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
his Son JAMES into France the Boy was taken at Flamburg and kept by our HENRY the Fourth upon the hearing of which his Father swounded and soon after dy'd His Reign was memorable for nothing but his breaking with GEORGE Earl of March to whose Daughter upon the payment of a great part of her Portion which he never would repay he had promis'd his Son DAVID for a Husband to take the Daughter of DOUGLAS who had a greater which occasion'd the Earl of March to make many inrodes with our HENRY HOTSPUR and a famous Duel of three hundred men apiece wherof on the one side ten remain'd and on the other one which was the only way to appease the deadly Feuds of these two Familys The Interreign was govern'd by ROBERT who enjoying the Power he had too much coveted little minded the Liberty of his Nephew only he sent som Auxiliarys into France who they say behav'd themselves worthily and his slothful Son MORDAC who making his Sons so bold with Indulgence that one of them kil'd a Falcon on his fist which he deny'd to give him he in revenge procur'd the Parlament to ransom the King who had bin eighteen years a Prisoner This JAMES was the First of that name and tho he was an excellent Prince yet had a troublesom Reign first in regard of a great Pension rais'd for his Ransom next for domestic Commotions and lastly for raising of Mony which tho the Revenue was exhausted was call'd Covetousness This having offended ROBERT GRAHAM he conspir'd with the Earl of Athol slew him in his Chamber his Wife receiving two wounds endeavoring to defend him THIS JAMES left the Second a Boy of six years whose Infancy by the misguidance of the Governor made a miserable People and betray'd the Earl DOUGLAS to death and almost all that great Family to ruin but being supplanted by another Earl DOUGLAS the King in his just age suffer'd Minority under him who upon displeasure rebel'd and was kil'd by the King 's own hand Afterwards having his middle years perpetually molested with civil Broils yet going to assist the Duke of York against HENRY the Sixth he was diverted by an English Gentleman that counterfeited himself a Nuncio which I mention out of a Manuscript because I do not remember it in our Storys and broke up his Army Soon after besieging Roxburg he was slain by the bursting of a Cannon in the twenty ninth year of his Age. JAMES the Second left a Boy of seven Years govern'd by his Mother and afterwards by the BOYDS thro the persuasions of Astrologers and Witches to whom he was strongly addicted he declin'd to Cruelty which so inrag'd the Nobility that headed by his Son they conspir'd against him routing his Forces near Sterling where he flying to a Mill and asking for a Confessor a Priest came who told him that tho he was no good Priest yet he was a good Leech and with that stab'd him to the heart A Parlament approv'd his death and order'd Indemnitys to all that had fought against him JAMES the Fourth a Boy of fifteen Years is made King govern'd by the Murderers of his Father a prodigal vainglorious Prince slain at Floddon Field or as som suppose at Kelsy by the HUMES which as the Manuscript alleges seems more probable in regard that the Iron Belt to which he added a Ring every Year which he wore in repentance for the death of his Father was never found and there were many the day of Battle habited like him His Successor was his Son JAMES the Fifth of that name a Boy of not above two years of age under whose Minority what by the misgovernment of Tutors and what by the Factions of the Nobility Scotland was wasted almost into Famin and Solitude however in his just Age he prov'd an industrious Prince yet could not so satisfy the Nobility but that he and they continued in a mutual hate till that barbarous execution of young HAMILTON so fil'd him with Remorse that he dream'd he came and cut of his two Arms and threaten'd after to cut of his Head And he displeas'd the People so much that he could not make his Army fight with the English then in Scotland wherupon he dy'd of grief having first heard the death of his two Sons who dy'd at the instant of his Dream and leaving a Daughter of five days old whom he never saw THIS was that MARY under whose Minority by the weakness of the Governor and ambition of the Cardinal the Kingdom felt all those Woes that are threaten'd to them whose King is a Child till at length the prevalency of the English Arms awak'd for her cause brought the great design of sending her into France to perfection So at five Years old she was transported and at fifteen marry'd to the Dolphin FRANCIS after King while her Mother a Daughter of the GUISE in her Regency exercis'd all Rage against the Professors of the pure Religion then in the dawn FRANCIS after two Years left her a childless Widow so that at eighteen she return'd into Scotland to succede her Mother then newly dead in her Exorbitancys I HAD almost forgot to tell that this young Couple in the transport of their nuptial Solemnitys took the Arms and Title of England which indiscrete Ambition we may suppose first quicken'd the jealousy of ELIZABETH against her which after kindl'd so great a flame IN Scotland she shew'd what a strange influence loose Education has upon Youth and the weaker Sex All the French Effeminacys came over with her and the Court lost that little Severity which was left DAVID RIZIO an Italian Fidler was the only Favorit and it is too much fear'd had those enjoyments which no Woman can give but she that gives away her Honor and Chastity BUT a little after HENRY Lord Darnly coming with MATTHEW Earl of Lenox his Father into Scotland she cast an ey upon him and marry'd him Whether it were to strengthen her pretension to England he being com of HENRY the Seventh's Daughter as we shall tell anon or to color her Adulterys and hide the shame of an Impregnation tho som have whisper'd that she never conceiv'd and that the Son was supposititious or som Phrenzy of Affection drew her that way certain it is she soon declin'd her Affection to her Husband and increas'd it to DAVID he being her perpetual Companion at board and managing all Affairs while the King with a contemtible Train was sent away insomuch that som of the Nobility that could not digest this enter'd a Conspiracy which the King headed and slew him in her Chamber THIS turn'd all her neglect of the King into rage so that her chiefest business was to appease her Favorits Ghost with the slaughter of her Husband poison was first attemted but it being it seems too weak or his Youth overcoming it that expectation fail'd But the Devil and BOTHWEL furnish'd her with another that succeded she so intices him being so sick
is in my Opinion the most perfect Form of Popular Government that ever was so this with his other Writings contain the History Reasons Nature and Effects of all sorts of Government with so much Learning and Perspicuity that nothing can be more preferably read on such occasions LET not those therfore who make no opposition to the reprinting or reading of PLATO's Heathen Commonwealth ridiculously declaim against the better and Christian Model of HARRINGTON but peruse both of 'em with as little prejudice passion or concern as they would a Book of Travels into the Indys for their improvement and diversion Yet so contrary are the Tempers of many to this equitable disposition that DIONYSIUS the Sicilian Tyrant and such Beasts of Prey are the worthy Examples they wou'd recommend to the imitation of our Governors tho if they cou'd be able to persuade 'em they wou'd still miss of their foolish aim for it is ever with all Books as formerly with those of CREMUTIUS CORDUS who was condemn'd by that Monster TIBERIUS for speaking honorably of the immortal Tyrannicides BRUTUS and CASSIUS TACITUS records the last words of this Historian and subjoins this judicious Remark The Senat says he order'd his Books to be burnt by the Ediles but som Copys were conceal'd and afterwards publish'd whence we may take occasion to laugh at the sottishness of those who imagin that their present Power can also abolish the memory of succeding time for on the contrary Authors acquire additional Reputation by their Punishment nor have Foren Kings and such others as have us'd the like severity got any thing by it except to themselves Disgrace and Glory to the Writers But the Works of HARRINGTON were neither supprest at their first publication under the Vsurper nor ever since call'd in by lawful Authority but as inestimable Treasures preserv'd by all that had the happiness to possess 'em intire so that what was a precious rarity before is now becom a Public Good with extraordinary advantages of Correctness Paper and Print What I have perform'd in the History of his Life I leave the Readers to judg for themselves but in that and all my other studys I constantly aim'd as much at least at the benefit of Mankind and especially of my fellow Citizens as at my own particular Entertainment or Reputation THE Politics no less than Arms are the proper study of a Gentleman tho he shou'd consine himself to nothing but carefully adorn his Mind and Body with all useful and becoming Accomplishments and not