gance? But if this People refembled Nero in their Extravagance, much more did they referable and even exceed him in Cruelty and Iiijuftice. In the Time of Periclest one of the moft celebrated Times in the Hifiory of that Commonwealth, a King of Egypt fent them a Donation of Corn. This they were mean enough to accept. And had the Egyptian Prince intended the Ruin of this City of wicked Bedlamites, he could not have taken a more effectual Method to do it, than by fuch an enfnaring Largefs. The Distribution of this Bounty caufed a Quarrel -y the Majority fet on foot an En- quiry into the Title of the Citizens, and upon a vain Pretence of Illegitimacy, newly and occasionally fet up, they de- prived of their Share of the royal Dona- tion no lefs than five thoufand of their own Body. They went further; they dif- franchifed them; and having once begun with an Aft of L juftice, they could fet no Bounds to it. Not content with cutting them off from the Rights of Citizens, they plundered plundered plundered thefe unfortunate Wretches of all their Subftance$and to crown this Mafter- piece of Violence and Tyranny, they adtu- ally fold every Man of the five thoufand as Slaves in the publick Market. Obfervc, my Lord, that the five thoufand we here fpeak of, were cut off from a Body of no more than nineteen thoufand; for the entire Number of Citizens was no greater at that Time. Could the Tyrant who wifhed the Roman People but one Neck, could the Tyrant himfelf have done, nay, he could Scarcely wifh for a greater Mifchief, than to have cut off, at one Stroke, a fourth of his People? Or has the Cruelty of that Series of fanguine Tyrants, the Ccefars^ ever prefented fuch a Piece of flagrant and cxtenfive Wickednefs? The whole Hif- tory of this celebrated Republick is but one Tiffue of Rafhnefs, Folly, Ingratitude, in- juftice, Tumult, Violence, and Tyranny, and indeed of every Species of Wicked- nefs that can well be imagined. This was a City of Wifemen, in which a Minifter could could could not exercife his Functions; a war- like People, amongft whom a General did not dare either to gain or lofe a Battle; a learned Nation, in which a Philofopher could not enter on a free Enquiry. This was the City which banifhed Tbemijlocles, ftarved Ariflides^ forced into Exile Milti- adeS) drove out Anaxagoras, and poifoned Socrates. This was a City which changed the Form of it's Government with the Moon; eternal Confpiracies, Revolutions daily, nothing fixed and eftablifhed. A Re- publick, as an antient Philofopher has ob- ferved, is no one Species of Government, but a Magazine of every Species j here you find every Sort of it, and that in the worft Form. As there > is a perpetual Change, one rifing and the other falling, you have all the Violence and wicked Po- licy, by which a beginning Power muft always acquire it's Strength, and all the Weaknefs by which falling States are brought to a complete Deftru&ion.
Rome Rome Rome has a more venerable Afpedt than Athens; and fhe condu&ed her Affairs, fo far as related to the Ruin and Oppreflion of the greateft Part of the World, with more Wifdom and Uniformity. But their domeftick Oeconomy was nearly or alto- gether the fame. An internal Diffention conftantly tore to Pieces the Bowels of this Commonwealth. You find the fame Con- fufion, the fame Factions which fubfifted at Athens, the fame Tumults, the fanje Revolutions, and in fine, the fame Slavery, If perhaps their former Condition did not deferve that Name altogether as well. All other Republicks were of the fame Cha- radler. Florence was a Tranfcriptof Athens, And the modern Republicks, as they ap- proach more or lefs to the Democratick Form, partake more of lefs of the Nature of thofe which I have defcribed.
We are now at the Clofe of our Review of the three fimple Forms of Artificial So- ciety, and we have fhewn them, however they they may differ in Name, or in fome flight Circumftances, to be all alike in Effedt j ia Effett, to be all Tyrannies. But fup- pofe we were inclined to make the moft. ample Conceflions; let us concede Athens, Rome, Carthage, and two or three more of the antient, and many of the modern, Commonwealths, to have been, or to be free and happy, and to owe their Freedom and Happinefs to their Political Conftitu- tion. Yet allowing all this, what De- fence does this make for Artificial Society in general, that thefe inconfiderable Spots of the Globe have for fome fliort Space of Time flood as Exceptions to a Charge fo general? But when we call thefe Govern- ments free, or concede that their Citizens were happier than thofe which lived under different Forms, it is merely ex Abundan- tia. For we fhould be greatly miftaken, if we really thought that the Majority of the People which filled thefe Cities, en- joyed even that nominal Political Freedom of which I have fpoken fo much already.
