hive, fomethiiig fimilar to this was in nfe :
yet not fo extenfively, nor attended with all
the rigour, that was afterwards imported by
the Normans. For the Saxons were firmly
fettled in this ifland, at leaft as early as the
year 600: and it was not till two centuries
after, that feuds arrived to their full vigour
and maturity, even on the continent of
Europe.

This introdudion however of the feodal
tenures into England, by king William,
does not feem to have been efFeded immedi-
ately after the conqueft, nor by the mere
arbitrary will and power of the conqueror ;
but to have been confented to by the great
council of the nation long after his title was
eftabliihed. Indeed, from the prodigious
flaughter of the Englilh nobility at the bat-
tle of Haftings, and thefruitlefs infurredions
of thofe who furvived, fuch numerous for-
feitures had accrued, that he was able to re-
ward his Norman followers with very large
and extenfive poflTeffions : which gave a
handle to the moi^lh hiitcrians, and fuch



as have implicitly followed them, to repre-
fent him as having by the right of thefword
feized on all the lands of England, and
dealt them out again to his own favourites.
A fuppofition, grounded upon a millaken
fenfe of the word conqueft; which, in its
feodal acceptation, fignifies no more than
acquifition : and this has led many haftjr
writers into a ftrange hiftorical miftake, and
one which upon the flighteft examination
will be found to be moft untrue. However,
certain it is, that the Normans now began
to gain very large poffeflions in England :
and their regard for their feodal law, under
which they had long lived, together with
the king's recommendation of this policy to
the Engliih, as the beft way to put them-
felves on a military footing, and thereby to
prevent any future attempts from the conti-
nent, were probably the reafons that prevailed
to effed this eftabliftim.ent here. And per-
haps we may be able to afcertain the time of
this great revolution in our landed property
with a tolerable degree of exadnefs. For
we learn from the Saxon Chronicle, that in
the nineteenth year of king William's reign
an invafion was apprehended from Denmark;
and the military conftitution of the Saxons
being then laid afide; and no other intro-
duced in its ftead, the kingdom was wholly
defencelefs : which occafioned the king to
bring over a large army of Normans and
Bretons, who were quartered upon every
landholder, and greatly opprelTed the people.
This apparent weaknefs, together with the
grievances occafioned by a foreign force,
might co-operate with the king's remon-
ftrances, and the better incline the nobility
to liften to his propofals for putting them in
a pofture of defence. For, as foon as the
danger was over, the king held a great
council to enquire into the ftate of the na-
tion ; the immediate confequence of which
was the com.piling of the great furvey called
Domefday-book, which was finiflred in the
next year : and in the latter end of that
very year the king was attended by all his
nobility at Sarum ; where all the principal
landholders fubmitted their lands to the
yoke of military tenure, became the king's
vafTals, and did homage and fealtv to his
perfon. This feems to have lieen the :era of
formally introducing the feodal tenures by
law ; and probably the very law, thus made
at the council of Sarum, is that which is
ftill extant, and couched in thefe remarkable
words: " ftatuimus, jii om?ies liber'i homines
feeders ^ Jacramento affirment, quod intra ^
extra mi'verjum regnum Angli<e V/ilhdrno regi

domiiit



ELEGANT EXTRACTS,



252

domino fta jldeles ejfe ^volunt ; terras y honores
illms omni fidelitate ubique femjare aim eo, et
contra inimicos et alienigenas defendere." The
terms of this law (as Sir Martin Wright has
obferved) are plainly feodal : for, firft, it
requires the oath of fealty, which made, in
the fenfe of the feudifts, every man that took
it a tenant or vaflal; and, fecondly, the
tenants obliged themfelves to defend their
lords territories and titles againft all enemies
foreign and domeftic. But what puts the
matter out of difpute is another law of the
fame colleftion, which exafls the perform-
ance of the military feodal fervices, as or-
dained by the general council : " Omnes
coniitcs, id haroneSy id milites, 13 fervieittes,
id Wiiverjt liberi homines totius regni ?ioJiri
fnsdiBi, haheant id terieant ft femper bene in
armis id in equis, ut decet id oportet : id Jint
femper prompti Id bene paratiadfer-vitiumfuum
integrum iiohis expleiidum id perngendiim cum
tpus fuerit; Jccunduni qu.d nobis debent de
fcedis id tetiementis Jnh de jure facere ; id jiait
illis fiatiiimus per commune concilium totius regni
vojiri pya'didi."

