Efquires. The Gentry of Garter; next to which are the Knights Bannerets, of which there are now none in England. Knights of the Bath are next in Honour; and then Knights Batchelors, which Degree is now given to GownMen, as Lawyers and Physicians; and fometimes to Artists, as it was to that excellent Mathematician Sir Ifaac Newton. ESQUIRES make the next Degree of the Lower Nobility, fo call'd of the French Word Efcuiers, Shield-Bearers, because they were wont to bear before the Prince, &c. in War a Shield, Lance, or other Weapon, and therefore they are call'd in Latin Armigeri, i. e. Bearers of Arms. Of this Title are (1.) All the Eldeft Sons of Vif counts and Barons, alfo all their Younger Sons. (2.) All the Sons of Earls, Marquifes, and Dukes; and no more by the Common Law. (3.) Efquires of the King's Body, among the Officers at Court. (4.) Efquires created by the King by putting about their Neck a Collar of SS's, and giving them a Pair of Silver Spurs. (5.) Divers in fuperior Office for King or State, as Serjeants of Royal Offices, Justices of Peace, Mayors, Counsellors at Law, Batchelors of Divinity, Law or Phyfic, are all reputed Efquires, or of equal Degree, though none of them really are fo. THE GENTRY of England are the lowest Degree among the Lower Nobility: Thefe are the Defcendents of antient Families who have been always free, and never ow'd Obedience to any Man but their Prince, and who have always born a Coat of Arms; fo that properly none are Gentlemen but fuch as are born fo: But in England the King being the Fountain of all Honour, he can make s Gentleman by Charter, or by beftowing on hin fome honourable Employment. Merchandize of Trade does not destroy Gentility. Of ment of the City. And here the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common-Council refemble the King, Lords, and Commons in Parliament. THE Government of Incorporated Boroughs is much after the fame Manner; in fome there is a Of CorporaMayor, in others two Bailiffs; in others the chief tions and Magiftrate is call'd Portreve, &c. All which, Boroughs. during their Mayoralty or Magiftracy, are Juftices, of the Peace within their Liberties, and confequently Efquires. Citizens are not taxed but by the Officers of their own Corporation, every Trade having fome of their own always of the Council to fee that nothing be enacted contrary to the Profit of their Guild or Company. FOR the better Government of Villages, the Lord of the Soil or Manor (who formerly were Of Villages call'd Barons) have Power to hold a Court Baron every three Weeks, where Matters are enquired and difcuffed relating to Lands, Poffeffions, Titles, &c. AND, laftly, in Parishes and Towns there is a very ufeful Officer, call'd the Petty-Conftable, and Parishes." who is to keep the Peace in cafe of Quarrels, to fearch for, and take up Rioters, Felons, &c. and keep them in the Stocks or Prifon till they can be brought before fome Justice of the Peace; in which Office he is affifted by the Tithing-Men. Thus every City, Village, and Town hath almoft an Epitome of Monarchical Government, of Civil and Ecclefiaftical Polity in itself, which, if duly maintain'd, would render us a happy. People, and Judgment would run down our Streets as a River, and Righteoufnefs like a mighty Stream. IT now remains that I only speak a word or two of the Degrees of Nobility in England, and Degrees of Titles of Honour. The Degrees of Peerage, or Nobility. Higher Nobility of England, are five, viz. Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. A DUKE Kinds of Law. The Law of call'd Geometrical; that is, As the Heinoufnefs of one Crime is to the Heinoufnefs of any other, so is the Degree of Punishment affigned for the former to that Degree thereof which is (or fhould be) affigned for the latter. But where can we find this Proportion of Juftice obferved in our English Difpenfation, where the fame Punishment is decreed for Theft and Murder, for Murder fimply or any how compounded? Acts, certainly, widely differing in the Degree of their criminal Nature! LAW, as it confifts of the written Dictates of Right Reafon, or the Rules and Precepts fit for the due Ordering and Government of buman Society, is generally