10. Belongs not to volition.
Again: suppose a man be carried, whilst fast asleep, into a room where is a person he
longs to see and speak with; and be there locked fast in, beyond his power to get out: he awakes, and is glad to
find himself in so desirable company, which he stays willingly in, i.e., prefers his stay to going away. I ask, is not
this stay voluntary? I think nobody will doubt it: and yet, being locked fast in, it is evident he is not at liberty not
to stay, he has not freedom to be gone. So that liberty is not an idea belonging to volition, or preferring; but to the
person having the power of doing, or forbearing to do, according as the mind shall choose or direct. Our idea of
liberty reaches as far as that power, and no farther. For wherever restraint comes to check that power, or
compulsion takes away that indifferency of ability to act, or to forbear acting, there liberty, and our notion of it,
presently ceases.
