Between thirty and forty years ago began the first movement in England of the great athletic revival, which, after gradually spreading until it covered the whole of the United Kingdom, is still rolling like a wave over the colonies and all foreign countries where the English tongue is spoken. It will not be too much for us to say, that the great athletic movement, which is still too near for us to be able to calculate its full effects with certainty, has worked a greater revolution in English character and habits than any movement, religious or secular, which has passed over the country since the time of the Puritans. Of that great athletic movement the history has yet to be written; but it would hardly be wise to attempt to touch it in the present work. Suffice it to say, that the physical causes of the desire for hard exercise which has seized upon men are apparent enough. In modern times, when nearly all the world is given up to the feverish bustle and worry of money-making, the body of a young and lusty man, by a natural reaction, craves for a muscular exercise, which may give a relief to the nerves and the brain. For the performance of this function it is admitted that there is no game in the world like football. The student at the University, and the young man who is tied to his office-stool throughout all the daylight hours of the winter months, with the solitary boon of a Saturday’s half-holiday, alike find that an hour’s hustle at football sends them home, more tired perhaps, but happier, calmer, and wiser men.