Pepys often alludes to it in his 'Diary.'
Thus, Dec. 21, 1663, he writes:--
'To Shoe Lane, to see a cocke-fighting at a new pit there, a spot
I was never at in my life; but, Lord! to see the strange variety
of people, from Parliament man, by name Wildes, that was Deputy-
Governor of the Tower when Robinson was Lord Mayor, to the
poorest 'prentices, bakers, brewers, butchers, draymen, and what
not; and all these fellows one with another cursing and betting.
I soon had enough of it. It is strange to see how people of this
poor rank, that look as if they had not bread to put in their
mouths, shall bet three or four pounds at a time, and lose it,
and yet bet as much the next battle; so that one of them will
lose L10 or L20 at a meeting.'
Again, April 6, 1668:--
'I to the new Cocke-pit by the king's gate, and there saw the
manner of it, and the mixed rabble of people that came thither,
and saw two battles of cockes, wherein is no great sport; but
only to consider how these creatures, without any provocation, do
fight and kill one another, and aim only at one another's heads!'
Up to the middle of the 18th century cock-fighting was 'all the
rage' in England.
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