by him to whom it could be of Service, rather than by him to whom it muſt prove detrimental.
Government in its Infancy had no regular and permanent Form. For want of a ſufficient Fund of Philosophy and Experience, Men could ſee no further than the preſent Inconveniencies, and never thought of providing Remedies for future ones, but in Proportion as they aroſe. In ſpite of all the Labours of the wiſeſt Legiſlators, the political State ſtill continued imperfect, becauſe it was in a manner the work of Chance; and, as the Foundations of it were ill laid, Time, tho' ſufficient to diſcover its Defects and ſuggeſt the Remedies for them, could never mend its original Vices. Men were continually repairing; whereas, to erect a good Edifice, they ſhould have begun as Lycurgus did at Sparta, by clearing the Area, and remov-
