onstitution, I shall propose a _certain criterion_
whereby the _exact quantity of wisdom_ necessary for a King may be
known. [Here should be a cry of, Hear him! Hear him!]

"It is recorded, my Lords, in the Statutes at Large of the Jews, 'a
book, my Lords, which I have not read, and whose purport I know only by
report,' _but perhaps the bench of Bishops can recollect something about
it_, that Saul gave the most convincing proofs of royal wisdom before
he was made a King, _for he was sent to seek his father's asses and he
could not find them_.

"Here, my Lords, we have, most happily for us, a case in point: This
precedent ought to be established by act of Parliament; and every King,
before he be crowned, should be sent to seek his father's asses, and
if he cannot find them, he shall be declared wise enough to be King,
according to the true meaning of our excellent constitution. All,
therefore, my Lords, that will be necessary to be done by the enacting
clause that I shall bring in, will be to invest the King beforehand with
the quantity of wisdom necessary for this purpose, lest he should happen
not to possess it; and this, my Lords, we can do without making use of
any of our own.

"We further read, my Lords, in the said Statutes at Large of the
Jews, that Samuel, who certainly was as mad as any Man-of-Rights-Man
now-a-days (hear him! hear him!), was highly displeased, and even
exasperated, at the proposal of the Jews to have a King, and he warned
them against it with all that assurance and impudence of which he was
master. I have been, my Lords, at the trouble of going all the way to
_Paternoster-row_, to procure an extract from the printed copy. I was
told that I should meet with it there, or in _Amen-eorner_, for I was
then going, my Lords, to rummage for it among the curiosities of the
_Antiquarian Society_. I will read the extracts to your Lordships, to
shew how little Samuel knew of the matter.

"The extract, my Lords, is from 1 Sam. chap. viii.:

"'And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked
of him a King.

"'And he said, this will be the manner of the King that shall reign
over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for
his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his
chariots.

"'And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over
fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest,
and to make his instrumen