BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 33 



The butcher has been so proverbial as to his want 

 of common humanity to his horse, that " butchering 

 a horse," or being " a butcher on a horse," are terms 

 not unfrequently used in the hunting-field, in repre- 

 hension of a man who rides his horse unfairly, 

 that is, who evinces want of consideration or feeling_in 

 the riding him. In the butcher's case, avarice causes 

 his inhumanity, avarice induces him to purchase the 

 lowest-priced animal that can be made perform his 

 daily severe duties : his object is to get the most pos- 

 sible work out of the animal, at the least possible 

 cost ; and the boy or man who goes his rounds, and 

 over the greatest extent of ground in the least time, 

 ranks highest in the estimation of his master. 



On one occasion I went and represented to a 

 master butcher, the inhumanity I daily saw practised 

 on his wretched pony, by a young demon of a boy 

 in his employ. The reply I got was, " I mustn't 

 say nothing to him ; he is the best boy I ever had, 

 and gets over his work the quickest ; and the pony 

 don't matter, for I only gave four pounds for him." 

 Did none of his customers ever see the wretched 



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