If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce, what a barren uncomfortable Spot of Earth falls to our Share! Natural Historians tell us, that no Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts, with other Delicates of the like Nature; That our Climate of itself, and without the Assistances of Art, can make no further Advances towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a Perfection than a Crab: That [our [2]] Melons, our Peaches, our Figs, our Apricots, and Cherries, are Strangers among us, imported in different Ages, and naturalized in our _English_ Gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the Trash of our own Country, if they were wholly neglected by the Planter, and left to the Mercy of our Sun and Soil. Nor has Traffick more enriched our Vegetable World, than it has improved the whole Face of Nature among us. Our Ships are laden with the Harvest of every Climate: Our Tables are stored with Spices, and Oils, and Wines: Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of _China_, and adorned with the Workmanship of _Japan_: Our Morning's Draught comes to us from the remotest Corners of the Earth: We repair our Bodies by the Drugs of _America_, and repose ourselves under _Indian_ Canopies. My Friend Sir ANDREW calls the Vineyards of _France_ our Gardens; the Spice-Islands our Hot-beds; the _Persians_ our Silk-Weavers, and the _Chinese_ our Potters. Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare Necessaries of Life, but Traffick gives us greater Variety of what is Useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is Convenient and Ornamental. Nor is it the least Part of this our Happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest Products of the North and South, we are free from those Extremities of Weather [which [3]] give them Birth; That our Eyes are refreshed with the green Fields of _Britain_, at the same time that our Palates are feasted with Fruits that rise between the Tropicks. For these Reasons there are no more useful Members in a Commonwealth than Merchants. They knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the Poor, add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great. Our _English_ Merchant converts the Tin of his own Country into Gold, and exchanges his Wool for Rubies. The _Mahometans_ are clothed in our _British_ Manufacture, and the Inhabitants of the frozen Zone warmed with the Fleeces of our Sheep.