1808.] 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, ( 
HE subject respecting humanity to 
animals, although ably discussed in 
Nos. 165 and 167, yet is of so much im- 
portance, that we ought to avail our- 
selves of every opport unity to hold forth 
to the public the miseries to which they 
are exposed. I shall not attempt, Mr. 
Editor, any apology for requesting a 
speedy insertion; for [ plead the cause of 
the unfortunate, which has always a pe- 
culiar claim on your attention,» ‘The 
cruelties practised on post-horses, have 
been oftem descanted on; but alas! the 
energy of language, the pathos of senti- 
ment, or the. eloquence of declamation 
have had but little w eight against the argu- 
ment of pleasure or interest. If we trace 
the life of any domesticanimal from its 
birth to the time of its de 
the horse, we shall find a variety of pain 
inflicted on him at the suggestion of vanity 
or caprice. Can we expect to improve 
upon nature , by cutiing the ears, or dack- 
ing the tails of horses? Are these me- 
thods by which we render their exist- 
ance more comfortable, or add even to 
our own satisfaction? No, nature and 
reason condemn them; but as long as 
fashion and fancy direct, the voices of 
nature and reason are unheard. “The 
cruelty of buill-baiting isso great, that 
it attracted the notice of parliament ; 
but it was ascertained that its abolition 
would interfere with the amusements of 
the vulgar: it therefore received a legal 
sanction. As tor bexing-matches, we 
may despair of their being abolished, as 
long as pritices aud plebeians, dukes and 
dustmen, counts and carmen, unite in 
testifying their approbation by their pre- 
sence. Nevertheless, let us, by a fre- 
quent and pathetic repetition of the tor- 
tures and torments which bulls and game- 
cocks, destined to administer to the 
- amusements of the public, undergo, en- 
deavoar to rouse the long dormant, if 
not extinct, feelings of humanity, and 
carry conviction to. every discerning and 
charitable mind of their illegality, accord- 
ing to the laws of God, though partially 
permitted by those of man. Let us exert 
ourselves to hasten the arrival of that 
happy epoch, when bulls shall be no 
Jonger baited, pigs whipped to death, or 
lobsters boiled alive, and then we may 
fairly advance our claims as a civilized 
and polished nation. 
Your’s, &c. 
London, February 15 83 1808. 
Monrury Mac., No. 169,- 
G. A. 
Cruelty to Animals.—Meaning of Massacre. 
ath, asthe dog, or 
207 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
Na former number, it may probably 
be upwards of ‘two years since, I 
‘made the remark, that the word massa= 
crés, in French, had a different significas 
tion to that which we usually assign to it 
in English ; and that our party writers in 
the newspapers took advantage of such 
difierence, on certain occasions, introduc- 
ing the word massacred //! with a treble 
adiniration. I was answered by one, 
whom Limmediately discovered to have a 
far greater critical skill in the French lan= 
guage than myself, and thereupon was 
silenced, 
[ think, however, I have lately disco= 
vered a circumstance which, often hep- 
pens, namely, that if [ was not right, I 
was also not wrong. The word has, un- 
doubtedly, a two-fold colour, or. significa- 
tion, in French, if not in both languages, 
Thus, a general assassination is called a 
massacre, and the same term in Frenchy 
is applied to great slaughter or carnage in 
battle. An ‘example ‘of this latter ap 
plication, may be found in two late Mo- 
niteurs, ove respecting the slaughter of 
the British near Rosetta, the other of 
the mutual slaughter. of the Russians 
and French on the Vistula. It results 
then, that nos perukes, in their wonderful 
diatribes, either appended their three !!? 
from sheer ignorance, to the word massa- 
crés, as used by the French, in their 
own bulletins, from Egypt or elsewhere ; 
or otherwise, the said perukes- had 
brains enough within them, to know how 
to set successful gull-traps. Ihave really 
forgotten my original signature, and 
shall, on the present occasion, assume 
that of ' 
CritTicus. 
Se 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
FARE following remarks on a work 
H lately published, entitled, “ Logick, 
or an Essay on the Elements, Soe 
and different Modes of Reasoning,” 
at your service, if you think them cei 
of insertion. 
Ne sutor ultra crepidam. 
Had the advice offered in the quota- 
tion been strictly adhered to, how many 
authors of the pastand present age would 
have escaped censure! 
The late Dr. Priestley, and the living 
Dr. Kirwan, would then have confined 
themselves to their chemical pursuits. 
ioe The 
