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taking up their time with occupations foreign to their bufinefs, is to defraud them of their wages.

The master is responsible for what a fervant does in the ordinary courfe of his employment; for it is done under a general authority committed to him, which is in juftice equivalent to a specific direction. Thus, if I pay money to a banker's clerk, the banker is accountable; but not if I had paid it to his butler or his footman, whofe bufinefs it is not to receive money. Upon the fame principle, if I once fend a fervant to take up goods upon credit, whatever goods he afterwards takes up at the fame shop, fo long as he continues in my fervice, are juftly chargeable to my account.

The law of this country goes great lengths in intending a kind of concurrence in the mafter, fo as to charge him with the confequences of his fervant's conduct. If an inn-keeper's fervant rob his guests, the inn-keeper muft make reftitution; if a farrier's fervant lame a horfe, the farrier must answer for the damage; and ftill farther, if your coachman or carter drive over a paffenger in the road, the paffenger may recover from you a fatisfaction for the hurt he fuffers. But thefe determinations ftand, I think, rather upon the authority of the law, than any prineiple of natural justice.

There is a carele ffness and facility in " giving "characters," as it is called, of fervants, especially when given in writing, or according to fome eftablithed form, which, to speak plainly of it, is a cheat upon those who accept them. They are given with fo little referve and veracity, "that I fhould as foon depend," fays the author of the Rambler,

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upon an acquittal at the Old Bailey, by way of "recommendation of a fervant's honefty, as upon 66 one of these characters." It is fometimes careleffnefs; and fometimes alfo to get rid of a bad fervant without the uneafinefs of a difpute; for which nothing can be pleaded, but the most ungenerous of

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all excufes, that the perfon whom we deceive is a ftranger.

There is a conduct, the reverse of this, but more injurious, because the injury falls where there is no remedy I mean the obftruction of a fervant's advancement, because you are unwilling to fpare his fervice. To ftand in the way of your fervant's intereft, is a poor return for his fidelity; and affords flender encouragement for good behaviour, in this numerous and therefore important part of the community. It is a piece of injuftice, which if practised towards an equal, the law of honour would lay hold of; as it is, it is neither uncommon nor difreputable.

A mafter of a family is culpable, if he permit any vices among his domeftics, which he might reftrain by due difcipline and a proper interference. This refults from the general obligation to prevent mifery when in our power; and the affurance which we have, that vice and mifery at the long run go toge ther. Care to maintain in his family a fenfe of virtue and religion, received the divine approbation in the perfon of ABRAHAM, Gen. xviii. 19—“ I know "him, that he will command his children, and his

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household after him; and they fhall keep the way "of the LORD, to do juftice and judgment." And indeed no authority feems fo well adapted to this purpofe, as that of masters of families; becaufe none operates upon the fubjects of it, with an influence fo immediate and conftant.

What the Chriftian Scriptures have delivered, concerning the relation and reciprocal duties of masters and fervants, breathes a fpirit of liberality, very little known in ages when fervitude was flavery; and which flowed from a habit of contemplating mankind under the common relation in which they ftand to their Creator, and with respect to their interest in another exiftence." Servants, be obedient ર to them that are your mafters, according to the

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"flefh, with fear and trembling; in fingleness of your heart, as unto Chrift; not with eye fervice, 66 as men pleafers, but as the fervants of Chrift, doing the will of God from the heart; with good " will, doing fervice as to the Lord, and not to men : "knowing that whatfoever good thing any man "doth, the fame fhall he receive of the LORD, "whether he be bond or free. And ye mafters, do "the fame thing unto them, forbearing threaten"ing; knowing that your mafter also is in heaven; "neither is there refpect of perfons with him." The idea of referring their fervice to God, of confidering him as having appointed them their task, that they were doing his will, and were to look to him for their reward, was new; and affords a greater fecurity to the mafter than any inferior principle, because it tends to produce a steady and cordial obedience in the place of that constrained fervice, which is juftly enough called eye-fervice. The exhortation to mafters, to keep in their view their own fubjection and accountablenefs, was no less seasonable.

CHAP.

С НА Р.

XII.

CONTRACTS OF LABOUR.

COMMISSION S.

HOEVER undertakes another man's bufiness, makes it his own, that is, promises to employ the fame care, attention, and diligence, that he would do if it were actually his own; for he knows that the bufinefs was committed to him with that expectation. And he promises nothing more than this Therefore an agent is not obliged to wait, inquire, folicit, ride about the country, toil, or study, whilst there remains a poffibility of benefiting his employer. If he exert fo much of his activity, and ufe fuch caution, as the value of the business, in his judgment, deferves, that is, as he would have thought fufficient, if the fame intereft of his own had been at ftake, he has difcharged his duty, although it should afterwards turn out, that by more activity, and longer perfeverance, he might have concluded the bufinefs with greater advantage.

This rule defines the duty of factors, stewards, attornies, advocates.

One of the chief difficulties of an agent's fituation is, to know how far he may depart from his inftructions, when, from fome change or difcovery in the circumstances of his commiffion, he fees reafon to believe that his employer, if he were prefent, would alter his intention. The latitude allowed to agents in this refpect will be different, according as the commiffion was confidential or minifterial; and according as the general rule and nature of the ferI 2

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vice require a prompt and precife obedience to orders, or not. An attorney fent to treat for an eftate, if he found out a flaw in the title, would defift from propofing the price he was directed to propose; and very properly. On the other hand, if the commander in chief of an army detach an officer under him upon a particular fervice, which service turns out more difficult, or lefs expedient, than was fuppofed, in fo much that the officer is convinced that his commander, if he were acquainted with the true ftate in which the affair is found, would recall his orders, yet muft this officer, if he cannot wait for fresh directions, without prejudice to the expedition he i fent upon, pursue, at all hazards, thofe which he brought out with him,

What is trufted to an agent may be loft or damaged in his hands by misfortune. An agent who acts without pay is clearly not anfwerable for the lofs; for, if he gives his labour for nothing, it cannot be prefumed, that he gave alfo fecurity for the fuccefs of it. If the agent be hired to the bufinefs, the queftion will depend upon the apprehenfion of the parties at the time of making the contract; which apprehenfion of theirs must be collected chiefly from cuftom, by which probably it was guided. Whether a public carrier ought to account for goods fent by him; the owner or mafter of a fhip for the cargo; the poft-office for letters, or bills inclofed in letters, where the lofs is not imputed to any fault or neglect of theirs; are queftions of this fort. Any expreffion, which by implication amounts to a promile, will be binding upon the agent, without cuftom; as where the proprietors of a tage-coach advertise, that they will not be accountable for money, plate, or jewels, this makes them accountable for every thing elfe; or where the price is too much for the labour, part of it may be confidered as a premium for infurOn the other hand, any caution on the part

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