1753. Spinfters Remonftrance against the Marriage Act. 601 phrator taught his scholars at upwards of 100. Finally, Epimenides, of Creet, according to the teftimony of Theopompus, lived upwards of 157. Pliny, the great naturalift, affures us, that in the city of Parma, there were two of 130 years, three of 120 years; and that in many cities of Italy men lived A much older; at Arminium efpecially, one Marcus Apponius, who was 150. In our own part of the world, Laurence Hutland lived, in the Orknies, to 170. James Sands, towards the latter end of the laft century, died at 140, and his fpoufe at 120.-In Sweden it is common to meet people of above an 100; and B Rudbekius affirms, from the bills of mortality figned by his brother, who was a bishop, that in the fmall extent of 12 parishes, there died in the space of 37 years 232 men between 100 and 140 years of age:-Yet, what are these to the native of Bengal, who (according to Ferdinand Lopez de Caftegneda, historiographer royal) was near 340, when he was prefented to the vice-roy of the Indies ? And as the story is no lefs curious than pleafant, I beg leave to add a few particulars concerning this celebrated long liver, as confirmed by the above-mentioned author: He tells us," that the faid native remembered that he had feen the city wherein he dwelt, and which was one of the most populous in the Indies, a very inconfiderable place --That he had changed his hair, and recovered his teeth, four times; when the vice-roy faw him, his head and beard were black, but his hair thin: That in the courfe of life he had 70 wives, fome of which died; the tharine Milton, whom he got with child, From head to heel, his body had all over, Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, was 169 when he died. (See his HEAD, with a particular account of him, p. 368.) Thomas Damme, of Leighton, near Minshul, in the palatinate of Chefter, was 154 years of age when he died, and was buried at Minthul aforefaid, on the 20th of February, 1648, as it appears by his grave-flone, cut in words at length, not figures; and to prevent difputes, as the event is fo remarkable, it is now to be feen in the church regifler, figned by the Rev. Mr. Thomas Holdford, vicar, and by Thomas Kennerly and John Warburton, churchwardens, who were then living. I thought proper to mention this relation, as it never was taken notice of by any chronologers; few know it, but Dit ought to be handed down to pofterity. The bumble Remonftrance and Petition of several SPINSTERS of the County of Kent, (as inferted in the London Evening Post) in Bebalf of themfelves and many Thoufand other diftreffed Damfels of the faid County, grievously complaining, fets forth, HAT the petitioners are now arrived reft he put away. The king of Portugal E at the proper age of answering the caused a strict fearch to be made into this matter, and an annual account of the ftate of this man's health to be brought him by the return of the fleet from India. This long liver was a native of Bengal, and died at the age of 379. The relation is very curious, and I have produced my authority for it. The reader may put what faith in it he pleafes. IF fhall finally fpeak of the three famous English long livers, the teftimonies of which may be received as of undoubted veracity. And firft, of old Parre. This perfon was born at Winnington, in the county of Salep, A. D. 1483; he paffed his youth in very hard labour; and, what is no lefs Jaudable, in fobriety and chattity. - At 28 he married his first wife Jane, by whom he had two children, neither of which were long lived; the firft died at the age of a month; the other lived but a few years. At 102 he fell in love with Ca ends of their creation, by fulfilling the first commandment; and that the petitioners are alío very detirous of doing it. That the petitioners can with truth and forrow of heart fay, that they find the men not fo ready to obey the first, and, as the petitioners conceive, the principal commandment, as themselves. That the petitioners, being at church, were ftruck with grief and attonithment on hearing the doctor read a paper, called, An Act to prevent clandeftine Marriages, which the petitioners apprehend will nake the men ftill more averfe to matrimony, and confequently rob them of all their hopes, and render their cafes quite defpe 602 Spinfters Remonftrance against the Marriage A&. App. that the meaning was, they must not marry fuch men as they themselves lik'd, except their parents alío approved of them. That the petitioners, not at all pleafed with this explanation, did turn to the marriage ceremony in their prayer books, where they did not find that matrimony A was inftituted for the pleasure of their parents, but that it was ordained for the procreation of children, and for a remedy against fornication. That