In the laft place, among the lower Nobility are accounted the Gentry of England, that have no other Title, but are defcended of ancient Families, that have always born a Coat of Arms.

This kind of Honour is derived from the Teutonic and Gothic Nations to the rest of Christendom, and was never known in any Country where the Teutonic and Gothic Customs were unknown, as in Afia, Africa, and America.

A Gentleman is properly, one whofe Ancestors have been Freemen, and have ow'd no Obedience to any Man befides their natural Prince; fo that in Propriety of Speech no Man is a Gentleman who is not born fo: But in England, the King being properly the Fountain of all Honour, he can make a Gentleman by Charter, or by beftowing an Honourable Employment upon him.

The Title of Gentlemen in England (as of Cavalier in France, Italy, and Spain) is not difdained by any Nobleman. All Noblemen are Gentlemen, though all Gentlemen are not Noblemen.

Guillin is of Opinion, that if a Gentleman be bound an Apprentice to a Merchant, or other Trade, he hath not thereby loft his Degree of Gentility.

And therefore the Gentry and Nobility of England have not disdain'd so to dispose of their younger Children.

Priviledges to the Lower Nobility.

"HE lower Nobility of England have fewer and lefs Priviledges than those in other Monarchies.

Some few Priviledges belong to Knights, quatenus Knights. Knights are excufed from Attendance at Court-Leets. Knights by Magna Charta, Cap. 21. are fo freed that no Demefn Cart of theirs may be taken.

The Son and Brother of a Knight, by Statute Law, are capacitated to hold more than one Benefice with Cure of Souls.

Some Privileges also belong to Gentlemen.

If a Capias go against A. B. Yeoman, and if the Sheriff take A.B. Gentleman, an Action of false Imprisonment lieth against the Sheriff.

⚫ Colonels are Honourable, and by the Law of Arms ought to precede fimple Knights; fo are all General Officers, as Mafter of the Artillery, Quarter-Mafter-General, &c.

All higher Officers in the King's Court or State, and all Sergeants at Law, precede Efquires.

All Batchelors of Divinity, Law, and Phyfic, all Doctors in Arts, commonly call'd Mafters of Arts, all Bar.ifters in the

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Part I. Inns of Court, all Captains, and other Military Officers who have the King's Commiffions, divers other Officers in the King's Houfhold, & may equal, if not precede Gentlemen that have none of thefe Qualifications.

In England, Gentry (as in Germany, all Nobility) and Arms are held in Gavel-kind, defcending to all the Sons alike, only the eldeft Son beareth Arms without difference, which the younger may not.

Of the lower Nobility in England, the Number is fo great, that there are reckoned at prefent above 500 Baronets more than the first intended Number; that is, in all above 700, who are pofleft one with another of about 1000 l. a Year in Lands Of Knights, above 1400, who one with another may have about 800 / Lands a Year. Of Efquires and Gentlemen above fix Thoufand, each one poffeft one with another, of about 400 l. a Year in Lands, amounting in all to about a third part of the yearly Revenue of all England: Besides younger Brothers, whofe Number may amount to above 16000 in all England, who have fmall Eftates in Land, but are com monly bied up to Divinity, Law, Phyfic, Court and Military Employments.

All in England are accounted Gentlemen who maintain them. felves without Manual Labour, and then well may thofe (be their Pedigree what it will) who have 6, 8, and 10000 l. a Year in Lands, and divers Merchants who have 100000 or 200000 l. in Goods and Effects, ftile themfelves Gentle

men.

Beomen] Next to the lower Nobility, and the firft Degree of the Commons or Plebeans, are the Freeholders in England, ufually called Teomen, from the Saxon Gemane, in English Common. In the King's Court it fignifies an Officer which is in a middle Place between a Sergeant and a Groom

In many Cafes, the Law of England hath conceived a better Opinion of the Yeomanry that occupy Lands, than of Tradefmen, Artificers or Labourers.

Husbandry bath in no Age render'd a Gentleman ignoble, nor incapable of Places of Honour.

Of the Freeholders of England, there are more in Number and richer than in any Country, of the like Extent, in Europe; 40 or 50l. a Year a-piece is very ordinary, 100 and 2007. a Year in fome Countries is not rare; fometimes in Kent and the wild of Suffex, 5 or 600l. per Annum, and 3 or 4000 l. Stock.

By the Statute of England, certain Immunities are given to Freeholders. Vide Stat. 1. Jac. I. cap. 27. & alibi.

Befides thefe Freeholders, which are fo called, because they hold Lands or Tenements inheritable by a perpetual Right to

them

them and their Heirs for ever, there are in England a very great Number of Copy-holders, who hold Lands within fome Ma nors, only by Copy of Court-Roll, of the said Manor, &c. and have Jus perpetuum & utile Dominium, though not Allodium &direttum Dominium, which Freeholders may improperly be faid to have; for properly none in England but the King hath.

Amongst the Commons of England, in the next place, are reckoned Tradefmen, among whom Merchants of Foreign Traffick, have, for their great Benefit to the Public, and for their Endowments and generous Living, been of best Repute in England; where, as well as in Italy, to become a Merchant of Foreign Commerce, hath been allowed no Difparagement to a Gentleman born, especially to a younger Brother.

Amongst Tradefmen, in the first place are Whole-fale-men, then Retailers; laftly, Mechanicks, or Handicrafts-men. These are capable of bearing fame Sway or Office in Cities and Towns Corporate.

