THE KING. 239 



My old friend, Goldstone, was at the top of the tree ; 

 and although, no doubt, there are as good fish in the sea 

 as ever came out of it, yet when he walks up to the trap, 

 I should consider it a safe investment to " put a fiver " 

 on him. 



" The ring " is not forgotten in Victoria ; and in 

 a new country like this, where men of all nations are 

 thrown together, where the bowie-knife and the revolver 

 are weapons familiar to all, where two out of every three 

 men we meet are in the prime of youth and strength, 

 where a sort of Jack's-as-good-as-his-master feeling is 

 predominant among all classes, where in a hasty dispute 

 a blow quickly follows a word the encouragement of 

 fair British boxing is of far greater moment than might 

 at first be supposed. For of all modes of settling 

 a dispute, the naked fist must be the best, so long as 

 the rules of the British P.E. are fairly acted up to. One 

 thing is certain, that although we occasionally do hear of 

 'the most dastardly crimes being committed, the general 

 feeling of man towards man in this country is good ; and 

 if his quarrel is but just, a man may generally reckon on 

 having fair play. There are several professors of the 

 " manly art of self-defence," men or stars of the London 

 ring, both in Melbourne and on the diggings, and plenty 

 of the right stuff to make good boxers. Bell's Life in 

 Victoria is the oracle of the Victorian P.JEt., and when a 

 " tournament " does come off, all things are conducted 

 with as much order and regularity as if the veteran 

 commissary were there with his staff, and the veritable 



