I do not find how the differences of the said two states should make much
difference in this particular; for impotents (which are but one in about
600) ought to be maintained by the rest. 2. Those who are unable to
work, through the evil education of their parents, ought (for aught I
know) to be maintained by their nearest kindred, as a just punishment
upon them. 3. And those who cannot find work (though able and willing to
perform it), by reason of the unequal application of hands to lands,
ought to be provided for by the magistrate and landlord till that can be
done; for there need be no beggars in countries where there are many
acres of unimproved improvable land to every head, as there are in
England. As for thieves, they are for the most part begotten from the
same cause; for it is against Nature that any man should venture his
life, limb, or liberty, for a wretched livelihood, whereas moderate
labour will produce a better. But of this see Sir Thomas More, in the
first part of his “Utopia.”