THE BANKIVA COCK. 
179 
to assist in getting rid of the many mysterious forms 
which the embellishment of their story required. 
During the season of the Welsh ceremony of the 
plygan or cock-crowing, the cock was supposed to 
exert this power through the night to the utmost ex- 
tent, an old opinion finely described by Shakspeare : 
Some say that ever against that season comes 
Wherein onr Saviour’s birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long ; 
And then, they say, no spirit walks abroad ; 
The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike ; 
No fairy takes ; nor witch has power to charm, 
So hallowed and so gracious is the time. 
But the most disgraceful purpose of luxury, fa- 
shionable amusement, or whatever it may be termed, 
to which this noble bird has been subjected, is that 
of cock-fighting. It is generally allowed to have 
been a Grecian institution, and at its commencement 
to have been held in the estimation of a rite entirely 
religious and political. By degrees its serious cha- 
racter became lessened, and it was practised with all 
its cruelties, and the zest heightened by the gam- 
bling propensities of its greatest supporters. It is 
supposed to have been introduced to this country in 
the time of the Cmsars, and became a royal pastime. 
In India it has also been long known, and perhaps 
carried to a greater extent than among any other 
people, whole fortunes and properties being staked, 
and even wives and children risked, upon the event 
of the contest. In England, with what was called 
“ throwing at cocks,” it formed a prominent part in 
