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diff --git a/37562-h/37562-h.htm b/37562-h/37562-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..078b035 --- /dev/null +++ b/37562-h/37562-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8153 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of North Country Sports And Pastimes, by Jacob Robinson and Sidney Gilpin. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .tocnum {position: absolute; top: auto; right: 20%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + img.cap { float:left; + margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; + position:relative; } + p.cap_1 { text-indent: -1.5em; } + div.drop p { margin-bottom:0; } + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i24 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i26 {display: block; margin-left: 13em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wrestling and Wrestlers:, by +Jacob Robinson and Sidney Gilpin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wrestling and Wrestlers: + Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern + Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting + +Author: Jacob Robinson + Sidney Gilpin + +Release Date: September 29, 2011 [EBook #37562] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRESTLING AND WRESTLERS: *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Josephine +Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1><i>NORTH COUNTRY SPORTS AND PASTIMES.</i></h1> + +<h2>Wrestling and Wrestlers:</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring</span>;</h2> + +<h3>TO WHICH IS ADDED</h3> + +<h2><i>Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting</i>.</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JACOB ROBINSON</h2> + +<h4>AND</h4> + +<h2>SIDNEY GILPIN.</h2> + +<p class="center">Of all the athletic amusements of the people, Wrestling is beyond doubt the +best.—<span class="smcap">Christopher North.</span></p> + +<p class="center"> +LONDON: BEMROSE & SONS.<br /> +CARLISLE: THE WORDSWORTH PRESS,<br /> +75 <span class="smcap">Scotch Street</span>.<br /> +<br /> +MDCCCXCIII.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +TO THE MEMORY<br /> +OF<br /> +JACOB ROBINSON,<br /> +<br /> +THESE PAGES ARE<br /> +<i>GRATEFULLY DEDICATED</i>,<br /> +BY<br /> +HIS FELLOW-WORKER,<br /> +<br /> +SIDNEY GILPIN.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>Every dale and valley, every nook and corner, throughout Cumberland, +Westmorland, and North Lancashire, at all likely to yield materials, has +been ransacked and laid under subservience in the compilation of this +volume; and it now becomes the pleasant duty to record the fact, that not a +single instance of unwillingness was met with, on the part of the multitude +of narrators, who supplied the items of the various events chronicled.</p> + +<p>The local newspaper files have materially aided our labours, in a variety +of ways. Besides supplying many passing incidents, we have found them, in +some instances, exceedingly useful in the way of verifying and correcting +dates.</p> + +<p>A brief description of Swiss Wrestling was promised, for the introductory +chapter, by a native of that country resident in London. This promise +yielded no fruit at the time, and it is a matter of regret that it still +remains unfulfilled.</p> + +<p>Of Wrestling in France, we have not been able to glean much information, +although enquiries were set on foot through the columns of <i>Notes and +Queries</i> and <i>Bell's Life in London</i>.</p> + +<p>For much information contained in the article<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> on Wrestling in Scotland, we +are indebted to Mr. Walter Scott of Innerleithen; and for a few other items +we have to thank Mr. Robert Murray of Hawick.</p> + +<p>While the feats of many well known wrestlers are to be found in these +pages, the names of others equally well known are necessarily omitted; but +we may be able to publish a record of their achievements at some future +time.</p> + +<p>With a full consciousness of many imperfections, we now leave our work to +the judgment of those impartial readers, who may honour it with a perusal.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Local Works on the Subject.</span></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Wrestliana: an Historical Account of Ancient and +Modern Wrestling.</i> By William Litt. Whitehaven: R. +Gibson, 1823.</p> + +<p>Second Edition of the above, (reprinted from the +"Whitehaven News,") by Michael and William Alsop, 1860.</p> + +<p><i>Wrestliana: a Chronicle of the Cumberland and +Westmorland Wrestlings in London, since the year 1824.</i> +By Walter Armstrong. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., +1870.</p> + +<p><i>Famous Athletic Contests, Ancient and Modern</i>, +compiled by Members of the Cumberland and Westmorland +Wrestling Society. (Reprinted from the Best +Authorities.) London: F. A. Hancock, 1871.</p> + +<p><i>Great Book of Wrestling References, giving about 2000 +different Prizes, from 1838 to the present day.</i> By +Isaac Gate, Twenty-five Years Public Wrestling Judge. +Carlisle: Steel Brothers, 1874.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Introduction</span>: <span class="tocnum">Page</span><br /> +<br /> +Ancient Grecian Wrestling <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling in Japan <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xii">xii</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Indian Wrestling <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xviii">xviii</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling Match in Turkey <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xxi">xxi</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Old English Wrestling <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling in Scotland <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xxxviii">xxxviii</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Irish Wrestling <span class="tocnum"><a href="#Page_xlvi">xlvi</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Melmerby Rounds</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Langwathby Rounds</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">James Fawcett</span>, Nenthead <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">William Richardson</span>, Caldbeck <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">William Litt</span>, Bowthorn <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Miles and James Dixon</span>, Grasmere <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><span class="smcap">Rowland and John Long</span>, Ambleside <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_90'>90</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Tom Nicholson</span>, Threlkeld <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_99'>99</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">William Mackereth</span>, Cockermouth <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_115'>115</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Harry Graham</span>, Brigham <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">James Scott</span>, Canonbie <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Robert Rowantree</span>, Kingwater <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">William Dickinson</span>, Alston <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">George Dennison</span>, Penrith <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">James Robinson</span>, Hackthorpe <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Thomas Richardson</span>, Hesket-New-Market <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Tom Todd</span>, Knarsdale <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">William Wilson</span>, Ambleside <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">John Weightman</span>, Hayton <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_186'>186</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">John Mc.Laughlan</span>, Dovenby <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_208'>208</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bull Baiting</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Badgers and Badger Baiting</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_235'>235</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Addenda</span> <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<h3>ANCIENT GRECIAN WRESTLING.</h3> + +<p>The ancient Grecians were passionately fond of festivals and games. In +every particular State such institutions were occasionally celebrated for +the amusement of the people; but these were far less interesting than the +four public games frequented by multitudes from all the districts of +Greece. The Pythian Games were celebrated at Delphi; the Isthmian at +Corinth; the Nemæan at Nemæa in Argolis; and the Olympic at Olympia, near +Elis. We propose to give a brief account of the Olympic games only, as +being by far the most splendid, and in which victory was reputed to be the +most honourable. The celebrity of these games was extended for many +centuries after the extinction of Greek freedom, and their final abolition +did not occur until after they had flourished for more than eleven hundred +years.</p> + +<p>The games were held in summer when the heat was excessive; and to add to +the difficulty and fatigue experienced, the more violent exercises were +performed in the afternoon, when even the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> spectators were scarcely able to +remain exposed to the sun. To prevent the competition of such as were +unskilful, the candidates were required to swear that for ten months before +the commencement of the games they had made it their constant study to +prepare for the contest; and during the last thirty days they were obliged +to reside at Elis, and had to practise daily under the inspection of the +judges. Hence, the permission to contend at Olympia was regarded as no +inconsiderable honour, and served in some degree as a consolation to the +vanquished.</p> + +<p>Immediately before the commencement of the different exercises, a herald +led every candidate separately through the assembly, and demanded if any +one knew him to be a man of profligate character, or to have been guilty of +any notorious crime. As numbers were present from every state in Greece—to +some of whom each of the combatants was known—it rarely happened that any +suspicious character chose to expose himself to such a scrutiny. The +candidates were required to make a solemn declaration that they would not +endeavour to gain the victory by bribing their adversaries, or by a +violation of the laws regulating the different contests; and any person +guilty of a breach of this promise was not merely deprived of the olive +crown,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> was fined by the judges, and could never after contend at +the games. These regulations seem to have accomplished the purpose for +which they were intended, since, during several hundred years, only five +instances occurred in which any improper artifice was known to be employed +by the competitors in the games.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Daiklès, the Messenian, was the first who had the honour of +being crowned with the simple wreath woven from the sacred olive-tree near +Olympia, for his victory in the Stadium.</p></div> + +<p>The Greeks held the exercise of <span class="smcap">Wrestling</span> in high estimation, which, in +point of antiquity, stood next to the foot race. The object of the wrestler +was to throw his adversary to the ground: but it was not till this had been +thrice repeated, that he obtained the victory. Like all who contended in +the games, the Wrestlers were accustomed to rub their bodies with oil, +partly to check the excessive perspiration occasioned by the heat and the +violence of the exercises, and partly from an opinion that the oil gave the +limbs a greater degree of pliancy and agility. As the smoothness occasioned +by the oil would have prevented the combatants from grasping each other +with firmness, it was customary for them, after being anointed, to roll +themselves in the dust of the Stadium, or to be sprinkled with a fine sand +kept for that purpose at Olympia. If in falling, one of the Wrestlers +dragged his adversary along with him, the combat was continued on the +ground, till one of the parties had forced the other to yield the victory.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of Hindostan, and of the countries constituting the ancient +kingdom of Assyria,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> have undergone a variety of revolutions; but +inactivity has always formed the leading feature in their character. In +every age they have fallen an easy prey to invaders; nor have the repeated +instances of oppression to which they have been exposed, ever roused them +to limit the exorbitant power of their sovereigns. The Greeks, living in a +climate nearly as sultry as that of Asia, would probably have fallen +victims to the same indolence, had not their early legislators perceived +this danger, and employed the most judicious efforts to avert it. Among the +means devised to accomplish this end, none seem to have been so effectual +as the public games. It was not by any occasional effort that a victory +could be gained at Olympia. Success could be obtained only by those who +were inured to hardship; who had been accustomed to practise the athletic +exercises while exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, and who had +abstained from every pleasure which had a tendency to debilitate the +constitution and lessen the power of exertion.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Hill's Essays.</p></div> + + +<h3>WRESTLING IN JAPAN.</h3> + +<p>In Japan wrestling appears to be an institution of greater importance than +even in our own country. The meetings for its exhibition before the public +are made quite important affairs. They are mapped out and arranged annually +by the ruling authorities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> A distinct race selected from the native +population are brought up and trained in the practice from their youth. +This tribe profess to trace back their wrestlings long before the Greeks +held their Olympic games on the banks of the Alpheus. At the present day it +is asserted that their Mikado or Emperor, near seven hundred years before +Christ, encouraged wrestling; and during this long period—century after +century—it has been one of the most popular amusements of this strange +people. It might not have continued to flourish so long had not the +government assisted in keeping the game alive by introducing it into and +regulating the proceedings in all towns of any size. A large staff of +professionals is kept solely for this purpose, and outsiders cannot enter +and compete as is done in this country.</p> + +<p>The Japanese, from all we can glean, do not appear a race likely to be +devoted to athletics. Lighter amusements—more suitable to their climate, +requiring less violent bodily exertion—it may be inferred, would be more +to their taste or inclination. Their mode of wrestling, however, has this +advantage, that it does not necessitate active preparation. Weight and bulk +appear great, if not absolute, requisites in the wrestling ring. To +accomplish these requirements, a fattening process is resorted to in lieu +of hard work training. Ordinarily the male Japanese are not more than five +feet five or six inches in height. It is a remarkable fact, however, that +in the wrestling class there are many six<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> feet men weighing fourteen +stones and upwards, some few eighteen or twenty stones. "I have never +anywhere," says Lindau, "seen men so large and stout as these Japanese +wrestlers. They are veritable giants."</p> + +<p>A concise description of one of their wrestling meetings may not be +altogether without interest. A special department of the government is +entrusted with the duty of carrying out arrangements for holding a series +of meetings in all the principal towns. A programme is annually issued, so +that any town set down for visitation has sufficient time to make all +needful preparations. A large plot of ground for forming the ring is +selected, and enclosed with bamboos. Stages with seats are fitted up for +the aristocracy and richer classes, and a small charge is made for +admission. The ring is sure to be well filled, one half frequently being +females gaily dressed for the occasion. The loud beating of a drum gives +notice that proceedings are about to commence, and a dead silence reigns +throughout the great crowd. An official comes forward and gives out, with a +loud voice, the names of those about to contend; and announces, too, a list +of places at which the fortunate ones have been successful. The drum again +sounds, and all those appointed to wrestle enter and march round the ring, +appearing as if duly impressed with the importance of the pending struggle. +All are naked, with the exception of a gaudy silk girdle round the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> loins. +After parading round the enclosure, the combatants divide themselves into +two equal sides, and squat down upon their heels. A stage is erected on +four pillars in the middle of the ring, and raised about half a yard. The +manager calls out the names of the first pair to contend, one from each +side, and at the same time announces his opinion how the betting should +run. These preliminary proceedings concluded, the two called on step out +and are greeted with cheers from all sides. They sprinkle the ring with +rice and water before the more serious work begins; rub rice between their +hands, and drink salt and water. These curious proceedings take place in +order, according to a prevalent superstitious notion, to bespeak the favour +of the god who rules gladiatorial contests.</p> + +<p>Four umpires, grave looking personages, are appointed, and stationed, pipe +in mouth, at each pillar of the raised stage. A signal is given, and the +two wrestlers uttering loud defiant shouts, and crowing like cocks, make a +rush at each other, with all the fury and violence of two rival tups in the +breeding season. The shock and noise of two such weighty bodies meeting +resound all over the ring, and the spectators after a momentary holding of +their breath, give expression to their pent-up feelings by ringing shouts +of admiration. Blood, in almost all cases, is seen to flow from both +competitors as they separate with the rebound, and slowly fall back. Again +and again they meet, each endeavouring with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> his utmost power, to drive his +antagonist off the stage. After several rounds contested with the like +violence and determination, they for a moment pause, and resort to a trial +of a different sort.</p> + +<p>They rush together and seize each other anywhere about the body or arms, +incited and cheered on by the vociferous applause of the spectators. The +fiercely contested struggle becomes intensely exciting, as the athletes +close, and, locked together breast to breast and shoulder to shoulder, +continue the conflict, each endeavouring to grasp the other round the +waist. This is effected, after pushing and wriggling about for some time, +by one or other of the wrestlers. After securing a firm grip, shaking his +opponent, fixing his legs in position, and gathering himself up for a final +superhuman effort, he lifts his now doomed foe high up in the air, and with +what Cornishmen would call a "forward heave," hurls him clean off the +stage, where he lies for some time enduring a fire of bantering, and then +walks quietly off. Breathless, blood-stained, and perspiring from every +pore, the victor looks proudly about and is greeted with cheers renewed +over and over again. After parading round the ring, with uplifted +outstretched arms, he makes a respectful acknowledgment, and walks off to +his comrades.</p> + +<p>The manager again comes pompously forward and summons another pair. Fresh +animated betting goes on while they prepare for the onset; and it may be +this fondness for gambling—common to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> most eastern countries—which helps +to keep up the popularity of wrestling. The second couple go to work +precisely as the first; then another and another, till finally the champion +of the day is proclaimed, and greeted with cheers that continue for some +time. Generally he is presented with a decorated belt, and, with it +fastened round the waist, goes about the observed of all observers.</p> + +<p>And this, as detailed, is Japanese wrestling. We can hardly accord it the +term as understood amongst us, and cannot deem it entitled to be classed +with the honoured back-hold pastime of northern England, worthy of eulogy +from the most fastidious-minded. Christopher North would not applaud a Yedo +meeting with the hearty praise he gives to Cumberland and Westmorland +wrestling on the banks of Windermere; neither would Charles Dickens have +gone away from the Ferry so delighted, if the contests he witnessed had +been such as the Japanese delight in. Indeed, our readers generally will, +we imagine, be apt to consider the Eastern wrestling amusement no better +than something akin to our mediæval barbarism. Certainly, nothing in +athletics can be considered more strikingly different, than one of our +quick scientific harmless bouts, as distinguished from the butting or +tupping, the pushing and hauling, the rough tumbling about, and clumsy +finale, in which victory is mainly due to overpowering strength and +weight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>INDIAN WRESTLING.</h3> + +<p>There is a great similarity in the wrestling in India, and the same pastime +in Japan. This similitude is so close, that after a description of the +latter, there need not be much space devoted to a narrative of the sport in +our great Eastern Empire. The public exhibition of the sport is, in a great +measure, confined to the soldiers of the native regiments of infantry. +Sometimes matches are made and come off which create wide-spread interest, +by men who do not belong the service. So great is the interest taken in the +contests, that they often continue for the best part of a day; and during +the whole time couple after couple enter the ring, and continue to exhibit +their skill. There can be no doubt, the encouragement of such pastimes will +exercise a powerful influence in making them better soldiers, and more +attached to the service.</p> + +<p>The wrestlers are lithe active young fellows, and enter the ring in +exuberant spirits. Before the actual commencement of the struggle at close +quarters, each resorts to a ridiculous ceremony, in order to propitiate +some powerful deity to whom they look for assistance to achieve success. +The act consists in simply touching the forehead with a small portion of +earth picked from the ground. On the conclusion of this preparatory +proceeding, they return to the edge of the ring, and go through a series of +manœuvres, which a stranger would look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> at with astonishment, and which +in reality can exercise no influence on the struggle. They jump about, +first on one leg, then the other, bounding backwards and forwards +repeatedly, with great agility. Loud bangs on the body follow, inflicted by +the hands with such violence as to make a noise that resounds all over the +ring. This is the opening play, followed by sham attacks, till an +opportunity presents for close work. With surprising quickness, the arms +are grasped high up towards the shoulders, and followed by violent butting +of head against head, accompanied by twisting and wrenching. Meanwhile one +of the two is thrown to the ground, where the struggle is continued amid +excited cheering, till one of the tawny coloured competitors is forced on +his back and securely held. This is seldom successful, until three or four +bouts have been fought out, and a clear back fall gained.</p> + +<p>The following account of a great wrestling match between the Mysore hero +and the Punjaubee champion, was written by an Englishman in Madras:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Punjaubee champion is from North India. The Mysore +man has lately won a great match, and was highly elated +in consequence; while the Punjaubee had such confidence +in his powers, that he pledged himself to give up the +Sikh religion and turn Mahomedan if he lost the +match.... After waiting a few minutes the Punjaubee was +the first to put in an appearance; he walked up amidst +scrutinising glances and stood "within the ring." He +was a great big fellow, beautifully built, and +splendidly developed, with muscles standing out in +knots on the arms and legs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> He was the same colour as +most Punjaubees—light brown; taken on the whole, he +was rather a handsome man.... His opponent was not long +in following him; he stood up, stripped, and stepped +into the sand. He, too, was remarkably well built, but +nearly black, and villainously ugly. He was not quite +up to the Punjaubee. His muscles were large, and he +looked the more wiry and active of the two; but the +Punjaubee was the bigger and looked the stronger.</p> + +<p>They began by standing two or three yards apart, in an +inclined position, stooping towards each other, and +advancing as stealthily as cats, suddenly making a +snatch at each other's wrists and hands, and then +drawing back with inconceivable rapidity.</p> + +<p>The neck was the great object of attack, and many +attempts were made by the native of Mysore to get hold +of his antagonist's neck, while the Punjaubee made +desperate efforts to clutch his adversary by the neck, +and force his head down into chancery. After a good +deal of dodging, and advances and retreats, clutches at +neck, head, and wrists, the Punjaubee, who seemed the +most eager of the two to finish the job at once, and +had been acting more on the offensive than the +defensive, suddenly made a rush in, tried to close and +trip. Quick as he was, his antagonist was quicker, and +the Punjaubee hero was foiled. Then time was called, +and a short interval allowed for breathing.</p> + +<p>Round, number two, began in right good earnest; each +man seemed thoroughly buckled to his work, and in a few +seconds the Punjaubee, who was in rare fettle, threw +the Mysore man on to his knees; but the latter giving +him a sudden and well directed push, nearly caused him +to change his religion. Both men recovered themselves +with marvellous dexterity, and grasping each other, +they struggled up together, the Mysore champion getting +upright a little the first; but almost immediately the +Punjaubee gave his man a clean throw forwards, and the +native of Mysore was discovered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> lying full length on +his chest, with the Punjaubee kneeling on his back.</p> + +<p>From this time the contest resembled nothing so much as +a "grovel" behind goals for a touch down. For a time +the struggles of both men were intense, the Punjaubee +having to do all he knew to keep his man down at all; +and it seemed quite possible that, if the Mysore native +could not get up himself, he would pull his opponent +down, when the latter tried to roll him over. Presently +came a pause, which the Punjaubee used to advantage, by +covering his fallen foe with sand, so as to get the +better grip. Skilful as the Mysore champion was, he +could in no way retaliate when in this distressing +position. However, he continually made clever attempts +to regain his feet, and still cleverer ones to pull +down the Punjaubee when he was endeavouring to turn him +over. But finally the contest ended by the Mysore +champion mistaking his chance to get to his feet, and +after a grand struggle up to the very last moment, the +muscular Punjaubee turned him flat over, so that there +remained not the slightest doubt in the minds of all +the spectators that both his shoulders were resting on +the ground, the one throw was given, and the battle was +won.</p></div> + + +<h3>WRESTLING MATCH IN TURKEY.</h3> + +<p>The following account of a modern Wrestling Match in Turkey, is so +graphically related that we feel confident it will be perused with interest +by most readers. We may remark by the way, that the gipsies who figure in +the match are of the same race as their namesakes in England and other +parts of Europe; but they preserve in Turkey more of their Oriental +appearance and character. The writer is Lieut.-Colonel James Baker of the +Auxiliary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> Forces, who published a book on <i>Turkey-in-Europe</i>, in 1877.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I passed through a fine town called Barakli-Djumaa, in +the middle of the plain [of Seres], and inhabited +principally by Christian Bulgarians. A great wrestling +match was going on just outside the town, and I stopped +to witness the sport. A circle about thirty yards in +diameter was formed by the men, women, and +children,—Turks, Bulgarians, and a plentiful supply of +gipsies—all sitting closely packed together round the +circumference. There was the usual accompaniment of a +gipsy band, composed of a drum and a clarionet, which +was kept going continuously.</p> + +<p>A competitor, stripped to the waist, steps into the +ring and walks round with a grand air as he displays +his muscular frame to the admiring gaze of the +bystanders. Presently his antagonist enters the ring, +and both competitors shake hands in a good natured way, +and a little laughing and chaffing goes on. They then +commence walking round, every now and then turning in +to shake hands again, until suddenly one pounces upon +the other to get the "catch," and the struggle +commences. No kicking is allowed, and the throw must +lay the vanquished man upon his back, so that both +shoulder-blades touch the ground at the same time. The +champion was a burly Bulgarian of herculean strength, +when at the invitation of some black-eyed gipsy girls, +a fine but slim young fellow of their tribe entered the +lists against him; but, although considering his youth +he made a gallant struggle, a quick throw laid him +sprawling on his back, to the evident chagrin and +disappointment of the gipsy women. Their eyes flashed +with anger as they now held a hurried consultation, +when off started a very pretty girl evidently bound +upon some errand. She soon returned with one of the +most splendid specimens of humanity I ever saw. If, as +is asserted, there were princes and dukes amongst the +ancient tribe of gipsies who emigrated to Europe, this +must certainly have been a descendant of one of them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span></p> + +<p>His fair escort pushed him into the ring with an air of +pride and confidence, as much as to say, "Now, you +shall see what a gipsy can do." The young man was about +twenty-five years of age, and nearly six feet high, +with a handsome, aristocratic, and cheery countenance; +and as he took off his jacket and handed it to his fair +one, and thus stood stripped to the waist, there was a +buzz of admiration from the whole crowd. He was +slightly made, but all was sinew. Laughingly, and half +modestly, he shook his powerful antagonist by the hand, +and then the walk round commenced, the young gipsy +talking and laughing all the time. It seemed as though +neither liked to be the first to begin; when suddenly +the Bulgarian turned sharp upon his antagonist, and +tried a favourite catch, but quick as lightning the +lithe figure of the gipsy eluded the grasp, and a sigh +of relief went up from his clan. The excitement was now +intense, and the young girl perfectly quivered with +nervous anxiety as she watched every movement of her +swain. She would have made a splendid picture! They +were still walking round, and it seemed as though the +struggle would never begin, when, lo! a simultaneous +cry went forth from the whole crowd, as the great +Bulgarian lay sprawling, and half stunned, upon the +ground.</p> + +<p>The movements of the gipsy had been so quick, that it +was impossible to say how the throw was done, but the +Bulgarian was turned almost a somersault in the air, +and came down with a heavy thud. The young champion +shook him by the hand, lifted the heavy man high into +the air, and then set him on his feet. The face of the +young girl, as she handed back her hero his jacket, was +pleasant to look upon. Lucky man! As she took him by +the hand, and led him away to wherever he came from, I +began to think there might be a worse fate than being a +gipsy....</p> + +<p>I was so attracted by the wrestling scene at +Barakli-Djumaa, that I lost much time, and had to push +on quickly, in order that we might reach a khan, +perched up in a small village amongst the mountains +which lay between us and Salonica.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>OLD ENGLISH WRESTLING.</h3> + +<p>Our acquaintance or familiarity with Old English wrestling is, as may be +surmised, circumscribed. We have therefore endeavoured, in part, to +introduce the southern ring in the introductory chapter. In carrying out +the attempt, considerable and important assistance has been derived from +having the benefit of referring to a rare and curious work by Sir Thomas +Parkyns, a distinguished wrestler and writer in the early part of the +eighteenth century. According to Dr. Deering, in his <i>History of +Nottingham</i>, a copy of Sir Thomas's work was forwarded to His Majesty +George I., with a manuscript dedication. Sir Thomas further intimates: "I +invite <i>all</i> Persons, however Dignifi'd or Distinguish'd, to read my Book." +So say we,—for a more thorough-going and candid book we do not know; a +book containing many curious home-thrusts and quaint sayings, bearing upon +the art and mystery of wrestling. We can fully endorse the words of the +Nottinghamshire baronet, when he says: "For my own part, I transcribe after +no Man, having practical Experience for my Guide in this whole Art, and +intirely rely on Observations made with the utmost Accuracy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span></p> + +<p>The art of wrestling in the present day is chiefly confined to the lower +classes of the people. This is more especially the case in the south of +Lancashire. In the north, yeomen's sons and farmers' sons are often +exceedingly clever in the wrestling ring. The sport was, however, more +highly esteemed by all classes of the ancients, and made considerable +figure among the Olympic games. In the ages of chivalry, too, to wrestle +well was accounted one of the accomplishments which a hero ought to +possess.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of Cornwall and Devonshire, we are well assured, from time +immemorial have been celebrated for their expertness in this pastime, and +are universally said to be, in their style, the best wrestlers in the +kingdom. To give a Cornish hug, used to be a proverbial expression. "The +Cornish," says Fuller, "are masters of the art of wrestling, so that, if +the Olympic games were now in fashion, they would come away with the +victory. Their hug is a cunning close with their combatants, the fruit +whereof is his fair fall or foil at the least." They learned the art at an +early period of life, "for you shall hardly find," says Carew, in his +Survey of Cornwall, 1602, "an assembly of boys in Devon and Cornwall, where +the most untowardly amongst them, will not as readily give you a muster (or +trial) of this exercise as you are prone to require it."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In old times," says Stow (in his Survey of London), +"wrestling was more used than has been of later years. +In the month of August about the feast of St. +Bartholomew,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> adds this very accurate historian, +"there were divers days spent in wrestling. The Lord +Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs being present in a large +tent pitched for that purpose near Clerkenwell.... But +of late years the wrestling is only practised in the +afternoon of St. Bartholomew's day." The ceremony is +thus described by a foreign writer, who was an +eye-witness of the performance. "When," says he, "the +Mayor goes out of the precincts of the city, a sceptre, +a sword, and a cap, are borne before him, and he is +followed by the principal Aldermen in scarlet gowns +with golden chains; and himself and they on horseback. +Upon their arrival at the place appointed for that +purpose, where a tent is pitched for their reception, +the mob begins to wrestle before them two at a +time."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Strutt's Sports and Pastimes.</p></div> + +<p>The following quaint and curious description of the row, and destruction of +property after the wrestling, at the "Hospitall of Matilde"—so different +from our peacably conducted northern rings—copied literally from <i>Stow's +Annals of England</i>, will, we opine, be interesting to our readers.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the year 1222—Henry the III. reign, on St. James +daie,—the citizens of London kept games of defence and +wrestling, neare unto the Hospitall of Matilde, where +they gotte the masterie of the men of the Suburbes. The +Bailiffe of Westminster devising to be revenged, +proclaims a game to be at Westminster, upon Lammas day; +whereunto the citizens of London repaired; when they +had plaid a while the Bailie with the men of the +Suberbesses, harnessed themselves and fell to fighting, +that the citizens being foullie wounded, were forced to +runne into the Citie, where they rang the common Bell, +and assembled the Citizens in great numbers; and when +the matter was declared everie man wished to revenge +the fact. The maior of the citie,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span> being a wise man and +a quiet, willed them first to move the <i>Abbot of +Westminster</i> of the matter, and if he woulde promise to +see amends made, it was sufficient. But a certaine +Citizen named Constantine Fitz Arnulph, willed that all +Houses of the Abbot and Bayliffe should be pulled +doune, which wordes being once spoken, the common +people issued out of the Citie, without anie order, and +fought a civill battaile, and pulled doune manie +houses.</p></div> + +<p>On March 31st, 1654, the Puritan parliament passed "An Ordinance +Prohibiting Cock Matches"—(i.e., cock-fightings)—and likewise issued +excommunications against well-nigh all classes of sports and pastimes; +nevertheless, we find that Cromwell relaxed the strung bow by times, and +indulged himself in witnessing some Hurling and Wrestling matches in Hyde +Park, as the following quotation from the Commonwealth newspaper, <i>The +Moderate Intelligencer</i>, amply testifies:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Hyde-Park, May 1, [1654.] This day there was a hurling +of a great ball, by fifty Cornish gentlemen on the one +side, and fifty on the other: one party played in red +caps and the other in white. There was present <span class="smcap">His +Highness the Lord Protector</span>, many of his privy council, +and divers eminent gentlemen, to whose view was +presented great agility of body and most neat and +exquisite <i>wrestling</i> at every meeting of one with the +other, which was ordered with such dexterity, that it +was to show more the strength, vigour, and nimbleness +of their bodies, than to endanger their persons. The +ball they played with was silver, and designed for the +party that won the goal.</p> + +<p>The same newspaper continues: This day was more +observed by people's going a <i>maying</i> than for divers +years past, and indeed much sin committed by wicked +meetings with fiddlers, drunkenness, ribaldry, and the +like: great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> resort came to Hyde-Park, many hundred of +rich coaches, and gallants in rich attire, but most +shameful powdered-hair men, and painted and spotted +women; some men played with a silver ball, and some +took other recreation.</p></div> + +<p>Later on John Evelyn's <i>Diary</i> furnishes us with a view of wrestling for +fabulous sums. We think a hundred pounds, given at a meeting in the present +day, a large and tempting amount. The following, however, taking into +consideration the value of money upwards of two hundred years ago, does +seem astounding: "1669—19 Feb.—I saw a comedy acted at Court. In the +afternoon, I saw a wrestling match for £1000, in St. James Park, before His +Majesty, a world of lords and other spectators; 'twixt the Western and +Northern men; Mr. Secretary Morice and Lo. Gerard being the Judges. The +Western Men won. Many great sums were betted."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>After the foregoing brief notice of ancient wrestling, we shall proceed to +crave the reader's attention to a similar pastime after the style practised +in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. In doing so, we are fortunately +enabled to gather important information from a rare and interesting old +book, by Sir Thomas Parkyns, previously referred to, and first published in +the year 1713. This work was held in such high estimation, that in 1727, a +third edition had to be printed; and as the circulation would, in a great +measure, be confined to the southern parts of the kingdom, such a rapid +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span> numerous sale must be taken to indicate extraordinary popularity. It +will be gathered, the manner of wrestling differs materially from the +scientific, manly, back-hold Cumbrian method. The space, however, devoted +to the "Cornish Hugg," even in a work professedly devoted to northern +sports, will it is confidently presumed prove acceptable, particularly to +readers who admire the "Art of Wrestling," which the Nottinghamshire +baronet designates as "most Useful and Diverting to Mankind," and +"Diverting, Healthful Studies and Exercises." Such are the means by which +he avers "You will restore Posterity, to the Vigour, Activity, and Health +of their Ancestors; and the setting up of one Palæstra in every Town, will +be the pulling down of treble its Number of <i>Apothecaries' Shops</i>."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thus were our <i>Britons</i>, in the Days of Old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Sports made hardy, and by Action bold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And were they, now, inur'd to exercise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all their Strugglings were for Virtue's Prize.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Man</i> against <i>Man</i>, would not for Power contend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No Lust of Wealth would <i>Hugg</i> a private End,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor <i>Each</i> would <i>Wrestle</i> to supplant his Friend."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">W. T., on <i>Inn-Play, or the Cornish-Hugg</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Not content with this glowing eulogium on a sport long dear to Cumberland +and Westmorland, and as emphatic as any ever uttered on the Swifts at +Carlisle, the enthusiastic baronet goes on to say:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"No doubt but Wrestling, which does not only employ and +exercise the Hands, Feet, and all other Parts of human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> +Frame, may well be stiled both an <i>Art</i> and <i>Science</i>; +however, I will do my endeavour, both <i>Hip</i> and +<i>Thigh</i>, that Wrestling shall be no more look'd upon by +the Diligent as a Mystery."</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas finds "Wrestling was one of the five +Olympick Games, and that they oil'd their Bodies, not +only to make their Joints more Supple and Plyable; but +that their Antagonist might be less capable to take +fast hold of them....</p> + +<p>"I advise all my Scholars ne'er to Exercise upon a full +Stomach, but to take light Liquids of easy Digestion, +to support Nature, and maintain Strength only. Whilst +at Westminster, I could not learn any Thing, from their +Irregular and Rude Certamina, or Struggles; and when I +went to Cambridge, I then, as a Spectator, only +observ'd the vast Difference betwixt the Norfolk +Out-Players and the Cornish-Huggers, and that the +latter could throw the other when they pleas'd.... The +Use and Application of the Mathematicks here in +Wrestling, I owe to Dr. Bathurst, my Tutor, and Sir +Isaac Newton, Mathematick Professor, both of Trinity +College in Cambridge."</p> + +<p>He goes on to say: "I advise you to be no Smatterer, +but a thorough-pac'd Wrestler, Perfect and Quick, in +breaking and taking all Holds; otherwise whene'er you +break a Hold, if you don't proceed sharply to give your +Adversary a Fall, according to the several following +Paragraphs, you're not better than one engag'd at +Sharps, who only parries his Adversary, but does not +pursue him with a binding and home Thrust."</p> + +<p>The following warnings are especially worthy a +wrestler's attention: "Whoever would be a compleat +Wrestler, must avoid being overtaken in Drink, which +very much enervates, or being in a Passion at the sight +of his Adversary, or having receiv'd a Fall, in such +Cases he's bereav'd of his Senses, not being Master of +himself, is less of his Art, but sheweth too much Play, +or none at all, or rather pulleth, kicketh, and +ventureth beyond all Reason and his Judgment, when +himself.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Fœcundi calices quam non fecere Misellum.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Man's a Fool that hopes for Good,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From flowing Bowls and fev'rish Blood."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He goes on to remark that sticking to these observations will enable a good +wrestler to "stand Champion longer for the Country, as appears by my Friend +Richard Allen of Hucknall, alias Green, (from his Grandfather, who educated +him) who has wore the Bays, and frequently won most Prizes, besides other +By-Matches, reign'd Champion of Nottinghamshire, and the Neighbouring +Counties for twenty Years at least, and about 8 Months before this was +Printed, he Wrestled for a small Prize, where at least twelve Couples were +Competitors, and without much Fatigue won it. Whoever understands +Wrestling, will ne'er call the Out-Play a safe and secure Play; besides the +Inn-Play will sooner secure a Man's Person, when Playing at Sharps, than +the Out, which ought to encourage Gentlemen to learn to wrestle."</p> + +<p>In this learning to Wrestle our ingenious author—turned trainer—will +"admit no Hereditary Gouts, or Scrofulous Tumours; yet I'll readily accept +of Scorbutick Rheumatisms, because the Persons labouring under those +Maladies are generally strong and able to undergo the Exercise of +Wrestling. I am so curious in my Admission, I'll not hear of one Hipp'd and +out of Joint, a Valetudinarian is my Aversion, for I affirm, Martial (Lib. +vi. Ep. 54) is in the Right on't, <i>Non est vivere sed valere vita</i>: I +receive no Limberhams, no Darling Sucking-Bottles, who must not rise at +Midsummer, till eleven of the Clock, and that the Fire has air'd his Room +and Cloaths of his Colliquative Sweats, rais'd by high Sauces, and Spicy +forc'd Meats, where the Cook does the Office of the Stomach with the +Emetick Tea-Table, set out with Bread and Butter for's Breakfast: I'll +scarce admit a Sheep-Biter, none but Beef-Eaters will go down with me, who +have Robust, Healthy and Sound Bodies. This may serve as a Sketch of that +Person fit to make a Wrestler, by him who only desires a Place in your +Friendship."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a></span></p> + +<p>The baronet's beau ideal of a Wrestler's bodily formation is just such as +we like to see in a northern ring. He "must be of a middle Size, Athletic, +full-breasted and broad shoulder'd, for Wind and Strength; Brawny-Leg'd and +Arm'd, yet clear-limb'd."</p> + +<p>The following rules and regulations are—some of them especially—worthy +the consideration of those who are managers in our northern rings, at the +present time.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Rules and Conditions, which were to be observ'd and +perform'd by all and every Gamester, who Wrestled for a +Hat of twenty-two Shillings Price; a free Prize, which +was given by Sir Thomas Parkyns of Bunny, Bart., for +fifteen Years successively. The Gamesters which were +allow'd to Wrestle for the aforesaid Prize, were to +have it, if fairly won, according to the following +Rules.</i></p> + +<p>1. The two Gamesters that Wrestle together, shall be +fairly chosen by Lot, or Scrutiny, according to the +usual Practice.</p> + +<p>2. The said two Gamesters shall Wrestle till one of +them be thrown three Falls, and he that is first thrown +three Falls shall go out, and not be allow'd to Wrestle +again for this Prize: And it is hereby ordered and +agreed, that he who first comes with two Joynts at once +to the Ground, (as Joynts are commonly reckon'd in +Wrestling) shall be reputed to be thrown a Fall.</p> + +<p>3. No Gamester shall hire another to yield to him upon +any condition whatsoever; and if any such Practice be +discovered, neither of them shall be capable of the +Prize.</p> + +<p>4. But he that stands the longest and is not thrown out +by any one, shall have the Prize, provided he does not +forfeit his right, by breach of these Rules; if he do, +the Gamester that stands the longest, and observes +these Rules, shall have it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a></span></p> + +<p>5. If any Differences shall happen concerning the +Wrestling, they shall be determined by two Men, which +shall be chosen by the most Voices of the Gamesters, +before they begin to Wrestle; and in case they can't +decide such Differences, then they shall be referr'd +solely to the Decision of the said Sir Thomas Parkyns +as UMPIRE.</p> + +<p>6. He that Wins the Prize and Sells it, shall be +uncapable of Wrestling here any more.</p> + +<p>7. That none shall have the Prize, that Wrestle with +Shoes that have any sort of Nails of Iron or Brass in +them.</p> + +<p>8. He also that Winneth the Prize one Year, shall be +Excluded from Wrestling for it the Year following, but +the next year after that, viz. the third inclusive the +first, he may put in and Wrestle for the Prize again; +and ever after that, unless he shall Win a second +Prize, and from that time ever after Excluded.</p></div> + +<p>Sir Thomas Parkyns, Bart, of Bunny Park, Nottinghamshire, the author of the +ingenious and singular work before us—from which we have quoted +largely—upon the Cornish Hugg, or Inn-Play Wrestling, was a man who did +not content himself with a mere theoretical knowledge of the art which he +professed mathematically to teach. There was scarcely a sinewy and +dangerous problem in his treatise, which he had not worked with his own +limbs upon the Nottinghamshire peasantry of 1705—when he was young, lusty, +and learned, and could throw a tenant, combat a paradox, quote Martial, or +sign a mittimus, with any man of his own age or country. He was, it will be +allowed, a skilful wrestler, a subtle disputant, and a fair scholar,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a></span> with +certain eccentricities which he could afford to indulge in. He passed a +very reputable life; doing all the good he could to the peasantry of his +neighbourhood, both in body and mind; at once showing how to be strong and +enabling them to be happy.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas Parkyns was born about the year 1678—whether at his paternal +seat, Bunny Park, Nottinghamshire, or in London, we are unable to +collect—probably in London, as we find him early at Westminster school, +wrestling his way through the classics, under the celebrated Dr. Bushby. +The epigrams of Martial appear, first, to have led him to turn serious +thoughts towards wrestling—and he does not relish the poet the less for +finding that he himself practised this healthy art after his daily prayer +and family business.</p> + +<p>From Westminster, Sir Thomas after a due course of little-to-do and Bushby, +went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and studied mathematics as we gather +afterwards for the chief purpose of making himself an accomplished +scientific wrestler. At the then celebrated place of learning, "Students," +he says, "even at the Universities, give the Exercise of Wrestling, and lie +under a pecuniary Mulct for not appearing in the Summer evenings appointed +for that Exercise."</p> + +<p>Happy and long was the life which Sir Thomas led at Bunny Park. A "bold +peasantry, its country's pride," by his advice and example grew up +gallantly around him. He gave prizes of small value, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxv" id="Page_xxxv">[Pg xxxv]</a></span> large honour, to +be wrestled for on sweet midsummer eves upon the green levels of +Nottinghamshire, and he never felt so gratified with the scene as when he +saw one of his manly tenantry and the evening sun go down together. He +himself was no idle patron of these amusements—no delicate and timid +superintendent of popular sports, as our modern wealthy men for the most +part are; for he never objected to take the most sinewy man by the loins, +and try a fall for the gold-laced hat he himself contributed. His servants +were all upright, muscular, fine young fellows—civil but sinewy; +respectful at the proper hours, but yet capable also at the proper hour of +wrestling with Sir Thomas for the mastery; and never so happy or so well +approved as when one of them saw his master's two brawny legs going +handsomely over his head. Sir Thomas prided himself, indeed, in having his +coachman and footman lusty young fellows, that had brought good characters +for sobriety from their last places, and had laid him on his spine.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Retrospective Review.</p></div> + +<p>Lord Thomas Manners, who learned the art of Broad-Sword exercise from Sir +Thomas Parkyns, thus addresses his master, on May 21st, 1720, from +Belvoir:—</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Happy is it for us that we have in this effeminate, +weak Age of powder'd Essence-Bottles, and Curled +Coxcombs, a Person of rough Manners, and a robust +Constitution; one that can stand upon his own Legs, +after Droves of those modern waxen Things have fallen +before him; one that instructs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvi" id="Page_xxxvi">[Pg xxxvi]</a></span> Englishmen to deserve +the Title, and teaches 'em to make their Broad-Swords +the Terror of all Europe. Men like you liv'd, when +Greece knew her happiest Days. It was a Spirit like +your's that instituted and supported the Olympic Games. +But when their luxurious Neighbours once taught 'em to +sleep till Twelve o' the Day, to pin up their Locks in +Papers, to come from the Boxes of their Chariots into +the Insides of 'em; to use Almond-Paste, and +Rose-Water; in short, to quit Roast-Beef, and Hasty +Pudding, for Soups and Ragouts; the Empire of the World +was taken from them, and translated to the tough, +sinewy Romans; and when they ceas'd to merit these +Epithets, their Eagle drooped her Wings, and the Brawny +Britons were the Favourites of Mars."</p></div> + +<p>A fitting conclusion to the preceding notice of the much esteemed Bunny +Park baronet, will be come to by bestowing a passing notice on the +monumental memorial erected to his memory, in Broadmore church, +Nottinghamshire. The "ruling passion" is made apparent, even after death +had given Sir Thomas the last "Hugg." On one side of the monument he is +represented in wrestling attitude; on another he appears thrown a back fall +by Time. The following is a free translation of the Latin inscription:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Here lies, O Time! the victim of thy hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The noblest Wrestler on the British strand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His nervous arm each bold opposer quell'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In feats of strength by none but thee excell'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till springing up at the last trumpet's call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He conquers thee, who, will have conquer'd all."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inscription further depicts him as an estimable landlord; for it is +recorded on the tablet, that with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvii" id="Page_xxxvii">[Pg xxxvii]</a></span> his wife's fortune he purchased estates, +and erected for the tenants new farm houses.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas Parkyns died in 1751.</p> + +<p>In his will there is bequeathed a guinea a year to be wrestled for every +midsummer day at Broadmore.</p> + +<p>We venture to surmise that our north country readers—more especially those +interested in the sport half a century ago—will be struck with a +similarity in the wrestling career and character of Sir Thomas Parkyns, and +one of the great ornaments and enthusiastic advocates of the northern ring, +namely, Professor Wilson. To us it appears there is a striking similitude. +One, like the other, ranks amongst the cleverest and most scientific in +their different modes of wrestling; one, like the other, had about the same +social standing; one, like the other, somewhat eccentric in early life. One +delighted with encouraging and upholding his favourite amusement in Bunny +Park; the other happy when he could get together a goodly muster of +athletes from the villages, the valleys, and mountain sides of the Lake +district, at Bowness, Low Wood, or Ambleside—all within easy walking +distance of Elleray, his beautifully situate Windermere mansion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxviii" id="Page_xxxviii">[Pg xxxviii]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>WRESTLING IN SCOTLAND.