200 Obfervations on a on a Tax upon Dogs. before; they certainly do fay, marry not thy man, John: marry not thy man, John.” LITTLE B. For the SPORTING MAGAZINE. MESSIEURS EDITORS, THE THE readinefs with which you seem to give place to whatever bears any analogy to the plan of your work, has induced me to fend you a few obfervations on the propofed dog tax.I have noticed the fentiments of many of your correfpondents on this fubject, which ali appear to be on one fide the queftion, and therefore fhall hazard my opinion on the other; not at all doubting, but that your ufual candour will freely give me a corner. I am perfectly in the fentiments of the Rev. Dr. Barry, (quoted in your laff Nuniber) particularly where be fays, that " even the very mention of a tax requires an apology." It is very likely while this war continues, and even for fome years after it is ended, (if by the time it ends it leaves us any thing to confider) the confideration of what new taxes to introduce, and what old taxes to augment, will be a fubject of arduous fpeculation to government. It is easier to fpeculate than to fup port. A tax upon dogs, has often been recommended, and often proposed in parliament. And I cannot fay I am much more anxious for its fu ture fuccefs, than I was grieved. for its paft failure," that is less than little." of expence attendant upon that evil which man brings upon man; that calamity moft comprehenfive of all general evil WAR. I am not fatisfied with the humanity, the justice, or the policy of depriving the poor of an unchangeable, and frequently an only friend and taxing thofe of the middle clafs of fortune, taxed abundantly already, for the luxury of keeping a play-fellow to their children, which may be made an early and effectual, becaufe unobtruded leffon of benevolence to the opening mind; a pleafing companion to themfelves, if folitary, and a faithful defender of their property. food which they confume, a fair As to their numbers, and the inveftigation, I apprehend, would prove, that both are enormouswhich appeared in you laft Maly overcalculated in the extract gazine. The propofed liberty given to kill thofe who did not carry about their necks the badge of taxation, principle of humanity. Cruelty is a proposal repugnant to every and outrage are fooner learnt than unlearnt. Inconfiderate proposals may eafily add fuel to thefe bad propenfities; and the greatest wifdom and exertion may be found in adequate to remove the effects. But if there were to be a tax, furely it is not equitable or expedient that the reverfe of the fyftem stated to have been adopted in the Ile of Man fhould be adopted; and that porting dogs fhould be taxed lower than common dogs. The article fets out in propofing a tax as an expedient of revenue: very juftly obferving, that in the prefent circumstances of this country, the very mention of a tax re quires Enoch Difgraced. quires an apology, and that it is offered as a fubftitute only, for others more exceptionable and lefs productive. With refpect to the idea of a fubftituted tax, I fee little profpect that any of the prefent taxes will be taken off while the war lafts, and I fhould think that if there is to be a tax of this kind, in any shape, that would be leaft objectionable and moft productive which would fall upon those who in general could beft afford it; and who would not deftroy the dogs rather than be burthened with the tax. If it be faid this tax would be negatived: may be fo. I am not propofing it; nor any other tax.` I am only remarking that it would lefs deferve to be negatived than a tax impofed on any other defcription of these ill-requited animals. I fufpect it would be found there is a very great deereafe of every kind but the fporting dogs. To thefe I am no enemy, though I have not the leaft intereft in the amufement; which I leave to be defended by its admirers. But it feems ftrange that fuch as are defirous of the tax, with a view to its productiveness, fhould wish it to be moft light where it would be most productive. The bite of a mad dog is indeed dreadful; but I believe a much rarer calamity, beyond comparison, than is imagined. And I do not think a tax would be the beft means of obviating this evil. I believe Dr. Barry to be an ingenious and a humane man: but I do not think he seems to have confidered this question as attentively as it feems to me to require. Your's, &c. Dec. 4, 1795 HUMANITUS. ENOCH DISGRACED. 