MORAL and POLITICAL DIALOGUES BETWEEN DIVERS EMINENT PERSONS O F T HE PAST and PRESENT AGE; WITH CRITICAL and EXPLANATORY NOTES By the EDITOR. Refpicere exemplar moram viteque jubebo Dodum imitatorem, et veras hinc ducere voces. HOR, THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON, Printed for A. MILLAR, in the Strand; and W. THURLBORNB and J. WOODYER, at Cambridge. ' MDCCLX, 143421 .3511 [ HI ] PREFACE To the FiR.lt' Edition. AS foon as my good fortune had thrown the following curious dia- logues into my hands, I determined forthwith to give them in full meafure, and in the beft manner, to the delerving public. With this view, having enriched them with a courfe of Notes critical and explanatory I fent them to a bookfeller of good credit, and acquainted him in a civil way, that though I demanded for myfelf but a moderate (hare of the profits, I mould confent to a pretty large impreffion. I even intimated to him, that I mould not be difpleafed, if he took to himfelf the benefit of running off two thousand copies. Calling upon him fome days afterwards to know if he had confidered my propofal, the provoking man drew me infenfibly into the following converfation, which, for certain reafons, I have fancied may nut be unaccepta- ble to the public. a 2 Accept iv PREFACE. Accept it then, courteous reader, in the very terms in which it paffed between us ; and if there be any inftruction to be gathered from it to thyfelf, fruere et latare. BOOKSELLER. Two thoufand copies! I tell you honeftly, Sir, I dare venture on no more than luv hundred and fifty. EDITOR. What, not venture largely on thefe dia- logues? Look you, Mr. , I take you for a man of fenfe and knowledge in your bufinefs. You cannot be ignorant that what I offer you is no vulgar tram of either ancient or modern pens. You have here a collection of choice and authentic conventions ; not between men of obfcure names, or, which is ftill worfe, between thofe madows of men without name, the A's and B's of every alpha- bet. The Ipeakers in thefe dialogues are real perfons; men, once fairly exifting in the world, nay, and the moft refpectable of their times, the very fame, many of them, whofe works you fell fo well, and fo creditably live by. BOOKSELLER. True, Sir ; but pofthumous works, you know EDI- PREFACE. r EDITOR. I grant you, as to fermons of divines, or even eflays and fragments of politicians. But thefe, though pofthumous, are of much bet- ter birth 5 complete pieces, I allure you ; and though not intended for the public eye, drawn up with as much fidelity and exact- nefs as if they were. And let me tell you, the very circumftance of their having patted in private between friends gives them fo much the air of a fecret, that it cannot fail to pique the reader's curiofity, and carry off a large impreffion. BOOKSELLER. Indeed, Sir, if the fubjects had been of a happier caft, that dam of a fecret might EDITOR. Oh, I underftand you. If thefe dialogues had turned on fome love-adventure or court- intrigue ; if they had called in queftion any received principle of religion or good man- ners ; above all, if they had dealt in fcandal- ous hiftory, and had difcovered to us fome de- fect in the morals or fome notorious weak- nefs in the understandings of men, whom the world hath been taught to reverence ; if any thing of this fort had been brought tg light in a 3 the vi PREFACE. the dialogues, fome good, you would fay, might have been expected from them. BOOKSELLER. I cannot deny that fomething of that nature was in my head. For to think the public will take an intereft in hearing thefe old folks talk together, as they were wont ; or will attend to what they have to fay for themfelves on half a dozen impracticable fubjects of mora- lity and politics, which every news-paper too treats of ; believe me, Sir, this is downright extravagance in you. And I cannot but wonder that a gentleman of your years, and fo much difcretion as (pardon me, Sir,) your appearance fpeaks you, mould have fallen into fo wild a notion. EDITOR. To fay the truth, the fubjeds are not altoge- ther fuch as I could wifh them. I have even that confidence in your judgment of the pub- lic tafte, as to believe that what you feem to have an appetite for, would have fatisfied it much better. Yet furely matters cannot be fo bad as you reprefent them. The fubjedts indeed are common : but therefore the fitter, one would think, for common readers. What, I pray you, are the moft admired and correct works of the time ? The CONNOISSEUR, you will P R E F A C fc. vH will tell me, or the WORLD. Your bro- ther Dod/ley declares pofitively for the WORLD* Nay, if you believe fome judicious perfons, it contains all the wit, and well nigh all the learning of the prefent age. And yet there is fcarce a fubject in it but is fo common, and, what is more, treated fo naturally, that you fhan't find a court-lady, or even a court- chambermaid, but thinks fhe could have done as well. But as Horace fays (you un- derfland Latin, Mr. ) fudet multum, frujlraque labor et Aufus idem So it is with thefe dialogues, I promife you. And for matter of authority, ten to one the names of COWLEY, WALLER, ADDISON, ARBUTHNOT, &c. may go as far with fo'me readers, as thofe of C. M. B. J. or even Mr. DODSLEY himfelf. Then as to what you fay of thefe men con- verfmg but as they were ivont^ why this, I fhould fancy, muft be very taking in an age that piques itfelfon its knowledge of men and manners, and loves, above all things, to fee the truth of character in every compofition. Alas, Mr. , to what purpofe have fo many fine novels been, written and read of late, if a 4 they via PREFACE. they have not created a perfect relim for the truth of character ? BOOKSELLER. Yes, novels, if you pleafe. Another Pompey the little, and I'd lay fomething to you. Or, if your fancy lay to the fublime, another Me- ditation on the Jlarry heavens might do won- ders. But thefe fame dialogues, which no- body laughs or flares at EDITOR. To be at a word with you, it mads me to hear your affe&ed fcruples about a work, which, before it has been out ten days, every converfation will ring with. For don't ima- gine you have to do with one of thofe ftarve- Hngs, that bring their wares to market for a piece of bread. Fame, Mr. , Fame is my object. BOOKSELLER. What, of the editor of another's work ? Why, this fort of language is out of date, even with our greateft authors. Time was, as I have heard old ^Tonfo/i fay, when young men writ for reputation ; but it was, I fuppofe, when re- putation was the ready road to fomething bet- ter. Be that as it will, even young men are wifer in our days. A quick fale and ready money are all that reafonable writers now aim at. EDI- PREFACE. ix EDITOR. And will you tell me that fuch mercenaries deferve to be ranked in the clafs of authors ? I am, as you fay of me, but a firnple editor. Yet you miftake your man if you think that any thing but the glory of ufliering in a com- plete work to the public, could have tempted me to aiTume even that character, BOOKSELLER. Indeed, Sir, thefe are ftrange flights But be your notions of fame and authormip what they will, I ftick to my point : not one above two hundred and Jiffy will I publim. Thus far I go on fure grounds. Sir, I have made my calculation. Taking in the feveral pamphlet- clubs and circulating libraries about town, and the learned aflemblies of reading divines in the country, and allowing for fome dozen or two of your own friends and chance- cuftomers, that Number, I verily believe, may be got off. EDITOR. Come, Sir, let me intreat you. No more of thefe freedoms with great authors. I have fome knowledge myfelf, of the age we live in* I take it to be a fine difcerning age, notwith- ftanding the ill impreffions you would give me of it. It cannot be but that fuch a work as I 4 p^ x PREFACE. put into your hands, muft meet with a very noble reception. The fine gentlemen will think it as eafy reading as a French novel or an EngliJJ) piece of politics. And the learned will regard it as a perfect model of dialogue- writing. But above all, the Antiquarians will be charmed with thefe remains of the golden age of literature. Think only, how the IN- CORPORATED SOCIETY will dote upon them. Sir, I may be bold to fay, they would have enriched the Britijh Mufeum, to which (if the governors had not refolved to buy no more, and I had not refolved, at all events, to give this treafure to the public) I mould certainly have devoted them. Of the Notes, indeed, I fay nothing,becaufe they are my own proper manufacture. But good judges tell me they cannot be ill received in fo note-writing an age as the prefent, when Hudtbfas or Horace equally ierves the turn for a commentator to fhew his wit on. In a word, Mr. , I have a refpect for you. I intend the whole for your benefit, as well as the entertainment of the public. And I muft not have you neglect to do ycurfelf good by a very large impreffion. I BOOK- PREFACE. xi BOOKSELLER. Sir, I am much beholden to you for this courtefy. Not, but to fay the truth, I have been honoured in my time much in the fame way by many other of the great authors I deal with. But under favour, Sir not that I have any fcruples myfelf but may I depend on the dialogues being truly original ? EDITOR. Nay, if you go fo far as to fulpecT: that BOOKSELLER. Why fuch things have been, and very late- ly too. You muft have heard how a brother of mine was ferved the other day, who bar- gained and even paid for a fet of letters, pre- tending to have been the furniture of a noble peer's clofet, whereas the town knows they were but the fweepings of a dirty garret. Not that I would infinuate any thing like this of your dialogues. I put the queftion only, becaufe a learned perfon, a Scots gentle- man, I have in my houie, and whom I ufual- ly advifc with in thefe cafes, has hinted to me that, on running them over, he has fome flight fulpicions of that nature. EDI- xii. PREFACE. EDITOR. Oh, none like your Scots critic for fmelling out a roguery. But, Sir, did you ever hear of a forgery in your life, without fome reafon- able end propofed by it ? And what end can you fufpeci me of propofing to myfelf? Not that of profit, it is clear, fince you, who have the reputation of dealing as generoufly by your authors, as any man, fcruple the print- ing even fo many copies as will pay the charge of the impreffion. As little can it be the fame of paffing for an original writer, fince, if the impofture fucceeds, the author of courfe is out of fight. Nor, laftly, the perverfe pleafure of impofing on the learned : of which there is fmall hope, if your family- critic has got the fcent fo early. I have a mind to fatisfy you, and therefore give you thefe unanfwerable reafons againft the charge of impofture. But this, as I fay, is only for yourfelf. For where is the hurt, I mean to the bookfeller, if fome learned cri- tic fteps forth and undertakes to prove the whole collection to be fpurious? This, of courfe, brings on a controverfy. The public attention is raifed. Pamphlets are publimed on both fides. And when matters become reafon- PREFACE. xiii reasonably embroiled, or the fubject grows ftale, out comes an advertifement that the original manufcripts are in your hands, for the fatisfadion of the curious. All this while you are on the winning fide. And the contention only ferves to quicken the (ale and confirm the credit of the collection. BOOKSELLER. I muft needs confefs there is fomething taking in this project. But we of the better fort in the trade reckon it the fairer way to expofe the manufcript at firft, for the fatif- faction of the curious. EDITOR. You muft excufe me there, Mr., depend upon it, the dialogues are precifely what the editor gives them for. But he has his reafons for leaving captious people to themfelves at firft. And what if he has a mind to make an experiment of the public judgment ? A great poet, you have heard, once did fo, and had the pleafure of laugh- ing very heartily at the expence of his judges. BOOKSELLER. Ah, Sir, thefe experiments on the public are dangerous things. But it IhaU be as you pleafe. xiv PREFACE. pleafe. And becaufe I fee you under/land Something of good management, I don't care if for once I change my mind, and even venture on jive hundred. But this only, pro- vided the additional two hundred and jifty be ufhered in with a new title-page, fetting forth the SECOND EDITION. EDITOR. Now indeed you talk a little reafonably But one word, before we part, of the man- ner of introducing this treafure to the pub- lic. You will, of courfe, fee to a large type and good paper. And would not a few de- figns, if well done by the beft hands, be very proper, as giving the public to underftand that they have to do with no vulgar writer ? BOOKSELLER. All that, in due time. When a book has made its fortune with the lower clafs, thefe decorations may do well, and help to bring it into better company. But there is no ha- zarding this expence at firft. Your plain Englifh reader loves his pennyworth for his penny. He is apt to ftartle at a thin page and large margin, and thinks your pidures but a pretty device to cheat him of his mo- ney. PREFACE. xv ne y. Sir, allow me to be the belt judge of thefe matters. But there is one thing you will do well to confider. You intend to dedicate, no doubt EDITOR. Why, truly I have been thinking of that. But, though the great men of our time are extraordinary judges of literature, and many of them, to do them juftice, no lefs extraor- dinary writers, yet I cannot bring myfelf to beg the patronage of any of them to thefe dialogues. It would look like a diftruft of their own merit. And befides, who knows but that, conlidering the indigence of moil authors, and the liberality of fuch patrons, a worfe difhonour may enfue, and the editor be thought capable of a defign to enrich him- felf by this publication, whereas his fole pur- pole, as you know, is to benefit the public. BOOKSELLER. Alas, no ; there is little danger of that im- putation. The patrons of our days think a great deal too delicately to difgrace letters, by any paltry returns of that kind for the ho- nour which letters do them. And, to fay the truth, why mould any fuch return be ex- pected ? xvi PREFACE. peeled ? For a dedication, as I take it, is for our fake, not their's. A noble name in the front of a new work does the office of a fair fign. It catches the eye of paflengers, and invites cuftom. And it is purely, Sir, upon this footing that I make bold to recommend it. EDITOR. You are a wife man, Mr. , and know beft what expedients of this fort it is proper even for great authors to fubmit to. But for the dialogues themfelves, let me hear no more of your objections. Not but I believe they are as good as any body elfe will ever bring againft them. And for that reafon I will even fet them down and make a preface of them, that ill-difpofed men may fee how little the editor apprehends from the worft that can be faid againft them. DIA- DIALOGUE I. ON SINCERITY IN T H E COMMERCE of the WORLD BETWEEN Dr. HENRY MORE AND EDMUND WALLER, Efq; In Ariftippi furtim prsecepta relabor, Et mihi res, non me rebus fubmittere conor. HOR. DIALOGUE I. On S I N c E R i T Y in the Commerce of the World. Dr. HENRY MORE, EDMUND WALLER, Efq *; Dr. MORE. " "QULCHRA 6 SIMPLICITAS ! beata Virgo ! " Tn vincis radios nitore Phoebes, " Tu ftellas fiiperas decore cunctas ; *' Tu t"j Mr. WALLER. Enough, enough, my good friend. Your en- thufiafm is too powerful for me. There is a per- fect magic in your encomiums. They warm me to that degree, that I too, in my turn, could ai- moft declaim, as you have done, on the intrinfic excellencies of TRUTH and HONOUR. * The time and place of this converfation are luckily fixed by the following memorandum, entered on a blank leaf o- c ; e original. " A conference with Matter Edmund Waller, at his ma- " nor of BECONSFIELD, in the AUTUMN of the Year 1675. " H.MORE." f From his Latin poem, entitled MONOCARDIA. B 2 Dr. 4 DIALOGUES MORAL Dr. MORE. Believe me, there is nothing magical in the cafe. Such is the natural impreflion which thefe forts of paintings make on a mind like your's. For there is fomething I have always obferved of near affinity between virtue and the elegant arts. Whoever is born with a quick fcnfibility of the one, is rarely without a high relifh of the other, and more per- fect beauties. Mr. WALLER. Such, I know, is the language of you Plato- nifts, who have an agreeable way of refolving all virtue into tafte. And there is fomething, I muft own, very taking in this philoibphy. The pic- tures you draw of the moral forms, as you call them, are fo lovely, that a man can hardly avoid contracting a fort of paflion for them. But, may not this paflion cool or go off, as other paffions do, by time ? Or may not experience furnifh fomething more fubflantial for the mind to reft up* on, than thefe thin and fhadowy vifions .^ Dr. MORE. O ! you miftake me, Sir, if you think I meant to reprefent Sincerity, which I have been magnifying fo much, in the light of a fair pic- ture only. The fentiments I have delivered to ou, ar great and folid truths , fuch as the un- derftanding AND P O L I T 1C A L. $ derftanding may dwell upon, and which deferve, or rather demand, to be made the governing prin- ciples in life. Mr. WALLER. Why fo indeed , they have ever appeared to me in my calmer hours, and more efpecially when, as at this time, I come forth from Plato's or your fchool, where no embellimments of wit or fancy have been wanting to recommend them. Then, indeed, the impreilions are ftrong : I perceive a diviner fpirit breathing on my mind : and all your praifes and panegyrics on Sincerity hang like a charm about me, and continue founding in my ears. But mail I confefs to you that my foft and pliant affections have not been able to retain thofe impreflions very long ; but, that as foon as I returned into the bufy haunts and commerce of men, I have found them vanifh from off the mind like a dream, or as the flight texture of yon cloud, which we fee difperfmg before us ? Dr. MORE. This, which you defcribe, is very likely to be the cafe of thofe who enter on the fcene of life without any fixed principles. But I do not appre- hend how the world mould immediately, as you fuppofe, efface a virtue fo agreeable to the human mind, as that of Sincerity, when it has once fairly taken pofleffion of it. Much lefs can I believe B 3 that 6 DIALOGUES MORAL you intended to give this as the refult of' own perfonal experience. Mr. WALLER. To deal plainJy with you, I meant it as an ao at of my own weaknefs. Nay the fe of it hath fometimes carried me fo far as to 'mt the art of living, like many others, is i tr to be considered as a fpeculative ainufe- m<^.~, which may ferve to fill up our vacant are, than as a rule of conduct, which can be expected to have much influence in real life, Dr. MORE. If I could thir;!-: you ferious in this profefllon, k uld almoit tempt me to alter the opinion I had entertained of you men of genius. Virtuous imoreffions, I Ihould then fay, though made with mere difficulty on coarfer minds, yet are more lairing in tnem, than in thofe of a finer texture, that native warmth which prepares you to re- ceive, difpofing you as eafily to give up, the im- preiTson. But, though you diffemble the matter, it is not difficult, I believe, to guefs at your real meaning. It is not that you judge the principle itielf to be chimerical, or that philofophy hath not arguments enough to enforce it , but that thofe which philofophers often urge in its behalf, are not fo convincing as you fuppofe they might be : and this may very well have been the cafe in this converfation. You would fay then (if your po- litenefs AND POLITICAL 7 litenefs would give leave for fo frank a declarati* on) that the manner in which I have taken upon me to recommend Sincerity, is defective. This, at leaft, is what I mould be difpofed to admit, much fooner, than that a perfon, of your worth and li- beral breeding, can be wanting in a due attach- ment to fo considerable a branch of moral virtue. Mr. WALLER. This candour is no more than might be expect- ed from a generous nature, like your's, polifh- ed and humanized by the belt philofophy. But wherever the defect lies, I muft freely own to you, the praifes, which you and other moralifts have fo frequently, and in fuch triumphant terms, given to this virtue, have not been attended, in my own cafe, with the full effect, you feemed to promife yourfelves from them. And yet I do not forget the late admirable ENCHIRIDION *; in which, as in this difcourie, you employ your utmoil elo- quence, to adorn and recommend it. The reafons of this difappointment may, perhaps, be various : but a want of force or care in delivering the doc- trine, I am apt to think, is not one of them. On the contrary, the very pomp, with which it hath been fet off, hath contributed, perhaps, as much as any thing, to miilead our judgment of the * The ENCHIRIDION ETHICUM, firft publifhed in 1667. The chapter alluded to, feems to be 3. L. II. on the Subject of SINCERITY. B 4 doctrine 8 DIALOGUES MORAL doc"lrine itfelf. One is more efpecially inclined -to this fufpicion, when the eloquent moralift him- felf is of that warm temperament, that his affecti- ons readily flame out at the touch of his own fiery meditations, and when- thofe, to whom he addrefles himfelf, are alfo not void of thofe fenji- bilities you before fpoke of. When this is the cafe, it is eafy to forefee what will be the effecT: of fo extraordinary a combination : For as the lair and tone of thefpeaker are then divine, -fo, as I remember Seneca fomewhefe obierves*, the hear- ers, in fuch circumftances, : 'eafily pafs into alfhis affections and tranfports, difcQyering, in the agita- tion of their mind and countenance, a degree of fury, not unlike to that which polfefled the priefts of Cybele, on the ftrikingj up of their facred fifes and cymbals. Dr. MORE. It is not ftrange that you Poets, who, as one of your own family exprefieth it, are of imagina- tion all compaEl, and have, on a thoufand occafi- ons, .felt the force of its illufions, mould be fo fufpicions of its power, and ready to refolve all conviction into the trances of this faculty. Yet * I am not Cure if the following be the pafTage intended, but it comes the neareft to this ientiment of any I have ob- ferved in the writings of SENECA. Quidam ad magnifcas voces excitant tir, et tranjeunt in aff'efium dicentium, a/acres -vultu ff animo ; nee alltcr concitantur quam PLrygii foltnt tiblciniifoKO femiviri & ex itnperiofurcntes. Sen. Ep. \ 08. this AND BQLITICAL. 9 this, allow me to fay it, is no generous return to the fage, who, knowing the importance of his doctrines, is willing to employ every honeit. ftra- tageni to recommend them. Nay, perhaps his ambition was to catch, by this artifice, the finer fpirits ; to draw in fuch as you to the interefts fo virtue, whom the aufterity of drift proof and the argumentative form might have chanced to frighten from the fchools of moral fcience. And, if this were the defign of the rapturous moralifls, - you glance at, it mould feem from what hath no;/ fo inadvertently fallen from you, that their mea- fures were not ill taken. You difcover, even in this attempt, to undervalue their fervices, the pof- feffion which their enchantments (for fo you choofe to reprefent them) have taken of you. And, if in a mind fo prepared to receive the (lamp of VIRTUE, its traces, as you fay, diiappear fo eafi- ly, the effect, I muft think, is too extraordinary to be charge;! on a play of wit and fancy. It is an argument indeed, not fo much of any defect in the fyftem of the Philosopher, as of the infir- mity of human nature itfelf, even in thofe, whom we have hitherto regarded as the brightelt exam- ples of it. Mr. WALLER. I believe there is real truth in what it might, perhaps, be thought more decent for me to un- derftand as a compliment only. It is, if you pleafe, in the infirmity of human nature we are to i look jo DIALOGUES MORAL look for a good account of the little hold which all your lectures of virtue have ever taken of the mind. But this infirmity, once acknowledged, Ihould methinks admonilh you to new-mould and regulate your fyftems. For to what purpofe Ihould you preach up the facred and indifpenfa- ble obligation of any virtue, when the known con- ilitution of human nature will not bear it, or when the firfr. entrance into life and action proves the plaufible and fine-fpun hypothefis to be a per- fect chimsera ? Particularly, in the inftance of your boafted Sincerity, I can hardly believe, if, inftead of yielding to the vifions of an eager fan- cy, you had attended fomething more to the cir- cumflances of plain fact, it could have been poffible for you to think of magnifying this pretended vir- tue as you have done. But there are two misfor- tunes (for, having launched fo far into this nice fubject, I mail now, with your leave, proceed plainly and directly in it) conftantly attending the moral difquifitions of you lettered and cloy- ftered men. The FIRST is, that you feldom look beyond the narrow circuit of your own cells ; and thefe, you know, contain within them none but what are formed to one model, and who have, befides, no trials to ilruggle with in the practice of that which no paffion contradicts. Hence it comes to pafs, that you do not confider v/hat the real condition of mankind is, nor how impracticable all your fchemes are in that world, to which your fituation makes you entire ftrangers. Dr. AND POLITICAL. it Dr. MORE. It is true, thofe are inconveniences which lie in the way of us retired moralifls. All that can be faidfor us is, that we endeavour to make up for our own want of experience, by building on that of other men. Mr. WALLER. Yes, that was the OTHER particular I was go- ing to object to you. Having no experience of life yourfelves, you take up, as you fay, with the re- prefentations which others have given of it. And, the Greek and Latin writers (landing fore- moft in the eftimation of you icholars, it is from thefe that all your notions of life and manners are drawn, juft as our late politicians were obferved, you know, to take from the fame fource their maxims of civil government. Whereas, both were manifeftly calculated for other men and other times. The want of attending to this difference hath driven many a patriot into rebellion : And, I muft think it, in fome meafure, owing to the fame learned prejudice that fo many grave writers have run into a fanciful and enthufiaitic morality. Dr. MORE. After much unnecefiary preparation, you have now at length, I muft confefs, very diffidently explained yourfelf. Your opinion then is, that the rules of moral virtue, like the forms of drefs, vary 12 DIALOGUES MORAL vary with the humours of men, and that a fyfterrt of morals is to receive a new air and cut, at the good pleafure of thofe who wear it. Mr. WALLER. .Not entirely at their pleafure ; but, furely," ac- cording to the prevailing mode and practice of the times. Dr. MORE. I believe, I take your meaning. But, to be feri- ous, this is a ftrange paradox to me, who have always thought that morality is independent of our fancies and cuftoms,|as arifmg from thofe un- alterable relations in \vhich the author of nature hath placed us with regard to each other ; and not like the rules of civil policy, which take their rife from convenience, and the arbitrary appoint- ment of men. Mr. WALLER. Thofe relations are not altogether fo unalterable as you fequeftered men are accuftomed to reprefent them. How, for inflance, can the relation which a man of affairs bears to his country, under the management of the prince or his firft minifter in our monarchical government, be thought the fame as that which an old Greek or Roman ftood in to the ideal majefty of his equal republic ? and, if the fituations are fo different, how can the clafs of duties belonging to one and the other be the fame ? Dr. AND POLITICAL. 13 Dr. MORE. Very eafily, if that fidelity which the Greek or Roman ^rgagiftrate fhewed in the difcharge of his truft to his commonwealth, be obferved by the Englifh courtier in the fervice of his prince, and that ultimately, (for in this all legitimate confli- tutions of government agree) for the good and fervice of the ftate. Mr. WALLER. This laft claule was very material. But here again is a fine notion, which I can readily believe you have often indulged with great complacency in your clofet at college, and is, doubtlefs, one of thofe themes which are fet forth with ib much florid de- clamation in the exercifes of your young fcholars. But not to wafte more time in fruidefs altercation, let ME, if you pleafe, afTurne the philofopher, and read you a lecture of morals. Net out of antient books, or the vifions of an unpraJIfed philofo- phy , but from the fchools of bufineis, and real life. Such a view of things will tend to difcredit thefe high notions, and may ierve, for the future, to amend and rectify all your fyftems. Dr. MORE. I have no objection to this, provided your lec- ture be intended only as a map of modern life, or an exercife of your wit, and not as a fcheme of morals 14 DIALOGUES MORAL morals which is to fuperfede that of Plato or the Gofpel. For, to return your franknefs in kind, I can have no opinion of a moral fyftem that is to be fafhioned according tojhe mode at court, or of a moral practice that is to give way to the convenient cuftoms of the world. Ignorance of mankind is a heavy charge againfl a moralift, and how juftly urged, in the prefent cafe, may not be a fit matter for him whoishimfelf a private retired man, to difpute with you. But furely there muft be fome inconfiftency in alledging this de- fed: and blaming, at the fame time, the ufe of thofe means, which are moil likely to remove it. The philofophers of Greece and Rome were not idle and fequeftered fpeculatifts : they were men of action and bufmefs ; and, by every advantage of ability and experience, well qualified to give juft pictures of mankind. They have, accord- ingly, been ever ranked in the firft clafs of thofe who have inftructed us in the knowledge of our- felves ; znd I concluded the fludy of their wri- tings, if it could not altogether excufe and cover the want of perfonal experience, was yet an effec- tual method to prevent a moralift from the fhame of bsing accounted vifionary or fantaftiq. Mr. WALLER. I difpute not the ability of the ancient fages, or the fidelity of thofe pictures they have left us of mankind. They were, doubtlefs, taken from the AND POLITICAL. 15 the life, and the rules of conduct, delivered in their writings, were well adapted to the flate of things which prevailed in their popular go- vernments. But what I blame is the rigorous application of their maxims. Be they ever fo excellent in themfelves, they certainly require to be foftened and adapted by fome reaibn- able accommodation, to the different circum- fiances of other countries and times. Dr. MORE. I confefs I do not underfland this philofophy, fo different from what my books, and efpecial- ly my Bible teaches. But as your enlarged experience may have furnimed you with other arguments than I am aware of, for this new doctrine of accommodation, I am ready to hear the utmoft of what you have to fay in defence of it, Mr. WALLER. I mould not, perhaps, have ventured on luch an enterprize in all companies. But in this privacy, and to a perfon of your candour, I can open myfelf, on any the moft obnoxi- ous argument, without referve. And yet let me obferve one particular, which a little difcoun- tenances this addrefs even to you. It is, not the ridicule only which you attempt to throw on my argument, but the invidious turn you have more than once given to it, by objecting the 3 6 DIALOGUES MORAL the authority of fcripture, as well as your Hea- then fyilems : whereas the fame anfwer, as I take it, will ferve for both-; that general precepts are not to be interpreted' too ftriftly, Allow me but this liberty ib conftantly taken in the rea- fonable expofition of any author, and I mould not doubt to maintain my opinion with as_ little difhonour to the facred, as profane volumes. Dr. MORE, I- fubmit in all things to your own terms. On- ly, as the evening wears apace, I a little ap- prehend you will not have time for the full "dif- play of this new fyftem. However, to favour you all I can, I am content to become a patient hearer in my turn, and mail interpofe as little as the tenor of your difcourfe will give leave. Mr. WALLER. We have day enough before us for the bu- fmefs in hand. This wood-land walk indeed, has not the charms which your fancy hath be- ftowed on a certain philofophical garden *. But the heavens are as clear, and the air, that blows upon us, as frelh as in that fine evening which drew your friends abroad, and engaged them * This, I fuppofe, glances at the fcene of the DIVINE DIALOGUES, printed in 1668. It is a bower in a garden, fome particulars of which are defcribed. From the tarn* of Mr. Waller's allufion to this fcenery, one is notfure if he did not defign it as a ridicule on the vulgar manner of introduc- ing a philofophical dialogue. in AND POLITICAL. 17 in a longer debate than that with which I now mean to detain you. For, in truth, you will have little reafon to apprehend prolixity, and no great temptation, I believe, to interrupt me, when you underftand the manner in which I mean to explain mylelf. I have no fkill at de- fining : I know little of fcholaftic niceties and fub- til diftinctions : I pretend not to the knack of fplitting a plain matter into 1 know not how ma- ny fine and minute parts, nor of flourifliing on each with much learned proof and curious ar- gument. All this can only be expected from you profeflbrs of fcience, who have the leifure to ac- quire fuch arts in the made of your fchools, and the walks of your Academies. I, who was early called out into the heat and buftle of life, am a plain man, and can only reprefent in a naked way, without oftentation or artifice, fuch reflecti- ons as the current of affairs, in which I have been engaged, occafionally fuggefbed to me. A lecture from me then will afford little room for wrangling and debate. It will confift merely in a review of my pall life, and the fimple reprefenta- tion of my own experience. All my argu- ments are plain facts, about which there can be no difpute : and I mail leave it with yourlelf to de- termine, how far they will juftify the conclufion I propofe to draw from them. ig DIALOGUES MORAL Dr. MORE. How far you may be practifed in the rules of logic, I cannot fay : but this exordium, I fuppofe, may pafs for a fpecimen of what you are able to do in the arts of rhetoric. Mr. WALLER. This conftruction is unfair -, I meant not to play the orator with you, but merely to prepare you for the following plain recital, which might otherwife difappoint your expectations. Howe- ver, let thus much ftand for the exordium, as you fay, if, what I am now to deliver, may rather de- ferve to pafs for an oration, than a moral lecture. The point I would take upon myfelf to main- tain againft you philofophers is, briefly, this j " that fincerity or a fcrupulous regard to truth in all our converfation and behaviour, how fpecious foever it may be in theory, is a thing impoffible in practice ; that there is no living in the world on fuch terms as you propofe , and that a man of bufmefs muft either quit the fcene, or learn to temper the ftrictnefs of your difcipline with fome reafonable accommodations. It is exactly the di- lemma of the poet, Vivere fi recte nefcis, difcede peritis ;" of all which I prefume to offer my own experi- ence, as the fhorteit and mod convincing demon- ftration. Dr, AND POLITICAL, g$ Dr. MORE. The fubject, I confefs, is fairly delivered, and nothing can be jufter than this appeal to experi- ence, provided you do not attempt to delude yourfelf or me, by throwing falfe colours upon it. Mr. WALLER. It will be your bufmefs to remonftrate againft thefe arts, if you difcover any fuch. My intenti- on is to proceed in the way of a direct and fimple recital. " I was born, as you know, of a good fami- ly, and to the expectation and inheritance of an ample fortune. To this I fucceeded but too foon by the untimely lofs of an excellent father. His death however did not deprive me of thofe ad- vantages, which are thought to arife from a ftrict and virtuous education. This care devolved on my mother, a woman of great prudence, who provided for my inftruction in letters and every other accomplishment. I was, of myfelf, inclined to books, and was iuppofed to have fome parts which deferved cultivation. I was accordingly trained in the ftudy of thole writings which are the admiration of men of elegant minds and re- fined morals. I was a tolerable mailer of the lan- guages in which they are compofed ; and, I may venture to fay, was at leaft inftructed in their no- tions and principles, if I was not able at that time to catch the fpirit of their compofition : All C 2 which 30 DIALOGUES MORAL which was confirmed in me, by the conflant at- tendance and admonitions of the beft tutors, and the ftrict difcipline of your colleges. I mention thefe things the rather to (hew you, that I was not turned loofe into the world, as your complaint of men of bufmefs generally is, unprincipled and un- inftructed ; and that what auflere men might af- terwards take for fome degree of libe'rtinifm in my conduit, is not to be charged on the want of a virtuous or even learned education." Dr. MORE. I underftand you mean to take no advantage of that plea, if what follows be not anfwerable to fo high expectations. Mr. WALLER. The time was now come when my rank and fortune, together with the follicitations of my friends, drew me forth, though reluctantly, from the college into the world. I was then indeed un- der twenty : but fo practiced in the beft things, and fo imprefled with the admirable leflbns that had been taught me, that I carried with me into the laft parliament of king James^ not the fliowy accornplifliments of learning only, but the high enthufiafm of a warm and active virtue. Yet the vanity, it may be, of a young man, diftinguimed by fome advantages, and confcious enough of them, might be the leading principle with me for a time. In this difpofition, it may be fuppofed, I could AND POLITICAL. ai I could not be long without defiring an introduc- tion to the court. It was not a fchool of that virtue I had been ufed to, yet had ibme perfons in it of eminent worth and honour. A vein of po- etry, which feemed to flow naturally from me, was that by which I was moft ambitious to re- commend myfelf. And occafions quickly offer- ed, that gave a fair and free fcope to indulge it. But this was a play of ingenuity in which my heart and affections had no mare. I made com- plimentary verfes on the great lords and ladies of the court, with as much fimplicity and as little meaning as my bows in the drawing room, and thought it a fine thing to be taken notice of as a wit in the fafhionable circles. In the mean time, the corruptions of a loofe diforderly court gave me great fcandal. And the abject flatteries, I obferved in fome of the higheft flations and graveil characters, filled me with indignation. As an inftance of this, I can never forget the refent- ment that fired my young breaft at the converfa- tron you have often heard me fay I was prefent at, betwixt the old king, and two of his court prelates *. And if the prudent and witty turn the venerable bifhop of Winchefter gave to the difcourfe had not attoned, in fome meafure, for the rank offenfive fervility of the other, it had been enough to determine me forthwith to an implaca- ble hatred of kings and courts for ever. * Dr. ANDREWS, Bifliop of Wlncheflcr, and Dr. NEAL, urham. The ftory is well known. 3 Dr. \ 22 DIALOGUES MORAL Dr. MORE. It muft be owned the provocation was very grofs, and the offence taken at it no more than a fymptom of a generous and manly virtue. Mr. WALLER. It left a deep impreffion on my mind, yet it did not hinder me from appearing at court in the firft years of the following reign, when the va- nity of a thoughtlefs mufe, rather than any re- laxation of my ancient manners, drew from me again fome occafional panegyrics on greatnefs, which being prefented in verfe, I thought would hardly be fufpedted of flattery. Dr. MORE. This indulgence of a thoughtlefs mufe (as you call it) was not without its danger. I am afraid this muft pafs for the firft inftance of your facri- ficing to INSINCERITY. Mr. WALLER. Your fears are too hafty. This was ftill a trial of my wit : and after a few wanton circles, as it were to breath and exercife my mufe, I drew her in from thefe amufements to a ftricter manage and more fevere difcipline. The long interval of parliaments now followed j and in this fufpenfi- on of bufmefs I applied myfelf to every virtu- ous purfuit that could be likely to improve my mind, AND POLITICAL. 23 rnifid, or purify my morals. Believe me, I can- not to this day without rapture reflect on the gol- den hours, that pafled in that accomplifhed fo- ciety, which the names of FALCKLAND, HYDE, and CHILLINGWORTH, confecrated as the very fanctuary of fcience and honour. And for my more retired amufements at Baconsfield^ you will judge of the good account I might render of thefe, when I add, they were conftantly mared with that great prelate who now with fo much dignity prefides in the throne of JPincbefter*. Dr. MORE. This enthufiafm of your's is catching, and raifes in me an incredible impatience to come at the triumphs of a virtue, trained and perfected in her beft fchool, the converfation of heroes and fages. Mr. WALLER. You mall hear. The jealoufies that had alarmed the nation for twelve years were now to have a vent given them by the call of the parlia- ment in April 1640. As the occafion on which it met was moft interefting, the aiTembly itielf was the moft auguft that perhaps ever deliberated on public counfels. There was a glow of honour, * Dr. GEORGE MORLEY. The writer of Mr. Waller's life, who feems to have had his accounts from good hands, I perceive, has taken notice of thefe particulars which do fo much honour to his character. CA of 24 DIALOGUES MORAL of liberty, and of virtue in all hearts, in all faces t And yet this fire was tempered with fo compofed a wifdom, and fo fedate a courage, that it feem- ed a fynod of heroes ; and, as fome would then fay of us, could only be matched by a fenate of old Rome in its age of higheft glory. To this par- liament I had the honour to be deputed, whither I went with high creeled thoughts, and a heart panting for fame and the true fervice of my coun- try. The diffolution, which fo unhappily follow- ed, ferved only to increafe this ardour. So that on our next meeting in November ^ I went freely and warmly into the meafures of thofe who were fuppofed to mean the bed. I voted, I fpoke, I impeached *. In a word, I gave a free fcope to thofe generous thoughts and purpofes which had been collecting for fo many years, and was in the foremoft rank of thofe whofe pulfe beat high- eft for liberty, and who were moft active for the intereft of the public. Dr. MORE. This was indeed a triumph, the very memo- ry of which warms you to this moment. So bright a flame was not eafily to be extinguifhed. Mr. WALLER. It continued for fome time in all its vigour. High as my notions were of public liberty, * This alludes to the impeachment of Mr. Jujiice CRAW- IEY, July 6, 1641, for his extrajudicial opinion in the af- fair of Ship-money. Mr. Waller's fpeech on this occafion is ex- tant amongft his works. did AND POLITICAL. 