COUNTERPARTS: ON THE PERFORMER STRIPLING

...by a feminine seeming man, Weathers,...
 Weathers, “an acrobat and knockabout artiste,”
...another man’s assumed weaker one (physical presence) because he is a performer,

...as Weathers, a young fellow of a higher social and cultural class “performing at the Tivoli as an acrobat and knockabout artiste” (105), is introduced to the party; hence, the balance shifts... as the talk diverse (sic!) to theatre.
...a stripling whose symbolic name (Weathers) intensifies more his fragility...
...and Weathers’s victory...

...in a public-house trial of strength by the “stripling” Weathers, who bears “a noticeably English name, from the Old English weðer, later wether or weather ‘castrated ram’ ―and hence somebody lacking in sexual prowess. It reflects badly [···] to be beaten by a eunuch” (Jackson/McGinley 1993: 81) ― especially an English one.

...Weathers to be no more than a mere boy. 

Weathers, a young man... [···]  an arm wrestling match with Weathers, whom [···] describes as a “stripling.”