the petitioners do humbly conceive thofe ends will not be answered by this aft. St. Paul (ays, It is better to marry than to burn; but, if they burn for one, and are compelled to marry another, how B will their flame be quenched? Nor will it, they apprehend, aníwer the purpose of procreation near, fo well as if they married the men they like; tho', perhaps, it may tend to hinder fornication, by fubftituting in its room adultery. The act fays, "That all marriages, where either of the parties are under the age of 21 years (except widows or C widowers) without confent of parents or guardians, fhall be null and void to all intents and purpofes whatfoever." The petitioners cannot but think that this claufe directly contradicts the word of God; for they find it written, St. Mark x. 7, 8, 9. For this caufe fsall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife and they train shall be one fieft: So then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore Goed bath joined together, let not man pat afander. Now the petitioners are humbly of opinion, that those pairs may be most truly faid to be joined together by God, whose hearts, whofe fouls, whote ipirits are, as well as their bodies, united D F and joined together. Will any man fay, E that when a parent compels a daughter to marry the man the hates, that fuch a Couple are joined together by God? No, fuch matches are made by the devil Mammon, and generally beget a numerous and wretched offspring, called contention, jealoufy, adultery, murder, &c. If then the fe, whofe fouls as well as bodies are united in matrimony, are joined together by God, and made one fieth, why does ihan's act strive to put them afunder, and attempt to make them twain ? But indeed reither this act, nor any other, can poffibly make fuch marriages null and void to G all intents and purposes whatsoever; becaute the intent and purpose of procrearion, which is the chief end of matrimony, will nevertheless be answered. The act lays farther, "That no fuit fhall be brought in the ecclefiaftical court, to compel any marriage by reafon of any Contract of matrimony," act. The petitioners apprehend, this claufe is neither equitable nor confiftent with facred fcripture. By this claufe, if a woman was not only promifed marriage before witneffes, but even asked three times in church, and made the publick withstanding, refufe her, and the be left talk of the parish; the man may, notwithout remedy or recompence. Man is by nature falfe, and weak woman too credulous and complying. Ungenerous man is but too apt to glory in his falfehood, and to triumph in the most barbarous treachery; there was no occafion to tempt him to be more perfidious by an a well-diffembled paffion, by fwearing that How often has the cruel fpoiler, by the priest fhould at the holy altar join their hands, by fighs, and tears, and of love, forced the tender virgin's heart, vows, and all the foft, but strong artillery broke thro' the feal of virtue, cropp'd the fweet flower; then fled, and left her to bewail the lofs for life! Is not a rape of woman's body now death by law? What are a man's warm proteftations of eternal love, and calling all the heavenly powers to witnefs, he will furely marry a young woman, but a rape of her mind, a forcing her confent by a thousand perjuries? And fhall he go unpunished? And muft the poor, deluded, injured drefs? Will the keeper of the king's women have no court to apply to for reconfcience fay, this is equitable? no; nor. is it confonant to facred scripture, which fays, Exod. xxii. 16. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with ber, be fhall furely endow ber to be bis wife.. Whenever a virgin is deluded of her virtue by a single man, it must, it ought, to be thro' the promise of marriage; and thereprefumed, that he prevailed upon her. fore he should be compelled to fulfil his contra&. This is equity; this is fcripture; and fuch petitioners with they could fay, this is law too: For, if it was,. and proper care was taken to get rid of all thofe poisonous vermin, the prefent. them, either at home or abroad, fome common proflitutes, by providing for method of getting their bread honestly by labour, the town could no more be pe-. ftered with fuch abandoned incendiaries; which would certainly prevent many robtowards a general reformation. beries and murders, and be no finall step Thefe petitioners upon the whole think this act much better calculated for the encouragement of common prostitutes, than to make the honest, but poor, petitioners happy mothers of jawful children. The petitioners therefore most humbly pray, &c. The 3753. Haftiness in Law-making cenfured, The PUBLICADVERTISER bas given us the Sty of human nature more, than the The B The antient Romans, before they enacted a law, hung up the scheme for