Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

MUSCULAR EXERCISE.

Nothing is more common in England than trials of muscular strength, speed and bottom of their men as well as horses. The walking and running matches are well known; the last exhibition of the kind we have seen was a feat of one Warnell, who ran three miles in sixteen minutes and twelve seconds—going a mile in five minutes and twenty-four seconds. These feats appear to many to be gross if not brutal; but they excite to muscular energy and activity, which have been found useful in national emergencies. Prior to the battle of Waterloo the British army, taken by surprise, had forced marches to make and fatigues to undergo, which nothing but the exertion of the physical strength of which the human frame is capable could have performed. We have indubitable evidence of the most astonishing feats of the kind, in whole corps and individuals. It has been proved that Taylor, a sergeant of the British dragoon guards, and a famous single stick (cudgel) player, killed three of the French cuirassiers in that battle by the exertion of his great strength and skill; and that corporal Shaul, of another English corps, was encountered by six of the imperial guard, and by his muscular force killed four of them before he was despatched by the fifth.