98 BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 



animal to an all but torpid state. In some proof of my 

 hypothesis, we often see an ass in some of the London 

 costermongers' carts, trotting or cantering along with 

 all the willingness and energy of the horse. That this 

 is not produced by sheer severity or unmerciful flagel- 

 lation alone, is certain, for the usually badly-fed 

 ass would sulk, lie down, or die, before he could be 

 induced to make such exertion ; his spirit is broken, 

 his energy, his constitution weakened, and, under 

 such circumstances, apathy of the whole corporal 

 system, as well as that of the mental, follows. 



Among the most flagrant of the cruelties and 

 abuses that our legislature for a long time permitted 

 to exist, that of allowing dogs to be used as draught 

 animals, was one of the most abominable. The value 

 of the horse, if it is only five pounds, is some check 

 on the inhumanity of the inhuman; that of the 

 ass also ; for though a sovereign is about the average 

 price of an ordinary one, it is not so with those 

 we frequently see used in London. I ofi"ered a man 

 five pounds for one for a lady's little carriage, and 

 increa.sed my offer to six, and it was refused ; but 



