deadly and dangerous than the
men, because they added cruelty to their ferocity. Innumerable women
there were who had lost the very nature of womanhood, and whose mouths
were the mere outlet of oaths and filthy language. Their shrill
clamours deafened our ears and subdued the deep voices of the men,
whom they chaffed, reviled, shrieked at, yelled at, and swore at by
way of _fun_.

Amidst this turbulent rabble rode several members of the peerage, and
even Ministerial supporters of the "noble art," exchanging with the
low wretches I have mentioned a word or two of chaff or an occasional
laugh at the grotesque wit and humour which are never absent from an
English crowd.

As we approached the famous scene, to which every one was looking with
the most intense anticipation, the crowd grew almost frenzied with
expectancy, and yet the utmost good-humour prevailed. In this spirit
we arrived at Bourne Bridge, and thence to the place of encounter was
no great distance. It was a little field behind a public-house.

Every face was now white with excitement, except the faces of the
combatants. They were firm set as iron itself. Trained to physical
endurance, they were equally so in nerve and coolness of temperament,
and could not have seemed more excited than if they were going to
dinner instead of to one of the most terrible encounters I ever
witnessed.

To those who have never seen an exhibition of this kind it was quite
amazing to observe with what rapidity the ropes were fixed and the
ring formed; nor were the men less prompt. Into the ring they stepped
with their supporters, or seconds, and in almost an instant the
principals had shaken hands, and were facing each other in what well
might be deadly conflict. There were illustrious members of all
classes assembled there, members probably of all professions, men
who afterwards, as I know, became great in history, politics, law,
literature, and religion; for it was a very great fight, and attracted
all sorts and conditions from all places and positions. Nothing since
that fight, except Tom Sayers and the "Benicia Boy," has attracted so
goodly and so fashionable an audience and so fierce an assembly of
blackguards.

But in the time of the latter battle the decadence of the Ring was
manifest, and was the outcome of what is doubtless an increasing
civilization. At the time of which I am now speaking the Prize Ring
was one of our fashionable sports, supported by the wealthy of a