At the Godstone Petty Sessions last week, Charles Dodson, —described
as a Wesleyan minister, but disowned by the Wesleyan Methodists as not belonging to their body,—was con- victed of gross cruelty to a pony, which he tortured with an india-rubber bearing-rein fastened from the top of a pad to a Liverpool curb-bit, while attached to the ring were two bags of shot weighing 2 lb. 6 oz. The poor creature's tongue hung out, and was perfectly black, hard, and swollen, and the evi- dence was that it had suffered excruciating agony. Mr. Dodson's pony-carriage had texts inscribed on it : " Thy grace is sufficient for me" on the front, and " The coming of the Lord draweth nigh " on the back,—the former text being evidently quite inapplicable to Mr. Dodson, and the latter a very anxious prospect for him, if he really believed it. The Magistrates fined this religious gentleman five guineas, including costs, and the fine was immediately paid ; but such a fine, though probably the only possible penalty, is very inadequate for a case of this sort. We cannot help wishing that people who carelessly or deliberately inflict such tortures should somehow learn by experience what they really imply.
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