CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 GV75 .S92 1903 
 
 sports and KSiIiSmM^^^^ 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029932575 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
.^ 
 
JfUaHi) .^HcaOcOlH. S? 
 
 G^^9i>^i^ cfzZtco^, ^yj.Q-yso^ 
 
THE SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD, INCLUDING THE 
 RURAL AND DOMESTIC RECREATIONS, MAY 
 GAMES, MUMMERIES, PAGEANTS, PROCES- 
 SIONS AND POMPOUS SPECTACLES, 
 ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS 
 FROM ANCIENT PAINTINGS IN 
 WHICH ARE REPRESENTED 
 MOST OF THE POPULAR 
 DIVERSIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH STRUTT 
 
 1801 
 
 A NEW EDITION, MUCH ENLARGED AND CORRECTED 
 
 BY 
 
 J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. 
 
 " One should make a serions study of a pastime." — Alexander the Great 
 
 METHUEN & CO. 
 
 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 . % 
 

 
 ^^ a^>J^-6i^-i^ ^ 
 A. \iUi<^r 
 
 ^'>. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN bringing out a new edition of "Sports and Pastimes," it will probably be 
 of interest to put on record a few facts with regard to the author, who has 
 
 ja. fair claim to be ranked among the distinguished literary men of the 
 close of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Joseph Strutt, engraver, artist, antiquary and author, was born at Chelms- 
 ford in 1749.^ His father, a wealthy miller, died the year after his birth. He 
 was educated at the Chelmsford Grammar School, and apprenticed at the age 
 of fourteen to the engraver, William Wynne Ryland. In 1770 he became a 
 student of the Royal Academy, and in the following year secured both the gold 
 and silver medals, the former for oil painting and the latter "for the best 
 Academy figure." In the summer of 1771 he was employed by a gentleman to 
 make some drawings for him from British Museum MSS. This gave the 
 direction to his subsequent life's work, and he resolved to devote himself 
 to the study of mediaeval social England. In 1773 Joseph Strutt produced his 
 first work, "The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England," drawing 
 and engraving the whole of the plates, and at the same time producing letter- 
 press that bore witness to the breadth and accuracy of his reading. This is also 
 true of all his subsequent works ; considering the almost entire absence of genuine 
 works of reference at that period, his books are marvels of careful research. 
 Between 1774 and I74'6 he published the three volumes of " Manners, Customs, 
 Arms, Habits, etc., of the People of England," and in 1777-8 two volumes of 
 " Chronicle of England," all of them being in large 4to and profusely illustrated. 
 From this date he for some years gave his attention to painting, and exhibited 
 nine pictures in the Royal Academy, which were chiefly classical subjects. In 
 1785 Mr Strutt published the first volume of his " Dictionary of Engravers" ; 
 the second volume appeared in the following year. Continued asthma caused 
 him to leave London in 1790, and whilst residing in a county village of Hertford- 
 shire, he produced a series of engravings for Bradford's edition of the Pilgrim's 
 Progress. With the improvement of his health in 1795 Strutt returned to 
 London, and resumed his favourite researches at the British Museum. In 1796- 
 1799 he brought out his valuable work on " Dresses and Habits of the English 
 People," This was followed in 1801 by the most popular of all his books, 
 "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," "a performance," says his 
 son, " which, from the novelty of the subject, attracted the notice and admiration 
 of readers of almost every class." In 1802 he died, when he had nearly com- 
 
 ' This brief sketch of the literary life of Joseph Strutt is taken, in the main, from a short biography contributed by 
 his elder son to Nichols' Literary Anecdotes. 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 Dieted "a legendary romance," intended to illustrate the usages and domestic ; 
 manners of the fifteenth century, to which he gave the name of " Queenhoo ] 
 Hall." A very special interest attaches to this posthumous work. After Strutt's 
 death the incomplete manuscript was placed by John Murray in the hands of 
 Walter Scott, who added the concluding chapter. It was published in four 
 small volumes in 1808. In the general preface to the Waverley notes, written 
 by Sir Walter Scott in 1829, acknowledgment is made by the great romance 
 writer of his indebtedness to Joseph Strutt. Although " Queenhoo Hall " was 
 not a success, in consequence of its appealing only to antiquaries through being 
 overloaded with details, Scott acknowledges that Waverley would never have 
 been completed, and his initial triumph won, had he not been called upon to edit 
 Strutt's tale. Even if Strutt had no special merit of his own, he is well 
 deserving of a niche in the temple of literary fame as the foster-parent of the 
 immortal series of Waverley novels. 
 
 When, however, any reflective pers(m, more particularly the English 
 mediseval antiquary or historian, studies the writings and illustrations of Joseph 
 Strutt, he cannot fail to realise that he was a laborious and conscientious worker 
 in a hitherto unexplored vein of literary research, and possessed a remarkable 
 power of assimilating a vast store of material. Somewhat shallow or incon- 
 siderate folk from time to time indulge in sneers at the mistakes or inaccuracies 
 in certain points of a writer who toiled a century ago ; they do not reflect on 
 the remarkable accumulation of valuable works of reference during the nine- 
 teenth century, absolutely unknown in the days when Joseph Strutt was a British 
 Museum reader, or on the present far greater accessibility of public records and 
 similar documents. Strutt was the pioneer in almost every branch of English 
 mediaeval archaeology, and as such is entitled to the respect of every antiquary. 
 
 With regard to " Sports and Pastimes," this, the most popular of all his 
 works, was originally published in quarto in 1801. The numerous plates were 
 hand coloured in the majority of the issues ; but were evidently drawn by the 
 author with sufficient care to be produced without any colouring adjunct. 
 Indeed, from the style of the drawings it is debatable whether the colouring 
 was not an afterthought of the publisher. It may safely be asserted that 
 ■Joseph Strutt had nothing whatever to do with the colouring. He was ill at 
 the time the work was produced, and died shortly afterwards. Though in the 
 main an engraver, it will be recollected that .Strutt was himself a colourist and 
 won his first Academy medal by an oil painting. His son states of his first 
 work, " The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England," that the plates 
 of part of the impression were coloured in order to make them more nearly 
 resemble the originals. But whoever was responsible for treating a large 
 number of the copies of " Sports and Pastimes " in a like fashion never took the 
 trouble to even glance at the originals, but simply dipped the brush into whatever 
 colour caprice suggested, with a result that is sometimes comical in its extrava- 
 gance and sometimes false in its facts. An ape painted brilliant green is an 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 example of the one, whilst the same coat of arms appearing twice on the same 
 plate in quite different tinctures is an example of the other. After collating 
 five coloured copies of the first edition, with the more important MSS. of the 
 British Museum which furnished Strutt with his illustrations, it was found that 
 each one differed absolutely in colours from the actual pictures. The primary 
 intention of giving coloured plates in this edition was therefore abandoned, more 
 particularly as the drawings from some of the most frequently used manuscripts 
 are not definitely coloured in the originals, but merely tinted here and there 
 with a delicate wash. 
 
 The decision to take this course was confirmed, when it was found that the 
 work was reissued in 1810, with the plates printed in a uniform terra-cotta 
 shade as reproduced in the current volume. The 18 10 edition was in 
 slightly larger and much superior type to that of 180 1, and it is thought that the 
 type now used will favourably compare with it. 
 
 "A Set of Humorous and Descriptive Illustrations in Twenty-one Engrav- 
 ings, by Stephenhoff and others, of the Sports and Pastimes of the People of 
 England, from Paintings of the XVII. and XVIII. Century, in continuation of 
 Joseph Strutt's," was issued in 1816; but they are vulgar in subject, poor in 
 style, and quite unworthy to be associated with any work of Strutt's. 
 
 That enterprising cheap publisher, William Hone, reprinted " Sports and 
 Pastimes " in octavo, in 1 830, with rough cuts in the letterpress in lieu of the 
 plates. This octavo edition, nearly identical in letterpress with the original, 
 was reproduced in 1837, in 1841, and again in 1875. 
 
 This is, however, the first time that any endeavour has been made to bring 
 out a new edition of Mr Strutt's great and entertaining work. In producing 
 this largely revised edition, Mr Strutt has been left for the most part to speak 
 in his own characteristic fashion and out of his own store of learning. A few 
 obvious mistakes and rash conclusions have been corrected, whilst now and 
 again certain unimportant omissions have been made. It is peculiarly difficult 
 in a work of this kind to decide on the best plan and arrangement ; but Mr 
 Strutt's scheme of dividing sports and pastimes into four books descriptive of 
 " Rural Exercises practised by Persons of Rank," " Rural Exercises generally 
 practised," " Pastimes usually exercised in Towns and Cities," and " Domestic 
 Amusements " — each book being sub-divided into chapters — has been followed. 
 In one or two cases a slight rearrangement has taken place ; such, for instance, 
 as bringing together the descriptions of bear and bull baiting, and the scattered 
 references to dancing. 
 
 Nearly a third of the book is new. To the paragraphs for which the 
 Editor is responsible a small asterisk is prefixed. 
 
 It was found necessary to rewrite almost the whole of the chapter dealing 
 with cricket, golf, tennis, football, and other ball games. There is also much 
 that is new with regard to archery, wrestling, and the hunting of wolves and 
 boars. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 No attempt has been made to bring the book generally up to date, or to 
 turn it into an encyclopaedia of sports, ancient and modern. Many volumes 
 would be required for such a purpose, and they are already to be found in the 
 admirable Badminton series. At the same time, brief indications are given of 
 the growth and change in sports and pastimes during the nineteenth century, 
 together with references to the best modern sources as to their respective 
 methods. 
 
 It is interesting to reflect upon the simply astounding change that has 
 come over all classes of the community with regard to games during the 
 hundred years that have elapsed since Joseph Strutt first wrote upon the subject. 
 Whether the extraordinary devotion of the English of the present generation 
 to every conceivable kind of sport and pastime is a sign of national decay or 
 of national progress is not a matter for discussion in these pages, which merely 
 aim at being a true chronicle of the past. 
 
 J. CHARLES COX 
 
 Clyde Lodge, 
 Sydenham, May 1903 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE ............ v-viii 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii-xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES, AND 
 MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES OF 
 MIRTH OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, FOR 
 THE SAKE OF AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace their Origin — The Romans in Britain — The Saxons 
 — The Normans — Tournaments and Jousts— Other Sports of the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen — 
 Knightly Accomplishments— Esquireship — Military Sports patronised by the Ladies — Decline of such 
 Exercises and of Chivalry — Military Exercises under Henry the Seventh and under Henry the Eighth 
 — Princely Exercises under James the First — Revival of Learning — Recreations of the Sixteenth Century 
 — Old Sports of the Citizens of London — Modern Pastimes of the Londoners — Cotswold and Cornish 
 Games — Splendour of the ancient Kings and Nobility — Royal and noble Entertainments — Civic Shows — 
 "Merry England" — Setting out of Pageants — Processions of Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain in 
 London — Chester Pageants — Public Shows of the Sixteenth Century — Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth 
 Castle — The Master of the Revels — Rope-dancing, tutored Animals, and Puppet-shows — Minstrelsy, 
 Bell-ringing, etc. — Baiting of Animals — Pastimes formerly on Sundays — Royal Interference with them — 
 Dice and Cards — Regulation of Gaming for Money by Richard Coeur de Lion, etc. — Statutes against 
 Cards, Ball-play, etc. — Archery succeeded by Bowling — Modern Gambling — Ladies' Pastimes : Needle- 
 work — Dancing and Chess-play — Ladies' Recreations in the Fourteenth Century — The Author's Labours 
 — Character of the Engravings ........... xv-lv 
 
 BOOK I 
 RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 State of Hunting among the Britons — The Saxons expert in Hunting— The Danes also — The Saxons subsequently 
 — The Normans — Their tyrannical Proceedings — Hunting and Hawking after the Conquest — Laws relating 
 to Hunting and Hawking followed by the Clergy — The Manner in which the dignified Clergy in the Middle 
 Ages pursued these Pastimes — The English Ladies fond of these Sports — Privileges of the Citizens of 
 London to Hunt — Private Privileges for Hunting — Two Treatises on Hunting considered — Names of 
 Beasts to be hunted — Wolves— Wild Boars — Fox and Badger — Wild Cat and Marten — Otter — Dogs for 
 Hunting — Royal Hunting — Hare Coursing — Terms used in Hunting — Times when to Hunt — Later Hunting 
 Treatises .............. 1-20 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Hawking practised by the Nobility — Its Origin not well known — A favourite Amusement with the Saxons — 
 Romantic Story relative to Hawking — Grand Falconer of France, his State and Privileges — Edward III. 
 partial to Hawking — Saxon Hawking — Ladies fond of Hawking — Its Decline — Caparison of a Hawk 
 - — ^Treatises concerning Hawking — Laws respecting Hawks — Their great Value — The different Species of 
 Hawks, and their Appropriation — Terms used in Hawking — Fowling and Fishing — The Stalking Horse — 
 Lowbelling .....••■••.... 21-31 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Horse racing known to the Saxons — Races in Smithfield, and why — Races, at what Seasons practised — The Chester 
 Races— Stamford Races— Value of Running-horses— Highly prized by the Poets, etc.— Horse-racing 
 commended as a liberal Pastime— Charles II. and other monarchs encouragers of Horse-racing— Races on 
 Coleshill-heath — Corporation Races and later ......... 32-38 
 
 ix 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK II 
 RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The English famous for their Skill in Archery— The Use of the Bow known to the Saxons and the Danes — Form of 
 the Saxon Bow, etc. — Norman Archery — The Ladies fond of Archery — Observations relative to the Cross- 
 Bow— Its Form, and the Manner in which it was used — Bows ordered to be kept — The Decay of Archery, 
 and why — Ordinances in its Favour — The Fraternity of St George established— Henry VIII. an Archer — 
 The Price of Bows — Equipment for Archery — Directions for its Practice — The Marks to shoot at — The 
 Length of the Bow and Arrows — Extraordinary Performances of the Archers — The modern Archers inferior 
 to the ancient in long Shooting — The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called — Grand Procession of the London 
 Archers — Archery a Royal Sport — A good Archer, why called Arthur — Archery at Buxton — Elizabethan 
 Archers — Archery in the Civil War — Sir William Wood — The Artillery Company — The Toxophilites 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Slinging of Stones an Ancient Art — Known to the Saxons — And the Normans — How practised of late Years — 
 Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand — By the Londoners — Casting of the Bar and Hammer — 
 Of Spears— Of Quoits — Swinging of Dumb Bells— Foot Races— The Game of Base — Wrestling much 
 practised formerly — Prizes for — How performed— Sir Thomas Parkyns — Hippas — Swimming — Sliding — 
 Skating — Rowing — Sailing ..... ..... 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Hand-ball an ancient Game— Used by the Saxons — And by the Schoolboys of London— Ball Play in France 
 — Hand Tennis or Fives — Fives in Church and Churchyard — Tennis — Tennis Courts erected — Tennis 
 fashionable in England — Killed by a Tennis Ball— London Tennis Courts in 1615 — Origin of Tennis 
 
 Courts — Tennis in Monasteries — Rackets— Lawn Tennis — Balloon-ball — Hurling — Hockey — Camp-ball 
 
 Football— Golf— Cricket— Cricket on Hor'seback- Trap-ball and Knur and Spell .... 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES 
 
 ADJOINING TO THEM 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Tournament a general Name for several Exercises— The Quintain an ancient Military Exercise— Various Kinds of 
 the Quintain-Derivation of the Term-The Water Quintain-Running at the Quintain practised by the 
 Citizens of London; and why— The Manner in which it was performed— Exhibited for the Pastime of 
 Queen Elizabeth-Tilting at a Water Butt-The Human Quintain-Exercises probably derived from it 
 —Running at the Ring— Difference between the Tournaments and the Jousts-Origin of the Tournament— 
 The Troy Game ; the Bohordicum or Cane Game— Derivation of Tournament ; How the Exercise was 
 performed— Lists and Barriers— When the Tournament was first practised— When first in England— Its 
 Laws and Ordinances-Pages, and Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, etc.-Preliminaries of the Tourna- 
 ment-Lists for Ordeal Combats-Respect paid to the Ladies-Jousts less honourable than Tournaments- 
 P^tilTTh M';:;^^'"'-°f the Jousts-Made in Honour of the Fair Sex-Great Splendour of these 
 Tn .hW . ?K°^f ^ ^^"''"■\!° '''^'"-Toys f°' i"iti^ti"g their Children in them-Boat Jousts, or Tilting 
 on the Water— Challenges to all comers ..... 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Ancient Plays-Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, etc., continued several days-The Coventry Plav— 
 Mysteries described-How enlivened-The "Pageant" or Stage-Cornish Miracle Plays-Moralities 
 described-Secular Plays— Interludes-Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his Time— Plays on Holv 
 Days— Royal Companies of Players— The Puritans— Court Plays— Play in honour of the Princess Marv', 
 Mamage-The Play of Hock-Tuesday-Decline of Secular Plays-Sir Miles Stapleton and Yorkshire 
 Players-Origin of Puppet Plays-Nature of the Performances-Giants and other Puppet Character 
 —Puppet Plays superseded by Pantomimes— The modern Puppet-show Man— Moving Pictures described ^ 
 
CONTENTS xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The British Bards— The Northern Scalds— The Anglo-Saxon Gleemen— The Nature of their Performances— A 
 Royal Player with three Darts — Bravery of a Minstrel in the Conqueror's Army — Other Performances by 
 Gleemen — The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the Saxons — Harpers at Durham — ^The Norman 
 Minstrels, and their different Denominations and Professions— Troubadours — ^Jestours — ^Tales and Manners 
 of the Jesters — Further Illustration of their Practices — Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of the Minstrels 
 — A Guild of Minstrels — Abuses and Decline of Minstrelsy — Minstrels were Satirists and Flatterers — 
 Anecdotes of offending Minstrels, Women Minstrels — The Dress of the Minstrels — The King of the 
 Minstrels, why so called — Rewards given to Minstrels — Payments to Minstrels — Durham Minstrels and 
 Players— Minstrels at Parish Festivals .......... 148-166 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Joculator — His different Denominations and extraordinary Deceptions — His Performances ascribed to Magic 
 — Asiatic Jugglers — Remarkable Story from Froisseurt — Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of the 
 Devil ; but more reasonably accounted for— John Rykell, a celebrated Tregetour — Their various Perform- 
 ances—Privileges of the Joculators at Paris — The King's Joculator an officer of Rank — The great Disrepute 
 of modern Jugglers ............ 167-173 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's Profession — Performed by Women — Dancing connected 
 with Tumbling — Antiquity of Tumbling — Various Dances described — The Gleeraen's Dances — Exemplifica- 
 tion of Gleemen's Dances — The Sword Dance — Rope-Dancing and wonderful Performances on the Rope — 
 Rope-Dancing from the Battlements of St Paul's — Rope-Dancing from St Paul's Steeple — Rope-Dancing 
 from All Saint's Church, Hertford — Rope-Dancing from All Saint's, Derby — ^A Dutchman's Feats on St 
 Paul's Weathercock — Jacob Hall the Rope-Dancer — Modern celebrated Rope-Dancing — Rope-Dancing at 
 Sadler's Wells — Fool's Dance — Morris Dance — Egg Dance — Ladder Dance — Jocular Dances — Wire- 
 Dancing — Ballette Dances — Leaping and Vaulting — Balancing — Remarkable Feats — The Posture-Master's 
 Tricks — The Mountebank — Domestic Dancing — The Pavone — Antiquity of Dancing — The Carole Dance . 174-194 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers — Tricks performed by Bears — Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys — 
 Bears in Britain — Tricks by Horses in the thirteenth Century — In Queen Anne's Reign — Origin of the 
 Exhibitions at Astley's, the Circus, etc. — Dancing Dogs — ^The Hare beating a Tabor, and learned Pig — A 
 Dancing Cock — The Deserter Bird — Imitations of Animals — Mummings and Masquerades — Mumming to 
 Royal Personages — Partial Imitations of Animals — The Horse in the Morris-dance — Counterfeit Voices of 
 Animals — Animals trained for Baiting — Paris Garden — Bull and Bear-baiting patronised by Royalty — How 
 performed — Bears and Bear-wards— Baiting in Queen Anne's time — Recent Bull-baiting — Bull-running at 
 Tutbury and Stamford — The Masters of Defence — Pepys on Prize-play — PubUc Sword-play — Quarter-staff 195-215 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Ancient Specimens of Bowling — Poem on Bowling— Bowling-greens first made by the English — Bowling-alleys — 
 Long-bowling — Gaming at Bowls — Charles I. and Charles II. fond of Bowls — Supposed Origin of Billiards 
 — Kayles — Closh — Loggats — Nine-pins — Skittles — Dutch-pins — Four-corners — Half-bowl — Nine-holes — 
 Troul in Madame— John Bull — Pitch and Hustle — Cock-fighting — Cock-fighting in nineteenth Century — 
 Throwing at Cocks — Duck-hunting — Squirrel-hunting ........ 216-22S 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS ; AND PASTIMES APPROPRIATED 
 
 TO PARTICULAR SEASONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Secular Music fashionable— Ballad-singers encouraged by the Populace — Music Houses — Introduction of the 
 Harpsichord — Origin of Vauxhall — Ranelagh — Sadler's Wells — Marybone Gardens — Operas — Oratorios — 
 Bell-ringing— Its Antiquity— Hand-bells— Burlesque Music— Shovfel-board-Billiards-French Billiards — 
 Trucks — Mississipi— The Rocks of Scilly— Shove-groat— Swinging— Tetter-totter— Shuttle-cock . . 229-244 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Sedentary Games— Dice-playing — Its Prevalency and bad Effects — ^Ancient Dice-box Dicing Games without 
 
 Tables — Dicing Games within Tables — Backgammon — Its former and present estimation — Chess — Its 
 Antiquity— The Morals of Chess— Early Chess-play in France and England— The Chess-Board— The 
 Pieces and their Form — The various Games of Chess — Ancient Games similar to Chess— The Philosopher's 
 Game— Draughts, French and Polish — Merelles, or Nine Men's Morris — Boy-Games in Cloisters — Fox and 
 Geese — The Solitary Game — Dominoes — Cards — When Invented — Card-playing in England — Primero and 
 Maw — Ombre— Whist and other Games — Ancient Cards — The Game of Goos6 — and of the Snake — Cross 
 and Pile .............. 345-266 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Lord of Misrule said to be peculiar to the English — A Court Officer — The Master of the King's Revels — The 
 Lord of Misrule and his Conduct reprobated — The King of Christmas — of the Cockneys — A King of 
 Christmas at Norwich — The King of the Bean — Whence originated — Christmastide in Charles I. Reign — 
 The Boy-Bishop — Plough Monday — Shrove Tuesday — Easter Game — Hock-Tide — May-Games — The Lord 
 and Lady of the May — Grand May-Game at Greenwich — Royal May-Game at Shooter's-hill — May Poles — 
 May Milk-Maids — May Festival of the Chimney Sweepers — Whitsun-Games — Lamb Ale — The Vigil of Saint 
 John the Baptist, how kept— Its supposed origin— Setting of the Midsummer Watch — Processions on Saint 
 Clement's and Saint Catherine's day — Wassails— Sheep-shearing and Harvest-home — Wakes — Sunday 
 Festivals — Church Ales — Funds raised by Church Ales — Fairs, and their diversions and abuses — Bonfires — 
 Illuminations— Fireworks— Books on Fireworks— A Fiery Drake or Fiery Kite— London Fireworks— Fire- 
 works on Tower-hill — at Public Gardens, and in Pageants ....... 267-299 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children— Horses— Racing and Chaoing— Wrestling and other Gymnastic 
 Sports— Marbles and Span-counter— Tops, etc.— The Devil among the Tailors— Even or Odd— Chuck- 
 halfpenny— Duck and Drake— Baste and Bear— Hunt the Slipper, etc.— Sporting with Insects— Kites- 
 Windmills — Bob-cherry — Hoodman-blind — Hot-cockles — Cock-fighting — Anonymous Pastimes Mock 
 
 Honours at Boarding Schools— Houses of Cards— Questions and Commands— Handy-dandy— Snap-dragon 
 
 — Push-pin— Crambo— Lotteries — Creag— Queke-board, and other minor games .... 300-313 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Joseph Strutt 
 
 I. Hunting (i) 
 II. Hunting (2) 
 
 III. Royalty Hunting 
 
 IV. Hawking . 
 V. Archery and Slinging 
 
 VI. Archery 
 
 VII. Wrestling . 
 
 VIII. Games with the Ball (i) 
 
 IX. Games with the Ball (2) 
 
 X. Duke of York at Tennis 
 
 XI. Various Games . 
 
 XII. Bat and Ball 
 
 XIII. The Quintain (i) 
 
 XIV. The Quintain (2) 
 XV. The Quintain (3) 
 
 XVI. Tilting at the Ring 
 XVII. Tournament 
 XVIII. Jousts 
 
 XIX. Mummeries 
 
 XX. Saxon Gleemen . 
 
 XXI. Dancing 
 XXII. Tumbling . 
 
 XXIII. Dancing, Leaping, etc 
 
 XXIV. Balancing . 
 XXV. Tutored Bears . 
 
 XXVI. Tutored Animals 
 XXVII. Tricks Taught to Horses 
 XXVIII. Animals Imitated 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Offosite Page 
 2 
 8 
 18 
 24 
 40 
 42 
 72 
 80 
 82 
 
 88 
 
 98 
 
 100 
 106 
 108 
 no 
 
 112 ' 
 
 120 
 
 126 
 
 138 
 
 148 
 
 174 
 176 
 188 
 190 
 194 
 196 
 198 
 202 
 
 xiii 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 XXIX. Sword and Buckler 
 XXX. Bowling . 
 XXXI. Kavles 
 XXXII. Music 
 
 XXXIII. Sedentary Games 
 
 XXXIV. Chess and Tables 
 XXXV. Cards 
 
 XXXVI. A Fiery Drake or Kite 
 
 XXXVII. Pageantry . 
 
 XXXVIII. Children's Games 
 
 XXXIX. HooDMAN Blind . 
 
 XL. Hot Cockles, etc. 
 
 XLI. Games Unknown . 
 
 Ofporitt Page 
 208 
 216 
 220 
 236 
 246 
 250 
 264 
 296 
 298 
 306 
 308 
 310 
 312 
 
 Plates XIII., XXXVII., XXXVIII., XXXIX. of the original edition are omitted; the first of these is a large picture 
 of a tilting toy copied from a German engraving, the subject of which had been already illustrated on the previous plate ; the 
 three last are merely additional examples of "Games Unknown," and are copies of capricious illustrations out of the 
 Bodleian MS. 264, of which no reasonable explanation can be given. 
 
 Plates III., IX., X., XI., XXXVI., together with the Frontispiece of this edition, are new, and have been specially 
 prepared for this work. 
 
[An asterisk is prefixed to all the newly written paragraphs throughout the work.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES, AND 
 MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES OF 
 MIRTH OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, FOR 
 THE SAKE OF AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace their Origin — The Romans in Britain — The Saxons— The 
 Normans — Tournaments and Jousts — Other Sports of the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen — Knightly 
 Accomplishments — Esquireship — Military Sports patronised by the Ladies — Decline of such Exercises and of 
 Chivalry — Military Exercises under Henry the Seventh and under Henry the Eighth — Princely Exercises under 
 James the First — Revival of Learning — Recreations of the Sixteenth Century — Old Sports of the Citizens of 
 London — Modem Pastimes of the Londoners— Cotswold and Cornish Games — Splendour of the ancient Kings 
 and Nobility — Royal and noble Entertainments — Civic Shows — " Merry England " — Setting out of Pageants — 
 Processions of Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain in London — Chester Pageants — Public Shows of the Sixteenth 
 Century — Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth Castle — The Master of the Revels — Rope-dancing, tutored Animals, 
 and Puppet-shows — Minstrelsy, Bell-ringing, etc. — Baiting of Animals — Pastimes formerly on Sundays — Royal 
 Interference with them — Dice and Cards — Regulation of Gaming for Money by Richard Coeur de Lion, etc. — 
 Statutes against Cards, Ball-play, etc. — Archery succeeded by Bowling — Modern Gambling— Ladies' Pastimes 
 Needle-work — Dancing and Chess-play — Ladies' Recreations in the Fourteenth Century — The Author's Labours 
 — Character of the Engravings. 
 
 OBJECT OF THE WoRK. — In Order to form a just estimation of the character 
 of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the 
 Sports and Pastimes most generally prevalent among them. War, policy, and 
 other contingent circumstances, may effectually place men, at different times, in 
 different points of view, but, when we follow them into their retirements, where 
 no disguise is necessary, we are most likely to see them in their true state, and 
 may best judge of their natural dispositions. Unfortunately, all the information 
 that remains respecting the ancient inhabitants of this island is derived from 
 foreign writers partially acquainted with them as a people, and totally ignorant 
 of their domestic customs and amusements ; the silence, therefore, of the con- 
 temporary historians on these important subjects leaves us without the power 
 of tracing them with the least degree of certainty ; and as it is my intention, in 
 the following pages, to confine myself as much as possible to positive intelligence, 
 I shall studiously endeavour to avoid all controversial and conjectural arguments. 
 I mean also to treat upon such pastimes only as have been practised in this 
 country ; but as many of them originated on the continent, certain digressions, 
 by way of illustration, must necessarily occur ; these, however, I shall make it 
 my business to render as concise as the nature of the subject will permit them 
 to be. 
 
 The Romans in Britain. — We learn, from the imperfect hints of ancient 
 
 XV 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 history, that, when the Romans first invaded Britain, her inhabitants were a 
 bold, active, and warlike people, tenacious of their native liberty, and capable of 
 bearing great fatigue ; to which they were probably inured by an early educa- 
 tion, and constant pursuit of such amusements as best suited the profession of a 
 soldier ; including hunting, running, leaping, swimming, and other exertions 
 requiring strength and agility of body. Perhaps the skill which the natives of 
 Devonshire and Cornwall retain to the present day, in hurling and wrestling, 
 may properly be considered as a vestige of British activity. After the 
 Romans had conquered Britain, they impressed such of the young men as 
 were able to bear arms for foreign service, and enervated the spirit of the 
 people by the importation of their own luxurious manners and habits ; so 
 that the latter part of the British history exhibits to our view a slothful 
 and effeminate race of men, totally divested of that martial disposition, 
 and love of freedom, which so strongly marked the character of their pro- 
 genitors ; and their amusements, no doubt, partook of the same weakness 
 and puerility.^ 
 
 The Saxons. — The arrival of the Saxons forms a new epoch in the annals 
 of this country. These military mercenaries came professedly to assist the 
 Britons against their incessant tormentors the Picts and the Caledonians ; but 
 no sooner had they established their footing in the land, than they invited more 
 of their countrymen to join them, and turning their arms against their wretched 
 employers, became their most dangerous and most inexorable enemies, and in 
 process of time obtained full possession of the largest and best part of the island; 
 whence arose a great change in the form of government, laws, manners, customs, 
 and habits of the people. 
 
 The sportive exercises and pastimes practised by the Saxons appear to 
 have been such as were common among the ancient northern nations ; and most 
 of them consisted of robust exercises. In an old Chronicle of Norway,^ we find 
 it recorded of Olaf Tryggeson, a king of that country, that he was stronger and 
 more nimble than any man in his dominions. He could climb up the rock 
 Smalserhorn, and fix his shield upon the top of it ; he could walk round the out- 
 side of a boat upon the oars, while the men were rowing ; he could play with 
 three darts, alternately throwing them in the air, and always kept two of them 
 up, while he held the third in one of his hands ; he was ambidexter, and could 
 
 > *These remarks require some qualification, as the knowledge of the long period of the Roman occupation, as well 
 as of the times immediately preceding their first invasion, have become more accurately known in the last half of the 
 nineteenth century, through careful archaeological investigation. The later Celts used gold coinage, cultivated four 
 sorts of grain, practised the crafts of spinning and weaving, melted iron and wrought cunning ornamented work in 
 both iron and bronze ; used the flesh of the red deer and the roe for food, and their horns for many a useful purpose ; 
 and domesticated the horse, ox, goat and dog. Such a people, as shown by the investigations at Hunsbury Camp, 
 Northampton, and elsewhere, would certainly have some acquaintance with genuine sports and pastimes, little as we 
 may know of their nature. The excavations at Silchester, and more particularly those conducted by the late General 
 Pitt Rivers among the Romanised British villages of Dorset and Wilts, also afford evidence of a superior race, with 
 higher acquirements than was supposed to be the case at the time when these pages were first written, and of their 
 acquaintance with various breeds of dogs. 
 
 " Pontoppidan's History of Norway, p. 248. 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 cast two darts at once ; he excelled all the men of his time in shooting with the 
 bow ; and he had no equal in swimming. In one achievement this monarch 
 was outdone by the Anglo-Saxon gleeman, represented on the twenty-first plate, 
 who adds an equal number of balls to those knives or daggers. The Norman 
 minstrel Tallefer, before the commencement of the battle at Hastings, cast his 
 lance into the air three times, and caught it by the head in such a surprising 
 manner, that the English thought it was done by the power of enchantment. 
 Another northern hero, whose name was Kolson, boasts of nine accomplish- 
 ments in which he was well skilled : " I know," says he, "how to play at chess ;' 
 I can engrave Runic letters ; I am expert at my book ; I know how to handle 
 the tools of the smith ; I can traverse the snow on skates of wood ; I excel in 
 shooting with the bow ; I use the oar with facility ; I can sing to the harp ; and 
 I compose verses." ^ The reader will, I doubt not, anticipate me in my obser- 
 vation, that the acquirements of Kolson indicate a much more liberal education 
 than those of the Norwegian monarch; it must, however, be observed, that 
 Kolson lived in an age posterior to him ; and also, that he made a pilgrimage 
 to the Holy Land, which may probably account in great measure for his literary 
 qualifications. Yet, we are well assured that learning did not form any promi- 
 nent feature in the education of a young nobleman during the Saxon government : 
 it is notorious, that Alfred the Great was twelve years of age before he learned 
 to read ; and that he owed his knowledge of letters to accident, rather than to 
 the intention of his tutors. A book adorned with paintings in the hands of his 
 mother attracted his notice, and he expressed his desire to haive it ; she pro- 
 mised to comply with his request on condition that he learned to read it, which 
 It seems he did ; and this trifling incident laid the groundwork of his future 
 scholarship.^ 
 
 Indeed, it is not by any means surprising, under the Saxon government, 
 when the times were generally very turbulent, and the existence of peace 
 exceedingly precarious, and when the personal exertiohs of the opulent were so 
 often necessary for the preservation of their lives and property, that such 
 exercises as inured the body to fatigue, and biassed the mind to military 
 pursuits, should. have constituted the chief part of a young nobleman's educa- 
 tion : accordingly, we find that hunting, hawking, leaping, running, wrestling, 
 casting of darts, and other pastimes which necessarily required great exertions 
 of bodily strength, were taught them in their adolescence. These amusements 
 engrossed the whole of their attention, every one striving to excel his fellow ; 
 for hardiness, strength, and valour, out-balanced, in the public estimation, the 
 accomplishments of the mind; and therefore literature, which flourishes 
 best in tranquillity and retirement, was considered as a pursuit unworthy 
 the notice of a soldier, and only requisite in the gloomy recesses of the 
 cloister. 
 
 Among the vices of the Anglo-Saxons may be reckoned their propensity to 
 
 ' Olai. Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129 ; Bartholin, p. 420. '^ Asser. in Vit. iElfredi. 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 gaming, and especially with the dice, which they derived from their ancestors ; 
 for Tacitus ^ assures us that the ancient Germans would not only hazard all their 
 wealth, but even stake their liberty, upon the turn of the dice ; " and he who 
 loses," says the author, "submits to servitude, though younger and stronger 
 than his antagonist, and patiently permits himself to be bound, and sold in the 
 market ; and this madness they dignify by the name of honour." Chess was 
 also a favourite game with the Saxons; and likewise backgammon, said to 
 have been invented about the tenth century. It appears moreover, that a 
 large portion of the night was appropriated to the pursuit of these sedentary 
 amusements. In the reign of Canute the Dane, this practice was sanctioned 
 by the example of royalty, and followed by the nobility. Bishop ^theric, 
 having obtained admission to Canute about midnight upon some urgent 
 business, found the king engaged with his courtiers at play, some at dice, 
 and some at chess.^ The clergy, however, were prohibited from playing 
 at games of chance, by the ecclesiastical canons established in the reign of 
 Edgar. 
 
 The Normans. — The popular sports and pastimes, prevalent at the close 
 of the Saxon era, do not appear to have been subjected to any material change 
 by the coming of the Normans : it is true, indeed, that the elder William and 
 his immediate successors restricted the privileges of the chase, and imposed 
 great penalties on those who presumed to destroy the game in the royal forests, 
 without a proper licence. By these restrictions the general practice of 
 hunting was much confined, but by no means prohibited in certain districts, and 
 especially to persons of opulence who possessed extensive territories of their 
 own. 
 
 Tournaments and Jousts. — Among the pastimes introduced by the 
 Norman nobility, none engaged the general attention more than the tourna- 
 ments and the jousts. The tournament, in its original institution, was a martial 
 conflict, in which the combatants engaged without any animosity, merely to 
 exhibit their strength and dexterity ; but, at the same time, engaged in great 
 numbers to represent a battle. The joust was when two knights, and no more, 
 were opposed to each other at one time. These amusements, in the middle 
 ages, which may properly enough be dominated the ages of chivalry, were in 
 high repute among the nobility of Europe, and produced in reality much of the 
 pomp and gallantry that we find recorded with poetical exaggeration in the 
 legends of knight-errantry. I met with a passage in a satirical poem among 
 the Harleian MSS. of the thirteenth century,* which strongly marks the preval- 
 ence of this taste in the times alluded to. It may be thus rendered in English : 
 
 " If wealth, sir knight, perchance be thine. 
 In tournaments you're bound to shine : 
 Refuse — and all the world will swear 
 You are not worth a rotten pear." 
 
 > De Moribus Germ. ' Hist. Ramsien. apud Gale. vol. i. an. 85. 3 No. 2253, fol. 108. 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 Other Sports of the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen. — While 
 the principles of chivalry continued in fashion, the education of a nobleman was 
 confined to those principles, and every regulation necessary to produce an 
 accomplished knight was put into practice. In order fully to investigate these 
 particulars, we may refer to the romances of the middle ages ; and, generally 
 speaking, dependence may be placed upon their information. The authors of 
 these fictitious histories never looked beyond the customs of their own country ; 
 and whenever the subject called for a representation of remote magnificence, 
 they depicted such scenes of splendour as were familiar to them : hence it 
 is, that Alexander the Great, in his legendary life, receives the education 
 of a Norman baron, and becomes expert in hawking, hunting, and other 
 amusements coincident with the time in which the writer lived. Our early 
 poets have fallen into the same kind of anachronism ; and Chaucer him- 
 self, in the Knight's Tale, speaking of the rich array and furniture of the 
 palace of Theseus, forgets that he was a Grecian prince of great antiquity, 
 and describes the large hall belonging to an English nobleman, with 
 the guests seated at table, probably as he had frequently seen them, 
 entertained with singing, dancing, and other acts of minstrelsy, their hawks 
 being placed upon perches over their heads, and their hounds lying round 
 about upon the pavement below. The two last lines of the poem just 
 referred to are peculiarly applicable to the manners of the time in which 
 the poet lived, when no man of consequence travelled abroad without 
 his hawk and his hounds. In the early delineations, the nobility are 
 frequently represented seated at table, with their hawks upon their heads. 
 Chaucer says, 
 
 " Ne what hawkes sytten on perchen above, 
 Ne what houndes lyggen on the flour adoun.'' 
 
 The picture is perfect, when referred to his own time ; but bears not the least 
 analogy to Athenian grandeur. In the romance called The Knight of the 
 Swan, it is said of Ydain, Duchess of Roulyon, that she caused her three sons 
 to be brought up in "all maner of good operacyons, vertues, and maners ; 
 and when in their adolescence they were somwhat comen to the age of 
 strengthe, they," their tutors, " began to practyse them in shootinge with their 
 bow and arbelstre,^ to playe with the sword and buckeler, to runne, to just, to 
 playe with a poll-axe, and to wrestle ; and they began to bear barneys, to runne 
 horses, and to approve them, as desyringe to be good and faythful knightes to 
 susteyne the faith of God." We are not, however, to conceive that martial 
 exercises in general were confined to the education of young noblemen : the 
 sons of citizens and yeomen had also their sports resembling military combats. 
 Those practised at an early period by the young Londoners seem to have been 
 
 ' The cross-bow. 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 derived from the Romans ; they consisted of various attacks and evolutions 
 performed on horseback, the youth being armed with shields and pointless 
 lances, resembling the ludus Trojae, or Troy game, described by Virgil. These 
 amusements, according to Fitz Stephen, who lived in the reign of Henry II., 
 were appropriated to the season of Lent ; but at other times they exercised 
 themselves with archery, fighting with clubs and bucklers, and running at the 
 quintain ; and in the winter, when the frost set in, they would go upon the ice, 
 and run against each other with poles, in imitation of lances, in a joust ; and 
 frequently one or both were beaten down, "not always without hurt ; for some 
 break their arms, and some their legs ; but youth," says my author, " emulous 
 of glory, seeks these exercises preparatory against the time that war shall demand 
 their presence." The like kind of pastimes, no doubt, were practised by the 
 young men in other parts of the kingdom. 
 
 Knightly Accomplishments. — The mere management of arms, though 
 essentially requisite, was not sufficient of itself to form an accomplished knight 
 in the times of chivalry ; it was necessary for him to be endowed with beauty, 
 as well as with strength and agility of body ; he ought to be skilled in music, 
 to dance gracefully, to run with swiftness, to excel in wrestling, to ride well, and 
 to perform every other exercise befitting his situation. To these were to be 
 added urbanity of manners, strict adherence to the truth, and invincible courage. 
 Hunting and hawking skilfully were also acquirements that he was obliged to 
 possess, and which were usually taught him as soon as he was able to endure 
 the fatigue that they required. Hence it is said of Sir Tristram, a fictitious 
 character held forth as the mirror of chivalry in the romance entitled The Death 
 of Arthur, that " he learned to be an harper, passing all other, that there was 
 none such called in any countrey : and so in harping and on instruments of 
 musike he applied himself in his youth for to learne, and after as he growed in 
 might and strength he laboured ever in hunting and hawking, so that we read 
 of no gentlemen who more, or so, used himself therein ; and he began good 
 measures of blowing blasts of venery, and chase, and of all manner of vermains ; 
 and all these terms have we yet of hunting and hawking ; and therefore the 
 book of venery, and of hawking and hunting, is called the Boke of Sir 
 Tristram." In a succeeding part of the same romance, King Arthur thus 
 addresses the knight : " For all manner of hunting thou bearest the prize ; and 
 of all measures of blowing thou art the beginner, and of all the termes of 
 hunting and hawking thou art the beginner." ^ We are also informed that Sir 
 Tristram had previously learned the language of France, knew all the principles 
 of courtly behaviour, and was skilful in the various requisites of knighthood. 
 
 1 Morte Arthur, translated from the French by Sir Thomas Malory, knight, and first printed by Caxton, A.D. 1481. 
 "The English," says a writer of our own country, "are so naturally inclined to pleasure, that there is no countrie 
 wherein gentlemen and lords have so many and so large parkes, only reserved for the purpose of hunting." And again, 
 " Our progenitors were so delighted with hunting, that the parkes are nowe growne infinite in number, and are thought 
 to containe more fallow deere than all the Christian world besides." Itinerary of Fynes Moryson., published in 1617, 
 part iii. book iii, cap. 3. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 Another ancient romance says of its hero, "He every day was provyd in 
 dauncyng and in songs that the ladies coulde think were convenable for a 
 nobleman to conne ; but in every thinge he passed all them that were there. 
 The king for to assaie him, made justes and turnies ; and no man did so well as 
 he, in runnyng, playing at the pame,^ shotyng, and castyng of the barre, ne 
 found he his maister." ^ 
 
 EsQUiRESHip. — The laws of chivalry required that every knight should 
 pass through two offices : the first was a page ; and, at the age of fourteen he 
 was admitted an esquire. The office of the esquire consisted of several 
 departments ; the esquire for the body, the esquire of the chamber, the esquire 
 of the stable, and the carving esquire ; the latter stood in the hall at dinner, 
 carved the different dishes, and distributed them to the guests. Several of the 
 inferior officers had also their respective esquires.* Ipomydon, a king's son and 
 heir, in the romance that bears his name, written probably at the commence- 
 ment of the fourteenth century, is regularly taught the duties of an esquire, 
 previous to his receiving the honours of knighthood ; and for this purpose his 
 father committed him to the care of a " learned and courteous knight called Sir 
 'Tholomew." Our author speaks on this subject in the following manner : 
 
 " 'Tholomew a clerke he toke, 
 That taught the child uppon the boke 
 Bothe to synge and to rede ; 
 And after he taught hym other dede. 
 Afterward, to serve in halle 
 Both to grate and to smalle ; 
 Before the kynge mete to kerve ; 
 Hye and low fayre to serve. 
 Both of howndes and hawkis game, 
 After, he taught hym all ; and same. 
 In sea, infeld, and eke in ryvere ; 
 In woode to chase the wild dere, 
 And in feld to ryde a stede ; 
 That all men had joy of his dede." * 
 
 Here we find reading mentioned; which, however, does not appear to 
 have been of any great importance in the middle ages, and is left out in the 
 Ges^e of King Home, another metrical romance,^ which seems to be rather 
 more ancient than the former. Young Home is placed under the tuition of 
 Athelbrus, the king's steward, who is commanded to teach him the mysteries of 
 hawking and hunting, to play upon the harp, 
 
 " Ant toggen o' the harpe 
 With his nayles sharpe," 
 
 1 Written also paume ; that is, hand-tennis. 
 
 ^ Romance of Three Kings' Sons and the King of Sicily, Harl. MS. 326. 
 ' Mem. Anc. Cheval. torn. i. p. 16. 
 
 " Harl. MS. 2252, p. S4b. It is a long poem, extending from p. 54 to p. 84, entitled The Lyfe of Ipomydone, 
 Son to Ermones, King of Toyle (Apulia). ' Ibid. 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 to carve at the royal table, and to present the cup to the king when he sat at 
 meat, with every other service fitting for him to know. The monarch concludes 
 his injunctions with a repetition of the charge to instruct him in smgmg and 
 
 music : ,, , , „ 
 
 " Tech him of harp and of song." 
 
 And the manner in which the king's carver performed the duties of his office is 
 well described in the poem denominated " The Squyer of Lowe Degree." ^ 
 
 " There he araied him in scarlet red. 
 And set a chaplet upon his hedde ; 
 A belte about his sydes two, 
 With brode barres to and fro ; 
 A home about his necke he caste ; 
 And forth he went at the laste, 
 To do his office in the halle 
 Among the lordes both greate and small. 
 He toke a white yeard in his hand ; 
 Before the kynge than gan he stande ; 
 And sone he set hym on his knee, 
 And served the kynge ryght royally 
 With deynty meates that were dere. — 
 — And, when the squyer had done so, 
 He served them all to and fro. 
 Eche man hym loved in honeste, 
 Hye and lowe in their degre ; 
 So dyd the kyng " — etc. 
 
 Military Sports Patronised by Ladies. — Tournaments and jousts were 
 usually exhibited at coronations, royal marriages, and other occasions of 
 solemnity where pomp and pageantry were thought to be requisite. Our 
 historians abound with details of these celebrated pastimes. The reader is 
 referred to Froissart, Hall, Holinshed, Stow, Grafton, etc., who are all of them 
 very diffuse upon this subject ; and in the second volume of the Manners and 
 Customs of the English are several curious representations of these military 
 combats both on horseback and on foot. 
 
 One great reason, and perhaps the most cogent of any, why the nobility of 
 the middle ages, nay, and even princes and kings, delighted so much in the 
 practice of tilting with each other, is, that on such occasions they made their 
 appearance with prodigious splendour, and had the opportunity of displaying 
 their accomplishments to the greatest advantage. The ladies also were proud of 
 seeing their professed champions engaged in these arduous conflicts; and, 
 perhaps, a glove or riband from the hand of a favourite female might have 
 inspired the receiver with as zealous a wish for conquest, as the abstracted love 
 of glory ; though in general, I presume, both these ideas were united ; for a 
 knight divested of gallantry would have been considered as a recreant, and 
 unworthy of his profession. 
 
 Decline of Military Exercises.— When the military enthusiasm which 
 
 1 Printed by Copeland ; black letter, without date ; Garricfc's Collection, K vol. ix. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 so strongly characterised the middle ages had subsided, and chivalry was on 
 the decline, a prodigious change took place in the nurture and manners of the 
 nobility. Violent exercises requiring the exertions of muscular strength grew 
 out of fashion with persons of rank, and of course were consigned to the 
 amusement of the vulgar ; and the education of the former became proportion- 
 ably more soft and delicate. This example of the nobility was soon followed 
 by persons of less consequence ; and the neglect of military exercises prevailed 
 so generally, that the interference of the legislature was thought necessary, to 
 prevent its influence from being universally diffused, and to correct the bias of 
 the common mind; for, the vulgar readily acquiesced with the relaxation of 
 meritorious exertions, and fell into the vices of the times, resorting to such 
 games and recreations as promoted idleness and dissipation. 
 
 Decline of Chivalry. — The romantic notions of chivalry appear to have 
 lost their vigour towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, especially in 
 this country, where a continued series of intestine commotions employed the 
 exertions of every man of property, and real battles afforded but little leisure to 
 exercise the mockery of war. It is true, indeed, that tilts and tournaments 
 with other splendid exhibitions of military skill, were occasionally exercised, 
 and with great brilliancy, so far as pomp and finery contribute to make them 
 attractive, till the end of the succeeding century. These splendid pastimes 
 were encouraged by the sanction of royalty, and this sanction was perfectly 
 political ; on the one hand, it gratified the vanity of the nobility, and, on the 
 other, it amused the populace, who, being delighted with such shows of 
 grandeur, were thereby diverted from reflecting too deeply upon the grievances 
 they sustained. It is, however, certain that the jousts and tournaments of the 
 latter ages, with all their pomp, possessed but little of the primitive spirit of 
 chivalry. 
 
 Military Exercises under Henry VII. — Henry VII. patronised the 
 gentlemen and officers of his court in the practice of military exercises. The 
 following extract may serve as a specimen of the manner in which they were 
 appointed to be performed : " Whereas it ever hath bene of old antiquitie 
 used in this realme of most noble fame, for all lustye gentlemen to passe the 
 delectable season of summer after divers manner and sondry fashions of 
 disports, as in himting the red and fallowe deer with houndes, greyhoundes, 
 and the bowe ; also in hawking with hawkes of the Tower ; and other pastimes 
 right convenyent which were to long here to rehearse. And bycause it is well 
 knowen, that in the months of Male and June, all such disports be not con- 
 veniently prest and redye to be executed ; wherefore, in eschewing of idleness, 
 the ground of all vice," and to promote such exercises as " shall be honourable, 
 and also healthfull and profitable to the body," we " beseech your most noble 
 highness to permit two gentlemen, assosyatying to them two other gentlemen 
 to be their aides," by " your gracious licence, to furnish certain articles con- 
 cerning the feates of armes hereafter ensuinge " : — " In the first place ; On the 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 xxij* daye of Male, there shall be a grene tree sett up in the lawnde of Grenwich 
 parke ; whereuppon shall hange, by a grene lace, a Vergescu '^ Blanke, in which 
 white shield it shalbe lawfull for any gentleman that will annswear this chalenge 
 ensewing to subscribe his name. — Secondly ; The said two gentlemen, with 
 their two aides, shalbe redye on the xxiij'** dale of Male, being Thursdaye, and 
 on Mondaye thence next ensewinge, and so everye Thursday and Monday 
 untill the xx"" daye of June, armed for the foote, to annswear all gentlemen 
 commers, at the feate called the Barriers, with the Casting-speare, and the 
 Targett, and with the bastard-sword,^ after the manner following, that is to sale, 
 from vj of the clocke in the forenoone till sixt of the clocke in the afternoone 
 during the tyme. — Thirdly ; And the said two gentlemen, with their two aiders, 
 or one of them, shall be there redye at the said place, the daye and dayes 
 before rehearsed, to deliver any of the gentlemen answeares of one cast with the 
 speare hedded with the morne,* and seven strokes with the sword, point and 
 edge rebated, without close, or griping one another with handes, upon paine of 
 punishment as the judges for the time being shall thinke requisite. — Fourthly ; 
 And it shall not be lawfull to the challengers, nor to the answearers, with the 
 bastard sword to give or offer any foyne* to his match, upon paine of like 
 punishment. — Fifthly; The challengers shall bringe into the fielde, the said 
 dales and tymes, all manner of weapons concerning the said feates, that is to 
 sale, casting speares hedded with mornes, and bastard swords poynt and edge 
 rebated, and the answerers to have the first choice."* 
 
 *The Harleian MS. just cited contains accounts of the proclamation and 
 articles of a tilting to be held at the palace of Richmond on the birth of the 
 Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII.; of a joust at Grenwich in 1516 ; and of 
 a "Justinge, Tournay, and Fightinge at Barrier holden at the Palace of 
 Westminster," in 1540.* 
 
 Military Exercises under Henry VIII. — Henry VIII. not only 
 countenanced the practice of military pastimes by permitting them to be 
 exercised without restraint, but also endeavoured to make them fashionable by 
 his own example. Hall assures us, that, even after his accession to the throne, 
 he continued daily to amuse himself in archery, casting of the bar, wrestling or 
 dancing, and frequently in tilting, tournaying, fighting at the barriers with 
 swords, and battle-axes, and such like martial recreations, in most of which there 
 were few that could excel him. His leisure time he spent in playing at the 
 recorders, flute, and virginals, in setting of songs, singing and making of ballads.^ 
 He was also exceedingly fond of hunting, hawking, and other sports of the 
 field ; and indeed his example so far prevailed, that hunting, hawking, riding the 
 
 ' For merge csm, a virgin shield, or a white shield, without any devices, such as was borne by the tyros in chivalry 
 who had not performed any memorable action. 
 ^ A sword without edge or point. 
 
 » That is, with heads without points, or blunted so that they could do no hurt. 
 * Foyne, or foin, signifies to push or thrust with the sword, instead of strikins 
 " Harl. MS. 69, f. 56. 
 ' ^l'"'^- ff- 4b, i6b, i8. 7 Hall, Life of Henry Vlll. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 great horse, charging dexterously with the lance at the tilt, leaping, and running, 
 were necessary accomplishments of a man of fashion. ^ The pursuits and amuse- 
 ments of a nobleman are placed in a different point of view by an author of the 
 succeeding century ; ^ who, describing the person and manners of Charles, Lord 
 Mountjoy, regent of Ireland, in 1599, says, " He delighted in study, in gardens, 
 in riding on a pad to take the aire, in playing at shovelboard, at cardes, and in 
 reading of play-bookes for recreation, and especially in fishing and fish-ponds, 
 seldome using any other exercises, and using these rightly as pastimes, only for 
 a short and convenient time, and with great variety of change from one to the 
 ■other." The game of shovelboard, though now considered as exceedingly 
 vulgar, and practised by the lower classes of the people, was formerly in great 
 repute among the nobility and gentry ; and few of their mansions were without 
 a shovelboard, which was a fashionable piece of furniture. The great hall was 
 usually the place for its reception. 
 
 Princely Exercises under James I. — We are by no means in the dark 
 respecting the education of the nobility in the reign of James I.; we have, from 
 that monarch's own hand, a set of rules for the nurture and conduct of an heir 
 apparent to the throne, addressed to his eldest son Henry, prince of Wales. 
 From the third book of this remarkable publication, entitled " basiaikon aopon, 
 or, a Kinge's Christian Dutie towards God," I shall select such parts as respect 
 the recreations said to be proper for the pursuit of a nobleman, without 
 presuming to make any alteration in the diction of the royal author. 
 
 " Certainly," he says, "bodily exercises and games are very commendable, 
 as well for bannishing of idleness, the mother of all vice ; as for making the 
 body able and durable for travell, which is very necessarie for a king. But 
 from this court I debarre all rough and violent exercises; as the foote-ball, 
 meeter for lameing, than making able, the users thereof; as likewise such 
 tumbling trickes as only serve for comoedians and balladines to win their bread 
 with : but the exercises that I would have you to use, although but moderately, 
 not making a craft of them, are, running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and 
 playing at the caitch, or tennise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like other fair 
 and pleasant field-games. And the honourablest and most recommendable 
 games that yee can use on horseback ; for, it becometh a prince best of any man 
 to be a faire and good horseman : use, therefore, to ride and danton great and 
 courageous horses ; — and especially use such games on horseback as may teach 
 you to handle your arms thereon, such as the tilt, the ring, and low-riding for 
 handling of your sword. 
 
 " I cannot omit heere the hunting, namely, with running houndes, which is 
 the most honourable and noblest sort thereof; for it is a theivish forme of hunt- 
 ing to shoote with gunnes and bowes ; and greyhound hunting is not so martial 
 a game. 
 
 "As for hawkinge, I condemn it not; but I must praise it more sparingly, 
 
 ' Arte ef Rheterike by Tho. Wilson, fol. 67. ^ Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, published a.d. 1617. 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 because it neither resembleth the warres so neere as hunting doeth in ma,king a 
 man hardie and skilfully ridden in all grounds, and is more uncertam and 
 subject to mischances ; and, which is worst of all, is there through an extreme 
 stirrer up of the passions. 
 
 "As for sitting, or house pastimes — since they may at times supply the 
 roome which, being emptie, would be patent to pernicious idleness — I will not 
 therefore agree with the curiositie of some learned men of our age in forbidding 
 cardes, dice, and such like games of hazard : when It is foule and stormie 
 weather, then I say, may ye lawfully play at the cardes or tables; for, as to 
 diceing, I think it becometh best deboshed souldiers to play at on the heads of 
 their drums, being only ruled by hazard, and subject to knavish cogging ; and 
 as for the chesse, I think it over-fond, because it is over-wise and philosophicke 
 a folly." 
 
 His majesty concludes this subject with the following good advice to his 
 son : " Beware in making your sporters your councellors, and delight not to 
 keepe ordinarily in your companie comcedians or balladines." 
 
 Revival of Learning. — The discontinuation of bodily exercises afforded a 
 proportionable quantity of leisure time for the cultivation of the mind ; so that 
 the manners of mankind were softened by degrees, and learning, which had 
 been so long neglected, became fashionable, and was esteemed an indispensable 
 mark of a polite education. Yet some of the nobility maintained for a long time 
 the old prejudices in favour of the ancient mode of nurture, and preferred 
 exercise of the body to mental endowments ; such was the opinion of a person 
 of high rank, who said to Richard Pace, secretary to King Henry VHI., " It is 
 enough for the sons of noblemen to wind their horn and carry their hawke fair, 
 and leave study and learning to the children of meaner people." ^ Many of the 
 pastimes that had been countenanced by the nobility, and sanctioned by their 
 example, in the middle ages, grew into disrepute in modern times, and were 
 condemned as vulgar and unbecoming the notice of a gentleman. " Throwing 
 the hammer and wrestling," says Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, pub- 
 lished in 1622, " I hold them exercises not so well beseeming nobility, but rather 
 the soldiers in the camp and the prince's guard." On the contrary. Sir William 
 Forest, in his Poesye of Princelye Practice, a MS. in the Royal Library,^ 
 written in the year 1548, laying down the rules for the education of an heir 
 apparent to the crown, or prince of the blood royal, writes thus : 
 
 "So must a prince, at some convenient brayde, 
 In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence : 
 Too ryde, runne, leape, or caste by violence 
 Stone, barre, or plummett, or suche other thinge, 
 It not refusethe any prince or kynge." 
 
 However, I doubt not both these authors spoke agreeably to the taste of the 
 times in which they lived. Barclay, a more early poetic writer, in his Eclogues 
 
 ' Biograph. Brit. p. 1236. a No. 17 D. iii. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 first published in 1 508, has made a shepherd boast of his skill in archery ; to 
 which he adds, 
 
 " I can dance the raye ; I can both pipe and sing, 
 If I were mery ; I can both hurle and sling ; 
 I runne, I wrestle, I can well throve the barre, 
 No shepherd throweth the axeltree so farre ; 
 If I were mery, I could well leape and spring ; 
 I were a man mete to serve a prince or king." 
 
 Recreations of the Seventeenth Century. — Burton, in his Anatomy 
 of Melancholy, published in 1660, gives us a general view of the sports most 
 prevalent in the seventeenth century. " Cards, dice, hawkes, and hounds," says 
 he, "are rocks upon which men lose themselves, when they are imprudently 
 handled, and beyond their fortunes." And again, " Hunting and hawking are 
 honest recreations, and fit for some great men, but not for every base inferior 
 person, who, while they maintain their faulkoner, and dogs, and hunting nags, 
 their wealth runs away with their hounds, and their fortunes fly away with their 
 hawks." In another place he speaks thus : " Ringing, bowling, shooting, 
 playing with keel-pins, tronks, coits, pitching of bars, hurling, wrestling, leaping, 
 running, fencing, mustering, swimming, playing with wasters, foils, foot-balls, 
 balowns, running at the quintain, and the like, are common recreations of country 
 folks ; riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments, horse-races, 
 and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men, and good in them- 
 selves, though many gentlemen by such means gallop quite out of their fortunes." 
 Speaking of the Londoners, he says, " They take pleasure to see some pageant 
 or sight go by, as at a coronation, wedding, and such like solemn niceties ; to 
 see an ambassador or a prince received and entertained with masks, shows, and 
 fireworks. The country hath also his recreations, as May-games, feasts, fairs, 
 and wakes." The following pastimes he considers as common both in town and 
 country, namely, " bull-baitings and bear-baitings, in which our countrymen and 
 citizens greatly delight, and frequently use ; dancers on ropes, jugglers, comedies, 
 tragedies, artillery gardens, and cock-fighting." He then goes on : " Ordinary 
 recreations we have in winter, as cards, tables, dice, shovelboard, chess-play, the 
 philosopher's game, small trunks, shuttlecock, billiards, music, masks, singing, 
 dancing, ulegames, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches, cross purposes, questions and 
 commands, merry tales of errant knights, queens, lovers, lords, ladie§7^iants, 
 dwarfs, thieves, cheaters, witches, fairies, goblins, and friars." To this catalogue 
 he adds : " Dancing, singing, masking, mumming, and stage-plays, are reason- 
 able recreations, if in season ; as are May-games, wakes, and Whitson-ales, if 
 not at unseasonable hours, are justly permitted. Let them," that is, the common 
 people, "freely feast, sing, dance, have puppet-plays, hobby-horses, tabers, 
 crowds,^ and bag-pipes " : let them " play at ball and barley-brakes " ; and 
 afterwards, " Plays, masks, jesters, gladiators, tumblers, and jugglers, are to be 
 winked at, lest the people should do worse than attend them." 
 
 ' Crowd is an ancient name for the violin. 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 A character in the Cornish Comedy, written by George Powell, and 
 acted at Dorset Garden in 1696, says, "What is a gentleman without his 
 recreations ? With these we endeavour to pass away that time which otherwise 
 would lie heavily upon our hands. Hawks, hounds, setting-dogs, and cocks, 
 with their appurtenances, are the true marks of a country gentleman." This 
 character is supposed to be a young heir just come to his estate. " My cocks," 
 says he, "are true cocks of the game — I make a match of cock-fighting, and 
 then an hundred or two pounds are soon won, for I never fight a battle under." 
 
 Old Sports of the Citizens of London. — In addition to the May-games, 
 morris-dancings, pageants and processions, which were commonly exhibited 
 throughout the kingdom in all great towns and cities, the Londoners had 
 peculiar and extensive privileges of hunting, hawking, and fishing ; they had 
 also large portions of ground allotted to them in the vicinity of the city for the 
 practice of such pastimes as were not prohibited by the government, and for 
 those especially that were best calculated to render them strong and healthy. 
 We are told by Fitz Stephen, in the twelfth century, that on the holidays during 
 the summer season, the young men of London exercised themselves in the fields 
 with "leaping, shooting with the bow, wrestling, casting the stone, playing with 
 the ball, and fighting with their shields." The last species of pastime, I believe, 
 is the same that Stow, in his Survey of London, calls "practising with their 
 wasters and bucklers " ; which in his day was exercised by the apprentices before 
 the doors of their masters. The city damsels had also their recreations on the 
 celebration of these festivals, according to the testimony of both the authors just 
 mentioned. The first tells us that they played upon citherns,^ and danced to the 
 music ; and as this amusement probably did not take place before the close of 
 the day, they were, it seems, occasionally permitted to continue it by moonlight. 
 We learn from the other, who wrote at the distance of more than four centuries, 
 that it was then customary for the maidens, after evening prayers, to dance in 
 the presence of their masters and mistresses, while one of their companions played 
 the measure upon a timbrel ; and, in order to stimulate, them to pursue this 
 exercise with alacrity, the best dancers were rewarded with garlands, the prizes 
 being exposed to public view, "hanged athwart the street," says Stow, during 
 the whole of the performance. This recital calls to my mind a passage in 
 Spenser's " Epithalamium," wherein it appears that the dance was sometimes 
 accompanied with singing. It runs thus : 
 
 " The damsels they delight, 
 
 When they their timbrels smite. 
 
 And thereunto dance and carol sweet." 
 
 Later Pastimes of the Londoners.— A general view of the pastimes prac- 
 tised by the Londoners soon after the commencement of the eighteenth century 
 
 ' The v'ords of Fitz Stephen are, Puellarum cithara duett choros, ei pede libera puUatur tellus, usque imminenU 
 lutia. The word ctthara. Stow renders, but I think not justly, timbrels. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 occurs in Strype's edition of Stow's Survey of London, published in 1720.^ 
 " The modern sports of the citizens," says the editor, " besides drinking, are 
 cock-fighting, bowling upon greens, playing at tables, or backgammon, cards, 
 dice, and billiards ; also musical entertainments, dancing, masks, balls, stage- 
 plays, and club-meetings, in the evenings ; they sometimes ride out on horse- 
 back, and hunt with the lord-mayor's pack of dogs when the common hunt goes 
 out. The lower classes divert themselves at football, wrestling, cudgels, nine- 
 pins, shovelboard, cricket, stowball, ringing of bells, quoits, pitching the bar, 
 bull and bear baitings, throwing at cocks," and, what is worst of all, " lying at 
 ale-houses." To these are added, by an author of later date, Maitland, in 
 his History of London, published in 1739, "Sailing, rowing, swimming and 
 fishing, in the river Thames, horse and foot races, leaping, archery, bowling in 
 allies, and skittles, tennice, chess, and draughts ; and in the winter seating, 
 sliding, and shooting." Duck-hunting was also a favourite amusement, but 
 generally practised in the summer. The pastimes here enumerated were by no 
 means confined to the city of London, or its environs : the larger part of them 
 were in general practice throughout the kingdom. 
 
 CoTSWOLD AND CoRNiSH Games. — Before I quit this division of my subject, 
 I shall mention the annual celebration of games upon Cotswold Hills, in Glou- 
 cestershire, to which prodigious multitudes constantly resorted. Robert Dover, 
 an attorney, of Barton on the Heath, in the county of Warwick, was forty years 
 the chief director of these pastimes. They consisted of wrestling, cudgel- 
 playing, leaping, pitching the bar, throwing the sledge, tossing the pike, with 
 various other feats of strength and activity ; many of the country gentlemen 
 hunted or coursed the hare ; and the women danced. A castle of boards was 
 erected on this occasion, from which guns were frequently discharged. " Captain 
 Dover received permission from James I. to hold these sports ; and he appeared 
 at their celebration in the very clothes which that monarch had formerly worn, 
 but with much more dignity in his air and aspect." ^ I do not mean to say that 
 the Cotswold games were invented, or even first established, by Captain Dover ; 
 on the contrary, they seem to be of much higher origin, and are evidently 
 alluded to in the following lines by John Hey wood the epigrammatist : ^ 
 
 " He fometh like a bore, the beaste should seeme bolde, 
 For he is as fierce as a lyon of Cotswolde." 
 
 Something of the same sort, I presume, was the Carnival, kept every year, about 
 the middle of July, upon Halgaver-moor, near Bodmin in Cornwall ; " resorted 
 to by thousands of people," says Heath, in his description of Cornwall, published 
 in 1750. " The sports and pastimes here held were so well liked by Charles H. 
 when he touched here in his way to Sicily, that he became a brother of the 
 
 ' Vol. i. p. 257. 
 
 ^ Atkcn. Oxen. ii. col. 812; and see Grainger's ^lO/ra/^jVa/ History, vol. ii. p. 398. Svo. *There is a good 
 illustrated account of these Cotswold Games in Chambers' Book of Days, i. 712-714. 
 ' In his Proverbs, part i. chap. II. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 jovial society. The custom of keeping this carnival is said to be as old as the 
 
 Saxons." 
 
 Splendour of the Ancient Kings and Nobility. — Paul Hentzner, a 
 foreign writer, who visited this country at the close of the sixteenth century, | 
 says of the English, in his Itinerary, written in 1598, that they are " serious like j 
 the Germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole ! 
 troops of servants, who wear their master's arms in silver." This was no new 
 propensity: the English nobility at all times affected great parade, seldom i 
 appearing abroad without large trains of servitors and retainers ; and the lower 
 classes of the people delighted in gaudy shows, pageants, and processions. 
 
 If we go back to the times of the Saxons, we shall find that, soon after 
 their establishment in Britain, their monarchs assumed great state. Bede tells 
 us that Edwin, king of Northumberland, lived in much splendour, never 
 travelling without a numerous retinue ; and when he walked in the streets of his 
 own capital, even in the times of peace, he had a standard borne before him. This 
 standard was of the kind called by the Romans tufa, and by the English tuuf : 
 it was made with feathers of various colours in the form of a globe, and fastened 
 upon a pole.^ It is unnecessary to multiply citations ; for which reason }. shall 
 only add another. Canute the Dane, who is said to have been the richest and 
 most magnificent prince of his time in Europe, rarely appeared in public without 
 being followed by a train of three thousand horsemen, well mounted and com- 
 pletely armed. These attendants, who were called house carls, formed a corps 
 of body guards or household troops, and were appointed for the honour and 
 safety of that prince's person.^ The examples of royalty were followed by the 
 nobility and persons of opulence. 
 
 In the middle ages, the love of show was carried to an extravagant length ; 
 and as a man of fashion was nothing less than a man of letters, those studies 
 that were best calculated to improve the mind were held in little estimation. 
 
 Royal and Noble Entertainments. — The courts of princes and the 
 castles of the great barons were daily crowded with numerous retainers, who 
 were always welcome to their masters' tables. The noblemen had their privy 
 counsellors, treasurers, marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, chaplains, 
 heralds, pursuivants, pages, henchmen or guards, trumpeters, and all the other 
 officers of the royal court.^ To these may be added whole companies of 
 minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers, rope-dancers, and players ; and especially : 
 on days of public festivity, when, in every one of the apartments opened for the 
 reception of the guests, were exhibited variety of entertainments, according to 
 the taste of the times, but in which propriety had very little share ; the whole 
 forming a scene of pompous confusion, where feasting, drinking, music, dancing, 
 tumbling, singing, and buffoonery, were jumbled together, and mirth excited too 
 often at the expense of common decency.* If we turn to the third Book of 
 
 ' Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. ii. cap. i6. ^ Henry's Hist. vol. ii. lib. v. cap. 7. 
 
 ' See the Northumberland Family-Book. * Johan. Sarisburiensis, lib. i. c. viii. p. 34. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 Fame, a poem written by our own countryman Chaucer, we shall find a perfect 
 picture of these tumultuous court entertainments, drawn, I doubt not, from 
 reality, and perhaps without any exaggeration. It may be thus expressed in 
 modern language : Minstrels of every kind were stationed in the receptacles for 
 the guests ; among them were jesters, that related tales of mirth and of sorrow ; 
 excellent players upon the harp, with others of inferior merit seated on various 
 seats below them, who mimicked their performances like apes to excite 
 laughter ; behind them, at a great distance, was a prodigious number of other 
 minstrels, making a great sound with cornets, shaulms, flutes, horns, pipes of 
 various kinds, and some of them made with green corn,^ such as are used by 
 shepherds' boys ; there were also Dutch pipers to assist those who chose to 
 dance either "love-dances, springs, 'or rayes," or any other new-devised 
 measures. Apart from these were stationed the trumpeters and players on the 
 clarion ; and other seats were occupied by different musicians playing variety of 
 mirthful tunes. There were also present large companies of jugglers, magicians, 
 and tregetors, who exhibited surprising tricks by the assistance of natural 
 magic. 
 
 Vast sums of money were expended in support of these spectacles, by 
 which the estates of the nobility were consumed, and the public treasuries often 
 exhausted. But we shall have occasion to speak more fully on this subject 
 hereafter. 
 
 Civic Shows. — In London, pageants and displays, or triumphs, were fre- 
 quently required ait the reception of foreign monarchs, or at the processions of 
 our own kings and queens through the city to Westminster previous to their 
 coronation, or at their return from abroad, and on various other occasions ; 
 besides such as occurred at stated times, as the lord mayor's show, the setting 
 of the midsummer watch, and the like. A considerable number of different 
 artificers were kept, at the city's expense, to furnish the machinery for the 
 pageants, and to decorate them. Stow tells us that, in his memory, great part 
 of Leaden Hall was appropriated to the purpose of painting and depositing the 
 pageants for the use of the city. 
 
 The want of elegance and propriety, so glaringly evident in these 
 temporary exhibitions, was supplied, or attempted to be supplied, by a tawdry 
 resemblance of splendour. The fronts of the houses in the streets through 
 which the processions passed were covered with rich adornments of tapestry, 
 arras, and cloth of gold ; the chief magistrates and most opulent citizens usually 
 appeared on horseback in sumptuous habits and joined the cavalcade ; while the 
 ringing of bells, the sound of music from various quarters, and the shouts of the 
 populace, nearly stunned the ears of the spectators. At certain distances, in 
 places appointed for the purpose, the pageants were erected, which were 
 temporary buildings representing castles, palaces, gardens, rocks, or forests, as 
 the occasion required, where nymphs, fawns, satyrs, gods, goddesses, angels, and 
 
 ' Fypes made of greene corne are also mentioned in the Romance of the Rose. 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 devils, appeared in company with giants, savages, dragons, saints, knights, 
 buffoons, and dwarfs, surrounded by minstrels and choristers ; the heathen 
 mythology, the legends of chivalry and Christian divinity, were ridiculously 
 jumbled together, without meaning ; and the exhibition usually concluded with 
 dull pedantic harangues, exceedingly tedious, and replete with the grossest 
 adulation. The giants especially were favourite performers in the pageants ; 
 they also figured away with great applause in the pages of romance ; and, 
 together with dragons and necromancers, were created by the authors for the 
 sole purpose of displaying the prowess of their heroes, whose business it was to 
 destroy them. 
 
 Some faint traces of the processional parts of these exhibitions were 
 retained at London in the lord mayor's show about twenty or thirty years ago ; ^ 
 but the pageants and orations have been long discontinued, and the show itself 
 is so much contracted that it is in reality altogether unworthy of such an 
 appellation. 
 
 *Merry England. — Outside military pastimes, and the sports of princes, or 
 of noblemen, and gentlefolk at large, it must not be forgotten that the townsmen 
 had many an opportunity of amusement and enjoyment after their own heart. 
 In pre- Reformation days their feasts and frolics and plays were usually associated 
 with, or at all events somewhat slightly allied to the observances of religion. In 
 his chapter on " Gilds and Misteries," Mr J. A. Wylie, the historian of Henry 
 IV., gives a vivid and faithful picture of this side of town gild life of the fifteenth 
 century : — 
 
 " England was then ' Merry England,' and sad and sober pleasure was not 
 the people's creed. The brethren did not put in their weekly shot merely to 
 dole groats to pittancers, or help the bedrid and brokelegged, or find poor 
 scholars to school, or dower poor girls, or burn their soul-candles round the corpse 
 of a dead brother, or follow at his forthbringing and 'terment. Such duties were 
 soon relegated to chaplains, who were paid and lodged at the cost of the gild. 
 The gildsmen lived for mirth, joy, sweetness, courtesy and merry disports. 
 Once every year came the Gild-day, usually on a Sunday or one of the greater 
 feasts, when the brethren, fairly and honestly arrayed in their new hoods, gowns, 
 and cloaks, in livery suit of murrey, crimson, white, or green, would assemble at 
 daybreak, and form up in the house or hall of their craft. In front rode the 
 beadle or crier, in scarlet tabard or demigown. Next came the pipers, trumpers, 
 corners, clarioners, cornemusers, shalmusers, and other minstrelsy, clad in verdulet, 
 rayed plunket, or russet motley; and then the craftsmen, mounted or a-foot, 
 moving in procession through the streets to the church where their chantry was 
 appointed. They carried with them a huge wax serge, sometimes weighing 
 fifty pounds, to burn before the shrine of their saint. Then began the morn- 
 speech, communion, or speaking together, which was usually held in the church 
 while the mass was proceeding, where the year's accounts were squared, the gild 
 
 ' [Before 1801.] 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 chattels were laid on the checker, points were promulgated, defaulters announced, 
 new members enrolled, and the Master, Skevins, Proctors, Dean, Clerk, Summoner, 
 and other officers elected for the coming year. Thence they returned to the hall 
 for the general feast, otherwise known as the drink, the meat, or the mangery. 
 The walls would be hung with ballings of stained worsted, and dight with birch 
 boughs, and the floor over-strawed with mats, or a litter of sedge and rushes, 
 that swarmed with the quick beasts that tickle men o' nights. The benches were 
 fit with gay bankers, before tables set on trestle-trees spread with board-cloths 
 of clean nap. On these was laid a garnish of pewter or treen, together with 
 the masers and silver spoons bequeathed by brethren since dead. Men and 
 women alike brought their beaker of ale, and the poor received their share of the 
 good things by the custom of the day. Each member was required to bring his 
 wife or his lass, and the sick brother or sister had still to pay his score, though he 
 might have his bottle of ale and his mess of kitchen stuff sent to his own house 
 if he wished. If any disturbed the fellowship with brabbling or high language, 
 the Dean delivered him the yard [of scourging], or fined him in two pounds of 
 wax, to be paid in to the light-silver. The cook was often a brother of the gild, 
 and skilled waferers were always to be had for a price. When all had washed 
 and wiped, the Graceman placed them in a row with his silver wand, and the 
 Clerk stood up and called ' Peace,' while prayers were said for England and the 
 Church. 
 
 * " The feast began with good bread and brown ale. Then came the bruets, 
 joints, worts, gruel aillies and other pottage, the big meat, the lamb tarts and 
 capon pasties, the cockentrice or double roast [i.e. griskin and pullet stitched 
 with thread, or great and small birds stewed together), and served in a silver 
 posnet or pottinger, the charlets, chewets, collops, mammenies, mortreus, and 
 other such toothsome entremets of meat served in gobbets and sod in ale, wine, 
 milk, eggs, sugar, honey, marrow, spices, and verjuice made from grapes or crabs. 
 Then came the subtleties, daintily worked like pigeons, curlews, or popinjays in 
 sugar and paste, painted in gold and silver, with mottoes coming out of their bills ; 
 and after them the spiced cake-bread, the Frenchbread, the pastelades, doucets, 
 dariols, flauns, pain-puffs, rastons, and blancmanges, with cherries, drajes, blan- 
 drells, and cheese, and a standing cup of good wine left by some former brother 
 to drink him every year to mind. 
 
 * " When the cloth was up and the boards were drawn, came the merrymak- 
 ing and the hoy-trolly-lolly. They laughed and cried at the jester's bourds, or 
 the gitener's glee; they watched the tregetoners sleight, or they diced and 
 raffled, while the sautryours and other minstrels harped, piped, gitterned, 
 flutted, and fitheled a merry fit aloft. As they left the hall they gathered about 
 the leapers and tumblers, or thronged the bearward and the apeward to enjoy 
 the grins, mous, and gambols of their darlings, or formed a ring about the bear- 
 stake to see the baiting with the dogs. Or the summer afternoon would be 
 spent in running a bull, when the poor brute's skin was daubed with smear, 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 its tail cut, and its horns sawn off, the sport being to goad it with dogs and 
 sticks and see who could get near enough to cut a few hairs from its greased 
 
 back. 
 
 * " But the great diversion of our forefathers was mumming. Give them but 
 free air and an antic guise, and they would mask and mime with all the serious- 
 ness of children at play. Every mistery must have its riding, and every gild 
 its procession. At Beverley, on St Helen's Day, the gildsmen dressed up a boy 
 as a queen to represent the saint. One old man marched before her with a 
 cross, and another with a spade ; the music played up, and the brethren and 
 sistern followed the parade to church. At Candelmas, a man in woman's dress 
 represented the Virgin Mary, and carried ' what might seem ' a baby in his 
 arms, Joseph and Simeon walked behind him, and two angels carrying a heavy 
 candlestick, with twenty-four wax lights. At York they showed the Vices and 
 Virtues by means of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, or they acted out the 
 articles of the Creed, while the gildsmen in their livery rode with the players on 
 the route. At Leicester the images of St Martin and the Virgin were borne 
 through the streets with music and singing, twelve of the gildsmen making up as 
 the Apostles, each with his name stuck in his cap. At Norwich, on St George's 
 Day, they chose their George and a man to bear his sword and be his carver ; 
 two of the brethren bore the banner and two ' the wax,' and the rest rode with 
 them in their livery round the town. The Norwich peltyers (skinners) dressed 
 up 'a knave-child innocent,' with a large candle in his hand, and led him 
 through the city to the minster, ' betwyxen two good men,' in memory of St 
 William, the boy martyr, to foster hatred against the Jews. At Canterbury, 
 every 6th of July, at the city march, a cart was drawn about the streets, showing 
 a boy vested as ' Bishop Becket ' struck down before an altar by four other 
 children, who played the knights ; and as the martyr fell beneath their blows, 
 real blood was spurted on his forehead from a leather bag, which was carried in 
 reserve for use at a given signal. At Cambridge, the scholars of Michaelhouse 
 played a comedy in masks, beards, and embroidered cloaks. In London, the 
 brethren of the fraternity of SS. Fabian and Sebastian carried 'the Branch' 
 springing from the root of Jesse, dressed out with lighted candles, to the church 
 of St Bololph, Aldersgate. On St Nicholas Eve (Dec. 5th), the chorister boys 
 in every cathedral, and probably in every collegiate and parish church where 
 singing boys were found, elected one of their number to be their ' Barne- Bishop,' 
 or ' St Nicholas Bishop,' and to rule the services of the church, in mitre, ring, 
 gloves, cope, surplice, rochet, and full pontificals. He rode or strutted about the 
 streets with his crozier borne before him, blessing the crowd, and collecting their 
 pennies in a glove, with his canons, chaplains, clerks, vergers, and candle- 
 bearers till Childermas. 
 
 * " Each season brought its ales, its mayings-round-the-shaft, its Piffany 
 mummings, its Candelmas, Hochtide, and Yule ; but Corpus Christi was the feast 
 of feasts, when the gildsmen carried torches, candles, and banners around the 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 Blessed Sacrament as it passed through the streets, and all the town turned out 
 at sunrise to watch the annual play. 
 
 * " They could play you gracious mysteries grounded in Scripture, such as the 
 story of the Children of Israel, or of Moses in Egypt, or legends of the martyr- 
 dom of Saints Salenia and Feliciana, or of St Catherine of Alexandria and the 
 angels feeding her in her torture house, and smashing the wheel like bruchel 
 glass, or the miracles of St Nicholas, the hearer of prayer, who sent the hand- 
 some suitors in the very nick of time to the poor but virtuous gentleman with 
 the pretty penniless daughters, and brought the little boys back to life after they 
 had been cut up in the pickle-butt by the naughty taverner. , . . Such exhibi- 
 tions were usually known in England as ' the miracles,' or ' the marvels,' and 
 occasionally ' the mysteries ' ; we trace them wherever town records are pre- 
 served, and they penetrated even to the remotest manor-house and the most 
 secluded village." ^ 
 
 Setting Out of Pageants. — In an old play. The Historie of Promos and 
 Cassandra, by George Whetstone, printed in 1578,^ a carpenter, and others, 
 employed in preparing the pageants for a royal procession, are introduced. In 
 one part of the city the artificer is ordered " to set up the frames, and to space 
 out the rooms, that the Nine Worthies may be so instauled as best to please the 
 eye." The "Worthies" are thus named in an heraldical MS. in the Harleian 
 Library :^ " Duke Jossua ; Hector of Troy ; kyng David ; emperour Alexander ; 
 Judas Machabyes ; emperour Julyus Csesar ; kyng Arthur ; emperour Charle- 
 magne ; and syr Guy of Warwycke " ; but the place of the latter was frequently, 
 and I believe originally, supplied by Godefroy, earl of Bologne : it appears, 
 however, that any of them might be changed at pleasure, Henry VIII. was 
 made a " Worthy " to please his daughter Mary, as we shall find a little further 
 on. In another part of the same play the carpenter is commanded to "errect a 
 stage, that the wayghtes * in sight may stand " ; one of the city gates was to be 
 occupied by the fowre Virtues, together with "a consort of music" ; and one of 
 the pageants is thus whimsically described : 
 
 " They have Hercules of monsters conquering ; 
 Huge great giants, in a forrest, fighting 
 With lions, bears, wolves, apes, foxes, and grayes, 
 
 Baiards and brockes 
 
 Oh, these be wondrous frayes ! " 
 
 The stage direction then requires the entry of " Two men apparelled lyke greene 
 men at the mayor's feast, with clubbs of fyreworks " ; whose office, we are told, 
 was to keep a clear passage in the street, " that the kyng and his trayne might 
 pass with ease." In another dramatic performance of later date. Green's Tu 
 Quoque, or the City Gallant, published in 16 14, a city apprentice says, " By this 
 light, I doe not thinke but to be lord mayor of London before I die ; and have 
 
 1 Wylie's History of England under Henry IV., vol, iii. ch. 75. = Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, H. vol, iii. 
 
 ' No. 2220, fol, 7, * Or waits, the band of city minstrels. 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 three pageants carried before me, besides a ship and an unicorn." The follow- 
 ing passage occurs in Selden's Table Talk, under the article Judge, "We see the 
 pageants in Cheapside, the lions and the elephants ; but we do not see the men 
 that carry them ; we see the Judges look big like lions ; but we do not see who 
 moves them." 
 
 Processions of Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain in London.— 
 In the foregoing quotations, we have not the least necessity to make an allow- 
 ance for poetical licence : the historians of the time will justify the poets, and 
 perfectly clear them from any charge of exaggeration; and especially Hall, 
 Grafton, and Holinshed, who are exceedingly diffuse on this and such like 
 popular subjects. The latter has recorded a very curious piece of pantomimical 
 trickery exhibited at the time that the Princess Mary went in procession through 
 the city of London, the day before her coronation : — At the upper end of Grace- 
 church Street there was a pageant made by the Florentines ; it was very high ; 
 and "on the top thereof there stood foure pictures; and in the midst of them, 
 and the highest, there stood an angell, all in greene, with a trumpet in his hand ; 
 and when the trumpetter who stood secretlie within the pageant, did sound his 
 trumpet, the angell did put his trumpet to his mouth, as though it had been the 
 same that had sounded." Holinshed, speaking of the spectacles exhibited at 
 London, when Philip king of Spain, with Mary his consort, made their public 
 entry in the city, calls them, in the margin of his Chronicle, " the vaine pageants 
 of London " ; and he uses the same epithet twice in the description immediately 
 subsequent ; " Now," says he, "as the king came to London, and as he entered 
 at the drawbridge, [on London Bridge,] there was a vaine great spectacle, with 
 two images representing two giants, the one named Corinens, and the other 
 Gog-magog, holding betweene them certeine Latin verses, which, for the vaine 
 ostentation of flatterye, I overpasse." He then adds : " From the bridge they 
 passed to the conduit in Gratious Street, which was finely painted ; and, among 
 other things," there exhibited, "were the Nine Worthies; of these King Henry 
 yilL was one. He was painted in harnesse, having in one hand a sword, and 
 in the other hand a booke, whereupon was written Verbum Dei. He was also 
 delivering, as it were, the same booke to his sonne King Edward VL who was 
 painted in a corner by him." ^ 
 
 The Nine Worthies appear to have been favourite characters, and were 
 often exhibited in the pageants ; those mentioned in the preceding passage were 
 probably nothing more than images of wood or pasteboard. These august 
 personages were not, however, always degraded in this manner, but, on the 
 contrary, they were frequently personified by human beings suitably habited, and 
 sometimes mounted on horseback. They also occasionally harangued the 
 spectators as they passed in the procession. 
 
 Chester Pageants.— The same species of shows, but probably not upon 
 so extensive a scale, were exhibited in other cities and large towns throughout 
 
 ' Holinshed, vol. iil. pp. logi, iijo, etc. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 the kingdom. I have now before me an ordinance for the mayor, aldermen, and 
 common councilmen of the city of Chester, to provide yearly for the setting of 
 the watch, on the eve of the festival of Saint John the Baptist, a pageant, which 
 is expressly said to be " according to ancient custome," consisting of four giants, 
 one unicorn, one dromedary, one luce, one camel, one ass, one dragon, six 
 hobby-horses, and sixteen naked boys. This ordinance is dated April 26th, 
 1564.^ In another MS. of the same library, it is said, "a.d. 1599, Henry 
 Hardware, esq. the mayor, was a godly and zealous man " ; he caused " the 
 gyauntes in the midsomer show to be broken," and not to goe ; " the devil in his 
 feathers," alluding perhaps to some fantastic representation not mentioned in the 
 former ordinance, " he put awaye, and the cuppes and Cannes, and the dragon 
 and the naked boys." In a more modern hand it is added, "And he caused a 
 man in complete armour to go in their stead. He also caused the bull-ring to 
 be taken up," etc. But in the year 1601, John Ratclyffe, beer- brewer, being 
 mayor, "sett out the giaunts and midsommer show, as of oulde it was wont to 
 be kept." ^ In the time of the Commonwealth this spectacle was discontinued, 
 and the giants, with the beasts, were destroyed. At the restoration of Charles 
 II. it was agreed by the citizens to replace the pageant as usual, on the eve of 
 the festival of St John the Baptist, in 1661 ; and as the following computation 
 of the charges for the different parts of the show are exceedingly curious, I shall 
 lay them before the reader without any further apology. We are told that " all 
 things were to be made new, by reason the ould modells were all broken." The 
 computist then proceeds : " For finding all the materials, with the workmanship 
 of the four great giants, all to be made new, as neere as may be lyke as they 
 were before, at five pounds a giant the least that can be, and four men to carry 
 them at two shillings and six pence each." The materials for the composition 
 of these monsters are afterwards specified to be " hoops of various magnitudes, 
 and other productions of the cooper, deal boards, nails, pasteboard, scaleboard 
 paper of various sorts, with buckram, size cloth, and old sheets for their bodies, 
 sleeves, and shirts, which were to be coloured." One pair of the "olde sheets" 
 were provided to cover the " father and mother giants." Another article 
 specifies " three yards of buckram for the mother's and daughter's hoods " ; 
 which seems to prove that three of these stupendous pasteboard personages 
 were the representatives of females. There were "also tinsille, tinfoil, gold and 
 silver leaf, and colours of different kinds, with glue and paste in abundance." 
 Respecting the last article, a very ridiculous entry occurs in the bill of charges, 
 it runs thus : " For arsnick to put into the paste to save the giants from being 
 eaten by the rats, one shilling and fourpence." But to go on with the estimate. 
 "For the new making the city mount, called the maior's mount, as auntiently it 
 was, and for hreing of bays for the same, and a man to carry it, three pounds six 
 shillings and eight pence." The bays mentioned in this and the succeeding 
 article was hung round the bottom of the frame, and extended to the ground, or 
 
 > No. 1968, f. 576. = Harl. MS. 2125. 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 near it, to conceal the bearers. " For making anew the merchant mount, as it 
 aunciently was, with a ship to turn round, the hiring of the bays, and five men 
 to carry it, four pounds." The ship and new dressing it, is charged at five 
 shillings ; it was probably made with pasteboard, which seems to have been a 
 principal'article in the manufacturing of both the moveable mountains; it was 
 turned by means of a swivel attached to an iron handle underneath the frame. 
 In the bill of charges for "the merchant's mount," is an entry of twenty pence 
 paid to a joyner for cutting the pasteboard into several images. " For making 
 anew the elephant and castell, and a Cupid," with his bow and arrows, " suitable 
 to it," the castle was covered with tinfoil, and the Cupid with skins, so as to 
 appear to be naked, " and also for two men to carry them, one pound sixteen 
 shillings and eight-pence. For making anew the four beastes called the 
 unicorne, the antelop, the flower-de-luce, and the camell, one pound sixteen 
 shillings and fourpence apiece, and for eight men to carry them, sixteen 
 shillings. For four hobby-horses, six shillings and eight-pence apiece ; and for 
 four boys to carry them, four shillings. For hance-staves, garlands, and balls, 
 for the attendants upon the mayor and sheriffs, one pound nineteen shillings. 
 For makinge anew the dragon, and for six naked boys to beat at it, one pound 
 sixteen shillings. For six morris-dancers, with a pipe and tabret, twenty 
 shillings." 
 
 The sports exhibited on occasions of solemnity did not terminate with the 
 pageants and processions ; the evening was generally concluded with festivity 
 and diversions of various kinds to please the populace. These amusements are 
 well described in a few lines by an early dramatic poet, whose name is not 
 known ; his performance is entitled A pleasant and stately Morall of the Three 
 Lordes of London, black letter, no date :^ 
 
 -Let nothing that's niagnifical, 
 
 Or that may tend to London's graceful state, 
 Be unperformed, as showes and solemne feasts, 
 Watches in armour, triumphes, cresset lights, 
 Bonefires, belles, and peales of ordinaunce 
 And pleasure. See that plaies be published, 
 Mai-games and maskes, with mirth and minstrelsie. 
 Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-plaies." 
 
 The " cresset light " was a large Ian thorn placed upon a long pole, and 
 carried upon men's shoulders. There is extant a copy of a letter from Henry 
 VII. to the mayor and aldermen of London, commanding them to make bon- 
 fires, and to show other marks of rejoicing in the city, when the contract was 
 ratified for the marriage of his daughter Mary with the prince of Castile.^ 
 
 Public Shows in the Sixteenth Century. — These motley displays of 
 pomp and absurdity were highly relished by the nobility, and repeatedly 
 exhibited by them, on extraordinary occasions. For want of more rational 
 entertainments, they maintained for ages their popularity, and do not appear to 
 
 ^ Garrick'g Collection of Old Plays. ' Cotton MS. Titus, B. i. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxix 
 
 have lost the smallest portion of their attraction by the frequency of representa- 
 tion. Shows of this kind were never more fashionable than in the sixteenth 
 century, when they were generally encouraged by persons of the highest rank, 
 and exhibited with very little essential variation ; and especially during the 
 reign of Henry VIII. His daughter Elizabeth appears to have been equally 
 pleased with this species of pageantry ; and therefore it was constantly provided 
 for her amusement by the nobility whom she visited from time to time, in her 
 progresses or excursions to various parts of the kingdom.^ I shall simply give 
 the outlines of a succession of entertainments contrived to divert her when she 
 visited the Earl of Leicester at Kenelworth Castle, and this shall serve as a 
 specimen for the rest. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth. — Her majesty came thither on 
 Saturday, the ninth of July 1575 ;^ she was met near the castle by a fictitious 
 Sibyl, who promised peace and prosperity to the country during her reign. 
 Over the first gate of the castle there stood six gigantic figures with trumpets, 
 real trumpeters being stationed behind them, who sounded as the queen 
 approached. " By this dumb show," says my author, " it was meant that in the 
 daies of King Arthur, men were of that stature ; so that the castle of Kenel- 
 worth should seem still to be kept by King Arthur's heirs and their servants." 
 Laneham says these figures were eight feet high. Upon her majesty entering 
 the gateway, the porter, in the character of Hercules, made an oration and 
 presented to her the keys. Being come into the bq,se court, a lady " came all 
 over the pool, being so conveyed, that it seemed she had gone upon the water ; 
 she was attended by two water nymphs, and calling herself the Lady of the 
 Lake, she addressed her majesty with a speech prepared for the purpose." The 
 queen then proceeded to the inner court, and passed the bridge, which was 
 rallied on both sides, and the tops of the posts were adorned with "sundry 
 presents and gifts," as of wine, corn, fruits, fishes, fowls, instruments of music, 
 and weapons of war. Laneham calls the adorned posts "well-proportioned 
 pillars turned " : he tells us there were fourteen of them, seven on each side of 
 the bridge ; on the first pair were birds of various kinds alive in cages, said to 
 be the presents of the god Silvanus ; on the next pair were different sorts of 
 fruits in silver bowls, the gift of the goddess Pomona ; on the third pair were 
 different kinds of grain in silver bowls, the gift of Ceres ; on the fourth, in 
 silvered pots, were red and white wine with clusters of grapes in a silver bowl, 
 the gift of Bacchus ; on the fifth were fishes of various kinds in trays, the 
 donation of Neptune ; on the sixth were weapons of war, the gift of Mars ; and 
 on the seventh, various musical instruments, the presents of Apollo. The 
 meaning of these emblematical decorations was explained in a Latin speech 
 delivered by the author of it. Then an excellent band of music began to play 
 
 ^ The reader may find accounts of most of these excursions in a work entitled The Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 
 in two volumes 4to, published by Mr Nichols. 
 
 2 This account is chiefly taken from a small pamphlet called Princely Pleasures at Kenelworth Castle. 
 Progresses, vol. i. 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 as her majesty entered the inner court, where she alighted from her horse, and 
 went upstairs to the apartments prepared for her. 
 
 On Sunday evening she was entertained with a grand display of fireworks, 
 as well in the air as upon the water. 
 
 On Monday, after a great hunting, she was met on her return ijy 
 Gascoigne the poet, so disguised as to represent a savage man, who paid her 
 many high-flown compliments in a kind of dialogue between himself and an 
 
 echo. 
 
 On Tuesday she was diverted with music, dancing, and an interlude upon 
 
 the water. 
 
 On Wednesday was another grand hunting. 
 
 On Thursday she was amused with a grand bear-beating, to which were 
 added tumbling and fire-works. Bear-beating and bull-beating were fashionable 
 at this period, and considered as proper pastimes for the amusement of ladies of 
 the highest rank. Elizabeth, though a woman, possessed a masculine mind, 
 and preferred, or affected to prefer, the exercises of the chace and other recrea- 
 tions pursued by men, rather than those usually appropriated to her sex. 
 
 On Friday, the weather being unfavourable, there were no open shows. 
 
 On Saturday there was dancing within the castle, and a country brideale, 
 with running at the quintain in the castle yard, and a pantomimical show called 
 " the Old Coventry Play of Hock Thursday," performed by persons who came 
 from Coventry for that purpose. In the evening a regular play was acted, 
 succeeded by a banquet and a masque. 
 
 On the Sunday there was no public spectacle. 
 
 On the Monday there was a hunting in the afternoon, and, on the queen's 
 return, she was entertained with another show upon the water, in which 
 appeared a person in the character of Arion, riding upon a dolphin twenty-four 
 feet in length ; and he sung an admirable song, accompanied with music per- 
 formed by six musicians concealed in the belly of the fish. Her majesty, it 
 appears, was much pleased with this exhibition. The person who entertained 
 her majesty in the character of Arion is said to have been Harry Goldingham, of 
 whom the following anecdote is related : " There was a spectacle presented to 
 Queen Elizabeth upon the water, and among others, Harry Goldingham was to 
 represent Arion upon the back of a dolphin ; but finding his voice to be very 
 hoarse and unpleasant when he came to perform his part, he tears off his 
 disguise, and swears that he was none of Arion, not he, but even honest Harry 
 Goldingham ; which blunt discovery pleased the queen better than if it had gone 
 thorough in the right way. Yet he could order his voice to an instrument 
 exceedingly well." ^ 
 
 On Tuesday the Coventry play was repeated, because the queen had not 
 seen the whole of it on Saturday. 
 
 On Wednesday, the twentieth of the same month, she departed from Kenel- 
 
 ^ Harl. MSS. 6395, entitled Merry Passages and Jests, art. 221. 
 
INTRODUCTION xli 
 
 worth. Various other pastimes were prepared upon this occasion ; but, for want 
 of time and opportunity, they could not be performed. 
 
