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REVELATIONS IN IRISH HISTORY. 
 
 fMSKse^' 
 
" Take care fo to govern, that the governed may find it to be 
 
 for their beft behoof to obey Maintain not the errors of 
 
 the loweft officers, but punilh them." — Bijh'of Bedell ta the Irijh 
 Rulers, a.d. 1638. 
 
SOME 
 
 REVELATIONS IN IRISH HISTORY; 
 
 OR, OLD ELEMENTS OF 
 
 CREED AND CLASS CONCILIATION 
 
 IN IRELAND. 
 
 EDITED BY SAXE BANNISTER, M.A., 
 
 OF Lincoln's inn, formerly attorney-general 
 
 IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. 
 1870. 
 
-MM^^^VS^^X 
 
 CHISWICK press: PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, 
 
 TOOKS C008T, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS INSCRIBED TO THE 
 MEMORY OF 
 
 DR. WILLIAM BEDELL, 
 
 OF ESSEX, SOME TIME FELLOW OF EMANUEL COLLEGE, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE ; MANY YEARS CHAPLAIN 
 
 TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY 
 
 IN VENICE ; 
 
 PROVOST OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, AND 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE 
 
 AND ARDAGH. 
 
 IN Italy, during a defigned feceffion from the 
 Rotnifh Church, this worthy Proteftant prelate 
 gained the confidence of the leaders in that 
 critical movement towards religious reform. 
 In Ireland, during longer and harder trials, he enjoyed 
 the univerfal refpect due to his pre-eminent qualities. 
 
 To Other vaft intelle6):ual acquirements he added 
 familiarity with the ancient language of the Irifh people, 
 fo as to be venerated by the lowlieft among them. In 
 the awful Rebellion of 1641, when he died at an 
 advanced age, his remains were followed to the tomb 
 by "wild Kerns," eager to do honour to his memory. 
 
 By a life of piety, toleration, and good works. Bishop 
 Bedell had even calmed feme of the terrors of a fearful 
 time. 
 
 His admirable example, then, and his marvellous 
 fuccefs may well encourage us in our tafk of ftaying 
 dangers only lefs fearful, by a rule of juftice in the fame 
 troubled land. 
 
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 I, In Ireland, during all ages, elements have exifted for uniting 
 all its people, of every origin, and every creed. The ancient faft on 
 that head confirmed by the recent experience of Thomas Drummond. 
 lUuftrations of the fa£l in the laft two centuries, — the cafe of the Ulfter 
 Settlements by citizens of London ; and the prodigious moral power 
 of Dr. Bedell of Effex, Lord Biftiop of Kilmore, from 1629 to the 
 Rebellion of 164.1. II. The Anglo-Irifh family of the Sheridansof 
 the 17th century — fruits of both influences. III. The Trail of 1677 
 andi685,on Parliamentary and all fecial reforms, byThomasSheridan, 
 a member of that family. IV. Thomas Sheridan, Secretary to the 
 Government and a Privy Councillor in Ireland, 1687. His exile in 
 Francej and his hiftory of the reign of James II., a MS. preferved 
 in the Royal Library at Windfor. The Stuart MSB. at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 I. 
 
 I HE hiftory of Ireland is fhown in the few 
 contents of this little volume, not to be 
 wanting in evidence favourable to the 
 advent of a peaceful and profperous 
 union of that ifland of Celts, or by whatever name 
 its mixed inhabitants of many origins are to be 
 
Vlll 
 
 Preface. 
 
 known, with the people of Great Britain, compofed 
 of no lefs diverfe races. HithertOj indeed, fuch 
 union, although earneftly fought by the wifeft, 
 has been utterly unattainable in confequence of the 
 deep-feated vicious defire of territorial conquefts 
 prevailing over the better fenfe of conftitutional duty, 
 fignified by the folemn declaration in an Ad of 
 Parliament, that, " to make wars for conquefl's fake 
 is repugnant to the wifhes and genius of the Britifh 
 people." ' That welcome evidence will, however, be 
 accepted without reludlance. Yet, notwithftanding 
 its force, good writers continue to hold to this day, 
 and they are fupported by a common belief, that 
 fbme myfterious adverfe temperaments naturally 
 divide our refpeftive populations, fixing them 
 eternally in " hoftile camps." Long ago, on the 
 other hand, in a like controverfy, it was maintained 
 fagacioufly, that ftriking difcrepancies in the focial 
 conditions of different nations, have a more intelli- 
 gible fource in the character of governments, not in 
 climate or parentage. Surely, moreover, even the 
 few authentic fads here produced muft, although 
 much negleded by ftatefmen, tend triumphantly to 
 filence the wretched ftrife fo long ruinous to Ireland, 
 
 " 1784, 24 Geo. III. c. 25, fedl. 34; and 1793, 33 Geo. III. 
 c. 52, fedl. 42. 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 nor lefs coftly to Great Britain. Nor is any thing 
 here offered for confideration, eflentially inconfiftent 
 with the vaft hiftorical ftores now at length opening 
 among us officially in order to clear up all pafl 
 obfcurities in the national annals. The fpeculative 
 profpedt too, of a hopeful ifTue in our onward 
 career, is wonderfully ftrengthened by the teftimony 
 of the very ableft adminiflrator ever engaged in 
 the holy miffion of popular conciliation in Ireland. 
 This was the late Thomas Drummond, who won 
 the hearts of the whole Irifh people. He it was 
 who declared, with fatal truth, that, to our mutual 
 damage, Ireland is ftill unknown to the Britifh 
 people.' He did better. By familiar fludy of the 
 Irifh popular charafter from his early manhood to 
 the clofe of his too fhort career, he learned to know 
 it well. Then he as bravely fpoke out what he 
 knew to the credit of the people, fo as to obtain large 
 afTent to his intelligent defigns for the benefit of the 
 hard-tried land. His elaborate teflimony before a 
 Parliamentary Committee — the Roden Committee 
 of 1 839 ; his famous maxim, that "property has its 
 duties as well as its rights ; " ^ and his official meafures, 
 
 ' M'Lennan's Life of Thomas Drummond, Edinburgh, 8vo., 
 1867, p. 354- ° Ibid. p. 322. 
 
X Preface. 
 
 might be cited with confidence on- this head. But 
 all this was fimply the fruit of his keen infight into 
 the truftworthinefs of the peafantry as he met them 
 in their wild mountains during the Irifh furvey 
 fo long ago as in 1823. "I am fure," he faid, in 
 effedl, " that all fear of mifchief to our work from 
 thefe Irifh is unfounded. They will not damage 
 a man expofed on the hills." "^ His wife conclufion 
 was, that Ireland needs only juftice for her regenera- 
 tion, and that with juft meafures vigoroufly carried 
 out, our union will never be broken. 
 
 His perfonal experiences alone feem to have led 
 this eminent ftatefman of our day, to ad upon a 
 ftrotig confidence in native Irifh capabilities, un- 
 aware as he may have been of genial conviftions 
 like his own having in lefs aufpicious times induced 
 others as worthy as himfelf, to flruggle for better rule 
 in Ireland only to be difappointed. The objedt of 
 this volume is to reproduce a good work of one of 
 the moft memorable of thofe older worthies exadtly 
 as he originally wrote it, with a brief (ketch of fome 
 of the happier antecedents, and probably the feeds 
 of his labours. 
 
 The recently publifhed able record of Thomas 
 Drummond's great fuccefs when relying on the 
 
 ' M'Lennan's Life of Thomas Drummond, p. in. 
 
Preface. 
 
 XI 
 
 better fide of Irifh popular life, is Angularly oppor- 
 tune, imperfedt as its contents unavoidably are.' 
 
 This frank ftatement of the year 1867 "^'"^ ^^^~ 
 tainly be expunged from an enlarged edition of this 
 book, to be called for under the more promifing 
 Irifh influence of 1 870. We have reached the dawn 
 of brighter things than thofe which were accom- 
 pliftied fo well by the laft generation with their 
 lights ; and the whole truth concerning the paft 
 can now be told with advantage on all fides. For 
 this end, all of the paft that ought to have been 
 general, muft be held up to honour now. Its 
 record is richer and richer every day. In the laft 
 century much in that way was well begun. The 
 great Houfe of Ormond was then itt forth in bril- 
 liant colours ; although its earlier ftory was by no 
 means exhaufted. The Houfe of Ivery too, did 
 juftice to the good Percevals of Ireland. In the 
 Hibernica valuable documents from the Conqueft 
 downward, were fet forth by Walter Harris. In the 
 Anthologiuy publifhed in Dublin in 1793, young 
 Colonel Arthur Wellefley, ever ready in his place 
 
 ' " Drummond's political correfpondence during his tenure of 
 office in Ireland, carried on with fome of the moft important 
 political perfonages of the time, I have not had at my difpofal." — 
 Preface to M'Lennan's Memoir of Thomas Drummond. 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 for the duties of civil life, ranked himfelf freely witl 
 the foremoft of the enlightened heads ^ and hopes^ o: 
 popular Ireland, to inftrud and encourage her people 
 The times are improving upon even thofe. Th( 
 Splendid work upon the Irifti Forte/cues in their juf 
 connexion with a kindred Englifti worthy, is ever) 
 way a moft important contribution to our unitec 
 hiftory; whilft already in the firft report of thf 
 Royal Commiflion on our Hiftorical MSS., we hav( 
 official notice of the invaluable Charlemont paperi 
 on the laft century's Irifh events, and efpeciall] 
 of others of equal intereft pofTefl^d by the Lore 
 Talbot de Malahide refpedting the revolution o 
 1688. In both will be found genuine material 
 to corredt grave errors in the pages of our bef 
 hiftorians. 
 
 Age after age exhibits diftindtly the better Irifl 
 tendencies, but only to be thwarted by the monftrou 
 rule of conqueft, — a vulgar repetition of brut 
 " force," — the ^in of the ancients, rejedled by th^ 
 very Pagan philofophers as an unworthy principl 
 of government. Two comparatively modern ex 
 
 ' e. g. Dr. Troy and Theobald Wolfe Tone, found among th 
 fubfcribers to this Anthologia. 
 
 ■" " Mafter Thomas Moore, of Trinity College," and " Mi 
 Owenfon " are among firft fubfcribers. 
 
Preface. xiii 
 
 amples of wifer policy here offered from the annals 
 of Ireland eftablifh beyond difpute, the great 
 truth, that even the leaft refined of her people efti- 
 mate corredly the benefit of juft relations with 
 their fellow men. 
 
 The Ulfter Settlements by citizens of London. 
 
 The firft example belongs to the reign of James 
 I. It is the cafe of the fettlements in Ulfter ma- 
 naged by citizens of London. In that reign a partial 
 paufe occurred in the deadly conflifts between the 
 native Irifh and their conquerors. In Ulfter new 
 fettlementSj Englifti and Scottifti, were formed upon 
 conditions, partaking, indeed, too much of the fpirit 
 of hoftility to the natives, but at the fame time 
 with material tendencies to peaceable union ; fo 
 that the advice of Sir John Davies on the occafion, 
 to crufti the Irifti by the fword, was not literally 
 adopted by King James in a project aiming at 
 mixed tenancies. Exprefs provifion was made in 
 that projedt for grants to the new colonifts — to the 
 civil and military fervants of the crown — and alfo 
 to fome Irifli freeholders and leafeholders, who 
 were to occupy the lower lands of Ulfter — not the 
 more defenfible hills. The " Sword-men " only 
 among the Irifli were to be difperfed in new homes 
 
xiv Preface. 
 
 in a remote province.' The City of London adopted 
 warmly the part of the enterprife which gave large 
 tradls of land in the north for fettlements. The 
 original memorial fubmitted by the citizens to the 
 king indicates the noble charadter of their views by 
 an extremely interefting recital. At the conqueft 
 of Ireland by Henry II. they fay, when Dublin, a 
 ruin under the ravages of the Efterlings, was 
 granted to the citizens of Briftol, one objed of the 
 colonifts of that early time was to " civilize " the 
 native Irifh ; and the citizens of London now 
 accepted the cited precedent for their own guidance. 
 Indeed, this official ufe in the feventeenth century 
 of the fingle word " civilize " to charadberife a 
 work of five hundred years before, fpeaks volumes 
 for the intention being deliberately formed by the 
 new colonifts, to follow the good example fet by 
 our people of old. Nor is it without fignificance 
 to find this ftate paper with its key-word con- 
 fpicuous, in a colledtion of documents juft reftored 
 to us by the North- American government, and de- 
 pofited with due acknowledgment in our Public 
 Record Office. It conftitutes a grave adminif- 
 trative document of more than hiftorical value, and 
 it is come opportunely, not only in relation to 
 
 ^ Hibernica, by Walter Harris. Dublin, 1 770, pp. 237-243. 
 
Preface. xv 
 
 Ireland, but throughout our whole empire be- 
 yond fea, where our duty to " civilize " millions 
 of lefs advanced men has been forgotten thefe 
 thirty years. 
 
 The civilization thus promifed by Briftol, as an 
 advantage to the Iriftij had its various elements ; 
 and at the earlier period of the conqueft, marriage 
 was not uncommon, even between the nobleft of the 
 invaders and the daughters of the native chiefs, 
 whilft thefe chiefs often fought to form free and 
 integral political union with the Englifh. At 
 length in that earlier period, the lefs conciliatory rule 
 prevailed; and in 1367, the Statutes of Kilkenny 
 prohibited fuch marriages, which had become fre- 
 quent. This was done in the identical evil fpirit 
 which led the French colonial flave-owners, in the 
 laft century, to make the marriages of negroes with 
 white women, capital offences. In both cafes, the 
 fpirit of afTumed fuperiority was ftruggling againft 
 natural inftind: and wife policy. From that time 
 is to be dated the decline of Englifh power in Ire- 
 land during one hundred and fifty years ; and then 
 under the Tudors for another century, wars were 
 carried on to fet up a new tyranny, not lefs coflly 
 to England than hateful to the Irifh people. 
 Never was domination bought fo dear. 
 
xvi Preface. 
 
 Among the undertakers of the more promii 
 plantation of James I. in the north of Ireland, 
 citizens of London were confpicuous; and t 
 fucceeded by liberally taking Irifh among tl 
 tenants. So profperous was this pra(5tice tha 
 fierce oppofition to it was got up by fome v 
 would willingly crufh thofe natives. The name 
 the leader in that oppofition has cotne down 
 us; and the incident merits larger expofure tl 
 can be given in thefe pages. His own fl:atement 
 the cafe fufficiently confutes it. " The citizens 
 , London," he fays, " finding the natives willing 
 overgive rather than remove, and half the pn 
 only could be got from the Britifti, whilft the Ir 
 would pay and be ufed at the Londoners' pleafu 
 took them as tenants," thus laying the Engl 
 open to be furprifed and maflacred.' 
 
 But according to documents of later date in 
 Public Record Office, this ill-will had its pro] 
 punifhment. 
 
 In 1 630 the Secretary of State writes : " I 
 the great bufinefs of the plantations of the Lc 
 doners. Sir Thomas Philips has fent me fuch a he 
 of papers. They are well worth the labour. T 
 
 ' Hibernka, Letter of Sir Thomas Philips to the King, p. 2 
 
Preface. xvii 
 
 Londoners are powerful." ' Afterwards the Secretary 
 writes: — "I have met Sir Thomas Philips. It 
 grieves me to fee him fo much dejedted, having 
 fpent all he had, doing the king good fervice ; but 
 difrefpefted. Speedy comfort is moft urgent to 
 him."" 
 
 The ftruggle againft the Londoners in Ulfter, 
 indicated in thefe few lines, lafted a whole genera- 
 tion, until they were juftified ; and their ultimate 
 management of their lands is believed to be excellent, 
 contributing, perhaps, to the good underftanding 
 between the wealthier people in this province and 
 the occupiers of the land, under the fomewhat 
 obfcure term of Ulfter-right. Few books would be 
 more ufeful than a narrative from the abundant 
 fources extant, of the Londoners' fettlement in Ire- 
 land the laft 250 years, with its bearing on that 
 famous right. 
 
 Dr. Bedell, Lord Biflwp of Kilmore. 
 
 This Englifh divine, born in Eflex in 1570, and a 
 fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge, was for 
 eight years chaplain to our embafly in Venice. 
 
 ' Public Record Office, Domeftic, Charles I., vol. clxzii. No. 
 
 72. P- 33°- 
 
 * Ibid. vol. clxxv. No. 121. 
 
xviii Preface. 
 
 There he was diftinguiflied for the deepeft learning, 
 by his aptitude for modern languages no lefs than 
 for claffical and Biblical attainments. He fpoke 
 Italian fo fluently that great fcholars in Italy 
 eagerly fought his converfe, and the time of his 
 refidence there being that of a contemplated fe- 
 paration of Venice from the Church of Rome, his 
 familiar relations with ecclefiaflics and others of the 
 higheft repute, tended much to promote the ex- 
 pedted fchifm. In 1626 he was appointed by 
 King Charles I. provofl: of Trinity College, Dublin, 
 in order to reform fome diforders there. In 1628, 
 at the mature age of fifty- eight, he was made Bifhop 
 of Kilmore. This fee he held until his deceafe, 
 thirteen years later, in the height of the Irifti re- 
 bellion of 1 641, The exemplary difcharge of all 
 the duties of his diocefe gained him the affediionate 
 veneration of the wildeft people at a moment of 
 fanguinary uprifing unexampled even in Ireland. 
 
 At his death, fo great was the alarm of crowds 
 of Englifli vidlims flieltered under his roof, that 
 they durfl not attend his body to the grave. The 
 rebels however took that duty upon themfelves. 
 " He is the laft Englifliman," they faid, " to be a 
 Bifhop here. Neverthelefs he was our friend, our 
 father. No honour at our hands can enough prove 
 
Preface. xix 
 
 the love we bore him." A Roman Catholic prieft 
 who had often been the prelate's gueft, took part in 
 the burial ceremony, and declared at the brink of 
 the grave that he fervently trufted his own fpirit 
 would be permitted to meet Bifhop Bedell's blefled 
 fpirit in the better world. Even the Romifli 
 prelate who was to occupy the fee of Kilmore 
 after his expulfion, befought him earneftly to flay 
 and be his gueft in the epifcopal palace. 
 
 This really marvellous triumph in. a feafon of 
 awful difafter, muft be attributable, fays his bio- 
 grapher, Bifhop Burnet, to miraculous agency ; but 
 the narrative carefully written from the mouths of 
 eye-witnefTes, leaves no doubt refpefting its natural 
 caufes. Dr. Bedell after his great exemplar, lived 
 a life of doing good. His lordfhip rapidly learned 
 the Irifh language fo as to ufe it not only in his 
 church fervices, but in his daily intercourfe with the 
 people. He alfo tranflated into Irifh, religious 
 tracfts for popular reading. He even procured the 
 Bible to be tranflated; and at his death he was 
 prepared to publifh that tranflation at his own coft. 
 Three years later, what he had prepared was pub- 
 lifhed by the care of Robert Boyle. 
 
 By his own example in refigning his additional 
 fee of Ardagh, and by his ftrid: difcipline, his lord- 
 
XX Preface. 
 
 fhip put a flop to the great fcandal of plurality in 
 his diocefe, and enforced refidence. Converts to 
 Proteftantifm from among the priefts were frequent 
 under his miniftry ; and he carefully provided them 
 with livings. His hofpitality was unbounded, and 
 the meaneft Irifh found him their advifer, entertainer, 
 and friend. At the fame time his intercourfe with 
 the higheft officials was dignified and independent — 
 his care to avoid excefles in the ecclefiaftical courts, 
 was unfparing. 
 
 Above all, Biftiop Bedell enforced the duty of 
 concord with all whofe religious opinions he moft 
 difliked, as fhown in a fermon preached foon after 
 fome heats in the Houfe of Commons in the Par- 
 liament of Ireland, in which there were many 
 Papifts; and in it the fenfe he had of the way 
 of treating all differences in religion, whether great 
 or fmall, is thus laid down : — 
 
 " Is it not a fhame that our two bodies, the church and com- 
 monwealth, ihould exercife mortal hatred (or immortal rather), 
 and being fo near in place ihould be fo far afunder in afieflion ? 
 It will be faid by each that other are in fault ; and perhaps it 
 may truly be faid, that both are ; the one, in that they cannot 
 endure with patience the lawful fuperiority of the worthier body ; 
 the other, in that they take no care fo to govern, that the governed 
 may find it to be for their beft behoof to obey: until which time 
 it will never be, but there will be repining and troubles, and 
 
Preface. xxi 
 
 brangles between us. This will be done, in my opinion, not by 
 bolftering out and maintaining the errors and unrulinefs of the 
 lower officers or members of our body, but by feverely puniftiing 
 them ; and, on both fides, mull be avoided fuch men for magif- 
 trates and minifters, as feek to dafh us one againft another all 
 they may. 
 
 " And would to God this were all ; but is it not a fhame 
 of Ihames, that men's emulations and contentions, cannot ftay 
 themfelves in matters of this fort, but the holy profeffion of 
 divinity is made fuel to a public fire ; and that when we had well 
 hoped all had been either quenched or raked up, it ftiould afrelh 
 be kindled and blown up with bitter and biting words? God 
 help us ! we had need to attend to this leflibn of Chrift, ' Learn 
 of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; ' or to that of the 
 apoftle, ' It behoves the fervant of God not to contend, but to be 
 meek towards all, inftrufting with lenity thofe that be contrary 
 affefted, waiting if at any time God will give them a better mind 
 to fee the truth.' 2 Tim. ii. 25. 
 
 " And this is my poor opinion concerning our dealing with the 
 Papifts themfelves, perchance difiering from the praftice of men 
 of great note in Chrift's family, Mr. Luther and Mr. Calvin, and 
 others ; but yet we muft live by rules, not examples ; and they 
 were men who, perhaps by complexion or otherwiie, were given 
 over too much to anger and heat. Sure I am, the rule of the 
 apoftle is plain, even of fuch as are the flaves of Satan, that we 
 muft with lenity inftruft them, waiting that, when efcaping out 
 of his fnare, they ftiould recover a found mind to do God's will, 
 in the place I quoted before. 
 
 " But now when men agreeing with ourfelves in the main 
 (yea, and in profeffion likewife enemies to Popery) ftiall, varying 
 never fo little from us in points of lefs confequence, be thereupon 
 
xxii Preface. 
 
 cenfured as favourers of Popery, and other errors; when mole- 
 hills fliall be made mountains, and unbrotherly terms given : 
 alas ! methinks this courfe favours not of meeknefs ; nay, it would 
 hurt even a good caufe, thus to handle it ; for where fuch violence 
 is, ever there is error to be fufpefted. Affeftion and heat, are 
 the greateft enemies that can be to foundnefs of judgment or 
 exaftnefs of comprehenfion ; he that is troubled with paffion, is 
 not fitly difpofed to judge of truth." 
 
 In how remarkable a manner thefe enlightened 
 views were in harmony with Bifhop Bedell's general 
 principles may be inferred from the following account 
 of 'his fhare in the Irifti tranflation of the Old Tefta- 
 ment. This letter was written in 1688 by the 
 Biftiop of Meath for Mr. Boyle, when preparing to 
 publifti that tranflation. 
 
 " As to the hiftorical account of it all I can add is that in the 
 convocation held at Dublin, 1634, there were no fmall debates 
 about the verfion of the Bible and the liturgy of the church into 
 the Irifti tongue for the benefit and inftrudlion of the natives ; 
 Dr. Bedell, biftiop of Kilmore, being for the affirmative, and Dr. 
 Bramhall, bilhop of Derry, oppofing it. The reafons of the 
 former were drawn from the principles of theology and the good 
 of fouls ; of the latter from politics and maxims of ftate, and 
 efpecially from an aft of parliament paffed in this kihgdom in 
 the reign of King Henry VIII. for obliging the natives' to learn 
 the Englifli tongue. However, the reafons of Biftiop Bedell 
 were thought fo fatisfaftory that the convocation thought fit to 
 pafs two canons concerning it ; the one that the minifter ftiould 
 
Preface. xxiii 
 
 read the liturgy in Irifli, where moft of the people were fo, (Can. 
 8) ; the other for the parifti clerk to accompany the minifter in 
 reading his part of the fervice in IrilTi, (Can. 66.) 
 
 " Upon thefe foundations the pious Bifhop Bedell determined 
 to make farther fuperllruftures ; and accordingly fet himfelf to 
 the verfion of the Old Teftament into the Irifti tongue, taking to 
 his affiftance one Mr. King and Mr. Dennis Sheridan, both Irifti- 
 men and clergymen, and excellently (killed in the language of their 
 own country, whofe office it was to tranflate the then Englifh 
 verfion into Irilh, whilft the bifliop (who was excellently learned 
 in the Hebrew and the Irifh languages) revifed the whole work, 
 comparing it with the original, and either expunged or added as 
 he faw it nearer or more remote from the original. The work 
 thus happily finiflied was left by Bilhop Bedell with Mr. Sheridan 
 the tranflator (who furvived him), and was by him delivered to 
 the late Biftiop of Meath, Dr. Henry Jones, by him communi- 
 cated to Dr. Andrew Sail, from whom I received it before 
 his death, and gave it to your predeceflbr. Dr. Marlh ; and what 
 fate it hath met with fince, he and others whofe hands it hath 
 pafled can bell relate. 
 
 " Some part of this narrative I have read in the life of Bifhop 
 Bedell, lately publiflied by one Clogy, who is fomewhere bene- 
 ficed in England (if he be alive) and married the faid bilhop's 
 daughter; what relates to Mr. Sheridan you may receive a more 
 ample account of from the Bifliop of Kilmore, who is his fon. 
 The title of this Bible as printed ; The Books of the Old Tefta- 
 ment tranjtated into Irifi by the care and diligence of Dr. William 
 Bedell, late Bifliop «/" Kilmore in Ireland, and now printed for the 
 public good of that Nation. London." 
 
 A point of unexpefted intereft arifes upon the 
 
xxiv Preface. 
 
 confideration of Bifhop Bedell's intelleftual work. 
 May we hope to recover more of his valuable 
 MSS. connedted with Irifh ftory. His early bio- 
 grapher, Bifhop Burnet, writing in 1685, ftates 
 them to have been all deftroyed in the rebellion of 
 1 64 1. But without infifting upon feveral paffages 
 in that valuable life which tell the other way, we 
 have from the careful hand of Dr. Birch, in the 
 Britifh Mufeum, notes made by himfelf of another 
 biography of the Irifli prelate, dated in 1674, 
 which Bifhop Burnet does not feem to have known. 
 Then it is certain that Boyle had the MS. of the 
 Irifh Bible publifhed by him in 1685 from the re- 
 prefentatives of the Rev. Dennis Sheridan in whofe 
 houfe the great prelate died. AfTuredly the Royal 
 Hiflorical MSS. Commiflioners will find no refearch 
 too careful for the difcovery of the fmallefl: finifhed 
 production of this illuftrious Irifh bifhop. 
 
 II. 
 The Sheridans of the I'jth Century. 
 
 Among the befl fruits of Bifhop Bedell's truly 
 apoflolic labours, next to the afFeftionate homage 
 paid to him by the people of all ranks, were many 
 
Preface. xxv 
 
 converfions of Roman Catholic Irifli, fome becoming 
 Proteftant paftors with livings by his lordfhip's gift. 
 Of the laft the moft interefting to us is the cafe of 
 Dennis Sheridan' mentioned in the foregoing letter 
 refpedling a tranflation of the Old Teftament into 
 the Irifli language. This excellent man, a pro- 
 genitor of the family diftinguiflied from his time 
 for rare intelledtual qualities, deferves a far more 
 complete notice than can be offered in thefe pages. 
 Under his roof his venerable infl:ru6lor and friend 
 was ftieltered by him unharmed in the crifis of the 
 rebellion. By his care, too, the learned prelate's 
 MS. was preferved during that cataflrophe to be 
 publiflied a century later by another Irifli worthy, 
 the illuflirious " Chrifl:ian Philofopher," Boyle. The 
 
 ' This is the careleffly printed " Heridan " of the diflionary 
 by the Rev. Hugh Rofe, art. Bedell. 
 
 " The bifliop, his two fons, and Mr. Clogy were fuffered by 
 the rebels, who had in>prifoned them, to go to the houfe of an 
 Irifti minifter, Dennis O'Sheridan, to whom refpedl was fhown 
 by reafon of his extraftion, though he had forfaken their religion 
 and had married an Englifhwoman. He continued firm in his 
 religion, and relieved many in their extremity." — Life of Bijhop 
 Bedell by Burnet, izmo. ed. by Dove, p. 205. 
 
 " The biftiop prevailed on feveral priefts to change, and pro- 
 vided them with benefices; which was cenfured by many as 
 contrary to the interefts of the Engliih nation." — lb. p. 157. 
 
XX v; Preface. 
 
 foregoing letter on the MS. connedts Dennis She- 
 ridan honourably with that important national work. 
 Moreover, by his own kindly nature as well as from 
 the biftiop's example, the Rev. Dennis Sheridan was 
 the ready hoft to whofe " abode want and pain 
 would ever freely repair ; " and whom a country- 
 man as large-hearted, Oliver Goldfmith, might 
 have taken for a type of pure Irifh benevolence. 
 We now have full evidence long fought in vain, 
 for his domeftic tie recorded by Bifhop Burnet, to 
 which may well be traced much of the remark- 
 able career of his fons. Their mother, the Englifti 
 wife of this worthy Irifhman, " a Fofter of good 
 family," would naturally give them fympathies with 
 her own people, without in the flighteft degree 
 weakening their attachment to her hufband and 
 their father's people. 
 
 There is no reafon to fuppofe that good early 
 training was wanting to the fons of this hopeful 
 family, two of whom were born in the lifetime of 
 Bifhop Bedell, namely, William, the elder, in 1633, 
 and Patrick, the fecond, in 1638. Both were 
 entered as' commoners of Trinity College, Dublin, 
 in 1652, at their refpedtive ages of feventeen and 
 fourteen. They muft have acquired at home the 
 ufual amount of inftruftion to be qualified for ad- 
 
Preface. xxvii 
 
 miffion there ; and the elder, William, bore the 
 baptifmal name of the learned prelate. 
 
 The youngeft of the three, Thomas, the author 
 of the work which forms the fubftance of this 
 volume, was born in 1646. He was entered as a 
 penfioner in Trinity College, Dublin, in 1660, in 
 his fourteenth year. Being deftined for the law he 
 became a ftudent in the Middle Temple in the 
 year 1670. Profitable employments were however 
 foon found for him in the Irifh revenue depart- 
 ments. In Cork he had a poll in the Cuftoms, 
 charged to him as of the value of more than 
 9,000/. ; and he took it with a profit of 4,000/.^ 
 Before 1677 he feems to have travelled much on 
 the continent, and in that year he produced the 
 tra6t entitled 'The Rife and Power of Parliaments, 
 here reprinted word for word. 
 
 This account of the Sheridan family at this 
 early period is come down to us in a form at once 
 authentic and acceptable. It is in a fpeech at the 
 Barof the Houfe of Commons in 1680, by this fon 
 of Dennis, the Irilhman of the old ftock, who allied 
 his race to England voluntarily by a moft happy 
 union with an .Englifh wife. This eminent fon, 
 
 1 Sir James Ware on Irifli Writers, by Harris. Folio, 1778. 
 
xxviii Preface. 
 
 when under a grave charge before the Houfe of 
 Commons, vindicated himfelf bravely in thefe terms, 
 from the fcandal of being a bafe, paid adherent of 
 the Duke of York, afterwards King James II. 
 
 " In clearing myfelf," he faid, " of this afperfion, I mu'ft fay 
 fomething, which nought but neceffity, that has none and breaks 
 all laws, can excufe from vanity, in that I was born a gentleman 
 of one of the ancientett families and related to many confiderable 
 in Ireland. In one county there is a caftle and a large demefne, 
 in another, a greater traft of land for feveral miles together, yet 
 known by our name. I need not fay who has the land as chief, 
 — 'tis too much, that my grandfather was the laft that enjoyed 
 our eftate ; and that my father, left an orphan at the beginning 
 of King James' reign, foon found himfelf difpofleffed and expofed 
 to the world, — that whole county, with five others in Ulfter, 
 being entirely efcheated to the Crown. My parents Proteftants, 
 — my mother a gentlewoman of England, of good fortune, a 
 Fofter, who for my father's fake quitted her country and relations, 
 — both famous for honefty, for their loyalty and fufferings in the 
 late rebellion, when my father efcaped narrowly with his life, and 
 at laft was forced to fly for relieving and protefting very many 
 Englifli. 
 
 " From my birth I had a fuitable education. I have fome 
 pretenfions to letters. I am not altogether a ftranger to the 
 Civil Law, nor to the Laws of England, the means intended for 
 my livelihood. But, without my feeking, fome friends procured 
 for me the colleftorftiip of the cuftoms of Cork, and the manage- 
 ment of moft of the inland revenue of that countv. This em- 
 ployment, and the incidents attending it, with thofe of the Eaft 
 
Preface. xxix 
 
 India prizes, and others in the laft war with Holland put intp 
 Kinfale, enabled me to bring 9,532/. for my own proportion of 
 advance money to purchafe the revenue farm of Ireland, as 
 appears of record in the Chancery of England. Being by a 
 brother of mine, without my privity or defire, led into this 
 undertaking, and a ftranger to all the partnerfliip, I fold my 
 jntereft for a profit of 4,000/. The money I employed in Cor- 
 poration Bonds and Church Leafes, in mortgages and other 
 fecurities at 10 per cent., the intereft of that kingdom. 
 
 " After this excufe, if I have no vifible eftate, I hope no man 
 can doubt but I may live independently, though I happen to be 
 a younger brother. So far from that being a prejudice, it's 
 poffible to prove to my advantage, being defigned heir to my 
 two elder brothers, who have not, nor are likely to have, any 
 children. 
 
 " I do declare that I neither have nor had any relation of 
 fervice to the Duke or Duchefs of York ; nor did I fucceed 
 Coleman in that fervice. 
 
 " For ray religion, as I was born a Proteftant fo I was bred a 
 member of the Church of England. I have taken the oaths 
 eleven times.'" 
 
 III. 
 
 Thomas Sheridan's TraSi ij/" 1677. 
 
 The charadter of this trad:, put forth at a critical 
 moment without name of author, publisher, or 
 
 ' State of the Cafe of Thomas Sheridan. London, 1681, 4to. 
 Britifli Mufeum. King's Pamphlets, No. 100, h.-y. 
 
XXX Preface. 
 
 printer, yet adlively circulated, may be fliown in 
 very few words to be even now of great intrinfic 
 intereft. Befides a curious hiftorical fketch upon 
 parliaments, the author recommends a fingle fu- 
 preme legiflation for the three kingdoms ; and his 
 eleftoral reform extends to the " ballot, to avoid 
 heats and fecret grudges " (page 27). Quite an 
 original fcheme is here alfo propofed for bodies of 
 eleStors to the Houfe of Commons, intermediary 
 from the " freeholders of every parifh, and others 
 if they pleafe," for the choice of a member — a 
 fcheme much confidered fince, in other countries 
 (page 25). He would then have a code of laws 
 made, with a fimplification of the courts of juftice. 
 Above all, he would abolifh all death-punifhments, 
 and improve the difcipline of all gaols (pp. 34, 45, 
 and 62). He would have judicial cenfors (page 
 62); and official hiftorians (page 68). His jea- 
 loufy of France may be readily pafled by (page 
 114); but what he fays (page 29) as to Ireland 
 (page 139) cannot fail to be read with fatisfadion 
 in the main (page 139), although much weakened by 
 an expedhation of the Irifh language being easily 
 fuppreffed. His views upon taxes, cuftoms, and 
 excife ; with his anticipations as to banks and inland 
 bills, with bonds to be negotiated by indorfement 
 
Preface. xxxi 
 
 only, and the like, give him the credit of being 
 among the very firft to recommend changes of law, 
 now never doubted of (146, to the end). As a 
 political economift, afluredly, if we have outgrown 
 many of his principles, his example proves that in 
 other material points, Adam Smith was by no means 
 the originator of the beft maxims. 
 
 Three topics, elaborately treated in the tradt, are 
 at this moment of fpecial intereft — namely, a policy 
 of conciliation between Proteftants and Roman 
 Catholics, — of unity among all Chriftians ; the com- 
 plete education of all clafTes in common, and the 
 induftrial employment of the poor. The firft topic 
 is here examined with a conclufion fo abfolutely 
 in the fpirit of Bilhop Bedell's appeal cited 
 above, that the influence of the prelate's work may 
 fairly be held to have traditionally reached Dennis 
 Sheridan's younger fon, the writer : but that good 
 dodlrine is maintained with the powerful logic 
 belonging to that younger Sheridan's original in- 
 telligence ; whilft it is fure to meet in our days 
 with much heartier acceptance than it obtained in 
 the feventeenth century. 
 
 The fecond topic, popular education, as here 
 prefented, will have a ftill more favourable con- 
 fideration, in harmony as it is with meafures on 
 
xxxii Preface. . 
 
 that head which have been prepared by continually 
 extending efforts thefe laft fixty years. On material 
 points Thomas Sheridan is in perfedt accord with 
 the moft earneft educational reformers. In truth 
 what we are doing painfully but not hopelefsly, on 
 this gigantic topic, the univerfal education of our 
 people, calls for lights from every fource. The 
 thing is not fo much without good antecedents as 
 many have careleffly fuppofed. A fingle example 
 may be cited, replete with the beft experience to 
 build upon. It is over five hundred years ago that 
 clofe to London, an intelligent Roman Catholic 
 minifter, the redtor of Croydon, Richard of Bury, 
 a man famous in his generation, tutor to Edward 
 III. and then his chancellor, declared that " all the 
 nations have hailed the advent of fcience, to be 
 enlightened by her leflbns. All, from the fwarthy 
 Hindoo to Arabians, Greeks, and Italians, prof- 
 pered by her influence awhile and then negledting 
 her, decayed." Age after age, on this very Ipot, 
 great ecclefiaflics were not wanting to a6t, upon 
 thefe excellent dodrines. They were all popular in- 
 ftruftors. At length, one among them founded a 
 modeft home for induftry in need, and with it a 
 fchool for the lowlieft and the loftiefl: in common, 
 fully fufficient for the place at the time and long 
 
Preface. xxxiii 
 
 after. The Archbifliop Whitgift's endowment 
 flouriflied many a year, but then fhared the fre- 
 quent decays of " noble poverty," until a palace 
 has fuddenly fprung up in Croydon, to encourage the 
 demands of tens of thoufands, and of a thriving 
 population eager for inftruftion in it. Surrounded 
 by a crowd of feminaries of every grade, it is the 
 crowning work, declared by Parliament' the other day 
 to belong to all our people together, for their better 
 training, without invidious diftindlions. Rightly 
 adminiftered this old Grammar fchool will receive 
 all and fend forth Thomas Sheridan's " beft capaci- 
 tated" from the huhibleft in wholefome rivalry with 
 the higheft, for the beft culture elfewhere, and thus 
 bridge over the dangerous chafms threatening difcord 
 throughout fociety. Here, as fo often of late, the 
 mifchievous notion of middle clafles, has fprung up 
 in forgetfulnefs of every duty. Every where proof 
 abounds, fhowing how correftly the Schools Inquiry 
 Commiffioners have concluded, that to fucceed in the 
 great work of univerfal education, we muft carry the 
 hearts of the people, parents and children, with us ; 
 and more than half a century ago in this very town 
 of Croydon, the corrednefs of that conclufion was 
 
 ' The Endowed Schools Aft of i86g, Preamble. 
 c 
 
xxxiv Preface, 
 
 anticipated in a popular fatire upon the abufe of 
 Archbiftiop Whitgift's Grammar School, by making 
 it " a military granary," inftead of « the Univer- 
 fity'" which it formerly was, to the people's great 
 advantage. 
 
 The third topic, the induftrial employment of the 
 pooreft, opens a bold defign for the refolution of 
 perhaps the moft perplexing of all focial problems ; 
 how to reduce poverty to a mere claim upon indi- 
 vidual pity. This defign is for real work-houfes 
 at any coft, throughout the land, to teach the fufFer- 
 ing, and even delinquent mafles ufeful occupations. 
 The fund for this purpofe was to be, like the Educa- 
 tion fund — the adminiftration in both being with the 
 eledlors chofen by univerfal fufFrage for members of 
 Parliament (page 22a). 
 
 Thomas Sheridan takes a ftrong view of the 
 falutary influence of thefe combinations ; and there 
 are figns at prefent of his judgment therein being 
 put to a large pradtical teft. 
 
 > The Devil on Two Sticks at Croydon, printed by T. Hard- 
 ing, High Street, 8vo. 1797, p. 45. 
 
Preface. xxxv 
 
 IV. 
 
 To this Iketch of Thomas Sheridan's trad of 
 1677 and its antecedents it is not poffible here to 
 add fuch an account of his later remarkable career 
 and writings as can do juftice to both. The pro- 
 ceedings before the Houfe of Commons and its 
 committee, upon a highly criminal charge againft 
 him, with his fuccefsful defence at the Bar of the 
 Houfe, would alone fill another volume. They 
 involve all the intenfely interefting queftions re- 
 fpefting the plots, real or fidtitious, of the time ; 
 and even the working of the famous Habeas 
 Corpus A61 of the fame period belongs to his 
 cafe. Soon afterwards, in 1688, he re-iflued his 
 tradt, but with a new title-page only, and the 
 name of a publifher. He was now well known in 
 London ; and his " adverfaries," alluded to in the 
 fpeech, had not ceafed to trouble him. Bifhop 
 Burnet mentions his name with a bitternefs not 
 becoming the biographer of Bedell, whofe prin- 
 ciples were fo nobly reproduced by this fon of the 
 family beloved by that venerable prelate. It is 
 plain he now looked for high employment in 
 
xxxvi Preface. 
 
 Ireland under King James II. In the correfpon- 
 dence of the day from London to Dublin, his 
 name occurs in that fenfe.' Soon afterwards, he 
 was appointed Secretary to the Government, and 
 made a Privy Councillor in Ireland. Upon in- 
 telligence of his intended elevation reaching Dub- 
 lin, the Earl of Clarendon, then on the point of 
 being recalled, exprefled himfelf in the harfheft 
 terms to Thomas Sheridan's difcredit.'"* How little 
 this feverity was deferved, feems to have been foon 
 fhown by the fecretary's prudent advice in favour 
 of conciliation between the Irifh of different creeds. 
 Notwithftanding, however, his objeftions to the 
 contrary policy which haftened the ruin of James 
 II.'s caufe in Ireland, Thomas Sheridan adhered to 
 the fallen king, accompanying the exile to France, 
 There he wrote a hiftory of the time, which has 
 had the higheft praife from the higheft autho- 
 rities — Sir James Macintofh and Lord Macaulay, 
 both of whom have made large ufe of the un- 
 printed manufcript now preferved in the Royal 
 Library at Windfor. 
 
