46 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



was a regular cock-pit in Edinburgh, patronized by "many gentle- 

 men still alive," says the editor of Kay's Biographical Sketches 

 in 1842, who would not, perhaps, relish being reminded of "their 

 early passion for the bh*ds."* John Wilson was a keen patron of 

 this exciting, though, to our eyes, cruel amusement ; so much so, 

 that at Elleray he kept, as we shall presently find, a most extensive 

 establishment of cocks, whose training and destinies evidently occu- 

 pied no small share of his attention. While unable to appreciate 

 fully the merits of this ancient but now almost extinct amusement, 

 I would observe that, in his case, the mere pleasure in the exhibi- 

 tion of animal courage was connected with a more deep and com- 

 prehensive delight in the animals themselves. For, from those 

 earliest days, when he made the acquaintance of peaseweeps hi the 

 midst of lightning and ram, he had been a keen observer of the 

 habits of all kinds of birds ; and he never ceased to take a special 

 interest in them and their ways. I would also remark, that even 

 in those years of student life, when he mixed with all sorts of com- 

 pany, and took his pleasure from the most diversified sources, the 

 study of human nature was truly a great part of his enjoyment. He 

 went among the various grades of men and character much as a 

 geologist goes peering among the strata of the earth ; and as a nat- 

 uralist is not blamed who has his pet beasts and insects, to us repul- 

 sive, so perhaps may such a student of men and their manners be 

 rightly fulfilling his vocation, even when he descends to occasional 

 companionship with the stranger types of humanity. 



Of his pugilistic skill, it is said by Mr. De Quincey, that " there 

 was no man who had any talents, real or fancied, for thumping or 

 being thumped, but he had experienced some preeing of his merits 

 from Mr. Wilson. All other pretensions in the gymnastic arts he 

 took a pride in humbling or in honoring ; but chiefly his examina- 

 tions fell upon pugilism ; and not a man, who could either ' give' or 

 ' take,' but boasted to have punished, or to have been punished by 

 Wilson of Mallerts."\ 



One anecdote may suffice in illustration of this subject, having, I 



joyment he had had in a cock-fight. Mrs. Mackenzie listened some time in silence ; then looking up 

 in his face, she exclaimed in her gentle voice, ' Oh, Harry, Harry, your feeling is all on paper !' " 



* A few years earlier a "main" was fought in the kitchen of the Assembly Rooms, then un- 

 finished, between the counties of Lanark and Haddington, of which Kay gives a vivid picture,— 

 photographing the better known cockers who were present on the occasion. 



t Edwibxirgh Literary Gasette, vol. i., No. 6. 



