And over each British boxer brave
Long may the banner of fair play wave.
On the Thursday evening of the ensuing week, on the occasion of the giving up of the stakes, which took place at Young Dutch Sam’s, in Vinegar Yard, Drury Lane, Big Ben and his friends were “all there,” and a “motion for a new trial” was made and agreed to on both sides. The articles, which were settled in the following week, will be found in a former page of this volume, in the Memoir of Caunt, who “reversed the former verdict” on the 11th of May, 1841, at Long Marsden, in thirty-five rounds, occupying forty-seven minutes.
This was Nick’s “Waterloo,” and his last appearance on any field. He became a publican, first in Liverpool, and then in London, and on the 17th of February, 1850, departed this life, at the “King’s Head,” Compton Street, Soho, the victim of a pulmonary attack.
[22] A detailed biography of this remarkable boxer will be found in the Author’s “Recollections of the Ring,” vol. i. “Pencilling,” III.
[23] See Recollections of the Ring and Pencillings of Pugilists. No. IX. Johnny Broome.
CHAPTER VI.
NATHANIEL LANGHAM.
1843–1857.
“Take him for all in all,” the subject of this chapter, as a middle-weight, was “a man” of whom might be safely said “we shall not look upon his like again.” He was of the weight so often described by the “old school” as the “unlucky 11 stone; too heavy for the light, and too light for the heavy ones.” Yet at that weight it is indisputable that the finest specimens of skill, strength, and activity have been developed, where courage and endurance have been duly combined, “to give the world assurance of a man.”