THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



The remainder of this winter passed away very agreeably 

 with our hero, who may be said to have been quahfying for 

 those which were to follow, by improving himself in riding and 

 shooting, and in all the other branches of what may be called 

 ' rural education and accomplishments.' Amongst the novel- 

 ties, however, was a prize-fight, of which, as his friend Sir 

 John Inkleton was, to a certain extent, a backer of one of the 

 men, he became a spectator. He, however, returned from the 

 spectacle very little gratified ; and, despite of the encomiums 

 bestowed upon boxing by his companion, — who maintained 

 that it preserved the vigour and characteristic courage of the 

 Encdish people, which had raised this country above the other 

 nations of the earth ; that, although the same God who made 

 man rational also made him resentful, it was the charac- 

 teristic of Englishmen to be resentful of insult only, but not 

 to be vindictive, and which was to be attributed to the same 

 cause, also reminding his young friend of the splendid enco- 

 mium on boxing in Knight's Analysis of Taste, just then 

 published, — agreed with what Cicero had said of the gladiators, 

 namely, that the exhibition satiated whilst it lasted, and left 

 no satisfaction in the reflection of it. Inasmuch as this was 

 the first, so it was the last of these exhibitions which Frank 

 Raby attended; but by way of showing the difference in the 

 style in which the records of such events are handed down, I 

 subjoin that of the one now alluded to. Whether such things 

 are unworthy of a memorial, or whether the pen which per- 

 petuates them is debased, is not for me to determine, but the 

 improvement in the style in which they are recorded is remark- 

 able, and not, I should imagine, to be excelled. And who can 

 doubt but that this adds to their celebrity ? ' The Athenians,' 

 says Sallust, ' were clever fellows, but they owed much to their 

 historians, who made them as clever as their own wit and talent 

 could represent them.' 



' Harlston, in Norfolk, July 30. — Yesterday, in the afternoon, 

 Slack and Pettit met and fought. At the first set-to, Pettit 

 seized Slack by the throat, and held him up against the rails, 

 and grained him so much as to make him extremely black. 

 This continued for half a minute before Slack could break 

 Pettit's hold, after which, for near ten minutes, Pettit kept 

 fio-hting and driving hard at Slack, when at length Slack closed 

 with his antagonist, and gave him a very severe fall ; after 



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