part of the profits of certain Citys Boroughs or other places within his Earldom For an example of the possessions of Earls in antient times ETHELRED had to him and his Heirs the whole Kingdom of Mercia containing three or four Countys and there were others that had little less Kings Thane KINGS Thane was also an honorary Title to which he was qualify'd that had five Hides of Land held immediatly of the King by service of personal attendance insomuch that if a Churl or Countryman had thriven to this proportion having a Church a Kitchin a Belhouse that is a Hall with a Bell in it to call his Family to dinner a Boroughgate with a seat that is a Porch of his own and any distinct Office in the Kings Court then was he the Kings Thane But the proportion of a Hide Land otherwise call'd Caruca or a Plow Land is difficult to be understood because it was not certain nevertheless it is generally conceiv'd to be so much as may be manag'd with one Plow and would yield the maintenance of the same with the appurtenances in all kinds Middle Thane THE Middle Thane was feudal but not honorary he was also call'd a Vavasor and his Lands a Vavasory which held of som Mesn Lord and not immediatly of the King POSSESSIONS and their Tenures being of this nature shew the Balance of the Teuton Monarchy wherin the Riches of Earls were so vast that to arise from the Balance of their Dominion to their Power they were not only call'd Reguli or little Kings but were such indeed their Jurisdiction being of two sorts either that which was exercis'd by them in the Court of their Countys or in the High Court of the Kingdom Shiremoot IN the Territory denominating an Earl if it were all his own the Courts held and the Profits of that Jurisdiction were to his own use and benefit But if he had but som part of his County then his Jurisdiction and Courts saving perhaps in those possessions that were his own were held by him to the King's use and benefit that is he commonly supply'd the Office which the Sheriffs regularly executed in Countys that had no Earls and whence they came to be call'd Viscounts Viscounts The Court of the County that had an Earl was held by the Earl and the Bishop of the Diocess after the manner of the Sheriffs Turns to this day by which means both the Ecclesiastical and Temporal Laws were given in charge together to the Country The Causes of Vavasors or Vavasorys appertain'd to the cognizance of this Court where Wills were prov'd Judgment and Execution given Cases criminal and civil determin'd Halymoot THE Kings Thanes had the like Jurisdiction in their Thane Lands as Lords in their Manors where they also kept Courts BESIDES these in particular both the Earls and Kings Thanes together with the Bishops Abbots and Vavasors or Middle Thanes had in the High Court or Parlament of the Kingdom a more public Weidenagemoots Jurisdiction consisting First of deliberative Power for advising upon and assenting to new Laws Secondly of giving counsil in matters of State and Thirdly of Judicature upon Suits and Complaints I shall not omit to inlighten the obscurity of these times in which there is little to be found of a methodical Constitution of this High Court by the addition of an Argument which I conceive to bear a strong testimony to it self tho taken out of a late Writing that conceals the Author It is well known says he that in every quarter of the Realm a great many Boroughs do yet send Burgesses to the Parlament which nevertheless be so antiently and so long since decay'd and gon to nought that they cannot be shew'd to have bin of any Reputation since the Conquest much less to have obtain'd any such Privilege by the grant of any succeding King wherfore these must have had this right by more antient usage and before the Conquest they being inable now to shew whence they deriv'd it THIS Argument tho there be more I shall pitch upon as sufficient to prove First that the lower sort of the People had right to Session in Parlament during the time of the Teutons Secondly that they were qualify'd to the same by election in their Boroughs and if Knights of the Shire as no doubt they are be as antient in the Countrys Thirdly If it be a good Argument to say that the Commons during the reign of the Teutons were elected into Parlament because they are so now and no man can shew when this custom began I see not which way it should be an ill one to say that the Commons during the reign of the Teutons constituted also a distinct House because they do so now unless any man can shew that they did ever sit in the same House with the Lords Wherfore to conclude this part I conceive for these and other reasons to be mention'd hereafter that the Parlament of the Teutons consisted of the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of the Nation notwithstanding 25 Edw. 3. c. 1. the stile of divers Acts of Parliament which runs as that of Magna Charta in the Kings name only seeing the same was nevertheless enacted by the King Peers and Commons of the Land as is testify'd in those words by a subsequent Act. Monarchy of the Neusâ—rians THE Monarchy of the Teutons had stood in this posture about two hundred and twenty years when TURBO Duke of Neustria making his claim to the Crown of one of their Kings that dy'd childless follow'd it with successful Arms and being possest of the Kingdom us'd it as conquer'd distributing the Earldoms Thane Lands Bishoprics and Prelacys of the whole Realm among his Neustrians From this time the Earl came to be call'd Comes Consul and Dux tho Consul and Dux grew afterward out of use the Kings Thanes came to be call'd Barons and their Lands Baronys the Middle Thane holding still of a mean Lord retain'd the name of Vavasor Their Earls THE Earl or Comes continu'd to have the third part of the Pleas of the County paid to him by the Sheriff or Vice-comes now a distinct Officer in every County depending upon the King saving that such Earls as had their Countys to their own use were now Counts Palatin and had under the King Regal Jurisdiction insomuch that they constituted their own Sheriffs granted Pardons and issu'd Writs in their own names nor did the Kings Writ of ordinary Justice run in their 27 11. 8. Dominions till a late Statute wherby much of this privilege was taken away Their Barons FOR Barons they came from henceforth to be in different times of three kinds Barons by their Estates and Tenures Barons by Writ and Barons created by Letters Patents From TURBO the first to ADOXUS the seventh King from the Conquest Barons had their denomination from their Possessions and Tenures And these were either
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
