On the decease of Fig the immediate patrons of pugilism seem to have cooled in their ardour, as we hear but little of the doings at the amphitheatre. For four years George Taylor was his successor, and in 1740 we find him assuming the title of “Champion,” and proprietor of the “Great Booth in Tottenham Court Road.” With regard to the title of “Champion,” at this period, and for nearly a century subsequent, it was assumed by and applied to almost every boxer who challenged publicly. We make this remark to clear the way for some observations we shall make upon George Taylor’s defeat by the renowned Broughton. There is some curious blundering about the date of the first fight between George Taylor and Broughton; indeed, we should feel inclined to say that his first defeat was much earlier than the date of 1740, which is given in all the Chronologies, John Bee’s “Fistiana” and “Boxiana” included. He was proprietor of the “Great Booth” from 1734, and we have Captain Godfrey’s authority for saying that “he was not, when he fought Broughton, more than twenty years old,” and comments on the imprudence of such “a first attempt.” It will be seen, too, in the Life of Broughton, that the Captain speaks (writing in 1746‒7) thus of Broughton—“for seventeen or eighteen years he has fought, etc., and never been beaten.” From this we may fairly infer that it was some years prior to 1740 that Broughton first defeated George Taylor. Taylor, whose portrait is certainly good-humoured and prepossessing, is described as being a “strong, able pugilist,” according to the fashion of those times, but shifty and “deficient in bottom.” George’s skill in the “cross-buttock fall” is also recorded, and his cleverness in the “hanging-guard” and “back-sword” favourably spoken of. With these qualifications he entered Fig’s amphitheatre, and seems almost immediately to have become its proprietor. His advertisements invite “champions” of the different branches of “self-defence” to come and display their skill. The terms were that the proprietor should take one-third of the door-money, and the remaining two-thirds be divided among the “champions,” at the rate of one-third to the loser and two-thirds to the winner. We are told the entrance-money often reached £150, and occasionally it was more. Among the more noted boxers who illustrated the art at George Taylor’s “great booth,” were the renowned Jack Broughton the waterman, the Father of the English P.R., who beat all opposed to him, especially George Taylor himself; Prince Boswell, Stevenson the coachman, Will Willis, Tom Smallwood, Buckhorse, Jack James, Field the sailor, Pipes and Gretting already mentioned, and others of the school of Fig. [Illustration: GEORGE TAYLOR, 1734‒1758. _From a Print published in 1740._ ] One of the most remarkable battles at Taylor’s booth was that of Broughton and Stevenson, April 24, 1741 (see LIFE of BROUGHTON, _post_, p. 22).