Part 1
THE _ROYAL PASTIME_ OF Cock-fighting,
OR
The Art of Breeding, Feeding, Fighting, and Curing Cocks of the Game.
Published purely for the good, and benefit of all such as take Delight in that Royal, and Warlike Sport.
To which is Prefixed,
A short Treatise, wherein Cocking is proved not only Ancient and Honourable, but also Useful, and Profitable.
By _R. H._ a Lover of the Sport, And a Friend to such as delight in Military Discipline.
_Quem recitas meus est, O Fidentine Libellus, Sed male cum recitas incipit esse tuus_.
_LONDON_: Printed for _D. Brown_, at the Black Swan without _Temple-bar_, and _T. Ballard_, at the Rising-Sun in _Little-britain_. 1709.
To the Right Worshipful Sir _T. V._ Knight.
_Worthy Sir_,
I Presume I need not here insist upon the long acquaintance, and friendship that has passed betwixt us, to press you to the Patronage of this little BOOK, when there are so many other considerations that in a manner force it upon you, as having a certain right to it; _Cocking_ being not only to you a hereditary Divertisment, which for many Ages together has by your Valiant Ancestors been carefully handed down to their Posterity, with marks of the greatest love and Honour imaginable, as when your loyal Grand-father lay Bleeding and Dying on his Turfey Beed, was thus (like a good Subject) heard to say, _My King and a good Cock I ever loved, and like a good Cock in my dread Sovereign’s service I shall now expire._
Also your Prudent Father and both your Uncles from their Infancy were great admirers of the Noble _Science_ of Cocking.
And you your self in the Morning of your Days, took to the Royal Sport, and closely followed it for many Years: even till mighty _William_ call’d you forth to signalize your Vallor in the Bloody Irish Fields of _Athlone_, and _Cannough_, where you cut through the Squadrons of the affrighted French, and made the Howling _Teagues_ fly to the Boggs for shelter.
And after this, you in the very depth of Winter, crost those dangerous _Atlantic_ Seas, came home, and with your Friends and Tenants your good Neighbours, and old Acquaintance that flocked about you to your Mannor-house, where you a noble Christmas kept, the Rich you highly treated, and the Poor were daily at your Gates relieved: each Rank according to their Quality you kindly entertained; till Spring approaching, and the rude allarms of War once more required you to take up Arms and fit your self for _Flanders_.
A Fatal Pit to many a Gallant Cock, a Bloody Spot of Ireful Ground, on which the fierce _Bellona’s_ Shambles stands: Hither you early came prepared for Fight, and first at _Charleroy_ you dy’d your Sword in Gallic Blood, and with your Flaming Blade, cut your own way straight to _Gemblours_, from whence to _Charlemont_ you forced the _French_ to Fly.
And last of all before _Namure_; what mighty Vallour did you there display? a Limb you lost, yet limping still Fought on, and charged as unconcern’d as if you had had no Wound upon you, untill his Majesty was Pleased to give particuler orders to have you brought off, and sent to _Bredah_, where long you lay under the Surgeon’s Hands e’er you obtained a Cure: after which Winter coming on, the Camp broke up, and the Armies on both sides were sent to their Winter-quarters, and his Majesty King _William_ returned to the _Hague_ where you at last also arrived with Crutches, and there laid down your Arms, kiss’d the King’s Hand, and had a good Place at Court conferred upon you in the room of your Commission.
So that now you only wait at certain times, for which you are well rewarded, and have the Liberty of retiring to your Pleasant Country Seat, where now you spend most of your time amongst your Friends, and old Acquaintance, and reap the Comforts of a rural life, amidst two or three Loyal toping Souls, many good Cocks, and rich _October_ Liquor: with which you oft times guild the good old Doctor’s Nose, and raise the Pious Preachers Voice six Notes higher in the Afternoon, than in the Morning.
For though you daily take your Bottle, and Cock, as long as the Season lasts, yet you ne’er fail to attend the Man of God, when Sunday comes, early you to the Temple Ride, and there before the Alter offer up your Orizons with all the fervency immaginable, and in the Afternoon, when by the Sexton call’d, you bring the Priest back in your Coach well refreshed by a good Dinner, and a cheerful grace-cup after it, which enables him to perform Evening service briskly, and with a Laudable Voice pronounce a Blessing on you when the Vesper’s over.
