Wrestling and Wrestlers: Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger BaitingRobinson, Jacob
History
Wrestling and Wrestlers: Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting
Robinson, Jacob
Wrestlers; Wrestling
Mr. Litt admits being thrown in the Carlisle ring by
Joseph Bird of Holm Wrangle, in 1811, which he says in
_Wrestliana_, was a "smartish contest;" and he adds
that his "best day was in 1806, 1807, and 1808." But,
sir, this is only three short years past the time when
Mr. Litt was in the zenith of his fame; so that even
writing from recollection, my assertion is not
altogether incorrect, and certainly not intentionally
so. Mr. Litt and Joseph Bird had some dispute, it
appears, about taking hold: be this as it may, I was
justified in stating that Mr. L. had been thrown at
Carlisle by _ordinary_ wrestlers; for Bird was never
considered more than a third-rate player in the
Carlisle ring. He was a powerful man enough, though not
heavier than Mr. Litt at that day--possessed little or
no activity, and scarcely any science as a wrestler. I
have no account of the wrestling in 1811 in my
possession; but I have an account in 1815, and strange
as it may appear, Mr. Litt's name is never mentioned!
It would be well, sir, if my opponent would recollect
that his statements have to meet the public eye. In the
year 1815, Bird, in the first and second rounds, came
against Byers and Grisdale, both of whom he threw, and
was himself thrown in the third round by Thomas Peat.
Though I may admire Mr. Litt's general judgment on
athletic sports, I must again doubt it, if he deems any
of the Fosters first-rate wrestlers, or any more in
the ring than ordinary men; for in the scale of
athletic science, they were not even so exalted as
Bird. One of the Fosters fell in the first round, and
another in the second; but I shall enter no further
into this part of the controversy, as Mr. L's name
appears entirely unconnected with the wrestling of
1815. When I recall to my recollection the feats of
agility, science, and pith, displayed by Thomas
Nicholson in the Carlisle ring, in carrying off with
_eclat_, the first prize for three successive years;
and when I also recollect with what facility this
athletic hero discomfitted Bird, Mr. Litt's opponent, I
very much doubt the truth of the panegyric which Mr. L.
passes upon himself in _Wrestliana_ for his performance
on Arlecdon-moor, wherein he states (though in poor
health and condition at the time,) that he defeated
Harry Graham, the successful opponent of the once
celebrated Thomas Nicholson.
ATHLETICUS.
MILES AND JAMES DIXON
OF GRASMERE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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