The Pedestrian's Record

38 thf, pedestrian's record. and less exacting pastimes were resorted to, and these, like horse-racing, more from pleasure than necessity. Tennis, foot-ball, cricket, running, wrest­ ling, and pugilism were the sports which sprang up in the place of those exercises that had demanded so much physical exertion from our hardy ancestors. The work required of our warrior progenitors was calculated to make them strong of body and limb ; the exercise of the present is slight in comparison with theirs : the railways have saved the soldiers' legs ; our civilization cultivates the arts and sciences, and advances them ; gas-light upset the oil-lamp, and gas will soon be extinguished by electricity ; pro­ gress in all departments of construction is effected by machinery, and is evolved from inventive genius. Strong limbs are not required so much now as wise heads: mind rules matter. The training ofthe human body now is pursued for individual enjoyment, for the purpose of rendering a man capable of excelling in the various sports and pastimes in which Young England delights. Athletics, and pastimes demand­ ing physical exertion indulged in during youth, will bnng strength to manhood, and supply our armies -V with good soldiers. The Duke of Wellington has said that the Eton fields supplied him with good officers; the same fields and opportunities exist now as they did at the date of the above-quoted utterance; in fact, greater opportunities could be afforded if young Englishmen frequented gymnasia, wherein they could procure all-round bodily exercise