哦，听威廉先生的故事，如果你愿意的话，顽皮的法官们把他送到国外去了。他伪造了一个政党的遗嘱，这引起了焦虑和冲突，导致他被判终身劳役。他是一个善良善良的人，天生乐于奉献自己的金子，而不是拿别人的金子。但他听说过邪恶，只渴望动手一次——策划一次小小的邪恶——看看那是什么滋味。他自言自语说:“我是一个没有瑕疵的人;不管我怎么努力，我都不会更受人尊敬!三十年来，我一直像金子一样好，现在我要用半个小时来计划我的耻辱!一个一岁的婴孩，在幼年时作恶，后来改过自新，三十六岁死去，成为一个纯洁无瑕的儿子，他永远不会被他幼年的缺陷所累，却能从可敬的人那里得到关怀和尊敬。“所以，一个人在三十六岁以前从不沉迷于无耻的把戏，他可以在半小时内做一件可耻的事，而不会招致永久的耻辱，甚至不会受到责备。“婴儿不会犯伪造之类的罪，这是真的，但如果任其累积，小罪就会滋生; And he who shuns all vices as successive seasons roll, Should reap at length the benefit of so much self-control. "The common sin of babyhood - objecting to be drest - If you leave it to accumulate at compound interest, For anything you know, may represent, if you're alive, A burglary or murder at the age of thirty-five. "Still, I wouldn't take advantage of this fact, but be content With some pardonable folly - it's a mere experiment. The greater the temptation to go wrong, the less the sin; So with something that's particularly tempting I'll begin. "I would not steal a penny, for my income's very fair - I do not want a penny - I have pennies and to spare - And if I stole a penny from a money-bag or till, The sin would be enormous - the temptation being NIL. "But if I broke asunder all such pettifogging bounds, And forged a party's Will for (say) Five Hundred Thousand Pounds, With such an irresistible temptation to a haul, Of course the sin must be infinitesimally small. "There's WILSON who is dying - he has wealth from Stock and rent - If I divert his riches from their natural descent, I'm placed in a position to indulge each little whim." So he diverted them - and they, in turn, diverted him. Unfortunately, though, by some unpardonable flaw, Temptation isn't recognized by Britain's Common Law; Men found him out by some peculiarity of touch, And WILLIAM got a "lifer," which annoyed him very much. For, ah! he never reconciled himself to life in gaol, He fretted and he pined, and grew dispirited and pale; He was numbered like a cabman, too, which told upon him so That his spirits, once so buoyant, grew uncomfortably low. And sympathetic gaolers would remark, "It's very true, He ain't been brought up common, like the likes of me and you." So they took him into hospital, and gave him mutton chops, And chocolate, and arrowroot, and buns, and malt and hops. Kind Clergymen, besides, grew interested in his fate, Affected by the details of his pitiable state. They waited on the Secretary, somewhere in Whitehall, Who said he would receive them any day they liked to call. "Consider, sir, the hardship of this interesting case: A prison life brings with it something very like disgrace; It's telling on young WILLIAM, who's reduced to skin and bone - Remember he's a gentleman, with money of his own. "He had an ample income, and of course he stands in need Of sherry with his dinner, and his customary weed; No delicacies now can pass his gentlemanly lips - He misses his sea-bathing and his continental trips. "He says the other prisoners are commonplace and rude; He says he cannot relish uncongenial prison food. When quite a boy they taught him to distinguish Good from Bad, And other educational advantages he's had. "A burglar or garotter, or, indeed, a common thief Is very glad to batten on potatoes and on beef, Or anything, in short, that prison kitchens can afford, - A cut above the diet in a common workhouse ward. "But beef and mutton-broth don't seem to suit our WILLIAM'S whim, A boon to other prisoners - a punishment to him. It never was intended that the discipline of gaol Should dash a convict's spirits, sir, or make him thin or pale." "Good Gracious Me!" that sympathetic Secretary cried, "Suppose in prison fetters MISTER WILLIAM should have died! Dear me, of course! Imprisonment for LIFE his sentence saith: I'm very glad you mentioned it - it might have been For Death! "Release him with a ticket - he'll be better the