After fo fair an Examen, wherein nothing has been exaggerated >, no Fadl produced which cannot be proved, and none which has been produced in any wife forced or ftrained. while thoufands have, for Brevity, been omitted • after fo candid a Difcuffion in all Refpe&s; what Slave fo paffive, what Bigot fo blind, what Enthufiaft fo headlong, what Politician fo hardened, as to ftand up in Defence of a Syftem calculated for a Curfe to Mankind? a Curfe under which they fmart and groan to this Hour, without thoroughly knowing the Nature of the Difeafe, and wanting Underftanding or Courage to apply the Remedy.
I need not excufe myfelf to your Lordfhip, nor, I think, to any honeftMan, for the Zeal I have fhewn in this Caufe 5 for it it is an honeft Zeal, and in a good Caufe. I have defended Natural Religion againft a Confederacy of Atheifts and Divines. I now plead for Natural Society againft Politicians, and for Natural Reafon againft all three. When the World is in a fitter Temper than it is at prefent to hear Truth, or when I fhall be more indifferent about it's Temper; my Thoughts may become more publick. In the mean time, let them repofe in my own Bofom, and in the Bofoms of fuch Men as are fit to be initiated in the fober Myfteries of Truth and Reafon. My Antagonifts have already done as much as I could defire. Parties in Religion and Politicks make fufficient Difcoveries concerning each other, to give a fober Man a proper Caution againft them all. The Monarchick, Ariftocratical, and Popular Partizans have been jointly laying their Axes to the Root of all Government, and have in their Turns proved each other abfurd and inconvenient. In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is K 2 good, good, but that I fall out only with the Abufe. The Thing! the Thing itfelf is the Abufe! Obferve, my Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legiflative Power is founded. It was obferved, that Men had ungovernable Paffions, which made it necefiary to guard againft the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors jver them for this Reafon; but a worfe and more perplexing Difficulty arifes, how to be defended againft the Governors? Qui$ cujiodiet ipfos cujiodes? In vain they change from a fingle Perfon to a few. Thefe few have the Paffions of the one, and they unite to ftrengthen themfelves, and to fecure the Gratification of their lawlefs Paffions at the Expence of the general Good. In vain do v/e fly to the Manyi The Cafe is worfe; their Paffions are lefs under the Government of Reafon, they are augmented by the Contagion, and defended againft all Attacks by their Multitude.
I have I have t have purpofely avoided the mention 6f the mixed Form of Government, for Reafons that will be very obvious to your Lordfhip. But my Caution can avail me but little. You will not fail to urge it againft me in favour of Political Society. You will not fail to fhew how the Errors of the feveral fimple Modes are corrected by a Mixture of all of them, and a proper Ballance of the feveral Powers in fuch a State. I confefs, my Lord, that this has been long a darling Miftake of my own; and that of all the Sacrifices I have made to Truth, this has been by far the greateft. When I confefs that I think this Notion a Miftake, I know to whom I am fpeaking> for I am fatisfied that Reafons are like Liquors, and there are fome of fuch a Nature as none but ftrong Heads can bear. There are few with whom I can communicate fo freely as with Pope. But Pope cannot bear every Truth. He has a Timidity which hinders the full Exertion of his Faculties, almoft as effe&ually as [jo] as [jo] as Bigotry cramps thofe of the general Herd of Mankind. But whoever is a genuine Follower of Truth, keeps his Eye fteady upon his Guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that fhe is the Leader. And, my Lord, if it be properly confidered, it were infinitely better to remain poffeffed by the whole Legion of vulgar Miftakes, than to rejedt fome, and at the fame time to retain a Fondnefs for others altogether as abfurd and irrational. The firft has at leaft a Confiftency, that makes a Man, however erroneoufly, uniform at leaft; but the latter way of proceeding is fuch an inconfiftent Chimaera and Jumble of Philofophy and vulgar Prejudice, that hardly any thing more ridiculous can be conceived. Let us therefore freely, and without Fear or Prejudice, examine this laft Contrivance of Policy. And without confidering how near the Quick our Inftruments may come, let us fearch it to the Bottom.
