The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-13 00:00:00

ENGLISff A 3117E3fEN TS.

' him to spare it. Ile argued too royally. He took us for
the servants of a monarchy like that of old France; and
forgot that the same liberty which was new in that coun-
try, and none the better for his deserting it, was, not-
withstanding its corruptions, a long habit with us. But
the French people have, upon the whole, made a great ad-
vance in physical energy. Tice race is improved. A man-
lier system of education has been introduced ; fendality is
at an end ; the French peasant now values himself, not as
the slave of a great King, but as the member of a great
nation ; and we may remark, that the most inconsiderate
extoller among its of " the good old times" in France
(which we used to laugh at so much formerly) has long
ceased to say anything about" ragged elbows" arm " wooden
shoes." Now the French are not disposed to relax any of
their endeavours to render themselves a match for Eng-
lishmen. L't us smile if we will at their endeavours;
but let us smile with reason ; and do, in the mein time,
all we can to keep a-head of them.
There is a cricket-ground at Paddington, and a septalid
fives-court at St. Martin's-lane. This is the present
RMOUIIt Of our establislemente in behalf of health and vigour.
The cricket-ground is goal, but a mere nothing to our
wants. The fives-court is like art ont-house in a dream, or
lianiel's den without the lions. We ought at !cast to have
a score of cricket-grounds about the suburbs. There
should also be grounds for tennis ; fives-courts a decent
number ; and running, wrestling, and all other honest
ctiercises ought to be eneouraged, wherever they can. In-
stead of these, we have muddle-headed card-rooms, and
places aptly called Hells, where people learn to be canon:
miserable, and pick one another s pockets : to which I
they have lately added the accoinplishraent of cutting one
anotle.r's throats. Think of the cliff:l-ewe of frequenting
these places, or even the mesa virtuous tavern extant,
without a proper security against gout and indiastahm,
and of coining home fresh and breathing from the racket-
ground, with a hand as first, as iron, clear temples and
body,. and an appetite which can arord to enJoy.itaelf-
Sane patriotic persons, Mr. Pennant among them (who
was of civic origin, and a good specimen of the British
gentleman) have attempted to restore the practice of
archery. It is a good attempt ; and all mere:sea, of
whatever kind, are better than none. Even billiards arc
'something, because the players move about. But it might
be better not to begin with games that look as it' they were
got up fot a spectacle, and that would hardly be resorted
to with the proper frequency. And yet I know not. Those
who have keen sight, and a strong arm, rn!ght reasonably
prefer this exercise ; fur If archery is not mule a toy of by
its revivers (as one is apt to hnitgine in these times), it is!
s.ont WO7k.

BY LEICiII ULTNT.

(EXTRACTFT FROM " Tire EXAMI,7ER...)
What I have to propose to the consideration of the inha-
bitants of the Metropolis is, the institution cf ,:crtain
grounds anti enclosures for the purpose of restoring the
manly games of their ancestor*. By manly gunies, I mean
those that arc properly calkd so, such as golf, tennis,
cricket, prim n-base, &c. ; not cock-fighting, nor even box-
ing ; which latter is an invention of the idle to show their
valour by pro-I. The best thing to be said for boxing is,
that it cultivaus a s: nine of justice in the streets, anti re,
minds the little boys of the necessity of keeping themselves
active and vi;!oroun !Laing, llowever, is rather the result
ths a the cause of a turn for fair piny, which has long mani-
fested itself iu the British community. Its advocates have

yet to show, that ha tendency to assist a spirit of this tort
Is not over-balanced by the excitement it furnishes to safe
and cowardly spectators. A regular Nixie% holiday, which
draws after it, like a dusty comet, all the blackguards and
bullies in the neighbourliiicid, is a meteor of very doubtful
import; a very imstionable encouragenn nt to 'public spirit.
The &inking and other l•ad habits which generally illus-
trate the lives of boxers and their abettors, arc no testimo-
nies to the goodness of this mode of education. The spec-
tators do not advance their F.:2lth, and the boxers *Fern-
selvea see trained into an unnatural pitch of rigour, which
d 0.% not last, and which only tempts them to shorten their
lives by alternate excess' a of regimen and debauchery.
Even the race is not carried on like that of cur borate.
Butters are not the fathers nor the sons of boxers. If we
could all of us attain to the honest fists of Parson Mains
and Tom Jones, it would be much better. But how arc

we to set about it ? Not by unnatural modes of life. We
toast rouse up other elements of health than these.
we have recovered something of the Parson's true love of
,manliness and simplicity, we shall be able to fight our own
battles without the of boxers and brandy-bottles. It
is what the boxers et prennt do not do themselves ; nor
what their spectators, for the moat part, would venture to
Boat all.

