Crawley suggested that a projected fight between them should be brought off, upon which Ward replied: "What! fight for a lousy hundred? Why, I owe two fifties already, and where's the use of fighting to remain fifty behind-hand ? "

Crawley: "I know, Jem, you'll be glad to fight for a hundred some day, and you may as well fight me as any one else."

A friend of Crawley's here suggested that as both parties appeared to be in want of blunt, they had better agree to spar together, and raise the wind by

that means.

As a consequence of this state of affairs the Corinthians began to desert the ring, and in consequence great exertions were made among its humbler votaries to keep up the spirit of the sport, in the hope that the time was not far distant when it might revive under its late powerful supporters, and that "good men and true" might again be found to deserve the patronage once so liberally extended.

In 1830 the Fives Court, once the favourite resort of the sporting aristocracy had fallen in its fortunes, and its frequenters were mostly little pickpockets, dirty-looking mechanics, and butchers. The exhibitions of sparring had then become few and far between, whilst the sporting aristocracy were disgusted with the ring.

As a matter of fact, the real use of the prize-ring, which was to inculcate hardihood and indifference to danger, ended with the close of the Napoleonic wars, and therefore the decadence of mere prize-fighting as

distinguished from scientific boxing was scarcely to be deplored.

Nevertheless, as has before been said, the bellicose spirit, for which the prize-ring had been responsible, was extremely useful in the days when England was struggling against the great Emperor. Many men who had entered the ring fell fighting gloriously. A conspicuous example was Shaw, the pugilistic Life Guardsman, who fell at the battle of Waterloo during one of the desperate charges which his regiment made against the enemy. This hero was born in Nottinghamshire (though some give Witherslack, in Westmorland, as his birthplace) about the year 1788.

Nottinghamshire always has been, and still is, a sporting district; it was the county of "merry Sherwood," and of merry Sherwood's denizens, Robin Hood and his stalwart archers, and of many others, gentle and simple, famed in rustic and athletic exercise, and fitted to wage their country's battles. The gallant Forty-fifth Infantry, one of the most distinguished old Peninsular regiments, was chiefly recruited in the county.

Shaw joined the Life Guards when quite a young man. He was considerably above six feet in height, and his weight, when stripped for fighting in the prize-ring, was about fifteen stone. In general appearance he was a stout-made man, without any particular points. His first effort to become a candidate for pugilistic fame was against a sailor at Combe Warren, in 1812, and this opponent he beat in a quarter of an hour without even a scratched face. Nevertheless, the

sailor, a stout fellow of nearly Shaw's weight, made a good stand-up fight with Molineux, the black, in Tothill Fields. The black won it in an hour, and this combat led to the first battle between him and Cribb. Shaw had often exhibited in the Fives Court to much disadvantage, as he was without science, and in these exhibitions he generally strove to rival Molineux, who had a fine opportunity of showing off his science upon Shaw's head. So pleased was the Life Guardsman with himself on these occasions that, on leaving the stage, he invariably declared, before the amateurs, that he had got the best of his sable rival. At length, however, by repeatedly putting on the gloves, he got some smatterings of science, and daily improving, though never more than a second-rater, he ended by at least knowing how to hit and break away. Shaw was a stranger to fear, as he exemplified at Waterloo, where it was an acknowledged fact that he did much execution after life was half exhausted. As a matter of fact, he received the finishing ball when still fighting. Shaw, a short while before he left England for the scene of hostilities, met some bargemen, in Marylebone, who upbraided him with the colour of his cloth, which led to a street fight. When the Life Guardsman had nearly vanquished one, two others assisted their companion; but all three got a merited milling in a few minutes, very little quarter being shown. A few weeks before his departure Shaw beat Painter on Twickenham Common; the latter was a man as good and as game as any in the ring. Painter, it is

true, was not in his best form, but neither was Shaw. The latter seemed very cool and cheerful, as well as careful. He made his hits at first, and broke away in good style, ready again to receive his adversary. He went in, after well measuring his distance, and won the fight very cleverly, severely beating his man in three-quarters of an hour. There were various opinions after the battle whether Shaw was not able to beat any man in the world. Had he not fallen at Waterloo, it is probable that he would have attained the muchcoveted title of Champion of England.

Quite a number of the old prize-fighters were Jews. Of these the most celebrated was Daniel Mendozaa shrewd, good-looking, and intelligent man, who was one of the most elegant and scientific boxers who ever entered the ring. Mendoza lived to the great age (for a prize-fighter) of seventy-three. Recognised as the father of the ring, in 1820, when he was fifty-seven years old, great interest was at that time attached to his fight with Tom Owen, another veteran, who had beaten Hooper, the tinman, some twenty-years before, after a hard fight of fifty rounds lasting for more than an hour. On this occasion, after Owen had dressed with the utmost indifference, he walked out of the ring.

The betting was in favour of Mendoza, though more than fourteen years had passed since the Star of the East as he was sometimes called-had appeared in the prize-ring with Harry Lee (19th March, 1806), and more than thirty-three fleeting summers (17th April, 1787) had occurred since Mendoza first distinguished

himself as a boxer, with Martin, the Bath butcher. On 9th January, 1788, Mendoza was defeated after a most gallant fight, at Odiham, by Humphries; but on 6th May, 1789, Mendoza, in turn, gained a victory over his opponent, at Stilton. The third decisive fight between Mendoza and Humphries took place on 9th September, 1790, at Doncaster, when conquest again crowned his exertions. Bill Ward was twice defeated by him, at Smitham Bottom, on 14th May, 1792; also on Bexley Common, 12th November, 1794. In this year Mendoza forfeited a deposit of twenty pounds out of a match of fifty guineas to Hooper.

At Hornchurch, 15th April, 1795, Mendoza was compelled to resign his laurels to Jackson, in ten minutes and a half. At one period of Mendoza's life, a finer subject for an anatomical lecture, it was supposed, did not exist in England; and, although a short man, he weighed 12 st. 5 lb.

The fight on Banstead Downs had originated from an old grudge of three years' standing, and at first it was proposed that the veterans should fight for nothing, merely to ascertain who deserved to be called the "better man."

Eventually, however, it was decided that each side should put up fifty guineas.

Mendoza was fifty-five years old, Owen fifty-one. The former was attended by Cribb and Hudson-the latter by Randall and Harry Lee.

An enormous crowd of people, desirous of seeing the old school at work, flocked to the fight, and loud cheering greeted Mendoza, whose eye sparkled with