and secrete the morsel of bread given them by 

 the officiating' clergyman 



Again, it was firmly believed that if the clust 

 swept from the communion table were sprinkled 

 on the pit, this would avert all evil influences 

 and charms and ensure victory to the best bird, 

 by which, we may safely infer, w r as meant the 

 bird owned by him who sprinkled the dust 



The Wellington miners attributed the same 

 mysterious quality to earth from the nearest 

 graveyard : a little of which sprinkled on the 

 pit made victory to the best cock certain 



MODERN USE OE OLD COCK- PITS 



Many cock-pits remain in England, converted 

 to various uses. The County Pit at Truro, in 

 a six-sided building, said to have been the 

 first enclosed cock-pit in Cornwall, is now a 

 spirit vault. The Chester pit is a sugar factory, 

 that at Carlisle a foundry. Most singular to 

 modern ideas is the old Canterbury Corporation 

 Pit : this is part of the old St. Augustine's Abbey, 

 and until as lately as 1813 was rented by the 

 proprietor of an hotel close by. The late 

 John Harris states that the last Corporation 

 cock-pit to witness a main \vas that at Lichfield. 



