108 O^ REVERIE. 



ledge, to have ascertained the means oJ[^ augmenting or 



diminishing these opposite states of the living body. 



Argument re- It might indeed, be desirable, that the persons who 



sptcting pecu- - -r 



niiiry motives, engage in these public contests were less influenced by 



pecuniary motives, and that there was less of the spirit 

 of gambling connected with them. A rigid adherence to 

 the rules of the combat, which chiefly consists in abstain- 

 ing from taking any unfair advantage of an antagonist, is 

 , particularly attended to in a regular boxing match, and by 

 such examples this generous feeling is supported and dif- 

 fused among the mass of the people. Were the victor 

 not rewarded by some prize, or testimony, of his superi- 

 ority, the practice would probably soon fall into disuse. 

 If boxing were D^, Bardsley has proposed, in order to prevent iniu- 

 attended with . ., . , , i x i, u i - i - ^ 



neither pain *'^^^) *"^^ these combats should be carried on in mufflers, 



nor danger, the or stuffed gloves. The preparatory exercises, it is well 

 wouldnot ro- ^^0^'"' ^^^ always managed in this manner. But an 

 duce that stea- important part of the practice of boxing consists in that 

 dy courage ^qq} ^^d steady courage which enables a man to endure 

 countrymen ^ certain degree of corporeal suffering with patience ; 

 have so often and in a command of temper, which preserves the pre- 

 0ispiaycd. gence of mind, undisturbed, amid pain and danger. This 

 cool intrepidity constitutes the characteristic feature of 

 British bravery ; and whatever may be the evils attendant 

 on prize-fighting, they arc more than compensated, if it 

 be allowed that such exhibitions tend to diffuse and sup- 

 port a spirit of this kind, among the inhabitants of the 

 British Isles. 



' Keveric ; considered as connected with Literature. Ihj 



the Rev, Johnson Grant, A.B. of St, Johi's College^ 

 Oxon. From the Manchester Memoirs, Vol. I. of the 

 Second Series *. 



Explanation of At is a frequent process, and often one of the highest 



reverie, or the pleasures of the mind, to become insensible to the pursuits 

 act of the mind • 



in which sur- 

 rounding ob- . . , , 

 iects and im- * Though the present memoir cannot with the most decided 

 jnediate pur- propriety be considered as belonging to Natural Philosophy, Che- 

 mistry, 



