The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-22 00:00:00

A Cumberland Wrestling Match.

Our earliest recollections of Cumberland wrestling
(says a writer in the London _Review) recall the
famous champion, Richard Chapman, of Penrith ;
his young and sometimes successful opponent, Wil-
liam Jackson, of Kinneyside ; George Donaldson,
the prince of light weights; the broad-chested and
sinewy Robert Gordon; Thomas Donaldson, of
Patterdale ; Isaac Woodend, John Selkirk. and
Isaac Hodgson. No doubt wrestlers of equal science
and stamina are to be found at the present day.
But a sketch of the ring when Chapman's fame was
at its zenith may be read with interest. Let us,
then, suppose the ring to be pitched in some pie-
turesque spot in Lake-land. The day is hot, and
the surrounding mountains present a hazy softness
of outline. Thirty thousand spectators might see
the sport from the rising ground which forms a
natural amphitheatre on all sides. About three
thousand people, mostly dalesmeto are in the booths,
and lounging about the large and well-kept ring.
Ile turf within the arena is soft, smooth, and
elastic. The lots are drawn for the first round for
wrestlers of any weight, in which not less than 124
men compete, It happens that in this round the
champion has to try a fall with a mere tyro in
the art. A well-set man in white begins to " peel,"
and all eyes are turned on Richard Chapman, of
Penrith, the hero of a hundred victories. He might
have stood to one of the ancient sculptors for a
youthful Hercules. In height he is about five feet
nine, his hair light-brown, his eye blue. His head
is not large but well set; his neck is of bull-like
strength. Those arms might have slain the
NemEean lion, if such a beast infested our happy
land. Saw ye ever a leg so " clean," combining so
much muscultir strength with so much activity ?
The amateur is, perhaps, most struck with the back
and loins, which have a round and compact appear-
ance which seems to render a complete grasp or hold
exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.
The simple and rather loutish country-fellow
who has drawn the champion in the first round,
walks into the ring with a mien of composed
and decent despair. He has small affection
for his task, but there would be want
of pluck in succumbing even to this re-
doubtable opponent without trying a fall. The
novice does not even take off his coat. They stand
face to face and throw their arms around each other.
They soon have hold, and soon the yokel is lifted
off his feet by Chapman, in whose strong grasp be
shakes like a reed. Vain is the quivering of those
legs, for they may not touch the ground in the
descent of the uplifted man ; or, if they do, they
will be thrust from under him. He falls to the
ground heavily, with something of a thud, and then
picking himself up, walks sheepishly towards the
ring, to lose himself in the crowd. Roughish work
this, Master Richard Chapman I Thou halt a
giant's strength, and dost, indeed, use it like a
giant ! Surely, a less force would have sufficed
to make yonder novice measure his length on the
green turf. That fine, stout, good-humoured fel-
low, Selkirk, would have done his spiriting more
gently. So would the Uiverstone champion of last
year, sweet good-natured young William Jackson.
Gordon, too, the broad-chested and sinewy, would
have stooped with his ear to the turf to break the
force of a yokel's fall.
Sometimes a picked wrestler may draw his match
in the first round, but when the ring is large it is
not until the third round that the weaker combatants
are weeded out. Then the interest becomes intense.