frustated which made the King willinger to assist ALPIN in his pretension to the Kingdom of Picts in which Attemt he was drown'd and left to ALPIN that which he before had so nobly refus'd who making use of the former rais'd an Army beat the Picts in many signal Victorys but at last was slain by them leaving his name to the place of his Death and the Kingdom to his Son KENNETH This man seeing the People broken with the late War and unwilling to fight drew them on by this Subtilty he invites the Nobility to dinner and after plying them with Drink till midnight leaves them sleeping on the floor as the manner was and then hanging Fishskins about the Walls of the Chamber and making one speak thro a Tube and call them to war they waking and half asleep suppos'd somthing of Divinity to be in it aud the next morning not only consented to War but so strange is deluded imagination with unspeakable Courage fell upon the Enemy and put them to the rout which being confirm'd by other great Victorys utterly ruin'd the Pictish Name This man may be added to the two FERGUSES and truly may be said to be the Founder of the Scots Empire not only in making that the middle of his Dominion which was once the bounds but in confirming his Acquisitions with good Laws having the opportunity of a long Peace which was sixteen years his whole time of Government being twenty This was he that plac'd that Stone famous for that illusory Prophecy Ni fallat fatum c. which first was brought out of Spain into Ireland and from thence into Argyle at Scoon where he put it in a Chair in which all his Successors till EDWARD the First brought it away were crown'd and since that all the Kings of England till the happiness of our Commonwealth made it useless His Brother DONALD was his Successor a man made up of extremitys of Virtues and Vices no man had more bravery in the Field nor more Vice at home which increasing with his yeras the Nobility put him in prison where either for fear or scorn he put an end to his days leaving behind him his Brother CONSTANTIN a Man wanting nothing of him but his Vices who strugling with a potent Enemy for the Picts had call'd in the Danes and driving them much into despair a Bravery that has not seldom rain'd many excellent Captains was taken by them put into a little Cave and there slain He was succeded by ETHUS his Brother who had all his eldest Brother's Vices and none of his second 's Virtues Nature it seems making two extremes and a middle in the three Brethren This man voluptuous and cowardly was forc'd to resign or as others say dy'd of Wounds receiv'd in a Duel from his Successor who was GREGORY Son of DONGAL who was not only an excellent Man but an excellent Prince that both recover'd what the others had lost and victoriously travers'd the Northern Countys of England and a great part of Ireland of whose King a Minor and in his power he generously made no advantage but settled his Country and provided faithful and able Guardians for him These things justly yield him the name of Great DONALD Son of CONSTANTIN the Second by his recommendation succeded in his Power and Virtues notwithstanding some say he was remov'd by Poison Next was CONSTANTIN the the Third Son of ETHUS an unstable person who assisted the Danes which none of his Predecessors would do and after they had deserted him basely yet yielded them Succors consisting of the chief of the Scots Nobility which with the whole Danish Army were routed by the Saxons This struck him so that he retir'd among the Culdys which were as the Greec Caloyers or Romish Monks at this day and there bury'd himself alive After him was MILCOM Son of DONALD the Third who tho a good Prince and well skil'd in the Arts of Peace was slain by a Conspiracy of those to whom his Virtue was burdensom His Successor was INDULF by what Title I find not who fighting with the Danes that with a Navy unexpectedly came into the Frith was slain DUF his Son succedes famous for an Accident which if it be true seems nearly distant from a Fable He was suddenly afflicted by a sweating Disease by which he painfully languish'd yet no body could find the cause till at last a Girl that had scatter'd som words after torments confest that her Mother and som other women had made an Image of Wax which as it wasted the King should wast by sweating much the place being diligently search'd it was found accordingly so the Image being broke he instantly recover'd That which disturb'd his five years Reign was the turbulency of the Northern People whom when he had reduc'd and taken with intent to make exemplary Punishment DONALD the Commander of the Castle of Forres where he then lay interceded for som of them but being repuls'd and exasperated by his Wife after he had made all his Servants drunk slew him in his Bed and bury'd him under a little Bridg lest the cutting of Turfs might discover a Grave near Kilros Abby tho others say he turn'd aside a River and after he had bury'd him suffer'd it to take its former Chanel CULEN the Son of INDULF by the Election of Parlament or Convention of the People succeded good only in this one Action of inquiring and punishing his Predecessor's Death but after by the neglect of Discipline and the exquisiteness of his Vices became a Monster and so continued three years till being weakned and exhausted in his Body and vext with perpetual Diseases he was summon'd by the Parlament and in the way was slain by a Thane so they then call'd Lieutenants of Counties whose Daughter he had ravish'd THEN came KENETH Brother to DUF tho the forepart of his Reign was totally unlike his who being invaded by the Danes beat them in that famous Battle which was won by the three HAYS Husbandmen from whom all the HAYS now give three Shields Gules who with their Sythes reinforc'd the lost Battle but in his latter time he lost this reputation by poisoning MILCOLM Son of DUF to preserve the Crown for a Son of his Name tho of less merit for says BUCHANAN They use to chuse the fittest not the nearest which being don he got ordain'd in a Parlament that the Succession should be lineal the Son should inherit and be call'd Prince of Scots and if he were a Minor be govern'd by som wise Man here coms the pretence of Succession wheras before it was clearly Elective and at fifteen he should chuse his Guardian himself But the Divine Vengeance which seldom even in this life passes by Murder overtook him for he was ensnar'd by a Lady whose Son he had caus'd to be executed and slain by an Arrow out of an Ambush she had laid CONSTANTIN the Son of CULEN notwithstanding all the Artifice of KENNETH by his reasoning
