names if they write matters of fact 't is a sign they cannot make them good and all men are agreed to reject their Testimony except such as resolve to deny others common justice but the ill opinion of these prejudic'd persons can no more injure any man than their good opinion will do him honor Besides other reasons of mentioning my suppos'd designs one is to disabuse several people who as I am told are made to believe that in the History of SOCRATES I draw a Parallel between that Philosopher and JESUS CHRIST This is a most scandalous and unchristian calumny as will more fully appear to the world whenever the Book it self is publish'd for that I have bin som time about it I freely avow yet not in the manner those officious Informers report but as becoms a disinterested Historian and a friend to all mankind The Inscription on the Monument of Sir JAMES HARRINGTON and his three Sons at Exton in Rutlandshire HERE lieth Sir James Harrington of Exton Kt. with a And Sister to Sir Philip Sidney Kt. Lucy his Wife Daughter to Sir William Sidney Kt. by whom he had 18 Children wherof three Sons and 8 Daughters marry'd as follows THE eldest Son Sir b Who was afterwards created Ld Harrington and his Lady was Governess to the Queen of Bohemia His Family is extinct as to Heirs Male One of his Daughters was marry'd to the Earl of Bedford and was Groom of the Stole to Q. Ann. The other was marry'd to a Scotch Lord whose name was Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin his Grandson now Lord Alisbury John marry'd the Heiress of Robert Keylwoy Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liverys The 2 d Son Sir c Who happen'd to be President of Ireland and from him descended my Lady Fretchavil's Father my Lady Morison and my Lord Falkland's Lady Henry took to Wife one of the Coheirs of Francis Agar one of his Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland the 3 d Son James d Afterwards Baronet To him were born Sir Edward Harrington Sir Sapcotes Harrington and Mr. John Harrington who had Issue both Sons and Daughters Harrington Esq had to Wife one of the Coheirs of Robert Sapcotes Esq The eldest Daughter Elizabeth was married to Sir Edward e Who was Father to the Lord Montague the Earl of Manchester and Lord Privy Seal and Sir Sidney Montague who was afterwards created Earl of Sandwich and to the Earl of Rutlana's Lady and Judg Montague Montague Kt. The 2 d Frances to Sir William f Who was afterwards created Lord Chichester and Earl of Dunsmore and marry'd one of his Daughters to the Earl of Southamton by whom he had the present Lady Northumberland And his other Daughter marry'd her self to Col. Villâ—rs and is now Governess to the Lady Mary the Duke of York's eldest Daughter Lee Kt. The 3 d Margaret to Don g Which Dukedom afterwards fell to him and by this Lady he had one sole Daughter and Heir who is said to have marry'd the Duke of Ferio and by him to have had one Daughter who is marry'd to a King of Portugal Bonitto de Sisnores of Spain of the Family of the Dukes of Frantasquo The 4 th Katherine to Sir Edward h Of Lincolnshire the King's Standard-bearer Dimmock Kt. The 5 th Mary to Sir Edward i An antient noble Family in Kent Wingâ—ield Kt. The 6 th Maball to Sir Andrew k Now Lord Cambden Owner of the place where this Monument is â—oell Kt. The 7 th Surah was marry'd to the Lord Hastings Heir to the Earl of Huntingdon The 8 th Theodosia l One of whose Daughters marry'd the Earl of Hume in Scotland and had by him two Daughters one married my Lord Morrice and the other my Lord Maitland now Duke of Lauderdale The other Daughter of my Lady Dudley was Heir to the Honour of Dudley Castle of whose Issue by the Mother's side is the present Lord Dudley to the Lord Dudley of Dudley Castle THE same Sir James and Lucy were marry'd fifty years She died first in the 72 d year of her Age he shortly after yielded to Nature being 80 years old in the year of our Lord 1591 and of Queen Elizabeth's Reign 34. their Son James being made sole Executor to them both who that he might as well perform to his Parents their Rites as leave a Testimony of his own Piety to Posterity hath erected and dedicated this Monument to their eternal Memory The Mechanics of Nature OR An Imperfect Treatise written by JAMES HARRINGTON during his sickness to prove against his Doctors that the Notions he had of his own Distemper were not as they alleg'd Hypocondriac Whimsys or Delirious Fancys The PREFACE HAVING bin about nine months som say in a Disease I in a Cure I have bin the wonder of Physicians and they mine not but that we might have bin reconcil'd for Books I grant if they keep close to Nature must be good ones but I deny that Nature is bound to Books I am no study'd Naturalist having long since given over that Philosophy as inscrutable and incertain for thus I thought with my self Nature to whom it is given to work as it were under her Veil or behind the Curtain is the Art of God now if there be Arts of Men who have wrought openly enough to the understanding for example that of TITIAN nevertheless whose excellency I shall never reach How shall I thus sticking in the Bark at the Arts of Men be able to look thence to the Roots or dive into the Abyss of things in the Art of God And nevertheless Si placidum caput undis extulerit should Nature afford me a sight of her I do not think so meanly of my self but that I would know her as soon as another tho more learn'd man Laying therfore Arts wholly and Books almost all aside I shall truly deliver to the world how I felt and saw Nature that is how she came first into my senses and by the senses into my understanding Yet for the sake of my Readers and also for my own I must invert the order of my Discourse For theirs because till I can speak to men that have had the same Sensations with my self I must speak to such as have a like understanding with others For my own because being like in this Discourse to be the Monky that play'd at Chess with his Master I have need of som Cushion on my head that being in all I have spoken hitherto more laid at than my Reason My Discourse then is to consist of two parts the first in which I appeal to his understanding who will use his Reason is a Platform of Nature drawn out in certain Aphorisms and the second in which I shall appeal to his senses who in a Disease very common will make further trial is a Narrative of my Case A Platform or Scheme of Nature 1. NATURE is the Fiat the Breath and in the
towards the better settlement of the Kingdom Among these there was an eminent Royalist who prevail'd with him to draw up som Instructions for the King's service wherby he might be inabl'd to govern with satisfaction to the People and safety to himself which being perform'd and sign'd with his one hand his Friend after shewing it to several of the Courtiers found they did not approve a Scheme that was not likely to further their selfish Designs At last he put his Paper into the hands of a great Minister about the King and how well our Author was rewarded for his good Intentions we are now going to relate About this time he was busy in reducing his Politics into short and easy Aphorisms yet methodically digested in their natural order and suted to the most vulgar capacitys Of this he made no secret and freely communicated his Papers to all that visited him While he was putting the last hand to this System and as an innocent man apprehensive of no danger he was by an Order from the King on the 28 th of December 1661 seiz'd by Sir WILLIAM POULTNEY and others and committed to the Tower of London for treasonable Designs and Practices He had the written sheets of his Aphorisms then lying loose on the table before him and understanding they intended to carry 'em to the Council he beg'd the favor that he might stitch 'em together which was granted and so remov'd with som other Papers to Whitehall I have that Manuscript now in my hands and another Copy of the same which was given me by one of his acquaintance from both which I have printed it among the rest of his Works It is a complete System of Politics and discovers the true Springs of the rise temper and dissolution of all sorts of Governments in a very brief and perspicuous manner 32. HE had no time given him to take leave of any body but was straight convey'd to the Tower where none were allow'd to com to his sight or speech His Sisters were inconsolable and the more so the less they knew what was laid to their Brother's charge One of them who on another occasion had experienc'd the King's favor threw her self now at his feet and petition'd him to have compassion on her Brother who thro a great mistake was fallen under his Majesty's displeasure for as she was sure that none of his Subjects exceded his Loyalty so his Majesty might see he was not the man they design'd since the Warrant was for Sir JAMES HARRINGTON wheras her Brother was never honor'd with such a Title by his Majesty's Ancestors and he would not have accepted it from OLIVER To this the King made answer that tho they might be mistaken