CHAP, in.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 63 



brood-hen for such a cock should be the dark 

 partridge-coloured, bright hackled above, black 

 beneath, clear brick-breasted, with black beak 

 and legs." No cocks exhibit a longer period 

 of unfaded health, and their reputation stands 

 high in the opinion of sportsmen. 



Cock-fighting was anciently so much in 

 vogue that it was a common amusement among 

 the Greeks and Romans, and in this country it 

 was formerly so favourite a sport among the 

 nobility, that Henry VIII. erected a spacious 

 building for its enjoyment. Charles II. had 

 also an arena, probably on the same site, 

 in St. James's Park, which he is said to have 

 frequently honoured with his presence, and 

 which still retains the name of the "Royal 

 Cock-pit." The birds were selected with as 

 much attention to pedigree as a race-horse : 

 large sums were betted upon the issue of the 

 battles, and an anecdote has been related of 

 a man who, in the savage fury of his revenge 

 for having lost a wager, deliberately roasted 

 alive the poor bird which had been beaten ; 

 but it has been said that his cruelty was 

 avenged by the immediate loss of life, for he 

 was struck dead in a fit occasioned by the 



