Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/48

2 being premiſed, ſuffer me, my dear friends and fellow citizens, to intreat you to let your ſons ſucceed to that liberty which you have ſo comfortably enjoyed—for which your fathers have fought, with ſo much ardour, and with ſo much glory.—For which they ſuſtained ſo many labours, ſo much grief, ſuch multitudes of dangers, under the heavy hands of ſubtile prieſts, and of evil kings.

ſped in all theſe toilſome warfares. And how could they have failed? The nerves of men in a cauſe ſo noble are endued with double vigour. The general ardour is derived to each, becauſe,

have lived to fee the moſt valuable part of the charter of our moſt ſacred rights daringly invaded—but we will not live to ſee it deſtroyed. The wounds by which it falls ſhall firſt reach our hearts, and the rich torrents of our blood be ſhed as a libation on the pile of expiring freedom.

us preſerve the Great Charter of our liberties with the ſame firmneſs as that by which it was obtained, and by which it has been preſerved to