The Royal Dog and his Minier. Who is there that has made any obfervations on these matters who does not know that gentle. men not only connive at their fervants destroying the game, but encourage them to kill it by any means? Nor is it at all uncommon for a gentleman at his table, or at feffions, to bawl out the word poacher with a particular emphasis; when at the fame time, his own houfe is a poaching academy, in which the fervants are. taught to fet partridges by day, and catch them with tunnels by night, affifted and directed by fome eminent poacher. They are no lefs carefully taught to fhoot, and the equipage of a gentleman's fervant for fhooting, is ufually a greyhound or two, a pointer, and fome fpaniels; which is taking fuch liberties, that though I have been a sportsman myself a great many years, I never knew a real gentleman take and these liberties are taken not only on their own master's manors or eftates, for that would be, tolerable, but on all the manors in the neighbourhood. province with fuch cruelty, that, being maffacred in an infurrection, Chaon Malon, the king of Siam, feizing the chiefs of the rebels, contented himself with punishing a few of them. Afterwards, affembling the ftates of Johor, in the hall of the palace, 66 Vile infects," said he, "you are no longer worthy to be governed by one of my Mandarines. Proftrate yourselves, therefore, before the viceroy I have chosen for you."-Then calling a huge maftiff, "Come, Barkouf," faid he, reign over thefe wretches in my name, and exterminate them if they do not obey you." Then addreffing himself to a Chinefe, who had long refided at Johor, "You," faid he, "hall be Barkouf's prime minifter; ferve him faithfully, and give him council if he ftands in need of it." Mani, for that was the name of the new viceroy, had no difficulty in making the king of Siam believe that he understood the canine language, for immediately turning to the dog, and bowing three times to the earth, his bark Such practices as these must be was anfwered by another from deftruction to the game, and do the throne, that made the whole in their confequences tend to the palace refound, and this answer ruin of the fervants thus employ-being fuitably interpreted by the ed; for I need not remark the ufual gradation there is between poaching, pilfering, thieving and the gallows. Thefe are my fentiments with regard to the fcarcity of game, and till I am convinced to the contrary, I fhall fay in the lowing words of Horace : 66 -hoc fonte derivata clades, "In patriam populumq; fluxit.” minifter, gave the utmost fatisfaction to the whole affembly. Even Chaon Malon, could not help admiring the forcible etoquence of the new viceroy, and angular erudition of his interterpreter. Barkouf, notwithstandfol-ing a little ferocity in his exterior, proved the best of the canine fpecies. In the council chamber he was perfectly docile, to the inftructions of Mani: and in the chamber of audience, his appearance was always without hauteur; as upon certain figus from his miniiter, he never failed wagging his tail, or prefenting his paw to The ROYAL DOG and his MINIS HE Abbe Blanchet gives the T following as an Indian tale: any 16. Obfervations on a Tax upon Dogs. any perfon formally introduced to kids it. His dinner was always fimple but folid, and generally eaten with the appetite of a ruftic. He fometimes amufed himself with hunting, and at other times in obferving the manœuvres of the troops in his territory. All dispatches were figned by his paw, dipped in ink for the purpofe, which ferved both for fignature and feal, and his reign was long and happy. which at 5s. annually a head, (fuppofing 50,000 to be made away with on that account) would amount to 50,000l. then how greatly would the aggregate, from the entire country, add to the neceffities of the ftate, without drawing one mite from the pocket of the indigent induftrious poor; befides as thefe animals are fed profufely by the hand of their owner, it being a fact unqueftionably proved, that dogs in large towns are oftentimes fed with very desirable meat, bought To the EDITORS of the SPORTING Purpofely for them at the fham MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN, PER ERMIT me to promulgate, through the channel of your ufeful publication, a few obfer- vations relative to a tax on dogs, as I cannot conceive there is any object more worthy the notice, of the minifter, confidering the prefent ftate of affairs; a tax earneftly to be defired, happy for humanity, infomuch as it would, properly modified, prevent thofe from keeping dogs that had no occafion for them as a guard, but for the purpose of poaching, and in particular thofe that keep them for no purpose whatever; fuffering them to prowl about, to the deftruction of useful, though defencelefs animals, fheep, poultry, &c. befitles game, by which means they run mad, communicate that cruel contagion to thousands of their own fpecies; and laftly, horrid