read them; for 'tis their Maxim, That all People ought to know the
Laws by which they are to be govern'd; and as above all People, we
find no Fools in this Country, so the Emperors, though they seem to
be Arbitrary, enjoy the greatest Authority in the World, by always
observing, with the greatest Exactness, the Pacta Conventa of their
Government: From these Principles it is impossible we should ever
hear, either of the Tyranny of Princes, or Rebellion of Subjects,
in all their Histories.

At the Entrance into this Class, you find some Ancient Comments,
upon the Constitution of the Empire, written many Ages before we
pretend the World began; but above all, One I took particular notice
of, which might bear this Title, Natural Right prov'd Superior to
Temporal Power; wherein the old Author proves, the Chinese Emperors
were Originally made so, by Nature's directing the People, to place
the Power of Government in the most worthy Person they could find;
and the Author giving a most exact History of 2000 Emperors, brings
them into about 35 or 36 Periods of Lines when the Race ended; and
when a Collective Assembly of the Nobles, Cities, and People,
Nominated a new Family to the Goverment.

This being an heretical Book as to European Politicks, and our
Learned Authors having long since exploded this Doctrine, and prov'd
that Kings and Emperors came down from Heaven with Crowns on their
Heads, and all their Subjects were born with Saddles on their Backs;
I thought fit to leave it where I found it, least our excellent
Tracts of Sir Robert Filmer, Dr. Hammond L...y, S....l, and Others,
who have so learnedly treated of the more useful Doctrine of Passive
Obedience, Divine Right, &c. should be blasphem'd by the Mob, grow
into Contempt of the People; and they should take upon them to