206 
ON THE DOG-CART BILL. 
London. His house was so situated as to command four streets, 
and he used many a time in the day to watch the proceedings 
of the dogs who drew or were left in care of the articles for sale. 
Of those that were employed, not one for a moment neglected 
his charge or interfered with the concerns of others. When 
they were directed to halt they doubled up their feet under the 
shafts, and waited patiently, sometimes for an hour or more, 
until their master returned. It was pleasing to watch them. 
Generally speaking, they were in tolerable condition, and, in 
many cases, the attachment between them and their owners was 
evident. Occasionally, however, unpleasant scenes occurred. 
Two dogs coming from different ways, would fall out, and, en- 
couraged by many a miscreant, accidentally passing, a regular 
fight ensued, repulsive to the feelings of the casual passenger, and, 
occasionally, a source of mischief. 
Beside these dogs — the evidently trained and domesticated 
animals — there were often a set of wild and dangerous and cruelly- 
treated animals, flogged through the streets without mercy by 
their cruel owner or owners, and in the neighbourhood were 
miscreants — who let their half-starved dogs for hire — who were 
ready for all purposes of plunder, and who systematically dese- 
crated the sabbath by a succession of dog-fights. 
Under these circumstances, I do not severely blame the legis- 
lature for banishing the dog-cart from the purlieus of the metro- 
polis : and yet I think that the matter might have been otherwise 
managed. Sufficient punishment might have awaited the guilty 
without driving from the neighbourhood of the metropolis many 
a family that was honestly exercising its calling. There was a de- 
gree of harshness about this which was unnecessary, and scarcely 
suited the title of “The Society for the Suppression of Cruelty.” 
These dogs, no longer suffered to follow their usual calling, 
found their way more numerously into the country, and the dog- 
cart was used, to a greater or less degree, in every part of the 
kingdom, at a certain distance from the metropolis. The little 
articles of domestic comfort found their way to every part of our 
island, and the dog continued a useful and valuable animal. 
Why did he not continue to occupy that situation? Why is 
he to be driven, as now attempted, from the useful occupation in 
