Henry Fielding

“ To give a final Blow to Luxury by any general Prohibition, if it would be advisable, is by no means possible. To say the Truth, bad Habits in the Body Politic, especially if of any Duration, are seldom to be wholly eradicated. ”

“ To the upper Part of Mankind Time is an Enemy, and (as they themselves often confess) their chief Labour is to kill it; whereas, with the others, Time and Money are almost synonymous; and as they have very little of each to spare, it becomes the Legislature, as much as possible, to suppress all Temptations whereby they may be induced too profusely to squander either the one or the other ”

“ Could Luxury be confined to the Palaces of the Great, the Society would not perhaps be much affected with it; at least, the Mischiefs, which I am now intending to obviate can never be the Consequence. ”

“ The Society will receive some temporal Advantage from their Luxury. The more Toys which Children of all Ages consume, the brisker will be the Circulation of Money, and the greater the Increase of Trade. ”

“ For tho', perhaps, there is not more of real Virtue in the higher State, yet the Sense of Honour is there more general and prevalent. But there is a much stronger Reason. The Means bear no Proportion to the End: For the Loss of Thousands, or of a great Estate, is not to be relieved or supplied by any Means of common Theft or Robbery. With regard to such Evils therefore the Legislature might be justified in leaving the Punishment, as well as the pernicious Consequences, to end in the Misery, Distress, and sometimes utter Ruin of a private Family. ”

“ In free Countries, at least, it is a Branch of Liberty claimed by the People to be as wicked and as profligate as their Superiors. Thus while the Nobleman will emulate the Grandeur of a Prince; and the Gentleman will aspire to the proper State of the Nobleman ”

“ In Diversion, as in many other Particulars, the upper Part of Life is distinguished from the Lower. Let the Great therefore answer for the Employment of their Time, to themselves, or to their spiritual Governors. ”

“ The greater Part of Mankind must sweat hard to Produce them, or Society will no longer answer the Purposes for which it was ordained. Six Days shalt thou labour, was the positive Command of God in his own Republic. ”

“ Of too frequent and expensive Diversions among the Lower Kind of People.
First then, I think that the vast Torrent of Luxury which of late Years hath poured itself into this Nation, hath greatly contributed to produce, among many others, the Mischief I here complain of. I am not here to satirize the Great, among who Luxury is probably rather a moral than a political Evil. But Vices no more than Diseases will stop with them; for bad Habits are as infectious by Example, as the Plague itself by Contact. ”

“ I am convinced, that many thousands of honest Tradesmen have found their Expences exceed their Computation in a much greater Proportion. And the Sum of seven or eight Shillings (which is a very moderate Allowance for the Entertainment of the smallest Family) repeated once or twice a Week thruogh a Summer, will make too large a Deduction from the reasonable Profits of any low Mechanic.
Besides the actual Expence in attending these Places of Pleasure, the Loss of Time and Neglect of Business are Consequences which the inferior Tradesman can by no means support. ”

“ It reaches the very Dregs of the People, who aspiring still to a Degree beyond that which belongs to them, and not being able by the Fruits of honest Labour to support the State which they affect, they disdain the Wages to which their Industry would entitle them; and abandoning themselves to Idleness, the more simple and poor-spirited betake themselves to a State of Starving and Beggary, while those of more Art and Courage become Thieves, Sharpers, and Robbers. ”

“ From constant Labour arises a certain Dulness and Langour of the Spirits; nor would Men with such Eagerness affect them, if Sport and Merriment had not a natural Sweetness inherent in themselves; the frequent Use of which however will destroy all Gravity and Force in our Minds. Sleep is necessary to our Refreshment, but if this be continued Night and Day, it will become Death. ”

“ Thus the Greek and Latin Philosopher, tho' they derive the Institution differently, the one alledging a divine and the other a human Original, both agree that a necessary Relaxation from Labour was the only End for which Diversion was invented and allowed to the People. ”

“ Was the Price as high as that of a Ridotto, or an Opera, it would, like these Diversions, be confined to the higher People only; besides the Cheapness is really a Delusion. Unthinking Men are often deceived into Expence, as I once knew an honest Gentleman who carried his Wife and two Daughters to a Masquerade, being told that he could have four Tickets for four Guineas ”

“ Thus we find that by divine as well as human Institution, as well by our own Laws as those of other Countries, the Diversions of the People have been limited and restrained to certain Seasons: Under which Limitations, Seneca calls these Diversions the necessary Temperament of Labour. 'Some Remission, says he, must be given to our Minds, which will spring up the better, and more brisk from Rest. It is with the Mind as with a fruitful Field, whose Fertility will be exhausted if we give it no Intermission. ”