</h3> + +<p>In the year 1827, a society styled the "Saint Ronan's Border Club," was +established at Innerleithen, near Peebles, the object of which was to +revive the old martial spirit of the Borders, to encourage the practice of +out-door sports and pastimes, and to yield amusement to the visitors of +this sequestered watering place. Lockhart, in his life of Sir Walter Scott, +(after giving an account of the publication of the novel of <i>St. Ronan's +Well</i>, in 1823,) thus proceeds to describe the establishment of the annual +gathering at Innerleithen:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Among other consequences of the revived fame of the +place, a yearly festival was instituted for the +celebration of <i>The St. Ronan's Border Games</i>. A club +of <i>Bowmen of the Border</i>, arrayed in doublets of +Lincoln green, with broad blue bonnets, and having the +Ettrick Shepherd for Captain, assumed the principal +management of this exhibition; and Sir Walter was well +pleased to be enrolled among them, and during several +years was a regular attendant, both on the Meadow, +where (besides archery) leaping, racing, wrestling, +stone-heaving, and hammer-throwing, went on opposite to +the noble old Castle of Traquair, and at the subsequent +banquet, where Hogg, in full costume, always presided +as master of the ceremonies. In fact, a gayer spectacle +than that of the <i>St. Ronan's Games</i>, in those days, +could not well have been desired. The Shepherd, even +when on the verge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxix" id="Page_xxxix">[Pg xxxix]</a></span> of threescore, exerted himself +lustily in the field, and seldom failed to carry off +some of the prizes, to the astonishment of his +vanquished juniors; and the <i>bon-vivants</i> of Edinburgh +mustered strong among the gentry and yeomanry of +Tweeddale to see him afterwards in his glory filling +the president's chair with eminent success, and +commonly supported on this—which was in fact the +grandest evening of his year—by Sir Walter Scott, +Professor Wilson, Sir Adam Ferguson, and <i>Peter</i> +Robertson.</p></div> + +<p>The Earl of Traquair was patron of the club, and among the members not +mentioned by Lockhart, occur the names of the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord +Napier, Robert Gladstone of Liverpool, William Blackwood, James Ballantyne, +and Adam Wilson, captain of the Six-Feet Club.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> At a later date, +Glassford Bell, sheriff of Lanarkshire, took great interest in these +sports.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Professor Wilson was anxious to get enrolled in the Six-Feet +Club, but could not manage it. He was just half-an-inch too short.</p></div> + +<p>The games continued to be celebrated yearly in the early autumn, and lasted +two days, the second day being mostly devoted to archery. Among the various +athletes who entered the lists, the following are probably the most +noteworthy. Professor Wilson (Christopher North,) threw the hammer; James +Hogg tried his hand at the bow and the rifle, but yet—in despite of +Lockhart's praise—the Shepherd did more doughty deeds with the grey-goose +quill than with either of those weapons. Robert Bell, from Jed Water, was +the champion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xl" id="Page_xl">[Pg xl]</a></span> "putter" of the stone, and could have been matched against +any man in the three kingdoms, in throwing the sixteen or twenty-one pound +ball—he upon his knees, and his opponent on his feet. An advertisement +appeared in a leading newspaper, to back him for £100 against all comers, +the challenge to hold good for twelve months, but there was no one to take +it up. The Harper brothers, farmers near Innerleithen, held several prizes +for throwing the hammer; and Leyden of Denholme, the champion leaper, could +spring thirty-two feet, at three standing leaps, including the backward and +forward leaps over the same ground.</p> + +<p>The first competition was held at Innerleithen on the 26th of September, +1827; and among other prizes competed for, the Six-Feet Club of Edinburgh +gave a silver medal to the best wrestler in the back-hold style, as +practised in Cumberland and Westmorland. The introduction of this mode of +wrestling into Scotland, may probably be attributed to the great interest +which Professor Wilson took in the formation of these games. The prize in +1827, was gained by George Scougal, a native of Innerleithen. On one side +of the medal was the following inscription:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Presented by the Six-Feet Club, to the St. Ronan's +Border Club, to be awarded to the best Wrestler, at +their first Gymnastic Competition, at Innerleithen, +26th September, 1827."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xli" id="Page_xli">[Pg xli]</a></span></p> + +<p>And on the reverse side, the following quotation from Waller:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Great Julius, on the mountain bred,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A flock perchance or herd had led:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He who subdued the world had been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the best Wrestler on the green."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Gained by <span class="smcap">George Scougal</span>, Innerleithen.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thirty-two competitors.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Scougal carried off, also, the head prize for Wrestling, at the St. Ronan's +Games, for the years 1828 and 1829. After performing these feats, he was +"outlawed"—that is, he was excluded from contending again in the same +arena, for the three years which followed. When past the prime of life, he +was induced to enter the wrestling ring again, which he very unwillingly +did, after much persuasion, and once more succeeded in bearing off first +honours.</p> + +<p>In his day, Scougal was looked upon as the champion wrestler on the +Scottish side of the Borders. At the St. Ronan's Games, he gained six +medals for wrestling and throwing the hammer; and, likewise, a considerable +number of trophies at other local meetings. A stout massive built man, he +stood five feet eleven inches high, and weighed from fifteen to sixteen +stones. With little or no knowledge of scientific wrestling, he +nevertheless proved more than a match for all comers, by the herculean +amount of power he possessed in the shoulders and arms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlii" id="Page_xlii">[Pg xlii]</a></span></p> + +<p>His usual mode of attack was to gather an opponent well to his breast, and +then by sheer strength keep him there until a favourable opportunity +presented itself to rush him upon his back. When excited or ruffled in +temper, he gripped his man quickly and firmly, and then, in spite of all +struggles or clicks, threw him over his hip. These movements were the +nearest approach to science known to Scougal.</p> + +<p>Scougal was a butcher by trade, and is thus referred to in the <i>Noctes +Ambrosiana</i>, in the Shepherd's parlance: "Geordie Scougal slauchered a +beast last market day at Innerleithen, and his meat's aye prime." On one +occasion, he actually felled a bullock with a blow from his fist; and in +the smithy, which adjoined his slaughter-house, he not unfrequently +exhibited feats of surpassing strength, one of which was to lift a waggon +axle and two wheels, with a heavy man seated at each end of the axle. His +skill in throwing the hammer was well known, and during his early manhood +he carried off most of the leading prizes. At several meetings, the Harpers +came into competition with him, but never approached any nearer than second +to the dual Border champion of wrestling and throwing the hammer. Old +people, who remember Scougal's earliest efforts, describe him as a +veritable Goliath of Gath in strength, but—unless unduly excited—as +gentle as a woman in manner and bearing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xliii" id="Page_xliii">[Pg xliii]</a></span></p> + +<p>After Scougal's three years had elapsed, Robert Michie of Hawick, came to +the fore as amateur wrestler. Michie took the belt at St. Ronan's, and kept +it about two years. He was present at most of the gymnastic gatherings on +the Borders, and carried off many prizes for wrestling and hammer throwing. +At the Hawick Border Games in 1831, he threw Thomas Emmerson, from the +neighbourhood of Carlisle,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> after an exciting contest of some duration. +His hammer throwing at St. Ronan's was inimitable, and has been described +by the Ettrick Shepherd in the "Bridal of Polmood."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Emmerson was a powerful built man, a mason by trade, who +wrestled for several years in the Carlisle and other rings, with moderate +success. He won the head prize at Hawick in 1835.</p></div> +<p>Michie is introduced anachronically into the "Royal Bridal," in Wilson's +<i>Tales of the Borders</i>, after the following fashion:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>At a distance from the pavilion,... was a crowd +composed of some seven or eight hundred peasantry +engaged in and witnessing the athletic games of the +Borders. Among the competitors was one called Meikle +Robin, or Robin Meikle. He was strength personified. +His stature exceeded six feet; his shoulders were +broad, his chest round, his limbs well and strongly put +together. He was a man of prodigious bone and sinews. +At throwing the hammer, at putting the stone, no man +could stand before him. He distanced all who came +against him, and, while he did so, he seemed to put +forth not half his strength, while his skill appeared +equal to the power of his arm.</p></div> + +<p>The following notice of the wrestling at Saint Ronan's, for 1831, is copied +from the <i>Edinburgh Literary Journal</i>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xliv" id="Page_xliv">[Pg xliv]</a></span>Wrestling is not a Scotch game, as will be conceded by +every one who has been present at the Carlisle and +Saint Ronan's games. There is strength enough among our +peasantry, but it is the ore—it has never been moulded +for a practical purpose. Men came forward on this +occasion, who never would have dreamed of thrusting +their noses into an English ring; and they set to work +in a slovenly unhandsome way—some of them armed +<i>cap-à-piè</i>—hat, coat, and shoes. Still, amid the +motley crew you might recognise men who knew both how +to seize and to wield their antagonists. The art only +needs encouragement; and we trust next meeting will +witness a better turn-out.</p></div> + +<p>There were other local athletes, who figured in the ring at Saint Ronan's, +almost a match for Scougal. George Best of Yarrow, tailor, possessed far +more science than the Innerleithen butcher, and was the holder of several +prizes. Best, likewise, finds a niche in the <i>Noctes Ambrosiana</i> of +October, 1828, where the Shepherd is made to exclaim:—"Tibbie's married. +The tailor carried her aff frae them a'—the flyin' tailor o' Ettrick, +sir—him that can do fifteen yards, at hap-step-and-loup, back and forward +on level grun'—stood second ae year in the ring at Carlisle—can put a +stane within a foot o' Jedburgh Bell himsell, and fling the hammer neist +best ower a' the border to Geordie Scougal o' Innerleithen."</p> + +<p>In which year of grace, we wonder, did Best stand second in the Carlisle +ring? Wilson's memory must have proved treacherous when he penned this +sentence. At all events, if Best <i>did</i> wrestle second,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlv" id="Page_xlv">[Pg xlv]</a></span> "ae year in the +ring at Carlisle," it must have been for some minor prize, long since +forgotten.</p> + +<p>Abraham Clark of Calzie, farmer, a man of powerful frame, entered the ring +after Scougal was "outlawed," and did some noteworthy feats.</p> + +<p>Another man, also remembered as a prize taker in the ring at Saint Ronan's, +was Walter Scott of Selkirk, carrier.</p> + +<p>At Miles End, in Northumberland, athletic games were kept up until +recently. Young men from both sides of the Borders entered keenly into +these contests; and one noteworthy peculiarity of them was, that of keeping +up the old national characteristic of Englishmen being pitted against +Scotchmen, and Scotchmen against Englishmen. This mode of contesting was +the means of producing many splendid feats of agility and prowess, but was +apt to degenerate into mere exhibitions of warm blood, which too frequently +ended in blows being exchanged by the rival combatants. Remnants of these +contests may be witnessed to this day, at the annual fair at Stagshawbank, +between the shepherds from the Reed, Liddle, Coquet, and Tyne, and those +from the Slitrig, Jed, Oxmoor, Kail, and Teviot. Wrestling was always a +leading sport at these gatherings; single-stick, tilting, leaping, and +foot-racing, were also practised; and hence the devotion shown to these and +similar athletic pastimes by the sturdy race of people living on both sides +of the Cheviots.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlvi" id="Page_xlvi">[Pg xlvi]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>IRISH WRESTLING.</h3> + +<p>The "collar and elbow" is the national style of wrestling in Ireland—that +is, to take hold of an opponent's collar with one hand, and his elbow with +the other. The fall is won if an opponent touches the ground with his hand, +knee, back, or side, as in the Cumberland and Westmorland style.</p> + +<p>A wrestling match was witnessed in Phœnix Park, Dublin, in the autumn of +1876, which may serve to illustrate to some extent the manner of +proceeding. A ring was formed, around which seven or eight thousand people +gathered, and two coats laid in the centre of the ring. Presently a +wrestler enters, and dons one of the coats, which was a challenge for any +man to take up the other coat. Another wrestler shortly after enters, and +then, when due preliminaries are gone through, the tussle commenced in +earnest. But how it proceeded, or how it ended—whether the struggle was an +arduous one, or the victory an easy one—our informant could not tell.</p> + +<p>At the termination of the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling held at the +British Lion, Redcross Street, London, on August 21st, 1844, one Kelly, an +Irishman, challenged any native of either of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlvii" id="Page_xlvii">[Pg xlvii]</a></span> above counties, to +wrestle for a sovereign, in the collar and elbow style, the gainer of the +first three falls, out of five, to be the winner. This offer was accepted +by Edward Stainton, a native of Westmorland. And after three-quarters of an +hour's good play, Stainton had floored his man three times in succession. +Kelly was second in the leaping match at the same sports.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>—We regret exceedingly the great paucity of our +information on the subject of Irish Wrestling. +Enquiries were made in many and various ways, without +success. Any information respecting two or three of the +representative wrestlers of the Green Isle, addressed +to the <i>local</i> publishers, will be very acceptable.]</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/dec1.jpg" width="550" height="92" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h2>CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND WRESTLING.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wrestlers of Cumberland,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Good fellows all;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wrestlers of Westmorland,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Stout lads and tall:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye who are thrown to-day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rise more alert and gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Next year make the play,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Good fellows all.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>King Arthur's Round Table Ballad</i>, 1824.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/w.jpg" width="125" height="126" alt="W" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">Wrestling, as a matter of course, occupies a prominent position in our +review of Northern Pastimes, more especially from the commencement to the +end of the time to which our notices extend. Some of the other sports are +now remembered only as illustrating the habits of a byegone period. In this +last are to be classed Bull-baiting and Cock-fighting: condemned now as +cruel and torturing by all classes, but deserving of record from their +encouragement and popularity in times past. Others of a less objectionable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +type are extinct as well. That almost all were looked upon with disfavour +by a considerable portion of the community, in the old Puritan times of +Cromwell, the following curious extract will abundantly testify. It is +quoted from <span class="smcap">The Agreement of the Associated Ministers and Churches of the +Counties of Cumberland and Westmerland</span>. <i>London: Printed by T. L. for Simon +Waterson, and are sold at the sign of the Globe in Paul's Churchyard, and +by Richard Scot, Bookseller in Carlisle, 1656.</i></p></div> + +<p>"All scandalous persons hereafter mentioned are to be suspended from the +Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: this is to say ... any person that shall +upon the Lord's Day use any dancing, playing at dice, or cards, or any +other game, masking, wakes, shooting, playing, playing at football, stool +ball, <i>Wrestling</i>; or that shall make resort to any Playes, interludes, +fencing, bull baiting, bear baiting; or that shall use hawking, hunting, or +coursing, fishing or fowling; or that shall publikely expose any wares to +sale otherwise than is provided by an Ordinance of Parliament of the sixth +of April, 1649.... These Counties of Cumberland and Westmerland have been +hitherto as a Proverb and a by-word in respect of ignorance and +prophaneness; Men were ready to say of them as the Jews of Nazareth, Can +any good thing come out of them?"</p> + +<p>This intolerant anathema did not put a stop to the practice of Wrestling, +on fine summer evenings, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> nearly all the villages of Cumberland and +Westmorland—a practice, we opine, less detrimental to the formation of a +good rural peasantry than loitering about or brawling in village +ale-houses. It was, however, upwards of a century and a half after, before +back-hold wrestling assumed the importance it has attained. A passing +notice of doings in the ring, in a long ago period, may nevertheless be +interesting.</p> + +<p>In King Edward the Sixth's time, somewhere between 1547 and 1553, a +gigantic youth of great strength and in wrestling practice, resided at +Troutbeck, near Windermere. His name was Gilpin, or Herd. His mother was +driven away from Furness with child—generally asserted in the +neighbourhood—to one of the monks of Furness Abbey. The mother afterwards +led a tramping and begging sort of life, and drew to a house in Troutbeck +belonging to the Crown. The house and some adjoining land were conferred by +the king on a retainer, who on attempting to take possession, met with +determined opposition from the desperate woman, and her wild son Gilpin, +or, as he was familiarly called, the "Cork Lad of Kentmere." This led to +the "Lad"—then about twenty years old—being summoned to London. He set +off on foot, in a home-spun dress, and after many strange adventures and +shifty expedients, reached the end of his long journey. Soon after +arriving, the king held a meeting for athletic contests. The wild-looking +northerner was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> present, and ascended the stage to contend with the +champion wrestler. He easily won the first fall. In the second, he threw +the champion clear off the stage. After astonishing the spectators by +several other muscular performances, the king sent for him, and enquired +who and what he was, and where he came from. He told the king he did not +know his own name, but "folk commonly co' me the Cork Lad o' Kentmere!" The +king desiring to know the sort of food he lived on at home, received this +quaint reply, "Thick porridge an' milk that a mouse might walk on dry shod, +to my breakfast; an' the sunny side of a wedder to my dinner, when I can +get it." Being acknowledged champion, the king wished to confer some reward +as a distinction, and asked him to state what he wished. He begged to have +the house he lived in at Troutbeck, and land adjacent to get peat off, and +wood from Troutbeck Park for fire. These were soon made over to him. He did +not enjoy the generous gift for any lengthened period; for at the age of +forty-two, he got so injured in attempting to pull up a tree by the roots, +that he died from the effects. Leaving no children or will, the estate +reverted to the Crown, and King Charles the First granted it to Huddleston +Philipson of Calgarth.</p> + +<p>It appears that Kentmere Hall in Kentmere—a secluded pastoral dale, some +dozen miles north of Kendal, and running in another dozen miles up to the +steep sides of Hill Bell, Nan Beild, and High<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> Street—was built at the +time the "Cork Lad" was in the valley. During the building, he performed a +surprising feat of strength, by placing, without any assistance, a huge +beam on the walls. On a Mr. Birkett being applied to by James Clarke, the +author of the "Survey of the Lakes," for particulars respecting the well +nigh incredible feat, he replied in the following sensible letter:—</p> + +<p>"I have taken dimensions of the beam at Kentmere Hall, which is thirty feet +in length and thirteen inches by twelve-and-a-half in thickness. There is +no inscription on it, as you mentioned. I shall inform you what has been +given by tradition, (and I had it from a man that was <i>one hundred and four +years old</i> when he died). When the Hall was building, and the workmen gone +to dinner, this man, whose name was Herd, happened to be there, and while +they were at dinner, laid it up himself. At that time the Scots made +frequent incursions into England. He with his bow and arrows killed many of +them in coming off the mountains, at a place which still retains the name +of 'Scot's Rake,' which is about a mile from where he lived."</p> + +<p>In the days of brave Queen Bess, lived Richard Mulcaster, whose father +represented the city of Carlisle in Parliament. "By ancient parentage and +lininal discent," Mulcaster was "an esquier borne; by the most famous Queen +Elizabeth's prerogative gift," parson of Stanford Rivers church, in Essex. +Being an earnest student, he became not only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> proficient in the Greek and +Oriental languages, but also an expert archer, and thought it not +unbecoming to his cloth to shoot by times, at "the targets for glory at +Mile End Green." This good old clergyman loved athletic exercises so well, +that among other learned treatises, he issued one in 1581 entitled +"Positions; wherein those Primitive Circumstances be examined, which are +necessarie for the training up of Children, either for Skill in their +Booke, or Healthe in their Bodie," which was dedicated to his patron, Queen +Elizabeth. In this quaint old quarto volume, the author discourses on the +ancient art of "wrastling" as becometh one reared on Cumbrian soil. +"Clemens Alexandrinus," says he, "which lived at Rome in Galenus' time, in +the third book of his 'Pedagogue or Training Maister,' in the title of +exercise, rejecting most kinds of wrastling, yet reserveth one as well +beseemeing a civill trained man, whom both seemeliness for grace and +profitableness for goode healthe do seeme to recommende. Then an exercise +it is, and healthfully it may be used; if discretion overlook it, our +countrey will allow it. Let us, therefore, use it as Clemens of Alexandria +commendes it for, and make choice in our market. Wherefore not to deale +with the catching pancratical kind of wrastling which used all kindes of +hould to cast and overcome his adversarie, nor any other of that sorte +which continuance hath rejected and custome hath refused, I have picked out +two which be both civill for use,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and in the using upright, without any +great stouping. It is a friend to the head, bettereth the bulke, and +strengtheneth the sinews. Thus much for wrastling, wherein, as in all other +exercises, the training maister must be both cunning to judge of the thing, +and himself present to prevente harme when the exercise is in hand."</p> + +<p>Leaving this loyal old parson to demonstrate still further his "Positions" +to the boys of the Merchant Tailors' and St. Paul's, of both of which +schools he was head master, we come across another worthy, Robert Dodd, +commonly called "Miller Robin," who lived some years at Brough in +Westmorland. He was possessed of such bodily strength as to be able to take +a bushel of wheat, (a Carlisle bushel of ninety-six quarts,) between his +teeth, and toss it over his shoulder. He would also lie down, and with six +bushels of wheat placed on his back, weighing something like nine hundred +and fifty pounds, rise up with apparently little exertion. He was also an +expert wrestler, and very few who knew the man would contend with him for +the annual prize belts. The following Epitaph on a Wrestler, from +Miscellaneous Poems, by Ewan Clark of Standing Stone, near Wigton, 1779, is +applicable to "Miller Robin."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here lies the man beneath this stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who often threw, but ne'er was thrown:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before him his antagonists fell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As many a broken bone can tell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death cry'd, "I'll try this man of strength!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And laid him here at his full length.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Soon after Robin had succumbed, there came out a Herculean wrestler, named +John Woodall, a small statesman, and a native of Gosforth in West +Cumberland. At Egremont sports, he came against one Carr, a shoemaker. Carr +gained the fall, and at the King's Arms in the evening, began chaffing +Woodall, who in a fit of momentary excitement, caught hold of his +antagonist, and held him up to the ceiling of the room; and, by the +waistband of his breeches, hung him dangling and struggling to a strong +crook. We have alluded elsewhere to a wonderful feat of bodily strength, by +Robert Atkinson, the Sleagill giant, in carrying a conveyance called a +"carr" out of a dyke-back, on to the turnpike road, near Kendal. This +unlucky vehicle had defied the efforts of three or four persons to drag it +out, by tugging at the shafts and wheels. Very big men, since Atkinson's +time, have somehow ceased to be wrestlers.</p> + +<p>Two stalwart Cumbrians will, however, be brought under the notice of our +readers in the following description of Ancient Sports upon Stone Carr, +near Greystoke. This particular, and, at the time, highly popular meeting, +is introduced to show the description of sports that prevailed in numerous +villages throughout the two Northern Counties at the latter part of last +and the beginning of the present century. No doubt, the reader will be +struck with the wide difference in the value of the prizes, as compared +with those given in the present day, when the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> Pooleys would get over +forty pounds in money and cups, at the Burgh Barony Races of 1877. Stone +Carr Sports had been held for many years previous to 1787, and a similar +list of prizes given annually to these enumerated; and they seemed to give +entire satisfaction to the crowds who assembled from Penrith, Keswick, and +all the neighbouring villages.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>For the Horses</td><td align='left'>—1st, a Bridle, value£1 6s.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Do. do.</td><td align='left'>—2nd, a pair of Spurs0 6s.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For the Wrestlers</td><td align='left'>A Leathern Belt</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For the Leapers</td><td align='left'>A pair of Gloves</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For the Foot Racers</td><td align='left'>A Handkerchief</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For the Dog Coursers</td><td align='left'>A Pewter Quart Pot</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Many other small prizes were given, and they brought out a strong +determined spirit of contention amongst the competitors. The one who had +finally—after many sturdy contests—the belt placed over his shoulders, +was regarded as quite a distinguished individual. If there were a dance in +the evening, it of course made him a personage of no small account. Old and +young regarded wrestling science, wrestling distinction and strength, with +keen relish. The Sunday following victory, the champion might be seen +marching to church, decorated with the belt, and on the Sunday following +showing off at another neighbouring church. And this was not the only +distinction: the lasses, one and all, looked on him favourably. He had no +difficulty in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> getting a sweetheart, and matrimonial engagements frequently +followed the prize winning; for amongst rustics, as well as in the higher +classes, distinction is invariably looked on as a pretty good passport to a +lady's favour.</p> + +<p>Sometimes disputes would arise—for northern blood at sports and fairs is +soon up—and then probably a punishing fight ensues. This, however, rarely +happens. When it does take place, it is a fair stand up fisty-cuff fight. A +very severe contest occurred at the Stone Carr meeting, which from the +amazing stature and strength of the combatants, is deserving of record. Mr. +Andrew Huddleston—an enthusiastic admirer of rustic sports—threw up the +belt as a competitor. The country people for miles round about his own +neighbourhood gave him the <i>sobriquet</i> of "Girt Andrew," from his +giant-like stature and great strength. He came against one Thomas Harrison +of Blencow, another Titanic specimen of humanity. Probably no two of like +Herculean proportions ever stood together to take hold. "Girt Andrew" got +grassed with a tremendous thud, and directly offered to fight his opponent. +Harrison, no ways backward, accepted the challenge, and both prepared for a +set-to. An unexpected interference occurred. A Presbyterian preacher, then +stationed at Penruddock, persuaded them to desist, and apparently seemed to +have got the burly combatants to depart home peaceably without a resort to +blows. The feud,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> however, proved to be glossed over, and not healed, for +even after jointly partaking of a friendly glass, Mr. Huddleston again +threw down the gauntlet, and again it was taken up. The fight was obstinate +and terrific, both receiving fearful punishment. In the end Harrison +triumphed. In after years they continued good neighbours, without any +manifestation of ill feeling.</p> + +<p>Thomas Harrison had a brother named Launcelot, residing at Penruddock, who +followed the occupation of a blacksmith. This man also possessed amazing +strength, and was of gigantic stature. When dead, his remains were taken to +Greystoke, and buried there. Some years after, the grave digger, in making +another grave, dug into Launcelot's. He took out the jaw bone, and it +proved to be half as big again as the sexton's, who was a stout six feet +man.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Clarke's Survey.</p></div> + +<p>Another Penruddock champion died in 1791, at the age of four score and six +years, who was styled at that date, "the last of the northern giants." This +was Matthias Nicholson, who, through a lengthened period, stood unrivalled +at all the wrestlings and other athletic exercises and manly sports, which +took place in the neighbourhood. His height was six feet two inches, and +his bulk in proportion.</p> + +<p>The top of High Street, a mountain near Haweswater, in Westmorland, seems a +strange situation for holding Wrestlings, Jumpings, Horse Races, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> other +sports. This mountain is 2,700 feet above the level of the sea—a breezy +elevation, forsooth, for such pastimes. Nevertheless, they were held +annually on the 10th of July for many years, and long continued to be a +flourishing institution. The primary object of the gathering was this:—On +the heaves or pastures of mountain sheep farms, stray sheep are kept and +cared for. The shepherds, on the day appointed, drive them to the place of +meeting, and give them up to the rightful owners, who identify them by +certain marks. After this important business has been gone through, a +dinner is set out, and washed down with libations of ale or spirits, and, +by the time keen appetites are satisfied, numerous additions have increased +the assemblage, and then commence the wrestling, &c. It forcibly +illustrates the deep hold these pastimes have in the minds of the rural +population, when they are indulged in at such meetings and in such +situations. From information which has been gathered from an aged native of +Kentmere, it appears that the High Street gatherings fell into neglect, and +were discontinued about sixty years since. They have been supplemented by +similar ones—minus the races and wrestlings—held annually in November at +the little road side hostelry on Kirkstone, and at the "Dun Bull" in +Mardale, where sports and wrestlings are held annually on Whit-Monday. +Mardale is at other times a lonely, little frequented dale, at the head of +Haweswater. On one occasion the landlady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> of the "Dun Bull," on being +remonstrated with for supplying sour porter in June, excused herself by +saying: "Why, that's varra queer! It <i>was</i> freysh enuff last grouse time!"</p> + +<p>Other places—situate advantageously for holding them—have now their +shepherd's gatherings. At the High Street meetings a fox hunt was mostly an +important part of the day's proceedings. The following fearful incident +happened during a hot chase. Blea Water Cragg is doubtless well known to +many summer tourists. It has a sheer fall of about three hundred yards, and +the rock in many places appears to jut out even with the bottom. A man +named Dixon, from Kentmere, was following a hard run fox, when he slipped +and fell from the top of the rocks to the bottom. He was carried home, with +no broken bones, but bruised and battered in a shocking manner; nearly all +the skin and hair of his head cut off by the sharp-edged rocks—scalped, in +fact. In falling, he struck against the rocks many times, and yet, strange +to say, by his own account, he did not feel the shocks from first falling +over to finally landing at the bottom of the perilous descent. Dizzy, +stunned, and unable to stand, he had the chase uppermost in his mind, +shouting as well as he was able to the first that got to him: "Lads! lads! +t' fox is gane oot at t' hee end! Lig t' dogs on, an' I'll cum seun!" +Insensibility soon followed this exhortation, and he was carried home, but +recovered ultimately. The rocks have since been known by the name of +"Dixon's three jumps."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>Wrestling on High Street seems strange, but stranger still is wrestling on +the frozen surface of Windermere lake. The one we have to record happened +in 1785, during an excessively severe frost. When the ice had attained +great thickness, a project was started for roasting a large ox on it. All +preparations being made, "Rawlinson's Nab" was fixed upon as the locality +for carrying on operations. The eventful day arrived without any break in +the frost, and a vast concourse from all parts of the surrounding country +assembled to enjoy the unusual sight. Creature comforts, in the shape of +eatables and lots of beer, were not wanting. The enlivening strains of a +band of music from Kendal, too, gave animation to the scene. The wrestling +was in clogs, such as country people at that time generally wore. These +primitive coverings for the feet, though well adapted for sliding on the +ice, were clumsy to wrestle in; nevertheless, the falls were eagerly +contested, and delighted the throng of spectators. The final victor +received a belt.</p> + +<p>From the interesting autobiography of Thomas Bewick, the celebrated wood +engraver, who visited an uncle at Ainstable about the year 1776, we learn +the following particulars respecting the feats of one of his cousins in the +wrestling ring:—"I remained at Ainstable about a week, during which time I +rambled about the neighbourhood, visited my friends at Kirkoswald and +elsewhere, and spent what time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> I could spare in fishing for trout in the +Croglin.... I began to think of moving abroad; and my cousin having +occasion to go to Carlisle, I went with him there, where we parted.... At +Langholm, my landlord who was a Cumberland man and knew my relatives there, +was very kind to me; and among other matters concerning them, told me that +my cousin who had accompanied me to Carlisle had won nine belts in his +wrestling matches in that county."</p> + +<p>We next come to a curious, remarkable, and noteworthy old custom at which, +towards the latter end of the eighteenth century, and the early part of the +nineteenth, wrestlings, and a variety of other sports, were much +patronised. The celebration of <span class="smcap">Bridewains</span> or <span class="smcap">Bidden Weddings</span> were extremely +popular in Cumberland. All the people of the country side were invited. For +the amusement of the spectators assembled, prizes were given for sports of +various kinds, as will be found described in the graphic dialect poem of +John Stagg, the blind bard.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some for a par o' mittens loup't,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some wrustl'd for a belt;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some play'd at pennice-steans for brass;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And some amaist gat fell't.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hitch-step-an'-loup some tried for spwort,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wi' mony a sair exertion;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others for bits o' 'bacca gurn'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">An' sec like daft devarshon<br /></span> +<span class="i24">Put owre that day.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>If any reader wishes for a full description of the various incidents and +details connected with this old wedding custom, he is recommended to +consult Stagg's poem of <i>The Bridewain</i>, from which the preceding lines are +quoted.</p> + +<p>The people of the district were generally invited to these weddings by +public advertisement, specimens of which still exist in the files of one or +two of the earliest local newspapers. The following is given as a curiosity +in its way from the <i>Cumberland Pacquet</i>.</p> + + +<h3>BIDDEN WEDDINGS.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Suspend for one Day all your cares and your labours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And come to this Wedding, kind friends and good Neighbours.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Notice is hereby given</span>, That the Marriage of Isaac +Pearson with Frances Atkinson, will be solemnized in +due form in the Parish Church of Lamplugh, on Monday +next, the 30th of May, instant—immediately after which +the Bride and Bridegroom, with their attendants, will +proceed to Lonefoot, in the said Parish, where the +Nuptials will be celebrated by a variety of Rural +entertainments.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">Then come one and all,<br /></span> +<span class="i14">At Hymen's soft call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Whitehaven, Workington, Harrington, Dean,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haile, Ponsonby, Blaing, and all places between;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Egremont, Cockermouth, Parton, Saint Bees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dint, Kinneyside, Calder, and parts joining these;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the country at large may flock if they please.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such sports there will be as have seldom been seen—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such Wrestling, and Fencing, and Dancing between;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Races for Prizes, and Frolic and Fun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Horses, by Asses, and Dogs will be run:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you'll all go home happy—as sure as a gun.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a word—such a Wedding can ne'er fail to please,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the Sports of Olympus were trifles to these.<br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Nota Bene</i>—You'll please to observe that the Day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of this grand Bridal Pomp is the thirtieth of May;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When 'tis hop'd that the sun to enliven the sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like the Flambeau of Hymen, will deign to burn bright.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right">Lamplugh, May 20th, 1786.</p></div> + +<p>The next one which we shall quote, contents itself with a plain prose +description of the various attractions.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Richard and Ann Allason present their compliments to +their Friends and the Public in general, and beg leave +to inform them that they intend to have a <span class="smcap">Bridewain</span> at +Southwaite, in the Parish of Brigham, on Thursday, the +25th day of May, instant. There will be the following +Sports—such as Horse Races, Dog Races, Wrestling, +Jumping, and Foot Races, &c., &c., &c., and various +other amusements too tedious to mention, to entertain +them; and they will think themselves happy with their +attendance.</p> + +<p class="right">Southwaite, 1st May, 1809.</p></div> + +<p>The last Bridewain notice we shall give celebrates the marriage of Henry +and Sarah Robinson of High Lorton, near Cockermouth, on June 6th, 1811. +This advertisement flows into sprightly verse as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis Love, immortal Power! gives birth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To healthful Sports and Sprightliest Mirth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Awhile your Drudgery and Pains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forego, ye jocund Nymphs and Swains.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We think it only Right to acquaint ye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That each sort may get Sweethearts plenty!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For those who Pastime love and Fun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We've Horses, Dogs, and Men to Run;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Athletic Sports we'll set before ye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Heats renown'd in Ancient Story;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaping and Wrestling for the Strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enough to please you—<i>Come Along!</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Professor Wilson—himself a proficient in the noble pastime, and whose +great literary attainments assisted materially to elevate <i>Blackwood's +Magazine</i> to the proud eminence it attained in his time,—pays in its pages +the following eloquent tribute to Wrestling, which was, in his younger +days, the principal athletic exercise in the North of England.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is impossible to conceive the intense and passionate +interest taken by the whole northern population in this +most rural and muscular amusement. For weeks before the +great Carlisle annual contest, nothing else is talked +of on road, field, flood, foot or horseback; we fear it +is thought of even in church, which we regret and +condemn; and in every little comfortable public within +a circle of thirty miles diameter, the home-brewed +quivers in the glasses on the oaken tables to knuckles +smiting the boards in corroboration of the claims to +the championship of Grahame, a Cass, a Laughlin, Solid +Yak, a Wilson, or a Weightman. A political friend of +ours—a staunch fellow—in passing through the lakes +last autumn, heard of nothing but the contest for the +county, which he had understood would be between Lord +Lowther (the sitting member) and Mr. Brougham. But to +his sore perplexity, he heard the claims of new +candidates, to him hitherto unknown; and on meeting us +at that best of inns, the White Lion, Bowness, he told +us with a downcast and serious countenance that Lord +Lowther would be ousted, for that the struggle, as far +as he could learn, would ultimately be between Thomas +Ford of Egremont, and William Richardson of Caldbeck, +men of no landed property, and probably Radicals.... It +is, in our opinion, and according to our taste,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> not +easy, to the most poetical and picturesque imagination, +to create for itself a more beautiful sight than the +ring at Carlisle.... Fifteen thousand people, perhaps, +are there, all gazing anxiously on the candidates for +the county. Down goes Cass, Weightman is the standing +member; and the agitation of a thousand passions, a +suppressed shudder and an under-growl, moves the mighty +multitude like an earthquake. No savage anger, no +boiling rage of ruined blacklegs, no leering laughter +of mercenary swells—sights and sounds which we must +confess do sicken the sense at Newmarket and +Moulsey—but the visible and audible movements of calm, +strong, temperate English hearts, free from all fear of +ferocity, and swayed for a few moments of sublime +pathos by the power of nature working in victory or +defeat.</p></div> + +<p>We may be allowed to supplement the foregoing with a remark, that there are +two things which natives of the Lake Country, and the rural parts of +Cumberland and Westmorland, who have migrated southwards, often in their +absence sigh for. The one is "a good stiff clim' amang t' fells;" and the +other, "a snug seat aroond some russlin' ring."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/dec2.jpg" width="450" height="463" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2>MELMERBY ROUNDS.</h2> + + +<p>Melmerby is one of the finest types of a fell-side rural village left in +Cumberland, with its cheerful dwellings scattered here and there—single or +in groups,—its old manor hall and miniature church, and its spacious green +spreading over fully fourteen acres of land. The village nestles close +under Hartside, one of the Crossfell range of mountains, on the direct road +from Penrith to Alston, over which the pack-horse bell continued to tinkle, +clear and loud, to a much more recent period than it did on the great +highways of commerce. This interesting fact has not been overlooked by Miss +Powley, in her <i>Echoes of Old Cumberland</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the staunch pack-horse gang of yore<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Fell's unbroken rigours faced,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With stores for miners 'mid the moor,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Dane's stronghold at ten miles passed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then up the steeps their burden bore,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For trackless, treeless, ten miles more.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">*....*....*....*<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the staunch troop, with travel sore,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Passed up within the Helm-cloud's veil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And 'scaped the blast—yet heard it roar<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Below in many a western dale;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they, to crown the march severe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Defiled through summits bleak and brown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With sudden speed, and louder cheer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Came clattering down to Alston town,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round which the wide fells darkly peer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grasping winter cheats the year.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Melmerby folk to this day are pastoral in occupation, intercourse, and +habits. Their conversation, running for the most part on rural topics, is +plentifully interlarded with such expressions as "Fetchin' t' kye heàm," +"Fodderin' t' sheep," and "Takin' t' nag to t' smiddy." Occasionally, the +blood runs warmer with excitement and curiosity, when a shrill cry like the +following rings through the village streets, "Run wid t' rèapes, lad! A +coo's i' t' mire!"</p> + +<p>At the Gale, within a mile of the village, where the land rests principally +on a limestone bottom, the produce of cream is not of that dubious quality +known to pent-up city dames, but so rich and thick that a spoon will almost +stand upright in it. The cream of this dairy has frequently been tested +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> one of the old copper pennies of George the Third coinage, which +formidable weight it always bore triumphantly on the top.</p> + +<p>For fully a century, and probably a much longer period, Melmerby has been +known as a noted place for upholding the manly back-hold wrestling of the +North. On Old Midsummer Day—that is, on the 5th of July of each year—this +village commenced its annual two-days' sports, which consisted of prizes +for wrestling, leaping, foot-racing, dog-trailing, etc. The wrestling took +place on that part of the green known as the cock-pit, where many a doughty +champion has been sent sprawling at full length on his back. Although the +amount given in prizes was small,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> the entry of names was always large, +from sixty to seventy being the average number; while more than four-score +men have contended at various times. By being held at the season of the +year when the days were longest, and when they wore their sunniest aspect, +Melmerby Rounds were invariably attended by vast concourses of spectators. +The Alstonians used to muster remarkably strong; the miners and others +coming over Hartside in considerable droves from that town, and the +neighbouring villages of Nenthead and Garrigill-gates. So great became the +celebrity of the Melmerby ring, that first-rate wrestlers have frequently +travelled as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> far as thirty and forty miles to throw and be thrown upon its +village green. Buying and selling was a thing unknown. One friend might +give way to another sometimes; but, as a rule, it was purely the honour of +becoming victor, for the time being, that emulated most of the competitors.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "Melmerby Annual Sports will take place on Monday, the 6th day +of July, 1846, when the following Prizes will be given to contend for:—£2 +to Wrestle for; £2 for a Hound Race; and handsome prizes for Running, +Leaping, and other amusements, as usual."—[<i>Advertisement.</i>]</p></div> + +<p>A veritable giant in height and strength, who was in his prime about 1805, +being ambitious to excel as an athlete, attended these sports for several +years, but never succeeded in carrying off a single prize. This was +Teasdale Thompson of High Rotherup, near Alston, whose height exceeded six +feet two inches, and whose weight was in proportion to his height. Among +well-known men who attended these meetings, but failed to achieve success, +may be mentioned Robinson of Renwick, and William Earl of Cumwhitton, the +former of whom figured several times.</p> + +<p>About a quarter of a century ago, the squire of Melmerby Hall interested +himself a good deal in establishing spring and "back-end" fairs in the +village, for the sale of cattle, sheep, &c.; and on this account it was +thought better to abolish the annual Rounds. Accordingly this ancient +gathering came to a sudden and unexpected collapse, about the year 1850, +after having existed in an unbroken link for fully a century.</p> + +<p>The following is as complete a list of the winners of the wrestling at +Melmerby Rounds, as we have been able to collect. The local newspapers +were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> carefully ransacked for intelligence, but being found singularly +barren in this respect, our information had to be gathered in almost every +instance from aged fell-side chroniclers, who had either been frequent or +occasional attenders at these meetings, the principal of whom was Mr. John +Dodd of Broadmeadows, Melmerby.</p> + +<p>About 1788 Adam Dodd of Langwathby Mill, won <i>several</i> years.</p> + +<p> +About 1798, James Fawcett, miner, Nenthead.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1799, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1800, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1801, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1802, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1803, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1804, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1809, Thomas Golightly, miner, Alston.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>This wrestler afterwards removed to the West Cumberland mining district; +and in February, 1819, was killed by the fall of part of a roof in one of +the Whitehaven coal pits.</p> + +<p> +About 1810, Robert Rowantree, shepherd, Kingwater.<br /> +About 1815, Andrew Armstrong, farmer, Sowerby Hall.<br /> +About 1816, Thomas Peat, farmer's son, Blencow.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1817, John Dobson, Cliburn.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1818, John Robley, Scarrowmannock.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1819, " "</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Robley emigrated to America several years after this date.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p> +About 1820, Isaac Maughan, Alston.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1821, " "</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Maughan settled in Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he died during the cholera of +1832.</p> + +<p> +About 1823, J. Spottiswoode, miner, Alston.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1825, John Weightman, husbandman, Hayton.</span><br /> +About 1826, John Weightman, husbandman, Hayton.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Weightman won two years, and received a guinea and the belt each time, +these being the usual awards to the victor at that date.</p> + +<p>1828, Thomas Armstrong, Carlisle; Elliot (perhaps of Cumrew) wrestled +second. Bowman, of the Gale, won the second day's wrestling.</p> + +<p>About 1830, Joseph Graham, Dufton Wood, Appleby.</p> + +<p>About 1833, Jonathan Woodmas, Alston.</p> + +<p>1838, Thomas Morton, farmer, The Gale, 1st; Isaac Farlam, +Bowness-on-Solway, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1839, Thomas Morton, farmer, The Gale.</p> + +<p>On one occasion Morton wrestled through the ring without taking his coat +off.</p> + +<p>About 1841, John Salkeld, land-surveyor, Huddlesceugh.</p> + +<p>1844, <i>First day</i>: Joseph Elliot, Croglin, 1st; Thomas Teasdale, Ousby, +2nd. (Sixty-five names entered, including John Buck, John Milburn, and +Joseph Morton.) <i>Second day</i>: John Nixon, Langwathby, 1st; John Slee, +Blencow, 2nd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>About 1845, Joseph Shepherd, Crewgarth, Melmerby.</p> + +<p>1847, Joseph Morton, farmer, The Gale, 1st; John Milburn, Weardale, 2nd.</p> + +<p>Joseph Morton also won once or twice on the second day. John Milburn +stopped at Melmerby on his way home from the Carlisle meeting, at which +latter place he carried off the head prize the two following years.</p> + +<p>About 1850, Joseph Morton, farmer, The Gale.