25 they did not tranfport [me with that zeal which prevailed on fo many others, to adt againft the juft prerogative of the crown, and the ancient conftitution. I owe it to the converfation and influence of the excellent fociety, before menti- oned, that neither the fpirit, the fenfe, nor, what .is more, the relationfhip and intimate acquain- tance of Mr. Hampden*, could ever biafs me to his deeper defigns, or any irreverence of the un- happy king's perfon. Many things concurred to prelerve me in this due mean. The violent ten- dencies of many counfels on the parliament's fide ; many gracious and important compliances on the king's ; the great examples of fome who had moft authority with good men ; and laflly, my own temper, which, in its higheft fervours, always inclined to moderation ; thefe and other circumftances kept me from the excefles on ei- ther hand which fo few were able to avoid in that fcene of public confufion. Dr. MORE. This moderation carries with it all the marks of a real and confirmed virtue. Mr. WALLER. I rather expe<5led you would have confidered it as another facrtfice to Infincerity. Such I re- member was the language of many at that time. The enthufiafts on both fides agreed to ftigma- * The famous Mr. Hamfden was his uncle. tize 26 DIALOGUES MORAL, tize this temper with the name of Neutrality. Yet this treatment did not prevent me, when the war broke out, from taking a courie which I ea- fily forefaw would tend to increafe fuch fulpici- ons : for now, to open a frefh fcene to you, I had aiTumed, if not new principles, yet new notions of the manner in which good policy required me to exert my old ones. The general virtue, or what had the appearance of it at lead, had hi- therto made plain dealing an eafy and convenient conduct.. But things were now changed. The minds of all men were on fire : deep defigns were laid, and no practice (luck at that might be pro- per to advance the execution. In this fituation of affairs what could fimple honefty do but de- feat the purpofe and endanger the fafety of its matter ? I now firft began to reflect that this was a virtue for other times : at leaft, that not to qua- lify it, in fome fort, was, at fuch a juncture not honefty, but imprudence : and when I had once fallen into this train of thinking, it is wonderful how many things occurred to me to juftify and recommend it. The humour of acting always on one principle was, I faid to myfelf, like that of failing with one wind : whereas the expert mari- ner wins his way by plying in all directions, as oc- cafions ferve, and making the befl; of all wea- thers. Then I confidered with myfelf the bad policy, in fuch a conjuncture, of Cato and Brutus, and eafily approved in my own mind the more pliant and conciliating method of Cicero. Thofe ftoics, AND POLITICAL 27 ftoics, thought I, ruined themfelves ^and their caufe by a too obilinate adherence to their fyftem. The liberal and more enlarged conduct of the academic, who took advantage of all winds that blew in that time of civil difTenfion, had a chance, at lead, for doing his country better fervice. Ob- fervation, as well as books, furnifhed me with thefe reflections. I perceived with what difficulty the Lord FALKLAND'S rigid principles, had fuffer- ed him to accept an office of the greater! con- fequence to the public fafety * : and I underftood to what an extreme his excefiive icruples had car- ried him in the difcharge of it -f . This, con- * That of Secretary of State. The Lord Clarendon tells us it was with the utmoft difficulty he perfuaded him to accept it. " There were two confiderations (fays the hiltorian) that made moft impreffion on him ; the cr.e, left the world fhould believe that his own ambition had procured this pro- motion, and that he had therefore appeared fignally in the houfe to oppofe thofe proceedings, that he might thereby ren- der himfelf gracious to the court : The other, left the King fhould expect fuch a fubmiflion and refignation of himfelf and his own reafon and judgment to his commands, as he mould never give or pretend to give ; for he was fo fevere an adorer of truth, that he would as esfily have given himfelf leave to ilealastodiflemble," &c. B, iv. t The noble hiftorian, before cited, very luckily alfo ex- plains this particular, by giving us two inftancesof Lord Falk- Imd'i fcrupulofity. The one was, " That he cor.'d never bring himfelf to employ fpies, or give any countenance or enter- tainment to them :" The other, " Th.it he could never al- low himfelf the liberty of opening letters, upon a fufpicicn that they might contain matter of dangerous cor.fequence." B. viii. eluded a8 DIALOGUES MORAL eluded I, can never be the office of virtue in filch a world, and in fuch a period. And then that of the poet fo fkilled in the knowledge of v life, oc- curred to me, aut virtus nomen inane eft, Aut decus et pretium rede petit EXPERIENS vir ; that is, as I explained it, that no arguments, nor * He means the eftate he obtained by means of the Lord St. Allans. This particular is often attended to in the courfe of the Dialogue. even AND POLITICAL. S5 even your lordfhip's authority, could fhake it ? I have ever admired Mr. Cowley, as a man of the happieft temper and trueft judgment ; but, to fay the leaft, there was fomething fo particular, I had almoft faid perverfe, in what he had to al- ledge for himfelf on this occafion, that I cannot think I acquit myfelf to your lordfhip, without laying before you the whole of this extraordinary converfation ; and, as far as my recollection will ferve, in the very words in which it pafled be- twixt us. I went *, as I told your lordmip, pretty early to BARN-ELMS ; but my friend had gotten the ftart of me by fome hours. He was bufying himfelf with fome improvements of his garden, and the fields that lie about his houfe. Thefe together make up his intended purchafe ; for your lordfhip's information was premature ; as yet, he * It feems pretty difficult to fix the time of this coriverfation with any certainty. The probability, in laying all circum- ftances together, is, that it was in the fpring, or rather early in the Cummer of the year 1661 . It cannot be earlier, unlefs we fuppofe, what is very unlikely, and indeed contrary to Mr. Convley's declaration in this dialogue, that he left the court immediately on the Reparation ; nor later, if what his hiftorian fays be any thing near the truth ; for he tells us, that he fpent his lajl /even or eight years in his beloved obfcurity* [Dr. Sprat's Life of Mr. A. Cowley, FoL Lond. 1668.] But he died in July 1667. The/eafon of the year is *arly col- le&ed fromfeveral hints which occur in the courfe of the con- verfation. 4 has 5 6 DIALOGUES M-ORAL has only articled for &leafe of three years *. The whole circuit of his domain, was not fo large, but that I prefently came up with him. " My dear friend, faid he, embracing me, but with a look of fome referve and difguft, and is it you then I have the happinefs to fee at length in my new fettlement ? Though I fled hither from the reft of the world, I had no defign to get out of the reach of my friends. And to be plain with you, I took it a little amifs from one whofe entire af- fection I had reckoned upon, that he mould leave me to myfelf for this whole two months, without difcovering an inclination, either from friendfhip or curiofity, to know how this retirement agreed with me. What could induce my beft friend to ufe me fo unkindly ?" Surely, faid I, you for- get the fuddennefs of your flight, and the fecre - fy with which the refolution was taken. We fuppofed you gone only for a few days, to fee to the management of your affairs, and could not dream of your rufticating thus long, at a time when the town and court are fo bufy ; when the occafions of your friends and your own interefts feemed to require your fpeedy return to us. How- ever, continued I> it dorh not difpleafe me to * This particular is not mentioned in his Life by Dr. Sprat, which, though it be finely written, is not fo circum- ftantial as were to be wifhed in the detail of his hiftory. It was, I fuppofe, at the expiration of this term of three years, that, not finding the place agree with his health, he removed to his farm at Chertfey, where he died 1667. The curious reader love* to fee thefe nicer chronologies well adjufted, find AND POLITICAL. S 7 find you fo diffatisfied with this folitude. It looks as if the ftiort experience you have had of this reclufe life, did not recommend it to you in the manner you expecled. Retirement is a fine thing in imagination, and is apt to poffefs you poets with ftrange vifions. But the charm is rarely lafting ; and a fhort trial, I find, hath ferved to correc"l thefe fancies. You feel your- felf born for fociety and the world, and, by your kind complaints of your friend, confefs how unnatural it is fo deny yourfelf the proper de- lights of a man, the delights of converfation. Not fo faft, interrupted he, if you pleafe, in your conclufions about the nature of retirement. I never meant to'give up my right in the affecti- ons of thofe few I call my friends. But what has this to do with the general purpofe of re- treating from the anxieties of bufmefs, the in- trigues of policy, or the impertinencies of con- verfation ? I have lived but too long in a ceafe- lefs round of thefe follies. The bed part of my time hath been fpent fub die. I have ferv- ed in all weathers, and in all climates, but chiefly in the torrid zone of politics, where the pafiions of all men are on fire, and where fuch as have lived the longeft, and are thought the happieft, are fcarcely able to reconcile them- felves to the fultry air of the place. But this warfare is now happily at an end. I have lan- gui fried thefe many years for the lhade. Thanks to my Lord St. Albans, and another noble lord you 5 DIALOGUES MORAL you know of, I have now gained it. And it is not a fmall matter, I allure you, fhall force me out of this (belter. Nothing is ealier, faid I, than for you men of wit to throw a ridicule upon any thing. It is but applying a quaint figure, or a well-turned fen- tence *, and the bufmefs is done. But indeed, * It may feem firange to hear Mr. Corey's friend declare liimfelf fo roundly againft will-turned fentences, when : as one hath observed, all his own merit " was comprized in the well rounding a period." [Pope's works 1 2mo. Vol. IV. p. 1 59. Lond. 1753] But I take this for a natural ftroke of charac- ter. Nothing is more common, than for fuch writers not to know, or to affeft to undervalue, their own proper merits. And fuch, it feems, was his language on other occafions. " How many rewards (fays he, in his famous hijlory of the R. Society) which are due to more profitable and difficult arts, have been ilill fna'.ched away by the eafy vanity of fine, fyeaking? For now I am warmed with this juft anger, I cannot withold myfelf from betraying the fhallownefs of all thefe feeming myfteries, upon which we writers and fpeak- ers look fo big. And in few words, I dare fay, that, of all the ftudies of men, nothing may be fconer obtained, than this njicioui abundance of phrafe, this trick of metaphors, this volubility of tongue, which makes fo great a noife in the world. But I fpend words in vain" [p. nz.] Nay, worfe than fo : he fpends them to the utter ruin of his own reputation as a writer, fhould we take him at his word, and believe, (as after fuch a fpecimen of his volubility he fcarcely fuppofed we could) that this trick of phrafe, which was his all, hath indeed fo {lender a merit in it. His judicious friend, who thought otherwife, and knew him better, perceived where his ftrength lay, and hath accordingly made this eafy vtinity of fne fpeaking, the bafis of that noble compliment which he paid him on his grand work. i my AND POLITICAL. 5g my beft friend, it gives me pain to find you not diverting only, but deceiving yourfelf with this unfeafonable ingenuity. So long as thefe fallies of fancy were employed only to enliven conver- fation, or furnifh matter for an ode or an epi- gram, all was very well. But now that you feem difpofed to off upon them, you muft excufe me if I take the matter a little more ferioufly. To deal plainly with you, I come to tell you my whole mind on this fubjeft : and to give what I have to fay the greater confequence with you, I muft not conceal from you, that I come commif- fioned by the excellent lord you honour fo much, and have juft now mentioned, to expoftulate in the freeft manner with you upon it. We had continued walking all this time, and were now afcending a fort of natural terras. It led to a fmall thicket, in the entrance of which From all modern follies he Has vindicated ELOQUENCE and WIT. His CANDID STILE, like a clear ftream, does glide, And his bright fancy all the way Does like thefun-fiiine in it PLAY; It does, like Thames, the beft of rivers, glide Where the god does not rudely o'erturn, But GENTLY pour the cryftal urn, [GUIDE. AND WITH JUDICIOUS HAND DOES T HE VY ; OLE CUR REN T 'T has all the BEAUTIES nature can impait, And all the comely DRESS, without the paint of art. We fee the friend and the panegyrijl in thefe charming lines ; but through all the heightenings of b&'.h, we difcern very clear- ly the hiftoiian": true character. was 60 DIALOGUES MORAL was a feat that commanded a pleafant view of the country, and the river. Taking me up to it, " Well, laid he, my good friend, .fince your purpofe in coming hither is fo kind, and my Lord St. Allans himfelf doth me the honour to think my private concerns deferving his particu- lar notice, it becomes me to receive your mefiage with refpect, and to debate the matter, fmce you prefs it fo home upon me, with all poffiblecalm- nefs. But let us, if you pleafe, fit down here. You will find it the moft agreeable fpot I have to treat you with ; and the (hade we have about us, will not, I fuppofe, at this hour be unwelcome." And now, turning himfelf to me, " Let me hear from you, what there is in my retreat to this place, which a wife man can have reafon to cenfure, or which may deferve the difallowance of a friend. I know you come prepared with every argument which men of the world have at any time employed againfl retirement , and I know your ability to give to each its full force. ' But look upon this fcene before you, and tell me what inducements I can poffibly have to quit it for any thing you can promife me in exchange ? Is there in that vaft labyrinth, you call the world, where fo many thoufands loie themfelves in end- lefs wan'drings and perplexities, any corner where the mind can recollect itfelf fo perfectly, where it can attend to its own bufmefs, and purfue its pro- per interefts fo conveniently, as in this quiet and fequeftered fpot ? Here the paffions fubfide, or, if AND POLITICAL. 6c if they continue to agitate, do not however tranf- port the mind with thofe feverifh and vexatious fervours, which diffract us in public life. This is the feat of virtue and of reafon ; here I can fafhion my life by the precepts of duty and con- fcience*, and here I have leifure to make acquain- tance, that acquaintance which elfewhere is fo rarely, if ever, made, with the ways and works of God. Think again, my friend. Doth not the geni- us of the place feize you ? Do you not perceive a certain ferenity fteal in upon you ? Doth not the afpect of things around you, the very ftillnefs of this retreat, infufe a content and fatisfaction, which the world knows nothing of ? Tell me, in a word, is there not fomething like enchant- ment about us ? Do you not find your defires more compofed, your purpofes more pure, your thoughts more elevated, and more active, fmce your entrance into this icene ?" He was proceeding in this ftrain with an air of perfect enthufiafm, when I broke in upon him with afking, " Whether this was what he called debating the matter calmly with me ? Surely, laid I, this is poetry, or fomething flill more extrava- gant. You cannot think I come prepared to en- counter you in this way. I own myfelf no match for you at thefe weapons, which indeed are tco fine for my handling, and very unfuitable to my purpofe, if they were not. The point is not which of us can fay the handlbmeft things, but the 62 DIALOGUES MORAL the trueft, on either fide of the queftion. It is, as you faid, plain argument, and not rhetorical flourimes, much lefs poetical raptures, that muft decide the matter in debate. Not but a great deal might be faid on my fide, and it may be, with more colour of truth, had I the command of an eloquence proper to fet it off. I might afk, in my turn, " Where is the mighty charm that draws you to this inglorious folitude, from the duties of bufmefs and converfation, from the pro- per end and employment of man ? How comes it to pafs, that this ftillnefs of a country landfcape, this uninftructing, though agreeable enough fcene of fields and waters, mould have greater beauty in your eye, than flourijh'ing peopled towns^ the fcenes of induftry and art, of public wealth and happinefs ? Is not thefublimt countenance of man> fo one of your acquaintance terms it, a more de- lightful object than any of thefe humble beauties that lie before us ? And are not the human vir- tues, with all their train of lovely and beneficial effects in fbciety, better worth contemplating, than the products of inanimate nature in the field or wood ? Where mould we feek for REASON, but in the minds of men tried and polilhed in the fchool of civil converfation ? And where hath VIRTUE fo much as a being out of the of- fices of focial life ? Look well into yourfelf, I might fay : hath not indeed the proper genius of folitude affected you ? Doth not I know not what of chagrin and difcontent hang about you? Is AND POLITICAL. 63 Is there not a gloom upon your mind, which dar- kens your views of human nature, and damps thofe chearful thoughts and fprightly purpofes, which friendmip and fociety infpire ? You fee, fir, were I but difpofed, and as able as you are, to purfue this way of fancy and de- clamation, I might conjure up as many frightful forms in thefe retired walks, as you have delight- ful ones. And the enchantment in good hands would, I am perfuaded, have more the appear- ance of reality. But this is not the way in which I take upon myfelf to contend with you. I would hear, if you pleafe, what reafons, that deferve to be fo called, could determine you to fo flrange, and forgive me, if at prefent I am forced to think it, fo unreafonable a project, as that of devoting your health and years to this monaftic retirement. I would lay before you the arguments, which, I prefume, mould move you to quit a hafty, per- haps an unweighed refolution , fo Improper in itfelf, fo alarming to all your friends, fo injurious to your own interefl, and, permit me to fay, to the public. I would enforce all this with the mild perfuafions of a friend j and with the wiitiom, the authority of a great perlbn, to whofe opinion you owe a deference, and who deferves it too from the entire love and affection he bears you. My deareft friend, replied he, with an earnefl- nefs that awed, and a goodnefs that melted me, I am 64 DIALOGUES MORAL am not to learn the affection which either you or my noble friend bear me. I have had too many proofs of it from both to fuffer me to doubt it. But why will you not allow me to judge of what is proper to conftitute my own happineis ? And why muft I be denied the privilege of choofing for myfelf, in a matter where the different tafte or humour of others makes them fo unfit to pre- fcibe to me ? Yet I fubmk to thefe unequal terms ; and if I cannot juftify the choice I have made, even in the way of ferious reafon and ar- gument, I promife to yield myfelf to your advice and authority. You have taken me perhaps a little unprepared and unfurnifhed for this con- flict. I have not marmalled my forces in form, as you feem to have done ; and it may be diffi- cult, on the fudden, to methodize my thoughts in the manner you may poflibly expect from me. But come, faid he, I will do my beft in this emergency. You will excufe the rapture which hurried me, at fetting out, beyond the bounds which your feverer temper requires. The fubject always fires me ; and I find it difficult, in enter- ing on this argument, to reftrain thofe triumphant fallies, which had better been referred for the clofe of it. Here he paufed a little ; and recollecting him- felf, " But firft, refumed he, you will take no- tice, that I am not at all concerned in the general queftion, fo much, and, I think, fo vainly agi- tated, AND POLITICAL. 6? tated, " whether a life of retirement be preferable to one of attion?" I am not, I allure you, for unpeopling our cities, and lending their induftri- ous and ufeful inhabitants into woods and cloyf- ters. I acknowledge and admire the improve- ments of arts, the conveniencies of fociety, the policies of government *. I have no thought fo mad or fo lilly, as that of wifhing to fee the tribes of mankind dilbanded, their interefts and connec- tions diflblved, and themfelves turned loofe into a fingle and folitary exiftence. I would not even wifh to fee our courts deferted of their homagers, though I cannot but be of opinion, that an airing now and then at their country-houfes, and that not with the view of diverting, but recollecting themfelves, would prove as ufeful to their fenfe and virtue as to their eftates. But all this, as I * He is more reafonable here than in one of his EJ/ays t where he fays on this fubjeft, " It is the great boaft of elo- quence and philofophy, that they firft congregated men dif- perfed, united them into cities, and built up the houfes and the walls of cities. I wifh they could unravel all they had woven, that we might have our woods and our innocence again, inftead of our eajlles and our policies ." But this is the lan- guage of declamation. And in general, I think, we may ob- ferve, that though he is more lively and eloquent in his fjjfays^ he explains his notions of life with more exadlnefs and fobriety in this Dialogue. The reafon may be, that in a debate with a friend, who is known to hold a contrary opinion, one is not fo apt to indulge in thefe random flights as in written EJJays, where there is no fear of inftant contradiction. This mews the utility of Dialogues ; which, when given from the life, as thefe are, muft be of great authority, and of the higheft ufe, to let us in to the true, fentiments of the fpeakers. F faid, 66 DIALOGUES MORAL laid, is fo far from coming into the fcheme of my ferious willies, that it does not fo much as enter into my thoughts. Let wealth, and power, and pleafure, be as eagerly fought after as they ever will be : let thoufands or millions aflemble in vaft towns, for the fake of purfuing their feveral ends, as it may chance, of profit, vanity, or amufe- ment. All this is nothing to me, who pretend not to determine for other men, but to vindicate my own choice of this retirement. As much as I have been involved in the en- gagements of bufmefs, I have not lived thus long without looking frequently, and fometimes atten- tively, into myfelf. I maintain, then, that to a perfon fo moulded as I am, of the temper and turn of mind, which nature hath given me -, of the fort of talent j, with which education or genius hath furnifhed me ; and laftly, or the circumilances, in which fortune hath placed me ; I fay, to a perfon fo charaflered and fo fituated, RETIREMENT is not only his choice, but his duty, is not only what his inclination leads him to, but his judgment. And upon thefe grounds, if you will, I venture to un- dertake my own apology to you. Your propofal, faid I, is very fair, and I can have no objection to clofe with you upon thefe terms j only you muft take care, my friend, that you do not miftake or mifreprefent your own ta- lents or character ; a miicarriage, which, arllow me AND POLITICAL. 67 me to fay, is not very rare from the partialities which an indulged humour, too eafily taken for nature, is apt to create in us. Or what, replied he, if this humour, as you call it, be fo rooted as to become a fecond nature ; can it, in the inftance before us, be worth the pains of correcting ? I fhould think fo, returned I, in your cafe. But let me firft hear the judgment you form of your- felf, before I trouble you with that which I and your other friends- make of you". I cannot but think, refumed he, that my fituation at prefent muft appear very ridiculous. I am forc- ed into an apology for my own conduct, in a very nice affair, which it might become another, ra- ther than myfelf, to make for me. In order to this, I am conftrained to reveal to you the very fecrets, that is, the foibles and weaknefles of my own heart. I am to lay myfelf open and naked before you. This would be an unwelcome taflc to moft men. But your friendfhip, and the confidence I have in your affection, prevail over all fcruples. Hitherto your friend hath ufed the common pri- vilege of wearing a difguife, of mafking him* felf, as the poet makes his hero, in a cJca-l^ which is of ufe to keep off the too near and curious infpection both of friends and enemies. But, at your bidding, it falls off, and 'you are F 2 now 68 DIALOGUES MORAL now to fee him in his juft proportion and true features. My beft friend, proceeded he with an air of earneilnefs and recollection, it is now above forty years that I have lived in this world , and in all the rational part of that time there hath not, I be- lieve, a fingle day pafled without an ardent long- ing for fuch a retreat from it, as you fee me at length blefied with. You have heard me repeat fome verfes, which were made by me fo early as the age of thirteen, and in which that inclination is expreffed as flrongly as in any thing I have ever faid or written on that fubject:*. Hence you may guefs the proper turn and bias of my nature ; which began fo foon, and hath continued thus long, to mow itfelf in the conftant workings of that paflion. Even in my earlieft years at fchool, you will hardly imagine how uneafy conftraint of every kind was to me, and with what delight I broke away from the cuftomary fports and paf- times of that age, to faunter the time away by my- felf, or with a companion, if I could meet with any fuch, of my own humour. The fame in- clination purfued me to college , where a private walk, with a book or friend, was beyond any amufement, which, in that fprightly feafon of life, I had any acquaintance with. It is with a * Thefe verfes are inferted in one of his FJfays> and in fome editions of his works. fond AND POLITICAL. 69 fond indulgence my memory even now returns to thefe paft pleafures. It was in thofe retired ramblings that a thoufand charming perceptions and bright ideas would ftream in upon me. The mufe was kindeft in thofe hours : and I know not how, Philofophy herfelf would oftmr meet me amidft the willows of the CAM, than in the for- mal fchools of fcience, within the walls of my col- lege, or in my tutor's chamber. I underftand, faid I, the true fecret of that mat- ter. You had now contracted an intimacy with the poets, and others of the fanciful tribe. You was even admitted of their company ; and it was but fit you mould adopt their fancies, and fpeak their language. Hence thofe day-dreams Qijhade and fihnce^ and I know not what vifions, which tranfport the minds of young men on their en- trance into thefe regions of Pamaffus. It mould feem then, returned he, by your way of expreffing it, as if you thought this paflion for Jhade^ andfilencc^ was only pretended to on a principle of fafhion -, or at moft, was catch ed by the lovers of poetry from each other, in the way of fympathy, without nature's having any hand at all in the production of it. Something like that, I told him, was my real ientiment ; and that thefe agreeable reveries of the old poets had done much hurt by being ta- F 3 ken 70 DIALOGUES MORAL ken too ferioufly. Were Horace and Virgil, think you, as much in earned as you appear to be, when they were crying out perpetually on their favourite theme of ottutti and fecej/us 9 " they, who lived and tiled in a court ?" I believe, faid he, they were, and that the (hort accounts we have of their lives fliew it, though a perfect dilmifiion from the court was what they could not obtain, or had not the reiblution to in- fift upon. But pray, upon your principles, that all this is but the enchantment of example or fa/bion, how came it to pafs, that the firft leducers of the family, the old poets themfelves, had fallen into thefe notions ? They were furely no pre- tenders. They could only write from the heart ; and methinks it were more candid, as well as more reafonable, to account for this paffion, which hath fo conftantlyfhewn itlelf in their fuc- ceffors, from the fame reafon. It is likely in- deed, and fo much I can readily allow, that the early reading of the poets might contribute fome- thing to confirm and ftrengthen my natural bi- as *. But let the matter reft for the prefent. I * Mr. CW7?y, as ufual, is more exaft and guarded in this apology than in his EJ/ays; where he feems willing to admit all that his friend now charges upon him. " Perhaps, (fays he, fpeaking of the pcets) it was the immature and immode- rate love of them, which flamy t firft, or rather engraved the characters in me: they were like letters cut in the bark of a joung tree, which with the tree flill grow proportionally. " would AND POLITICAL. 71 would now go on with the detail of my own life and experience, fo proper, as I think, to convince you that what I am pleading for is the refult of nature. I was faying how agreeably my youth paffcd in thefe reveries, if you will have it fo, and efpe- cially Jttterjylvas academi. Dura fed emovere loco me tempora grato, Civilifque rudem belli tulit seftus in arma. You know the confequence. This civil turmoil drove me from the flicker of retirement into the heat and buftle of life ; from thofe ftudies which, as you fay, had enchanted my youth, into bufi- nefs and action of all forts. I lived in the world ; I converfed familiarly with the great. A change like this, one would fuppofe, were enough to un- do the prejudices of education. But the very re- verfe happened. The farther I engaged, and the longer I continued in this fcene, the greater my impatience was of retiring from it. But you will fay, my old vice was nouriilied in me by living in the neighbourhood of books and let- ters *. I was yet in the fairy land of the Mufes ; [E/ay on kimfilf.] Unlefs you will f jppofe, that this concef- fion was made for the fake of introducing fo fine and claffical a comparifon. * " When the civil war broke our, his [Mr. GW p. 315.] The con- currence of two fuch knowing and candid perfons, as Mr. Conn-Icy and archbifhop Tillotjon, in this opinion of the upper part ef the ivor'd, were enough to lead one to ftrange conclu- fions; which yet, after al!, would, doubtlefs, be as unjuft as they are uncharitable. AND POLITICAL. 75 and to cozen one another*. In fhort, their vir- tue is diffimulation : and their fenfe, cunning. You will guefs now, continued he, how uneafy I muft be in fuch company; I, who cannot lye, though it were to make a friend, or ruin an ene- my ; who have been taught to bear no refpect to any but true wifdom ; and, whether it be nature or education, could never endure (pardon the foolilh boaft) that hypocrify mould ufurp the ho- nours, and triumph in the fpoils of virtue. Nay further, my good friend, (for I muft tell you all I know of myfelf, though it expofe me ever fo much to the charge of folly, or even vanity) I * This whole inve&ive againft courts may give one occaficm to admire the probity cf the fpeaker's mind. But the reader, who knows the world, will be apt to think it a probity of the fort which an eminent German philofopher condemns in thefe words " J'avoue que la PROBITE eil fouvent accompagn.e de PRE- SUMPTION et d' OBST i NATION dansles PET ITS GENIES, et que les gens de ce caraftere decident HARD i MENT, et condam- nent avec trop de precipitation et trop de hauteur, CE o^yi LEUR DEPLAIT, qUl foUVCnt 1 EST TROP INDIFFERENT POT;:I MERITER DE LEUR DEPiAiRE." This ingenious mo- ral' ft well obferves, that it is only in littli minds, dans les petits genres, that probity is attended with thefe bad fymptoms. The politician will go further, and tell us who thefe men of little miiidi are. " Jl ne faut fe fervir [fays cardinal Ricblieu in his political Teftameni] de GENS DE EAS LIEU; il font TROP AU- STERES ET TROP D.'FFICILES. So that pOOr Cci'.'lefs mif- fortune and ill fuccefs in the world was owing, after all, to the original fin of his low birth ; it being impoffible, the cardinal tells us, that fo mean a flock, with all pofiible ca'tivation, Ihould come to bear the more generous and courtly virtue?. was 7 6 DIALOGUES MORAL was not born for courts and general conversation. Befides the unconquerable averfion I have to knaves and fools, (though thefe laft, but that they are commonly knaves too, I could bring myfelf to tolerate:) befides this uncourtly hu- mour, I have another of fo odd a kind, that I al- moft want words to exprefs myfelf intelligibly to you. It is a fort of capricious delicacy, which oc- cafions a wide difference in my eftimation of thofe characters in which the world makes no diftincti- on. It is not enough to make me converfe with eafe and pleafure with a man, that I fee no no- torious vices, or even obferve fome confiderable virtues in him. His good qualities mufl have a certain grace, and even his fenfe muft be of a cer- tain turn, to give me arelifh of his converfation. I fee you fmile at this talk, and am aware how fantaftic this fqueamimnefs mufl appear to you. But it is with men and manners, as with the forms and alpects of natural things. A thoufand objects recall ideas, and excite fenfations in my mind, which feem to be not perceived, or not heeded by other men. The look of a country, the very fhading of a landfkip, mall have a fenfible effect on me, which they who have as good eyes, appear to make no account of. It is juft the fame with the characters of men. I con- ceive a difgufl at fome, and a fecret regard for others; whom many, I believe, would eftimate juft alike. And what is worfe, a long and gene- ral converfation hath not been able to cure me of this ANDPOLITICAL. 77 this foible. I queftion, faid he, turning himfelf to me, but, if I was called upon to affign the rea- fons of that entire affection, which knits me to my beft friend, they would be refolved at lad in- to a fomething, which they, who love him per- haps as well, would have no idea of. He faid this in a way that difarmed me, or I had it in my mind to have rallied him on his doctrine of occult qualities and unintelligible forms. I therefore contented myfelf with faying, that I muft not hear him go on at this ftrange rate ; and afked him if it was pofilble he could fuffer him- felf to be bialfed, in an affair of this moment, by fuch whimfies ? Thofe whimfies, refumed he, had a real effect. But confider further, the endlefs impertinences of converfation ; the diflipation, and lofs of time 5 the diverfion of the mind from all that is truly ufeful or inftructive, from what a reafonable man would or mould delight in : add to thefe, the vexations of bufmefs , the flavery of dependence, the difcourtefies of fome, the grofler injuries of others ; the danger, or the fcorn to which virtue is continually fubject ; in fhort, the knavery, or folly, or malevolence of all around you ; and tell me, if any thing but the unhappy times, and a fenfe of duty, could have detained a man of rny temper and principles fo long in a ftation of life fo very unealy and difgufting to me. Noth'ng 7 8 DIALOGUES MORAL Nothing is eafier, faid I, than to exaggerate the inconveniencies of any fituation. The world and the court have, doubtlefs, theirs. But you feem to forget one particular ; that the unhappy times you fpeak of, and the ftate of the court, were an excufe for part of the difagreeable cir- cumftances you have mentioned. The face of things is now altered. The Itorm is over. A calm has fucceeded. And why mould not you take the benefit of thefe halcyon days, in which fo many others have found their eafe, and even en- joyment ? x Thefe halcyon days, returned he, are not, alas I what unexperienced men are ready to reprefent them. The fame vices, the fame follies prevail ftill, and are even multiplied and enframed by profperity. A fuffering court, if any, might be expected to be the feed plot of virtues. But to fatisfy your fcruples, 1 have even made a trial of thefe happier times. All I wifhed to myfelf from the happieft, was but fuch a return for my pad fcrvices, as might enable me to retire with decen- cy. Such a return I feem not to have merited. And I care not, at this time of day, to wafte more of my precious time in deferving a better treatment. Your day, faid I, is not fo far fpent, as to require this hafty determination. Befides, if this AND POLITICAL. 79 this be all, the world may be apt to cenfure your retreat, as the effeft of chagrin and difap- pointment. His colour rofe, as I faid this , the world, re- fumed he, will cenfure as it fees fit. I muft have leave at length to judge for myfelf in what fo ef- fentially concerns my own happinefs. Though if ever chagrin may be pleaded as a reafon for re- tirement, perhaps no body had ever a better right than I have to plead it. You know what hatli happened of late, to give me a difguft to courts. You know the view I had in my late comedy *, and the grounds I had to expect the thanks of the miniftry for it. But you know too the iffue of that attempt. And mould I, after this expe- rience of courtly gratitude, go about to folicit theirfavours ? But to let you fee thatlam fwayed by better motives than thofe of chagrin, I mail not conceal from you what I am proud enough to think of my TALENTS, as well as temper. * He means, I fuppofe, The cutter of Coleman JJreet, the oc- cafion and purpofe of which was this. At the reiteration, there was not a fet of men more troublefome to the miniftry than the cavalier officers ; amongft whom had crept in all the profligate of broken fortunes, to lhare in the merits and re- wards of that name. Co-iuley writ this comedy to umnafk thefe wretches, and might reafonably pretend to fome thanks for it. But, contrary to expectation, this very attempt rail", ed a ftorm againft him even at coint, \\hich beat vio- lently upon him. See his preface to that play in the later editions in Svo. Thera go DIALOGUES MORAL There are but two forts of men, purfued he, that fhould think of living in a court, however it be that we fee animals of all forts, clean and unclean, enter into it. The ONE is, of thofe flrong and active fpirits that are formed for bufi- nefs, whofe ambition reconciles them to the buf- tle of life, and whofe capacity fits them for the dilcharge of its functions. Thefe, efpecially if of noble birth and good fortunes, are deilined to fill the firft offices in a ftate ; and if, peradven- ture,they add virtue to their other parts and qua- lities, are the bleflings of the age they live in. Some few fuch there have been in former times ; and the prefent, it may be, is not wholly with- out them. The OTHER fort are what one may properly enough call, if the phrafe were not fomewhat un- courtly,the MOB OF COURTS; they, who havevanity or avarice without ambition, or ambition without talents. Thefe, by afliduity, good luck, and the help of their vices, (for they would fcorn to earn advancement, if it were to be had, by any worthy practices) may in time fucceed to the lower pofts in a government ; and together make up that fhewy, fervile, felfifh crowd we dignify with the name of COURT. Now, though I think too juft- ly of myfelf to believe I am qualified to enter in- to the former of thefe lifts, you may conclude, if you pleafe, that I am too proud to brigue for an I admifiion AND POLITICAL. 81 admifilon into the latter. I pretend not to great abilities of any kind; but let me prefume a little in fuppofmg, that I may have fome too good to be thrown away on fuch company. Here, my lord, the unufual freedom, and even indecency of Mr. Cowlefs invective againft courts* tranfported me fo far, that I could not forbear turning upon him with fome warmth. Surely, faid I, my friend is much changed from what I always conceived of him. This heat of language from one of your candour, furprifes me equally with the injuftice of it. It is fo far from calm reafoning, that it wants but little, methinks, of being downright railing. I believe, con- tinued I, that I think more highly, that is, more juftly of Mr. Cowley in every refpeft, than he allows himfelf to do. Yet I fee not that either his time, or his talents, would be mifemployed in the fervices he fo undervalues. Allow me to fay, your refentment hath carried you too far ; and that you do not enough confider the friends; you left at court, or the noble lord that wifhes your return thither. I do, faid he haftily, confider both. But, with your leave, fince I am forced to defend my- felf aeainft an ignominious charge, I muft do myfelt the right to aflame what I think be- longs to me. I repeat it, I have long thought my time loft in the poor amufements and vani- G ties 82 DIALOGUES MORAL ties of the great world, and that I have felt an im- patience to get into aquietfcene, where, {lender as my talents are, I might employ them to bet- ter purpofe. And think not, proceeded he, that I am car- ried to this choice by any thing fo frivolous as the idlenefs of a poetical fancy. Not but the Mufe, which hath been the darling of my youth, may deferve to be the companion of my Hper age. For I am far from renouncing an art, which, unprofitable as it hath ever been to me, is always entertaining. And when employed, as. I mean it mall be, in other fervices than thofe by which a voluptuous court feems willing to dif- grace it*, I fee not what there is in this amufe- fnent of poetry, for the fevered cenfor of life and manners to take offence at. Yet ftill I intend it for an amufement. My ferious occupations will be very different ; fuch as you, my friend, cannot difapprove, and mould encourage. But I have opened to you my intentions more than once, and need not give you the trouble at this time to hear me explain them. You mean, interpofed I, to apply yourfdf to natural and religious enquiries. Your de- fign is commendable, and I would not dif- fuade you from it. But what mould hinder * This wai fpoken in 1 66 1 . What would he have faid, if ht had continued in the. court feme years longer ? 