 That work alone juftifies Thomas Sheridan's 
 
 2 
 
 Sir Henry Ellis, Original Letters. 
 The Clarendon Correfpondence 
 
Preface. xxxvii 
 
 aflertion at the bar of the Houfe of Commons, in 
 1680, that he "had fome pretenfions to letters." 
 It doeSj and much more. Taken in connexion 
 with the widely fcattered Libraries of Stuart 
 PaperSj of which the Sheridan MS. forms a gem, 
 its right appreciation and ufe may open a field of 
 historical inquiry, vaft indeed, but incomparably 
 more valuable than vaft. The Stuart Papers for 
 many centuries — from the royal captive in Windfor 
 Caftle to the royal exile at St. Germains — from 
 Mary Queen of Scots to the fallen Pretender of 
 '45, can reveal enough indeed to condemn, but 
 more to pity the fallen, of whom the whole truth 
 is not yet told. 
 
 Above all, thefe papers from abroad and at 
 home, diligently colleded and duly fcanned, will 
 reveal at leaft one " paragon " of the Stuart race, 
 worth erring generations — Henry Frederick, Prince 
 of Wales — " the fame of whofe increafing wifdom, 
 flature, favour with God and man, won the hearts 
 of all " in his very boyhood. 
 
 Thefe are the words of our chaplain in Venice, 
 addrefled to Sir Adam Newton, Prince Henry's 
 tutor, in the year 1607, in his fourteenth year. 
 That chaplain was no other than Dr. Bedell, our 
 " apoftolic bifhop " of Kilmore, whofe correfpon- 
 
xxxviii Preface. 
 
 dent, Sir Adam, recognizes the correftnefs of this 
 brilliant appreciation of the boy prince."^ 
 
 It is not rafh to expedb that the Royal Com- 
 miflion upon our Hiftorical MSS. now fitting at 
 the Rolls Houfe, will obtain fpecial inquefts into 
 the Stuart Papers, wide fpread as they are in a 
 hundred repofitories at home and beyond fea. 
 The refearch and its ufes will be but a revival of 
 what that exemplar of our young princes medi- 
 tated a brief fpace later ; and his great name is 
 not without its link with the memory and recol- 
 ledlion of Thomas Sheridan, the author of " The 
 Rife and Power of Parliaments." 
 
 A high place in the roll of fame may be chal- 
 lenged fafely for Thomas Sheridan, the author of 
 this work upon political and focial progrefs. In a 
 moft critical period of our hiftory he anticipates 
 vital coming reforms, and advocates ably improve- 
 ments ftill wanting. Laborious efforts are now 
 being made to complete electoral and judicial mea- 
 fures which he boldly claimed. In the caufe of 
 Chriftian toleration he preceded Locke ; and in that 
 of a milder criminal code, Beccaria and Howard. 
 
 * Original Letters of Dr. Bedell from Venice in 1607. 
 Dublin, 1742, 1 2 mo. pp. 80. 
 
Preface. xxxix 
 
 As a financier he was a guide to the founder of 
 the Bank of England, Paterfon ; and he may very 
 well have been Adam Smith's inftruftor upon 
 capital points of political economy held to have 
 been fettled originally by that illuftrious man. If, 
 as a devoted and enlightened fupporter of popular 
 education, he only followed Archbifliop Cranmer 
 and Edward Alleyn of Dulwich, his fine views on 
 that head will be ftudied with advantage by its 
 more fuccefsful friends of the prefent day. 
 
 The fingle point on which Thomas Sheridan 
 feems to have oppofed the judgment of his father's 
 venerable friend, the Bifhop of Kilmore, was his 
 negledl of the Iriih language, of which he expefted 
 the fpeedy extinftion (p. 153) ; and his Ihortcoming 
 on this capital point has had hopeful compenfa- 
 tions. If he undervalued the ufes of that tongue, 
 the joining its ftudy to other means of enlightening 
 the needieft Irifh, would not be refufed by their later 
 proteftors — like Thomas Drummond of Edinburgh, 
 John Mufgrave of county Waterford (" one of the 
 beft of good men'"^) Frederick Lucas of Surrey 
 and county Meath. Thefe eminent men had im- 
 
 * Thefe words were applied to John Mufgrave, of Cappoquin, 
 fometime Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, by Mr. O' 
 Connell many years ago to an Engliih vifitor in Kerry. 
 
xl Preface. 
 
 mediate and more powerful precurfors in their 
 Irifti fympathies, as the late Sir Fowell Buxton, a 
 ripe ftudent in Dublin College, and Archbiftiop 
 Whateley. 
 
 Nor is there wanting at this moment a legion of 
 patriots among us, as able and eager to promote 
 effedtually the moft urgent claims of humanity 
 without regard to condition or creed in Ireland. 
 All of them are obedient to O'Connell's call, which 
 he never withheld from fimilar Britifh and Irifli 
 reforms — oppofed as they are to needlels and 
 noxious difunion. 
 
 The fame union was the objedt of Thomas She- 
 ridan's afpirations two hundred years ago; and, 
 even in a purer Ipirit, Bifhop Bedell before him 
 laid deep foundations for the holy fuperftrudture of 
 good-will which, in this nineteenth century fo many 
 of us are ftriving to roufe towards all, but efpecially 
 towards Irifhmen, in even an improved degree, ac- 
 cording to our better lights. 
 
 The cotemporary biographer of the illuftrious 
 Prelate thus records his good a6ts along with their 
 obftacles : — 
 
 " He would encourage Irifli converts with pre- 
 ferments according to their capacities. When this 
 was noifed abroad, the bifliop was feverely checked 
 
Preface. xli 
 
 by fome ftatefmen, as if he aded contrary to Eng- 
 liih intereft and policy by making the -conquered 
 and enflaved Irifh capable of preferment in Church 
 and State. That was the portion of the conquering, 
 not of the deprefled Irifti natives. No man did fo 
 much as even attempt this before his lordfhip. To 
 this he replied, that to leave the Irifh hoodwinked 
 and ignorant would be bitternefs in the end. To 
 bring them to a faving knowledge of Jefus Chrift 
 would be a greater feCurity againft all attempts 
 than to found our policy upon Irifh blind obe- 
 dience." ^ 
 
 Better is to be done in Ireland, and in Wales, and 
 in the Scottifh Highlands, in the matter of human 
 fpeech, than to attempt ignoratitly to deflroy it. 
 We can preferve it with infinite advantage. It is 
 a mafler-key to the hearts of millions of our fellow- 
 men, here and elfewhere. It is the oldefl remains 
 of pre-Roman and pofl-Roman life in thefe iflands 
 and many regions more. The State ought to have 
 
 > "Speculum Epifcoporum; or the Apoftolic Bilhop. The 
 Life and Death of the Reverend Father in God, Dr. William 
 Bedell, Lord Bifliop of Kilmore, in Ireland." By his ftep-fon, 
 the Reverend — Clogy. Harleian MSS. No. 6,409. Now 
 publiflied by Meflrs. Wertheimer and Co. Paternofter Row. 
 8vo. 1862, p. 97. 
 
xlii Preface. 
 
 its fpecial fchools in all thefe tongues — not only 
 for young Irifh, and Welfh, and Scots, but alfo 
 for the Manx, and, it may ftill be, even Cornifh 
 remnants. Some, too, of the more apt and refined 
 of our children, Britifti and Englifh, fhould have 
 careful training awhile in thofe pure Celtic fchools. 
 This fyftem has done good beyond fea. Thus, 
 the families of our miflionaries have at once become 
 valuable linguifts and interpreters. For example a 
 great fuccefs has crowned fuch works at Natal in 
 the cafe of an able agent in native affairs in that 
 promifing colony, an acceptable communicant with 
 the Zoolu and Bafutu chiefs in the CafFre language 
 fpoken by millions in all South Africa to the Line. 
 So Lady Raffles' children conveyed their daily 
 orders eaflly to the Hindoo domeflics. So the 
 mofl pleafing incident in Lord Macartney's often 
 mifreported miflion to Pekin was the converfation 
 of young Stanton in Chinefe with the Emperor Kien- 
 Long. The very wifefl ad of the Papacy 500 
 years ago, was its adoption of the defign of uni- 
 verfal tongue-learning in Rome. It was a humble 
 following of the marvellous gift in Jerufalem when 
 " devout men out of every nation under heaven 
 heard every man his own tongue wherein he was 
 born."i 
 
 ' The Adls, xi. 5. 
 
Preface. xliii 
 
 Afliiredly all this may ferve as a profitable leffon 
 to us, with our refponfibilities of world-wide em- 
 pire, inftead of letting flip our power by want of 
 will to guide it. What would our univerfal tra- 
 vellers, the fons of Queen Vidtoria, have given to 
 be able to fpeak with the Red Indian, the Hindoo, 
 the Chinefe and Japanefe, the Bafutu, the Auflra- 
 lian, and New Zealander, whom each of them in 
 turn has vifited ! 
 
 Add to this Divine gift of tongues, which we 
 may eafily command, that other means of commu- 
 nicating great leflbns of humanity to the untaught 
 coloured man which the genius of a colonial go- 
 vernor devifed two generations ago, only to be dis- 
 regarded by the home authorities. It was making 
 the eye do the fl:erner work of the ear and tongue 
 — the artifl; teach the true ufes of life better than 
 the hangman.* 
 
 ' Appendix. 
 
 June I, 1870. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page XXXV. line ii,for " 1688" read" 1685." 
 Page 30, line ii,for "That it is idle" read "It is idle." 
 Page 246, line 7,fir " remain for more diligent" read " remain much 
 for diligent." 
 
 mm, 0£ LvLws (e<mtinued).^m . Wm^m/^ 45 
 
 VII. Of the Courts of Judicature ... 57 
 
 VIII. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion . . 70 
 
 IX. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion (continued). 89 
 
 X. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion (fo«fe'»«fi/). 96 
 
 XI. Of Liberty, Prolperty, and Religion (co«ft»«f^). loz 
 
 XII. The Intereft of England in reference to 
 
 France 114 
 
 XIIL Of Taxes 146 
 
 XIV. Of Trade 181 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 REFACE, newly writ by the Bookfeller's 
 
 Friend 
 
 The Publisher to the Reader 
 Chap. I. The Introduilion 
 Chap. II. Of the Rife and Power of Parliaments 
 III. Origin of Government 
 IV. Origin of Government (coxtiuuea). 
 
 V. Of Laws 
 
 VI. Of Laws (jcotttinued), . 
 VII. Of the Courts of Judicature 
 VIII. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion 
 
 IX. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion (continued). 
 X. Of Liberty, Property, and Religion {continued). 
 XI. Of Liberty, Prd^erty, and Religion (continued). 
 XII. The Intereft of England in reference to 
 
 France 
 
 XIIL Of Taxes 
 
 XIV. OfTrade 
 
 Pa( 
 
 xli 
 Ixi 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 ic 
 
 '4 
 i8 
 
XJVl 
 
 Contents. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Proofs of Thomas Sheridan's authorihip of the Trail 
 
 of 1677 ...... 
 
 B. Pedigree of the Sheridans of the 17th century 
 
 C. The Ulfter Cuftom illuftrated . 
 
 D. Bifhop Bedell's printed Books and MSS . 
 
 E. The Stuart MSS. at home and abroad 
 
 Page 
 
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A 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RISE and POWER 
 
 OF 
 
 garliametits, 
 
 OF 
 
 Laws, of Courts oiyudicaturefiiLiberty, Pro- 
 perty, and Religion, of Taxes, Trade and of the 
 Intereft of ENGLAND in Reference to 
 FRANCE. Ina Letter from a Gentleman in 
 the Country to a Member of Parliament. 
 
 Salus Populi Suprema Lex ejio. 
 
 LONDON', 
 
 ibyy. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 NEWLY WRIT BY THE BOOKSELLER'S FRIEND. 
 
 HOEVER buys this traft will do a fmall 
 kindnefs to the bookfeller ; but he that 
 reads it will do a greater to himfelf. 
 The title alone is a temptation to invite 
 one to look into it in this time of diforder ; but if 
 wit and learning, reafon and piety, the knowledge of 
 men and deep confideration of government fignify 
 anything, the difcourfe is a perfedt fnare to capti- 
 vate the reader. And it hath one advantage pecu- 
 liar to itfelf to detain him, that he will meet with 
 many things there which no man ever writ, or per- 
 haps thought on before. 
 
 The novelty alone will gratify the men of 
 pleafure and curiofity ; and, as for the grave and 
 the wife, that chain of reafon and good nature which 
 
 d 
 
1 Preface. 
 
 runs through it, will make them fcratch and think 
 twice before they condemn it. 
 
 It was written to a member of the laft Parliament 
 about Chriftmas laft was . twelve-month, and fince 
 that time has crept abroad into the world, and is 
 now made more public, as well for the general as 
 the bookfeller's particular good. But a great change 
 of affairs happening in this interval, it is fit to ac- 
 quaint you that the author never dreamt of the 
 horrid plot, which has been lately difcovered, when 
 he pleaded for toleration to honeft and peaceable 
 DifTenters. He meafured other perfons by his own 
 candid temper, and did not think there could be 
 found a fed of men who would endeavour the 
 advancement of their religion by fhedding the blood 
 of their prince, in an age when rebellious principles 
 and their abettors have received fuch confutations 
 as they have in this, both by God and man. 
 
 But Truth doth not vary with time, how much 
 foever fome perfons may abufe it. I cannot per- 
 fuade myfelf but that liberty of confcience is a 
 natural right which all men bring with them into the 
 world ; for we muft all give an account of our- 
 felves to God, and ftand or fall by our own faith 
 and practice, and not by the religion of the ftate 
 or country where we happen to be dropt. 
 
Preface. li 
 
 It is impoffible for men to believe what they 
 lift, or what others would have them, though it 
 fliould be beaten into their heads with beetles. 
 Perfecution makes foriie men obftinate and fome 
 men hypocrites ; but evidence only governs our 
 underftandings, and that has the prerogative to 
 govern our adtions. 
 
 The defign of Chriftianity is to make men happy 
 in the other world ; and in order thereunto, it 
 teaches them to regulate their paffions, and behave 
 themfelves with all fobriety, righteoufnefs and piety 
 in this. The dodtrines whereby this is enforced 
 are fo few and fo plainly delivered, that they are at 
 this day acknowledged by all the feveral forts of 
 Chriftians that make a number, or are fit to be con- 
 fidered under a name in the world. For how 
 many are there who do not profefs the Apoftles' 
 Creed ? which was the old rule and meafure of 
 Chriftian faith, unalterable, unreformable, from 
 which nothing ought to be taken, to which nothing 
 need to be added, as Irenaeus and Tertullian declare. 
 And if men would be perfuaded to preferv'e thefe 
 ancient boundaries of Chriftianity inviolate, and 
 fuffer the primitive fimplicity to be reftored, the 
 great occafion of fquabble and contention would be 
 cut ofF; and they would not difpute for ever about 
 
Hi Preface. 
 
 a lock of wool, or the knots of a bulrufli ; but in- 
 ftead of being extremely learned in trifles, and 
 extremely zealous for moonfliine, they would grow 
 kind and charitable, and lay afide their unreafonable 
 cenfures of one another. 
 
 Aquinas and Bellarmine, and the Synopfts purioris 
 Theologia, would not be ftudied fo much, but the 
 Sermon on the Mount a great deal more ; and upon 
 cafting up the account it would be found that what 
 we loft in fubtilty thereby we fhould gain in 
 religion. 
 
 St. Hilary, the famous bifliop of Poiftiers, has 
 an excellent faying to this purpofe, " Non per 
 difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam quasftiones 
 vocat, nee multiplici eloquentis facundiae genere 
 folicitat ; in abfoluto nobis et facili eft aeternitas ; 
 Jefum fufcitatum a mortuis per Deum credere, et 
 ipfum efle Dominum confiteri."' God doth not call 
 us to heaven by underftanding abftrufe and difficult 
 queftions, nor invite us by the power of eloquence 
 and rhetorical difcourfes ; but the way to eternal 
 happinefs is plain, eafy, and unintricate ; to believe 
 that God raifed up Jefus from the dead, and to con- 
 fefs him to be the Lord of all. The fenfe of this 
 
 ' De Trinitate, lib. lo, circa finem. 
 
Preface. liii 
 
 will foften the minds of men, and difpofe them to 
 mutual compliances and forbearances ; and then we 
 fhall not think it needful by feverities, and penalties 
 to compel others to go to heaven in our way 
 with great uneafinefs, when we are refolved, they 
 may with fafety and pleafure get thither in their 
 own. 
 
 Upon thefe grounds the wifeft emperors in 
 Chriftendom have allowed liberty to Diflenters, as 
 Theodofius did to the Novatians, who had feparate 
 churches at Conftantinople, and biftiops of their own 
 perfuafion to govern them, and enjoyed all the 
 privileges of Catholic Chriftians. 
 
 And the opinion of King James fent to Cardinal 
 Perron, in the words of Ifaac Cafaubon, will be re- 
 membered to his honour, whilft his name fhall be 
 known in the world as the beft refolution which was 
 ever given of this queftion. " Rex arbitratur re- 
 rum ad falutem neceflariarum non magnum efle 
 Numerum, quare exiftimet ejus Majeftas nullam ad 
 ineundam concordiam breviorem viam fore, quam 
 fi diligenter feparentur neceflaria a non neceflariis, 
 et ut de neceflariis conveniat omnis opera infumatur 
 in non neceflariis, libertati Chrifl:iana£ locus detur,"^ 
 
 ' Epift. Ifaac. Cafaub. epift, cccxvi. pag. 385. 
 
liv Preface. 
 
 The king is perfuaded that there is no great num- 
 ber of things neceflary to falvation ; wherefore his 
 Majefty believes there will not be met with a 
 fliorter way to peace than that diftindtion be care- 
 fully made between neceflary things, and thofe that 
 are not fo; and that all pains be taken for agree- 
 ment in neceflaries, but that allowance be granted 
 for Chriftian liberty in thofe things that are not 
 neceflary. 
 
 This is not a demand which has been only made 
 of late, fince the Chriftian name has been fo 
 fcandaloufly divided as it is at this day ; but it is 
 that which the primitive Chriftians pleaded for as 
 their right and due, that they ought to be tolerated, 
 though they were miftaken, fo long as they were 
 peaceable. 
 
 To this end TertuUian made an addrefs to 
 Scapula, the governor of Africa, and tells him, 
 " Humani juris et naturalis eft poteftatis unicuique 
 quod putaverit colere, nee alii obeft aut prodeft 
 alterius Religio. Sed nee Religionis eft cogere 
 religionem, quae fponte fufcipi debeat non vi. Cum 
 et hoftias; ab animo libenti expoftulentur. Ita etfi 
 nos compuleritis ad facrificandum, nihil pragftabitis 
 Diis veftris ; ab invitis enim facrificia non defidera- 
 bunt, nifi contentiofi fint ; contentiofus autem Deus 
 
Preface. Iv 
 
 on eft."' It is the right of mankind and a 
 atural privilege to worfhip according to what he 
 elieves. One man's religion doth neither good 
 or harm to another ; it is no part of anyone's 
 eligion to compel another man to be of the fame 
 i^ith him, which ought to be undertaken freely, 
 lot by compulfion, even as the facrifices are re-, 
 [uired to be offered with a willing mind ; and 
 herefore, though you compel us to facrifice you 
 ?ill do no fervice to your own gods ; for they 
 lefire no offerings from the unwilling, unlefs they 
 )e quarrelfome ; but God is not contentious. 
 Ladlantius* has fpent a whole chapter to fhew the 
 inreafonablenefs of perfecuting men for religion, 
 md that violence is an incompetent argument to 
 aropagate truth. St. Chryfoftome* makes it a 
 nark of herefy, and argues thus ; doth the fheep 
 perfecute the wolf? no, but the wolf does the 
 [heep. So Cain perfecuted Abel, not Abel Cain, 
 [flimael perfecuted Ifaac, not Ifaac Iflimael. So the 
 f ews perfecuted Chrift, not Chrift the Jews ; fo the 
 leretics do to the orthodox, not the orthodox to the 
 heretics; therefore by their fruits you fhall know 
 ;hem. 
 
 ' TertuJl. ad Scap. cap. 2. ' Ladlani. lib. v. c. 20. 
 
 " Chryfoft. Homil. 19 in Matth. 
 
Ivi Preface. 
 
 The truth is, the perfecuting pradice was firft 
 introduced among the Chriftians by the fiery and 
 turbulent fpirits of the Arian heretics, who had 
 corrupted the Emperor Conftantius,^ and brought 
 him to their party, and then made ufe of this power 
 to confute the Catholic bifhops and their adhe- 
 rents, by banifhment, imprifonment, and confifcation 
 of goods. Againfl: which unworthy proceeding, 
 Athanafius^ inveighs with great reafon and vehe- 
 mence, as a preparation for the coming of antichrift. 
 But when this poifon was once caft into the church, 
 it was but a fhort time before the founder and 
 fincerer part of Chriftians was infedted with it ; and 
 as their intereft grew at court, fo they made ufe of 
 it to baffle their adverfaries and retort their own 
 arguments upon them, obtaining laws to be made 
 againft feveral heretics, with very fevere penalties, 
 the lofs of goods, of liberty, the power of making 
 a will, and in fome cafes, the lofs of life. Which 
 laws are yet upon record in both the Codes of 
 Juftinian and Theodofius.^ But though by this 
 means they prevailed at laft to fupprefs the herefies 
 which troubled the Church, yet the beft and wifeft 
 
 ^ Sulpit. Sever, lib. ii. c. 54, 55, &c. 
 
 ' Athan. Epift. ad Solitarios. 
 
 ' Cod. Juft. 1. i. tit. 5, de Hasreticis, &c. Theod. 2. 5. 
 
Preface. Ivii 
 
 men amongft them difapproved, the expedient, and 
 thought it unreafonable to purchafe the eftablifh- 
 ment of truth by fuch rigours and by the fhedding 
 of blood. 
 
 The firfl: inftance which I remember of any 
 capital fentence formally pronounced againft any 
 diflenters, was againft Prifcillian and fome of his 
 followers; but then St. Martin, the bilhop of Tours, 
 interceded with all his might to hinder the pro- 
 ceeding ; and Sulpitius Severus gives an ill charadber 
 of the fa(5t, when he fays, " Homines luce indig- 
 niflimi, peffimo exemplo necati, aut exiliis necati."^ 
 It was of ill example and a fcandal to Chriftianity, 
 that they were baniftied or put to death, though 
 they did not deferve to live. And when a band of 
 foldiers was fent to fupprefs a conventicle of the 
 Donatifts (who were very numerous and extremely 
 troublefome in Africa), and bring them to Church, 
 Parmenian objedbed the Armatum Militem, and 
 the Operarios Unitatis to the Catholics, as an un- 
 feemly and an unworthy pradice. And it coft 
 Optatus^ a great deal of pains to write almoft a 
 book to wipe off the imputation ; which he could 
 not do, but by denying the fadt as a calumny 
 
 ' Sulpit. Sever, lib. ii. c. 65. 
 ^ Optat. cont. Parmen. I. i. c. 3. 
 
Iviii Preface. 
 
 whereof the Catholics were not guilty, and dif- 
 agreeable to the dodtrines of their meek and peace- 
 able Matter. 
 
 St. Auftin has declared his opinion how the 
 Manichees were to be treated in fuch favourable 
 and gentle words, as fhew he was not pleafed with 
 the law in force againfl: them. Cod. Jufl:. tit. 
 5, de Hsereticis : leg. Manichasos : " Illi in vos 
 fasviant qui nefciunt, quo cum labore verum inve- 
 niatur," &c.^ Let them be rigorous againft you, that 
 do not underftand what pains is required in the 
 difcovery of truth ; and with what difficulty errors 
 are avoided ; let them be fevere againft you, that 
 know not how rare and hard a thing it is to conquer 
 carnal reprefentations by the ferenity of a devout 
 mind. Let them rage againft you, that are ignorant 
 with what labour the eye of the inward man is 
 cured, that it may be able to behold its own fun ; 
 let them be cruel towards you that know not what 
 fighs and groans are neceflary to the underftanding 
 of God in degree : in fine, let them be angry with 
 you, that are free from all fuch miftakes as they 
 fee you deceived with. 'But for myfelf I can in no 
 wife be fevere againft you, for I ought to bear with 
 
 ' Aug. contra Epift. c. 1,2. 
 
Preface. lix 
 
 you as with myfelf, who was once one of you ; and 
 treat you with that patience and meeknefs as was 
 (hewn to me by my neighbours, when I was 
 furioufly and blindly engaged in your erroneous 
 dodtrines. 
 
 Salvian, a prieft, and as fome think a bifliop of 
 MarfeilleSj has manifefted the like candour and 
 meeknefs towards the Arians. " Hasretici funt, 
 fed non fcientes: deniq; apud nos funt haeretici, 
 apud fe non funt," &c.^ They are heretics, but they 
 are ignorantly fo ; they are heretics in our efteem, 
 but they do not think fo themfelves ; nay, they fo 
 firmly believe themfelves Catholics, that they de- 
 fame us with the title of herefy. What they are 
 to us the fame we are to them ; we are certain they 
 injure the divine generation by faying the Son is 
 inferior to the Father ; they think us injurious to 
 the Father, becaufe we believe them equal ; the 
 honour of God is on our fide, but they believe it 
 on theirs ; they are undutifui, but they think this 
 the great office of religion ; they are ungodly, but 
 this they believe is true godlinefs ; they err there- 
 fore, but they err with an honeft good mind ; not 
 out of hatred but afFedion to God, believing that 
 
 ' De Gubernat. Dei, lib. v. pag. 142. 
 
Ix Prefc 
 
 ace. 
 
 they both love and honour the Lord. Although 
 they want a right faith yet they are of opinion 
 that this is the perfed love of God ; and none but 
 the judge can tell how they are to be punifhed for 
 the miftake of their falfe dodtrine in the day of 
 judgment. 
 
 This was the foft and charitable (pirit which 
 breathed in thofe eminent defenders of Chriftianity, 
 who were fo zealous for their religion, as to fufFer for 
 it themfelves ; but not fo furious as to make others 
 fuiFer to promote it. They had another method 
 of propagating the truth ; in meeknefs inftrufting 
 thofe that oppofe themfelves. For, indeed, the only 
 proper puniftiment of the erroneous is to be taught. 
 
 Having difcourfed thus far concerning indulgence 
 towards Diflenters, /. e. for charity, righteoufnefs 
 and peace ; and that every one has a right by the 
 great charter of Nature to make the beft pro- 
 vifion he can for his own happinefs ; I forefee the 
 envy to which this way of reafoning will be expofed ; 
 as if it opened a gate to all forts of fefts and 
 foolifti opiniators, even to atheifts themfelves ; and 
 ftript the magiftrate of that power whereby he is 
 enabled to attain the end of government, that the 
 people under him may lead quiet and peaceable 
 lives, in all godlinefs and honefty. 
 
Preface. 1 
 
 XI 
 
 I know fo much of human nature and the ex- 
 travagant follies of mankind left to the conduft of 
 their own paffions, that thefe would be the certain 
 confequences of unlimited liberty to all perfons; 
 and therefore I plead not for it. My notion of 
 liberty precludes all the inconveniences in this ob- 
 jedtion. It is not a natural law which is unchange- 
 able, but a natural right only for a man to choofe 
 what religion he will profefs. And there is no 
 right of Nature, which I know of, but what is 
 limitable to the public good, and forfeitable by the 
 abufe of it. 
 
 A man may forfeit the right which he has to 
 life, which he holds by Nature as well as to his 
 eftate, which he holds by law. An atheift, a mur- 
 derer, &c. may as juftly be killed as a viper or a 
 wolf, or any other noxious animals; becaufe they 
 have done irreparable mifchief to the common- 
 wealth already, and prevent doing more for the 
 time to come. The natures of fuch perfons are 
 greatly degenerated, and it is but reafonable that 
 they who have loft the common virtues fhould 
 likewife lofe the privileges of mankind. And I 
 judge the like concerning the liberty which every 
 man has to inquire into the truth of feveral fyftems 
 of religion, and publicly to maintain that which 
 
Ixii Preface. 
 
 appears to him eftablifhed upon the fureft foun- 
 dations. 
 
 When it is apparent that religion itfelf is damni- 
 fiedj the fafety of the government endangered, and 
 the peace of the Commonwealth broken by any fort 
 of dodlrines, the perfons profeffing thofe doftrines 
 have forfeited their natural freedom, and ought to 
 be reftrained. 
 
 Accordingly, firft, no man is to be allowed to 
 publifti impieties which evidently tend to the dif- 
 honour of God and wicked life ; as that God doth 
 not take care of the affairs of this world ; and that 
 there are no rewards and puniftiments in the other ; 
 that there is an indifferency in human adtions, and 
 no good or evil antecedently to the civil con- 
 ftitution, &c. For the truth in thefe cafes is fo 
 plain by the light of Nature, and by the manifold 
 difcoveries which God hath made, that no man who 
 feeks for it with an honefl: mind, but may difcern 
 it ; and accordingly errors of this nature are not to 
 be afcribed to weaknefs of judgment, which is to be 
 pitied, but confidered as proceeding from malicious 
 principles and tending to bafe ends, and fo are 
 punifliable as corruptions in manners. This fort of 
 men indeed are not within the limits of this queftion. 
 
Preface. Ixiii 
 
 for they have no confcience, and therefore can 
 challenge no privilege from it ; and no govern- 
 ment can have fecurity from men of no confcience, 
 and therefore cannot be blamed if it do not pro- 
 teft them. And, feeing they oppofe the confent 
 of mankind in fuch momentous affairs, why ftiould 
 they not forfeit the benefit of human fociety ? and 
 if the fword were oftener drawn and fhaj-pened 
 againft them, it might poffibly reconcile fome per- 
 fons to the authority, who are now no great friends 
 to it, nor altogether of St. Paul's mind, that the 
 minifter of God bears not the fword in vain, but is 
 a puni flier of evil doers, and a praife to them that 
 do well. 
 
 Secondly, no man can claim any right to freedom 
 whofe doftrines tend to the deflruftion of govern- 
 ment in general, or the diflblution of that which 
 is eftabliflied. For the benefits of government are 
 fo great, (though like thofe of health, they are not 
 fo fenfibly difcerned by any thing fo much as by 
 their abfence) that all mankind have been contented 
 to purchafe them, by parting with fomething out of 
 everyone's ftock, to maintain a common arbitrator 
 of differences, and a common defence from injuries. 
 And the alterations of any particular form, or the 
 removal of any particular perfon, in whom the 
 
Ixiv Preface. 
 
 gDverhment is fixed, is always attended with fo 
 many certain inconveniences ; and, if with any, 
 fuch uncertain advantages, that ordinary prudence 
 ought not to trufl: fuch perfons whofe religion leads 
 them to anarchy or to change. Nay, fubmiffion to 
 government is fo incorporated into all religions of 
 the world, natural. Pagan, Jewifti and Chriftian, that 
 it is impoffible anyone can reconcile religion with 
 the oppofition to the prefent government : therefore 
 all fuch dodlrines as thefe, — that dominion is founded 
 in grace ; that it is lawful to depofe heretical princes, 
 or vindicate the true religion by the fword ; that 
 an idolatrous king may be cut off; that the original 
 of power is in the people, and upon male adminiftra- 
 tion and tyrannical government, they may refume 
 their firft grant ; are to be difcountenanced in 
 every commonwealth, and the abettors of them to 
 be reftrained and puniflied, unlefs the rebels of 
 England have fome peculiar privilege, and they 
 that ought to be hanged in every other nation under 
 heaven, have a particular charter to be indulged as 
 the godly party here. 
 
 Thirdly, he that will not allow the fame liberty 
 which he aflcs, deftroys the right to his own de- 
 mands ; he is of a narrow perfecuting fpirit ; in love 
 with his own dear felf, proud, conceited, and an 
 enemy to the reft of the world. 
 
Preface. Ixv 
 
 For, I pray, are we not all equal by nature, have 
 you more of the image of God, or a lefs fhare of 
 original fin than I ? You tell me that I am an 
 idolater ; and cannot I fay that you are a heretic ? 
 You are certain, if God's Word be true, and the 
 Spirit of God do not deceive, you are in the right ; 
 I fay you are very confident, and Solomon tells us, 
 " The fool rageth and is confident." I took not up 
 my religion upon truft, I have read the Bible and 
 the ancient writers, the moft indifferent arbitrators 
 of differences in religion; I have confulted the 
 wifefl men, and, heard all parties fpeak ; I have 
 prayed to God for his affiflance, that he would 
 guide me into all truth, and I verily think God has 
 anfwered my prayers ; and it is you, not I, that are 
 in the miftake. But, becaufe there may be no con- 
 tention between us, I am contented to compromife 
 the quarrel, and we will dwell together charitably 
 with united afFedlions, though with different judg- 
 ments. But you cannot in confcience accept of this 
 fair offer ; you have a command to the contrary. 
 Come out from among them and I will receive you; 
 be not unequally yoked with unbelievers ; have no 
 fellowihip with the unfruitful works of darknefs, 
 but rather reprove them. You have a promife to 
 depend on, and you look up to God to perform it. 
 
Ixvi Preface. 
 
 Behold, I will make them of the fynagogue of Satan 
 which fay they are Jews, and are not, for they lie ; 
 I will make them to come and worfhip before thy 
 feet, and know that I have loved thee. Well, fir, 
 I am forry my tender of peace is fo fcornfuily re- 
 je6ted, upon the mifapplication of fuch texts of 
 Scripture as equally and indifferently ferve all 
 parties, or are nothing to the prefent purpofe ; you 
 muft not be angry if I ftrike the firft blow, rather 
 than fuffer you to take your own opportunity to 
 knock me on the head. 
 
 When the caufe comes to be tried, before equal 
 umpires, you will be judged out of your own 
 mouth that challenged liberty, which you would 
 not grant ; for you have tranfgrefled the great rule 
 of righteoufnefs, not to do to others what you 
 would have done unto yourfelf. Upon thefe terms 
 the pretences to liberty are deftroyed. But if the 
 wifdom of any ftate fliall confine their indulgences 
 to pious, obedient, and charitable Difl!enters, I can- 
 not perceive the prejudice which difference in 
 fpeculations and difputable points can do in re- 
 ligion, or the power of the magiftrate. 
 
 But at the fame time I cannot but admire the 
 admirable temper and moderation which is fliown 
 in the church and government of England; that 
 
Preface. Ixvii 
 
 requires nothing neceflary to falvation, but the 
 acknowledgment of the ancient creeds ; that teaches 
 nothing but what is pious and charitable ; whofe 
 liturgy is grave, wife, and holy ; whofe rites are few 
 and material ; whofe laws are full of candour and 
 compliance, allowing freedom to any five DifTenters 
 together to worfhip God, in their own way : whofe 
 true fons and fubjefts are the greateft favourers of 
 • Chriftian liberty which are in the world ; and I pray 
 God to give all people that difown it wifdom to 
 underftand it. 
 
THE PUBLISHER TO THE 
 
 READER. 
 
 AVING, I muft own, not without plea- 
 fure, read the following papers, and 
 believing they might in feveral inftances 
 —I do not fay all — give fome fatisfadtion 
 to others, .and contribute to the public good, for 
 which I perfuade myfelf even thofe notions that 
 feera moft odd and impradicable were intended, 
 I refolved to make them public, but was checked 
 again by calling to mind that he from whom I in 
 fome fort extorted them obliged me not to difcover 
 him. Neyerthelefs, confidering I might do the one 
 without the other, I purfued my former refolutions, 
 yet taking this further care that even the printer 
 fhould not know from whence they came. And 
 now let me tell you, whatever you fhall think of this 
 difcourfe, it is the iffue of a fober brain, though 
 perhaps a little too much inclined to humour and 
 unfafhionable rigid virtue, and not fo ^.greeable or 
 fmooth as you would have had it if my friend had 
 
Ixx "The PubUpDcr 
 
 dreffed it for the eyes of any other befides myfelf 
 to whom he fent it fheet by fheet, and having writ 
 it in lefs than eight of the kft holidays, you may 
 believe, had I allowed more time, it would have 
 come, even to me, reviewed. As it is, I make it 
 yours, and aflure you, whatever cenfure you pafs 
 upon him or me, we fhall both be unconcerned ; as 
 complaifance made it mine, fo a good intention 
 of ferving my country makes it yours. For myfelf, 
 I do not aim at being richer or greater ; the patri- 
 mony left me fatisfied and invited my unambitious 
 mind to the retirements of a private life, which I 
 have made eafy by innocent recreations, company 
 and books ; it was not my own feeking that I 
 am now placed in a more public ftation, wherein, 
 though perhaps I have done no good, yet I am 
 pleafed I never did any hurt, having always purfued . 
 without paflion or intereft whatever my confcience, 
 the beft rule and fevereft judge of men's actions, 
 convinced me was beft. 
 
 As to my friend, he is one has read fome books 
 and more men, thanks God he is that which the 
 world calls a fool — a good-natured man— one that 
 heartily loves all mankind, and has fo particular a 
 zeal for the good of his country that I believe he 
 would facrifice his life to ferve it. But almoft 
 
to the Reader. Ixxi 
 
 defpairing that ever things will be better than they 
 are, and finding by what he has feen abroad that a 
 man may live more happily in England than in any 
 part of Europe, and now grown old, by temper 
 more than years, he has refolved chiefly to mind 
 himfelf, whom, to enjoy more fully, he has bid 
 adieu to all thoughts of bufinefs, to which, having 
 never been bred by any calling, he has had the more 
 opportunities of confidering all, of improving him- 
 felf, and obferving moft forts of men ; and, as a 
 fpeculative philofopher, to the entertainment of 
 himfelf and friends, he pafTes very free remarks on 
 all aftions and things he judges amifs; and, being 
 biafed by no manner of interefl;, I am perfuaded he 
 fpeaks his confcience ; and he has the good fortune 
 to make others often conclude he does not only fpeak 
 a great deal of truth, but alfo further fatisfies them 
 that it is much eafier to find faults than mend them, 
 that there ever were, and ever will be, diforders in 
 all human focieties, that there are fewer in that of 
 England than in any other, and that they are there 
 more curable. 
 
 Thus much I thought fit to tell you to prevent 
 any mifapprehenfions concerning the perfons who 
 are the occafion of this trouble or diverfion, call it 
 what you pleafe. 
 
Chapter I. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 Sir, 
 
 IAD you only commanded me to 
 have given you an account of the 
 Law^s and Cuftoms of another 
 Utopia, an Ifle of Pines, or of 
 O. Brazil, though unfit even for fuch a tafk 
 I would not have difputed it; but finding 
 you have impofed upon me, vs^ho am neither 
 ftatefman nor merchant, a neceffity of playing 
 the fool, by treating of England's policies and 
 trade, I confefs I could not w^ithout great 
 reluftance comply vs^ith fo fevere an in- 
 jundlion. 
 
 I have alw^ays been averfe to difcourfes of 
 this kind, w^hich in private men are no 
 
2 IntroduEiion. 
 
 farther tolerable than as idle philofophers, to 
 pafs away their vacant hours in fuch other- 
 wife ufelefs fpeculations ; and in them, too, I 
 have heard fuch oftener condemned than 
 • commended; the authors efteemed foolifh and 
 impertinent, troublefome or dangerous ; and 
 fome, we know, by indulging themfelves too 
 much in this vanity, have ftraitened, if not 
 wholly loft their liberty and fortunes. We 
 live not in Plato's Commonwealth, but in 
 fcece Romuli, where a full reformation of laws 
 and manners feems only to be wifhed, not to 
 be obtained without a miracle. Why then 
 fhould any, efpecially the unconcerned, bufy 
 their heads with what they cannot mend } 
 'Tis much more pleafant, and fafer far, to let 
 the world take its courfe, to believe that in 
 the regular ftated motion of nature things 
 are fo ordered by Divine Providence that 
 they will not, cannot fuffer themfelves to be 
 ill-managed. Nature, if we hearkened to her 
 didtates as well as religion (which we equally 
 defpife), would convince us it were our duty 
 (I am certain it would be our intereft, our 
 
IntroduEiion. 3 
 
 happinefs even in this life) to fubmit quietly 
 to the powers above and their ordinances, 
 becaufe all pow^ers are of God. 
 
 Thus I acknowledge every private man 
 ought to think and do ; but public perfons, 
 that is to fay, law-makers, are to confider they 
 were born not only for themfelves, but for the 
 good of others ; and therefore are obliged to 
 exert that power with which they are in- 
 trufted, for the joint common good of the 
 people, without partial regards or private 
 ends. 
 
 If they would fincerely mind this, and if 
 our hot-brained ftate mountebanks, who being 
 but private men yet quarrel at every thing 
 that is not conformable to the capricios of 
 their own wild fancies, would ceafe to inter- 
 meddle in their fuperiors' province, England 
 might be the happieft kingdom of the world ; 
 whereas the contrary pradtice rendered her not 
 long fince the feat of civil wars, tyranny 
 and confufion, and has at prefent fo filled her 
 with murmurings and repinings, jealoufies 
 and fears, that fhe which formerly gave law 
 
4 IntroduEtion. 
 
 to others, and was a terror to more than 
 Europe, is now in danger to become weak 
 and contemptible in the eyes and opinions of 
 her neighbours. 
 
 Thefe, and fuch like, were the confide- 
 rations that made me fo long refift your 
 command; to which I had never yielded, 
 but to prevent the lofs of your friendfliip, 
 with which you fo folemnly threatened me 
 in your laft. Take then, in the fame order 
 you prefcribe, the beft account I am able in 
 fo fhort a time, to give to your feveral follow- 
 ing particulars of the Rife and Power of 
 Parliaments ; of Laws ; of Courts of Judica- 
 ture ; of Liberty, Property and Religion ; of 
 the intereft of England in reference to the 
 defigns of France ; of Taxes and of Trade. 
 But you are to obferve, that what I write 
 is with as much liberty and little care as 
 people difcourfe in Coffee Houfes, where we 
 hear the ftate affairs of all nations adjufted, 
 and from thence guefs at the humour of the 
 people and at the times. 
 
 In this, therefore, you are not to expe<ft 
 any fludied phrafes or elaborate connexions. 
 
IntroduBion. 
 
 5 
 
 clofe, neat traniitions, &c. Your fervant 
 (whom I conjure you by the ftridleft ties of 
 friendfliip not to difcover), has neither will 
 nor leifure for fuch a work, which being in- 
 tended only for your clofet, you may be con- 
 tent to take in a plain Englifh drefs. 
 
Of the Rife and 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 OF THE RISE AND POWER OF 
 PARLIAMENTS. 
 
