36 



never at in my life ; but Lord ! to see the 

 strange variety of people from Parliament 

 man ... to the poorest 'prentices, bakers, 

 butchers, brewers draymen and what not ; 

 and all these fellows one with another in 

 swearing, cursing and betting " 



Pepys says he soon had enough of it, and 

 yet he was o-Jad to have seen a main once 



J o 



"It being strange to observe the nature 

 of these poor creatures, how they will fight 

 till they drop down dead upon the table, 

 and strike after they are ready to give up the 

 ghost, not offering to run away when they 

 are weary or wounded past doing further, 

 whereas where a Dunghill brood (bred one) 

 comes, he will, after a sharp stroke that pricks 

 him, run off the stage, and then they wring off 

 his neck without more ado, whereas the other 

 they preserve, though the eyes be both out, 

 for breed only of a true cock of the game 



"Sometimes a cock that has ten to one 

 against him will by chance give an unlucky 

 blow, will strike the other starke dead in a 

 moment, that he never stirs more ; but the 

 common rule is, that though a cock neither 

 runs nor dies, yet if any man will bet ^"10 to 



