Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/733

Rh gets off bis balance and falls ; the &quot; right leg hipe &quot; is the same action mutatis mutandis. There is also the &quot; left leg stroke,&quot; which consists in striking an antagonist s right leg with one s left leg, swinging him round to the left and off his balance; the &quot;right leg stroke&quot; is the same thing with the right leg. Of course there is an umpire to see that no competitor takes an unfair advantage or plays foul, and to determine disputed points according to the rules in force. BOXING. This, though perhaps hardly as popular as wrestling, is closely identified with it in the gymnasium, if not outside it. In the United Kingdom prize fighting is an illegal sport, but it is hardly likely that glove boxing will ever fall into the same disrepute. Its present comparative popularity is principally due to the efforts of the late Mr John G. Chambers, who in 1866 founded the Amateur Athletic Club, and in conjunction with the marquis of Queensberry drew up a code of rules (known as the Queensberry rules), which regulate the principal glove con tests throughout the kingdom, as follows : Challenge, Cups (Open to Gentlemen Amateurs ). 1. That the entries be drawn to contend by lots. 2. That the entrance fee be 10s. 3. Heavy weights to be over 11 stone 4 lt&amp;gt; ; middle weights not to exceed 11 stone 4 K&amp;gt; ; light weights not to exceed 10 stone. 4. That there be three judges appointed by the committee. 5. That the boxing take place in a 24 feet ring. 6. That no wrest ling, roughing, or hugging on. the ropes be allowed. 7. That each heat consist of three rounds, with one minute interval between ; the duration of each round to be at the discretion of the judges, but not to exceed live minutes. 8. Any competitor not coming up to time shall be deemed to have lost. 9. That no shoes or boots with spikes or spriggs be allowed. 10. Competitors to wear jerseys. 11. Gloves to be provided by the club. 12. The cups to be boxed for once in each year ; the winner to receive a silver medal. Definition of Gentleman Amateur. Any gentleman who has never competed in an open competition, or for public money, or for admission money, or with professionals for a prize, public money, or admission money, and who has never at any period of his life taught, pursued, or assisted in the pursuit of athletic exercises as a means of livelihood. The committee reserve the right of requiring a reference or of refusing an entry. Contests for Endurance. To be a fair stand-up boxing match, in a 24 feet ring, or as near that size as practicable ; no wrestling or hugging allowed ; the rounds to be of three minutes duration and one minute time ; if either man fall through weakness or otherwise he must get up unassisted ; ten seconds to be allowed him to do so ; the other man meanwhile to retire to his corner, and when the fallen man is on his legs the round is to be resumed and continued until the three minutes have expired, and, if one man fails to conie to the scratch in the ten seconds allowed, it shall be in the power of thu referee to give his award in favour of the other man ; a man hanging on the ropes in a helpless state, with his toes off the ground, shall be considered down ; no seconds or any other person to be allowed in the ring during the rounds ; should the contest be stopped by any unavoidable interference, the referee to name time and place for finishing the contest as soon as possible, so that the match must be won or lost, unless the backers of both men agree to draw the stakes. The gloves to be fair-sized boxing gloves of the best quality, arid new ; should a glove burst or come off, it must be replaced to the referee s satisfaction. A man on one knee is considered down, and if struck is entitled to the stakes. No shoes or boots with spriggs allowed. (E. D. B. ) WREXHAM, a market-town and municipal and parlia mentary borough of Denbighshire, North Wales, 11 miles south-south-west of Chester and 201 miles from London by rail. It was characterized by the poet Churchyard in the 16th century as &quot;Trim Wricksam towne, a pearle of Denbighshiere,&quot; and the description is not altogether inap plicable at the present day, the streets being spacious, with many handsome houses. Wrexham church, dedicated to St Giles, contains 14th and 15th century work, but was in great part reconstructed at the beginning of the 16th century. The tower, erected between 1506 and 1520, has been styled &quot; one of the seven wonders of Wales.&quot; It is 135 feet in height, and consists of several successive stages panelled throughout, and decorated with numerous statues of saints placed in niches of the buttresses. It is sur mounted by an open-work balustrade, from which spring 691 four lantern-shaped turrets of pierced open-work. The church was restored in 1867. It contains a large number of monuments. The bells, ten in number, are the most famous in the principality. In 1647 the church was used as a prison by Cromwell. The other principal public buildings are the guild-hall (formerly the old grammar school); the public and corn exchange (formerly the Union Hall), opened in 1873, after alteration, at a cost of 4900; the infirmary; and the infantry barracks of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. In the neighbourhood there are a racecourse and training-ground. The town is situated on the edge of the Denbighshire coalfield, in the vicinity of coal, iron, and lead mines. It has long been celebrated for its ales, and possesses also corn and paper mills and tanneries. The surrounding country is very fertile, and the agricultural trade is of some importance. The parliamentary borough unites with Denbigh, Ruthin, and Holt in returning a member to parliament. The town has a special commission of the peace and a petty sessions court. The population of the municipal borough and urban sanitary district (1306 acres) was 8576 in 1871, and 10,978 in 1881. The population of the parliamentary borough (1791 acres) in 1881 was 12,333. Although Wrexham was situated on the eastern side of Offa s Dyke, it was reckoned one of the towns of Mercia. In the Saxon Chronicle the name occurs as Wrightesham. Edward I. granted the town with the lordship of Bromfield and Yale to John Earl Warren. The township of Wrexham Regis within the borough and the town ship of Stansty without constitute ancient manors. Formerly the township of Wrexham Abbot was ecclesiastical property, and an appendage to the abbey of Valle Crucis, near Llangollen. During the civil war the town was occupied by the Parliamentary troops. Wrexham town was constituted a parliamentary borough in 1832, and incorporated as a municipal borough in 1857. See A. N. Palmer s Wrexham and History of the Parish Church of Wrexham. WRIGHT, JOSEPH (1734-1797), styled Wright of Derby, subject, landscape, and portrait painter, was born at Derby on September 3, 1734, the son of an attorney of the place, who was afterwards town-clerk. During his early years he manifested an aptitude for mechanical pursuits, and also for music, but he finally resolved to become a painter, and in 1751 he went to London and for two years studied under Thomas Hudson, the master of Reynolds. Return ing to Derby he practised portrait-painting ; but feeling the need for further instruction he again placed himself for fifteen months under his former master. He then settled in Derby, and varied his work in portraiture by the productions of the subjects seen under artificial light with which his name is chiefly associated, and by landscape paint ing. He married in 1773, and in the end of that year he visited Italy, where he remained till 1775. While at Naples he witnessed an eruption of Vesuvius, which under various treatment formed the subject of many of his subsequent pictures. On his return from Italy he established him self at Bath as a portrait-painter ; but. meeting with little encouragement he returned to Derby, where he spent the rest of his life. He was a frequent contributor to the ex hibitions of the Society of Artists, and to those of the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1781 and a full member in 1784. He, however, declined the latter honour on account of a slight which he believed that he had received, and severed his official connexion with the Academy, though he continued to contribute to the exhibitions from 1783 till 1794. He died at Derby on August 29, 1797. There has been a tendency in recent criticism to over-estimate the works of Joseph Wright. His portraits are frequently defective in drawing, and without quality or variety of handling, while their flesh tints are often hard, and unpleasant in their purple-grey shadows. He is seen at his best in his subjects of artificial light, of which the Orrery (1766), the property of the corporation of Derby, and the Air-pump (1768), in the National Gallery, are ex cellent examples. His Old Man and Death (1774) is also a strik-