Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-29
Cock Fighting.

| Cock Fightfmg.
/ From the London Saturday Review.
| With all the antiquarian knowledge Of the
present day. We doubt whether one man in q
| thousand could give q tOlerably accurate de-
| scription of the cock fights of his forefathers.
How cock fighting Is conducted at present we
| do not pretend to know; but ancient cooking
hath its literature, and. besides the written
word, there is considerable tradition concerning
| ceived from the very mouths of our parents.
The first and most important point In cock
eas ths
| match" was the technical phrase-it was stipu-
| lated that no cock should weigh less than 8
ounces. When the cocks of each side had been
weighed, the next thing was to pair them. This
| was done by matching all the cocks on either
each other. The lightest pair of cocks were
always made to fight first, and then those grad
'na1y heavier, until the heaviest pair fought
the days Of King Charles II. Although the
combs of the birds were always cut, they had to
were usually OF silver at least in the great
matches; At the time appointed for the
each other, on either side Of the cock
the "settetk TO-" Then the two feeders" appear
ed, each cafl ying a cock. After due examine
ton the birds were made over to the setters-to,
match, who started the fun by putting the cocks
upon the mat on the floor of the cockpit The
themselves. The "noble sport" now began in
earnest, and sometimes two good birds would
| fight until one cock had killed the other or
monty, after sharp round, both cocks would
suspend hostilities to gain breath, and, with
the other in the hope of catching him in care
less or listless moment For short time this
rather added to the excitement of the spec
toto hint
hausted when two cocks stood solemnly cycling
each other. Now the limit OF time for cocks to
ogle without fighting was fixed at the interval
during which an official called "the teller of
the law could count forty. When this limit
| was passed human science was brought to the
assistance Of the birds. The setters-to then
middle of the pit delivered them on their
legs, beak to beak." If either of them had
heads were to be made to touch each other. If
one cock refused to fight, he was tried ten times
fore he was considered beaten. 1t sometimes
happened that the cock who WOuid fight died
| from his wounds before his adversary had re-
fused ten times. and in that case the crave n
bird was considered to have won the BATH e.
The law further provided rules in case DO tn
cocks refused to fight, as well rs in other cases
which it is hardly necessary that we should
enumerate; but they were nearly all based on
the principle that 1.-The teller of the law" should
stances, between the intervals of the fights. It
will be readily understood, from this descrip-
ton, that great part of Il cock fight was oc-
cupied by the Setters-tO squatting opposite to
each other in the middle of the pit and ''de
livering the cocks on their legs, beak to beak.'
Cock fighting was fashionable in Greece at
least 500 years B. c.. and it was probably a very
ancient sport in China. where it is still highly
popular. In India, again, cock lighting Is an
institution OF very great antiquity. Mr.. Doyle,
in his book on poultry, assumes that the Brit
Ons practised cock fighting before the landing
of Caesar, from the statement Of that author to
the effect that the Britons only reared their
fowls for amusement. Both Henry VIII. and
James l. were fond of cooking" Oliver Crom-
we'll legislated against it, but Charles II. re-
which was the headquarters of cock-fighting,
was established by Henry WILL, and even in
the present century mains have been fought
beriess cock-fghts. Indeed, it may be said that
for long time cock-fighting went hand-in-
hand with racing, and it used to he reported in
then H. called the seo,!i"g calendar;
IT'S we read that at Newcastle.
Gentlemen Of Durham and Northumberland
fought "main of cocks" consisting Of thirty
eight battles, and ending in "a drawn main"
killed In fights during one week at Newcastle.
The gentlemen of the same counties fought
another main at the Durham races OF the same
year, when Northumberland won after thirty
four battles had been fought. Although the
matches were sometimes made between indi-
viduals, it was more usual for the mains at
races to be fought between cocks belonging to
the gentlemen of two adjoining counties Ten
guineas each battle, and one or two hundred on
1.-The Odd,' seem to have been the usual stakes
but there was an Immense amount OF betting,
and the odds were calculated To great nicely
Hoyle gives table of odds which is quite ap-
palilnS. For instance, he quotes one in
which the betting is 3,S43, 421-7, 1921 1915 to
against a certain contingency. Mr.. Doyle men
tons cock-fight in India for "a lac of rupees
(f1O, OOO;' but it is probable that more money
has been lost and won over cock-1ghting in
England than in any other country.