"the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, " and furnish habitations to the desolate. But the "misfortune is, that undistinguished benevolence "offers a premium to indolence, prodigality, and "vice." CAROLINE. All this is very true: but you must allow that it is extremely painful to pass, so frequently as we do, objects of distress in the streets, without affording them some trifling assistance. MRS. B. I cannot blame any one for indulging feelings of humanity to pity and relieve the sufferings of our fellow-creatures is one of the first lessons which nature teaches us; but our actions should be regulated by good sense, not blindly directed by undistinguishing compassion. We should certainly consider it as a duty to ascertain whether the object whom we relieve is in real want, and we should proportion our charity, not only to his distress, but also to his merits. We ought to do much more for an industrious family, whom unforeseen or unavoidable accidents have reduced to poverty, than for one who has brought on distress through want of a well-regulated conduct. When we relieve objects of the latter description, it would be well at the same time to bestow a trifling reward on some individual among the labouring classes of the neighbourhood distinguished for his industry and good conduct. This would counteract the pernicious effect which cannot fail to be produced by assisting the indolent, whilst we suffer the industrious to remain without reward. CAROLINE. But the advantages and comforts derived from industry constitute its natural recompense, and it seems to require no other reward. MRS. B. Nor would it, if a similar result could not be obtained without effort; but when a hard-working labourer observes that the family of his idle neighbour is as well provided for as his own-that the hand of charity supplies them with what he earns by the sweat of his browsuch reflections are apt to produce discontent, and tend to check his industry. While, therefore, we tacitly encourage idleness by relieving the distress it produces, we at the same time discourage that laborious industry which passes unnoticed. The value of pecuniary rewards is increased by their being bestowed as marks of approbation; so far from exciting a sense of humiliating dependence, they produce a feeling of a very opposite nature, which raises and improves the character- a consciousness of merit seen and approved by those to whom the poor look up. Such sentiments soften whilst they invigorate the labours of the industrious. Thus if help for the distressed and rewards for the meritorious poor were to go hand in hand, the one would do as much towards the prevention of poverty as the other towards relieving it. CAROLINE. I had an opportunity last summer of witnessing a mode of improving the condition of the labouring poor, in which the system of rewards is introduced with the happiest effect. An extensive piece of ground has been laid out in gardens by a great landed pro prietor in Hertfordshire, for such of his labourers as have none attached to their cottages. He lets the ground to them at the low rate of sixpence a year each. These gardens are sufficiently large to provide an ample supply of common vegetables for the labourer's family, and to employ his leisure hours in its cultivation; but not so extensive as to tempt him to withdraw his attention from his daily labour, and render the produce an article of sale. As a further means of exciting industry, the proprietor annually distributes three prizes as rewards to those whose gardens are found to be in the highest state of cultivation. This judicious mode of rewarding industry has been beneficial also in producing a spirit of emulation amongst the rival gardeners, whose grounds being separated only by paths, the comparative state of each is easily determined. MRS. B. This is indeed an excellent plan; the leisure hours which the labourers might probably have passed at the alehouse are occupied in raising an additional stock of wholesome food, and the money which would have been spent in drinking is saved for a better purpose-it may form perhaps the beginning of a capital, and in process of time secure a little independence for himself and his family. 159 CONVERSATION XI. ON VALUE AND PRICE. OF THE VALUE OF COMMODITIES. DISTINCTION OF OF THE COM BETWEEN EXCHANGEABLE VALUE AND PRICE. MRS. B. BEFORE we proceed to consider more specifically the several modes in which capital may be employed in order to produce an income, it is necessary that you should understand what is meant by the value of commodities. CAROLINE. That cannot be very difficult; it is one of the first things we learn. MRS. B. What is learnt at an age when the understanding is not yet well developed is not always well learnt. What do you understand by the value of commodities? CAROLINE. We call things valuable which cost a great deal of money; a diamond necklace, for instance, is very valuable. MRS. B. But if, instead of money, you gave, in exchange for the necklace, silk or cotton goods, tea, sugar, or any other commodity, would you not still call the necklace valuable? CAROLINE. Certainly I should; for, supposing the necklace to be worth 1000l., it is immaterial whether I give 10007. in money, or 1000l. worth of any thing else in exchange for it. MRS. B. The value of a commodity is therefore estimated by the quantity of other things generally for which it will exchange, and hence it is frequently called exchangeable value. CAROLINE. Or, in other words, the price of a commodity. MRS. B. No; price does not admit of so extensive a signification. The price of a commodity is its exchangeable value, estimated in money only. This is a distinction you should remember. CAROLINE. But what is it that renders a commodity valuable ? I always thought that its price was the cause of its |