This new polity therefore feems not to
Iiave been impofed by the conqueror, but
nationally and freely adopted by the general
afl'embly of the whole realm, in the fame
manner as other nations of Europe had be-
fore adopted it, upon the fame principle of
felf-fecurity. And, in paiticiilar, they had
the recent example of the French nation
before their eyes, which had gradually fur-
rendered up all its allodial or free lands into
the king's hands, who reftored them to the
owners as a bene/icium or feud, to be held to
them and fiich of their heirs as they previ-
oufly nominated to the king : and thus, by
degrees, all the allodial ellates of France
were converted into feuds, and the freemen
became the vaffals of the crovvn. The only
difference between this change of tenures in
France, and that in England, was, that the
former was efFefted gradually, by the con-
fent of private perfons ; the latter was done
at once, all over England, by the common
confent of the nation.

In confequence of this change, it became
a fundamental maxim and neceffary principle
(though in reality a mere fiftion) of our
Englifh tenures, " that the king is the uni-
verfal lord and original proprietor of all the
lands in his kingdom ; and that no man
doth or can pofTefs any part of it, but what
» has mediately or immediately been derived
as a gift from him, to be held upon feodal
fervices." For, this being the real cafe in
pure, original, proper feuds, other nations



Book. IV.



who adopted this fyftem were obliged to a(?t
upon the fame fuppofition, as a fubftruftion
and foundation of theirnew polity, though
the faft was indeed far otherwife. And,
indeed, by thus confenting to the intro-
duftion of feodal tenures, our Englifh an-
ceftors probably meant no more than to put
the kingdom in a ftate of defence bv a mili-
tary fyflem ; and to oblige themfelves (in
refpeft of their lands) to maintain the king's ,
title and territories, with equal vigour and
fealty, as if they had received their lands
from his bounty upon thefe exprefs condi-
tions, as pure, proper, beneficiary feuda-
tories. But, whatever their meaning was,
the Norman interpreters, fkilled in all the
niceties of the feodal conilitutions, and well
underftanding the import and extent of the
feodal terms, gave a very different con-
ftrudion to this proceeding ; and thereupon
took a bandle to introduce, not only the
rigorous doftrines which prevailed in the
duchy of Normandy, but alfo fuch fruits
and dependencies, fuch hardfhips and fer-
vices as were never known to other nations ;
as if the Englifli had in fafl, as well as
theory, owed every thing they had to the
bounty of their fovereign lord.

Our anceftors therefore, who were by no
means beneficiaries, but had barely confcnted
to this fiflion of tenure from the crown, as
the bafis of a military difcipline, with reafon
looked upon thofe deductions as grievous
impofitions, and arbitrary conclufions from
principles that, as to them, had no founda-
tion in truth. However, this king, and his
fon William Rufus, kept up v/ith a high
hand all the rigours of the feodal doftrines :
but their fuccelTor, Henry I. found it ex-
pedient, when he fat up his pretenfions to
the crown, to promife a reflitution of the
laws of king Edward the Confeflbr, or
ancient Saxon f)ftem ; and accordingly, in
the firft year of his reign, granted a charter,
whereby he gave up the greater grievances,
butftill referved the fiftion of feodal tenure,
for the fame military purpofes which engaged
his father to introduce it. But this charter
was gradually broke through, and the for-
m.er grievai-kces were revi^^ed and aggravated,
by himfelf and fucceeding princes : till in
the reign of king John they became fo in-
tolerable, that they occafioned his barons,
or principal feudatories, to rife up in arm^
againft him : which a; length produced the
famous great charter at Running-mead,
which, with fome alterations, was confirmed
by his fon Henry III. And though its im-
munities (cfpecially as altered on its lafl

editioa



Book IV. NARRATIVES, DIALOGUES, &c.



253



idition by his fon) are very greatly fhort of
thofe granted by Henry I. it was juftly
:fteemed at the time a vaft acquifition to
Englifh liberty. Indeed, by the farther
dteration of tenures that has fuice happened,
many of thefe immunities may now appear,
to a common obferver, of much lefs confe-
juence than they really were when granted :
aut this, properly confidereJ, w^ill fliew,
lot that the acquifitions under John were
fmall, but that thofe under Charles were
rreater. And from hence alfo arifes an-
jther inference ; that the liberties of Englilhi
men are not (as fome arbitrary writers would
reprefent them) mere infringements of the
ting's prerogative, extorted from our princes
3y taking advantage of their weaknefs ; but
I reftoration of that ancient conftitution, of
which our anceftors had been defrauded by
the art and finefle of the Norman lawyers,
rather than deprived by the force of the
Norman arms.

Bladjiones Commefitaries.