 *The Master of the Revels. — From very early days there was an official 
 of the English court termed the Master of the Revels. This was a permanent 
 office quite distinct from the one who had temporary control over all Christmas 
 or Epiphany merriment. It was his duty to superintend and provide for plays, 
 interludes, and every variety of entertainment, apart from field sports, for the 
 king's court. It was stated in 1660 that "the allowance of Playes, the ordering 
 of Players and Playmakers, and the Permission for Erecting of Playhouses, Hath 
 time out of minde, wherof the memory of man is not to the Contrary belonged to 
 the Master of his Majesties Office of the Revells." In 1544 Henry VIII. 
 appointed, by letters patent. Sir Thomas Cawardin, Knight, to this office, with 
 an annual fee of ;^io, and powers to appoint a deputy. Queen Elizabeth made 
 a like grant, in 1579, to Edmond Tilney, Esquire; King James in 1603 to 
 George Buck, Esquire, in 16 13 to Sir John Ashley, and in 1622 to Ben. 
 Jonson ; and Charles I., in 1629, jointly to Henry Herbert, Knight, and 
 Simon Thelwall, Esquire. Sir Henry Herbert and Mr Thelwall at the Restora- 
 tion claimed to exercise their office. This was resisted by playwrights and 
 others, with the result that various interesting documents and statements were 
 produced in support of their claims. In these it was stated that the office 
 originated in the days of the Saxons ; that " mountebanks, lotteries, clockwork 
 motions, ordinary motions, extra motions, dancing horses and mares, ropedancers, 
 and slights of hand " all required licenses from the Master of the Revels, as well 
 as "all Comedies, Tragedies, Poems, Ballads, half-sides, drolleries, and all billes 
 relating to jokes." Moreover, Edward Hayward, gentleman, as deputy to Sir 
 Henry Herbert, claimed to enjoy "all ancient privileges at Court, the ordering 
 of maskes in the Innes of Law, halls, houses of great personages, and societies, 
 all Balls, Dancing schooles, and musick, except his Majesty's and the priviledges 
 of the Corporation touching freemen, if it extend soe farre ; Pageantry and 
 other publique tryumphes, the rurall feasts called Wakes, where there is constant 
 revelling and musick, Cockpitts, fencing and fencing schooles, nocturnal feasts, 
 and banquettings in publique houses when attended with minstrelsy, singing, 
 and Dancing, together with the ordering of all mommeries, fictions, Disguises, 
 scenes, and masking attire, all which (in the judgment of an able Lawyer) are 
 within the verge and comprehension of the Master of the Revells Patent from 
 the vf or ds Jocorum, Revelorum, et Mascorum." 
 
 *The words of the original patent gave jurisdiction throughout the whole 
 kingdom of England, and Mr Hay ward's claim for a very liberal interpretation 
 was apparently granted. On July 23rd, 1663, Mr Hayward, in conjunction 
 with Mr Poyntz, instructed Edward Thomas, one of the messengers belonging 
 to his Majesties office of the Revels, to proceed to Bristol, with a view to the 
 approaching fairs, and to acquaint the mayor with the king's grant to them, and 
 the Lord Chamberlain's mandate, " touching musick, cockfightings, maskings, 
 
 d 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION 
 
 prizes, stage-players, tumblers, vaulters, dancers on the ropes, such as ac , 
 sett forth, shew or present any play, shew, motion, feats of activity, or sights 
 whatsoever." ^ Thomas was given power to grant temporary licenses to persons 
 from Wales or remote parts, who seldom or never came to London, but others 
 were to be required to take out licenses at the London office. Any presuming 
 to act or exhibit unlicensed, were to be taken into custody, and kept until 
 bound with good security to appear within ten days at the London office 
 under penalty of £20. In 1668, Charles IL appointed Alexander Stafford, 
 gentleman, Master of the Revels. 
 
 *Various interesting particulars relative to the Master of the Revels can 
 be gleaned from the State Papers of the Public Record Office. There are 
 full accounts extant of the expenditure of Richard Gibson, Master of the 
 Revels, from 1509 to 1522, which show the extravagant character of the 
 mummings and disguisings at the court of the young king.^ Crimson, 
 purple, blue, and yellow velvet ; cloth of gold of Venice ; blue, green, white, 
 black, yellow, and crimson satin ; blue, crimson, and yellow sarcenet ; brabant 
 cloth ; crimson copper tinsel of Bruges ; cotton cloth ; white fustian ; gray furs; 
 and ostrich feathers were all used in the attiring of a single year. In February 
 
 151 1, revels were held on a most costly scale in the house of Black Friars, Lud- 
 gate, and in White Hall, Westminster. On New Year's Day and Epiphany 
 
 1 51 2, Gibson had the ordering of a pageant called " Dangerus Fortress." In 
 the following year the pageant was called " The Rydie Mount," which was 
 planted with broom to signify Plantaganet, and with red and white roses. At 
 the foot were six lords, above them six minstrels, and at the entrance two armed 
 men. It was drawn by two " mighty woord wossys or wyld men," and after the 
 descent of the lords, the mount opened and showed six ladies. The six " lords " 
 were the king, Mr Brandon, Earl of Essex, Sir Henry Guildford, Mr Nevell, 
 and Mr Thomas Chene. The disguisings of Twelfth Night, 15 14, cost the then 
 great total of ;^404, 6s. pd. The Twelfth Night revel at Greenwich, in 15 16, 
 as ordered by Gibson, was called "The Gardyn de Esperans." In 1520, a 
 mummery was held at Greenwich on New Year's Eve ; Gibson had to prepare 
 dresses for fourteen persons. On January 5th, 1521, the king went "in 
 meskellyng apparell " by water to visit the Cardinal with nineteen gentlemen. 
 There were maskings on Shrove Monday and Shrove Tuesday, 1 521, at Green- 
 wich, in which the king took part ; and he also played his share in several 
 maskings both at Greenwich and York Place in the following year. 
 
 *Queen Elizabeth's expenditure on revels, early in her reign, outrivalled the 
 extravagance of her father. From the first Christmas after her accession down to 
 April 1567, the provisions and payments made by the Master of the Revels 
 reached the then gigantic total of ;^4588, is. lod.^ Towards the end of the 
 
 ' A Collection of Ancient Documents respecting the Office of Master of the Revels (Halliwell), 1870, passim, 
 ' These are given with much detail in Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII., vol. ii. pp. 1490-1518. 
 ' Dom. State Papers, Elizabeth, vol. i. 47. 
 
INTRODUCTION xliii 
 
 reign the expenses under this head were but small. In May 1594 Edmund 
 Tilney, Master of the Revels, received a warrant of ;^3ii, 2s. 2d. for wares 
 delivered and works done in the office of the revels, and for three years' wages 
 of the officers.^ In January 1597 ;^20o was assigned to the Master for wares 
 and works, and three years' officers' wages ; and also £(ib, 6s. 8d. yearly as 
 composition for defraying the charges of the office for plays only, according to a 
 rate of a late composition.^ 
 
 *In 1603 Sir George Buck succeeded to the Mastership of the Revels. On 
 July loth, 1615, Sir George wrote to the Lord Chamberlain, saying that the 
 King had been pleased, at the Queen's intercession on behalf of Samuel 
 Danyell, to appoint a company of youths to perform comedies and tragedies at 
 Bristol, under the name of the Youths of Her Majesty's Royal Chamber of 
 Bristol ; he had consented to it, without prejudice to the rights of his office ; 
 but he reminded the Chamberlain that he had received no wages for two years, 
 and begged for payment of the arrears.^ 
 
 *Sir Henry Herbert, the next Master of the Revels, got into rather serious 
 trouble in the summer of 1674, almost immediately after his appointment, by 
 licensing the poet Middleton's play A Game at Chess, which was a thinly- veiled 
 political attack on Spain, that gave great umbrage to the Spanish ambassador.* 
 Sir Henry Herbert was confirmed in his office on the accession of Charles I. 
 
 *In 1 63 1 the churchwardens and constables of Blackfriars, on behalf of the 
 whole parish, petitioned Bishop Laud to revive an order made by the Council 
 and the Corporation in June 1600, limiting the playhouses to one each side of 
 the Thames, and an order of 1619 suppressing the house in Blackfriars. They 
 tabulated their reasons, which were briefly as follows : (i) hindrance to shop- 
 keepers from great recourse to the plays, especially of coaches, their goods being 
 broken and beaten off their stalls ; (2) coaches so numerous in an afternoon 
 that the inhabitants could not take in their beer or coals ; (3) the passage 
 through Ludgate and to the water was stopped ; (4) if any fire occurred it could 
 not be quenched ; (5) baptisms and burials often disturbed ; and (6) persons of 
 honour and quality resident in the parish are restrained by the coaches from 
 ingress and egress.^ 
 
 *In May 1633, some strolling players visited Banbury. The mayor and 
 justices, suspecting them to be wandering rogues, if not more dangerous 
 persons, called on them for their license, they produced a patent which they 
 pretended to be granted by the crown, and also a commission from the Master 
 of the Revels. Believing these papers to be forgeries, or wrongly obtained, 
 they arrested the six men, examined them, and committed them to prison, till 
 the council's pleasure should be signified. The patent and commission and 
 examinations were forwarded to London. The company had been acting, as 
 they alleged, at Leicester, Market Bosworth, Stratford, Meriden, and Solihull, 
 and at Sir Thomas Lucy's, and Sir William Spencer's.^ 
 
 ' Dom. State Papers, EKzaheth, vol. ccxlviii. 120. ^ jiui, vol. cclxii. 18. ' Ibid, James /., vol, ii. 12 ; vol. Ixxxi. 12. 
 * Ibid, fames I., vol. clxxi. 64. ^ y^^_ Charles I., ccv. 32. » Ibid. Charles I., ccxxxviii. 32. 
 
xliv INTRODUCTION 
 
 *Sir Henry Herbert received ;^200, as Master of the Revels, in October 
 1 660, together with a warrant to advance him yearly such sums as might be, 
 needful for his office.^ The official immediately under the master was termed 
 the Yeoman of the Revels ; his salary was usually ^50 a year. In May 1661, one 
 John Tredeskyn was brought before Sir Henry Herbert charged with showing 
 " severall strainge cretures " without authority from the office of the revels ; but in 
 the following month he obtained a royal warrant to continue as before to show to 
 all who wish it his "rare and ingenious collection of rarities in art and nature," 
 which had been for many years exhibited by him and his father before him. In 
 July of the same year an order was made for the suppression of all stage players, 
 tumblers, rope dancers, and showmen unless approved and authorised by the 
 Master of tb - Revels, as some persons had obtained recently commissions from the 
 king, acted plays and exhibited shows full of scandal, and abused their com- 
 missions by selling or lending them. 
 
 *George Jolly obtained a license from the revel office on January ist, 1663, 
 to raise a company of players for acting tragedies, comedies, pastorals, and inter- 
 ludes, throughout England, provided they outstayed not forty days in one place, 
 and acted nothing offensive, nor in the time of divine worship, nor at prohibited 
 seasons. At the same time general orders were issued that " what company 
 soever, either stage players, musicians, mountebanks, or such as go about with 
 monsters and strange sights," as had no authority confirmed by the Master of 
 the Revels, should have their commissions taken from them and sent to the 
 office.* In July of that year the king empowered the mayor and sheriff and 
 magistrates of Norwich, as he understood that the meaner sort of people were 
 diverted from their work through the frequency of lotteries, puppet-shows, etc., 
 to determine the length of stay of such shows in the city notwithstanding any 
 licenses from the revel office.* 
 
 Rope-dancing, Tutored Animals, and Puppet-Shows. — Great delight 
 was taken in seeing men and animals perform such feats as appeared to be 
 entirely contrary to their nature ; as, men and monkeys dancing upon ropes, or 
 walking upon wires ; dogs dancing minuets, pigs arranging letters so as to form 
 words at their master's command; hares beating drums, or birds firing off 
 cannons. These exhibitions, for all of them have in reality been brought to 
 public view, are ridiculed by the Spectator, in a paper dated the 3rd of April 
 171 1. The author pretends that he received the following letter from a show- 
 man who resided near Charing-Cross. 
 
 " Honoured Sir, — Having heard that this nation is a great encourager of 
 ingenuity, I have brought with me a rope-dancer that was caught in one of the 
 woods belonging to the great Mogul. He is by birth a monkey, but swings 
 upon a rope, takes a pipe of tobacco, and drinks a glass of ale, like any reason- 
 
 ' Dom. State Papers, Charles II., vol. xvii. a. a Ibid, xxxix. no. 
 
 » Ibid. Ixvii. 2. 1 ma. xxvi. 61. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlv 
 
 able creature.^ He gives great satisfaction to the quality; and if they will make 
 a subscription for him, I will send for a brother of his out of Holland, that is a 
 very good tumbler ; and also for another of the same family whom I design for 
 my merry-andrew, as being an excellent mimic, and the greatest droll in the 
 country where he now is. I hope to have this entertainment in readiness for the 
 next winter ; and doubt not but it will please more than the opera or the puppet- 
 show. I will not say that a monkey is a better man than some of the opera 
 heroes ; but certainly he is a better representative of a man than any artificial 
 composition of wood and wire." 
 
 The latter part of this sarcasm relates to a feigned dispute for seniority 
 between Powel, a puppet-showman, who exhibited his wooden heroes under the 
 little piazza in Covent Garden, and the managers of the Italian opera ; which is 
 mentioned in a preceding paper ^ to this effect : "The opera at the Haymarket, 
 and that under the little piazza of Covent Garden, are at present the two leading 
 diversions of the town ; Powel professing in his advertisements to set up Whit- 
 tington and his Cat against Rinaldo and Armida." — After some observations, 
 which are not immediately to the present purpose, the author proceeds : "I 
 observe that Powel and the undertakers of the opera had both of them the same 
 thought, and I think much about the same time, of introducing animals on their 
 several stages, though indeed with different success. The sparrows and 
 chaffinches at the Haymarket fly as yet very irregularly over the stage, and 
 instead of perching on the trees, and performing their parts, these young actors 
 either get into the galleries, or put out the candles ; whereas Powel has so well 
 disciplined his pig, that in the first scene he and Punch dance a minuet together. 
 I am informed that Powel resolves to excel his adversaries in their own way, and 
 introduce larks into his opera of Susanna, or Innocence betrayed ; which will be 
 exhibited next week with a pair of new elders." 
 
 From the same source of information, in a subsequent paper,* we may find 
 a catalogue of the most popular spectacles exhibited in London at the commence- 
 ment of the last century. Our author has introduced a projector, who produces 
 a scheme for an opera entitled The Expedition of Alexander the Great ; and 
 proposes to bring in "all the remarkable shows about the town among the 
 scenes and decorations of his piece " ; which is described in the following 
 manner : " This Expedition of Alexander opens with his consulting the Oracle 
 at Delphos ; in which the Dumb Conjurer, who has been visited by so many 
 persons of quality of late years, is to be introduced as telling his fortune ; at the 
 same time Clench of Barnet * is represented in another corner of the temple, as 
 ringing the bells of Delphos for joy of his arrival. The Tent of Darius is to be 
 
 ^ There actually was such a monkey exhibited at that time near Charing Cross, but in the bills which were given to 
 the public he is called a Wild Hairy Man, and they tell us he performed all that the Spectator relates concerning him ; 
 but this subject is treated more fully in the body of the work. 
 
 ^ Spectator, vol. i. No. 14. ' Ibid. vol. i. No. 31, dated Thursday, April 5, 1711. 
 
 ^ A man famous at that time for imitating a variety of musical instruments with his voice, and , among others, the bells. 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 peopled by the ingenious Mrs Salmon, where Alexander is to fall in 1°^^ ^^^" ^ 
 piece of waxwork that represents the beautiful Statira. When Alexander comes 
 to that country in which, Quintus Curtius tells us, the dogs were so exceediTigly 
 fierce, that they would not loose their hold, though they were cut to pieces limb 
 by limb, and that they would hang upon their prey by their teeth when they had 
 nothing but a mouth left, there is to be a scene of Hockley in the Hole, in which 
 are to be represented all the diversions of that place, the Bull-Baiting only 
 excepted, which cannot possibly be exhibited in the theatre by reason of the 
 lowness of the roof. The several Woods in Asia, which Alexander must be 
 supposed to pass through, will give the audience a sight of Monkies dancing 
 upon ropes, with many other pleasantries of that ludicrous species. At the same 
 time, if there chance to be any strange animals in town, whether birds or beasts, 
 they may be either let loose among the woods, or driven across the stage by 
 some of the country people of Asia. In the last Great Battle, Pinkethman is to 
 personate king Porus upon an Elephant, and is to be encountered by Powel, 
 representing Alexander the Great upon a Dromedary, which, nevertheless, he is 
 desired to call by the name of Bucephalus. On the close of this great Decisive 
 Battle, when the two Kings are thoroughly reconciled, to show the mutual friend- 
 ship and good correspondence that reigns between them, they both of them go 
 together to a puppet-show, in which the ingenious Mr Powel junior may have 
 an opportunity of displaying his whole art of machinery for the diversion of the 
 two monarchs." It is further added, that, "after the reconciliation of these two 
 kings, they might invite one another to dinner, and either of them entertain his 
 guest with the German artist, Mr Pinkethman's Heathen Gods, or any of the 
 like Diversions which shall then chance to be in vogue." 
 
 The projector acknowledged the thought was not originally his own, but 
 that he had taken the hint from "several Performances he had seen upon our 
 stage ; in one of which there was a Raree Show, in another a Ladder Dance, 
 and in others a posture or a moving picture with many curiosities of the like 
 nature." 
 
 Minstrelsy, Bell- Ringing, etc. — The people of this country in all ages 
 delighted in secular music, songs, and theatrical performances ; ^ which is 
 abundantly evident from the great rewards they gave to the bards, the scalds, 
 the gleemen, and the minstrels, who were successively the favourites of the 
 opulent, and the idols of the vulgar. The continual encouragement given to 
 these professors of music, poetry, and pantomime, in process of time swelled 
 their numbers beyond all reasonable proportion, inflamed their pride, increased 
 their avarice, and corrupted their manners ; so that at length they lost the favour 
 they had so long enjoyed among the higher classes of society ; and, the dona- 
 tions of the populace not being sufficient for their support, they fell away from 
 affluence to poverty, and wandered about the country in a contemptible condition, 
 
 .»meirrnTrrrKf''^f'" T^^^"*^'/^""'"*"' ""^^ ItaUanssleepe, the English goto playes, the Spaniards 
 lament, and the Irish bowl," etc. Fynes Moiyson's 7^»»«mo', in 1617, part iii. book i. cap. 3. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlvii 
 
 dependent upon the casual rewards they might occasionally pick up at church- 
 ales, wakes, and fairs. 
 
 Hentzner, who wrote at the conclusion of the sixteenth century, says, " the 
 English excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively." A little 
 further on he adds, " they are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such 
 as the firing of cannon, beating of drums, and the ringing of bells ; so that it is 
 common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads to get up 
 into some belfry and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise." ^ 
 Polydore Vergil mentions another remarkable singularity belonging to the 
 English, who celebrated the festival of Christmas with plays, masques, and 
 magnificent spectacles, together with games at dice and dancing, which, he tells 
 us, was as ancient as the year 1 1 70, and not customary with other nations ; ^ 
 and with respect to the Christmas prince, or lord of the misrule, he was, as the 
 same author informs us, a personage almost peculiar to this country.* 
 
 Baiting of Animals. — It were well if these singularities were the only 
 vulnerable parts of the national character of our ancestors ; but it must be 
 confessed that there are other pastimes which equally attracted their attention, 
 and manifested a great degree of barbarism, which will admit of no just defence. 
 Sir Richard Steele, reprobating the inhumanity of throwing at cocks, makes 
 these pertinent observations : " Some French writers have represented this 
 diversion of the common people much to our disadvantage, and imputed it to a 
 natural fierceness and cruelty of temper, as they do some other entertainments 
 peculiar to our nation ; I mean those elegant diversions of bull-baiting, and 
 prize-fighting, with the like ingenious recreations of the bear-garden. I wish 
 I knew how to answer this reproach which is cast upon us, and excuse the 
 death of so many innocent cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as have been set 
 together by the ears, or died an untimely death, only to make us sport." * 
 
 Pastimes formerly on Sundays. — I know not of any objection that can 
 have more weight in the condemnation of these national barbarisms, than the 
 time usually appropriated for the exhibition of them ; which, it seems, was the 
 after part of the Sunday. The same portion of time also was allotted for the 
 performance of plays, called, in the writings of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries, " vaine playes and interludes " ; ^ to which are added, " dice and card- 
 playing, dancing, and other idle pastimes." Stephen Gosson, a very zealous, if 
 not a very correct writer, declaiming vehemently against plays and players, says 
 of the latter, " because they are permitted to play every Sunday, they make 
 four or five Sundayes at leaste every weeke."^ Nor is he less severe upon 
 those who frequented such amusements : " To celebrate the Sabbath," says he, 
 " they go to the theatres, and there keepe a general market of bawdrie ; by 
 
 ' Henlzner's Itinerary, pp. 88, 89, ^ Hist, Angl. lib. xiii. ' De Rerum Invent, lib. v. cap. 2. 
 
 * Tatler, No. 134, dated Thursday, Feb. 16, 1709. 
 
 ' See a pamphlet written by John Northbrooke, published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, without date. 
 ' School of Abuse, published 1579. 
 
xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 which means," as he afterwards expresses himself, " they make the theatre a 
 place of assignation, and meet for worse purposes than merely seeing the play." 
 A contemporary writer, endeavouring to prove the impropriety of an established 
 form of prayer for the church service, among other arguments, uses the follow- 
 ing : " He," meaning the minister, " posteth it over as fast as he can galloppe; 
 for, eyther, he hath two places to serve ; or else there are some games to be 
 playde in the afternoon, as lying for the whetstone, heathenishe dauncing for the 
 ring, a beare or a bull to be baited, or else a jackanapes to ride on horsebacke, 
 or an interlude to be plaide ; and, if no place else can be gotten, this interlude 
 must be playde in the church. We speak not of ringing after mattins is done." ' 
 To what has been said, I shall add the following verses, which made their 
 appearance rather earlier than either of the foregoing publications ; and they 
 describe, with much accuracy I doubt not, the manner of spending the Sunday 
 afternoons according to the usage of that time : but it is proper previously to 
 observe, that such amusements on holidays were by no means peculiar to the 
 young gallants of this country, but equally practised upon the continent, 
 
 " Now, when their dinner once is done, and that they well have fed, * 
 To play they go ; to casting of the stone, to runne, or shoote ; 
 To tosse the light and windy ball aloft with hand or foote ; 
 Some others trie their skill in gonnes ; some wrastell all the day ; 
 And some to schooles of fence do goe, to gaze upon the play ; 
 Another sort there is, that doe not love abroad to roame. 
 But, for to passe their time at cardes, or tables, still at home." '^ 
 
 Royal Interference with Sunday Pastimes, — Citations to this purpose 
 might be made from infinity of pamphlets, written professedly against the pro- 
 fanation of the Sabbath : it was certainly an evil that called loudly for redress ; 
 and the pens of various writers, moral and religious, as well of the clergy as 
 the laity, have been employed for that purpose. There are some few treatises 
 on this subject that do honour to their authors ; but far the larger part of them 
 are of a different description, consisting of vehement and abusive declamations, 
 wherein the zeal of the writers is too frequently permitted to run at random, 
 without the least restraint from reason and moderation, and, what is still worse, 
 without that strict adherence to the truth which the seriousness of the subject 
 necessarily required. It must be granted, however, that the continued remon- 
 strances from the grave and religious parts of the community were not without 
 effect. In the twenty-second year of the reign of Elizabeth, the magistrates of 
 the city of London obtained from the queen an edict, " that all heathenish playes 
 and interludes should be banished upon Sabbath days " ; * but this restriction, I 
 apprehend, was confined to the jurisdiction of the lord mayor ; for, it is certain 
 that such amusements were publicly exhibited in other districts, and especially 
 
 ' Admonition to Parliament, by Tho. Cartwright, published A.D. 1572. 
 
 " The Pope's Kingdom, book iv. translated from the Latin of Tho. Neogeorgus, by Barnabe Googe, and dedicated 
 to Queen Elizabeth, a.d. 1570. 
 
 ^ John Field, in his Declaration of God' s Judgment at Paris Garden, published a.d. 1603, fol. 9. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlix 
 
 at the Paris Garden in Southwark, a place where these sort of sports were 
 usually exhibited ; and where three years afterwards a prodigious concourse of 
 people being assembled together on a Sunday afternoon, to " see plays and a 
 bear-baiting, the whole theatre gave way and fell to the ground; by which 
 accident many of the spectators were killed, and more hurt," This lamentable 
 misfortune was considered as a judgment from God, and occasioned a general 
 prohibition of all public pastimes on the Sabbath-day. The wise successor of 
 Elizabeth, on the other hand, thought that the restrictions on the public sports 
 were too generally and too strictly applied, and especially in the country places ; 
 he therefore published on the 24th of May 1618 the following declaration: 
 "Whereas we did justly, in our progresse through Lancashire, rebuke some 
 puritanes and precise people, in prohibiting and unlawfully punishing of our 
 good people for using their lawfull recreations and honest exercises on Sundayes 
 and other holy dayes, after the after noone sermon or service : It is our will, that 
 after the end of divine service, our good people be not disturbed, letted, or dis- 
 couraged, from any lawful recreation, such as dauncing, either for men or 
 women ; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmless recrea- 
 tion ; nor for having of May-games, Whitson-ales, and morris-daunces, and the 
 setting up of May-poles, and other sports therewith used ; so as the same be 
 had in due and convenient time, without impediment or neglect of divine 
 service. But withall, we doe here account still as prohibited, all unlawfull 
 games to be used upon Sundayes onely, as beare and bull-baitings, interludes, 
 and, at all times in the meaner sort of people by law prohibited, bowling." This 
 proclamation was renewed by Charles I. in the eighth year of his reign ; which 
 occasioned many serious complaints from the puritanical party ; but, three years 
 afterwards, a pamphlet was published which defended the principles of the 
 declaration ; wherein the author, who was a high churchman, endeavours to 
 fine away the objections of its opponents. In one part he says, " those recrea- 
 tions are the meetest to be used, which give the best refreshment to the bodie, 
 and leave the least impression in the minde. In this respect, shooting, leaping, 
 pitching the barre, stool-ball, and the like, are rather to be chosen than diceing 
 or carding." This publication was immediately answered by the other party, 
 who certainly had the best end of the argument, and were not sparing in their 
 severity, but wounded the ordinance itself through the sides of its defender. 
 The more precise writers objected not only to the profanation of the Sabbath, 
 but to the celebration of most of the established festivals and holidays, as we 
 find from the following verses of Neogeorgus : 
 
 " Their feastes, and all their holydayes they keep throughout the yeare, 
 Are full of vile idolatry, and heathen like appeare. 
 I shew not here their daunces yet with filthy gestures mad. 
 Nor other wanton sports that on the holydayes are had. 
 In some place solemne sights and showes, and pageants faire are play'd 
 With sundry sorts of maskers brave, in strange attire arrai'd." 
 
1 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Dice and Cards. — The Saxons and the Danes, as we have observed 
 already,^ were much addicted to gaming; and the same destructive propensity 
 was equally prevalent among the Normans. The evil consequences arising 
 from the indulgence of this pernicious pleasure have in all ages called loudly for 
 reprehension, and demanded at last the more powerful interference of the legis- 
 lature. The vice of gambling, however, is by no means peculiar to the people 
 of this country : its influence is universally diffused among mankind ; and in 
 most nations the same strong measures that have been adopted here are found 
 to be absolutely necessary to prevent its extension beyond the limits of subordi- 
 nation. Dice, and those games of chance dependent upon them, have been 
 most generally decried ; and cards, in latter times, are added to them as proper 
 companions. Cards, when compared with dice, are indeed of modern invention, 
 and originally, I doubt not, were productive only of innocent amusement ; they 
 were, however, soon, con verted into instruments of gambling equally dangerous 
 as the dice themselves, and more enticing from the variety of changements they 
 admit of, and the pleasing mixture of chance with skill, which often gives the 
 tyro an advantage over the more experienced player ; that is, supposing fair 
 play on both sides ; but woeful experience has convinced many that this is not 
 always the case. 
 
 Regulation of Games for Money, by Richard Cceur de Lion, etc. — 
 Towards the close of the twelfth century, we meet with a very curious edict 
 relative to gaming, and which shows how generally it even prevailed among the 
 lower classes of the people at that period. This edict was established for the 
 regulation of the Christian army under the command of Richard I. of England 
 and Philip of France, during the crusade in 1190: It prohibits any person in 
 the army beneath the degree of a knight from playing at any sort of game for 
 money : knights and clergymen might play for money, but no one of them was 
 permitted to lose more than twenty shillings in one whole day and night, under 
 the penalty of one hundred shillings, to be paid to the archbishops in the army ; 
 the two monarchs had the privilege of playing for what they pleased ; but their 
 attendants were restricted to the sum of twenty shillings ; and, if they exceeded, 
 they were to be whipped naked through the army for three days,^ 
 
 Statutes against Dice, Cards, Ball-play, etc.— The decrees established 
 by the council held at Worcester, in the twenty-fourth year of Henry III., 
 prohibited the clergy from playing at dice, or at cards : but neither the one nor 
 the other of these games are mentioned in the succeeding penal statutes, before 
 the twelfth year of Richard II., when diceing is particularised, and expressly 
 forbidden ; though perhaps they were both of them included under the general 
 title of games of chance, and dishonest games, mentioned in the proclamation of 
 Edward III. which, with other pastimes therein specified, were generally 
 practised to the great detriment of military exercises, and of archery in particular. 
 
 ' See p. XX. ■' Benedict. Abbas, Vit. Ric. I. edit, k Hearne, torn. ii. p. 6io. 
 
INTRODUCTION li 
 
 In the eleventh year of Henry VII. cards are first mentioned among the 
 games prohibited by the law ; ^ and at that time they seem to have been very 
 generally used ; for, the edict expressly forbids the practice of card-playing to 
 apprentices, excepting the duration of the Christmas holidays, and then only in 
 their masters' houses. ^ We learn from Stow, that these holidays extended " from 
 All- Hallows evening to the day after Candlemasday, when," says the historian, 
 " there was, among other sports, playing at cards for counters, nailes, and points 
 in every house, more for pastime than for gain." * The recreations prohibited 
 by proclamation in the reign of Edward III., exclusive of the games of chance, 
 are thus specified ; throwing of stones,* wood, or iron ; playing at hand-ball, 
 foot-ball, club-ball, and cambucam, which I take to have been a species of goff, 
 and probably received its name from the crooked bat with which it was played. 
 These games, as before observed, were not forbidden from any particular evil 
 tendency in themselves, but because they engrossed too much of the leisure and 
 attention of the populace, and diverted their minds from the pursuits of a more 
 martial nature. I should not forget to add, that " bull-baiting and cock-fighting " 
 are included with " other dishonest games as trivial and useless," In * the reign 
 of Edward IV. we find coits, closh or claish, kayles or nine-pins, half-bowl, 
 hand-in and hand-out, with quick-borde, classed among the unlawful amuse- 
 ments ; ® which list was considerably augmented in the succeeding reigns, and 
 especially in the eighteenth year of Henry VIII., when bowling, loggating, 
 playing at tennis, dice, cards and tables, or back-gammon, were included.'' 
 
 In the preamble to the Parliamentary Statutes as early as the sixth year of 
 Edward III., there is a clause prohibiting of boys or others from playing at 
 barres, or snatch-hood, or any other improper games, in the king's palace at 
 Westminster during the sitting of the parliament ; neither might they, by 
 striking, or otherwise, prevent any one from passing peaceably about his 
 business. 
 
 Archery succeeded by Bowling. — The general decay of those manly and 
 spirited exercises, which formerly were practised in the vicinity of the metropolis, 
 has not arisen from any want of inclination in the people, but from the want of 
 places proper for the purpose ; such as in times past had been allotted to them 
 are now covered with buildings, or shut up by enclosures, so that, if it were not 
 for skittles, dutch-pins, four-corners, and the like pastimes, they would have no 
 amusements for the exercise of the body ; and these amusements are only to be 
 met with in places belonging to common drinking-houses, for which reason their 
 play is seldom productive of much benefit, but more frequently becomes the 
 
 ' An. II, Hen. VII. cap. 2. 
 
 ^ No householder might permit the games prohibited by the statute to be practised in their houses, excepting on 
 the holidays, as before specified, under the penalty of six shillings and eight-pence for every offence. 
 
 ^ Survey of London, p. 79. ■* Pilam jnanualem, fedinam, et bacculoream, et ad cambucam, etc. 
 
 " Rot. Glaus. 39 Ed. III. m. 23. 
 
 " The magistrates are commanded to seize upon the said tables, dice, cards, boules, closhes, tennice-balls, etc., 
 and to burn them. ' An. 17 Edw. II. cap. 3. 
 
Hi INTRODUCTION 
 
 prelude to drunkenness. This evil has been increasing for a long series of 
 years ; and honest Stow laments the retrenchments of the grounds appropriated 
 for martial pastimes which had begun to take place in his day. " Why," says 
 he, " should I speak of the ancient exercises of the long bow, by the citizens of 
 this city, now almost clean left off and forsaken ? I over-pass it ; for, by the 
 means of closeing in of common grounds, our archers, for want of room to shoot 
 abroad, creep into bowling-alleys and ordinarie diceing-houses neer home, where 
 they have room enough to hazard their money at unlawful games." ^ He also 
 tells us, that " Northumberland house, in the parish of St Katherine Coleman, 
 belonging to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the thirty-third year of 
 Henry the Sixth ; but of late, being deserted by that noble family, the gardens 
 were converted into bowling-alleys, and the other parts of the estate into diceing- 
 houses. But bowling-alleys and houses for the exercise of diceing and other 
 unlawful games are at this time so greatly increased in the other parts of the 
 city and its suburbs, that this parent spot," or, as he afterwards calls it, "the 
 ancient and only patron of misrule, is forsaken of its gamesters." And here we 
 may add the following remark from an author somewhat more ancient than 
 Stow : * " common bowling-alleyes are privy mothes that eat up the credit of 
 many idle citizens, whose gaynes at home are not able to weigh downe theyr 
 losses abroad ; whose shoppes are so farre from maintaining their play, that 
 theyr wives and children cry out for bread, and go to bedde supperlesse ofte in 
 the yeere." In another place, his reflections are more general, and he exclaims, 
 " Oh, what a wonderful change is this ! our wreastling at armies is turned to 
 wallowing in ladies' laps, our courage to cowardice, our running to royot, our 
 bowes into bowls, and our darts into dishes." 
 
 Modern Gambling. — The evils complained of by these writers were then 
 in their infancy; they have in the present day (1801) attained to a gigantic 
 stature ; and we may add to them E.O. tables, as also other tables for gambling 
 distinguished by the appellation of Rouge et Noir, Pharo-banks, and many 
 more fashionable novelties, equally as detrimental to morality, and as equally 
 destructive to the fortunes of those who pursue them, as any of the recreations 
 of the former times. Even horse-racing, which anciently was considered as a 
 liberal sport, and proper for the amusement of a gentleman, has been of late 
 years degraded into a dangerous species of gambling, by no means the less 
 deserving of censure, because it is fashionable and countenanced by persons of 
 the highest rank and fortune. The good old Scotch poet little dreamed of such 
 an innovation, when he lamented that horse-racing was falling into disrepute 
 through the pre valency of games of chance. His words are these : 
 
 " Halking, hunting, and swift horse running 
 Are changit all in wrangus, wynning ; 
 There is no play but cartes and dyce," etc' 
 
 ' Survey of London, p. 85. 2 Stephen Gosson, in TAi School of Abuse li-ja 
 
 An old anonymous poem " of Covetice, " cited by Warton, History of Poetry, vol. ii. p. 316. 
 
INTRODUCTION liii 
 
 *The warmth with which dice-playing and every form of gaming is con- 
 demned in the writings of the Fathers and the later expounders of Christianity 
 is a sufficient proof of its prevalence throughout Europe. With the introduction 
 of cards in the fourteenth century, the flame of gambling burnt with renewed 
 ardour, and provoked fresh remonstrances from the guardians of religion. In 
 England gambling attained to an extraordinary pitch in the reign of Henry VIII., 
 the king being himself an unscrupulous gamester ; and the practice flourished 
 under the highest auspices during the reign of Elizabeth and James I. Sir 
 Miles Partridge threw dice with Henry VIII. for the great Jesus bells in "the 
 tower of St Paul's, London, and won them ; but the ropes afterwards catched 
 about his neck, for in Edward the Sixth's days he was hanged for some criminal 
 offences."^ 
 
 •Modern club gaming in England is said to date from 1777 or 1778. In a 
 pamphlet as to gambling by an M. P., published in 1784, it is stated that thirty 
 years before there was but one gaming club in the metropolis, and the stakes 
 very low, namely crowns or half-crowns, but at that date the clubs were 
 numerous, and the fashion of high stakes generally prevalent.^ 
 
 * Roulette or Roly Poly tables, so called from the balls used in them, were 
 introduced into England about 1739, and were first set up at Tunbridge Wells. 
 
 *The first English lottery named in history was drawn 1569. It consisted 
 of 400,000 lots at ten shillings each, and was drawn at the west door of the Cathe- 
 dral Church of St Paul's. The prizes were in plate, and the profits to go to the 
 repairing of the havens or ports of the kingdom. Another state lottery was held 
 in 161 2, in favour of the plantation of English colonists in Virginia ; the chief prize, 
 " 4000 crowns in fair plate," was won by Thomas Sharplys, a London tailor. In 
 1680 a lottery was granted to supply the metropolis with water, and a few years 
 later the Government resorted to a huge lottery scheme to find the war funds 
 which resulted in the capture of Namur. From 1 709 until 1 824 lottery bills were 
 in the programme of every session, the prizes being generally paid in terminable 
 annuities. This state gambling led to an appalling amount of vice and misery 
 as well as direct fraud. The last public lottery in Great Britain was drawn in 
 October 1826. 
 
 Ladies' Pastimes — Needle- Work. — It now remains to say a few words in 
 a general way respecting the diversions of the English ladies. In the early ages, 
 our fair countrywomen employed a large portion of their time in needlework and 
 embroidery; and their acquirements in these elegant accomplishments most 
 probably sdHbrded them little leisure for the pursuits of trifling and useless amuse- 
 ments ; but, though we are not acquainted with the nature of their recreations, 
 there is no reason to suppose that they were unbecoming in themselves, or in- 
 dulged beyond the bounds of reason or decorum. I have already, on a former 
 occasion, particularly noticed the skilfulness of the Saxon and Norman ladies in 
 handling the needle, embroidering, and working in tapestry ; and that their per- 
 
 i Hatl, Misc. " Steinmetz Gaming Table (1870) i. ch. vi. 
 
liv INTRODUCTION 
 
 formances were not only held in very high estimation at home, but were equally 
 prised upon the continent, where none were produced that could be placed in 
 competition with them.^ 
 
 Dancing and Chess Play. — Dancing was certainly an ancient and 
 favourite pastime with the women of this country : the maidens even in a state 
 of servitude claimed, as it were by established privilege, the license to indulge 
 themselves in this exercise on holidays and public festivals ; when it was usually 
 performed in the presence of their masters and mistresses. 
 
 In the middle ages, dice, chess, and afterwards tables, and cards, with other 
 sedentary games of chance and skill, were reckoned among the female amuse- 
 ments ; and the ladies also frequently joined with the men in such pastimes, as 
 we find it expressly declared in the metrical romance of Ipomydom. The 
 passage alluded to runs thus : 
 
 " When they had dyned, as I you saye, 
 Lordes and ladyes yede to to playe ; 
 Some to tables, and some to chesse, 
 With other gamys more or lesse." ^ 
 
 In another poem, by Gower,* a lover asks his mistress, when she is tired 
 of " dancing and caroling," if she was willing to " play at chesse, or on the dyes 
 to cast a chaunce." Forrest, speaking in praise of Catharine of Arragon, first 
 wife of Henry VIII., says, that when she was young, 
 
 " With stoole and with needyl she was not to seeke, 
 And other practiseings for ladyes meete ; 
 To pastyme at tables, tick tack or gleeke, 
 Cardis and dyce " — etc.^ 
 
 Ladies' Recreations in the Fourteenth Century. — The English ladies 
 did not always confine themselves to domestic pastimes, they sometimes 
 participated with the other sex in diversions of a more masculine nature ; and 
 engaged with them in the sports of the field. These violent exercises seem to 
 have been rather unfashionable among them in the seventeenth century ; for 
 Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy , speaks of their pastimes as much better 
 suited to the modesty and softness of the sex. " The women," says he, 
 "instead of laborious studies, have curious needle-works, cutworks, spinning, 
 bone-lace making, with other pretty devices to adorn houses, cushions, carpets, 
 stool-seats," etc.^ Not but some of these masculine females have occasionally 
 made their appearance : and at the commencement of the last century, it should 
 seem that they were more commonly seen than in Burton's time, which 
 gave occasion for the following satirical paper in one of the Spectators^ written 
 
 1 In the Manners and Customs of the English ; the Chronicle of England; and more particularly in the View of the 
 Dresses of the English, vol. i. p. 73, vol. ii. p. 140, etc. 
 
 ^ Harl. MS. 2252. ' Confessio Amantis. * Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 311. 
 
 ^ Part ii. sect. 2, cap. 4. ^ No. 55, a.d. 1711, 
 
INTRODUCTION Iv 
 
 by Addison : " I have," says he, "very frequendy the opportunity of seeing a 
 rural Andromache, who came up to town last winter, and is one of the greatest 
 foxhunters in the country ; she talks of hounds and horses, and makes nothing 
 of leaping over a six-bar gate. If a man tells her a waggish story, she gives 
 him a push with her hand in jest, and calls him an impudent dog ; and, if her 
 servant neglects his business, threatens to kick him out of the house. I have 
 heard her in her wrath call a substantial tradesman a lousie cur ; and I 
 remember one day when she could not think of the name of a person, she 
 described him, in a large company of men and ladies, by the fellow with the 
 broad shoulders." 
 
 The Author's [Joseph Strutt] Labours — Character of the Engrav- 
 ings. — Having laid before my readers a general view of the sports and pastimes 
 of our ancestors, I shall proceed to arrange them under their proper heads, and 
 allot to each of them a separate elucidation. The task in truth is extremely 
 difficult ; and many omissions, as well as many errors, must of necessity occur 
 in the prosecution of it ; but none, I hope, of any great magnitude, nor more 
 than candour will overlook, especially when it is recollected, that in a variety 
 of instances, I have been constrained to proceed without any guide, and explore, 
 as it were, the recesses of a trackless wilderness. I must also entreat the reader 
 to excuse the frequent quotations which he will meet with, which in general 
 I have given verbatim ; and this I have done for his satisfaction, as well as 
 my own, judging it much fairer to stand upon the authority of others than to 
 arrogate to myself the least degree of penetration to which I have no claim. 
 
 It is necessary to add, that the engravings, which constitute an essential 
 part of this work, are not the produce of modern invention, neither do they 
 contain a single figure that has not its proper authority. Most of the originals 
 are exceedingly ancient, and all the copies are faithfully made without the least 
 unnecessary deviation. As specimens of the art of design they have nothing to 
 recommend them to the modern eye, but as portraitures of the manners and 
 usages of our ancestors, in times remote, they are exceedingly valuable, because 
 they not only elucidate many obsolete customs, but lead to the explanation of 
 several obscurities in the history of former ages. 
 
 January 1801. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE 
 PEOPLE OF ENGLAND 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 State of Hunting among the Britons — The Saxons expert in Hunting — The Danes also — The Saxons subsequently — The 
 Normans — Their tyrannical Proceedings — Hunting and Hawking after the Conquest — Laws relating to Hunting 
 — Hunting and Hawking followed by the Clergy — The Manner in which the dignified Clergy in the Middle Ages 
 pursued these Pastimes — The English Ladies fond of these Sports — Privileges of the Citizens of London to Hunt 
 — Private Privileges for Hunting — Two Treatises on Hunting considered — Names of Beasts to be hunted — ^Wolves 
 — ^Wild Boars — Fox and Badger — Wild Cat and Marten — Otter — Dogs for Hunting — Royal Hunting — Hare 
 Coursing — Terms used in Hunting — Times when to Hunt — Later Hunting Treatises. 
 
 HUNTING AMONG THE Britons. — Dio Nicacus, an ancient author, speaking 
 of the inhabitants of the northern parts of this island, tells us, they 
 were a fierce and barbarous people, who tilled no ground, but lived 
 upon the depredations they committed in the southern districts, or upon the 
 food they procured by hunting. Strabo also says, that the dogs bred in Britain 
 were highly esteemed upon the continent, on account of their excellent qualities 
 for hunting ; and these qualities, he seems to hint, were natural to them, and 
 not the effect of tutorage by their foreign masters. The information derived 
 from the above-cited authors does not amount to a proof that the practice of 
 hunting was familiar with the Britons collectively ; yet it certainly affords much 
 fair argument in the support of such an opinion ; for it is hardly reasonable to 
 suppose that the pursuit of game should have been confined to the uncultivated 
 northern freebooters, and totally neglected by the more civilised inhabitants of 
 the southern parts of the island. We are well assured that venison constituted 
 a great portion of their food, and as they had in their possession such dogs as 
 were naturally prone to the chase, there can be little doubt that they would 
 exercise them for the purpose of procuring their favourite diet ; besides, they 
 kept large herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, both of which required protection 
 from the wolves, and other ferocious animals, that infested the woods and 
 coverts, and must frequently have rendered hunting an act of absolute 
 necessity. 
 
2 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 We do not find, that, during the establishment of the Romans in Britain, 
 there were any restrictive laws promulgated respecting the killing of game. It 
 appears to have been an established maxim, in the early jurisprudence of that 
 people, to invest the right of such things as had no master with those who 
 were the first possessors. Wild beasts, birds, and fishes, became the property of 
 those who first could take them. It is most probable that the Britons were left 
 at liberty to exercise their ancient privileges ; for, had any severity been exerted 
 to prevent the destruction of game, such laws would hardly have been passed 
 over without the slightest notice being taken of them by the ancient historians. 
 Hunting among the Saxons. — The Germans, and other northern nations, 
 were much more strongly attached to the sports of the field than the Romans, 
 and accordingly they restricted the natural rights which the people claimed of 
 hunting. The ancient privileges were gradually withdrawn from them, and 
 appropriated by the chiefs and leaders to themselves ; at last they became the 
 sole prerogative of the crown, and were thence extended to the various ranks 
 and dignities of the state at the royal pleasure. -^, 
 
 As early as the ninth century, and probably long before that period, 1 
 hunting constituted an essential part of the education of a young nobleman. 
 Asser assures us, that Alfred the great, before he was twelve years of age, 
 " was a most expert and active hunter, and excelled in all the branches of that 
 most noble art, to which he applied with incessant labour and amazing 
 success." It is certain that, whenever a temporary peace gave leisure for 
 relaxation, hunting was one of the most favoured pastimes followed by the 
 nobility and persons of opulence at that period. It is no wonder, therefore, • 
 that dogs proper for the sport should be held in the highest estimation. When 
 Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred, had obtained a signal victory at Brunan- 
 burgh over Constantine king of Wales, he imposed upon him a yearly tribute 
 of gold, silver, and cattle ; to which was also added a certain number of 
 " hawks, and sharp-scented dogs, fit for hunting of wild beasts." His successor, 
 Edgar, remitted the pecuniary payment on condition of receiving annually the 
 skins of three hundred wolves. We do not find, indeed, that the hawks and 
 the hounds were included in this new stipulation ; but it does not seem reason- 
 able that Edgar, who, like his predecessor, was extremely fond of the sports of 
 the field, should have given up that part of the tribute. 
 
 *By the laws of King Ethelred hunting was prohibited on the Sunday's 
 festival ; an enactment that was renewed by King Cnut. Hunting was con- 
 sidered so unsuitable a pastime for the clergy that Archbishop Theodore 
 assigned a year's penance for anyone in minor orders that indulged in it, two 
 years for a deacon, and three years for a priest. Archbishop Egbert, of York, 
 improved on this by assigning seven years of penance for the like offence on 
 an episcopal offender. King Edgar's canons forbade a priest to hunt, hawk, or 
 dice, but to study books as becometh his order.^ 
 
 ' Ancient Laws and Institutes of England (1840), passim. 
 

 T 
 
HUNTING 3 
 
 Hunting among the Danes. — The Danes deriving their origin from the 
 same source as the Saxons, differed little from them in their manners and 
 habitudes, and perhaps not at all in their amusements ; the propensity to 
 hunting, however, was equally common to both. When Cnut the Dane had 
 obtained possession of the throne of England, he imposed several restrictions 
 upon the pursuit of game, which were not only very severe, but seem to have 
 been altogether unprecedented ; and these may be deemed a sufficient proof 
 of his strong attachment to his favourite pastime, for, in other respects, his 
 edicts breathed an appearance of mildness and regard for the comforts of 
 the people.^ 
 
 Hunting during the Restoration of the Saxons. — After the expulsion 
 of the Danes, and during the short restoration of the Saxon monarchy, the 
 sports of the field still maintained their ground. Edward the Confessor, whose 
 disposition seems rather to have been suited to the cloister than to the throne, 
 would join in no other secular amusements ; but he took the greatest delight, 
 says William of Malmsbury, "to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of 
 game, and to cheer them with his voice." He was equally pleased with 
 hawking, and every day, after divine service, he spent his time in one or other 
 of these favourite pastimes. Harold, who succeeded him, was so fond of his 
 hawk and his hounds, that he rarely travelled without them. He is so repre- 
 sented upon the famous tapestry of Bayeux, with his hounds by his side and 
 a hawk upon his hand, when brought before William duke of Normandy,? 
 Travelling thus accompanied, was not a singular trait in the character of a 
 nobleman at this period. 
 
 The representation in the centre of the first plate of a Saxon chieftain, 
 attended by his huntsman and a couple of hounds, pursuing the wild swine in a 
 forest, is taken from a painting of the ninth century in the Cotton Library.* 
 
 At the top of the same plate is a representation of the manner of attacking 
 the wild boar, from a manuscript written about the commencement of the 
 fourteenth century, in the possession of Mr Francis Douce ; whilst the un- 
 earthing of a fox, at the bottom of the plate, is from a manuscript in the Royal 
 Library,* written about the same time as the latter. 
 
 Hunting among the Normans oppressively exercised. — During the 
 tyrannical government of William the Norman, and his two sons who suc- 
 ceeded him, the restrictions concerning the killing of game were by no means 
 meliorated. The privileges of hunting in the royal forests were confined to 
 the king and his favourites ; and, to render these receptacles for the beasts of 
 the chase more capacious, or to make new ones, whole villages were de- 
 populated, and places of divine worship overthrown ; not the least regard being 
 
 1 'Cnut allowed every freeman to hunt in wood and field on his own lands ; but the laws pertaining to the royal 
 forests were terribly severe. For a first offence a freeman lost his liberty, and a villain his right hand ; for a second 
 offence the common punishment was death. 
 
 ' Montfaucon, Monarch. Fran., and Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities. 
 
 » Tiberius, B. v. * No. 2, B. vii. 
 
4 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 paid to the miseries of the suffering inhabitants, or the cause of religion.^ 
 These despotic proceedings were not confined to royalty, as may be proved 
 from good authority. I need not mention the New Forest, in Hampshire, 
 made by the elder William, or the park at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, seven 
 miles in circumference, and walled round with stone by Henry his son. This 
 park, Stowe tells us, was the first made in England. ■ The royal example was 
 first followed by Henry earl of Warwick, who made a park at Wedgenoke, near 
 Warwick, to preserve his deer and other animals for hunting; after this the 
 practice of park-making became general among persons of opulence. 
 
 This subject is delineated, with great force of colouring, by John of 
 Salisbury, a writer of the twelfth century, when the severity of the game laws 
 was somewhat abated. "In our time," says the author, " hunting and hawking 
 are esteemed the most honourable employments, and most excellent virtues, by 
 our nobility ; and they think it the height of worldly felicity to spend the whole 
 of their time in these diversions ; accordingly they prepare for them with more 
 solicitude, expense, and parade, than they do for war ; and pursue the wild 
 beasts with greater fury than they do the enemies of their country. By 
 constantly following this way of life, they lose much of their humanity, and 
 become as savage, nearly, as the very brutes they hunt." He then proceeds in 
 this manner : " Husbandmen, with their harmless herds and flocks, are driven 
 from their well cultivated fields, their meadows, and their pastures, that wild 
 beasts may range in them without interruption." He adds, addressing himself 
 to his unfortunate countrymen, "If one of these great and merciless hunters 
 shall pass by your habitation, bring forth hastily all the refreshment you have 
 in your house, or that you can readily buy, or borrow from your neighbour ; 
 that you may not be involved in ruin, or even accused of treason." ^ If this 
 picture of Norman tyranny be correct, it exhibits a melancholy view of the 
 sufferings to which the lower classes of the people were exposed ; in short, it 
 appears that these haughty Nimrods considered the murder of a man as a 
 crime of less magnitude than the killing of a single beast appointed for the 
 chase. 
 
 Hunting and Hawking after the Conquest. — King John was 
 particularly attached to the sports of the field ; and his partiality for fine horses, 
 hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his frequently receiving such animals, by 
 way of payment, instead of money, for the renewal of grants, fines, and 
 forfeitures, belonging to the crown.^ 
 
 In the reign of Edward I. this favourite amusement was reduced to 
 a perfect science, and regular rules established for its practice ; these rules were 
 afterwards extended by the master of the game belonging to king Henry 
 IV. and drawn up for the use of his son, Henry prince of Wales. Both these 
 
 ' * Domesday Survey proves that this oft repeated statement as to the New Forest, and the overthrow of churches 
 by the Conqueror, requires considerable qualification. See Round's introduction to the Hampshire Domesday, 
 Victoria County Histories, Hants, vol. i. 
 
 "^ De Nugis Cuiralium, lib. i. cap. 4. » Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 135, 
 
HUNTING 5 
 
 tracts are preserved, and we shall have occasion to speak a little fuller 
 concerning them in the course of this chapter, 
 
 Edward III. took so much delight in hunting, that even at the time 
 he was engaged in war with France, and resident in that country, he had 
 with him in his army sixty couple of stag hounds, and as many hare hounds,^ 
 and every day he amused himself with hunting or hawking. 
 
 It also appears that many of the great lords in the English army had their 
 hounds and their hawks, as well as the king ; to this may be added, from the 
 same author, that is, Froissart, who was himself a witness to the fact, that 
 Gaston earl of Foix, a foreign nobleman contemporary with king Edward, kept 
 upwards of six hundred dogs in his castle for the purpose of hunting. He had 
 four greyhounds called by the romantic names of Tristram, Hector, Brute, and 
 Roland.2 
 
 *James I. preferred the amusement of hunting to hawking or shooting. It 
 is said of this monarch that he divided his time betwixt his standish, his bottle, 
 and his hunting ; the last had his fair weather, the two former his dull and 
 cloudy.* In " The King's Christian Duties," which James wrote for his son, 
 he says : " I cannot omit hare hunting, namely with running hounds, which is- 
 the most honourable and noblest thereof ; for it is a thievish form of hunting to 
 shoot with guns or bows, and greyhound hunting (coursing) is not so martial a 
 game." James enclosed the park of Theobalds with a brick wall ten miles in 
 extent, the deer in which were valued at ;^iooo. Neither age nor illness 
 deterred him from his favourite amusement; in 1619, when only able to be 
 carried in a chair or litter, he came to Theobalds, and would have the deer 
 mustered before him; and in 1624, contrary to the order of his physicians, he 
 left Royston to see some hawks fly at Newmarket.* 
 
 It would be an endless, as well as a needless task, to quote all the passages 
 that occur in the poetical and prose writings of the last three centuries, to prove 
 that this favourite pastime lost nothing of its relish in more modern times ; on 
 the contrary, it seems to have been more generally practised. Sir Thomas 
 More, who wrote in the reign of Henry VIII., describing the state of manhood, 
 makes a young gallant to say, 
 
 Man-hod I am, therefore I me delyght 
 
 To hunt and hawke, to nourishe up and fade 
 
 The greyhounde to the course, the hawke to th' flight, 
 
 And to bestryde a good and lusty stede.^ 
 
 These pursuits are said by later writers to have been destructive to the 
 fortunes of many inconsiderate young heirs, who, desirous of emulating the state 
 of their superiors, have kept their horses, hounds, and hawks, and flourished 
 away for a short time, in a style that their income was inadequate to support. 
 
 Laws relating to Hunting. — Laws for punishing such as hunted, or 
 
 1 "Fort chiens et chiens de levries," Froissart, Chron. vol. i. cap. 210. '^ Froissart, vol. iv. 
 
 » Wellwood's Memoirs, p. 33. * Victoria County Histories, Hertfordshire, i. 347-8. 
 
 » Sir Thomas More's Poems. See also Watson's History of English Poetry, 4to vol. iii. p. loi. 
 
6 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 destroyed the game, in the royal forests, and other precincts belonging to the 
 crown, were, as we have just hinted above, established with unprecedented 
 severity by Cnut, the Dane, when he ascended the throne of England. 
 
 The severity of the game laws was rather increased, than abated, under the 
 governance of the first four Norman monarchs. Henry II. is said to have 
 relaxed their efficacy; rather, I presume, by not commanding them to be 
 enforced with rigour, than by causing them to be abrogated ; for they seem to 
 have virtually existed in the reign of king John ; and occasioned the clause in 
 the Forest Charter, insisting that no man should forfeit his life, or his limbs, for 
 killing the king's deer ; — but, if he was taken in the fact of stealing venison 
 belonging to the king, he should be subjected to a heavy fine ; and, in default of 
 payment, be imprisoned for one year and one day ; and after the expiration of 
 that time, find surety for his good behaviour, or be banished the land.^ This 
 charter was afterwards confirmed by his son Henry III. and the succeeding 
 monarchs. 
 
 Hunting by the Clergy. — Another clause in the same charter grants to 
 an archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron, when travelling through the royal forests, 
 at the king's command, the privilege to kill one deer or two in the sight of the 
 forester, if he was at hand ; if not, they were commanded to cause a horn to be 
 sounded, that it might not appear as if they had intended to steal the game. 
 
 It is evident that this privilege was afterwards construed into a permission 
 for the personages named therein to hunt in the royal chases ; but the words of 
 the charter are not to that amount, and ought, says Spelman, to be taken literally 
 as they stand in the translation : they could not however, at any rate, adds he, 
 mean, " that the ecclesiastics are to hunt the deer themselves, for they suppose 
 them to be no hunters, as the earls and barons might be ; and therefore it is not 
 said, that he who claims the venison shall blow the horn, but only that he shall 
 cause it to be sounded. ^ 
 
 The propensity of the clergy to follow the secular pastimes, and especially 
 those of hunting and hawking, is frequently reprobated by the poets and 
 moralists of the former times, Chaucer makes the monks much better 
 skilled in riding and hunting, than in divinity. The same poet, afterwards, 
 in the " Ploughman's Tale," takes occasion to accuse the monks of pride, 
 because they rode on coursers like knights, having their hawks and hounds 
 with them. In the same tale he severely reproaches the priests for their 
 dissolute manners, saying that many of them thought more upon hunting 
 with their dogs, and blowing the horn, than of the service they owed to God.* 
 
 The prevalence of these excesses occasioned the restrictions, contained in 
 an edict established in the thirteenth year of Richard II., which prohibits any 
 priest, or other clerk, not possessed of a benefice to the yearly amount of ten 
 
 ^ Carta de Foresta, cap. Ii. 
 
 ^ Spelman's Answer to the Apology for Archbishop Abbot. 
 
 ' Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Numerous quotations might be made from other writers in addition to those 
 above ; but they are sufficient for my purpose. 
 
HUNTING 7 
 
 pounds, from keeping a greyhound, or any other dog for the purpose of hunting ; 
 neither might they use ferrits, hayes, nets, hare-pipes, cords, or other engines to 
 take or destroy the deer, hares, or rabbits, under the penalty of one year's 
 imprisonment.^ The dignified clergy were not affected by this statute, but 
 retained their ancient privileges, which appear to have been very extensive. 
 By the game law of Cnut the Dane they were permitted to hunt in the forests 
 belonging to the crown ; and these prerogatives were not abrogated by the 
 Normans. Henry II., displeased at the power and ambition of the ecclesiastics, 
 endeavoured to render these grants of none effect ; not by publicly annulling 
 them, but by putting in force the canon law, which strictly forbade the clergy 
 to spend their time in hunting and hawking ; and for this purpose, having 
 obtained permission from Hugo Pertroleonis, the Pope's legate, he caused a law 
 to be made, authorising him to convene the offenders before the secular judges, 
 and there to punish them.^ The establishment of this edict was probably more 
 to show his power, than really to restrain them from hunting. 
 
 Hunting and Hawking in the Middle Ages by Bishops, &c. — The 
 bishops and abbots of the middle ages hunted with great state, having a large 
 train of retainers and servants ; and some of them are recorded for their skill 
 in this fashionable pursuit. Walter, bishop of Rochester, who lived in the 
 thirteenth century, was an excellent hunter, and so fond of the sport, that at the 
 age of fourscore he made hunting his sole employment, to the total neglect of 
 the duties of his office.' In the succeeding century an abbot of Leicester 
 surpassed all the sportsmen of the time in the art of hare hunting ; * and even 
 when these dignitaries were travelling from place to place, upon affairs of 
 business, they usually had both hounds and hawks in their train. Fitzstephen 
 assures us that Thomas ci Becket, being sent as ambassador from Henry II. to 
 the court of France, assumed the state of a secular potentate ; and took with 
 him dogs and hawks of various sorts, such as were used by kings and princes.® 
 
 The clergy of rank, at all times, had the privilege of hunting in their own 
 parks and inclosures ; and therefore, that they might not be prevented from 
 following this favourite pastime, they took care to have such receptacles for 
 game belonging to their houses. At the time of the Reformation, the See of 
 Norwich, only, was in the possession of no less than thirteen parks, well stocked 
 with deer and other animals for the chase.^ At the end of a book of Homilies 
 in MS., in the Cotton Library,^ written about the reign of Henry VI., is a 
 poem containing instructions to priests in general, and requiring them, among 
 other things, not to engage in " hawkynge, huntynge, and dawnsynge." 
 
 Hunting and Hawking by Ladies. — The ladies often accompanied the 
 gentlemen in hunting parties ; upon these occasions it was usual to draw the 
 game into a small compass by means of inclosures, and temporary stands were 
 
 1 Stat. 13 Rich. II. 
 
 ' An. 21 Hen. II. A.D. 1157. Vide Spelman's Answer to the Apology for Archbishop Abbot. 
 
 " P. Blensens, epist. Ivi. p. 81. *• Knyghton, apud Decern Script, p. 263. 
 
 ° Stephanid. vit. S. Thorn. " Vide Spelman, ut supra. ' Claudius, A. 2. 
 
8 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 made for them to be spectators of the sport ; though in many instances they 
 joined in it, and shot at the animals as they passed by them, with arrows. 
 Agreeable to these manners, which custom reconciled to the fair sex, most of 
 the heroines of romance are said to be fond of the sports of the field. In an old 
 poem entitled the " Squyer of lowe degre," ^ the king of Hungary promises his 
 daughter that in the morning she shall go with him on a hunting party, arrayed 
 most gorgeously, and riding in a chariot covered with red velvet, drawn by 
 
 Jennettes of Spayne that ben so white. 
 Trapped to the ground with velvet bright. 
 
 In the field, says he, the game shall be inclosed with nets, and you placed at a 
 stand so conveniently that the harts and the hinds shall come close to you — 
 
 Ye shall be set at such a tryst. 
 
 That hert and hynde shall come to your fyst. 
 
 He then commends the music of the bugle-horn — 
 
 To here the bugles there yblow 
 With theyr bugles in that place, 
 And seven score raches at his rechase. 
 
 He also assures her that she should have — 
 
 A lese of herhounds with her to strake. 
 
 The harehound, or greyhound, was considered as a very valuable present in 
 former times, and especially among the ladies, with whom it appears to have 
 been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another metrical romance, probably 
 more ancient than the former, called " Sir Eglamore,"^ a princess tells the knight 
 that if he was inclined to hunt, she would, as an especial mark of her favour, give 
 him an excellent greyhound, so swift that no deer could escape from his 
 pursuit — 
 
 Syr yf you be on huntynge founde, 
 I shall you gyve a good greyhounde 
 
 That is dunne as a doo : 
 For as I am trewe gentylwoman, 
 There was never deer that he at ran, 
 
 That myght yscape him fro. 
 
 It is evident, however, that the ladies had hunting parties by themselves. 
 An illustration in a manuscript of the early part of the fourteenth century 
 reproduced on the second plate depicts them in the open fields winding the horn, 
 rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other assistance. ^ We may also 
 observe, that, upon these occasions, the female Nimrods dispensed with the 
 method of riding best suited to the modesty of the sex, and sat astride on the 
 saddle like the men ; but this indecorous custom, I trust, was never general, nor 
 of long continuance, even with the heroines who were most delighted with the^ 
 
 ' Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, K. vol. ix. 
 
 ' Garrick's CoUec. K. vol. x. s Royal Library, 2 B. vii. 
 
HUNTING 9 
 
 masculine exercises. An author of the seventeenth century speaks of another 
 fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town of Bury in Suffolk. " The 
 Bury ladies," says he, " that used hawking and hunting, were once in a great 
 vaine of wearing breeches," which it seems gave rise to many severe and 
 ludicrous sarcasms. The only argument in favour of this habit, was decency in 
 case of an accident. But it was observed that such accidents ought to be 
 prevented, in a manner more consistent with the delicacy of the sex, that is, by 
 refraining from those dangerous recreations.^ 
 
 The hunting dresses, as they appeared at the commencement of the fifteenth 
 century, are given from a manuscript of that time in the Harleian Collection,^ at 
 the top of the second plate. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and the nobility who 
 entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting parties, which she 
 usually joined when the weather was favourable. She very frequently indulged 
 herself in following of the hounds, and hunted the red and fallow deer, the hare, 
 and the otter. " Her majesty," says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, 
 " is well and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on horse- 
 back and continues the sport long."* At this time her majesty had just entered 
 the seventy-seventh year of her age, and she was then at her palace at Outlands. 
 Often, when she was not disposed to hunt herself, she was entertained with the 
 sight of the pastime. At Cowdrey, in Sussex, the seat of Lord Montecute, 
 A.D. 1 59 1, one day after dinner her grace saw from a turret, "sixteen bucks all 
 having fayre lawe, pulled downe with greyhounds in a laund or lawn." * 
 
 *At the close of the eighteenth century Hertfordshire knew a distinguished 
 lady huntress who rivalled Queen Elizabeth in her keenness for the chase at an 
 advanced age. In 1793 Lady Salisbury, a most daring rider and sportswoman, 
 became the active mistress of the Hertfordshire hounds, which were called 
 during her reign the Hatfield hounds. It was not until Lady Salisbury was 
 seventy-eight years of age that she gave up the mistresship and ceased to follow 
 the foxhounds ; even then she said that she thought she was good enough to 
 hunt with the harriers.^ 
 
 Privileges of the Citizens of London to Hunt and Hawk. — The 
 citizens of London were permitted to hunt and hawk in certain districts. And 
 one of the clauses, in the royal charter granted to them by Henry I., runs to this 
 purpont : " The citizens of London may have chases, and hunt as well, and as 
 fully, as their ancestors have had ; that is to say, in the Chiltre, in Middlesex, 
 and Surry."' Hence we find, that these privileges were of ancient standing. 
 They were also confirmed by the succeeding charters, Fitzstephen, who wrote 
 towards the close of the reign of Henry II., says, that the Londoners delight 
 
 ' MS. Harl. 6395. Merry Passages and /easts, art. 345. * It is said that Anne of Bohemia, consort of Richard II., 
 was the first to introduce the side-saddle into England ; but ladies usually rode like men for at least two more centuries, 
 and peasant-women until comparatively recent times. " No. 4431. 
 
 •Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney, dated September iz, A.D. 1600. * Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii. 
 
 5 Vict. Co. Histories, Hertjordshire, i. 349. ' Maitland's Hist, London, book i. chap. 6. 
 
lo SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 themselves with hawks and hounds, for they have the liberty of hunting in 
 Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all Chilton, and in Kent to the waters of Grey,^ which 
 differs somewhat from the statement in the charter. These exercises were not 
 much followed by the citizens of London at the close of the sixteenth century, 
 not for want of taste for the amusement, says Stow, but for leisure to pursue it.^ 
 Strype, however, so late as the reign of George I., reckons among the modern 
 amusements of the Londoners, " Riding on horseback and hunting with my Lord 
 Mayor's hounds, when the common-hunt goes out." 
 
 This common-hunt of the citizens is ridiculed in an old ballad called the 
 " London Customs," published in D'Urfey's Collection,^ I shall select the three 
 following stanzas only. 
 
 Next once a year into Essex a hunting they go ; 
 
 To see 'em pass along, O 'tis a most pretty shew : 
 
 Through Cheapside and Fenchurch-street, and so to Aldgate pump, 
 
 Each man with 's spurs in 's horses sides, and his back-sword cross his rump. 
 
 My lord he takes a staff in hand to beat the bushes o'er ; 
 
 I must confess it was a work he ne'er had done before. 
 
 A creature bounceth from a bush, which made them all to laugh ; 
 
 My lord, he cried, a hare a hare, but it prov'd an Essex calf. 
 
 And when they had done their sport, they came to London where they dwell, 
 Their faces all so torn and scratch'd, their wives scarce knew them well ; 
 For 'twas a very great mercy, so many 'scap'd alive, 
 For of twenty saddles carried out, they brought again but five. 
 
 Privileges to hunt in certain districts, were frequently granted to individuals 
 either from favour, or as a reward for their services. Richard L gave to Henry 
 de Grey, of Codnor, the manor of Turroe, in Essex, with permission to hunt the 
 hare and the fox, in any lands belonging to the crown, excepting only the king's 
 own demesne parks ; and this special mark of the royal favour was confirmed by 
 his brother John, when he succeeded to the throne.* 
 
 Others obtained grants of land, on condition of their paying an annual 
 tribute in horses, hawks, and hounds. And here I cannot help noticing a curious 
 tenure, by which Bertram de Criol held the manor of Setene, or Seaton, in Kent, 
 from Edward L ; he was to provide a man, called veltarius, or huntsman," to 
 lead three greyhounds when the king went into Gascony, so long as a pair of 
 shoes, valued at fourpence, should last him,^ 
 
 Two Early Treatises on Hunting. — The earliest known English treatise 
 on hunting dates from eariy in the fourteenth century ; it was originally written 
 
 ' Stephanides Descript. London. a Stow's Survey of London, vol. i. p. 157. 
 
 ' Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1719, vol. iv. p. 42. « Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 
 " Or vautrarius, which Blount derives from the French vaultre, a mongrel hound, and supposes the name to 
 signify an inferior huntsman ; and this opinion I have adopted. 
 
 » E. c. An. 34 Edward I. No. 37. Richard Rockesley held the same land by the same tenure, in the second year 
 of Edward II. Blount, ut supra. . 
 
HUNTING II 
 
 in French, by William Twici, or Twety, grand huntsman to king Edward 11.^ 
 There is an English version of this, nearly coeval with the original in the Cotton 
 collection, but in that copy the name of John GyfFord is joined to that of Twety, 
 and both of them are said to be " maisters of the game " to king Edward, and 
 to have composed this treatise upon " the crafte of huntynge." ^ In the same 
 volume of the Cotton collection is a treatise written by the Master of the Game 
 to Henry IV. for the use of prince Henry his son ; it is little more than an en- 
 largement of the former tract.* The Book of St Albans, so called because it 
 was printed there, contains the first treatise upon the subject of hunting that 
 ever appeared from the press. It is however evidently compiled from the two 
 tracts above mentioned, notwithstanding the legendary authority of Sir Tristram, 
 quoted in the beginning. The Book of St Albans is said to have been written 
 by Juliana Barnes, or Berners, the sister of lord Berners, and prioress of the 
 nunnery of Sopewell, about the year 1481, and was printed soon afterwards. 
 This book contains two other tracts, the one on hawking, and the other 
 on heraldry. It has been reprinted several times, and under different titles, 
 with some additions and amendments, but the general information is the 
 same.* 
 
 Names of Beasts of Sport. — Twici introduces the subject with a kind 
 of poetical prologue, in which he gives us the names of the animals to be 
 pursued ; and these are divided into three classes. 
 
 The first class contains four, which, we are informed, may be properly 
 called beasts for hunting ; namely, the hare, the hart, the wolf, and the wild 
 boar. 
 
 The second class contains the names of the beasts of the chase, and they 
 are five ; that is to say, the buck, the doe, the fox, the martin, and the roe. 
 
 In the third class we find three, that are said to afford " greate dysporte " in 
 the pursuit, and they are denominated, the grey or badger, the wild-cat, and 
 the otter. 
 
 Most of the books upon hunting agree in the number and names of the 
 first class ; but respecting the second and third they are not so clear. The 
 beasts of the chase in some are more multifarious, and divided into two classes : 
 the first called beasts of sweet flight, are the buck, the doe, the bear, the rein- 
 deer, the elk ,and the spytard, which was the name for a hart one hundred years 
 old. In the second class, are placed the fulimart, the fitchat or fitch, the cat, 
 
 1 Entitled "Art de Venerie le quel Maistre Guillame Twici venour le Roy dangletetre fist en son temps per 
 aprandre Autres." See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221. 
 
 " Cotton MSS. Vespasian, B. xii. 
 
 > "There is a copy on paper of this treatise among the Harl. MSS. (No. 5086), where it is entitled The Book of 
 Venerye callyd the Maistre of Game, No. 6824 of the same collection contains the prologue and first six chapters of this 
 work, written on vellum. 
 
 * *There was, however, no such prioress of Sopewell nunnery, and the story of " Dam Julyano Barnes " being a 
 sister of Lord Berners was an invention of Chauncy in his Hist, of Herts (1700). This compilation was first printed 
 in i486 under the title "The Boke of St Albans," and the next edition was by Wynken de Worde in 1496. There 
 were about fifteen editions, under various titles, issued in the sixteenth century. See Blades' edition and introduction, 
 printed by Elliot Stock in 1881. 
 
12 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the grey, the fox, the weasel, the martin, the squirrel, the white rat, the otter, 
 the stoat, and the polC'Cat ; and these are said to be beasts of stinking flight. 
 
 Wolves. — The reader may possibly be surprised, when he casts his eye 
 over the foregoing list of animals for hunting, at seeing the names of several 
 that do not exist at this time in England, and especially of the wolf, because he 
 will readily recollect the story so commonly told of their destruction during the 
 reign of Edgar. It is generally admitted that Edgar gave up the fine of gold 
 and silver imposed by his uncle Athelstan, upon Constantine the king of Wales, 
 and claimed in its stead the annual production of three hundred wolves' skins ; 
 because, say the historians, the extensive woodlands and coverts, abounding at 
 that time in Britain, afforded shelter for the wolves, which were exceedingly 
 numerous, and especially in the districts bordering upon Wales. By this 
 prudent expedient, add they, in less than four years the whole island was 
 cleared from these ferocious animals, without putting his subjects to the least 
 expense ; but, if this record be taken in its full latitude, and the supposition 
 established that the wolves were totally exterminated in Britain during the reign 
 of Edgar, more will certainly be admitted than is consistent with the truth, as 
 certain documents clearly prove. 
 
 The words of William of Malmsbury relative to wolves in Edgar's time are 
 to this purport. " He, Edgar, imposed a tribute upon the king of Wales 
 exacting yearly three hundred wolves. This tribute continued to be paid for 
 three years, but ceased upon the fourth, because nullum se ulterius posse 
 invenire professus ; it was said that he could not find any more " ; ^ that is, in 
 Wales, for it can hardly be supposed that he was permitted to hunt them out of 
 his own dominions. 
 
 As respects the existence of wolves in Great Britain afterwards, and till a 
 very much later period, it appears that in the forty- third year of Edward III. 
 Thomas Engaine held lands in Pytchley, in the county of Northampton, by 
 service of finding at his own cost certain dogs for the destruction of wolves, 
 foxes, etc. in the counties of Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and 
 Buckingham. As late as the eleventh year of Henry VI. (1433) Sir Robert 
 Plumpton held one bovate of land, in the county of Nottingham, called Wolf 
 hunt land, by service of winding a horn, and chasing or frighting the wolves in 
 the forest of Shirewood. 
 
 *It seems most probable that wolves became extinct in England during the 
 reign of Henry VII., or at all events they were exceedingly rare after that 
 reign. The Lancashire forests of Blackburnshire and Bowland, the wilder parts 
 of the Derbyshire Peak, and the wolds of Yorkshire were among the last 
 retreats of the wolf It has been confidently stated that entries of payments for 
 the destruction of wolves in the account books of certain parishes of the East 
 Riding, presumably of the sixteenth or seventeenth century date, are still 
 extant,^ but this appears to be an error. Wolves were common in Scotland in 
 
 ' Hist. Reg. Angl. lib. ii. cap. 8. 2 BlaiDe's Encyclop. Rural Sports (1858), p. 105. 
 
HUNTING 13 
 
 the seventeenth century, and they lingered on in exceptional cases until about 
 the middle of the eighteenth century ; the last recorded instance of one being 
 killed was in 1743. The packs of Irish wolves were extirpated in 17 10, but the 
 last one was not killed in Ireland until 1770.^ 
 
 *The wolves of England in historic times were probably more often trapped 
 than hunted. The family of Wolfhunt who held land of the king in Peak forest 
 by the service of taking the wolves, adopted other means than hunting to keep 
 them down. An inquiry as to the rights of the foresters of the Peak was held in 
 1285. John le Wolfhonte and Thomas Folejambe then held a bovate of land, 
 which was formerly one serjeanty assigned for taking the forest wolves. They 
 stated that twice each year, namely, in March and September, they had to go 
 through the midst of the forest to place pitch to take the wolves ^ in the places 
 they frequented, because at those seasons of the year the wolves were not 
 able to smell disturbed soil as at others. In dry summers they also went at the 
 feast of St Barnabas (June nth), when the wolves had whelps, to take and 
 destroy them ; and then they had with them a servant to carry their traps 
 (ingenia), and they carried an axe and a spear, with a cutlass or hunting knife 
 attached to their girdle, but neither bow nor arrows. They had also with them 
 a mastiff, not lawed, and trained for this work.^ 
 
 *WiLD Boars. — The wild boar is one of the oldest and most renowned of 
 the animals of the British forests. It appears on ancient British coins, and was 
 figured in various works of art pertaining to the later Celtic period.* The wild 
 boar graces more than one piece of sculpture of the time of the Roman occu- 
 pation, and two altars have been found in the north of England dedicated to 
 the god Sylvanus by grateful hunters who had succeeded in killing enormous 
 boars.* The story of Edward the Confessor rewarding the huntsman Nigell 
 for slaying a fierce wild boar in the royal forest of Bernwood, Bucks, by 
 granting him an estate and the custody of that forest has often been told. 
 The hunting of the wild boar was assiduously followed up by the Norman 
 conquerors. The wild boar not infrequently occurs in their ecclesiastical 
 sculpture, as on the tympana of church doorways at Hognaston, Parwich, 
 and Ashford, Derbyshire ; Little Longford, Wilts ; and St Nicholas', 
 Ipswich,^ 
 
 *Holinshed states that Henry I. was specially devoted to boar hunting, 
 which he describes as " a very dangerous exercise." The boar was one of the 
 badges of Edward III., and was specially adopted by Richard III. The manor 
 of Blechesdon, Oxfordshire, was held by the service of presenting the king with 
 a boar spear when he came to hunt at Cornbury or Woodstock. The use of 
 
 * Harting's Extinct British Animals, pp. 115-205 ; Ifoies and Queries, Set. VI. iii. 
 ' Ad ponendam pegas ad lupos capiendo!. 
 
 ^ Journal of Derbyshire Archaological Society, xv. 82. 
 
 * Evans' British Coins, pis. vi., viii., xi., xii., xiii.; Stephen's Literature of the Kymry, p. 250; Hora Ferales, 
 pi. xiv. 
 
 ' Wright's Celt, Roman, and Saxon, pp. 207, 267. 
 
 * *Romilly Allan's Christian Symbolism, passim. 
 
14 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 boar spears in Norfolk in the middle of the fifteenth century is twice named in 
 the " Paston Letters," 
 
 *A full inventory of the arms and armour pertaining to Henry VIII., at 
 Westminster, the Tower, and Greenwich, at the close of his reign, enumerates no 
 fewer than 550 " bore-speres." Of this number, 291 had " asshen staves trymed 
 with crymesym velvet and fringed with redde silke," 162 were knotted and 
 leathered, and 97 had "asshen staves trymed with lether." Two others were 
 "graven and gilt." At Greenwich there was also "a bore-spere hedde of 
 Morish worke." Many of these weapons were doubtless for parade and possibly 
 for warlike use if the necessity arose ; but those that were simply knotted and 
 leathered (to secure a firmer grip) were probably genuine and serviceable boar 
 spears. In the same inventory are vast numbers of Moorish pikes, bills, 
 halberds, partisans, and javelins.^ The chief distinction between the boar spear 
 and other spears was its broad head and the cross-bar just below the head to 
 prevent the weapon entering too deeply. It is not generally remembered that 
 the javelin, as its name implies {jabali, a wild boar), was originally a boar spear 
 of a light character, that could be thrown as a dart. 
 
 *References to wild boars might be almost indefinitely extended, for they 
 overran the whole country for many centuries, and were afterwards hunted in all 
 the great forests of England. As forests lessened in extent the wild swine 
 decreased in numbers, but there are abundant proofs of their thriving in Durham, 
 Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Wiltshire in the sixteenth century. James I. 
 hunted the wild boar at Windsor in 161 7.'' They were still wild at Chartley, 
 Staffordshire, in 1683. Charles II.'s reign is the latest time at which this animal 
 is known to have been found in England in a really wild state. Various vain 
 efforts were made to reintroduce them into England during the nineteenth 
 century.* 
 
 *The best account of the old English hunting of the wild boar is given in 
 George Turbervile's liberally illustrated " Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting," 
 which was first printed in 1575 and reproduced in 161 1. He says, in chapter 
 forty-nine, that the boar ought not to be counted among the beasts of venery 
 chaseable with hounds, as he is the proper prey of a mastiff or such like dogs, for 
 as much as he is a heavy beast and of great force, and will not lightly flee nor 
 make chase before hounds. He thinks it a great pity to hunt the boar with a 
 good kennel of hounds, as "he is the only beast which can dispatch a hound at one 
 blow, for though other beasts do bite, snatch, teare, or rend your houndes, yet 
 there is hope of remedie if they be well attended ; but if a Bore do once strike 
 your hounde, and light betweene the foure quarters of him, you shall hardly see 
 him escape ; and there withall this subtilitie he hath, that if he be run with a 
 good kenell of hounds, which he perceiveth holde in rounde and followe him 
 harde, he will flee into the strongest thicket that he can finde, to the end he may 
 kill them at leisure one after another, the which I have seene by experience 
 
 ' Archaologia, li. 219-280. 
 
 ' Court and Times of James I., ii. 34. " Harting's Extinct British Animals, 77-1 14. 
 
HUNTING IS 
 
 oftentimes. And amongst others I saw once a Bore chased and hunted with 
 fiftie good hounds at the least, and when he saw that they were all in full crie, 
 and helde in round togethers, he turned heade afore them, and thrust amiddest the 
 thickest of them. In such sorte that he slew sometimes sixe or seaven (in 
 manner) with twinkling of an eye ; and of the fiftie houndes there went not 
 twelve sounde and alive to their masters' houses." Turbervile then proceeds to 
 show how the boar may properly be hunted and killed with either the sword or 
 the boar spear. The boar was to be followed up by relays of dogs until brought 
 to bay, and then the huntsmen were to ride in upon all at once, having cast 
 round the place where he was, " and it shall be hard if they give him not one 
 scratch with a sword or some wound with a boar- spear." He recommends the 
 hanging of bells on the boar-hounds necks, as a preventative to the boar striking 
 them. 
 
 *FoxES. — In Turbervile's book, the hunting of the fox and badger are 
 described together. Both were then hunted or rather drawn with terriers, and 
 Turbervile remarks — "as touching foxes, I account small pastime of hunting of 
 them, especially within the ground ; for as soone as they perceyve the Terryers, 
 if they yearne hard and ge neare unto them, they will bolte and come out 
 streygthwaies, unlesse it be when the bitch hathe yong Cubbes : then they will 
 not forsake their yong ones though they die for it." When a fox was hunted 
 " above grounde," after the earths had been stopped, the hounds of the chase 
 thus employed are described as greyhounds, showing that the fox was usually 
 coursed by sight and not followed by scent. 
 
 ♦The keeping of public packs of hounds did not obtain in England until 
 about the close of the seventeenth century, and these packs hunted the stag, the 
 fox, and the hare, indiscriminately. One of the first packs of hounds kept solely 
 for fox hunting was the Hertfordshire; it was started in 1725 with Mr John 
 Calvert as the first master, the kennels being at Cheshunt and Redbourne.^ 
 The first real steady pack of foxhounds in the West of England was that hunted 
 by Mr Thomas Fownes, of Stapleton, Dorset, which was started in 1730." 
 
 *WiLD Cats and Martins. — The wild cat is named by Turber- 
 vile, in 1575, in connection with the martin, as vermin which used to be 
 commonly hunted in England. At that time they were not hunted de- 
 signedly, but if a hound chanced to cross a wild cat he would hunt it as 
 soon as any chase — "and they make a noble crye for the time that they 
 stand up. At last when they may no more they will take a tre, and 
 therein seeke to beguile the hounds. But if the hounds hold into them, and 
 will not so give it over, then they leape from one tree to another, and make 
 great shift for their lives, with no lesse pastime to the huntsmen." The wild cat 
 is now extinct in England as well as in the southern counties of Scotland. 
 Probably the last wild cat killed in England was that shot by Lord Ravens- 
 worth at Eslington, Northumberland, in 1853. That beautiful animal, the 
 
 ' Ftct. Co. Histories, Hertfordshire, i. 349. " Blaine's Encyclop. of Rural Sforts, p. 383. 
 
i6 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 martin, once so common in England's forests, is now rapidly disappearing. It 
 is supposed to still linger in the Somersetshire and Devonshire confines of 
 Exmoor.^ Mr Harting, writing in 1883, says that the martin still holds its own 
 in the mountainous parts of Cumberland and Westmoreland, where it is occa- 
 sionally hunted with foxhounds.^ 
 
 *The Rev. H. A. Macpherson, writing in 1901, says that "the marten con- 
 tinues to preserve a precarious footing among the mountain tops in the centre 
 and west of Cumberland. ... As long as these animals were fairly numerous 
 they used to be hunted by the dalesmen, and many a spirited chase has been 
 described to me by venerable sportsmen." The last wild cat of this county was 
 killed on Great Mell Fell early in the nineteenth century.* The martin has 
 become extinct in Derbyshire and Staffordshire within the last fifty years.* 
 
 *Otters. — The directions given for hunting the otter in the earliest known 
 treatises and books correspond so closely to the customs still observed in that 
 sport, which has never died out in England, that it would be superfluous to 
 reproduce them. Otter-hunting was especially popular in the days of James I. 
 In November 1604 a commission was issued by John Parry, master of the Herts 
 otter hounds, to take dogs up the rivers for the king's diversions ; millers were 
 at the same time ordered to stop their watercourses during the hunting. In 
 1607 the king made a grant of hounds and beagles, spaniels, and mongrels 
 to Henry Mynours, master of the otter hounds at Theobalds, for his majesty's 
 disport.^ 
 
 *DoGS OF THE Chase. — General Pitt- Rivers, in his recent series of pains- 
 taking excavations at Rushmore, Rotherley, etc., has established the fact that 
 a great variety of dogs were known and domesticated in Romano- British days, 
 from the mastiff and greyhound down to small terriers and lapdogs.* 
 
 In the manuscripts before mentioned we find the following names for the 
 dogs employed in the sports of the field ; that is to say, raches, or hounds ; 
 running hounds, or harriers, to chase hares ; and greyhounds, which were 
 favourite dogs with the sportsmen ; alauntes, or bull-dogs, these were chiefly 
 used for hunting the boar ; the mastiff is also said to be "a good hounde" for 
 hunting the wild boar ; the spaniel was of use in hawking ; " hys crafte," says 
 the author, " is for the perdrich or partridge, and the quaile ; and, when taught 
 to couch, he is very serviceable to the fowlers, who take those birds with nets." 
 There must, I presume, have been a vast number of other kinds of dogs known 
 in England at this period ; these, however, are all that the early writers, upon 
 the subject of hunting, have thought proper to enumerate. 
 
 *The following is the amusing list given by Dam Julyano in 1406 : — 
 
 ' I several times saw specimens in the "fifties " and " sixties " of last century that had been shot by the keepers of 
 Sir Thomas Acland and Mr Knight on the Somersetshire side of Exmoor ; I once saw one wild in the Homer Woods, 
 below Cloutsham, I think in the year i860, when it had been disturbed by the " tufters " of the Devon and Somerset 
 staghounds. — ^J. Charles Cox. 
 
 ^ Harting's Sport and Natural History, ibid. 27-29. 
 
 ^Vict: Co. Histories, CumberlanS, i. 219-220. ^ Ibid. Derbyshire, vol. i. 
 
 ^ Ibid. Hertfordshire, i. 347. ^Excavations, i. 174, ii. 223-4, iii. 235, iv. 124, 128, 131, 133. 
 
HUNTING 17 
 
 " Thyse be the names of houndes. Fyrste there is a Grehoun ; a Bastard ; 
 a Mengrell ; a Mastif ; a Lemor ; a Spanyel ; Raches ; Kenettys ; Teroures ; 
 Butchers houndes ; Dunghyll dogges ; Tryndeltaylles ; and pryckeryd currys ; 
 and smalle ladye's popees that here awaye the flees and dyvers small sawtes." 
 
 Royal Hunting. — Several methods of hunting were practised by the 
 sportsmen of this kingdom, as well on horseback as on foot. Sometimes this 
 exercise took place in the open country ; sometimes in woods and thickets ; and 
 sometimes in parks, chases, and forests, where the game was usually enclosed 
 with a haye or fence-work of netting, supported by posts driven into the ground 
 for that purpose. The manner of hunting at large needs no description ; but, as 
 the method of killing game within the enclosures is now totally laid aside, it may 
 not be amiss to give the reader some idea how it was performed, and particularly 
 when the king with the nobility were present at the sport. All the preparations 
 and ceremonies necessary upon the occasion are set down at large in the 
 manuscript made for the use of Prince Henry, mentioned before ; the substance 
 of which is as follows. 
 
 When the king should think proper to hunt the hart in the parks or forests, 
 either with bows or greyhounds, the master of the game, and the park-keeper, or 
 the forester, being made acquainted with his pleasure, was to see that everything 
 be provided necessary for the purpose. It was the duty of the sheriff of the 
 county, wherein the hunting was to be performed, to furnish fit stabling for the 
 king's horses, and carts to take away the dead game. The hunters and officers 
 under the forester, with their assistants, were commanded to erect a sufficient 
 number of temporary buildings ^ for the reception of the royal family and their 
 train ; and, if I understand my author clearly, these buildings were directed to 
 be covered with green boughs,^ to answer the double purpose of shading the 
 company and the hounds from the heat of the sun, and to protect them from any 
 inconveniency in case of foul weather. Early in the morning, upon the day 
 appointed for the sport, the master of the game, with the officers deputed by him, 
 was to see that the greyhounds were properly placed, and the person nominated 
 to blow the horn, whose office was to watch what kind of game was turned out, 
 and, by the manner of winding his horn, signify the same to the company, that 
 they might be prepared for its reception upon its quitting the cover. Proper 
 persons were then to be appointed, at different parts of the enclosure, to keep 
 the populace at due distance. The yeomen of the king's bow, and the grooms 
 of his tutored greyhounds, had in charge to secure the king's standing, and 
 prevent any noise being made to disturb the game before the arrival of his 
 majesty. When the royal family and the nobility were conducted to the places 
 appointed for their reception, the master of the game, or his lieutenant, sounded 
 three long mootes, or blasts with the horn, for the uncoupling of the hart hounds. 
 The game was then driven from the cover, and turned by the huntsmen and the 
 
 ' They are called "trists" or "trestes" in the MS. and might possibly be temporary stages. 
 ^ The passage runs thus in the MS. : "the fewtrerers ought to make fayre logges of grene boughes at their trestes,'' etc. 
 B 
 
,8 SPORTS AKD PASTIMES 
 
 hounds so as to pass by the stands belonging to the king and queen, and such of 
 the nobility as were permitted to have a share in the pastime ; who might either 
 shoot at them with their bows, or pursue them with the greyhounds at their 
 pleasure. We are then informed that the game which the king, the queen, or the 
 prince or princesses slew with their own bows, or particularly commanded to be let 
 run, was not liable to any claim by the huntsmen or their attendants ; but of all the 
 rest that was killed they had certain parts assigned to them by the master of 
 the game, according to the ancient custom. 
 
 This arrangement was for a royal hunting, but similar preparations were 
 made upon like occasions for the sport of the great barons and dignified clergy. 
 Their tenants sometimes held lands of them by the service of finding men to 
 enclose the grounds, and drive the deer to the stands whenever it pleased their 
 lords to hunt them.^ 
 
 *In the first edition of Turbervile's " Noble Art of Venerie," issued in 
 1575, there is a woodcut representing Queen Elizabeth being entertained in the 
 midst of a forest scene. In the second edition, issued in 161 1, the same woodcut 
 was used, but Elizabeth was ingeniously changed into James I., and the Queen's 
 two maids of honour into pages in waiting. These two cuts are given side by 
 side on plate three. 
 
 *HuNTiNG — Coursing. — Turbervile states, at the end of his volume, 
 that he could find nothing in the foreign works that he had translated 
 relative to coursing with greyhounds, but that in England they set great 
 store by the pastime of coursing with greyhounds " at Deare, Hare, 
 Foxe, or such like, even of themselves, when there are neyther hounds 
 hunting, nor other means to help them." He sets forth that in coursing deer 
 (especially red deer) the greyhounds were divided into three leashes. Teasers, 
 Sidelaies, and Backsets, which were set at the deer in turn. In coursing hares, 
 a quaint method of procedure is laid down in detail. Thus, " Let him which 
 found the Hare go towards and say Up pusse up, untill she ryse out of her 
 forme." ..." When you go to course eyther Hare or Deare or to Hunt any chace, 
 it is a forfayture (amongst us here in England) to name eyther Beare, Ape, 
 Monkie, or Hedgehogge ; and he which nameth any of those shoulde be 
 payd with a slippe upon the Buttockes in the field before he go any furder." 
 Turbervile's last words in his treatise of 250 pages on hunting are warmly in 
 favour of coursing with greyhounds — " which is doubtlesse a noble pastime, and 
 as mete for Nobility and Gentleman as any of the other kinds of Venerie before 
 declared : Especially the course at the Hare w^hich is a sport continually in 
 sight, and made without any great travaile : so that recreation is therein to be 
 found without immeasurable toyle and payne : whereas in hunting with hounds, 
 although the pastime be great, yet many times the toyle and paine is also 
 exceeding great : And then it may be called eyther a painful pastime, or a 
 pleasant payne." 
 
 ' See Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 

HUNTING 19 
 
 *There were coursing matches in the old days, for Turbervile states that 
 if it was " a solemn assembly " for coursing, that expert judges stationed them- 
 selves on surrounding hills to judge which dog did best. It was in Elizabeth's 
 reign that certain " laws of the Leash or Coursing" were drawn up to regulate 
 hare coursing matches, which were allowed and subscribed by Thomas, Duke 
 of Norfolk.1 
 
 Hunting Terms. — There was a peculiar kind of language invented by the 
 sportsmen of the middle ages, which it was necessary for every lover of the 
 chase to be acquainted with. 
 
 When beasts went together in companies, there was said to be a pride of 
 lions ; a lepe of leopards ; an herd of harts, of bucks, and of all sorts of deer ; 
 a bevy of roes ; a sloth of boars ; a singular of boars ; a sownder of wild swine ; 
 a dryft of tame swine ; a route of wolves ; a harras of horses ; a rag of colts ; a 
 stud of mares ; a pace of asses ; a baren of mules ; a team of oxen ; a drove of 
 kine ; a flock of sheep ; a tribe of goats ; a sculk of foxes ; a cete of badgers ; a 
 richness of martins ; a fesynes of ferrets ; a huske or a down of hares ; a nest of 
 rabbits ; a clowder of cats, and a kyndyll of young cats ; a shrewdness of apes ; 
 and a labour of moles. 
 
 And also, of animals when they retired to rest ; a hart was said to be 
 harbored, a buck lodged, a roebuck bedded, a hare formed, a rabbit set, etc. 
 
 Two greyhounds were called a brace, three a leash, but two spaniels or 
 harriers were called a couple. We have also a mute of hounds for a number, a 
 kenel of raches, a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of curs. 
 
 It is well worthy of notice, that this sort of phraseology was not confined 
 to birds and beasts, and other parts of the brute creation, but it was extended 
 to the various ranks and professions of men, as the specimens, which I cannot 
 help adding, will sufficiently demonstrate ; the application of some of them, will, 
 I trust, be thought apt enough : — 
 
 A state of princes ; a skulk of friars ; a skulk of thieves ; an observance of 
 hermits ; a lying of pardoners ; a subtiltie of Serjeants ; an untruth of sompners ; 
 a multiplying of husbands ; an incredibility of cuckolds ; a safeguard of porters ; 
 a stalk of foresters ; a blast of hunters ; a draught of butlers ; a temperance of 
 cooks ; a melody of harpers ; a poverty of pipers ; a drunkenship of coblers ; a 
 disguising of taylors ; a wandering of tinkers ; a malepertness of pedlars ; a 
 fighting of beggars ; a rayful (that is, a netful) of knaves ; a blush of boys ; a 
 bevy of ladies ; a nonpatience of wives ; a gagle of women ; a gagle of geese ; 
 a superfluity of nuns ; and a herd of harlots. Similar terms were applied to 
 inanimate things, as a caste of bread, a cluster of grapes, a cluster of nuts, etc. 
 
 Seasons for Hunting. — As to " the seasons for alle sortes of venery," the 
 ancient books upon hunting seem to be agreed. 
 
 The " time of grace " begins at Midsummer, and lasteth to Holyrood-day, 
 The fox may be hunted from the Nativity to the Annunciation of our Lady ; 
 
 ' Badminton Library : Coursing, pp. 4-6. 
 
20 SPORTS Am> PASTIMES 
 
 the roebuck from Easter to Michaelmas; the roe from Michaelmas to 
 Candlemas ; the hare from Michaelmas to Midsummer ; the wolf as the fox ; 
 and the boar from the Nativity to the Purification of our Lady. 
 
 *The seasons are thus expressed in the rhymes of Dam Julyans, as 
 printed in i486 : — 
 
 " The Tyme of Grece beginnyth at mydsomer day, 
 And tyll Hoi' Roode day lastyth as I you say. 
 The seson of the fox fro the Nativyty, 
 Tyll the annunciacion of owre lady free. 
 Seson of the Robucke at Ester shall begynne, 
 And tyll Mychelmas lastith nigh or she blynne. 
 The seson of the Roo begynnyth at Michelmas, 
 And hit shall endure and last untill Candilmas. 
 At Michelmas begynnyth huntyng of the hare, 
 And lastith till mydsomer, ther will no man hit spare. 
 The seson of the Wolfe is in iche cuntre 
 As the seson of the fox and evermore shall be. 
 The seson of the boore is from the Nativyte, 
 Till the purification of owre lady so fre. 
 For at the Nativyte of owre lady swete, 
 He may fynde Where he goth under his feete, 
 Booth in Wodys and feldis, corne and oder frute, 
 When he after foode makjrth any sute. 
 Crabbys and acornys and nottis ther they grow, 
 Hawys and heeppes and other thynges ynow. 
 That till the Purification lastys as ye se, 
 And makyth the Boore in seson to be. 
 For whyle that frute may last, 
 His time is never past." 
 
 *Later Hunting Treatises. — The seventeenth century supplied two 
 works of some celebrity on the sport of hunting. The first of these was by that 
 industrious and prolific writer Gervase Markam, who had edited an edition of 
 The Boke of St Albans in 1596. In 1615 appeared the first issue of his 
 " Country Contentments," in which hunting holds a foremost place. He died 
 in 1636. Before the end of the century, this work had passed through fifteen 
 editions. The second was " The Gentleman's Recreation," compiled by a 
 literary hack named Richard Blome, and first issued in folio in 1686. The 
 chief value of the latter production lies in the plates, which aptly illustrate the 
 sporting costume of our forefathers towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 *In the next century books and essays on hunting multiplied ; the one 
 memorable production being Beckford's charming and scholarly work, first 
 printed in 1781, entitled "Thoughts upon Hunting." 
 
