16 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



the same time that I question whether the extraordinary 

 courage of the game-cock was not intended as an example 

 to us. One of the greatest orators of our day thinks it 

 was ; and in defence of the hypothesis, instances the 

 pluck and bottom of Englishmen, who chiefly encourage 

 these combats, and conduct them after the most scientific 

 manner. Our boxing matches, or prize fights, as they 

 are now called, are contests of the same kind as the 

 fights of the gladiators, only upon a lower scale ; with 

 this difference, that no man unless he chooses is 

 opposed to unequal force ; and if we could divest the 

 mind of the fact that the contest is not so much for glory 

 as for money, such has been the display of manly 

 intrepidity, firmness, gallantry, activity, presence of mind, 

 and strength, which some of our late prize fights have 

 called forth, that no man need be ashamed of having 

 viewed them with interest. At all events, suppress 

 boxing wholly, and there will be an end to that sense 

 of honour, spirit, and gallantry which distinguishes the 

 common people of this country from those of all others, 

 and they will resort to practices, and the use of weapons 

 in their quarrels, which they now scarcely think of ; and 

 which are cowardly and disgraceful, because they are 

 commonly resorted to in the dark, or when the object 

 of vengeance is off his guard. They would decide their 

 quarrels with knives instead of fists, and the life of no 

 man, in the lower ranks of society, who had given much 

 cause of offence, could be said to be safe. In fact, a 

 great lawyer has pronounced the laws of boxing to be 

 the laws of peace, ' teaching that no unfair advantage 

 shall be taken by either of the combatants, and putting 

 a stop to a malignant mode of procuring satisfaction. 

 They inculcate a love of fair play, and foster the natural 

 courage of our countrymen, whilst they create a disgust 

 in their minds for the treacherous use of the stiletto 

 or knife.' 



" Still," Mr. Raby would say, "it is not impossible that 

 the system of prize-fighting, which Broughton calls 'a 

 truly British art,' may become the reproach, rather than 

 the characteristic of our countrymen. The persons who 

 take up the profession of public prize-fighters are of 

 nearly the lowest grade in society, and are too often 

 unable to resist a bribe to induce them to do wrong that 

 is, to sell their battles for money although there are, and 