diftinguished into the following three general Kinds. (1.) The Law of Nature. (2.) The Law of Nations; and (3.) The Civil (ufually call'd the Common) Law. Thele | are the Grand Rules of Action, of which in their Order. THE LAW of NATURE is that univerfal Principle implanted in the original Conftitution of all fenfible Beings, whereby they are directed to perform all those Acts which are agreeable to their respective particular Natures, and tend to their Well-being in general. This Principle is, in Mankind, call'd Natural Reafon; but in Brutes and other Animals it is call'd Natural Infting. From hence refult all Natural Affections, and the Acts of Procreation, Education, Confervation, and Defence of Life, in ourselves and our Young. By this Natural Right, every Animal, however defpicable it may appear to us, has an equal Claim to live, and enjoy its Being unhurt, during the natural Period of its Life. And therefore it does not only fhew an inconfiderate, cruel and j vage Temper in Men, when they caufelefsly put poor Creatures to Pain, Mifery, or Death, or for A BARON is made fometimes by Writ, Baron. but ufually by Patent; his Title is Right Honourable; he hath two Doublings on his Mantle, and fix Pearls on his Coronet upon the Circle. He may have the Cover of his Cup held underneath while he drinks; and a Baroness may have her Gown born up by a Man in the Presence of a Viscountess. BESIDES the common Titles here mention'd, Their High each of those Degrees have more illuftrious Ti- Titles. tles as follow. A DUKE, Moft High Puiffant and Noble Prince. WE come now to the Lower Nobility, who are The Commons call'd the Commons of England, and confift of of England. three Degrees, Baronets, Knights, and Efquires. A BARONET is next in Honour to a Ba- A Baronet. ron, and is the lowest Degree of Honour that is bereditary; they and their eldeft Sons at full Age may claim Knighthood. He has Precedence of all Knights, except thofe of the Garter, Bannerets, and those who are Privy-Counsellors. They take place of each other according to the Date of their Patent. The Title is Sir, and their Wives are Ladies. A KNIGHT is, according to his Original, a Knight. military Man, a Soldier, or Man of War; but now the Honour of Knighthood is conferr'd for fome perfonal Merit or Defert, and therefore dies with the Perfon, and defcends not to his Sons. There are many Orders of Knighthood, but in England the chief and moft honourable is that of the Order of St. George, call'd Knights of the Garter; The Civil The Roman Treaties made; and Laws of Contracts, Obliga tions, Servitude, Manumiffion, &c. were found -neceffary. By this Law, Lands, and Countries are divided and bounded, Societies inftituted, Vicinage of Dwelling and Building together, by which means we come to have Cities, Boroughs, and Villages. THE CIVIL LAW (the Profeffors of which are call'd Civilians) is the third general Rule of Justice and human Procedure. This is what every People ordains and conftitutes for itself, or which is peculiar and proper to every City; according to the Juftinian Definition. So the Law used by the City and People of Rome was called the Roman Civil Law; thus the Common Law of England, and the peculiar Laws of Cities and Boroughs (which are call'd Municipal Laws) make the Body of the English Civil Law. FROM the foregoing Account of the three general Kinds of Law, it feems pretty natural to make the Comparison between the Nature of Law and a Tree. In a common Tree we confider the Roots, Trunk or Body, and the Limbs or Branches. So in the legal Tree, the Root is the Law of Nature diffufely spread thro' all the Soil of Animal Kind; the Trunk or Body is the Law of Nations, which immediately springs from the radical Law of Nature, and is but one and the fame to nearly all Mankind. The Limbs or Branchery of the legal Tree is the Civil Law vaftly extended, diversified, and branched out into the Common Laws of every separate Country, and the Municipal Laws of Cities and Corporations. WHEN the Civil Law is mentioned abfoluteCivil Law. ly, or without faying of what City or Country, 'tis ufual to understand thereby the Civil Law of the Romans, which is fo called by way of Ex cellency: |