The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-11-06 00:00:00

A MAN AND TIGER COMBAT.;

• (From the Oriental Herald )
The next scene was of a far more awful character. A
man entered the arena armed only with a Coorg knife,
and clothed in short trowsers, which barely covered his
hips, and extended half-way down the thighs. The in
which he wielded in his right hand was a heavy
blade, something like the coulter of a plough
_about two
feet long, and full three inches wide, gradually diminish-
ing towards the handle, with, which it formed a right-
angle. This knife is used with great dexterity by the
'Coorgs; being swung round in the hand before the blow
is inflicted, and then brought into contact with the object
intended to be struck with a force and effect truly astound-
ing.
The champion, who now presented himself before the
Rajah, was about to be opposed to a tiger whiCh he volun-
teered to encounter almost naked, and armed only with
the weapon I have just described. He was rather tall,
%tithe slight figure, but his chest was deep, his arms long
and muscular. His legs were thin, yet the action of the
muscles was perceptible with every movement; whilst the
freedom of his gait and the few contortions he per-
formed preparatory to the hazardous enterprise in which
he was about to engage, showed that he possessed un-
common activity, combined with no ordinary.degree of
strength:. The expression of his Countenance was ab-
solutely sublime when he gave the signal for the
tiger to be let loose ; it was the very concentration, of
moral energy—the index of a highand settled resolution.
His betty glistened with the oil which had been rubbed
Over it in order to promote the elasticity of his limb's.
He raised. his arm for several moments above his head
when he made the motion to admit his enemy into the
arena. The bars of a large cage were instantly lifted
from above; a huge royal tiger sprang forward and
stood before the Coorg, waving his tail slowly backward
andforward, erecting the hair upon it, and uttering a
suppressed howl. The animal first looked at the man,
then at the gallery where the Rajah and his court were
seated to see elle sports, but did not appear at all easy in
its present state of freedom : it was evidently confounded
at the novelty of its position. After a short survey, it
turned suddenly round and bounded into its cage ; from
which the keepers, who stood above, beyond the reach of
mischief, tried to force it, but in vain. The bars were
then dropped, and several crackers fastened to his tail,
which projected through one of the intervals.
A, lighted match was put into the hands of the Coorg,
the bars were again raised, and the crackers ignited.—
The tiger now darted into the arena with a terrible-yell;
and while the crackers were exploding, it leaped, turned
and writhed as if in a state of frantic excitement. It at
length crouched in a corner, gnarling as a cat does when
alarmed. Meanwhile, its retreat had been cut off by se-
curing-the cage. During the explosion of the crackers,
the Coorg stood watching his enemy, and at length ad-
vanced towards it with a slow but firm step. The tiger
roused itself and retreated, the fur on its back being
erect, and its tail apparently dilated to twice the usual
size. It was not at all disposed to commence hostilities,
but its resolute foe was not to be evaded. Fixing his
eyes intently upon the deadly creature, he advanced with
the same measured step, the tiger retreating as before,
but. still pi esenting his front to its enemy. The Coorg
now stopped suddenly; then moving slowly, backward,
the tiger raised itself to its full height, curved its back
to the necessary segment for a spring, and lashed his
tail, evidently meditating mischief. The man continued
to retire ; and so soon as he was at so great a distance
that the fixed expression of his eye was no longer distin-
guishable, the ferocious brute made a sudden bound for-
ward, crouched and sprung with a short, sharp growl.
Its adversary, fully prepared for this, leaped actively on
one side, and as the tiger reached the ground, swung.
round his heavy knife and brought it with irresistible
force upon the animal's hind leg, just above the joint.
The bone was instantly severed, and the tiger effectually
prevented from making a second spring. The wounded
beast roared; but turning suddenly on the Coorg, who
had by this time retired several yards, advanced fiercely
upon him, his wounded leg hanging loose in the skin,
showing that it was broken. The tiger, now excited to
a pitch of reckless rage, rushed forward upon its three
legs, towards its adversary, who stood with his heavy
knife upraised, calmly waiting the encounter. As soon
as the -savage creature was within his reach, he brought
down the ponderous weapon upon its head with a force
which nothing could resist, laid open the skull from ear
to-ear, and the vanquished foe fell dead at his feet. He
then coolly wiped the knife on the animal's hide, made a
dignified salaam to the Rajah, and retired amid the loud
acclamations of the spectators.

THE MAGAZINES.

FRASER.

