antient Hardiness loft, the British Temperance, Patience and Scorn of Superfluities, the rough, indefatigable Induftry, exchanged for Softness, Idleness and Fulnefs of Bread! Well for them, that they were gathered unto their Fathers, before this Exchange was made!

19. To prove at large, That the Luxury and Senfuality, the Sloth and Indolence, the Softnefs and Idlenefs, the Effeminacy and falfe Delicacy of our Nation are without a Parallel, wou'd be but loft Labour. I fear, we may fay, the Lewdness too; For if the Jews, as the Prophet fpeaks, affembled themselves by Troops in the Harlot's Houfes, fo do the English, and much more abundantly. Indeed, where is Male Chastity to be found? Among the Nobility? Among the Gentry? Among the Tradefmen? Or among the Common People of England? How few lay any Claim to it at all? How few defire fo much as the Reputation of it? Wou'd you yourself account it an Honour or a Re proach, to be rank'd among those of whom it is faid, Thefe are they which were not defiled with Women; for they are Virgins? And how numerous are they now, even among fuch as are accounted Men of Honour and Probity, who are as fed Horfes, every one neighing af ter his Neighbour's Wife?

But as if this were not enough, is not the Sin of Sodom too, more common among us than ever it was in Jerufalem? Are not our Streets befet with those Monsters of Uncleannefs, who burn in their Luft one toward another, whom God hath given up to a reprobate Mind, to do thofe Things which are not convenient? O Lord, thy Compaffions fail not: Therefore we are not confumed.

zo. Neither do we yield to Them in Injustice any more than Uncleannefs. How frequent are open Robberies among us? Is not the Act of Violence even in our: Streets? And what Laws are fufficient to prevent it? Does not Theft of various Kinds abound in all Parts of the Land, even tho' Death be the Punishment of it? And are there not among us, who take Ufury and Increafe, who greedily gain of their Neighbour by Extor

tion?

tion? Yea, whole Trades which fubfift by fuch Extortion, as was not named either among the Jews or Heathens? Is there not yet the fcant Meafure, the wicked Balances, and the Bag of deceitful Weights? Befide the thousand nameless Ways of over-reaching and defrauding, the Craft and Mystery of every Trade and Profeffion. It were an endless Task to defcend to Particulars, to point out in every Circumftance, how not only Sharpers and Gamefters, (thofe Public Nufances, thofe Scandals to the English Nation) but high and low, rich and poor, Men of Character and Men of none, in every Station of Public or Private Life, have corrupted themfelves, and generally applaud themselves, and count it Policy and Wifdom fo to do: So that if Gain be at 'Hand, they care not tho' Juftice ftand afar off: So that he which departeth from Evil, which cometh not into their Secret, ftill maketh himself a Prey; and the Wicked ftill devoureth the Man that is more righteous than he.

And what Redrefs? Suppofe a Great Man to opprefs the Needy? Suppofe the Rich grinds the Face of the Poor: What Remedy against fuch Oppreffion can he find in this Chriftian Country? If the one is Rich and the other Poor, doth not Juftice ftand afar off? And is not the Poor under the utmoft Improbability, (if not Impoffibility) of obtaining it? Perhaps the Hazard is greater among us, than either among Jews, Turks or Heathens.

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For Example. Suppofe a Great Man, with or without Form of Law, does wrong to his Poor Neighbour. What will you do? Sue his Lordfhip at Common Law? Have the Cause tried at the next Seffions or Affizes? Alas! Your own Neighbours, those who know the whole Cafe, will tell you, You are out of your

Senfes." "But twelve Good Men and True will do me Justice." Very well: But where will you find them: Men unbiafs'd, incapable of Corruption, Superior both to Fear and Favour, to every View whether of Gain or Lofs? But this is not all; they must not only be good and true, but wife and understanding Men. Elfe how easy is it for a skilful Pleader to throw a

Mift before their Eyes? Even fuppofing too the Judge to be quite impartial, and Proof against all Corruption. And fhou'd all these Circumstances concur, (of which I fear, there are not many Precedents) Suppofing a Verdict is given in your Favour, ftill you have gained nothing. The Suit is removed into a higher Court, and you have all your Work to begin again. Here you have to ftruggle with all the fame Difficulties as before, and perhaps, many new ones too. However, if you have Money enough, you may fucceed: But if that fails, your Caufe is gone, Without Money, you can have no more Law Poverty alone utterly fhuts out Juftice.