Firft Firft Firft then, all Men are agreed, that this Jundtion of Regal, Ariftocratick, and Popular Power, muft form a very complex, nice, and intricate Machine, which being compofed of fuch a variety of Parts, with fuch oppofite Tendencies and Movements, it muft be liable on every Accident to be difordered. To fpeak without Metaphor, fuch a Government muft be liable to frequent Cabals, Tumults, and Revolutions, from it's veryConftitution. Thefe are undoubtedly as ill Effedts, as can happen in a Society; for in fuch a Cafe, the Clofenefs acquired by Community, inftead of ferving for mutual Defence, fervesonly to increafe the Danger. Such a Syftem is like a City, where Trades that require conftant Fires are much exercifed, where the Houfes are built of combuftible Materials, and where they ftand extremely clofe.
In the fecond Place, the feveral conftituent Parts having their diftindt Rights, I and and thefe many of them at once fo neceffary to be determined with Exadtnefs, are yet fo indeterminate in their Nature, that it becomes a new and conftant Source of Debate and Confufion. Hence it is, that whilft the Bufinefs of Government fhould be carrying on, the Queftion is, who has 3 Right to exercife this or that Fundtior* of it, or what Men have Power to keep their Offices in any Function. Whilft this Conteft continues, and whilft the Ballance in any fort continues, it has never any Remiffion; all manner of Abufes and Villainies in Officers remain unpunifhed, the greateft Frauds and Robberies in the Publick Revenues are committed in Defiance of Juftice $ and Abufes grow, by Time and Impunity, into Cuftoms j until they prefcribe againfl the Laws, and grow too inveterate often to admit a Cure, unlefs fuch as may be as bad as the Difeafe, Thirdly, the feveral Parts of this Species of Government, though united, preferve the the Spirit which each Form has feparately. Kings are ambitious; the Nobility haughty; and the Populace tumultuous and ungovernable. Each Party, however in appearance peaceable, carries on a Defign upon the others; and it is owing to this, that in all Queftions, whether concerning foreign or domeftick Affairs, the Whole generally turns more upon fome Party Matter than upon the Nature of the Thing itfelf. Whether fuch a Step will diminiffy or augment the Power of the Crown, or how far the Privileges of the SubjecT: are like to be extended or restricted by it. And thefe Queftions are conftantly refblved, without any Consideration of the Merits of the Caufe, merely as the Parties who uphold thefe jarring Interefts may chance to prevail ^ and as they prevail, the Ballance is overfet, now upon one fide, now upon the other. The Government is one Day, arbitrary Power in a fingle Perfon; another, a juggling Confederacy of a few to cheat the Prince and enflav^ L the the People; and the third, a frantick and unmanageable Democracy. The great Inftrument of all thefe Changes, and what infufes a peculiar Venom into all of them, is Party. It is of no Confequence what the Principles of any Party, or what their Pretenfions are; the Spirit which actuates all Parties is the fame; the Spirit of Ambition, of Self-Intereft, of Oppreffion, and Treachery. This Spirit entirely reverfes all the Principles which a benevolent Nature has[erefted within us; all Honefty, all equal Juftice, and even the Ties of Natural Society, the Natural ArTedlions. In a word, my Lord, we have all feeny and if any outward Confiderations were worthy the lafting Concern of a wife Man, we have fome of us felt, fuch Oppreffion from Party Government as no other Tyranny can parallel. We behold daily the moft important Rights, Rights upon which all the others depend, we behold thefe Rights determined in the laft Refort, without the leaft Attention even to the the Appearance or Colour of Juftice; we behold this without Emotion, becaufe we have grown up in the conflant View of fuch Practices; and we are not furprifed to hear a Man requefted to be a Knave and a Traitor, with as much Indifference as if the moft ordinary Favour were afked; and we hear this Requeft refuied, not becaufe it is a moft unjuft~and unreafonable Defire, but that this Worthy has already engaged his Injuftice to another. Thefe and many more Points I am far from fpreading to their full Extent. You are fenfible that I do not put forth half my Strength; and you cannot be at a Lofs for the Reafon. A Man is allowed fufficient Freedom of Thought, provided he knows how to chufe his Subjed: properly. You may criticife freely upon the Chinefe Conftitution, and obferve with as much Severity as you pleafe upon the abfurd Tricks, or deftructive Bigotry of the Bonzees. But the Scene is changed as you come homeward, L 2 and L 2 and and Atheifm or Treafon thajr be thb Names given in Britain, to what would be Reafon and Truth if afferted of China. I fubmit to the Condition, and though I have a notorious Advantage