THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



has his amorous phrases as well as his terms of defiance and 

 of battle. But his crowing — why, he may be said to invoke 

 the sun; indeed, Sliakespeare calls him "the trumpet to the 

 morn"; and many other poets have borrowed their images 

 from him — 



"The crested cock whose clarion souiuls the silent hours"; 



amongst the most beautiful of them, as "the 'larum of the 

 country labourer." ' 



'Well said, Frank Raby,' exclaimed Hargrave ; 'upon my 

 soul you would make a good Methodist preacher, but I much 

 doubt your ever becoming a cocker.' 



' I don't know what to say on that point yet,' replied 

 Frank. ' There is much to admire in a battle, and still more 

 in the system throughout; but I feel that there is something 

 both disgusting and cruel in a long-protracted battle, however 

 indicative it may be of the invincible courage of the animal, 

 and however productive of a moral, as Mr. Wyndham and 

 others have considered it to be. But as you are such an 

 advocate for cock-fighting, let me hear what you have to say 

 in defence of it.' 



' Why, to tell you the truth,' returned Hargrave, ' I think 

 that, next to finding a fox, the excitement produced at the onset 

 of a battle between cocks exceeds any that I have hitherto 

 experienced. I, therefore, must say I am very partial to cock- 

 fighting as a sport or pastime. But I cannot help looking at 

 it in another light. It appears to me that, from the very 

 extraordinary circumstances and facts developed in pursuance 

 of the whole system — from the breeding the birds, to bringing 

 them to the pit to fight, as well as their conduct in the fight 



it must have been intended to excite the curiosity, and 



promote the researches, of man in the wonderful operations of 

 nature; if not, in this individual instance, to serve as an 

 example to be imitated in certain situations in life. For 

 instance, consider the form of what we so properly call the 

 gamecock: he is not only, as you have described him, com- 

 posed of little else but muscle and bone; but, looking at his 

 ruddy complexion, his full breast, his lofty neck, the strength 

 of the beam of his leg, and length of his thigh, his large quick 

 eye, and strong beak — crooked and big at its setting on — 

 and his murderous spurs, it is evident that he was intended to 



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