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
years and yet die in peace ALEXANDER his Son succeded famous for little except som Expeditions against our King JOHN som Insurrections and a Reign two years longer than his Father's His Son was the third of that name a Boy of eight years old whose Minority was infested with the turbulent CUMMINS who when he was of age being call'd to account not only refus'd to appear but surpriz'd him at Sterling governing him at their pleasure But soon after he was awak'd by a furious Invasion of ACHO King of Norway under the pretence of som Islands given him by MACBETH whom he forc'd to accept a Peace and spent the latter part amidst the Turbulencys of the Priests drunk at that time with their Wealth and Ease and at last having seen the continu'd Funerals of his Sons DAVID ALEXANDER his Wife and his Daughter he himself with a fall from Horse broke his neck leaving of all his Race only a Grandchild by his Daughter which dy'd soon after THIS Man's Family being extinguish'd they were forc'd to run to another Line which that we may see how happy an expedient immediat Succession is for the Peace of the Kingdom and what Miseries it prevents I shall as briefly and as pertinently as I can set down DAVID Brother to K. WILLIAM had three Daughters MARGARET married to ALLAN Lord of Galloway ISABEL married to ROBERT BRUCE Lord of Annandale and Cleveland ADA married to HENRY HASTINGS Earl of Huntingdon Now ALLAN begot on his Wife DORNADILLA married to JOHN BALIOL afterwards King of Scotland and two other Daughters BRUCE on his Wife got ROBERT BRUCE Earl of Carick having married the Heretrix therof As for HUNTINGDON he desisted his claim The question is whether BALIOL in right of the eldest Daughter or BRUCE being com of the second but a Man should have the Crown he being in the same degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversy being tost up and down at last was refer'd to EDWARD the First of that name King of England He thinking to fish in these troubled waters stirs up eight other Competitors the more to entangle the business and with twenty four Counsellors half English half Scots and abundance of Lawyers fit enough to perplex the matter so handled the business after cunning delays that at length he secretly tampers with BRUCE who was then conceiv'd to have the better right of the business that if he would acknowlege the Crown of him he would adjudg it for him but he generously answering that he valu'd a Crown at a less rate than for it to put his Country under a foren Yoke He made the same motion to BALIOL who accepted it and so we have a King again by what Right we all see but it is good reason to think that Kings com they by their Power never so unjustly may justly keep it BALIOL having thus got a Crown as unhappily kept it for no sooner was he crown'd and had don homage to EDWARD but the ABERNETHYS having slain MACDUF Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them but gave them a piece of Land in controversy wherupon MACDUF'S Brother complains against him to EDWARD who makes him rise from his Seat in Parlament and go to the Bar He hereupon enrag'd denies EDWARD assistance against the French and renounces his Homage EDWARD immediatly coms to Berwiâ— takes and kills seven thousand most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and afterwards gave them a great Defeat at Dunbar whose Castle instantly surrender'd After this he march'd to Montrose where BALIOL resign'd himself and Crown all the Nobility giving homage to EDWARD BALIOL is sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a years detention into France While EDWARD was possest of all Scotland one WILLIAM WALLACE arose who being a privat man bestir'd himself in the Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable foils EDWARD coming again with an Army beat him that was already overcom with Envy and Emulation as well as Power upon which he laid by his Command and never acted more but only in slight Incursions But the English being beaten at Roslin EDWARD coms in again takes Sterling and makes them all render Homage but at length BRUCE seeing all his Promises nothing but smoke enters into League with CUMMIN to get the Kingdom but being betray'd by him to EDWARD he stab'd CUMMIN at Drumfreis and made himself King This man tho he came with disadvantage yet wanted neither Patience Courage nor Conduct so that after he had miserably lurk'd in the Mountains he came down and gathering together som Force gave our EDWARD the Second such a defeat near Sterling as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and continu'd the War with various fortune with the Third till at last Age and Leprosy brought him to his Grave His Son DAVID a Boy of eight years inherited that which he with so much danger obtain'd and wisdom kept In his Minority he was govern'd by THOMAS RANDOLF Earl of Murray whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valor had bin honor'd But he soon after dying of poison and EDWARD BALIOL Son of JOHN coming with a Fleet and stâ—engthn'd with the assistance of the English and som Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was routed so that BALIOL makes himself King and DAVID was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties EDWARD the Third backing BALIOL was Scotland miserably torn and the BRUCES in a manner extinguish'd till ROBERT after King with them of Argile and his own Family and Friends began to renew the claim and bring it into a War again which was carried on by ANDREW MURRAY the Governor and afterwards by himself So that DAVID after nine years banishment durst return where making frequent Incursions he at length in the fourth year of his return march'd into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridg shew'd to this day by the Inhabitants There he was by JOHN COPLAND taken prisoner where he continu'd nine years and in the thirty ninth year of his Reign he dy'd ROBERT his Sisters Son whom he had intended to put by succedes and first brought the STUARTS which at this day are a plague to the Nation into play This man after he was King whether it were Age or Sloth did little but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action He left his Kingdom to JOHN his Bastard Son by the Lady MORE his Concubin whom he marry'd either to legitimat the three Children as the manner was then he had by her or else for old Acquaintance his Wife and her Husband dying much about time This JOHN would be crown'd by the name of ROBERT his own they say being unhappy for Kings a wretched inactive Prince lame and only govern'd by his brother WALTER who having DAVID the Prince upon complaint of som Exorbitancys deliver'd to his care caus'd him to be starv'd upon which the King intending to send
