178 
THE RAT. 
while com is to be liad ; the truth is, they will leave all 
other grain for wheat, and will, at all times, leave bad for 
good ; and as they are excellent judges, they will spare 
neither time, trouble, nor perseverance to get at the best. 
As to their being found sometimes in large numbers in bean- 
ricks, that is to be accounted for by their being very open and 
loose, and thereby affording them a ready shelter in their 
migrations. To them it appears to matter little whether it 
be a bean-stack or faggot-stack, so long as it affords them 
shelter for the day, or till they can work their way into 
better quarters. However, to place the cost on a fair foun- 
dation, suppose we mix equal portions of wheat, oats, and 
barley together, and average them at hfty shillings per 
quarter, then we shall find that to purchase grain enough to 
supply these rats for one year, at a wine-glass each daily, and 
at fifty shillings per quarter, it would cost £701,940 12s. 
Now, had not these men's occupations rendered the nation 
a service, by not only destroying 17,000 rats, but cutting off 
their entire posterity, whereby all the corn, &c., has been 
saved which otherwise would have been destroyed ? 
Here let it be most distinctly and most emphatically 
understood, that^ I do not come forward as the champion of 
rat-killers or rat-matches. My object is too serious to 
think of sport ; but from my knowledge of, and my investi- 
gations into the doings of rats, and the serious consequences 
they entail upon the country, it appears to me that some of 
our magistracy have not had the opportunity of giving the 
matter that deep consideration which it merits, before giving 
their judgment ; and hence it is that I would draw your 
attention to the following calculations, in order that you 
may come to a conclusion as to the propriety of stopping 
the destruction of this class of vermin, even though it be in 
the shape of rat-pitting. 
To say it is a matter of no importance as to what decision 
you or the legislature may come to upon the subject, would 
be a fallacy, since, I am sorry to say, there are too many 
honest parents who, having to work hard for a large family, 
know too well the difference in the baker's bill between 
seven shillings and fourteen per week for bread and flour, 
and that, too, without any countervailing benefit to either 
landlord or farmer. Hence I call upon you to think, and 
