Victory nor Disputing at St. Bartholomew's ; 

 which are but foolish babbling and loss of 

 time " 



Dr. Colet was a divine of great force of 

 character and held views out of harmony with 

 the spirit of his age. When, in 1513, England 

 was making active preparation for war with 

 France, he asserted that "an unjust peace was 

 better than a just war " ; and had the courage 

 to preach a sermon in this sense before the 

 King and his Court 



There can be no doubt that adults as well as 

 youths passed at the cock-pit time that might 

 have been better employed ; in 1570, the Court 

 of Aldermen in London, being greatly alarmed 

 by a visitation of the plague ordered that all 

 " masterless men " caught frequenting places 

 of common assembly including gaming houses, 

 cock-pits and bowling alleys should be banished 

 from the City 



The wording of this ordinance points to the 

 existence of public cock-pits in London. The 

 only place of the kind to which definite 

 reference is made was the cock-pit at West- 

 minster. This is said to have been built by 

 Henry VIII (1509-1547) 



* History of London. By Wm. Maitland, F.S.A. 



