracies that tax one part of the people, and maltreat the other, ought to be under some proper con-
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{200} [assumed location - footnote not assigned a place in the text] The system, in England, of only employing people in the vigour of life is a source of much mischief, and is an increasing evil, which government, the East India company, and all the public bodies, are encouraging. Men are treated in this instance exactly like horses. They are worked hard and well rewarded in their vigour; but, in so wealthy a county =sic= as this, those occupied in commerce, and men in power, will not be troubled with any but such as can do their business with little trouble to the master. They do not consider what mischief they are preparing for their country. Shenstone, the poet, seems to have thought of this when he says, in a case of woe:
"But power and wealth's unvarying cheek was dry."
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troul; and the happiness and prosperity of England should not be left at their mercy.
In a country where every thing is done with such admirable accuracy in the revenue-department, as England, it would be useless to attempt pointing out the manner of executing the plan; it is sufficient to shew its practicability and the necessity of attending to it.
If, in the first instance, the advantage would be such as is here mentioned, it would, in a few years, be much greater, particularly in so far as fewer families would be left in a state of indigence; for, it is clear, that such families are a continual encumbrance on the rising generation, and tend to the diminution of the general mass of useful citizens.