(Reade, "The Importance of Self Knowledge")

There are a thousand ways whereby we may
deceive ourselves. Vices, through the artifice of
Satan, are decked with rose buds, and concealed
under specious titles.

He puts a fascinating mask upon the face of
sin, and thus, like the angler, hides the hook.
The wretched sinner, like the silly fish, does
not see the snare.

Like the maniac, he imagines himself a king, while
held in fetters, and his scepter is but a straw!

Are not such characters objects of pity?