imitat the servil drudgery of those mean Spirits who for the sake of som one Science neglect the knowlege of all other matters and in the end are many times neither masters of what they profess nor vers'd enough in any thing else to speak of it agreably or pertinently which renders 'em untractable in Conversation as in Dispute they are opinionative and passionat envious of their Fame who eclipse their littleness and the sworn Enemys of what they do not understand BVT Heaven be duly prais'd Learning begins to flourish again in its proper Soil among our Gentlemen in imitation of the Roman Patricians who did not love to walk in Leading strings and to be guided blindfold nor lazily to abandon the care of their proper Business to the management of Men having a distinct Profession and Interest for the greatest part of their best Authors were Persons of Consular Dignity the ablest Statesmen and the most gallant Commanders Wherfore the amplest satisfaction I can injoy of this sort will be to find those delighted with reading this Work for whose service it was intended by the Author and which with the study of other good Books but especially a careful perusal of the Greec and Roman Historians will make 'em in reality deserve the Title and Respect of Gentlemen help 'em to make an advantageous Figure in their own time and perpetuat their illustrious Names and solid Worth to be admir'd by future Generations AS for my self tho no imployment or condition of Life shall make me disrelish the lasting entertainment which Books afford yet I have resolv'd not to write the Life of any modern Person again except that only of one Man still alive and whom in the ordinary course of nature I am like to survive a long while he being already far advanc'd in his declining time and I but this present day beginning the thirtieth year of my Age. Canon near Bansted Novemb. 30. 1699. THE LIFE OF James Harrington 1. JAMES HARRINGTON who was born in January 1611 was descended of an Antient and Noble Family in Rutlandshire being Great Grandson to Sir JAMES HARRINGTON of whom it is observ'd by the * Wright's Antiquitys of the County of Rutland p. 52. Historian of that County that there were sprung in his time eight Dukes three Marquisses seventy Earls twenty seven Viscounts and thirty six Barons of which number sixteen were Knights of the Garter to confirm which Account we shall annex a Copy of the Inscription on his Monument and that of his three Sons at Exton with Notes on the same by an uncertain hand As for our Author he was the eldest Son of Sir SAPCOTES HARRINGTON and JANE the Daughter of Sir WILLIAM SAMUEL of Vpton in Northamtonshire His Father had Children besides him WILLIAM a Merchant in London ELIZABETH marry'd to Sir RALPH ASHTON in Lancashire Baronet ANN marry'd to ARTHUR EVELYN Esq And by a second Wife he had JOHN kill'd at Sea EDWARD a Captain in the Army yet living FRANCES marry'd to JOHN BAGSHAW of Culworth in Northamtonshire Esq and DOROTHY marry'd to ALLAN BELLINGHAM of Levens in Westmorland Esq This Lady is still alive and when she understood my Design was pleas'd to put me in possession of all the remaining Letters and other Manuscript Papers of her Brother with the Collections and Observations relating to him made by his other Sister the Lady ASHTON a Woman of very extraordinary Parts and Accomplishments These with the Account given of him by ANTHONY WOOD in the second Volum of his Athenae Oxonienses and what I cou'd learn from the Mouths of his surviving Acquaintance are the Materials wherof I compos'd this insuing History of his Life 2. IN his very Childhood he gave sure hopes of his future Abilitys as well by his Inclination and Capacity to learn whatever was propos'd to him as by a kind of natural gravity whence his Parents and Masters were wont to say That he rather kept them in aw than needed their correction yet when grown a Man none could easily surpass him for quickness of Wit and a most facetious Temper He was enter'd a Gentleman Commoner of Trinity College in Oxford in the year 1629 and became a Pupil to that great Master of Reason Dr. CHILLINGWORTH who discovering the Errors Impostures and Tyranny of the Popish Church wherof he was for som time a Member attackt it with more proper and succesâ—ful Arms than all before or perhaps any since have
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
Scots but at last the Picts taking distast at the Romans enter'd into a secret League with the Scots and agreed that FERGUS whose Uncle the last King was being then in banishment and of a military breeding and inclination should be chosen King With him the Danes maintain'd a long War against the Romans and pul'd down the Picts wall at last he and the King of Picts were in one day slain in a Battel against them This Man's access to Government was strange ignotus Rex ab ignoto populo accersitus and may be thought temerarious he having no Land for his People and the Roman Name inimical yet founded he a Monarchy there having been Kings ever since and we are to note this is the first man that the sounder Writers will allow to be real and not fabulous Him succeded his Son EUGENIUS whose Grandfather GRAHAM had all the power a warlike Prince whom some say slain some dead of a disease After him his Brother DONGARD who after the spending of five superstitious years left the Crown as they call it to his youngest Brother CONSTANTIN who from a good privat Man turn'd a leud Prince and was slain by a Nobleman whose Daughter he had ravish'd He was succeded by CONGAL CONSTANTIN'S Son who came a tolerable good Prince to a loose People and having spent som two and twenty years in slight excursions against the Saxons left the rule to his Brother GORAN who notwithstanding he made a good League against the Britans which much conduc'd to his and the Peoples settlement yet in requital after thirty four years they made away with him which brought in EUGENIUS the Third of that name the Son of CONGAL who was strongly suspected to have a hand in his Death insomuch that GORAN'S Widow was forc'd to fly into Ireland with her Children This man in thirty three years time did nothing but reign and make short Incursions upon the Borders he left the Rule to his Brother CONGAL a monastical superstitious and inactive Prince who reign'd ten years KINNATEL his Brother was design'd for Successor yet AIDAN the Son of GORAN laid his claim but was content to suspend in respect of the Age and Diseases of KINNATEL which after fourteen Months took him out of the World and clear'd the controversy and AIDAN by the consent of COLUMBA a Priest that govern'd all in those days came to be King a Man that after thirty four years turbulently spent being beaten by the Saxons and struck with the Death of COLUMBA dy'd of Grief AFTER him was chosen KENNETH who has left nothing behind him but his Name Then came EUGENIUS the Fourth the Son of AIDAN so irregular is the Scots Succession that we see it inverted by Usurpation or cross Elections in every two or three Generations This man left an ambiguous Fame for HECTOR BOETIUS says he was peaceable the Manuscript implacably severe He reign'd sixteen years and left his Son FERCHARD Successor who endeavoring to heighten the Prerogative by the Dissensions of the Nobility was on the contrary impeach'd by them and call'd to an account which he denying was clapt in Prison where he himself sav'd the Executioner a labor So that his Brother DONALD succeded who being taken up with the Piety of those days left nothing memorable except that he in person interpreted Scots Sermons to the Saxons He was follow'd by his Nephew FERCHARD Son to the first of that Name a Thing like a King in nothing but his Exorbitancys who in hunting was wounded by a Wolf which cast him into a Fever wherin he not observing the impos'd Temperance brought on himself the lousy Disease upon which discomforted he was by the persuasion of COLMAN a religious man brought out in his Bed cover'd with Hair-cloth where he made a public Acknowlegement to the People and soon after dy'd MALDWIN DONALD'S Son follow'd who after twenty years ignoble Reign was strangled by his Wife EUGENIUS the Fifth succeded Son they say of King DONGARD tho Chronology seems to refute it This man spent five years in slight Incursions and was succeded by EUGENIUS the Sixth Son of FERCHARD This man is famous for a little Learning as the times went and the Prodigy of raining Blood seven days all Milkmeats turning into blood AMBERKELLETH Nephew to EUGENIUS the Fifth who succeded this rude Prince while he was discharging the burden of Nature was slain by an Arrow from an unknown hand EUGENIUS the Seventh follow'd who being attemted by Conspirators had his new marry'd Wife slain in bed beside him for which he being accus'd produc'd the Murderers before his Trial and was acquitted and so ended the rest of his 17 years in Peace recommending to the People MORDAC Son of AMBERKELLETH who continuing a blank Reign or it may be a happy one in regard it was peaceable left it to ETFYN Son of EUGENIUS the Seventh the first part of his Reign was peaceable but Age obliging him to put the Government into the hands of four of his Servants