d upon so delicate a subject, but shall only ask,
"Whether the people in trade are more corrupt than those out?"

If the curious reader will lend an attentive ear to a pair of farmers in
the market, bartering for a cow, he will find as much dissimulation as
at St. James's, or at any other saint's, but couched in homelier phrase.
The man of well-bred deceit is '_infinitely_ your friend--It would give
him _immense_ pleasure to serve you!' while the man in the frock 'Will
be ---- if he tells you a word of a lye!' Deception is an innate
principle of the human heart, not peculiar to one man, or one
profession.

Having occasion for a horse, in 1759, I mentioned it to an acquaintance,
and informed him of the uses: he assured me, he had one that would
exactly suit; which he showed in the stable, and held the candle pretty
high, _for fear of affecting the straw_. I told him it was needless to
examine him, for I should rely upon his word, being conscious he was too
much my friend to deceive me; therefore bargained, and caused him to be
sent home. But by the light of the sun, which next morning illumined the
heavens, I perceived the horse was _greased_ on all fours. I therefore,
in gentle terms, upbraided my friend with duplicity, when he replied
with some warmth, "I would cheat my own brother in a horse." Had this
honourable friend stood a chance of selling me a horse once a week, his
own interest would have prevented him from deceiving me.

A man enters into business with a view of acquiring a fortune--A
laudable motive! That property which rises from honest industry, is an
honour to its owner; the repose of his age; the reward of a life of
attention: but, great as the advantage seems, yet, being of a private
nature, it is one of the least in the mercantile walk. For the
intercourse occasioned by traffic, gives a man a view of the world, and
of himself; removes the narrow limits that confine his judgment; expands
the mind; opens his understanding; removes his prejudices; and polishes
his manners. Civility and humanity are ever the companions of trade;
the man of business is the man of liberal sentiment; a barbarous and
commercial people, is a contradiction; if he is not the philosopher of
nature, he is the friend of his country, and well understands her
interest. Even the men of inferior life among us, whose occupations, one
would think, tend to produce minds as callous as the mettle they work;
lay a stronger claim to civiliza