8. “I will ever preferre the weale of the Body and of the whole Commonwealth, in making of good Lawes and Constitutions, to any particular or private ends of mine, thinking ever the wealth and weale of the Commonwealth to be my greatest weale & worldly felicitie: A point wherein a lawfull King doeth directly differ from a Tyrant.” King James’s accession speech of March 19, 1603, in The Kings Maiesties Speech . . . (London: Robert Barker, 1604), p. 18 of an unpaginated pamphlet. The passage is also cited in John Locke, Second Treatise on Government , chap. 18, par. 200.


 [ return to text ]