An essay on the history of civil society / [Adam Ferguson].

  • Adam Ferguson
Date:
1789
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the history of civil society / [Adam Ferguson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    396/438 page 386
    sect, i v. The fame Subjecl continued. The increafing regard with which men appear, in the progrefs of commercial arts, to fttidy their profit, or the delicacy with which they refine on their pleafures ; even induftry itfelf, or the habit of application to a tedious employment, in which no honours are won, may, perhaps, be confidered as indications of a growing attention to iritereffc, or of effeminacy, contracted in the enjoyment of eafe and conveniency. Every fuc- celfive art, by which the individual is taught to improve on his fortune, is, in reality, an addition to his private engagements, and a new avocation of his mind from the public. Corruption, however, does not arife from the abufe of commercial arts alone; it requires the aid of political fituation; and is not produced by the objeeffs that occupy a fordid and a mercenary fpirit, without the aid of circumffances that enable men to indulge in fafety any mean difpo- fition they have acquired. Providence has fitted mankind for the higher engagements which they are fometimes obliged to fulfil; and it is in the midft of fuch engagements that they are moft likely to acquire or to preferve their virtues. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties, not in
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