feeling his way. I have also noticed a little stolen in while the directors were asleep, and shyness on the part of certain distinguished were about to run away with the rolling stock, spectators of the battle, who gave the Ring the with the connivance of a small number of the sanction of their presence, but not the sanction railway officers. The anxious, threatening glances of their names. A few more of these excep- that were cast upon unknown people, and the tional events may dispel all such mock modesty. many whispered inquiries as to who was, or who From the first moment when the late excep- was not, a detective policeman, gave a very pretty tional event-the international prize-fight-burglarious tone to the whole station for at least began to assume the aspect of a great and an hour before daybreak. The farce was excoming fact, there was the shallowest possible tremely well-acted, and appearances were careattempt on all sides to keep up appearances. fully kept up to the last. The favoured railway People remarked very mildly that such dis-had been known for months (it was the first that graceful spectacles ought to be stopped, and immediately staked two to one that the Englishman would beat the American. A member or two in the House of Commons tamely asked the Home Secretary what he intended to do, and his reply was generally to the effect that he would try to keep up appearances. The powers of the metropolitan police were put in force, and they kept up appearances by pushing the training combatants into the country. Local constabulary forces, finding that they also were expected to behave with superficial decency, hunted the American (not very chivalrously, seeing that they might have hunted the Englishman), until he was bound over to keep the peace, with two sureties, to the extent of a hundred pounds. That extremely useful end attained, they retired, like good men who had thoroughly done their duty in keeping up appearances.

After conference with my friend the Conductor of this Journal, I received his encouragement personally to let down these same appearauces, and to go to the fight, and to avow in these pages that I had done so. This was my

commission.

was ever mentioned in connexion with the fight); the very spot upon which the battle was to take place had been confided to hundreds for days; and the morning, the hour, and the point of departure, had been openly sold like any commodity in the market. It was all a preposterous keeping up of appearances. The fact is, there was no public desire ever manifested to stop the contest, but a very strong desire to hear that it had been fairly fought out. In the face of such a feeling the law was paralysed; its function not being to make a whole people more virtuous than they really are. The nation has no logical complaint against the law for standing still on this occasion, but only for its ridiculous pretence of being constantly on the alert.

There were never, perhaps, so many passengers assembled on a railway platform, who knew and addressed each other by familiar Christian names. The whole train might have been taken for a grand village excursion, but for those unmistakable faces that rested in the folds of the carriage cushions, under the dim light of the carriage lamps. The small eyes and heads, the heavy jaws, and the high cheek-bones, were hung out, like candid signboards, to mark the members of the fighting-trade. The two or three hundred Americans, and the small sprinkling of aristocracy and visitors, were not sufficient to modify, in any perceptible degree, the thoroughly animal character of the train.

When I went out into the frosty air, instead of going comfortably to bed, about one o'clock A.M. on Tuesday morning, the seventeenth of April, I held a railway-ticket in my hand, that was printed to keep up appearances. A journey from London-bridge to nowhere and back, by a special four o'clock train, was all that I was I obtained a seat in a rather overloaded guaranteed by this slip of cardboard, in re-double compartment of a second-class carriage. turn for the sum of three pounds sterling. For all this seeming mystery, the railway company knew that I knew I was going to the great prize-fight; the policeman who saw me close my street door at that unseemly hour knew that I was going to the great prize-fight; the cabman who drove me to my destination was bursting with intelligence of the great prize-fight; and the crowd who assembled round the railway station were either going with me to the great prize-fight, or had come to see me go to the great prize-fight. There was an affectation of secrecy about the movements of some of the travellers, a reflexion of the many eyewinkings they must have seen for the last few days; and there was an affectation of caution on the part of the railway company in dividing the passengers, and admitting them simultaneously at different entrances. These passengers moved silently along the passages, and across the platforms, as if they were trespassers upon the company's property, who had

Behind me were a live lord, a live baronet, a member of Parliament, the very gentlemanly editor of a distinguished sporting paper which has always done its utmost in the cause of fair-play and honest dealing, an aristocratic Scotchman, a clergyman of the Church of England, and a renowned poet of the tender passions. By the side of me was a young, cheerful, round-faced Australian settler, who had travelled fifteen thousand miles to see the fight, and to transact a little business of minor importance. His dress was light, his manner self-reliant, and he looked the kind of man to go round the world unencumbered with luggage, with a cigar in his mouth, and his hands in his pockets. Opposite this passenger was a mild, long-faced, blinking gentleman, of Jewish aspect, who talked very fluently, and seemed to know all the minor deities of the ring. By his side was a drowsy and ragged member of the fighting craft, whose prospects seemed blighted, and whose scalp had been taken by

the immortal Sayers in a battle some eight years before.

