Henry Fielding

“ Nor can I help wondering that a Nation so jealous of her Liberties, that from the slightest Cause, and often without any Cause at all, we are always murmuring at our Superiors, should tamely and quietly support the Invasion of her Properties by a few of the lowest and vilest among us: Doth not this Situation in reality level us with the most enslaved Countries? ”

“ The great Increase of Robberies within these few Years, is an Evil which to me appears to deserve some Attention; and the rather as it seems (tho' already become so flagrant) not yet to have arrived to that Height of which it is capable, and which it is likely to attain: For Diseases in the Political, as in the Natural Body, seldom fail going on to their Crisis, especially when nourished and encouraged by Faults in the Constitution. ”

“ There are of this Society of Men who appear in all Disguises, and mix in most Companies. Nor are they better versed in every Art of Cheating, Thieving, and Robbing, than they are armed with every Method of evading the Law, if they should ever be discovered, and an Attempt made to bring them to Justice. ”