[A Monument to BENDIGO, the famous prize-fighter, has been lately erected at Nottingham.]
Old Prize-fighter soliloquises:—
If ever to the "Pelican" alone or with a friend I go,
I sigh for men of muscle who could fight a fight like BENDIGO.
He didn't fight in feather-beds, or spend his days in chattering,
But faced his man, and battered him, or took his foeman's battering.
He didn't deal in gas, or waste his time in mere retort at all;
But now the "pugs" are interviewed, and journalists report it all.
A man may call it what he will, brutality or bravery,
I'd rather have the prize-ring back than give a purse to knavery.