392 Manly and Athletic Exercises. 



true to themselves, I have little fear for the old " red, white, and 

 blue." But the day may not be so very far distant when England 

 may have to hold her own in another great struggle, and depend 

 upon it, then she must trust solely to herself, and the chief actors 

 in the scene will have to be chosen from the very men who take 

 most interest in those sports which it has of late become the fashion 

 to cry down. 



Whatever changes may have taken place, I have never said or 

 even fancied that the British youth of the present day are a bit less 

 manly than they were in the days when I was young. I certainly 

 do think that we ape our neighbours across the Channel rather too 

 much, and I could perhaps point out more than one change since 

 my young days, which I do not think has benefited us in the least. 

 But I have every confidence that the heart of "Young England" 

 is still in the right place 5 and, even if prize-fighting does die away, 

 we have cricket, hunting, rowing, steeple-chasing, and many other 

 sports left, and, as far as I can see, quite as good a breed of young 

 fellows as ever we had to carry them on. 



If public opinion has so strongly set in against prize-fighting, it 

 seems far better that it should be altogether done away with than 

 kept up by the feeble balances which now uphold it. And in con- 

 clusion I will remark, that it appears to me perfectly unaccountable 

 if there is such a strong feeling against the prize-ring in England, as 

 many pretend, that boxing matches are not decidedly put a stop to 

 at once. They must either be legal or illegal ; if they are legal, it 

 seems a great shame that they should be interfered with and if 

 they are really illegal, it is a disgrace to all who have anything to 

 do with the administration of justice in the land that they are not 

 put down. The arm of the British law generally proves itself 

 strong enough to suppress any public nuisance or offence against the 

 laws ; and no good Englishman ever attempts to interfere with the 

 administration of justice when the law is put in force for the real 

 welfare of the subject. There was little or no trouble in putting 

 a stop to bull-baiting and dog-fighting, and if the prize-ring has not 

 more stanch admirers among all classes, it woUJ be just as easy to 



