spectators. The Times, usually a non-pugilistic journal, so far as the P. R. is concerned, sent representatives, and over a column was allotted to a report of the proceedings, whilst All the Year Round published an article, and Punch a poem, and the Balzac of his day, Mr. W. M. Thackeray, wrote about it. Peers, statesmen, men of letters, painters, divines, and actors were present, and assisted to form the inner circle outside the "ring."

The men fought for over two hours, when the ring was broken, thirty-seven rounds having taken place. Heenan was now all but blind, and Sayers's right arm, the celebrated "auctioneer," was much injured. How the fight would have ended no one could tell, and eventually the stakes were drawn, each principal receiving a belt. Sayers's pluck, in standing before an adversary who felled him over a dozen times, was highly applauded, and the members of the Stock Exchange subscribed several thousand pounds, which were invested in the funds for his benefit. Heenan became afterwards a turf speculator, and is now in America. Sayers went round the country with a circus, and died, in 1865, of a broken constitution.

Since then there has been no prize battle to enlist the sympathies of the nation, although several scientific professors of the art are still living. The police have of late shown great activity in suppressing these encounters, and several of the most celebrated boxers of the day have been compelled to betake themselves to other pursuits, or cross the Atlantic, where "barneys," or "sold" fights appear to be as frequent as of late years they were on this side of the

ocean.

CHAPTER VI.

ENGLISH WRESTLERS-T. TOPHAM.

Wrestling in England at the Present Day-Clubs and Meetings-The Games of Scotland-Throwing the Hammer-Cumberland and Westmoreland Men-Wrestlers of Cornwall and Devonshire-The Croc-en-jamb-The Kick-Sir Thomas Parkyns, of the Eighteenth Century-His Originality—T. Topham, his Immense StrengthHis performances before the Physician Desaguliers.

LONG before the practice of boxing became general in Britain, the English cultivated wrestling with ardour. The Londoners were very fond of this exercise, and never failed to exhibit their abilities in this direction at the fair of St. Bartholomew, which took place every August. The practice of wrestling is continued to the present day in many parts of England-in the western counties, Cornwall and Devonshire; and in Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, in the north. Clubs are organised in those counties to keep alive the sacred fire among the youths, to kindle zeal in the indifferent, and to award prizes to the successful. The Athletic Society of Liverpool recognises the pagan Hercules as its patron, and the torso of that famous athlete figures in the centre of the medals which they distribute.

Among the games practised in Scotland none is more popular than tossing the caber, which consists of throwing up a fir-tree of about twelve feet in length. The tree is entire, but care is taken to remove the branches and to shape it at one of the extremities. The player seizes the caber by this narrow end, raises it to the height of his shoulder, and