192 On the Use and Abuse of-,^ 



period of our history. During the military 

 enthusiasm of the middle ages, while jousts 

 and tournaments furnished amusement to the 

 nobility and gentry, martial exercises consti- 

 tuted the chief diversions of the body of the 

 people. Hence arose the ^establishment of 

 schools for teaching the " Noble science of 

 defence,'* as it was called. These laid the 

 foundation for professed gladiators, or prize- 

 fighters. — The great prevalence of murder, 

 robbirig and every species i3f barbarity, ia 

 consequence of these proceedings, during the 

 reign of Edward the First, compelled the go- 

 vernment to issue an edict to suppr€ss the 



10 English refinement and ingenuity may be ascribed (he 

 noble invention of the Gaffle or Spur ; by the aid of 

 which, the gallant combatants of the cockpit mangle, 

 torture and destroy each other ; no doubt to the great 

 satisfaction and delight of admiring spectators. Another 

 instance of our barbarous ingenuity must not be omitted. 

 No other nation but the British has contrived to put in 

 practice the Battle- Royals and the Welsh-Main. — In the 

 former, the spectator may be gratified with the display of 

 numbers of game-cocks, destroying each other at the 

 same moment without order or drstinction. In the latter, 

 these courageous birds are doomed to destruction in a 

 more regular, but not less certain manner. They fight 

 in pairs, (suppose 16 in number) and the two last sur- 

 vivors are then matched against each other ; so that out 

 of 32 birds, 31 must be necessarily slaughtered.— See 

 Pcgge's Essay in the Arihoeologia Britanmcii, 