The lower Members, the Feet of the Body politick, are the Day Labourers, who by their large Wages and Cheapnefs of all Neceffaries, enjoy better Dwellings, Diet and Apparel in England, than the Husbandmen or Farmers do in most other Countries.

Liberties and Priviledges,

S the Clergy and Nobility have certain Priviledges peculiar to themselves, fo they have Liberties and Properties common to the Commonalty of England.

The Commons of England for Hereditary Fundamental Liberties and Properties, are bleft above and beyond the Subjects of any Monarch or State in the World.

First, No Freeman of England ought to be imprifon'd, or otherwife reftrain'd, without Cause fhewn, for which by Law he ought to be fo imprisoned.

Secondly, To him that is imprifoned, may not be denied a Writ of Habeas Corpus, if it be desired, which brings 'em fpee, dily to their Tryal.

Thirdly, If no Cause of Imprisonment be alledged, and the fame be returned upon an Habeas Corpus, the Prifoner ought to be fet at Liberty.

Fourthly, No Soldiers can be quartered in the House of any Freeman (unless he be a Victualler, or fell Brandy and other ftrong Liquors by Retail) in time of Peace, without his Will, though they pay for their Quarters; nor in time of War, unlefs the Enemy be in the Country.

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Fifthly,

Fifthly, Every Freeman hath fuch a full and abfolute Propriety in his Goods, that no Taxes, Loans, or Benevolences ordinarily and legally can be impofed upon them, without their own Confent, by their Reprefentative in Parliament. Moreover they have fuch an abfolute Power, that they can difpofe of all they have how they please, even from their own Children, and to them in what Inequality they will, without fhewing any Caufe; which other Nations govern'd by the Civil Law can't do.

Sixthly, No Freeman can be tried but by his Peers, nor condemned, but by the Laws of the Land, or by an Act of Parliament.

Seventhly, No Freeman may be fined for any Crime, but according to the Merit of the Offence; always Salva fibi contenemento fuo in fuch manner that he may continue, and go on in his Calling.

Briefly, If it be confidered only, that they are fubject to no Laws but what they make themfelves, and pray the King and the Lords to confent unto; their Liberties and Properties must be acknowledg'd to be far above that of the Subjects of any of our Neighbour Nations.

СНАР. V.

Of the Woman, Children, and Servants in England.

'Ouching the Women of England, there are divers things

England, with all their Moveable Goods fo foon as they are married, are wholly in poteftate Viri, at the Will and Disposition of the Husband.

If any Goods or Chattels be given to a Femme Covert (i. e.) to a married Woman, they all immediately become her Huf band's: She can't Let, Set, Sell, Give away, or Alienate any thing without her Husband's Confent.

Her very neceffary Apparel, by the Law, is not hers in Property. If the hath any Tenure at all, it is in Capite, that is, the holds it of, and by her Husband, who is Caput Mulieris.

All the Chattels perfonal the Wife had at the Marriage, are fo much her Husband's, that after his Death, they fhall not return to his Wife, but go to the Executor, or Administrator of the Husband, as his other Goods and Chattels, except only her Parapherna, or Præter Dotalia, which are her neceflary Ap

el, which with the Confent of her Husband, fhe may de

vife by Will, not otherwise by our Law, because the Property and Poffeffion, even of the Parapherna are in him.

The Wife can make no Contract without her Husband's Confent, and in all Law Matters fine viro refpondere non poteft, can't reply without her Husband.

The Law of England supposes in the Husband the Power over his Wife, as over his Child or Servant, and therefore he must anfwer for his Wife's Fault; if the wrong another by her Tongue, or by Trefpafs, he must make Satisfaction.

So the Law makes it as high a Crime, and allots the fame Punishment to a Woman that fhall kill her Husband, as to a Woman that fhall kill her Father or Mafter; and that is PetitTreafon, to be burnt alive.

The Woman upon Marriage lofeth not only the Power over her Perfon, and her Will, and the Property of her Goods, but her very Name; for ever after the ufeth her Husband's Surname, and her own is wholly laid afide; which is not observed in France and other Countries, where the Wife fubfcribes her self by her Paternal Name, as if Sufanna the Daughter of R. Clifford, be married to E. Chamberlayne, the either writes her felf Sufanna Clifford, or elfe Sufanna Clifford Chamberlayne.

Notwithstanding all which their Condition de facto is the best of the World; for fuch is the good Nature of Englishmen towards their Wives, fuch is the Tendernefs and Respect, giving them the uppermost place at Table, and elfe where, the Righthand every where, and putting them upon no Drudgery and Hardfhip; that they are, generally speaking, the most happy Women in the World.

Befides, in fome things the Laws of England are above other Nations, fo favourable to that Sex, as if Women had voted at the making of them.

If a Wife bring forth a Child during her Husband's long Abfence, though it be for fome Years, yet if he lived all the time inter quatuor Maria, within this Ifland,he muft Father that Child; and if that Child be her first born Son, he fhall inherit that Husband's Eftate, if Intail'd, or left without Will.

If a Wife bring forth a Child begotten by a former Hufband, or by any other, before Marriage, but born after Marriage with another Man; this latter muft own the Child, and that Child fhall be his Heir, at Law.

The Wife after her Husband's Death, having no Joynture fettl'd before Marriage, may challenge the third part of his yearly Rents of Land during her Life; and within the City of London, a third part of all her Husband's Moveables for

ever.

As the Wife doth participate of her Husband's Name, fo likewife of his Condition. If he be a Duke, fhe is a Dutchefs; if he be a Knight, fhe is a Lady; if he of an Alien be made a Denison,

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