Excerpt from Luxury, Pride and Vanity: The Bane of the British Nation But what Refieetions mayxbe madei on this Head, the World has long'fince decided the Mat ter handfome Apparel is. A imain Point, 9i fine Feathers make fine S1tds' and Peoplelwhere they are nor known, are generally honoue according to their Clothes, and Other A'c'coutrements they have about them, from the Rio/one]? Of them we judge oftheir Wealth, and by theirordering them we guefs at their Underfiandingt 'trit is'this which encourages every body, who is Confcious of his little Merit, if he 15 any able to wear Clothes above his'rank, efpecially, in large and populo'us Cities, where obleute Menzmay hour ly meet with fifty Strangers to one Acquain tance, and confequently have the Pleafure of be ing ef'teem'd by a vail: Majority, not as what they are, but what they appear to be which 15 a greater Temptation, than mol't People want, to be va1n. The Almighty, they fay, has en dow'd us with the Dominion over all Things, which the Earth or Sea produce or contain there is nothing to be found 1n either, but what was made for the ufe of Man and his Skill and In duftry above other Animals were given him, that he might render both them and every thing elfe within the reach of his Senfes, more fervice able to him. Upon this confideration, they think it impious to imagine that Humility, Temperance and Other 1rtues, fhould sdebar People from the Enjoyment of thofe Comforts of Life, which are noc denied to the molt Hea tbeni/b Nations; and (0 conclude that. Without Pride or Luxury, the fame Things. Might be eat, wore and confum'd. Leas to wearing Apparel in particular, fome will indeed tell you, that Pride which flick. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.