LAW IN POLITICS. 357 



never systematically entertained in the ancient 

 world. Indeed, the true conception of Natural 

 Law is one founded on the progress of physical 

 investigation, and growing out of the habits of 

 scientific thought. It was long before Man came 

 to apprehend the prevalence of Law in the phe- 

 nomena of Matter ; and it was still longer before 

 he could even entertain the notion of Natural Law 

 as applicable to himself. The ancient lawgivers 

 were always aiming at standards of Political 

 Society, framed according to some abstract no- 

 tions of their own as to how things ought to be, 

 rather than upon any attempt to investigate the 

 constitution of human nature as it actually is. It 

 was a mistake in the science of Politics analogous 

 to that which Bacon complained of so bitterly in 

 the science of Physics. Men were always trying 

 to evolve out of their own minds knowledge which 

 could only be acquired by patient inquiry into facts. 

 How worse than useless this method is, received an 

 illustration in ancient philosophy still more striking 

 than in ancient legislation. Fortunately for man- 

 kind, no actual legislators have ever been quite so 

 foolish as some philosophers. Perhaps, all things 