</p> + +<p>Morton threw Halliwell of Penrith, and, we believe, Anthony Mc.Donald of +Appleby wrestled up with him. This was the last Round held at Melmerby.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> +<h2>LANGWATHBY ROUNDS.</h2> + + +<p>Langwathby, like its twin-sister Melmerby, is strictly a rural village, +made up of snug homesteads, dropped here and there in picturesque +confusion. Crossing the bridge from the Penrith side, and coming in sight +of its modest church and spacious green, the most familiar sounds which +formerly fell upon the ear were the lowing of cattle, the bleating of +sheep, and the barking of dogs. The pastoral stillness which once +prevailed, however, is now abruptly broken by the shrill whistle of the +passing train, the snorting and screeching of engines, and the heavy thuds +which resound from the "shunting" and reloading of railway waggons +immediately above.</p> + +<p>This old-world village, with few chances and changes to record, has found a +native bard to plead feelingly for the obscurity which the dim past has +wrapped around its history.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O! spot of all the land alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unsung, unheard of, and unknown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dim background of life's busy stage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scarce named in local history's page.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Neglected spot! what hast thou done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That, ever since the world begun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy name proscribed hath seemed to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In legend, tale, or minstrelsy?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That e'en no rustic bard hath owned thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thrown a wreath of song around thee?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>However much the paucity of general incidents may be felt in reviewing the +past history of this Cumberland village, it is pleasing to note that +Langwathby and Melmerby vie with each other in antiquity as promoters or +"handers down" of local athletic pastimes.</p> + +<p>The famous Adam Dodd, "the Cock of the North," lived and died at Langwathby +Mill, which place is still—or was recently—inhabited and owned by the +same family. The last Adam Dodd of that ilk, was killed half a century +after the death of the first Adam, on his homeward journey with horse and +cart from Alston, while turning a sharp angle of the road a little above +Melmerby.</p> + +<p>Langwathby Rounds, unlike those at Melmerby, were held annually in the +midst of "winter and cold weather"—that is to say, on New Year's Day and +the day following. Wrestling formed by far the greatest attraction of these +primitive gatherings; the yeomen, farmers, and husbandmen from the +neighbouring hamlets being the principal competitors. The sports took +place, as a general rule, in a field close to the village which belongs to +Mr. John Hodgson; but on some few occasions they were held on the opposite +or western side of the river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Eden. The prizes given were of small value, +but great honour. During the latter part of the last century, a narrow +leathern belt of meagre appearance, or a pair of buckskin breeches, was +almost the only trophy given for wrestling. In the year 1816, when James +Robinson won, a couple of guineas was the full amount offered; and this +sum, we suppose, was never exceeded till many years after the King of +Mardale and the Bishop of Lichfield's brother had carried off the principal +prizes.</p> + +<p>About the year 1820, on New Year's Day, the ground was covered with a +coating of snow three or four inches deep, when a curious scene took place +during the wrestling. It so happened that Isaac Mason of Croglin, was drawn +against Isaac Westmorland of Ousby. Mason—well known for his smuggling +adventures and his numerous eccentricities—entered the ring wearing an old +home-spun overcoat, so thick and patched that it set at nought all +Westmorland's attempts to clasp his arms around it. No persuasion could +induce Mason to try and accommodate matters by stripping. He would not move +a jot; and in the meantime his opponent was becoming quite numb and frigid +with cold. At length Mason showed signs of relenting, and ultimately took +off the obnoxious overcoat. Still Westmorland's arms were found to be too +short, and refused to meet. Continuing therefore to "doff" what was most +cumbersome—off went the coat, then the waistcoat, and finally Mason stood +stripped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> to his "sark" in the snow, with nothing on but his trousers, +where his opponent managed to keep him standing until he, in his turn, was +nearly starved to death!</p> + +<p>Among other minor prizes at Langwathby, a pair of garters was given to the +boy who proved himself to be the fleetest runner. About forty years since +this prize was carried off by a youth of the village, who afterwards became +a successful rower, and, as one of the athletes of Queen's College, Oxford, +won the silver oar twice in succession.</p> + +<p>A dance on the green among the village girls of four or five years old, +formed a pretty rural sight, even when witnessed amid the cheerless snow. +At the conclusion of these jocund rounds, each little maiden was presented +with a bright ribbon—such mementoes being popularly spoken of as +<i>fancies</i>. And while the procession of fiddlers and villagers were +marshalling in order, it was no unusual thing to hear an aged dame calling +from her cottage door: "Noo, honies, run an' git ye're <i>fancies</i>!"</p> + +<p>The boys' race and the leaping usually succeeded the dancing on the green; +and by the time these pastimes were concluded, daylight had either gone or +was fast fading away. Owing to darkness setting in thus early, lanterns +were frequently in great request among the rough-spun frequenters of the +wrestling ring.</p> + +<p>Following close in the rear of the New Year's pastimes, came the ancient +custom of <i>stanging</i> on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the Twelfth Night. A procession of young +fellows—dressed in fantastic garbs as clowns, accompanied by one in +woman's attire, and preceded by a couple of fiddlers—paraded the village +streets. Calling in rotation at the various houses on their way, the +"woman" commenced operations by sweeping up the fireside with a besom, +which she carried for that purpose, and then the leading clown delivered a +ludicrous speech to the inmates of the house. One Brunskill, shoemaker and +rustic humourist, is still remembered as being by far the cleverest clown +who figured at these Stangings. To his credit let it be mentioned that his +mirth was always kept well within the limits of decorum and decency.</p> + +<p>The Langwathby Rounds continued to flourish after the Melmerby ones had +passed away, being kept up for full twenty years longer, and consequently +extended over a still greater period of time. The more intelligent dwellers +at this hamlet give it as their opinion, that so long as the Rounds +continued to be of a secluded character, and were almost entirely taken +part in by the villagers and the rural population, living under the shadow +of Crossfell or Hartside, things generally went well and smoothly; and that +it was reserved for these latter days to open up new roads, offer larger +prizes, and introduce a greater influx of "riff-raff" and unruly characters +from the towns, after which period the annual gatherings became more and +more degraded by tolerating unseemly abuses. About the year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> 1870, having +sunk in social status, these Rounds were finally given up, lest some riot +or other unpleasant circumstance might crop up, as did at Armathwaite, +between the English and Irish navvies, employed in cutting the extension of +the Midland line of railway from Settle to Carlisle.</p> + +<p>The following is as full a list of the winners of the wrestling at the +Langwathby Rounds as we have been able to collect together, from a variety +of out-of-the-way and other sources.</p> + +<p>About 1788, Adam Dodd of Langwathby Mill, won <i>several</i> years.</p> + +<p>About 1809, Paul Gedling, Culgaith, 1st; Isaac Dodd, Langwathby Mill, 2nd.</p> + +<p>Dodd broke a blood vessel in the wrestle up, owing to which both men left +loose; the prize, of course, being awarded to Gedling. Isaac Dodd farmed +Barrock Gill, near Carlisle, for many years after this event.</p> + +<p>1816, James Robinson, gamekeeper, Hackthorpe.</p> + +<p>1817, Thomas Peat, Blencow, 1st; George Robinson, Langwathby, 2nd.</p> + +<p>Robinson of Hackthorpe, and Joe Abbot of Thornthwaite, also wrestled.</p> + +<p>1818, Thomas Richardson, Hesket-New-Market, known as "The Dyer," 1st; John +Dobson, Cliburn, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1820, Isaac Mason, Croglin.</p> + +<p>About 1824, John Holmes, King of Mardale.</p> + +<p>About 1826, John Bowstead, yeoman, Beckbank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bowstead was one of the Bishop of Lichfield's younger brothers.</p> + +<p>1829, Joseph Thompson, Caldbeck, 1st;—Milburn, 2nd.</p> + +<p>Thompson was only an eleven stone man; while Milburn stood six feet two +inches, and weighed nearly sixteen stones. Thompson also distinguished +himself by throwing Ireland and Bird, both good wrestlers.</p> + +<p>About 1830, Matthew Dixon, Penrith.</p> + +<p>About 1831, George Bird, farmer, Langwathby.</p> + +<p>1832, <i>First day</i>: Thomas Dobson, Sleagill. <i>Second day</i>: William Warwick, +Eamont Bridge.</p> + +<p>About 1833, Richard Chapman, Patterdale, 1st; Benson of Hunsanby, 2nd.</p> + +<p> +About 1834, Richard Chapman, Patterdale.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1835, George Bird, farmer, Langwathby.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1836, Robt. Gordon, husbandman, Plumpton.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1837, George Bird, farmer, Langwathby.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1838, " " "</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1839, —— Moore, shoemaker, Melmerby.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1840, Thomas Morton, The Gale, Melmerby.</span><br /> +About 1841, John Spedding, husbandman, Skirwith.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1842, Thomas Morton, The Gale, Melmerby.</span><br /> +About 1843, Anthony Mc.Donald, Appleby.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1844, " " "</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>1845, <i>First day</i>: J. Shadwick, Lazonby, 1st; John Robinson, Langwathby, +2nd. <i>Second day</i>: William Buck, Temple Sowerby, 1st; John Buck Temple +Sowerby, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1846, Anthony Mc.Donald, Appleby.</p> + +<p>1847, <i>First day</i>: Anthony Mc.Donald, Appleby, 1st; John Shadwick, 2nd. +<i>Second day</i>: Joseph Halliwell, Penrith, 1st; John Shadwick, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1848, Joseph Halliwell, Penrith.</p> + +<p>1849, William Buck, Temple Sowerby, 1st; John Shadwick, 2nd.</p> + +<p> +About 1850, Anthony Mc.Donald, Appleby.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1851, " " "</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" 1852, " " "</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Anthony Mc.Donald won seven times in all, some of which were second day's +prizes.</p> + +<p>About 1861, <i>First day</i>: John Wilkinson, Little Strickland, 1st; John +Salkeld, Melmerby, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: Thomas Threlkeld, Langwathby, 1st; +Isaac Dodd, Langwathby Mill, 2nd.</p> + +<p>1862, <i>First day</i>: William Jameson, Penrith, 1st; T. Salkeld, Great +Salkeld, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: J. Brunskill, Penrith, 1st; W. Watson, +Winskill, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1863, William Jameson, Penrith.</p> + +<p>" 1864, <i>First day</i>: John Wilkinson, Little Strickland, 1st; John Atkinson, +Little Salkeld, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: Isaac Lowthian, Plumpton, 1st; Philip +Lowthian, Plumpton, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1865, <i>First day</i>: Isaac Lowthian, Plumpton, 1st; Thomas Sisson, +Temple Sowerby, 2nd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> <i>Second day</i>: John Howe, Ousby, 1st; William +Cheesebrough, Langwathby Hall, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1866, <i>First day</i>: Andrew Armstrong, Plumpton, 1st; Isaac Lowthian, +Plumpton, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: Adam Slack, Skirwith Hall, 1st; James +Errington, Aiketgate, 2nd.</p> + +<p>1867, <i>First day</i>: Adam Slack, Skirwith Hall, 1st; John Cheesebrough, +Langwathby Hall, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: George Steadman, Drybeck, 1st; Ralph +Pooley, Longlands, 2nd.</p> + +<p>About 1868, <i>First day</i>: Ralph Pooley, Longlands, 1st; William +Cheesebrough, Langwathby, 2nd. <i>Second day</i>: Ralph Pooley, 1st; John +Cheesebrough, Langwathby, 2nd.</p> + +<p><i>Nine-and-a-half stone prize</i>: Joseph Hodgson, Langwathby, 1st; John +Errington, Aiketgate, 2nd.</p> + +<p>1869, <i>First day</i>: Joseph Hodgson, 1st; William Cheesebrough, 2nd. <i>Second +day</i>: Saunders Gedling, 1st; William Cheesebrough, 2nd.</p> + +<p><i>Ten stone prize</i>: Robert Mc.Crone, 1st; Thomas Holmes, 2nd.</p> + +<p>1870, George Steadman, Drybeck, 1st; William Pigg, Sceugh Dyke, 2nd.</p> + +<p><i>Ten stone prize:</i> Samuel Brownrigg, Clifton, 1st; Robert Gordon, Plumpton, +2nd.</p> + +<p>This was the last Round held at Langwathby. There was only one day's +sports.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/dec3.jpg" width="550" height="316" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2>JAMES FAWCETT</h2> + +<h3>OF NENTHEAD.</h3> + + +<p>The following brief memoir of <span class="smcap">James Fawcett</span> of Nenthead—one of the most +accomplished wrestlers on record—will carry the reader back to a byegone +period, when wrestling and various other amusements, which filled up the +day's programme, were far more a <i>rural</i> following than at present; when +"Rounds" like Melmerby and Langwathby, when West Cumberland "Bridewains," +when country meetings like Stone Carr, near Greystoke, produced at stated +periods an exciting animation in almost all northern villages, and afforded +a brief holiday to a numerous body of small "statesmen" and farmers, their +sons, and servants. Such gatherings are now, however, nearly all given +up—are only "lang syne" remembrances, and wrestling meetings are held +mostly in the large towns, and considerable sums offered to contend for. In +many cases they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> are got up by innkeepers, who depend on "gate money" to +recoup the outlay. Whether this change conduces to fair, manly, unbought +wrestling, is a matter of grave doubt. Wrestlings, we are afraid, will +never again be contests, like those of ancient Greece and Rome—<i>for honour +and fame</i>. We cannot look on this change otherwise than as unfortunate for +the rural population of the northern counties, who may justly asseverate—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There never was a game like the old English game,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That's played 'twixt the knee and the tee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You may roam the world o'er, but the game at your door<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is the very best game you will see.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We regret being unable to furnish anything like a detailed account of Jemmy +Fawcett's feats in the ring, or more than a meagre outline of the general +particulars of his life. But what we do know of his career is so important +in wrestling annals, that we are inclined to believe it would be considered +injudicious to omit all notice of such a high class athlete. Most of his +achievements have become well nigh traditionary, and yet, in many respects, +his memory is as green as ever it was in the northern counties, and +particularly so in a wide circuit round Alston Moor.</p> + +<p>Fawcett lived at Greengill, Nenthead, a mining village in East Cumberland, +four or five miles from Alston town, where he worked at his daily +occupation, in what is called a "hush," connected with the mines. His +height was five feet seven inches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> and his general wrestling weight from +ten to ten and a half stone. His modes of attack and defence, and manner of +disposing of his opponents, seem to have been innumerable; in fact, he +appears to have been an adept in turning the most unlikely emergencies to +account. He was as active as an eel, could twist and wriggle like one, and +was nearly as difficult to hold. When an opening presented itself, he was +partial to getting his left side into play, and then immediately ensued a +decisive onslaught. Robert Rowantree, a big six foot, fifteen-stone man, +who practised a slaughtering cross-buttock, used to say that no man could +so effectually stop it as Jemmy Fawcett. Litt designates him, as "the very +best wrestler of his weight Cumberland, or indeed the United Kingdom, ever +produced." And again, "Jemmy must have been the most wonderful wrestler of +his own or any other time."</p> + +<p>It was about the beginning of the present century that Fawcett attained his +prime. His wonderful success in carrying off the head prize at the Melmerby +"Rounds" for seven consecutive years, added considerable celebrity to his +other achievements. On one of these occasions, he went to Melmerby in +company with his friend, John Woodmas of Alston, with a full determination +of winning. A great stumbling block in the way to victory, presented itself +in the person of one "Pakin" Whitfield, who weighed from sixteen to +seventeen stones, and who had the reputation of being, at that time, the +strongest man in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> Cumberland. All went well and smoothly through several +rounds, until Fawcett and Woodmas were drawn together. What was to be done? +Woodmas, who weighed at least three stone heavier, argued thus: "Noo, +Jemmy, my man, what! thoo can deā nowte wid greit Pakin. Thoo's niver +fit to mannish him. Thoo'll just hev to lig doon to me!" "Nay, nay," was +the determined reply, "I'll lig nin doon to thee, ner neàbody else. I can +throw him weel eneùf, I know I can." When "Pakin" and Fawcett came together +in the next round, Woodmas used to say afterwards: "Sist'e! I fair trimmelt +ageàn for t' lile fellow. I thowt nowt but t' varra life wad be crush't oot +on him!" Standing side by side in the ring, the contrast appeared so great, +that it looked as if the struggle was to take place between a giant and a +pigmy. When the little man tried to span the back of the big man, and +failed to do so, derisive peals of laughter broke out in various parts of +the ring; and when the novel spectacle was presented of the little one +lengthening his reach by the aid of a pocket handkerchief, the risible +propensities of the spectators were tickled to a still greater extent. +Getting fairly into holds, the tussle, however, was not one of long +duration. "Pakin" commenced operations by making two or three futile +attempts to draw Fawcett up, so that he could hold him more firmly; but the +latter being fully prepared for any emergency, skipped about nimbly, and +evaded all the attempts made to grip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> him; then he suddenly slipped under +the big-one's chest with his left side, "gat in amang his legs, an' browte +him neck ower heels." No sooner was the immense mass of humanity rolled out +on the green sward, than the crowd went wild with excitement, and "varra +nar split Crossfell wid shootin' an' hurrain'!"</p> + +<p>The annual Easter sports, held at Lowbyre, Alston, continued for many years +to be a centre for wrestlers to congregate, from the districts round +Weardale, Harewood, Knarsdale, Nenthead, and Garrigill. To one of these +meetings, came Cuthbert Peart from Weardale, a powerful well built man, +weighing sixteen stones nine pounds. Being drawn against Fawcett in one of +the rounds, Peart lifted him like a child, and while holding him dangling +in the air, asked, in a swaggering manner, where he would like to be laid. +Jemmy, however, "mannish't to bit on his feet, like a cat;" and then, quick +as lightning, down went the Weardale man, like a shot, from the effects of +one of Jemmy's deadliest chips. "Noo," said Fawcett, with mock gravity, +while stooping over the prostrate figure of Peart, "thoo can lig me +whoariver thoo likes!"</p> + +<p>The brilliant manner displayed in carrying off Peart, filled the fallen man +with so much wonder and amazement, that he declared Fawcett to be the +cleverest wrestler in Britain, and forthwith took him over to Blanchland, +on the borders of Northumberland and Durham. At that place he wrestled a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +match, with a sixteen-and-a-half-stone man, for a pair of leather breeches, +and won easily. On this occasion he had again to resort to the use of a +handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Another fall, similar in some respects to the one with Peart, occurred at +Nentberry sports, about three miles from Alston, with one Thomas +Stephenson, a man of considerable stature and bulk, who was accounted a +good wrestler in his day and generation. On going into the ring for the +final fall, Stephenson repeated again and again, with much confidence: "The +little man <i>must</i> go down—the little man <i>must</i> go down, this time!" When +hold had been obtained, the big one led off very briskly with the swing, +but failing signally, Fawcett at once introduced the buttock, and brought +him over so quickly and effectually, that as soon as Stephenson had +recovered from his surprise, he burst out into passionate language, +exclaiming: "Jemmy Fawcett's nūt a man, at aw! He's a <i>divel</i>—a fair +<span class="smcap">divel</span>! an' neàbody 'ill convince me to th' contrary!"</p> + +<p>Jemmy continued to wrestle occasionally till he was nearly fifty years old. +Litt speaks of him figuring at Smaledale in Yorkshire, where he resided +about 1823.</p> + +<p>During a lengthened career, Fawcett continued a great enthusiast in +wrestling matters. When lying on his death bed, while wrestling with a foe +sure to triumph in the end, the "ruling passion" exercised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> a strange +influence over him. He actually induced his son and daughter to take hold +in the room, for a tussle, in order that the son might be benefitted by his +instructions, relative to certain favourite chips. This anecdote is well +authenticated.</p> + +<p>Fawcett died at Nenthall, near Alston, aged fifty-five or fifty-six years, +about 1830.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> +<h2>WILLIAM RICHARDSON</h2> + +<h3>OF CALDBECK.</h3> + +<h3>"<i>BELTED WILL.</i>"</h3> + + +<p>When Professor Wilson wrote a review of William Litt's popular +"Wrestliana," for <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>, he stated that <span class="smcap">William Richardson</span> +of Caldbeck, the winner of two hundred and forty wrestling trophies or +"belts," was "better entitled than old Howard of Castle Dacre himself to +the cognomen of 'Belted Will.'" From this sweeping dictum of the presiding +spirit of old Maga, we are inclined to dissent. William Richardson +doubtless gained his formidable list of prize "belts" mostly in well +contested but harmless fields of strife, and is fully entitled to the proud +distinction of having his familiar Caldbeck patronymic, "Will Ritson," +elevated into "Belted Will." How, however, he is "better entitled" than the +grand border chieftain of the Howards—one of the most celebrated heroes +that shone in the long and deadly feuds which prevailed for generations +between the rival border houses of Scotland and England—we are at a loss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +to conceive. Besides, they earned a similar designation in such different +fields. One is rendered for ever famous as one of the most renowned actors +in the fierce border raids that were wont to arise between England and +Scotland—a historic celebrity handed down to all time; and whose sword and +belt—still preserved amongst the Howard relics—astonish everyone +attempting to handle them. It is inconceivable that any one ever existed +with sufficient strength to wield such formidable weapons, without we fall +back to that giant of a "long time ago," yclept Samson, or to the other +strong man of heathen mythology, Hercules. Richardson, holding a high place +in the wrestling arenas of the north, and formidable from his overpowering +strength, contended only in fields where, it is true, there was keen +determined rivalry, but of an entirely harmless description to life or +limb—plenty brought to grass in a rough, tumble-down, unwelcome manner, +but not ending with the death-struggles of infuriate moss-troopers, hating +each other with a savage bitterness almost inconceivable at the present +day.</p> + +<p>William Richardson was born at Haltcliff, in Caldbeck parish, in March, +1780. In the rural districts of Cumberland, families were frequently +numerous. The Richardsons were of this description—the subject of our +present memoir being the eldest but one of thirteen children. In his own +neighbourhood, indeed almost throughout Cumberland, he became familiarly +known as "Ritson," or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> "Rutson." In order to make his way in the world, he +was brought up to the occupation of a joiner, and continued to follow the +business for some years; but having a strong inclination for farming, and +breeding Herdwick sheep, he gave it up, and settled on an estate called +Netherrow, near Caldbeck. This farm was in the occupation of his father and +himself for eighty years.</p> + +<p>Richardson measured in height, five feet nine-and-a-half inches, and +weighed fully fourteen stones. He was a man well and strongly built from +"top to toe;" slightly round shouldered and round backed; with a fine, +broad, expansive chest; possessing tremendous strength of arm; and had a +"neck like a bull." He lived till February, 1860, having attained his +eightieth year; and it became a common remark that up to nearly the final +shuffling off this mortal coil, he had the lightest foot, and was the +"lishest" walker of any old man in the neighbourhood of Caldbeck. At Faulds +Brow sports, when a hale hearty stager of more than three-score-and-ten +years, he challenged to wrestle any man in England of his own age. We once +witnessed, too, at Newcastle, in 1861, another septuagenarian, named Thomas +Fawcett, from the neighbourhood of Kendal, challenge any man in England or +Scotland of a like age. He stood six feet one inch, appeared uncommonly +active, and straight as a maypole. Real "grit" these, our transatlantic +cousins would say. Yes, it is such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> men that make Cumberland and +Westmorland athletes superior to all the world.</p> + +<p>The hype became Richardson's main chip; and a favourite method of stopping +an opponent—at which he was allowed to be a great adept—was to give him a +sudden click—"kind o' bear him off his feet"—and then lift and hype. If +an opponent should attempt buttocking, his unrivalled strength of arm +enabled him to gather his adversary up with a vice-like grip, anything but +pleasant. Indeed, he never was buttocked but once, in the whole of a long +career, and that once by John Nicholson of Threlkeld, in private practice +one summer night in the neighbourhood of Ouse-bridge.</p> + +<p>"Will" scored his first prize when only eighteen years old, at Soukerry, in +his native parish. The sports held there annually ranked amongst the oldest +and best local gatherings in Cumberland, and being in the midst of a good +wrestling country, several noted men attended yearly. From the manner in +which the youngster disposed of all comers, he was pronounced to be a +promising "colt" for future work. After gaining this, his first victorious +effort, in a strong entry, Richardson wrestled with marked success through +many rings—of course, like others, getting a "topple over" now and then. +When about twenty-one years old, he entered into the spirit of the sport +with wonderful enthusiasm, and determination not to be beaten. Two +remarkable circumstances, in a prolonged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> career, are worth relating. He +was never "felled" a single fall, by any mortal man, between the age of +twenty-one and twenty-eight; that is to say, from 1801 to 1808 or 1809, +during which period he attended almost all the sports held between +Calderbridge on the south-west, Pooley-bridge on the east, and all through +the north to the Scottish borders. And he was never "felled" two falls +together but once in his life, when a mere stripling, at Harrop sports, +between Embleton and Lorton. Job Tinnian of Holme Cultram (one of a +distinguished wrestling and fighting family, a good striker, and proficient +with the buttock), and Richardson, were matched for a guinea, the best of +three falls. Job got the two last, and his opponent the first. Tinnian—who +measured six feet six inches in height—doffed his shirt, and had his back +so thoroughly soaped, there was no holding him. Previous to the match, +Richardson had thrown him for the head prize at the sports, and then again +next day at a "Bridewain" at Southwaite, about two miles from Cockermouth, +on the Lorton road. Job Tinnian had a daughter, who, we believe, grew to be +such a giantess, that she was taken about as a show, and exhibited in the +Blue Bell at Carlisle, and various other places.</p> + +<p>During the latter part of the last century, and in the early part of the +present one, the head prizes at the various wrestling meetings were of a +most primitive description, consisting either of a homely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> leather +"belt"—with an inscription, giving name of place, date, and name of +winner—or a "brutches piece," a suitable length of buckskin or broadcloth, +for making a pair of breeches; and occasionally, but very rarely, a silver +cup. Unlike the present day, liberal money prizes did not tempt competitors +on the village greens.</p> + +<p>While the century was still young, some enterprising individual announced +that a "golden guinea"—the first ever given in Cumberland for a like +purpose—would be presented to the winner of the head prize at Highmoor +sports, near Wigton. The offering of such a gilded bait—quite a +novelty—naturally drew together a strong field of active young athletes. +William Richardson of Caldbeck, among the rest, put in an appearance. Much +resolute wrestling occurred, as round after round passed over. When the +ranks became thinner and thinner, the two last standers proved to be one +Todd, a spirit merchant from Wigton, and Richardson. The former was +familiarly spoken of in the neighbourhood as "Brandy Todd." He was a +powerful built man, nearly six feet high, and a great enthusiast in +wrestling, pedestrianism, and dog-trailing. The two men should have been +matched on several previous occasions, and this being the first, indeed, +the only time they ever met in any ring, the excitement became intense. The +Wigtonians being in great numbers, "crowed very crouse." Some of the more +boisterous ones tried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> to banter and upset the self-possession of +Richardson, by shouting in derision—"Browte up wid poddish an' kurn milk! +what can <i>thoo</i> deu, I wad like to know? Go bon! Brandy 'ill fling thee oot +o' t' ring, like a bag o' caff!" The men stood up ready for action. Holds +were obtained, after some delay in fencing; a brief struggle ensued, and +the huge spirit-merchant measured his full length on the green-sward. His +friends were dumb-foundered at the sudden fall of their hero. The opposite +party, highly elated, cried out, much to the discomfiture of poor +Todd—"Ha! ha! Codbeck kurn't milk's strănger ner Wigton brandy—efter +aw t' rattle!"</p> + +<p>When Richardson was in his prime, sports or races were held at the Beehive +Inn, Deanscale, near Lamplugh. One Shepherd Pearson, from about Wythop, +made a curious and, to look at the terms, foolish wager. He bet a ten pound +note that he would find a man to win the wrestling; another to win the +foot-race; and a hound to win the dog-trail, at the Beehive sports. Now, it +is well known how very much odds increase on a double event, but here are +evens to win <i>three</i> events. Exceedingly foolish! but nevertheless the bet +was won. The chosen champion proved to be Richardson for the wrestling; +John Todhunter of Mungrisdale, near Threlkeld, for the foot race; and +"Towler," belonging to John Harrison of Caldbeck, for the dog-trail. +Curiously enough, all three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> nominations succeeded in winning the head +prize in their respective entries; and Pearson carried off his risky wager +with a triumphant flourish.</p> + +<p>A feud of long standing, it appears, had existed between William Litt and +Richardson. This feud no doubt gave a colour to various statements, and +places us on rather delicate ground in endeavouring to do justice to both +parties. Our object, however, is to speak of each man truthfully and +impartially—to let neither colour "the even tenor of our way." The couple +had met at several sports in West Cumberland; and on one occasion, when +drawn together, Richardson had succeeded in disposing of Litt. The latter, +however, was, as he termed it, in his "novitiate." No doubt the fall was +highly unpalatable to the loser, and at length resulted in a challenge +being given and accepted. The meeting ended unsatisfactorily. Both men drew +up to their posts at the appointed time, Litt shewing unmistakeable signs +of being "fresh i' drink." When requested to make ready for the contest, he +gave a point blank refusal, saying he "wad nowder strip nor russell!" Here +was an awkward fix! What was to be done? After a considerable amount of +"higgling" had been gone through, another match was made, for ten pounds a +side, to come off at the Green Dragon, Workington—Litt being backed by his +brother, a medical man of good standing. On the appointed day, Richardson +and his friends were on the ground to the minute. For some reason or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +other, Litt did not put in an appearance. His brother—the doctor—went +into the ring, and held his watch till the full time specified in the +agreement had expired, and then very honourably handed the money over to +Richardson, saying: "I can give no reason why my brother has not fulfilled +the conditions of his engagement." In after years, when the bitterness of +old feuds was nearly, if not altogether worn out, Litt expressed regret +that he had treated Richardson's merits as a wrestler somewhat scurvily in +<i>Wrestliana</i>.</p> + +<p>Rowland Long of Ambleside, an immense big, burly man, the winner, it was +asserted, of nearly one hundred belts, issued a challenge, that he was open +to wrestle any man in England. An enthusiastic Cumbrian, named Thomas Bell, +residing at Goose Well, near Threlkeld, took up the challenge, not for +himself, but with the understanding that he should produce a man at the +appointed time and place. He first tried his neighbour, Tom Nicholson, but +Tom "thowt hissel rayder ower slender" to engage such a giant as Rowland, +and recommended William Richardson of Caldbeck. Bell set off, and after +some trouble and delay, fell in with Richardson at Rosley Hill fair, on +Whit-Monday. Without much ado the two agreed; got a conveyance, and drove +off for Ambleside without further preparation: a long course of training +never being thought of in those good old days. After reaching Ambleside, +they took a boat, and rowed down to Bowness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> where sports were held on the +Tuesday. Richardson's name was entered for the wrestling, but being stiff +and tired with the long ride from Rosley, he didn't, according to his own +version of the affair, "git weel away wid his men." He succeeded, however, +in working upwards till the final fall, and then encountered John Long, a +brother of Rowland's. The two had a hard struggle for the prize, but in the +end the Caldbeck hero proved victorious. Whether John Long considered the +fall doubtful or unsatisfactory, cannot now be ascertained; but he said, +tauntingly, to Richardson, after the tussle was over, "If thoo can du nowte +neā better ner that, my man, thoo'll hev d—d lile chance wi' oor +Roan, I can tell thee!"</p> + +<p>On Wednesday—the day following—the match with Rowland was appointed to +come off on the bowling green of the Salutation Hotel, Ambleside, for, we +believe, ten guineas a side, the best of three falls. Richardson, looking +from a window of the hotel, got a first sight of his huge opponent, coming +up the street. After an attentive survey, and noticing the awkward, heavy +sort of rolling walk that Long had, a smile stole over the features of the +Caldbeck man, who thought then he could win easily; setting it down in his +own mind, that one so slow and ungainly would not be quick enough in his +movements in the wrestling ring. This mental calculation proved correct; +the two first falls settling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the match, and enabling the winner to walk +away with the amount contended for.</p> + +<p>The two Cumbrians left Ambleside on Thursday, and drove back to Threlkeld. +Wrestling and other sports were being held there the same day. The victor +in the match of the previous day was greeted with hearty cheers, by a crowd +collected on the village green. A score or more of clamorous voices were +raised in pressing entreaties that he would enter his name for the +wrestling. Tired with the three previous days' exertions, "an' nūt +feelin' hofe reet, wi' gittin' sups o' drink of aw maks," he didn't want to +take any part in the proceedings. He was, however, very reluctantly +persuaded to enter the ring, but "niver stripp'd nor doff'd a thing off." +Notwithstanding these drawbacks, he again proved victorious, throwing in +the course of the day, both Tom Nicholson and his brother John. On +Friday—the following day—he won at Soukerry, in Caldbeck parish; and on +Saturday gained the head prize at Hutton Roof, near Penrith; thus finishing +a heavy week's work, by winning at four different places, and gaining an +important match besides.</p> + +<p>On Ascension Day, at Kingmoor Races, Carlisle, in 1809, the subscription +belt was won by William Richardson of Caldbeck; and the Mayor's belt by +Joseph Stalker of Welton. At the first annual meeting on the Swifts, +Carlisle, where there was a purse of five guineas to contend for, +Richardson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> was thrown, in the third round, by John Harrison of New Church, +who wrestled second to Tom Nicholson. In the same year, at Penrith, in +October, the three favourites were Tom Nicholson, William Richardson, and +Harrison of New Church. All three champions went down; Richardson, after +throwing John Oliphant, James Lancaster, and Joseph Brownrigg, was thrown +in the fourth round by John Nicholson of Threlkeld.</p> + +<p>At Carlisle in 1810—Tom Nicholson's second year of winning—Richardson got +capsized by a person of no note whatever; but succeeded in winning the +second day's prize, Joseph Slack of Blencow being second. At Carlisle, in +1812, the head prize was won by James Scott, Oarnlee, Canonbie, throwing in +the final fall William Richardson. On the following day, the loser in the +wrestle up proved victorious, throwing finally John Forster of Walton Rigg; +William Mackereth of Cockermouth being third. The winner received four +guineas, and the second two guineas. At Penrith, in October of the same +year, ten guineas—a large sum to wrestle for in those days—was given to +contend for, where Richardson was thrown by John Parker of Sparkgate, the +winner.</p> + +<p>At Carlisle, in 1813, for the chief prize, the Caldbeck favourite threw +William Waters, John Cowen, Walter Phillips, and Samuel Jameson of Penrith; +and was thrown in the final fall by Robert Rowantree of Bewcastle, after +one of the severest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> struggles on record. Richardson's own account of the +fall was this: after having lifted Rowantree to hype him, his foot slipped, +owing to the wetness of the day, and consequent slipperiness of the ground; +losing his balance, he fell clean backwards, thus throwing away the fall. +He had met Rowantree on two or three previous occasions, and always threw +him. At Keswick, in 1820, the Caldbeck champion was thrown by William +Wilson of Ambleside, said by a high authority to be the best man +Westmorland ever produced.</p> + +<p>On the revival of the Carlisle wrestling in 1821, after three years' +cessation, Richardson, then forty-one years old, drove to the meeting in a +conveyance with Tom "Dyer" and others. On leaving home he had no thoughts +whatever of wrestling—"ower oald"—and withstood all the persuasions of +his friends, till reaching Durdar village, where he consented once more to +try. He wore at the time, a pair of old-fashioned knee-breeches, which held +him too tight to wrestle in, and had therefore to borrow an easier pair +before entering the ring. The gathering was an immense one. The numbers +assembled on the Swifts were estimated at twenty thousand. A long array of +highly respectable ladies, including the Countess of Lonsdale, were +interested spectators. Sixty-four men entered, and nearly all were +calculated to weigh fourteen stones or upwards. In the morning, when the +Caldbeck party were at Durdar, Tom "Dyer"—one of the very best hypers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> of +his time, indeed, a first-class man altogether—was very full of winning. +The first man called into the ring, and the first that went down, proved to +be Tom, being thrown by one John Hetherington.</p> + +<p>It is very probable there never met on the Swifts as good a field of +wrestlers. Richardson acknowledged afterwards that he stood most in awe of +Joseph Robley of Scarrowmannick, from the exceeding clever manner in which +he swung his opponents. Robley, by the way, has been credited with being +the first introducer of the <i>swinging hype</i>. They met in the third round, +and the Caldbeck veteran succeeded in disposing of the one he looked upon +as his greatest bugbear. The third round also proved fatal to several other +good wrestlers—Jonathan Watson, James Graham, and Joseph Abbot going down. +Weightman—then twenty-two years old, all bone and muscle, standing six +feet three inches high, and weighing fifteen-and-a-half stones—fell in the +fourth round. Glendinning, (a rough tearing hand, from the neighbourhood of +Penrith, compared to whom a bull in a china shop was as nothing,) fell in +the fifth round; leaving Ford of Ravenglass—victor over Weightman at +Egremont, weighing over fifteen stones, and measuring six feet two +inches—for the final fall with Richardson. The latter succeeded in +throwing the young, formidable West Cumbrian, and carried off the head +prize amid much shouting and cheering.</p> + +<p>Richardson won the chief prize at Faulds Brow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> near Caldbeck—where +annually some of the best wrestling in Cumberland could be witnessed—for +<i>nineteen</i> years in succession, a continued series of successes unequalled +in wrestling annals. Flushed with victory crowning victory, he went with +the full determination of carrying off the prize for the twentieth time, if +possible, but the spell was broken: fate had ordained otherwise. A +raw-boned rustic, unknown to fame, named Young, (afterwards a publican at +Dalston,) sealed his fate. The stewards were inclined to bring the fall in +a "snap," but the vanquished man very honourably declared himself to be +fairly thrown. Nevertheless, he was so chagrined at the untoward event, so +grievously disappointed at not having achieved this highly prized +distinction, that it was asserted he fairly cried for vexation over it.</p> + +<p>The wrestling at Faulds Brow always—very injudiciously, we think—took +place late in the evening. On the occasion of "Belted Will's" final +discomfiture, it was not concluded till two or three o'clock, in the cold +grey atmosphere of a July morning, many rounds being finished up by the aid +of lighted candles.</p> + +<p>The following reply to a novel wrestling challenge, which appeared in the +columns of a Whitehaven newspaper, explains itself without note or comment. +It is dated October 16th, 1843, and, we believe, it proved to be the end of +the matter:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—A paragraph lately appeared in the <i>Whitehaven +Herald</i>, stating that Charles Lowdon, of wrestling +notoriety, who resides near Keswick, and is sixty years +of age, would wrestle a match with any individual of +the same age. The veteran William Richardson of +Caldbeck, aged sixty-two years, will be happy to accept +the challenge, and wrestle Mr. Lowdon, the best of five +falls, for £5 or £10 a side. The friends of W. R. will +be happy to meet the friends of his rival, at the house +of Joseph Ray, of the Royal Oak inn, Cockermouth, on or +before the 30th instant, to make the match, and to +settle the other preliminaries usual on such +occasions.—I am, Sir, yours, &c.—J. M.</p></div> + +<p>During the last forty years of Richardson's life, he became noted as a good +farmer on the Netherrow estate; and was remarkably successful in the +breeding and rearing of Herdwick sheep, a class of animals peculiarly +adapted to the mountainous districts of Cumberland and Westmorland, which +are likewise held in high repute for the excellence of their mutton. He +obtained many local prizes for different classes of fell sheep; and +attended the tup fair at Keswick regularly; but though enthusiastic about +his Herdwicks, his conversation, it is said, had at all times a tendency to +"bristle o'er" with feats in the wrestling ring. A tale is told of him +which illustrates this tendency. Arriving at Keswick, according to annual +custom, to exhibit and sell tups, he happened to meet an old crony whom he +had not seen for years. The two sat down, "cheek by jowl," and soon became +absorbed in an animated conversation, in which "nowte but russlers an' +russlin' was h'ard, amang aw t' chang;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> an' t' tips was niver yance thowt +on, till t' fair was varra nar ower, an' theer was hardly sec a thing as a +buyer to be fund."</p> + +<p>Richardson could be either a good friend or a good hater, as circumstances +might call forth. One illustration of his kindly feeling and warmth of +heart towards a struggling neighbour, may be mentioned. An industrious man, +named Jeffreys—a blacksmith at the Caldbeck lead-mines—either occupied a +field of lea grass, or had cut a few carts of peats, high up the fell-side. +During a dreary wet season, when everything was spoiling, Richardson +volunteered the use of a horse and cart to assist in clearing the field on +the first fine day. From some unforeseen cause the horse took fright, +galloped down the mountain brow, and either broke its leg by falling, or +else was unfortunately killed. The accident placed the poor blacksmith in +an awkward position, especially as the horse was a valuable one, estimated +at that time to be worth thirty or forty guineas. He offered, however, to +pay what money he had, and clear off the rest by instalments. "Nay, nay," +said Richardson, "it was as pure an accident as iver yan h'ard tell on, an' +med ha' happen't to anybody. I'll tak nowte frae thee—nūt a fardin'!"</p> + +<p>A fell-side rhymer, named Richard Nicholson, of Caldbeck, has done his best +to embalm Richardson's memory in verse, something after the following +fashion:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When youth bloom't on him, few were as grand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His fame was spread through aw the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wid active russlin' an' strang reet hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At Faulds Brow reaces, 'twas his profession<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To run when young withoot intermission,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And prizes nineteen he won in succession!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The shipperds aroond med weel dred his name;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Herdwick tips oft the prize he'd claim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till far an' wide was spread his fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i26">As ye may read:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But noo i' the dust lies his noble frame:<br /></span> +<span class="i26">Will Ritson's deid!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> +<h2>WILLIAM LITT</h2> + +<h3>OF BOWTHORN.</h3> + + +<p>The name prefixed to our present biographical notice, is that of a +gentleman who, by his writings and conduct in the ring, has conferred +greater lustre on, and added greater distinction to the "back-hold" +wrestling of Cumberland and Westmorland, than any other individual. His +historical account of ancient and modern wrestling—Litt's +<i>Wrestliana</i>—was considered, in 1823, when <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i> was at +the summit of its fame, worthy of a highly eulogistic notice from the pen +of Christopher North. Litt's wrestling notices and anecdotes have reference +to the existence of the noble pastime, and a record of its most famed +heroes and their contests, from 1770, and for the fifty years following.</p> + +<p>Before this period, the names and places of abode; the various and +noteworthy achievements; the distinctive excellencies of celebrated +wrestlers; and the places where their triumphant contests occurred, were +little known beyond their immediate locality; and the meagre information to +be gathered—not invariably to be relied on—had been handed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> down, and +circulated mostly as village gossip, or been derived from the tales of some +one whose knowledge rested on hearsay, and not from actual observation. +This arose in a great measure in consequence of the slight intercourse that +existed, eighty or a hundred years ago, between places only fifty or sixty +miles apart. At present—thanks to William Litt's research and literary +labours—all the great contests from 1780 to 1822, are familiar to us, and +can be resorted to, for furnishing those who take a delight in the manly +pastime of our forefathers, with a perfectly reliable description of its +heroes, and their several peculiar excellencies.</p> + +<p>The individual actors, too, in those great contests, have become familiar +to all who take an interest in the northern wrestling ring. We are +introduced, not alone to the name and doings of Tom Nicholson, and a host +of remarkable wrestlers, his contemporaries, and the surprising manner in +which they could, with consummate dexterity, grass an opponent; but we have +graphic descriptions of many who, at an earlier period, became entitled to +the distinction of champions, in many a hard contested ring—in rings where +pecuniary prizes were rarely given, and if given at all, trifling in +amount. The great incentives to successful competition were honour and +fame, typified by a gilded leather belt, of no greater intrinsic value than +the laurel crown of the ancient Greeks. Sometimes—on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> very particular and +rare occasions—there was offered for the final victor a silver cup.</p> + +<p>From Litt's description, we are familiar with the best and most renowned +men, whose stars were in the ascendant, from 1780 to 1820. From Adam Dodd, +"the cock of the north," a prime favourite, possessing all the requisites +that go to the formation of a first class wrestler; from the Rev. Abraham +Brown, a clergyman at Egremont, and previously a Bampton scholar, to Tom +Nicholson of Threlkeld, another prime favourite, whose scientific wrestling +acquirements, and wonderful success in the ring, were patent to Litt from +frequent observation. The above Abraham Brown—better known in his day and +neighbourhood as "Parson Brown"—is the self-same individual that a well +known "Professor of Moral Philosophy" designated, "the most celebrated +wrestler that the north, perhaps, ever produced." This gentlemen had no +objection to show his friends, or even a stranger, how easy it was for a +parson to upset a layman. The professor cannot find the least fault for +thus indulging in a friendly fall, and stigmatizes his detractors for so +doing, as "prim mouthed Puritans," who may "purfle up their potato traps," +and hold their tongues till the arms of the athlete are encased in lawn +sleeves, and he becomes a—"Bishop."</p> + +<p>Our readers, or a majority of them at least, are doubtless aware, from +witnessing the brilliant falls resulting from a vigorously put in +"buttock,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> that it is one of the most showy and effective chips that +wrestlers bring into play. Nothing finer than one of those dashing +somersaults, that were wont to electrify the opponents of James Little or +John Ivison. To the Bampton scholar—Abraham Brown—before settling for +life at Egremont, a remote West Cumberland market town, is due the credit +of inventing and bringing "buttocking" into use. The two men, Adam Dodd and +Abraham Brown, were certainly worthy representatives of the very best class +of wrestlers in the "olden times." They were close upon six feet high, and +fifteen stones weight; were especial favourites of the public, as well as +the historian of early wrestling. Both were straight standers, ready at +taking hold, good with either leg, and at work as quickly as possible, +following up the first attack with such rapidity, that their opponents had +but small chance of avoiding a final and fatal stroke.</p> + +<p>After all this deserved praise, however, we cannot class them much, if any, +superior to William Litt; and if Adam Dodd was justly styled "Cock of the +North," the other is almost equally deserving of being hailed "Star of the +North." In all their contests, there is nothing to shock the most +fastidious moralist; nothing to outrage the feelings of the most humane; +nothing that the most delicate-minded need blush at. Unlike the scenes of +violence and fearful punishment depicted in the records of the pugilistic +ring—now all but abolished—they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> can be dwelt upon without any degrading +associations. Compare the description in <i>Wrestliana</i>, of the fight between +Carter and Oliver at Gretna Green—the head of the latter, in the fourth +round, "terrifically hideous"—and the author's eleven bouts with Harry +Graham, on Arlecdon Moor, and the reader will not find anything approaching +to cruelty in one, while the other is indeed "hideous."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Litt</span>, the author of <i>Wrestliana</i>, was born at Bowthorn, near +Whitehaven, in November, 1785. His parents held a highly respectable +position in society, and he received a liberal education, with the object +of fitting him for a clergyman in the Church of England. This intention +was, however, given up, in consequence of a manifest tendency to out-door +sports, and a "loose" sort of life. The parents seeing that young Litt had +rendered himself in some measure unfit for the Church, placed him with a +neighbouring farmer to get an insight into practical, as well as +theoretical, agricultural pursuits. On arriving at manhood, with a +vacillation much regretted in after life, farming was neglected and +abandoned.</p> + +<p>Christopher North, in old "Maga," says, "Mr. Litt is a person in a very +respectable rank of life, and his character has, we know, been always +consistent with his condition. He is in the best sense of the word a +gentleman," was an "honest, upright, independent Englishman. We remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +Mr. Litt most distinctly: a tall, straight, handsome, respectable, +mild-looking, well dressed man. If we mistake not, he wrestled in +top-boots, a fashion we cannot approve of." Top-boots to contend in on the +Swifts, at Carlisle, at the present day, when wrestlers make it a study to +don a costume that gives the greatest facility to freedom of motion, both +in the limbs and body, would undoubtedly be considered by the whole ring, a +strange spectacle, and subject the wearer to no end of chaff.</p> + +<p>We will now proceed to give a few incidents that will establish Litt's +undeniable claims to superiority in the wrestling ring. We are not aware +that he ever contended in the Carlisle ring but twice—in the year 1811, +and again a few years after that date, on both of which occasions he was +unsuccessful. His appearance in 1811, was a foolish act, for according to +his own statement, he had been unwell for some time—in fact, out of form +for wrestling. After a keenly contested bout, Joseph Bird, a well known +wrestler from Holm Wrangle, succeeded in throwing him. The same year a +match—the best of eleven falls—was entered into with Harry Graham of +Brigham, and arranged to come off, on Arlecdon Moor, for sixty guineas—at +that time a larger sum than had ever been contended for in any wrestling +ring. From the celebrity of the parties, too, and the great amount of the +stake, the match created a greater interest in the wrestling world than any +hitherto contested.