A Book of Scoundrels

Charles Whibley (1859-1930) was an English literary journalist and author. The Introduction to A Book of Scoundrels states, "How shall you contemplate with indifference the career of an artist whom genius or good guidance has compelled to exercise his peculiar skill, to indulge his finer aptitudes? A masterly theft rises in its claim to respect high above the reprobation of the moralist. The scoundrel, when once justice is quit of him, has a right to be appraised by his actions, not by thei...