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

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

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false Refinement, and affected Mystery of the Law are fuch, that many, who live under it, come to admire and envy the Expedition, Simplicity, and Equality of arbitrary Judgments. I need infift the lefs on this Article to your Lordship, as you have frequently lamented the Miseries derived to us from Artificial Law, and your Candor is the more to be admired and applauded in this, as your Lordship's noble House has derived its Wealth and its Honours from that Profeffion.

Before we finifh our Examination of Artificial Society, I fhall lead your Lordship into a closer Confideration of the Relations which it gives Birth to, and the Benefits, if fuch they are, which refult from thefe Relations. The moft obvious Divifion of Society is into Rich and Poor ; and it is no less obvious that the Number of the former bear a great Difproportion to those of the latter. The whole Bufinefs of the Poor is to adminifter to the Idlenefs, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich; and that of the Rich, in Return, is to find the best Methods of confirming the Slavery and increasing the Burthens of the Poor. In a State of Nature, it is an invariable Law, that a Man's Acquifitions are in Proportion to his Labours. In a State of Artificial Society, it is a Law as conftant and as invariable, that those who labour moft, enjoy the fewest Things; and that those who labour not at all, have the greatest Number of Enjoyments. A Conftitution of Things this, ftrange and ridiculous beyond Expreffion, We fcarce be

lieve

lieve a Thing when we are told it, which we actually fee before our Eyes every Day without being in the leaft furprised. I fuppofe that there are in GreatBritain upwards of an hundred thoufand People employed in Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines; these unhappy Wretches fcarce ever see the Light of the Sun; they are buried in the Bowels of the Earth; there they work at a fevere and difmal Task, without the leaft Profpect of being delivered from it; they fubfift upon the coarsest and worst Sort of Fare; they have their Health miferaby impaired, and their Lives cut fhort, by being perpetually confined in the close Vapour of these malignant Minerals. An hundred thousand more at leaft are tortured without Remiffion by the fuffocating Smoak, intenfe Fires, and conftant Drudgery neceffary in refining and managing the Products of thofe Mines. If any Man informed us that two hundred thoufand innocent Perfons were condemned to so intolerable Slavery, how fhould we pity the unhappy Sufferers! and how great would be our just Indignation against those who inflicted fo cruel and ignominious a Punishment! This is an Instance, I could not wish a ftronger, of the numberlefs Things which we pass by in their common Drefs, yet which fhock us when they are nakedly reprefented. But this Number, confiderable as it is, and the Slavery, with all its Bafenefs and Horror, which we have at home, is nothing to what the reft of the World affords of the fame Nature. Millions daily bathed in the poisonous Damps and deftructive Emuvia of Lead, Silver, Copper and Arfenic. To fay nothing of

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those other Employments, thofe Stations of Wretchedness and Contempt, in which Civil Society has placed the numerous Enfans perdus of our Army. Would any rational Man fubmit to one of the most tolerable of these Drudgeries, for all the Artificial Enjoyments which Policy has made to refult from them? By no means. And yet need I suggest to your Lordship, that those who find the Means, and those who arrive at the End, are not at all the fame Perfons? On confidering the strange and unaccountable Fancies and Contrivances of artificial Reason, I have fomewhere called this Earth the Bedlam of our Syftem. Looking now upon the Effects of fome of thofe Fancies, may we not, with equal Reafon, call it likewife the Newgate, and the Bridewell of the Univerfe. Indeed the Blindness of one Part of Mankind co-operating with the Frenzy and Villany of the other, has been the real Builder of this refpectable Fabric of Political Society: and as the Blindness of Mankind has caused their Slavery, in return their State of Slavery is made a Pretence for continuing them in a State of Blindness; for the Politician will tell you gravely, that their Life of Servitude disqualifies the greater Part of the Race of Man for a Search of Truth,and supplies them with no other than mean and infufficient Ideas. This is but too true; and this is one of the Reasons for which I blame fuch Inftitutions.

In a Mifery of this Sort, admitting some few Lenities, and those too but a few, nine Parts in ten of the whole Race of Mankind drudge through Life. It may be urged perhaps, in Palliation of this, that,

at

at least, the rich Few find a confiderable and real Benefit from the Wretchedness of the Many. But is this fo in fact? Let us examine the Point with a little more Attention. For this Purpose the Rich in all Societies may be thrown into two Claffes. The firft is of those who are Powerful as well as Rich, and conduct the Operations of the vaft political Machine. The other is of those who employ their Riches wholly in the Acquifition of Pleasure. As to the first Sort, their continual Care and Anxiety, their toilfome Days and fleepless Nights, are next to proverbial. Thefe Circumftances are fufficient almoft to level their Condition to that of the unhappy Majority; but there are other Circumstances which place them in a far lower Condition. Not only their Understandings labour continually, which is the fevereft Labour, but their Hearts are torn by the worst, the most troublesome, and infatiable of all Paffions, by Avarice, by Ambition, by Fear, and Jealoufy. No Part of the Mind has Reft. Power gradually extirpates from the Mind every humane and gentle Virtue. Pity, Benevolence, Friendship, are Things almost unknown in high Stations. Vera amicitia rariffime inveniuntur in iis qui in honoribus reque publica verfantur, fays Cicero. And indeed, Courts are the Schools were Cruelty, Pride, Disfimulation and Treachery are ftudied and taught in the most vicious Perfection. This is a Point fo clear and acknowledged, that, if it did not make a neceffary Part of my Subject, I should pass it by entirely. And this has hindred me from drawing at full length, and in the most striking Colours this fhocking

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