66 CALCULATION. 



animal will drag coals about a street for a very long 

 time before he sinks under his sufferings, and as 

 probably his cost price was 30s., his loss, if he does 

 die, is not very great. The saving of 5s. a- week in 

 his keep pays for him in six weeks, whereas he pro- 

 bably will last twenty ; so here, by half-starving and 

 over-working him, we find the owner has made 5/. ; 

 and deducting the 30.5. first cost, he clears 31. 10s. ; 

 and so he will by his next purchase. But the poor 

 dog has a much worse chance : he is probably bought 

 for half-a -crown, or more probably stolen ; so all that 

 is got out of him is nearly clear gain. How, there- 

 fore, those who voted for a continuance of this system 

 reconcile it to their feelings, either of humanity to the 

 animal, or justice to that part of the community who 

 reside in provincial towns or the country, appears 

 to me as incomprehensible. They certainly do not 

 trouble themselves much in considering what is and 

 what is not cruelty. 



I have stated, that all public exhibitions of bull, 

 bear, badger, and dog-fighting were put a stop to : 

 but I believe still, if a man chose to bait his own 

 bull in his own barn, to whatever extent he might 

 carry the barbarity of the thing, a trifling fine, if the 

 Society for Preventing Cruelty happened to hear of 

 it, would be his only punishment : the legislature 

 might say, " A man may do as he pleases in his own 

 premises : we must not interfere with the liberty 

 of the subject!" What glorious liberty to be 

 allowed to torture an animal as much as I please 

 provided I pay 40s. ! "Not interfere with the liberty 

 of the subject ! " "A man has a right to choose his 

 pursuits in his own premises ! " I should like to know, 

 if my pursuit was having a private still on my 



