Rowland Hill
Journal of a Tour through England and Scotland
Observations and Remarks
1799」Rowland Hill, Journal of a Tour through the North of England, and Parts of Scotland, with Remarks from the Present State of the Established Church of Scotland「Google Books」, and the Different Secessions Therefrom, Together with Reflections on some Party Distinctions in England: Shewing the Origin of these Disputes and the Causes of their Separation, Designed to Promote Brotherly Love and Forbearance among Christians of all Denominations, also Some Remarks on the Propriety of what is called Lay and Itinerant Preaching (London, 1799).
An uncommon degree of odium is fixed to the existence of a toad: they are supposed to be poisonous. This is quite a vulgar error; they are useful reptiles, for they destroy innumerable insects, and are even capable of the knowledge of our attention and humanity. It is wonton cruelty to destroy them. In my country abode, I even attempted to make them a place of retirement and called it a toadery. Every creature that God has sent, we should protect, and in a subordinate degree they demand our attention. …it is no disgrace to the Christian character, to plead the persecuted cause of the harmless toad. (86-7)
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“Mr. Hill was also ‘merciful to his beast.’ His horses were his constant care. Even his domestic cat, and other creatures, shared largely in his daily regards” Vernon J. Charlesworth, Rowland Hill: His Life, Anecdotes, and Pulpit Sayings (London, 1876; Google Books: Online Library of Free eBooks) 99.