In In In Reality, they had no Part of it. InAthens there were ufually from ten to thirty thou- fand Freemen: This was the utmoft. But the Slaves ufually amounted to four hun- dred thoufand, and fometimes to a great many more. The Freemen of Sparta and Rome were not more numerous in Propor- tion to thofe whom they held in a Slavery, even more terrible than the Athenians. Therefore ftate the Matter fairly: The free States never formed, though they were taken altogether, the thoufandth Part of the habitable Globe; the Freemen in thefe States were never the twentieth Part of the People, and the Time they fubfifted is fcarce any thing in that immenfe Ocean of Duration in which Time and Slavery are fo nearly commenfurate. Therefore call thefe free States, or popular Govern- ments, or what you pleafe $ when we con- sider the^Majority of their Inhabitants, and regard the natural Rights of Mankind, jthey muft appear in Reality and Truth, ;no better than pitiful and oppreffive Oli- garchies.
After fo fair an Examen, wherein no- thing has been exaggerated >, no Fadl pro- duced which cannot be proved, and none which has been produced in any wife forced or ftrained. while thoufands have, for Brevity, been omitted • after fo candid a Difcuffion in all Refpe&s; what Slave fo paffive, what Bigot fo blind, what Enthufiaft fo headlong, what Politician fo hardened, as to ftand up in Defence of a Syftem calculated for a Curfe to Man- kind? a Curfe under which they fmart and groan to this Hour, without thoroughly knowing the Nature of the Difeafe, and wanting Underftanding or Courage to ap- ply the Remedy.
I need not excufe myfelf to your Lord- fhip, nor, I think, to any honeftMan, for the Zeal I have fhewn in this Caufe 5 for it it is an honeft Zeal, and in a good Caufe. I have defended Natural Religion againft a Confederacy of Atheifts and Divines. I now plead for Natural Society againft Po- liticians, and for Natural Reafon againft all three. When the World is in a fitter Temper than it is at prefent to hear Truth, or when I fhall be more indifferent about it's Temper; my Thoughts may become more publick. In the mean time, let them repofe in my own Bofom, and in the Bofoms of fuch Men as are fit to be ini- tiated in the fober Myfteries of Truth and Reafon. My Antagonifts have already done as much as I could defire. Parties in Religion and Politicks make fufficient Difcoveries concerning each other, to give a fober Man a proper Caution againft them all. The Monarchick, Ariftocratical, and Popular Partizans have been jointly laying their Axes to the Root of all Government, and have in their Turns proved each other abfurd and inconvenient. In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is K 2 good, good, but that I fall out only with the Abufe. The Thing! the Thing itfelf is the Abufe! Obferve, my Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legiflative Power is founded. It was obferved, that Men had ungovernable Paffions, which made it necefiary to guard againft the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors jver them for this Reafon; but a worfe and more perplexing Difficulty arifes, how to be defended againft the Governors? Qui$ cujiodiet ipfos cujiodes? In vain they change from a fingle Perfon to a few. Thefe few have the Paffions of the one, and they unite to ftrengthen themfelves, and to fecure the Gratification of their lawlefs Paffions at the Expence of the general Good. In vain do v/e fly to the Manyi The Cafe is worfe; their Paffions are lefs under the Government of Reafon, they are augmented by the Contagion, and de- fended againft all Attacks by their Mul- titude.
I have I have t have purpofely avoided the mention 6f the mixed Form of Government, for Reafons that will be very obvious to your Lordfhip. But my Caution can avail me but little. You will not fail to urge it againft me in favour of Political Society. You will not fail to fhew how the Errors of the feveral fimple Modes are corrected by a Mixture of all of them, and a proper Ballance of the feveral Powers in fuch a State. I confefs, my Lord, that this has been long a darling Miftake of my own; and that of all the Sacrifices I have made to Truth, this has been by far the greateft. When I confefs that I think this Notion a Miftake, I know to whom I am fpeaking> for I am fatisfied that Reafons are like Liquors, and there are fome of fuch a Nature as none but ftrong Heads can bear. There are few with whom I can communicate fo freely as with Pope. But Pope cannot bear every Truth. He has a Timidity which hinders the full Ex- ertion of his Faculties, almoft as effe&ually as [jo] as [jo] as Bigotry cramps thofe of the general Herd of Mankind. But whoever is a genuine Follower of Truth, keeps his Eye fteady upon his Guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that fhe is the Leader. And, my Lord, if it be properly confidered, it were infinitely better to remain poffeffed by the whole Legion of vulgar Miftakes, than to rejedt fome, and at the fame time to retain a Fondnefs for others altogether as abfurd and irrational. The firft has at leaft a Confiftency, that makes a Man, however erroneoufly, uniform at leaft; but the latter way of proceeding is fuch an inconfiftent Chimaera and Jumble of Philofophy and vulgar Prejudice, that hardly any thing more ridiculous can be conceived. Let us therefore freely, and without Fear or Prejudice, examine this laft Contrivance of Policy. And without confidering how near the Quick our In- ftruments may come, let us fearch it to the Bottom.
