THE COCKPIT 225 



affair, was on those occasions needlework, having the 

 arms of the Derby family wrought in gold. Ten 

 guineas a battle and two hundred the main were the 

 usual stakes ; but they were doubled when Lord Derby 

 and Mr Bold Haughton or Mr Legh fought their great 

 contests. 



It was generally one of the articles that cocks were 

 to fight in " fair reputed silver spurs " ; but these were 

 little more than steel thinly washed over, and a crash- 

 ing stroke through the skull from one of them admin- 

 istered the death-blow as instantaneously as a pistol 

 bullet. 



It was fortunate for Doctor Bellyse that he did not live to 

 see the sport he loved so well put an end to by Act of 

 Parliament, and branded as brutal, degrading, and barbarous. 

 He was spared this indignity, for he died suddenly in 

 January 1829, when he was but one day short of 70. 

 Five years later Lord Derby died at Knowsley, at the age 

 of 82 ; while in the previous year (1833) Joe GilHver died 

 at his native village, Polesworth, Warwickshire, aged 74. 

 The same year saw the end of Potter, Gilliver's rival, and 

 thus died the greatest group of cockers that England has 

 ever seen. 



Two descriptions of scenes in the famous old Westminster 

 Pit in Tufton Street may not be amiss : — 



" It was a great day, ' a Derby Day,' in cocking, since 

 a main was to be fought between Lord Derby's highly 

 bred, black-breasted reds and Mr Whitaker's new strain 

 of duckwings. There were enormous bets on both sides ; 

 it was quite a select meeting, and everyone was there by 

 invitation. The best places were already occupied by 

 early comers when we entered ; there were Sir William 

 Wynn, Ralph Benyon, Sir Bellingham Graham, Doctor 

 Bellyse, Colonel Mellish, Dick Thornton, and several dukes 

 and lords of Turf celebrity. In modest retirement in the 

 background were the solid faces of Jem Belcher, Tom 

 Cribb, Molyneux, Bill Richmond, Tom Oliver (the Com- 

 missary of the Prize Ring), Gentleman Jackson, and other 

 ' pugs,' whose bravery and honesty earned them the patron- 

 age of the Corinthians. 



15 



