returned to Paris, about 1852, and opened a
school to teach the sport since called _la boxe francaise_. Around him,
and two provincial instructors who came to Paris about this time with
similar ideas, there grew up a large number of sportsmen, who between
1845 and 1855 brought French boxing to its highest development. Among
others who gave public exhibitions was Lecour's brother Hubert, who
although rather undersized, was quick as lightning, and had an English
blow and a French kick that were truly terrible. Charles Ducros was
another whose style of boxing, more in the English fashion, but with low
kicks about his opponent's shins, made a name for himself. Later came
Vigneron, a "strong man," whose style, though slow, was severe in its
punishment. About 1856 the police interfered in these fights, and Lecour
and Vigneron had to cease giving public exhibitions and devote
themselves to teaching. Towards 1862 a new boxer, J. Charlemont, was not
only very clever with his fists and feet, but an excellent teacher, and
the author of a treatise on the art. Lecour, Vigneron and Charlemont may
be said to have created _la boxe francaise_, which, for defence _at
equal weights_, the French claim to be better than the English.

See _L'Art de la boxe francaise et de la canne_, by J. Charlemont
(Paris, 1899); _The French Method of the Noble Art of Self Defence_,
by Georges d'Amoric (London, 1898).

BOXWOOD, the wood obtained from the genus _Buxus_, the principal species
being the well-known tree or shrub, _B. sempervirens_, the common box,
in general use for borders of garden walks, ornamental parterres, &c.
The other source of the ordinary boxwood of commerce is _B. balearica_,
which yields the variety known as Turkey boxwood. The common box is
grown throughout Great Britain (perhaps native in the chalk-hills of the
south of England), in the southern part of the European continent
generally, and extends through Persia into India, where it is found
growing on the slopes of the western Himalayas. There has been much
discussion as to whether it is a true native of Britain. Writing more
than 200 years ago, John Ray, the author of the important _Historia
Plantarum_, says, "The Box grows wild on Boxhill, hence the name; also
at Boxwell, on the Cotteswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in
Kent.... It grows plentifully on the chalk hills near Dunstable." On the
other hand the box is not wild in the Channel Islands, and in