 *The classic work that tells the tale of English hunting since the days of 
 Beckford is the Duke of Beaufort's volume of the Badminton Library, which 
 has deservedly run through so many editions. The story for each county is 
 being treated of in the respective volumes of the Victoria County Histories 
 now in course of publication. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Hawking practised by the Nobility — Its Origin not well known — A favourite Amusement with the Saxons — Romantic 
 Story relative to Hawking — Grand Falconer of France, his State and Privileges — Edward III. partial to 
 Hawking — Saxon Hawking — Ladies fond of Hawking — Its Decline — Caparison of a Hawk — Treatises con- 
 cerning Hawking — Laws respecting Hawks — Their great Value — The different Species of Hawks, and their 
 Appropriation — Terms used in Hawking — Fowling and Fishing — The Stalking Horse — Lowbelling. 
 
 HAWKING BY THE NoBiLiTY. — Hawking, or the art of training and flying of 
 hawks, for the purpose of catching other birds, is very frequently called 
 falconry, and the person who had the care of the hawks is denominated 
 the falconer. The sport is generally placed at the head of those amusements 
 that can only be practised in the country, and probably it obtained this pre- 
 cedency from its being a pastime so generally followed by the nobility, not in 
 this country only, but also upon the continent. Persons of high rank rarely 
 appeared without their dogs and their hawks ; the latter they carried with them 
 when they journeyed from one country to another, and sometimes even when 
 they went to battle, and would not part with them to procure their own liberty 
 when taken prisoners. Sometimes they formed part of the train of an ecclesi- 
 astic. These birds were considered as ensigns of nobility ; and no action 
 could be reckoned more dishonourable to a man of rank than to give up his 
 hawk.^ The ancient English illuminators have uniformly distinguished the 
 portrait of king Stephen by giving him a hawk upon his hand, to signify, I 
 presume, by that symbol, that he was nobly, though not royally born.* 
 
 Sebastian Brant, a native of Germany, the author of a work entitled 
 " Stultifera Navis," the Ship of Fools, published towards the conclusion of the 
 fifteenth century, accuses his countrymen of bringing their hawks and hounds 
 into the churches, and interrupting the divine service; which indecency he 
 severely reprobates and with the greatest justice. The passage is thus trans- 
 lated by Alexander Barclay : ' 
 
 Into the church then comes another sotte, 
 Withouten devotion, jetting up and down. 
 Or to be scene, and showe his garded cote. 
 Another on his fiste a sparhawke or fawcone, 
 Or else a cokow ; wasting so his shone ; 
 Before the aulter he to and fro doth wander, 
 With even as great devotion as doth a gander. 
 In comes another, his houndes at his tayle. 
 With lynes and leases, and other like baggage ; 
 His dogges barke, so that withouten fayle, 
 The whole church is troubled by their outrage. 
 
 ' Memoirs des Inscrip. tom. ix. p. 542. ^ See Struth's Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England. 
 
 ' Printed by Pynsou A. D. 1508. 
 
22 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Origin of Hawking. — I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earner 
 period than the middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about 
 that time, is the first Latin author that speaks of falconers, and the art of 
 teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others.^ Pliny is thought to 
 have attributed a sport of this kind to the inhabitants of a certain district in 
 Thrace, but his words are too obscure for much dependence to be placed upon 
 them.2 An English writer, upon what authority I know not, says, that hawking 
 was first invented and practised by Frederic Barbarossa, when he besieged 
 Rome.2 It appears, however, to be very certain that this amusement was 
 discovered abroad, where it became fashionable, some time before it was known 
 in this country : the period of its introduction cannot be clearly determined ; but, 
 about the middle of the eighth century, Boniface, archbishop of Mons, who was 
 himself a native of England, presented to Ethelbert, king, of Kent, one hawk 
 and two falcons ; and a king of the Mercians requested the same Boniface to 
 send to him two falcons that had been trained to kill cranes.* In the succeeding 
 century, the sport was very highly esteemed by the Anglo-Saxon nobility; and 
 the training and flying of hawks became one of the essentials in the education 
 of a young man of rank. Alfred the Great is commended for his early proficiency 
 in this, as well as in other fashionable amusements ; ^ he is even said to have 
 written a treatise upon the subject of hawking, but there is no such work at 
 present in existence, that can with any degree of certainty be attributed to him. 
 The pastime of hawking must, no doubt, at this period, have been very generally 
 followed, to call for the prohibition inserted in a charter granted to the Abbey 
 of Abingdon, by Kenulph, king of the Mercians ; which restrains all persons 
 carrying hawks or fellows trespassing upon the lands belonging to the monastery.* 
 This amusement continued to be a fashionable one to the end of the Saxon sera. 
 Byrhtric, a Saxon nobleman, who died towards the end of the tenth century, 
 among other valuable articles, left by will, to earl ^Ifric, two hawks, and all his 
 hedge-hounds, which were, I suppose, spaniels, for the purpose of flushing the 
 game.^ We have already seen that Edward the Confessor was highly pleased 
 with the sports of the field, allotting the whole of his leisure time to hunting or 
 hawking. 
 
 Romantic Story Relative to Hawking. — The monkish writers, after 
 the conquest, not readily accounting for the first coming of the Danes, or for the 
 cruelties that they committed in this country, have assigned several causes ; and 
 among others, the following story is related, which if it might be depended upon, 
 would prove that the pastime of hawking was practised by the nobility of 
 Denmark at a very early period ; such a supposition has at least probability on its 
 side, even if it should not be thought to derive much strength from the authority 
 of this narrative. 
 
 ' Lib. V. cap. 8. ^ pijny Nat. Hist. lib. x. cap. 8. s Peacham's Complete Gentleman, p. 183. 
 
 * See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. ii. p. 405. ^ See p. 3. sec. iii. 
 
 « This charter was granted A.D. 821. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 100. 
 ' See the whole of the curious will in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, p. 540. 
 
HAWKING 23 
 
 A Danish chieftain, of high rank, some say of royal blood, named Lothbroc, 
 amusing himself with his hawk near sea, upon the western coasts of Denmark, 
 the bird, in pursuit of her game, fell into the water ; Lothbroc, anxious for her 
 safety, got into a little boat that was near at hand, and rowed from the shore to 
 take her up, but before he could return to the land, a sudden storm arose, and he 
 was driven out to sea. After suffering great hardship, during a voyage of 
 infinite peril, he reached the coast of Norfolk, and landed at a port called 
 Rodham : he was immediately seized by the inhabitants, and sent to the court 
 of Edmund, king of the East Angles ; when that monarch was made acquainted 
 with the occasion of his coming, he received him very favourably, and soon 
 became particularly attached to him, on account of his great skill in the training 
 and flying of hawks. The partiality which Edmund manifested for this 
 unfortunate stranger, excited the jealousy of Beoric, the king's falconer, who 
 took an opportunity of murdering the Dane, whilst he was exercising of his birds 
 in the midst of a wood, and secreted the body : which was soon afterwards 
 discovered by the vigilance of a favourite spaniel. Beoric was apprehended, and, 
 it seems, convicted of the murder ; for he was condemned to be put into an open 
 boat (some say the very boat in which the Danish chieftain came to England) 
 without oars, mast, or rudder, and in that condition abandoned to the mercy of 
 the ocean. It so chanced, that the boat was wafted to the very point of land 
 that Lothbroc came from ; and Beoric, escaped from the danger of the waves, 
 was apprehended by the Danes, and taken before two of the chieftains of the 
 country, named Hinguar and Hubba ; who were both of them the sons of 
 Lothbroc. The crafty falconer soon learned this circumstance, and, in order to 
 acquire their favour, made them acquainted with the murder of their father, 
 which he affirmed was executed at the command of king Edmund, and that he 
 himself had suffered the hardship at sea, from which he had been delivered by 
 reaching the shore, because he had the courage to oppose the king's order, and 
 endeavoured to save the life of the Danish nobleman. Incited by this abominable 
 falsehood to revenge the murder of their father, by force of arms, they invaded 
 the kingdom of the East Angles, pillaged the country, and having taken the king 
 prisoner, caused him to be tied to a stake, and shot to death with arrows. 
 
 This narration bears upon the face of it the genuine marks of a legendary 
 tale. Lidgate, a monk of Saint Edmund's Bury, has given it a place, with the 
 addition of several miraculous circumstances, in his poetical life of king Edmund, 
 who was the tutelar saint of the abbey to which he belonged.^ On the other 
 hand, every one who is acquainted with the history of the Anglo-Saxons must 
 know, that the Danish pirates had infested the coasts of England, and committed 
 many dreadful depredations, long before the time assigned for the above event ; 
 and the success of the first parties encouraged others to make the like attempts. 
 
 Grand Falconer of France. — Hawking is often mentioned, says a 
 
 ' Lidgate presented this poem to King Henry VL when that monarch held his court at Bury. The presentation 
 MS. is yet extant in the Harleian Library, No. 2278. 
 
24 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 modern author, in the capitularies of the eighth and ninth centuries. The 
 grand fauconnier of France was an officer of great eminence ; his annual salary 
 was four thousand florins ; he was attended by fifty gentlemen, and fifty 
 assistant falconers ; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks, he licensed 
 every vender of hawks in France, and received a tax upon every bird sold in 
 that kingdom, and even within the verge of the court ; and the king never rode 
 out upon any occasion of consequence without this officer attending upon him,^ 
 
 In Doomsday-book a hawk's airy^ is returned among the most valuable 
 articles of property ; which proves the high estimation these birds were held in 
 at the commencement of the Norman government ; and probably some establish- 
 ment, like that above mentioned, was made for the royal falconer in England. 
 
 Fondness of Edward III. &c. for Hawking. — Edward III., according 
 to Froissart, had with him in his army when he invaded France, thirty 
 falconers on horseback, who had charge of his hawks ; * and every day he 
 either hunted, or went to the river for the purpose of hawking, as his 
 fancy inclined him. From the frequent mention that is made of hawking 
 by the water-side, not only by the historians, but also by the romance 
 writers of the middle ages, I suppose that the pursuit of water-fowls afforded 
 the most diversion. The author last quoted, speaking of the earl of Flanders, 
 says, he was always at the river, where his falconer cast off one falcon 
 after the heron, and the earl another. In the poetical romance of the 
 " Squire of low Degree," the king of Hungary promises his daughter, that, 
 at her return from hunting, she should hawk by the river-side, with gos 
 hawk, gentle falcon, and other well-tutored birds ; so also Chaucer, in the 
 rhime of sir Thopas, says that he could hunt the wild deer. 
 
 And ryde on haukynge by the ryver, 
 With grey gos hawke in hande. 
 
 On the fourth plate is a representation of a Saxon nobleman and his 
 falconer, with their hawks, upon the bank of a river, waiting for the rising of 
 the game. The delineation is from a Saxon manuscript written at the close 
 of the ninth century, or at the commencement of the tenth ; in the Cotton 
 Library.* Another drawing upon the same subject, with a little variation, 
 occurs in a Saxon manuscript, somewhat more modern.^ The two other 
 engravings on the same plate are from drawings in a manuscript written 
 early in the fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal Library.^ We see 
 a party of both sexes hawking by the water side ; the falconer is frightening 
 the fowls to make them rise, and the hawk is in the act of seizing upon 
 one of them. 
 
 We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied the gentle- 
 men in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by themselves ; and, if we 
 
 1 Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 406. a Aira Accipitris. 
 
 ' Trente fauconniers d. cheval, charges tfoiseaux. Froissart's Chron. vol. i. cap. 210. 
 
 * Tiberius, C. vi. " Julius, A. vi. 6 Marked 2 B. vii. 
 
HAWKING 25 
 
 may believe a contemporary writer,^ in the thirteenth century, they even excelled 
 the men in knowledge and exercise of the art of falconry, which reason, he very 
 ungallantly produces, in proof that the pastime was frivolous and effeminate. 
 Hawking was forbidden to the clergy by the canons of the church ; but the pro- 
 hibition was by no means sufficient to restrain them from the pursuit of this 
 favourite and fashionable amusement. On which account, as well as for hunting, 
 they were severely lashed by the poets and moralists ; and, indeed, the one was 
 rarely spoken of without the other being included ; for those who delighted in 
 hawking were generally proficients in hunting also. 
 
 Decline of Hawking. — The practice of hawking declined, from the moment 
 the musket was brought to perfection, which pointing out a method more ready 
 and more certain of procuring game, and, at the same time, affording an equal 
 degree of air and exercise, the immense expense of training, and maintaining of 
 hawks became altogether unnecessary ; it was therefore no wonder that the 
 assistance of the gun superseded that of the bird ; or that the art of hawking, 
 when rendered useless, should be laid aside. Its fall was very rapid. Hentzner, 
 who wrote his "Itinerary" in 1598, assures us that hawking was the general 
 sport of the English nobility ; at the same time, most of the best treatises upon 
 this subject were written. At the commencement of the seventeenth century, it 
 seems to have been in the zenith of its glory. At the close of the same century, 
 the sport was rarely practised, and a few years afterwards hardly known. 
 
 * The great Civil War brought the use of the musket and hence of the 
 fowling piece much more into fashion, to the still further decay of hawking. 
 Charles II. did his best to revive it from a characteristic reason; "of all the 
 diversions of the chase," said a contemporary, " the king likes none but hawking, 
 because it is the most convenient for the ladies." ^ In The Compleat Sportsman 
 by Giles Jacob, published in 17 18, the author excuses himself for taking no 
 notice of this sport for the following excellent reasons : — " The diversion of 
 hawking, by reason of the trouble and expence in keeping and breeding the 
 hawk, and the difficulty in the management of her in the field, is in a great 
 measure disused : especially since sportsmen are arrived to such a perfection in 
 shooting, and so much improved in the making of dogs, which facilitates the 
 pleasures in taking all sorts of game."^ The Earl of Oxford, who died in 1791, 
 made strenuous efforts to revive falconry ; and at the opening of the nineteenth 
 century it was supported with some spirit on different estates in Yorkshire and 
 Norfolk. 
 
 * The most recent treatise on hawking, published in 1892, says : — " Falconry 
 has never for a single hour been extinct in Great Britain ; and there are probably 
 at the present time more hawks in training, well and ably trained too, both by 
 
 ^ Johan, Saiisburiensis, lib. i, cap. 4. 
 
 ' Memoirs of Count Grammont, ii. 279. 
 
 ' Shooting with guns became a recognised and customary sport in the second half of the seventeenth century, 
 Brome's Gentleman's Recreation (1686), and Fairfax's Compleat Sportsman (1689) have chapters on Shooting and 
 Shooting Flying. 
 
26 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 amateurs and professionals, than ever there were since the beginning of the 
 century." ^ 
 
 Caparison of a Hawk. — When the hawk was not flying at her game, she 
 was usually hood-winked, with a cap or hood provided for that purpose, and 
 fitted to her head ; and this hood was worn abroad, as well as at home. All 
 hawks taken upon " the fist," the term used for carrying them upon the hand, 
 had straps of leather called jesses, put about their legs. The jesses were made 
 sufficiently long for the knots to appear between the middle and the little fingers 
 of the hand that held them, so that the lunes, or small thongs of leather, might 
 be fastened to them with two tyrrits, or rings ; and the lunes were loosely wound 
 round the little finger. It appears that sometimes the jesses were of silk. 
 Lastly, their legs were adorned with bells, fastened with rings of leather, each 
 leg having one ; and the leathers, to which the bells were attached, were 
 denominated bewits ; and to the bewits was added the creance, or long thread, 
 by which the bird in tutoring, was drawn back, after she had been permitted to 
 fly ; and this was called the reclaiming of the hawk. The bewits, we are 
 informed, were useful to keep the hawk from " winding when she bated," that is, 
 when she fluttered her wings to fly after her game. 
 
 Respecting the bells, it is particularly recommended that they should not be 
 too heavy, to impede the flight of the bird ; and that they should be of equal 
 weight, sonorous, shrill, and musical ; not both of one sound, but the one a 
 semitone below the other ; and they ought not to be broken, especially in the 
 sounding part, because, in that case, the sound emitted would be dull and 
 unpleasing. There is, says the Book of St Albans, great choice of sparrow- 
 hawk bells, and they are cheap enough ; but for gos-hawk bells, those made at 
 Milan are called the best ; and, indeed, they are excellent ; for they are 
 commonly sounded with silver, and charged for accordingly. But we have good 
 bells brought from Dordreght (Dort), which are well paired, and produce a very 
 shrill, but pleasant sound. 
 
 I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal when the bells are cast, 
 adds much to the sweetness of the tone ; and hence probably the allusion of 
 Shakespear, when he says, 
 
 How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues by night. 
 
 I cannot help adding in this place a passage from an old play, written 
 by Thomas Hey wood ; wherein one of the characters, speaking of a hawk 
 flying, says 
 
 Her bels. Sir Francis, had not both one waight, 
 
 Nor was one semitune above the other. 
 
 Mei thinkes these Millane bels do sound too full, 
 
 And spoile the mounting of your hawke.^ 
 
 So much for the birds themselves ; but the person who carried the hawk 
 
 ' Badminton Library : Falconry, by Hon. G. Lascelles. For the literature of this subject, see Harting's Bibliotheca 
 Accipitraria. 
 
 '^ "A Woman killed with Kindness," third edition, 1617. Garrick's Coll. E. vol. iv. 
 
HAWKING 27 
 
 was also to be provided with gloves for that purpose, to prevent their talons 
 from hurting his hand. In the inventories of apparel belonging to king Henry 
 VIII., such articles frequently occur; at Hampton Court, in the jewel house, 
 were seven hawkes' gloves embroidered.^ 
 
 Early Treatises on Hawking. — We have a poetical fragment, written 
 in old Norman French, as early as the thirteenth century, containing some 
 general observations respecting the management of hawks, which the author 
 informs us he found in a book made for, or by, the good king Edward.^ 
 Wanley, in his catalogue of the Harleian manuscripts, suspects there is some 
 mistake in the name ; and that this fragment is really part of a treatise upon 
 hawking, which he tells us was written by king Alfred ; but I rather think the 
 author is correct in this particular ; for another manuscript ' in English, and 
 about a century more modern, treating upon the same subject, has the following 
 indication at the close, " Here endith the booke of haukyng, after Prince 
 Edwarde, kynge of Englande." 
 
 *The manuscript treatises named under Hunting, as well as " The Boke 
 of St Albans" (i486), all begin with description of hawking. In 1575 
 George Turbervile, a Dorsetshire gentleman, published the first separate 
 English treatise on the subject entitled " The Booke of Faulconrie or 
 Hawking; for the onely delight and pleasure of all Noblemen and Gentle- 
 men." It is, in the main, a compilation from Italian and French sources, 
 and covers upwards of 370 pages. It is divided into three parts, the first 
 gives a description of all kinds of hawks ; the second deals with " The 
 reclayming, imping, mewing, and fleyng both the fielde and river of the 
 same haukes " ; whilst the third part, which is far the longest, is solely con- 
 cerned with the diseases of the hawks. In 1615 Symon Latham wrote 
 and printed "Falconry, or the Faulcon's Luere and Cure," considered by 
 experts to be a good and practical work, even for those who now may desire to 
 follow up this ancient sport; a fourth edition appeared in 1158. This was 
 followed by an original work by Edmund Bert, issued in 1619 under the title, 
 " An Approved Treatise of Hawkes and Hawking," divided into three books.* 
 The author was a gentleman of Essex. When hawking on the Sussex downs 
 for just five weeks with "an intermewed goshawke," he killed in that time, 
 " with that one hawke foure score and odd partridges, five pheasants, seven 
 rayles, and foure hares." For one of his goshawks he was once offered ;^40, 
 and subsequently completed a sale for ;^30. 
 
 In the last quoted Harley manuscript, we find not only the general rules relative 
 to hawking, but an account of the diseases incident to the birds themselves, and 
 the medicines proper to be administered to them upon such occasions. I shall 
 only mention the following superstitious ceremonies : after a hawk has been ill, 
 and is sufficiently recovered to pursue the game, the owner has this admonition 
 given to him ; " On the morrow tyde, when thou goest oute to haukyng, say. In 
 
 > MS. Harl. 1419. ^ MS. Harl. 978. ' MS. Harl. 2340. * Reprinted by Quaritch in 1891. 
 
28 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the name of the Lord, the birds of heaven shall be beneath thy feet : also, if he 
 be hurt by the heron, say, The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, 
 has conquered ; Hallelujah ; and if he be bitte of any man, say. He that the 
 wicked man doth bind, the Lord at his coming shall set free." These 
 sentences, I suppose, were considered as charms, but how far they operated, I 
 shall leave the reader to judge. 
 
 Laws respecting Hawking. — No persons but such as were of the highest 
 rank were permitted under the Norman government to keep hawks, as appears 
 from a clause inserted in the Forest Charter : this charter king John was 
 compelled to sign ; and by it the privilege was given to every free man to have 
 airies of hawks, sparrow-hawks, falcons, eagles, and herons in his own woods.^ 
 In the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Edward HI. a statute was made, by 
 which a person finding a falcon, tercelet, laner, laneret, or any other species of 
 hawk, that had been lost by its owner, was commanded to carry the same to 
 the sheriff of the county wherein it was found ; the duty of the sheriff was to 
 cause a proclamation to be made in all the principal towns of the county, that he 
 had such a hawk in his custody, and that the nobleman to whom it belonged, or 
 his falconer, might ascertain the same to be his property, and have it restored 
 to him, he first paying the costs that had been incurred by the sheriff ; and, if 
 in the space of four months no claimant appeared, it became the property of 
 the finder, if he was a person of rank, upon his paying the costs to the sheriff; 
 on the contrary, if he was an unqualified man, the hawk belonged to the sheriff: 
 but the person who found it was to be rewarded for his trouble. If the person 
 who found the hawk concealed the same from the owner or his falconer, he was 
 liable upon discovery to pay the price of the bird to the owner, and to suffer 
 two years' imprisonment ; and if he was unable to pay the fine, his imprisonment 
 was extended to a longer term.^ In the thirty-seventh year of the same 
 monarch this act was confirmed, with additional severity ; and the stealing and 
 concealing of a hawk, was made felony.* In the same reign the bishop of Ely 
 excommunicated certain persons for stealing a hawk that was sitting upon her 
 perch in the cloisters of Bermondsey, in Southwark ; but this piece of sacrilege 
 was committed during divine service in the choir, and the hawk was the 
 property of the bishop,* 
 
 In the reign of Henry VII. a restrictive act was established, prohibiting 
 any man from bearing a hawk bred in England, called a nyesse,^ a gos-hawk, 
 a tassel, a laner, a laneret, or a falcon, upon pain of forfeiting the same to the 
 king, but that he should use such hawks as were brought from abroad ; ^ what 
 good purpose this ordinance was to promote, I am at a loss to say. The laws 
 respecting these birds were frequently varied in the succeeding times, and the 
 alterations seem, in some instances, to have been exceedingly capricious. 
 
 ' Carta de Forresta, cap. xi. 2 Rot. Pari. 34 Ed. III. s /^/^ ,- gj m 
 
 * A. D. 1337. Regist. Adami Orleton. Epis. Wint. fol. 56. 
 
 " A hawk was called a nyesse, or an eyesse, from her having watery eyes. « Stat. xi. Hen VII 
 
HAWKING 29 
 
 As the hawk was a bird so highly esteemed by the nobility of England, 
 there will be no wonder if we find the royal edicts established for the preserva- 
 tion of their eggs; accordingly, in the eleventh year of Henry VII, it was 
 decreed, that if any person was convicted of taking from the nests, or destroying 
 the eggs of a falcon, a gos-hawk, a laner, or a swan, he should suffer imprison- 
 ment for one year and one day, and be liable to a fine at the king's pleasure ; 
 one half of which belonged to the crown, and the other half to the owner of the 
 ground whereon the eggs were found ; and, if a man destroyed the same sort of 
 eggs upon his own ground, he was equally subject to the penalty.^ This act 
 was somewhat meliorated in the reign of Elizabeth, and the imprisonment 
 reduced to three months : but then the offender was obligated to find security 
 for his good behaviour for seven years, or remain in prison until he did. 
 
 Value of Hawks. — The severity of the above-mentioned laws may prob- 
 ably excite the surprise of such of my readers, as are not informed how highly 
 this kind of birds was formerly appreciated. At the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century, we find, that a gos-hawk and a tassel-hawk were sold for 
 one hundred marks, which was a large sum in those days. Such as were 
 properly trained and exercised were esteemed presents worthy the acceptance 
 of a king or an emperor. In the eighth year of the reign of Edward III. the 
 king of Scotland sent him a falcon gentle as a present, which he not only most 
 graciously received, but rewarded the falconer who brought it with the donation 
 of forty shillings ; a proof how highly the bird was valued.^ It is further said, 
 that in the reign of James I. Sir Thomas Monson gave one thousand pounds 
 for a cast of hawks. 
 
 Different Species of Hawks. — The books of hawking assign to the 
 different ranks of persons the sort of hawks proper to be used by them : and 
 they- are placed in the following order : — 
 
 The eagle, the vulture, and the merloun, for an emperor. 
 
 The ger-faulcon, and the tercel of the ger-faulcon, for a king. 
 
 The faulcon gentle, and the tercel gentle, for a prince. 
 
 The faulcon of the rock, for a duke. 
 
 The faulcon peregrine, for an earl. 
 
 The bastard, for a baron. 
 
 The sacre, and the sacret, for a knight. 
 
 The laner, and the laneret, for an esquire. 
 
 The marlyon, f«r a lady. 
 
 The hobby, for a young man. 
 
 The gos-hawk, for a yeoman. 
 
 The tercel, for a poor man. 
 
 The sparrow-hawk, for a priest. 
 
 The musket, for a holy water clerk. 
 
 The kesterel, for a knave or servant. 
 
 1 Stat. xi. Hen. VII. " MS. Cott, Nero, C. viii. p. 275. 
 
30 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 This list includes, I presume, the greater part, if not all, of the names 
 appertaining to the birds used in hawking. The Mews at Charing-cross, 
 Westminster, is so called, from the word mew, which in the falconers' language, 
 is the name of a place wherein the hawks are put at the moulting time, when 
 they cast their feathers. The king's hawks were kept at this place as early as 
 the year 1377, an. i Richard II. ; but a.d. 1537, the 27th year of Henry VIII., 
 it was converted into stables for that monarch's horses, and the hawks were 
 removed,^ 
 
 *The conversion of this building, in which the king's hawks were kept 
 while they mewed or moulted, into a stable, gave an entirely new general 
 signification to the word mews. 
 
 Terms Used in Hawking. — As in hunting, so in hawking, the sportsmen 
 had their peculiar impressions, and therefore the tyro in the art of falconry is 
 recommended to learn the following arrangement of terms as they were to be 
 applied to the different kinds of birds assembled in companies. A sege of 
 herons, and of bitterns ; an herd of swans, of cranes, and of curlews ; a dopping 
 of sheldrakes ; a spring of teels ; a covert of cootes ; a gaggle of geese ; a 
 badelynge of ducks ; a sord or sute of mallards ; a muster of peacocks ; a nye 
 of pheasants ; a bevy of quails ; a covey of partridges ; a congregation of 
 plovers ; a flight of doves ; a dale of turtles ; a walk of snipes ; a fall of wood- 
 cocks ; a brood of hens ; a building of rooks ; a murmuration of starlings ; an 
 exaltation of larks ; a flight of swallows ; a host of sparrows ; a watch of 
 nightingales ; and a charm of goldfinches. 
 
 Fowling and Fishing — The Stalking Horse — Lowbelling. — The 
 arts of Fowling and Fishing are usually added to the more modern treatises 
 upon hunting and hawking. I shall select a few observations that occur 
 respecting the former ; but with regard to the latter, I have not met with any 
 particulars sufficiently deviating from the present methods of taking fish to claim 
 a place in this work. 
 
 Fowling, says Burton, may be performed with guns, lime-twigs, nets, 
 glades, gins, strings, baits, pit-falls, pipe-calls, stalking horses, setting dogs, and 
 decoy ducks ; or with chaff-nets for smaller birds ^ ; there may also be added 
 bows and arrows, which answered the purpose of guns before they were invented 
 and brought to perfection. 
 
 The Stalking Horse, originally, was a horse trained for the purpose and 
 covered with trappings, so as to conceal the sportsman from the game he intended 
 to shoot at. It was particularly useful to the archer, by affording him an 
 opportunity of approaching the birds unseen by them, so near that his arrows 
 might easily reach them ; but as this method was frequently inconvenient, and 
 often impracticable, the fowler had recourse to art, and caused a canvas figure to 
 be stuffed, and painted like a horse grazing, but sufficiently light, that it might 
 be moved at pleasure with one hand. These deceptions were also made in the 
 
 * Stow's Survey of London. = Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, book v. chap. 8, edit. Lond. 1660. 
 
HAWKING 31 
 
 form of oxen, cows, and stags, either for variety, or for conveniency sake. In 
 the inventories of the wardrobes, belonging to king Henry VIII., we frequently 
 find the allowance of certain quantities of stuff for the purpose of making 
 " stalking coats, and stalking hose for the use of his majesty." ^ 
 
 There is also another method of fowling, which, says my author, for I will give 
 it nearly in his own words, is performed with nets, and in the night time ; and 
 the darker the night the better. — " This sport we call in England, most com- 
 monly bird-batting, and some call it lowbelling ; and the use of it is to go with 
 a great light of cressets, or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make a 
 good light ; and you must have a pan or plate made like a lanthorn, to carry 
 your light in, which must have a great socket to hold the light, and carry it 
 before you, on your breast, with a bell in your other hand, and of a great big- 
 ness, made in the manner of a cow-bell, but still larger ; and you must ring it 
 always after one order. — If you carry the bell, you must have two companions 
 with nets, one on each side of you ; and what with the bell, and what with the 
 light, the birds will be so amazed, that when you come near them, they will turn 
 up their white bellies : your companions shall then lay their nets quietly upon 
 them, and take them. But you must continue to ring the bell ; for, if the sound 
 shall cease, the other birds, if there be any more near at hand, will rise up and 
 fly away." — " This is," continues the author, " an excellent method to catch 
 larks, woodcocks, partridges, and all other land birds." ^ 
 
 The pipe-call, mentioned by Burton, is noticed under a different denomina- 
 tion by Chaucer ; " Lo," says he, " the birde is begyled with the merry voice of 
 the foulers' whistel, when it is closed in your nette," — alluding to the deceptive 
 art of the bird-catchers in his time.* 
 
 I shall just observe, that there are twelve prints, published by John 
 Overton, upon the popular subjects of hunting, hawking, and fishing, etc., 
 engraved by Hollar, from designs by Francis Barlow, which perfectly exemplify 
 the manner in which those pastimes were practised, somewhat more than a 
 century back. 
 
 ' MS. Harl. 2284. ^ Jewel for Gentrie, Lonct. 1614. ' Testament of Love, book ii. 
 
CHAPTER m 
 
 Horse-racing known to the Saxons— Races in Smithfield, and why— Races, at what Seasons practised— The Chester 
 Races— Stamford Races— Value of Running-horses— Highly prized by the Poets, etc.— Horse-racing commended 
 as a liberal Pastime— Charles II. and other monarchs encouragers of Horse-racing— Races on Coleshill-heath— 
 Corporation Races and later. 
 
 HORSE-RACING KNOWN TO THE Saxons. — It was requisite in former times 
 for a man of fashion to understand the nature and properties of horses, 
 and to ride well; or, using the words of an old romance writer, "to 
 runne horses and to approve them." ^ In proportion to the establishment of 
 this maxim, swift running-horses of course rose into estimation ; and we know 
 that in the ninth century they were considered as presents well worthy the 
 acceptance of kings and princes. 
 
 When Hugh, the head of the house of the Capets, afterwards monarchs of 
 France, solicited the hand of Edelswitha, the sister of Athelstan, he sent to 
 that prince, among other valuable presents, several running-horses,^ with their 
 saddles and their bridles, the latter being embellished with bits of yellow gold. 
 It is hence concluded, and indeed with much appearance of truth, that horse- 
 racing was known and practised by the Anglo-Saxons, but most probably 
 confined to persons of rank and opulence, and practised only for amusement 
 sake. 
 
 Races in Smithfield. — The first indication of a sport of this kind occurs 
 in the description of London, written by Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of 
 Henry II. He tells us, that horses were usually exposed for sale in West 
 Smithfield ; and, in order to prove the excellency of the most valuable hackneys 
 and charging steeds, they were matched against each other ; his words are to this 
 effect,* " When a race is to be run by this sort of horses, and perhaps by others, 
 which also in their kind are strong and fleet, a shout is immediately raised, and 
 the common horses are ordered to withdraw out of the way. Three jockeys, or 
 sometimes only two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest ; 
 such as being used to ride know how to manage their horses with judgment : 
 the grand point is, to prevent a competitor from getting before them. The 
 horses, on their part, are not without emulation : they tremble and are 
 impatient, and are continually in motion : at last the signal once given, they 
 strike, devour the course, hurrying along with unremitting velocity. The 
 jockeys, inspired with the thoughts of applause and the hopes of victory, 
 
 ' Knight of the Swan, Garrick's Collect. K. vol. x. 
 ' Equos cursores. Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. Angl. lib. ii. cap. 6. 
 
 ' I have followed the translation published by Mr White, of Fleet-street, A.D. 1772. See Stow's Survey oj 
 London, republished with additions by Strype. 
 
HORSE-RACING 33 
 
 clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their whips, and cheer them with their 
 cries." 
 
 Horse-Racing Seasons. — In the middle ages there were certain seasons 
 of the year when the nobility indulged themselves in running their horses and 
 especially in the Easter and Whitsuntide holidays. In the old metrical romance 
 of " Sir Bevis of Southampton," ^ it is said, 
 
 In somer at Whitsontyde, 
 Whan knightes most on horsebacke ride ; 
 A cours, let they make on a daye, 
 Steedes, and Palfraye, for to assaye 
 Whiche horse, that best may ren, 
 Three myles the cours was then, 
 Who that might ryde him shoulde 
 Have forty pounds of redy golde. 
 
 Commenius in his vocabulary, entitled " Orbis Sensualium Pictus," published 
 towards the conclusion of the sixteenth century, indeed says, "At this day, 
 tilting, or the quintain is used, where a ring is struck with a truncheon, instead 
 of horse-races, which," adds he, " are grown out of use.'' 
 
 A writer of the seventeenth century ^ tells us, that horse-racing, which had 
 formerly been practised at Eastertide, " was then put down, as being contrary to 
 the holiness of the season " ; but for this prohibition I have no further authority." 
 
 Chester Races. — It is certain, that horse-races were held upon various 
 holidays, at different parts of the kingdom, and in preference to other pastimes. 
 "It had been customary," says a Chester antiquary,^ " time out of mind, upon 
 Shrove Tuesday, for the company of saddlers belonging to the city of Chester, 
 to present to the drapers a wooden ball, embellished with flowers, and placed 
 upon the point of a lance ; this ceremony was performed in the presence of the 
 mayor, at the cross in the ' Rodhee,' or Roody, an open place near the city ; but 
 this year" (1540), continues he, "the ball was changed into a bell of silver, 
 valued at three shillings and sixpence, or more, to be given to him who shall run 
 the best, and the farthest on horseback, before them upon the same day."* 
 These bells were afterwards denominated Saint George's bells ; and we are told 
 that in the last year of James I. John Brereton, inn-keeper, mayor of Chester, 
 first caused the horses entered for this race, then called Saint George's race, to 
 start from the point, beyond the new tower : and appointed them to run five 
 times round the Roody : "and he," says my author,^ "who won the last course 
 or trayne, received the bell, of a good value, of eight or ten pounds, or thereabout, 
 and to have it forever ; which moneyes were collected of the citizens, to a sum 
 for that purpose." ® By the author's having added, that the winner at this race 
 was to have the bell, and have it for ever, is implied, that it had formerly been 
 
 ' Syr Bevys of Hampton, black letter, without date, printed by Wm. Copland. Garrick's Collect. K. vol. ix. 
 
 ' Bourne Antiq. Vulgares, chap. xxiv. 
 
 3 Probably the elder Randel Holme of Chester, one of the city heralds. MS. Harl. 2150. fol. 235. 
 
 ^ That is Shrove Tuesday. 'Probably the younger Randel Holme. 'MS. Harl. 2125. 
 
34 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 used as a temporary mark of honour, by the successful horseman, and afterwards 
 returned to the corporation ; this alteration was made April 23, a.d. 1624. 
 
 Here we see the commencement of a regular horse-race, but whether the 
 courses were in immediate succession, or at different intervals, is not perfectly 
 clear ; we find not, however, the least indication of distance posts, weighing the 
 riders, loading them with weights, and many other niceties that are observed in 
 the present day. The Chester races were instituted merely for amusement, but 
 now such prodigious sums are usually dependent upon the event of a horse-race, 
 that these apparently trivial matters, are become indispensably necessary. Forty- 
 six years afterwards,^ according to the same writer, the sheriffs of Chester " would 
 have no calves-head feast, but put the charge of it into a piece of plate, to be 
 run for on that day, Shrove Tuesday ; and the high-sheriff borrowed a Barbary 
 horse of sir Thomas Middleton, which won him the plate ; and being master of 
 the race, he would not suffer the horses of master Massey, of Puddington, and 
 of sir Philip Egerton, of Oulton, to run, because they came the day after the 
 time prefixed for the horses to be brought, and kept in the city ; which thing 
 caused all the gentry to relinquish our races ever since." 
 
 *Two small silver racing bells, belonging to the corporation of Carlisle, of 
 globular form, were exhibited before the Royal Archaeological Institute in 1879. 
 The largest, which is 2I inches in diameter, is gilt, and thus inscribed — " The 
 sweftes hors thes bel to tak for mi lade Daker sake." The other bears date 
 1599, with initials H. B. M. C, that is, Henry Baines, Mayor of Carlisle.* 
 
 Stamford Races. — Races something similar to those above mentioned, are 
 described by Butcher,* as practised in the vicinity of the town of Stamford, in 
 Lincolnshire. " A concourse," says he, " of noblemen and gentlemen meet 
 together, in mirth, peace, and amity, for the exercise of their swift running- 
 horses, every Thursday in March. The prize they run for is a silver and gilt 
 cup, with a cover, to the value of seven or eight pounds, provided by the care of 
 the alderman for the time being ; but the money is raised out of the interest of 
 a stock formerly made up by the nobility and gentry, which are neighbours, and 
 well-wishers to the town." 
 
 Value of Running- Horses. — Running-horses are frequently mentioned 
 in the registers of the royal expenditures. It is notorious, that king John was 
 so fond of swift horses and dogs for the chase, that he received many of his fines 
 in the one or the other ; but at the same time it does not appear that he used 
 the horses for any purposes of pleasure, beyond the pursuits of hunting, hawking, 
 and such like sports of the field. 
 
 In the reign of Edward III. the running-horses purchased for the king's 
 service, were generally estimated at twenty marks, or thirteen pounds, six 
 shillings, and eightpence each ; but some few of them were prized as high as 
 
 'a.d. 1665. and S Charles II. 
 
 ^ The Archaological Journal^ xxxvi. 383, where these bells are figured. 
 
 8 In his Survey of the Town of Stamford, first printed A.D. 1646, chap. 10. 
 
HORSE-RACING 3S 
 
 twenty-five marks.^ I met with an entry, dated the ninth year of this king's 
 reign, which states, that the king of Navarre sent him as a present two running- 
 horses, which I presume were very valuable, because he gave the person who 
 brought them no less than one hundred shillings for his reward.* 
 
 Running- Horses of the Heroes of Romance. — If we appeal to the poets, 
 we shall find, that swift running-horses were greatly esteemed by the heroes who 
 figure in their romances ; and rated at prodigious prices ; for instance, in an 
 ancient poem,* which celebrates the warlike actions of Richard I., it is said, that 
 in the camp of the emperor, as he is called, of Cyprus, 
 
 Too stedes fownde kinge Richarde, 
 Thatt oon Favell, thatt other Lyard : 
 Yn this worlde, they hadde no pare ; 
 Dromedary, neither destrere,* 
 Stede, rabyte, ne cammele, 
 Goeth none so swyfte without fayle 
 For a thousand pownd of golde, 
 Ne sholde the one be solde. 
 
 And though the rhymist may be thought to have claimed the poetical licence 
 for exaggeration, respecting the value of these two famous steeds, the statement 
 plainly indicates that in his time there were horses very highly prized on account 
 of their swiftness. We do not find indeed, that they were kept for the purpose 
 of racing only, as horses are in the present day ; but rather, as I before observed, 
 for hunting and other purposes of a similar nature ; and also to be used by 
 heralds and messengers in cases of urgency. 
 
 Race-horses were prized on account of their breed, in the time of Elizabeth, 
 as appears from the following observations in one of Bishop Hall's Satires. — 
 
 -dost thou prize 
 
 Thy brute beasts worth by their dams qualities ? 
 
 Sa/st thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed, 
 
 Onely because a Jennet did him breed ? 
 
 Or say'st thou this same horse shall win the prize, 
 
 Because his dam was swiftest Trunchefice 
 
 Or Runcevall his syre ; himself a gallaway ? 
 
 While like a tireling jade, he lags half away.* 
 
 Horse-Racing, a Liberal Pastime. — Two centuries back horse-racing 
 was considered as a liberal pastime, practised for pleasure rather that profit, 
 without the least idea of reducing it to a system of gambling. It is ranked with 
 hunting and hawking, and opposed to dice and card playing by an old Scotch 
 poet, who laments that the latter had in great measure superseded the former.* 
 One of the puritanical writers^ in the reign of Elizabeth, though he is very 
 severe against cards, dice, vain plays, interludes, and other idle pastimes, allows 
 
 » MS. Cot. Nero, C. viii. fol. 219. = Ihid. 
 
 " MS. Harl. 4690, written early in the fourteenth century. * A French word, signifying a large powerful horse. 
 • Lib. iv. f. 3. Edit. 1599. ' Poem of Covetice, quoted by Warton. Hist. English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 316. 
 
 1 John Nortbbrooke. 
 
36 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 of horse-racing as " yielding good exercise," which he certainly would not have 
 done, had it been in the least degree obnoxious to the censure which at present 
 it so justly claims. 
 
 Burton,! ^j^q wrote at the decline of the seventeenth century, says sarcastically, 
 " Horse-races are desports of great men, and good in themselves, though many 
 gentlemen by such means gallop quite out of their fortunes " ; which may be 
 considered as a plain indication, that they had begun to be productive of mischief 
 at the time he wrote : and fifty years afterwards, they were the occasion of a 
 new and destructive species of gambling. The following lines are from a ballad 
 in D'Urfey's collection of songs : it is called " New Market," which place was 
 then famous for the exhibition of horse-races. 
 
 Let cullies that lose at a race 
 
 Go venture at hazard to win. 
 
 Or he that is bubbl'd at dice 
 
 Recover at cocking again ; 
 
 Let jades that are founder'd be bought. 
 
 Let jockeys play crimp to make sport. — 
 
 Another makes racing a trade, 
 
 And dreams of his projects to come ; 
 And many a crimp match has made, 
 By bubbing another man's groom.' 
 
 Royal Patrons of Horse- Racing — Races on Coleshill Heath, &c. — 
 From what has been said, it seems clear enough, that this pastime was originally 
 practised in England for the sake of the exercise, or by way of emulation, and, 
 generally speaking, the owners of the horses were the riders. These contests, 
 however, attracted the notice of the populace, and drew great crowds of people 
 together to behold them ; which induced the inhabitants of many towns and 
 cities to affix certain times for the performance of such sports, and prizes were 
 appointed as rewards for the successful candidates. The prize was usually a 
 silver cup or some other piece of plate, about eight or ten pounds value. 
 
 In the reign of James I. public races (as distinguished from private matches 
 between gentlemen) were established in many parts of the kingdom, such as 
 Gathorty, Yorkshire ; Croydon, Surrey, and on Enfield Chase. It is said 
 that the discipline and modes of preparing the horses upon such occasions, were 
 much the same as are practised in the present day. The races were then called 
 bell courses, because, as we have seen above, the prize was a silver bell. 
 
 At the latter end of the reign of Charles I. races were held in Hyde Park, 
 and at Newmarket. After the Restoration, horse-racing was revived and much 
 encouraged by Charles II. who frequently honoured this pastime with his 
 presence ; and, for his own amusement, when he resided at Windsor, appointed 
 races to be made in Datchet mead. At Newmarket, where it is said he entered 
 horses and run them in his name, he established a house for his better accommo- 
 
 * Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. sec. 2, chap. 4, edit. 1660. 
 ^ Pills to purge Melancholy, fourth edit. 1719, vol. ii. p. 53. 
 
H0R8E-RACING n 
 
 dation ; and he also occasionally visited other places where horse-races were 
 instituted. I met with the following doggerel verses in a metrical Itinerary, 
 written at the close of the seventeenth century. The author,^ for he hardly 
 deserves the name of poet, speaking of Burford Downs, makes these remarks : 
 
 Next for the glory of the place, 
 Here has been rode many a race, — 
 —King Charles the Second I saw here j 
 But I've forgotten in what year. 
 The duke of Monmouth here also, 
 Made his horse to swete and blow ; 
 Lovelace, Pembrook, and other gallants 
 Have been ventring here their talents, 
 And Nicholas Sainton on black Sloven, 
 Got silver plate by labor and drudging, &c. 
 
 At this time it seems, that the bells were converted into cups, or bowls, or 
 some other pieces of plate, which were usually valued at one hundred guineas 
 each ; and upon these trophies of victory the exploifs and pedigree of the 
 successful horses were most commonly engraved. William III. was also a 
 patroniser of this pastime, and established an academy for riding, and his queen 
 not only continued the bounty of her predecessors, but added several plates 
 to the former donations. 
 
 * Queen Anne not only continued this practice, but kept a racing stud 
 and ran horses in her own name. At York, in 171 2 the Queen's grey gelding. 
 Pepper, ran for the Royal Gold Cup, value ;[f 100 ; and Mustard, described as 
 a nutmeg-grey horse, another of the Queen's stud, ran for the same stake in 
 the following year. On Friday, July 30th, 17 14, the Queen's bay horse Star 
 won a plate of ;^40 on the York course. On the following Monday, during 
 a race for a gold cup with a sweepstake of sixteen guineas, an express arrived 
 with the news of her majesty's death. The nobility and gentry left the course 
 and attended the Archbishop of York and the Lord Mayor of York, who 
 proclaimed the accession of George I.* Towards the close of his reign 
 George I. discontinued the plates and gave in lieu one hundred guineas. 
 
 In one of the Spectators, we meet with the following advertisement, ex- 
 tracted, as we are told, from a paper called the Post Boy : * " On the ninth of 
 October next will be run for on Coleshill Heath, in Warwickshire, a plate of six 
 guineas value, three heats, by any horse, mare, or gelding, that hath not won 
 above the value of five pounds : the winning horse to be sold for ten pounds, to 
 carry ten stone weight if fourteen hands high : if above, or under, to carry or be 
 allowed weight for inches, and to be entered on Friday the fifth, at the Swan, 
 in Coleshill, by six in the evening. Also a plate of less value, to be run for by 
 asses " ; which, though by no means so noble a sport as the other, was, I doubt 
 not, productive of the most mirth. 
 
 ^ Probably Matthew Thomas Baskcrvile, whose name appears at the end j it was written about the year 1690. 
 MS. Harl, 4716. 
 
 " Badminton Library, Racingt p. 34. ' Sated Sept. li, a.d, 1711. Spectator, vol. iii. No. 173. 
 
38 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 •Corporation Plates. — It was the custom of several of our more im- 
 portant corporations to support horse-racing by presenting money or money's 
 worth. Horse-racing on Harleston Heath, near Northampton, was established 
 early in the seventeenth century. In 1632 the corporation of Northampton 
 covenanted to make an annual gift of a silver-gilt covered cup of the value of 
 £16, 13s. 4d. The Chamberlain's accounts for the seventeenth and beginning 
 of the eighteenth centuries always contain an entry for this payment, generally 
 characterised as " the horse-race plate," and sometimes as " the Harleston race 
 cup." In the reign, however, of George II., the Duke of Marlborough made 
 good his claim to Harleston Heath against the Corporation, and those races 
 ceased. At certain times the Northampton corporation also supported the town 
 races held on their common fields. The earliest entry to this effect is curiously 
 enough in the time of the Commonwealth. In 1658, "at the desire of the 
 Country Gentlemen," two plates were provided, one of the value of ;^30 and the 
 other of ;^i4.^ 
 
 *In 1727 John Cheney printed "an historical list of all the horse-matches 
 run, and all Plates and Prizes run for in England and Wales (of the value of Ten 
 Pounds or upwards.) " This list shows that there were no fewer than one hundred 
 and twelve cities and towns in England and five in Wales where horse-races 
 were held. To this work succeeded Weatherby's well-known " Racing Calendar." 
 
 * Dr Cox's Records of the Borough of Northampton, ii. 539-541. 
 
BOOK II 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The English famous for their Skill in Archery— The Use of the Bow known to the Saxons and the Danes— Form of the 
 Saxon Bow, &c. — Norman Archery — The Ladies fond of Archery — Observations relative to the Cross-Bow — Its 
 Form, and the Manner in which it was used — Bows ordered to be kept — The Decay of Archery, and why — 
 Ordinances in its Favour— The Fraternity of St George established— Henry VIII. an Archer— The Price of Bows 
 —'Equipment for Archery — Directions for its Practice — The Marks to shoot at — The Length of the Bow and Arrows 
 — Extraordinary Performances of the Archers — The modem Archers inferior to the ancient in long Shooting — The 
 Duke of Shoreditch, why so called — Grand Procession of the London Archers — Archery a royal Sport — A good 
 Archer, why called Arthur — Archery at Buxton — Elizabethan Archers— Archery in the Civil War — Sir William 
 Wood — The Artillery Company — The Toxophilites. 
 
 SKILL OF THE ENGLISH IN Archery. — Among the arts that have been 
 carried to a high degree of perfection in this kingdom, there is no one 
 more conspicuous than that of Archery. Our ancestors used the bow for 
 a double purpose : in time of war, it was a dreadful instrument of destruction ; 
 and in peace it became an object of amusement. It will be needless to insist 
 upon the skill of the English archers, or to dilate upon their wonderful per- 
 formances in the field of battle. The victories they obtained over their enemies 
 are many and glorious ; they are their best eulogiums, and stand upon record in 
 the histories of this country for the perusal, and for the admiration of posterity. 
 I shall therefore consider this subject in a general point of view, and confine 
 myself, in the main, to such parts of it as relate to amusement only. 
 
 * Though the use of the bow for the projection of darts or arrows shows 
 some advance on the rudest forms of savage life, there can be no doubt that it 
 was in common use throughout the British Isles for many centuries before the 
 advent of the Romans. Vast numbers of flint arrow heads have been found 
 throughout England, particularly on the wolds of Yorkshire and the moors of 
 Derbyshire.^ 
 
 The Bow known to the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. — The Anglo- 
 Saxons, and the Danes, were certainly well acquainted with the use of the bow ; 
 a knowledge they derived at an early period from their progenitors. The 
 Scandinavian scalds, speaking in praise of the heroes of their country, frequently 
 add to the rest of their acquirements a superiority of skill in handling of the bow.* 
 Ofifricf, son of Edwin, king of Northumberland, was killed by an arrow in a battle 
 which was fought near Hatfield, Yorkshire, about the year 633. Polydore 
 
 1 Evans' Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, chap. xvi. 
 
 " Olaii Worm. Lit. Hun. p. 129. Barthol. p. 420. Pontoppman's Hist. Norway, p. 248. 
 
40 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Virgil says that a great number of archers were placed in the right wing of King 
 Alfred's army. Edmund, king of the East Angles, was shot to death with 
 arrows by the Danes. 
 
 Form of the Saxon Bow. — Representations of the bow occur frequently 
 in the Saxon manuscripts ; and from one of them in the Cotton Library, written 
 about the tenth century,^ I have selected two archers, who are figured on the 
 fifth plate. The one accompanied by his dog, is in search of the wild deer ; 
 the other has no companion, but is depicted in the act of shooting at a bird ; 
 and from the adornment of his girdle, appears to have been no bad marksman. 
 The first represents Esau going to seek venison for his father, and the second, 
 Ishmael, after his expulsion from the house of Abraham, and residing in the 
 desert. 
 
 This plate also contains a Saxon bow and arrow on a larger scale, taken 
 from the same manuscript. The bow is curiously ornamented, having the 
 head and tail of a serpent carved at the ends ; and was, probably, such a 
 one as was used by the nobility. In all these bows we may observe one 
 thing remarkable, that is, the string not being made fast to the extremities, but 
 permitted to play at some distance from them. How far this might be more or 
 less advantageous than the present method, I shall not presume to determine. 
 
 *NoRMAN Archery. — Contrary to the assertions of Speed and certain later 
 historians, the bow was in well-established use in England at the period of the 
 Norman Conquest, though apparently at that time used by them but little in 
 warfare. There is only one English archer represented on the historic Bayeux 
 embroidery, whilst the credit of William's victory was mainly due to the archers of 
 Louviers and Evreux.^ Of the Conqueror it was recorded, as of Ulysses, that no 
 man could bend his bow. The Normans speedily popularised the general use of 
 a weapon, with which they were such adepts, throughout England, both for the 
 chase and amusement, as well as for military purposes. Under Henry IL the use 
 of the bow contributed materially to the conquest of Ireland. Fitzstephen, who 
 baliste, in that reign, states that the London skaters moved faster than telum 
 wrote which seems to prove that the cross-bow was also in common use at 
 that period. 
 
 In the ages of chivalry the usage of the bow was considered as an essential 
 part of the education of a young man who wished to make a figure in life. 
 The heroes of romance are therefore usually praised for their skill in archery ; 
 and Chaucer, with propriety, says of sir Thopas, "He was a good archere." 
 
 Archery practised by Ladies. — The ladies were also fond of this 
 amusement, and by a previous representation on the second plate, from an 
 original drawing in a manuscript of the fourteenth century, we see it practised 
 by one who has shot at a deer, and wounded it with great adroitness ; and in 
 another previous engraving (plate five) the hunting equipments of the female 
 archers about the middle of the fifteenth century are represented. 
 
 ^ Cott. MSB., Claud. B. iv. ^ Freeman's Norman Conquest, iii. ch. 15. 
 
CA^^^n/i^/r^ a^icO Kj^mim^ia^ 
 
ARCHERY 41 
 
 It was usual, when the ladies exercised the bow, for the beasts to be con- 
 fined by large inclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven in succession 
 from the covers to the stands, where the fair sportswomen were placed ; so that 
 they might readily shoot at them, without the trouble and fatigue of rousing and 
 pursuing them.^ It is said of Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII., that when 
 she was on her way towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amuse- 
 ment in Alnwick Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow.^ It is not 
 specified whether the long-bow or the cross-bow was used by the princess upon 
 this occasion ; we are certain that the ladies occasionally shot with both, for 
 when queen Elizabeth visited lord Montecute at Cowdrey, in Sussex, on the 
 Monday, August 17, 1591, " Her highness tooke horse, and rode into the park, 
 at eight o'clock in the morning, where was a delicate bowre prepared, under the 
 which were her highness musicians placed ; and a cross-bow, by a nymph, with 
 a sweet song, was delivered into her hands, to shoote at the deere ; about some 
 thirty in number were put into a paddock, of which number she killed three or 
 four, and the Countess of Kildare one." * 
 
 The Cross- Bow. — The arbalist, or cross-bow, which was much shorter 
 than the long-bow, fastened upon a stock, and discharged by the means of a 
 catch or trigger, which probably gave rise to the lock on the modern musket. 
 Bayle, explaining the difference between testimony and argument, uses this 
 simile, " Testimony is like the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the 
 force of the shooter ; argument is like the shot of a cross-bow, equally forcible, 
 whether discharged by a dwarf or a giant." 
 
 I cannot pretend to determine at what period the cross-bow was first 
 brought into this country, but I believe not long before the commencement of 
 the thirteenth century ; at least, I have never met with any representation of 
 such an engine prior to that period. On the continent its appearance might be 
 somewhat earlier. Our historians assure us that Richard I. was wounded by 
 an arrow from a bow of this kind, while he was reconnoitring the walls of the 
 castle of Chalezun ; which wound was the occasion of his death. William Brito 
 seems to attribute the introduction of the cross-bow to this monarch, who, he 
 says, first showed it to the French.* 
 
 In the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward I. the Earl of Warwick had 
 in his army a number of soldiers called ballistarii, and this word is translated 
 cross-bow men by our chronological writers, but certainly it may with equal 
 propriety be rendered slingers, or casters of stones, who frequently formed a part 
 of the Anglo-Norman armies." 
 
 * In 1 34 1 an order was issued by Edward III. to the sheriffs of most of the 
 English counties to supply five hundred white bows and five hundred bundles 
 of arrows, ready for the war against France. In the two following years like 
 
 1 See book i. ch. i. ^ Leland's Collect, vol. iv. p. ayS. 
 
 » Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii. " Camden's Remains. 
 
 " See Manners and Customs of the English, vol. i. 
 
42 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 orders were repeated, save that the sheriff of Gloucestershire was instructed to 
 provide five hundred painted bows as well as five hundred white or unpainted, 
 the latter being sixpence cheaper than the former. The painting of these long- 
 bows was intended either to make them smarter for military use, or to increase 
 their duration,^ 
 
 From this period we hear but little concerning the cross-bows, as military 
 weapons, until the battle of Cressy in 1346 ; at which time they were used by a 
 large body of Genoese soldiers, who were particularly expert in the manage- 
 ment of these weapons, and assisted the French upon that memorable occasion ; 
 but their efforts were ineffectual when opposed to the archery of the English. 
 Previous to the commencement of the batde there fell a sharp shower of rain, 
 which wetted the strings of the cross-bows ; and, we are told, in great measure 
 prevented the archers from doing their usual execution ; * but the strings of the 
 long-bows used by the Englishmen do not appear to have been damaged in the 
 least by the rain ; this might arise from their being made with different materials ; 
 or more probably, from their being kept with the bows, in the bow-cases, 
 during the continuance of the shower ; for every man had a case of canvass, 
 or of some such material, to draw over his bow when he had done using of it' 
 
 In the succeeding annals the cross-bow is continually spoken of as a weapon 
 of war. In 1347, the year after the celebrated victory was obtained at Cressy, 
 Charles, carl of Blois, at the siege of le Roche de Rien, had no less than two 
 thousand cross-bowmen in his army. The cross-bow was used by the English 
 soldiery chiefly at sieges of fortified places, and on shipboard, in battles upon the 
 sea. But the great fame acquired by our countrymen in archery, was derived 
 from their practice with the long-bow : and to this instrument they gave the 
 preference. 
 
 Form and Use of the Cross- Bow. — The reader may see the manner in 
 which the cross-bow was formerly used for fowling purposes upon the sixth 
 plate. The representation given at the bottom is taken from a manuscript of 
 the fourteenth century in the Royal Library.* 
 
 In the centre is an illustration, from a painting on another manuscript in 
 the Royal Library, much more modern.^ We find here exhibited a school 
 for practice ; and the manner in which the archers shot at the butts, or dead 
 marks, a pastime frequently alluded to by the authors of the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries. 
 
 At the end of the reign of Henry VII. the cross-bow was forbidden by law 
 to be used by any man, except by the King's license, unless he was a lord or had 
 two hundred marks in land. To still further favour the use of the long-bow it 
 was at the same time provided that no custom should be paid on good bow- 
 
 ' Archaologia, vii. 48. 
 
 ° Serres, and also most of our own historians. Froissart praises the skill of the Genoese cross-bowmen upon 
 another occasion, saying, "They shot so surely, that lightly they myst not of their level." Vol. iv. chap. 38. fol, 47. 
 English translation [by Lord Berners], and in several other places. 
 
 ^ Ascham's Toxophibts. * 2 B. vii. ° 19 C. viii. dated 1496. 
 
ARCHERY 43 
 
 staves brought into the realm.^ In 1514a much more severe statute was passed, 
 whereby any one keeping a cross-bow in his house, unless he had land to the 
 yearly value of three hundred marks, was to forfeit ; and the great penalty of 
 ;^io was imposed for every time a cross-bow was used for shooting.^ This Act 
 was renewed and further strengthened in 1 533.' This severe fine might probably 
 produce a temporary reformation ; which certainly was not of long continuance, 
 for cross-bows were commonly used again in the succeeding reigns. Hentzner 
 tells 'us, that in the year 1598, he saw in the armory of the Tower of London, 
 cross-bows, and bows and arrows : of which, says he, to this day, the English 
 make great use in their exercises. Stow speaks of a large close, called the 
 Tazell, let in his time to the cross-bow makers, wherein, he says, they used to shoot 
 for games at the popinjay, which, Maitland tells us, was an artificial parrot.* 
 
 Bows AND Arrows ordered to be Kept. — To return to the long-bow : As 
 far back as the thirteenth century, every person not having a greater annual 
 revenue in land than one hundred pence, was obliged to have in his possession 
 a bow and arrows, with other arms offensive and defensive ; and all such as had 
 no possessions, but could afford to purchase arms, were commanded to have a 
 bow with sharp arrows, if they dwelt without the royal forests, and a bow with 
 round-headed arrows, if they resided within the forests. The words of the 
 statute are, " arcs e setes hors de forestes, e dedenz forestes arcs e pilets." * The 
 word pilet I believe is derived from the Latin, pila, a ball ; and I suppose these 
 arrows were used to prevent the owners from killing the king's deer. The round- 
 headed arrows were also called bolts, and also used with the cross-bow ; hence the 
 old adage, " A fool's bolt is soon shot," where the retort of an ignorant man is 
 compared to the blunted arrow of an unskilful archer, shot off hastily, and 
 without any aim. The proverb is thus versified by John Hey wood, 
 
 A fooles bolte is soone shot, and fleeth oftymes fer 
 But the fooles bolte, and the marke, cum few times ner.« 
 
 It was also ordained by the forementioned statute that proper oflScers should 
 be appointed to see that these weapons were kept in good order, and ready for 
 immediate service. 
 
 Decay of Archery. — Notwithstanding the manifest advantages accruing to 
 the nation from the practice of archery, it seems to have been much neglected 
 even at a time when the glory of the English archers was in its zenith, I mean 
 in the reign of Edward III.; which occasioned that monarch to send a letter of 
 complaint upon this subject to the sheriffs of London, declaring that the skill in 
 shooting with arrows was almost totally laid aside, for the pursuit of various 
 useless and unlawful games. He therefore commanded them to prevent such 
 idle practices within the city and liberties of London ; and to see that the leisure 
 
 ' Stat. 19 Hen. VII. caps. 2 and 4. 
 
 » Stat. 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. ' Stat. 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 17. * History of London, book ii. p. 482. 
 
 » The Statute of Winchester, 13 Edw. I. cap. vi. " Heywood's Epigrams and Proverbs, 1566. No. 13. 
 
44 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 time upon holidays was spent in recreations with bows and arrows. In the 
 thirty-ninth year of this reign, a.d. 1349, the penahy incurred by the offenders 
 was imprisonment at the king's pleasure ; the words of the letter are, " arcubus 
 et sagittis vel pilettis aut boltis," with bow and arrows, or piles or bolts. The 
 same command was repeated in the twelfth year of the reign of Richard II.; but 
 probably its good effects were merely temporary. And in the fifth year of 
 Edward IV. an ordinance was made, commanding every Englishman and Irish^ 
 man dwelling in England, to have a long-bow of his own height ; the act directs, 
 that butts should be made in every township, at which the inhabitants were to 
 shoot at up and down, upon all feast days, under the penalty of one halfpenny 
 for every time they omitted to perform this exercise. This in the poetical 
 legends is called " shooting about." 
 
 *Suitable wood for bows became so scarce in England, owing mainly to the 
 long continued wars with France, that in 1436 Nicholas Hisham, merchant of 
 York, had license to sail to Prussia with four ships in quest of wood for bows and 
 spears. In 1472 it was enacted that all merchant strangers sending goods to 
 England in any vessel or ship of Venice, or of any other city, town, or country 
 whence bow-staves have been imported, were to send four bow-staves for every 
 ton of merchandise thus imported.^ 
 
 In the sixteenth century we meet with frequent complaints respecting the 
 disuse of the long-bow, and especially in the vicinity of London. Stow informs 
 us, "that before his time it had been customary at Bartholomew tide, for the 
 lord mayor, with the sheriffs and aldermen, to go into the fields at Finsbury, 
 where the citizens were assembled, and shoot at the standard, with broad and 
 flight arrows, for games." This exercise was continued for several days ; but at 
 the period in which our author lived it was practised only one afternoon, three or 
 four days after the festival of Saint Bartholomew.^ 
 
 The same writer attributes the decay of archery among the Londoners to 
 the enclosures made near the metropolis, by which means the citizens were 
 deprived of room sufficient or proper for the purpose ; and his observations 
 appear to have been justly founded, for a few years posterior to his death, a 
 commission was granted by James I., in 161 2, to many persons of quality; in 
 which were recited and established the good statutes, ordinances, and proclama- 
 tions, that had been previously made at different times in favour of archery. 
 This commission extended to the prevention of enclosures in the grounds 
 formerly used for the practice of the bow. 
 
 The commissioners were also impowered to survey the lands adjoining to 
 the city of London, its suburbs, and within two miles circuit ; and to reduce 
 them to the same state and order for the use of the archers, as they stood at the 
 beginning of the reign of Henry VIII.; and where they found any encroach- 
 ments, to cause the banks to be thrown down, the ditches filled up, and the open 
 
 1 Archaologia, li. 232. " Stow's Survey of London, by Strype, vol. ii. p. 257. Stow died A.D. 1605. 
 
ARCHERY 45 
 
 spaces to be made level. Charles I, confirmed this commission, or granted 
 another to the same purpose. 
 
 Ordinances in favour of Archery. — Cross- Bows, &c. — In the reign 
 of Henry VIII. three several acts were made for promoting the practice of 
 shooting with the long-bow ; one, as we have already seen, prohibited the use of 
 cross-bows and hand-guns : another was occasioned by a complaint from the 
 bowyers, the fletchers, or arrow-makers, the stringers, and the arrow-head- 
 makers, stating that many unlawful games were practised in the open fields, to 
 the detriment of the public morals, and great decay of archery. Those games 
 were therefore strictly prohibited by parliament ; and a third act followed, which 
 obliged every man, being the king's subject, to exercise himself in shooting with 
 the long-bow ; and also to keep a bow with arrows continually in his house. 
 From this obligation were excepted such as were sixty years old, or by lameness 
 or by any other reasonable impediment claimed an exemption ; and also all 
 ecclesiastics, the justices of the two benches, or of the assizes, and the barons of 
 the exchequer. Fathers and guardians were also commanded to teach the male 
 children the use of the long-bow, and to have at all times bows provided for 
 them as soon as they arrived at the age of seven years ; and masters were 
 ordered to find bows for their apprentices, and to compel them to learn to shoot 
 with them upon holidays, and at every other convenient time. By virtue of the 
 same act, every man who kept a cross-bow in his house was liable to a penalty 
 of ten pounds. 
 
 Soon afterwards, that is, in the twenty-ninth year of the same king's reign, 
 the use of cross-bows under certain restrictions was permitted, a patent being 
 then granted by him to sir Christopher Morris, master of his ordinance, 
 Anthony Knevyt and Peter Mewtas, gentlemen of his privy chamber, for them 
 to be overseers of the science of artillery, by which was meant long-bows, cross- 
 bows, and hand-guns. Others were appointed to be masters and rulers of the 
 same science, with power to them and their successors, to establish a perpetual 
 corporation, called the Fraternity of Saint George, and to admit such persons as 
 they found to be eligible. The members of this society were also permitted, for 
 pastime sake, to practise shooting at all sorts of marks and butts, and at the 
 game of the popinjay, and other games, as at fowls and the like, in the city and 
 suburbs of London, as well as in any other convenient places. There is the 
 following remarkable proviso in this charter ; " In case any person should be 
 wounded, or slain in these sports, with an arrow shot by one or other of the 
 archers, he that shot the arrow was not to be sued or molested, if he had, imme- 
 diately before the discharge of the weapon, cried out, ' fast,' the signal usually 
 given upon such occasions." ^ 
 
 *Henry VIII. AN Archer. — Henry VIII. not only took the greatest 
 interest in promoting archery, but was himself a remarkable expert in the use of 
 
 ' Stow's Survey, by Strype, vol. i. p. 250, 
 
46 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the bow. His prowess before Francis at the Field of the Cloth of Gold has 
 often been recorded, when if we are to give credit to the loyal chroniclers, " he 
 repeatedly shot into the centre of the white, though the marks were erected 
 at the extraordinary distance of twelve score yards apart." Cavendish, the 
 historian of Cardinal Wolsey, when he bore the news of Wolsey's death to the 
 king at Hampton Court, in 1530, "found him shooting at the rounds in the 
 park, on the backside of the garden. And perceiving him occupied in shooting, 
 thought it not my duty to trouble him. . . . ' I will,' quoth he, ' make an 
 end of my game, and then I will talk with you,' and so departed to his 
 mark, whereat the game was ended. Then the king delivered his bow unto 
 the yeoman of his bows, and went his way inward to the palace, when I 
 followed." 
 
 *The privy purse expenses of Henry VHI. prove his great attachment to 
 archery when in the prime of life. The following occur in the years 1 530-1 : — 
 " To Scawesby, for bows, arrows, shafts, broad-heads, bracer, and shooting- 
 glove for Lady Anne . . . . . . 23s. 4d, 
 
 Four bows for Lady Anne . . . . . . 13s. 4d. 
 
 To Pynnery for his well shooting . . . . .7s. 6d. 
 
 To Byrde, yeoman of the King's bows, for making the rounds at Totehill 17s. 4d. 
 To George Coton, for 6 shots lost by the King to him at Totehill, at 6s. 8d. the 
 
 shot. 
 To George Gifford, for money won of the King at Totehil at shooting 1 2s. 6d. 
 To George Coton, that he won of the King at the roundes on April 30th ;C3- 
 To the three Cotons, for three sets which the King lost to them in Greenwich 
 
 Park ;^20, and for one upshot won of the King . . 6s. 8d. 
 
 To Thomas Harte, for making a pair of new butts, rounds, and pricks 51s. 2d. 
 To Guilliam for pelletts for the stone bow . . . .5s. 4d. 
 
 To my lord of Rocheford, won from the King at the pricks and by betting ;^i6. 
 To Antony Kingston, for 8 shots of 3 angels a shot which he won of Thos. 
 
 Cary shooting on the King's side .... ;C9- 
 
 To William Browne, won by him and others of the King and his match at the 
 
 pricks and by bets in Eltham Park , . . ;^i32 15 o. 
 
 To Browne the merchant, for money won of the King at shooting . ;^22, los. 
 To Henry Byrde, for making pricks at Antyll and Grafton . . 6s. 8d."^ 
 
 *Latimer enforced his royal patron's keenness for archery from the pulpit, 
 when preaching before the king, and received ;^5 from the privy purse for his 
 pains. 
 
 " The art of shooting hath been in times past much esteemed in this realme ; 
 it is a gift of God, that he hath gyven us to excell all other nations withal — It 
 hath been Goddes instrumente whereby he hath gyven victories agayneste our 
 enemyes. But now we have taken up horynge in townes insteade of shutynge 
 
 » Add. MSS. 20, 030. 
 
ARCHERY 
 
 47 
 
 in the fyldes, A wondrous thynge that so excellente a gyft of God shoulde be 
 so lyttle esteemed. I desire you, my lordes, even as you love honoure, and 
 glorye of God, and intende to remove his indignacion, let there be sente furth 
 some proclimacion — some sharpe proclimacion, to the justices of peace, for they 
 do not theyr dutye — Justices now be no justices, there be manye good actes 
 made for thys matter already. Charge them upon their allegiance, that this 
 singular benefit of God may be practised ; and that it be not turned into 
 boUying, and glossying, and horing, within the townes ; for they be negligente 
 in executyng there lawes of shootynge. In my tyme, my poore father was as 
 diligent to teach me to shoote, as to learne any other thynge, and so I thynke 
 other menne dyd thyr children. He taught me howe to drawe, how to laye my 
 bodye in my bowe, and not to draw wyth strength of armes, as other nacions do, 
 but wyth strength of bodye. I had my bowes bought me according to my 
 age and strength ; as I increased in them, so my bowes were made bigger ; 
 for men shall never shute well excepte they be brought up in it. It is a 
 goodly arte, a holesome kind of exercise, and much commended in phisike. 
 Marcilius Sicinus, in hys boke de triplica vita (it is a greate while sins I red 
 him nowe) but I remember he commendeth thys kynde of exercise, an sayth, 
 that it wrestleth agaynst many kyndes of diseases. In the reverence of God, let 
 it be continued. Let a proclimacion go furth, charging the justices of peace, 
 that they see such actes and statutes kept, as were made for thys purpose." 
 
 *In the great inventory of arms and armour at Westminster, the Tower, and 
 Greenwich, taken in 1547, the long-bows at the Tower numbered 3060, with 
 " 13,050 sheife of livery arrowes " ; at Westminster were " twoo Longe Bowes 
 of Ewghe to shote stones " ; and at Greenwich eighty four long bows of various 
 kinds. There were also at the Tower eight boxes containing eighty gross of 
 bow-strings.^ 
 
 Prices Ordained for Bows. — In the reign of Edward IV. an ordinance 
 was established, which compelled the bowyers of London to sell the best bow- 
 staves at three shillings and fourpence each ; which was confirmed in the third 
 year of Henry VII., and in the thirty-third year of his son Henry VIII. ; but 
 these acts were repealed in the third year of queen Mary, and the following 
 prices were settled by the parliament : for a bow made of the best foreign yew, 
 six shillings and eightpence ; for an inferior sort, three shillings and fourpence ; 
 and for one made of English yew, two shillings. ^ 
 
 *Sir Thomas Elyot's delightful book " The Governour," first issued in 1531, 
 contains the earliest printed account of English archery ; chapter xxvii. is 
 devoted to the praise of the long-bow. It was not, however, until 1545 that a 
 whole treatise was published on this subject. 
 
 *In that year Ascham's treatise, entitled " Toxophilus, the Schole of Shoot- 
 inge, conteyned in two bookes," was first published. It was " newlye perused " 
 
 1 Archaologia, li. 231-2, 264. ' Maitland's London, book v. 
 
48 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 and reprinted in 1571 ; and again in 1589 and in 1591. There have been 
 numerous later reprints. 
 
 Equipment for Archery. — Ascham informs us, that it was necessary for 
 the archer to have a bracer, or close sleeve, to lace upon the left arm ; it was 
 also proper for this bracer to be made with materials sufficiently rigid to prevent 
 any folds which might impede the bow-string when loosed from the hand ; to 
 this was to be added a shooting-glove, for the protection of the fingers. The 
 bow, he tells us, ought to be made with well-seasoned wood, and formed with 
 great exactness, tapering from the middle towards each end. Bows were some- 
 times made of Brazil, of elm, of ash, and of several other woods ; but eugh, or 
 yew, had the sanction, from general experience, of superiority. Respecting the 
 bow-string, the author was not decided which to prefer ; those made with good 
 hemp, according to the common usage of the time in which he lived, or those 
 manufactured with flax, or silk ; he therefore thinks the choice ought to be left 
 to the string-maker. There are, he tells us, three essential parts in the com- 
 position of the arrow, that is to say, the stele or wand, the feathers, and the 
 head. The stele was not always made with the same species of wood, but 
 varied as occasion required, to suit the different manners of shooting practised 
 by the archers ; he commends sound ash for military arrows, and preferred it to 
 asp, which in his day was generally used for the arrows belonging to the army ; 
 but for pastime, he thought that none were better than those made of oak, hard- 
 beam, or birch ; but after all, says he, in this point I hold it best to trust to the 
 recommendation of an honest fletcher. The feathers from the wing of a goose, 
 and especially of a grey-goose, he thought were preferable to any others for the 
 pluming of an arrow. Thus in the popular ballad of Chevy Chace, an English 
 archer aimed his arrow at sir Hugh Mountgomerye, with such skill, that it hit 
 him on the breast, and the poet elegantly says, 
 
 The grey-goose-winge that was thereon 
 In his hearts blood was wett. 
 
 The more ancient ballad upon this subject, given in the first volume of the 
 Reliques of Ancient Poetry, reads, the " swane-feathers." 
 
 There was, it seems, but little difference between the two wings of one 
 bird ; but, according to the opinion of the best arrow- makers, the second feather 
 was best in some cases and the pinion in others. It was necessary for an archer 
 to have several arrows of one flight (I presume Ascham means of one shape, 
 length, and weight), plumed with feathers from different wings, to suit the 
 diversity of the winds. We are not from these directions to conclude, that the 
 goose alone afforded the plumage for the arrows ; the feathers of many other 
 birds were used for the same purpose, and are mentioned in the metrical 
 romances of the middle ages. An old ballad of Robin Hood says, that he and 
 his followers had an hundred bows furnished with strings, and an hundred sheafs 
 of goose arrows, with bright burnished heads ; every arrow was an ell long, 
 
ARCHERY 
 
 49 
 
 adorned with peacocks' feathers, and bound at the notching with white 
 silk.i 
 
 With them they had an hundred bowes, 
 The stringes were well ydight ; 
 An hundred shefe of arrows good 
 With hedes bumish'd full bryght ; 
 And every arrowe an ell longe, 
 With peacocke well ydight, 
 And nocked they were with white silk, 
 It was a semely syght. 
 
 And Chaucer, in his description of the " squyers yeoman," says, 
 
 And he was clad in cote and hode of grene, 
 A shefe of pecocke arrowes bryght and shene ; 
 Under his belt he bare ful thriftely 
 Well coude he dresse his tackle yomanly ; 
 His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe, 
 And in hande he bare a myghty bowe.'' 
 
 The adornment of these arrows with peacocks' feathers is not to be con- 
 sidered as a mere poetical flourish, for we have sufficient testimony, that such 
 plumage was actually used.^ 
 
 But, returning to our author, he informs us, that the English arrows had 
 forked heads and broad-heads, yet he thought, that round pointed heads 
 resembling a bodkin were the best. The notch, or small hollow part at the 
 bottom of the arrow, made for the reception of the bow-string, was varied as 
 occasion required, or at the will of the archer, being sometimes deep and narrow, 
 and sometimes broad and not deep. 
 
 Directions for Archery. — Having thus furnished the archer with his 
 necessary accoutrements, Ascham proceeds to instruct him how they ought to 
 be managed ; but first of all he recommends a graceful attitude. He should 
 stand, says another writer, fairly, and upright with his body, his left foot at a 
 convenient distance before his right ; holding the bow by the middle, with his 
 left arm stretched out, and with the three first fingers and the thumb of the right 
 hand upon the lower part of the arrow afiixed to the string of the bow.* In 
 the second place, a proper attention was to be paid to the nocking, that is, the 
 application of the notch at the bottom of the arrow to the bow-string ; we 
 are told that the notch of the arrow should rest between the fore-finger and 
 the middle finger of the right hand.^ Thirdly, our attention is directed to the 
 proper manner of drawing the bow-string : in ancient times, says Ascham, the 
 right hand was brought to the right pap ; but at present it is elevated to 
 the right ear, and the latter method he prefers to the former. The shaft of the 
 arrow below the feathers, ought to be rested upon the knuckle of the fore-finger 
 
 ' Geste 0] Rohyn Hode. Garrick's Collect. K. vol. x. ' Prologue to Canterbury Tales. 
 
 ' Lib. CompoHs Garderobe, 4 Ed. II. page S3i is this entry, Pro duodecim flecchiis cum pennis de pavone emptu 
 pro rege, de 12 den. ; that is, For twelve arrows plumed with peacocks' feathers, bought for the king, twelve pence. 
 MS. Cott. Lib. Nero, C. viii. * Country Contentments, 161 5, chap. viii. p. 107. " Ibid. 
 
so SPORTS AKD PASTIMES 
 
 of the left hand ; the arrow was to be drawn to the head, and not held too long 
 in that situation, but neatly and smartly discharged, without any hanging upon 
 the string. Among the requisites necessary to constitute a good archer, are a 
 clear sight, steadily directed to the mark ; and proper judgment, to determine 
 the distance of the ground ; he ought also to know how to take the advantage 
 of a side wind, and to be well acquainted with what compass his arrows would 
 require in their flight ; courage is also an indispensable requisite, for whoever, 
 says our author, shoots with the least trepidation, he is sure to shoot badly. 
 One great fault in particular he complains of, which young archers generally fall 
 into, and that is, the direction of the eye to the end of the arrow, rather than to 
 the mark ; to obviate this evil habit he advises such, as were so accustomed, to 
 shoot in the dark, by night, at lights set up at a proper distance for that purpose. 
 He then concludes with observing, that "bad tutorage" was rarely amended in 
 grown-up persons ; and therefore he held it essentially necessary, that great 
 attention should be paid to the teaching an archer properly, while he was young ; 
 "for children," says he, "if sufficient pains are taken with them at the onset, 
 may much more easily be taught to shoot well, than men," because the latter 
 have frequently more trouble to unlearn their bad habits, than was primitively 
 requisite to learn them good ones.^ 
 
 Marks for Shooting. — The marks usually shot at by the archers for 
 pastime, were, "butts, prickes, and roavers." The butt, we are told, was a 
 level mark, and required a strong arrow, with a very broad feather ; the pricke 
 was a " mark of compass," but certain in its distance ; and to this mark strong 
 swift arrows, of one flight, with a middling sized feather, were best suited ; the 
 roaver was a mark of uncertain length ; it was therefore proper for the archer 
 to have various kinds of arrows, of different weights, to be used according to the 
 different changements made in the distance of the ground. 
 
 The Cornish men are spoken of as good archers, and shot their arrows to a 
 great length ; they are also, says Carew, " well skilled in near shooting, and in 
 well aimed shooting ; — the butts made them perfect in the one, and the roaving 
 in the other, for the prickes, the first corrupters of archery, through too much 
 preciseness, were formerly scarcely known, and little practised." ^ Other marks 
 are occasionally mentioned, as the standard, the target, hazel wands, rose 
 garlands, and the popinjay, which, we are told, was an artificial parrot. I 
 have not met with such a mark in any manuscript delineation ; but, in the 
 presentment on plate six, the reader will find a cock substituted for the 
 parrot, and the archer has discharged his arrow very skilfully. I am by 
 no means certain, whether the draughtsman designed to represent an artificial, 
 or a living cock : the manner of its being placed on the post, may favour 
 the first idea ; but the mouth being open, and the elevation of the head, 
 as if in the last gasp of life, will justify the latter. It is taken from a MS. 
 written early in the fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal Library.^ 
 
 ^ Country Contentments. 2 Survey of Cornwall, by Richard Carew, 1602, B. i. p. 73. ^ 2 B. vii. 
 
ARCHERY SI 
 
 Length of Bows and Arrows. — The length of the bow is not clearly 
 ascertained ; those used by the soldiery appear, in the manuscript drawings, to 
 have been as tall, at least, as the bearers ; agreeable to an ordinance made in 
 the fifth year of Edward IV, commanding every man to have a bow his own 
 height ; and they might, upon the average, be something short of six feet long. 
 The arrows used by the English archers at the memorable battle of Agincourt, 
 were a full yard in length. Carew, in his survey of Cornwall, says, " The 
 Cornish archers for long shooting, used arrows a cloth yard long." The old and 
 more modern ballads of Chevy Chace speak of the arrow as being the length of 
 a cloth yard, but some of these poetical legends extend it an ell. 
 
 Hall mentions a company of archers, who met king Henry VHI. at 
 Shooter's Hill, on a May-day morning, where they discharged their bows in his 
 presence, and th^ arrows made a loud whistling in their flight, " by crafte of the 
 heade." ^ The strangeness of the noise, we are informed, surprised his Majesty, 
 though at the same time he was much pleased with the contrivance. A modern 
 author, the Hon. Daines Barrington, assures us, this sound was occasioned by 
 hgles being made in the arrow heads, and that such weapons were used upon 
 military occasions, and especially as signals ; ^ but not, I presume, before the 
 time mentioned by the historian ; for had not those arrows been newly intro- 
 duced, there is no reason why the king, who was well acquainted with every 
 branch of archery, should have been surprised at the sound they made, or 
 pleased at the sight of them. 
 
 Feats in Archery. — If the metrical romances and ballads of the former 
 ages may be depended upon, the strength of our English archers in drawing of 
 the bow, and their skill in directing the arrow to its mark, were justly the objects 
 of admiration. 
 
 The reader, I trust, will pardon the insertion of the following extracts from 
 two old poetical legends, which convey, at least, some idea of the practice of 
 archery in times anterior to our own ; the first is a ballad in eight fyttes or parts, 
 entitled, " A mery Geste of Robyn Hode." * According to the story, the king * 
 thought proper to pay Robin Hood a visit, disguised in the habit of an abbot : 
 and the outlaw, by way of entertaining his guest, proposed a shooting match. 
 Two wands were then set up, but at so great a distance from each other, that, 
 
 By fyfty space our kyng sayde 
 
 The markes were to longe. — 
 
 On every syde a rose garlande, 
 
 The shot under the lyne. 
 
 Whoso faileth of the rose garland, said Robyn, 
 
 His takyll he shal tyne ; ^ 
 
 ' An. 7 Hen. VHI. fol. 56. " Archsologia, vol. vii. p. 58. 
 
 ' Black letter, without date. Imprinted at London upon the Three Crane Wharfe, by William Copland. Garrick's 
 Collect. Old Plays, K. vol. a. 
 
 * King Edward IV., I presume, is meant by the poet, for in one of the lines we read " Edward our comely kynge.'' 
 Anachronisms of this kind were common enough in the old ballads. 
 » That is, he shall lose it, or rather, it shall be forfeited. 
 
52 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 And yelde it to his maister, 
 Be it never so fine. — 
 Twyse Robyn shot about, 
 And ever he cleved the wande. — 
 
 And so did Gilbert, Little John, and Scathelocke, his companions ; but, 
 
 At the last shot, that Robyn shot, 
 For all his frendes fore, 
 Yet he fayled of the garland. 
 Three fyngers and more — 
 
 of course his " takill " was forfeited, which he presented to the king, saying, 
 
 Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne arowe. 
 
 The second poem is also of the ballad kind, and apparently as old as the 
 former,! wherein Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe, and William Cloudesle, are 
 introduced to shoot before the king. The butts, or dead marks set up by the 
 king's archers, were censured by Cloudesle, saying, 
 
 I hold hym never no good archer, 
 That shoteth at buttes so wide — 
 
 and having procured two " hasell roddes," he set them up at the distance of 
 twenty score paces from each other ; his first attempt in shooting at them, 
 contrary to the expectation of the king, was successful, for it is said, 
 
 Cloudesle with a bearyng arowe 
 Clave the wand in two. 
 
 The king, being much surprised at the performance, told him he was the best 
 archer he ever saw. Cloudesle then proposed to show him a more extraordinary 
 proof of his skill, and tied his eldest son, a child only seven years old, to a stake, 
 and placed an apple upon his head. When he bound his son he charged him 
 not to move, and turned his face from him, that he might not be intimidated by 
 seeing the arrow directed towards him : six score paces were measured from the 
 stake, and Cloudesle went to the end of the measurement ; he first entreated the 
 spectators to be silent, 
 
 And then drew out a fayre brode arrowe ; 
 
 Hys bow was great and longe. 
 He set that arrowe in his bowe 
 
 That was both styffe and stronge. 
 
 Then Cloudesle cleft the apple in two. 
 
 As many a man myght se, 
 Over Gods forbode, sayde the kynge, 
 
 That thou sholde shote at me. 
 
 - Black letter, without date, and printed also by Copland in Lothbury. Its title is, The Names of the Three 
 Archers ; the whole ballad, with some small variations, is in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. 154 etc. This 
 copy is bound up in the same volume of the Garrick Collection of Old Plays with the Geste of Robyn Hode! 
 
ARCHERY 53 
 
 Superiority of Ancient Bowmen. — If we were to judge of the merits of the 
 ancient bowmen from the practice of archery as it is exercised in the present day, 
 these poetical eulogiums would appear to be entirely fictitious. There are no 
 such distances now assigned for the marks as are mentioned before, nor such 
 precision, even at short lengths, in the direction of the arrows. By an act 
 established An. 33 Hen, VIII., no person who had reached the age of twenty- 
 four years, might shoot at any mark at less than two hundred and twenty yards 
 distance.^ I believe few, if any, of the modern archers, in shooting at a mark, 
 exceed the distance of eighty or a hundred yards, or, in long shooting, reach four 
 hundred yards. I have seen the gentlemen who practise archery in the vicinity 
 of London, repeatedly shoot from end to end, and not touch the target with an 
 arrow ; and for the space of several hours, without lodging one in the circle of 
 gold, about six inches diameter in the centre of the target : this, indeed, is so 
 seldom done, that one is led to think, when it happens, it is rather the effect of 
 chance than of skill : which proves what Ascham has asserted, that an archer 
 should be well taught early in life, and confirm the good teaching by continual 
 practice afterwards. We may also recollect, that archery is now followed for 
 amusement only, and is to be commended as a manly and gentleman-like exercise. 
 
 I remember about four or five years back,^ at a meeting of the society of 
 archers, in their ground near Bedford Square, the Turkish ambassador paid them 
 a visit ; and complained that the enclosure was by no means sufficiently extensive 
 for a long shot : he therefore went into the adjacent fields to show his dexterity ; 
 where I saw him shoot several arrows more than double the length of the 
 archery ground, and his longest shot fell upwards of four hundred and eighty 
 yards from his standing. The bow he used was much shorter than those 
 belonging to the English archers ; and his arrows were of the bolt kind, with 
 round heads made of wood. This distance rather exceeds the length our rhymist 
 has given to the wands set up by Cloudesle and his companions, but then we are 
 to recollect they shot with vast precision to that distance, which the ambassador 
 did not, he had no mark, and his arrows fell exceedingly wide of each other.* 
 
 Carew, speaking of the Cornish archers three centuries back, says, " For 
 long shooting, their shaft was a cloth yard in length, and their prickes twenty- 
 four score paces, equal to four hundred and eighty yards ; and for strength, they 
 would pierce any ordinary armour " ; he then adds, " and one Robert Arundell, 
 whom I well knew, could shoot twelve score paces with his right hand, with his 
 left, and from behind his head." * 
 
 *Very few archers, with strong bows and light arrows, can now cover more 
 than three hundred yards. To attain this range a bow of at least sixty-two 
 pounds must not only be used but mastered.* 
 
 ' Archceologia, vol. i. p. 58, ^ [Mr Strutt wrote this in 1800.] 
 
 ° *This incident occurred in 179S, in the presence of several gentlemen of the Toxophilite Society. The archer 
 
 was not the Turkish Ambassador, but his secretary, Mahmoud Effendi, a man of great muscular strength. He used n. 
 
 Turkish bow, which owed its length of cast to the elasticity of the horn of which it was composed. 
 
 * Survey of Cornwall, 1602. ° Butt's Theory and Practice of Archery (1887), 137-8. 
 
54 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 The Duke of Shoreditch. — Henry VIII., having appointed a great match 
 of archery at Windsor, a citizen of London, named Barlow, an inhabitant of 
 Shoreditch, joined the archers, and surpassed them all in skill ; the king was 
 so much pleased with his performance, that he jocosely gave him the title of 
 " Duke of Shoreditch " ; and this title the captain of the London archers retained 
 for a considerable time afterwards. In 1583, in the reign of Elizabeth, a grand 
 shooting match was held in London, and the captain of the archers assuming 
 his title of Duke of Shoreditch, summoned a suit of nominal nobility, under the 
 titles of marquis of Barlo, of Clerkenwell, of Islington, of Hoxton, of Shackle- 
 well, and earl of Pancrass, etc., and these meeting together at the appointed 
 time, with their different companies, proceeded in a pompous march from 
 Merchant Taylors Hall, consisting of three thousand archers, sumptuously 
 apparelled ; every man had a long-bow, and four arrows. With the marquis of 
 Barlo and the marquis of Clerkenwell were " Hunters who wound their horns." ' 
 Nine hundred and forty-two of the archers had chains of gold about their necks. 
 This splendid company was guarded by four thousand whifflers and billraen, 
 besides pages and footmen. They passed through Broad-street, the residence 
 of their captain, and thence into Moorfields, by Finsbury, and so on to 
 Smithfield, where, having performed several evolutions, they shot at a target 
 for honour.^ 
 
 Royal Sport — A good Archer why called Arthur. — Kings and princes 
 have been celebrated for their skill in archery, and among those of our own 
 country may be placed king Henry VII., who in his youth was partial to this 
 exercise, and therefore it is said of him in an old poem, written in praise of the 
 princess Elizabeth, afterwards queen to Henry VII.* 
 
 See where he shoteth at the butts, 
 And with hym are lordes three ; 
 He weareth a gowne of velvette blacke, 
 And it is coted above the knee. 
 
 He also amused himself with the bow after he had obtained the crown, as we 
 find from an account of his expenditures,* where the following memorandums 
 occur : " Lost to my lord Merging at buttes, six shillings and eightpence : " and 
 again, " Paid to sir Edward Boroughe thirteen shillings and fourpence, which the 
 kynge lost at buttes with his cross-bowe." Both the sons of king Henry 
 followed his example, and were excellent archers ; and especially the eldest, 
 prince Arthur, who used frequently to visit the society of London bowmen at 
 Mile-end, where they usually met, and practised with them. From his expert- 
 ness in handling of the bow, every good shooter was called by his name. The 
 captain also of the fraternity was honoured with the title of Prince Arthur, and 
 
 ' Stow's Survey, by Strype, vol. i. p. 250. " Strype's London, vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 s MS. Harl. 3653, fol. 96. 
 
 * An. 7 et 9 Hen. VII. MS. in the Remembrancer's Office. See also Appendix to Henry's Hist, Brit. vol. vi. 
 
ARCHERY 55 
 
 the other archers were styled his knights.^ The title of Prince Arthur seems 
 to have been superseded by the creation of the " Duke of Shoreditch." 
 
 After the death of prince Arthur, his brother Henry continued to honour the 
 meeting at Mile-end with his presence. His exceeding fondness for archery 
 has already been described. Hall says that at the time of his accession Henry 
 Vni. " shotte as strong and as greate a lengthe as any of his garde," 
 
 ♦Archery at Buxton.— In Elizabeth's reign archery was warmly recom- 
 mended as a healthy pastime. Of all the exercises that Dr Jones, the Buxton 
 physician in Elizabethan days, recommended to his patients, archery was the 
 favourite. "Shootinge at Garden Buttes too them whome it agreeth and 
 pleaseth, in place of Noblest exercyse standeth, and that rather wythe Longe 
 bowe, than with Tyller, Stone bowe, or Cross bowe. Albeeit, to them that 
 otherwyse cannot, by reason of greefe, feeblenesse, or lacke of use, they may 
 bee allowed. This practise of all other the manlyest leaveth no part of the 
 body unexercised, the breaste, backe, reynes, wast, and armes, withdrawing the 
 thyghes and legges with running or going." ^ 
 
 ♦Elizabethan Archers. — The county musters of the first year of Elizabeth 
 prove that the country at large was then exceedingly well furnished with duly 
 equipped archers. The return for Derbyshire, made on March 9th, 1559, 
 shows that that comparatively small county put into the field, as " able foote- 
 men," 292 archers as against 918 billmen.* During this reign, however, archery 
 was slowly but surely made to give way to musketry. From the muster 
 certificate of Derbyshire, in November 1587, it appears that out of 400 foot 
 pressed for immediate service, 160 were "for shot," 160 were billmen, and 80 
 archers ; whilst out of 1 300 able men selected for further service, only 200 were 
 " for bowes," * It therefore follows that the proportion of archers had been 
 reduced in thirty years from a third to a fifth, 
 
 *In some counties the change in these thirty years was greater than in 
 Derbyshire. In 1587-8, out of 11 70 men under training in Lancashire, 700 
 bore light muskets and but 80 bows ; whilst in Cheshire, out of a total of 2 1 89, 
 there were only 80 archers," Within a few years after the Armada, the old 
 national weapon of the long-bow became nearly extinct. Nevertheless it 
 lingered longer in England than on the continent ; a foreigner visiting the 
 Tower in 1598, expressed his surprise at finding bows in the arsenals. In the 
 more remote counties, an archer's equipment lingered on, as the armour of the 
 parish soldier occasionally supplied for the musters, not only to the end of 
 Elizabeth's reign, but even into that of the first two Stuarts, 
 
 *Archery in the Civil War. — It has usually been said that the last 
 instance of the serious use of bows in Great Britain, and that to a very partial 
 extent, was in the guerilla warfare carried on against Cromwell in remote parts 
 of the Scottish Highlands. The Derbyshire records, however, supply an 
 
 ^ Archaologia, vol. vii. " The Benefit of the Auncient Bathes of Buckstones, 1572. 
 
 • Cox's nree Centuries of Derbyshire Annals, i. 130-145. * Ibid. ii. 151. ° Scott's British Army, ii. 96. 
 
56 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 English instance ; one James Wintone was " wounded in ye righte hande by an 
 arowe," in a skirmish at Hathersage in 1647, as alleged in his claim for a 
 pension. This was clearly a bow used by the Royalists, for Wintone appealed 
 to the Parliamentarians for a pension. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that 
 this wounding by an arrow in the Peak district was a solitary instance of the 
 use of the bow ; probably many of the country gentlemen's houses were defended 
 with these weapons.^ 
 
 *Revival at the Restoration. — No sooner was the Restoration of the 
 monarchy accomplished than a determined effort was made, particularly in 
 London, to restore England's fame in archery. 
 
 *0n March 21st, 1661, four hundred archers made "a splendid and glorious 
 show " in Hyde Park, with Sir Gilbert Talbot as their colonel, and Sir Edward 
 Hungerford their lieutenant-colonel. " Several of the Archers Shot near Twenty 
 score yards within the compass of a Hat with their Crossbows ; and many 
 of them, to the amazement of the Spectators hit the mark ; there were likewise 
 three Showers of Whistling Arrows. So great was the delight, and so pleasing 
 the Exercise, that three Regiments of Foot laid down their Arms to come and 
 see it." In 1675, three hundred and fifty richly-habited archers marched through 
 the city to compliment Sir Robert Vyner, the Lord Mayor, who entertained 
 them at dinner. In the following year upwards of a thousand archers were 
 reviewed by the king at Tuttlefields. The archers marched from London to 
 Hampton Court in July 1681, when the king watched them shooting for £^0 
 worth of plate at eight score yards. A manuscript postscript to the copy of the 
 Bowman's Glory in the British Museum names a march through the city of a 
 thousand archers on April 21st, 1682, to Tuttlefields, where the king again 
 watched their manoeuvres, including the " Three Showers of Whistling Arrows." ^ 
 
 *A dull poem, published in 1676, makes the following appeal in favour of the 
 revival of archery as a pastime : — 
 
 " Forsake your lov'd Olympian games awhile, 
 With which the tedious minutes you beguile, 
 Wave quoits and nine-pins, those bear-garden sports, 
 And follow shooting, often used at courts." ' 
 
 *SiR William Wood. — " Sir " William Wood, the famous archer, and author 
 of The Bowman's Glory, who died in 1691, at the age of 82, had the following 
 epitaph erected to his memory on the south side of the church of St James, 
 Clerkenwell ; his title was a jocular suffix, like that of the Duke of Shoreditch : — 
 
 " Sir William Wood lies very near this stone 
 In's time of archery excelled by none ; 
 Few were his equalls, and this noble art 
 Hath suffer'd now in the most tender part. 
 
 ' Cox's Derbyshire Annals, i. i6q. 
 
 ' The Bowman's Glory, or Archery Revived, by William Wood, Marshal to the Regiment of Archers, 1682. 
 
 ' Archerye Revived, by Robert Shotterel and Thomas D'Urfey. 
 
ARCHERY 57 
 
 Long did he live the honour of the bow, 
 And his long life to that alone did owe ; 
 But how can art secure, or what can save 
 Extreme old age from an appointed grave ? 
 Surviving archers much his loss lament, 
 And in respect bestow'd this monument. 
 Where whistling arrows did his worth proclaim, 
 And eternize his memory and name." ' 
 
 *Wood was buried with archers' honours, three flights of whistling arrows 
 being discharged over his grave. 
 
 *In 1696, Elizabeth Shakerley, a widow lady, left by her will thirty-five 
 pounds to be distributed in prizes to the Artillery Company. 
 