in his Title he doubted he might be found more guilty of the Crimes alleg'd against him than he wish'd any Brother of hers to be Then she press'd he might be examin'd before his Majesty or be brought to a speedy trial Shortly after my Lord LAUDERDALE Sir GEORGE CARTERET and Sir EDWARD WALKER were sent to the Tower to question him about a Plot which they said he had contriv'd against his Majesty's Person and Government At this he was extraordinarily reviv'd not being able to divine before the cause of his Confinement and knowing himself wholly innocent of this Charge He found means to transmit a Copy of his Examination to his Sisters giving 'em leave to publish it which was never hitherto don and is as follows 33. THE Examination of JAMES HARRINGTON taken in the Tower of London by the Earl of LAUDERDALE Sir GEORGE CARTERET and Sir EDWARD WALKER LORD LAUDERDALE Sir I have heretofore accounted it an honor to be your Kinsman but am now sorry to see you upon this occasion very sorry I assure you HARRINGTON My Lord seeing this is an occasion I am glad to see you upon this occasion Which said the Commissioners sat down and Mr. HARRINGTON standing before my Lord he began in this manner Lord. SIR the King thinks it strange that you who have so eminently appear'd in Principles contrary to his Majesty's Government and the Laws of this Nation should ever since he came over live so quiet and unmolested and yet should be so ungrateful Were you disturb'd were you so much as affronted that you should enter into such desperat practices Har. MY Lord when I know why this is said I shall know what to say Lord. WELL then without any longer preamble will you answer me ingenuously and as you are a Gentleman to what I have to propose Har. MY Lord I value the asseveration as I am a Gentleman as high as any man but think it an asseveration too low upon this occasion wherfore with your leave I shall make use of som greater asseveration Lord. FOR that do as you see good do you know Mr. WILDMAN Har. MY Lord I have som acquaintance with him Lord. WHEN did you see him Har. MY Lord he and I have not bin in one house together these two years Lord. WILL you say so Har. YES my Lord. Lord. WHERE did you see him last Har. ABOUT a year ago I met him in a street that gos to Drury-lane Lord. DID you go into no house Har. NO my Lord. Sir G. Carteret THAT 's strange Lord. COM this will do you no good Had not you in March last meetings with him in Bowstreet in Coventgarden where there were about twenty more of you where you made a Speech about half an hour long that they should lay by distinguishing Names and betake themselves together into one Work which was to dissolve this Parlament and bring in a new one or the old one again Was not this meeting adjourn'd from thence to the Mill Bank were not you there also Har. MY Lord you may think if these things be true I have no refuge but to the mercy of God and of the King Lord. TRUE Har. WELL then my Lord solemnly and deliberatly with my eys to Heaven I renounce the mercy of God and the King if any of this be true or if ever I thought or heard of this till now that you tell it me Sir G. C. THIS is strange Lord. DO you know BAREBONES Har. YES my Lord. Lord. WHEN did you see him Har. I THINK that I have call'd at his house or shop thrice in my life Lord. HAD you never any meetings with him since the King came over Har. NO my Lord. Sir G. C. THIS is strange Lord. DO you know Mr. NEVIL Har. VERY well my Lord. Lord. WHEN did you see him Har. MY Lord I seldom us'd to visit him but when he was in Town he us'd to see me at my house every evening as duly almost as the day went over his head Lord. WERE you not with him at som public meeting Har. MY Lord the publickest meeting I have bin with him at was at dinner at his own lodging where I met Sir BERNARD GASCOIN and I think Col. LEG Sir Edw. Walker THEY were good
ought to be had about Members for the City of London as a precedent for the rest of the Kingdom to follow wherupon they nominated the four Members after chosen and now sitting in Parlament but three of these being then present stood up and clear'd themselves of this Aspersion Their next care was to frame a Petition to the Parlament for a preaching Ministry and Liberty of Conscience Then they were to divide and subdivide themselves into several Councils and Committees for the better carrying on their business by themselves or their Agents and Accomplices all over the Kingdom In these Meetings HARRINGTON was said to be often in the Chair that they had taken an Oath of Secrecy and concerted measures for levying Men and Mony 35. THE Chancellor added that tho he had certain Information of the times and places of their meetings and particularly those of HARRINGTON and WILDMAN they were nevertheless so fixt in their nefarious design that none of those they had taken would confess any thing not so much as that they had seen or spoken to one another at those times or places which obstinacy he thought must needs procede from a faithfulness to their Oath But a Committee of Lords and Commons after several sittings could make nothing of this imaginary Plot and did not ever name our Author in all their Reports 36. HIS Sisters in the mean time being impatient to see him and to know his Condition after several fruitless Petitions obtain'd an order of Council at last to be admitted into the Tower where they found him barbarously treated by the Lieutenant whom they soften'd into more humanity with a present of fifty pounds under the notion of Fees By them he deliver'd a Petition to the King importing that in the late times he was no public Person nor acted to any man's detriment in his Life Body or Estate but on the contrary had don his indeavors to help all persons in distress that he had oppos'd the Usurper in such a manner as was judg'd even by the Royalists themselves to be very much to his disadvantage and that it was not probable that he who had liv'd so peaceably before would attemt any Novelty after his Majesty's Restoration wherfore he beg'd the favor of a public Trial or a more easy confinement But tho he had bin now a prisoner during the space of five months neither he nor any on his behalf could receive an Answer to their Petitions which made him somwhat impatient not so much to injoy his Liberty as to vindicat himself from the base Aspersions of his Enemys He therfore continually urg'd his sister ASHTON to procure him a Trial which she not being able to effect he petition'd the Parlament shewing that he had lain a close Prisoner in the Tower for five months upon a bare suspicion of som disaffection to the Government which in all his Examinations did not in the least appear and that he hop'd e'er that time so to have clear'd his innocence by a public Trial as to deserve his Liberty But because he understood these matters were in som measure represented to their House he would not presume without first making his application to them to sue for his freedom by other legal means May it therfore please this honorable House says he to take tender consideration of the sufferings of an Englishman hitherto innocent and that the long continuance of him in prison without trial may be hereafter the case of others and a precedent for the like case and that this honorable House would please to move his Majesty that your Petitioner may be proceded against by a legal way of Trial or that he may have his freedom that so he may no longer languish in Prison to the ruin of his Health and Estate These are not the words of a man conscious of Guilt or afraid of Power 37. HIS Sister could get no Member to deliver this Petition or to give her any incouragement som alleging that she was more likely to destroy than serve her Brother and others that by unseasonable pressing she might precipitat his danger wheras if he would be patient under his sufferings he might be safe in his restraint Then he advis'd her to move for his habeas Corpus which at first was flatly deny'd but afterwards when it was granted and duly serv'd his Warder came one day to his Sisters at Westminster and acquainted them that between one and two a clock that morning their Brother was put on board a Ship to be transported he knew not whither without any time given him either to see his Friends or to make provision of Mony Linen or other necessarys Nor could his Relations for a whole fortnight either at the Tower or in the Secretarys Office learn what was becom of him till they receiv'd a note from himself on board one of the King's Ships then lying under Hurst Castle informing them that he believ'd he was bound for Plymouth About a month after he sent 'em word by another letter that he was landed on a kind of Rock opposit to Plymouth call'd St. Nicholas's Island whence he afterwards had frequent opportunitys of writing to 'em many pious and moral Admonitions as well as Letters of business and entertainment 38. BUT his close restraint to this small spot of Earth where there was no fresh Water and scarce any room to move his Body quickly chang'd the