THE ART OF SELF-DEFENCE 3 



men to suppose that, because they can tap each other with the 

 gloves, and stop quickly, they are a match for even a middling 

 and ignorant countryman, for they are not so. To hit him is 

 the best way to stop a " round " man ; and a better illustration 

 of what I say cannot be afforded than by quoting the language 

 of that respectable character, the late Mr. William Gibbons, 

 when he was seconding a friend of his in the prize-ring, who, 

 though game, was not retaliating on his opponent : " I say, 

 old pal, if you stand there taking everything and giving nothing, 

 you can't win ! " 



To learn to hit, therefore, is the first thing for a beginner ; 

 and it seemed to me, that my brothers also thought it requisite 

 that I should be hit, as well as learn to hit, for they put me to 

 spar with an older boy and better -set young countryman, a 

 gamekeepers son, at first ; and when, for my own safety, I had 

 learned, by quick straight hitting, to send his head into the 

 manger of the stable which was always the scene of our exercise, 

 they then set me at a footman, a grown man, who, of course, 

 knocked me down. My brother Henry, who used chiefly to 

 superintend these fistic matters, was perhaps the best gentleman 

 setter-to with both hands that ever mounted a stage. At six- 

 teen he set-to with no mean fighter of his day, Caleb Baldwin, 

 with the trial gloves on, at the fives court, and had the 

 best of it. I can remember hearing of the set-to between the 

 present Lord Mexborough, if my recollection serves me, and 

 Mr. Fletcher Norton, at " the Rooms," but whether they were 

 Jackson's rooms or those of Mr. Angelo I forget. I only know 

 that I heard that all London went to see it, and that, though 

 the noble lord was quickest, Mr. Fletcher Norton was the strongest 

 at in-fighting, and was supposed to have the best of it. The 

 Due de Grammont, then in the 10th Hussars, was very fond 

 of a bout with the gloves, and could set-to as well as most 

 Englishmen. From the prince and peer down to the gentle 

 youtli's serving -man or valet, all put on the gloves in those 

 days ; and I have ever been of opinion that it was a pity that 

 so much dishonesty crept into the old manly upstanding ring, 



