his Inferiours, the other delighted only with the Cause and Foundation of it to cherish and protect ’em.  To one therefore Religion is but a convenient Disguise, to the other a vigorous Motive of Action.

’For without such Ties of real and solid Honour, there is no way of forming a Monarch, but after the Machiavillian Scheme, by which a Prince must ever seem to have all Virtues, but really to be Master of none, but is to be liberal, merciful and just, only as they serve his Interests; while, with the noble Art of Hypocrisy, Empire would be to be extended, and new Conquests be made by new Devices, by which prompt Address his Creatures might insensibly give Law in the Business of Life, by leading Men in the Entertainment of it. [1]

’Thus when Words and Show are apt to pass for the substantial things they are only to express, there would need no more to enslave a Country but to adorn a Court; for while every Man’s Vanity makes him believe himself capable of becoming Luxury, Enjoyments are a ready Bait for Sufferings, and the Hopes of Preferment Invitations to Servitude; which Slavery would be colour’d with all the Agreements, as they call it, imaginable.  The noblest Arts and Artists, the finest Pens and most elegant Minds, jointly employ’d to set it off, with the various Embellishments of sumptuous Entertainments, charming Assemblies, and polished Discourses; and those apostate Abilities of Men, the adored Monarch might profusely and skilfully encourage, while they flatter his Virtue, and gild his Vice at so high a rate, that he, without Scorn of the one, or Love of the other, would alternately and occasionally use both:  So that his Bounty should support him in his Rapines, his Mercy in his Cruelties.

’Nor is it to give things a more severe Look than is natural, to suppose such must be the Consequences of a Prince’s having no other Pursuit than that of his own Glory; for, if we consider an Infant born into the World, and beholding it self the mightiest thing in it, it self the present Admiration and future Prospect of a fawning People, who profess themselves great or mean, according to the Figure he is to make amongst them, what Fancy would not be debauched to believe they were but what they professed themselves, his mere Creatures, and use them as such by purchasing with their Lives a boundless Renown, which he, for want of a more just Prospect, would place in the Number of his Slaves, and the Extent of his Territories?  Such undoubtedly would be the tragical Effects of a Prince’s living with no Religion, which are not to be surpassed but by his having a false one.

’If Ambition were spirited with Zeal, what would follow, but that his People should be converted into an Army, whose Swords can make Right in Power, and solve Controversy in Belief?  And if Men should be stiff-neck’d to the Doctrine of that visible Church, let them be contented with an Oar and a Chain, in the midst of Stripes and Anguish,