V RE FACE. 23 



Tlio inocloratc and occasional recourse to field-diversions, 

 with the same object that influenced PHny in their pursuit, 



arena " of ancient Rome ; of which Tertullian, Augustin, Chrysostoni, and the Chris- 

 tian Cicero, Lactantius, have written with merited reprobation. "Cum viderent j , . .. ^ 

 ' ' J. Lipsii Sa- 



pietatjs daiiino, addictum devinctumque populum his ludis ; passim invecti in eos, at turnal. Sermon. 

 libidinis, sffivitiajque fontes; et bene illi." Not a word can be advanced in palliation '-" '• •^* 7* 

 of these brutal outrages of liumanity, 



^'1* Prudentius. 



Ampbitheatralis spectacula tristia pompas ! 



wherein man was " butdier'd to make a Roman holiday " — " Homo occiditnr ad Childe Harold's 

 hominis voluplatem." With this monstrous variety ofVenatio, so called kut e|oxV> I'l'Sf'^^g^j *-"• 

 and recorded as such with horror, we have notliing to do ; with its abettors under any p^fian ad Do- 

 qualified form, the modern frequenters of the cock-pit or bear-garden, the heroes natum. 

 of a bull-bait, and patrons of mercenary pugilists, the rivals of the "municipalis 

 arens perpetui comites " of Juvenal's days, we have no sentiments in common. We 

 have hailed with exultation the victory already effectuated, or in course of gradual 

 achievement, over the ferocious barbarities of the amphitheatre, and the semi-pagan 

 cruelties of more modern spectacles — a victory that is attempering the pastimes of the 

 English people to the religion and morality of the age ; and we sincerely deplore tlie 

 existence of the Bedrpov KWifyiTiK.hu of Dio, under any modification, in any part of the 

 civilized world. 



The Sabbath comes, a day of blessed rest ; Childe Harold's 



What hallows it upon this Christian shore ? Pilgrimage, c. 



Lo ! it is sacred to a solemn feast : .... 



Hark ! heard you not the forest monarch's roar ? 



Crashing the lance, he snuft's the spouting gore 



Of man and steed, o'erthrown beneath his horn ; 



The throng'd arena shakes with shouts for more ; 



Yells the mad crowd o'er entrails freshly torn. 



Nor shritiks the female eye, nor ev'n affects to mourn. 



Let Christianity transfuse its lenient spirit into all our sports, and instead of the 

 amphitheatrical entertainments, and barbarian amusements of infidels, let us have 

 such as are congenial to the humanity of Christians. Let us be the champions of 

 rational recreation, not of brutal gratification ; — the friends of man, and not unneces- 

 sarily the enemies of inferior animals ; — spectators in our temperate and innocent 

 diversions of the dog's innate faculties and prowess for the seizure of the destined 

 animals of the chase — " to see how God in all his creatures works," and witnesses of K. Henry VI. 



Pt. II. act II. 



5C* 1. 



