It was, in fact, much larger now that three generations had been supported upon it in idleness, than it was at first.

This mystery of use without consumption, of warmth without combustion, seems like magic, but was merely an ingenious application of the art now happily lost but carried to great perfection by your ancestors, of shifting the burden of one's support on the shoulders of others.

The man who had accomplished this, and it was the end all sought, was said to live on the income of his investments.

To explain at this point how the ancient methods of industry made this possible would delay us too much.

I shall only stop now to say that interest on investments was a species of tax in perpetuity upon the product of those engaged in industry which a person possessing or inheriting money was able to levy.