Had I been a man, and a hangman, and been commanded by authority to take away thy life for a crime that deserved death, I would have performed my office with reluctance, and with the shortest, and the least pain or insult, to thee possible. How much more if a wise providence had so ordered it, that thou hadst been my proper and delicious food, as I am thine? I speak not this to move thy compassion, who hast none for thy own offspring, or for the wife of thy bosom, nor to prolong my own life, which through thy most brutal usage of me, is past recovery, and a burden to me; nor yet to teach thee humanity for the future. I know thee to have neither a head, a heart, nor a hand to show mercy; neither brains, nor bowels, nor grace, to hearken to reason, or to restrain thee from any folly. I appeal from thy cruel and relentless heart to a future judgment; certainly there will be one sometime, when the meanest creature of God shall have justice done it, even against proud and savage man, its lord; and surely our cause will then be heard, since, at present, we have none to judge betwixt us. O, that ɛome good Christian would cause this my first, and last speech to be printed, and published through the nation. Perhaps the legislature may not think it beneath them to take our sad case into consideration. Who can tell but some faint remains of common sense among the vulgar themselves, may be excited by a suffering dying fellow-creature's last words, to find out a more good-natured exercise for their youth, than this which hardens their hearts, and taints their morals? But I find myself spent with speaking. And now villain, take good aim, let fly thy truncheon, and despatch at one manly stroke, the remaining life of a miserable mortal, who is utterly unable to resist, or fly from thee." Alas! he heeded not. She sunk down, and died immediately, without another blow. Reader, farewell! but learn compassion towards an innocent creature, that has, at least, as quick a sense of pain as thyself. This article is extracted from the "Gentleman's Magazine," for the year 1749. It appeals to the feelings and the udgment, and is therefore inserted here, lest one reader should need a dissuasive against the cruelty of torturing a poor animal on Shrove Tuesday. Hens were formerly thrown at, as cocks are still, in some places. THROWING AT COCKS. This brutal practice on Shrove Tuesday is still conspicuous in several parts of the kingdom. Brand affirms that it was retained in many schools in Scotland within the last century, and he conjectures "perhaps it is still in use:" a little inquiry on his part would have discovered it in English schools. He proceeds to observe, that the Scotch schoolmasters were said to have presided at the battle, and claimed the run-away cocks, called fugees, as their perquisites." To show the ancient legitimacy of the usage, he instances a petition in 1355, from the scholars of the school of Ramera to their schoolmaster, for a cock he owed them upon Shrove Tuesday, to throw sticks at, according to the usual custom for their sport and entertainment. No decently circumstanced person however rugged his disposition, from neglect in his childhood, will in our times permit one of his sons to take part in the sport. This is a natural consequence of the influence which persons in the higher ranks of life can beneficially exercise. Country gentlemen threw at the poor cock formerly: there is not a country gentleman now who would not discourage the shocking usage. Strutt says that in some places, it was a common practice to put a cock into an earthen vessel made for the purpose, and to place him in such a position that his head and tail might be exposed to view; the vessel, with the bird in it, was then suspended across the street, about 12 or 14 feet from the ground, to be thrown at by such as chose to make trial of their skill; twopence was paid for four throws, and he who broke the pot, and delivered the cock from his confinement, had him for a reward. At North Walsham, in Norfolk, about 60 years ago, some wags put an owl into one of these vessels; and having procured the head and tail of a dead cock, they placed them in the same position as if they had appertained to a living one; the deception was successful; and at last, a labouring man belonging to the towr, after several fruitless attempts, broke the pot, but missed his prize; for the owl being set at liberty, instantly flew away, to his great astonishment, and left him nothing more than the head and tail of the dead bird, with the potsherds, for his money and his trouble; this ridiculous adventure ex posed him to the continual laughter of the town's people, and obliged him to quit the place. Shying at Leaden Cocks. A correspondent, S. W., says, "It strikes me that the game of pitching at capons, practised by boys when I was young, took its rise from this sport, (the throwing at cocks,) indulged in by the matured barbarians. The capons were eaden representations of cocks and hens pitched at by leaden dumps." Another correspondent, whose MS. collections are opened to the Every-Day Book, has a similar remark in one of his common-place books, on the sports of boys. He says, "Shying at Cocks.Probably in imitation of the barbarous custom of shying' or throwing at the living animal. The cock' was a representation of a bird or a beast, a man, a horse, or some device, with a stand projecting on all sides, but principally behind the figure. These were made of lead cast in moulds. They were shyed at with dumps from a small distance agreed upon by the parties, generally regulated by the size or weight of the dump, and the value of the cock. If the thrower overset or knocked down the cock, he won it; if he failed, he lost his dump. "Shy for shy.