io8 



APPENDIX B 



The following " GENERAL RULES AND ORDERS FOR 

 COCKING" are given in the 1808 edition of Hoyle's 

 Games. It is not possible to say when the Rules received 

 this, their final, shape, but the references to the "setters- 

 to" indicate the latter part of the eighteenth century. 

 It will be remarked that these Rules define with far 

 greater precision and minuteness the manner in which 

 cocks were to be fought and handled than the Code of 

 Rules published in the Racing Calendar of 1751. It will 

 also be observed that there are no provisions concerning 

 the seating and conduct of spectators, that the old Rules 

 about wagering are condensed and simplified into a 

 single law, and that there is no mention of the " basket " 

 as a punishment for defaulters. All these things point 

 to the extreme likelihood that this Code of Rules and 

 Orders is referable to 1780-1800, or thereabout. At the 

 same time it will be observed they include provisions 

 which were in force during Charles IPs reign, as has 

 been shown by the extracts from Pepys's Diary on 

 pages 36-7 :- 



On the weighing morning, that person whose chance is 

 to weigh last, is to set his cocks and number his pens 

 both main and byes, and leave the key of the pens on 

 the weighing table (or, the other party may put a 

 lock on the door) before any cock is put into the 

 scale ; and after the first pack of cocks is weighed, a 

 person appointed by him that weighed first shall go 

 into the other pen to see that no other cocks are 

 weighed but what are so set and numbered, provided 

 they are within the articles of weight that the match 



