385 Manly and Athletic Exercises. 



exhibited in prize-battles render them by far the least dangerous 

 combats in which men can engage. Moreover, in whatever foreign 

 land can a man cry enough when he is beaten, and where but in 

 England will the bystanders, to a man, see that both parties in a 

 casual encounter have fair play ? It is most unfair to condemn an 

 institution because it is badly managed, and I think that the greatest 

 proof that there must be good in the British prize-ring lies in this 

 fact — that in no other country in which the practice of boxing is 

 unknown do we ever see the rules of fair play which are, as it were, 

 so characteristic of the good Englishman, the least regarded in the 

 settlement of those unavoidable quarrels and disputes which must 

 and will be daily occurring as long as man is man. And why is 

 this ? Because the rules of fair fighting exemplified in the ring 

 became, as it were, a part of the law of the land, when a dispute 

 must be settled by an appeal to arms 5 and the pluck and manly 

 forbearance of the good British boxer was not only admired but 

 imitated by his countrymen. Let foreigners abroad, and let who 

 will at home, abuse the prize-ring as an arena fit for nothing but 

 blackguards and ruffians, no one can, however, deny the fact that 

 if a man — whether he be an Englishman or a foreigner — happens 

 to come into a row in England, he may chance to get a good lick- 

 ing, but in nine cases out of ten not a man will lay a hand upon 

 him save his opponent. As soon as ever he pleases to acknow- 

 ledge himself beaten the fight is stopped, and every bystander, 

 although all may be total strangers to him will see that at least he 

 lias fair play. There is something so truly British in the words 

 " Give him fair play," that one would almost think they were one 

 of the earliest lessons of a true Englishman's childhood. I do not 

 mean to say there are not exceptions to the rule. We have brutes 

 and ruffians in England as elsewhere, and perhaps a brutal English- 

 man is the greatest brute under the sun 3 but, thank God ! these 

 men are not to be taken as types of our national character. 



Far different is the case when a man, especially if he be a 

 stranger, gets into a row in a foreign country. The words " fair 

 play," as we understand them, are scarcely to be found in any 



