admirable system!--and what beneficial effects would it be
attended with, if it were but universally received!"

It has been truly said, that to desire to possess, without being
burdened with the trouble of acquiring, is as much a sign of
weakness, as to recognise that everything worth having is only to
be got by paying its price, is the prime secret of practical
strength. Even leisure cannot be enjoyed unless it is won by
effort. If it have not been earned by work, the price has not
been paid for it. (6)

There must be work before and work behind, with leisure to fall
back upon; but the leisure, without the work, can no more be
enjoyed than a surfeit. Life must needs be disgusting alike to
the idle rich man as to the idle poor man, who has no work to do,
or, having work, will not do it. The words found tattooed on the
right arm of a sentimental beggar of forty, undergoing his eighth
imprisonment in the gaol of Bourges in France, might be adopted as
the motto of all idlers: "LE PASSE M'A TROMPE; LE PRESENT ME
TOURMENTE; L'AVENIR M'EPOUVANTE;"--(The past has deceived me; the
present torments me; the future terrifies me)

The duty of industry applies to all classes and conditions of
society. All have their work to do in the irrespective conditions
of life--the rich as well as the poor. (7) The gentleman by
birth and education, however richly he may be endowed with worldly
possessions, cannot but feel that he is in duty bound to
contribute his quota of endeavour towards the general wellbeing in
which he shares. He cannot be satisfied with being fed, clad, and
maintained by the labour of others, without making some suitable