formulated a set of rules for his son, with the very modern conclusion that "bodily exercises are very commendable, as well for the banishing of idleness as for the making the body able and durable ;" adding in a passage of the true spirit, "the exercises 1 would have you to use, although but moderately, not making a craft of them, are running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, playing at the witch or tennise, archerie. palle-mallc. and such like other fair and pleasant field games." The troublous times of the Rebellion, with the prejudice of the Puritans against all that had gone to make appropriate the title of "Merry England," and the dissoluteness of the court of Charles 11., tended to destroy the old athletic spirit, except in the country villages, where the old games lingered. Otherwise during the Eight eenth Century and the early part of the Nine teenth, athletics dwindled well-nigh to extinction, and the moral and physical condition of the youth of England suffered to a proportionate extent.
Fortunately, about the year 1850. an athletic revival occurred in England affecting all branches of sport, furthered not a little by the energetic deliverances of Charles Kingsley and his school in favor of `musenlar Christianity.' Athletic games of a sort had been established early in the century at the Royal Military College, Sand hurst. In 1837 the Rugby Crick run began. and soon afterwards regular games were held also at the Woolwich Alilitary Academy and a number of the great public schools. Probably the first athletic sports held in modern fashion occurred at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1852; they included sprints and long-distance running, followed later by jumping, hurdling, and weight events. The movement rapidly spread, and athletic clubs be gan to be formed. The Cambridge University games were established in 1857, and the Oxford games three years later. The inter-university
boat-race dates from 1850 as an annual event; there had been a university boat club at Oxford since 1839. In 1864 the Oxford and Cambridge track and field games were established. The events of the first meeting were 100 yards, 440 yards, and one mile runs; high and broad jumps; 120 yards and 200 yards hurdle-races; and a steeplechase. Within the decade 1850-60 athletic meetings became a regular feature of school and college life, and through their influ ence amateur athletic sport became general throughout the kingdom. The London Athletic Club dates from 1866 (though it really grew out of a smaller organization of three years earlier), and the national amateur championships were established in the same year. The latter were for some years managed by the Amateur Athletic Club, whose attempt to become the regulating amateur organization subsequently failed. In 1880 the Amateur Athletic Association was founded as the national governing body for Eng land. It is allied with the Scottish and Irish Amateur Associations and with the British swim ming and cycling associations. The national championships now consist of 100 yards: 440 yards, half-mile, mile. and four-mile runs; 120 yards hurdles; high and broad jumps; hammer throwing and weight - putting; pole - vaulting; four-mile walk: and two-mile steeplechase. A ten-mile championship run is also held in the The Oxford and Cm abridge sports in first ten of the above events, substitute ing a three-mile for the four-mile run. Other important English events a re the London Athletic Club and Putney Athletic Club games, the Civil Service, the United Hospitals, and the Railway Clearing-house sports. Cross-country running is very popular and has made Englishmen the best of long-distance runners.