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> Harry was considered one of the most active men that +ever entered a ring; indeed, a first rate man in every respect, the +favourite and pet of a large district. He had contested many matches with +the best men going; one of which was with the celebrated Tom Nicholson, in +which he gained five falls for the Threlkeld champion three.</p> + +<p>When Litt and Harry appeared in the ring, the former was desirous to +postpone the contest, on account of ill health; but the Brighamites, with +an absence of that good feeling generally displayed by wrestlers one to +another, refused, and insisted that the match should go on then and there. +Harry gained the three first falls, which so elated himself and friends, +that they looked on the final issue as a foregone conclusion, and indulged +in some unseemly chaff. The defeat, however, served to rouse the +energies—the courage and resolution of the loser, and he easily gained +seven out of the next eight falls. John Fidler of Wythop Hall defeated +Harry at Cockermouth, and afterwards at Arlecdon. Litt threw them both, and +had the year before, when in good health, thrown Harry with the greatest +ease. These repeated defeats of a man who could dispose of such as Tom +Nicholson, William Richardson, and others, will go far to establish our +favourable opinion of the wrestling historian. Other, and as strongly +conclusive, testimony, is at hand to be produced. John Lowden, from the +neighbourhood of Keswick, who had thrown several of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> cleverest +wrestlers of his day—winner of a silver cup at Carlisle—was obliged to +succumb to Litt.</p> + +<p>Many of our wrestling readers will have heard of the "public bridals," at +Lorton, where some of the best wrestling in the county might be seen. One +hundred and twenty names were entered in 1807. For the final fall, William +Armstrong of Tallentire, an excellent wrestler, and winner the year before, +contended with Litt, and sustained defeat. At the revival of Blake Fell +races in 1808, there were two good entries, and Litt carried off first +prize on both the first and second day, notwithstanding being drawn against +all the best men, including the two Tinians, and other well known names.</p> + +<p>We have now to notice a series of consecutive successes, to which we +believe there are few parallels in wrestling annals. In the early part of +this century, the best meetings in West Cumberland took place on Arlecdon +Moor. The meetings were numerously attended, and held two or three times a +year. For ten years, from 1805 to 1815, Litt contended for all the +prizes—except in 1814, when he omitted to enter his name—and was never +thrown. Conceive a man being able to wrestle successfully through a really +strong ring upwards of a score of times. After such a noteworthy series of +exploits, no further testimony need be adduced—no more satisfactory +evidence wanted—to prove William Litt's claim to be ranked among the +brightest wrestling stars of the north.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>In concluding this notice, we should have been glad to state that his +career through the world, in more important respects, had been attended by +gratifying results. The truth, however, is that from the time he left the +paternal roof, his course through a checkered life to the bitter end, was +marked by a series of disastrous failures. Attending wrestling and racing +meetings unfits many persons for a steady and attentive devotion to +business. This in a marked degree was the case with Litt. Farming duties +became neglected, and then given up. Next he embarked in a large brewery at +Whitehaven. A collapse, and loss of nearly all the capital employed, +followed in little more than twelve months. He then went to reside at +Hensingham, finding part employment in some triflingly remunerative +parochial offices, expecting daily that he would get an appointment from +the ruling powers at Whitehaven.</p> + +<p>Disappointed in this expectation, he resolved on emigrating to Canada, in +1832, and retrieve his broken fortunes in taking the cutting of canals, and +works of a like description. A break down again occurred, and he tried to +gain a living by writing for the Canadian journals. This failing, he became +a teacher. Suffering, however, from "home sickness"—a craving often fatal +to natives of mountainous regions—his mental as well as bodily powers +began failing before attaining his sixtieth year.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I gaze on the snow clad plain, see the cataract's foam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sigh for the hills and dales of my far distant home."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>He died at Lachine, near Montreal, in 1847, when sixty-two years old; +regret and sorrow at forced banishment from his native "hills and dales," +no doubt, hastening decay and the destroyer's final blow.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Dearly lov'd scenes of my youth, for ever adieu,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like mist on the mountain ye fade from my view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save at night in my dreams."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14"><i>The Emigrant.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h3><i>ADDENDA.</i></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The following extracts from letters, are quoted from a +controversy which sprung up between <span class="smcap">William Litt</span> and +some one who signed himself <span class="smcap">Athleticus</span>, in the columns +of the <i>Carlisle Patriot</i>, November, 1824:—</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mr. Litt deems me but a "<i>theorist</i> in matters +appertaining to the ring." His own athletic feats, as +detailed in <i>Wrestliana</i>, are heroic and numerous, and +it would be presumptuous in me to attempt comparison; +therefore, compared with Mr. Litt, I must (borrowing a +phrase from the ring) consider myself as a <i>fallen +man</i>. But, notwithstanding the vaunted achievements of +the champion of Arlecdon Moor, there are those now +living old enough to remember his being thrown in the +Carlisle ring by very ordinary wrestlers, when in the +zenith of his fame. The village green on a summer's +evening or during a holiday, is frequently the scene of +many a rustic amusement. And on this arena, when +athletic exercises were going on, I have often borne a +part—where the old men inspired the young with +emulation, by reciting the achievements of their +youth—and the applause of the rustic spectators was +the only meed of victory. Here, sir, I have seen many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +a manly struggle; and though I have never entered a +public prize ring, I flatter myself I have gained +something more than a theoretical knowledge of athletic +science. An ardent temper, and the buoyancy of youthful +spirits, no doubt gave considerable zest to the sports, +and my memory fondly recalls, and dwells with peculiar +delight, on the hours which I have spent amidst happy +villagers engaged in these rustic scenes of innocent +amusement. I will also venture to assert, that amongst +the peasantry assembled on the village green, not only +Weightman, Cass, Abbot, Wright, and the Dobsons of +Cliburn, but even Mr. Litt himself, imbibed his +earliest knowledge of the rudiments of wrestling.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Athleticus.</span></p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Athleticus" says, and thinks he is cutting deep when +doing so, "there are those now living old enough to +remember my being thrown in the Carlisle ring, by very +ordinary wrestlers, when in the zenith of my fame." +Now, Mr. Editor, do you not think this is rather a +stinging remark, as it relates not to any point of +issue between us, and was therefore as uncalled for as +unnecessary?... I never wrestled but twice in the +Carlisle ring, and never saw it when "in the zenith of +my fame." The first time was in 1811, when, as I have +stated elsewhere, I was thrown by Joseph Bird, who was +surely no very <i>ordinary</i> wrestler. When taking hold, +Bird got below my breast, and pinned my right arm close +to the elbow, down to my side; and a person, ignorant +enough, surely! insisted, that because he found by +pulling my left arm over his back, that he could make +my fingers meet, I should either take hold or be +crossed out. I foolishly chose the first, thinking that +I perhaps might better myself after. I was mistaken; +though those who are "old enough" to remember the +circumstance, may remember likewise that, considering +the situation in which I was placed, I was not disposed +off easily.... The other time I entered the Carlisle +ring, I met one of the Fosters—no ordinary men—and I +can only state that after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> our contest, I was ordered +by one of the umpires to wrestle the fall over again, +and I waited until the end of the round in expectation +of doing so, when I found that a bet of half-a-guinea +made by the other umpire, (and which I was aware of at +the time,) had turned the scale against me. I can, if +required, name the umpire, and the person he betted +with; which bet, however, he never recovered, and this +circumstance deterred me from wrestling the next day, +and determined me never to wrestle more at Carlisle. +This was in 1815. My best day was in 1806, 1807, and +1808; therefore the assertion of "Athleticus" is doubly +incorrect.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">William Litt.</span></p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mr. Litt admits being thrown in the Carlisle ring by +Joseph Bird of Holm Wrangle, in 1811, which he says in +<i>Wrestliana</i>, was a "smartish contest;" and he adds +that his "best day was in 1806, 1807, and 1808." But, +sir, this is only three short years past the time when +Mr. Litt was in the zenith of his fame; so that even +writing from recollection, my assertion is not +altogether incorrect, and certainly not intentionally +so. Mr. Litt and Joseph Bird had some dispute, it +appears, about taking hold: be this as it may, I was +justified in stating that Mr. L. had been thrown at +Carlisle by <i>ordinary</i> wrestlers; for Bird was never +considered more than a third-rate player in the +Carlisle ring. He was a powerful man enough, though not +heavier than Mr. Litt at that day—possessed little or +no activity, and scarcely any science as a wrestler. I +have no account of the wrestling in 1811 in my +possession; but I have an account in 1815, and strange +as it may appear, Mr. Litt's name is never mentioned! +It would be well, sir, if my opponent would recollect +that his statements have to meet the public eye. In the +year 1815, Bird, in the first and second rounds, came +against Byers and Grisdale, both of whom he threw, and +was himself thrown in the third round by Thomas Peat. +Though I may admire Mr. Litt's general judgment on +athletic sports, I must again doubt it, if he deems any +of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> Fosters first-rate wrestlers, or any more in +the ring than ordinary men; for in the scale of +athletic science, they were not even so exalted as +Bird. One of the Fosters fell in the first round, and +another in the second; but I shall enter no further +into this part of the controversy, as Mr. L's name +appears entirely unconnected with the wrestling of +1815. When I recall to my recollection the feats of +agility, science, and pith, displayed by Thomas +Nicholson in the Carlisle ring, in carrying off with +<i>eclat</i>, the first prize for three successive years; +and when I also recollect with what facility this +athletic hero discomfitted Bird, Mr. Litt's opponent, I +very much doubt the truth of the panegyric which Mr. L. +passes upon himself in <i>Wrestliana</i> for his performance +on Arlecdon-moor, wherein he states (though in poor +health and condition at the time,) that he defeated +Harry Graham, the successful opponent of the once +celebrated Thomas Nicholson.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Athleticus.</span></p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> +<h2>MILES AND JAMES DIXON</h2> + +<h3>OF GRASMERE.</h3> + + +<p>When Miles and James Dixon, whose doings in the ring we are about to +chronicle in a brief memoir, were to the fore, wrestling was a great +institution in the Lake District. Patronized and encouraged by Professor +Wilson—himself a host in upholding the manly pastime; and afterwards by +Captain Aufrere of Bowness, a distinguished and liberal patron; and +assisted by many of the resident gentry, it attained deserved eminence in +the northern parts of Windermere. In reaching this eminence, the sport was +greatly indebted to the active exertions and judicious management of the +late Thomas Cloudesdale of the Ferry hotel. Why the once popular pastime +should be almost entirely snuffed out round Windermere, is a matter of +surmise. The principal reason assigned weighs heavy on the wrestlers +themselves: it is no less than glaring collusion, engendered by +unprincipled betting men.</p> + +<p>For a long time, wrestling in the immediate vicinity of lake Windermere, +and the adjacent parts of Westmorland, and North Lancashire, was kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> up +and followed more after the amateur fashion than the professional. It was +looked on more as a thing to be enjoyed for the real love of the science, +than as a means of filling the coffers of speculators. In what may be +called its holiday aspect, the sport contrasted favourably with the art as +practised in the sister county of Cumberland. The Windermere wrestlers, in +thus shaping their courses, probably escaped many snares which those fell +into who courted more publicity, and were envious of achieving greater +fame. In fact, there were many good scientific men at the palmy period of +the lake wrestling rings, who abstained from attending public gatherings +almost entirely, and yet were quite as good as those who may be termed +professionals.</p> + +<p>One instance we can select from many, will suffice to prove this. Jonathan +Rodgers won the championship of many local meetings in his own immediate +neighbourhood. He was born and brought up at Brotherelkeld, the highest +farm in the vale of Eskdale. In his infancy, it was a lonely farm, seldom +visited by strangers, but now well known to tourists crossing Hardknot. His +forefathers had held the fell farm—a very extensive one, carrying between +two and three thousand sheep—for generations. He once got as far as the +Flan, and won easily in a strong ring, finally disposing of Joseph Parker +of Crooklands, a really good man, supposed to be the coming champion of +Westmorland. At another time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> climbing Hardknot and Wrynose, he put in an +appearance at Skelwith-bridge, near Ambleside, where Mr. Branker of +Clappersgate, and a few gentlemen, had got up a meeting. Singularly enough, +he came against four of the best men in the north, and threw the lot, +namely—William Bacon and Jemmy Little, both of Sebergham, Thomas Grisedale +of Patterdale, and finally Richard Chapman of Patterdale. Having every +requisite, he might have gone on winning—but gave up; and is now the +respected and prosperous tenant farmer of Brotherelkeld.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth +century, the most distinguished exponents of wrestling in the Windermere +portion of the lake district, were John Barrow, the Dixons of Grasmere, the +Longs of Ambleside, William Wilson of Ambleside, the Flemings of Grasmere, +well to do farmers—and "Young Green." We should have felt an interest in +giving more lengthy sketches of the more prominent men, but, unfortunately, +there exists a great paucity of information. Every exertion has been made +to gather together whatever was available; but the gleanings are +exceedingly imperfect and fragmentary. Local newspapers did not then +collect much local intelligence; and although they kept a keen eye to +business as regards wrestling advertisements, they scarcely ever mentioned +even the names of any prize winners.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>The celebrated Windermere champion, John Barrow, flourished in the +wrestling ring in the early part of the present century. The author of +<i>Wrestliana</i>—one whose judgment may be relied on—pays him a deserved +compliment, when he rates him as "the most renowned wrestler of this +period," and "a match for any man in the kingdom." He stood fully six feet, +and weighed fourteen stones. His favourite chip was the inside +stroke—indeed, it was generally considered he invented the inside chip, +and that "Belted Will" got it from Barrow. Most assuredly, the pair have +grassed scores with it, and were quite as clever as Adam Dodd of +Langwathby, with the outside stroke. These two men, and Abraham Brown, +(afterwards the jovial curate of Egremont,) were all about the same height +and weight: equally scientific; and all veritable "cocks of the north."</p> + +<p>Litt is astray with some particulars of John Barrow's tragic fate. He makes +it out he was drowned in shallow water, and that he was an "excellent +swimmer." Now, the fact is, he was no swimmer, and where the boat upset and +went down, the lake is of considerable depth. He was out trying the sailing +qualities of a new boat of his own building. The mainsail being +injudiciously fastened to the belaying pin, a violent gust of wind struck +the boat; it upset, and the strong man went down, unable to wrestle with +his remorseless foe. Two plucky girls at Belle Grange, saw the accident; +got<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> a row boat, and set off to the rescue. They were successful in saving +all in the boat, except the unfortunate builder. One of the persons in the +boat when it upset, was John Balmer, and he lived to the patriarchal age of +one hundred and one years. After the boat went over, he managed to grasp +and keep hold of a floating plank, and was safely landed near Gill-head, a +little below Storrs Hall. The first words he spoke after the disaster were, +"Them 'at's born to be hang't, is suèr nit to be droon't!" This proverbial +saying came to be linked with his name, and is still quoted in the +neighbourhood as, "āld Jack Balmer' sayin'." His portrait, painted by +Sammy Crosthwaite, a short time before his death, is still preserved.</p> + +<p>The sunken boat still remains at the bottom, and is well known to the +Windermere fishermen, who reckon to clear the wreck with about twenty-five +fathoms of netting out, and generally catch when they let go an additional +fathom or two. Professor Wilson saw the catastrophe and the rescue. This +distinguished man had had, no doubt, many boating excursions with poor +Barrow, and being himself a capital wrestler, and keen of the sport, it is +likely he would have many a tussle with the Windermere champion. It is said +that on one of his excursions out of Wasdale, to the top of Scawfell, with +Will Ritson, the cheery, popular, yarn-spinning landlord of the well-known +Wasdale-head hostelry, that on arriving near the summit of the hill—which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +is the highest ground in England—the two, surrounded on all sides by +mighty mountains, had several keenly contested wrestling bouts. The writer +remembers well the famed Professor, when time had wrought a change in the +manly form, visiting the Flan in its palmy days, and receiving respectful +attention from all parties on the crowded grandstand.</p> + +<p>After this short digression, recording the fate of "a great wrestler and a +good man," we must return to Miles Dixon. He was born in the year 1781, at +either "Far" or "Near Sawrey." They form two villages, but are so little +apart that they may both be classed as "Sawrey;" and are situated half-way +between Hawkshead and the Ferry on Windermere. No more beautifully located, +clean, bright looking, secluded villages are to be found in all the Lake +district. The most prominent and interesting view from "Near Sawrey," is +Esthwaite lake; and all around to the south, south-west, and north-west, +there appears a wide extent of richly wooded undulating country. From "Far +Sawrey," there is a view of the lower reaches of Windermere, and a vast +panorama of undulating hill and vale.</p> + +<p>Miles's father followed the primitive occupation of a wood-cutter, felling +timber trees and young trees of fifteen or sixteen years growth, called +<i>coppice wood</i>, used for making hoops and charcoal. While his sons were +"lile lads," he removed across Windermere to the vale of Troutbeck, and +then in a short time migrated to Grasmere, where he settled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miles Dixon's full stature was six feet three inches; and his general +wrestling weight, fifteen-and-a-half stones. His favourite move in the ring +was to lift his opponent from the ground one way, then throw him quickly +back the other—and dispose of him, so to speak, with a twist. His +herculean powers enabled him to do this effectually. He had other tactics +on which to fall back, but occasions very rarely occurred when these had to +be called into action. His quiet habits, and mild enthusiasm for wrestling, +often made him careless. Had he possessed a greater amount of ambition, and +followed the wrestling ring more closely, we should undoubtedly have had to +record a much more numerous list of achievements. Professor Wilson hits off +some of his leading characteristics very happily when he says: "Honest and +worthy Miles, if put into good heart and stomach, and upon his own +dunghill, was, in our humble opinion, a match for any cock in Cumberland."</p> + +<p>Young Dixon won his first belt at Grasmere, when only about sixteen years +old. John Fletcher, the village carrier, a powerful sixteen-stone man, +wrestled second. It so happened the carrier was very ambitious of winning +first honours, and feeling sorely disappointed at being thus checkmated by +a beardless boy, tore the waistcoat off his opponent's back, in a passion, +and for a long time bore the victor a grudge.</p> + +<p>During one of the militia meetings at Kendal, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> good deal of "braggin'" +took place respecting the wrestling abilities of one Harrison, a man who +stood six feet high, and weighed fully fifteen stones. Miles Dixon was +pressed to take Harrison's challenge up, but gave his friends no +encouragement that he would do so, and seemed to be very careless and +indifferent about the matter. Ned Wilson and William Mackereth at length +backed Dixon, the best of three falls, for a guinea, being all the money +they could muster between them. Harrison in the match lost the two first +falls easily, and was so chagrined at the defeat, that he absented himself +from drill for several days.</p> + +<p>At the Windermere gathering, held at Waterhead, near Ambleside, in 1810, +there was a considerable amount of rivalry displayed as to whether the belt +should stay in Westmorland, or go to Cumberland. John Wilson, the young +squire of Elleray, then fresh from Oxford, was the principal getter up of +the sports. He was all enthusiasm, and heartily backed Westmorland. In +Miles Dixon's absence the previous year, Tom Nicholson had carried off the +first prize. He now returned again, to do all that lay in his power to be +the winner a second time, bringing with him his brother John, and Joseph +Slack from Blencow. William Litt came over Hardknot and Wrynose, from West +Cumberland, riding on a good horse, and wearing a pair of high top boots. +He called at Skelwith-bridge for refreshment, and stayed there all night, +previous to the meeting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> Getting a little "fresh" at the snug hostelry, as +the hours went on, he began to be communicative about the morrow's +proceedings, and laid down the law with great precision. According to his +theory, Tom Nicholson would be first, and "yan Litt" second: of this there +could be no doubt whatever. "Nay, nay," said mine host, not then knowing +who the traveller was, "Nay, nay, I think nit! Theear' some Dixons o' +Gersmer'—meàst sowan good 'ans—'ill be to fell first!" An old miller +"com' ower t' Raise,"<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> in the rear of the Cumberland men, on purpose to +bet, and rifle the pockets of the Westmorland lads. Tom King, owner of The +Hollins, in Grasmere, annoyed at the never ceasing din made by the miller, +said to Dixon: "Miley, if thoo's gāen to du' thy best, noo, I'll away +an' tak' yon āld fule up." He forthwith went and bet guinea after +guinea, until the miller began to think it prudent to venture no further.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Dunmail Raise, which divides Cumberland and Westmorland.</p></div> + +<p>Early on, Miles threw a Yorkshire waller, named Harrison, a heavy man, and +a good wrestler. He was afterwards called out against William Litt, with +whom he had a hard tug. The excitement was extreme. Curiously enough, the +two men started with the same tactics. "Te'àn triet to lift, an' tudder +triet to lift," and both being heavy men, the exertion became very irksome +work. The result was that Litt was thrown "lang streàk't" on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> back, +amid deafening cheers. Like many men who are losers, Litt complained in +<i>Wrestliana</i> of "unfair play," and brings half-a-dozen excuses forward as +the reasons why he lost the fall. In the case of Miles Dixon and Litt +having had another fall, Professor Wilson says: "Whether Mr. Litt could or +could not have thrown Miles, can never be positively known in this world." +The final fall, between Dixon and Tom Nicholson, was not of long duration. +No sooner were they in holds, than the former lifted his opponent clearly +from the ground, and disposed of him easily with a twist. The belt was then +handed to Miles Dixon, by Mr. Wilson, who complimented him warmly on the +victory he had gained. The future Professor of Moral Philosophy took the +belt to Edinburgh with him. After the lapse of a couple of years, it was +returned to the winner, with the following inscription engraved on a silver +plate: "Won by Miles Dixon, at a Grand Wrestling Match, between the +Westmorland, Lancashire, and Cumberland Lads, 1810." The belt is still in +the possession of the family at Grasmere. It is made of leather, about two +inches broad, and mounted with silver buckle and inscription plate.</p> + +<p>In 1811, Dixon did not wrestle at Ambleside. In 1812, when thirty-one years +old, he put in an appearance again, and virtually carried off the first +prize. Litt says, "Miles Dixon and a butcher in Ambleside were the two last +standers. They agreed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> to wrestle two or three falls for the gratification +of the gentlemen who had subscribed towards the wrestling, and in this +friendly trial Miles Dixon was victorious."</p> + +<p>Miles died in June, 1843, aged sixty-two years. A headstone in Grasmere +churchyard bears the following testimony to his worth: "The uniform +integrity of his conduct, has induced one who appreciated his worth, to +erect this memorial."</p> + +<p>His widow—a thrifty, sensible, managing housewife—died in 1875, aged +ninety-one years. Wrestling meetings, and similar gatherings, she treated +with marked contempt. A frequent saying of hers, about her husband as a +wrestler, was: "Ivery shillin' he wan, cost us two!" She used to compare +those who took part in such exercises to "a lot of potters an' tinklers, +'at dud nowte but nip an' squeeze yan anudder to deeàth!"</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">James Dixon</span>, brother to Miles, was born at the before-mentioned village of +Sawrey. He died at Beck Houses, Grasmere, in 1866, aged seventy-eight +years. In height, he stood six feet three inches, and his general wrestling +weight was fourteen stones. His favourite chip in the ring was an outside +stroke.</p> + +<p>When young, he wrestled at a gathering of militia at Kendal, and won. In +1809, at the Ambleside meeting, he came against Tom Nicholson of Threlkeld, +in one of the latter rounds. According to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the most reliable information we +have been able to gather, the latter lost fairly enough, but owing to some +oversight on the part of the umpires, they decided it must be a wrestle +over, to which course of procedure Dixon naturally objected.</p> + +<p>In 1811, he won the head prize at the Ferry Inn wrestling, Windermere. +Richard Luther Watson, of Calgarth, a son of the Bishop of Llandaff, +officiated as steward. In addition to the wrestling, which commenced early +in the afternoon, there was a regatta on the lake, and prizes were given +also for leaping and running. The belt won at the Ferry is still kept, in a +good state of preservation, at Grasmere. It is made of leather, about four +feet six inches in length, by two inches in breadth, with a silver buckle, +and inscription plate: "Presented by the Steward of the Windermere Regatta, +to the conqueror at the Grand Wrestling Match, on the 17th July, 1811."</p> + +<p>At one of the Windermere gatherings, with Miles and James Dixon both +thrown, a general buzz ran round the ring that Roan Long was sure to be the +final victor. Just at the moment when this opinion was prevalent, George +Dixon, an elder brother, very bow-legged, stepped into the ring, +exclaiming, "Tak' time, lads; tak' time! Aw t' Dixons errant doon yet!" +Coming as a counter-blast to the prevailing opinion, this saying created +much merriment among the spectators. Surely enough, the current of the tide +which had set so strongly against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the Dixons, was turned, for Roan was +cleverly thrown. George was a stiff stander, difficult to get at, and often +very bad to move.</p> + +<p>Besides prizes incidentally mentioned in this narrative, the three brothers +won many others, records of which, it is to be feared, have passed away +with the contemporary generation who witnessed and took part in them.</p> + +<p>The Dixons were wallers by profession, and many of the bridges in the +immediate vicinity of the lake country were built by them. One notable fact +relating to their bridge-building is worth mentioning. About the year 1828, +Muncaster bridge, over the river Esk, near Ravenglass, was built by some +one whose name has not been recorded. The bridge had a considerable span, +and a high tide, and a furious mountain torrent pouring down out of +Eskdale, washed it away. Another man then undertook the rebuilding of it, +but failed to carry out the details, and finally gave up in despair. Lord +Muncaster being disgusted with the unsuccessful attempts, and hearing of +the celebrity of the Dixons, sent to Grasmere for them. The three brothers +set about the work in good earnest, and in the month of June, 1829, the +keystone of the bridge was fixed, with considerable ceremony. A handsome +sum of money was collected, for a day's festivity and sports, and the +Dixons gave two barrels of ale. The prize for wrestling fell to one William +Dickinson of Langley Park, a farm on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Bootle side of the bridge. The +foot-race and leaping were both carried off by a young man from Eskdale, +named William Vickers.</p> + +<p>Lord Muncaster was so well pleased with the skill and persevering industry +displayed by the builders, that he caused the following inscription—which +remains to this day—to be placed on the east side of the bridge:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">MDCCCXXIX.<br /></span> +<span class="i14">THIS BRIDGE BUILT BY MEN FROM GRASMERE.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Commercially speaking, Muncaster bridge was an advantageous affair for the +Dixons. The successful accomplishment of the work spread their fame as +builders far and wide, and assisted materially towards establishing them +nicely in the world. Miles and James became purchasers of estates, through +industrious and economic habits.</p> + +<p>We have heard it stated that Lady Richardson of Lancrigg—the wife of the +arctic explorer—once contemplated writing an account of Miles and James +Dixon (who, by the way, are both mentioned in the interesting memoir of her +mother, <span class="smcap">Mrs. Fletcher</span>). How she intended treating the subject-matter of +their lives, we cannot tell; probably more in their domestic relations to +the people of Grasmere vale, than as athletes in the wrestling ring.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>After John Barrow and the Dixons, it is somewhat singular and remarkable to +note the large number<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of first-rate lake-side wrestlers that came out; and +it may not be amiss to bestow a passing notice on the foremost. Before the +Dixons had retired, the two Longs—Rowland, commonly called Roan, and +John—the one a giant in size and strength, and the other a big burly +man—figured in the ring; then—most renowned in the galaxy—William Wilson +of Ambleside. He appeared all over the beau ideal of a heavy weight +wrestler; "lish as a cat," straight as a wand, good shoulders, and long +arms. When about his best, there had never before been seen such a +consummate master of the hype; and no one since can claim to be his equal. +His action was so quick and irresistible, that his opponents went down as +if completely helpless. In 1822, William Richardson of Caldbeck, a most +successful hyper, had not "the shadow of a chance" with Wilson; he also +struck down the gigantic Mc.Laughlan of Dovenby, in such a style as "no +other man in the kingdom could have done." In appearance he resembled +William Jackson of Kinneyside, with the same gentlemanly conduct in the +ring, and the same good tempered bearing to his opponents. Unfortunately, +this bright particular star became subject to a wasting disease when hardly +at his best, and was soon lost to the wrestling world, and a large circle +of admiring friends.</p> + +<p>Then followed Tom Robinson, the schoolmaster, Richard Chapman, George +Donaldson, Joseph Ewbank,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> a Haweswater lake sider; William Jackson, an +Ennerdale lake sider; and Thomas Longmire—men whose names and deeds will +be cherished as long as "wruslin'" is a household word in the north. These +have all gone hence, or are "in the downhill of life." At present there is +not one man of note on the immediate borders of Windermere, Ullswater, or +Derwentwater.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> +<h2>ROWLAND AND JOHN LONG</h2> + +<h3>OF AMBLESIDE.</h3> + + +<p>Rowland Long, generally called "Roan," may be considered one of the biggest +of our northern athletes, but by no means one of the most distinguished for +science and activity—an immense, but somewhat inert, mass of humanity. He +was born and brought up at Graythwaite, a beautiful country of woodland +slopes and green dells, laying contiguous to the west side of lake +Windermere, in North Lancashire. The father of John and Rowland, farmed a +small estate of land under the ancient family of Sandys of Graythwaite +Hall.</p> + +<p>Rowland was born about the year 1778. While even a lad, he developed into +gigantic proportions of body, limbs, and bone. When only seventeen years +old, he weighed seventeen stones, and was looked on at that time as a +wonder by all the country side, for size and strength. On arriving at +maturity, his full stature reached six feet two inches, and he weighed +never less than eighteen stones. In truth, a man of colossal appearance, +looking "as breeàd as a yak tree across t' shooders," as big limbed and +heavy footed as Goliah of Gath, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> with a grip like the hug of a polar +bear. His principal move in the ring was to make a rush at his adversary, +push him backward, and throw in the "ham"; then, if well got in, woe to the +unlucky wight who felt the crushing weight of eighteen or nineteen stones.</p> + +<p>From a well known deficiency in points of science and activity, it may +naturally be conjectured that most of his achievements were gained by main +strength, on one hand, and stubborn standing on the other.</p> + +<p>In one sense, Roan Long's career is the most perplexing one with which we +have to deal. The fact is pretty well established, that he won no less than +ninety-nine belts; and at various places he tried hard to make the number +up to an even hundred, but laboured in vain. The perplexing point +is—where, and at what dates, did he win those belts? We may take it for +granted that the field of his operations was confined principally to +Windermere and its neighbourhood; and that his successful career as a +wrestler commenced about the year 1796, and ended in 1812. Most of the +details during those sixteen years are, unfortunately, not forthcoming.</p> + +<p>We learn incidentally that he "yance hed a ter'ble hard day's russlin' at +Bouth fair, whār he fell't three or fower o' t' biggest chaps he iver +fell't in his life." Probably this was the time he had the fearful tug with +Arthur Burns, one of the Ullater family, near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> Rusland. Burns stripped off +a tall, active, well built, six-foot man, who stuck to the giant most +determinedly, and tried hard to get him to make play without effect, until +the struggle became one of mere animal strength. The upshot was that Burns +came to grief, and unluckily came out of the ring so much mauled about the +ribs, that he never recovered fully from the punishment inflicted.</p> + +<p>At one of the village gatherings, held at Grasmere, Tom Ashburner, a +"statesman" of the valley, entered his name among the wrestlers for the +sole purpose of trying a round with Roan. Being fortunate enough to be +called against him, and having succeeded in getting the fall, he retired +from further contest, saying as he did so, to the younger hands: "Noo, +lads, I've clear'd t' rooad for yee: work yer way!"</p> + +<p>In 1811, Roan, then about thirty-three years old, attended the third annual +meeting held at Carlisle, but was singularly unfortunate. He was thrown in +the first round, by John Watson, who the next time over laid down to Tom +Nicholson.</p> + +<p>At the Windermere Regatta, held at the Ferry hotel, in July, 1812, he won +his ninety-ninth and last belt. Previously he had won several belts at the +same place. No part of this final trophy is left, but the inscription +plate—in the possession of Mr. Backhouse, farmer, near Low Wood—which +runs: "To the Hero of the Regatta, on Windermere, 1812."</p> + +<p>After this date, we obtain passing glimpses of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Roan entering various +rings, and trying in vain to make up the hundredth prize. In 1824, the old +veteran—having then contended more or less for twenty-eight years—was +thrown at Low Wood Regatta, by one Hodgson, who wrestled third; and even as +late as 1828, he wrestled at Ambleside fair, where he was disposed of by +John Holmes, a tall six-foot tailor. This proved the last time he ever +contended for a prize—saying, as he bade farewell to the ring, "I think +it's time to give ower, noo, when a bit iv a tailyer can thrā' me!"</p> + +<p>Roan's match with William Richardson of Caldbeck will be found described in +the sketch of Richardson's career.</p> + +<p>Many years elapse, and Roan is sitting among the onlookers of the +wrestling, at Ambleside sports. After Longmire had carried off several big +men with the swinging hype—eliciting the admiration of all beholders—old +Roan said to the young aspirant, in a drawling tone of voice: "Thoo cudn't +ha' trailed me by t' neck i' that way, my lad!"</p> + +<p>If Roan Long was deficient in science and activity, and did not cut the +brilliant figure in the wrestling ring that some of his contemporaries did, +he, nevertheless, habitually maintained through a long span of existence, +many points of much greater importance, in a social view—such, for +example, as plodding perseverance, singleness of purpose, and sturdy +independence of character—traits in themselves truly commendable, and far +above any merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> nominal honours which the wrestling arena could bestow.</p> + +<p>Roan's occupation was that of a wood-cutter and wood-monger. In company +with the Robinsons of Cunsey—two brothers—he worked in the woods around +Windermere, for many years. Robert Robinson, one of the brothers, was a +very powerful man, nearly six feet high, with broad massive shoulders, and +herculean thighs. During the height of the wood-cutting season, these men +toiled and wrought from daybreak to dusk, more like galley slaves than +free-born Englishmen; often continuing their laborious employment half +through moonlight nights. On certain occasions, when arriving at the woods +before daybreak, they have been known to sit down and eat their dinners +"while they'd time," as they phrased it, in order to keep themselves "frae +hankerin' efter 't throo t' day." With coat, waistcoat, and shirt off, Roan +used frequently to yoke himself in a cart, heavily laden with wood, and had +to "snig" like a horse, while the two Robinsons placed themselves behind +the cart, and regulated their motions according to the necessity of the +case.</p> + +<p>One time, in Finsthwaite woods, when going down a steep hill, so "brant" +that horses were practically useless, the Robinsons let go the cart for +nothing else but pure devilment, and off went Roan, taking giant-like +strides, until he could hold on no longer; and was obliged to throw the +cart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> over into the steep incline below, and extricate himself as best he +could. After having been a considerable time in partnership, he began to +think the Robinsons were not doing the clean thing by him, in some other +matters, and in consequence dissolved all connexion with them.</p> + +<p>Later on, Roan—who through life was a pattern of industry and +integrity—kept a nursery and vegetable garden at Ambleside. While so +occupied, it was his wont to overlook operations from a small wooden house +in the garden, where he sat as closely wedged up almost as a veritable Gog +or Magog.</p> + +<p>A few days before his death, he sent for his neighbour, John Cowerd, a +joiner by trade, to give him instructions about the making of his coffin. +"Noo, John," said he, "I s' nit be lang here, I Knā' I shallant; an' I +want to speeàk to yee about my coffin. Mak' me a good heart o' yak yan, an' +<i>nowt but yak</i>. Noo, mind what I's sayin'; I want nin o' yer deeàl-bottom't +sooart—<i>nin o' yer deeàl-bottom't sooart for me!</i>" repeated the dying man +again and again. Many coffins had been made in the same shop, but never one +anything like Roan's for size. It measured two feet three inches across the +breast, inside measure. A custom prevailed in the workshop to try most of +the coffins made, by the length of some workman. On this occasion, one +Michael Rawlinson, the biggest man employed, was press-ganged into Roan's +coffin, but scarcely half-filled it, and presented a very ludicrous picture +for the time being.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>Roan's death took place at Ambleside, about the year 1852; aged +seventy-four years.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>John Long, born also at Graythwaite in Furness Fells, about the year 1780, +formed in many respects a marked contrast to his brother Roan, and was +considered by good judges to be much the better wrestler of the two. In +height, he stood five feet ten inches, and weighed about fourteen stones. +In his prime, he was a remarkably fine built man: firm, compact, and well +developed in every part, with clean action; in fact, from head to foot he +might be said to be symmetry typified.</p> + +<p>John had the credit of winning many prizes on the banks of his native +Windermere; but not having the ambition of his brother for wrestling +distinction, he never rambled far from home in search of adventure; nor did +he follow the sport for anything like the same lengthened period. We are +sorry that no available and reliable means can be come at touching his +feats in the ring. His well known accomplishments as a wrestler richly +entitle him to a more extended notice than it is in our power to give.</p> + +<p>At the Ambleside wrestling, in 1811, John Long was second to William +Mackereth, the winner, a young man from Cockermouth, a friend and companion +of Tom Nicholson. Nicholson had grassed the well known John Lowden of +Keswick, but suffered a grievous defeat in the fourth round when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> he met +John Long. This of itself must be considered sufficient to stamp the victor +a wrestler of considerable ability, as Tom was then at his best, and was +looked upon by his admirers as a match for any man in the kingdom.</p> + +<p>In early life, John followed wood-cutting through the spring and winter +months; and in autumn, he generally went off to the "shearings" in Low +Furness and West Cumberland. For a lengthened period he was chief boatman +at the Ferry inn, Windermere, in which capacity he is well remembered. When +up in years, he displayed a good deal of ready wit and droll humour. He has +been spoken of—by the most successful wrestler that Windermere has +produced—as "a queer sly āld dog, 'at nin o' t' young 'ans cud reetly +mak' oot, whedder he was in fun or earnest."</p> + +<p>In the <i>Folk-Speech</i> volume of dialect stories and rhymes, Alexander Craig +Gibson describes the sturdy figure of the old wrestler as follows, and then +proceeds to make him relate the tale of the "Skulls of Calgarth," in his +native <i>patois</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And Benjamin's chief ferryman was stalwart old John Long,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A veteran of the wrestling ring, (its records hold his name,)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who yet in life's late autumn was a wiry wight and strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though grizzly were his elf-locks wild, and bow'd his giant frame.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes; though John Long was worn and wan, he still was stark and strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he plied his bending "rooers" with a boatman's manly pride,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +<span class="i0">As crashing past the islands, through the reed stalks crisp and long,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He stretch'd away far northward, where the lake spread fair and wide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Now rest upon your oars, John Long," one evening still said I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When shadows deepened o'er the mere from Latterbarrow Fell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For far beyond broad Weatherlam the sun sank in the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bright his levell'd radiance lit the heights around Hillbell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And tell me an old story," thus I further spoke, "John Long,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some mournful tale or legend, of the far departed time;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scene is all too solemn here for lightsome lay or song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So tell, and, in your plain strong words, I'll weave it into rhyme."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then old John Long revolved his quid, and gaunt he look'd and grim—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For darker still athwart the lake spread Latterbarrow's shade—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pointing o'er the waters broad to fields and woodlands dim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He soberly and slowly spake, and this was what he said, &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>John Long died at the little hostelry on Kirkstone Pass, the highest +inhabited house in England, about the year 1848.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2>TOM NICHOLSON</h2> + +<h3>OF THRELKELD.</h3> + + +<p>Among the distinguished athletes of a byegone period, not one in the long +list has conferred a more enduring celebrity on the wrestlings of the +north, than the Threlkeld champion, Tom Nicholson. He owed this high +position not to overpowering strength and weight, but to what lends its +principal charm to back-hold wrestling—science and activity. These, added +to entire confidence and fearlessness, rendered him a match for any of the +big ones of his day.</p> + +<p>In youth he was a wild, harum-scarum sort of a fellow, hardly ever out of +one scrape before he was floundering into another. A fight or a fray seemed +always welcome. "He cared for nowte." A Jem Belcher of the wrestling ring +and the pugilistic ring, too, of the north; one who never feared the face +of man, and had so much confidence in his own powers, that whoever he +chanced to meet in the ring, whether as "big as a hoose side," or "strang +as a yak tree," he felt confident he could throw him.</p> + +<p>He stood close upon six feet; lean, muscular, with broad and powerful +shoulders; had remarkably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> long arms, reaching—when at full length, and +standing perfectly upright—down to his knees; his weight never exceeding +thirteen stones; without an ounce of superflous flesh. He generally +commenced the attack by striking the back of his opponent's heel with the +right foot.</p> + +<p>Tom was born at Threlkeld, near Keswick, about the year 1785, and died at +Keswick in February, 1851. His father, "oald Ben Nicholson," acted as +parish clerk and sexton at Threlkeld for many years, following, too, the +occupation of a builder. He brought up his two sons, Tom and John, as +builders, or in the vernacular of the district, "wo'ers." Tom was the elder +brother, and a much more powerful man than John. The latter, in the opinion +of many good judges, was superior both in science and quickness. Being a +light weight, his name does not appear with much prominence in the +wrestling records of the time. Special prizes were not then given for light +weights; and in consequence, John did not often become last stander. The +two brothers were, however, sometimes first and second.</p> + +<p>It was not alone in wrestling that Tom became a noted character. He could +probably display more feats of activity in his day, than any man in the +north of England. He has been known to "hitch an' kick" ten feet high: that +is to say, if a hat were placed on a pole, or hung on the ceiling of a +house ten feet high, he could leap up, and hit the hat with one foot, +without falling to the ground. Among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> other places, this was done at the +Red Lion inn, Grasmere, in 1810, where Miles Dixon, Harry Chapman, and +other athletes were onlookers. Another feat of his consisted in covering +twelve yards in three leaps of three rises, measuring from heel to heel. +This he often did, leaping the full distance forwards, and then turning +round and leaping the same distance back again. A frequent saying of his +was, that he could "stand a yard, stride a yard, an' tak' a yard under +ayder arm."</p> + +<p>We have no reliable means of recording all the victories Tom achieved; and +we suppose no chronicler is left who can tell where he gained his first +belt. We know he became such an enthusiast as to rise often at three or +four o'clock in a morning, in order to get his day's work finished by noon; +and afterwards has travelled a dozen miles, to wrestle for "a lal bit iv a +ledder strap, nūt worth mair ner fifteen-pence." Luckily, there is a +record of the more important prizes gained at Carlisle, in 1809, 1810, and +1811—a succession of unbroken victories seldom accomplished by a +thirteen-stone man.</p> + +<p>In the year 1809, Nicholson, then twenty-three or twenty-four years old, +attended some sports or merry-making at Penrith. While there, he chanced to +see an advertisement setting forth the liberal prizes for wrestling, +offered on the following day at the Waterhead, Ambleside. Having some +little acquaintance with the Dixons of Grasmere, through working<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> with them +at the Bridge-end, Legberthwaite, Tom felt a strong desire to attend the +meeting. After dancing all night at Penrith, he left by way of Patterdale +and Kirkstone Pass. Having reached Ambleside, he found the head of the lake +crowded with pleasure boats and yachts; flags flying, drums beating, and an +immense gathering of people assembled in holiday attire, anxiously waiting +to witness the sports.</p> + +<p>Being overcome by fatigue and want of rest, he went into one of the tents +for some refreshment, and soon fell fast asleep in a chair. A waller, named +James Benson, who belonged to Ambleside, chanced to hear one of the Dixons +say incidentally to the Longs: "I suppooàs Tom Nicholson's here. If we +don't mind what we're duin', he'll fell us aw!" Seeing a stranger asleep +soon after, Benson went and gave him a tap with his foot, saying: "Do they +co' yee Tom Nicholson?" Being thus aroused, Tom started hastily to his +feet, and replied in the affirmative. "Well, then," said Benson, "if ye've +come to russel, ye'll hev to be stirrin' yersel'! <i>They're thrāwin' t' +belt up for t' last time!</i>"</p> + +<p>Hastening to the scene of action—a small field near the lake—Tom got his +name entered in the list. No doubt, the previous fatigue and consequent +exhaustion would, in some measure, detract from the dash and force of his +wrestling. Notwithstanding this, he managed to pull off the chief prize, +throwing both Rowland and John Long. Two of the Dixons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>—George and +James—of Grasmere, also contended, and both came against the Threlkeld +man. The former was unmistakeably thrown; but the latter, in the opinion of +a great many spectators round the ring, ought to have had the fall. The +umpires, however, came to the conclusion it was a dog-fall, and Dixon felt +so chagrined at the decision, that he refused to re-enter the ring.</p> + +<p>In after life, Nicholson used to "brag" that at this Ambleside gathering, +he threw four of the biggest men he ever grassed in one day in his life, +namely, Roan and John Long, and George and James Dixon. In relating this +exploit, however, the fall with the last mentioned had always to be passed +over as quietly as possible, lest some "unbelieving dog" should think +proper to retort, and mar the harmony of the relator's narrative.</p> + +<p>Next year, Tom again attended the Ambleside meeting, accompanied by his +brother John, and Joseph Slack from Blencow. William Litt also figured, as +one of the West Cumberland great guns, but had to succumb to Miles Dixon. +Slack laid down to Tom, who threw Roan Long and his brother John. Coming +against Miles Dixon, for the final fall, he was cleanly lifted from the +ground without any difficulty, and thrown with a twist.</p> + +<p>In 1811, we find Tom at the Ambleside meeting for the third and last time. +William Mackereth of Cockermouth accompanied him on this occasion. Tom had +an arduous struggle with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> John Lowden of Hussecar in Newlands, "a stoot +good russeler," who had then scarcely reached maturity. Lowden always +claimed the first fall, but acknowledged that he lost the third one fair +enough—the second one being a dog-fall. In the third round, Tom again +disposed of Roan Long, but was cleverly thrown by John Long the next time +over. It will thus be seen, the Threlkeld champion succeeded at Ambleside +once only in the three years of his attendance; while at Carlisle, where he +also contended three years, he came off victorious in each entry. This is +strong testimony to the celebrity of the Windermere wrestlings.</p> + +<p>For two years previously, John Wilson of Elleray had encouraged the +wrestlings at Ambleside, by subscribing liberally, and taking a personal +interest in so conducting the sports as to render them worthy of the +patronage of the neighbouring gentry. All who have attended wrestling +meetings, cannot but be aware that occasions will often occur, when the +presence of such gentlemen as the squire of Elleray is of great use. There +is ample evidence to show that he was devotedly fond of the sport. When he +left the lakes to make Edinburgh his permanent place of residence, the +wrestlings at Ambleside, which had attained extraordinary celebrity, +declined for a time, but again shone with renewed brilliancy at Low Wood, +Bowness, and the Ferry.