YOUATT ON HUMANITY TO BRUTES.

THIS essay was written by an eminent veterinary surgeon, for a prize, which it failed in obtaining ; a result which does not greatly surprise us, seeing that what is good is not suitable for a prize- essay, and what is suitable is rather crude. Most bodies that assemble to judge any kind of competition, arc very averse to any thing which is fresh, striking, or original, or as they would phrase it, " out of the way." Customary commonplace is what they approve of: the higher this is carried, and the better it is done, the more they admire it ; but practical views, original know- ledge, and novel treatment, have little chance of success against a well-manufactured selection of every-day ideas.

This applies to the generality of judges, whether one or legion ;

for few have firmness to pass a judgment with respect only to the matter before them, and without regard to what other people may think. But the necessity of standing upon known ways is increased when the feelings and prejudices of some enthusiastic classes are to be considered. A certain degree of art is necessary, to keep some points in the shade, to pass over sore places gently, to flatter this prepossession, and to suppress arguments that cannot be answered. No man intimately acquainted with the subject of slavery, and taking a large, rational, and practical view of it, would ever have got a prize from an Abolition Society : and NB*. YOUATT'S laboured chapter in defence of hunting, with his quotation from Matthew's Gospel, " Go thou to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first coineth up," to show that angling is tolerated by Scripture, did him no good with his judges.

It must also be said, that though the book is full of fresh

knowledge, striking facts, and actual experience, it is deficient in the arrangement, and not felicitous in the treatment of the more scho- lastic topics. The " Obligation of Humanity to Animals as founded on the Scriptures," is slightly prolix, and not handled with that art which education and practice give to the professional divine : the " Duty of Humanity to Animals" partakes of a similar defect ; both being somewhat commonplace, without the dexterity which disguises it. The " Usefulness and Good Qualities of the Intbrior Animals," abounding in anecdotes of natural history, is better than the two previous chapters ; but still the author is not at home. In the major part of the next great division, however, Rob Roy is on his " native heather :" Mr. YOUATT has got upon the race-course, the hunting-ground, the road, the stable, the pasture of the ex, and the sheep-walk and he pours out the knowledge and observa- tions of a life in his " Application of the Principle of Humanity to the Treatment of Animals." Ile points out that cruelty, in any pursuit beyond the very lowest of the low, defeats itself; and that greater care, greater mercy, nay greater outlay, would be more profitable. Knowing what can be done by individuals and what cannot, he does not "run a muck and tilt at all he meets," but shows where the law can advantageously be strengthened—where the evil can only be acted upon by an action of the public, the individuals engaged in supplying the demand being as merciful as possible ; and where no remedy can be found, but in opinion shaming the individual out of his thoughtless or avaricious cruelty. With this first and os- tensible object is mixed up a great deal of curious information, and many valuable hints, which may be useful to persons who are in- different as regards cruelty to animals. Of their kind a few ex- tracts may convey a specimen.

LIMITATION Or FLOGGING IN A EACE.

A slow or an obstinate horse may require the admonishment of the whip and the spur, and severely too, in order to bring him to the utmost exertion of his speed. When he is exerting the utmost extent of his stride, and is straining every muscle of every limb from a natural principle of emulation, and the re, inindings which may he given him by the working of the bit—no muscle of

progression is interfered with there—the moderate application of the whip or the spur may keep him up to the mark ; but nothing can incl., ase his spud.

On the contrary, when he has " wound up each corporal agent to the terrible feat "—when every muscle of his frame is feuding its aid in one consentaneous effort, the sudden infliction of pain will necessarily disturb this harmony of action, shorten the stride, and throw the animal quite abroad. Many a race has been lost by the infliction of wanton cruelty.

GRATITUDE OF csamesTtaus.

There is one disgraceful violation of the dictates of humanity arising from the frequency with which the racer often changes his master ; null Hi." careless- ness of nil but a few honest hearts how it fares with him when Inc has answered their purposes. Amble, the fastest mile-horse of his day, and that won the poly- well stakes three years in succession, was consigned to drag an opposition- coach that ran through Shrewsbury when no longer capable of Una, he was de- graded to yet lower labour, and was at length found dead in a ditch from abso-

lute starvation. Ilit or Miss, a good racer, was, during the last year of his life, seen drawing coal in a higgler's cart in the same town. Matneluke is et

this time drawing a cab in the streets of the Metropolis ; and Guildfind, after having won for his different owners seventeen races, was afflicted with incurable stringhalt, and was sold at a repository fur less than 41. Thence the hero of the turf was doomed to an omnibus. There lie was cruelly used, the spasmodic convulsion that characterizes stringhalt sadly aggravating his torture. The skin was rubbed from his shoulder,, his hips and haunches were bruised in every part, and his stifles were continually and painfully coming in contact with the pole. In this situation lie was seen by the veterinary surgeon pin YOUATT] to "Tile Society for the- Prevention of Cruelty to Auitualsis and bought in order to be slaughtered.