-This was played at by two boys, each having a cock placed at a certain distance, generally about four or five feet asunder, the players standing behind their cocks, and throwing alternately; a bit of stone or wood was generally used to throw with: the cock was won by him who knocked it down. Cocks and dumps were exposed for sale on the butchers' shambles on a small board, and were the perquisite of the apprentices, who made them; and many a pewter plate, and many an ale-house pot, were melted at this season for shying at cocks, which was as soon as fires were lighted in the autumn. These games, and all others among the boys of London, had their particular times or seasons; and when any game was out, as it was termed, it was lawful to steal the thing played with; this was called smugging and it was expressed by the boys in a doggrel: viz. "The fair cock was not allowed to have his stand extended behind, more than his height and half as much more, nor much thicker than himself, and he was not to extend in width more than his height, nor to project over the stand; but frandulent cocks were made extending laterally over the side, so as to prevent his lying down sideways, and with a long stand behind; the body of the cock was made thinner, and the stand thicker, by which means the cock bent upon being struck, and it was impossible to knock him over." This information may seem trifling to some, but it will interest many. We all look back with complacency on the amusements of our childhood; and some future Strutt," a century or two hence, may find this page, and glean from it the important difference between the sports of boys now, and those of our grandchildren's great grandchildren. Cock-fighting. The cruelty of cock-fighting was a chief ingredient of the pleasure which intoxicated the people on Shrove Tuesday. Cock-fighting was practised by the Greeks. Themistocles, when leading his troops against the Persians, saw two cocks fighting, and roused the courage of his soldiers by pointing out the obstinacy with which these animals contended, though they neither fought for their country, their families, nor their liberty. The Persians were defeated; and the Athenians, as a memorial of the victory, and of the incident, ordered annual cock-fighting in the presence of the whole people. Beckmann thinks it existed even earlier. Pliny says cock-fighting was an annual exhibition at Pergamus. Plato laments that not only boys, but men, bred fighting birds, and employed their whole time in similar idle amusements. Beckmann men tions an ancient gem in sir William Ha milton's collection, whereon two cocks are fighting, while a mouse carries away the ear of corn for which they contest: 66 a happy emblem," says Beckmann, “of our law-suits, in which the greater part of the property in dispute falls to the lawyers.' The Greeks obtained their fighting cocks from foreign countries; according to Beckmann, the English import the strongest and best of theirs from abroad, especially from Germany. Cæsar mentions the English cocks in his "Commentaries;" but the earliest notice of cock-fighting in England is by Fitz-Stephens, who died in 1191. He mentions this as one of the amusements of the Londoners, together with the game of foot-ball. The whole passage is worth transcribing. "Yearly at Shrove-tide, the boys of every school bring fightingcocks to their masters, and all the forenoon is spent at school, to see these cocks fight together. After dinner, all the youth of the city goeth to play at the ball in the fields; the scholars of every study have their balls; the practisers also of all the trades have every one their ball in their hands. The ancienter sort, the fathers, and the wealthy citizens, come on horseback, to see these youngsters contending at their sport, with whom, in a manner, they participate by motion; stirring their own natural heat in the view of the active youth, with whose mirth and liberty they scem to communicate." Cock-fighting was prohibited in England under Edward III. and Henry VIII., and even later: yet Henry himself indulged his cruel nature by instituting cock-fights, and even James I. took great delight in them; and within our own time, games have been fought, and attendance solicited by public advertisement, at the Royal Cock-pit, Whitehall, which Henry VIII. built. Beckmann says, that as the cock roused Peter, so it was held an ecclesiastical duty "to call the people to repentance, or at least to church;" and therefore, "in the ages of ignorance, the clergy frequently called themselves the cocks of the Almighty." Old Shrove-tide Revels. On Shrove Tuesday, according to an old author, men ate and drank, and abandoned themselves to every kind of sportive foolery, as if resolved to have their fill of pleasure before they were to die." The preparing of bacon, meat, and the making of savoury black-puddings, for good cheer after the coming Lent, preceded the day itself, whereon, besides domestic feasting and revelry, with dice and card-playing, there was immensity of mumming. The records of Norwich testify, that in 1440, one John Gladman, who is there called "a man who was ever trewe and feythfull to God and to the kyng" and constantly disportive, made public disport with his neighbours, crowned as king of christmas, on horse back, having his horse bedizened with tinsel and flauntery, and preceded by the twelve months of the year, each month habited as the season required; after him came Lent, clothed in white and her ring-skins, on a horse with trappings c oyster-shells," in token that sadnesse shulde folowe, and an holy tyme;" and in this sort they rode through the city, accompanied by others in whimsical dresses, "makyng myrth, disportes, and playes." Among much curious observation on these Shrove-tide mummings, in the "Popish Kingdome" it is affirmed, that of all merry-makers, The chiefest man is he, and one that most deserveth prayse Among the rest, that can finde out the fondest kinde of playes. and laugh with lustie cheere, It is further related, that some of the rout carried staves, or fought in armour; others, disguised as devils, chased all the the boys: men wore women's clothes, people they came up with, and frightened and women, dressed as men, entered their neighbours' or friends' houses; some were apparelled as monks, others arrayed themselves as kings, attended by their guards and royal accompaniments; some disguised as old fools, pretended to sit on nests and hatch young fools; others wearing skins and dresses, became counterfeit bears and wolves, roaring lions, and raging bulls, or walked on high stilts, with wings at their backs, as cranes: Some like filthy forme of apes, and some like fools are drest, Which best beseeme those papistes all, that thus keep Bacchus' feast Others are represented as bearers of an unsavoury morsel They hurl him up into the ayre, not suffering him to fall, And this they doe at divers tymes, the citie over all. The Kentish" holly boy," and "ivy girl" are erroneously supposed (at p. 226,) to have been carried about on St. Valentine's day. On turning to Brand, who also cites the circumstance, it appears they were carried the Tuesday before Shrove Tuesday, and most probably were the unrecognised remains of the drest mawkin of the "Popish Kingdome," carried about with various devices to represent the "death of good living," and which our catholic neighbours continue. The Morning Chronicle of March the 10th, 1791, represents the peasantry of France carrying it at that time into the villages, collecting money for the "funeral," and, "after sundry absurd mummeries," committing the body to the earth. Neogeorgus records, that if the snow lay on the ground this day, snow-ball combats were exhibited with great vigour, till one party got the victory, and the other ran away: the confusion whereof troubled him sorely, on account of its disturbance to the "matrone olde," and "sober man," who desired to pass without a cold salutation from the "wanton fellowes." The "rabble-rout," however, in these processions and mockeries, had the honour of respectable spectators, who seem to have been somewhat affected by the popular epidemic. The same author says that, the noble men, the rich and men of hie degree, Least they with common people should not seeme so mad to bee, came abroad in "wagons finely framed before" drawn by "a lustie horse and wift of pace," having trappings on him from head to foot, about whose neck, and every place before, A hundred gingling belles do hang, to make his courage more, and their wives and children being seated in these "wagons," they -behinde themselves do stande Well armde with whips, and holding faste the bridle in their hande. Thus laden and equipped With all their force throughout the streetes and market place they ron, As if some whirlwinde mad, or tempest great from skies should come VOL. I. and thus furiously they drove without stopping for people to get out of their way: Yea, sometimes legges or arms they breake, and horse and cart and all They overthrow, with such a force, they in their course do fall! The genteel "wagon"-drivers ceased no! with the cessation of the vulgar sports ov foot, But even till midnight holde they on, their pastimes for to make, Whereby they hinder men of sleepe, and cause their heades to ake But all this same they care not for, nor do esteeme a heare, So they may have their pleasure, &c. APPRENTICES' HOLIDAY. Shrove Tuesday was until late years the great holiday of the apprentices; why it should have been so is easy to imagine, on recollecting the sports that boys were allowed on that day at school. The indulgencies of the ancient city 'prentices were great, and their licentious disturbances stand recorded in the annals of many a fray. Mixing in every neighbouring brawl to bring it if possible to open riot, they at length assumed to de termine on public affairs, and went in bodies with their petitions and remonstrances to the bar of the house of commons, with as much importance as their masters of the corporation. A satire of 1675 says, They'r mounted high, contemn the humble play Of trap or foot-ball on a holiday In Finesbury-fieldes. No, 