opinion, that he is not over-stocked with that neceffary ingredient of a Boxer, called a Bottom; and am apt to fufpect, that blows of equal strength with his too much affect him and difconcert his conduct. 1 Before I leave him, let me do him this justice to fay, that if he were unqueftionable in his bottom, he would be a match for any man. It will not be improper, after George the Barber, to introduce one Bofwell, a man who wants nothing but courage to qualify him for a compleat Boxer. He has a particular blow with his left hand at the jaw, which comes almoft as hard as a little horfe kicks. Praife be power of fighting, his excellent choice of time and meafure, his fuperior judgment, difpatching forth his executing arm! But fye upon his daftard heart, that mars it all! As I knew that fellow's abilities, and his worm-dread foul, I never faw him beat, but I wished him to be beaten, Though I am charmed with the idea of his power and manner of fighting, I am fick at the thoughts of his nurse wanting courage. Farewell to him, with this fair acknowledgment, that if he had a true English bottom (the best htting epithet for a man of fpirit) he would carry all before him, and be a match for even Broughton himself. I will name two men together, whom I take to be the beft bottom men of the modern Boxers; and they are Smallwood, and George Steven fon the coachman. I faw the latter fight Broughton for forty minutes. Broughton I knew to be ill at that time; befides, it was a hafty-made match, and he had not that regard for his preparation as he afterwards found he should have had. But here his true bottom was proved, and his con duct thone. They fought in one of the fair-booths at Tottenham Court, railed at the end towards the pit. Af ter about thirty-five minutes, being both against the rails, and scrambling for a fail, Broughton got fuch a lock 2 upon him, as no mathematician could have devifed a better. There he held him by this artificial lock, depriving him of all power of rifing or falling, till refting his head for about three or four minutes on his back, be found himfelf recovering; then loofed the hold, and on fetting-to again, he hit the coachman as hard a blow as any he had given him in the whole battle, that he could no longer ftand; and his brave contending heart, though with reluctance, was forced to yield.. The coachman is a most beautiful hitter; he put in his blows fafter than Broughton, but then one of the lat ter's told for three of the former's. Pity-fo much fpirit should not inhabit a ftronger body! Smallwood is thorough game, with judgment equal to any, and fuperior to moft. I know nothing Smallwood wants but weight, to ftand against any man; and I never knew him beat en fince his fighting Dimmock (which was in his infancy of Boxing, and when he was a perfect fbripling in years) but by a force fo fuperior, that to have refifted longer would not have been courage but madnefs. If I were to choose a Boxer for my money, and could but purchafe him ftrength equal to his refolution, Smallwood should be the man. James, I proclaim a most charming Boxer. He is delicate in his blows, and has a wrift as delightful to thofe who fee him fight, at it is fickly to those who fight against him. I ac knowledge him to have the best spring of the arm of all the modern Boxers; he is a complete mafter of the art; and, as I do not know he wants a bottom, 1 think it a great pity he fhould be beat for want of strength to ftand his man. 1 have now gone through the chas racters of the most noted Boxers, and finifhed my whole work. As I could not praife all in every article, I must offend fome, but if I do not go ito bed till every body is pleased, my head ger's. Thus far Capt. Godfrey N head will ach as bad as Sir Ro- doza; for whenever they clofed, the Jew always hit Humphries-and ge...nerally fell uppermoft, from his activity. Of late years combats of this kind have not been frequent, owing probably to the refinement of our manners. It seems, however, to be again revived, and as it at prefent engages the attention of the public, we lay before our readers a circumftantial account of the last battle, which was fought between the two celebrated bruifers Humphreys and Mendoza the Jew, at Odiham. By the attention of a gentleman of that town, a place very fingular for its convenience in feeing, was prepared for the exhibition of this long-expected battle. It was a paddock furrounded with a high wall, which on two fides of it had a grand terrace, capable of holding perhaps five or fix hundred people. There was about that number there -though the price of admittance was half-a-guinea. A ftage of twenty-four feet square was completely finished by half paft twelve. At one o'clock-Humphries came upon the stage, attended by Johnfon as his fecond, and Tring as bottleholder.. The fight of him raifed the odds from two to one, at which they had ftood fome time, to five to two—as doubts had been spread of his condition and state of health. About a few minutes after, Mendoza made his appearance, with David Benjamin as his fecond, and another Jew as his bottle-holder. About five minutes paft one o'clock they advanced to each other. But fa cautious were both of giving advantage, that many minutes elapfed before either received a blow-and a fhower of rain having fallen juft before they began, the ftage was fo flippery, that both fell before either of them received any blow of confequence. Which gave the first knock-down blow, was dif puted as the fuperior quicknefs of Briking was foon feen to be in Men After fighting thirteen minutes--the odds were three to two in favour of Mendoza; and were offered very voci ferously. The change encouraged Mendoza, but did not difcourage his antagonist→ who preferved his coolness and intrepidity as perfectly as at firft;-and after a conteft of twenty-four minutes and a half Mendoza gave in-ind Humphries was declared the con+queror. The Jew's ftyle