Quote:
So long as men are compassionate to such a degree that they cannot hear a fly
struggling in a spider's web without emotion it can never be reasonbably maintained
that it is their natural impulse to wound and kill the dumb animals, or to butcher
one another in what is called the field of honour. - The Return to Nature (as
quoted in The Extended Circle by Jon Wynne-Tyson)
In 1812, through William Godwin's son, Shelley met John Frank Newton, the author
of "The Return to Nature" which strongly advocated the vegetarian
diet. Newton was a highly educated person who had formerly been at Christ Church
College Oxford and intended to write three more books on vegetarianism. The
Shelleys were influenced by his vegetarian views and adopted them in 1812. Later
they admitted that their health had improved and that they felt much better.
- extract from Shelley and Vegetarianism, A brief study of the English poet's
attitude to vegetarianism by Mihaela Mudure of Romania