48 BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 



sanctioning the act. The true logic to be used in 

 such case is, that it is making two brutes instead of 

 one. Il maj- be objected that my terms used are 

 too forcible for ordinary occasions : perhaps they are, 

 and I hope they will remain so ; 'butif for brutality I 

 substitute the softer words of thoughtlessness, want 

 of judgment, and perchance no little want of feeling, 

 I suspect many must confess to themselves, that 

 what I say comes home. 



Now, in one bearing of the case, I quite agree in 

 the axiom, that there exists no positive necessity for 

 our anxiety about the property of another, if he 

 shews no anxiety about it himself ; nor need we. if 

 the improperly treated property was inanimate. If 

 a man chose to set fire to his post-chaise, why 

 should I trouble myself about the matter r he might, 

 for me, do the same thing every day, if he pleased ; I 

 should laugh at his folly, and wi»rm myself by the 

 fire : but though I should not interfere for the post- 

 chaise, I most certainly should for the ])o?,t- horse, if 

 I saw him injured. I should not interfere for the 

 sake of the man, but for that of the horse and my 



