April, 1793. A match was in this month made between Mendoza and Will Ward, and settled to take place on the first of May, but the former through indisposition was obliged to lose his deposit-50 guineas. On Wednesday, June 8, 1793, a battle was fought at Chatteris, between a butcher and a farmer, for 50 guineas. The farmer being very thin and consumptive, displayed great judgment in shifting, and occasionally throwing in an unexpected hit at his adversary. The butcher was a stout athletic fellow, and although accustomed to spill the blood of the brute creation, felt somewhat QUALMISH at the sight of his own, and after a few rounds, and tolerably severe blows in the face, gave in. August, 1793, a pitched battle was fought at Elmstead, near Chelmsford, Essex, by two LADIES of pupilistic spirit. Being stripped, without caps, and their hair closely tied up, they set to, and for 45 minutes supported a most desperate conflict; when, although one of them was so dreadfully beat as to excite apprehension for her life, her husband possessed brutality enough still to prompt her to the fight; but, through the interference of the spectators they were separated. Notwithstanding the author so strongly advocates the cause of pugilism, he by no means feels desirous to see such conflicts displayed by the softer sex. It is the gentleness of their manners, and their acknowledged inability of defending themselves, that frequently excite us to acts of the greatest bravery and gallantry! Monday, Nov. 18, 1793, a battle was most desperately contested between one Hall, an ass driver, and a brewer's a brewer's servant, in Harley-fields, near Portlandplace. The cause was an old grudge, but they however staked a guinea a side. The conflict was truly shocking; they fought one hour and five minutes, all straight-forward hard fighting, no shifting or closing. The brewer had an eye cut out, when he thought it time to give in. January, 1794, a new match having been made between Mendoza and Will Ward, they met at Hounslow for the purpose of determining the contest; the magistrates, however, immediately calling out the military to their aid, dispersed the mob, and prevented the battle taking place. A match was this month made between Bryan, Big Ben, and Will Wood, to be fought on the 24th of next month. Odds in favour of Ben. On Thursday, January 30, a boxing match was very desperately contested, near Brompton, Chatham, between an excellent bruiser, Darling, a shipwright, and a young man, a caulker, for four guineas a side. Bets ran very high, and a great deal of money was sported on the event. The battle lasted upwards of two hours, when Darling was declared the conqueror, and carried off in triumph by his friends. Monday, February 10, 1794, a battle was fought between Hooper, the tinman, and George Maddox, the bruiser, in a ring on Sydenham-common, Kent, for £25 a side; the former was seconded by Tom Johnson, and Jack Butcher his bottle-holder; Joe Ward seconded Maddox, and Bill Gibbons was his bottleholder. That That staunch patron of pugilism, the Duke of Hamilton, was present, and many other celebrated amateurs. At setting to bets were five to four in favour of Maddox. During the first part of the battle Maddox evidently displayed great advantage, and certainly had the best of it, but after many hard rounds, in which some good fighting was displayed, Fortune favoured the tinman, who, at the expiration of an hour, had, according to our new dictionary, COMPLETELY DONE HIS MAN. Maddox tried Maddox tried very hard to prove the winner, and upon the whole it was a very fair fight. On Tuesday morning, February the 18th, a battle was fought between Jack Holmes, a hackney-coachman, and a manufacturer of a-la-mode beef, in a field behind Gower-street, Bedford-square, for one guinea a side. After four or five tolerably good rounds, the contest was put an end to, by the cry of a foul blow; the seconds chose an umpire, a Captain Hamilton, and certainly the only respectable person on the spot, who, greatly to the disappointment of the KIDDIES who LACKED more fun, decided it in favour of the beefeater; this very much discomfited the son of JEHU, who certainly had held the WHIP-HAND over his antagonist the whole time, and he voluntarily offered to renew the battle for another guinea, but his opponent declined. March, 1794. In the beginning of this month a match was made between Mendoza and Hooper, the tinman, to be fought on a 24-feet stage, in the following month, for 50 guineas. Mendoza, however, forfeited his deposit of £20, not choosing to enter the list with Hooper. The match which was made in January for Big Ben and Will Wood, never took place from the indisposition of the former, and on the 8th of April following he died, at his apartments, in Gray's-inn-lane. Upon examination of his body, his liver' was found in a state of SCIRRHUS, supposed to have arisen from repeated blows received in the many severe battles he had contested. On Friday, the 11th, his remains were interred in St. Sepulchre's-church-yard. His funeral, which was conducted with all the solemnity such occasions demand, was attended by his old friends and professional brothers, Johnson, Ward, Wood, Symonds, and several others of inferior note. A pugilist designed the following epitaph for his tomb-stone, which appeared in a periodical journal of of the day; Saturday, April 19, 1794, a battle was fought on a common, near Battle-bridge, Essex, between Blyth and Moss, for five guineas a side. A rope ring was formed, and at five o'clock in the afternoon the combatants set to; after having fought about 20 minutes, a dispute arose on account of Blyth's falling, when after much wrangling, it was decided a drawn battle. July July 22, 1794, a boxing match was fought at South Moulton, in Devonshire, between John Greenway, a smith, and William Snokell, the bruiser of Dartmouth, for 10 guineas a side; the former was seconded by Sidaway, and the latter by Crowedir. Odds were seven to four in favour of Snokell at first setting to. Greenway gave the first knock-down blow, which terminated the first round; the second was finished in the same style; in the third they both fell; and the fourth round Snokell caught his antagonist by the hair, and struck him several very severe but unfair blows; at length Greenway extricated himself, and put in so tremendous a hit on the left side, followed by another on the head, that he laid Snokell senseless at his feet. carried off, and Greenway declared victorious. He was On Wednesday, November 12, 1794, the long expected battle between the celebrated champions Dan Mendoza and Will Ward, was fought on Bexley-common. At half past one o'clock they set to, and for the several first rounds Ward seemed to possess the advantage, and his antagonist fell every time; Mendoza, however, now began seriously to shew which side really had the superiority, he caught the blows of his opponent with such skill, that they were rendered perfectly useless, and at the same time put in his own most effectually. In a quarter of an hour Ward gave in, acknowledging himself beaten. He appeared from the commencement to be conscious of his inferiority, and fought towards the end very shy, endeavouring to avoid instead of being eager for the contest; Mendoza in the contrary gained confidence and vigour as he went on, and thus by superior courage proved successful. On |