4 your AND POLITICAL. 83 your purfuing this defign as well in fociety as in this folitude ? "What, at COURT, returned he, where the on- ly object, that all men are in queft of, is GAIN, and the only deity they acknowledge, FORTUNE ? or fay, that fuch idolatries did not prevail there, how fhall the mind be calm enough for fo fublime enquiries ? Or where, but in this fcene of ge- nuine nature, is there an opportunity to indulge in them ? Here, if any where, is the obfervati- on of the poet verified, DEUS EST QUODCUNQUE VIDES. Look round, my friend, on this florid earth, on the various clailes of animals that in- habit, and the countlefs vegetable tribes that adorn it. Here is the proper fchool of wifdom, " And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in ftones, and good in every thing V * There is a quaintnefs in thefe lines of the great poet, which however are not unlike fome of his own, addrefled to J, Evelyn, Efq. ' Where does the wifdom and the power divine, In a more bright and fweet reflexion fhine ? Where do we finer ftrokes and colours fee, Of the Creator's real poetry, Than when we with attention look Upon the third day's volume of the book ? If we could open and intend our eye, We all, like Mofts t mould efpy, Even in a Bufl, the radiant Deity. G 2 Infinite 84 DIALOGUES MORAL Infinite are the ufes, continued he, which would refult from this method of applying expe- riment and obfervation to Natural Science. I have taken occafion, you know, to offer a flight fketch of them to the public very lately *. But the principal I would draw from it to myfelf mould be, to inure the mind to juft conceptions of the divine nature , that fo, with the better advan- tage, I might turn myfelf to the awful ftudy of his Word. And here, my friend, I am fenfible how much t may expect to be animated by your zeal, and enlightened by your inftruction. In the mean time, I pretend to poffefs fome quali- ties, which, if rightly applied, may not be un- fuitable to fo high and adventrous an undertak- ing. I feel myfelf impelled by an eager curiofi- ty : I have much patience, and fome fkill in mak- ing experiments. I may even be allowed to boaft of a readinefs in the learned languages : and am not without a tincture of fuch other flu- dies, as the fuccefsful profecution of PHYSICS, and flill more of DIVINITY, requires. You may farther impute to me, if you pleafe, an ingenu- ous love of truth, and an ordinary degree of judgment to difcern it. Thefe, concluded he, are the TALENTS of which I fpoke to you fo * I prefume he means the preface to his Proportion for tit advancement of experimental pbilofophy. It muft, as he fays, have been very lately ; for that Proportion, I believe, was firft printed in 1661. See che edition in 2410. Lond. for H. Her- ringham. proudly ; AND POLITICAL. 85 proudly ; and with the help of thefe, (efpecially if you allow me one other, the power of commu- nicating what I may chance to learn of natural or divine things) I might hope to render a better ac- count of this folitude, than of any employments I could reafonably afpire to, in the world of men and of bufinefs. He faid this with an air of folemnity, which left me a little at a lofs what to reply to him, when he relieved my perplexity by adding, " but, though there was nothing of all this in the cafe, and my zeal for promoting knowledge in this private way, were as lightly to be accounted o as that, which led me to propofe the more exten- five fcheme 1 before mentioned, probably will be, yet what mould draw me from this leifure of a learned retirement ? For though I pleafe myfelf with the profped: of doing fome public fervice by my ftudies, yet need I blufh to own to my learn- ed friend, the fondnefs I mould ftill have for them, were they only to end in my own private enjoyment ? Yes, let me open my whole foul to you. I have ever delighted in letters, and have even found them, what the world is well enough content they mould be, their own reward. I doubt, if this language would be underflood in all companies. And let others fpeak as they find. But to me the year would drag heavily, and life itfelf be no life, if it were not quickened by thefe ingenuous pleafures. G Indeed 68 DIALOGUES MORAL Indeed, were it only for the very quiet and in- dolence of mind, which retirement promifes, why fliould I be envied this in the calm decline of a troubled life ? But let the Mufe fpeak for me : After long toils and voyages in vain, This quiet port let my toft veflel gain ; Of heav'nly reft this earneft to me lend, Let my life deep, and learn to love her end. And what if they, who have not the means of enjoying this reft, iubmit to the drudgery of bu- fmefs ? Is that a reafon for me to continue in it, who have made my fortune, even to the extent of my wifhes ? I fee you fmile at this boaft. But where would you have me ftop in my defires ; or what is it you would have me underftand by the myfterious language of making a fortune ? is it two hundred a year, or four, or a thoufand ? fay, where mail we fix, or what limits will you undertake to prefcribe to the vague and fhifting notion of a competency ? or, mail we own the truth at once, that every thing is a competency which a man is contented to live upon, and that therefore it varies only, as his defires are more or lefs unreafonable ? To talk at any other rate of a marts for tune, is to expofe one's felf to the ridi- cule, which the philofopher, you know, threw on the reftlefs humour of king Pyrrhus. 'TiSvwhim, chimera, madnefs, or what you will, except fober reafon and common fenfe. Yet ftill the world cries, AND POLITICAL. 87 cries, " What, fit down with a pittance, when the ways of honour and fortune are open to you ? Take up with what may barely fatisfy, when you have fo fair a chance for affluence, and even fuperfluity ?" Alas 1 and will that affluence then do more than fatisfy ? or can it be worth the while to labour for a fuperfluity ? 'Tis true, the violence of the times, in which it was my fortune to bear apart, had left me bare and unprovided even of thofe moderate accom- modations, which my education and breeding might .demand, and which a parent's piety had indeed bequeathed to me. It was but fitting then I mould ftrive to repair this lofs ; and the rather, as my honeft fervices gave me leave to hope for a fpeedy reparation. And thus far I was contented to try my fortune in the court, though at the expence of fbme uneafy attendance and ibl- licitation. But feeing that this affiduity was with- out effect, and that the bounty of two excellent perfons * hath now fet me above the necefllty of continuing it, what madnefs were it to embark again ** Fluetibus in mediis et tempeftatibus urbis ?" * Dr. Sprat tells us, " That he had obtained a plentiful ftate by the favour of my lord St. Albans, and the bounty of any lord duk of Buckingham. [See his Life.} G 4 So 88 DIALOGUES MORAL So that if you will needs be urging me with thf ceafelefs exhortation of " I, bone, quo virtus tua te vocat: I pede faufto Grandia laturus meritorum praemia :" I mult take leave to remind you of the fage re- ply that was made to it. It was, you know, by an old foldier, who found himfelf exactly in my fituation. The purfe, which he had loft by one accident, he had recovered by another. The con- clufion was, that he had no mind, in this different ftate of affairs, to turn adventurer again, and ex- pofe himfelf to the fame perilous encounters " Poft haec ille catus, quantumvis RUSTICUS, " Ibit, Ibiteo, quovis, QUI ZONAM PERDIDIT, inquit."j In one word, my friend, I am happy here, as you fee me, in my little farm, which yet is large enough to anfwer all my real neceflities ; and I am not in the humour of him in the fable *, to fill my head with vifions, and fpend a wretche4 life in queft of the flying ijland. * By this fable, I fuppofe, is meant, The true hijlory tf Don Quixote ; in which poor SanchoPanca is drawn into all adven- tures, by the proraife of his honourable knight, (whofe word, the fpeaker would insinuate, was as much to be taken as that of any right honourable minijler whatfoever) to reward him in due time, with the government of an ifland. 4 And AND POLITICAL. 9 And now, added he, you have before you in one view the principal reafons that have deter- mined me to this retreat., I might have enlarged on each more copioufly, but I know to whom I fpeak : and perhaps to fuch a one I might even have fpared a good deal of what I have now been offering, from the feveral confiderations of my TEMPER, TALENTS, and SITUATION. Here he Hopped. And now, my lord, it came to my turn to take the lead in this controverfy. There was indeed an ample field before me. And, if the other fide of the queftion afforded moft matter for wit and declamation, mine had all the advantages of good fenfe and found rea- fon. The fuperiority was fo apparent, and my victory over him, in point of argument, fo fure, that I thought it needlefs and ungenerous to prefs him on every article of his defence, in which he had laid himfelf open to me. Your lordfhip hath, no doubt, obferved with wonder and with pity, the ftrange fpirit that runs through every part of it: the confined way of thinking which hath crept upon him ; the cynical feverity he indulges againft courts ; the importance he would fometimes affume to his own character ; the peevifh turn of mind that leads him to take offence at the lighter follies and almoft excufable vices * of the great ; in fhort, the refentment, * This, no doubt, will found a little harfh to vulgar ears. But men of enlarged minds, who know the world, will fee the. go DIALOGUES MORAL the pique, the chagrin, which one overlooks in the hopelefs fuitor, or hungry poet, but which nothing in the infinuation of this virtuous divine, but what may be fairly juftified. The famous FEN ELON had, it feems, with thefpirit of our COWLEY, been pretty free in cenfuring the conditft of a neble Roman, in a certain delicate conjuncture, *' if it may deferve to be called one, of court- favour and dependance. And if I extended the obferva- AND POLITICAL. 99 obfervatiori to many others that are fond to take up their refidence in thefe quarters, I cannot be- lieve I fhould do them any injuftice. I cannot tell, returned I, againft whom this cenfure is pointed. But I know there are many of the graved characters, and even lights and fathers of the church, who do not Confider it as inconfiftent, either with their duty, or the ufe- fulnefs of their profeffion, to continue in that fta- tion. O ! miftake me not, replied he, I intend- ed no reflexion on any of the clergy, and much lefs on the great prelates of the church, for their attendance in the courts of princes. Their's is properly an exempt cafe. They are the authorized guides and patterns of life. Their great abilities indeed qualify them, above all others, for ferving the caufe of fcience and religion, by their private ftudies and medita- tions. But they very properly confider too, that part of their duty is to enlighten the ignorant of all ranks, by their wife and pious difcourfe, and to awe and reclaim the wandering of all denomi- nations, by their example. Hence it is, that I cannot enough admire the zeal of fo many paf- tors of the church, who, though the flavifh manners and libertinifm of a court, muft be more than ordinarily offenfive to men of their characters, continue to difcharge their office H2 fo ico DIALOGUES MORAL fo painfully, and yet fo punctually, in that fitu- ation *. Here, my lord, obferving my friend for once to deliver himfelf fo reafonably, I was encourag- ed to add, that, fmce he was fo juft to maintain the commerce of good and wife churchmen in the great worldto be, as it truly was, a matter of duty, he mould alfo have the candour to own, that his withdrawing from it was, at leaft, a work offuper- erogation. It might be fo,he faid ; but though our church gave no encouragement to think we merit by fuch works, he did not know that it condemned and utterly forbad them. O ! but, returned I, if that be all, and you acknowledge at laft that your retiring is no * How amiable is tliis candour ! Licentious men, on the Other hand, draw ftrange conclufions. Bifliop Burntt tells us of lord Rochefler, " That the afpirings he had obferved at court of fome of the clergy, with the fervile ways they took to attain to preferment, had made him often think they fufpefled the things were not true, which in their fermoni.and difcourfes, they foearneftly recommended." [Some paj/ages tftbt life and deatboftt>eeartGfRoche&er,p. 121.} We fee that this un- happy lord, obferving abundance of clergymen about the court, and not penetrating the true reafon of their attendance, fell into the uncharitable furmife, that, like his lay-acquain- tance, thefe reverend perfons were there only to do their own bufmefs. Hence the ftill more diihonourable condufiou of their infidtlitj. nutter AND POLITICAL. ior matter of duty, it will be eafy to advance another ftep, and demonftrate to you, that fuch a project is, in your cafe, altogether un- reafonable*. For, notwithftanding all you have faid, in the fpiric and language of ftoicifm, of the comforts of your prefent SITUATION, will you ferioufly undertake to perfuade me ^that they are in any degree comparable to what you might propofe to yourfelf, by returning to a life of bu- fmefs ? Is the littlenefs, the obfcurity, and par- don me if I even fay, the meannefs of this "re- treat, to be put in competition with the liberal and even fplendid provifion, which your friends at court will eafily be able to make for you ? Is it nothing, my friend, (for let us talk common fenfe, and not bewilder ourfelves with the vifions of philofophy) is it nothing to live in a well fur- nifhed houfe, to keep a good table, to command an equipage, to have many friends and depen- dants, to be courted by inferiors, to be well re- ceived by the great, and to be fomebody even in We have in this remonftrance that follows, the ufual Ian-" guage of thofe we call our friends ; which may fometimes be the caafe, but is oftner the pretence of ambition. Hear how gravely Sir Dudley Car Iton, who loved bufmefs, and drudged on in it all his life, is pleafed, in an evil hour, to exprefs himfelf ; " The beft is, I was never better, and were it not more for a neceflity that is impofed by the EXPECTATION OF FRIENDS, not toftandata ftay and SENESCERE, whilfta man is young, than for ambition, 1 would not complain myfelf of my misfortunes." [&> RALPH WINWORD'S m(meriah,Vo\. II. P- 450 H the jot DIALOGUES MORAL the prefence ? And what if, in order to compafs fuch things, fome little devoirs and afliduities are expected ? Is it not the general practice ? And what every body fubmits to, can it be ignomini- ous ? Is this any thing more than conforming one's felf to the neceflary fubordination of focie- ty ? And what if fome time pafles in thefe fer- vices, which a prefent humour fuggefts might be more agreeably fpent in other amufements ? The recompence cannot be far off ; and, in the mean time, the luftre and very agitation of a life of bu- fmefs, hath fomething in it fp rightly and amuf- Ing. Befides, your's is not the cafe of one that is entering for the firfl time on a courfe of expec- tation. Your bufinefs is half done. The prince is, favourable j and there are of his minifters that reipe<5l and honour you. Your fervices are well known, your reputation is fair ; your connexions great ; and the feafon inviting. What, with all thefe advantages, forego the court in a moping mood, or, as angry men ufe, run to moralize in a cloyfter! I was proceeding in the warmth of this remon- ftrance, when with a reproachful fmile he turnecj upon me, and, in a kind of rapture, repeated the following lines of SPENSER. " Full little knoweft thou, that haft not tride, What hell it is in fuing long to bicfc : TQ AND POLITICAL. 103 To lofe good days that might be better fpent; To wafte long nights in penfive difcontent j To fpeed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; To feed on hope, to pine with fear and forrow ; To have thy prince's grace, yet want his peeres *; To have thy afkings, yet wait many yeers -f- ; To fret thy foul with crofies and with cares ; To eat thy hart through comfortleffedefpaires ; To faun, to crouche, to wait, to ride, to ronne ; To fpend, to give, to want, to be undonne." This, faid he, is my anfwer, once for all, to yoftr long firing of interrogatories. I learnt it of one that had much experience in courts. And I thought it worth imprinting on my memory, to * It appears how happy Mr. Cowley was in his prince's gracr, from what the king faid of him, on the news of his death: " That he had not left a BETTER man behind him in England." But men of this character, we are told, are trcpaujleres et diffi- cile; . No wonder, then, that though he wanted not hisprincis grace, he wanted that of hit peerej. f The application of this line is, doubtlefs, to the affair of the jnafterjhip of the Savoy ; " which, though granted, fays Mr. Wood t to his higheft merit by both the Charles's I. and II. yet, by certain perfons, enemies to the Mufes, he loft that place." But this was not the worft. For, fuch is the hard lot & unfuccefsful men, the Savoy -miffing C this is no bad topic for a moralift to de- claim upon. And, though it be a trite one, we know how capable it is of being adorned by him who, on a late occafion, could meditate fo finely on the TOMBS AT WESTMINSTER *. But furely, proceeded he, you warm yourfelf in this contem- * In the Firft Volume of the SPECTATOR. 3 plat ion, AND POLITICAL. 127 plation, beyond what the fubjedt requires of you. The vanity of human greatnefs is feen in fo ma- ny inftances, that I wonder to hear you harangue on this with fo peculiar an exultation. There is no travelling ten miles together in any part of the kingdom without ftumbling on fome ruin, which, though perhaps not fo confiderable as this before us, would furnifh occafion, however, for the fame reflexions. There would be no end of mo- ralizing over every broken tower, or mattered fa- bric, which calls to mind the fhort-lived glories of our anceftors. True, faid Mr. Addifon ; and, if the fhort con- tinuance of thefe glories were the only circum- ftance, I might well have fpared the exultation, you fpeak of, in this triumph over the mattered remnants of Kenelwortb. But there is fomething elfe that fires me on the occafion. It brings to mind the fraud, the rapine, the infolence of the potent miniirer who vainly thought to immorta- lize his ill-gotten glory by this proud monument," Nay, further, it awakens an indignation againft the profperous tyranny of thofe wretched times, and creates a generous pleafure in reflecting on the happinefs we enjoy under ajufterand more equal government. Believe me, I never fee the remains of that greatnefs which arofe in the paft ages, on the ruins of public freedom and private property, . but I congratulate with myfelf on liv- ing at a time, when the meaneft fubjeft is as free and iz8 DIALOGUES MORAL and independent as thofe royal minions; and when his property, whatever it be, is as fecure from opprefiion as that of the firft minifter. And I own this congratulation is not the lefs fincere, for confidering that the inftance before us is taken from the reign of the virgin queen, which it hath been the falhion to cry up above that of any other of our princes *. I delire no other confutation of fo ftrange unthankful a preference, than the fight of this vaft caftle, together with the recollection of thofe means by which its mafter arrived at his enormous greatnefs. Your indignation then, replied Dr. Arluthnot^ is not fo much of the moral, as political kind. But is not the conclufion a little too hafty, when, from the inftance of one over-grown favourite, you infer the general infilicity of the time > in which he flourifhed ? I am not, I afTure you, one of thofe unthankful men who forget the blefT- ings they enjoy under a prince of more juftice and moderation than queen Elizabeth, and under a better conftitution of government than prevail- ed in the days of our forefathers. Yet, fetting afide fome particular difhonours of that reign (of * From the acrimony, with which the fpeaker here and elfewhere in thefe dialogues, condemns the humour of magni- fying the character of Elizabeth, one would almoft imagine he had forefeen, by a kind of political divination, the fadious ufe, that was one day to be made of this argument. See the Craftftaan, and Remarks en the biflory of Exgland. which, AND POLITICAL. 129 which, let the tyranny of Leicejler, if jou will, be one) I fee not but the acknowledged virtues of that princefs, and the wifdom of her govern- ment may be a proper foundation for all the ho- nours that pofterity have ever paid to her. Were I even difpofed to agree with you, re- turned Mr. Addifon, I fhould not have the lefs reafon for triumphing as I do on the prefent ftate of our government. For, if fuch abufes could creep in, and be fuffered for fo many years under fo great a princefs, what was there not to fear (as what, indeed, did not the Tubjedt actually feel) under fome of her fucceflbrs ? But to fpeak my mind frankly, I fee no fufEcient grounds for the exceflive prejudice that hath fome how taken place in favour of the GOLDEN REIGN, as it is call- ed, OF ELIZABETH, j I find neither the wifdom, nor the virtue in it, that can entitle it to a pre- ference before all other ages. On the contrary, faid Dr. Arbutknot, I never contemplate the monuments of that time, with- out a filent admiration of the virtues that adorn- ed it. Heroes and fages croud in upon my me- mory. Nay, the very people were of a charac- ter above what we are acquainted with in our days. I could almoft fancy, the foil itfelf wore another face, and, as you poets imagine, on fome occafions, that our anceftors lived under a brighter fun and happier climate than we can boaft of, K To i3b DIALOGUES MORAL To be fure, faid Mr. Addifon^ fmiling , or, why not affirm, in the proper language of romance, that the women of thofe days were all chafte, and the men valiant ? But cannot you fufpecl: at leaft that there is fome inchantment in the cafe, and that your love of antiquity may pcfiibly operate in more inftances than thofe of your favourite Greeks and Ramans? Tell me honeftly, purfued he, hath not this diftance of a century and a half a lit- tle impofed upon you ? do not thefe broken tow- ers, which moved you juft now to fo compafTio- nate a lamentation over them, difpofe you to a greater fondnefs for the times, in which they arofe, than can be fairly juftified ? I will not deny, returned Dr. Arlutbnot, but we are often very generous to the pail times, and unjuft enough to the prefent. But I think there is little of this illufion in the cafe before us. And fince you call my attention to thefe noble ruins, let me own to you that they do indeed excite in me a veneration for the times, of which they pre- fent fb ftriking a memorial. But furely not with- out reafon. For there is fcarce an object in view that doth not revive the memory of fome diftin- guifhing character of that age, which may jufti- fy fuch veneration. Alas, interrupted Mr. Addifon, and what can thefe objects call to mind but the memo- ry AND POLITICAL. 131 ry of barbarous manners and a defpotic go- vernment. For the government, replied Dr. drbutbnot, I do not well conceive how any conclufion about that can be drawn from this fabric. The MAN- NERS I was thinking of; and I fee them ftrong- ly exprefled in many parts of it. But whether barbarous or not, I could almoft take upon me to difpute with you. And why indeed, fmce you allowed yourfelf to declaim on the vices, ib ap- parent, as you fuppofe, in this monument of an- tiquity, may not I have leave to confider it in ano- ther point of view, and prefent to you the vir- tues, which, to my eye at leaft, are full as dif- cernible ? You cannot, continued he, turn your eyes on any part of thefe ruins, without encountering fome memorial of the virtue, induftry, or inge- nuity of our anceltors. Look there, faid he, on that fine room (point- ing to the HALL, that lay juft beneath them,) and tell me if you can help refpecling the HOSPITALI- TY which fo much diftinguifhed the palaces of the great in thofe fimpler ages. You gave an invidious turn to this circumilance, when you chofe to confider it only in the light of wafteful expence and prodigality. But no virtue is privi- leged from an ill name. And on fecond thoughts I perfuade myfelf it will appear you have injured. K 2 this, T $2 DIALOGUES MORAL this, by fo uncandid an appellation. Can i ferve this cenfure, that the lord of this princely caftle threw open his doors and fpread his table for the reception of his friends, his followers, and even for the royal entertainment of his fove- reign ? Is any cxpence more proper than that which tends to conciliate * frienfhips, fpread the interefts of fociety, and knit mankind together by a generous communication in thefe advanta- ges of wealth and fortune ? The arts of a re- fined fequeftered luxury were then unknown. The fame bell that called the great man to his table, invited the neighbourhood all around, and pro- claimed a holiday to the whole country -f-. Who does not feel the decorum, and underftand the benefits of this magnificence ? the pre-eminence of rank and fortune was nobly fuftained : the fub- * It is remarkable that Lucian ufes the fame expreffion. *IAIA MESITHN TPADEZAN. *%&<, C. 2J. t Befides this fort of hofpitality, there was another ftill more noble and difmterefted, which diftinguifhed the early times, efpecially the purer ages of chivalry. It was cuftoma- ry, itfeems, for the great lords to fix up HELMETS on the roofs and battlements of their caftles, as a fignal of hofpitality to all adventurers and noble pafTengers. " Adoncques etoit une couftume en la grant Bretagne (fays the author of the old romance, called PERCEFOREST) et fot tant que charit: regna illecque, tous gentils hommes et nobles dames faifoient mettre au plus hault de leur hoftel ung heaulme, en SIGNE que tous gentils hommes et gentilles femmes trefpaffans les chemins, en- trafient hardyement en leur hoftel comme en leur propre ; car leurs biens eftoient davantage a tous nobles hommes et fem- mes trefpaffans le royaulme." Vol. iii. f. 103. ordination AND POLITICAL. 133 ordination of fociety preferved : and yet the envy, that is fo apt ta attend the great, happi- ly avoided. Hence the weight and influence of the old nobility, who engaged the love, at the fame time they commanded the veneration of the people. In the mean time rural induftry flou- rimed ; private luxury was difcouraged ; and in both ways that frugal fimplicity of life, our country's grace and ornament in thofe days, was preferved and promoted. It would fpoil your panegyric, I dcurbt, faid Mr. Addifon^ to obferve the factious ufe that was made of this magnificence, and the tendency it had to fupport the pride and infolence of the old nobility. The interefl of the great, I am .afraid, was but another name for the flavery of the people. I fee it, Dr. Arbutknot faid, in a different light ; and fo did our princes themfelves, who could not but be well informed of the proper e- fefts of that intereft. They confidered the weight of the nobility as a counterpoife to their own fovereignty. It was on this account they had ufed all means to leffen their influence. But the confequence was befide their expectation. The authority of the crown fell with it : and, which was ftill lefs expected by political men, the liber- ty of the people, after it had wantoned for a time, ,funk under the general oppreflion. It was K 3 then 134 DIALOGUES MORAL then difcovered, but a little of the latefl, that public freedom throve beft when it wound itfelf about the ftock of the ancient nobility. In truth, it was the defect, not the excels of patrician in - fluence, that made way for the miferies of the next century. You fee then it is not without caufe that I lay a ftrefs, even in a political view, on this popular hofpitality of the great in the former ages *. But, left you think I fit too long at the table, let us go on to the TILT YARD, which lies juft be- fore us ; that fchool of fortitude and honour to our generous forefathers. A younger fancy, than mine, would be apt to kindle at the fight. And our fprighlier friend here, I dare fay, has already taken fire at the remembrance of the gallant exercifes which were celebrated in that quarter. * A famous politician of the laft century exprefleth him- felf to much the fame purpofe after his manner. *' Hence- forth, fays he [that is, after the ftatutes againft retainers in Hen. VH's reign] the country lives, and great talks of the nobility, which no longer nourifhed veins that would bleed for them, were fruitlefs and loathfome till they changed the air, and of princes became courtiers ; where their revenues, never to have been exhaufted by beef and mutton, were found narrow j whence followed racking of rents, and, at length, fale of lands." Sir JAMES HARRINGTON'S OCEANA, p. 40. Land. 1656. Mr, AND POLITICAL. 155 Mr. Digly owned, he had a fecret veneration for the manly games of that time, which he had feen fo triumphantly let forth in the old poets and . romancers. Right, faid Mr. Addifon \ it is precifely in that circumftance that the enchantment confifts. Some of our beft wits have taken a deal of idle pains to enoble a very barbarous entertainment, and re- commend it to us under the fpecious name of gallantry and honour. But Mr. Digby fees through the cheat. Not that I doubt, continued he, but the doctor, now he is in the vein of pa- negyric, will lay a mighty ftrefs on thefe barba- rities ; and perhaps compare them with the exercifes in the Roman circus, or the Olympic bar- riers. And why not ? interrupted Dr. Arbuthnot. The tendency of all three was the fame ; to invi- gorate the faculties both of mind and body ; to give ftrength, grace, and dexterity to the limbs ; and fire the mind with a generous emulation of the manly and martial virtues. Why truly, faid Mr. Addifon^ I fhall not deny that all three, as you obferve, were much of the fame merit. And now your hand is in for this fort of encomium, do not forget to celebrate the K 4 fublime J3 6 DIALOGUES MORAL fublime tafte of our forefathers for bear-baiting *, as well as tilting , and tell us too, how glorioufly the mob of thofe days, as well as their betters, ufed to belabour one another. I confefs, faid Dr. Arbuthnot^ the foftnefs of our manners makes it difficult to fpeak on this * True it is.nhat this divertifement of bear-baiting was not altogether unknown in the age of Elizabeth, and, as it feemeth, not much mifliked of matter STOW himfelf, who hath very graphically defcribed it. He is fpeaking of the Damjk ambaflador's reception and entertainment at Green- wich, in 1586. '* As the better fort, faith he, had their convenient difports, fo were not the ordinary people ex- cluded from competent pleafure. For, upon a green, very fpacious and large, where thoufands might ftand and behold with good contentment, there benr-baiting and bull-baiting (tempered with other merry difports) were exhibited; where- at it cannot be fpoken of what pleafure the people took. For it was a fport alone, of thefe beafts, continueth the hif- torian, to fee the bear with his pink eyes leering after his ene- mies ; the nimblenefs and wait of the dog to take his advan- tage; and the force and experience of the bear again to avoid the affaults : if he were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in another to get free ; and if he were once taken, then what fhift with biting, clawing, roring, tugging, grafping, tumbling, and toffing, he would work to wind himfelf away ; and, when he was loofe, to make his ears with the blood and flaver about his phifnomy, was a pittance of good relief. The like paftime alfo of the bull. And now the day being far fpent, and the fun in its decimation, the ambaflador with- drew to his lodging, by barge, to Cro/ly's place ; where, no doubt, THIS DAY'S SOLEMNITY WAS THWGHT UPON-AW& TALKED OF" p. 1562. fubjeft AND POLITICAL. 137 fubjeft without incurring the ridicule you appear fo willing to employ againft me. But you muft not think to banter me out of my good opinion of thefe gymnaftics by a little raillery, which has its foundation only in modern prejudices. For it is no fecret, that the graveft and politeft men of antiquity were of my mind. You will hardly fufpect Plato of incivility, either in his notions or manners. And need I remind you how much he infills on the gymnaftic difcipline ? without which he could not have formed, or at leaft have fup- ported his republic. It was upon this principle, I fuppofe then, faid Mr. Digby, or perhaps in imitation of his Gre- cian matter, that our MILTON laid fo great a ftrefs on this difcipline in his TRACTATE OF EDU- CATION. And before him, in the very time you fpeak of, ASCHAM, I obferve, took no fmall pains, to much the fame purpofe, in his Toxo PHILUS. It is very clear, refumed Dr. Arluthnot^ from thefe inftances, and many more that might be given, that the ancients were not fingular in their notions on this fubjecL But fince you have drawn me into a grave defence of thefe exercifes, let me further own to you, that I think the Go- thic tilts and tournaments exceeded, both in ufe and elegance, even the Grecian gymnaftics. They were a more direct image of war, than any of 138 DIALOGUES MORAL. of the games of Olympia. And if Xenophon could be ib laviih in his praife . on the Perfian practice of hunting, becaufe it had fome refemblance to the exercife of arms, what would he not have faid of an inftitution, which has all the forms of a real combat ? But there was an elegance, too, in the conduct of the tournament, that might recon- cileiteven to modern delicacy. For, befides the fplendor of the (hew ; the dexterity with which thefe exercifes were performed ; and the fancy that appeared in their accoutrement, drefles, and devices ; the whole conteft was enobled with an air of gallantry that muft have had a great effect in refining the manners of the combatants. And yet this gallantry had no ill influence on morals ; for, as you infulted me juft now, it was the odd humour of thofe days for the women to pride themfelves in their chaflity *, as well as the men in their valour. * If the reader be complaifant enough to admit the fa ft, it may be accounted for, on the ideas of chivalry, in the fol- lowing manner. The knight forfeited ail pretenfions to the favour of the ladies, if he failed, in any degree, in the point of valour. And, reciprocally, the claim which the ladies had to protection and courtefy from the order of knights, was founded fmgly in the reputation of chaflity, which was the female point of honour. " Ce droit que les dames avoi- ent fur la chevalerie (faysM. DE LA CURNE DE STE. PALAYE) devoit etre conditionel : il fuppofoit que leur conduite et leur reputation ne les rendoient point indignes de 1'efpece d'aflbcia- tion qui les uniffoit a cet ordre uniquement fonde fur 1'hon- neur. In AND POLITICAL 139 In mort, I confider the tournay, as the beft fchool of civility as well as heroifm. " High- erected thoughts, feated in a heart of courtefy" as an old writer well exprefles it, was the pro- per character of fuch as had been trained in this difcipline. No wonder then, purfued he, the old poets and romance-writers took fo much pains to im- mortalize thefe trials of manhood. It was but what Pindar and Homer himfelf, thofe old matters of romance, had done before them. And how could it be otherwife ? the mew itfelf, as I faid, had fomething very taking in it ; whilft every graceful attitude of perfon, with every generous movement of the mind, afforded the fineft ma- terials for defcription. And I am even ready to believe, that what we hear cenfured in their wri- tings, as falfe, incredible, and fantaftic, was fre- quently but a juft copy of life, and that there was more of truth and reality -f- in their reprefentati- Par celle voye (fays an old French writer, the chevalier D?. LA TOUR, about the year 1371) les bonnes fe craignoient et fe tenoient plus fermes de faire chofe dont elles peufient per dre leur honneur et leur etat. Si vouldroye que celui temps fajl revenu, car je penfe qu'il nen feroit pas tant de blafemees cotntnt il eft a prefent. * The extent and accuracy of Dr. Arluthmfs learning arc here worth obferving. What he hints at, in parting, of the reality of thefe reprefentations, hath been lately fhewn at large in a learned memoir on this fubjeft, which the reader will find inTom. XX. of HIST. DE I'AcAD. DES JESCRIPTIONS IT LETTRES. ons 140 DIALOGUES MORAL ons, than we are apt to imagine. Their notions of honour and gallantry were carried to an eleva- tion*, which, in thefe degenerate days, hurts * This reprefentation of things in the ages of chivalry, agrees very well with what we are told by the author of the memoir, juft quoted. " Les premieres lejons, (fays he, fpeaking of the manner in which the youth a,re educated in the houfes of the great, which were properly the fchools of thofe times) qu'on leur donnoit, regardoient principalement f amour de dieu, et des damts, c'eft-a-dire, la religion, et la galanterie. Mais autant la devotion qu'on leorinfpiroit etoit accompagnee de puerilites et de fuperftiti- ons, autant 1'amoar des dames, qu'on leur recomman- doit, etoit il rempli de RAPFINEMJENT et de FANATISME. II femble qo'on ne pouvoit, dans ces fiedes ignorans et groffiers, prefenter aux hommes la religion fous une forme aflez materielle pour la mettre a leur portee; ni leur donner, en meme terns, une idee de 1'amour aflez pure, aflez me- taphyiiqne, pour prevenir les defordres & les exces, dont etoit capable une nation qui conkrvoir par-tout le carac- terc impetueux qu'elle montroit a la guerre." Tom. XX. p. 600. One fees then the origin of that furious gallantry which funs through the old romances. And fo long as the refinement uftion which was foon to break forth under one of her fucceffors. And fo, inftead of imputing the dif afters that followed, faid Dr. Arbuthnot^ to the ill govern- ment of the STUARTS, you are willing to lay the whole guilt of them on this lail and greateit of the TUDORS. This is a new way of defending that royal houfe ; and methinks, they owe you no fmall acknowledgments for it. I con- fefs it never occurred to me to make that apology for them. Though I would not undertake, faid Mr. Addl- fon^ to make their apology from this, or any other circumftance, I do indeed believe, that part of the difficulties the houfe of Stuart had to encounter, were brought upon them by this wretched poli- cy of their predeceflbr. But, waving this confide- ration, I defire you will take notice of what I chiefly infift upon, " That the eafe and fecurity of Elizabeth's adminiftration was even favoured by the turbulent practices and claming views of her dcmeftic factions." The PURITAN was an inftruircnt, in her hands, of controlling the church, and of balancing the power of her mini- flers : befides, that this fort of people were, of all others, the moft inveterate againft the com- mon enemy. And for the PAPISTS themfelves (not to infift that of courfe they would be ftri&ly watched, and that they were not, perhaps, fo con- fiderable i 7 4 DIALOGUES MORAL fiderable as to create any immediate danger *) the general abhorrence, both of their principles and defigns, had the greatefl effect in uniting more clofely, and cementing, as it were, the af- fections of the reft of her fubjects. So that, whether within or without, the common danger, as I exprefled it, was the common fafety. Still, faid Dr. Arbuthnot^ I muft think this a very extraordinary conclufion. I have no idea of the fecurity of the great queen, furround- ed as me was, by her domeftic and foreign enemies. Her foreign enemies, returned Mr. dddifon, were lefs formidable than they appear at firft view. And I even make the condition of the neighbouring powers on the continent, in her time, a THIRD inftance of the fignal advantages of her fituation. It is true, if a perfect union had fubfifted be- tween the catholic princes, the papal thunders would have carried terror with them. But, as it was, they were powerlefs and ineffectual. The civil wars of France ', and a conftant jealoufy of * This will be admitted, if a calculation faid to have been made by themfelves of their number at chat time may be re- lied on " They make reckoning (faith Sir EDWIN SANDYS, in his Speculum Europe, written in 1 699) of forty hundred fure catholics in England, with four hundred EvgUJh Roman priefls to maintain that militia, p, 1 57. AND POLITICAL. 175 Spain, left the queen but little to apprehend from that quarter. The Spanijh empire indeed was vaft, and under the direction of a bigotted vin- dictive prince. But the adminiftration was odi- ous and corrupt in every part. So that wife men faw there was more of bulk than force in that unwieldy monarchy. And the fuccefsful ftrug- gles of a handful of his fubjects, inflamed by the love of liberty, and made furious by oppreflion, proclaimed its weaknefs to all the world. It maybe true, interrupted Dr. Arbutbnot, that the queen had lefs to fear from the princes on the continent than is fometimes reprefented. But you forget, in this furvey of the public dangers, the diffractions of IRELAND, and the reftlefs intrigues of her near neighbours the SCOTS : both of them affifted by Spain -, and thefe lad under the peculi- ar influence and direction of the GUISES. You Ihall have my opinion, returned Mr. Ad- difon^ in few words. For the IRISH diftractions, it was not the queen's intention, or certainly it was not her fortune to compofe them : I mean, daring the greateft part of her reign ; for we are now fpeak- ing of the general tenor of her policy. Towards the clofe of it, indeed, (he made fome vigorous attempts to break the fpirits of thofe favages. And it was high time me mould. For, through frer faint proceedings againft them, they had grown j 7 6 DIALOGUES MORAL grown to that infolence as to think of fetting up for an independency on England. Nay, the pre- fumption of that arch-rebel TYRONE, counte- nanced and abetted by Spain, feemed to threaten the queen with flill further mifchiefs. The ex- treme difhonour, and even peril of this fituation, roufed her old age, at length, to the refolution of taking fome effectual meafures. The preparati- on was great, and fuitable to the undertaking. It muft further be owned, it fucceeded ; but fo late, that me herfelf did not live to fee the full ef- fect of it. However, this fuccefs is reckoned among the glories of her reign. In the mean time, it is not confidered that nothing but her ill policy, in fuffering the diforders of that country to gather to a head, made way for this glory. I call it her ill-policy^ for (unlefs it were rather owing to her excefiive frugality *) one can hardly help thinking fhe defigned to perpetuate the Irijh dif- * Mr. CAMDEN owns that the Irijh rebellion, which in the end became fo dangerous, had been " encouraged by a flighting of it, and a gripple handenefs of England." \Hift. of Elizabeth, B. iv.] To the fame purpofe another eminent wri- ter of that time" Before the tranfmitting of the laft great ar- my, the forces fent over by Q^ Elizabeth were NOT of fufficient power to break and fubdue all the Irijkry.'