their nocturnal meetings, or only to try, by this odd and whimſical prohibition, how far it was poſſible for one Man to extend his power over his fellow Creatures. 'Tis true indeed that the Engliſh had Parliaments before and after William the Conqueror; and they boaſt of them, as tho' theſe aſſemblies then call'd Parliaments, compos'd of eccleſiaſtical Tyrants, and of plunderers entitled Barons, had been the guardians of the publick liberty and happineſs.
The Barbarians who came from the ſhores of the Baltick, and ſettled in the reſt of Europe, brought with them the form of government call'd States or Parliaments, about which ſo much noiſe is made, and which are ſo little underſtood. Kings indeed were not abſolute in thoſe days, but then the people were more wretched upon that very account, and more completely enſlav'd. The Chiefs of theſe ſavages who had laid waſte France, Italy, Spain and England, made themſelves Monarchs. Their generals divided among themſelves the ſeveral countries they had conquer'd, whence ſprung
