A WILTSHIRE GLUTTON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2125, 20 February 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WILTSHIRE GLUTTON.

Fnon a curious and forgotten collection of jwgraphies of monstrosities and abuoiui.il x*ings that we recently c.iine actors, let us •escno tho menwry of Bgnj.imm Garland, ,v hose doughty deods with knifo and fork ire recorded therein. He was born at Weatbury, in Wiltshire, somewhere between ;he year 1735 and '-JO, of— to uso the words jf tho chroniclers — " poor, -but honest parents. "J As!^a child ho seems to have teen a sort of a Gargantua, and vnuous sxtraordmary stories, which we have no space for, are relatedftof the masticatory joings of his tender years. At the usual ige he was appretenticed to a carpenter ; though means of satisfying his enormous appetite could not be piovided out of his resources, farmers and some of the gentry would now and then give him glorious oforgas fur the pleasure and wonder of seeing him eat. As time went on, his fame spread far and wide, heavy money wagers were laid upon his powers of digestion, and he invariably came off victorious in those sating and drinking tournaments which were t>y no means uncommon among the chawbacons in old times. When he was about twenty-five, the Earl of March, afterwards the famous Duke of Queensbury (old Q.) came down on a visit to a magnate in the neighbourhood. Always ready for a wager upon any subject, he no sooner heard of Ben Garland than he offered to lay five hundred pounds he would find a man to beat him. The host accepted the bet, and a day was named on which the battle of the gluttons was to c»me off. As hitherto stakes had not exceeded five or ten guineas among the s<juires, those, in rustic eye*, enormous sums created an immense sensation, and so great was the excitement that it was made the occasion of a general holiday— every yokel donned a clean smock frock and put a flower in his mouth, and the wives smartened themselves up, and the band from a neighbouring town was engaged to enliven the proceedings, which were to take place upon the village green, it being summer time— this arrangement enabling every one to witness the raree show, while it was more favourable for the champions than the close atmosphere of a room. The man whom Lord Maich had matched against the carpenter was a gentleman ot the pugilistic persuasion who delighted in the soubriquet of the Game Chicken —we need scarcely add not the Game Chicken of a later time— and my Lord brought him down from London in his own chaise to nee that his appetite was not tampered with. Of course local prejudice ran 'strongly m favour of Ben Garland, and when the two competitors met, and shook hands as though they were going to pummel one another, the cheers were all for the Wiltshireman. Ben was a strapping follow, six feet in his stockings, with a jowl and a mouth like a codfish, while the Chicken was a lank, bony — " herring-Kutted" they called him—individual. To enumerate all the good things provided for these two cormorants would only set our own and the readers' mouths watering— here were fowls and ducks, and green geese, and huge legs of mutton, and pieces of beef and puddings. Messengers were constantly sent to the ladies, who stayed at home, yet were eager for news of the battle. "Our man" (Ben) went one bulletin, "hag finished his second leg of mutton, and is a pigeon pie ahead of the Lord March's, whom they are trying to sharpen up with pickles. " " Ben is a rib of beef ahead" ran the next messenger, "and his competitor is showing signs of distress,." Sums of distress ! Wo should think he was : the breeches that a few hours before humr in bags about his flat stomach were now swollen out like a balloon, and the perspiration was rolling down his cheeks in streams. Ben's face was crimson, and the veins stood out like cordb ; but btill he pegged on, cramming the meat into his huge maw. At every mouthful the Chicken's distiess increased, his eyes protruded like a lobster's, he blew like a walrus, until at last with a cry of, "Oh—! I shall bust!" dropped down in a fit, amid the loud cheers of Ben's supporters, during which the carpenter polished off another pigeon pie as a soit of coup de grace. Garland's capacity for liquids was quite equal to his capacity for solids. One of his patrons offered to pay for as much beer as be coull consume at a sitting ; he put away the contents of an eighteen gallon cask, and the sitting lasted two days. A man with such a stomach was not born to languish in the obscurity of a country village and depend upon a saw and a jackplane for his livelihood, and to the great metropolis— which attracts genius of all kinds, whether it be of the head, the heels, or the stomach, to itself— he went, at the invitation of Lord March, who, having lost one bet by him, and being quite certain that no one could eat against him, determined to recover his own money, and a good deal more beside, by becoming his backer. Ben trudged to London on foot, as was the fashion of the time for men of his class ; when he put up at an inn, on the first night, he called the landlord and asked him what he would charge for n supper of meat and bread and cheese. Food was cheap in country places in those times, and