Tom Sprinr/s BacJc Parlour, 7 



in fact, it was a terrible trial of temper and patience ; and 

 v,-hen the time really did come, and I threw my hat into 

 the ring, and saw my colours tied to the stakes, it seemed 

 like taking a ton weight ofi'my mind, and I would not have 

 changed places w^ith the King of England." 



" AVell, can you remember the rounds now, as I can 

 remember hits and catches of cricket matches years ago ? " 



^' Most of them ; for, you see, when a man fights he sees 

 nothing of the crowd round him, but his whole attention 

 is on his opponent's face : and thinking over fights, I can 

 see now when I missed finishing a man off, or when I was 

 open, and he never took advantage of it. jSTow about the 

 pain. A heavy body blow or a bad fall must always tell, 

 and hands will sufter ; but the head blows weren't much at 

 the time, when a man's in training and his blood's up, except, 

 of course, behind the ear or parts like that, any more than 

 a hard blow^ on the leg, which would make a man dance 

 for a week in cold blood, hurts a cricketer in the summer. 

 You may depend upon it that the greatest pain to a good 

 man is to find that he has lost, and that they have given in 

 for him. A man feels down and done for. All his trouble 

 is thrown aw^ay, and he fancies that he may have lost his 

 friends too ; but if he happens to win, no matter how much 

 he may have been punished, he feels fit to jump over the 

 moon." 



" Well, now, what do you think of the King now ? Is it 

 better or worse ? " 



" What I think of it now is this. London is larger and 

 more accessible than it used to be. There always were 

 black sheep in the Ring, and now there are more black sheep 

 than there were. Lots of men manage to get a fight or so, 

 and call themselves fighting men, and set up low ginshops 

 and make small matches, when " win, tie, or wrangle," 

 seems to be the motto. Mr. Jackson was trusted by the 