Nor do your Tennants and poor Neighbours fail to pray for your long Life, and good success in Cocking, the only Sport you take delight in: And to speak Truth, you may really be said to be the only person of this present Age, that Practises _Cocking_ rightly, and follows it purely for the end it was at first intended.
And therefore it was truly that I thought there was no Person so fit as you, to be the Patron of this ensuing Treatise; wherein I have not only made common to the World the many and different ways of _Breeding_, _Feeding_, and _Fighting_ both of the great, or Game Cock (as we call them) and of the little Match-Cock also, with the several Diseases incident to them, and the most approved Medicines that are now made use of, both to prevent, and cure each Mallady, and that by the ablest Cock-masters at this Day in the known World.
I have also proved Cocking to be both Ancient and Honourable, and to the present Age (if rightly made use of) greatly profitable, and have plainly laid open the Malice and Ignorance of all such as endeavour to villify, and bespatter it, shewing the Weakness of their Arguments, and the true Motives that engage them to speak against Cocking.
And though some may think me too Copious in Etimologizing upon the right end, and use of this most Ancient and Honourable Exercise of Cocking, whilst others no less blame me for exposing to Plebeian view, those Misteries in Breeding, and Dieting, which commonly cost young Gamsters so dear, e’er they arrive at the true knowledge of.
But to pass by such as these, and give the World to understand that I have no other end in Publishing this ensuing Treatise, but meerly, and purely to promote the Noble and most Heroic Exercise of Cocking: And at the same time to acknowledge my self, most Worthy Sir, your Worship’s most Real, and most faithful Friend, and Fellow Cocker
_R. H._
THE PREFACE.
_How happy were those Sons of Men, who in times past were reputed Persons indued with that noble Gift_, aut facere scribenda, aut scribere legenda, _that is, either to do such things as deserved to be writ, or to write that which was worth the reading: Now that this ensuing Treatise is worth the reading, and practising too, notwithstanding the little Esteem and Value, that the present Age affords it, I shall endeavour to prove both from the great Antiquity, and Usefulness of this noble Sport of Cocking: A thing esteem’d so Sacred, and held in such high Veneration amongst the Antients, that, as_ Diodorus Siculus _testifies, the Fighting-Cock was reckon’d one of the principal Gods worshiped by the_ Syrians.
[Sidenote: Diodor. Sicul. _lib._ 1. 18. R. Da. non diffentit.]
[Sidenote: Athenæ. Diosco. _lib._ 4.]
_And_ Rabby David, _a learned Hebrew Doctor, interpreting the_ 2 _of_ Kings ch. 17. v. 30, 31. _where_ Nergal _is spoken, of which is (as he says) a Cock of the Field, a Champion Cock, a Cock for War, or a Fighting Cock, and by them there Worshiped as a God in_ Samaria. _Which at once denotes the high Esteem and Value, with the great Antiquity also, of these Warlike Birds. And_ Athenæus _and_ Dioscorides, _both of them acknowledge the Fighting-Cock to be one of the Deities which the antient_ Greeks _did greatly Adore. And that in their time there was an Altar found in a Vault far under Ground, whereon had been engraven’d a Cock, and inscribed thus_
DEO MOUNO.
[Sidenote: Macro. _lib._ 1. c. 31.]
_Which, as_ Macrobius _also affirms, signifies One, or Only; and this Attribute they gave to the Cock, because he was the greatest, and almost the only Deity they Ador’d, the rest being accounted but his Assistants, and Coadjutors._
_And_ Pliny _in the tenth Book of his Natural History, sufficiently sets forth at large, the high and mighty Value and Respect that the antient Romans bore towards Fighting-Cocks, says he there_:
[Sidenote: Plin. _chap._ 21.]
These Birds about our Houses are our Centinels by Night, Nature has Created them to awaken and call Men up to do their Work; they have also a Sence and Understanding of Glory: Moreover, they are Astronomers, and know the Course of the Stars, they divide the Day by their Crowing, from three Hours to three Hours; when the Sun goes to Rest, they go to Roost: And like Centinels, they keep the Relief of the Fourth Watch; in the Camp they call Men up to their careful Labour and Travel: They will not suffer the Sun to rise and steal upon us, but they give us warning of it: By their Crowing, they tell us the Day is coming, and they foretel their Crowing likewise, by clapping their Sides with their Wings. Ye shall see them to march Stately, carrying their Neck bolt upright, with a Comb on their Heads, like the Crest of a Soldiers Helmet; and there is not a Bird besides himself that so oft looketh aloft to the Sun and Sky; and hereupon it is that marching thus Proudly as they do, the very Lyons (which of all wild Beasts be most Couragious) stand in Fear and Awe of them, and will not abide the sight of them.
