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PREFACE.

THE following Discourses comprehend the substance of a Discourse on 66 The Duties of Man to the Brute Creation, preached before the University of Cambridge, on Sunday, May 8th, 1796, in the afternoon." It happened to be upon one of the visits of Prince William of Gloucester (our present Chancellor) to the University, after he had ceased to reside. The subject was then considered by many as trifling, and beneath the dignity of the pulpit, and especially that of the University. It was suggested to the preacher by the repeated perusal of Cowper's Task. Much has been done since, however, to

interest the minds of the public at large on the subject. The cause of the Brute Creation has been repeatedly before Parliament, and has been a theme for the eloquence of Lord Erskine. An annual sermon has been founded at Bath, in behalf of the Animal Creation, and another at Southampton: a society has been established at Liverpool, for the express purpose of preventing cruelty to Brute Creatures; and it is, also, one of the objects of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Several valuable works have been published on the subject: amongst which must be mentioned Mr. Young's Essay on Humanity to Animals, published in 1798; several of the Sermons* preached at the before-mentioned

* By the Rev. Charles Daubeny, the Rev. Leigh Richmond, and the Rev. Richard Mant. There is,

places; and, also, one preached by Dr. Barry, at Reading; and, though last, not least, Mr. Pratt's Poem of the Lower World. Should these Discourses, thus expanded and revised, tend to promote the same good cause, the author will account himself happy and honoured in his work.

Great Gransden Vicarage,
November 1st, 1815.

also, an excellent little tract, published by Rivingtons, &c. price 3d. entitled, "Thoughts on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to the Brute Creation," taken from an 8vo. volume on the same subject, by Dr. Primatt, published in 1776. With these, also, should be mentioned Mr. Parkinson's 66 Dangerous Sports ;" and, in a very humble way, The Vocal Repository Tract, entitled, ▲ Word for the Dumb.

Three Discourses

ON

THE ANIMAL CREATION.

GENESIS I. 26.

And God said, Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

IT is my intention, in this and the two following discourses, to take occasion, from the words of the text, to set before you the case of the brute creation, the uses which, man is permitted to make of them, and his duties towards them. In the present discourse, I

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