e by far the most numerous sort
of sins, which were to come before this great tribunal; and these
were to be judged by this great king in person, and by none but
himself; because he alone possessed a certain power of getting at
all secrets.

I once heard of a certain king of Sicily, who built a whispering
gallery in the form of an ear, through which he could hear every
word his rebellious subjects uttered, though spoken ever so low. But
this secret of the king of Sicily was nothing to what this great
king possessed; for he had the power of knowing every thought which
was conceived in the mind, though it never broke out into words, or
proceeded to actions.

Now you may be ready to think, perhaps, that these people were worse
off than any others, because they were to be examined so closely,
and judged so strictly. Far from it; the king was too just to expect
bricks without giving them straw; he gave them, therefore, every
help that they needed. He gave them a book of directions, as I
before observed; and because they were naturally short-sighted, he
supplied them with a glass for reading it, and thus the most
dim-sighted might see, if they did not willfully shut their eyes:
but though the king _invited_ them to open their eyes, he did not
_compel_ them; and many remain stone blind all their lives with the
book in their hand, because they would not use the glass, nor take
the proper means for reading and understanding all that was written
for them. The humble and sincere learned in time to see even that
part of the book which was least plainly written; and it was
observed that the ability to understand it depended more on the
heart than the head; an evil disposition blinded the sight, while
humility operated like an eye-salve.

Now it happened that those who had been so lucky as to escape the
punishment of the lower courts, took it into their heads that they
were all very good sort of people, and of course very safe from any
danger at this _great assize_. This grand intended trial, indeed,
had been talked of so much, and put off so long (for it had seemed
long at least to these short-sighted people) that many persuaded
themselves it would never take place at all; and far the greater
part were living away therefore, without ever thinking about it;
they went on just as if nothing at all had been done for their
benefit; and as if they had no king to please, no king's son to be
thankful to, no book to guide themselves by,