of bodily labour, must, from the nature of things, be, more or less, a dependent; and this is, indeed, the price which he pays for his exemption from that bodily labour.  He may arrive at riches, or fame, or both; and this chance he sets against the certainty of independence in humbler life.  There always have been, there always will be, and there always ought to be, some men to take this chance:  but to do this has become the fashion, and a fashion it is the most fatal that ever seized upon a community.

327.  With regard to young women, too, to sing, to play on instruments of music, to draw, to speak French, and the like, are very agreeable qualifications; but why should they all be musicians, and painters, and linguists?  Why all of them?  Who, then, is there left to take care of the houses of farmers and traders?  But there is something in these ‘accomplishments’ worse than this; namely, that they think themselves too high for farmers and traders:  and this, in fact, they are; much too high; and, therefore, the servant-girls step in and supply their place.  If they could see their own interest, surely they would drop this lofty tone, and these lofty airs.  It is, however, the fault of the parents, and particularly of the father, whose duty it is to prevent them from imbibing such notions, and to show them, that the greatest honour they ought to aspire to is, thorough skill and care in the economy of a house.  We are all apt to set too high a value on what we ourselves have done; and I may do this; but I do firmly believe, that to cure any young woman of this fatal sublimation, she has only patiently to read my COTTAGE ECONOMY, written with an anxious desire to promote domestic skill and ability in that sex, on whom so much of the happiness of man must always depend.  A lady in Worcestershire told me, that until she read COTTAGE ECONOMY she had never baked in the house, and had seldom had good beer; that, ever since, she had looked after both herself; that the pleasure she had derived from it, was equal to the profit, and that the latter was very great.  She said, that the article ‘on baking bread,’ was the part that roused her to the undertaking; and, indeed, if the facts and arguments, there made use of, failed to stir her up to action, she must have been stone dead to the power of words.

328.  After the age that we have now been supposing, boys and girls become men and women; and, there now only remains for the father to act towards them with impartiality.  If they be numerous, or, indeed, if they be only two in number, to expect perfect harmony to reign amongst, or between, them, is to be unreasonable; because experience shows us, that, even amongst the most sober, most virtuous, and most sensible, harmony so complete is very rare.  By nature they are rivals for the affection and applause of the parents; in personal