state of his Health this occasion'd him to petition he might be remov'd to Plymouth which was granted his Brother WILLIAM and his Uncle ANTHONY SAMUEL obliging themselves in a Bond of 5000 l. for his safe Imprisonment Here he had not only the liberty of walking on the Hoe but was also us'd with extraordinary Respect by the Deputy Governor of the Fort Sir JOHN SKELTON who frequently invited him to his Table and much lov'd his Conversation Among the other Acquaintance he made at Plymouth one was Dr. DUNSTAN who advis'd him to take a preparation of Guaiacum in Coffee as a certain cure for the Scurvy with which he was then troubl'd He drank of this Liquor in great quantitys every morning and evening But after using it for som time his Sisters to their no small amazement receiv'd no more Answers to their Letters At length Advice was brought 'em from his Landlady that his Fancy was much disorder'd and desiring som body might com to look after him Immediatly one of them address'd her self to the Earl of Bath then chief Governor of Plymouth and inform'd him of his Prisoner's sad condition This noble Lord who laid many Obligations on him before and gave frequent orders for his good Usage went hereupon to intercede for him with the King representing the danger of his Life if he were not remov'd from that unwholsom place to London where he might have the Advice of able Physicians and the King was accordingly pleas'd to grant a Warrant for his Release since nothing appear'd against him supported by good Proof
most of his Materials are pleas'd to bestow on them there being no mention of the name of Scot in any Authentic Writer till four hundred years after CHRIST No we shall no more envy these old Heroes to them than their placing the Red Lion in the dexter Point of their Escucheon But tho we might in justice reject them as fabulous and monkish yet since they themselves acknowlege them and they equally make against them we shall run them over like genuin History The first of this blessed Race was FERGUS first General and afterward got himself made King but no sooner cast away on the Coast of Ireland but a Contention arises about the validity of their Oath to him and Uncles are appointed to succede which argues it Elective so FERITHARIS Brother to FERGUS is King but his Nephew forms a Conspiracy against him forces him to resign and fly to the Iles where he dy'd FERITHARIS dying soon after was suspected to be poison'd After him coms in MAIN FERGUS'S second Son who with his Son DORNADILLA reign'd quietly fifty seven years But REUTHER his Son not being of age the People make his Uncle NOTHAT take the Government but he misruling REUTHER by the help of one DOUAL rais'd a Party against him and beheads him makes himself King with the indignation of the People that he was not elected so that by the Kindred of NOTHAT he is fought taken and displac'd but afterwards makes a Party and regainâ— His Son THEREUS was too young so that his Brother RHEUTHA succeeded but after seventeen years was glad to resign Well THEREUS reigns but after six years declines to such Leudness that they force him to fly and govern by a Prorex After his Death JOSINA his Brother and his Son FINAN are Kings and quietly dy so BUT then coms DURST one who slays all the Nobility at a Banquet and is by the People slain After his Death the validity of the Oath to FERGUS is call'd in question and the elective Power vindicated but at length EVEN his Brother is admitted who tho he rul'd valiantly and well yet he had GILLUS a Bastard Son Vafer Regni cupidus The next of the Line are Twins DOCHAM and DORGAL Sons of DURST they while they disputed about priority of Age are by the artifice of GILLUS slain in a Tumult who makes a strong Party and seizing of a Hold says he was made Supervisor by his Father and so becoms King cuts off all the Race of DURST but is after forc'd out of the Kingdom and taken by EVEN the Second his Successor who was chosen by the People and by him put to death in Ireland After EVEN coms EDER after EDER his Son EVEN the Third who for making a Law that the Nobility should have the enjoyment of all new marry'd Women before they were touch'd by their Husbands was doom'd to Prison during his Life and there strangl'd His Successor was his Kinsman METELLAN after whom was elected CARATAC whom his Brother CORBRET succeded But then came DARDAN whom the Lords made to take on him the Government by reason of the Nonage of CORBRET'S Son who for his Leudness was taken by the People and beheaded AFTER him CORBRET the Second whose Son LUCTAC for his Leudness was by the People put to death then was elected MOGALD who following his vitious Predecessors steps found his Death like theirs violent HIS Son CONAR one of the Conspirators against him succeded but misgoverning was clapt in Prison and there dy'd ETHODIUS his Sister's Son succeded who was slain in the night in his Chamber by his Piper HIS Son being a Minor SATRAEL his Brother was accepted who seeking to place the Succession in his own Line grew so hateful to the People that not daring to com abroad he was strangl'd in the night by his own Servants which made way for the youngest Brother DONALD who outdid the others Vices by contrary Virtues and had a happy Reign of one and twenty years ETHODIUS the Second Son of the first of that name was next a dull inactive Prince Familiarium tumultu occisus HIS Son ATHIRCO promis'd fair but deceiv'd their expectations with most horrid Leudness and at length vitiated the Daughters of NATHALOCK a Nobleman and caus'd them to be whipt before his eys but seeing himself surrounded by Conspirators eluded their Fury with his own Sword his Brother and Children being forc'd to fly to the Picts NATHALOCK turning his Injury into Ambition made himself King and govern'd answerably for he made most of the Nobility to be strangl'd under pretence of calling them to Council and was after slain by his own Servants AFTER his Death ATHIRCO'S Children were call'd back and FINDOC his Son being of excellent hopes accepted who made good what his Youth promis'd he beat in sundry Battels DONALD the Ilander who seeing he could not prevail by force sent two as Renegados to the King who being not accepted conspire with his Brother by whose means one of them slew him with a Spear when he was hunting HIS Brother DONALD succedes the youngest of the three who about to revenge his Brother's Death hears the Ilander is enter'd Marray whom he incountring with inequal Forces is taken Prisoner with thirty of the Nobility and whether of Grief or his Wounds dy's in Prison THE Ilander that had before usurp'd the Name now assum'd the Power the Nobles by reason of their kindred Prisoners being over-aw'd This man wanting nothing of an exquisit Tyrant was aster twelve years Butcherys slain by CRATHLINTH Son of FINDOC who under a disguise found Address and Opportunity The brave Tyrannicid was universally accepted and gave no cause of Repentance his Reign is famous for a War begun between the Scots and Picts about a Dog as that between the Trojans and Italians for a white Hart and the defection of CARAUSIUS from DIOCLESIAN which happen'd in his time HIS Kinsman FINCORMAC succeded worthy of memory for little but the Piety of the Culdys an Order of religious Men of that time overborn by others succeding He being dead three Sons of his three Brothers contended for the Crown ROMACH as the eldest strengthen'd by his Alliance with the Picts with their assistance seiz'd on it forcing others to fly but proving cruel the Nobility conspir'd and slew him ANGUSIAN another Pretender succedes who being assail'd by NECTHAM King of the Picts who came to revenge ROMACH routed his Army in a pitcht Battel but NECTHAM coming again he was routed and both he and NECTHAM slain FETHELMAC the third Pretender came next who beating the Picts and wasting their Fields HERGUST when he saw there could be no advantage by the Sword suborn'd two Picts to murder him who drawing to conspiracy the Piper that lay in his Chamber as the manner was then he at the appointed time admitted them and there slew him THE next was EVGEN Son of FINCORMAC who was slain in a Battel with the Picts to the almost extirpation and banishment of the