it in a publick place; where it remained exposed to view for three weeks, or during the fpace of tres nundina, including three market days; whereby the inhabitants both of the city and country had an opportu nity of reading and examining it. ableft orators and lawyers publickly harangued upon the sketch; fo that every man might hear what was to be faid for and against it. After this the whole people were convened to give their votes, in their refpective claffes; and if the law was adjudged to be good by a majority of voices, it was confirmed by the council, and engraved in copper. This ceremony may appear ftrange to us ; but it had fuch D an effect, that the laws fo made are likely to prove eternal: For they not only remained in force to the end of the Roman empire, but have furvived it; fo as to be fill obferved and followed in most of the ftates of Europe. How fimple foever a law may appear, it ought to be thoroughly fifted and confi- E dered: If men are in a hurry about it, the confequence may prove as bad as if a farmer thould cut his corn before it is ripe, or ftack his hay before it is dry, which therefore fires or rots in the barn. Apelles expofed his pieces to publick view, that all forts of people might ex- . amine them, and upon once hearing that a fhoemaker had found fault with a foe, in F one of his pictures, he acknowledged the error, and corrected it. The like method has been advantageously taken by different artists in their respective perform ances. Some may think it a lofs of time thus to fpin out the examination of a law; and an eafy matter, by a fubfequent act, G to correct the errors, or fupply the defects of a former. But the making of experiments in law is as dangerous to a state as the making of experiments in phyfick. Mifchief is done in both cafes if the experiment 603 mifcarries. Men must not argue in fuch momentous affairs as they do in lighter matters; and cry, It is eafy to make the experiment, becaufe commotion is fooner raifed than fuppreffed in: a government. Interim patitur juftus, is a maxin that must be regarded; for no good man should be hurt. And as it is neceffary to be well affured of the strength of a medicine before it is given; fo it is neceffary that the fcheme of a law fhould be well confidered before it paffes into an act. To prepare the plan of a law requires a whole man, and more than a day; for, befides particulars, a law-maker muft neceffarily attend to four capital things of a general kind, viz. 1. The nature and fituation of the country. 2. The turn and temper of the people. 3. The preceding times, to fee what has happened. And, 4. To future ages, to forefee what may happen. A 1. He must carefully reprefent to himfelf the nature and fituation of the country for which the law is intended. particular feed may be proper for one fort of land, but improper for another. A fkilful farmer examines the nature of his ground, before he fows it; and a lawgiver muft carefully examine the nature and difpofition of the country, before he undertakes to give it a law. The fame cuttoms and the fame laws do not equally fuit all places. A certain philofopher being afked, which were the best laws? answered, those best adapted to the country; for a good law at Athens may be a bad one at Lacedemon. 2. Every lawgiver must regard the turn, genius, and bent of the people for whom his laws are intended. Sometimes the people may be of fuch a temper as to bear harth reformations, and yet be raised into commotion by trifling alterations. The Chinese patiently fubmitted to all the laws of their conquerors, the Tartars, except that of cutting off their hair; about which many of them loft their lives. The great reformer, Peter Alexiowitz, brought the Ruffians to quit most of their ancient customs; but by infifting upon their fhaving their beards, threw the whole country into confufion. The ordinance for abolishing exorcifms, tho' in itself a thing of an indifferent nature, has produced more violent effects than the changing of articles of faith. As abfolute as the Perfian monarchs are, they do not venture to abolish the pernicious ufe of opi. um: And as powerful as the late emperor of Ruffia was, he durft not prohibit the drinking of brandy. Thefe and the like examples may direct lawgivers to ftudy the nature and inclinations of the 604 Obfervations on the PUBLICK DEBT. people for whom their laws are defigned. What in one country may be done with a nod or a wink, cannot be accomplished with fire and fword in another. Laws must be fuited to the people, and not the peo. pie to laws. 3. A lawgiver muft regard paft times, in order to fee whether the law he would A introduce has been experienced before, and with what fuccefs: For it is from paft times that we must judge of times to come. When an ordinancé has already mifcarried