§ 61. Of Britijh Juries.
The method of trials by juries is generally
looked upon as one of the moft excellent
branches of our conftitution. In theory it
certainly appears in that light. According
to the original ellablifhment, the jurors are
to be men of competent fortunes in the
neighbourhood ; and are to be fo avowedly
indifferent between the parties concerned,
that no reafonable exception can be made to
them on either fide. In treafon the perfon
accufed has a right to challenge five-and-
thirty, and in felony twenty, without fhew-
ing caufe of challenge. Nothing can be
more equitable. No prifoner can defire a
fairer field. But the misfortune is, that our
juries are often compofed of men of mean
eftates and low underftandings, and many
difficult points of law are brought before
them, and fubmitted to their verdift, when
perhaps they are not capable of determining,
properly and judicioufly, fuch nice matters
Fj'of juftice, although the judges of the court
lexplain the nature of the cafe, and the law
Iwhich arifes upon it. But if they are not
Idcfcftive in knowledge, they are fometiraes,
jl fear, from their itation and indigence,
jliable to corruption. This indeed is -an
]objedion more to the privilege lodged with
: [juries, than to the inftitution itfelf. The
' point moft liable to objedfion is the power,
jwlnch any one or more of the twelve have
to Itarve the reft into a compliance with
'their opinion ; fo that the verdift may pof-
libl}' be given by ftrength of conftitution.



not by convidlion of confcience; and,
wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

Orrery.

§ 6z. Jujlicey its Nature and real Litport
defined.

Mankind in general are not fufficiently
acquainted with the import of the word
juftice: it is commonly believed to confifi
only in a performance of thofe duties ta
which the laws of fociety can oblige us^
This, I allow, is fometiraes the import of
the word, and in this fenfe juftice is diftin-
guifhed from equity ; but there is a juftice
ftill more extenfive, and which can be fhewil
to embrace all the virtues united.

Juftice may be defined, that virtue which
impels us to give to every perfon what is
his due. In this extended {zwic of the word,
it comprehends the praftice of every virtue
which reafon prefcribes, or fociety fhould
expeft. Our duty to our. Maker, to each
other, and to ourfelves, are fully anfwered,
if we give them what we owe them. Thus
juftice, properly fpeaking, is the only vir-
tue, and all the reft have their origin in it.

The qualities of candour, fortitude, cha-
rity, and generofity, for inftance, are not
in their own nature virtues ; and, if ever
they deferve the title, it is owing only to
juftice, which impels and direds them.
Without fuch a moderator, candour might
become indifcretion, fortitude obilinacy,
charity imprudence, and generofity raiftaken
profusion.

A difinterefted aflion, if it be not con-
duced by juftice, is, at beft, indifferent vn.
its nature, and not unfrequently even turns
to vice. The expences of fociety, of pre-
fents, of entertainments, and the other helps
to chearfulnefs, are adions merely indiffe-
rent, when not repugnant to a better me-
thod of difpofing of our fuperlluities ; but
they become vicious when they obftrudl or
exhauft our abilities from a more virtuous
difpofition of our circumftances.

True generofity is a duty as indifpenfably
neceffary as thofe impofed on us by law. It
is a rule impofed on us by reafon, which
fhould be the fovereign law of a rational
being. But this generofity does not confift
in obeying every impulfe of humanity, in
following blind paffion for our guide, and
impairing our circumftances by prefent bene-
fa(^tions, fo as to render us incapable of
future ones. Gold/mith's Ejfays,

§ ()l. Habit, the Difficulty of conquering.
There is nothing which we eftimate fo
fallacioully



L



254



ELEGANT EXTRACTS,



Book IV;!1



fallacioufly as the force of our own refolu-
tions, nor any fallacy which we fo unwil-
lingly and tardily detedt. He that has rc-
folved a thoufand times, and a thoufand
times deferted his own purpofe, yet fufFers
no abatement of his confidence, but ftill be-
lieves hlmfelf his own mafter, and able, by
innate vigour of foul, to prefs forward to
his end, through all the obftrudlions that
inconveniences or delights can put in his
way.

That this miftake {hould prevail for a
time is very natural. When conviftion is
prefent, and temptation out of fight, wcdo
not eafily conceive how any reafonable being
can deviate from his true intereft. What
ought to be done while it yet hangsonly in
fpeculation, is fo plain and certain, that
there is no place for doubt; the whole foul
yields itfelf to the predominance of truth,
and readily determines to do what, when
the time of adion comes, v/ill be at laft
omitted.

1 believe moft men may review all the
lives' that have paffcd within their obferva-
tion, without remembering one efficacious
refolution, or being able to tell a fmgle in-
ftance of a courfe of prat^ice fuddenly
changed in confequence of a change of
opinion, or an eftablifliment of determina-
tion. Many indeed alter their condud,
and are not at fifty what they were at thirty,
but they commonly varied imperceptibly
from themfelves, followed the train of ex-
ternal caufes, and rather fufFered reforma-
tion than made it.

