BOXING, or PUGILISM (Lat. pugilatus), fighting with the fists. It was practiced as a manly exercise by the ancients, among whom it was an art so highly esteemed, that Pollux, Hercules, and some of the other gods were represented AS having excelled in it. The pugilists of the ancient games had leather thongs on their hands, sometimes loaded with lead or iron ; this armature of the hand was called the cactus. Of course, their combats ware not unfrequently attended with fatal consequences, which have resulted also in many instances of modern pugilistic encounters, although no armature of the fists is allowed. Among the Greeks, the practice of B. was at first permitted only to freemen, no slave, or person attainted with crime, being considered worthy to possess the high privilege of being beaten to the consistency of a jelly. Gradually, however, B. was taken up as a profession, and its character deteriorated. B. was a favorite amusement of Englishmen for centuries; it is even said to have had such distinguished patrons as king Alfred and Richard III. But the golden age of pugilism as a profession in England com menced with the accession of the House of Hanover; then men calling themselves professors publicly announced their intention of giving lessons in "the noble art of i One professor challenged another to combat in the most bombastic language. In 1726. one Ned Sutton, who announces himself as "pipemaker from Gravesend. and professor of the noble science of defense," sneers at another professor, whom he calls " the extolled Mr. Figg," for having by " sleeveless pretense shirked a combat with him, " which I take," says the pipemaker and professor. " to be occasioned through fear of his having that glory eclipsed by me, wherewit'i the eyes of all spectators have been so much dazzled.' He further assures the said Figg, that if he can muster courage enough to fight with him, he (Figg) "will have the advantage of being overcome by n hero indeed!" Figg had an "amphitheater" in Oxford road, wherein fights were held; and a larger one was erected in the same locality in 1742 for one Broughton, the funds being subscribed by some eighty noblemen and gentlemen. The pugilistic encounters that took place here were patronized by many of the nobility. Spine faint protests against the brutalitv of the pastime now began to be made by the press, but these had little effect. Towards the end of the last century, fights were patronized by princes of the blood-royal; and the prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., was present at one at Brighton, in which one of the combatants was killed. When the allied sovereigns and their generals came over to England in 1814, lord Lowther treated them to a series of boxing-matches in his drawing room, which were so highly relished that they were repeated a few days afterwards. One of the pugilists, called Jackson, became quite a hero, and made enormous sums by ,eiving lessons to young noblemen, among whom was lord Byron. In 1817, the czar Nicholas of Russia witnessed a prize-fight at Coombe Warren. At the close, the victor was presented to him, with whom he shook hands. This was the last time that royalty was present at one of these disgusting spectacles.
The character of the prize-ring, or, as it is called in the slang of its supporters, the P. It.," had been for many years declining. People of influence and respectability seemed to have withdrawn their countenance from it. The lowest and least reputable class of the population furnished the lighters, and money was the only object of their bacters. " Fair-play" was no longer "a jewel" in the P. It.; fights were sold, and the
meanest and most disgraceful tricks resorted to, in order to win or to avoid the payment of bets. Prize-tights were under the ban of the law; in ninny counties of England, the pollee actively interfered to prevent them; and some railway companies refused to con vey those taking part in them along their lines. The year 1860, however, witnessed a :strange revival of the pugilistic spirit, on occasion of a fight between Tom Sayers, the " champion prize-fighter of England," and John Heenan, the " Benicia boy," an Amer ican, for Il200 a side, and the belt, a badge of honor worn by the champion. The bat tle, which was elevated to the dignity of "it great internatisnal contest" by sporting papers, took place at Farnborough, April 17, 1860. It lasted for more than two hours, in which time the American was beaten almost blind, and the Englishman dreadfully bruised. The continuance of the Indite was prevents() by the breaking in of the ring, caused by the interference of the police. After the fight, the English champion was ranked by many newspapers—not sporting ones—with the heroes of the Crimea and of Iieknow; hundreds, if indeed not thousands, of pounds were subscribed for him, in hniration of his bravery, by persons of all -conditions of life, and ill:Wing in all parts c the country; and he was feted by merchantson the London and Liverpool 'changes. Ilk opponent received equally flattering and substantial testimonials from Americans. The fight formed the subject of discussion in the house of commons, in which the home secretary announced that not only the principals, but all present at the spectacle, were amenable to the law. Though no steps were taken to bring the offenders to justice, it was intimated to those chiefly concerned, that if a renewal of the fight were attempted, the law should be put in force against those aiding or abetting it.
The training which prize-fighters undergo for some mouths before a battle is of the most healthful kind; it rids them of every superfluous grain of flesh. braces their nerves, and makes their muscles like iron; yet, owing to the rude way in which the result of all this training is demolished in an hour's fight. professional boxers are usually very short-lived. With the exception of one, Gulley, who became M. P. for Pontefract, and the Jackson already alluded to, who made a fortune, few of them have ever risen to any thing above the ownership of a low public-house, where they lay down the law on pugilism to their admirers, and take the chair at so-called "harmonic meetings," where B. is the entertainment. Prior to the decline of B. the doings of the pris,e-nng were duly chronicled by sporting papers. The following specimens of the slang will afford a suffleient idea of the character of this kind of literature. The mouth is called the " potato-trap," the " kisser." the " whistler," the " grubber," and the " oration-trap;" the nose is variously described as the " claret-jug." the "smeller," the " sneezer," the " snorer," the " sniffer," the " proboscis," the " nozzle," the '' snout," the " scent-bob tle," and the "snuff-box;" the car as the "conk;" and the eyes as the "daylights," the " peepers," the " squinters," the "goggles," etc. Instead of saying that the eyes did not swell up, the litte.rateurs of the 1'. R. would say that the boxer " did not seem inclined to adopt the early-closing movement with either shutterl"