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Rev. William Bingley

Mr. Bingley has collected, and brought under one point of view, the natural, moral, and domestic History of the brute Creation, with a view not only of proving their valuable or interesting qualities, as they respect ourselves and each other, but to impress upon our minds the moral and divine obligation we are under to treat them in life and at death with becoming humanity.¹

1803 | Rev. William Bingley, Animal Biography; Or, Anecdotes of the Lives, Manners, and Economy, of the Animal Creation, Arranged According to the System of Linnaeus, in Three Volumes [Volume 1 Quadrupeds, Volume 2 Volume 3] (London, 1803); Online at Google Books.

Animal Biography

Quadrupeds— On the Study of Nature

That thoughtless cruelty which we now so frequently observe toward the inferior orders of created beings, would scarcely be know, could we but teach mankind that the same God "who gives its lustre to an insects's wing" ordains with it a right to life and happiness as well as ourselves; and that wantonly to deprive it of these is an offence against His works who formed nothing in vain.— An attention to Nature from childhood would also contribute greatly to the happiness of mankind in general, and to that of females in particular, be enabling them to overcome all those fears and vulgar prejudices which have commonly attached to some of the smaller quadrupeds, and to the reptile and insect tribes. They would then possess no greater repugnance towards handling a Lizard, a Beetle, or a Spider, than they now do in that of a Bird, or a Flower.

1809 | William Bingley, Memoirs of British Quadrupeds, Illustrative Principally of Their Habits of Life, Instincts, Sagacity and Uses to Mankind, Arranged According to the System of Linnaeus (London, 1809); Online at Google Books.

Memoirs of British Quadrupeds

The Common Ox

The baiting of Bulls, as it is called, that is, the chaining of them to a stake or ring, to be torn in pieces by Dogs trained for the purpose, is pursued in some few of the English towns, with a degree of savage ferocity which reflects the highest disgrace on a civilized and Christian country. It is a detestable practice, which ought by all means to be abolished, since, (without any consideration for the sufferings of a tormented animal,) its evident tendency is to corrupt the heart, and steel it against every proper feeling of humanity. Its origin is supposed to have been derived from an ancient custom, in the manor of Tutbury, in Staffordshire. A Bull was given annually, in the month of August, by the prior of Tutbury, to the minstrels. After undergoing the torture of having his horns cut, his ears ears and tail cropped to the very stumps, and his nostrils filled with pepper, his body was besmeared with soap; and, in that pitiable state, he was turned loose in order to be hunted. This was denominated bull-running; and if the Bull was caught, or held so long that a person could pull off some of his hair, he was then tied to the stake and baited. The anecdotes of wanton cruelty that have been related of this brutal sport, are, indeed, such as would even disgrace the most ferocious of those nations which we stigmatise by the name of savages. But, when we reflect on the innumerable advantages which mankind derive from these animals; that they actually yield us more services than any other race of animals we possess; every repetition of their torture ought to be considered, in another point of view, as a shameful proof of the most treacherous and cowardly ingratitude.

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1 1809-Jun | review of "The Speech [of Lord Erskine] in the House of Peers on the Second Reading of the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals [1809-May-15]," Gentlemans' Magagine 27 (1809-Jul): 545-549.