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Cock-Fighting

Again, April 6, 1668:--

'I to the new Cocke-pit by the king's gate, and there saw the
manner of it, and the mixed rabble of people that came thither,
and saw two battles of cockes, wherein is no great sport; but
only to consider how these creatures, without any provocation, do
fight and kill one another, and aim only at one another's heads!'

Up to the middle of the 18th century cock-fighting was 'all the
rage' in England. 'Cocking,' says a writer of the time, 'is a
sport or pastime so full of delight and pleasure, that I know not
any game in that respect which is to be preferred before it.'

The training of the pugnacious bird had now become a sort of art,
and this is as curious as anything about the old 'royal
diversion.' A few extracts from a treatise on the subject may be
interesting as leaves from the book of manners and customs of the
good old times.

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