Night and Morning, Book IV by Edward Bulwer-lytton

"Timon. Each thing's a thief The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power Have unchecked theft. The sweet degrees that this brief world affords, To such as may the passive drugs of it Freely command. " -- _Timon of Athens_.

On the day and at the hour fixed for the interview with the stranger who had visited Mr. Beaufort, Lord Lilburne was seated in the library of his brother-in-law; and before the elbow-chair, on which he lolled carelessly, stood our old friend Mr. Sharp, of Bow Street notability.