before me, wave the Purfuit. For elfe, my Lord, it is very obvious what a Picture might be drawn of the Excefles of Party even in bur bwn Nation. I could {hew, that the fame Faction has in one Reign promoted popular Seditions, and in the next been a Patron of Tyranny; I could fhew, that they have all of them betrayed the publick Safety at all Times, and have very frequently with equal Perfidy made a Market of their own Caufe, and their own Aflbciates. I could fliew how vehemently they have contended for Names, and how filently they have paffcd over Things of the laft Importance. And I could demonftrate, that they have had the Opportunity of doing all this Mifchief, nay, that they themfelves had their Origin and Growth from that complex Form of Government which which which we are wifely taught to look upon as fo great a Blefling. Revolve, my Lord, our Hiftory from the Conqueft. We fcarce ever had a Prince, who by Fraud, or Violence, had not made fome Infringe* ment on the Conftitution. We fcarce ever had a Parliament which knew, when it attempted to fet Limits to the Royal Authority, how to fet Limits to it's own. Evils we have had continually calling for Reformation, and Reformations more grievous than any Evils. Our boafted Liberty fometimes trodden down, fometimes giddily fet up, and ever precarioufly fluctuating and urifettled -, it has been only kept alive by the Blafts of continual Feuds, Wars, and Confpiracies. In no Country in Europe has the Scaffold fo often blufhed with the Blood of it's Nobility. Confifcations, Banifhments, Attainders, Executions, make a large Part of the Hiftory of fuch of our Families as are not utterly extinguifhed by them. Formerly indeed Things had a more ferocious Appearance than than they have at this Day. In thefe early and unrefined Ages, the jarring Parts of a certain Chaotic Conftitution fupported their feveral Pretenfions by the Sword. Experience and Policy have fince taught other Methods.
Res vero nunc agitur tenui pulmone rubefy But how far Corruption, Venality, the Contempt of Honour, the Oblivion of all Duty to our Country, and the moft abandoned publick Proftitution, are preferable to the more glaring and violent Effects of Faction, I will not prefume to determine. Sure I am that they are very great Evils.
I have done with the Forms of Government. During the Courfe of my Enquiry you may have obferved a very material Difference between my Manner of Reafoning and that which is in Uk amongft the Abbetors of Artificial Society. They form their their Plans upon what feems mod eligible to their Imaginations, for the ordering of Mankind. I difcover the Miftakes in thofe Plans, from the real known Confequences which have refulted from them. They have inlifted Reafon to light againft itfelf, and employ it's whole Force to prove that it is an infufficient Guide to them in the Conducft of their Lives. But unhappily for us, in Proportion as we have deviated from the plain Rule of our Nature, and turned our Reafon againft itfelf, in that Proportion have we increafed the Follies and Miferies of Mankind. The more deeply we penetrate into the Labyrinth of Art, the further we find ourfelves from thofe Ends for which we entered it. This has happened in almoft every Species of Artificial Society, and in all Times. We found, or we thought we found, an Inconvenience in having every Man the Judge of his own Caufe. Therefore Judges were fet up, at firft with difcretionary Powers. But it was foon found a miferable Slavery to have our r so] our r so] our Lives and Properties precarious, and hanging upon the arbitrary Determination of any one Man, or Set of Men. We flew to Laws as a Remedy for this Evil. By thefe we perfuaded ourfelves we might know with fome Certainty upon what Ground we flood. But lo! Differences arofe upon the Senfe and Interpretation of thefe Laws. Thus we were brought back to our old Incertitude. New Laws were made to expound the old; and new Difficulties arofe upon the new Laws, as Words multiplied, Opportunities of cavilling upon them multiplied alfo. Then Recourfe was had to Notes, Comments, Glofles, ReportSyRe/ponfaPrudentum, learned Readings: Eagle flood againfl Eagle. Authority was fet up againfl Authority. Some were allured by the modern, others reverenced the antient. The new were morg enlightened, the old were more venerable. Some adopted the Comment, others fluck to the Text. The Confufion increafed, the Mift thickened, until it could be discovered covered no longer what was allowed or forbidden, what Things were in Property, and what common. In this Uncertainty, (uncertain even to the Profeflbrs, an /Egyptian Darknefs to the reft of Mankind) the contending Parties felt themfelves more effectually ruined by the Delay than they could have been by the Injuftice of any Decifion.- Our Inheritances are become a Prize for Difputation; and Difputes and Litigations are become an Inheritance.
