388 Manly and Athletic Exercises, 



Moreover, in what other country is the knife held in such uni- 

 versal detestation as in England ; and God grant that the opponents 

 of fair British boxing may not be over-zealous in the cause, and 

 while putting down an old English custom, introduce among their 

 countrymen this along with other foreign fashions ! I am truly 

 glad to say that the knife is certainly going out of use in Sweden, 

 but it is not easy to teach old dogs new tricks j and we seldom hear 

 of a fair or any other meeting of peasants even now without the 

 knife being drawn as soon as they get drunk. The fact is this, the 

 fist is the Englishman's weapon, the knife is the foreigner's — and 

 which is the best ? I recollect once hearing a foreign gentleman 

 vehemently declaiming against the brutality of the English prize- 

 ring, and ten minutes after uttering the following sentence respect- 

 ing a man who had made himself obnoxious : " Oh, he had better 

 not go out after dark." Fancy such a speech coming from the lip& 

 of Jem Mace or Tom King. 



Times and the manners of men certainly change as centuries 

 roll round, and the savage customs of our forefathers give way to 

 the march of intellect and civilization. Witness the deadly com- 

 bats of the Scandinavian ^'Balt spannare," when the two naked 

 combatants, armed with knives, were strapped together so that 

 there could be no flinching from the cold steel, and the battle 

 rarely ceased till one or other of them fell dead from his wounds. 

 Those barbarous practices have, however, passed away and the best 

 memento of them which we now possess is Malin's beautiful bronze 

 statue, as large as hfe, of the old Swedish "Bait spannare." This 

 is now set up in the park opposite the theatre in Gothenburg, and a 

 more beautiful piece of statuary I never beheld. The two struggling 

 forms locked together in mortal conflict ; the savage determined 

 expression depicted in the countenances of the two gladiators, for 

 whom there is no retreat j and the distended muscles, are all so true 

 and natural, that one almost expects, while gazing on this splendid 

 work of art, to see the two naked figures start into life, and a real 

 instead of an imaginary battle take place. I remember that I was 



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