in the tenth effay, we may prefume it will not fucceed in the eleventh. After a medicine has frequently failed, we can have no reasonabls hopes of its curing. Hiftory is the furcft instructor. The late Czar, who moulded Ruffia anew, ufcd fuch precaution in his reformations, that he rarely attempted one without being well affured it would prove advantageous. King William being exborted to introduce the new style, took time to confider of it; and confulted with his astronomers, whether leap year, and other chronological irregularities, could by this means be avoided: The aftronoiners answered in the negative: "Then, faid the king, we had as good let the style remain as it did." This conduct of the Eritish monarch the Czar frequently cited, when any new regulations were propofed to him, from which he could fee no great advantage to the publick. B App. der their laws unfuitable or hurtful in the future. Man, indeed, cannot always guard against accidents, or prevent fuch things as he could not forefee: Yet, in the business of laws, and acts of perpetuity, politicians must lay poffible accidents before them; and imagine cafes capable of defeating or changing their good intentions; for, a ruter, a minifter, or general, muft not fay, I did not think of that; because every man ought to think of accidents, and prepare for them. Thofe who do not, are like thoughtless travellers unprovided again bad roads and weather. But because men are apt to take matters in extreams, I must add, that, by accidents, I mean no other than common accidents; for, to provide against extraordinary ones, is not fentible, but unreafonable. The best intended regulations may be as much defeated by unreafonable precaution, as by no caution at all. And thus, tho' prudence and confideCration are required in making a law; yet the middle way, betwixt the French ala. crity and the Spanish folemnity, may be chofe. In the framing of laws, we fhould neither gallop nor creep: For too much and too little hafte have equally great inconveniencies. Hafty counsel is like unripe fruit; and flow deliberations like fruits that rot. It fometimes hapD pens, that the circumstances of publick affairs will not adnut of delay: And in fuch cafes, an imperfe& attempt is better than none. It may therefore be proper for a ftate to have two fets of counfellors, a young and an old one, and employ the young when matters require expedition, but the old when they ought to be done in perfection. E Indeed, it is beft to retain the old regutations when they cannot be bettered by new ones; because inconveniences may arife from alteration. A ftate is like a building confifting of several parts, fo put together, that one cannot be much ditu:bed without disturbing the whole. And hence Lycurgus obliged the Lacedæ. monians to take an oath, that they would never alter his ordinances; which oath they fo religiously kept, that when Phrynis proposed to improve the Lacedæmonian Jute, by the addition of two new ftrings, The Ephori ordered him to be put to death. This was rigid; for the circumftances of times frequently require old ordinances to be abrogated. Agefilaus was defervedly praited, when, upon a certain occafion, he ordered the laws to deep for twenty-four hours. The fame may be faid of Alexandei, who once, for weighty reafons, ordered that June thould be May And Piu1arch commends it in Philopromenes, that he not only knew how to command according to law, but even to command the G law itfelf when occafion required. DoubtJa, no law fhould be made without neceffity, or but for the fake of confiderable advantage. 4. Lawgivers must reprefent to themwhat may probably happen, to ren 2 A Pamphlet having been lately published, intitled, An INQUIRY into the Original and Confequences of the PUBLICK DEBT, by a Perfon of Distinction, we fhall give our Readers a few Extracts from it, as follows. FT HE author, after having fhewn, that the landed and trading interests are the fame, and that the publick debt has created an intereft diftinct from and oppofite to both, propofes to examine, 1. What the publick debt is. 2. To whom it is due. 3. Whence came the money lent to the publick. 4. How far the publick is affected by it. 5. How and where that money was employed before it was lent the publick. 6. What has become of it tince. 