 HE great and many revolutions and 
 changes which in all places have 
 attended human aflfairs, and the 
 particular inundations of the Ro- 
 mans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans into this 
 kingdom, together with the ignorance and 
 careleflhefs of former ages, have left us in fo 
 much darknefs and uncertainty, that I think 
 it not only difficult, but morally impoffible to 
 trace out exaftly the beginnings of things. 
 If it be fo then in all affairs, we may ceafe to 
 wonder why men are fo much at a lofs in 
 their inquiries into, and debates of the prefent 
 matter, viz. of the Rife and Power of Parlia- 
 ments, which has received very different 
 forms and fhapes according to the interefl 
 
Power of Parliaments. 7 
 
 and power of the feveral contending parties. 
 This makes me think its true face can never be 
 fully difcovered, though perhaps it may be 
 uncertainly gueffed at by fome lines, faint 
 fhadows, and ftronger probabilities gathered 
 from the fcattered memoirs of monks, who 
 cannot well be fuppofed impartial, efpecially 
 in ecclefiaftical, nor full in the relations of 
 ftate affairs, in the accounts of which they 
 did not hold themfelves concerned. But yet 
 they are the beft guides we have, for from 
 the ancient Rolls in. the Tower one cannot 
 believe there was any exadt diary of things, 
 or if he do, muft conclude many are fpoiled 
 by the injury of time, omitted through neg- 
 ligence, or made away for private ends. 
 However, we may yet pick out of both this 
 truth, that though the rife of Parliaments, like 
 the head of Nilus, be unknown, yet they have 
 been of long ftanding and of great power. 
 
Origin of Government. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 |ND we fhall find it reafonable they 
 fhould be fo, if we look back into 
 the grounds and origin of Govern- 
 ment, which we may fuppofe to 
 have been introduced by the general confent 
 and agreement of as many families as upon the 
 increafe of mankind joined in one common 
 fociety ; divided the earth into particular pro- 
 portions ; and diftinguifhed between meum 
 and tuum. To this they were induced by 
 love, not fear, which is but the confequent "of 
 reafon convincing them that the enjoyments 
 of life were thus beft ferved and promoted; — 
 and becaufe that being, and well-being could 
 not be continued or enjoyed but by the 
 fociety of women and the produdis of labour, 
 and that, if fome would be idle, and many 
 
Origin of Government. 9 
 
 covet the fame woman, the great defign of 
 nature, happinefs, founded on living well and 
 in peace, might be perverted into the ftate of 
 mifery, war. To prevent the two neceffary 
 confequences, poverty and death, they entered 
 into mutual compadls, articles, or laws, agree- 
 able to that great and fundamental law of 
 nature, riveted into their beings, to do as 
 they would be done unto. That is, they 
 refolved, agreed, and promifed one another 
 to be guided by the rules of reafon, or, which 
 is one and the fame, to continue men. But, 
 becaufe it was probable fome, yielding too 
 much to their paffions, might fwerve from 
 this great rule, and fo wrong others as well 
 as themfelves, therefore, that no man might 
 be judge and party, they unanimoufly con- 
 firmed to the elder perfon the continuance of 
 that right which nature had given him over 
 the fruit of his loins during its minority, to 
 determine whatever differences fhould happen 
 — believing him, as the common father of the 
 family, to be mofl impartial, and as the 
 longer experienced, the wifefl man. 
 
I o Origin of Government. 
 
 This power, though great, exceeded not 
 the Hmits of their then-enad:ed laws in the 
 true and natural meaning, which they took 
 care to make very few and plain, that all 
 difputes and intricacies (not only the dif- 
 turbers, but deftroyers, of juftice) might be 
 avoided. 
 
 And finding they were not only liable to 
 danger at home, but from abroad, from fuch 
 other focieties as had already or might after- 
 wards fet up for themfelves, and that it was not 
 poffible for all to watch againft thefe dangers, 
 they therefore refolved to put that care into 
 the hands of one man ; for which great under- 
 taking the coward as the fool, if thofe two 
 really differ, were equally unfit — inconfidera- 
 tion in the one being what fear is in the 
 other, a betraying of the fuccours which 
 reafon offers. Nature, then, by giving their 
 judge moft authority, wifdom, and condudt, 
 which, with true courage — the effedt alfo in a 
 great meafure of experience — are the great 
 qualifications of a general, defigned him for 
 that honour ; which the people readily con- 
 
Origin of Government. 1 1 
 
 firmed, promifing obedience, and inveftinghim 
 with the power of making war and peace, 
 both, at his inftance — referving to them- 
 felves the liberty of examining and approving 
 the reafons ; which the great and wife captain 
 judged convenient, knowing that without the 
 confent of all, he could not but want the 
 affiftance of fome, which might difable him 
 to defend himfelf or them, whereupon the 
 ruin of the whole muft inevitably follow. 
 
 And becaufe the prince's whole time muft 
 be employed in this great work, part of which 
 was the preparing his fon for the fucceffion by 
 inftilling into him the neceffary feeds, the 
 principles of virtue, religion, wifdom, courage, 
 munificence, and juftice ; the people willingly 
 agreed to entail upon him and his fucceflbrs 
 a certain excifum, or proportion of every 
 man's labour, anfwerable to the occafions of 
 the public, and to the particular ftate and 
 grandeur neceffary for the fupport and main- 
 tenance of his authority and reputation. 
 
 But becaufe a greater proportion was need- 
 ful for extraordinary accidents, as of war, &c. 
 
1 2 Origin of Government. 
 
 they fet apart annually another quota, to 
 remain for fuch ufes in a kind of public bank, 
 fo to be ordered as might greatly increafe 
 their common treafure, and do good to the 
 poorer fort of labourers and tradefmen, and 
 maintain in hofpitals, fuch impotents or aged 
 perfonsas fhould be difabled to make provifions 
 for themfelves. 
 
 The revenue they made great enough, as 
 well as certain, that the prince might not 
 lie under any neceffity of contriving from 
 time to time new artifices and ways of 
 raifing money, that great rock of offence on 
 which they forefaw no prince could ftumble 
 without vexation, animofities, and hatred ; 
 not only difcompofing the happinefs, but 
 occafioning the overthrow of any ftate. 
 And fo the people, being fure of the re- 
 mainder, they proportioned their expenfe to 
 their gettings; the former they moderated, 
 not only by prudent fumptuary laws, but by 
 the hazard of their reputations, efteeming it 
 infamous not to lay up yearly fomething of 
 their labours ; by which courfe the public 
 
Origin of Government. 13 
 
 taxes became eafy ; which they made per- 
 petual, that their children fhould be under 
 a neceffity of following their examples of 
 thrift, and fo might likewife be infenfible of 
 the burden ; forefeeing that taxes impofed 
 upon people who are fo far from faving 
 aught, that they account themfelves good 
 huibands if they do but yearly make both 
 ends meet, beget ill blood, murmuring and 
 difcontent ; crying that the bread is taken 
 out of their mouths, or the clothes from 
 their backs, which are often followed by the 
 evil confequences of rebellions, and the fub- 
 verfion of the Commonwealth. For fuch 
 never confider that their own extravagance 
 made thofe imaginary needs, which, when 
 they happen, are no otherwife to be removed 
 but by moderating former expenfes. 
 
 Thus they wifely contrived, and inter- 
 wove the perpetuating the fubjedt's fafety 
 and the prince's dominion, never fecure but 
 when founded on mutual love and confidence. 
 I do not find the pradlice of this policy any- 
 where fo well continued as in the ftates of 
 
1 4 Origin of Government. 
 
 Venice and Holland; which has preferved 
 the firft about twelve centuries, and made the 
 latter increafe fo prodigioufly in lefs than one. 
 
 Now, becaufe they forefaw the produfts 
 of their labour would exceed their expenfes, 
 and that the remainder would be ufeful for 
 commutations vj^ith their neighbour for fome 
 of their commodities, but that in driving 
 this trade they would be expofed on fea 
 to piracies, &c.- — to make their navigation 
 fafe, they agreed, that the public for fecuring 
 them fhould receive by way of premium or 
 infurance, a certain excifum out of all things 
 exported or imported, which we now call 
 cuftoms. 
 
 And, left the too great defire of wealth 
 fhould make them forgetful of their duty to 
 God, their parents, and their country, that is 
 to one another, they ordain'd that a fufEcient 
 number of the elders of the people, grave, 
 fober, difcreet perfons, fhould, at certain times 
 fet apart for that purpofe, remind them of 
 their duty ift every of thofe particulars ; and 
 alfo inftrudl their children in the laws of 
 
Origin of Government. r 5 
 
 God and of their country. And becaufe 
 the tending of this work would take up a 
 confiderable portion of their time, they 
 allowed falaries to thefe public officers, put 
 of the common flock. In thofe days of 
 innocence, when art was not interwoven 
 with religion, nor knavery with policy, it 
 was an eafy matter to be pious and juft ; 
 and if the higher powers were pleafed to 
 remove thefe two, we fhould foon again fee 
 that golden age. The duty of both tables 
 was comprifed in few articles ; that to their 
 neighbours confifted as now, in doing as you 
 would be done unto ; that towards God (of 
 whofe being they were convinced by the 
 ftrongeft of demonftrations, the confideration 
 of the vifible things of the world), in thankf- 
 givings and adorations, the effed: of gratitude 
 to the Author of their being and of all good 
 things, in believing the immortality of the 
 foul, and of its being fufceptible of rewards 
 and punifhments in another life, and in the 
 confequence that fin is to be repented of. 
 Thefe were their common fentiments, the 
 
1 6 Origin of Government . 
 
 didbates of nature; the fubftance of which 
 was acknowledged by all, even the moft bar- 
 barous of nations, and therefore could not 
 be the inventions of policy, the dreams of 
 melancholy men, or the effedts of education. 
 Thefe are the opinions of the unthinking, 
 and therefore wild and loofe, and were the 
 wifhes formerly of the few debauched ; but 
 the great, fober and wife philofophers of all 
 ages, upon the exadleft fcrutiny, finding them 
 to be the imprefles of nature, as eflential to 
 our being as light to the fun, pronounced 
 the fpeculative atheift an impoflible thing. 
 And becaufe they were fenfible that a liar, 
 as deftrudtive of the very being of human 
 fociety, ought to be banifhed the common- 
 wealth, the firft of their laws and the 
 cement of the reft was, that every man (hould 
 not only fpeak truth to his neighbour, but 
 ftand firm to his promifes. And knowing 
 that laws, though never fo good, would prove 
 infignificant if not duly obferved, and that 
 fome men would never be wife, that is, would 
 never confider, and confequently would not 
 
Origin of Government. \j 
 
 eafily be reftrained from folly, from offending ; 
 to deter the flavifli and inconfiderate, they did 
 not only annex certain penalties to the breach 
 of the laws, but unalterably decreed that no 
 offender, though never fo powerful, fliould 
 efcape the punifliment. 
 
 Thefe penalties were pecuniary muldls, lofs 
 of liberty, bodily labour to the public, or 
 banifliment. The power of life and death 
 they would not give, becaufe they could not 
 transfer that to another which was wanting 
 in themfelves ; the taking away of life was 
 peculiarly referved by nature as its own indif- 
 penfable right, as moft reafonable becaufe fhe 
 alone could give it. They confidered that 
 terrors are but affrightments to duty, that cor- 
 redlions are for amendment, not deftrudlion, 
 which courfe fhould they have purfued, they 
 might accidentally have run themfelves into 
 a ftate of war ; fince nature had told them it 
 was not only lawful but neceffary, if they 
 could not otherwife preferve their own, to 
 take away the beings of any that attempted 
 theirs ; — that it would be againft the end of 
 
1 8 Origin of Government. 
 
 fociety, mutual happinefs ; this rendering the 
 fufferer incapable of all, to which therefore 
 he neither could nor would have confented. 
 This or fomething not unlike it was, I 
 perfuade myfelf, the form and fubfiance of 
 the firft commonwealths, which if you nar- 
 rowly look into, you may perhaps find fome 
 lines that drawn out fully, might be no ill 
 model for any commonwealth. 
 
 And, to come nearer home, it has fome 
 refemblance to what for feveral paft ages this 
 kingdom did and does now enjoy. To omit 
 the Britifli times, of which we have but very 
 thin gleanings of the Druids, their oracles of 
 learning, law and religion ; and to fkip over 
 that of the Romans, who were never able 
 perfectly to introduce their manner of com- 
 monwealth, we fhall find that in the time of 
 the Saxons, (a people of Weft Friefland, fo 
 called from the fhape of their fword, a kind 
 of fcimitar,) and in that of the Danes, the 
 manner of Government was as now in fub- 
 ftance, though not in form or name, by king 
 and parliament ; but whether the Commons 
 
Origin of Government. 19 
 
 were called to this great affembly or no, I 
 cannot find from the imperfect regifters of 
 elder times. One may guefs they were 
 originally members of it becaufe the fame 
 people in Weft Friefland, from whence they 
 defcended, do at this day continue a form of 
 government, different from all the reft of 
 the provinces, not unlike this. There are 
 fufficient proofs that the peers, that is, the 
 chief of the clergy and beft eftated gentry, 
 were as often as the king pleafed (for it was 
 originally ediSto principis) fummoned to 
 confult with him of the great affairs of ftate. 
 Which council was before the Conqueror's 
 time called by feveral names, as Concilium 
 abfolutely, fometimes the epithets oi Magnum, 
 Generale or Commune were added ; it was 
 often known by the name of Curia Magna 
 and others, and was compofed ex epifcopis, 
 abbatibus, ducibus, fatrapis et fapientibus 
 regni ; among which if any will fay the 
 Commons had place I will not difpute, becaufe 
 in thofe times, when titles of honour were not 
 the arguments of good fortune, or the marks 
 
20 Origin of Government. 
 
 of the prince's favour, the king called to this 
 great council fuch as large poffeffions, courage 
 or wifdom recommended as fit ; for we find 
 that the father's having fat there, gave not 
 right to fuch fons as did not with their eftates 
 inherit their virtues. 
 
 It appears farther, that the great council 
 in the later end of the Saxons' reign, and 
 till the beginning of King John's, had, by 
 the grace of kings, accuftomed themfelves, 
 without any fummons, to meet thrice every 
 year, at Chriftmas, Eafter, and Whitfuntide ; 
 which courfe was not interrupted by any 
 particular fummons, but when in other 
 feafons of the year the public occafions 
 required their meeting. The long con- 
 tinuance of the Barons' Wars made the 
 before-ftated meetings of the great council 
 return to the uncertain pleafure of the 
 Prince. 
 
 Whatever the power of the Commons was 
 before the Conqueft, it plainly appears that 
 for fome time afterward their advice was 
 feldom defired, and as things were then 
 
Origin of Government. % i 
 
 ordered, their confent was not thought 
 neceflary, being always included in that of 
 the Lords : for the Conqueror having fub- 
 jedted the natives to an entire 'vaflalage, 
 feized upon all their pofleffions, referved to 
 the crown large .proportions in every county, 
 gave part to the Church in frankalmoigne, 
 and the refidue to his fellow adventurers in 
 the war, to be held by knight fervice. 
 Thefe fubdivided part of theirs to their 
 followers, on fuch conditions as rendered 
 them perfed: flaves to their mafters, rather 
 than their lords. By the pofleffion of fo 
 much power, thefe barons or freeholders (for 
 the word fignified no more) did what they 
 pleafed with their vaffals and became very 
 terrible to the Conqueror and his fucceflbrs ; 
 to curb whofe extravagance though all were 
 willing. King John was the firft that made 
 the attempt; but, by his over haftinefs, he 
 gave birth to the lafting broils of the Barons' 
 Wars. He, with defign to fupprefs the too 
 great power of the Lords, in the fixth year 
 of his reign, about a war with France, called 
 
22 Origin of Government. 
 
 for the Commons' advice and counfel with 
 the Lords, which had been done above one 
 hundred years before by Henry the Firft, 
 who in his reign fummoned them twice — at 
 his coronation, and in his eighteenth year. • 
 The next time after King John, that we find 
 them fummoned was in the forty-ninth year 
 of Henry the Third's reign, whofe fummons 
 appears upon record ; fo that he may be faid 
 to have perfedted what Henry the Firft and 
 King John defigned, making the Commons a 
 part of that great judicature which they have 
 ever fince continued, and for fome time after, 
 in one and the fame houfe. 
 
 It was ufual in thofe days to mention in 
 the writ the caufe of aflembUng this council. 
 In a fummons of Edward the Firft, a wife, 
 juft, and therefore a fortunate prince, con- 
 cerning a war with France, in the feventh 
 year of his reign, thefe words are obfervable, 
 " Lex juftiflima provida circumfpedtione 
 ftabiUta, ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus 
 approbetur," much better fenfe than Latin. 
 
 Succeeding kings have been pleafed to 
 
Origin of Government. 23 
 
 confult in Parliament of all the high and 
 great concerns of the ftate, of what nature 
 or kind foever. The confulting thus with 
 the whole body of the people, was firft the 
 grace or policy of kings; and the pradlice 
 was always fuccefsful to thofe that ufed it, 
 as the contrary proved deflrudiive : for the 
 kings, having by this courfe gained their 
 fubj efts' hearts, found it eafy to command 
 their purfes and their hands. 
 
 This great reprefentative of the Common- 
 wealth, the Parliament, confiding of three 
 eftates, viz., the Lords fpiritual and tem- 
 poral, and Commons with the King as head, 
 you will with me eafily conclude, may do 
 anything within the reach of human power. 
 You muft pardon me if I wave anato- 
 mizing the diftindt powers of the feveral 
 parts of this great body; whofoever firft 
 attempted that, defigned the overthrow of 
 the beft conftituted government in the world, 
 where the king wants no enfigns of monarchy 
 or majefty, where the people have not only 
 all the freedom, liberty, and power that in 
 
24 Origin of Government. 
 
 reafon can be wifhed, but more than any of 
 their neighbours enjoy, even than thofe in the 
 fo much more cried up but little underftood 
 commonwealth of Holland, where they have 
 liberty in name, but in reality are very flaves 
 and beads of burden. 
 
Origin of Government. 25 
 
 
 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 THE ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT, ««/;««^^. 
 
 OW, whether the way of conven- 
 ing parUaments might not be al- 
 tered into the following (or fome 
 other more equal than the prefent 
 feems to be), I leave to themfelves to deter- 
 mine, viz. That every parifli, freeholders and 
 others, if they pleafe, fhould meet and choofe 
 two honeft knowing men, on whom their 
 power of eledting members fhould be de- 
 volved ; this done in every parifh, the feveral 
 twos to meet and choofe two for the hun- 
 dred ; that agreed, the refpedlive twos of 
 every hundred, at the time and place ap- 
 pointed, to choofe the members out of fuch 
 as are refident in the country, both knights 
 and burgeffes. Nor does it feem very reafon- 
 able that the later fhould exceed the former. 
 
26 Origin of Government. 
 
 efpecially confidering that many of the ancient 
 boroughs are decayed, and yet the number 
 raifed by the additions of new ones, beyond 
 what it was before ; but by this manner of 
 election that inconvenience, if any, will not 
 be confiderable. To every two members a 
 fidefman to be chofen, who fhould duly attend 
 at the place of feffions, and that he might be 
 prepared in the abfence of both, or either of 
 the members, they fhould make him matter 
 of all that paffed from time to time in the 
 Houfe. And that every perfon eledled might 
 ferve the public without private confideration, 
 the eledtors or a juftice of peace, in their 
 prefence, to adminifter an oath framed to 
 this effedt : " That in all proceedings they 
 endeavour to inform themfelves fully of the 
 ftate of the matter and therein adt according 
 to confcience, without particular intereft or 
 defign ; that direftly, or indiredtly, on the 
 account of their vote or ferving, they fhall 
 not receive by themfelves or others any re- 
 ward or gratuity whatfoever." On breach of 
 this oath to be liable to all the penalties of per- 
 
Origin of Government. 27 
 
 jury. It is not to be doubted but the honour 
 
 of promoting their country's good (that 
 
 giving a fort of immortality which all men 
 
 covet), will invit'e gentlemen enough fuffi- 
 
 ciently qualified to undertake this work on 
 
 thefe conditions, how hard foever they appear. 
 
 It is not reafonable that parliament men 
 
 fhould be maintained or rewarded (unlefs in 
 
 praife and ftatues) at the country's charge ; 
 
 to do it gratis is all the real good they do the 
 
 commonwealth, in which as private men their 
 
 intereft, and confequently their gain, is greater 
 
 than that of the meaner fort. The elections 
 
 to be by the balloting box, to avoid heat and 
 
 fecret grudges. 
 
 Nor would it be ufelefs to add, that all 
 things be carried fairly and openly in the 
 Houfe ; that the debate of anything propofed 
 be adjourned to the next day's meeting ; for 
 in the time of reft, upon our bed, our night's 
 fleep does change our knowledge, and qualify 
 the efFedl or caufe of paffion, inconfideration ; 
 that every member by himfelf or fidefman 
 be conftantly prefent, under fevere penalties 
 
28 Origin of Government. 
 
 to the public ; that nothing be put to the 
 vote but in a full Houfe, not of forty (who 
 cannot be the major part of above four hun- 
 dred, and therefore at firft w^as fure a trick), 
 but of all the members ; nor then carried by 
 majority till the reafons of every fingle dif- 
 fenter be examined, the diflenting perfon 
 convinced, and in cafe of obftinacy after con- 
 viftion (of which in fo wife an aflembly none 
 can be fuppofed guilty), expelled the Houfe. 
 The queflion not to be re-aflumed till after the 
 eledlion of a new member, unlefs his fidef- 
 man be of a contrary opinion in the debate. 
 It is poffible the fwaying argument was at firft 
 but one man's, whofe credit and authority 
 might prevail upon the reft, without ex- 
 amining his reafons ; which makes it prudent 
 to weigh the force of what is offered againft 
 it. By the contrary courfe they may, by this 
 they cannot, fuffer, fince reafon or truth is 
 always one and the fame, and however dif- 
 guifed by the fophiftry of wit, it muft at laft 
 overcome. Thus by proving all things and 
 holding faft that which is beft, they will ac- 
 
Origin of Government. 29 
 
 quit themfelves to the prefent and fucceeding 
 ages. Such manner of proceeding would 
 filence all murmurings and clamours — " that 
 the Parliament is divided into fadtions, a 
 court and a country party ; though the in- 
 tereft of the one be not diredtly oppofite to 
 that of the other, yet the members, for ends 
 of their own, honour or rewards, do make 
 them fo ; of this they are convinced by fee- 
 ing fome turn cat in pan, appearing ftrongly 
 in one feffion for that which in a former 
 they as vigoroufly oppofed — and by obferv- 
 ing others to compafs elections by fadlion 
 and intereft, by purchafe or covinous free- 
 holds ; that contrary to feveral adts of parlia- 
 ment, members living in the fouth are chofen 
 for the north, and therefore are, to the injury 
 of the people, as much ftrangers to the affairs 
 of the places for which they ferve, as thofe 
 two points are diftant from each other — that 
 they pafs laws, witnefs that againft Irifh 
 cattle, &c., not for the common good, but to 
 fhow their intereft and power to mifchief a 
 man they hate, or to revenge fome received 
 
30 Origin of Government. 
 
 or fuppofed injuries or affronts — that there- 
 fore it is neceffary to diffolve this as not 
 being a free parliament, and to call a new 
 one — that to do fo frequently is mofl agree- 
 able to reafon and to former ftatutes ; and to 
 that end feveral caufes are prepared to put a 
 difference between the two Houfes, in point 
 of jurifdidtion," &c. 
 
 But fuch as more ferioufly weigh things 
 may, I hope, he convinced thefe are the 
 groundlefs furmifes of fome, and falfe fuggef- 
 tions of others, difcontented and ill-difpofed 
 perfons, the. old difturbers of our Ifrael's 
 peace, who, delighting to fifti in troubled 
 waters, endeavour once more to put all into 
 a flame of tyranny and confufion, to fee what 
 fifh they may by that treacherous light bring 
 to their own nets. That it is idle to imagine 
 the court, the befl refiner of wit and language, 
 fhould not have as piercing a forefight as the 
 country ; that being allowed, they muft be 
 fenfible of the fatal confequence of a divided 
 houfe or kingdom, their lofs is at lead as 
 great as any others, their all is at flake ; it is 
 
Origin of Government. 31 
 
 therefore contrary to their intereft which 
 never lies confequently to their praftice to 
 endeavour parties. It is irrational, no lefs 
 than fcandalous, to conclude, becaufe fome 
 men's fenfe, by fecond thoughts and fuller 
 confideration of things, is altered, that there- 
 fore they are bribed ; as if perfonages of fo 
 much honour, wifdom, and public-fpirited- 
 nefs, could be induced by any finifter pradtices 
 or bye-refpefts to betray their country and 
 entail upon themfelves and their pofterities 
 more laftingly than they can their eftates; 
 great and inexpreffible calamities. And can 
 it be fuppofed the minifters have fo little 
 underftanding as not to forefee that the 
 taking off violent members any other way 
 than by conviction of their errors were end- 
 lefsly to increafe their numbers, and, hydra- 
 like, by cutting off one head, to give occafion 
 to the fprouting up of many. Nor is it lefs 
 abfurd to believe the Parliament, when they 
 find the conveniences, the reafon of ftatutes 
 ceafed, will not repeal them. It is no affront 
 to their judgments nor to their loyalties fo to 
 
32 Origin of Government. 
 
 alter with the times ; an obftinacy in the 
 contrary refolution would indeed be a dif- 
 paragement to their underftandings. It is 
 to be hoped the wifdom of the Parliament 
 is fuch as not to quarrel for trifles, after the 
 manner of women or children ; that they 
 will lay afide all partial regards, and, without 
 heats or perfonal refledtions, intend the great 
 work, the common fafety, recoUedting that 
 they were the horrie-bred divifions more 
 than the Conqueror's forces, that occafioned 
 Harold's overthrow, and England's entire 
 fubjedlion to the French. Even thofe very 
 men who invited William, fuffered in the 
 ruin — fo juft and natural it is to love the 
 treafon and hate the traitor. Does not every 
 man know that the power of whole France 
 is greater than that of a part, that of Nor- 
 mandy, could be } Duke William cannot be 
 fuppofed to have been more watchful to feize 
 the prey than Louis is, who perhaps has fet 
 thofe very men, at leaft their leaders, on 
 work, that openly pretend moft to oppofe his 
 defigns ; while, in the meantime, by fowing 
 
Origin of Government. 33 
 
 underhand difcords and fears among the 
 people, they beft promote his purpofes. It is 
 no unheard-of practice for politicians, as well 
 as watermen, to look one way and row 
 another ; but I hope no cunning Achitophel 
 will be able to divert the Parliament from the 
 great bufinefs of this conjundture. 
 
 D 
 
34 Of haws. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 OF LAWS. 
 
 jHEN they have done that, I wifh 
 they would think it worth their 
 labour to look into the laws, and 
 obferve what of them is fit to be 
 repealed and what continued. The happinefs 
 of a ftate confifts in a regular form of govern- 
 ment, by juft and equal laws, few and plain, 
 fitted to the moft ordinary capacities ; thefe 
 qualifications are as neceflary to the well- 
 being of the people as that of promulgation 
 was ever accounted to the eflence of a law. 
 But fuch is the fate of England that the laws 
 are almoft numberlefs, which makes them 
 impoffible to be remembered ; and, what is 
 worfe, are fo very intricate that they may 
 more reafonably be looked upon as the devices 
 of cunning men to entrap the fimple, than as 
 
Of Laws, 35 
 
 the rule by which all are to fquare their 
 adtions and their lives ; and what is yet 
 worfe, they were never promulgated, though 
 provided for by thofe ftatutes that enad: the 
 reading of fome of them in cathedrals at leaft 
 once a year, and of others four times. Is it 
 fit or juft men (hould be punifhed by laws 
 they neither know nor can remember ? There 
 is no one entire body of laws ; that of the 
 ftatutes is fo tedious (and fome yet remain in 
 the Parliament Rolls not printed) that it can 
 hardly be read over in a month's time ; 
 though an hundred times reading will not 
 enable a man to remember them, and yet he 
 may fuffer for not obferving what he has not 
 read, or if he had, could not remember. But 
 what is the greateft evil, — if they could re- 
 member they could not underftand ; fince the 
 very judges, who have not only been bred at 
 the feet, but are themfelves the Gamaliels of 
 the law, and much more, — are wont to fpend 
 whole terms in the reconciling and expound- 
 ing of particular ftatutes. And it often hap- 
 pens that after thefe long advifements they 
 
36 Of Laws. 
 
 being divided in their opinions, the parties 
 concerned, wearied in thofe toils, endeavour 
 after all their coft and labour to quit their 
 right, or impatiently expedt the making of 
 new and more intelligible laws. 
 
 Thefe great diforders have been occafioned 
 by feveral confpiring accidents, — length and 
 warping of time, crooked interefts of fome 
 lawyers, and the continual wars, foreign or 
 domeftic, with which this country has been 
 haraffed, I might fay, fince the invafion of 
 the Romans, &c. But to come nearer our 
 own times, fince the Conqueft, fince the firfl 
 making of thefe adls, England has not en- 
 joyed one half century an entire peace ; to 
 which unhappinefs I know not whether the 
 vexation of the law or bigotry of religion 
 has contributed mofl, I do not doubt but 
 in other ages they were as fenfible of the evil 
 as we are in this, but the fame accidents 
 continuing, rendered it rerhedilefs. Edward 
 the ConfefTor regulated the Saxon laws, but 
 his care proved of little advantage after the 
 coming in of the Conqueror ; who, defigning 
 
Of Laws. 37 
 
 to fet up a new form more agreeable to the 
 cuftoms of Normandy, or his own will, made 
 himfelf deaf to the people's defires of being 
 governed by the rules of that holy prince, 
 who was defervedly fainted no lefs for his 
 zeal and love of juftice in matters of law, than 
 for his ftridtnefs of life in thofe of religion. 
 From the Conqueror's time downwards there 
 have been attempts of this kind almoft in 
 every king's reign ; but the wars and divi- 
 fions and confequently diflblutions, that often 
 happened between the kings and their parlia- 
 ments, fometimes lords, fometimes commons, 
 about the liberty of the fubjed: or prerogative 
 of the crown, (not without good reafon 
 concluded to have been fet on foot by the 
 crafty lawyers, by this time grown confider- 
 able,) prevented bringing to pafs the intended 
 reformation of the law. I will not infift 
 upon all the kings' reigns where this was 
 defigned, nor go farther back than Henry the 
 Eighth's time, when ingenious Sir Thomas 
 More was by him fet on work to frame a 
 model; but the fucceeding accidents fruftrated 
 
38 Of Laws. 
 
 that attempt ; the troubles and revolutions 
 that continued during the reigns of Edward 
 the Sixth, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, 
 hindered this work, which at wife Burleigh's 
 advice was refolved on by the latter queen. 
 The learned King James determined to finifh 
 it, and the knowing Sir Francis Bacon was 
 pitched upon to frame a fcheme of new laws 
 or model the old ; but the difcontents about 
 religion, with the greater artifice of the 
 lawyers, then more numerous, diverted that 
 glorious enterprife. 
 
 Some living were adtors, others fpedtators, 
 of the troubles that have fince happened, 
 which gave way not to a reformation but 
 confufion of the laws ; and yet the Long 
 Parliament (or rather Conventicle) knowing 
 their great and good mafter purpofed it, 
 refolved upon a new method of laws. But 
 the idol themf elves had fet up, as a juft 
 reward of their treafon, prevented this by 
 turning them out of doors with their beloved 
 Magna Charta, treating it and them with 
 fovereign contempt. Too many in other 
 
Of Laws. 39 
 
 countries, no lefs than this, have wholly loft 
 their freedom by endeavouring to enlarge it be- 
 yond law and reafon ; as it has alfo fometimes 
 befallen ambitious princes, who, ftriving to 
 augment their power and dominions beyond 
 the boundaries of juftice, have, inftead of new 
 acquifts, forfeited their ancient and lawful pof- 
 feffions. The gardener's afs in the apologue 
 defigningtomend himfelf by changing mafters 
 found at a dear-bought experience none fo 
 kind as the firft ; the obfervation of the evil 
 of thofe days has given us reafon to believe 
 that wifdom beft which is learned at the coft 
 of others, and to remember the wife man's 
 advice, meddle not with thofe who are given 
 to change. This I fpeak as to the funda- 
 mentals of the government, which can never 
 be altered by the wit of man but for the 
 worfe ; but the fuperftrudlures of hay and 
 ftubble are grown fo cumberfome and rotten 
 that they are fit for nothing but the fire. 
 
 Though I am far from giving credit to 
 any prediftion or prophecy but thofe of 
 Holy Writ, yet I cannot but remind you 
 
4© Of Laws. 
 
 of that old Latin one, R.ex albus, &c., on 
 which you know our wifhes taught us to 
 fix a pleafing interpretation. This hint will 
 bring to your mind, what perhaps has not 
 been there almoft thefe thirty years, that 
 both for his innocence and the accidental 
 fnow that fell on his hearfe, the late King 
 Charles was that " white king," who for 
 fome time was to be the laft in England ; 
 that afterwards his fon fhould, from beyond 
 the feas, return to the poffeffion of his crown, 
 and that in his days, religion and laws fhould 
 be reformed, and fettled, upon the eternal 
 foundations of truth and juftice. The ful- 
 filling of this prophecy now will feem as 
 miraculous an effed: of providence as that of 
 our fovereign's reftoration, and will as much 
 eternize the wifdom of the parliament as the 
 other their loyalty. What remains of this 
 undone, we might hope to fee finifhed, as old 
 as we are, if they would be pleafed to efpoufe 
 it heartily, and defend themfelves againft 
 the noife, wranglings and oppofition of the 
 lawyers and clergy, who are no more to be 
 
Of Laws. 41 
 
 confulted in this cafe than merchants con- 
 cerning exchange, &c., becaufe, as the wife 
 Syracides obferved, their intereft would bias 
 them : " There is," faith he, " that coun- 
 felleth for himfelf ; beware, therefore, of a 
 counfellor, and know before what need he 
 hath, for he will counfel for himfelf." 
 
 There was law before lawyers ; there was 
 a time when the common cuftoms of the 
 land were fufficient to fecure meum and tuutn. 
 What has made it fince fo difficult ? nothing 
 but the comments of lawyers, confounding 
 the text, and writhing the laws like a nofe 
 of wax, to what figure beft ferves their pur- 
 pofe. Thus the great Coke, bribed perhaps 
 by intereft or ambition, pronounced that in 
 the interpretation of laws, the judges are to 
 be believed before the Parliament. But 
 others, and with better reafon, affirm, that 
 it is one of the great ends of the Parliament's 
 afTembling to determine fuch caufes as 
 ordinary courts of juftice could not decide. 
 
 The laws of England are divided into 
 com.mon and ftatute laws ; the common are 
 
42 Of Laws. 
 
 ancient cuftoms, which, by the unanimous 
 and continued ufage of this kingdom, have 
 worn themfelves into law. Statutes are the 
 pofitive laws of the land, founded on par- 
 ticular accidents and conveniences not pro- 
 vided for by the common law. Civil and 
 canon law are of no force, but as they are 
 incorporated into the body of one or other 
 of thefe laws, if either may be called a body 
 which has neither head nor foot, for they 
 lie fcattered in fome few books, Bradton, 
 Littleton, Glanville, Fleta, Coke, Plowden, 
 Dyer, Croke, &c., their commentaries or 
 reports, or rather in the arbitrary opinion of 
 the judges or fome celebrated lawyers. For 
 nothing is in this trade certain or regular, 
 what one gives under his hand for law, 
 another gives the direft contrary ; judgments 
 and decrees reverfed, as if that could be juft 
 one day that is unjuft another ; and why in 
 England muft law and equity be two things 
 fince reafon and confcience in all other parts 
 of the world are one and the fame .? and why 
 cannot laws be fo plainly worded as that men 
 
Of Laws. 43 
 
 of common fenfe may, without an inter- 
 preter, difcover the meaning ? if they be not 
 fo ordered, fpeedy and exadt juftice will at 
 beft be retarded. But you will tell me there 
 would be no need to complain if men would 
 follow Chrift's advice : " If any man will 
 fue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, 
 let him have thy cloak alfo ;" the reafon was 
 fo plain, that it was needlefs to exprefs it, 
 viz., left the lawyer ftiould come between 
 and ftrip you naked, even of your ftiirt. 
 This, you fee, is prudence as well as religion, 
 as indeed all Chrift's precepts are in the very 
 affairs of this world. Whatfoever was true 
 of the Jewifti lawyers, the prefent praftice of 
 fome of ours renders them obnoxious to the 
 cenfures of the fober and the curfes of the 
 paflionate ; moft men agreeing, that to go to 
 law is like a lottery, or playing at dice, 
 where if the game be obftinately purfued, the 
 box-keeper is commonly the greateft winner. 
 But fince fome men will be fools or knaves, 
 why fhould not the few honeft be as much 
 fecured as poflible .'* 
 
44 Of Laws, 
 
 When the Parliament have fettled the 
 laws, I wifh they would think of fome 
 more fitting reftraint of offences, than what 
 the penal ftatutes diredt almoft for every 
 crime — the lofs of life. If we examine the 
 feverity of this pradlice, we fhall find it con- 
 trary to the law of nature, the pofitive law 
 of God, Thou (halt not kill, and ineffe<9:ive 
 of the intent of laws, — amendment. Self- 
 prefervation is the chief defign of nature ; to 
 better which, not to deftroy it, was the ground 
 and end of government and laws ; which 
 makes it contrary to reafon that any means 
 fhould be made or declared fuch, which 
 were deftrudlive of the end for which they 
 were made. 
 
Of Laws. 45 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 OF LAWS {continued). 
 
 F then the lofs of life, as it moft 
 certainly does, puts an end to all 
 earthly happinefs, it is evident that 
 it never was, nor ever could be, 
 judged an inftrument produftive of that end ; 
 perhaps it may. be faid, that this may be 
 true of every fingle man, as fuch; and yet 
 may be falfe when conlidered with refpedl 
 to the whole, as a member of the fociety. I 
 anfwer, it cannot be true in the latter, if "falfe 
 in the former ; becaufe we muft believe that 
 at firft every man confidered what was abfo- 
 lutely beft for himfelf, without any refpedl 
 to another, on whom he cannot be fuppofed 
 otherwife to look than as he was or might 
 be fubfervient to his own particular and 
 immediate happinefs. And fince the whole 
 is made up but of feveral individuals, it muft 
 
46 Of Laws. 
 
 be granted that every one of them had the 
 fame confiderations : and fince it was not in 
 the power of any to transfer that right to 
 another which nature had denied to himfelf, 
 we may then fafely conclude, it is againft the 
 law of nature, /. e. againft reafon, to believe 
 that the power of life or death, by confent of 
 all, without which there was no law, could 
 at firft be vefted in any fupreme power ; and 
 that the ufing of it does naturally put us 
 into a ftate of war, the evil becaufe direftly 
 deftruftive of happinefs, defigned to be 
 avoided. This is a truth implied in the law 
 of England, not only by binding the cri- 
 minals to reftrain their warring, but alfo by 
 the punifhment inflidied on the felo-de-fe, 
 which fuppofes no man to have power over his 
 own life, as certainly he muft have had if he 
 could have given it to another. Nor will 
 the difficulty be removed whether we derive 
 government either of the other two ways ; 
 paternal right, or the immediate gift of 
 God ; for parents had no fuch power by na- 
 ture, in the ftate whereof we are all equal. 
 
Of Laws. ji^j 
 
 We are little more obliged to them for our 
 being, than to the influence of the fun, both 
 as to us are involuntary caufes ; that which 
 binds children to an indifpenfable duty of 
 gratitude, is the parents' care in providing for 
 their w^ell-being, when they are unable to 
 fliift for themfelves, and their giving them 
 virtuous education (that which is of all, the 
 trueft obligation), than which nothing is 
 among us more negledted ; which has made 
 fome at the gallows, not without caufe, take 
 up the advice of Job's wife againft God, firft 
 curfe their parents and then die. Children 
 may indeed be ungrateful, which is the worft 
 or the all of crimes, but parents cannot re- 
 venge this by death without being unjuft ; 
 becaufe there ought to be a proportion be- 
 tween the crime and the punifhment,'and a 
 warrantable authority in him that inflifts it, 
 which in this cafe are both wanting ; for in- 
 gratitude, theft, rapine, and what ever elfe is 
 pradlifed by the wicked, are in themfelves 
 reparable, and the fufferer may in an equal 
 meafure be compenfated for his lofs, for bona 
 
48 Of Laws. 
 
 fortunee or the goods of fortune are exterior 
 to us, and confequently accidental, and when 
 we are defpoiled of them by any, we have 
 full fatisfadtion by a reftitution in fpecie, or 
 in value. This courfe is the meafure and 
 fquare of all civil contradts ; for if I detain 
 wrongfully the money you lent me, I am 
 compellable but to repay you. Why then 
 fhould it be capital, to take your horfe with- 
 out confent, when either reftitution, or a 
 punifhment more commenfurate to the of- 
 fence may be had ? As for the authority of 
 the puniflier which muft be warrantable, it is 
 plain the father has no fuch over the children, 
 who in the ftate of nature are equal with 
 him ; for fince he gave not the being, he 
 cannot legally take it away, and for the ad: 
 deftroy the agent ; punifliment being de- 
 figned, not only for the terror of others, but 
 for the amendment of the offender. To 
 deftroy then the laft, that fuch as are guilt- 
 lefs may continue fo, is to my apprehenfion 
 a piece of the higheft injuftice. Befides, no 
 prince claims a right over the fubjedt's life. 
 
Of Laws. 49 
 
 what ever he does to his crown, otherwife 
 than by the pofitive laws of the land, which 
 fuppofe the man himfelf to have given that 
 power by his confent, which is already proved 
 impoffible. Therefore, we may conclude, 
 the inflicting of death is againft the pofitive 
 law of God, who has referved this to him- 
 felf, as a peculiar prerogative, and although 
 he has allowed the rulers of the earth to fhare 
 in his titles, yet left they fhould intrench on 
 his honour (of which he is very jealous) by 
 exceeding the bounds of reafon, he imme- 
 diately fubjoins, but " ye fhall die like men," 
 to put them in mind that they were to adl as 
 fuch. It cannot then be fuppofed that hu- 
 man conftitution can make that juft which 
 the Almighty declares unlawful. He that 
 does fo, fets himfelf up above all that is 
 called God, deftroys moral good and evil, 
 makes virtue and vice but only names, which 
 if allowed, we may bid farewell to the people's 
 and prince's fecurity ; for this roots up the 
 very foundations of peace on earth, as well as 
 joy in heaven. 
 
