the labour of a hunter is neither the one nor the other, it is, therefore,
not of the sort to be performed by slaves. The athletic active life
necessary for a hunter is, besides, unfriendly to slavery, if not totally
at variance with it. What does a slave receive in return for his service?
Lodging, nourishment, and a life free from care. A hunter is obliged to
provide the two former for himself, and the latter it is impossible for
him to enjoy. The same thing goes even to hired servants. In the rudest
state of shepherds, there are hired servants, but men in a rude state
never hunt for wages: they are their own masters: they may hunt in
society or partnership, but never as slaves or hired servants.
-=-

The progress towards wealth in this new state of things was very slow,
but the equality that prevailed amongst feudal barons, their love of
war and glory, and the leisure they enjoyed, by degrees extended the
limits of commerce very widely, as the northern world never could
produce many articles which its inhabitants had by their connection
with the south learnt to relish and enjoy.

The intermediate countries, that naturally formed a link of connection
between the ancient nations of the east and the rough inhabitants of
the north, profited the most by this circumstance; and we still find the
borders of the Mediterranean Sea, though no longer the seat of power,
the places where wealth was chiefly concentrated.

The impossibility of the inhabitants of the northern countries
transporting their rude and heavy produce, in order to exchange it for
the luxuries of the south, gave rise to manufactures as well as fishing
on the southern confines of the Baltic Sea; from whence arose the
wealth of Flanders, Holland, and the Hans Towns. This forms an