ON THE INFLUENCE OF FEUDALISM. 7 



jnaiTiage of his female ward ; of fines on the alienation of a fief or 

 fee ; of escheats to the lord on the death of the tenant without heirs, 

 and forfeiture of the fee to him on the felony or default of a tenant ; 

 of the lord's right to hold his courts of justice, and to compel the 

 attendance of his tenants therein ; — these and many other enactments 

 of the institution, though once in full vigour and long since declined 

 have left their traces in the modem institutions and customs of the 

 land. 



No order of the state was exempt from this system, all were under 

 its subjection from the highest baron to the poorest serf — churchmen 

 or laymen — freemen or bondmen, that system held all within its 

 sphere and defined the rights and liabilities of all. The effects of 

 such a system were both beneficial and injurious ; beneficial in matur- 

 ing and upholding that martial spirit for which our ancestors were so 

 illustrious, and in maintaining if not creating that sjiirit of chivalry 

 which prompted them to deeds of entei-prize and renown; and inju- 

 rious in raising one body of men who seemed by theii' actions but to 

 live for themselves, a chosen class, the imperious rulers of a popula- 

 tion of dependants or slaves. These latter effects have long since 

 vanished under the force of political circumstances, which freed from 

 t]pir thraldom the stout peasantry of our Isle, and placed them in 

 that position to which they were naturally entitled ; but the fonner 

 effects have survived the death of the institutions which excited them, 

 and are infused into the elements of our modem society. 



This brief sketch of the nature of our feudal institutions is neces- 

 sary as a preface to the consideration of the subject of this Essay. 



Although it will be necessary for me in this paper to allude to 

 both political and religious institutions in this country so far as 

 they have any connection with feudalism, yet in alluding to them I 

 shall simply state what I believe to be facts, without venturing to offer 

 or desiring to elicit any remarks upon the propriety or impropriety 

 of our present political or religious government ; being ever mind- 

 ful of the wisdom which dictates this society's law, prohibiting 

 the discussion of religious or political subjects. I shall therefore 

 divide this essay into three heads, by considering the influence of 

 of feudalism upon the political, religious, and civil stale of our 

 country. 



