14.9. 9. Means of encouraging Industry.
We shall show, in the nineteenth
book, that lazy nations are generally proud. Now the effect might well
be turned against the cause, and laziness be destroyed by pride. In the
south of Europe, where people have such a high notion of the point of
honour, it would be right to give prizes to husbandmen who had excelled
in agriculture; or to artists who had made the greatest improvements in
their several professions. This practice has succeeded in our days in
Ireland, where it has established one of the most considerable linen
manufactures in Europe.