The Profeflbrs of Artificial Law have always walked hand in hand with the Profeflbrs of Artificial Theology. As their End, in confounding the Reafon of Man, and abridging his Natural Freedom, is exactly the fame, they have adjufted the Means to that End in a Way entirely fimilar. The Divine thunders out his Anathemas with more Noife and Terror againft the Breach of one of his pofitive Inftitutions, or the Neglect of fome of his trivial Forms, than againft the Negleft or M Breach Breach of thofe Duties and Commandments of Natural Religion, which by thefe Forms and Inftitutions lie pretends to enforce. The Lawver has his Forms, and his pofitive Inftitutions too, and he adheres to them with a Veneration altogether as religious. The worft Caufe cannot be fo prejudicial to the Litigant, as his Advocate's or Attorney's Ignorance or Negledl of thefe Forms. A Law-fuit is like an ill-managed Difpute, in which the firft Objedt is foon out of Sight, and the Parties end upon a Matter wholly foreign to that on which they began. In a Law-fuit the Queftion is, who has a Right to a certain Houfe or Farm? And this Queftion is daily determined, not upon the Evidences of the Right, but upon the Obfervance or Negle<ft of fome Forms of Words in Ufe amongft them,amongft which there is even amongft themfelves fuch a Difagreement, that the moft experienced Veterans in the Profeffion can never be pofitively affured that they are not miftajten.
Let Let Let us expoflulate with thefe learned Sages, thefe Priefts of the facred Temple of Juftice. Are we Judges of our own Property? By no Means. You then, who are initiated into the Myfteries of the blindfold Goddefs, inform me whether I have a Right to eat the Bread I have earned by the hazard of my Life, or the Sweat of my Brow? The grave Dodlor anfwers me in the Affirmative. The reverend Serjeant replies in the Negative; the learned Barrifter reafons upon one fide and upon the other, and concludes nothing. What mail I do? An Antagonift ftarts up and preffes me hard. I enter the Field, and return thefe three Perfons to defend my Caufe. My Caufe, which two Farmers from the Plough could have decided in half an hour, takes the Court twenty Years. I am however at the end of my Labour, and have in Reward for all my Toil and Vexation, a Judgment in my Favour. But hold— a fagacious Commander, in the Adverfary's Army has found a Flaw in the Proceeding.
