But this I'll say, a civiler Swell I'd never wish to blow a cloud with!» At these brave words, we, every one, Sung out << hear-hear»-and clapp'd like fun. For, knowing how, on Moulsey's plain, The CHAMPION fibb'd the PoEr's nob, This buttering-up,3 against the grain, We thought was cursed genteel in BOB. BoB's likeness to the Lisbon jobber-4 But to return to BoB's harangue, "T was deuced fine-no slum or slang- And, please the pigs, if well and hearty, Myself, at this said Congress party. up rose WARD, the veteran JoE, And those, the light-weight Gemmen chiefly; As if too many « Big ones went, They might alarm the Continent! !» And conqu'rors, whom he loves so dearly, God forbid the other mode!- (The Dragon-famed for Fancy works, Drawings of Heroes, and of-corks) Furnish such Gemmen of the Fist," As would complete the R-G-T's list. Thus, Champion Toм," said he, «< would look Right well, hung up beside the DukeTOM's noddle being (if its frame Had but the gilding) much the sameAnd, as a partner for Old Blu, Bill GIBBONS or myself would do.»> Loud cheering at this speech of JOEY'S- Old BILL, the Black,4—you know him, NEDDY(With mug, 5 whose hue the ebon shames, Reflected in a pint of Deady, Like a large Collier in the Thames). Though somewhat cut, 6 just begg'd to say He hoped that Swell, Lord C―ST—R—GH, Would show the Lily-Whites 7 fair play; And not-as once he did»-says BILL, Among those Kings, so high and squirish, Leave us, poor Blacks, to fare as ill As if we were but pigs, or Irish !»> « And blow me tight,—(BILL GIBBONS ne'er Like dash my wig,» or « burn (many of them in whole lengths and attitudes) are to be found, from To smoke a pipe. This phrase is highly poetical, and explains cellent subjects¦» — Boxiana, vol. i, p. 431. what Homer meant by the epithet veдn/epens. In the year 1808, when CRIB defeated GREGSON. 7 Ned's favourite Prolegomena in battle as well as in debate. this position is said to render him very hard to be got at, I would recommend poor M: V-ns-t-art to try it as a last resource, in his next set-to with Mr T-ro-y. A kind of blow, whose sedative nature is sufficiently explained by the name it bears. The Green Dragon, King-street, near Swallow-street, where (says the same author) any person may have an opportunity of verifying what has been asserted, in viewing Ward's Cabinet of the Fancy! Among the portraits is one of BILL GIBBONS, by a pupil of the great Fuseli, which gave occasion to the following impromptu:Though you are one of Fuseli's scholars, This question I'll dare to propose,-How the devil could you use water-colours, In painting BILL GIBBONS's nose? 3 To be down to any thing is pretty much the same as being up to it, and down as a hammer is, of course, the intensivum of the phrase. 4 RICHMOND. 5 Face. • Cut, tipsy; another remarkable instance of the similarity that Joe being particularly fond of that costly and gentlemanlike exists between the language of the Classics and that of St Giles's.smoke, as Dekker calls it. The talent which Joe possesses of utter- In Martial we find « Incaluit quoties saucia vena mero. Ennius, too, ing Flash while he smokes- ex famo dare lucem »—is very remarkable. 10 Joe's taste for pictures has been thas commemorated by the great Historian of Pugilism. If Joe Ward cannot boast of a splendid gallery of pictures formed of selections from the great foreign masters, he can sport such a collection of native subjects as, in many instances, must be considered unique. Portraits of nearly all the pugilists has sauciavit se flore Liberi; and Justin, « hesterno mero saucii.» Lily-whites (or Snow-balls), Negroes. Bill Gibbons has, I believe, been lately rivalled in this peculiar Walk of the Fancy, by the superior merits of Tom Oliver's Game Bull. From the respect which I bear to all sorts of dignitaries, and my unwillingness to meddle with the imputed weaknesses of the great,» I have been induced to suppress the remainder of this detail. t Multa viri nequaquam inter se vulnera jactant, Multa cavo lateri ingeminant, et pectore vastos Dant sonitus; erratque aures et tempora circum Crebra manus: duro crepitant sub vulnere male. Stat gravis Entellus, nisuque immotus eodem, Corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit. Ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem, Aut montana sedet circum castella sub armis; Nunc hos, nunc illos aditus, omnemque pererrat Arte locum, et variis assultibus irritus urget. Ostendit dextram insurgens Entellus, et alte Account of the Milling-match between Entellus and Dares, translated from the Fifth Book of the Eneid BY ONE OF THE FANCY. With daddles high upraised, and nob held back, Yet, sprightly to the Scratch both Buffers came, While ribbers rung from each resounding frame, And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt, Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt. With roving aim, but aim that rarely miss'd Round lugs and ogles 4 flew the frequent fist; While showers of facers told so deadly well, That the crush'd jaw-bones crackled as they fell! But