Fraser.'s Magazine for November, like the month of
November, is cold, dull, and foggy, enlivened only by a
few transient gleams of sunshine of but very short du-
ration ;. in other words, its contents are neither very
sprightly, very witty, nor very profound. In "The
Gallery of Literary Characters" we find, a portrait of the.
Earl of Alulgrave, the novel-writing Lord Lieutenant of
of Ireland, together with a pen-and-ink sketch of that
distinguished representative of majesty, which we copy
for the perusal of such of our readers as may not have
seen the original—either in type or in persrin :
We present our rcadars the ex-Governor General of Jamaica,
the president of the Garriek, and the Lord Lieutenant of Ire-
land. Among. literary men he. is known or heard of as the
author. of several novels, which have not materially contributed
to swell his repute.; among fashionable people he is distinguished
as an amateur actor, who is equally meritorious iu the perform-
ance of Hamlet and the Cock. We recollect him when he used
to perform in Florence all manners of characters to all manners
a audiences; and we. never failed to appreciate the discriminat-
ing civility with which, after having crowded his rooms with a
miscellaneous collection of all the English wild could be found
tolerant enough to listen to him, he used to go through the
weary: mob, nviting a select few, in the hearing of the whole
company, to remain.to supper, (a little supper he used to call
it, and in that particular he amply kept his word,) to the.exclu-
sionsof the indignant muki,ude, who thought that, in common
justice, they should have had something to wash down his lord-
ship's dose of histrionism
Our attis -is rather too favourable to M.ulgrave, Thank. 0 to
Del roix, or some other artist of that, profession, tbe,locks look
exuberant still; but wo wotth the day! crowsfeet tell about the
temples, and deep wrinkles beseain the well-rouged face. But
still, when duly curled, oiled,, painted, and lighted up, he doi!a
look passably well, and might be trusted in a tlaird-yate walking-
gentleman cast. He is at present showing off in a part for
which he is just as much fitted as he •is fur enacting Romeo' but
one in which he can do more mischief than could attend the
must vigorously hissed performance that ever disgraced a
theatre. •

Perhaps his excellency may have stumbled on the second part
of Henry 171., iu which Jack Cade makes his appearance. This
great, retosiner declared that the laws of England should come
out Of his mouth (which even his own partisans allowed to be
foetid and disgusting)—that that mouth should be •the parlia-
ment Of England—that he would leave no lord or gentleman in
the land=-that" a uniform destruction should talte.place„.so-thaL
all Men•shoutd be-aritived'in one livery, and worship him their
lord.. Iu these partictilars we have now a revived Jack Cade ;
bitt •do we compare the undaunted ‘• Mortimer, lord of the city,"'
to O'Connell ? They both may be designated beggars ; but the
beggary of Cade was valiant. He had no vow in heaven to pro-
tect him from the consequences of his outrages; nor, on the
other hand, could he, atter ho had doomed the nobility to go
in leathern apron's," have found a representative of the king to
allow him to play the part of "protector over him." That was
reserved for our own times.

Mulgrave is poor, and is glad to escape from the eleemosynary
hospitality of the Duke of Devonshire on any terms. He is
vain, and the title of viceroy must tickle his fancy. We are
told that he is annoyed at the marked absence of the Irish gen-
try from his parties or levees; but the shouting in the upper
gallery compensates its his ear for the hissing of the boxes; and
we recommend him to exhibit at Donnybrook grinning through
a horse-collar, which would at once show his features in their
most appropriate expression, and afford the most congenial gra-
tification to the friends on whom he relies. In the short list of
his ancestors we find that one invented a diving-bell—typical of
sinking and mud-seeking propensities—that another was that
Lord Chancellor of Ireland who was made the victim of Cur-
ran's bitterness inure than half a century after his death, and
about another half-century before his descendant grovelled at
the hoofs of those who adhere to al4 the sedition, without a tithe
of the talent, of Curran—that another (Commodore Phipps)
was, like his nephew, sent upon an experimental voyage, in
which he had no great success—and that formerly his excel-
lency's father enjoyed, for good reason, (vide Cobbett,) the title
of Lord Lottsdale's boots. The noble son plays the part of
boots to a very different person.
To conclude. Mulgrave is about forty years old—desperate-
ly hard up—a most industrious scribbler—a capital led-captain
—a passable buffoon; but when we see him sent to govern
Ireland just now, we are irresistibly reminded of one of his
own novels, and must say,—
By Yes and No, but it is very strange,"