tendency of each of the ſimple forms to degenerate; even democracy, in which it is an eſtabliſhed cuſtom to worſhip the gods, honour their parents, reſpect the elders, and obey the laws, has a ſtrong tendency to change into a government where the multitude have a power of doing whatever they deſire, and where inſolence and contempt of parents, elders, gods, and laws, ſoon ſucceed.
From whence do governments originally ſpring? From the weakneſs of men, and the conſequent neceſſity to aſſociate, and he who excels in ſtrength and courage, gains the command and authority over the reſt; as among inferior animals, who are not influenced by opinion, the ſtrongeſt are, by common conſent, allowed to be mailers. This is monarchy. But when the nation, by living together, acquires ſome tincture of honour and juſtice, gratitude, duty, and their oppoſites, and the monarch countenances theſe moral qualities, and treats every one according to his merit, they are no longer afraid of violence, but ſubmit to him, and unite in ſupporting his government, although he may again become weak and advanced in years. By this means a monarch inſenſibly becomes a king, that is, when the power is transferred from courage and ſtrength to reaſon. This is the origin of true kingly government, for the people preſerve the command, not only to them, but to their deſcendants, being perſuaded, that thoſe who have received their birth and education from ſuch men will reſemble them in their principles. But if they are diſſatisfied with their deſcendants, they then chooſe magiſtrates and kings, with regard only to ſuperior ſenſe and reaſon, and not to ſtrength and courage; having by experience been convinced of the difference between them. Thoſe who were once choſen and inveſted with the royal