it happen'd to him as it dos to other Princes whose Fortunes decay commonly with their Strength that it was very unhappy and turbulent Which Miserys EUGENIUS the Eighth Son of MORDAC restrain'd But he it seems having a Nature fitter to appease Tumults than to enjoy Rest at the first enjoyment of Peace broke into such Leudness that the Nobility at a meeting stab'd him and made way for FERGUS the Son of ETFYN one like his Predecessor in manner death and continuance of Reign which was three years the only dissimilitude was that the latters Wife brought his Death for which others being impeach'd she stept in and confest it and to avoid punishment punish'd her self with a knife SOLUATH Son of EUGENIUS the Eighth follow'd him who tho his Gout made him of less Action yet it made his Prudence more visible and himself not illaudable His Death brought in ACHAIUS the Son of ETFYN whose Reign was innobled with an Irish War and many learned Men besides the Assistance lent HUNGUS to fight against the Northumbrians whom he beat in a famous Battel which if I may mention the matter was presignify'd to HUNGUS in a Dream St. Andrew appearing to him and assuring him of it and in the time of Battel a white Cross that which the Heralds call a Saltier and we see commonly in the Scots Banners appear'd in the Sky and this I think to have bin the occasion of that bearing and an Order of Knights of St. Andrew somtimes in reputation in Scotland but extinguish'd for ought I can perceive before the time of JAMES the Sixth tho the Collar and Pendant of it are at this day worn about the Scots Arms. To this man CONGAL his Cousin succeded who left nothing behind him but five years to stretch out the account of time DONGAL the Son of SOLUATH came next who being of a Nature fierce and insupportable there was an endeavor to set up ALPIN Son of ACHAIUS which Design by ALPIN himself was
against the Act perswaded most of the Nobility to make him King so that MILCOLM the Son of KENNETH and he made up two Factions which tore the Kingdom till at length MILCOLMS Bastard Brother himself being in England assisting the Danes fought him routed his Army and with the loss of his own Life took away his they dying of mutual Wounds GRIME of whose Birth they do not certainly agree was chosen by the Constantinians who made a good Party but at the Intercession of FORARD an accounted Rabbi of the times they at last agreed GRIME being to enjoy the Kingdom for his Life after which MILCOLUMB should succede his Father's Law standing in force But he after declining into Leudness Cruelty and Spoil as Princes drunk with Greatness and Prosperity use to do the People call'd back MILCOLUMB who rather receiving Battle than giving it for it was upon Ascension-day his principal Holy-day routed his Forces wounded himself took him pull'd out his Eyes which altogether made an end of his Life all Factions and Humors being reconcil'd MILCOLUMB who with various Fortune fought many signal Battles with the Danes that under their King SUENO had invaded Scotland in his latter time grew to such Covetousness and Oppression that all Authors agree he was murder'd tho they disagree about the manner som say by Conâ—ederacy with his Servants som by his Kinsmen and Competitors som by the Friends of a Maid whom he had ravish'd DONALD his Grandchild succeded a good-natur'd and inactive Prince who with a Stratagem of sleepy Drink destroy'd a Danish Army that had invaded and distrest him but at last being insnar'd by his Kinsman MACKBETH who was prick'd forward by Ambition and a former Vision of three Women of a sour human shape whereof one saluted him Thane of Angus another Earl of Murray the third King he was beheaded THE Severity and Cruelty of MACKBETH was so known that both the Sons of the murder'd King were forc'd to retire and yeild to the times while he courted the Nobility with Largesses The first ten years he spent virtuously but the remainder was so savage and tyrannical that MACDUF Thane of Fife fled into England to MILCOLM Son of DONALD who by his persuasions and the assistance of the King of England enter'd Scotland where he found such great accessions to his Party that MACKBETH was forc'd to fly his Death is hid in such a mist of Fables that it is not certainly known MILCOLUMB the third of that name now being quietly seated was the first that brought in those gay inventions and distinctions of Honors as Dukes Marquesses that now are become so airy that som carry them from places to which they have as little relation as to any Iland in America and others from Cottages and Dovecotes His first trouble was FORFAR MACKBETH'S Son who claim'd the Crown but was soon after cut of Som War he had with that WILLIAM whom we call falsly the Conqueror som with his own People which by the intercession of the Bishops were ended At length quarrelling with our WILLIAM the Second he laid siege to Alnwick Castle which being forc'd to extremity a Knight came out with the Keys on a Spear as if it were to present them to him and and to yield the Castle but he not with due heed receiving them was run through the Ey and slain Som from hence derive the name of PIERCY how truly I know not His Son and Successor EDWARD following his Revenge too hotly receiv'd som Wounds of which within a few days he dy'd DONALD BANE that is in Irish White who had fled into the Iles for fear of MACKBETH promis'd them to the King of Norway if he would procure him to be King which was don with ease as the times then stood but this Usurper being hated by the People who generally lov'd the memory of MILCOLM they seâ— DUNCAN MILCOLM'S Bastard against him who forc'd him to retire to his Iles. DUNCAN a military Man shew'd himself unfit for Civil Government so that DONALD waiting all advantages caus'd him to be beheaded and restor'd himself But his Reign was so turbulent the Ilanders and English invading on both sides that they call'd in EDGAR Son of MILCOLM then in England who with small Assistances possest himself all Men deserting DONALD who being taken and brought to the King dy'd in Prison EDGAR secure by his good Qualitys and strengthen'd by the English Alliance spent nine years virtuously and peaceably and gave the People leave to breathe and rest after so much trouble and bloodshed His Brother ALEXANDER sirnam'd ACER or the Fierce succeded the beginning of whose Reign being disturb'd by a Rebellion he speedily met them at the Spey which being a swift River and the Enemy on the other side he offer'd himself to ford it on Horseback but ALEXANDER CAR taking the Imployment from him forded the River with such Courage that the Enemy fled and were quiet the rest of his Reign Som say he had the name of ACER because som Conspirators being by the fraud of the Chamberlain admitted into his Chamber he casually waking first slew the Chamberlain and after him six of the Conspirators not ceasing to pursue the rest till he had slain most of them with his own hands this with the building of som Abbys and seventeen years Reign is all we know of him HIS Brother DAVID succeded one whose profuse Prodigality upon the Abbys brought the Revenue of the Crown so prevalent was the Superstition of those days almost to nothing He had many Battels with our STEPHEN about the Title of MAUD the Empress and having lost his excellent Wife and hopeful Son in the flower of their days he left the Kingdom to his Grandchildren the eldest wherof was MILCOLUMB a simple King baffl'd and led up and down into France by our HENRY the Second which brought him to such contemt that he was vex'd by frequent Insurrections especially them of Murray whom he almost extirpated The latter part of his Reign was spent in building Monasterys he himself ty'd by a Vow of Chastity would never marry but left for his Successor his Brother WILLIAM who expostulating for the Earldom of Northumberland gave occasion for a War in which he was surpriz'd and taken but afterwards releas'd upon his doing Homage for the Kingdom of Scotland to King HENRY of whom he acknowledg'd to hold it and putting in caution the Castles of Roxboro once strong now nothing but Ruins Barwic Edinburg Sterling all which notwithstanding was after releas'd by RICHARD Coeur de Lyon who was then upon an Expedition to the Holy War from whence returning both he and DAVID Earl of Huntingdon Brother to the King of Scots were taken Prisoners The rest of his Reign except the rebuilding of St. Johnston which had bin destroy'd by Waters wherby he lost his eldest Son and som Treatys with our King JOHN was little worth memory only you will wonder that a Scotish King could reign forty nine
