h.

Lady Josiana made only this concession to propriety--she dressed as a
man, a very common custom at that period. Women seldom travelled
otherwise. Out of every six persons who travelled by the coach from
Windsor, it was rare that there were not one or two amongst them who
were women in male attire; a certain sign of high birth.

Lord David, being in company with a woman, could not take any part in
the match himself, and merely assisted as one of the audience.

Lady Josiana betrayed her quality in one way; she had an opera-glass,
then used by gentlemen only.

This encounter in the noble science was presided over by Lord Germaine,
great-grandfather, or grand-uncle, of that Lord Germaine who, towards
the end of the eighteenth century, was colonel, ran away in a battle,
was afterwards made Minister of War, and only escaped from the bolts of
the enemy, to fall by a worse fate, shot through and through by the
sarcasm of Sheridan.

Many gentlemen were betting. Harry Bellew, of Carleton, who had claims
to the extinct peerage of Bella-aqua, with Henry, Lord Hyde, member of
Parliament for the borough of Dunhivid, which is also called Launceston;
the Honourable Peregrine Bertie, member for the borough of Truro, with
Sir Thomas Colpepper, member for Maidstone; the Laird of Lamyrbau, which
is on the borders of Lothian, with Samuel Trefusis, of the borough of
Penryn; Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu, of the borough of Saint Ives, with
the Honourable Charles Bodville, who was called Lord Robartes, and who
was Custos Rotulorum of the county of Cornwall; besides many others.

Of the two combatants, one was an Irishman, named after his native
mountain in Tipperary, Phelem-ghe-Madone, and the other a Scot, named
Helmsgail.

They represented the national pride of each country. Ireland and
Scotland were about to set to; Erin was going to fisticuff Gajothel. So
that the bets amounted to over forty thousand guineas, besides the
stakes.

The two champions were naked, excepting short breeches buckled over the
hips, and spiked boots laced as high as the ankles.

Helmsgail, the Scot, was a youth scarcely nineteen, but he had already
had his forehead sewn up, for which reason they laid 2 1/3 to 1 on him.
The month before he had broken the ribs and gouged out the eyes of a
pugilist named Sixmileswater. This explained the enthusiasm he created.
He had won his backers twelve thousand pounds. Besides having his
forehead sewn up Helmsgail's jaw