Firft Firft Firft then, all Men are agreed, that this Jundtion of Regal, Ariftocratick, and Popular Power, muft form a very complex, nice, and intricate Machine, which being compofed of fuch a variety of Parts, with fuch oppofite Tendencies and Movements, it muft be liable on every Accident to be difordered. To fpeak without Metaphor, fuch a Government muft be liable to frequent Cabals, Tu- mults, and Revolutions, from it's veryCon- ftitution. Thefe are undoubtedly as ill Effedts, as can happen in a Society; for in fuch a Cafe, the Clofenefs acquired by Community, inftead of ferving for mutual Defence, fervesonly to increafe the Danger. Such a Syftem is like a City, where Trades that require conftant Fires are much ex- ercifed, where the Houfes are built of combuftible Materials, and where they ftand extremely clofe.
In the fecond Place, the feveral conftituent Parts having their diftindt Rights, I and and thefe many of them at once fo necef- fary to be determined with Exadtnefs, are yet fo indeterminate in their Nature, that it becomes a new and conftant Source of Debate and Confufion. Hence it is, that whilft the Bufinefs of Government fhould be carrying on, the Queftion is, who has 3 Right to exercife this or that Fundtior* of it, or what Men have Power to keep their Offices in any Function. Whilft this Conteft continues, and whilft the Ballance in any fort continues, it has never any Remiffion; all manner of Abufes and Villainies in Officers remain unpunifhed, the greateft Frauds and Robberies in the Publick Revenues are committed in De- fiance of Juftice $ and Abufes grow, by Time and Impunity, into Cuftoms j until they prefcribe againfl the Laws, and grow too inveterate often to admit a Cure, unlefs fuch as may be as bad as the Difeafe, Thirdly, the feveral Parts of this Species of Government, though united, preferve the the Spirit which each Form has feparately. Kings are ambitious; the Nobility haugh- ty; and the Populace tumultuous and ungovernable. Each Party, however in appearance peaceable, carries on a Defign upon the others; and it is owing to this, that in all Queftions, whether concerning foreign or domeftick Affairs, the Whole generally turns more upon fome Party Matter than upon the Nature of the Thing itfelf. Whether fuch a Step will diminiffy or augment the Power of the Crown, or how far the Privileges of the SubjecT: are like to be extended or restricted by it. And thefe Queftions are conftantly re- fblved, without any Consideration of the Merits of the Caufe, merely as the Parties who uphold thefe jarring Interefts may chance to prevail ^ and as they prevail, the Ballance is overfet, now upon one fide, now upon the other. The Government is one Day, arbitrary Power in a fingle Perfon; another, a juggling Confederacy of a few to cheat the Prince and enflav^ L the the People; and the third, a frantick and unmanageable Democracy. The great In- ftrument of all thefe Changes, and what infufes a peculiar Venom into all of them, is Party. It is of no Confequence what the Principles of any Party, or what their Pretenfions are; the Spirit which actuates all Parties is the fame; the Spirit of Am- bition, of Self-Intereft, of Oppreffion, and Treachery. This Spirit entirely reverfes all the Principles which a benevolent Nature has[erefted within us; all Honefty, all equal Juftice, and even the Ties of Natural Society, the Natural ArTedlions. In a word, my Lord, we have all feeny and if any outward Confiderations were worthy the lafting Concern of a wife Man, we have fome of us felt, fuch Op- preffion from Party Government as no other Tyranny can parallel. We behold daily the moft important Rights, Rights upon which all the others depend, we behold thefe Rights determined in the laft Re- fort, without the leaft Attention even to the the Appearance or Colour of Juftice; we be- hold this without Emotion, becaufe we have grown up in the conflant View of fuch Practices; and we are not fur- prifed to hear a Man requefted to be a Knave and a Traitor, with as much Indifference as if the moft ordinary Favour were afked; and we hear this Requeft refuied, not becaufe it is a moft unjuft~and unreafonable Defire, but that this Worthy has already engaged his Injuftice to another. Thefe and many more Points I am far from fpreading to their full Extent. You are fenfible that I do not put forth half my Strength; and you cannot be at a Lofs for the Reafon. A Man is allowed fufficient Freedom of Thought, provided he knows how to chufe his Subjed: properly. You may cri- ticife freely upon the Chinefe Conftitution, and obferve with as much Severity as you pleafe upon the abfurd Tricks, or deftruc- tive Bigotry of the Bonzees. But the Scene is changed as you come homeward, L 2 and L 2 and and Atheifm or Treafon thajr be thb Names given in Britain, to what would be Reafon and Truth if afferted of China. I fubmit to the Condition, and though I have a notorious Advantage before me, wave