*'' At laft, however, " The extreme peril of lofing the kingdom ; the difhonour and dange that might thereby grow to the crown of England; together with a juft difdain conceived by that great-minded queen, that fo wicked and ungrateful a rebel mould prevail againft her, who had ever been victorious againft all her enemies, did moveand almoft ENFORCE her to fend over that mighty army. [Sir J. " Di/ccverjcftbe Stateoflrt/a4p. 97. Loud. 1613.] tractions. AND POLITICAL. 177 tradions. At leaft it was agreeable to a favou- rite maxim of hers, to check, and not to fup- prefs them. And I think it clear from the man- ner of profecuting the war, that, till this laft alarm, fhe never was in earneft about putting an end to it. SCOTLAND, indeed, demanded a more ferious attention. Yet the weak-diftrafbed counfels of that court a minor king a captive queen and the unfettled ftate of France itfelf, which defeated in a good degree the malice of the Guifes were favourable circumftances. But to be fair with you (for I would appear in the light of a reafonable objector, not a fophiftical wrangler) I allow her policy in this inftance to have been confiderable. She kept a watchful eye on the fide of Scotland. And, though many cir- cumftances concurred to favour her defigns, it muft be owned they were not carried without much care and fome wifdom. I underftand the value of this conceffion, re- plied Dr. Arbuthnot. It muft have been no com- mon degree of both that extorted it from you. I decline entering further, faid Mr. Addifon, into the public tranfac"lions of that reign, if it were only that, at this diftance of time, it may be no eafy matter to determine any thing of the N policy ifi DIALOGUES MORAL policy with which they were conducted. Only give me leave to add as a FOURTH inftance of the favourable circumftances of the time, " That the prerogative was then in its height, and that a patient people allowed the queen to ufe it on. all occafions." Hence the apparent vigour and firmnefs of her adminiflration : and hence the op- portunity, which is fo rarely found in our coun- try, of directing the whole ftrength of the nation to any end of government, which the glory of the prince or the public intereft demanded. What you impute to the high ftrain of prero- gative, returned Dr. drbutbnot, might rather be accounted for from the ability of her govern- ment, and the wife means me took to fupport it. The principal of thefe was, by employing the GREATEST MEN in the feveral departments of her adminiflration. Every kind of merit was encou- raged by her irnile *, or rewarded by her boun- ty. Virtue, fhe knew, would thrive beft on its native flock, a generous emulation. This me promoted by all means -, by her royal counte- * Sir ROBERT NAUN TON tells us, " The qaeen was never profufe in delivering out of her treafure, but paid her fervants, part in money, and the reft with GRACE ; which, as the cafe flood, was then taken for good payment."[FRAC.Rc.p. 89.] And NAT. BACON to the fame purpofe, " A wife man, that was an eye-witnefs of HER a&ions, and thofe that fucceeded to her, many times hath faid, That a courtier might make a better meal of one good LOOK from her, than of a gift from feme other." [Dj.sc. Partll. p, 266. ZW. 165?.] nance. AND POLITICAL 179 nance, by a temperate arid judicious praife, by the wifeft diftribution of her preferments. Hence would naturally arife that confidence in the queen's counfels and undertakings, which the fervile awe of her prerogative could never have occafioned. This is the true account of the loyalty, obedience, and fidelity by which her fervants werediftinguifh- ed. And thus, in fact, it was that throughout her kingdom there was every where that reve- rence of authority *, that fenfe of honour, that confcience of duty, in a word, that gracious fim - plicity of manners, which renders theageof Eliza- beth truly GOLDEN : as prefenting the faireft pic- ture of humanity that is to be met with in the accounts of any people. It is true, as you fay, interpofed Mr. Addifon, that this pifture is a fair one. But of what is it a copy ? of the GENIUS of the time, or of the queen's virtues ? You mall judge for yourfelf, after I have laid before you TWO remarkable * This reverence of authority, one of the charafteriftics of that time, and which Mr. Addifon prefently accounts for, a great writer celebrates in thefe words " It was an ingenious uninquifitive time, when all the paffions and affections of the people were lapped up in fuch an innocent and humble obedi- ence, that there was never the leaft conteftation nor capitulati- on with the queen, nor (though fhe very frequently confulted with her fubje&s) any further reafons urged of her atiions, than HER OWN WILL." See a Traft intitled THE DISPARITY, in Sir H. Wotton"s Remains, p. 46. fuppofed to have been writ-r ten by the earl of Clarendon. N 2 events i8o DIALOGUES MORAL. events of that age, which could not but have the greateft effects of the public manners ; I mean, THE REFORMATION OF RELIGION, and, what Was introductory of it, THE RESTORATION OF LET- TERS. From thefe, as their proper fources, I would derive the ability and fidelity of Elizabeth's good fubjects. The pafiion for LETTERS was extreme. The novelty of thefe ftudies, the artifices that had been ufed to keep men from them, their appa- rent ufes, and, perhaps, fome confufed notion of a certain diviner virtue, than really belongs to them, thefe caufes concurred to excite a curiofity in all, and determined thofe, who had leiftire, as well as curiofity, to make themfelves acquainted with the Greek and Roman learning. The eccle- fiaftics, who, for obvious reafons, would be the firft and moft earned in their application, were not the only perfons tranfported with this zeal. The gentry and nobility themfelves were feized with it. A competent knowledge of the old wri- ters was looked upon aa effential to a gentleman's education. So that Greek and Latin became as falhionable at court in thofe days, as French is in ours. #2uzrfherfeif, which I wonder you did not put me in mind of, was well Ikilled in both *; * PAVLUS HENTZNERUS, a learned German, who was in England m 1598, goes flill further in his encomium on the queen's fkill in languages. He tells us that, " przeterquam spnod Graecc Latine eleganter eft dofta, tenet, ultra jam me- they AND POLITICAL. 181 they fay, employed her leifure in making fome fine tranflations out of either language. It is ea- fy to fee what effect this general attention to let- ters mull have on the minds of the liberal and well educated. And it was a happinefs peculiar to that age, that learning, though cultivated with fuch zeal, had not as yet degenerated into pedan- try : I mean, that, in thofe ftirring and active times, it was cultivated, not fo much for mew, as ufe -, and was not followed, as it foon came to be, to the exclufion of other generous and manly applications. morata idiomata, etiam Hifpanicum, Scoticum, et Belgi- C\im." See his Itinerarium. But this was the general character of the great in that reign ; at leaft, if we may credit Mafter WILLIAM HARRISON, who difcourfeth on the fubjedl before us in the following manner : " This further is not to be omitted, to the fingular commen- dation of both forts and fexes of our courtiers herein England, that there are very few of them, which have not the ufe and fkill of fundry fpeeches, befide an excellent vein of writing, before- time not regarded. Truly it is a rare thing with us now, to hear of a courtier which hath but his own language. And to fay how many gentlewomen and ladies there are, that, befide found knowledge of the Greek and Latin tongues, are thereto no lefs fkillful in the Span ; Jk, Italian, and French, or in fome one of them, it refteth not in me : fith [ am perfuad- ed, that as the noblemen and gentlemen do furmount in this behalf, fo thefe come very little or nothing behind them for their parts ; which induftry God continue, and accpmpliih that which othervvife is wanting/' Defcription of England, p. 196. Confider 182 DIALOGUES MORAL Confider too the effects which the alterations in religion had produced. As they had been lately made, as their importance was great, and as the benefits of the change had been earned at the expence of much blood and labour, all thefe confiderations begot a zeal for religion which hardly ever appears under other circumftances. 7'his zeal had an immediate and very fenfible ef- fect on the morals of the reformed. It improv- ed them in every inftance , efpecially as it pro- duced a chearful fubmifTion to the government, which had refcued them from their former flave- ry, and was ftill their only fupport againft the returning dangers of fuperftition. Thus religi- on, acting with all its power, and that too heigh- tened by gratitude and even felf-intereft, bound obedience on the minds of men with the ftrong- efl ties *. And luckily for the queen, that obe- * Amongft thefe tics, it is wonderful the fpeaker overlook- ed the prejudice of education ; efpecially as fuch uncommon me- thods were ufed to make it effectual to the purpoie here men- tioned. A book, called EIPHNAPXIA, five 4 IZABETHA, was written in Latin verfe by one OCKLAND, containing the higheft panegyrics on the queen's charadter and government, and fetting forth the tranfcendent virtues of her minifters. This book was enjoined by authority to be taught, as a chffic author, in grammar fchools, and was of courie to be gotten by heart by the young fcholars throughout the kingdom. This was amatchlefs contrivance to imprint a fenfe of loy- alty on the minds of the people. And, though it flowed, as. we are to fuppofe, from a tender regard, in the advifers of if, for the interefts of pjoteftantifm in that reign i yet its ufes are dience AND POLITICAL. 185 ilience was further fee u red to her by the high un- co n trover ted notions of royalty, which at that time obtained among the people. Lay all this together, and then tell me where is the wonder, that a people, now emerging out of ignorance ; uncorrupted by wealth, and there- fore undebauched by luxury ; trained to obedi- ence, and nurtured in fimplicity ; but above all, caught with the love of learning and religion, while neither of them was worn for fafhion-fake, or, what is worfe, perverted to the ends of vani- fo apparent in any reign, and under any adminiftration, that nothing but the moderation of her fucceflbrs, and the reafon- able affurance of their minifters that their own acknowledged virtues were a fufficient fupport to them, could have hindered the expedient from being followed. But, though theftamp of public authority was wanting, pri- vate mea have attempted, in feveral ways, to fupply this de- fed. To inftance only in one. The proteftant queen was to pafs for a mirror of good government : hence the 'E ; -r,Kr^ia. Her fucceflbr would needs be thought a mirror of eloquenct : and hence the noble enterprize I am about to celebrate. " Mr. GEORGE HERBERT (I give it in the grave hiftorian's own words) being praeleftor in the rhetorique fchool in Cambridge^ in 1618, pafled by thofe fluent orators, that domineered in the pulpits of Athens and Rome, and infifted to read upon an ora- tion of K. Jamej, which he analyfed ; {hewed theconcinnity of the parts ; the propriety of the phrafe ; the height and power of it to move the affe&ions ; the ftyle UTTERLY UN- KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS; who could not conceive what kingly eloquence wa<, in refpeft of which thofe noted dema- gogi were but hirelings and triobolary rhetoricians." Rijbop HAC-KET'S lift ofarcbbijbop WILLIAMS, p. 175. N 4 ty 184 DIALOGUES MORAL ty or ambition ; -where, I fay, is the wonder that fuch a people fhould prefent fo fair a picture of manners to their admiring panegyrift ? To be fair with you, it was one of thofe con- junctures in which the active virtues are called forth, and rewarded. The dangers of the time had rouzed the fpirit, and brought out all the force and genius of the nation. JA. fort of enthu- fiafm had fired every man with the ambition of exerting the full ftrength of his faculties, which way foever they pointed, whether to the field, the clofet, or the cabinet. Hence fuch a crop of fol- diers, fcholars, and ftatefmen had fprung up, as have rarely been feen to flourim together in any country. And as all owed their duty, it was the fafhipn of the times for all to bring their pretenfi- ons to the court. So that, where the multitude of candidates was fo great, it had been flrange indeed if an ordinary difcretion had not furnifhed the queen with able fervants of all forts ; and the ra- ther, as her occafions loudly called upon her to employ the ableft, I was waiting, faid Dr. Arbuthnot, to fee to what conclufion this career of your eloquence would at length drive you. And it hath hap- pened in this cafe, as in moft others where a fa- vourite point is to be carried, that a zeal for it is indulged, though at the expence of fome other of more importance. Rather than admit the 4 perfona} AND POLITICAL. ig s perfonal virtues of the queen, you fill her court, nay, her, kingdom with heroes and fages : and fo have paid a higher compliment to her reign, than I had intended. To her reign, if you will, replied Mr. Addifon, fo far as regards the qualities and difpofitions of her fubjecls ; for I will not leflen the merit of this conceflion with you by infilling, as I might, that their manners^ refpectable as they were, were de- bafed by the contrary, yet very confident vices of fervility and infolence * -, and their virtues of every kind deformed by barbarifm. But for the queen's own merit in the choice of her fervants, I muft take leave to declare my fentiments to you very plainly. It may be true, that fh poflefied a good degree of fagacity in defcerning the na- . tures and talents of men. It was the virtue by . which, her admirers tell us, me [was principally * It muft be owned, a learned foreigner gives this chara&er of the EngUJh at that time. " Angli, UIADDICTE SERVIUNT, ita eve&i ad dignitates priorem humilitatem iNsoLENTiAre- pendunt." H< Grotn Ann. L. v. p. 95. Amft. 1657. Hence the propriety of thofe complaints, in our great poet, of, " The whips andfcorns of th' time, Th' oppreflbr's wrong, the proud man's contumely, THE INSOLENCE OF OFFICE" tomplainti fo frequent, and fo forcibly exprefled by him, that we may believe he painted from his own obfervation, and per- haps experience, of this infolent mifufe of authority. Meafure for Meagre, Aft II. Sc, yii. diftinauifhed. ,86 DIALOGUES MORAL diftinguifhed. Yet that the high fame of this virtue hath heen owing to the felicity of the times, abounding in all forts of merit, rather than to her own judgment, 1 think clear from this circumftance, " That fome of the moft de- ferving of thofe days, in their feveral profefiions, had not the fortune to attract the queen's grace, in the proportion they might have expected." I fay nothing of poor SPENSER. Who has any concern for a poet * ? But if merit alone had determined her majefty's choice, it will hardly at this day admit a difpute, that the immortal HOOKER and BACON -j- at leaft had ranked in ano- * Yet it may feem probable from this poet's conduct in Ire- land, and his view of the flate of that country, that his talents for lufmefs (fuch as Cm7 himfelf muft have approved) were no lefs confiderable than for poetry. But he had ferved a difgra- ced man ; and had drawn upon himfelf the admiration of the generous earl of Effex. So that, as the hiftorian exprefleth it, " by a fate, which (till follows poets, he always wreftled with poverty, though he had been fecretary to the lord Gray, lord-deputy Q$ Ireland" All that remained for him was, " to be interred at Wejlminjler, near to Chaucer, at the charge of the earl of EJfex ; his hearfe being attended by poets, and mourn- ful elegies and poems, with the pens that wrote them, thrown into his grave." CAMDEN, L. iv. f The editor profefles to believe that the queen had great injuftice done her in this imputation, at leaft with regard to Sir FRANCIS BACON. For he underftands me gave a very plau- fiblereafon, and doubtlcfs much approved by the grave law- yers and other judicious perfons of that time, for her neglect of this gentleman. " She did acknowledge (fays the earl of Effex, in a letter to Mr. Francis Bacon) you had a great wit, ther AND POLITICAL. ,87 ther clafs than that in which this great difcerner of fpirits thought fit to leave them. And her character, continued he, in every other refpect is juft as equivocal. For having touched one part of it, I now turn from thefe general confiderations on the circumftances and genius of the time, to our more immediate fub- ject, the PERSONAL QUALITIES of Elizabeth. Hi- therto we have flood aloof from the queen's perfon. But there is no proceeding a flep fur- ther in this debate, unlefs you allow me a little more liberty. May I then be permitted to draw the veil of Elizabeth's court, and by the lights, which hiftory holds out to us, contemplate and an excellent gift of fpeech, and much other good learning. But in LAW, fhe rather thought you could make (hew, to the utmoft of your knowledge, tlvn that you were deep." Mem. gf ^ELIZABETH, >> Dr. BIRCH. If it be alked, how the queen came to form this conclufi- on, the anfwer is plain. It was from Mr. Eaton's having a GREAT WIT, an excellent GIFT OF SPEECH, and much other GOOD LEARNING. It is true, Sir Francis Bacen himfelf gives another account of this matter In a letter of advice to Sir GEORGE VIL- LIERS, he fays, " In this dedication of yourfeU" to the public, I recommend unto you principally that which I think was never donefince I was born That you countenance and encourage and advance ABLE MEN, in all kinds, degrees, and profefn- ons. For in the time of the CECILS, father and ion, ABLE MEN WERE BY DESIGN AND OF PURPOSE SUPPRESSED. Cabala, p. 57. Ed. 1691. But cither way indeed the queen' J character is equally faved. I the !88 DIALOGUES MORAL the myfteries that were celebrated in that awful fanctuary ? After fo reverend a preface, replied Dr. Arluth- not, I think you may be indulged in this liberty. And the rather, as I am not apprehenfive that the honour of the illuftrious queen is likely to fuf- fer by it. The fecrets of her cabinet-council, it may be, are not to be fcanned by the profane. But it will be no prefumption to ftep into the drawing-room. Yet I may be tempted, faid Mr. Addifon, to ufe a freedom in this furvey of her majefty that would not have been granted to her moil fa- voured courtiers. As far as I can judge of her character, as difplayed in that folemn fcene of her court, me had fome apparent VIRTUES, but more genuine VICES ; which yet, in the public eye, had equally the fortune to reflect a luftre on, her government. Her gracious affability, her love of her peo- ple, her zeal for the national glory ; were not thefe her more obvious and fpecious qualities ? Yet I doubt they were not fo much the proper effects of her nature, as her policy ; a fet of fpu- rious virtues begotten by the very necefiity of her affairs. For AND POLITICAL. i8 9 For her AFFABILITY, me faw there was no way of being fecure amidft the dangers of all forts, with which fhe was furrounded, but by ingrati- ating herfelf with the body of the people. And, though in her nature fhe was as little inclined to this condefcenfion as any of her fuccefibrs, yet the expediency of this meafure compelled her to fave appearances. And it mult be owned me did it with grace, and even afted her part with fpirit. Pofiibly, the confideration of her being a female actor, was no difadvantage to her. But when fhe had made this facrifice to inter- eft, her proper temper fhe wed itfelf clearly enough in the treatment of her nobles, and of all that came within the verge of the court. Her ca- price, and jealoufy, and haughtinefs appeared in a thoufand inftances. She took offence fo eafi- ly, and forgave fo difficultly, that even her prin- cipal miniflers could hardly keep their ground, and were often obliged to redeem her favour by the loweft fubmiflions. When nothing elfe would do, they fickened and were even at death's doorj from which peril, however, fhe would fometimes relieve them, but not till fhe had ex- acted from them, in the way of penance, a courfe of the moft mortifying humiliations. Nay, the very ladies of her court had no way to maintain their credit with her, but by fubmitting pati- ently to the lafl indignities, It , 9 o DIALOGUES MORAL It is allowed, from the inftances you have in view, returned Dr. Arbiitbnot> that her nature was fomething high and imperious. But thefe Tallies of pafllon might well enough confift with her general character of affability. Hardly, as I conceive, anfwered Mr, Addifon, if you reflect that thefe fallies, or rather habits of paflion, were the daily terror and vexation of all about her. Her very minions feemed raifed for no other purpofe, than the exercife of her ill humour. They were encouraged, by her fmile, to prefume on the royal countenance, and then beaten down again in punifhment of that prefump-< tion. But, to fay the truth, the flavifh temper of the time was favourable to fuch exertions of female caprice and tyranny. Her imperious fa- ther, all whofe virtues me inherited, had taught her a fure way to quell the ipirit of her nobles. They had been long ufed to fland in awe of the royal frown. And the people were pleafed to find their betters ruled with fo high a hand at a time when they themfelves were addreffed with every expreflion of refpedl, and even flattery. She even carried this mockery fo far, that, as Harrington obferves well, " me converted her reign, through the perpetual love-tricks that patted between her and her people, into a kind of AND POLITICAL. 191 of romance." And though that political pro- jector, in profecution of his favourite notion, fup- pofes the queen to have been determined to thefe intrigues, by obferving that the weight of pro- perty was fallenmto the popular fcale; yet we need look no further, for an account of this proceed- ing, than the inherent haughtinefs of her tem- per. She gratified the infolence of her nature in neglecting, or rather beating down, her nobili- ty, whofe greatnefs might feem to challenge re- fpect ; while the court me paid to the people re- volted her pride, lefs as paffmg wholly upon her- felf, as well as others, for a voluntary act of affa- bility. Juft as we every day fee very proud men carry it with much loftinefs towards their equals, or thofe who are raifed to fome nearnefs of de- gree to themfelves, at the fame time that they af- fect a fort of courtefy to fuch as are confefiedly beneath them. You fee then what her boafled affability comes to. She gave good words to her people whom it concerned her to be well with, and whom her pride itfelf allowed her to manage. She infulted her nobles, whom me had" in her power, and whofe abafement flattered the idea, me doated upon, of her own fuperiority and importance *. * It muft be confeffed, there is fome colour for this impu- tation. She even appears to hare rated her courtiers, on cer- tain occaiions, in much the fame tone as a mafter might nfe to his fcholars. The lord Mountjoy [then Sir CHARLES BLOUNT] Let 192 DIALOGUES MORAL Let the queen's manner of treating her fub- jefts be what it would, Dr. Arhttbnot faid, it appears to have given no offence in thofe days, when the fmcerity of her intentions was never queftioned. Her whole life is a convincing (argu- ment, that fhe bore the moft entire affe&ion to her people. HER LOVE OF HER PEOPLE, returned Mr. Addi- fon haftily, is with me a very queflionable vir- tue. For what account mail we give of the mul- titude of penal Statutes, pafTed in her reign ? Or, becaule you will fay, there was fome colour for thefe ; what excufe mall we make for her frequent grants of monopolies, fo ruinous to the public wealth and.happinefs, and fo perpetually complained of by her parliaments ? You will fay, me recalled them. She did fo. But not till the general indignation had, in a manner, forced her to recall them. If by her />##>/ ferent : " He [the earl ofE/ex] was to wreftle with a queen's declining, or rather with her very fetting age, as we may- term it ; which, befides other refpefls. is commonly, even of itfelf, the more umbratious and apprehenfive ; asforthemoft part all horizons are charged with certain vapours towards their evening." REMAINS, p. it. O 2 the ig6 DIALOGUES MORAL the real chara&er of a prince is bell determined^ And there, methinks, you have a fcene opened to you, that deferves your applaufe. Nothing appears but what is truly royal. Nobody knew better, than Elizabeth^ how to fupport the de- corum of her rank. She prefided in that high orb with the dignity of a great queen. In all emergencies of danger, me mewed a firmnefs, and on all occasions of ceremony, a magnificence, that commanded refpeft and admiration. Her very diverfions were tempered with a fe verity becoming her fex and place, and which made her court, even in its lighted and gayefthu* incurs, a fchool of virtue. Thefe are the points, concluded he, I could wifli you to fpeak to. The reft may be left to the judgment of the hiftorian, or rather to the curiofity of the nice and critical politician. You mall be obeyed, Mr. Addifon faid. I thought it not amifs to take off the glare -of thofc applauded qualities, which have dazzled the public, at a diftance, by mewing that they were either feigned or over-rated. But I come now to unmafk the real character of this renown- ed princefs. I mail paint her freely indeed, but truly as me appears to me. And to fpeak my mind at once, I think it is not fo much to her vir- tues, which at beft were equivocal, as to her very VICES that we are to impute the popular admira- tion of her character and government. I be- AND POLITICAL. 197 I before took notice of the high, indecent PAS- SION me difcovered towards her courtiers. This fiercenefs of temper in the fofter fex was taken for heroifm ; and falling in with the flavilh prin- ciples of the age, begot a degree of reverence in her fu ejects, which a more equal, that is, a more becoming deportment would not have produced. Hence fhe was better ferved than mod of our princes, only becaufe fhe was more feared, in other words, becaufe me lefs deferved to be fo. But high as me would often carry herfelf in this unprincely, I had almoft faid, unwomanly treat- ment of her fervants ; awing the men by her oaths, and her women by blows , it is ftiJl to be remembered, that fhe had a great deal of natural TIMIDITY in her conftitution. What, interrupted Dr. Arbutbnot haftily, the magnanimous Elizabeth a coward ? I fhould as foon expect this charge to have been brought againftC^r himfelf, or your ownMarlborougk. I diftinguim, Mr. Addifon faid, betwixt a pa- rade of courage, put on to ferve a turn, and keep her people in fpirits, and that true greatnefs of mind, which, in one word, we call magnanimity. For this laft, I repeat it, (he either had it nor, or not in the degree in which it has been afcrib- ed to her. On the contrary, I fee a littlenefs, a jp.ufillanimity in her conduct on a thoufand occa- O 3 fions. 198 DIALOGUES MORAL fions. Hence it was, that both to her people and fuch of the neighbouring ftates as Ihe flood in awe of, me ufed an exceflive hypocrify, which, in the language of the court, you may be fure was called policy. To the 'Hollanders, indeed, fhe could talk big, arid it was not her humour to manage thofe over whom fhe had gained an af- cendant. This has procured her, with many, the commendation of a princely magnanimity. But, on the other hand, when difcontents were apprehended from her fubjefts, or when France was to be diverted from any defigns againft her, no art was forgotten that might cajole their fpi- rits with ail the profeflions of cordiality and affec- tion. Then fhe was wedded, that was the tender word, to her people : and then the intereft of religion itfelf was facrificed by this proteflant queen to her newly perverted brother on the continent. Her foible, in this refpect, was no fecret to her minifters. But, above all, it was practifed upon moft fuccefsfully by the lord Burghky ; " For whom., as I have feen it oblerved, it was as neceffary tl t there mould be treafons, as for the ftate that they mould be prevented*.'* Hence it was, that he was perpetually raifmg her rcars by the difcovery of fome plot, or, when that was wanting, by the propofal of fome law for her greater fecurity. In fhort, he was for * THE DISPARITY, p. 43. ever AND POLITICAL. 199 ever finding, or making, or fuggefting dangers. The queen, though ihe would look big (for in- deed fhe was an excellent aflrefs) ftartled at the fhadows of thofe dangers, the flighted rumours. And to this convenient timidity of his miftrefs, fo conftantly alarmed, and relieved in turn by this wily minifter, was owing, in a good degree, that long and unrivalled intereft he held in her favour. Still, further, to this conftitutional/^r (which might be forgiven to her fex, if it had not been fo ftrangely mixed with a more than mafculine ferocity in other inftances) muft be alcribed thofe favourite maxims of policy, which ran through her whole government. Never was prince more attached to the machiaviliandoctiine, DIVIDE ET IMPERA, than our Elizabeth *. It made the foul * This account of her policy feems confirmed by what we read in the DISPARITY, before cited. " That trick of coun- tenancing and protecting factions (as that queen, almoft her whole reign, did, with iingular and equal demonftration of grace, look upon feveral perfons of moft diftant wifhes one to- wards.another) was not the leaft ground of much of her quiet and fuccefs. And Ihe never doubted but that men, that were never fo oppofite in their good will each to other, nor never fo difhoneft in their projeclments for each other's confufion, might yet be reconciled in their allegiance towards her. In- fomuch, that during her whole reign, fhe never endeavoured to reconcile any perfonal differences in the court, though the unlawful emulations of perfons of neareft truft about her, were ever like to overthrow fome of her chiefeft defigns : A policy, fddom entertained by princes , efpecially if they bave iTiuet 4 of 200 DIALOGUES MORAL of her policies, domeftic, and foreign. She countenanced the two prevailing factions of the time. The churchmen and puritans divided her favour fo equally, that her favourites were fure to be the chiefs of the contending parties. Nay, her court was a conftant fcene of cabals and per- fonal animofities. She gave a fecret, and fome- times an open countenance to thefe jealoufies. The fame principle directed all her foreign* negotiations. And are not you aware, interrupted Dr. Ar- buthnot, that this objected policy is the very topic that I, and every other admirer of the queen, would employ in commendation of her great abi- lity in the art of government ? It has been the fate of too many of our princes, and perhaps fome late examples might be given, to be go- verned and even infulted by a prevailing party of their own fubjects. Elizabeth was fuperior to fuch attempts. She had no by ends to pur- fue. She frankly threw herfelf on her people. to furvive them''' p. 46. Her own hiftorian, it is true, Teems a little my of acknowledging this conduft of the queen, with regard to her nobility and rainifters. But he owns, " She now and then took a pleafure (and not unprofitably) in the emula- tion and privy grudges of her women." Camdsn *}L\.n. A BE r H, p. 79. fol. Lond. 1688. * We find an intimation to this purpofe, in a writer of credit, at lead with refpeft to the Dutch and Ireland" Jam er divulfam Hiberniam, et in Batavis Angli imliiis feditiovis, velut JUSSAS, erant qui exprobrarent." GROTJI ANNAL. i. *ii. p. 432. And, AND POLITICAL. 10I And, fecure in their affection, could defeat, at pleafure, or even divert herfelf with the intrigues of this or that afpiring faction. We underftand you, Mr. Addifon replied ; but when two parties are contending within a Hate, and one of them only in its true intereft, the po- licy is a little extraordinary that fhould incline the fovereign to difcourage this, from the poor am- bition of controlling that, or, as you put it ftill worfe, from the dangerous humour of playing with both parties. I fay nothing of later times. I only afk, if it was indifferent whether the coun- fels of the CECILS, or of LEICESTER were pre- dominant in that reign ? But I mentioned thefe things before, and I touch them again now only to fhew you, that this conduct, however it may be varnimed over by the name of wifdom, had too much the air of fearful womanifh intrigue to confift with that heroical firmncfs and intrepidi- ty, fo commonly afcribed to queen Elizabeth *. * It muft not be concealed, that fomcthing like this was obferved of her difpofition by Sir JAMES MELVIL. After hav- ing related to his miftrefs, the queen of Scots, the ftrong pro- feffions of friendfhip which the queen of England had made to him, " She [the queen of Scott] enquired, fays he, whether I thought that queen meant truly toward her inwardly in her heart as (he appeared to do outwardly in her fpeech. I anfwer- ed freely, that, in my judgment, there was neither plain deal- ing, nor upright meaning, but great diilimulation, emulation, and FEAR, left her princely qualities fhculd over foon chace herfromher kingdom, &c." MBMJIR?, r. 53, And 202 DIALOGUES MORAL And what if after all I mould admit, replied Dr. Arbtftknot) that, in the compofition of a woman's courage, at leaft, there might be fome fcruples of difcretion ; is there any advantage, worth con- tending for, you could draw from fuch a coricef- fion ? Or, becaufe you would be thbught feri- ous, I will put the matter more gravely. The arts of prudence, you arraign fo feverely, could not be taken for pufillanimity. They certainly were not, in her own time, for fhe was not the lefs eileemed or revered by all the nations of Eu- rope on account of them. The mo ft you can fairly conclude is, that fhe knew how to unite addrels with bravery, and that, on occafion, fhe could di/emble her high fpirit. The difficul- ties of her fituation obliged her to this manage- ment. Rather fay at once, returned Mr. Addifon, that the conftant diflimulation, for which fhe was fo famous, was affiimed to fupply the want of a bet- ter thing, which had rendered all thofe arts as unneceflary as they were ignoble. But haughtinefs^ and timidity, purfued he, were not the only vices that turned to good account in the queen's hands. She was frugal beyond all bounds of decorum in a prince, or rather AVARICIOUS beyond all reafonable excufe from the public wants and the ftate of her reve- nue. Nothing is more certain than this faft, from AND POLITICAL. 203 from the allowance both of friends and enemies. It feems as if, in this refpeft, her father's exam- ple had not been fufficient , and that, to com- plete her character, (he had incorporated with ma- ny of his, the leading vice of her grandfather. Here Dr. Arlutbnot could not contain himfelf ; and the caftle happening at that time, from the point where they ilood, to prefent the rnoft fu- perb profpeft, " Look there, faid he, on the itriking, though fmall remnants of that gran"- 1 deur you juft now magnified fo much, an-J tell me if, in your confcience, you can believe fuch grants are the figns, or were the effects of avarice. For you are not to learn, that this palace before us is not the only one in the kingdom, which bears the memory of the queen's bounty to her fervants." Mr. Addifon Teemed a little ftruck with the ear- neflnefs of this addrefs , "It is true, faid he, the queen's fondnefs for one or two of her favourites made her fometimes lavifh of her grants ; efpeci- ally of what coft her nothing, and did not, it feems, offend the delicacy of her fcruples, I mean of the church-lands. But at the fame time her treafurywas Ihut againft her ambafiadors and foreign -minifters ; who complain of nothing more frequently than the flendernefs of their ap- pointments, and the fmall and flow remittances, that were made to them. This frugality (for I i muft 204 DIALOGUES MORAL muft not call it by a worfe name) diftrefied the public fervice on many occafions * ; and would have done it on more, if the zeal of her trufty fervants had not been content to carry it on at the expence of their own fortunes. How many inftances might be given of this, if ONE were not more than fufficient, and which all pofterity will remember with indignation! You fpeak of Walfingham^ interpofed Dr, Ar- lutbnot. But were it not more candid to impute the poverty of that minifter to his own generous contempt of riches, which he had doubtlefs ma- ny fair occafions of procuring to himfelf, than to any dcfigned neglect of him by his miflrefs ? The candour, returned Mr. dddifon^ mufl be very extraordinary that can find an excufe for the queen in a circumftance that doubles her dif- grace. But be it as you pretend. The uncom- mon moderation of the man mail be a cover to * Secretary Walfingbam, in a letter to the queen, Sept. 2, 1581, amongft other things to the fame purpofe, has the fol- lowing words " Remember, I humbly befeech yoar majefty, the refpeft of charges bath lofl Scotland : and I would to God I had no caufe to think, that it might put your highnefs in peril of the lofs of England." And even the lord treafurer himfelf (we are told) in a letter ftill extant in the paper-office, written in the critical year 1588, while the Spant/b armada was expedled againft England, excufes himfelf to Sir Edward Stafford, then ambaffador in France, for not writing to him oftner, on ac~ count of her majefly's unnuillingnefs to be at the expence ofmejfen- gen" Sir T. EDMONDS'S State-papers, by Dr. Birch, p. 21. the AND POLITICAL. 205 the queen's parflmony. It was not, we will fay, for this wife prmcefs to provoke an appetite for wealth in her fervants : it was enough that fhe gratified it, on proper occafions, where fhe found it already raifed. And in this proceeding, no doubt, fhe was governed by a tender regard for their honour, as well as her own intereft. For how is her great fecretary ennobled by rilling a place in the fhort lift of thofe worthies, who, having lived and died in the fervice of their countries, have left not fo much as a pittance behind them to carry them to their graves ! All this is very well. But when fhe had indulged his humour in one or two of her favourites, and fuf- fered them, for example's fake, to afcend to thefe heights of honour, it was going, methinks, a little too far to expect the fame delicacy of virtue of all her courtiers. Yet it was not her fault, if moft of them did not reap this fame of illufbrious po- verty, as well as Wal/ingbam. She dealt by them, indeed, as if fhe had ranked poverty, as well as celibacy, among the cardinal virtues. In the mean time I would not deny that fhe had a princely fondnefs for fhew and appearance. She took a pride in the brilliancy of her court. She delighted in the large trains of her nobility. She required to be royally entertained by them. And fhe thought her honour concerned in the figure they made in foreign courts, and in the wars. But, if fhe loved this pomp, fhe little cared 2o6 DIALOGUES MORAL cared to furnifh the expence of it. She confider- ed in good earned (as fome have obferved, who would have the obfervation pafs for a compli- ment *) the purfes of her fubjeffs as her own ; and ieemed to reckon on their being always open to her on any occafion of fervice, or even ceremony. She carried this matter fo far, that the very ex- pences of her wars were rather defrayed out of the private purfes of her nobility, than the pub- lic treafury. As if me had taken it for a part of her prerogative to impoverish her nobles at pleafure ; or rather, as if me had a mind to have it thought that one of their privileges was to be allowed to ruin themfelves from a zeal to her fervice. But the queen's avarice, proceeded he, did not only appear from her exceflive parfimony in the management of the public treafure, but from her rapacity in getting what me could from par- ticulars into her privy purfe. Hence it was, that all offices, and even perfonal favours were, in a * One of thefe complaifant obfervers, I fuppofe, was the writer of the Defcription of England, who, fpeaking of the va- riety of the queen's houfes, checks hi mfelf with faying, " But what lhall I need to take upon me to repeat all, and tell what houfes the queen's majefty hath ? SithALL is HIRS, and when it pleafeth hir in the fummer feafon to recreate her- felf abroad, and view the eftateof thecountrie, and hear the complaints of her unjuft officers or fubftitues, every nsbleman't houfe is her palace, where flie continueth during pleafure, and till ihe returne againe to fome of her ovvne, in which ihe re- nKiintth as long as pleafeth hir." p. 196. manner, AND POLITICAL. 