intimated than shewn Nevertheless because I cannot otherwise understand the passage concerning ELDAD and MEDAD of whom it is said that they were of them that were written but went not up to the Tabernacle then with the Talmudists I conceive that ELDAD and MEDAD had the suffrage of the Tribes and so were written as Competitors for Magistracy but coming afterwards to the lot fail'd of it and therfore went not up to the Tabernacle or place of Confirmation by God or to the Sessionhouse of the Senat with the Seventy upon whom the lot fell to be Senators for the Sessionhouse of the Sanhedrim was first in the Court of the Tabernacle and afterwards in that of the Temple where it came to be call'd the stone Chamber John or Pavement If this were the Ballot of Israel that of Venice is the same transpos'd for in Venice the Competitor is chosen as it were by the lot in regard that the Electors are so made and the Magistrat is chosen by the Suffrage of the great Council or Assembly of the People But the Sanhedrim of Israel being thus constituted MOSES for his time and after him his Successor sat in the midst of it as Prince or Archon and at his left hand the Orator or Father of the Senat the rest of the bench coming round with either horn like a Crescent had a Scribe attending upon the tip of it THIS Senat in regard the Legislator of Israel vvas infallible and the Laws given by God such as were not fit to be alter'd by men is much different in the exercise of their Power from all other Senats except that of the Areopagits in Athens which also was little more than a Supreme Judicatory for it will hardly as I conceive be found that the Sanhedrim propos'd to the People till the return of the Children of Israel out of Captivity under Esdras at which time there was a new Law made namely for a kind of Excommunication or rather Banishment which had never bin before in Israel Nevertheless it is not to be thought that the Sanhedrim had not always that right which from the time of Esdras it more frequently exercis'd of proposing to the People but that they forbore it in regard of the fulness and infallibility of the Law already made wherby it was needless Wherfore the function of this Council which is very rare in a Senat was executive The Magistracy and consisted in the administration of the Law made and wheras the Council it self is often understood in Scripture by the Priest Deut. 17. 9 10 11. and the Levit there is no more in that save only that the Priests and the Levits who otherwise had no Power at all being in the younger years of this Commonwealth those that were best study'd in the Laws were the most frequently elected into the Sanhedrim For the Courts consisting of three and twenty Elders sitting in the Gates of every City and the Triumvirats of Judges constituted almost in every Village which were parts of the executive Magistracy subordinat to the Sanhedrim I shall take them at better leisure and in the larger Discourse but these being that part of this Commonwealth which was instituted by MOSES upon the advice of JETHRO the Priest Exod. 18. of Midian as I conceive a Heathen are to me a sufficient warrant even from God himself who confirm'd them to make farther use of human Prudence wherever I find it bearing a Testimony to it self whether in Heathen Commonwealths or others And the rather because so it is that we who have the holy Scriptures and in them the Original of a Commonwealth made by the same hand that made the World are either altogether blind or negligent of it while the Heathens have all written theirs as if they had had no other Copy As to be more brief in the present account of that which you shall have more at large hereafter Of Athens ATHENS consisted of the Senat of the Bean proposing of the Church or Assembly of the People resolving and too often debating which was the ruin of it as also of the Senat of the Aropagits the nine Archons with divers other Magistrats executing Of Lacedemon LACEDEMON consisted of the Senat proposing of the Church or Congregation of the People resolving only and never debating which was the long life of it and of the two Kings the Court of the Ephors with divers other Magistrats executing Of Carthage CARTHAGE consisted of the Senat proposing and somtimes resolving too of the People resolving and somtimes debating too for which fault she was reprehended by ARISTOTLE and she had her Suffetes and her hundred Men with other Magistrats executing Of Rome ROME consisted of the Senat proposing the Concio or People resolving and too often debating which caus'd her storms as also of the Consuls Censors Aedils Tribuns Pretors Questors and other Magistrats executing Of Venice VENICE consists of the Senat or Pregati proposing and somtimes resolving too of the great Council or Assembly of the People in whom the result is constitutively as also of the Doge the Signory the Censors the Dieci the Quazancies and other Magistrats executing Of Switzerland and Holland THE proceding of the Commonwealths of Switzerland and Holland is of a like nature tho after a more obscure manner for the Soveraintys whether Cantons Provinces or Citys which are the People send their Deputys commission'd and instructed by themselves wherin they reserve the Result in their own power to the Provincial or general Convention or Senat where the Deputies debate but have no other power of Result than what was confer'd upon them by the People or is farther confer'd by the same upon farther occasion And for the executive part they have Magistrats or Judges in every Canton Province or City besides those which are more public and relate to the League as for adjusting Controversies between one Canton Province or City and another or the like between such persons as are not of the same Canton Province or City BUT that we may observe a little farther how the Heathen Politicians have written not only out of Nature but as it were out of Scripture As in the Commonwealth of Israel God is said to have bin King so the Commonwealth where the Law is King is said by ARISTOTLE to be the Kingdom of God And where by the Lusts or Passions of Men a Power is set above that of the Law deriving from Reason which is the dictat of God God in that sense is rejected or depos'd that he should not reign over them as he was in Israel Pag. 170. And yet LEVIATHAN will have it that by reading of these Greec and Latin he might as well in this sense have said Hebrew Authors young Men and all others that are unprovided of the antidot of solid Reason receiving a strong and delightful impression of the great Exploits of War atchiev'd by the Conductors of their