 E 
 
50 Of Laws. 
 
 Nor will it ferve to fay this was pradtifed 
 in the Jewifh commonwealth ; that was 
 God's own peculiar province, and he that 
 was fole author of life might difpofe of it at 
 his pleafure ; and though every part of that 
 economy be not accountable, yet it is not 
 without good grounds fuppofed, becaufe the 
 Jew's happinefs or mifery feems to have con- 
 fifted in the enjoyment or want of temporal 
 bleflings, that the taking away life here was 
 in lieu of that punifhment which finners 
 under the Gofpel are to receive in another 
 life ; and unlefs human laws might as im- 
 mediately be called his, and that every magif- 
 trate were a Mofes, I could not believe it 
 lawful for them to follow that example, 
 efpecially confidering that they do not write 
 after this copy in the punifhment of all 
 crimes. I will not make comparifon in many, 
 yet I cannot but take notice that idolaters 
 and inciters to it were there punifhed with 
 death, while among us atheifm and irreligion 
 do not only go free but the profefTors of 
 thofe admirable good qualities pafs for wits 
 
Of Laws. 5 1 
 
 and virtuofos ; drunkennefs and gluttony are 
 efteemed as marks of good breeding, com- 
 puting the abilities of our brains by the 
 number of bottles our ftomachs can hold ; 
 this vice among the Jews was accounted fo 
 ridiculoufly filly that they could not believe 
 it was poffible for men grown to the ordinary 
 years of underftanding to be guilty of it, and 
 therefore we find no punifhment allotted but 
 for children, viz., that if drunken or glut- 
 tonous children did not by the parent's ad- 
 monition and corredion learn more wit, that 
 then their parents were obliged to bring them 
 forth and teftify their folly, and with the con- 
 gregation fl:one them to death. 
 
 But this abominable childifli crime, the 
 mother of all imaginable wickednefs, has 
 among us no punilhment; or what is the 
 fame, if not worfe, none inflidled. 
 
 As to the third part of the afl"ertion, viz., 
 that the lofs of life is ineff^ediive of the intent 
 of the law, — amendment ; this will appear 
 true by obferving, that men whofe loofe edu- 
 cation has made it their intereil to wifli there 
 
52 Of Laws. 
 
 were no other life, by often wifhing and 
 never confidering, come at lafl to be fools; 
 and with them to " fay in their hearts, There 
 is no God; we have no way to live, thanks to 
 our good parents or our country, but to rob 
 or fteal ; as for the next life, if there be any 
 fuch thing, let that look to itfelf ; let us pro- 
 vide for this ; a fhort one and a merry ; who 
 knows but we may efcape feven years? and 
 that is the age of a man ; if we are taken dnd 
 cannot get a pardon, it is but a few minutes' 
 pain, and there is an end." Thus thefe foolifh 
 wretches difcourfe themfelves to the gallows, 
 on which did you but know the vaft numbers 
 hanged for fome years lafl: part:, you would 
 quickly believe that fort of punifhment rather 
 makes more, than frightens any from being, 
 thieves, robbers, or other criminals. In the 
 eafl:ern monarchies the greatefl: emperors, the 
 Turk himfelf, though always in war, fancy 
 fome kind of art or trade, and by this do not 
 only divert themfelves but by their examples 
 more powerful than any precept oblige the 
 people to fo neceflary a practice. The ladies, 
 
Of Laws. 53 
 
 even the greateft, of all other countries have 
 callings too, and fpend not their whole days 
 in making and receiving vifits, or in pre- 
 parations for them, — exquifite dreffings. If 
 by fuch a courfe, or any other, people were 
 induced not to live in idlenefs, none would be 
 under a neceffity of ftarving or breaking the 
 laws as many now are. And if afterwards 
 any were ftill found guilty, a punifliment 
 likely to prevent others, and do a further 
 good to the public, would be to take away 
 the names of all criminals that " they may be 
 no more had in remembrance," put them into 
 a common livery, a fool's coat, red and 
 yellow, keep their heads continually fhaved, 
 their foreheads ftigmatized with marks diftin- 
 guifhing their crimes, and their eftates for- 
 feited to increafe the prince's revenue ; con- 
 demn them to public workhoufes, mines, or 
 galleys. The labour and toil, the hard fare, 
 and the difgrace, would deter more than 
 death ; and, as fome believe, be more agreeable 
 to the didtates of nature, to the law of God, 
 and to the profit of the commonwealth. In 
 
54 Of Laws. 
 
 cafes of murder the public lofes too much by 
 the flain ; it will not fetch him back to fend 
 another after him. Why then fhould they 
 think themfelves fatisfied for one lofs to have 
 it doubled upon them by another ? But 
 fuppofing (which I never can allow) that 
 reafon requires life for life, can it think it 
 equal to fet the life of a man but at a 
 fhilling? Is a horfe or a cow, a Iheep or 
 a deer, or a lefs thing, a cock or a hen, 
 an equal price for a man's life ? 
 
 And yet for perjury he fuffers but a pecu- 
 niary muldt or lofs of ears. Why fhould not 
 he that fwears falfely at leaft have his tongue 
 cut out? In the Jewifh law the perjurer 
 was to fuffer the fame kind of evil that 
 he brought upon his neighbour ; and at this 
 day among the Perfians and Indians a liar is 
 not only deprived of honour but of all further 
 fpeech. Had it been thus enadted among 
 Chriftians, the falfe tongue and the lying lips 
 would not have deftroyed fo many men's 
 lives and fortunes. But if we will not, after 
 the Jewifh and Roman manner, bring in 
 
Of Laws. ^^ 
 
 reparation or - the lex talionis, which with 
 them was pradlifed in other cafes befides that 
 of felony, let us at leaft make fome further 
 provifion for the fecurity of man's life, let it 
 be put out of the power of one witnefs, 
 obferving that great law that faid, " At the 
 mouth of two witneffes or three fhall he that 
 is worthy of death be put to death, but at the 
 mouth of one witnefs he (hall not be put to 
 death." What I feem to fay paradoxically 
 on this fubjedt, I would have you underftand 
 as I intend it, of the firft focieties of mankind ; 
 and you may likewife further obferve, that 
 though cuftom and the pofitive laws have 
 made punifhment by death the pradtice of all 
 nations, yet with humble fubmiflion to my 
 fuperiors, I perfuade myfelf, it was intro- 
 duced by abfolute power among the heathens, 
 and fince continued among Chriftians, be- 
 caufe they did not fully confider that a better 
 way might be found for corredting and avoid- 
 ing crimes. 
 
 Having now provided againft death upon 
 the account of any crime, it may well enough 
 
56 Of haws. 
 
 confift with the king's mercy and goodnefs 
 (which invite him to be tender of the lives 
 of his fubjedls),- to determine pofitively never 
 to grant a pardon or remittal of the punifli- 
 ment to any criminal, though never fo great 
 a perfon. In Edward the Third's time it was 
 enafted that " no pardon fhould be granted 
 out of Parliament ;" I wifh it might gracioufly 
 pleafe his Majefty, with his Parliament, to en- 
 adt further, that no pardon fhould at any 
 time be granted ; than which I am fure 
 nothing would more contribute to the per- 
 fect obfervance of the laws. 
 
 Though our laws cannot, yet an entire exe- 
 cution of them in their utmoft feverity may, 
 be as unalterable as thofe of the Medes and 
 Perfians ; which courfe would prevent the 
 many ill effedls the hope of pardon does now 
 daily occafion, though there never were fewer 
 granted ; yet fo long as there is any ground 
 of hope, the debauchee is encouraged to go on 
 in his folly, and none being particularly ex- 
 cluded, he reckons himfelf not incapable of 
 that grace. 
 
Courts of Judicature. 57 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 OF THE COURTS OF JUDICATURE. 
 
 UT now admitting that the laws 
 were never fo good, if they be not 
 duly and equally adminiftered by 
 the feveral courts of judicature, the 
 evils do ftill remain. To prevent which 
 great inconvenience, fuch has been the happy 
 contrivance of England's conftitutions, that 
 the fame power that gives the law cannot 
 only pronounce it (in fpite of Coke's aflertion 
 to the contrary), but has alfo determined that 
 it fhould be a part of its own power, to call 
 all inferior courts and officers, juflices of the 
 peace and others, to a ilridt examination how 
 they have fquared their adtions and proceed- 
 ings to the rule they have given them ; from 
 which, when they are found to deviate, it 
 
58 Courts of yudicature. 
 
 would be for the advantage of all, that the 
 Parliament would exert its ancient power in 
 regulating the many abufes crept into in- 
 ferior courts. Into which if there was ever 
 need of looking there is now at this day when 
 the complaints are loud ; by which, perhaps, 
 molehills may be made mountains ; yet all 
 this fmoke cannot be without fome fire. This 
 I have "been told for certain that their judg- 
 ments are founded as much upon rules or 
 interpretations of ftatutes of their own plea- 
 fure, introduced by the intereft of lawyers 
 and officers, as upon the ftridl letter of the 
 laws, in which your education, though not 
 your pradlice and your long obfervation, has 
 made it fuperfluous for me to particularife 
 the many irregularities in the adminiftration 
 of juftice, which would fill a large volume. 
 
 But to begin with the courts, I think it 
 were convenient that each of the four at 
 Weftminfter {hould be reduced to their 
 ancient pradtice, and not fuffered to encroach 
 upon one another, to the fubjedt's great vexa- 
 tion, who often quits his caufe rather than 
 
Courts of Judicature. 59 
 
 follow it through all the mazes of the feveral 
 courts, where at laft after fome years toffing 
 by writs of error, &c. from poft to pillar, 
 if his money does but hold out to make 
 the lawyers that fport, he may fit down by 
 his lofs, or have recourfe to the arbitrement 
 of two honeft neighbours, which at firft 
 had been the fpeedieft and cheapeft way of 
 juftice. 
 
 In ancient days the King's Bench inter- 
 ■ meddled only with the pleas of the crown ; 
 but now an Ac etiam, ufliered in by a feigned 
 affertion of force and arms, and by fuppofing 
 the defendant to be in cujiodia marefcalli, or 
 the plaintiff privileged fome other way in 
 that court, robs the Common Bench, whofe 
 jurifdid:ion even by Magna Charta is of all 
 common pleas between party and party. 
 The Common Bench, by praftice of attorneys 
 not to be behind hand, has likewife of late 
 days introduced an Ac etiam, and feveral debts 
 or promifes are fuppofed, with intent to bind 
 the fubjedt to fpecial bail, whereas I am 
 confident it cannot either by common or 
 
6o Courts of yudicature. 
 
 flatute law be evinced, that anciently fpecial 
 bail or a capias, before adtual fummons was 
 in any adtion required ; and that, therefore, 
 it is a mere invention to get money and to 
 vex and impoverifh the fubjedt. 
 
 The Exchequer was only to hold plea of 
 fuch adlions where the plaintiff was really 
 indebted to the king (and perhaps too, not 
 able other wife to pay it), or where the parties 
 were by their privilege to plead, or to be im- 
 pleaded in that court. But now, by falfely 
 fuggefting they are indebted to the king, and 
 not able to pay him but out of the thing in 
 demand, they are fuffered to fue in that court, 
 alleging a ^o minus, &c. in their declaration. 
 But before fuch irregularities were introduced, 
 it was not fo much law, as honefty, prudence, 
 and fkill in arithmetic, that were the neceffary 
 qualifications of the barons ; in which court a 
 chancery was eredted to moderate the rigour 
 of the fines and amerciaments eftreated into 
 that court, and to extend to the king's debtors 
 thofe favours which the barons could not 
 fhow. The caufes then remaining for the 
 
Courts of yudicature. 61 
 
 high Court of Chancery, were the penalties 
 and forfeitures between man and man, which 
 at common law were due, and all other 
 caufes, that for want of evidence were no 
 where elfe tryable. But fuch have been the 
 mighty contrivances of the pradlifers in that 
 court, that they have found out a way for 
 the trial of all caufes there, where notwith- 
 ftanding a man's pretence in his bill, that he 
 wants witneffes (though that be but a trick 
 to entitle the court to the adtion) after he has 
 obliged the defendant to fwear againft him- 
 felf, contrary to the common law, and that of 
 nature, Nemo tenetur prodere feipfum, which 
 feems to be the pofitive intent of Magna 
 Charta, he takes out a commiffion to examine 
 witneffes. In the civil law the complainant, 
 if required, is obliged as well as the defendant, 
 to fwear the truth of the bill ; and fure that 
 is as fitting to be done in the king's great 
 court of equity and confcience, as in the or- 
 dinary courts of juftice in other nations. Nor 
 would it be amifs, that all witneffes (hould 
 in that court, as well as others, give their 
 
62 Courts of yudicature. 
 
 teftimony viva voce, and that there fhould 
 be fome unalterable rules, both for the officers 
 of the court and the clients ; fince confcience 
 and right reafon are always the fame and 
 unalterable ; which would prevent the re- 
 verfing of decrees (a tacit confeffion they were 
 unjuft), and other inconveniences, too many 
 to be recounted ; only one is fo notorious I 
 cannot pafs it by, — the alTuming a power of 
 impeaching judgments at common law, 
 which the ftatute declares to be premunire. 
 
 Another practice as inconvenient as any, is, 
 the judges giving too great an authority to a 
 former judge's report or opinion. It were to 
 be wifhed that in the reft of the courts, the 
 prefent pradice of the wife Lord Chancellor 
 Finch were obferved, who, confidering that 
 a report is founded upon fuch reafons as are 
 not with the report conveyed to us, that only 
 ftating in brief the matter of fadt ; and that 
 the cafe is alterable by any one accident, 
 rightly infers " that no report but the reafon 
 of the prefent cafe fquared to the rules of 
 the law, ought to guide his judgment." 
 
Courts of yudkature. 63 
 
 To this may be added that in every court 
 there fhould be a fettled number of clerks, 
 attorneys and lawyers as well as judges : that 
 thefe how juft foever, fhould not continue 
 above three years in any one court. What- 
 ever the fheriff's power was formerly, fure I 
 am, that exercifed by the judges exceeds 
 what now they are pofTefTed of; and yet the 
 wifdom of former ages thought not fit to 
 intruft the former two years together. They 
 fhould be obliged to give an account in 
 public of all their proceedings at the expi- 
 ration of the faid time ; and alfo be under a 
 pecuniary muld:, befides an oath to admi- 
 nifter juflice impartially, in imitation of God ; 
 who to mind them of their great duty, graces 
 them with his own title, faying " Ye are all 
 gods," and therefore muft do as I do ; you 
 fhall not regard " in judgment the power of 
 the mighty, nor the diflrefs of the poor." 
 The judges, lawyers, attorneys and clerks 
 fhould have out of the public revenue 
 fufficient eflablifhed falaries to take no fees 
 or gratuity whatfoever, diredtly or indiredtly. 
 
64 Courts of yudicature. 
 
 it not feeming reafonable that the people 
 fhould pay anything for juftice, but as that 
 charge may be included in the public taxes. 
 Let no offices whatfoever be fold, and no- 
 thing but merit to entitle any man ; for- if 
 offices be purchafed by the interieft of friends 
 or money, it is unreafonable to expedl that 
 juflice too may not be bought and fold ; and 
 for this reafon, it is as fit to make laws 
 againfl: this pradtice in others as againft 
 fimony in the clergy. No man fhould have 
 two offices, or aft by deputy, but on extra- 
 ordinary occafions. Let all caufes be deter- 
 mined, at farthefl in fix months ; and, as to 
 fuch as through difficulty, or other accidents, 
 cannot be determined within that time, the 
 Parliament at next feffions fhould decide them. 
 Oblige the judges to proceed exadtly ac- 
 cording to the flridt rules of the law made by 
 Parliaments : for notwithflanding what the 
 Lord Coke fays. It is their duty only legem 
 dicere, not legem dare ; and therefore, wher- 
 ever any thing comes to be difputed, of the 
 meaning of the flatutes, or when any caufe 
 
Courts of yudicature. 65 
 
 happens, for which there is not exadt and 
 fufficient provifion made, they are to have 
 recourfe to the Parliament, whofe power is 
 not only legem dare, but dicere. For it appears 
 that in ancient times, when juftice was more 
 fpeedy, and ftatutes fewer, or rather none at 
 all, the great bufinefs of the Parliament was 
 to give fentence in all difficult caufes ; and to 
 corred: the mifcarriages, or finifter pradtice of 
 all inferior courts and officers, and therefore 
 was commonly known by the name of Curia 
 Magna. Before the Conqueror's time there 
 was no fuch thing as courts at Weftminfter 
 Hall ; and the manner then of diftributing juf- 
 tice was both fpeedy and cheap. The county 
 being divided into feveral portions, there was 
 in every manor a court, where all the caufes 
 arifing within that precindt were determined 
 by the thane and his affiftants ; but if too 
 hard, they were removed by appeal to the 
 higher court of the hundred, where all the 
 chief and wife men within that territory with 
 the hundreder or alderman nus gave judg- 
 ment. If any caufe proved too difficult 
 
66 Courts of yudicature. 
 
 for this court, then they appealed to the 
 county court, where all the feveral thanes and 
 hundreders, with the chief of the county, 
 called Comes, and fometimes Vicecomes, 
 judged it; but fuch caufes as were too intri- 
 cate for them were removed to the great 
 court or Parliament, then known by feveral 
 other names ; which jurifdidhion was exer- 
 cifed fome ages after the Conqueft ; whence 
 Sir Edward Coke may be well fufpedled a 
 greater lawyer than an antiquary, or elfe the 
 liberty they took was the occafipn of his ex- 
 alting the judge's power in expoundingftatutes 
 above that of the Parliament. 
 
 Having now made it plain that the Parlia- 
 ment has this power, and always had, it were 
 to be wifhed they would make ufe of it, in 
 ftridlly regulating the diforders of all inferior 
 courts, as well ecclefiaftical as civil. This 
 perhaps can never be better done, than after 
 the manner of the famous Venetian common- 
 wealth, by eredting a new magiftracy or court 
 of infpedtion, public cenfors, men of great 
 candour and integrity, whofe power fhould 
 
Courts of Judicature, 67 
 
 extend to the cognizance of all. manner of 
 adlions in courts, great and fmall ; and of the 
 demeanour of all officers of the ftate, of what 
 degree or quality foever. Thefe cenfors, 
 taking care of the execution of the laws, 
 ftvould be obliged from time to time to give 
 a full and impartial information to the Par- 
 liament, in whofe power alone it fhould be, 
 upon convidlion of the criminal, to fufpend, 
 degrade, or otherwife punifh according to 
 the provifions they themfelves make in fuch 
 cafes. It fhould be lawful for all perfons 
 to addrefs therhfelves immediately to thefe 
 cenfors, whofe information fhall by them be 
 fully examined, and neither their informers 
 nor themfelves liable to any adlions or fuits 
 upon account of their proceedings. They 
 (hould be accountable to the grand and fu- 
 preme court of judicature ; and their number 
 be fuch as may ferve to go circuits round the 
 kingdom. Thefe, as the other judges, to be 
 altered every three years. 
 
 And becaufe nothing does more conduce 
 to the good of mankind, next to wholefome 
 
68 Courts of Judicature. 
 
 laws and the practice of piety, than the know- 
 ledge of things paft; not anything being truer 
 than that What is has been, and There's 
 nothing new under the fun, a perfed: relation 
 of which begets a great underftanding and 
 deep judgment, the fenfe whereof made a 
 wife king fay, " None were fo faithful coun- 
 fellors as the dead ; " therefore the Parlia- 
 ment (hould appoint two of the mofl learned 
 of thofe cenfors (acquainted with all the moft 
 fecret affairs of ftate, which if not as counfellors, 
 yet as hearers, under the fame obligation of 
 fecrecy as fecretaries or clerks of the council, 
 they may underftand) to write efpecially the 
 matters of fadt of all affairs and occurrences ; 
 the annals not to be made public till the 
 writers and all concerned are gone off the 
 ftage. The fear of offending and the advan- 
 tage of flattery being removed, future ages 
 would in the truth of hiflory find that great 
 rule of judgment and prudence the world has 
 hitherto been deprived of, — there being (a 
 man may fafely fay) no true profane hiftory 
 in the world, fave that of the wife Chinefe, 
 
Courts of Judicature. 69 
 
 who have obferved this pradtice for feveral 
 thoufands of years ; keeping the records as an 
 arcanum for their princes, who by thefe 
 means have gained a fteady judgment in their 
 own ftate affairs, which is the reafon given for 
 the long and profperous continuance of that 
 great monarchy. 
 
7° 
 
 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 OF LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND 
 RELIGION. 
 
 HEN the laws and execution of 
 them are thus eftablifhed, every 
 man will be fufficiently fecured in 
 the enjoyment of his liberty and 
 property ; which, though commonly taken 
 for two, are in reality one and the fame 
 thing. I underftand by the firfl, that power 
 man referved to himfelf when he entered 
 into fociety ; that is, a liberty of doing any 
 thing except what the law forbids, or of 
 living conformably to the laws, not of fpeak- 
 ing contemptuoufly of the rulers of the 
 people, nor of doing what he pleafe thpugh 
 the law reftrain it. By property I conceive is 
 meant the right of enjoying peaceably private 
 poffeffions as bounded by law. Liberty then 
 
and Religion. 71 
 
 refpedts the perfon, and property the eftate. 
 Thefe two, I perceive, you have joined with 
 rehgion, as the three great abftradts of human 
 concerns; for I pfefume you confider reUgion, 
 as it is, part of that policy by which the ftate 
 is governed, and as fuch I fhall chiefly take 
 notice of it ; leaving it, as it refers to the 
 foul and a future life, to divines, whofe 
 proper office it is. Taking it then for granted 
 that every wife man will ftudy that which 
 neareft concerns him, and that the intereft of 
 the foul and eternal life does far exceed the 
 value of this our tranfitory being ; that all 
 human laws are therefore binding, becaufe 
 agreeable to nature or reafon, that is, to the 
 fignatures of the divine will; that true religion 
 was the law of God, and its end the happinefs 
 of man in this life, as well as in that which is 
 to come ; that it was divided into two parts, 
 duty to God and to one another, which latter 
 to the thinking man, refolves into love of 
 himfelf, — he muft find that his happinefs, 
 confifting in the enjoyment of himfelf, cannot 
 be without the mutual offices and endear- 
 
72 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 ments of love, which obliges him, in fpite of 
 all his paffions, when he fully conliders things, 
 to do to all men as he would be done unto. 
 This then, being human happinefs and the 
 end and foundation of the laws of God and 
 man, it was wifdom to annex this great 
 motive of obedience, — religion or the confider- 
 ation of future rewards and puniftiments, — to 
 invite us the more powerfully to the obe- 
 dience of laws, without which, even in this 
 life, we could not be happy, they being fub- 
 ordinate to one another. Thus as our duty in 
 one makes us happy here, fo that of the other 
 fuperadds a further bleffing and makes us 
 happy hereafter, which latter in the con- 
 nection of things thus ordered by Providence 
 was not attainable without .the other ; and 
 which indeed does declare religion not to be 
 a part of policy, but true policy to be a part 
 of it ; or, in plainer words, that human laws 
 are fo much better, that is, fo much more 
 binding, as they come nearer to the laws of 
 religion ; contrary to which nothing in any 
 human inftitution can be obligatory ; that is. 
 
and Religion. j^ 
 
 no fociety of men can make that juft which 
 the law of religion or reafon has made iinjuft. 
 If then the intereft of ftate and religion be fo 
 intermixed, it is no wonder that men fliould 
 be very folicitous not to be miftaken in that 
 which comprehends both the human and the 
 divine, or among us the Chriftian law. And 
 becaufe it is as natural for men to have 
 different underftandings, confequently dif- 
 ferent opinions (which are the necelTary effects 
 of the former or of education, and both 
 equally out of our power) as it is to have 
 different complexions, it is impoffible that 
 all men fliould exadtly agree in the meaning 
 of any difficult matter. If then the meaning 
 of the law be not to be had, it is not our fault 
 if we do not obey it, which we muft do or be 
 miferable. Now, becaufe many evil confe- 
 quences, if not prevented, would iffue from 
 hence, we muft confider farther that all wife 
 lawgivers impofe nothing beyond the power 
 of the perfon under the law ; for law being 
 the rule of aftions, if I do not nor cannot 
 know it, it is no rule to me. Therefore, to 
 
74 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 under ftand this great affair aright, let us 
 examine whether thefe following pofitions 
 and their confequences be not natural truths. 
 — Namely, God did really purpofe the happi- 
 nefs of all mankind ; therefore, the way or 
 means by which that was to be attained was 
 to be plain and eafy, no matter of doubt or 
 difpute ; and this way is no where delivered 
 unerringly but in the Scriptures, which all 
 Chriftians allow to be the Word of God. 
 Then all the difputes being pretended to be 
 proved by Scripture, that is, by confequences 
 from thence, and all the parts of that holy 
 writing agreeing with one another, it is 
 plain that the confequences are not natural, 
 becaufe contradictory, of which both parts 
 cannot be true, and therefore the matter 
 in difpute concerns us not. Again, fince 
 all our duty is comprifed in Scripture, — the 
 rule for the ignorant as well as the learned, 
 comments do amufe and confound rather 
 than expound the text ; and difputes beget- 
 ting heat and paffion are not only impertinent 
 to our duty, but uncharitable and deftrudtive 
 
and Religion.' y^ 
 
 of Chriftianity ; therefore only the funda- 
 mentals can be true or neceffary, becaufe in 
 them alone all agree. Finally, Chrift has 
 told us, the fum of all is. To love one another, 
 a pleafing and a natural command ; — that He 
 is the Way, the Truth, and the Life — that 
 whofoever believeth in Him fhall never 
 perifti ; — that happinefs is not attainable here 
 nor hereafter but by following His example 
 and believing His doftrine, viz. vs^hat is poli- 
 tively affirmed in Scripture, without examining 
 how or why. If thofe had been neceflary. He 
 would not have left them to the uncertain 
 difputes of after-ages ; whilft all ceremonies 
 are in themfelves indifferent, but when com- 
 manded are neceflary in their ufe and pradlice, 
 but. alterable at the pleafure of the impofers. 
 No man is a Chriftian that hates his 
 brother, /. e. he obeys not Chriil's command, 
 gives not up himfelf to the new command- 
 ment, that of loving one another. Moreover, 
 no man can avoid differences in opinion ; 
 and fince they are not the effedis of our 
 choice, they are not finful ; therefore, he that 
 
76 Liberty, Property^ 
 
 condemns another for not being of his opinion, 
 after he has endeavoured without prejudice 
 or intereft to examine and hold faft that 
 which is beft, confiders not what he fays, or 
 if he do, he is proud and fooUfh, becaufe he 
 fays, by an impHcit confequence, none is 
 wife but himfelf. Faith is the gift of God, 
 but confidered in man, it is a neceffary ad: ; 
 for when a man is convinced, that is, has no 
 doubts of the credibiUty of the propofition, 
 its conformity to reafon, nor of the perfon 
 that he can neither deceive, as having no in- 
 tereft, nor be deceived, as wanting no know- 
 ledge, it is impoffible for him not to give up 
 his afTent : whether morality or Chriftianity 
 be (which is much doubted) really different, 
 they can never be afunder ; for the man that 
 is not honeft, is not, nor cannot be if he con- 
 tinues fo, a Chriftian. So, what is true in 
 philofophy cannot be falfe in divinity ; and 
 both affirm, he that does all he can do, is not 
 to be blamed, he has done his duty ; and 
 different opinions not being avoidable, are in 
 themfelves as harmlefs and tolerable in a 
 
and Religion. yy 
 
 fociety as men can be ; becaufe, till the man 
 be convinced, his fenfe of things cannot pofli- 
 bly be altered : after conviction he that con- 
 tinues in an error, /. e. that perfeveres in 
 fpreading fuch opinions as are deftrudtive of 
 good life and of public peace, is a liar or a 
 madman ; the firft, if he do not repent, ought 
 to be expelled the Commonw^ealth ; the other, 
 if he w^ill not grow fober, muft be fent to 
 Bedlam. From all which it plainly follows 
 that our opinions are not free, that no man 
 has liberty of opinion, and that he who de- 
 fires liberty of fpeaking what he pleafes, is 
 unreafonable if he intends to fay any thing 
 that fhall difturb the peace and quiet of his 
 country ; if he may be reftrained from that, 
 his errors can mifchief no other than him- 
 felf. If the cafe then be thus, how comes it 
 to pafs, that men fall out and wrangle about 
 nothing, feek knots in bulrufhes, make diffi- 
 culties where God and nature never made any, 
 puzzle themfelves and others? Let them fool 
 on that have nothing elfe to do, and follow 
 the heathen's advice, 'Tis better to do nothi-ng 
 
yS Liberty^ Property ^ 
 
 than be idle. This, I confefs, would not 
 be very tragical, if they would be content 
 to be idle themfelves, and not make work, 
 and fad work too, for others. But, alas ! they 
 rob their mafter of his power, and dogmati- 
 cally pronounce we muft believe more than 
 Chrift tells us is required, or elfe we cannot 
 be faved in the next life, nor happy in this ; 
 and many of us are fuch filly fools that we 
 believe them, and afting accordingly, too 
 great a number, I fear, make their aflertidns 
 good, as thofe ignorant people do who, giving 
 credit to aftrologers by fquaring their adtions 
 to the predidtions, and therefore fometimes 
 finding thefe things come to pafs, are not 
 only deluded themfelves, but encourage others 
 to be fo by fuch nonfenfical impoftors. But 
 fince all men have not underftanding, you 
 will afk how the evil {hall be cured ? The 
 remedies are only two : firft, a right educa- 
 tion ; and, next, a removal of all interefl: ; 
 for, fince the foundations of religion are 
 eternal truths, were men rightly inftrudled, 
 of which all are capable becaufe all defigned 
 
and Religion. yg 
 
 for happinefs, and men got nothing by lying, 
 we fhould have as much truth and as little 
 difputing in matters of Chriftianity as in the 
 mathematical fciences ; or, at leaft, if men 
 defigned nothing really but the end of it, 
 eternal happinefs — it might be lawful for 
 every man, even in the way which another 
 calls herefy, to worfhip the God of his fathers ; 
 for though one thinks his a clearer or a 
 ftiorter way than that of another, fo long as 
 he ftill goes on, that is, treads in the paths of 
 a fober and virtuous life, though he may be 
 more dabbled, or longer on the road, what is 
 that to him ? He that finds fault may mifs 
 his own way by looking towards his brother ; 
 his particular duty requires all his care ; be- 
 fides, every man ftands or falls to his own 
 mafter. But you will fay it is charity to 
 teach my brother, and not to fufFer fin upon 
 him. It is very true, but firft, it is not proved 
 that diiference in opinion is a fin, but the 
 contrary ; next, charity is not exprefl"ed in 
 thunder and lightning, fending him headlong 
 to the devil, becaufe he will not be prefently. 
 
8o Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 whether he can or no, of your opinion, 
 which, perhaps, is not truer than his own, 
 though your greater confidence affert it ; but 
 charity is expreffed by meeknefs, gentlenefs, 
 and love ; by inftruftion and pity, not by 
 hatred and revilings ; nay, not by death, 
 the too-often confequence of differences in 
 opinions, from which confiderations it is 
 plain that it is not reafon or charity that 
 divides us, but interefl and policy. How far 
 it will confifl with the fafety of the public to 
 fuffer fuch dangerous caufes of fatal effedls as 
 are brought in by thefe claflies of religionifls, 
 not religion, I leave to the wifdom of the 
 Parliament. Only, to fatisfy that part of 
 your queflion, I will give you fome fhort 
 account how thefe tares have fo fprung up 
 as to choke almofl wholly all the good feed 
 fown. Afterwards you may judge if they may 
 not, now the harveft is come, be cut down, 
 gathered apart, and thrown into the fire. 
 
 And furely, if thefe quarrels were only de- 
 figned for the good of the foul, (which yet 
 if they were the promoters, mufl be men of 
 
and Religion. 81 
 
 wrong underftanding or notions, forgetting 
 that faith is the gift of God) they would not 
 hate and damn one another for different, 
 though falfe opinions ; nothing can have 
 that effed:, but the committal of fins, of 
 which holy Scripture pronounces death the 
 wages or neceflary confequence ; but thefe 
 we fee pafTed over filently, few being ex- 
 communicated for whoredom, adulteries, 
 atheifm and profanenefs ; many other crimes 
 are openly committed without punifliment, 
 which, perhaps, was the end of inftituting 
 ecclefiaftical courts. 
 
 The great defign of Chriftianlty was in a 
 higher and more refined way the fame with 
 that which Hierocles tells us of philofophy, 
 the perfedtion of human life ; therefore, the 
 primitive Chriftians, knowing the end of 
 their dodtrine was to make men good, to fill 
 their hearts with purity of intention produc- 
 tive of good works, not to make them wife, 
 (if fluffing their heads with empty and idle 
 notions may be called fo,) avoided all fuch 
 with great care, preffing only upon men the 
 
82 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 reformation of their lives by the plainnefs of 
 their precepts and their agreeablenefs to 
 reafon ; being well aflured the contrary prac- 
 tice could bring forth nothing but endlefs 
 j anglings and frivolous difputes, which would 
 at laft not only loofen, but deftroy religion 
 by taking away charity, the bond and cement 
 of that and all perfedlions. But when the 
 piety of fuceeeding ages had endowed the 
 Church with temporalities and with rich 
 pofleffions, the churchmen altered their doc- 
 trine with their way of living ; for now, (kick- 
 ing like the calves of Jefleron grown fat,) 
 the former pradtifed feverity was turned into 
 wantonnefs ; the plainnefs of the precepts into 
 intricate niceties. This they judged neceflary; 
 for if, according to the promife, the Gofpel 
 was to be fo plain, /. e. fo agreeable to 
 Nature and reafon, that a man might run- 
 ning fee to read, /, e. a man that made never 
 fo little ufe of his reafon, that did but keep 
 his eyes open againft the falfe allurements of 
 fenfe, could not but perceive the lines of his 
 duty written in very large and plain charadlers; 
 
and Religion. 83 
 
 perceiving every man thus enabled to teach 
 his brother, and that miracles were ceafed, 
 they found themfelves under a neceffity to 
 make godlinefs a myftery, that it might be- 
 come gain to them in an ill fenfe, and that 
 they might fecure to themfelves that vene- 
 ration and refpedt which otherwife were now 
 like to fail. 
 
 Religion, by this means degenerating from 
 its innocence and fimplicity into a trade of 
 policy and fubtilty, an art to live by, tent- 
 makers and fiftiermen became too dull and 
 ignorant ; the preaching of Chrift crucified 
 was fit only for the witty and the learned. 
 No wonder then that being now fo much 
 taken up in refining the cobweb inventions 
 of their heads they wanted leifure to look to 
 their feet, to order their fteps aright, and 
 therefore went aftray, not only from the pre- 
 cepts of the Gofpel, but the imitation of the 
 life of the holy Jefus, which was the greater 
 duty of the two ; as the end for which his 
 dodtrine, the means, was given. To make 
 themfelves the more admired they mixed 
 
84 Liberty^ Property, 
 
 that with the vain philofophy of the Greeks, 
 efpecially Platonifm, with an addition of 
 many abfurd heatheniila and obfolete Jewifli 
 rites and ceremonies. When the bifhops 
 became princes, the number of candidates in- 
 creafing fafter than preferments could fall, 
 the ambitious were induced to court them by 
 indiredt ways, the pretence of an extra- 
 ordinary knowledge or piety, to gain the 
 intereft and the favour of great men, and by 
 thofe fteps to mount the fpiritual throne of 
 carnal pride. Thus when Arius failed of a 
 bifliopric, enraged that a lefs learned man 
 fhould deprive him of the mitre, he refolved 
 upon a malicious revenge; and to make him- 
 felf more famous than the crofier could, 
 under pretence of difcovering the falfities 
 crept into religion, he alleged one of the 
 great myfleries to have more of Plato's fancy 
 than of Chrift's truth in it ; this mother- 
 herefy, by him introduced, brought forth 
 many others, and (which was the greater 
 evil) has been the parent of uncharitable dif- 
 putes, the certain occafions of much confufion 
 
and Religion. 85 
 
 in life and dodtrine, of aflaHinations and maf- 
 facres, of wars and defolations. 
 
 The Chriftians now, contrary to Chrift's 
 pofitive command, call no man on earth mailer, 
 /. e.M an angel from heaven (much lefs a 
 man), fhould preach any other dodlrine to 
 you than I (your only lord and mafter) 
 who am now afcending thither enjoin you 
 to obey, viz. to love one another, hearken 
 not to him, for he is a murderer and a 
 liar, a cheat and an impoftor. Negledling 
 this, and having the perfons of men in honour, 
 they readily embraced their opinions ; and 
 changing the name of Chriftians, took up that 
 of the fathers of their fedls, as of Arians, &c. 
 Thefe divifions and factions, and the confe- 
 quent bloody wars, would perfuade us that 
 Chrift came not indeed to fend peace on earth, 
 but a fword ; for thefe ring-leaders impofed 
 upon the credulous multitude, that all thofe fu- 
 per-induced new-fangled, diabolical inventions, 
 unreafonable whimfies and childifti fopperies, 
 were the great pillars and truths of religion, 
 and therefore to be contended for unto death ; 
 
86 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 while in the meantime they themfelves were 
 confcious that they difputed not for truth 
 but vidtory, for the fenfual gratifications of 
 ambition and vain glory of pride and intereft; 
 and, if you will but give yourfelf leifure 
 to look into the controverfies of former 
 heretics, or into thofe of later date, between 
 the Reformed Church and the Church of 
 Rome, &c. you will find them all on one and 
 the fame bottom. The Church of Rome has 
 good reafon, as to this world, not to yield to 
 any truth in the point of tranfubflantiation ; 
 of which, certainly, it is enough to believe 
 fimply Chrift's own words, This is my 
 body, becaufe no more is warranted, and 
 therefore not necefi'ary, and that indeed none 
 of the expofitions are free from unanfwerable 
 objections, though none appear fo oppofite to 
 fenfe and abfurd as that of the Romanifts 
 and Lutherans : for if this power of working 
 miracles be taken from the prieft, it may be 
 thought he has nothing left to make him 
 jure divino; which, if allowed, he is quick 
 enough to forefee that other princes may 
 
and Religion. 87 
 
 follow the example of Henry the Eighth. 
 Thofe miftaken or wilful apprehenfions 
 have involved the feveral kingdoms of 
 Europe in blood and confufion, inteftine 
 commotions and wars, and will embroil 
 them yet further if the caufes be not re- 
 moved. This has long been the wifti of 
 fome and the endeavour of others, but by the 
 fuccefs — feeing the difeafe is not cured, but 
 that its venom does daily fpread more and 
 more — we may fafely conclude that difputing 
 is as incompetent a way to refettle the truth 
 of religion as the fword is to propagate it. 
 Every man naturally hates to be accounted a 
 fool or a liar, and therefore, when worfted by 
 the force of arguments (which may be to 
 him unanfwerable, though not convincing), 
 he falls into heat and paffion, which, the 
 other returning with equal warmth, at 
 length both lofe the queftion, and fall from 
 words to blows, from difputing to fighting ; 
 and, not fatisfied pedantically (for mofl: com- 
 monly the contention is only about words), 
 to lafh one another, they further make 
 
88 Liberty, Property, 
 
 parties and faftions. Thefe, hurried on with 
 the fury of a perverfe zeal, the efFedl of 
 ignorance, efpoufe the quarrel, and purfue the 
 folly and the malice to the fatal deftrudtion of 
 thoufands of millions ; as if there was no 
 getting to the heavenly Canaan, the new 
 Jerufalem, but by wading, or rather by 
 fwimming through a Red Sea of Chriftian 
 blood ; while, in the meantime, the firft 
 difputants ftand looking on, or like fneaking 
 cowards fteal away from the rencounter as 
 foon as they have engaged others more gene- 
 rous, but withal more foolifli, than them- 
 felves. This England has to its coft ex- 
 perimented ; and, it is to be feared, if not 
 timely prevented, will again. 
 
and Religion. 89 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 OF LIBERTY, PROPERTY AND 
 RELIGION {contlnuei). 
 
 THERS, finding the way of difpute 
 infufficient, believed that the allow- 
 ance of a toleration to the feveral 
 contending fedls would do the 
 work ; and that in truth the denial of it, fo 
 far as it might confiil with the peace of the 
 Commonwealth, feemed to be a kind of 
 perfecution not unequal to that of the 
 heathen emperors in the beginning of Chrif- 
 tianity. This opinion being by the ring- 
 leaders infufed into the peoples' minds, who 
 being apt to pity all in diftrefs, from pity are 
 induced to liking, and from liking to love, 
 they at length efpoufe the party, and with fo 
 much the more violence, by how much the 
 more it is oppofed ; nothing being more 
 
90 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 natural than to refift force and covet 
 earneflly thofe things we are forbid. The 
 confideration of this and his own obfervation, 
 that the more the Chriftians were put to 
 death the more they increafed, made the 
 wife Pliny write to the Emperor Trajan to 
 forbear perfecution ; telling him " That 
 fhedding Chriftians' blood was fowing the 
 feed of the Church;" every man's death 
 giving to the multitude a fufEcient proof of 
 the truth of his profeffion, and gaining more 
 profelytes than preaching could. By the 
 Emperor's following this good advice the 
 Chriftians gained their liberty, and he an 
 acceflion to his army ; and the great increafe 
 of converts was thereby much reftrained. 
 
