cholera, and the friends of humanity trusted that the horrid sport would be discontinued : but contrary to their former practice, the promoters of bull-baiting sent the public crier through the parish to announce the time and place for their cruel feast. And what was the consequence? The cholera raged with increased fury; and the man who distinguished himself in having the bull baited on the Saturday evening previous to the wake Sabbath, before that Sabbath-day's sun was set was in eternity! The following facts were related by the Rev. John Howells, in his sermon, on the day appointed by the Tipton Board of Health for fasting and prayer:-"A man being informed that there would be no bull-baiting at Darlaston wake, swore that he would have a bullbaiting in spite of God or the devil. But before that wake arrived the cholera hurried him to the judgment bar of that God whom he had so blasphemously defied! A party of bull-baiters, five in number, combined together to have a bull-baiting, in opposition to the measures that were taken to prevent it; but God frustrated their designs: the cholera attacked the whole party, and not one remained to execute their wicked purposes. At Bilston the cholera raged beyond all precedent. But what people ever so justly incurred the vengeance of God, by the profanation of his holy day and service? I have seen a poor bull, during divine service, on their wake Sabbath, exhibited through their streets, followed by immense crowds, and bearing on his back a human monster, previous to his being baited on the following day! But

how awful their visitation! The pestilence in a great measure emptied the town, and swept from the earth the promoters of this diabolical practice. The two principal agents in the cruel sport fell victims to its fury during the week immediately following their wake; and many of their adherents also shared the same fate! As Christians, let us benevolently hope that the following lines are not realized in them :

In vain for mercy now they cry,
In lakes of liquid fire they lie;
There on the flaming billows tost,
For ever,-oh, for ever lost!

PRESIDENT Davies.

CRUELTY TO HORSES.

Survey the warlike Horse-didst thou invest
With thunder his robust, distended breast?
No sense of fear his dauntless soul allays,
'Tis dreadful to behold his nostrils blaze!
To paw the vale he proudly takes delight,
And triumphs in the fulness of his might;
High rais'd he snuffs the battle from afar,
And burns to plunge amid the raging war;
He mocks at death, and throws his foam around,
And in a storm of fury shakes the ground.
How does his firm, his rising heart advance,
Full on the brandish'd sword and shaken lance;
While his fix'd eye-balls meet the dazzling shield,
Gaze and return the light'ning of the field!
He sinks the sense of pain, in gen'rous pride,
Nor feels the shaft that trembles in his side;
But neighs to the shrill trumpets dreadful blast
Till death; and when he groans, he groans his last!
DR. YOUNG.

Next to the bull, in point of usefulness, ranks the horse; an animal which God has endued with very extraordinary powers for the service of man. His majestic form, the amazing swiftness of his speed, his matchless strength, his docility and promptness in obeying the voice of his master, are qualities which render him exceedingly valuable; so that it may also be said of him, "He is the chief of the ways of

God." Job xl. 19. This noble animal, remark able for intrepidity and fierceness, and no less astonishing in docility and tameness, is the greatest sharer among animals in the subse quent effects of the curse pronounced upon man, Ġen. iii. 23. He draws the plough with which the hard and barren soil is broken up for the reception of the seed, and in the time of harvest! he is loaded to carry home provisions for man and beast; and with little exception, he ploughs all, draws all, and bears all: nor less so in the long fatiguing journey of the day, till his unrivalled strength is quite exhausted; and most strikingly so in the field of blood,—

Where life is brief, and where the breath

Of dying heroes welcome death!

Where artificial light'nings fly,

And earthly thunders roll, and cloy
Their blasts with blood.

There, according to the peculiar instinct with
which he is endowed, fearlessly advances the
approaches of the enemy, and braves the daring
insults of the foe; and while the continued
thundering of cannon bursts upon his ears,
he, with courageous boldness and majestic
grandeur, strikes the blows which contribute
not a little to the subduing of our most invet-:
erate enemy.
Let us now examine the treat-
ment this noble animal receives as a reward for
services so invaluable. From excessive fatigue,
his noble form is destroyed, his amazing swift-
ness is perverted to the vilest purposes, his
unrivalled strength is exhausted in cruel experi-
ments, tending to inflict upon him the most

I

indescribable sufferings, and sudden death, while his readiness to obey the voice of his master often exposes him to severe punishment. Thus the wanton infliction of pain on the horse is exercised in a shameful manner; and one might suppose, to observe the conduct of many well educated men, that they thought him merely intended to undergo a life of flogging and fatigue. Look at the merciless rate of travelling, and the inhuman loads which have to be drawn along under the perpetual torture of the whip! Lift up the collar, and see the red raw flesh, which at every step he takes receives a new wound from the pressure and friction of that part of the harness. Let us recollect the pain produced by the slightest touch on any part of our own skin, when rendered raw by a blister, and try to conceive what must be the sufferings of thousands of stage coach and other horses, under the united miseries arising from abraded skin, excessive fatigue, daily cutting with the whip, and often, what is equally bad, the wanton brutality of ostlers and stable boys. Then shall this useful creature receive those wantonly inflicted tortures which render such an additional weight to all the unavoidable sufferings of his life? shall the cruelties practiced upon him be countenanced by allowing them to pass silently unnoticed? are they not dreadfully heinous to every Christian man, and exceedingly sinful in the sight of God? Let those then, who regardless of all moral restraint, and deaf to the remonstrating voice of humanity, delight in racing, whipping, and spurring this creature beyond his natural strength,