though this is much too severe. But rats, and they who catch them, badgers, and they who bait them, cocks, and they who fight them, and, above all, men with fists, who professionally box with them, come under the category of the _Fancy_. This, then, is the theme which the poet before us, living under the genial sway of the First Gentleman of Europe, undertook to place beneath the special patronage of Apollo. The attractions, however, of _The Learned Ring_, set all other pleasures in the shade, and the name, Peter Corcoran, which is a pseudonym, is, I suppose, chosen merely because the initials are those of the then famous Pugilistic Club. The poet is, in short, the laureate of the P.C., and his book stands in the same relation to _Boxiana_ that Campbell's lyrics do to Nelson's despatches. To understand the poet's position, we ought to be dressed as he was; we ought _to wear a tough drab coat With large pearl buttons all afloat Upon the waves of plush; to tie A kerchief of the king-cup die (White-spotted with a small bird's eye) Around the neck,--and from the nape Let fall an easy> fan-like cape_, and, in fact, to belong to that incredible company of Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn over whom Thackeray let fall so delightfully the elegiac tear. Anthologies are not edited in a truly catholic spirit, or they would contain this very remarkable sonnet: ON THE NONPAREIL. "_None but himself can be his parallel." With marble-coloured shoulders,--and keen eyes, Protected by a forehead broad and white-- And hair cut close lest it impede the sight, And clenchèd hands, firm, and of punishing size,-- Steadily held, or motion'd wary-wise To hit or stop,--and kerchief too drawn tight O'er the unyielding loins, to keep from flight The inconstant wind, that all too often flies,-- The Nonpareil stands! Fame, whose bright eyes run o'er With joy to see a Chicken of her own. Dips her rich pen in_ claret_, <and writes down Under the letter R, first on the score, "Randall,--John,--Irish Parents,--age not known,-- Good with both hands, and only ten stone four!_"