Wrestling matches, in the different fashions of Cornwall and Devonshire, were seen here and there about the market-place; in one corner, there was a friendly bout at quarterstaff; and -- what attracted most interest of all -- on the platform of the pillory, already so noted in our pages, two masters of defence were commencing an exhibition with the buckler and broadsword.

Now and then they stopped to rest, and each thought that he never had seen in all his life before such a hand at quarterstaff. At last Robin gave the stranger a blow upon the ribs that made his jacket smoke like a damp straw thatch in the sun.

While the popularity of combat-sports may have been furthered by gambling, such spectacles also clearly invited comparison with the gladiatorial shows of classical times.(14) Rather than arousing a sense of shame, the comparison became still more exact as armed combats, with swords as well as with cudgels or quarterstaffs, increased in popularity, while the more traditional but less dramatic sport of wrestling declined.