a single, _Abattoir_--for the health of the people--exists near the
metropolis. The King and the Court patronize and plan horse-racing,
throwing the lasso, and, if recent report be true, hawking; the
Parliament legislate, a bill is "ordered to be printed"--yet, the
inconsistency and tardiness of these proceedings compel us to
ask, where is the truth of the motto--_Salus populi suprema lex_.
Convictions before magistrates for acts of cruelty are not uncommon;
yet, it is in this, as in many other laws, the poor are caught, while
the rich break through the meshes of the net. In the work before us
are recorded Mr. Osbaldeston's matches, including "the cold-blooded
cruelty towards the generous and heart-broken _Rattler_, in riding him
thirty-four miles in the space of 2 hours, 18 min., and 56 sec." Next
are four police cases of cruelties towards horses, bullocks, and cats,
the persons convicted being "of low estate." Yet there follows the
fact of _a respectable woman_ boiling a cat to death! and next is this
quotation from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April, 1789:--

"Died, April 4, at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq.; a young man of
large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses
rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality,
where it may be said he sacrificed too much to conviviality. Mr.
Ardesoif was fond of cock-fighting, and he had a favourite cock upon
which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he made upon
this cock he lost; which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied
to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were
present attempted to interfere, which so exasperated Mr. Ardesoif,
that he seized the poker; and, with the most furious vehemence,
declared that he would kill the first man who interfered; but, in the
midst of his passionate assertions, he fell down dead upon the spot!"