was brutally engaged in making repeated blows with a whip at a young and beautiful lady.

Thus interrupted, the enraged affailant turned to his unwel-' come gueft, and, with fury in his countenance and voice, demanded of him, if he was one of those daring gallants who had invaded the honour of his bed, and made a prize of his wife's

virtue.

The tale was now unfolded, and our adventurer was about to reply to the infatuated hufband in fuch terms as might have difarmed his wrath, and restored him to reafon and a fenfe of his unworthy conduct; when he caft his eyes on the lady, who had fainted, and now lay proftrate on the floor, without life or mo tion.

At this moment two of the colonel's fervants (who had also Liftened to the cries, and, apprehenfive for the fafety of their mafter, had returned to their horfes, taken their piftols from their holfters, and demanded admiffion in terms which would not bear refufal,) had reached the parlour, the door of which fill remained open; and they were no fooner obferved by colonel Taplow, than he ordered them to deliver their arms to bim, and to bear the lady to the chaife; a service which was immediately performed, their retreat being covered by the colonel and the lady being placed in the carriage, the owner of it followed; and, in fpite of the outcries and menaces of the husband and his fervant, neither of whom chofe to make manual oppofition, he ordered his drivers to follow the road which led font the house, no matter whither, and carried off his fair prize, who was fill in a fituation which rendered her wholly unconfcious of this difpofition.

As the ftorm was now abated, they foon regained the great road; and the lady having recovered from her fainting fit, the colonel found means to prevail on her not to oppofe accompa aying him to the town, whither he ordered his fervants to conduct them as faft as the horses could gallop,

1

Mean time the aftonished husband, whom we fhall hereafter mention by the name of Mr. Marwood, ordered his horfes to be got ready; and dispatching his fervant one road, proceeded himself another, in hopes at least to trace, though he could not expect to ftop, the fuppofed plunderer of his honour, and the actual robber who had carried off his property."

But the darkness of the night, the ftorm, and the mistake of the road, had effectually precluded all hopes of intelligence in the approach to the houfe; and the celerity with which the fagitives purfued their journey to London, rendered it equally impoffible to gain the leaft information on the road which led to

Z 2

the

the metropolis; fo that both the mafter and his scout returned at midnight, without having made the fmalleft progress to a discovery either of the name or perfon of the ravisher, or his route, after he had poffeffed himself of the lady.

I

[To be continued.]

On HUMANITY to BRUTES, and the BARBARITY of 7 THROWING AT COCKS.

Tis greatly to be lamented, that there fhould be fo much occafion to condemn the behaviour of many parents who negled to inftruct their children in the duty of mercy to brutes. (a) And there is reason to believe, that in many cafes where the peace of families has been disturbed by the undutifulness and obftinacy of children, the parents have contributed greatly to it, by not restraining their children, in time, from acts of wanton cruelty to birds and infects. Such indulgence roots out from their once tender hearts every feeling of pity and compaffion, and by fhutting their ears and hardening their hearts (b) against the cries of fuffering animals, renders them alfo deaf to the voice of nature, till at laft the unhappy parents find that their foolish indulgence has taught their wretched children to

be

(a) Cruelty to any thing that God has endued with feeling, is the worst depravity of human nature; and it is always with inexpreffible concern that we see the feeds of this vice thoughtlessly fown by unfeeling parents, nurses, &c. and habits of barbarity rooted in the tempers of infants, by giving them little animals, birds, and insects, to play with and torment, by way of amufement. Thus they are early taught to make flight account of the lives or painful fenfations of fuch poor dumb fufferers as have the misfortune to fall into their hands: and hence we are not to wonder at the unconcern with which, when grown up, they rob the innocent feathered tribe of their callow progeny, or bafely tie the fpirited cock, and, which is ftill more favage, even the meek-eyed puller, and the tender dove, to the flake, to be pelted piecemeal to death.Monthly Review.

(b) Hard-heartedness is always encouraged, if not planted, in the hearts of children, by fuffering them to exercife the most unprovoked and wanton acts of cruelty on the innocent brute creation. The child ber gins thefe acts of cruelty without any confcioufnefs of giving pain; he delights only in the novelty of the contentions and cries of the fuffering creature; and proceeds in this unmeaning folly without rebuke, till, at length, the practice of wantonly tormenting becomes a ftrong and confirmed habit of amufement; and it is then too late to convince him of his error, by telling him that the creature fuffers pain; for his habit is then become a pallion, which will probably be 100 ftrong for his

be as infenfible to a parent's pain and tears, as to the pain and mifery of tormented, brutes..

Cruelty is the first fin we read of in fcripture after the fall of Adam, and, whilft it lurks in the heart, it lays a broad and deep foundation for every act of mifchief and injuftice. He who violates nature by any act of wanton cruelty, how trifling foever the object, can have no fear of God, no principle of justice or honour, much lefs any fenfe of chriftianity; and if there be any barbarous fport that is particularly difgraceful to chriftianity, it is throwing at cocks.

Of all the various kinds of barbarity, in which the wanton nefs of cruelty can be exercifed, none is more, fcandalous, mean, and deteftable than this. No other nation under Heaven practices it but our own; and whence it took its rife I never could learn to my fatisfaction; but the common account is, that the crowing of a cock prevented fome of our forefathers, the Saxons, from maffacring another part of our fore-fathers, the Danes, their conquerors, on the morning of a Shrove-Tuesday, whilft afleep in their beds. Now, if this account be true, we have very little reafon to continue the cuttom; for many of us, in all probability, owe our beings to the prevention of that maffacre: And for others, it can only ferve to fhew that they are the cruel and cowardly offspring of cruel and cowardly fore-fathers. I fay cowardly, for cruelty is a fure mark of cowardice; and how very great the cruelty I am speaking of is, you who have seen the heavy blows given to one of thefe poor animals, at the stake of torture, and heard his piercing screams; who have feen his wings broken, his beak dropping blood, and his body finking, by flow degrees, in bitter anguifh to the ground, need not be told. Surely treatment like this, of a weak, defenceless animal; an animal however brave by nature, and courageous even to death against his equal, greatly refembles that cowardly bafenefs which tempted our Saxon fore fathers to steal filently to the chambers of their victorious enemies, and murder them fleeping in their beds.

