THE 'DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND ATHLETIC SPORTS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Six,—I observe that two of your correspondents in the Spectator of January 11th refer the well-known saying of the Duke of Wellington that "the battle of Waterloo was won in the playing-fields at Eton" to games. This delusion, like the "Little Mister" in De la Motte Fouque's " Sintram," seems to need a good deal of killing. It has been repeatedly stated that in that remark the great Duke was not referring to games, which in the last century but one were neither a science nor an occupation, but to fights, which were then by no means uncommon. The dogged determination not to acknowledge defeat, as well as the skill and courage displayed in such encounters, were, in his opinion, the material from which English generals were formed. ' This is certainly a more probable interpretation. By no means let games be unduly depreciated. Football certainly gives scope for courage, skill, and dogged determination. But there can be little doubt, I think, that the effect of games in the forma- tion of character has been a little overrated. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's strong expressions were never intended to be taken au pied de la lettre ; but as the expression of honest indigna- tiOn at the extent to which the cult of games has been carried of late years, and as a protest' against the weakening of English moral fibre in consequence, his decidedly strong language is not without its justification.—.I am, Sir, &c., J. J. L. [Of course, the Duke meant that the rough-and-tumble of public-school life was the best training for a soldier, and bad no thee& of scientific athleticism, which in his day was a monster undreamt of.—En. ,Speciator.]
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