Читать книгу Pugilistica - Henry Downes Miles - Страница 16

“To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.

“My wife and myself will be much obliged by thy insertion in thy valuable paper of a few words, contradicting the absurd story, copied from a Bath and Cheltenham paper, of her having interfered to prevent the late battle between Spring and Neat, the whole of which is without the slightest foundation in truth or probability.

“I am respectfully, etc.

“JOSEPH FRY.

“St. Mildred’s Court, 22nd 5th Month, 1823.”

Notwithstanding this denial, it is certain that a well-intentioned Quaker lady did act as above described, for which, viewing the peculiar tenets of her sect, we must rather applaud than ridicule her.

In disposition, Bill Neat was not only generous and cheerful, but might be termed a “high fellow,” and always ready to serve a friend. He was fond of a “bit of life,” threw off a good chant, and was the President of the Daffy Club, held at Sam Porch’s, Guildhall Tavern, Broad Street, Bristol. It was said of him that, “If he is not a good fighter, Neat is a good fellow.”

From this period Neat, the small bone of whose arm was really fractured, retired from the fistic arena. He became subsequently a butcher in Bristol, where he resided until his death, which took place on the 23rd of March, 1858, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Neat was respected for many social qualities, and his genuine kind-heartedness, under a rough exterior, gained the friendship of many. His prowess in levelling the small Welsh cattle by a blow with a gauntlet glove between the eyes has been narrated to us by eye-witnesses of this Milonian feat. Bill Neat adds another to the many instances, which this history has presented, of the esteem and good opinion which the best men of the ring have earned from all classes of society.