BOXING INCIDENTS 177 



that he was now far too good. The man had no sort of 

 real talent for boxing, but had worked himself into some- 

 thing more than useful, and it was at least a month before 

 I got on terms with him again, and another month before I 

 could assert superiority, which was natural,but dependent, 

 as all so-called superiority must be, on work sufficient 

 to maintain it. 



I really loved boxing and fencing, both being almost 

 perfection for sport and exercise, and I grew thick and 

 strong on the work till I weighed 12 stone 7 Ib. Blake 

 even talked of an amateur championship, and then 

 came a day when I boxed with G. D. Faber, now Lord 

 Wittenham. 



No one would dream of either of us as pugilists now, 

 but I am writing of what I know, that George Faber in 

 those days, with the gloves on, presented a very difficult 

 problem. He was tall, lithe and active, with a long reach 

 and a fair knowledge of the game, and I rejoiced in meeting 

 such an opponent, until and, of course, by accident he 

 hit me with the inside of a glove on the side of the head, 

 and though little was thought of it at the time, such 

 trouble resulted that I had to see a specialist, who declared 

 my skull to be far too thin to stand serious boxing. I 

 almost wished I had been born thick-headed, for I was 

 full of boxing ambition at that time, but George Faber, 

 quite undesignedly, found out the weak spot, and I have 

 reason to thank him ; for in a serious contest it would 

 have been found out much more effectually, without a 

 doubt. 



We had a fair measure of what the amateur champion- 

 ship form really amounted to that year, for Chappell was 

 one of us at Blake's, and he went up and actually did win 

 the heavy or middle weight I forget which. Since then 

 he changed his name to Maddison. 



One way and another life passed very happily in those 

 days, and in the Christmas vacation there was always 

 plenty of sport hunting with the York and Ainsty, the 

 Bedale, Lord Middleton's, the Sinnington and an occasional 



