urnDS. 109 



the wliite, it was coiisidL'ivd as utterly unfit for domestic piir- 

 poses. These tliey rep;aided as subject to become a prey to ra- 

 pacious birds ; and Aristotle thinks them less fruitful than the 

 former. Indeed his division of those birds seems to be taken 

 from their culinary uses ; the one sort he calls generous and 

 noble, being remarkable for fecundity : the other sort, ij,'- 

 noble and useless, from their sterility. These distinctions dif 

 fer widely from our modern notions of generosity in this animal ; 

 that which we call the <jume-cock being by no means so fruitful 

 as the ungenerous dung-hill cock, which we treat with contempt. 

 The Athenians had their cock matches as well as we ; but it is 

 probable that they did not enter into that refinement of choos- 

 ing out the most barren of the species for the purposes of 

 combat. 



However this be, no animal in the world has greater courage 

 than the cock, when opposed to one of his own species ; and in 

 every part of the world, where refinement and polished manners 

 have not entirely taken place, cock-fighting is a principal diver- 

 sion. In China, India, the Philippine islands, and all over 

 the East, cock-fighting is the sport and amusement even of 

 kings and princes. With us it is declining every day, and it is 

 to be hoped that it will in time become only the pastime 

 of the lowest vulgar. It is the opinion of many, that we have 

 a bolder and more valiant breed than is to be found elsewhere ; 

 and some, indeed, have entered into a serious discussion upon 

 the cause of so flattering a singularity. But the truth is, they 

 have cocks in China as bold, if not bolder than ours ; and what 

 would still be considered as valuable among cockers here, they 

 have more strength with less weight. Indeed, I have often wonder- 

 ed why men who lay two or three hundred pounds upon the prow- 

 ess of a single cock, have not taken every method to improve 

 the breed. Nothing, it is probable, could do this more effectu- 

 ally than by crossing the strain, as it is called, by a foreign mix- 

 ture ; and whether having recourse even to the wild cock in the 

 forests of India would not be useful, I leave to their considera- 

 tion. However, it is a mean and ungenerous amusement, nor 

 would I wish much to promote it. The truth is, I could give 

 such instructions with regard to cock-fighting, and could so arm 

 one of these animals against the other that it would be almost 

 impossible for the adversary's cock to survive the first or second 



lU. K 