the Purfuit. For elfe, my Lord, it is very obvious what a Picture might be drawn of the Excefles of Party even in bur bwn Nation. I could {hew, that the fame Faction has in one Reign promoted popu- lar Seditions, and in the next been a Pa- tron of Tyranny; I could fhew, that they have all of them betrayed the publick Safety at all Times, and have very fre- quently with equal Perfidy made a Market of their own Caufe, and their own Aflb- ciates. I could fliew how vehemently they have contended for Names, and how filently they have paffcd over Things of the laft Importance. And I could demon- ftrate, that they have had the Opportunity of doing all this Mifchief, nay, that they themfelves had their Origin and Growth from that complex Form of Government which which which we are wifely taught to look upon as fo great a Blefling. Revolve, my Lord, our Hiftory from the Conqueft. We fcarce ever had a Prince, who by Fraud, or Violence, had not made fome Infringe* ment on the Conftitution. We fcarce ever had a Parliament which knew, when it attempted to fet Limits to the Royal Au- thority, how to fet Limits to it's own. Evils we have had continually calling for Reformation, and Reformations more grievous than any Evils. Our boafted Li- berty fometimes trodden down, fometimes giddily fet up, and ever precarioufly fluc- tuating and urifettled -, it has been only kept alive by the Blafts of continual Feuds, Wars, and Confpiracies. In no Country in Europe has the Scaffold fo often blufhed with the Blood of it's Nobility. Confif- cations, Banifhments, Attainders, Execu- tions, make a large Part of the Hiftory of fuch of our Families as are not utterly ex- tinguifhed by them. Formerly indeed Things had a more ferocious Appearance than than they have at this Day. In thefe early and unrefined Ages, the jarring Parts of a certain Chaotic Conftitution fupported their feveral Pretenfions by the Sword. Experience and Policy have fince taught other Methods.
Res vero nunc agitur tenui pulmone rubefy But how far Corruption, Venality, the Contempt of Honour, the Oblivion of all Duty to our Country, and the moft aban- doned publick Proftitution, are preferable to the more glaring and violent Effects of Faction, I will not prefume to deter- mine. Sure I am that they are very great Evils.
I have done with the Forms of Go- vernment. During the Courfe of my En- quiry you may have obferved a very mate- rial Difference between my Manner of Reafoning and that which is in Uk amongft the Abbetors of Artificial Society. They form their their Plans upon what feems mod eligible to their Imaginations, for the ordering of Mankind. I difcover the Miftakes in thofe Plans, from the real known Confe- quences which have refulted from them. They have inlifted Reafon to light againft itfelf, and employ it's whole Force to prove that it is an infufficient Guide to them in the Conducft of their Lives. But unhap- pily for us, in Proportion as we have de- viated from the plain Rule of our Nature, and turned our Reafon againft itfelf, in that Proportion have we increafed the Follies and Miferies of Mankind. The more deeply we penetrate into the Labyrinth of Art, the further we find ourfelves from thofe Ends for which we entered it. This has happen- ed in almoft every Species of Artificial So- ciety, and in all Times. We found, or we thought we found, an Inconvenience in having every Man the Judge of his own Caufe. Therefore Judges were fet up, at firft with difcretionary Powers. But it was foon found a miferable Slavery to have our r so] our r so] our Lives and Properties precarious, and hanging upon the arbitrary Determination of any one Man, or Set of Men. We flew to Laws as a Remedy for this Evil. By thefe we perfuaded ourfelves we might know with fome Certainty upon what Ground we flood. But lo! Differences arofe upon the Senfe and Interpretation of thefe Laws. Thus we were brought back to our old Incertitude. New Laws were made to expound the old; and new Diffi- culties arofe upon the new Laws, as Words multiplied, Opportunities of cavilling upon them multiplied alfo. Then Recourfe was had to Notes, Comments, Glofles, ReportSyRe/ponfaPrudentum, learned Read- ings: Eagle flood againfl Eagle. Autho- rity was fet up againfl Authority. Some were allured by the modern, others reve- renced the antient. The new were morg enlightened, the old were more venerable. Some adopted the Comment, others fluck to the Text. The Confufion increafed, the Mift thickened, until it could be dis- covered covered no longer what was allowed or forbidden, what Things were in Property, and what common. In this Uncertainty, (uncertain even to the Profeflbrs, an /Egyp- tian Darknefs to the reft of Mankind) the contending Parties felt themfelves more effectually ruined by the Delay than they could have been by the Injuftice of any Decifion.- Our Inheritances are become a Prize for Difputation; and Difputes and Litigations are become an Inheritance.