part of the profits of certain Citys Boroughs or other places within his Earldom For an example of the possessions of Earls in antient times ETHELRED had to him and his Heirs the whole Kingdom of Mercia containing three or four Countys and there were others that had little less Kings Thane KINGS Thane was also an honorary Title to which he was qualify'd that had five Hides of Land held immediatly of the King by service of personal attendance insomuch that if a Churl or Countryman had thriven to this proportion having a Church a Kitchin a Belhouse that is a Hall with a Bell in it to call his Family to dinner a Boroughgate with a seat that is a Porch of his own and any distinct Office in the Kings Court then was he the Kings Thane But the proportion of a Hide Land otherwise call'd Caruca or a Plow Land is difficult to be understood because it was not certain nevertheless it is generally conceiv'd to be so much as may be manag'd with one Plow and would yield the maintenance of the same with the appurtenances in all kinds Middle Thane THE Middle Thane was feudal but not honorary he was also call'd a Vavasor and his Lands a Vavasory which held of som Mesn Lord and not immediatly of the King POSSESSIONS and their Tenures being of this nature shew the Balance of the Teuton Monarchy wherin the Riches of Earls were so vast that to arise from the Balance of their Dominion to their Power they were not only call'd Reguli or little Kings but were such indeed their Jurisdiction being of two sorts either that which was exercis'd by them in the Court of their Countys or in the High Court of the Kingdom Shiremoot IN the Territory denominating an Earl if it were all his own the Courts held and the Profits of that Jurisdiction were to his own use and benefit But if he had but som part of his County then his Jurisdiction and Courts saving perhaps in those possessions that were his own were held by him to the King's use and benefit that is he commonly supply'd the Office which the Sheriffs regularly executed in Countys that had no Earls and whence they came to be call'd Viscounts Viscounts The Court of the County that had an Earl was held by the Earl and the Bishop of the Diocess after the manner of the Sheriffs Turns to this day by which means both the Ecclesiastical and Temporal Laws were given in charge together to the Country The Causes of Vavasors or Vavasorys appertain'd to the cognizance of this Court where Wills were prov'd Judgment and Execution given Cases criminal and civil determin'd Halymoot THE Kings Thanes had the like Jurisdiction in their Thane Lands as Lords in their Manors where they also kept Courts BESIDES these in particular both the Earls and Kings Thanes together with the Bishops Abbots and Vavasors or Middle Thanes had in the High Court or Parlament of the Kingdom a more public Weidenagemoots Jurisdiction consisting First of deliberative Power for advising upon and assenting to new Laws Secondly of giving counsil in matters of State and Thirdly of Judicature upon Suits and Complaints I shall not omit to inlighten the obscurity of these times in which there is little to be found of a methodical Constitution of this High Court by the addition of an Argument which I conceive to bear a strong testimony to it self tho taken out of a late Writing that conceals the Author It is well known says he that in every quarter of the Realm a great many Boroughs do yet send Burgesses to the Parlament which nevertheless be so antiently and so long since decay'd and gon to nought that they cannot be shew'd to have bin of any Reputation since the Conquest much less to have obtain'd any such Privilege by the grant of any succeding King wherfore these must have had this right by more antient usage and before the Conquest they being inable now to shew whence they deriv'd it THIS Argument tho there be more I shall pitch upon as sufficient to prove First that the lower sort of the People had right to Session in Parlament during the time of the Teutons Secondly that they were qualify'd to the same by election in their Boroughs and if Knights of the Shire as no doubt they are be as antient in the Countrys Thirdly If it be a good Argument to say that the Commons during the reign of the Teutons were elected into Parlament because they are so now and no man can shew when this custom began I see not which way it should be an ill one to say that the Commons during the reign of the Teutons constituted also a distinct House because they do so now unless any man can shew that they did ever sit in the same House with the Lords Wherfore to conclude this part I conceive for these and other reasons to be mention'd hereafter that the Parlament of the Teutons consisted of the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of the Nation notwithstanding 25 Edw. 3. c. 1. the stile of divers Acts of Parliament which runs as that of Magna Charta in the Kings name only seeing the same was nevertheless enacted by the King Peers and Commons of the Land as is testify'd in those words by a subsequent Act. Monarchy of the Neusâ—rians THE Monarchy of the Teutons had stood in this posture about two hundred and twenty years when TURBO Duke of Neustria making his claim to the Crown of one of their Kings that dy'd childless follow'd it with successful Arms and being possest of the Kingdom us'd it as conquer'd distributing the Earldoms Thane Lands Bishoprics and Prelacys of the whole Realm among his Neustrians From this time the Earl came to be call'd Comes Consul and Dux tho Consul and Dux grew afterward out of use the Kings Thanes came to be call'd Barons and their Lands Baronys the Middle Thane holding still of a mean Lord retain'd the name of Vavasor Their Earls THE Earl or Comes continu'd to have the third part of the Pleas of the County paid to him by the Sheriff or Vice-comes now a distinct Officer in every County depending upon the King saving that such Earls as had their Countys to their own use were now Counts Palatin and had under the King Regal Jurisdiction insomuch that they constituted their own Sheriffs granted Pardons and issu'd Writs in their own names nor did the Kings Writ of ordinary Justice run in their 27 11. 8. Dominions till a late Statute wherby much of this privilege was taken away Their Barons FOR Barons they came from henceforth to be in different times of three kinds Barons by their Estates and Tenures Barons by Writ and Barons created by Letters Patents From TURBO the first to ADOXUS the seventh King from the Conquest Barons had their denomination from their Possessions and Tenures And these were either
Spiritual or Temporal for not only the Thane Lands but the Barons by their Possessions possessions of Bishops as also of som twenty six Abbats and two Priors were now erected into Baronys whence the Lords Spiritual that had suffrage in the Teuton Parlament as Spiritual Lords came to have it in the Neustrian Parlament as Barons and were made subject which they had not formerly bin to Knights service in chief Barony coming henceforth to signify all honorary possessions as well of Earls as Barons and Baronage to denote all kinds of Lords as well Spiritual as Temporal having right to sit in Parlament the Baronys in this sense were somtimes more and somtimes fewer but commonly about 200 or 250 containing in them a matter of sixty thousand feuda militum or Knights Fees wherof som twenty eight thousand were in the Clergy It is ill luck that no man can tell what the Land of a Knights Fee reckon'd in som Writs at 40 l. a year and in others at 10 was certainly worth for by such a help we might have exactly demonstrated the Balance of this Government But says COOK it contain'd Cook 11. Inst pag. 596. twelve Plow Lands and that was thought to be the most certain account But this again is extremely uncertain for one Plow out of som Land that was fruitful might work more than ten out of som other that was barren Nevertheless seeing it appears by BRACTON Balance of the Neustrian Monarchy that of Earldoms and Baronys it was wont to be said that the whole Kingdom was compos'd as also that these consisting of 60000 Knights Fees furnish'd 60000 men for the King's service being the whole Militia of this Monarchy it cannot be imagin'd that the Vavasorys or Freeholds in the People amounted to any considerable proportion Wherfore the Balance and Foundation of this Government was in the 60000 Knights Fees and these being possest by the 250 Lords it was a Government of the Few or of the Nobility wherin the People might also assemble but could have no more than a mere name And the Clergy holding a third to the whole Nation as is plain by the Parlament Roll it is an absurdity seeing the Clergy of France came first thro their Riches to be a State of that Kingdom to acknowlege the People to have bin a State of this Realm and not to allow it to the Clergy who were so much more weighty in the Balance which is 4 Rich. 2. Num. 13. that of all other whence a State or Order in a Government is denominated Wherfore this Monarchy consisted of the King and of the three ordines Regni or Estates the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons It consisted of these I say as to the balance tho during the Reign of som of these Kings not as to the administration Administration of the Neustrian Monarchy during the reign of the first Kings FOR the ambition of TURBO and som of those that more immediatly succeded him to be absolute Princes strove against the nature of their Foundation and inasmuch as he had divided almost the whole Realm among his Neustrians with som incouragement for a while But the Neustrians while they were but foren Plants having no security against the Natives but in growing up by their Princes sides were no sooner well rooted in their vast Dominions than they came up according to the infallible consequence of the Balance domestic