My Tritimph is turned into Mourning. I have ufed ory inftead of and, or fome Miftake, fmall in Appearance, but dreadful in it's Confequences, and have the whole of my Succefs quafhed in a Writ of Error. I remove my Suit; I fhift from Court to Court; I fly from Equity to Law, and from Law to Equity; equal Uncertainty attends me every where: And a Miftake in which I had no Share> decides at once upon my Liberty and Property, fending me from the Court to a Prifon, and adjudging my Family to Beggary and Famine. I am innocent, Gentlemen, of the Darknefs and Uncertainty of your Science. I never darkened it with abfurd and contradictory Notions, nor confounded it with Chicane and Sophiftry. You have excluded me from any Share in the Conduct of my own Caufe; the Science was too deep for me 5 I acknowledged it, but it was too deep even for yourfelves: You have made the way fo intricate, that you are yourfelves loft in it: You err, and you punifh me for^vour Errors. The The Delay of the Law is, your Lordfhip will tell me, a trite Topick, and which of it's Abufes have not been too feverely felt not to be often complained of? A Man's Property is to ferve for the Purpofes of his Support; and therefore to delay a Determination concerning that, is the worft Injuftice, becaufe it cuts off the very End and Purpofe for which I applied to the Judicature for Relief. Quite contrary in Cafe of a Man's Life, there the Determination can hardly be too much protradted. Miftakes in this Cafe are as often fallen into as in any other, and if the Judgement is fudden, the Miftakes are the mofl irretrievable of all others. Of this the Gentlemen of the Robe are themfelves fenfible, and they have brought it into a Maxim. De morte hominis nulla eft cunSiatio longa. But what could have induced them to reverfe the Rules, and to contradict that Reafon which dictated them, I am utterly unable to guefs. A Point concerning Property,which ought, for the Reafons Ijuft I juft mentioned, to be moft fpeedily decided, frequently exercifes the Wit of Succeffions of Lawyers, for manyGenerations. Multa virum volvem durandofacula vincit. But the Queftion concerning a Man's Life, that great Queftion in which no Delay ought to be counted tedious, is commonly determined in Twenty-four Hours at the utmoft. It is not to be wondered at, that Injuftice and Abfurdity fhould be infeparable Companions.
Afk of Politicians the End for which Laws were originally defigned $ and they will anfwer, that the Laws were defigned as a Protection for the Poor and Weak, againft the Oppreffion of the Rich and Powerful. But furely no Pretence can be fo ridiculous; a Man might as well tell me he has taken off my Load, becaufe he has changed the Burthen. If the poor Man is not able to fupport his Suit, according to the vexatious and expenfive manner eftablifhed in civilized Countries, has not i the the Rich as great an Advantage over him as the Strong has over the Weak in a State of Nature? But we will not place the State of Nature, which is the Reign of God, in competition with Political Society, which is the abfurd Usurpation of Man. In a State of Nature, it is true, that a Man of fuperior Force may beat or rob me; but then it is true, that I am at full Liberty to defend myfelf, or make Reprifal by Surprize or by Cunning, or by any other way in which I may be fuperior to him. But in Political Society, a rich Man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend myfelf; for Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I attempt to avenge myfelf, the whole Force of that Society is ready to compleat my Ruin.
A good Parfon once faid, that where Myftery begins, Religion ends. Cannot I fay, as truly at lead, of human Laws, tbat where Myftery begins^ Juftice ends?
It It is hard to fay, whether the Do&ors of Law or Divinity have made the greater Advances in the lucrative Bufinefs of Myftery. The Lawyers, as well as the Theologians, have eredted another Reafon befides Natural Reafon -y and the Refult has been, another Juftice befides Natural Juftice. They have fo bewildered the World and themfelves in unmeaning Forms and Ceremonies, and fo perplexed the plaineft Matters with metaphyseal Jargon, that it carries the higheft Danger to a Man out of that Profeffion, to make the leaft Step without their Advice and Affiftance. Thus by confining to themfelves the Knowledge of the Foundation of all Mens Lives and Properties, they have reduced all Mankind into the moft abje<ft and fervile Dependence. We are Tenants at the Will of theie Gentlemen for every thing 5 and a metaphyfical Quibble is to decide whether the greateft Villain breathing fhall meet his Deferts, or efcape with Impunity, or whether the beft Man in the Society Society Society fhall not be reduced to the loweft and moft defpicable Condition it affords,. In a word, my Lord, the InjuHice^ Delay* Puerility, falfe Refinement, and affedled Myftery of the Law an; fuch, that many who live under it come to admire and envy the Expedition, Simplicity* and Equality of Arbitrary Judgments. I need infift the lefs on this Article to your Lordihip, as you have frequently lamented the Miferies derived to us from Artificial Law, and your Candor is the more to be admired and applauded in this, as your Lordfhip's noble Houfe has derived it's Wealth and it's Honours from that Profefiion.