firmly stood ENTELLUS-and still bright, Though bent by age, with all THE FANCY'S light, Stopp'd with a skill, and rallied with a fire The Immortal FANCY could alone inspire! While DARES, shifting round, with looks of thought, An opening to the Cove's huge carcase sought (Like General PRESTON, in that awful hour, When on one leg he hopp'd to-take the Tower!), And here, and there, explored with active fin 5 And skilful feint, some guardless pass to win, And prove a boring guest when once let in. And now ENTELLUS, with an eye that plann'd Punishing deeds, high raised his heavy hand; But ere the sledge came down, young DARES spied Its shadow o'er his brow, and slipp'd asideSo nimbly slipp'd, that the vain nobber pass'd Through empty air; and He, so high, so vast, Who dealt the stroke, came thundering to the ground!Not B-CK-GH-м himself, with bulkier sound, Uprooted from the field of Whiggish glories, Fell souse, of late, among the astonish'd Tories! 7 Hands. 2 Fellows, usually young fellows. 3 Macrobius, in his explanation of the various properties of the number Seven, says, that the fifth Hebdomas of man's life (the age of 35) is the completion of his strength; that therefore pugilists, if not successful, usually give over their profession at that time.Inter pagiles denique hæc consuetudo conservatur, ut quos jam coronavere victoriæ, nibil de se amplius in incrementis virium sperent; qui vero expertes bujus gloriæ usque illo manserunt, a professione discedant,-In Somn. Scip. Lib. 1. 3 Arm. Ears and Eyes. * As the uprooted trunk in the original is said to be « caya,» the epithet here ought, perhaps, to be hollower sound.. ? I trust my conversion of the Erymanthian pine into his L-ds-p will be thought happy and ingenious. It was suggested, indeed, by the recollection that Erymanthus was also famous for another sort of natural production, very common in society at all periods, and which no one but Hercules ever seems to have known how to managethough even he is described by Valerius Flaccus as - Erymanthæi sudantem pondere monstri. Consurgunt studiis Teucri et Trinacria pubes : At non tardatus casu, neque territus heros Acrior ad pugnam redit, ac vim suscitat ira: Tum pudor incendit vires, et conscia virtus; Præcipitemque Daren ardens agit æquore toto, Nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra. Nec mora, nec requies: quam multa grandine nimbi Tum pater Æneas procedere longius iras, Infelix! quæ tanta animum dementia cepit? Non vires alias, conversaque numina sentis? Cede Deo. Dixitque, et prælia voce diremit. Ast illum fidi æquales, genua ægra trahentem, Jactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem Ore rejectantem, mixtosque in sanguine dentes, Ducunt ad naves. Instant the Ring was broke, and shouts and yells His limbs all muscle, and his soul all flame. The shame that aught but death should see him grass'd, Both which the veteran much inclined to break- 3 This phrase is but too applicable to the round hitting of the ancients, who, it appears by the engravings in Mercurialis de Art. Gymnast., knew as little of our straight-forward mode as the uninitiated Irish of the present day. I have, by the by, discovered some errors in Mercurialis, as well as in two other modern authors upon Pugilism (viz. Petrus Faber, in his Agonisticon, and that indefatigable classic antiquary, M. Burette, in bis Mémoire pour servir à l'Histoire du Pugilat des Anciens »), which I shall have the pleasure of pointing out in my forthcoming Parallel. 4A favourite blow of THE NONPAREIL'S, so called. There are two or three Epigrams in the Greek Anthology, ridiculing the state of mutilation and disfigurement to which the pugilists were reduced by their combats. The following four lines are from an Epigram by Lucilius, lib. 2. Κοσκινον ἡ κεφαλη σου, Απολλοφάνες, γεγένηται, Ἡ των σητοκοπων βιβλαρίων τα κάτω. Όντως μυρμήκων τρυπήματα λόξα και ορθα, Γράμματα των λυρικών Λυδία και Φρυγία. Literally, as follows:- Thy head, O Apollophanes, is perforated like a sieve, or like the leaves of an old worm-eaten book; and the numerous scars, both straight and cross-ways, which have been leat upon thy pate by the cestus, very much resemble the score of a Lydian or Phrygian piece of music. Periphrastically, thus: Your nodule, dear Jack, full of holes like a sieve, Is so figured, and dotted, and scratch'd, I declare, By your customers' fists, one would almost believe They had punch'd a whole verse of The Woodpecker » there! It ought to be mentioned, that the word punching is used both in boxing and music-engraving. ON THE DEPARTURE OF LORDS C-ST-R-GH AND At Paris et Fratres, et qui rapuere sub illis Go, Brothers in wisdom-go, bright pair of Peers, pinions! The One, the best lover we have-of his years, And the other Prime Statesman of Britain's dominions. Go, Hero of Chancery, blest with the smile Of the Misses that love and the monarchs that prize thee; Forget Mrs ANG-LO T-YL-R a while, And all tailors but him who so well dandifies thee. Never mind how thy juniors in gallantry scoff, Never