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The Vicar of Wakefield.
121

that two men should live, than that one man should ride. But a compact that is false between two men, is equally so be­tween an hundred, or an hundred thou­sand; for as ten millions of circles can ne­ver make a square, so the united voice of myriads cannot lend the smallest founda­tion to falsehood. It is thus that reason speaks, and untutored nature says the same thing. Savages that are directed nearly by natural law alone are very tender of the lives of each other; they seldom shed blood but to retaliate former cruelty.

Our Saxon ancestors, fierce as they were in war, had but few executions in times of peace; and in all commencing govern­ments that have the print of nature still strong upon them, scarce any crime is held capital.

It is among the citizens of a refined community that penal laws, which are inthe