 The fenfe of this great prudence, joined 
 with his majefty's great natural clemency, has 
 with good reafon prevailed upon his minifters 
 rarely to execute the feverity of the fanguinary 
 and penal laws upon diflenters; and I am 
 well aflured that did they not believe by thofe 
 ftatutes remaining ftill in force that they are 
 under perfecution or the dread of it, inftead 
 
and Religion. 91 
 
 of increafing much within thefe few years 
 they would certainly have decreafed. I am 
 therefore perfuaded that toleration with con- 
 venient reftridtions would lefTen the evil and 
 remove moft of its inconveniences, though all 
 can never be taken away without another fort 
 of education. And if the Parliament that 
 give it find it hereafter inconvenient, they may 
 alter or annul it how they pleafe. In this 
 toleration all opinions are to be provided 
 againft that are deftrudtive of good life, to- 
 gether with the confequences rather than 
 occafions, atheifm and ir religion. As the 
 Venetians once excluded, fo muft we for ever 
 prohibit the Jefuits and other regulars ; the 
 number of fecular priefts and nonconforming 
 minifters or teachers are to be limited, they 
 with their flocks regiflered, and to be in- 
 capable of any office in the Commonwealth, 
 and the teacher to be maintained by them- 
 felves, the richeft of the congregations to be 
 fecurity for their preachers that they fhall 
 preach no fedition nor have private conven- 
 ticles ; that befides the ftate may fend two to 
 
92 Liberty .^ Property^ 
 
 hear all taught ; that the ufe of all contro- 
 verfial catechifms and polemical difcourfes as 
 well out as in the pulpit under ftrid: penalties 
 be forbid ; fuch things, no lefs in their natures 
 than their names, fignifying and begetting 
 diftradtions, rebellions, and wars. Though it 
 be as impoffible by laws or penalties to alter 
 men's opinions from what either their temper 
 or their education has occafioned, as it is to 
 change their complexions, yet if men purfued 
 nothing but godlinefs and honefty they would 
 find their differences in opinion are no more 
 hurtful than reftrainable ; and to make them 
 lefs fo, all names of hatred and divifion are to 
 be taken away, and the parable of Chrift's 
 feamlefs coat to be really fulfilled again. 
 All, whatever their fingle opinions be, fhould 
 be called by no other name than that of 
 Chriftians ; for indeed as fuch they all agree, 
 that is, in the fundamentals of religion, (as for 
 the difputed things they are already fhown 
 not certain, therefore not neceflkry, confe- 
 quently to us impertinent, which of the afler- 
 tions be true,) and only diflfer by the con- 
 
and Religion. 93 
 
 fiderations of pride or intereft as they are 
 Trinitarians or Antitrinitarians, Arians, So- 
 cinians, Papifts or Proteftants, Remonftrants 
 or Antiremonftrants, Janfenifts or Molinifls, 
 Francifcans or Dominicans, Lutherans or 
 Calvinifts, Prefbyterians or Independants, &c. 
 But for my own part I am of opinion that we 
 fhall never arrive at the true ftate of Chrif- 
 tianity either by difputing without toleration, 
 or by toleration with difputing, /. e. we {hall 
 not come to live righteoufly, foberly, and 
 godly, in this prefent world ; for difputing 
 deftroys all, and toleration alone will not take 
 away thofe wrong notions with which the 
 prefent age is prepoffefTed ; though fome of 
 the prejudices may be leflened by foftnefs and 
 gentlenefs, by love and perfuafions ; this I 
 confefs will not do in all becaufe all have not 
 underftanding, and fuch as want it muft 
 inevitably run into error ; for, whatever the 
 philofophers difpute whether the will and the 
 underftanding be diftindt faculties or diftindt 
 operations of the fame foul, it plainly appears 
 in all our adlions that we will or nil things 
 
94 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 according to our underftandings, which, as 
 well or ill informed, make us do things good 
 or evil ; fo that, till our notions are redtified, 
 we are to be pitied and inftrufted, not hated or 
 condemned. When by an excellent education 
 and a good example we are taught not only 
 to know but to pradtife our duty, it will then 
 be almoft morally impoffible for us to offend; 
 whereas, on the contrary, while both are now 
 negledled, it is a wonder we are not worfe. 
 Purfuant to this, Solomon gives a wife direc- 
 tion, " Train up a child in the way thou 
 wouldft have him to go, and when he is old 
 he will not depart from it." The great bufi- 
 nefs, then, not- only to affuage the pain, 
 (which in the prefent circumftances cannot 
 be done with toleration,) but wholly to re- 
 move the diftemper, is to introduce fuch a 
 fixed method of education as may imprint on 
 our minds true and early notions of virtue 
 and religion. 
 
 The Parliament have lately begun to look 
 into the practice of piety, and, to prevent or 
 leffen profanation and debaucheries, have en- 
 
and Religion, 95 
 
 adled that hackney coaches (it had been 
 more equal if all had been under the penalty) 
 fhall after the Jewifh manner of Sabbath, reft 
 from labour ; I wifh they would now be 
 pleafed to take care the people keep the 
 Chriftian Sabbath as they ought ; not fo 
 much in a reft from bodily labour as from 
 fin, the greater toil of the foul, to which 
 they are obliged by every day's duty. The 
 ufe of the feventh, above the reft, feeming to 
 be fet apart for returning thanks for bleflings 
 and for exhortations effedlive of holinefs and 
 a good life. The duty of that day is not 
 fulfilled by hearing a quaint man preach him- 
 felf, not Chrift ; policy, not morality ; con- 
 fute the Pope, the Calvinift, or the Arminian, 
 the Prefbyterian or the Epifcppa.!. Such dif- 
 courfes engender nothing but ftrife, and tend 
 not to edification ; they are the vain traditions 
 of men, in which we (hould quickly find, did 
 we but ferioufly confider, that there was no- 
 thing of that faith without which we cannot 
 pleafe, nor of that holinefs without which no 
 man ftiall fee God. 
 
96 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 OF LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND 
 RELIGION (^continued). 
 
 ND fince the Parliament by that 
 laft mentioned Ad: have begun to 
 tythe mint, and cummin, it is to 
 be hoped they will go on and not 
 leave the weightier things of the law undone; 
 that their wifdoms and their zeal will be 
 more employed about the power than the 
 form of godlinefs, which may for ever be 
 eftablifhed by the following method, or fuch 
 other as they fhall think more agreeable, mz. 
 to make new divifions of parifhes, which may 
 with more convenience to the people be done 
 than as at prefent they ftand, by limiting 
 every parifh to the compafs of about three 
 miles fquare, and building a church in the 
 central-place, to hold about a thoufand ; and 
 
and Religion. 97 
 
 to apportion the parifhes in cities, at leaft to 
 the like number of people. This will reduce 
 the parifhes from about ten to a little more 
 than four thoufand. Schools fhould be erefted 
 in every parifh, where all the children fhall be 
 inftrudted in reading, writing, and the firft 
 elements of arithmetic and geometry, with- 
 out charge to the parents. Whence to the 
 greater fchools to be eredled in the diocefes, 
 counties, hundreds, after the manner of 
 Weftminfter, Eton or Winchefter, fo many 
 of the ripeft and beft capacitated, as fhall 
 fuffice for the fupply of all callings that make 
 learning a trade (as divinity, phyfic, and law), 
 may be yearly eledled, to be trained up in 
 the further necefTary parts of learning, and 
 from thence yearly fent to the Univerfities. 
 From the Univerfities, upon all vacancies, 
 fchoolmaflers and miniflers fhould be chofen ; 
 the firfl, not under five and twenty years; 
 the later, not under thirty (the age allowed 
 among the Jews for dodtors or teachers, and 
 at which our Saviour began to preach) ; 
 and both, to be Maflers of Arts before the one 
 
 H 
 
98 Liberty, Property, 
 
 be licenfed or the other ordained by the 
 bifhop ; and none to be ordained before they 
 are fecured of being noble men's chaplains, 
 or eledled to parifhes. Let the bifhoprics be 
 alfo divided according to convenience and 
 the number of the parifhes. That the minifters 
 and fchool-mafters be celebats, not under 
 a vow^ (as in the Church of Rome), but on 
 condition of quitting their benefices upon 
 marriage, and returning to a lay life ; for that 
 of the priefts being jure Divino, being dif- 
 puted, is therefore (to fay no more) to our 
 falvation not neceflary to be believed ; for, 
 unlefs they demonftrate the contrary by 
 Scripture, the fufficient rule of faith, or by 
 miracles, men will be apt to believe the ftory 
 of an indelible character, to be a relic of 
 popery, invented to aggrandize the honour 
 and pow^er of the Church, turned into a 
 court of Rome. But be it what it will, it is 
 plain they cannot be greater than St. Paul, 
 who did not only for convenience of the 
 Church, avoid leading about a wife or a fifter, 
 but wrought at his trade after he had received 
 
and Religion. 99 
 
 the Holy Ghoft; of which it were to be 
 wiflied all divines {hewed themfelves pofleft, 
 by a life conformable to that of the holy 
 Jefus. But, without doubt, there will be 
 enough found to undertake this calling on 
 thefe terms, though feemingly difficult. 
 
 By this courfe there is a provifion made 
 for the incontinency of fuch of the priefts as 
 find themfelves flefli and blood ; which, if 
 done in the Church of Rome, would free it 
 from great fcandal. 
 
 Let a book of homilies be compiled ; for 
 variety four every Sunday, and two for each 
 feftival or holy day. Let nothing be in- 
 ferted but dehortations from vice and exhor- 
 tations to virtue, neither controverfies nor 
 ftate affairs fo much as obliquely glanced 
 upon. Let a catechifm, adapted to the 
 meaneft capacity, be compofed, fhewing the 
 duty of Chriftians according to the exprefs 
 words of the text of Scripture, without ftrain- 
 ing or mifapplying any one, (as is done in 
 too many of thofe now extant), and without 
 touching upon any one difputed point. All 
 
loo Liberty^ Property, 
 
 the books of controverfial Divinity, as well 
 thofe in private hands as in bookfellers, {hould 
 be bought up by the ftate, and placed in the 
 King's Library or burnt. All the Commen- 
 taries on the Bible fhould be review^ed by fober, 
 moderate, and learned men ; and as many of 
 them as contain more than what direftly 
 tends to the illuftration of the text, by re- 
 counting the language, cuftoms, and cere- 
 monies of the times and places it was writ in, 
 follow the fate of the others. And becaufe 
 it is reafonable to believe there is no fuch 
 entire work extant, in imitation of the Septu- 
 agint tranflation, there may be feventy ap- 
 pointed for this to be in Latin, and for the 
 Homilies and Catechifm in Englifh ; which 
 being done, let all the prefent expofitions be 
 fent to the library or the fire. Let the 
 fame perfons or others be ordered to pick out 
 of the Scripture all fuch paffages as tend to 
 the encouragement of a holy life, and to put 
 them into one piece in Englifh for common 
 ufe. 
 
 I have heard fome fober men wifh that 
 
and Religion. 
 
 lOI 
 
 Englifh bibles were not fo common that the 
 ignorant and unwary might not wreft the 
 hard texts to their own deftrudlion, nor to 
 that of the public peace : but you know I 
 have often told you I looked upon the 
 variety of tranflations out of the original into 
 the vulgar languages as the beft comment. 
 
102 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 
 OF LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND 
 RELIGION {continued). 
 
 IHESE things being done, to take 
 the printing of books into the ftate^ 
 it is as neceffary as the Mint. 
 Falfe coinage of books having 
 done England more mifchief than ever that 
 of money did, or will do, the licenfing of 
 printing, or importing from beyond fea, will 
 not other wife prevent great evil to Church 
 and State. Let there be but a convenient 
 number of bookfellers permitted ; thofe to be 
 under obligation to vend no other, books than 
 fuch as are printed in this allowed printing- 
 houfe, where foreign books, with advantage 
 to the public, may be reprinted. The hin- 
 dering foreign coin from being current is 
 not fo ufeful and advantageous, as the care in 
 this will prove, to the kingdom. 
 
and Religion. 103 
 
 When things are thus far fettled, the 
 bifliops (who are not to be chofen under 
 forty) are to fee that all minifters, fchool- 
 mafters and churchwardens, do their refpec- 
 tive duties ; going about, and vifiting parifti 
 by parifh, as was the ancient pradtice ; con- 
 firming after examination, and exhorting all 
 to continue obedient to the laws of God and 
 man ; reprehending and fufpending fuch as 
 they find faulty without favour or aflfedtion, 
 the minifters and fchoolmafters from office 
 and benefice ; the people from the facrament 
 (which is everywhere monthly at leaft, to be 
 adminiftered) till after repentance expreffed 
 in the reformation of their lives. 
 
 As for the jurifdiftion of ecclefiaftical courts, 
 becaufe it is a kind of imperium in imperio, 
 and that through the greatnefs of the biihops' 
 other charge, they cannot ofliciate in this 
 to take away and prevent abufes, it is to be 
 laid afide ; and other, or the fame punifh- 
 ments for the crimes there ufually tryable, 
 inflidied in the ordinary courts, upon the 
 bifhops' or the minifter and church-wardens' 
 
I04 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 certificate of the matter of fadt ; in whom 
 alone the power of examination fliould re- 
 fide. And, becaufe the office of bifhops, 
 minifters and fchool-mafters will be of great 
 labour, none fhould continue in them be- 
 yond fixty, nor fo long unlefs they are found 
 fitting : after that age, all of them to have a 
 handfome decent' retreat in colleges purpofely 
 built ; where the fuperannuated of each pro- 
 vince, the emeriti in the Chriftian warfare, 
 may fpend the remnant of their days, without 
 care, in quiet and devotion. 
 
 To affift and eafe the bifhop, there fliould 
 be as formerly, rural deans over every ten or 
 twenty pariflies. Part of the miniiler's bufi- 
 nefs fliould be to inftrudl the boys, every 
 Saturday in the fchools, in all the duties of 
 religion ; to catechife and read the prayers 
 and homilies on Sundays in public ; the reft 
 of the week, between the times of prayer 
 to be celebrated twice a-day, to go from 
 houfe to houfe, exhorting and dehorting, as 
 occafion requires, vifiting the fick, and ex- 
 amining the needs of the poor, reconciling 
 
and Religion. 105 
 
 differences between the neighbours, and 
 taking care that in every family the children, 
 fuch as are found fit by the eleftors ap- 
 pointed, not by the parents* blind fondnefs, 
 be conftantly fent to fchool. 
 
 After the continued pradlice of this courfe, 
 Chriftianity will again flourifli ; the years of 
 the minifter will make him fober and grave, 
 fit to give counfel, which from young men is 
 now defpifed. There will then be no need 
 of fpending time in writing controverfies or 
 ftudying fermons, which, as now preached, 
 are rarely underftandable or ufeful to the 
 people ; of whom it may be faid, the one is 
 always teaching to no purpofe, and the other 
 ever learning, and never coming to the 
 knowledge of the truth. 
 
 The fchoolmafters are not only to be 
 learned, but fober and difcreet men ; to be 
 obliged never to whip, or beat the boys ; 
 whofe faults are to be puniihed by exercifes, 
 by ftanding mute, or kneeling for certain 
 fpaces, or by failing from their victuals, &c. 
 Thofe that are good, to be encouraged by 
 
io6 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 priority of places, by commendatory verfes 
 made by the higher forms, &c. The boys 
 that need beating, are as unfit to be taught, 
 as the man is to teach who ufes that tyran- 
 nical way, which too much debafes the 
 meek-fpirited, and makes the fuUen more 
 ftubborn and ill-natured. Let whatever any 
 perfons beftow on the matters be converted 
 to public charitable ufes. The method of 
 teaching (hould be drawn up by fome of the 
 members, (who, it is prefumed, will mix 
 things with words), and approved by the 
 whole of the Royal Society, Let that be 
 confirmed and all others prohibited by law. 
 
 In the Univerfities, none {hould be fuffered 
 to continue beyond the age of forty-five, nor 
 above two in any one houfe or college after 
 thirty-five. Let a new method be likewife 
 framed by the fame perfons for all the liberal 
 arts and fciences ; and let new academies be 
 built for training up young noblemen and 
 gentlemen in thofe exercifes which, to the 
 (hame and lofs of England, are now learnt 
 in France. 
 
and Religion. 107 
 
 Handfome and fufficient falaries fhould be 
 fixt, and paid out of the public revenue, 
 according to every man's quality : bifhops 
 equal to one another, deans to deans, mi- 
 nifters and fchool-mafters to each other ; and 
 thefe to be chofen gradually, as the pure con- 
 (ideration of merit fhall invite the electors. 
 And to enable the public as w^ell in paying 
 thefe falaries, as in building of fchools, 
 churches, colleges and hofpitals, the whole 
 revenues of the church, free-fchools, univer- 
 fities and hofpitals fhould at the higheft 
 value be annexed, to the crown, or fold to 
 others that will give more. The overplus 
 faved by this new model, and the money 
 they would yield beyond any other land of 
 England, in regard the annual rent is not a 
 fourth of the real value, and yet may be 
 ordered equally advantageous to the tenants, 
 as the fines now make them, would com- 
 plete this work. Thus converting the pa- 
 trimony of the church would be no facri- 
 lege, the pious ufe is carried on to the good 
 of all ; and perhaps as firft defigned by the 
 
io8 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 donors, when provifion for wives and chil- 
 dren not in being could not be thought of; 
 the care of whom diftrad: many from their 
 duty, and difable them from keeping in de- 
 cent repair the ancient monuments of piety 
 built by our anceftors. But all thefe things 
 fhould be done without the leaft prejudice to 
 the prefent incumbents. 
 
 When education is thus fettled, the duty 
 and intereft of church-m^n and their care of 
 wives and children removed, plurality of 
 livings and iimony prevented, as well that of 
 friendfhip, of the fmock, marrying of coufins, 
 nieces, crooked fifters or ladies' women, as 
 that of the purfe, (all which in themfelves 
 are equally criminous,) none but good men 
 will undertake the charge. Then the ob- 
 jedlions will vanifh which loofe education 
 has infufed into the wild and foolifli, viz. 
 That religion is a cheat, a trick of ftate ; 
 that the parfon follows Chrift for the loaves ; 
 fpeaks as does the lawyer in his trade, not that 
 there is any truth in It, but becaufe he has bos 
 in lingua, &c. To do this is neither fo ftrange 
 
and Religion. 109 
 
 nor fo difficult as was the greater alteration 
 made by Henry the Eighth, who had not in 
 ftory been fo infamous, though he had feized 
 on the whole temporalities of the Church, 
 had he but thus difpofed of fome part. And 
 by the way you may take notice, that the 
 Houfe of Commons in this, point had been 
 Cromwells in the fixth and eleventh years of 
 Henry the Fourth, who upon their advice 
 would have feized the Church's patrimony, 
 had they not by friends and money prevented 
 the blow ; and that de faSto, feveral biflioprics 
 and livings were enjoyed by fome of his 
 predecefTors, which appears not only from 
 hiftory, but from printed adts of parliament. 
 
 It will be no hard matter, from Grant's 
 obfervations and the bills of mortality, to 
 make a computation of the numbers necef- 
 fary to be fent yearly to the Univerfities 
 for divinity, law, and phyfic ; the laft of 
 which ought fo to be regulated as not to 
 fuffer any to kill, rather than cure, which is 
 daily done in London and other parts of the 
 kingdom, to the prejudice and fcandal of that 
 
no Liberty^ Property .^ 
 
 honourable and fometimes ufeful profeffion, 
 to the lofs of the people's money and lives, 
 to the maintaining of many idle and ignorant 
 mountebanks and impoftors, who, to the greater 
 advantage of the Commonwealth, might be 
 employed in more fafe and beneficial trades 
 or ways of living. 
 
 This courfe will alfo prevent fuch evil con- 
 fequences in Church and State as formerly 
 attended the fuperfcEtations of the clergy, and 
 the breeding up of fervitors and poor fcholars 
 (as they well call them) in the Univerfities. 
 They are generally of mean birth, and no 
 lefs mean parts, and the attendance upon their 
 mafters does not fuff^er them fo well to attend 
 their ftudies ; fo their fubfiftence by fervice 
 failing them after they had flayed at the 
 Univerfity no longer than to incapacitate 
 and unfit them for any other way of living, 
 and yet not to qualify them for turning 
 preachers ; however, having chopped a little 
 logic and difputed of ens rationis, and fo 
 fancying they could build caftles in the air, 
 they affume the confidence to conclude they 
 
and Religion. 1 1 1 
 
 cannot mifs of habitations on the earth. 
 Hence from the loweft of the people, getting 
 to be put into the prieft's office for a piece of 
 bread, they become a great caufe of, as well 
 as they are in effedt, the contempt of the 
 clergy. Thefe men, for want of knowledge, 
 lay their foundations in erroneous dodlrines, 
 in which, neverthelefs, they could not fuc- 
 ceed, but by pretending an extraordinary 
 meafure of faintfhip or holinefs, railing at 
 the fins and abufes of the tirnes, which them- 
 felves have occafioned. Thus they creep into 
 houfes, and firft lead filly women, and then 
 their hufbands captive, as Adam by Eve's 
 perfuafion eating the forbidden fruit till he 
 furfeited and died ; fo thefe ignorant zealots, 
 not content in King James's time and the be- 
 ginning of King Charles the Firft, to rob the 
 kingdom of many families, made themfelves 
 the boute-feus of the late horrid rebellion. 
 Though indeed, it may be faid to have been 
 principally occafioned by fuch as thefe, yet 
 it was not without fome epifcopal men 
 having a finger in the pie : for, to fay truth, 
 
112 Liberty^ Property^ 
 
 I know not whether the too great ftiffnefs 
 in the one for their old, or in the other, 
 againft the new forms was moft blameable. 
 But this I know, that by the colUfion of 
 both parties, as of flints, a fire was kindled 
 not unlike that in the tails of Samfon's foxes, 
 which proved as deftrudlive of the expedia- 
 tions of profit each had of their own crop as 
 the other did to the Philiftines' corn ; yet had 
 the evil of that not extended to any others 
 but thofe of the pulpit, we might now have 
 talked of it without much regret. Whatever 
 fuch violent difputes have formerly been able 
 to do, it is my duty to wifh, and yours to en- 
 deavour, that England be no more the ftage 
 of fuch tragedies. Refrain not counfel when 
 it may do good, and be not backward in 
 advifing that toleration is the firft flep and 
 EDUCATION the next that perfeftly leads the 
 way to peace and happinefs. This courfe 
 being taken, we {hall have no caufe to de- 
 fpair but that religion will again refume its 
 naked truth, that the dodlrines of men will 
 be judged better or worfe as they more or 
 
and Religion. 
 
 113 
 
 lefs incline to holinefs of living ; and thus, 
 being reduced to a calmnefs within our- 
 felves, we need not fear the defigns of 
 foreigners. 
 
1 1 4 The Inter eft of England 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 
 THE INTEREST OF ENGLAND IN 
 REFERENCE TO FRANCE. 
 
 F foreigners none but France can be 
 fuppofed to have any defigns upon 
 England ; and if that be granted, 
 why may it not be prevented by 
 obferving ftill the fame rules of policy v^^hich 
 this crow^n formerly pradtifed ; that was, fo 
 holding the balance between the then two 
 contending powers of Spain and France, that 
 neither fliould be able to obtain their aims — 
 the univerfal monarchy of the weft .'' But now 
 the cafe is altered, in that Spain being much 
 weakened by the acceffion of the Weft Indies, 
 and grafping more than it could well hold in 
 other countries, has quitted the field and left 
 France without a rival ; fo that the prefent 
 intereft of England feems to be the fame 
 
in. reference to France. 1 1 5 
 
 with that of all Europe, viz. to oppofe by 
 all poflible means the growing greatnefs of 
 France ; and reduce that crown to fuch 
 a condition as may not leave it in his power 
 to hurt his neighbours. By what they have 
 already compaffed one may guefs they will 
 ere long bring about, if not timely ftoppedj 
 their long-defigned ambitious purpofes ; in 
 the profecution of which they were in the 
 late times of ufurpation, the underhand in- 
 ftrument of the war with Holland, as they 
 were of the two following in 1665 and 
 1 67 1, blowing up the feuds on both fides, 
 pretending to take part with each, but 
 not- really purpofing it with either. Having 
 the fame defign of weakening both parties, as 
 the Britons formerly had in throwing a bone 
 of contention between the Pidls and Scots, 
 that they might in the end be the better able 
 to overcome both. In the mean time the 
 French king gained an opportunity of build- 
 ing fhips of war, and training up feamen, of 
 which he was before deftitute; fo that had 
 not thefe quarrels and our late civil wars 
 
1 1 6 The Inter eft of England 
 
 given him a pretence of increafing his mari- 
 time power, we might ftill, even by threats, 
 of burning the fhips upon the ftocks or in 
 the harbours, as did Queen Elizabeth, have 
 kept that people under and ourfelves from 
 fear ; but fince, by unavoidable accidents, the 
 dice are fo thrown as that the fore is loft, 
 let us ufe the beft of our art and fkill to re- 
 trieve an after-game. There is no need to 
 attempt the proof of what is as evident as the 
 fun at noon-day, that the French king has a 
 power great enough, confidering the prefent 
 circumftances of Europe, to make him hope, 
 and all others dread his efFediing that old de- 
 fign, which has been the end of all adlions of 
 that crown for many years paft. Before he 
 could put his defign in execution, his great 
 obftacle and rival the Spaniard was to be re- 
 moved out of the way ; in order to which 
 he judged neceffary to fortify himfelf with 
 fome allies, and engage others neuters ; but 
 forefeeing it was the intereft of England and 
 Holland to oppofe the one and affift the 
 other, and therefore defpairing to prevail 
 
in reference to France. 117 
 
 upon either^ he contrived to make both fall 
 out. Not long after he took the advantage 
 of unexpeftedly invading the Spanifh Nether- 
 lands, even w^hile his agent, then in Spain, 
 was perfuading that crown of his mailer's 
 good intentions to continue in entire peace 
 and amity with them. The confequence of 
 which we wifely forefeeing, occafioned our 
 fetting on foot the Triple League in the 
 year 1668, by which a flop was put to his 
 further progrefe. 
 
 And now perceiving himfelf difappointed, 
 he makes various attempts in the years 1669 
 and 1670 to invite England to break that 
 alliance ; but finding his finefTe vain, he ob- 
 liquely endeavours it, by renewing the old, 
 and inventing new grounds of quarrels, by 
 fuch agents and penfioners in the flate of 
 Holland as his wealth had purchafed. This 
 at lafl made them commit fuch infolence 
 againfl the honour of this crown, and the 
 interefl of the. people in point of trade, as 
 brought upon them the lafl fatal war, into 
 which he no fooner drew the Hollanders, 
 
1 1 8 The Inter eji of England 
 
 than he rufhed into the very heart of their 
 country. This fudden event made them 
 confefs their error, and our king the fooner 
 to conclude a peace. The ParHament was 
 then and fince very defirous his majefty 
 fliould engage with the Dutch and Spaniards 
 againft France ; and without doubt he knew 
 it would be his intereft fo to do, but not at 
 that time. For though the undoubted pre- 
 rogative of the kings of England entitles them 
 to make war and peace, he did not waive 
 the former becaufe the Parliament urged it, 
 as the malicious fuggeft, but becaufe he faw 
 it not convenient. It is true, the kings of 
 England have been pleafed to advife in fuch 
 matters with their Parliaments, but that was 
 an adl of grace and condefcfenfion, and ought 
 not now (if at all) to be infifted on, fo as 
 to deny the king that liberty which, as a 
 man he cannot want, that of examining and 
 approving or difapproving what his great 
 council fhould advife. For no man in his 
 wits will dream the Lords and Commons 
 have a power of impofing what they pleafe 
 
in reference to France. 1 1 9 
 
 upon the king, when without his aflent they 
 have neither power nor right to make any 
 adt. The king confidered that peace is the 
 happinefs of a kingdom ; that war being a 
 real evil is never to be undertaken but to 
 avoid a greater ; that his treafures were ex- 
 haufted by the war juft finifhed ; that his 
 people had not recovered their lofles by the 
 plague, fire, and wars, and therefore were 
 unable to bear the burden of heavy taxes, 
 which of neceffity mull have been impofed 
 to carry on a new one, for which great pre- 
 parations ought to be made, both of men, 
 money, and (hipping ; the former were no 
 lefs wanting than the laft much impaired 
 and diminiflied. He confidered that the 
 French king had not only been amaffing 
 great treafure for many, but had alfo been 
 three years training up an army in all the 
 difciplines of war ; that it was necefl"ary 
 before one king entered into a war, to com- 
 pare his own and the other's ftrength, 
 " whether with ten he were able to meet him 
 with twenty thoufand;" that he ought to 
 
I20 The Interefi of England 
 
 make alliances, and to have cautionary 
 towns, before we declared ourfelves enemies ; 
 that fo great a defign was not to be made 
 public before things were ripe, left the Dutch 
 and French might clap up a peace, and that 
 potent king turn againft us the fury of his 
 arms, for whom certainly in thofe circum- 
 ftances we fhould have been a very unequal 
 match. I am perfuaded that thefe, with 
 other much wifer confiderations not obvious 
 to every man, convinced the king a war was 
 on no fcore at that time feafonable ; and to 
 this opinion I am moved, by my fenfe that 
 the king could not but refleft, that when the 
 French king had fubjedted all the reft of 
 Europe, he would not fail to add England to 
 his conquefts, in which our king's lofs muft 
 needs be greater than his fubjedls'. It is 
 unreafonable to think that true policy would 
 let the French king fufRr any of the royal 
 family, efpecially the King of England and 
 France (at whofe title and arms-bearing he 
 is not a little offended) to dutlive the lofs of 
 the crown, fmce he could not but believe 
 
in reference to France. 121 
 
 they would be perpetually endeavouring the 
 regaining their own right ; for though fub- 
 jedtion be uneafy to all, it is not fo intolerable 
 to any, as to thofe ufed to govern. There- 
 fore it is an idle, fenfelefs and inconfiderate 
 fancy to imagine the king and duke could 
 forget their own intereft, or be frenchified 
 upon any promife or bargain, as is malicioufly 
 infinuated, that they might be more abfolute, 
 which cannot poffibly be in their thoughts 
 or wifties who know that between kings or 
 ftates, covenants are binding no longer than 
 convenient, — that the French king has ever 
 fhown that his intereft only or his will is the 
 rule of convenience, — that he that makes war 
 for his glory has more ambition to put his 
 chains upon princes than on the people. His 
 thoughts are as large as any of the Roman 
 emperors, and they efteemed it a greater 
 glory to lead one king in triumph, than 
 many thoufand fubjed:s of feveral kingdoms. 
 And it is not to be fuppofed that the natural 
 ftrength and fituation of England can be a 
 fufficient defence againft the power of France, 
 
1 2 2 The Inter eft of England 
 
 when to that he has already is added that of 
 all the reft of Europe, unlefs you can dream 
 they may have a fleet greater than all, and 
 may at once refift, by thofe walls, the in- 
 vafion of others, and defend their merchant- 
 men at fea, which if not done without an 
 invalion, by fpoiling the trade England will 
 be deftroyed, or which is altogether as bad, 
 be rendered very poor and inconfiderable. 
 And that this has been his majefty's fenfe, 
 may be gueffed by the progrefs he has made 
 fince the war, mediating a peace as beft be- 
 came a good king, and giving his fubjefts an 
 opportunity of enriching themfelves, and 
 enabling them to bear the neceflary taxes, 
 by engrofling moft of the trade of Europe, 
 and at length finding his endeavours inef- 
 fedlive, he prepared himfelf to refift the 
 French defigns by force, by providing a 
 fleet, and knowing that he that fights with 
 another muft have fkill at the fame weapons, 
 he fuffered fuch of his fubjedls as were 
 willing (but on capitulations to return when 
 he pleafed) to ferve either the confederates 
 
in reference to France. 123 
 
 or the French, not only to be fitted to lead 
 others, but alfo to underftand the new arts 
 of fighting, which are greatly altered from 
 what they were in former times. The king 
 having thus prepared things, I hear he is fo 
 far from being backward to declare war with 
 France, that he will gladly do it, if his Par- 
 liament will but find out a fufficient means 
 for carrying it on effedlually : which I ap- 
 prehend muft not be ordinary, for that the 
 war, if undertaken, is like to be of long 
 continuance. 
 
 And you will guefs that it is no longer to 
 be delayed, if you will but bring before your 
 eyes the danger we and all Europe are ex- 
 pofed to, by comparing the prefent power 
 of France with what it was in the days of 
 Francis the Firft, and obferving what he 
 was then able to do, when afl!aulted by 
 Charles the Fifth, who was not only emperor, 
 but had all the power of Spain, of the feven- 
 teen provinces, of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, the 
 dukedom of Milan, and the riches of the 
 Weft Indies ; who was as wife, courageous. 
 
1 24 The Intereji of England 
 
 and fortunate a captain, as moft ages of the 
 world have, known; one who managed his 
 own councils, and like Alexander in every 
 adtion appeared at the head of his army ; 
 who had above a hundred thoufand well 
 difciplined men, led by many great and ex- 
 perienced commanders ; who was able, by a 
 mighty naval power, to begirt France on 
 both fides, from Flanders and from Spain. 
 Yet at that time France courting the fame 
 miftrefs, the univerfal monarchy, was fo 
 powerful a rival that he durft not attempt his 
 removal out of the way of his ambition, 
 without the aid and afliftance of Henry the 
 Eighth, the Pope, and feveral princes of 
 Italy ; nor even then did he think himfelf 
 fecure till he had drawn to a defection 
 Charles, Duke of Bourbon, the moft confi- 
 derable Prince of France. And yet after all 
 he was forced to clap up an accommodation on 
 terms fufficiently advantageous to that crown. 
 If fo mighty a power, and fo united, could 
 not prevail againft Francis the Firft, how 
 unlikely is it to refift Louis the Fourteenth, 
 
in reference to France. 125 
 
 a much greater prince, when that power is 
 now fo much leflened by being broken and 
 divided into feveral hands; \yhen the Em- 
 peror gives himfelf up more to devotion than 
 martial or ftate affairs ; when the king of 
 Spain is a youth of lixteen, and when the 
 feventeen provinces are cantoned between the 
 Spaniard and the States General ; when 
 thefe feveral divifions and interefts occafion 
 long debates, different opinions, and flownefs 
 in preparation and adlion ; when all that 
 was formerly managed by one fingle head, is 
 by thefe accidents brought under the conduft 
 of feveral governors, of whom it is poflible 
 fome may prefer their private advantages to 
 the interefls of their maflers. This has 
 made fome conjediure the French king has 
 opened more gates with filver keys than by 
 force of arms ; and has induced others to 
 conclude that the Confederates will hardly 
 be able to defend the remainder of the 
 Spanifli Netherlands another campaign, if 
 not affifled by the joint power of the reft 
 of Europe. This you will ealily believe not to 
 
1 26 Tlje Intereji of England 
 
 be ill grounded, if you confider the prefent 
 greatnefs of France : Louis has about four 
 times the revenue Francis had, and at leaft 
 four times the army; nay, rather, all his 
 people are now in a manner foldiers. It is 
 not only fcandalous, but a vain attempt, for 
 any gentleman there to make court for a 
 w^ife before he has ferved a campaign or two, 
 nor are any of the nobleffe fuffered to live at 
 eafe in the country, that do not go or fend 
 fome of their fons to the war. Thefe prac- 
 tices enabled him, laft fummer, in fifteen days 
 to fend forty-five thoufand gentlemen, with 
 their fervants, at their own charge, to raife 
 the fiege of Charleroy. And to make the 
 monarchy more abfolute, matters have been 
 fo ordered that their Parliaments are become 
 ordinary courts of juftice, and have no other 
 laws than the edidls of the prince's will. 
 And if at any time he condefcends in 
 formality to afTemble the three eftates (who 
 had in Francis the Firft's time the power of 
 Parliaments) it is but to tell them by his 
 chancellor the king .wills you do thus or 
 
in reference to France. 127 
 
 thus; you are not to advife or difpute, but 
 immediately ratify his commands, which ac- 
 cordingly are obeyed, as the efFedls of a 
 defpotic power. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1 665, he was 
 not able to man out twenty fhips of war, and 
 now he has about two hundred ; he has not 
 only vaft treafures heaped together, but the 
 firings of all the purfes of his flaves, rather 
 than fubjefts, in his own hands. If without 
 any affiftance he has already gained Lorraine, 
 Franche Compte, a great part of Flanders, 
 and no inconfiderable footing in Germany and 
 Sicily, and in the beginning of the laft cam- 
 paign, three fuch ftrongholds as Valenciennes, 
 St. Omer, and Cambray ; the weakeft of 
 which, moft men thought, would at leaft 
 have made him a whole fummer's work, 
 what will he not be able to compafs againft 
 the reft of Europe, when he has got the 
 acceffion of Germany and all the Low 
 Countries to that already too boundlefs 
 power by which he has fettered his own 
 people, and fubjedted them to an abfolute 
 
128 The Inter eft of England 
 
 vaffalage? Will other nations expedl better 
 terms than he has given his own ? It is well 
 if he will allow them even canvas and fabots. 
 But, above all, what can England hope, 
 having for many years forced him to check the 
 reins of his ambition, and being, I prefume, 
 at this time ready to put on the bridle? 
 Books have already been printed fhowing his 
 pretenfions to this country, which, though 
 weak and filly, may help to fpur him on in 
 the purfuit of his glory. Nor can lefs be 
 expedled from thofe who, by a confederacy 
 with the late ufurpers, gave an opportunity 
 of taking away the life of the firft Charles, 
 and of purfuing that of the fecond, to whom 
 his own coufin german inhofpitably denied 
 the continuance of a retreat, when the vicif- 
 fitudes of human affairs, to make him after- 
 wards appear more glorious, veiled him in 
 clouds of misfortunes. What can be hoped 
 from him who contrived that never to be 
 forgotten affront of burning our fhips at 
 Chatham, and who is faid to have had no 
 fmall hand in the firing of London ; who, 
 
in reference to France. 129 
 
 though ftyled the moft Chriftian, declares, as 
 an unalterable maxim, no treaty binding 
 longer than it confifts with his intereft, — not 
 founded on religion or reafon, but on glory ? 
 The very heathens were anciently and the 
 Turks at this day are more punctual to their 
 oaths and promifes, — the falfifying of any 
 thing confirmed by the adjuration of their 
 gods, or Mahomet, was and is accounted in- 
 famous. But what treaties or capitulations 
 can be reckoned which the French minifters 
 have not violated ? Have they not broken the 
 famous Pyrenean treaty, confirmed by oath 
 and facraments ? And, contrary to a folemn 
 renunciation and the double ties of blood and 
 marriage, before a breach complained of or a 
 war declared, invaded the territories of an 
 infant king ? Have not they by addrefs and 
 cunning, by bribes and rewards, endeavoured 
 to corrupt moft of the minifters of Europe ? 
 Such practices amongft private Chriftians 
 would be abominable, and much more fo 
 between any kings not ftyled the moft 
 Chriftian. Do they not publicly abet the 
 
 K 
 
130 The Inter eft of England 
 
 proceedings of the rebels in Hungary againft 
 their lawful prince ? And whatever the Pope 
 may be induced to believe, not for the propa- 
 gation of the Romifh religion (for they are 
 Proteilants), but to ferve his own ambitious 
 purpofes of enflaving the world ; of which, 
 rather than fail, he has decreed to bring in 
 the Turk, in whofe courts alfo he has found 
 arts to make his coin current. Nor is the 
 infallible man, whom he has already pillared, 
 to efcape him, at leaft as to the temporal part 
 of his power ; for, not thinking that affront 
 great enough, and concluding he has not, as 
 he ought, employed it for the French in- 
 tereft, he is faid to have privately vowed not 
 only the lefTening but the abrogating of that 
 great authority in which his predeceflbrs Pepin 
 and Charlemagne's charity had vefted him. 
 Nor is his countenancing the Janfenifts, a 
 fedt more dangerous to the fee of Rome than 
 that of Luther or Calvin, a fmall argument 
 that he intends to pull down his fpiritual 
 grandeur by fixing it in a Gallican patri- 
 arch. But, to come nearer home, have not 
 
in reference to France. 131 
 
 the French had a main hand in our civil 
 wars, and were they not fince the fecret in- 
 ftruments of fpilling the blood of many thou- 
 fands of our fellow fubjedls? To fome of 
 whom, though now they pretend civility, it 
 is not to give them a fhare in their glory fo 
 ' much as to hazard their lives, making them 
 fteps to the throne of an unjuft empire; in 
 order to which they have expofed them on 
 all occafions, in hopes by weakening us to 
 remove out of their way the greateft block 
 which has already given them check, and 
 will now, I hope, flop their career and mate 
 them. And is it not time, think you, that 
 all the princes in Chriftendom, for their 
 common fafety, (hould unite, not only to 
 chafe the French king out of his new con- 
 quefts, but confine him to his ancient do- 
 minion and manner of government ? If this 
 be not fpeedily put in execution, I may with- 
 out the fpirit of prophecy foretell fome of the 
 princes of Germany and Italy who now feem 
 unconcerned, will, when it is too late, repent 
 the overfight. The fire is already kindled in 
 
132 The Inter eft of England 
 
 their neighbourhood, and if they do not help 
 to quench the flame, they will quickly fee 
 their own dwellings laid in duft and afties. 
 Every new acquift and acceflaon of power en- 
 larges our defires, and makes the ambitious 
 man think that which before feemed not oftly 
 difficult but impoffible, to be plain and fea- 
 iible ; — the fuccefs of the French has already 
 made them think no enterprife too hard, and 
 ftill prompts them to pufli on their good 
 fortune, which nothing can withfland but a 
 general oppofition of other princes. 
 
 You fee then it is not fo much honour 
 nor friendfliip, nor a defire of fuccouring the 
 injured and oppreflTed that invites the reft of 
 Europe to the affiftance of the Netherlands, 
 but the care and prefervation of their own laws 
 and liberties, their glory and their fortunes. 
 And though I am apt to believe on England's 
 entering into the league, the French king 
 would gladly conclude a peace, yet I cannot 
 but think the doing fo would be againft the 
 common intereft on any other terms than 
 quitting all his new acquifitions, and even then 
 
in reference to France, 133 
 
 the confederates will be out in policy if they 
 do not ftill continue in a pofture of defence 
 both by fea and land. The Dutch paid dear 
 for the contrary pradlice, and their fufferings 
 in 1672 will convince them and others that 
 fo long as Louis the Fourteenth lives, his 
 neighbours muft not expedl to fleep in quiet ; 
 they cannot prudently hope his future prac- 
 tices will be more juft than his former ; he 
 that has already broken through fo many 
 obligations of oaths and treaties is likely to 
 do fo again. Whoever cannot be kept within 
 bounds by the fenfe of reafon and juftice 
 will defpife the weaker ties of forced oaths. 
 For he that avows power to be the rule, and 
 ftrength the law of juftice, will not ftick to 
 fay this peace was an impofition, an unjuft 
 reftraint of the lawful purfuit of his greatnefs. 
 And therefore as foon as he gives his wearied 
 armies a breathing time, and fees the con- 
 federates difperfed and their troops difbanded, 
 he will, like an unexpedled torrent, break in 
 upon fome of his neighbours. The common 
 infcription of his cannons, ratio ultima regum. 
 
134 7/i^ Inter eji of England 
 
 is by him inverted to a contrary fenfe, and 
 made a public warning to mankind that he 
 defigns, as God did of old, to give law in the 
 world in thunder and lightning, to fcatter by 
 the flames of his artillery all thofe clouds of 
 the confederate forces that intercept and 
 eclipfe the rays of his glory. He makes the 
 power of his arms his firft and laft reafon. 
 He does not only purfue but commonly 
 wounds his adverfary before he declares him 
 fuch, or gives him leifure to draw. Firft 
 invades a prince's territories, and after fets up 
 his title and caufe of the war ; is not con- 
 cerned that all the world obferves the pre- 
 tence is falfe and trifling, vain and unjuft, 
 warranted by no other reafon than that of 
 abfolute and unbounded will, that he will do 
 fo becaufe he will ; which is the foundation 
 and conclufion of all his adtions and wars 
 abroad, as well as of his laws and edidts at 
 home, expreflTed in thefe imperious words, 
 Tel eJi nojire plaijir. He does not only tread in 
 the fteps, but outgoes one of his predeceflbrs, 
 who in a quarrel with his Holinefs, fent him 
 
in reference to France, 135 
 
 word that what he could not juftify by 
 canon law, he would by the law of the 
 cannon. 
 
 His device, the fun in its meridian, with 
 his motto, l^on pluribus impar, fufficiently 
 fliows his intentions for the univerfal mo- 
 narchy, and the haughty opinion he conceives 
 of his being the only perfon qualified for the 
 government of more worlds than one, de- 
 clares his refolutions of admitting no rivals in 
 fovereignty, looking upon all other princes 
 but as fo many fmaller ftars or wandering 
 planets compared with him, the Sun ; from 
 whom after the antiquated and juftly ex- 
 ploded opinion of fome philofophers, they 
 are to receive their borrowed light or power, 
 as it (hall pleafe his mightinefs to difpenfe ; 
 fo that crowned heads, princes and republics, 
 as well as their fubjedls, are to expedt the 
 fame meat, that of flavery ; and though that be 
 not fweet, yet the fauce will be four, poignant 
 to all, however, perhaps a little differenced. 
 The former may be allowed golden, while 
 the latter are to be manacled with iron chains. 
 
