Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/211

ingenious sciolist may be, he is certainly a writer of very considerable efficiency. As he has hitherto employed his talents for the detriment of mankind, let him for once try to exert them for the benefit of mankind. A very interesting tale he has told to disparage fair fame, and high consideration in the community; to vindicate thieves and robbers; and to inculcate that the inmates of jails for crimes, are more virtuous than the most eminent characters in civil and political society; and that penal laws are an intolerable grievance to freemen: in short, to confound all distinctions between reputation and infamy, virtue and vice, innocence and guilt. Let him endeavour to write a tale of equal interest, to exhibit the necessary connection between crimes and punishment, to promote obedience to the laws; and to advance virtue and religion. The attempt might be at first