The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-09

From the New York Times. NH ' ILLIAM HAzLITT, who in the WNW judgment of Charles Lamb was V "one of the finest and wisest spirits breathing. when "in his natural and healthy state" write a lively essay
 about the prize fight between Tom Hick- man, the "gasman, and Bill Neate, which he witnessed after exposing him. self to discomforts on the journey to the ringside such as pilgrims to Toledo the past week did not endure Was Hazlitt "in his natural and healthy state' when he reveled in a gladiatorial combat be- tween two bruisers with pickled hands and described their blood-spilling valor as "the high and heroic state of man?" Though the answer be firm No, the question intrides incorrigibly, Who won?, Bill Neate, who gave the "gas- man. his quietus in the eighteenth round Where am I? What Is the matter?" asked Tom Hickman. It had been gory exhibition, but to see it Hazlitt regarded himself as privileged One of his com- panions on the way back was reading the New Eloise." which prompts the friend of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Lamb to say: Ladies, after this will you contend that love for the fancy is in- compatible with the cultivation of senti- ment?''
 Physically Hazlett was not strenuous. He did not box or engage in any sport re- quiring pluck and endurance. He was
 
 awkward in his "gait" and flabby. He gives his hand.' some one says, 'as if it were the fin of fish And yet Haz- lit adored pugilists. He must have re- gretted that he never saw Tom Cribb de- fend the title. In his unhealthy state Will liam Hazlitt would rather have been and biographer of Napoleon. As a matter of fact, most of the individuals seen at bout between professional boxers-a euphemism for prizefighters-are unsub- stantial, scant of breath and noncom- bative. But from Epeus to Jess Willard human beings. including the gentler sex, have admired stnong, aggressive, con- quering men, and there is no quarreling with an instinct If a man is weak. with the spirit of an armadillo, there may be no limit to his idolatry, for a champion of the world.
 The superior pugilists, the paramount men of brawn, have always been put on a pedestal by the populace. The fact is that men and women, without regard to class and condition, dearly love cham pion. It was so in England in the time when men fought with bare hands and fought like brutes to injure and cripple one another, with the merest pretense of fair play in the rules Nevertheless, the champions walked apart like men of he- roic mold, and the nobility and gentry. ministers of state. scholars. literary men and the professions bowed down to them. If you call the roll of the champion bruis- CTS of England you will see how they were adored, petted and privileged. First, John Broughton Q706-Tss). ''the father of British pugilism," who is said to have invented the boxing glove He was pa tronized by the elite of society,"" and had a great and powerful friend in the Duke of Cumberland, who once backed him for E10.ooo, losing the money. Broughton died rich for that time, and lies undera an imposing stone in Lam- beth church. John. known as Gentle IT an" Jackson Q7Ss-1s45). the first "scien- tific" boxer, consorted with the highest if not the best in the land.- Lord Byron was a stanch friend, declaring Jackson's manners to be infinitely superior to those of the fellows of the college whom meet at high table," According to Tom Moore. the champion made more than E10oo year, as a boxing instructor. At the coro- nation of George " he was dressed as a page to guard the entrance to Vest minister Abbey It was Moore who said that the respect paid to Gentleman" Jackson was highly comical." In one of lis fiehts "Gentleman" Jackson held Men, doza helpless by his long hair Gall pusil- ists had pista1s in that day) and beat him into submission. "A colossal rnonu- ment," paid for by admirers, marks the place of Jackson's burial in Bromptpn cemetery.
 William Thompson C'Mendigo') born in 1s11, was a champion who died in the odor of sanctity, becoming dissenting minister after many celebrated battles He preached powerfully in Holborn cir GUS There. however, he never faced as many people as saw him fight Deaf Burke at Heather. when lSooo were prssent Ben digo, Australia. is said to have been named after the pugilist Tom Cribb U7S1-1s4s). as fair a fighter as ever drew on glove. "bore character of unim- peachable integrity and unquestionable humanity" and lies under a monument in Woolworth ChurchyArd. representing lion trieving over the ashes of hero"