Contre les rebelles cest cruauté que destre humain, et humanité destre cruel. It is cruelty to be humane to rebels, and humanity is cruelty. Attributed to Charles IX. According to M. Fournier, an expression taken from a sermon of Corneille Muis, Bishop of Bitoute. Used by Catherine De Medicis.
Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence. HumeHistory of England. Vol. I. Ch. LXII.
Je voudrais bien voir la grimace quil fait à cette heure sur cet échafaud. I would love to see the grimace he [Marquis de Cinq-Mars] is now making on the scaffold. Louis XIII. See Histoire de Louis XIII. IV. P. 416.
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. MacaulayHistory of England. Vol. I. Ch. II.
If ever henceforth thou These rural latches to his entrance open, Or hoop his body more with thy embraces, I will devise a death as cruel for thee As thou art tender tot. Winters Tale. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 448.