The Profeflbrs of Artificial Law have al- ways walked hand in hand with the Pro- feflbrs of Artificial Theology. As their End, in confounding the Reafon of Man, and abridging his Natural Freedom, is ex- actly the fame, they have adjufted the Means to that End in a Way entirely fimilar. The Divine thunders out his Anathemas with more Noife and Terror againft the Breach of one of his pofitive Inftitutions, or the Neglect of fome of his trivial Forms, than againft the Negleft or M Breach M Breach Breach of thofe Duties and Command- ments of Natural Religion, which by thefe Forms and Inftitutions lie pretends to en- force. The Lawver has his Forms, and his pofitive Inftitutions too, and he adheres to them with a Veneration altogether as religious. The worft Caufe cannot be fo prejudicial to the Litigant, as his Advocate's or Attorney's Ignorance or Negledl of thefe Forms. A Law-fuit is like an ill-managed Difpute, in which the firft Objedt is foon out of Sight, and the Parties end upon a Matter wholly foreign to that on which they began. In a Law-fuit the Queftion is, who has a Right to a certain Houfe or Farm? And this Queftion is daily deter- mined, not upon the Evidences of the Right, but upon the Obfervance or Neg- le<ft of fome Forms of Words in Ufe amongft them,amongft which there is even amongft themfelves fuch a Difagreement, that the moft experienced Veterans in the Profeffion can never be pofitively affured that they are not miftajten.
Let Let Let us expoflulate with thefe learned Sages, thefe Priefts of the facred Temple of Juftice. Are we Judges of our own Property? By no Means. You then, who are initiated into the Myfteries of the blindfold Goddefs, inform me whether I have a Right to eat the Bread I have earned by the hazard of my Life, or the Sweat of my Brow? The grave Dodlor anfwers me in the Affirmative. The reverend Serjeant replies in the Negative; the learned Bar- rifter reafons upon one fide and upon the other, and concludes nothing. What mail I do? An Antagonift ftarts up and preffes me hard. I enter the Field, and return thefe three Perfons to defend my Caufe. My Caufe, which two Farmers from the Plough could have decided in half an hour, takes the Court twenty Years. I am how- ever at the end of my Labour, and have in Reward for all my Toil and Vexation, a Judgment in my Favour. But hold— a fagacious Commander, in the Adverfary's Army has found a Flaw in the Proceeding.
