CON 
or condemn him, this knowledge or confeience may be both 
an accuf'er and a judge. Swift. 
But why mu ft thofe be thought to ’fcape, that feel 
Thofe rods of fcorpions, and thofe w hips of fteel, 
Which coiifcienci: (hakes? Crccc/i. 
Juftice; the eftimate of confeience; the determination of 
confeience; honefty. This is fometimes a ferious, and 
fometimes a ludicrous, fenfe.-—This is thank-worthy, if 
a man, for confeience toward God, endure grief, i Peter, ii. 
19.—Now is Cupid a child of confeience-, he makes refti- 
tution. Shakefpeare. —Confcioufnefs; knowledge of our 
own thoughts or actions.—The reafon why the fimpler 
f6rt are moved with authority, is the confeience of their 
own ignorance. Hooker. 
The fweeteft cordial we receive at laft, 
Is confeience of our virtuous actions paft. Denham. 
Real fentiment ; veracity ; private thoughts : 
Doft thou in confeience think, tell me, /Emilia, 
That there be women do abufe their hufbands 
In fuch grofs kind ? ' Shakefpeare. 
Scruple ; principle of aftion.—Children are travellers 
newly arrived in a ftrange country ; we fliouId therefore 
make confeience not to miflead them. Locke. —In ludicrous 
language, reafen; reafonablenefs..—Half a dozen fools 
are, in all confeience , as many as you fha.ll require. Swift. 
Why doft thou weep ? Can'ft thou the confeience lack. 
To think I fhall lack friends ? Shakefpeare. 
It has been a faying, which nearly amounts to a pro¬ 
verb, that “ no man ever offended his own confeience, but 
firft or laft it was avenged upon him.”—We fhall here 
fet down a few examples of this faft, on the fcore of mo¬ 
rality.—The inhabitants of a great town offered Marflial 
de Turenne one hundred thoufand crowns, upon condi¬ 
tion he would take another road, and not march his 
troops their way. He anfwered them, “ As your town 
Is not in the road I intend to march, I cannot accept the 
money you offer me.”—The earl of Derby, in the reign 
•of Edward III. making a defeent in Guienne, carried by 
ftorm the town of Bergerac, and gave it up to be plun¬ 
dered. A Welch knight happened by chance to light 
upon the receiver’s office : he found there fuch a quantity 
of money, that he thought himfelf obliged to acquaint 
his general with it, imagining that fo great a booty natu¬ 
rally belonged to him. But he was agreeably furprifed 
when the earl told him, with a pleafant countenance, 
that he wifhed him joy of his good fortune ; and that he 
did not make the keeping of his word to depend upon 
the great or little value of the thing he had promifed.—• 
In the ftege of Falifci by Caniillus, the Roman general, 
the fchoolmafter of the town, who had the children of 
the fenators under his care, led them abroad under the 
pretext of recreation, and carried them to the Roman 
camp, faying to Camillus, that by this artifice he had 
delivered Falifci into his hands. Camillus, abhorring this 
treachery, obferved, “ That there were laws for war as 
well as for peace ; and that the Romans were taught to 
make war with integrity not lei's than with courage.” 
He ordered the fchoolmafter to be ftripped, his hands to 
be bound behind his back, and to be delivered to the 
boys to be laffied back into the town. The Falcrians, 
formerly obftinate in refirtance, ftruck with an aft of 
juftice fo illuftrious, delivered themlelves up to the Ro¬ 
mans; convinced that it would be far better to have the 
Romans for their allies than their enemies. 
