1,423. Forgiveness; Pride; Revenge "No vicious dispositions of the mind more obstinately resist both the counsels of philosophy and the injunctions of religion than those which are complicated with an opinion of dignity; and which we cannot dismiss without leaving in the hands of opposition some advantage iniquitously obtained, or suffering from our own prejudices some imputation of pusillanimity. "For this reason scarcely any law of our Redeemer is more openly transgressed, or more industriously evaded, than that by which he commands his followers to forgive injuries, and prohibits, under the sanction of eternal misery, the gratification of the desire which every man feels to return pain upon him that inflicts it. Many who could have conquered their anger are unable to combat pride, and pursue offences to the extremity of vengeance, lest they should be insulted by the triumph of an enemy." Johnson: Rambler #185 (December 24, 1751) Link 1,425. Revenge "Whoever arrogates to himself the right of vengeance shows how little he is qualified to decide his own claims, since he certainly demands what he would think unfit to be granted to another." Johnson: Rambler #185 (December 24, 1751) Link 1848. Capital Punishment; Justice; Revenge He thus treated the point, as to prescription of murder in Scotland. "A jury in England would make allowance for deficiencies of evidence, on account of lapse of time: but a general rule that a crime should not be punished, or tried for the purpose of punishment, after twenty years, is bad: It is cant to talk of the King's advocate delaying a prosecution from malice. How unlikely is it the King's advocate should have malice against persons who commit murder, or should even know them all.—If the son of the murdered man should kill the murderer who got off merely by prescription, I would help him to make his escape; thought, were I upon his jury, I would not acquit him. I would not advise him to commit such an act. On the contrary, I would bid him to submit to the determination of society, because a man is bound to submit to the inconveniences of it, as he enjoys the good: but the young man, though politically wrong, would not be morally wrong. He would have to say, 'Here I am amongst barbarians, who not only refuse to do justice, but encourage the greatest of all crimes. I am therefore in a state of nature: for, so far as there is no law, it is a state of nature: and consequently, upon the eternal and immutable law of justice, which requires that he who sheds man's blood should have his blood shed, I will stab the murderer of my father.'" Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides Link