Bakehouse, he was taken into his service, and became a principal figure
in all the grand gladiatorial encounters, at wages of forty shillings a
week and his meat. As for Mr. Figg himself, who was as good at backsword
as at broadsword, at quarter-staff as at foil, and at fisticuffs as any
one of them,--to say nothing of his Cornish wrestling,--I saw him once,
and shall never forget him. There was a Majesty blazed in his
countenance and shone in all his actions beyond all I ever beheld. His
right leg bold and firm; and his Left, which could hardly ever be
disturbed, gave him the surprising advantages he so often proved, and
struck his Adversary with Despair and Panic. He had that peculiar way of
stepping in, in a Parry, which belongs to the Grand School alone; he
knew his arm, and its just time of moving; put a firm faith in that, and
never let his foe escape a parry. He was just as much as great a master
as any I ever saw, as he was a greater judge of time and Measure. It was
his method, when he fought in his Amphitheatre, to send round to a
select number of his scholars to borrow a shirt for the ensuing combat,
and seldom failed of half-a-dozen of superfine Holland from his prime
Pupils. Most of the young Nobility and Gentry made it a part of their
education to march under his warlike banner. Most of his Scholars were
at every battle, and were sure to exult at their great master's
victories; every person supposing he saw the wounds his shirt received.
Then Mr. Figg would take an opportunity to inform his Lenders of the
charm their Linen had received, with an offer to send the garments home;
but he seldom received any other answer than "Hang you, keep it." A most
ingenious and courageous person, and immeasurably beyond all his
competitors, such as O'Teague, Will Holmes, Felix Maguire, Broughton,
Sutton, and the like.

Many good bouts with all kinds of weapons did we have at Mr. O'Teague's
theatre, which was down a Stable-yard behind Newport Market, not far
from Orator Henley's chapel. The shirt manoeuvre we tried over and
over again with varying success; but we found it in the end impossible
to preserve order among our Patrons, the greater part of whom were
Butchers; and I am fain to admit that many of these unctuous sky-blue
jerkins could fight as well as we. Then Mr. O'Teague was much given to
drinking, and in his potations quarrelsome. 'Twas all very well
fighting on a stage for profit, and with the chance of applaus