The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-20 00:00:00

THE BENICIA BOY.

" Argus," of the Post, says :—The excitement
relative to the great international contest in April
between the Benicia Boy and Mr. Sayers continues
unabated, and the latter is almost as great a hero
in the United States as Washington himself. In-
deed an offer has been made to him for a tour in
that country after the trial of strength has come off
of so lucrative a character that it is only second to
that of Jenny Lind's. Here he is the cynosure of
all eyes, and divides with public feeling the great
question of the budget. Publicans " bid" for him
as Lady Morgan used to do for a " Thaddeus of
Warsaw ;" and Mr. Dickens is not more sought
after at a literary institution or athenteum than is
our champion by the licensed victuallers at both
ends of the metropolis. Such an exhibition of
feeling will, no doubt, be looked upon with regret
by Mr. Spooner and his followers; but in these
invasion panic days (in which I am no believer
however) it cannot, with any degree of decency, be
discouraged. Heenan's proceedings, on the con-
trary, have been conducted with greater mystery ;
and wisely shunning the temptations of London,
he betook himself to the Far West, to prepare
for the serious task cut out for him, and in the
execution of which I do not for a moment envy
Not hating had the honour of being pre-
sented to him—for his sejour in the " village"
was so brief—l can give you no account of him
personally ; but my regret on that score is
diminished as the narrative of an interview with
him, which appears in the Field of yesterday,
under the head of an " Evening with Heenan," is
written in such an agreeable style, and is so
entirely free from slang of any description, I feel cer-
tain your readers will be obliged by my extracting
it. The writer, evidently the author', of these ex-
cellent articles in the same newspaper, entitled
" The Studs of England," and which have created
such sensation in all parts of the country, begins as
follows :—" My theme is Man.' In my late wan-
derings I have met with a remarkably fine speci-
men of the genus. He is a stranger among us ; all
England knows that he is here, but all England
has not seen him. His name has for the last month
been in everybody's mouth. The gentlemen of
England are, with few exceptions, anxious to see
him ; the so-called sporting men are raving for a
peep at him, and even they who care not to mingle
with their fellows in sport or pastime are on the
qtti vice to ascertain what manner of creature he
must be who has crossed three thousand miles
of ocean to beard the British champion on his
own arena. His name is Heenan, ' and he comes
in shape much bigger than an agate-stone.' He
stands six feet and an inch, weighs 13st., and is as
finely built a young fellow as e'er sun shone upon.
I found him on the Downs of Wiltshire, and am
bcund to echo the words of Mr. Grantley Berkeley
in pronouncing him a magnificent specimen of a
man ' Having read of him in all the morning and
several weekly papers, I was prejudiced against
him. One word was enough to convince me he
was not the ruffian he had been painted. We
met at covertside. I guessed who he was, and
opened a conversation by advising him to be careful
of the high•brcd bull-dog he was leading by a
pocket-handkerchief. The Benicia Boy'—that, gen-
tle reader, is his Corinthian' title—thanked inc with
a smile, and said, If Ido not hold him, I guess
the hounds will eat him and the hunters will eat
me.' At once, methought, this man is more of a
gentleman than a pugilist. I took a liking to him,
and did my utmost to get him a view of the fox, for
which he was most eager • unfortunately we drew
several coverts before finding, which we did after
s
nipnY
' The Boy' had gone home to his early dinner. His
in
dog, he said, should never again acco
his walks NN hen hounds were near. -laietold me
he did not approve of dog-fighting, but he. kept this
guardian of his home to protect him
m from the in-
i that I
tru,ion of inquisitive meddlers. F
very nearly knew where top draw r him, hein-
vited me to visit his 'castle. I did so next day, and
found it to correspond exactly with his description,
namely, a fortified farm, within a high wall of
flint and clay, like the squares on a chess-board,'
No bell was on the gate, nor was it needful to
blow a horn as did Jack the Giant Killer to gain
admission once upon a time.' My giant's gate
was not fastened. I pushed it aside, and on walk-
ing across what was once a lawn, the house-door
was thrown open to me by one of his friends, a
well-educated and well-spoken New-Yorker. The
party consisted of three, the gentleman aforesaid.
the 13oy (ab )ut four feet round the chest!), and his