The labour of keeping up the conversation in the carriage, rested chiefly upon the Australian settler and the talkative Jew. The aristocracy seemed shy. They were diffident, perhaps, of their sporting knowledge, or were sleepy from having been up all night.

"I saw a good fight in Melbourne," said the Australian, "about a week afore I left."

"Did you?" returned the talkative Jew. "There's a fortune there," said the Australian, confidently, "for any man about eight stun

nine."

The drowsy fighting-man, with blighted prospects, slowly opened one eye.

"There's no good man there," continued the Australian, "under nine stun."

"How about Fibbing Billy?" asked the talkative Jew. "Used up."

"Joss Humphrey ?"

"Bounceable: wants it taken out of him. Fights at ten stun; gives any man a stun, but won't strip for less than a thousand pounds."

"What name?" asked the blighted prizefighter, this time opening both eyes, and becoming languidly interested in the conversation. "Joss Humphrey," answered the Australian

As our journey continued through Kent, and into Surrey, we were amused by seeing many official scarecrows, keeping up appearances by being posted along the line. A few blue-nosed policemen at the stations; four other shivering policemen under a clump of trees; a few galloping police officers, taking equestrian exercise on the coach-road below; represented the winking majesty of the law. Their faces showed the make-believe character of their opposition to the exceptional event.

When, after a journey of two hours, we were set down at the Farnborough station, it struck me that no more appropriate fighting-ground could have been chosen throughout Eugland. We were near the great military camp of Aldershot-a place where thirty thousand warriors are always studying how best to kill and to destroy. They belong to a great European prizefighting association, which boasts of some three millions of active members; by the side of whom the puny company of professed pugilists sink into contempt.

The appearance of our train, and of the passengers who hurriedly alighted from it, was a signal to some of the scared farmers to barricade their dwellings. They knew that fifteen hundred people might prove a dangerous invading army, pushed along as they had been by the strong metropolitan authorities into the feeble

settler.
"Ah!" returned the blighted prize-fighter, re-arms of the local police.
lapsing into drowsiness. Australia seemed a
long way off, and capital did not appear to be
forthcoming. It was an opening for a smart,
active young man, but he was not in a position
to avail himself of it.

"Nick Muffles could tackle him," remarked
the talkative Jew, addressing himself; almost
confidentially, to the blighted prize-fighter.
"Ye-s," was the drawling answer, finished off
with a yawn.

"Nick's clever," said the Jew.
"Ah!" returned the prize-fighter.
"Ain't he artful ?"

After this favourable review of their absent friends' fighting qualities, the blighted prizefighter made a few observations in praise of Nature before he again closed his eyes. He seemed to be an admirer of daybreak, and a lover of gardens. The Australian kept up the conversation with the Jew by inquiring after many old prize-fighters whom he had known before he emigrated. Some were dead, some had thrived, some had disappeared. They were all asked after by affectionate Christian names, like many actors, and most comic singers. The pugilistic profession seems never to have had more than two "Misters" in its ranks; the late ex-champion, "Mr." Gulley, M.P. for Pontefract; and the late ex-champion, "Mr." Jackson, teacher of boxing, and one of the coronation pages to King George the Fourth.

For

A muddy tramp over half a mile of marshy meadow land, where we had to jump over small ditches, and struggle through hedges, brought us, at last, to the field selected for the battle. The stakes were driven in with wooden mallets, and the ropes were adjusted by a veteran prizefighter, about seventy years old-a sage of a hoary and venerable aspect. Around the ring, when formed, we ranged ourselves in a very eager, selfish, noisy, expectant, brutal mob. There was no one man there who could say I am more refined than my neighbour. the time being we were all equal, and our country was anxiously waiting behind us to read an account of everything we were about to see. There were dukes, lords, marquises, clergymen, actors, singers, managers, authors, reporters, painters, and poets, mixed with plain country gentlemen, military officers, legislators, lawyers, barristers, merchants, card-sharpers, fathers of families who brought their sons, thieves, fighting-men, trainers, horse-dealers, doctors, publicans, contractors, feather-weights, light-weights, middle-weights, heavy-weights, Americans of all classes, Irishinen of several classes, and Scotchmen also. Scarcely an art, a profession, or a class was unrepresented. Later in the morning, when the country was aroused, we had farm labourers, women, country girls, and little children, a few policemen-still keeping up appearances

and a country idiot, with helpless hands and feeble legs and gaping mouth, who was the only innocent, irresponsible spectator of the fight. A number of active visitors swarmed up the slender trees which surrounded the meadow, whence they looked down upon the ring, like

There was even a

staring and grinning apes. There was a ceremony of tying the combattimid old gentleman present who, rather than ants' colours-two gaudy pocket-handkerchiefs stay away, had hired two professional fighting--to the stakes; there was another ceremony of men to protect him. shaking hands between seconds and champions; there was another ceremony of tossing for choice of "corners," or position in the ring.There were almost as many ceremonies as at a Coronation. Everything was conducted according to certain forms and rules, almost superstitiously observed.

