Delights to trip along the Steine.'
It was in this year that one of the Prince's boon companions, Richard Barry, seventh Lord Barrymore, made himself somewhat notorious at Brighton. He had just come of age, and into a fortune of £20,000 a year, of which he tried to make ducks and drakes as quickly as possible, especially on the turf. A characteristic anecdote of him is related in the Sussex Weekly Advertiser, of June 21, 1790: 'Lord Barrymore had his watch taken from him at Ascot Heath races. He missed it immediately, and followed the fellow, who stopped, and entered into conversation with a well-known boxer. As soon as the conversation between these gentlemen ended, his Lordship went to the champion of the fist, and took his watch. The latter expostulating, Lord Barrymore informed him that his friend had just taken his watch, and that, if he would recover it, he should have his own. The Knight of the Knuckle soon regained his Lordship's watch from the pupil of Barrington, and retrieved his own.'
In compliment to his manners and language, his lordship was generally known as Hell-gate; his next brother, the Hon. and Rev. Augustus Barry, was called Newgate, because he had been 'in prisons oft'; and their younger brother, the Hon. Henry Barry,[58] Cripple-gate, because of some physical deformity. To complete this delightful family, there was a sister, who from her habit of swearing was called Billings-gate.
We read in the St. James's Chronicle, July 29-31, 1790: 'A pugilistick rencontre took place, a few days since, at Brighton, between Lord Barrymore and young Fox, son to the manager of the Theatre, in which the conduct of some of the parties is represented as very little to their credit.' The Sussex Weekly Advertiser, August 2, says: 'The Rencounter which took place on the Steine at Brighton, on Monday evening last, and the cause of it have been grossly misrepresented in the London papers; they were set out with the wrong day: but, as Lord Barrymore has, through the goodness of the Prince, forgiven the insult he received, we shall not revive it by a relation of its attendant circumstances.'
The caricaturist soon caught hold of it, and we have 'Scrub and Boniface, or, Three Brave Lads, against one poor Roscius—London, pub. Aug. 9 by Steine Briton, Newgate Invt, Cripple-gate Direxit, Hell-gate Fecit.' Mr. Fox, son to the manager of the Brighton theatre is on the ground, calling out, 'Foul, foul.' The Earl of Barrymore is still raining blows upon him, and kicking him, encouraged by his two brothers, one of whom says, 'B——t me, I'll lay 3 to 1 we lick him.' The other calls out, 'Bloody Newgate to me, if I don't take his father's licence.' Sheridan deprecates with, 'Dam it, Newgate, fight like a man, no kicking.' The Duke of York, looking on, thus alludes to his duel with Colonel Lenox, 'Fie donc—If he had hit my head, instead of my curl, I would have fought fair.'
The World of August 2, 1790, says: 'A report was circulated in town, that it was Charles Fox, and not the Manager's Son, who fought Lord Barrymore at Brighton. The report gained credit from the addition that the parties, immediately after the battle, coalesced.'
But fisticuffs were fashionable, vide the Sussex Weekly Advertiser of August 9, 1790: 'Between the heats, on Saturday, a Boxing Match took place between a young man of this town, and one of the black legged society; which, after a contest of about half an hour, terminated in favour of the latter. The number of spectators, we should think, were not less than 2,000.
'In making the ring, several scuffles ensued, that had like to have produced more battles. Captain Aston, who, lately, fought a duel, was with difficulty prevented in engaging in a conflict of the knuckle.
'One gentleman, who had struck a youth, as was supposed by some others that saw it, without provocation, was set upon, and had his shirt almost torn from his back.
'We could but both admire and applaud the singular good humour of the Duke of York, during the above battle. His Royal Highness, with a degree of freedom and politeness that might not have been expected even from a private gentleman, permitted any one who chose it, to take the benefit of his lofty Phaeton to see the fight, and actually accommodated, in, upon, and about it, near 30 persons, himself holding the reins, and observing the utmost care that the horses did not move forward, to endanger their lives and limbs, as on that, alone, depended the safety of many, who, either to gratify their Broughtonian curiosity, or ambitious desire to partake of so much of the Royal favour, had placed themselves on the wheels and every other part of the carriage, till it was completely covered.