Before we finifh our Examination of Artificial Society, I fhall lead your Lordfhip into a clofer Confideration of the Relations which it gives Birth to, and the Benefits, if fuch they are, which refult from thefe Relations. The moft obvious Divifion of Society is into Rich and Poor > and it is N no no lefs obvious, that the Number of the former bear a great Difproportion to thofe of the latter. The whole Bufinefs of the Poor is to adminifter to the Idlenefs, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich -y and that of the Rich, in return, is to find the beft Methods of confirming the Slavery and increafing the Burthens of the Poor. In a State of Nature, it is an invariable Law, that a Man's Acquifitions are in proportion to his Labours. In a State of Artificial Society, it is a Law as conftant and as invariable,, that thofe who labour moft, enjoy the feweft things; and that thofe who labour not at all, have the greateft Number of Enjoyments, A Conftitution of things this, ftrange and ridiculous beyond Expreffion. We fcarce believe a thing when we are told it, which we adlually fee before our Eyes every Day without being in the leaft furprized. I fuppofe that there are in Great Britain upwards of an hundred thoufand People employed in Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines > thefe unhappy unhappy unhappy Wretches fcarce ever fee the Light of the Sun; they are buried in the Bowels of the Earth; there they work at a fevere and difmal Tafk, without the leaft Profpedt of being delivered from it; they fubfift upon the coarfeft and worft fort of Fare $ they have their Health miferably impaired, and their Lives cut fhort, by being perpetually confined in the clofe Vapour of thefe malignant Minerals An hundred thoufand more at leaft are tortured without Remiffion by the fuffocating Smoak, intenfe Fires, and conftant Drudgery neceflary in the refining and managing the Products of thofe Mines. If any Man informed us that two hundred innocent Perfons were condemned to fo intolerable Slavery, how fhould we pity the unhappy Sufferers, and how great would be our juft Indignation againft thofe who infli&ed fo cruel and ignominious a Punifliment? This i$ an Inftance, I could not wifh a ftronger, of the numberlefs Things which we pafs by in their N 2 common common Drefs, yet which fhock us when they are nakedly reprefented. But this Number, considerable as it is, and the Slavery, with all it's Bafenefs and Horror, which we have at Home, is nothing to what the reft of the World affords of the fame Nature. Millions daily bathed in the poifonous Damps and deftru<3ive Effluvia of Lead, Silver, Copper, and Arfenick. To fay nothing of thofe other Employments, thofe Stations of Wretchednefs and Contempt in which Civil Society has placed the numerous Enfans perdus of her Army, Would any rational Man fubmit to one of the moft tolerable of thefe Drudgeries for all the artificial Enjoyments which Policy has made to refult from them? By no Means. And yet need I fuggeft to your Lordfhip, that thofe who find the Means, and thofe who arrive at the End, are not at all the fame Perfons. On confidering the ftrange and unaccountable Fancies and Contrivances of Artificial Reafpns I have fomewhere called this Earth the the the Bedlam of our Syftem. Looking now upon the Effects of fome of thofe Fancies, may we not with equal Reafon call it likewife the Newgate, and the Bridewell of the Univerfe. Indeed the Blindnefs of one Part of Mankind co-operating with the Frenzy and Villainy of the other, has been the real Builder of this refpectable Fabrick of Political Society: And as their Blindnefs has caufed their Slavery, in Return their State of Slavery is made a aPretence for continuing them in a State of Blindnefs; for the Politician will tell you gravely, that their Life of Servitude difqualifies them for a Search of Truth, and fupplies them with no other than mean and inefficient Ideas. This is but too true; and this is one of the Reafons for which I blame fuch Inftitutions, In a Mifery of this Sort, admiting fome few Lenities, and thofe too t>ut a few, nine Parts in ten of the whole Race of Mankind drudge through Life.
