34* 



On Cruelty to Animals. 



[Nov. 1, 



To the Editor of the Monthlj/ Magazine. 

 srR, 



HAVING obfervcfl with pleafure a 

 communication from Mr. Lofft in 

 jour Magazine, on the lubject of an 

 Act of Parhament to prevent and punilJi 

 cruelty to animals, I take the liberty of 

 noticing a fpecies of it which I hope will 

 be included, Ihould fuch a bill»be intro- 

 duced. I allude to the pra6tice of im- 

 pounding ftray cattle, which often is the 

 caufe of great cruelty to tiie brute crea- 

 tion. I do Hot fpeak from hearfay, or 

 venture unfounded alVertions, when I af- 

 fure you, that, lall winter, half a dozen 

 Iheep were nearly (larvcd to death in the 

 town-pound at this place, the inhuman 

 owner rather fulTering them to exift on 

 the pound allowance, (wliich is often ne- 

 glefted, and exceedingly fcanty,) and fuf- 

 tain the lofs of tlie whole, than pay the 

 trefpafs-fecs. And there is now a poor 

 Jiorl'e, which was impounded three weeks 

 fmce in good condition, literally ftarving 

 fcy inches, over his hoofs in mud, without 

 a morfcl of clean itraw to lie»on, and is 

 hecoming a bag of bones, the favage maf- 

 ter refufmg to purcliafe his releafe with a 

 few ihillings. The permilhon of fuch 

 cruelty certainly rellei;ts fomc blame on 

 a corporation in other refpecls well re- 

 gulated : if there are laws for fuch cafes, 

 it is a pity they are not better enforced. 

 I am. Sir, your's, &c., 



A Constant Reader. 

 Dover, OdoberS, 1806, 



To tile Editor of the Monthlij Magazine. 



SIR, 



AS I am unwilling, cfpecially at this 

 diflance, to prolong a difagreeable 

 altercation in your iMagazine, I Ihall con- 

 fine my reply to Dr. Gleig's Letter, in 

 jour lad Number, to as few points of 

 explanation as poffiblc. 



I. The lirll inllance in which I am 

 charged with the fabrication of faCts, 

 iiiifqtiotation, and Mfchood, is thus ex- 

 plained. " The quclHons at ilTuc be- 

 tween Mr. Laing and me, are, whether 

 Durliam vias purticiilarli/ acci/fcd of ha- 

 ving bitraijtd his miijicr, and the Queen 

 belitved to have conferred on him the 

 place and pcnlion as a reward fur his 

 tieachai/."—"- But neither the privy-feal 

 record, quoted by Mr. l^aing, nor Dr. 

 ll^ibertfon, rcfened to for the fame fa6ts, 

 favs one word of Durham's treachery or 

 reward" ike. 



This explanation I niiift, in plain 

 terms, rejett as a fubterfuge. Ilobertfon 

 «as quoteti for a very differeut fa^rt, — the 



gift conferred by the Queen upon Both- 

 well on the very day that her hufband 

 was buried ; and tiie place and penfion 

 conferred upon Durham, that fame day, 

 had been fully explained, and confirmed 

 by an authority, a few pages before. 

 Durham has been particularly accufed 

 by Buchanan, of treachery in defertiiig 

 and betraying his mafter on the eve of 

 the murder ; but the penfions and places 

 conferred by the Queen, at that precife 

 period, upon Margaret Garwood, Beton, 

 and Durham, tiie fubordinate accom- 

 plices, were unknown to Robertfon, and 

 to every hillorian, till difcovered by my- 

 felf. That the grant to Durham is not 

 Hated in the privy-feal record as the re- 

 ward of his treachery, is an evafive ftate- 

 meut of the charge preferred againft me 

 in the Brililh Critic. " But Robertfon, 

 the only author referred to for thcfe 

 facts, fiiys not one word of Durham's 

 treachery and reroard, fiorn which forae 

 judgment may be formed of Mr. Laing's 

 accuracy in making quotations. The 

 Jiory of Durham we i)elievc to be afalfe- 

 hoocl, without even fhejhudow of founda- 

 tion, for were it a foci, the author furely 

 would have known where he found it," 

 &rc., &c. Tl'.e plain and obvious mean- 

 ing of thefe words is, that the ftory of 

 Durham's place and penlion, not the in- 

 ference of his treachery and reward, was 

 a fabrication of my own ; othcrvvife I 

 mud have known where I found the faft; 

 and in a former explanation, which Mr. 

 Nares tranfcribed and communicated, 

 " JSio man, he (Dr. Gleig,) lays, can read 

 that part of the Difiertation, where the 

 treachery and reward of Durliam arc 

 mentioned, ar.d have the fmallell doubt 

 that Rohcrtf(jn is referred t(j as the au- 

 thority. That tlie author meant other- 

 wife, and that the right authority was by 

 accident omitted, were thino;s by n3 

 means to be taken for granted." Accord- 

 ing to this firit explanation, the writer, 

 not findiBg the fact in Robertfon, and 

 overlooking the preceding explanation 

 and authority, accufed me of the deli- 

 berate fabrication of facts, becaufe he 

 himfelf had not read the work with futli- 

 cicnt attention. 



n. In the next inftance, "That Mr. 

 Laing's confufed appeal to Murdin and 

 the State Ti-ials will not have much 

 weight with thofe that have cartfi'lli/ at.- 

 tended to his mode of quotation ;" J nuifl; 

 again repeat, that in the paragraph in 

 queflion I liad quoted from Murdin the 

 fubfiauce of Lethingto.fs letters to 

 JViiU-y ; " That Murray was wholly beat 



