it 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.

The most minute details are given as to the selection of fighting-cocks,
the breeding of game cocks, and 'the dieting and ordering a cock for
battle.' Under this last head we read:--'In the morning take him out of
the pen, and let him spar a while with another cock. Sparring is after
this manner. Cover each of your cock's heels with a pair of hots made
of bombasted rolls of leather, so covering the spurs that they cannot
bruise or wound one another, and so setting them down on straw in a
room, or green grass abroad; let them fight a good while, but by no
means suffer them to draw blood of one another. The benefit that accrues
hereby is this: it heateth and chafeth their bodies, and it breaketh
the fat and glut that is within them. Having sparred as much as is
sufficient, which you may know when you see them pant and grow weary,
then take them up, and, taking off their hots, give them a diaphoretic
or sweating, after this manner. You must put them in deep straw-baskets,
made for this purpose, and fill these with straw half way, then put in
your cocks severally, and cover them over with straw to the top; then
shut down the lids, and let them sweat; but don't forget to give them
first some white sugar-candy, chopped rosemary, and butter, mingled
and incorporated together. Let the quantity be about the bigness of a
walnut; by so doing you will cleanse him of his grease, increase his
strength, and prolong his breath. Towards four or five o'clock in the
evening take them out of their stoves, and, having licked their eyes and
head with your tongue, and put them into their pens, and having filled
their throats with s