Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/98

Rh (if done at all) by the butcher and ﬁshmonger. Here too, as in hunting, the skill of the sportsman lends to the sport a seeming charm, which it would not otherwise possess. Yet the essential point of the sport does not lie in this exercise of skill, but in the fact that the animal's life is at stake. Sport is none the less sport when enjoyed by the poor man, who clumsily “pots" a blackbird, than by a noble lord, who dexterously brings down a snipe or woodcock. However brutal and degrading a habit may be, there is sure to be no lack of skill in carrying it into effect, when it once becomes systematised and established as a regular practice ; but it is absurd in the highest degree to argue that because there is such skill, the habit itself is justifiable. The sport of bull-ﬁghting, if introduced into England, would no doubt increase the activity and agility of those engaged in it ; yet even the dullest country gentleman would protest against so detestable a custom. We read in French history that during the Huguenot and Catholic wars, when there were savage reprisals on both sides, the young nobles had become so accustomed to bloodshed, that they made a fashion of ferocity, and practised