of fighting was very different from that of his adverfary. He fought low, and with cunning: with much dexterity, but without grace-while the look and attitudes of Humphries continually prefented thofe beauties which a painter would have arrested every moment, to make them his own. The gallantry of his spirit too, was not lefs confpicuous; for twice, when there was an idea of Mendoza doing fomething unfair, and the umpires were enquiring about it, Humphries gave it against himfelfand faid his antagonist had hit him as he ought to do. At the end of the battle, Humphries was carried off in triumph on the fhoulders of his friends-bur he would not leave Mendoza, without fitting down by him, and telling him how well he had fought. Mendoza feemed much weakened at the laft, and had sprained his ancle very violently. Of the amateurs-the number was great-moft of the fashionable men of London, with many others from Bath, and all the adjacent countries. Of the cafualties-was that of Mr Price having his pocket picked of twenty-five pounds. Of the fcenes on the road-with fome in beds, and fome without carriages, without horse to be had rooms rooms with twenty people fleeping up on the carpets, and many gentlemen reduced to walk the laft fourteen miles-all thefe furnished a fecond reprefentation of the Stratford Jubilee equally noify, equally crouded, and equally wished to be feen. The collection at the door was fuppofed to amount to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred pounds, which was to be divided between the combatants who well merited it, as having given the moft fcientific difplay of the art and addrefs of boxing, that was ever exhibited. Another account fays, "the ftage was erected about thirty-five minutes after two, and the combatants appear ed on it about three. Humphries ftripped better than Mendoza; the former has it in the fhoulders, but the latter in the loins. Mendoza came forward with all the cheerfulness imaginable, as if impatient to engage; impartiality obliges us to fay, that Humphries did not do the fame. "The play immediately began Mendoza gave the firft knock-down blow, which took place a little over the right temple of his antagonistHumphries on this aimed a well-directed blow at Mendoza, which he caught with the utmost apparent non chalance; in about a fecond he returned it fo fuccefsfully that he ftretched Humphries a fecond time on the ftage. Johnfon, (who was fecond to Humé phries,) took him on his knee, on which Mendoza came up and patted Humphries on the fhoulder, with a fmile; Humphries feemed to be fired at this, but without effect, for Mendoza knocked him down fix times running, and at the fame time feered fo confident of his victory, that he ftrove, as it were, to irritate his rival by pulling him, by the nofe; on this they clofed, on which Humphries collected all his ftrength; in the struggle Mendoza happened to have his ancle fprained; of courfe this was an immediate drawback on his exertions, and as one mishap fopens a door for another, Humphries gave him a blow a little below the ear, which immedi ately extended him.” • Since the above event, Mendoza has challenged Humphries to a fecond combat, who declares his willingness to meet him on certain conditions: and it is probable their literary conteft will terminate in another trial of fkill. Several other of the most noted bruifers have alfo challenged each other, and it is expected that in courfe of the Spring many matches will be fought, Refearches made in order to difcover an exact Method of measuring the relative Quantities of Phlogifton, contained in a given Sort of Air, fe as that the "Degrees of the Phlogiftication of the Air may be reduced, by that Method, to juft and numerical proportions. By M. Achard *. M. ACHARD has undertaken to prove, in this memoir, that none of the eudiometers, hitherto in ufe, are adapted to answer the purpofes for which fuch inftruments are de figned. The errors which take place, when the degree of falubrity of any portion of air is measured by these inftruments, are occafioned by the methods employed to phlogifficate the air which is to be examined. This our Academician endeavours to prove, by fhewing the inconveniencies which attend the methods of phlogisticating the air, whofe falubrity is to be asfeertained by mixing it, in a certain proportion, with nitrous air, as has been done by Dr Priestley and M. Fonta na; or with inflammable air, which is the method of Votta, or with fulphur and filings of iron, which was practifed by Scheele, According to our Nouv. Mem. de l'Acad. de Berlin, author author, the only way of obtaining a good eudiometer, or of determining with certainty the mephiticism of the air, is to find out a method of fatue rating it completely with phlogifton, without expofing it to any other alte rations, independent on thofe which the phlogifton produces. M.Achard, after many fruitless attempts to difcover fuch a method, found at length that Kunkel's phofphorus has all the qualities that are requifite for that pur pofe. Its greateft inflammability, which farpaffes confiderably that of all other bodies, renders it capable of burning in the air, as long as the latter is not totally faturated with the phlogifton; and as this phofphorus contains, excepting the phlogiston, no principle that is volatile, and capable of combining itfelf with the air, or making it undergo any alteration, its combuftion produces in the air no other changes than those which are derived immediately from its combination with the phlogifton, and are totally independent on any other caufe. Eflimate of the Salubrity of the Atmospherical Air, in different Places, within the compass of 16 viles. By the fame. TO fubject in the fphere of natu- ral philofophy is more important than the falubrity of the air. It has been proved by experiments, that the degree of its falubrity depends fo much on the degree of its dephlogiftication, that