346 



and enlarge the liberties of the subject. The time was fast ap- 

 proaching when this great question was to be brought to issue. 

 We live in an age when these notions are exploded, and the for- 

 malities by which they were countenanced are looked upon as 

 legal fictions ; but the pretensions of James were favoured by the 

 constitution and proceedings of the courts of law ; by the mode of 

 summoning, proroguing, and dissolving parliament, and passing or 

 rejecting bills ; by the practice of his progenitors, and even of his glo- 

 rious and popular predecessor ; and by the authority of many emi- 

 nent statesmen. He may, therefore, be presumed to have tyran- 

 nized upon principle ; and to have vindicated his prerogative, as we 

 do our liberties, by precedent. 



In his Basilicon Doron, however, he inculcates upon his son, 

 Henry, wise, liberal and equitable maxims of government ; and 

 tells him expressly, that none but a tyrant denies that he is born for 

 his people. He instructs him to consider his royal dignity as a 

 burden rather than an honour ; admonishes him, that he does 

 not excel in rank so much as in labour and danger ; and warns 

 him, that tyrants generally come to a tragical end ; and find, that 

 those, whom they think they have made subjects, they have made 

 executioners. He further exhorts him to keep in mind, that his 

 great grand-father, by his patronage of the weak and helpless, ob- 

 tained the splendid title. The poor mans king. Camden says, " It 

 is scarcely credible, how much this piece made him respected and 

 beloved, and how great hopes and expectations were hereupon con- 

 ceived of him." 



In the Law of a Free Monarchy, addressed to the people, he re- 

 peats this maxim : " Kings," says he, " should be the fathers of their 

 people, and watch over their welfare more than their own, since they 

 should know, that they were made for the sake of their subjects." 



