Manly and Athletic Exercises. 385 



notably they understand little, and for which they care less, I do 

 again repeat that it is sheer nonsense to raise such an outcry against 

 the prize-ring. What a deal of inconsistency and humbug there is in 

 this world. We glory in the account of a victory which is probably 

 gained at the expense of thousands, but pretend to be shocked at 

 the description of a fair stand-up fight between two men, armed 

 with no other weapons than those provided by nature, and even the 

 use of which is modified and restricted, so that not once in a hun- 

 dred times can any fatal accident result, and neither of whom is 

 in general a bit the worse a fortnight after the fight than he was 

 before it. One of the favourite arguments with the opponents of 

 the prize-ring is this, that the common prize-fighter has no ani- 

 mosity against his opponent ? Why, therefore, should he punish 

 him ? Does it not seem that this remark will equally apply to the 

 red-coated prize-fighter ? 



Prize-fighting is peculiarly a British institution, and one of which 

 no real Englishman need be ashamed. When it is properly carried 

 out on the continent, of course, where the words " fair play" are 

 unknown, the practice is stigmatized as brutal and disgusting, and 

 the British nation branded as blood-thirsty blackguards. This all 

 looks very well upon paper, and would sound all the better if I could 

 see that our continental neigbours were a bit more honourable, 

 manly, or less brutal and blood-thirsty than ourselves. I have now 

 been in many European countries, but I never was in one yet where 

 the lower orders had not some national method of settling disputes 

 other than by arbitration or appeal to law courts. The French 

 sabot, the Italian stiletto, the Yankee German hug, are just as 

 common in their peculiar districts as the fair knock-down blow of 

 the Englishman, and yet we have no outcry against all these. It is 

 only the unfortunate practice of British boxing, which after all 

 said and done is the manliest and less cruel of all, that is stigma- 

 tized. We must all allow that, whatever the national mode of 

 fighting, the one which is least likely to sacrifice human life is the 

 one most worthy of being adopted. That the naked fist is the 

 most harmless no one can deny, and the moderation and fair play 



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