207 manner, fet to fale. For it was a rule with her majefty, to grant no fuit but for a reafonable con- fideration. So that whoever pretended to any place of profit or honour, was fure to fend a jew- el, or other rich prefent, beforehand, to prepare her mind for the entertainment of his petition. And to what other purpofe was it that me kept her offices fo long vacant, but to give more per - fons an opportunity of winning a preference in her favour. Which, for the moll part, inclin- ed to thole who had appeared, in this interval, to deferve it beft. Nay, the flighteft difguft, which fhe frequently took on very frivolous occafions, could not be got over but by the re- conciling means of fome valuable or well-fan- cied prefent. And, what was moft grievous, me fometimes accepted the prefent without remitting the offence. I remember a very ridiculous inftance of this fort. When the lady Leicefter wanted to obtain the pardon of her unfortunate fon, the lord EJJex y me prefented the queen with an exceeding rich gown to the value of above one hundred pounds. She was well pleafed with the gift, but thought no more of the pardon. We need not, after this, wonder at what is faid of her majefty's leaving a prodigious quantity of jewels and plate behind her, and even a crouded ward-robe . For fo pre- valent was this thrifty humour in the queen's highnefs, that me could not perfuade herfelf to part 2 o8 DIALOGUES MORAL part with fo much as a call-gown to any of her * Perhaps they had no need of fuch favours. It feems as if they had provided for thcmfelves another way. One of her ladies, the lady EDMONDES, had been applied to for her inter- tit with the queen in a certain affair of no great moment, then depending in the court of chancery. The perfon, commiffi- oned to tranfact this matter with her ladyfliip, had offered her 100 /. which me treated as too fmall a fum. The relater of this faft adds " The ruffianary of caufes I am daily more and more acquainted with, and fee the manner of dealing, which cometh of the queen's jirnitncfs to give thefe women, whereby they prefume thus to grange and truck caufes. ** See a letter in MEM. of Q^ ELIZABETH, by Dr. Birch, vol. i. p. 354. But this 100 /. as the virtuous lady Edmondes fays, was a. fmall fum. It appears, that bifhop FLETCHER, on his tranflation to London, " Beftowed, in allowances and gratifi- cations to divers attendants [indeed we are not exprefsly told, they were female] about her majefty, the fum of 3 1 oo L which money was given by him, for the moft part of it, by her majefty s direftionanet fpecial appointment." M.KM.. vol. ii. p. 113. And the curiofity is to find this minute of epifcopal gratifications in a petition prefented to the queen herfelf, " To move her ma- jefty in commiferation towards the orphans of this bilhop." However, to do the ladies juftice, the contagion of bri- bery was fo general in that reign, that the greater! men in the court were infeded by it. The lord keeper PUCKERING, it feems, had a finger in the affair of the loo/, nay, himfelf fpeaks to the lady to get him commanded by the queen to fa- vour the fuit. And we are told, that Sir W. Raleigh had no lefs than 10,000 /. for his intereft with the queen on a certain occafioo, after having been invited to this fervice by the fined letter that ever was written. Indeed it is not faid how much of this fecvet fervice money went in allowances and gratificati- ons to the attendants about the queen 's majejly, vol. ii. p. 497. After all, the editor pretends only to relate thefe fals juft as he found them. For, whether they are to be accounted for You AND POLITICAL. 26* You allow yourfelf to be very gay, replied Dr. Arbuthnot, on this foible of the great queen. But one thing you forget, that it never biafled her judgment fo far as to prevent a fit choice of her fervants on all occafions *. And, as to her wary management of the public revenue, which you take a pleafure to exaggerate, this, methinks, is a venial fault in a prince who could not, in her circumftances, have provided for the expences of government, but by the niceft and molt atten- tive ceconomy. I underftand, replied Mr. Addifon^ the full force of that confideration, and believe it was that attention principally, which occafioned the popularity of her government, and the high efteem in which the wifdom of her admiriiftration is held to this day. The bulk of her fubjects were, no doubt, highly pleafed to find themfelves fpared on all occafions of expence. And it ferv- ed, at the fame time, to gratify their natural en- fromthe Jli altnefs of the queen, as is here infinuated from the influence of her own example or the difpofition of the parties themfelves this is a point which he does not take up- on himfelf to determine. * This confideration hath its weight. And it is but fit that a great man of thofe times fhould take the full benefit of it. The truth is, the lord Bacon made this very excufe for his bribery; as he had learnt, perhaps, the trade itfelf from his royal miftrefs^ It was a rule with this great chancellor, " Not to fell injuflice, but never to let juftice go fcot free." P vy 210 DIALOGUES MORAL ty of the great, to find that their fortunes were firfl and principally facrifked to the public fervice. Nay, I am not fure that the very rapacity of her nature, in the fale of her offices, was any objection with the people at large, or even the lower gen- try of the kingdom. For thefe, having no pre- tenfions themfelves to thofe offices, would be well enough pleafed to fee them, not be/lowed on their betters, but dearly purchafed by them. And then this traffick at court furnifhed the in- ferior gentry with a pretence for making the moft of their magiftracies. This practice, at leaft, muft have been very notorious amongfl them, when a facetious member of the lower houfe could define a juftice of peace to be, " A living creature, that, for half a dozen of chickens, will difpenfe with a whole dozen of penal fta- tutes *." But however this be, the queen's ends, in every view, were abundantly anfwered. She enriched herfelf : me gained the affections of the people, and depreffed and weakened the nobili- ty. And by all thefe ways me effectually pro- vided for, what me had ever moft at heart, her own abfolute and uncontrolled authority. * I find this particular in Hi ft. Collections, by H. Towrjbend, Efq. p. 268, Land. 1680. The lord keeper too, in a fpeech in the flar-chamber, confirms this charge on the country juf- tice?, " The thirft, fays he, after this authority, proceedeth from nothing but an ambitious humour of gaining of reputati- % onamongft their neighbours; that, ftillwhen they come home, tbejma) be pre/entedwitbprefenti.*'' ibid. p. 355. And AND POLITICAL. 211 And is that to be wondered at in a great prince, returned Dr. Arbuthnot ? or, to take the matter in the light you place it, what if the queen had fo much of her fex * and family in her difpofiti- on, as to like well enough to have her own way, is this fuch a crime as you would make of it ? if me loved power, it was not to make a wanton or opprefiive ufe of it. And if all princes knew as well to bound their own wills, as me did, we mould not much complain of their impatience to be under the control of their fubjects. I am forry, faid Mr. Addifon, that the acts of her reign will not allow me to come into this opinion of her moderation. On the other hand, her government appears to me, in many inftances, .OPPRESSIVE and highly prejudicial to the ancient rights and privileges of her people. For what other conftruction can we make of her frequent interpofition to reftrain the counfels of their re- prefentatives in parliament ; threatening fome, * When the queen declared to Sir James Me/vit her refolu- tion of virginity, " I know the truth of that, madam, (faid he) you need not tell it me. Your majefty thinks if you were married, you would be but queen of England; and now you are both king and queen. 1 know your fpirit cannot endure a commander."" MEM. p. 49. This was frank. But Sit James Melvil was too well feen in courts to have ufed this language, if he had not underftood it would be welcome. According- ly, the queen 1 * highnefs did not feem difpleafed with the im- putation. P 2 impri- Itz DIALOGUES MORAL imprifoning others, and filencing all with the thunder of her prerogative ? or, when me had fuffered their counfels to ripen into bills, what fhall we fay of her high and mighty rejection of them, and that not in fingle and extraordinary cafes, but in matters of ordinary courfe, and by dozens ? I pafs by other inftances. But was her moderation feen in dilapidating the revenues of the church ? of that church, which fhe took under the wing of her lupremacy, and would be thought to have flickered from all its enemies * ? The honeft archbifhop Parker,' I have heard, ventured to remonflrate againft this abufe, the * It is certain, this was a common topic of complaint againft the queen, or at leaft againft her minifters. Which gave occa- lion to that reproof of the poet Spenfer, which the perfons con- cerned could hardly look upon as very decent, " Scarce can a bifhoprick forepafs them bye, But that it tnuft be gelt in privity." Mother HUBBARD'S Tale. But a bimop of that time carries the charge ftill further. In one of his fermons at court before the queen, " Parfonages and vicarages, fays he, feldom pafs now-a-days from the pa- tron, bat either for the leafe or the prefent money. Such merchants are broken into the church of God, a great deal more intolerable than were they, whom Chrifl whipped out of the temple." This language is very harfh, and furely not de- ferved by theproteftant patrons of thofe days, who were only, as v.e may fuppofe, for reducing the church ofChrift to its pure and primitive ilate of indigence and fuffering. How edifying is it to hear St. Paul fpeak of his being In hunger and thirjl, in faflings often y in cold and nakednefs /" Aad how perfectly re- formed would our church be, if its minifters were but once more in this bleffed apoftolical condition ! I COg- AND POLITICAL. 213 cognizance of which came fo directly within his province. But to what effect, may be gathered, not only from the continuance of thefe depredati- ons, but her fevere reprehenfion of another of her bifhops, whom me threatened with an oath to UNFROCK that was her majefty's own word i if he did not immediately give way to herprince- ]y extortions. It may be hardly worth while to take notice of fmaller matters. But who does not refent her capricious tyranny in diigracing fuch of her fer- vants as prefumed to deviate, on any pretence, from her good pleafure ; nay, fuch as gave an implicit obedience to her will, if it flood with her intereft to difgrace them ? Something, I know, may be faid to excufe the proceedings againft the queen of Scots. But the fate of DAVISON will re- flect eternal difhonour on the policy with which that meafure was conducted. I run over thefe things haftily, continued Mr. Addifon, and in no great order, but you will fee what to conclude from thefe hints \ which, taken together, I believe, may furnim a pro. per anfwer to the moft confiderable parts of your Apology. To fum it up in few words. Thofe two great events of her time, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REFORMATION, and THE TRIUMPH OVER THB P 3 POWER 2i4 DIALOGUES MORAL POWER OF SPAIN, caft an uncommon luftre on the reign of Elizabeth. Pofterity, dazzled with thefe obvious fuccefles, went into an exceffive ad- miration of her perfonal virtues. And what has ferved to brighten them the more, is the place in which we chance to find her, between the bigot queen on the one hand, and the pedant king on the other. No wonder then that, on the firft glance, her government appear able and even glorious. Yet in looking into particulars, we find, that much is to be attributed to fortune, as well as ikill ; and that her glory is even leflened by confiderations, which, on a carelefs view, may feem to augment it. The difficulties me had to encounter, were great. Yet thefe very difficul- ties, of themfelves, created the proper means to furmount them. They fharpened the wits, in- flamed the fpirits, and united the affections of a whole people. The name of her great enemy on the continent, at that time, carried terror with it. Yet, his power was, in reality, much lefs than it appeared. The Spantflj empire was cor- rupt and weak, and tottered under its own weight. But this was a fecret even to the Spaniard himfelf. In the mean time, the confidence, which the opi- nion of great ftrength infpires, was a favourable circumflance. It occafioned a remirTnefs and neglect of counfel on one fide, in proportion as it laited the utmoft vigilance and circumfpection on the other. But this was not all. The religi- ous feuds in the low countries the civil wars in France AND POLITICAL. 215 France the diftractions of Scotland all concur- red to advance the fortunes of Elizabeth. Yet all had, perhaps, been too little in that grand crifis of her fate, and, as it fell out, of her glory, if the confpiring elements themfelves had not fought for her. Such is the natural account of her foreign tri- umphs. Her domeflic fuccefles admit as eafy a folution, Thofe external dangers themfelves, the genius of the time, the ftate of religious parties, nay, the very factions of her court, all of them directly, or by the flighteft application of her policy, adminiftered to her greatnefs. Such was the condition of the times, that it forced her to afTume the femblance, at leaft, of fome popular virtues : and fo fmgular her fortune, that her ve- ry vices became as refpectable, perhaps more ufe- ful to her reputation, than her virtues. She was vigilant in her counfels ; careful in the choice of her fervantsj courteous and condefcending to her fubjects. She appeared to have an extreme tendernefs for the interefts, and an extreme zeal for the honour of the nation. This was the bright fide of her character ; and it fhone the brighter from the conftant and imminent dangers to which me was expofed. On the other hand, fhe was choleric, and imperious ; jealous, timid, and avaricious ; oppreflive, as far as fhe durfl ; in many cafes capricious, in fome tyrannical. Yet thefe vices, fome of them (harpened and re- P 4 fined 216 DIALOGUES MORAL fined her policy, and the reft operating chiefly towards her courtiers and dependents, Itrength- ened her authority, and rooted her more firmly in the hearts of the people. The mingled fplen- dor of thefe qualities, good and bad (for even her word had the luck, when feen but on one fide, or in well-difpofed lights, to look like good ones) fo far dazzled the eyes of all, that they did not, or would not, fee many outrageous acts of tyran- ny and oppreffion. And thus it hath come to pafs that, with fome ability, more cunning, and little real virtue, the name of Elizabeth is, by the concurrence of ma- ny accidental caufes, become the moft revered of any in the long roll of our princes. How little me merited this honour, may appear from this flight fketch of her character and government. Yet, when all proper abatement is made in both, 1 will not deny her to have been a great, that is, a fortunate queen-, in this, perhaps, the moft for- tunate that (he has attained to fo unrivalled a glo- ry with fo few pretenfions to deferve it. And fo, replied Dr. Arbuthnot, you have con- cluded your invective in full form, and rounded it, as the ancient orators ufed to do, with all the advantage of a peroration. But fetting afidethis trick of eloquence, which is apt indeed to con- found a plain man, unufed to fuch artifices, I fee not but you have left the argument much as you took it up , and that I may ftill have leave to re- tain AND POLITICAL. 2 i 7 tain my former reverence for the good old times of queen Elizabeth. It is true, me had fome foi- bles. You have fpared, I believe, none of them. But, to make amends for thefe defects, let but the hiflory of her reign fpeak for her, I mean in its own artlefs language, neither corrupted by- flattery, nor tortured by invidious glofles ; and we muft ever conceive of her, I will not fay as the moft faultlefs, perhaps not the moft virtuous, but furely the moft able, and, from the fplendor of fome leading qualities, the moft glorious of our Englijh monarchs, To give you my notion of her in few words. For the difpute, I find, muft end, as moft others ufually do, in the fimple reprefenfation of our own notions She was difcreet, frugal, pro- vident, and fagacious : intent on the purfuit of her great ends, the cftabli/hment of religion^ and the fecurity and honour of her people : prudent in the choice of the beft means to effect them, the employment of able fervants, and the manage- ment of the public revenue : dextrous at improv- ing all advantages which her own wifdom, or the circumftancesof the times gave her: fearlefsand intrepid in the execution of great defigns, yet careful to unite the deepeft forefight with her magnanimity. If me feemed AVARICIOUS, let it be confidered that the niceft frugality was but neceflary in her fituation : if IMPERIOUS, that a female government needed to be made refpec"la- ble 2i8 DIALOGUES MORAL ble by a fhew of authority : and if at any time OPPRESSIVE, that the Englijh conflitution, as it then flood, as well as her own nature, had a good deal of that bias. In a word, let it be remembered, that me had the honour of ruling*, perhaps of forming, the wifeft, the braveft, the moft virtuous people, that have adorned any age or country ; and that me advanced the glory of the Englijh name, and that of her own dignity, to a height which has no pa- rallel in the annals of our nation. Mr. Digby-> who had been very attentive to the courfe of this debate, was a little difappointed with the conclufion of it. He had thought to have fettled his judgment of this reign by the information his two friends mould afford him. But he found himfelf rather perplexed by their altercations, than convinced by them. He own- ed, however, the pleafure they had given him ; and faid, he had profited fo much at lead by the occafion that, for the future, he mould conceive with fomething lefs reverence of the great queen, * It was this circumftance that feemed to weigh moft with the lord chancellor BACON ; who, in his fhort traft, In felicem Ktmoriam Elizabeth*, faith, " Illud cogitandum cenfeo, in quali populo imperium tenuerit : fi enim in Palmyrenis, aut Afia imbelli et molli regnum fortita eflet, minus mirandum fu- jflet verum in ANGLIA, nations fir ocijjima et belli cofijfima t omnia ex nutu fceminae mover! et cohiberi potuifle, SUMMAM MERITO ADMIRATIONEM HABET. A- and AND POLITIC AL. 219 and fliould proceed with lefs prejudice to form his opinion of her character and adminiftration. Mr. 'Addifon did not appear quite fatisfied with this fceptical conclufion ; and was going to enforce fome things which he thought had been touched too (lightly *, when Dr. Arbuthnot took notice that their walk was now at an end ; the path, they had taken, having by this time brought them round again to the walls of the caftle. Be- fides, he faid, he found himfelf much wearied with this exercife, though the warmth of de- bate, and the opportunities he took of refling himfelf at times, had kept him from complain- ing of it. He propofed therefore getting into the coach as foon as pofiible ; where, though the * In conclufion, I muft be fo juft to own, that if any thing could (hake the authenticity of thefe dialogues, on the age of Elizabeth, it is, " That Mr. Addifon, who all along takes fuch liberties with the queen's character and government, finds oc- cafion to fpeak, very differently, of both, in his Freeholder, publifhed in the beginning of this very year." But the judicious reader will obferve,that the Freeholder was a party paper, written with a view to the ftate of the nation at that time ; and that therefore his panegyrics on Elizabeth are to be taken only as popular topics, or, as they fay, argu- ments ad hominem, that is, to the tories, who idolized her memory, and whom it was his purpofe to convince or gain upon in that political work. What he thought fit to fay, there- fore, in compliance with their prejudices, is very confiflent with the real fentiments we find him delivering in thefe conver- fations. conver- 220 DIALOGUES MORAL convention was in fome fort refumed, there was nothing material enough advanced, on either fide, to make it necefiary for me to continue this recital any further. I A- DIALOGUE V. O N THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.' Sir JOHN MAYNARD, Mr. SOMERS, Bifhop B u R N E T. Written in the Year 1689. Turn GENITOR, veterum volvens monumenta virorum, Audite, o Proceres, ait, et fpes difcite veftras. Vine. [22 3 ] DIALOGUE V. Sir JOHN MAYNARD, Mr. S o M E R s, Bifhop BURNET*. To Dr. TILLOTSON. THOUGH the principles of nature, and common fenfe, do fully authorize refiftance to the civil magiftrate in ex- treme cafes, and, of courfe, juftify the late re- volution to every candid and difpaflionate man ; yet I am fenfible, my excellent friend, there are many prejudices which hinder the glorious proceedings in that affair from being teen in their true light. The principal of them, indeed, are founded on falfe fyftems of policy, * Though the manufcript, from which the following dia - logues are printed, be certainly not in bifhop Burners own hand, there are all the marks in the world, even to the defeft ofthecompofition, of their having been written by that pre- late. The fubjeft is fo much above the editor's abilities to comment upon, that he prefumes only to -point here and there to an authority, which he hath cafually picked up, in fupport of fome of the more remarkable things, advanced in the courfe of the convention. and 224 DIALOGUES MORAL and thofe tied down on the conferences of mert by wrong notions of religion. And fuch as thefe, no doubt, through the experience of a better go- vernment, and a jufter turn of thinking, which may be expected to prevail in our times, will gradually fall away of themfelves. But there is another fet of notions on this fubjecl:, not fo ea- fy to be difcredited, and which are likely to keep their hold on the minds even of the more fober and confiderate fort of men. For whatever advan- tage the caufe of liberty may receive from ge- neral reafonings on the origin and nature of civil government, the greater part of our countrymen will confider, and perhaps rightly, the enquiry into the conftitution of their own government, as a queilion of FACT -, that muft be tried by au- thorities and precedents only; and decided at laft by the evidence of hiftorical teftimony, not by the conclufions of philofophy or political fpe- culation. Now, though we are agreed that this way of managing the controverfy muft, when fully and fairly purfued, be much in favour of the new fettlement, yet neither, I think, is it for every man's handling, nor is the evidence refult- ing from it of a nature to compel our aflent. The argument is formed on a vafb variety of particu- lars, to be collected only from a large and inti- mate acquaintance with the antiquities, laws, and ufages of the kingdom. Our printed hifto- ries AND POLITICAL. 225 ries are not only very fhort and imperfect ; but the original records, which the curious have in their porTeffion, are either fo obfcure or fo fcanty, that a willing adverfary hath always in readinefs fome objection, or fome cavil at leaft, to oppofe to the evidence that may be drawn from them. Befides, appearances, even in the plained and moft unqueftioned parts of our hiftory, arefome- times fo contradictory ; arifing either from the tyranny of the prince, the neglect of the people, or fome other circumftance of the times ; and, to crown all> the queftion itfelf hath been fo in- volved, by the difputations of prejudiced and de- figning men, that the more intelligent enquirer is almoft at a lofs to determine for himfelf> on which fide the force of evidence lies. On this account I have frequently thought with myfelf, that a right good CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY of England would be the nobleft fervice thajt any man, duly qualified for the execution of fuch a work, could render to his country. For though, as I faid, the fubject be obfcure ia itfelf, and perplexed by the fubtilties which con- tending parties have invented for the fupport of their feveral fchemes, yet, from all I have been able to obferve from the courfe of my own read- ing, or converfation, there is little doubt but that the form of the Englijh government hath, at all times, been FREE. So that if fuch a hiftory were drawn up, with fufficient care, out of our authentic 226 DIALOGUES MORAL authentic papers and public monuments, ic would not only be matter of entertainment to the curious, but the greateft fecurity to every Englijh- man of his religious and civil rights. For what can be conceived, more likely to preferve and per- petuate thefe rights, than the {landing evidence which fuch a work would afford, of the genuin fpirit and temper of the conftitution ? of the principles of freedom *, on which it was form- ed, and on which it hath been continually and uniformly conduded ? Our youth, who at pre- fent amufe themfelves with little more than the military part of our annals, would then have an eafy opportunity of feeing to the bottom of all our civil and domeftic broils. They would know on what pretences the PREROGATIVE of our kings hath fometimes afpired to exalt itfelf above * Thefe principles , as appears from what follows, are thofc of the feudal law. And, to fee how much in earnefl the bifhop was in recommending this fludy to the Englijh youth, it was upon thefe very principles that he explained the conftitution of the EnglijTy government to his royal pupil. This we learn from his own words fpeaking of the duke of Gloucejler, " I acquainted him, fays he, with all the great revolutions that had been in the world, and gave him a copious account of the Greek and Roman hiflories, and of Plutarch's lives : the laft thing I explained to him was the Gothic conftitution, and the BENEFICIARY AND FEUDAl LAWS." [HlST. of bis WJTl times, vol. iv. p. 357. Eding. 1753.] Without doubt the bifhop's infiruftions on the laft head were taken from this very converfation of Sir J . Maynard; which raifes one's idea of it very much, and will induce the reader to confider it, not fo much in the light of a private debate, as of a royal lefture. controul *, A N D P O L I T I C A L. 227 controul ; and would learn to revere the mag- nanimity of their forefathers, who as conftantly fucceeded in their endeavours to reduce it within the ancient limits and boundaries of the LAW. In a word, they would no longer reft on the fur- face and outfide, as it were, of the Englijh affairs, but would penetrate the interior parts of our conftitution , and furnifh themfelves with a competent degree of civil and political wifdom ; the moft folid fruit that can be gathered from the knowledge and experience of paft times. And I am ready to think thatfuch a provifion; as this, for the inftruction of the Englijh youth, may be the more requifite, on account of that limited, yet awful form of government under which we live. For, befides the name, and other enfigns of majefty, in common with thofe who wear the moft defpotic crowns, the whole execu- tion of our laws, and the active part of govern- ment, is in the hands of the prince. And this pre-eminence gives him fo refpedable a figure in the eyes of his fubjects, and prefents him fo con- ftantly, and with fuch luftre of authority to their minds, that it is no wonder they are fometimes difpofed to advance him from.the rank of firft ma- giftrate of a free people, into that of fupreme and fole arbiter of the laws. So that, unlefs thefe prejudices are cor- rected by the knowledge of our conftitutional hiftory, there is conftant reafon to apprehend, Q2 no; 1 2 8 DIALOGUES MORAL not only that the royal authority may ftretch it- felf beyond due bounds j but may grow, at length, into that enormous tyranny, from which this nation hath been at other times fo happily, and now of late fo wonderfully redeemed. But I fnffer myfelf to be carried by thefe re- flexions much further than I defigned. I would only fay to you, that, having fometimes reflect- ed very ferioufly on this fubjed, it was with the higheft pleafure I heard it difcourfed of the other day, by two of the moft accomplifhed lawyers of our age: the venerable Sir JOHN MAYNARD, who, for a long courfe of years, hath maintain- ed the full credit and dignity of his profeflion ; and Mr. SOMERS, who, though a young man, is rifmg a-pace, and with proportionable merits, into all the honours of it. I was very attentive, as you may fuppofe, to the progrefs of this remarkable converfation ; and, as -I had the honour to bear a full mare in it myfelf, I may the rather undertake to give you a particular account of it. I know the pleafure you will have in feeing a fubjecl:, you have much at heart, and which we have fre- quently talked over in the late times, thorough- ly canvafled, and cleared up, as I think it muft be, to your entire fatisfaction. * It was within a day or two afcer that great event, fo pleafmg to all true Englijhmen, THE CORONATION OF THEIR MAJESTIES*, that Mr. On April 1 1 , p. 1 80. 1 689, Somers AND POLITICAL. 029 Somers and I went, as we fome times ufed, to pals an evening with our excellent friend, my Lord Commiffioner -f-. I mall not need to attempt his character to you, who know him fo well. It is enough to fay, that his faculties and fpirits are, even in this maturity of age, in great vigour. And it feems as if this joyful revolution, fo agreeable to his hopes and principles, had given a frefh fpring and elafticity to both. The converfation, of courfe, turned on the late anguft ceremony , the mention of which awakened a fort of rapture in the good old man, which made him overflow in his meditations up- on it. Seeing us in admiration of the zeal, which ^-anfported him, " Bear with me, faid he, my young friends. Age, you know, hath its privilege. And it may be, I ufe it fomewhat unreafonably. But I, who have feen the prize of liberty contending for through half a centu- ry, to find it obtained at laft by a method fo fure, and yet fo unexpected, do you think it pof- fible that I mould contain myfelf on fuch an oc- cafion ? Oh, if ye had lived with me in thofe days, when fuch mighty ilruggles were made for public freedom, when fo many wifecounlels mif- carried, and fo many generous enterprizes con- cluded but in the confirmation of lawlefs tyranny; I f Of the great feal The other lawyers in commiffion were KECK andRAWUNSON. 0.3 ^ 2}o DIALOGUES MORAL if, I fay, ye had lived in thofe days, and now at length were able to contraft with me, to the trage- dies that were then acted, this fafe, this bloodlefs, this complete deliverance ; I am mistaken, if the yoimgeit of you could reprove me for this joy, which makes me think I can never fay enough on fo delightful a fubjecl:. Bp. BURNET, Reprove you, my lord ? alas, we are neither of us fo unexperienced in what hath palled of late in thefe kingdoms, as not to rejoice with you to the utmoil for this aftonifiiing deliverance. You know, I might boaft of being among the firft that wifhed for, I will not fay projected, the meafures by which it hath been accomplim- ed. And for Mr. Somers, the church of Eng- land w\\\ tell Mr. SOMERS. I confefs my warmeft wifhes have ever gone along with thofe who conducted this noble en- terprize. And I pretend to as fmcere a pleafure, as any man, in the completion of it. Yet if it were not unreafonable at fuch a time, I might be tempted to mention one circumftance which, I know not how, a little abates the joy of thefe tri- umphant gratulations. Sir J. .MAYNARD. Is not the fettlement then to your mind ? or hath any precaution been neglected which you tkink AND POLITICAL. 231 think necefiary for the more effectual fecurity of our liberties ? Mr. SOMERS. Not that. I think the provifion for the peo- ple's rights as ample as needs be defired. Or, if any further reftrictions on the crown be thought proper, it will now be eafy for the people, in a regular parliamentary way, to effect it. What I mean is, a confideration of much more impor- tance. Bp. BURNET. The pretended prince of Wales, you think, v/ill be raifmg fome diflurbance, or alarm at lead, to the new government. I believe, I may take upon me to give you perfect fatisfaction upon that fubjed*. Mr. SOMERS. Still your conjectures fall fhort or wide of my meaning. Our new MAGNA CHARTA, as I love to call the declaration of rights, feems a fufficient barrier againft any future encroachments of the CROWN. And I think the pretended prince of Wales, whatever be determined of his birth, a mere phantom ; that may amufe, and perhaps difquiet, the weaker fort for a while, but, if left * This indeed was a favourite fubjeft with our good bifhop, and how qualified he was to difcufs it, even in its minuteft particularities, may be learnt from his hiltory, at large. 0.4 > 232 DIALOGUES MORAL toitfelf*, will foon vanifh out of the minds of the PEOPLE. Not but I allow that even fo thin a pretence as this, may, fome time or other, be conjured up to difturb the government. But it mull be, when a certain fet of principles are called in aid to fupport it. And, to fave you the further trouble of guefimg, I mall freely tell you, what thofe principles are. You will fee, in them, the ground of my prefent fears and ap- prehenfions. It might be imagined, that fo necefiary a revolution, as that which hath now taken place, would fufficiently approve itfelf to all reafonable men. And it appears, in fadt, to have done fo, now that the public injuries are frem, and the want of fome immediate relief from them, felt by the fubjeft. But (as it hap- pens in fuch cafes) when the evil is removed, it is very eafily forgotten. And in matters of go- vernment, which depend fo much, or rather, which depend fo entirely on opinion, when the grievance is out of mind, the falfe fyflem re- turns, and fometimes with redoubled force, which had given birth to it. Bp. BURNET. One can readily admit thefe principles. But the conclufion you propofe to draw from them * It was not thus left to itfelf, but was nurfed and foftered with, great care by the preachers up of divine indefeafible here- ditary right, in this and the following reign. Mr. AND POLITICAL. 233 Mr. SOMERS. This very important one, " That, if the late change of government was brought about, and can be defended only, on the principles of liber- ty, the fettlement, introduced by it, can be thought fecure no longer than while thofe prin- ciples are rightly underilood, and generally ad- mitted." Bp. BUR NET. But what reafon is there to apprehend that thefe principles, fo commonly profeffed and pub- licly avowed, will not continue to be kept up in full vigour. Mr. SOMERS. Becaufe, I doubt, they are fo commonly and publicly avowed, only to ferve a prefent turn, and not becaufe they come from the heart, or are entertained on any juft ground of conviction. Bp. BURNET. Very likely. And confidering the pains that have been taken to poflefs the minds of men with other notions of government, the wonder is, how they came to be entertained at all. Yet furely the experience of better times may be ex- pected to do much. Men will of courfe think more juftly on thefc fubjects, in proportion as they find themfelves more happy. And thus the prin- ciples, which, as you fay, were firft pretended to out j 3 4- DIALOGUES MORAL out of necefiity, will be followed out of choice, and bound upon them by the conclufions of their own reafon. Mr. SOMERS. I wiih your lordfhip be not too fanguin in thefe expectations. It is not to be conceived how in- fenfible the people are to the blefiings they en- joy, and how eafily they forget their pad mife- ries. So that if their principles have not taken deep root, I would not anfwer for their continu- ing much longer than it ferved their purpofe to make a fhew of them. Sir J. MAYNARD. I muft confefs, that all my experience of man- kind inclines me to this opinion. I could relate to you fome ftrange inflances of the fort Mr. Somers hints at. But after all, Sir, you do not indulge thefe apprehenfions on the general fickle- nefs of human nature. You have fome more par- ticular reafons for concluding that the fyftem of li- berty, which hath worked fuch wonders of late, is not likely to maintain its ground amongft us. Mr. SOMERS. I have : and I was going to explain thofe rea- fons, if my lord of Salt/bury had not a little di- verted me from the purfuit of them. It is very notorious, from the common dif- courfe of men, even on this great occafion, (and I wifh AND POLITICAL. 235 I wifh it had not appeared too evidently in the debates of the two houfes) that very many of us have but crude notions of the form of govern^ ment, unier which we live, and which hath been tranfmitted to us from our forefathers. I have met wi4* perfons of no mean rank, and well feen in the niftory of the kingdom, who fpeak a very ftrange language. They allow, indeed, that fomething was to be done in the perilous circum- ftances, into which we had fallen. But when they come to explain themfelves, it is in a way tjiat leaves us no right to do any thing ; at lead, not what it was found expedient for the nation to do at this juncture. For " they contend in fo many words, that the crown of England is abfo- lute ; that the form of government is an entire andfimpk monarchy ; and that fo it hath continu- ed to be in every period of it down to the abdica- tion : that the CONQUEST, at leaft, to afcend no higher, inverted the FIRST WILLIAM in ablblute dominion ; that from him it devolved of courfe' upon his fucceffors -, and that all the pretended rights of the people, the GREAT CHARTERS of ancient and modern date, were mere ufurpati- ons on the prince, extorted from him by the ne-> cefiity of his affairs, and revocable at his plea- fure : nay, they infmuate that parliaments themfelves were the creatures of his will ; that their privileges were all derived from the fove- jreign's grant and that they made no part in the original 236 DIALOGUES MORAL original frame and texture of the Englijh go- vernment. *' In fupport of this extraordinary fyftem, they refer us to the conftant tenor of our hiflory. They fpeak of the conqueror, as proprietary of the whole kingdom; which accordingly, they fay, he parcelled out, as he faw fit, in grants to his Norman and Englijh fubjects : that, through his partial confideration of the church, and an exceffive liberality to his favoured fervants, this diftribution was fo ill made as to give occafion to all the broils and contentions that followed : that the church-men began their unnatural claim of independency on the crown ; in which attempt they were foon followed by the encroaching and too powerful barons : that in thefe flruggles ma- ny flowers of the crown were rudely torn from it, till a fort of truce was made, and the rebellious humour fomewhat compofed by the extorted ar- ticles of RUNNING-MEDE : that thefe confufions, however, were afterwards renewed, and even en- creafed by the contefts of the two houfes of York and Lancafter : but that, upon the union of the rofes in the perfon of Henry VII. thefe commoti- ons were finally appeafed, and the crown reftored to its ancient dignity and luftre : that, indeed, the ufage of parliaments, with fome other forms of popular adminiftration, which had been per- mitted in the former irregular reigns, was con- tinued, AND POLITICAL. 237 tinued, but of the mere grace of the prince, and without any confequence to his prerogative : that fueceeding kings, and even HENRY himfelf, con- fidered themfelves as poflelTed of an imperial crown ; and that, though they might fometimes condefcend to take the advice, they were abfo- lutely above the controul of the people ; in fhorr., that the law itfelf was but the will of the prince declared in parliament ; or rather folemnly re- ceived and attefled there, for the better informa- tion and more entire obedience of the fubject. This they deliver as a juft and fair acccount of the Englijb government ; the genius of which, they fay, is abfolute and monarchical in the high- eft degree , as much fo, at leaft, as that of any other fovereignty in Europe. They afk, with an air of infult, what reftraint our Henry VIII. and our admired Elizabeth would ever fuffer to be put on their prerogative , and they mention, with derifion, the fancy of dating the high pretenfi- ons of the crown from the acceflion of the STU- ART family. They affirm that JAMES I. and his fon, aimed only to continue the government on the footing on which they had received it ; that their notions of it were authorifed by conftant fact ; by the evidence of our hiilories , by the lan- guage of parliaments ; by the concurrent fenfe of every order of men amongft us : and that what followed in the middle of this century was the mere efteft of POPULAR, as many former dif- orders 238 DIALOGUES MORAL orders had been of PATRICIAN violence. In a. word, they conclude with faying, that the old government revived again at the RESTORATION, jufl as, in like circumftances, it had done be- fore, at the UNION of the two houies : that, in truth, the voluntary defertion of the late king had given a colour to the innovations of the pre- fent year ; but that, till this new fettlement was made, the Englijh conftitution, as implying fome- thing different from pure monarchy, was an unintelligible notion, or rather a mere whym- fy that had not the the leaft foundation in truth or hiitory." This is a fummary of the doctrines, which, I doubt, are too current amongft us. I don't fpeak of the bigotted adherents to the late king*; but of many cooler and more difmterefted men, whofe religions principles, as I fuppofe, (for it appears it could not be their political] had en- gaged them to concur in the new fettlement. You will judge, then, if there be not reafon to apprehend much rnifchief from the prevalence and propagation of fuch a fyftem : a fyftem, which, as being in the language of the patrons of it, founded upon faft^ is the more likely to impofe upon the people , and, as referring to the practice of ancient times, is not for every man's confutation. I repeat it therefore, if this notion of the defpotic form of our government become general, I tremble to think what effect it AND POLITICAL. 