[4] We have only Peters' own word for this sum. It was probably much less. [5] _Vita_, J. Barwick, London, 1721. [6] Stubbe, _Justification of the War_, 1673, pt. ii. p. 83. JAMES POLKINGHORNE, THE WRESTLER James Polkinghorne, the noted champion wrestler of Cornwall, was the son of James Polkinghorne, who died at Creed, 18th March, 1836. The wrestler James was born at S. Keverne in 1788, but there is no entry of his baptism in the parish register. Cornish wrestling was very different from that in Devon--it was less brutal, as no kicking was allowed. The Devon wrestlers wore boots soaked in bullock's blood and indurated at the fire, and with these hacked the shins of their opponents, who wore as a protection _skillibegs_, or bands of hay twisted and wrapped round their legs below the knee. I have so fully described the wrestling in my _Devonshire Characters and Strange Events_, that it is unnecessary here to go over the same ground more than cannot be helped. There was a Cornish jingle that ran as follows:-- Chacewater boobies up in a tree, Looking as whish'd as ever could be, Truro men, strong as oak, Knock 'em down at every stroke-- that had reference to the wrestling matches. In 1816 Polkinghorne, who had become the innkeeper of the "Red Lion," S. Columb Major, wrestled with Flower, a Devonshire man of gigantic stature, and threw him. Then Jackman, another Devonian, challenged Polkinghorne, and he was cast over the head of the Cornishman, describing the "flying mare." But the most notable contest in which Polkinghorne was engaged was with Abraham Cann, the Devonshire champion. The match was for £200 a side, for the best of three back-falls; and it took place on October 23rd, 1826, on Tamar Green, Morice Town, Plymouth, in the presence of seventeen thousand spectators. I have quoted the account already in my _Devonshire Characters_, but cannot omit it here. [Illustration: JAMES POLKINHORN, THE FAMOUS CORNISH WRESTLER _From a drawing as he appeared in the Ring at Devonport on Monday,_ 23 _October_, 1826, _when he threw Abm. Cann, the Champion of Devonshire, for a stake of_ 200 _sovereigns_]