 ♦The Artillery Company originally confined to archers, as founded by 
 Henry VIII. and patronised by successive monarchs, were wont to practise in 
 Finsbury Fields, and hence were commonly known as the Finsbury Archers. 
 There are a variety of printed tracts and manuscripts extant relative to the 
 archers' marks in these fields, which were used by them for upwards of two 
 centuries. The earliest of these was printed and sold at the sign of the Swan 
 in Grub Street, by T. Sergeant, in 1594. The full title is : — " Ayme for Fins- 
 burie Archers, or an alphabeticall table of the names of every marke within the 
 same fields, with their true (or due) distances, both by the map and dimensura- 
 tion of the line, published for the ease of the skillfull and behoofe of the younge 
 beginners in the famed exercise of Archerie." ^ 
 
 *No point of archery, from a military or sporting point of view, was more 
 important than keeping the length. On this account roving or ranging across 
 the fields, and shooting at marks of varying and unascertained distances was 
 much preferred, in old-time archery, to pricking or shooting at a given mark 
 from a fixed and known distance. With one of the last editions of the 
 Finsbury Archers, issued in 1738, a plan was given of these fields with all the 
 marks entered by name.* These marks were originally 164 in number, and 
 they varied in length from 73 yards to 265 yards. When Mr Barrington con- 
 tributed his paper on Archery to the Society of Antiquaries in 1783, the fields 
 from Peerless-pool to the Rosemary-branch and for a considerable distance 
 northward were studded with roving marks. At that period, however, there 
 were only twenty-one of the original marks standing, but the Artillery Company 
 still claimed access to them and tried to insist on their maintenance and repair. 
 
 *In 1782, the Artillery Company marched, on Accession Day, to Baumer 
 Fields, where they found the gate of a large field, wherein stood one of their 
 stone marks, locked and chained and guarded by four men. The Company 
 however forced the gate and marched across. In 1786 they marched to Fins- 
 bury Fields " to view their several stone marks " and removed several obstruc- 
 tions. In the same year, on August 17th, the Company on its march came to a 
 
 ' Anhceologia, vii. 50. ^ For the bibliography of Archery, see Notes and Queries, Ser. v. vols. 9 and lo. 
 
 " Reproduced in the Gentleman's Magazine iot 1832, p. 209. 
 
58 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 piece of ground lately enclosed with a brick wall by the proprietors of a white- 
 lead mill, " between the marks of Bob Peak and the Levant." The work of 
 demolition began, but the Company was induced to desist on one of the partners 
 of the mill assuring the commanding officer of the battalion of their ignorance 
 of the Company's rights in these fields and their willingness to enter into any 
 reasonable terms of accommodation. " One of the archer's division was then 
 ordered to shoot an arrow over the said inclosure, as an assertion of the Com- 
 pany's right ; which having been done, the battalion proceeded on its march to 
 several of the other marks." ^ But bricks and mortar eventually gained the 
 day along the whole line, and all the Finsbury marks have disappeared for 
 more than a century. 
 
 *The Toxophilites. — In 1780 Sir Aston Lever and Mr Waring founded 
 a society called the Toxophilites, who met regularly at Leicester House and 
 shot at butts erected in the gardens. From that date onwards, with varying 
 degrees of enthusiasm, shooting at targets with the long bow has been an 
 accepted pastime for ladies and gentlemen. A special impetus was given to 
 archery associations in 1844. 
 
 ' Highmore's Hist, of the Artillery Company, pp. 366, 396, 399. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Slinging of Stones an Ancient Art — Known to the Saxons — And the Normans — How practised of late Years — Throwing 
 of Weights and Stones with the Hand — By the Londoners — Casting of the Bar and Hammer — Of Spears — Of 
 Quoits — ^winging of Dumb Bells — Foot Races — The Game of Base — Wrestling much practised formerly — Prizes 
 for — How performed — Sir Thomas Parkyns — Hippas — Swimming — Sliding — Skating — Rowing — Sailing. 
 
 SLINGING OF Stones.— ;-The art of slinging, or casting of stones with a sling, 
 is of high antiquity, and probably antecedent to that of archery, though 
 not SO generally known nor so universally practised. The tribe of 
 Benjamin among the Israelites is celebrated in holy writ for the excellency of 
 its slingers. In the time of the judges there were seven hundred Benjamites 
 who all of them used their left hands, and in the figurative language of the 
 Scripture it is said, they " could sling stones at an hair-breadth and not miss," ^ 
 that is, with exceedingly great precision. Again we are told, that when David 
 fled to Ziklag, he was joined by a party of valiant men of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 who could use both the right and the left in slinging of stones and shooting 
 arrows out of a bow.^ David himself was also an excellent marksman, as the 
 destruction of Goliath by the means of his sling sufficiently testifies. It was, 
 perhaps, an instrument much used by the shepherds in ancient times, to protect 
 their flocks from the attacks of ferocious animals : if so, we shall not wonder 
 that David, who kept his father's sheep, was so expert in the management of 
 this weapon.* 
 
 •Slinging by the Anglo-Saxons. — The later Assyrian sculptures fre- 
 quently show soldiers armed with the sling, and the Persians, as we gather from 
 Xenophon, were expert slingers. Sling bullets of lead, stone, and hard-baked 
 clay or terra-cotta were used by the Romans ; their slingers were an important 
 light-armed division of their armies ; they appear on the Trajan column. Sling 
 stones have been found, occasionally in considerable numbers, at Romano- 
 British stations ; but there are also good reasons for knowing that the archaic 
 tribes of the British Isles were well acquainted with the use of the sling long 
 before the arrival of the Romans. Stones for this purpose have been found in 
 early barrows and entrenchments, both in England and Ireland.* The sling 
 and its deadly effects are frequently alluded to in the Irish annals. 
 
 Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were skilful in the management of the sling ; its 
 form is preserved in several of their paintings, and the manner in which it was 
 used by them, as far back as the eighth century, may be seen on plate five, from 
 
 ^ Judges, chap. xx. ver. l6. " l Chron. chap. xii. ver. 2. ^ I Samuel, chaps, xvii. and xviii. 
 
 * Journal of the Brit. Arch. Assoc, xx. 73-80; Notes and Queries, Ser. I, vi. 17, 377; Evans' Ancient Stone 
 Implements of Great Britain, chap, xyiii. 
 
 59 
 
6o SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 a manuscript of that age in the Cotton Library.^ It is there represented with 
 one of the ends unloosened from the hand and the stone discharged. In the 
 original the figure is throwing the stone at a bird upon the wing, which is 
 represented at some distance from him. 
 
 In other instances we see it depicted with both the ends held in the hand, 
 the figure being placed in the action of taking his aim, and a bird is generally 
 the object of his exertion, as in another drawing on the same plate from a parch- 
 ment roll in the Royal Library, containing a genealogical account of the kings 
 of England to the time of Henry 1 11.^ 
 
 Sometimes the sling is attached to a staff or truncheon, about three or four 
 feet in length, wielded with both hands, and charged with a stone of no small 
 magnitude. These staff-slings, known by the Romans as fustibalus, appear to 
 have been chiefly used in besieging of cities, and on board of ships in engage- 
 ments by sea. The representation of two such slings on plate five is taken from 
 a drawing supposed to have been made by Matthew Paris, in a MS. at Bennet' 
 College, Cambridge.* 
 
 Slinging by the Anglo-Normans. — We have sufficient testimony to prove 
 that men armed with slings formed a part of the Anglo-Norman soldiery,* and 
 the word balistarii, used by our early historians, may, I doubt not, be more 
 properly rendered slingers than cross-bowmen ; though indeed, upon the intro- 
 duction of the cross-bow, these men might take the place of the slingers. In fact 
 the cross-bow itself was modified to the purpose of discharging of stones, and 
 for that reason was also called a stone-bow, so that the appellation Balistarius 
 and Arcubalistarius were both of them latterly applied to the same person. At 
 the battle of Hastings slingers formed part of both the armies ; from this period 
 until the close of the fourteenth century they formed an important element in 
 every military expedition. They also continued to be used for fowling purposes, 
 and doubtless often for mere pastime. The sling, however, was not entirely 
 superseded by the bow at the commencement of the fifteenth century, as the 
 following verses plainly indicate : they occur in a manuscript poem in the Cotton 
 Library,* entitled, " Knyghthode and Batayle," written about that time, which 
 professedly treats upon the duties and exercises necessary to constitute a good 
 soldier. 
 
 Use eek the cast of stone, with slynge or honde : 
 It falleth ofte, yf other shot there none is, 
 Men harneysed in steel may not withstonde, 
 The multitude and mighty cast of stonys ; 
 And stonys in effecte, are every where, 
 And slynges are not noyous for to beare. 
 
 By the two last lines the poet means to say, that stones are every where 
 readily procured, and that the slings are by no means cumbersome to the 
 
 ' Claudius, B. iv. " 14. B. v. » C. v. 16. 
 
 ^ Manners and Customs of the English, vol. I. ° Titus A. xxiii. part I, fol. 8, 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 6i 
 
 bearers, which were cogent reasons for retaining them as military weapons ; 
 neither does he confine their use to any body or rank of soldiers, but indiscrimin- 
 ately recommends the acquirement of skill in the casting of stones, to every 
 individual who followed the profession of a warrior. 
 
 *In the metrical tale of King Edward and the Shepherd {fourteenth century), 
 the countryman exclaims — 
 
 " I have slyngs smort and good" ; 
 
 and proudly declares — 
 
 " The best archer of ilk one 
 I durst meet him with a stone. 
 And gif him lefe to shoot. 
 There is no bow that shall laste 
 To draw to my slyng's cast." 
 
 In Barclay's Eclogues, issued in 1508, a shepherd states that — 
 
 " I can dance the rage ; I can both pipe and sing 
 If I were mery ; I can both hurl and sling." 
 
 Leland in his Itinerary, when describing the isle of Portland in 1536, states 
 — " The people be good there in slyngging of stonys, and use it for defence of 
 the isle." 
 
 Modern Modes of Slinging. — I remember in my youth to have seen 
 several persons expert in slinging of stones, which they performed with thongs 
 of leather, or, wanting those, with garters ; and sometimes they used a stick of 
 ash or hazel, a yard or better in length, and about an inch in diameter ; it was 
 split at the top so as to make an opening wide enough to receive the stone, 
 which was confined by the re-action of the stick on both sides, but not strong 
 enough to resist the impulse of the slinger. It required much practice to handle 
 this instrument with any great degree of certainty, for if the stone in the act of 
 throwing quitted the sling either sooner or later than it ought to do, the desired 
 effect was sure to fail. Those who could use it properly, cast stones to a con- 
 siderable distance and with much precision. In the present day (1800) the use 
 of all these engines seems to be totally discontinued. 
 
 Throwing with the Hand. — Throwing of heavy weights and stones with 
 the hand was much practised in former times, and as this pastime required great 
 strength and muscular exertion, it was a very proper exercise for military men. 
 The Greeks, according to Homer, at the time of the siege of Troy, amused 
 themselves with casting of the discus, which appears to have been a round flat 
 plate of metal of considerable magnitude and very heavy. ^ " The discus of the 
 ancients," says Dr Johnson, in his dictionary, " is sometimes called in English 
 quoit, not improperly. The game of quoits is a game of skill ; the discus was 
 only a trial of strength, as among us to throw the hammer." 
 
 ' Iliad, book xxiii. 
 
62 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Throwing by the Londoners. — In the twelfth century we are assured, that 
 among the amusements practised by the young Londoners on holidays, was cast- 
 ing of stones,! darts, and other missive weapons. Bars of wood and iron were 
 afterwards used for the same purpose, and the attention of the populace was so 
 much engaged by this kind of exercise, that they neglected in great measure the 
 practice of archery, which occasioned an edict to be passed in the thirty-ninth 
 year of Edward I IL prohibiting the pastimes of throwing of stones, wood, and iron, 
 and recommending the use of the long-bow upon all convenient opportunities.^ 
 
 Casting of the Bar and Hammer. — Casting of the bar is frequently 
 mentioned by the romance writers as one part of a hero's education, and a poet 
 of the sixteenth century thinks it highly commendable for kings and princes, by 
 way of exercise, to throw " the stone, the barre, or the plummet." Henry VIII., 
 after his accession to the throne, according to Hall and Holinshead, retained 
 " the casting of the barre " among his favourite amusements. The sledge 
 hammer was also used for the same purpose as the bar and the stone ; and 
 among the rustics, if Barclay be correct, an axletree. 
 
 An early instance of throwing the stone occurs in a manuscript of the 
 thirteenth century ; it is reproduced at the top of plate sixty-two.* 
 
 *Throughout the reign of Henry VIII., encouraged by royal example, 
 gentlemen were eager to take part in pedestrian as well as equestrian exercises. 
 Sir William Forest, in his Poesy e of Princelye Practice, holds that a genrieman 
 should — 
 
 " In featis of maistdes bestowe some diligence 
 Too ryde, runne, lepe, or caste by violence 
 Stone, barre, or plummett, or such other thinge 
 It not refuseth any prince or kynge." 
 
 *Elyot's Governour names "labouryng with poyses made of ledde, and lifting 
 and throwing the heavy stone or barre." At the commencement of the seven- 
 teenth century, these pastimes seem to have lost their relish among the higher 
 classes of the people, and for this reason Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, 
 speaks of throwing the hammer as an exercise proper for soldiers in camp, or for 
 the amusement of the prince's guard, but not so well " beseeming nobility." 
 
 *Hammer throwing, as a modern athletic sport, follows the form that has 
 come to us from over the Border. The weight of the hammer is the same as 
 that of the weight in weight-putting, namely, sixteen pounds. 
 
 Throwing of Spears. — Throwing of darts and javelins being properly a 
 military exercise, was not prohibited by the act above mentioned. In 1529 
 Erasmus, writing to Cochloeus, said that the king outstripped every one in 
 throwing the dart. Chafrins, ambassador of Charles V., wrote in 1532 that Anne 
 Boleyn had presented Henry with certain darts of Biscayan fashion richly orna- 
 mented.* It was sometimes practised as a mere trial of strength, when the 
 attempt was to throw beyond a certain boundary, or to exceed a competitor in 
 
 ^ Fitzstephen's Description of London. ^ Rot. claus. Memb. 23. 
 
 ' Roy. Lib. 10 E. iv. f. 96. * Archaologia, li. 239. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 63 
 
 distance ; and of skill, when the spear was cast at a quintain, or any other 
 determined mark. The pastime is frequently mentioned by the writers of the 
 middle ages. Charles VI. of France and the lords of his court, after a grand 
 entertainment, were amused with " Wrastling, and casting of the bar, and the 
 dart, by Frenchmen and the Gascoyns." ^ 
 
 Quoits. — The game of quoits, or coits, as an amusement, is superior to any 
 of the foregoing pastimes ; the exertion required is more moderate, because this 
 exercise does not depend so much upon superior strength as upon superior skill. 
 The quoit seems evidently to have derived its origin from the ancient discus, 
 and with us in the present day it is a circular plate of iron perforated in the 
 middle, not always of one size, but larger or smaller to suit the strength or con- 
 veniency of the several candidates. It is further to be observed, that quoits are 
 not only made of different magnitudes to suit the poise of the players, but 
 sometimes the marks are placed at extravagant distances, so as to require great 
 strength to throw the quoit home ; this, however, is contrary to the general rule, 
 and depends upon the caprice of the parties engaged in the contest. 
 
 *An interesting reference to quoit-playing early in the fifteenth century has 
 recently come to light. When the evidence was taken as to alleged miracles at 
 the tomb of Bishop Osmund of Salisbury, before a papal commission, for the 
 purpose of procuring his canonisation, four witnesses testified to the marvellous 
 recovery of Cristina Cerlee, a girl of nine years of age, on St Mark's Day, 1409 ; 
 the child was struck by accident by a quoit on the head so severely that the brain 
 was exposed and she was taken up for dead and lay lifeless for an hour and a 
 half Richard Wodewell, carpenter, stated that he was playing quoits with his 
 companions at Laverstock when he overthrew an iron quoit weighing a pound, 
 and it struck Cristina who was seated on the ground twelve feet beyond the 
 mark. Others picked her up saying she was killed, and he at once ran to the 
 church of Salisbury for refuge, and there prayed to God, the Blessed Virgin 
 and Bishop Osmund, at the bishop's tomb for the child's life. Cristina recovered, 
 and made an offering of the quoit at the tomb.^ 
 
 *Quoits was one of those games prohibited in the reigns of Edward III. and 
 Richard II. in favour of archery. Ascham, in his Toxophilus (1545), says that 
 "quoiting be too vile for scholars." It seems always to have been, as at present, 
 a game chiefly popular among the working-classes, although it admits of much 
 skill, dexterity, and judgment. 
 
 To play at this game, an iron pin, called a hob, is driven into the ground, 
 within a few inches of the top ; and at the distance of eighteen, twenty, or more 
 yards, for the distance is optional, a second pin of iron is also made fast in a 
 similar manner ; two or more persons, as four, six, eight, or more at pleasure, 
 who divided into two equal parties are to contend for the victory, stand at one 
 
 ' Froissart, Lord Berners' translation, vol. iv. chao. 149, fol. 184. 
 
 ' Canonization of St Osmund (Wilts Record Soc. 1902), pp. viii., 64-6. The depositions speak of a " massaferrea " 
 being thrown by Wodewell, but in Harding's Register (p. 25) it is described as a "coyte." 
 
64 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 of the iron marks and throw an equal number of quoits to the other, and the 
 nearest of them to the hob are reckoned towards the game. But the determina- 
 tion is discriminate^ made : for instance, if a quoit belonging to A lies nearest 
 to the hob, and a quoit belonging to B the second, A can claim but one towards 
 the game, though all his other quoits lie nearer to the mark than all the other 
 quoits of B ; because one quoit of B being the second nearest to the hob, cuts 
 out, as it is called, all behind it : if no such quoit had interfered, then A would 
 have reckoned all his as one each. Having cast all their quoits, the candidates 
 walk to the opposite side, and determine the state of the play, then taking their 
 stand there, throw their quoits back again and continue to do so alternately as 
 long as the game remains undecided. 
 
 Formerly in the country, the rustics not having the round perforated quoits 
 to play with, used horse-shoes, and in many places the quoit itself, to this day, 
 is called a shoe. 
 
 Dumb Bells. — ^John Northbroke, in a treatise against Diceing, Dancing, 
 etc. written in the time of queen Elizabeth, advises young men, by way of 
 amusement, to " labour with poises of lead or other metal " ; this notable pastime, 
 I apprehend, bore some resemblance to the Skiomachia (sx/o/iaj^;;*) or fighting 
 with a man's own shadow, mentioned in one of the Spectators : ^ "It consisted," 
 says the author, " in brandishing of two sticks, grasped in each hand and loaden 
 with plugs of lead at either end ; — this pastime opens the chest, exercises the 
 limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure of boxing without the blows." It is 
 sometimes practised in the present day, and called "ringing of the dumb bells." 
 
 *The use of dumb-bells, and of the bar-bell which is but a two-handed 
 dumb-bell, still forms one of the most important elements of modern gymnastics. 
 
 *The origin of the term is somewhat curious. Dumb-bells take their name 
 by analogy, as was pointed out in Notes and Queries in 1861, " from a machine 
 used for exercise, consisting of a rough, heavy, wooden flywheel with a rope 
 passing through and round a spindle . . . and set in motion like a church bell."^ 
 This statement, however, does not sufficiently explain the transference of such 
 a name to the short bar and rounded lead or iron ends of a hand dumb-bell. 
 This difficulty was explained by the late Chancellor Ferguson in a paper read 
 before the Archaeological Institute in 1895, wherein a dumb-bell apparatus, now 
 at Lord Sackville's seat at Knowle, was described and illustrated.* The roller 
 round which the rope winds and unwinds has four iron arms, each of which has 
 a leaden poise or ball at the end, just like the end of an ordinary hand dumb- 
 bell. This Knowle example is fixed in an attic and the rope passed through to a 
 gallery beneath. Anyone pulling the rope would get much the same exercise 
 as in pulling a bell rope in a church tower, but without annoying his neighbours 
 by the noise. There used to be a similar apparatus at New College, Oxford. 
 The date of such contrivances for exercise cannot be older than the opening of 
 
 ' Vol. ii. No. 115. (A.D. 1711.) ' Notes and Queries, Ser. IL, xii. 45. 
 
 ' Archceological Journal, lii. 95-6. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 6s 
 
 the seventeenth century when the practice of change-ringing in England first 
 began. Change-ringing became fashionable among gentlemen in the reign of 
 Charles II., and the healthiness of the exercise was much vaunted.^ 
 
 Foot- Racing. — There is no kind of exercise that has more uniformly met 
 the approbation of authors in general than running. In the middle ages, foot- 
 racing was considered as an essential part of a young man's education, especially 
 if he was the son of a man of rank, and brought up to a military profession. 
 
 It is needless, I doubt not, to assert the antiquity of this pastime, because it 
 will readily occur to every one, that variety of occasions continually present 
 themselves, which call forth the exertions of running even in childhood ; and 
 when more than one person are stimulated by the same object, a competition 
 naturally takes place among them to obtain it. Originally, perhaps, foot-races 
 had no other incitement than emulation, or at best the prospect of some 
 small reward : but in process of time the rewards were magnified, and contests 
 of this kind were instituted as public amusements ; the ground marked out for 
 that purpose, and judges appointed to decide upon the fairness of the race, to 
 ascertain the winner, and to bestow the reward. 
 
 *In Sir Thomas Elyot's Governour, " rennyng " is named as " bothe a 
 goode exercise and a laudable solace ; " he defends the custom of running races 
 by references to such heroes of classical antiquity as Achilles, Alexander, and 
 Epaminondas. Both private matches and public competitions are mentioned 
 by Shakespeare, Falstaff says to Poins : " I could give a thousand pounds I 
 could run as fast as thou canst." In the third part of Henry VI. occur the 
 lines — 
 
 " Forspent with toil, as runners with a race, 
 I lay me down a little while to breathe." 
 
 Running was one of the exercises commended to his son by James I. 
 
 * After the Restoration, every form of sport was resumed with vigour. Pepys' 
 Diary contains many references to foot races. On August loth, 1660, Pepys 
 went " With Mr Moore and Creed to Hide Park by coach, and saw a fine 
 footrace three times round the Park between an Irishman and Crew, that was 
 once my Lord Claypoole's footman." On July 30th, 1663, he writes : " The 
 town talk this day is of nothing but the great foot-race run this day on Banstead 
 Downes, between Lee, the Duke of Richmond's footman, and a tiler, a famous 
 runner. And Lee hath beat him ; though the king and Duke of York, 
 and all men almost, did bet three or four to one upon the tiler's head." 
 Occasionally noblemen performed feats of this description. Pepys records the 
 
 ' Chancellor Fei^uson also contributed Notes about Dumb Bells, as an appendix to his former paper, to the 
 Archaological Journal of the next year (lii. 19-25). Mr Albert Hartshorne contributed to that paper a brief description 
 and sketch of what he terms "a complete and ancient example of a dumb-bell " in the belfry of Bradboume church, 
 Derbyshire. This is, however, in reality a mere windlass for bell raising such as can be found in scores of old belfries. 
 Having visited every Derbyshire belfry, and hundreds of others, I have no doubt on the matter, and agree in this 
 respect with our best bell expert, Dr Raven. When first learning bell ringing the practice always was and still obtains 
 of simply tying back the clapper, and so producing dumb bells. — ^J. C. C, 
 
66 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 remarkable performance, for a wager before the king, of Lords Castlehaven 
 and Arran, when they ran down and killed a buck in St James' park. He 
 also praised the extraordinary nimbleness of the Duke of Monmouth, of 
 whom Macaulay says that he " won foot-races in his boots against fleet runners 
 in shoes." The Luttrell Papers mention that in 1690 " Mr Peregrine Bertie, 
 son to the late Earl of Lindsey, upon a wager, ran the Mall in St James' Park 
 eleven times in less than an hour." 
 
 *Philip Kinder, in his MS. History of Derbyshire, written about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, says of the natives of that shire : " Theire 
 exercise for a greate part is y* Gymnopaidia or naked boy, an ould recreation 
 among y" Greeks, and this in foote-races. You shall have in a winter's day, 
 y' earth crusted over w"* ice, two Antagonists starke naked runn a foote-race for 
 2 or 3 miles, w"" many hundred spectators, and y" betts very smale."^ 
 
 *Any attempt to deal with foot-racing in the eighteenth century would 
 require a whole treatise, and would for the most part be a record of foolish 
 contests for extravagant wagers. It will suffice to quote a paragraph from the first 
 chapter of the standard work on modern English athletics. " The annals of the 
 eighteenth century are full of accounts of wagers for the performance of athletic 
 feats, both sublime as well as ridiculous. The majority of the genuine athletic 
 performances are those of professional pedestrians, amateurs only figuring 
 occasionally in these wagers, and often in preposterous ones. Luttrell's Diary 
 tells us of a wager made by a German of sixty-four years old, to walk 300 miles 
 in Hyde Park in six days, which he did within the time and a mile over. In 
 1 780, the Gentleman's Magazine tells us that a man of seventy-five years ran 
 four miles and a half round Queen Square in 58 minutes. Eight years later a 
 young gentleman, with a jockey booted and spurred on his back, ran a match 
 against an elderly fat man (of the name of Bullock) running without a rider. 
 The more extraordinary the wager the more excitement it often caused amongst 
 the public. A fish-hawker is reported to have run for a wager seven miles, from 
 Hyde Park Corner to Brentford, with 56 lbs. weight of fish on his head, in 45 
 minutes ! Another man trundled a coach- wheel eight miles in an hour round a 
 platform erected in St Giles' Fields. Another extraordinary match was one 
 between a man on stilts against a man on foot, the former receiving twenty 
 yards start in a hundred and twenty yards. What is more astounding is that 
 the man upon the stilts won the match." ^ 
 
 Foot-races are not now ( 1 800) much encouraged by persons of fortune, and 
 seldom happen but for the purpose of betting, and the racers are generally paid for 
 their performance. In many instances the distance does not exceed one hundred 
 yards. At fairs, wakes, and upon many other occasions where many people 
 are assembled together, this species of amusement is sometimes promoted, but 
 most frequently the contest is confined to the younger part of the concourse. 
 
 1 Bodleian, Ashm, MSS. 788. 
 
 2 Badminton Library : Athletics, by Montague Shearman. This is the best book to consult as to the remarkable 
 revival of foot-racing, both amateur and professional, during the nineteenth century. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 67 
 
 *Foot-racing in connection with wedding festivities was a very old custom 
 in the north of England, and still lingers in some parts of north Yorkshire. In 
 that charming book, Forty Years in a Moorland Parish, by the late Canon 
 Atkinson, incumbent of Danby-in- Cleveland, published in 1891, occur the 
 following passages : — 
 
 " The most typical Dales Wedding I ever remember having witnessed was 
 nearly forty years ago, and on Martinmas Day. But I should not have 
 spoken of the event in the singular number ; for there were, in point of fact, 
 four weddings all to be solemnised coincidently. . . . After the ceremony was 
 over, great was the scramble among the small boys for the coppers, which it 
 was and is customary for the newly-married man, or his best man, to scatter 
 the moment the chancel door is left. And then an adjournment to the field 
 adjoining the churchyard was made, and there was a series of races, all on foot, 
 to be run for the ribbons which were the gift of the several brides ; and as some 
 of them gave more than one, the races were multiplied accordingly. Time was, 
 and not so very long before the commencement of my incumbency here, when 
 these races were ridden on horseback ; and, at an earlier period still, the race 
 was a 'steeple-chase' across country — the goal being the house whence the 
 bride had come, and to which the wedding cavalcade was to return for the 
 usual festivities. More than once, too, I have known, when the bride in some 
 way incurred the suspicion of niggardness, through not complying with the 
 recognised usage of supplying one ribbon at least to be run for, the ' stithy was 
 fired upon her,' i.e. a charge of powder was rammed into a hole in the anvil 
 (much after the shot in a mine), and fired in derision ; well pronounced, if the 
 loudness of the report counted for anything, as the wedding party passed on the 
 journey home from the church. The direct converse of this, was the firing of 
 guns as the party passed the residences of friends and well wishers, . . . The 
 races still linger on, and only a week or two since the bride gave two ' ribbons 
 to be run for ' ; and a few years ago one young chap, fleet of foot, and with as 
 much inclination for ' laiking ' (playing) as for sticking to work — some folk 
 said more — was quoted as the fortunate winner of almost enough to start an 
 itinerant haberdasher in trade." ^ 
 
 Base, or Prisoners' Bars. — There is a rustic game called Base or Bars, 
 and sometimes written Bays,^ and in some places . Prisoners' Bars ; and as the 
 success of this pastime depends upon the agility of the candidates and their skill 
 in running, I think it may properly enough be introduced here. It was much 
 practised in former times, and some vestiges of the game are still remaining in 
 
 ' Pp. 305-7. Shortly after Canon Atkinson published this book, one of my oldest parishioners in Barton-le-Street 
 (of which I was rector 1 886- 1 894) told me that he had seen a stark naked race of young men over the moors from Danby- 
 in-Cleveland churchyard at the conclusion of a wedding at which Canon Atkinson officiated in the year 1851. Needless 
 to say the sport did not begin till after the parson had left. I had some most interesting correspondence with the 
 Canon on this subject, and was able to convince him by the evidence of several that this occasional stripping for a race 
 after a wedding was only abandoned soon after he entered on his incumbency. — ^J. C. C. 
 
 ' Johnson's Dictionary, word Base. 
 
68 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 many parts of the kingdom. The first mention of this sport that I have met 
 with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the parliamentary proceedings, 
 early in the reign of Edward III., where it is spoken of as a childish amuse- 
 ment, and prohibited to be played in the avenues of the palace at Westminster,^ 
 during the sessions of Parliament, because of the interruption it occasioned to 
 the members and others in passing to and fro as their business required. It is 
 also spoken of by Shakespear as a game practised by the boys : 
 
 He with two striplings, lads more like to run 
 The country base, than to commit such slaughter, 
 Made good the passage.^ 
 
 It was, however, most assuredly played by the men, and especially in Cheshire 
 and other adjoining counties, where formerly it seems to have been in high repute. 
 
 The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal number, 
 each of them having a base or home, as it is usually called, to themselves, at the 
 distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The players then on either side 
 taking hold of hands, extend themselves in length, and opposite to each other, 
 as far as they conveniently can, always remembering that one of them must 
 touch the base ; when any one of them quits the hand of his fellow and runs into 
 the field, which is called giving the chase, he is immediately followed by one 
 of his opponents ; he again is followed by a second from the former side, and 
 he by a second opponent ; and so on alternately, until as many are out as 
 choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed, and no other ; and 
 if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party claims one toward their 
 game, and both return home. They then run forth again and again in like 
 manner, until the number is completed that decides the victory ; this number is 
 optional, and I am told rarely exceeds twenty. It is to be observed, that every 
 person on either side who touches another during the chase, claims one for his 
 party, and when many are out, it frequently happens that many are touched. 
 
 About 1770, I saw a grand match at base played in the fields behind 
 Montague House, now the British Museum, by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire 
 against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable sum of money, which afforded 
 much entertainment to the spectators. In Essex they play this game with the 
 addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the ground, parallel with 
 the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from them ; and every person who 
 is touched on either side in the chase, is sent to one or other of these prisons, 
 where he must remain till the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously 
 by one of his associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, 
 which is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful players, 
 because the prison belonging to either party is always much nearer to the base 
 of their opponents than to their own ; and if the person sent to relieve his 
 confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes 
 
 1 " Nul enfaunt ne autres ne jue— 4 barres." Rot. Pari. MS. Harl. 7057. a Cymbeline. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 69 
 
 a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance. The addition of the 
 prisons occasions a considerable degree of variety in the pastime, and is 
 frequently productive of much pleasantry. 
 
 Wrestling. — The art of wrestling, which in the present day is chiefly con- 
 fined to the lower classes of the people, was, however, highly esteemed by the 
 ancients, and made a very considerable figure among the Olympic games. In 
 the ages of chivalry, to wrestle well was accounted one of the accomplishments 
 which a hero ought to possess. 
 
 Wrestling is a kind of exercise that, from its nature, is likely to have been 
 practised by every nation, and especially by those the least civilised. It was 
 probably well known in this country long before the introduction of foreign 
 manners. The inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon have, we are well assured, 
 from time immemorial, been celebrated for their expertness in this pastime, and 
 are universally said to be the best wrestlers in the kingdom. To give a Cornish 
 hug is a proverbial expression. The Cornish, says Fuller, are masters of the 
 art of wrestling, so that if the Olympian games were now in fashion, they would 
 come away with the victory. Their hug is a cunning close with their fellow- 
 combatants, the fruits whereof is his fair fall or foil at the least.^ They learned 
 the art at an early period of life, for you shall hardly find, says Carew, an 
 assembly of boys in Devon and Cornwall, where the most untowardly among 
 them will not as readily give you a muster (or trial) of this exercise as you are 
 prone to require it.^ 
 
 *The entirely different systems of wrestling developed in different parts of 
 the kingdom is a slight but genuine proof of the great variety of nationalities 
 and tribes that were involved in the making of England. Owing to difficulties 
 of locomotion, these different methods held their own in their respective districts 
 until comparatively modern days. The styles of Cornwall and Devon are usually 
 reckoned together, though they differed in at least one important particular, 
 namely, that the latter sanctioned kicking and tripping, whilst the former 
 confined themselves almost entirely to hugging. The style of Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland was the next most famous. Thirdly, there was the more general 
 practice of "loose" wrestling, in which Norfolk and Bedfordshire were for a long 
 time pre-eminent ; this style differed much in different localities.' 
 
 The citizens of London, in times past, were expert in the art of wrestling, 
 and annually upon St James's day they were accustomed to make a public trial 
 of their skill. In the sixth year of Henry III. they held their anniversary 
 meeting for this purpose near the hospital of St Matilda, at St Giles's-in-the- 
 Fields, where they were met by the inhabitants of the city and suburbs of West- 
 minster, and a ram was appointed for the prize ; the Londoners were victorious, 
 having greatly excelled their antagonists, which produced a challenge from the 
 conquered party, to renew the contest upon the Lammas day following at West- 
 
 > Worthies of England in Cornwall, p. 197. ^ Survey of Cornwall, 1602, p. 75- 
 
 ' Armstrong's Wrestling (Badminton Library), passim. 
 
;o SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 minster : the citizens of London readily consented, and met them accordingly, 
 but in the midst of the diversion, the bailiff of Westminster and his associates 
 took occasion to quarrel with the Londoners, a battle ensued, and many of the 
 latter were severely wounded in making their retreat to the city. This unjustifi- 
 able petulance of the bailiff gave rise to a more serious tumult, and it was several 
 days before the peace could be restored.^ Stow informs us, that in the thirty- 
 first year of Henry VL a.d. 1453, at a wrestling match near Clerkenwell, 
 another tumult was excited against the lord mayor, but he does not say upon 
 what occasion it arose. 
 
 In the old time, says Stow, wrestling was more used than it has been of 
 later years.* In the month of August, about the feast of St Bartholomew, adds 
 this very accurate historian, there were divers days spent in wrestling ; the lord 
 mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, being present in a large tent pitched for that 
 purpose near Clerkenwell ; ^ upon this occasion the officers of the city, namely, 
 the sheriffs, Serjeants, and yeomen, the porters of the king's beam or weighing- 
 house, and others of the city, gave a general challenge to such of the inhabitants 
 of the suburbs as thought themselves expert in this exercise ; but of late years, 
 continues he, the wrestling is only practised on the afternoon of St Bartholomew's 
 day.* The latter ceremony is thus described by a foreign writer, who was an 
 eye-witness to the performance : " When," says he, " the mayor goes out of the 
 precincts of the city, a sceptre,' a sword, and a cap, are borne before him, and 
 he is followed by the principal aldermen in scarlet gowns with golden chains ; 
 himself and they on horseback. Upon their arrival at a place appointed for that 
 purpose, where a tent is pitched for their reception, the mob begin to wrestle 
 before them two at a time." He adds a circumstance not recorded by the 
 historian : " After this is over, a parcel of live rabbits are turned loose among 
 the crowd, which are pursued by a number of boys, who endeavour to catch 
 them with all the noise they can make." ^ 
 
 Prizes for Wrestling. — The reward proposed for the best wrestlers in the 
 contest between the Londoners and the inhabitants of Westminster, as mentioned 
 above, was a ram. Anciently this animal was the prize most usually given upon such 
 occasions, and therefore in the rhyme of sir Thopas, Chaucer says of the Knight, 
 
 Of wrastling was there none his pere, 
 Where any Ram shulde stonde. 
 
 And again, in his character of the miller, 
 
 for over al ther he cam. 
 
 At wrastlyng he wolde have away the Ram. 
 
 Other rewards, no doubt, were sometimes proposed, as we may see upon the 
 eighth plate, where two men are wrestling for a cock : the original drawing, 
 from a manuscript in the Royal Library,^ is certainly more ancient than the time 
 
 > Matthew Paris. Hist. Ang. sub an. 1282. » Survey of London, pp. 78, 85. 
 
 ' The margin says, " at Skinner's Well." < Survey of London, p. 85. 
 
 » I presume he means the mace. « Hentzner's Itinerary, p. 36. » 2 B. viil. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 71 
 
 of Chaucer. This is clearly an example of "loose" wrestling, when the hold 
 was got with the open hand, grasping either the body or tunic of the opponent, 
 or, as in this case, of a sort of scarf put on for the purpose. 
 
 In later times the prizes were not only much varied, but were occasionally 
 of higher value. If we may believe the author of the old poem, entitled " A 
 mery Geste of Robyn Hode," there were several prizes put up at once. The 
 poet, speaking of a knight who was going to Robin Hood, says,^ 
 
 -Unto Bemisdale, 
 
 As he went, by a bridge was a wrastling, 
 
 And there taryed was he, 
 And there was all the best yemen, 
 
 Of all the west countrey. 
 A full fayre game there was set up ; 
 
 A white bull, up ypyght ; 
 A great courser with sadle and brydle, 
 
 With gold burnished full bryght : 
 A payre of gloves, a red gold ringe, 
 
 A pipe of wine, good faye : 
 What man bereth him best, ywis, 
 
 The prize shall bear away. 
 
 A humorous description is given in one of the Spectators of a country 
 wake : the author there mentions " a ring of wrestlers ; the squire," says he, 
 " of the parish always treats the whole company, every year, with a hogshead of 
 ale, and proposes a beaver hat, as a recompence to him who gives the most falls." ^ 
 
 Wrestling, how performed. — The manner in which this pastime was 
 exhibited in the western parts of England, at the distance of two centuries, is 
 thus described by Carew, an author then living. " The beholders then cast, or 
 form themselves into a ring, in the empty space whereof the two champions 
 step forth, stripped into their dublets and hosen, and untrussed, that they may 
 so the better command the use of their lymmes ; and first shaking hands, in 
 token of friendship, they fall presently to the effect of anger ; for each striveth 
 how to take hold of the other with his best advantage, and to bear his adverse 
 party downe ; wherein, whosoever overthroweth his mate, in such sort, as that 
 either his backe, or the one shoulder, and contrary heele do touch the ground, 
 is accounted to give the fall. If he be only endangered, and makes a narrow 
 escape, it is called a foyle." 
 
 He then adds, " This pastime also hath his laws, for instance ; of taking 
 hold above the girdle — wearing a girdle to take hold by — playing three pulls 
 for trial of the mastery, the fall giver to be exempted from playing again 
 with the taker, but bound to answer his successor. Silver prizes, for this and 
 other activities, were wont to be carried about, by certain circumferanci, or set 
 up at bride ales ; but time, or their abuse," perhaps I might add both, " hath 
 now worn them out of use." * 
 
 » Second fit, or part, Garrick's Collect. Old Plays, K. vol. x. * Vol. ii. No. rgi, published 171 1. 
 
 • Survey of Cornwall (1602), p. 75. 
 
72 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *SiR Thomas Parkyns.— Towards the end of the seventeenth century 
 wrestling was much declining in importance and respectability ; but it 
 received a considerable impetus from the strenuous support of a Nottingham- 
 shire squire of education and position. Sir Thomas Parkyns, Bart, of Bunny 
 Park, Nottingham, was the author of a curious work entitled, "The 
 Inn- Play, or the Cornish - Hugg Wrestler, Digested in a Method which 
 teacheth to break all Holds, and throw most Falls Mathematically. Easie 
 to be understood' by all Gentlemen, etc., and of great Use to such who 
 understand the Small Sword in Fencing. And by all Tradesmen and 
 Handicrafts that have competent knowledge of the Use of the Stilliards, 
 Bor, Crove - Iron, or Lever, with their Hypomochlions, Fulcimen or 
 Baits." A corrected second edition, from which this title is taken, was 
 issued in 17 14. Sir Thomas begins his "prefatory introduction" with an 
 epigram from Martial, which gives him occasion to speak of his classical 
 education under the famed Dr Busby, of Westminster School, where he learnt 
 that wrestling was one of the five great Olympian sports. When he went to 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, he noted, as a spectator of wrestling contests, the 
 vast difference between " the Norfolk Out- Players and the Cornish Huggers," 
 and that the latter could throw the other when they pleased. The use and 
 application of mathematics he learnt when an undergraduate, from his tutor Dr 
 Bathurst, but more especially from Sir Isaac Newton, who, seeing his inclina- 
 tion, invited him to his public lectures, " though I was Fellow Commoner, and 
 seldom if ever any such were called to them." From Cambridge Sir Thomas 
 proceeded to Gray's Inn, and there learnt fencing and vaulting, and also 
 wrestling from Mr Cornish, who was his " Inn- Play Wrestling Master." He 
 committed to writing the great variety of holds that he was taught. Out- Play 
 wrestling is compared to French Fencing, and is the prettier to look at, but 
 " Inn-Play soon decidethe who is the better gamester by an indisputable fall." 
 "If wrestling," says Sir Thomas, " was more practic'd by Gentlemen, few or 
 none would be killed by the sword in rencounters, but a severe fall or two, a 
 black face or the like, would allay their fury and heat for that time, nay perhaps 
 till quite forgotten," He backs up his preference for Cornish wrestling by the 
 quaint suggestion that it commended itself to the other sex. " For the most 
 part our country rings for wrestlings, at wakes and other festivals, consist of 
 a small party of young women, who come not thither to choose a coward, but 
 the daring, healthy and robust persons. , . . I ne'er could hear that the women 
 approved of the Norfolk Out-Play, the rending and tearing of waistcoats, 
 kicking and breaking of shins, and rendering them so tender they could not 
 endure to be rub'd, but that their inclinations were the strongest for the 
 Bedfordshire Inn- Play, and for such as approve themselves to be good on the 
 Cornish Close Hugg," 
 
 *This enthusiastic champion of wrestling established annual matches in 
 his own park, the prize being a hat of the value of twenty-two shillings. These 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH n 
 
 were continued for more than half a century after his death ; they were finally 
 abandoned about 1810. It is recorded of him that he never knew a day's 
 illness until the time of his death, which occurred on March 29th, 1741. In 
 addition to being a skilled athlete, Sir Thomas was of much repute as a man of 
 probity and learning, and was on the commission of the peace for the counties 
 of Nottingham and Leicester, He had his monument erected in the chancel 
 of Bunny church in his lifetime, whereon his fame as a wrestler is set forth, and 
 his effigy rudely carved, with arms extended, in the first position of Cornish- 
 hug.i 
 
 *During the nineteenth century wrestling revived from time to time, but 
 the rowdyism and roguery, so often associated with the matches, have for the 
 most part kept this sport in deserved disrepute. 
 
 Hipp AS. — The Greeks had a pastime called Hippas, which, we are told, was 
 one person riding upon the shoulders of another, as upon a horse ; ^ a sport of 
 this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of the fourteenth century, 
 but generally performed by two competitors who struggled one with the other, 
 and he who pulled his opponent from the shoulders of his carrier was the 
 victor. 
 
 The representations of this curious pastime on plate seven are taken from 
 different manuscripts ; one in the Royal Library,' and the other in the Bodleian 
 Library at Oxford, dated 1344.* 
 
 This seems to bear more analogy to wrestling than to any other sport, for 
 which reason I have given it a place in the present chapter. 
 
 Swimming. — Swimming is an exercise of great antiquity ; and, no doubt, 
 familiar to the inhabitants of this country at all times. The heroes of the middle 
 ages are sometimes praised for their skill in swimming: it is said of Olaf 
 Fryggeson, a king of Norway, that he had no equal in his art.° Peacham, 
 describing the requisites for a complete gentleman, mentions swimming as one ; 
 and particularly recommends it to such as were inclined to follow a military 
 profession. In this he seems to have followed an old poetical writer,* who 
 speaks in this manner : — 
 
 To swymme, is eke to lerne in sommer leson. 
 Men fynde not a bridge, so often as a flood, 
 Swymmyng to voyde ; and chase an hoste wil eson. 
 Eke after rayne the rivers goeth wood,' 
 That every man in t'host can swymme, is good : 
 Knyght, squyer, footman, cook, and cosynere. 
 And grome, and page, in swymmyng is to lere. 
 
 Meaning thereby, that the art of swimming ought to be learned by every class 
 
 > Thorston's Nottinghamshire, i. 93 ; Chambers' Book of Days, i. 435-7. It is not a little remarkable that the 
 Badminton account of wrestling omits all reference to Sir Thomas Parkyns, and to his book which passed through so 
 many editions. 
 
 » Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. ' 2 B. vii. ^ Bod. 264. 
 
 » Pontoppidan's Hist, of Norway, p. 148. ° MS. Cott. Titus, A. xxiii. 
 
 ' Wood, or wode, signifies wild or mad ; and here, that the rain makes the rivers swell and overpass their bounds. 
 
74 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 of persons belonging to an army : and, perhaps, it may not be improper to add, 
 by every other person also. 
 
 Swimming and diving are mentioned by the author of the Visions of Pierce 
 Ploughman ^ in the following manner : — 
 
 Take two strong men and in Temese ° cast them, 
 
 And both naked as a needle, ther non sikerer » than other ; 
 
 The one hath cunnynge and can swymme and dyve, 
 
 The other is lewd of that laboure, lerned never to swym, 
 
 Which trowest of these two in Temese is most in dred, 
 
 He that never dived ne nought of swymmyng, 
 
 Or the swymmer that is safe if he himself lyke ? 
 
 *The first printed book in the world published on swimming was issued in 
 1538 ; it is in Latin, and was written by N. Wynman, professor of languages at 
 Ingoldstadt. The first treatise published in England was that by Everard Digby 
 in 1587 ; it is in Latin, and styled De Arte Natandi. The numerous illustrations 
 are most quaint. The Compleat Swimmer, by William Pearcey Gent, was 
 issued in 1658 ; it is a sad bit of plagiarism, being a literal and unacknowledged 
 translation of Digby's work. Monsieur Th6venot's Art of Swimming with 
 advice for Bathers was issued in 1696, and translated into English in 1699 ; it 
 has forty small copperplate cuts showing the different postures. None of these 
 works say anything about the history of swimming in England. 
 
 Boys in the country usually learn to swim with bundles of bull-rushes, 
 and with corks where the rushes cannot readily be procured; particularly in 
 the neighbourhood of London, where we are told, two centuries back, there 
 were men who could teach the art of swimming well, and, says the author, " for 
 commoditie of river and water for that purpose, there is no where better."* 
 
 I am sorry to add, that swimming is by no means so generally practised 
 with us in the present day as it used to be in former times. We have several 
 treatises on the art of swimming and diving, and in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 
 are many excellent directions relating to it, under the article Swimming.* 
 
 Sliding. — Sliding upon the ice appears to have been a very favourite 
 pastime among the youth of this country in former times ; at present the use of 
 skates is so generally diffused throughout the kingdom, that sliding is but little 
 practised, except by children, and such as cannot afford to purchase them. 
 
 Sliding is one of the diversions ascribed to young men of London by 
 Fitzstephen, and, as far as one can judge from his description of the sport, it 
 differed not in the performance from the method used by the boys of our own 
 
 1 Edit. 1550, p. 13. ' The river Thames. 
 
 ' Sikerer, surer, safer ; that is, neither the one nor the other should have any extraneous assistance, but each should 
 depend entirely upon his own exertions to escape from the water. 
 
 * History of all the Schools and Colleges in and about London, printed A.D. 1615 
 
 ' *It is almost unnecessary to state that the art and pastime of swimming underwent a remarkable revival during the 
 nineteenth century. There can be but little doubt that the proportion of the English population who can swim is now 
 (1903) far higher than it has ever been before. It is greatly encouraged in schools. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 75 
 
 time : but he adds another kind of pastime upon the ice that is not now in 
 practice ; his words are to this effect, " Others make a seat of ice as large as a 
 millstone, and having placed one of their companions upon it, they draw him 
 along, when it sometimes happens that moving on slippery places they all fall 
 down headlong." Instead of these seats of ice, among the moderns, sledges are 
 used, which being extended from a centre, by the means of a strong rope, those 
 who are seated in them are moved round with great velocity, and form an 
 extensive circle. Sledges of this kind were set upon the Thames during the 
 hard frost, in the year 17 16, as the following couplet in a song written upon that 
 occasion ^ plainly proves : 
 
 While the rabble in sledges run giddily round. 
 And nought but a circle of folly is found. 
 
 Skating. — Skating is by no means a recent pastime, and probably the 
 invention proceeded rather from necessity than the desire of amusement. 
 
 The wooden skates shod with iron or steel, which are bound about the feet 
 and ancles like the talares of the Greeks and Romans, were most probably 
 brought into England from the Low Countries, where they are said to have 
 originated, and where it is well known they are almost universally used by 
 persons of both sexes when the season permits. The word itself is a proof that 
 this pastime came to us from Holland, for skate is not an old English word, but 
 is borrowed from the Dutch schaats. In Hoole's translation of the Vocabulary 
 by Comenius, called Orbis Sensualium Pictus (1658) the skates are called scrick- 
 shoes from the German, and in the print at the head of the section, in that work, 
 they are represented longer than those of the present day, and the irons are 
 turned up much higher in the front. 
 
 *Some antiquaries are of opinion that there was skating in England even 
 in prehistoric times, the earliest skates being those made from bones. In 
 January 1874 "two British skates" of bone, found at Blackfriars, on the old bed 
 of the Fleet river, were exhibited before the British Archaeological Association. 
 In the following month two bone skates, one polished and one in process of 
 manufacture, found in the city of London, were exhibited before the same 
 association. Mr Loftus Brock also exhibited in June of the same year "a fine 
 bone skate about a foot long with a flat polished surface, of prehistoric date," 
 which had been found in Bucklersbury, on the site of the ancient church of St 
 Benet Sherchog.^ 
 
 *In 1841 Mr Roach Smith exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries a bone 
 skate which had been found in boggy ground in Moorfields, near Finsbury Circus. 
 He considered that it was one of those described as used in the twelfth century 
 on this very site.^ Fitzstephen, the chronicler of London in the time of Henry 
 
 > In D'Urfey's Collection of Songs, 1719, vol. iii. p. 4. 
 
 ' Journal of the Arch. Assoc, xxx. pp. 72, 91, 338. Ancient bone skates or runners are exhibited at the Guildhall 
 Museum as well as at the British Museum. ' Archaologia, xxix. 397. 
 
76 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 II., says — "When that great moor which washed Moorfields, at the north wall 
 of the city, is frozen over, great companies of young men go to sport upon the 
 ice, and bind to their shoes bones, as the legs of some beasts ; and hold stakes 
 in their hands, headed with sharp iron, which sometimes they stick against the 
 ice ; and these men go on with speed, as doth a bird in the air, or darts shot 
 from some warlike engine. Sometimes two men set themselves at a distance, 
 and run one against another, as it were at tilt, with these stakes ; wherewith one 
 or both parties are thrown down, not without some hurt to their bodies ; and 
 after their fall, by reason of their violent motion, are carried a good distance 
 one from another ; and wheresoever the ice doth touch their heads, it rubs off 
 the skin and lays it bare ; and if one fall upon his leg or arm, it is usually 
 broken ; but young men, being greedy of honour and desirous of victory, do thus 
 exercise themselves in counterfeit battles that they may bear the brunt more 
 strongly when they come to it in good earnest." 
 
 *The two great diarists of the Restoration period, Evelyn and Pepys, both 
 record skating feats that they witnessed on December ist, 1662, when this 
 revived exercise on metal skates had been reintroduced frem Holland. 
 
 *Evelyn says : — " Having seen the strange and wonderful dexterity of the 
 sliders on the new canal in St James's Park, performed before their Ma"" 
 by divers gentlemen, and others with Scheetes after the manner of the Hollanders, 
 with what swiftnesse they passe, how suddainely they stop in full carriere upon 
 the ice, I went home by water, but not without exceeding difficulties, the 
 Thames being frozen, greate flakes of ice incompassing our boate." Pepys' 
 entry is as follows: — "St James's Park, Dec. i, 1662. Over the Park, where 
 I first in my life, it being a great frost, did see people sliding with their skeates, 
 which is a very pretty art." 
 
 *Little is recorded of the development of skating in England in the eighteenth 
 century, but illustrations of fairs held on the frozen Thames in 17 16 and in 1740 
 prove that it was popular at both those dates. The first English " Treatise on 
 Skating, Founded on certain Principles deduced from many Years Experience " 
 was printed in 1772. The author was Robert Jones, Lieutenant of Artillery ; 
 it was dedicated to Lord Spencer Hamilton as an expert on the ice. The 
 writer expresses a strong preference for English rather than Dutch skates, but 
 acknowledges that the latter are better for travelling. In England skating was 
 only "an exercise and diversion," whereas in Holland it was a "business and 
 necessity." 
 
 *Roller skates are not the novelty that they are usually supposed to be, 
 Joseph Merlin, a native of Liege, who came to England with the Spanish 
 ambassador in 1760, invented a pair of skates that ran on wheels. But his 
 exhibition of them was not a success. Gliding about in them at a masquerade 
 at Carlisle House, Soho Square, he ran into a valuable mirror worth ;^500, 
 which he completely shattered in addition to wounding himself severely.* A 
 
 ' Notes and Queries, Ser. V., vi. 36. 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH '!7 
 
 patent for wheel skates was taken out in 1819; and the old tennis court 
 in Windmill Street was turned into a rink for roller skating in the year 
 1823.1 
 
 Some modern writers have asserted, that " the metropolis of Scotland has 
 produced more instances of elegant skaters than perhaps any other country 
 whatever, and the institution of a skating-club, about forty years ago, has con- 
 tributed not a little to the improvement of this amusement.^ I have, however, 
 seen, some years back, when the Serpentine river in Hyde Park was frozen 
 over, four gentlemen there dance, if I may be allowed the expression, a double 
 minuet in skates, with as much ease, and I think more elegance, than in a ball 
 room; others again, by turning and winding with much adroitness, have 
 readily in succession described upon the ice the form of all the letters in the 
 alphabet. 
 
 ♦During the nineteenth century the development of English skating has 
 been most remarkable.* 
 
 Rowing. — I shall not pretend to investigate the antiquity of boat-rowing. 
 This art was certainly well understood by the primitive inhabitants of Britain, 
 who frequently committed themselves to the mercy of the sea in open boats, 
 constructed with wicker work, and covered with leather.* The Saxons were 
 also expert in the management of the oar, and thought it by no means derogatory 
 for a nobleman of the highest rank to row or steer a boat with dexterity and 
 judgment. Kolson, a northern hero, boasting of his qualifications, declares, 
 that "he was expert in handling the oar."^ The reader may possibly call to his 
 recollection the popular story related by our historians concerning Edgar, sur- 
 named the Peaceable, who they tell us was conveyed in great state along the 
 river Dee, from his palace in the city of West Chester, to the church of St John, 
 and back again : the oars were managed by eight kings, and himself, the ninth, 
 sat at the stern of the barge and held the helm.' This frolic, for I cannot 
 consider it in any other light, appears to be well attested, and is the earliest 
 record of a pastime of the kind. 
 
 The boat-quintain and tilting at each other upon the water, which were 
 introduced by the Normans as amusements for the summer season,'^ could not 
 be performed without the assistance of the oars, and probably much of the 
 success of the champion depended upon the skilfulness of those who managed 
 the boat. If we refer to two engravings* whereon both these sports are repre- 
 sented, we shall see that the rowers are seated contrary to the usual method, 
 and face the head of the vessel instead of the stern. 
 
 The institution of the water pageantry at London upon the lord mayor's 
 day, was of an essential service to the professed watermen, who plied about the 
 bridge ; and gave occasion to the introduction of many pleasure boats, which in 
 
 * Notes and Qiieries, Ser. V., v. 309. 
 
 " Ency. Brit. art. Skating. ' Badminton Library : Skating, by Messrs Heathcote, Tebbutt, and Witham. 
 
 * Csesar Bell, Gall. lib. v. cap. 12. ° Bartholin, p. 420, ' Will. Malms. Mat. West, in the reign of Edgar. 
 ' Fitzstephen's Description of London. Stow's Sutvev, ' See book iii. chap. i. sec. v. 
 
78 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the modern times have been greatly increased. The first procession to West- 
 minster by water was made a.d. 1453, by John Norman, then lord mayor, for 
 which he was highly commended by the watermen. 
 
 When tilting at the quintain and justing one against another in boats upon 
 the water were discontinued in this country, rowing matches were substituted, 
 and are become exceedingly popular : we may see them frequently exhibited 
 upon the Thames during the summer season ; and as these contests, which 
 depend upon skill as well as upon strength, are rarely productive of any thing 
 further than mere pastime, they are in my opinion deservedly encouraged. 
 When a rowing-match takes place near London, if the weather be fine, it is 
 astonishing to see what crowds of people assemble themselves upon the banks 
 of the Thames as spectators, and the river itself is nearly covered with wherries, 
 pleasure boats, and barges, decorated with flags and streamers, and sometimes 
 accompanied with bands of music. This pastime, though very ancient, 
 and frequently practised upon solemn occasions by the Greeks and the 
 Romans, does not seem to have attracted the notice of our countrymen in 
 former times. 
 
 It may be thought unnecessary for me to mention the well-known annual 
 legacy of Thomas Dogget, a comedian of some celebrity at the commencement 
 of the eighteenth century, which provides three prizes to be claimed by three 
 young watermen, on condition they prove victorious in rowing from the Old Swan 
 Stairs near London Bridge, to the White Swan at Chelsea. The contest takes 
 place upon the first of August ; the number of competitors upon this occasion 
 is restricted to six, who must not have been out of their times beyond twelve 
 months. Every man rows singly in his boat, and his exertions are made against 
 the tide ; he who first obtains his landing at Chelsea receives the prize of honour, 
 which is a waterman's coat, ornamented with a large badge of silver, and there- 
 fore the match is usually called " Rowing for the Coat and Badge." The second 
 and the third candidates have small pecuniary rewards, but the other three get 
 nothing for their trouble. 
 
 Of late years (1800) the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Astley the 
 rider, give each of them in the course of the summer a new wherry, to be rowed 
 for by a certain number of watermen, two of which are allowed to row in one 
 boat ; and these contests are extended to two or three heats or trials before the 
 successful candidates are determined. 
 
 Sailing. — Another popular amusement upon the water is sailing, and many 
 persons have pleasure boats for this purpose ; I do not mean the open boats 
 which are usually let out for hire by the boat-builders for the purpose of sailing, 
 but vessels of much greater magnitude, that are covered with a deck, and able 
 with skilful management to weather a rough storm ; many large bets are 
 frequently dependent upon the swiftness of these boats, and the contest is 
 sometimes determined at sea. 
 
 A society, generally known by the appellation of the Cumberland Society, 
 
GAMES OF STRENGTH 79 
 
 consisting of gentlemen partial to this pastime, give yearly a silver cup to be 
 sailed for in the vicinity of London. The boats usually start from the bridge 
 at Blackfriars, go up the Thames to Putney, and return to Vauxhall, where a 
 vessel is moored at a distance from the stairs, and the sailing boat that first 
 passes this mark upon her return obtains the victory.^ 
 
 ' It would require two volumes to record the progress in rowing and sailing, as amusements, since the days of 
 Stnitt, or to expand their earlier history, so that it is thought better to leave his remarks exactly as they stood when 
 first issued. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Hand-ball an ancient Game— Used by the Saxons— And by the Schoolboys of London— Ball Play in France— Hand 
 Tennis or Fives— Fives in Church and Churchyard— Tennis— Tennis Courts erected— Tennis fashionable in 
 England— Killed by a Tennis Ball— London Tennis Courts in 1615- Origin of Tennis Courts— Tennis in 
 Monasteries— Rackets— LawnTennis— Balloon-ball— Hurling— Hockey— Camp-ball— Football— Golf— Cricket 
 — Cricket on Horseback — Trap-ball and Knur and Spell. 
 
 HAND- Ball. — The ball has given origin to many popular pastimes, and I 
 have appropriated this chapter to such of them as are or have been 
 usually practised in the fields and other open places. The most 
 ancient amusement of this kind, is distinguished with us by the name of hand- 
 ball, and is, if Homer may be accredited, coeval at least with the destruction of 
 Troy. Herodotus attributes the invention of the ball to the Lydians ; succeed- 
 ing writers have affirmed, that a female of distinction named Anagalla, a native 
 of Corcyra, was the first who made a ball for the purpose of pastime, which she 
 presented to Nausica, the daughter of Alcinous, king of Phoeacia, and at the 
 same time taught her how to use it ; this piece of history is partly derived from 
 Homer, who introduces the princess of Corcyra with her maidens, amusing 
 themselves at hand-ball : 
 
 O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play, 
 Their shining veils unbound, along the skies, 
 Tost and retost, the ball incessant flies. 
 
 Homer has restricted this pastime to the young maidens of Corcyra, at 
 least he has not mentioned its being practised by the men ; in times posterior to 
 the poet, the game of hand-ball was indiscriminately played by both sexes. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Ball Play. — It is altogether uncertain at what period the 
 ball was brought into England : the author of a manuscript in Trinity College, 
 Oxford, written in the fourteenth century, and containing the life of Saint 
 Cuthbert,! says of him, that when he was young, "|he pleyde atte balle with 
 the children that his fellowes were." On what authority this information is 
 established I cannot tell. The venerable Bede, who also wrote the life of that 
 saint, makes no mention of ball play, but tells us he excelled in jumping, run- 
 ning, wrestling, and such exercises as required great muscular exertion, and 
 among them, indeed, it is highly probable that of the ball might be included. 
 
 London Ball Play. — Fitzstephen, who wrote in the thirteenth century, 
 speaking of the London school-boys, says, " Annually upon Shrove Tuesday, 
 they go into the fields immediately after dinner, and play at the celebrated 
 
 ' No. IviL 
 
'amc^ wtM^ifAc ^Oa//. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 8r 
 
 game of ball ; ^ every party of boys carrying their own ball " ; for it does not 
 appear that those belonging to one school contended with those of another, but 
 that the youth of e4ch school diverted themselves apart. Some difficulty has 
 been stated by those who have translated this passage, respecting the nature of 
 the game at ball here mentioned. Stow, considering it as a kind of goff or 
 bandy-ball, has, without the least sanction from the Latin, added the word 
 bastion,^ meaning a bat or cudgel ; others again have taken it for foot-ball,* 
 which pastime, though probably known at the time, does not seem to be a very 
 proper one for children : and indeed, as there is not any just authority to 
 support an argument on either side, I see no reason why it should not be 
 rendered hand-ball.* 
 
 Ball Play in France.— The game of hand-ball is called by the French 
 palm play,« because, says St Foix, a modern author, originally " this exercise 
 consisted in receiving the ball and driving it back again with the palm of the 
 hand. In former times they played with the naked hand, then with a glove, 
 which in some instances was lined ; afterwards they bound cords and tendons 
 round their hands to make the ball rebound more forcibly, and hence the racket 
 derived its origin."* During the reign of Charles V. palm play, which may 
 properly enough be denominated hand-tennis, was exceedingly fashionable in 
 France, being played by the nobility for large sums of money ; and when they 
 had lost all that they had about them, they would sometimes pledge a part of 
 their wearing apparel rather than give up the pursuit of the game. The duke 
 of Burgundy, according to an old historian,^ having lost sixty franks at palm 
 play with the duke of Bourbon, Messire William de Lyon, and Messire Guy de 
 la Trimouille, and not having money enough to pay them, gave his girdle as a 
 pledge for the remainder ; and shortly afterwards he left the same girdle with 
 the comte D'Eu for eighty franks, which he also lost at tennis. 
 
 *Hand-Tennis or Fives. — At the top of plate eight is the reproduction of 
 a supposed game at ball-play between a man and woman from an illuminated 
 Hours of the fourteenth century ; but on referring to the original ^ it is doubtful 
 whether this is any game at all ; the figures are on opposite pages, and the ball 
 appears to be an accidental blemish on the vellum ! Another picture, however, 
 on the same plate, is of much interest. It is at the foot of a fourteenth-century 
 copy of the romance called Histoire de Lancelot, ou S. Graal.^ To the left is a 
 player about to strike the ball with his right hand, whilst behind him stands 
 another player apparently suggesting how he should make his stroke. To the 
 right, on the opposite page, separated by an upright ornament — of which the 
 
 1 " Lusum pilae celebrem." Stephanides de ludis. 
 
 "^ " The scholars of each school have their ball or bastion in their hands." Survey of London. 
 ' Lord LTttelton, History of Henry the Second, vol. iii. p. 275 ; and [Dr Pegge] the translator of Fitzstephen 
 in 1772. 
 
 * By the word celebrem Fitzstephen might advert to the antiquity of the pastime. 
 
 "_/«« depaume, and in Laim pila palmaria. ' Essais Historiques sur Paris, vol. i. p. 160. 
 
 ' Laboureur, sub an. 1368. « Roy. Lib. 20 D. iv. f. 207. » Harl. MSB. 6563, f. 95. 
 
82 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 designer apparently took advantage to indicate an intervening line — stand two 
 more players, with open hands or palms uplifted ready to receive and return the 
 
 ball. 
 
 *In a fifteenth-century beautifully illuminated copy of Valerius Maximus 
 there is a picture of a game of hand-tennis or fives ; each of the two players 
 wears a white glove on the right hand.^ This is reproduced in the centre of 
 plate nine. 
 
 * Hand-tennis still continues to be played, though under a different name, 
 and probably a different modification of the game ; it is now called fives, which 
 denomination perhaps it might receive from having five competitors on each 
 side, as the succeeding passage seems to indicate. In 1591, when queen 
 Elizabeth was entertained at Elvetham in Hampshire, by the earl of Hertford, 
 " after dinner, about three o'clock, ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire 
 men, in a square greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, 
 squaring out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle ; 
 in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to five with hand- 
 ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great liking of her highness." ^ 
 
 *Edicts against ball-playing in St Paul's of the time of Elizabeth are often 
 cited, but the desecration of the great church by such games is of far older date. 
 In 1385 Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London, denounced the custom both 
 within and without his cathedral church : — Necnon ad pilam infra et extra 
 ecclesiam ludunt? 
 
 *The custom of playing fives in churchyards continued in many a country 
 district until quite recent years, notably in Somersetshire and Staffordshire. 
 Ball-playing in such a place no doubt prevailed because the church tower often 
 afforded so suitable a wall for fives. It was usually practised on the north side, 
 because there were generally no graves on that side, and the sport created less 
 scandal. A painted line for the game still remains on some of our church 
 towers, but a string-course of suitable elevation more usually sufficed. Fives 
 used to be played at Eton between the buttresses on the north wall of the 
 college chapel, and the " pepper box " peculiar to Eton fives courts had its origin 
 in a natural angle in one of these buttresses. Notices against ball play on 
 church walls may be seen in various parts of Italy. In the Basque district, on 
 both sides of the Pyrenees, church walls are still openly used for thej?V« de paume, 
 
 *Tennis. — Tennis, though essentially a French game in its origin, soon 
 became domesticated in England. Here as on the Continent it was originally 
 played in unenclosed spaces, but its great popularity caused it to be adopted as 
 a good means of recreation and exercise in towns. Hence came about the use 
 of spaces surrounded by walls, and the introduction of rackets made boundaries 
 desirable. Eventually this led to special buildings for the purpose and roofed-in 
 tennis courts. 
 
 ^ Harl. MSB. 437S, f- ISI- Two men are playing chess in a cloister at the back of the court. 
 
 ^ Nichols' Progresses of Q. Elh. vol. ii. p. 19. ' Wilkins' Concilia, iii. 194. 
 
■/occ: cAt 
 
 ICG^ 
 
 7J/^ 
 
 al 
 
GAMES OF BALL 83 
 
 *As to the origin of the name, though the best authorities consider the term 
 to be of French extraction, there is still much dispute. The suggestion, origin- 
 ally made in 16 17, that the word comes from tenez, a term used by the player as 
 a warning to receive the ball, tenez iejeu, is still accepted by some. Others con- 
 sider that the passage just quoted as to the game played before queen Elizabeth, 
 when the players were five to five in hand-ball, is the origin not only of the name 
 Fives, but that the aggregate number of ten may well have given its name 
 to Tenes, Tennes, Teneis, Tenice, Tennice, Tenys, Tynes, Tenyse, Tenice, 
 Tennies, or Tennis, for the game is found spelt in all these varieties.^ 
 
 *In 1365 the earliest restrictive Act prohibiting various sports in favour of 
 archery was passed; the first game named is that of hand -ball. This was 
 renewed in 1388, when it took the form of sumptuary or class legislation, laying 
 down that servants and labourers were to find their only pastime in bows and 
 arrows, and prohibiting their playing tennis, foot-ball, etc. In 1410 this latter 
 statute was re-enacted and confirmed, delinquents on conviction being liable to 
 imprisonment for six days. 
 
 *The antiquity of the racket in this country is shown by a passage in 
 Chaucer's Troylus and Cryseyde {circa 1380), where Troylus says : 
 
 But canstow playen racket, to and fro. 
 
 Nettle in, dokke out, now this, now that, Pandare ? 
 
 This evidently alludes to the hitting of a ball with a racket backwards and 
 forwards, and to the curing of a nettle-sting by a dock leaf, in protest to the kind 
 of inconstancy suggested to Troylus by Pandarus. Much the same words are 
 also used in the first book of Chaucer's Testament of Love. 
 
 *Probably the first English mention of the word tennis occurs in Gower's 
 ballad to Henry IV. {circa 1400) : — 
 
 Of the tennis to winne or lese a chace 
 
 May no life wete or that the bal be ronne, 
 Al stant in God what thing men shal purchase, 
 
 Th' ende is in hym or that it be begonne. 
 
 *In the beginning of the reign of Henry V. occurred a remarkable incident 
 in connection with the royal game of tennis, immortalised by Shakespeare. 
 Holinshed, who was the dramatist's favourite chronicler, relates that : 
 
 " Whilest in the Lente season the Kyng laye at Kenilworth, there came to 
 him from Charles, Dolphin of Fraunce, the Frenche King's eldest sonne, 
 certayne Ambassadours, that broughte with them a barrell of Paris balles, which 
 they presented to hym for a token from their maister, whiche presente was 
 taken in verie ill parte, as sent in scorne, to signifie that it was more mete for 
 the King to passe the tyme with suche childish exercise, than to attempte anye 
 worthy exployte : wherefore the Kyng wrote to hym, that ere ought long, hee 
 woulde sende to hym some London balles, that should breake and batter downe 
 the roofes of his houses about hys eares." 
 
 ^ Marshall's Annals of Tennis, 53. In the 6th Series of Notes and Queries there are long and frequent references 
 to the etymology of Tennis, in which Professor Skeat and other learned men took part. 
 
84 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *Caxton, in the continuation of Higden's Polycronicon (1482), calls these 
 pilas Parisianes "tenyse balles," as the name by which Englishmen would most 
 readily recognise them. Hall, in his Chronicle (1545) describes them as "a 
 tunne of tennis balles." 
 
 *The passage in Shakespeare's Henry V. (Act i. sc. 2) is that in which the 
 French ambassador brings the young king " a tun of treasure " from the Dauphin, 
 and Henry asks : 
 
 What treasure, uncle ? 
 
 Exeter- Tennis balls, my liege. 
 
 K. Henry. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us ; 
 His present and your pains we thank you for : 
 When we have match'd our rackets to these balls. 
 We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set 
 Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard. 
 Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler 
 That all the courts of France will be disturb'd 
 With chases. 
 
 *In Drayton's poem The Battaile of Agincourt, the king's answer is thus 
 given : — 
 
 . . . I'll send him Balls and Rackets if I live. 
 That thy such Racket shall in Paris see. 
 When over lyne with Bandies I shall drive. 
 As that before the Set be fuUy done, 
 France may (perhaps) into the Hazard runne. 
 
 This passage is cited by Mr Marshall as offering one of the first examples 
 of the double sense of racket meaning hubbub, as well as a tennis bat, and also 
 as showing the early use of the word bandy in the game. 
 
 *About the same period a rude sort of tennis, in spite of statutory pro- 
 hibition, was practised out of doors by the working classes. In 1447, the 
 bishop, and dean and chapter of Exeter complained to the mayor that ungodly 
 young people of the commonalty were in the habit, during divine service, of 
 playing at unlawful games in the cloister, such " as the toppe, penny prykke, and 
 most atte tenys," by which the walls were defiled and the glass windows broke.^ 
 In some towns, such as Lydd, Kent, the laws against games were sought to be 
 enforced. In 1456-8, 1462-3, and 1477-8, proclamations were made in that 
 town forbidding tennis and dice-playing, and exhorting the youth to turn to bow 
 and arrows and other manlier recreations.^ 
 
 *Towards the end of the reign of Henry VI. begin a number of curious 
 entries in the accounts of the Ironmongers' Company relative to tennis balls. 
 The earliest of these is of the year 1459 : — 
 
 " ix dale of March Anno xxxvij (Hen. VI.) — And at the tyme of the accompt ther was delyvfed to the 
 seid wardeyns for ballis lixs. ijd." 
 
 An entry temp. Edward IV. records the receipt of ;^4 for "teneis balles" 
 from Robert Tooke. The trade was vigorous, for in another year of the same 
 
 ' Shillingford s Letters (Camd. Soc. 1871), p. loi. 
 ^ Hist. MSS. Reports, v. pp. 516, 521, 523, 526. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 8s 
 
 reign the wardens sold 47 gross of tennis balls to Thomas Tooke at 2od. the 
 gross. The entries as to the sale of these balls continue up to 1535. Their 
 sale by this company led to the singular supposition that the balls were made of 
 iron;^ but Mr Marshall has shown that there are strong probabilities that the 
 Ironmongers' Company owned a tennis court in Fenchurch Street, for which they 
 made balls so well that they were in demand with players in other courts. 
 
 *KiLLED BY A Tennis Ball. — The foolish suggestion that tennis balls used 
 to be made of iron has been used by some to account for the death of the 
 youthful son of John Stanley in the fifteenth century. But an ordinary tennis 
 ball striking a child, when in full play, on the temple might readily have a fatal 
 result. In the beautiful village church of Elford, five miles from Lichfield, is a 
 small monumental effigy, indicating by its attitude, after a pathetic fashion, the 
 cause of death. The boy, who has curly hair and is clad in a long tunic reaching 
 to his ankles, holds in his left hand a ball, whilst the right hand is raised to the 
 head, the fingers evidently pointing to the seat of injury behind the right ear. 
 On the monument is inscribed — Ubi dolor, ibi digitus. The date of this 
 memorial is about the year 1460. It is said to represent the grandson and heir 
 of Sir John Stanley, first cousin of Thomas, first Lord Stanley, who died in 
 1474, and whose fine alabaster effigy is close to that of the lad slain by a 
 tennis ball.^ This effigy is shown on plate nine. 
 
 *Tennis fashionable in England. — The journals of the Proceedings of the 
 Court of Common Council of the City of London show that the injunctions 
 against games (headed by tennis) played by labourers, servants, or apprentices, 
 were enforced by severe penalties during the reign of Edward IV., at the very 
 time when nobles, gentlefolk, and the wealthier burgesses were free to use the 
 tennis courts, and when one of the most prominent of the city companies was 
 largely adding to its revenue by the manufacture and sale of tennis balls ! 
 
 *The game was also forbidden to the common folk by legislation of Henry 
 VII. and Henry VIII., though both those monarchs were fond of tennis, and 
 lost both balls and money at the pastime, as their accounts show. They played 
 in courts at Woodstock, Wycombe, Sheen, Greenwich, Richmond, Blackfriars, 
 and Whitehall or Westminster. There was also a court at Windsor in the 
 time of Henry VII. It was standing in 1607, though roofless, and is shown 
 in John Norden's MS. account of Windsor Castle, as lying within the walls, 
 on the eastern side, just below the keep.^ A later drawing of Hollar, among 
 the Ashmolean MSS., shows that the Windsor tennis court was still standing 
 in 1672. 
 
 *It was in this court, probably at that time roofed, as it is called a room, 
 that on January 31st, 15 16, the king of Castile played tennis with the marquis 
 of Dorset, Henry VII. looking on. This match is noteworthy as showing that 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, Series IV. ii. 178 ; v. 263, 436. 
 
 ' The reproduction of this effigy is taken from plate viii. of Edward Richardson's Monumental Effigies of Elford 
 Church (1852). ' Harl. MSS. 3749- 
 
86 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the hand was still in use by English players. The king of Castile used a 
 racket, and as the marquis played with the bare hand, he gave him fifteen.^ 
 
 Mr Marshall gives numerous interesting references and extracts relative to 
 Henry VII I. 's devotion to the royal game.^ 
 
 * Pages might readily be filled as to the popularity and general use of tennis 
 by the noblemen and gentlefolk of the reign of Elizabeth. It must suffice to 
 give one anecdote that yields a vivid picture of court manners even in the 
 presence of the virgin queen. In a letter from Thomas Randolphe to Sir 
 Nicholas Throckmorton, dated March 31st, 1565, at Edinburgh, occurs the 
 following passage : — " I have it from this nobleman's mouthe that latlye the 
 Duke [of Norfolk] and my L. of L[eicester] were playinge at tennes, the Q. 
 beholdinge of them, and my L. Rob. being verie hotte and swetinge, tooke the 
 Q. napken owte of her hande and wyped his face, w*^*" the Duke seinge saide 
 that he was to sawcie and swhore y' he wolde laye his racket upon his face. 
 Hereupon rose a great troble and the Q. offendid sore w"" the Duke. Thys 
 tale is tolde by the Earle Atholl the same daye that Fowler came to thys towne 
 w' hys M"'= license." ^ 
 
 *The privilege of keeping tennis courts in Elizabeth's reign was eagerly 
 sought, and in 1597 one Thomas Bedingfield applied for an exclusive license to 
 keep houses in London and Westminster for tennis, bowling, cards, dice, and 
 backgammon. The application, which was apparently granted, represented 
 that the number of such houses was very great, but that they were often kept by 
 disorderly persons, so that the honest sort would not resort thither ; and further 
 that it would not only be well to restrict the number, but to prohibit any play on 
 the forenoon of any Sabbath day and during evening and morning prayers on 
 holy days, to forbid all swearing and blasphemy, and to suffer none to play save 
 noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, or such as shall be entered in the Book of 
 Subsidies at ;^io in land or goods." * 
 
 *The demanding a money qualification from the tennis player is to some 
 extent paralleled by the dress test of the keeper of the court alluded to by 
 Prince Henry in his speech to Poins : — 
 
 " What a disgrace is it to me to remember thy name ! or to know thy name 
 to-morrow ! or to take note how -many pair of silk stockings thou hast, viz. these, 
 and those that were the peach-colour'd ones ! or to bear the inventory of thy 
 shirts, as, one for superfluity, and one other for use ! But that the tennis-court 
 keeper knows better than I ; for it is a low ebb of linen with thee when thou 
 keepest not racket there." ^ 
 
 *The tennis ball of this period was stuffed with hair, to which the dramatists 
 of Elizabethan and Stuart days make many satirical allusions. Thus in The 
 Gentle Craft, of 1600, occurs the phrase — " He'll shave it off, and stuffe teniae 
 balls with it." 
 
 ' Cott. MSS. Vesp. C. xii. fol. 281. * Annals of Tennis, 63-68. ' State Papers, Scotland, x. No. 3ICI, 
 * Dom. State Papers, Eliz. ccxiiii. 58. » Henry IV. Part ii. Act ii. sc 2. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 87 
 
 * James I. commended tennis, with certain other games, to be used in 
 moderation, and not as a craft, to his son Henry.^ The young prince became a 
 great adept at tennis by assiduous practice in the Whitehall court, and there are 
 records of various quarrels in which he took part when engaged in this game. 
 
 *Gervase Markham, in 161 5, describes tennis as "a pastime in close or 
 open courts, striking little round balls to or fro, either with the palm of the hand 
 or with racket." ^ 
 
 *Charles I., when duke of York, began to play tennis ; the sum of ;^20 
 was paid to John Webb, " Master of His Majesty's Tennis plays," for his attend- 
 ance in teaching the young duke to play tennis, and providing him with balls 
 and rackets for the year ending Michaelmas, 1610.^ 
 
 *A list of the London tennis courts, in 1615, in a book kept by the clerk of 
 the works at Petworth, and cited by Mr Marshall, shows that there were then 
 fourteen courts in the metropolis, whose dimensions are given, in addition to one 
 at St James'. Whitehall had two, one covered and one uncovered ; the rest 
 were all roofed. The largest was at Essex House, which was 84 ft. long by 
 22 ft. broad, and 21 ft. high; the smallest was " Powles chaine tennis courte," 
 which was 55 ft. long by 16 ft. broad, and 17 ft. high. 
 
 *The game was fashionable both at Oxford and Cambridge in the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 *In a rare book, published in 1641, entitled The True Effigies of our Most 
 Illustrious Sovereigne Lord King Charles, Queene Mary, with the rest of the 
 Royal Progenie, a most interesting portrait of the Duke of York (James II.) is 
 given on p. 7. The young prince is represented holding a short-handled racket 
 in his right hand, in a tennis court with a gallery full of spectators ; it is 
 evidently intended for the uncovered court of Whitehall. A reproduction of this 
 portrait is given on plate nine. 
 
 *In July 1649 a warrant was issued by the Council of State to John Hooke, 
 keeper of the St. James' tennis court, to deliver up the key to Colonel Pride to 
 enable him therein to quarter his soldiers.* 
 
 *Charles Hoole, in 1659, translated, from the High Dutch and Latin, J. A. 
 Komensky's Orbis Sensualium Pictus. Plate cxxxiii. gives a rude representation 
 of a smaller tennis court, termed " Ludus Pilae or Tennis Play." The remarks 
 of the brief letterpress refer to the like numbers on the plate. Numbers 4 and 
 5 refer to the game of wind-ball played outside. " In a Tennis-Court i they 
 play with a ball 2 which one throweth and another taketh and sendith it back 
 with a Racket 3 ; and that is the sport of Noblemen to stir their body." 
 
 *After the Restoration, Charles 1 1, frequently used the court at Hampton 
 Court, and had a new one built at Whitehall. Pepys states that the new court 
 was built so badly that it fell down in June 1663. The great diarist has several 
 
 ^ ffis Majesties Instructions to his dearest Sonne, Henry the Prince (1603), p. 120. 
 * Country Contentments, bk. i. p. 109. ' Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, p. 116. 
 
 * Cat. of State Papers, 1649-50, p. 542. 
 
88 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 other allusions to play in this court when re-erected. In December 1663 he 
 watched the king and Sir Arthur Slingsby play against Lord Suffolk and Lord 
 Chesterfield, and admired the royal play ; but in the following month, when watch- 
 ing the royal game, he remarks : " To see how the King's play was extolled, with- 
 out any cause at all, was a loathsome sight, though sometimes indeed he did play 
 very well, and deserved to be commended ; but such open flattery is beastly." 
 
 *A curious book of fiction appeared in 1701, written by Gatien de Courtilz 
 de Sandras, styled M^moires de M. le Marquis de Montbrun, most of the scene 
 of which is laid in England. This French adventurer is described as visiting 
 England to replenish his purse, when he took with him one of the best tennis- 
 markers of Paris disguised as his valet. By concealing at first his own skill 
 and introducing the marker as his partner, and no more skilled than himself, 
 Montbrun succeeded in winning a vast sum from his chief antagonist, the 
 " Comte de Nortampton." The novel has a good many illustrations, and plate 20 
 represents the marquis and his valet playing a deliberately clumsy game in 
 a London tennis court, to delude Nortampton, who is concealed behind a 
 thick wire-netting on the left and disguised in female attire, though recognised 
 by the accomplices. Mr Marshall, in reproducing this plate, says that "the 
 court is evidently one of the kind called Quarre and uncovered. The mode 
 of erecting nets above the walls on every side to prevent balls from flying over 
 is clearly shown. The cord (as usual then) has no net attached to it, but only 
 a sort of fringe. The marker stands at a door, nearly in the middle of the 
 length of the court ; but including that door, there are only three gallery- 
 divisions on that side of the line, while there are four on the other side. 
 Running along the end-wall, on the service side, is a very peculiarly built 
 thickening of the wall, seeming to be a sort of horizontal, but flat -topped 
 tambour, and containing a. petit trou in the fore-hand corner."^ 
 
 *Origin of Tennis Courts. — It has been more than once suggested that 
 the origin of the tennis court is to be found in the cloister court or garth. The 
 cloister roofs were supposed to be the first pent-houses ; a buttress the origin 
 of the tambour ; and the grille a development of the opening through which 
 strangers spoke to the inmates. We do not at all believe this ; those who 
 advance the theory apparently forget that domestic houses and other buildings, 
 besides those of monastic foundations, of the period when tennis courts were 
 developing, were usually built round an open quadrangular space which had 
 usually cloisters or alleys to give access to the various rooms. It is quite 
 possible, nay probable, to suppose that some of the eccentricities of the tennis- 
 court arrangement arose from their being copied from some secular courtyard 
 where the game had previously been played — in the same way as an Eton 
 fives-court imitates a chapel buttress. Although it is not in the least likely 
 that its construction was imitated from a conventual cloister, some of those 
 who object to the theory go quite astray in their strenuous objections. Mr 
 
 ^ Annals of Tennis, 93, 94. 
 
The hi ok borne Princx Iames Dvke or Yorke . 
 
 tome Oc'ioWf i:lke«. ^633. JKJiin'i^l. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 89 
 
 Marshall, when gainsaying it, writes: — "No one possessed of the smallest 
 knowledge of monastic institutions will for a moment believe the statement. 
 That a game should be played, openly, within the walls or cloisters of an abbey 
 or monastery, would be entirely opposed to every rule of such a fraternity. . . . 
 It would show a ludicrous ignorance of monastic institutions to place the 
 smallest confidence in this alleged origin of the game." ^ 
 
 *Tennis in Monasteries. — Now it so happens that clear proof can be 
 given of the not infrequent playing of this very game in the cloister court of 
 the religious houses of at all events one order. In the original twelfth-century 
 statutes of the Premonstratensian or White Canons, who had so many important 
 houses in England, it was laid down that twice a week the brethren might find 
 recreation in some honest exercise.^ The time for this varied, but was usually 
 after Nones (three o'clock service) and ceased with the first bell for Vespers. 
 In course of time this somewhat vaguely worded order got so abused in the 
 houses that were laxly conducted, that the General Chapter of 1559 interfered. 
 It was stated that it had come to their knowledge that the very cloisters and 
 their roofs were used for hand tennis (ludo palmarid), and all exercises in such 
 sacred places (for one wall of the cloister court was always formed by the nave 
 wall of the conventual church) or in the cemeteries were strictly prohibited. 
 The important General Chapter of 1639, in their revision and interpretation 
 of the statutes, laid down, in comment on the recreation rule, the wise principle 
 that man, however religiously he lived, was still man, and that therefore it was 
 not prudent to deny him honest and moderate relaxation, which might prove 
 of service to his soul as well as his body. They adopted, however, this 
 precautionary measure, namely, that in houses where ball-play {lusus pili) was 
 allowed, it was only to be permitted in some secluded place to which no secular 
 person could gain access.* 
 
 *In the edition of Britannia Illusirata, published in 1720, a bird's-eye 
 view of Hampton Court shows the tennis court as restored by William III. 
 
 *The Hanoverian dynasty were not specially addicted to tennis, but 
 Frederick, prince of Wales, who died in March 1751, is said, by Horace 
 Walpole, to have been a victim to the game. "An imposthume had broken, 
 which, on his body being opened, the physicians were of opinion had not been 
 occasioned by the fall, but from the blow of a tennis ball three years before." * 
 During the latter half of the eighteenth century the game lost much of its 
 popular character and became still more the amusement of the wealthy. The 
 Sporting Magazine of September 1793 shows, however, that the outdoor 
 form of this sport was in full vigour : — " Field tennis threatens ere long to bowl 
 out cricket. The former game is now patronised by Sir Peter Burrel ; the 
 latter has for some time back been given up by Sir Horace Mann." 
 
 *Throughout the nineteenth century, especially towards its close, there 
 
 1 Tennis, Rackets, Fives (AH England Series, 1890), p. 9. * Norbert's Statutes, Dist. i. cap. viii. 
 
 • Holstein's Codex Segularum (1759), v. 206, 207. * Memoirs of George II. vii. 61, 62. 
 
90 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 was a marked revival of tennis in England, though it is almost extinct on 
 the Continent, Mr Marshall's account of tennis, in the All England Series, 
 published in 1890, enumerates thirty-one courts in England, nineteen of which 
 were attached to private houses. Mr Heathcote in the Badminton Library 
 volume, the fourth edition of which was published in 1897, increases the list to 
 thirty-four. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that, though somewhat on the 
 increase, the number of English courts at the opening of the twentieth century 
 is considerably behind those in constant use at the beginning of either the 
 seventeenth or eighteenth century. The enthusiasts say of this sport that 
 it is not only the game for kings but the king of games. 
 
 * Rackets. — There is not much history attached to the game of rackets 
 apart from tennis. It originated in the tennis courts, as has been shown by 
 Mr Marshall, who has drawn attention to a print at the British Museum, 
 inscribed : " Fives Played at the Tennis Court, Leicester Fields. Printed by 
 Carrington Bowles, 1788." The players are represented as using tennis rackets 
 and playing against only one wall of the tennis court, on which is chalked out a 
 certain area within which the balls had to be driven. Mr Marshall has thus 
 clearly defined the sequence of the game: — "First came fives, played with 
 the hand against any available wall. Then came bat-fives, in which a wooden 
 instrument, roughly imitated from the tennis racket, was employed. That was 
 a good game ; and it is still played in many places, and notably at some of our 
 great schools, Rugby, Westminster, Cheltenham, and others. Not content with 
 the wooden bat, players acquainted with the tennis racket seem to have adopted 
 that instrument about 1 749, or a little earlier ... so it continued to be played 
 until 1 788, the date of the print mentioned above, which the players still called 
 the game fives," ^ 
 
 *With the introduction of the racket, the change in the name gradually 
 followed. It used to be popular in the prisons of the Fleet and King's Bench, 
 and afterwards in the gardens of some of the great London taverns. A special 
 form of the real game became localised at Harrow about 1822. With its later 
 history we are not here concerned, nor with the various developments of the 
 present game of fives, which is essentially a pastime for boys. 
 
 *Lawn Tennis, — Of the widespread pastime of lawn tennis, which assumed 
 definite shape in 1874, it need only be remarked in these pages that it can lay 
 claim to a long pedigree, though suspended in its action for a considerable 
 period. The earlier notices of tennis establish the fact that the royal game was 
 originally played in the open air. 
 
 *The Wind-ball or Balloon. — The wind-ball or leathern ball filled with 
 air, after the fashion of the later form of football, but struck with the hand or fist, 
 is as old as the time of the Romans, by whom it was termed follis. Gervase 
 Markham, in 1615, couples the " Baloone" with tennis as good sports either for 
 health or action. He describes it as "a strong and moving sport in the open 
 
 ' Tennis, Rackets, Fives (All England Series, 1890), by Julian Marshall, pp. 43, 44. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 91 
 
 fields, with a great ball of double leather fill'd with winde, and driven to and fro 
 with the strength of a man's arme arm'd in a bracer of wood," ^ 
 
 *In the 1659 English edition of Komensky's Orbis Sensualium Pictus, this 
 game is depicted as being played outside a tennis court, and is thus 
 described, the numerals being references to the picture : — " A Winde-ball 4 being 
 filled with air by means of a Ventie is tossed to and fro with the fist 5 in the 
 open air," ' 
 
 * Doctor Jones, the Buxton physician of Elizabethan fame, did not disdain 
 to recommend his patients to play at ball. " The wind baule, or yarne ball, 
 betwene three or foure shall not bee inutile to be used in a place convenient, 
 eache keeping their limite. For tossinge wherein may bee a very profitable 
 exercise, bycause at all tymes they keepe not the lyke force in striking, so that 
 shalbee constrayned to use more violent stretching with swifter moving at one 
 time than another, which will make the exercise more nymble, and deliver both 
 of hand and whole body : therefore encreasing of heat through swift moving in 
 all partes the sooner."^ 
 
 Hurling, Hockey, Camp-ball, — Hurling is an ancient exercise, and seems 
 originally to have been a species of the hand-ball ; it was played by the Romans 
 with a ball called harpastum, a word probably derived from harpago, to snatch 
 or take by violence. The contending parties endeavoured to force the ball one 
 from the other, and they who could retain it long enough to cast it beyond an 
 appointed boundary were the conquerors. The inhabitants of the western 
 counties of England have long been famous for their skill in the practice of this 
 pastime. There were two methods of hurling in Cornwall, at the commencement 
 of the seventeenth century, and both are particularly described by Carew, a 
 contemporary writer,* whose words are these : " Hurling taketh his denomina- 
 tion from throwing of the ball, and is of two sorts ; in the east parts of Cornwall 
 to goales, and in the west to the country. For hurling to goales there are fifteen, 
 twenty, or thirty players, more or less, chosen out on each side, who strip them- 
 selves to their slightest apparell and then join hands in ranke one against another ; 
 out of these rankes they match themselves by payres, one embracing another, and 
 so passe away, every of which couple are especially to watch one another during 
 the play ; after this they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten 
 feet asunder, and directly against them, ten or twelve score paces off, other twain 
 in like distance, which they term goales, where some indifferent person throweth 
 up a ball, the which whosoever can catch and carry through his adversaries 
 goale, hath wonne the game ; but herein consisteth one of Hercules his labours, 
 for he that is once possessed of the ball, hath his contrary mate waiting at inches 
 and assaying to lay hold upon him, the other thrusteth him in the breast with 
 his closed fist to keep him off, which they call butting" According to the laws 
 of the game, " they must hurle man to man, and not two set upon one man at 
 
 * Country Contentments, bk. i. p, 109. ' PI. cxxxiii. 
 
 ' The Benefit of the Ancient Bathes of Buckstones^ IS72. t* Survey of Cornwall, 1602, bk. i. p. 73. 
 
92 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 once. The Hurler against the ball must not bui nor handfast under the girdle, 
 he who hath the ball must but only in the other's breast, and deale no fore ball, 
 that is, he may not throw it to any of his mates standing nearer to the goale 
 than himself." In hurling to the country, "two or three; or more parishes agree 
 to hurl against two or three other parishes. The matches are usually made by 
 gentlemen, and their goales are either those gentlemen's houses, or some towns 
 or villages three or four miles asunder, of which either side maketh choice after 
 the nearnesse of their dwellings ; when they meet there is neyther comparing of 
 numbers nor matching of men, but a silver ball is cast up, and that company 
 which can catch and carry it by force or slight to the place assigned, gaineth the 
 ball and the victory. Such as see where the ball is played give notice, crying 
 ' ware east,' ' ware west,' as the same is carried. The hurlers take their next 
 way over hilles, dales, hedges, ditches ; yea, and thorow bushes, briars, mires, 
 plashes, and rivers whatsoever, so as you shall sometimes see twenty or thirty 
 lie tugging together in the water, scrambling and scratching for the ball." 
 
 About the year 1775, the hurling to the goales was frequently played by 
 parties of Irishmen, in the fields at the back of the British Museum, but they 
 used a kind of bat to take up the ball and to strike it from them ; this instrument 
 was flat on both sides, and broad and curving at the lower end. I have been 
 greatly amused to see with what facility those who were skilful in the pastime 
 would catch up the ball upon the bat, and often run with it for a considerable 
 time, tossing it occasionally from the bat and recovering it again, till such time 
 as they found a proper opportunity of driving it back amongst their companions, 
 who generally followed and were ready to receive it. In other respects, I do 
 not recollect that the game diffi^red materially from the description above given. 
 The bat for hurling was known and probably used in England more than two 
 centuries ago, for it is mentioned in a book published in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth,^ and is there called " a clubbe " or " hurle batte." 
 
 *Mr Strutt's paragraph as to the Irish bat hurling at once suggests hockey. 
 In Chambers's Information for the People it is stated that, "shinty in Scotland, 
 hockey in England, and hurling in Ireland appear to be very much the same out- 
 of-door sport." ^ In a recent brief essay on the history of hockey, an enthusiastic 
 writer states that "the game existed in Ireland two thousand years ago, though 
 possibly in a form that would not be recognised by the modern player, and its 
 trail may be found here and there, across the story of social England from quite 
 early days." * The earliest known use of the word occurs in certain local statutes 
 enacted by the town of Gal way in the year 1527, when, amongst prohibited 
 games is named — " The horlinge of the litill balle with hockie stickes or staves." * 
 Hockey is described in Murray's Dictionary as equivalent to bandy or shinty. 
 
 ' Philogamus, black letter, without date. 
 
 " Edit. 1842, vol. ii. p. 543. 
 
 ' Mr H. F. Prevost Battersby, in Football, Hockey, Lacrosse (The Sports Library), p. 80. 
 
 * Hist. MSB. Com. lOth Report, app. v. p. 402. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 93 
 
 The game, which was for a long time during last century chiefly confined to the 
 ice, has of late years experienced a remarkable revival among both sexes. 
 
 *A11 games with ball have a tendency to change and mingle with others, and 
 vary much in different districts, as well as at different periods. Hence it is 
 difficult to keep their nomenclature accurate and distinct. The true Cornish 
 hurling, and a like game in other parts of England, seems to have consisted in 
 the hurling or hand-throwing of a comparatively small ball. An interesting, but 
 unfortunately brief, reference to this western game as a sport between counties 
 occurs as early as 1648 : " The Counties of Devon and Cornwall are, on Monday 
 next, to meet at a hurling, a sport they have with a ball." ^ 
 
 *This form of western hurling was very similar to the camp-ball (from A.S. 
 camp, a combat) of the eastern counties, which was distinct from football, termed 
 " kicking-camp." In Mr Albert Way's notes to the Promptorium Parvulorum 
 (Camden Society), it is stated that "camping-land appropriated to this game 
 occurs, in several instances, in authorities of the fifteenth century." Camp-ball 
 prevailed in many parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex in the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries. It is thus described by Major Moor in 1823 : — 
 
 "Goals were pitched 150 to 200 yards apart, formed of the thrown -off 
 clothes of the competitors. Each party has two goals, 10 or 15 yards apart. 
 The parties, 10 to 15 a side, stand in a line facing their own goals and each 
 other, at 10 yards distance, midway between the goals and nearest that of their 
 adversaries. An indifferent spectator throws up the ball — the size of a cricket 
 ball — midway between the confronted players, whose object is to seize and 
 convey it between their own goals. The shock of the first onset to catch the 
 falling ball is very great, and the player who seizes it speeds home pursued by 
 his opponents, through whom he has to make his way, aided by the jostlings of 
 his own side. If caught and held, he throws the ball — but must in no case give 
 it — to a comrade, who, if it be not arrested in its course, or be jostled away by 
 his eager foes, catches it and hurries home, winning the notch or snotch if he 
 continues to carry — not throw — it between the goals. A holder of the ball 
 caught with it in his possession loses a snotch. At the loss of each of these the 
 game recommences, after a breathing time. Seven or nine snotches are the 
 game, and these it will sometimes take two or three hours to win. At times a 
 large football was used, and the game was then called ' kicking camp ' ; and if 
 played with shoes on was termed ' savage camp.' " ^ 
 
 *The same correspondent of Notes and Queries, who cited this account in 
 1892, stated that the game seemed to have died away owing to numerous and 
 fatal accidents that happened to players. " Two men were killed at a grand 
 match at Euston, Suffolk, about the close of last century." 
 
 Football. — Football is so called because the ball is driven about with the 
 feet instead of the hands. It was formerly much in vogue among the common 
 people of England, though of late years it seems to have fallen into disrepute, 
 
 1 Hamilton's Papers (Camden Soc), p. 171. " Notes and Queries, Ser. VIIL ii. 214. 
 
94 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 and is but little practised. I cannot pretend to determine at what period the 
 game of football originated ; it does not, however, to the best of my recollection, 
 appear among the popular exercises before the reign of Edward III., and then, 
 in 1 349, it was prohibited by a public edict ; not, perhaps, from any particular 
 objection to the sport in itself, but because it co-operated, with other favourite 
 amusements, to impede the progress of archery. 
 
