Note 434 — Chapter XIV

Macaulay says: "If the Puritans suppressed bull-baiting it was not because it gave pain to the bull, but because it gave pleasure to spectators." Is this a fair statement? I do not discover in Scobell any act or ordinance against bull-baiting at all. There is one against cock-fighting, and the reason alleged for suppressing the practice is, that it disturbed the public peace, and was connected with dissolute practices to the dishonour of God. The prohibition of races, and the grounds of the prohibition, have been already noticed.