</p> + +<p>Before taking leave of Nicholson's Windermere exploits, we must record a +<i>fracas</i> he had once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> with John Wilson, at the "Nag's Head," Wythburn, a +little wayside inn, eight miles from Ambleside, lying immediately under the +shadow of the "mighty Helvellyn," and much frequented up to the present +time by pedestrian tourists. Some sports—wrestling being the principal, of +course—were held at the above out-of-the-way hostelry. At that time, +considerable rivalry existed between the wrestlers of Cumberland and +Westmorland. The Elleray squire freely backed the Westmorland men, and Tom +Nicholson was not a whit behind-hand in as freely backing the Cumbrians. +Now, it so happened, they both got excited over a doubtful fall. The future +literary luminary insisted that his man had got the fall; while Tom +vehemently maintained an opposite opinion, and bandied ugly words very +freely.</p> + +<p>In a fit of momentary passion, Wilson struck Tom over the shoulders with +his stick. This bellicose style of argument instantly led to a violent +scene, and there appeared every likelihood of a most determined contest. +Wilson was at that time a match for almost any man in the kingdom. A +professed pugilist, after receiving a sound thrashing from him on the banks +of the Isis, had been heard to say: "This must be either the devil or Jack +Wilson!" And Nicholson had proved the victor in many a hard fought contest. +A battle between the two disputants at the "Nag's Head," would have been a +fearfully punishing affair to both of them. This was happily avoided, in +consequence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> of their friends stepping in, and putting a stop to any +further infringement of the peace.</p> + +<p>The ball thus set rolling at Ambleside for two years—of giving handsome +money prizes—was followed up at the Carlisle Races, where the <i>first</i> +annual wrestling on the Swifts took place in the month of September, 1809. +The successful establishment of the great northern wrestling meeting, was +due principally to the endeavours of Mr. Henry Pearson, solicitor, +Carlisle.</p> + +<p>The following extract from the <i>Carlisle Chronicle</i>, will demonstrate the +gratifying result of what may be called the first <i>metropolitan</i> meeting:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The athletic sports were superior to anything ever +exhibited in Carlisle. The wrestling commenced on +Wednesday morning, at ten o'clock, in a roped ring, +thirty-five yards in diameter. There were present on +the occasion not less than five thousand spectators, +who came from all parts within a circuit of thirty +miles, to see these gymnastic exercises. This was +probably the best wrestling ever seen in Cumberland, as +each competitor had been the winner of a great number +of belts in the respective parts they came from. Every +round was most severely contested, but the last one was +the finest struggle ever seen: each of the combatants +having given the other the cast three or four times; +and they respectively recovered in a most surprising +manner, to the astonishment and admiration of every one +present. At length Nicholson, who comes from Threlkeld, +gave Harrison the knee, and gained the prize.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The following is a list of those men who wrestled for the Purse of Five +Guineas, on the Swifts, on Wednesday, September 13th:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>—</p> + + +<h3>FIRST ROUND.</h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Stood.</i></td><td align='left'><i>Fell.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Robert Rowntree.</td><td align='left'>Thomas Allison.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Younghusband.</td><td align='left'>John Rowntree.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Joseph Dixon.</td><td align='left'>John Thompson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Daniel Wilson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Goodfellow.</td><td align='left'>John Waugh.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Watson.</td><td align='left'>John Jorden.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Matthew Armstrong.</td><td align='left'>Moses Hodgson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Frank Moor.</td><td align='left'>John Relph.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Dickinson.</td><td align='left'>Thomas Cowen.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Joseph Bird.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Dawson.</td><td align='left'>William Douglas.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Joseph Slack.</td><td align='left'>Thomas Burrow.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>William Ritson.</td><td align='left'>Matthew Dickinson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>William Hodgson.</td><td align='left'>James Phillip.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Harrison.</td><td align='left'>John Hudless.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Michael Hope.</td><td align='left'>Romney.</td></tr> +</table></div> +<h3>SECOND ROUND.</h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Robert Rowntree.</td><td align='left'>Younghusband.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Joseph Dixon.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Watson.</td><td align='left'>Goodfellow.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Matthew Armstrong.</td><td align='left'>Frank Moor.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Thomas Dickinson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Joseph Slack.</td><td align='left'>John Dawson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>William Ritson.</td><td align='left'>William Hodgson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Harrison.</td><td align='left'>Michael Hope.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h3>THIRD ROUND.</h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Robert Rowntree.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Watson.</td><td align='left'>Matthew Armstrong.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>Joseph Slack.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Harrison.</td><td align='left'>William Ritson.</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOURTH ROUND.</h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Stood.</i></td><td align='left'><i>Fell.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>John Watson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Harrison.</td><td align='left'>John Nicholson.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h3>FIFTH ROUND.</h3> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas Nicholson.</td><td align='left'>John Harrison.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. <span class="smcap">Henry Pearson</span>, </td><td align='left'><i>Head Manager</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. <span class="smcap">Christopherson</span>,</td><td align='left'>)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. <span class="smcap">J. Armstrong</span>,</td><td align='left'>) <i>Clerks</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. <span class="smcap">Toppin</span>,</td><td align='left'> <i>Umpire</i>.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>At the Penrith Race Meeting, in October, 1809, Tom Nicholson contested in +the wrestling ring, but his career was soon cut short. In the first round, +he threw Thomas Matthews; and in the second round, had to succumb to one +Joseph Dixon, who was disposed of afterwards, in the fourth round, by John +Gowling, the victor on that occasion.</p> + +<p>At the Carlisle Wrestling, in October, 1810, there was an immense gathering +of people on the Wednesday morning, to witness the wrestlers compete for +two purses of gold. Sixty-four—almost all picked men—entered the ring, +the head prize awarded being six guineas. This sum—at the time considered +an important prize—fell a second time to Tom Nicholson, who threw again +the formidable Robert Rowantree of Bewcastle, and the no less celebrated +John Earl of Cumwhitton; and, in the final fall, floored Joseph Slack of +Blencow. In connexion with the races, a ball on a grand scale was held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +attended by more than three hundred ladies and gentlemen. The amusements of +the week were concluded on Friday, by the Carlisle pack of harriers +throwing off at Whiteclose-gate, when three hares were killed, and some +excellent sport witnessed.</p> + +<p>Tom and his brother, John, again figured at Carlisle in 1811, when Tom +succeeded in carrying off the first honours for the third time, in the most +difficult of all rings. The money prizes amounted to twenty pounds in all, +and the sport was enjoyed by a dense mass of nearly twelve thousand people. +The Earl of Lonsdale, the Marquis of Queensberry, Sir James Graham of +Netherby, and various other gentlemen, were spectators. In the first round, +Tom Nicholson threw John Forster easily. In the second, John Watson laid +down. In the third round, he threw John Jordan of Great Salkeld. In the +fourth, William Earl of Cumwhitton. In the fifth, John Douglas of Caldbeck; +and, finally, John Earl of Cumwhitton.</p> + +<p>John Nicholson threw John Taylor in the first round; and was thrown in the +second by Joseph Richardson of Staffield Hall, a first-rate wrestler, and +winner of the second day's prize.</p> + +<p>Immediately after the general wrestling, Tom Nicholson was defeated in a +match with Harry Graham of Brigham, an event which broke in somewhat +abruptly upon the three consecutive victories gained by him on the Swifts. +A lengthy account of this match will be found in Litt's <i>Wrestliana</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Carlisle ring of 1811 was the last in which Tom Nicholson contended for +a prize. Whether he desired to retire, and rest upon the laurels he had +gained, or not, we cannot say. He was rendered totally incapable of +competing at Carlisle the following year, by having accidentally dislocated +his shoulder at the Duke of Norfolk's jubilee, held at Greystoke Castle, in +the middle of September, 1812. He married in 1815, and went to live at +Keswick, where he settled down as a builder. Some years after he joined the +firm of Gibson and Hodgson, builders, as a partner; and as a tradesman, was +respected by all who knew him.</p> + +<p>Tom used to say he could wrestle best at twenty years old. When at this +age, and for some time after, he used to practice with George Stamper of +Under-Skiddaw, an excellent wrestler; but being of a retiring, quiet +disposition, he very seldom entered a ring. "Gwordie" could, however, get +quite as many falls as Tom, out of a dozen bouts.</p> + +<p>Some years after Tom had given up contending for prizes, he chanced to be +at Cockermouth, with his friend and former pupil William Mackereth, and the +conversation running a good deal on wrestling topics, they agreed to +adjourn to a field in the vicinity, in order to try a few friendly bouts. +After having had two or three falls, "Clattan"—a gigantic athlete—was +noticed to be leaning listlessly, with both arms over the wall, looking at +them. "Come, Clattan," shouted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Mackereth, "an' thee try a fo'. I can mak' +nowte on him!" Thus invited, "Clattan" gathered up his huge carcass—six +feet six inches high, at that time bony and gaunt-looking—and went +stalking into the field, saying: "I's willin' to try him yā fo'; but, +mind's t'e, <i>nobbut</i> yan." In taking hold, the giant tried to snap, but +didn't succeed in bringing Tom down. After this they had two or three +falls, in all of which Clattan was worsted. In referring to this incident, +the victor always said he felt certain it was a made-up thing between +Mackereth and the big one, that the latter should be "leukin' ower t' wo'," +at a given time and place, as if by accident.</p> + +<p>There is still another science in which Tom Nicholson excelled, namely, the +art of self-defence; but as we have no sympathy whatever with any form of +pugilistic encounter, except that which resolves itself into the purely +<i>defensive</i> order, we shall only touch lightly on the subject. As a boy, +Tom's undaunted courage, daring spirit, and surpassing activity, made him +dreaded as a combatant; and from the time he thrashed "Keg," (Mc.Kay or +Mc.Kie,) the Keswick bully, when trying to ride rough-shod over the +Threlkeld youths, his fame as a boxer was fully established in his own +neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1812, two Irishmen who were paring turf in Skiddaw forest, +came to Keswick, and asked Joseph Cherry, the landlord of the Shoulder of +Mutton, for Tom Nicholson. Tom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> being sent for, was soon on the spot; when +one of the Irishmen thus addressed him: "Shure, an' I suppose you're the +champion of Cumberland?" "Well," replied Tom, "I don't know whedder I is or +I issn't." "Faith! but I'm afther telling you, you are," said the Irishman, +very crousely; "and by jabers! me and my mate are ready to fight anny two +men in Cumberland!" "I know nowte aboot neà mates," replied Tom, whose +spirit would never allow him to brook an unprovoked insult—"I know nowte +aboot neà mates; but I's willin' to feight t' better man mysel', if that +'ill satisfy yé!" Accordingly, a wager was made for five pounds, and the +two combatants went into the market-place without further parley—no county +police to interfere at that time—and set to work in good earnest. Pat was +beaten in nine rounds; and Tom, who sustained little injury, finished up +"as fresh as a lark."</p> + +<p>In the encounter on the Carlisle race ground, with Ridley, the <i>glutton</i>, +in 1814, the issue was of a very different character, although the +Threlkeld man was never in better "fettle" in his life. After +half-an-hour's severe fighting, during which time the waves of victory +flowed sometimes to one side, and sometimes to the other, the constables +interfered, and very properly put a stop to the brutal sport.</p> + +<p>As some palliation for the part which our hero took in the combat, Litt +says: "We have the best authority for saying, that when Tom left home for +Carlisle, he knew nothing of the match in question;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> and that the behaviour +of Ridley, who was on the look-out for him, and the wishes expressed by +some amateurs to witness a trial of skill between them, made Tom +erroneously think that his character was at stake, and that he could not +decline the contest without incurring the charge of having 'a white feather +in him.'"</p> + +<p>Tom's love for daring adventure, or sport, seems never to have forsaken +him. Even in middle life, when between forty and fifty years old, this +idiosyncrasy would manifest itself. Among other pursuits, he has been known +to follow salmon poaching in the river Derwent and its tributaries. Once +when working at Mirehouse, for Mr. Spedding, he was joined by Pearson of +Browfoot, John Walker, weaver and boatman, and four or five other men from +Keswick, as lawless as himself, and almost as daring. The meeting had been +previously arranged at the Shoulder of Mutton, then kept by Betty Cherry. +Having chosen Tom as their captain, the gang started for Euse bridge, at +the foot of Bassenthwaite lake, which place they reached a couple of hours +after nightfall. Operations were commenced by placing two sentinels in +commanding positions, one on the bridge, and the other—John Walker—on the +opposite side of the hedge, a little lower down the river.</p> + +<p>A "lowe" being "kinnel't," the stream was found to be literally swarming +with fish. Little more than laying out their nets had been done, however, +when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> Walker shouted out: "Leùk oot, lads! they're comin'!" And just at +that moment, a strong body of river watchers, numbering something like a +dozen—who had evidently been laying in ambush—rushed pell-mell upon them. +Walker being the first within reach, was knocked down and kept down; and +the fight soon swayed fiercely from side to side. Maddened at the treatment +of their mate, the poachers broke through the hedge which intervened, and +fought desperately. Tom Nicholson punished one of the watchers, named +Cragg, so severely, that the man had good reason to remember it for many a +long year after. Walker being rescued, and the keepers chased from the +ground, the poachers again took to the river, and returned home heavily +laden with spoil.</p> + +<p>During the latter part of his life, Nicholson officiated frequently as +umpire or referee in the Carlisle and other rings. Having dislocated his +ancle by accidentally falling on the ice, his appearance in the capacity of +umpire, impressed spectators with the idea that they looked on the +shattered and broken-down frame of a muscular built man, supporting himself +while moving about with a stout walking-stick. The last trace we have of +him as umpire, was at the match between Jackson and Longmire, which came +off at Keswick, in 1845.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> +<h2>WILLIAM MACKERETH</h2> + +<h3>OF COCKERMOUTH.</h3> + + +<p>William Mackereth—"built like a castle," being broad and massive from head +to foot—was born and bred at Cockermouth. He was a pupil of Tom +Nicholson's; but Tom could never teach him his own favourite chip of +"clickin' t' back o' t' heel," and used to resort to that move when he +wanted to throw him.</p> + +<p>Mackereth was a good hyper; and threw Harry Graham of Brigham twice in +succession, the first time that Litt and William Richardson met to wrestle +the match at Workington, which never came off. He also threw John Long in +Westmorland, and won. In speaking of Roan Long, Mackereth used to say his +own hand was like a child's hand, compared to that of the giant's.</p> + +<p>A common saying of his was, that he "was nobbut a thūrteen steàn man." +To this Tom Nicholson generally retorted by saying, "<i>I</i> niver kent the', +Will, when thoo was thūrteen steàn!" Tom called him fourteen stones, +good weight.</p> + +<p>Mackereth was brought up to the building trade, and ultimately became +keeper of the gaol at Cockermouth for many years. He had an only daughter, +who married and settled in Ireland, in which country he died about the year +1859.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> +<h2>HARRY GRAHAM</h2> + +<h3>OF BRIGHAM.</h3> + + +<p>Harry Graham was a clogger by trade, at Brigham, a pleasant but irregularly +built village, whose square church tower catches the eye of the passing +tourist between Cockermouth and Workington. Born and bred in the heart of a +district which has produced many noted wrestlers, and practising the art +from boyhood, Graham possessed rare abilities as an athlete; but was either +too indifferent, or else of too petulant a disposition, to take his chance +in the ring, like his compeers.</p> + +<p>The most famous victory gained by Graham—and we know of no other of any +moment—was the one over Tom Nicholson, in 1811, which goes far to prove +him to have been, for his inches and weight, one of the best men West +Cumberland has produced. Litt speaks of his having wrestled more matches +than any man in the county, but fails to single out any others, wherein +Graham was the conqueror, than the two mentioned in this brief notice.</p> + +<p>Harry attended the annual meeting at Carlisle, in 1811, for the first and +last time, and competed for the head prize. In the first round, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> threw +one Thomas Hoodless, said by Litt to be "of some celebrity," but long since +forgotten; and in the second round, he came against John Jordan of Great +Salkeld, waller,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and fairly won the fall, without even going down. For +some cause or other, the umpires decided it a dog-fall; and on taking hold +a second time, Jordan won. This exasperated Harry's friends, who felt +confident his rare science, quickness, and activity, rendered him a match +for any man existing.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Litt speaks unguardedly when he calls Jordan "a noted +wrestler from the Penrith side," as there was nothing worthy of note about +any of his performances in the ring. Nature had endowed him with a +considerable amount of strength, but being almost destitute of science, he +had only one mode of dealing with opponents, and that was "just to tew them +doon!" One who knew him well, described him as "a greit rammin' +sixteen-steàn man, creùk't back't, an' varra fond o' fishin'!"</p></div> + +<p>Be this as it may, a match was struck up with Tom Nicholson—the taller man +by three inches—who backed himself for three pounds to two, the best of +five falls. Harry lost the first and second. This made Tom's supporters +cock-sure of winning the match. The third was disputable, and decided a +dog-fall, although a great majority of the spectators insisted Harry won. +The fourth and fifth he gained cleverly. They were then equal, with the +dog-fall in dispute. After some squabbling, they began again afresh; and +Harry won the match by scoring first, third, and fourth falls.</p> + +<p>Graham's match with William Richardson—which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> he won, and which Litt sets +forth as one of some importance—was merely the result of a drunken spree +at Cockermouth. It took place in a garden belonging to the Old Buck inn. +Among the handful of people who witnessed the scene, was John Murgatroyd, +at that time a growing youth interested in the sport.</p> + +<p>Harry left the locality of his native hills in 1822, and settled in +Liverpool, where he brought up a family in a manner which reflected much +credit upon himself. When more than sixty years old, he took a voyage to +Australia, to join his eldest son, a graduate of Dublin university, who was +following the scholastic profession, with a considerable amount of success, +at the antipodes.</p> + +<p>Graham died in November, 1878, at the venerable age of eighty-eight, and +was buried in Shooter's-hill cemetery, near London.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> +<h2>JAMES SCOTT</h2> + +<h3>OF CANONBIE.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Noo, Jamie Scott o' Cannobie,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He hied to Carel toon;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mony a borderer cam to see<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The English lads thrawn doon.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14"><i>Border Ballad.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>James Scott was the lightest man who won the head prize in the Carlisle +ring about his own time; and what is much more curious, the only Scotchman +who ever accomplished the same feat. Indeed, it seems up to Scott's time, +and since, too, that the borderers on the Scotch side did not take as much +pleasure in the pastime as those dwelling on the English side.</p> + +<p>Scott was born and brought up at Oarnlee, in the picturesque parish of +Canonbie, in Dumfriesshire, within a few miles distance from the roofless +tower of Gilnockie, the ancient stronghold of the noted border free-booter, +Johnny Armstrong, of whose tragic fate in the presence of the Scottish +king, the old minstrel thus sings:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But then rose up all Edenborough,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They rose up by thousands three;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A cowardly Scot came John behind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And run him through the fair bodye.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said John, "Fight on my merry men all,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I am a little wounded, but not slain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will lay me down to bleed a while,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then I'll rise, and fight with you again."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>James Scott stood about five feet nine inches high, and weighed between +eleven and twelve stones. Litt surmises that he was more than thirteen +stones; but according to the most reliable authorities, this is much beyond +the mark. He was a "tight built, streight, beàny mak' iv a fellow, withoot +a particle o' lowse flesh aboot him." In the ring, he became noted as a +quick striker, and bore the reputation of being a good scientific wrestler.</p> + +<p>He never went much from home to contend, and, excepting in the Carlisle +ring, is only known to have wrestled at the village gatherings, along the +borders. He does not figure among the thirty-two men, who wrestled at the +first annual meeting at Carlisle, in 1809. In the following year, when +double that number contended, we think it hardly likely that he put in an +appearance; but on this point we cannot speak with any amount of +confidence, as there is no list of names known to be in existence.</p> + +<p>In 1811, however, he did good service in the Carlisle ring, by throwing +Joseph Wilson, John Hall, Joseph Coates, and William Richardson of +Caldbeck; but sustained defeat at the hands of John Earl of Cumwhitton, in +the fifth round. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> the second prize of the same year, he was cleverly +thrown by George Little of Sebergham, (and not again by John Earl, as +stated by Litt.)</p> + +<p>At the Carlisle meeting held on Tuesday, the 20th day of September, 1812, +the favourite north-country pastime attracted an immense gathering of +spectators to the Swifts. Although the prizes offered amounted in all to +the handsome sum of twenty guineas, there was a noticeable falling off in +the attendance of wrestlers. Only forty-eight names were entered for the +principal competition—the most noteworthy absentees being Tom Nicholson, +(who was suffering from an accident at the Greystoke festival,) John Earl +of Cumwhitton, Robert Rowantree of Bewcastle, and Harry Graham of Brigham.</p> + +<p>Scott, who was then in his twenty-fourth year, turned up on the Swifts "i' +grand fettle," and wrestled through the ring with much spirit, tact, and +determination. The unexpected fall of William Mackereth of Cockermouth, the +first time over, removed at least one formidable rival. John Jordan of +Great Salkeld, falling in one of the subsequent rounds, left the coast as +good as clear to Scott and Richardson, who ultimately came together in the +final fall. Although wanting in the height, weight, and experience +possessed by his veteran opponent, the wiry borderer had the advantage of +youthful suppleness and activity on his side.</p> + +<p>A good deal of time was wasted by the combatants; both tenaciously +endeavouring to obtain the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> better hold. Meanwhile a tall, red-haired, +gaunt-looking Scotchman, made himself somewhat officious and troublesome to +the umpires, by running to and fro into the ring, "wi' a wee drap whuskey, +an' a hantle o' advice," in order to cheer up the spirits of the Canonbie +lad. When holds had been obtained, after acting on the defensive for some +time with much wariness, Scott managed to catch Richardson's heel, and by +this means succeeded in carrying him off precisely in the same manner as he +had done the preceding year. No sooner had the burly figure of the Caldbeck +man kissed the green-sward, than the air resounded again and again with +lusty cheers for the Canonbie hero.</p> + +<p>Everybody seemed astonished when "lāl Jamie Scott" fought his way +through the ring; and probably no one was more astonished than himself. +With eight bright guineas in his pocket, he received a hearty welcome on +going back again, from all the "weel kent" faces he passed on his +"hameward" journey to "Canobie lea."</p> + +<p>Having gained first honours, Jamie inherited too much of the "canny" and +prudent disposition of his countrymen, to risk tarnishing the victory which +had thus fallen under somewhat favourable circumstances to his share. The +Carlisle ring of 1812 was, we believe, the last one in which he contended +for a prize.</p> + +<p>Scott was a joiner by trade, and worked for several years at "Kirkcammeck," +(Kirkambeck,) in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> Stapleton, on the English side of the border. At the +local gatherings in after years, he made a point of backing David Potts of +Haining—a rather tricky customer—against John Blair of Solport Mill. +Scott recommended Potts to rosin the inside of his pockets well, and rub +his hands in them before taking hold of an opponent. "And than," said he, +bestowing a hearty thump on his pupil's back, "no a man i' Cummerland need +thraw the', if thou nobbut fews onything like!"</p> + +<p>His cheerful and jocular disposition led him to be widely known on both +sides of the border as "Canobie Jamie." He was specially fond of rural and +field sports. In speed of foot he surpassed most of his companions. Many +stories are told of the practical jokes and harmless tricks he used to play +off on his neighbours and acquaintances; a few examples of which we may +perhaps be allowed to relate as illustrative of his character.</p> + +<p>"Canobie Jock," a well known voluble neighbour of his, partial to keeping +up a breed of terriers and foxhounds of the right sort, had one of the +former which he boasted was the fleetest dog of its kind in the parish. For +a trifling wager, Jamie offered to run a race with Jock's terrier. The +distance chosen was from one end of a good sized field to the other, +through part of which a broad deep ditch extended, and had to be crossed. +After starting, our hero found there existed every likelihood of his canine +competitor leaving him some distance behind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> This induced him to hasten +towards that part of the field where lay the deep ditch. With a single +bound he cleared the distance in capital style. Meanwhile, before the poor +terrier had time to swim the water, climb the banks, and shake itself, +Jamie had got so far ahead as to be able to win easily—which he did, much +to the discomfiture of the owner of the dog.</p> + +<p>As an additional illustration of his nimbleness of foot, it may be +mentioned that on another occasion, in coming "owre the hills frae Hawick," +he ran down a cub fox, which he took home with him to Canonbie, and kept +there in a tame state, until it became so troublesome and destructive among +the hen-roosts of the neighbourhood, that he was obliged to put it down.</p> + +<p>Jamie, and a cousin of his, were once invited to a wedding in the +neighbourhood of Liddesdale, and, as it chanced, they could only muster a +single horse between them. Under these circumstances, Scott thought it +might be as well to give the natives of "Copshaw-holme," (Newcastleton,) +something to amuse themselves with. Accordingly, he placed his cousin on +the front of the horse, in the usual way, while he mounted behind, facing +the opposite direction, with a straw rope drawn round the animal's tail for +a bridle. In this comical fashion, the two men rode through the large open +square of the old border village, amid the laughter and jeers of young and +old.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>One other story, and we must take leave of Jamie. When crossing a wild part +of the country, it so happened that through being benighted, he was in +danger of losing his way. Nearing a farm-stead, the pleasing sound of a +fiddle fell on his ears, which ultimately turned out to proceed from an +adjoining barn, where a dancing school was held. On entering, Jamie met +with a warm reception from the people assembled, and enjoyed the scene +before him with much glee. Getting communicative with those around, he +threw out some broadish hints that he thought he could dance a hornpipe or +jig better than the dancing-master himself. To such a belief as this the +teacher entirely demurred; and the difference of opinion thus set forth +paved the way for a friendly contest. Notwithstanding being a good deal +fatigued with travelling, Jamie managed to trip about with so much +gracefulness and agility, that he was acknowledged by all present to have +quite outrivalled the professor of the calisthenic art.</p> + +<p>James Scott died at Oarnlee in the year 1854, aged sixty-six years.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h2>ROBERT ROWANTREE,</h2> + +<h3>OF KINGWATER.</h3> + + +<p>Robert Rowantree, the subject of this brief memoir, was one of the big +stalwart athletes of the wrestling ring in the "olden time," when wrestlers +six feet high, and fourteen stones weight, were plentiful amongst the +competitors of the northern arena. Rowantree was not so much distinguished +for science as William Jackson, Richard Chapman, or the Donaldsons of more +recent times; but was formidable from possessing great strength, a long +reaching muscular arm, much supple activity, and no end of endurance in a +keen, protracted struggle with an adversary. Remarkable instances of this +fierce endurance are to this day commented on, particularly in his +memorable bouts with John Richardson of Staffield Hall, "Belted Will" of +Caldbeck, and the celebrated bone-setter, George Dennison.</p> + +<p>Rowantree was born in the vale of Kingwater, in the year 1779. The place of +his birth, and where he continued to reside for a long series of years, is +a lonely and sterile region, inhabited chiefly by sheep-farmers, situate +between the green woodland slopes of Gilsland, and the then wild unclaimed +wastes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> of Bewcastle; and was doubtless in the long ago border marauding +times the scene of many a bloody raid; and later, too, of many smuggling +affrays in getting across the border untaxed whiskey. Maitland's +<i>Complaint</i> gives a vivid description of the lawlessness prevalent:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That nane may keip<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Horse, nolt, nor sheip,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor yet dar sleip,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thair mischeifis.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"The lordly halls of Triermaine," in the vale of Kingwater, supplied the +title to one of Sir Walter Scott's poems; but the once "lordly halls" are +now reduced to a mere fragment.</p> + +<p>Like William Jackson of Kinneyside, Rowantree was brought up a shepherd, +and followed this pastoral occupation, with scarcely a break in the chain, +throughout an extraordinarily prolonged life. He stood fully six feet one +inch, his general wrestling weight being fourteen stones. "A lang-feàc't, +strang, big-limb't man, carryin' varra lile flesh on his beàns," was the +description given of Rowantree by a brother athlete, who, like himself, had +carried off the head prize once from the Carlisle ring.</p> + +<p>Litt speaks of him as attached to loose holds, and as being an extremely +awkward customer to get at. It cannot be said that he was a quick, good, +scientific wrestler, being too strong limbed and heavily built throughout, +for excelling in these requisites. Nevertheless, he had tremendous powers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +when he could get them set agoing in full swing. His famous cross-buttocks +in the Carlisle and other rings, which made men fly upwards, like a bull +tossing dogs, are spoken of to this day. When young, like many another, +Rowantree was such an enthusiastic follower of the wrestling ring, that he +frequently went on foot twenty miles to wrestle in the evening for a common +leather belt, not worth eighteen pence.</p> + +<p>He won his first prize at "Mumps Ha'," Gilsland, at that time a noted hedge +ale-house, whereat border farmers—most of them nothing loth to spend a +jovial hour or two when happening to meet a neighbour—used to stop and +refresh themselves with a "pint" or two, and enjoy a "good crack." The +hostelry was at that time kept by a daughter of old Margaret Teasdale, +immortalized as "Mumps Meg," in Sir Walter Scott's <i>Guy Mannering</i>.</p> + +<p>Rowantree afterwards attended some sports at Stanners Burn, in North Tyne; +and in the final wrestle up, he came against an exceedingly powerful man, +named William Ward, a rustic Titan, with a grip like a giant, resident in +the neighbourhood. In the previous rounds the stranger from Kingwater had +astonished the North Tyners, by disposing of his men without the least +difficulty. In the last round, Ward lifted Rowantree clean off his feet, +and caused much amusement among the spectators by crying out, whilst +holding him in that position: "Hey, lads! See! I can haud him, noo!" No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +sooner, however, did Rowantree set foot on <i>terra firma</i>, than in an +instant the position of the two men was reversed, a sweeping cross-buttock +sending Ward's feet "fleein' i' the air," amid loud plaudits—the loser +being sadly crestfallen by this unexpected turn of the wheel.</p> + +<p>As a general rule, Rowantree did not go far from home to attend wrestling +meetings; his principal ground being along the wild tract of Cumberland +lying to the north-east of Carlisle. Occasionally, however, he strolled +away from Kingwater and the adjoining country. In the year 1810, he had a +trip "wid Nanny, the priest' son, o' Haltwhistle, ower th' fells," to try +his luck at the noted gathering, known far and wide as "Melmerby Round." +Along with the priest's son—a promising youth in his way for "a bit of a +spree"—he entered his name. The Haltwhistle youth came to grief in one of +the early rounds, being thrown by John Morton of Gamblesby (father to Tom +Morton of the Gale); but Rowantree succeeded in working his way through the +ring, and carrying off the head prize.</p> + +<p>We next come to record worse luck, in a match with Thomas Golightly, a +miner, who belonged to the Butts, in Alston town. Rowantree, though a much +heavier and taller man, was overmatched by the 'cute Alstonian, and had to +succumb to him. Golightly—one of a wrestling family—was a thoroughly +all-round, scientific, first-rate wrestler; and though weighing only twelve +stones, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> standing five feet nine inches high, gained many head prizes +in the neighbourhood of Alston, Workington, and Whitehaven. The match took +place probably at Alston sports, then held annually on Easter Monday and +Tuesday—on the same days that a two-days main of cocks was fought.</p> + +<p>Rowantree attended the first annual wrestling meeting held at Carlisle, +September, 1809, and in the first round he threw Thomas Atkinson; in the +second, one Younghusband, (who in the previous round had thrown John +Rowantree, a brother of Robert.) In the third round, he had to face the +celebrated Thomas Nicholson of Threlkeld. The first was a disputed fall; +but in the second, Tom was easily victorious. At Carlisle, in 1810, +Nicholson again threw him.</p> + +<p>Next year, John Richardson of Staffield Hall, near Kirkoswald, gained the +second prize on the Swifts. For the first prize, he came against Rowantree, +and after one of the most desperate and determined struggles ever seen in +any ring, the latter won with a half-buttock, after giving his opponent a +shake off the hip. In all the recorded meetings of athletes in the rings of +the north, it has seldom happened that the spectators had the gratification +of witnessing two men step into the arena, equal in stature and muscular +power to Robert Rowantree and John Richardson. The latter stood six feet +three inches high, and the former six feet one inch. Both weighed upwards +of fourteen stones,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> and on stripping, presented remarkable specimens of +athletic formation. Armstrong, familiarly known as the "Solid Yak," another +gigantic Cumbrian, was also grassed in the same entry, by Rowantree.</p> + +<p>At Carlisle, in 1812, when James Scott, the Canonbie man, won, we do not +find that Rowantree contended. No record is known to exist, giving the +names of those who entered for the prizes, and, therefore, nothing definite +can be stated.</p> + +<p>The following extract from the <i>Carlisle Journal</i>, will show that the +prize—twenty guineas—given in 1813, was held to be something remarkable +in wrestling annals, and created a wide-spread sensation throughout the +north. At the present day, a considerably larger sum is given; but whether +this profuse liberality has improved the <i>morale</i> of the ring, is a very +doubtful matter.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On Friday, the 8th of October, the great prize of +twenty guineas was wrestled for on the Swifts, in a +roped ring of seventy yards in diameter, in the +presence of the largest concourse of people we ever saw +on a similar occasion. Notwithstanding the day was +extremely wet during the whole of the contest, the +curiosity that had been excited through all ranks of +society, overcame every obstacle; and we were happy to +see on the ground the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of +Queensberry, the Earl of Lonsdale, H. Fawcett, Esq., +M.P., together with a large number of gentlemen from +all parts of the county, and from Scotland, to witness +one of the finest exhibitions of activity, muscle, +science, and resolution, ever seen in the north of +England. The wrestling was of the most superior kind; +many of the combatants having been struck by their +antagonists from the ground upwards of five feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +Robert Rowantree, the Cumberland shepherd, gained the +first prize, having thrown the noted William Richardson +and George Dennison, in two of the severest struggles +we ever saw. We are happy to add that their peaceable +and civil deportment to each other has been the subject +of much commendation.</p></div> + +<p>On the morning of the wrestling, Rowantree walked from Butterburn, a lone +farm-stead, north-east of Gilsland, and fully twenty miles from Carlisle, +as the crow flies; and then wrestled through an exceedingly strong ring—a +proof of lasting endurance and pluck seldom parallelled. Seventy-two men +entered the ring for the head prize; exactly twenty-four more than in the +previous year. In the first round, Rowantree threw Joseph Richardson; in +the second, James Gibson; in the third, Thomas Gillespie; in the fourth, +William Earl of Cumwhitton; in the fifth, George Dennison of Stainton; and +in the final fall, William Richardson of Caldbeck.</p> + +<p>It is somewhat singular that Rowantree, an enthusiastic follower of +wrestling, should not again enter the ring of the Border City, or, indeed, +any other ring, where winning might be considered to confer distinction. +Soon after achieving at Carlisle, the highest distinction a wrestler can +attain, he won his last belt in the same arena where he gained his first +one—at "Mumps Ha'," Gilsland. He got the belt without contesting a single +fall; no one thinking proper to try the chance of a single tussle with him.</p> + +<p>Shepherding was his daily pursuit during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> greater part of a long life; +and at times he performed some extraordinary feats of pedestrianism. We +regret, however, being unable to give exact data of the time and distances. +They would have been interesting additions to his wrestling career. For +many years he lived on an extensive sheep farm at Wiley Syke, near +Gilsland, with one of his brothers. During the great storm of November, +1807, when the snow drifted in some places to the depth of nine and ten +feet, Rowantree's brother John, lost four-score sheep, and at one time +upwards of two hundred more were missing. A neighbouring shepherd, named +James Coulthard, perished in attempting to fold his sheep in +Scott-Coulthard's Waste.</p> + +<p>At one time, Rowantree was tempted to enter the service of the Earl of +Carlisle, as a game-watcher, on the Naworth Castle estates, and continued +to be so occupied "a canny bit."</p> + +<p>When more than four-score years old, Rowantree went to live with a +relative—Mr. Wanless, of the Bay Horse inn, Haltwhistle—under whose roof +he spent the last twelve years of his life; and died there in April, 1873, +at the patriarchal age of ninety-four. Some nine or ten months before the +latter end—the final closing scene of a long life—he "hed sair croppen +in," and was in fact nearly bent double. But previous to that time, his +appearance was so fresh and animated, his step so firm and active, his +intellect and memory so clear and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> retentive, that no stranger would have +taken him to be anything like his real age.</p> + +<p>While living at Haltwhistle, if the old Kingwater athlete could only manage +to fall in with any wrestling, dog-trailing, or hunting, or could get off +shooting with a dog and gun, either by himself or in company, he was in the +height of his glory. When sitting by the side of a wrestling ring, during +this latter period of his life, as an onlooker, it was only natural he +should become garrulous, and almost, as a matter of course, cynical in his +remarks. "Sec bits o' shafflin' things," he used to say, "git prizes +noo-a-days! If they'd been leevin' lang syne, we wad ha' thrown them ower +th' dyke!" At other times, when a wrestler had laid down in favour of an +opponent, he would exclaim: "Ah! ah! that wullent deà at aw, lads! Theer +was neà sec lyin' doon i' my time. It was aw main-strength an' hard wark, +than!"</p> + +<p>John Stanyan Bigg's rhyme, in the Furness dialect, slightly altered, +presents a very apt picture of Robert Rowantree, as a cheerful and hearty +old man, verging on ninety years:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Auld Robin Rowantree was stordy and strang;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Auld Robin Rowantree was six feet lang;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He was first at a weddin', an' last at a fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He was t' jolliest of aw, whoiver was there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For he keep't a lad's heart in his wizzen'd auld skin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And work'd out his woes as fast as they wer' in;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye'd niver believe he'd iver seen trouble,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tho' at times t' auld fellow was amaist walkin' double.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> +<h2>WILLIAM DICKINSON</h2> + +<h3>OF ALSTON.</h3> + + +<p>Alston, the capital of a lead-mining district of East Cumberland, stands +very conspicuously perched on the side of a hill, overlooking the river +Tyne, which flows eastward through a narrow valley below, on its course to +the populous towns of Hexham, Newcastle, and Shields, and is then lost in +the German Ocean. The miniature town of Alston has a market cross of the +quaintest order, and a main street so "brant" and twisting, that strangers +watch with amazement the ascent and descent of any kind of conveyance or +vehicle, which may chance to be stirring. As a people, the Alstonians are +thoughtful, studious, and intelligent. There are few places in Britain +where a healthful class of literature, and general knowledge, are sought +after with greater avidity, than by the mining population of the town and +neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>At one time the district was fruitful in producing good wrestlers. Thomas +Lee, the publican, Jemmy Fawcett of Nenthead, powerful John Horsley, Tom +and Frank Golightly, William Dickinson, Tom Todd of Knarsdale, and other +stars of lesser<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> magnitude, rose and set in succession. At a period after +those enumerated, the neighbouring valley of Weardale was equally +celebrated in the production of a whole host of good wrestlers. Among them +may be noted, John Milburn, Tom Robson, James Pattinson, John Emmerson, +Joseph Allison, and many others. And we can bear testimony to their general +conduct in the ring as being eminently praiseworthy.</p> + +<p>William Dickinson was born at Spency-croft, near Alston, about the year +1792, and brought up in Alston town. He followed the trade or occupation of +a lead miner. In height, he stood five feet ten-and-a-half inches, and +weighed fully thirteen stones. In appearance, there was every indication of +a stout compact built man, well made from top to toe, with nothing +cumbersome about him. He had fine expansive shoulders, good loins, and was +rather light built about the limbs. He usually appeared in the ring, +dressed in a pair of Cashmere trousers, light coloured stockings, and high +tied shoes. Though a great enthusiast at wrestling, Dickinson was generally +considered to be indifferent about other recreations, and was rather easy +about following his daily occupation very closely. Some of the more +pugnacious Alstonians tried various means to get him enlisted among them as +a fighter, but in this they were disappointed. "D—n thy snoot!" shouted a +jeering comrade to him one day, "thoo can grip a chap's back smart eneuf;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +but thoo dārn't hit a body for thy life! Thoo's far ower muckle +shoo'der-bund for a trick like that!"</p> + +<p>Dickinson's career proved to be exceedingly brief, and few particulars are +now remembered respecting him. While still in his teens, he excelled in his +own neighbourhood as a strong athlete, and succeeded in carrying off +several minor prizes. We cannot learn whether he attended the then noted +gatherings at Melmerby or Langwathby. However, in October, 1812, when +twenty years old, we find him figuring at a great meeting held at Penrith, +where a sum of fifteen guineas, subscribed for by the Earl of Lonsdale, +Squire Hasell of Dalemain, and others, was given to contend for. From the +first to the third round, Dickinson threw—Thomas Parker of Pallethill, +John Nicholson of Threlkeld, and John Harrison of Horrock-wood, and was +himself toppled over in the fourth round by some one whose name is not now +known. The head prize—ten guineas—was won by John Parker of Sparkgate, +and the second by James Lancaster of Catterlan.</p> + +<p>In 1813—the following year—Dickinson attended the Carlisle wrestlings, +where he attained considerable distinction. For the head prize, he threw +Thomas Graham, Robert Forster, and Frank Watson. In the fourth round, he +was thrown by Samuel Jameson of Penrith. On the second day, the young +Alstonian beat down all opposition, and carried off the chief prize amid +great applause. He threw in quick succession, and in a masterly manner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> the +following men, namely—John Forster, John Hope, Robert Forster, Simon +Armstrong, and, in the final fall, John Lowden of Keswick, a really +formidable opponent.</p> + +<p>In 1814, he attained the highest wrestling distinction, by carrying off the +head prize at Carlisle. It was calculated, from the amount of money taken +at the gate, that not less than 15,000 people witnessed the wrestling on +the Swifts. The meeting was disgraced by one pugilistic encounter, which +<i>did</i> take place, and by the foreshadowing of another which <i>did not</i> take +place. It appears a match had been arranged between Carter, a Lancashire +man, and one Cooper, both professional boxers. The latter, for some cause +or other, did not turn up, and Carter gave an exhibition of pugilistic +science, in a large room at the Blue Bell inn, in the presence of the +Marquis of Queensberry and a crowd of people, drawn by curiosity to witness +the performance.</p> + +<p>The fight which <i>did</i> take place, was for a purse of thirty-five guineas, +between two local men—Tom Ridley, seaman, a native of Carlisle, commonly +known as the "glutton," and Tom Nicholson of Threlkeld, wrestler. The +battle was fought in a roped ring on the Swifts, used for wrestling. The +severe blows dealt by the "glutton," told much in his favour, while +Nicholson baffled and punished his opponent materially, by bringing him +frequently to mother earth, with a heavy "soss." After the contest had +lasted for half-an-hour—the Threlkeld<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> man being much punished about the +head, and Ridley about the body—the constables interfered and put an end +to the combat.</p> + +<p>We gladly resume our account of the wrestling. Sixty-six men entered the +ring, to compete for various prizes. Dickinson came upon the Swifts in +excellent trim, looking every inch a man as he stripped for the contest. +Although Tom Nicholson, William Richardson, Robert Rowantree, John Earl, +and James Scott, failed to put in an appearance, still a good field of +dangerous hands met to contend.</p> + +<p>In the first and second rounds, Dickinson threw John Baillie and John +Routledge; and in the third had a keenly contested struggle with John +Watson—a well known athlete in the early annals of the Carlisle ring—and +succeeded in throwing him. Among others who came to grief in the third +round were Tom Richardson, "the Dyer"—then a stripling in his teens, and +Joseph Bird of Holm Wrangle. Turning out as fresh as a lark, in the fourth +round, Dickinson grassed William Ward; and in the fifth, James Routledge; +the latter of whom had previously done good service by disposing of John +Nicholson of Threlkeld, William Earl of Cumwhitton, and Joseph Peart. In +the sixth round, the hero of the day was fortunate enough to be odd man; +and then at the last faced George Dennison, (who had previously carried off +William Slee of Dacre, with a clean hype.) The final fall was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> singular +one. "Dennison," says Litt, "threw in his left side with much force, +intending to buttock his opponent; Dickinson left go, and Dennison, +disappointed of his object, staggered forward a considerable distance, but +could not save himself from going down on his hands, otherwise he would +have won the fall, as he had preserved his hold."</p> + +<p>The head prize—a belt, and eight bright guineas—was then handed to +Dickinson, amid much cheering, especially from the Alstonians, and some +commotion from the disappointed friends and admirers of Dennison.</p> + +<p>After tracing Dickinson's career, until his brow was decked with the green +bay of victory, in the foremost wrestling ring of the kingdom, there ensues +a sudden collapse. The Carlisle ring of 1814, was probably the last one in +which he figured, for afterwards we lose sight of him altogether as a +wrestler.</p> + +<p>About this date he married Sarah Eals, of Alston, innkeeper, who proved a +shrew. Not living happily with her, and being himself a man who loved +quietude and peace of mind, more than strife and contention, he left both +the neighbourhood and his shrewish partner behind him, somewhat suddenly, +and went into Scotland, where he lived for some time employed as a +gamekeeper. He afterwards emigrated to America; and although doomed to be +an exile from Alston and his native district, it is said he returned again +to England, and died many years ago.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2>GEORGE DENNISON</h2> + +<h3>OF PENRITH.</h3> + + +<p>For more than thirty years—from 1808 to 1840—George Dennison was a +well-known character in the north; trusted and esteemed by all classes as a +skilful bone-setter, all over Cumberland, Westmorland, and a great part of +North Lancashire. Whenever a bad case of broken limbs or dislocated joint +befel an unfortunate individual, throughout this wide district, the first +move in most cases was either to, "Send for Dennison," or else, "We must go +to Penrith."</p> + +<p>He succeeded Benjamin Taylor, another distinguished bone-setter, who sprang +from New Church in Matterdale. Dennison, we believe, originally entered +Taylor's service in the capacity of a servant, and was often called in to +assist in holding patients. Being of a shrewd and observant disposition, he +picked up many points connected with bone-setting, and soon became very +useful to his master. At that time Taylor had a pupil under his charge, as +stolid and slow at learning as any one well could be. It was hard work to +get anything driven into his dull pate. Taylor often lost temper +altogether, and used to exclaim: "Thoo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> blinnd divel! thoo can see +nowte—nowte at aw; an' theer' tudder chap actually larnin' faster than I +larn't mysel'! I can keep nowte frae <i>him</i>!"</p> + +<p>Dennison practised bone-setting for a life-time, throughout the north, with +great success. And by concentrating his skill on one particular branch, he +out-distanced the whole of the college-tutored doctors, far and near.</p> + +<p>"Cocking" was then a pastime much followed, and Benjamin Taylor's breed of +game cocks were noted for their fighting properties. They were, however, +(says Professor Wilson,) outmatched when sent over to Westmorland to fight +in a main at Elleray. Several of the Dennison family, too, about that date, +were likewise great "cockers." William Dennison, uncle to the bone-setter, +by trade a nailer, figured conspicuously for several years at the Easter +fights held at Alston.</p> + +<p>George Dennison was born and brought up at Penrith, one of the pleasantest +small towns in the north country. In height, he stood five feet +nine-and-a-half inches, and weighed fully thirteen stones; all over an +athlete in appearance, a compact and well made man. He was an excellent +striker with the right leg, effective with the "hench," and clever, also, +at hyping. The most successful feat he achieved in the ring, was at +Carlisle, in 1814, when he wrestled up with Dickinson of Alston; and at the +same meeting, carried off chief prize on the second day. He did not +continue to follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> wrestling for any lengthened period, but wisely kept an +eye steadily towards the vocation for which he was so eminently fitted.