"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 instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. "'And he will take your daughters to be confectionnes, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. "'And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. "'And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his servants. "'And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. "'And he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants. "'And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your King, which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.'