image of one ancestor at least, who had borne some curule office. It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled, what constitutes the distinction, or who is a real esquire; for it is not an estate, however large, that confers this rank upon its owner. Camden, who was himself a herald, distinguishes them the most accurately; and he reckons up four sorts of them: 1. The eldest sons of knights, and their eldest sons, in perpetual succession". 2. The eldest sons of younger sons of peers, and their eldest sons in like perpetual succession: both which species of esquires sir Henry Spelman entitles armigeri natalitii w. 3. Esquires created by the king's letters patent, or other investiture (18); and their eldest sons. 4. Esquires by virtue of their offices: as justices of the peace, and others who bear any office of trust under the crown (19). To these may be added the esquires of knights

(18) This creation has long been disused. Esquires thus created were invested calcaribus argentatis, to distinguish them from the equites aurati. In the life of Chaucer, we are told that he was created scutifer to Edward III. Scutifer is the same as armiger; and our word esquire is derived from scutum, or the French escu a shield.

(19) I cannot but think that this is too extensive a description of an esquire, for it would bestow that honor upon every exciseman and custom-house officer; it probably ought to be limited to

of the bath, each of whom constitutes three at his installation: and all foreign, nay, Irish peers; for not only these, but the eldest sons of peers of Great Britain, though frequently titular lords, are only esquires in the law, and must be so named in all legal proceedings (20). As for gentlemen, says sir Thomas Smith, they be made good cheap in this kingdom: for whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, and (to be short) who can live idly, and without manual labor, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master, and shall be taken for a gentleman (21). A yeoman is he that hath free land of forty shillings by the year; who was anciently thereby qualified to

x 3 Inst. 30. 2 Inst. 667.

y Commonw. of Eng. b. 1. c. 20.

those only who bear an office of trust under the crown, and who are styled esquires by the king in their commissions and appointments; and all I conceive who are once honored by the king with the title of esquire, have a right to that distinction for life.

(20) It is rather remarkable that the learned Judge should have forgotten to mention another class of esquires, viz. barristers. Sir Henry Spelman is of opinion that their claim to this title is founded in usurpation, for with some spleen he informs us, certè altero hinc sæculo nominatissimus in patri jurisconsultus, ætate provectior, etiam munere gaudens publico et prædiis amplissimis, generosi titulo bene se habuit; fortè quod togatæ genti magis tunc conveniret civilis illa appellatio quam castrensis altera. Gloss. voc. Arm. But this length of enjoyment has established such a right to this distinction, that the court of common pleas refused to hear an affidavit read, because a barrister named in it was not called an esquire. 1 Wils. 244.

(21) The eldest son has no prior claim to the degree of gentleman; for it is the text of Littleton, that " every son is as great a gentleman "as the eldest." Sect. 210.

serve on juries, vote for knights of the shire, and do any other act, where the law requires one that is probus et legalis homo*.

THE rest of the commonalty are tradesmen, artificers, and laborers; who (as well as all others) must in pursuance of the statute 1 Hen. V. c. 5. be styled by the name and addition of their estate, degree, or mystery, and the place to which they belong, or where they have been conversant, in all original writs of actions, personal, appeals, and indictments, upon which process of outlawry may be awarded (22); in order, as it should seem, to prevent any clandestine or mistaken outlawry, by reducing to a specific certainty the person who is the object of Its process (23).

z 2 Inst. 668.

(22) Informations in the nature of quo warranto, are not within the statute of additions. 1 Wils. 244.

(23) These are the ranks and degrees into which the people of Eng. land are divided, and which were created, and are preserved, for the reciprocal protection and support of each other. But to excite discontent, and to stir up rebellion against all good order and peaceful government, a proposition has lately been industriously propagated, viz. that all men are by nature equal. If this subject is considered even for a moment, the very reverse will appear to be the truth, and that all men are by nature unequal. For though children come into the world equally helpless, yet in a few years, as soon as their bodies acquire vigor, and their minds and passions are expanded and developed, we perceive an infinite difference in their natural powers, capacities, and propensities; and this inequality is still further increased by the instruc tion which they happen to receive.

Independent of any positive regulations, the unequal industry and virtues of men must necessarily create unequal rights. But it is said that all men are equal because they have an equal right to justice, or to the possession of their rights. This is a self-evident truth, which no one ever denied, and it amounts to nothing more than to the identical proposition, that all men have equal rights to their rights; for when different men have perfect and absolute rights to unequal things,

they are certainly equal with regard to the perfection of their rights, or the justice that is due to their respective claims. This is the only sense in which equality can be applied to mankind. In the most perfect republic that can be conceived in theory, the proposition is false and mischievous; the father and child; the master and servant, the judge and prisoner, the general and common soldier, the representative and constituent, must be eternally unequal, and have unequal rights.

And where every office is elective, the most virtuous and the best qualified to discharge the duties of any office, have rights and claims superior to others.

One celebrated philosopher has endeavoured to prove the natural equality of mankind, by observing, "that the weakest has strength "enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machinations, or by "confederacy with others, that are in the same danger with himself." Hobbes's Lev. c. xiii.

From such a doctrine, supported by such reasons, we cannot be surprised at the consequences, when an attempt is made to reduce it to practice.

Subordination in every society is the bond of its existence; the highest and the lowest individuals derive their strength and security from their mutual assistance and dependence; as in the natural body, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Milton was so convinced of the necessity of subordination and degrees, that he makes Satan, even when warring against the king of heaven, address his legions thus:

If not equal all, yet free,

Equally free; for orders and degrees

Jar not with liberty, but well consist.

B. 5. 1.790.

True liberty results from making every higher degree accessible to those who are in a lower, if virtue and talents are there found to deserve advancement.

In this happy country, the son of the lowest peasant may rise by his merit and abilities to the highest stations in the church, law, army, navy, and in every department of the state. The doctrine, that all men are, or ought to be, equal, is little less contrary to nature, and destructive of their happiness, than the invention of Procrustes, who attempted to make men equal by stretching the limbs of some, and lopping off those of others.

But the experiment has been tried, and the result has hitherto been (an awful warning to the world) a rapid succession of assassinations, judicial murders, proscriptions, and usurpation.

Ceterùm libertas et speciosa nomina prætexuntur ; nec quisquam alienum servitium et dominationem sibi concupivit, ut non eadem ista vocabula usur paret. Tac. Hist. iv. c. 73.