310 



stranger, should for ever wind up the annals of the P.R., which,, 

 according to "Fistiana," began in 1700. 



While rejoicing to see the demoralising exhibitions alluded to- 

 abolished, I should be sorry to see the "noble art of self-defence'' 

 interfered with, and glad I am to know that boxing is as popular in 

 England as ever it was, while in Ireland it is far more so than ever. The 

 Marquis of Queensberry has done much for it, and has introduced rules,, 

 some of which are sound and good. 



As experience has shown, however, he made a great mistake in 

 trying to bring back prize-fighting by means of glove contests to be 

 decided in a limited time, or within a certain number of rounds. 

 Anyone might have seen such a rule could not work out, and it has now 

 been shown plain enough these " glove-fights " are far more brutal than 

 were the old fights with the fists, while they have not one single 

 redeeming quality. Little science is attempted in the first round, 

 and after that none whatever. Hammer and tongs the men go at 

 each other like wild beasts, and to decide the fight is simply a 

 matter of which in the shortest time, by the most powerful blow, can 

 knock the other out of time. From curiosity I went to see a couple of 

 these affairs. Fights they are justly called, and it is, I thiuk, impos- 

 sible to conceive how the word, in its sense of savageness, could be 

 more practically demonstrated. 



Very soon will these exhibitions be put an end to if they be continued 

 on the system on which they have begun. 



I now reproduce the article I alluded to in the first paragraph of 

 this chapter. Not alone does it describe the ring and the pit of long 

 ago, but it gives curious particulars and interesting information of the 

 men and manners of a past age. 



The Old Gamesters of Wilts. 



Major Wheble and his Fighting Coachman. 



A Main of Cocks in the Old Chester Pit. 



A Fight in the Major's Park 



7th July, 1809. 



There are few counties in England where you will find such a marked' 

 difference existing between the one half of the shire and the other as in 

 Wilts. The southern part of the county consists of wide plains and rolling 

 downs, now sinking into valleys, now rising into hills, a varied sea of 

 "chalky waves." The northern part is a broad, fiat track of alluvial soil, 

 thickly wooded and >Yatered by the Thames, the Kennet, and the Lower 

 Avon, where rich pasture alternates with fruitful corn land. And the 

 inhabitants of the two districts are equally distinct in character. The simple 

 shepherds of the South, the " moonrakers/' are as different as possible from 

 the sturdy agricultural labourers of the North, from time immemorial 

 renowned for their prowess as cudgel players. It is in this portion of the 

 county that the scene of our present narrative is laid. Up in the North- 

 eastern corner of Wilts, about ten miles from the borders of Berks, in the- 



