dark and favage tyranny flifles every effort of genius, and the mind lofes all its fpirit and dignity.-Price.

LUXURY.

THERE, in her den, lay pompous luxury,
Stretch'd out at length; no vice could boast fuch higk
And gen'ral victories as fhe had won:

Of which, proud trophies there at large were fhewn.
Befides fmall ftates and kingdoms ruined,

Thofe mighty monarchies, that had o'erfpread
The fpacious earth, and ftretch'd their conquering arms
From pole to pole, by her enfnaring charms
Were quite confun'd: there lay imperial Rome,
That vanquifh'd all the world, by her o'ercome :
Fetter'd was th' old Affyrian lion there;
The Grecian leopard, and the Persian bear;
With others, numberlefs, lamenting by :
Examples of the power of Luxury.-May.
NOW basket up the family of plagues
That waste our vitals. Peculation, sale
Of honor, perjury, corruption, frauds,
By forgery, by fubterfuge of law,

By tricks and lies as num'rous and as keen
As the neceffities their authors feel;
Then caft them closely bundl'd, ev'ry brat
At the right door. Profufion is the fire.
Profufion unreftrain'd, with all that's bafe
In character, has litter'd all the land,
And bred within the mem'ry of no few,
A priesthood fuch as Baal's was of old,
A people fuch as never was till now.
It is a hungry vice :- -it eats up all
That gives fociety its beauty, ftrength,
Convenience, and fecurity, and use.

Makes men mere vermin, worthy to be trapp'd
And gibbetted as fast as catchpole claws
Can feize the flipp'ry prey. Unties the knot
Of union, and converts the facred band
That holds mankind together, to a fcourge.
Profufion, deluging a flate with lufts
Of groffeft nature, and of worft effects,
Prepares it for its ruin. Hardens, blinds,
And warps
the confciences of public men,

Luxury-Law.

Till they can laugh at virtue; mock the fools
That trust them; and in th' end, disclose a face
That would have fhock'd credulity herself,
Unmafk'd, vouchfafing this their fole excufe,
Since all alike are selfish-why not they?
This does profufion, and th' accurfed caufe
Of fuch deep mifchief, has itself a caufe.-Cowper.
INCREASE of pow'r begets increafe of wealth,
Wealth luxury, and luxury excefs;

Excefs, the fcrophulous and itchy plague
That feizes firft the opulent, defcends
To the next rank contagious, and in time
Taints downward all the graduated fcale
Of order, from the chariot, to the plough.
The rich, and they that have an arm to check
The licenfe of the loweft in degree,

Defert their office; and, themselves intent
On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus
To all the violence of lawless hands,

Refign the fcenes their prefence might protec.
Authority herself not feldom fleeps,

Though refident, and witnefs of the wrong.-Idem.

LAW.

HE that with injury is griev'd,

And goes to law to be reliev'd,

Is fillier than a fottish chowfe,

Who, when a thief has robb'd his houfe,

Applies himself to cunning-men,

To help him to his goods again;
When all he can expect to gain,

Is but to fquander more in vain.-Hudibras.

LAWS.

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THE univerfal fpirit of all laws in all countries, is to favor the ftrong in oppofition to the weak; and to affifl thofe who have poffeffions against thofe who have none-Rouffeau.

ONE of the feven fages of Greece was wont to fay, that laws were like cobwebs, where the fmall flies were caught, and the great ones break through.-Lord Bacon.

ASK of politicians the end for which laws were originally defigned, and they will anfwer, that the laws were defigned as a protection for the poor and weak, againft the oppreffion of

the rich and powerful. But furely no pretence can be fo ridiculous; a man might as well tell me he has taken off my load, because he has changed the burden. If the poor man is not able to fupport his fuit, according to the vexatious and expenfive manner established in civilized countries, has not the rich as great an advantage over him as the ftrong has over the weak in a flate of nature?-Burke.

TO embarrass juftice by multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, feems to be the oppofite rocks on which all civil inflitutions have been wrecked, and between which, legiflative wifdom has never yet found an open paffage. -Johnson.

BAD laws are the worst fort of tyranny. In fuch a country as this, they are of all bad things the worst, worfe by far than any thing elfe; and they derive a particular malignity even from the wisdom and foundnefs of the reft of our inftitutions. -Burke.

LAWS (Ex poft facto.)

LAWS, made to punish for actions done before the existence of fuch laws, and which have not been declared crimes: by preceding laws, are unjust, oppreffive, and inconfiftent with the fundamental principles of a free government.-Conflitution of Maffachufeits.

RETROSPECTIVE laws, punishing offences committed before the existence of fuch laws, are oppreffive and unjust, and ought not to be made.—Conflitution of Delaware.