'tis their brave intent, Wisely t' advise the king and parliament. But this is not the place to notice their manners further. The successors to their name are of another generation, they have been better educated, live in better times, and having better masters,will make better men. The apprentices whose situation is to be viewed with anxiety, are the outdoor apprentices of poor persons, who can scarcely find homes, or who being orphans, leave the factories or work-rooms of their masters, at night, to go where they can, and do what they please, without paternal care, or being the creatures of any one's solicitude, and are yet expected to be, or become good members of society PANCAKES. A MS. in the British Museum quoted by Brand states, that in 1560, it was a custom at Eton school on Shrove Tuesday for the cook to fasten a pancake to a crow upon the school door; and as crows usually hatch at this season, the cawing of the young ones for their parent, heightened this heartless sport. From a question by Antiquarius, in the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1790, it appears that it is a custom on Shrove Tuesday at Westminster school for the under clerk of the college, preceded by the beadle and the other officers, to throw a large pancake over the bar which divides the upper from the lower school. Brand mentions a similar custom at Eton school. Mr. Fosbroke is decisive in the opinion that pancakes on Shrove Tuesday were taken from the heathen Fornacalia, celebrated on the 18th of February, in memory of making bread, before ovens were invented. by the goddess Fornax. FOOT-BALL. This was, and remains, a game on Shrove Tuesday, in various parts of Eng land. Sir Frederick Morton Eden in the "Statistical account of Scotland," says that at the parish of Scone, county of Perth, every year on Shrove Tuesday the bachelors and married men drew themselves up at the cross of Scone, on opposite sides; a ball was then thrown up, and they played from two o'clock till sun-set. The game was this: he who at any time got the ball into his hands, run with it till overtaken by one of the opposite party; and then, if he could shake himself loose from those on the opposite side who seized him, he run on; if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it was wrested from him by the other party, but no person was allowed to kick it. The object of the married men was to hang it, that is, to put it three times into a small hole in the moor, which was the dool or limit on the one hand: that of the bachelors was to drown it, or dip it three times in a deep place in the river, the limit on the other: the party who could effect either of these objects won the game; if neither won, the ball was cut into equal parts at sun-set. In the course of the play there was usually some violence between the parties; but it is a proverb in this part of the country that "All is fair at the ball of Scone." Sir Frederick goes on to say, that this custom is supposed to have had its origin in the days of chivalry; when an Italian is reported to have come into this part of the country challenging all the parishes, under a certain penalty in case of declining his challenge. All the parishes declined this challenge except Scone, which beat the foreigner, and in commemoration of this gallant action the game was instituted. Whilst the custom continued, every man in the parish, the gentry not excepted, was obliged to turn out and support the side to which he belonged, and the person who neglected to do his part on that occasion was fined; but the custom being attended with certain inconveniences, was abolished a few years before Sir Frederick wrote. He further mentions that on Shrove Tuesday there is a standing match at foot-ball in the parish of Inverness, county of Mid Lothian, between the married and unmarried women, and he states as a remarkable fact that the married women are always successful. Crowdie is mentioned by sir F. M. Eden, ("State of the Poor,") as a never failing dinner on Shrove Tuesday, with all ranks of people in Scotland, as pancakes are in England; and that a ring is put into the basin or porringer of the unmarried folks, to the finder of which, by fair means, it was an omen of marriage before the rest of the eaters. This practice on Fasten's Eve, is described in Mr. Stewart's "Popular Superstitions of the Highlands," with little difference; only that the ring instead of being in "crowdie" is in "brose," made of the "bree of a good fat iigget of beef or mutton." This with plenty of other good cheer being despatched, the Bannich Junit, or "sauty bannocks" are brought out. They are made of eggs and meal mixed with salt to make them "sauty," and being baked or toasted on the gridiron," are regarded by old and young as a most delicious treat." They have a "charm" in them which enables the highlander to "spell" out his future wife: this consists of some article being intermixed in the meal-dough, and he to whom falls the "sauty bannock" which contains it, is sure-if not already married-to be married before the next anniversary. Then the Bannich Brauder or dreaming bannocks" find a place. They contain "a little of that substance which chimney-sweeps call soot." baking them "the baker must be as mute as a stone-one word would destroy the In |