THE PRIZE RING. By Bohun Lynch. (Country Life. £3 3a.
net.) •
MR. BOHUN LYNCH'S new book is full of beautifully reproduced
prints and is most engagingly written. Each illustration of some old champion of the ring or some celebrated scene from the history of boxing is faced by a page in which appro- priate comment is made on technical points or interesting anecdotes are recorded. The book is introduced by a short history of boxing from ancient times, written in an excellently simple and lively style. There is the vivid account of a match taken from Theocritus, and we have one or two illustrative passages from Homer. Of one incident Mr. Lynch remarks :—
" Now Athene ' filled out and strengthened the limbs-of Odysseus '
—which does not seem to me in accordance with the best ideals of sport : though I have caught myself hoping, in weak moments. that something of that kind would happen to one of our present- day British champions."
Not even the most squeamish could object to the illus- trations in this volume : except, perhaps, to one in which two rather amateurish gentlemen are severely mauling each, other, to the joy of a number of Amazonian females.
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