him take it quite away †Neque id existimaâ—e debes autorem me tibi esse ut tyrannidem in S. P. Q. R. in servitutem redactum teneas quod neque dicere meum nâ—que facere tuum est Whence this Empire being neither Hawk nor Buzzard made a flight accordingly and the Prince being perpetually tost having the Avarice of the Soldiery on this hand to satisfy upon the People and the Senat and the People on the other to be defended from the Soldiery seldom dy'd any other death than by one Horn of this Dilemma as is noted more at large by MACCHIAVEL But P. cap. 19. the Pretorian Bands those bestial executioners of their Captain 's Tyranny upon others and of their own upon him having continued from the time of AUGUSTUS were by CONSTANTIN the Great incens'd against them for taking part with his Adversary MAXENTIUS remov'd from their strong Garison which they held in Rome and distributed into divers Provinces The Benefices of the Soldiers that were hitherto held for Life and upon Duty were by this Prince made Hereditary so that the whole Foundation wherupon this Empire was first built being now remov'd shews plainly that the Emperors must long before this have found out som other way of support and this was by stipendiating the Goths a People that deriving their Roots from the Northern parts of Germany or out of Sweden had thro their Victorys obtain'd against DOMITIAN long since spred their Branches to so near a Neighborhood with the Roman Territorys that they began to overshadow them For the Emperors making use of them in their Armys as the French do at this day of the Switz gave them that under the notion of a Stipend which they receiv'd as Tribute coming if there were any default in the payment so often to distrein for it that in the time of HONORIUS they sack'd Rome and possest themselves of Italy And such was the transition of antient into modern Prudence or that breach which being follow'd in every part of the Roman Empire with Inundations of Vandals Huns Lombards Franks Saxons overwhelm'd antient Languages Learning Prudence Manners Citys changing the names of Rivers Macchiavel Countrys Seas Mountains and Men CAMILLUS CAESAR and POMPEY being com to EDMUND RICHARD and GEOFFREY The Gothic Balance TO open the Groundwork or Balance of these new Politicians Feudum says CALVIN the Lawyer is a Gothic word of divers significations for it is taken either for War or for a possession of conquer'd Lands distributed by the Victor to such of his Captains and Soldiers as had merited in his Wars upon condition to acknowlege him to be their perpetual Lord and themselves to be his Subjects Institution of Feudatory Principalitys OF these there were three Kinds or Orders The first of Nobility distinguish'd by the Titles of Dukes Marquisses Earls and these being gratified with the Citys Castles and Villages of the conquer'd Italians their Feuds participated of Royal Dignity and were call'd Regalia by which they had right to coin Mony create Magistrats take Toll Customs Confiscations and the like FEUDS of the second Order were such as with the consent of the King were bestow'd by these Feudatory Princes upon men of inferior Quality call'd their Barons on condition that next to the King they should defend the Dignitys and Fortunes of their Lords in Arms. THE lowest Order of Feuds were such as being confer'd by those of the second Order upon privat men whether Noble or not Noble oblig'd them in the like Duty to their Superiors these were call'd Vavasors And this is the Gothic Balance by which all the Kingdoms this day in Christendom were at first erected for which cause if I had time I should open in this place the Empire of Germany and the Kingdoms of France Spain and Poland But so much as has bin said being sufficient for the discovery of the Principles of modern Prudence in general I shall divide the remainder of my Discourse which is more particular into three parts THE first shewing the Constitution of the late Monarchy of Oceana THE second the Dissolution of the same And THE third the Generation of the present Commonwealth THE Constitution of the late Monarchy of Oceana is to be consider'd in relation to the different Nations by whom it has bin successively subdu'd and govern'd The first of these were the Romans the second the Teutons the third the Scandians and the fourth the Neustrians THE Government of the Romans who held it as a Province I shall omit because I am to speak of their Provincial Government in another place only it is to be remember'd here that if we have given over running up and down naked and with dappl'd hides learn'd to write and read and to be instructed with good Arts for all these we are beholden to the Romans either immediatly or mediatly by the Teutons for that the Teutons had the Arts from no other hand is plain enough by their Language which has yet no word to signify either writing or reading but what is deriv'd from the Latin Furthermore by the help of these Arts so learn'd we have bin capable of that Religion which we have long since receiv'd wherfore it seems to me that we ought not to detract from the memory of the Romans by whose means we are as it were of Beasts becom Men and by whose means we might yet of obscure and ignorant Men if we thought not too well of our selves becom a wise and a great People For the proof of the insuing Discourse out of Records and Antiquitys see Selden's Titles of Honor from pag. 593 to pag. 837. THE Romans having govern'd Oceana provincially the Teutons were the first that introduc'd the Form of the late Monarchy To these succeded the Scandians of whom because their Reign was short as also because they made little alteration in the Government as to the Form I shall take no notice But the Teutons going to work upon the Gothic Balance divided the whole Nation into three sorts of Feuds that of Ealdorman that of Kings Thane and that of Middle Thane The Teuton Monarchy WHEN the Kingdom was first divided into Precincts will be as hard to shew as when it began first to be govern'd it being impossible that there should be any Government without som Division The Division that was in use with the Teutons was by Countys and every County had either its Ealdorman or High Reeve The title of Ealdorman came in time to Eorl or Erl and that of High Reeve to High Sheriff Earls EARL of the Shire or County denoted the Kings Thane or Tehant by Grand Serjeantry or Knights Service in chief or in capite his Possessions were somtimes the whole Territory from whence he had his denomination that is the whole County somtimes more than one County and somtimes less the remaining part being in the Crown He had also somtimes a third or som other customary
