"is: the law, meaning now the common law. And "what, Sir, is common law? Sir, I will tell you "what it is. It is on this, as on all other occa"sions, the expression of the will and pleasure of "one or more of a set of men, whose interest is, on "this ground, in a state of diametrical opposition "to the universal interest; who, on every occasion, "to that same will and pleasure,-without any "other controul than that nominal one which, not "being real, is so much worse than none,-give "the effect of law that effect which, without the "aid of those pre-eminently learned persons,-that body in which the plenitude of power is sup"posed to reside, never finds itself able to give.

-

"On this very occasion, whose would the will "and pleasure be? Whose but that of these same "pre-eminently learned persons, whose wisdom, "or whose sincerity, refused to suffer you to "grasp so much as the shadow of a security, "unless to the adequate relief you had prepared "for yourselves, you would yourselves be the in"struments of substituting an inadequate one?

Now, Sir, forgive the liberty I take in asking

you, have you any assurance-any tolerably"grounded assurance - that. this definition of yours-even suppose it not only approved, but

signed by the Archbishop, would be adopted by "common law ?-would, in addition to law as it "ought to be, be made law as it is? Alas, Sir, proof of the contrary is staring you in the face.

Sir, have you not heard of Mr. Hone and his blasphemy? Sir, have you not heard of Mr. Wright of Liverpool, and his blasphemy?

Mr.

Wright a divine, whose blasphemy is, if I "mistake not, pretty exactly of the same stamp "with your own piety and that of Dr. Belsham ? "Know you not that by the piety of common "law, every scribbler, with or without a name, "with a true name, or with a false one,-whose "scribble it has pleased, or shall please, King, "Lords, and Commons, to put into a book, called "the Liturgy, is to the purpose in question, put upon a level with God? his scribble with the "word of God, and, as in the course of this pre"sent work of mine you may see demonstrated, "employed as an improved substitute to that same

holy word?-Know you not how, within these "few months, being duly put in motion, by fees "supplied by a pious Cabinet, the piety of com"mon law, did actually speak to this effect by the "mouth of a pre-eminently learned person, whose "learning was so lately and effectually covered "with shame by the ignorance of Mr. Hone?

"Know you not that the piety of common laro "has a maxim of its own, by force and virtue of "which, under the name of blasphemers, or any "other name, it can at any time grind to powder "all such christians as yourself, as well as all other persons, who have or profess to have a religion "of their own in any shape? Know you not that,

"according to the tenor of this maxim, Chris"tianity is part and parcel of the law of England? "that any thing and every thing, which it shall "please the piety of this or that bench to call christianity will thereby be so? that every thing "that it shall please that same piety to call an "offence against the said christianity will thereby "be so, and the offender liable to be visited, as the phrase is, with any or all such instruments of "destruction as the hand of precedent has now presented to the piety of that same pre-eminently "learned bench?

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"Know you not, Sir, that,-besides all purposes "such as the one in question,-the piety and wis"dom of common law,-not to speak of other "branches,—has, in its penal branch, an assortment "of phrases applicable to all imaginable purposes?

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phrases covering, when taken together, the field "of law in its whole extent? (Contra bonos mores

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Conspiracy, Libel, &c. I have somewhere got a "list or the commencement of a list of them)."Know you not, Sir, in a word, that wheresoever "common law reigns, security-whether it be for "life, liberty, property, or any thing else—is an empty name? Shew me, Sir, if you can find one, that proposition in Euclid which is more "uncontrovertibly demonstrated than is this one, melancholy as it is, in my letter to the people of the American United States, published "in my late work, intituled Paper's on Codification,

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d

"&c.-I wish it were in my power to give you "any better authority: I mean in black and "white. But, now and then it may happen to

you, in the house, to find yourself within a whis

per of Sir Samuel Romilly. On any such op. "portunity, ask him whether, in the picture above "drawn of the goddess of so many idolatries, "there be any considerable overcharge: and, if "for answer you should receive nothing but a sigh or something equivalent, you will not be at "much loss to know what to conclude.

"I am, my dear Sir,

"Yours very thankfully,

"J. B."

>

"P.S. On the subject of blasphemy,-in the over grown volume, to which in thus writing to you "I am writing a last preface,-in this volume;

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pages from 225 to 230, you may see how perfect "the agreement is between your notions and "mine. Judge from hence of the pride and pleaσε sure which that part of your letter afforded

"to me.

"You will not see this my second letter till "after it is made public. You shall not have "been party or privy to any of my enormities."

THE following Table of Errata, the number of which can not but be matter of regret, has been occasioned by a weakness in the author's eyes, coupled with his distance from the press: occasion has been taken to intersperse a few amendments.

PREFACE; INCLUDING PLAN OF THE Page 88, 1. 19, after England put as.