after an exchange of blows; when breaking from
a clinch one tries to pin the adversary's hands in order to prevent
his hitting at close quarters. _Drawing_ an opponent, enticing him by
leaving an apparent opening into making an attack for which a counter
is prepared. _Fiddling_, forward and back movements of the arms at the
beginning of a round, a part of sparring for an opening. _Footwork_,
the manner in which a boxer uses his feet. _In-fighting_, boxing at
very close quarters. _Mark_, the pit of the stomach. _Side-step_,
springing quickly to one side to avoid a blow, the movement being
usually followed up by a counter attack. _Timing_, a blow delivered on
the enemy's preparation of an attack of his own, but more quickly.

See _Boxing_, by R. Allanson Winn (Isthmian Library, London, 1897);
_Boxing_, by Wm. Elder (Spalding's Athletic Library, New York, 1902)
(these two books are excellent for the technicalities of boxing). The
article "Boxing," by B. Jno. Angle and G.W. Barroll, in the
_Encyclopaedia of Sport_; _Boxing_, by J.C. Trotter (Oval Series,
London, 1896); _Fencing, Boxing and Wrestling_, in the Badminton
Library (London, 1892).

FRENCH BOXING (_la boxe francaise_) dates from about 1830. It is more
like the ancient Greek _pankration_ (see PUGILISM) than is British
boxing, as not only striking with the fists, but also kicking with the
feet, butting with the head and wrestling are allowed. It is a
development of the old sport of _savate_, in which the feet, and not the
hands, were used in attack. Lessons in savate, which was practised
especially by roughs, were usually given in some low resort, and there
were no respectable teachers. While Paris was restricted to savate,
another sport, called _chausson_ or _jeu marseillais_, was practised in
the south of France, especially among the soldiers, in which blows of
the fist as well as kicks were exchanged, and the kicks were given
higher than in savate, in the stomach or even the face. It was an
excellent exercise, but could hardly be reckoned a serious means of
defence, for the high kicks usually fell short, and the upward blows of
the fist could not be compared with the terrible sledge-hammer blows of
the English boxers. Alexandre Dumas _pere_ says that Charles Lecour
first conceived the idea of combining English boxing with savate. For
this purpose he went to England, and took lessons of Adams and Smith,
the London boxers. He then