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

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

F

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

Before we finish our Examination of Artificial Society, I fhall lead your Lordship into a closer Confideration of the Relations which it gives Birth to, and the Benefits, if such they are, which refult from thefe Relations. The most 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 thofe of the latter. The whole Bufinefs of the Poor is to administer to the Idleness, 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 scarce be

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 thousand People employed in Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines; thefe unhappy Wretches fcarce ever fee the Light of the Sun; they are buried in the Bowels of the Earth ; there they work at a fevere and dismal Talk, without the leaft Profpect of being delivered from it; they fubfift upon the coarfeft and worst Sort of Face; they have their Health miferably impaired, and their Lives cut fhort, by being perpetually confined in the clofe Vapour of thefe malignant Minerals. An hundred thousand more at least are tortured without Remiffion by the fuffocating Smoak, intense Fires, and conftant Drudgery neceffary in refining and managing the Products of those Mines. If any Man informed us that two hundred thousand innocent Perfons were condemned to so intolerable Slavery, how fhould we pity the unhappy Sufferers! and how great would be our juft Indignation against those who inflicted fo cruel and ignominious a Punishment! This is an Inftance, I could not wish a stronger, of the numberless Things which we pass by in their common Drefs, yet which fhock us when they are nakedly represented. 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 Effluvia of Lead, Silver, Copper and Arfenic. To fay nothing of F 2

thofe

thofe other Employments, thofe Stations of Wretchednefs 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 thefe Drudgeries, for all the Artificial Enjoyments which Policy has made to refult from them? By no means. And yet need I fuggeft 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 ftrange and unaccountable Fancies and Contrivances of artificial Reafon, I have fomewhere called this Earth the Bedlam of our Syftem. Looking now upon the Effects of fome of those Fancies, may we not, with equal Reason, 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 refpecable Fabric of political Society: And as the Blindness of Mankind has caufed 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 difqualifies the greater Part of the Race of Man for a Search of Truth, and fupplies 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 fome 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 least, the rich Few find a confiderable and real Benefit from the Wretchednefs 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 aft Sort, their continual Care and Anxiety, their toillome Days and fleeplefs Nights, are next to proverbial. Thefe Circumftances are fufficient almost 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 feverest 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 where Cruelty, Pride, Diffimulation and Treachery are ftudied and taught in the moft 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 hindered me from drawing at full length, and in the most striking Colours, this fhocking

F3