When the immortal Sayers stepped into the ring, at about seven o'clock in the morning, he was received, like a popular performer, with a round of applause. His immortal face was a deep sallow brown, and looked like a square block of walnut wood. His expression was even a little more strongly marked for pugilism than that of most of his craft. He was slightly nervous upon facing the company.

His opponent, the immortal Heenan, next entered the ring, to be received with quite as much enthusiasm as the English champion. He looked much fairer than Sayers in the face, and was equally nervous. His portraits had flattered him in the eyes of the British public. There are two styles of nose which all prize-fighters must be content to select from-one, presenting a flat, triangular appearance: the other, indented near the tip, and slightly turned up, so that you could hang a key upon it. The immortal Heenan had a moderate nose of the last pattern.

The two immortal men shook hands, and seemed to inquire cordially after each other's health which was the signal for another round of applause. They eyed each other curiously and reflectively, as they had never met before.

:

The choice of the corner was won by the American, and he took his place. His back was to the sun-a bright, glaring sun-and his ground was slightly higher than that of his adversary. In stature he is six feet one and a half inch high; and besides being five inches taller than Sayers, he is, of course, heavier, and eight years younger.

The two immortal heroes of the hour stood up before each other in the most approved attitudes. Their left sides were advanced; their right arms were laid across their chests; their left arms were thrown out and drawn back, like the pawing leg of a horse. Their visitors watched every movement, for the present, in breathless silence; while their seconds peered at them from opposite corners, like wicket-keepers in a cricketfield. There was a forced laugh on each champion's face, that was meant to be agreeable. Their left feet kept tapping the ground, in a kind of dancing step; their heads were frequently thrown back, or bobbed down; and they skipped from side to side after aiming or parrying a blow. At last the first stage in the fight was reached, amidst uproarious applause; the immortal Sayers had succeeded in drawing "first blood" from his antagonist.

The ring-keepers-some twenty selected pugilists with long sticks, of whom some were afterwards disgraced for grossly neglecting their duty-were now very busy in arranging the visitors causing those in front, who had purchased inner-ring tickets, at ten shillings each, for the benefit of the P.B.A. (Prizefighters' Benevolent Association), to sit down These movements were repeated with such upon the wet turf, their railway rugs, or slight variation, that pugilism, like most games camp-stools that were selling at a sovereign of skill, must be pronounced monotonous. It apiece. One indefatigable caterer openly la- was some little time before the next great stage mented the loss of a ten-pound note, through his in the battle was reached, and the first knocknot having brought down a few boxes for gen- down blow was received by the Englishman. tlemen to stand upon. The country people The excitement round the ring now began to seemed to make little harvest of the general ex-break out, and hoarse shouts were exchanged citement, except in the sale of oranges. The thieves were very busy, and the Americans were their greatest victims. The picking of pockets, however, is no more peculiar to the prize-ring than to popular chapels.

Rounds of applause were very freely bestowed at every opportunity. There was one when the immortal Sayers took off his coat and shirt; there was another when the immortal Heenan did the like; there was a tremendous burst of satisfaction when the two men, in full fighting order, stripped to the waist, and advanced towards the scratch" in the centre of the ring. They looked firm, muscular, and cheerful, the result of their training; but the constitution is not improved by these violent changes from indulgence and idleness, to temperance and enforced exercise. Consumption and dropsy are common amongst professional pugilists, and sometimes the two diseases combine. Everything in training is sacrificed to showy muscle and wind.

from each side. Enormous sums of money were loudly offered, by rough and shabby-looking people, upon either champion, and aristocratic eyes stared intensely through many eye-glasses. Unruly visitors leaped up from the grass, and danced wildly near the ropes: while the ringkeepers applied their sticks, without stint or favour, to the visitors' heads and shoulders. The same movements were repeated, again and again, by the champions, with pretty nearly the same results. The immortal Sayers was knocked down at least twenty times by the immortal Heenan, or fell, humouring his blows. The turf was soft, and he had to counterbalance his many disadvantages by "science," or careful tactics. He was always picked up by his seconds in the most affectionate manner, and carried to his corner, like a Guy Fawkes, to be sponged.

