though true, to ſay, that virtue itſelf has need of limits? To prevent the abuſe of power, it is neceſſary, that, by the very diſpoſition of things, power ſhould be a check to power. A government may be ſo conſtituted, as no man ſhall be compelled to do things to which the law does not oblige him, nor forced to abſtain from things which the law permits.
Swift. So endleſs and exorbitant are the deſires of men, that they will graſp at all, and can form no ſcheme of perfect happineſs with leſs. It is hard to recollect one folly, infirmity, or vice, to which a ſingle man is ſubjected, and from which a body of commons, collective or repreſentative (and he might have added a body of nobles) can be wholly exempt.
Junius. Laws are intended, not to truſt to what men will do, but to guard againſt what they may do.
Beccaria. Ogni uomo ſi fa centra di tutte le combinazioni del globo.
Rochefaucault. The ambitious deceive themſelves, when they propoſe an end to their ambition; for that end, when attained, ecomes a means.
De Lolme. Experience evinces, that the happieſt diſpoſitions are not proof againſt the allurements of power, which has no charms but as it leads on to new advances. Authority endures not the very idea of reſtraint; nor does it ceaſe to ſtruggle, till it has beaten down every boundary.
Hobbes, Mandeville, Rochefaucault, have drawn ſtill more deteſtable pictures; and Rouſſeau, in his Inequalities among Mankind, gives a deſription of a civilized heart, too black and horrible to be tranſcribed.
Even our amiable friends, thoſe benevolent Chriſtian philoſophers, Dr. Price and Dr. Prieſtley,
