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 themfelves fuch a Difagreement, that the moft 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 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 Doctor anfwers 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 Antagonift ftarts up and preffes me hard. I enter the Field, and retain these three Perfons to defend my Caufe. My Cause, 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 Triumph is turned into Mourning. I have used or, inftead of and, or fome Miftake, fmall in Appearance, but dreadful in its Confequences, and have the whole of my Success quafhed in a writ of Error. I remove my Suit; I fhift from Court to Court; I fly from Equity

1

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 Prifon, 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 Sophiftry. 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 fo intricate, that you are yourselves lost 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 complainedof? A Man's Property is to ferve for the Purposes of his Support; and therefore to delay a Determination concerning that, is the worst Injuftice, becaufe it cutsoff 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 cunctatio 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 most speedily decided, frequently excercifes the Wit of Succeffions of Lawyers, for many Generations. Multa virúm volvens durando fæcula vincit. But the Question concerning a Man's Life, that great Question in which no Delay ought to be counted tedious, is commonly determined in twenty-four Hours at the utmost. 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 eftablished 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 mself, 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 myfelf; 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 begins, Religion ends. Cannot I fay, as truly at leaft, of human Laws, that where Mystery 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 Myftery. The Lawyers, 2s. well as the Theologians, have erected another Reafon befides Natural Reafon; 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 metaphyfical 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 Men's Lives and Properties, they have reduced all Mankind into the most abject and fervile Dependence. We are Tenants at the Will of thefe Gentlemen for every thing; and a metaphyfical Quibble is to decide whether the greateft Villain breathing fhall meet his Deferts, or escape with Impunity, or whether the best Man in the Society fhall not be reduced to the lowest and most despicable Condition it affords. In a word, my Lord, the Injuftice, Delay, Puerility, VOL. II.

F

falfe

falfe 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 Lordship, as you have frequently lamented the Miseries 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 result from thefe Relations. The most obvious Division of Society is into Rich and Poor; and it is no less obvious, that the Number of the former bear a great Disproportion to those of the latter. The whole Bufinef 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 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 those who labour moft, enjoy the fewest 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 scarce be

lieve