JOHN GULLY. 75 



were called out aud placed under arms, and the country folks 

 generally thought that " Boney " and the French had landed at 

 last ! For fifty-eight minutes Grregson made gallant but unavailing 

 attempts to turn the tables on his quondam conqueror ; but it was 

 useless. Gully proved beyond doubt that he was the better man, 

 and delighted lovers of the noble art by the coolness, the judgment, 

 and the science which he displayed, whilst the severity of his 

 hitting was something frightful to behold. With that decisive vic- 

 tory John Gully's career as a pugilist ended. He retired from the 

 Ring, and like most of his brother pugs, took a public-house — the 

 Plough Tavern, in Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields — where, at the 

 age of twenty-five, we find him enthroned as hero, landlord, and, 

 above all, shrewd, observant man of the world. Apropos of Gully's 

 great fights with Gregson, before we leave the subject we may give 

 an amusing anecdote, which proves how deep was the interest taken 

 in these combats, even by the highest personages in the State. Tom 

 Moore, the poet, writing to a friend on Wednesday, November 4th, 

 1811, says, "I suppose you have heard that during the 'Talents" 

 administration " (-i.e., the famous " Government of all the Talents ") 

 " Windham received an express from Lord Grey, which made a great 

 sensation in every town it passed through, but which turned out, 

 upon opening the gilt despatch box, to be the annonce of a battle 

 between Gully and Gregson, sent by the Foreign Secretary to the 

 War Secretary upon public service.^^ 



But John Gully had talents which required a wider sphere than 

 that of tavern-keeping for their development. He saw that there 

 was a fortune to be made by judicious betting, and accordingly he 

 became a professional betting man. His success was extraordinary, 

 and within three or four years of his taking up this career he had 

 racehorses of his own, Cordenio being the first that ever ran in his 

 name. He worked on gradually as a layer of odds — a "bettor 

 round," or " leg," as he was called in those days — at one period re- 

 siding at Newmarket with such tackle as Brutus, Truth, Rigmarole, 

 Forfeit, Cock Robin, and others. The turf then was in a very 

 different condition from what it is at the present day ; for, although 

 not a quarter of the number of horses was kept in training, still the 

 betting on them was far heavier ; and as the bookmakers were scanty 

 in proportion, so the profits they made out of the large wagers of 

 such notorious speculators as the Duke of Queensberry, Lord Foley, 

 Lord Abingdon, Colonel Mellish, and others of that kidney, must 

 have been remunerative in no ordinary degree. Men of such dis- 

 tinguished mark as these were not likely to let so promising a 

 beginner as Gully go unnoticed. The best commissions were given 

 him, and he executed them so well that in 1827 he could afford t<) 

 give Lord Jersey 4,000 guineas for the ever famous Mameluke, the 

 winner of the Derby of that year. 



The purchase was made on the first day of the Ascot Meeting, 

 with the condition that the bargain should not be made kno\vTi for 



F 2 



