The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-12-22

Among the ADVANTAGES OF kixUrv We NAV rank
thofe of retiurd focietv. BY keeping the hunan
mind always active and inventive, 1t evidently
leads to the encouragement of f-ience and the
polite arts. There is aa intimate connection,
one with another, among all the branches OF
knowledge that are familiar 10 man |: and it is
perhaps not extravapsni TO FAY that the beauti-
tul odes of Gray, or his Till more beautiful
elegy would never have exited, rnlcts th-
country which produced them had ALTO protiu-
ce,i the pottery of Wedgwood, the DUKE of
Brdgwater's Canal, or the various other proofs
that could be addcccd of the pre(ent fate of
advancement Of the arts in Great Britain
Theie fine may be confdered to owe to luxury
alone lince if we trace man from the fate of
the naked hunter, who fought food aud clothing
from his brother tenant of The fore't to the pam
pered inhabitant Of London W Paris who rolls
on his couch and partakeS of his twenty diihcs,
we fhall find that new dcfires have given rife to
new inventions to crafty them.
The lentimcnt of honor is alto peculiar to
luxurious and refined focicty. Whatever religi-
on or reafon may fay to fome of its dictates, it
fnrely well fupplies the place of favage courage.
The dictates o. opinion, and fenibity to nlanle,
produce the fame effect on the man of honor,
as initinet and PATTON produce on the favnge:
thus we find that our modern Ducllifts are as
ready to aid defiance to fear, and even to court
death, as the mott ferocous tribes of barba-
rim.
The wealth which luxury indirectly produ-
ccs, both affords the means and invites the exer-
ciic Of generolty /; and it is very probable that
more has been effected by the Engilh fubfcrip-
tons at Lloyd's during their late war with
France, than could formerly have been done by
direct levy from the crown.
There is one other argument in favor of lux
Hry which ! advance with fome hefitation. 1t
Hra1 l. IL.
OF the United States and though our govern
ment has had too fhort an exitence as yet to
form national character, even if our citizens
were lefs mixed and heterogeneous yet in the
fate of equality which prevails here, it may be
iuppofed that the love of gain is itronger tina, in
thoie countries where Ii is oppofed by the pride
of birth, OF the difinttion of rank. If our go
vernment and iituation are favorable 70 this fcl-
tiih and odious vice, we have another reafon for
countcracting it by its natural and proper anti
dote, the love OF rational peafure. In this cafe
the unamiable defect fpcsk of, is likely to be
itronser in remote parts of the country than in
the towns, where it is oppofed by 70 many in
vitations to enjoyment. Here then it will pro-
badly never be extenhve pernicious. But if
better experience fhould thew US that love of
boarding is the vice of this otherwie happy
country, let us feduloufly cultivate relifh for
mufic, for building and improvement, and for
the productions of all the fine arts, if we would
cferiih regard for the dignity of man, or even
the blefiings of liberty.
Oh The whole, ii appears 10 the author OF the
preceding eaay that the feeds Of luxury are
grated on the tirt principles of our nature
That it is, with all the evils incident to it, pro-
ductive of more good than evil that the anci-
ent objections to luxury do not apply to this
country, or tbefe times and that when proper
~ regulated, it is favorable to the happiness of
the individual; and to the welfare and fafety of
the nation.