136 iToe Inter ejl of England 
 
 In order hereunto, his ambition has made 
 him refolve the conquering of the world 
 after the example of Alexander, whofe title 
 of Great, as an earneft of his future hopes, he 
 has already affumed. He has vowed to make 
 himfelf as famous to pofterity by his fword, 
 though not by his pen, as Caefar has done ; 
 that Paris fhall give law to the univerfe as 
 Rome once did, and that the Ocean {hall 
 yield no lefs to the Seine, than formerly, it 
 did to Tiber. Now if England, which alone 
 is able to do it, prevents the execution of 
 thefe vaft purpofes, what can we expedt but 
 that one time or other he will feek a re- 
 venge, and, notwithftanding his promifes and 
 folemn confirmations of peace, try againft us 
 the fuccefs of his arms, and by numbers en- 
 deavour for this mighty infolence to chaftife 
 thofe for whom even their own hiftories 
 will convince them, they are man to man a 
 very unequal match. 
 
 The difbanding his forces for the prefent 
 is far from being a fecurity, fince he may 
 raife them again at his pleafure. Nor in- 
 
in reference to France. 137 
 
 deed do I imagine he will difcharge his 
 armies, fince that were to give them an 
 opportunity of rebelling, for which he is fen- 
 fible his people are fufficiently prepared, and 
 only want either domeftic heads and partifans, 
 or foreign afliftance, to refcue themfelves 
 from tyranny and oppreffion. And is it fit, 
 while fo potent and fo near a monarch is in 
 arms that we fhould ftand with our hands in 
 our pockets? No, I am perfuaded, though 
 a prefent peace fliould be concluded, that the 
 king and his minifters will think it for the 
 common fafety and the particular intereft of 
 England, not only to enter with the con- 
 federates into a ftridt alliance ofFenfive and 
 defenfive, but alfo to put themfelves into a 
 pofture of war both at fea and land. The 
 end of war is peace, but a peace with France 
 feems to me to be the beginning of war, or, 
 at leaft, a preparation for one; and I muft 
 ingenuoufly profefs, though war be a great 
 evil, yet from all appearances, I dread the 
 confequences of a peace more for that with- 
 out great care it will be of the two the moft 
 
138 The Inter eft of England 
 
 fatal to England. But this confideration, as 
 moft fit, I leave to my fuperiors, and will 
 only afk you, whether before we engage in 
 a war abroad, it be not fit to fecure a peace 
 at home ; to reconcile by toleration our dif- 
 ferences in point of religion, that the French 
 emiffaries, or others, may not be able to 
 ftrike fire into the tinder already prepared for 
 the leaft fpark. It muft not be forgotten that, 
 to divert or difable Queen Elizabeth from 
 affifting France or defending Holland, Philip 
 the Second of Spain encouraged and aflifted 
 Tyrone to rebel in Ireland ; that in the long 
 war between us and France, it was the 
 frequent pradlice of that crown to incite the 
 Scots to make incurfions upon us ; and I pre- 
 fume, it will be confidered, whether fome 
 ambitious men of that kingdom may not in- 
 fluence the people to favour or fide with a 
 prince who maintains great numbers of their 
 nation, by the confiderations that they are 
 now but a province ; that England denies 
 them an equal freedom in traffic ; that they 
 may have better terms from the French in 
 
in reference to France. 139 
 
 that and religion, in which by denial of 
 liberty they feem diffatisfied. 
 
 Though fuch perfons cannot poffibly work 
 on the wife, the confiderative of the people, 
 yet fure it were not improper to ftudy a 
 courfe to prevent the unthinking crowd, 
 the rabble's being deluded by fuch falfe 
 and groundlefs pretenfions; which in my 
 opinion are with more care to be provided 
 againft in Ireland, where it is faid thofe and 
 other motives may be urged ; for there are 
 computed to be in that kingdom about 
 eleven hundred thoufand perfons, af which 
 800,000 are Irifh, and of them above 10,000 
 born to eftates, difpoiTeffed. Thefe for their 
 lofTes, and others for reftraint in matters of 
 religion, are difcontented, not confidering 
 their own rebellion occafioned their ruin : 
 (by their murmurings I perceive, let the fen- 
 tence be never fo juft, it will not hinder the 
 condemned from railing againft the judge :) 
 Befides their fufFering in eftate and religion, 
 they are yet further, beyond the Scots, 
 rendered incapable of enjoying any office or 
 
140 The Inter eft of England 
 
 power military or civil either in their native 
 or any other of their prince's countries ; their 
 folly having thus reduced them to a con- 
 dition more like that of flaves than fubjedts. 
 Many of the gentry go frequently into other 
 kingdoms, but moft into France, who may 
 poffibly be encouraged to return to move the 
 people to a new fedition, efpecially if they 
 can give them affurance of foreign affiftance. 
 The king wifely forefeeing this, directed, in 
 1673, his late vigilant and prudent vice- 
 gerent, the Earl of EfTex, to difarm the Irifli 
 papifts, and notwithftanding the exaft exe- 
 cution of that command, it is faid that his 
 majefty intends to put himfelf to the further 
 charge of increafing his army in that king- 
 dom beyond what now it is, and to appoint 
 a confiderable fquadron of fhips to guard and 
 defend its coafts from any attempts of inva. 
 fion, without which there is not the leaft 
 fear of any inteftine commotions. 
 
 This, with the charge he has been at in 
 eredling a new fort in the harbour of Kinfale, 
 the moft likely place to prevent the entering 
 
in reference to France. 141 
 
 of any foreign power into that country, fhows 
 he has been watchful to fecure himfelf and 
 people againft the French defigns. And now 
 I touch upon Ireland, I have heard fome fay 
 that it is not only convenient but neceffary to 
 unite that kingdom to this, to make a new 
 divifion of fhires, to fend only fo many mem- 
 bers to Parliament as could no more join to 
 outvote ■ us than Cornwall and Devonlhire 
 with two or three other counties ; and I fee 
 not if they were thus made one wherein their 
 intereft would be different from ours, although 
 many rather think they would be lofers by the 
 bargain. Others fancy Poyning's aft fliould 
 be repealed, that at firft, though a trick, it 
 was neceffary but now is not, all the power 
 and almoft all the land being devolved upon 
 fuch as are mediately or immediately Englifh 
 and Proteflants. Thus by an eafy con- 
 trivance they might be flill obliged to a 
 dependence on the crown of England; by 
 which, it is faid, if they are always fo kept 
 under as to be no more than hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water, they may in future ages 
 
142 The Inter eft of England 
 
 be encouraged to a defedlion, and either fet 
 up a power of their own, or invite a foreigner, 
 which might prove of ill confequence to 
 England ; for the harbours and fituation of 
 Ireland lying more convenient for trade, makes 
 it that way or otherwife a ready inlet to the 
 conqueft of England. 
 
 The people there ftomach the prejudice in 
 point of commerce, defigned though not 
 effedted, by the ad:s againft their cattle, navi- 
 gation and plantation trade ; by the firft they 
 are faid to have gained vaftly by an increafe 
 in woollen and linen manufadtures, in (hipping 
 and foreign traffic, to the great prejudice of 
 England. And I have been credibly informed 
 by a perfon who examined it, that they have 
 gained, communibus annis, 40,000/, fterling 
 yearly by the exported commodities of beef, 
 tallow, hides, butter, and wool yielding fo much 
 more after the paffing that adt than they and 
 the cattle did before when tranfported together. 
 And if the Irifh, of which there are few pure 
 families left, have fome pretence to the king's 
 favour, as he is lineally defcended from Per- 
 
in reference to France. 143 
 
 gutius, fecond fon of the then reigning king 
 of Ireland, and firft of Scotland, which was 
 anciently peopled from thence ; the Englifh 
 there claim a greater fhare in his majefty's 
 grace, and fay of right they ought to be 
 accounted but the younger brothers of Eng- 
 land, I could wifh with all my heart the 
 ftory were true I had from an Irifh gentleman 
 in France, that his countrymen were fo 
 pleafed that they were at laft governed by a 
 king defcended from their own blood royal, 
 that they had refolved to pay his majefty and 
 the fucceffors of his line the allegiance due 
 from natural born fubjedls, not from a con- 
 quered people, which they now no more 
 efteem themfelves, nor defire to be accounted 
 by others. How much of this may be true, 
 you and I know not, but this I think, if all 
 the natives were obliged to fpeak Englifli, and 
 all called by the name of the Englifli of Ire- 
 land, and allowed equal privileges in trade, 
 (the fame ufages and cuftoms, begetting a 
 harmony in humour,) that rancour might in 
 time be removed, which from a fenfe of being 
 
144 ^^ Inter eft of England 
 
 conquered renders them now troublefome and 
 chargeable to this kingdom. 
 
 This was defigned in part by Queen Eliza- 
 beth and King James, and perhaps had been 
 efFedted for the whole, but that the Irifli could 
 not be faid to have been fully conquered 
 before the tenth year of his reign, which was 
 after the making of thofe ftatutes. It would 
 be, I confefs, an advantage to England to be 
 freed from the charge and neceflity of keeping 
 that kingdom under by a conftant army ; 
 and, confidering the inconveniences this nation 
 has fufFered by their frequent wars and re- 
 bellions, their gain would be more if they had 
 never conquered the country in which the 
 loffes of the Englifli could perhaps be never 
 better compenfated than by finking it, if 
 poflible, under water. The acceffion of fo 
 much people unto England might make fome 
 reparation for the greater number which to 
 our own impoverifhment we have fent thither. 
 I have dwelt the longer upon the confidera- 
 tions of Scotland and Ireland to {how the 
 Frenchman may be miftaken who, about ten 
 
in reference to France. 145 
 
 or twelve years fince, publiflied a book of 
 politics chalking out the way for the French 
 king's gaining the univerfal monarchy, (in 
 imitation of Campanella to Philip the Second 
 on the fame fubjedt,) wherein, after feveral 
 infufFerable flights and indignities, intolerable, 
 bafe, falfe and malicious characters thrown 
 and fixed upon the Englifli, he tells it will be 
 an eafy tafk to overcome them, (but in the 
 lafl place,) by fowing divifions among the 
 king of England's fubjedts, efpecially thofe of 
 Scotland and Ireland, by falfe infinuations, 
 jealoufies and fears of Popery and arbitrary 
 government, &c. ; the prevention whereof 
 will be his Majefty's particular care, and the 
 Parliament's, to enable him to carry on this 
 great work of our common fafety againft the 
 common enemy, the diflurber of the peace of 
 Chriftendom, by finding out an eafy and 
 fufficient fund. 
 
146 Of Taxes. 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 OF TAXES. 
 
 IHIS naturally brings me to the con- 
 fideration of taxes, allowed by all 
 underftanding men as abfolutely 
 neceflary for the fupport of the 
 body politic, as meat and drink for the 
 natural. But what kinds are beft has been 
 much difputed. Before I defcend to par- 
 ticulars, it is not amifs to obferve in general 
 that no taxes can be juft or fafe which are 
 not equal. All fubjeds, as well the meaneft 
 as the greateft, are alike concerned in the 
 common fafety, and therefore fliould, accord- 
 ing to their refpeftive interefts of riches or 
 enjoyments, bear the charge in equal pro- 
 portions. The contrary prad:ice muft of 
 neceflity beget murmurings and difcontents. 
 
Of Taxes. 147 
 
 which feldom ending in words, proceed higher 
 to blows, dividing the oppreffed againfl the 
 others, which will certainly difquiet and dif- 
 turb, and may probably ruin both. 
 
 All taxes fhould be proportioned to the 
 necellities of ftate, fo that in computing 
 thefe, the error, if any muft be, is fafer 
 on the right hand than in defed: ; becaufe 
 the overplus may be ordered to other good 
 public ufes. 
 
 Further, when taxes are made equal to the 
 people, and proportionate to the charges of 
 the public, it is much more for the fubjedt's 
 eafe and the common fafety that they be 
 made perpetual than temporary ; for, if the 
 means of fecuring ourfelves againft all the 
 dangers to which we are expofed be not 
 fufficient, we muft undoubtedly yield our- 
 felves up to the mercy of our enemies, or 
 fufFer much vexation in parting with fur- 
 ther fupplies from time to time out of that 
 fubftance which nature, or our own almoft 
 equally binding cuftoms have made but juft 
 enough for the fupport of ourfelves and 
 
148 OfTaxes. 
 
 families, either of which is very grievous. 
 Becaufe alfo the event is uncertain, it is hard 
 to determine which of the two is moft deftruc- 
 tive to the pleafures of Ufe ; for he that fays 
 the choice is eafy, in that your enemies may 
 take away your Hfe, the other courfe does 
 but render it miferable, is in my opinion 
 much rniftaken, it being more eligible to 
 have no fenfe at all than to have it only to 
 endure pain ; for life is in itfelf a thing in- 
 different, neither good nor bad but as it is 
 the fubjedt of pleafing or unpleafing per- 
 ceptions ; and is then better or worfe as it 
 has more or lefs of the one or the other : 
 fo that the proper queftion is not, whether 
 it be better to live or not to live? but, 
 whether mifery be preferable to no mifery ? 
 to which not only reafon but fenfe is able 
 to give a fatisfadlory anfwer. You fee then, 
 that if the taxes fall fhort of their end, we 
 are expofed to great miferies ; and therefore 
 to exceed is fafer, efpecially when things may 
 be fo ordered that after the oceafions are 
 fupplied, the furplufage may be refunded or 
 
Of Taxes. 1 49 
 
 employed in the way of a bank or lombard 
 or public trade, as fifhing or clothing, &c. 
 
 The firft, as an unexpedted gift, will be 
 very grateful to the people, and the other 
 will not be lefs beneficial becaufe it muft in- 
 creafe their riches, and be a fund, without 
 new taxes, for any future emergencies. 
 
 That perpetuating the revenue is moft 
 eafy for the people and moft convenient for 
 public ends, will farther appear from thefe 
 following confiderations ; that an equal tax, 
 though greater than is needful, fo the money 
 be not hoarded up to hinder trade, but iffued 
 as faft as it comes in, for neceflaries within 
 the country, however it may for the prefent 
 make fome alterations in particular families, 
 does not impoverifti the whole : for riches, as 
 power, confifting in comparifon, all equally 
 retrenching fome part of their expenfes, re- 
 main as rich as they were before. This re- 
 trenchment may at firft feem unpleafant and 
 ftomachful to thofe who. think what they 
 have little enough for their private expenfe ; 
 but fuch ought to confider, if they refufe to 
 
1 50 Of Taxes. 
 
 part with fome, they will infallibly lofe all ; 
 that inftead of being a free people, they may 
 become flaves, and will not then have it in 
 their power to keep ought of what they call 
 their own ; have no liberty or property, but 
 at the pleafure of their conquering trium- 
 phant lord and mafter : that then they will 
 be dealt with like beafts, now they have the 
 liberty of rational men, i.e. of choofing with 
 the wife merchant in a florm, to throw fome 
 of his goods overboard, to fecure his life and 
 the reft of his fortune. When by prudent rules 
 of economy and temperance they have pared 
 off thofe great extravagances men are now 
 given to, in clothes, in meat and drink, &c., 
 to the decay of their healths and (hortening 
 of their lives, and have proportioned their 
 layings-out to their comings-in, what for the 
 prefent feems fo hard will become very eafy, 
 and be hereafter no more felt than the pay- 
 ment of tithes now ; which without doubt 
 wrought the fame efFedt at firft as this may 
 be fuppofed to do. But what is yet much 
 better, they will make us rich ; for I am 
 
Of Taxes. 1 5 1 
 
 convinced that the great taxes in the united 
 Netherlands, have been the chiefeft caufe of 
 their great wealth; and though this be no 
 fmall paradox, and perhaps a new one, I am 
 fully perfuaded it contains a great truth ; 
 for their great taxes neceffitated great in- 
 duftry and frugality, and thefe becoming 
 habitual, could not but produce wealth ; ef- 
 pecially confidering that the produdt of la- 
 bour is more valuable to the kingdom than 
 the land, and all other perfonal eftate, which 
 I will fhow under the particular of trade. 
 When the taxes are lefs than ferve, or to laft 
 but for a time, thofe who do not make their 
 expenfes fhort of their incomes, but think 
 they may without prejudice make both ends 
 meet ; or if they exceed, fo foon as that pro- 
 portion which now goes to the public comes 
 in, it will make things even again ; do not 
 confider how difficult it is to fall, and that 
 in the mean time an accident may happen 
 that not only requires the continuance of the 
 temporary, but alfo of impofing new and 
 greater taxes : then, when perhaps it is too 
 
152 Of Taxes. 
 
 late, they cry out they are ruined and un- 
 done ; and indeed, the cafe feems hard, yet 
 cannot be avoided. Therefore, to anfwer 
 our prefent needs, and prevent for the future 
 fuch great evils, the taxes are to be made per- 
 petual ; fo we, being under a neceflity of ad- 
 jufting our private affairs accordingly, a little 
 time will make them habitual to us, and in- 
 fenlible to our pofterity : for, that if they be 
 not perpetual, but to determine at certain or 
 uncertain periods of time, they do not only 
 become uneafy to the fubjedt, but incon- 
 venient for the public fecurity, which may 
 fuffer much at home and abroad in the in- 
 terval before new fupplies can be legally 
 raifed. 
 
 'I do not doubt but you and your fellow- 
 members have it in your thoughts that all 
 the cuftoms and half the excife ceafe upon 
 the death of our fovereign, for whofe long 
 life every good fubjedl is bound by intereft 
 no lefs than duty heartily to pray ; but is it 
 not to be remembered that the period of 
 human life is uncertain, though that of our 
 
Of Taxes. 153 
 
 evil which may thereupon enfue, be not. 
 The occafions of our expenfe continuing, 
 though the means of fupporting them fail ; 
 before a parliament can be convened, thofe 
 others may be increafed, becaufe in the 
 meantime the merchants will fill the king- 
 dom with goods, and fell them at the fame 
 rates they now do, reckoning that a lucky 
 hit ; and fo anticipate the markets for two, 
 three or more years, with all manner of ftaple 
 commodities, ■ linen, filk, fait, &c., which 
 they have near at hand ; and with what 
 perifhable commodities they can procure, for 
 as long a term as they will laft, and perhaps 
 covetoufly and foolifhly for a longer. Thus 
 the people will pay and lofe, and yet the 
 ftate grow poor, as well for the prefent, as 
 future, while the merchants only, the over- 
 hafty and immature, will have the profit : 
 and though they talk loudeft, the confump- 
 tioner ftill pays the duty, and that with 
 intereft. 
 
 In proportioning of taxes, we muft have 
 recourfe to the neceflities of the charge, which 
 
1 54 Of Taxes. 
 
 in my fenfe of things ought to extend to all 
 that relate to us as fingle perfons in matters of 
 right or wrong, as law, &c., as well as to 
 what concerns us with references to the 
 whole in our public occafions, as of peace or 
 war, foreign or domeftic. For I hold it 
 altogether as reafonable that the public (hould 
 pay all thofe officers who promote and dif- 
 tribute juftice, as well as thofe others now 
 paid by the ftate ; in proportion to which I 
 hope our governors will confider what will 
 fuffice for the management of all affairs that 
 any way conduce to the joint good of the 
 whole body politic, and when that is known 
 and fixed, leave the reft to our own particular 
 difpofal. 
 
 But in this proportioning of taxes we muft 
 rather look forward than backward. Our 
 honie occafions are eafily judged, but thofe 
 abroad muft be taken by other meafures, the 
 former ufe of. money compared with its 
 prefent, the ancient demefnes of the crown 
 with what they are now, and the ftrength 
 and power of our neighbours, efpecially the 
 
Of 'Taxes. 155 
 
 French ; concerning whom we are not to 
 forget that that crown is much more potent 
 than it was heretofore by the acceffion of 
 large territories, which, when England's, 
 gave it great aid and affiftance in their war. 
 The expenfe of one year's war in this age is 
 greater than that of twenty in former times, 
 when twopence a day would go further than 
 twenty pence now ; when fix or ten thoufand 
 men were as confiderable an army as forty 
 or fifty thoufand now ; when a fmall caftle, 
 moat, or ordinary ditch, was a good fortifi- 
 cation, but mighty baflions, large curtains 
 doubly fortified with fausfbrais, counterfcarps, 
 half-moons, redoubts, and great variety of 
 other outworks, according to the nature and 
 fituation of places, with exquifite fkill and 
 vaft expenfe made and defended, together 
 with the ftrongeft citadels, are now taken. 
 Then the charges of arms and ammunition, 
 bows and arrows ferving inftead of fire-arms, 
 were inconfiderable ; but now France has in 
 conftant pay above 1 20,000, fome fay above 
 200,000, fighting men, whofe Handing army 
 
I 56 Of Taxes. 
 
 in former times exceeded not 10,006, nor fo 
 many but on particular occafions, when a 
 fingle battle, or at moft a fummer's expedition 
 put an end to a war, no long nor formal fieges 
 to.fpin out the quarrel. Now the whole 
 fcene is changed from what in thofe days it 
 confifted in ; courage and ftrength of body 
 into that where patience in fatigue, dexterity 
 in wit, and money in purfe fhall make the 
 coward and the weak an equal match, at 
 leaft, for finewy and gigantic force. There 
 is no doubt, that as many of the Englifh as 
 luxury and idlenefs have not foftened into 
 effeminacy, have ftill as great valour and 
 refolution ; but they are to confider that their 
 old enemies the French are not the fame they 
 formerly were ; that they (finding their fir ft 
 fa-fa or brifk onfet would not do the feat, 
 and wanting courage to rally, nature having 
 denied them bodily ftrength, but to fupply 
 that defeat having given them wit to ufe 
 ftratagems, ) have quite changed the fcene of 
 war, and taken their leave of the old way of 
 venturing body to body. 
 
Of Taxes. 157 
 
 In Queen Elizabeth's time thirty {hips, 
 fuch as perhaps exceeded not our third and 
 fourth-rate frigates, were the fleet which 
 gave law to the biggeft part of the world, 
 the fea; and without the help of ftorms 
 doubted not to have overcome the too arro- 
 gantly flyled Invincible Armada. In thofe 
 days few befides the kingdom of Spain and 
 flate of Venice had any fhips of war ; 
 France and Holland were then very weak, 
 and all four unable to contend with us. 
 Now the Swedes, Danes, Hamburghers, 
 Oftenders, and Algerines, &c., have con- 
 fiderable fleets ; the fl:ates of the United Pro- 
 vinces have much more (hipping than the 
 French king, who yet has upwards of two 
 hundred men-of-war, and many larger than 
 mofl: in Europe, and is every day building 
 more ; and left he fhould yet have further 
 need, I have an account, he has lately coun- 
 termanded about fifty fail of St. Malo's and 
 Havre de Grace merchant-men, of con- 
 fiderable force, bound to Newfoundland. If 
 then his power be fo vaftly' increafed that, as 
 
158 Of Taxes. 
 
 he gives out, he has cafh for five years' charge, 
 and provifions and forage for tv^^o; that his 
 ordinary revenue in France, not to fpeak of 
 his new acquifitions, amounts by the moft 
 modeft computation to above nine milUons 
 fterling per annum; and his country being 
 rich, and the pow^er in his own hands, he may 
 at any time raife what more he pleafes. Is 
 it not then neceffary to confider our own 
 ftrength, and by fufficient fuppUes at home 
 as well as allies abroad fecure our necks 
 againft that yoke with which he threatens to 
 enflave all Europe ? 
 
 Nor will it be amifs for the fubjedt to 
 obferve that the French by fomenting our 
 quarrels, foreign and domeftic, have been the 
 main occafions of the great taxes and impofi- 
 tions, (neceffary appendages of the former,) 
 under which the Englifh nation has groaned 
 for thefe laft forty years. Even the fhip- 
 money had its rife from the affronts their pride 
 and infolence threw upon us ; and they will yet 
 oblige us to fuffer more, unlefs by the joint 
 force of our arms and money in a round 
 
Of Taxes. 159 
 
 and large fupply for the war, we fpeedily 
 enable ourfelves to revenge our paft injuries 
 and their prefent defigns, and fo put jt out of 
 their power, either by this or any other of 
 their crafty pradlices, to difturb or hurt us for 
 the future. 
 
 And it is to be confidered that as the ex- 
 penfes abroad are much greater, fo they are 
 likewife at home ; — that an hundred pound 
 before the eighteenth of Edward the Third 
 was equivalent in intrinfic value to three 
 hundred pound of our now current money ; 
 their groat being raifed to our {hilling. Alfo 
 our expenfes are not only far greater than 
 they were in thofe days, but our neceflary 
 ufes require ten times as much as they 
 could be then fupplied for ; perhaps, no lefs 
 occafioned by the difcovery of the Weft 
 Indian mines (the plenty of every commodity 
 making it cheap), than by our own much 
 greater extravagance : whence it is plain that 
 the prefent revenue of the ftate, even for 
 necefTary occafions, ought to exceed the 
 ancient, as thirty does one. And fince our 
 
i6o Of taxes. 
 
 great intereft, no lefs than honour, lies in 
 fecuring the dominion of the feas, and by 
 that our trade, our fleet mull be anfwerable 
 to that of our neighbours ; it will then, 
 allowing the Englifh, man to man, to be a 
 third ftronger than the French, feem reafon- 
 able to have an hundred and fifty fhips of war 
 in conftant readinefs. And comparing the 
 charge of the Admiralty, by taking an 
 eftimate of what it was in Queen Elizabeth's 
 time, 30,000/., and in the beginning of King 
 James's, 1 604, 40,000/., with what it has been 
 fince this king's reign, which, if I miftake not, 
 I have been told by more than yourfelf, was 
 offered to be made out in Parliament to have 
 been 500,000/. per annum ; but 'granting it 
 was but 400,000/. it muft follow that our 
 fleet has been ten times bigger than that of 
 King James, or that the charge is now ten 
 times more. Hence if it be yet necefliary. to 
 enlarge it treble to make it ftrong enough, 
 that will increafe the ordinary annual charge 
 by the firft account to 1,500,000/., by the 
 lafl; to 1,200,000/. And if the building of 
 
Of Taxes. i6i 
 
 thirty fhips require near 600,000/., how 
 much more will be wanting to complete the 
 fleet, 1 50 fail, and to continue building every 
 year, with an allowance of one third lefs in 
 proportion to the French king's? by which 
 we cannot yet reckon ourfelves fecure from 
 the common foe without a flrid: alliance with 
 the Germans, Dutch and Spaniards. If then 
 the ordinary occafions of our fleet require 
 thus much, and the extraordinary a vafl: 
 addition, the common expenfes in every par- 
 ticular being thirty for one, more than in 
 Edward the Third's time, when the crown 
 had a large revenue in lands, what will all 
 need in the extraordinary accidents of war, 
 &c. now when thefe are almofl dwindled 
 into nothing .? But thefe confiderations I leave 
 to the proper perfons ; yet, by the bye, give 
 me leave to tell you they were never thought 
 of by thofe malcontents who have talked 
 loudly of the great fupplies this king has had. 
 This alone cancels the obligation ; he that 
 brags of having done another good turns, 
 pays himfelf, and does not only free, but dif- 
 
 M 
 
i62 Of Taxes. 
 
 oblige the receiver. It would have argued 
 more ingenuity not to have compared the 
 fubfidies of this king's reign w^ith thofe of his 
 predeceflbrs, without taking notice that per- 
 haps his occafions required more than all 
 theirs did ; — that during the eighteen years 
 he and his father were kept out of their 
 rights, he muft have contradted vaft debts for 
 the fupport of himfelf, his army, and his 
 followers ; — that the great revenue of the 
 crown was in a manner gone; — that other 
 kings had fqueezed vaft fums from their fub- 
 jed:s by loans, monopolies, &c. of which no 
 mention was made in the computation ; — and 
 that the building of fhips, and above four 
 years of fuch a war at fea, confumed more 
 than any one hundred years' war on land fince 
 the Conqueft. The confideration of the vaft 
 charge Dunkirk put the crown to — at leaft 
 three times more than it yielded — occafioned 
 the advice of its fale. Tangier too has 
 ftood the king in very great fums; and 
 till of late the fupporting the charge of 
 Ireland helped to drain the exchequer of 
 
Of Taxes. 163 
 
 England ; whilft the intrinfic value of one 
 million formerly was equal to that of three 
 millions now, and in real ufe to thirty mil- 
 lions ; for the true intrinfic value or worth 
 of money is no otherwife to be computed 
 than according to what it will purchafe for 
 our prefent confumptions, which I have 
 reckoned to exceed thofe of old only by ten, 
 though I have heard others fay much more. 
 But that which has made thefe complaints fo 
 loud, has not been only inconfideration or, 
 perhaps, malice, but the inequality of impof- 
 ing the taxes ; and thofe great inconveniences 
 may be eafily obviated for the future by 
 making and applying to particular ufes fuch 
 fufficient and equal funds as are neceffary to 
 be fettled. I will only inftance in one, that 
 of the cuftoms, which feems originally to 
 have had its rife for that end ; and therefore 
 ought to be appropriated to the ufe of the 
 navy. I wifh it were great enough for fuch 
 as our fafety requires. 
 
 And if this courfe be taken in apportioning 
 the revenue, the public and private expenfes 
 
164 Of Taxes. 
 
 are to be generoufly computed. The doing fo 
 will remove jealoufies and diftrufts on all 
 fides, the king will be under no neceffity of 
 ftraining his prerogative, by hearkening to the 
 devices of projedlors ; the people will be quiet 
 and at eafe ; and then every man may fafely 
 fit under his own vine and his own fig-tree, 
 and enjoy with pleafure the fruits of his 
 labour. If you look into the hifl;ories of paft 
 ages, you will find the difputes of the preroga- 
 tive on one hand, and of liberty on the other, 
 were always founded on the w^ant of money ; 
 and he that confiders the evils that have en- 
 fued, will foon believe it very neceflary to 
 prevent the like for the future, by applying 
 to every ufe of the crown or ftate (I do not 
 fay to the perfon of the king, whofe greateft 
 (hare is the trouble, while the fubjedt's is 
 fecurity and eafe) a fufficient and perpetual 
 revenue. This adl will beget an entire con- 
 fidence and love, and fo unite us to one 
 another, as will make it impoflible for any 
 ftorms without, or commotions within, to 
 (hake this kingdom fo founded on a rock ; 
 
Of Taxes. 165 
 
 againft which all who make any attempts 
 muft needs fplit themfelves and fortunes. 
 
 I have, according to my wonted freedom, 
 given you my thoughts why I think it more 
 convenient, both for public and private, that 
 the revenue were fufficient and perpetual. 
 Againft this I never met but with one ob- 
 jedbion, to wit, that if that were done, the 
 king would not fo frequently, if at all, call 
 his Parliament : as if there were no ufe for 
 this great council but railing of money. The 
 altering or repealing the old, and making 
 new laws ; the reforming of errors and abufes 
 in inferior courts of juftice; the deciding the 
 controverfies thofe courts could not, and 
 many other things would make their meet- 
 ing neceflary. The king would fee it were 
 his advantage to call them often, lince befides 
 that there is fafety in the multitude of coun- 
 fellors, all that happens to be fevere and 
 harfti would light on them, and yet none 
 could be offended becaufe the ad: of the 
 whole. Nor could his Majefty but be fen- 
 fible that all innovations are dangerous in a 
 
1 66 Of Taxes. 
 
 ftate ; for it is like a watch, out of which any 
 one piece loft would diforder the whole. 
 The Parliament is the great fpring or heart 
 without which the body of the common- 
 wealth could enjoy neither health nor vigour, 
 life nor motion. While they mind their 
 duty in propofing and advifing what is beft 
 for king and people, without private refped:, 
 leaving him the undoubted prerogative of 
 kings, of Nature and reafon, of affenting or 
 diffenting, as he is convinced in his con- 
 fcience is beft for the common good, which 
 is to be his meafure in all adtions, as the laws 
 are to be the fubjedt's rule, I fee not why 
 it (hould not be his intereft to call them 
 frequently. None can be fuppofed to ad- 
 vife the contrary, unlefs fome few great men, 
 to avoid not fo much perhaps the juftice 
 as the paflion, envy and prejudice of fome 
 in that judicature to whom they may think 
 themfelves obnoxious ; but granting this, it 
 is unreafonable to think fo wife and fo good 
 a prince will prefer the private intereft of any 
 fingle man, though never fo great, before the 
 
Of Taxes. 1 67 
 
 general good and fatisfadlion of his people. 
 I fhould rather think he will, in the words 
 of his royal father, in a fpeech to his Parlia- 
 ment, give in this a full affurance, " I muft 
 conclude that I feek my people's happinefs, 
 for their flourifhing is my greateft glory, and 
 their affedtion my greateft ftrength." His 
 Majefty well knows with what tendernefs 
 and love his fubjedis are to be treated ; that 
 it is more fafe, more pleafing, and more eafy, 
 to eredt his throne over their hearts than their 
 heads, to be obeyed for love rather than fear. 
 The dominion founded on the latter often 
 meets the fame fate with a houfe built upon 
 the fands, while that eftablifhed on the 
 former continues firm and immovable as a 
 rock. He is not ignorant, that as the multi- 
 tude of the wife is the welfare of the world, 
 fo does the being and well-being of the Eng- 
 lifh nation confift in the frequent counfels, 
 deliberations and adls of King and Parliament, 
 in which Providence has fo blended the king 
 and people's interefts, that like hufband and 
 wife they can never be fundered without 
 
1 68 Of Taxes. 
 
 mutual inconvenience and unhappinefs. The 
 fenfe and obfervation of this makes our 
 king's reign profperous, and gives him a more 
 glorious title than that of king, viz. the 
 father of the country, and the great God-like 
 preferver of his children's rights and liberties, 
 who, out of a deep fenfe of duty and grati- 
 tude, muft own and remember who tells 
 them that a wife king is the upholding of his 
 people ; and therefore cannot but pay him, 
 even for their own intereft, all imaginable 
 loyalty, deference, and refped:, giving up 
 their lives and fortunes for his (or, which is 
 all one, their own) fafety, who ftudies nothing 
 fo much as their good and welfare. Befides, 
 the king has already paffed an h&. that a 
 Parliament fhall lit at leaft once in three 
 years, and in feveral fpeeches he has declared 
 himfelf ready to do what further we fhall de- 
 lire for the better fecurity of our liberties, 
 properties and religion ; why then Ihould any 
 think he would not efteem it his own as well 
 as people's intereft to confult often, and upon 
 all fudden occalions, with his Parliament? For 
 
Of Taxes. 169 
 
 my own part, I fhould rather believe, by con- 
 tinuing this fo long, that he would not be 
 againft their aflembling thrice a year, as by 
 the grace of former kings was accuftomed 
 for many years, before and after the Conqueft. 
 But, to put all jealoufies to filence, the Parlia- 
 ment, in fettling and appropriating the re- 
 venue to particular ufes, may (as they have 
 already begun to do in the Adl for building 
 thirty fhips) grant it under a kind of con- 
 dition or provifo, viz. that the refpeftive 
 officers give a full account of the employ- 
 ment thereof unto the Parliament at leaft 
 once in every three years ; otherwife all far- 
 ther levies of the fame to ceafe, &c. 
 
 Having faid thus much in general of taxes, 
 I come now to the particular branches ; I 
 have already fhowed the inconvenience of the 
 cuftoms, &c. determining with the king's 
 life ; I will further add that the book of rates 
 ought to be reviewed, and in the new one 
 a greater confideration had of the ufefulnefs 
 and neceffity of the commodities in placing 
 the impofition on them ; viz. rating all the 
 
1 yo Of Taxes. 
 
 allowed commodities of France much higher 
 than they are, railing the duty of their wines, 
 to be at leaft equal with that on thofe of Spain. 
 I never yet could be fatisfied what induced 
 the compilers of that book to rate Spanifh 
 wines higher than thofe of France ; fince the 
 height of duty is a fort of prohibition which 
 ought to be more taken care of in the trade 
 with France, by which we are vaft lofers, 
 than in that with Spain, which is a gainful 
 one. The beft reafon I could find is that 
 they did it inconfiderately, taking it as they 
 found it left by the Long Parliament, who, 
 by the fenfe of revenge for the war, were in- 
 duced fo to treat the Spaniard. One might 
 have thought the laft impoft on French 
 wines would have leffened their importation, 
 which Colbert, the financier, obferving it had 
 not done (I was affured at my return in 
 Auguft, by Fontainbleau, that) in his mea- 
 fures for the next year's charge, he valued 
 his mafter 100,000/. on that account, not 
 doubting but the Parliament would take off 
 that duty of wine which would give him 
 
Of Taxes. 171 
 
 opportunity to put fo much on ; that at this 
 the French king fmiled and faid, " for fuch 
 a kindnefs he fhould be obliged, and would 
 no more call them petite maifon" But I 
 hope, notwithftanding his fcornful quibble, 
 he will find fuch fober refolutions in that 
 houfe, as will fet him a madding, and that 
 inftead of taking off that duty he may per- 
 ceive more put on ; which is indeed the only 
 effedtual way to prohibit the importation of 
 thofe vaft quantities of French goods by 
 which England is greatly impoveriflied. To 
 lefTen the traffic of his people is the firft ftep 
 to lower him ; which I am perfuaded is beft 
 done by impofing an exceflive high duty 
 upon all the commodities, and contriving the 
 A(St fo that nothing fhould pafs duty free. 
 This courfe would be a better reftraint than 
 abfolute prohibition. And it is the method 
 he himfelf has taken in the trade with us, 
 which he had long fince wholly forbid, but 
 that upon examination he found it was 
 driven to above 1,600,000/. advantage to his 
 fubjedts and lofs to thofe of England. This, 
 
172 
 
 Of Taxes. 
 
 rather yearly increafing than decreafing, will 
 at length quite ruin us if not prevented ; and 
 yet notwithftanding he impofes upon our 
 cloths four {hillings an ell, as a fumptuary 
 law to oblige his fubjedts to the ufe of their 
 own manufadlures. 
 
 The next is the Excife, which, if equally 
 impofed, were the beft and eafieft of all taxes ; 
 and to make it fo, after the manner of Holland, 
 it ought to be laid upon all things ready to 
 be confumed. This puts it into the power 
 of every man to pay more or lefs, as he re- 
 folves to live loofely or thriftily ; by this 
 courfe no man pays but according to his 
 enjoyment or adlual riches, of which none 
 can be faid to have more than what he fpends ; 
 true riches confifting only in the ufe. But 
 the prefent excife is grievous becaufe heavier 
 on the poor labourers and meaner fort of 
 people than on the rich and great, who do 
 not pay above a tenth of what the others do ; 
 and confidering that moft of the noble and 
 private families out of London brew their 
 own drink, it falls yet heavier on the poorer 
 
Of Taxes. 173 
 
 fort, and will at laft on the State ; for the 
 common brewers do already complain that 
 they daily lofe their tradie, many of their 
 cuftomers, even in London, brewing for 
 themf elves to fave the impofition. To fpeak 
 the truth in good confcience, this branch 
 ought to have been impofed on the nobles 
 and eftated-men rather than on the artificer 
 and labourers, who were very flenderly con- 
 cerned in the grounds of it, viz. the taking 
 away the wardfhips and purveyance, which 
 was fo great an advantage to the public, 
 efpecially the richer, that that adl of grace 
 and condefcenfion in his Majefty, which 
 freed us and our pofterity from great incon- 
 veniences and greater figns of fubjedtion ought 
 never to be forgotten. 
 
 This Adt gave us a greater propriety and 
 liberty than ever we had before; and muft 
 the poor chiefly pay for the benefit of the 
 rich ? let it not be told, to the generations to 
 come that an A6t fo unequal was contrived 
 by thofe who ftudy only the public in- 
 tereft. I pray then let it be reviewed, and 
 
174 , Of Taxes. 
 
 either made general on all public and private 
 brewers, (by which the rich will ftill have 
 advantage of the poor, according to the 
 difference between ftrong and fmall beer ; 
 for to allow public brewers, and prohibit all 
 private ones, as is pradtifed in the Low Coun- 
 tries, would never be endured in England) 
 or rather let it be placed on malt, or taken 
 quite off, and laid on the land as a perpetual 
 crown rent ; or let there be a general excife, 
 the mofl equal tax that poflibly can be de- 
 vifed, on all confumed commodities of our 
 own growth, or imported ; which ought to 
 be managed by proper officers, the farming 
 of any part of the revenue being of evil con- 
 fequence, as I could fhow at large, both to 
 the State and people. 
 
 The hearth-money is a fort of excife, but 
 a very unequal one too ; the fmoke on it has 
 offended the eyes of many, and it were to be 
 wifhed that it were quite taken away and 
 fomething in lieu thereof given to the crown 
 lefs offenfive to the people's fenfes. I have 
 heard many fay that an impofition on li- 
 
Of Taxes. 175 
 
 cenfes for felling of ale, ftrong waters, coffee, 
 cider, mum, and .all other liquors, and for 
 vidtualling-houfes, might be as beneficial to 
 the crown, and fo ordered as might prevent 
 or difcover highwaymen, &c. I have read 
 among the Irifh ftatutes one to this purpofe, 
 obliging among other things the inn-keepers, 
 &c., to make good all horfes ftolen out of 
 their ftables or paftures. An impofition on 
 all ftage-coaches, carts, wagons, and carriers, 
 fet afide for the well ordering the roads, 
 would be of general advantage, as would a 
 tax upon periwigs, ferving in part as a fump- 
 tuary law. A year, or half a year's rent 
 charged upon all the new buildings fince 
 1656 would not only much oblige the City 
 of London, enabling them by the difference 
 of rents to let thofe many wafle houfes, 
 which now, to the ruin of trade, remain un- 
 tenanted, but alfo gratify the kingdom by 
 eafing them from the common, threadbare 
 land tax, 
 
 I do not queftion but, in this conjuncture, 
 the wit of men will be contriving new ways 
 
176 Of Taxes. 
 
 to fupply the prefent occafions of a war ; for 
 that a land tax is flow and unequal ; and I 
 am apt to fancy that of the poll-money will 
 be pitched upon as the molt fpeedy levy, but 
 muft not be too great. As to myfelf, I am 
 not folicitous what courfe they take, but 
 wifh it fuch as may be equal, and fo will be 
 pleafing to moft; but be it great or linall, 
 the king as formerly will be again defrauded 
 unlefs there be fpecial care taken. The way 
 I apprehend is, that for twenty-one years to 
 come, neither plaintiff nor defendant be al- 
 lowed the benefit of the law, without pro- 
 ducing an authentic acquittance or difcharge 
 that they have paid this poll-money, and 
 averring the fame in their actions or pleas ; — 
 that the minifters be forbid to marry within 
 that fpace any who do not, women as well as 
 men, produce fuch certificates ; — that none 
 be admitted to any office or command, civil 
 or military, adminiflration or executorfhip, 
 freedom or privilege in town, city, or cor- 
 poration, or received into any of the public 
 fchools, inns, or univerfities, if of the age 
 
Of Taxes. 177 
 
 limited by the ad:, except they make out the 
 faid payment ; which in three months after 
 ought to be regiftered, with the perfons' 
 names and qualities. 
 