_So that hence may be inferred the great Use and Benefit that the Romans made of these vigilant Astronomical Monitors; Experience plainly taught them, what would be difficult to make some now-a-days to believe, Namely, that the Fighting-Cock is a Bird in himself both useful and profitable, as I shall prove more fully anon, to the silencing of all those whom Ignorance prompts to say any thing against it, for you know the abuse of a thing should not take away the right use of it; and if so, I don’t doubt but to clear the Point, against any one that shall oppose me herein; but before I leave this famous Philosopher, see here what_ Plinie _yet farther says of Fighting-Cocks_: —They are great Commanders, _says he_, and Rulers, and are made for War and Fighting; and the Countries from whence they first came, are grown into Name, being much renowned for their Breed, as namely, _Tenagra_ and _Rhodus_ in the first and highest Degree: in a second rank and place, be those of _Melos_ and _Chalcis_. And unto these Birds (for their Worth and Dignity) the Purple Robe at _Rome_, and all Magistrates of State disdain not to give Honour. These rule our great Rulers every Day: And there is not a mighty Lord or State of _Rome_, that dare open or shut the Door of his House, before he knows the good Pleasure of these Fowles: And that which is more, the Soveraign Magistrate in his Majestie of the Roman Empire, with the regal Ensigns of Rods and Axes, carried before him, neither sets he forward, nor reculeth back, without Direction from these Birds; they give order to whole Armies to Advance forth to Battle, and again command them to stay and keep within the Camp.
These were they (_says_ Plinie) that gave the Signal, and foretold the issue of all those Famous Foughten Fields, whereby we have Atchieved all our Victories throughout the whole World: In one Word, these Birds command those Great Commanders of all Nations upon the Earth.
Their Crowing out of Order too soon before their Hour, or too late, portendeth also, and presageth something remarkable, for well known it is, that by their Crowing at one time all Night long, they foresignified to the _Bœotians_, that noble Victory of theirs atchieved over the _Lacedemonians_. For this Interpretation, and Conjecture was given thereupon of a Fortunate Day (_says_ Plinie) because that Bird never Croweth if he be Beaten or Overcome.
And at _Pergamus_ every Year there is a solemn shew, exhibited openly to the People, of Cock-Fighting, as if Sword-Fencers were brought within the Lists to Fight at Outterance.
[Sidenote: Vid. Pur. Pil. cap. 16. pag. 329.]
_And_ Strabo, _in_ Purchases _Pilgrimage, extolling the Great and Royal exercise of Cocking, whence so many Benefits accrue to Mankind, if well observed, says also, that at_ Pergamus _there was yearly Spectacles of Cock-Fighting offered where the Princes, Nobles and Gentlemen both old and young were sure to be, for as much as from hence they gathered not only and barely Courage and Audacity: But also did see the great necessity of a firm unshaken Resolution, with Perseverance and Stability of mind, even to the last Minute: So that by the Example of these unparallel’d Birds, the People in those Days were extimulated and spurred on to Great and Generous Enterprizes._
[Sidenote: Vid. Melon. lib. 2. cap. 9.]
