COMMENCEMENT OF PARLIAMENT. C1U 



pests are greatest about the equinox; and as there are 

 certain hollow blasts of wind and secret swellings of seas 

 before a tempest, so are there in states : 



Ille etiam cascos instare tumultus 



Saepe monet, fraudesque et operta tumescere bella.&quot; (a) 



These secret swellings and hollow blasts, which arise from 

 the conflicts between power, tenacious in retaining its au 

 thority, and knowledge, advancing to resist it, are materials 

 certain to explode, unless judiciously dispersed. Of this 

 Bacon constantly warned the community, by recommending 

 the admission of gradual reform. &quot; In your innovations,&quot; 

 he said, &quot; follow the example of time, which innovateth 

 greatly, but quietly.&quot; (b) The advances of nature are all 

 gradual: scarce discernible in their motions, but only 

 visible in their issue. The grass grows and the shadow 

 moves upon the dial unperceived until we reflect upon 

 their progress. 



These admonitions have always been disregarded or re 

 sisted by governments, and, wanting this safety valve, 

 states have been periodically exposed to convulsion. In 

 England this appeared at Runnymede in the reign of John, 

 and in the subversion of the Pope s authority in the reign 

 of Henry the Eighth, 



When the spirit of reform has once been raised, its pro 

 gress is not easily stayed. Through the ruins of catholic 

 superstition various defects were discovered in other parts 

 of the fabric : and the people, having been spirit-broken 

 during the reign of Henry, and lulled during the reign 

 of Elizabeth, reform now burst forth with accumulated 

 impetuosity. So true is the doctrine of Bacon, that &quot; when 

 any of the four pillars of government are mainly shaken, 



() Essay on Sedition, vol. i. p. 44. 

 (/ ) Essay on Innovations, vol. i. p. 82. 



