Spring, in alluding to the expense of erecting the stage, said he thought it but fair, as this was Langan’s fancy, that he should bear the whole expense. To which Langan replied, “See, now, Tom; say nothing about that, for if I win, and I think I will, I’ll bear the whole expense of the stage myself. (Loud cheers.) But that’s neither here nor there; I hope the best man will win; and though we are going to fight, it’s myself that would go a hundred miles to serve you, for I have no antipathy or ill-blood towards you whatever.”
The president of the Daffy Club was then appointed stakeholder. The articles having been signed and witnessed, and everything relative to the pugilistic tourney having been settled comfortably on both sides, Langan and his friends made their bows, and returned to finish the evening at Belcher’s (the Castle).
Spring and Langan, according to the articles, met on Saturday evening, the 13th of March, at Randall’s, and made £100 a-side good towards the completion of the stakes of 1,000 sovereigns. They met like good fellows, brave men, and personal friends. In the course of the evening Langan proposed the health of Spring. He also rebuked several of his partisans, who frequently shouted out, “Well done, Langan!” “Bravo, Jack!” etc. “I hate these sort of remarks,” said the Irish Champion; “they are calculated to make ill-blood and provoke animosity, which it is my most sincere wish to prevent, if possible. All I want is, that we may meet as friends, and have a comfortable, pleasant mill on the 8th of June!” Sixty to forty was offered by a gentleman from Yorkshire upon Spring. “I will bet £70 to £40,” said the latter. “I’ll take it, Tom,” replied Langan; and before they separated, Spring betted with Langan £580 to £168, that he should win the battle. The evening was spent with the utmost good humour by all parties.
Spring’s benefit at the Fives Court on Tuesday, June 1, 1824, not only produced a bumper, but the body of the Court was crowded, the gallery overloaded even to danger; the little room, “the swells’ retreat,” once secure from the vulgar eye and intrusion of commoners, was now full of all sorts, and Earls, Right Honourables, Honourables, and M.P.’s, were squeezed together, without complaint, quite satisfied with obtaining only now and then a glimpse of the stage. In fact, numbers of persons could not be admitted, and the doors were closed to prevent accidents from the pressure of the multitude. Spring addressed the populace in the street from one of the windows in the Fives Court.