 When a match at football is made, two parties, each containing an equal 
 number of competitors, take the field, and stand between two goals, placed at 
 the distance of eighty or an hundred yards the one from the other. The goal is 
 usually made with two sticks driven into the ground, about two or three feet 
 apart. The ball, which is commonly made of a blown bladder, and cased with 
 leather, is delivered in the midst of the ground, and the object of each party is 
 to drive it through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved the game 
 is won. The abilities of the performers are best displayed in attacking and 
 defending the goals ; and hence the pastime was more frequently called a goal 
 at football than a game at football. When the exercise becomes exceeding 
 violent, the players kick each other's shins without the least ceremony, and some 
 of them are overthrown at the hazard of their limbs. 
 
 Barclay in his fifth eclogue ^ has these lines : 
 
 The sturdie plowmen lustie, strong and bold, 
 Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball, 
 Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall. 
 
 And a more modern poet. Waller : 
 
 As when a sort of lusty shepherds try 
 Their force at foot-ball ; care of victory 
 Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast. 
 That their encounter seems too rough for jest. 
 
 The danger attending this pastime occasioned King James I. to say, " From 
 this court I debarre all rough and violent exercises, as the foot-ball, meeter for 
 lameing than making able the users thereof." ^ 
 
 The rustic boys made use of a blown bladder without the covering of leather 
 by way of football, putting peas and horse beans withinside, which occasioned a 
 rattling as it was kicked about. 
 
 — And nowe in the winter, when men kill the fat swine, 
 
 They get the bladder and blow it great and thin. 
 
 With many beans and peason put within : 
 
 It ratleth, soundeth, and shineth clere and fayre, 
 
 While it is throwen and caste up in the ayre, 
 
 Eche one contendeth and hath a great delite 
 
 With foote and with hande the bladder for to smite ; 
 
 If it fall to grounde, they lifte it up agayne. 
 
 And this waye to labour they count it no payne.' 
 
 "It had been the custom," says a Chester antiquary,* "time out of mind, 
 
 ' Ship of Fools, 1508. 2 Basilicon Doron, bk. iii. s Barday, ut supra. 
 
 * I rather think the elder Randel Holmes, one of the city heralds, MS. Harl. 2150, fol. 23. .^ 
 
GAMES OF BALL 95 
 
 for the shoemakers yearly on the Shrove Tuesday, to deliver to the drapers, in 
 the presence of the mayor of Chester, at the cross on the Rodehee.^ one ball of 
 leather called a foote-ball, of the value of three shillings and fourpence or above, 
 to play at from thence to the Common Hall of the said city ; which practice was 
 productive of much inconvenience, and therefore this year (1540), by consent 
 of the parties concerned, the ball was changed into six glayves of silver of 
 the like value, as a reward for the best runner that day upon the aforesaid 
 RoSehee." 
 
 In an old comedy, the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, by John Day,'' one 
 of the characters speaks thus of himself: "I am Tom Stroud of Hurling, I'll 
 play a gole at camp-ball, or wrassel a fall a the hip or the hin turn." Camp-ball, 
 I conceive, is only another denomination for foot-ball, and is so called, because 
 it was played to the greatest advantage in an open country. The term may 
 probably be a contraction of the word campaign. 
 
 *It has been thought well to give the whole of the passage originally 
 published by Joseph Strutt in 1801, relative to football, as it not only gives 
 an account of the game as played at the end of the eighteenth century, but also 
 points with emphasis to the marvellous growth and popularity achieved by 
 football in the course of a hundred years. 
 
 *Mr Strutt conceived that camp-ball was but another name for football ; 
 his partial error in that respect has already been pointed out, yet he might have 
 claimed a good and early authority for such a mistake. In the Promptorium 
 Parvulorum occurs this definition : " Campan, or playar at foott \>?i^^, pediluson ; 
 campyon, or champion." It is also obvious that Rugby football owes a good 
 deal to the old camp-ball proper, which was a hand game. 
 
 *The legends connected with English football point to a very early use 
 of the game. The Shrovetide game at Chester is said to have been in 
 commemoration of the barbarous kicking about of the head of a captured Dane ; 
 whilst the Derby game is supposed to have been a memorial of a local victory 
 over the Romans. 
 
 *Ball play, apparently football, was so popular in London in the time of 
 Edward II. that a proclamation was issued in 13 14 forbidding the hustling of 
 over- large balls {rageries de grosses pelotes) within the city under pain of 
 imprisonment. 
 
 *There is a curious instance of a fatal football accident caused by a religious 
 of the Gilbertine order in the time of Edward II. During a game William de 
 Spalding, canon of the Gilbertine house of Shouldham, Norfolk, when in the 
 act of kicking the ball was run against by a lay friend of his, who was also 
 called William. The canon was carrying a sheathed knife in his girdle, but 
 in the collision the layman wounded himself on the knife so severely that he 
 died within six days. The canon was instantly suspended from all clerical duty ; 
 but on appealing to the pope, dispensation to resume his work was granted him, 
 
 ' An open place near the city. ^ Acted a.d. 1659. 
 
96 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 as it was shown that no blame attached to him, and that he deeply regretted 
 the death of his friend.^ 
 
 *In 1349 football and other games were forbidden by Edward III. in favour 
 of archery. It was again forbidden by statute under Richard II. in 1389, which 
 statute was re-enacted in 1401. These statutes had, however, but partial and 
 temporary success. Football came again under the ban of the law in the 
 sixteenth century, both under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. There seems, 
 however, to have been reasonable excuse for these repressive measures, judging 
 from the violence with which it was played. 
 
 *Mr Montague Shearman cites various official records as to serious or 
 fatal results from football of the sixteenth century ; * and these might be 
 materially increased by reference to coroners' rolls. 
 
 *After the dissolution of the monasteries, when Sir Roger Townsend was 
 pulling down the tower of Coxford Priory, Norfolk, to build himself a goodly 
 house, the steeple came down with a crash and fell upon a house near by, 
 "breaking it down and slaying one Mr Seller, that lay lame in it of a broken 
 leg gotten at foot-ball." * 
 
 *Sir Thomas Elyot, in his charming little work entitled The Boke named 
 the Governour, first published in 1531, says of football that it "is nothyng but 
 beastely fury and extreme violence, whereof procedeth hurte, and consequently 
 rancour and malice do remayne with thym that be wounded, wherfore it is to 
 be put in perpetuall silence."* 
 
 *In Stubbes' Anatomie of Abuses (1583) football is described as "a 
 develishe pastime . . . and hereof groweth envy, rancour, and malice, and 
 sometimes brawling, murther, homicide, and great effusion of blood, as experi- 
 ence daily teacheth." 
 
 *And yet there must have been gentler forms of this exercise. The 
 married women and spinsters of Inverness used to have a Shrovetide match of 
 football ; and a writer in Notes and Queries for 1892 cites the following lines 
 as to matron and girls playing from Sir Philip Sidney's Diahgue between Two 
 Shepherds : — 
 
 A time there is for all, my mother often says. 
 
 When she, with skirts tucked very high. 
 With girls at football plays. 
 
 *One of the chief objections to football in the early part of the seventeenth 
 century naturally arose from the habit of playing it in the streets of towns 
 instead of the open country. In Hone's Table-Book the following passage is 
 cited from Davenant's description of London in 1634 : — 
 
 " I would now make a safe retreat, but that methinks I am stopped by one 
 of your heroic games called football ; which I conceive (under your favour) not 
 very conveniently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and narrow 
 
 * Cal. of Papal Letters, ii. 214. * 7^00/^a// (Badminton Library, 1844), 7, g, 
 
 ' Spelman's History of Sacrilege, 1632, edit. 1853, p. 251. * Edit. 1546, p. 32b. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 97 
 
 roads as Crooked Lane. Yet it argues your courage, much like your military 
 pastime of throwing at cocks, since you have long allowed these two valiant 
 exercises in the streets." 
 
 *This extract seems to show that the numerous town bye-laws against foot- 
 ball were but seldom enforced. A century earlier than this football had been 
 singled out for special honour by the town of Galway, but to be played outside 
 the walls; the local statutes of 1527 forbad, in favour of archery, every other 
 kind of sport and pastime "onely the great foote balle."^ 
 
 *Football seems to have been well established at Cambridge in the time of 
 Charles II. In the second register book of Magdalen College occurs the follow- 
 ing entry of 1679, relative to abuses connected with Michaelmas football :-^ 
 
 *" That no schollers give or receive at any time any treat or collation upon 
 account of ye football play, on or about Michaelmas Day, further then Colledge 
 beere or ale in ye open hall to quench their thirsts. And particularly that that 
 most vile custom of drinking and spending money — Sophisters and Freshmen 
 together — upon ye account of making or not making a speech at that football 
 time be utterly left off and extinguished." ^ 
 
 *Pepys and other well-known authorities give evidence of much football 
 play in the latter half of the seventeenth century. It is alluded to in the 
 Spectator, as a game played on village greens, but save in a few traditionary 
 towns at certain dates — usually Shrovetide — football seems to have gradually 
 died out during the eighteenth century, and to have remained quiescent during 
 the first half of the nineteenth century. The revival began in our great public 
 schools. 
 
 *Derby and Kingston were among the most noteworthy places for Shrove- 
 tide town football ; the game was vigorously and furiously played in both these 
 towns well into the nineteenth century. At Dorking efforts are still made to 
 maintain the annual street game. 
 
 Golf. — There are many games played with the ball that require the 
 assistance of a club or bat, and probably the most ancient among them is the 
 pastime now distinguished by the name of golf.^ In the northern parts of the 
 kingdom golf is much practised. It requires much room to perform this game 
 with propriety, and therefore I presume it is rarely seen at present in the 
 vicinity of the metropolis. It answers to a rustic pastime of the Romans which 
 they played with a ball of leather stuffed with feathers, called /a^a^z^fl, because 
 it was used by the common people : the golf- ball is composed of the same 
 materials to this day : I have been told it is sometimes, though rarely, stuffed 
 with cotton. In the reign of Edward III. the Latin name cambuca^ was applied 
 to this pastime, and it derived the denomination, no doubt, from the crooked 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Com. loth Report, App. v. 402. ^ Ibid, sth Report, 483. 
 
 * Spelt goff throughout in the original edition, which is undoubtedly the right pronunciation. See Notes and 
 Queries, Ser. viii. vols. 4, 5, and 6. 
 
 * Cambuta vel cambuca. Baculus incurvatus, a crooked club or staff: the word cambuca was also used for the 
 virga episcoparurn, or episcopal crosier, because it was curved at the top. Du Cange, Glossary, in voce cambuta. 
 
98 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 club or bat with which it was played ; the bat was also called a bandy, from its 
 being bent, and hence the game itself is frequently written in English bandy 
 ball. At the bottom of plate eight are two figures engaged at bandy-ball, showing 
 the form of the bandy, as it was used early in the fourteenth century, from a 
 MS. book of prayers beautifully illuminated, in the possession of Mr Francis 
 Douce. 
 
 Golf, according to the present modification of the game, is performed with 
 a bat, not much unlike the bandy : the handle of this instrument is straight, and 
 usually made of ash, about four feet and a half in length ; the curvature is affixed 
 to the bottom, faced with horn and backed with lead ; the ball is a little one, but 
 exceedingly hard, being made with leather, and, as before observed, stuffed with 
 feathers. There are generally two players, who have each of them his bat and 
 ball. The game consists in driving the ball into certain holes made in the 
 ground ; he who achieves it the soonest, or in the fewest number of strokes, 
 obtains the victory. The golf-lengths, or the spaces between the first and last 
 holes, are sometimes extended to the distance of two or three miles ; the 
 number of intervening holes appears to be optional, but the balls must be struck 
 into the holes, and not beyond them ; when four persons play, two of them are 
 sometimes partners, and have but one ball, which they strike alternately, but 
 every man has his own bandy. 
 
 It should seem that golf was a fashionable game among the nobility at the 
 commencement of the seventeenth century, and it was one of the exercises with 
 which prince Henry, eldest son to James I., occasionally amused himself, as we 
 learn from the following anecdote recorded by a person who was present : ^ "At 
 another time playing at goff, a play not unlike to pale-maille, whilst his school- 
 master stood talking with another, and marked not his highness warning him to 
 stand farther off, the prince thinking he had gone aside, lifted up his goff-club 
 to strike the ball ; mean tyme one standing by said to him, " beware that you 
 hit not Master Newton " : wherewith he drawing back his hand, said, " Had I 
 done so, I had but paid my debts.'" 
 
 *In addition to the early drawing given on plate eight, another one has 
 been reproduced at the bottom of plate eleven. In this drawing of fourteenth- 
 century date, which has been named as illustrating golf, two men are standing 
 with the ends of their knobbed clubs, which they hold in both hands, crossed 
 on the ground ; but this illustration seems to point to some form of bandy-ball 
 or hockey rather than golf.^ A third illustration, at the top of plate nine, taken 
 from a series of miniatures in a Book of Hours, circa 1500, undoubtedly refers 
 to golf as then played ; the figure down on his knees is " holing." ^ 
 
 *The definition of the word given in Murray's New Dictionary is 
 admirable : — 
 
 "A game of considerable antiquity in Scotland, in which a small hard ball 
 
 ' An anonymous author, Harl. MSB. 6391. 
 ^ Roy. Lib. 10 E. iv. fol. 95. ^ Add. MSB. 24,098, fol. 27. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 99 
 
 is struck with various clubs into a series of small cylindrical holes made at 
 intervals, usually of a hundred yards or more, on the surface of a moor, field, etc. 
 The aim is to drive the ball into any one hole, or into all the holes successively, 
 with the fewest possible strokes. Commonly two persons or two couples (a 
 'foursome') play against each other." 
 
 *The same work cites authorities for "golf," 1457 ; "gouff," 1491 ; "goiff," 
 1538; "golf," 1575; and "goff," 1615 and 1669. The origin of the word is 
 obscure. 
 
 *Golf is essentially the national pastime of Scotland, and has been so for 
 more than four centuries. The first known notice of the game by its proper 
 name is of the year 1457, when the lords and barons, spiritual and temporal, of 
 the kingdom ruled that football and golf were to be utterly cried down and not 
 to be used, lest they should interfere with the due following of archery. 
 
 *Golf-pIaying on Sunday was frequently punished by the local authorities 
 of Edinburgh and other Scotch towns in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 
 *It was a royal as well as a popular game before the time of England's 
 James I. In 1503, nine shillings were paid for the royal club and balls when 
 the king played golf with the earl of Bothwell. The clubs at that time cost one 
 shilling, and the feather-stuffed balls of leather were four shillings the dozen. In 
 1603 James I. appointed one William Mayne "clubmaker to his Hienes all the 
 days of his lyftime." Montrose, who played at the Leith and St Andrews Links, 
 was a golf expert ; evidently in his days those who could afford it used a variety 
 of clubs, for he was the purchaser of a set of six.^ Charles I. was a player ; the 
 story of his breaking off a match at Leith, when news of the outbreak of the 
 Irish rebellion reached him, is well known. 
 
 *Charles's son, James II., when duke of York, was a frequent player, and 
 made use of a "fore-cadie" to run in front and mark the ball down. It was 
 probably through the duke, and the royal family generally, that the game 
 became known in England. In Westminster Drollery, published in London in 
 1 67 1, occurs the couplet : — 
 
 At Goff and at Football, and when we have done 
 These innocent sports we'll laugh and lie down. 
 
 *The game was first formally established at Blackheath, so far as England 
 was concerned. Some think that it was begun there as early as the time of 
 James I. A club was certainly in existence there some time prior to 1745. A 
 club that was formed at Pau in the " fifties " was one of the chief causes of 
 establishing the game in various parts of England, such as Westward Ho and 
 Wimbledon. English officers and gentlemen who had wintered at Pau, and 
 found that golf was congenial to mature years, became anxious to see it 
 established in their own country. Of late years golf has spread with extra- 
 ordinary rapidity to almost every part of England. 
 
 *Much more might be recorded of the early history and development of 
 
 ' Napier's Memoirs of Montrose, 1856. 
 
100 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 golf in Scotland, but that would not be in accord with a work on the " sports 
 and pastimes of the people of England. "^ 
 
 *Cricket. — The exact origin of cricket is somewhat difificult to determine, 
 but there is no doubt whatever that it is a game essentially and exclusively- 
 English in its rise and development. As early as the middle of the thirteenth 
 century a game of ball was played with a crooked or clubbed stick called cryc. 
 In the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward I. for 1300 the sum of lOOs. is entered 
 towards the expenses incurred by John Luk, tutor and chaplain of the young 
 prince (Edward II.), in playing at Creag and other games. Cricce, Anglo- 
 Saxon for a crooked stick, is the probable origin of the name ; but if this be the 
 case the shape of the stick or club changed and became for the most part 
 straight. Club-ball, as distinguished from cambuc or gofF, seems to have been 
 of the nature of cricket, and was played for some time with a comparatively 
 straight club or bat. A Bodleian MS. of the year 1344 shows a woman in the 
 act of throwing a ball to a man who elevates his bat to give it a back-hand 
 stroke.^ This is shown at the top of plate twelve. In the original drawing 
 there are several figures of both sexes at a little distance behind the bowler, 
 apparently waiting to catch or stop the ball when returned by the batsman. An 
 earlier drawing of the end of the reign of Henry III., in the centre of the same 
 plate, of two figures one with a ball and straight bat, and the other with hands 
 outstretched for a catch, ^ can scarcely be considered a forerunner of cricket, as 
 the player possessed of the bat himself holds the ball which he is about to strike. 
 A third drawing, of the fourteenth century (plate eleven), gives two players, one of 
 them holding a large ball in the left hand, and a straight bat or club in the right, 
 whilst the other is grasping a plucked-up stump or wicket in a bat-like attitude.* 
 *There is an interesting reference to this early form of cricket about 1420. 
 John Combe of Quidhampton was one of the witnesses examined by the com- 
 missioners appointed by the pope to inquire into the alleged miracles at the 
 tomb of Bishop Osmund, of Salisbury, when a petition had been presented for 
 that prelate's canonisation. Combe testified that, ten years before, his 
 neighbours were playing at ball with great clubs {ludentes ad pilam cum baculis 
 magnis) in the village of Bemerton, when they quarrelled over the game. The 
 witness interposed and tried to make peace, when one of the players struck him 
 with his club, breaking his head and right shoulder, so that he lay sick and 
 unable to hear or to see or to move head or arm for more than three months. 
 Eventually he was healed by making an offering of his head and shoulders in 
 wax, marked with wounds similar to his own, at the tomb of the bishop, accom- 
 panied by prayers.^ 
 
 *But in none of these early drawings, or in any mention of club-ball, is there 
 any reference to that essential of cricket, the stumps or wicket at which the ball 
 
 1 Historical Gossip about Golf and Golfers, Edinburgh, 1863 ; Golf, an Ancient and Royal Game, R. and R. Clark, 
 Edinburgh, 1875 ; Go^ (Badminton Library, 1898), historical chapter by Andrew Lang. 
 
 2 Bodl. 264. 5 Roy. Lib. 14 B. v. ■> md. 10 E. iv. fol. 94b. 
 ^ The Canonisation of St Osmund iyVilts Record Soc. 1902), pp. xiv, 71. 
 
GAMES OF BALL loi 
 
 is aimed. This is to be found in another old game which went by the name of 
 stool-ball. 
 
 Stool-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers of the three last centuries, but 
 without any proper definition of the game. I (Mr Strutt) have been informed that a 
 pastime called stool-ball is practised to this day in the northern parts of England, 
 which consists simply in setting a stool upon the ground, and one of the players 
 takes his place before it, while his antagonist, standing at a distance, tosses a 
 ball with the intention of striking the stool, and this it is the business of the 
 former to prevent by beating it away with the hand, reckoning one to the game 
 for every stroke of the ball ; if, on the contrary, it should be missed by the hand 
 and touch the stool, the players change places ; the conquerer at this game is he 
 who strikes the ball most times before it touches the stool. I believe the same 
 also happens if the person who threw the ball can catch and retain it when 
 driven back, before it reaches the ground. 
 
 *From this description it is fairly obvious that a combination of stool-ball 
 with club-ball, a bat being substituted for the hand, produced the origin of the 
 game now known as cricket. 
 
 *The pastime of " handyn and handout " named in the prohibitory statute 
 of 17 Edward IV., is supposed by some to refer to cricket. 
 
 *The oldest known mention of the game by its modern name goes back to 
 the time of Edward VI. In the "Constitution Book" of Guildford, there is 
 record of a dispute of the year 1598 as to the enclosure of an acre of common 
 land near the town. John Derrick, a county coroner, deposed that he knew it 
 fifty years ago or more when it lay waste. "When he was a scholler in the free 
 school of Guildeford he and severell of his fellowes did run and play there 
 at crickett and other plaies." 
 
 *Cotgrave, in his French-English Dictionary of 161 1, translates the French 
 crosse, " a crosier, or bishop's staffe, also a cricket staffe, or the crooked stafife 
 wherewith boies play at cricket." Edward Phillips, the poet Milton's nephew, 
 in a work called TAe Mysteries of Love and Eloquence published in 1685, 
 exclaims — "Would my eyes had been beat out of my head with a cricket-ball 
 the day before I saw thee ! " Several other references to the word and the game 
 of seventeenth-century writers might be given, but when the eighteenth century 
 is entered they become numerous. 
 
 *In the Cambro- British doggerel of D'Urfey, in 1719, occurs the stanza: — 
 
 Hur was the prettiest fellow 
 
 At football or at cricket. 
 At hunting-chase, or prison-base. 
 
 Cot's plut, how hur could nick it. 
 
 Pope wrote in the Dunciad- 
 
 The Judge tc 
 The Senators 
 
 Lord Chesterfield, in 1740, told his son that— "if you have a right ambition 
 
 The Judge to dance his brother Serjeants call. 
 The Senators at cricket urge the ball. 
 
,02 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 you will desire to excell all boys of your age at cricket." Horace Walpole, 
 Gray, and others allude to its being played early in the century at ^ Eton, 
 and there is a strikingly vivid description of the game in a poem in the 
 Gentleman s Magazine for October 1756, where it is described as "An Exercise 
 at Merchant Taylors' School." It ends with a moral : 
 
 Yes, all in public and in private strive 
 
 To keep the ball of action still alive ; 
 
 And just to all, when each his ground has run, 
 
 Death tips the wicket, and the game is done. 
 
 *A writer in the same magazine for September 1743 abuses the extravagant 
 use of the game, which was evidently by that time exceedingly popular, and 
 is disgusted to find that "noblemen, gentlemen, and clergymen" were then, 
 as now, in the habit of playing with their social inferiors. The moralist also 
 considered that the game was responsible for propagating a sad spirit of idleness. 
 He was on safer ground when finding fault with the heavy stakes, even for 
 ;^5oo or /looo, which "advertisements of the game most impudently recite." 
 However much betting may have increased in England of late years, there is 
 no doubt whatever that the habit in connection with cricket has much decreased 
 as compared with that which was prevalent in the eighteenth and earlier part of 
 the nineteenth centuries.^ 
 
 *Kent was one of the earliest counties where the game throve under the 
 lead of Lord John Sackville. In 1746 a match was played on the Artillery 
 Ground, London, by Kent against All England, eleven a side, when the latter 
 won by two wickets. A newspaper advertisement announced a match on the 
 same ground on July 24th, 1749, between five of the Addington Club and an 
 All England five. The advertisement gave the names of the players, and thus 
 concluded: " N.B. — The last match, which was play'd on Monday the loth 
 instant, was won by All England, notwithstanding it was eight to one on 
 Addington in the playing." 
 
 *Hambledon, in Hampshire, was the special home of cricket ; its club long 
 maintained great efficiency and popularity, and it is to Hambledon that the 
 honour belongs of being the first to promote regular laws for the guidance of the 
 game. These rules were drawn up by a committee of noblemen and gentlemen 
 who met at the " Star and Garter " in Pall Mall in the year 1 774. Among those 
 present were the duke of Dorset, Lord Tankerville, and Sir Horace Mann. 
 The distance between the stumps was the same as at present ; the crease was 
 cut in the turf, not painted ; the stumps were twenty-two inches in height ; and 
 there was only one bail, six inches in length. Just about this time the epic poet 
 of the sport, James Love, comedian, put forth a shilling quarto, dedicated to the 
 Richmond Club, The poem opens with an exhortation to Britain to leave 
 "puny Billiards" and all meaner sports, and only to cultivate cricket : — 
 
 Hail Cricket, glorious, manly, British game. 
 First of all sports, be first alike in fame ! 
 
 1 For an interesting account of betting at cricket see Pycroft's Cricket Field, ch. vi. 
 
GAMES OF BALL 103 
 
 *The bat of those days has been described as "similar to an old-fashioned 
 dinner-knife, curved at the back, and sweeping in the form of a volute at the 
 front and end. With such a bat, the system must have been all for hitting ; it 
 would be barely possible to block ; and when the practice of bowling length balls 
 was Introduced, which gave the bowler so great an advantage in the game, it 
 became absolutely necessary to change the form of the bat, in order that the 
 striker might be able to keep pace with the improvement. It was therefore 
 made straight in the pod ; in consequence of which, a total revolution, it may be 
 said a reformation too, ensued in the style of play . . . the system of stopping 
 or blocking was adopted."^ A picture by Francis Hayman, R.A. (who 
 exhibited between 1769 and 1772), belonging to the M.C.C., shows the almost 
 cudgel shape of the bat in a country cricket match ; the wicket is very low with 
 only two stumps ; a lad in the foreground is scoring " notches " on a stick. 
 
 *Among the satirical prints of the British Museum^ is one published on 
 January ist, 1778, from a picture painted in 1770, which bears witness to the 
 early attention paid to this gfame by the fair sex, and also pourtrays with exact- 
 ness the shape of the bat. It is entitled " Miss Wicket and Miss Trigger," and 
 is a mezzotint engraving showing a meadow near a farmhouse, where two young 
 women appear. Below are the lines — 
 
 Miss Trigger you see is an excellent shot. 
 And forty-five notches Miss Wicket's just got 
 
 *Miss Wicket is represented leaning on a cricket - bat, wearing a dress 
 trimmed with ribbons, and red shoes. A little girl catches a ball in the fore- 
 ground. The stumps of the wicket are but two, and forked at the top to carry 
 a transverse stick or bail. 
 
 *The exact shape of the bat is also shown in the picture of " A Young 
 Cricketer," of about the same date, ascribed to Gainsborough, which belongs to 
 the M.C.C. 
 
 *The ball in Miss Wicket's picture has heavy cross seams; but a silver 
 ball, over a hundred years old, which was used as a snuff-box by the Vine 
 Club, Sevenoaks, is marked with seams like those now in use. 
 
 *That central parliament of cricket, the Marylebone Club, came into 
 existence on the dissolution of the old White Conduit Club in 1787. One 
 Thomas Lord, a cricket enthusiast, with the aid of some members of the dis- 
 solved association, made a ground on the site of what is now Dorset Square. 
 This was the first " Lord's." After a move to North Bank, Thomas Lord 
 finally pitched his camp, in the year 1814, on the present famous ground. 
 
 *This is not the place in which to chronicle the general run of cricket 
 eccentricities, but early instances of attempts to play the game on horseback 
 may perhaps be recorded. 
 
 1 Nyren's Cricketo's Guide, 4th edit. (184O), pp. 93, 94. 
 * Stephen's CattUogue, iv. 728. 
 
104 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *CRrcKET ON Horseback. — The advertisement columns of the Kentish 
 Gazette of 29th April 1794, contain the following : — 
 
 "Cricketing on Horseback. — A very singular game of cricket will be 
 played on Tuesday, the 6th of May, in Linsted Park, between the Gentlemen 
 of the Hill and the Gentlemen of the Dale, for one guinea a man. The whole 
 to be performed on horseback. To begin at nine o'clock, and the game to be 
 played out. A good ordinary on the ground by John Hogben." 
 
 *In Lilywhite's Score Sheets it is stated that, in or about 1800, Sir Horace 
 Mann caused a cricket match to be played on ponies at Harrietsham.^ 
 
 *Trap-Ball, and Knur and Spell. — The game of trap-ball, or trap- 
 bat-and-ball, which can be traced back to at least the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century (see Plate 13^), afterwards developed into the northern game of 
 knur and spell. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century this game was 
 a favourite one amongst adults in several of our northern counties, particularly 
 in Hallamshire. The knur, or ball, used in the game, was made of various 
 hard materials. It was sometimes carved by hand out of a hard wood, such as 
 holly, or engine-turned out of lignum-vitse ; in the pottery districts it was 
 commonly made of white Wedgewood material, and usually called a "pottie"; 
 whilst in its most scientific form the knur was made out of stag-horn and 
 weighted with lead. The spell, or trap, was of varying design, sometimes 
 assuming the shoe form, which could commonly be obtained in toy shops in 
 the middle of the last century and later ; but ingenuity devised a spring spell, 
 which, being set and detached by means of a toothed click, could be regulated 
 so as to always raise the knur to the same height, thus greatly increasing the 
 certainty of the player hitting it. The third implement required for this game 
 is the trip-stick used for striking the ball. It differs much from the old form 
 of short bat, and consists of two parts, the stick and the pomel. The former is 
 made of ash or lance wood, so as to combine stiffness and elasticity, and for a 
 two-handed player is about four feet in length. The widened end, or pomel, 
 is made of any hard heavy wood that will not easily split. The main point of 
 the game is the distance to which the player can strike the knur ; a first-rate 
 hand is said to have been able to send a loaded ball as far as sixteen score yards.^ 
 
 ' On the general question of the early history of cricket, see Nyren's Cricketer's Guide ; Blaine's Rural Sports, 
 133-136 ; Badminton Library Cricket, history of the game by Andrew Lang ; Notes and Queries, Ser. ii. and v. etc. 
 ^ Bodl. MS. 5 Reliquary, Ser. I. vi. 233-236. 
 
BOOK III 
 
 PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS, AND CITIES, 
 OR PLACES ADJOINING TO THEM 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Tournament a general Name for several Exercises — The Quintain an ancient Military Exercise — Various Kinds of the 
 Quintain — Derivation of the Term — The Water Quintain — Running at the Quintain practised by the Citizens of 
 London ; and why — The Manner in which it was performed — Exhibited for the Pastime of Queen Elizabeth — 
 Tilting at a Water Butt — The Human Quintain — Exercises probably derived from it — Running at the Ring — 
 Difference between the Tournaments and the Jousts — Origin of the Tournament — The Troy Game ; the Bohordicum 
 or Cane Game — Derivation of Tournament ; How the Exercise was performed — Lists and Barriers — ^When the 
 Tournament was first practised — When first in England — Its Laws and Ordinances — Pages, and Perquisites of the 
 Kings at Arms, etc. — Preliminaries of the Tournament — Lists for Ordeal Combats — Respect paid to the Ladies- 
 Jousts less honourable than Tournaments — The Round Table — Nature of the Jousts — Made in Honour of the Fair 
 Sex — Great Splendour of these Pastimes ; The Nobility partial to them — Toys for initiating their Children in them 
 — Boat Jousts, or Tilting on the Water — Challenges to all comers. 
 
 TOURNAMENT. — Every kind of military combat made in conformity to certain 
 rules, and practised by the knights and their esquires for diversion or 
 gallantry, was anciently called a tournament ; yet these amusements fre- 
 quently differed materially from each other, and have been distinguished accord- 
 ingly by various denominations in the modern times. They may, however, I 
 think, be all of them included under the four following heads : tilting and 
 combating at the quintain, tilting at the ring, tournaments, and jousts. 
 
 All these, and especially the two last, were favourite pastimes with the 
 nobility of the middle ages. The progress and decline of tournaments in this 
 country has already been mentioned in a general way ; ^ I shall in this place be 
 a little more particular with respect to the nature and distinction of these 
 celebrated diversions. 
 
 The Quintain. — Tilting or combating at the quintain is certainly a military 
 exercise of high antiquity, and antecedent, I doubt not, to the jousts and tourna- 
 ments. The quintain, originally, was nothing more than the trunk of a tree or 
 post set up for the practice of the tyros in chivalry.^ Afterward a staff or spear 
 was fixed in the earth, and a shield being hung upon it, was the mark to strike 
 at : the dexterity of the performer consisted in smiting the shield in such a 
 manner as to break the ligatures and bear it to the ground. In process of 
 time this diversion was improved, and instead of the staff and the shield, the 
 resemblance of a human figure carved in wood was introduced. To render the 
 
 ' In the Introduction. •^ Vegetius, De re militari, lib. i. cap. xi. et xiv. 
 
 105 
 
io6 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 appearance of this figure more formidable, it was generally made in the likeness 
 of a Turk or a Saracen armed at all points,^ bearing a shield upon his left arm, 
 and brandishing a club or a sabre with his right. Hence this exercise was called 
 by the Italians, "running at the armed man, or at the Saracen." The quintain 
 thus fashioned was placed upon a pivot, and so contrived as to move round with 
 facility. In running at this figure it was necessary for the horseman to direct 
 his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke upon the forehead between 
 the eyes or upon the nose ; for if he struck wide of those parts, especially upon 
 the shield, the quintain turned about with much velocity, and, in case he was 
 not exceedingly careful, would give him a severe blow upon the back with the 
 wooden sabre held in the right hand, which was considered as highly disgraceful 
 to the performer, while it excited the laughter and ridicule of the spectators.^ 
 When many were engaged in running at the Saracen, the conqueror was declared 
 from the number of strokes he had made, and the value of them ; for instance, if 
 he struck the image upon the top of the nose between the eyes, it was reckoned 
 for three ; if below the eyes, upon the nose, for two ; if under the nose to the 
 point of the chin, for one ; all other strokes were not counted ; but whoever 
 struck upon the shield and turned the quintain round, was not permitted to run 
 again upon the same day, but forfeited his courses as a punishment for his 
 unskilfulness.^ 
 
 Various Quintains. — The quintain in its original state was not confined to 
 the exercise of young warriors on horseback : it was an object of practice for 
 them on foot, in order to acquire strength and skill in assaulting an enemy with 
 their swords, spears, and battle-axes. I met with a manuscript in the Royal 
 Library,* written early in the fourteenth century, entitled "Les Etablissmentz 
 des Chevalerie," wherein the author, who appears to have been a man scientific- 
 ally skilled in the military tactics of his time, strongly recommends a constant 
 and attentive attack of the pel (from the Latin palus), for so he calls the post- 
 quintain. The pel, he tells us, ought to be six feet in height above the ground, 
 and so firmly fixed therein as not to be moved by the strokes that were laid 
 upon it. The practitioner was then to assail the pel, armed with sword and 
 shield in the same manner as he would an adversary, aiming his blows as if at 
 the head, the face, the arms, the legs, the thighs, and the sides ; taking care 
 at all times to keep himself so completely covered with his shield, as not to 
 give any advantage supposing he had a real enemy to cope with : so far my 
 author ; and prefixed to the treatise is a neat little painting representing the 
 pel, with a young soldier performing his exercise, which is copied on plate 
 thirteen. Immediately opposite is the quintain in the form of a Saracen, 
 from Pluvinel. 
 
 An English poet who has taken up the subject of chivalry under the title of 
 
 ' Menestrier, Traitl des Toumois, Joustes, etc. , p. 264. 
 
 * Menestrier, ut supra ; Du Cange, Glossary, in voce quintana ; Pluvinel, Sur texercise de monter h cheval, part iii. 
 p. 177. ' Menestrier, p, 112, et Pluvinel ut supra. * 20 B. xi. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 
 
 107 
 
 " Knighthood and Battle," ^ describes the attack of the pel in the following 
 curious manner : — 
 
 Of fight, the disciplyne, and exercise 
 
 Was this. To have a pale or pile upright 
 
 Of mannys hight, thus writeth olde and wise ; 
 
 Therewith a bacheler, or a yong knyght, 
 
 Shal first be taught to stonde and lerne to fight. — 
 
 And fanne of doubil wight, tak him his shelde 
 
 Of doubil wight, a mace of tre to welde. 
 
 This fanne and mace whiche either doubil wight, 
 Of shelde, and swayed in conflicte, or bataile, 
 Shal exercise as well swordmen, as knyghtes. 
 And noe man, as they sayn, is seyn prevaile, 
 In field, or in castell, thoughe he assayle, 
 That with the pile, nathe firste grete exercise, 
 Thus writeth Werrouris olde and wyse. 
 
 Have eche his pile or pale upfixed fast. 
 And as it were uppon his mortal foe ; 
 With mightyness and weapon most be cast 
 To fight stronge, that he ne skape hym fro. 
 On hym with shield, and sword avised so. 
 That thou be cloos, and preste thy foe to smyte. 
 Lest of thyne own dethe thou be to wite. 
 
 Empeche ^ his head, his face, have at his gorge, 
 Beare at the breste, or sperne him one the side. 
 With myghte knyghtly poost,^ ene as Seynt George 
 Lepe o thy foe ; looke if he dare abide : 
 Will he not flee ? wounde him ; make woundis wide, 
 Hew of his honde, his legge, his theyhs, his armys. 
 It is the Turk, though he be sleyn noon harm is. 
 
 Both the treatises commend the use of arms of double weight upon these 
 occasions, in order to acquire strength, and give the warrior greater facility in 
 wielding the weapons of the ordinary size ; to which the poet adds, 
 
 And sixty pounds of weight 'tis good to bear. 
 
 The lines just now quoted evidently allude to the quintain in the form of a 
 Turk or Saracen, which, I presume, was sometimes used upon this occasion. 
 The pel was also set up as a mark to cast at with spears, as the same poet 
 informs us : — 
 
 A dart of more wight then is mester,* 
 
 Take hym in honde and teche him it to stere ; 
 
 And cast it at the pile as at his foo. 
 
 So that it conte and right uppon him go. 
 
 And likewise for the practice of archery : — 
 
 Set hert and eye uppon the pile or pale. 
 Shoot nyghe or onne ; and if so be thou ride 
 On horse, is eck the bowis bigge up hale, 
 Smyte in the face, or breste, or back or side, 
 Compelle to fle, or falle, yf that he bide. 
 
 ' Knyghtliode and Batayle, MS. Cott. Titus A. xxiii. fols. 6 and 7. This curious poem, written early in the fifteenth 
 century, appears to be a translation of a former treatise, or rather a paraphrase upon it. 
 ' From the French empkher, to hinder or withstand, here used for attack. 
 ' Power, strength. * Than is required, that is in time of real action. 
 
io8 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *Shakespeare, in As You Like It, says : 
 
 My better parts 
 Are all thrown down, and that which here stands up 
 Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block. 
 
 Derivation of Quintain. — This exercise is said to have received the 
 name of quintain from Quinctus or Quintas the inventor,^ but who he was, or 
 when he Hved, is not ascertained. The game itself, I doubt not, is of remote 
 origin, and especially the exercise of the pel, or post quintain, which is spoken 
 of at large by Vegetius ; and from him the substance of what the two authors 
 above quoted have said upon the subject is evidently taken. He tells us that 
 this species of mock combat was in common use among the Romans, who 
 caused the young military men to practise at it twice in the day, at morning and 
 at noon ; he also adds that they used clubs and javelins, heavier than common, 
 and fought at the pel as if they were opposing an adversary, etc.^ 
 
 In the code of laws established by the emperor Justinian, the quintain is 
 mentioned as a well-known sport ; and permitted to be continued, upon con- 
 dition that it should be performed with pointless spears, contrary to the ancient 
 usage, which it seems required them to have heads or points. 
 
 The Water Quintain. — To the best of my recollection, Fitzstephen is the 
 first of our writers who speaks of an exercise of this kind, which he tells us was 
 usually practised by the young Londoners upon the water during the Easter 
 holidays. A pole or mast, he says, is fixed in the midst of the Thames, with a 
 shield strongly attached to it ; and a boat being previously placed at some 
 distance, is driven swiftly towards it by the force of oars and the violence of the 
 tide, having a young man standing in the prow, who holds a lance in his hand 
 with which he is to strike the shield ; and if he be dexterous enough to break 
 the lance against it and retain his place, his most sanguine wishes are satisfied ; 
 on the contrary, if the lance be not broken, he is sure to be thrown into the 
 water, and the vessel goes away without him, but at the same time two other 
 boats are stationed near to the shield, and furnished with many young persons 
 who are in readiness to rescue the champion from danger. It appears to have 
 been a very popular pastime ; for the bridge, the wharfs, and the houses near the 
 river were crowded with people on this occasion, who come, says the author, to see 
 the sports and make themselves merry.^ A representation of the water quintain, 
 taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library, is given 
 upon plate fourteen, where a square piece of board is substituted for the shield.* 
 
 Running at the Quintain practised by the Londoners ; and why. — 
 Matthew Paris mentions the quintain by name, but he speaks of it in a cursory 
 manner as a well-known pastime, and probably would have said nothing about 
 
 ' A quincto auctore. nomen habebat, vide Joan Meursi, de Ludis Grascorum, in tit. Kocto^ KuyToz/os. *But this is 
 probably an error. The Century Dictionary gives — " Quintana, a street in a camp between the fifth and sixth maniples, 
 where were the market and forum of the camp, and, it is supposed, the place of martial exercise, etc., whence the 
 Middle Latin use quintana, a quintain." 
 
 ^ Vegetius, De re militari, hb. i. cap. xi. et xiv. ' Stephanides, Descrip. Land. ' 2 B. vii. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 109 
 
 it, had not the following circumstance given him the occasion. In the thirty- 
 eighth year of the reign of Henry III., a.d. 1254, the young Londoners, who, 
 he tells us, were expert horsemen, assembled together to run at the quintain, 
 and set up a peacock as a reward for the best performer. The king then keep- 
 ing his court at Westminster, some of his domestics came into the city to see 
 the pastime, where they behaved in a very disorderly manner, and treated the 
 Londoners with much insolence, calling them cowardly knaves and rascally 
 clowns, which the Londoners resented by beating them soundly ; the king, 
 however, was incensed at the indignity put upon his servants, and not taking 
 into consideration the provocation on their parts, fined the city one thousand 
 marks.^ Some have thought these fellows were sent thither purposely to pro- 
 mote a quarrel, it being known that the king was angry with the citizens of 
 London for refusing to join in the crusade.^ 
 
 We may here observe, that the rules of chivalry, at this time, would not 
 admit of any person, under the rank of an esquire, to enter the lists as a 
 combatant at the jousts and tournaments ; for which reason the burgesses and 
 yeomen had recourse to the exercise of the quintain, which was not prohibited 
 to any clciss of the people ; but, as the performers were generally young men 
 whose finances would not at all times admit of much expense, the quintain was 
 frequently nothing better than a stake fixed into the ground, with a flat piece of 
 board made fast to the upper part of it, as a substitute for the shield that had 
 been used in times remote ; and such as could not procure horses, contented 
 themselves with running at this mark on foot. On plate thirteen we see 
 a representation of a lad mounted on a wooden horse with four wheels, drawn 
 by two of his comrades, tilting at the immoveable quintain ; it is taken from a 
 MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344.^ Others, again, made use 
 of a moveable quintain, which was also very simply constructed ; consisting only 
 of a cross-bar turning upon a pivot, with a broad part to strike against on one 
 side, and a bag of earth or sand depending from the other : there was a double 
 advantage in these kind of quintains, they were cheap and easily to be procured. 
 Their form, at an early period in the fourteenth century, is illustrated on 
 plates thirteen and fourteen, from the same manuscript. Both these quintains 
 are marked, I know not why, with the figure of a horseshoe. 
 
 Manner of exercising with the Quintain. — But to return: Stow, in 
 his Survey of London, having related the above-mentioned disturbance from 
 Matthew Paris, goes on as follows: "This exercise of running at the quintain 
 was practised in London, as well in the summer as in the winter, but especially 
 at the feast of Christmas. I have seen," continues my author, "a quintain set 
 upon Cornhill by Leadenhall, where the attendants of the lords of merry disports 
 have run and made great pastime ; for he that hit not the board end of the 
 quintain was laughed to scorn, and he that hit it full, if he rode not the faster, 
 had a sound blow upon his neck with a bag full of sand hanged on the other 
 
 ' Matthew Paris, Hist. Angi. sub. an 1253. ^ Strype's Stow, etc ' Bod. 264. 
 
no SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 end."i But the form of the modern quintain is more fully described by Dr 
 -Plott, in his History of Oxfordshire:^ " They first set a post perpendicularly 
 into the ground, and then place a slender piece of timber on the top of it on a 
 spindle, with a board nailed to it on one end, and a bag of sand hanging at the 
 other ; against this board they anciently rode with spears. Now I saw it at 
 Deddington in this county, only with strong staves, which violently bringing 
 about the bag of sand, if they make not good speed away, it strikes them in 
 the neck or shoulders, and sometimes knocks them off their horses ; the great 
 design of this sport being to try the agility both of horse and man, and to break 
 the board. It is now," he adds, "only in request at marriages, and set up in 
 the way for young men to ride at as they carry home the bride ; he that breaks 
 the board being counted the best man," 
 
 *A writer in Notes and Queries in 1866 mentions a quintain as then 
 standing at Ofifham Green, near Maidstone, supposed to be of Elizabethan date. 
 " The cross-piece and weight at one end turned readily upon its pivot." ^ 
 
 The Quintain, a Pastime before Queen Elizabeth. — Among other 
 sports exhibited for the amusement of queen Elizabeth, during her residence at 
 Kenilworth Castle, in Warwickshire, then the seat of the earl of Leicester, who 
 entertained her majesty there for several days, a.d. 1575, there was, says 
 Laneham, "a solemn country bridal; when in the castle was set up a comely 
 quintane for feats at armes, where, in a great company of young men and lasses, 
 the bridegroom had the first course at the quintane, and broke his spear " tres 
 hardiment " (very boldly, or with much courage). But his mare in his manage 
 did a little stumble, that much ado had his manhood to sit in his saddle. But 
 after the bridegroom had made his course, ran the rest of the band, awhile in 
 some order, but soon after tag and rag, cut and long tail ; where the speciality 
 of the sport was to see how some for his slackness had a good bob with the bag, 
 and some for his haste to topple downright, and come tumbling to the post; 
 some striving so much at the first setting out, that it seemed a question between 
 man and beast, whether the race should be performed on horseback or on foot ; 
 and some put forth with spurs, would run his race byas, among the thickest of 
 the throng, that down they came together hand over head. Another while he 
 directed his course to the quintane, his judgment would carry him to a mare 
 among the people ; another would run and miss the quintane with his staff, and 
 hit the board with his head."* This whimsical description may possibly be 
 somewhat exaggerated, but no doubt the inexpertness of the riders subjected 
 them to many laughable accidents. 
 
 *The use of the quintain survived in many parts of rural England in the 
 eighteenth century, particularly as a wedding sport. The following passage from 
 Baker's History of Northamptonshire records its late use in that county : — 
 " The quintain consisted of a high upright post, at the top of which was placed 
 
 ' Survey of London. 2 p-j^st published in 1677. 
 
 ' Notes and Queries, Ser. III. x. 312. " Laneham in Queen Elizabeth's Progresses, by Mr Nichols, vol. i. p. 249. 
 
2 
 
 ^//yf^yzw/j-: 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS m 
 
 a cross piece on a swivel, broad at one end and pierced full of holes, and a bag 
 of sand suspended at the other. The mode of running at the quintain was by 
 an horseman full spGed and striking at the broad part with all his force ; if he 
 missed his aim he was derided for his want of dexterity ; if he struck it and the 
 horse slackened pace, which frequently happened through force of the shock, he 
 received a violent blow on the neck from the bag of sand which swung round 
 from the opposite end ; but if he succeeded in breaking the board he was hailed 
 the hero of the day. The last and indeed only instance of this sport which I 
 have met with in this county was in 1722, on the marriage of two servants at 
 Brington, when it was announced in the Northampton Mercury that a quintain 
 was to be erected on the green at Kingsthorp, ' and the reward of the horseman 
 that splinters the board is to be a fine garland as a crown of victory, which is to 
 be borne before him to the wedding house, and another is to be put round the 
 neck of his steed ; the victor is to have the honour of dancing with the bride, 
 and to sit on her right hand at supper.' " ^ 
 
 Tilting at a Water Butt.— At the bottom of plate thirteen is a picture, 
 from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1343, of three boys tilting jointly 
 at a tub full of water, which is to be struck in such a manner as not to throw it 
 over them. I presume they af e learners only, and that therefore they are depicted 
 without their clothes ; they undressed themselves, I apprehend, in order to save 
 their garments from being wetted in case the attempt should prove unsuccessful. 
 
 This farcical pastime, according to Menestrier, was practised occasionally 
 in Italy, where, he says, a large bucket filled with water is set up, against which 
 they tilt their lances ; and if the stroke be not made with great dexterity, the 
 bucket is overset and the lanceman thoroughly drenched with the contents.'' 
 
 The Human Quintain. — I shall here say a few words concerning the 
 human quintain, which has escaped the notice of most of the writers upon this 
 subject ; it is, however, very certain that the military men in the middle ages 
 would sometimes practise with their lances at a man completely armed ; whose 
 business it was to act upon the defensive, and parry their blows with his shield. 
 A representation of this exercise occurs upon plate fourteen, taken from the 
 same Bodleian manuscript, dated 1344. 
 
 This representation is justified by the concurrent testimony of an ancient 
 author, cited by Du Cange, who introduces one knight saying to another, " I do 
 not by any means esteem you sufficiently valiant (si bons chevalier) for me to 
 take a lance and just with you ; therefore I desire you to retire some distance 
 from me, and then run at me with all your force, and I will be your quintain."^ 
 The satirist Hall, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth, evidently alludes to a 
 custom of this kind, in a satire* first printed in 1599, when he was twenty-five 
 years of age. He says ; 
 
 Pawne thou no glove for challenge of the deed, 
 
 Nor make thy quintaine other's armed head. 
 > Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 40. " Traiti de Toumois, 1669, p. 347. 
 
 » Le Roman de Giron le courtois. Du Cange, Gloss, in voce quintana. * Lib. iv. Sat. 3. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 113 
 
 pastime of running at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats 
 this subject at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked 
 out according to the properties of the horses that were to run : for one of the 
 swiftest kind, one hundred paces from the starting-place to the ring, and thirty 
 paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary ; but for such horses as 
 had been trained to the exercise, and were more regular in their movements, 
 eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond it, were thought to be sufficient. 
 The ring, says the same author, ought to be placed with much precision, some- 
 what higher than the left eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his 
 horse ; because it was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it.^ 
 
 In tilting at the ring, three courses were allowed to each candidate ; and he 
 who thrust the point of his lance through it the oftenest, or, in case no such 
 thing was done, struck it the most frequently, was the victor; but if it so 
 happened, that none of them did either the one or the other, or that they were 
 equally successful, the courses were to be repeated until the superiority of one 
 put an end to the contest.^ 
 
 Difference between Tournaments and Jousts. — Tournaments and jousts, 
 though often confounded with each other, differed materially. The tournament 
 was a conflict with many knights, divided into parties and engaged at the same 
 time. The joust was a separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed 
 to another. The latter was frequently included in the former, but not without 
 many exceptions ; for the joust, according to the laws of chivalry, might be made 
 exclusive of the tournament.* 
 
 In the romantic ages, both these diversions were held in the highest 
 esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the nobility, and 
 prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire ; but at the same time the jousts 
 were considered as less honourable than the tournaments ; for the knight who 
 had paid his fees and been admitted to the latter, had a right to engage in the 
 former without any further demand, but he who had paid the fees for jousting only, 
 was by no means exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will 
 be found in the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, a little further on. 
 
 Origin of the Tournament. — It is an opinion generally received, that 
 the tournament originated from a childish pastime practised by the Roman 
 youths called Ludus Troise (the Troy game), said to have been so named 
 because it was derived from the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by 
 Ascanius, the son of ^neas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, 
 according to the manner, I presume, in which it was practised at Rome. If 
 he be accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of evolutions 
 performed on horseback. The poet tells us that the youth were each of them 
 armed with two little cornel spears, headed with iron. 
 
 Cornea bina ferunt prsefixa hastilia ferro. — Mneid, lib. v. 1. 556. 
 
 ' Art de morUer h cheval, part iii. p. 156. "^ Menestrier, Traiti de Tmrnois, p. 112. 
 
 ' Du Cange, Glossary, in voce jusia. 
 
 H 
 
114 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, they divided 
 themselves into three distinct companies ; and each company consisted of twelve 
 champions exclusive of its appropriate leader, when, according to Trapp's 
 translation, which, if not so poetical, is more literal than Dryden's, the tutor 
 of Ascanius, and overseer of the sports, 
 
 Epityden, from far 
 Loud with a shout, and with his sounding lash 
 The signal gave : they equally divide, 
 The three commanders open their brigades 
 In sep'rate bodies : straight recall'd they wheel 
 Their course, and onward bear their hostile darts. 
 Then diff'rent traverses on various grounds, 
 And diflPrent counter traverses they form ; 
 Orbs within orbs alternately involve, 
 And raise th' effigy of a fight in arms. 
 Now show their backs in flight — now furious turn 
 Their darts ; — now all in peace together ride. 
 
 Under the domination of the first emperors, these games were publicly practised 
 by the young nobility in the circus at Rome.^ 
 
 The same kind of sports, or others bearing close resemblance to them,, 
 were established in this kingdom in the twelfth century, and probably at a much 
 earlier period. Fitzstephen, an author then living, informs us, "that every 
 Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner, it was customary for great crowds 
 of young Londoners mounted on war horses, well trained, to perform the 
 necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride into the fields in distinct bands, armed 
 with shields and headless lances ; where they exhibited the representation of 
 battles, and went through a variety of warlike exercises : at the same time many 
 of the young noblemen who had not received the honour of knighthood, came 
 from the king's court, and from the houses of the great barons, to make trial 
 of their skill in arms ; the hope of victory animating their minds. The youth 
 being divided into opposite companies, encountered one another : in one place 
 they fled, and others pursued, without being able to overtake them ; in another 
 place one of the bands overtook and overturned the other." According to 
 Virgil, the Roman youth presented their lances towards their opponents in a 
 menacing position, but without striking with them. The young Londoners in 
 all probability went further, and actually tilted one against the other. At any 
 rate, the frequent practice of this exercise must have taught them, insensibly 
 as it were, to become excellent horsemen. 
 
 The Troy Game. — I am clearly of opinion, that the jousts and tourna- 
 ments arose by slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of 
 the military tyros in using their arms, but which of the two had the pre-eminence 
 in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined ; we know that both of them 
 were in existence at the time the Troy game was practised by the citizens of 
 London, and also that they were not permitted to be exercised in this kingdom, 
 
 \ Tacitus, Annal, lib. xi. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS us 
 
 In the middle ages, when the tournaments were in their splendour, 
 the Troy game was still continued, though in a state of improvement, and 
 distinguished by a different denomination it was then called in Latin bekordicum, 
 and in French bohourt or behourt, and was a kind of lance game, in which the 
 young nobility exercised themselves, to acquire address in handling of their 
 arms, and to prove their strength. 
 
 Tournaments. — Our word tournament, or tournoyement, which signifies to 
 turn or wheel about in a circular manner,^ comes from the French word tournoy. 
 I am led to adopt the opinion of Fauchet,^ who thinks it came from the practice 
 of the knights running par tour, that is, by turns, at the quintain, and wheeling 
 about successively in a circle to repeat their course ; but, says he, in process of 
 time they improved upon this pastime, and to make it more respectable ran one 
 at another, which certainly bore a much greater similitude to a real engagement, 
 especially when they were divided into large parties, and meeting together 
 combated with clubs or maces, beating each other soundly, without any favour 
 or paying the least respect to rank or dignity. In one of these encounters, 
 Robert, earl of Cleremont, son of Saint Louis, and head of the house of Bourbon, 
 was so severely bruised by the blows he received from his antagonist, that he 
 was never well afterwards. This, says Fauchet, was possibly the cause of the 
 ordinance, that the kings and princes should not afterwards enter the lists as 
 combatants at these tournaments ; which law, indeed, continues he, has been ill 
 observed by the succeeding kings, and in our time by Henry II., who, unfortu- 
 nately for France, was killed at the jousts he made in honour of his daughter's 
 marriage. It was, in fact, very common for some of the combatants to be beat 
 or thrown from their horses, trampled upon and killed upon the spot, or hurt 
 most grievously. Indeed, a tournament at this period was rarely finished with- 
 out some disastrous accident ; and it was an established law, that if any one of 
 the combatants killed or wounded another, he should be indemnified ; which 
 made them less careful respecting the consequences, especially when any 
 advantage gave them an opportunity of securing the conquest. Tournaments 
 were consequently interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees. 
 
 The following quotation from an ancient manuscript romance, in the 
 Harleian Collection, entitled Ipomydon^ plainly indicates the performance of 
 the tournament in an open field ; and also, that great numbers of the combatants 
 were engaged at one time, promiscuously encountering with each other ; we learn, 
 moreover, that the champion who remained unhorsed at the conclusion of the 
 sports, besides the honour he attained, sometimes received a pecuniary reward. 
 
 The kyng his sonne a knyght gan make. 
 And many another for his sake ; 
 Justes were cryed ladyes to see, 
 Thedyr came lordes grete plente. 
 Tournementis atyred in the felde, 
 A thousand armed with spere and shelde ; 
 
 ' Cotgrave. ^ Origines des Chevaliers, etc., p. 9. ' No, 2252, fol, 61. 
 
ii6 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Knyghtis began togedre to ryde, 
 Some were unhorsyd on every side, 
 Ipomydom that daye was victorius, 
 And there he gaff many a cours ; 
 For there was none that he mette, 
 But he hys spere on hym woulde sette : 
 Then after within a lytell stounde/ 
 Horse and man both went to grounde. 
 The Heraudes ^ gaff the child the gree,' 
 A thousand pound he had to fee ; 
 Mynstrellys had giftes of golde 
 And fourty dayes this fest was holde. 
 
 In some instances the champions depended upon their military skill and horse- 
 manship, and frequently upon their bodily strength ; but at all times it was 
 highly disgraceful to be unhorsed, by whatever exertion it might be effected. 
 
 Thomas of Walsingham tells us,* that when Edward I. returned from 
 Palestine to England, and was on his passage through Savoy, the earl of 
 Chabloun invited him to a tournament,^ in which himself and many other 
 knights were engaged. The king with his followers, although fatigued by the 
 length of their journey, accepted the challenge. On the day appointed both 
 parties met, and, being armed with swords, the engagement commenced ; the earl 
 singled out the king, and on his approach, throwing away his sword, cast his 
 arms about the neck of the monarch, and used his utmost endeavour to pull him 
 from his horse. Edward, on the other hand, finding the earl would not quit his 
 hold, put spurs to his horse, and drew him from his saddle hanging upon his 
 neck, and then shaking him violently, threw him to the ground. The earl 
 having recovered himself and being remounted, attacked the king a second time, 
 but finding his hand "too heavy," he gave up the contest, and acknowledged 
 him to be the conqueror. The knights of the earl's party were angry when 
 they saw their leader drawn from his horse, and run upon the English with so 
 much violence, that the pastime assumed the tumultuous appearance of a real 
 battle ; the English on their side repelled force by force ; and had not the resigna- 
 tion of the earl put an end to the conflict, in all probability the consequences 
 would have been very serious. 
 
 Lists and Barriers. — It was a considerable time after the establishment 
 of jousts and tournaments, before the combatants thought of making either lists 
 or barriers ; they contented themselves, says Menestrier,^ with being stationed 
 at four angles of an open place, whence they run in parties one against another. 
 There were cords stretched before the different companies, previous to the 
 commencement of the tournaments, as we learn from the following passage in 
 an old English romance, among the Harleian manuscripts : '' " All these thinges 
 donne thei were embatailed eche ageynste the othir, and the corde drawen 
 
 ^ A small space of time. 
 ^ Heralds, whose office it was to superintend the ceremonious parts of the tournaments. 
 " Reward. * Hist. Angl. fol. 3, a.d. 1274. 
 
 ° Ludum militarum (qui -uulgo torneamentum diciiur). Ibid. 
 " TraiU de Tournois. ' No. 326. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 117 
 
 before eche partie, and whan the tyme was, the cordes were cutt, and the 
 trumpettes blew up for every man to do his devoir, duty. And for to assertayne 
 the more of the tourney, there was on eche side a stake, and at cache stake two 
 kyngs of armes, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the names of all them 
 that were yolden, for they shold no more tournay." As these pastimes were 
 accompanied with much danger, they invented in France the double lists, where 
 the knights might run from one side to the other, without coming in contact, 
 except with their lances ; other nations followed the example of the French, and 
 the usage of lists and barriers soon became universal. 
 
 When the Tournament was first practised. — It is impossible to ascertain 
 the precise period when tournaments first made their appearance ; nor is it less 
 difficult to determine by whom they were invented. Peacham, on the authority 
 of Nicetas, tells us, that the emperor Emanuel Comminus, at the siege of 
 Constantinople, invented tilts and tournaments ; ^ but this is certainly a mistake. 
 The French and the Germans both claim the honour. The historian, Nithard, 
 mentions a military game, frequently exhibited in Germany, before the emperor 
 Louis, and his brother Charles the Bald, about the year 842, which bears great 
 resemblance to the tournament ; for he speaks of many knights of different 
 nations, divided into parties equal in number, and running at each other with 
 great velocity, as though they were in battle.^ Most of the German writers, 
 however, make the emperor Henry I., surnamed L'oiseleur, who died in 936, 
 the institutor of these pastimes ; but others attribute their origin to another 
 Henry, at least a century posterior. The French, on their side, quote an ancient 
 history,* which asserts, that Geoffrey, lord of Previlli in Anjou, who was slain at 
 Gaunt in 1066, was the inventor of the tournament. 
 
 The Tournament in England. — It seems to be certain that tournaments 
 were held in France and Normandy before the conquest, and, according to our 
 own writers, they were not permitted to be practised in this country for upwards 
 of sixty years posterior to that event. The manner of performing the tourna- 
 ment, as then used, says Lambarde, "not being at the tilt, as I think, but at 
 random and in the open field, was accounted so dangerous to the persons having 
 to do therein, that sundry popes forbad it by decree ; and the kings of this realm 
 before king Stephen would not suffer it to be frequented within their land, so 
 that such as for exercise of this feat of arms were desirous to prove themselves, 
 were driven to pass over the seas, and to perform it in some different place in a 
 foreign country."* This author's statement of the fact is perfectly correct. In 
 the troublesome reign of king Stephen, the rigour of the laws was much relaxed, 
 and tournaments, among other splendid species of dissipation, were permitted to 
 be exercised; they were, however, again suppressed by Henry II.; and there- 
 fore it was, I presume, that the young king Henry, son of Henry II., went every 
 third year, as Matthew Paris assures us he did, over the seas, and expended 
 
 ' Complete Gentleman, p. 178. ^ See more upon this subject in the Encyclopidie Francois, art. "Tournoi." 
 
 ' Chronique de Tours. * Perambulation of Kent, p. 492. 
 
1 18 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 vast sums of money "in conflictibus Gallicis," or French combats, meaning 
 tournaments.! But Richard I. having, as it is said, observed that the French 
 practising frequently in the tournaments, were more expert in the use of their 
 arms than the English, permitted his own knights to establish the like martial 
 sports in his dominions ; but at the same time he imposed a tax, according to 
 their quality, upon such as engaged in them. An earl was subjected to the 
 fine of twenty marks for his privilege to enter the field as a combatant ; a baron, 
 ten ; a knight having a landed estate, four ; and a knight without such possession, 
 two ; but all foreigners were particularly excluded. 
 
 *The holding of tournaments was restricted by Richard to five places or 
 districts, namely between (i) Salisbury and Wilton, (2) Warwick and Kenilworth, 
 (3) Stamford and Warmington,^ (4) Brackley and Mixbury, and (5) Tickhill and 
 Blyth. To these must be added Smithfield for the use of the citizens of 
 London on Saturdays. Frequent endeavours were made in the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries to hold tournaments elsewhere, but they were always 
 proclaimed, save when they were held under royal license. The act also 
 specifies that the peace should not be broken thereby, nor justice hindered, nor 
 damage done to the royal forests.^ 
 
 How long these imposts continued to be collected does not appear; but 
 tournaments were occasionally exhibited with the utmost display of magnificence 
 in the succeeding reigns, being not only sanctioned by royal authority, but 
 frequently instituted at the royal command, until the conclusion of the sixteenth 
 century. From that period they declined rapidly, and fifty years afterwards 
 were entirely out of practice. 
 
 Laws and Ordinances of Jousts and Tournaments. — All military men, 
 says Fauchet,* who bore the title of knights or esquires, were not indiscrimi- 
 nately received at these tournaments : there were certain laws to which those 
 who presented themselves became subject, and which they swore to obey before 
 they were permitted to enter the lists. 
 
 In one of the Harleian manuscripts,^ I met with the following ordinance for 
 the conducting of the jousts and tournaments according to the ancient establish- 
 ment. It is preceded by a proclamation that was to be previously made, which 
 is couched in these terms : Be it known, lords, knights, and esquires, ladies, 
 and genriewomen; you are hereby acquainted, that a superb achievement at 
 arms, and a grand and noble tournament will be held in the parade « of 
 Clarencieux, king-at-arms, on the part of the most noble baron, lord of T. c.b., 
 and on the part of the most noble baron, the lord of C. b.d., in the parade of 
 
 ^ Hist. Aiigl. A.D. 1 179. 
 
 » "Stamford and Wallingford" is mistakenly given in Godwin's Archceohgisf s Hand- Book and elsewhere. 
 Wallingford, Berks, is absurdly remote from Stamford ; Warmington is but a little distance from Stamford, on the main 
 road to Oundle. 
 
 • Harl. MS. 69. "The Booke of Certaine Triumphs," which opens with an account of the "Just-Roiall" at the 
 marriage of Richard, duke of York, son of Edward IV. 
 
 * Origines des Chevaliers, etc. ' No. 69. 
 
 ' Marche, part of the lists, I presume, or portion of ground appropriated to the tournament. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 119 
 
 Norroy, king-at-arms. The regulations that follow are these : The two barons 
 on whose parts the tournament is undertaken, shall be at their lodges (pavilions) 
 two days before the commencement of the sports, when each of them shall cause 
 his arms to be attached ^ to his pavilion, and set up his banner in the front of his 
 parade ; and all those who wish to be admitted as combatants on either side, 
 must in like manner set up their arms and banners before the parades allotted to 
 them. Upon the evening of the same day they shall show themselves in their 
 stations, and expose their helmets to view at the windows of their pavilions ; 
 and then "they may depart to make merry, dance, and live well." On the 
 morrow the champions shall be at their parades by the hour of ten in the 
 morning, to await the commands of the lord of the parade, and the governor, 
 who are the speakers of the tournament ; at this meeting the prizes of honour 
 shall be determined. 
 
 In the document before us, it is said, that he who shall best resist the 
 strokes of his adversary, and return them with most adroitness on the party of 
 Clarencieux, shall receive a very rich sword, and he who shall perform in like 
 manner the best on the part of Norroy, shall be rewarded with an helmet 
 equally valuable. 
 
 On the morning of the day appointed for the tournament, the arms, 
 banners, and helmets of all the combatants shall be exposed at their stations, 
 and the speakers present at the place of combat by ten of the clock, where they 
 shall examine the arms and approve or reject them at their pleasure ; the 
 examination being finished, and the arms returned to the owners, the baron who 
 is the challenger shall then cause his banner to be placed at the beginning of 
 the parade, and the blazon of his arms to be nailed to the roof of the pavilion : ^ 
 his example is to be followed by the baron on the opposite side, and all the 
 knights of either party who are not in their stations before the nailing up of the 
 arms, shall forfeit their privileges, and not be permitted to tourney. 
 
 The kings-at-arms and the heralds are then commanded by the speakers to 
 go from pavilion to pavilion, crying aloud, " To achievement, knights and 
 esquires, to achievement " ; ^ being the notice, I presume, for them to arm them- 
 selves ; and soon afterwards the company of heralds shall repeat the former 
 ceremony, having the same authority, saying, " Come forth, knights and 
 esquires, come forth " : * and when the two barons have taken their places in the 
 lists, each of them facing his own parade, the champions on both parties shall 
 arrange themselves, every one by the side of his banner ; and then two cords 
 shall be stretched between them, and remain in that position until it shall please 
 the speakers to command the commencement of the sports. The combatants 
 shall each of them be armed with a pointless sword having the edges rebated, 
 
 ^ Feront clotur leurs armes, literally nail them ; the clouage or nail money, as we shall see afterwards, was the 
 perquisite of the heralds. 
 
 * " Mettra sa banter, au commencement dedits bostons et clouera la blason de ses armes, i lautre vout." The passage 
 is by no means clear ; I have therefore given the words of the original. 
 
 ' A Paschevier, chevaliers, etc. * Hors chevaliers, etc. 
 
120 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 and with a baston, or truncheon, hanging from their saddles, and they may use 
 either the one or the other so long as the speakers shall give them permission, 
 by repeating the sentence, " Laisseir, les aler," Let them go on. After they 
 have sufficiently performed their exercises, the speakers are to call to the 
 heralds, and order them to "ployer vos baniers," fold up the banners, which is 
 the signal for the conclusion of the tournament. The banners being rolled up, 
 the knights and the esquires are permitted to return to their dwellings. 
 
 Pages and Perquisites of the Kings- at-Arms, etc. — Every knight or 
 esquire performing in the tournament was permitted to have one page, armed, 
 within the lists, but without a truncheon or any other defensive weapon, to wait 
 upon him and give him his sword, or truncheon, as occasion might require ; and 
 also in case of any accident happening to his armour, to amend the same. In 
 after times, three servitors were allowed for this purpose. 
 
 The laws of the tournament permitted any one of the combatants to unhelm 
 himself at pleasure, if he was incommoded by the heat ; none being suffered to 
 assault him in any way, until he had replaced his helmet at the command of the 
 speakers. 
 
 The kings-at-arms, and the heralds who proclaimed the tournament, had 
 the privilege of wearing the blazon of arms of those by whom the sport was 
 instituted ; besides which they were entitled to six ells of scarlet cloth as their 
 fee, and had all their expenses defrayed during the continuation of the tourna- 
 ment : by the law of arms they had a right to the helmet of every knight when 
 he made his first essay at the tournament, which became their perquisite as soon 
 as the sports were concluded ; they also claimed every one of them six crowns 
 as nail money, for affixing the blazon of arms to the pavilions. The kings-at- 
 arms held the banners of the two chief barons on the day of the tournament, 
 and the other heralds the banners of their confederates according to their rank. 
 
 Preliminaries of the Tournament. — An illumination to a manuscript 
 romance in the Royal Library,^ entitled Si Graal, written in the thirteenth 
 century, represents the manner in which the two chief barons anciently entered 
 the lists at the commencement of a tournament. The king-at-arms standing in 
 the midst of the ground holds both the banners, and the instruments of the 
 minstrels are ornamented with the blazonry of the arms (plate seventeen). The 
 action of the two combatants, who have not yet received their weapons, seems to 
 be that of appealing to heaven in proof of their having no charm to protect them, 
 and no inclination to make use of any unlawful means to secure the conquest ; 
 which I believe was a ceremony usually practised upon such occasions. 
 
 In the reign of Henry V. a statute was enacted by the parliament, con- 
 taining the following regulations relative to the tournaments, which regulations 
 were said to have been established at the request of all the nobility of England.* 
 The act prohibits any combatant from entering the lists with more than three 
 esquires to bear his arms, and wait upon him for that day. In another clause it 
 
 1 No. 14, E. iii. a Harl. MS. 69. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 121 
 
 is said, If any of the great lords, or others, keep a public table, they shall not be 
 allowed any additional esquires, excepting those who carve for them. It further 
 specifies, that no knight or esquire, who was appointed to attend in the lists as a 
 servitor, should wear a sword or a dagger, or carry a truncheon, or any other 
 weapon excepting a large sword used in the tournament ; and that A\\ the com- 
 batants who bore lances, should be armed with breastplates, thigh -pieces, 
 shoulder -pieces, and bascinets, without any other kind of armour. No earl, 
 baron, or knight might presume to infringe upon the regulations of this statute, 
 under the forfeiture of his horse and his arms, and the pain of imprisonment for 
 a certain space of time, at the pleasure of the governors of the tournament. 
 Another clause, which probably refers to such as were not combatants for the 
 day, runs thus : No one except the great lords, that is to say, earls or barons, 
 shall be armed otherwise than above expressed ; nor bear a sword, pointed 
 knife, mace, or other weapon, except the sword for the tournament. In case of 
 transgression, he forfeited his horse, and was obnoxious to imprisonment for one 
 year. If an esquire transgressed the law in any point, he not only lost his horse 
 and his arms, but was sent to prison for three years. But if the knights or 
 esquires in the above cases were possessed of lands, and appeared in arms for 
 the service of their lords, it seems they might recover their horses. The " Roys 
 des harnoys," kings-at-arms, the heralds, and the minstrels, were commanded 
 not to wear any kind of sharp weapons, but to have the swords without points 
 wh-'rh belonged to them. Those who came as spectators on horseback were 
 strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of armour, or to bear any offensive 
 weapons, under the penalty that was appointed to the esquires ; and no boy or 
 man on foot, coming for the same purpose, might appear with a sword, dagger, 
 cudgel, or lance ; they were to be punished with one year's imprisonment in case 
 of disobedience to the statute. 
 
 Lists for Ordeal Combats. — The lists for the tilts and tournaments 
 resembled those, I doubt not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according 
 to the rules established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., 
 were as follows : " The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists shall be 
 made and devised by the constable ; and it is to be observed, that the list must 
 be sixty paces long and forty paces broad, set up in good order, and the ground 
 within hard, stable, and level, without any great stones or other impediments ; 
 also that the lists must be made with one door to the east, and another to the 
 west, and strongly barred about with good bars seven feet high or more, so that 
 a horse may not be able to leap over them."^ 
 
 Respect paid to Ladies in the Tournament. — After the conclusion of 
 the tournament, the combatants, as we have seen above, returned to their 
 dwellings ; but in the evening they met again in some place appropriated for the 
 purpose, where they were joined by the ladies, and others of the nobility who 
 had been spectators of the sports ; and the time, we are told, was passed in 
 
 ' Cotton MS. Nero D. vi. and Harl.^MS. 69, u( sufra. 
 
122 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 feasting, dancing, singing, and making merry. But, " after the noble supper and 
 dancing," according to the ancient ordinance above quoted, the speakers of the 
 tournament called together the heralds appointed on both parties, and demanded 
 from them, alternately, the names of those who had best performed upon the 
 opposite sides ; the double list of names was then presented to the ladies who 
 had been present at the pastime, and the decision was referred to them 
 respecting the awardment of the prizes ; ^ who selected one name for each party, 
 and, as a peculiar mark of their esteem, the favourite champions received the 
 rewards of their merits from the hands of two young virgins of quality. The 
 statutes and ordinances for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, earl of 
 Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., in the sixth year of his reign, 
 conclude thus : " Reserving always to the queenes highness and the ladyes 
 there present, the attribution and gift of the prize after the manner and 
 forme accustomed." ^ 
 
 Neither was this the only deference that was paid to the fair sex by the 
 laws of the tournament, for we are told, that if a knight conducted himself with 
 any impropriety, or transgressed the ordinances of the sport, he was excluded 
 from the lists with a sound beating, which was liberally bestowed upon him by 
 the other knights with their truncheons, to punish his temerity, and to teach 
 him to respect the honour of the ladies and the rights of chivalry ; the un- 
 fortunate culprit had no other resource in such case for escaping without mischief, 
 but by supplicating the mercy of the fair sex, and humbly intreating them to 
 interpose their authority on his behalf, because the suspension of his punishment 
 depended entirely upon their intercession. 
 
 Jousts inferior to Tournaments. — The joust or lance-game, in Latin 
 jusia, and in Yrenchjouste, which some derive irom. Jocare, because it was a sort 
 of sportive combat, undertaken for pastime only, differed materially, as before 
 observed, from the tournament, the former being often included in the latter, 
 and usually took place when the grand tournamental conflict was finished. But 
 at the same time it was perfectly consistent with the rules of chivalry, for the 
 jousts to be held separately ; it was, however, considered as a pastime inferior 
 to the tournament, for which reason a knight, who had paid his fees for per- 
 mission to joust, was not thereby exempted from the fees of the tournament ; 
 but, on the contrary, if he had discharged his duties at the tournament, he was 
 privileged to joust without being liable to any further demand. This distinction 
 seems to have arisen from the weapons used, the sword being appropriated to 
 the tournament, and the lance to the joust, and so it is stated in an old document 
 cited by Du Cange.^ "When," says this author, "a nobleman makes 'his first 
 appearance in the tournament, his helmet is claimed by the heralds, notwith- 
 standing his having jousted before, because the lance cannot give the freedom 
 of the sword, which the sword can do of the lance ; for it is to be observed, that 
 
 1 " Avec une grele de coups.'' Encyclop. Fran, in voce tournoi. 
 ' Harl. MS. 69. ' Glossary, in voce justa. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 123 
 
 he who has paid his helmet at the tournament is freed from the payment of a 
 second helmet at the joust ; but the helmet paid at jousting does not exclude 
 the claim of the heralds when a knight first enters the lists at the tournament." 
 
 The Round Table. — The joust, as a military pastime, is mentioned by 
 William of Malmsbury, and said to have been practised in the reign of king 
 Stephen.! During the government of Henry III. the joust assumed a different 
 appellation, and was also called the Round Table game.^ This name was 
 derived from a fraternity of knights who frequently jousted with each other, and 
 accustomed themselves to eat together in one apartment, and, in order to set 
 aside all distinction of rank or quality, seated themselves at a circular table, 
 where every place was equally honourable. Athenaeus, cited by Du Cange,^ 
 says, the knights sat round the table, bearing their shields at their backs : I 
 suppose for safety sake. Our historians attribute the institution of the round 
 table to Arthur, the son of Uter Pendragon, a celebrated British hero, whose 
 achievements are so disguised with legendary wonders, that it has been doubted 
 if such a person ever existed in reality. 
 
 In the eighth year of the reign of Edward I., Roger de Mortimer,* a noble- 
 man of great opulence, established a round table at Kenil worth, for the en- 
 couragement of military pastimes ; where one hundred knights, with as many 
 ladies, were entertained at his expense. The fame of this institution occasioned, 
 we are told, a great influx of foreigners, who came either to initiate themselves, 
 or make some public proof of their prowess. About seventy years afterwards 
 Edward III. erected a splendid table of the same kind at Windsor, but upon a 
 more extensive scale. It contained the area of a circle two hundred feet in 
 diameter; and the weekly expense for the maintenance of this table, when it 
 was first established, amounted to one hundred pounds ; which, afterwards, was 
 reduced to twenty pounds, on account of the large sums of money required for 
 the prosecution of the war with France. This receptacle for military men gave 
 continual occasion for the exercise of arms, and afforded to the young nobility 
 an opportunity of learning, by the way of pastime, all the requisites of a soldier. 
 The example of king Edward was followed by Philip of Valois, king of France, 
 who also instituted a round table at his court, and by that means drew thither 
 many German and Italian knights who were coming to England.^ The contest 
 between the two monarchs seems to have had the effect of destroying the 
 establishment of the round table in both kingdoms, for after this period we hear 
 no more concerning it. In England the round table was succeeded by the 
 Order of the Garter, the ceremonial parts of which order are retained to this 
 day, but the spirit of the institution ill accords with the present manners. 
 
 ' " Pugnae facere quod justam vocant." Hist. Nmella, fol. io6, sub an. 1142. 
 
 ^ Matthew Paris properly distinguishes it from the tournament. " Non hastiludio, quod torneamentum dicitur, sed 
 — ludo militari, qui mensa rotunda dicitur." Hist. Angl. sub an. 1252. 
 ' Glossary, in voce Mensa Rotunda. 
 
 * Rogerus de Mortuo Mari. Tho. Walsingham, Hist. Angl. sub an. 1280, fol. 8. 
 
 • Tho. Walsingham, Hist. Angl. sub an. 1344, fol. 154. 
 
124 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Nature of the Jousts. — The cessation of the round table occasioned little 
 or no alteration respecting the jousts which had been practised by the knights 
 belonging to it; they continued to be fashionable throughout the annals of 
 chivalry, and latterly superseded the tournaments, which is by no means sur- 
 prising, when we recollect that the one was a confused engagement of many 
 knights together, and the other a succession of combats between two only at 
 one time, which gave them all an equal opportunity of showing individually their 
 dexterity and attracting the general notice. 
 
 In the jousts the combatants most commonly used spears without heads of 
 iron ; and the excellency of the performance consisted in striking the opponent 
 upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him backwards from his horse or 
 break the spear. Froissart^ mentions a trick used by Reynaud de Roy, at a 
 tilting match between him and John de Holland : he fastened his helmet so 
 slightly upon his head that it gave way, and was beaten off by every stroke that 
 was made upon the vizor with the lance of John of Holland, and of course the 
 shock he received was not so great as it would have been, had he made the 
 helmet fast to the cuirass ; this artifice was objected to by the English on the 
 part of Holland ; but John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was present, 
 permitted Roye to use his pleasure ; though he at the same time declared, that 
 for his part, he should prefer a contrary practice, and have his helmet fastened 
 as strongly as possible. And again the same historian, speaking of a jousting 
 between Thomas Harpingham and Sir John de Barres, says, "As me thought 
 the usage was thanne, their helmes wer tied but with a lace, to the entente the 
 spere should take no hold " ; by which it seems the trick became more common 
 afterwards.^ 
 
 On plate eighteen is a representation of the joust, taken from a manuscript 
 in the Royal Library ,3 of the thirteenth, or early in the fourteenth century, 
 where two knights appear in the action of tilting at each other with the blunted 
 spears. 
 
 This delineation was made before the introduction of the barrier, which was 
 a boarded railing erected in the midst of the lists, but open at both ends, and 
 between four and five feet in height. In performing the jousts, the two com- 
 batants rode on separate sides of the barrier, and were thereby prevented from 
 running their horses upon each other. 
 
 *This dividing of the lists was at first done by having a long cloth {toile) 
 suspended on a rope along the centre of the ground. The riders stationed them- 
 selves one at each side and end of this toile, which was called in English the 
 tilt.* The first time the tilt is mentioned in the chronicles of Froissart and 
 Monstrelet is on the occasion of some jousting at Dijon in 1443 ; it was not 
 introduced until the beginning of the fifteenth century. At Dijon on this 
 
 ^ Vol. iii. chap. lix. 
 ^ Froissart, vol. iii. chap, cxxxiii. fol. 148, Lord Berners' translation. ' No. 14, E. iii. 
 
 * This word in its original signification tarries with us in the term " waggon-ft'A," which means a canvas cover. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 125 
 
 occasion the cloth and cord, or tilt, was six feet high. This form of tilt or 
 division was soon, however, found to be ineffective and occasionally dangerous, 
 and gave way generally, by the middle of the fifteenth century, to a wooden 
 partition. The rules for tilting, or jousting over the tilt, were, according to 
 Viscount Dillon, to this effect : ^ — 
 
 Breaking a spear between the saddle and the fastening of the helmet to the breast i point 
 
 Breaking a spear above this place ...... 2 points 
 
 Breaking a spear so as to unhorse the opponent or unarm him, so that he could 
 
 not run the next course ....... 3 points 
 
 But- 
 Breaking a spear on the saddle forfeited ..... i point 
 
 Striking the tilt once forfeited ....... 2 points 
 
 Striking the tilt twice forfeited ....... 3 points 
 
 *The striking of a horse or an opponent on the back, or after he was dis- 
 armed, or striking the tilt thrice, disqualified the offender from further contention. 
 
 *In Henry VIII. 's reign this tilting was frequently practised. The grand 
 tilting of the king and chief nobjes is splendidly pourtrayed on the Tournament 
 Roll of the Heralds' College. 
 
 *Tilting, notwithstanding all precautions, was a dangerous sport. On the 
 occasion of king Francis' marriage at Paris in February 151 5, the duke of 
 Suffolk wrote to Henry VIII. that many had been hurt at the tilting, and one in 
 the throat like to die.^ At the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, where both 
 Henry and Francis distinguished themselves, a Frenchman died of a blow he 
 had received on the previous day. 
 
 *There were permanent tilt-yards in the sixteenth century at Westminster, 
 Hampton Court, and Greenwich. The tilt is marked on old maps of West- 
 minster ; it was on the site of the Horse Guards Parade, and the guardroom 
 there is still known as the Tilt Guard. In the Tower collection are several fine 
 examples of the tilt lance. The largest is that attributed to Charles Brandon, 
 duke of Suffolk ; its total length is 14 ft. 4 in., and the girth just in front of the 
 grip is 27^ in. ; it is hollow and weighs 20 lbs. Six other examples average 
 twelve feet in length. 
 
 Jousts peculiarly in Honour of the Ladies. — We have seen that 
 the privilege of distributing the prizes and remitting the punishment of offenders 
 was, by the laws of the tournament, invested with the fair sex, but at the jousts 
 their authority was much more extensive. In the days of chivalry the jousts 
 were usually made in honour of the ladies, who presided as judges paramount 
 over the sports, and their determinations were in all cases decisive ; hence in 
 the spirit of romance, arose the necessity for every "true knight" to have a 
 favourite fair one, who was not only esteemed by him as the paragon of beauty 
 and of virtue, but supplied the place of a tutelar saint, to whom he paid his 
 
 ' Archaolosical Journal, v. 296-321, " Tilting inTudor Times.'' ^ Calig. D. vi. fol. 165. 
 
126 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 vows and addressed himself in the day of peril ; or it seems to have been an 
 established doctrine, that love made valour perfect, and incited the heroes to 
 undertake great enterprises. " Oh that my lady saw me ! " said one of them as 
 he was mounting a breach at the head of his troops and driving the enemy 
 before him. The French writer St Foix, who mentions this,^ says in another 
 place, " It is astonishing that no author has remarked the origin of this devotion 
 in the manners of the Germans, our ancestors, as drawn by Tacitus, who," he 
 tells us, "attributed somewhat of divinity to the fair sex."^ Sometimes it 
 seems the knights were armed and unarmed by the ladies ; but this, I presume, 
 was a peculiar mark of their favour, and only used upon particular occasions, 
 as, for instance, when the heroes undertook an achievement on their behalf, or 
 combating in defence of their beauty or their honour.^ 
 
 Great Splendour of these Sports attractive to the Nobility. — 
 At the celebration of these pastimes, the lists were superbly decorated, and 
 surrounded by the pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their 
 arms, banners, and banerolls. The scaffolds for the reception of the nobility 
 of both sexes who came as spectators, and those especially appointed for the 
 royal family, were hung with tapestry and embroideries of gold and silver. 
 Every person, upon such occasions, appeared to the greatest advantage, decked 
 in sumptuous array, and every part of the field presented to the eye a rich 
 display of magnificence. We may also add the splendid appearance of the 
 knights engaged in the sports ; themselves and their horses were most gorgeously 
 arrayed, and their esquires and pages, together with the minstrels and heralds 
 who superintended the ceremonies, were all of them clothed in costly and 
 glittering apparel. Such a show of pomp, where wealth, beauty, and grandeur 
 were concentred, as it were, in one focus, must altogether have formed a 
 wonderful spectacle, and made a strong impression on the mind, which was not 
 a little heightened by the cries of the heralds, the clangour of the trumpets, 
 the clashing of the arms, the rushing together of the combatants, and the shouts 
 of the beholders ; and hence the popularity of these exhibitions may be easily 
 accounted for. 
 
 The tournament and the joust, and especially the latter, afforded to those 
 who were engaged in them an opportunity of appearing before the ladies to 
 the greatest advantage ; they might at once display their taste and opulence 
 by the costliness and elegancy of their apparel, and their prowess as soldiers ; 
 therefore these pastimes became fashionable among the nobility ; and it was 
 probably for the same reason that they were prohibited to the commoners. 
 
 Toys for initiating Children in these Sports. — Persons of rank 
 were taught in their childhood to relish such exercises as were of a martial 
 
 ^ Essais Hist, sur Paris, vol. iii. p. 263. ^ Ibid. vol. i. p. 327. 
 
 ' As the ladies, say some modern authors, were V&me, the sonl of the jousts, it was proper that they should be 
 therein distinguished by some peculiar homage ; and accordingly, at the termination of a joust with lances, the last 
 course was made in honour of the sex, and called the lance of the ladies. The same deference was paid to them in 
 single combats with the sword, the axe, and the dagger. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 127 
 
 nature, and the very toys that were put into their hands as playthings were 
 calculated to bias the mind in their favour. These toy figures could be readily 
 separated from the horses, and were so contrived as to be thrown back- 
 wards by a smart blow upon the top of the shield or the front of his helmet, 
 and replaced again with much ease ; two such toys were requisite, and by the 
 concussion of the spears and shields, if dexterously managed, one or both 
 of the men were cast to the ground. These toys, as we may see on plate 
 sixteen, from a curious engraving on wood by Hans Burgmair, which makes 
 one of a series of prints representing the history and achievements of the 
 emperor Maximilian the First, were pushed by the hand upon a table towards 
 each other. 
 
 Boat Jousts, or Tilting on the Water. — It has been previously observed, 
 that all persons below the rank of an esquire were excluded from the jousts and 
 the tournaments ; but the celebration of these pastimes attracted the common 
 mind in a very powerful manner, and led to the institution of sports, that bore 
 at least some resemblance to them : tilting at the quintain was generally practised 
 at a very early period,^ and jousting upon the ice by the young Londoners. The 
 early inclination to join in such kind of pastimes is strongly indicated by the two 
 boys represented upon the top of plate eighteen : the place of the horse is 
 supplied by a long switch, and that of a lance by another. The original delinea- 
 tion occurs in a beautiful MS. book of prayers, written in the fourteenth century, 
 in the possession of Mr Douce. Here we may also add the boat jousts, or tilt- 
 ing upon the water. The representation of a pastime of this kind is given at 
 the bottom of the same plate, from a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the 
 Royal Library.^ 
 
 The conqueror at these jousts was the champion who could dexterously 
 turn aside the blow of his antagonist with his shield, and at the same time strike 
 him with his lance in such a manner as to overthrow him into the river, himself 
 remaining unmoved from his station ; and perhaps not a little depended upon 
 the skill of the rowers. When queen Elizabeth visited Sandwich in 1573, she 
 was entertained with a tilting upon the water, "where certain wallounds that 
 could well swym had prepared two boates, and in the middle of each boate was 
 placed a borde, upon which borde there stood a man, and so they met together, 
 with either of them a staff and a shield of wood ; and one of them did overthrowe 
 another, at which the queene had good sport." ^ The same kind of laughable 
 pastime was practised at London, as we learn from Stow. " I have seen," says 
 he, " in the summer season, upon the river of Thames, some rowed in wherries, 
 with staves in their hands flat at the fore end, running one against another, and 
 for the most part one or both of them were overthrown and well ducked." 
 
 Challenges to all Comers. — I shall now conclude this long chapter with 
 the two following extracts from a manuscript in the Harleian Collection.* Six 
 gentlemen challenged " all commers at the just roial, to runne in osting harnies 
 
 ^ See sect. vii. p. ii8. ^ No. I, B. vii. ^ Nichols' Progresses, vol. i. p. 56. * No. 69. 
 
128 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 along a tilte, and to strike thirteen strokes with swordes, in honour of the 
 marriage of Richard duke of York ^ with the Lady Anne, daughter to the duke 
 of Norfolk." 
 
 When Henry VII. created his second son Henry prince of Wales, four 
 gentlemen offered their service upon the occasion. First, they made a declara- 
 tion that they do not undertake this enterprise in any manner of presumption, 
 but only "for the laude and honour of the feaste, the pleasure of the ladyes, 
 and their owne learning, and exercise of deedes of armes, and to ensewe the 
 ancient laudable customs." 
 
 They then promised to be ready at Westminster on a given day, the 
 twenty-fourth of November, to keep the jousts in a place appointed for that 
 purpose by the king. To be there by " eleven of the clock before noone to 
 answer all gentlemen commers, and to runne with every commer one after 
 another, six courses ensewingly ; and to continue that daye as long as it shal 
 like the kynges grace, and to tilt with such speares as he shall ordeyn, of the 
 which speares, the commers shall have the choise ; but if the said six courses 
 by every one of the commers shall be performed, and the day not spent in 
 pleasure and sport according to the effect of these articles, it shall then be 
 lawful for the said commers to begin six other courses, and so continue one 
 after another as long as it shall be at the king's pleasure. If it shall happen 
 to any gentleman that his horse fayleth him, or himself be unarmed in such wise 
 as he cannot conveniently accomplish the whole courses, then it shall be lawful 
 for his felowe to finish up the courses." 
 
 Again, they promise upon a second day, the twenty-ninth of November, 
 to be in readiness to mount their horses at the same place and hour as before, 
 to tourney with four other gentlemen, with such swordes as the king shall 
 ordain, until eighteen strokes be given by one of them to the other ; and add 
 that it shall be lawful to strike all manner of ways, the foyne only excepted, 
 and the commers shall have their choice of the swords. Here it may be 
 observed, that to foyne, is to thrust, as in fencing, which was exceedingly 
 dangerous when the swords were pointed. The author of a MS. poem, in the 
 Cotton Collection,^ frequently referred to in the course of this work, entitled 
 Knyghthode and Batayle, says, in fighting with an enemy, " to foyne is better 
 than to smyte," and afterwards two inches, " entre foyned," hurteth more than 
 a broader wound with the edge of a sword. 
 
 "Whosoever," continues the Harleian manuscript, "shall certifye and give 
 knowledge of his name and of his comming to one of the three kings of arms, 
 whether it be to the jousts or at the tourney, he shall be first answered, the 
 states alwayes reserved which shall have the preheminence. If any one of the 
 said commers shall think the swordes or spears be too easy for him, the said 
 four gentlemen will be redye to answer him or them after their owne minde, 
 the king's licence obteyned in that behalf." 
 
 ' Son to king Edward IV., who lost his life with his brother Edward in the Tower. ' Titus, A. xxiii. part i. fol. 7. 
 
JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 129 
 
 The gentlemen then entreat the king to sign the articles with his own 
 hand, as sufficient licence for the heralds to publish the same in such places as 
 might be thought requisite. The king accepted their offer, and granted their 
 petition ; at the same time he promised to reward the best performer at the 
 jousts royal with a ring of gold set with a ruby ; and the best performer at the 
 tournament with another golden ring set with a diamond, equal in value to 
 the former. 
 
 Upon some particular occasions the strokes with the sword were per- 
 formed on foot, and so were the combats with the axes ; the champions having, 
 generally, a barrier of wood breast-high between them. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Ancient Plays — Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, etc. continued several days — The Coventry Play — Mysteries 
 described — How enlivened — The " Pageant " or Stage — Cornish Miracle Plays— Moralities described — Secular 
 Plays — Interludes — Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his Time — Plays on Holy Days — Royal Companies 
 of Players — The Puritans — Court Plays — Play in honour of the Princess Mary's Marriage— The Play of Hock- 
 Tuesday — Decline of Secular Plays — Sir Miles Stapleton and Yorkshire Players — Origin of Puppet Plays — Nature 
 of the Performances — Giants and other Puppet Characters — Puppet Plays superseded by Pantomimes — The 
 modern Puppet-show Man — Moving Pictures described. 
 
 ANCIENT Plays. — It is not my design to enter deeply upon the origin and 
 progress of scenic exhibitions in England : this subject has already been 
 so ably discussed, that very little new matter can be found to excite the 
 public attention : I shall, therefore, be as brief as possible, and confine myself 
 chiefly to the lower species of comic pastimes, many of which may justly claim 
 the sanction of high antiquity. 
 
 Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, etc. continued several Days. 
 — The theatrical exhibitions in London, in the twelfth century, were called 
 Miracles, because they consisted of sacred plays, or representations of the 
 miracles wrought by the holy confessors, and the sufferings by which the 
 perseverance of the martyrs was manifested.^ Such subjects were certainly 
 very properly chosen, because the church was usually the theatre wherein these 
 pious dramas were performed, and the actors were the ecclesiastics or their 
 scholars.^ The first play of this kind specified by name, is that of St Katherine, 
 Ludus de St Katharine. According to Matthew Paris, it was written by 
 Geoffrey, a Norman, afterwards abbot of St Albans : he was sent over into 
 England by abbot Richard, to take upon him the direction of the school belong- 
 ing to that monastery, but coming too late, he went to Dunstable and taught 
 there, where he caused his play to be performed about the year iiio, and 
 borrowed from the sacrist of St Albans some of the choir copes of the 
 abbey, to adorn the actors. 
 
 *In the first half of the twelfth century three Latin plays were composed by 
 Hilarius, an Englishman of French education ; they deal respectively with the 
 stories of Daniel, Lazarus, and St Nicholas. The earliest known manuscript 
 that gives any sequence of Scriptural plays dates from the same century, and 
 pertains to Tours, in France. In this series occurs the first mention of a stage 
 
 ^ Fitzstephen's Description of London. 
 
 ' *Dr A. W. Ward, in his English Dramatic Literature {1899), vol. i. chap, i, has pointed out how the dramatic illus- 
 tration of the liturgy of the Church, such as the Office of the Shepherds after the Te Deum on Christmas Day, or the use 
 of the Sepulchre in Holy Week, gradually developed into the popular mystery plays. 
 
 See, too, the opening chapter of The English Religious Drama, by K. L. Bates, 1893. 
 
 130 
 
MYSTERIES 131 
 
 erected outside the church door. From that date the plays which had originated 
 in the quire, and hence transferred to the nave of the church, took up their position 
 in the churchyard. In the thirteenth century various bishops protested against 
 the use of churchyards as consecrated places for the miracle plays with their 
 somewhat coarse associations, and priests were often forbidden to take part in 
 them. Nevertheless, down to Reformation days, these dramas were usually 
 written by the clergy and controlled by them, whilst the actors were frequently 
 drawn from the ranks of the minor orders of the ministry and from the friars. 
 Particularly was this the case with the parish clerks, like Chaucer's "Joly 
 Absolon," of whom the poet says : — 
 
 Sometimes to show his lightness and maistrie. 
 He plaieth Herod on a scaffold hie. 
 
 According to the Wife of Bath's prologue in the Canterbury Tales, the 
 miracle plays of Chaucer's days were exhibited during the season of Lent, and 
 sometimes a sequel of Scripture histories was carried on for several days. In 
 the reign of Richard II. (1391) the parish clerks of London put forth a play at 
 Skinners Wells, near Smithfield, which continued three days ; the king, queen, 
 and many of the nobility, being present at the performance.^ In the succeeding 
 reign, 10 Henry IV. a.d. 1409, another play was acted by them at the same 
 place, and lasted eight days ; this drama began with the creation of the world, 
 and contained the greater part of the history of the Old and New Testament. 
 It does not appear to have been honoured with the royal presence, but was well 
 attended by most of the nobility and gentry of the realm. 
 
 *Although Gregory IX. prohibited in strong terms the exhibition of 
 dramatic spectacles in consecrated places, and secured their prohibition by the 
 Council of Treves in 1227, the first year of his papacy, the Church almost 
 inadvertently gave a great impetus to religious pageantry and plays at the 
 hands of one of his immediate successors. Pope Urban IV, instituted the 
 festival of Corpus Christi in 1263, and its general use was established by the 
 Council of Vienne in 1 3 1 1 . The peculiar honour paid to this new festival by 
 the trading gilds and corporations of our English towns and cities led to their 
 seizing on the occasion of the great Corpus Christi procession as the appropriate 
 time for the setting forth of the miracle plays with much pageantry. 
 
 *Chester claims by tradition to have been the first, circa 1 2 70, to start its 
 cycle of Corpus Christi plays. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it is 
 known that religious plays were performed at Bassingbourne, Bath, Bethersden, 
 Beverley, Cambridge, Coventry, Heybridge, Kendal, Lancaster, Leeds, Lincoln, 
 London, Morebath, Newcastle - on -Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Oxford, 
 Preston, Reading, Shrewsbury, Sleaford, Tewkesbury, Tintinhull, Winchester, 
 Worcester, Woodkirk near Wakefield, Wymondham, and York. Such a list as 
 this proves how thoroughly these religious plays had taken hold of the English 
 
 ^ Stow's Survey of London, p. 76. 
 
t32 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 people, especially as the names given are probably not a tithe of those whose 
 definite performances of this character were regularly enacted. At several of 
 these places, not only in villages of Somersetshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent or 
 Essex, but in small towns such as Reading and Tewkesbury, the churchwardens' 
 accounts are charged with the expenses of the performance. This points to the 
 probability that, where there were no flourishing trading gilds to support them, 
 these performances were carried on under a certain amount of clerical direction. 
 The Coventry Play. — The best known of these mysteries is that entitled 
 Corpus Christi, or Ludus Coventrie, the Coventry Play ; transcripts of this play, 
 nearly if not altogether coeval with the time of its representation, are yet in 
 existence ; one in particular is preserved in the Cotton Library.^ The prologue 
 to this curious drama is delivered by three persons, who speak alternately, and 
 are called vexillators ; it contains the argument of the several pageants, or acts, 
 that constitute the piece, and they amount to no less than forty ; and every one 
 of these acts consists of a detached subject from the Holy Writ, beginning with 
 the creation of the universe and concluding with the last judgment. In the 
 first pageant, or act, the Deity is represented seated on His throne by Himself, 
 delivering a speech of forty lines beginning thus : 
 
 Ego sum de Alpha et Omega principium et finis. 
 
