Popular Amusements. 173 



tation of the ingenuous youth in attendance at the 

 parish schools. 



When the annual holiday of Eastern's Even was at 

 hand, each schoolboy was encouraged to bring up a 

 cock to have his warlike prowess tested. The school- 

 master presided at this elevating sport, in which, in- 

 deed, he had a very particular interest. For the car- 

 cases of the cocks that fell in battle, as well as those 

 of the " fugies, " or discreet birds, that acted on the 

 maxim 



He who fights and runs away 

 May live to fight another day, 



became his property. The slender revenues of the 

 dominie were, in some cases, augmented in no incon- 

 siderable proportion in this way. In special instances, 

 indeed, the yearly " cock-fight dues " are stated to have 

 been equal to a quarter's fees for the school ; which, 

 after all, did not represent a large sum, if we take the 

 statement of a Country Schoolmaster, who ventilates 

 the grievances of his class in 1792. He gives as par- 

 ticulars of income Statutory salary, 5 lls. IJd. ; 

 fees, 7 ; session-clerk fees and emoluments, 2 ; in 

 all, 14: lls. IJd. somewhat under lid. per day. 

 Many schools, says this writer, were not worth so 

 much, and at least four-fifths of the schools in the 

 northern part of the kingdom did not much exceed 

 the calculation he had made. 



This subject of cock-fighting finds incidental treat- 

 ment in an obscure little book published in 1794.* A 

 pretty full Preface and Dedication inform us that Mr. 



* Its title is ORATIONS ON VARIOUS SELECT SUBJECTS. By Mr. John 

 Grub, late Schoolmaster of the parish of Wemyss, in Fifeshire, as 

 Performed by his Scholars after the usual Examination on Harvest 

 Vacation days, and on Shrove Tuesdays in place of cock-fighting. 

 These orations for the use of Grammar Schools on the above days are 

 published by Mr. Robert Wilson, of Sylvania, near Dunferinline. 

 Edinburgh : Printed for the Editor. 1794. 



