Why, look upon the shrewd and pampered folk,
How safely they have hemmed themselves about
With walls of law against the noisy mob
Of hungry, overburthened sons of toil!
Woe to the wretch who recklessly breaks through
Those sacred walls! For him there lie in wait
Judges and hangmen, gibbets, yards of hemp,
Ready for service. Yet how few there be
Who see the truth!
— HEINRICH HEINE, William Ratcliff (1822), Scene 6. (Lines spoken by Ratcliff.)
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