"(said the good Alcaust, a Poet, whose Muse the Translator, the original text affords no colour for this flash of eloquence. In an edition of this antient document printed at the Clarendon Press, under the care of Sir Herbert Croft, the passage stands thus: ic bidde on goder naman. J on hir haligna. minɲa maga nan. ne yрrepeanda ne gespence nan. nænig cypelir þapa þe ic foɲegeald. j me pert-seaxena þitan to pihte gepehton þær ic hi mot lætan spа ƒƒеo spa þеope spaden ic pille. ae ic fop goder lufan. 7 foɲ minne raple peapre. pýlle p hý ryn heopa neolrer pуnde. 7 hypa cyner. ic on goder lifiendes naman beode þær hy nan man ne bɲocie. ne mid feof manunge. ne mid nænigum þingum. þhý ne motan ceoran ÿlcne mann rpylce hý pyllan: (p. 24. 4to. 1788.) Manning rendered this closely as follows: "And I beseech, in God's name, and in his "Saints', that of my Relations none, nor of my Heirs none do "obstruct, none of the freedom of those that I have redeemed. "And for me the West Saxon Nobles as lawful have pro"nounced that I them may leave either free or bond whether "I will. But I, for God's love, and for my Soul's advantage, "will that they be of their freedom masters, and of their will, "and I, in GOD the living's name intreat that them no Man do "not disturb, neither by money-exactions, nor by no manner "of means, that they may not choose such Man as they will." I have collated this extract with the original MS. in Saxon, which belonged to the late Mr. Astle, and I found it to be correct. We therefore ought to construe this humane direction in the Will of our venerated Lawgiver to mean that he had obtained a license from the Nobles for the manumission of his Bondmen; without which it could not by the Laws of the Saxons have been valid. The reason of which, as it is assigned by Bishop Squire, was, that "though their Lords, without doubt, might give up their private claim to them, as their 66 causes) it is not walls and buildings; no, it is being inhabited by Men: by Men, who know "Slaves; yet none but the public, i. e. the voice of the whole "nation, could admit them to the privileges of the native "Freemen." An Enquiry into the Foundation of the English Constitution; &c. p. 120. (n.) edit. 1753. " ་་ By a Law of William the Conqueror a Villein was to be emancipated with much ceremony in full County Court: "Et "prohibemus ut nullus vendat hominem extra patriam : Si qui vero velit servum suum liberum facere, tradat eum Vicecomiti per manum dextram in pleno comitatu, quietum illum clamare debet a jugo servitutis suæ per manumissionem, et os"tendat ei liberas vias, et portas, et tradat illi libera arma, "scilicet, lanceam, et gladium deinde liber homo efficitur." Leges Anglo-Saxonica; by Wilkins; p. 229. fol. 1721. Neither under the feudal system could the manumission of his immediate Owner set a Villein completely free: it was required to be ratified by the superiour Lord. It is well worthy of remark, that our Patriot King and President Washington were embarrassed alike by legal difficulties in the testamentary enfranchizement of their Slaves. Ten centuries divided them. Tendimus in Latium. Yet how tardy in some respects has been the advance of human institutions toward Liberty and Justice. "Alas! how faint, "How slow, the dawn of Beauty and of Truth Said the good Alcæus, &c.] This fragment of the Lesbian Bard has come down to us in an Oration by Aristides: see v. 2. p. 207. of Jebb's edit. 4to. 1722. It is also preserved, as a literary Friend pointed out to me, "themselves to be Men, and have suitable notions "of the dignity of human nature by Men, who "know what it is alone that exalts them above the "Brutes." Can we be either virtuous or religious, without the free use of our Reason; without the means of Knowlege? And can we have Knowlege, if Men dare not freely study, and as freely communicate the fruits of their studies? What is it that distinguishes human Society from a brutish herd, but the flourishing of the Arts and Sciences; the free Exercise of Wit and Reason? What can Government mean, intend, or produce, that is worthy of Man, or beneficial to him, as he is a rational creature, besides Wisdom, Knowlege, Virtue and Science? Is it merely indeed that we may eat, drink, sleep, sing and dance with secu 1 by a Scholiast on Sophocles; Œdip. Tyrann. v. 56. This swelling sentiment appears indeed to have been a favourite topic for Oratours when addressing the Athenian Citizens: see Thucydides; p. 462. Hudson's edit. : Themistocles' hortatory Speech when Xerxes invaded Attica; Corn. Nep. Vit. Themist: and see likewise Plutarch; Rualdi Edit. I. 52. A talent for Poetry was, I think, not one of the most eminent endowments of the late Sir William Jones's gifted and admirably-cultivated mind; yet elevated by a congenial spirit he has happily caught " Alcaus' manly rage" in a paraphrastic imitation of the foregoing relic; over which the public eye. could never tire; and, had the limits of the page allowed me room, I should gladly have inserted it. rity that we choose Governours, subject our selves to their administration, and pay taxes? Take away the Arts, Religion, Knowlege, Virtue, (all of which must flourish, or sink together) and in the Name of Goodness, what is left to us that is worth enjoying or protecting? Yet take away the Liberty of the Press, and we are all at once stript of the use of our noblest Faculties: our Souls themselves are imprisoned in a dark dungeon: we may breathe, but we cannot be said to live. If the end of Governours and Government is not to diffuse with a liberal unsparing equal hand, true rational happiness; but to make the bulk of Mankind beasts of burden, that a few may wallow in brutish pleasures; then it is consistent Politicks, to root out the desire and love of Light and Knowlege. Certain Scythian Slaves, that they might work the harder, had only their eyes destroyed. But to extinguish human Understanding, and establish a kingdom of darkness, is just so far more barbarous than even that monstrous cruelty, as the Mind excels the Body; or as Understanding and Reason are superior to Sense. Cardinal Richlieu says, in his Political Testament, "That Subjects 5 Cardinal Richlieu says, &c.] This is, I suppose, a very loose translation, probably from memory, of the beginning of this States "with Knowlege, Sense and Reason, are as mon"strous as a Beast with hundreds of eyes would "be; and that such a Beast will never bear its "burden peaceably. Whence he infers, it is im"possible to promote despotic Power, while Learn"ing is encouraged and extended. The People "must be hood-winked, or rather blinded, if one man's Section du Peuple. "Tous les Politiques sont d'accord que "si les Peuples étoient trop à leur aise, il seroit impossible de "les contenir dans les Regles de leur Devoir; leur Fondement "est qu'ayant moins de connoissance que les autres ordres de "l'Etat beaucoup plus cultivez, ou plus instruits, s'ils n'étoient "retenus par quelque nécessité, difficilement demeuroient-ils dans "les Regles qui leur sont prescrites par la Raison et par les Loix. "La Raison ne permet pas de les exempter de toutes Charges, parce qu'en perdant en tel cas la marque de leur Sujetion, ils perdroient aussi la mémoire de leur Condition, et "que s'ils étoient libres de Tributs, ils penseroient l'etre de "l'Obeissance. Il les faut comparer aux Mulets qui étant accoû"tumez a la Charge, se gâtent par un long repos plus que par le "travail; mais ainsi que ce travail doit être modéré, et qu'il "faut que la charge de ces Animaux soit proportionnée a leurs "forces:" &c. Tom. 1. p. 185. 8vo. 1740. Certainly, the Cardinal may claim the merit of speaking out as to the rule of action with all arbitrary Governments.-The authenticity of this Testament has been a subject of controversy between Voltaire and other French writers; a question of little moment. We may be assured that Richlieu, in common with other Ministers of despotic Kings, acted on these principles, whether he had the honesty or the effrontery to avow them. |