these terms are confidered as fynonymous. But, according to our Academician, the attention of philofophers has been too much confined to inquiries on the operations by which air, inclosed within narrow limits, is corrupted or meliorated; and as he thinks it of great confequence to the health of mankind, to extend thefe refearches to the falubrity of the atmosphere, as far as it depends on particular and local circumftances, this is the object which he propofes confidering in the prefent Memoir. A confiderable number of intelli gent perfons offered their fervices in collecting the portions of air that were to furnifh the materials for M. Achard's experiments; and all poffible precautions (here circumftantially de fcribed) were ufed to prevent ambiguous or uncertain refults. Air was collected in nineteen different places, eight days fucceffively, and each day at three different and stated times; fo that from each place 24 portions of air were obtained; confequently, from the whole, 456 portions; the exami nation of which, by two eudiometers, required 912 different trials. The refults of thefe trials are exhibited in an accurate and ample table, which faci litates the comparison to the reader. From the eudiometrical trials of the air of different places, made with nitrous air, fome in Summer, the others. in Winter, our Academician has drawn a confiderable number of interefting conclufions. The principal ones deducible from the trials made in the Summer feafon, are as follows ift, That there is an evident variation in the ftate of the falubrity of the air, in the fame place, at different times: 2d, That the hour of the day does not feem to have a particular and conftant influence on the quality of the air;-that neither the weather, confidered as dusky or clear, dry or moist, calm or windy, nor the warmth or dif ferent preffure of the atmofphere, feem to have any influence upon the degree of the falubrity of the air that, con trary to what is generally imagined, the air is the most falubrious in thofe places which are the most inhabited; that When it is confidered, on the one hand, that the phlogiftication (and confequently the infalubrity) of the air, is occafioned by the refpiration of animals, by the putrefaction of animal and vegetable fubftances, and by the combuftion of bo dies; that, cæteris paribus, the air is lefs Winter the air is most falubrious in falubrious at a certain height, than it thofe places that are the lealt inhabited.-4thly, That in places that are inhabited, the air is not fo good in Winter as in Summer, while in those that are uninhabited, or thinly peopled, it is much more falubrious in Winter than in Summer. is when nearer to the furface of the earth;—and, lastly, that in parity of other circumstances, the air is the leaft falubrious in the drieft places.-Here we have, at leaft, fome novelties. The refults of the experiments made in Winter by our Academician, are, ift, That be the cold more or lefs intenfe, this difference has no influence on the qualities of the air in one and the fame place, fince the air is of the fame quality in a cold of 3 degrees a bove, and in one of 10 degrees below o, and the variations which are perceived between the degrees of falubrity in the air, are in no fixed proportion to the variations of its temperature.2dly, That in Winter there is very little difference between the degrees of the phlogistication of the air in different places, and that this latter is nearly the fame in places where, in the Summer feafon, it would exhibit very éonfiderable variations.-3dly, That in Such are the refults of the eudiometrical experiments made with nitrous air; thofe made with inflammable air led to refults not only dif ferent from, but totally oppofite to thefe; and the air, which by the former of these tests is proved the fit teft, is by the latter pronounced the leaft fit, for refpiration. The queftion then is, to which of these eudiometers we are to give credit? M. Achard gives it to the former, and founds his conclufions on the trials made with nitrous air. The reafon of this preference, which is the confequence of careful experimental refearches, he promifes to communicate to the pub lic in another Memoir. Hints for regulating Mr H. Hope's Studies. By the late Earl of Kinnoul MR Giles's fews a civil law, re R Gillies's fenfible plan for Mr Hope's education, fhews a reach of thought and extent of knowledge. : I agree with Mr Gillies, that before Mr Hope ftudies the civil law, he fhould be acquainted with the Roman history. For dies; and, on the other, that the air is confiderably meliorated by vegétation, as appears particularly from late difcoveries, the refults of M. Achard must at leaft furprize us. These confiderations would naturally lead us to conclude, that in places the most inhabited the air would be the leaft falubrious, efpecially in Summer that it would be the pureft in thofe places which abounded moft with plants and trees; and that in Winter it muft be, generally fpeaking, purer than in Summer, both in places inhabited and uninhabited, in the former, becaufe cold prevents pu trefaction, and in the latter, becaufe by the fufpenfion of vegetation, one of the caufes of phlogiftication of the atmospherical air is removed. Our Academician is aware of thefe difficulties, and has not difguifed them; but they neither remove nor diminish the confidence he places in the multiplicity of his experiments, and the juftnefs of the conclufions drawn from them. He feems to think that NATURE has a method of dephlogisticating the atmosphere, which is as vet totally unknown to us; and that this operation always accompanies that by which the air charges itfelf with phlogifton. Several experiments have induced him to conjecture that this operation may be a reforption of the phlogifton, effected by the abforbing veffels of the fkin of animals. He, however, throws out this idea only as a conjecture. Europ. Mag. |