that they were forc'd to bring him in a Horslitter to Edinburg where she cherish'd him extremely till the credulous young man began to lay aside suspicion and to hope better So she puts him into a ruinous house near the Palace from whence no news can be had brings in her own bed and lys in the house with him and at length when the design was ripe causes him one Sunday night with his Servant to be strangl'd thrown out of the Window and the house to be blown up with Gunpowder her own rich Bed having bin before secretly convey'd away This and other performances made her favor upon BOTHWEL so hot that she must marry him the only obstacle was he had a Wife already but she was compel'd to sue for a Divorce which so great Persons being concern'd it was a wonder it should be granting so long as ten days Well she marrys but the more honest Nobility amaz'd at those Exorbitancys assemble together and with Arms in their hands begin to expostulat The newmarry'd Couple are forc'd to make back Southwards where finding but slender assistance and the Queen foolishly coming from Dunbar to Leith was glad at last to delay a parly till her Dear was escap'd and then clad in an old tatter'd coat to yield her self a Prisoner BEING brought to Edinburg and us'd rather with hate of her former Enormitys than pity of her present Fortune she receiv'd a Message that she must either resign the Crown to her Son JAMES that was born in the time of her marriage with DARNLY or else they would procede to another Election and was forc'd to obey So the Child then in his Cradle was acknowleg'd JAMES the Sixth better known afterwards by the Title of Great Britain THE wretched Mother flying after into England was entertain'd tho with a Guard by Queen ELIZABETH but after that being suborn'd by the Papists and exasperated by the GUIZES she enter'd into Plots and Machinations so inconsistent with the Safety of England that by an Act of Parlament she was condemn'd to death which she receiv'd by a Hatchet at Fotheringay Castle THE Infancy of her Son was attended with those domestic Evils that accompany the Minority of Kings In his Youth he took to Wife the Daughter of Denmark a Woman I hear little of saving the Character SALUST gives SEMPRONIA that she could dance better than became a virtuous Woman with whom he supposing the Earl GOWRY too much in League caus'd him and his Brother to be slain at their own house whither he was invited he giving out that they had an intent to murder him and that by miracle and the assistance of som men whom he had instructed for that purpose and taught their tale he escap'd For this Deliverance or to say better Assassination he blasphem'd God with a solemn Thanksgiving once a Year all the remainder of his Life WELL had it bin for us if our Forefathers had laid hold of that happy opportunity of ELIZABETH'S Death in which the TEUTHORS took a period to have perform'd that which perhaps in due punishment has cost us so much blood and sweat and not have bow'd under the sway of a Stranger disdain'd by the most generous and wise at that time and only supported by the Faction of som and the Sloth of others who brought but a slender Title and however the flattery of the times cry'd him up for a SOLOMON weak Commendations for such an advancement HIS Title stood thus MARGARET eldest Daughter to HENRY the Seventh was marry'd to JAMES the Fourth whose Son JAMES the Fifth had MARY the Mother of JAMES the Sixth MARGARET after her first Husband's death marrys ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS Earl of Angus who upon her begot MARGARET Wife of MATTHEW Earl of Lenox and Mother of that HENRY DARNLY whose tragical End we just now mention'd Now upon this slender Title and our internal Dissensions for the Cecilians and Essexians for several ends made perpetual Applications got JAMMY from a Revenue of 30000 l. to one of almost two Millions tho there were others that had as fair pretences and what else can any of them make the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. expresly excluding Foreners from the Crown and so the Children of CHARLES BRANDON by MARY the second Daughter Dowager of France being next to com in And the Lady ARABELLA being sprung from a third Husband the Lord STUART of the said MARGARET and by a Male Line carry'd surely so formidable a pretension it should seem that even that Iniquity which was personally inherent to her made her days very unhappy and for most part captive and her death 't is thought somwhat too early so cruel are the Persecutions of cowardly minds even against the weakest and most unprotected Innocence AND indeed his Right to the Crown was so unsatisfactory even to the most judicious of those days that TOBY MATTHEWS having suit about som Privileges which he claim'd to his Bishoprick which was then Durham wherin the King oppos'd him and having one day stated the Case before som of his Friends who seem'd to approve of it yes says he I could wish he had but half so good a Title to the Crown And 't is known that some Speeches of Sir WALTER RAWLEY too generous and English for the times was that which brought him to Trial and Condemnation for a seign'd Crime and afterwards so facilitated that barbarous Design of GUNDAMAR to cut of his Head for a Crime for which he was condemn'd fourteen years before and which by the Commissions he after receiv'd according to the opinion of the then Lord Chancellor and the greatest Lawyers was in Law pardon'd THIS may appear besides our purpose but we could not sever this consideration unless we would draw him with a half face and leave as much in umbrage as we exprest That which most solemniz'd his Person was first the consideration of his adhering to the Protestant Religion wheras we are to consider that those slight Velitations he had with BELLARMIN and the Romanists tended rather to make his own Authority more intrinsically intense and venerable than to confute any thing they said for he had before shak'd them of as to foren Jurisdiction and for matter of Popery it appear'd in his latter time that he was no such enemy to it both by his own compliances with the Spanish Embassadors the design of the Spanish Match in which his Son was personally imbarkt and the slow assistances sent to his Daughter in whose safety and protection Protestantism was at that time so much concern'd FOR his Knowlege he had some glancings and niblings which the Severity of the excellent BUCHANAN forc'd into him in his younger time and after conversation somwhat polish'd But tho I bear not so great a contemt to his other Works as BEN JOHNSON did to his Poetry yet if they among many others were going to the fire they would not be one of the first I should rescue as possibly expecting a more severe
and refin'd Judgment in many others and knowing that he that had so many able Wits at command might easily give their Oracles thro his Mouth But suppose the things generous and fit to live as I am not yet convinc'd yet what commendation is this to a King who should have other business than spinning and weaving fine Theorys and engaging in School Chiquaneries which was well understood by HENRY the Fourth who hearing som men celebrat him with these Attributes yes answer'd he very tartly He is a fine King and writes little Books 'T IS true he was a good Drol and possibly after Greec Wine somwhat factious But of his substantial and heroic Wisdom I have not heard any great Instances He himself us'd to brag of his King-craft which was not to render his People happy and to prosecute the ends of a good King but to scrue up the Prerogative divert Parlaments from the due disquisition and prosecution of their Freedoms and to break them up at pleasure and indeed his parting with the Cautionary Towns of the Low Countrys and that for so small a Sum shew'd him a Person not so quicksighted or unfit to be overreach'd FOR his peaceable Reign honorable and just Quarrels he wanted not but sloth and cowardice witheld him and indeed the ease and luxury of those times fomented and nourish'd those lurking and pestilent humors which afterwards so dangerously broke out in his Son's Reign WE shall not trouble his Ashes with the mention of his personal Faults only if we may compare God's Judgments with apparent Sins we may find the latter end of his Life neither fortunat nor comfortable to him His Wife distasted by him and som say languishing of a soul Disease his eldest Son dying with too violent symtoms of Poison and that as is fear'd by a hand too much ally'd his second against whom he ever had a secret antipathy scarce return'd from a mad and dangerous Voyage his Daughter all that was left of that Sex banish'd with her numerous Issue out of her Husband's Dominion and living in miserable Exile and lastly himself dying of a violent death by poison in which his Son was more than suspected to have a hand as may be infer'd from BUCKINGHAM'S Plea that he did it by the Command of the Prince and CHARLES'S dissolution of the Parlament that took in hand to examin it and lastly his indifferency at Buckingham's death tho he pretended all love to him alive as glad to be rid of so dangerous and so considerable a Partner of his Guilt Yet the miter'd Parasits of those times could say that one went to Heaven in Noah's Ark the other in Elisha's Chariot he dying of a pretended Fever she as they said of a Dropsy CHARLES having now obtain'd his Brother's Inheritance carry'd himself in managing of it like one that gain'd it as he did The first of his Acts was that glorious attemt upon the I le of Rhee The next that Noble and Christian betraying of Rochel and consequently in a manner the whole Protestant Interest in France The middle of the Reign was heightening of Prerogative and Prelacy and