And, on the other hand, the stings of Conscience, the deep remorse for iniquities, the self-condemnation which lights upon the sinful, never had expounder so forcible and true to nature. When Alonso, as portrayed in the _Tempest_ (act iii. sc. 3, l. 95, vol. i. p. 53), thought of his cruel treachery to his brother Prospero, he says,— “O, it is monstrous, monstrous! Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it: The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder. That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.” And the King’s dream, on the eve of Bosworth battle (_Richard III._, act v. sc. 3, lines 179, 193, and 200, vol. v. p. 625), what a picture it gives of the tumult of his soul!— “O coward conscience, how dost thou affright me! . . . . . . . . My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain. . . . . . . . . There is no creature loves me; And, if I die, no soul shall pity me:— Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself, Find in myself no pity to myself. Methought, the souls of all that I had murder’d Came to my tent; and everyone did threat To-morrow’s vengeance on the head of Richard.” Various expressions of the dramatist may end this notice of the Judge within us,— “The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul.” “Every man’s conscience is a thousand swords To fight against that bloody homicide.” “I’ll haunt thee, like a wicked conscience still, That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thought.” “Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.” In some degree allied to the power of conscience is the retribution for sin ordained by the Divine Wisdom. We have not an Emblem to present in illustration, but the lines from _King Lear_ (act v. sc. 3. l. 171, vol. viii. p. 416),— “The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to plague us,”— are so co-incident with a sentiment in the _Confessions_ (bk. i. c. 12, § 19) of the great Augustine that they deserve at least to be set in juxta-position. The Bishop is addressing the Supreme in prayer, and naming the sins and follies of his youth, says,— “_De peccanti meipso justè retribuebas mihi._ JUSISTI _enim, & sic est, ut pœna sua sibi sit omnis inordinatus animis._” _i.e._ “By my own sin Thou didst justly punish me. For thou hast commanded, and so it is, that every inordinate affection should bear its own punishment.”[174]