201 BRIMSTONE hot, loyal fon of the forge, commonly called a blacksmith, at Staley-bridge, near Ashton-under-Line, (being ftimulated more by intereft than idleness) lately erected an inftrument, on the oppofite fide of his anvil, to which he gave the name of Enoch, who was to do the duty of a labourer, by affifting him in turning horfe hoes, and doing other ftrong work. And as the nature of this one-arm affiftant required neither meat, drink, washing, nor even a bed to lie down upon, honeft Vulcan promifed himfelf no fmall advantage. All things being now ready, in order to try the operation, he puts a piece of iron into the fire, and pours forth a copious blaft of wind, fufficient to have fupplied all the bagpipes in Scotland to play the Reels of Bogy for a fortnight. After about fmith takes the iron from the ten minutes nods and puffs, the fire, and lays it upon the anvil, and, by a tip of the tradle, Enoch inftantly obeyed the fignal; when unfortunately the blacksmith holding his head rather low, honeft Enoch ftruck his mafter on the face; which unlucky ftroke threw poor Vulcan on his back: after lying a few minutes he recovered a little, and prefented a moft frightful fpectacle; the gnomon of his face ftood awry, all befmeared with crimson gore. As foon as he recovered the ufe of his fpeech, he broke out into this exclamation, "G--d d-d thee Enoch, boh I'll gi' theh bonds, for theaw's foon gotten hut o'nhy prentyship weh meh; thoofe mey tay thee ot win, for I'll ha' no mooar thy farvis." Thus poor Enoch fell under irCc retrievable of wit for the punster to work upon, it may, perhaps, be confidered in fome degree entertaining to your readers to lay before them the following: fafhion changes?-Hide it, for fear of being laughed at ! Whenever an artift of taste and genius defires to give dignity to his fubject, he boldly departs from thre filly bondage of fashion, and imitates, in his painting or fculpture of the human head, the attractive fimplicity of nature. A more certain way than any of the modern inventions, to make even Shakefpeare appear ridiculous, would be, to difcover in fome old trunk his portrait queued and powdered.-We fmile at the conceit of fuch a cari Yet what the mind's true tafte confeffes to be abfurd, what would difguft us in the cold and inanimate femblance of man in marble, we adhere to in the daily practice of life; and when fome men of unfophifticated tafte, rife above the degrading folly of a bad cuftom, they are made the objects, as we fee, of every trifling punfter. For inftance: one wit fays-cature! "Confidering the quantity cut down, there are ftill great crops." Another fays" Notwithstanding the warm weather, the crops are backward. A third obferves "The crops promife well, if we may judge from the ears." While another fays, that "Though the crops looks well, there is nothing in the head;" and a moft fhrewd and cautious wag tells us, that, "To his particular knowledge, the crops will not bear thresh ing." Now, after all this wit and waggery, may we not enquire, what an obferver from the woods would think of a man with a queue?Certainly, unless in that particular colony, which Lord Montoddo so fenfibly describes, the human fi. gure was not naturally gifted with a tail. Did any man of fashion, after fitting for two hours under the hands of a frizeur, ever pause to think what sort of exhibition his head must make in the eyes of a man of nature? As to the economy of the thing, the time daily faved to the individual, and the grain thus refcued from the head for the use of the belly, these are confiderations infinitely below the notice of a jefter. There is not a fingle perfon of plain fenfe, however, who does not figh for the time when nature fhall fo far recover her af cendance in our hemifphere, as that he may be fuffered to pass along the streets like a man, and not be forced to difguife himself like a monkey! The following are an addition to the corps of crops, which I perceive were given in your Sporting Intelligence of last month: Lord Clermont Albemarle Ongley Villiers Thanet Prostitutes; a Fragment. HERE are those who main 203 and difeafe! Our legiflature has ordained laws for punishing these women, laws as cruel as they are impolitic: cruel, becaufe they are made by men-by the very feducers: cruel, because these women are not objects of punishment, but of charity and compaffion; they are