"
"Thou givest reason to all who hear thee to mourn that thy career has not
been more profitable to thyself and the public," answered the judge; "one
who can reason so-well, and who hath this clear insight into his own
disposition, must err less from ignorance than wantonness!"
"There you do me injustice, Signor Castellano, and the laws more credit
than they deserve. I shall not deny that justice--or what is called
justice--and I have some acquaintance. I have been the tenant of many
prisons before this which has been furnished by the holy canons, and I
have seen every stage of the rogue's progress, from him who is still
startled by his first crime, dreaming heavy dreams, and fancying each
stone of his cell has an eye to reproach him, to him who no sooner does a
wrong than it is forgotten in the wish to find the means of committing
another; and I call Heaven as a witness, that more is done to help along
the scholar in his study of vice, by those who are styled the ministers of
justice, than by his own natural frailties, the wants of his habits, or
the strength of his passions.
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