Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/89

 Labours; if this Principle, which in some Respects hath tended so much to the Improvement of his Country, could in any Degree be checked by his weak Admonitions, from degenerating into a Cause of its Destruction.

6. The last Circumstance of Note, here to be remarked, is "The Difference of Character among the several Ranks of the Community in these ancient free States, and That of Britain."

In Point of Knowledge and Ability, the Difference was great between the Nobles and the People, in these ancient States: In, the Nobles and the People (in their legislative Capacity) are fairly on a Level. When addressed the legislative Body of the Athenian People, he addressed Coblers, Brasiers, Tanners, Tent-Makers. When the People of retired in Discontent to the sacred Mountain, they were appeased by the Fable of the Belly, Head, and Hands. A Lord of Parliament would make but a sorry