To this I answer, quite the contrary.
People are not so easily got out of their old forms as some are apt to
suggest. They are hardly to be prevailed with to amend the
acknowledged faults in the frame they have been accustomed to. And
if there be any original defects, or adventitious ones introduced by
time or corruption, it is not an easy thing to get them changed,
even when all the world sees there is an opportunity for it. This
slowness and aversion in the people to quit their old constitutions
has in the many revolutions [that] have been seen in this kingdom,
in this and former ages, still kept us to, or after some interval of
fruitless attempts, still brought us back again to, our old
legislative of king, lords and commons; and whatever provocations have
made the crown be taken from some of our princes' heads, they never
carried the people so far as to place it in another line.
224. But it will be said this hypothesis lays a ferment for frequent
rebellion. To which I answer:
First: no more than any other hypothesis. For when the people are
made miserable, and find themselves exposed to the ill usage of
arbitrary power, cry up their governors as much as you will for sons
of Jupiter, let them be sacred and divine, descended or authorised
from Heaven; give them out for whom or what you please, the same
will happen.
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