THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



' I never ran more than one match,' replied Captain Barclay, 

 ' my forte bein*^ walking ; but in a match against John Ward, 

 which I won with 2 to 1 against me, I ran 440 yards, or a 

 quarter of a mile, in fifty-six seconds.' 



' That you are a patron of the boxing ring,' resumed our 

 young sportsman, ' all the world knows ; I am an admirer of 

 it myself, but, partly to meet the wishes of my father, and more 

 particularly so those of an uncle from whom I have no trifling 

 expectations, I do not 2^uhl id y avow myself as much.' 



' My dear fellow,' said the Captain, ' you will excuse my 

 saying, that both your father and your uncle take a wrong view 

 of the practice and effects of what is called prize-fighting, very 

 probably confounding it with the fights of the gladiators in 

 ancient times — and upon a lower scale it certainly does admit 

 of a slight comparison — in which men were either in part 

 deprived of resistance, or opposed to very unequal force. No 

 man now enters the ring but upon perfectly equal terms, or on 

 as nearly such as circumstances will allow ; and the display 

 of manly intrepidity, firmness, gallantry, activity, strength, 

 and presence of mind, which these contests call forth, is an 

 honour to the English nation, and such as no man need be 

 ashamed of viewing with interest, pride, and delight ; and we 

 may safely predict that, if the magistrates, or Government, 

 through a mistaken notion of preserving the public peace, 

 succeed in suppressing them, there will be an end of that sense 

 of honour, and spirit, and gallantry, which distinguishes the 

 common people of this country from that of all others ; and 

 which is not only the best guardian of their morals, but, 

 perhaps, the only security now left either for our civil liberty 

 or political independence. If Englishmen are restrained from 

 fighting occasionally for prizes and honorary distinctions, they 

 will soon cease to fight at all, and decide their private quarrels 

 with daggers or knives, instead of fists, in which case the lower 

 orders will become a base rabble of cowards and assassins, ready 

 at any time to sacrifice the higher to the avarice or ambition 

 of a foreign foe. No people under the sun are less cruel than 

 the English now are, or so little prone to shed blood ; and, 

 even admitting there is some cruelty in prize-fighting, experi- 

 ence has shown that cruel sports do not create a cruel people ; 

 and, strange to say, the love of gladiators among the Romans 

 increased as the people began to be civilised, and as their 



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