to relate, to the human race. To the beneficial effects of fuch a tax as a regulation, may be fuperadded thofe as a fubject of revenue; for, if we confider the number of thofe animals in the metropolis alone, which is allowed, upon a moderate calculation, to amount to 250,000, bles, and game dogs with meal, not unfrequently of the best quality, it is but reasonable, that their owners taking fo largely from the fuftenance of men, fhould contribute fome little for the privilege of keeping them, in aid of the public burthens, or in a melioration of the hard condition of those whom misfor. tune, not inclination, have led to fue for parochial relief, in return for what they thus take unneceffarily, to the great inconvenience of the poor from the public ftores. If, for inftance, a tax of 5s. only, was laid upon each inhabitant, keeping a dog, in the se veral markets, corporate, and borough towns, while each inhabi. tant of the country, occupying a tenement, was fuffered to keep one, provided that one was neither bull-dog, mastiff, large cur, Newfoundland dog, or Dane, thofe dogs being more dangerous to the community from their peculiar fiercenefs and great ftrength, and more more difadvan. tageous than others, by reafon of the large quantity of food they require for their fupport (more than one to pay for) exempting altogether drovers and fiepherds, and On the Pedigree of Mufti.-Dama's Petition. and inhabitants keeping dogs near the fea beach-The penalty for keeping dogs without paying, to go to the poor of the parish where fued for. 17 ber him a foal; he was got by This It is a question worthy the inveftigation of fportfmen, whether the late game tax might ortify this mistake, otherwife genmight not be repealed? efpecially tlemen may fend mares of improas it impofes fo impolitic a reper blood to be covered by him. traint on men of landed proper. I am, Gentlemen, with much ty, as to oblige them to pay three esteem, guineas annually, merely to enjoy Yours, &c. their own franchife; whereas, if they kept feven dogs, the tax upon them, by the above regulation, would not amount to fo much as the game certificate. CANINO. I GENTLEMEN, PETER PEDIGREE. Norwich, Oct. 3, 1795. For the SPORTING MAGAZINE. DAMA'S PETITION. [Some sporting gentlemen having ordered their huntfman to purchase a young deer and keep her clofe fhut up, in order to for hunting; a perfon, ftruck with the her being turned out in the proper feason barbarity of this refinement in the sports of the field, drew up the following in the form of a petition from the poor imprifoned deer, and fent a copy to a gentleman concerned. The HUMBLE PETITION of DAMA, now a prifoner in the cuftody of the leader of the hunt To the gentlemen by whofe order, and for whofe pleasure she was cómmitted. GENTLEMEN, Tank of beings inferior to HOUGH I am one of the your's, and which our common creator and fovereign has fubjected to your defpotifm, I prefume, by the affiftance of a kind friend; to address you in this manner, and lay before you my dift effed cafe, in hopes of your compaffionate regards. AM a conftant reader and great admirer of your Sporting Magazine; as fuch, I think you will not take it amifs, that I take the liberty of correcting an error relative to the pedigree of Mufti, provided you mean the horse be- I was, gentlemen, born free, longing to his Grace the Duke of and tenderly brought up in the Bedford. He was bred at Nor- full enjoynient of my natural wich, by a Mr. Mann; I remem-rights, until my fordid mafter, VOL. VII. No. XXXVII. tempted 18 Rife and Progrefs of the Veterinarian Art in France. : tempted by the profpect of gain, fold me to the leader of your chafe and though I have never done him, or you, the leaft injury, I am, by a mere act of arbitrary power, deprived at once of all the delights of liberty, and focial life; fhut up a clofe, folitary prifoner, in a place void of light, even at noon day. Some of my friends have enquired into the reafon of this barbarous treatment of an harmless creature, who are told, that it is in order to prepare me the better for the chafe; for by this means, it feems, you propofe to render my irritable nerves ftill more irritable, and the painful fenfation of the fear, to which I am naturally fubject, the more exquifite; and that when I am wrought up to the highest pitch of fenfibility, I am fuddenly to be dragged from my dark prifon, turned out at once into the wide world; and, while amazed, and almost blinded by the fudden influx of light upon my weak eyes, running I know not whither, I am to be puríued by dogs horfes, and men-with the utmout fury, as though I had been one of the most destructive creatures upon earth; and thus by the fwiftnefs which my poor trembling heart gives to my tender legs, I am to afford you the more of what you call Sport, till no longer able to gratify this favage cruelty, I fall Permit me however, gentlemen, to intreat you to confider, and to enter into my cafe seriously, as