_Nor did the_ Roman Empire _shrink so long as Cocking was esteem’d in_ Rome. _And ’tis reported of that Subtle, and most Victorious Emperor_ Severus, _that when he was determin’d to Conquer_ (_if possible_) Great Britain, _that to draw off his two Sons_ Antonine _and_ Geta, _from the Bewitching Vanities of the Theatre, and to prepare them in Mind the better to bear the many difficulties and hardships, that they must of Necessity undergo in the Prosecution of so great and bloody an Enterprize, as the subduing even_ Thule _itself, which was then deemed the utmost Region of the_ North; _he commands the Sport of Cock-Fighting, to be exhibited Dayly before his Sons, and the principal Officers of his Army, and that not only to make them emulous of Glory through the Performance of great Atchievements, but also to be firm and unshaken in the midst of Dangers, nay in Death itself._
_And really were Cocking now-a-days exhibited to the People of this present Age wherein we live, by the supream Powers and Potentates of the World, for political ends. And certain Orators appointed at the same time to Comment thereupon, and in florid Speeches, Ductarious to War, and Marshal Exercises, and insinuating into the People the great magnanimous Temper and Disposition of these Heroic Birds, with variety of Inferences drawn from particular Passages and the great Essays that they discover to a judicious Eye, in their way and manner of Fighting. I Question not but Cocking would now produce as good Effects as then it did, and influence the_ British _Valour to greater Things, than ever_ Roman _Courage yet dared to Attempt._
_Some Instances of this Practice, the Ingenious_ Nocoli-di-Conti _has given in his History of_ Sumatra. _This Kingdom is not only one of the greatest, but is also the most esteemed of all the Eastern Islands, insomuch that the Indians call it_ Tenarisem, _or the delicious Land._
_And for the Inhabitants, if we may credit, not only_ Di-Conti, _but also Sir_ Ed. Michelborne _and Sir_ James Lancaster, _Men of Renown in Queen_ Elizabeth_’s Days, and Famed for their Valour and great Integrity; these Knights, both of them, averr the_ Sumatrans _to be a People truly Valiant and Magnanimous, and not only more Subtle and Politic, but also much more Just and Honest than any other of the_ Indians _whatsoever._
_None so much loved and courted, none so much by Enemies feared and dreaded, throughout all the_ East, _as_ Sumatrans: _where particular care is taken for the promotion of Cocking; for they annex stately Buildings to their Fanes and Temples, where they keep at public Charge, divers Fighting Cocks, which are brought forth, as the People come to Worship, and are fought in a spacious Court Eastward, on the Right-Hand of the Door of the House of their Gods: after which a certain Priest skilled in Cocking, and approved for his great Ability in Astronomy, and all natural Philosophy, having a voluble ready way of speaking, first takes up the conquering Cock, after the Battle is over, and presents him to their Deities, and then comes and takes up the slain Cock, and puts him into a Golden Cauldron, where he bathes his bloody Limbs in Sankereen; and then, with rich Gums and Spices, burns his Body upon an Altar made for that purpose; after which his Ashes are put carefully up in a Golden Pot, or Urn, there to remain for ever: And then the_ Brammen, _or Priest makes a long Speech to the People, shewing the Excellency of Cocking, and the great Use and Benefit of it to all such as know how rightly to apply it, and Expatiates much upon the present Combate, drawing divers Inferences from the various passages and Transactions made use of by the late Foughten Cocks, shewing also the great Magnanimity, Courage, Skill, and Constancy of these Warriours._
_And lastly, he applies it so Pertinently to all that are present, in Terms so fit and suitable, that it conduces greatly to their Edification, grounding in them a firm and stable temper of Mind, with an unshaken Valour, whereby they are now truly said to be a People Invincible; And verily I am of Opinion, that from hence at first came that Saying so common amongst us still_, viz. He is gone to Church to see a Cock-Fight: _And at this Day there are divers Places up in the_ East _where Cocking is accounted a thing Sacred, and in great Use amongst them, as_ Magellan _assures us._
[Sidenote: Isac. Pontac. _see_.]
_For, says he, both in_ Borneo, Calegan, _and_ Pulaoan, _Cocks for the Game are kept, and are of Sacred use amongst them, but eat not of their Flesh, that being forbidden by the_ Bramens, _or Priests._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Vid. Sele. _in_ Golch.]
_That great Man, the highly Celebrated_ Selden _observes Cocking to be a thing of great Use, and much admir’d by rising Marshal Men, who with keen Swords cut out good Fortune to themselves, from the doubtful Loyns of Fate. And there is not a surer sign of a Nations or Peoples degenerating into effeminacy, and so consequently falling into Poverty and utter Ruin, than when they totally change the Warlike Exercise of Cocking for mimical Plays, silly Dancing, and such like Fopperies._ Rome _itself was a sad Instance of the Truth of this, when the proud_ Eagle _stripd off all her Gaudy Plumes, lay naked and expos’d to the Rage, and Fury of the depopulating_ Goths _and_ Vandals.