different in circumstances but of the same nature Nevertheless CATILIN who had a spirit equal to anv of these in his intended mischief could never bring the like to pass in Rome The head of a small Commonwealth such a one as was that of Syracusa or Fermo is easily brought to the block but that a populous Nation such as Rome had not such a one was the grief of NERO. If SYLLA or CAESAR attain'd to be Princes it was by Civil War and such Civil War as yielded rich spoils there being a vast Nobility to be confiscated which also was the case in Oceana when it yielded earth by Earldoms and Baronys to the Neustrian for the plantation of his new Potentats Where a Conqueror finds the Riches of a Land in the hands of the Few the Forseitures are easy and amount to vast advantage but where the People have equal shares the Confiscation of many coms to little and is not only dangerous but fruitless THE Romans in one of their defeats of the Volsci found among the Captives certain Tusculans who upon examination confest that the Arms they bore were by command of their State wherupon information being given to the Senat by the General CAMILLUS he was forthwith commanded to march against Tusculum which doing accordingly he found the Tusculan Fields full of Husbandmen that stir'd not otherwise from the Plow than to furnish his Army with all kind of Accommodations and Victuals drawing near to the City he saw the Gates wide open the Magistrats coming out in their Gowns to salute and bid him welcom entring the Shops were all at work and open the Streets sounded with the noise of Schoolboys at their Books there was no face of War Wherupon CAMILLUS causing the Senat to assemble told them That tho the Art was understood yet had they at length found out the true Arms wherby the Romans were most undoubtedly to be conquer'd for which cause he would not anticipat the Senat to which he desir'd them forthwith to send which they did accordingly and their Dictator with the rest of their Embassadors being found by the Roman Senators as they went into the house standing sadly at the door were sent for in as Friends and not as Enemys Where the Dictator having said If we have offended the fault was not so great as is our Penitence and your Virtue the Senat gave them peace forthwith and soon after made the Tusculans Citizens of Rome BUT putting the case of which the World is not able to shew an example That the forfeiture of a populous Nation not conquer'd but Friends and in cool blood might be taken your Army must be planted in one of the ways mention'd To plant it in the way of absolute Monarchy that is upon feuds for life such as the Timars a Country as large and fruitful as that of Greece would afford you but sixteen thousand Timariots for that is the most the Turc being the best husband that ever was of this kind makes of it at this day and if Oceana which is less in fruitfulness by one half and in extent by three parts should have no greater a force whoever breaks her in one battel may be sure she shall never rise for such as was noted by MACCHIAVEL is the nature of the Turkish Monarchy if you break it in two battels you have destroy'd its whole Militia and the rest being all slaves you hold it without any further resistance Wherfore the erection of an absolute Monarchy in Oceana or in any other Country that is no larger without making it a certain prey to the first Invader is altogether impossible TO plant by halves as the Roman Emperors did their Beneficiarys or military Colonys it must be either for life and this an Army of Oceaners in their own Country especially having Estates of Inheritance will never bear because such an Army so planted is as well confiscated as the People nor had the Mamalucs bin contented with such usage in Egypt but that they were Foreners and daring not to mix with the Natives it was of absolute necessity to their being OR planting them upon Inheritance whether Aristocratically as the Neustrians or Democratically as the Israelits they grow up by certain consequence into the national Interest and this if they be planted popularly coms to a Commonwealth if by way of Nobility to a mix'd Monarchy which of all other will be found to be the only kind of Monarchy wherof this Nation or any other that is of no greater extent has bin or can be capable for if the Israelits tho their Democratical Balance being fix'd by their Agrarian stood firm be yet found to have elected Kings it was because their Territory lying open they were perpetually invaded and being perpetually invaded turn'd themselves to any thing which thro the want of experience they thought might be a remedy whence their mistake in election of their Kings under whom they gain'd nothing but on the contrary lost all they had acquir'd by their Commonwealth both Estates and Libertys is not only apparent but without parallel And if there have bin as was shewn a Kingdom of the Goths in Spain and of the Vandals in Asia consisting of a single Person and a Parlament taking a Parlament to be a Council of the People only without a Nobility it is expresly said of those Councils that they depos'd their Kings as often as they pleas'd nor can there be any other consequence of such a Government seeing where there is a Council of the People they do never receive Laws but give them and a Council giving Laws to a single Person he has no means in the World wherby to be any more than a subordinat Magistrat but force in which case he is not a single Person and a Parlament but a single Person and an Army which Army again must be planted as has bin shewn or can be of no long continuance IT is true that the Provincial Balance being in nature quite contrary to the National you are no way to plant a Provincial Army upon Dominion But then you must have a native Territory in Strength Situation or Government able to overbalance the foren or you can never hold it That an Army should in any other case be long supported by a mere Tax is a mere phansy as void of all reason and experience as if a Man should think to maintain such a one by robbing of Orchards for a mere Tax is but pulling of Plumtrees the roots wherof are in other Mens grounds who suffering perpetual Violence com to hate the Author of it And it is a Maxim that no Prince that is hated by his People can be safe Arms planted upon Dominion extirpat Enemys and make Friends but maintain'd by a mere Tax have Enemys that have roots and Friends that have none TO conclude Oceana or any other Nation of no greater extent must have a competent Nobility or is altogether incapable of Monarchy for where there is equality of
