78 



AGITATION AGAINST COCKING 



The more humane among the population had 

 always strongly condemned cocking, and during 

 George Ill's reign many were the pamphlets 

 written and sermons preached against it. There 

 are in the Elsenham Library a few such 

 pamphlets or tracts, intended to strike terror 

 into the minds of those who bore part in cock- 

 ing ; the usual form is an "authentic narrative 

 of a cock-fighter " who came by sudden death 



A wiser note is struck in a pamphlet of 

 1761, entitled Clemency to Brutes, which 

 appeals to the humane instincts of the reader. 

 The Methodists, seeking as they did the moral 

 improvement of the lower classes, were par- 

 ticularly active in the warfare against cockino-. 



J O O 



It is recorded of John Wesley that during a 

 preaching tour in Cornwall he arrived at 

 Gwenap's Pit * at a moment when a main was 

 actually in progress. The famous preacher 

 waited quietly until the fight was over and 

 then delivered his address 



* Gwenap's Pit is on a hill near Redruth ; it is said 

 to be the oldest and the largest in England. The pit, 

 or fighting arena, is 13 feet in diameter, and round 

 it rise twelve tiers of seats, stoned faced, 18 inches high 

 and 3 feet wide. It is surrounded at the top by a wall,. 

 150 yards in circumference This structure is considered 

 to date from pre- Roman times. 



