dences of the Right, but upon the Obfervance or Neglect of fome Forms of Words in ufe with the Gentlemen of the Robe, about which there is even amongst themselves fuch a Difagreement, that the most experienced Veterans in the Profeffion can never be pofitively affured that they are not mistaken.

Let us expoftulate with these learned Sages, these Priests of the facred Temple of Juftice. Are we Judges of our own Property? By no means. You then, who are initiated into the Mysteries 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 Doctor answers me in the Affirmative: The reverend Serjeant replies in the Negative: The learned Barrifter reasons upon one fide and upon the other, and concludes nothing. What fhall I do? An Antago nift starts up and preffes me hard. I enter the Field, and retain these three Perfons to defend my Cause. 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 holda fagacious Commander, in the Adverfary's Army has found a Flaw in the Proceeding. My Triumph is turned into Mourning. I have ufed or, inftead of and, or fome Miftake, fmall in Appearance, but dreadful in its 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 Mistake, in which I had no Share, decides at once upon my Liberty and Property, fending me from the Court to the Prison, and adjudging my Family to Beggary and Famine. I am innocent, Gentlemen, of the Darkness and Uncertainty of your Science. I never darkened it with abfurd and contradictory Notions, nor confounded it with Chicane and Sophistry. You have excluded me from any Share in the Conduct of my own Cause; the Science was too deep for me; I acknowledged it; but it was too deep even for yourselves: You have made the Way so intricate, that you are yourselves loft in it: You err, and you punish me for your Errors.

The Delay of the Law is, your Lordship will tell me, a trite Topic, and which of its Abufes have not been too feverely felt not to be often complained of? A Man's Property is to ferve for the Purposes of his Support; and therefore to delay a Determination concerning that, is the worft Injuftice, because it cuts off the very End and Purpose 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 protracted. Mistakes in this Cafe are as often fallen into as in any other; and if the Judgment is fudden, the Mistakes are the most irretrievable of all others. Of this the Gentlemen of the Robe are themselves fenfible, and they have brought it into a Maxim: De morte hominis nulla eft cunétatio longa. But what could have induced them

to

to reverse the Rules and to contradict that Reafon which dictated them, I am utterly unable to guess. A Point concerning Property, which ought, for the Reasons I just mentioned, to be moft fpeedily decided, frequently exercises the Wit of Succeffions of Lawers, for many Generations. Multa virúm volvens durando fæcula 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 Injustice and Abfurdity should be infeparable Companions.

Afk of Politicians the End for which Laws were originally defigned; and they will answer, that the Laws were defigned as a Protection for the Poor and Weak, against 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, because he has changed the Burthen, If the Poor Man is not able to fupport his Suit, according to the vexatious and expenfive Manner established in civilized Countries, has not 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 Ufurpation 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 myself, or make Reprifal by Surprize or by Cunning, or by any other way in which I may be fuperior

fuperior to him. But in Political Society, a rich Man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend myself; for Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I attempt to avenge myself, the whole Force of that Society is ready to complete my Ruin.

A good Parfon once faid, that where Mystery be'gins, Religion ends. Cannot I fay, as truly at least, of human Laws, that where Myftery begins, Juftice ends? It is hard to fay, whether the Doctors of Law or Divinity have made the greater Advances in the lucrative Bufinefs of Mystery. The Lawyers, as well as the Theologians, have erected another Reafon befides Natural Reafon; and the Result has been, another Juftice befides Natural Juftice. They have fo bewildered the World and themselves in unmeaning Forms and Ceremonies, and fo perplexed the plaineft Matters with metaphyfical Jargon, that it carries the highest Danger to a Man out of that Profeffion, to make the leaft Step without their Advice and Affistance. Thus by confining to themfelves the Knowledge of the Foundation of all Men's Lives and Properties, they have reduced all Mankind into the most abject and fervile Dependance. We are Tenants at the Will of thefe Gentlemen for every thing; and a metaphyfical Quibble is to decide whether the greatest Villain breathing fhall meet his Deserts, or escape with Impunity, or whether the best Man in the Society fhall not be reduced to the lowest and most defpicable Condition it affords. In a word, my Lord, the Injustice, Delay, Puerility, VOL. II. falfe

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false Refinement, and affected Mystery of the Law are 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 Lordfhip, 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 Lordship's noble House has derived its Wealth and its Honours from that Profeffion.

Before we finish our Examination of Artificial Society, I fhall lead your Lordship 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 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; and that of the Rich, in Return, is to find the best Methods of confirming the Slavery and increasing 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 those who labour moft, enjoy the feweft Things; and that those who labour not at all, have the greatest Number of Enjoyments. A Conftitution of Things this, ftrange and ridiculous beyond Expreffion. We fcarce be

lieve