How many conveniences and how much wealth are lost from the poor construction of towns and villages? Streets and houses are made haphazardly at the unregulated whim of each individual, whereas the Prince’s Council and architects should make a general plan for every town and village, even for every house, taking into consideration all the necessary and imaginable conveniences. Those who need the river the most are far from it; those who are inconvenienced by it are next to it; butchers, clothiers, tanners and other similar artisans live in the center of town; carpenters, coopers and others who work with wood live in (382) damp places; those whose works cause unbearable stench for others who are not accustomed to it work right under the nose of decent people. Poorly constructed chimneys cause fires; dirty streets and common places cause disease; and poorly built stoves consume an unnecessary amount of wood.
Peasants lack a great number of life’s conveniences because of the poor construction of their houses. It is therefore important for the prince to put all these things in order and especially to give villages all the necessary conveniences. We must consider that those who live in the country set in motion all the other professions and (383) their wealth, and that as they get richer, so will the rest. They well deserve to have the prince’s most skillful architects and engineers work to provide and to teach them everything that is appropriate for being conveniently housed and for making dikes and ditches to divert waters that ruin pastures, hay and grains. It would even be better for parish priests to know a little of this science rather than to analyze a Hebrew and Greek text, which is not of any use to the peasants, spiritually or temporally.
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