CONCERNING COCK-FIGHTING. 175 



lowing : One Sunday, in St. John's Chapel, 

 Edinburgh, an old gentleman was sitting 

 gravely in his seat, when a lady in the same 

 pew moved up, wishing to speak to him. He 

 kept edging cautiously away from her, till at 

 last, as she came nearer, he hastily muttered, 



" Sit yont, Miss , sit yont ! Dinna ye ken 



ma pouch is fa o' gerara eggs ? " 



A parallel to this enthusiast is to be found in 

 an old lady of Houghton, in Cumberland, who 

 on one occasion admitted she had " gone down 

 on her bended knees," and prayed that a certain 

 cock of her feeding might win at Newcastle. 



Mention of Cumberland brings to mind the 

 fact that this is the county most famous for 

 cock-fighting both in past times and present. 

 Mr. Chancellor Ferguson says that the sport 

 had episcopal as well as royal patrons, and 

 that a cockpit even now exists at Eose Castle, 

 the palace of the Bishop of Carlisle. Whether 

 any bishop was ever actually present at a 

 main is not known, but the pit was the scene 

 of many famous battles between the "black- 

 red " and " grey " cocks of the bishop's neigh- 

 bourhood and an adjoining parish. 



In Cumberland, cocks were commonly fought 