Two alone now remain to contend for the cham-
pion's belt—the redoubtable Chapman and young
Will Jackson, who last year, at the Flan sports,
floored Chapman and som3 of the oldest and best
wrestlers. He is very young—much younger than
he appears. His frame is that of a man of twenty-
eight or thirty, but he is said to be only eighteen.
He stands 6 feet 1 inch. He has great breadth of
shoulders, and a thin waist. He moves with care-
less and unconscious grace. Among a number of
cheerful, good-humoured young dalesmen, he is the
most prepossessing and best-natured. The enthu-
siasm in his favour mounts to fever-heat as the two
men approach each other. They are well contrasted.
Chapman's physique is more consolidated ; and the
coolness and confidence of long experience give him
an advantage which the greater height of Jackson
appears by no means to counterbalance. Before
they take hold, Chapman throws open his shirt, and
displays a chest covered with folds and lines of flesh
and sinew such as are seen in old statues of the
" father of gods and men." The champion's friends
say, indeed, that he has too much flesh upon
him, which seems to be true. The Younker is a
good deal distressed by his six previous encounters
with very tough wrestlers, and Chapman throws him
very cleverly. Jackson seems a good deal dispirited
at the loss of the first fall, but he comes bravely to
the scratch. After a good deal of delay in taking
hold, the young wrestler, by a prodigious effort, and
without himself falling, throws Chapman fairly on
his back and along his full length. The shouts are
deafening, and the hopes of Jackson's friends revive.
Wrestling, like everything else, has its light and
shade. The uninitiated may not be aware that
taking hold—" takin' baud," in the Cumberland
dialect—is more than halt the battle ; and the delay
which sometimes takes place between first-rate
wrestlers, before this important preliminary can be
adjusted, occasionally detracts from the pleasure of
a great match. In the third fall, which is to deter-
mine the championship, caution becomes the order
of the day, and is carried perhaps to an unfair and
vexatious point by the older wrestler. Jackson is
evidently afraid of his opponent; and Chapman has
just had such a taste of Jackson's gripe and
length of reach, that he is determined to have the
superiority of the hold, if he must wait all day for
it. The patience of a wrestling ring is shown in
waiting nearly an hour while the combatants ad-
just their hold for this last fall. Jackson complains
that Chapman will not take a fair hold, and certeo
the Patterdale hero seems to insist upon such a
grasp as leaves his taller opponent the least possible
play of his arms. Jackson at length puts on his
coat, and declares that he will not wrestle with
Chapman. He is persuaded by the judges to make
another trial, but with no better success. All this
time Jackson is getting weaker, for the process of
taking hold is more exhausting than it would ap-
pear to thecasualobserver. Refreshment in the way
of drink is frequently brought to the combatants
while thus employed, and a good deal of laughter is
occasioned by Jackson's nonchalance in leaving his
antagonist to go and eat a pie at the booth. The
pie is eaten and Jackson returns. There is reason
to think that Chapman's " little game" has succeeded
—that Jackson has lost patience and is reckless.
They pass their arms over each other's back, and
now they have hold They instantly start into a
state of intense muscular activity—always an attrac-
tive sight even in the lower animals. It is this
which gives its fascination to a dog-fight, a coursing
match, or a horse-race. In the present case the
element of human interest comes in, and gives an
additional charm to the contest. They endeavour
by turns to lift, to trip, and to topple each other
ON er. A gallant struggle takes place, but Chapman
has the best " baud," and, when both parties have
hold, neither is allowed to relinquish it, but must
stand or fall by the strength of his grip. This trial
is the best of three falls, and Chapman, having won
the first and third, is declared the winner of the
silver cup.

A MASS COMPOSED BY CHILDREN.—The Paris
correspondent of the Times remarks :—" Those in
England who recollect Biagioli, the celebrated commenta-
tor on Dante and Potrarch, will feel an interest in hearing
that his grandchildren, Henry Perry, 10 years old, and his
sister Antonia, 16, both endowed with extraordinary musi-
cal genius, have composed a mass in music, which was
lately performed for a circle of friends at a villa near Paris.
The performance was so successful that the youthful per-
formers were requested to repeat it in one of the churches
in Paris. They have consented to do so on condition that
a collection shall be made in the church for the suffering
Poles. The performance is to take place as soon as the
arrangements are completed.
The Homeward-bound off Deal signal their number to the
shore, and from thence a magnet carries the piaci news to the
owners. The same inscrutable force is employed by Mr.
Herring in his magnetic brushes, &c. Dr. Hassall states
" I regard them as the most perfect brushes hitherto made,
as respects their mechanical construction and their maguetical
action." They are the remedy for grey hair, neuralgia,
rheumatism, &c. N.B.—Counterfeits are being made.
Oflices,:32, Baena-ha:l-street, London.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.

CRACOW, Sept. 21.
The C:as of to-day publishes a leading article
energetically protesting against the attitude of the
official French press, and rept oaching it with un-
worthy derision of the misfortunes of the Poles.
News received here from Warsaw announce
that Count
,Pastowski has been wounded by the
Cossacks.

It is reported that General Berg was wounded
by the bomb which was thrown at him o❑ Satur-
day last.
The house from which the bomb was thrown
had been bombarded by the Russian soldiers.

BERLIN, Sept 21.

According to news rsc3ived from St. Petersburg,
the Avutide leusse publishes a report cor.finumg
that the Russians began on the 9rh inst. to destroy
the forts bordering on the Warsaw aua Vienua
Railroad.

Prince Thadeus Lubornirski and Count Stanislas
Zinaoyski have been arrested.
The Russians yesterday plundered several houses
in Warsaw.