第234页 / 共2651页

France is, perhaps, in the present times, not so rich a country

as England; and though the legal rate of interest has in France

frequently been lower than in England, the market rate has

generally been higher; for there, as in other countries, they

have several very safe and easy methods of evading the law. The

profits of trade, I have been assured by British merchants who

had traded in both countries, are higher in France than in

England; and it is no doubt upon this account, that many British

subjects chuse rather to employ their capitals in a country where

trade is in disgrace, than in one where it is highly respected.

The wages of labour are lower in France than in England. When you

go from Scotland to England, the difference which you may remark

between the dress and countenance of the common people in the one

country and in the other, sufficiently indicates the difference

in their condition. The contrast is still greater when you return

from France.