</p> + +<p>He figured more as an amateur in the ring than as a professional, +especially after the excitable youthful stage was passed. At an early +period in the outset of his career, he distinguished himself by throwing +the noted John Harrison of New Church, Matterdale, twice in the wrestle up +at some neighbouring country sports; and at Morland, in Westmorland, he +threw Savage of Bolton, near Appleby, who was at one time looked upon as +the don of a wide country-side.</p> + +<p>In July, 1812, there was a great gathering at the village of Newbiggin, a +place which had become famous for the keen rivalry displayed at its annual +wrestling contests. In this year, Armstrong, better known as "Solid Oak," +(provincially "Solid Yak,") put in an appearance, and came swaggering into +the ring on the village green, boasting he would soon clear the deck for +them. On stripping, he presented a gigantic mass of humanity, that +certainly looked exceedingly formidable. He stood upwards of six feet, +weighed fully eighteen stones, was solidly built from head to foot, and +apparently carried no superfluous flesh. But as the Fates would have it, +bounce and swagger, height and weight, and amazing strength, all proved of +no avail in the scales, for in one of the early rounds, the "Yak tree" was +dexterously carried off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> by the valiant bone-setter, and grassed amid the +loud taunts and jeers of the assembled villagers. At the Penrith gathering, +in October following, Dennison, then of Sockbridge, threw David Harrison of +New Church, in the first round, and was thrown next time over by Joseph +Bellas of Park-house.</p> + +<p>We have no list to show that Dennison attended the Carlisle meeting in +1812, but the following year his achievements were very creditable. He +wrestled successfully, for the head prize, as far as the fifth round, +throwing in succession—Robert Cowan, George Young, John Glendinning, and +Robert Langhorn, and—after one of the severest struggles on record—was +brought to grass by one of Robert Rowantree's slaughtering cross-buttocks. +In the second round, two young men, Tom Richardson, "the Dyer," and George +Forster—one of three brothers, all wrestlers—were drawn together. The +"Dyer" buttocked his opponent, and, in the fall, Forster unfortunately had +his shoulder dislocated. Dennison being in attendance, there was no need to +send for any bungling practitioner, or even to convey the sufferer off the +Swifts. The work of setting the shoulder to rights, in the presence of +12,000 wondering spectators, was not of long duration, and the operation so +successfully performed, that Forster could hardly be restrained from trying +his luck for the minor prize.</p> + +<p>On the second day, at Carlisle, Dennison, in the second round, threw George +Little, a clever scientific<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> wrestler, but immediately after, had to +succumb to the superior strength and weight of John Lowden of Keswick.</p> + +<p>In 1814, Dennison made his last and most successful appearance in the +Carlisle ring. He had worked himself through the three first rounds, for +the head prize, without meeting with anything like a dangerous rival. In +the fourth, he came against his fellow-townsman, Samuel Jameson, a +cartwright, considered to be one of the best of his trade in the county. He +was a strong, bony, five feet ten man, an extremely dangerous customer to +deal with. His fame as a wrestler has, however, been totally eclipsed by +that of his son, William Jameson, the champion of a later period. Having +successfully disposed of Jameson, Dennison next came in contact with +another equally good man, in the person of William Slee of Dacre, and +proved again victorious. The next and final struggle occurred with William +Dickinson of Alston. A reference to a description of the fall, a few pages +back, in Dickinson's memoir, will show how the head prize was lost to +Dennison, by the merest accidental slip on his part.</p> + +<p>Having missed first honours, he resolved to fight hard and perseveringly +for the second prize. This was won bravely. Only eighteen wrestlers entered +the ring, and the men who competed in the last two rounds, with the victor, +were Joseph Peart and Francis Wilson, the latter named being second.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>After the year 1814, Dennison—then about thirty years old—determined to +bid farewell to the wrestling ring, excepting sometimes trying an odd bout +when officiating in the capacity of umpire. An increasing profession +engrossed his attention, and he began to stick more assiduously to it. It +is not often that talent is hereditary, but in the Dennison family it +proved to be eminently so. His sons, George, John, and Joseph, have all +distinguished themselves in the same honourable vocation.</p> + +<p>The cures that Dennison wrought in bone-setting were numerous and +effective, and it is almost needless to remark, conferred more honour and +distinction on him than any success gained in the wrestling arena. One +remarkable cure may be mentioned; and as it was wrought on one of our most +renowned wrestlers, it will fit in appropriately. Richard Chapman, when +between ten and eleven years old, had a thigh bone badly broken. As a +matter of course, Dennison was sent for, and the cure effected was simply +perfection. Any one seeing the fine elastic form and marvellous activity of +Chapman, would hardly imagine or give credence to the fact, that a few +years before he had had a broken thigh bone. George Dennison, sitting or +standing, as the case might be, among the multitude round a wrestling ring, +and delightedly witnessing the Patterdale champion, tossing about his +opponents like shuttlecocks, with a science and activity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> rarely +paralleled, used to exclaim, in the well understood vernacular of the +north: "Leùk, lads, leùk! Theer' yan o' my cures of a brokken thie'!"</p> + +<p>At the Keswick annual sports, held in Crow Park, in 1833, a somewhat +singular coincidence occurred—the meeting of two athletes, and both of +them indebted to Dennison for being able to appear. John Spedding of +Egremont, a clever wrestler, and Richard Chapman, were called together. +Now, it so happened, the former had had a dislocated hip-joint set to +rights by Dennison, just about the same time the accident occurred to the +latter. Some little excitement was caused by these two stripping into the +ring in perfect form, when they doubtless presented a gratifying spectacle +to the skilful bone-setter, who was among the throng of onlookers: "Noo, +than!" he exclaimed, "leùk at my tweà men. I'll bet on brokken thie'-beàn, +ageàn hip-joint!" His opinion was quickly corroborated. "Thie'-beàn" won +cleverly, and afterwards disposed of John Nichol of Bothel, a formidable +opponent, in the final fall, for the head prize. The winner then went to +Greystoke, and won both the wrestling and high jumping; a neighbouring +squire asserting: "Upon my word, Chapman can jump higher than any horse I +have!"</p> + +<p>Twenty years or more had elapsed, since Dennison and William Richardson of +Caldbeck, had been brought to grief, in the Carlisle ring, by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +Kingwater champion, Rowantree,—when they met by chance at Springfield, on +the road between Penrith and Keswick. The latter was returning homewards +from Patterdale sheep fair. It so happened that both were rather "fresh i' +drink." Nothing would do but they must have a fall or two. Each got one, +when Dennison complained his arm was lamed. One of the byestanders, +chaffing him, said: "It maks neà matter, Gwordie, aboot thy arm! If it is +brokken, thoo can seùn set it ageàn, thoo knows!"</p> + +<p>The two veterans chatted over old times, and Dennison working himself up to +boiling point, in reference to the Carlisle wrestling of 1813, exclaimed: +"Wully! we sud beàth been weel bray't aw t' way heàm, for lettin' greit +Robin Row'ntree fell us. Confoond the numskull! Efter he'd carriet me off, +I dūd think 'at thoo wad ha' stopt his gallop for him!"</p> + +<p>George Dennison—justly regretted throughout the north—died May, 1840, +aged fifty-five years.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> +<h2>JAMES ROBINSON</h2> + +<h3>OF HACKTHORPE.</h3> + + +<p>Carlisle, the principal, the most influential and attractive wrestling ring +in Cumberland and Westmorland, and the Lowther family—the leading one of +the two counties—were for a considerable period closely allied. William, +Earl of Lonsdale, was a most munificent patron of the ring, from its +commencement in 1809, and for fully a quarter of a century afterwards. On +several occasions, this nobleman subscribed the sum of twenty guineas, the +full amount of prizes then given at the Border city; besides holding +meetings at Clifton, near Lowther, and other places, for the entertainment +of his guests. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that his +gamekeepers, wood-foresters, hinds, grooms, and other domestics, should be +sometimes found practising the art and mystery of buttocking, hyping, +swinging, and back-heeling, on sunny evenings in summer, under the shadow +of some stately oak or sycamore, in the park surrounding Lowther Castle.</p> + +<p>Of James Robinson, one of the Earl of Lonsdale's gamekeepers, we have not +been able to glean many particulars. He was a stout built, muscular man, +rather low set, stood about five feet ten inches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> high, and weighed fully +fourteen stones. He became a clever and effective buttocker; but excelled, +we understand, more in defence, and as a stiff sturdy stander in the ring, +than from any great amount of science he possessed.</p> + +<p>The earliest mention of Robinson, as a wrestler, which we can find, occurs +at the great gathering at Penrith in 1812. In the first round there, he +threw one J. Graham of Thomas Close, but owing to imperfect reporting, his +name does not appear again in the list.</p> + +<p>In 1815, the Committee of the Carlisle wrestling ring circulated the +following advertisement throughout Cumberland, Westmorland, and the +northern counties:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Twenty Guineas.</span>—To be Wrestled for at the Carlisle +Races, on Wednesday, the 4th of October, 1815, the sum +of Twenty Guineas, in the following Prizes:—First +Prize, £8. 8. 0. (He that wrestles the last fall with +the winner to receive £1. 1. 0.) Every wrestler, who +throws his man in the first wrestle, will be permitted +to contend for the second class of prizes, with the +exception of the winner of the first prize, in whose +place a wrestler will be chosen by the Clerk, to make +the dividing number even.</p> + +<p>Second Prizes:—First, £4. 4. 0.; Second, £2. 2. 0.; +Third, £1. 11. 6.; Fourth, £1. 11. 6.; Fifth, 10s. 6d.; +Sixth, 10s. 6d.; Seventh, 10s. 6d.; Eighth, 10s. 6d.</p> + +<p>No person to be permitted to contend for any of the +above prizes, unless he enrols his name with the Clerk, +on the Swifts, before ten o'clock in the morning of the +said 4th of October next, as the wrestling will +commence precisely at that hour. Any person making the +least disturbance, or attempting to force the ring, +will be taken into custody, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> constables will be +specially appointed for that purpose. All disputes to +be determined by Joseph Richardson, Esq., umpire.</p></div> + +<p>The weather during the races proved exceedingly favourable, and the ground +was in excellent condition. A greater concourse of people assembled than +had been seen for years. The leading families of the two counties were +represented. There were the Lowthers, the Vanes, the Grahams of Netherby +and Edmund Castle, the Broughams, the Salkelds, the Crackenthorpes, the +Senhouses, the Briscoes, the Hasells, the Wyberghs, and others.</p> + +<p>Sixty-eight men entered the wrestling ring to contend for the principal +prize. Included in the list were a fair sprinkling of old veterans, and a +whole bevy of young aspirants of considerable promise; namely, Robinson of +Hackthorpe, (his first appearance, we believe,) William Slee of Dacre, Tom +Todd of Knarsdale, Tom Richardson—"the Dyer," Joe Abbot of +Thornthwaite-hall, Andrew Armstrong of Sowerby-hall, Thomas Peat of +Blencow, Thomas Armstrong, the "yak tree," and the three Forsters of +Penton, being among the number.</p> + +<p>Robinson entered the ring in excellent spirits, and threw his men generally +very cleanly and cleverly. In the first round, he gained an easy victory +over John Copley. The next time over, in coming against Armstrong, the "yak +tree," all his activity and skill had to be brought into play, before the +compressed mass of eighteen stones could be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> brought to grass. In the third +round, he toppled over Edward Forster of Penton, in capital style; and, in +the fourth round, James Richardson of Hesket-New-Market, brother to "the +Dyer." The fifth time over, George Forster, another of the Penton brothers, +(who had thrown Tom Todd in the previous round,) came quickly to grief, +under the gamekeeper's brisk fire. Up to this point the Hackthorpe man had +shown some really good play; but, says the <i>Carlisle Patriot</i>, before the +final struggle commenced, Robinson and William Slee of Dacre had agreed to +divide the first prize between them, so that they only played for honour. +The "honour" of carrying off the head prize then fell to Robinson's share.</p> + +<p>On New Year's day, 1816, the annual meeting at Langwathby was numerously +attended. A contributor to one of the local papers says:—"Most of the +distinguished wrestlers of Cumberland and Westmorland were on the ground, +and there never was displayed more skill in the art of wrestling than on +this occasion. James Robinson, the noted champion, who won the first prize +at Carlisle races, was also successful at Langwathby, and we think he bids +fair to excel any man in the kingdom, in this species of amusement. He is a +strong-boned, athletic man, but not tall. Before the wrestling commenced, +considerable bets were made: the east against the west side of the Eden, +which was won by the latter. The purse contended for, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> two guineas. It +is intended next year to give a much larger sum, as Langwathby is likely to +become a distinguished place for wrestling, being situated in a +neighbourhood abounding in first-rate players."</p> + +<p>In October, 1816, Robinson again attended the Carlisle meeting. Owing to +being the victor of the previous year, a high chair was placed for him to +sit upon, from which elevated position he commanded an uninterrupted view +of the various falls. Entering his name among the contending parties, he +threw Joseph Batey, in the first round; Joseph Brown, in the second; and +William Rome in the third round. Coming against a miller, named William +Clark—"a tight built lal fellow"—from Hesket-New-Market, in the fourth +time over, Robinson was very adroitly brought to the ground, amid the +deafening cheers of the assembled crowd. No sooner had Clark achieved this +unexpected feat, than he created much laughter by marching up to the place +of honour, with a dignified swagger, saying, as he sat down: "I think I's +fairly entitled tiv a seat i' t' chair, noo, when I've thrown the greit +champion!"</p> + +<p>The wrestling at Carlisle in 1817, was held in Shearer's Circus—and not on +the Swifts as previously—when James Robinson, Tom Todd, John Mc.Laughlan, +and John Liddle, were looked upon as the principal champions. As it turned +out, however, Mc.Laughlan stalked through the ring an easy victor, none of +the other three mentioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> being able to make any headway against the +enormous reach and height of the Dovenby giant. This is the last record +known to us of the Hackthorpe gamekeeper as a wrestler.</p> + +<p>Robinson has been described by those who knew him, as a sturdy +bullet-headed sort of fellow, whose ideas seldom soared above the velveteen +coat and corduroy-trouser order of mortals; a rare hand at either creating +a row or quelling one; probably more accustomed to the former than the +latter. Nevertheless, he is still remembered in his capacity of gamekeeper, +as being an active and trustworthy servant to the Earl of Lonsdale: a +terror to all midnight prowlers and others addicted to trespassing among +the game preserves at Lowther. He took a prominent part in suppressing a +riot among the navvies employed in making the new road near Lowther, about +1818 or 1819.</p> + +<p>As Robinson advanced in years, intemperate habits appear to have gained +upon him; and for some time he led an irregular, harum-scarum sort of life. +He either possessed an estate, or had some interest in one, at Hackthorpe, +near Lowther, which he sold, and then foolishly set to work and squandered +the money. Ultimately, he became reduced to considerable destitution, and +at times fell into such sad states of despair, that one can easily conceive +of similar thoughts passing through his mind, to those embodied in Miss +Powley's pathetic ballad, "The Brokken Statesman":<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O, the fule rackle days! when in wild outwart ways,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I spent time but i' daftness, wi' raff an' expense.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then the auld land's neglect, an' my friends' lost respect,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While I scworned to tek counsel—I ne'er rued but yence!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">*....*....*....*<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When drink hed browt sorrow—fresh money to borrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wi' deep debt o' the riggin', puir crops o' the hill;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wi' life at the barest, heart sorrow fell sairest;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet e'en then I thowt—Cummerland caps them aw still.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In November, 1834, James Robinson was found drowned in Armathwaite bay, +eight or nine miles from Penrith, and about the same distance from +Carlisle. The waters being very full at the time, it was presumed he had +missed his way in the dark, and fallen into the river Lowther, near +Brougham—a tributary of the Eden. An inquest was held upon the body, but +no evidence appeared to the jurors as to how or by what means he was +drowned. At the time of this unfortunate event, Robinson was forty-five +years old.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> +<h2>THOMAS RICHARDSON</h2> + +<h3>OF HESKET-NEW-MARKET.</h3> + + +<p>Thomas Richardson, commonly known as "the Dyer," one of thirteen children, +was born at Caldbeck, about the year 1796, and brought up in the +neighbouring village of Hesket-New-Market, situate between Penrith and +Wigton.</p> + +<p>Richardson's father held situations at Rose Castle, under Bishops Vernon +and Goodenough. The latter prelate, taking an interest in the welfare of +young Richardson, sent him to be educated, under the Rev. John Stubbs, +formerly master of Sebergham grammar school; a man of considerable +classical attainments, and of a very jovial disposition. The bishop +intended his <i>protégé</i> for the Church; and, to attain such distinction, +most of our readers will be aware, was the anxious hope of many +middle-class families in Cumberland and Westmorland. In this case, the wish +and aspiration were destined not to bear fruit. The lad steadily rejected +all offers of advancement in that direction, his own oft expressed wish +being to be brought up to husbandry, and to excel as an athlete. While the +father and mother were not averse to his following agricultural pursuits, +they were strongly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> against his wrestling proclivities. Whenever such +gatherings were attended, the youngster had to "slipe off" unknown to his +parents.</p> + +<p>On arriving at maturity, Richardson developed into a fine manly-looking +man, standing five feet eleven inches high, and weighing from thirteen to +thirteen-and-a-half stones, with broad massive chest, good length of arm, +and strongly built throughout. In the ring, he excelled greatly at hyping, +and if this chanced to miss, generally followed up with the "ham."</p> + +<p>The question has often been asked, how Richardson came to be familiarly +spoken of as "the Dyer." It occurred after this manner. In the parish of +Caldbeck, there happened to be several families, at one time, of the same +name. This rendered it necessary to distinguish them by such appellations +as "Fiddler Richardson," "Dyer Richardson," and "oald Jwohn +Richardson"—the last named being "Belted Will's" father. John Richardson, +Tom's grandfather, was a dyer at Caldbeck, and became much famed for his +<i>blue</i> dyes. At that time, blue-and-white checked shirts were generally +worn in country districts, by middle and lower class persons; and the women +donned blue linen aprons, and blue linsey skirts. These now disused and +durable fabrics, were manufactured extensively at Ulverston, Kendal, and, +on a lesser scale, at many other places in the north. It was a <i>sine qua +non</i> that the blue colours should be "fast."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>John Richardson served his apprenticeship in Kendal, under the Wakefields, +and was there during the rebellion of "'45." When the first section of the +Pretender's army retreated northwards through Kendal, it was market-day, +and as a matter of course, a multitude of people were collected together, +who mobbed the rear-guard of the troops. During the excitement which +prevailed, one of Wakefield's dyers seized a gun belonging to a Highlander, +and boldly and determinedly wrenched it from his grasp. This only proved +the forerunner of more direful onslaughts. As the rebels were turning down +the Fish-market, a musket shot fired from a window above, brought one of +them lifeless from his horse, and two others were taken prisoners. Being +thus provoked, the Highlanders turned about and fired on the multitude. A +farmer, named John Slack, of New Hutton, was killed in the open street; and +a shoemaker, and an ostler, were seriously wounded. When the Duke of +Cumberland's army had passed through Kendal, John Richardson—having proved +himself a trustworthy servant—was decorated with a cockade, and employed +to carry despatches between the Wakefields and Colonel Honeywood, who was +wounded in the skirmish on Clifton Moor, near Penrith.</p> + +<p>In after life, Tom Richardson's father kept an inn, and the <i>blue</i> flag +which floated over his tent at wrestling and other meetings, was the means +of indicating his whereabouts to friends and customers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the year 1813, when Richardson was about seventeen years old, he felt a +strong desire to attend the races and wrestling at Carlisle. His father +being much against the outing, some bickering took place between them. +However, after breakfast, on the morning of the races, watching his +opportunity, the lad slipped out unseen, and had to run part of the way, in +order to be in time—the full distance to the border city being something +like thirteen miles. Reaching Carlisle, he succeeded in getting his name +entered for the head prize. This effected, he was soon called out against +Joseph Slack of Blencow, a skilful wrestler, but getting past the meridian. +After an exciting tussle, the youngster proved victorious. Next time over, +he met George Forster of Denton, and buttocked him cleverly. Forster's +shoulder was unfortunately put out in the fall, but set again quickly, as +described in the sketch of George Dennison's career. In the third round, +Richardson's further progress was cut short by one Robert Langhorn. Our +youthful aspirant for fame, then entered for the second day's prize, but +was thrown in the second round, by Simon Armstrong.</p> + +<p>The following year—1814—he again attended the Carlisle wrestling, and met +with about similar success as before. For the head prize, Samuel Jameson of +Penrith disposed of him in the third round. In the second day's entry, +William Slee of Dacre did the same in the first round.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1815, the "Dyer" appeared in the Carlisle ring for the third time. He +threw Andrew Armstrong of Sowerby-hall, in the second round; and was thrown +next time over by Tom Todd of Knarsdale, near Alston. For the second day's +prize, he disposed in succession of his neighbour, William Clark, the +miller, Joe Abbot of Thornthwaite-hall, and Robert Forster of Denton; and +was brought to grief by Edward Forster, a brother of the last mentioned.</p> + +<p>The weather at the Carlisle meeting held in September, 1816, turned out to +be extremely wet and uncomfortable, on both first and second days. As a +natural consequence, there was a much thinner attendance than ordinary. The +Earl of Lonsdale, the Marquis of Queensberry, Sir Philip Musgrave, and +others of the nobility and neighbouring gentry, were present; but after the +first day, scarcely any equipages, and very few ladies, were to be seen on +the course. There was a fair average of good men entered; but the account +we have to give of the wrestling is conflicting and unsatisfactory, +presenting a finish lame and impotent in the extreme.</p> + +<p>In the first and second rounds, Richardson was called out against John Earl +of Cumwhitton, and John Weightman, respectively. He succeeded in throwing +both of these formidable antagonists. The former was an old veteran in the +Carlisle ring, and the latter a powerful young man of twenty-one, with an +eventful career before him. In the fourth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> round, Richardson and Joseph +Graham were drawn together, and had an unsatisfactory bout. Respecting this +fall, Litt says: "Being a spectator that year, we do not hesitate to say +that the conduct of the umpires was extremely blameable. In the course of +the wrestling, a fall between Thomas Richardson of Hesket, and Joseph +Graham from Ravenglass, was given to the former. We assert that Graham was +not allowed a fair hold, that it was a manifest snap, and after all it was +a complete dog-fall. On wrestling when there were but four standers, +Richardson was indisputably thrown; but such was the gross partiality shown +towards him, that he was allowed to compound with the person who threw +him." Disposing of George Coulthard, in the fifth round, Richardson was +then called against Tom Todd of Knarsdale, to wrestle the final fall.</p> + +<p>As a somewhat different statement has been sent abroad in <i>Wrestliana</i>, we +think it only right that the "Dyer's" own plea should be set forth. Well, +after Todd and he had stood fronting one another, in the ring, for some +time, but had not been in holds, "'turney" Pearson called Richardson to one +side, and offered him a considerable sum of money if he would only take his +coat, go out of the ring, and say he "dārrent russel," or he "dudn't +want to russel." To this proposal, Richardson indignantly replied: "No! +I'll nowder deà sec a like thing for yee, nor nivver a man i' Carel toon!" +It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> was currently reported, by the way, that Pearson had bet a good deal +Todd would win the prize.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> After some further squabbling, a row took +place, and the ring was completely broken up.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Henry Pearson, solicitor, was a rare upholder of wrestling, +but too much given to betting to do full justice to all parties. It was +currently reported he ventured so large a sum on Carter at the Gretna +fight, that when Oliver was likely to win during the earlier rounds, he +evinced a state of the greatest nervousness imaginable. An old stager has a +distinct recollection of him as he stood "fumlen wid his fingers iv his +mooth," betraying the nervous "twitch" peculiar to men undergoing great +mental excitement, and looking as if he might have gone off at any moment +like touchwood or tinder.</p></div> + +<p>It was then given out that the two men were to wrestle next morning—the +following day being Thursday. When Thursday morning, however, came, the +meeting was put off till next morning. When Friday came, it was again put +off, on account of the great fight between Carter and Oliver, at Gretna. +Richardson stayed three whole days in Carlisle, over the affair, and never +received a penny! Whatever "gross partiality" might be shown towards him in +wrestling through the ring, he seems only to have fared badly in the end. +Let those who can, answer for the treatment he received. The second prize +advertised by the Carlisle wrestling committee, curiously enough, was not +contended for at all; why so, was best known to the committee themselves.</p> + +<p>During the years 1817-18-19-20, there was no wrestling at Carlisle, in +connection with the races.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> The proprietor of a circus certainly filled up +the gap creditably, in 1817; but the three remaining years following were +entire blanks.</p> + +<p>At the Langwathby annual Rounds, held on New Year's day, in 1818, +Richardson carried off the head prize of two guineas, finally throwing John +Dobson of Cliburn.</p> + +<p>While wrestling seemed altogether defunct at Carlisle, it was taken up with +renewed vigour at Keswick. In August, 1818, the head prize offered was a +purse of five guineas, which brought a great gathering of spectators, and +all the best athletes of the day. The onlookers had the gratification of +witnessing many keenly contested falls. The last two standers were +Richardson, and William Wilson of Ambleside, then just coming out. Before +going into the ring for the final struggle, some chaffing took place, the +"Dyer" saying to Wilson in a swaggering sort of way, "I'll throw thee, noo, +thoo'll see, like I threw t' last chap!" After a good deal of higgling, on +Richardson's part, about wanting a "good hod," the two men finally closed, +and Wilson being impatient to be at work at once, lifted his opponent to +hype him, but missed his stroke. Some manœuvring then took place, and +the "Dyer" having materially improved his hold, threw in the "ham" quickly, +and curiously enough succeeded in bringing over his dangerous rival, in the +very manner he had "bragged" of doing.</p> + +<p>In answer to a paragraph which appeared in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the <i>Cumberland Pacquet</i>, +Richardson issued the following notice:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Sporting Advertisement.</span>—Thomas Richardson, who won the +principal prize at the last Keswick Regatta and Races, +having observed it mentioned in the Whitehaven paper of +the first instant, that he refused to "play again with +the man he threw, for five guineas, though challenged," +begs to contradict such statement, as being a gross +falsehood; and he is sorry such an offer was not made +to him.—He now challenges his opponent, alluded to in +the Whitehaven paper, to wrestle him for ten guineas, +at any time or place.—Hesket-New-Market, Sept. 2nd, +1818.</p></div> + +<p>As this match never came off, it is impossible to say what the result might +have been; nevertheless, we have strong leanings to the belief that the +"Dyer" would have gained nothing, at that date, by coming into personal +contact with Wilson, the best of five falls. As a hyper, the "Dyer" was +admirable, and dangerous, too, among even the best Cumbrian wrestlers; but, +in this particular respect, he was far behind Wilson in quickness of stroke +and brilliancy of execution.</p> + +<p>On one of the days after the races at Keswick, Richardson had a match with +Tom Lock of Ravenglass, and threw him cleverly.</p> + +<p>Some years after, the "Dyer" rambled away from home as far as Low Wood, to +attend the annual wrestlings at Windermere. For some reason or other, he +entered his name "Thomas Porter," and passed quietly through two or three +of the earlier rounds as an unknown hand. Being called against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Joe Abbot +of Bampton, the latter bounced into the ring very full of stopping the +further progress of the stranger. No sooner had they approached one +another, than Joe opened his eyes very wide, stood as one petrified for a +moment, and then exclaimed, "D—n! it's <i>thee</i>, Dyer, is it!" The two then +took hold, but Joe made no effort towards getting the fall, and "Thomas +Porter" obtained fall after fall until he succeeded, we understand, in +carrying off the belt.</p> + +<p>Liberal prizes for wrestling and other sports were given at Greystoke +Castle, by the Howards, and the meetings were always well attended by the +nobility and the neighbouring gentry. Richardson won there one year, +William Earl of Cumwhitton wrestling second.</p> + +<p>A close acquaintance existed between Richardson and Weightman. The former +was master at the beginning of their career, but afterwards the latter +became too powerful for him. In all they met eleven times, and out of that +number of falls, Weightman scored six, and Richardson five. Among other +places, the latter threw the Hayton champion at one of the Kirkoswald +"worchet" meetings, and got the compliment returned at Wreay soon after, +where the fallen man lamed his side.</p> + +<p>Sitting among the crowd that lined the Carlisle ring one year, the "Dyer" +was called out against a big, raw-boned fellow, an awkward-looking +customer, but one, nevertheless, who appeared young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> and inexperienced. +"What's t'e gāen to mak' o' yon 'an, Tom?" asked Weightman. "Oh," +replied the "Dyer," in a tone of mock humility, "I's just gāen to fell +him reet off hand, an' than he can gā heàm till his mudder, pooar +lad!"</p> + +<p>On another occasion, he was called out against Wilfrid Wright, at a meeting +on Penrith fell. "Noo, Wiff," said he, "I's gāen to throw thee +streight into yon furrow yonder!" and did so cleverly. When Wright had +recovered from his astonishment, and was gathering himself up, he +exclaimed: "Cush, man! I dudn't think thoo cud ha' deùn't hofe sa clean!"</p> + +<p>Richardson continued to wrestle for many years, in the Carlisle and other +rings, with moderate success. Later on, he lived at Penrith with a sister, +who kept an inn there. When approaching fifty years old, he became so +overgrown, that his weight appeared to be seventeen or eighteen stones, +forming a marked contrast to what he was a quarter of a century +before—then a lish, active, thirteen-stone man.</p> + +<p>He died at Penrith, about the year 1853.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<h2>TOM TODD</h2> + +<h3>OF KNARSDALE.</h3> + + +<p>Tom Todd, a Northumbrian by birth, was born and brought up at "The Bogg," +in Knarsdale, near Alston, where his father was well known as a sheep +breeder. He stood fully five feet ten inches high; his general wrestling +weight being about twelve stones and a half. Todd's contemporaries have +spoken of him as a most accomplished and scientific wrestler. He could +buttock cleanly, hype quickly, and excelled in most other chips. Weighing +and watching his opponents' movements narrowly, he seemed to anticipate +what was coming, and prepared accordingly, both for stopping and chipping. +In taking hold, like most good wrestlers, he stood square and upright; but +in consequence of having a very peculiarly shaped back, like half a barrel, +it was next to impossible to hold him easily, or to grip him with any +amount of firmness. Like Richard Chapman, he could always "get out," if so +minded, at starting.</p> + +<p>About the summer of 1810 or 1811, Tom Todd, then just merging into manhood, +attended the annual "boon" mowing-meeting of John Bell of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> Kirkhaugh, the +noted bone-setter, where as many as twenty or thirty strong men often +congregated together. When the grass had been cut down, it was usual to +broach a barrel of ale, and drink the contents on the green sward. During +the time the nut-brown home-brewed was being handed round, the Alston band +enlivened the scene with music; and then followed the most attractive part +of the day's programme, namely, dog-trailing, jumping, and wrestling. At +this rural festival Tom Todd won his first belt; and a lad, named Robin +Carruthers, a farm servant, from the Bewcastle district, wrestled second.</p> + +<p>In 1815, Todd figured in the Carlisle ring, probably for the first time; +and came against Tom Richardson, the dyer, in the third round for the +principal prize. Being both young men, and not unequally matched in size, +strength, and science, they had three desperate tussles before the struggle +could be decided. Finally, the fall ended in favour of Todd. In the fourth +round, Todd's career was cut short by George Forster of Penton.</p> + +<p>In contending for the second prize, Todd threw a clever wrestler, named +Thomas Peat, a farmer's son, from Blencow, in the third round; and +Armstrong, the "yak tree," in the fourth. Not being able to come to terms +about holds, in the final fall, with Edward Forster of Penton, the two +never wrestled out, but, says Litt, in dividing the money for first and +second, Todd received more money<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> than his opponent, it being the opinion +of the umpire that he was the fairer stander.</p> + +<p>Todd made his appearance again in the Carlisle wrestling ring of 1816, +where he played a conspicuous part. Meeting with no one particularly worthy +of being called a dangerous competitor in the first five rounds, he went +through with considerable ease, throwing in rotation, James Johnson, R. +Armstrong, J. Scott, T. Hodgson, and William Clark of Hesket-New-Market. +After the fifth round, the only two men left standing were Todd and +Richardson, the dyer; and the fall which ought to have been decided between +them, resulted in nothing but discreditable quarrelling and ill feeling. A +fuller account of this unpleasant affair will be found in the sketch of +Thomas Richardson's career. Todd's friends, as a natural consequence, +thought that he was the better man, and ought to have won. Todd himself, +after the event, seemed to be under a bond of secrecy on the subject. We +have no desire to sully his memory, with the charge of a settled +determination not to go to work with equal holds. We do not wish to twit +him with taking a mean advantage of his opponent, in order to deprive him +of the chance of a fair contest. We believe he had a soul above such an +unwarrantable proceeding. It will, probably, be nearer the mark to say, he +acted unwisely and unbecomingly, by conniving with his principal backer, as +the sequel will show.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>Todd's usual remark was—when the subject chanced to be broached and +discussed—that Richardson's backers pressed him very much to "lay down," +which he declined most definitely to do. But a week or two before his +death, a far more disagreeable fact oozed out. He then acknowledged, to an +intimate friend, mentioned hereafter—whom he rescued at the Gretna +fight—that he received <i>half the money</i>, offered for the head prize, in +1816. This, of course, was paid through the agency of one of the principal +promoters of the Carlisle ring, in a left-handed manner, with an +understanding that it should never be made public!</p> + +<p>About two years after the dishonourable act narrated, had broken up the +annual wrestling at Carlisle, Todd used to tell of meeting Richardson, in +the third round at some village sports, where he threw him easily.</p> + +<p>After this—and during the discontinuance of the popular gathering on the +Swifts, for three years—we know nothing of Todd's career as a wrestler, +until the Carlisle Meeting of 1822, when he again made a gallant but +unsuccessful struggle to carry off the head prize. Being engaged as a +gamekeeper, in the service of the Earl of Carlisle, on the Naworth Castle +estates, he entered himself under the assumed name of "John Moses of +Alston." Todd displayed considerable science and activity in the course of +the day, and distinguished himself much and deservedly, by throwing +several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> dangerous hands, among whom may be especially mentioned, John +Fearon of Gilcrux, seventeen stone weight, John Liddle of Bothel, a +fourteen-and-a-half stone man, (winner of the head prize at Keswick, a few +weeks previously, where he finally disposed of William Cass of +Loweswater)—and Robert Watters of Carlisle, a light weight, but an +accomplished scientific wrestler. In the final fall, however, with Cass, +the cup of success was again dashed from his lips. This time the +weight—sixteen stones—and strength of the Loweswater champion, proving +too much for twelve-and-a-half stones.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the cheers died away which greeted the West Cumberland man's +victory, when Louis Nanny of Haltwhistle—an enthusiastic frequenter of +wrestling rings—offered to back the Knarsdale man in a match against Cass +for a hundred pounds. Todd thought this sum too much to risk even handed, +against such a powerful antagonist; but was willing to be backed, and +contend at all hazards, for half that amount. The two east countrymen, +however, had it all their own way, so far as the challenge was concerned. +At that time, Cass being new to the Carlisle ring, and almost unknown as a +wrestler, no one seemed bold enough to stand forward on his behalf; and, +moreover, like a quiet, inoffensive man, he was perfectly content to rest +upon the laurels he had just gained.</p> + +<p>This year Weightman—"aw ower his oan daft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> nonsense"—was thrown by Fearon +of Gilcrux, in the first round, for the principal prize at Carlisle. Not +being eligible, on this account, for entry in the second day's competition, +Tom Todd stood on one side for him; when Weightman, in order to retrieve +lost ground, took pains, and threw his men as fast as he came to them. +"Talk aboot russlin'!" exclaimed an eye witness, "Wey, man, he just went +thro' them like th' wind!"</p> + +<p>As time passed on, and Weightman came more prominently to the fore, Tom +Todd found himself absolutely nowhere in the giant's grasp; he therefore +thought it wiser and more prudent to retire from the ring, without making +any further efforts to carry off first honours.</p> + +<p>When Todd was a young man, he kept a tight well-made little trail-hound, +trained to the name of "Stand back," but which was entered at the different +trails as "Towler." Harry Kirkby of Kirkhaugh, the clergyman's lame son, +used to tell a tale about Todd and himself taking the hound one year to +Melmerby Rounds. When the dogs were coming in, they looked to the +spectators, "aw iv a cluster," as they neared the winning post. At this +crisis, Todd roared out in a loud voice: "Standback! Standback!" apparently +appealing to the crowd, and ran fussing about immediately in front, with +his arms flying in the air. "An' dar bon!" said the priest's son, "the dog +com' in like stooar, an' wan easily!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>This artful trick has been often practised since, if not earlier than that +time, at dog-trails—successfully on more than one occasion by the late +Richard Gelderd of Ulverston, a keen dog-trailer. He had a "Standback," and +at the Flan and other neighbouring sports, was trained to rush forward to +the winning post, when the crowd were ordered in a stentorian voice: +"Standback! Standback! an' let t' dogs cum in—can't ye!"</p> + +<p>At the great northern fight, between Carter and Oliver, at Gretna, in 1816, +John Slack of Carlisle, shoemaker, then a young man in his teens, was +thrown to the ground by the surging of the immense crowd, and might easily +have been trampled to death. Seeing the impending danger, Tom Todd, and +John Barnes, the constable, both powerful men, elbowed their way through +the crowd, and succeeded in rescuing the fallen man, before he was +seriously injured. On lifting him from the ground, Todd exclaimed, "Marcy, +Jwohn! is that thee? My faiks! but thoo'd a narrow squeak for thy life +theear!"</p> + +<p>Some time after the year 1822, Todd left the north of England, and went +into the Highlands of Scotland, where he became gamekeeper to Sir Charles +Ross of Belnagowan Castle, Ross-shire, and continued in that capacity for +something like twenty-four or twenty-five years.</p> + +<p>Returning again to his native district, he settled upon the farm rented by +his brother John, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> Moscow, near the fashionable watering-place of +Gilsland. A few years before he died, he gradually lost his sight, and at +times grew "varra canker't an' twisty." Once when one of these fits was +upon him, his denunciation of wrestlers and wrestling rings was hurled +about in such unqualified language, that one was apt to think the +transgressions committed in the Carlisle ring of 1816, still haunted his +waking dreams—not probably for anything done personally, but for being +made a cat's-paw at that time, by his principal backer.</p> + +<p>In the month of September, 1875, Todd, then in his eighty-fourth year, went +to the house door, beckoned to the farm-workers that dinner was ready, and +immediately after passed quietly away. From the fact of the Knarsdale +athlete having attained this great age—and he was only one of many who +did—we may draw pretty conclusive evidence, that the northern pastime of +wrestling does not, as a rule, shorten life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> +<h2>WILLIAM WILSON</h2> + +<h3>OF AMBLESIDE.</h3> + + +<p>Size, position, and population considered, it must be allowed that the +district of High Furness, in North Lancashire, has produced its fair quota +of wrestling celebrities. Foremost comes William Wilson, then Miles +Dixon—according to Professor Wilson, "a match for any cock in +Cumberland"—his brother James, and Roan and John Long, all men of great +stature and power, capable of hurling their opponents</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Off the ground with matchless strength."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These were all natives of the soil. In the early part of the nineteenth +century, the wrestlings at the Ferry-on-Windermere, at Backbarrow, Bouth +Fair, Finsthwaite, Oxenpark, Arrad Foot Races, and on many other village +greens in Furness Fells, were often very keenly contested. Arthur Burns of +Ullater, (who suffered from the deadly grip of Roan Long,) James Burns, a +younger brother of Arthur's, Roger Taylor of Scathwaite, and John Wren of +Bouth, the peatman, were all good wrestlers in their day and generation.</p> + +<p>Then came John Harrison of Lowick, sometimes called "Checky," from the +colour of his shirt, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> carried off one or two prizes from the Keswick +ring in its palmiest days; later in life a landlord at Ulverston; a man of +enormous strength, standing fully six feet high, stout limbed, and weighing +something like seventeen stones. One feat, forcibly illustrating his +uncommon strength, deserves record. During one of the statute fairs, two +sturdy country servant men got to fighting in his house at Ulverston. He +made no fuss of any kind, but quietly took up one under each arm, and +carried them both, vainly struggling to be free, into the middle of the +market place; then set them down on their legs, and, giving each a good +bang against the other, left them to fight it out. Joseph Jackson of +Grizebeck, in Kirkby Ireleth, sickle maker, though barely a twelve-stone +man, gained many first prizes, and came off triumphant in a severely +contested match with William Bateman of Yottenfews, near Gosforth.</p> + +<p>Cannon of Subberthwaite, Robert Casson and Brian Christopherson of +Oxenpark, and Marshall, the forgeman, also deserve a passing word of +praise, although none of them ever went out of their own neighbourhood to +wrestle. Christopherson put forth promising powers at the Ferry and other +places, and was highly complimented by Richard Chapman. At the Ferry, he +was backed by a local sporting man, in a match with George Donaldson—a +single fall—for two pounds; and, to the surprise of a crowd of anxious +onlookers, won gallantly. There was little difference in the weight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> or +height of the winner and the loser. Casson threw Harrison, Cannon, and all +comers at Bouth Fair; and Marshall did precisely the same thing at +Sparkbridge. On the last occasion, the excitement amongst the spectators +became so intense, that the forgeman's progress was urged on after the +following primitive fashion: "If thou'll nobbut thrā' Cannon," shouted +one, "I'll gi'e the' a pint!" "Thrā' Harrison," roared another, "an' +I'll stand the' a quart!" "I think," responded Marshall, with a fine stroke +of humour—"I think, I'd better hev summat to be gāen on wi'. It'll +mebbe help me to thrā' them <i>beàth togidder</i>!"</p> + + +<p>William Wilson was born and brought up at High Wray, a village pleasantly +situated on the western banks of Windermere lake. Near to his birthplace +there has been erected a lordly baronial residence—Wray Castle—on a +beautiful commanding site, overlooking all the higher reaches of +Windermere, and forming one of the many attractive objects for sight-seers +on the lake. Wilson was a nephew of the Dixons of Grasmere, and was +commonly spoken of as "girt Will Wilson," in order to distinguish him from +"lile Will Wilson" of Grasmere, or "wicked Will," as the latter was +sometimes called, from the bottom and endurance he displayed in frequent +pugnacious encounters. It was "lile Will," we believe, who once wrestled up +at Bowness, with William Thwaites of Staveley, an eleven-stone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> man. They +each got a fall. The next one—called by the umpires a dog-fall—was +claimed by Thwaites, who, in consequence, refused to wrestle over again. +The ring was soon broken up in disorder, and in the <i>melée</i> which ensued, +Professor Wilson struck Thwaites over the head with his stick, and bulged +his hat in. "Did I do that, my lad?" asked Wilson. "Yes," replied Thwaites, +"yee did it: I's suèr an' sarten o' that." "Then," said Wilson, "here's a +sovereign for wrestling so well. It'll mebbe help to get thee a new hat."</p> + +<p>William Wilson grew up a tall "lathy fellow," standing, when full grown, +quite six feet four inches high, straight as a willow-wand and as lithe, +and gradually grew until at twenty-two he weighed from fourteen to fifteen +stones, with a good reach of arm, and a finely developed muscular frame. As +a hyper, or "inside striker," as Litt calls him, he displayed superb form. +For three or four years, he stood unmatched and irresistible in this +particular stroke, and since his day no man has appeared worth calling a +rival to him, except William Jackson of Kinniside. We are now alluding to +the "standing hype," or as the author of <i>Wrestliana</i> more properly defines +it, "inside striking." It is a chip in which a tall wrestler, like Wilson +or Jackson, has a great advantage, particularly over shorter opponents. The +"swinging hype," in which Chapman, Donaldson, and Longmire were such deadly +proficients, is more showy and artistic, consisting of a quick swing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> off +the breast once round or nearly so, and then a turn over with the knee +inside the thigh.</p> + +<p>Our information respecting Wilson's career as a wrestler is neither so full +nor minute as we could have desired. The probability is that he won his +first prize on the banks of his native Windermere, but at what age or under +what circumstances is not now known. When a young man, Roan Long and he had +a severe bout at Ambleside sports, which ended in Wilson throwing his burly +opponent cleverly with the hype.</p> + +<p>The first definite notice, however, we have of him as an athlete was at the +Keswick Regatta and Races in 1818, being at that time about twenty-two +years old. While the Carlisle ring, on the Swifts, was closed for the space +of four years, the wrestling in the Crow Park, Keswick, assumed an +importance which it could scarcely otherwise have attained. In fact, for a +time it was justly entitled to be considered the leading and most important +wrestling gathering in the north. In aid of this distinction, there then +existed on all sides of the metropolitan lake town, a numerous array of +very distinguished athletes. Mr. Pocklington of Barrow House, was the chief +supporter of the regatta and races at that date, and his personal exertions +to promote the permanent establishment and success of these meetings were +unceasing.</p> + +<p>In the year 1818, some remarkably good play took place in the wrestling +ring. The two most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> successful competitors were in excellent "fettle," +namely, Tom Richardson and William Wilson. The latter gathered his men +quickly and cleanly, and threw them as fast as he came to them. Coming +against Richardson in the final fall, he lifted him from the ground with +the intention of hyping, but failing to hold his man firmly, the Dyer +turned in, and, after a considerable struggle, managed to bring him over +with the buttock. After this tussle, Wilson always spoke of Richardson as +being "swine back't," meaning thereby that his back was extremely slippery +and difficult to hold, from the nature of its peculiar roundness.</p> + +<p>In the year 1819, Wilson carried off the head prize for wrestling, and a +handsome belt, at the Ferry Regatta, Windermere. We have no account of the +other competitors at this meeting.</p> + +<p>Wilson attended the Keswick gathering of the same year, for the second +time, and it proved memorable above all others in his wrestling career, +stamping him as "the best wrestler Westmorland ever produced." Many +dispassionate judges at this time held the opinion, that this eulogium +might be extended also to the neighbouring northern county. We have no +doubt, if he had continued a healthy man, this verdict would have been +confirmed over and over again. Although he did not succeed in winning the +chief prize this year, he nevertheless distinguished himself ten times more +than the victor who did, by throwing the man with whom no one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> else had the +shadow of a chance. We refer to his struggle with John Mc.Laughlan of +Dovenby, more than two inches taller than Wilson, and at that time five or +six stones heavier.</p> + +<p>As a prelude to this fall, Clattan took hold of Wilson in the middle of the +ring, in a good natured sort of way, and lifted him up in his arms to show +how easily he could hold him. No sooner was he set down, than Wilson threw +his arms around Clattan's waist, and lifted him in precisely the same way, +a course of procedure which greatly amused the spectators. After these +preliminaries had been gone through, the two men were not long in settling +into holds, each having full confidence in his own powers and his own mode +of attack. A few seconds, however, decided the struggle of these two modern +Titans. No sooner had each one gripped his fellow, than quick as thought, +Wilson lifted Clattan from the ground in grand style, and hyped him with +the greatest apparent ease—a feat that no other man in Britain could have +done.</p> + +<p>The cheering which followed the giant's downfall was tremendous, and might +have been heard on the top of Skiddaw or Saddleback. "Hurrah! hurrah! Well +done Wilson!" shouted a hundred voices, while round followed round of +applause in rapid succession. It was one of these brilliant and exciting +moments, when the miserable party feeling of envy and strife, which +sometimes crops up between the two sister counties, was entirely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> swamped +and forgotten. "Thoo wasn't far wrang," exclaimed a hard featured man, with +an austere voice, to his next neighbour, sitting by the side of the +ring—"Thoo wasn't far wrang, when thoo said Wilson wad throw him." +"Wrang!" replied the other in ecstasies, "I wad think nūt! Wilson's +like a cooper, thoo sees. He kens hoo to gang roond a cask!"</p> + +<p>An old "statesman," from about Mungrisedale or Penruddock—wearing a pair +of buckskin breeches, whose pint of nut-brown had just been upset in the +<i>furor</i>—is remembered as having been so worked upon by the excitement of +the moment, that he threw his hat in the air, and, in derisive language, +addressed himself to anybody and everybody, as follows:—"Ha! ha! my fine +fellow! If thoo says Clattan <i>isn't</i> a gud russler, an' wasn't <i>olas</i> a gud +russler, thoo tells a heàp o' lees, an' nowte but lees—thoo confoondit +taistrel, thoo!"</p> + +<p>This fall is still talked of at the firesides of the dalesmen of the +north—cottars, farmers, and "statesmen"—as one of the most wonderful and +dazzling achievements ever witnessed in the wrestling ring.</p> + +<p>Returning again to the next Keswick meeting which followed, Wilson found no +difficulty in walking through the ranks of 1820. When only four men were +standing, Tom "Dyer" was drawn against Isaac Mason of Croglin, who at that +time was looked upon as a dangerous customer in the ring.