244 APPENDIX. 



If that my deeds of darkness may 

 Be hid in clouds as black as they ; 

 If being ugly I may paint. 

 Why then I am a true new Saint.* 



Privacy for a sin, and cleanly conveyance for 

 a cheat, make it to common eyes seem as white 

 as innocency itself: the strictness of that thief 

 was very notable, who always before he went 

 about the work of his calling (for so he called 

 stealing) went to prayers, that God would bless 

 and prosper him. So, I say grace to the design, 

 be it never so wicked ; and give thanks for the 

 success, be it never so bloody. 



But further in subserviency to a loose in- 

 terest, there must be no such puling thing as 

 conscience. Hell, and Heaven, and Scripture, 

 and what else the Christian esteems most sa- 

 cred, must all truckle under the plot, but not 

 be observed when they come to oppose it. Had 

 Alexander boggled at invading other men's 

 kingdoms, he had never wept for the scarcity 

 of worlds. There is no greater obstacle to ge- 

 nerous actions, than a coy and squeamish con- 

 science. 'Tis pretty that some tell us, that it 

 strikes siirdo verhere, with a still and silent 



* Da justum sanctumque videri, 



Noctem peccatis, et fraudibus objice nubem. 



Horace Epist. b. 1. Ep. 16. 



