The Art of Breeding, Feeding, Fighting,
and Curing Cocks of the Game.
Published purely for the good, and benefit of all such
as take Delight in that Royal, and Warlike Sport.
To which is Prefixed,
A short Treatise, wherein Cocking is proved not only
Ancient and Honourable, but also Useful, and Profitable.
By _R. H._ a Lover of the Sport,
And a Friend to such as delight in Military Discipline.
_Quem recitas meus est, O Fidentine Libellus,
Sed male cum recitas incipit esse tuus_.
_LONDON_: Printed for _D. Brown_, at the Black Swan
without _Temple-bar_, and _T. Ballard_, at the
Rising-Sun in _Little-britain_. 1709.
To the Right Worshipful Sir _T. V._ Knight.
_Worthy Sir_,
I Presume I need not here insist upon the long acquaintance, and
friendship that has passed betwixt us, to press you to the Patronage of
this little BOOK, when there are so many other considerations that in
a manner force it upon you, as having a certain right to it; _Cocking_
being not only to you a hereditary Divertisment, which for many Ages
together has by your Valiant Ancestors been carefully handed down to
their Posterity, with marks of the greatest love and Honour imaginable,
as when your loyal Grand-father lay Bleeding and Dying on his Turfey
Beed, was thus (like a good Subject) heard to say, _My King and a good
Cock I ever loved, and like a good Cock in my dread Sovereign’s service
I shall now expire._
Also your Prudent Father and both your Uncles from their Infancy were
great admirers of the Noble _Science_ of Cocking.
And you your self in the Morning of your Days, took to the Royal Sport,
and closely followed it for many Years: even till mighty _William_
call’d you forth to signalize your Vallor in the Bloody Irish Fields of
_Athlone_, and _Cannough_, where you cut through the Squadrons of the
affrighted French, and made the Howling _Teagues_ fly to the Boggs for
shelter.
And after this, you in the very depth of Winter, crost those dangerous
_Atlantic_ Seas, came home, and with your Friends and Tenants your
good Neighbours, and old Acquaintance that flocked about you to your
Mannor-house, where you a noble Christmas kept, the Rich you highly
treated, and the Poor were daily at your Gates relieved: each Rank
according to their Quality you kindly entertained; till Spring
approaching, and the rude allarms of War once more required you to take
up Arms and fit your self for _Flanders_.
A Fatal Pit to many a Gallant Cock, a Bloody Spot of Ireful Ground, on
which the fierce _Bellona’s_ Shambles stands: Hither you early came
prepared for Fight, and first at _Charleroy_ you dy’d your Sword in
Gallic Blood, and with your Flaming Blade, cut your own way straight to
_Gemblours_, from whence to _Charlemont_ you forced the _French_ to Fly.
And last of all before _Namure_; what mighty Vallour did you there
display? a Limb you lost, yet limping still Fought on, and charged as
unconcern’d as if you had had no Wound upon you, untill his Majesty was
Pleased to give particuler orders to have you brought off, and sent to
_Bredah_, where long you lay under the Surgeon’s Hands e’er you
obtained a Cure: after which Winter coming on, the Camp broke up, and
the Armies on both sides were sent to their Winter-quarters, and his
Majesty King _William_ returned to the _Hague_ where you at last also
arrived with Crutches, and there laid down your Arms, kiss’d the King’s
Hand, and had a good Place at Court conferred upon you in the room of
your Commission.
So that now you only wait at certain times, for which you are well
rewarded, and have the Liberty of retiring to your Pleasant Country
Seat, where now you spend most of your time amongst your Friends, and
old Acquaintance, and reap the Comforts of a rural life, amidst two or
three Loyal toping Souls, many good Cocks, and rich _October_ Liquor:
with which you oft times guild the good old Doctor’s Nose, and raise
the Pious Preachers Voice six Notes higher in the Afternoon, than in
the Morning.
For though you daily take your Bottle, and Cock, as long as the Season
lasts, yet you ne’er fail to attend the Man of God, when Sunday comes,
early you to the Temple Ride, and there before the Alter offer up your
Orizons with all the fervency immaginable, and in the Afternoon, when
by the Sexton call’d, you bring the Priest back in your Coach well
refreshed by a good Dinner, and a cheerful grace-cup after it, which
enables him to perform Evening service briskly, and with a Laudable
Voice pronounce a Blessing on you when the Vesper’s over.
Nor do your Tennants and poor Neighbours fail to pray for your long
Life, and good success in Cocking, the only Sport you take delight
in: And to speak Truth, you may really be said to be the only person
of this present Age, that Practises _Cocking_ rightly, and follows it
purely for the end it was at first intended.
And therefore it was truly that I thought there was no Person so fit as
you, to be the Patron of this ensuing Treatise; wherein I have not only
made common to the World the many and different ways of _Breeding_,
_Feeding_, and _Fighting_ both of the great, or Game Cock (as we call
them) and of the little Match-Cock also, with the several Diseases
incident to them, and the most approved Medicines that are now made
use of, both to prevent, and cure each Mallady, and that by the ablest
Cock-masters at this Day in the known World.
I have also proved Cocking to be both Ancient and Honourable, and to
the present Age (if rightly made use of) greatly profitable, and have
plainly laid open the Malice and Ignorance of all such as endeavour to
villify, and bespatter it, shewing the Weakness of their Arguments, and
the true Motives that engage them to speak against Cocking.
And though some may think me too Copious in Etimologizing upon the
right end, and use of this most Ancient and Honourable Exercise of
Cocking, whilst others no less blame me for exposing to Plebeian view,
those Misteries in Breeding, and Dieting, which commonly cost young
Gamsters so dear, e’er they arrive at the true knowledge of.
But to pass by such as these, and give the World to understand that I
have no other end in Publishing this ensuing Treatise, but meerly, and
purely to promote the Noble and most Heroic Exercise of Cocking: And at
the same time to acknowledge my self, most Worthy Sir, your Worship’s
most Real, and most faithful Friend, and Fellow Cocker
_R. H._