him; that he never applied to a magistrate for redress, but he came to York, preferred an indictment, and obtained a Bench Warrant for his apprehension: he acknowledged himself to be a Sprig of the Law, but not in practice: he said he thought it best to get a Bench Warrant: he did not think that a magistrate would have dismissed the case; adding, "I wished to get him into custody, and thought it the best way of doing it:" that he meant to prefer two charges against him, the one for an assault, the other for a capital offence. Upon being asked who was his attorney, he replied it was his brother; and that he advised him to proceed in the manner which he had done, and to bring the capital charge: he said his father had not advised him to it, or told him the nature of the charge he was to bring, but told him to go to York. The prosecu tor, after a good deal of hesitation, at last acknowledged, he remembered Mr. Gomersall's pulling up a gate, believing he had a right to make a road, and that there was a law-suit about it: that the families had not visited for some years: that he did not think of preferring the capital charge until he had consulted his father and brother. Upon being asked by Mr. Raine, whe ther there were any other words than those he had already stated to have passed at the time the prisoner and he met, he replied, "he called me a puppy," and I called him "a mongrel:" he was then abusing me about my dress, and I asked him "what sort of a gentleman he was with his blue fingers," (the prisoner is by trade a dyer); he persisted that he did not mean that expression as a taunt, but as a compliment, if the prisoner chose to take it. Upon being asked if he was afraid at the time the prisoner kicked him, he said he was. Upon being again asked, what could induce him to follow the prisoner if he was afraid? he said, "I followed him, because I was afraid he would do me some mischief." The judge now the second time wished the case to go to the jury, saying, that Mr. Raine had obtained all necessary facts to enable the prisoner to seek for the redress which he alluded to. He then addressed the jury by saying, that the present prosecution was certainly a most groundless and malicious one; that the attorney who advised it was very blameable in so doing, especially in the case of his own brother, and that they must acquit the prisoner, which they instantly did; and upon Mr. Raine's putting up his brief, he said, that in the whole course of his practice he had never before met with a case so malicious and infamous as the present. Counsel for the prosecution, Mr. Topping, Mr. Holroyd: for the prisoner, Mr. Raine, Mr. Scarlet. Attorney, Mr. Carr, Birstal. AFTER the above trial, the following letter was published, dated Gomersall, March 27, 1805.-"To the Editor of the York Herald.-Sir, —As I was not called on upon the trial of a criminal prosecution which took place against me at the last assize, to make any defence thereto, and consequently had no opportunity of personally vindicating my character from the foul charge imputed to me, I now transmit to you, for the perusal of a discerning public, my own exculpatory affidavit. "As my acquittal took place on the prosecutor's own evidence only, and as the matter would have been dismissed dismissed at a still earlier stage of the business, had it not been protracted by my own counsel, for the purpose of affording me, in the exposure of so groundless a charge, some redress for this frivolous and vexatious proceeding, I feel myself the more justified in making this appeal to your candour and that of the public. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM GOMERSALL." "WEST-Riding of Yorkshire, to wit:-William Gomersall, of Gomersall, in the said Riding, dyer, maketh oath and saith, That at the last Yorkshire assizes, he, this deponent, was indicted and tried for wilfully and maliciously shooting at Benjamin Fearnley the younger, of Oakwell-Hall, within the township of Gomersall, on the 7th day of this instant, March. And this deponent further saith, that he did not, on the said 7th day of March, or at any other time, shoot at the said Benjamin Fearnley, nor did he ever threaten or attempt to shoot at him the said Benjamin Fearnley in any manner whatsoever. WILLIAM GOMERSALL." "SWORN at Riding, within the Riding aforesaid, the 27th day of March, 1805, before me one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said Riding. RICHARD WALKER." SOCIETY FOR SUPPRESSING to animals terference. One instance of systėmatic brutality, in which they have interfered with effect, deserves par. ticular notice The Society having been inform→ ed that the practice of bear-baiting was carried on, with the most savage ferocity, at a house in BlackBoy-alley, Chick-lane, found upon investigation, that this sport was, on one occasion, attended with the following circumstances : The bear was confined by a chain fixed in the wall, and dogs were from time to time let loose upon him, the number of which, in reserve, it was supposed, amounted to fifty. The poor animal was not suffered to rest, but, when worn out with fatigue, was again forced to exertion, by the application of some pungent liquid to his wounds. This inhuman mode of stimulating him to action, was frequently repeated: in addition to which, it was observed, that a glass of spirits was occasionally administered to him. This brutal sport was continued for some hours with the same animal, At one of these meetings, the bear, being found too powerful for the dos, was fastened to the floor, and his teeth were half sawn off. A supply of these victims of cruelty is easily obtained, as they are known to be bred in the, vicinity of the metropolis. Badgers were also baited at the same place. Cruelties similar to those here described, frequently occur at that no less inhuman sport, called bull-baiting. On such occasions it is not unusual for the poor animal to be so exhausted with wounds and fatigue, as to be unable to in the evening, though THE cases of cruelty within the subjected on the road to fresh tor knowledge of the Society, are not numerous, but such as have been communicated to them have not inefficaciously called forth their in tures, to the place whence he was It farther 4 ther appeared that the above place was opened for the same purpose every night of the week except Saturday, and that sixpence was taken of each person for admittance. LEAVING these instances of cruelty to advert to that of another species: respecting the horrid cruelty of the Nackers, we have been informed and we wish the Society, or any other person, could ascertain the extent of the fact-that at some, or most of the places, where aged and disabled horses are usually taken to be killed, these wretched and most pitiable quadrupeds are frequently suffered to stand tied up, without any food, and waiting in vain for the charitable stroke of death, two or three days at a stretch; during which time the once noble animals are not unfrequently reduced to the sad necessity of knawing the posts, the wall, and even their own flesh; because it is not a custom with the inhuman beings to whom they are consigned to take the earliest opportunity of putting them out of their misery. PATENT IMPROVEMENT UPON FIREARMS, &c. There is