Nor is cowardice the only bafe quality with which we are chargeable for our national abufe of this creature. Was it a bird of rapine, had we been hurt, or feared being hurt by it,

even

pity. Early, therefore, fhould a child be made fenfible of the miferies of every creature that hath life, by teaching him the counection between the outward marks and the inward feelings of diftrefs; for this alone will effectually caufe him to fympathize with the afflictions of his fellow-creatures; and this fympathy, if properly cherished, will produce a benevolent difpofition in every inftance where the exertion of benevolence is neceffary.-Dr Brown, ·

even then eruelty would be unjustifiable. But to exercise cruelty on a creature that flies from the violence of others for protection to our roofs; a creature which is more univerfally useful to man than any of the feathered race, is abominably ungrateful; and, if not ftupidly inconfiderate, audaciously wicked.

Be, therefore, ye who are parents and mafters of families, particularly careful to put an end to this most barbarous prac→ tice. Neither practice it yourselves, nor permit any under your Influence to do it. Confider that this bloody cuftom is detefted and abhorred by the better fort of your countrymen; confider the fhocking abufe of time in fuch employments; an abufe, fo much the more fhocking, as it is fhewn in tormenting that very Creature which feems intended for our remembrancer to im❤ prove it; the creature whofe voice, like a trumpet, fummoneth man forth to his labour in the morning, and admonisheth Him of the flight of his precious hours throughout the day.

Confider the mischiefs which often happen to the fpectators of this tumultuous barbarity, and which the world, and the fufferers own confciences are apt to upbraid them with, as fo many just judgments of Providence. Particularly, let thofe parents who are at expence to enable their children to act as principals on thefe occafions, reflect on the bitter anguish they muft feel fhould a child lofe an eye or a limb by their criminal indulgence. Let them alfo confider that they encourage in their children an habit of gaming which may end in poverty, and an habit of cruelty which may end in murder; that oaths, curfes, and blafphemies, make a great part of the language in Fuch fcenes of cruelty; and, confequently, that by faffering their children to mix in them, they make a dangerous advance towards hardening them in wickedness.

Every man, who has any proper notions of justice, must acknowedge, that if he were put to unneceffary and undeserved pain by another man, his tormenter would do him an act of injuftice. He muft alfo acknowledge, that, if he were to put another man to unneceffary or undeferved pain, or to take ad vantage of his own greater ftrength or fortune to opprefs an inferior, the injuftice would be the fame in him; because it would be doing that to another which he is not willing fhould be done to himself. And, for the fame reafon, he will not torment or abuse a brute (c); but will confider that the meaneft creature upon earth, if it be in no refpect hurtful to him, has an equal right with himself to enjoy the bleffings of life; and that

(6) I ufe the word Brute as a general term for every creature inferior to man, whether beaft, bird, fifh, fly, or worm.

that wantonly to punish or put to torture any animal, is to fin against the great law of humanity, which extends to every creature that hath the fame fenfe of pain which he has. And yet the many horrid inftances of cruelty practifed by men, in almost all ranks of life, on the unhappy brutes, without punishment by the law, without much notice or reproof from the pul pit (4), would almoft tempt one to think that a great part of mankind believed that cruelty to brutes was not an act of injuf tice. It is certain, however, that the cruelty of men to brutes is a greater act of injuftice than the cruelty of men to men,

In the cafe of human cruelty, the oppreffed man has a tongue that can plead his cause, and a finger to point out the injurers but the fuffering brute can neither utter his complaints, nor defcribe the author of his wrongs.In the cafe of human cru. elty, there are courts of juftice, to which the injured man may appeal, and where punishment will be inflicted on the offender; but, with fhame to man, and forrow for the brute, I ask, what laws are now in force to rescue the wretched animal from moan, ing in unregarded forrow, and finking beneath the wanton cruelty of his torturer? Man may, in various ways, be made amends for the injuries you have done him; you know his wants, and may relieve him; you may give him clothes, or food, or money, and thus make him fome atonement. But if through paffion, or malice, or fportive cruelty, you have broken the limbs of a brute, or deprived him of his eye fight, how can you make him amends? You have leffened his means of getting fubfiftence, and will fcarcely take the trouble of providing it for him; which yet, by the law of juftice, you are obliged to do. You have destroyed his earthly happiness, which was his ALL; have maimed or blinded him for ever, and done him an injury which cannot be repaired,

The lot of the fuffering brute therefore is truly pitiable; and the more pitiable his lot, the more base, barbarous, and unjust, in the man must every inftance of cruelty to him be. But it be

comes Chriftians further to confider whether mercy to brutes be not a duty commanded, and cruelty to them a fin forbidden in the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, the common Father of the whole Creation," whose mercy is over all his works.”

The wife and good Law-giver of the World, the Lord of every Creature, has been pleased to create animals of various kinds to aflift our weakneffes, and fupply our wants; and, to keep

(d) The great frequency of thefe acts of cruelty amongst us is, pro-. bably, owing to an opinion that they are not criminal; and this opinion feems to proceed from a neglect of the clergy in reprefenting them as fuch.-Sermon on Clemency to Brutes.