which was not only a ship but a gust too could never open her sails but in danger to overset her self neither could make any voyage nor ly safe in her own harbor The Wars of later ages says VERULAMIUS seem to be made in the dark in respect of the glory and honor which reflected on men from the Wars in antient times Their shipping of this sort was for Voyages ours dare not lanch nor lys it safe at home Your Gothic Politicians seem to me rather to have invented som new Ammunition or Gunpowder in their King and Parlament than Government For what is becom of the Princes a kind of People in Germany blown up Where are the Estates or the Power of the People in France blown up Where is that of the People in Arragon and the rest of the Spanish Kingdoms blown up On the other side where is the King of Spain's Power in Holland blown up Where is that of the Austrian Princes in Switzerland blown up This perpetual peevishness and jealousy under the alternat Empire of the Prince and of the People is obnoxious to every Spark Nor shall any man shew a reason that will be holding in prudence why the People of Oceana have blown up their King but that their Kings did not first blow up them The rest is discourse for Ladys Wherfore your Parlaments are not henceforth to com out of the Bag of AEOLUS but by your Galaxys to be the perpetual food of the Fire of VESTA YOUR Galaxys which divide the House into so many Regions are three one of which constituting the third Region is annually chosen but for the term of three years which causes the House having at once Blossoms Fruit half ripe and others dropping off in full maturity to resemble an Orange-tree such as is at the same time an Education or Spring and a Harvest too for the People have made a very ill choice in the Man who is not easily capable of the perfect knowlege in one year of the Senatorian Orders which Knowlege allowing him for the first to have bin a Novice brings him the second year to practice and time enough For at this rate you must always have two hundred knowing Men in the Government And thus the Vicissitude of your Senators is not perceivable in the steadiness and perpetuity of your Senat which like that of Venice being always changing is for ever the same And tho other Politicians have not so well imitated their Pattern there is nothing more obvious in Nature seeing a Man who wears the same Flesh but a short time is nevertheless the same Man and of the same genius and whence is this but from the constancy of Nature in holding a Man to her Orders Wherfore keep also to your Orders But this is a mean Request your Orders will be worth little if they do not hold you to them wherfore imbark They are like a Ship if you be once aboard you do not carry them but they you and see how Venice stands to her tackling you will no more forsake them than you will leap into the Sea BUT they are very many and difficult O my Lords what Seaman casts away his Card because it has four and twenty Points of the Compass and yet those are very near as many and as difficult as the Orders in the whole circumference of your Common-wealth Consider how have we bin tost with every wind of Doctrin lost by the glib Tongues of your Demagogs and Grandees in our own Havens A company of Fidlers that have disturb'd your rest for your Groat two to one three thousand pounds a year to another has bin nothing And for what Is there one of them that yet knows what a Commonwealth is And are you yet afraid of such a Government in which these shall not dare to scrape for fear of the Statute THEMISTOCLES could not fiddle but could make of a small City a great Commonwealth these have fiddel'd and for your Mony till they have brought a great Commonwealth to a small City IT grieves me while I consider how and from what causes imaginary Difficultys will be aggravated that the foregoing Orders are not capable of any greater clearness in discourse or writing But if a Man should make a Book describing every trick or passage it would fare no otherwise with a game at Cards and this is no more if a Man plays upon the square There is a great difference says VERULAMIUS between a cunning Man and a wise Man between a Demagog and a Legislator not only in point of honesty but in point of ability As there be that can pack the Cards and yet cannot play well so there be som that are good in Canvasses and Factions that are otherwise weak men Allow me but these Orders and let them com with their Cards in their sleeves or pack if they can Again says he it is one thing to understand Persons and another to understand Matters for many are perfect in mens humors that are not greatly capable of the real part of Business which is the constitution of one that has study'd Men more than Books But there is nothing more hartful in a State than that cunning men should pass for wise His words are an Oracle As DIONYSIUS when he could no longer exercise his Tyranny among men turn'd Schoolmaster that he might exercise it among Boys Allow me but these Orders and your Grandees so well skil'd in the Baits and Palats of Men shall turn Ratcatchers AND wheras Councils as is discretely observ'd by the same Author in his time are at this day in most places but familiar meetings somwhat like the Academy of our Provosts where matters are rather talk'd on than debated and run too swift to order an Act of Council give me my Orders and see if I have not puzzel'd your Demagogs IT is not so much my desire to return upon hants as theirs that will not be satisfy'd wherfore if notwithstanding what was said of dividing and chusing in our preliminary Discourses men will yet be returning to the Question Why the Senat must be a Council apart tho even in Athens where it was of no other Constitution than the popular Assembly the distinction of it from the other was never held less than necessary this may be added to the former Reasons that if the Aristocracy be not for the Debate it is for nothing but if it be for debate it must have convenience for it And what convenience is there for debate in a croud where there is nothing but jostling treading upon one another and stirring of Blood than which in this case there is nothing more dangerous Truly it was not ill said of my Lord EPIMONUS That Venice plays her game as it were at Billiards or Nineholes and so may your Lordships unless your Ribs be so strong that you think better of Footbal for such sport is Debate in a popular Assembly as notwithstanding the distinction of the Senat was the destruction
