th all the tenderness and compassion which so disagreeable an office
will permit; and no circumstances ought to be omitted, which can render
their executions as quick and easy as possible. For this Providence has
wisely and benevolently provided, by forming them in such a manner that
their flesh becomes rancid and unpalateable by a painful and lingering
death; and has thus compelled us to be merciful without compassion, and
cautious of their sufferings, for the sake of ourselves: but, if there
are any whose tastes are so vitiated, and whose hearts are so hardened,
as to delight in such inhuman sacrifices, and to partake of them without
remorse, they should be looked upon as demons in human shape, and expect
a retaliation of those tortures which they have inflicted on the
innocent, for the gratification of their own depraved and unnatural
appetites.

So violent are the passions of anger and revenge in the human breast,
that it is not wonderful that men should persecute their real or
imaginary enemies with cruelty and malevolence; but that there should
exist in nature a being who can receive pleasure from giving pain, would
be totally incredible, if we were not convinced, by melancholy
experience, that there are not only many, but that this unaccountable
disposition is in some manner inherent in the nature of man; for, as he
cannot be taught by example, nor led to it by temptation, or prompted to
it by interest, it must be derived from his native constitution; and it
is a remarkable confirmation of what revelation so frequently
inculcates--that he brings into the world with him an original
depravity, the effects of a fallen and degenerate state; in proof of
which we need only to observe, that the nearer he approaches to a state
of nature, the more predominant this disposition appears, and the more
violently it operates. We see children laughing at the miseries which
they inflict on every unfortunate animal which comes within their power;
all savages are ingenious in contriving, and happy in executing, the
most exquisite tortures; and the common people of all countries are
delighted with nothing so much as bull-baitings, prize-fightings,
executions, and all spectacles of cruelty and horror. Though
civilization may in some degree abate this native ferocity, it can never
quite extirpate it; the most polished are not ashamed to be pleased with
scenes of little less barbarity, and, to the disgrace of human nature,
to dignify t