thoſe Margraves, thoſe Peers, thoſe Barons, thoſe petty Tyrants, who often conteſted with their Sovereigns for the ſpoils of whole nations. Theſe were birds of prey, fighting with an Eagle for Doves, whoſe blood the Victorious was to ſuck. Every nation, inſtead of being govern'd by one Maſter, was trampled upon by an hundred Tyrants. The prieſts ſoon play'd a part among them. Before this, it had been the fate of the Gauls, the Germans and the Britons, to be always govern'd by their Druids, and the Chiefs of their villages, an ancient kind of Barons, not ſo tyrannical as their ſucceſſors. Theſe Druids pretended to be mediators between God and man. They enacted laws, they fulminated their excommunications, and ſentenc'd to death. The Biſhops ſucceeded, by inſenſible degrees, to their temporal authority in the Goth and Vandal government. The Popes ſet themſelves at their head, and arm'd with their Briefs, their Bulls, and reinforc'd by Monks, they made even Kings tremble; depos'd and aſſaſſinated them at pleaſure, and employ'd
every
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