ariondas/full_text_dataset · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 1.91k
lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high commendation of the
severe execution of justice upon thieves, 'who,' as he said, 'were then
hanged so fast that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet!' and, upon
that, he said, 'he could not wonder enough how it came to pass that,
since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left, who were still
robbing in all places.' Upon this, I (who took the boldness to speak
freely before the Cardinal) said, 'There was no reason to wonder at the
matter, since this way of punishing thieves was neither just in itself
nor good for the public; for, as the severity was too great, so the
remedy was not effectual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it
ought to cost a man his life; no punishment, how severe soever, being
able to restrain those from robbing who can find out no other way of
livelihood. In this,' said I, 'not only you in England, but a great part
of the world, imitate some ill masters, that are readier to chastise
their scholars than to teach them. There are dreadful punishments
enacted against thieves, but it were much better to make such good
provisions by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and
so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and of dying for
it.' 'There has been care enough taken for that,' said he; 'there are
many handicrafts, and there is husbandry, by which they may make a shift
to live, unless they have a greater mind to follow ill courses.' 'That
will not serve your turn,' said I, 'for many lose their limbs in civil or
foreign wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago in
your wars with France, who, being thus mutilated in the service of their
king and country, can no more follow their old trades, and are too old to
learn new ones; but since wars are only accidental things, and have
intervals, let us consider those things that fall out every day. There
is a great number of noblemen among you that are themselves as idle as
drones, that subsist on other men's labour, on the labour of their
tenants, whom, to raise their revenues, they pare to the quick. This,
indeed, is the only instance of their frugality, for in all other things
they are prodigal, even to the beggaring of themselves; but, besides
this, they carry about with them a great number of idle fellows, who
never learned any art by which they may gain their living; and these, as
soon as either their lord dies, or they themselves fall sick, are turned
out of doors; for your lords are readier to feed idle people than to take
care of the sick; and often the heir is not able to keep together so
great a family as his predecessor did. Now, when the stomachs of those
that are thus turned out of doors grow keen, they rob no less keenly; and
what else can they do? For when, by wandering about, they have worn out
both their health and their clothes, and are tattered, and look ghastly,
men of quality will not entertain them, and poor men dare not do it,
knowing that one who has been bred up in idleness and pleasure, and who
was used to walk about with his sword and buckler, despising all the
neighbourhood with an insolent scorn as far below him, is not fit for the
spade and mattock; nor will he serve a poor man for so small a hire and
in so low a diet as he can afford to give him.' To this he answered,
'This sort of men ought to be particularly cherished, for in them
consists the force of the armies for which we have occasion; since their
birth inspires them with a nobler sense of honour than is to be found
among tradesmen or ploughmen.' 'You may as well say,' replied I, 'that
you must cherish thieves on the account of wars, for you will never want
the one as long as you have the other; and as robbers prove sometimes
gallant soldiers, so soldiers often prove brave robbers, so near an
alliance there is between those two sorts of life. But this bad custom,
so common among you, of keeping many servants, is not peculiar to this
nation. In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people, for
the whole country is full of soldiers, still kept up in time of peace (if
such a state of a nation can be called a peace); and these are kept in
pay upon the same account that you plead for those idle retainers about
noblemen: this being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, that it is
necessary for the public safety to have a good body of veteran soldiers
ever in readiness. They think raw men are not to be depended on, and
they sometimes seek occasions for making war, that they may train up
their soldiers in the art of cutting throats, or, as Sallust observed,
"for keeping their hands in use, that they may not grow dull by too long
an intermission." But France has learned to its cost how dangerous it is
to feed such beasts. The fate of the Romans, Carthaginians, and Syrians,
and many other nations and cities, which were both overturned and quite
ruined by those standing armies, should make others wiser; and the folly
of this maxim of the French appears plainly even from this, that their
trained soldiers often find your raw men prove too hard for them, of
which I will not say much, lest you may think I flatter the English.
Every day's experience shows that the mechanics in the towns or the
clowns in the country are not afraid of fighting with those idle
gentlemen, if they are not disabled by some misfortune in their body or
dispirited by extreme want; so that you need not fear that those well-
shaped and strong men (for it is only such that noblemen love to keep
about them till they spoil them), who now grow feeble with ease and are
softened with their effeminate manner of life, would be less fit for
action if they were well bred and well employed. And it seems very
unreasonable that, for the prospect of a war, which you need never have
but when you please, you should maintain so many idle men, as will always
disturb you in time of peace, which is ever to be more considered than
war. But I do not think that this necessity of stealing arises only from
hence; there is another cause of it, more peculiar to England.' 'What is
that?' said the Cardinal: 'The increase of pasture,' said I, 'by which
your sheep, which are naturally mild, and easily kept in order, may be
said now to devour men and unpeople, not only villages, but towns; for
wherever it is found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer
wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even those holy
men, the abbots! not contented with the old rents which their farms
yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do no
good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the
course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns, reserving only the
churches, and enclose grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them. As
if forests and parks had swallowed up too little of the land, those
worthy countrymen turn the best inhabited places into solitudes; for when
an insatiable wretch, who is a plague to his country, resolves to enclose
many thousand acres of ground, the owners, as well as tenants, are turned

lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high commendation of the

severe execution of justice upon thieves, 'who,' as he said, 'were then

hanged so fast that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet!' and, upon

that, he said, 'he could not wonder enough how it came to pass that,

since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left, who were still

robbing in all places.' Upon this, I (who took the boldness to speak

freely before the Cardinal) said, 'There was no reason to wonder at the

matter, since this way of punishing thieves was neither just in itself

nor good for the public; for, as the severity was too great, so the

remedy was not effectual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it

ought to cost a man his life; no punishment, how severe soever, being

able to restrain those from robbing who can find out no other way of

livelihood. In this,' said I, 'not only you in England, but a great part

of the world, imitate some ill masters, that are readier to chastise

their scholars than to teach them. There are dreadful punishments

enacted against thieves, but it were much better to make such good

provisions by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and

so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and of dying for

it.' 'There has been care enough taken for that,' said he; 'there are

many handicrafts, and there is husbandry, by which they may make a shift

to live, unless they have a greater mind to follow ill courses.' 'That

will not serve your turn,' said I, 'for many lose their limbs in civil or

foreign wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago in

your wars with France, who, being thus mutilated in the service of their

king and country, can no more follow their old trades, and are too old to

learn new ones; but since wars are only accidental things, and have

intervals, let us consider those things that fall out every day. There

is a great number of noblemen among you that are themselves as idle as

drones, that subsist on other men's labour, on the labour of their

tenants, whom, to raise their revenues, they pare to the quick. This,

indeed, is the only instance of their frugality, for in all other things

they are prodigal, even to the beggaring of themselves; but, besides

this, they carry about with them a great number of idle fellows, who

never learned any art by which they may gain their living; and these, as

soon as either their lord dies, or they themselves fall sick, are turned

out of doors; for your lords are readier to feed idle people than to take

care of the sick; and often the heir is not able to keep together so

great a family as his predecessor did. Now, when the stomachs of those

that are thus turned out of doors grow keen, they rob no less keenly; and

what else can they do? For when, by wandering about, they have worn out

both their health and their clothes, and are tattered, and look ghastly,

men of quality will not entertain them, and poor men dare not do it,

knowing that one who has been bred up in idleness and pleasure, and who

was used to walk about with his sword and buckler, despising all the

neighbourhood with an insolent scorn as far below him, is not fit for the

spade and mattock; nor will he serve a poor man for so small a hire and

in so low a diet as he can afford to give him.' To this he answered,

'This sort of men ought to be particularly cherished, for in them

consists the force of the armies for which we have occasion; since their

birth inspires them with a nobler sense of honour than is to be found

among tradesmen or ploughmen.' 'You may as well say,' replied I, 'that

you must cherish thieves on the account of wars, for you will never want

the one as long as you have the other; and as robbers prove sometimes

gallant soldiers, so soldiers often prove brave robbers, so near an

alliance there is between those two sorts of life. But this bad custom,

so common among you, of keeping many servants, is not peculiar to this

nation. In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people, for

the whole country is full of soldiers, still kept up in time of peace (if

such a state of a nation can be called a peace); and these are kept in

pay upon the same account that you plead for those idle retainers about

noblemen: this being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, that it is

necessary for the public safety to have a good body of veteran soldiers

ever in readiness. They think raw men are not to be depended on, and

they sometimes seek occasions for making war, that they may train up

their soldiers in the art of cutting throats, or, as Sallust observed,

"for keeping their hands in use, that they may not grow dull by too long

an intermission." But France has learned to its cost how dangerous it is

to feed such beasts. The fate of the Romans, Carthaginians, and Syrians,

and many other nations and cities, which were both overturned and quite

ruined by those standing armies, should make others wiser; and the folly

of this maxim of the French appears plainly even from this, that their

trained soldiers often find your raw men prove too hard for them, of

which I will not say much, lest you may think I flatter the English.

Every day's experience shows that the mechanics in the towns or the

clowns in the country are not afraid of fighting with those idle

gentlemen, if they are not disabled by some misfortune in their body or

dispirited by extreme want; so that you need not fear that those well-

shaped and strong men (for it is only such that noblemen love to keep

about them till they spoil them), who now grow feeble with ease and are

softened with their effeminate manner of life, would be less fit for

action if they were well bred and well employed. And it seems very

unreasonable that, for the prospect of a war, which you need never have

but when you please, you should maintain so many idle men, as will always

disturb you in time of peace, which is ever to be more considered than

war. But I do not think that this necessity of stealing arises only from

hence; there is another cause of it, more peculiar to England.' 'What is

that?' said the Cardinal: 'The increase of pasture,' said I, 'by which

your sheep, which are naturally mild, and easily kept in order, may be

said now to devour men and unpeople, not only villages, but towns; for

wherever it is found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer

wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even those holy

men, the abbots! not contented with the old rents which their farms

yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do no

good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the

course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns, reserving only the

churches, and enclose grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them. As

if forests and parks had swallowed up too little of the land, those

worthy countrymen turn the best inhabited places into solitudes; for when

an insatiable wretch, who is a plague to his country, resolves to enclose

many thousand acres of ground, the owners, as well as tenants, are turned