more than the ſame ſtate of ſubjecton for life, which every apprentice ſubmits to for the ſpace of ſeven years, or ſometimes for a longer term. Hence too it follows, that the infamous and unchriſtian practice of withholding baptiſm from negro ſervants, left they ſhould thereby gain their liberty, is totally without foundation, as well as without excuſe. The law of England acts upon general and extenſive principles: it gives liberty, rightly understood, that is, protection, to a jew, a turk, or a heathen, as well as to thoſe who profeſs the true religion of Chriſt; and it will not diſſolve a civil obligation between maſter and ſervant, on account of the alteration of faith in either of the parties: but the ſlave is entitled to the ſame protection in England before, as after, baptiſm; and, whatever ſervice the heathen negro owed to his American maſter, the ſame is he bound to render when brought to England and made a chriſtian.
1. The firſt ſort of ſervants therefore, acknowleged by the laws of England, are menial ſervants; ſo called from being intra moenia, or domeſtics. The contract between them and their maſters ariſes upon the hiring. If the hiring be general without any particular time limited, the law conſtrues it to be a hiring for a year[1]; upon a principle of natural equity, that the ſervant ſhall ſerve, and the maſter maintain him, throughout all the revolutions of the reſpective ſeaſons; as well when there is work to be done, as when there is not[2]: but the contract may be made for any larger or ſmaller term. All ſingle men between twelve years old and ſixty, and married ones under thirty years of age, and all ſingle women between twelve and forty, not having any viſible livelihood, are compellable by two juſtices to go out to ſervice in huſbandry or certain ſpecific trades, for the promotion of honeſt induſtry: and no maſter can put away his ſervant, or ſervant leave his maſter, after being ſo retained, either before or at the end of his term, without a quarter's warning; unleſs upon
