relief, and shall be used accordingly; for who indeed would ever
pity that man in his distress who at the expense of two pots of beer
a month might have prevented it, and would not spare it?

As to my calculations, on which I do not depend either, I say this:
if they are probable, and that in five years' time a subscription of
a hundred thousand persons would have 87,537 pounds 19s. 6d. in
cash, all charges paid, I desire any one but to reflect what will
not such a sum do. For instance, were it laid out in the Million
Lottery tickets, which are now sold at 6 pounds each, and bring in 1
pound per annum for fifteen years, every 1,000 pounds so laid out
pays back in time 2,500 pounds, and that time would be as fast as it
would be wanted, and therefore be as good as money; or if laid out
in improving rents, as ground-rents with buildings to devolve in
time, there is no question but a revenue would be raised in time to
maintain one-third part of the number of subscribers, if they should
come to claim charity.

And I desire any man to consider the present state of this kingdom,
and tell me, if all the people of England, old and young, rich and
poor, were to pay into one common bank 4s. per annum a head, and
that 4s. duly and honestly managed, whether the overplus paid by
those who die off, and by those who never come to want, would not in
all probability maintain all that should be poor, and for ever
banish beggary and poverty out of the kingdom.



OF WAGERING.