the hand of the Almighty has written upon the living tablets of the
heart, in the presumptuous hope, that it will not subject them to
punishment; and those, by whom that rule is fulfilled, will not enjoy
that consciousness of security, which they would derive from the
protection of a prescribed law, which they have never broken. Neither
will those who are inclined to do evil, be equally restrained by the
fear of punishment; if neither the offence is ascertained, nor the
punishment prescribed. One motive to probity, therefore, will be
wanting; which ought to be supplied, as well for the sake of those who
may be tempted to offend, as of those who may suffer by the offence.
Besides, he who governs not by a written and a public law, must either
administer that government in person, or by others: if in person, he
will sink under a labour which no man is able to sustain; and if by
others, the inferiority of their rank must subject them to temptations
which it cannot be hoped they will always resist, and to prejudices
which it will perhaps be impossible for them to surmount. But to
administer government by a law which ascertains the offence, and directs
the punishment, integrity alone will be sufficient; and as the
perversion of justice will in this case be notorious, and depend not
upon opinion but fact, it will seldom be practised, because it will be
easily punished.'

ALMORAN, who had heard the opinions of HAMET with impatience and scorn,
now started from his feat with a proud and contemptuous aspect: he first
glanced his eyes upon his brother; and then looking disdainfully
downward, he threw back his robe, and stretching out his hand from him,
'Shall the son of Solyman,' said he, 'upon whose will the fate of
nations was suspended, whose smiles and frowns were alone the criterions
of right and wrong, before whom the voice of wisdom itself was silent,
and the pride even of virtue humbled in the dust; shall the son of