und consideration, the following defence of pugilism,
written, it is said, by that profound statesman, patriot, and scholar,
William Windham, whose eloquence and wit caused sir R. Hill's
bull-baiting bill to be laughed out of the House of Commons.

[Footnote 9: The Sporting Magazine for one.]

"I lay it down as a principle, that in every state of society, men,
particularly those of the lower ranks, will ever require some means of
venting their passions and redressing personal affronts, independently
of those which the laws of their country might afford them; and that it
is of more benefit to the community that these personal contests should
be under such regulations as place bounds to resentment, than that they
should be left to the unrestrained indulgence of revenge and ferocity.
In most countries on the northern continent of Europe, bodily strength
exclusively decides the contest; hands, feet, teeth, and nails are all
employed, and the strongest gratifies his resentment by biting, kicking,
and trampling upon his prostrate adversary.[10] In the south the appeal
is usually to the stiletto, and a _colpo dicoltello_ is so common at
Naples, that there is hardly a lazarone who has not the marks of it on
some parts of his body; not a year passes in which there are not
hundreds of assassinations in this city. Now, observe the different
effects of a different principle: A sailor, some time since, at
Nottingham, lent an aeronaut his assistance in preparing the ascent of
his balloon; when receiving a blow from one of the by-standers while he
held a knife in his hand--"You scoundrel," exclaims the tar, "you have
taken the advantage by striking me because you knew that, as I held a
knife I could not strike you again." Under similar circumstances, what
would have been the conduct of a Genoese or a Neapolitan?

[Footnote 10: He might have added gouging, as practised in the
southern States of this Union.]

Boxing, as it is conducted in this country, is a remnant of the ancient
tilt and tournament, conducted on the principles of honour and equity;
a contest of courage, strength, and dexterity, where every thing like an
unfair and ungenerous advantage, is proscribed and abhorred. It is a
custom peculiarly our own, and to which probably we are not only
indebted for the infrequency of murder and assassination, but also for
the victories of Maida, and Trafalgar.

Some persons are willing to allow these effects, provided the prac