Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/375

344 THE H I 6 T O ft Y < BookL hare. This appears to have been a&ually the €afe from thi re* prefentations of hare-hunting which are made on. ieverai of thee Roman -Britifh remains among us **. When the Romans introduced the rabbet into Italy* tbey int+ troduced' the cuftoifi of hunting it with ferrets **. Wheathe Romans imported' the fame aniirtal into Britain, they imported the fame cuftom with it. The great retlbn fot the Roman in- troduction of the former animal into both was the great pleafate which they took in hunting it with the tetter m V And the Bri* tons adopted what the Romans pra&Hed ; and hatrc tranibikted. •to us, their fuefceffors of the prefent d&ys, the Roman-%anifli hunt and the Roman-Spatffth name of the animal employed in it* denominating the Viverra in the Welch dialed Guiviw and in the Irifli Firead or Ferret. And with both thefe the Romans rimft have brought m the equally remaining diverfiott of cock-fighting. This is & recrea- tion which has been wildly fijppofed to be tht native p»du<Sbfon of the Britifh genius. This is a recreation which waa knowh to many of the antients and was introduced by the Romans. In the firft century a grand tocking was held every y*ar in the cky of Pergamus, cocks (according to the hiftorian's e*preflk>n) be- ing there matched as gladiators and exhibited as a ipeftacte M . And cock-matches were very common with the Greeks and mk uncommon with the Rotnans m the third * 7 . They even confiderable wagers on the iflhe t>f their battles *. In both • turies the breeds of cdeks that were produced in the iAand of Rhode?; about Tanagra in Boeotta, atChakrs in Eubfta, and in the kingdom of Media, were fuperior in reputation to oil others for their fpirit ittd rcfolution in the fight *. And the vhcoounon bravery wlttch has always diftinguiihed the breed of our Britifli cocks- would foott induce fticf ftomaa*, ever fetid » they were *f barbarous- tliverRofw, t^ train diem vp for the pit, to titled their blindly flaming courage ttgfeinft *hfeir faetiMfta* aad to «an them with gtramvs, gaffs, gatites, «r knee©. Thefe ibrts of oiW- Mtiens were tefs barbarous m tfcek- fiatwe than their execrable TheWs of gta'diatrors, arkl were aetrfjr the ftiat- m tfam Aatoof '■" 3 huma-