ng the
individual and of preserving estates in families; but it hardly seems
calculated for the genius of a free nation, who claim and exercise the
liberty of using their own property as they please. "_Sic utere tuo,
ut alienum non laedas_," is the only restriction our laws have given
with regard to oeconomical prudence. And the frequent circulation and
transfer of lands and other property, which cannot be effected
without extravagance somewhere, are perhaps not a little conducive
towards keeping our mixed constitution in it's due health and vigour.

[Footnote u: _Solent praetores, si talem hominem invenerint, qui neque
tempus neque finem expensarum habet, sed bona sua dilacerando et
dissipando profundit, curatorem ei dare, exemplo furiosi: et tamdiu
erunt ambo in curatione, quamdiu vel furiosus sanitatem, vel ille
bonos mores, receperit._ _Ff._ 27. 10. 1.]

[Footnote w: Potter. Antiqu. b. 1. c. 26.]

[Footnote x: Bro. _Abr. tit. Ideot._ 4.]

THIS may suffice for a short view of the king's _ordinary_ revenue, or
the proper patrimony of the crown; which was very large formerly, and
capable of being increased to a magnitude truly formidable: for there
are very few estates in the kingdom, that have not, at some period or
other since the Norman conquest, been vested in the hands of the king
by forfeiture, escheat, or otherwise. But, fortunately for the liberty
of the subject, this hereditary landed revenue, by a series of
improvident management, is sunk almost to nothing; and the casual
profits, arising from the other branches of the _census regalis_, are
likewise almost all of them alienated from the crown. In order to
supply the deficiences of which, we are now obliged to have recourse
to new methods of raising money, unknown to our early ancestors; which
methods constitute the king's _extraordinary_ revenue. For, the
publick patrimony being got into the hands of private subjects, it is
but reasonable that private contributions should supply the public
service. Which, though it may perhaps fall harder upon some
individuals, whose ancestors have had no share in the general plunder,
than upon others, yet, taking the nation throughout, it amounts to
nearly the same; provided the gain by the extraordinary, should appear
to be no greater than the loss by the ordinary, revenue. And perhaps,
if every gentleman in the kingdom was to be stripped of such of his
lands as were formerly the property of the crown; was to be again