The original / by the late Thomas Walker, edited and arranged under distinct heads; with additions by William A. Guy.

  • Walker, Thomas, 1784-1836.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The original / by the late Thomas Walker, edited and arranged under distinct heads; with additions by William A. Guy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    WHAT MAKES rETZE-EIGHTS OBJECTIONABLE. larity of operations. For this reason, I am inclined to think, that two young men, bent on worthy pursuits, would be more sure of gomg steadily and cheerily on by forming their habits together ; and this subject of intimacies is one deserving the utmost attention of parents in bringing up their children, whether male or female. In bodily training, regard must be had to the object in view. That which qualifies a pugilist, is totally unfit in degree, though perhaps not altogether in principle, for sedentary or studious occupations. The late Charles Skinner Matthews, the friend of Lord Byron, and celebrated by him, was distinguished for extraordinary powers of mental application. He conceived that he might be able to increase those powers to their greatest possible extent by going through a process of training, which he did, under the guidance of a well-known master of the art, to whom I have already alluded in this article, and who vouched to me for the truth of this statement. As study forms no part of pugilistic training, but would be destructive of it, young Matthews could form no idea of his groiving aptitude or inaptitude in that respect till he made a trial. When he was told he was in a complete state, he shut himself up, and formally set forth his books. He then tried and tried to bring his mind to bear, but utterly in vain; and the experiment ended in his kicking over his reading apparatus with great force, and sallying forth in quest of some active adventure, for Avhich alone he found he had made him- self fit. [ANOTHEE PEIZE FIGHT.] I never was at a prize-fight, but I confess that I have not been able to resist the temptation to read an account of one when I have come across it; nor have I been able wholly to sympathize with those who indignantly condemn these contests. To my mind the chief objection to them is not to be sought in the fights themselves, but in their sur- roundings. The ring, like the race-course, is attractive of mobs, and it has the special objection of reminding one more than is pleasant of the Roman amphitheatre and its atrocities. But there is one difference w'hich should not be overlooked. The contests of the prize-ring are voluntary contests, fought with weapons which bruise and tear and dislocate, but rarely kill. As a rule, too, they do not brutalize the pugilists themselves. Having once been invited by a lawyer who had made man his development, and feats of strength and endurance his constant study, to meet Cribb and Gentleman Jackson at dinner, 1 can testify to their good manners and gentlemanly deportment. We justify horse-racing, with all its obvious and acknowledged drawbacks and objections, on the ground that it improves the breed of horses. Surely something may be said of boxing as improving the