First stage of cruelty [graphic]Hogarth, William, 1697-1764, printmakerpublished according to act of Parliament, Feb. 1, 1751 [that is, between 1790 and 1835]engIn a London street, young boys inflict various forms of cruelty upon animals. In the centre, a boy (Tom Nero), identifiable by the badge on his shoulder as a pupil of St. Giles's Parish School, thrusts an arrow into a dog's anus; he ignores the offer of a large tart from a sympathetic young gentleman (said by Paulson to be a compliment to the young George III). To his left on the front of the balustrade, a boy draws a prophetic picture of Tom hanging from the gallows. Below Tom, another boy ties a bone to a dog's tail. In the lower left, a dog disembowels a cat. In the center foreground another boy kneels on the cobblestones, about to release a cock, as another boy prepares to a stick at it; the boy behind him holds a second cock. On the balustrade one boy holds a torch while his companion blinds a bird with a wire. Further to the left on the balustrade a group of boys laugh at the sight of two cats fight as they are hung by their tails from a gibbet-shaped lamp post. Above them a cat with a pair of wings tied to its back has been tossed out the attic window to see if it could flyTitle engraved above image.State from Paulson.Second state, with price mostly burnished from plate. This state of the plate was first issued in The original works of William Hogarth (London : Sold by John and Josiah Boydell, 1790). It was reissued, with some lines strengthened by the engraver James Heath, in The works of William Hogarth (London : Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy ..., 1822); another edition was published by Baldwin & Cradock in 1835. See Paulson.First in a series of four: The four stages of cruelty.Quotation engraved below image: "While various scenes of sportive woe, the infant race employ, and tortur'd victims bleeding shew, the tyrant in the boy. Behold! A youth of gentler heart, to spare the creature's pain. O take, he cries - take all my tart, but tears and tart are vain. Learn from this fair example - you whom savage sports delight, how cruelty disgusts the view while pity charms the sight."Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Prevention of cruelty to animals.