JOHX GULLY. 27 



disw-ust but too often resiiltino- from the society of a self- 

 made man. It must be our first business here to trace 

 how be acbieved that trying- ascent in the world before 

 bim. Mr. Gully, then, was born at Wick-and-Abson, 

 between Bath and Bristol, some time in the year 

 1783. He was broug-ht up to the trade of a butcher, 

 but very soon evinced a handiness in taking* care 

 of himself in sundry fistic tourneys with the joskins 

 about home. This led to his visiting- the metropolis, 

 though with no very definite object beyond the 

 practice of his ti'ade, in which, however, he was not 

 very fortunate, for soon after reaching his twenty-first year 

 he was languishing- in one of our London lock-ups as a 

 prisoner for debt. His fellow-townsman, Pearce, better 

 known as " The Chicken," came to see him there, when, 

 to beguile the time, they put on the gloves for a bout or 

 two. Gully did so well in this set-to that it came to be 

 talked about, and ultimately he was liberated by the pa}^- 

 ment of the claims against him, and a match made with 

 the Chicken, the latter staking six hundred to four hun- 

 dred. The fight came off, after a disappointment in the 

 July previous, at Hailsham, in Sussex, on October 8, 1805, 

 when, after a very g-ame battle, in which Gully received 

 some fearful punishment, his friends interfered, and he 

 was taken away in the fifty-ninth round, after one hour 

 and ten minutes' hard fighting-. Although beaten, Gully 

 was by no means disg-raced, and, in fact, he became not 

 only a still g-reater favourite with the public, but on 

 Pearce's retirement was offered the title of Champion of 

 England, which, however, he resolutely declined. Prior 

 to this ofier, Gregson, a Lancashire man of immense size, 

 and Gully's superior in height and weight, was bold 

 enough to dispute the BristoHan's pretensions, and they 



