22 THE TRINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



Those liunian beings wlio set tlieiu to it, 

 And ride or run to see tliem do it. 



You cannot consistently weep over the cruelties inflicted on the 

 hunted hare and make a display of the murderous habits of little 

 cuckoo. 



It was the worthy Philistine, Dr. Watts, who once inserted in a 



hymn the lines — 



Let dogs delight 

 To bark and bite. 

 It is their nature to. 



Those lines are the full justification of fox-hunters and heaglers who, 

 as I have said, 



... set them to it, 

 And ride or run to see them do it, 



though the Doctor evidently considered the doings of such too base 

 for the Philistine proprieties of a black-coated respectability ; and I 

 doubt if he saw the necessary consequence of his dictum, which if 

 Socratically driven into a corner he would have had to admit. 

 Thus :— 



Socrates. You say, sir, that as the pleasure of dogs in barking 

 and biting is in accordance with their nature, their so doing is not to 

 be interfered with. 



Dk. Watts. Most certainly. 



Soc. Your saying, however, implies that you regard such barking 

 and biting as base and vulgar, and therefore to be regarded by man, 

 who is of a higher order of being, with no more than a contemptuous 

 indifference. 



Dr. W. That, sir, was the impression that I desired to convey. 



Soc. Being a writer of hymns, am I to infer that your Doctorate 

 is in the faculty of Divinity ? 



Dr. W. Your assumption is correct. 



Soc. Then I suppose you would maintain that all things are as 

 God made them, and that so long as they follow the dictates of nature 

 they are good and admirable ? 



Dr. W. Most certainly : no Christian man could do otherwise. 



