FEBRUARY 37 



XII 



Just one hundred and seventy years ago a certain 

 clergyman, the Rev. James Granger, preached Fowla of 

 a sermon which gave mighty offence to his the Ajx 

 parishioners. Those were days when few people gave 

 serious thought to the sufferings of what we arrogantly 

 call the lower animals ; and it was held to be frivolous, 

 impertinent, and altogether derogatory to the dignity 

 of the Church of England that horses and dogs should 

 be mentioned from the pulpit, and cruelty towards 

 them condemned as contrary to Christian mercy. 

 The most plausible excuse put forward for the parson 

 was that he had gone mad. Howbeit, mad or sane, 

 good Parson Granger afterwards published his sermon 

 in the form of a pamphlet, called An Apology for the 

 Brute Creation, or Abuse of Animals censured, and 

 thus the first note was sounded in that agitation which 

 has resulted in our own day in the presence on the 

 statute book of some of the most excellent laws ever 

 devised. 



Peradventure the thought may enter the mind of 

 a worshipper in some of our fashionable London 

 churches, while the preacher sends a sympathetic thrill 

 through a forest of feather - decked bonnets, that he 

 might venture sometimes to chide the cruelty of fashion, 

 as well as its vanity and selfishness. It seems as if he 

 would be doing his Master's work as thoroughly 

 were he to suspend eloquent elucidation of theological 

 conundrums, in order to devote a spare half hour 