 My name is knowyn God and Kynge, 
 My worke for to make now wyl I wende. 
 In myself restyth my reyneynge, 
 It hath no gynnyg ne non ende. 
 
 The angels then enter, singing from the Te Deum, " To Thee all angels 
 cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein ; To Thee Cherubin and 
 Seraphin continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth." Lucifer 
 next makes his appearance, and desires to know if the hymn they sang was in 
 honour of God or in honour of him ? The good angels readily reply, in honour 
 of God; the evil angels incline to worship Lucifer, and he presumes to seat 
 himself in the throne of the Deity, who commands him to depart from heaven 
 to hell, which dreadful sentence he is compelled to obey, and with his wicked 
 associates descends to the lower regions. I have given a much fuller account of 
 this curious mystery in the third volume of the Manners and Customs of the 
 English People, with long extracts, and from several others nearly equal in 
 antiquity, to which the reader is referred. This play was acted by the Friars 
 Minors, or Mendicant Friars, of Coventry ; and commenced on Corpus Christi 
 day, whence it received its title.^ 
 
 ' Vesp. D. viii. 
 
 ' "It is thought best to leave Strutt's brief account of the Coventry Play and his subsequent reference to the two 
 plays of St Paul and St Mary Magdalene just as they were issued in 1801. To attempt to deal with this great subject 
 in a page or two would be altogether vain, for so much has come to light during the nineteenth century about these 
 miracle plays, and they have been subjected to so much critical scholarship. In addition to Miss Bates's admirable 
 English Religious Drama, already cited, Hone's Ancient Mysteries Described, Pollard's English Miracle Plays, and 
 Wright's Early Mysteries may be named. A large number of the original cycles of plays of Chester, Coventry, 
 Woodkirk, and York are extant, and many have been separately edited. There is a good bibliography at the end of 
 Miss Bates's book. 
 
MYSTERIES 133 
 
 Mysteries Described. — The mysteries often consisted of single subjects, 
 and made but one performance. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford^ I met with 
 two mysteries that to the best of my knowledge have not been mentioned : the 
 subject of one is the conversion of Saint Paul, and of the other the casting out 
 of the devils from Mary Magdalene; they are both very old and imperfect, 
 especially the latter, which seems to want several leaves. The first is entitled 
 Saulus; and after a short prologue the stage direction follows, " Here outeyth 
 Saul, goodly besene in the best wyse lyke an adventrous knyth, thus sayynge : 
 
 Most dowtyd man, I am lyvynge upon the grounde 
 Goodly besene with many a ryche harlement ; 
 My pere on lyve I trow ys nott yfound 
 Thorow the world, fro the oryent to the occydent." 
 
 The interlocutors, besides the poet who speaks the prologue, and Saul, are 
 Caiaphas, Ananias, first and second soldiers, the " Stabularyus," or hostler, the 
 servant, and Belial. 
 
 Mysteries, how Enlivened. — Notwithstanding the seriousness of the 
 subjects that constituted these mysteries, it seems clear that they were not 
 exhibited without a portion of pantomimical fun to make them palatable to the 
 vulgar taste ; and indeed the length and the dulness of the speeches required 
 some such assistance to enliven them, and keep the spectators in good humour ; 
 and this may be the reason why the mysteries are in general much shorter than 
 the modern plays, Beelzebub seems to have been the principal comic actor, 
 assisted by his merry troop of under-devils, who, with variety of noises, strange 
 gestures, and contortions of the body, excited the laughter of the populace.'' 
 
 *In towns such as York, Chester, and Coventry, where the cycle of plays 
 was divided into a number of pageants or acts that extended over several days, 
 great care was taken that the scenes should be divided amongst those gilds or 
 companies who could most readily furnish the desired "properties." Thus the 
 shipwrights were called upon to build up Noah's ark, the plasterers to represent 
 the creation of the earth, the goldsmiths to have charge of the Adoration of the 
 Magi, the vintners the turning of water into wine, and the bakers the 
 Last Supper. 
 
 *The " Pageant" or Stage. — The term pageant was originally applied in 
 England to the movable platform that served as a stage, and hence to the play 
 exhibited upon it. The original pageant was a wooden structure of two stories 
 on wheels, the lower of which was the "green room," and the upper the stage 
 proper. Archdeacon Rogers, who died in 1595, and who saw the Whitsuntide 
 
 'Digby, 113. 
 
 ' *Dr Ward, in his discussion of the literary features of these mystery plays (English Dramatic Literature, vol. i. 
 pp. 63, 64), has some admirable remarks on the homeliness and vigour of their style, from which the following sentence 
 may be quoted : — " It certainly would not have occurred either to author or audience that the former were dishonouring 
 the sacred narrative by patching it with rude lappets of their own invention ; or that a bit of buffoonery introduced into 
 a religious play implied irreverence towards its holy theme, any more than a grotesque head disfigured the columns in a 
 church of which it diversified the ornamentation." 
 
134 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 plays performed at Chester in the previous year, gives a clear description of 
 these stages and the method of procedure : — 
 
 "The maner of these playes were, every company had his pagiant, w"* 
 pagiante were a high scafold with 2 roomes, a higher and a lower, upon 4 
 wheeles. In the lower they apparelled themselves, and in the higher roome they 
 played, beinge all open on the tope, that all behoulders might heare and see 
 them. The places where they played them was in every streete. They began 
 first at the Abay gates, and when the first pagiante was played, it was wheeled 
 to the highe crosse before the Mayor, and so to every streete, and soe every 
 streete had a pagiante playing before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for 
 the day appointed were played, and when one pagiant was neere ended, worde 
 was brought from streete to streete, that soe they might come in place thereof, 
 exceedinge orderly."^ 
 
 Cornish Miracle Plays. — In Cornwall the miracle plays were differently 
 represented : they were not performed in the churches, nor under any kind of 
 cover, but in the open air, as we learn from Carew, whose words upon this 
 subject are as follow : " The guary-miracle, in English, a miracle play, is a kind 
 of interlude compiled in Cornish out of some scripture history, with that gross- 
 ness which accompanied the Romanes vetus comedia. For representing it, they 
 raise an earthen amphitheatre in some open field, having the diameter of his 
 enclined plain some forty or fifty feet. The country people flock from all sides 
 many miles of, to hear and see it, for they have therein devils and devices to 
 delight as well the eye as the eare. The players conne not their parts without 
 booke, but are prompted by one called the ordinary, who followeth at their backs 
 with the book in his hand, and telleth them what to say."^ In the Harleian 
 Library is preserved a miracle play of this kind in the Cornish language, written 
 by William Gordon, a.d. 161 i, accompanied with an English translation by John 
 Keygwyn, a.d. 1693. ^^ begins with the creation and ends with Noah's flood. 
 Noah himself concludes the play, with an address to the spectators, desiring them 
 to "come to-morrow betimes" to see another play on the redemption of man; 
 and then speaking to the musicians, says, " Musicians, play to us, that we may 
 dance together as is the manner of the sport." This species of amusement 
 continued to be exhibited in Cornwall long after the abolition of the miracles 
 and moralities in the other parts of the kingdom, and when the establishment of 
 regular plays had taken place.^ 
 
 Moralities Described. — When the mysteries ceased to be played, the 
 subjects for the drama were not taken from historical facts, but consisted of 
 moral reasonings in praise of virtue and condemnation of vice, on which account 
 they were called Moralities ; and these performances requiring some degree of 
 
 ' See Wright's Introd. to Chester Plays, xix, xx. 
 
 * Survey of Cornwall, Lond. 1602, p. 71. 
 
 ' *Three of these Cornish miracle plays, in the native Cymric dialect, were edited and translated by Mr Edward 
 Norris, in two volumes, in 1859, under the title, The Ancient Cornish Drama. He considers their date to be fifteenth 
 century, but the language used shows their origin to belong to a period earlier than the fourteenth. 
 
MYSTERIES 13s 
 
 invention, laid the foundation for our modern comedies and tragedies. The 
 dialogues were carried on by allegorical characters, such as Good Doctrine, 
 Charity, Faith, Prudence, Discretion, Death, and the like, and their discourses 
 were of a serious and exceedingly dull cast ; but the province of making the 
 spectators merry, descended from the Devil in the mystery, to Vice or Iniquity 
 of the morality, who usually personified some bad quality incident to human 
 nature, as Pride, or Lust, or any other evil propensity. Alluding to the mimicry 
 of this motley character, Jonson, in Epig. 159, has these lines : — 
 
 But the old Vice 
 Acts old Iniquity, and in the fit 
 Of mimicry gets th' opinion of a wit. 
 
 In the Stable of Newes, acted in 1625, it is said, " Iniquity came in like 
 Hokos-pokos in a jugler's jerkin, with false skirts like the knave of clubs " ; and 
 afterward, " Here is never a fiend to carry him, the Vice, away ; besides, he has 
 never a wooden dagger : I'd not give a rush for a Vice that has not a wooden 
 dagger to snap at every one he meetes " : in another part, the Vice is described, 
 " in his long coat, shaking his wooden dagger," Hence it appears this character 
 had a dress peculiar to himself. Philip Stubs, in his Anatomic of Abuses, 
 printed a.d. 1595, says, "You must go to the playhouse if you will learne to 
 play the Vice, to sweare, teare, and blaspheme both heaven and hell " : and 
 again, " Who can call him a wise man, who playeth the part of a Foole or a 
 Vice ? " I remember to have seen a stage direction for the Vice, to lay about 
 him lustily with a great pole, and tumble the characters one over the other 
 with great noise and riot, " for dysport sake." Even when regular tragedies 
 and comedies were introduced upon the stage, we may trace the descendants of 
 this facetious Iniquity in the clowns and the fools which so frequently disgraced 
 them. The great master of human nature, in compliance with the false taste of 
 the age in which he lived, has admitted this motley character into the most 
 serious parts of one of his best tragedies. The propensity to laugh at the 
 expense of good sense and propriety, is well ridiculed in the "Intermeane" at 
 the end of the first act of the Staple of Newes, by Jonson, and again in the 
 prelude to the Careless Shepherdess, a pastoral tragi-comedy by Thomas GofTe, 
 in 1656, where several characters are introduced upon the stage as spectators, 
 waiting for the commencement of the performance. One of them says : — 
 
 Why, I would have a fool in every act, 
 Be't comedy or tragedy : I've laugh'd 
 Until I cr'yd again, to see what faces 
 The rogue will make. Oh ! it does me good 
 To see him hold out's chin, hang down his hands, 
 And twirle his bawble. There is nere a part 
 About him but breaks jests. I heard a fellow 
 Once on the stage, cry doodle doodle dooe 
 Beyond compare ; I'de give th' other shilling 
 To see him act the Changling once again. 
 
 To this another character replies : — 
 
136 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 And so would I ; his part has all the wit, 
 
 For none speakes, carps, and quibbles besides him ; 
 
 I'd rather see him leap, or laugh, or cry, 
 
 Than hear the gravest speech in all the play ; 
 
 I never saw Rheade peeping through the curtain. 
 
 But ravishing joy entered into my heart. 
 
 A boy then comes upon the stage, and the first speaker inquires for the Fool ; 
 but being told he is not to perform that night, he says : — 
 
 Well, since there will be nere a fool i' th' play, 
 I'll have my money again ; the comedy 
 Will be as tedious to me as a sermon. 
 
 Secular Plays. — The plays mentioned in the preceding pages, and 
 especially the miracles and mysteries, differed greatly from the secular plays and 
 interludes which were acted by strolling companies, composed of minstrels, 
 jugglers, tumblers, dancers, bourdours or jesters, and other performers properly 
 qualified for the different parts of the entertainment, which admitted of a variety 
 of exhibitions. These pastimes are of higher antiquity than the ecclesiastical 
 plays ; and they were much relished not only by the vulgar part of the people, 
 but also by the nobility. The courts of the kings of England, and the castles of 
 the great earls and barons, were crowded with the performers of the secular 
 plays, where they were well received and handsomely rewarded. 
 
 Interludes. — The interludes, which, I presume, formed a material part of 
 the performances exhibited by the secular players, were certainly of a jocular 
 nature, consisting probably of facetious or satirical dialogues, calculated ta 
 promote mirth, and therefore they are censured by Matthew Paris ^ as "vain 
 pastimes." Something of this kind was the representation made before king 
 Henry VIII. at Greenwich, in 1528, thus related by Hall: "Two persons 
 plaied a dialogue, the effect whereof was, whether riches were better than love ; 
 and, when they could not agree upon a conclusion, each called in thre knightes 
 all armed ; thre of them woulde have entered the gate of the arche in the middle 
 of the chambre, and the other thre resisted ; and sodenly betweene the six 
 knightes, out of the arche fell downe a bar all gilte, at the which bar the six 
 knightes fought a fair battail, and then they departed, and so went out of the 
 place ; then came in an olde man with a silver herd, and he concluded that love 
 and riches bothe be necessarie for princes, that is to say, by love to be obeyed 
 and served, and with riches to rewarde his lovers and frendes ; and with this 
 conclusion the dialogue ended." We hereby find, that these dialogues were not 
 only a part of the entertainment, but also ingeniously made the vehicles for the 
 introduction of other sports. Sometimes they were of a satirical nature ; and, 
 when occasion required, they took another turn, and became the agents of 
 flattery and adulation : both these purposes were answered by the following 
 dialogue, taken from the author just now quoted : " On Sonday at night the 
 fifteenth of June, 1523, in the great halle at Wyndsore," the emperor Maximilian 
 
 ' Vita Abbatum, p. 6. 
 
MYSTERIES 137 
 
 and Henry VIII. being present, " was a disguisiyng or play ; the effect of it was, 
 that there was a proud horse which would not be tamed nor bridled ; but Amitie 
 sent Prudence and Policie which tamed him, and Force and Puissance brideled 
 him. This horse was meant by the Frenche kyng, and Amitie by the kynge of 
 England, and the emperor and the other persons were their counsail and 
 power." 
 
 Tragedies in Chaucer's Time. — Comedies were not known, nor tragedies 
 according to the modern acceptation of the word in Chaucer's time ; for what he 
 calls tragedies, are simply tales of persons who have fallen from a state of pro- 
 sperity, or worldly grandeur, to great adversity ; as he himself tells us in the 
 following lines : — 
 
 Tragedy is to tel a certayne story, 
 As olde bokes maken memory, 
 Of them that stode in great prosperite, 
 And be fallen out of hye degre 
 Into misery and ended wretchedly.^ 
 
 *Plays on Holy Days. — A short poem in the Harleian Collection, temp. 
 Henry VI., which is a quaint amalgam of English and Latin, shows that the 
 performance of plays, even on God's holidays, was then frequent. The author 
 says : — 
 
 Ingland goith to noughte, plus fecit homo viciosus, 
 To lust man is brought, nimis est homo deliciosus; 
 Goddis halidays non observantur honeste, 
 For unthryfty pleyis in eis regnant manifested 
 
 *The households of Henry VI. and of Edward IV. included twelve minstrels 
 who were permanently engaged ; possibly they occasionally played interludes. 
 A sumptuary law of 1464 exempted "players in their enterludes" from its enact- 
 ments. In the Rolls of Winchester College for 1466 is the entry of a payment 
 of 4s. to iiij interludentibus et J. Meke cithariste. The Household Book of the 
 duke of Norfolk, from 1483 to 1501, contains entries of payments to the players 
 of the duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III.), and to the players of 
 Cocksale, Chelmsford, and Lavenham.^ 
 
 *RoYAL Companies of Players. — Dramatic performances were frequent 
 throughout England in the reign of Henry VII. The king had two distinct sets 
 of actors, namely the " players of interludes," and the "players of the chapel," who 
 performed set pieces at Christmas-tide ; each of the former received a salary of five 
 marks yearly. The king's household books from 1492 to 1509 show that the 
 players of the duke of Buckingham and of the earls of Oxford and Northumber- 
 land performed at court ; and that separate companies of players were attached 
 to London, Coventry, Wycombe, Mile-End, Wimborne Minster, and Kingston.* 
 
 *0n the accession of Henry VIII. every form of court amusement was at 
 
 1 Prologue to the Monk's Tale, which consists of seventeen short stories or tragedies, of which, he tells us, he had 
 an hundred in his cell. "^ There were two copies, Nos. 536 and 941. 
 
 ' Collier's Hist, of Dramatic Poetry, i. 34-37. * Collier's Hist, of Dramatic Poetry, i. 43-64. 
 
138 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 once placed on a more costly and extensive footing. He retained " the king's 
 old players," but added a new company of "the King's players" ; the children 
 of the chapel were converted at particular seasons into a company of comedians ; 
 and masks and revels of every kind were fostered on extravagant lines. On the 
 death of Henry VHI. there was a considerable reduction in the establishment of 
 both musicians and players ; only four of the latter were retained by Protector 
 Somerset. The number of " Players of Enterludes " sustained by royalty, was 
 raised to eight under queen Mary. 
 
 *In the first year of Elizabeth, the performance of plays and interludes was 
 forbidden unless licensed by mayors of towns, or lords lieutenant, or two justices 
 of counties. In June 1559, Sir Robert Dudley (afterwards earl Leicester), 
 wrote to the earl of Shrewsbury, as lord president of the North, asking that his 
 company of "plaiers of interludes," already licensed to perform in divers shires, 
 might have his sanction to play in Yorkshire. Between July 1567 and March 
 1568 "seven plays and one tragedy" were performed before the queen. There 
 is abundance of evidence of the frequency of play-acting throughout the kingdom 
 during Elizabeth's reign. The companies of actors belonging to the nobility 
 did not disdain to perform in the open air by daylight in towns, when suitable 
 buildings could not be found. Towards the latter part of this reign there was 
 much discord between the Court and the City of London on the subject of plays, 
 particularly as to Sunday acting. In 1591 the lord mayor and aldermen 
 addressed themselves to the archbishop of Canterbury, representing the evils 
 produced by the number of players and playing houses within the city, and 
 requesting his help towards reforming and banishing the same. 
 
 *The Puritans. — Considerable use was at the same time made by the 
 Puritans of the printing press as an engine against players. One of the earliest 
 and the fiercest of these publications was a treatise issued in 1579 by John 
 Northbrooke, " Minister and Preacher of the Worde of God" against " Dicing, 
 Dancing, Vaine Plaies or Enterludes, with other idle pastimes, commonly used 
 on the Sabbath day." The section against pliayers comes first, and occupies 
 more than half of the book. The writer in his list of persons " to be rejected 
 and cast out of this Commonwealth " places " Enterlude plaiers" between Thieves 
 and Cutpurses. He names separately the "histrioners which play upon Scaffoldes 
 and Stages Enterludes and Comedies or otherwise with gestures, etc.," and those 
 who acted in places specially constructed for them with theatre and curtain. 
 He complains that " Many can tary at a vayne Playe two or three houres, when 
 as they will not abide scarce one houre at a Sermon. They will runne to everie 
 Plaie, but scarce will come to a preached Sermon." 
 
 Court Plays. — There was another species of entertainment which differed 
 materially from any of the pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages, I mean 
 the ludi, or plays exhibited at court in the Christmas holidays : we trace them as 
 far back as the reign of Edward III. The preparations made for them at that 
 time are mentioned without the least indication of novelty, which admits of the 
 
MYSTERIES 139 
 
 supposition that they were still more ancient. From the numeration of the 
 dresses appropriated in 1 348 to one of these plays, which consisted of various 
 kinds of disguisements, they seem to have merited rather the denomination of 
 mummeries than of theatrical divertisements.^ The king then kept his Christmas 
 at his castle at Guildford ; the dresses are said to be ad faciendum ludos domini 
 regis, and consisted of eighty tunics of buckram of various colours ; forty-two 
 visors of different similitudes, namely, fourteen of faces of women, fourteen of 
 faces of men, and fourteen heads of angels made with silver; twenty-eight 
 crests ; fourteen mantles embroidered with heads of dragons ; fourteen white 
 tunics wrought with the heads and wings of peacocks ; fourteen with the heads 
 of swans with wings ; fourteen tunics painted with the eyes of peacocks ; fourteen 
 tunics of English linen painted; and fourteen other tunics embroidered with 
 stars of gold.'^ How far these plays were enlivened by dialogues, or interlocutory 
 eloquence is not known ; but probably they partook more of the feats of 
 pantomime than of colloquial excellency, and were better calculated to amuse 
 the sight than to instruct the mind. 
 
 The magnificent pageants and disguisings frequently exhibited at court in 
 the succeeding times, and especially in the reign of Henry VHI., no doubt 
 originated from the ludi above mentioned. These mummeries, as a modern 
 writer justly observes, were destitute of character and humour, their chief aim 
 being to surprise the spectators " by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of 
 the visors, and by the singularity and splendour of the dresses ; every thing was 
 out of nature and propriety. Frequently the masque was attended with an 
 exhibition of gorgeous machinery, resembling the wonders of a modern 
 pantomime."* 
 
 The reader may form some judgment of the appearance the actors made 
 upon these occasions, from the masquerade figures at the top and bottom of 
 plate nineteen, which are taken from a beautiful manuscript in the Bodleian 
 written and illuminated in the reign of Edward III.* 
 
 The performance seems to have consisted chiefly in dancing, and the 
 mummers are usually attended by the minstrels playing upon different kinds of 
 musical instruments. 
 
 These pageants were frequently movable and drawn upon wheels. In 
 honour of the marriage of Arthur, prince of Wales, with Catherine of Spain, 
 there were three pageants exhibited in Westminster Hall, which succeeded each 
 other, and were all of them drawn upon wheels : the first was a castle with 
 ladies ; the second a ship in full sail, that cast anchor near the castle ; and the 
 third a mountain with several armed knights upon it, who stormed the castle, 
 and obliged the ladies to surrender. The show ended in a dance, and the 
 pageantry disappeared.^ 
 
 > Wardrobe Roll of Edward III. = Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. i, p. 238. 
 
 8 Warton, vol. iii. p. 156. See also Henry's Hist. Brit. vol. vi. book vi. chap. 7. 
 * No. 264. This MS. was completed in the year 1343. 
 Harl. MS. 69, p. 31. 
 
140 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Play in Honour of the Princess Mary. — In the tenth year of the same 
 king's reign, in honour of his sister the princess Mary's marriage with the king 
 of France, there was exhibited in the great hall at Greenwich, " a rock full of al 
 maner of stones very artificially made, and on the top stood five trees : the first 
 was an olive tree, on which hanged a shield of the armes of the church of Rome ; 
 the second was a pyne aple tree,^ with the arms of the emperor ; the third was 
 a rosyer,^ with the armes of England ; the fourth a braunche of lylies, bearing 
 the armes of France ; and the fifth a pomegranet tree, bearing the armes of 
 Spayn ; in token that all these five potentates were joined together in one 
 league against the enemies of Christe's fayth : in and upon the middes of the 
 rock satte a fayre lady, richely appareyled, with a dolphin in her lap. In this 
 rock were ladies and gentlemen appareled, in crimosyn sattyn, covered over with 
 floures of purple satyn, embroudered with wrethes of gold knit together with 
 golden laces, and on every floure a hart of gold moving. The ladies' tyer * was 
 after the fashion of Inde, with kerchiefes of pleasaunce* hached with fyne gold, 
 and set with letters of Greeke in gold of bullion, and the edges of their kerchiefes 
 were garnished with hanging perle. These gentlemen and ladyes sate on the 
 neyther part of the rock, and out of a cave in the same rock came ten knightes 
 armed at all poyntes, and faughte together a fayre tournay. And when they 
 were severed and departed, the disguysers dissended from the rock and daunced 
 a great space, and sodeynly the rock moved and receaved the disguysers and 
 imediately closed agayn. Then entred a person called report, appareled in 
 crymosyn satin full of tongues, sitting on a flying horse with wynges and feete 
 of gold called Pegasus ; this person in Frenche declared the meaning of the 
 rocks, the trees, and the tourney." ^ 
 
 Play of Hock-Tuesday. — Among the pastimes exhibited for the enter- 
 tainment of queen Elizabeth during her stay at Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, 
 was a kind of historical play, or old storial show, performed by certain persons 
 who came for that purpose from Coventry, It was also called the old Coventry 
 play of Hock-Tuesday, but must not be confounded with the Ludus de Corpus 
 Christi, or Coventry Mystery, mentioned before, to which it did not bear the 
 least analogy. The subject of the Hock-Tuesday show was the massacre of 
 the Danes, a memorable event in the Engdish history, on St Brice's night, 
 November 13, 1002, which was expressed "in action and in rhimes." It is 
 said to have been annually acted in the town of Coventry, according to ancient 
 custom ; but that it was suppressed soon after the Reformation, at the instance 
 of some of their preachers, whose good intention the towns-people did not deny, 
 but complained of their severity ; urging in behalf of the show, that it was 
 "without ill example of manners, papistry, or any superstition."* The rhimes 
 originally belonging to the play, I presume, were omitted upon the above- 
 
 ' Pine-apple. 2 A rose tree. a Head-dress. 
 
 * Pleasaunce was a fine thin species of gauze, which was striped with gold. b Hall, ut sup. fol. 59- 
 
 * Laneham's account of the sports at Kenilworth Castle, in Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth vol. i. p. 22, 
 
MYSTERIES 141 
 
 mentioned occasion ; for it appears to have been performed without any 
 recitation in mere dumb show, and consisted of hot skirmishes and furious 
 encounters between the English and the Danish forces : first by the launce 
 knights on horseback, armed with spears and shields, who being many of them 
 dismounted, fought with swords and targets. Then followed two " host of foot 
 men," one after the other, first marching in ranks, then, turning about in a 
 warlike manner, they changed their form from ranks into squadrons, then into 
 triangles, then into rings, and then " winding out again they joined in battle ; 
 twice the Danes had the better, but at the last conflict they were beaten 
 down, overcome, and many of them led captive for triumph by our English 
 women." Her majesty was much pleased with this performance, "whereat," 
 says my author, "she laughed well," and rewarded the actors with two 
 biKks, and five marks in money ; and with this munificence they were highly 
 satisfied.^ 
 
 Decline of Secular Plays. — The secular plays, as we have seen, 
 consisted of a medley of different performances, calculated chiefly to promote 
 mirth without any view to instruction ; but soon after the production of regular 
 plays, when proper theatres were established, the motley exhibitions of the 
 strolling actors were, as a rule, only relished by the vulgar ; the law set her face 
 against them, the performers were stigmatised with the names of rogues and 
 vagabonds, and access was usually denied them at the houses of the opulent. 
 
 *Certain companies, however, continued to move about the country, as 
 has been shown in the Introduction in the account given of the licensing by the 
 Master of the Revels. 
 
 *Moreover, in many a place there were local companies formed to visit 
 the houses of the gentlefolk of the immediate district at Christmas and other 
 festive seasons. Such companies could not properly be termed either amateurs 
 or professionals. They were not amateurs, for they received largesse from their 
 patrons ; they were not professionals, for at ordinary seasons they followed 
 their usual town or country occupations. 
 
 *SiR Miles Stapleton and Yorkshire Players. — After the Restoration 
 such local companies came greatly into favour in certain districts. The extracts 
 recently published from the Household Books of Sir Miles Stapleton, of 
 Carlton, Yorkshire, afford various interesting particulars of this character.' 
 
 *Sir Miles was ever ready to encourage local or itinerant players and 
 musicians to entertain the household at Carlton. In Easter week, 1661, he 
 gave to Joseph Robinson and the Selby players los. "for playing the play 
 called Musidorus." Mucedorus and Amadine was a comedy frequently acted 
 at the Globe and at Whitehall; it was first published in 1598, and had passed 
 through eleven editions by 1668. The gaieties of Christmas-tide 1662, were 
 duly observed by the newly-made baronet at Carlton. The following entries 
 
 ' Lsmeham, nt supra, p. 24. 
 ' See papers of Rev. Dr Cox in Ancestor, Nos. 2 and 3, 1902. 
 
142 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 in his accounts show that he did his best to make it a bright season for his 
 neighbours : — 
 
 It. Given to two fidlers of Selbye that was here one day in Christmas when I had £ s. d. 
 invited some neighbours to diner . . . . . . oo 02 oo 
 
 It. Given to Bartle Fular and his boy who was here fidling two days in Christmas 
 
 when I invited some neighbours and tenants to diner . . . 00 03 00 
 
 It. Given to Will. Peares and the rest of our neighbours of Carleton when they 
 played their play in the house on Tuesday, December the 30th, 1662, the 
 play is called the gentle craft . . . . . . 00 10 00 
 
 It. Given to some mumers y' came in Christmas . . . . , 00 00 06 
 
 It. Given to Nicholas Daniell and the rest of the players y' came from about 
 Beedall when they played their two playes here on Friday night, January the 
 23rd, 1662-3 one of the playes was the tragadye of Baitman and the other 
 was called the courageous generall . . . . . 01 00 -oo 
 
 *The Gentle Craft or the Shoemaker's Holiday was a play by Thomas 
 Deaker, first printed in 1638. The Tragedy of Bateman was probably another 
 name for The Fair Maid of Bristol, by John Day, first played before the king 
 and given at Hampton in 1605. The Courageous General was probably The 
 General, a tragi-comedy by James Shirley; Pepys saw it acted in 1669 s^i^d 
 was pleased with it. 
 
 *The accounts for 1664 contain various entries relative to entertainments. 
 The following are all of this year : — 
 
 It. Given then to Marmaduke Grainge and his son and daughter Pearson and their £, s. d. 
 boy for playing on the musicke that time when wee were all merry together 
 at Will Lodge ........ 
 
 It. Given to a trumpeter y' came and sounded his trumpett 
 
 It. Given to a poore fidler y' came in Christmas and was here two or three 
 dayes &c. ........ 
 
 It. Given to PockUngton players y' played the shepherdes play . 
 
 It. Given to Rickall players y' played the play here called wilye beguilee in 
 
 Christmas . . . . . . . . 00 10 00 
 
 It. Given to Nickolas Daniell and the players that came from about Beedall 
 January the 19th, 1664 (5) for playing two playes here, the one called the 
 two constant lovers, and the other called a maidens head well lost . . 01 01 00 
 
 It. Given to Selbye musicke y' came beging March the i ith . . . 00 00 06 
 
 *The cultivation of the dramatic art at this period in the small towns and 
 large villages of Yorkshire is not a little remarkable. The actors were no mere 
 country mummers, for the plays chosen were all ones of some repute. The 
 Shepherds Holiday was a pastoral tragi-comedy which had been presented 
 before their Majesties at Whitehall by the queen's servants in 1635 >' the author 
 was Joseph Rutter, a dependant of the family of Lord Dorset, and a playwright 
 of some experience. Wily Beguiled was "a pleasant comedy," of which there 
 are four editions extant between 1606 and 1638. The Two Constant Lovers 
 was probably another name for The Constant Maid, by James Shirley, first 
 
 00 
 
 07 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 01 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 02 
 
 06 
 
 00 
 
 OS 
 
 00 
 
MYSTERIES h% 
 
 published in 1640. A Maiden-head Well Lost was a comedy by that well- 
 known early dramatist, Thomas Heywood ; it was first acted at the Cockpit, 
 Drury Lane, in 1633. 
 
 The following is a later entry of expenditure in the like direction : — 
 
 1668 
 It. Given to Beedale players when they acted here January nth Sir John Dauncy 
 
 and his company and Sir Tho. Yarbrough and his being here y' night and ;£ s. d. 
 the play is called a girl worth gold . . . . . 00 1 5 00 
 
 But the frequent bands of professional strolling players undoubtedly 
 diminished most rapidly in numbers as permanent theatres multiplied. The 
 tragitour now became a mere juggler, and played a few paltry tricks occasionally, 
 assisted by the jester, transformed into a modern jack-pudding. It is highly 
 probable, that necessity suggested to him the idea of supplying the place of his 
 human confederates by automaton figures made of wood, which, by means of 
 wires properly attached to them, were moved about, and performed many of the 
 actions peculiar to mankind ; and, with the assistance of speeches made for them 
 behind the scenery, produced that species of drama commonly distinguished by 
 the appellation of a droll, or a puppet-play ; wherein a facetious performer, well 
 known by the name of Punchinello, supplied the place of the Vice, or mirth- 
 maker, a favourite character in the moralities. In modern days this celebrated 
 actor, who has something to say to the greater part of his auditory, is called 
 plain Punch. In the moralities, the Devil usually carried away the Iniquity, or 
 Evil, at the conclusion of the drama ; and, in compliance with the old custom. 
 Punch, the genuine descendant of the Iniquity, is constantly taken from the 
 stage by the Devil at the end of the puppet-show. Ben Jonson, by way of 
 burlesque, in the comedy entitled The Devil is an Asse, reverses the ancient 
 usage, and makes the Iniquity run away with the Fiend, saying — 
 
 The Divell was wont to carry away the Evill, 
 
 But now the Evill out-carries the Divell. — Act v. scene 6. 
 
 The first appearance of a company of wooden actors excited, no doubt, the 
 admiration of the populace, and the novelty of such an exhibition was probably 
 productive of much advantage to the inventor. I cannot pretend to determine 
 the time that puppet-plays were first exhibited in England. I rather think this 
 species of entertainment originated upon the Continent. Cervantes has made 
 Don Quixote a spectator at a puppet-show, and the knight's behaviour upon this 
 occasion is described with great humour. The puppets were originally called 
 motions : we find them mentioned in Gammer Gurton's Needle, which is 
 supposed to have been written in 1 5 1 7 ; and there the master of the puppet- 
 show seems to have been considered as no better than an idle vagrant. One of 
 the characters says, he will go " and travel with young Goose, the motion-man, 
 for a puppet-player." 
 
144 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Origin of Puppet-Plays. — Previous to the invention of puppets, or rather 
 to the incorporating of them into companies, there were automatons that 
 performed variety of motions. The jack of the clock-house, often mentioned by 
 the writers of the sixteenth century, was also an automaton, that either struck 
 the hours upon the bell in their proper rotation, or signified by its gestures that 
 the clock was about to strike. In a humorous pamphlet called Lanthorn and 
 Candle, or the Bellman s Second Walk, published at London, 1605, it is said, 
 " The Jacke of the Clocke-house goes upon screws, and his office is to do 
 nothing but strike" ; and in an old play still more early, " He shakes his heade 
 and throws his arms about like the Jacke of the Clocke-house," 
 
 *There are also references to these Jacks in Shakespeare's plays of Richard 
 II. and Richard III, The figure was at one time a fairly common adjunct of 
 the larger church clocks of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. There are 
 two Jacks o' the Clock still to be seen in neighbouring Suffolk churches. At 
 Southwold the figure clad in armour has been removed from the tower window 
 and placed over the screen at the east end of the north aisle. Jack strikes a bell 
 suspended before him with a battle-axe, and it is customary to make him ring 
 just before the beginning of service. At Blythburgh, the Jack has also been 
 removed from the tower to the body of the church ; in this case the somewhat 
 mutilated figure, which is about four feet high, is also clad in plate armour, but 
 with the addition of a flowing beard.^ 
 
 Nature of Performances by Puppets. — From such figures as these 
 originated the more modern heroes of the puppet-show. The puppet-shows 
 usually made their appearance at great fairs, and especially at those in the 
 vicinity of the metropolis ; they still (1801) continue to be exhibited in Smithfield 
 at Bartholomew-tide, though with very little traces of their former greatness ; 
 indeed, of late years, they have become unpopular, and are frequented only by 
 children. It is, however, certain, that the puppet-shows attracted the notice 
 of the public at the commencement of the last century, and rivalled in some 
 degree the more pompous exhibitions of the larger theatres.^ Powel, a famous 
 puppet-show man, is mentioned in one of the early papers of the Spectator,^ and 
 his performances are humorously contrasted with those of the Opera House. 
 At the same time there was another motion-master, who also appears to have 
 been of some celebrity, named Crawley ; I have before me two bills of his 
 exhibition, one for Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair. 
 These are preserved in a miscellaneous collection of advertisements and title- 
 pages among the Harleian MSS.* The first of these bills runs thus: "At 
 Crawley's Booth, over against the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, during the time 
 of Bartholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called the Old Creation of 
 the World, yet newly revived ; with the addition of Noah's Flood ; also several 
 fountains playing water during the time of the play. — The last scene does 
 
 ' In vol. XXV. of She. Journal of Brit. Arch. Assoc, there is an article on this subject. 
 
 ' See the Introduction. ' No. xiv. vol. i. first published in 1711. * No. 5931. 
 
MYSTERIES 145 
 
 present Noah and his family coming out of the Ark, with all the beasts two and 
 two, and all the fowls of the air seen in a prospect sitting upon trees ; likewise 
 over the ark is seen the Sun rising in a most glorious manner : moreover, a 
 multitude of Angels will be seen in a double rank, which presents a double 
 prospect, one for the sun, the other for a palace, where will be seen six Angels 
 ringing of bells. — Likewise Machines descend from above, double and treble, 
 with Dives rising out of Hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's bosom, besides 
 several figures dancing jiggs, sarabands, and country dances, to the admiration 
 of the spectators; with the merry conceits of squire Punch and Sir John 
 Spendall." This curious medley was, we are told, "completed by an Entertain- 
 ment of singing, and dancing with several naked swords, performed by a Child 
 of eight years of age." In the second bill, we find the addition of "the Ball of 
 litde Dogs " ; it is also added, that these celebrated performers had danced 
 before the queen (Anne) and most of the quality of England, and amazed 
 everybody.^ 
 
 Giants and other Puppet Characters. — The subjects of the puppet-dramas 
 were formerly taken from some well-known and popular stories, with the 
 introduction of knights and giants ; hence the following speech in the Humorous 
 Lovers, a comedy, printed in 1617 : " They had like to have frighted me with a 
 man dressed up like a gyant in a puppet-show," In my memory, these shows 
 consisted of a wretched display of wooden figures, barbarously formed and 
 decorated, without the least degree of taste or propriety ; the wires that com- 
 municated the motion to them appeared at the tops of their heads, and the 
 manner in which they were made to move, evinced the ignorance and inattention 
 of the managers ; the dialogues were mere jumbles of absurdity and nonsense, 
 intermixed with low immoral discourses passing between Punch and the fiddler, 
 for the orchestra rarely admitted of more than one minstrel ; and these flashes 
 of merriment were made offensive to decency by the actions of the puppet. In 
 the reign of James II. there was a noted merry-andrew named Philips. "This 
 man," says Granger, " was some time fiddler to a puppet-show ; in which capacity 
 he held many a dialogue with Punch, in much the same strain as he did after- 
 wards with the mountebank doctor, his master upon the stage. This zany, 
 being regularly educated, had confessedly the advantage of his brethren." ^ 
 
 Puppet- Plays superseded by Pantomimes. — The introduction, or rather 
 the revival of pantomimes, which indeed have long disgraced the superior 
 theatres, proved the utter undoing of the puppet-show men ; in fact, all the 
 absurdities of the puppet-show, except the discourses, are retained in the 
 pantomimes, the difference consisting principally in the substitution of living 
 puppets for wooden ones ; but it must be confessed, though nothing be added to 
 the rationality of the performances, great pains is taken to supply the defect, by 
 fascinating the eyes and the ears ; and certainly the brilliancy of the dresses and 
 scenery, the skilful management of the machinery, and the excellence of the 
 
 " *See H. Morley's Memoirs of Bartholomew^ s Fair, first issued in 1859, ' Biogr, Hist. vol. iv. p. 350. 
 
 K 
 
146 SPOUTS AND PASTIMEIS 
 
 music, in the pantomimes, are great improvements upon the humble attempts 
 of the vagrant motion-master. 
 
 The Modern Puppet-Show Man.*— In April 1751 the tragedy of "Jane 
 Shore " was advertised for representation at " Punch's Theatre in James Street in 
 the Haymarket," by puppets. Italian Fantoccini were exhibited in the same 
 place, better known as Hickford's Rooms, in 1770. There was another like 
 exhibition at No. 22 Piccadilly, in 1780, .on an elaborate scale, when comic 
 operas, harlequinades, and other pieces were represented by puppets. It was 
 a fashionable entertainment, for the tickets were 5s. and 2s. 6d. " The room," 
 say the advertisements, " is neatly fitted up, kept warm, and will be illuminated 
 with wax."^ 
 
 In the present day (1801) the puppet-show man travels about the streets 
 when the weather will permit, and carries his motions, with the theatre itself, upon 
 his back ! The exhibition takes place in the open air ; and the precarious income 
 of the miserable itinerant depends entirely on the voluntary contributions of the 
 spectators, which, as far as one may judge from the square appearance he usually 
 makes, is very trifling. 
 
 Moving Pictures. — Another species of scenic exhibition with moving 
 figures, bearing some distant analogy to the puppets, appeared at the commence- 
 ment of the eighteenth century. Such a show is thus described in the reign of 
 queen Anne, by the manager of a show exhibited at the great house in the Strand, 
 over against the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market ; the best places at 
 IS., and the others at 6d. each : "To be seen, the greatest Piece of Curiosity 
 that ever arrived in England, being made by a famous engineer from the camp 
 before Lisle, who, with great labour and industry, has collected into a moving 
 picture the following figures : first, it doth represent the confederate camp, and 
 the army lying intrenched before the town ; secondly, the convoys and the mules 
 with prince Eugene's baggage ; thirdly, the English forces commanded by the 
 duke of Marlborough ; likewise, several vessels, laden with provisions for the 
 army, which are so artificially done as to seem to drive the water before them. 
 The city and the citadel are very fine, with all its outworks, ravelins, hornworks, 
 counter-scarps, half- moons, and palisados ; the French horse marching out at 
 one gate, and the confederate army marching in at the other ; the prince's 
 travelling coach with two generals in it, one saluting the company as it passes 
 by ; then a trumpeter sounds a call as he rides, at the noise whereof a sleeping 
 centinel starts, and lifts up his head, but, not being espied, lies down to sleep 
 again ; besides abundance more admirable curiosities too tedious to be inserted 
 here." He then modestly adds, "In short the whole piece is so contrived by 
 art, that it seems to be life and nature." These figures, I presume, were flat, 
 painted images moving upon a flat surface, like those frequently seen upon the 
 tops of clocks, where a carpenter's shop, or a stone-mason's yard, are by no 
 means unusually represented. A juggler named Flockton, some few years back, 
 
 ' Notes and Queries, Ser. III. v. 52. 
 
MYSTEtMES Hi 
 
 had an exhibition of this kind, which he called a grand piece of clock-work. In 
 this machine the combination of many different motions, and tolerably well 
 contrived, were at one time presented to the eye. 
 
 Pinkethman's Pantheon, mentioned in the Spectator, was, I presume, an 
 exhibition something similar to that above described, and probably the heathen 
 deities were manufactured from pasteboard, and seated in rows one above the 
 other upon clouds of the same material ; at least I have seen them so fabricated, 
 and so represented, about 1 760, at a show in the country, which was contrived 
 in such a manner, that the whole group descended and ascended with a slow 
 motion to the sound of music. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The British Bards— The Northern Scalds— The Anglo-Saxon Gleemen— The Nature of their Performances— A Royal 
 Player with three Darts— Braveiy of a Minstrel in the Conqueror's Army—Other Performances by Gleemen— The 
 Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the Saxons— Harpers at Durham— The Norman Minstrels, and their 
 different Denominations and Professions— Troubadours— Jestours— Tales and Manners of the Jesters— Further 
 Illustration of their Practices— Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of the Minstrels— A Guild of Minstrels- 
 Abuses and Decline of Minstrelsy— Minstrels were Satirists and Flatterers— Anecdotes of offending Minstrels, 
 Women Minstrels— The Dress of the Minstrels— The King of the Minstrels, why so called— Rewards given to 
 Minstrels— Payments to Minstrels— Durham Minstrels and Players— Minstrels at Parish Festivals. 
 
 THE British Bards. — The Britons were passionately fond of vocal and 
 instrumental music : for this reason, the bards, who exhibited in one person 
 the musician and the poet, were held in the highest estimation among 
 them. "These bards," says an early historian, "celebrated the noble actions 
 of illustrious persons in heroic poems which they sang to the sweet sounds of 
 the lyre ; ^ and to this testimony we may add another of equal authority : " The 
 British bards are excellent and melodious poets, and sing their poems, in which 
 they praise some, and censure others, to the music of an instrument resembling 
 a lyre."^ Their songs and their music are said, by the same writer, to have 
 been so exceedingly affecting, that "sometimes when two armies are standing 
 in order of battle, with their swords drawn, and their lances extended upon the 
 point of engaging in a most furious conflict, the poets have stepped in between 
 them, and by their soft and fascinating songs calmed the fury of the warriors, 
 and prevented the bloodshed. Thus, even among barbarians," adds the author, 
 " rage gave way to wisdom, and Mars submitted to the Muses." 
 
 The Northern Scalds. — The scalds^ were the poets and the musicians of 
 the ancient northern nations ; they resembled the bards of the Britons, and were 
 held in equal veneration by their countrymen. The scalds were considered as 
 necessary appendages to royalty, and even the inferior chieftains had their poets 
 to record their actions and indulge their vanity. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon Gleemen. — Upon the establishment of the Saxons in 
 Britain, these poetical musicians were their chief favourites ; the courts of the 
 kings and the residences of the opulent afforded them a constant asylum ; their 
 persons were protected, and admission granted to them without the least 
 restraint. In the Anglo-Saxon language they were distinguished by two 
 appellations ; the one equivalent to the modern term of gleemen or merry- 
 makers, and the other harpers, derived from the harp, an instrument on which 
 
 ' Ammianus Marcell. lib. xv. cap. 9. ^ Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. cap. 31. 
 
 ^ Bartholin, De causis contemp. a Danis Mortis, lib. i. cap. 2, et Wormii, Lit. Run. ad finim. 
 
 148 
 
Qycza:^?/i^ t/A'o/pic-/u? 
 
MINSTRELS 149 
 
 they usually played. The appellation of harper was long retained by the 
 English rhymists. The gleemen added mimicry, and other means of promoting 
 mirth to their profession, as well as dancing and tumbling, with sleights of 
 hand, and variety of deceptions to amuse the spectators : it was therefore 
 necessary for them to associate themselves into companies, by which means they 
 were enabled to diversify their performances, and render many of them more 
 surprising through the assistance of their confederates. In Edgar's oration to 
 Dunstan, the mimi, or minstrels, are said to sing and dance ; and, in the canons 
 made in that king's reign, a.d. 960 (Can. 58), it is ordered that no priest shall 
 in any wise act the gleeman with himself or with other men, but be, as becomes 
 his order, wise and reverend.^ 
 
 Natuee of the Performances by the Gleemen. — Representations of some 
 of these pastimes are met with occasionally in early manuscripts ; and where 
 they do occur, we uniformly find that the illuminators, being totally ignorant of 
 ancient customs and the habits of foreign nations, have not paid the least regard 
 to propriety in the depicting of either, but substituted those of their own time, 
 and by this means they have, without design on their part, become the com- 
 municators of much valuable information. The following observations upon two 
 very early paintings will, I doubt not, in great measure confirm the truth of 
 this assertion. 
 
 On plate twenty are two persons dancing to the music of the horn and 
 the trumpet, and it does not appear to be a common dance in which they are 
 engaged ; on the contrary, their attitudes are such as must have rendered it 
 very difficult to perform. On the same plate is a curious specimen of a 
 performer's art. 
 
 We here see a man throwing three balls and three knives alternately into 
 the air, and catching them one by one as they fall, but returning them again in 
 a regular rotation. To give the greater appearance of difficulty to this feat, it 
 is accompanied with the music of an instrument resembling the modern violin. 
 It is necessary to add, that these two figures, as well as those dancing, previously 
 exhibited, form a part only of two larger paintings, which, in their original state, 
 are placed as frontispieces to the Psalms of David ; and in both, the artists have 
 represented that monarch seated upon his throne in the act of playing upon the 
 harp or the lyre, and surrounded by the masters of sacred music. In each the 
 king is depicted considerably larger than the other performers, a compliment 
 usually paid to saints and dignified persons ; which absurdity has been frequently 
 practised by the more modern painters. The inferior figures form a sort of 
 border to the sides and bottom of the royal portrait. In addition to the four 
 figures in the middle of the Plate, and exclusive of the king, there are four more, 
 all of them instrumental performers ; one playing upon the horn, another upon 
 the trumpet, and the other two upon a kind of tabor or drum, which, however, 
 is beaten with a single drum-stick : the manuscript in which this illumination is 
 
 ' Ancient Laws and Institutes, p. 400. 
 
ISO SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 preserved, was written as early as the eighth century, and is in the Cotton 
 Collection at the British Museum.^ The second painting, which is more modern 
 than the former by full two centuries, contains four figures besides the royal 
 psalmist ; the two not engraved are musicians : the one is blowing a long 
 trumpet supported by a staff he holds in his left hand, and the other is winding 
 a crooked horn.^ In a short prologue, immediately preceding the psalms, we 
 read as follows : David, filius Jesse, in regno suo quatuor elegit qui psalmos 
 fecerunt, id est Asaph, ^man, ^than, et Idithun ; which may be thus translated 
 literally, " David, the son of Jesse, in his reign elected four persons who com- 
 posed psalms, that is to say, Asaph, yEman, yEthan, and Idithun." In the 
 painting these four names are separately appropriated, one to each of the four 
 persons there represented ; the player upon the violin is called Idithun, and 
 iEthan is tossing up the knives and the balls. 
 
 I have been thus particular in describing these curious delineations, because 
 I think they throw much light upon the profession of the Anglo-Saxon gleeman, 
 and prove that his exhibitions were diversified at a very early period ; for the 
 reader, I doubt not, will readily agree with me, that dancing and sleights of hand 
 were better calculated for secular pastimes than for accompaniments to the 
 solemn performances of sacred psalmody. The honest illuminators having no 
 ideas, as I before observed, of foreign or ancient manners, saw not the absurdity 
 of making the Jewish monarch a president over a company of Saxon gleemen ; 
 they had heard, no doubt, that these persons whose names they found recorded 
 in the book of Psalms, were poets and musicians ; and therefore naturally con- 
 cluded that they were gleemen, because they knew no others who performed in 
 that double capacity but the gleemen : they knew also that these facetious artists 
 were greatly venerated by persons of the highest rank, and their company 
 requested by kings and princes, who richly rewarded them for the exercise of 
 their talents, and for this reason, conceived that they were proper companions 
 for the royal psalmist. 
 
 A Royal Player with three Darts. — The sleight of casting up a certain 
 number of sharp instruments into the air, and catching them alternately in their 
 fall, though part of the gleeman's profession, was not entirely confined to this 
 practice. It is said of Olaf Fryggeson, one of the ancient kings of Norway, 
 that he could play with three darts at once, tossing them in the air, and always 
 kept two up while the third was down in his hand.^ Our Saxon joculator, how- 
 ever, has the advantage of the monarch by adding the three balls, which of 
 course must have made the trick more difficult to be performed. 
 
 Bravery of a Minstrel in the Conqueror's Army.— The celebrated 
 minstrel or juggler Taillefer, who came into England with William the Norman, 
 was a warrior as well as a musician. He was present at the battle of Hastings, 
 and appeared at the head of the Conqueror's army, singing the songs of Charle- 
 magne and of Roland ; but previous to the commencement of the action, he 
 
 ' Vespasian, A. i. 2 Tiberius, C. vi. a Pontoppidan, Hist. Norway, p. 148. 
 
MINSTRELS 151 
 
 advanced on horseback towards the army of the English, and, casting his spear 
 three times into the air, he caught it as often by the iron head ; and the fourth 
 time he threw it among his enemies, one of whom he wounded in the body : he 
 then drew his sword, which he also tossed into the air as many times as he had 
 done his spear, and caught it with such dexterity, that those who saw him 
 attributed his manoeuvres to the power of enchantment. After he had performed 
 these feats he galloped among the English soldiers, thereby giving the Normans 
 the signal of battle ; and in the action it appears he lost his life.^ 
 
 Other Performances by Gleemen. — One part of the gleeman's profession, 
 as early as the tenth century, was, teaching animals to dance, to tumble, and to 
 put themselves into variety of attitudes, at the command of their masters. 
 
 Upon plate twenty-five we see the copy of a curious though rude delineation, 
 being little more than an outline, which exhibits a specimen of this pastime. 
 The principal joculator appears in the front, holding a knotted switch in one 
 hand, and a line attached to a bear in the other ; the animal is lying down in 
 obedience to his command ; and behind them are two more figures, the one 
 playing upon two flutes or flageolets, and elevating his left leg while he stands 
 upon his right, supported by a staff that passes under his armpit ; the other 
 dancing, in an attitude exceedingly ludicrous. This performance takes place upon 
 an eminence resembling a stage made with earth ; and in the original a vast con- 
 course are standing round it in a semicircle as spectators of the sport, but they 
 are so exceedingly ill drawn, and withal so indistinct, that I did not think it 
 worth the pains to copy them. The dancing, if I may so call it, of the flute 
 player, is repeated twice in the same manuscript. I have thence selected two 
 other figures and placed them upon plate twenty. 
 
 Here we see a youth playing upon a harp with only four strings, and 
 apparently singing at the same time, while an elderly man is performing the 
 part of a buffoon or posture master, holding up one of his legs, and hopping 
 upon the other to the music. Both these drawings occur in a MS. psalter in 
 the Harleian Collection,^ written in Latin, and apparently about the middle of 
 the tenth century. It contains many drawings, all of them exceedingly rude, 
 and most of them merely outlines. We shall have occasion farther on to speak 
 more largely concerning all these kinds of diversions. 
 
 The Harp used by the Saxons. — The bards and the scalds most assuredly 
 used the harp to accompany their songs and modulate their voices. The Saxon 
 gleemen and joculators followed their example, and are frequently called harpers 
 for that reason ; but, at the same time, it is equally certain, that they were well 
 acquainted with several other instruments of music, as the violin, or something 
 very similar to it ; pipes or flutes of various kinds ; horns and trumpets ; to 
 which may be added the tabor, or drum. The harp, indeed, was the most 
 
 ' Wace, Hist, de tut Us Rtys de Brittaigne, continued by Geofiirai Gaimer, MS. in the Royal Library, marked 
 13 A. xxi, 
 
 •See Freeman's Norman Conquest, iii. 478 ; v. 582. ^ No. 603. 
 
IS2 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 popular, and frequently exercised by persons who did not follow the profession of 
 gleemen. We learn from Bede, an unquestionable authority, that, as early as the 
 seventh century, it was customary at convivial meetings to hand a harp from 
 one person to another, and every one who partook of the festivity played upon 
 it in his turn, singing a song to the music for merriment sake.^ The historian 
 adds, that Caedmon, not being acquainted with such sort of songs, gat up when 
 he saw the harp brought near him, and went home ; the king adds the reason, 
 namely, that he arose for shame, not being able to comply with the general 
 practice. Probably this was not the practice when the professional harper was 
 present, whose province it was to amuse the company. 
 
 *Harpers at Durham. — The Account Rolls of the abbey of Durham for 
 the fourteenth century yield frequent reference to the harp and harpers. The 
 prior had a harper attached to his great establishment ; a harp was bought in 
 1335 for Thomas the harper at a cost of 3s. ; in 1330 an itinerant harper received 
 1 2d. ; in 1357 William, a blind harper, received 2s. at Christmas ; and in 1360 
 a Welsh harper obtained 3s. 4d. In 1362 a harper belonging to the bishop of 
 Norwich visited the abbey at the feast of the translation of St Cuthbert, and 
 was rewarded with 5s. ; he was an actor or jester as well as a harper, for he is 
 termed histrio harper.'^ 
 
 The Norman Minstrels. — Soon after the Conquest, these itinerant 
 musicians lost the ancient Saxon appellation of gleemen, and were called 
 ministraulx, in English minstrels, a term well known in Normandy some time 
 before. As the minstrel's art consisted of several branches, the professors were 
 distinguished by different denominations, as, "rimours, chanterres, conteours, 
 jougleours or jongleurs, jestours, lecours, and troubadours or trouvers " ; in 
 modern language, rhymers, singers, story-tellers, jugglers, relaters of heroic 
 actions, buffoons, and poets ; but all of them were included under the general 
 name of minstrel. In the Latin, ministerellus, or ministrallus, is also called 
 mimus, mimicus, histrio, joculator, versificator, cantor, and scurra. An eminent 
 French antiquary says of the minstrels, that some of them themselves composed 
 the subjects they sang or related, as the trouvers and the conteurs ; and some of 
 them used the compositions of others, as the jugleours and the chanteurs. He 
 farther remarks, that the trouvers may be said to have embellished their pro- 
 ductions with rhyme, while the conteurs related their histories in prose ; the 
 jugleours, who in the middle ages were famous for playing upon the vielle 
 accompanied the songs of the trouvers. The vielle was a stringed instrument, 
 sounded by the turning of a wheel within it, resembling that which we frequently 
 see about the streets played by the Savoyards, vulgarly called a hurdy-gurdy.' 
 
 ' Bede's Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 24. 
 
 ^ Fowler's Durham Account Rolls, 3 vols. (1%^%-iyaa), passim. 
 
 ' *A reward of 6s. 8d. was given to a rotour or player on a rotour on St Cuthbert's Day 1395, at Durham. It is 
 described as " a sort of fiddle " ; it was probably the same as the vielle described in the next paragraph. Durham 
 Account Rolls, iii. 599, 955. 
 
 A man playing on a lute and his wife singing were awarded 2s. at Christmas 1361, by the prior of Durham. Ibid. 
 i. 127. 
 
MINSTRELS iS3 
 
 These jugleours were also assisted by the chanteurs ; and this union of talents 
 rendered the compositions more harmonious and more pleasing to the auditory, 
 and increased their rewards, so that they readily joined each other, and travelled 
 together in large parties.^ It is, however, very certain, that the poet, the 
 songster, and the musician, were frequently united in the same person. 
 
 Troubadours. — The Norman rhymers appear to have been the genuine 
 descendants of the ancient Scandinavian scalds ; they were well known in the 
 northern part of France long before the appearance of the provincial poets called 
 troubadours, and trouvers, that is, finders, probably from the fertility of their 
 invention. The troubadours brought with them into the north a new species of 
 language called the Roman language, which in the eleventh and twelfth centuries 
 was commonly used in the southern provinces of France, and there esteemed as 
 the most perfect of any in Europe. It evidently originated from the Latin, and 
 was the parent of the French tongue ; and in this language their songs and their 
 poems were composed.^ These poets were much admired and courted, being, 
 as a very judicious modern writer* says, the delight of the brave and the 
 favourites of the fair ; because they celebrated the achievements of the one and 
 the beauties of the other. Even princes became troubadours, and wrote poems 
 in the provincial dialect ; among others, a monarch of our own country certainly 
 composed verses of this kind. The reader will, I doubt not, readily recollect 
 the common story of Richard I., who, being closely confined in a castle belong- 
 ing to the duke of Austria, was discovered by his favourite minstrel Blondel, a 
 celebrated troubadour, through the means of a poem composed by the poet, in 
 conjunction with his royal master. The story is thus related in a very ancient 
 French author, quoted by Claude Fauchet : Blondel, seeing that his lord did 
 not return, though it was reported that he had passed the sea from Syria, 
 thought that he was taken by his enemies, and probably very evilly entreated ; 
 he therefore determined to find him, and for this purpose travelled through 
 many countries without success : at last he came to a small town, near which 
 was a castle belonging to the duke of Austria ; and, having learned from his 
 host that there was a prisoner in the castle who had been confined for upwards 
 of a year, he went thither, and cultivated an acquaintance with the keepers ; for 
 a minstrel, says the author, can easily make acquaintance. However, he could 
 not obtain a sight of the prisoner, nor learn his quality ; he therefore placed him- 
 self near to a window belonging to the tower wherein he was shut up, and sang 
 a few verses of a song which had been composed conjointly by him and his 
 patron. The king, hearing the first part of the song, repeated the second ; 
 which convinced the poet that the prisoner was no other than Richard himself. 
 Hastening therefore into England, he acquainted the barons with his adventure, 
 and they, by means of a large sum of money, procured the liberty of the 
 monarch.* 
 
 ' Fauchet, Origint de la Lang«e et Po'isie Franfoise, 1581, liv. i, chap, viii. fol. 72. 
 
 ^ Le Grand, Fables, ou Contes des iz. 13. Slides, torn. v. ' Henry's Ifisl. Brit. vol. viii. sect. 3. chap. v. p. 502. 
 
 * Fauchet, Des anciens Posts Frcm^ois, liv. ii. chap. vii. p. 92 ; and see Walpole, Royal and Noble Authors, vol. i, p. 6. 
 
IS4 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Jestours. — The conteurs and the jestours, who are also called dissours, and 
 seggers, or sayers, and, in the Latin of that time, fabulatores and narratores, 
 were literally, in English, tale-tellers, who recited either their own compositions 
 or those of others, consisting of popular tales and romances, for the entertain- 
 ment of public companies, on occasions of joy and festivity. Gower, a writer 
 contemporary with Chaucer, describing the coronation of a Roman emperor, says. 
 
 When every ministrell had playde, 
 And every dissour had sayde. 
 Which was most pleasaunt in his ear.' 
 
 In a manuscript collection of old stories, in the Harleian Library, we read 
 of a king who kept a tale-teller on purpose to lull him to sleep every night ; but 
 some untoward accident having prevented him from taking his repose so readily 
 as usual, he desired the fabulator to tell him longer stories ; who obeyed, and 
 began one upon a more extensive scale, and fell asleep himself in the midst of it. 
 
 Tales and Manners of the Jestours. — The jestours, or, as the word is 
 often written in the old English dialect, gesters, were the relaters of the gestes, 
 that is, the actions of famous persons, whether fabulous or real ; and these stories 
 were of two kinds, the one to excite pity, and the other to move laughter, as we 
 learn from Chaucer : ^ 
 
 And jestours that tellen tales, 
 Both of wepying and of game. 
 
 The tales of game, as the poet expresses himself, were short jocular stories 
 calculated to promote merriment, in which the reciters paid little respect to the 
 claims of propriety, or even of common decency. The tales of game, however, 
 were much more popular than those of weeping, and probably for the very 
 reason that ought to have operated the most powerfully for their suppression. 
 The jestours, or jesters, whose powers were chiefly employed in the hours of 
 conviviality, finding by experience that lessons of instruction were much less 
 seasonable at such times than idle tales productive of mirth and laughter, 
 accommodated their narrations to the general taste of the times, regardless of 
 the mischiefs they occasioned by vitiating the morals of their hearers ; hence it 
 is, that the author of the Vision of Pierce the Ploughman calls them contemptibly 
 "japers, and juglers, and janglers of gests."' He describes them also as 
 haunters of taverns and common ale-houses, amusing the lower classes of the 
 people with "myrth of minstrelsy and losels tales," loose vulgar tales, and calls 
 them tale-tellers and "tutelers in ydell," tutors of idleness, occasioning their 
 auditory, "for love of tales, in tavernes to drink," where they learned from them 
 to jangle and to jape, instead of attending to their more serious duties ; he 
 therefore makes one to say, 
 
 I can not parfitly my pater noster as the priest it singeth, 
 But I can ryms of Roben Hode, and Randol erl of Chester 
 But of our Lord or our Lady I lerne nothing at all : 
 I am occupied every daye, holy daye, and other. 
 With idle tales at the ale. — 
 ' Confessio Amantis, lib. viii. ^ The thirde boke of Fame. ' Edition of ISSO. 
 
MINSTRELS 155 
 
 He then blames the opulent for rewarding these "devils dissours," as he calls 
 them, and adds, 
 
 He is worse than Judas that giveth a japer silver.^ 
 The japers, I apprehend, were the same as the bourdours, or rybauders, an 
 inferior class of minstrels, and properly called jesters in the modern acceptation 
 of the word ; whose wit, like that of the merry -andrews of the present day, 
 consisted in low obscenity, accompanied with ludicrous gesticulation. They 
 sometimes, however, found admission into the houses of the opulent. Knighton 
 indeed mentions one of these japers who was a favourite in the English court, 
 and could obtain any grant from the king "a burdando" that is, by jesting. 
 They are well described by the poet : 
 
 As japers and janglers, Judas chyldren, 
 Fayneth them fantasies, and fooles them maketh. 
 
 It was a very common and a very favourite amusement, so late as the sixteenth 
 century, to hear the recital of verses and moral speeches, learned for that 
 purpose, by a set of men who obtained their livelihood thereby, and who, 
 without ceremony, intruded themselves, not only into taverns and other places 
 of public resort, but also into the houses of the nobility. 
 
 Further Illustration of their Practices. — The different talents of the 
 minstrels are sarcastically described by an ancient French poet ; ^ who, supposing 
 a company of them assembled in the hall of an opulent nobleman, says, the count 
 caused it to be made known to them, that he would give his best new scarlet 
 robe to the minstrel who should occasion the iTiost merriment, either by ridiculous 
 words or by actions. This proposal occasioned them to strive with each other ; 
 some of them imitated the imbecility of drunkards, others the actions of fools ; 
 some sang, others piped ; some talked nonsense, and some made scurrilous jests ; 
 those who understood the juggler's art played upon the vielle ; others of them 
 depended on the narration of quaint fables, which were productive of much 
 laughter. 
 
 Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of the Minstrels. — There is great 
 reason to conclude that the professors of music were more generally encouraged, 
 and of course more numerous in this country, subsequent to the Norman conquest, 
 than they had been under the government of the Saxons. We are told, that 
 the courts of princes swarmed with poets and minstrels. The earls also and 
 great barons, who in their castles emulated the pomp and state of royalty, had 
 their poets and minstrels : they formed part of their household establishment ; 
 and, exclusive of their wages, were provided with board, lodging, and clothing 
 by their patrons, and frequently travelled with them when they went from home. 
 
 These minstrels, as well as those belonging to the court, were permitted to 
 perform in the rich monasteries, and in the mansions of the nobility, which they 
 frequently visited in large parties, and especially upon occasions of festivity. 
 They entered the castles without the least ceremony, rarely waiting for any 
 
 * A reward, ' Fabliaux et Contes, edit. Par, torn. ii. p. l6i. 
 
156 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 previous invitation, and there exhibited their performances for the entertainment 
 of the lord of the mansion and his guests. They were, it seems, admitted with- 
 out any difficulty, and handsomely rewarded for the exertion of their talents. 
 
 It was no uncommon thing with the itinerant minstrels to find admission 
 into the houses of the opulent. The Saxon and the Danish gleemen followed 
 the armies in the time of war, and had access to both the camps without the 
 least molestation. The popular story of king Alfred, recorded by William of 
 Malmsbury and other writers, may be mentioned in proof of this assertion. He, 
 it is said, assumed the character of a gleeman,^ and entered the Danish camp, 
 where he made such observations as were of infinite service. This stratagem 
 was afterwards repeated by Aulaff, the Dane, who was equally successful. He 
 assumed, says the historian, the profession of the mimic, "who by this species 
 of art makes a daily gain ; " and then adds, " being commanded to depart, he 
 took' with him the reward for his song."^ 
 
 The extensive privileges enjoyed by the minstrels, and the long continuance 
 of the public favour, inflated their pride and made them insolent ; they even 
 went so far as to claim their reward by a prescriptive right, and settled its 
 amount according to the estimation they had formed of their own abilities, and 
 the opulence of the noblemen into whose houses they thought proper to intrude. 
 The large gratuities collected by these artists not only occasioned great numbers 
 to join their fraternity, but also induced many idle and dissipated persons to 
 assume the characters of minstrels, to the disgrace of the profession. These 
 evils became at last so notorious, that in the reign of king Edward II. it was 
 thought necessary to restrain them by a public edict, which sufficiently explains 
 the nature of the grievance. It states, that many indolent persons, under the 
 colour of minstrelsy, intruded themselves into the residences of the wealthy, 
 where they had both meat and drink, but were not contented without the addition 
 of large gifts from the householder. To restrain this abuse, the mandate ordains, 
 that no person should resort to the houses of prelates, earls, or barons, to eat, or 
 to drink, who was not a professed minstrel ; nor more than three or four 
 minstrels of honour at most in one day, meaning, I presume, the king's minstrels 
 and those retained by the nobility, except they came by invitation from the lord 
 of the house. 
 
 Thus we read in the old romance of Launfel, 
 
 They had menstrelles of moche honours, 
 Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompoters. 
 
 The edict also prohibits a professed minstrel from going to the house of 
 any person below the dignity of a baron, unless invited by the master ; and, in 
 that case, it commands him to be contented with meat and drink, and such 
 reward as the housekeeper willingly offered, without presuming to ask for any- 
 thing. For the first offence the minstrel lost his minstrelsy, and for the second 
 
 ^ Malmsb, lib. ii. cap. 4. ^ Hist, lib. ii. cap. 6. 
 
MINSTRELS 157 
 
 he was obliged to forswear his profession, and was never to appear again as a 
 minstrel.^ This edict is dated from Langley, an. 9 Edward II. a.d. 1315. 
 
 A Gild of Minstrels. — In little more than a century afterwards, the same 
 grievances became again the subject of complaint ; and in the ninth year of 
 Edward IV. (1469) it was stated, that certain rude husbandmen and artificers of 
 various trades had assumed the title and livery of the king's minstrels, and, under 
 that colour and pretence, had collected money in divers parts of the kingdom, 
 and committed other disorders ; the king therefore granted to Walter Haliday, 
 marshal, and to seven others, his own minstrels, named by him, a charter, by 
 which he created, or rather restored, a fraternity, or perpetual gild, such as the 
 king understood the brothers and sisters of the fraternity of minstrels to have 
 possessed in former time. This fraternity was to be governed by a marshal 
 appointed for life, the same office as that anciently possessed by the king of the 
 minstrels, and two wardens, who were empowered to admit members into the 
 gild, and to regulate and govern, and to punish, when necessary, all such as 
 exercised the profession of minstrels throughout the kingdom.'' 
 
 *This gild was attached to the cathedral church of St Paul's for its religious 
 functions. The minstrels of Chester, who had already several charter privileges, 
 were exempted from the operations of the general charter of 1469. There was 
 also a famous gild of minstrels at Beverley. The ordinances of gilds of minstrels 
 at York and Canterbury are still extant.^ 
 
 Abuses and Decline of Minstrelsy. — It does not appear that much good 
 was effected by the foregoing institution or general gild ; it neither corrected 
 the abuses practised by the fraternity, nor retrieved their reputation, which 
 declined apace from this period. Under queen Elizabeth, the minstrels had lost 
 the protection of the opulent ; and their credit was sunk so low in the public 
 estimation, that, by a statute in the thirty-ninth year of her reign against vagrants, 
 they were included among the rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and sub- 
 jected to the like punishments. This edict also affected all fencers, bearwards, 
 common players of interludes (with the exception of such players as belonged to 
 great personages, or had obtained licences from town or country authorities), as 
 well as minstrels wandering abroad, jugglers, tinkers, and pedlars ; and seems to 
 have given the death's wound to the profession of the minstrels, who had so 
 long enjoyed the public favour, and basked in the sunshine of prosperity. The 
 name, however, remained, and was applied to itinerant fiddlers and other 
 musicians, whose low estate is thus described by Putenham, in his Arte of 
 English Poesie, printed in 1589:* "Ballads and small popular musickes sung 
 by these cantabanqui upon benches and barrels heads, where they have none 
 other audience than boyes or countrye fellowes that passe by them in the streete, 
 or else by blind harpers, or such like taverne minstrels that give a fit of mirth for 
 a groat ; and their matters being for the most part stories of old time, as the 
 
 ^ App. to Leland's Collect, vol. vi. p. 36. " Patent Rolls of Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 17. 
 
 ' *Jusseraud's English Wayfaring Life, 205-6; Lambert's Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, 132-137. 
 
 * Book ii, chap. 9. 
 
is8 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 tale of Sir Topas, Bevis of Southampton, Guy of Warwick, Adam Bell and 
 Clymme of the Clough, and such other old romances or historical rhimes, made 
 purposely for the recreation of the common people at Christmas dinners and 
 bride ales, and in tavernes„and alehouses, and such other places of base resort." 
 Bishop Hall, the satirist, adverts to the poor plight of the minstrels at this time, 
 in the last two lines of the following couplet : — 
 
 Much better than a Paris-garden beare, 
 Or prating puppet on a theatre. 
 Or Mimoes whistling to his tabouret, 
 Selling a laughter for a cold meales meat.^ 
 
 It is necessary, however, to observe, that public and private bands of 
 musicians were called minstrels for a considerable time after this period, and 
 without the least indication of disgrace ; but then the appellation seems to have 
 been confined to the instrumental performers, and such of them as were placed 
 upon a regular establishment : the musicians of the city of London, for instance, 
 were called indifferently waits and minstrels.^ 
 
 We hear of the itinerant musicians again in an ordinance from Oliver 
 Cromwell, dated 1656, during his protectorship, which prohibits "all persons 
 commonly called fidlers, or minstrells," from " playing, fidling, and making music, 
 in any inn, alehouse, or tavern " ; and also from " proffering themselves, or 
 desireing, or intreating any one to hear them play, or make music in the places 
 aforesaid." The only vestige of these musical vagrants now remaining, is to be 
 found in the blind fiddlers wandering about the country, and the ballad singers, 
 who frequently accompany their ditties with instrumental music, especially the 
 fiddle, vulgarly called a crowd, and the guitar. And here we may observe, that 
 the name of fiddlers was applied to the minstrels as early at least as the four- 
 teenth century : it occurs in the Vision of Pierce the Ploughman? where we 
 read, "not to fare as a fydeler, or a frier, to seke feastes." It is also used, but 
 not sarcastically, in the poem of Launfel. 
 
 Minstrels were Satirists and Flatterers. — The British bards employed 
 their musical talents in the praise of heroic virtue, or in the censure of vice, 
 apparently without any great expectation of reward on the one hand, or fear of 
 punishment on the other. The Scandinavian scalds celebrated the valiant actions 
 of their countrymen in appropriate verses ; and sometimes accompanied the 
 warriors to the field of battle, that they might behold their exploits and describe 
 them with more accuracy. The gleemen of the Saxons imitated their pre- 
 decessors, and attached themselves to the persons of princes and chieftains, and 
 retained their favour by continual adulation. The minstrels of the Normans 
 trod in the same steps, but seem to have been more venal, and ready at all times 
 to flatter or to satirise, as best suited their interest, without paying much regard 
 to justice on either side. 
 
 Anecdotes of offending Minstrels. — It is said of William Longchamp, 
 
 ' Lib. iv. sat. i. " Stow's Survey of London, pp. 84, 85 Pass. xi. 
 
MI^STIIELS H9 
 
 bishop of Ely, chancellor and justiciary of England, who was also the Pope's 
 legate, and a great favourite of Richard I., that he kept a number of poets in 
 his pay, to make songs and poems in his praise ; and also, that with great gifts 
 he allured many of the best singers and minstrels from the Continent, to sing 
 those songs in the public streets of the principal cities in England.^ 
 
 It was, on the other hand, a very dangerous employment to censure the 
 characters of great personages, or hold their actions up to ridicule ; for, though 
 the satirist might be secure at the moment, he was uncertain that fortune would 
 not one day or another put him into the power of his adversary, which was the 
 case with Cuke de Barra, a celebrated Norman minstrel ; who, in his songs 
 having made very free with the character of Henry I, of England, by some 
 untoward accident fell into the hands of the irritated monarch. He condemned 
 him to have his eyes pulled out : and, when the earl of Flanders, who was 
 present, pleaded warmly in his favour, the king replied : " This man, being a 
 wit, a poet, and a minstrel, composed many indecent songs against me, and sung 
 them openly to the great entertainment of mine enemies ; and, since it has 
 pleased God to deliver him into my hands, I will punish him, to deter others 
 from the like petulance." The cruel sentence was executed, and the miserable 
 satirist died soon after with the wounds he had received in struggling with the 
 executioner.^ 
 
 Again, in the reign of king Edward II,, at the solemnisation of the feast of 
 Pentecost in the great hall at Westminster, when that prince was seated at 
 dinner in royal state, and attended by the peers of the realm, a woman habited 
 like a minstrel, riding upon a great horse trapped in the minstrel fashion, entered 
 the hall, and, going round the several tables, imitated the gestures of a mimic,' 
 and at length mounted the steps to the royal table, upon which she deposited a 
 letter ; and, having so done, she turned her horse, and saluting all the company, 
 retired. The letter was found to contain some very severe reflections upon the 
 conduct of the monarch, which greatly angered him ; and the actress, being 
 arrested by his command, discovered the author of the letter, who acknowledged 
 the offence and was pardoned ; but the door-keeper, being reprimanded on 
 account of her admission, excused himself, by declaring it had never been 
 customary to prevent the entry of minstrels and persons in disguisements, upon 
 the supposition that they came for the entertainment of his majesty. This 
 woman had probably assumed the habit of a man, and a female was chosen on 
 this occasion, according to the opinion of Dr Percy,* because, upon detection, 
 her sex might plead for her, and disarm the king's resentment. It is, however, 
 certain that at this time, and long before it, there were women who practised the 
 minstrel's art, or at least some branches of it. We read of the glee-maidens, or 
 
 ' Benedict. Abbas, sub an. 1190. Hoveden writes thus : " Can/ores et jocul<Uores de illo canerent inplaleis ; utjam 
 dicebatur ubique quod mm erat talis in orbe" ; declaring everywhere that his equal was not in the world. /Tist. p. 103. 
 
 * Orderic. Vitalis, £ccies. Hist. pp. 880, 881. 
 
 ' Walsingham, Hist. Angla. sub an. 1317, p. 85. 
 
 * Essay upon Ancient Minstrels, in Reliques of Ancient Poetry. 
 
»6o SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 female minstrels, in the Saxon records; and I believe that their province in 
 general was to dance and to tumble, whence they acquired the name of tomble- 
 steres, from the Saxon sumbian, to dance or tumble, and saylours, from salio, to 
 leap or dance, in the time of Chaucer, who uses both these denominations.^ 
 
 The Dress of the Minstrels. — It is very clear, that the minstrels wore a 
 peculiar kind of dress by which they might readily be distinguished : the woman 
 above mentioned is expressly said to have been habited like a mimic or a 
 minstrel, and by that means obtained admission without the least difficulty to 
 the royal presence. I remember also a story recorded in a manuscript, written 
 about the reign of Edward III., of a young man of family, who came to a feast, 
 where many of the nobility were present, in a vesture called a coat hardy, cut 
 short in the German fashion, and resembling the dress of a minstrel. The 
 oddity of his habit attracted the notice of the company, and especially of an 
 elderly knight, to whom he was well known, who thus addressed him : " Where, 
 my friend, is your fiddle, your ribible, or such-like instrument belonging to a 
 minstrel ? " " Sir," replied the young man, " I have no crafte nor science in 
 using such instruments." "Then," returned the knight, "you are much to 
 blame ; for, if you choose to debase yourself and your family by appearing in the 
 garb of a minstrel, it is fitting you should be able to perform his duty." ^ On 
 a column in Saint Mary's church at Beverley in Yorkshire is the following 
 inscription : " This pyllor made the maynstrels " ; its capital is decorated with 
 small figures of men in short coats painted blue, with red stockings and yellow 
 girdles and stocks. The instruments they bear are a crowth (fiddle), a guitar, 
 a treble and base flute, and a side drum and tabor. The date is early sixteenth 
 century. The minstrels retained in noblemen's families wore their lords' livery ; 
 and those appertaining to the royal household did the same. The edict of 
 Edward IV. against the pretended minstrels, mentioned above, expressly says, 
 that they assumed the name, and the livery or dress, of the king's own minstrels. 
 The queen had also minstrels in her service, who probably wore a livery different 
 from those of the king for distinction sake. The following lines, which are 
 somewhat to the purpose, occur in an old historical poem, in the Harleian 
 Collection : they relate to Sir Edward Stanley, who is highly praised by the 
 author for his great skill in playing upon all kinds of instruments : — 
 
 He stood before the kinge, doubtless this was true, 
 In a fayre gowne of cloth of gold, and of tilshewe, 
 Lyke no common mynstrel, to shew taverne mirth, 
 But lyke a noble man, both of lands, and of birth.' 
 
 And again, in the history of John Newchombe, the famous clothier of Newbury, 
 usually called Jack of Newbury, it is said, " They had not sitten long, but in 
 comes a noise of musicians in tawnie coats ; who, putting off their caps, asked if 
 they would have any music ? " 
 
 1 The first in the " Pardoner's Tale," and the last in the " Romance of the Rose." 
 =" Harl. MS. 1764. s Harl. MS. 541. 
 
MINSTRELS i6i 
 
 The King of the Minstrels. — The king's minstrel, frequently in Latin 
 ca^tA joculator regis, or the king's juggler, was an officer of rank in the courts 
 of the Norman monarchs. He had the privilege of accompanying his master 
 when he journeyed, and of being near his person ; and probably was the regulator 
 of the royal sports, and appointed the other minstrels belonging to the house- 
 hold ; for which reason, I presume, he was also called the king, or chief of the 
 minstrels. At what time this title was first conferred on him does not appear : 
 we meet with it, however, in an account of the public expenditures made in the 
 fifth year of Edward I. ; at which time, the king of the minstrels, whose name 
 was Robert, received his master's pay for military services.^ The same name, 
 with the same title annexed to it, occurs again in a similar record, dated the 
 fourth year of Edward II. ; when he, in company with various other minstrels, 
 exhibited before the king and his court, then held in the city of York ; and 
 received forty marks, to be by him distributed among the fraternity.^ 
 
 The title of royalty was not confined to the king's chief minstrel : it was 
 also bestowed upon the regent of other companies of musicians, as we find in a 
 charter granted by John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, to the minstrels of 
 Tutbury in Staffordshire. This document he addresses, under his seal, at the 
 castle of Tutbury, August 24, in the fourth year of Richard II., to nostre bene 
 ante le roy des ministraulx, his well beloved the king of the minstrels ; and con- 
 cedes to him full power and commission to oblige the minstrels belonging to the 
 honour of Tutbury to perform their services and minstrelsies in the same manner 
 that they had been accustomed to be done in ancient times.* In a ballad intituled 
 "The marriage of Robin Hood and Clorinda the Queen of Tutbury Feast,"* 
 written probably after the disgrace of the minstrels, this officer is called the king 
 of the fidlers. The poet supposes himself to have been present at the wedding, 
 and witness of the facts he relates ; and therefore he speaks thus : — 
 
 This battle was fought near to Titbury town, 
 
 When the bagpipes baited the bull. 
 I am king of the fidlers, and swear 'tis a truth. 
 
 And I call him that doubts it a gull. 
 
 Claude Fauchet, a French author of eminence, before quoted, speaking 
 concerning the title of king, formerly given to many officers belonging to the 
 court, makes these observations : " I am well assured, the word king signifies 
 comptroller, or head, as the chief heralds are called kings at arms, because it 
 belonged solely to them to regulate the ceremonies of the justs and tourna- 
 ments." He then applies this reasoning to the Roy des Ribaulx, an officer in 
 the ancient court of France ; ^ and says, his charge was to clear the palace of 
 
 ' MS. Cott. Vespasianus, C. xvi. 
 
 ' " Regi Soberto, tt aliis ministrallis diver sis, facientibus ministralsias suas coram rege et aliis magnatibus, de dono 
 ipsius regis, per manus dicti regis Hoberti, recipientis denarios ad participandum inter eosdem, apud Eboracum so die 
 Feb. 40 marc." MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii. 
 
 • Dugd. Monast. vol. i. fol. 355. ' Collection of Old Ballads, London, 1723. 
 
 • Chaucer, in the Romance of the Rose, where the title Roy des Ribaulx occurs in the original, translates it 
 "kingof harlotes." 
 
 L 
 
i62 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 indolent and disorderly persons, who followed the court, and had no business 
 there ; and had his title as king of vagabonds, because he was the examiner and 
 corrector of dissolute persons.^ In like manner, I presume, in this country, the 
 king of the minstrels was the governor and director of the fraternity over which 
 he presided. The title was dropped in the reign of Edward IV., and that of 
 marshal became its substitute. 
 
 Rewards given to Minstrels, — In the middle ages, the courts of princes, 
 and the residences of the opulent, were crowded with minstrels ; and such large 
 sums of money were expended for their maintenance, that the public treasuries 
 were often drained. Matilda, queen to Henry I., is said to have lavished the 
 greater part of her revenue upon poets and minstrels, and oppressed her tenants 
 to procure more.^ She was, however, by no means singular in so doing, as the 
 invectives of the monks sufficiently demonstrate. These selfish professors of 
 religion grudged every act of munificence that was not applied to themselves, or 
 their monasteries ; and could not behold the good fortune of the minstrels with- 
 out expressing their indignation ; which they often did in terms of scurrilous 
 abuse, calling them janglers, mimics, buffoons, monsters of men, and contemptible 
 scoffers. They also severely censured the nobility for patronising and rewarding 
 such a shameless set of sordid flatterers, and the populace for frequenting their 
 exhibitions, and being delighted with their performances, which diverted them 
 from more serious pursuits, and corrupted their morals.' On the other hand, the 
 minstrels appear to have been ready enough to give them ample occasion for 
 censure ; and, indeed, I apprehend that their own immorality and insolence con- 
 tributed more to their downfall than all the defamatory declamations of their 
 opponents. The ecclesiastics were mightily pleased with the conduct of the 
 emperor Henry III., because, at his marriage with Agnes of Poictou, he dis- 
 appointed the poor minstrels who had assembled in great multitudes on the 
 occasion, giving them neither food nor rewards, but " sent them away," says a 
 monkish author, " with empty purses, and hearts full of sorrow." * But to go on. 
 
 The rewards given to the minstrels did not always consist in money, but 
 frequently in rich mantles and embroidered vestments : they received, says 
 Fauchet, great presents from the nobility, who would sometimes give them even 
 the robes with which they were clothed. It was a common custom in the 
 middle ages to give vestments of different kinds to the minstrels. In an 
 ancient poem, cited by Fauchet, called " La Robe Vermeille," or. The Red Robe, 
 the wife of a vavaser, that is, one who, holding of a superior lord, has tenants 
 under him, reproaches her husband for accepting a robe. " Such gifts," says she, 
 "belong to jugglers, and other singing men, who receive garments from the 
 nobility, because it is their trade : 
 
 ' Origines des Dignitez et Magistrals de France, fol. 43. 2 Will. Malmsb. p. 93, col. I. 
 
 ' Johan. Sarisburiensis, De Nugis Curial. lib. i. cap. 8 ; lib. iii. cap. 7. Matt. Paris, in Vit. Hen. III. sub an. 
 1 25 1, etc. 
 
 * "Infinitum histrionum et joculatorum multitudinem, sine cibo et muneribus, vacuam et marentum abire permisit" 
 Chron, Virtziburg. 
 
MINSTRELS 163 
 
 S'appartient k ces jorgleours, 
 Et k ces autres chanteours, 
 Quils ayent de ces chevaliers, 
 Les robes car c'est lor mestier." ' 
 
 These garments the jugglers failed not to take with them to other courts, 
 in order to excite a similar liberality. Another artifice they often used, which 
 was, to make the heroes of their poems exceedingly bountiful to the minstrels, 
 who appear to have been introduced for that purpose : thus, in the metrical 
 romance of Ipomedon, where the poet speaks of the knight's marriage, he says : — 
 
 Ipomydon gaff, in that stound, 
 
 To mynstrelles five hundred pound.' 
 
 The author of Pierce the Ploughman, who lived in the reign of Edward 
 III., gives the following general description of the different performances of the 
 minstrels, and of their rewards, at that period : — 
 
 I am mynstrell, quoth that man ; my name is Activa Vita ; 
 
 All Idle iche hate, for All Active is my name ; 
 
 A wafirer ' well ye wy t ; and serve many lordes, 
 
 And few robes I get, or faire furred gownes. 
 
 Could I lye, to do men laugh ; then lachen * I should 
 
 Nother mantill, nor money, amonges lords minstrels : 
 
 And, for I can neither taber, ne trumpe, ne tell no gestes, 
 
 Fartin ne fislen, at feastes, ne harpen ; 
 
 Jape, ne juggle, ne gentilly pype, 
 
 Ne neither saylen ne saute,' ne singe to the gytterne, 
 
 I have no good giftes to please the great lordes. 
 
 And, if we refer to history, we shall find that the poets are not incorrect in 
 their statement. Gaston, earl of Foix, whose munificence is much commended 
 by Froissart, lived in a style of splendour little inferior to that of royalty. The 
 historian, speaking of a grand entertainment given by this nobleman, which he 
 had an opportunity of seeing, says, " Ther wer many mynstrells, as well of his 
 own, as of straungers ; and each of them dyd their devoyre, in their faculties.® 
 The same day the earl of Foix gave to the heraulds and minstrelles the som of 
 five hundred frankes ; and gave to the duke of Tourayn's minstrelles gownes of 
 cloth of gold, furred with ermyne, valued at two hundred frankes."^ 
 
 Respecting the pecuniary rewards of the minstrels, we have, among others, 
 the following accounts. At the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I. 
 to John, earl of Holland, every king's minstrel received forty shillings.* In the 
 fourth of Edward II. Perrot de la Laund, minstrel to Lord Hugh de Nevill, 
 received twenty shillings for performing his minstrelsy before the king.® In the 
 same year, Janino la Cheveretter, who is called Le Tregettour,^" was paid at one 
 
 ' Ongine de la Langtte et Poesie Frattfoise, lib. i. cap. 4. ' Harl, MS. 2252. 
 
 ' A confectioner. * Lack, or want. 
 
 " Dance, nor jump. Pass. xiv. ' Duty in their several stations. 
 
 ' Lord Berners' Froissart, vol. iv. cap. 41. ^ Anstis, Ord. Gart, vol. ii. p. 303. 
 
 ' Liber de Comptitis Garderoba, MS. Cott. Lib, Nero, C. viii. fol. 82. 
 
 " Cheveretter, or bagpiper j from-chevre, a bagpipe, and tregettor, or juggler, a sleight of hand player. Ibid. See 
 more on this subject in the next chapter relating to the joculator. 
 
i64 SPORTS ANB PASTIMES 
 
 time forty shillings, and at another twenty, for the same service ; and John le 
 Mendlesham, the servant of Robert le Foil, twenty shillings ; ^ the same sum 
 was also given to John le Boteller, the servant of Perrot Duzedeys, for his 
 performances ; and, again, Perrot Duzedeys, Roger the Trumpeter, and Janino 
 le Nakerer, all of them king's minstrels, received from the king sixty shillings 
 for the like service. 
 
 Payments to Minstrels. — In the eighth year of Edward III. licence was 
 granted to Barbor the bagpiper to visit the schools for minstrels in parts beyond 
 the seas,^ with thirty shillings to bear his expenses. Licence was also granted to 
 Morlan the bagpiper to visit the minstrels' schools ; and forty shillings for his 
 expenses. A little lower we find a present of five shillings made by the king to 
 a minstrel, for performing his minstrelsy before the image of the Blessed Virgin.' 
 In the eleventh year of the same reign, John de Hoglard, minstrel to John de 
 Pulteney, was paid forty shillings for exhibiting before the king at Hatfield, 
 and at London ; and to Roger the Trumpeter, and to the minstrels his 
 associates, performing at the feast for the queen's delivery, held at Hatfield, 
 ten pounds. The permanent salary of the royal minstrels of Edward III. was 
 7|^d. a day.* 
 
 * Henry V., in 14 15, engaged eighteen minstrels to follow him to Guyenne 
 at a wage of i2d. a day each for three months.^ Henry VI., as has been already 
 stated, retained twelve minstrels among his household servants. Two of the 
 court minstrels of Edward IV. obtained grants of ten marks yearly. 
 
 In the ninth year of Henry VII. " Pudesay the piper in bagpipes," received 
 six shillings and eight pence from the king, for his performance." In the 
 fourteenth year of his reign, five pounds were paid to three stryng-mynstrels 
 for wages, but the time is not specified ; in a subsequent entry, however, we 
 find that fifteen shillings were given to "a stryng-mynstrel, for one moneth's 
 wages " ; also to a " straunge taberer, in reward, sixty-six shillings and 
 eight pence."'' 
 
 *MiNSTRELS AND Players AT DuRHAM. — The Durham Account Rolls yield 
 much information as to minstrels. In 1278 a minstrel of Newcastle-on-Tyne 
 obtained 2s. from the prior of Durham. In 1336 a band of minstrels were 
 rewarded with 20s. A trumpeter and a minstrel received 5s. on the festival of 
 St Cuthbert 1369, and on the like occasion in 1374 twelve minstrels received 
 20s. 8d. March 20th was the original festival of St Cuthbert, but his transla- 
 tion on September 14th was considered the greater festival ; at the former of 
 these, in 1375, the minstrels received 13s. 4d., and at the latter 20s. In the 
 
 1 Another entry specifies twenty shillings paid to Robert le Foil to buy himself boclarium, a buckler, to play, aa 
 ludendum, before the king. Liber de Computis Garderobce, MS. Cott. Lib. Nero, C. viii. f. 85. 
 ^ Scolas ministrallis in partibus trans mare. Ibid. f. 276. 
 
 ' Facienti ministralsiam suam coram imagine Beatm Marice in Veltam, rege presente, J sol. Ibid. f. 277. 
 * Issue Roll of Tho, de Brantingham, pp. 54-57. 
 ' Rymer's Fcedera, ix. 260. 
 
 ' MS. in the Remembrancer's Office. See the extract in Henry's British History, vol. vi. Appendix No. V. 
 ' From another MS. in the same office. Ibid. 
 
MINSTRELS 165 
 
 same year three minstrels of the earl of March obtained 6s. 8d. ; one of the 
 king's minstrels, who came with Lord Neville, 5s. ; four minstrels of the prince 
 of Wales, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 1 3s. 4d. ; a minstrel on 
 St Matthew's day, 2od. ; two minstrels at Easter, 2s. ; and a certain minstrel 
 who played before the prior in his chamber, i8d. Earl Percy's minstrels visited 
 the abbey in 1376, at Christmas, and received 6s. 8d. A minstrel accompanied 
 by a dancer performed before the prior in his chamber in 1382 ; they received 
 6s. 8d. for their pains. In the year 1394 duly rewarded visits were paid to the 
 abbey by the minstrels of Earl Percy, of the duke of Lancaster, of Lord 
 Neville, of the duke of York, and of the earl of Kent, as well as by a royal 
 trumpeter. Various minstrel entries occur in the fifteenth century. The last 
 reference in these Durham Rolls is at an interesting date in ecclesiastical history. 
 March 3, 1555, was the day that " the proclamation and bonefyres war made for 
 receyving of the Pope in this realm agayn," when three pottles of wine were 
 drunk in the dean's chamber, and two gallons of ale in the garth, in addition to 
 the wine and ale consumed by the servants. Four pence was paid for a tar 
 barrel, and eight pence "for two mynstralles." 
 
 *A11 these payments just cited are entered under the head of minstrels 
 (ministrallt) ; but there are an almost equal number entered under the head or 
 title of players (histriones), which extend in date from 1301 to 1360. There 
 probably was but slight difference between the two, and the use of the varied 
 terms mainly depended on the fashion of the time or the caprice of the scribe. 
 Nevertheless, although the actor might be also a musician or juggler, the phrase 
 histrio seems to convey more definite notion of a play actor than that of 
 ministrallus, and the former word is possibly usually entered in these accounts 
 when the strolling band of entertainers were capable of representing certain set 
 pieces. This would doubtless be the case when particular companies visited the 
 abbey. In 1334, the king's players received 40s. when the king was returning 
 from Newcastle ; and in the following year the players of the king of Scotland 
 obtained 5s. from the prior. The king's players at Christmas 1343 were 
 rewarded with los. At Christmas 1352, one William Pyper and other players 
 received 6s. At St Cuthbert's feast in March 1353, two players of the lord 
 bishop together with two players of the earl of Northampton obtained 6s. 8d. 
 The two players of the bishop, who were probably merely harpers or genuine 
 minstrels, received 3s. 4d. at Easter in the same year.^ 
 
 *MiNSTRELS AT PARISH FESTIVALS. — The hiring of minstrels for parish 
 festivals at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century is 
 testified by various churchwardens' accounts, such as those of St Mary's, 
 Reading. The parish accounts of Yatton, Somerset, show that the wardens 
 paid with considerable regularity for a minstrel or minstrels at Whitsuntide. 
 The first entry is for the year 1521, when lad. was "payd to a mynnystrelle." 
 In 1531 the "mynestrell att Wytsonday" received 2s. 8d. ; in 1532, 6s.; and 
 
 ' Fowler's Durham Account Rolls, 3 vols. (1898-1900), passim. 
 
166 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 in 1533, 8s. 4d, Occasionally as much as ten shillings is entered for the Whit- 
 suntide minstrel, as though only one ; but in these larger payments, the entry 
 probably means that the money was given to the head minstrel. In 1536 two 
 minstrels were paid 6s., and the same number in 1540 received 6s. gd. Three 
 were given 13s. 8d. in 1543. The last minstrel entry of these accounts is under 
 the year 1559, when ten shillings was their fee.^ It is clear that this minstrelsy 
 had no connection with music in church, but was rather for the festivities of 
 the Whitsun Ale. 
 
 * Bishop Hobhouse's Churchwarden Accounts (Somerset Record Society, vol. iv.). 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Joculator — His different Denominations and extraordinary Deceptions — His Performances ascribed to Magic — 
 Asiatic Jugglers — Remarkable Story from Froissart — Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of the Devil ; 
 but more reasonably accounted for — John Rykell, a celebrated Tregetour — Their various Performances — Privileges 
 of the Joculators at Paris — The King's Joculator an Officer of Rank — The great Disrepute of modern Jugglers. 
 
 THE Joculator. — The joculator, or the jugglour of the Normans, was 
 frequently included under the collective appellation of minstrel. His 
 profession originally was very comprehensive, and included the practice 
 of all the arts attributed to the minstrel ; and some of the jugglers were excellent 
 tumblers. Joinville, in the Life of St Louis and Charpentier, quotes an old 
 author, who speaks of a joculator, qui sciebat tombare} He was called a 
 gleeman in the Saxon era, and answers to the juggler of the more modern times. 
 In the fourteenth century he was also denominated a tregetour, or tragetour, at 
 which time he appears to have been separated from the musical poets, who 
 exercised the first branches of the gleeman's art, and are more generally 
 considered as minstrels. 
 
 Different Denominations of the Joculator, and his extraordinary 
 Deceptions. — The name of tregetours was chiefly, if not entirely, appropriated 
 to those artists who, by sleight of hand, with the assistance of machinery of 
 various kinds, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and produced such illusions 
 as were usually supposed to be the effect of enchantment ; for which reason 
 they were frequently ranked with magicians, sorcerers, and witches ; and, 
 indeed, the feats they performed, according to the descriptions given of them, 
 abundantly prove that they were no contemptible practitioners in the arts of 
 deception. Chaucer, who, no doubt, had frequently an opportunity of seeing 
 the tricks exhibited by the tregetours in his time, says, " There I sawe playenge 
 jogelours, magyciens, trageteours, phetonysses, charmeresses, olde witches, and 
 sorceresses," etc.^ He speaks of them in a style that may well excite astonish- 
 ment : " There are," says he, " sciences by which men can delude the eye with 
 divers appearances, such as the subtil tregetours perform at feasts. In a large 
 hall they will produce water with boats rowed up and down upon it." In the 
 library of Sir Hans Sloane, at the British Museum, is a MS^ which contains 
 "an experiment to make the appearance of a flode of water to come into a 
 house." The directions are, to steep a thread in the liquor produced from 
 snakes' eggs bruised, and to hang it up over a basin of water in the place where 
 
 ^ Supplement to Du Cange, 
 " Chaucer, House of Fame, book iii. " No. 1315. 
 
