That he went down on many occasions in a suspicious manner cannot be denied, and that this occurred on some few occasions when he was not in danger is equally true; but he almost invariably kept just within the pale of the law. Several times he was hit, and hit severely, and when Jemmy Shaw appealed to the referee as to his falling, on most such occasions he received a gentle tap, just sufficient to save him; still he persevered in the practice much too constantly to admit of our stating that it was a fair stand-up fight on his part. His friends contend that when a man is opposed to such superior weight and strength he is justified in resorting to such shifts to enable him to withstand his opponent, but this we deny. The rules of the Ring say distinctly “it shall be a fair stand-up fight,” and if a man cannot vanquish an opponent of heavier metal than himself by fair means, he has no business to make a match with him. Nat knew perfectly well Caunt’s superiority in height and weight, and Caunt was perfectly justified in his observation that this knowledge ought to have deterred him from match-making except on the usual terms. That Nat’s shifty tactics arose from cowardice would of course be a ridiculous suggestion. Every one who has seen him fight knows that a braver man never pulled off his shirt, and no one we ever saw enter a ring has impressed us with so just an idea of what may be accomplished by science and judgment; but still we cannot help repeating a remark we have over and over again made――we do not and cannot admire the hit and drop system. It is not consonant with the principles on which, and on which alone, we can uphold British boxing. the fight lasted one hour and twenty-nine minutes. The floodgates of newspaper letter-writing were opened by this undecided encounter. It is needless to say that the controversy ended in much ink-shedding and a draw of the £400 staked, leaving the debateable question of “getting down to finish the round” much where it previously and subsequently stood. From this period Caunt may be said to have finally retired from the Ring, though he still kept his house, the “Coach and Horses” (now the “Salisbury Stores”), in St. Martin’s Lane. The parlour here was a general resort of aspirants for pugilistic honours and their patrons, Ben busying himself in bringing forward and occasionally backing or finding backers for men, among whom may be named Bob Caunt,[13] his brother, David Hayes (thrice beaten by Murray), Perry, the Black, who beat Burton, of Leicester (January 20th, 1846), George Gutteridge (beaten by Nat Langham, September 23rd, 1846), and others.