112 Beason or Instinct. 



extent in Lincolnshire and the Midland counties, and very- 

 long prices they fetch. The horses look prosperous, and 

 from outward appearances I should say that the whip 

 ti-ade, except for show, must have declined considerably. 

 There is a very good custom at Liverpool, and I believe at 

 some other large towns in the North, which is to have 

 a procession of horses on May-day for prizes. And this 

 mention of the whip brings us back to the ante-Martin 

 days. In the second stage of " Cruelty " Hogarth paints 

 his prize villain, Tom Nero, — the last of whom we see on the 

 dissecting-table after execution, — as a hackney-coachman^ 

 butt-ending an unfortunate horse which had fallen down 

 whilst bringing four counsellors, who have clubbed their 

 threepence apiece to ride from Thavies Inn to Westminster ; 

 in which same picture a bull is tossing a boy, a drunken 

 brewer is running over a child, and a drover beating a sheep 

 to death. Who knows but that Hogarth was the pioneer 

 towards a system of kindness which exists now ? Police- 

 man X of to-day would run in " all those culprits ; " and 

 things go further, for not only must animals not be 

 beaten, but if carried too closely packed, or sent away with- 

 out proper food and water, the Eoyal Protection Society 

 will be down on them. 



Now about dogs. For reason the sheep-dog must come 

 No. 1, and I think one fact proves it, which is this : In the 

 wolds of Yorkshire and other similar places where immense 

 numbers of sheep are pastured, and outlying sheep get 

 mixed, and there is a dispute about ownership, it is left to a 

 jury of dogs, and the different dogs are collected and pick 

 out their own sheep and separate them, and the verdict is 

 final. The sheep-dog has a purely business mind ; in fact, 

 I never saw one at play. I am sorry the old woolly sheep- 

 dog is going out in favour of the colley ; but shepherds 

 know best, I suppose. I am afraid of col leys, and my 