conforming our Churches to the pattern of Rome till at last just Indignation brought his Subjects of Scotland into England and so forc'd him to call a Parlament which tho he shamelesly says in the first line of the Book call'd his was out of his own inclination to Parlaments yet how well he lik'd them may appear by his first tampering with his own Army in the North to surprize and dissolve them then with the Scots who at that time were Court proof then raising up the Irish Rebellion which has wasted millions of Lives and lastly his open secession from Westminster and hostility against the two Houses which maintain'd a first and second sharp War that had almost ruin'd the Nation had not Providence in a manner immediatly interpos'd and rescu'd us to Liberty and made us such signal Instruments of his Vengeance that all wicked Kings may tremble at the example IN a word never was Man so resolute and obstinat in a Tyranny never People more strangely besotted with it To paint the Image of DAVID with his face and blasphemously to parallel him with CHRIST would make one at first thought think him a Saint But to compare his Protestations and Actions his Actions of the Day his Actions of the Night his Protestant Religion and his courting of the Pope and obedience to his Wife we may justly say he was one of the most consummat in the Arts of Tyranny that ever was And it could be no other than God's hand that arrested him in the height of his Designs and Greatness and cut off him and his Family making good his own Imprecations on his own Head OUR Scene is again in Scotland which has accepted his Son whom for distinction sake we will be content to call CHARLES the Second Certainly these People were strangely blind as to God's Judgment perpetually pour'd out upon a Family or else wonderfully addicted to their own Interest to admit the spray of such a stock one that has so little to commend him and so great improbability to further their Designs and Happiness a Popish Education if not Religion too however for the present he may seem to dissemble it France the Jesuits and his Mother good means of such an improvement the dangerous Maxims of his Father besides the Revenge he ows his Death of which he will never totally acquit the Scots his Hate to the whole Nation his Sense of MONTROSE'S Death his backwardness to com to them till all other means fail'd both his foren beg'd Assistances his Propositions to the Pope and Commissions to MONTROSE and lastly his late running away to his old Friends in the North so that any man may see his present compliance to be but histrionical and forc'd and that as soon as he has led them into the Snare and got power into his own hands so as that he may appear once more bare-fac'd he will be a scourge upon them for their gross Hypocrisy and leave them a sad Instance to all Nations how dangerous it is to espouse such an Interest against which God with so visible and severe a hand dos fight carry'd on by and for the support of a tyrannizing Nobility and Clergy and wherin the poor People are blindly led on by those afrighting but false and ungrounded pretensions of Perfidy and Perjury and made instrumental with their own Estates and Blood towards inslaving and ruining themselves THE Commonwealth OF OCEANA To his HIGHNESS The Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland Quid rides mutato nomine de te Fabula narratur Horat. The Introduction or Order of the Work Pliny's Description of Oceana OCEANA is saluted by the Panegyrist after this manner O the most blest and fortunat of all Countrys OCEANA How deservedly has Nature with the bountys of Heaven and Earth indu'd thee Thy ever-fruitful
the People a fear of the Nobility or Gentry as if their interests were destructive to each other when indeed an Army may as well consist of Soldiers without Officers or of Officers without Soldiers as a Commonwealth especially such a one as is capable of Greatness of a People without a Gentry or of a Gentry without a People Wherfore this tho not always so intended as may appear by MACCHIAVEL who else would be guilty is a pernicious error There is somthing first in the making of a Commonwealth then in the governing of it and last of all in the leading of its Armys which tho there be great Divines great Lawyers great men in all professions seems to be peculiar only to the Genius of a Gentleman For so it is in the universal series of Story that if any man has founded a Commonwealth he was first a Gentleman MOSES had his Education by the Daughter of PHARAOH THESEUS and SOLON of noble Birth were held by the Athenians worthy to be Kings LYCURGUS was of the Royal Blood ROMULUS and NUMA Princes BRUTUS and PUBLICOLA Patricians the GRACCHI that lost their lives for the People of Rome and the restitution of that Commonwealth were the Sons of a Father adorn'd with two Triumphs and of CORNELIA the Daughter of SCIPIO who being demanded in marriage by King PTOLOMY disdain'd to becom the Queen of Egypt And the most renown'd OLPHAUS MEGALETOR sole Legislator as you will see anon of the Commonwealth of Oceana was deriv'd from a noble Family nor will it be any occasion of scruple in this case that LEVIATHAN affirms the Politics to be no antienter than his Book de Cive Such also as have got any fame in the Civil Government of a Commonwealth or by the leading of its Armys have bin Gentlemen for so in all other respects were those plebeian Magistrats elected by the People of Rome being of known Descents and of equal Virtues except only that they were excluded from the name by the Usurpation of the Patricians Holland thro this defect at home has borrow'd Princes for Generals and Gentlemen of divers Nations for Commanders And the Switzers if they have any defect in this kind rather lend their People to the Colors of other Princes than make that noble use of them at home which should assert the Liberty of Mankind For where there is not a Nobility to hearten the People they are slothful regardless of the World and of the public interest of Liberty as even those of Rome had bin without their Gentry wherfore let the People embrace the Gentry in peace as the light of their eys and in war as the trophy of their arms And if CORNELIA disdain'd to be Queen of Egypt if a Roman Consul look'd down from his Tribunal upon the greatest King let the Nobility love and cherish the People that afford them a Throne so much higher in a Commonwealth in the acknowledgement of their Virtue than the Crowns of Monarchs An inequal Commonwealth BUT if the equality of a Commonwealth consist in the equality first of the Agrarian and next of the Rotation then the inequality of a Commonwealth must consist in the absence or inequality of the Agrarian or of the Rotation or of both ISRAEL and Lacedemon which Commonwealths as the People of this in JOSEPHUS claims kindred of that have great resemblance were each of them equal in their Agrarian and inequal in their Rotation especially Israel where the Sanhedrim or Senat first elected by the People as appears by the words of MOSES took upon them Deut. 1. ever after without any precept of God to substitute their Successors by Ordination which having bin there of civil use as Excommunication Community of Goods and other Customs of the Esseans who were many of them converted came afterward to be introduc'd into the Christian Church And the election of the Judg Suffes or Dictator was irregular both for the occasion the term and the vacation of that Magistracy as you find in the Book of Judges where it is often repeated That in those days there was no King in Israel that is no Judg and in the first of SAMUEL where ELY judg'd Israel forty years and SAMUEL all his life In Lacedemon the election of the Senat being by suffrage of the People tho for life was not altogether so inequal yet the hereditary Right of Kings were it not for the Agrarian had ruin'd her ATHENS and Rome were inequal as to their Agrarian that of Athens being infirm and this of Rome none at all for if it were more antiently carry'd it was never observ'd Whence by the time of TIBERIUS GRACCHUS the Nobility had almost eaten the People quite out o their Lands which they held in the occupation of Tenants and Servants Wherupon the remedy being too late and too vehemently apply'd that Commonwealth was ruin'd THESE also were inequal in their Rotation but in a contrary manner Athens in regard that the Senat chosen at once by lot not by suffrage and chang'd every year not in part but in the whole consisted not of the natural Aristocracy nor sitting long enough to understand or to be perfect in their office had no sufficient Authority to restrain the People from that perpetual Turbulence in the end which was their ruin notwithstanding the efforts of NICIAS who did all a man could do to help it But as Athens by the headiness of the People so Rome fell by the Ambition of the Nobility thro the want of an equal Rotation which if the People had got into the Senat and timely into the Magistracys wherof the former was always usurp'd by the Patricians and the latter for the most part they had both carry'd and held their Agrarian and that had render'd that Common-wealth immovable BUT let a Commonwealth be equal or inequal it must consist as has bin shewn by Reason and all Experience of the three general Orders that is to say of the Senat debating and proposing of the People resolving and of the Magistracy executing Wherfore I can never wonder enough at LEVIATHAN who without any reason or example will have it that a Commonwealth consists of a single Person or of a single Assembly nor can I sufficiently pity those thousand Gentlemen whose Minds which otherwise would have waver'd he has fram'd as is affirm'd by himself into a conscientious obedience for so he is pleas'd to call it of such a Government BUT to finish this part of the Discourse which I intend for as complete an Epitome of antient Prudence and in that of the whole Art of Politics as I am able to frame in so short a time THE two first Orders that is to say the Senat and the People are Legislative wherunto answers that part of this Science which by Politicians is intitl'd * De Legibus of Laws and the third Order is executive to which answers that part of the same Science which is stil'd †De Judiciis
