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Though the wealth of a country should be very great, yet if it

has been long stationary, we must not expect to find the wages of

labour very high in it. The funds destined for the payment of

wages, the revenue and stock of its inhabitants, may be of the

greatest extent; but if they have continued for several centuries

of the same, or very nearly of the same extent, the number of

labourers employed every year could easily supply, and even more

than supply, the number wanted the following year. There could

seldom be any scarcity of hands, nor could the masters be obliged

to bid against one another in order to get them. The hands, on

the contrary, would, in this case, naturally multiply beyond

their employment. There would be a constant scarcity of

employment, and the labourers would be obliged to bid against one

another in order to get it.