finished, he rose, and said with cutting coolness,
'Sir, the case is not exactly what you suppose it to be; if you will
review the process, and examine this paper attentively, you will find
there precisely the contrary of all you have advanced.' 'Willingly,'
replied Alfonso, without hesitating; 'the decision depends on this
question--whether the fief were granted under the law of Lombardy, or
under the French Law.' The paper being examined, it was found that the
Grand Duke's advocate was in the right. 'Yes,' said Alfonso, holding the
paper in his hand, 'I am wrong, I have been mistaken.' A discovery so
unexpected, and the fear of being accused of unfair dealing filled him
with consternation, and covered him with confusion, so much so, that
every one saw his emotion. It was in vain that the President Caravita,
who loved him, and knew his integrity, tried to console him, by telling
him that such mistakes were not uncommon, even among the first men at
the bar. Alfonso would listen to nothing, but, overwhelmed with
confusion, his head sunk on his breast, he said to himself, 'World, I
know you now; courts of law, never shall you see me again!' And turning
his back on the assembly, he withdrew to his own house, incessantly
repeating to himself, 'World, I know you now.' What annoyed him most
was, that having studied and re-studied the process during a whole
month, without having discovered this important flaw, he could not
understand how it had escaped his observation."

And this is the man, so easily scared at the very shadow of trickery,
who is so flippantly pronounced to be a patron of lying.

But, in truth, a Catholic theologian has objects in view which men in
general little compass; he is not thinking of himself, but of a
multitude of souls, sick souls, sinful souls, carried away by sin, full
of evil, and he is trying with all his might to rescue them from their
miserable state; and, in order to save them from more heinous sins, he
tries, to the full extent that his conscience will allow him to go, to
shut his eyes to such sins, as are, though sins, yet lighter in
character or degree. He knows perfectly well that, if he is as strict as
he would wish to be, he shall be able to do nothing at all with the run
of men; so he is as indulgent with them as ever he can be. Let it not be
for an instant supposed, that I allow of the maxim of doing evil that
good may come; but, keeping clear of this, there is a way of winning men