Do they answer any purpose to the king? The Principality of Wales was given by patent to Edward the Black Prince on the ground on which it has since stood. Lord Coke sagaciously observes upon it, "That in the charter of creating the Black Prince Edward Prince of Wales there is a _great mystery_: for _less_ than an estate of inheritance so _great_ a prince _could_ not have, and an _absolute estate of inheritance_ in so _great_ a principality as Wales (this principality being _so dear_ to him) he _should_ not have; and therefore it was made _sibi et heredibus suis regibus Angliae_, that by his decease, or attaining to the crown, it might be extinguished in the crown." For the sake of this foolish _mystery_, of what a great prince _could_ not have _less_ and _should_ not have _so much_, of a principality which was too _dear_ to be given and too _great_ to be kept,--and for no other cause that ever I could find,--this form and shadow of a principality, without any substance, has been maintained. That you may judge in this instance (and it serves for the rest) of the difference between a great and a little economy, you will please to recollect, Sir, that Wales may be about the tenth part of England in size and population, and certainly not a hundredth part in opulence. Twelve judges perform the whole of the business, both of the stationary and the itinerant justice of this kingdom; but for Wales there are eight judges. There is in Wales an exchequer, as well as in all the duchies, according to the very best and most authentic absurdity of form. There are in all of them a hundred more difficult trifles and laborious fooleries, which serve no other purpose than to keep alive corrupt hope and servile dependence. These principalities are so far from contributing to the ease of the king, to his wealth, or his dignity, that they render both his supreme and his subordinate authority perfectly ridiculous. It was but the other day, that that pert, factious fellow, the Duke of Lancaster, presumed to fly in the face of his liege lord, our gracious sovereign, and, _associating_ with a parcel of lawyers as factious as himself, to the destruction of _all law and order_, and _in committees leading directly to rebellion_, presumed to go to law with the king. The object is neither your business nor mine. Which of the parties got the better I really forget. I think it was (as it ought to be) the king. The material point is, that the suit cost about fifteen thousand pounds. But as the Duke of Lancaster is but a sort of _Duke Humphrey_, and not worth a groat, our sovereign was obliged to pay the costs of both. Indeed, this art of converting a great monarch into a little prince, this royal masquerading, is a very dangerous and expensive amusement, and one of the king's _menus plaisirs_, which ought to be reformed. This duchy, which is not worth four thousand pounds a year at best to _revenue_, is worth forty or fifty thousand to _influence_.