THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 233 



" Well," observed the Captain, " I think your uncle 

 said nearly as much in favour of boxing or ' the science of 

 self-defence,' as we now call it, as he advanced in its dis- 

 praise ; and let me ask you whether you availed yourself 

 of the liberty given you to reply ? " 



" Of course I did," answered our hero ; " and I think 

 I can call to mind most of the arguments I made use of. 

 Meeting him on his own ground, I reminded him of some 

 striking facts in the histories of the times to which he 

 alluded, favourable to the pursuit in question. In the 

 first place, I echoed your words, namely, that the love of 

 gladiatorial exhibitions, among the Romans, increased as 

 they began to be civilized, and as their manners in other 

 respects became more refined ; although I was obliged to 

 admit that it ceased when they became Christians ; and 

 we are very well assured that, amongst the ancient 

 Greeks, in the highest state of their refinement, education 

 was not considered complete in which the powers of the 

 body, as well as those of the mind, were not regarded and 

 cultivated to the utmost. The statue of Hercules, as well 

 as that of Mercury, adorned the gymnasia of Athens, 

 whilst that city was celebrated for the cultivation of every 

 liberal accomplishment ; and those of the higher orders in 

 society seldom passed a day without practising bodily 

 exercises in their gymnasia, of which boxing, we may 

 be assured, was one. Even in the time of Lycurgus, 

 sumptuary laws, and the proscription of everything that 

 had a tendency to soften the minds and enervate the 

 bodies of the Spartans, were enforced ; and, centuries 

 after that period, it was owing to Alexander the Great 

 sending 30,000 children, of the best families, to be 

 educated in Macedonian exercises, that he secured the 

 possession of the Persian empire, which he had acquired 

 solely by the effeminacy of the Persian soldiery. 1 Amongst 

 the characters of fiction, equal honours have been given 

 to those who distinguished themselves in pugilistic en- 

 counters ; and the circumstance of the dandy, Dares, 

 thrashing the huge Entellus, shows that the use of the 

 fists was by no means beneath the practice of a gentleman. 



1 Amongst the principal games celebrated in honour of Patroclus, 

 as enumerated in Homer's Iliad, boxing is mentioned ; and the 

 duel of Ulysses with the beggar Irus is one of the most diverting 

 incidents in the Odyssey. The King of Ithaca seems to have been 

 well calculated for the ring. 