 Now, in regard that England is already 
 very much under peopled, and will be more 
 fo if there be a war ; to provide againft thofe 
 evils, and to obviate in fome meafure the 
 loofenefs and debauchery of the prefent age, 
 I have thought of a fort of tax which I be- 
 lieve is perfeftly new to all the world, and 
 under which it is probable, if it takes, I have 
 made provifion for my own paying the crown 
 no inconfiderable fum during my life. 
 
 It is a tax upon celibate, or upon un- 
 married people, viz. that the eldeft fons of 
 gentlemen, and other degrees of nobility up- 
 wards, fliould marry by twenty-two com- 
 plete, all their daughters by eighteen, and 
 younger fons by twenty-five : all citizens' 
 eldeft fons (not gentlemen) by twenty-three, 
 all other men by twenty-five : all the 
 daughters (not fervants) of all men under 
 the degree of gentlemen, to marry by nine- 
 
 N 
 
178 Of Taxes. 
 
 teen ; all maid-fervants by twenty — that all 
 widowers under fifty marry within twelve 
 months after the death of their wives ; all 
 widows under thirty-five, within two years 
 after their hufbands' deceafe, unlefs the 
 widowers or widows have children alive. 
 I allow the women, as the fofter and 
 better natured, more time to lament their 
 lofs — that no man marry after feventy nor 
 widow after forty-five — that all men co- 
 habit with their wives. 
 
 The eldeft fons of gentlemen, and all 
 other degrees of nobility upwards, and all 
 other perfons not married by the times limit- 
 ed as aforefaid, fhall pay per annum a-piece 
 thefe following rates, viz : — 
 
 Dukes, marquefles, and their eldeft fons 
 forty pound, other lords and their eldeft fons 
 twenty pound, knights, baronets ten pound, 
 efquires eight pound, gentlemen five pound, 
 citizens three pound, all other retailing tradef- 
 men two pound — the younger brothers or 
 fons of all the foregoing perfons refpedlive- 
 ly half fo much ; and likewife the maiden 
 
Of 'Taxes. 179 
 
 daughters, or rather their fathers or guardians 
 for them — fervants, labourers, and others fix 
 fhiUings and eight pence. 
 
 All the above-faid widowers or widows, 
 not marrying again under the age aforefaid, 
 (hall pay half; but marrying again after the 
 ages above limited, double according to their 
 qualities refpe<Stively ; and all married men 
 not cohabiting with their wives to pay quad- 
 ruple. 
 
 You may perceive I do not forget, in this 
 fcheme, to pradtife fome of the courtefy of 
 England towards the women; that in regard 
 it is not fafhionable for them to court (an 
 hardfhip, cuftom and their own pride have 
 fooliftily brought upon them), they are taxed 
 but at half what their elder brothers are. 
 
 Thefe things I do not fet down with a de- 
 fign of giving people a liberty of playing 
 the fool, as now, by irregular lives under 
 thofe penalties. For all fingle perfons that 
 do fo, I would have obliged under an indif- 
 penfable neceffity to marry one another ; and 
 I could wifh a further feverity of punifhment 
 
i8o Of Taxes. 
 
 were inflidted upon adultery by the flate, 
 fince it is fo much negledted by the church. 
 
 It would alfo be of great and public ad- 
 vantage that all marriages were celebrated 
 openly in the church, according to the canon 
 or rubric, and the banns three feveral fundays 
 or holydays firft publiflied ; but if this muft 
 be ftill difpenfed with, that then all dukes 
 and marquefles, and their eldeft fons fhould 
 pay twenty pound, all noblemen and their 
 eldeft fons fifteen pound, every knight and 
 his eldeft fon feven pound ten fhillings, 
 every gentleman or others five pound, to the 
 king as a public tax for fuch licenfe over 
 and above the prefent eftabliftied fee in the 
 confiftory court. If all children may not be 
 baptized openly in the church, the births of 
 all, even Non-conformifts, fhould be duly 
 regiftered. The knowing the exadl numbers 
 of the people would be of great advantage 
 to the public weal, and conduce to many 
 good and noble purpofes, which (for brevity' 
 fake) I omit to mention. 
 
Of Trade. i8i 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 OF TRADE. 
 
 IHIS courfe may perhaps prevent 
 many inconveniences that young 
 men and women bring upon them- 
 felves and the pubUc ; and fince 
 the Concubitus Vagus is acknowledged to 
 hinder procreation, the reftraint thereof will 
 be one means of advancing trade, by adding 
 more people to the common-wealth, which, 
 perhaps, in the following particulars you will 
 find to be the greatefl occafion of its decay, 
 an inconvenience by all poffible means to be 
 removed ; for that trade is the fupport of any 
 kingdom, efpecially an ifland, enabling the 
 fubjedts to bear the taxes, and (hewing them 
 ways of living more agreeable than thofe of 
 the favage Indians in America, whofe con- 
 
1 82 Of Trade. 
 
 dition is but a few degrees diftant from that 
 of brutes. Since then it is fo neceffary, it 
 defer ves the ParUament's beft care to reftore 
 it to what it has been, or make it what it 
 fhould be. The firft thing to be done is, the 
 eredting a Council or Committee of Trade, 
 whofe work fhould be to obferve all manner 
 of things relating thereunto, to receive infor- 
 mations of all tradefmen, artificers and others, 
 and thereupon make their obfervations ; to 
 confider all the flatutes already made, and out 
 of them form fuch bill or bills as fhall be 
 more convenient, and prefent them to the 
 Parliament to be enafted. 
 
 There are already many difcourfes pub- 
 lifhed ; fome of them would be worth their 
 view, and, did they fit conftantly, many would 
 bring their remarks ; and I myfelf fhould be 
 able to give fome notions on this fubjeft, 
 which, for want of time, I cannot now give 
 you. 
 
 The two great principles of riches are land 
 and labour ; as the latter increafes, the other 
 grows dear ; which is no otherwife done 
 
Of Trade. 183 
 
 than by a greater confluence of induftrious 
 people ; for where many are coop'd into a 
 narrow fpot of ground, they are under a ne- 
 ceflity of labouring, becaufe in fuch circum- 
 ftances they cannot live upon the produd:s of 
 nature, and having fo many eyes upon them, 
 they are not fuflfered to fleal ; whatever they 
 fave of the effedts of their labour, over and 
 above their confumption, is called riches ; and 
 the bartering or commuting thofe produfts 
 with others is called trade \ whence it follows 
 that not only the greatnefs of trade or riches 
 depends upon the numbers of people, but 
 alfo the dearnefs or cheapnefs of land, upon 
 their labour and thrift. 
 
 Now, if trade be driven fo that the im- 
 ports exceed in value the exports, the people 
 muft of neceffity grow poor, /. e. confume 
 the fundamental ftock, viz. land and labour, 
 both falling in their price. The contrary 
 courfe makes a kingdom rich. The confe- 
 quence is that, to better the trade of Eng- 
 land, the people (which will force labour) 
 muft be encreafed, and thrift encouraged ; for 
 
i84 Of Trade. 
 
 to hope for a vaft trade where people are 
 wanting is not only to expedl brick can be 
 made without ftraw, but without hands. 
 
 The great advantage a country gains by 
 being fully peopled you may find by the 
 following obfervation, viz. That the value of 
 the labour is more than the rent of the land, 
 and the profit of all the perfonal eftates of 
 the kingdom, which thus appears : — fuppofe 
 the people of England to be fix millions, 
 their annual expenfe at twenty nobles or fix 
 pound thirteen and fourpence a head, at a 
 medium for rich and poor, young and old, 
 will amount to forty millions ; and, if well 
 confidered, cannot be eftiimated much lefs. 
 The land of England and Wales contains 
 about twenty-four millions of acres, worth, 
 one with another, about fix and eight pence 
 per acre, or the third part of a pound ; confe- 
 quently the rent of the land is eight millions 
 per annum. The yearly profit of all the 
 people's perfonal efl:ate is not computed above 
 eight millions more ; both together make fix- 
 teen millions per annum : this taken out of 
 
Of Trade. 185 
 
 the forty millions' yearly expenfe, there will 
 remain twenty-four millions, to be fupplied 
 by the labour of the peojple ; whence follows 
 that each perfon, man, woman and child, 
 muft earn four pound a year, and an adult 
 labouring perfon double that fum ; becaufe a 
 third part or two millions are children, and 
 earn nothing ; and a fixth part or one million 
 by reafon of their eftates, qualities, callings or 
 idlenefs, earn little ; fo that not above half 
 the people working muft gain, one with 
 another, eight pounds per annum a-piece, 
 and, at twenty years' purchafe, will be worth 
 eighty pounds per head. For, though an 
 individuum of mankind be reckoned but 
 about eight years' purchafe, the fpecies is as 
 valuable as land ; being in its own nature 
 perhaps as durable and as improveable too, if 
 not more fo, increafing ftill fafter by genera- 
 tion, than decaying by death ; it being very 
 evident that there are much more yearly 
 born than die. Whence you may plainly 
 perceive, how much it is the intereft of the 
 ftate, and therefore ought to be their care 
 
1 86 Of Trade. 
 
 and ftudy, to fill the country with people : 
 the profit would not be* greater in point of 
 riches, than in ftrength and power ; for it is 
 too obvious to be infifted on, that a city of 
 one mile in circumference and ten thoufand 
 men, is twice as ftrong and eafier defended 
 than one of four miles with double the 
 number. 
 
 Now there are but two ordinary ways of 
 increafing the people, that of generation and 
 that of drawing them from other countries : 
 the firft is a work of time, and though it will 
 not prefently do our bufinefs, yet is not to be 
 negledied. I have fhown how it may be 
 haftened by obliging to marriage, and more 
 might be added by eredting hofpitals for 
 foundlings after the manner now ufed in 
 other countries, and pradlifed with great ad- 
 vantage in Paris, by the name of L' Hojlel pour 
 les Enfants Trouves, where there are now 
 reckoned no lefs than four thoufand. This 
 in all parts of England, efpecially London, 
 would preVent the many murders and con- 
 trived abortions now ufed, not only to the 
 
Of Trade. 1 87 
 
 prejudice of their fouls' health but that of 
 their bodies alfo, and to the general damage 
 of the public. This would likewife be an 
 encouragement to the poorer fort to marry, 
 who now abftain, to prevent the charge of 
 children. 
 
 Strangers are no otherwife to be invited 
 than by allowing greater advantages than 
 they have at home ; and this they may with 
 more eafe receive in England than in any 
 part of Europe, where natural riches do much 
 abound, viz. corn, flefh, fifh, wool, mines, 
 &c. and which Nature has bleffed with a 
 temperature of healthful air, exceeding all 
 northern, and not inferior to moft fouthern 
 countries — has given it commodious ports, 
 fair rivers, and fafe channels, with poffibilities 
 of more for water carriage : thefe, with what 
 follows, would foon make England the richefl 
 and moft powerful country of the world. 
 Naturalization without charge, plain laws and 
 fpeedy juftice, freedom in all corporations, 
 immunities from taxes and tolls for feven 
 years, and laftly, liberty of confcience ; the 
 
1 88 Of Trade. 
 
 reftraint of which has been the greateft caufe 
 at firft of unpeopling England, and of its not 
 being fince repeopled. This drove ftioals 
 away in Queen Mary's, King James, and 
 King Charles the Firft's days. It has loft the 
 wealth of England many millions, and been 
 the occafion of fpilling the blood of. many, 
 many thoufands of its people. It is a fad con- 
 fideration that Chriftians fhould be thus fooled 
 by obftinate religionifts, in whom too much 
 ftiffnefs on one fide and folly and perverfe- 
 nefs on the other, fhould have been equally 
 condemned. Both are indeed the efFedts of 
 pride, paflTion or private intereft, and altogether 
 foreign to the bufinefs of religion ; which, as 
 I have already told you, confifts not in a be- 
 lief of difputable things (of which if either 
 part be true, neither are to us necefTary), but 
 in the plain pradtice of piety, which is not in- 
 compatible with errors in judgment. I fee 
 not, therefore, why the clergy fhould be 
 wholly hearkened to in this affair, fince it is 
 really impertinent to the truth of religion ; 
 and I dare appeal to all the fober underftand- 
 
Of Trade. 189 
 
 ing and confiderative men of the Church of 
 England, whether the oppofition of this be 
 not wholly founded upon intereft, which be- 
 ing but of particular men ought not, nor will 
 not, I hope, weigh more with the Parlia- 
 ment than that of the public, which is fo 
 highly concerned in this matter. 
 
 And though it may be objedled that as 
 affairs of religion now ftand, none need leave 
 England for want of toleration, yet certain 
 I am, without it none will return or come in 
 anew. And if our neighbours thrive and 
 increafe in people, trade and wealth, we con- 
 tinuing at a ftay or growing ftill poorer and 
 poorer, by that means rendered unable to re- 
 lift a foreign power, are like to fall into fuch 
 hands as will force us to worfhip God after 
 the way which almoft all of us now call 
 herefy, and many idolatry. Which induces 
 me to conclude that nothing but inconfidera- 
 tion can move even the clergy to oppofe this 
 thing, on which their own as well as the 
 fafety of all others does fo very much depend. 
 But in regard the defed;s of trade cannot 
 
1 90 Of Trade. 
 
 prefently be fupplied by bringing in more 
 people, becaufe a work of time, it is neceflary 
 to make thofe we have ufeful, by obliging 
 the idle and unwilling to a neceffity of work- 
 ing, and by giving the poor that want it a 
 full employment. This will in effedl be a 
 great increafing of the people, and may be 
 eafily compafled if workhoufes be eredled in 
 feveral parts of the kingdom, and all perfons 
 forced into them who cannot give a fatisfac- 
 tory account of their way of living. This 
 would prevent robbing, burglary, and the 
 cheats of gaming, counterfeiting of hands, 
 money-clipping, &c. by which our lives and 
 fortunes would be much better fecured. This 
 would put men's wits upon the rack ; hunger 
 which eats through ftone walls, would make 
 them in getting their livings by the fweat of 
 their brows, matters of art,* a degree perhaps 
 more ufeful to the commonwealth than thofe 
 of the univerfity. This would put them 
 upon the invention of engines, whereby their 
 labour would not only become more eafy but 
 
 * " Magifter artis ingenique largitor, venter." 
 
Of trade, 1 9 1 
 
 more produdlive of real advantages to the 
 whole ; rendering the poet's fable of Briareus's 
 hundred hands a certain truth ; one man 
 doing more by an inftrument than fifty or a 
 hundred without it. Wit will thus in fome 
 meafure make amends for the want of people ; 
 yet fo dull and ignorant, fo infenfible of 
 their own good are the vulgar, that generally 
 inftead of being pleafed they are at firft 
 almoft implacably offended at fuch profitable 
 inventions. But it appears the Parliament 
 had another fenfe of things, in that they 
 allowed the advantage of fourteen years to 
 the inventor : which law, with fubmiflion, 
 might be altered to better purpofe if, inftead 
 of a fourteen years' monopoly, fome reward 
 out of the public ftock were given to the 
 ingenious. The many fupernumeraries in 
 divinity, law and phyfic, with which the 
 kingdom (efpecially London) fwarms ; all 
 mountebanks, and pretenders to aftrology, to- 
 gether with the fupernumeraries in all manner 
 of retailing trades (even the trade of mer- 
 chandizing has too many hands) efpecially 
 
192 Of Trade. 
 
 all pedlers or wanderers that carry their {hops 
 on their backs, lap-women, &c. who contri- 
 bute little or nothing to the charge of the State, 
 fhould be pared off and made ufeful to the 
 public; to which, by the vaftincreafe of thefe, 
 the great number of idlers and beggars, not 
 above two thirds even of the ordinary fort, 
 can be looked upon as bringing in any real 
 advantage ; the other third, but like drones, 
 living on the labour of the reft. 
 
 And to fpeak more freely, it is unreafon- 
 able and impolitic, efpecially in a great and 
 over-grown city, to fuffer any retail trades to 
 be managed by men, when women, with the 
 help of a few porters about the moft cumber- 
 fome things, may do it much better. They 
 will invite cuftomers more powerfully than 
 men can, and having nothing to do in the 
 way of their fhop trades, will not be idle, their 
 needles employing them ; while the men, per- 
 haps from two, three, or four, to feven lufty 
 young fellows, fit idle moft part of their time, 
 with their hands in their pockets, or blow- 
 ing their fingers. Few of this fort of trades 
 
Of Trade. 193 
 
 finding one with another, above two hours' 
 work in the whole day ; the men would 
 ftudy fome more beneficial employments, 
 and the women, having by this means fome- 
 thing to do, would not as now, induced by 
 idlenefs more than want, be occafions of fo 
 much wickednefs and debaucheries^ to the 
 general prejudice of the Commonwealth, and 
 the particular ruin of many good families. 
 
 To fet on foot the fifhing trade, allow 
 all fuch as will undertake it, ftrangers 
 or natives, the fame benefits and privi- 
 leges I have mentioned for the bringing 
 in of the former ; and I think if beyond that, 
 houfes were built for them in Lynn, or 
 Yarmouth, &c., at the public charge, rent- 
 free for feven years, every man would fay 
 it were for the general good who confiders 
 that this trade is the only bafis of the grandeur 
 and power that the States of Holland are 
 no lefs lords of in Europe than in the Eaft 
 Indies, to which it has raifed them in lefs 
 than an hundred years, from the poor and 
 diftreffed ftates to be one of the richeft and 
 
1 94 Of Trade. 
 
 mightieft of the known world. This I could 
 at large make appear, but that it having been 
 done already, with the want of time, hinders 
 me. I will only fay that Holland has not 
 the tenth part of thdfe natural conveniences 
 for efFedling this that England, Scotland, or 
 Ireland has. Let the fame encouragements be 
 given to all fuch, whether natives or foreigners, 
 that {hall jointly carry on the particular manu- 
 fadtures of iron, tin, earthenware, linen, &c. 
 In the laft, at three {hillings and four pence an 
 ell, one with another, there is reckoned con- 
 fumed by us above fix hundred thoufand 
 pounds ; all which might be faved and the 
 poor fet at work by promoting that trade with- 
 in ourfelves. To re{lore the woollen manu- 
 fadlures, almo{l decayed, take the fame care 
 in that and all other as the Dutch have done 
 in that of the herrings ; the negledt in this has 
 been a main reafon that our clothing trade 
 is much le{rened. Reputation in commodities 
 is as nece{rary as in the vendors, which 
 makes the Dutch even at this day put on 
 Engli{h marks, and thereby, for the ancient 
 
Of Trade. 1 95 
 
 credit (now in a manner loft) ours were 
 in, they have gained for their own manu- 
 fadiures the markets we want. The decay 
 of our clothing traffic has been occafioned by 
 feveral accidents ; one, and no fmall one, 
 is that of companies, which indeed are as 
 much monopolies as if in one fingle perfon ; 
 they ruin induftry. and trade, and, only to 
 enrich themfelves, have a liberty by which 
 they impoverifti the reft of the Common- 
 wealth. Whatever reafon there was for firft 
 eredting them, viz., to begin or carry on 
 fome great undertaking which exceeded the 
 power of particular men, there appears lefs 
 or none now for their continuance. The 
 enjoyment of liberty and property requires 
 that all fubjefts have equal benefit in fafety 
 and commerce, and if all fubjedts pay taxes 
 equally, I fee no reafon why they fhould not 
 have equal privileges. 
 
 And if part of thofe taxes be impofed for 
 guarding the feas, 1 do really believe it would 
 be more advantage to the king to fend 
 convoys to the Eaft Indies, and to Guinea 
 
196 Of Trade. 
 
 with any of his fubjedts trading thither, than 
 to allow thefe two companies the fole benefit 
 of engroffing thofe trades, though I think no 
 others but they, being at confiderable charge 
 and expenfe, ought to be continued. 
 
 And fince the Eaft India and African 
 Companies, efpecially the firft, impofe what 
 rates they pleafe upon their commodities, 
 why fhould not they pay, for that power of 
 taxing the fubjedt, a confiderable prefent 
 proportion for carrying on the war, and a 
 yearly round fum to the ftate, to eafe the 
 reft of the people who are debarred thofe 
 advantages ? In my opinion, gratitude to 
 the king, as well as juftice to the fubjedt, 
 fhould invite them to give a confiderable 
 ftanding yearly revenue to the crown. This 
 may be policy too ; for then perhaps they 
 need never fear their diffolution, notwith- 
 ftanding the clamours and many mouths now 
 open againft them. 
 
 But if it (hall not be thought fit to take 
 away all companies, why fhould it not be 
 lawful once a year for any one that pleafed 
 
Of Trade. 197 
 
 to be made a member, paying in his quota ? 
 This, I confefs, would make it ufeful to the 
 public, becaufe the trade would be managed 
 by fewer hands, confequently to more profit, 
 and every one being concerned, there could 
 be no complaint. 
 
 But whatever is done in point of trade, 
 particular corporations of artificers ought to 
 be broken. They, as now managed, are en- 
 couragements to idlenefs, impofitions upon 
 the reft of the people, and an unreafonable 
 enflaving of apprentices, who in three years, 
 for the moft part, may be as well mafters of 
 their trade as in feven ; but the advantage 
 is, that when they come to fet up for them- 
 felves, they commonly turn gentlemen, and 
 cannot afford to fell a cabinet under fifteen 
 pounds, becaufe they muft eat well and 
 drink wine ;, though they own a Dutchman 
 or a Frenchman that does not fo, may afford 
 as good a one for twelve pounds. This of the' 
 cabinet is a late and a true ftory, and to my 
 own experience. It is the fame in moft if 
 not all other trades. 
 
198 Of Trade. 
 
 The Fiflimongers' Company is of all others 
 the greateft nuifance to the public, to the 
 moft ufeful part thereof, the poor artificers 
 and labourers ; I was credibly informed at 
 my laft being in London, by two fubftantial 
 citizens, that they throw part of their fifh 
 away, to inhance the value and price of the 
 remainder. 
 
 For thefe and many more reafons I 
 could give, it were convenient that every 
 city and town corporate confifted but of one 
 company, into which, without charge or for- 
 malities of freedom, every man, native or 
 alien, ought to be admitted that" pays his 
 proportion of taxes and affefTments. 
 
 And in order to the bringing in foreigners, 
 our native unmanufactured commodities 
 ought to be ftridtly prohibited to other coun- 
 tries ; more particularly the exportation of 
 wool from England and Ireland ought to be 
 'reftrained ; which will be better done by im- 
 pofing a vaft duty upon it, as of thirty or 
 forty fhilHngs a ftone or tod, than by making 
 it felony : adding over and above great pe- 
 
Of Trade. 1 99 
 
 cuniary mulfts, if fhipped without payment 
 of duty. If this were enad:ed, many would 
 turn informers, who now out of tendernefs 
 of men's lives forbear the difcovering this 
 injurious praftice : for prevention whereof 
 great care ought to be taken, fince the vaft 
 quantities of wool exported from England 
 and Ireland into France and Holland have 
 in a manner deftroyed the great ftaple of 
 England, the woollen manufadture, lowered 
 the rents of land, and beggared thoufands of 
 people. By this the Dutch and French are 
 enabled to make ufeful both their own and 
 Spanifh wools, which would otherwife be 
 infignificant and ineffeftive of any confiderable 
 purpofes ; one being too fine, the other too 
 coarfe, without mixtures of Englifh or Irifh 
 wool. 
 
 Thofe, by greater labour and frugality, 
 who heretofore were furniflied by us, do now 
 not only fupply themfelves, but alfo underfell 
 us abroad ; and as if that injury were too 
 little, we are content, by wearing their fluffs, 
 to give them an opportunity of undermining 
 
200 Of Trade. 
 
 us at home. If you confider thefe things 
 ferioufly, you will with me be perfuaded it 
 is not the great increafe of wool in England 
 and Ireland that makes it a drug, but the 
 pradlice of carrying it abroad, and our not 
 being fatisfied to ape and mimic the French 
 modes, but further to wear their fluffs, 
 though far inferior to our own. 
 
 I have heard it demonftrated by knowing 
 men, that it would be England's great intereft 
 to work up all their own and Irifh wool, 
 though they fhould afterwards burn it when 
 in fluffs and cloth ; and I am convinced their 
 doing fo one year would not only maintain 
 the poor and habituate them to labour, but 
 be as great an advantage in the fale of that 
 manufadlure both at home and abroad for 
 the future, as the burning part of their fpices 
 IS to the Dutch. But I am of opinion there 
 would be no need to burn any, for that 
 which is now ufeful in wool would not be 
 lefs fo in cloth. I have feen a computation 
 by which it appears the working up all our 
 own and Irifh wool, which England can do 
 
Of Trade. 201 
 
 to better purpofes than a part, while the re- 
 mainder is tranfported to other countries, 
 would be many millions in the wealth of the 
 people, and as many hundred thoufand pounds 
 fterling in the king's coffers. For if we kept 
 this commodity at home, we fhould not only 
 give a full employment to our people, but 
 neceflitate thofe who now in France and 
 Holland maintain themfelves by this manu- 
 fafture, fo foon as their (locks were fpent, 
 to find new arts of living, or elfe convey 
 themfelves hither, which of the two is cer- 
 tainly the moft probable. Thus we fhould 
 doubly increafe our wealth and our people ; 
 the latter by confequence raifing the rents 
 and value of lands, in duplicate proportion 
 (as I could demonftrate) to what they now 
 yield. For a fhort inftance, obferve, that if 
 there be a thoufand people in a country, the 
 land whereof is worth a thoufand pounds 
 per annum, and at twenty years' purchafe 
 twenty thoufand pounds ; if they be in- 
 creafed half as many more, or to one thoufand 
 five hundred people, the rent of the land will 
 
202 Of Trade. 
 
 likewlfe be half as much more, mz. one 
 thoufand five hundred pounds, and the 
 number of years' purchafe not only twenty, 
 but half as many more, viz. in all thirty ; 
 which makes the value of the inheritance 
 amount to thirty times one thoufand five 
 hundred, or forty-five thoufand pounds. The 
 reafon of which is founded on this undeniable 
 maxim, that land is more or lefs valuable as 
 it is more or lefs peopled. When heretofore 
 all the wool of England was manufadtured 
 in Flanders, it yielded but fixpence a pound ; 
 but foon after the reftraint of it in Edward 
 the Third's time, the manufadturing all at 
 home raifed it to eighteen-pence a pound, 
 and brought into the kingdom great numbers 
 of Flemings and Walloons. To encourage 
 this further, all perfons whatfoever fhould 
 wear nothing but fluff and cloth of our own 
 make, the ladies to have liberty to wear filk 
 but in fummer. I am told that within thefe 
 fix months, to encourage a woollen manu- 
 facture newly fet up in Portugal, no man, 
 native or flranger, is fuffered to appear at 
 court in any other. 
 
Of Trade. 203 
 
 That ufeful negledled adt of burying in 
 woollen fliould be ftridtly put in execution ; 
 not prohibiting the people, if they will be fo 
 foolifti ; but probably a little time will make 
 them wifer than to throw away linen too, 
 which if they would make at home might be 
 the more tolerable. The way I conceive by 
 which it may be eafily done is to enjoin the 
 minifter under penalty of deprivation, with 
 allowance of money to the informers, not to 
 bury any one whofe corpfe or coffin they do 
 not fee covered with flannel. And fince 
 Death is faid to be the After of fleep, or rather 
 fince fleep is the reprefentative of death as 
 our beds are of our graves, or indeed that 
 death is but a very long night, if we fliould 
 not only bury but lie in flannel fheets, at 
 leaft the long cold winter nights, I have been 
 aflAired by our old friend that this practice, 
 after a little ufe, would be found no lefs for 
 the health, if not fome voluptuoufnefs of our 
 natural bodies, than the other would prove 
 for the body politic ; and I am the more in- 
 duced to believe this afl!ertion, becaufe phy- 
 ficians prefcribe flannel fliirts to fome perfons 
 
204 Of Trade. 
 
 for their health. I am certain the more 
 ways are found for the confumption of this 
 manufadture, the richer our country would 
 grow, by lefTening the ufe of foreign linen, 
 fo greatly advantageous to our neighbours of 
 France ; whom we love fo dearly that we 
 ftudy how to ferve and enrich them, though 
 to our own impoverifhment and ruin. 
 
 Befides this courfe, not a lock of wool 
 fhould be permitted into the iflands of Jerfey, 
 Guernfey, Alderney, or Sark ; under colour 
 of what is allowed, they are enabled to fupply 
 their own occafions, and carry much more 
 (of which I am well aflured) to France, 
 which reaps the benefit of the great induftry 
 of thofe populous iflands. To make them 
 beneficial, at leaft not hurtful, to England, is 
 to deny them wool ; if that would bring the 
 people thence into this country, it would prove 
 a double advantage. And laftly, I think the 
 only certainty of keeping our wool from 
 foreigners is to ereft a company by the name 
 of State Merchants, or oblige the Eaft India 
 Company, whofe ftock and credit will enable 
 
Of Trade. 205 
 
 them with eafe to buy up at good rates yearly 
 all the wool of England and Ireland ; which, 
 manufadtured at home, would bring them in 
 a little time as profitable returns as thofe from 
 Bantam, &c., be many millions in the riches 
 of the people, by raifing the rents, &c., and 
 hundreds of thoufands in the king's exchequer, 
 employ thoufands of our poor now ftarving, 
 and invite in many of other nations, to the 
 great increafe of our ftrength and wealth, 
 and fo prove no lefs a particular than an uni- 
 verfal good. 
 
 All foreftallers, regraters, and higglers 
 ought to be prevented, who now do as much 
 mifchief to the City of London as formerly 
 purveyance did the kingdom. 
 
 The prefent confufed bufinefs of weights 
 and meafures, which appears by many ftatutes 
 to have been the care of our anceftors, 
 ought to be fully afcertained and adjufled. 
 And becaufe this does greatly tend to the re- 
 gulation of trade and adminiftration of juftice, 
 it were convenient particular perfons were 
 empowered who fhould receive complaints 
 
2o6 Of Trade. 
 
 and corredt abufes in thofe and all other penal 
 ftatutes referring to trade by fome more 
 fpeedy courfe than that of information or 
 indid:ment, &c. 
 
 No particular perfon or incorporations 
 ought to have any places privileged againft 
 the king's vv^rits. 
 
 The Parliament fhould be pleafed to 
 redrefs the great obftrudtion of juftice by 
 proted:ions, of which no lefs than fixteen 
 thoufand are faid to be given in and about 
 London. I am perfuaded that either the 
 report is a miftake, or that the members' hands 
 are counterfeited, for it is very unreafonable 
 to believe the makers of our lav^^s would 
 prevent their execution ; but be the cafe one 
 way or other, the evil may be eafily remedied 
 by the members regiftering the names of their 
 fervants in the houfe at the beginning of the 
 feffion and upon the alteration of any. 
 
 All manner of courts in corporations, 
 whether by grant or prefcription, ought to 
 be taken away becaufe of the many abufes 
 daily committed ; and in every corporation 
 
Of Trade. 207 
 
 a court of merchants (hould be eredted for the 
 quick defpatch and determination of all con- 
 troverfies relating to trade and commerce ; 
 every man fhould be obliged to tell his own 
 ftory without charge or the afTiftance of at- 
 torneys or lawyers. The judges fhould be 
 annually chofen, five in number, together 
 with two regifters, one for the Plaintiff, the 
 other for the Defendant, out of the mofl expe- 
 rienced and befl reputed citizens or tradefmen ; 
 no falary or fee to be paid to judge or officer.. 
 Retrench by fumptuary laws the exceifive 
 wearing foreign filks, embroideries, and laces, 
 and prohibit abfolutely the ufeof filverandgold 
 lace, gilding or lackering coaches, &c. When 
 riches are thus not fo much ufed as abufed, it 
 is no wonder they do not only moulder into 
 dufl but take wing (in Solomon's phrafe) and 
 fly away. Our wifer neighbours in France 
 and Holland prevent this evil ; the firft make 
 a fhow, but at an eafy and cheap rate, the 
 latter leave off their clothes becaufe they are 
 worn out, not that they are out of fafhion. 
 Our contrary pradtice in imported commodities 
 
2o8 Of Trade. 
 
 makes us complain that trade is decaying, in 
 which our folly has made us a byword among 
 the French, as a people that confume our all 
 on the back and the belly ; and if none fpent 
 more, the mifchief were but particular, but 
 many are not contented to run out their own 
 eftates, but refolve to have the pleafure of 
 undoing others, for company. So long as we 
 indulge ourfelves in this vanity, we may 
 indeed have the fatisfadlion (if it be any) to 
 talk of mending trade ; but in fpite of our 
 chat it will ftill decay, we fhall buy and fell 
 more and more, and yet live by the lofs, till 
 at laft we are wholly broken. How long that 
 will be a doing we may guefs by the fall of the 
 rents and value of lands, not to be avoided 
 while the balance of trade is fo much greater 
 on the imported fide than the exported. The 
 way to make us rich is to manage our trade in 
 the fame manner it was done in Edward the 
 Third's time ; to make the proportion of our 
 exports exceed our imports as much as they 
 then did. By an account taken in the feven 
 and twentieth year of that king (as Cotton 
 
Of Trade. 209 
 
 fays) our exported commodities amounted 
 to ,^294,184, the imported but _^38,97o; 
 fo that the kingdom got clear in that 
 year ^(^255, 214, by which it appears that 
 our prefent trade is about thirty times 
 greater than it was then, though we com- 
 plain of its fall ; it is our own fault, we 
 are fo imprudent as to confume more of 
 foreign goods than we fell of our own ; this, 
 I am convinced, we do in our French trade, 
 it is weir if we do not likewife play the fool 
 in others. By the way, you may obferve 
 that if we would but moderate our expenfes, 
 we might very well bear our taxes, though 
 they were near thirty times greater than in 
 that king's reign, even with allowance for the 
 alteration of coin. 
 
 The exportation of money in fpecie is 
 fo far from being a lofs to the kingdom that 
 it may be gainful, as it is to Leghorn and 
 other places ; and though we did not e:^port 
 any coin, yet we fhould not be the richer, 
 fince the over-balance would ftill lie as a debt 
 upon our trade, which it muft fome time or 
 
 p 
 
r 
 
 2IO Of Trade. 
 
 other pay in that or another commodity, or 
 otherwife break. 
 
 And the council or committee of trade 
 may find out the weahh of the kingdom, 
 which would ferve to many good purpofes, 
 by making a yearly account of the goods im- 
 ported and exported (beft known by the 
 Cuftoms, as has been calculated by a friend 
 of mine in another country). Thefe ought at 
 leaft every feven years to be reviewed (fup- 
 pofing the life of commodities not longer than 
 that of man) ; and, according to their altera- 
 tions of ufefulnefs or neceffity to ourfelves 
 or others the impofitions may be changed. 
 
 And here I mufl take leave to affert that 
 all imported commodities are better reftrained 
 by the height of impofition than by an abfo- 
 lute prohibition, if fufficient care be taken to 
 oblige the importers to a full and ftrid: pay- 
 ment ; for this would be a kind of fumptuary 
 law, putting a neceffity upon the confumer, , 
 by labour to enlarge his purfe, or by thrift to 
 leflen his expenfe. And I am the more in- 
 duced to this, by my obfervation that not- 
 
Of Trade. 
 
 211 
 
 withftanding the feveral afts prohibiting the 
 importation of many foreign commodities, 
 yet nothing is more worn or ufed, efpe- 
 cially the French, in which , trade, if the 
 overbalance (which is faid to be above 
 jTi, 600,000) were loaded with the charge of 
 eight (hillings in the pound, it would make 
 the confumption of thofe commodities 
 ^^640,000 dearer. If that would not reftrain 
 our folly, it would help to eafe us in the 
 public taxes ; whereas now they are all im- 
 ported without any other charge than what 
 is paid for fmuggling to tie up the feamen's 
 tongues, and fhut officers' eyes. To prevent 
 this, it were fit that men were undeceived of 
 the notion they have taken up, that the law 
 does allow them their choice, either to pay 
 the duty or the penalty if taken, which fure 
 cannot be the end of any law which defigns 
 obedience and aftive compliance with what it 
 enjoins, not a difobedience or breaking what 
 it pofitively commands. If penal ftatutes be 
 only conditional, then the traitor, the mur- 
 derer or the thief, when he fufFers the pun- 
 
212 Of Trade. 
 
 ifhment of difobedience, may be called an 
 
 honeft man, and in another fignification than 
 
 that of the Scotch phrafe, a juftified perfon. 
 
 But the idle and unwarrantable diftindtion of 
 
 adtive and paffive obedience has done England 
 
 greater mifchiefs. The revenue adts give 
 
 not the fame liberty that thofe adts do w^hich 
 
 oblige the people to go to church, or to 
 
 watch and ward under pecuniary muldts. In 
 
 thefe a power of choofing was defignedly 
 
 left, which by many circumftances^ appears 
 
 otherwife intended by the other. And, 
 
 indeed, the pradtice is not only unjuft, but 
 
 abufive to the whole body of the people, who 
 
 pay as dear for what they buy as if the duty 
 
 had been paid to the king, not put up in a 
 
 few private men's pockets. It may likewife 
 
 hinder trade, for if the fmuggler pleafe, he 
 
 may underfell his neighbour who honeftly 
 
 thinks it is a cheat and a fin not to give 
 
 Caefar his due ; therefore a feal or fome 
 
 private mark ihould be contrived for all forts 
 
 of commodities, and power given to feize 
 
 them when and wherever met, in merchants'. 
 
Of Trade. 2 1 3 
 
 retailers', or confumptioners' hands. And to 
 prevent the paffing foreign commodities, as 
 if made at home, for which, left any of thefe 
 laft fhould pafs, they fhould in the town 
 where they are made or expofed to fale, be 
 firft marked or fealed in an office purpofely 
 eredled, without any delay or charge to the 
 people. 
 
 That part of the ad: of navigation fhould 
 be repealed which appoints three-fourths of 
 the mariners to be Englifh : why not Scots, 
 Irifh, or any of the king's fubjedts, or even 
 foreigners, fo the fhips do really belong to 
 owners relident in England? We want 
 people, therefore we ought to invite more, not 
 reftrain any. This adt is a copy of that 
 made by the Long Parliament and their 
 general, the Ufurper, who being at war with 
 Scotland and Ireland in rebellion, thought 
 fit to deny them equal privileges in com- 
 merce. But this loyal Parliament will, I 
 hope, confider that the three kingdoms are 
 not to be thus divided in interefts while 
 under one monarch ; and that his naval 
 
214 Of Trade. 
 
 power, their joint ftrength, is increafed by 
 the growth of fhipping in any of them. If 
 the fenfe of this will not prevail to allow 
 them the fame freedoms, yet fure I am they 
 muft from thence perceive England will have 
 a great advantage by fuffering all the king's 
 fubjeds of Ireland and Scotland to enjoy the 
 benefit of this ad:. 
 
 There {hould be two free ports appointed, 
 one in the fouth, another in the north, with 
 convenient rules and limitations ; and the 
 duty impofed upon any of our exportations, 
 whether of our own growth or manufadure 
 of foreign materials, fhould be not fo high 
 as may either wholly reftrain thofe abroad 
 from buying, or enable others to furnifh 
 them cheaper. 
 
 The education of children in foreign parts 
 in colleges or academies fhould be prohibited, 
 and provifion found or made at home for 
 teaching languages and the exercifes of riding, 
 fencing, &c. 
 
 Banks and lombards fhould be fpeedily 
 ereded, which in a little time would make a 
 
Of Trade. 2 1 5 
 
 hundred pounds to be as ufeful to the public 
 as two hundred real cafli is now. But in 
 order thereunto let there be a voluntary re- 
 giftry of land, &c. which in a few years will 
 raife their value confiderably. By this way 
 no man indebted, or whofe eftate is encum- 
 bered, is obliged to make difcoveries. Yet 
 if he has but half free, the regiflering of 
 that will the better enable him to difcharge 
 the other part. If a regiftry muft not be 
 obtained, at leaft the felling or mortgaging 
 over and over, fecret conveyances, deeds of 
 truft, or any other tricks by which the 
 lender or purchafer is defrauded and abufed, 
 fhould be made felony, without benefit of 
 clergy; and the cheating perfon obliged to 
 pay the fuflferer treble damage, and as much 
 more to the public. This, which certainly 
 all honeft men judge as reafonable as what is 
 pradiifed for far fmaller evils or offences, will 
 without any innovation in the laws or other 
 alleged inconveniences to the people, fecure 
 us to our rights, and, perhaps, anfwer all the 
 ends of a regiftry ; of which, though very 
 
2 1 6 Of Trade. 
 
 convenient, I am not fo fond as to think 
 or believe it will fo fuddenly, or to that height 
 as is faid, raife the rents and value of lands. 
 To this it can contribute but by accident, as it 
 invites ftrangers into the kingdom (for I have 
 already told you that the greater or fmaller 
 number of people is the only true caufe of 
 the dearnefs or cheapnefs of land, and of 
 labour or trade) ; yet even this it cannot do 
 without abolifhing the law difabling aliens 
 to purchafe and hold before naturalization ; 
 which is neceflary without difpute, to be im- 
 mediately taken away. 
 
 Nor would it a little contribute to the 
 general good that all merchants and tradef- 
 men breaking fhould be made guilty of felony, 
 their goods to the creditors, if they did not 
 plainly make appear by their true books their 
 lofles, and difcover whatever they have left, 
 and, without the unjuft and cunning artifices 
 of compofition, give way for an equal divi- 
 dend among the creditors. And the many 
 abufes of the King's Bench Prifon fhould 
 be reformed, which, as now managed, is' 
 
Of Trade. 217 
 
 made a fandtuary and place of refuge and 
 privilege for all knaves that defign their ovv^n 
 private intereft, to the ruin of others, whofe 
 confinement is no narrow^er than from the 
 Eaft to the Weft Indies. 
 
 All bonds and bills obligatory, ftatute mer- 
 chants, and of the ftaple, recognifances, judg- 
 ments, &c. fhould be enafted transferable and 
 by indorfement, to pafs as current as Bills of 
 Exchange, and made recoverable by a fhorter 
 courfe of law^ than novv^ pradtifed ; that is to 
 fay, upon adtual proof of the perfedting and 
 laft affigning of the deed judgment and exe- 
 cution fhould be obtained. This w^ould vv^on- 
 derfuUy enliven trade, make a new fpecies of 
 coin, lower intereft, fecure in a great mea- 
 fure dealers from breaking, and find money 
 to carry on the trades of fiftiing, linen, wool- 
 len, &c. 
 