and contracting the National interest of the Baronage grew as fierce in the vindication of the antient Rights and Liberties of the same as if they had bin always Natives Whence the Kings being as obstinat on the one side for their absolute Power as these on the other for their Immunitys grew certain Wars which took their denomination from the Barons THIS fire about the middle of the Reign of ADOXUS began to break out And wheras the Predecessors of this King had divers times bin forc'd to summon Councils resembling those of the Teutons to Barons by Writ which the Lords only that were Barons by Dominion and Tenure had hitherto repair'd ADOXUS seeing the effects of such Dominion began first not to call such as were Barons by Writ for that was according to the practice of antient times but to call such by Writs as were otherwise no Barons by which means striving to avoid the consequence of the Balance in coming unwillingly to set the Government streight he was the first that set it awry For the Barons in his Reign and his Successors having vindicated their antient Authority restor'd the Parlament with all the Rights and Privileges of the same saving that from thenceforth the Kings had found out a way wherby to help themselves against the mighty by Creatures of their own and such as had no other support but by their favor By which means this Government being indeed the Masterpiece of modern Prudence has bin cry'd up to the Skys as the only invention wherby at once to maintain the Soverainty of a Prince and the Liberty of the People Wheras indeed it has bin no other than a wrestling match wherin the Nobility as they have bin stronger have thrown the King or the King if he has bin stronger has thrown the Nobility or the King where he has had a Nobility and could bring them to his party has thrown the People as in France and Spain or the People where they have had no Nobility or could get them to be of their party have thrown the King as in Holland and of later times in Oceana But they came not 49 11. 3. to this strength but by such approaches and degrees as remain to be further open'd For wheras the Barons by Writ as the sixty four Abbats and thirty six Priors that were so call'd were but pro tempore DICOTOME being the twelfth King from the Conquest began to Barons by Letters Patents make Barons by Letters Patents with the addition of honorary Pensions for the maintenance of their Dignitys to them and their Heirs so that they were hands in the King's Purse and had no shoulders for his Throne Of these when the House of Peers came once to be full as will be seen hereafter there was nothing more emty But for the present the Throne having other supports they did not hurt that so much as they did the King For the old Barons taking DICOTOME'S Prodigality to such Creatures so ill that they depos'd him got the trick of it and never gave over setting up and pulling down their Kings according to their various interests and that faction of the White Dissolution of the late Monarchy of Oceana and Red into which they had bin thenceforth divided till PANURGUS the eighteenth King from the Conquest was more by their Favor than his Right advanc'd to the Crown This King thro his natural subtilty reflecting at once upon the greatness of their Power and the inconstancy of their favor began to find another Flaw in
he shall not leave or give to any one of them in Marriage or otherwise for her Portion above the value of one thousand five hundred Pounds in Lands Goods and Monys Nor shall any Friend Kinsman or Kinswoman add to her or their Portion or Portions that are so provided for to make any one of them greater Nor shall any man demand or have more in marriage with any Woman Nevertheless an Heiress shall enjoy her lawful Inheritance and a Widow whatsoever the Bounty or Affection of her Husband shall bequeath to her to be divided in the first Generation wherin it is divisible according as has bin shewn SECONDLY For Lands lying and being within the Territorys of Marpesia the Agrarian shall hold in all parts as it is establish'd in Oceana except only in the Standard or Proportion of Estates in Land which shall be set for Marpesia at five hundred Pounds And THIRDLY For Panopea the Agrarian shall hold in all parts as in Oceana And whosoever possessing above the proportion allow'd by these Laws shall be lawfully convicted of the same shall forfeit the Overplus to the use of the State AGRARIAN Laws of all others have ever bin the greatest Bugbears and so in the Institution were these at which time it was ridiculous to see how strange a fear appear'd in every body of that which being good for all could hurt no body But instead of the proof of this Order I shall out of those many Debates that happen'd e're it could be past insert two Speeches that were made at the Council of Legislators the first by the Right Honorable PHILAUTUS DE GARBO a young Man being Heir apparent to a very Noble Family and one of the Counsillors who exprest himself as follows May it please your Highness my Lord ARCHON of Oceana IF I did not to my capacity know from how profound a Counsillor I dissent it would certainly be no hard task to make it as light as the day First That an Agrarian is altogether unnecessary Secondly That it is dangerous to a Commonwealth Thirdly That it is insufficient to keep out Monarchy Fourthly That it ruins Familys Fifthly That it destroys Industry And last of all that tho it were indeed of any good use it will be a matter of such difficulty to introduce in this Nation and so to settle that it may be lasting as is altogether invincible FIRST That an Agrarian is unnecessary to a Commonwealth what clearer Testimony can there be than that the Commonwealths which are our Cotemporarys Venice to which your Highness gives the upper hand of all Antiquity being one have no such thing And there can be no reason why they have it not seeing it is in the Soverain Power at any time to establish such an Order but that they need it not wherfore no wonder if ARISTOTLE who pretends to be a good Commonwealthsman has long since derided PHALEAS to whom it was attributed by the Greecs for his invention SECONDLY That an Agrarian is dangerous to a Common-wealth is affirm'd upon no slight Authority seeing MACCHIAVEL is positive that it was the Dissension which happen'd about the Agrarian that caus'd the Destruction of Rome nor do I think that it did much better in Lacedemon as I shall shew anon THIRDLY That it is insufficient to keep out Monarchy cannot without impiety be deny'd the holy Scriptures bearing witness that the Commonwealth of Israel notwithstanding her Agrarian submitted her neck to the arbitrary Yoke of her Princes FOURTHLY Therfore to com to my next Assertion That it is destructive to Familys this also is so apparent that it needs pity rather than proof Why alas do you bind a Nobility which no Generation shall deny to have bin the first that freely sacrific'd their Blood to the antient Libertys of this People on an unholy Altar Why are the People taught That their Liberty which except our noble Ancestors had bin born must have long since bin bury'd cannot now be born except we be bury'd A Common-wealth should have the innocence of the Dove Let us leave this purchase of her Birth to the Serpent which eats it self out of the womb of its Mother FIFTHLY But it may be said perhaps that we are fallen from our first Love becom proud and idle It is certain my Lords that the hand of God is not upon us for nothing But take heed how you admit of such assaults and sallys upon Mens Estates as may slacken the Nerve of Labor and give others also reason to believe that their Sweat is vain or else whatsoever be pretended your Agrarian which is my Fifth Assertion must indeed destroy Industry For that so it did in Lacedemon is most apparent as also that it could do no otherwise where every Man having his 40 Quarters of Barly with Wine proportionable supply'd him out of his own Lot by his Laborer or Helot and being confin'd in that to the scantling above which he might not live there was not any such thing as a Trade or other Art except that of War in exercise Wherfore a Spartan if he were not in Arms must sit and play with his fingers whence insu'd perpetual War and the Estate of the City being as little capable of increase as that of the Citizens her inevitable Ruin Now what better ends you can propose to your selves in the like ways I do not so well see as I perceive that there may be worse For Lacedemon yet was free from Civil War But if you imploy your Citizens no better than she did I cannot promise you that you shall fare so well because they are still desirous of War that hope it may be profitable to them and the strongest Security you can give of Peace is to make it gainful Otherwise Men will rather chuse that wherby they may break your Laws than that wherby your Laws may break them Which I speak not so much in relation to the Nobility or such as would be holding as to the People or them that would be getting the passion in these being so much the stronger as a Man's felicity is weaker in the fruition of things than in their prosecution and increase TRULY my Lords it is my fear that by taking of more hands and the best from Industry you will further indamage it than can be repair'd by laying on a few and the worst while the Nobility must be forc'd to send their Sons to the Plow and as if this were not enough to marry their Daughters also to Farmers SIXTHLY But I do not see to com to the last point how it is possible that this thing should be brought about to your good I mean tho it may to the destruction of many For that the Agrarian of Israel or that of Lacedemon might stand is no such miracle the Lands without any consideration of the former Proprietor being survey'd and cast into equal Lots which could neither be bought nor sold nor multiply'd so that they knew wherabout to have a Man But
