ce, to whom he was indebted for the
writing of the place of his destination large on a card, and the wording
of the French sound beside it, besides the jotting down of trains and
the station for the change of railways, Mr. Durance could say, that the
active form of our sympathy consisted in the pouring of cheeses upon
them when they were prostrate and unable to resist!

A kind gentleman, Mr. Durance, as Daniel Skepsey had recent cause to
know, but often exceedingly dark; not so patriotic as desireable, it
was to be feared; and yet, strangely indeed, Mr. Durance had said cogent
things on the art of boxing and on manly exercises, and he hoped--he
was emphatic in saying he hoped--we should be regenerated. He must have
meant, that boxing--on a grand scale would contribute to it. He said,
that a blow now and then was wholesome for us all. He recommended a
monthly private whipping for old gentlemen who decline the use of the
gloves, to disperse their humours; not excluding Judges and Magistrates:
he could hardly be in earnest. He spoke in a clergyman's voice, and said
it would be payment of good assurance money, beneficial to their souls:
he seemed to mean it. He said, that old gentlemen were bottled vapours,
and it was good for them to uncork them periodically. He said, they
should be excused half the strokes if they danced nightly--they resented
motion. He seemed sadly wanting in veneration.

But he might not positively intend what he said. Skepsey could overlook
everything he said, except the girding at England. For where is a braver
people, notwithstanding appearances! Skepsey knew of dozens of gallant
bruisers, ready for the cry to strip to the belt; worthy, with a little
public encouragement, to rank beside their grandfathers of the Ring,
in the brilliant times when royalty and nobility countenanced the manly
art, our nursery of heroes, and there was not the existing unhappy
division of classes. He still trusted to convince Mr. Durance, by means
of argument and happy instances, historical and immediate, that the
English may justly consider themselves the elect of nations, for
reasons better than their accumulation of the piles of gold-better than
'usurers' reasons,' as Mr. Durance called them. Much that Mr. Durance
had said at intervals was, although remembered almost to the letter of
the phrase, beyond his comprehension, and he put it aside, with penitent
blinking at his deficiency.

All the while, he was hearing a r