Excerpt from The History of the Poor; Their Rights, Duties, and the Laws Respecting Them, Vol. 2: In a Series of Letters This afi'ertion of Mr. Kent's, refpeeting the advanced price of the produce of the land, compared with the advance of wages, demands proof before it ought to be reafoned frdm as a principle and at prefent it fiands a mere gratis as advanced by him. Adam Smith goes more minutely into the queftion, which requires a decided judgment before confequences are deduced from it; the difad vantages the poor lieunder in going with their penny to market, are great; but it is much to be doubted whether, at any time, they could buy the produce of land immediately of the farmer, unlefs from their matter; the quantity wanted by each individual 13 too fmall, to fup pofe that the farmer could allow that lofs of time which would be neceffary to deal to each one his trifling dole; and if they lay in a flock waf'te will make a greater confumption in their earnings, than the advanced price of the amp. Keeper. The firft edition of An Inquiry into the Nature and Caufes of the Wealth of Nations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.