53/72 A true maxim and infallible. It was a maxim among our lawyers, that even an Act of Parliament against _Magna Charta_ was null of itself .-- _Swift_. A sottish maxim. For a great while I thought the accepting the limitations [proposed in the Exclusion Bill] was the wisest and best method .-- _Swift_. It was the wisest, because it would be less opposed; and the King would consent to it; otherwise an _exclusion_ would have done better. |