accountable to that being for your treatment of his creatures. Though fportfmen, I will not believe that you can be fo lost to` all the feelings of humanity (not to fay of religion) as not to commiferate my unhappy lot; perfuaded that you have been led to countenance this unkind and cruel treatment of your petitioner, fo far as you have done it, rather from a thoughtless devotion to the pleafures of the chafe, and the example of others, than from any fettled principles of cruelty. I flatter myself, therefore, that, moved by this humble petition, you will be prevailed on to fpare me from the fhocking fufferings intended me, and restore me to the full enjoyment of that liberty to which nature has given me fo just a claim, and which I have done nothing to forefell; and your petitioner will, as far as her powers permit, gratefully acknowledge the favor, while all her friends of which fhe has many, especially of the tender fex, whofe fentiments you most highly refpect, will applaud your conduct, as doing honour to the native benevolence of your hearts. DAMA. NARIAN ART in FRANCE, extracted from the Works of M. SAIN BEL. a victim to that death I fo pain-Rife and Progress of the VETERIfully laboured to avoid; and to have my dying groans infulted by the fhouts of my doughty conquerors, triumphing over a poor innocent, expiring in agonies at their feet! You men fay, that "there is a God, who judgeth in the earth," and that he is both juft and merciful, if fo, will he not fomehow avenge my wrongs! (Continued from page 266, years, the government of FTER a courfe of many France undertook to give effectual affiftance and protection to this Rife and Progrefs of the Veterinarian Art in France. 19 this most useful part of domeftic, fcience, and to provide for it the fame advantages by which medicine had been formerly advánced. forges, and difpenfary, entirely to the fupport of the school. The firft fchool was opened on the firft of January, 1762; it was very foon ftocked with native It will not be amifs to give students, and in a fhort time after here fome account of the means the numbers were encreased by which the French government foreigners, among whom were fe employed in order to bring about veral fupported by the Emprefs the defirable end; which juftly Queen, the king's of Denmark, entitles France to the fame ho- Sweden, Pruffia, and Sardinia, nours, with refpect to the veteri- and the different Swifs cantons. nary art, which the world muft The inftitution gave early proofs ever concede to the fchool of Sa- of its utility, in the fignal ferlerno with refpect to medicine; vices it rendered to the inhabi namely, of having firft reduced tants of the country, by affordthe principles of that art to a ing, on frequent occafions, very foundation of regular fcience. effectual affiftance in cafes of On the 5th of Auguft, 1761, the apizootic or contagious diftemcouncil of ftate iffued a decree, pers, and many other particular empowering M. Bourgelat to difeafes, to which the brute creaeftablish in the city of Lyons a tion, efpecially in a flate of dofchool, in which might be taught mefticity, are, unfortunately, too the knowledge and treatment of fubject. This determined the diseases incident to cattle of every king to grant by a decree of the defcription. M. Bourgelat pub-31ft of June, 1764, a fpecial mark lifhed, without lofs of time, a plan of the new establishment, which was well received by the public, and fpoken of in the beft journals with the greatest applaufe. Senfible of the advantage that must refult from fuch an inftitution, government granted the fum of 50,000 livres, or about 20831. fterling, payable in fix years, at the annual rate of 8333 livres, to defray the expences of houfe-rent: providing a laboratory, difpenfary, phyfic-garden; ftables to ferve as hofpitals; forges, inftruments, and utenfils; alfo rooms for ftudy and diffection; in a word, every thing that might ferve to render the eslab. Jifhment complete. The fmall nefs of the fum granted will ap pear the lefs extraordinary, when it is known, that it had always been intended to apply the pro duce arifing from the hofpitals, of his fatisfaction, by permitting it to affume the title of Royal Veterinary School. At the fame time, his Majefty conferred on M. Bourgelat the brevet of Director and Infpector-General of the Royal Veterinary School of Lyons, and of all other fimilar fchools to be hereafter eftablished in the kingdom; and having given orders that feveral other fchools should be formed upon the fame plan as that of Lyons, and efpecially one in the neighbourhood of the capital, the castle appeared, by its fituation and extent, and by the conveniences which the different ftructures already erected offered, the most eligible place for the fecond projected eftablifhment. This building was obtained by purchafe, in Dec. 1765. M. Bourgelat immediately invited fome of the ftudents from Lyons, who had made the greatest pro. grefs |