Chapter the twelfth.
Of the CIVIL STATE.
THE lay part of his majeſty's ſubjects, or ſuch of the people as are not comprehended under the denomination of clergy, may be divided into three diſtinct ſtates, the civil, the military, and the maritime.
That part of the nation which falls under our firſt and moſt comprehensive diviſion, the civil ſtate, includes all orders of men from the higheſt nobleman to the meaneſt peaſant, that are not included under either our former diviſion, of clergy, or under one of the two latter, the military and maritime ſtates: and it may ſometimes include individuals of the other three orders; ſince a nobleman, a knight, a gentleman, or a peaſant, may become either a divine, a ſoldier, or a ſeaman.
The civil ſtate conſiſts of the nobility and the commonalty. Of the nobility, the peerage of Great Britain, or lords temporal, as forming (together with the biſhops) one of the ſupreme branches of the legiſlature, I have before ſufficiently ſpoken: we are here to conſider them according to their ſeveral degrees, or titles of honour.