he left disarm'd in the midst of her Enemys to lay her self at the feet of the King of Arragon and BRACCIO by such another Treachery had plainly possest himself of the Kingdom of Naples had he not bin broken at Aquila where Death intercepted his design From what has bin said first of Government and then of Arms if a Government of Servants be harder to be conquer'd and easier to be held then in this foren Arms must needs be least necessary and most dangerous IF a Government of Subjects be easier to be conquer'd and harder to be held then in this foren Arms may be more necessary but must be less dangerous BUT tho a Government of Citizens be both hardest to be conquer'd and hardest to be held yet as it is again in this regard of two kinds this cannot be said of each kind alike wherfore I must distinguish IN a Government of Citizens if the Commonwealth be not for increase but preservation only as Lacedemon Carthage Venice foren Arms are both necessary and dangerous but in a Government of Citizens where the Commonwealth is both for increase and preservation as Rome foren Arms are neither necessary nor dangerous TO repeat the parts of this Conclusion which being brief is obscure more fully and particularly THE Empire of Turky is of the harder kind to be conquer'd wherfore the Turk needs not foren Guards to defend him but it is of the easier to be held wherfore let him take heed of intrusting his Person with foren Guards who having a foren Interest may have a foren Nation to assist them and so the Person of the Prince being in their hands they have no more to do than to extinguish the Royal Line and the Empire being easily held is their own thenceforth with security Thus the Mamalucs which were at first foren Guards extinguishing the Royal Line of the Kings of Egypt came to possess and hold that Realm without opposition Who well considers this point will never enough admire the Policy of the Turk in the creation as it were of his Janizarys free from any national Interest that might make them dream of or desire Liberty and yet so void of all foren Interest or Knowlege that they know not what or who were their Country or Parents Hence tho they have Interest to murder the Book I Turk and somtimes do accordingly they have no further Interest in the world but what depends upon the Government and so the Empire is safe tho the Prince be in danger wheras if they were foren Guards or had any native Interest not only the Prince but the Empire too would be in danger the rest being Servants and such whose condition might be better'd by a change but could be no worse Wherfore a Government of Servants must by no means admit of foren Guards or Mamalucs BUT the Empire of France where the Nobility are not only subject to fly out but to call in Strangers may have use of foren Guards which not obnoxious to native Interest and Factions as those of the Nobility are the readiest and best help at this lift yet not dangerous tho having the Prince in their power because by him they are safe from the Nobility who were it not for the Prince would be so far from bearing or brooking foren Guards that in case a Forener came in upon their call having the same means to help themselves wherby they brought him in they would shake the Yoke and the ends why they call'd him in being satisfy'd or repented of drive him out again as they did the Spaniard and the English But if this Government being invaded or conquer'd be so hard to be kept how much harder being surpriz'd Wherfore in a Government by Subjects foren Arms may be more necessary but must be less dangerous IN a Commonwealth for preservation as Lacedemon Carthage Venice foren Arms are necessary So Lacedemon tho able to defend her self by her proper Forces against any one City yet the Wars in Greece going much upon Leagues and Confederats was forc'd also to make use of her Confederats and somtimes of her Helots BUT as antiently to Carthage so now to Venice foren or mercenary Forces are essential because for Land-service such a Constitution can have no other Yet is this course extremely dangerous as appear'd by Lacedemon who being ever in fear of her Helots when she had acquir'd upon the matter the whole Empire of Greece came by the Rebellion of her Confederats not only to lose all but likewise to ruin For Carthage upon the Mutiny of SPENDIUS and MATHO she escap'd as at other times upon like occasions very narrowly That such an Accident neither has befaln Venice nor can befal her is to be attributed to her Situation by which in this regard she is secure Nevertheless her Progress or Increase which by this means either cannot be great or being great must render her but the more infirm is fully bar'd TO a Commonwealth for increase which always takes in the whole body of the People foren Arms seeing she abounds above all other kinds of Policy with such as are proper must needs be the least necessary and they are the most safe because never admitting them but for her mere convenience and frugality in expence of native Blood she receives no such charge of them as can recoil but must carry point blank and as vigorously at her proper Interest very near as her proper Arms. Thus did the Latin and Italian Auxiliarys of which join'd with the Roman Legions consisted a Consular Army BY thus much it seems that an inference from the success of Arms to the perfection of Government and from the perfection of Government to the success of Arms should be no fallacious way of disputing BUT this being sweaty work with the Considerer who loves his Chap. 9 ease it is enough to argue thus The Switz Scotish and French Guards have never bin the Authors of any Sedition therfore the Seditiousness of a Nobility may be mended by foren Guards which is as if one should say such a Physician has never bin the cause of the Gout therfore the Gout may be cur'd by such a Physician That foren Arms may be well enough apply'd in the case of a seditious Nobility and have som good effects is not deny'd but is France therfore cur'd of her Sedition or remains she notwithstanding her foren Guards the most seditious Example in the world If thus she has not bin nor be what has he read of the Princes of the Blood in former times or heard of late from them But if thus she has bin and be is it not a fine way of Cure to give us an example of the Disease for the Remedy Nor are her Guards so void of Sedition neither but the Switzer if he wants his pay dares threaten Paris the Scot at least of late years has not bin so bold but if a Prince flys out the Ensigns of the French Guards will one way or other
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