their extra earnings in good times, for their wants in bad times, or for their advancement in life. If they hid their savings, they were apt to be discovered and stolen; and if they lent them to a tradesman upon interest, he often turned out insolvent.

The institution of Banks for savings, first publicly brought forward in 1806, and since adopted by Government, affording to the working classes for the pence they put by, the same government security and interest enjoyed by the rich, constituted a new era in their moral history. Tens of thousands have availed themselves of the glorious boon, and large numbers have risen to wealth under its tutelary influence.

Notwithstanding these good examples and bright rewards, however, there are multitudes of working men who remain insensible to the virtue of Economy. Whatever earnings they make they instantly dissipate; they seldom retain more property than the clothes that cover them, the tools they work with, and, if married, some trifling articles of furniture. They depend on their weekly wages for their daily support, and even these many anticipate, pawning their things for a subsistence in the fore-part of the week, to redeem them out of their Saturday night's wages. But weekly wages frequently fail; sickness, infirmity, casualties, and want of employment, stop them; or the expences of a large family, or losses from fraud, robberies, or law, exhaust them: wherefore men who have not had the sense to save something when in health and employment, and unincumbered, are driven, when these times of adversity arise, to part with their few necessaries, or to get into debt, if they can get trust, for a temporary support ; and when these means fail, to beg or steal for a further subsistence.

But all these means of preservation are uncertain, peri

lous, and reprehensible. It is, therefore, the bounden duty of every man, unless he be one of the few who has acquired or inherited an independent property, to make the best reserves in his power when in health, in work, and unincumbered, to meet his turns of adversity. For a working man to be, and continue to be an honest and respectable man, we see that he must be a frugal one. But when men are warmed by the genuine pride of independence, and in order to maintain it, are content to work hard and live upon little, they not only provide against want, but their virtue leads to higher rewards; their acquisition of property gives them a character above their fellows; it entitles them to the confidence of their superiors; it qualifies them for situations of trust; and it enables them to avail themselves of openings for their advancement. Thus we continually see that men of humble origin, by a steady adherence to industry and frugality, gradually rise to competence, to independence, and frequently to wealth. Economy is even more to be depended on for self-preservation and comfort than industry itself; for we have seen, that in various ways industry may be unable to act, but a property saved and secured, is a friend that never fails. It has been well said, that a man grows rich not by what he gets, but by what he saves." And again, any fool may have the luck to get money, but it requires a clever fellow to keep it."

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Throughout the middle classes the virtue of Economy is more important, individually, than among the mere labouring classes, because with them the wretchedness of destitution, and the degradation of suing to charity for relief, are more sensibly felt; and because if they have the resolution to be rigidly economical they have usually more effective means of saving, and of turning their savings to good account. The antagonist principle to this economy is extravagance, and the vain-glory of people desiring to appear greater than they really are.

Among the lower class this vanity chiefly shows itself in the idiot rivalry who shall spend most at the publichouse; among the middle classes, it is frequently seen in the imitations of the dress, equipages, and entertainments of their superiors in rank. As far as this is done only to be thought something greater than they are, by strangers, the vanity is merely absurd. While unknown, what can it signify, whether they are supposed to be of one class or another; but when they are known they must be thought worse of for their vain pretensions, and appear lessened by every act of extravagance, as in fact they are reduced in substance by them.

How different is the respect acquired by the economist! The gains, which others spend in making false appearances, he applies to improving his realities; he is seen to buy at an advantage with ready money, and not to sell at a loss from necessity; his stock increases and is of the best kind; he improves in stability and competence, he is raised above the usual motives of meanness and dishonesty, he is free to follow the dictates of his conscience, to sit down with the glorious reward of independence, and to enable his progeny to reach an advanced position in society, should they follow in his steps.

Among the rich, Economy is of less consequence; if they disregard it, we see that their wealth passes into the hands of others who may make a better use of it. Still a prodigal rich man is a bad member of society, for his wastefulness corrupts all about him; but a rich man who expends his wealth with a graceful economy, is a public benefactor. In various employments he gives to useful labour its due reward, in his patronage of the fine arts he supplies motives to the exertions of genius, he adds to the splendour of his country, and to the improvement and enjoyment of its inhabitants. In his charities, while he is able to afford effective assistance in cases

where the really meritorious are suffering from misfortune, he is careful not to give encouragement to idleness, improvidence, or hypocrisy.

It is often remarked that men who have been prodigal in their younger days frequently become rigidly parsimonious in their latter years; quite as much so as others who have been always frugal. The reason of the extravagant and the frugal arriving at the same conclusion in the fulness of their experience, seems to be that the prodigal in youth learn at last the value of property, by the sorrows which they have suffered through the want of it; while the economists through life hold to the same lesson, from the comforts and advantages which the possession of it has always produced.

Economy, however, becomes avarice when the thirst of accumulation continues after an independence has been secured, and a provision is made for the reasonable assistance of a family. What does a man propose to himself who beyond these points continues to the last hour eager in the pursuit of gain? Would he have his memory honored by dying possessed of an unusually large accumulation? We do not find the world disposed to yield that tribute, they rather incline to condemn his avarice, or to question his integrity. Would he secure wealth in his family? We too frequently see successors more expeditious in dispersing, than the fortune-maker was in gathering, and rarely find a property kept together through a continuance of three generations. Would he enhance the gratitude of his expectants by the largeness of his leavings? This effect is less observable than that he increases the impatience for possession as he increases the prize, and that the enriched are not the last to sneer at his parsimony. Does he persist in saving for his successors to spend rather than to appropriate his property himself, in deference to their better judgment?

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This cannot be, because we see that he is often loud in condemning the extravagance of his expectant, while he goes on grasping and hoarding. The proverbial saying, Avarice is the vice of age," is not without foundation. In conclusion, we may recapitulate that Economy is a virtue indispensable for the preservation and enjoyment of life; that among the bulk of mankind it is an imperative duty; that we should save when young to sustain us against the casualties of life, to enable us to discharge our duties with punctuality, integrity, and a clear conscience, to bring up families should the charge arise, and to improve our condition should opportunity offer, and, finally, to attain independent support and comfort for ourselves in old age, and the means of doing good to others; but after the object of independence is attained, a disposition to appropriate wisely should succeed to the cagerness of further gain.

Nature affords ample confirmation of what we urge. She is both most economical, and most liberal. Since the beginning of creation, not a particle of matter has been lost. Every drop of water, every leaf that falls, and every blade of grass that seems to die, is gathered up by some one of the ministering powers of nature, and again made use of in some other form. Let man in this also learn to imitate the Author of Nature, and whilst he is ever ready to give liberally, let him waste nothing.

EXTRACTS.

PROVERBS, IV., 17. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.-20. There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.-XXVIII., 19. He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain