INDEX TO VOLUME II.

[1]. This is an error of the reporter’s. Spring has told us he was thirteen stone, nett, when he met Stringer.

[2]. This resembled the much-discussed round in Heenan and Sayers’ fight at Farnborough, where the Yankees claimed a “foul” because the ropes were lowered when Heenan was throttling the English Champion. The twenty-eighth rule of the P.R., which governs this case, authorises the referee to have the men separated, or the ropes cut, to prevent a fatal result. This the American party ignored or were really ignorant of.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[3]. Though this report is mainly from Pierce Egan’s text, it is not his writing; these “remarks” are from the pen of Mr. Vincent Dowling, and appeared in Bell’s Life in London, of January 11, 1824.

[4]. “Fighting upon a Stage.—Some little difference of opinion having existed upon the merits of the case between Langan and Spring, the majority of the supporters of pugilism assert, according to milling precedents, that if Spring intended to retain the title of Champion, he could, nay, he ought not to have refused to fight Langan upon a stage, as the following circumstances support the claim of Langan. It appears that Jack Bartholomew thought he had not fair play in the ring when he fought with Jem Belcher; and upon Bartholomew’s soliciting Belcher to give him a chance upon a stage, he replied, “Any where; a saw-pit, if you like.” Again, when Molineaux entertained an opinion that he had not justice done him in a ring with Cribb, the latter veteran answered the request of the man of colour, with a smile upon his face, “Yes, upon a stage, the top of a house, in a ship, or in any place you think proper.” It is likewise insisted upon by the admirers of boxing that the advantages are all upon the side of Spring. He is the tallest, the heaviest, and the longest man, with the addition of his superior science into the bargain. Most of the prize battles formerly were fought upon stages—Tom Johnson with Perrins, Big Ben with Jacombs, and George the brewer with Pickard; Johnson with Ryan, Johnson also with Big Ben, Mendoza with Humphries, Ward with Mendoza, Tom Tyne with Earl, etc. It is also worthy of remark, that none of the above stages were covered with turf. The only instance that bears upon the point respecting “turf,” is the stage which was erected at Newbury, upon which Big Ben and Hooper were to have fought. This was covered with turf, but the magistrates interfered; the fight was removed to some miles distant. Big Ben and Hooper fought on the ground in a ring.”—Pierce Egan.

[5]. See Life of Jem Burn, Period VI., Chapter VI.

[6]. Mr. John Jackson.

[7]. So says the reporter. It would, however, be fair, even if intentional, for any man is entitled to hit another “going down,” but of course, not when “down.”—Ed. Pugilistica.

[8]. The more humane provisions of the “New Rules,” do not allow this conduct on the part of the second. By rule 9, the man must rise from the knee of his bottle-holder and walk unaided to the scratch to meet his opponent.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[9]. This is negatived by round thirty-eight of the report: see also the note.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[10]. This reminds us of a duel which was fought at Liverpool some years since by the light of lamps, between a volunteer colonel and the aide-de-camp of a royal duke.

[11]. This is most unlikely; Langan was, we should say, never under eleven stone seven pounds to ten pounds from the time he was a grown man.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[12]. This sort of balderdash abounds in Pierce Egan’s (or rather, we suspect, Tom Reynolds’) Sketches of Irish Boxers in “Boxiana.” We let it stand here as something to provoke a smile.—Ed. Puqilistica.

[13]. The reader should also take the advice of Carney’s second, and “not mind such trash.”—Ed. Pugilistica.

[14]. The place where Tom Belcher defeated Dogherty, and which has ever since been called after the former celebrated pugilist. See Belcher (Tom), vol. i., p. 160.

[15]. Our friend the historian of “Boxiana,” here makes a sad mess of it. The Victory was not at Aboukir Bay at all; Nelson’s ship at the battle of the Nile (Aboukir) was the Vanguard. Every schoolboy knows the hero died off the coast of Spain, about sixty miles west of Cadiz, October 21, 1805, after the “crowning victory” off Cape Trafalgar.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[16]. Pierce Egan makes, reason unknown, this man’s name “Cohen.” He was afterwards beaten by Davis (the navigator), and is rightly indexed as Coyne in “Fistiana.”

[17]. Respecting the division of the “gate-money,” Mr. Jackson’s opinion was, “that all moneys taken upon the ground, in point of right and justice, belong to both of the combatants, who are the primary cause of the multitude assembling, and therefore ought to be fairly divided between them, without any reservation whatever.”

[18]. This, as we have already observed, would not be allowed by modern practice, and is forbidden by the new Rules of the Ring, Arts. 7 and 9.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[19]. A town once celebrated for cocking, pronounced by the natives “Wedgebury.”

[20]. Mr. James Soares.

[21]. Instruments used in gas-works.

[22]. This is the account in “Boxiana,” and faute de mieux we must adopt it. We suspect the much-vaunted Sir Daniel was simply a big clumsy “rough,” despite his defeat of Old Tom Oliver, who was a game boxer, but “slow as a top,” as Spring often in a friendly way described him. Cooper, too, had already been beaten by Oliver, and was in anything but good condition when he met Donnelly.

[23]. By the New Rules Donnelly would here have lost the fight, as Burke did in his contest with Bendigo, on February 7, 1839.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[24]. The writer never enters into the private quarrels of pugilists. His only anxiety is to represent every circumstance connected with the prize ring with accuracy and fidelity. He entertains no prejudices, neither has he any partialities to gratify.

[25]. Tom Shuffleton, speaking of a female, says, “Oh! I see; she must be the sixteenth Mrs. Shuffleton.” We never ascertained whether Mr. Donnelly placed his ladies in numerical order; it is, however, certain that he was a very gallant Milesian.

[26]. Pugilistic Champion of Ireland, we presume.—Ed.

[27]. In Dublin.

[28]. Poor Dan kept a public-house—Lord rest his sowl.

[29]. Carter’s ring career really closed on the 4th of May, 1819, when his pretensions were disposed of by the science of Tom Spring. See Life of Spring, Vol. II., Chapter I.

[30]. Sam Robinson, the Black, was born in 1778, in New York. He was a strong and courageous nigger, and after beating Crockey, beat Butcher, on March 16, 1810, at Coombe Warren, for a purse of £10. He was then beaten by Carter (twice) as here recorded. He beat Stephenson, the Black, at Coombe Wood, the 28th of May, 1816, making his third battle in three months. A hasty match was again made with Carter, and Robinson was a second time defeated, June 20, 1816. Sutton, the Black (see Appendix), challenged Robinson at Doncaster Races, and beat him, September 26, 1816, for a purse, in thirty-six minutes. In December, Robinson beat a big Yorkshireman, named Taylor, at Ferrybridge, in nineteen minutes, for a purse of ten guineas. He was next defeated by George Cooper (see Cooper, vol. i., p. 365), and quickly polished off. Fangill, a Scotch boxer, and a Waterloo man, was matched against Robinson, and they fought at Shellock, in Ayrshire, June 25, 1817, when Robinson proved the victor in forty minutes, after a gallant fight. His last battle was with Dent, a north-countryman, whom he beat, December 5, 1817, near the renowned Gretna Green, famed for other ring matches. He for some time attended sparring at the Fives Court, and when we lose sight of him he had entered the service of a sporting nobleman.

[31]. Mr. John Jackson.

[32]. This Green was an Essex man, who, having defeated one Wyke, at Barnsley, in Yorkshire, for a stake of £60 (April 2, 1819), and subsequently Harris, a protégé of Josh. Hudson, at Dagenham Breach, Essex, March 13, 1820 (in “Fistiana” the date is wrongly given as March 1, 1829), had crept into favour with himself. He was snuffed out by David as we here find.

[33]. Mr. Soares.

[34]. There were two other boxers of the name. Sam Larkins, of Cambridge, who beat Abbot (see Abbot), Shadbolt, and John Fuller; and Larkins, the Guardsman.

[35]. In the fourth volume of Pierce Egan’s “Boxiana,” pp. 473–481, will be found a friendly sketch of poor George’s career, as historiographer of the ring for the previous twenty years. He was a Berkshire man, born August 19, 1778, apprenticed to Varley, the celebrated seal engraver in the Strand, subsequently enlisted in the 16th Dragoons, but obtained his discharge at the period of the treaty of Amiens. Then an usher in a school at Camberwell, a newspaper writer in the British Neptune, and proprietor of Kent’s Dispatch, which died. Pierce Egan, who, with Vincent Dowling and George’s two sons, followed him to his grave in St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, says he realised in two successive years £1700, by sporting reporting. He was a scholar and a man of talent.

[36]. Dick Acton, a protégé of the scientific sparrer, Bill Eales, was like the French general who was compared to a drum, heard of only when beaten. He was a shoemaker by trade, and a ring follower by choice. His first fight in the P. C. ropes was with one Nash, at Kilburn, August 21, 1821, whom he beat, for a purse of 20 guineas, in thirty-two rounds. The next week, the love of fight strong within him, Dick threw his hat in at Edgeware, for a purse of 20 guineas, and polished off a stalwart countryman, hight Evans, in eighteen rounds, forty minutes. His next customer was a regular boxer, known as Massa Kendrick, the black. He turned the tables on “the Snob,” putting him in darkness in seventeen rounds, twenty-five minutes, at Moulsey, December 18, 1821. Dick moved for a new trial, and on the 18th of March, 1822, at Moulsey, seconded by Eales and Tom Spring, the Black by Randall and Josh. Hudson, Acton reversed the verdict, with two to one against him, punishing Massa out of time in thirty-two rattling rounds, occupying thirty-five minutes. From this time he became a sort of “trial horse,” and was beaten successively by Jem Ward, Young Peter Crawley, and Jack Nicholls, all good men.

[37]. See Memoir of Phil. Sampson, in an after part of this volume.

[38]. It may be as well to premise that this was written by one who was far from friendly to Ward. The facts, however, speak for themselves.—Ed. Pugilistica.

[39]. See Life of Painter, ante, p. 82.

[40]. See Life of Ward, p. 201, ante.

[41]. Bill (known as Dolly) Smith was born at Hammersmith, and was well thought of by many patrons of the art pugilistic. His principal battles were with Cannon, Abbot, Phil. Sampson, Joe Nash, and Jack Scroggins, by all of whom he was beaten, so that his name has been preserved by the fame of the antagonists who defeated him. His one successful battle was with Hares, whom he defeated after a slashing fight of fifty-eight minutes, during which forty rounds were fought, at Coombe Wood, May 3, 1814. This was for a purse of twenty-five guineas, given by the Pugilistic Club.

[42]. See Life of Jem Ward, pp. 211–215, ante.

[43]. The following we find in the Weekly Dispatch of the Sunday which announces Tom’s engagement:—

“So the nobs at the Coburg (forgive me the pun)

Are about to let off, for six nights, a Great Gun:

Tom Cannon, whose backer his prowess espouses.

Is form’d to draw claret, and may draw great houses;

May he make a good ‘hit,’ for the managers’ sake,

If they’re liberal in ‘giving,’ Tom doubtless will ‘take.’

But, jesting apart, may the town aid their plan,

Nor the whole turn out merely a flash in the pan.

“TIMOTHY TRIGGER,

“Gun Tavern.”

[44]. Jack Ford, in his day, fought some of the best men. He was defeated by Tom Oliver and Harry Harmer (see Life of Oliver, vol. ii.); but beat Harry Lancaster, George Weston and Josh. Ebbs. His weight was twelve stone.

[45]. This would now be objected to as an improper interference on the part of a second.—Editor.

[46]. As a sample of what our fathers thought smart writing, we give a contemporary specimen or two of les impromptus fait à loisir which appeared in the leading papers of the day:

“IMPROMPTU ON SAMPSON AND HUDSON’S MATCH.

“If what the ancients say be true,

That Samson many thousands slew,

And with a single bone;

How can Josh. Hudson’s skill in fight,

Avail ’gainst modern Sampson’s might,

Who carries two ’tis known?”

Another, alluding to a rife topic of the day—the treatment of Napoleon the Great by the Governor of St. Helena, Sir Hudson Lowe, whom Byron has damned to everlasting fame in the lines—

“Or to some lonely isle of gaolers go,

With turncoat Hudson for my turnkey Lowe,”

runs thus; the plagiarism in idea is manifest.

“Josh. Hudson now is high in fame;

Should this against him go,

His glory passes like a dream,

He’ll then be—Hudson Low-e.”

[47]. Larkins afterwards beat John Fuller, Abbott, and Kelly, and was beaten by Keene and Tubbs. He came to London, and his name occurs in the Fives and Tennis Courts glove bouts.

[48]. See Appendix to Period V., pp. 191–198.

[49]. In a reprint in Bell’s Life (May 15th, 1879) this fight is reported throughout as “O’Neale and Gaynor,” without a word of allusion to Neale’s previous battles.

[50]. This is an allusion to a system of exercise adopted by Jem in training, and recommended by many, of practising right and left upon a sack stuffed with hay, to teach straight delivery.

[51]. The original Assembly Rooms in Regent Street, by Argyll Place, not the Windmill Street “Argyll,” recently “disestablished” by the Middlesex magistrates.

[52]. Frank Redmond, although his Ring career was not marked by success, was a skilful sparrer and an excellent teacher of the art of self-defence. He was born on the 26th of February, 1803, and as a young aspirant was so highly thought of that he was matched (at the age of twenty) against the renowned “Star of the East,” Barney Aaron, whose recent victories over Samuel Belasco, Collins, Ned Stockman, and Lenney (twice) had raised him to a proud position among the middle weights. Young Frank was soundly beaten in thirty-two minutes, after a game and manly battle with an opponent by whom it was no disgrace to be defeated.

Four years afterwards Frank again challenged Aaron, and a match was made for £50 a-side, to fight on the 21st August, 1827, but Frank was arrested on the day on the road to the appointed place. Strange to say, although this was proved, the stakes were given up to the Israelite, which so angered Redmond that he threw up his hat in the room at the “Castle” and offered to fight for £20 on the spot. A third match was then made for £50 a-side. After a high-couraged battle (which will be found in the Life of Barney Aaron, in the Appendix to this Period) Redmond was again defeated. Redmond’s other battles were a game but unsuccessful combat with Harry Jones (the Sailor Boy), and a single victory over Tom Davis, near Leominster, on the 14th of November, 1833. Frank soon after married, and went into business as a licensed victualler at the “George and Dragon,” Greek Street, Soho, which, from Frank’s abilities as a professor of the fistic art, and his thorough knowledge of the points of a dog, became a popular resort. At an after period, for many years, Frank Redmond was known and respected as the proprietor of the “Swiss Cottage,” St. John’s Wood. We extract the following from “Walks round London,” published in 1846:—

“The ‘Swiss Cottage,’ at the intersection of the London and Finchley Roads and Belsize Lane, is a pleasant summer retreat; and it would be hard to name a more competent authority on sporting subjects than the worthy host, than whom

‘A merrier nor a wiser man

To spend a pleasant hour withal’

is not to be found within the bills of mortality. Well versed in all sporting matters is Frank Redmond; and behind a yard of clay, and over a glass of the best Cognac, the proprietor of this hostelrie will discuss with you the merits of a Derby nag; the pluck, game, bravery, and stamina of the aspirant for fistic fame; the construction and merits of a prize wherry; the skill of a batsman and cricket-bowler; or detail to you the speed and breeding of a crack greyhound. On this last theme Frank will become a monopolist; you have touched the chord that will vibrate, for on the subject of the canine species he will become as learned as England’s ermined Chief Justice on a knotty point of law, or as eloquent as Demosthenes himself. A better judge of the merits, breeding, and qualities of the dog does not exist. Frank is reputed to be the best dog-fancier in the kingdom, and on that point is generally consulted by the aristocracy and Corinthians of the first water.

“Such are a few of the many inducements, and we own they are no small ones, which prompt us to notice ‘the Cottage.’ We say nothing about the accommodation offered to the guests; for it were a libel on Frank’s administration to assert that they are not of the first-rate order, and he must be an epicure, indeed, who could find fault with the cuisine of the establishment. Had the ‘Swiss Cottage’ existed in Shakspere’s days, we should have been inclined to assert that it was from some such a house as this that the ‘fat-ribbed knight’ first acquired his idea of the comfort a man feels in taking ‘mine ease at mine inn.’”

Frank Redmond retired from this life and its business in 1863.

[53]. Dick Curtis died September 16th, 1843, aged 41.

[54]. This was occasioned by that ancient boxing arena passing into new hands, and being leased for a circus, under the title of “Cooke’s Gymnasium.”

[55]. At this time Tom Belcher bore that title.

[56]. Arthur Matthewson, for many years known in fistic circles as a sporting publican, was one of the best little men of his day. His first reported battle was with David Barnes, whom he defeated in fifty-one rounds, for fifty guineas a-side, at Basset’s Pole, near Birmingham, July 15th, 1822. He beat Israel Belasco in forty-four minutes at Moulsey Hurst, March 19th, 1823, and Barney Aaron as above. Matthewson died in his native town, July 13th, 1840, generally respected.

[57]. Jem Raines, ten stone four pounds, fought a draw with Harry Jones, the Sailor Boy, at Chesterfield, March 17th, 1827. He was subsequently beaten by Harry Jones (see Life of the Sailor Boy, page 526), Ned Stockman, and Barney Aaron, all, at that period, good men and made in most instances a very creditable fight.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

  1. P. [456], changed “fell one knee” to “fell to one knee”.
  2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
  3. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
  4. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.