It is not uncommon to charge the diffe-
rence between promife and performance, be-
tween profeffion and reality, upon deep de-
iign and fludied deceit; but the truth is,
that there is very little hypocrify in the
world ; we do not fo often endeavour or wifh
to impofe on others as on ourfelves ; we re-
folve to do right, we hope to keep our re-
folutions, we^declare them to confirm our
own hope, and fix our own inconftarxy by
calling witneiTes of our aftions ; but at laft
habit prevails, and thofe whom we invited
at our triumph, laugh at our defeat.

Cuftom is commonly too ftrong for the
moft refolute refolver, though furnifhed for
the affault with all the weapons of philofo-
phy. *< He that endeavours to free himfelf
•♦ from an ill habit," fays Bacon, ♦' muft
*« not change too much at a time, left he
** (hould be difcouraged by difficulty ; nor
«* too little, for then he will make but
•* flow advances." This is a precept which
say be, applauded in a book, but will fail



In the trial, in which every change will be
found too great or too little. Thofe who
have been able to conquer habit, are like
thofe that are fabled to have returned from
the realms of Pluto :

Pauci, quos £equu-s amavit
Jupiter, atque ardens evexit ad sediera virtus.

They are fufficient to give hope but not
fecurity, to animate the conteft, but not to
promife vidory.^

_ Thofe who are in the power of evil ha-
bits, muft conquer them as they can, and
conquered they muft be, or neither wifdom
nor happinefs can be attained; but thofe
who are not yet fubjed to their influence,
may, by timely caution, preferve their free-
dom ; they may efFedually refolve to efcape''
the tyrant, whom they will very vainly re-
folve to conquer. Idler,



64.

Sir,



Halfpettnyy its Adventures*



" I fhall not pretend to conceal from yo«
the illegitimacy of my birth, or the bafe-
nefs of my extradlion : and though I feem
to bear the venerable marks of old age,
received my being at Birmingham not fist
months ago. From thence I was tranfport-
ed, with many of my brethren of difterer
dates, charafters, and configurations, to
Jew pedlar in Duke's-place, who paid fol
us in fpecie fcarce a fifth part of our nomi-
nal and extrinfic value. We were foon aftet
feparately difpofed of, at a more moderat
profit, to coffee-houfes, chop-houfes, chand
lers-fhops, and gin-fhops. I had not beej
long in the world, before an ingeniofl
tranfmuter of metals laid violent hands oj
me ; and obferving my thin fhape and fli
furface, by the help of a little quickfilv*
e,xalted me into a fiiilling. Ufe, howevei
foon degraded me again to my native loiS
ftation ; and I unfortunately fell into tK
pofleffion of an urchin juft breeched, whi
received me as a Chriftmas-box of his gc
mother.

" A love of money is ridiculoufly
ftilled into children fo early, that befoi?
they can poflibly comprehend the ufe of it
they conlider it as of great value ; I Itf
therefore the very effence of my being, i
the cuftody of this hopeful difciple of av^
rice and folly ; and was kept only to b
looked at and admired : but a bigger boy'
after a while fnatched me from him, and re-
leafed me from my confinement.

** I now underwent various hardfliips
among his play-fellows, and was kicked

about.



Book IV. NARRATIVES, DIALOGUES, &c.



25S



about, huftled, tofTed up, and chucked into
holes ; which very much battered and im-
paired me : but I fuiFered moft by the peg-
ging of tops, the marks of which I have
borne about me to this day. I was in this
jftate the unwitting caufe of rapacity, ftrife,
tenvy, rancour, malice, and revenge, among
the little apes of mankind ; and became the
object and the nurfe of thofe paffions which
difgrace human nature, while I appeared
only to engage children in innocent paltimes.
At length I was difmifl'ed from their fervice
by a throw with a barrow-woman for an
orange.

' From her it is natural to conclude, I
pofted to the gin-fhop; where, indeed, it
IS probable I Ihould have immediately gone,
if her hufband, a foot-foldier, had not
vvrefted me from her, at the expence of a
bloody nofe, black eye, fcratched face, and
cm regimentals. By him I was carried to
the Mall in St. James's Park, where I am
afliamed to tell how I parted from him — let
t fuffice that I was foon after depofited in a
light- cellar.

