and his Substance, to the best
Advantage. Every Stroller or Vagabond is a Loss to the Kingdom, and is
little better than a licenc'd Plunderer of our People, and every such
Person, is really a living Instance of Neglect or Ignorance in those,
who shou'd give us by Law a proper Power and Place, to force him to
earn his Bread by his Hands. Whoever has Health and wants Food, shou'd
be oblig'd to Work one way or other, for if Idleness was always
punish'd by our Statutes with severe Labour, as surely as Felony is by
Death, it would then like Thieving be confin'd to the Night, and we
shou'd be at least good Day Labourers. The Strength of the political
Body, depends as much on its Members being properly exercised, as that
of the natural, and on the Neglect of it, infinite Disorders follow.
But alas, _Dean_, this is not enough attended to in _Ireland_, or we
shou'd have Work-Houses in every County, but we have the peculiar
Misfortune of having this dreadful Mixture in our Circumstances; that
we have all the Vices, Extravagancies, and Luxury of a rich Nation,
with all the Wants, the Distresses and Despair of a poor one. If once
our Gentry and Nobility wou'd set us fair Examples of Frugality and
Activity, we shou'd soon reform, but alas! great Estates, as we use
them, seem design'd for little else but the Triflers of the World, and
the wretched Fashions, Fopperies and Fooleries, they are generally
thrown away on. However it is certain, Providence appointed them for
nobler Purposes, and it were to be wish'd the present Stewards of them
(for they are evidently nothing more) wou'd seriously consider this,
that they may be able to give the Bestower a better Account of them.

SWIFT. I was saying so every Day, for the last fifty Years of my
Slavery among Men, and all to no Purpose! But there is another Matter
that makes me fear for the Welfare of _Ireland_, and that is the want
of proper Manufactures being set up there. I see _Tom_, you are ready
to bawl out to me, the _Irish_ Cambricks, the _Irish_ Linens, but alas!
even as to them I am sorry to say, they wou'd do _Great Britain_ and
_Ireland_ twice the Service, if they were doubly encouraged, and not
left to creep to those Provinces, where they might go with a brisker
Progress, if the Funds of the Trustees were enlarg'd, or their Premiums
more happily applied. But I leave that, _Tom_, to Time and the
Legislature, for the Manufactures which I lament the want of, are those
which enrich