Cock-fighting is so despicable an amusentent, and so
plainly c,3en to all the objcetio.ls a,,,otinst boxing, without
having anything t) say for hear, that I need not add a
. .

word on the subject. Cruelty and Cowardice notoriously
go together. In cock-fighting they are both at their height.
If anybody remains to be convinced, let him look at lio-
garth's picture of it, and the faces concerned. Would the
gambler in that picture, the moat absorbed in the hope of
winning, ever forget his own hones as be clots those of the
brave animals before him ? I allow that cock-fighting
bas been in use among nations of great valour, our own for
one ; but it was the barbarous anti not the brave part of
the national spirit that maintaieed it, and one that had
not yet been led' to think on the subject.
There is still a cock-nit somewhere in Westminster.
There is alto, what many of our readers will be surprised
to hear of, a bear-ganleu, eminently blackguard.
But to return to ctir subject. —I say little about the an-
cients, though they abounded in gyint. - tic example. Ex-
amples drawn from the Greeks and Ramps, unless ha-
mmed upon as in a very early and particular manner,
have little effect. They are considered rather as things
done in books, than by men. I will only make two or
three observations : Ist. That neither the Greeks nor 'lo-
wans were fond of extacise by proxy, the fonner being a
nation of wrestlers and dancers, and the second the gladia-
tors of the world: 4,e1. That the Greeks were much the
handsomer and more intellectual people, and with the ex.'
ception_ Sparta, were as content with the exercises that
kept them healthy and lively in a state of pence, as they
were ready to fight bravely when patriotism required it :
3d. That the wits and philosephera of Greece, some of
whom were its greatest captains (es. Epaminotidas and Xe-
nophon) were remarkable fur a tranquil health and longe-
vity, enures:redly owing to that entity of body as nell as
mind, which made a part of the leasiness of their lives.—
Piato speaks with e'tonishment of the newly-inveuted
terms of et:pones ant', other anyeteries, which some ph
clans had brought up in his thee. In the age of Ho-
tner, our niceties of temperament appear to have been so
unknown, that he represents Moaned and Ulysses, after the
heat of action, as standing in a draught of wid to cool
themselv a. These were soldiers ; but Plato was a man of
letters and a metaphysician; professions, which are held
to he particularly injurious to the stomach ; and are so, in
our present sedentary modes of life.
The history of England will suffice for Englishmen. It
is remarkable, that the period the most eminent amen; us
both for manly exercises Ind a long state of peace, was n
ALWOUTn, SEPT. 9.—Arrived the Duke of Kent_ inaltet, from
during the reigns of the Tudors and James the First. The Lisbon, in tight days.
.Sailed the Cygnet packet, for Halifax ; and
court was then given to tilts and tournaments, the gentry the Commercial packet, Collin., for Temente.
to the sports of the field, the citizens to r:ehery, the pea- PLTMOETH. SEPT. 9.—Sailed the Two Bruthera, Hero, Be.
santry to the games which arc now confined to children: perb, Matilda, In rd Exmouth, Young Schroder, and Heine, out-
and all classes to bowls, tennis, anal dancing. At the same ward-bound vessel..
time, Se U.—.lrrived Phcenix, Linsey, from Hama-
time as good things have a propensity to go together, earn in 31 d„,,
music was cultivated by both sexes, to a degree b. bieit this Poarseraern, Seer. 10.—Arrieed the Snelherd, C 13388011,
musical age would be surprised at ; and ladies gradually from Cereals.
acquired the art of being at once housewifely anal book- DEAL SEPT. 7.—The Philotaxe, arrived in the Downs from
Batavia.' On the 4th August, off Cape de Verde, was boarded and
learned • points in which they afterwards fell (eon the plundered by the brig Congresit, of 18 guns, which stated she was
arrival Of French coquetry. Elizabeth, besides her books part of Commodore Daniel's squadron, lett her next dzy,
and her " heavenly virginals," kept herself in heart chasing a large ship to true S.W.
anti good comatenancenrith " damming." The Reforma. Deer., here. 10.—Came down from the River and remain the
tier set men thinking, and the Itevolution followed; very nyvi-dre•
fzlegraph, Orandin, for
useful to complete us as minds as well as bodies, r,rid to n
asRA. ESEND, DEPT." 9.• Arrived Nelson, Dawson, from is.
put an end to all star-chambers and Weedy bigotries : but
moire; Lady Juliana, smith, from Quebec ; Amelia Bully, from
mind itself still remains to be completed, and to finish its Cadiz; Female, Chapman, from Co n (:.oils; Nestor. 'lnkner, from
duty by a return to the proper cultivation of body ; and Mirannelti Bebe. Fereman. from Teneriffe; Mars, Venus. from
then we should unite the advantages of the two periods.
trot%terTimol..a AuSt'in, irofnrionlaniiun'ea. gSaCtliNewMitre'.
The Puritans, in their saturnine reflection, thought it ne- riet, finale, for Newfoundland ; Lady Harwood, Lewis, for St.
cavalry to oppose the sports and pastimes of the age, as John's, New Brunswick; e,„5;„7. shepherd, for Bengal; Diana,
worldly vanities, which was a great blow to the corporeal Jay, for Genoa.
part of us. Luxury Lad already prepared the way for it lavEarooa. SEPT. 9.—Arrived the FMK?, Ditchburn, from
by the introelitethin of coaches, as well as by her other °"
salted
Aug.
Blucher,i a 1113ibilTiisimed
' usual tendencies. Charles the Second followed with his Han:and; Campion Fletcherr from SL, sails
New irunswiek peruke and French fashions; anti though he was fond of Alexander, Petrie, 'trout 3Es=k-hi; and Sophia, Lilley, front
txrecise, and began.by resuming some of the old sperts, de. New Orlesma
bauchery soon counteracted their goon effects. The show LITE II roo SEPT. 9.—The hull of the Margaret, Toole, fur j
Ayres, wrecked near Montevideo, was sold 12. h June,
.for
of a severer court under James, the second revolution Buenos AY