My Tritimph is turned into Mourning. I have ufed ory inftead of and, or fome Mif- take, fmall in Appearance, but dreadful in it's Confequences, and have the whole of my Succefs quafhed in a Writ of Error. I remove my Suit; I fhift from Court to Court; I fly from Equity to Law, and from Law to Equity; equal Uncertainty attends me every where: And a Miftake in which I had no Share> decides at once upon my Liberty and Property, fending me from the Court to a Prifon, and adjudg- ing my Family to Beggary and Famine. I am innocent, Gentlemen, of the Darknefs and Uncertainty of your Science. I never darkened it with abfurd and contradictory Notions, nor confounded it with Chicane and Sophiftry. You have excluded me from any Share in the Conduct of my own Caufe; the Science was too deep for me 5 I acknowledged it, but it was too deep even for yourfelves: You have made the way fo intricate, that you are yourfelves loft in it: You err, and you punifh me for^vour Errors. The The Delay of the Law is, your Lordfhip will tell me, a trite Topick, and which of it's Abufes have not been too feverely felt not to be often complained of? A Man's Property is to ferve for the Purpofes of his Support; and therefore to delay a Determi- nation concerning that, is the worft In- juftice, becaufe it cuts off the very End and Purpofe for which I applied to the Judicature for Relief. Quite contrary in Cafe of a Man's Life, there the Determi- nation can hardly be too much protradted. Miftakes in this Cafe are as often fallen into as in any other, and if the Judgement is fudden, the Miftakes are the mofl irre- trievable of all others. Of this the Gentle- men of the Robe are themfelves fenfible, and they have brought it into a Maxim. De morte hominis nulla eft cunSiatio longa. But what could have induced them to reverfe the Rules, and to contradict that Reafon which dictated them, I am utterly unable to guefs. A Point concern- ing Property,which ought, for the Reafons Ijuft Ijuft I juft mentioned, to be moft fpeedily de- cided, frequently exercifes the Wit of Suc- ceffions of Lawyers, for manyGenerations. Multa virum volvem durandofacula vincit. But the Queftion concerning a Man's Life, that great Queftion in which no Delay ought to be counted tedious, is commonly determined in Twenty-four Hours at the utmoft. It is not to be wondered at, that Injuftice and Abfurdity fhould be infepa- rable Companions.
Afk of Politicians the End for which Laws were originally defigned $ and they will anfwer, that the Laws were defigned as a Protection for the Poor and Weak, againft the Oppreffion of the Rich and Powerful. But furely no Pretence can be fo ridiculous; a Man might as well tell me he has taken off my Load, becaufe he has changed the Burthen. If the poor Man is not able to fupport his Suit, accord- ing to the vexatious and expenfive manner eftablifhed in civilized Countries, has not i the i the the Rich as great an Advantage over him as the Strong has over the Weak in a State of Nature? But we will not place the State of Nature, which is the Reign of God, in competition with Political Society, which is the abfurd Usurpation of Man. In a State of Nature, it is true, that a Man of fuperior Force may beat or rob me; but then it is true, that I am at full Liberty to defend myfelf, or make Reprifal by Sur- prize or by Cunning, or by any other way in which I may be fuperior to him. But in Political Society, a rich Man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend my- felf; for Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I attempt to avenge myfelf, the whole Force of that Society is ready to compleat my Ruin.
A good Parfon once faid, that where Myftery begins, Religion ends. Cannot I fay, as truly at lead, of human Laws, tbat where Myftery begins^ Juftice ends?
It It is hard to fay, whether the Do&ors of Law or Divinity have made the greater Advances in the lucrative Bufinefs of My- ftery. The Lawyers, as well as the Theo- logians, have eredted another Reafon be- fides Natural Reafon -y and the Refult has been, another Juftice befides Natural Juftice. They have fo bewildered the World and themfelves in unmeaning Forms and Ceremonies, and fo perplexed the plaineft Matters with metaphyseal Jargon, that it carries the higheft Danger to a Man out of that Profeffion, to make the leaft Step without their Advice and Affiftance. Thus by confining to them- felves the Knowledge of the Foundation of all Mens Lives and Properties, they have reduced all Mankind into the moft abje<ft and fervile Dependence. We are Tenants at the Will of theie Gentlemen for every thing 5 and a metaphyfical Quibble is to decide whether the greateft Villain breath- ing fhall meet his Deferts, or efcape with Impunity, or whether the beft Man in the Society Society Society fhall not be reduced to the loweft and moft defpicable Condition it affords,. In a word, my Lord, the InjuHice^ Delay* Puerility, falfe Refinement, and affedled Myftery of the Law an; fuch, that many who live under it come to admire and envy the Expedition, Simplicity* and Equality of Arbitrary Judgments. I need infift the lefs on this Article to your Lord- ihip, as you have frequently lamented the Miferies derived to us from Artificial Law, and your Candor is the more to be ad- mired and applauded in this, as your Lordfhip's noble Houfe has derived it's Wealth and it's Honours from that Pro- fefiion.
Before we finifh our Examination of Ar- tificial Society, I fhall lead your Lordfhip into a clofer Confideration of the Relations which it gives Birth to, and the Benefits, if fuch they are, which refult from thefe Relations. The moft obvious Divifion of Society is into Rich and Poor > and it is N no