JB/015/412/001

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91

In extravagant expenditure imprudence is often exhibited, and
as the error is sometimes brought about by the benevolent affections – by
the exercise of those very qualities which occupy so large a part of the
domain of virtue, – but which when escaped from the control of the
self-regarding interest become pernicious vices. The imprudence will
be greatest where its errors are least reparable, & though none impossible the
to estimate of the quantity of imprudence must be weighed in every
particular case, yet the fit distribution of expenditure may
be subjected to some general considerations which it will be
well to keep in view – as for example, where
income depends wholly upon labor, in such case the necessity
is obvious of a strict economy & of the laying by something portion of the fruits
of labor, as a security against those interruptions to which
ill-health, – old age – or accidents – or the inevitable advance of decay time
subjects the whole human race. When the work of the laborer who is wholly independent on his daily exertions for his daily bread is
suspended,
and he has no store gathered out of the economy of the past, – the imprudence
which neglected of the habit of a strict economy will be
most painfully & most prominently felt. In the expenditure of income
underived from labor, – considerations of another character present
themselves. Its judicious distribution will be facilitated by the
removal of all those uncertainties & contingencies to which the income
of the laborer is subjected. The means of judging what prudence
deprecates or demands are more accessible, – and at the same
time, the habit of labor as a resource against want being wanting
it will not in ordinary cases be looked to as a resource.
Perhaps the happiest of human conditions is that in which
income is derived partly from and partly without labor, – in which
labor is looked to not for the supply of absolute necessities but
for those extra-enjoyments which may add so much to the sum
of human pleasures. That the fruition of them should be pushed
to the greatest extent it is needful that their present intensity
should not interfere with their future duration to such an so far as
extent it would on a fair calculation of probabilities diminish
the final amount of them. If for the purchase of one pleasure
today, two each of equal amount are to be sacrificed tomorrow, – it is
clear the bargain is one of loss – of folly – of imprudence.

Identifier: | JB/015/412/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	412	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f90
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	c wise 1829
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1829
Notes public		ID Number	5628
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