noggins, three blankets, one of which served the man and maid servant;
the other the master of the family, his wife and five children; a small
churn, a wooden candlestick, a broken stick for a pair of tongs. In the
public towns, one third of the inhabitants walking the streets bare
foot; windows half built up with stone, to save the expense of glass,
the broken panes up and down supplied by brown paper, few being able to
afford white; in some places they were stopped with straw or hay.
Another mark of our riches, are the signs at the several inns upon the
road, viz. In some, a staff stuck in the thatch, with a turf at the end
of it; a staff in a dunghill with a white rag wrapped about the head; a
pole, where they can afford it, with a besom at the top; an oatmeal cake
on a board at the window; and, at the principal inns of the road, I have
observed the signs taken down and laid against the wall near the door,
being taken from their post to prevent the shaking of the house down by
the wind. In short, I saw not one single house, in the best town I
travelled through, which had not manifest appearances of beggary and
want. I could give many more instances of our wealth, but I hope these
will suffice for the end I propose.

"It may be objected, what use it is of to display the poverty of the
nation, in the manner I have done. I answer, I desire to know for what
ends, and by what persons, this new opinion of our flourishing state has
of late been so industriously advanced: One thing is certain, that the
advancers have either already found their own account, or have been
heartily promised, or at least have been entertained with hopes, by
seeing such an opinion pleasing to those who have it in their power to
reward.

"It is no doubt a very generous principle in any person to rejoice in
the felicities of a nation, where themselves are strangers or
sojourners: But if it be found that the same persons on all other
occasions express a hatred and contempt of the nation and people in
general, and hold it for a maxim--'That the more such a country is
humbled, the more their own will rise'; it need be no longer a secret,
why such an opinion, and the advantages of it are encouraged. And
besides, if the bayliff reports to his master, that the ox is fat and
strong, when in reality it can hardly carry its own legs, is it not
natural to think, that command will be given, for a greater load to be
put upon it?" [T. S.]

[21] This was a pro