238 SPORTING STORIES 



approve of this, and sometimes expressed surprise that 

 a really great man, as her husband was, could have any 

 pleasure in the society of ' such ruffians as prize-fighters.' 

 He resolved to play his wife a harmless little trick. He 

 invited Jackson to dinner, and told him : — 



" ' Remember you are Colonel Jackson, and have been in 

 most of the battles of the Peninsula, Waterloo, etc., etc' 



" Colonel Jackson was announced, made himself most 

 agreeable, and played the part of Colonel to perfection. 

 After he had left, the lady remarked that Colonel Jackson 

 was one of the most agreeable and interesting men she 

 had ever met. ' You must ask him to dine with us again ! ' 

 said she. 



" ' With pleasure,' was the reply ; ' but when he dines 

 with us again you must receive him as John Jackson the 

 pugilist, not Colonel Jackson the Peninsula hero I ' " 



Mr Edward Hay ward Budd, the greatest all-round athlete 

 of his time — cricketer, boxer, wrestler, runner, game-shot — 

 has also told some good stories of Jackson, of whom he 

 was a contemporary. 



" Jackson," says Mr Budd, " used to teach the children 

 sparring in the drawing-rooms of the nobility, it being 

 a fashionable and indeed an essential accomplishment. 

 There was a certain duchess who was always present while 

 her sons were taking their lessons, Jackson being on his 

 knees to be more on a level with his pupils. 



" Jackson used to tell a laughable anecdote of himself. 

 A former pupil, a colonel in the Indian army, had, after 

 many years' absence in the East, returned to London. 

 Jackson called at the time the colonel was advertising a 

 lost pug dog. The colonel was from home, and on his 

 return the maid-servant told him that Mr Jackson the 

 pugilist had called, adding, ' I dare say, sir, he has called 

 about the dog.' " 



For more than thirty years Jackson was a conspicuous 

 figure in London life. Men of letters and fashion courted 

 his society. Lord Byron always spoke of him affectionately 

 as " my corporeal pastor and master," and there was hardly 

 a person of celebrity whom John Jackson did not number 

 among his acquaintances or patrons. 



