uch as they do
me; and therefore, whoever recommends them must be in Jest. No
Mathematical Demonstration is more true, than that to prohibit
Navigation, and all Commerce with Strangers, is the most effectual Way
to keep out Vice and Luxury: It is almost as true, that Citizens, and
Men of Worth, who defend their own, and fight _pro Aris & Focis_, when
once disciplin'd and inur'd to Hardship, are more to be depended upon
than hired Troops and mercenary Soldiers. Let a Man preach this in
_London_, and they'll say he is craz'd. But if Men won't buy Virtue at
the Price it is only to be had at, Whose Fault is that?

I knew what People I had to deal with; and when I spoke of the
_Spartans_ and their Frugality, and how formidable they were to their
Enemies, I said then, that such a Way of Living, and a Glory to be
obtain'd by so austere a Self-denial, were not the Things which
Englishmen wanted or desired. There are Twenty Passages in the Book to
the same Purpose; but from this alone it is manifest, that, unless I
was a Fool, or a Madman, I could have no Design to encourage or promote
the Vices of the Age. It will be difficult to shew me an Author, that
has exposed and ridicul'd them more openly. Breaches of the Law I have
treated in a more serious Manner; and tho' it has been insinuated, that
I was an Advocate for all Wickedness and Villany in General, there is
no such Thing in the Book. I have said indeed, that we often saw an
evident Good spring up from a palpable Evil, and given Instances to
prove, that, by the wonderful Direction of unsearchable Providence,
Robbers, Murderers, and the worst of Malefactors were sometimes made
instrumental to great Deliverances in Distress, and remarkable
Blessings, which God wrought and conferr'd on the Innocent and
Industrious; but as to the Crimes themselves, I have never spoke of
them, but with the utmost Detestation, and on all Occasions urg'd the
great Necessity of punishing all, that are guilty of them, without
Favour or Connivance.

That Honesty is the best Policy, even as to Temporals, is generally
true; but it does not so often raise Men to great Wealth and Power as
Knavery and Ambition; and Opportunity is a great Rascal. Attorneys,
Money-Scriveners, Bankers and Brokers, as well as Factors of all Sorts,
may, without doubt, be as honest in their Callings as Men of any other;
but it is evident in all Trades, that the greater the Trust is to be
reposed in Persons, and the more their