locks, and cats,
the persons convicted being "of low estate." Yet there follows the
fact of _a respectable woman_ boiling a cat to death! and next is this
quotation from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April, 1789:--

"Died, April 4, at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq.; a young man of
large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses
rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality,
where it may be said he sacrificed too much to conviviality. Mr.
Ardesoif was fond of cock-fighting, and he had a favourite cock upon
which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he made upon
this cock he lost; which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied
to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were
present attempted to interfere, which so exasperated Mr. Ardesoif,
that he seized the poker; and, with the most furious vehemence,
declared that he would kill the first man who interfered; but, in the
midst of his passionate assertions, he fell down dead upon the spot!"

If we be asked whether it be proper to regard _all_ such dispensations
as judicial inflictions, we reply in the words of Cowper above:

"'Tis not for us, with rash surmise,
To point the judgments of the skies,
But judgments _plain as this_,
That, sent for man's instruction, bring
A written label on their wing,
'Tis hard to read amiss."

[A contribution full of touching simplicity follows:]

THE WORM.

Turn, turn, thy hasty foot aside
Nor crush that helpless worm;
The frame thy wayward looks deride,
Required a God to form.

The common Lord of all that move,
From whom thy being flowed,
A portion of his boundless love
On that poor worm bestowed.

The sun, the moon, the stars, he made
To all his creatures free;
And spread o'er earth the grassy blade
For worms as well as thee.

Let them enjoy their little day,
Their lowly hiss receive;
Oh! do not lightly take away
The life thou canst not give.

Here we may remark, that much wanton cruelty has been abolished by the
extended education of the people. Brutal sports among boys are much
less indulged than formerly, and the worrying of domestic animals
almost invariably denotes a _bad boy_, in the worst sense of the
phrase, likely to make a bad man; "so true to nature is the admirable
aphorism of Wordsworth:--

The boy's