The Cockpit

William Hogarth's satirical engraving 'The Cockpit' is presented with the mock title 'Pit Ticket' alongside an admission token for the 'Royal Sport'. The title was possibly intended as a pun on the name of the government minister William Pitt.

The Royal Cockpit was located in Birdcage Walk next to St James's Park. Cockfighting was the most popular sport in London at the time and the Cockpit was frequented by gamblers of all social classes, including Whitehall politicians.

Hogarth evokes the noisy, smoky atmosphere of the cock fight. Spectators are shown pipe smoking and taking snuff. The composition of the crowd reflects the diverse social backgrounds of the spectators. The wealthy can be seen mixing with servants and tradesmen. The central figure in the picture is the blind aristocrat Lord Albemarle Bertie, brother of the Duke of Ancaster. Bertie is shown gambling large amounts of money and being robbed by the man to his left. A black footman appears to Bertie's right. In the top right hand corner a Quaker is depicted in prayer. Above him to the right there is a poster of Nan Rawlings, a Deptford cock breeder. The royal coat of arms is displayed on the back wall on the left hand side.

The shadow cast across the cockpit is of a man hoisted aloft in a basket for not paying his debts. He proffers his watch in the hope of being released. A set of rules for the Pit, now in a private collection, relates the following: 'Should a man lose his wager and pay not but maketh another wager, he shall be put in a basket and hung up to the eaves of the Pit that all men may see him, and there he shall remain until the end of the session, when he shall be let down and henceforth be banished from the pit.'