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Among the best ordered and governed kingdoms of our times is

France, and in it are found many good institutions on which

depend the liberty and security of the king; of these the first

is the parliament and its authority, because he who founded the

kingdom, knowing the ambition of the nobility and their boldness,

considered that a bit to their mouths would be necessary to hold

them in; and, on the other side, knowing the hatred of the

people, founded in fear, against the nobles, he wished to protect

them, yet he was not anxious for this to be the particular care

of the king; therefore, to take away the reproach which he would

be liable to from the nobles for favouring the people, and from

the people for favouring the nobles, he set up an arbiter, who

should be one who could beat down the great and favour the lesser

without reproach to the king. Neither could you have a better or

a more prudent arrangement, or a greater source of security to

the king and kingdom.