The History of Political Literature, from the Earliest Times, Volume 1

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R. Bentley, 1855 - 501 pages
 

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Page 426 - So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold : and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle ; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold...
Page 189 - Adam's children, being not presently as soon as born under this law of reason, were not presently free; for law, in its true notion, is not so much the limitation as the direction of a free and intelligent agent to his proper interest, and prescribes no farther than is for the general good of those under that law. Could they be happier without it, the law, as a useless thing, would of itself vanish; and that ill deserves the name of confinement which hedges us in only from bogs and precipices.
Page 373 - Wide was his parish ; not contracted close In streets, but here and there a straggling house ; Yet still he was at hand, without request, To serve the sick, to succour the...
Page 372 - Though harsh the precept, yet the preacher charm'd. For letting down the golden chain from high, He drew his audience upward to the sky; And oft, with holy hymns, he charm'd their ears: (A music more melodious than the spheres.) For David left him, when he went to rest, His lyre; and after him he sung the best.
Page 284 - And every member, though chosen by one particular district, when elected and returned, serves for the whole realm; for the end of his coming thither is not particular, but general ; not barely to advantage his constituents, but the common wealth...
Page 444 - I should find it difficult to resist the conclusion, that however the labourer has derived benefit from the cheapness of manufactured commodities, and from many inventions of common utility, he is much inferior in ability to support a family, to his ancestors three or four centuries ago.
Page 252 - It was a breach of faith to divulge the lord's counsel, to conceal from him the machinations of others, to injure his person or fortune, or to violate the sanctity of his roof and the honour of his family. In battle he was bound to lend his horse to his lord when dismounted; to adhere to his side while fighting, and to go into captivity as a hostage for him when taken.
Page 443 - Henry VI. than they are at present. In the fourteenth century, Sir John Cullum observes, a harvest man had fourpence a day, which enabled him in a week to buy a comb of wheat ; but to buy a comb of wheat, a man must now (1784) work ten or twelve days.
Page 244 - ... distinguished in the transactions of that time are not easily determined at present. Yet if we bring these ungrateful suspicions to the test, they prove destitute of all reasonable foundation. An equal distribution of civil rights to all classes of freemen forms the peculiar beauty of the charter. In this just solicitude for the people, and in the moderation which infringed upon no essential prerogative of the monarchy, we may perceive a liberality and patriotism very unlike the selfishness which...
Page 373 - But when the precious coin is kept unclean, The sovereign's image is no longer seen. If they be foul on whom the people trust, Well may the baser brass contract a rust.

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