239 it may hereafter produce on the minds of men ; efpecially when joined to that falfe tendernefs, which the people of England are fo apt to enter- tain for their princes, even the. worft of them, un- der misfortune. I might further obferve, that this prerogative-fyftem hath a direct tendency to produce, as well as heighten, this companion to the fovereign. And I make no fcruple to lay it before you with all its circumftances, becaufe I know to whom I fpeak, and that I could not have wilhed for a better opportunity of hearing it confuted. Bp. BURNET. I rnufl own, though I was fomewhat unwilling to give way to fuch melancholy apprehenfions at this time, I think, with Mr. SOMERS, there is but too much reafon to entertain them. For my own part, I am apt to look no further for the right of the legislature to fettle the government in their own way, than their own free votes and re- folutions. For, being ufed to confider all poli- tical power as coming originally from the people, it feems to me but fitting that they mould dif- pofe of that power for their own ufe, in what hands, and under what conditions they pleafe. Yet as much regard is due to eftablilhed forms and ancient prefcription, I think the matter of faft of great confequence ; and, if the people, in general, mould once conceive of it according to this reprefentation, I mould be very anxious for 240 DIALOGUES MORAL for the iffue of fo dangerous an opinion. I mud needs, therefore, join very entirely with Mr. So- mers, in wifhing to hear the whole fubjeft can- vaffed, or rather finally determined, as it muft be, if Sir JOHN MAYNARD will do us the plea- fure to acquaint us what his fentiments are up- on it. Sir J. MAYNARD. Truly, my good friends, you have opened a very notable caufe, and in good form. Only, methinks, a little lefs folemnity, if you had fo pleafed, might have better Hiked the occafion. Why, I could almoft laugh to hear you talk of fears and dangers from a phantom of your own raifing. I certainly believe the common proverb belies us -, and that old age is not that daftardly thing it hath been reprefented. For, inftead of being terrified by this conceit of a prefcriptive right in our fovereigns to tyrannize over the fub- je6t, I am ready to think the contrary fo evident from the conftant courfe of our hiflory, that the fimpleft of the people are in no hazard of falling into the delufion. I mould rather have appre- hended mifchitf from other quarters ; from the influence of certain fpeculative points which have being too fuccefsrully propagated of late ; and chiefly from trofe pernicious gloiles which too many of my order have made on the letter of the law, and too many of yours, my lord ofSalif- on that of the gofpel. Truft me, if the matter AND POLITICAL. 441 matter once come to a queftion of FACT, and the inquiry be only concerning ancient form and precedent, the decifion will clearly be in our fa- vour. And for yourfelves, I cannot doubt but this decifion is already made. But fmce you are willing to put me upon this tafk, and we have leifure enough for fuch an amufement, I mall very readily undertake it. And the rather, as I have more than once in my life had occafion to go to the bottom of this inquiry, and now very lately have taken a pleafure to reflect on the ge- neral evidence which hiftory affords of our free conftitution, and to review the fcattered hints and pafiages I had formerly fet down for my private fatisfaction. " I underftand the queftion to be, not under what form the government hath appeared at fome particular conjunctures, but what we may con- clude it to have been from the general current and tenor of our hiftories. And more particu- larly ftill, I conceive you would afk, not whe- ther the adminiftraticn hath not, at fome feafons, been DESPOTIC, but whether the genius of the government hath not at all times been FREE. Or, if you do not think the terms, in which I pro- pofe the queftion, ftrift enough, you will do well to ftate it in your own way, that hereafter we may have no difpute about it. R Bp. 242 DIALOGUES M O R A t. Bp. BURNET. I fuppofe, the queftion, as here put, is deter- minate enough for our purpofe. Or, have you, Mr. SOMERSJ any exceptions to make to it ? Mr. SOMERS. I believe we underftand each other perfectly well , the queftion being only this, " Whether there be any ground in hiilory to conclude that the prince hath a conflitutional claim to abfolute imcontrolable dominion ; or, whether the liberty of the iubje6b be not efiential to every different form, under which the Engli/h government hath appeared." Sir J. MAYNARDT. You expect of me then to mew, in oppofition to the fcheme, jufl now delivered by you, that neither from the original conftitution of the go- vernment, nor from the various forms (for they have, indeed, been various) under which it hath been adminiftered, is there any reafon to infer, that the Englijh monarchy is, or of right ought to be, defpotic and unlimited ? Now this I take to be the eafieft of all under- takings -, fo very eafy, that I could truft a plain man to determine the matter for himfelf by the light that offers itfelf to him from the flightefl of our hiftories. 'Tis true, the deeper his refearches 4 S> AND POLITICAL. 243 go, his conviction will be the clearer ; as any one may fee by dipping into my friend NAT. BA- CON'S difcourfes ; where our free conftitution is fet forth with that evidence as muft for ever have filenced the patrons of the other fide, if he had not allowed himfelf to ftrain fome things beyond what the truth, or indeed his caufe required. But, faving to myfelf the benefit of his elabo- rate work, I think it fufficient to take notice, that the fyftem of liberty is fupported even by that fhort fketch of our hiftory, which Mr. SO- WERS hath laid before us ; and in fpite of the dif- guifes, with, which, as he tells us, the enemies of liberty have endeavoured to cloke it. You do not, I am fure, expeft from me, that .1 go back to the elder and more remote parts of our hiftory ; that I Should take upon me to invef- tigate the fcheme of government which hath pre- vailed in this kingdom from the time that the Roman power departed from us ; or that I mould even lay myfelf out in delineating, as many have done, the plan of the Saxon conftitution : though fuch an attempt might not be unpleafing, nor al- together without its ufe, as the principles of the Saxon policy, and in fome refpects the form of it, have been conftantly kept up in every fucceeding period of the Englijh monarchy. I content my- felf with obferving, that the fpirit of liberty was predominant in thofe times : and for proof of it, appeal at prefent only to one fingle circumftance, R 2 which 244 DIALOGUES MORAL which you will think remarkable. Our Saxon an- ceftors conceived fo little of government, by the will of the magiftrate, without fixed laws, that LAGA, or LEAGA, which in their language firft and properly fignified the fame as LAW with us, was transferred* very naturally (for language al- ways conforms itfelf to the genius, temper, and manners of a nation) to fignify a country, dif- tridt, or province ; thefe good people having no notion of any inhabited country not governed by laws. Thus D^NA-LAGA, MERCENA-LAGA, and WESTSEXENA-LAGA, were not only uled in their laws and hiilory to fignify the laws of the Danes, Mercians, and Weft-Saxons, but the coun- tries likewife. Of which ufage I could produce * This cafual remark of Sir J. Maynard feems to determine a famous difpute that afterwards fprung up among the anti- quarians on the fubjeft before us. Bifliop Nicholfon attended fo little to this tralatitious uie of words, in which all languages abound, that finding LAGA in feveral places fignifyinga coun- try, he would needs have it that Camden, Lombard, Spclman, Cowell, Selden, and all our beft antiquaries, were miftaken, when they fuppofed laga ever fignified, in the compofitions liere mentioned, a law. However, his adverfaries among the antiquarians were even with him ; and finding that laga* in thefe compofitions, did fignify a law in feveral places of our ancient laws, hiftorians, and lawyers, deny that it ever fig- nifies a country. Each indeed had a confiderable object in view ; the one was bent on overthrowing a fyftem ; the other on fupporting it : namely, that famous threefold body of laws, the Danijb, Mercian, and Weft-Saxon, It mull be own- ed, the bifhop could not overthrow the common fyitem, with- out running into his extreme : it feems his opponents might have fupportea it, without running into theirs. to AND POLITICAL. 245 to you many inftances, if I did notprefume that, for fo fmall a matter as this, my mere word might be taken. You fee then how fully the fpirit of liberty pof- fefled the very language of our Saxon forefathers. And it might well do fo , for it was of the efience of the German conftitutions ; a juft notion of which (fo uniform was the genius of the brave people that planned them) may be gathered, you know, from what the Roman hiftorians, and, above all, from what 'Tacitus hath recorded of them. But I forbear fo common a topic : and, be- fides, I think myfelf acquitted of this tafk by the prudent method, which the defenders of the re- gal power have themfelves taken in conducting this controverfy. For, as confcious of the tefti- mony which the Saxon times are ready to bear againft them, they are wife enough to lay the foundation of their fyftem in the CONQUEST. They look no higher than that event for the ori- gin of the conftitution, and think they have a no- table advantage over us in deducing their notion of the Englijh government from the form it took in the hands of the Ncrman invader. But is it not pleafant to hear thefe men calumniate the improvements that have been made from time to time in the plan of our civil conftitution with the name of ufurpatiotis,when they are not afham- cd to erecl: the conftitution itfelf on what tb*y R 3 mult 246 DIALOGUES MORAL muft efteem, at leaft, a great and manifeft ufur- pation ? Bp. BURNET. Conqueft, I fuppofe, in their opinion, gives right. And fince an inquiry into the origin of a conftitution requires that we fix fomewhere, confidering the vaft alterations introduced by the conqueft, and that we have never pretended to reject, but only to improve and complete the duke of NORMANDY'S eftablimment, I believe it may be as proper to fet out from that sera as from any other. Sir J. MAYNARD. Your lordmip does not imagine that I am about to excufe myfelf from clofmg with them even on their own terms. I intended that queftion only as a reproach to the perfons we have to deal with ; who, when a fuccefsful event makes, or but feems to make, for their idol of an abfolute monarchy, call it a regular eftabliihment : whereas a revolu- tion brought about by the jufteft means, if the caufe of liberty receive an advantage by it, lhall be reviled by the name of ufurpation. But let them employ what names they pleafe, provided their facts are well grounded. We will allow them to dignify the Norman fettlement with the title of CONSTITUTION. What follows ? That defpotifm was of the efience of that conltitution ? So they tell us indeed 3 but without one word of proof, AND POLITICAL. 247 proof, for the afiertion. For what! do they think the name of conqueft, or even the thing, implies an abfolute unlimited dominion ? Have they forgot that William' } s claim to the crown, was not conqueft (though it enabled him to fupporthis claim) but teftamentary fucceffwn ? A title very much in the tafte of that time, and extremely re- verenced by our Saxon anceftors ? That he even renounced his conqueft by his coronation path ? That the legiflative power continued the fame in his hands, as in thofe of his predeceiTors ? And that, in one word, he confirmed the Saxon laws, at leaft before he had been many years in poiTeft fion of his new dignity ? Is there any thing in all this that favours the notion of his erecting himfelf into an abfolute lord of the conquered country ? Is it not cer- tain, even from his own Magna Charta, as we may call it, that he bound himfelf to gpvern ac- cording to law ; that he could neither touch the honours nor eftates of his fubjects but by legal trial ; and that even the many forfeitures in his reign are an -evidence of his proceeding in that method ? Still we are told " of his parcelling out the whole land, upon his own terms, to his follow- ers ," and are infulted " with his famous inftitu- tion of feudal tenures." But what if the former of thefe after tions be foreign to the purpofe at R 4 leaft, 248 DIALOGUES MORAL leaft, if not falfe ; and the latter , fubverfive of the very fyftem it is brought to ertablifh ? 1 think, I have reafon for putting both thefe queftions. ' For, what if he parcelled out moft, or all, of the lands of England to his followers ? The fact has been much difputed. But be it, as they pretend, that the property of all the foil in the kingdom had changed hands. What is that to us, who claim* under our Norman, as well as Saxon, ancef- tors ? For the queftion, you fee, is about the form of government fettled in this nation at the time of the conqueft. And they argue with us, from a fuppofed aft of tyranny in the conqueror, in order to come at that fettle ment. The Saxons, methinks, might be injured, oppreffed, enflaved ; andyettheconftitution, tranfmitted to us through his own Normans, be perfectly free. But their other allegation is ftill more unfortu- nate. " He inftituted, they fay, the feudal law." True. But the feudal law, and abfolute domi- nion, are two things ; and, what is more, per- fectly incompatible. I take upon me to fay, that I mail make out this point in the cleareft manner. In the mean time it may help us to underftand the nature of the feudal eftablifhment, to confider the practice of fucceeding times. What that was, our adverfa- ries themfelves, if you pleafe, mall inform us. Mr. Somers hath told their ftory very fairly, which AND POLITICAL. 249 which yet amounts only to this, " That, through- out the Norman and Plantagenet lines, there was one perpetual conteft between the prince and his feudataries, for law and liberty :" an evident proof of the light in which our forefathers regard- ed theNorman conftitution. In the competition of the two ROSES, and perhaps before, they loft fight indeed of this prize. But no fooner was the public tranquillity reftored, and the contending claims united in Henry Nil. than the old fpirit re- vived. A legal conftitution became the conftant object of the people, and though not always avow- ed, was, in effeft, a? conftantly fubmitted to by the fovereign. It may be true, perhaps, that the ability of one prince *, the imperious carriage of another -j- , and the generous intrigues of a third^ \ but above all, the condition of the times, and a fenfe of former miferies, kept down the fpirit of liberty for fome reigns, or diminifhed, at leaft, the force and vigour of its operations. But a pafiive fubjection was never acknowledged, certainly never demanded as matter of right, till Elizabeth now and then, and king James, by talk- ing continually in this ftrain, awakened the nati- onal jealoufy ; which proved fo uneafy to himfelf, and, in the end, fo fatal to his family. I cannot allow myfelf to mention thefe things more in detail to you, who have fo perfect a * Henry VII. | Henry VIII. J Elizabeth. knowledge 250 DIALOGUES MORAL knowledge of them. One thing only I infifl up-r on, that, wkhout connecting the fyftem of liber- ty with that of prerogative in our notion of the Englijb government, the tenor of our hiftory is perfectly unintelligible, and that no confiftent ac- count can be given of it, but on the fuppofition Of a LEGAL LIMITED CONSTITUTION. Mr. SOMERS, Yet that conftitution, it will be thought, was at leaft ill defined, which could give occafion to fo many fierce difputes, and thofe carried on through fo long a trad of time, between the crown and the fubjeft. Sir J. MAYNARD. The fault, if there was one, lay in the original plan of the conftitution itfelf ; as you will clear- ly fee when I have opened the nature of it, that is, when I have explained the genius, views, and confequences of the FEUDAL POLICY. It muft, however, be affirmed, that this policy was found- ed in the principles of freedom, and was, in truth, excellently adapted to an active, fierce, and mi- litary people ; fuch as were all thofe to whom thefe weftern parts of Europe have been indebted for their civil conftitutions. But betwixt the bur- thenfome fervices impofed on the fubject by this tenure, or which it gave at leaft the pretence of exacting from him, and the too great reftraint which an unequal and difproportioned allotment of AND POLITICAL. * 5 i of feuds, to the greater barons, laid on the fove- reign , but above all, by narrowing the plan of liberty too much, and, while it feemed to pro- vide for the dependency of the prince on one part of his fubjects, by leaving both him and them in a condition to exercife an arbitrary dominion over all others ; hence it came to pafs that the feudal policy naturally produced the ftruggles and convulfions, you fpoke of, till it was feen in the end to be altogether unfuited to the circumftances of a rich, civilized, and commercial people. The event was, that the inconveniencies, perceived in this form of government, gradually made way for the introduction of a better ; which was not, however, fo properly a new form, as the old one amended and fet right ; cleared of its mifchiefs and inconfiftencies, but conducted on the fame principles as the former, and purfuing the fame end, though by different methods. It is commonly faid, " That the feudal te- nures were introduced at the conqueft." But how are we to underftand this aflertion ? certain- ly not as if the whole fyftem of military fervicejs had been created by the conqueror , for they were eflfential to all the Gothic or German conftituti- ons. We muft fuppofe then, that they were on- ly new modelled by this great prince. And who can doubt that the form, which was now given to them, would be copied from that which the Norman had leen eftablifhed in his own country ? It 252 DIALOGUES MORAL It would be copied then from the proper FEUDAL FORM ; the eflence of which confifted in the per- petuity of the feud ; whereas the condition of thefe military tenures had been in other countries, that they mould be temporary only, or revocable at the will of the lord. But to enter fully into the idea of the feudal conftitution , to fee at what time, and in what manner, it was introduced ; above all, to com- prehend the reafons that occafioned this great change, it will be convenient to look back to the eftate of France^ and efpecially of Normandy, where this conftitution had, for fome years taken place before it was transferred to us at the conqueft. Under the firft princes of the Carlovingian line, the lands of France were of two kinds, AL- LODIAL, and BENEFICIARY. The allodial were eftates of inheritance; the perfons, pofieffing them, were called HOMMES LI BRES. The bene- ficiary were held by grants from the crown. The perfons holding immediately under the em- peror, were called LEUDES ; the fub-tenants, VASSALS. Further, the allodial lands were alienable, as well as hereditary. The beneficiary were proper- ly neither. They were held for life, or a term of years, at the will of the lord, and reverted to him AND POLITICAL. 253 him on the expiration of the term for which they were granted. I do not flay to explain thefe inftitutions mi- nutely. It is of more importance to fee the al- terations that were afterwards made in them. And the FIRST will be thought a llrange one. The poflerlbrs of allodial lands, in France, were defirous to have them changed into tenures. They who held of the crown. in capite were inti- tled to fome diftinclions and privileges, which the allodial lords wifhed to obtain ; and there- fore many of them furrendered their lands to the emperor, and received them again of him in the way of tenure. This practice had taken place occafionally from the earlieft times : but under Charles the Bald, it became almoft general ; and free-men not only chofe to hold of the emperor, but of other lords. This laft was firft allowed, in confequence of a treaty between the three bro- thers, after the battle of Fontenay, in 847. But thtk free-men were not fo ill advifed as to make their eftates precarious, or to accept a life- ' eftate inftead of an inheritance. It was requifite they mould hold for a perpetuity. And this I take to have been the true origin of hereditary feuds. Moft probably in thofe dangerous times, little peo- ple could not be fafe without a lord to protect them : and the price of this protection was the change of propriety into tenure. The 254 DIALOGUES MORAL The SECOND change was by a law made un- der the fame emperor in the year 877, the laft of his reign. It was then enacted, that beneficiary eftates, held under the crown, mould deicend to the fons of the prefent poffeffors. Yet not, as I conceive, to the eldeft fon ; but to him whom the emperor mail chufe : nor did this law affect eftates only, but offices* which had hitherto been alfo beneficiary ; and fo the fons of counts, mar- quifes, &c. (which were all names of offices, not titles of honour) were to fucceed to the au- thority of their fathers, and to the benefice an- nexed to it. The new feuds, created in allodial lands, had, I fuppofe, made the emperor's te- nants defirous of holding on the fame terms : and the weaknefs of the reigning prince enabled them to fucceed in this firft flep, which prepared the way for a revolution of ftill more importance. For, The THIRD change, by which the inheritance of beneficiary lands and offices was extended to perpetuity, and the pofleffion rendered almofl in- dependent of the crown, was not s we may be fure, effected at once, but by degrees. The fa- mily of Charlemagne loft the empire : they refifted with great difficulty the incurfions of the Nor* tnans ; and, in the year 911, Normandy was grant- ed to them as an hereditary fee. The great lords made their advantage of the public calamities ; they defended the king on what terms they pleaf- ed; AND POLITICAL. 255 cd ; if not complied with in their demands, they refufed their afiiftance in the moft critical con- junctures ; and, before the accefiion of Hugh Ca- pet, had entirely fhaken off their dependence on the crown. For it is, I think, a vulgar miftake to fay, that this great revolution was the effect of Hugh's policy. On the contrary, the indepen- dence of the nobles, already acquired, was, as it feems to me, the caufe of his fuccefs. The prince had no authority left but over his own de- mefnes ; which were lefs confiderable than the pofieflions of fome of his nobles, Hugh had one of the largeft fiefs ; and for this reafon his ufur- pation added to the power of the crown, inftead of leflening it, as is commonly imagined. But to bring back the feuds of the other nobles to their former precarious condition, was a thing impofiible : his authority was partly fupported by fuperior wifdom, and partly by fuperior ftrength, his vafTals being more numerous than thofe of any other lord. I cannot tell if thefe foreigners, when they adopted the feudal plan, were immediately aware of all the confequences of it. An hereditary te- nure was, doubtlefs, a prodigious acquifition ; yet the advantage was fomething counter-balanc^ ed by the great number of impofitions which the nature of the change brought with it. Thefe impofitions are what, in refpect of the lord, are called his FRUITS of tenure 9 fuch as WARDSHIP, .MARRIAGE, 256 DIALOGUES MORAL MARRIAGE, RELIEF, and other fervices; and were the neceffary confequence of the king's parting with his arbitrary difpofal of thefe te- nures. For now that the right of inheritance was in the tenant, itfeemed but reafonable, and without this provifion the feudal policy could not have obtained its end, that the prince, in thefe fe- veral ways, fhould fecure to himfclf the honour, fafety, and defence which the very nature of the conftitution implied and intended. Hence here- ditary feuds were of neceflity clogged with the obligations I have mentioned j which, though trifling in comparifon with the difadvantages of a precarious tenure, were yet at leaft fome check on the independency acquired. However thefe fervices, which were due to the king under the new model, were alfo due to the tenant in chief from thofe who held of him by the like tenure. And fo the baron.s, or great proprietaries of land, confidering more perhaps the fubjection of their own vaflals, than that by which themfelves were bound to their fovereign, reckoned thefe burthens as nothing with refpect to what they had gained by an hereditary fucceffion. The example of thefe French feudataries, we may fuppofe, would be catching. We accord- ingly find it followed, in due time, in Germany ; where CONRAD II.* granted the like privilege of fucceffvue tenures, and at the preffing inftance of his tenants. * CfcAic'sJa; feudalt, lib. i. p. 21. Lend. 163;. I thought AND POLITICAL. 257 I thought it material to remind you of thefe things ; becaule they prove the feudal inftitution on the continent to have been favourable to the caufe of liberty ; and becaufe it will abate our wonder to find it fo readily accepted and fub- mitted to here in England. Mr. SOMERS. The account you have given, and, I dare fay, very truly, of the origin of feuds in France and Germany, is fuch as mews them to have been an extenfion of the people's liberty. There is no queftion that hereditary alienable eftates have vaftly the preference over beneficiary. But the cafe, I fufpecl, was different with us in England. The great offices of ftate, indeed, in this coun- try, as well as in France^ were beneficiary. But, if I don't miftake, the lands of the Englijh, ex- cept only the church-lands, were all allodial. And I cannot think it could be for the benefit of the Englifo to change their old Saxon pof- fefiions, lubjecl: only to the famous triple obliga- tion, for theie new and burthenfome tenures. Sir J. MAYNARD. Strange as it may appear, we have yet feen that the French did not fcruple to make that ex- change even of their allodial eftates. But to be fair, there was a great difference, as you well ob- ferve, in the circumitances of the- two people. S All 158 DIALOGUES MORAL All the lands in England were, I believe, allodial, in the Saxon times : while a very confiderable proportion of thofe in France were beneficiary. Another difference, alfo, in the ftate of the two countries, is worth obferving. In France, the allodial lands (though confiderable in quantity) were divided into fmall portions. In England, they feem to have been in few hands , the greater part pofleffed by the king and his Thanes , fome fmaller parcels by the leffer Thanes , and a very- little by the Ceorles. The confequence was, that, though the allodial propietors in France were glad to renounce their property for tenure, in order to fecure the protection they much wanted; yet with us, as you fay, there could not be any fuch inducement for the Innovation. For, the lands being poiTefTed in large portions by the nobility and gentry, the allodial lords in England were too great to ftand in need of protection. Yet from this very circumftance, fairly attended to, we mall fee that the introduction of the feudal tenures was neither difficult nor unpopular. The great proprietors of land were, indeed, too free and powerful to be bettered by this change. But their tenants, that is, the bulk of the peo- ple, would be gainers by it. For thefe tenants were, I believe, to a man beneficiaries. The large ellates of the Thanes were granted out in fmall portions to others, either for certain quan- tities of corn or rent, referved to the lord, or on condition of ftipulated fervices. And thefe grants, AND POLITICAL. 259 grants, of which ever fort they were, were either at pleafure, or at moft for a limited term. So that though the proprietors of land in England were fo much fuperior to thofe in France -, yet the tenants of each were much in the fame ftate ; that is, they pofiefTed beneficiary lands on ftipu- lated conditions. When therefore, by right of forfeiture, the greater part of the lands in England fell, as they of courfe would do, into the power of the king (for they were in few hands, and thofe few had either fought at Raftings^ or afterwards rebelled againfl him) it is eafy to fee that the people would not be difpleafed to find themfelves, inftead of beneficiary tenants *, feudatary proprietors. The main difficulty would be with the church- men. Their pofTefiions had been held, in the Saxon times, in FRANC-ALMOIGN. Though they had been bound, as all free-men were, to military fervices, yet they had the great privilege of rating themfelves. 'Tis true, the burthens of thefe tenures would, many of them, not affect them. But then neither could they reap the principal fruit of them, the fruit of inheritance. They, befides, confidered every reftraint on their privileges as impious, and took the fubje&ion of * This account of the Sa,\on benefices is much confirmed by the famous charter of bifliop Ofivald, and the comment of Sir H. Spelman upon it. See his difcourfe on FEUDES AND TESURTSi S 2 the i6o DIALOGUES MORAL the eeclefiaftic to the fecular power, which the feudal eftablifhment was to introduce, for the vileft of all fervitudes. Hence the churchmen were, of all others, the moft averfe from this law *. And their oppofition might have given the conqueror ftill more trouble, if the fup- preflion of the great northern rebellion had not furnimed him with the power, and (as many of them had been deeply engaged in it) with the pretence to force it upon them. And thus in the end, it prevailed univerfally, and without exception. I would not go further into the hiftory of thefe tenures. It may appear from the little i have faid of it, that the feudal fyftem was rather im- proved and corrected by the duke of Normandy , than originally planted by him in this kingdom : that the alteration made in it was favourable to the public intereft ; and that our Saxon liberties were not fo properly reftrained, as extended by it. It is of little moment to enquire whether the nation was won, or forced to a compliance with * MATTHEW PARIS gives us the following account of this matter " Epifcopatus et Abbatias omnes, qus baronias tene- bant, et eatenus ab omni fervitute fasculari libertatem habuerant, fub fervitute ftatuit militari, inrotulans fingulos epifcopatus et abbatias pro voluntate fua, quot milites fibi et fuccefforibus fuis, hoftilitatis tempore, voluit a fingulis exhiberi. ET ROTULAS HUJUS ECCLESIASTICS SERViTUTis ponensinthelauris, multos viros ecclefiafticos HUIC CONSTITUTION! PESSIM.S: reludlantcs, a. regno lugavit." HIST, ANG. WILHELMUS CONQU/ESTOR. it. AND POLITI C AL. 261 it. It is enough to fay, that, as it was accepted by the nation, fo it was in itfelf no fervile eftablifh- ment, but effentially founded in the principles of liberty. The duties of lord and feudatary were reciprocal and acknowledged: fervices on the one part, and protection on the other. The jn- ftitution was plainly calculated for the joint- intereft * of both parties, and the benefit of the community, the proper notion of the feudal fyflem being that " of a confederacy between a number of military perfons, agreeing on a certain limited fubordination and dependence on their chief, for the more effectual defence of his and their lives, territories, and poffeffions." Mr. SOMERS, I have nothing to object to your account of the feudal constitution. And I think you do perfect- ly right to lay the main ftrefs on the general nature and genius of it, as by this means you cut off thofe fruitlefs altercations, which have * The learned CRAIG, who has written fo largely and ac- curately on the feudal law, was fo far from feeing any thing fervile in it, that he fays, " The foundations of this difcipline are laid in the moft generous of all confiderations, thofe of GRATITUDE. Hujusfeudalis diftiplin you have drefled up your hypothefis very plaufibly. And I, who am no advocate for the civil or ecclefiaflical laws, in this or any inftance where they clam with thofc of my country, can allow your raillery on Henry's good bifhops, if it were only that I fee it makes fo much for your general argument. Sir J. MAYNARD. Your lordfhip may the rather excufe this li- berty with the church, as I propofe, in due time, to deal as freely with the LAW ; a fimilar plot, which I fhall have occafion to mention prefently, having been formed againft the ancient confli- tution by the men of our profeffion. Mr. SOMERS. In the mean time, Sir Jobn^ you muft give me leave, in quality of advocate for the church, to obferve one thing that does the churchmen honour. It is, that, in thefe attempts on the conftitution, the judges and great officers of the realm, who, in thofe times were of the clergy, conftantly took the fide of the Englijh laws ; as my lord COKE himfelf, I remember, takes notice in his commentary on this ftatute of MERTON. Sir AND POLITICAL. 293 Sir J. MAYNARD. I believe the obfervation is very juft. But I fhould incline to impute this integrity, not to the influence of church principles, but thofe of the common law, and fo turn your compliment to the honour of our profeffion, inftead of theirs, if it were not too clear in fact that every pro- feffion, in its turn, hath been liable to this charge of corruption. But I was going on with my proofs of the national averfion to the imperial law. The next mall be taken from that famous difpute concern- ing the fucceffion to the crown of Scotland in the reign of EDWARD 1. For a queftion arifing about the kind of law, by which the controverfy fhould be decided, and it being efpecially debated, whether the C^farean law, as a fort of jus gentium, ought not, in fuch acaufe, to have the preference to the law of England ; it was then unanimoufly determined by the great council of NOR HAM, that the authority of the Casfarean law mould by no means be admitted ; NE INDE MAJESTATIS ANGLICANS JURI FIERET DETRIMENTUM *. This determination was public, and given on a very folemn occafion. And in general we may obferve, that at the junctures when the ftate hath been moft jealous of its liberty and honour, it * Diss. AD FLET. 1108. U 3 hath 294 DIALOGUES MORAL hath declared the loudeft againft the imperial laws. As in the WONDER-WORKING parliament under RICHARD II, when the duke ofGlouce/ler accufed the archbifhop of Tork, the duke of Ireland, and other creatures of the king, of high treafon. The charge was fo fully proved, that the court had no other way of diverting the ftorm than by pretending an irregularity in the forms of procedure. To this end the lawyers were con- fulted with, or more properly directed. I will difguife nothing. They defcended fo much from the dignity of their profeffion, as to act in perfect fubferviency to the views of the court ; and therefore gave it as their opinion, that the pro- ceedings againft the lords were of no validity, as being contrary to the forms prefcribed by the civil law. The barons took themfelves to be infulted by thefe fhifts of the lawyers. They infifted that the proceedings were agreeable to their own cuftoms, and declared roundly that they would never fuffer England to be governed by the Roman civil law *. What think ye now of thefe examples ? Are they not a proof that the fpirit of liberty ran high in thofe times, when neither the intrigues of churchmen, nor the chicane of lawyers could put a flop to it ? It feems as if no direct attempts on the conftitution could have been made with the * See FORTESCUE De laudilusleg. Angl p 74. Lond. 1741 ; and Stldctfs JANUS ANGLORUM, 1010. vol. ii. torn. ii. leaft AND POLITICAL. 295 leaft appearance of fuccefs ; and that therefore the abettors of arbitrary power were obliged to work their way obliquely by contriving methods for the introduction of a foreign law. And in this project they had many advantages, which nothing but an unwearied zeal in the caufe of liberty could have poflibly counteracted. From the reign of STEPHEN to that of EDWARD III, that is, for the fpace of near 200 years, the Roman law had been in great credit *. All the learning of the times was in the clergy, and that learning was little more than the imperial and canon laws. The fact is fo certain, that fome of the clergy themfelves, when in an ill temper, or off their guard, complain of it in the ftrongeft terms. And to fee the height to which this humour was carried, not the feculars only who intended to rife by them, but the very monks in their cells fludied nothing but thefe laws -f. To complete the danger, the magiftracies and great offices of the kingdom were filled with churchmen J. Who would expect, now, with thofe advantages, but that the Roman law would have forced its way into our civil courts ? It did indeed infmuate itfelf there as it were by ftealth, but could never appear with any face of authority. The only fervice that would be accepted from it was, that of illuftration only in the courfe of their pleadings, whilft the lawyers quoted oc- * Diss. AD FLET. 1104. t Dr. DUCK, p. 365. t Diss. AD FLET. 1010. U 4 cafionally 296 DIALOGUES MORAL cafionally from the INSTITUTES, juft as they might have done from any other antient author *. Yet, fo long as the churchmen prefided in the courts of juft ice, this intruder was to be refpedt- cd j and it is pleafant to obferve the wire-draw- ing of fome of our ableft lawyers in their endea- vours to make the policy of England fpeak the language of Rome. Mr. Selden's diflertation on FLETA -f , which lies open before me, affords a curious inflance. The civil law fays, " Populus ei [Casfari] et in eum omne fuum imperium et poteftatem conferat-," meaning, by people^ the Roman people, and fo eftablifhing the defpotic rule of the prince. But BRACTON took advan- tage of the ambiguity to eftablilh that maxim of a free government, " That all dominion arifes from the people." This, you will fay, was good management. But what follows is Hill better. " Nihil aliud, fays he, poteft rex in terris, eum fit Dei minifter et vicarius, nifiquod JURE poteft. Nee OBSTAT quod dicitur, QUOD PRINCIPI PLA- CET LEGIS HABET vicoREM. Qiiia fequitur in fine legis, CUM LEGE REGIA QU^E DE IMPERIO EJ-US LATA EST , id eft, non quicquid de volun- tate regis temere praefumptum eft, fed quod con- filio magiftratuum fuorum, rege auctoritatem prasftante, et habita fuper hoc deliberattone et tradlatu, recte fuerit definitum." Thus far old BRACTON ; who is religiotifly followed in the fame glofs by THORNTON, and the author of * Diss. AD FLET. 1106. f P a - IO 4^- FLETA. AND POLITICAL. 2 97 FLETA. But what ! you will fay, this is an ex- ad: defcription of the prefent conftitution. It is fo, and therefore certainly not to be found in the civil law. To confefs the truth, thefe venerable fages are playing tricks with us. The whole is a premeditated falsification, or, to fay it fofter, a licentious commentary for the fake of Englijb liberty. The words in the PANDECTS and IN- STITUTIONS are thefe ; " QUOD PRINCIPI PLA- CUIT, LEGIS HABET VIGOREM, UTPOTE CUM LEGE REGIA, QU^E DE IMPERIO EJUS LATA EST, POPULUS El ET IN EUM OMNE SUUM IMPERIUM ET POTESTATEM CONFERAT. My honeft friend, in mentioning this extraor- dinary circumftance, fays, one cannot confider it, ftneftupore. He obferves, that thefe lawyers did not quote the Pandects by hear-fay, but had co- pies of them , and therefore adds (for I will read on) " Unde magis mirandum quanam ratione evenerit, ut non folum ipfe, adeo judiciis foren- fibus clarus et (fi Biographis fcriptorum noftra- tium fides) profeflbr juris utriufque Oxonienfis, verum etiam THORNTONIUS juris alias peritif- fimus, et FLETM author, adeo diverfan? lecti- onem, fenfumque diverfum atque interpretibus aliis univerfis adeo alienum in illuftriffimo juris Csefareiloco explicando tarn fidenteradmiferint." The difficulty, you fee, increafes upon him. But we (hall eafily remove it by obferving, that the Cadarean laws, though they had no proper au- thority 298 DIALOGUES MORAL thority with us, yet were much complimented in thofe times, and were to be treated on all occa- fions with ceremony. And therefore thofe law- yers, that lived under and wanted to fupport a free conftitution, faw there was no way of ferving their caufe fo effectually, as by pretending to find it in the Roman infiitutes. Mr. SOMERS. This management of Brafton, and his fol- lowers, makes fome amends for the ill conduct of RICHARD the fecond's lawyers. And as to their chicanery, the ingenuity of the glofs, we will fuppofe, was no more than necefTary to cor- rect the malignity of tile text. Sir J. MAYNARD. They had, no doubt, confulted their honour much more by infilling roundly, as they might have done, that the text had no concern at all in the difpute. But I mention thefe things only to mew the extreme reverence, that was then paid to the civil law, by the fhifts the common law- yers were put to in order to evade its influence. From which we learn how rooted the love of liberty muft have been in this nation, and how unmaken the firmnefs of the national councils in fuppoTting it, when, notwithstanding the general repute it was of in thofe days, the imperial law could never gain authority enough to prefcribe to us in any matters that concerned the rights of 4 the A N D P O L I T I C A L. 299 the crown, or the property of the fubject. And this circumftance will be thought the more ex- traordinary, if it be confidered, that, to the ge- neral efteem in which the Roman law was held by the clergy, our kings have ufually added the whole weight of their influence -, except indeed at fom'e particular junctures, when their jealoufy of the canon law prevailed over their natural bias to the civil. Mr. SOMERS. I mould be unwilling to weaken any argu- ment you take to be of u(e in maintaining the no- ble caufe you have undertaken. But, methinks, this charge on our princes would require to be made out by othe'r evidence* than hath been commonly produced for it. There is no boubt but many of them have aimed at fetting them- felves above the laws of their country, but is it true (I mean though FORTESCUE himfelf-j- has fuggefted the fame thing) that for this purpole they have ufually exprefied a partiality to the Roman laws ? Sir J. MAYNARD. I believe it certain that they have, and on bet- ter reafons than the bare word of any lawyer whatfoever. What think you of Richard the * Mr. Selden himfelf was of the fame mind. Diss. AD FLET. 1109. f Dtland. leg.Angl. .33,34. feconds 300 DIALOGUES MORAL fecond's policy in the inftance beforementioned ? That RICHARD, who ufed to declare, " That " the laws were only in his mouth and breaft, and that he himfelf could make and unmake them at his pleafure." We may know for what reafon a prince of this defpotic turn had recourfe to the Roman law. But even his great prede- ceffor is known to have been very indulgent to- wards it. And ftill earlier EDWARD I took much pains to eftablim the credit of this law ; and to that end engaged the younger ACCURSIUS, the moft renov/ned doctor of the age, to come over into England^ and fet up a fchool of it at Oxford. Or, to wave thefe inftances, let me refer you to a certain and very remarkable fact, which fpeaks the fenfe, not of this or that king, but of the whole fucceffion of our princes. The im- perial law, to this day, obtains altogether in the courts of admiralty, in courts marefcall, and in the univerfities *. On the contrary, in what we call the courts of law and equity, it never hath, nor ever could prevail. What mail we fay to this remarkable difference, or to what caufe will you afcribe it, that this law, which was conftantly excluded with fuch care from the one fort of courts, fhould have free currency and be of fole authority in the other ? I believe it will be dif- ficult to aflign any other than this : that the fub- jects of decifion in the firft fpecies of courts are matters in the refort of the king's prerogative, * Diss. AD FLET. 1102. fuch AND POLITICAL. 