"I dare not so honor my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two."

Source: The Complete Works of Robert Browning: The Agamemnon of Æschylus, La Saisiaz, etc.