But Johnny was determined to be off with the match, as he had not found Brassey, of Bradford, so “tenderly led by the nose as asses are,” and he had now in view a grand _coup de poing_, to play off against the unquestionable “blaze of triumph” achieved by Ben Caunt in the circus and theatre line, by the introduction of what might be called the “illegitimate” drama in place of, and to the eclipse of, the exhibition of “legitimate” British boxing. In this fairly-planned vindication of the art from mere bulky pretenders, Johnny was certainly to be praised; but as his choice of a champion was “Hobson’s,” and limited to such an inferior tactician as the game, rough-and-ready Tipton Slasher――to oppose immense weight, superior length and activity, backed by a creditable reserve of courage and self-possession, and moderate skill in sparring――the enterprise was certainly ill-judged. Of its progress and issue we shall now have to treat. In the year 1842, a sensation was created by the return of Ben Caunt to England, bringing with him a seven-foot specimen of humanity, of the name of Charles Freeman. There can be little doubt, from subsequent events, that Ben brought over his gigantic _protégé_ purely as a showman’s speculation; and that Freeman, with his immense length, strength, and bulk, had as little pretensions or inclination to boxing as any non-combative member of the Peace Society could desire. Ben, however, seeing how “big things” carried it in Yankeeland――the country of “big things,” of which he, himself, was certainly one――imported the “American Atlas” as his sparring opponent; and if he might infer future success from their first few nights at the Queen’s Theatre, in Liverpool, when not a seat was to be had in a few minutes from the opening of the doors, the Lancashire people, at any rate, were willing to patronise the show.