Pagina 352 van 2651

And, in both cases, the law seems to have been equally

ineffectual, and has never either been able to raise the wages of

curates, or to sink those of labourers to the degree that was

intended; because it has never been able to hinder either the one

from being willing to accept of less than the legal allowance, on

account of the indigence of their situation and the multitude of

their competitors, or the other from receiving more, on account

of the contrary competition of those who expected to derive

either profit or pleasure from employing them.