The following is related by Mr. Fordyce, in his Dia¬ 
logues on Education, as a real occurrence which hap¬ 
pened in a neighbouring (fate not many years ago.—A 
jeweller, a man of good character and confiderable wealth, 
having occafion in the way of his tuftnefs to travel at 
fome diftance from the place of his abode, look along 
with him a fervant, in order to take care of his portman¬ 
teau. He had with him fome of his beft jewels, and a 
Vol. V. No. 257, 
C O N IQl 
large fum of motley, to which his fervant was likewife 
privy. The mafter having occafion to dilmount on the 
road, the fervant watching his opportunity, took a piftol 
front his mafter’s faddle and (hot him dead on the fpot; 
then rifled him of his jewels and money, and hanging a 
large ftone to his neck, he threw him into the neareft 
canal. With this booty he made off to a diftant part of 
the country, where he had reafon to believe that neither 
he nor his mafter were known. There he began to trade 
in a very low way at firft, that his obfeurity might fereen 
hint from obfervation, and in the courfe of a good many 
years feemed to rife, by the natural progrefs of buftnefs, 
into wealth and conftdcration; fo that his good fortune 
appeared at once the effect and reward of induftry and 
virtue. Of tliefe he counterfeited the appearance fo well, 
that he grew into great credit, married into a good fa¬ 
mily, and by laying out his hidden ftores difcreetly, and 
joining to all an univerfal affability, he was admitted to 
a ffiare of the government of the town, and rofe from 
one paft to another, till at length he was chof'en chief 
magiflrate. In this office he maintained a fair character, 
and continued to fill it with no (mail applaufe, both as a 
governor and a judge ; till one day as he fat on the bench 
with fome of his brethren, a criminal was brought before 
him who was accufed of murdering his mafter. The evi¬ 
dence came out full; the jury brought in their verdift 
that the prifoner was guilty, and tire whole affembly 
waited the fentence of the prefident of the court (which 
he happened to be that day) with great lufpence. Mean 
while he appeared to be in unufual diforderand agitation 
of mind, and his colour changed often; at length he 
arofe from his feat, and coming down from the bench, 
placed himfelf juft by the unfortunate man at the bar, 
“ Ybu fee before you (faid he, addreffing himfelf to thofe 
who had fat on the bench with him) a ftriking inftance 
of the juft awards of heaven, which this day, after thirty 
years concealment, prefents to you a greater criminal than 
the man juft now found guilty.” Then he made an am¬ 
ple confellion of his guilt, and of all its aggravations. 
“ Nor can I feel (continued he) any relief from the ago¬ 
nies of an awakened confeience, but by requiring that juf¬ 
tice be forthwith done againft me in the mod public and 
folemn manner.” We may eafily fuppofe the amazement 
of all the affembly, and elpecially of his fellow-judges. 
However, they proceeded, upon this confeffion, to pafs 
fentence upon him, and he died with all the fymptoms 
of a penitent mind. 
“ A friend, as far as Conscience permits.” The 
French fay, Ami a at ant que la confeience le permet. The La¬ 
tins, Ufque ad aras (to the altar) amievs. The Greeks, 
AH wiry ffuy.ti (piA©- eiy.i. Plut .—The tie of friendfhip, 
though it obliges us to flick at nothing that is innocent 
to ferve our friends, yet is no way obligatory, is here our 
probity and confeience is at ftake. 
“ A guilty Conscience needs no accufer;” for it ge¬ 
nerally betrays itfelf with ffiame, fear, or diffidence. The 
Latins fay, Scjudice nemo nocens abfolvitur. 
“ A fafe Conscience makes a found deep.” The 
truth of this cannot be better illuftrated than by a conft- 
deration of the miferable ftate of thofe who have a bad 
one, who are never at reft either by day or night. Whence 
the Latins fay, Quos diri confeia JaEli mens habet attonitos, & 
furdo verbere ccedit. 
Courts of Conscience, are courts for the recovery 
of fmall debts, efta'bliffied in London, Weftminfter, &c. 
and other populous and trading diftricts. See the article 
Court, in this volume. 
CONSCIEN'TIOUS, adj. Scrupulous; exaftlyjuft; 
regulated by confeience.—Lead a life in fo 'confcicntious a 
probity, as in thought, word, and deed, to make good 
the character of an honeft man. L’Eft range. 
CONSCIENTIOUSLY, adv. According to the di. 
redtion of confeience.—More firefs has been laid upon 
the ftriftnefs of law, than confienUcuJly did belong to it. 
I' F. ftrange. 
D d 
CONSCIEN”. 