RETROSPECTIVE laws, punishing facts committed before the exiftence of fuch laws, and by them only declared criminal, are oppreffive, unjuft, and incompatible with liberty; wherefore no ex poft fada law ought to be made.-Conflitution of Maryland.

LIBERTY of the PRESS.

THE libetty of the prefs is effential to the fecurity of freedom in a flate: it ought therefore to be inviolably preferved. -Conflitution of New-Hamfhire.

THE people have a right to freedom of fpeech, and of writing and publifhing their fentiments, concerning the tranfactions of government; and therefore the freedom of the prefs ought not to be reftrained.-Conflitution of Vermont.

AS long as there are fuch things as printing and writing, there will be libels; it is an evil arifing cut of a much greater

Liberty of the Prefs.

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good. However, it does not follow that the prefs is to be funk for the errors of the prefs:-for it is certainly of much less confequence that an innocent man fhould now and then be afperfed, than that all men fhould be enflaved.

Many methods have been tried to remedy this evil. In Turkey and the Eastern monarchies, all printing is forbidden; which does it with a witnefs; for if there can be no printing at all, there can be no libels printed; and by the fame reafon, there ought to be no talking, left the people fhould talk treason, blafphemy, or nonfenfe; and for a ftronger reafon yet, no preaching, becaufe the orator has an opportunity of haranguing often to a larger auditory than he can perfuade to read his lucubrations: but I defire it may be remembered that there is neither liberty, arts, fciences, learning, or knowledge in thofe countries.

But another method has been thought on in these western parts of the world, much lefs effectual, and yet more mifchievous than the former, namely, to put the prefs under the protection of the prevailing party, and authorife libels on one fide only, and deny the other fide the opportunity of defending themselves.

What mifchief is done by libels, to balance all these evils? They feldom or never annoy an innocent man, or promote any confiderable error. Wife and honeft man laugh at them, and defpife them; and fuch arrows always fly over their heads, or fall at their feet. Most of the world take part with a virtuous man, and punish calumny by their deteftation of it. The best way to prevent libels, is, not to deferve them. Guilty men alone fear them, or are hurt by them, whofe actions will not bear examination, and therefore must not be examined. 'Tis fact alone which annoys them; for if you tell no truth, I dare fay you may have their leave to tell as many lies as you pleafe. The fame is true in fpeculative opinions. You may write nonfenfe and fully as long as you think fit, and no one complains but the bookfeller. But if a bold, honeft, and wife book fallies forth, and attacks thofe who think themfelves fecure in their trenches, then their camp is in danger, and they call out all hands to arms, and their enemy is to be deftroyed by fire, fword, or fraud. But 'tis fenfelefs to think that any truth can fuffer by being thoroughly fearched, or examined into ; or that the difcovery of it can prejudice right religion, equal govern ment, or the happinefs of fociety in any refpect: fhe has fo many advantages over error, that he wants only to be fhown, to gain admiration and efteem; and we fee every day, that she breaks the bonds of tyranny and fraud, and fhincs through

the mifts of fuperftition and ignorance: and what then would fhe do, if thefe barriers were removed, and her fetters taken off?-Gordon.

IT is apprehended, that arbitrary power would steal in upon us, were we not careful to prevent its progrefs, and were there not an eafy method of conveying the alarm from one end of the kingdom to another. The fpirit of the people must frequently be roufed in order to curb the ambition of the court; and the dread of roufing this fpirit must be employed to prevent that ambition. Nothing is fo effectual to this purpose as the liberty of the prefs, by which all the learning, wit, and genius of the nation may be employed on the fide of freedom, and every one be animated to its defence. As long, therefore, as the republican part of our government can maintain itself against the monarchical, it will naturally be careful to keep the prefs open, as of importance to its own prefervation.--Hume.

MAN.

BEHOLD of ev'ry age. Ripe manhood fee,
Decrepit years, and helplefs infancy :

Thofe who by ling'ring fickness lose their breath,
And thofe who, by defpair, fuborn their death:
See
yon mad fools, who, for fome trival right,
For love, or for mistaken honor, fight:

See those more mad, who throw their lives away
In needlefs wars, the stake which monarchs lay,
When for each others provinces they play.
Then as if earth too narrow were for fate,
On open feas their quarrels they debate ;
In hollow wood they floating armies bear;

And force imprifon'd winds to bring 'em near.-Dryden.
LIKE leaves on trees, the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now with'ring on the ground,
Another race the foll'wing fpring fupplies;

They fall fucceffive, and fucceffive rife:

So generations in their courfe decay;

So flourish thefe, when thofe are paft away.—Pope.
HAIL man, exalted title! firft and beft,

On God's own image by his hand imprest,
To which at last the reas'ning race is driven,
And feeks anew what firft it gain'd from heav'n.
O man, my brother, how the cordial flame
Cf all endearments, kindles at the name !