How happy were those Sons of Men, who in times past were reputed Persons indued with that noble Gift, aut facere scribenda, aut scribere legenda, that is, either to do such things as deserved to be writ, or to write that which was worth the reading: Now that this ensuing Treatise is worth the reading, and practising too, notwithstanding the little Esteem and Value, that the present Age affords it, I shall endeavour to prove both from the great Antiquity, and Usefulness of this noble Sport of Cocking: A thing esteem’d so Sacred, and held in such high Veneration amongst the Antients, that, as Diodorus Siculus testifies, the Fighting-Cock was reckon’d one of the principal Gods worshiped by the Syrians.

And Rabby David, a learned Hebrew Doctor, interpreting the 2 of Kings ch. 17. v. 30, 31. where Nergal is spoken, of which is (as he says) a Cock of the Field, a Champion Cock, a Cock for War, or a Fighting Cock, and by them there Worshiped as a God in Samaria. Which at once denotes the high Esteem and Value, with the great Antiquity also, of these Warlike Birds. And Athenæus and Dioscorides, both of them acknowledge the Fighting-Cock to be one of the Deities which the antient Greeks did greatly Adore. And that in their time there was an Altar found in a Vault far under Ground, whereon had been engraven’d a Cock, and inscribed thus

DEO MOUNO.

Which, as Macrobius also affirms, signifies One, or Only; and this Attribute they gave to the Cock, because he was the greatest, and almost the only Deity they Ador’d, the rest being accounted but his Assistants, and Coadjutors.

And Pliny in the tenth Book of his Natural History, sufficiently sets forth at large, the high and mighty Value and Respect that the antient Romans bore towards Fighting-Cocks, says he there:

These Birds about our Houses are our Centinels by Night, Nature has Created them to awaken and call Men up to do their Work; they have also a Sence and Understanding of Glory: Moreover, they are Astronomers, and know the Course of the Stars, they divide the Day by their Crowing, from three Hours to three Hours; when the Sun goes to Rest, they go to Roost: And like Centinels, they keep the Relief of the Fourth Watch; in the Camp they call Men up to their careful Labour and Travel: They will not suffer the Sun to rise and steal upon us, but they give us warning of it: By their Crowing, they tell us the Day is coming, and they foretel their Crowing likewise, by clapping their Sides with their Wings. Ye shall see them to march Stately, carrying their Neck bolt upright, with a Comb on their Heads, like the Crest of a Soldiers Helmet; and there is not a Bird besides himself that so oft looketh aloft to the Sun and Sky; and hereupon it is that marching thus Proudly as they do, the very Lyons (which of all wild Beasts be most Couragious) stand in Fear and Awe of them, and will not abide the sight of them.

So that hence may be inferred the great Use and Benefit that the Romans made of these vigilant Astronomical Monitors; Experience plainly taught them, what would be difficult to make some now-a-days to believe, Namely, that the Fighting-Cock is a Bird in himself both useful and profitable, as I shall prove more fully anon, to the silencing of all those whom Ignorance prompts to say any thing against it, for you know the abuse of a thing should not take away the right use of it; and if so, I don’t doubt but to clear the Point, against any one that shall oppose me herein; but before I leave this famous Philosopher, see here what Plinie yet farther says of Fighting-Cocks: —They are great Commanders, says he, and Rulers, and are made for War and Fighting; and the Countries from whence they first came, are grown into Name, being much renowned for their Breed, as namely, Tenagra and Rhodus in the first and highest Degree: in a second rank and place, be those of Melos and Chalcis. And unto these Birds (for their Worth and Dignity) the Purple Robe at Rome, and all Magistrates of State disdain not to give Honour. These rule our great Rulers every Day: And there is not a mighty Lord or State of Rome, that dare open or shut the Door of his House, before he knows the good Pleasure of these Fowles: And that which is more, the Soveraign Magistrate in his Majestie of the Roman Empire, with the regal Ensigns of Rods and Axes, carried before him, neither sets he forward, nor reculeth back, without Direction from these Birds; they give order to whole Armies to Advance forth to Battle, and again command them to stay and keep within the Camp.

These were they (says Plinie) that gave the Signal, and foretold the issue of all those Famous Foughten Fields, whereby we have Atchieved all our Victories throughout the whole World: In one Word, these Birds command those Great Commanders of all Nations upon the Earth.

Their Crowing out of Order too soon before their Hour, or too late, portendeth also, and presageth something remarkable, for well known it is, that by their Crowing at one time all Night long, they foresignified to the Bœotians, that noble Victory of theirs atchieved over the Lacedemonians. For this Interpretation, and Conjecture was given thereupon of a Fortunate Day (says Plinie) because that Bird never Croweth if he be Beaten or Overcome.

And at Pergamus every Year there is a solemn shew, exhibited openly to the People, of Cock-Fighting, as if Sword-Fencers were brought within the Lists to Fight at Outterance.

And Strabo, in Purchases Pilgrimage, extolling the Great and Royal exercise of Cocking, whence so many Benefits accrue to Mankind, if well observed, says also, that at Pergamus there was yearly Spectacles of Cock-Fighting offered where the Princes, Nobles and Gentlemen both old and young were sure to be, for as much as from hence they gathered not only and barely Courage and Audacity: But also did see the great necessity of a firm unshaken Resolution, with Perseverance and Stability of mind, even to the last Minute: So that by the Example of these unparallel’d Birds, the People in those Days were extimulated and spurred on to Great and Generous Enterprizes.

Nor did the Roman Empire shrink so long as Cocking was esteem’d in Rome. And ’tis reported of that Subtle, and most Victorious Emperor Severus, that when he was determin’d to Conquer (if possible) Great Britain, that to draw off his two Sons Antonine and Geta, from the Bewitching Vanities of the Theatre, and to prepare them in Mind the better to bear the many difficulties and hardships, that they must of Necessity undergo in the Prosecution of so great and bloody an Enterprize, as the subduing even Thule itself, which was then deemed the utmost Region of the North; he commands the Sport of Cock-Fighting, to be exhibited Dayly before his Sons, and the principal Officers of his Army, and that not only to make them emulous of Glory through the Performance of great Atchievements, but also to be firm and unshaken in the midst of Dangers, nay in Death itself.

And really were Cocking now-a-days exhibited to the People of this present Age wherein we live, by the supream Powers and Potentates of the World, for political ends. And certain Orators appointed at the same time to Comment thereupon, and in florid Speeches, Ductarious to War, and Marshal Exercises, and insinuating into the People the great magnanimous Temper and Disposition of these Heroic Birds, with variety of Inferences drawn from particular Passages and the great Essays that they discover to a judicious Eye, in their way and manner of Fighting. I Question not but Cocking would now produce as good Effects as then it did, and influence the British Valour to greater Things, than ever Roman Courage yet dared to Attempt.

Some Instances of this Practice, the Ingenious Nocoli-di-Conti has given in his History of Sumatra. This Kingdom is not only one of the greatest, but is also the most esteemed of all the Eastern Islands, insomuch that the Indians call it Tenarisem, or the delicious Land.

And for the Inhabitants, if we may credit, not only Di-Conti, but also Sir Ed. Michelborne and Sir James Lancaster, Men of Renown in Queen Elizabeth’s Days, and Famed for their Valour and great Integrity; these Knights, both of them, averr the Sumatrans to be a People truly Valiant and Magnanimous, and not only more Subtle and Politic, but also much more Just and Honest than any other of the Indians whatsoever.