also a great advantage in pitching the axle-hole in the cock plate higher than usual, which gives the cock a great power and regularity in striking and cutting the hammer. This patent also describes a new method of taking the lock to pieces to clean, without taking out any screws. This is performed by a centre pin that forms the axle through the bridles and tumbler: when drawn out, the cock and the tumbler come out together, in one piece, through the upper part of the plate, and the lock may be put in its place, properly fixed as before, in two or three seconds; a considerable advantage, as the persons who take the locks to pieces very seldom put them together right. The patent also specifies a new method of priming, which is done by means of an opening at the front of the hammer and pan, with a cover fixed on the hammer, and a spring to open and shut like the hammer. By this method, there is no danger of putting in' too much or too little powder when the hammer is shut: also an improved pan and hammer to expel the damp and water. The improved hammer is intended to prevent the great and frequent disappointment of missing fire. Mr. Egg makes it in two pieces: the whole face of it of the purest steel, and so constructed as that it may Granted to Mr. Durs Egg, Gun-maker, of be put on the rest of the hainmer, in St. Martin's Parish, Westminster. THE great advantage in these improvements upon the lock for fire-arms in general, consists in a much superior degree of celerity in its action, and in the nature of its construction; the centre axle being much smaller on the tumbler, which is supported by, and acts in a second bridle, that passes over the cock, fixed on the outside of the lock. different ways, and may be well hardened on or off. The hammer seat to be lined with copper, and the fence that joins against the barrel to have a double arch to guide the water on each side of the pan, which will prevent the water getting to the powder in the pan. The patent also enumerates various other im provements; such as a new way to load all sorts of fire-arms at the breech, quicker and easier than can be be done by the former methods, and vague, and in many cases so directly in opposition to well known facts; and these opinions have such extensive influence on almost every subject that has a reference to animated nature, that I have thought it proper to begin this branch of our recreations with some elucidations respecting it. In the science of natural history, philosophers have found it expedient to arrange objects first under a few grand divisions, and then to divide, and afterwards subdivide these in the following manner. The most general divisions are called classes; each class is again divided into several lesser parts, which are called orders; each order contains a certain number of genera; each genus consists of several species; and each species contains certain varieties, which is the smallest subdivision that they have taken notice of. It is this lowest link of their chain of classification which will form the subject of our present disquisition. That there are many varieties of most species of animals is well known; and as many of these varieties, especially among domesticated animals, readily intercopulate with each other, and produce a mixed race, participating of the qualities of both parents, it necessarily must happen, that in cases where they are suffered to intermix together, the descendants of an animal of one of these varieties is very different from that of the parent race. This fact having been remarked, has given rise to an opinion that there has been originally but one pair of animals of each species, and that all the varieties we now discover of the same species. have been produced by accidentaj circumstances only, such as a varia tion of climate, of food, or of some other other extraneous peculiarity; and that, of course, one variety may be transmuted into another without any intermixture of blood, purely by a change of circumstances only. This doctrine being once admitted, the inferences which necessarily result from it have proved highly detrimental to the practice of individuals in their attempts to improve the breed of domestic animals; as it tends, in as far as that doctrine is believed, to turn the attention of men from fixed and certain principles, to others that are vague and erroneous, which tend only to puzzle and confound the mind, and leave it in perpetual darkness and uncertainty. The boldest assertor of the doctrine, that all the varieties of every species of animal are derived from one common stock, is the celebrated Button, who, instead of searching for proofs to support his hypothesis, contents himself with mere assertions, uttered with as much confidence as if the matter had been before proved beyond a possibility of doubt; and he takes as the subject for his illustration the dog kind, though the varieties of this species are more distinctly marked than those of perhaps any other animal with which we are intimately acquainted. He says, that the shepherd's dog--a variety of the canine species, by the bye, which cannot be so distinctly recognised as many other kinds-is the original stock from which the greyhound, the spaniel, the pointer, the harrier, the bull dog, the lap dog, the mastiff, the terrier, and every other variety, are all directly produced; and he even goes so far as to specify the means that are necessary to be adopted for producing these changes. But if it were true that a change of climate affected an animal to such a degree as this hypothesis supposes, it would be impossible that any person existing should not have had opportunities of observing very striking instances of that kind: while instead of this, the most direct proofs of the contrary must have fallen within the observation of every man in the kngdom, in respect to the very animal that he has selected for illustration. The dog is a favoured domestic; he attaches himself to his master, and follows him wherever he goes. He is thus carried through all the climates of the globe, under the immediate controul and inspection of man; and no instance hath ever been known in which an individual dog has ever thus experienced any material change in his external form, far less in his internal qualities. If a smooth-haired Spanish pointer, for instance, be carried to the torrid or the frozen zone, from Kamtschatka through the whole extent of Asia and Europe into America, he is the same smooth-haired dog every where; and his master recognises him for the same creature at the first glance: but if the pile of its hair and external appearance be not altered, far less is the animal changed in its other qualities: it still scents the game in the way peculiar to that kind of dog; it does not, like the greyhound, pursue it by the eye; it does not, like the hound, burst forth in sonorous howling when it feels the scent strong; this variety of the dog kind steals upon its prey with extreme caution and circumspection. These qualities it possessed at its birth, and these qualities it retains till its dying hour, in spite of any change of climate or kind of food it may be made to experience. The same thing may be said of every other kind of dog. kind of dog. The English bull-dog displayed |