INTRODUCTION. 37 



intelligence, the admirable qualities he displays, the 

 entertainment he affords, or the valuable services he 

 renders us, challenges universal tenderness, attach- 

 ment, and protection. It would seem almost invidious 

 to attempt a display of the valuable properties of this 

 animal, for the professed purpose of enforcing the 

 principles and practice of humanity towards him ; yet 

 it is but too evident that the relative duties of man 

 towards the bmte creation in general (but particularly 

 towards the dog) are greatly neglected, too often out- 

 raged^^ It is probable that these errors spring less 



18 Were the principles and practice of humanity made a funda- 

 mental part of the education of our children, and were these aided 

 by judicious legal enactments, many branches of the brute creation 

 would have reason to rejoice. Is it not disgraceful to an enlightened 

 people to learn, that infidel nations, as the Turks, have almshouses 

 for their animals ? It is an essential part of a Mussulman's creed, 

 and it is an express command of Mahomet, to be humane towards 

 the brute creation. In India, the Bramins are remarked for their 

 tenderness towards all animals. The Banian Hospital is a most re- 

 markable instance of this : it contains horses, asses, mules, oxen, 

 sheep, and birds;— even noxious animals, as rats and mice, are not 

 excluded ; all are treated with the utmost kindness and care, until 

 death places them beyond the want of these charities. If we take 

 the Scriptures for our guide, we shall find them full of precepts of 

 humanity, and exemplified also by numerous examples of it : "A 

 merciful ma7i is merciful to his beast;'' " Thoushalt not muzzle the ox 

 that treadeth out the corn:' These are, alone, sufficient to establish 

 the humane tendency of the antient sacred laws, where it was ex- 

 pressly forbidden to " take the dam on her nest." The works of the 

 heathens are equally filled with recommendations of tenderness to- 

 wards animals. A Grecian magistrate condemned a child to punish- 

 ment who had deprived a bird of sight ; and the Athenian court 

 called the Areopagite, instituted express laws for the protection of 

 brute animals from cruelty. Shall we, as professors of Christianity- 

 and all the kinder virtues, shall we alone forget what is due to these 

 useful dependants ? 