 Until the propofed regulation of the laws 
 can be effefted, to avoid the trouble and 
 charge of juries in many cafes, and other un- 
 juft vexations, the meets and bounds of the 
 denominations of all lands, manors, parifhes, 
 
2i8 Of Trade. 
 
 commons, hundreds and counties; all pre- 
 fcriptions, ufages and cuftoms, and the jurif- 
 didlions of all inferior courts be fully en- 
 quired into 'and truly regiftered in one book 
 or books; copies to be printed and the 
 original to be, and remain of record, as the 
 Doomfday Book in the Exchequer : by which 
 all dilputes concerning the premifes may be 
 fpeedily and cheaply decided. 
 
 There are but two objedtions againft this 
 public good, and were they unanfwerable, yet 
 fince they are but particular and felfifh con- 
 fiderations they ought not to take place. The 
 firft is, that the ufeful and laudable calling of 
 the lawyers will be prejudiced. The next 
 that the many, who now live upon credit, 
 will be undone. As to the firft, by this work 
 the prefent lawyers will be fo far from fuffer- 
 ing, that for ten years to come, rather than 
 lefi"en, it will increafe their bufinefs ; which, 
 according to the ordinary computation of 
 men's lives or their hopes of being promoted, 
 will be a greater advantage to them than if 
 things continued as they are ; and for thofe 
 
Of Trade. 219 
 
 who propofe to themfelves this way of living 
 there will be ftill grounds enough for the 
 pradlice of fome, and many new employments 
 for others. So that, if thefe gentlemen's pre- 
 fent great pradlice would give them leave to 
 look forward, they would find they are more 
 feared than hurt. As to the fecond fort, who 
 likewife Relieve they may be damnified, that 
 fancy will alfo vanifli if it be confidered that it 
 will enlarge rather than deftroy credit. For, we 
 will fuppofe that a young merchant or tradef- 
 man, who has £s'^° of ftock, does not trade for 
 lefs than ^^2,000, the merchant that fells him 
 the commodities upon the belief of his being 
 honeft, induftrious, prudent and fober, gives 
 him credit, and takes his bond payable at 
 a certain day. This perfon, that he may be 
 able duly to difcharge his obligation in like 
 manner, trufts another whom he fuppofes 
 able and honeft ; for all receive credit as they 
 really are or appear fuch. As foon as his bond 
 becomes due, he takes up his own and gives 
 that he received to his creditor, who perhaps, 
 gives it to another to whom he is indebted. 
 
220 Of Trade. 
 
 At laft the money is called for from the 
 country gentleman ; the country gentleman 
 gives him an affignment on his tenant, who 
 either is or is not indebted. If the tenant 
 owes the money he pays it in fpecie, or affigns 
 him upon fome merchant, for the value of 
 commodities fold him, the fund enabling 
 him to pay his landlord's rent. Thus, per- 
 haps, by a circulation of traffic — for all men 
 from the higheft to the loweft are one way 
 or other merchants or traders — the firft man 
 is paid with his own paper. If the tenant 
 does not owe the landlord the money, and, 
 therefore, will not pay, the landlord is im- 
 mediately neceflitated to fell or mortgage 
 fome part of his eftate ; which, if he refufe, 
 the law forces him and the credits of the reft 
 are fecured. The confequences are plainly 
 thefe, that men muft be careful with whom 
 they deal; that they muft be pundlual and 
 thrifty left they firft lofe their credit, and 
 afterwards become beggars. For, he that 
 rightly confiders, will be convinced that every 
 man in a fociety or commonwealth, even 
 
Of Trade. 221 
 
 from the king to the peafant, is a merchant ; 
 and, therefore, under a neceffity of taking 
 care of his reputation — not feldom a better 
 patrimony than what defcends to us from 
 our parent's care. By this pradlice the king- 
 dom will gain an inexhauftible treafure, and, 
 though there were not a hundredth part 
 of the money, be able to drive ten times a 
 greater trade than now it does. A man thus 
 enabled to live and trade without money, will 
 be in no need of running out his principal 
 in intereft, by which too many for want of 
 confideration are infenfibly undone, involving 
 many more in their ruin. Without thefe, or 
 fome other new courfes, you may be alTured 
 that our trade, confequently our power, will 
 every day decay, and in a few years, come to 
 nothing. 
 
 But fome imagine that we need not trouble 
 ourfelves in this matter, it will fhortly fall in 
 of courfe to our country ; for that as learn- 
 ing took its circuit through feveral parts of 
 the world, beginning at the eaft, fo mull 
 trade too. But whoever believes this will 
 
222 Of Trade. 
 
 come to pafs without human means, labour 
 and art, entertains wrong notions of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 I do believe the great wheel is always in 
 motion, and though there be a conftant cir- 
 cumgyration of things, yet it is idle to fancy 
 that anything but troubles or wars, oppreffion 
 or injuftice, wit or induftry makes trade or 
 learning fhift their places in the fame country, 
 or alter their abode from that to any other. 
 If we look into hiftories we fhall find thefe 
 have been the caufes of their migration, and 
 that trade and learning ufually go hand in 
 hand together. 
 
 Having already aflerted that trade and 
 commerce are to be improved and carried on 
 the more vigoroufly by how much the more 
 labour and thrift are increafed ; and that the 
 making idlers work is in effedl an increafing 
 the people : and that all fuch (hould be forced 
 into feveral workhoufes, (which, though the 
 Parliament has taken into confideration, yet, 
 for want of ftock, is not hitherto put in any 
 forwardnefs,) I will now give you my thoughts 
 
Of 'Trade. 223 
 
 how this may probably be brought about, 
 with little or no charge but to fuch only as 
 upon profpedt of advantage do change the 
 fcenes of their lives, as by marriage, employ- 
 ments, callings, &c. or by affuming new titles 
 and degrees of honour ; and confequently 
 as their refpedtive proportions or payments 
 are here propofed, they cannot account them 
 burdenfome or grievous. To perfedt this, I 
 think it neceflary that all hofpitals, alms- 
 houfes and lands for charitable ufes, be fold, 
 and more ftately and convenient ones eredted, 
 into which none but difeafed perfons, or others 
 perfectly unable to earn their living, fhould 
 be received. And to the end they might the 
 fooner be reftored to health, a convenient 
 number of phyficians, nurfes and tenders 
 ought to be appointed, and fufficient falaries 
 eftabliflied. England, to her great fhame, is 
 in this inftance much behind her neighbours 
 of France and Holland ; in the pradlice of 
 which I know not whether there be more of 
 charity or of policy, of heavenly or of earthly 
 intereft. 
 
224 ^f Tirade. 
 
 The feveral diredlions of the ad: for raifing 
 a ftock fhould be ftridlly put in execution. All 
 fines for fwearing, drunkennefs, breaches of 
 the peace, felons' goods, deodands, &c. fhould 
 for a certain number of years be converted to 
 this ufe ; which would bring in twenty times 
 more than is now received on thefe accounts, 
 and may perhaps prevent the late much prac- 
 tifed trick of finding all felo's-de-fe mad. 
 All contributions for maintenance of the poor 
 (which are fo confiderable that I have been 
 told, that in fome fingle parifhes in London 
 they amount, communibus annis, to five thou- 
 fand pounds a year) fhould be added to this 
 flock. And it fhould be further enafted that 
 every man at his admiflion to freedom pay 
 one fhilling ; upon marriage, what he thinks 
 fit above one fhilling; every clergyman at 
 ordination ten fhillings, at inflalment into 
 any dignity, twenty fhillings ; arch-deacons, 
 three pounds ; deans, five pounds ; bifhops, ten 
 pounds ; archbifhops, twenty pounds ; gen- 
 tlemen upon admittance into the Inns of 
 Court, ten fhillings ; upon their being called 
 
Of Trade. 225 
 
 to the bar, forty fhiHings ; when made fer- 
 jeants, or king's counfel, five pounds. Every 
 man upon admiffion into the inns of chancery, 
 three (hillings and four pence ; when fworn 
 attorney, ten {hillings ; lord high chancellor, 
 keeper, lord high treafurer, and lord privy 
 feal, twenty pounds; chief juftice, chief 
 baron, chancellor of the exchequer, mafter of 
 the rolls, and attorney-general, twelve pounds 
 a-piece ; every of the other judges and barons, 
 the folicitor-general and the fix clerks, ten 
 pounds a-piece ; the mafters of chancery and 
 other officers not named in that or other 
 courts, any fum not exceeding fix pounds a 
 man, as fhall be thought convenient by the 
 refpedlive judges ; all knights, five pounds ; 
 baronets, ten pounds ; barons, vifcounts, 
 earls, twenty pounds ; dukes and marqueflts, 
 fifty pounds ; all aldermen of London, twenty 
 pounds ; of other cities and corporations, three 
 pounds ; mayors, ten pounds ; all mafters of 
 arts in univerfities, twenty (hillings ; dodtors 
 of law and phyfic, forty (hillings ; of divinity, 
 four pounds ; heads and mafters of colleges. 
 
226 Of Trade. 
 
 five pounds ; all executors and adminiftrators 
 that undertake the charge, two {hillings ; all 
 perfons entering into eftates either by defcent 
 or purchafe, one Shilling, over and above one 
 {hilling for every hundred pounds per annum 
 of fuch e{late. Every Sunday there {hould be 
 colled:ions in all churches of the kingdom, 
 which, with what {hall be received at the Com- 
 munion, are to be thus appropriated. And 
 all llreet, door, and other charitable doles in 
 broken meat or money, as the great encou- 
 ragements and chief occafions of idlenefs and 
 vice, fhould be forbid under fevere penalties. 
 Briefs {hould be ilTued through the kingdom 
 for voluntary contributions. The names of 
 fuch as {hall be eminently bountiful {hould be 
 conveyed to po{lerity by placing their coats 
 of arms, and regi{lering their munificence in 
 the refpedtive workhoufes of the city, corpo- 
 ration or county where they live. I do not 
 doubt but in a very {hort time a ftock would 
 be thus raifed fufficient to employ all the 
 idle hands in England. And though I be- 
 lieve that after a little while there would be 
 
Of Trade. 227 
 
 no need of ufing art or feverity in bringing 
 people into thefe nurferies of labour and in- 
 duftry, the fweets of gain and trouble of 
 idlenefs — which certainly is not the leaft of 
 toils to fuch as have been inured to labour or 
 bufinefs — being of themfelves flrong allure- 
 ments ; yet, to lay the firft foundation with 
 fuccefs, I conceive it neceflary that both men 
 and women who have no vifible ways of 
 maintenance, criminals of what quality foever, 
 punifhed as before in the Difcourfe of Laws, 
 and the children taken out of the Foundling 
 Hofpital, as foon as able to do any thing, 
 be all fent to thefe workhoufes. The great 
 numbers of people going out of this kingdom, 
 Scotland and Ireland to other parts of Europe 
 fhould be reflrained, and none be fpirited into 
 the Weft Indies or fuffered to go abroad unlefs 
 to trade; fuch as by infirmity or age are 
 abfolutely difabled, among which neither the 
 lame nor the blind are to be reckoned, fhould 
 be maintained and confined within the public 
 hofpitals ; every conftable in whofe ward or 
 precind: any beggar is found, fhould forfeit 
 
228 Of trade. 
 
 twenty pounds ; and the perfon or perfons 
 entertaining or lodging any, five pounds, to 
 the ufe of the workhoufe. 
 
 Thofe who are commonly fent to the Houfe 
 of Corredtion or Bridewell, and thofe found 
 guilty of petty larceny, (hould be fent to the 
 workhoufe ; for that indeed whipping, the 
 punifhment intended for their amendment, 
 does but take away the fenfe of fhame and 
 honour, rendering them impudent and incor- 
 rigible in their iniquities. But granting its 
 operation fo forcible as to be able to reclaim 
 them, yet certain it is that its beft efFedt is 
 but to hinder them from doing further mif- 
 chief ; whereas by this courfe not only that 
 will be avoided, but a confiderable profit re- 
 dound to the public. To thefe alfo ftiould 
 be added all prifoners for criminal matters 
 though acquitted, if by circumftances they 
 appear fufpicious ; it being reafonable to 
 conclude fome rogues and vagabonds, though 
 the evidence required by ftriftnefs of law be 
 not ftrong enough to convidl them. Hither 
 likewife are all to be fent who for trivial in- 
 confiderable caufes, and fometimes out of 
 
Of Trade. 229 
 
 pure malice, are thrown into prifons and 
 there forced to fpend the remainder of their 
 miferable lives ; the exorbitant extortion of 
 fees and the mercilefs rage of their enemies 
 fwelling their debts beyond the power or 
 hopes of fatisfadlion, whereby they become 
 not only ufelefs but a burden to the common- 
 wealth. And becaufe the benefit of clergy 
 was introduced for the advancement of learn- 
 ing in the ruder days of our anceftors, and 
 that there is now no fuch need, the kingdom 
 being fo far from wanting that it is rather 
 overftocked in every faculty with fuch as 
 make learning a trade ; and the intercourfe 
 of our affairs almoft neceffitating all others 
 to read and write, I hold it convenient to 
 take it quite away ; not only becaufe ufelefs, 
 but becaufe it is an encouragement to many 
 to tranfgrefs the bounds of the law. Then 
 all of what degree or condition foever, men 
 or women, literate or illiterate, convifted of 
 any of the crimes for which clergy is now 
 allowed, fhould be condemned to the work- 
 houfes for feven years, or pay to its ufe fixty 
 pounds or more, according to their qualities. 
 
a'jo 
 
 Of Trade. 
 
 By what I have already faid you fee I am 
 no friend of pardons, but . if any muft ftill 
 be granted, then any not a gentleman obtain- 
 ing one, fhould pay twenty pounds, a gentle- 
 man forty pounds, an efquire fixty pounds, a 
 knight bachelor eighty pounds, a baronet 
 or other knight one hundred pounds, a lord 
 two hundred pounds, a marquis or duke four 
 hundred pounds. The eldeft fons of every 
 of thefe fhould pay equal with the fathers. 
 And in cafe after all this, people fhould be 
 wanting, Ireland may furnifh yearly hundreds 
 or thoufands of its children ; which will prove 
 not only advantageous for increaiing the 
 wealth of England, but alfo for fecuring the 
 peace and quiet of that kingdom, by making 
 fo many of the natives one and the fame 
 people with us, which they will foon be, if 
 taken away fo young as that they may forget 
 their father's houfe and language ; and if, 
 after feven, eight, or nine years, when mafters 
 of their trade, returned into their own, or 
 fufFered to abide in this country. 
 
 I will not trouble you with recounting in 
 
Of Trade. 231 
 
 particular the many advantages that would 
 foon flow through all the tradts of this land 
 from this fource of indufl:ry, if thus fupplied 
 with money and hands. All trades and 
 ufeful manufadures of filks, linen, canvafs, 
 lace, paper, cordage for fhips, iron, tin, &c. 
 may be there fet on foot, and carried on to a 
 far greater profit than fingle men can drive 
 them. In this workhoufe fhould be taught 
 the knowledge of arms, and the arts of war, on 
 all feftivals and holidays ; and the lufty young 
 fellows fent by turns to fea, for a year or two 
 of the time of this their ftate apprentice (hip. 
 By this means the king would be enabled at 
 any time, without prefling, to draw out of 
 this great feminary a fufiicient army, either 
 for land or fea-fervice. 
 
 The ways, methods, and orders for regu- 
 lating the feveral workhoufes I could fully 
 demonftrate, did I not think it needlefs at 
 prefent. It is enough that I here promife to 
 do it at any time when the Great Council fhall 
 think fit to take this matter into confideration, 
 or when you pleafe to impofe your further 
 
232 Of 'trade. 
 
 commands. But give me leave to fay, that 
 laying afide all other reformations of the ftate, 
 this alone would fecure our lives and fortunes 
 from violence and depredation, not only in- 
 creafe our w^ealth and pow^er beyond what 
 now it is, but make them far exceed whatever 
 any of our neighbours are poflefTed of; and 
 confequently eftablifli a firm and lading 
 peace at home, and make us terrible to the 
 nations abroad. This great happinefs is the 
 wifh of every true Englifhman, but can only 
 be effected by the care and wifdom of the 
 King and Parliament ; to whom I moft paf- 
 fionately recommend and humbly fubmit it. 
 I have now at length run through all the 
 parts of my uneafy tafk, you will fay, I 
 doubt not, very flubberingly. To be before- 
 hand with you, I do confefs it ; I never 
 undertook anything more unwillingly, and 
 therefore have performed it, not only ill, but 
 careleffly, ftudying nothing fo much as to 
 come quickly to an end ; which, indeed, was 
 my greateft labour. The fields you com- 
 manded me to take a turn in, were fo 
 
Of Trade. 233 
 
 fpacious, that beii^ once entered, confidering 
 how fhort a while you obliged me to ftay, I 
 could not eafily find my way out again ; 
 which put me to a neceflity of running, and 
 the hafte not giving me leave to fee the 
 rubbs in my way, forced me to ftumble. 
 What I have done can ferve to no other 
 purpofe than for hints to enlarge your 
 better thoughts upon. 
 
 Had thefe papers been worthy, I would 
 have prefented them by way of new year's 
 gift; but that was not my fault. Moft of 
 what you meet with here, we have often 
 
 difcourfed with our . You muft not 
 
 read them to any other ; for 1 am perfuaded 
 they would tell you the man was mad. 
 Perhaps I was fo for writing, but I am fure I 
 have yet madder thoughts, for I do ferioufly 
 believe all I have here faid is true; — and 
 this to boot, that the world is a great cheat, 
 that an honeft man or a good Chriftian is a 
 greater wonder than any of thofe ftrange 
 ones, with which Sir H. B. has often enter- 
 tained us better. This, you are fure of, I 
 
234 OfXi^(^de. 
 
 have fpoken nothing for intereft; I am but a 
 bare ftander by, no better, and therefore 
 neither win nor lofe, let. the game go how it 
 will. But to trifle no more, I am not 
 concerned what any think ; I live to myfelf, 
 not others, and build not my fatisfadtion 
 upon the empty and uncertain vogue or 
 opinion of men. If I did, I ihould put into 
 their power to make me unhappy whenever 
 they pleafe. 
 
 To conclude, the refult of all I have here 
 faid is, that England might be the happiefl 
 country in the world, if the people would be 
 content to make a right ufe of their power ; 
 that is, to ad: by the rules of reafon, on 
 which their own conftitutions are founded : 
 for fince they have the power of reforming 
 the old and enadling new laws, in which 
 every man (the pooreft that is worth but 
 forty {hillings per annum) has his vote, no 
 man can be offended with his own adt ; but, 
 if he be, the remedy is at hand. So that 
 here, everyone living according to reafon, 
 and that making every man a judge, all mufl: 
 
Of Trade. 235 
 
 fee, to their great comfort, that the intereft of 
 the king and people is really one and the 
 fame ; that the common good is every fingle 
 man's ; and that whoever difturbs the public, 
 injures himfelf ; vs^hich is to the whole the 
 greateft fecurity imaginable, and to every 
 private man a lafting happinefs. 
 
 The laws are not exadt, becaufe the 
 Parliament hearken to the counfel, that, not 
 the lawyers, but their intereft didlates ; neg- 
 lefting to follow that advice, which they 
 may have for nothing, viz,. " Let the counfel 
 of thine own heart ftand, for there is no man 
 more faithful unto thee than it ; for a man's 
 mind is wont to tell him more than feven 
 watchmen that fit above in a high tower." 
 That is, confult with no man who advifes 
 with regard to himfelf; which is plain from 
 thefe words, " Every counfellor extoUeth 
 counfel; but there is that counfelleth for 
 himfelf; beware therefore of a counfellor, 
 and know before what need he hath, for he 
 will counfel for himfelf; left he caft the lot 
 upon thee, and fay unto thee, ' Thy way is 
 
236 Of Trade. 
 
 good,' and afterwards he ftand on the other 
 fide to fee what fhall befall thee." Whether 
 this be a prophecy of what the lawyers will 
 do, or a bare narration of matter of fadl, 
 what they daily pradlife, I leave to every dif- 
 cerning man's judgment. 
 
 The fhort of this is to advife that in 
 making of new laws or in altering or re- 
 pealing the old, the members truft not the 
 gentlemen of the long robe, unlefs they 
 promife to join the law and the gofpel ; to 
 give their advice without money, or the hopes 
 of gain ; and yet if their charity or generofity 
 fhould perfuade them to undertake the caufe 
 thus vci forma pauperis, that they give fufficient 
 fecurity, not to ftarve it ; that is, not to be 
 backward in their giving advice according to 
 confcience, not intereft. 
 
 When this is done, we are not fecured, 
 unlefs the Parliament provide that no infringer 
 of the laws be pardoned ; that is to fay, that 
 equal juftice be diftributed, making no dif- 
 tindion between the perfons of the higheft 
 and the loweft, when their crimes have made 
 
Of Trade. 237 
 
 them equal. Which cannot probably be 
 otherwife efFefted, than by conftituting, as is 
 done in Venice, a new magiftracy of public 
 cenfors, who fhall have infpe£tion into the 
 adlions of all the courts of judicature and 
 public offices whatfoever ; whofe account 
 fhall by the Parliament be received as authen- 
 tic, and make the offenders obnoxious to 
 degradations and pecuniary muldls, to the 
 fatisfadlion of the injured, and a farther over- 
 plus to the public, unlefs in their judgments 
 the accufed fairly acquit themfelves. 
 
 Religion as now managed, is made an art or 
 trade to live by, and to enable the profefTors 
 to abufe the credulous and unwary. If in- 
 terefl be not removed, and not opinions, but 
 a good life be the character to diflinguifh 
 real Chriflians from thofe who pretend them- 
 felves fuch, we fhall never have peace here 
 nor afTurance of happinefs hereafter. In 
 granting liberty of confcience clergymen's 
 advice is not to be hearkened to, unlefs they 
 will refign their livings and difpute only 
 for truth. Toleration is at this time more 
 efpecially for three great reafons abfolutely 
 
238 Of Trade. 
 
 convenient ; firft, to unite us at home ; next, 
 to enable us now and hereafter to refift the 
 power of France (this certainly requires all 
 our ftrength, which without union we cannot 
 have) ; the third and great reafon, to advance 
 our trade. 
 
 The French are to be flopped in their ca- 
 reer. To do fo it is neceflary a large and 
 fufficient revenue for ever (if it be done 
 wifely) be fixed and fettled on the crown, on 
 the ftate ; I do not fay on the perfon of the 
 king, for he is indeed, if rightly confidered, 
 but God's fteward, and has fo great a fhare 
 in the trouble that it is an unrefolved queftion, 
 notwithftanding all his glory and power, whe- 
 ther the rofes of the crown make amends for 
 its thorns, and whether the foftnefs of any 
 lining can eafe the weight of the burden 
 he undergoes ; whofe nights and days are 
 made reftlefs by the preffures of that mighty 
 care to which by the fafety of three kingdoms 
 he is continually folicited. If half a loaf (as 
 they fay) be better than no bread, it is more 
 eligible to part with fome than to expofe all 
 to the mercy of an enemy and conqueror. 
 
Of Trade. 239 
 
 from whom the greateft favour we can expedl 
 is to become not a fubordinate kingdom, but 
 an enflaved province. 
 
 Trade is to be promoted by all poffible 
 carq and diligence, becaufe by that we muft 
 be enabled to pay our taxes, without which 
 we cannot withftand foreign violence. Trade 
 is to be bettered by inviting more people 
 into the kingdom and employing all the 
 idle hands we already have. This is to 
 be effedled by propofing advantages and re- 
 wards to ftrangers ; fit employments, threats 
 and punifhments to natives ; by afcertaining 
 all, eafe and fecurity in their perfons, eftates 
 and purchafes, by an uninterrupted and fpeedy 
 courfe of juftice, firmly eftablifhing the three 
 great fatisfadtory defirables, — liberty, pro- 
 perty, and religion. 
 
 Salus Populifuprema Lex. 
 
 From this 4th of 
 
 January, 167I-. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Proofs of Thomas Sheridan's author/hip of 
 the TraSl of 1677. 
 
 " This tradl, put forth at a critical moment, without name of 
 author, publiflier, or printer, yet adlively circulated, may be 
 fliown in very few words to be even now of great intrinfic 
 intereft," and a work of Thomas Sheridan of Cavan. — Editor's 
 Preface, xxix. 
 
 N 1680, three years after the date of the 
 tradj it was popularly attributed to him 
 as an offence ; and in his defence at the 
 Bar of the Commons he meets that 
 imputation in terms which clearly admit the faft 
 of fuch authorfliip, but denying culpability. 
 
 A gift copy of the trad exifts, with the auto- 
 graph of Thomas Sheridan, "from the author" on 
 the title page. 
 
 In Walter Harris's edition of Sir James Ware's 
 " Notices of Irifli Writers," details are given from 
 Thomas Sheridan's fpeech of 1680, word for word, 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 fhowing that Harris held him to have written the 
 tradt. 
 
 With thefe original proofs it is needlefs to 
 accumulate recent judgments to the fame efFe6b, 
 fuch as the Rev. Dr. Bandinel's, in the Catalogue 
 of the Bodleian Library ; and that of Watts in the 
 Bibliotheca, art. Thomas Sheridan ; but it is not 
 without intereft to obferve, that frequent paflages in 
 the trad itfelf point plainly at him for its author. 
 
 B. 
 
 Pedigree of the Sheridans of the I'jth Century. 
 
 Dennis O'Sheridan, alias Denny Sheridan, married to 
 Fofter, — "My mother, a gentlewoman of England, of good 
 fortune; a Fofter, who for my father's fake, quitted her country 
 and relations ; both famous for honefty, for their loyalty and 
 fufferingt"— Thomas Sheridan, Speech at the Bar of the Hou/e 
 of Commons, 1689; Editor's Preface, xxviii. 
 
 Dei«nis Sh£r.idan'=t= Foster. 
 
 r"' ~ — ; r \ i 
 
 William, Lord Biftiop Patrick, Lord Biftiop Thomas, b. 
 ofKilmore.b. 1635; of Gloyne, b. 1638; 1646. 
 
 d. 1716. d. 1684. 
 
 Thomas, b. 1 6 84; the 
 friend of Dean 
 Swift. 
 
 SirThomas, 
 b.1696; d. 
 in France. 
 
 ' The Sheridaii of the Biftiop of Meath's letter of 1685 to 
 Mr. Boyle. 
 
 " The author of the trad; of 1677, and of the MS. Hiftory 
 
Appendix. 243 
 
 the Ulfter Cuflom illuftrated. 
 
 " Few books would be more ufeful than a narrative from the 
 abundant fources extant, of the Londoners' fettlement in Ireland, 
 for the laft 250 years, with its bearing on the famous fomewhat 
 obfcure Ulfter-right." — Editor's Preface, xvii. 
 
 In Baron Heath's " lilftory of the Grocers* 
 Company," ^nd in a volume upon the Irifh Society, 
 by the Member for Hackney, Mr. Reed, we have 
 opening accounts of that fettlement ; fo that more 
 may be expedted, feeing how much the Treafury 
 has doine of late in like produdions for the City 
 records. 
 
 of the time preferred in the Royal Library at Windfor. What 
 his own focial pofition was is obvious from his fpeech at the Bar 
 of the Houfe of Commons in 1680, befides the faft that two of 
 his brothers were biftiops of the Irifli Proteftant church. Of this 
 ftock came the learned and eccentric friend of Dean Swift, Dr. 
 Thomas Sheridan, born in 1684. Yet in the important work 
 by the Rev. Hugh Rofe, art. T. S. he is flated to have iprung 
 from " parents in'hiimblelife in the county Cavan." Surely our 
 biographies call for :large correflions, as much as our national 
 hiftory. , 
 
 This little table is purpofely limited to the feventeenth century, 
 leaving a fitting continuation to the time when Thomas Sheridan's 
 '' hiftory of his time," with his remarkable official career, may be 
 given. 
 
244 Appendix. 
 
 D. 
 
 Bijhop Bedell's printed books and MSS. 
 
 " The reafons of Bifliop Bedell (in favour of ufing the Irifli 
 language in the Proteftant Church), led a Convocation in 1634 to 
 order that the minifter fliould read the Liturgy in Irilh ; and the 
 parifh clerk accompany the minifter in reading that part of the 
 fervice." — The Bijhop of Meath to Mr. Robert Boyle, 1685. 
 Editor's Preface, xxii. 
 
 A complete catalogue of Bifhop Bedell's pro- 
 dudtions in print and known MSS., would fill a 
 large volume If properly defcribed. Here, it 
 fuffices to fuggeft, with brief reafons, that diligent 
 fearch will reveal little underftood treafures from 
 him. Early in life, with the affiftance of Sir 
 Adam Newton, tutor to Prince Henry Stuart, he 
 publiflied a tranflation of Father Paulo's hiftorical 
 works ; and his correfpondence with Sir Adam was 
 publiflied in Dublin in the beginning of the lafl: 
 century. In 1624 he dedicated to the Prince of 
 Wales, Prince Henry's brother, a valuable volume 
 upon the Roman Catholics. When in Venice for 
 eight years he became a ripe Italian fcholar; and 
 produced at that time ufeful educational works for 
 the ufe of Italian fcholars who wiflied to learn 
 Englifli. At the time of the Popifli plot of the 
 5 th of November, he wrote " The Proteftant 
 
Appendix. 245 
 
 Memorial," a Spenferean poem, of which two copies 
 only are known — one in the Britifh Mufeum — the 
 Grenville colJeftion — the other in the Bodleian. 
 His meafure for the reform of Trinity College, 
 Dublin, of which he was for two years Provoft, is 
 alone enough to obtain high repute for fcholarfhip 
 and judgment. When Bifhop, he promoted the 
 ftudy of the Irifti language with great zeal ; and 
 the tranflation of the Old Teftament into Irifh, 
 which he corredled, was printed a hundred years 
 later by Mr. Boyle. His correfpondence was ex- 
 tenfive ; and no life of the Bifhop fhouid be written 
 again without a vigorous inquiry throughout the 
 United Kingdom, and in Venice, Spain, Germany 
 and France for his letters, ftill preferved in MS. 
 His eulogifl:& are legion, from Coleridge's fententious 
 declaration that Bedell was inferior to none, however 
 lofty in the grand ecclefiaftical hierarchy, — to the 
 late Irifh Chancellor Napier, whofe ledure to young 
 fludents in Dublin is a mafterpiece. His earlieft 
 biographer, Clogy, who was a member of his family, 
 tells fimply and well what he had witnefTed during 
 many years of excellence. Bifhop Burnet's more 
 elaborate record has all the merits and all the faults 
 of that prelate's vigorous pen. One of the MS. 
 lives by Clogy has been recently publifhed from 
 
246 Appendix. 
 
 the Plarleiah copy by Mr. Wilkihs, with great 
 care. A valuable feries of letters on the fubjedh has 
 appeared in"' Notes and Queries," by Mr. Moyer 
 of St. John's College, Cambridge; and the ingenious 
 Mr. Monck Mafon has publifhed a later life from 
 records not before examined; Still there feems to 
 remain for more diligent fearch,' the Biftiop's cor- 
 refpondence with the moft emitierit fcholar's of his 
 time, not only in Ireland and Great Britain, but- in 
 Italy, Germany ; ahd France. So long ago as by 
 his own will, he , gave a MS. Hebrew Bible to his 
 College, Emmanuel, Cambridge. 
 
 'The Stuart Facers, at Home and jibrodd. 
 
 " The Stuart Papers, from the royal captive in Windfor 
 Caftle to the royal exile at St. Germain — ^from Mary Queen of 
 Scots to the fallen Pretender of '45 — of whom the whole truth 
 is not yet told." — Editor's Preface, xxxvii. 
 
 When Mr. Fox, with the magnanimity belong- 
 ing to the great popular ftatefman, fought eagerly 
 for the beft evidence favourable to Ring James II; 
 whofe fall he was to record with honeft fatisfadion, 
 it is to be regretted that the political confufions 
 of the time narrowed that eager refearch fo much. 
 
Appendix. 247 
 
 It is certain that with the like difpofition now to 
 examine traces of all Stuart papers, far more 
 voluminous colleftions of them may be difcovered 
 than thofe of which Mr. Fox's agents loft the 
 traces at their fuppofed deftruftion in French 
 Flanders.* Already we are beginning to learn hdw 
 many genuine materials of the ftory of " the Scot 
 Abroad"* can be recovered at no great coft. A 
 general ipirit prevails to encourage fuch in'quify. 
 All the continental governments are as bufy at the 
 work as we are ; and a wife interchange ef the rejults 
 may be hoped, for. For example, as to Stuart 
 Papers in the public library at Boulogne-fuir-m^r, 
 there is catalogued a valuable; MS. of the year 
 1739, — a letter of 400 folios by Sir Alexander 
 Murray of Stanhope to John, the Duke of Argyle, 
 full of various topics of lafting intereft,^ — but in 
 particular with a moft remarkable; vindication of 
 King James II. in regard to the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth. If Lord Macaulay had read this MS. in 
 his dozen vifits to Boulogne, his harfli view of that 
 incident muft have foftened. So for another time 
 in the north of France there are fome melancholy 
 
 1 Lord Holland's Preface to Mr. Fox's Fragments. 
 ' The title of Mr. Burton's Scottifti Emigrants' book. 
 
248 ' Appendix. 
 
 footfteps of exiles, who were prefent at the execution 
 of the Queen of Scots, in the cafe of one of her ladies; 
 and of another whofe defcendants live honoured 
 among us. Again at Arras, the memory of Sir 
 Thomas More is enfhrined. In the Vatican again, 
 what Stuart treafures there are, of which Bifliop 
 Burnet was admitted in his day to fee fome ; Mr. 
 Canning authorifed the purchafe of others, now in 
 the Britifh Mufeum. Probably in that venerable 
 repository may be found the Canterbury Regifters 
 of five centuries ago, carried off by an unlucky 
 archbifhop. So the Pepys papers, at Cambridge, 
 have letters of Charles II. j and the young Pre- 
 tender's march to and from Derby left traces ftill 
 to be read in the muniment rooms of fuch manfions 
 as Bolfover, There is no end of fuch things, and 
 they are crowned by Thomas Sheridan's MS. hiftory 
 of his time, preferved in the royal library at 
 Windfor. 
 

 1^^ 
 
 
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 ^^^^^ 
 
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 INDEX. 
 
 jLLEYN, Edward, of Dulwich, xxxix. 
 Anglo-Saxons, i8. 
 Anthologia, Hibernica, xi. 
 Aquinas, lii. 
 Appendix, 241. 
 Arians, the firft diflenters perfecuted, Ivi. 
 
 Ballot in Eleflions, 27. 
 
 Eanks and lombards to be eftablifhed, Z14. 
 
 Bedell, Bifliop, Dedication to, v. 
 
 b. 1570, xvii. ; d. 1 64 1, xviii. 
 
 the Apoftolic Biftiop, xli. 
 
 his learning, tolerance and public fpirit, generofity 
 
 and popularity with the Irilh Roman Catholics, xvii. xxxi. 
 
 and xli. 
 Bellarmine, lii. 
 
 Bills and bonds to -be circulated and be payable to bearer, 215-7. 
 Boyle, the Hon. Robert, xxii. 
 Britifti, the, 18. 
 Burnet, Biihop, xxv. xxxv. 
 
250 Index. 
 
 Bury, Richard of, on Education in 1330, xxxii. 
 Buxton, Sir Fowell, xl. 
 
 Cafaubon, liii. 
 
 Cenfors, Public, wanted, 66. 
 
 Charity and Church Funds to be realized and colledlively 
 
 adminiftered, 107-223. 
 Charles I. prophecy on, 40. 
 Chriftianity, True, li. 
 
 Civilization of Ireland in 1290 and 1608, xiv. 
 Clarendon Correfpondence, the, xxxvi. 
 Clogy, Rev. Mr., xxv. 
 Coffee Houfes, 4. 
 Coin to be exportable, 209. 
 Companies, privileged, to be put down, 196. 
 Conqueror, William the, 32. 
 Conquefts, evil, viii. xii. xiv. 
 Conftantine the Great, perfecutor, Ivi. 
 Corruption of the time, 2. 
 County Court of old, 65, 
 Courts of Judicature, 4. 
 
 '■ to be thoroughly recaft, S7-63. 
 
 Croydon, education in, x^xii. 
 
 Cuftoms and rates to be remodelled, i6g. 
 
 Danes, 18. 
 
 Davies, Sir John, on Irifti conquefts, xiii. 
 
 Death puniflimeiits, all, to be aboliflied, 44-56. 
 
 Debates in Parliament, 27. 
 
 Diffenters to be tolerated, Ix. 
 
 Documents, Public, returned from the United States, xiv, 
 
Index. 251 
 
 Druids, 18. 
 
 Drummond, Thomas, on Ireland x. xi. xxxix. 
 
 Education to be univerfal, xxxi. and xxxiii. 
 
 Eleftors of M.Ps., to be chofen by all hundreders, 25. 
 
 their duties, 26. 
 
 Ellis, Sir Henry, original letters of, xxxvi. 
 England weak in 1677, 4. 
 Equity and law to be combined as of old, 62. 
 Excife, the beft tax if impofed equally, 172. 
 
 Faftions odious, 30. 
 Fiflieries to be promoted, 193. 
 
 Fofter , wife of Dennis Sheridan, 1635, xxviii. 
 
 France, Louis XIV., ambitious of univerfal conqueft, 1 14, 145. 
 
 Free ports to be opened, 214. 
 
 Friefland, Weft, conftitution of, like our own, 19. 
 
 Goldfmith, O., xxvi. 
 Government, Origin of, 8. 
 
 Habeas Corpus Aft, xxxv. 
 
 Harding's Satires on Croydon, xxxiv. 
 
 Hearth-money to be abolifhed, 1 74. 
 
 Hibernica, the, xi. 
 
 Hierocles, 81. 
 
 Hiftorian, Public, wanted, 68. 
 
 Hiftorical MSS. Coiiimiffion, xxxviii. 
 
 Hiftory, 68. 
 
 Jlolland, wife conftitution of, 14. 
 
 Impiety to be fupprefled, Ixii. , 
 
252 Index. 
 
 Ireland to be ruled in all refpeiSs on an equality with England, 
 
 138-144. 
 Irenaeus, li. 
 Irifli capabilities, x. 
 
 friendly union with, vii. 
 
 Ivery, Houfe of, xi. 
 
 James I., liii. 
 James II., xxxvi. 
 Judges not to make law, 64. 
 Juftinian code, Ivi. 
 
 Kilkenny, Statutes of, 1367, xv. 
 
 Languages to be learned, xli. 
 Laws, 4-34. 
 
 Code of, wanted, 35. 
 
 intended by the Long Parliament, but flopped by 
 
 Cromwell, 38. 
 Common and Statute, 42. 
 
 Lawyers dillrufted, 40. 
 Lucas, Frederick, M.P., xxxix. 
 
 Macintofli, Sir James, xxxvi. 
 
 Macartney, Lord, xlii. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, xxxvi. 
 
 Manichees perfecuted, Iviii. 
 
 Merit at fchool to be rewarded, xxxiii. 
 
 Monarchy, rife of, 10. 
 
 Moore, Thomas, on Ireland, xii. 
 
 Nations differ in charafter only through government, not through 
 race or climate, viii. 
 
Index. 253 
 
 Navigation Aft to be repealed as to Ireland and Scotland, 213. 
 Newton, Sir Adam, tutor to Prince Henry Stuart, i6o7,xxxvii. 
 Novatian diflenters, liii. 
 
 O'Connell, Mr., xxxix. xl. 
 Ormond, Houfe of, MSS. of, xi. 
 Owenfon, Mifs, in Ireland, xii. 
 
 Parliaments, Rife of, 4-6, 19-zi, 25. 
 
 • Debates in, 27. 
 
 to be preferved pure, 3 1 . 
 
 Patentees to be rewarded, not pTivileged, 191. 
 
 Paterfon, founder of the Bank of England, xxxix. 
 
 Perron, Cardinal, liii. 
 
 Perfecution, the firft religioils, Ivii. 
 
 Philips, Sir T., 1630, xvi. 
 
 Poll tax, good, if fairly diftributed, 176. 
 
 Poor to be employed, xxxi. xxxiv. and 227. 
 
 Population to be enlarged, 183-190. 
 
 Property, 4. 
 
 duties of, ix. 
 
 Proteftion againft writs to be aboliihed, 206. 
 Public men's duty, 3. 
 Punifhments, 17. 
 
 Records, 7. 
 
 Religion, 4, 74. 
 
 Religious toleration, 75, 88, and 94. 
 
 Revenues, 12. 
 
 Riches, public, land and labour the fburce o{, 1 82. 
 
 Rofe, The Rev. H., xxv. 
 
254 Index. 
 
 St. Auguftine tolerant, Iviii. 
 
 — Chryfoftom, Iv. 
 
 — Hilary, lii. 
 Salvian tolerant, lix. 
 
 Schools for all, and merit to be advanced, 97 and 108. 
 
 no whipping in, 105. 
 
 teaching in, to be governed by popular eleftion, 107. 
 
 Sheridans of the 17th century, xxiv. and Appendix C. 
 
 Dennis, xxiii. xxiv. xxv. and xxvii. 
 
 Thomas, his tradl of 1677, x. xxvii. xxviii. and xxxv. 
 
 Smith, Adam, xxxix.' 
 
 Stanton, young, at Pekin, xlii. 
 
 Statutes cited, 24 Geo. III. 1784, and 33 Geo. III. 1793, viii. 
 
 Stuart Papers, xxxvii. and Appendix E. 
 
 Prince Henry, xxxvii. 
 
 Sumptuary laws wanted, 207. 
 Sword-men of Uliler baniflied, xiii. 
 
 Taxes, 4, 146-80. 
 Tertullian, li and liv. 
 Theodofius tolerant, liii. 
 
 in Code, Ivi. 
 
 Toleration a duty, 1. 
 Tradl of 1677, xxix. 
 Trade, 4. 
 
 imports not to exceed exports, 183. 
 
 ^ — retail, women only to be employed in, 192, and 229. 
 
 a great council of, wanted, 182. 
 
 Ulfter fettlements of 1609, xiii. xvi. 
 
 cuftom and right, xvii. 
 
 Unity among Chriftians a duty, xxxi. 
 
Index. 255 
 
 Venice, wife conftitution of, 13. 
 
 Ware, Sir James, on Irifli writers, xxvii. 
 Weights and meafures to be reformed, 205. 
 Wellefley, Col. Arthur, in Ireland, xi. 
 Woollen manufaftures to be encouraged, 194, 199. 
 Whitgift's, Archbiftiop, fchool in Croydon, xxxiii. 
 Windfor, Royal Library at, xxxvi. 
 
 CHISWICK press: — PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKJNS, 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
ill 
 
 ijiiiiiii. 
 
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