’Tis a Dangerous and an Ill Natur’d Liberty, the Wonting or the
Suffering of Children to play with Birds and Flies. The Cudgelling of
_Shroving-Cocks_ is a Barbarous Custom; and so is the common License that
Roguy Boys take in the Streets, of Tearing and Tormenting of Puppies
and Kitlings. The very Sport is Cruelty; for ’tis no longer a Laughing
Matter, when the Life of a Creature comes to be concern’d. This is a
Freedom not to be endur’d, so much as in the Spectacle, but much less to
be Approv’d or Practis’d especially by those that are Born and Train’d
up to any considerable Figure in a Government: For, Hard-heartedness
in Boys, will be Brutality and Tyranny in Men. Softness and Tenderness
of Nature, are the Seeds of a Generous Humanity: Provided always that
Children be taught to distinguish betwixt a Benignity and a Facility of
Disposition, and that they may not confound Gracious with Effeminate. By
this means there may be a Foundation laid of worthy Thoughts, which will
ripen in due time into Glorious Actions and Habits, to qualifie Men for
the Honour and Service of their Country. This Foundation, I say, of a
Pious and a Virtuous Compassion, will Dispose Men afterward, instead of
adding Affliction to Affliction, and of Grinding the Faces of the Weak
and Innocent, to Minister Protection to those that are Oppressed.