Popitlcvr Amusements. 175 



are : " 1, It is an old custom of this school and so 

 should be observed ; 2, It raises a noble ambition in a 

 youth when he sees his cock fight well, and so great 

 an aversion to cowardice when his cock does not fight 

 well, that he is ready to fight himself upon the 

 slightest affront offered; 3, 1 am surprised to hear any 

 one of our number propose anything that would hurt 

 the income of the master." With him this weighs 

 more than any other consideration, and must be his 

 excuse for contradicting his "learned friend's motion." 

 The reply is that custom can never be a good reason 

 for perpetuating an erroneous practice. When a 

 man's sagacity and penetration enable him to discover 

 error, he should " make no scruple to step out of the 

 paths of his forefathers." " As cocks are not trained 

 at school, they have," says he, " no title to show their 

 parts there ; " it is below " a sprightly youth" to value 

 himself upon his cock's parts, and " as for a blockhead, 

 though his cock were victor over twenty, he is a block- 

 head still." Were it in " military discipline" the boys 

 were to be trained, one might encourage the sport, but 

 even then the preferable mode would be to " set the 

 boys a fighting themselves ;" and lastly, it is argued, 

 were the Shrove Tuesday combat to be in the various 

 parts of learning, and the boys the sole combatants, 

 premiums could be given to the victors "in their 

 several degrees and classes ;" tickets of admittance on 

 that day could be bought of the master, and each 

 pupil delivering an oration could make him " some 

 compliment." " This, sir," adds the orator, " in my 

 opinion, would be a more noble and more useful diver- 

 sion than the other ; and parents would pay as gener- 

 ously for their sons who meet with applause as 

 formerly they did for their cocks." 



Such were the sentiments of an instructor of youth 

 who seems to have been a good half century in advance 

 of his time on the question of cock-fighting. The 

 general feeling of the country did not begin to revolt 