not knowing the kind of stomach ho had to deal with, mine host answered : " Ninepence." " Now, look 'cc here," Ben said, "I be a very hearty eater, measter, and I likes a bellyful, an I'll give thee just double: but, mind cc, I muse have ray fill." Thinking that he could not eat more than enough tor two ordinary men, at the most, the innkeeper did the generous, and put a great piece of bacon, a half-peck loaf, and the larger portion of a cheese upon tho table for him to help himself. " Now bring us half a gallon o' ale," baid Ben. Then quietly and methodically ho worked hU way through the lot, even to the cheese rind. The expression of the landlord's face when he came in.and saw nothing but empty plates and dishes, was a caution. " Come, come," he said angrily; "no tricks — no pocketing." " This is my pocket ; it's all here, measter," Ben said, tapping his waistcoat; "all fair and square. I told 'cc I was a hearty eater." " Hearty eater," roared the victim. "If thee'st swallowed all that thee bent a wolf. But I shall search 'cc." "Search away," said Ben, grinning; "thee can't take it out of I." You may be sure there was no breakfast for the traveller next morning. " Get out of his wav, wench, or ho'll eat thee," said Boniface to the servant as Ben was taking his departure. Upon arriving in London Ben fed to his heart's content. Lord March and his friends were always ready to provide him with mountains of food for the wonder of seeing him devour it. While the novelty lasted his jaws were kept constantly at work. At eleven o'clock, perhaps, a select party would watch him put himself outside a huge turkey and a great pudding for lunch ; at one he would dispatch a leg ot mutton of ten or twelve pounds, with another pudding for somebody else's — and his own satisfaction. A little later on a third party would be desirous of witnessing some of his feeds. "Do you think you can manage it, Ben ?" his patron would inquire. "Something light and tasty." " 111 do me best, measter," was the reply, and a couple of fowls, with plenty of sausages, or a couple of brace of pheasants would be despatched just as a light snack, and to keep his stomach in trim for the tremendous gorge ho always got through at supper, w hich was the great exhibition of the day. Ben Garland once drank raw brandy, glass for glass, against claret, with a famous toper, and saw him under tho table. He had another bout on more equal terms with a bon vivant, the tipple being port. The match commenced at seven o'clock one evening. All night long they drank, and the morning's light saw twenty empty bottles upon the table. Then they dozed » little, after which they started afresh, and another supply was brought up from the cellar. All that day the match continued, the returning nisrht found them still at it, midnight struck for the second time, and still victory hovered in the balance; at last, just as the first rays of the sun were peeping between the window curtains, Ben's opponent dropped out of his chiir. Finishing his glasß, the victor rang the bell for a servant to witness bis master's defeat, and then fell asleep. Being a man of prodigious strength, as well he might be.' Garland wni a useful companion for the buck* in their night prowls. He could take up a watchman by the nape of the neck and shake him as a dog would a rat, and then throw him through a window, or roll him in his box through the streets as a boy trundles a hoop, until, at lost, at the sight of his burly form, the guardians of the night would fly, and leave the roysterera to work their will. In due course, Ben's " twist " became so well-known that no one could be found to lay oddo agamat him, and having seep

all he could do, and finding it becaino rather monotonous, his patrons at length turned then- b.ick upon him. He had lived to long in idleness nnd luxury to bo able t» settle down to honest work again, ho he fell into disreputable courses, and went from bad to worse, until he became a ragged, prowling vagabond. One day one of his old patrons nnd backers met him in a deplorable condition: the skin hung upon his bier fr.uno in bags, his once cushionedliko cheeks were sunk in hollowß, and f.miine glared out of his blood-shot eyes. Sloved to compassion, the patron said, " Come along, Ben, and I'll give you ono more good (ill if you never have another." Taking him to a tavern, he ordered the w.ut-r to bring everything there was in the hoiwe. Never, even in his great days, had the t.h.ini|Mon acquitted himself so bravely ; plate* and dishes laden with food were denied with the voracity of a famished wolf ; the s|)ectators looked on with horror, thinking a wild beast in the guise of a man had broken in among them. All of a niou.ent the knife and fork dropped from the bony fingers, an awful look came into the swollen face, and the man went down like a lump of lead, deat upon the floor of the house ; his stomach, unuued to such burdens of late proved treacherous at last. Such \yas the end of the great champion eater, in the thirtieth year of his age, and his chronicler refers those who doubt the possibility of his statements to the lives of the Roman Emperors, to one or two of whom even Ben Garland would have baen a mere baby in the way of eating.— Licensed Victuallers' Gaaette.