301 fuch as peace and war, and the diftribution of honours -, whilft the fubjects of decifion in the courts of common law are out of his preroga- tive, fuch as thofe of liberty and property. The king had his choice by what lav/ the firfl fort of fubjects mould be regulated, and therefore he Aopted the imperial law. He had not his choice in the latter inflance; and the people were never fatisfied with any other than the law of the land. Mr. SOMERS. Yet Mr. Selden, you know, gives another rea- fon of this preference : it was, he thinks, becaufe foreigners are often concerned with the natives in thofe tribunals where the civil law is in ufe. Sir J. MAYNARD. True , but my learned friend, as I conceive, did not attend to this matter with his ufual ex- actnefs. For foreigners are as frequently con- cerned in the courts of law and equity, as in the other tribunals. The cafe in point of reafon is very clear. In all contefts that are carried on between a native and a foreigner, as the fubject of another flate, the decifion ought to be by the law of nations. But when a foreigner puts him- felf with a native under the protection of our ftate, the determination is, of courfe, by our law: and the practice hath uniformly cor- refponded to the right in the courts of law and equity ; in the other tribunals, the right hath given 30 2 DIALOGUESMORAL given- way to the will of the prince, who had his reafons for preferring the authority of the im- perial law. Upon the whole, if we confider the veneration, which the clergy ufually entertained, and endea- voured to inculcate into the people, for the ci^il law i the indulgence Ihewn it by the prince ; its prevalence in thofe courts which were imme- diately under the prerogative ; and even the countenance fhewn it at times in the courfe of pleadings at common law ; we cannot avoid coming to this fhort conclufion, " That the ge- nius of the imperial laws was repugnant to our conftitution ; and that nothing but the extreme jealoufy of the barons, left they might prove, in pleas of the crown, injurious to civil liberty, hath kept them from being received in England on the fame footing that we every where find they are in the other countries of Europe^ and as they are in Scotland to this day. But if you think I draw this conclufion too haflily, and without grounding it on fufficient premifes, you may further confider with me, if you pleafe, THE FATE AND FORTUNES OF THE CIVIL LAW IN THIS KINGDOM DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME *. In the reigns of HENRY VII and VIII, and the two firft kings of the houfe * The Speaker, if he had been fo pleafed, might have begun this account of the fate and fortunes of the civil law ftill higher. NAT. BACON, fpeaking of Henry the fifth's reign, observes, of AND POLITICAL. 303 of STUART, that is, the moll defpotic of our princes, the ftudy of the civil law hath been more efpecially favoured ; as we might conclude from the general fpirit of thofe kings themfelves, but as we certainly know from the countenance they mewed to its profeflbrs , from their chufmg to employ them in their bufinefs, and from the fa- laries and places they provided for their en- couragement. Yet fee the iflue of all this in- dulgence to a foreign law, and the treatment it met with from our parliaments and people! The " The times were now come about, wherein light began to fpring forth, confcience to beftir itfelf, and men to ftudy the fcriptures. This was imputed to the idlenefs and carelefTnefs of the clergy, who fuffered the minds of young fcholars to luxuriate into errors of divinity, for want of putting them on to other learning ; and gave no encouragement to ftudies of humane literature, by preferring thofe that were deferring. The con- vocation taking this into confideration, do decree, that no per- fon fhould exercife any jurifdiclion in any office, as vicar general, commi/ary, or official, or othervvife, unlefs he fhall firft in the univerfity have taken degrees in the CIVIL OR CANON LAWS. A fhrewd trick this was to flop the growth of the ftudy of divi- nity, and Wickllfs way : and to embellifti men's minds with a kind of learning that may gain them preferment, or at leaft an opinion of abilities beyond the common ftrain, and dangerous to be meddled with. Like fome gallants, that wear fwords as badges of honour, and to bid men beware, becaufe they pof- fibly may ftrike, though, in their own perfons, they may be very cowards. And no lefs mifchievoufly intended was this againft die rugged COMMON LAW, a rule fo nigh allied to the gofpel- way, as it favoureth liberty ; and fb far eftranged from the way of the civil and canon law, as there is no hope of accommodation till Chiift and Anti-Chriil have fought tte field." Disc. Part ii. p. 90. Land. 1739, oppreffions 3 c4 DIALOGUES MORAL opprefilons of EMPSON and DUDLEY had been founded in a ftretch of power, ufurped and jufti- fied on the principles of the civil law ; by which thefe mifcreants had been enabled to violate a fundamental part of our conftitution, the way of trial by JURIES. The effect on the people was dreadful. Accordingly in the entrance of the next reign, though the authority, by which they had acted, had even been parliamentary, thefe creatures of tyranny were indicted of high trea- ibn, were condemned and executed for having been inftrumental in fubverting LEGEM TERR.^ ; and the extorted ftatute, under which they had hoped to Ihelter themfelves, was with a jufl in- dignation repealed. Yet all this was confidered only as a necefTary facrifice to the clamours of an incenfed people. The younger HENRY, we may be fure, had fo much of his father in him, or rather fo far outdid him in the worft parts of his tyranny, that he could not but look with an eye of favour on the very law, he had been conftrained to abolifh. His great ecclefiaftical minifter was, no doubt, in the fecret of his matter's inclinations, and con ducted himfelf accordingly. Yet the vengeance of the nation purfued and overtook him in good time. They refented his difloyal contempt of the original conftitution , and made it one of the articles againft this Roman cardinal, " That he endeavoured to fubvert, dntiquiffimas leges hujus AND POLITICAL. 305 regni, umverfumqtte hoc regnum LEGIBUSIMPERIA- From this time the ftudy of the civil law was thought to languifh in England, till it revived with much fpirit in the reigns of thofe unhappy princes who fucceeded to the houfe of TUDOR. Th^n indeed, by inclination and by pedantry, JAMES I, was led to patronize and encourage it. And the fame project was refumed, and carried flill further, by his unfortunate fon. I fpeak now from my own experience and obfervation. The civil lawyers were moft welcome at court. They were brought into the chancery and court of Requefts. The minifler, another fort of man than Wolfe?, yet a thorough ecclefiaftic, and bi- gotted, if not to the religion, yet to the policy of Rome, gave a countenance to this profeflion above that of the common law. He had found the fpirit, and even the forms of it, mofl con- venient for his purpofe in the STAR-CHAMBER and HIGH-COMMISSION court, thofe tribunals of imperial juftice, exalted fo far. above the con- troul of the common law ; and by his good will, therefore, he would have brought the fame regimen into the other branches of the admi- niftration. Great Civilians were employed to write elaborate defences of their fcience ; to the manifsft exaltation of the prerogative ; to the prejudice of the national rights and privileges; and to the difparagement of the common law. X The 3 c6 DIALOGUES MORAL The confequence of thefe proceedings is well known. The moil immediate was, that they provoked the jealoufy of the common lawyers ; and, when the rupture afterwards happened, oc- cafioned ib many of the moft eminent of them to throw themfelves into the popular fcale*. Yet to fee the uniformity of the views of tyranny, and the direct oppofition which it never fails to encounter from the Englijh law, no fooner had a let of violent men ufurped the liberties of their country, and with the fword in their hands de- termined to rule defpotically and in defiance of the conftitution, than the fame jealoufy of the common law, and the fame contempt of it re- vived. Nay, to fuch an extreme was the new tyranny carried, that the very game of EMPSON and DUDLEY was played over again. The trial of an EngliJJjman^ by his peers, was difgraced and rejected , and (I fpeak from what I felt) the perfon imprifoned and perfecuted, who dared ap- peal, though in his own cafe f, to the ancient ef- * He might have added, in honour of their patriotifm, that " they afterwards took themfelves out of it/' when they faw the extremities to which the popular party were driving. f This alludes to the proceedings againft the eleven members upon the charge of the army. Sir John Maynard was one of them. And when articles of high treafon were preferred againft him, and the trial was to come on before the lords, he excepted to the jurifdiction of the court, and, by a written paper prefented to them, required to be tried by his peers according to Magna Chart a, and the /a r w of the land. See WHITLOCKE'S Memorials ; and a mort pamphlet written on that occafion, called THB ROYAL QUARREL, dated gth of February, 1647. Sir John v.-ac, at this time, a clofe prifoner in the Tower. x fential AND POLITICAL. 307 fential forms of the conftitution. Under fuch a Hate of things, it is not to be wondered that much pains was taken to depreciate a law which thefe mighty men were determined not to regard. Invectives againft the profefTors of the Englifb laws were the ufual and favoured topics of parlia- mentary eloquence. Thefe were Ibmetimes fo indecent and pufhed to that provoking length, that WHITLOCKE himfelf, who paced it with them through all changes, was forced, in the end, to hazard his reputation with his matters by Handing on the neceffary defence of himfelf and . his profeflion *. I need not, I fuppofe, defcend lower. Ye have both feen with your own eyes the occurrencies of the late reign. Ye have heard the common lan- guage of the time. The practice was but con- formable to fuch doctrines as were current at court, where it was generally maintained, that the king's power of difpenfmg with law, was LAw ; by which if thefe doctors did not intend the imperial cr civil law^ the infult was almofl too grofs to defer ve a confutation. It mint be owned, and to the eternal fhame of thofe who were capa- ble of fuch bafenefs, there were not wanting fome even of the common lawyers that joined in this infult. * See his ipcech, inferted in his Memorials of Englijh affairs, Nov. 1649. X 2 I but 38 DIALOGUES MORAL I but touch thefe things flightly, for I confider to whom I fpeak. But if, to thefe examples of the nation's fondnefs for their laws, you add, what appears in the tenor of our hiftories, the con- ftant language of the coronation-oaths, of the oaths of our judges, and above all of the feveral great charters \ in all which exprefs mention is made of the LEX TERR^E,in oppofition to every foreign, but efpecially the Csefarean law ; you will con- clude with me, " That as certainly as the C^ESAREAN LAW is founded in the principles of flavery, our ENGLISH LAW, and the conftitution to which it refers, hath its foundation in freedom, and, as fuch, deferves the care with which it hath been tranftnitted down to us from the earlieft ages." What think ye now, my good friends ? Is it any longer a doubt that the conftitution of the Englijh government, fuch I mean as it appears to have been from the moft unqueflioned annals of our country, is a free conftitution ? Is there any thing more in the way of this conclufion ? Or does it not force itfelf upon us, and lie open to the mind of every plain man that but turns his attention upon this fubject ? You began, Mr. Somers, with great fears and apprehenfions ; or you thought fit to counterfeit them at leaft. You fufpected the matter was too myfterious for com- mon underftandings to penetrate, and too much involved in the darknefs of antient times to be brought AND POLITICAL. 309 brought into open day- light. Let me hear your free thoughts on the evidence I have here pro- duced to you. And yet it is a fmall part only of that which might be produced, of that I am fure which yourfelf could eafily have produced, and perhaps expected from me. But I content myfelf with thefe obvious truths, " That the liberty of the fubjecl appears, andof itfelf natural- ly arofe, from the very nature of the FEUDAL, which is properly (at lead if we look no further back than the conquefl) the Englijh conftitution ; that the current of liberty has been gradually widening, as well as purifying in proportion as it defcended from its fource ; that charters and laws have removed every fcruple that might arife about the reciprocal rights and privileges of prince and people j that the fenfe of that liberty which the nation enjoyed under their admirable conftitution was fo quick, that every the leaft attempt to deprive them of it, gave an alarm ; and their attachment to it fo ftrong and conftant, that no artifice, no intrigue, no perverfion of law and gofpel, could induce them to part with it : that, in particular, they have guarded this preci- ous depofite of legal and conftitutional liberty with fuch care, that, while the heedlefs reception of a foreign law, concurring with other circum- ftances, hath rivetted the yoke of flavery on the other nations of Europe, this of England could never be cajoled nor driven into any terms of accommodation with it , but, as NAT. BACON * * Disc. Parti, p, 78. X 3 faid 3 io DIALOGUES MORAL faid truly, That the triple crown could never well folder with the Englijh^ fo neither could the impe- rial \ and that, in a word, the ENGLISH LAW hath always been preferved inviolate from the impure mixtures of the canon and Casfarean laws, as the fole defence and bulwark of our civil liberties." Thefe are the plain truths which I have here delivered to you, and on which I could be con- tent to reft this great caufe , I mean, if it had not already received its formal and, I would hope, final determination in another way. For no pretences will furely prevail hereafter with a happy people to renounce that liberty, which fo rightfully belonged to them at all times, and hath now fo folemnly been confirmed to them by the great tranfactions of thefe days. I willing- ly omit therefore as fuperfluous, what in a worfe caufe might have been thought of no fmall weight, the exprefs teftimony of our ableft law- yers to the freedom of our conftitution. I don't mean only the COKES and SELDENS of our time (though in point of authority what names can be greater than theirs) j but thofe of older and there- fore more reverend eftimation, fuch as GLANVIL, BRACTON, the author of FLETA, THORNTON, and FORTESCUE * : men the moft efteemed * The reader may not be difpleafed to fee the words of old Forte/cue on this fubjeft of the origin of the Englijb government, which are very remarkable. In his famous book De laudibus hgum Anglite, he diilinguimcs between the REGAL and POMTI- and AND POLITICAL. 311 and "learned in their feveral ages ; who conftant- ly and uniformly fpeak of the Englt/b, as a mixed and limited form of government, and even go fo far as to feek its origin, where indeed the origin of all governments muft be fought, in the free will and confenl Of the people. All this I might have difplayed at large -, and to others perhaps, efpecially if the caufe had re- quired fuch management, all this I mould have difplayed. But independently of the judgments of particular men, which prejudice might take occafion to object to, I hold it fufficient to have proved from furer grounds, from the very form and make of our political fabric, and the moft unqueftioned, becaufe the molt public, monu- ments of former times, " THAT THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION IS ASSUREDLY AND INDISPUTA- BLY FREE. Bp. BURNET. You will read, Sir John^ in our attention to this difcourfe, the effect it has had upon us. The zeal, with which you have oleaded the caufe of cAt forms of government. In explaining the latter, which he gives us as the proper form of the Englrjb government, he ex- prefleth himfelf in thefe words " Habes inftituti omriis POLI- TICI REGNI formam, ex qua metiri poteris poteltatem, quam rex ejus in leges ipfius aut fubditos valeat exercere: ad tujplam namque legis fubditorum, ac eorum corporum et bonorum rex hujufmodi ereftuseft, et hanc potcftatftn A POPULO EFFLUX AM ipfe habet, quo ei non licet poteftate alia fuo pop'ulo do?ninari.'~ CAP. xiii. X 4 liberty 3 i2 DIALOGUES MORAL liberty, makes me almoft imagine I fee you again in the warmth and fpirit of your younger years, when you firft made head againfl the encroach- ments of civil tyranny. The fame caufe has not only recalled to your memory the old topics of defence, but reftores your former vigour in the < management of them. So that for myfelf, I muil freely own, your vindication of our com- mon liberties is, at leaft, the mod plaufible and confident that I have ever met with. Mr. SOMERS. And yet, if one was critically difpofed, there are ftill, perhaps, fome things that might deferve a further explanation But enough has been faid by you, Sir John, to mew us where the truth lies : and, indeed, from fuch plain and convincing topics, that whatever fears my love of liberty might fuggefl, they are much abated at leaft, if not entirely removed by your arguments. Bp. BlJRNET. Mr. Somers, I perceive, is not eafily cured of his fcruples and apprehenfions. But for my own part, Sir John, I can think but of one objection of weight that can be oppofed to your conclufion. It is, " That notwithftanding the clear evidence you have produced, both for the free nature of the Englijh conftitution, and the general fenfe of the Englijh nation concerning it, yet, in fact, the government was very defpotic under the TUDOR, and AND POLITICAL. 313 and ftill more perhaps under the firft princes of the STUART line. How could this happen, may it be afked, on your plan which fuppofes the popular intereft to have been kept up in conftant vigour, or rather to have been always gaining, inienfibly indeed but neceffarily, on the power of the crown ? Will not the argument then from hiftorical evidence be turned againft you, whilft it may be faid that your theory, however plaufible, is contradicted by to recent and fo well attefled a part of our hiflory ? And, in particular, will not the partifans * of the late king and his family * Our fage bifliop was not miftaken in his conje&ure. One of thefe partifans has juil now appeared, who forms his apology for the houfe of Stuart on thefe very principles. He maintains, " That the high prerogative of the crown, (b much pretended to, and fo warmly oppofed, in the reigns of the houfe of Stuart, had been exercifed by their predeceffors of the Tudor line ; and that the adminiftration of that family had been, in a high degree, imperious, arbitrary, and defpotic." Admitting his premifes, what follows ? Why, " That there- fore the patriots, to whom we owe our prefent, and, it teems, lately ufurped liberties, are little defervrng of thofe praifes, which have been fo liberally beftowed upon them ; and that the memory of the houfe of Stuart, from whom they were ufurped, cannot be foftered with too much tendernefs and companion." I hardly miftake his meaning ; but his own words, as decency required, are fomething fofter " The praife, which we beftow on thofe patriots, to whom we are indebted for our privileges, ought to be given luithfotae referee, and furely without the leaJJ rancour againir, thofe who adhered to the ancient conftitution *." Now, though this apology for the unhappy Scotijb line be very generous, every one may not be brought to feel the force of his concl \ifion. For how does it follow, that, becaufe the arbitrary * Mr. HUME'S Hi/I, of England. ELIZABETH, p. 716. have 3 H DIALOGUES MORAL have to alledge in their behalf, that their notions of the prerogative were but fuch as they fucceed- cd to with the crown ; and, whatever may be government of one family was born with by the people, in cer- tain critical conjunctures, or was necefTary to be complied with for certain temporary and political ejids, therefore they fhould fuffer another family to confirm and perpetuate that tyranny ; when their own more ancient privileges, and the very genius of their conftitution, reclaimed againft it; and when all the reafons had now ceafed, which had produced and feemed to merit that indulgence ? He tells us indeed, that " in the particular exertions of power, the queftion ought never to be forgot, *wbat is heft ? But, in the general difuibution of power among the feveral members of a conititution, there can feldom be admitted any other queftion, than what is ufual* ? n Were this true, is that ttfe to be eftimated only from the im- mediately preceding times ? At this rate I defire to know how a free conftitution could ever fupport itfelf in any country ? Ambition, intrigue, expediency, negleft, and even chance itfelf are conftantly introducing, and for a time will frequently con- tinue, infringements of a people's rights. And mall ufurpation, under the name of ufe t be prefently pleaded againft the refumption of them ? " But whether thefe patriots were to blame, or no, for op- pofing what ivas ufual, furely that family, who followed fo rea- fonable a rule, or, in the hiftorian's language, who adhered to the ancient conjlitution, can be thought deferving of no great cen- fure." What, not for endeavouring to rivet thofe chains of fervitude, which their predecefibrs had been kindly forging, on the necks of their fubjedb? Not, for endeavouring to turn irregularities into precedent, and extravagancies into fyftem, and fo to enflave a mighty people beyond all hopes of redemption ? But what, after all, is this ancient conflitution to which he ap- peals ? He is fomething my of anfwering the queftion ; and it is * ELIZABETH, p, 716. pretended AND POLITICAL. 315 pretended from refearches into remoter times, that they endeavoured only to maintain the monarchy on the footing on which it had Hood well we can do it ourfelves by reflecting on what he has dropped, not without defign, elfewhere; I mean, in the former part of this hiftory *, where he warns us againjl the curipfoy of looking further back into the Englifh affairs than the accejfian of the Tudor family, that is, of that very family, which had given birth to his ancient tonjiltutlon. " Here, fays the hiflorian, commences the ufeful, as well as agreeable part of modern annals. Whoever car- ries his anxious refearches into preceding periods is moved by a curiofity, liberal indeed and commendable ; not by any neceffiry for acquiring a knowledge of public affairs, or the arts of civil government" This warning to his reader was kind, but will hardly be taken by thofe for whofe fake it is intended ; the friends of liberty knowing very well that the Englijb conftitution was formed, and even fixed, on immoveable principles of public freedom long before the acceffion of the houfe of Tudor. So that to interdict our refearches into the remoter parts of our hiftory is, in effeft, to bid us fhut our eyes, and fwear againft day-light. Jt is juft as reafonable as to fay that, to judge of the Greek and Roman confti- tutions, there is no need of going further back in our reading than to the reign of PISISTRATUS, or the didtatorfhip of SYLLA, for that all before thofe seras contributed! nothing to a know- ledge of the thing in queflion. But, in the free ages of Greece and Rome, would any hiflorian of either nation have given this counfel to his fellow-citizens ? Thus much, and no more, I prefume to fay, as Editor of thefe DIALOGUES on the Englijb Conjlitutim ; which are luckily fo compounded, as to afford a leafonable antidote to the poifon of this new hiftory. For if it be true, as t\\ejirj} of them pretends, " That we had a free conftitution for ages, before it fufFered an interruption under the baleful influence of the Tudors ;" and a reafonable account be given, in \hejecond, " Why the nation was content to repofe itfelf for a time under the (hade of defpotifin, * HENRY VII. p. 67. for 316 DIALOGUES MORAL for many fuccefllons, and on which it then flood when the adminiflration fell into their hands ? If this point were effectually cleared, I fee nothing that could be further defired to a full and com- plete vindication of Englijh liberty. Sir J. MAYNARD. Your lordfhip, I muft own, has touched a very curious and interefting part of our fubjedl. But you mufl not believe it was fo much overlooked by me, as purpofely left for your lordfhip's better confideration. You, who have looked fo minute- ly and carefully into the itory of thofe times, will, better than any other, be able to unfold to us the myfteries of that affair. The fact is certain, as you fay, that the Englijh government wore a more defpotic appearance from the time of the TUDOR family's acceffion to the throne, than in the reigns preceding that period. But I am miflaken, if your lordfhip will not open the reafon of it fo clearly as to convince us, that that increafe of prerogative was no proof of a change in the conftitution, and was even no fymptom of de- clining liberty. I do not allow myfelf to fpeak my fentiments more plainly at prefent. But I am fure, if they are juft, they will receive a con- firmation from what your lordfhip will find while the veflal fires of liberty burnt faintly indeed, but were not extinguifhed ;" the reader is left to himfelf to anfwer that infill ting queftion, Whether it was the people, who encroached upon the fo'vereign, cr the foi'ereigny iJ-'bo attempted to ufurp on the people *. * Pag.6n. occafion AND P O LI TI C AL. 317 occafion to obferve to us in difcourfing on this fubje6t. Mr. SOMERS. I will not difown that this was one of the matters I had in view, when I hinted fome remaining doubts about your general conclufion. But I knew it would not efcape my lord of Salijbury, who, of all others, is certainly the mod capable of removing it. Bp. BURNET. So that I have very unwarily, it feems, been providing a fine tafk for myfelf. And yet, as difficult as I forefee it will be for me to fatisfy two fuch Inquirers, I mould not decline that tafk, if I was indeed prepared for it, or, if I could boaft of fuch a memory as Sir J. Maynard has fhewn in the courfe of this converfation. But the truth is, though -I have not wanted oppor- tunities of laying in materials for fuch a defign, and though I have not neglected to take fome flight notes of them, yet I cannot pretend to have them at once in that readinefs, as to venture on fuch a difcourfe as I know you expect from me. But, if againft our next meeting, I mall be able to digeft fuch thoughts as have fome- times occured to me when I was engaged in the hiftory of the reformation, I mail take a pleafure to contribute all I can to the further and more entire elucidation of this fubject. D I A- DIALOGUE VI. ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. Sir J O H N M A Y N A R D, Mr. S O M E R S, Bifliop B u R N E T. \Vritten in the Year 1689. Atque haec deinde cinit divino ex ore SACERDOS. VlRG. DIALOGUE VI. Sir JOHN MAYNARD, Mr. SOMERS, Bifhop BURNET*. To Dr. TILLOTSON. OUR next meeting at Sir J.MAYNARD'S was on the evening of that day, when the war was proclaimed againft France *. What the event of it will be, is a fecret in the counfels of providence. But if the goodnefs of our caufe, his majefty's known wifdom and ability, and above all the apparent zeal and firm- nefs of all orders amongft us in fupport of this great undertaking, may give a profpeft of fuccefs, we cannot, I peffuade myfelf, but indulge in the moft reafonable hopes and expectations. Perhaps, the time is approaching, my dear friend, which the divine goodnefs hath decreed for putting a flop to that outrageous power, which hath been permitted for fo long a courfe of years to afflict the neighbouring nations. It may be, the feafon is now at hand, when God ? May j, 1689. Y will 322 DIALOGUES MORAL will vouchfafe to plead the caufe of his fervants, and let his mighty perfecutor of the faithful know that he may not be fuffered any longer to trample on the facred rights of confcience. He may be taught to feel, that the ravages he hath committed in the faireft provinces, and the cruel- ties he hath exercifed on the bed lubjects, of his own kingdom, have at length awakened the divine difpleafure againft him. And he may live to find in our great prince (raifed up, as I verily believe, to this eminence of place and power to be the fcourge of tyrants, and the vindicator of opprefled nations) an infurmoun table bul- wark againft that encroaching dominion, which threatens to deform and lay wafte the reft of Europe. I have already lived to fee thofe providences, which may encourage a ferious and good mind to believe that fome great work is preparing in our days. I was very early in my life a witnefs to the high meafures which were taken and carried on by an intolerant hierarchy, afting in fubfer- viency to an arbitrary court, in mine own coun- try of Scotland. And I have lamented the oppref- fion in which good men were held for confcience fake in all the three kingdoms. How far this tyranny was carried, and how near we were brought to the deftrudion of all our civil and religious rights need not be told, and the occur- rences of the two laft reigns will not fuffer to be i forgotten. AND POLITICAL. 323 forgotten. It is fufficient to obferve, that when the danger was now brought to a crifis, and the minds of all men were filled with the moft alarm- ing apprehenfions, it pleafed God to refcue us in a moment, and, by the moft aftonifhing difplay of his goodnefs, from the impending ruin. Our chains fell off at once, as by a miracle of mercy. Our civil rights have been reftored. And the legal toleration *, we have juft now obtained in confequence of the new fettlement, hath put us into pofleffion of that religious liberty, which, as men, as chriltians, and as proteftants^ we cannot but efteem the firfl of all public bleflings. And who knows but that, in the gracious de- figns of heaven, the fame hand, which hath re- deemed thefe nations from the yoke of flavery and of Rome, may be now employed to (hake it off from the necks of our proteftant brethren on the continent -f ? The world hath feen how long and how feverely they have groaned under that * The aft of toleration did not pafs till May 24, 1689; which lets us fee at what time this preface was drawn up. f This, I fuppofe, was the talk of men at that time. It was perhaps in the King's intention. But the defign, if it had ever been formed, mifcarried ; as the bifhop himfelf observes in his hiftory " The moft melancholy part of the treaty of R\jkidck was, that no Advantages were got by it, in favour of the pro- teftants in France." Vol. iv. p. 29^. Edinb 17^3. Whether the blame of this lies in the King, or his parliaments, or neither, the reader is left to judge for himfelf from coniidering the flate and traniacUonsof rhcfe time:--. Y 2 intolerant 324 DIALOGUES MORAL intolerant power, with which we are now at war. When the violences of the late reign had driven me into a fort of voluntary exile, and in the courfe of it I traverfed ibme of thofe unhappy provinces of France, which were moft expofed to the rigours of perfecution *, how have thefe eyes wept over the diftrefles of the poor fufferers, and how hath my heart bled for the mercilefs cruelties which I every where faw exercifed upon them ! The fury, which appeared on that occafion, was fo general and fo contagious, that not only priefts and court fycophants, but men of virtuous minds and generous tempers .were tranfported, as it were, out of their proper * Thefe rigours which the bifhop touches in this place, he afterwards gave a particular account of in THE HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIMES, vol. iii. Edinb. 1753. fpeaking of the perfe- cution of the French proteftants, he lays, " I went over a great part of Frame, while it was in its hotteft rage from Marfeilks to MeatftUer y and from thence to Lyons, and fo on to Geneva. I {aw and knew fo many inftances of their injuftice and violence, that it exceeded .even what could have been well imagined; for all men fet their Thoughts on work to invent new methods of cruelty. In all the towns through which I patted, I heard the moft difmal accounts of things poflible, p. 60. Again The fury that appeared on this occafion did fpread itfelf with a fort of contagion : for the intendants and other officers, that- had been mild and gentle in the former parts of their life, feemed now to have laid afide the compaffion of Chriftians, the breed- ing of gentlemen, and the impreffions of humanity." p. 6 1 .One may conclude from the likenefs of thefe paflages, that the bimop, in this rechal, purpofely copied from the loofe papers, that were then in his hands, out of 'which he afterwards compofed his Memoirs. nature, AND POLITICAL. 325 nature, and feemed to divert themfelves of the common notices and principles of humanity. In this fkry trial it hath pleafed God to exer- cife the faith and virtues, and, as we may charita- bly hope, to correct the failings and vices of his poor fervants. His mercy may now, in due time, be opening a way for them to efcape. And from the profperous beginning of this great work, what comfortable prefages may we not, in all humility, form to ourielvesof ilill fur- ther fuccefles ? We have a prince on the throne exactly quali- fied for the execution of this noble cnterprize j of the cleared courage and magnanimity, and a wif- dom tried and perfected in that beft fchool, of Adverfity ; of difpofitions the mod enlarged to the fervice of mankind ; and even quickened by his own perfonal refentment of former injuries to retaliate againft their common opprefibr. Nor can we doubt of the concurrence of his faithful fubjects, who, with one voice, have de- manded the commencement of this war ; and whofe late deliverance, from like circumftances of diftrefs, may be expected to animate their zeal in the fupport of it. And oh ! that I might fee the day, when our deliverer mall become, what u bold ufurper nobly Y 3 figured 326 DIALOGUES MORAL figured tohimfelf in the middle of this century *, the foul and conductor of the proteftant caufe through all Europe! and, that as Rome hath hitherto been the centre of flavifh impofitions and anti-chriftian politics, the court of England may henceforth be the conftant refuge and afyluin of fainting liberty and religion ! But to turn from thefe flattering views, my good friend, to the recital of our late converfo- tion ; which I proceed to lay before you with the fame exactnefs and punctuality that I did the former. You will fee the reafon why I cannot promife you the fame entertainment from it. WE HAD no fooner come together, than Sir J. Maynard began with his ufual vivacity. " I have been thinking, my lord, how dexterous a game I have played with you in this inquiry of ours into the Englijh government. What was obvious enough in itfelf, and had indeed been undertaken by many perfons, I mean the vindication of our common liberties as founded in the ancient feu- dal conflitution, is the part I afiumed to myfelf in this debate ; and have left it to your lordfhip to reconcile the FACT to the RIGHT -, which is not only the rnoft material point of inquiry, but the moft difficult ; and that which the patrons of li- * He means CROMWELL, who, it feems, had a defign of fetting up " a council for the proteftant religion, in oppofition to the congregation De propaganda fide at Rome" See the bifhop's own account in his Hilt, vol. i. p. 109. berty AND POLITICAL. 327 berty have either lefs meddled with, or have lefs fucceeded in explaining. For to own an unwel- come truth, however fpecious our claim may be to civil liberty, the adminiftration of government from the time of Henry VH's accefiion to the crown, that is, for two entire centuries, has very little agreed to this fyftem. The regal power, throughout this period, has been uniformly exerciied in fo high and arbitrary a manner, that we can hardly believe there could be any certain foundation for the people's claim to a limited monarchy. Add to this, that the language of parliaments, the decrees of lawyers, and the doc- trines of divines, have generally run in favour of the higheft exertions of prerogative. So that I cannot but be in fome pain for the fuccefs of your undertaking, and am at a lofs to conjecture in what way your lordfhip will go about to extricate yourfelf from thefe difficulties, Bp. BURNET. I underfland, Sir John., that your intention in fetting forth the difficulties of this attempt is only, in your polite way, to enhance the merit of it. I mud not however aflume too much to my- felf. The way is clear and eafy before me. You have conducted us very agreeably through the rough and thorny part of our journey. You have opened the genius of our ancient conftitution. You have explained the principles on which it was raifed. All that remains for me is only to folve Y 4 doubts, 328 DIALOGUED MORAL doubts, and rectify appearances ; a matter of no great difficulty, when, inftead of groping in the dark, we are now got into open day-light, and are treading in the paths of known and authentic hiftory. Mr. SOMERS. And yet, my lord, I mall very readily acknow- ledge, with my lord cpmmiflioner, the importance of the fefvice. For, unlefs appearances be flrangely deceitful indeed, there is but too great reafon to conclude, from the recent parts of our hiftory, either that there never was a rightful claim in the people to civil liberty, or that they, as well as their princes, had loft all fenfe of it, I doubt the moft your lordmip can make appear, Is, that as our kings, from the coming of the ^fudor line, had ufurped on the ancient privileges of the fubjeft, fo the fubject, at length, in our days, has, in its turn, ufurped on the undifputec] and long acknowledged prerogative of the fove- reign. In Ihort, I doubt there is no forming a connected fyftem on thefe fubjects ; but that in our country, as well as in others, liberty and prerogative have prevailed and taken the afcen- dant at different times, according as either was checked or favoured by contingent circumftances. Bp. BuRNET. Still Mr. Some, I ' fee, is on the defponding fide : and with better reafon than before, fmce, 'if the difficulty be half fo great, as is pretended, this; AND POLITICAL. 329 this change of the fpeaker is little favourable to the removal of it. However I do not defpair, whether thefe furmifes of difficulty be real or dif- fembled, to clear up the whole matter to both your fatisfaftions. The ftrefs of it lies here : That, whereas a mixed and limited government is fup- pofed to have been theantient conftitution in this country, the appearances, in fact, for a couple of centuries, have been fo repugnant to this notion, that either the fuppofition muft be given up as too hailily formed, or fufficient reafons muft be afiigned for thefe contradictory appearances. I embrace the latter part of this alternative with^ out hefitation or referve ; and pretend to lay be- fore you fuch unanfwerable arguments for the caufe I have undertaken, as, in better hands, might amount to a perfect vindication of ENG- LISH LIBERTY. I take my rife from the period which my lord commiffioner has prefcribed to me ; that is, from the acceflion of the Tudor family. We have henceforth indeed a fucceffton of high defpotic princes, who were politic and dar- ing enough to improve every advantage againft the people's liberties. And their peculiar cha- raders were well fuited to the places in which we find them. Henry VII was wife and provi- dent ; jealous of his authority, as well as title ; and fruitful in expedients to iecure both. His fon and fucceflbr, who had a fpirit of the largeft fize, 330 DIALOGUES MORAL iize, and, as one fays*, feared nothing but tbs falling of the heavens, was admirably formed to fuftain and eflablifh that power, which the other had afiumed. And after two Ihort reigns, which afforded the people no opportunity of recovering their loft ground, the crown fettled on the head of a princefs, who, with the united qualifications of her father and grandfather, furpaffed them both in the arts of a winning and gracious po- pularity. And thus, in the compafs of a cen- tury, the prerogative was now wound up to a height, that was very flattering to the views and inclinations of the Stuart family. It may be further obferved, that the condition of the times was fuch as wonderfully confpired with the defigns and difpofitions of thefe princes. A I6ng and bloody war, that had well nigh exhaufted the flrength and vitals of this country, was, at length, compofed by the fortunate fuc- cefies of Bofw or tb field. All men were defirous to breathe a little from the rage of civil wars. And the enormous tyranny of the prince, whole death had made way for the exaltation of the earl of Richmond, was a fort of foil to the new go- vernment, and made the rigours of it appear but moderate when fet againft the cruelties of the preceding reign. * NAT. BACON, in his Disc. Partii. p. 125. Land. 1739. The AND POLITICAL. 33I The great change that followed in the deli- verance of the nation from papal tyranny, and the fuppreffion of religious houfes, was a new pretence for the extenfion of the royal preroga- tive; and the people fubmitted to it with plca- fure, as they faw no other way to fupport and accomplifh. that important enterprize. And, laftly, the regal power, which had gained fo immenfely by the rejection of the papal domi- nion, was carried ftill higher by the great work of reformation ; which, being conducted by a wife and able princefs, was eafily improved, on every occafion, to the advantage of the crown. And thus, whether we confider the characters of the perfons, or the circumftances of the times, every thing concurred to exalt the princes of the houie of Tudor to a height of power and preroga- tive, which had hitherto been unknown in Eng- land^ and became, in the end, fo dangerous to the conilitution itfelf. But you expect me, I fuppofe, to point to the very examples of ufurpation, I have in view, and the means by which it took effect in the hands of thefe and the fucceeding princes. Sir J. MAYNARD. We do, indeed, expect that from your lord- /hip. For otherwife it will be thought that what you 332 DIALOGUES MORAL you treat as an usurpation, was but the genuine exercife of the regal authority ; only favoured by fortunate conjunctures, and, as you fay, by great ability in the princes themfelves, Mr. SOMERS. Perhaps flill more will be expected. For it may not be enough to tell us, what ufurpations there were, or even by what means they became fuccefsful. It mould further appear, methinks, that thefe ufurpations, though they fufpended the exercife of the people's liberties, did not de- ftroy them ; did not at leaft infringe on the con- ftitution from which thofe liberties were de- rived. Bp. BURNET. All this will naturally come in our way as we go along. And, fmce you will have me ufurp the chair on this occafion, and, like the princes I am fpeaking of, take to myfelf an authority to which I have no right, let me prefume a little on my new dignity ; and, in what follows, dif- courfe to you, as our manner is, without inter- ruption or reply. Sir J. MAYNARD. This, it muft be owned, is carrying the pre- Togative of the chair to its utmoft height. But, if we fubmit to it in other places, is it reafon- able you mould require us to do fo here ? Be- fides, your lordfhip forgets that I am too old to be a patient hearer. And Mr. Somers too Mr. AND POLITICAL. 