sently assessed to the King's tax_,
proportionably more than his poorer neighbours, _whereby he is soon
reduced to a level with the rest_." Then comes his description of the
ENGLISH, at the same time; those "priest-ridden" English, whom CHALMERS
and HUME, and the rest of that tribe, would fain have us believe, were a
mere band of wretched beggars.--"The King of England cannot alter the
laws, or make new ones, without the express consent of _the whole kingdom
in Parliament assembled_. Every inhabitant is at his liberty fully to use
and enjoy whatever his farm produceth, the fruits of the earth, the
increase of his flock, and the like: all the improvements he makes,
whether by his own proper industry, or of those he retains in his service,
are his own, to use and enjoy, without the let, interruption, or denial of
any. If he be in anywise injured or oppressed, he shall have his amends
and satisfactions against the party offending. Hence it is that the
inhabitants are _rich in gold, silver_, and in all the necessaries and
conveniences of life. _They drink no water_, unless at certain times, upon
_a religious score_, and by way of doing penance. They _are fed, in great
abundance_, with _all sorts of flesh_ and _fish_, of which _they have
plenty every-where_; they are _clothed throughout in good woollens_; their
bedding and other furniture in their houses _are of wool_, and that _in
great store_. They are also well provided with all other sorts of
household goods and necessary implements for husbandry. Every one,
according to his rank, hath _all things which conduce to make life easy
and happy_."--Go, and read this to the poor souls, who are now eating
sea-weed in Ireland; who are detected in robbing the pig-troughs in
Yorkshire; who are eating horse-flesh and grains (draff) in Lancashire
and Cheshire; who are harnessed like horses, and drawing gravel in
Hampshire and Sussex; who have 3_d._ a day allowed them by the magistrates
in Norfolk; who are, all over England, worse fed than the _felons_ in the
jails. Go, and tell them, when they raise their hands from the pig-trough,
or from the grains-tub, and, with their dirty tongues, cry "_No Popery_;"
go, read to the degraded and deluded wretches, this account of the state
of their _Catholic_ forefathers, who lived under what is impudently called
"_Popish superstition and tyranny_," and in those times which we have the
audacity to call "_the dark ages_."--Look at the _then_ picture o