Related article: named. Billiards were long ta- booed. It is not long since I met Xalatan Coupon an old Devonshire parson, who told me that in his day at Cam- bridge any one who yearned for a game of billiards had to sneak over to Chesterton, at the risk of being proctorised, to indulge his taste for the board of green cloth. It is recognised now that billiard* and boxing, if stripped of their old unsavoury associations, are pastimes in which young men can indulge without any detriment to their morals. In the days of the Regency sparring exhibitions between mem- bers of the Upper Ten were almost as common as they are now be- tween gentlemen of the gutter. Lord Mexborough and Fletcher Norton were at one time the favourite pupils of " Gentleman Jackson," the famous pugilist, and so nearly matched that a challenge was given and accepted between the two to try which was the better man. Such a sensation 1 1*99-] ANECDOTAL SPORT. 361 was created by this event that on the afternoon on which it was to come off Rotten Row was literally deserted by the male sex. Jackson's rooms in Bond Street were crammed like a Drury Lane gallery on a Boxing-night, while the passages and even Buy Xalatan 0.005% the stairs were crowded by perspiring swells unable to gain admission, for it was regarded as a match of the House of Lords against the House of Commons. Both the com- batants were light weights and splendid boxers, and for Xalatan Price a long time victory hung in the balance ; for while Mexborough was the quicker at out fighting, Norton was stronger in the rally ; but strength prevailed at last, and my lord was knocked clean over the benches, and amidst the tremendous cheers of the Commons, Fletcher Norton was proclaimed the victor. Grant- ley Berkeley tells us in his me- moirs that after a dinner at Crockford's the tables would fre- quently be put aside and the room converted into an arena, wherein Tom Spring and Owen Swift and other famous boxers of the day would amuse the company with a display of their science. At other times the room would be temporarily turned into a cock- pit, and a main would be fought by candle-light. In no part of England, in the old days, was cock-fighting more enthusiastically followed than at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The New- castle Chronicle of a century ago was full of advertisements bearing upon this favourite sport, and in one issue six mains are announced, the aggregate prizes of which amounted to /720. Nearly all the principal inns had covered pits attached to them, those of nore ancient times being open. \t first the sports were carried ra at very short intervals during the season, but by degrees the principal attendance was concen- trated in the race week, when the fights were introduced under more imposing auspices, the gentlemen of Northumberland appearing as the competitors of the gentlemen of Durham, Cumberland, or York- shire, the pastime being then pat- ronised by the highest personages in the realm. Amongst the com- petitors in Newcastle cock-pits were the Duke of Hamilton, Sir Henry Liddell, General Beckwith, Mr. Fenwick Xalatan Cost of Bywell, &c. In 1790 a main was fought between the Duke of Northumberland and Charles Grey, Esq. (afterwards Earl Grey), jointly, and Mr. Fen- wick. Alter the death of that great cocker, Sir Harry Vane, however, the sport was little pat- ronised by the gentry. The pit in Newcastle was usually the centre of a large room round which seats were ranged, and with an inner circle railed off for book- makers. Among these, about sixty years Cost of Xalatan ago, was one named Sin- clair, noted for his extraordinary memory ; he never used pen or pencil, never entered a bet, yet would give or take the odds thirty or forty times without making the Xalatan Canada slightest mistake. The pit-men were passionately fond of cocking, and on pay Saturday there was always a regular tournament got up for their delectation, and al- though the price of admission was Xalatan 0.005 as high as half-a-crown, the place would be crowded with eager and • interested miners. Long after the sport was put down by Act of Parliament, mains continued to be fought Buy Xalatan in spite of law, police and fines, and that not only among the working classes, but among the influential people of the town. A well-known magis- trate, who died only a few years ago, kept game - cocks, and the 362 BAILY S MAGAZINE. [May back part of his house being well screened from public view, he frequently had a fight for his own entertainment and that of a select number of friends, amongst the latter being a learned judge, who was delighted to assist in breaking the law — at least, when on the Northern circuit. Cocking, how- ever, is dead and gone, even in the North, though I fancy there are still some enthusiasts who carry on the sport in secret. In- deed, I was once taken, not so very long ago, to an underground establishment in London where a large number of game-cocks were kept, and I was told that there were Members of Parliament who sometimes came to these subter- ranean vaults to witness a main sub rosd. Every one wagered frantically in those good old days. Horace Walpole tells a story of a man falling down in St. James' Street and being carried into White's Club- house, the members of which began to bet on the probabilities of his recovery, those who laid against objecting to any restora- tives being applied as affecting their chance. This tale is almost capped by the following : — Colonel Hay, notorious for his love of betting and gambling, Xalatan .005 had been struck down by a bullet on one of the battlefields of the Peninsula. As he lay apparently lifeless, two brother officers came up, one of whom exclaimed sadly, " Poor Hay ; he's gone at last." The words were scarcely spoken when a faint voice came up from the ground, " I'll lay you a cool hun- dred he's not." The Colonel had opened his eyes, but the glaze of death seemed on them, and the end appeared only a question of a few minutes. " Book the bet," said