333 Mr. SOMERS. I can engage, in this inftance, for pafllve obe- dience. And my lord, perhaps, does not infift on the full extent of his prerogative. It is fit, how- ever, we attend with reverence, while fuch an ad- vocate is pleading in fuch a caufe. Bp. BURNET. I was faying that all your demands would be fatisfied, as I went along in this difcourfe. It is true, an attentive reader of our hiftory, who con- fiders what is faid of the mixed frame of our go- vernment, and the ftruggles that were occafioned by it, is furprifed to find that thefe contentions at once fubfided on the acceflion of the houfe of TW told by lord Bacon in his hiftory of this prince. the 336 DIALOGUES MORAL the encouragement of trade, and the diftribution of property. Both which ends were effected at once by that famous act, which was made to fe- cure and facilitate the alienation of eftates by fine and proclamation. All thefe meafures, we fee, were evidently taken by the king to diminifli the credit and fup- prefs the influence of his nobles ; and of confe- quence, as he thought, to exalt the power of the crown above controul, if not in his own, yet in fucceeding ages. And his policy had this effect for fome time ; though in the end it proved, befides his expedtation, to advance another and more formidable power, at that time little fufpected or even thought of, the POWER OF THE PEOPLE*. The truth is, Henrfs policy was every way much affifted by the genius of the time. Trade was getting up : and lollardifm had fecretly made its v/ay into the hearts of the people. And, tho' liberty was in the end to reap the \benefit of each, prerogative was the immediate gainer. Com^ merce in proportion to its growth, brought on the decline of the feudal, that is, ariftocratic power of the barons : and the authority of the church, that other check on the fovereign, was * He did not confider that maxim of the lord Bacon, " De- preffion of the nobility may make a king more abfolute, but leisfafe." Works, vol. iii. p. 296. gradually AND POLITICAL. 337 gradually weakened by the prevailing fpirit of reformation. Under thefe circumftances, Henry found it no difficulty to deprefs his great lords ; and he did it fo effectually, that his fon had little elfe left him to do, but to keep them down in that weak and difabled ftate, to which his father had re- duced them. 'Tis true, both he and his fuccefibrs went further. They never thought themfelves fecure enough from the refiftance of their old enemies, the baron * j and fo continued, by every method of artifice and rapine, to fink them much lower than even the fafety of their own ftate re- quired. But the effects of this management did not appear till long afterwards. For the prefent, the crown received a manifeft advantage by this conduct. There was, befides, another circumflance of great moment attending the government of the younger Henry. He was the firft heir of the white and red rofes : fo that there was now an end of all difpute and difaffection in the people. And they had fo long and fo violently contended about the title to the crown, that when that mighty point was once fettled, they did not rea- dily apprehend that any other consideration de- * And yet lord Bacon tells us, that when Henry VIII came to the crown, " There was no fuch thing as any great and mighty fubjeft, who might any way eclipfe or overihade the imperial power," Works, vol. iii. p. 508. Z ferved, 338 DIALOGUES MORAL ferved, or could juftify refiftance to their fove- reign. With thefe advantages of fituation Henry VIII, brought with him to the throne a fpirit of that firm and fteddy temper as was exaftly fitted to break the edge of any rifing oppofition. Befides the confidence of youth, he was of a nature fo elate and imperious, fo refolved and fearlefs *, that no refiftance could fucceed, hardly any thought of it could be entertained againft him. The commons, who had hitherto been unufed to treat with their kings but by the mediation of the great lords, being now puihed into the pre- fence, were half difcountenanced in the eye of majefty ; and durft fcarcely look up to the throne, much lefs difpute the prerogatives with which fo awful a prince was thought to be in- verted. And when the glaring abufe of his power, as in the exaltation of that great inftrument of his tyranny, WOLSEY, feemed afterwards to provoke the people to fome more vigorous refolutions, a fingular event happened which not only preferved his greatnefs, but brought a further increafe to it. This was the famous rupture with the court of Rome : in confequence of which the yoke of papal ufurpations, that yoke under which our kings had groaned for fo many ages, was in * " A man, as Mr. Bacon chara&erifes him, underneath many pafllons, but above fear." Disc. Partii. p. 120. 4 a mo- AND POLITICAL, 339 moment broken off, and the crown reftored to its full and perfect independency. Nor was this all. The throne did not only fland by itfelf, as having no longer a dependence on the papal chair. It rofe ftill higher, and was, in effect, creeled upon it. For the ecclefiaftical jurifdiction was not annihilated, but transferred ; and all the powers of the Roman pontif now cen- tered in the king's perfon. Henceforth then we are to regard him in a more awful point of view , as armed with both fwords at once 5 and as NAT. BACON exprefles it in his way, as a ftrange kind of monfter, " A king with a pope in his belly*." The remainder of his reign mews that he was politic enough to make the beft ufe of what his paflions had brought on, and thus far accom- plifhed. For though the nation wifhed, and, without doubt, hoped to go much further, the king's quarrel was rather with the court, than church of Rome. And the high authority in fpirituals, which he had gained, enabled him to hold all men, who either feared or defired a fur- ther reformation, in the moft entire fubjection. In the mean time, the nation rejoiced with great reafon at its deliverance from a . foreign tyranny : and the lavifli diftribution of that wealth which flowed into the king's coffers from * Disc. Partii. p. 125. Z 2 the 340 DIALOGUES MORAL the fupprefled rrronafteries, procured a ready fub- miflion, from the great and powerful to the king's domeftic tyranny. In a word, every thing contributed to the ad- vancement of the regal power ; and, in that, to the completion of the great defigns of provi- dence. The amazing revolution, which had juft happened, was, at all events, to be fupported : and thus, partly by fear, and partly by intereft, the parliament went along with the king in all his projec~bs ; and, beyond the example of former times, was conftantly obfequious to him even in the moft capricious and inconfiftent meafures of his government. And thus matters, in a good degree, conti- nued till the accefiion of queen Elizabeth. It is true, the weak adminiftration of a minor king, and a difputed title at his death, occafloned fome diforders. But the majefty of the crown itfelf was little impaired by thefe buftles ; and it even acquired frefh glory on the head of our renowned proteftant princefs. For that aftonifhing work of reformation, fo happily entered upon by Henry, and carried on by his fon, was, after a fhort interruption (which only ferved to prove and animate the zeal of good men) brought at length by her to its final eftablimcnent. The intolerable abufes and fhamelefs corruptions of popery were now fo notorious AND POLITICAL. 34, notorious to all the world, and the fpirit of re- formation, which had been fecretly working fmce the days of Wickliff\ had now fpread itfelf fo generally through the nation, that nothing but an entire renunciation of the doctrine and difci- pline of the church of Rome could be expected. And by the happieft providence the queen was as much obliged by the intereft of her govern- ment and the fecurity of her title, as by her own unfhaken principles, to concur with the difpofi- tjons of her fubjects. Thus, in the end, proteftantifm prevailed, and obtained a legal and fixed fettlement. But to maintain it, when made, againft the combined powers that threatened its deftruction, the crown, on which fo much depended, was to be held up in all its {plendor to the eyes of our own and foreign nations. Hence the height of preroga- tive in Elizabeth's days, the fubmiflion of parlia- ments, and, I may almoft fay, the proftration of ;he people. And when this magnanimous princefs, as well by her vaft fpirit and perfonal virtues, as the con- ftant fuccefles of her long reign had derived the higheft dignity and authority on the Englijh fceptre, it pafTed into the hands of the elder James ; who brought fomething more with him, than a good will, the acceflion of a great king- dom and the opinion of deep wifdom, to enable him to wield it. Z 3 What 342 DIALOGUES MORAL What followed in his and the fucceeding reigns, I need not be at the pains to recount to you. Thefe things are too recent for me to dwell upon ; and you, my lord-commifiioner, do not only remember them perfectly, but have yourfelf acted a great part in moft of them. Allow me only to fay, that from this brief hiftory of the regal authority, and the means by which it arrived at fo unufual a greatnefs, it is no won- der that the Stuart family were fomewhat daz- zled by the height to which they were raifed, and that more than half a century was required to correct, if it ever did correct, the high but falfe notions they had entertained of the imperial dignity. Sir J. MAYNARD. If you permit me, at laft, to break in at the opening which this conclufion of your difcoude feems to give me, I would fay, That, on your principles, the houie of Stuart had great reafon for the high notions you afcribe to them. For what other conclufion could they make but that a power, which had domineered for fo long a time, and that by the full allowance of parlia- ment and people, was, both in fact and right, abfolute and uncontrolable ? Bp. BURNET. It is certain, the Stuart family did draw that conclufion. But a great deal too haflily ; as may appear AND POLITICAL. 343 appear from your own obfervation, that the exer- cife of this extraordinary power was committed, or more properly indulged to them by the people. This is fo ftrictly true, that from the firft to the laft of the fudor line, imperious and defpotic as they were, of their own nature, no ftretch of power was ventured upon by any of them, but under the countenance and protection of an aft of parliament. Hence it was that the STAR- CHAMBER, though the jurifdiction of this court had the authority of the common law, was con- firmed by ftatute ; that the proceedings of EMP- SON and DUDLEY had the fanction of parliament ; that Henry VIIPs fupremacy, and all acts of power dependent upon it, had the fame founda- tion : in a word, that every thing, which wore the face of an abfolute authority in the king, was not in virtue of any fuppofed inherent prerogative in the crown, but the fpecial grant of the fubject. No doubt, this compliance, and particularly if we confider the lengths to which it was carried, may be brought to prove the obfequious and even abject difpofitions of the times ; though we allow a great deal, as I think we Iriould, to prudence and good policy. But then the parliaments, by taking care to make every addition to the crown their own proper act, left their kings no pretence to confider themfelves as abfolute and indepen- dent. Mr. SOMERS. I doubt, confidering the flavifh difpofition of the times, that, if the people ftill poflefled a {hew Z 4 of 344 DIALOGUES MORAL of liberty, this advantage v was owing to the pure condefcenfionof the crown, and not to their own policy. A king that could obtain of his parlia- ment to have his proclamations pafs for laws *, might have ventured on this ftep without the concurrence of parliament. Bp. BURNET. I acknowledge the a<5t you glance at was of an extraordinary kind ; and might feem, by implica- tion at lead, to deliver up the entire legislative authority into the hands of the fovereign. But there is a wide difference between the crown's ufurping this ftrange power, and the parlia- ment's beftowing it. The cafe was (and nothing could be more fortunate for the nation) that at the' time when the people were leafl able to con- trol their prince, their prince's affairs conftrained him to court his people. For the rejection of the papal power and the reformation of religion were things of that high nature and fo full of hazard, that no expedient was to be overlooked, which tended to make the execution of thefe projects fafe or eafy. Hence it was that no fteps were taken by the crown but with the confent and approbation of the two houfes. And if thefe were compelled by the circumftances of their fituation to favour their prince's intereft or caprice by abfurd and inconfiftent compliances, this benefit at leafl: they drew to themfelves, that * This terrible a& is 31 Hen. VIII. c. 8. It was repealed in I Edw. VI. c. 12. their AND POLITICAL. 345 their power by that means would appear the greater and more unqueftionable. For what in- deed could difplay the omnipotency of parlia- ments more than their being called in to make . and unmake the meafures of government, and give a fanction, as it were, to contradictions ? Of which there cannot be a ftronger inftance than the changes they made from time to time, as Henry VIII's paffions fwayed him, in the rule pf fucceffion. Thus we fee that through the entire reigns of the houfe of Tudor, that is, the moft defpotic and arbitrary of our princes, the forms of liberty were ftill kept up, and the conftitution maintain- ed, even amidft the advantages of all forts which .offered for the deftru&ion of both. The parlia- ment indeed was obfequious, was fervile, was directed, if you will ; but every proceeding was authorifed and confirmed by parliament. The king in the mean time found himfelf at his eafe ', perhaps believed himfelf abfolute, and confidered his application to parliaments as an aft of mere grace and popular condefcenfion. At leaft after fb long experience of their fubmifiion, the elder James certainly thought himfelf at liberty to entertain this belief of them. But he was the firft of our princes that durft avow this belief plainly and openly. He was ftimulated, no doubt, to this ufurpation of power in England by the memory of his former fubjedion, orfervitude rather, 346 DIALOGUES MORAL rather, to the imperious church of Scotland. But this was not all. Succeeding to fo fair a patrimony as that of a mighty kingdom, where little or no oppofition had been made for fome reigns to the will of the fovereign ; to a king- dom too, fecurely fettled in the poflefiion of its favoured religion, which had occafioned all the dangers, and produced all the condefcenfion of the preceding princes ; bringing, befides, with him to the fucceffion, an undifputed title and the additional fplendor of another crown j all thefe advantages meeting in his perfon at that point of time, he ventured to give way to his natural love of dominion, and told the people to their face that the pretended rights of their parliaments were but the free gifts and graces of their kings : that every high point of government, that is, every point which he chole to call by that name, was wrapt up in the awful myftery of his prerogative : and, in a word, that " It was fedition for them to difpute what a king may do in the height of his power * ". Such, you know, was the language, the pub- lic language to his parliaments, of JAMES THE FIRST. But thefe pretences, which might have been fuffered perhaps, or could not have been oppoled under the Tudor line, were unluckily out of feafon, and would not pafs on a people who * Speech to the lords and commons at Whitehall, An. 1609. knew AND POLITICAL. 347 knew their own rights, had faved to themfelves the exercife of them, and came now, at length, to feel and underftand, their importance. For, as I before obferved, the principal caufe that had lifted the crown fo high, was the depreffions of the barons. The great property which had made them fo formidable, was difperfed into other hands. The nobility were therefore too low to give any umbrage to the crown. But the com- mons were rifing apace, and, in a century, had grown to that height, that, on the acceffion of the Scotch family, the point of time when the new king dreamed of nothing but abfolute fovereign- ty*, they were now in a condition to aflert the public liberty, and, as the event mewed but too foon, to match the fceptre itfelf out of their king's hands. However, in that interval of the dormant power of the commons it was, that the preroga- tive made the largefl moots, till in the end it threatened to overlhadow law and liberty. And, though the general reaibn is to be fought in the humiliation of the church, the low eftate of the barons, and the unexerted, becaufe as yet un- felt, greatnefs of the commons, the folution will be defective if we flop here. For the regal au- thority, fo limited by the ancient conftitution, * Somebody faid well of this king " That he fpake peace abroad, and fung lullaby at home : yet, like a dead calm in a hot fpring, treafured up in ftore fad diftempers againit a back- winter." and 348 DIALOGUES MORAL and by the continued ufe of parliaments, could never, in this fhort fpace, have advanced jtielf beyond all bounds, if other reafons had not cor operated with the flate of the people ; if fome more powerful and fpecial caufes had not con-: fpired to throw round the perfon of the fove- reign thofe rays of facred opinion, which are the real flrength as well as gilding of a crown. Of thefe I have occafionally mentioned fe- veral ; fuch as " the perfonal character and vir- tue's of the princes themfelves ; the high adven- turous defigns in which they were engaged; the mtereft, the people found or promifed to themfelves in fupporting their power-, the con- Itant fuccefles of their adminiftration ; and the unremitting fpirit and vigour with which it was carried on and maintained." All thefe confi- derations could not but difpofe the people to look up with reverence to a crown, which pre- lented nothing to their view but what was fitted to take their admiration, or imprint efteem. Yet all thefe had failed of procuring to majefty that profound fubmiffion which was paid to it, or of elevating the prince to that high conceit of independency which fo thoroughly poffefled the imagination of king James> if an. event of a very fmgular nature, and big with important confe- quences, had not given the proper occafion to both. Sir AND POLITICAL. 349 Sir J. MAYNARD, I underftand you to mean the overthrow of the papal dominion, which had fo long eclipfed the majefty of our kings ; and held them in a ftate of vafialage, not only to the triple crown, but, which was more difgraceful, to the mitre of their own fubjects. Bp. BURNET. Rather underftand me to mean, what was in- deed the confequence of that event, THE TRANS- LATION OF THE POPE'S SUPREMACY TO THE KING. This, as I take it, was the circumftance of all others which moft favoured the fudden growth of the imperial power in this nation. And, becaufe I do not remember to have feen it enlarged upon, as it deferves, give me leave to open to you, fomewhat copioufly, the nature of this newly acquired headlhip, and the nume- rous advantages which the prerogative received from it. THE PAPAL SUPREMACY, as it had been claimed and exercifed in this kingdom, was a power of the higheft nature. It controled every rank and order in the ftate, and, in effed, laid the prince and people together at the mercy of the Roman pontif. There is no need to re- count the feveral branches of this ufurped au- thority. 350 DIALOGUES MORAL thority. It is enough to fay, that it was tranf- cendant in all refpects that could in any fenfe be taken to concern religion. And who, that has looked into the papal ftory, needs be told that, by a latitude of interpretation, every thing was conftrued to be a religions concern, by which the pope's power or intereft could be afFeded ? Under the acknowledgment then of this fuper- eminent dominion, no fteps could poflibly be taken towards the reformation of religion, or even the aflertion of the juft rights and privi- leges of the crown. But the people were grown to have as great a zeal for the former of thefe confiderations, as the king for the latter. And in this juncture it was that Henry, in a fudden heat, threw off the fupremacy ; which the parlia- ment, to prevent its return to the pope, very readily inverted in the king. There was fomething fo daring, and, accord- ing to the prejudices of that time, fo prefump- tuous and even prophane in this attempt to transfer the fpiritual headfhip to a fecular power, that the pope himfelf little apprehended, and no- thing but the king's dauntlefs temper could have allured, the fuccefs of it. The repugnancy which the parliament themfelves found in their own notions betwixt the exercife of the fpiritual and temporal power, was the reafon, perhaps, for AND POLITICAL. 351 for inferting in the act of fupremacy thofe quali- fying claufes, we find in it *. Mr. SOMERS. It is poflible, as you fay, that the parliament might be at a lofs to adjuft in their own minds the precife bounds of the fpiritual jurifdiction, as united to the civil in the king's perfon. Yet, in virtue of thefe claufes, the regal fupremacy was, in fact, reflrained and limited by act of par- liament : and the import of them was clearly to alfert the independency of the crown on any fo- reign judicature, and not to confer it in the ex- tent in which it was claimed and exercifed by the fee of Rome. Bp. BURNET. It is true, that no more was exprefied, or, per- haps, intended in this act. But the queftion is, how the matter was underftood by the people at large, and in particular by the king himfelf and his flatterers. Now it feems to me that this transfer of the fupremacy would be taken for a folemn acknowledgment, not only of the ancient encroachments and ufurpations of the papacy, but of the king's right to fucceed to all the powers of it. And I conclude this from the na- ture of the thing itfelf, from the current notions of the Time, and from the fequel of the king's government. * Meaning fuch claufes as thefe As by any fpiritual 'or eccle- fiaflical power or authority may LAWFULLY be exercifeJ, and, provided that nothing be done, contrary to the LAWS of this realm. 352 DIALOGUES MORAL If we attend to the nature of the complaints which the nation was perpetually making, in the days of popery, of the Roman ufurpations, we fhall find that they did not fo much refpect thefe ufurpations themfelves, as the perfort, claiming and enjoying them. The grievance was, that appeals mould be made to Rome, that provifions mould come from thence ; in a word, that all caufes mould be carried to a foreign tribunalj and that fuch powers mould be exercifed over the fubjects -of this realm by a foreign jurifdiction. The complaint was, that the pope exercifed thefe powers, and not that the powers themfelves were exercifed. So on the abolition of this fupremacy, the act that placed it in the perfon of the king, would naturally be taken to transfer upon him all thf privileges and pire-eminencies, which had formerly belonged to it. And thus, though the act was fo properly drawn as to make a difference in the two cafes, yet the people at large, and much more the king himfelf, would infer from the conceffion, " That the pope had ufurped his powers on the crown," that therefore the crown had now a right to thofe powers. And the circumftance of this tranflation's paffing by act of parliament, does not alter the matter much, with regard to the king's notion of it . For in that time of danger, and for the greater fecurity of his new power, he would chuie to have that ratified and confirmed by ftatute which j he AND POLITICAL. 353 he firmly believed inherent in his perfon and dignity. Then, to fee how far the current opinions of that time were favourable to the extenfion of the regal authority, on this alliance with the papal, we are to reflect, that, however odious the admi- niftration of the pope's fupremacy was become, mofl men had very high notions of the plenitude of his power, and the facrednefs of his perfon. " Chriffs vicar upon earth " was an awful title, and had funk deep into the aftonimed minds of the people. And though Henry 9 s pretenfions went no further than to affume that vicarial authority within his own kingdom, yet this limi- tation would not hinder them from conceiving of him, much in the fame way as of the pope himfelf. They, perhaps, had feen no difference, but for his want of the pope's facerdotal capacity. Yet even this defect was, in fome meafure*, made up to him by his regal. So that between the majefty of the kingly character, and the con- fecration of his perfon by this myfterious endow- ment of the fpiritual, it is eafy to fee how well prepared the minds of men were to allow him the exerciie of any authority to which he pre- tended. * The biiliop does well to fay in font*, meafure. For, ac- cording to popifli prejudices, the facerdotal characler is vaftly above the regal. See POLE'S addrefs to Henry VIII, 1. I. where this high point is dif cuffed at large. A a And 354 DIALOGUES MORAL And to what degree this fpiritual character of head of the church operated in the minds of the people, we may underftand from the language of men in ftill later times, and even from the arti- cles of our church, where the prerogative of the crown is faid to be that which GODLY KINGS have always exercifed : intimating that this plenitude of power was inherent in the king, on account of that fpiritual and religious character, with which, as head of the church, he was neceflarily in- vefted. The allufion, as grofs as we may now think it, was but the fame which blinded the eyes of the greateft and wifeft people in the old world. For was it not juft in the fame manner, that by the policy of the Reman emperors in afiuming the office of pontifex maximus, that is, incorpo- rating the religious with their civil character, their authority became not only the more awful, but their perfons facred ? We fee then, as I faid, how conveniently the minds of men were prepared to acquiefce in Hen- ry's ufurped prerogative. And it is well known that this prince was not of a temper to balk their expectations. The iequelof his reign (hews that he took himfelf to be inverted with the whole ec- clefiaftical power, legiflative as well as executive ; nay, that he vfas willing to extend his acknow- ledged right of fupremacy even to the ancient pa- pal infallibility ; as appears from his ibvereign decifions AND POLITICAL. 355 decifions in all matters of faith and doctrine. It is true, the parliament was ready enough to go before or at leaft to follow the head of the church in all thefe decifions. But the reafbn is obvious. And I need not repeat to you in what light the king regarded their compliance with him. Mr. SOMERS. It is very likely, for thefe reafons, that the king would draw to himfelf much authority and reverence, at leaft, from his new title of fupre- macy. But it does not, I think, appear that the fupremacy had all that effect on the people's rights and the ancient conftitution, which your lordmip's argument requires you to afcribe to it. Bp. BURNET. I brought thefe general confiderations only to mew the reverend opinion which of courfe would be entertained of this mixt perfon, THE SUPREME HEAD OF THE CHURCH, compounded of a king and a pope i and how natural a foundation it was for the iuperftructure of defpotic power in all its branches. But I now haften to the particulars which demonftrate that this ufe was actually made of that title. And firft let me obferve, that it gave birth to that great and formidable court of the HIGH- COMMISSION ; which brought fo mighty an ac- ceflion of power to the crown, that, as experience A a 2 afterwards 356 DIALOGUES MORAL afterwards (Viewed, no fecnrity could be had for the people's liberties, till it was totally abolifhed. The necefiity of the times was a good plea for the firft inftitution of fo dangerous a tribunal. The reftlefs endeavours of papifts and puritans againft the ecclefiaftical eftabliihment gave a colour for the continuance of it. But as all mat- ters that regarded religion or confcience, were fubjected to it's fole cognizance and infpection, it was prefently feen how wide an entrance it gave to the moft tyrannical ufurpations. It was further natural that the king's power in civil caufes fhould keep pace with his authority in fpiritual. And fortunately for the advance- ment of his prerogative there was already creeled within the kingdom another court of the . like dangerous nature, of ancient date, and venerable cftimation, under the name of the court of STAR- CHAMBER , which brought every thing under the direction of the crown that could not fo pro- perly be determined in the high-commifiion. Thefe were the two arms of abfolute dominion ; which, at different times, and under different pretences, were ftretched forth to the oppreffion of every man that prefumed to oppofe himfelf to the royal will or pleafure. The flar-chamber had been kept, in former times, within fome tolerable bounds -, but the high and arbitrary pro- ceedings of the other court, which were found convenient for the further purpofe of reformation, and AND POLITICAL. 3 $ ? and were therefore conftantly exercifed and as conftantly connived at by the parliament, gave an cafy pretence for advancing the ftar-chamber's ju- rifdiclion fo far, that in the end its tyranny was equally intolerable as that of the high-commifllon. Thus the king's authority in all cafes, fpiritual and temporal, was fully eftablifhed, and in the higheft fenfe of which the words are capable. Our kings themfelves fo underftood it, and when afterwards their parliaments fhewed a difpofition to interfere in any thing relating either to church or ftate, they were prefently reprimanded and fternly required not to meddle with what concern- ed their prerogative royal and their high points of government. Inftances of this fort were very fre- quent in Elizabeth's reign, v/hen the commons were getting up, and the fpirit of liberty began to exert itfelf in that aflembly. The meaning of all this myfterious language was, that the royal pleafure was fubjecl: to no controul, but was to be left to take its free courfe under the fanction of thefe two fupreme courts, to which the cog- nizance of all great matters was committed. This, one would think, were fufficient to fa- tisfy the ambition of our kings. But they went further, and flill under the wing of their beloved fupremacy. The parliament were not fo tame, or the king's grace did not require it of them, to divert A a 3 them- 3s8 DIALOGUES MORAL themfelves entirely, though it was much checked and reftrained, by thefe courts, of their legifla- tive capacity. But the crown found a way to eafe itfelf of this curb, if at any time it mould prove troublefome to it. This was by means of the DISPENSING POWER ; which, in effect, va- cated all laws at once, farther than it pleafed the king to countenance and allow them. And for fo enormous a ftretch of power (which being rarely exercifed was the lefs heeded) there was a ready pretence from the papal privileges and pre-eminencies to which the crown had fuc- ceeded. For this moft invidious of all the claims of prerogative had been indifputable in the church , and it had been nibbled at by fome of our kings, in former times, from the contagious authority of the pope's example, even without the pretence which the fupremacy in fpirituals now gave for it. The exercife of this power, in the popes them- felves, was thought fo monftrous, that MATTHEW PARIS honeftly complains of it in his time, as extinguijhing all juftice EXTINGUIT OMNEM JUSTICIAM*. And on another occafion, I re- member, he goes fo far, in a fpirit of prophecy, almoft, as to tell us the ill ufe that hereafter kings themfelves might be tempted to make of it -f . His prediction was verified very foon : * HIST. ANG. p. 694. J- Something to this purpofe occurs in p 706. for AND POLITICAL. 359 for Henry III learned this leflbn of tyranny, and put it in practice. On which occafion one of his upright judges could not help exclaiming, CIVILIS CURIA EXEMPLO ECCLESIASTICS CON- QUINATUR *. And afterwards, we know, Hen- ry VII claimed and exercifed this difpenfing power in the cafe of merifTs, contrary to act of parliamet -j- . It was early indeed in his reign, and when the flate of his affairs was thought to give a colour to it. I mention thefe things to mew, that, fmce the pope's example had been fo infectious in former times, it would now be followed very refolutely when the tranflation of the very fupremacy, from which it had fprung, feemed to juftify it. And we have a remarkable inftance in EtizabetVs reign by which it may appear that this prerogative was * The name of this reverend judge was ROGER DE THUR- KEBY. A caufe was trying before him in WeJlminJier-Hall, when one of the parties produced the king's letters patents with a non-oljiante in it. " Quod cum comperiflet, fays the hiftorian, ab alto ducens fufpiria, de prsedidlse adjeftionis appolitione, dixit; Heu, heu, hos ut quid dies expeftavimus ? Ecce jam civilis curia exemplo ecclefiafticje conquinatur, et a fulphureo fonte rivulus intoxicatur." p. 784. Hen III. f The bifhop is too concife here, contrary to his ufual man- ner. Manyftatutes, and efpecially 23 Hen. VI. had forbidden the continuance of any perfon in the office of fherifffor more than one year. Henry VII difpenfed with thefe ftatutes. And the twelve judges refolved, in 2 Hen. VII. that, by a nen-olftante, a patent for a longer time Ihould be good. It feems, die good old race of the THURKEBY'S was now worn out. A a 4 publicly 360 DIALOGUES MORAL publicly and folemnly avowed. For, upon fome fcandal taken, by the popilh party, upon pretence that the book of confecration of bifhops was not eftablimed by law, the queen made no fcruple to declare by her letters patent, that me had, by her fupreme authority, difpenfed with all caufes or doubts of any imperfection or difability in the perfons of the bifhops. My learned friend, Dr. Stiltingfatt, in commenting this cafe, acknow- ledges the very truth. " It was cuftomary, fays he, in the pope's bulls, to put in fuch kind of claufes, and therefore me would omit no power in that cafe to which the pope had pretended *." And it is in this difpenfmg fpirit that James I, having delivered it for a maxim of ftate, " That the king is above law," goes on to affirm, in one of his favourite works, that general laws, made publicly in parliament, may, upon known refpects to the king, by his authority, be mitigated and SUSPENDED upon caufes only known to himf." We perceive the ground of that claim, which was carried fo high by the princes of the houfe of Stuart, and, as we have juflfeen, brought on the ruin of the laft of them. And to how great a degree this prerogative of the difpenfmg power had, at length, poflefTed the minds even of the * Sec his ZTor/k, vol. in. p. 806. f The bifhop quotes this from The true lav: of free monarchies in the king's works, p. 203. common AND POLITICAL. 361 common lawyers (partly from fome fcattered ex- amples of it in former times, and partly from rea* fons of expediency in certain junctures, but prin- cipally from the inveteracy of this notion of the papal fupremacy) we had an alarming proof in H ALE'S cafe, when eleven out of the twelve judges declared for it. Sir J. MAYNARD. Your lordmip has indeed mewn that the poi- ibn of the papal fupremacy began to work very fatally. If this blefied revolution had not hap- pened, what could have been expected but that the next ftep would be, to fet the crown above all divine as well as human law ? And, me- thinks, after fuch a judgment in IVeftrmnfter Hall, it could not be furprifing if another fett of men had ferved the king, in the office of the pope's janifaries, and maintained his right of difpenfing with the gofpel itfelf *, as well as the flatute-book. Mr. SOME as. I muft needs think, Sir John, you are a little fevere, not to fay unjuft in this infmuation ; for which the churchmen of our days have furely given you no reafon. And as for the reverend judges, methinks my lord of Salijlury might be * He alludes, I fuppofe, to the dodrine of the canonifts, who fay, Papa difpenjare potejl de omnibus pre latidis taken from the fame difcourfe, p. 204. His words are thcfe " The people of a borough cannot difplace their provoft yea, even the poor fchool- matter cannot be difplaced by his fcholars How much lefs is it lawful upon any pretext to control or difplace the great provoft and GREAT SCHOOL-MASTER OF THE WHOLK LAND !" B b 3 I have 374 DIALOGUES MORAL I have wearied you too much already. You will fee from thefe feveral particulars how it came to pafs that the REFORMATION, which was founded on the principles of liberty and fupported by them, was yet for fome time the caufe of ilrengthening the power of the crown. For though the exercife of private judgment, which was erTential to proteftantifm, could not but tend to produce right notions of civil liberty, as well as of religious faith and difcipline, and fo in the end was fated to bring about a juft form of free government (as after fome flruggles and commo- tions, we fee it has happened) yet the tranflation of fupremacy from the pope to the civil magi- Itrate brought with it a mighty acceffion of autho- rity which had very fenfible effects for feveral reigns afterwards. The myfterious facrednels and almcfl divinity which had lodged in the pope's perfon, was now infhrined in the king's ; and it is not wonderful that the people mould find their imaginations ftrongly affected by this notion. And with this general preparation, it followed very naturally that, in the feveral ways here recounted, the crown mould be diipofed and enabled to extend its prerogative, till another change in the government was required to limit and circumfcribe it, almolt as great as that of the reformation. Mr. SOMERS. I have'liftened with much pleafure to this de- dufbon v/hich your lordfhip has made from that important AND POLITICAL. 375 important circumftance of the crown's fupre- macy in fpirituals. I think it throws great light on the fubject under confideration, and accounts in a clear manner for that appearance of defpotifm which the Englijh government has worn from the times of reformation. I have only one difficulty remaining with me: but it is fuch an one as leems to bear hard on the great hypothefis itfelf, fo learnedly maintained by my lord commifiioner in our late converfation, of the original free con- ftitution of the Englijh government. For allowing all you fay to be true, does not the very transfer of the pope's fupremacy to the king, confidered in itfelf, demonstrate that we had then, at leaft, no conftitution at all, to be invaded by the high claims of that prerogative ? I explain this queftion by afking another. Upon the true principles * of the nature of the two focieties, fpiritual and temporal (at leaft as I conceive of them) allied together, does not it follow that the fupremacy of the church mould devolve upon the fupreme civil power; which with us, according to, the prefent iuppofition, is in the three eftates of the legiflature ? But this devolution, it feems, was * It were to be vviihed that Mr. Somers had explained himfclf further on thefe true principles DALLIANCE BETWIXT CHURCH AND STATE . One fhould then have feen what to think of a late fyflem, under that name, which the diffenters to a man, and fome moderate divines of the eftahliihed church, have taken offence at. It is to be feared die author is one of thofe men, that wifli to fee things continue as they are ; and not, as the faints yearn, to fee the rubbiih. of human ordinances taken out of the way, and the godly work of reformation puflied on to COSPEL-PEHFECTION. B b 4 on 376 DIALOGUES MORAL on the king alone ; a public acknowledgment, as I take it, that the conftitution of the government was at that time conceived to be, in the higheft fenfe of the word, abfolutely MONARCHICAL. Bp. BURNET. I was not, I confefs, aware of this objection to our theory, which is very fpecious. Yet it may be fufficient, as I fuppofe, to reply to it, that the work of reformation was carried on and efta- bliihed by the whole legifiature ; and that the fupremacy, in particular, though it of right belonged to the three eftates, was by free con- fent furrendered and given up into the hands of the king. It is certain this power, though talked of as the ancient right of the crown, was folemnly invefted in it by act of parliament ! Sir J. MAYNARD. There may be fomething in this. Yet your lordfhip, I think, does not carry the matter quite far enough , and, with your leave, I will prefume to "ive another, and perhaps the truer anfwer to Mr. Somers's difficulty. The fubject is a little nice, but I have not thofe fcruples which may rea- fonably be conceived to reftrain your lordfhip from enlarging upon it. I reply then direflly, and without fofcening matters, that this irregular transfer of the fupre- macy AND POLITICAL. 377 macy is no proof, that there was not then a CON- STITUTION, with a legitimate power in it, to which the fupremacy belonged. And my reafon, without offence to my lord of Sali/bury, is this. When the papal authority was abolifhed, and the queflion came into parliament, who now became the head of the church, the fearch after him was not carried where it mould have been, into the conftitution of the kingdom, but, as it was a matter of religion, they miftook that, which was only an affair of church-difcipline, to be a doc- trine of theology ; and fo fearched, for a folution of the queflion, in the New Teftament, and Ec- clefiaftical Hiftory. In the firft, obedience is prefled to the perfon ofC