2i8 COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



Fistiaiia, I am unable to verify the date of this fight, or 

 to name the combatants ; but people who know their 

 subject, in an age when boxing may be said to be revived, 

 will not need me to tell them that Blindley Heath, 

 which is about four miles from Godstone Green, was one 

 of the most popular and celebrated of prize-fighting 

 rendezvous. Here, to quote one example : On the 12th 

 of June, 1 82 1, Hickman, the gas-light man, and Oliver, 

 fought ten rounds in thirteen minutes. Not that 

 Blindley Heath is the only place in the neighbourhood 

 celebrated for this classic amusement. Within a few 

 miles are Copthall Common, where on December loth, 

 1 8 10, Cribb fought and beat Molineaux, the black, for 

 the first time ; and Crawley Down, which has witnessed 

 more mills than I have time or memory to catalogue. 



The processions from town to these fights however 

 afford too remarkable an illustration of contemporary 

 manners for me to pass over so lightly : an illustration 

 of manners continually to be studied in this neighbour- 

 hood on the Brighton Road. And 1 think that an ex- 

 tract from tJie classic authority will give a better idea 

 than I can of the scenes to be witnessed on the road 

 immediately before a celebrated "mill." 



" The Fancy were all upon the alert soon after break- 

 fast " (I quote from Boxiands description of the Grand 

 Pugilistic combat between Randall and Martin, at 

 Crawley Down, thirty miles from London, on Tuesday, 

 May 4, 1 8 19) '' on the Monday, to ascertain the scat of 

 action ; and as soon as the important ivJiisper had gone 

 forth, that Crawley Down was likely to be the place, 

 the toddlers were off in a tivinkling. The gigs were 

 soon brushed up, the prads harnessed, and the boys 

 who intended to enjoy themselves on the road were in 

 motion. Between the hours of two and three o'clock in 

 the afternoon upwards of a hundred gigs were counted 

 passing through Croydon. The Bonifaces chuckled 

 again with delight, and screzving was the order of the 

 day. Long before eight o'clock in the evening every 