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> It was the +opinion of some onlookers that the "Dyer" seemed to be afraid of Mason. Be +that as it may, the two not being able to agree about holds—a procedure +which has sometimes discredited parties in the ring, and is sorely trying +to the patience of spectators—the stewards, after a considerable delay, +very properly crossed them both out. Wilson and William Richardson were now +the last standers, and the former carried off the Caldbeck hero with +ridiculous ease. Litt says, "Richardson had not the shadow of a chance with +him." This testimony is exceedingly significant, and says much for Wilson's +powers as a wrestler.</p> + +<p>"Hoo 'at thoo let him hype the' i' that stupid fashion, thoo numb divel, +thoo?" said Tom "Dyer," reproachfully, to the loser of the fall, while the +latter was engaged in putting his coat on. "What! <i>he hes it off</i>—an' that +thoo kens as weel as anybody," was the sturdy reply. "I cudn't stop him, +ner <i>thee</i> nowder, for that matter, if he nobbut gat a fair ho'd o' the'."</p> + +<p>The year 1822, found Wilson "rayder gāen back, an' thin o' flesh." He +laboured under an asthmatic complaint, which increased upon him about this +date, and began to tell much against his athletic attainments. +Nevertheless, he attended the Keswick gathering once more. The wrestling +was carried on in the bottom of a meadow, and not on the higher ground as +previously. The ground being wet and slippery, was consequently disastrous +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> many of the wrestlers. Wilson threw Jonathan Watson, a dangerous hand +to meet, in the first round, for the head prize; and in one of the +subsequent rounds was drawn against Weightman of Hayton. Lifting the huge +East Cumbrian "varra clean," but not being able to keep his feet, from the +slippery and lumpy state of the ground, Wilson overbalanced himself and +fell backwards, with his opponent on the top of him. This untoward +accident, in all probability, lost him the chief prize. Cass of Loweswater +brought Weightman to grief, in the last round but one, by striking at the +outside, and throwing him off the breast.</p> + +<p>At the Windermere Regatta, held at Low Wood, during the same year—where +the rain fell in torrents—it was generally expected that Wilson, who had +conquered so many, would again be the conqueror. But the fates were against +him. He came off the third stander, being thrown by Edward Howell, a clever +wrestler from Greystoke, in the neighbourhood of Penrith, who won the belt +and four sovereigns.</p> + +<p>So far as we have been able to ascertain, the year 1822 was the last one in +which Wilson figured in the ring. If this be correct, his wrestling career +will be limited to four or five years duration, at the utmost. No doubt, +the complaint under which he laboured, was the principal cause of his early +retirement. Although Wilson loved athletic exercises much, it must be +understood, however, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> he viewed them more as a means of recreation and +pastime, than in any other sense; a thrifty ambition inducing him to look +zealously to the main point of making both ends meet at home.</p> + +<p>We have heard it asserted that when he and his first wife were married in +1820, they could only raise ten pounds of loose money between them. With +this small sum to the fore, however, they ventured to take an inn at +Ambleside, called the Golden Rule, which they rented for seven years, +during which time they managed to save £700. They then took a larger inn, +which was afterwards known as the Commercial. Some time elapsed, and they +removed to the King's Arms, in Patterdale, at that period the only inn at +the head of Ullswater.</p> + +<p>While he was an innkeeper at Patterdale, George Brunskill, the life +guardsman, about the height of Wilson, and two stones heavier, was very +anxious to try his skill with him. After much pressing, a friendly bout was +consented to, on condition that Brunskill would be satisfied with one fall. +The result was that Wilson "dud whack him;" the soldier being carried clean +off "befooar he reetly kent whoar he was."</p> + +<p>William Wilson—whose brief, but distinguished career, has helped to confer +an enduring lustre on the northern wrestling ring—died at Patterdale, in +1836, about forty years old, and was buried in Ambleside churchyard.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> +<h2>JOHN WEIGHTMAN</h2> + +<h3>OF HAYTON.</h3> + + +<p>For great size and well-proportioned figure, combined with amazing strength +and activity, John Weightman was one of the most remarkable men ever bred +in Cumberland. Born at Greenhead, near Gilsland, in 1795, he was brought up +at the quiet pastoral village of Hayton, near Brampton, where he continued +to live until the time of his death. In that neighbourhood, he was always +spoken of as a remarkably simple minded man, being quiet and settled in +appearance when about his daily work or any ordinary pursuit. Fierce +passions, however, were then only asleep, shrouding a peculiar temperament, +easily excited to mirth or to violent anger.</p> + +<p>In a physical point of view, he was a wonder, being endowed with tremendous +bodily strength on one hand, and the agility of a cat on the other. He +stood fully six feet three inches high, and weighed from fifteen to sixteen +stones, presenting one of the finest gigantic models of the human frame +ever seen, with a countenance free, open, and pleasant to look upon. +Possessing a good reach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> of arm, and such formidable power in the +shoulders, that in the act of wrestling he invariably beat his elbows into +the ribs of an opponent—which vice-like pressure was so terrific in its +results, and became so well known, that many strong men were glad to get to +the ground, in order to escape his punishing hug. Had these natural +advantages been supplemented with shrewdness and good generalship, capable +of estimating the different points of an adversary—indispensable +requisites to the finished wrestler—he would have been more than a match, +the best of five or seven falls, for any man in the kingdom. One who knew +him well, once laconically described him as: "A greit thumpin', giant like +fellow; varra strang i' th' arm, but rayder wake i' th' brains!"</p> + +<p>In his prime, Weightman proved himself to be a clever leaper, either at +long length or running high leap—"cat gallows." Many tales are current at +Hayton and the neighbourhood of his clearing five-barred gates with the +greatest ease. He once leapt over a restless black mare, sixteen hands +high, which belonged to Sir James Graham of Edmond Castle; then turned +round, and with another short run, went over again from the reverse side. +Sir James was so delighted with this display of agility, that he presented +the performer with half a guinea.</p> + +<p>When a young man, Weightman was as full of tricks of a "daft-like" +character as ever mortal was, the recital of one or two of which may serve +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> illustrate his great strength and recklessness. Once upon a time, in +passing through a toll-gate, he said to the keeper of it: "Ye divvent mak' +ony charge, div ye, for what a man carries on his back?" "Oh dear, no, by +no means!" was the ready reply. "Than here goes, my canny bairn!" cried +Weightman, and presently the toll-collector was astonished to see him +stalking through the gate, with a strong-built pony strung across his +shoulders!</p> + +<p>A still "dafter" trick than the foregoing is told of him on another +occasion, when he carried a donkey on his shoulders up stairs into a +"loft," where a numerous body of lads and lasses were capering away at +dancing; placed the "cuddy" in the midst of them; and nearly frightened the +wits out of some of the "flayter sooart o' lasses!"</p> + +<p>Paradoxical as it may seem, Weightman was a remarkably light and graceful +dancer; indeed so much so, that he could trip through the mazes of a dance +with as much ease and nimbleness as any slim built youth in his teens. He +had a very small and neat foot, which circumstance may in some measure +account for his remarkable activity.</p> + +<p>As an athlete, Weightman won his first prize on the village green of +Wetheral, about the year 1814, being then under twenty years old; and +continued to carry off first honours from the same place for seven years in +succession. In his twenty-third year, and while making himself a name as +the champion of several minor rings, he was matched on Brampton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> Sands, to +wrestle a man named Routledge, of "Clocky mill," the best of three falls, +for two guineas a side. The miller was big, bony, and strong, and so far +was formidable; but being both numb and faint-hearted, Weightman easily +fettled him off in the two first falls.</p> + +<p>During Weightman's whole wrestling career, he never had a more steadfast +friend or admirer than Dr. Tinling of Warwick-bridge. The doctor had no +doubt formed a correct estimate of the young giant's powers, and saw +clearly enough that if they were only exercised with ordinary care and +skill, no man living had any chance of throwing him a series of falls. "Th' +auld doctor could mak' him owther win or lose, varra nar as he hed a mind," +said a clever light weight wrestler, with a shrug of the shoulders.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the facility with which prizes <i>might</i> have been gained, it +was only on some occasions that Weightman attended the great annual +gathering at Carlisle, and it was a much rarer event for him to go far from +home to contend. However, in the early part of his career, he once wandered +away to Egremont Crab Fair, and entered his name among the West Cumbrians. +He was thrown there, by Ford of Ravenglass, a good hearted wrestler, +standing six feet two inches, and weighing fifteen stones. On another +occasion, in his young days, he went with Dr. Tinling to Newcastle, and won +the wrestling there; his patron, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> doctor, being overjoyed at his +success. The prize was a handsome silver watch.</p> + +<p>Ford and Weightman were drawn together again, in the fourth round, for the +head prize entry at Carlisle in 1821, when the same luck attended Ford as +had done at the previous tussle. For the second prize at Carlisle, however, +Weightman turned the tables upon the powerful West Cumbrian, by throwing +him so ridiculously high in the air, that one of the spectators declared +that "his legs seemed to touch the clouds!" Joseph Abbot, from the +neighbourhood of Bampton, near Shap, a broad set, powerful man, contested +the final fall with Weightman. At that time, "Joe was a greit hand for +rivin' doon at th' gūrse, an' crazy mad he was when he lost."</p> + +<p>Weightman not being satisfied with his success in contending for the head +prize on the Swifts in 1821, a match was arranged to come off between him +and the winner of the same—William Richardson of Caldbeck—for five +guineas, on the Eden-side cricket ground, Carlisle, in the month of October +following. Between four and five thousand people gathered together to +witness the contest. There existed a great difference in the age of the two +men: the Caldbeck hero being on the shady side of forty, and Weightman only +twenty-six. The one might be called a veteran, and the other said to be in +the prime of life. The younger man had the advantage, likewise, in weight +by a stone or more;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> in height, by fully four inches and a half; and was +naturally endowed with far more suppleness and activity. A considerable +time elapsed before they could agree about holds; and yet, no sooner was +this preliminary effected, than the champion of two hundred rings went down +like a shot, and without appearing to have the least shadow of a chance. +After the fall, the winner was so elated with success that he cut all sorts +of ridiculous capers, and kept leaping backwards and forwards, over two or +three chairs or forms which chanced to be standing in the ring, after the +manner of school boys at their sports. The second fall was nearly a +fac-simile of the first; and if Weightman could only have taken things more +coolly and waited his time, the chances were a hundred to one that he would +have been hailed victor. Instead of this—through Richardson's dilatoriness +in taking hold, and otherwise delaying over trifling things—Weightman +fairly lost temper, threatened and coerced in various ways, and finally +shook his fist in Richardson's face.</p> + +<p>Some of the onlookers, sympathizing with the elder man, commenced a +vigorous attack of hooting, on which Weightman turned his backside to the +spectators in a saucy and defiant manner. After this open display of +insolence a tragic finale seemed imminent. The ring was broken up in an +instant; and the roughs of the crowd, headed by the notorious Tom Ridley, +soon worked themselves into a state of furious excitement. They made a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +rush at the delinquent, some dealing out blows with their fists, while +others kept up a constant shower of sods and such like missiles; nearly +tore the shirt from the back of their victim; and finally forced him +savagely through a thorn hedge on the top of the bank. In describing the +<i>melée</i> which took place, Weightman himself said: "Yan shootit, 'Tek th' +watter, Weetman!'—anudder shootit, 'Tek th' dyke, thoo greit gowk, +thoo!'—bit I niver kent reetly whoar I was, till I fund mysel' on Eden +brig, wid Gwordie Maut<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> leadin' me seàfly by the hand. I varily +believe," added he, "'at Gwordie Maut seàv't mee life!"</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Gwordie Maut," in common phraseology, stood for George +Armstrong, a well known character in Carlisle, who kept a public house, +between the bridges in Caldewgate. "Gwordie" stood to Matthew Nutter, the +artist, for the model of the stooping figure of the Maltster on the sign of +the "Malt Shovel," in Rickergate.</p></div> + +<p>Preliminary to this affair, and quite in keeping with its general +character, it may be stated that on the morning of the match, as Weightman +was riding into Carlisle on a spirited "black-brown" mare, which belonged +to his uncle, he threw the money down on the ground, due for passing +through the toll-gate at the foot of Botchergate. This Mr. Rayson, the +keeper, refused to pick up. Getting annoyed at the delay which ensued, and +in order to clear the way, Weightman struck at Rayson across the shoulders +with his whip, and then leapt clean over the gate. For this offence he was +taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> to the police office in Scotch Street, from which place his friends, +after some difficulty, managed to get him liberated, by paying a fine of +forty shillings.</p> + +<p>Immediately after the unsatisfactory termination of this match, Weightman +issued a challenge to wrestle "any man in Cumberland the best of five +falls, for fifteen or twenty guineas." No one came forward to take up the +gauntlet thus thrown down; and although, up to this date, Weightman had not +won any prize of importance, nevertheless an impression had gone abroad +that he was a formidable customer to meet in a number of rounds.</p> + +<p>The year 1822 was a very chequered one in Weightman's career, suffering in +it, as he did, so many minor defeats. An account of his adventures, so far +as they are known to us, and are noted in the local papers, may help to +illustrate in some measure both his weakness and his strength. In the month +of May, Forster of Penton threw him at Kirkbampton, after a very fine and +severe struggle. At Micklethwaite races, near Wigton, in June, he was +defeated by Jonathan Watson of Torpenhow; and at Durdar, by James Graham of +The Rigg, Kirklinton.</p> + +<p>On the Monday of one of the weeks in July, he won the belt at the New Inn, +Armathwaite, finally throwing John Peel. On Wednesday afternoon, he went in +company with his friend, Bill Gaddes, to Hesket-i'-the-Forest, and carried +off a silver cup and half a guinea, for which there was no sport,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> "none of +the faint-hearted youths daring to contend with him." At Plumpton races, +the same evening, he was thrown with ease by a youth of eighteen, named +Launcelot Graham of Hutton-end; but succeeded in getting the belt for the +last eight standers—he and Thomas Peat tossing up for it, after +endeavouring for nearly half an hour to get into holds. On the Thursday of +the same week, he won the first prize of half a guinea at Stoneraise.</p> + +<p>At Keswick in August, he was fairly capsized by William Cass of Loweswater, +in the last round but one of the first day's sport; and on the second day, +through the wet and slippery state of the ground, he was again brought to +grief, in the final fall, by Jonathan Watson. During the same month, at +Wigton races, he carried off the first day's prize of two guineas, in grand +style; Tom Richardson, the Dyer, being second. The prize at Great Barrock +races also went to Hayton.</p> + +<p>At the Carlisle races, held in September, worse luck followed Weightman in +contending for the head prize than had done on the previous year—being +thrown in the first round by John Fearon of Gilcrux. This unfortunate +defeat, however, was the means of arousing the lion in him; and for the +second prize "he just bash't them doon as fast as he com at them." The last +standers were Clayton of Dovenby, Robert Watters, and Joseph Graham of +Dufton: Weightman receiving four guineas as his share, and Graham two +guineas as second stander.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + +<p>In August, 1823, Weightman carried off the second day's prize of three +pounds, at the Keswick regatta, disposing of William Sands of Whitehaven in +the final fall.</p> + +<p>Following immediately after, came the great annual gathering at Carlisle, +where it was publicly announced: "If wrestlers don't take hold within half +a minute after peeling, the fall to be given to the one most willing to +commence playing." William Litt, the author of <i>Wrestliana</i>, was chosen +umpire. Weightman, the favourite at starting, was in grand "fettle;" looked +fresh and ruddy, without carrying an ounce of superfluous flesh; and by the +cool and determined way he began each round, evidently meant winning. In +the third time over, he brought James Robinson quickly to his knees; in the +fourth, John Hudless; in the fifth, John Allison; and in the sixth, was +fortunate enough to be odd man. Then came the final struggle with John +Robson of Irthington mill, who tried hard to "bear the prize away;" but his +struggling was of no avail, for at each move Weightman kept gathering him +up and improving his grip, and it soon became the miller's turn to drop +powerless to mother earth, in like manner to those compeers who had fallen +before.</p> + +<p>The following sketch of Weightman appeared in the columns of the +<i>Cumberland Pacquet</i>, and is supposed to be from the pen of William Litt. +"As for the victor, Weightman, he is to a stranger a complete puzzle. To +judge from the almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> universal disrepute with which he is regarded in +Carlisle and its vicinity, you expect to behold in him every +personification of a finished blackguard; but the very first glance is +sufficient to stagger any ideal opinion respecting him. I never saw a man +of equal birth and education, that had so much of the gentleman in his +appearance, and there is, even in his conversation, an unassuming mildness +equally striking. As a wrestler, if much cannot be said of his science, his +<i>powers</i> will not be limited by those who have either tried or seen him +wrestle:—for, to cut the matter short, I do not think there is a man in +the world possessing any chance with him, the best of five or seven falls. +His behaviour in the ring was strictly correct; but such is the general +opinion of his powers, that though the wrestling was never previously +surpassed, yet the almost certainty of his winning greatly allayed that +anxiety for the final result which is essential for creating and keeping +awake the interest which the scene usually excites."</p> + +<p>A letter appeared in the columns of the <i>Carlisle Journal</i>, dated September +16th, 1823, touching facetiously upon a point which, in later years, has +been successfully carried out. The writer says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—As a great admirer of athletic sports, I always +make a point of being present at the wrestling at our +races, but being "small of stature," I frequently miss +a good deal of the sport. To gain a complete view I +should willingly pay a small sum, and I have no doubt +if those concerned in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> management of the sports +would provide seats for those willing to pay, that they +would be soon filled, and the funds be materially +increased, as well as a great convenience granted to me +and those of my fellow creatures who have not the good +fortune to be above six feet. I am, Sir, &c.,</p> + +<p class="right"> +JOHN <i>LITTLE</i>.</p></div> + +<p>About this date, it was currently reported that Weightman had engaged to go +to London to undertake the duties of porter at Carlton Palace. No finer +looking man could have been selected for this post, but it was not his luck +to exchange the bleak north for such desirable quarters. Had he been +removed to so aristocratic an atmosphere, it is more than probable that his +hot Border blood would have led him into no end of difficulties; as it did, +for instance, at the magistrates' office in Carlisle, when he quarrelled +over a disputed fall in the wrestling ring, with a big burly fellow, named +Tom Hodgson from Wigton. During the trial, Weightman lost all control over +his temper, and swore eighteen or nineteen times, although reprimanded for +his profanity again and again. On being told that the magistrates intended +to fine him a shilling for each and every oath he had sworn, in accordance +with an old act recorded in the statute books, he exclaimed: "Fine me for +ivery oath I've sworn? That's a bonny go! Wey, I med as weel mak' it <i>an +even pund</i>, than!" And accordingly he did so.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1824, the two sons of Henry Howard of Corby Castle—Philip +and Henry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> Francis—drove in a pony-phæton to Hayton, and asked for +Weightman. When they arrived, he was "hard at wark plewin', in a field +behint the hoose." Meanwhile, his mother—good soul—not knowing well how +to show the greatest amount of civility to her visitors, invited them, in +homely phraseology, to "a sup milk, an' a bite o' breid an' cheese." When +Weightman made his appearance, he was pressed to attend the forthcoming +wrestling meeting on Penrith fell, which he consented to do after some +persuasion. Accordingly, he put in an appearance at the races held at +Penrith early in October, where a large muster of first-rate men had +assembled. Weightman, however, naturally anticipating onlookers with +friendly feelings, from Corby and Greystoke castles, had come with a fixed +determination to carry off the head prize against all comers. Putting his +full powers into play, therefore, whenever he was called into the ring, man +after man fell before his slaughtering attacks, in an astonishingly brief +space of time; leaving Joseph Abbot of Bampton, second stander. And so +delighted was the young heir of Corby with Weightman's achievements, that +he brought the victor with him in his carriage from Penrith to Warwick +Bridge.</p> + +<p>The annual wrestling meeting on the Swifts at Carlisle, in September, 1825, +says a local report of that date, "was attended, as usual, by myriads of +country people, for whom this manly amusement appears to have charms quite +unknown to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> degenerate race pent up within the walls of smoky and +enervating towns. The ring was under the entire management of Mr. Henry +Pearson, and the most complete order prevailed. It is calculated that from +twelve to fifteen thousand persons were lookers-on at the first-day's +sports." The first prize was eight guineas; and one guinea was given to the +last thrown man, or second stander. Among other well known wrestlers who +attended, and whose names are not mentioned hereafter, may be noted, John +Robson, Jonathan Watson, Tom Richardson, George Irving, William Earl, +Joseph Abbot, and Wilfrid Wright. Weightman, for the second time, carried +off first honours, with great ease: all efforts put forth to stop his +onward career being futile and unavailing in the extreme. In the third +round, he met Dan Burgh of Crookdale-hall; and in the fourth, Thomas Miller +of Crookdykes. In the fifth round, James Graham of Kirklinton laid down, +because, (as the victor slyly remarked,) "he kent it was neà use +russellin'!" In the sixth round, Weightman was lucky enough to be odd man; +while, in the final fall, the perfidious tricks and sturdy attacks of Jacob +Armstrong availed him nothing—for quick as thought his various moves were +frustrated, and he was sent to grass, sprawling on his back, in a style +which neither he nor any of his partisans had anticipated.</p> + +<p>In the following year, 1826, Weightman was again the successful competitor +for the head prize in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> Carlisle ring. He was opposed, from the second +round, by the following wrestlers, namely, Thomas Lawman, Wilfrid Wright, +John Robson of Irthington mill, Joseph Robley, and George Irving. The +description given in the <i>Carlisle Patriot</i> of the event, is curious as +being the production of one to whom the North Country sport was evidently a +novelty, and on that account it may be worth quoting. The writer says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The wrestling on Wednesday, attracted thousands upon +thousands of country people, to witness their favourite +sport. The play, according to pully-hauley critics, was +scientifically excellent. The men squeezed, nipped, +buttocked, etc., in the most charming style; and great +was the applause of the vast mass congregated around +the ring, when some sturdy athlete measured his long +length on the ground. On the first day, the grand +contest lay between the celebrated Robson, a fine young +fellow of about twenty-two, weighing fifteen stone, ten +pounds, and the still more celebrated Weightman, also a +young man, but of more experience, and five pounds +heavier than the weighty Robson. This pair of modern +Ajaxes stood up nobly to each other. 'A breathless +silence (says a spectator) reigned throughout the +ring.... They laid hold like men—like true +athletæ—each confident in his own powers. The struggle +begins—now—now—now—huzza! the invincible Weightman +is again victorious! Honour and glory once more for the +East of Cumberland!!' So says our scientific +informant—but not so Mr. Hercules Robson and his +friends. They declared that the fall was not a fair +one, and the mighty business of the ring was for a +while suspended; but the umpire, Mr. Todd, and a great +majority of the spectators decided otherwise—and +Weightman soon finished the game, and pocketed the +first prize, by finally laying low the able-bodied +George Irving."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<p>In spite of the umpire's decision, Robson and his friends continued to harp +on about what they called the unfairness of the fall on the Swifts, until +they issued a challenge to the effect that Robson was prepared to wrestle +Weightman for £20,—which was readily accepted by the latter. According to +agreement, the two men met about three weeks after, in Crosby Willows, a +meadow near Low Crosby, which turned out a hollow affair after all, nothing +really occurring, except several tedious attempts to get into holds. While +the rain was pouring in torrents, and the spectators becoming restless at +the absence of sport, an amicable finale was ultimately arrived at by +Robson shouting across the ring: "We'll russel neà farther, Weetman, i' +this doon-pour o' rain. Cu' thy ways here, my lad, an' I'll gie the' a leg +on to my nag." Weightman offering no opposition to this proposal, the two +were soon mounted, and rode together to a neighbouring house of +refreshment, where a few friendly glasses passed between them, which +probably helped to fill up the existing breach. In after years, Weightman +always spoke of Robson with much respect, describing him as "a canny weel +donn't lad, an' a varra gud russeller."</p> + +<p>Robson, who excelled principally as a "hyper," measured six feet two inches +in height, and increased in weight and bulk, year by year, until at the age +of twenty-four he weighed as many stones as he numbered years. He died +young—in March, 1830—his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> coffin being so large that it was impossible to +get it into the room where the corpse lay, without taking the window out. +He had a narrow escape from being robbed about three years before his +death. Returning from Carlisle, some highwaymen attacked him while passing +through the woods between Corby and Ruel Holme. He, however, got clear off +from the miscreants, and arrived at home without harm or loss of property, +although he was fired at in making his escape.</p> + +<p>Weightman won twice at Melmerby Rounds, getting a guinea and the belt each +time, the usual award to the victor. On one of these occasions, when +returning home through the village of Cumrew, his companions and he being +fresh in drink, smashed a window to atoms, and had fifteen shillings to pay +for their wanton mischief.</p> + +<p>At Penrith in 1827, it was generally expected that Weightman would be the +victor, but it turned out otherwise. He was thrown in the fourth round by a +mere stripling, under twenty years of age, named John Loy, who, it is only +fair to state, gained the fall in rather a surreptitious manner. +Weightman's own account of the affair was this: "A bit iv a lad stept oot +of a corner o' the ring, an' <i>pretendit</i> he wasn't gāen to russel; but +aw at yance, t' lāl taistral snapt't, an' bash't me doon iv a varra +nasty fashion."</p> + +<p>During the same year, William Cass of Loweswater, the winner at Carlisle in +1822, challenged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> any man in the north to wrestle a match for twenty +guineas. In reply to this challenge, Weightman sent the following letter to +the editor of the <i>Cumberland Pacquet</i>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—In reply to the challenge of Mr. Cass, given in +your paper of last week, to wrestle any man in +Cumberland, Westmorland, or Lancashire, for twenty +guineas, I beg to inform him through the same medium, +that I and my friends will be at the Duke's Head Inn, +Scotch-street, Carlisle, at two o'clock in the +afternoon of Saturday, October the 27th, where I hope +his friends will meet us to arrange preliminaries and +deposit the money.—I remain, Sir, yours very +respectfully,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">John Weightman</span>.</p></div> + +<p>The wrestling world in the northern counties looked forward to this match +with intense interest, but Cass thought backing out to be safer policy than +encountering an opponent so formidable.</p> + +<p>In the year 1828, some preliminary steps were taken towards arranging a +match between Weightman and Mc.Laughlan, the innkeeper, at the annual +gathering at Carlisle in the autumn; but like the preceding ones, it came +to nothing—finally ending in a tie, and then a wrangle. Mc.Laughlan at +that time was a great overgrown giant, weighing at least five or six stone +heavier than his rival. Referring to this meeting many years after, +Weightman said: "Clatten com up—i' fun iv his way o' 't—gat hod o' me +afooar I kent reetly whoar I was, an' flang me doon like a havver sheaf. +Sec bairnish nonsense as that, ye know, suin rais't my dander, an' i' th'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +next roond I dūd whack him! I pait him weel back iv his oan mak o' +coin."</p> + +<p>An acquaintance one day asked Mc.Laughlan how he liked Weightman's "grip" +at Carlisle. "Oh, Lord! it was fair vice wark!" exclaimed the giant, giving +an involuntary shudder at the mere thought of being screwed up in the +"vice."</p> + +<p>In October, 1829, Weightman bore away the chief prize from the Penrith ring +a second time. The entry included Cass of Loweswater and George +Irving—both thrown by Weightman—and most of the best men in Cumberland +and Westmorland. At the conclusion of the wrestling, the winner could have +been backed against any man in England for £100.</p> + +<p>At Wigton—date uncertain—where there was a strong muster of good men from +the East and West, the head prize of eight guineas fell into Weightman's +hands.</p> + +<p>At one time or other, Weightman won seventeen silver cups, and once, on +being asked what became of them, candidly replied: "I selt ivery yan o' +them, an' drank th' brass."</p> + +<p>An anecdote illustrative of his fearless courage and successful resistance +to apparently overwhelming odds, must not be forgotten. In the year 1829, +his uncle sold a cow to a butcher in Carlisle, named Roberts, we believe. +The payment for it not being forthcoming at the proper time, nor any +prospect of it, Weightman was despatched to recover the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> amount owing, and +rode to Carlisle on a brown filly for that purpose. Coming up with Roberts +on Eden bridges—in company with another butcher and a +confederate—Weightman told him he wanted "owther the coo back with him, or +the brass to pay for it." The only reply to this question was the filly +being struck so forcibly with a thick stick, that it was nearly "fell'd" to +the ground with the stroke. Boiling with indignation at this treatment, +Weightman cried out: "If ye strike the beast ageàn, I'll strike ye doon!" +Again the filly was struck, and the fray began in earnest. Leaping off his +horse, Weightman seized the two butchers, taking one in each arm, and +"clash't the'r heids togidder till bleùd flew aboot like onything!" Their +confederate also joined the fray in a skirmishing mode of attack, and +although it was now three against one, they were rapidly getting the worst +of it. Seeing the tide thus turning against them, one of the rascals +resorted to the knife, and inflicted a great gash on Weightman's hand, the +mark of which he bore to his dying day. An onlooker, who interfered on +Weightman's behalf, was immediately knocked down, under the wheels of a +cart, and severely injured. Things becoming thus desperate, several +bystanders stepped forward at this stage of the affray, and put an end to +the dastardly attack.</p> + +<p>Although Weightman possessed no lack of courage when it was called into +action by such an event as the foregoing, he was, nevertheless, often very +diffident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> and reserved in the affairs of everyday life. "I's nobbut +shy—I's nobbut varra shy, an' divvent like to ax onybody," was a phrase +frequently on his lips, when any trivial favour had to be solicited.</p> + +<p>At one time of his life, his company was a good deal sought after by 'Torny +Armstrong, and two neighbouring 'statesmen, named Bleaymire and Jordan. +"Sec chaps," said he, in regretful tones,—"sec wild divvels as thur, aye +wantit a feùl; an' I sarra't for yen langer than I sud ha' deùn." After his +wrestling days were over, Weightman continued his irregular habits and mode +of life, and as age crept on he was by times reduced to considerable +straits in order to make both ends meet. Hard-fisted poverty, and the +pressure of circumstances in various ways, not unfrequently forced his +simple Cumbrian speech to shape itself into proverbial phrases, which +sometimes lingered in the memories of those who heard them for weeks and +months after. Take the following as examples: "Fwok sud aye be menseful, +an' menseful amang fwok." And again: "Jwohn Barleycworn's ruin't mony a gud +heart, an' 'ill ruin mony mair yet."</p> + +<p>Poor Weightman! When Mr. Scott was taking the portrait, by photography, +which illustrates this volume, the old man was greatly surprised at the +process, and asked with much simplicity: "Is it a thing he hes mannish't to +pick up by his oan ingenuity, d'ye think?—or hes't been put into him by +God Almighty?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>In his eightieth year, being reduced to the most abject poverty, alone in +the world, and without friends to assist him, an appeal was made through +the local papers for assistance, which met with a generous response on the +part of the public, and served to "keep hunger frae t' dooar" while his +health continued to be anything like good. But at the close of the year +1874—in the midst of one of the severest winters on record—Weightman had +a stroke, which laid him prostrate; and having no one near to minister to +his wants, the parish authorities stept in and insisted upon his being +removed to the poor-house at Brampton. This was sore news to the poor man, +and went sadly against the grain, but there was no help for it. And in +January, 1875, he, whose exploits in the wrestling ring had been cheered to +the echo, again and again, by tens of thousands, at last found a pauper's +grave—his corpse being followed thither by a couple of infirm old men from +the workhouse, and none else.</p> + +<p>Such was the end of the powerful and gigantic John Weightman.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> +<h2>JOHN MC.LAUGHLAN</h2> + +<h3>OF DOVENBY.</h3> + + +<p>In the early part of the nineteenth century there lived at the rural +village of Dovenby, a few miles north-west from Cockermouth, by far the +tallest man in Cumberland—a man who stood six feet six inches in height, +and who was one of Pharoah's lean kine, having at that date an hungry, +unsatisfied look about him, which was anything but pleasant to the vision. +This was John Mc.Laughlan, a labouring man, better known as "Clattan," who +at certain seasons of the year, gained a livelihood by working in the woods +at Isel, and at other times by paring turf on the pastures about Aspatria.</p> + +<p>The parents of this gigantic youth were both natives of the Highlands of +Scotland, having migrated early in life southwards, and settled in +Cumberland. The father was remarkably dexterous at sword exercise and +fencing with the stick; who, in a friendly contest, sometimes took delight +in showing his skill by hitting his opponent at pleasure, and on almost any +part of the body he chose.</p> + +<p>"Clattan" was born about the year 1791; and as a lad practised wrestling +upon the village green,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> with other Dovenby boys of a similar age. Growing +up to manhood, and becoming master of a moderate share of science and +action, he invariably lifted his opponents from the ground, and carried +them off with the outside stroke; his principal mainstay, however, being +his great height and immense weight. In the ring, he was exceedingly +good-natured and affable, and would put himself to any amount of +inconvenience rather than allow his body to fall awkwardly or heavily on a +vanquished foe. He did not, however, follow wrestling closely. He only +appeared upon the horizon by fits and starts, as it were; and in tracing +his career, it will be found that two or three lengthy intervals intervene +between his retirements and reappearances.</p> + +<p>As an athlete, Mc.Laughlan was somewhat late in flowering, having reached +the age of twenty-six before he accomplished any feat worthy of record. In +1817, he put in his first public appearance at Carlisle, at the wrestling +in Shearer's Circus. Here he managed to mow down all competitors, including +Tom Todd of Knarsdale, James Robinson, the gamekeeper, and, finally, his +friend and neighbour, John Liddle of Bothel. About this date he was "a +lang, thin, strip iv a chap, like a ladder; hed a varra laddish like leuk; +a feùt gaily nar as lang's a fender; an' was rayder wake aboot the knees." +Or, to change the simile—as a native of Cartmelfell once aptly phrased it: +"Big an' beàny as he was, he was nobbut like a splinter blown off a man!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>After his temporary success at Carlisle, fortune seems to have deserted him +for many years. In 1819, he suffered his most memorable defeat at the hands +of William Wilson of Ambleside, in the Keswick ring, who carried him off +with a sweeping hipe. In 1824, he appeared at Wigton sports, and was thrown +in the third round by Thomas Hodgson, the police-constable; and again in +the third round of the second day, by James Graham of Kirklinton. In +August, 1825, however, Clattan carried off the head prize at Whitehaven; +Jonathan Watson being second.</p> + +<p>We are not aware that he wrestled in any ring from the last date mentioned, +until his return in the year 1828, when he had grown amazingly in bulk, +being then about twenty-two stone weight. At that time he was considered to +be the most powerful man in Cumberland, and as an athlete had no rival, if +we except Weightman of Hayton. It was an exaggerated, but nevertheless a +very common saying, that he could lift a cottage house with ease, and carry +it away with him on his back!</p> + +<p>The year 1828—with its curious winding-up scene—was the most noteworthy +one in Clattan's wrestling career. In the month of August, he carried off +the head prize at Workington races, with the greatest ease; George Irving +of Boltongate being the second stander.</p> + +<p>At Keswick in September, almost the self-same scene was enacted, with +Irving again second. Big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> men, like Cass of Loweswater, being, as it were, +mere children in Clattan's arms.</p> + +<p>Following immediately in the rear of the Keswick races, came the annual +gathering at Carlisle, where the Earl of Lonsdale still continued to give +the sum of twenty guineas for prizes. Notwithstanding the morning on which +the wrestling took place being gloomy and foreboding, hundreds and +thousands poured into the old Border city from every available direction, +and it was computed that at least 6,000 persons were gathered round the +wrestling ring. Whilst ninety-two names were being enrolled for the head +prize, including most of the crack men of the day, a group of itinerant +ballad singers stood bawling to the assembled multitude, such home-spun +staves as the following:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Now, Weightman, you must do your best<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To bear the prize away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Clattan he is coming;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Don't let him win the day."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We have reasons for saying that Weightman was <i>not</i> at the wrestling on the +Swifts that year. We believe he was engaged driving cattle at the time, at +some considerable distance from Carlisle. His name was certainly entered by +some person or other, and he was called out in the first round against +Hutchinson of Featherstone Castle; but there being no response on +Weightman's part, the ticket naturally fell to Hutchinson's lot.</p> + +<p>Having only to contend against men of ordinary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> calibre—the heaviest and +tallest of whom would be fully six or seven stone deficient in weight, and +about the same number of inches in height—Clattan, wearing a pair of +Nankeen trousers, stalked through the Carlisle ring, in the most +unobtrusive manner imaginable, and without making the least display of his +giant strength. In the first round he was called against Rickerby of Old +Wall, and Robinson of Renwick in the second. Despite some futile struggling +on the part of these two men, he lifted them up and laid them down as +easily as Gulliver would have done a couple of Lilliputians. In the third +round, William Earl of Cumwhitton went to work with a will, and completely +foiled Clattan by keeping well away from him. Not being able to gather Earl +and hug him as he had done the previous ones, the tussle became an animated +one, and for a time seemed to be of a doubtful character; but on improving +his hold, the big man managed to twist Earl awkwardly to the ground by +sheer strength. Next followed, in quick succession, the overthrow of Joseph +Graham of Dufton, James Graham of Kirklinton, and Tom Richardson, the Dyer, +at the hands of Clattan.</p> + +<p>Only two men were now left standing, namely, George Irving of Boltongate, +and Clattan; and by Irving asking Clattan, as a favour, not to throw +himself heavily on him, the result was understood to be a foregone +conclusion. Good-naturedly acting upon this request, Clattan without more +ado,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> whipped Irving off his feet, turned him smartly round, and then let +go his hold, in order to avoid falling on his man. Meanwhile, Irving having +cunningly retained <i>his</i> hold, claimed the fall, which according to the +rules of the game, was awarded to him by the umpires. The scene which +followed baffles all description. The crowd danced, laughed, yelled, and +ran wild with commotion. Clattan was completely nonplussed by the <i>ruse</i>, +and bore the result for a time with Job-like patience; but at length his +good nature fairly broke down. He fumed and tore about like one half +crazed, ground his teeth, and swore he "wad russel him for fifty pund to a +pund—for a hundred pund to a pund—for any amount he liket!" But Irving, +having accomplished his ends, was far too wary a customer to be drawn into +any further trial which meant defeat. Meanwhile, Irving's friends hoisted +him shoulder high, and bore him away in triumph; and poor Clattan could +only content himself with a final shot at his enemy by crying out: "If iver +I git hod o' thee ageàn, my lad, <i>I'll mak the' put thy tongue oot</i>!"</p> + +<p>After this mishap, the tide of popularity seems to have set in against +Mc.Laughlan in all directions. At Dovenby races, held in June, 1829, he put +in an appearance, but no sooner was his name called than it created much +discontent among the competitors: one wrestler swearing that he was "as big +as a hoose side," and another asking derisively for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> ladder, "to clim' on +t' top of his shooders wid!" In order to dispel this outburst of feeling, +the stewards offered the giant a liberal sum if he would take the post of +umpire, and give up contending; which proposal he accepted in the most +cordial manner. The chief prize for wrestling (after the withdrawal of the +big man,) was carried off by Jonathan Robinson of Allerby mill.</p> + +<p>A correspondent of the <i>Cumberland Pacquet</i>, in speaking of the Penrith +races in 1829, says, he "cannot imagine upon what principle of justice the +individuals acted, who brought a man fifty miles from home by an open +advertisement, and then debarred him." The same correspondent, also, +complains that Mc.Laughlan was excluded from the Carlisle ring of the same +year, in the face of an advertisement which distinctly stated it was "open +to any man."</p> + +<p>At the great gathering at Cockermouth in August, 1830, Clattan was allowed +to enter his name without opposition in the first day's list, where he +carried off the head prize, throwing James Little, George Murgatroyd, John +Birket, and finally William Earl.</p> + +<p>In 1837, his last victory, we believe, was gained at Liverpool, after +mowing down John Nichol of Bothel, Jonathan Thomlinson, and Thomas +Armstrong of Carlisle, in the heavy weight prize.</p> + +<p>Clattan figured again in the Liverpool ring in 1840, at which date he would +be about fifty years old; but the fates were against him. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> drawn +against John Selkirk of Beckermet. It is worthy of remark, (says a report +in the <i>Carlisle Journal</i>,) that Selkirk's father threw Mc.Laughlan +twenty-six years ago; and Mc.Laughlan was overheard to say, it would be a +shame to let both father and son throw him. But so it proved, for after a +very severe struggle, in which Selkirk showed himself to be a wrestler of +no ordinary ability, the first fall was given in as unfair, and they had to +wrestle over again. In getting hold a second time, Mc.Laughlan put all his +powers in requisition, but to no avail, for Selkirk threw him in a masterly +manner.</p> + +<p>One incongruous element of Clattan's character has still to be mentioned, +namely, his <i>weakness</i> for sparring and boxing. His temperament was made up +of too many good-natured components to allow of his ever degenerating into +a mere prize-fighter. The big man, to the best of our knowledge, had a +determined "set-to" once, and only once. It occurred at a Bridewain held in +the Vale of Lorton. William Mackereth and Clattan—who had been close +friends for years—fell out over some trifling affair, and a keenly +contested fight was the result. After the struggle had continued some time, +Mackereth succeeded in driving Clattan from one stand to another, until the +giant finally gave in. Clattan threatened to "fettle him off when he com +back frae sparring," with the professors of the noble art mentioned +hereafter; but he proved to be far too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> good natured to attempt to carry +any such threat into execution.</p> + +<p>Clattan's "experience with the bruising fraternity"—we quote from a clever +notice, which appeared in the <i>Whitehaven News</i>—"was confined to +travelling with the celebrated pugilists, Tom Molyneaux, the Black, (who +twice contested the championship with Tom Cribb,) and Jack Carter, the +latter of whom fought a terrible battle with Oliver at Gretna Green in +1816.... With these heroes, John made a tour in the provinces and Scotland, +extending over four or five years, in the course of which he gave and took +more hard knocks, as an exhibition sparrer, from his formidable and +dexterous colleagues, than would satisfy the ambition of most men; but, as +we have said, the big man never acquired a taste for fighting. It was +scarcely possible, under any circumstances, to surprise him out of one of +the quietest dispositions and finest tempers with which giant was ever +blessed; and the sole use he made of the hard schooling he received at the +hands of Molyneaux and Carter, and the countless yokels, ambitious of +fistic distinction, was to amuse a few of his patrons. The art and mystery +of bruising was practised nowhere more extensively and industriously than +by a chosen band of youths who frequented John's house in the Market-place, +Whitehaven. To oblige these young gentlemen, and test their dexterity, +'Clattan' has been known to sit down in a chair, to ensure something like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +equality of height, and 'set himself'; and very dexterous had young +Whitehaven to be if it could hit and get away, even under these +circumstances, without a counter tap, as from a playful steam hammer.... +Many wonderful tales are told of 'Clattan.' He could crack nuts with his +thumb and forefinger as easily as a schoolboy could crush a gooseberry, and +we forget the enormous weight he could suspend round his wrist while he +wrote his name against the wall."</p> + +<p>Mc.Laughlan was an innkeeper in Whitehaven for a great number of years, +being the landlord of "The Highlandman," or "Rising Sun," in the +Market-place. Here he drove a flourishing trade, which resulted in a great +measure from frequenters of his house always finding him to be civil and +obliging.</p> + +<p>At Whitehaven, Clattan joined the town band formed by Mr. Heywood, clerk to +the magistrates. In this capacity, he invariably marched first in +processions, and did what he could to make sweet music out of the +instrument he played, an immense trombone, his giant-like form towering +above his fellows, like that of Goliath of Gath among the Gittites.</p> + +<p>Leaving Whitehaven about 1838 or 1839, he settled in Liverpool, where he +was employed about the docks for several years. His wife, Betty, afterwards +kept a lodging-house in Sparling-street; but more latterly they lived +retired and in comfortable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> circumstances, principally through the kindness +of one of his sons, the captain of a trading vessel.</p> + +<p>Mc.Laughlan died in Liverpool, in October, 1876, at the advanced age of +eighty-five years.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2>BULL BAITING.</h2> + + +<p>It must be exceedingly gratifying to all ranks of society throughout the +United Kingdom, who take any interest in the social progress of the +inhabitants, in the onward march from semi-barbarism to a higher state of +civilization—from indulgence in brutal amusements, pursued with eager +gratification during the eighteenth century—to note a gradual stamping out +of vicious pursuits, and the growth of more harmless amusements.</p> + +<p>Amongst the lower order of our crowded towns and rural districts, amongst +the middle classes of society, and even amongst the higher orders—the +cream of society—the welcome change is strikingly evident. The lower +orders were probably the most prone to indulge in the vile and degrading +pursuits, which have in a great measure been rooted out, but they were by +no means the only culpable parties. The higher and middle classes freely +lent their countenance and support—lent their assistance not alone by +being present at, but by liberal contributions aided in getting up, the +horrible scenes witnessed at the bull-ring, the bear garden, the cock and +rat pits, the boxing ring, and badger worrying.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> Even royalty, with its +gorgeous trappings, and long list of titled favourites, smiled at and +enjoyed the ferocious pastime.</p> + +<p>A laudable endeavour to abolish them was made in the year 1800. A bill was +introduced by Sir W. Pulteney, into the House of Commons, for the abolition +of bull baiting and other cruel sports; but Mr. Wyndham—the leader at that +time of a powerful party of country gentlemen—opposed the bill on the +ground that it attempted to suppress a national amusement, which was not +more cruel than fox-hunting; a pastime so important that a clever writer +has said, "You ruin the country as soon as you put an end to fox-hunting." +Mr. Wyndham, on the one hand, was supported by Mr. Canning, and on the +other hand opposed by Mr. Sheridan. Up to the year 1835, an agitation was +fostered against brutal sports, and the time-honoured institutions of seven +centuries were then, by Act of Parliament, for ever blotted out from the +town and country pleasures of Great Britain and Ireland.</p> + +<p>The defunct pastimes, we have under consideration, were amongst the most +exciting as well as brutal amusements of the eighteenth century, and to a +record of them in the "good old times," this short article will be devoted. +In nearly every town, and in most rural districts, there was the attractive +bull ring. The gatherings never attained the gigantic and imposing +dimensions of the Roman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> Coliseum and the Spanish Amphitheatre bull +fights—institutions no better than a species of bull baiting, and attended +with greater cruelty and bloodshed than the English bull ring. The national +mind in our own country was never so thoroughly embued with the horrible +pastime as the citizens of Rome and Madrid; but was sufficiently brutified +as to be considered at the present time a disgrace to humanity. The sad +sights, however, which gladdened the eye, and drew forth shouts of +applause, from "good Queen Bess" and her followers, when she entertained +the ambassadors from Continental courts, with a display of bear and bull +baiting, are happily at an end.</p> + +<p>We shall now proceed to the more immediate object of our article, namely, a +notice of bull baiting in our own country, and more particularly in the two +northern counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. In England, the baiting +was done, as our readers will doubtless be aware, with a breed of dogs +peculiar to the country, called "bull" dogs. This breed, so famous in +story, might probably have become extinct after bull baiting was abolished, +had it not been for the numerous dog shows which have since taken place +throughout the country, where prizes are given for purity of breed and +excellence of form. Their principal characteristics are indomitable +courage, and an instinctive propensity to pin their huge adversary by the +nose. In order to effect this object, well bred dogs would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> rush furiously +at the bull, and although they might be unsuccessful and stand a chance of +being tossed high in the air, they never failed in returning again and +again to the attack. Wonderful stories may be gleaned, in all parts of the +kingdom, illustrative of their never dying resolute courage. In the quality +of endurance, under punishment, they may be likened to the English game +cock—the agonies of death even not being able to quench their fighting +propensities.