A collection of essays important for their expression of Godwin's views on education. There is also a large group of essays dealing with problems arising out of the established system of property - riches and poverty, avarice and profusion, beggars and servants, trades and professions. Malthus stated that he was prompted to write the Essay on Population, published the following year, after reading the essay "Of Avarice and Profusion" in which Godwin held out the ideal of a society characterised by "cultivated equality."