Curulibus fifty Thrones judging the fifty Tribes of Oceana Or Is it Athens breaking from her Iron Sepulcher where she has bin so long trampled by Hosts of Janizarys For certainly that is the voice of THESEUS having gather'd his scatter'd Athenians into one City ††Haec juris sui Parere Domino Civitas uni negat Rex ipse Populus annuas mandat vice◠Honoris hui◠illive This freeborn Nation lives not upon the Dole or Bounty of one man but distributing her annual Magistracys and Honors with her own hand is her self King PEOPLE at which the Orator was a while interrupted with shouts but at length proceded Is it grave Lacedemon in her arm'd Tribe divided by her Obae and her Mora which appears to chide me that I teach the People to talk or conceive such Language as is drest like a Woman to be a sit Usher of the Joys of Liberty into the hearts of men Is it Rome in her victorious Arms for so she held her Concio or Congregation that congratulats with us for finding out that which she could not hit on and binding up her Comitia Curiata Centuriata and Tributa in one inviolable League of Union Or is it the Great Council of incomparable Venice bowling forth by the self same Ballot her immortal Commonwealth For neither by Reason nor by Experience is it impossible that a Commonwealth should be immortal seeing the People being the Materials never dy and the Form which is Motion must without opposition be endless The Bowl which is thrown from your hand if there be no rub no impediment shall never cease for which cause the glorious Luminarys that are the Bowls of God were once thrown for ever and next these those of Venice But certainly my Lords whatever these great Examples may have shewn us we are the first that have shewn to the World a Commonwealth establish'd in her rise upon fifty such Towers and so garnizon'd as are the Tribes of Oceana containing a hundred thousand Elders upon the annual List and yet but an Out-guard besides her marching Armys to be equal in the Disciplin and in the number of her Youth AND forasmuch as Soverain Power is a necessary but a formidable Creature not unlike the Pouder which as you are Soldiers is at once your Safety and your Danger being subject to take fire against you as well as for you how well and securely is she by your Galaxys so collected as to be in full force and vigor and yet so distributed that it is impossible you should be blown up by your own Magazine Let them who will have it that Power if it be confin'd cannot be Soverain tell us whether our Rivers do not enjoy a more secure and fruitful Reign within their proper banks than if it were lawful for them in ravaging our Harvests to spill themselves Whether Souls not confin'd to their peculiar Bodys do govern them any more than those of Witches in their Trances Whether Power not confin'd to the bounds of Reason and Virtue has any other bounds than those of Vice and Passion Or if Vice and Passion be boundless and Reason and Virtue have certain Limits on which of these Thrones holy men should anoint their Soverain But to blow away this dust The Soverain Power of a Commonwealth is no more bounded that is to say straitned than that of a Monarch but is balanc'd The Eagle mounts not to her proper pitch if she be bounded nor is free if she be not balanc'd And lest a Monarch should think he can reach further with his Scepter the Roman Eagle upon such a Balance spread her Wings from the Ocean to Euphrates Receive the Soverain Power you have receiv'd it hold it fast imbrace it for ever in your shining Arms. The virtue of the Loadstone is not impair'd or limited but receives strength and nourishment by being bound in Iron And so giving your Lordships much Joy I take my leave of this Tribe THE Orator descending had the period of his Speech made with a vast applause and exultation of the whole Tribe attending him for that night to his quarter as the Phylarch with som commanded Troops did the next day to the Frontiers of the Tribe where leave was taken on both sides with more Tears than Grief Definition of the Tribe SO a Tribe is the third Division of Land occasion'd by the third Collection of the People whose Functions proper to that place are contain'd in the five foregoing Orders THE Institution of the Commonwealth was such as needed those Props and Scaffolds which may have troubled the Reader but I shall here take them away and com to the Constitution which stands by it self and yields a clearer prospect Constitution of the Common-wealth THE motions by what has bin already shewn are Spherical and Spherical Motions have their proper Center for which cause e're I procede further it will be necessary for the better understanding of the whole that I discover the Center wherupon the Motions of this Commonwealth are form'd THE Center or Basis of every Government is no other than the Fundamental Laws of the same FUNDAMENTAL Laws are such as state what it is that a Man may call his own that is to say Property and what the Means be wherby a Man may enjoy his own that is to say Protection The first is also call'd Dominion and the second Empire or Soverain Power wherof this as has bin shewn is the natural product of the former for such as is the Balance of Dominion in a Nation such is the nature of its Empire WHERFORE the Fundamental Laws of Oceana or the Center of this Commonwealth are the Agrarian and the Ballot The Agrarian by the Balance of Dominion preserving Equality in the Root and the Ballot by an equal Rotation conveying it into the Branch or Exercise of Soverain Power As to begin with the former appears by 13. Order THE thirteenth ORDER constituting the Agrarian Laws of Oceana Marpesia and Panopea wherby it is ordain'd First for all such Lands as are lying and being within the proper Territorys of Oceana that every Man who is at present possest or shall hereafter be possest of an Estate in Land exceding the Revenue of two thousand Pounds a year and having more than one Son shall leave his Lands either equally divided among them in case the Lands amount to above 2000 l. a year to each or so near equally in case they com under that the greater part or portion of the same remaining to the eldest excede not the value of two thousand Pounds Revenue And no man not in present possession of Lands above the value of two thousand Pounds by the year shall receive enjoy except by lawful Inheritance acquire or purchase to himself Lands within the said Territorys amounting with those already in his possession above the said Revenue And if a man has a Daughter or Daughters except she be an Heiress or they be Heiresses
Footsteps of God by the Testimony of DAVID may be seen in the deep Waters much more by the consent of the whole Bible in Land or in the foundation of Empire unless we make the Footsteps of God to be one thing and his ways another which as to Government are these Grot. ad Numb 26. 53. GOD by the Ballot of Israel more fully describ'd in the next Book divided the Land som respect had to the Princes and Patriarchs for the rest to every one his inheritance according to the number of names which were drawn out of one Urn first and the Lots of Land the measure with the goodness of the same consider'd drawn afterwards out of the other Urn to those names Wherfore God ordaining the Cause and the Cause of necessity producing the Effect God in ordaining this Balance intended Popular Government But when the People admitting of no Nay would have a King God therupon commanding SAMUEL to shew them the manner of the King SAMUEL declar'd to the People concerning the manner or policy of the King saying He will take your Fields and your Vinyards and your Oliveyards even 1 Sam. 8. the best of them and give to his Servants which kind of proceding must needs create the Balance of a Nobility over and above this he will take the tenth of your Seed and of your Vinyards and of your Sheep by way of Tax for the maintenance of his Armys and thus your Daughters shall com to be his Cooks and Confectioners and your Sons to run before his Chariot There is not from the Balance to the Superstructures a more perfect description of a Monarchy by a Nobility For the third Branch the People of Egypt in time of the Famin which was very sore com to JOSEPH saying Buy us and our Land Gen. 47. 