</p> + +<p>The following well authenticated anecdote, related by Bewick, the wood +engraver, illustrates this point in a most barbarous and disgraceful +manner. Many years ago, at a bull baiting in the North of England, a young +man, confident of the courage of his dog, laid some trifling wager, that he +would, at separate times, cut off all the four feet of his dog, and that, +after each amputation, it would attack the bull. The cruel experiment was +tried, and the gallant and courageous dog continued to rush at the bull, +upon its four stumps, as eagerly as if it had been perfectly whole!</p> + +<p>Another anecdote of the bull dog has more of a ludicrous dash about it. A +father and son, in a northern village, had a young pup, descended from a +famous breed, out for exercise and training. The son accosted the rough old +paterfamilias with: "Doon on ye'r knees, fadder, an' boo like a bull!" The +"fadder" did as he was desired, and began "booin'." Before many "boos" had +been repeated,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> however, the pup had seized the sham "booin'" bull firmly +by the nose. Delighted at the ready tact displayed by the dog, young +hopeful roared out: "Bide it, fadder! bide it! It'll be t' <i>makkin</i>' o' t' +pup!"</p> + +<p>Carlisle is the first northern town at which we shall notice bull baiting. +Our account has been gathered from tradition and from spectators of the +scenes. The old bull ring stood in the market place, in close proximity to +the "stocks," on that space of ground lying between the ancient cross and +the front of the town hall. There, from time immemorial, was the savage +pastime witnessed by generation after generation. If we cannot carry it +back to the dim mystical times, when</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Kinge Arthur lived in merry Carleile,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And seemely was to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there with him Queene Genever,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That bride soe bright of blee—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It requires but a limited stretch of the imagination to picture it in full +swing at the time when the three brave foresters of Inglewood +flourished,—Adam Bell, Clym o' the Clough, and William o' Cloudeslee,—and +when the two former rescued the latter from the hangman's cart in the same +market place.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And Cloudeslee lay ready there in a cart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ffast bound both foote and hande;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a strong rope about his necke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All readye ffor to hange.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Men have been maimed for life, and even gored<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> to death, in bull baiting +frays, held in front of the Carlisle town hall. A large ferocious animal, +known as the "Linstock bull," was baited no less than three times. It once +broke loose from the ring; threw the multitude into wild disorder; knocked +down several of the bystanders, who came in contact with its onward +progress; and ran a butcher, named Gibbons, up against the wall! At this +exciting moment a cry from the crowd rent the air, which appalled the +bravest heart, but happily no material damage was done. For, curiously +enough, the man's life was saved through the animal's horns growing far +apart; the bull being one of the Lancashire long-horned breed, formerly +very common throughout the north country.</p> + +<p>In old times, an aged woman, of coarse features and Amazonian strength, +figured prominently in the Carlisle ring, and was invariably accompanied by +a savage dog, called "Pincher." Her shrill voice was often heard, far above +the hubbub of the crowd, with such exclamations as, "Weel done, +Pincher!—good dog, Pincher!—stick till't, Pincher! Ha! ha! Pincher's +gripp't it noo!" And then, all at once, up went the veritable Pincher, +twenty feet in the air, turning "bully necks" three or four times, and +falling on the ground with a heavy thud, stunned and bleeding.</p> + +<p>After prevailing at Carlisle for four or five centuries, and continuing as +time rolled on without any abatement to the end, both vicious and brutal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +bull baiting was finally suppressed <i>within</i> the limits of the ancient +border city, about the end of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>The last public bull baitings at Carlisle took place in the cattle market +on the "Sands"—then <i>outside</i> the city boundaries—in the months of August +and September, 1824. Long before the time fixed to commence the proceedings +on the first occasion, thousands of persons—many of them females—were +assembled. The adjoining bridge was thronged, houses were covered, and +every eminence densely packed with eager expectant human beings. All the +scum and blackguardism of the old border city had quitted it. No such +outpouring could be remembered to have taken place, except when the noted +professors of pugilism, Carter and Oliver, contended at Gretna. The bull to +be baited was of the black Galloway breed, and had been purchased under +peculiar circumstances, by a few disreputable characters. In contending +against its canine assailants, it laboured under the great disadvantage of +being without horns.</p> + +<p>The primary cause of the baitings was owing to the fact of the animal +having shown itself vicious, or in local phraseology, "man keen," by +attacking its owner, Mr. Rome of Park-house farm, near Rose Castle. +Suddenly turning round, in an open field, it tossed Mr. Rome over three +"riggs," injuring him so much that recovery was for some time considered +doubtful. It was supposed the bull had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> been irritated by a butcher's boy. +This may have been the case; but too much reliance is often placed on the +general docility of bulls. They are well known to be liable to sudden +outbursts of passion. This dangerous element may be said to be wedded to +their nature, and hence the deplorable accidents that sometimes happen. Due +caution was wanting in this case. The Park-house bull had previously shewn +symptoms of an unruly disposition, and yet Mr. Rome unguardedly entered the +"bull copy" to drive away some cows. The attack was so sudden, that there +was no chance of escape, and the owner would in all probability have been +killed on the spot, but for the opportune assistance of two men servants, +who succeeded in driving off the excited and furious beast with pitchforks.</p> + +<p>On two separate occasions, the unfortunate beast was bound to the stake on +the Sands. It would have been, comparatively speaking, a merciful end to +the animal's life to have killed it at once, without inflicting the torture +of baiting, for the alleged purpose of rendering the beef tender. The bull +was fastened by a heavy chain, some twenty yards long, sufficient to give +it room to make play. At one time the conduct of the crowd was so confused +and disorderly, that several persons were injured, by the frightened animal +rushing about, and sweeping them off their feet with its chain. No one, +however, received any serious injury.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> + +<p>Several noted dogs were slipped at the bull. A yellow one, known in +sporting circles as David Spedding's "Peace;" a dark brindled one, owned by +Dan Sims, the publican; and a bitch, belonging to one Kirkpatrick; all +seized the bull cleverly by the nose, and made "good work." The yellow dog +especially had the knack of laying hold, and maintaining its grip to +perfection. Its usual mode of attack was to run between the fore legs of +the bull, fasten itself to the under lip, and then hang on like grim death.</p> + +<p>Much amusement was created, by an Irishman running fussing about, and +shouting at the top of his voice: "Hould on there, hould on, till my dog +saizes the big baiste!" Pat let go. His dog made a bold dash at the bull, +and good sport was anticipated by the onlookers; but no sooner was the dog +turned upon by the enraged animal, than it showed tail, and ran for safety. +This "funking" on the part of the Irishman's dog, created loud laughter +among the crowd, and was followed by such bantering remarks as, "Arrah, +Pat, arrah! Ye'r dog's not game!"</p> + +<p>In the hubbub, a man named Robert Telford, an auctioneer, was knocked over +by a sudden swerve of the ponderous chain which fastened the bull, and for +some time lay sprawling helpless in the dirt. He had a narrow escape from +being tossed in the air, boots uppermost, or else savagely gored.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the barking and growling of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> dogs subsided, or the yelling +and shouting of the assembled rabble died away, when one of the onlookers, +who had been somewhat disappointed in the scenes enacted, pronounced it to +be but "a tamish sort of affair, after all!" A local celebrity,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> also, +on leaving the ground, delivered himself of the following opinion, in slow +pompous tones: "Bad bait—bad bait! Bull too gross!"—the meaning of which +was that the bull was too fat to display that ferocity and activity which +some of the spectators had expected it would have done.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Mr. William Browne, who began life in Carlisle as a +bookbinder, and ended as auctioneer, appraiser, and high-bailiff to the +County Court.</p></div> + +<p>So fagged and spiritless had the animal become after one of the baits, that +a rough-spun butcher—a madcap of a fellow—had the temerity to leap +astride its back, and to ride up Rickergate in that ungainly fashion; while +the poor beast, now completely deadened to attack or viciousness of any +kind, was being slowly lead in the direction of some shambles or +outbuildings in East Tower street.</p> + + +<p>A disaster which befel the comedian, Riley, a few years before Mr. Rome was +nearly killed at Park-house farm, had a somewhat ludicrous termination. The +author of the <i>Itinerant</i>, in professionally "starring" through the +provinces, remained for some time in the neighbourhood of Furness Abbey, +and was engaged to lend his assistance there. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> entertainment going off +very successfully, a "leetle" too much wine followed on the heels of it. +This we presume, for the quantity imbibed by Mr. Riley rendered his +perception not quite so clear as it might have been. The way to his +quarters was by a footpath through some fields; and jogging along by the +dimmish light of an obscured moon, he rambled off the path, and got into a +field in which a pugnaciously inclined bull was kept. Snatches of song and +other sounds arousing the brute from his night's slumber, he rose and +prepared to attack the son of <i>Thespis</i>, and gave notice of his intentions +by several long drawn "boos," which "boos" Mr. Riley attributed to some one +coming after him from the concert. The bull followed up, and got nearer and +nearer, with his "boo—boo—boo!" A collision suddenly took place close to +the hedge, and in the twinkling of an eye the gentleman was tossed up, and +landed secure, but prostrate, on the other side of the hedge, without any +harm but a good shaking. Looking up, the astonished comedian exclaimed: +"You are neither a musician nor a gentleman, by ——, if you are!"</p> + +<p>During the eighteenth century, and for thirty or forty years into the +present one, farmers, small tradesmen, indeed, most families living in the +country, who could afford it, at the fall of the year, salted and stored by +as much beef as served the family through the winter. Hence bull +baiting—until suppressed—prevailed in most of the northern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> towns and +villages, in the month of November. The weather was then suitable for +salting a supply of beef for winter use, and an extra quantity either of +bull or heifer beef was quite saleable at that season of the year. An +erroneous idea prevailed—had indeed become a settled conviction, that bull +beef was much better—should not be used as food, in fact, without the +animal had been subject to the usual barbarous baiting.</p> + +<p>In many places there prevailed a stringent regulation, that bulls should +not be slaughtered, until they had passed the ordeal of baiting; and +curious observances were enforced should the practice be omitted. In +Kendal, for instance, a singular custom was to be observed when any butcher +killed a bull, and attempted to dispose of the beef, without the animal +having been fastened to the bull ring and baited. The seller of the carcass +was obliged to have put up conspicuously, a large sign board, with the +words "Bull Beef," painted in legible letters, and to have a lantern stuck +up, with lighted candles burning in it, as long as the tabooed beef +remained unsold. This singular regulation or custom continued in use, and +was regularly observed as long as bull baiting was permitted in the town.</p> + +<p>The Kendal bull ring was fixed on a green at the High Beast Banks, and had +been so fixed for generations. There the disgusting, demoralizing +saturnalia, with all its ruffianly concomitants, was held before a yelling +crowd of professedly civilized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> spectators. This brutal indulgence was +continued to the mayoralty of Mr. William Dobson, in 1790, when the +corporation interfered and put a final stop to it. We are surprised that in +Kendal, where the Quaker element in the population was so strong, the +odious "sport" should have been allowed to continue so long. The followers +of George Fox, we feel assured, would consider any encouragement given to +such degrading brutality as morally criminal.</p> + +<p>Great Dockray and Sandgate, in the pleasant and busy market town of +Penrith, were the scenes of many uproarious bull baits. In one day, no less +than five beasts have been tied to the stake, and unmercifully tortured. +They would all be required, and many carcasses besides, at that season of +the year when salt beef was prepared for winter consumption. At Penrith, +the bull baitings were regularly attended by crowds of spectators, from all +the surrounding country villages. The inhabitants of the town, too, +deserted their quiet homes to witness the exciting but barbarous practice. +In Penrith, as well as other places, the idea was rooted in the minds of +the people that bulls intended for slaughter, and sold for human food, +should be baited. If the carcass of a bull, in the shambles of a butcher, +had not been subjected to the usual process of brutal cruelty, it would +have been rejected. The village of Stainton, as well as Penrith, was noted +for bull dogs of a pure and courageous breed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> Those normal tribes of +gipsies, tinkers, and potters, who roamed over Cumberland, Westmorland, and +the borders of Scotland, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, +were celebrated for breeding and training bull dogs of a superior +description.</p> + +<p>The small but interesting market town of Keswick—highly celebrated at the +present day, as the head quarters of numerous lake and mountain +excursionists—likewise had its bull ring, to which, through a lengthened +period of time, hundreds of unfortunate animals were tied and baited. No +greater desecration can be imagined to one of the most attractive districts +in Great Britain—revealing at every step scenes displaying vividly the +sublime beauty and grandeur of God's choicest handiwork—than the mad +uproar, the wild confusion, and gross brutality of a bull bait. The echoes +of the surrounding hills were made to resound with the furious merriment of +an excited multitude, in the full enjoyment of a cruel "sport." From the +beautiful Vale of Saint John, from the lower slopes of Blencathra and +Skiddaw, from the confines of the picturesque lake of Bassenthwaite, from +the surroundings of the more imposing Derwentwater, from many scattered +villages, like Borrowdale, crowds hastened to share in the gross enjoyment +of a hideous outrage on humanity.</p> + +<p>The bull ring at Keswick,—as well as at Carlisle, Penrith, Wigton, Kendal, +and other places in the Lake country—was frequently the means of starting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +a combat between some pugnaciously inclined Tom Crib, and any one who, +through intimidation, could be drawn into a fight. "Shaking the bull ring" +was tantamount to a challenge from some foolhardy individual, to "hev it +oot" with any one inclined to step forward; and it rarely happened at +"statute fairs" but that at least some two or three pugilistic encounters +followed the "shaking."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/image1.jpg" width="550" height="352" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> +<h2>BADGERS AND BADGER BAITING.</h2> + + +<p>Baiting the badger differed from bull baiting in one respect, inasmuch as +the former was generally practised in some room or yard, mostly attached to +a public house. It was often a private affair, got up by some sporting +landlord, for the purpose of drawing customers to his hostelry, as well as +to have an opportunity of seeing the badger drawn; while bull baiting, +except on great state occasions, was always a public affair.</p> + +<p>The badger, in former times called the "Grey," is a small animal, which at +no remote period was, comparatively speaking, plentiful in Cumberland and +Westmorland, and in various parts of the north of England. It abounded, +too, in Scotland, and its cured skin was used in making the Highlander's +hanging pouch. It measured about three feet from the snout to the end of +the tail, and weighed from seventeen to thirty pounds. Few animals are +better able to defend themselves, and fewer still of their own weight and +size dare attack them, in their native haunts. When in good case, they are +remarkably strong, fight with great resolution if brought to bay, can bite +extremely hard, and inflict very severe wounds. It is strange that it +should have been so persistently and ruthlessly hunted and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> destroyed, so +as to lead to the almost entire extermination of the herd in this country.</p> + +<p>In <i>Reminiscences of West Cumberland</i>, (printed for private circulation, in +1882,) William Dickinson gives the following account of the capture of some +of these animals:—"On March 29, 1867, a badger was captured in a wood +adjoining the river Derwent, by Mr. Stirling's gamekeeper. It was a full +grown animal, in prime condition, and was secured without sustaining any +injury. A few years before that a badger was caught near St. Bees. It was +supposed to have escaped from captivity. Within my recollection, a badger +was taken by a shepherd and his dogs, on Birker moor, and believed to be a +wild one; and none had been known for many miles around by any one living. +They are not now known to breed in Cumberland; but the late Mr. John Peel +of Eskat, told me the brock or badger had a strong hold in Eskat woods, and +that he once came so suddenly on a brock asleep, as it basked in the sun, +that he struck it with his bill hook, and wounded it in the hind quarter. +Its hole was so near that it crawled in and was lost. The place is still +called the Brock-holes."</p> + +<p>An interesting experiment has been tried on the Naworth Castle estate, the +Border residence of Mr. George Howard, a dozen miles or so from Carlisle. +About the year 1877 or 1878, four healthy and well developed badgers were +let off, some two miles eastward from the castle, near the side of the +river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> Irthing, which flows through a wide sweep of charmingly diversified +scenery. The place occupied by them is a piece of rough, woodland, "banky" +ground, quiet and secluded, the soil being of a dry sandy nature. The +badgers, in the first instance, were lodged in an old fox earth "bield," +part of which they have held in undisturbed possession ever since. They +appeared to fall in naturally with their new quarters, and soon took to +digging and making the hole, and its various ramifications, much larger and +more capacious.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, after the lapse of some years, the foxes returned to +their old retreat, and for two successive seasons there has been a breed of +young cubs reared in the same burrow with the badgers. Each species of +animal has taken up a separate part or side-branch of the hole for its own +particular use and abode; and, so far as appearance goes, the two families +have lived together happy and contented for the time being.</p> + +<p>A similar illustration of foxes fraternising with badgers is amply borne +out in a valuable communication to <i>The Times</i>, of October 24th, 1877, by +Mr. Alfred Ellis of Loughborough, who, after some difficulty, introduced a +breed of badgers, in semi-wild state, to a covert within fifty yards of his +own residence. Mr. Ellis says, "The fox and the badger are not unfriendly, +and last spring a litter of cubs was brought forth very near the badgers; +but their mother removed them after they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> grown familiar, as she +probably thought they were showing themselves more than was prudent."</p> + +<p>The neighbouring dogs are not known to have molested the Naworth badgers in +any way, and it is now supposed the estate can number about a dozen in +numerical strength. The nocturnal habits, natural to badgers, make it very +difficult to study their actions and mode of life, with any amount of close +observancy, as they rarely leave their holes till near nightfall, and are +back again generally by daybreak.</p> + +<p>There is not much which properly comes under the game laws near the +badgers' place of rendezvous, but Mr. Brown, the head keeper, is under the +impression that they are destructive to some kinds of game; in fact, he +says, they take anything they can lay hold of in the shape of eggs or young +birds. They dig a good deal for fern roots, and feed upon them, turning up +the ground in the same way that a pig does. It would appear also that they +are very fond of moles. Any of these animals left dead by the keepers or +foresters, in the vicinity of their haunts, invariably disappear quickly +and are no more seen.</p> + +<p>Shy, reserved, and alert as the badgers are, they may be come upon +sometimes, by chance or accident, on the banks of the Irthing; and when +seen in the dusky twilight of a summer evening, "scufterin'" along through +the long grass or "bracken" beds, they might be easily mistaken for a +litter of young pigs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>In addition to the food incidentally mentioned, the badger lives upon +frogs, insects, wasps' nests, fruit, grass, and a great variety of other +things. Its habits are perfectly harmless in a wild state; and yet few +animals have suffered so much cruel torture, in consequence of vulgar +prejudice. The hams, as food, were esteemed superior in delicacy of flavour +to the domestic pig or wild hog. In this country, the hind quarters only +were used for food; while in some parts of Europe and in China, the whole +carcass was held in high esteem, and considered to be very nutritious.</p> + +<p>In hunting and capturing them, the usual plan was to dig a hole in the +ground, across some path which they were known to frequent, covering the +pit lightly over with sticks and leaves. Another mode of catching them was +by means of a sack being carefully fitted to the entrance of their burrows. +When supposed to be out feeding, two or three dogs were set to hunt the +adjoining grounds, and the badger was thus driven homewards, and safely +secured in the sack.</p> + +<p>The mode of baiting was generally pursued as follows. Sometimes, according +to choice, the animal was put into a barrel; while at other times, a trench +was dug in the ground, fourteen inches deep and of the same width, and +covered over with a board. But the plan most frequently adopted was to have +a square drain-like box constructed, in the form of a capital letter ∟. The longer part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +measured something like six feet in length, and the shorter part four feet. +The box was throughout thirteen or fourteen inches square, with only one +entrance way. When a batting display took place, the badger was placed +inside the box at the far end of the shorter compartment. It will be +apparent, from being so placed, that it had some advantage over any dog +attacking in front. The dog had to proceed up the longer leg of the box, +and then turning sharp round, found the object of its search cautiously +crouching, and on the watch for any advancing foe.</p> + +<p>A strong fresh badger was never unprepared for fight, and, by being thus on +the alert, had the opportunity of inflicting a fearful bite at the outset; +so severe, indeed, that any currish inclined dog at once made the best of +his way out, howling with pain, and thoroughly discomfited. And no coaxing, +no inducement in the world, could make the craven-hearted brute attempt a +second attack.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, one of the right sort rushed immediately into close +quarters, seized the badger with as little delay as might be, and +endeavoured to drag it forth into open daylight. It required a dog of rare +pluck and courage, however, to accomplish this feat—one, in fact, +insensible to punishment; and few could be found willing to face and endure +hard biting, and force the badger from its lair. Pure bred bull dogs will +naturally go in and face anything, but it is in very few instances that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +they make any attempt to draw. Long experience showed that the best and +truest that could be produced, were a cross between a well bred bull dog +and a terrier, commonly known as bull terriers. Sufficiently powerful and +courageous dogs were, also, to some extent, to be found amongst rough wiry +haired terriers—the Charlieshope Pepper and Mustard breed of Dandie +Dinmonts—which "fear naething that ever cam wi' a hairy skin on't;" and +the handsome, smooth, glossy-coated black and tan dog, "fell chield at the +varmin," which would buckle either "tods or brocks." Bedlington +terriers,—a distinct breed of Northumbrian origin, long known and esteemed +in Cumberland and other northern counties—have frequently proved +themselves admirable adepts at drawing the badger. These dogs, properly +speaking, are more "fluffy" coated than wiry—have greater length of leg +than the Dandie Dinmonts—are full of spirit and stamina—remarkably active +and alert—and very fierce and resolute when called into action.</p> + +<p>The badger is not often much hurt in the drawing, the thickness of their +skin being sufficient to prevent them from taking any great harm. The +looseness of the skin is such that they can turn easily, and, moreover, +they are so quick in moving about, that the dogs are often desperately +wounded in the first assault, and compelled to give up the contest.</p> + +<p>To give an idea of the extreme sensitiveness for cleanliness which +characterize the habits of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> badger, let the following example be taken. +On being drawn from its barrel by the dog, it not unfrequently happens in +the scuffle which ensues, that the animal is rolled over and over, among +the mire of the road, or the dirt of some neighbouring dunghill. Should the +badger, however, be able to escape to its place of refuge in the barrel, +even for a minute or two, the onlooker is surprised to find it turn out +again as "snod" and clean, as if the dragging process through the dirt had +never been undergone.</p> + +<p>Several proverbial sayings are current, which have been drawn from the +nature and habits of this animal. For instance, a man of much and long +continued endurance, is said to be "as hard as a brock;" and any one, upon +whom age is creeping, and whose hair has lost a good deal of its original +brightness, is said to be "as grey as a badger." Relph of Sebergham, in +detailing in his native patois, the woes of a young and lusty love-sick +swain, gives an illustration of one of the modes of hunting the animal:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nae mair i' th' neets thro' woods he leads,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To treace the wand'rin' <i>brock</i>;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sits i' th' nuik, an' nowt else heeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But Jenny an' her rock.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In addition to the haunts of the badger incidentally mentioned, +Brock-stones, in Kentmere; Brock-holes, at the foot of Tebay Fells; +Graythwaite woods, in Furness Fells; Greystoke forest, near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> Penrith; +Brockley-moor, in Inglewood forest; Brock-hills, near Hesket Newmarket; and +Brocklebank, on the east side of Derwentwater;—these and many other like +coverts in the Lake Country, (as their names indicate,) were all +strongholds and places of much resort for these animals, in the olden time.</p> + +<p>Within the memory of living man, badgers have burrowed in the sand hills on +Brocklebank, where it was not uncustomary for the tag-rag and bob-tail +fraternity of Keswick, to hunt and capture them for the purpose of baiting.</p> + +<p>About the year 1823, Tom Wilson, a shoemaker—reared at The Woodman inn, +Keswick—remembers one being caught in a sack at the foot of Brockle-beck, +when a novel but extremely foolish experiment was tried in the way of +hunting it. It was let off in the midst of a gang of rough men, half-grown +lads, and dogs, in deep water, near Lord's Island on Derwent Lake, and the +chances are that the poor animal perished by drowning. At all events, it +soon disappeared under the surface, and was never seen again by man or dog.</p> + +<p>A husbandman, named Jonathan Gill, captured another on Great How, a steep +wooded mountain which rises on the east side of Thirlmere lake. These are +the two last badgers in the Keswick locality, of which we have any tidings. +It is more than probable that the Brocklebank herd became dispersed or +extinct about this period.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> +<h2>ADDENDA</h2> + +<h3>MIDNIGHT CHASE OF A BULL BY PROFESSOR WILSON.</h3> + +<h3>THOMAS DE QUINCEY.</h3> + + +<p>Represent to yourself the earliest dawn of a fine summer's morning, time +about half-past two o'clock. A young man, anxious for an introduction to +Mr. Wilson, and as yet pretty nearly a stranger to the country, has taken +up his abode in Grasmere, and has strolled out at this early hour to that +rocky and moorish common (called the White Moss) which overhangs the Vale +of Rydal, dividing it from Grasmere. Looking southwards in the direction of +Rydal, suddenly he becomes aware of a huge beast advancing at a long trot, +with the heavy and thundering tread of a hippopotamus, along the public +road. The creature is soon arrived within half a mile of his station; and +by the grey light of morning is at length made out to be a bull, apparently +flying from some unseen enemy in his rear. As yet, however, all is mystery; +but suddenly three horsemen double a turn in the road, and come flying into +sight with the speed of a hurricane,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> manifestly in pursuit of the fugitive +bull. The bull labours to navigate his huge bulk to the moor, which he +reaches, and then pauses panting and blowing out clouds of smoke from his +nostrils, to look back from his station amongst rocks and slippery crags +upon his hunters. If he had conceited that the rockiness of the ground had +secured his repose, the foolish bull is soon undeceived; the horsemen, +scarcely relaxing their speed, charge up the hill, and speedily gaining the +rear of the bull, drive him at a gallop over the worst part of that +impracticable ground down to the level ground below. At this point of time +the stranger perceives by the increasing light of the morning that the +hunters are armed with immense spears fourteen feet long. With these the +bull is soon dislodged, and scouring down to the plain below, he and the +hunters at his tail take to the common at the head of the lake, and all, in +the madness of the chase, are soon half engulphed in the swamp of the +morass. After plunging together for about ten or fifteen minutes all +suddenly regain the <i>terra firma</i>, and the bull again makes for the rocks. +Up to this moment, there had been the silence of ghosts; and the stranger +had doubted whether the spectacle were not a pageant of aërial +spectres—ghostly huntsmen, ghostly lances, and a ghostly bull. But just at +this crisis, a voice (it was the voice of Mr. Wilson) shouted aloud, "Turn +the villain! turn that villain! or he will take to Cumberland." The young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +stranger did the service required; the villain was turned, and fled +southwards; the hunters, lance in rest, rushed after him; all bowed their +thanks as they fled past; the fleet cavalcade again took the high road; +they doubled the cape which shut them out of sight; and in a moment all had +disappeared, and left the quiet valley to its original silence, whilst the +young stranger, and two grave Westmorland "statesmen," (who by this time +had come into sight upon some accident or other) stood wondering in +silence, and saying to themselves, perhaps,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The earth hath bubbles as the water hath;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And these are of them."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But they were no bubbles; the bull was a substantial bull, and took no harm +at all from being turned out occasionally at midnight for a chase of +fifteen or eighteen miles. The bull, no doubt, used to wonder at this +nightly visitation; and the owner of the bull must sometimes have pondered +a little on the draggled state in which the swamps would now and then leave +his beast; but no other harm came of it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + +<p> +Abbot, Joseph, Bampton, and Tom "Dyer," <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Weightman, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"A bit iv a lad stept oot of a corner o' the ring," <a href='#Page_202'>202</a><br /> +<br /> +Alston town, description of, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a><br /> +<br /> +" wrestlers, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a><br /> +<br /> +Arlecdon moor wrestling meetings, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a><br /> +<br /> +Armstrong, "Solid Yak," <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a><br /> +<br /> +Armstrong, Jacob, thrown by Weightman, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a><br /> +<br /> +Ashburner, Tom, Grasmere, and Roan Long, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a><br /> +<br /> +Atkinson, Robert, Sleagill giant, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Badgers and Badger Baiting</span>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a><br /> +<br /> +" at Naworth, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a><br /> +<br /> +Balmer, John, nearly drowned in Windermere, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a><br /> +<br /> +Bateman, William, Yottenfews, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a><br /> +<br /> +Barrow, John, Windermere, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a><br /> +<br /> +Bedlington terriers, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a><br /> +<br /> +Best, George, Yarrow, <a href="#Page_xliv">xliv</a><br /> +<br /> +Bewick, Thomas, and his Ainstable cousin, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bull baiting, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bigg, John Stanyan, quotation from, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a><br /> +<br /> +Bird, George, Langwathby, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a><br /> +<br /> +" Joseph, Holme Wrangle, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a><br /> +<br /> +Border wrestling at Miles end, <a href="#Page_xlv">xlv</a><br /> +<br /> +Bowstead, John, brother to Bishop of Lichfield, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a><br /> +<br /> +Bridewain or Bidden Weddings, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Rev. Abraham, wrestler, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a><br /> +<br /> +Brunskill, George, and William Wilson, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bull Baiting</span>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a><br /> +<br /> +Bull-dogs and Bull-terriers, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a><br /> +<br /> +Burns, Arthur, Ullater, and Roan Long, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Caldbeck, familiar name at, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a><br /> +<br /> +Carlisle wrestling, list of men who contended at first annual meeting, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a><br /> +<br /> +Cass, William, and Tom Todd, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Weightman, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Casson, Robert, Oxenpark, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a><br /> +<br /> +Chapman, Richard, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a><br /> +<br /> +Christopherson, Brian, Oxenpark, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a><br /> +<br /> +Clark, William, Hesket-new-market, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a><br /> +<br /> +"Clattan," (<i>see</i> Mc.Laughlan)<br /> +<br /> +Cock-fighting prohibited by the Puritans, <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a><br /> +<br /> +Cock-fighting at Elleray and Alston, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a><br /> +<br /> +"Cork lad of Kentmere," <a href='#Page_3'>3</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>Cornish wrestling, <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>, <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +Cromwell, Oliver, at a wrestling meeting, <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a><br /> +<br /> +Crow park, Keswick, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, ancient</span>, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dandie Dinmont terriers, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dennison, George</span>, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a><br /> +<br /> +" thrown by William Dickinson, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sets a dislocated shoulder in the Carlisle ring, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Devonshire wrestling, <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>, <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dickinson, William</span>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dixon, Miles</span>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a><br /> +<br /> +" <span class="smcap">James</span>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>—<a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +" George, "aw t' Dixons errant doon yet," <a href='#Page_85'>85</a><br /> +<br /> +"Dixon's three jumps," <a href='#Page_13'>13</a><br /> +<br /> +Dobson, John, Cliburn, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a><br /> +<br /> +Dodd, Adam, Langwathby, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a><br /> +<br /> +Dodd, Robert, Brough, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a><br /> +<br /> +"Doon on ye'r knees, fadder, an' boo like a bull," <a href='#Page_222'>222</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Eals, Sarah, Alston, a shrew, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a><br /> +<br /> +Earl, John, Cumwhitton, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a><br /> +<br /> +Earl, William, and "Clattan," <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">English wrestling, old</span>, <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Faulds Brow sports, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fawcett, James</span>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>—<a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Fearon, John, Gilcrux, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a><br /> +<br /> +Fidler, John, Wythop hall, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a><br /> +<br /> +Ford, T., Ravenglass, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, and Weightman, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a><br /> +<br /> +Forster Brothers, the, of Penton, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a><br /> +<br /> +Foxes and Badgers fraternising, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a><br /> +<br /> +"Fwok sud aye be menseful, an' menseful amang fwok," <a href='#Page_206'>206</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"Gwordie Maut" and Weightman, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a><br /> +<br /> +Gibson, Alexander Craig, "Folk Speech of Cumberland," <a href='#Page_97'>97</a><br /> +<br /> +Golightly, Thomas, Alston, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a><br /> +<br /> +Graham, Sir James—black mare, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a><br /> +<br /> +Graham, James, and Weightman, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">throws "Clattan," <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Graham, Harry</span>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>—<a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Grecian wrestling, ancient, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a><br /> +<br /> +Gretna fight, the—Carter and Oliver, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Harrison, Thomas, Blencow, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a><br /> +<br /> +" John, New Church, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a><br /> +<br /> +" John, Lowick, "Checky," <a href='#Page_175'>175</a><br /> +<br /> +Herdwick sheep, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a><br /> +<br /> +High street mountain, sports on, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a><br /> +<br /> +Hodgson, Tom,—quarrel with Weightman, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">throws "Clattan," <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hogg, James, Ettrick Shepherd, <a href="#Page_xxxviii">xxxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +Holmes, John, King of Mardale, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a><br /> +<br /> +Holmes, John, tailor, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a><br /> +<br /> +"Hoo 'at thoo let him hipe the' i' that stupid fashion?" <a href='#Page_183'>183</a><br /> +<br /> +Howard, Mr. Philip, Corby Castle, and Weightman, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a><br /> +<br /> +Howell, Edward, Greystoke, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a><br /> +<br /> +Huddleston, Mr. Andrew, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>"If thoo says Clattan isn't a gud russler," <a href='#Page_182'>182</a><br /> +<br /> +Indian wrestling, <a href="#Page_xviii">xviii</a><br /> +<br /> +Irish wrestling, <a href="#Page_xlvi">xlvi</a><br /> +<br /> +Irishmen, two, and Tom Nicholson, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a><br /> +<br /> +Irving, George, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a><br /> +<br /> +"I's nobbut shy—I's nobbut varra shy," <a href='#Page_206'>206</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Jackson, Joseph, sickle maker, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a><br /> +<br /> +Jameson, Samuel, Penrith, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a><br /> +<br /> +" William, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a><br /> +<br /> +Japanese wrestling, <a href="#Page_xii">xii</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasted with Northern English, <a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Jordan, John, Great Salkeld, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a><br /> +<br /> +"Jwohn Barleycworn's ruin't mony a gud heart," <a href='#Page_206'>206</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"Keg," the Keswick bully, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Langwathby Rounds</span>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a><br /> +<br /> +Liddle, John, Bothel, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Litt, William</span>, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and William Richardson, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Miles Dixon, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes Weightman, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Little</i>, John, facetious letter on Carlisle ring, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Long, Rowland</span>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>—<a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Long John</span>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">—throws Tom Nicholson, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Longmire, Thomas, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a><br /> +<br /> +Lonsdale, Earl of, patronizes the wrestling ring, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a><br /> +<br /> +Lowthian, Isaac, Plumpton, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a><br /> +<br /> +Lowden, Charles, challenged, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a><br /> +<br /> +" John, Keswick, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mackereth, William</span>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>—<a href="#Page_96">96</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and "Clattan," <a href='#Page_215'>215</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Marcy, Jwohn! is that thee?" <a href='#Page_173'>173</a><br /> +<br /> +Marshall, the forgeman, at Sparkbridge, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a><br /> +<br /> +Mason, Isaac, Croglin, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a><br /> +<br /> +Maughan, Isaac, Alston, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a><br /> +<br /> +Mc.Donald, Anthony, Appleby, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mc.Laughlan, John</span>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>—<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and William Wilson, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Weightman, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Melmerby Rounds</span>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a><br /> +<br /> +Michie, Robert, Hawick, <a href="#Page_xliii">xliii</a><br /> +<br /> +Miles End athletic Border games, <a href="#Page_xlv">xlv</a><br /> +<br /> +Morton, Thomas, Gale, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a><br /> +<br /> +" Joseph, Gale, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a><br /> +<br /> +Mulcaster, Richard, on the art of "wrastling," <a href='#Page_5'>5</a><br /> +<br /> +Muncaster bridge, "built by men from Grasmere," <a href='#Page_86'>86</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Nanny, Louis, Haltwhistle, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a><br /> +<br /> +Nicholson, Matthias, Penruddock, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Nicholson, Thomas</span>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">—thrown by Miles Dixon, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">match with Harry Graham, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nicholson, John, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a><br /> +<br /> +"Noo, lads, I've clear'd rooad for yee," <a href='#Page_92'>92</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Olympic games, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a><br /> +<br /> +"Owther the coo back, or the brass to pay for't," <a href='#Page_205'>205</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Parker, John, Sparkgate, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a><br /> +<br /> +" Joseph, Crooklands, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a><br /> +<br /> +Parkyns, Sir Thomas, treatise on wrestling, <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rules and conditions, xxxii</span><br /> +<br /> +Parkyns, Sir Thomas.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some account of his life, <a href="#Page_xxxiii">xxxiii</a></span><br /> +<br /> +" and Professor Wilson, similarity between, <a href="#Page_xxxvii">xxxvii</a><br /> +<br /> +Pearson, Henry, great upholder of wrestling, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a><br /> +<br /> +Pearson, Shepherd—a curious bet, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a><br /> +<br /> +Peart, Cuthbert, and Jemmy Fawcett, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a><br /> +<br /> +Peat, Thomas, Blencow, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a><br /> +<br /> +Pocklington, Mr., and Keswick regatta, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a><br /> +<br /> +Pooley, Ralph, Longlands, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a><br /> +<br /> +Powley, Miss, "Echoes of Old Cumberland," <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a><br /> +<br /> +Puritan anathema against Cumberland and Westmorland, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a><br /> +<br /> +Pythian games, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Relph, Rev. Josiah, quotation from, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a><br /> +<br /> +Reminiscences of West Cumberland, by William Dickinson, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a><br /> +<br /> +Richardson, John, Staffield hall, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a><br /> +<br /> +Richardson, John, Caldbeck, and Scotch rebels, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a><br /> +<br /> +Richardson, Lady, Lancrigg, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Richardson, Thomas</span>, "<span class="smcap">the Dyer</span>," <a href='#Page_156'>156</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">" and Tom Todd, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and William Wilson, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Richardson, William</span>, Caldbeck, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a><br /> +<br /> +" <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, and Dennison, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and William Wilson, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ridley, Tom, "the glutton," and Tom Nicholson, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Weightman, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Robinsons of Cunsey, and Roan Long, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Robinson, James</span>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>-195, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a><br /> +<br /> +Robinson of Renwick, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a><br /> +<br /> +" Jonathan, Allerby, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a><br /> +<br /> +Robley, John, Scarrowmannock, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a><br /> +<br /> +" Joseph, Scarrowmannock, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a><br /> +<br /> +Rodgers, Jonathan, Brotherelkeld, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a><br /> +<br /> +Routledge of "Clockymill," <a href='#Page_189'>189</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rowantree, Robert</span>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>-54<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Salmon poaching in the Derwent, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a><br /> +<br /> +Savage of Bolton, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a><br /> +<br /> +Scotland, wrestling in, <a href="#Page_xxxviii">xxxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +Scott, Sir Walter, at St. Ronans games, <a href="#Page_xxxviii">xxxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Scott, James</span>, Canonbie, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a><br /> +<br /> +Scougal, George, Innerleithen, <a href="#Page_xl">xl</a><br /> +<br /> +Selkirk, John, Beckermet, throws "Clattan," <a href='#Page_215'>215</a><br /> +<br /> +Skulls of Calgarth, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a><br /> +<br /> +Slee, William, Dacre, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a><br /> +<br /> +Snow storm of 1807, great, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a><br /> +<br /> +Spedding, John, Egremont, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a><br /> +<br /> +Stagg, John, blind bard, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a><br /> +<br /> +Stamper, George, Underskiddaw, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a><br /> +<br /> +"Standback," assumed name for trail hounds, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a><br /> +<br /> +"Stangings" at Langwathby, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a><br /> +<br /> +Steadman, George, Drybeck, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a><br /> +<br /> +Stephenson, Thomas, and Jemmy Fawcett, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a><br /> +<br /> +Stone Carr, ancient sports at, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Taylor, Benjamin, bone setter, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>Thompson, Joseph, Caldbeck, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a><br /> +<br /> +Thompson, Teasdale, High Rotherup, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a><br /> +<br /> +Thwaites, William, and Professor Wilson, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a><br /> +<br /> +Tinling, Dr., Warwick bridge, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a><br /> +<br /> +Tinnian, Job, Holme Cultram, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a><br /> +<br /> +Todd, "Brandy," Wigton, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Todd, Tom</span>, Knarsdale, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>—<a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a><br /> +<br /> +Trail Hounds, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a><br /> +<br /> +Turkey, wrestling match in, <a href="#Page_xxi">xxi</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ward, William, North Tyne, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a><br /> +<br /> +Watson, Jonathan, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a><br /> +<br /> +Weardale wrestlers, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Weightman, John</span>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>—<a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a><br /> +<br /> +" and Tom "Dyer," <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and William Wilson, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and "Clattan," <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Westmorland and Cumberland wrestling, ancient</span>, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a><br /> +<br /> +"What's t'e gaen to mak' o' yon 'an, Tom?" <a href='#Page_166'>166</a><br /> +<br /> +"When a bit iv a tailyer can thrā' me," <a href='#Page_93'>93</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitfield, "Pakin," <a href='#Page_38'>38</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Wilson, William</span>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>-55, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, William, "Wicked Will" of Grasmere, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, Professor, and Sir Thos. Parkyns, similarity between, <a href="#Page_xxxvii">xxxvii</a><br /> +<br /> +" on the wrestling at Carlisle, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fracas with Tom Nicholson, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +" Midnight chase of a bull, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a><br /> +<br /> +" <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a><br /> +<br /> +Windermere lake, wrestling on frozen surface of, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a><br /> +<br /> +Woodall, John, Gosforth, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling on St. Bartholomew's day, <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a><br /> +<br /> +" and riots near the Hospitall of Matilde, <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a><br /> +<br /> +Wrestling match for £1000, <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a><br /> +<br /> +" not a Scotch game, <a href="#Page_xliv">xliv</a><br /> +<br /> +Wright, Wilfrid, and Tom "Dyer," <a href='#Page_166'>166</a><br /> +<br /> +"Wully! we sud beàth been weel bray't," <a href='#Page_148'>148</a><br /> +</p> + + +<h4>G. AND T. COWARD, PRINTERS, CARLISLE.</h4> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wrestling and Wrestlers:, by +Jacob Robinson and Sidney Gilpin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRESTLING AND WRESTLERS: *** + +***** This file should be named 37562-h.htm or 37562-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/5/6/37562/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Josephine +Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net. 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