But cannot an Honest Attorney procure me Juftice?" An Honeft Attorney! Where will you find one? Of those who are called exceeding Honeft Attorneys, who is there that makes any Scruple,

1. To promote and encourage Needlefs Suits, if not Unjust ones too?

2. To defend a bad Caufe, knowing it so to be: By making a Demur, and then withdrawing it : By pleading fome fulfe Plea, to the Plaintiff's Declaration :

By putting in an Evafive Anfwer to his Bill:

By protracting the Suit, if poffible, till the Plaintiff is ruin'd:

3. To carry a Caufe not amounting to Ten Shillings into Westminster-Hall, by laying it in his Declaration as above Forty :

4. To delay his own Client's Suit knowingly and wilfully, in order to gain more thereby :

5. To draw himself the Pleadings or Conveyances of his Client, inftead of giving them to be drawn by able Council:

6. To charge his Client with the Fees which fhou'd have been given to fuch Council, altho' they were not given:

7. To charge for drawing Fair Copies, where none were drawn.

8. To charge Fees for Expedition given to Clerks, when not one Farthing has been given them : D

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9. To fend his Clerk a Journey (longer or fhorter) to do Bufinefs with or for different Perfons; and to charge the Horfe-hire and Expence of that Journey, to every Perfon feverally:

10. To fend his Clerk to Westminster, on the Business of ten (it may be) or twenty Perfons, and to charge each of thofe Twenty for his Attendance, as if he had been fent on Account of one only.

11. To charge his own Attendance in like Manner : And

12. To fill up his Bill with Attendances, Fees and Term-Fees, tho' his Client is no whit forwarder in his Cause.

This is He that is called an Honest Attorney! How much Honefter is a Pick pocket?

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But there is a Magiftrate whofe peculiar Office it is, to redress the Injured and Opprefs'd. Go then and make Trial of this Remedy; Go, and tell your Cafe to the Lord Chancellor. Hold; you must go on regularly You must tell him your Cafe, in Form of Law, or not at all. You must therefore file a Bill in Chancery, and retain a Lawyer belonging to that Court. 66 But you have already spent all you have; you have no Money." Then I fear you will have no Justice. You ftumble at the Threshold. If you have either loft or spent all, your Caufe is naught: It will not even come to a Hearing. So, if the Oppreffor has fecured all that you had, he is as fafe as if you was under the Earth.

17. Now what an amazing Thing is this! The very Greatness of the Villany, makes it beyond Redress! But fuppofe he that is oppreft, has fome Subftance left, and can go thro' all the Courts of Juftice, what Parallel can we find among Jews, Turks or Heathens, for either the Delays or the Expence attending it? With regard to the former, How monftrous is it, That in a Suit relating to that Inheritance, which is to furnish you and your Family with Food and Rayment, you muft wait Month after Month, perhaps Year after Year, before it is determin'd, whether it be yours or not? And what are you to eat, or to wear in the mean time? Of that the Court takes no Cognizance! Is not

this very Delay, (fuppofe there were no other Grievance attending the English Courfe of Law) wrong beyond all Expreffion? Contrary to all Senfe, Reason, Juftice and Equity? A Capital Caufe is tried in one Day, and finally decided at once. And, is the Life lefs than Meat? Or the Body of less Concern than Rayment? What a fhameless Mockery of Justice then, is this putting off Pecuniary Causes from Term to Term, yea, from Year to Year?

With regard to the latter. A Man has wrong'd me of a hundred Pounds. I appeal to a Judge for the Recovery of it. How aftonishing is it, that this Judge himself cannot give me what is my Right, and what evidently appears fo to be, unless I first give, perhaps one half of the Sum, tó Men I never faw before in my Life!

22. I have hitherto fuppofed, That all Caufes when they are decided, are decided according to Juftice and Equity. But is it fo? Ye Learned in the Law, is no unjuft Sentence given in your Courts? Have not the fame Caufes been decided quite oppofite Ways? One Way, this Term, juft the contrary, the next? Perhaps one Way in the Morning (this I remember an Inftance of) and another Way in the Afternoon. How is this? Is there no Juftice left on Earth? No Regard for Right or Wrong? Or have Caufes been puzzled fo long, that you know not now what is either wrong or right? What is agreeable to Law, or contrary to it? I have heard fome of you frankly declare, That it is many Cafes next to impoffible to know, what is Law, and what is not. So are your Folio's of Law multiplied upon you, that no Human Brain is able to contain them; No; nor any confiftent Scheme, or Abftract of them all.

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But is it really owing to Ignorance of the Law, (this is the moft favourable Suppofition) that fo few of you fcruple taking Fees on either Side, of almost any Caufe that can be conceived? And that you general y plead in the Manner you do on any Side of any Caufe? Rambling to and fro, in a Way to abhorrent from Common Senie, and fo utterly foreign to the Queftion? I have been amazed at hearing the Pleadings of fome eminent

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