An hour soon passed in this way, without any signs of the battle drawing to a conclusion. The immortal Sayers's face, with the sun full upon it, was like a battered copper tea-kettle;

his right arm was stiff and helpless; and he was freely spitting blood. The immortal Heenan's right eye was closed-up with a huge lump of blue flesh, produced by the Englishman's well-directed and determined blows; his upper lip, too, was puffed out, as if there were six rows of gums and teeth behind it. When Sayers gave a telling hit, he stopped, and looked inquisitively at his adversary, to see what damage he had done; and after Heenan had knocked his opponent down, he turned to his seconds, threw up both his arms, and opened his swollen mouth in a gasping manner.

It has been my misfortune to see many chance fights of a determined character-one particularly between two navigators in a sewer-and though there was less "science" about them, less (as one may say) of the ring dancing-master, there was more real " punishment." I find it difficult to reconcile the appearance of both Sayers and Heenan, the day after the fight, with the accounts that were printed of the awful character of the battle. There must surely be a little exaggeration somewhere-perhaps everywhere?

draw it certainly was in every sense of the word. It drew hundreds of people from many parts of the globe; it drew thousands from their beds; it drew four or five thousand pounds sterling for a special railway train, one half of which sum will be divided, by arrangement, between the two men. It drew all England from its usual business engagements about mid-day, on the memorable Tuesday, the 17th of April, 1860. It drew thirty-five bales, containing two tons of newspapers (the largest number ever shipped aboard one ship), to America, at the earliest possible moment. It drew several distinguished merThe excitement was now at its height; and a cantile bodies into subscribing testimonials for constant roar of voices was kept up round the the English champion; it drew uncountable ring. People at the back made desperate at- numbers of people into supporting a great pugitempts to mount the shoulders of those in front.listic revival. Nervous betting men, with heavy stakes upon the contest, got out of the crowd, and walked about the meadow. The wind hissed through the trees, and the hundreds who clung to the bending branches shouted loudly for each combatant, according to the tide of battle. A few county policemen came upon the field, to keep up appearances, and, when they timidly ventured to push into the ring, were quietly hustled on one side by the savage spectators. A few oaths were heard, but not many; the pale faces round the inner circle became paler, the compressed lips more compressed; bets of various amounts were still loudly offered, and loudly taken; outsiders leaped up and down with ceaseless activity; the smacking blows of the combatants were heard, and their visible effect was described to excited inquirers, and the news passed from mouth to mouth; opinions fluctuated; the Englishman was abused or praised, so was the American; the referee was nearly smothered; and the only men who really seemed to retain calmness were the two combatants, their seconds, and the leading prize-fighters present. When, at the end of two hours, and in the thirty-seventh round, the American got the neck of the Englishman across the rope, it was not the fault of the general multitude that murder was not presented to them as a crowning treat for their money. The American was requested to "hold him" by a thousand voices on the ground, and in the trees; but at the height of the uproar the ring was broken, the referee was forced out of his place, and all became wild confusion. This is no new ending to such a contest. The referee was the editor already referred to, who for years has done as much as a gentleman in resolute earnest could, to imbue these men with principles of honour, justice, and self-restraint. Surely there is something wrong, after all, in the "Noble Art" when he is set at nought when most needed, and when the wellconducted men among the pugilists cannot rely upon their own brethren to preserve a clear stage and no favour, but are forced to the declaration (as they have been in this case) that. even the men of their careful selection are not to be trusted with the limited responsibility of keeping the Ring.

This fight has been declared a draw," and a

way

Think what the unconscious exaggeration floating about, is likely to be, when the exaggeration of wild sentiment on this subject gets Stock Exchanges, and Mercantile Exchanges, and Heaven knows what agglomerations of sensible and sober men together, to receive the immortal Sayers with high public distinction, and shower money on him. I do not doubt that the sturdy and bold champion of England is a thoroughly good fellow in his and in his place; I am very far from taking on myself to assert that, within those limits, he has not his honest uses; but I cannot forbear asking now, after a pause of a few weeks, when there has been time to cool, whether this great pugilistic Revival, in this extravagant aspect, is not a new and noteworthy instance of a great moral epidemic? Is it not well that we should turn it to advantage by so accounting and remembering it? Then, when we observe in another country not our own, the next strange contagion that may seize it, we shall be more tolerant thereof. Then, when some new frenzy sets in here, we shall not fall to tearing one another to pieces about it, or to wresting Heaven and Earth out of shape to account for it, but shall say "it is a fever-an infection-will soon expend its force as a disease, and go the mortal way of the two immortal prize-fighters."

To keep up appearances is a constant British effort. In the keeping up of appearances concerning this fight, the thing has been reduced to a point so transparently absurd and hypocritical, that the force of Humbug can go no further. Will any member of Parliament, who was at the fight, be so exemplary, therefore, as to "back his opinions," like a man and a Briton? Will he protest against the professors and amateurs of pugilism being steamed down a railway and