John Wesley regularly adopted this course.  Although he possessed a small income, he always kept his eyes upon the state of his affairs.  A year before his death, he wrote with a trembling hand, in his Journal of Expenses; “For more than eighty-six years I have kept my accounts exactly.  I do not care to continue to do so any longer, having the conviction that I economize all that I obtain, and give all that I can,—­that is to say, all that I have."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Southey’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 560.]

Besides these methods of economy, the eye of the master or the mistress is always necessary to see that nothing is lost, that everything is put to its proper use and kept in its proper place, and that all things are done decently and in order.  It does no dishonour to even the highest individuals to take a personal interest in their own affairs.  And with persons of moderate means, the necessity for the eye of the master overlooking everything, is absolutely necessary for the proper conduct of business.

It is difficult to fix the precise limits of economy.  Bacon says that if a man would live well within his income, he ought not to expend more than one-half, and save the rest.  This is perhaps too exacting; and Bacon himself did not follow his own advice.  What proportion of one’s income should be expended on rent?  That depends upon circumstances.  In the country about one-tenth; in London about one-sixth.  It is at all events better to save too much, than spend too much.  One may remedy the first defect, but not so easily the latter.  Wherever there is a large family, the more money that is put to one side and saved, the better.

Economy is necessary to the moderately rich, as well as to the comparatively poor man.  Without economy, a man cannot be generous.  He cannot take part in the charitable work of the world.  If he spends all that he earns, he can help nobody.  He cannot properly educate his children, nor put them in the way of starting fairly in the business of life.  Even the example of Bacon shows that the loftiest intelligence cannot neglect thrift without peril.  But thousands of witnesses daily testify, that men even of the most moderate intelligence, can practise the virtue with success.

Although Englishmen are a diligent, hard-working, and generally self-reliant race, trusting to themselves and their own efforts for their sustenance and advancement in the world, they are yet liable to overlook and neglect some of the best practical methods of improving their position, and securing their social well-being.  They are not yet sufficiently educated to be temperate, provident, and foreseeing.  They live for the present, and are too regardless of the coming time.  Men who are husbands and parents, generally think they do their duty if they provide for the hour that is, neglectful of the hour that is to come.  Though industrious, they are improvident; though money-making, they are spendthrift.  They do not exercise forethought enough, and are defective in the virtue of prudent economy.