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and security of individuals; were; in this manner; established in

cities at a time when the occupiers of land in the country were

exposed to every sort of violence。 But men in this defenceless

state naturally content themselves with their necessary

subsistence; because to acquire more might only tempt the

injustice of their oppressors。 On the contrary; when they are

secure of enjoying the fruits of their industry; they naturally

exert it to better their condition; and to acquire not only the

necessaries; but the conveniences and elegancies of life。 That

industry; therefore; which aims at something more than necessary

subsistence; was established in cities long before it was

commonly practised by the occupiers of land in the country。 If in

the hands of a poor cultivator; oppressed with the servitude of

villanage; some little stock should accumulate; he would

naturally conceal it with great care from his master; to whom it

would otherwise have belonged; and take the first opportunity of

running away to a town。 The law was at that time so indulgent to

the inhabitants of towns; and so desirous of diminishing the

authority of the lords over those of the country; that if he

could conceal himself there from the pursuit of his lord for a

year; he was free for ever。 Whatever stock; therefore;

accumulated in the hands of the industrious part of the

inhabitants of the country naturally took refuge in cities as the

only sanctuaries in which it could be secure to the person that

acquired it。

     The inhabitants of a city; it is true; must always

ultimately derive their subsistence; and the whole materials and

means of their industry; from the country。 But those of a city;

situated near either the sea coast or the banks of a navigable

river; are not necessarily confined to derive them from the

country in their neighbourhood。 They have a much wider range; and

may draw them from the most remote corners of the world; either

in exchange for the manufactured produce of their own industry;

or by performing the office of carriers between distant countries

and exchanging the produce of one for that of another。 A city

might in this manner grow up to great wealth and splendour; while

not only the country in its neighbourhood; but all those to which

it traded; were in poverty and wretchedness。 Each of those

countries; perhaps; taken singly; could afford it but a small

part either of its subsistence or of its employment; but all of

them taken together could afford it both a great subsistence and

a great employment。 There were; however; within the narrow circle

of the commerce of those times; some countries that were opulent

and industrious。 Such was the Greek empire as long as it

subsisted; and that of the Saracens during the reigns of the

Abassides。 Such too was Egypt till it was conquered by the Turks;

some part of the coast of Barbary; and all those provinces of

Spain which were under the government of the Moors。

     The cities of Italy seem to have been the first in Europe

which were raised by commerce to any considerable degree of

opulence。 Italy lay in the centre of what was at that time the

improved and civilised part of the world。 The Crusades too;

though by the great waste of stock and destruction of inhabitants

which they occasioned they must necessarily have retarded the

progress of the greater part of Europe; were extremely favourable

to that of some Italian cities。 The great armies which marched

from all parts to the conquest of the Holy Land gave

extraordinary encouragement to the shipping of Venice; Genoa; and

Pisa; sometimes in transporting them thither; and always in

supplying them with provisions。 They were the commissaries; if

one may say so; of those armies; and the most destructive frenzy

that ever befell the European nations was a source of opulence to

those republics。

     The inhabitants of trading cities; by importing the improved

manufactures and expensive luxuries of richer countries; afforded

some food to the vanity of the great proprietors; who eagerly

purchased them with great quantities of the rude produce of their

own lands。 The commerce of a great part of Europe in those times;

accordingly; consisted chiefly in the exchange of their own rude

for the; manufactured produce of more civilised nations。 Thus the

wool of England used to be exchanged for the wines of France and

the fine cloths of Flanders; in the same manner as the corn in

Poland is at this day exchanged for the wines and brandies of

France and for the silks and velvets of France and Italy。

     A taste for the finer and more improved manufactures was in

this manner introduced by foreign commerce into countries where

no such works were carried on。 But when this taste became so

general as to occasion a considerable demand; the merchants; in

order to save the expense of carriage; naturally endeavoured to

establish some manufactures of the same kind in their own

country。 Hence the origin of the first manufactures for distant

sale that seem to have been established in the western provinces

of Europe after the fall of the Roman empire。 No large country;

it must be observed; ever did or could subsist without some sort

of manufactures being carried on in it; and when it is said of

any such country that it has no manufactures; it must always be

understood of the finer and more improved or of such as are fit

for distant sale。 In every large country both the clothing and

household furniture of the far greater part of the people are the

produce of their own industry。 This is even more universally the

case in those poor countries which are commonly said to have no

manufactures than in those rich ones that are said to abound in

them。 In the latter; you will generally find; both in the clothes

and household furniture of the lowest rank of people; a much

greater proportion of foreign productions than in the former。

     Those manufactures which are fit for distant sale seem to

have been introduced into different countries in two different

ways。

     Sometimes they have been introduced; in the manner above

mentioned; by the violent operation; if one may say so; of the

stocks of particular merchants and undertakers; who established

them in imitation of some foreign manufactures of the same kind。

Such manufactures; therefore; are the offspring of foreign

commerce; and such seem to have been the ancient manufactures of

silks; velvets; and brocades; which flourished in Lucca during

the thirteenth century。 They were banished from thence by the

tyranny of one of Machiavel's heroes; Castruccio Castracani。 In

1310; nine hundred families were driven out of Lucca; of whom

thirty…one retired to Venice and offered to introduce there the

silk manufacture。 Their offer was accepted; many privileges were

conferred upon them; and they began the manufacture with three

hundred workmen。 Such; too; seem to have been the manufactures of

fine cloths that anciently flourished in Flanders; and which were

introduced into England in the beginning of the reign of

Elizabeth; and such are the present silk manufactures of Lyons

and Spitalfields。 Manufactures introduced in this manner are

generally employed upon foreign materials; being imitations of

foreign manufactures。 When the Venetian manufacture was first

established; the materials were all brought from Sicily and the

Levant。 The more ancient manufacture of Lucca was likewise

carried on with foreign materials。 The cultivation of mulberry

trees and the breeding of silk…worms seem not to have been common

in the northern parts of Italy before the sixteenth century。

Those arts were not introduced into France till the reign of

Charles IX。 The manufactures of Flanders were carried on chiefly

with Spanish and English wool。 Spanish wool was the material; not

of the first woollen manufacture of England; but of the first

that was fit for distant sale。 More than one half the materials

of the Lyons manufacture is at this day; foreign silk; when it

was first established; the whole or very nearly the whole was so。

No part of the materials of the Spitalfields manufacture is ever

likely be the produce of England。 The seat of such manufactures;

as they are generally introduced by the scheme and project of a

few individuals; is sometimes established in a maritime city; and

sometimes in an inland town; according as their interest;

judgment; or caprice happen to determine。

     At other times; manufactures for distant sale group up

naturally; and as it were of their own accord; by the gradual

refinement of those household and coarser manufactures which must

at all times be carried on even in the poorest and rudest

countries。 Such manufactures are generally employed upon the

materials which the country produces; and they seem frequently to

have been first refined and improved in such inland countries as

were; not indeed at a very great; but at a considerable distance

from the sea coast; and sometimes even from all water carriage。

An inland country; naturally fertile and easily cultivated;

produce

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