besides their Beauty view'd and try'd at the Tower of Emporium shall be expos'd by the Justice of Peace appertaining to that Hundred the said Justice with the Jurymen being Judges of the Game and the Judges shall deliver to the Horsman that gains the Prize at the Career one sute of Arms being of the value of twenty Pounds to the Pikeman that gains the Prize at throwing the Bullet one sute of Arms of the value of ten Pounds to the Musketeer that gains the Prize at the Mark with his Musket one sute of Arms of the value of ten Pounds and to the Cannoneer that gains the Prize at the mark with the Cannon Culverin or Saker a Chain of Silver being of the value of ten Pounds provided that no one man at the same Muster plays above one of the Prizes Whosoever gains a Prize is bound to wear it if it be his lot upon Service and no man shall sell or give away any Armor thus won except he has lawfully attain'd to two or more of them at the Games THE Games being ended and the Muster dismist the Captain of the Troop or Company shall repair with a Copy of the List to the Lord Lieutenant of the Tribe and the High Constable with a Duplicat of the same to the Custos Rotulorum or Mustermaster General to be also communicated to the Censors in each of which the Jurymen giving a note upon every name of an only Son shall certify that the List is without subterfuge or evasion or if it be not an account of those upon whom the Evasion or Subterfuge lys to the end that the Phylarch or the Censors may animadvert accordingly AND every Wednesday next insuing the last of February the Lord Lieutenant Custos Rotulorum the Censors and the Conductor shall receive the whole Muster of the Youth of that Tribe at the Rendevouz of the same distributing the Horse and Foot with their Officers according to the Directions given in the like case for the distribution of the Elders and the whole Squadron being put by that means in Battalia the second Game of this Commonwealth shall begin by the exercise of the Youth in all the parts of their military Disciplin according to the Orders of Parlament or direction of the Council of War in that case And the hundred Pounds allow'd by the Parlament for the Ornament of the Muster in every Tribe shall be expended by the Phylarch upon such artificial Castles Citadels or the like Devices as may make the best and most profitable sport for the Youth and their Spectators Which being ended the Censors having prepar'd the Vrns by putting into the Horse Vrn 220 Gold Balls wherof ten are to be mark'd with the letter M and other ten with the letter P into the Foot Vrn 700 Gold Balls wherof 50 are to be mark'd with the letter M and 50 with the letter P and after they have made the Gold Balls in each Vrn by the addition of Silver Balls to the same in number equal with the Horse and Foot of the Stratiots the Lord Lieutenant shall call the Stratiots to the Vrns where they that draw the Silver Balls shall return to their places and they that draw the Gold Balls shall fall off to the Pavilion where for the space of one hour they may chop and change their Balls according as one can agree with another whose Lot he likes better But the hour being out the Conductor separating them whose Gold Balls have no letter from those whose Balls are mark'd shall cause the Cryer to call the Alphabet as first A wherupon all they whose Gold Balls are not mark'd and whose sirnames begin with the letter A shall repair to a Clerc appertaining to the Custos Rotulorum who shall first take the names of that letter then those of B and so on till all the names be alphabetically inrol'd And the Youth of this List being six hundred Foot in a Tribe that is 30000 Foot in all the Tribes and two hundred Horse in a Tribe that is 10000 Horse in all the Tribes are the second Essay of the Stratiots and the standing Army of this Commonwealth to be always ready upon command to march They whose Balls are mark'd with M amounting by 20 Horse and 50 Foot in a Tribe to 2500 Foot and 500 Horse in all the Tribes and they whose Balls are mark'd with P in every point correspondent are parts of the third Essay they of M being straight to march for Marpesia and they of P for Panopea to the ends and according to the further directions following in the Order for the provincial Orbs. IF the Polemarchs or Field Officers be elected by the scrutiny of the Council of War and the Strategus commanded by the Parlament or the Dictator to march the Lords Lieutenants who have power to muster and disciplin the Youth so often as they receive Orders for the same from the Council of War are to deliver the second Essay or so many of them as shall be commanded to the Conductors who shall present them to the Lord Strategus at the time and place appointed by his Excellency to be the general Rendevou of Oceana where the Council of War shall have the accommodation of Horses and Arms for his men in readiness and the Lord Strategus having arm'd mounted and distributed them whether according to the recommendation of their Prize Arms or otherwise shall lead them away to his Shipping being also ready and provided with Victuals Ammunition Artillery and all other necessarys commanding them and disposing of the whole Conduct of the War by his sole Power and Authority And this is the third Essay of the Stratiots which being ship'd or march'd out of their Tribes the Lord Lieutenants shall reelect the second Essay out of the remaining part of the first and the Senat another Strategus IF any Veteran or Veterans of this Nation the term of whose Youth or Militia is expir'd having a desire to be entertain'd in the further service of the Commonwealth shall present him or themselves at the Rendevou of Oceana to the Strategus it is in his power to take on such and so many of them as shall be agreed by the Polemarchs and to send back an equal number of the Stratiots AND for the better managing of the proper Forces of this Nation the Lord Strategus by appointment of the Council of War and out of such Levys as they shall have made in either or both of the Provinces to that end shall receive Auxiliarys by Sea or elswhere at som certain place not exceding his proper Arms in number AND whosoever shall refuse any one of his three Essays except upon cause shewn he be dispens'd withal by the Phylarch or if the Phylarch be not assembled by the Censors of his Tribe shall be deem'd a Helot or public Servant shall pay a fifth part of his yearly Revenue besides all other Taxes to the Commonwealth for his Protection and be incapable of bearing any Magistracy
except such as is proper to the Law Nevertheless if a man has but two Sons the Lord Lieutenant shall not suffer above one of them to com to the Vrn at one Election of the second Essay and tho he has above two Sons there shall not com above half the Brothers at one Election and if a man has but one Son he shall not com to the Vrn at all without the consent of his Parents or his Guardians nor shall it be any reproach to him or impediment to his bearing of Magistracy THIS Order with relation to foren Expeditions will be prov'd and explain'd together with 27. Order THE twenty seventh ORDER providing in case of Invasion apprehended that the Lords High Sherifs of the Tribes upon Commands receiv'd from the Parlament or the Dictator distribute the Bands of the Elders into divisions after the nature of the Essays of the Youth and that the second Division or Essay of the Elders being made and consisting of 30000 Foot and 10000 Horse be ready to march with the second Essay of the Youth and be brought also by the Conductors to the Strategus THE second Essay of the Elders and Youth being march'd out of their Tribes the Lords High Sherifs and Lieutenants shall have the remaining part of the annual Bands both of Elders and Youth in readiness which if the Beacons be fir'd shall march to the Rendevou to be in that case appointed by the Parlament or the Dictator And the Beacons being fir'd the Curiata Comitia or Parochial Congregations shall elect a fourth both of Elders and Youth to be immediatly upon the Guard of the Tribes and dividing themselves as aforesaid to march also in their Divisions according to Orders which method