THE SPORTING WORLD. 249 



pit with twenty rats all huddled in a heap in 

 one comer, which they usually are, thrust his 

 head among them, dealing death in every 

 direction, and not stopping while a rat moves; 

 thus the breeding a very useful little animal is 

 encouraged, nor can we call the killing the 

 rats cruel, for whether their death is brought 

 about by a blow from a stick or a bite from 

 a dog it is pretty much the same thing, and 

 far more merciful ttan setting a trap in which 

 the poor brute is caught at perhaps ten at 

 night and left in agony with a crushed limb 

 till morning, when some kind of death awaits 

 him. The amateurs of the rat pit of course com- 

 prise a variety of characters, from the gentleman 

 down to the stable helper; when the first is 

 seen there it is usually to have some dog tried of 

 whose pretensions he has reason to think 

 highly, but many most respectable characters 

 are frequent or constant in their attendance 

 there, and to the credit of the owners of such 



