Pagina 215 di 2651

In years of plenty, servants frequently leave their masters, and

trust their subsistence to what they can make by their own

industry. But the same cheapness of provisions, by increasing the

fund which is destined for the maintenance of servants,

encourages masters, farmers especially, to employ a greater

number. Farmers, upon such occasions, expect more profit from

their corn by maintaining a few more labouring servants, than by

selling it at a low price in the market. The demand for servants

increases, while the number of those who offer to supply that

demand diminishes. The price of labour, therefore, frequently

rises in cheap years.