lady's maid. When the men were ready to set-to, I admired also their condition, their courage, and their good-humour, as well as the intense attention of the assembly. Whilst the fighting is apart, there is nothing very revolting; but the closing, with which each round generally ends, and the falling together, sometimes over the rope which forms the ring, is an exhibition of unmixed brutality and debasement; as indeed is the whole affair, as soon as the combatants become exhausted in every thing but their courage. They then appear like drunken men, butchering one another, without much consciousness of what they are doing; and my conclusion, at the end of the combat, which lasted almost an hour, was, that prize-fighting is a barbarous practice, altogether deserving the fate it seems nearly to have met with. Whenever the men fell, or were knocked down, they lay as if they were dead; and they were raised, seated, their wounds sponged, lemon applied to their lips, or a little wine given them, with the same care and nicety which I have described to have been used in preparing them for the combat. This extreme gentleness, contrasted with the other parts of the scene, was very striking. The object is, to prevent the slightest waste of strength in making any exertion which can be avoided; and the expediency was apparent, when the exhaustion became so great that a feather would almost have turned the scale either way. As a specimen of some of the component parts of the assembly, I have a lively recollection of the following circumstance. Whilst preparations were making for the fight, I took out a pocket-book, and placed it in a side pocket by way of security. I saw I was observed by a suspicious-looking character, and soon after I was surrounded by at least fifty men, who hustled me in such a manner as to make my blood thrill with a sort of horrific sensation, though I had nothing valuable to lose, and I knew I was in no danger of personal injury. Expecting an attack, I made a vigorous resistance, and got through without loss; but I took good care for the remainder

of the day not to expose myself again. This attraction together of depredators is one of the many evils of such exhibitions; for it is not to be supposed they will separate without some detrimental consequences to the public, either immediate or in prospect; besides, the nursery and sphere of prize-fighting is one of gambling, profligacy, and crime.

If any one, bent on striving for mastery in a great career, could bring himself to undergo an equally strict preparatory discipline with that which a prize-fighter undergoes, and should in action husband in like manner his energies with reference to the one point in view, what is it that human nature, especially some natures, might not accomplish for their own glory and the good of mankind? In all cases of strict training, it seems essential that the person undergoing it should place himself under the absolute control of another, as the infirmity of our nature is not sufficiently proof against momentary impulses and temptations, and one deviation, however slight, would most probably lead to an indefinite backsliding. Buffon, the great naturalist, relates that, being fond of his bed, he commissioned his confidential servant to force him to rise every morning at a certain very early hour, which injunction was so rigorously obeyed, that his most earnest intreaties on many occasions to be allowed a respite, could never prevail. I believe, from experience, that two persons are much more likely to succeed conjointly in any plan of discipline, than one alone. There is a cheerfulness and a rivalry in such a combination, which are efficacious: and in many respects there are two chances to one of regularity of operations. For this reason, I am inclined to think that two young men, bent on worthy pursuits, would be more sure of going 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 growing 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 which alone he found he had made himself fit.

SAYINGS.

It is the test of sound principles that they are received slowly, and, when established, that they endure long. It is the test of quackery that it is greedily listened to, quickly adopted, and quickly laid aside. The cause is, that sound principles appeal to the reason, and false ones to the prejudices and narrow interests of mankind; and mankind are much more governed by prejudices and narrow interests than by reason. It is pity that rulers do not take the more difficult, but more honourable course, of bringing reason into play. It is a clear proof that they are more intent on profiting by mankind, than that mankind should profit by them.

Whenever one man is willing to serve another at the expense of principle, it must be from one of two reasons; either he cannot know what principle is, or he sacrifices it for some view of his own.

If we were not obliged to do anything, we should do nothing. Our necessities start us, and habit and inclination keep us going, some at one rate, some at another, some to one distance, some to another. Our actual necessities teach us to create artificial ones, and they urge us on with fresh and greater force, till often the less we need, the more we strive, and at last some are found to reverse the order of things, and end by heaping up superfluities at the expense of their necessities; as misers starve themselves to death. Their necessities led them to acquire superfluities, and their superfluities lead them to disregard their necessities. They only are reasonable who never sacrifice the end to the means, and are content with what may be termed the necessary superfluities; that is, such superfluities as can minister to their real enjoyment, and which are not purchased with more labour than they are worth. It is true that, with many, acquisition becomes the enjoyment; and that if they were to cease to acquire, they would cease to enjoy, whether in wealth or power; but it is a spurious enjoyment, which argues only a grovelling or grasping habit, unfitting declining years, which should be dedicated to other objects of contemplation.

Published also monthly with the Periodicals, stitched in a wrapper.

IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND.

BY THOMAS WALKER, M. A.

TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,

BARRISTER AT LAW, AND ONE OF THE POLICE MAGISTRATES OF THE METROPOLIS.

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 12 O'CLOCK, BY H. RENSHAW, 356, STRAND, NEARLY OPPOSITE WELLINGTON STREET.

No. XXIII.] WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21, 1835. [PRICE 3d.

PRISON discipline, like many other subjects which occupy public attention, is not worth the time and expense which are bestowed upon it. After the repeated experiments that have been made to reform criminals in prisons, and the signal want of success, I should think the hope must by this time be given up even by the most sanguine. I believe that after the immense expense that has been lavished upon the attempt, the instances of reform really attributable to the system, do not amount to one in five hundred; and if it is calculated how many might have been saved from a prison at all by the application of the same means to the purposes of good government, it must be concluded that prison discipline with a view to reform is a great deal worse than useless. But it is bad in another point of view. The sole end of imprisonment ought to be punishment, in order to deter from crime, and punishment by a separation from the world and all its advantages; and the greater the contrast, the greater will be the punish

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