" From hence I got into the coat-pocket
>f a blood, and remained there with feveral
of my brethren for fome days unnoticed.
But one evening as he was reeling home
from the tavern, he jerked a whole handful
of us through a faih-window into the din-
ng-room of a tradefman, who he remembered
had been fo unmannerly to him the day be-
fore, as to defire payment of his bill. We
epofed in foft eafe on a fine Turkey carpet
ill the next morning, when the maid fwept
IS up; and fome of us were allotied to pur-
hafe tea, fome to buy fnuff, and I myfelf
was immediately trucked away at the door
:or the Sweethearts Delight.

" It is not my defign to enumerate ever}'
ittle accident that has befallen me, or to
iwell upon trivial and indifferent circum-
lances, as is the praclice of thofe impor-
ant egotifls, who v/rite narratives, me-
noirs, and travels. As ufelefs to comrau-
ity as my fingle felf may appear to be, I
lave been the inftrument of much good and
;vil in the intercourfe of mankind : I have
lontributed no fmall fum to the revenues of
'he crown, by my fliare in each news-paper ;
md in the confumption of tobacco, fpiritu-
us liquors, and otlier taxable commodities.
[f I have encouraged debauchery, or fup-
jorted extravagance ; I have alfo rev/arded
:he labours of induftry, and relieved the
leceflities of indigence. The poor acknow-
edge me as their conltant friend ; and the
»ch, though they aiFe*^ to flight me, and



treat me with contempt, are often reduced
by their follies to diftrefles, which it is even
in my power to relieve.

" The prefent exai^ fcrutiny into our
conftitution has, indeed, very much ob-
ftru(!:^ed and embarrafTed my travels ; though
1 could not but rejoice in my condition laft
Tuefday, as I was debarred having any
fhare in maiming, bruifing, and deftroying
the innocent viclims of vulgar barbarity : f
was happy in being confined to the mock
encounters with feathers and ftuffed leather}
a child ifh fport, rightly calculated to ini-
tiate tender minds in afts of cruelty, and
prepare them for the exercife of inhumanity
on helplefs animals,

•' 1 fhall conclude. Sir, with informincr
you by what means 1 came to you in the
condition you fee. A choice fpirit, a mem-
ber of the kill-care-club, broke a link-boy's
pate with me laft night, as a reward for
lighting him acrofs the channel; the lad
wafted half his tar fiambeau in looking for
me, but I efcaped his fearch, being lodged
fnugly againft a poft. This morning a
parifli girl picked me up, and carried me
with raptures to the next baker's fhop to
purchafe a roll. The mafter, who was'
churchwarden, examined me with great at-
tention, and then grufily threatening her
with Bridewell for putting off bad money,
knocked a nail through my middle, and
faftened me to the counter : but the moment
the poor hungry child was gone, he whipt
m.c up again, and fending me away with
others in change to the next cuftomer, gave
m.e this opportunity of relating my adven-
tures to you." Adventurer

^ 65. Hijiory, our naturaT Fmidnefs for it,
afid its true Ufe.

The love of hiftory feems infeparable
from human nature, becaufe it feems in-
feparable from feli'-love. The fame princi-
ple in this inrtance carries us forward and
backward, to future and to paft ages. We
imagine that the things which afFedl us,
muft afFeft pofterity : this fentiment runs
through mankind, from Caefar down to the
parifh-clerk in Pope's Mifcellany. We arq
fond of preferving, as far as it is in our frail
power, the memory of our own adventures,
of thofe of our own time, and of thofe that
preceded it. Rude heaps ol^ ftones have
been raifed, and ruder hymns have been
compofed, for this purpofe, by nations who
had not yet the ufe of arts and letters. To
go no further back, the triumphs of Odia
were celebrated in Runic fongs, and the

feats



25^



|;Legant extracts,



Book Wi



feats of our Britifh anceftors were recorded
in thofe of their bards. The favages of
America have the fame cuftom at this day :
and long hiftorical ballads of their hunting
and wars are fung at all their feftivals.
There is no need of faying how this pafTion
grows among all civilized nations, in pro-
portion to the means of gratifying it : but
let us obferve, that the fame principle of
nature direfts us as ftrongly, and more gene-
rally, as well as more early, to indulge our
own curiofity, inftead of preparing to gratify
that of others. The child hearkens with
delight to the tales of his nurfe ; he learns
to read, and he devours with eagernefs fabu-
lous legends and novels. lit riper years he
applies to hiftory, or to that which he takes
for hiftor}', to authorized romance: and
even in age, the defire of knowing what has
happened to other men, yields to the defire
alone of relating what has happened to our-
felves. Thus hiftory, true or faife, fpeaks
to our pafTions always. What pity is it,
that even the beft Ihould fpeak to our un-
derftandings fo feldom I That it does fo,
we have none to blame but ourfelves. Na-