Pedestrianism

CHAPTER IV. captain Barclay's public and private MATCHES. ! u U . i ^ 1 - . v . f r b CAPTAIN BARCLAY EARLY DISPLAYED A strong predilection for the manly sports, and when only fifteen years of age, he entered in­ to a match with a gentleman in London to walk six miles within an hour, fair toe and heel , for ohnuendred guineas, which heac- complished on the Croydonroad, in the month of August 1796. His next performancetook place two years after, (August 1798) and he was equally suc- , cessful. He matched himselfagainst Fergu­ son, a celebrated walking clerk in the city, to go from Fenchurch Street, London, to the 10th mile-stone beyond Windsor, and back. Capt, Barclay performed the distance (seventy miles),