Gustavus Adolphus, _when he came to rescue the then King of_ Denmark, _out of the_ Tallons _of_ German _Power, told the distressed Prince, that he had now nothing to fear, since he was well assured that the Imperialists had given up the Gantlet, and had nothing left but a fringed Glove for their Guard, for instead of Cock-Fighting (says he) and Martial Exercise, they seem wholly to be devoted, and given up to Effeminate Dancing, and inervating Drunkenness, two Infallible Signs of a sinking People, as that Warlike King full well observed and after with his Sword made good what he then said, which wrought so upon the distressed_ Danes _at that time, that they have been Noted ever since to be very great Cockers._
_And Sir_ William Corly, _who for some Years together was Resident in the Danish Court, assures his Country-men that a right bred English Cock, was at that Day accounted a Bird of Impreciable value in the Court of_ Denmark, _and that not only the young Princes, but the then present King_ Christian _himself was a great Admirer of the royal Sport of Cocking, insomuch that they not only appoint set times (says he) but do also hang out costly Ensigns, and Rich Flags, whereon is portrayed both the place, and also the very Gesture of the Cocks, as they at_ Rome, _to which we find_ Horace _alludeth;_
—-—-— Velut si Revera pugnent, feriant, vitentq; moventes Arma viri. _Horat. lib. 2. Stat, 7._
_Their Cockings also are attended with variety of Martial Aires, and loud_ Bellonian Notes, _with preparatory Sounds of War, which first usher in the Cocks unarmed into the Pit, where both they and the Weapons with which they are to fight, are exposed to the view of all the Spectators that are present, after which they are taken up, and immediately heeled, and then set down to Fight._
[Sidenote: Vid. Virg Æn. 5.]
_For when a Cock of the Game is first brought into the Pit, to be shown, he only makes a Flourish, and takes a lofty turn, or two. But when he is heeled, and put in for the Battle, they then compose their Bodies according to the rules of Art, for the better warding of themselves, and the readier wounding of their Adversaries. And this the late King_ Christian _the First, of_ Denmark, _was pleased to take Notice of at public Cocking, where he professed that the Royal Sport, so sweetly Sung by the_ Mantuan _Swan, upon_ Ascanius _Son to_ Æneas, _who first brought it out of_ Troy, _was only an imitation of Cock-Fighting.—Thus the Poet._
Hunc morem, cursus, atq; hæc certamina primus Ascanius, longam muris cum cingeret Albam, Rotulit & priscos docuit celebrare Latinos.
See here, _says the King_, how the Cocks Advance now one against another, sometimes retiring, sometimes pursuing, sometimes in one Form, and sometimes in another, what variety of Strokes, what Diversity of Fight is here shown in this one Battle; were I to lead an Army against the Grand Infidel of _Constantinople_, I would chuse none but Cockers for my Commanders; nor should any common Soldiers be utterly Ignorant of this useful Exercise of Cocking.
_So great an Esteem had his Majesty the late King of_ Denmark _for Cocking. And that famed Hero, the young_ Swedeland _King, at the Head of a Handful of Men, cuts through the frozen_ Muscovites, _and makes the Haughty_ Czar, _amidst his mighty Numbers tremble, and beg for Peace, resolving never hereafter to draw his Cimiter against a professed Cocker, as his_ Swedeish _Majesty is notoriously known to be, and has been from his very Cradle almost._
_And the great Hector of_ Europe, _the most Christian King_, Lewis _the Fourteenth of_ France, _is said to complain of nothing so much as the want of Cocking in his Country, where the Climate is such, that a Cock of the Game cannot bear the serenity, or rather the over Sharpness of the Air, which penetrates the otherwise hardy Bodies of these Martial Birds, to such a degree, that in a few days time they become so dull, heavy, and heartless, that they have no mind to Fight, and quickly after fall into some incurable Disease, such as the_ Black-Sickness, _the_ Roop-evil, _and the like, of which they soon die._
_Yet in the hottest Climates in the World, in the most Burning Regions, such as_ Frying-pan Bay, _and also in the Frigid Zone, where everlasting Winter seems to dwell, are Cocks of the Game frequently known both to Live, Breed, and Fight, and that as well as in any of the most Mild and Temperate Climates of the World, where they are kept_, France _and one part of_ Spain _only excepted, which is a Wonder, and the natural cause a Secret as yet undiscover’d._
_In_ Holland _they are common, and Cocking is there greatly practised, and much encouraged by the States: And really it were to be wished that our own Nation were but as much inclined to countenance and encourage so innocent an Exercise as Cocking; and how great would the benefit be, if in nothing else, the good effects of it would soon be seen in this, that it would divert the English Gentry from effeminate Dancing, Whoring, and Drinking, which are three Evils grown now almost Epidimical._