A HINT TO THE REALLY HUMANE.

There are a few humane men who, when they have profited by the best years of a horse's life, turn him into some park or homestead pasture for the re. minder of his days. I give them every credit for humanity, but I confess that I regard this as a very questionable sort of benefit. It is ten antes hinder to shoot him ut once, lath= lie is kept warms in the winter, anti feel not only with hay but with corn. Institute, fir a moment, a comparison betweeu a horn and a man, old, feeble, and turned out of doors. Let it lie a favourite coach. horse, or hackney, or hunter. He has been accustomed to be delicately fed, and warmly clothed; his apartment is warm and comfortable, and he has had a soft bed to lie upon. What is now done with him ? Ile is exposed to ese ternal cold ; at best he has only a cheerless hovel in the whiter, and with nothing but indifferent hay to eat. He has feelings in many respects not un- like ours: he cannot, indeed, estimate the intended humanity of the change; but in many of his hours of abandonment his reflections will resemble those of a person removed at mice from all the refinements and condints of polished life to a workhouse. In summer lie is teazel by thousands of flies which he has not strength or spirit enough. to drive away ; and the matter ends by him being found some night or morning in a ditch or on the ground, perfectly un-' able to rise; and then we destroy him, in order to prevent a lingering and painful death. It would have been more merciful to have shot him at once.

A PICTURE PROM LIFE.

The winter is little felt by horses of the first class. They early cast their coats; they are full of spirits and vigour; and they may be truly said, in their way, to be happy. On the other hand, the foal that has been left to struggle on as he can, becomes poor and dispirited. You see him shrinking under the hedge, cold and almost shivering, with his head hanging down, and the rheum distilling from his eyes. if he is made to move, he listlessly drags his lints along, evidently weak, and generally in pain. lie is a sad specimen of poverty and of misery.

EFFECTS 01' GENTLENESS.

My friend Mr. Percivall, of the First Life Guards, illustrates the effects of good usage by an interesting anecdote. A horse in the depot at Woolwich h td proved so unmanageable to the rough-riders, tha/t at length no one among them dust even to mount him. Ilk mode of Hamill.: or Alismounting his rider consisted hi lying down and rolling over him, or else crushing his leg against some wall, or pelt, or paling.

All means to break him of these perilous tricks proving unavailing, the animal was brought before the commanding-officer with the character of ben. " incurably vicious ;" and with a recommendation, on that account, tint he should be " cast," and sold out of his Majesty's service. Colonel Quest hearing of this, and knowing the horse to be thoroughbred, and one of the best-actioned and cleverest horses in the regiment, besought the commanding-officer to permit him to be transferred into the rilis;;-troop. This was consented to; and the transfer was no sooner creallipli,h,d, than Colonel Quest determined to pursue a system of management directly oppo- site to teat which hail been already attempted. Ile had him led daily into the riding-school, suffered no whip ever to be shown to him while there, but patted him, and tried to make him execute this and the other little memeuvre ; and as often as he proved obedient, rewarded him with a handful of corn or beans, or a piece of bread, with which bribes his pockets were invariable well supplied. In this limner, aud in no great distance of time, was the rehel led wily sub- dued and tamed, but rendered so perfectly quiet that a little child coull ride him. He became, at length, taught to leneel down while his rider mounted, and to perform various evolutions, and dances, and tricks in the 11:ani.ge, which no other hoese in the school could be brought to do. In fine, .3 great a fa- vourite did lie become, that his master gave him the appelletiou of "'rite Darling." •

We have not quoted any passages descriptive of the cruelties and atrocities exercised on animals; for the narrative of sheer unmiti- gated brutality is revolting, though sometimes needful when a practi- cal effect in the way of exposure or prevention is to follow. We cannot, however, avoid noticing the great improvement which, so high an authority us Mr. YouATT states, has taken place in time general treatment of animals : even within these few years the duration of life in cab-horses has increased considerably. The great abodes of cruelty arc the " repositories," the "knackers' yards," and Smithfield ; all which he thinks can be reached by law. Time great practitioners of cruelty are gentlemen in gambling and hunt- ing, and men exercising a variety of the lowest callings. In excuse of the latter, it may, however, be said, that many are in a state of the greatest ignorance and the greatest necessity. They have never been taught consideration, or the control of their passions : they are struggling for a living, which depends upon the instant exertion of their beast ; and are, in many cases, as constantly upon the verge of destitution, as their animal is of death.