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When we talk of any particular sum of money, we sometimes mean

nothing but the metal pieces of which it is composed, and

sometimes we include in our meaning some obscure reference to the

goods which can be had in exchange for it, or to the power of

purchasing which the possession of it conveys. Thus, when we say

that the circulating money of England has been computed at

eighteen millions, we mean only to express the amount of the

metal pieces, which some writers have computed, or rather have

supposed, to circulate in that country. But when we say that a

man is worth fifty or a hundred pounds a-year, we mean commonly

to express, not only the amount of the metal pieces which are

annually paid to him, but the value of the goods which he can

annually purchase or consume; we mean commonly to ascertain what

is or ought to be his way of living, or the quantity and quality

of the necessaries and conveniencies of life in which he can with

propriety indulge himself.