Life. It may be urged perhaps, in palliation of this., that, at leaft, the Rich Few find a confiderable and real Benefit from the Wretchednefs of the Many. But is this fo in fadl? Let us examine the Point with a little more Attention. For this purpofe the Rich in all Societies may be thrown into two Claffes. The firft is of thofe who are Powerful as well as Rich, and conducft the Operations of the vaft Political Machine. The other is of thofe who employ their Riches wholly in the Acquifition of Pleafure. As to the firft Sort, their con* tinual Care, Anxiety, their toilfome Days and fleeplefs Nights, are next to Proverbial. Thefe Circumftances are fufficient almoft to level their Condition to that of the unhappy Majority; but there are other Circumftances which place them in a far lower Condition. Not only their Underftandings labour continually, which is the fevereft Labour, but their Hearts are torn 1>y the worft, moft troublefome, and infatiable of all Paffions, by Avarice, by Ambition^ Ambition^ Ambition, by Fear and Jealoufy. No part of the Mind has Reft. Power gradually extirpates from the Mind every humane and gentle Virtue. Pity, Benevolence, Friendship are Things almoft unknown in high Stations. Vera amicitice rarijjime inveniuntur in its qui in honoribus reipublicee verfantur, fays Cicero* And indeed, Courts are the Schools where Cruelty, Pride, Diffimulation and Treachery are ftudied and taught in the moft vicious Perfe&ion. This is a Point fo clear and acknowledged, that if it did not make a neceflary Part of my Subjedt, I Should pafs it by entirely. And this has hindered me from drawing at full length, and in the moft ftriking Colours, this Shocking Pidlure of the Degeneracy and Wretchednefs of human Nature, in that Part which is vulgarly thought it's happieft and moft amiable State. You know from what Originals I could copy fuch Pictures. Happy are they who know enough of them to know their littleValue, and who have have been fnatched from that Poll of Danger with the Remains of their Virtue j Lofs of Honours, Wealth, Titles and even the Lofs of one's Country is nothing in Ballance with fo great an Advantage.
Let us now view the other Species of the Rich, thofe who devote their Time and Fortunes to Idlenefs and Pleafure. How much happier are they? The Pleafiires which are agreeable to Nature are within the reach of all, and therefore can form no Diftindlion in favour of the Rich. The Pleafures which Art forces up are feldom fincere, and never fatisfying. What is worfe, this conftant Application to Pleafure takes away from the Enjoyment, or rather turns it into the Nature of a very burthenfome and laborious Bufinefs. It has Confequences yet worfe. It produces a weak valetudinary State of.Body, attended byall thofe horrid Diforders, and yet more horrid Methods of Cure, which are the Refult of Luxury on one hand, and the the the weak and ridiculous Efforts of human Art on theother.TheirPleafuresare fcarcely felt as Pleafures; at tne fame time that they bring on P ins and Difeafes, which are felt but too feverely. The Mind has it's Share of the Misfortune; it grows lazy and enervate, unwilling and unable to fearch for Truth, and utterly uncapable of knowing, much lefs of relifhing real Happinefs. The Poor by their exceffive Labour, and the Rich by their enormous Luxury, are fet upon a Level and made equally ignorant of any Knowledge which might conduce to their Happinefs. A difmal View of the Interior of all Civil Society. The lower Part broken and ground down by the moft cruel Oppreffion; and the Rich by their artificial Method of Life bringing worfe Evils on themfelves, than their Tyranny could poffibly inflidl on thofe below them. Very different is the Profpedi of the Natural State, Here there is no * want which Nature gives, and they can be O fenfible fenfible of no other Wants, which is not to be fupplied by a very moderate degree of Labour j therefore there is no Slavery. Neither is there any Luxury, becaufe no fingle Man can fupply the Materials of it. Life is Ample, and therefore it is happy.