31.—This round, it was thought, would have finished the contest. Spring received a tremendous hit on his jaw, and went down exhausted. “It was all up,” was the cry, any odds upon Painter, and even that Spring did not again come to the scratch.
32 to 42 and last.—Spring was satisfied that he could not win, yet, like a brave man, he was determined to continue the battle while a chance remained. He came up for ten rounds, but could not plant effectively. He was hit on the ear in the last round, and fell dead to time. He did not give in; that is, he did not say No. It was over in one hour and four minutes.
REMARKS.—Painter displayed great coolness and judgment in this fight, and having so able a general as Tom Belcher for his second, was greatly in his favour. Spring never recovered the severity of the blow on his eye in the first round, but his game was of so staunch a quality that his fame rose by defeat, and the loss of the battle was attributed to the chance of war.
Painter now publicly declared that he would not fight any more prize battles. Indeed, he took his farewell of the ring, with a benefit at the Fives Court, in a combat with Richmond, on Monday, the 7th of September, 1818. Spring was extremely anxious for another trial; but Painter positively refused. After spending a few months at Lancaster, and not finding a house it London to suit him, Painter left the metropolis, and commenced publican, in Lobster Lane, Norwich, under the most flattering auspices of the sporting people of the above ancient city. Here Painter enjoyed a quiet life, till the following circumstance, in November, 1819, put him “on the fret.”
Some aspersions having been made upon the character of his first battle with Spring, at Mickleham Downs—indeed, an influential amateur having declared it to have been a cross—Painter indignantly repelled the accusation. He immediately set off for London, determined to undergo the most rigid examination by the supporters of the P.R. In the fight in question, in the second round, Painter received a knock-down blow, and, in falling, his head not only came in contact with one of the stakes of the ring, but his shoulder also received a violent contusion. He, however, continued the battle for one hour and twenty-five minutes; but, retiring from the contest without much punishment, gave rise to the report in question. Painter, at the time, procured the assistance of one of the most eminent surgeons in the kingdom, Mr. Cline, (a gentleman totally unconnected with the sporting world) to reduce the fracture. On Thursday, November 5, 1819, an application was made to Mr. Cline as to the fact, when he immediately wrote a certificate, which stated the injury Painter had received on the curve of the shoulder bone had rendered him incapable of using his arm at the time specified. This document was put into the hands of the members of the P. C., and the result was satisfactory. Ned’s integrity was declared to be without a stain.