heed how perverse affidavits may thwart thee, But show the young Misses thou 'rt scholar enough To translate << Amor Fortis,» a love about forty! And sure 't is no wonder, when, fresh as young Mars, From the battle you came, with the Orders you'd earn'd in 't, That sweet Lady FANNY should cry out «my stars!» And forget that the Moon, too, was some way concern'd in 't. For not the great R-G-T himself has endured Till he look'd like a house that was over insured) And 't is plain, when a wealthy young lady so mad is, Or any young ladies can so go astray, As to marry old Dandies that might be their daddies, The stars are in fault, my Lord Sr-w-RT, not they! Thou, too, t' other brother, thou Tully of Tories, And « nullidge,» and « features,» like syllabub slips. Go, haste, at the Congress pursue thy vocation Of adding fresh sums to this National Debt of ours, Ovid is mistaken in saying that it was At Paris these rapacious transactions took place-we should read. At Vienna.. When weak women go astray, The stars are more in fault than they. It is thus the Noble Lord pronounces the word knowledge deriving it, as far as his own share is concerned, from the Latin . nullus.. TO THE SHIP IN WHICH LORD C-ST-R-GH So may my Lady's prayers prevail,1 From Eolus, that older Bags,2 And, therefore, quarter of a King— May find without much figuring). Waft this Lord of place and pelf, First, PITT,' the chosen of England, taught her When each, in turn, had run their rigs, When these, in turn, were put to flight, too, With lots of pens he had no right to!4 In short, what will not mortal man do?5 And now, that-strife and bloodshed pastWe've done on earth what harm we can do, We gravely take to Heaven at last!6 And think its favouring smile to purchase (Oh Lord, good Lord!) by-building churches! No IV. BOB GREGSON, POET LAUREATE OF THE FANCY. another evident intimation of the congeniality supposed to exist between the exercises of the Imagination and those of THE FANCY. To no one at the present day is the double wreath more justly due than to Mr BOB GREGSON. In addition to his numerous original productions, he has condescended to give imitations of some of our living poets-particularly of Lord Byron and Mr Moore, and the amatory style of the latter gentleman has been | caught, with peculiar felicity, in the following lines, which were addressed, some years ago, to Miss GRACE MADDOX, a young Lady of pugilistic celebrity, of whom I have already made honourable mention in the Preface. LINES TO MISS GRACE MADDOX, THE FAIR PUGILIST. BY BOB GREGSON, P. P. SWEET Maid of the Fancy!-whose ogles,' adorning Oh Grace of the Graces! whose kiss to my lip Is as sweet as the brandy and tea, rather thinnish, That Knights of the Rumpad3 so rurally sip, At the first blush of dawn, in the Tap of the Finish !4 « FOR hitting and getting away (says the elegant Author of Boxiana) RICHMOND is distinguished; and the brave MOLINEUX keeps a strong hold in the circle of boxers, as a pugilist of the first class; while the CHAMPION OF ENGLAND stands unrivalled for his punishment, game, and milling on the retreat!-but, notwithstanding the above variety of qualifications, it has been reserved for BOB GREGSON, alone, from his union of PU-Ah, never be false to me, fair as thou art, GILISM and POETRY, to recount the deeds of his Brethren Nor belie all the many kind things thou hast said; of the Fist in heroic verse, like the bards of old, sound-The falsehood of other nymphs touches the Heart, ing the praises of their warlike champions.» The same author also adds, that « although not possessing the terseness and originality of Dryden, or the musical cadence and correctness of Pope, yet still BoB has entered into his peculiar subject with a characteristic energy and apposite spirit.» Vol. i, p. 357. This high praise of Mr GREGSON's talents is fully borne out by the specimen which his eulogist has given, page 358-a very spirited Chaunt, or Nemean ode, entitled « British Lads and Black Millers.» The connexion between poetical and pugnacious propensities seems to have been ingeniously adumbrated by the ancients, in the bow with which they armed Apollo : Φοίβω γαρ και ΤΟΞΟΝ επιτρέπεται και ΑΟΙΔΗ. Callimach. Hymn. in Apollin. v. 44. The same mythological bard informs us that, when Minerva bestowed the gift of inspiration upon Tiresias, she also made him a present of a large cudgel: Δώσω και ΜΕΓΑ ΒΑΚΤΡΟΝ : But THY fibbing, my dear, plays the dev'l with the Head! Yet, who would not prize, beyond honours and pelf, Lord ST-W-RT's a hero (as many suppose), And so would his head be, if thou wert his fair one. Sweet Maid of the Fancy! when love first came o'er me, The pleasure grows more, and the queerishness less. Thus a new set of darbies,5 when first they are worn, ray; But the links will lie lighter the longer they 're borne, • Prisoner-This being the only bird in the whole range of Orni thology which the author of Lalla Rookh has not pressed into bis service, Mr Gregson may consider himself very lucky in being able to lay hold of it. |