202 On the Use and Jouse of ' 



language of a justly celebrated * orator, 

 'Vwhich may be characterised as inhuman, 

 cruel, disgraceful and beastly, and which can 

 excite nothing but brutality, ferociousness and 

 cowardice: For, its direct tendency is to debase 

 the mind, deaden the feelings, and extinguish 

 every spark of benevolence." 



H. The amusements which depend on bo- 

 dily exercises and personal contests. 



It is not compatible with the limits of this 

 essay to notice the variety of bodily exercises 

 and active sports to which the people of 

 England are generally addicted. — But there is 

 one kind of personal contest, to the considera- 

 tion of which the remaining part of these 

 remarks will be chiefly devoted, as it has 

 been the source of obloquy and reprobation 

 among foreigners, to the national character. 

 The public exhibition of boxing, and the 

 practice of the same art in deciding private 

 and personal quarrels, are here alluded to. 



The exhibition of pugilism on a public stage^ 

 is most probably a relic of one species of the 

 Roman gymnastic. This mode of venal stage- 

 fighting is a barbarous prostitution of a manly 

 and useful art, whether considered as an ex- 



* Sheridan : — Parliamentary Dsb^itcs on the Abolirign 

 of 3ull-baiting, &c. 



