232 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



between Pollux and Amycus, so admirably told by 

 Theocritus in his twenty-second Idyllium, and between 

 Dares and Entellus, in the fifth J^neid of Virgil, 

 especially had induced him to be present at a sparring- 

 match between two celebrated boxers of his younger days. 

 ' The attitude of these men,' said he, ' excited my highest 

 admiration ; that of one of them, in particular, reminding 

 me of Milton's descripton of the angel, whose 



" starry helm unbuckled, show'd him prime 



In manhood." 1 



The firm and erect posture of the body, the head drawn a 

 little back, the expanded chest, and the judicious position 

 of the brawny arms, certainly display the human form to 

 the greatest possible advantage ; and, in this particular 

 instance, I was favoured by a private display, by one of 

 the performers, of the grand and powerful expression of 

 his muscles, together with the agility and suppleness of 

 his movements. Having been instructed for the occasion, 

 he successively placed himself in the attitudes of the 

 fighting and dying gladiators, of the Hercules Farnese, 

 and other antique statues, as well as in that of the Atlas of 

 Michael Angelo ; finishing by exhibitions of strength and 

 activity beyond what I considered to exist in the human 

 form. This man became the champion of England ; and, 

 like the invincible Pancratiast of ancient Greece, finally 

 retired to his native place, not only with honours well 

 deserved by his bravery and good conduct in the ring, 

 but with a competency sufficient to render his situation 

 agreeable to him. Unwilling to be idle, however, he 

 became a teacher of gymnastic exercises, and was, in his 

 own person, the best example of their beneficial effects in 

 improving the health and increasing the strength and 

 beauty of the human figure.' " 



1 What can be finer, or more true to the life, than Virgil's 

 description, in the fifth ^Eneid, of Entellus stripping in the 

 ring ? 



" Hie fatus, duplicem ex humeris refecit amiclum ; 

 Et magnos membrorum artus magna ossa lacertosque 

 Exuit ; atque iugens media consistit arena." 



The same may be said of the set-to between Hector and Ajax, in 

 the fifth Iliad of Homer, and of the wrestling-match in the twenty- 

 third. 



