every profession
was held in contempt but that of arms: and if any merchant or
manufacturer rose by industry and frugality to a degree of opulence,
he found himself but the more exposed to injuries, from the envy and
avidity of the military nobles.

These concurring causes gave the feudal governments so strong a bias
towards aristocracy, that the royal authority was extremely eclipsed
in all the European states; and, instead of dreading the growth of
monarchical power, we might rather expect, that the community would
every where crumble into so many independent baronies, and lose the
political union by which they were cemented. In elective monarchies,
the event was commonly answerable to this expectation; and the barons,
gaining ground on every vacancy of the throne, raised themselves
almost to a state of sovereignty, and sacrificed to their power both
the rights of the crown and the liberties of the people. But
hereditary monarchies had a principle of authority which was not so
easily subverted; and there were several causes which still maintained
a degree of influence in the hands of the sovereign.

The greatest baron could never lose view entirely of those principles
of the feudal constitution which bound him, as a vassal, to submission
and fealty towards his prince; because he was every moment obliged to
have recourse to those principles, in exacting fealty and submission
from his own vassals. The lesser barons, finding that the
annihilation of royal authority left them exposed, without protection,
to the insults and injuries of more potent neighbours, naturally
adhered to the crown, and promoted the execution of general and equal
laws. The people had still a stronger interest to desire the grandeur
of the sovereign; and the king, being the legal magistrate, who
suffered by every internal convulsion or oppression, and who regarded
the great nobles as his immediate rivals, assumed the salutary office
of general guardian or protector of the Commons. Besides the
prerogatives with which the law invested him, his large demesnes and
numerous retainers rendered him, in one sense, the greatest baron in
his kingdom; and where he was possessed of personal vigour and
abilities, (for his situation required these advantages,) he was
commonly able to preserve his authority, and maintain his station as
head of the community, and the chief fountain of law and justice.

The first kings of the Norman race were favoured by ano