Pagina 695 di 2651

The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country,

or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual

produce, naturally divides itself, it has already been observed,

into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the

profits of stock; and constitutes a revenue to three different

orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by

wages, and to those who live by profit. These are the three

great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized

society, from whose revenue that of every other order is

ultimately derived.