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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
the first " taste of the air , very unaccountably disposed . . If he be in the , country , he falls incontinently to rolling in the grass , or takes to kicking his heels , or tries a short run with a jump at the end of it , with other caprices of motion , which have nothing at all to do with getting on , and
for which , very likely , he heartily despises himself . He is soon relieved . His habitual feelings , and numberless little circumstances of his daily experience , are at hand to quell his romping vivacity at a moment ' s notice . He feels a twinge of the rheumatism , or recollects a bad bargain , —and we see no more of his jumps . "—pp . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 .
The essay concludes with a description of youthful old age , not unlike that which has been presented to us in the person of the ' Vicar of Wakefield / " 1 have known one individual of this description , and only one ; a joyous baby of threescore , with whom I once went a bird-nesting in company with his grand-children . It was in a spring morning , early , when the dew still sparkled on the grass , and all nature was an image of youth
and freshness . The grey head of my companion might be considered a little out of season ; but his cheerful eye , his lively talk , and ready laugh , were in perfect keeping with the general scene . Time had set his mark upon him ; but , like an old thorn , he blossomed to the last . Age had stiffened his joints , and hardened his sinews ; but his affections were still full of spring and flexibility . He could not exactly play at leap-frog but he could still stand and look on with wonderful agility . '—pp . 10 , 11 .
We pass on to an essay entitled Of cruelty to animals , and Mr Martin ' s Act . " \ he quiet humour , and serene-tempered style of Ayton ' s occasional satire will be very apparent in the following extract;—" Our poor fellow-creatures on all fours , if they had no claims to our active care and kindness from their manifold services in our behalf , have
from their mere community with us in the great inheritance of flesh and blood and sense of pain , an undeniable title to our mercy and forbearance * In the relation between man and horse , custom , and a sort of convenience , have determined , that the former should be the rider : but , notwithstanding this enormous distinction , there are still such affinities between thfc two , as should relieve him who is undermost from the positive cpntempt of his superior , or at least protect him from all superfluous tyranny and
torture . In few words , because a forked creature , in a coat arid hat , conceives himself made on purpose to sit astride an animal with ijbur legs and a tail , it does not therefore follow that he has a clear Vighr to maltreat it , in wantonness either of sport or rage . There seems to be no very decisive objection , on the part of the horse , to the man ' s first fancy ; he may ride , and , for aught I know , be innocent : but the testimony of his own flesh will assure him , that to lash a horse to the bare bones is an act of inhuman iniquity . "—pp . 43 , 44 . ¦• > ¦ : ¦ >
Our author next proceeds to an original view *—it is probable th&t hie was the only writer who adopted it at the time *» of Mr Martin ' s Act for the prevention or cruelty to animals . . ff , All * he fin ^ r parts of morality are not within tjie jurisdiction of | Jic court * Here and there a fellow m ^ y be found % utw enough , tjo las , ! )
Untitled Article
Retrospective Glances . $$ 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1837, page 325, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1832/page/7/
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