19 20. for Bread and we and our Land will be Servants to PHARAOH And JOSEPH bought all the Land of Egypt except that of the Priests for PHARAOH So the Land became PHARAOH'S who lest the remembrance of their former Property by lively marks and continual remembrancers should stir them up as the Vandals in Africa strip'd in Grot. ad Gen. 47. like manner of their Property and yet remaining in their antient Book I Dwellings were stir'd up by their Women to Sedition remov'd the People thus sold or drave them like Cattel even from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end therof In which you have the Balance of a sole Landlord or absolute Prince with the miserable and yet necessary consequence of an inslav'd People Now the Balance of Governments throout the Scriptures being of these kinds and no other the Balance of Oceana is exactly calculated to the most approv'd way and the clearest Footsteps of God in the whole History of the Bible and wheras the Jubile was a Law instituted for preservation of the popular Balance from alteration so is the Agrarian in Oceana BUT says the Prevaricator Hocus Pocus or in the name of Wonder how can this Agrarian be the Foundation of that Government which had subsisted more than forty five years without it For they were so long after the giving of this Law for the division of the Land before they had the Land to divide WHICH is as if one should say upon that other Law of the like date Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates Hocus Pocus or in the name of Wonder how should the Children of Israel make them Judges and Officers in their gates before they had any gates to make them in fine sport to be play'd by an Attorny for the Clergy with Scripture where it is plain enough that the Laws of a Commonwealth were given by MOSES to an Army to be put in execution when that Army should becom a Commonwealth as happen'd under JOSHUA BUT no saying will serve his turn If this Agrarian were meant as fundamental to the Government the Provision he will have it was weak and not proper for attaining the end propos'd there being nothing in the nature of the Agrarian to hinder but that the whole Country might for the space of near fifty years that is the time between the two Jubiles have com into the hands of one man and so have destroy'd Balance Agrarian Government and all THIS they that boast of their Mathematics might have taken the pains before they had bin so confident to have demonstrated possible as how or by what means one Lot could com in fifty years to be multiply'd six hundred thousand times and that without Usury which bar the Israelits being no Merchants was thought sufficient to be given or thus to call the Prudence of God by their impracticable Phansys in question is abominable I WOULD have Divines as this Prevaricator persuades and it should seem has persuaded som of them to overthrow the Commonwealth of Israel for otherwise I will give them my word they shall never be able to touch that of Oceana which except in the hereditary Succession and Dignity of the Princes of the Tribes and the Patriarchs and that the Senat was for life differs not from the former for as to the divers working up of the Superstructures in divers Commonwealths according to the diversity of occasions it coms to no accountable difference and much I conceive of this carving or finishing in Israel which had it bin extant would perhaps have shewn a greater resemblance is lost For the Senats as to their numbers that of the 300 in Oceana considering the bulk of the People excedes not that of the Seventy in Israel the Succession and Dignity of the Princes of the Tribes and of the Patriarchs was ordain'd for the preservation of the Pedigrees which CHRIST being born are not any more to be of like consequence and that the Senators were for life deriv'd from a Chap. 11 former Custom of such a number of Elders exercising som Authority in Egypt tho not that of the Senat till it was instituted by God from the descent of the Patriarchs into that Land who being at their descent seventy Persons and governing their Familys by the right of Paternity as the People increas'd and they came to dy had their Successors appointed in such a manner that the number of Seventy in remembrance of those Patriarchs was diligently preserv'd And forasmuch as the Patriarchs governing their own Familys which at first were all in their own right were consequently for life this also pleas'd in the substitution of others These things rightly consider'd I have not vary'd from the Authority of Israel in a tittle there being neither any such necessary use of Pedigrees nor uninterrupted Succession of Elders for life in Oceana and unless a man will say That we ought to have the like Effect where there is not the like Cause which were absurd the Authority of a Commonwealth holds no otherwise than from the Cause to the Effect OCEANA I say cannot be wounded but by piercing the
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.
any thing wherof they were in actual possession yet as to their legal Right took he from them as SAMUEL had forewarn'd their Fields their Vinyards and their Oliveyards even the best of them and gave them to his Servants or to a Nobility which by this means he introduc'd 2 Sam. 23. 1 Chron. 11. THE first Order of the Nobility thus instituted were as they are term'd by our Translators DAVID'S Worthys to these may be added the great Officers of his Realm and Court with such as sprang out of both But however these things by advantage of foren Conquest might be order'd by DAVID or continu'd for the time of his next Successor certain it is that the balance of Monarchy in so small a Country must be altogether insufficient to it self or destructive to the People A Parallel of the Monarchichal Balances in Israel and in Lacedemon Plutarch in Agis and Cleomenes THE Commonwealth of Lacedemon being founded by LYCURGUS Sect. 3 upon the like Lots with these design'd by MOSES came after the spoil of Athens to be destroy'd by Purchasers and brought into one hundred hands wherupon the People being rooted out there remain'd no more to the two Kings who were wont to go out with great Armys than one hundred Lords nor any way if they were invaded to defend themselves but by Mercenarys or making War upon the Penny which at the farthest it would go not computing the difference in Disciplin reach'd not in one third those Forces which the popular Balance could at any time have afforded without Mony This som of those Kings perceiving were of all others the most earnest to return to the popular Balance What Disorders in a Country no bigger than was theirs or this of the Israelits must in case the like course be not taken of necessity follow may be at large perus'd in the story of Lacedemon and shall be fully shewn when I com to the story of the present Kings The Superstructures of the Hebrew Monarchy FOR the Superstructures of DAVID'S Government it has bin Sect. 4 shewn at large what the Congregation of Israel was and that without the Congregation of Israel and their Result there was not any Law made by DAVID The like in the whole or for the most part was observ'd till REHOBOAM who refusing to redress the Grievances of the People was depos'd by one part of this Congregation or Parlament and set up by another to the confusion both of Parlament and People And DAVID as after him JEHOSHAPHAT did restore the Sanhedrim I will not affirm by popular Election after the antient manner He might do it perhaps as he made JOAB over the Host JEHOSHAPHAT Recorder and SERAIAH Scribe 1 Sam. 8. 15. Certain it is the Jewish Writers hold unanimously that the seventy Elders were in DAVID'S time and by a good token for they say to him only of all the Kings it was lawful or permitted to enter into the Sanhedrim which I the rather credit for the words of DAVID where he says I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Council Psal 111. 1. and in the Congregation of the Vpright which words relate to the Senat and the Congregation of Israel The final cause of the popular Congregation in a Commonwealth is to give such a balance by their Book II Result as may and must keep the Senat from that Faction and Corruption wherof it is not otherwise curable or to set it upright Yet our Translation gives the words cited in this manner I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Assembly of the Vpright and in the Psal 82. 