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Though the profits of stock, both in the wholesale and retail

trade, are generally less in the capital than in small towns and

country villages, yet great fortunes are frequently acquired from

small beginnings in the former, and scarce ever in the latter. In

small towns and country villages, on account of the narrowness of

the market, trade cannot always be extended as stock extends. In

such places, therefore, though the rate of a particular person's

profits may be very high, the sum or amount of them can never be

very great, nor consequently that of his annual accumulation. In

great towns, on the contrary, trade can be extended as stock

increases, and the credit of a frugal and thriving man increases

much faster than his stock. His trade is extended in proportion

to the amount of both; and the sum or amount of his profits is in

proportion to the extent of his trade, and his annual

accumulation in proportion to the amount of his profits.