CAap. XII.] RcBAL Sports^ 209 



372. Nor have even the Pi/thaffoream a much bet- 

 ter balterj against us. Sir Richard Phillips, who 

 once rang a peal in my ears against shooting and hunt- 

 ing, does, indeed, e„t neilher^esA.^'sA, nor fowl. His 

 abstinence surpasses that oi a Carmehte, while his 

 bulk would not disgrace a Benedictine Monk, or a 

 Protestant Dean. But, he forgets, that his shoes and 

 breeches and gloves are made oi" the skins of animals : 

 he forgets that he writes (and very eloquently too) with 

 what has been cruelly taken from a fowl ; and that, 

 in order to cover the books which he has had made and 

 sold, hundreds of flocks and scores of droves must have 

 perished : nay, that, to get him his beaver-hat, a beaver 

 must have been hunted and killed, and, in the doing of 

 which, many beavers may have been wounded and 

 left to pine away the rest of their lives ; and, perhaps 

 many little orphan beavers, Icilt to lament the murder 

 of their parents. Ben Ley was the only real and sin- 

 cere Pythagorean of modem times, that I ever heard 

 of. He protested, not only against eating the flesh of 

 animals, but also against robbing their backs ; and, 

 therefore, his dress consisted wholly of ^a.r. But, even 

 he, like Sir Richard Phillips, eat milk, butter, cheese, 

 and eggs ; though this was cruelly robbing the hens, 

 cows, and calves ; and, indeed causing the murder of 

 the calves. In addition, poor little Ben forgot the 

 materials of book-binding ; and, it was well he did ; for 

 else, his Bible would have gone into the fire ! 



373. Taking it for granted, then, that sportsmen 

 are as good as other folks on the score of humanity, 

 the sports of the field, like every thing else done in the 

 fields, tend to produce, or preserve health. I prefer 

 them to all other pastime, because they produce early 

 rising ; because they have no tendency to lead young 

 men into vicious habits. It is where men congregate 

 that the vices haunt A hunger or a shooter may also 

 be a gambler and a drinker ; but, he is less likely to 

 be fond of the two latter, if he be fond of the former. 

 Boys will take to something in the way of pastime ; 

 and it is better that they take to that which is innocent^ 

 healthy, and manly, than that which is vicious, un- 

 Iiealtby, and effenunate. Besides^ the sceae& of rural 



