Though the bulk of the population may deteriorate, there are many
signs that the better housed and fed portion of it improves. In the
earlier years of this century the so-called manly sports of boxing
and other feats of strength ranked high among the national amusements.
A man who was [1] successful in these became the hero of a large and
demonstrative circle of admirers, and it is to be presumed that the
best boxer, the best pedestrian, and so forth, was the best adapted
to succeed, through his natural physical gifts. If he was not the
most gifted man in those respects in the whole kingdom, he was
certainly one of the most gifted of them. It therefore does no
injustice to the men of that generation to compare the feats of
their foremost athletes with those of ours who occupy themselves in
the same way. The comparison would probably err in their favour,
because the interest in the particular feats in which our
grandfathers and great-grandfathers delighted are not those that
chiefly interest the present generation, and notwithstanding our
increased population, there are fewer men now who attempt them. In
the beginning of this century there were many famous walking matches,
and incomparably the best walker was Captain Barclay of Ury. His
paramount feat, which was once very familiar to the elderly men of
the present time, was that of walking a thousand miles in a thousand
hours, but of late years that feat has been frequently equalled and
overpassed. I am willing to allow much influence to the modern
conditions of walking under shelter and subject to improved methods
of training (Captain Barclay himself originated the first method,
which has been greatly improved since his time); still the fact
remains that in executing this particular feat, the athletes of the
present day are more successful than those who lived some eighty
years ago. I may be permitted to give an example bearing on the