 167 
 
168 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the trick is to be performed. The tregetours, no doubt, had recourse to a surer 
 method. Chaucer goes on to say, " Sometimes they will bring in the similitude 
 of a grim lion, or make flowers spring up as in a meadow ; sometimes they 
 cause a vine to flourish, bearing white and red grapes ; or show a castle built 
 with stone ; and when they please, they cause the whole to disappear." He 
 then speaks of "a learned clerk," who, for the amusement of his friend, showed 
 to him " forests full of wild deer, where he saw an hundred of them slain, some 
 with hounds and some with arrows ; the hunting being finished, a company of 
 falconers appeared upon the banks of a fair river, where the birds pursued the 
 herons, and slew them. He then saw knights justing upon a plain " ; and, by 
 way of conclusion, "the resemblance of his beloved lady dancing; which 
 occasioned him to dance also," But, when "the maister that this magike 
 wrought thought fit, he clapped his hands together, and all was gone in an 
 instante." ^ Again, in another part of his works, the same poet says : — 
 
 There saw I Coll Tregetour, 
 Upon a table of sycamour. 
 Play an uncouthe thynge to tell ; 
 I sawe hym cary a wynde-mell 
 Under a walnote shale.^ 
 
 The Joculators' Performances ascribed to Magic. — Chaucer attributes 
 these illusions to the practice of natural magic. Thus the Squire, in his 
 Tale, says : — 
 
 An appearance made by some magyke, 
 As jogglours playen at their festes grete. 
 
 And again, in the third book of the House of Fame : — 
 
 And clerkes eke which conne well 
 All this magyke naturell. 
 
 Meaning, I suppose, an artful combination of different powers of nature in a 
 manner not generally understood ; and therefore he makes the Devil say to the 
 Sompner in the Friar's Tale, " I can take any shape that pleases me ; of a man, 
 of an ape, or of an angel ; and it is no wonder, a lousy juggler can deceive you ; 
 and I can assure you my skill is superior to his." I need not say, that a greater 
 latitude was assigned to what the poet calls natural magic in his days, than will 
 be granted in the present time. 
 
 Asiatic Jugglers. — Sir John Mandeville, who wrote about the same period 
 as Chaucer, speaks thus of a similar exhibition performed before the Great Chan : 
 "And then comen jogulours, and enchauntours, that doen many marvaylles"; 
 for they make, says he, the appearance of the sun and the moon in the air ; and 
 then they make the night so dark, that nothing can be seen ; and again they 
 restore the daylight, with the sun shining brightly ; then they " bringen-in 
 daunces, of the fairest damsels of the world, and the richest arrayed " ; afterwards 
 they make other damsels to come in, bringing cups of gold, full of the milk of 
 
 ^ Frankeleyn's Tale. ' House of Fame, book iii. 
 
JUGGLERS 169 
 
 divers animals, and give drink to the lords and ladies ; and then " they make 
 knyghts jousten in armes fulle lustily," who run together, and in the encounter 
 break their spears so rudely, that the splinters fly all about the hall.^ They also 
 bring in a hunting of the hart and of the boar, with hounds running at them 
 open-mouthed ; and many other things they do by the craft of their enchant- 
 ments, that are "marvellous to see." In another part he says, " And be it done 
 by craft, or by nicromancy, I wot not."* 
 
 Remarkable Story from Froissart. — The foregoing passages bring to 
 my recollection a curious piece of history related by Froissart, which extends 
 the practice of these deceptions far beyond the knowledge of the modern jugglers. 
 When, says that author, the duke of Anjou and the earl of Savoy were lying 
 with their army before the city of Naples, there was " an enchaunter, a conning 
 man in nigromancy, in the Marches of Naples." This man promised to the 
 duke of Anjou, that he would put him in possession of the castle of Leufe, at 
 that time besieged by him. The duke was desirous of knowing by what means 
 this could be effected ; and the magician said, " I shall, by enchauntment, make 
 the ayre so thicke, that they within the castell will think there is a great brydge 
 over the sea, large enough for ten men a-breast to come to them ; and when 
 they see this brydge, they will readily yeilde themselves to your mercy, least 
 they should be taken perforce." And may not my men, said the duke, pass 
 over this bridge in reality? To this question the juggler artfully replied, "I 
 dare not, syr, assure you that ; for, if any one of the men that passeth on the 
 brydge shall make the sign of the cross upon him, all shall go to noughte, and 
 they that be upon it shall fall into the sea." The earl of Savoy was not present 
 at this conference ; but being afterwards made acquainted with it, he said to the 
 duke, "I know well it is the same enchaunter, by whom the queene of Naples 
 and syr Othes of Bresugeth were taken in this castle ; for he caused, by his 
 crafte, the sea to seeme so high, that they within were sore abashed, and wend 
 all to have died ; but no confidence," continued he, " ought to be placed in a 
 fellow of this kind, who has already betrayed the queen for hire ; and now, for 
 the sake of another reward, is willing to give up the man whose bounty he has 
 received." The earl then commanded the enchanter to be brought before him ; 
 when he boasted that, by the power of his art, he had caused the castle to be 
 delivered to Sir Charles de la Paye, who was then in possession of it ; and 
 concluded his speech with these words : " Syr, I am the man of the world that 
 syr Charles reputeth most, and is most in fear of" " By my fayth," replied the 
 earl of Savoy, "ye say well ; and I will that syr Charles shall know that he hath 
 great wrong to feare you : but I shall assure hym of you, for ye shal never do 
 more enchauntments to deceyve hym, nor yet any other." So saying, he ordered 
 him to be beheaded ; and the sentence was instantly put into execution before 
 the door of the earl's tent. " Thus," adds our author, " ended the mayster 
 enchantour : and so he was payed hys wages according to his desertes." ^ 
 
 ' Mandeville's Travels, p. 285. ^ Ibid. ' Froissart's Chronicle, vol. iii. chap. 392, fol. 272. 
 
I70 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to infernal Agency ; but more reason- 
 ably ACCOUNTED FOR. — Our learned monarch James I. was perfectly convinced 
 that these, and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours, could only be per- 
 formed by the agency of the Devil, " who," says he, " will learne them many juglarie 
 tricks, at cardes and dice, to deceive men's senses thereby, and such innumerable 
 false practiques, which are proved by over-many in this age." ^ It is not, how- 
 ever, very easy to reconcile with common sense the knowledge the king pre- 
 tended to have had of the intercourse between Satan and his scholars the con- 
 jurers ; unless his majesty had been, what nobody, I trust, suspects him to have 
 been, one of the fraternity. But, notwithstanding the high authority of a 
 crowned head in favour of Beelzebub, it is the opinion of some modern writers, 
 that the tricks of the jugglers may be accounted for upon much more reasonable, 
 as well as more natural, principles. These artists were greatly encouraged in 
 the middle ages ; they travelled in large companies, and carried with them, no 
 doubt, such machinery as was necessary for the performance of their deceptions ; 
 and we are all well aware, that very surprising things may be exhibited through 
 the medium of a proper apparatus, and with the assistance of expert confederates. 
 A magic lanthorn will produce appearances almost as wonderful as some of those 
 described by Sir John Mandeville, to persons totally ignorant of the existence and 
 nature of such a machine. The principles of natural philosophy were very little 
 known in those dark ages ; and, for that reason, the spectators were more readily 
 deceived. In our own times we have had several exhibitions that excited much 
 astonishment ; such as an image of wax, suspended by a ribband in the middle of a 
 large room, which answered questions in various languages ; an automaton chess- 
 player, that few professors of the game could beat ; ^ and men ascending the air with- 
 out the assistance of wings : yet these phenomena are considered as puerile, now 
 the secrets upon which their performance depends have been divulged. But, 
 returning to the tregetour, we shall find that he often performed his feats upon 
 a scaffold erected for that purpose ; and probably, says a late ingenious writer,' 
 received his name from the trebuchet, or trap-door, because he frequently made 
 use of such insidious machines in the displayment of his operations. Chaucer 
 has told us, that Coll the tregetour exhibited upon a table ; and other authors 
 speak of "juggling upon the boardes," which clearly indicates the use of a stage 
 or temporary scaffold. Now, let us only add the machinery proper for the 
 occasion, and all the wonders specified in the foregoing passages may be reduced 
 to mere pantomimical deceptions, assisted by sleight of hand, and the whole 
 readily accounted for without any reference to supernatural agency. 
 
 John Rykell, a celebrated Tregetour. — In the fourteenth century, the 
 tregetours seem to have been in the zenith of their glory ; from that period they 
 gradually declined in the popular esteem ; their performances were more confined, 
 
 ' Damonologie, 
 
 ' See The Conjuror Unveiled, a small pamphlet translated from the French ; which gives a full account of these 
 curious pieces of mechanism, and of several others equally surprising. 
 
 ' Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, vol. iii. p. 299. 
 
JUGGLERS 171 
 
 and of course became less consequential. Lydgate, in one of his poems,^ intro- 
 duces Death speaking to a famous tregetour belonging to the court of king 
 Henry V. in this manner : — 
 
 Maister John Rykell, sometime tregitour 
 
 Of noble Henry kinge of Englonde, ' 
 And of France the mighty conqueror ; 
 
 For all the sleightes, and turnyng of thyne honde, 
 
 Thou must come nere this dance, I understonde ; 
 Nought may avail all thy conclusions. 
 
 For Dethe shortly, nother on see nor land, 
 Is not desceyved by no illusions. 
 
 To this summons the sorrowful juggler replies : — 
 
 What may availe mankynde naturale ? 
 
 Not any crafte schevid by apparance, 
 Or course of steres above celestial. 
 
 Or of heavens all the influence, 
 
 Ageynst Deth to stonde at defence. 
 Lygarde-de-mayne now helpith me right noughte : 
 
 Farewell, my craft and all such sapience ; 
 For Deth hath mo masteries than I have wroughte. 
 
 In "The Disobedient Child," an old morality, or interlude, written by 
 Thomas Ingeland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, a servant, describing the 
 sports at his master's wedding, says : — 
 
 What juggling was there upon the boardes ! 
 
 What thrusting of knyves through many a nose ! 
 What bearynge of formes ! what holdinge of swordes ! 
 
 What puttynge of botkyns throughe legge and hose ! " 
 
 These tricks approximate nearly to those of the modern jugglers, who have 
 knives so constructed, that, when they are applied to the legs, the arms, and 
 other parts of the human figure, they have the appearance of being thrust 
 through them ; the bearing of the forms, or seats, I suppose, was the balancing 
 of them ; and the holding of swords, the flourishing them about in the sword- 
 dance ; which the reader will find described in the succeeding chapter. 
 
 Various Performances of the Joculators. — Originally, as we have 
 before observed, the profession of the joculator included all the arts attributed to 
 the minstrels ; and accordingly his performance was called his minstrelsy in the 
 reign of Edward II., and even after he had obtained the appellation of a 
 tregetour.^ We are well assured, that playing upon the vielle and the harp, and 
 singing of songs, verses, and poems taken from popular stories ; together with 
 dancing, tumbling, and other feats of agility, formed a principal part of the 
 joculator's occupation at the commencement of the thirteenth century ; and 
 
 1 " The Daunce of Macabre," translated, or rather paraphrased, from' the French. In this Daunce, Death is represented 
 addressing himself to persons of all ranks and ages. MS. Harl. No. 116. 
 
 " Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, K. vol. ii. 
 
 ' "Tanino le tregettor, facienti ministralsiam suam coram rege,'' etc.; that is, to Janino the tregetour, for performing 
 his minstrelsy before the king, in his chamber near the priory of Swineshead, twenty shillings. Lib. Comput. Garderoba, 
 an. 4 Edw. II. fol. 86, MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii. 
 
172 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 probably so they might in the days of Chaucer. Another part of the juggler's 
 profession, and which constituted a prominent feature in his character, was 
 teaching bears, apes, monkeys, dogs, and various other animals, to tumble, 
 dance, and counterfeit the actions of men ; but we shall have occasion to enlarge 
 upon this subject a few pages farther on. 
 
 In a book of customs, says St Foix,^ made in the reign of Saint Louis, for 
 the regulation of the duties to be paid upon the little chatelet at the entrance 
 into Paris, we read, that a merchant, who brought apes to sell, should pay four 
 deniers ; but, if an ape belonged to a joculator, this man, by causing the animal 
 to dance in the presence of the toll-man, was privileged to pass duty-free, with 
 all the apparatus necessary for his performances : hence came the proverb, 
 " Pay in money ; the ape pays in gambols." Another article specifies that the 
 joculator might escape the payment of the toll by singing a couplet of a song 
 before the collector of the duty. 
 
 Comenius, I take it, has given us a proper view of the juggler's exhibition, 
 as it was displayed a century and a half back, in a short chapter entitled 
 Prestigiae, or Sleights.^ It consists of four divertisements, including the 
 joculator's own performances ; and the other three are tumbling and jumping 
 through a hoop ; the grotesque dances of the clown, or mimic, who, it is said, 
 appeared with a mark upon his face ; and dancing upon the tight rope. The 
 print at the head of his chapter is made agreeably to the English custom, and 
 differs a little from the original description. In the latter it is said, "The 
 juggler sheweth sleights out of a purse." In the print there is no purse repre- 
 sented ; but the artist is practising with cups and balls in the manner they are 
 used at present. The tumbler is walking upon his hands. The rope-dancing 
 is performed by a woman holding a balancing pole ; and on the same rope a 
 man, probably "clown to the rope," is represented hanging by one leg with his 
 head downwards. In modern times, the juggler has united songs and puppet- 
 plays to his show. 
 
 Privileges of the Joculators at Paris — the King's Joculator.— The 
 ioculator regis, or king's juggler, was anciently an ofificer of note in the royal 
 household ; and we find, from Domesday Book (under Gloucestershire) that 
 Berdic, who held that office in the reign of the Conqueror, was a man of 
 property.' In the succeeding century, or soon afterwards, the title of rex 
 juglatorum, or king of the jugglers, was conferred upon the chief performer of 
 the company, and the rest, I presume, were under his control. The king's 
 juggler continued to have an establishment in the royal household till the time 
 of Henry VIII.;* and in his reign the office and title seem to have been 
 discontmued. 
 
 Great Disrepute of modern Jugglers.— The profession of the juggler, 
 
 1 EssaU Hist, sur Paris, vol. li. p. 39. 2 Oriis SemuaUum Picius. by Hoole i6cS . .»,,. .„ 
 
 ^ •' GlowecesUrscire. Berdic, joculator regis, kaiet iij villas, et ibi v car.; nil redd." ^ ' ^P* '^^• 
 
 * Essay on Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to Bishop Percy's Reliques ,f Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. xciii. 
 
JUGGLERS m 
 
 with that of the minstrel, had fallen so low in the public estimation at the close 
 of the reign of queen Elizabeth, that the performers were ranked, by the moral 
 writers of the time, not only with "ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vaga- 
 bonds"; but also with "Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sorcerers";^ and, indeed, 
 at an earlier period they were treated with but little more respect, as appears 
 from the following lines in Barclay's Eclogues : — 
 
 Jugglers and pipers, bourders and flatterers, 
 Baudes and janglers, and cursed adouteres.^ 
 
 In another passage, he speaks of a disguised juggler, and a vile jester or 
 bourder ; ^ by the word disguised he refers, perhaps, to the clown, or mimic ; 
 who, as Comenius has just informed us, danced " disguised with a vizard." In 
 more modern times, by way of derision, the juggler was called a hocus-pocus,* a 
 term applicable to a pick-pocket, or a common cheat. 
 
 ' A Treatise against Dicing, Dauncing, vaine Playes, or Enterludes, etc., by John Northbrooke, 1579. 
 
 ' Egloge the third, at the end of Brant's Ship of Fools, by Barclay, printed a.d. 1508. 
 
 ' Mirrour oj Good Manners, translated from the Latin by Barclay. 
 
 ' Or hokos-pokos, as by Ben Jonson, in The Staple of Newes (1625). This is the earliest mention I have found 
 of this term. It occurs again in the Seven Champions, by John Kirk, acted in 1663 : " My mother could juggle as well 
 as any hocus-pocus in the world." 
 
 •Murray's Dictionary says that this term as the appellation ot a juggler, and apparently as the assumed name of a 
 particular conjurer, appears early in the seventeenth century, and was derived from the sham Latin formula employed by 
 him. Ady's Candle in Dark (1655) is cited : — "I will speak of one man . . . that went about in king James his time 
 . . . who called himself The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Focus, and so was called, because that at the playing 
 of every Trick, he used to say Hocus pocus, toutus taloutus, vade celeriter jubeo, a dark composure of words; to blinde the 
 eyes of the beholders, to make his Trick pass the more currantly without discovery." Tillotson (Sermon xxvi. ) in 1742 
 is responsible for the highly improbable and irreverent suggestion that Hocus-pocus is a corruption of Hoc est Corpus 01 
 the Mass. Hocus apparently is responsible for originating the later word hocuc, that is to play a trick upon any one. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Dancing, Tumbling, and -Balancing, part of the Joculator's Profession-Performed by Women— Dancing connected 
 with Tumbling— Antiquity of Tumbling— Various Dances described— The Gleemen's Dances— Exemplification of 
 Gleemen's Dances— The Sword Dance— Rope-Dancing and wonderful Performances on the Rope— Rope-Dancing 
 from the Battlements of St Paul's— Rope-Dancing from St Paul's Steeple— Rope-Dancing from All Saints' 
 Church, Hertford— Rope-Dancing fiom All Saints, Derby— A Dutchman's Feats on St Paul's Weathercock- 
 Jacob Hall the Rope-Dancer- Modern celebrated Rope-Dancing— Rope-Dancing at Sadler's Wells— Fool's 
 Dance— Morris Dance— Egg Dance— Ladder Dance— Jocular Dances— Wire-Dancing— Ballette Dances— Leaping 
 and Vaulting— Balancing— Remarkable Feats— The Posture-Master's Tricks— The Mountebank— Domestic 
 Dancing — The Pavone — Antiquity of Dancing — The Carole Dance. 
 
 JocuLATORs' Dancing. — Dancing, tumbling, and balancing, with variety of 
 other exercises requiring skill and agility, were originally included in the 
 performances exhibited by the gleemen and the minstrels ; and they re- 
 mained attached to the profession of the joculator after he was separated from 
 those who only retained the first branches of the minstrel's art, that is to say, 
 poetry and music. 
 
 Women Dancers and Tumblers.^ — The joculators were sometimes ex- 
 cellent tumblers ; yet, generally speaking, I believe that vaulting, tumbling, and 
 balancing were not executed by the chieftain of the gleeman's company, but by 
 some of his confederates ; and very often this part of the show was performed 
 by females, who were called glee-maidens by the Saxons, and tumbling women, 
 tomblesteres, and tombesteres, in Chaucer. The same poet, in the " Romance 
 of the Rose," calls them say lours or dancers, from the Latin word salio. They 
 are also denominated sauters, from saut in French, to leap. Hence, in Pierce 
 Ploughman, one says, " I can neither saylen ne saute." They are likewise called 
 tymbesteres, players upon the tymbrel, which they also balanced occasionally, as 
 we shall find a little farther on. It is almost needless to add, that the ancient 
 usage of introducing females for the performances of these difficult specimens of 
 art and agility has been successively continued to the present day. 
 
 Dancing connected with Tumbling. — Dancing, in former times, was 
 closely connected with those feats of activity now called vaulting and tumbling ; 
 and such exertions often formed part of the dances that were publicly exhibited 
 by the gleemen and the minstrels ; for which reason, the Anglo-Saxon writers 
 frequently used the terms of leaping and tumbling for dancing. Both the 
 phrases occur in the Saxon versions of St Mark's Gospel, where it is said of 
 the daughter of Herodias, that she vaulted or tumbled, instead of danced, before 
 king Herod.^ In a translation of the seventh century, in the Cotton Library,^ it 
 
 1 St Mark, chap. vi. ver. 22. ' Nero, D, iv, 
 
 '74 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 17s 
 
 says, she jumped, or leaped, and pleased Herod. In another Saxon version of 
 the eleventh century, in the Royal Library,^ she tumbled, and it pleased Herod. 
 A third reads, Herodias' daughter tumbled there, etc.^ These interpretations of 
 the sacred text might easily arise from a misconception of the translators, who, 
 supposing that no common dancing could have attracted the attention of the 
 monarch so potently, or extorted from him the promise of a reward so extensive 
 as that they found stated in the record, therefore referred the performance to 
 some wonderful displayments of activity, resembling those themselves might 
 have seen exhibited by the glee-maidens, on occasions of solemnity, in the 
 courts of Saxon potentates. We may also observe, that the like explication 
 of the passage was not only received in the Saxon versions of the Gospel, but 
 continued in those of much more modern date ; and, agreeably to the same idea, 
 many of the illuminators, in depicting this part of the holy history, have repre- 
 sented the damsel in the action of tumbling, or, at least, of walking upon her 
 hands. Mr Brand, in his edition of Bourne's Vulgar Antiquities, has quoted 
 one in old English that reads thus : " When the daughter of Herodyas was in 
 comyn, and had tomblyde and pleside Harowde." I have before me a MS. of 
 the Harleian Collection,^ in French, in the thirteenth century, written by some 
 ecclesiastic, which relates to the church fasts and festivals. Speaking of the 
 death of John Baptist, and finding this tumbling damsel to have been the cause, 
 the pious author treats her with much contempt, as though she had been one of 
 the dancing girls belonging to a company of jugglers, who in his time, it seems, 
 were not considered as paragons of virtue any more than they are in the present 
 day. He says of her, " Bien saveit treschier e lumber"; which may be 
 rendered, " She was well skilled in tumbling and cheating tricks." And thus 
 we find her in two examples given in the middle of plate twenty-one. The 
 first, where her servant stands by her side, is taken from a series of Scripture 
 histories,^ written and illuminated at the beginning of the thirteenth century ; 
 and the second from a book of prayers more modern than the former by almost 
 one hundred and fifty years.* 
 
 Antiquity of Tumbling. — The exhibition of dancing, connected with leap- 
 ing and tumbling, for the entertainment of princes and noblemen on occasions 
 of festivity, is of high antiquity. Homer mentions two dancing tumblers, who 
 stood upon their heads,^ and moved about to the measure of a song, for the 
 diversion of Menelaiis and his courtiers, at the celebration of his daughter's 
 nuptials. It seems that the astonishment excited by the difficulty of such per- 
 formances, obviated the absurdity, and rendered them agreeable to persons of 
 rank and affluence. The Saxon princes encouraged the dancers and tumblers ; 
 and the courts of the Norman monarchs were crowded with them : we have, 
 indeed, but few of their exertions particularised ; for the monks, through whose 
 medium the histories of the middle ages have generally been conveyed to us, 
 
 1 No. I, A. xiv. ^ No. 22S3, fol. 45- 
 
 ' Harl. MSB. No. 1527. * Roy. Lib. 2, B. vii. "^ Odyssey, lib. iv, 18. 
 
176 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 were their professed enemies : it is certain, however, notwithstanding the 
 censure promulgated in their disfavour, that they stood their ground, and were 
 not only well received, but even retained, in the houses of the opulent. No 
 doubt they frequently descended to the lowest kinds of buffoonery. We read, 
 for instance, of a tumbler in the reign of Edward II. who rode before his majesty, 
 and frequently fell from his horse in such a manner, that the king was highly 
 diverted, and laughed exceedingly, and rewarded the performer with the sum of 
 twenty shillings, which at that period was a very considerable donation.^ A like 
 reward of twenty shillings was given, by order of Henry VI II,, to a strange 
 tumbler, that is, I suppose, an itinerant who had no particular establishment ; a 
 like sum to a tumbler who performed before him at Lord Bath's ; and a similar 
 reward to the " tabouretts and a tumbler," probably of the household.^ It should 
 seem that these artists were really famous mirth-makers ; for one of them had 
 the address to excite the merriment of the solemn queen Mary. " After her 
 majesty," observes Strype, "had reviewed the royal pensioners in Greenwich 
 Park, there came a tumbler, and played many pretty feats, the queen and 
 cardinal Pole looking on ; whereat she was observed to laugh heartily."* 
 
 Various Dances. — Among the pastimes exhibited for the amusement of 
 queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth castle, there were shown, as Laneham says, 
 before her highness, surprising feats of agility, by an Italian, "in goings, turn- 
 ings, tumblings, castings, hops, jumps, leaps, skips, springs, gambauds, somer- 
 saults, caprettings, and flights, forward, backward, sideways, downward, upward, 
 and with sundry windings, gyrings, and circumflections," which he performed 
 with so much ease and lightness, that words are not adequate to the description ; 
 "insomuch that I," says Laneham, "began to doubt whether he was a man or a 
 spirit " ; and afterwards, " As for this fellow, I cannot tell what to make of him ; 
 save that I may guess his back to be metalled like a lamprey, that has no bone, 
 but a line like a lute-string." * So lately as the reign of queen Anne, this species 
 of performance continued to be fashionable ; and in one of the Tatlers we meet 
 with the following passage : " I went on Friday last to the Opera ; and was 
 surprised to find a thin house at so noble an entertainment, 'till I heard that the 
 tumbler was not to make his appearance that night." ^ 
 
 Three ancient specimens of the tumbler's art are given upon plate twenty- 
 two. The first is a woman bending herself backwards, from a MS. of the 
 thirteenth century, in the Cotton Library ; " the second a man performing the 
 same feat, but in a more extraordinary manner ; ' and the third represents a 
 girl turning over upon her hands, her feats being enlivened with music* The 
 last two MSS. are of the fourteenth century. 
 
 The Gleemen's Dances. — It is not by any means my intention to insinuate, 
 
 ^ Roll of Expenses, Edward II. , in the possession of Thomas Astle, Esq. 
 
 ' From a MS. in the Remembrancer's Office, an. 13 Hen. VIII. ' Eccles, Mem. vol. iii. p. 312, 
 
 * Laneham's Letter, in Mr. Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, pp. 16, 17. 
 
 ' No. 115, dated Jan. 3, 1709. « Domitian, A. z. 
 
 ' Sloane MSS. No. 335. s Bodleian MSS. No. 264. 
 
C2y/Mfv6/^y7va 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 17; 
 
 from what has been said in the foregoing pages, that there were no dances 
 performed by the Saxon gleemen and their assistants but such as consisted of 
 vaulting and tumbling. 
 
 Exemplification of Gleemen's Dances. — We have already noticed a dance 
 represented on plate twenty, from a painting of the tenth century, the most 
 ancient of the kind that I have met with. The crouching attitudes of the two 
 dancers, point out great difficulty in the part they are performing, but do not 
 convey the least indication of vaulting or tumbling. Attitudes somewhat similar 
 I have seen occur in some of the steps of a modern hornpipe. Again, on plate 
 twenty-one, we find a young man dancing singly to the music of two flutes and 
 a lyre ; and the action attempted to be expressed by the artist is rather that of 
 ease and elegancy of motion than of leaping, or contorting of the body in a 
 violent manner. It is evident that this delineation, which is from a Latin and 
 Saxon MS. of the ninth century, in the Cotton Library,^ was intended for the 
 representation of part of the gleeman's exhibition ; for the designer has crowded 
 into the margin a number of heads and parts of figures, necessarily incomplete 
 from want of room, who appear as spectators ; but these are much confused, and 
 in some places obliterated, so that they could not have been copied with any 
 tolerable effect. The dance on the top of plate twenty-five, from a MS. of the 
 ninth century, in which the musician bears a part, 1 take to be of the burlesque 
 kind, and intended to excite laughter by the absurdity of the gestures practised 
 by the performers ; but that at the bottom of the same Plate, from a MS. of the 
 fourteenth century, in the Royal Library,^ has more appearance of elegance. 
 This dance is executed by a female ; and probably the perfection of the dance 
 consisted in approaching and receding from the bear with great agility, so as to 
 prevent his seizing upon her, and occasioning any interruption to the performance, 
 which the animal, on the other hand, appears to be exceedingly desirous of 
 effecting, being unmuzzled for the purpose, and irritated by the scourge of the 
 juggler. 
 
 The Sword-Dance. — There is a dance which was probably in great repute 
 among the Anglo-Saxons, because it was derived from their ancestors the ancient 
 Germans ; it is called the sword-dance ; and the performance is thus described 
 by Tacitus : ^ " One public diversion was constantly exhibited at all their meetings ; 
 young men, who, by frequent exercise, have attained to great perfection in that 
 pastime, strip themselves, and dance among the points of swords and spears with 
 most wonderful agility, and even with the most elegant and graceful motions. 
 They do not perform this dance for hire, but for the entertainment of the 
 spectators, esteeming their applause a sufficient reward." * This dance continues 
 to be practised in the northern parts of England about Christmas time, when, 
 says Mr Brand, "the fool -plough goes about; a pageant that consists of a 
 
 1 Cleopatra, C. viii. ^ No. 2, B. viii. » Tacit, De Morib. Germ. cap. 24. 
 
 * The reader may find a more particular account of the various motions and figures formed by the dancers, from 
 Olaiis Magnus, in Mr Brand's notes upon the 14th chapter of Bourne's Vulgar Antiquities, p. 175. 
 
 M 
 
i;8 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 number of sword-dancers dragging a plough, with music." The writer then tells 
 us that he had seen this dance performed very frequently, with little or no 
 variation from the ancient method, excepting only that the dancers of the present 
 day, when they have formed their swords into a figure, lay them upon the ground, 
 and dance round them.^ 
 
 I have not been fortunate enough to meet with any delineation that accords 
 with the foregoing descriptions of the sword-dance ; but in a Latin manuscript 
 of Prudentius with Saxon notes, written in the ninth century, and now in the 
 Cotton Library,^ a military dance of a different kind occurs. It is exceedingly 
 curious, and has not, that I recollect, been mentioned by any of our writers. 
 The drawing is copied upon plate twenty-one. It represents two men, equipped 
 in martial habits, and each of them armed with a sword and a shield, engaged in 
 a combat ; the performance is enlivened by the sound of a horn ; the musician 
 acts in a double capacity, and is, together with a female assistant, dancing round 
 them to the cadence of the music ; and probably the actions of the combatants 
 were also regulated by the same measure. 
 
 Early in the last century, and, I doubt not, long before that period, a species 
 of sword-dance, usually performed by young women, constituted a part of the 
 juggler's exhibition at Bartholomew fair. I have before me two bills of the 
 shows there presented some time in the reign of queen Anne. The one speaks 
 of " dancing with several naked swords, performed by a child of eight years of 
 age," which, the showman assures us, had given "satisfaction to all persons." 
 The other, put forth, it seems, by one who belonged to Sadler's Wells, promises 
 the company, that they shall see "a young woman dance with the swords, and 
 upon a ladder, surpassing all her sex." Both these bills were printed in the 
 reign of queen Anne : the first belonged to a showman named Crawley ; and the 
 second to James Miles, from Sadler's Wells, who calls his theatre a music booth, 
 and the exhibition consisted chiefly of dancing. The originals are in the Harleian 
 Library.^ About thirty years back (c. 1770) I remember to have seen at 
 Flockton's, a much noted but very clumsy juggler, a girl about eighteen or 
 twenty years of age, who came upon the stage with four naked swords, two in 
 each hand ; when the music played, she turned round with great swiftness, and 
 formed a great variety of figures with the swords, holding them over her head, 
 down by her sides, behind her, and occasionally she thrust them in her bosom. 
 The dance generally continued about ten or twelve minutes ; and when it was 
 finished, she stopped suddenly, without appearing to be in the least giddy from 
 the constant reiteration of the same motion. 
 
 The Rope-Dance. — This species of amusement is certainly very ancient. 
 Terence, in the prologue to Hecyra, complains that the attention of the public 
 was drawn from his play, by the exhibitions of a rope-dancer. 
 
 ' *The sword-dance still survives at Christmastide in some parts of Northumberland, Yorkshire, and the north 
 Midlands. See 2)a«c8«^ (Badminton Library), 175, 176. ' Cleopatra, C. viii. 
 
 ' No. S93I- 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 179 
 
 We are well assured that dancing upon the rope constituted a part of the 
 entertainment presented to the public by the minstrels and joculators, and we 
 can trace it as far back as the thirteenth century ; but whether the dancers at 
 that time exhibited upon the slack or tight rope, or upon both, cannot easily be 
 ascertained ; and we are equally in the dark respecting the extent of their 
 abilities ; but, if we may judge from the existing specimens of other feats of 
 agility performed by them or their companions, we may fairly conclude that 
 they were by no means contemptible artists. 
 
 When Isabel of Bavaria, queen to Charles VI. of France, made her public 
 entry into Paris, among other extraordinary exhibitions prepared for her 
 reception was the following, recorded by Froissart, who was himself a witness 
 to the fact: "There was a mayster^ came out of Geane ; he had tied a corde 
 upon the hyghest house on the brydge of Saynt Michell over all the houses, 
 and the other ende was tyed to the hyghest tower of our Ladye's churche ; 
 and, as the quene passed by, and was in the great streat called Our Ladye's 
 strete; bycause it was late, this sayd mayster, wyth two brinnynge candelles 
 in hys handes, issued out of a littel stage that he had made on the heyght of 
 our Lady's tower, synginge as he went upon the cord all alonge the great strete, 
 so that all that sawe him hadde marvayle how it might be ; and he bore still in 
 hys handes the two brinnynge candelles, so that he myght be well sene all over 
 Parys, and two myles without the city. He was such a tombler, that his 
 lightnesse was greatly praised. He gave them many proofs of his skill, so that 
 his agility and all his performances were highly esteemed." The maimer in 
 which this extraordinary feat was carried into execution is not so clear as might 
 be wished. The translation justifies the idea of his walking down the rope ; 
 but the words of Froissart seem to imply that he seated himself upon the cord 
 and came sliding down, and then the trick will bear a close resemblance to 
 those that follow. But St Foix, on the authority of another historian, says, 
 he descended dancing upon the cord ; and, passing between the curtains of blue 
 taffety, ornamented with large fleurs-de-lis of gold, which covered the bridge, 
 he placed a crown upon the head of Isabel, and then remounted upon the cord." 
 Rope- Dancing from the Battlements of St Paul's. — A performance 
 much resembling the foregoing was exhibited before king Edward VI. at the 
 time he passed in procession through the city of London, on Friday, the nine- 
 teenth of February 1546, previous to his coronation. "When the king," says 
 the author, "was advanced almost to St George's church,^ in Paul's churchyard, 
 there was a rope as great as the cable of a ship stretched in length from the 
 battlements of Paul's steeple, with a great anchor at one end, fastened a little 
 before the dean of Paul's house-gate ; and, when his majesty approached near 
 the same, there came a man, a stranger, being a native of Arragon, lying 
 on the rope with his head forward, casting his arms and legs abroad, running 
 
 ' Vol. iv. chap. 38. ^ Essais sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 42. 
 
 ' It should be St Gregory's church, which stood on the south side of St Paul's nearly opposite to the Dean's Gateway. 
 
igo SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 on his breast on the rope from the battlements to the ground, as if it had been 
 an arrow out of a bow, and stayed on the ground. Then he came to his 
 majesty, and kissed his foot ; and so, after certain words to his highness, he 
 departed from him again, and went upwards upon the rope till he came over 
 the midst of the churchyard ; where he, having a rope about him, played certain 
 mysteries on the rope, as tumbling, and casting one leg from another. Then 
 took he the rope, and tied it to the cable, and tied himself by the right leg a 
 little space beneath the wrist of the foot, and hung by one leg a certain space, 
 and after recovered himself again with the said rope and unknit the knot, and 
 came down again. Which stayed his majesty, with all the train, a good space 
 of time." ^ 
 
 Rope- Dancing from St Paul's Steeple. — This trick was repeated, 
 though probably by another performer, in the reign of queen Mary; for, 
 according to Holinshed, among the various shows prepared for the reception of 
 Philip, king of Spain, was one of a man who "came downe upon a rope, tied to 
 the battlement of Saint Paule's church, with his head before, neither staieing 
 himself with hand or foot ; which," adds the author, " shortlie after cost him 
 his life."'' 
 
 Rope -Dancing from All Saints' Church, Hertford. — A similar 
 exploit was put in practice, about fifty years back (1750), indifferent parts of 
 this kingdom. I received the following account of the manner in which it was 
 carried into execution at Hertford from a friend of mine,' who assisted the 
 exhibitor in adjusting his apparatus, and saw his performance several times. 
 A rope was stretched from the top of the tower of All Saints' church, and 
 brought obliquely to the ground about fourscore yards from the bottom of the 
 tower, where, being drawn over two strong pieces of wood nailed across each 
 other, it was made fast to a stake driven into the earth ; two or three feather- 
 beds were then placed upon the cross timbers, to receive the performer when he 
 descended, and to break his fall. He was also provided with a flat board having 
 a groove in the midst of it, which he attached to his breast ; and when he 
 intended to exhibit, he laid himself upon the top of the rope, with his head 
 downwards, and adjusted the groove to the rope, his legs being held by a person 
 appointed for that purpose, until such time as he had properly balanced himself. 
 He was then liberated, and descended with incredible swiftness from the top 
 of the tower to the feather-beds, which prevented his reaching the ground. 
 This man had lost one of his legs, and its place was supplied by a wooden leg, 
 which was furnished on this occasion with a quantity of lead sufficient to 
 counterpoise the weight of the other. He performed this three times in the 
 same day : the first time, he descended without holding anything in his hands ; 
 the second time, he blew a trumpet ; and the third, he held a pistol in each 
 hand, which he discharged as he came down. 
 
 ' Archaologia, vol. vii. 
 ' Holinshed's Chron. vol. iii. p. 1121. 'Mr John Carrington of Bacon's, near Hertford. 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING i8i 
 
 *RoPE Feats at All Saints, Derby. — The lofty tower of All Saints, 
 Derby, has been the scene of several of these queer feats. " There are char- 
 acters," wrote Hutton, the old historian of Derby, " who had rather amuse the 
 world at the hazard of their lives, for a slender and precarious pittance, than 
 follow an honest calling for an easy subsistence. A small figure of a man, 
 seemingly composed of spirit and gristle, appeared in October, to entertain the 
 town by sliding down a rope. One end of this was to be fixed at the top of 
 All Saints steeple, and the other at the bottom of St Michael's, an horizontal 
 distance of 150 yards which formed an inclined plane extremely steep. A 
 breastplate of wood, with a groove to fit the rope, and his own equilibrium were 
 to be his security while sliding down upon his belly, with his arms and legs 
 extended. He could not be more than six or seven seconds in this airy journey, 
 in which he fired a pistol and blew a trumpet. The velocity with which he flew 
 raised a fire by friction, and a bold stream of smoke followed him. He performed 
 this wonderful exploit three successive days, in each of which he descended 
 twice and marched up once ; the latter took him more than an hour, in which he 
 exhibited many surprising achievements, as sitting unconcerned with his arms 
 folded, lying across the rope on his back, then his belly, his hams, blowing the 
 trumpet, swinging round, hanging by the chin, the hand, the heels, the toe, etc. 
 The rope being too long for art to tighten, he might be said to have danced 
 upon the slack. Though he succeeded at Derby, yet, in exhibiting soon after at 
 Shrewsbury, he fell and lost his life." 
 
 *He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Shrewsbury, in 1740, 
 and over his remains was placed a tombstone bearing the following epitaph : — 
 
 Let this small monument record the name 
 Of Cadman, and to future times proclaim 
 How, by an attempt to fly from this high spire, 
 Across the Sabrine stream, he did acquire 
 His fatal end. 'Twas not for want of skill. 
 Or courage to perform the task, he fell ; 
 No, no, a faulty cord being drawn too tight 
 Hurried his soul on high to take her flight, 
 Which bid the body here beneath, good-night. 
 
 Hogarth immortalised Cadman in one of his most popular pictures. 
 
 *To return to Derby, we find that, in 1734, a second "flyer" visited the 
 town. He was much older than the first performer, and less in stature. " His 
 coat," we are told, "was in deshabille ; no waistcoat ; his shirt and his shoes the 
 worse for wear ; his hat, worth threepence exclusive of the band, which was 
 pack-thread bleached white by the weather ; and a black string supplied the 
 place of buttons to his waistband. He wisely considered if his performances did 
 not exceed the others he might as well stay at home — if he had one. His rope, 
 therefore, from the same steeple, extended to the bottom of St Mary's-gate, 
 more than twice the former length. He was to draw a wheelbarrow after him, 
 in which was a boy of thirteen. After this surprising performance, an ass was to 
 
182 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 fly down, armed as before, with a breastplate, and at each foot a lump of lead 
 about half a hundred. The man, the barrow, and its contents arrived safe 
 at the end of their journey. When the vast multitude turned their eyes 
 towards the ass, which had been braying several days at the top of the steeple 
 for food, but, like many a lofty courtier for a place, brayed in vain ; the slackness 
 of the rope, and the great weight of the animal and his apparatus, madeit seem, 
 at setting off, as if he were falling perpendicularly. The appearance was tremen- 
 dous ! ! About twenty yards before he reached the gates of the County Hall, the 
 rope broke. From the velocity acquired by the descent, he bore down all before 
 him. A whole multitude was overwhelmed ; nothing was heard but dreadful 
 cries ; nor seen, but confusion. Legs and arms went to destruction. In this 
 dire calamity, the ass, which maimed others, was unhurt himself, having a pave- 
 ment of soft bodies to roll over. No lives were lost. As the rope broke near 
 the top, it brought down both chimneys and people at the other end of the 
 street. This dreadful catastrophe put a period to the art of flying. It pre- 
 vented the operator from making the intended collection ; and he sneaked out 
 of Derby as poor as he sneaked in." 
 
 A Dutchman's Feats on St Paul's Weathercock. — To the foregoing 
 extraordinary exhibitions we may add another equally dangerous, but executed 
 without the assistance of a rope. It was performed in the presence of queen 
 Mary in her passage through London to Westminster, the day before her 
 coronation, in 1553, and is thus described by Holinshed: "When she came to 
 Saint Paule's churchyard against the school, master Hey wood sat in a pageant 
 under a vine, and made to her an oration in Latin ; and then there was one 
 Peter, a Dutchman, that stoode upon the weathercocke of Saint Paul's steeple, 
 holding a streamer in his hands of five yards long, and waving thereof. He 
 sometimes stood on one foot, and shook the other, and then he kneeled on his 
 knees, to the great marvell of all the people. He had made two scaffolds under 
 him : one above the cross, having torches and streamers set upon it, and another 
 over the ball of the cross, likewise set with streamers and torches, which could 
 not burn, the wind was so great." The historian informs us, that " Peter had 
 sixteene pounds, thirteene shillings, and foure pence, given to him by the citie 
 for his costs and paines, and for all his stuffe." ^ 
 
 Jacob Hall the Rope- Dancer. — In the reign of Charles II. there was a 
 famous rope-dancer named Jacob Hall, whose portrait is still in existence.^ The 
 open-hearted Duchess of Cleveland is said to have been so partial to this man, 
 that he rivalled the king himself in her affections, and received a salary from 
 her grace. 
 
 Modern celebrated Rope-Dancing. — Soon after the accession of James II. 
 to the throne, a Dutch woman made her appearance in this country; and 
 "when," says a modern author, "she first danced and vaulted upon the rope in 
 London, the spectators beheld her with a pleasure mixed with pain, as she 
 
 ^ Holinshed's Chron. vol. iii. p. 1091. '■' Granger, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 349. 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 183 
 
 seemed every moment in danger of breaking her neck." This woman was 
 afterwards exceeded by Signora Violante, who not only exhibited many feats 
 which required more strength and agility of body than she was mistress of, but 
 had also a stronger head, as she performed at a much greater distance from the 
 ground than any of her predecessors. Signor Violante was no less excellent as 
 a rope-dancer. The spectators were astonished, in the reign of George II., at 
 seeing the famous Turk dance upon the rope, balance himself on a slack wire 
 without a poise, and toss up oranges alternately with his hands ; but this admira- 
 tion was considerably abated when one of the oranges happened to fall, and 
 appeared by the sound to be a ball of painted lead. Signor and Signora 
 Spinacuta were not inferior to the Turk. "The former danced on the rope 
 (in 1768) at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, with two boys tied to his 
 feet. But what is still more extraordinary, a monkey has lately performed there, 
 both as a rope-dancer and an equilibrist, such tricks as no man was thought 
 equal to before the Turk appeared in England." ^ 
 
 Rope-Dancing at Sadler's Wells, etc. — During the eighteenth century, 
 Sadler's Wells was a famous nursery for tumblers, balance-masters, and dancers 
 upon the rope and upon the wire. These exhibitions have of late years lost much 
 of their popularity : the tight-rope dancing, indeed, is still (1800) continued there 
 by Richer, a justly celebrated performer. This man certainly displays more 
 ease and elegance of action, and much greater agility, upon the rope, than any 
 other dancer that I ever saw : his exertions at all times excite the astonishment, 
 while they command the applause of the spectators. 
 
 I shall only observe, that the earliest representation of rope-dancing which 
 I have met with occurs in a little print affixed to one of the chapters of the 
 vocabulary of Comenius, translated by Hoole ; ^ where a woman is depicted 
 dancing upon the tight-rope, and holding a balance charged with lead at both 
 ends, according to the common usage of the present day ; and behind her we 
 see a man, with his hand downwards, and hanging upon the same rope by one 
 of his legs. This feat, with others of a similar kind, are more usually performed 
 upon the slack-rope, which at the same time is put into motion ; the performer 
 frequently hanging by one foot, or by both his hands, or in a variety of different 
 manners and attitudes ; or by laying himself along upon the rope, holding it with 
 his hands and feet, the latter being crossed, and turning round with incredible 
 swiftness, which is called roasting the pig. 
 
 Fool's Dance. — The fool's dance, or a dance performed by persons 
 equipped in the dresses appropriated to the fools, is very ancient, and originally, 
 I apprehend, formed a part of the pageant belonging to the festival of fools. 
 This festival was a religious mummery, usually held at Christmas time ; and 
 consisted of various ceremonials and mockeries. A vestige of the fool's dance, 
 preserved in a MS. in the Bodleian Library,^ written and illuminated in the 
 
 • Granger, vol. iv. pp. 352, 353. 
 ' Orbis Sensualium Pictus, A.D. 1658. ' No. 964. 
 
i84 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 reign of king Edward III. and completed in 1344, is copied upon the middle of 
 plate nineteen. 
 
 In this representation of the dance, it seems conducted with some degree of 
 regularity ; and is assisted by the music of the regals and the bagpipes. The 
 dress of the musicians resembles that of the dancers, and corresponds exactly 
 with the habit of the court fool at that period.^ I make no doubt, the morris- 
 dance, which afterwards became exceedingly popular in this country, originated 
 from the fool's dance ; and thence we trace the bells which characterised the 
 morris-dancers. Antiquaries are agreed that the word is derived from Morisco, 
 which in the Spanish language signifies a Moor.^ The dance was brought in to 
 England from Spain about the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Morris-Dance. — The morris-dance was sometimes performed by itself, 
 but was much more frequently joined to older pageants, and especially to those 
 appropriated for the celebration of the May-games. On these occasions, the 
 Hobby-horse, or a Dragon, with Robin Hood, the maid Marian, and other 
 characters, supposed to have been the companions of that famous outlaw, made 
 a part of the dance. In latter times, the morris was frequently introduced upon 
 the stage. Stephen Gosson, who wrote about 1579, in a little tract entitled 
 Playes Confuted, speaks of "dauncing of gigges, galiardes, and morisces, with 
 hobbi-horses," as stage performances. 
 
 The garments of the morris-dancers, as we observed before, were adorned 
 with bells, which were not placed there merely for the sake of ornament, but 
 were to be sounded as they danced. These bells were of unequal sizes, and 
 differently denominated, as the fore bell, the second bell, the treble, the tenor or 
 great bell, and mention is also made of double bells. In the third year of queen 
 Elizabeth, two dozen of morris -bells were estimated at one shilling.* The 
 principal dancer in the morris was more superbly habited than his companions, 
 as appears from a passage in an old play, The Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, 
 by John Day, 1659, wherein it is said of one of the characters, " He wants no 
 cloths, for he hath a cloak laid on with gold lace, and an embroidered jerkin ; 
 and thus he is marching hither like the foreman of a morris." 
 
 I do not find that the morris-dancers were confined to any particular number. 
 A modern writer speaks of a set of morris-dancers who went about the country, 
 consisting of ten men who danced, besides the maid Marian, and one who played 
 upon the pipe and tabor. 
 
 The hobby-horse, which seems latterly to have been almost inseparable 
 from the morris-dance, was a compound figure ; the resemblance of the head and 
 
 \Mr Douce was of opinion, that the dance set forth above by Mr Strutt, from the Bodleian MS., did not form a 
 part of the festival of fools. 
 
 2 In the same vfay wii/rw-pike, a constantly mentioned weapon in the sixteenth century, meant a Spanish or 
 Moorish pike. 
 
 *The churchwardens' accounts of a considerable variety of parishes— indeed the majority of those which are extant of 
 the sixteenth century— show the almost universal custom of morris-dances and Robin Hood sports on May Day through- 
 out England at that period. 
 
 ' Archaologia, vol. i. p. 15. See also the Witch of Edmonton, a tragi-comedy, by William Rowley, printed in 1658. 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 185 
 
 tail of a horse, with a light wooden frame for the body, was attached to the 
 person who was to perform the double character, covered with trappings reaching 
 to the ground, so as to conceal the feet of the actor, and prevent its being seen 
 that the supposed horse had none. Thus equipped, he was to prance about, 
 imitating the curvetings and motions of a horse, as we may gather from the 
 following speech in an old tragedy called the Vow-breaker, or Fair Maid of 
 Clifton, by William Sampson, 1636. " Have I not practised my reines, my 
 carreeres, my prankers, my ambles, my false trotts, my smooth ambles, and 
 Canterbury paces — and shall the mayor put me, besides, the hobby-horse ? I 
 have borrowed the fore-horse bells, his plumes, and braveries ; nay, I have had 
 the mane new shorn and frizelled.-r:— Am I not going to buy ribbons and toys of 
 sweet Ursula for the Marian — and shall I not play the hobby-horse ? Provide 
 thou the dragon, and let me alone for the hobby-horse." And afterwards : 
 "Alas, Sir! I come only to borrow a few ribbandes, bracelets, ear-rings, 
 wyertyers, and silk girdles, and handkerchers, for a morris and a show before 
 the queen — I come to furnish the hobby-horse." 
 
 The Egg-Dance. — I am not able to ascertain the antiquity of this dance. 
 The indication of such a performance occurs in an old comedy, entitled " The 
 longer thou livest, the more Foole thou art," by William Wager,^ in the reign 
 of queen Elizabeth, where we meet with these lines : — 
 
 Upon my one foote pretely I can hoppe. 
 And daunce it trimley about an egge. 
 
 Dancing upon one foot was exhibited by the Saxon gleemen, and probably 
 by the Norman minstrels, but more especially by the women-dancers, who might 
 thence acquire the name of hoppesteres, which is given by Chaucer. A vestige 
 of this denomination is still retained, and applied to dancing, though somewhat 
 contemptuously ; for an inferior dancing-meeting is generally called a hop. A 
 representation of the dance on one foot, taken from a manuscript of the tenth 
 century, appears upon the top of plate twenty, where the gleeman is performing 
 to the sound of the harp. 
 
 Hopping matches for prizes were occasionally made in the sixteenth century, 
 as we learn from John Heywoode the epigrammatist. In his Proverbs, printed 
 in 1566, are the following lines: — 
 
 Where wooers hoppe in and out, long time may bring 
 Him that hoppeth best at last to have the ring — 
 — I hoppyng without for a ringe of a rushe. 
 
 And again, in the Four P's, a play by the same author, one of the characters 
 is directed " to hop upon one foot " ; and another says : — 
 
 Here were a hopper to hop for the ring. 
 
 Hence it appears a ring was usually the prize, and given to him who could hop 
 best, and continue to do so the longest. 
 
 ' Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, i vol. l8mo. 
 
186 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 But to return to the egg-dance. This performance was common enough 
 about thirty years back (1770), and was well received at Sadler's Wells ; where 
 I saw it exhibited, not by simply hopping round a single egg, but in a manner 
 that much increased the difficulty. A number of eggs, I do not precisely 
 recollect how many, but I believe about twelve or fourteen, were placed at 
 certain distances marked upon the stage ; the dancer, taking his stand, was 
 blind-folded, and a hornpipe being played in the orchestra, he went through all 
 the paces and figures of the dance, passing backwards and forwards between the 
 eggs without touching one of them. 
 
 The Ladder- Dance. — So called, because the performer stands upon a 
 ladder, which he shifts from place to place, and ascends or descends without 
 losing the equilibrium, or permitting it to fall. This dance was practised at 
 Sadler's Wells at the commencement of the eighteenth century, and revived 
 about 1770. It is still (1800) continued there by Dubois, who calls himself the 
 clown of the Wells, and is a very useful actor, as well as an excellent performer 
 upon the tight-rope. In the reign of queen Anne, James Miles, who declared 
 himself to be a performer from Sadler's Wells, kept a music-booth in Bartholomew 
 Fair, where he exhibited nineteen different kinds of dances ; among them were 
 a wrestler's dance, vaulting upon the slack-rope, and dancing upon the ladder ; 
 the latter, he tells us, as well as the sword-dance, was performed by "a young 
 woman surpassing all her sex."' — An Inventory of Playhouse Furniture, quoted in 
 the Tatler^ under the article " Materials for Dancing," specifies masques, castanets, 
 and a ladder of ten rounds. I apprehend the ladder-dance originated from the 
 ancient pastime of walking or dancing upon very high stilts. A specimen of 
 such an exhibition is given on plate twenty-three, from a MS. roll in the Royal 
 Library, written and illuminated in the reign of Henry 1 11.^ The actor is 
 exercising a double function, that is, of a musician and of a dancer. 
 
 Jocular Dances. — In the " Roman de la Rose" we read of a dance, the name 
 of which is not recorded, performed by two young women lightly clothed. The 
 original reads, " Qui estoient en pure cottes, et tresses a menu trepse " ; which 
 Chaucer renders, "In kyrtels, and none other wede, and fayre ytressed every 
 tresse." The French intimates that their hair was platted, or braided in small 
 braids. The thin clothing, I suppose, was used then, as it is now upon like 
 occasions, to show their persons to greater advantage. In their dancing they 
 displayed a variety of singular attitudes ; the one coming as it were privately to 
 the other, and, when they were near together, in a playsome manner they turned 
 their faces about, so that they seemed continually to kiss each other. 
 
 They threw yfere 
 Ther mouthes, so that, through ther play. 
 It semed as they kyste alway. 
 
 A dance, the merit of which, if I mistake not, consisted in the agility and 
 adroitness of the performer, has been noticed already ; it is represented on plate 
 
 ^ Harl. Lib. 5931. « Vol. i. No. 42. s ,^^ g ^ 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 187 
 
 twenty-one, where a woman is dancing, and eluding the pursuit of a bear made 
 angry by the scourge of his master. The various situations of the actress and 
 the disappointment of the animal excited, no doubt, the mirth as well as the 
 applause of the spectators. 
 
 Many of the ancient dances were of a jocular kind, and sometimes executed 
 by one person : we have, for instance, an account of a man who danced upon a 
 table before king Edward II. A thirteenth century manuscript in the Royal 
 Library, represented on plate twenty-two, shows a girl dancing upon the shoulders 
 of the joculator, who at the same time is playing upon the bagpipes and appears 
 to be in the action of walking forwards.^ 
 
 *In Philip Kinder's MS. History of Derbyshire, written about the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, occurs an interesting passage relative to the then common 
 use of bagpipes as an instrument to promote dancing.^ He says : " For general 
 inclination and disposition the Peakard and Moorlander are of the same ayre, 
 they are given much to dance after y" bagg-pipes, almost every towne hath a 
 bagg-piper in it." The dances for which bagpipes can possibly be suitable are 
 limited in character ; this old Derbyshire dancing was probably of the hornpipe 
 character. 
 
 Wire- Dancing. — Wire-dancing, at least so much of it as I have seen 
 exhibited, appears to me to be misnamed : it consists rather of various feats of 
 balancing, the actor sitting, standing, lying, or walking, upon the wire, which at 
 the same time is usually swung backwards and forwards ; and this, I am told, is 
 a mere trick, to give the greater air of difficulty to the performance. Instead of 
 dancing, I would call it balancing upon the wire. 
 
 Ballet- Dances. — The grand figure-dances, and ballets of action, as they 
 are called, of the modern times, most probably surpass in splendour the ancient 
 exhibitions of dancing. They first appeared, I believe, at the Opera-house ; but 
 have since been adopted by the two royal theatres, and imitated with less 
 splendour upon the summer stages. These spectacles are too extensive by far 
 in their operations, and too multifarious to be described in a general work like 
 this : suffice it to say, they are pantomimical representations of historical and 
 poetical subjects, expressed by fantastical gestures, aided by superb dresses, 
 elegant music, and beautiful scenery ; and sorry am I to add, they have nearly 
 eclipsed the sober portraitures of real nature, and superseded in the public 
 estimation the less attractive lessons of good sense.* 
 
 Leaping and Vaulting. — There are certain feats of tumbling and vaulting 
 that have no connection with dancing, such as leaping and turning with the heels 
 over the head in the air, termed the somersault, corruptly called a somerset. 
 Mrs Piozzi, speaking of Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, and favourite of James 
 I., says, "and the sommerset, still used by tumblers, taken from him."* The 
 
 1 14, E. iu. = *Bodleian, Ashm. MSS. 788. 
 
 ' *For a brief history of the ballet see Grove's Dancing (Badminton Library), 360-380. 
 * Retrospection of Eighteen Hundred Years, vol. ii. p. 224. 
 
188 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 word, however, was in use, and applied by the tumblers to the feat above 
 mentioned, before the birth of Carr. There was also the feat of turning round 
 with great rapidity, alternately bearing upon the hands and feet, denominated 
 the fly-flap. In a satirical pamphlet entitled the Character of a Quack Doctor, 
 published at London, 1676, the empiric, boasting of his cures, says, "The Sultan 
 Gilgal, being violently afflicted with a spasmus, came six hundred leagues to 
 meet me in a go-cart : I gave him so speedy an acquittance from his dolor, that 
 the next night he danced a saraband with fly-flaps and somersets," etc. ; but this 
 is evidently conjoining the three for the sake of ridicule. The performance of 
 leaping through barrels without heads, and through hoops, especially the latter, 
 is an exploit of long standing ; it is represented upon plate twenty-three from a 
 fourteenth century MS. Two boys are depicted holding the hoop, and the third 
 preparing to leap through it, having deposited his cloak upon the ground to 
 receive him. 
 
 William Stokes, a vaulting master of the seventeenth century, boasted, in a 
 publication called the Vaulting Master, etc., printed at Oxford in 1652, that he 
 had reduced "vaulting to a method." In his book are several plates containing 
 different specimens of his practice, which consisted chiefly in leaping over one 
 or more horses, or upon them, sometimes seating himself in the saddle and 
 sometimes standing upon the same. All these feats are now (1800) performed 
 at Astley's, and at the circus in St George's Fields, with many additional 
 acquirements ; and the horses gallop round the ride while the actor is going 
 through his manoeuvres : on the contrary, the horses belonging to our vaulter 
 remained at rest during the whole time of his exhibition. 
 
 A show bill for Bartholomew Fair, during the reign of queen Anne' 
 announces " the wonderful performances of that most celebrated master Simpson, 
 the famous vaulter, who, being lately arrived from Italy, will show the world 
 what vaulting is ! " The bill speaks pompously : how far his abilities coincided 
 with the promise, I cannot determine, for none of his exertions are specified. 
 
 Balancing. — Under the head of balancing may be included several of the 
 performances mentioned in the preceding pages, and especially the throwing of 
 three balls and three knives alternately into the air, and catching them as they 
 fall, as represented on plate twenty. This trick, in my memory, commonly 
 constituted a part of the puppet-showman's exhibition ; but I do not recollect to 
 have seen it extended beyond four articles ; for instance, two oranges and two 
 forks ; and the performer, by way of conclusion, caught the oranges upon the forks. 
 
 In the Romance of the Rose we read of tymbesteres, or balance-mistresses, 
 who, according to the description there given, played upon the tymbres, or 
 timbrels, and occasionally tossing them into the air, caught them again upon 
 one finger. The passage translated by Chaucer, stands thus : — 
 
 There was manye a tymbestere — 
 — Couthe her crafte full parfytly : 
 
 ' In a volume of Miscellaneous Papers, Bibl. Harl. 5931. 
 
TUMBLING AKD DANCING 189 
 
 The tymbres up full subtelly 
 They cast, and hent full ofte 
 Upon a fynger fayre and softe, 
 That they fayled never mo. 
 
 Towards the close of last summer (1799) I saw three itinerant musicians 
 parading the streets of London : one of them turned the winch of an organ 
 which he carried at his back, another blew a reed-pipe, and the third played on 
 a tambourine ; the latter imitated the timbesters above mentioned, and frequently 
 during the performance of a tune cast up the instrument into the air three or 
 four feet higher than his head, and caught it, as it returned, upon a single finger ; 
 he then whirled it round with an air of triumph, and proceeded in the accompani- 
 ment without losing time, or occasioning the least interruption. 
 
 Remarkable Feats of Balancing. — Plate twenty-four contains some few 
 specimens of the fourteenth century balance-master's art, three of which need no 
 explanation ; but one of them at the top and another at the bottom are not so 
 clear. 
 
 The first, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library,^ represents a girl, as the length 
 of the hair seems to indicate, habited like a boy, and kneeling on a large broad 
 board, supported horizontally by two men ; before her are three swords, the 
 points inclined to each other, and placed in a triangular form ; she is pointing to 
 them with her right hand, and holds in her left a small instrument somewhat 
 resembling a trowel, but I neither know its name nor its use. 
 
 The man at the bottom of the Plate, from a drawing in a MS. book of 
 prayers possessed by Mr Douce, is performing a very difficult operation : he 
 has placed one sword upright upon the hilt, and is attempting to do the like 
 with the second ; at the same time his attitude is altogether as surprising as the 
 trick itself. Feats similar to the other three I have seen carried into execution, 
 and especially that of balancing a wheel. This was exhibited in 1 798 at Sadler's 
 Wells, by a Dutchman, who not only supported a wheel upon his shoulder, but 
 also upon his forehead and his chin ; and he afterwards extended the perform- 
 ance to two wheels tied together, with a boy standing upon one of them. 
 
 In the middle of the eighteenth century, there was a very celebrated 
 balance-master, named Mattocks, who made his appearance also at the Wells ; 
 among other tricks, he used to balance a straw with great adroitness, sometimes 
 on one hand, sometimes on the other ; and sometimes he would kick it with his 
 foot to a considerable height, and catch it upon his nose, his chin, or his fore- 
 head. His fame was celebrated by a song set to music, entitled " Balance a 
 Straw," which became exceedingly popular. The Dutchman mentioned above 
 performed the same sort of feat with a small peacock's feather, which he blew 
 into the air, and caught it as it fell on different parts of his face in a very 
 surprising manner. 
 
 The Posture-Master. — The display of his abilities consisted in twisting 
 and contorting his body into strange and unnatural attitudes. This art was, no 
 
 ^ No. 264. 
 
190 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 doubt, practised by the jugglers in former ages ; and a singular specimen of it, 
 delineated in the reign of Edward 1 1 1. , is given at the bottom of plate twenty-three. 
 
 The performer bends himself backwards, with his head turned up between 
 his hands, so as nearly to touch his feet ; and in this situation he hangs by his 
 hams upon a pole, supported by two of his confederates. 
 
 The posture-master is frequently mentioned by the writers of the seventeenth 
 and eighteenth centuries ; but his tricks are not particularised. The most extra- 
 ordinary artist of this kind that ever existed, it is said, was Joseph Clark, who, 
 "though a well-made man, and rather gross than thin, exhibited in the most natural 
 manner almost every species of deformity and dislocation ; he could dislocate 
 his vertebrae so as to render himself a shocking spectacle ; he could also assume 
 all the uncouth faces that he had seen at a Quaker's meeting, at the theatre, or 
 any other public place." To this man a paper in the Guardian evidently alludes, 
 wherein it is said : " I remember a very whimsical fellow, commonly known by 
 the name of the posture-master, in Charles the Second's reign, who was the 
 plague of all the tailors about town. He would send for one of them to take 
 measure of him ; but would so contrive it as to have a most immoderate rising 
 in one of his shoulders ; when his clothes were brought home and tried upon 
 him, the deformity was removed into the other shoulder ; upon which the taylor 
 begged pardon for the mistake, and mended it as fast as he could ; but, on 
 another trial, found him as straight-shouldered a man as one would desire to see, 
 but a little unfortunate in a hump back. In short, this wandering tumour 
 puzzled all the workmen about town, who found it impossible to accommodate 
 so changeable a customer."^ He resided in Pall Mall, and died about the 
 beginning of king William's reign. Granger tells us he was dead in the year 
 1697.^ There was also a celebrated posture-master, by the name of Higgins, 
 in the reign of queen Anne, who performed between the acts at the theatre 
 royal in the Hay market, and exhibited " many wonderful postures," as his own 
 bill declares : ^ I know no farther of him. In the present day, the unnatural 
 performances of the posture-masters are not fashionable, but seem to excite 
 disgust rather than admiration in the public mind, and for this reason they are 
 rarely exhibited. 
 
 The Mountebank. — I may here mention a stage-performer whose show is 
 usually enlivened with mimicry, music, and tumbling ; I mean the mountebank. 
 It is uncertain at what period this vagrant dealer in physic made his appearance 
 in England : it is clear, however, that he figured away with much success in this 
 country during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; he called to his 
 assistance some of the performances practised by the jugglers ; and the bourdour, 
 or merry-andrew, seems to have been his inseparable companion : hence it is 
 said in an old ballad, entitled " Sundry Trades and Callings " : — 
 
 1 No. 102, July 8, 1713. 
 ^ Biog. Hist. vol. iv. See also Philos. Trans. No. 242, for July 1698. 
 8 Miscell. Collect. Harl. Lib. No. 5931 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 191 
 
 A mountebank without his fool 
 Is in a sorrowful case. 
 
 The mountebanks usually preface the vending of their medicines with 
 pompous orations, in which they pay as little regard to truth as to propriety. 
 Shakspeare speaks of these wandering empirics in very disrespectful terms : — 
 
 As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye, 
 Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, 
 And many such like libertines of sin. 
 
 In the reign of James II. "Hans Buling, a Dutchman, was well known in 
 London as a mountebank. He was," says Granger,^ "an odd figure of a man, 
 and extremely fantastical in his dress ; he was attended by a monkey, which he 
 had trained to act the part of a jack-pudding, a part which he had formerly acted 
 himself, and which was more natural to him than that of a professor of physic." 
 The ignorance and the impudence of the mountebanks are ridiculed in the 
 Spectator, and especially in that paper which concludes with an anecdote of one 
 who exhibited at Hammersmith.^ He told his audience that he had been "born 
 and bred there, and, having a special regard for the place of his nativity, he was 
 determined to make a present of five shillings to as many as would accept it : 
 the whole crowd stood agape, and ready to take the doctor at his word ; when, 
 putting his hand into a long bag, as every one was expecting his crown-piece, 
 he drew out a handful of little packets, each of which, he informed the spectators, 
 was constantly sold for five shillings and sixpence, but that he would bate the 
 odd five shillings to every inhabitant of that place. The whole assembly im- 
 mediately closed with this generous offer, and took off all his physic, after the 
 doctor had made them vouch that there were no foreigners among them, but 
 that they were all Hammersmith men." 
 
 Domestic Dancing. — I shall here add a few words more on dancing, and 
 consider it as performed for amusement only. In the middle ages dancing was 
 reckoned among the genteel accomplishments necessary to be acquired by both 
 sexes ; and in the romances of those times, the character of a hero was incom- 
 plete unless he danced excellently.' The knights and the ladies are often 
 represented dancing together, which in the MS. poem of Launfal, in the Cotton 
 Collection,* is called playing : — 
 
 The quene yede to the formeste ende, 
 Betweene Launfal and Gauweyn the hende,' 
 
 And after her ladyes bryght ; 
 To daunce they wente alle yn same. 
 To see them playe hyt was fayr game, 
 
 A lady and a knyght ; 
 They had menstrelles of moche honours, 
 Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompetors, 
 
 And else hyt were unright. 
 
 ^ Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 350. '^ Vol. viii. No. 572 ; see also vol. vi. No. 444, 
 
 * See the Introduction. ^ Caligula, A 2, fol. S3- ^ Polite, courteous. 
 
192 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 The poet then tells us, they continued their amusement great part of a summer's 
 day, that is, from the conclusion of dinner to the approach of night. 
 
 The Pavone. — Dancing was constantly put in practice among the nobility 
 upon days of festivity, and was countenanced by the example of the court. 
 After the coronation dinner of Richard II., the remainder of the day was spent 
 in the manner described by the foregoing poem ; for the king, the prelates, 
 the nobles, the knights, and the rest of the company, danced in Westminster 
 Hall to the music of the minstrels.^ Sir John Hawkins mentions a dance called 
 pavone, from pavo, a peacock, which might have been proper upon such an 
 occasion. "It is," says he, "a grave and majestic dance; the method of 
 dancing it anciently was by gentlemen dressed with caps and swords, by those 
 of the long robe in their gowns, by the peers in their mantles, and by the ladies 
 in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof in dancing resembled that of a 
 peacock." 2 Several of our monarchs are praised for their skill in dancing, and 
 none of them more than Henry VIII., who was peculiarly partial to this 
 fashionable exercise. In his time, and in the reign of his daughter Elizabeth, 
 the English, generally speaking, are said to have been good dancers ; and this 
 commendation is not denied to them even by foreign writers. Polydore 
 Virgil praises the English for their skill in dancing,^ and Hentzner says, " the 
 English excell in danceing."* 
 
 Antiquity, etc., of Dancing. — The example of the nobility was followed 
 by the middling classes of the community ; they again were imitated by their 
 inferiors, who spent much of their leisure time in dancing, and especially upon 
 holidays ; which is noticed and condemned with great severity by the moral and 
 religious writers, as we may find by turning to the Introduction. Dancing is 
 there called a heathenish practice, and said to have been productive of filthy 
 gestures, for which reason it is ranked with other wanton sports unfit to be 
 exhibited. An old drama without date, but probably written early in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, entitled "A new Interlude and a Mery, of the Nature of the four 
 Elements,^ accuses the people at large with " loving pryncypally disportes, as 
 daunsynge, syngynge, toys, tryfuls, laughynge, and gestynge ; for," adds the 
 author, "connynge they set not by." But Sebastian Brant, in his Ship of 
 Fooles, is much more severe upon this subject. I shall give the passage as it is 
 paraphrased by Barclay : — ® 
 
 The priestes, and clerkes, to daunce have no shame ; 
 
 The frere, or monke in his frocke and cowle, 
 
 Must daunce ; and the doctor lepeth to play the foole. 
 
 He derives the origin of dancing from the Jews, when they worshipped the 
 golden calf: — 
 
 Before this ydoU dauncing, both wife and man 
 Despised God ; thus dauncing first began. 
 
 ' Rym. Feed. torn. vii. p. i6o, col. 2. ^ Hist. Music, vol. iii. p. 383. 
 
 ' Hist. Atigl. * Itinerary. ^ Garrick's Col. I. vol. iii. 
 
 ' First printed by Pynson, a.d. 1508. 
 
TUMBLING AND DANCING 193 
 
 The damsels of London, as far back as the twelfth century, spent the 
 evenings on holidays in dancing before their masters' doors. Stow laments 
 the abolition of this "open pastime," which he remembered to have seen 
 practised in his youth,^ and, considered it not only as innocent in itself, but also 
 as a preventative to worse deeds " within doors," which he feared would follow 
 the suppression. 
 
 *The Carole Dance. — One of the most important of the dances performed 
 by the "professionals," and also much appreciated as a domestic dance, was the 
 Carole, described by Chaucer in his Romance of the Rose. He says of the 
 Parish Clerk : — 
 
 In twenty manners he coude skip and daunce 
 After the schole of Oxenforde tho', 
 And with his legges casten to and fro. 
 
 It was usually danced by men and women alternately, who held each other's 
 hands and moved in a circle. The term originally signified a ring dance 
 accompanied with song, and hence became associated with songs at festive 
 seasons, and was finally applied almost exclusively to the Christmas songs 
 of joy.^ 
 
 *The Cushion Dance. — An old English kissing dance, called the Cushion 
 Dance, was a favourite as early as the sixteenth century, and still lingers, but 
 chiefly among children, and at village fairs. This dance is begun by a single 
 person (either man or woman), who taking a cushion in hand, dances about the 
 room, and at the end of the tune, stops, and sings, " This dance it will no further 
 go." The musician answers, " I pray you, good sir, why say you so ? " Man — 
 " Because Joan Sanderson will not come too." Musician — " She must come too, 
 and she shall come too, and she must come whether she will or no." Then he 
 lays down the cushion before the woman, upon which she kneels, and he kisses 
 her, singing, "Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome." Then she rises, 
 takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing, " Prinkam prankum is a fine 
 dance, and shall we go dance it once again, and again and once again, and 
 shall we go dance it once again ? " Then making a stop the woman sings as 
 before, "This dance it will no further go." Musician — "I pray you, madam, 
 why say you so?" Woman — "Because John Sanderson will not come too." 
 Musician — " He must come too, and he shall come too, and he must come 
 whether he will or no." And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who 
 kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing, " Welcome, John Sanderson, welcome, 
 welcome." Then he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round, 
 singing as before. And thus they do, until the whole company are taken into 
 the ring, and if there is company enough, make a little ring in its middle, and 
 within that ring set a chair, and lay the cushion in it, and the first man set in it. 
 Then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing, " This dance 
 
 > Stow died A.D, 1605, aged 80. Survey of London, by Strype, vol. i. p. 251. 
 
 ' *Grove's Dancing (Badminton Library), 131. In Murray's Dictionary examples are given of the English use of 
 carol meaning a dance, from 1300 to 1600. 
 
 N 
 
194 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 it will no further go," and as before, only instead of singing " Come too " they 
 sing "Go fro"; and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," they sing "Fare- 
 well, John Sanderson, farewell, farewell " ; and so they go out one by one as 
 they came in. Note the women are kissed by all the men in the ring at their 
 coming and going out, and likewise the men by all the women. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Animals how tutored by the Jugglers — Tricks performed by Bears — Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys — Bears in 
 Britain — Tricks by Horses in the thirteenth Century — In queen Anne's Reign — Origin of the Exhibitions at 
 Astley's, the Circus, etc. — Dancing Dogs — The Hare beating a Tabor, and learned Pig — A Dancing Cock — The 
 Deserter Bird — Imitations of Animals — Mummings and Masquerades — Mumming to royal Personages- — Partial 
 Imitations of Animals — The Horse in the Morris-dance — Counterfeit Voices of Animals — ^Animals trained for 
 Baiting — Paris Garden — Bull and Bear-baiting patronised by Royalty — How performed — Bears and Bear-wards — 
 Baiting in queen Anne's time — Recent Bull-baiting — Bull-running at Tutbury and Stamford — Sword-play — The 
 Masters of Defence — Pepys on Prize-play — Public Sword-play — Quarter-staff. 
 
 ANIMALS HOW TUTORED BY JuGGLER. — One great part of the joculator's pro- 
 fession was the teaching of bears, apes, horses, dogs, and other animals, to 
 imitate the actions of men, to tumble, to dance, and to perform a variety 
 of tricks, contrary to their nature ; and sometimes he learned himself to counter- 
 feit the gestures and articulations of the brutes. The plates that illustrate 
 this chapter relate to both these modes of diverting the public, and prove 
 the invention of them to be more ancient than is generally supposed. The 
 tutored bear lying down at the command of his master, represented on the top of 
 plate twenty-five, is taken from a manuscript of the tenth century ; and the three 
 dancing bears beneath it are as early as the fourteenth century. I have already 
 had occasion to make mention of these delineations ; and the other two require 
 no explanation.^ 
 
 On plate twenty-six we find a bear standing on its head, and another dancing 
 with a monkey on its back ; the original occurs in a book of prayers in the 
 Harleian Collection,^ written towards the close of the thirteenth century. 
 
 I shall only observe, that there is but one among these six drawings in 
 which the animal is depicted with a muzzle to prevent him from biting. The 
 dancing bears have retained their place to the present time, and they frequently 
 perform in the public streets for the amusement of the multitude ; but the 
 miserable appearance of their masters plainly indicates the scantiness of the 
 contributions they receive on these occasions. 
 
 *Bears in Britain. — That bears were found in Britain during the eighth 
 century is known from Archbishop Egbert's Penitential, where it is laid down 
 that " if any one shall hit a deer or other animal with an arrow, and it escapes 
 and is found dead three days afterwards, and if a dog, a wolf, a fox, or a bear 
 or any other wild beast hath begun to feed upon it, no Christian shall touch it." 
 Mr Harting is of opinion that the trained bears exhibited by the Anglo-Saxon 
 gleemen were native animals taken young and tamed. The great Caledonian 
 
 ' The two in the middle are from the Bodleian MS. 264. ' No. 6563. 
 
 I9S 
 
196 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 forest was so well supplied with bears that it furnished a considerable supply for 
 the barbarous sports of Rome. It is supposed that bears became extinct in 
 Britain before the tenth century.^ 
 
 Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys. — Thomas Cartwright, in his 
 Admonition to Parliament against the Use of the Common Prayer, published in 
 1572, says : "If there be a bear or a bull to be baited in the afternoon, or a 
 jackanapes to ride on horseback, the minister hurries the service over in a 
 shameful manner, in order to be present at the show." We are not, however, 
 hereby to conceive, that these amusements were more sought after or encouraged 
 in England than they were abroad. " Our kings," says St Foix, in his History 
 of Paris, "at their coronations, their marriages, and at the baptism of their 
 children, or at the creation of noblemen and knights, kept open court ; and the 
 palace was crowded on such occasions with cheats, buffoons, rope-dancers, tale- 
 tellers, jugglers, and pantomimical performers. They call those," says he, 
 "jugglers, who play upon the vielle, and teach apes, bears," and perhaps we 
 may add, dogs, "to dance." ^ 
 
 Apes and monkeys seem always to have been favourite actors in the 
 joculator's troop of animals. A specimen of the performance of both, as far back 
 as the fourteenth century, is given on plate twenty-six.^ Leaping or tumbling 
 over a chain or cord held by the juggler, as we here see it depicted, was 
 a trick well received at Bartholomew Fair in the time of Ben Jonson ; 
 and in the prologue to a comedy written by him, which bears that title, in 
 1614, it is said: "He," meaning the author, "has ne're a sword and buckler 
 man in his fayre ; nor a juggler with a well-educated ape to come over the 
 chaine for the king of England, and back again for the prince, and sit still 
 on his haunches for the pope and the king of Spaine." In recent times, and 
 probably in more ancient times also, these facetious mimics of mankind were 
 taught to dance upon the rope, and to perform the part of the balance-masters. 
 
 *Evelyn records in his Diary, under date September 13th, 1660, that he 
 saw "in South wark, at St Margaret's Fair, monkeys and apes dance and do 
 other feats of activity on the high-rope ; they were gallantly clad a la monde, 
 went upright, saluted the company, bowing and pulling off their hats ; they 
 saluted one another with as good a grace as if instructed by a dancing-master ; 
 they turned heels over head with a basket having eggs in it, without breaking 
 any ; also with lighted candles in their hands and on their head, without 
 extinguishing them, and with vessels of water without spilling a drop." 
 
 In the reign of queen Anne, there was exhibited at Charing Cross, "a wild 
 hairy man," who, we are told, danced upon the tight-rope "with a balance, true 
 to the music"; he also "walked upon the slack-rope" while it was swinging, 
 and drank a glass of ale ; he " pulled off his hat, and paid his respects to the 
 company"; and "smoaked tobacco," according to the bill, "as well as any 
 
 ' Harting's Extinct British Animals, 19. ^ Essais Hist, sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 178. 
 
 ^ The tumbling ape is from Bodleian MS. No. 264. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 197 
 
 Christian."^ But all these feats were afterwards outdone by a brother monkey, 
 mentioned before, who performed many wonderful tricks at the Haymarket 
 Theatre, both as a rope-dancer and an equilibrist.^ 
 
 Tricks performed by Horses in the thirteenth Century. — We are 
 told that, in the thirteenth century, a horse was exhibited by the joculators 
 which danced upon a rope ; and oxen were rendered so docile as to ride upon 
 horses, holding trumpets to their mouths as though they were sounding them.^ If 
 we refer to plate twenty-seven we shall find the representation of several surprising 
 tricks performed by horses, far exceeding those displayed in the present day 
 ( 1 800). At the top is depicted the cruel diversion of baiting a horse with dogs, 
 from a fourteenth century manuscript* 
 
 *This wretched sport lingered on until the seventeenth century. In 
 Evelyn's Diary, on August 17th, 1667, occurs the following entry: "There 
 was now a very gallant horse baited to death with dogs ; but he fought them 
 all, so as the fiercest of them could not fasten on him, till the men run him 
 through with their swords. This wicked and barbarous sport deserved to have 
 been punished in the cruel contrivers to get money, under pretence that the horse 
 had killed a man, which was false. I would not be persuaded to be a spectator." 
 
 In the centre of the plate is a horse dancing upon his hind feet to the music 
 of the pipe and tabor ; * and opposite to him is another horse rearing up and 
 attacking the joculator, who opposes him with a small shield and a cudgel.* 
 These mock combats, to which the animals were properly trained, were con- 
 stantly regulated by some kind of musical instrument. The two performances 
 delineated at the bottom of the plate are more astonishing than those 
 preceding them. 
 
 In one instance, the horse is standing upon his hind feet, and beating with 
 his fore feet upon a kind of tabor or drum held by his master ; in the other the 
 animal is exhibiting a similar trick with his hind feet, and supports himself upon 
 his fore feet. The original drawings, represented by these engravings, are all of 
 them upwards of four hundred and fifty years old ; and at the time in which they 
 were made the joculators were in full possession of the public favour. 
 
 Here it is deemed worthy to note, that in the year 161 2, at a grand court 
 festival, Mons. Pluvinel, riding-master to Louis XIII. of France, with three 
 other gentlemen, accompanied by six esquires bearing their devices, executed a 
 grand ballette- dance upon managed horses.^ Something of the same kind is 
 now done (1800) at Astley's and the Circus; but at these places the dancing is 
 performed by the horses moving upon their four feet according to the direction 
 of their riders ; and of course it is by no means so surprising as that exhibited by 
 the latter engravings. 
 
 Tricks by Horses in queen Anne's Reign. — Horses are animals exceed- 
 
 ' From a Miscellaneous Collection of Papers, Harl. Lib. 5931. "^ Granger, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 353. 
 
 ' Mem, sur Anc. Cheval, torn. i. p. 247. ^ Roy. Lib. No. 2, B. vii. ^ Roy. Lib. 20 D. iv. 
 
 ' This and the two illustrations at the bottom of the Plate are from Bodleian MSB. No. 264. 
 
 ' Menestrier, Trait, de Tournois, p. 218. 
 
198 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 ingly susceptible of instruction, and their performances have been extended so 
 far as to bear the appearance of rational discernment. In the Harleian Library^ 
 is a show-bill, published in the reign of queen Anne, which is thus prefaced : 
 " To be seen, at the Ship upon Great Tower Hill, the finest taught horse in the 
 world." The abilities of the animal are specified as follows : " He fetches and 
 carries like a spaniel dog. If you hide a glove, a handkerchief, a door key, a 
 pewter bason, or so small a thing as a silver two-pence, he will seek about the 
 room till he has found it ; and then he will bring it to his master. He will also 
 tell the number of spots on a card, and leap through a hoop ; with a variety of 
 other curious performances." And we may, I trust, give full credit to the state- 
 ment of this advertisement : for a horse equally scientific is to be seen in the 
 present day ( 1 800) at Astley's amphitheatre ; this animal is so small, that he and 
 his keeper frequently parade the streets in a hackney coach. 
 
 Origin of Horse Exhibitions at Astley's, the Circus, etc. — Riding 
 upon two or three horses at once, with leaping, dancing, and performing various 
 other exertions of agility upon their backs while they are in full speed, is, I 
 believe, a modern species of exhibition, introduced to public notice about forty 
 years back (1760) by a man named Price, who displayed his abilities at Dobney's 
 near Islington ; soon afterwards, a competitor by the name of Sampson made 
 his appearance ; and he again was succeeded by Astley. The latter established 
 a riding-school near Westminster bridge, and has been a successful candidate for 
 popular favour. These performances originally took place in the open air, and 
 the spectators were exposed to the weather, which frequently proving unfavour- 
 able interrupted the show, and sometimes prevented it altogether ; to remedy 
 this inconvenience, Astley erected a kind of amphitheatre, completely covered, 
 with a ride in the middle for the displayment of the horsemanship, and a stage 
 in the front, with scenes and other theatrical decorations ; to his former 
 divertisements he then added tumbling, dancing, farcical operas, and pantomimes. 
 The success he met with occasioned a rival professor of horsemanship named 
 Hughes, who built another theatre for similar performances not far distant, to 
 which he gave the pompous title of the Royal Circus. Hughes was unfortunate, 
 and died some years back ; but the Circus has passed into other hands ; and the 
 spectacles exhibited there in the present day ( 1 800) are far more splendid than 
 those of any other of the minor theatres. 
 
 Dancing Dogs. — I know no reason why the joculators should not have 
 made the dog one of their principal brute performers ; the sagacity of this 
 creature and its docility could not have escaped their notice ; and yet the only 
 trick performed by the dog, that occurs in the ancient paintings, is simply that 
 of sitting upon his haunches in an upright position, which he might have been 
 taught to do with very little trouble. Three specimens are given, one on plate 
 twenty-six and two on plate twenty-eight ; they are all from the oft-cited Oxford 
 manuscript of 1344. 
 
 1 No. S938. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 199 
 
 Neither do I recollect that dogs are included in the list of animals formerly 
 belonging to the juggler's exhibitions, though, no doubt, they ought to have 
 been ; for, in Ben Jonson's play of Bartholmew Fayre, first acted in 1614, 
 there is mention made of " dogges that dance the morrice," without any indication 
 of the performance being a novelty. 
 
 *Neither Pepys nor Evelyn make any reference to " performing dogs " in 
 their respective diaries ; but the performance of a non-professional dog recorded 
 by the former, under September nth, 1 661, is certainly worthy of mention : " To 
 Dr Williams, who did carry me into his garden, where he hath abundance of 
 grapes ; and he did show me how a dog that he hath do kill all the cats that 
 come thither to kill his pigeons, and do afterwards bury them ; and do it with 
 so much care that they shall be quite covered ; that if the tip of the tail hangs 
 out, he will take up the cat again and dig the hole deeper, which is very strange ; 
 and he tells me that he do believe he hath killed above 100 cats." 
 
 Dancing dogs, in the present day (1800), make their appearance in the 
 public streets of the metropolis ; but their masters nieet with very little en- 
 couragement, except from the lower classes of the people, and from children ; 
 and of course the performance is rarely worthy of notice. At the commencement 
 of the last century, a company of dancing dogs was introduced at Southwark 
 Fair by a puppet-showman named Crawley. He called this exhibition " The 
 Ball of Little Dogs " ; and states in his bill, that they came from Lovain : he 
 then tells us, that " they performed by their cunning tricks wonders in the world 
 of dancing"; and adds, "you shall see one of them, named marquis of Gailler- 
 dain, whose dexterity is not to be compared ; he dances with madame Poncette 
 his mistress and the rest of their company at the sound of instruments, all of 
 them observing so well the cadence, that they amaze every body." At the close 
 of the bill, he declares that the dogs had danced before queen Anne and most 
 of the nobility of England. But many other "cunning tricks," and greatly 
 superior to those practised by Crawley's company, have been performed by dogs 
 some few years ago, at Sadler's Wells, and afterwards at Astley's, to the great 
 amusement and disport of the polite spectators. One of the dogs at Sadler's 
 Wells acted the part of a lady, and was carried by two other dogs ; some of 
 them were seated at a table, and waited on by others ; and the whole concluded 
 with the attack and storming of a fort, entirely performed by dogs.^ 
 
 The Hare and Tabor, and learned Pig. — It is astonishing what may be 
 effected by constant exertion and continually tormenting even the most timid 
 and untractable animals ; for no one would readily believe that a hare could 
 have been sufficiently emboldened to face a large concourse of spectators without 
 expressing its alarm, and beat upon a tambourine in their presence ; yet such a 
 performance was put in practice not many years back, and exhibited at Sadler's 
 Wells ; and, if I mistake not, in several other places in and about the metropolis. 
 
 ^ *In Chambers's Book of Days, i. 293-295, there is an illustrated account of a wonderfully trained troup of dogs and 
 monkeys that performed in London in I7S3, under the name of " Mrs Midnight's Animal Commedians." 
 
200 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Neither is this whimsical spectacle a recent invention. A hare that beat the 
 tabor is mentioned by Jonson, in his comedy of Bartholmew Fayre, acted at the 
 commencement of the seventeenth century ; and a representation of the same 
 feat, taken from a drawing on a manuscript upwards of four hundred years old, 
 is given on plate twenty-two.^ 
 
 And here I cannot help mentioning a very ridiculous show of a learned pig, 
 which of late days attracted much of the public notice, and at the polite end of 
 the town. This pig, which indeed was a large unwieldy hog, being taught to 
 pick up letters written upon pieces of cards, and to arrange them at command, 
 gave great satisfaction to all who saw him, and filled his tormenter's pocket with 
 money. One would not have thought that a hog had been an animal capable 
 of learning : the fact, however, is another proof of what may be accomplished 
 by assiduity ; for the showman assured a friend of mine, that he had lost three 
 very promising brutes in the course of training, and that the phenomenon then 
 exhibited had often given him reason to despair of success. It was first shown 
 In the vicinity of Pall Mall, in 1789, at five shillings each person ; the price was 
 afterwards reduced to half a crown ; and finally to one shilling. 
 
 A Dancing Cock and the Deserter Bird. — The joculators did not confine 
 themselves to the tutoring of quadrupeds, but extended their practice to birds 
 also ; and a curious specimen of their art appears on plate twenty-six, where a 
 cock is represented dancing on stilts to the music of a pipe and tabor.^ 
 
 In the present day (1800), this may probably be considered as a mere effort 
 of the illuminator's fancy, and admit of a doubt whether such a trick was ever 
 displayed In reality ; but many are yet living who were witnesses to an exhibition 
 far more surprising, shown at Breslaw's, a celebrated juggler, who performed In 
 Cockspur Street, opposite the Haymarket, about 1775. His prices for admission 
 were five shillings and half a crown. A number of little birds, to the amount, I 
 believe, of twelve or fourteen, being taken from different cages, were placed 
 upon a table in the presence of the spectators ; and there they formed themselves 
 into ranks like a company of soldiers : small cones of paper bearing some 
 resemblance to grenadiers' caps were put upon their heads, and diminutive 
 imitations of muskets made with wood, secured under their left wings. Thus 
 equipped, they marched to and fro several times ; when a single bird was 
 brought forward, supposed to be a deserter, and set between six of the musketeers, 
 three In a row, who conducted him from the top to the bottom of the table, on 
 the middle of which a small brass cannon charged with a little gunpowder had 
 been previously placed, and the deserter was situated In the front part of the 
 cannon ; his guards then divided, three retiring on one side, and three on the 
 other, and he was left standing by himself. Another bird was immediately 
 produced ; and, a lighted match being put Into one of his claws, he hopped boldly 
 on the other to the tail of the cannon, and, applying the match to the priming, 
 discharged the piece without the least appearance of fear or agitation. The 
 
 ' Harl. MSS. No. 6563. a Ibid. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 201 
 
 moment the explosion took place, the deserter fell down, and lay, apparently 
 motionless, like a dead bird ; but, at the command of his tutor he rose again ; 
 and the cages being brought, the feathered soldiers were stripped of their 
 ornaments, and returned into them in perfect order. 
 
 Imitations of Animals. — Among the performances dependent on imitation, 
 that of assuming the forms of different animals, and counterfeiting their gestures, 
 do not seem to have originated with the jugglers ; for this absurd practice, if I 
 mistake not, existed long before these comical artists made their appearance, at 
 least in large companies, and in a professional way. There was a sport common 
 among the ancients, which usually took place on the kalends of January, and 
 probably formed a part of the Saturnalia, or feasts of Saturn. It consisted 
 in mummings and disguisements ; for the actors took upon themselves the 
 resemblance of wild beasts, or domestic cattle, and wandered about from one 
 place to another ; and he, I presume, stood highest in the estimation of his 
 fellows who best supported the character of the brute he imitated. This 
 whimsical amusement was exceedingly popular, and continued to be practised 
 long after the establishment of Christianity ; it was, however, much opposed by 
 the clergy, and particularly by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in the ninth century, who 
 in one of his sermons tells us, that those concerned in it were wont to clothe 
 themselves with skins of cattle, and put upon them the heads of beasts.^ What 
 effect his preaching may have had at the time, I know not : the custom, how- 
 ever, was not totally suppressed, but may be readily traced from vestiges 
 remaining of it, to the modern times. Dr Johnson, in his Journey to the 
 Western Islands of Scotland, says a gentleman informed him, that, at new year's 
 eve, in the hall or castle of the laird, where at festivals there is supposed to be a 
 very numerous company, one man dresses himself in a cow-hide, on which other 
 men beat with sticks ; he runs with all this noise round the house, which all the 
 company quits in a counterfeited fright ; the door is then shut, and no readmis- 
 sion obtained after their pretended terror, but by the repetition of a verse of 
 poetry, which those acquainted with the custom are provided with.^ The 
 ancient court games, described in a former chapter, are certainly off-shoots from 
 the Saturnalian disfigurements ; and from the same stock we may pertinently 
 derive the succeeding masquings and disguisements of the person frequently 
 practised at certain seasons of the year ; and hence also came the modern 
 masquerades. Warton says, that certain court theatrical amusements were 
 called mascarades very anciently in France.* 
 
 Mummings and Masquerades. — In the middle ages, mummings were very 
 common. Mumm is said to be derived from the Danish word mumme, or 
 momme in Dutch, and signifies to disguise oneself with a mask : hence a 
 mummer, which is properly defined by Dr Johnson to be a masker, one who 
 performs frolics in a personated dress. 
 
 ' Du Cange, Glossary, in vocibus Cervula et Kalenda. ^ See also Bourne's Vulgar Errors, edited by Brand, p. 175. 
 
 •■ History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 237, 
 
202 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics. 
 
 From the time of Edward III. mummings or disguisings, accompanied with 
 figurative dances, were in vogue at court, of which there were memorable 
 instances in the years 1377 and 1400. In the mansions of the nobility, on 
 occasions of festivity, it also frequently happened that the whole company 
 appeared in borrowed characters ; and, full license of speech being granted to 
 every one, the discourses were not always kept within the bounds of decency.^ 
 These spectacles were exhibited with great splendour in former times and 
 particularly during the reign of Henry VIII. ; they have ceased, however, of 
 late years to attract the notice of the opulent ; and the regular masquerades 
 which succeeded them, are not supported at present (1800) with that degree of 
 mirthful spirit which, we are told, abounded at their institution ; and probably 
 it is for this reason they are declining so rapidly in the public estimation. 
 
 The mummeries practised by the lower classes of the people usually took 
 place at the Christmas holidays ; and such persons as could not procure masks 
 rubbed their faces over with soot, or painted them ; hence Sebastian Brant, in 
 his Ship of Fools ^ alluding to this custom, says : — 
 
 The one hath a visor ugley set on his face, 
 
 Another hath on a vile counterfaite vesture, 
 Or painteth his visage with fume in such case, 
 
 That what he is, himself is scantily sure. 
 
 It appears that many abuses were committed under the sanction of these 
 disguisements ; and for this reason an ordinance was established, by which a 
 man was liable to punishment who appeared in the streets of London with " a 
 painted visage."? In the third year of the reign of Henry VIII. it was ordained 
 that no persons should appear abroad like mummers, covering their faces with 
 vizors, and in disguised apparel, under pain of imprisonment for three months. 
 The same act enforced the penalty of 20s. against such as kept vizors or masks 
 in their houses for the purpose of mumming. 
 
 Bourne, in his Vulgar Antiquities,^ speaks of a kind of mumming practised 
 in the North about Christmas time, which consisted in "changing of clothes 
 between the men and the women, who, when dressed in each other's habits, go," 
 says he, "from one neighbour's house to another, and partake of their Christmas 
 cheer, and make merry with them in disguise, by dancing and singing and such 
 like merriments." 
 
 Mumming to royal Personages. — Persons capable of well supporting 
 assumed characters were frequently introduced at public entertainments, and 
 also in the pageants exhibited on occasions of solemnity ; sometimes they were 
 the bearers of presents, and sometimes the speakers of panegyrical orations, 
 
 1 Mem. Anc. Cheval, torn. ii. p. 68. 
 '^ Translated by Alexander Barclay, and printed by Pynson in 1508. ' Stow's Survey, fol. 680. 
 
 * Chap. xvi. 
 
Cl.^tm'm/7/<J yM/m/^< 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 203 
 
 Froissart tells us, that, after the coronation of Isabel of Bavaria, the queen of 
 Charles VI. of France, she had several rich donations brought to her by 
 mummers in different disguisements ; one resembling a bear, another an unicorn, 
 others like a company of Moors, and others as Turks or Saracens.^ 
 
 When queen Elizabeth was entertained at Kenilworth castle, various 
 spectacles were contrived for her amusement, and some of them produced with- 
 out any previous notice, to take her as it were by surprise. It happened about 
 nine o'clock one evening, as her majesty returned from hunting, and was riding 
 by torchlight, there came suddenly out of the wood, by the road-side, a man 
 habited like a savage, covered with ivy, holding in one of his hands an oaken 
 plant torn up by the roots, who placed himself before her, and, after holding 
 some discourse with a counterfeit echo, repeated a poetical oration in her praise, 
 which was well received. This man was Thomas Gascoyne the poet ; and the 
 verses he spoke on the occasion were his own composition. The circumstance 
 took place on the loth of July 1575.* 
 
 The savage men, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called, frequently 
 made their appearance in the public shows ; they were sometimes clothed 
 entirely with skins, and sometimes they were decorated with oaken leaves, or 
 covered, as above, with ivy. 
 
 Partial Imitations of Animals. — The jugglers and the minstrels, 
 observing how lightly these ridiculous disguisements were relished by the people 
 in general, turned their talents towards the imitating of different animals, and 
 rendered their exhibitions more pleasing by the addition of their new acquire- 
 ments. On plate twenty-eight are three specimens of their performances, all 
 taken from the fourteenth century Bodleian MS. that has supplied so many of 
 our illustrations. One of them presents to us the resemblance of a stag, and 
 another that of a goat walking erectly on his hind feet. Neither of these 
 fictitious animals have any fore legs ; but to the first the deficiency is supplied 
 by a staff, upon which the actor might recline at pleasure ; his face is seen 
 through an aperture on the breast ; and, I doubt not, a person was chosen 
 to play this part with a face susceptible of much grimace, which he had 
 an opportunity of setting forth to great advantage, with a certainty of 
 commanding the plaudits of his beholders. It was also possible to heighten the 
 whimsical appearance of this disguise by a motion communicated to the head ; a 
 trick the man might easily enough perform, by putting one of his arms into the 
 hollow of his neck ; and probably the neck was made pliable for that purpose. 
 In the third delineation we find a boy, with a mask resembling the head of a 
 dog, presenting a scroll of parchment to his master. In the original there 
 are two more boys, who are following disguised in a similar manner, and 
 each of them holding a like scroll of parchment. The wit of this performance, 
 I protest, I cannot discover. 
 
 Counterfeit Voices of Animals. — I have not been able to ascertain how 
 
 ' Chron. torn. i. iv, chap. 157, Lord Berners' translation. ^ See Nichols' Progresses, vol. i. 
 
204 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 far the ancient jugglers exerted their abilities in counterfeiting the articulation of 
 animals; but we may reasonably suppose they would not have neglected so 
 essential a requisite to make their imitations perfect. 
 
 In the reign of queen Anne, a man whose name was Clench, a native of 
 Barnet, made his appearance at London, He performed at the corner of 
 Bartholomew Lane, behind the Royal Exchange. His price for admittance was 
 one shilling each person. I have his advertisement before me ; ^ which states 
 that he " imitated the horses, the huntsmen, and a pack of hounds, a sham 
 doctor, an old woman, a drunken man, the bells, the flute, the double curtell, 
 and the organ with three voices, by his own natural voice, to the greatest 
 perfection." He then professes himself to "be the only man that could ever 
 attain to so great an art." He had, however, a rival, who is noted in one of the 
 papers of the Spectator, and called the whistling man. His excellency consisted 
 in counterfeiting the notes of all kinds of singing birds.^ The same performance 
 was exhibited in great perfection by the bird-tutor associated with Breslaw the 
 juggler, mentioned a few pages back. This man assumed the name of 
 Rosignol,' and, after he had quitted Breslaw, appeared on the stage at Covent 
 Garden Theatre, where, in addition to his imitation of the birds, he executed a 
 concerto on a fiddle without Strings ; that is, he made the notes in a wonderful 
 manner with his voice, and represented the bowing by drawing a small truncheon 
 backwards and forwards over a stringless violin. His performance was received 
 with great applause ; and the success he met with produced many competitors, 
 but none of them equalled him : it was, however, discovered, that the sounds 
 were produced by an instrument contrived for the purpose, concealed in the 
 mouth ; and then the trick lost all its reputation. Six years ago (1794) I heard 
 a poor rustic, a native of St Alban's, imitate, with great exactness, the whole 
 assemblage of animals belonging to a farm-yard ; but especially he excelled in 
 counterfeiting the grunting of swine, the squeaking of pigs, and the quarrelling 
 of two dogs. 
 
