tradesmen above a certain rather humble
condition would now smile at the idea of their being expected to attend
their husbands' shops, in order to form an intimate acquaintance with
their affairs. Doubtless, however, in the days of Defoe, when the
capitals of tradesmen were less, when provision for widows by insurance
upon lives was not practised, and when the comparative simplicity of the
modes of conducting business admitted it, a female in that situation
would only be exercising a prudent caution, and doing nothing in the
least inconsistent with the delicacy of her sex, in obeying the rules
laid down in the text.]

[36] [The number of widows, or at least females, carrying on trade in
England, is still very considerable. In Scotland, it is a comparatively
rare case. A native of the northern part of the island is apt to be
strongly impressed with this fact, when, in the large manufacturing
towns of England, he sees female names in so many cases inscribed upon
the waggons used in the transport of goods. The complaint in the text,
that females have, to such an extent, ceased to carry on the business of
their deceased husbands, is probably, like many other complaints of the
same kind already pointed out, merely a piece of querulousness on the
part of our author, or the result of a very common mental deception.]

CHAPTER XXII

OF THE DIGNITY OF TRADE IN ENGLAND MORE THAN IN OTHER COUNTRIES

It is said of England, by way of distinction, and we all value ourselves
upon it, that it is a trading country; and King Charles II., who was
perhaps that prince of all the kings that ever reigned in England, that
best understood the country and the people that he governed, used to
say, 'That the tradesmen were the only gentry in England.' His majesty
spoke it merrily, but it had a happy signification in it, such as was
peculiar to the bright genius of that prince, who, though he was not the
best governor, was the best acquainted with the world of all the princes
of his age, if not of all the men in it; and, though it be a digression,
give me leave, after having quoted the king, to add three short
observations of my own, in favour of England, and of the people and
trade of it, and yet without the least partiality to our own country.

I. We are not only a trading country, but the greatest trading country
in the world.

II. Our climate is the most agreeable climate in the world to live in.

III. Our Englishmen are the stou