378 Manly and Athletic Exercises. 



Each loved the slip of palm-tree, 



Far more than sordid gold, 

 Each loved the crown of paisley, 



In the ruddy days of old. 



IV. 



" Then men retained their sinew, 



And their giant strength of limb, 

 Till old age made them totter, 



And their eagle vision dim ; 

 Then men could hit out gallantly, 



Though verging on four-score. 

 There were no cigars and brandy, 



In the ruddy days of yore." 



IN the end of 1864, a discussion took place in the columns of The 

 Field on the advantage which would accrue to all who feel, a pride 

 in those manly and athletic exercises which are so characteristic of 

 the youth of Great Britain (and of those of no other country under 

 the sun), by the institution of sparring clubs in all our large towns, 

 where the members could keep themselves select, and practise an 

 exercise which is so peculiarly British, and, perhaps, one of the best 

 and most useful going that of sparring with the gloves. The sug- 

 gestion, as might have been expected, when emanating in the 

 columns of so manly and straightforward a paper as The Field, met 

 with general approval, and many of its readers who were utterly 

 opposed to boxing, advocated the practice of sparring with the gloves. 

 Of course I took a part in the discussion, but unfortunately my zeal 

 carried me a little beyond bounds, and the transition from the spar- 

 ring-room to the twenty-four foot roped-ring was so natural and 

 easy, that my letter not only advocated strenuously the benefits 

 which would accrue to every young man from becoming a profi- 

 cient in the art of sparring, but I even had the audacity and hardi- 

 hood (and it does require some little amount of courage in these 

 days of refinement to say a word in favour of a custom which is 

 fashionably designated as disgusting and brutalizing) to enter into a 

 defence of the much abused system of fair British boxing. 



