The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson
page 274 of 413 (66%)
page 274 of 413 (66%)
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Delay would have been expensive without use,
as the debt was too considerable for payment or bail: I, therefore, suffered myself to be immediately conducted to gaol. Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci, Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia cureae: Pallentesque habitant morbi, tristisque senectus, Et metus, et malesuada fames, et turpis egestas. VIRG. AEn. vi. 273. Just in the gate and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell; And pale diseases, and repining age; Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage. DRYDEN. Confinement of any kind is dreadful; a prison is sometimes able to shock those, who endure it in a good cause: let your imagination, therefore, acquaint you with what I have not words to express, and conceive, if possible, the horrours of imprisonment attended with reproach and ignominy, of involuntary association with the refuse of mankind, with wretches who were before too abandoned for society, but, being now freed from shame or fear, are hourly improving their vices by consorting with each other. |
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