"
The appeal touched the Judge; the reason was sufficient. Every step in
a divorce was to be encouraged, especially the first. The application
was granted, and Brown was married the next day.
CHAPTER XX.
THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE.
From the courts of justice to the prize-ring is an easy and sometimes
pleasant transition, especially in books. I visited from time to time
such well-known persons as "Deaf Burke," Nat Langham, "Dutch Sam," and
Owen Swift, all remarkable men, with constitutions of iron, and made
like perfect models of humanity. Their names are unknown in these
days, although in those of the long past gentlemen of the first
position were proud of their acquaintance; and these men, although
their profession was battering one another, were as little inclined
to brutality as any. And when it is remembered that they played their
game in accordance with strict rules and on the most scientific
principles, it will be seen that cruelty formed no part of their
character.
The true sportsmen of the period, amongst whom were the highest in the
social and political world, took the same interest in contests in the
ring as they did on the turf or in the cricket-field, and for the same
reason. Whether Jem Mace would beat Tom Sayers had as much interest
at fashionable dinner-tables as whether Lord Derby would dispose
of Aberdeen or Palmerston.
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