Religion could not inspire him with fortitude: if he read the books of morality which were put into his hands, he saw in them nothing but the enormity of his offences; if he attempted to pray, he recollected that he deserved not heaven’s protection, and believed his crimes so monstrous as to baffle even God’s infinite goodness. For every other sinner he thought there might be hope, but for him there could be none. Shuddering at the past, anguished by the present, and dreading the future, thus passed he the few days preceding that which was marked for his trial.