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INTRODUCTORY

to the lateſt poſterity, earneſtly recommending to thoſe whom it may concern, the two following excellent obſervations from Sir William Temple’s eſſays:

The firſt ſafety of princes and ſtates, lies in avoiding all councils, or deſigns of innovation, in antient and eſtabliſhed forms and laws, eſpecially thoſe concerning liberty, property, and religion, which are the poſſeſſions men will ever have moſt at heart, and thereby leaving the channel of known and common juſtice clear and undiſturbed.

The ſecond, in purſuing the true and common intereſt of the nation they govern, without eſpouſing thoſe of any party or faction; or if theſe are ſo formed in a ſtate, that they muſt incline to one or other, then to chuſe and favour that which is moſt popular, or wherein the greateſt or ſtrongeſt part of the people appear to be engaged. For as the end of government ſeems to be Salus populi, the ſafety or welfare of the People; ſo the ſtrength of the government is the conſent of the people which made that maxim of Vox populi, Vox Dei: That is, the governors, who are few, will ever be forced to follow the strength of the governed, who are many.”

A history