in case of extremity shall procede to the election of a third or the levy of a second or of the last man in the Nation by the Power of the Lords High Sherifs to the end that the Commonwealth in her utmost pressure may shew her trust that God in his Justice will remember Mercy by humbling her self and yet preserving her Courage Disciplin and Constancy even to the last drop of her blood and the utmost farthing THE Services perform'd by the Youth or by the Elders in case of Invasion and according to this Order shall be at their proper cost and charges that are any ways able to indure it but if there be such as are known in their Parishes to be so indigent that they cannot march out of their Tribes nor undergo the burden in this case incumbent then the Congregations of their Parishes shall furnish them with sufficient sums of Mony to be repaid upon the Certificat of the same by the Parlament when the Action shall be over And of that which is respectively injoin'd by this Order any Tribe Parish Magistrat or Person that shall fail is to answer for it at the Council of War as a Deserter of his Country THE ARCHON being the greatest Captain of his own if not of any age added much to the Glory of this Commonwealth by interweaving the Militia with more Art and Luster than any Legislator from or before the time of SERVIUS TULLIUS who constituted the Roman Militia But as the Bones or Skeleton of a man tho the greatest part of his Beauty be contain'd in their Proportion or Symmetry yet shewn without Flesh are a spectacle that is rather horrid than entertaining so without Discourses are the Orders of a Commonwealth which if she gos forth in that manner may complain of her Friends that they stand mute and staring upon her Wherfore this Order was thus flesh'd by the Lord ARCHON My Lords DIOGENES seeing a young Fellow drunk told him that his Father was drunk when he begot him For this in natural Generation I must confess I see no reason but in the Political it is right The Vices of the People are from their Governors those of their Governors from their Laws or Orders and those of their Laws or Orders from their Legislators * * Ut male posuimus initia sic catera sequuntur Cic. Whatever was in the Womb imperfect as to her proper work coms very rarely or never at all to perfection afterwards and the formation of a Citizen in the Womb of the Commonwealth is his Education EDUCATION by the first of the foregoing Orders is of six kinds At the School in the Mechanics at the Universitys at the Ins of Court or Chancery in Travels and in military Disciplin som of which I shall but touch and som I shall handle more at large Schools THAT which is propos'd for the erecting and indowing of Schools throout the Tribes capable of all the Children of the same and able to give to the Poor the Education of theirs gratis is only matter of direction in case of very great Charity as easing the needy of the charge of their Children from the ninth to the fifteenth year of their age during which time their work cannot be profitable and restoring them when they may be of use furnish'd with tools wherof there are advantages to be made in every work seeing he that can read and use his Pen has som convenience by it in the meanest Vocation And it cannot be conceiv'd but that which coms tho in small parcels to the advantage of every man in his Vocation must amount to the advantage of every Vocation and so to that of the whole Commonwealth Wherfore this is commended to the Charity of every wisehearted and welminded man to be don in time and as God shall stir him up or inable him there being such provision already in the case as may give us leave to procede without obstruction Mechanics in general PARENTS under animadversion of the Censors are to dispose of their Children at the fifteenth year of their age to somthing but what is lest according to their abilitys or inclination at their own choice This with the multitude must be to the Mechanics that is to say to Agriculture or Husbandry to Manufactures or to Merchandize Husbandry AGRICULTURE is the Bread of the Nation we are hung upon it by the teeth it is a mighty Nursery of Strength the best Army and the most assur'd Knapsac it is manag'd with the least turbulent or ambitious and the most innocent hands of all other Arts. Wherfore I am of ARISTOTLE'S opinion that a Commonwealth of Husbandmen and such is ours must be the best of all others Certainly my Lords you have no measure of what ought to be but what can be don for the incouragement of this Profession I could wish I were Husband good enough to direct somthing to this end but racking of Rents is a vile thing in the richer sort an uncharitable one to the poorer a perfect mark of Slavery and nips your Commonwealth in the fairest Blossom On the other side if there should be too much ease given in this kind it would occasion Sloth and so destroy Industry the principal
Conductors and the Censors and having bin disciplin'd and entertain'd with other Games are call'd to the Vrns where they elect the second Essay consisting of two hundred Horse and six hundred Foot in a Tribe that is of ten thousand Horse and thirty thousand Foot in all the Tribes which is the Standing Army of this Nation to march at any warning They also elect at the same time a part of the third Essay by the mixture of Balls marked with the letter M and the letter P for Marpesia and Panopea they of either mark being ten Horse and fifty Foot in a Tribe that is five hundred Horse and two thousand five hundred Foot in all the Tribes which are forthwith to march to their respective Provinces BVT the third Essay of this Nation more properly so call'd is when the Strategus with the Polemarchs the Senat and the People or the Dictator having decreed a War receive in return of his Warrants the second Essay from the hands of the Conductors at the Rendevous of Oceana which Army marching with all Accommodations provided by the Council of War the Senat elects a new Strategus and the Lords Lieutenants a new second Essay A YOVTH except he be an only Son refusing any one of his three Essays without sufficient cause shewn to the Phylarch or the Censors is incapable of Magistracy and is fin'd a fifth part of his yearly Rent or of his Estate for Protection In case of Invasion the Elders are oblig'd to like duty with the Youth and upon their own charge THE Provincial Orb consisting in part of the Elders and in part of the Youth is thus created FOVR Knights out of the first Region falling are elected in the Senat to be the first Region of the Provincial Orb of Marpesia these being triennial Magistrats take their places in the Provincial Council consisting of twelve Knights four in every Region each Region chusing their weekly Provosts of the Council thus constituted One Knight more chosen out of the same Region in the Senat being an annual Magistrat is President with Power to propose and the Opinions propos'd by the President or any two of the Provosts are debated by the Council and if there be occasion of farther Power or Instruction than they yet have transmitted to the Council of State with which the Provincial is to hold Intelligence THE President of this Council is also Strategus or General of the Provincial Army wherfore the Conductors upon notice of his Election and appointment of his Rendevous deliver to him the Stratiots of his Letter which he takes with him into his Province and the Provincial Army having receiv'd the new Strategus with the third Classis the Council dismisses the old Strategus with the first Classis The like is don for Panopea or any other Province BVT wheras the term of every other Magistracy or Election in this Commonwealth whether annual or triennial requires an equal Vacation the term of a Provincial Counsillor or Magistrat requires no Vacation at all The Quorum of a Provincial as also that of every other Council and Assembly requires two thirds in a time of health and one third in a time of sickness I THINK I have omitted nothing but the Props and Scaffolds which are not of use but in building And how much is here Shew me another Commonwealth in this compass How many things Shew me another intire Government consisting but of thirty Orders If you now go to Law with any body there ly to som of our Courts two hundred Original Writs If you stir your hand there go more Nerves and Bones to that motion If you play you have more Cards in the pack nay you could not sit with your ease in that Chair if it consisted not of more parts Will you not then allow to your Legislator what you can afford your Upholdster or to the Throne what is necessary to a Chair MY LORDS If you will have fewer Orders in a Common-wealth you will have more for where she is not perfect at first every day every hour will produce a new Order the end wherof is to have no Order at all but to grind with the clack of som Demagog Is he providing already for his golden Thum Lift up your heads Away with Ambition that fulsom complexion of a Statesman temper'd like SYLLA'S with blood and muck And the Lord give