1. Congregation There are other Allusions in the English Psalms of the like nature shaded in like manner As God is present in the Congregation of God that is in the Representative of the People of Israel he judges among the Gods that is among the seventy Elders or in the Sanhedrim What the Orders of the Israelitish Monarchy in the time of DAVID were tho our Translators throout the Bible have don what they could against Popular Government is clear enough in many such places Sect. 5 The Story of the Hebrew Kings TO conclude this Chapter with the story of the Hebrew Kings Till REHOBOAM and the division thro the cause mention'd of the Congregation in his time the Monarchy of the Hebrews was one but came thenceforth to be torn into two that of Judah consisting of two Tribes Judah and Benjamin and that of Israel consisting of the other ten From which time this People thus divided had little or no rest from the flame of that Civil War which once kindl'd between the two Realms or Factions could never be extinguish'd but in the destruction of both Nor was Civil War of so new a date among them SAUL whose whole Reign was impotent and perverse being conquer'd by DAVID and DAVID invaded by his Son ABSALOM so strongly that he fled before him SOLOMON the next Successor happen'd to have a quiet Reign by settling himself upon his Throne in the death of ADONIJAH his elder Brother and in the deposing of the High Priest ABIATHAR yet made he the yoke of the People grievous After him we have the War between JEROBOAM and REHOBOAM Then the Conspiracy of BAASHA against NADAB King of Israel which ends in the destruction of JEROBOAM'S House and the Usurpation of his Throne by BAASHA which BAASHA happens to leave to his Son ASA Against ASA rises ZIMRI Captain of the Chariots kills him with all his kindred reigns seven days at the end wherof he burns himself for fear of OMRI who upon this occasion is made Captain by one part of the People as is also TIBNI by another The next Prize is plaid between OMRI and TIBNI and their Factions in which TIBNI is slain Upon this success OMRI out-doing all his Predecessors in Tyranny leaves his Throne and Virtues to his Son AHAB Against AHAB drives JEHU furiously destroys him and his Family gives the flesh of his Queen JEZEBEL to the Dogs and receives a Present from those of Samaria even seventy Heads of his Masters Sons in Baskets To ASA and JEHOSHAPHAT Kings of Judah belongs much Reverence But upon this Throne sat ATHALIAH who to reign murder'd all her Grand-children except one which was JOASH JOASH being hid by the High Priest at whose command ATHALIAH was som time after slain ends his Reign in being murder'd by his Servants To him succedes his Son AMAZIA slain also by his Servants About the same time ZACHARIAH King of Israel was smitten by SHALLUM who reign'd in his stead SHALLUM by MANAHIM who reign'd in his stead PEKAHA the Son of MANAHIM by PEKAH one of his Captains who reign'd in his stead PEKAH by HOSHEA HOSHEA having reign'd nine years is carry'd by Chap. 4 SALMANAZZER King of Assyria with the ten Tribes into Captivity Now might it be expected that the Kingdom of Judah should injoy Peace a good King they
ways the one in Theory or notionally in which it is of easy understanding but of difficult practice The other practicably in which it is of difficult understanding but of facil use Book III One of these ways is a Shooinghorn and the other the Shoo for which cause I shall propose both as first notionally thus The Model propos'd notionally 1. THAT the native Territory of the Commonwealth be divided so equally as with any convenience it may into fifty Tribes or Precincts 2. THAT the People in each Tribe be distinguish'd first by their Age and next by the valuation of their Estates All such as are above eighteen and under thirty being accounted Youth and all such as are thirty or upwards being accounted Elders All such as have under one hundred pounds a year in Lands Goods or Mony being accounted of the Foot and all such as have so much or upwards being accounted of the Horse 3. THAT each Tribe elect annually out of the Horse of their number two Elders to be Knights three Elders out of the same and four Elders more out of the Foot of their number to be Deputys or Burgesses That the term of each Knight and Burgess or Deputy so elected be triennial and that whoever has serv'd his triennial Term in any one of these Capacitys may not be reelected into any one of the same till a triennial Vacation be expir'd 4. THAT in the first year of the Commonwealth there be a Senat so constituted of three hundred Knights that the term of one hundred may expire annually and that the hundred Knights annually elected by two in each Tribe take in the Senat the places of them whose Term coms to be thus annually expir'd 5. THAT in the first year of the Commonwealth there be a Representative of the People consisting of one thousand and fifty Deputys four hundred and fifty of them being Horse and the rest Foot That this Representative be so constituted that the term of two hundred of the Foot and of one hundred and fifty of the Horse expire annually and that the two hundred Foot and one hundred and fifty Horse elected annually by four of the Foot and three of the Horse in each Tribe take the places in this Representative of them whose terms coms thus annually to be expir'd 6. THAT the Senat have the whole Authority of Debate that the Representative have the whole power of Result in such a manner that whatever having bin debated by the Senat shall by their Authority be promulgated that is printed and publish'd for the space of six weeks and afterwards being propos'd by them to the Representative shall be resolv'd by the People of the same in the Affirmative be the Law of the Land THVS much may suffice to give implicitly a notional account of the whole frame But a Model of Government is nothing as to use unless it be also deliver'd practicably and the giving of a Model practicably is so much the more difficult that men not vers'd in thisâ—way say of it as they would of the Anatomy of their own Bodys that it is impracticable Here lys the whole difficulty such things as trying them never so often they cannot make hang together they will yet have to be practicable and if you would bring them from this kind of shifts or of tying and untying all sorts of knots to the natural nerves and ligaments of Government then with them it is impracticable But to render that which is practicable facil or to do my last indeavor of this kind of which if I miss this once more I must hereafter despair I shall do two things first omit the Ballot and then make som alteration in my former method THEY who have interwoven the Ballot with the description of a Chap. 1 Commonwealth have therby render'd the same by far the more complete in it self but in the understanding of their Readers as much defective wherfore presuming the use of the Ballot throout the Orders of this Model I shall refer it to practice in which it will be a matter of as much facility as it would have bin of difficulty in writing And for the method I have chosen it is the most natural and intelligible being no more than to propose the whole practicably first in the Civil secondly in the Religious then in the Military and last of all in the Provincial part of the Model CHAP. I. Containing the Civil part of the Model propos'd practicably SEEING it has bin sufficiently prov'd that Empire follows the nature of Property that the particular kind of Empire or Government depends upon the special distribution except in small Countrys of Land and that where the Balance in Property has not bin six'd the nature of the Government be it what you will has bin floting it is very reasonable that in the proposition of a Common-wealth we begin with a fixation of the Balance in Property and this being not otherwise to be don than by som such Laws as have bin commonly call'd Agrarian it is propos'd THAT every one holding above two thousand pounds a year in Land lying within the proper Territory of the Commonwealth leave the said Agrarian Laws Land equally divided among his Sons or else so near equally that there remain to the eldest of them not above two thousand pounds a year in Land so lying That this Proposition be so understood as not to concern any Parent having no more than one Son but the next Heir only that shall have more Sons in such sort as nothing be hereby taken from any man or from his Posterity but that fatherly Affection be at all points extended as formerly except only that it be with more Piety and less Partiality And that the same Proposition in such Familys where there are no Sons concern the Daughter or Daughters in the like manner THAT no Daughter being neither Heir nor Coheir have above fifteen hundred pounds in Portion or for her preferment in Marriage That any Daughter being an Orphan and having seven hundred pounds or upwards in Portion may charge the State with it That the State being so charg'd be bound to manage the Portion of such an Orphan for the best either by due payment of the Interest of the same or if it be desir'd by way of Annuity for Life at the rate of one hundred pounds a year for every seven hundred pounds so receiv'd The manner wherof being elswhere shewn is not needful to be repeated THAT these Propositions prevent the growing of a Monarchical Nobility is their peculiar end Wherfore that this should hold the weight of an Objection in a popular Balance already introduc'd thro the failure of a Monarchical Nobility or thro a level made not by the People but by the Kings or themselves were preposterous Yet upon this score for I see no other is there such Animosity against the like Laws that wise men have judg'd it an Indiscretion in such as are affected to