500 



convent of the Cross of St. Lenfroi, in 

 Normandy. The king sent him an in- 

 vitation to cross the sea, and Guimand 

 obeyed the orders of his temporal su- 

 perior. When he arrived in England, 

 the king told him that he had resolved 

 to keep him there, and to raise him to 

 a great ecclesiastical dignity. The 

 following was the monk's reply, as re- 

 lated by an historian who lived soon 

 after :* — " Various motives induce me 

 to decline the exercise of ecclesiastical 

 power. I will not declare them all. I 

 will only say, that I cannot conceive 

 how it is possible for me worthily to 

 become the religious superior of men 

 whose language and whose manners 

 are alike unknown to me, — whose fa- 

 thers, brothers, and dearest friends, if 

 not slain by your sword, are stripped 

 of their inheritances, banished, impri- 

 soned, or reduced to hard slavery, by 

 you. Turn to the Scriptures, and see 

 if they contain any law which tolerates 

 the imposition of a pastor on God's 

 flock by the choice of an enemy. Can 

 you innocently share that which you 

 have gained by war and the blood of 

 thousands with me, and such as I, 

 who have vowed to despise the world, 

 and have left our own possessions for 

 the love of Christ? It is the law of all 

 religious orders to abstain from rapine, 

 and to accept no part of what has been 

 obtained by plunder, not even as an 

 offering at the altar ; for, as the Scrip- 

 tures say, he who offers as a sacrifice 

 what belongs to tlie poor, is like one 

 who would immolate the son in the 

 presence of the father. When I call 

 to mind these precepts of God, I feel 

 troubled with fear. Your England 

 seems one vast prey, and I dread to 

 touch it or its treasures, as I should 



On Bull.baiting. tJ"'y '> 



vulged abroad, and gave umbrage to 

 many, — who, not caring to imitate him, 

 calumniated him through hatred and 

 envy." 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IT is gratifying to trace in any in- 

 stance tlie effects of a legislative 

 enactment for the prevention of crime 

 in tlie cessation of an offence, rather 

 than in the punishment of it ; and such 

 is the case with regard to the Act 

 passed in the last Session of Parlia- 

 ment tor preventing cruelty to cattle. 

 It has been found necessary, indeed, 

 in some instances, to enforce the Act 

 against offenders ; but it is in the ge- 

 neral diminution of the offence that 

 its operation is principally felt. The 

 punishment of crime (however the 

 lawless passions of man may require 

 it,) can afford no pleasure to a well- 

 regulated mind ; and it is with a view 

 to prevent the necessity of it, by warn- 

 ing the thoughtless as well as the vici- 

 ous of their danger, that we desire to 

 make known more extensively the hu- 

 mane provisions of the Act to which 

 we have just adverted. It very wisely 

 omits all specification of the various 

 ways in which animals may be treated 

 with cruelty ; so that no man can find, 

 in the omission of any one of the 

 almost numberless modes in which 

 cruelty may be inflicted, any encou- 

 ragement or excuse for it. 



All cruelty is now unlawful. But 

 this, perhaps, is not generally under- 

 stood ; and, as circumstances have 

 brought one particular case under 

 my consideration, I wish to make 

 known that the Act referred to does 

 unquestionably bear upon some points 



dread to put my hand into a fire which may not, perhaps, be thought, 



....'' Guimand repassed the sea, and 

 returned to his cloister ; but, adds the 

 ancient historian, it was sc on rumour- 

 ed that he had exalted the poverty of 

 the monks above the wealth of the 

 bishops ; that, in the face of the king 

 and his chiefs, he had applied the name 

 of rapine to their acquisition of Eng- 

 land;! and had even spoken of the 

 bishops and abbots, who had been in- 

 stalled against the will of the English, 

 as plunderers.! His words were di- 



• Ord. Vit. p. 529, of the Collection of 

 Writers of Normandy. 



t Obtentum Angliae rajitnatn appella- 

 verit. (Ord.Vit. 526.) 



% Rapacitatis redarguerit. (Ibid.) 

 2 



on a hasty perusal, to come within its 

 reach. What I principally allude to 

 now is hullhaiting ; for there are those, 

 I have reason to believe, wlio, because 

 this horrible and brutal sport is not in 

 terms forbidden, may indulge a hope 

 of being still permitted to find enjoy- 

 ment in such an exhibition. Now, 

 though I should feel as little pity for 

 them as for any description of offender, 

 it is but kind and just to give them 

 warning of their danger. They will 

 do well to consider what is the plain 



and 



* Sequentes ejus essa spernantes, contra 

 eum ingenti livore exarserunt. (Ord. Vit. 



526.) 



