Nor is the sending lazy People to our Plantations abroad (who can neither by good Laws be forced, or by Rewards be encourag’d to work at home) so prejudicial to the Nation as some do imagine, where they must expect another sort of Treatment, if they will not labour; ’tis true, they give no help in the Manufactures here, but That is made up in the Product they raise there, which is also Profit to the Nation; Besides, the Humours and other Circumstances of People are to be enquired into, some have been very useful there, who would never have been so here: And if the People of this Kingdom be employ’d to the Advantage of the Community, no Matter in what part of the King’s Dominions it is; many hundreds by going to those Plantations, have become profitable Members to the Common-wealth, who had they continued here, had still remain’d Idle Drones; now they raise Sugar, Cotton, Tobacco, and other things, which employ Sailors abroad, and Manufacturers at home, all which being the Product of Earth and Labour, I take to be the Wealth of the Nation. The Employment of Watermen on the River _Thames_ breeds many Sailors, and it were good to keep them still fill’d with Apprentices; also the Employment of Bargemen, Lightermen, and Trowmen, both on That and other Rivers, does the same, who should be encouraged to breed up Landmen, and fit them for the Sea. Idleness is the Foundation of all those Vices which prevail among us, People, aiming to be maintained any way rather than by Labour, betake themselves to all sorts of Villanies; the ill Consequences whereof cannot be prevented, but by encouraging Youth in an early delight of Living by Industry, and on what they call their Own, rather than by Dependance on others, which will keep up a true British Spirit, and put them on Honest Endeavours, and this will get them Credit and Reputation, and give them Opportunities of advancing their Fortunes; and if such an Emulation went through the Kingdom, we should not have so many Lazy Beggars, or Licentious Livers, as now there are; Nor is GOD more honour’d among any, than He is among such Industrious People, who abhor Vice, on equal Principles of Religion and good Husbandry, Labour being usually a Barrier against Sin, which doth generally enter at the Doors of Idleness. [Sidenote: Mr. Edward Colson’s Two Almshouses in Bristol.]