asna dollers, and era to pieces the 4tine night, The cargo which
which followed his attempts to introduce popery, and the remained on board saS sold fir the Ratite sun.
Anti-Gallican spirit which arose in onmaition both WHIT
ITBY, Seer. 9--The Outhwaite, Osethwar, of Sunderland,
to the former tastes and to the power of Louis the Nur- with coal, in entering the harbour yesterday evening struck against
teentl,, all tended to introduce a better system of manners; the east pier, and is become a total wreck. Crew bared. A sloop
but trade had now begun to occupy our day-light, I
son.malse after ruunesdunriknowdna.il aimaab:tpre:ftwii.l entering
ro.n this most she
and lead us into sad hours ; the logical and eelsneennoaot:cann. neer. Inia l'ou'rrelarge ships are leg, sup.
ed
tical faculties were exercised almost exclusively, and poem a, be 0re,1„,1„,.
peace with France ensuing, anti every body being bent Barnarecerox. Stier. 6.—The Amity, Carnaby, from Myth
on the improvement of his " sense," the effect was con- to Guernsey. came in last night with great damage. having been
summated by an universal absorption in the lesser nears's,— roans board of by eye
nitEndeavour, Cara of and for Sunderland,
in the acquirement of estates and nentilines,—in the study 817IELDerS.Itie;:nrgT.the
. Put Yin heer'e by contrary winds, the Loyal
of being agreeable in rooms, anti witty in cot lc-!rouses. Briton and Joseph Green transports, bound to Leith with troops.
We were to be English in our virtues but French in our I FARO. A vo. 24.—The Nepturus, (ruin St. Chest to
tareva ; and a compromise between these two etrangers Wash, put into this port on toe 20. h inst. ¶n distress, and must dia.
took place, which existed up to the periodof the French re- chill
and st 31LT, Ra repair.
9.—On t'"3 inst. easy in the mhe
, ap.
volution, anill orients the manners and criticlem in reared utf this port, steering to the westward utter eesy sail.n lay.
vogue. The characters of the successive Princes contri- , mg-to now and then, a Seel. 0308ing the French Sag, ronsistiug of
buted to the universal defectien from exercise. William I two line.ef-battle ships, eight frigates or large skips, Gee brig, and
the Third, a hero in thu field, was a qneazy consumptive
atwboousctihmoozers. They were seen next morning to the westward, and
invalid in his own chamber. Anne was fat anti burly, teeth:l27r dsatypod
a French ship
shied
aizio the bay, made
like her grandfather Clan:talon. Lord Lanesboroten the as
"..;111E‘Tt Voss, nit peon. 7.—The Russel, from
old Nobleman mentioned by Pope as " dancing in the hence to the Spanish Main, upset In a squall four dsys after sailing.
gout," waited upon her on the death of her husband, to Crew meal.
advise her Majesty to rouse up her spirits by his Lord- PHILADELPHIA, Arm B.—By the Linea Hubbell, arrival
ship's favourite exercise. The announcement of his burn- I.2um linn'anah. 11 days, I,ltittairi there a Hambuegh ship, wits
ness must have been very ludicrous, unites he was a man ship,uabOlt:cabrotontil rto11:7! ...itven;titth. haveavbeentaritud, their maws
of address ; hut he had a reason in his boasting of lees. cut away, and crews disposal ef, and their cargoes itaraluced into
If precedent was required, lie might have quoted, besides Alatennis
Elizabeth, the example of Charles. the Second's wife, Ca- Anrieed off Dover. the Clark, Robertson, from Neiman.
therine oillraganza, who by means of an unconquerable 4 _dT;he, Ann, of Scarbro*, was deject' UZI shore
near Suuderland the
spirit of dancing, bore up against an evil which would TZe.saera doe afanyact, Contente, from St. Une's to Dundalk,
have been thought greater by most women than that of was on shore t:pun Denary Point, near Dundalk, on the 7th inst.
a husband's death ; to wit, his neglect anti infidelity. The and fail of water.
House of Brunswick succeeded, all stayers at lame and The Outhecite, of Sunderland. Funk on the bar at 111i,ky, on
card-players, with the exception of the late King. the Bth inst.; crew and part of the stores saved.
es ner akll o Barhadoes. Nliam, bonn erom
We still have the advantage of our neighbours in point nidadThe ach
to Oihrab a,ar. wasf captured by aewn French ship eff war, and
of bodily vigour ; partly from our mode of subsistence, carried into Ilausdaloupe; and both vessel and cargo were con- .1
partly because we retain enough moral vigour front our all- den,nnw.l-‘,.
tenors and value ourselves on maintaining cur snperionity. tutroing-. inda tiutlinieber Commerce,
• ealScirlbncji°o";";peh'i!niaomtri.
Bat no gallant person who was at Waterloo will deny, that shortly afterwards beat over' the sand, and sunk in deep water.
h.
however we astonished Napoleon by hoisting out as we did, Crew saved, and arrived at nearberrough.
and forcing blot to lose the fruits of his conduct, we our- The NViklman, Kerney, was spoken with 13th March. all well,
off Dego, by the Lyra, arrived in the Rine from the South sese.,
selves could have epar, 41 a few of the charges which the
Tl,rmeacor..thßeujiker;twititha:e7o French persisted in making, and did not altogether Jinn tu
wnshat'oll.,i, was
.7p::;jte no
n111:1he
,112111:
them as inferior as we expected. The Revolution had put rdarch—arYbOth at the
ca ▪ by the Syren, Cittin, arrived
a spirit into their arms, which the " beanie chevaliers" in the River.
of the Grend nlonarque, with all their gallantry, would Extract of a letter from the agent to Lloyd's at Revel, dated 211.1
have envied. Napoleon gave that title to mar of' our re,gi- old;—" Two foreign vessels have arrived from Liverpool with salt.
inents as they were forming for battle, anti lamented that nTeahertyrrponttit sl°fOpCommerce
to the importbet ;rt. saltSrdeln t and this
his country
has
he should be obliged to cut it to pieces. .I.l'n conscious- in British bottoins. Swedish vessels hare thegprivilege
fleas that suggested the lamentation, tuicht have taught their cargo ; hat British vessels ::are rot."

