The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 12 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 12 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
observing that Jack had a pocket volume in his hand, in which he read in
the intervals of our discourse, I inquired what it was, and learned to
my particular satisfaction that it was a volume of the New Eloise.
Ladies, after this, will you contend that a love for the FANCY is
incompatible with the cultivation of sentiment?—We jogged on as before,
my friend setting me up in a genteel drab great coat and green silk
handkerchief (which I must say became me exceedingly), and after
stretching our legs for a few miles, and seeing Jack Randall, Ned
Turner, and Scroggins, pass on the top of one of the Bath coaches, we
engaged with the driver of the second to take us to London for the usual
fee. I got inside, and found three other passengers. One of them was an
old gentleman with an aquiline nose, powdered hair, and a pigtail, and
who looked as if he had played many a rubber at the Bath rooms. I said
to myself, he is very like Mr. Windham; I wish he would enter into
conversation, that I might hear what fine observations would come from
those finely-turned features. However, nothing passed, till, stopping to
dine at Reading, some inquiry was made by the company about the fight,
and I gave (as the reader may believe) an eloquent and animated
description of it. When we got into the coach again, the old gentleman,
after a graceful exordium, said, he had, when a boy, been to a fight
between the famous Broughton and George Stevenson, who was called the
_Fighting Coachman_, in the year 1770, with the late Mr. Windham. This
beginning flattered the spirit of prophecy within me and rivetted my
attention. He went on—‘George Stevenson was coachman to a friend of my
father’s. He was an old man when I saw him some years afterwards. He
took hold of his own arm and said, “there was muscle here once, but now
it is no more than this young gentleman’s.” He added, “well, no matter;
I have been here long, I am willing to go hence, and I hope I have done
no more harm than another man.” Once,’ said my unknown companion, ‘I
asked him if he had ever beat Broughton? He said Yes; that he had fought
with him three times, and the last time he fairly beat him, though the
world did not allow it. “I’ll tell you how it was, master. When the
seconds lifted us up in the last round, we were so exhausted that
neither of us could stand, and we fell upon one another, and as Master
Broughton fell uppermost, the mob gave it in his favour, and he was said
to have won the battle. But,” says he, “the fact was, that as his second
(John Cuthbert) lifted him up, he said to him, ‘I’ll fight no more, I’ve
had enough;’ which,” says Stevenson, “you know gave me the victory. And
to prove to you that this was the case, when John Cuthbert was on his
death-bed, and they asked him if there was any thing on his mind which
he wished to confess, he answered, ‘Yes, that there was one thing he
wished to set right, for that certainly Master Stevenson won that last
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account