The National Register.
London, England, 1808-05-22 00:00:00

ON BOXING.

The custom of Boxing appears to have gained ground very
rapidly in this country during the last ten years; and for tl:e
whole of that period the press has groaned with the invective of
authors, who. in the excess of their morality. have found th.s
amusement productive of infinite mischiefs to virtue, and of deep
disgrace to Cie national character. We own that we have never
been able to discover these evils. Every body knows that the
Boxers are usually people of loose character, and dissipated ha-
bits, and we do not mean to dispute that the fact is SI) : LLit
when it is recollected that they were people of bad morals be-
fore they became Boxers, it seems a little unreasonable to i,4yr
that their bad morals are the result of their Boxing. They an'
often the keepers and the servants oflow ale-houses ; the frieik,
protectors, and landlords of idle fellow:,, vagrants, and even
thieves: hut they would be all this, just as much if a subscrip-
tion purse had never been known to them. Now we maintaili,
that, on the other hand, the Boxers actually do a considerable
service, however unintentionally, to society at large. By Tv:
eustoming all classes of persons (for young noblemen are nevi a.

MAY .i 2.

'y ~.•r•.:.:.

regularly taught to box as they formerly were taught to fence)
to the occurrence of contests, the spirit, energy, and bodily vi-
gour of the people is greatly promoted athletic sports have
been, in all ages, the characteristics of courageous nations : an
early familiarity with danger, and a knowledge of those means
by which danger may be most effectually obviated, give in great
emergencies a confidence, an ease, and a presence of mind, which
cannot hut be productive of great comfort and advantage to the
individuals who possess them, and consequently to that country
of which those individuals are natives, and in whose service
their energies are called forth. When every other quality of
the mind, from memory up to genius, increases in strength and
improves in conduct, by the frequency with which it is exer-
e.:•ed, why should it be believed that courage is incapable of
cultivation; or that a human being, whose progress toward ex •
celleuce, by the laws of nature, is destined to be gradual and
tardy, can in one moment, without the habitual excitations of a
natural enthusiasm, without any of the coolness which custom
alone can bestow, start up a hero at the exact instant when his
heroism is wanted ? The capability of great actions, the first
principle of courage, is not perhaps to be created by training;
but we conceive that it is to be rendered infinitely more tracta-
ble, useful, and disposable, by exercise and drilling, than it can
have been formed by simple nature ! and while manly contests
can be kept up, as at present they appear to be, with little ill-
will between the combatants or partisans, and with little bodily
mischief beyond a bloody nose or a cracked rib, we cannot
consent to join in the general outcry against a sport, which we
must think so useful to the strength and spirit of the country,
and consequently so creditable to the national character.
•
The vanquist44! Gregson arrived at Highgate on Saturday

_
se'nnight, at which place he has taken up a temporary abode.
lie was visited by a vast number of Noblemen and Gentlemen
.Ainatcurs of the fist, several of whom made the fallen hero some
handsome presents, the example having been set by the Mar-
tinis of T.—Gregson received a beating much more severe than
that administered to him at Newmarket, and his face exhibited
hideous marks of his adversary's death-like hits. He spoke in
trims of entinisiatic praise of his conqueror's perfections in box-
ing, and said, that lie never during the battle recovered the
tremendous right-handed hit in the left jaw in the first round,
which produced an efl'usion of blood, loosened his teeth, black-
ed his eye, and disordered his head in every part. The report
that Gregson was neglected at Market-street, after the battle, is
untrue. Several gentlemen called on him and left him presents,
amongst whom was Capt. B. Gully's backer, who gave him
live guineas. A considerable sum was also subscribed in the
ring, u hich he immediately received. Gregson, it is said, will
be matched against Crib. The following are other matches
about to he made : Jem Belcher and Horton Young Belcher
and Crople, and Dutch Sam and Nichols, the latter of whom
boat Crib two years ago at Black water. The Game Chicken
will again exhibit in a short time with any first-rate professor.

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

MARittl:l).

