4 6 



that a single race run in heats, as the practice 

 then was, would provide sport for the better 

 part of a March afternoon ; but the devotion 

 of three days to cocking clearly indicates the 

 general popularity of the sport. Men whose 

 means fell far short of indulgence in racing 

 took active part in cocking 



FIRST RECORD OF ARTIFICIAL SPURS 



It is impossible to discover the exact date 

 when artificial spurs first came into use. It 

 may be taken for granted that they were 

 unknown in Charles H's time, or Pepys would 

 not have failed to remark upon them. They 

 had come into vogue a few years afterwards, 

 and were used in William Ill's reign, as 

 appears from an entry in the personal accounts 

 of the then Duke of Rutland; "6th April, 

 1698, paid Mr. Sherburne for 6 pairs of cocks 

 spurs at Newmarket, ^3 " * 



In the year 1703, a Quaker named Kingston 

 published at Exeter a book or pamphlet in 

 which he vehemently condemned cock-fighting 

 as brutal, and at the time he wrote had become 

 in his judgment yet more barbarous by reason 

 of the use of " metal spurs " 



* MSS. of the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle. Hist. 

 MSS. Comm 