to his Senators Wisdom and make our faces to shine that we may be a Light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide their feet in the way of Peace In the name of God what 's the matter PHILADELPHUS the Secretary of the Council having perform'd his task in reading the several Orders as you have seen upon the receit of a Packet from his Correspondent BOCCALINI Secretary of Parnassus in reading one of the Letters burst forth into such a violent passion of weeping and downright howling that the Legislators being startled with the apprehension of som horrid news one of them had no sooner snatch'd the Letter out of his hand than the rest crying Read Read he obey'd in this manner THE 3d instant his Phoebean Majesty having taken the nature of Free States into his Royal consideration and being steddily perswaded that the Laws in such Governments are incomparably better and more surely directed to the good of Mankind than in any other that the Courage of such a Trajano Boccalini Centuria 1. Raggual 21. People is the aptest tinder to noble fire that the Genius of such a Soil is that wherin the roots of good Literature are least worm-eaten with Pedantism and where their Fruits have ever com to the greatest maturity and highest relish conceiv'd such a loathing of their Ambition and Tyranny who usurping the liberty of their native Countrys becom slaves to themselves inasmuch as be it never so contrary to their own Nature or Consciences they have taken the earnest of Sin and are ingag'd to persecute all Men that are good with the same or greater rigor than is ordain'd by Laws for the wicked For * Nemo unquam imperium flagitio quaesitum bonis artibus exercuit none ever administer'd that Power by good which he purchas'd by ill Arts PHOEBUS I say having consider'd this assembl'd all the Senators residing in the learned Court at the Theater of MELPOMENE where he caus'd CAESAR the Dictator to com upon the stage and his Sister ACTIA his Nephew AUGUSTUS JULIA his Daughter with the Children which she had by MARCUS AGRIPPA LUCIUS and CAIUS CAESARS AGRIPPA POSTHUMUS JULIA and AGRIPPINA with the numerous Progeny which she bore to her renown'd Husband GERMANICUS to enter A miserable Scene in any but most deplorable in the eys of CAESAR thus beholding what havock his prodigious Ambition not satisfy'd with his own bloody Ghost had made upon his more innocent Remains even to the total extinction of his Family For it is seeing where there is any humanity there must be som
could be no more in the point of Lawgiving than to propose to the People Nor will it be found in Scripture that the Sanhedrim ever made any Law without the People yet it is found in Scripture that the People made a Law without the Sanhedrim or levy'd War without them which is all one for where there is a power to levy War there will be the power of making Law And the occasion upon which this is found is the War levy'd against BENJAMIN by the Congregation consisting of four hundred Judg. 20. thousand Again If the Sanhedrim inherited the whole power of MOSES and yet had no larger power in Lawmaking than to propose to the People then had MOSES never any larger power in Law-making than to propose to the People Now where there is no King Book II or no King in a distinct capacity from the Senat and where the Senat has no farther power in Lawmaking than to propose to the free suffrage of the People the Government there is a Commonwealth Thus having shewn that Israel was a Commonwealth I com next to shew what Commonwealth Israel was CHAP. II. Shewing what Commonwealth Israel was Sect. 1 Division of the Children of Israel first Genealogical ALL Political Methods that are collective of the People must necessarily begin with a distribution or division of the People FOR the division of the People of Israel it was first Genealogical and then local Now these are the Names of the Ancestors of the Exod. 1. Tribes or of the Children of Israel which came into Egypt every man and his Houshold came with JACOB REUBEN SIMEON LEVI and JUDAH ISSACHAR ZEBULUN and BENJAMIN DAN and NAPHTALI GAD and ASHER These being eleven in number were the Sons of JACOB who had also one more Gen. 41. 50 51 52. namely JOSEPH And to JOSEPH were born two Sons before the years of Famin came which ASENAH the Daughter of POTIPHERAH Priest of On bore to him And JOSEPH call'd the name of the first-born MANASSEH and the name of the second call'd he EPHRAIM Which two tho but Grandchildren were adopted by JACOB for Gen. 48. 16. his Sons in these words Let my name be nam'd on them and the name of my Fathers ABRAHAM and ISAAC and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth From which addition to the former came the Tribes of Israel genealogically reckon'd to be in number thirteen In the genealogical distribution of the Tribes there were also observ'd certain Ranks Qualitys or Degrees as appears by the Poll Num. 1. made of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai and in the Tabernacle of the Congregation by MOSES These Degrees were of two sorts first Phylarchs or Princes of Tribes and secondly Patriarchs or Princes of Familys all hereditary Honors and pertaining to the Firstborn of the Tribe or of the Family respectively That this Poll be more perfectly understood will be useful for which cause I shall be somwhat more particular First for the Phylarchs or Princes of the Tribes and then for the Patriarchs or Princes of Familys To begin with the Princes of the Tribes Sect. 2 Num. 1. 17 18. Of the Princes of â—â—ibes or the Muster Roll in Sinai MOSES and AARON assembl'd the Congregation or political Convention of the People together on the first day of the second month after their Familys by the house of their Fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward by the poll Where every Phylarch or Prince of a Tribe with the number of men at the age mention'd and upward throout his Tribe are listed much after this manner 1. OF the Tribe of REUBEN ELIZUR Prince The men of military age in his Tribe forty six thousand five hundred 2. OF the Tribe of SIMEON SHELAMIEL Prince The men of military age in his Tribe fifty nine thousand three hundred 3. OF the Tribe of JUDAH NASHON Prince The men of military Chap. 2 age in his Tribe threescore and fourteen thousand six hundred 4. OF the Tribe of ISSACHAR NETHANIEL Prince The men of military age in his Tribe fifty four thousand four hundred 5. OF the Tribe of ZEBULUN ELIAB Prince The men of military age in his Tribe fifty seven thousand four hundred 6. OF the Tribe of EPHRAIM ELISHAMA Prince The men of military age in his Tribe forty thousand five hundred 7. OF the Tribe of MANASSEH GEMALIEL Prince The men of military age in his Tribe thirty two thousand two hundred 8. OF the Tribe of BENJAMIN ABIDAN Prince The men of military age in his Tribe thirty five thousand four hundred 9. OF the Tribe of DAN AHIEZER Prince The men of military age in his Tribe threescore and two thousand seven hundred 10. OF the Tribe of ASHER PAGIEL Prince The men of military age in his Tribe forty one thousand five hundred 11. OF the Tribe of GAD ELIASAPH Prince The men of military age in his Tribe forty five thousand six hundred and fifty 12. OF the Tribe of NAPHTALI AHIRA Prince The men of military age in his Tribe fifty three thousand four hundred THE total sum of which Musterroll in the twelve Tribes amounts to Princes twelve and men of military age six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty besides the Levits The Levits Call Order or Tribe Num. 3. 12 13. ALL the firstborn says God are mine In which words is imply'd Sect. 3 that the Priesthood or right of preaching instructing or administring divine things belong'd as it were of natural right to Fathers of Familys or the Firstborn till the Lord took the Levits from among the Children of Israel instead of the Firstborn These being thus taken were set apart and so listed by themselves to omit their several Familys Functions and Orders in the service of the Tabernacle and afterwards of the Temple which would require a Volum much after this manner OF the Tribe of LEVI AARON High Priest The number of all the Males of this Tribe from a month old and upwards twenty v. 39. and two thousand The manner how God took the Levits is thus express'd Thou shalt bring the Levits before the Tabernacle of the Congregation Num. 8. 9 10 11 12. and thou shalt gather the whole Assembly together and the Children of Israel after the manner that the Levits lay their hands upon the Bullocks or Sacrifice shall put their hands upon the Levits in token that they are sacrific'd or separated by the free suffrage of the People to the Lord. For lest the suffrage of the People be thought hereby to have bin excluded so DAVID and the Captains of the Host or Army 1 Chr. 25. which Army was the Representative of the People separated to the service som of the Sons of ASAPH of HEMAN and of JEDUTHUN who should prophesy with Harps But of the Congregations of the People more in due place The Military Orders Grot. ad Num. 10.