It was a custom, introduced by this prince and his ministry (very
different, as I have been assured, from the practices of former times),
that after the court had decreed any cruel execution either to gratify
the monarch's resentment or the malice of a favorite, the emperor always
made a speech to his whole council, expressing his great lenity and
tenderness, as qualities known and confessed by all the world. This
speech was immediately published through the kingdom; nor did anything
terrify the people so much as those encomiums on his majesty's mercy;
because it was observed that, the more these praises were enlarged and
insisted on, the more inhuman was the punishment, and the sufferer more
innocent. Yet, as to myself, I must confess, having never been designed
for a courtier, either by my birth or education, I was so ill a judge of
things that I could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence,
but conceived it (perhaps erroneously) rather to be rigorous than
gentle, I sometimes thought of standing my trial; for although I could
not deny the facts alleged in the several articles, yet I hoped they
would admit of some extenuation. But having in my life perused many
state-trials, which I ever observed to terminate as the judges thought
fit to direct, I durst not rely on so dangerous a decision, in so
critical a juncture, and against such powerful enemies.
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