BY THE LATE
FRANCIS STOUGHTON SULLIVAN, LL. D.
Royal Professor of Common Law in the University of Dublin.
The SECOND EDITION.
To which Authorities are added, and a Discourse
is prefixed, concerning the Laws and Government
of England.
By GILBERT STUART, LL. D.
LONDON:
Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly in the Poultry; and
Joseph Johnson in St. Paul’s Church-yard.
M,DCC,LXXVI.
To the RIGHT HONOURABLE
FREDERICK LORD NORTH,
KNIGHT of the most Noble Order of the GARTER,
First LORD of the TREASURY,
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
and
CHANCELLOR of the UNIVERSITY of Oxford,
My Lord,
I am ambitious of giving dignity to this Work byinscribing it to your Lordship; and I conceive thatit has a natural claim to your protection. It regardsthose laws and that constitution which, at a most criticalperiod, you were called to defend; and of whichthe important purposes are the security and the happinessof a free people.
In this illustrious rank which divides your caresbetween prerogative and liberty, and in which yousupport the lustre of the Crown, while you guard the[vi]independence of the subject; the greatest occasions areafforded to distinguish the generosity of public virtue,and to employ a capacity enlarged alike by reflectionand experience.
But it does not become me to say with what honourto yourself, and with what advantages to thenation, you sustain the arduous charge of government.To posterity, which will not be suspected of flattery,it must be left to celebrate the merits of an Administration,too vigorous to yield under difficulties, andof which the glory has increased with danger.
I am, with the greatest respect,
My Lord,
Your Lordship’s
Most obedient,
And most humble servant,
GILBERT STUART.
The following Lectures were delivered in the Universityof Dublin, and procured a very high Reputation to theirAuthor. The Researches they contain into the Nature andHistory of the Feudal Laws, were esteemed extensive and ingenious;and the D