235

waiter at the Bedford coffee-house, Southampton-row, Blooms-.
bury. On the evening he left the coffee-house, about eleven
o'clock, immediately after a Mr. B. a merchant in the city. This
gentleman was somewhat inebriated, and the waiter suspected
that he was gone to an infamous house in Phoenix-street, which
being in his road home, he heard great rioting and confusion as
he passed it. Impressed with an idea that the gentleman had
got into this brothel, and it being his wish to give hint his pro-
tection, be waited a few seconds and peeped through the front
parlour window to ascertain whether he was there or not. The
son, who is chiefly employed in looking after and protecting the
prostitutes of the brothel, rushed out of the house with his mo-
ther, knocked the prosecutor down, and treated him in a most
outrageous manner. Surrounded by the ruffians of St. Giles's.
the prosecutor sought mercy in vain, and after the hostess of the
bagnio and her son had done with their harsh treatment, she gave
the young man in charge of a watchman, and whilst in custody
he found that he had lost his money, amounting to 21. 7s. The
Magistrate did not think the evidence was sufficient to establish
a highway robbery, but the assault was of a most unprovoked
and outrageous nature. Two witnesses for the defendants, in
giving an account of the transaction, strengthened the prosecu-
tor's case, and the brothel-keeper and her son were held- in sub-
stant i a l bail to answer the complaint at the Sessions.

. •
ACCIDENTS, OFFENCES, &e.
About ten o'clock on Friday morning a fire was discovered in
the two-pair-of-stairs of Mr. Faulkner s, in Maielesfield-street,
Soho. The alarm was so great, that some of the lodgers threw
their furniture out of the windows in the upper part of the house
into the street, and by that means there was almost as touch
injury done to the different articles of furniture as if the force
of the destructive element had overwhelmed them. There were
some fire-escapes made use of, and a number of engines at-
tended, so that upon the whole there was very little damage
sustained by the tire. It was extinguished by eleven o'clock.
A young lady, 16 years of age, of the name of Marsden, niece
to Mrs. Broker, of Brompton-road, was run over on Tuesday
morning, at Knightsbridge, by one of the Bath coaches, and
much injured that her life is despaired of. She was in com-
pany with another young woman and a child three years old,
and the former had run across the road at the moment the
coach was passing at a moderate rate, and on Miss Marsden
attempting-to do the same, she was knocked down by the wheel
horse. The coachman stopped his horses as quick as pos‘ibie,
and no blame could be attached to him. The yolow lady had a
leg broken, besides being bruised with the forewleel of the
coach passing over her.
Wednesday morning, between four and five o'clock, the street
door of Mr. Dignam, of Newcastle-street, was forced open, af-
terwards the bar door, and then the tills, one of Which, contain-
ing a quantity of copper, was taken away, with what else of
value they could get. It is to be regretted that the watchmen
go oft' duty, in St. Clement's parish, between three and four
o'clock. The thieves had nearly broke into the Bunch of
Grapes public-house, in Houghton-street, just adjoining, at the
sime hour ; but the landlord was a!armed and routed them.
A child about four months old was left at the door of Mrs.
Mansel, in Mary-le-bone New Rciad, on Monday night, wrap-
ped tip in a flannel shirt, and deposited in a clothes basket. Ti:e
family were retired to rest, and were disturbed by the cries oi
the infant at about one o'clock on TueAay morning, w hen it
was taken into the house and put to bed. The unnatural mother
has not Net been discovered, but suspicion has fell on a late ser-
vant of Mrs. Mausers, who has not beenToued. •

Ftiday, at St. Mary-le-bone Church, Lard Vi,:eount Prim-
rose, eldest sou of the Earl of Itosebery, to Miss Harriet Boa-
vcrie, second daughter of the Hon.- Bartholomew liouvetie.

bun.
On Monday last, at her house in filoucester-place, at an'ad-
vanced age, Mrs. Elizabeth Cocks,.sister to the late, and aunt
to Vie present Lord Somers.
On the I•ith instant, of a violent inflammatory fever, aged 39,
the Rev. Thomas Percy, LL. 1). Fellow of St. John's College,
Oxford, and nephew to the Bishop of .Dromore.
Friday morniag, after a !cog and painful illness, at Streatham,
in Surrv, Mr. Hector Mackay.
At Littkbourn,.a few days inc&e,
.Mrs.. Mary. Appleton, in
her 100th yi:or, who, to the very retained her faculii:
and died ‘eithout a wrinkle in her face.