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The friends of Oliver, anxious to keep the game alive, made a match for £100 a-side with Spring.

Thus the game Tom Oliver was pitched upon to try to check the upward career of Spring, and the stakes, 200 sovereigns, were made good over a jolly dinner at Belcher’s, and the day fixed for February 20, 1821. Accordingly, as this was the first spring meeting of gymnastic sports for the year, at daybreak on the following morn the Western Road was all bustle. It was a prime turn-out of the swells; upwards of nine noblemen were present; but it was a “big fight,” and that is sure to bring them to the ring. Salt Hill was the place first named; but a hint from the beaks removed it early in the morning, and the ring was again formed at about two miles from Arlington Corner. Here the magistrates again interfered, it is said, at the request of a lady of rank, whose sons were great supporters of this British sport, and the “beaks” were not to be gammoned into good humour, although Oliver had made his appearance in the ring. The bustle and confusion created to be off instanter was truly laughable, and the “devil take the hindmost” was the order of the day. But in a few minutes the scene was truly delightful. It was a perfect steeple chase. The string of carriages for miles winding round the road, the horsemen galloping and leaping over the hedges, the pedestrians all on the trot, and the anxiety displayed on every countenance to arrive in time, all following the Commander-in-Chief and Bill Gibbons with the stakes. The surprise occasioned in the villages through which his motley group passed, the children out of doors at the farm houses shouting, the “Johnny Raws” staring, the country girls grinning, the ould folks wondering what was the matter, and asking if the French were coming, the swells laughing and bowing to the females, and all the fancy, from the pink on his “bit of blood,” down to the toddler, full of life and spirits, formed a most interesting picture. At length Hayes was reached, and the ring formed without delay. Oliver threw his hat into the ring about six minutes to three, followed by Tom Owen, in his white topper, and Richmond. Spring appeared shortly afterwards, repeating the token of defiance, attended by the Champion of England and Painter. The colours, yellow for Oliver, and blue for Spring, were tied to the stakes. On meeting in the ring, the combatants shook hands together in true British style, and Spring asked Oliver how he did? “Pretty bobbish,” said Oliver, smiling; “very well.”