impolitic, because the true end of policy is not punishment of offences, but the prevention of them. Prostitutes have very improperly been ftyled, women of pleaJure; they are women of pain, of forrow, of grief, of bitter and continual without a repentance, hope of obtaining pardon. Cut off from fociety, they become defperate yet, let it be remembered, that he whofe example fhould be followed by Chriftians, has fhewn, that their fins are to be forgiven. Yonder goes a wretch all covered with rags; the ftoops to take up a piece of toaft, that has been thrown into the street from a porter pot; the devours it with a rapacious appetite, yet her father was a religious and benevolent clergyman: he was thrown into gaol, on a fecurity he enter Ttain, that female profitutes ed info for a friend, where he died are neceffary to good order, and they argue from the neceffity, that a few fhould be facrificed for the good of the community at large. If there were not prostitutes, and brothels, fay they, no man's houfe would be facred from the violation of luft and brutality. It is thus they defend the police of those cities, where brothels are allowed, by government, aud regulated by laws. If thofe arguments be founded in wifdom, they are worthy the attention of the legislature, for public proftitution has increased, and is daily increafing, with the moft alarming enormity. What a fource of idlenefs, wickedness, of a broken heart, on hearing that his patron had debauched his daughter. A fresh looking girl of eighteen paffes her; her ruddy complexion and youth are all her qualities, and thefe an old wo. man, who hired her at a registeroffice, bartered with an old antiquated Jew for a few guineas.How languid and pale are the beautiful features of yonder woman; fhe is in the hands of bailiffs, who are dragging her to prifon : her father ferved his country, fo did her husband; but they both dead, to fupport two infants, the fold all the poffeffed: from affection to them he furrendered her virtue, furrendered it Cc 2 to 204 Swaffham Courfing Meeting. A genuine Biographical SKETCH of the Life and Adventures of Mr. R--H--D EN-L--D. (Continued from page 144.)` R. En-l-d's ftyle of living off her portable furniture, and left the remainder for the landord, slipping the key under the street door, the night previous to her embarkation for Liverpool. The meeting between Mr. En-l--d and his mistress, was very ferious, for he was the last perfon in the world he wished to fee. He had formed an amourous connexion in London. He had money fufficient to command the favours of the most elegant demireps; and his old companion could not boaft of a fingle attribute of body or mind to attract any man who had the use of his eyes and ears; befides which, the violence of her temper was truly diabolical; her affection for drink, particularly fpirits, was uncon querable; and, as the forgot all prudence on thofe occafions, there was every reafon to fuppofe fhe would difclofe Mr. En-l-d's fecrets, and perhaps exaggerate, in her rage, upon his former exploits. For thefe reafons, he refolved to get rid of the fhrew; he reafoned against her complaints, but A confiwords were ineffectual. Moon reached Dublin, and, derable fum, however, prevailed coming to the knowlede of his old mistress, the refolved to cross the feas, and vifit her lover. Neceffity, as well as affection, ftimulated her to this refolution; for, on Dick's departure, the girls, who were of the vulgar clafs, became difobedient and rebellious the bullies, the bucks, and bloods, invaded her habitation; drank her wine without paying the reckoning, bilked her nymphs, and often exercifed manual ciaftifement upon herself, till the frequency of nocturnal riots having roufed the neighbourhood, and brought down upon her the vengeance of magiftracy. To avoid punishment, the fold on her to return to Ireland, where he fupplied with brandy those fcources of tears which her griefs extracted, and, in a very fhort time, her vitals were confumed by liquid fire. Mr. En-l--d being now emancipated from the trammels of his firew, and having already acquired a confiderable fum by private play, in the arts and fcience of which he had long been a perfect adept, refolved on making a public figure on the turf, but not till he had been previoufly initiated into all the myfteries known in the arcana of jockies, grooms, and breeders, with whom he had fome time formed |