IVe have still titling and dancing among our amuse-
ments ; but both are pursued in a very modern way, the
latter often perniciously. The rich have the advantage of
riding for an appetite. It is a pity they do not do it
oftener, Instead of taking to their carriages. Darnell is
kept up too late at night, and in suffocating rooms. Danc-
ing. on a green is to some purpose. At evening it might
oftener be resorted to with great advantage, by almost all
persons in-doors, without preparation, and the moment
they rise from their work. But no exercise can dispanse
with the necessity of exercise in the open air. Ire, and
ours, for many generations must suffer for the want of it,
wherever it takes place to any great extent. The consti-
tution's ruined for life, and the feeble progenies that result
are innumerable in these sedentary times. And recollect,
that plant what principles we may, and take care as we
think fit of cur own vtorldly success and that of our off-
vpring, nature insists that the bodies in which she puts
us shall be the medium of every threeption we have ; so
that we colour it with darkness or cheerfulness accord-
ingly.
I have omitted hunting: I confess I do not willingly
'speak of it, unless it be hunting the fox, and then only in
case of necessity. • It prevails to no such extent as to affect
my argument: nor can I think that any mode of doing
ourselves good is to be recommended, if it be unjust to
others, anti can be supplied by a choice of so many amuse-
ments, at once manly and innocent.