7. What would be the confequence of paying it off. And, laftly, what will be the confequence of ingreafing it. Thefe 1753. Obfervations on the Thefe eight heads he confiders separately and diftinctly, and makes very proper obfervations upon each; but we shall give only fome of those he makes upon the 4th, 7th and 8th. As to the 4th, he fays, The publick debt is attended with every dread. ful confequence that can accompany any national calamity; of which I fhali hint only at the most obvious of fuch as diftinguish it. If it was payable only out of the rents of land, and of fuch as live on their means, it might be pretended, that fince the induftrious farmer muft pay his rent, it is the fame thing to the nation, whether it is wholly poffeffed by the fquire, or if one half of it is enjoyed by a stockjobber. Even in that cafe there would be a wide difference. But the rents of land are not in question: Our taxes are chiefly paid out of the confumption of the industrious; and the farmer must pay his fhare out of his own particular profits, independent of what the fquire pays out of bis eftate. A PUBLICK DEBT. 6ος cenfing numberless publick houses; most of which are to be confidered as fo many academies for the acquiring and propaga ting the whole fcience of iniquity; and the landlord is generally an adept ready to inftruct the ignorant. It is from thefe Tyburn fupplied; but it is likewife from academies that Newgate is peopled and thefe that a great part of the revenne arises. Pulpits may thunder against vice, and juries may hang criminals, to eternity while every means of corrupting the mo rals of the people is thrown in their way, it is in vain to look for reformation. With what face can it be pretended, that we dare restrain vice, after the late glaring B inftance of repealing the gin act? On that occafion we were obliged to confefs, that the health, the numbers, the morals, of our people, are of no account in comparifon of the revenue, but must be facrificed to the publick debt. A tax of 5 per cent. on any commodity C muft raise the price of it above 8; and as our tradesmen work under the difadvantage of paying taxes for almost every thing they confume, they cannot afford their la bour fo cheap as those who pay nothing; and of course must be underfold in the foreign market. In other words, if an Englishman confumes to the value of fix-D pence a day, and must pay three-pence for the privilege of doing fo, he cannot live fo cheap as the Frenchman,who enjoys that privilege for nothing. We inhabit the moft plentiful spot in Europe; our people are allowed to be naturally industrious : yet our poor want employment. We have not mouths at home to confume our produce. Foreigners can afford to fmuggle E our wool at a vaft expence, and to underfel us even in that manufactory. If we have ftill fome trade left, thanks to the provident care of our ancestors, who fettled our colonies, and to the fingularity of our taste, that can accommodate itfclf with Portugal wine, which fecures to us the lucrative trade of that country. To judge fairly of the bad effects of our taxes, let us fuppofe ourselves releafed from them, or let us fuppofe all the money paid to the ftocks and finking fund given back in bounties to the manufacturers and exporters; and then let one imagine how many hands would be fet to work at home, and whether we should not underfel all the world abroad. The publiek debt has entailed immorality and idleness upon the people; and the civil magiftrate, whofe chief office ought to be toreftrain vice, is forced to connive at it. The revenue cannot be fupported without encouraging idleness and expence, and Hi G Upon the 7th he fays, It follows from debt was paid off, the profits of the what has been faid, that, if the publick manufacturer would be all his own.' He would be exempted from paying at least 40 per cent. out of his gains. It would be equal in every respect to a bounty to that amount on all our productions, and of three-pence a-day to the that advantage we should be able to underday-labourer, and fo in proportion. With fel our neighbours. Our people would of courfe multiply. Our poor would find employment. Even the aged and disabled might earn enough to live upon. New arts and manufactures would be introduced, and the old ones brought to perfection. Our most barren lands would be cultivated, to fupply the demands of our people. The and the produce of the whole infufficient stockjobber, when paid off, would find employment for his money in trade and manufacture, and would find that turn to better account than the preying on the vitals of his country. He would then become an useful member of fociety. Rents would be able to provide for his younger would rife, and the country gentleman children. We would be able to restore morality amongst our people, and the immenfe increase of trade would furnish employment for every induftrious man. Our colonies would thare in the benefit, and many caufes of jealousy between them and their mother country would evanuh. We fhould become formidable to our neighbours; for, befides the increase of our naval power, in cafe of a juft caufe of war, we should be able to advance much more money within the year than we have ever done by anticipating. Such of our 1jood. fuckers as had no tafe for honstredetty, |