 Animals trained for Baiting. — Training of bulls, bears, horses, and other 
 animals, for the purpose of baiting them with dogs, was certainly practised by 
 the jugglers ; and this vicious pastime has the sanction of high antiquity. Fitz- 
 Stephen, who lived in the reign of Henry II., tells us that, in the forenoon of 
 every holiday, during the winter season, the young Londoners were amused 
 with boars opposed to each other in battle, or with bulls and full-grown bears 
 baited by dogs.* This author makes no mention of horses ; and I believe the 
 baiting of these noble and useful animals was never a general practice : it was, 
 however, no doubt, partially performed ; and the manner in which it was 
 carried into execution appears on plate twenty-seven. Asses also were treated 
 with the same inhumanity ; but probably the poor beasts did not afford sufficient 
 sport in the tormenting, and therefore were seldom brought forward as the 
 objects of this barbarous diversion. 
 
 ' Miscell. Collect. Harl. Lib. No. 115. '^ Vol. viii. No. 570. ' Literally, nightingale. 
 
 * Description of Londott. See also Stow's Survey, p. 78. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 205 
 
 Paris Garden. — There were several places in the vicinity of the metropolis 
 set apart for the baiting of beasts, and especially the district of Saint Saviour's 
 parish in Southwark, called Paris Garden; which place contained two bear- 
 gardens, said to have been the first that were made near London ; and in them, 
 according to Stow, were scaffolds for the spectators to stand upon : ^ and this 
 indulgence, we are told, they paid for in the following manner : " Those who go 
 to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, 
 or fence-play, must not account of any pleasant spectacle, unless first they pay 
 one pennie at the gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet 
 standing."^ One Sunday afternoon in January 1583, the scaffolds being over- 
 charged with spectators, fell down during the performance ; and a great number 
 of persons were killed or maimed by the accident.^ 
 
 Bull and Bear-baiting patronised by Royalty. — Bull and bear-baiting is 
 not encouraged by persons of rank and opulence in the present day (1800) ; and 
 when practised, which rarely happens, it is attended only by the lowest and most 
 despicable part of the people ; which plainly indicates a general refinement of 
 manners and prevalency of humanity among the moderns ; on the contrary, this 
 barbarous pastime was highly relished by the nobility in former ages, and 
 countenanced by persons of the most exalted rank, without exception even of 
 the fair sex. 
 
 *The office of Master of the Bears used to be held under the Crown, with a 
 salary of i6d. a day. It was his duty to provide bears and dogs and superintend 
 the baiting whenever required. He had authority to issue commissions to his 
 officials to press into the royal service any bears or dogs that seemed suitable. 
 On October nth, 1561, a patent was issued to Sir Saunders Buncombe "for the 
 sole practice and profit of the fighting and combating of wild and domestic beasts 
 within the realm of England for the space of fourteen years." Prince Arthur 
 had a bear-ward ; when he visited the prior of Durham in 1530 with his troop of 
 bears and apes, he received a gratuity of five shillings.* 
 
 Erasmus, who visited England in the reign of Henry VHI., says, there 
 were " many herds of bears maintained in this country for the purpose of 
 baiting." ^ When queen Mary visited her sister the princess Elizabeth during 
 her confinement at Hatfield House, the next morning, after mass, a grand 
 exhibition of bear-baiting was made for their amusement, with which, it is said, 
 "their highnesses were right well content."^ Queen Elizabeth, on the 25th of 
 May 1559, soon after her accession to the throne, gave a splendid dinner to the 
 French ambassadors, who afterwards were entertained with the baiting of bulls 
 and bears, and the queen herself stood with the ambassadors looking on the 
 
 ' Survey of London, ubi supra. ' Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, published a.d. 1570, p. 248. 
 
 ' *This accident produced a pamphlet entitled "A Godly Exhortation by occasion of the late Judgment -of God 
 shewed at Paris Garden, 13 January, 1583, upon divers Persons, whereof some were killed and many hurt at a Bear- 
 
 * *Harting's Extinct British Animals, 27, 28. Mr Harting makes a curious blunder over the account roll of Durham 
 Abbey, and imagines that the prior himself kept bears and apes. 
 
 '■ Erasmi Adagia, p. 361. * Life of Sir Thomas Pope, sect. iii. p. 85. 
 
206 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 pastime till six at night. The day following, the same ambassadors went by 
 water to Paris Garden, where they saw another baiting of bulls and of bears ; > 
 and again, twenty-seven years posterior, queen Elizabeth received the Danish 
 ambassador at Greenwich, who was treated with the sight of a bear and bull- 
 baiting, " tempered," says Holinshed, " with other merry disports " ; ^ and, for 
 the diversion of the populace, there was a horse with an ape upon his back ; 
 which highly pleased them, so that they expressed " their inward-conceived joy 
 and delight with shrill shouts and variety of gestures."* 
 
 Bull and Bear-baiting, how performed. — The manner in which these 
 sports were exhibited towards the close of the sixteenth century, is thus described 
 by Hentzner,* who was present at one of the performances : " There is a place 
 built in the form of a theatre, which serves for baiting of bulls and bears ; they 
 are fastened behind, and then worried by great English bull-dogs; but not 
 without risque to the dogs, from the horns of the one and the teeth of the other ; 
 and it sometimes happens they are killed on the spot ; fresh ones are immediately 
 supplied in the places of those that are wounded or tired. To this entertainment 
 there often follows that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five 
 or six men standing circularly with whips, which they exercise upon him without 
 any mercy, as he cannot escape because of his chain ; he defends himself with 
 all his force and skill, throwing down all that come within his reach, and are not 
 active enough to get out of it, and tearing the whips out of their hands, and 
 breaking them." Laneham, speaking of a bear-baiting exhibited before queen 
 Elizabeth in 1575, says : " It was a sport very pleasant to see the bear, with his 
 pink eyes learing after his enemies, approach ; the nimbleness and wait of the 
 dog to take his advantage ; and the force and experience of the bear again to 
 avoid his assaults : if he were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in another 
 to get free ; that if he were taken once, then by what shift with biting, with 
 clawing, with roaring, with tossing, and tumbling, he would work and wind 
 himself from them ; and, when he was loose, to shake his ears twice or thrice 
 with the blood and the slaver hanging about his physiognomy." The same 
 writer tells us, that thirteen bears were provided for this occasion, and they were 
 baited with a great sort of ban-dogs.^ In the foregoing relations, we find no 
 mention made of a ring put into the nose of the bear when he was baited ; which 
 certainly was the more modern practice ; hence the expression by the duke of 
 Newcastle, in the Humorous Lovers, printed in 161 7: "I fear the wedlock 
 ring more than the bear does the ring in his nose." 
 
 Bears and Bear-wards. — When a bear-baiting was about to take place, 
 the same was publicly made known, and the bear- ward previously paraded the 
 streets with his bear, to excite the curiosity of the populace, and induce them to 
 become spectators of the sport. The animal, on these occasions, was usually 
 
 ' Nichols' Progresses^ vol. i. p. 40. ^ Chronicle of Eng. vol. iii. fol. 1552. 
 
 ' Nichols' Progresses, vol. ii. p. 228. 
 
 * Itinerary, printed in Latin, a.d. 1598. See Lord Orfoid's translation, Strawberry Hill, p. 42. 
 " Nichols' Progresses, vol. i. fol. 249. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 207 
 
 preceded by a minstrel or two, and carried a monkey or baboon upon his back. 
 In the Humorous Lovers, the play just now quoted, "Tom of Lincoln" is 
 mentioned as the name of " a famous bear" ; and one of the characters pretending 
 to personate a bear-ward, says : " I'll set up my bills, that the gamesters of 
 London, Horsleydown, Southwark, and Newmarket, may come in and bait him 
 here before the ladies ; but first, boy, go fetch me a bagpipe ; we will walk the 
 streets in triumph, and give the people notice of our sport." 
 
 Baiting in queen Anne's Time. — The two following advertisements,'^ 
 which were published in the reign of queen Anne, may serve as a specimen of 
 the elegant manner in which these pastimes were announced to the public : — 
 
 "At the Bear Garden in Hockley in the Hole, near Clerkenwell Green, 
 this present Monday, there is a great match to be fought by two Dogs of Smith- 
 field Bars against two Dogs of Hampstead, at the Reading Bull, for one guinea 
 to be spent ; five lets goes out of hand ; which goes fairest and farthest in wins 
 all. The famous Bull of fire-works, which pleased the gentry to admiration. 
 Likewise there are two Bear-Dogs to jump three jumps apiece at the Bean 
 which jumps highest for ten shillings to be spent. Also variety of bull-baiting 
 and bear-baiting ; it being a day of general sport by all the old gamesters ; and 
 a bull-dog to be drawn up with fire-works. Beginning at three o'clock." 
 
 " At William Well's bear-garden in Tuttle-fields, Westminster, this present 
 Monday, there will be a green Bull baited ; and twenty Dogs to fight for a 
 collar ; and the dog that runs farthest and fairest wins the collar ; with other 
 diversions of bull and bear-baiting. Beginning at two of the clock." 
 
 *The noise of the bear-gardens, with the shouts and excitement of the 
 spectators, was something prodigious ; the term "bear-garden" still applied to a 
 noisy household serves to perpetuate a once popular national pastime. 
 
 *Recent Bull-baiting. — Bull -baiting lingered with us much longer than 
 bear-baiting, and was a far more universal sport throughout England. Butchers 
 who sold unbailed bull beef were subject in various boroughs to consider- 
 able penalties. It used to be supposed that this order was made in consequence 
 of baited beef being more digestible, but the enactments were really intended to 
 promote the continuation of what used to be regarded as a manly sport. After 
 the Restoration this pastime was generally resumed with much zest. Sir Miles 
 Stapleton replaced the ring for bull-baiting and the stone to which it was 
 affixed in the market-place of Bedale, Yorkshire, in 1661.^ 
 
 *Bull-baiting was, however, considered more the sport of the populace than 
 of gentlefolk. It was followed up in the Southwark Bear Garden, but it dis- 
 gusted not only Evelyn, but even Pepys. The latter was present at a South- 
 wark bull -baiting on August 14th, 1666, when the bull tossed one of the dogs 
 "into the very boxes"; Pepys had the sense to write "it is a very rude and 
 nasty pleasure." Evelyn was at the same place on June i6th, 1670, and wrote : 
 
 ' Harl. MSS. No. 15. 
 ^ The details are given in his Household Books ; see Ancestor, Nos. ii. and iii. 
 
208 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 " I went with some friends to the Bear Garden, where was cock-fighting, 
 dog -fighting, and bear and bull -baiting, it being a famous day for all these 
 butcherly sports, or rather barbarous cruelties. The bulls did exceeding well, 
 but the Irish wolf-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a stately creature 
 indeed, who beat a cruel mastiff. One of the bulls tossed a dog full into a lady's 
 lap, as she sate in one of the boxes at a considerable height from the arena. 
 Two poor dogs were killed, and so all ended with the ape on horseback, and 
 I most heartily weary of the rude and dirty pastime, which I had not seen, 
 I think, in twenty years before." 
 
 *In bull-baiting a rope about 15 feet long was fastened to the root of the 
 horns, and the other end secured to an iron ring fixed to a stone or stake driven 
 into the ground. The actual ring for bull-baiting still remains in several places 
 in England, such as Hedon, Colchester, and Brading in the Isle of Wight. 
 Several towns, like Birmingham and Dorchester, retain traces of the sport in 
 their street nomenclature. In 1802 a Bill was introduced into Parliament for 
 the suppression of this barbarous custom, but it was resisted, especially by Mr 
 Windham, as part of a conspiracy of the Jacobins and Methodists to render the 
 people grave and serious, and to uproot constitutional government. Notwith- 
 standing the earnestness of Wilberforce and the eloquence of Sheridan, the Bill 
 was defeated by a majority of thirteen. A worse fate befell a like measure 
 introduced in 1829, which was defeated by 73 votes to 28. But after the 
 great Reform Bill became law the protests of decent folk could no longer be 
 set at naught, and bull-baiting was made illegal in 1835. Nevertheless the 
 sport was still continued, after an illicit fashion, in a few places. It is said that 
 there were bull-baitings at Wirksworth in 1840, at Eccles in 1842, and at West 
 Derby in 1853.^ 
 
 *BuLL-RUNNiNG AT TuTBURY AND Stamford. — The buU-running, as 
 practiced at Tutbury and Stamford, and probably in other parts of England in 
 old days, was a very different pastime, for which more could be said as a sport 
 than the worrying of a chained-up brute. The bull-running at Tutbury was 
 first described with any detail by Dr Plot in 1686,^ A court of minstrels was 
 established at Tutbury by John of Gaunt who held their festival on August 16, 
 the morrow of the feast of the Assumption, At the conclusion of the festivities 
 a bull was given them at the priory gate by the prior of Tutbury. The poor 
 beast had the tip of its horns sawn off, his ears and tail cut off, the body smeared 
 with soap, and the nostrils filled with pepper. The minstrels rushed after the 
 maddened creature, and if any of those of the county of Stafford could succeed 
 in holding him long enough to cut off a piece of his hair before sunset, he 
 became the property of the king of the minstrels, who had that day been 
 elected to his office by a jury who chose the monarch of the year alternately 
 from the minstrels of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. If, on the other hand, the 
 beast escaped from them untaken, or crossed another river into Derbyshire, he 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, Ser. VI. i 86, 105, 186. 2 Natural History of Staffordshire, 439. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 209 
 
 was returned to the prior. This supplying of the bull was a customary tenure 
 due from the prior. After the dissolution of the monasteries, this tenure 
 devolved upon the earls and afterwards the dukes of Devonshire. Dr Plot 
 considered that John of Gaunt had introduced this custom from Spain in 
 imitation of the bull-fights of that nation. But Dr Pegge, in 1765, pointed out 
 the absurdity of this contention.^ The duke of Devonshire suppressed this 
 riotous custom in 1788. 
 
 *From time immemorial the town of Stamford annually celebrated, on 
 November 13th, a bull-running. The animal, provided by the butchers of the 
 town, was turned into the main street, and thence driven by the crowd on to 
 the bridge over the Welland, whence it was usually precipitated into the water. 
 When the bull swam ashore it was again pursued, and the hunt was carried on 
 till both mob and beast were wearied out. Then the animal was killed and its 
 flesh sold at a low rate. There were many local rules connected with the sport, 
 such as there was to be no iron about the clubs or staves carried by the 
 pursuers. Tradition had it that the custom originated in the days of king 
 John, when William, earl of Warren, saw from his castle two bulls fighting in 
 the meadow below. Some butchers striving to part the brutes, one of them ran 
 into the town causing great uproar. The earl on horseback followed the bull, 
 and so enjoyed the sport that he gave the meadow where the fight began to the 
 butchers of Stamford on the condition of their finding a bull to be run on the 
 anniversary forever. An attempt was made to stop the sport in 1788, but it 
 survived until 1839, when, in spite of a troop of dragoons and a strong force of 
 metropolitan police, the last bull-running, by the successful introduction of a 
 smuggled-in bull, was accomplished amid fierce excitement. In a later year 
 there was a feeble and last attempt to renew the ancient custom.^ 
 
 Sword-play. — The sword-dance, or, more properly, a combat with swords 
 and bucklers, regulated by music, was exhibited by the Saxon gleemen. We 
 have spoken on this subject in a former chapter, and resume it here, because 
 the jugglers of the middle ages were famous for their skill in handling the sword. 
 
 The combat, represented on the centre of plate twenty-nine, taken from a 
 thirteenth century manuscript,^ varies, in several respects, from that on plate 
 twenty-one, though both, I presume, are different modifications of the same per- 
 formance, as well as that on the top of plate twenty-nine,* which is carried into 
 execution without the assistance of a minstrel. 
 
 These combats bore some resemblance to those performed by the Roman 
 gladiators ; for which reason the jugglers were sometimes called gladiators by 
 the early historians. Mimi, salii, balatrones, emiliani, gladiatores, palestrite — 
 et tata joculatorum copia, are the titles given them by John of Salisbury.^ It 
 also appears that they instituted schools for teaching the art of defence in 
 
 ' Archaologia, ii. 86-91. 
 
 ' There is a good summary of the history of the Stamford bull-running in Chambers's Book of Days, ii. 574-576. 
 
 s Roy. Lib. No. 14, E. iii. ■• Roy. Lib. No. 20, D. vi. 
 
 ° Johan. Sarisbnriensis, De Nugis Curialium, lib. i. cap. viii. p. 34. 
 
 O 
 
210 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 various parts of the kingdom, and especially in the city of London, where the 
 conduct of the masters and their scholars became so outrageous, that it was 
 necessary for the legislature to interfere; and, in the fourteenth year of the 
 reign of Edward I. (1286), an edict was published by royal authority, which 
 prohibited the keeping of such schools, and the public exercise of swords and 
 bucklers. 
 
 It is said that many robberies and murders were committed by these 
 gladiators ; hence the appellation of swash buckler, a term of reproach, " from 
 swashing," says Fuller, " and making a noise on the buckler, and ruffian, which 
 is the same as a swaggerer. West Smithfield was formerly called Ruffian Hall, 
 where such men usually met, casually or otherwise, to try masteries with sword 
 and buckler; more were frightened than hurt, hurt than killed therewith, it 
 being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the knee. But since that desperate 
 traytor Rowland Yorke first used thrusting with rapiers, swords and bucklers 
 are disused."^ Jonson, in the induction to his play called Bartholomew Fair, 
 speaks of "the sword and buckler age in Smithfield"; and again, in the Two 
 Angry Women of Abbington, a comedy by Henry Porter, printed in 1599, we 
 have the following observation : " Sword and buckler fight begins to grow out 
 of use ; I am sorry for it ; I shall rjever see good manhood again ; if it be once 
 gone, this poking fight of rapier and dagger will come up ; then a tall man, that 
 is, a courageous man, and a good sword and buckler man, will be spitted like 
 a cat or a rabbit." 
 
 Such exercises had been practised by day and by night, to the great 
 annoyance of the peaceable inhabitants of the city ; and by the statute of 
 Edward I. the offenders were subjected to the punishment of imprisonment for 
 forty days ; to which was afterwards added a mulct of forty marks.^ These 
 restrictions certainly admitted of some exceptions ; for it is well known that 
 there were seminaries at London, wherein youth were taught the use of arms, 
 held publicly after the institution of this ordinance. " The art of defence and 
 use of weapons," says Stow, " is taught by professed masters " ; ^ but these most 
 probably were licensed by the city governors, and under their control. The 
 author of a description of the colleges and schools in and about London, which 
 he calls The Third University of England, printed in black letter in 1 6 1 5, says : 
 "In this city," meaning London, "there be manie professors of the science of 
 defence, and very skilful men in teaching the best and most offensive and 
 defensive use of verie many weapons, as of the long-sword, back-sword, rapier 
 and dagger, single rapier, the case of rapiers, the sword and buckler, or targate, 
 the pike, the halberd, the long-staff, and others. Henry VIII. made the 
 professors of this art a company, or corporation, by letters patent, wherein the 
 art is intituled ' The Noble Science of Defence.' The manner of the proceed- 
 ing of our fencers in their schools is this : first, they which desire to be taught 
 
 ' Worthies of England, a.d. 1662. 
 2 Maitland's History of London, book i. chap. xi. ' Survey of London, chap. ii. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 211 
 
 at their admission are called scholars, and, as they profit, they take degrees, 
 and proceed to be provosts of defence ; and that must be wonne by public trial 
 of their proficiencie and of their skill at certain weapons, which they call prizes, 
 and in the presence and view of many hundreds of people ; and, at their next 
 and last prize well and sufficiently performed, they do proceed to be maisters 
 of the science of defence, or maisters of fence, as we commonly call them." 
 The king ordained "that none, but such as have thus orderly proceeded by 
 public act and trial, and have the approbation of the principal masters of their 
 company, may profess or teach this art of defence publicly in any part of 
 England." Stow informs us, that the young Londoners, on holidays, after the 
 evening prayer, were permitted to exercise themselves with their wasters and 
 bucklers before their masters' doors. This pastime, I imagine, is represented by 
 the fourteenth century drawing at the bottom of plate twenty-nine,^ from whence the 
 annexed engraving is taken, where clubs or bludgeons are substituted for swords. 
 *The Masters of Defence. — "The Maisters of the Noble Science of 
 Defence" organised by Henry VIII. in July 1540, were still further consolidated 
 in the reign of Elizabeth. Among the Sloane MSS. of the British Museum is 
 an interesting book compiled in 1575, which contains a record of this Association 
 of Masters, with its rules, notes of prizes played by them, and many other 
 details.^ The Association consisted first of the " Scholler," or probationer ; 
 secondly, the " Free Scholler," which was the junior grade ; then the " Provost," 
 or assistant master; and lastly the " Maister." From the masters was chosen 
 the small governing body known as " The Four Ancient Maisters of the 
 Noble Science of Defence." The provosts and masters were licensed by "our 
 soveraigne lady, Elizabeth," to teach in their schools " within this realme of 
 England Irelande and Calleis and the precincts of the same" gentlemen or 
 yeomen who were willing to learn the science of defence, " as playinge with the 
 two hande sworde, the Pike, the bastard sworde, the dagger, the Backe sworde, 
 the sworde and Buckeler, and the staffe, and all other maner of weapons 
 apperteyninge to the same science." The scholar had to play with at least six 
 scholars with the long sword and back sword before he could be a free scholar. 
 Before a free scholar could become a provost he had to play at the two-hand 
 sword, the back-sword, and the staff with all manner of provosts that came on 
 the appointed day ; notice being sent to all provosts within threescore miles of 
 the place of play. Amongst other obligations, if successful, the new provost had 
 to be bound over to the four ancient masters not to keep any school within 
 seven miles of any master without license from the governing four. When a 
 provost was minded to take the master's degree, he had to play any masters, who 
 might appear from within forty miles of the appointed place, at the two-hand 
 sword, the bastard sword, the pike, the back-sword, and the rapier and dagger. 
 
 ' Bodleian MSS. No. 264. 
 
 ' *These rules are printed in fiill and many other extracts given in the chapter entitled " Prize-players and prize- 
 fighters," of Mr A. Hutton's valuable book, The Sword and the Centuries (1901). 
 
212 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *The notes as to play for these different degrees extend from 1575 to 1591, 
 and show the fierceness of the contests. Gregorye Greene, who played for his 
 scholar's prize at Chelmsford in 1578, contended with eight at two-hand sword 
 and seven at back-sword. Edward Harvye in the same year played for his 
 scholar's prize at the Bull within Bishopsgate (the favourite London place of 
 meeting) with fourteen at two-hand sword and two at sword and buckler. The 
 provost's prizes were played in public, usually at some tavern such as the Bull in 
 Bishopsgate and the Bellesavage at Ludgate. Other places named for the 
 playing for master's prizes were Hampton Court, the Artillery Garden, and 
 Canterbury. 
 
 *This Association was at its zenith in Elizabeth's reign ; it lingered on in the 
 reign of James I. and Charles I., though after a humble fashion, and expired* 
 during the Commonwealth struggle. With the Restoration came in prize- 
 fighting as opposed to the earlier prize-playing with broad or back-sword, the 
 cudgel, and the staff. The play of this kind from Henry VHI. to end of 
 Elizabeth was for the honour and gain of being promoted as teachers in a gild 
 or association of fencers ; but with the advent of Charles H., when the two-hand 
 sword and the long rapier had gone out of fashion, came the men who merely 
 fought for money prizes, with the addition of whatever coins might be thrown to 
 them on the stage by the public. The lively pages of Pepys yield several 
 accounts of the fierce prize-fighting with swords. 
 
 *Pepys on Prize-play. — "June i, 1663. — I with Sir J. Minnes to the Strand 
 Maypole, and there light of his coach, and walked to the New Theatre, which, 
 since the King's players are gone to the Royal one, is this day begun to be 
 employed for the fencers to play prizes at. And here I came and saw the first 
 prize I ever saw in my life : and it was between one Matthews, who did beat at 
 all points, and one Westwicke, who was soundly cut both in the head and legs, 
 that he was all over blood ; and other deadly blows did they give and take in 
 very good earnest. They fought at eight weapons, three boutes at each weapon. 
 This being upon a private quarrel, they did it in good earnest, and I felt one of 
 their swords, and found it very little, if at all, blunter on the edge than the 
 common swords are. Strange to see what a deal of money is flung to them 
 both upon the stage between every boute. 
 
 " May 27th, 1667. — Abroad, and stopped at Beargarden stairs, there to see 
 a prize fought. But the house so full there was no getting in there, so forced 
 to go through an ale house into the pit where the bears are baited ; and 
 upon a stool did see them fight, a butcher and a waterman. The former had 
 the better all along, till by and by the latter dropped his sword out of his hand, 
 and the butcher, whether not seeing his sword dropped I know not, but did give 
 him a cut over the wrist, so that he was disabled to fight any longer. But 
 Lord ! to see in a minute the whole stage was full of watermen to revenge the 
 foul play, and the butchers to defend their fellow, though most blamed him ; and 
 there they fell to it, knocking down and cutting many on each side. It was 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 213 
 
 pleasant to see, but that I stood in the pit, and feared that in the tumult I might 
 get some hurt. At last the battle broke up, so I away. 
 
 " Sept, ist, 1667. — To the Beargarden where now the yard is full of people, 
 and those most of them seamen, striving by force to get in. I got into the 
 common pit ; and there with my cloak about my face, I stood and I saw the prize 
 fought, till one of them, a shoemaker, was so cut in both his wrists that he could 
 not fight any longer, and then they broke off. The sport very good, and various 
 humours to be seen among the rabble that is there. 
 
 " April 1 2th, 1669, — By water to the Beargarden, and there happened to sit 
 by Sir Fretcheville Hollis, who is still full of his vainglorious and profane talk. 
 Here we saw a prize fought between a soldier and a country fellow, one Warrell 
 who promised the least in his looks, and performing the most of valour in his 
 boldness and evenness of mind, and smiles in all he did, that ever I saw ; and 
 we were all both deceived and infinitely taken with him. He did soundly beat 
 the soldier, and cut him over the head. Thence back to White Hall, mightily 
 pleased all of us with this sight, and particularly this fellow, as a most extra- 
 ordinary man for his temper and evenness in fighting." 
 
 Public Sword-play, — The following show-bill, dated July 13, 1709, 
 contains the common mode of challenging and answering used by the combatants 
 of those days ; it is selected from a great number now lying before me ; ^ and, 
 being rather curious, I shall transcribe it without making any alteration. 
 
 "At the Bear Garden in Hockley in the Hole, near Clerkenwell Green, a 
 trial of skill shall be performed between Two Masters of the noble Science of 
 Defence on Wednesday next, at two of the clock precisely, 
 
 " I George Gray, born in the city of Norwich, who have fought in most 
 parts of the West Indies, namely, Jamaica and Barbadoes, and several other 
 parts of the world, in all twenty-five times, and upon a stage, and never yet was 
 worsted, and being now lately come to London, do invite James Harris to meet 
 and exercise at these following weapons, namely, back-sword, sword and dagger, 
 sword and buckler, single falchon, and case of falchons." 
 
 " I James Harris, Master of the said noble Science of Defence, who formerly 
 rid in the horse-guards, and hath fought a hundred and ten prizes, and never 
 left a stage to any man, will not fail, God willing, to meet this brave and bold 
 inviter at the time and place appointed ; desiring sharp swords, and from him no 
 favour. No person to be upon the stage but the seconds, Vivat Regina ! " 
 
 With the accession of George I, the taste for these gladiatorial shows began 
 to wane, and their place was ere long taken by pugilism. 
 
 Quarter-staff. — In another challenge of the reign of Anne the quarter- 
 staff is added to the list of weapons named on these occasions. Quarter-staff 
 Dr Johnson explains to be "A staff of defence, so called, I believe, from the 
 
 ' In a Miscellaneous Collection of Title-pages, Bills, etc., in the Harleian Library, No. 115. 
 
 *Mr Hutton, in The Sword and the Centuries, gives many other particulars of the prize-fighting heroes of queen 
 Anne's days, such as Donald MacBane and James Figs. 
 
214 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 manner of using it ; one hand being placed at the middle, and the other equally 
 between the end and the middle."^ The quarter-staff was formerly used by the 
 English, and especially in the western parts of the kingdom. I have seen a 
 small pamphlet of 1625 with this title: "Three to One; being an English- 
 Spanish combat, performed by a western gentleman of Tavystock, in Devonshire, 
 with an English quarter-staff, against three rapiers and poniards, at Sherries in 
 Spain, in the presence of the dukes, condes, marquisses, and other great dons of 
 Spain, being the council of war" ; to which is added, " the author of this booke, 
 and actor in this encounter, being R. Peecke." On the same page there is a 
 rude wooden print, representing the hero with his quarter-staff, in the action of 
 fighting with the three Spanyards, who are armed with long swords and daggers. 
 Caulfield has copied this print in his Assemblage of Noted Persons. 
 
 *This favourite old English weapon or implement was a stout pole or staff 
 varying from eight to five feet in length, but usually in encounters of a regular 
 length of six and a half feet. It seems to have been originally a mere walking- 
 staff, like the Swiss alpenstock, and then found useful for defence and offence. 
 In action it was grasped by one hand in the middle, and by the other between 
 the middle and the end. When attacking, the latter hand shifted from one 
 quarter of the staff to the other, giving the weapon a rapid circular motion, which 
 brought the ends on the adversary at unexpected points.^ 
 
 *In the old Playe of Robyn Hode mention is made of his meeting a stout 
 friar with " a quarter-staffe in his hande," and of the blows they exchanged with 
 these weapons.^ Bouts at quarter-staff are of frequent occurrence in all ballad 
 histories of Robin Hood. When Robin encountered Arthur a Bland, the tanner 
 of Nottingham, we are told that — 
 
 Then Robin he unbuckled his belt 
 
 And laid down his bow so long ; 
 He took up a staff of another oak graff. 
 
 That was both stiff and strong. 
 
 # # * * * 
 
 " But let me measure," said jolly Robin, 
 
 " Before we begin our fray ; 
 For I'll not have mine to be longer than thine, 
 
 For that will be counted foul play.'' 
 
 " I pass not for length," bold Arthur replied, 
 
 " My staff is of oak so free ; 
 Eight foot and a half it will knock down a calf, 
 
 And I hope it will knock down thee." 
 
 Then Robin Hood could no longer forbear, 
 
 He gave him such a knock. 
 Quickly and soon the blood came down, 
 
 Before it was ten o'clock. 
 
 1 Dictionary, word Quarter-staff. " Century Dictionary, ' Child's Ballads, iii. 127. 
 
PERFORMING ANIMALS 215 
 
 About and about and about they went, 
 
 Like two wild boars in a chase, 
 Striving to aim each other to maim 
 
 Leg, arm, or any other place. 
 
 And knock for knock they hastily dealt. 
 
 Which held for two hours and more ; 
 That all the wood rang at every bang 
 
 They plied their work so sore.' 
 
 » Child's Ballads, iii. 138. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Ancient Specimens of Bowling— Poem on Bowling — Bowling-greens first made by the English — Bowling-alleys — Long- 
 bowling — Gaming at Bowls — Charles I. and Charles II. fond of Bowls — Supposed Origin of Billiards — Kayles — 
 Closh — Loggats — Nine-pins — Skittles — Dutch-pins — Four-corners — Half-bowl — Nine-holes — Troul in Madame — 
 John Bull — Pitch and Hustle — Cock-fighting — Cock-fighting in nineteenth Century — Throwing at Cocks — Duck- 
 hunting — Squirrel-hunting. 
 
 ANCIENT Bowling — Poem on Bowling. — The pastime of bowling, 
 whether practised upon open greens or in bowling-alleys, was probably 
 an invention of the middle ages. I cannot by any means ascertain the 
 time of its introduction ; but I have traced it back to the thirteenth century. 
 The earliest representation of a game played with bowls occurs on plate 
 thirty from a manuscript of that century.^ 
 
 Here two small cones are placed upright at a distance from each other; and 
 the business of the players is evidently to bowl at them alternately ; the success- 
 ful candidate being he who could lay his bowl the nearest to the mark. The 
 French, according to Cotgrave, had a similar kind of game, called carreau, 
 from a square stone which, says he, " is laid in level with and at the end of a 
 bowling-alley, and in the midst thereof an upright point set as the mark whereat 
 they bowl." At the top of the same plate is a fourteenth century drawing from 
 a beautiful MS. Book of Prayers, in the possession of Mr Douce. It represents 
 two other bowlers ; but they have no apparent object to play at, unless the bowl 
 cast by the first may be considered as such by the second, and the game require 
 him to strike it from its place. 
 
 Below these we see three persons engaged in the pastime of bowling ; and 
 they have a small bowl, or jack, according to the modern practice, which serves 
 them as a mark for the direction of their bowls : the action of the middle figure, 
 whose bowl is supposed to be running towards the jack, will not appear by any 
 means extravagant to such as are accustomed to visit the bowling-greens. 
 
 *It is recorded of Lord Brooke, who was killed at the storming of Lichfield, 
 1643, that "he used to be much resorted to by those of the preciser sort, who 
 had got a powerful hand over him ; yet they would allow him Christian libertie 
 for his recreation. But being at bowles one day, and following his cast with 
 much eagernesse, he cryed, ' Rubbe, rubbe, rubbe, rubbe, rubbe.' His chaplain 
 (a very strict mann) runns presently to him ; and, in the hearing of diverse, ' O 
 good my Lord, leave that to God — you must leave that to God ! ' says he."'' 
 
 The following little poem, by William Stroad, which I found in "Justin 
 
 ^ Roy. Lib. No. 20, E. iv. ^ L'Estrange's Anecdotes, No. 164. 
 
 216 
 
BOWLING 217 
 
 Pagitt's Memorandum Book" (1633), one of the Harleian manuscripts at the 
 British Museum,^ expresses happily enough the turns and chances of the game 
 of bowls : — 
 
 A PARALLEL BETWIXT BOWLING AND PREFERMENT 
 
 Preferment, like a game at boules, 
 
 To feede our hope hath divers play : 
 Heere quick it runns, there soft it roules ; 
 
 The betters make and shew the way 
 On upper ground, so great allies 
 
 Doe many cast on their desire ; 
 Some up are thrust and forc'd to rise, 
 
 When those are stopt that would aspire. 
 
 Some, whose heate and zeal exceed, 
 
 Thrive well by rubbs that curb their haste, 
 And some that languish in their speed 
 
 Are cherished by some favour's blaste ; 
 Some rest in other's cutting out 
 
 The fame by whom themselves are made ; 
 Some fetch a compass farr about. 
 
 And secretly the marke invade. 
 
 Some get by knocks, and so advance 
 
 Their fortune by a boysterous aime : 
 And some, who have the sweetest chance. 
 
 Their en'mies hit, and win the game. 
 The fairest casts are those that owe 
 
 No thanks to fortune's giddy sway ; 
 Such honest men good bowlers are 
 
 Whose o^vn true bias cutts the way. 
 
 In the three delineations just represented, we may observe that the players 
 have only one bowl for each person ; the modern bowlers have usually three or 
 four. 
 
 *In 151 1, when Henry VIII. confirmed previous laws against illegal games 
 in favour of archery, " bowls " occurs for the first time in the Statute Book. 
 The much severer statute of 1541 forbad every kind of labourer, artisan, 
 apprentice, or servant playing at bowls (among a number of other games) " out 
 of Christmas," and even in Christmas only " in their master's houses or in their 
 master's presence." It was further provided that no manner of persons were to 
 play bowls in open places out of their gardens or orchards, under a penalty of 
 6s. 8d. Moreover, this curious kind of class legislation enabled any nobleman, 
 or any one possessed of lands worth ;^ioo a year, to obtain a license for bowl 
 playing in his own domain. 
 
 *Henry VIII., who was devoted to every form of sport, added bowling- 
 alleys to Whitehall, and his privy purse expenses show that he was in the habit 
 of backing his prowess with bets. On January 29th, 1530, Mr Fitzwilliam, the 
 treasurer, won £^ : los. of the king at bowls. On April 19th, 1532, Lord Wilt- 
 shire and Lord Rocheford won of the king and Mr Baynton j^9 at the same 
 
 ^ No. 1026, p. 41. 
 
218 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 game, and ;^35 : 5s. a few days later. In the next month Lady Anne lost 
 ;i^i2 : 7 : 6 at bowls to the serjeant of the cellar. 
 
 Bowling-Greens first made by the English. — Bowling-greens are said 
 to have originated in England ; and bowling upon them, in my memory (1800), 
 was a very popular amusement. In most country towns of any note they are 
 to be found, and some few are still remaining in the vicinity of the metropolis ; 
 but none of them, I believe, are now so generally frequented as they were 
 accustomed to be formerly.-' , 
 
 Bowling-Alleys. — The inconveniency to which the open greens for bowl- 
 ing were necessarily obnoxious, suggested, I presume, the idea of making 
 bowling-alleys, which, being covered over, might be used when the weather 
 would not permit the pursuit of the pastime abroad ; and therefore they were 
 usually annexed to the residences of the opulent ; wherein if the ladies were 
 not themselves performei-s, they certainly countenanced the pastime by being 
 spectators ; hence the king of Hungary, in an old poem entitled " The Squyer 
 of Low Degree" {circa 1475), says to his daughter, to amuse you in your garden 
 
 An hundredth knightes, truly tolde, 
 Shall play with bowles in alayes colde. 
 
 Andrew Borde, in his Dietarie of Helthe, describing a nobleman's mansion, 
 supposes it not to be complete without " a bowling-alley." 
 
 *Dr John Jones, the physician at Buxton in Elizabethan days, recommended 
 his patients to make use of " bowling in allayes, the weather convenient, and the 
 bowles fitte to such a game, as eyther in playne or longe allayes, or in suche as 
 have crankes with halfe bowles, whiche is the fyner and gentler exercise."^ The 
 reference to alleys and convenient weather is a reminder that the term " bowling- 
 alley " as then used did not necessarily mean a covered-in place with a boarded 
 floor, and might apply to a hedged-in turfed path or narrow enclosure in a garden. 
 Dr Jones's reference to "crankes" and "halfe bowles " is not quite clear; but 
 probably crank is used in the sense of a twist or bias, and half-bowl to the 
 flattened form of bowl, slightly oblate on one side and prolate on the other. 
 When the bowl ceased to be spherical and assumed this flattened shape, a kind 
 of impetus termed " bias " was given to cause it to run obliquely. The term 
 was used in the sixteenth century ; thus Shakespeare in the Taming of the 
 Shrew : — 
 
 Well, forward, forward ! thus the bowl should run. 
 And not unluckily against the bias. 
 
 *In the later Elizabethan days bowling-greens were a usual part of the 
 " lay-out " of the larger gardens. 
 
 Bowling, according to an author in the seventeenth century, is a pastime 
 
 ^ 'Towards the close of the nineteenth century the revival in bowls was remarkable, and it still continues to grow in 
 favour. There are bowling clubs in most towns, and the old bowling-greens attached to country inns, particularly in 
 Norfolk, are again places of much resort. 
 
 ' The Benefit of the Auncient Bathes of Buckstones, 1572. 
 
BOWLING 219 
 
 " in which a man shall find great art in choosing out his ground, and preventing 
 the winding, hanging, and many turning advantages of the same, whether it be 
 in open wilde places, or in close allies ; and for his sport, the chusing of the 
 bowle is the greatest cunning ; your flat bowles being best for allies, your round 
 byazed bowles for open grounds of advantage, and your round bowles, like a 
 ball, for green swarthes that are plain and level," ^ 
 
 *Gaming at Bowls. — Charles Cotton's Compleat Gamester, first issued in 
 1674, complains that bowling would be a much more commendable sport than 
 it is, save for " those swarms of Rooks which so pester Bowling-greens, Bares, 
 and Bowling-alleys . . . with cunning, betting, crafty matching, and basely 
 playing booty." He further remarks, with some wit, that "A Bowling-green or 
 Bowling-Ally is a place where three things are thrown away besides the Bowls, 
 viz. Time, Money, and Curses, and the last ten for one. The best sport in it 
 is the Gamesters, and he enjoys it that looks on and betts nothing. It is a 
 School of Wrangling, and worse than the Schools ; for here men will wrangle 
 for a hair's breadth, and make a stir where a straw would end the controversie." 
 
 *Charles I. AND Charles II. fond of Bowls. — Charles I. was much 
 attached to the game. He made a bowling-green at Spring Gardens, and during 
 his detention at Holdenby Palace, where the green was in bad order, he was 
 allowed to ride over to Lord Vaux's at Harrowden and Earl Spencer's at 
 Althorp, where there were good bowling-greens. 
 
 *Pepys enters in his Diary, under date May ist, 1661 — " Up early and baited 
 at Petersfield, in the room which the King lay in lately at his being there. 
 Here very merry, and played with our wives at bowles." Again, on July 26th, 
 1662, he writes — "This afternoon I went to Westminster . . . and thence to 
 White Hall garden and the Bowling-ally, where lords and ladies are now at 
 bowles, in brave condition." 
 
 *The Count de Gramont in his Memoirs makes frequent mention of visiting 
 Tunbridge to play bowls, and of the devotion of Charles II. to the game. 
 
 Supposed origin of Billiards. — On the top of plate thirty-one is the 
 representation of a very curious ancient pastime which seems to bear some 
 analogy to bowling. 
 
 Here the bowls, instead of being cast by the hand, are driven with a battoon, 
 or mace, through an arch, towards a mark at a distance from it ; and hence, I 
 make no doubt, originated the game of billiards, which formerly was played with 
 a similar kind of arch and a mark called the king, but placed upon the table 
 instead of the ground. The improvement by adding the table answered two 
 good purposes; it precluded the necessity for the player to kneel, or stoop 
 exceedingly, when he struck the bowl and accommodated the game to the limits 
 of a chamber. 
 
 Kayles. — Kayles, written also cayles and keiles, derived from the French 
 word quilles, was played with pins, and no doubt gave origin to the modern 
 
 ' Country Cotitentments, 1615. 
 
220 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 game of nine-pins ; though primitively the kayle-pins do not appear to have been 
 confined to any certain number, as we may observe by referring to plate thirty- 
 one, where the pastime of kayles playing is twice represented. In the one instance 
 there are six pins and in the other eight, and the form of the pins is somewhat 
 different. One of them in both cases is taller than the rest, and this, I presume, 
 was the king-pin ; it is placed at the end to the left of the thrower upon the 
 middle of the plate, and between the four upright pins at the bottom. 
 
 The arrangement of the kayle-pins differs greatly from that of the nine-pins, 
 the latter being placed upon a square frame in three rows, and the former in 
 one row only. The two delineations here copied, from fourteenth century 
 manuscripts, represent that species of the game called club-kayles, jeux de quilles 
 a baston, so denominated from the club or cudgel that was thrown at them.^ 
 
 Closh. — The game of cloish, or closh, mentioned frequently in the ancient 
 statutes,^ seems to have been the same as kayles, or at least exceedingly like 
 it : cloish was played with pins, which were thrown at with a bowl instead of a 
 truncheon, and probably differed only in name from the nine - pins of the 
 present time. 
 
 LoGGATS. — Loggats, I make no doubt, was a pastime analogous to kayles 
 and cloish, but played chiefly by boys and rustics, who substituted bones for 
 pins. " Loggats," says Sir Thomas Hanmer, one of the editors of Shakespeare, 
 "is the ancient name of a play or game, which is one of the unlawful games 
 enumerated in the thirty- third statute of Henry VIII. : it is the same which is 
 now called kittle-pins, in which the boys often make use of bones instead of 
 wooden pins, throwing at them with another bone instead of bowling." Hence 
 Shakespeare, in Hamlet, speaks thus : " did these bones cost no more the 
 breeding, but to play at loggats with them ? " And this game is evidently 
 referred to in an old play, entitled " The longer thou livest the more Fool thou 
 art," published in the reign of queen Elizabeth,^ where a dunce boasts of 
 his skill 
 
 At skales, and the playing with a sheepes-joynte. 
 
 In skales, or kayles, the sheepes-joynte was probably the bone used instead 
 of a bowl. 
 
 Nine-Pins— Skittles.— The kayle-pins were afterwards called kettle, or 
 kittle-pins ; and hence, by an easy corruption, skittle-pins, an appellation well 
 known in the present day. The game of skittles, as it is now played, differs 
 materially from that of nine-pins, though the same number of pins are required 
 in both. In performing the latter, the player stands at a distance settled by 
 mutual consent of the parties concerned, and casts the bowl at the pins : the 
 contest is, to beat them all down in the fewest throws. In playing at skittles, 
 there is a double exertion ; one by bowling, and the other by tipping : the first 
 is performed at a given distance, and the second standing close to the frame 
 
 ^ Roy. Lib. No. 2, B. vii. ; Mr Douce's MS. 
 = An. 17 Edw. IV. cap. 3 ; again 18 and 20 Hen. VIII. etc. ; in all which acts this game is prohibited. 
 
 ' Garrick's Collection, vol. i. 18. 
 
BOWLING 221 
 
 upon which the pins are placed, and throwing the bowl through in the midst 
 of them ; in both cases, the number of pins beaten down before the return of 
 the bowl, for it usually passes beyond the frame, are called fair, and reckoned 
 to the account of the player ; but those that fall by the coming back of the bowl 
 are said to be foul, and of course not counted. One chalk or score is reckoned 
 for every fair pin ; and the game of skittles consists in obtaining thirty-one chalks 
 precisely : less loses, or at least gives the antagonist a chance of winning the 
 game ; and more requires the player to go again for nine, which must also be 
 brought exactly, to secure himself. 
 
 The preceding quotation from Hanmer intimates that the kittle-pins were 
 sometimes made with bones ; and this assertion is strengthened by the language 
 of a dramatic writer, the author of the Merry Milk-maid of Islington, in 1680, 
 who makes one of his characters speak thus to another : "I'll cleave you from 
 the skull to the twist, and make nine skittles of thy bones," 
 
 Dutch-Pins. — Dutch-pins is a pastime much resembling skittles ; but the 
 pins are taller and slenderer, especially in the middle pin, which is higher than 
 the rest, and called the king-pin. The pins are nine in number, and placed 
 upon a frame in the manner of skittles ; and the bowls used by the performers 
 are very large, but made of a light kind of wood. The game consists of 
 thirty-one scores precisely ; and every player first stands at a certain distance 
 from the frame, and throws his bowl at the pins, which is improperly enough 
 called bowling ; afterwards he approaches the frame and makes his tipp by 
 casting the bowl among the pins, and the score towards the game is determined 
 by the number of them beaten down. If this pin be taken out singly, when 
 the bowl is thrown from a distance, the game is won ; this instance excepted, 
 it reckons for no more than the other pins. 
 
 Four- Corners. — Is so called from four large pins which are placed singly 
 at each angle of a square frame. The players stand at a distance, which may 
 be varied by joint consent, and throw at the pins a large heavy bowl, which 
 sometimes weighs six or eight pounds. The excellency of the game consists in 
 beating them down by the fewest casts of the bowl. 
 
 Half-Bowl. — Half-bowl is one of the "new imagined" games prohibited 
 in 1477 in favour of archery,^ and received its denomination from being played 
 with one half of a sphere of wood. Half-bow is practised to this day (1800) in 
 Hertfordshire, where it is commonly called rolly-polly ; and it is best performed 
 upon the floor of a room, especially if it be smooth and level. There are 
 fifteen small pins of a conical form required for this pastime ; twelve of which 
 are placed at equal distances upon the circumference of a circle of about two 
 feet and a half diameter ; one of the three remaining pins occupies the centre ; 
 and the other two are placed without the circle at the back part of it, and 
 parallel with the bowling-place, but so as to be in a line with the middle pin ; 
 forming a row of five pins, including two of those upon the circumference. In 
 
 ' An. 17 Edw. IV. cap, 3 ; the prohibition extends also to closh and kayles. 
 
222 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 playing this game, the bowl, when delivered, must pass above the pins, and 
 round the end-pin, without the circle, before it beats any of them down ; if not, 
 the cast is forfeited : and, owing to the great bias of the bowl, this task is not 
 very readily performed by such as have not made themselves perfect by practice. 
 The middle pin is distinguished by four balls at the top ; and, if thrown down, 
 is reckoned for four towards the game ; the intermediate pin upon the circle, 
 in the row of five, has three balls, and is reckoned for three ; the first pin 
 without the circle has two balls, and is counted for two ; and the value of all 
 the others singly is but one. Thirty-one chalks complete the game ; which he 
 who first obtains is the conqueror. If this number be exceeded, it is a matter 
 of no consequence : the game is equally won. 
 
 Nine- Holes. — This is mentioned as a boyish game, played at the 
 commencement of the seventeenth century. I have not met with any description 
 of this pastime ; but I apprehend it resembled a modern one frequently practised 
 at the outskirts of the metropolis ; and said to have been instituted, or more 
 probably revived, about 1 780, as a succedaneum for skittles, when the magis- 
 trates caused the skittle grounds in and near London to be levelled, and the 
 frames removed. Hence some say the game of nine-holes was called " Bubble 
 the Justice," on the supposition that it could not be set aside by the justices, 
 because no such pastime was named in the prohibitory statutes ; others give 
 this denomination to a different game: the name by which it is now most 
 generally known is " Bumble-puppy " ; and the vulgarity of the term is well 
 adapted to the company by whom it is usually practised. The game is simply 
 this : nine holes are made in a square board, and disposed in three rows, three 
 holes in each row, all of them at equal distances, about twelve or fourteen inches 
 apart ; to every hole is affixed a numeral, from one to nine, so placed as to form 
 fifteen in every row. The board, thus prepared, is fixed horizontally upon the 
 ground, and surrounded on three sides with a~ gentle acclivity. Every one of 
 the players being furnished with a certain number of small metal balls, stands 
 in his turn, by a mark made upon the ground, about five or six feet from the 
 board ; at which he bowls the balls ; and according to the value of the figures 
 belonging to the holes into which they roll, his game is reckoned ; and he who 
 obtains the highest number is the winner. Doctor Johnson confounds this 
 pastime with that of kayles, and says, " it is a kind of play still retained in 
 Scotland, in which nine holes, ranged in threes, are made in the ground, and an 
 iron bullet rolled in among them."^ 
 
 I have formerly seen a pastime practised by schoolboys, called nine-holes : 
 it was played with marbles, which they bowled at a board, set upright, resembling 
 a bridge, with nine small arches, all of them numbered ; if the marble struck 
 against the sides of the arches, it became the property of the boy to whom the 
 board belonged ; but, if it went through any one of them, the bowler claimed a 
 number of marbles equal to the number upon the arch it passed through. 
 
 ' Dictionary, word iay/e. 
 
BOWLING 223 
 
 *Troul in Madame. — A game borrowed from the French, and not unlike 
 our modern bagatelle, only played without a cue or mace, called "Troul in 
 Madame," was popular amongst the well-to-do in Elizabethan times. It was to 
 some extent a precursor of nine-holes. In that curious little work. The Benefit 
 of the Auncient Bathes of Buckstones, "by John Jones, Phisition at the King's 
 Mede nigh Darby," published in 1572, occurs the following passage as to the 
 exercise of his patients : — 
 
 "The Ladyes, Gentle Women, Wyves, and Maydes maye in one of the 
 Galleries walke : and if the weather bee not aggreeable too theire expectacion, 
 they may have in the ende of a Benche eleven holes made, intoo the which to 
 trowle premmetes, or bowles, of leade, bigge, little, or meane, or also of Copper, 
 Tynne, Woode, eyther vyolent or softe, after their owne discretion, the pastyme 
 Troule in Madame is termed. 
 
 " Lykewyse, men feeble the same may also practise in another Gallery of 
 the Newe Buyldinges, and this dothe not only strengthen the stomach and 
 upper parts above mydryfe or wast : but also the middle partes beneath the 
 sharp gristle and the extreme partes, as the handes and legges, according to the 
 wayght of the thing trouled, fast, soft, or meane." 
 
 John Bull. — This is the name of a modern (1800) pastime, which may be 
 played in the open air, or in a room. A square flat stone, being laid level on 
 the surface of the ground, or let into the floor, is subdivided into sixteen small 
 squares ; in every one of these compartments a number is affixed, beginning 
 from one ; the next in value being five, the next ten ; thence passing on by tens 
 to an hundred, and thence again, by hundreds, to five hundred. These numbers 
 are not placed regularly, but contrasted, so that those of the smallest value are 
 nearest to those of the highest ; and in some instances, as I am informed, the 
 squares for the greater numbers are made much smaller than those for the small 
 ones. On reaching five hundred a mark is made, at an optional distance from 
 the stone, for the players to stand ; who, in succession, throw up one halfpenny 
 or more, and make their score according to the number assigned to the compart- 
 ment in which the halfpenny rests, which must be within the square ; for, if it 
 lies upon one of the lines that divide it from the others, the cast is forfeited, and 
 nothing scored. Two thousand is usually the game ; but this number is 
 extended or diminished at the pleasure of the gamesters. 
 
 Pitch and Hustle. — This is a game commonly played in the fields by the 
 lowest classes of the people. It requires two or more antagonists, who pitch or 
 cast an equal number of halfpence at a mark set up at a short distance ; and the 
 owner of the nearest halfpenny claims the privilege to hustle first ; the next 
 nearest halfpenny entitles the owner to a second claim ; and so on to as many as 
 play. When they hustle, all the halfpence pitched at the mark are thrown into 
 a hat held by the player who claims the first chance ; after shaking them 
 together, he turns the hat down upon the ground ; and as many of them as lie 
 with the impression of the head upwards belong to him ; the remainder are then 
 
224 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 put into the hat a second time, and the second claimant performs the same kind 
 of operation ; and so it passes in succession to all the players, or until all the 
 halfpence appear with the heads upwards. Sometimes they are put mto the 
 hands of the player, instead of a hat, who shakes them, and casts theni up into 
 the air ; but in both instances the heads become his property : but if it should 
 so happen, that, after all of them have hustled, there remain some of the half- 
 pence that have not come with the heads uppermost, the first player then hustles 
 again, and the others in succession, until they do come so. 
 
 Cock- Fighting. — This barbarous pastime, which claims the sanction of 
 high antiquity, was practised at an early period by the Grecians, and probably 
 still more anciently in Asia, It is a very common sport, and of very long 
 standing, in China.^ It was practised by the Romans:^ with us, it may be 
 traced back to the twelfth century ; at which period we are certain it was in 
 usage, and seems to have been considered as a childish sport. " Every year," 
 says Fitzstephen, "on the morning of Shrove-Tuesday, the school-boys of the 
 city of London * bring game cocks to their masters, and in the fore part of the 
 day, till dinner time, they are permitted to amuse themselves with seeing them 
 fight." Probably the same custom prevailed in other cities and great towns. 
 Stow having cited the preceding passage from Fitzstephen, adds, " cocks of the 
 game are yet," that is at the close of the sixteenth century, " cherished by 
 divers men for their pleasures, much money being laid on their heads when 
 they fight in pits, whereof some are costly made for that purpose."* The cock- 
 pit was the school, and the master the controller and director of the pastime. 
 This custom, according to Mr. Brand, "was retained in many schools in 
 Scotland within the last century, and perhaps may be still in use there : the 
 schoolmasters claimed the runaway cocks as their perquisites ; and these were 
 called fugees, ' corrupt, I suppose,' says he, ' of refugees.' " ^ 
 
 In the reign of Edward III. cock-fighting became a fashionable amuse- 
 ment ; it was then taken up more seriously than it formerly had been, and the 
 practice extended to grown persons ; even at that early period it began to be 
 productive of pernicious consequences, and was therefore prohibited in 1366 by 
 a public proclamation, in which it was ranked with other idle and unlawful 
 pastimes. But notwithstanding it was thus degraded and discountenanced, it 
 still maintained its popularity, and in defiance of all temporary opposition has 
 descended to the modern times. Among the additions made by Henry VIII. 
 to the palace at Whitehall, was a cock-pit ; « which indicates his relish for the 
 pastime of cock-fighting ; and James I, was so partial to this diversion, that he 
 amused himself in seeing it twice a week,'' 
 
 1 Philos. Transact, vol. xix. p. 591. 
 
 2 For a full explanation of the manner of cock-fighting among the ancient Greeks and Romans, see a memoir upon 
 that subject by Dr Pegge, Archceologia, vol. iii. p. 132. 
 
 ^ Description of London ; temp. Hen. II, 
 
 * Survey of London, p. 76. » Bourne's Antiq. Vulgares by Brand, p. 233, 
 
 " Stow's Surviy of London, p. 496. ' Mons. de la Boderie's Letters, vol. i. p. 56. 
 
COCK-FIGHTING 225 
 
 Gervaise Mai^sham issued a tract in 1614, which treats of "The Choice, 
 Ordering, Breeding, and Dyeting of the Fighting Cocke ; " he considered that 
 ''there is no pleasure more noble, delightsome, or voyd of couzenage and 
 deceipt than this pleasure of cocking." 
 
 Exclusive of the royal cock-pit, we are told there was formerly one in 
 Drury Lane, another in Jewin Street, and if the following story be founded on 
 fact, a third in Shoe Lane : " Sir Thomas Jermin, meaning to make himself 
 merry, and gull all the cockers, sent his man to the pit in Shoe Lane, with an 
 hundred pounds and a dunghill cock, neatly cut and trimmed for the battle ; the 
 plot being well layd the fellow got another to throw the cock in, and fight him 
 in Sir Thomas Jermin's name, while he betted his hundred pounds against him ; 
 the cock was matched, and bearing Sir Thomas's name, had many betts layd 
 upon his head ; but after three or four good brushes, he showed a payre of 
 heeles : every one wondered to see a cock belonging to Sir Thomas cry craven, 
 and away came the man with his money doubled." ^ 
 
 I shall not expatiate upon the nature and extent of this fashionable diver- 
 tisement ; but merely mention a part of it called the Welch main, which seems 
 to be an abuse of the modern times ; and as a late judicious author justly says, 
 "a disgrace to us as Englishmen." ^ It consists of a certain or given number of 
 pairs of cocks, suppose sixteen, which fight with each other until one half of 
 them are killed; the sixteen conquerors are pitted a second time in like 
 manner, and half are slain ; the eight survivors, a third time ; the four, a fourth 
 time ; and the remaining two, a fifth time : so that " thirty-one cocks are sure to 
 be inhumanly murdered for the sport and pleasure of the spectators." I am 
 informed that the Welch main usually consists of fourteen pairs of cocks, though 
 sometimes the number might be extended. 
 
 In the old illuminated manuscripts we frequently meet with paintings 
 representing cocks fighting ; but I do not recollect to have seen in any of them 
 the least indication of artificial spurs ; the arming their heels with sharp points 
 of steel is a cruelty, I trust, unknown in former ages to our ancestors. I have 
 been told the artificial spurs are sometimes made with silver. 
 
 In addition to what has been said, I shall only observe, that- the ancients 
 fought partridges and quails as well as cocks ; in like manner as the French 
 do now (1800) ; how far, if at all, the example has been followed in England, 
 I know not. 
 
 *After the fire of 1697, the old ,cock-pit of Whitehall was turned into the 
 Privy Council room. Treasury Papers of the following century are often, 
 curiously enough, headed "The Cock-pit." 
 
 *Pepys has two entries in his Diary with reference to cocking ; a sport that 
 attracted crowds in the days of " the merry monarch." 
 
 "21st December 1663. — To Shoe Lane, to see a cocke-fighting at a new 
 
 1 MS. Harl. 6395, written in the reign of James I., and bearing this title : "Merry Passages and Jeasts." 
 ' Mr Pegge's "Memoir on Cock-fighting," Archceol. vol. iii. p. 132. 
 
226 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 pit there, a spot I was nere at in my life ; but, Lord ! to see the strange variety 
 of people, from Parliament man by name Wildes, that was Deputy Governor of 
 the Tower when Robinson was Lord Mayor, to the poorest 'prentices, bakers, 
 brewers, butchers, draymen, and what not; and all these fellows one with 
 another cursing and betting. I soon had enough of it. It is strange to see 
 how people of this poor rank, that look as if they had not bread to put in their 
 mouths, shall bet three or four pounds at a time, and lose it, and yet bet as much 
 the next battle, so that one of them will lose £io or £20 at a meeting." 
 
 *"6th April 1668.— I to the new Cocke-pitt by the king's gate, and there 
 saw the manner of it, and the mixed rabble of people that come thither, and saw 
 two battles of cocks, wherein is no great sport, but only to consider how these 
 creatures, without any provocation, do fight and kill one another, and aim only at 
 one another." 
 
 *Although constantly reviled as a singularly cruel and coarse sport by the 
 more refined, cock-fighting or cocking kept a continuous hold on the more 
 sporting natures in England throughout the eighteenth century and in the earlier 
 part of the nineteenth. In 1814, W. Sketchley of Burton-on-Trent published a 
 book called The Cocker, which professed to contain every information useful " to 
 the breeders and amateurs of that noble bird the Game Cock," with instruction 
 for those who were attendants on the cock-pit. The names of the leading 
 varieties of cocks then bred in different parts of the kingdom were Piles, Black- 
 reds, Silver black-breasted Ducks, Pirchin Ducks, Dark Greys, Mealy Greys, 
 Blacks, Spangles, Furnaces, Poll Cats, Cuckoos, Gingers, Red Duns, Duns, and 
 Smoky Duns, Sketchley's own favourite breed was the Shropshire Red, a 
 strain that originated in 1785-86 from thirty pairs of cocks that he bought of his 
 "reverend friend," Rev. Mr. Brooks of Shiffnal, Shropshire. One of these 
 cocks fought five mains in one year, twice at Burton-on-Trent, and once at 
 Lichfield, Derby, and Nottingham, "without apparent injury." 
 
 *CocK-FiGHTiNG IN NINETEENTH Century. — Cock-fighting became illegal 
 in 1849. In 1895 Cocking and its Votaries, by S. A. T., was issued for 
 private circulation. It is an expensively got-up book, with coloured plates, and 
 its pages make it quite manifest that not a few wealthy men in England still 
 follow up this sport, stealthily but with much zeal — a fact that is as discreditable 
 to the guardians of the law as it is to themselves. 
 
 Throwing at Cocks. — If the opposing of one cock to fight with another 
 may be justly esteemed a national barbarism, what shall be said of a custom 
 more inhuman, which authorised the throwing at them with sticks, and ferociously 
 putting them to a painful and lingering death ? I know not at what time this 
 unfortunate animal became the object of such wicked and wanton abuse : the 
 sport, if such a denomination may be given to it, is certainly no recent invention, 
 and perhaps is alluded to by Chaucer, in the Nonnes Priests' Tale, when he says : 
 
 -There was a cocke, 
 
 For that a priestes' sonne gave hym a knocke, 
 
COCK-FIGHTING 227 
 
 Upon his legges, when he was yonge and nice, 
 He made him for to lose his benefice." 
 
 The story supposes the cock to have overheard the young man ordering his 
 servant to call him a,t the cock-crowing ; upon which the malicious bird forbore 
 to crow at the usual time, and owing to this artifice the youth was suffered to 
 sleep till the ordination was over. 
 
 Throwing at cocks was a very popular diversion, especially among the 
 younger parts of the community. Sir Thomas Moore, who wrote in the sixteenth 
 century, describing the state of childhood, speaks of his skill in casting a cok- 
 stele, that is, a stick or cudgel to throw at a cock. It was universally practised 
 upon Shrove-Tuesday. If the poor bird by chance had its legs broken, or was 
 otherwise so lamed as not to be able to stand, the barbarous owners were wont 
 to support it with sticks, in order to prolong the pleasure received from the re- 
 iteration of its torment. The magistrates, greatly to their credit, have for some 
 years past put a stop to this wicked custom, and at present (1800) it is nearly, if 
 not entirely, discontinued in every part of the kingdom. 
 
 Heath, in his account of the Scilly Islands,^ speaking of St Mary's, says, 
 " on Shrove-Tuesday each year, after the throwing at cocks is over, the boys of 
 this island have a custom of throwing stones in the evening against the doors of 
 the dwellers' houses ; a privilege they claim from time immemorial, and put in 
 practice without control, for finishing the day's sport ; the terms demanded by 
 the boys are pancakes or money, to capitulate. Some of the older sort, 
 exceeding the bounds of this whimsical toleration, break the doors and window- 
 shutters, etc. sometimes making a job for the surgeon as well as for the smith, 
 glazier, and carpenter." 
 
 In some places it was a common practice to put the cock into an earthen 
 vessel made for the purpose, and to place him in such a position that his head 
 and tail might be exposed to view ; the vessel, with the bird in it, was then 
 suspended across the street, about twelve or fourteen feet from the ground, to 
 be thrown at by such as chose to make trial of their skill ; twopence was paid 
 for four throws, and he who broke the pot, and delivered the cock from his 
 confinement, had him for a reward. At North Walsham, in Norfolk, about 
 1 760, some wags put an owl into one of these vessels ; and having procured the 
 head and tail of a dead cock, they placed them in the same position as if they 
 had appertained to a living one : the deception was successful, and at last, a 
 labouring man belonging to the town, after several fruitless attempts, broke the 
 pot, but missed his prize ; for the owl being set at liberty, instantly flew away, 
 to his great astonishment, and left him nothing more than the head and tail of 
 the dead bird, with the potsherds, for his money and his trouble ; this ridiculous 
 adventure exposed him to the continual laughter of the town's people, and 
 obliged him to quit the place, to which, I am told, he returned no more. 
 
 Duck- Hunting. — This is another barbarous pastime, and for the per- 
 
 1 Published in London, 1750. 
 
228 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 formance it is necessary to have recourse to a pond of water sufficiently extensive 
 to give the duck plenty of room for making her escape from the dogs when she 
 is closely pursued ; which she does by diving as often as any of them come near 
 to her. Duck-hunting was much practised in the neighbourhood of London 
 about thirty or forty years ago ; but of late it is gone out of fashion ; yet I 
 cannot help thinking, that the deficiency, at present, of places proper for the 
 purpose, has done more towards the abolishment of this sport than any amend- 
 ment in the nature and inclinations of the populace. 
 
 Sometimes the duck is tormented in a different manner, without the assist- 
 ance of the dogs, by having an owl tied upon her back, and so put into the 
 water, where she frequently dives in order to escape from the burden, and on 
 her return for air, the miserable owl, half drowned, shakes itself, and hooting, 
 frightens the duck ; she of course dives again, and replunges the owl into the 
 water ; the frequent repetition of this action soon deprives the poor bird of its 
 sensation, and generally ends in its death, if not in that of the duck also. 
 
 Squirrel-Hunting. — This is a rustic pastime, and commonly practised at 
 Christmas time and at Midsummer ; those who pursue it find plenty of exercise ; 
 but nothing can excuse the wantonly tormenting so harmless an animal. 
 
 *"At Duffield wakes," says Glover in his history of Derbyshire (1831), 
 " an ancient custom or right is kept up of hunting wild animals in the forest 
 there. This is called the squirrel hunt. The young men of the village 
 assemble in troops on the wakes Monday, some with horns, some with pans, 
 and others with various articles calculated to make a great noise. They then 
 proceed in a body to Kedleston Park, and with shouting and the noise of 
 instruments, frighten the poor little animals until they drop from the trees and 
 are taken by the hunters. After taking several in this manner, the hunters go 
 back to Duffield, release the squirrels, and recommence hunting them again in a 
 similar manner." 
 
 *This Derbyshire custom died out in the early fifties, but it survives as a 
 Christmas custom in parts of the New Forest, particularly at Brockenhurst. 
 The hunted squirrels are made into pies, which are said to be more delicate in 
 flavour than rabbits.^ 
 
 ^ I talked to various New Forest squirrel hunters in 1900. They are most indignant at the charge of wanton cruelty 
 made against them, saying that, at all events, fox hunters do not eat the foxes they kill. J. C. C. 
 
BOOK IV 
 
 DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS ; AND PASTIMES 
 APPROPRIATED TO PARTICULAR SEASONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Secular Music fashionable — Ballad-singers encouraged by the Populace — Music Houses — Introduction of the Harpsi- 
 chord — Origin of Vauxhall — Ranelagh — Sadler's Wells — Marybone Gardens — Operas— Oratorios — Bell-ringing — 
 Its Antiquity — Hand-bells — Burlesque Music — Shovel-board — Billiards — French Billiards — Trucks — Mississipi — 
 The Rocks of Scilly— Shove-groat — Swinging — Tetter-totter— Shuttle-cock. 
 
 SECULAR Music Fashionable. — The national passion for secular music ad- 
 mitted of little or no abatement by the disgrace and dispersion of the 
 minstrels. Professional musicians, both vocal and instrumental, were 
 afterwards retained at the court, and also in the mansions of the nobility. In 
 the sixteenth century, a knowledge of music was considered as a genteel accom- 
 plishment for persons of high rank. Henry VIII. not only sang well, but 
 playedv^ipon several sorts of instruments ; he also wrote songs, and composed 
 the tune^^ for them ; and his example was followed by several of the nobility, 
 his favourites. 
 
 *During\Elizabeth's long reign, music was not only fashionable, but held in 
 almost universal esteem. "Tinkers sang catches; milkmaids sang ballads j 
 carters whistled ; each trade, and even the beggars, had their special songs ; the 
 base-viol hung in the drawing-room for the amusement of waiting visitors ; and 
 the lute, cittern, and virginals, for the amusement of waiting customers, were 
 the necessary furniture of the barber's shop. They had music at dinner ; music 
 at supper ; music at weddings ; music at funerals ; music at night ; music at 
 dawn ; music at work ; and music at play." ^ Dekker, in the Gulls Horn Book 
 of this reign, tells us that it was the custonjary part of the education of a young 
 g^lewoman " to read and write ; to play upon the virginals, lute, and cittern ; 
 and to read prick-song at first sight." 
 
 An author, who lived in the reign of James I., says, "We have here," that 
 is, in London, "the best musicians in the kingdom, and equal to any in Europe 
 for their skill, either in composing and setting of tunes, or singing, and playing 
 upon any kind of instruments. The musicians have obtained of our sovereign 
 lord the king, his letters patent to become a society and corporation." « To 
 which we may add, that the metropolis never abounded more, if so much as at 
 
 1 Hall, in the life of that monarch. " *ChappeU's Popular Music of the Olden Time, i. 98. 
 
 ' A.D. 1604, in the second year of the reign of James I. Treatise on College and Schools in and about London, 
 printed 1615. 
 
230 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 present, with excellent musicians, not such only as make a profession of music, 
 but with others who pursue it merely for their amusement ; nor must we omit 
 the fair sex ; with them the study of music is exceedingly fashionable ; and 
 indeed there are few young ladies of family who are not in some degree made 
 acquainted with its rudiments.^ 
 
 Public Ballad-Singers. — The minstrel being deprived of all his honours, 
 and having lost the protection of the opulent, dwindled into a mere singer of 
 ballads, which sometimes he composed himself, and usually accompanied his 
 voice with the notes of a violin. The subjects of these songs were chiefly taken 
 from popular stories, calculated to attract the notice of the vulgar, and among 
 them the musical poets figured away at wakes, fairs, and church-ales. The 
 ballads multiplied with extraordinary rapidity in the reigns of Elizabeth, James 
 I., and Charles I. Warton speaks of two celebrated trebles ; the one called 
 Outroaringe Dick ; and the other Wat Wimbas, who occasionally made twenty 
 shillings a day by ballad-singing ; ^ which is a strong proof that these itinerants 
 were highly esteemed by the common people. 
 
 Music Houses. — Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the pro- 
 fessed musicians assembled at certain houses in the metropolis, called music 
 houses, where they performed concerts, consisting of vocal and instrumental 
 music, for the entertainment of the public, at the same period there were music 
 booths at Smithfield during the continuance of Bartholomew fair. An author of 
 the time,^ however, speaks very contemptibly of these music meetings, professing 
 that he "had rather have heard an old barber ring Whittington's bells upon a 
 cittern than all the music the houses afforded." 
 
 *Introduction of the Harpsichord. — An important event occurred in 
 the musical world of London on October 5th, 1664, namely, the introduction of 
 the harpsichord ; it is recorded under that date by both Evelyn and Pepys in 
 their diaries. The graver Evelyn enters : — " To our Society. There was 
 brought a new-invented instrument of music, being a harpsichord with gut- 
 strings, sounding like a concert of viols with an organ, made vocal by a wheel, 
 and a zone of parchment that rubbed horizontally against the strings." The 
 more garrulous Pepys enters, on the same evening : — " To the musique-meeting 
 at the Post-Office, where I was once before. And thither anon came all the 
 Gresham College, and a great deal of noble company ; and the new instrument 
 was brought called the Arched Viall, where, being tuned with lute strings, and 
 played on with keys like an organ, a piece of parchment is always kept moving ; 
 and the strings, which by the keys are pressed down upon it, are grated in imita- 
 tion of a bow, by the parchment ; and so it is intended to resemble several vialls 
 
 ' Some time ago the spinnet was a favourite instrument among the ladies ; afterwards the guitar ; and now (1800) 
 the harpsichord, or forte-piano. 
 
 " At Braintree fair in Essex, ffisi. En^. Poet. vol. iii. p. 292. *This was a century and a half back, when twenty 
 shillings was a considerable sum. The ancient ballads have frequently this colophon : " Printed by A.B. and are to be 
 sold at the stalls of the ballad-singers." But an ordinance published by Oliver Cromwell against the strolling fiddlers 
 silenced the ballad-singers, and obliged the sellers to shut up shop. Hawkins, Hist. Music, vol. iv. p. 113. 
 
 ' Edward Ward, author of the London Spy, part xi. p. 255. 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 231 
 
 played on with one bow, but so harshly and so basely, that it will never do. But, 
 after three hours' stay, it could not be fixed in tune ; and so they were fain to go 
 to some other musique of instrument." 
 
 *Nor was Pepys any better pleased with the music he heard three years 
 later, on October ist, 1667, at Whitehall. "To White Hall ; and there in the 
 Boarded Gallery did hear the musick with which the King is presented this 
 night by Monsieur Grebus, the Master of his Musicke ; both instrumental — I 
 think twenty-four violins — and vocall, an English song upon Peace. But, 
 God forgive me ! I never was so little pleased with a concert of music in my 
 life. The manner of setting of words and repeating them out of order, and 
 that with a number of voices, makes me sick, the whole design of vocall 
 musick being lost by it. Here was great press of people ; but I did not see 
 many pleased with it ; only the instrumental musick he had brought by practice 
 to play very just." 
 
 The music clubs or private meetings for the practice of music, became 
 exceedingly fashionable with people of opulence. Hence, in The Citizen turned 
 Gentleman, a comedy by Edw. Ravenscroft, published in 1675, the citizen is 
 told that, in order to appear like a person of consequence, it was necessary for 
 him "to have a music club once a week at his house." The music houses first 
 mentioned were sometimes supported by subscription ; and from them originated 
 three places of public entertainment well known in the present day ; namely, 
 Vauxhall, Ranelagh, and Sadler's Wells. 
 
 Origin of Vauxhall. — Spring Gardens, now better known by the name 
 of Vauxhall Gardens, is mentioned in the Antiquities of Surrey, by Aubrey, 
 who informs us that Sir Samuel Moreland " built a fine room at Vauxhall (in 
 1667), the inside all of looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant to behold ; 
 which," adds he, " is much visited by strangers. It stands in the middle of the 
 garden, covered with Cornish slate, on the point whereof he placed a punchinello, 
 very well carved, which held a dial ; but the winds have demolished it." ^ 
 
 *The exact date at which the grounds were first opened to the public is not 
 known ; but it is evident that the gardens were public before ever Sir Samuel 
 built his house there. Evelyn names the "New Spring Garden" in 1661, as 
 "a pretty contrived plantation"; whilst Pepys, under date May 27th, 1667, 
 enters: — "Went by water to Fox (sic) Hall, and there walked in Spring 
 Gardens ; a great deal of company ; the weather and gardens pleasant, and 
 cheap going thither ; for a man may go to spend what he will or nothing at all ; 
 all is one. But to hear the nightingale and other birds, and here fiddles and 
 there a harp, and here a Jew's harp, and there laughing, and there fine people 
 walking is very diverting." 
 
 * " The house," says a more modern author, Sir John Hawkins, ^ " seems 
 to have been rebuilt since the time that Sir Samuel Moreland dwelt in 
 it ; and, there being a large garden belonging to it, planted with a 
 
 'Vol. i. p. 12. '^*Hist. Music, vol. v. p. 352 (1776). 
 
232 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 great number of stately trees, and laid out in shady walks, it obtained the name 
 of Spring Gardens ; and, the house being converted into a tavern, or place of 
 entertainment, it was frequented by the votaries of pleasure." This account is 
 perfectly consonant with the following passage in a paper of the Spectator,^ 
 dated May 20, 1712 : — "We now arrived at Spring Gardens, which is 
 exquisitely pleasant at this time of the year. When I considered the fragrancy 
 of the walks and bowers, with the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees, and 
 the loose tribe of people that walked underneath their shades, I could not but 
 look upon the place as a kind of Mahometan paradise." In 1730 the house and 
 gardens came into the hands of a gentleman whose name was Jonathan Tyers, 
 who opened it with an advertisement of a ridotto alfresco ; ^ a term which the 
 people of this country had till then been strangers to. These entertainments 
 were several times repeated in the course of the summer, and numbers resorted 
 to partake of them ; which encouraged the proprietor to make his garden a 
 place of musical entertainment for every evening during the summer season : 
 to this end he was at great expense in decorating the gardens with paintings ; 
 he engaged an excellent band of musicians, and issued season silver tickets for 
 admission at a guinea each ; and receiving great encouragement, he set up an 
 organ in the orchestra ; and in a conspicuous part of the gardens erected a fine 
 statue of Handel, the work of Roubiliac, a very famous statuary, to whom we 
 owe several of the best monuments in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 *In 1760 a guide to Vauxhall Gardens was issued,^ dedicated to the Princess 
 Augusta. They are said to be " the first gardens of the kind in England." 
 The season was from the beginning of May till the end of August ; they were 
 opened at five o'clock every evening, Sundays excepted. "In that part of the 
 grove which fronts the orchestra a considerable number of tables and benches 
 are placed for the company ; and at a small distance from them, fronting 
 the orchestra, is a large pavilion, of the composite order, which particularly 
 attracts the eye by its size, beauty, and ornaments ; it was built for his late 
 royal highness, Frederic Prince of Wales, who frequently visited these 
 gardens, and was peculiarly fond of them." The grove is described "as 
 illuminated with about fifteen hundred glass lamps." The fifty pages of the 
 booklet were chiefly taken up with descriptions of Mr Hayman's paintings ; but 
 a price list of provisions is appended. Burgundy and Fontiniac was 6s. a 
 bottle ; claret, 5s. ; champagne, or a quart of arrack, 8s. ; old hock, with or 
 without sugar, 5s.; "Rhenish and sugar," or mountain, 7s. 6d. ; red port and 
 sherry, 2s. ; table beer, a quart mug, 4d. ; two pound of ice, 6d. ; a dish of ham 
 or beef, is. ; and an orange or a lemon, 3d. 
 
 *Mr Tyers, the proprietor, who had a beautiful house and grounds at 
 Dorking, died in 1767, and so great was the delight he took in this place, that, 
 
 1 Vol. V. No. 383. a Or entertainment of music in the open air. 
 
 " A Description of Vauxhall Gardens, being a proper companion and guide for all who visit that place. Illustrated 
 with copper plates, G. Hooper, 1762. 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 233 
 
 possessing his faculties to the last, he caused himself to be carried into Vauxhall 
 Gardens a few hours before his death to take a last look at them. The 
 gardens were left equally between his four children. The average number of 
 the company used to be about one thousand; but on June 25th, 1781, when 
 the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland supped there, after an annual sailing 
 match for a cup, eleven thousand were present. On July 20th, 1813, a great 
 dinner was held here, in honour of the battle of Vittoria, when the six royal 
 dukes were present ; ten, and even fifteen, guineas were given for a dinner 
 ticket.1 In 1822 they were sold by the Tyers' family to Messrs Bish, Gye, & 
 Hughes for ;^2 8,000. 
 
 ♦Fireworks were exhibited here as early as 1780. In 1802 the first balloon 
 ascent was made from the Gardens by Garnerin and two companions. The 
 fashion of the place began to decline in the reign of William IV., but the end 
 did not come until 1855.* 
 
 Ranelagh. — The success of the Vauxhall Gardens was an encouragement 
 to another of a similar kind. A number of persons purchased the house and 
 gardens of the late Earl of Ranelagh ; in 1 740 they erected a spacious build- 
 ing of timber, of a circular form, and within it an organ, and an orchestra 
 capable of holding a numerous band of performers. It was opened by a public 
 breakfast in 1742, and for a short time there were morning concerts, but they 
 were soon abandoned for those held in the evening. The entertainment of the 
 auditors during the performance is, either walking round the room, or refreshing 
 themselves with tea and coffee in the recesses thereof, which are conveniently 
 adapted for that purpose. Sir John Hawkins ^ says, " The performance here, as 
 at Vauxhall, is instrumental, intermixed with songs and ballad airs, calculated 
 rather to please the vulgar than gratify those of a better taste." 
 
 ♦Besides the great Rotunda, which had a diameter of 185 feet, there 
 was a lake with a small Venetian pavilion on an island in the centre. An 
 advertisement of August 23d, 1749, states that the admission was one shilling 
 and that the music began at six o'clock ; a postscript states that " The Fire- 
 Trees will be Lighted this Evening." The charge for admission was raised on 
 special occasions. On a firework night in 1764, each person paid 2s. 6d., but 
 coffee and tea were included. On June i8th, 1764, a charge was made of 5s. ; 
 this payment, however, included not only coffee and tea, but choruses from 
 Handel's " Acis and Galatea " and " The Messiah," together with " a ball with 
 which the whole concludes." The place became specially celebrated for its 
 masquerade balls, the first of which was given on May 24th, 1759, "being the 
 Birth Day of his Royal Highness, George Prince of \V'ales." * 
 
 '^ A Brief Account of the Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. Published by the Proprietors, 1822. 
 
 " The best account of Vauxhall and its array of distinguished visitors is in Walford's edition of Thornbury's Old and 
 New London, vol. vi. pp. 447-467. 
 
 ^Hist. of Music, vol. v. pp. 352-3. 
 
 * A large coloured print of this ball was issued by Robert Sayn, Fleet Street. There is a copy of it in a collection 
 of Ranelagh views, advertisements, etc., in the British Museum, 840, m., 28. 
 
234 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 * Various curious particulars as to social England of the latter half of the 
 eighteenth century can be gleaned from the Ranelagh advertisements at the 
 time when it was the height of fashion to be present. " There will be an armed 
 Guard on Horseback to patrol the roads till all the Company is gone " is a 
 frequent feature of the advertisements from 1760 to 1780. In the colder season 
 " The Amphitheatre and other Rooms are well aired, and particular Care will be 
 taken to have good Fires." " The Company that come by Hyde Park Corner 
 are requested to order their Carriages to keep the Turnpike Road by Pimlico, 
 to prevent the Accidents that must unavoidably happen by going down the 
 Descent of the new Road by the Fire Engine." " The Footway from 
 Buckingham Gate is lately mended and enlarged, so as to make it very safe 
 and easy for chairs." During these years the usual evening admission to the 
 music and fireworks, etc., was as. 6d., whilst is. was charged to walk in the 
 gardens during the daytime. By the year 1788 a reaction set in, the attendance 
 dropped from thousands to hundreds. A daily paper of April 22 nd of that year, 
 stated that — " Ranelagh has been voted a bore with the fashionable circles. The 
 distance from town, the total want of attendance and accommodation, the want of 
 a respectable band of vocal and instrumental music — with a variety of other wants 
 too numerous for description — render this once gay circle the dullest of all dull 
 public amusements." Grand firework nights, with 5s. tickets, and masquerades 
 with guinea tickets did something to restore its fading fortunes as a fashionable 
 resort. The guinea tickets included " an elegant supper served at one o'clock, 
 with champagne, burgundy, claret, etc." The masquerade on April 30th, 1794, 
 was under the patronage of the Prince of Wales ; from that date to the end of 
 the century, special nights were frequently under royal patronage. Shortly 
 after - the dawn of the nineteenth century Ranelagh Gardens ceased to 
 attract, and the Rotunda and the whole of the premises were taken down in 
 1805. 
 
 Sadler's Wells. — We meet with what is said to be " a true account of 
 Sadler's Well," in a pamphlet published by a physician at the close of the 
 seventeenth century. " The water," says he, "of this well, before the Reforma- 
 tion, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures performed thereby, 
 and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called Holy- well. The priests, 
 belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to attend there, made the people 
 believe that the virtues of the water proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers ; 
 but at the Reformation the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the 
 frequenting of it was altogether superstitious : and so by degrees it grew out of 
 remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out ; when a gentleman 
 named Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being surveyor 
 of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden, in the midst 
 whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of stone." ^ 
 
 *In the summer of 1700 Sadler's Wells came into high repute. In 1733 
 
 ' A.D. 1683. 
 
MUSICAL PERFOKMANCES 23s 
 
 the Wells were so fashionable that the Princesses Amelia and Caroline fre- 
 quented the gardens almost daily during June. 
 
 After the decease of Sadler, one Francis Forcer, a musician and composer 
 of songs, became occupier of the wells and music-room ; he was succeeded by his 
 son, who first exhibited there the diversion of rope-dancing and tumbling, which 
 were then performed abroad in the garden.^ The place was taken afterwards 
 by Mr Rosoman, and the wooden house was replaced in 1765 by a brick 
 building. There is now (1800) a small theatre appropriated to feats of activity, 
 but also furnished with a stage, scenes, and other decorations proper for the 
 representation of dramatic pieces and pantomimes. The diversions of this 
 place are of various kinds, and form upon the whole a succession of performances 
 very similar to those displayed in former ages by the gleemen, the minstrels, 
 and the jugglers. 
 
 Mary- Bone Gardens — Oratorios. — To the three preceding places of public 
 entertainment, we may add a fourth, not now indeed in existence, but which 
 about 1770 was held in some degree of estimation, and much frequented; I 
 mean Mary-bone Gardens ; where, in addition to the music and singing, there 
 were burlettas and fire-works exhibited. The site of these gardens is now 
 covered with buildings. 
 
 *This place of resort is named by the gay -hearted Pepys. He records that 
 the Lord Mayor and Aldermen dined there on July 31st, 1667. On May 7th, 
 1668, he enters in his diary: — "Then we abroad to Marrowbone, and there 
 walked in the garden ; the first time I ever was there, and a pretty place it is." 
 These gardens were formed almost immediately after the Restoration by throw- 
 ing together a place of public resort called 'The Rose,' and an adjoining 
 bowling-green ; they were on the east side of Marylebone Lane, and the site is 
 partly covered by Manchester Square. In the days of Pope this bowling-green 
 was a place of most fashionable resort. During the last phase of their existence, 
 the Mary-bone Gardens were turned into a regular place of musical and scenic 
 entertainment. 
 
 There were also other places of smaller note where singing and music were 
 introduced, but none of them of any long continuance ; for being much fre- 
 quented by idle and dissolute persons, they were put down by the magistrates. 
 
 The success of these musical assemblies, I presume, first suggested the idea 
 of introducing operas upon the stage, which were contrived at once to please the 
 eye and delight the ear ; and this double gratification, generally speaking, was 
 procured at the expense of reason and propriety. Hence, also, we may trace the 
 establishment of oratorios in England. I need not say that this noble species of 
 dramatic music was brought to great perfection by Handel : the oratorios pro- 
 duced by him display in a wonderful manner his powers as a composer of music ; 
 and they continue to be received with that enthusiasm of applause which they 
 most justly deserve. Under this title, oratorios, are included several of his 
 seranatas, as "Acis and Galatea," "Alexander's Feast,"etc.; but generally speaking, 
 
236 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the subjects of the oratorios are taken from the Scriptures, and therefore they are 
 permitted to be performed on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent when plays 
 are prohibited. 
 
 Bell- Ringing. — It has been remarked by foreigners that the English are 
 particularly fond of bell-ringing ; ^ and indeed most of our churches have a ring 
 of bells in the steeple, pardy appropriated to that purpose. These bells are rung 
 upon most occasions of joy and festivity, and sometimes at funerals, when they 
 are muffled, and especially at the funerals of ringers, with a piece of woollen cloth 
 bound about the clapper, and the sounds then emitted by them are exceedingly 
 unmelodious, and well fitted to inspire the mind with melancholy. Ringing of 
 rounds ; that is, sounding every bell in succession, from the least to the greatest, 
 and repeating the operation, produces no variety ; on the contrary, the reiteration 
 of the same cadences in a short time becomes tiresome : for which reason the 
 ringing of changes has been introduced, wherein the succession of the bells is 
 shifted continually, and by this means a varied combination of different sounds, 
 exceedingly pleasant to the ear, is readily produced. This improvement in the 
 art of ringing is thought to be peculiar to the people of this country.^ 
 
 *Archbishop Egbert, in 750, ordered that "all priests, at the appointed 
 hours of day and night, do sound the bells of their churches, and then celebrate 
 the sacred offices to God, and instruct the people. These bells (signa) were 
 probably hand-bells formed of rivetted sheets of metal, of which various early 
 examples survive. But ere long bells were swinging in church towers in this 
 country. In the beautifully-illuminated Benedictional of St ^Ethelwold, executed 
 in the tenth century, four bells are represented hung in a lofty open campanile. 
 
 *Bells were cast for Abingdon and Canterbury in the tenth century ; and we 
 also know there were bells in the towers of the cathedral churches of Exeter and 
 Winchester, and of the minsters of Beverley and Southwell, and doubtless in 
 many other churches prior to the Norman conquest. 
 
 *It is supposed that change ringing originated in England and was not 
 practised after any regular fashion until the sixteenth century. The earliest 
 definite promoter of change ringing is said to have been one Fabian Steadman, 
 who was born at Cambridge in 1631. He was a printer by trade, and intro- 
 duced various peals of five and six bells, printing the numbers on slips of paper. 
 The Society of College Youths, the oldest association of ringers, founded in the 
 sixteenth century, visited Cambridge in 1657, when he presented them with his 
 new and elaborate principle that has ever since been known by his name.^ 
 
 * " The School of Recreation, or the Gentleman's Tutor," first issued in 
 1684, gives instructions in twelve "most ingenious exercises." One of these is 
 Ringing. The following is the opening paragraph of the forty-five pages that 
 he (the author) devotes to this subject : — " Since the Recreation of Ringing is 
 become so highly esteemed, for its excellent Harmony of Musick it affords the ear, 
 for its Mathematical Invention delighting the Mind, and for the Violence of its 
 
 ^ See the Introduction. " Hawkins' ffisi. o/Musio, vol. iv. p. 21 1. ' Gatt/s Tie Bell (1848) 58-9. 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 237 
 
 Exercise bringing Health to the Body, causing it to transpire plentifully, and by 
 Sweats dissipate and expel those Fuliginous thick Vapours, which Idleness, 
 Effeminacy, and Delicacy subject men to ; I say for these and sundry other 
 Reasons, I was induced to bring this of Ringing into the Company of Exercises in 
 this Treatise, that I might as well recreate you with some health-conducing Plea- 
 sure at home, as I have carried you abroad, and there endeavoured to please you 
 in what Pastime your Inclinations may most peculiarly select." 
 
 *The author (R. D.) urges his reader to become "enrolled amongst that 
 Honoured Society of CoUedge Youths," and " not to let thy frequent coming to the 
 Bell-fire on Week-days for thy Diversion, make thee absent thyself on Sundays 
 from thy Devotion." 
 
 Hand-bells. — These, which probably first appeared in the religious pro- 
 cessions, were afterwards used by the secular musicians, and practised for the 
 sake of pastime. The joculator dancing before the fictitious goat, depicted by 
 the engraving No. 85, has two large hand-bells, and nearly of a size ; but in 
 general, they are regularly diminished, from the largest to the least ; and ten or 
 twelve of them, rung in rounds or changes by a company of ringers, sometimes 
 one to each bell, but more usually every ringer has two. I have seen a man in 
 London, who I believe is now (1800) living, ring twelve bells at one time ; two 
 of them were placed upon his head, he held two in each hand, one was affixed 
 to each of his knees, and two upon each foot ; all of which he managed with 
 great adroitness, and performed a vast variety of tunes. 
 
 The small bells were not always held in the hand ; they were sometimes 
 suspended upon a stand, and struck with hammers, by which means one person 
 could more readily play upon them. An example of this kind, of the fourteenth 
 century, is given on plate thirty-two.^ 
 
 The figure in the original is designed as a representation of King David, and 
 affixed to one of his psalms. 
 
 *An earlier instance of five small bells as thus suspended in frame and 
 struck by a single hammer held in one hand occurs in a MS. of the ninth 
 century.^ 
 
 Burlesque Music. — The minstrels and joculators seem to have had the 
 knack of converting every kind of amusement into a vehicle for merriment, 
 and among others, that of music has not escaped them. At the bottom of 
 plate thirty-two we see one of these drolls holding a pair of bellows by way of 
 a fiddle, and using the tongs as a substitute for the bow. 
 
 This, and such like vagaries, were frequently practised in the succeeding 
 times ; and they are neatly ridiculed in one of the papers belonging to the 
 Spectator^ where the author mentions " a tavern keeper who amused his com- 
 pany with whistling of different tunes, which he performed by applying the edge 
 of a case knife to his lips. Upon laying down the knife he took up a pair of 
 
 " Roy. Lib. 20. B. xi. ' Figured on p. 4 of Nortli's English Bells and Bell Lore {1888). 
 
 ' Vol. V. No. S70- 
 
238 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 clean tobacco pipes, and after having slid the small ends of them over a table in 
 a most melodious trill, he fetched a tune out of them, whistling to them at the 
 same time in concert. In short the tobacco pipes became musical pipes in the 
 hands of our virtuoso, who," says the writer, " confessed ingenuously that he 
 broke such quantities of pipes that he almost broke himself, before he brought 
 this piece of music to any tolerable perfection."^ This man also "played upon 
 the frying-pan and gridiron, and declared he had layed down the tongs and key 
 because it was unfashionable." I have heard an accompaniment to the violin 
 exceedingly well performed with a rolling-pin and a salt-box, by a celebrated 
 publican named Price, who kept the Green Man, formerly well known by the 
 appellation of the Farthing Pye House, at the top of Portland Row, St. Mary- 
 le-bone. I have also seen a fellow who used to frequent most of the public 
 houses in and about the town, blow up his cheeks with his breath, and beat a 
 tune upon them with his fists, which feat he seemed to perform with great 
 facility. The butchers have a sort of rough music, made with marrow-bones 
 and cleavers, which they usually bring forward at weddings ; and in the Knave 
 in Grain, a play first acted in 1640,^ ringing of basons is mentioned. This 
 music, or something like it, I believe, is represented at the bottom of the 
 twenty-third plate. 
 
 Shovel- Board. — Among the domestic pastimes, playing at shovel-board 
 claims a principal place. In former times the residences of the nobility, or the 
 mansions of the opulent, were not thought to be complete without a shovel- 
 board table ; and this fashionable piece of furniture was usually stationed in the 
 great hall.^ The tables for this diversion were sometimes very expensive, 
 owing to the great pains and labour bestowed upon their construction. "It 
 is remarkable," says Dr Plott, in his History of Staffordshire, "that in the 
 hall at Chartley the shuffle-board table, though ten yards one foot and an inch 
 long, is made up of about two hundred and sixty pieces, which are generally 
 about eighteen inches long, some few only excepted, that are scarce a foot, which, 
 being laid on longer boards for support underneath, are so accurately joined 
 and glewed together, that no shuffle-board whatever is freer from rubbs or 
 casting. — There is a joynt also in the shuffle-board at Madeley Manor exquisitely 
 well done." 
 
 The length of these tables, if they be perfectly smooth and level, adds to 
 their value in proportion to its increase ; but they rarely exceed three feet or 
 three feet and a half in width. At one end of the shovel-board there is a line 
 drawn across parallel with the edge, and about three or four inches from it ; at 
 four feet distance from this line another is made, over which it is necessary for 
 the weight to pass when it is thrown by the player, otherwise the go is not 
 reckoned. The players stand at the end of the table, opposite to the two marks 
 above mentioned, each of them having four flat weights of metal, which they 
 shove from them one at a time alternately : and the judgment of the play is, to 
 
 ' Vol. V. No. 570. » Garrick's Col, Old Plays, G. vol. ii. » See the Introduction. 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 239 
 
 give sufficient impetus to the weight to carry it beyond the mark nearest to the 
 edge of the board, which requires great nicety, for if it be too strongly impelled, 
 so as to fall from the table, and there is nothing to prevent it, into a trough 
 placed underneath for its reception, the throw is not counted ; if it hangs over 
 the edge, without falling, three are reckoned towards the player's game ; if it lie 
 between the line and the edge without hanging over, it tells for two ; if on the 
 line, and not up to it, but over the first line, it counts for one. The game, 
 when two play, is generally eleven ; but the number is extended when four or 
 more are jointly concerned. I have seen a shovel-board-table at a low public- 
 house in Benjamin Street, near Clerkenwell Green, which is about three feet in 
 breadth and thirty-nine feet two inches in length, and said to be the longest at 
 this time in London. 
 
 *There was no known pastime in which Henry VIII. did not indulge. 
 The privy purse expenses of 1532 show that in January Lord William won ^9 
 of the King at "shovilla bourde," and "My lord of Rocheforde won of the 
 King at shovilla bourde and betting at the game £4.5-" ^^ the following month 
 Lord Rocheford won ;^4i, 12s. 6d. of the King at the same pastime.^ It must 
 be remembered that these accounts take no notice of the royal wins, only of the 
 losses. 
 
 *Shovel-board is now chiefly confined to the decks of passenger vessels, 
 where it is often much used to relieve the tedium of long voyages. 
 
 Billiards. — This pastime, which in the present day has superseded the 
 game of shovel-board, and is certainly a more elegant species of amusement, 
 admits of more variety, and requires at least an equal degree of skill in the 
 execution. The modern manner of playing at billiards, and the rules by which 
 the pastime is regulated, are so generally known, that no enlargement upon the 
 subject is necessary. I cannot help thinking it originated from an ancient game 
 played with small bowls upon the ground ; or indeed that it was, when first 
 instituted, the same game transferred from the ground to the table.^ 
 
 *The word Billiards is derived from the old French word billard, a stick 
 with a curved end, hence a billiard mace or cue. The earliest references given 
 in the Oxford Dictionary are from Spenser's Mother Hubbard, 1591, "With 
 all the thriftless games that may be found . . . with dice,- with cards, with 
 halliards " ; and from Florio's Trucco, " a kinde of play with balles upon a table 
 called billiards." Shakespeare, in Anthony and Cleopatra, has, " Let it alone, 
 let's to billiards." Cotsgrave, in 161 1, defines Billiard, as " a short and thicke 
 trunchion or cudgell : hence the sticke wherewith we touch the ball at billyards." 
 
 *It is probably a game of English and not French origin as was at one 
 time maintained ; but nothing is really known of it in this country until the 
 end of the sixteenth century. The first printed account of the game in English 
 hitherto noted is that given by Charles Cotton in The Compleat Gamester, first 
 published in 1674, where it is said that, "The gentile, cleanly, and most 
 
 ' Add MSS. 20,030. ''• See the representation of ground billiards on the thirty-second plate. 
 
240 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 ingenious game at Billiards had its first original from Italy, and for the 
 excellency of the recreation is much approved of and plaid by most nations in 
 Europe, especially in England, there being few towns of note therein which 
 hath not a publick billiard table, neither are they wanting in many noble and 
 private families in the country for the recreation of the mind and exercise of 
 the body." Cotton describes the form of the billiard table as oblong, and it had 
 six pockets after the fashion of the present table. ^ The bed of the table was 
 made of oak, covered with fine green cloth, and the cushions were stuffed with 
 "fine flox or cotton," Maces, then called masts, were used, made of lignum 
 vitae or some other heavy wood and tipped with ivory. The balls were usually 
 ivory, but occasionally wood. The peculiarity of the game of those days, as 
 shown in Cotton's cut, consisted in the use of a small arch of ivory called the 
 port, which was placed where the pyramid spot now stands, and of an ivory 
 tapering peg or king placed on a corresponding spot at the other end of the 
 table. There were only two balls used, and the game is five by daylight or 
 seven if odds be given, and three by candle-light or more, according to odds in 
 houses that make a livelihood thereof." The first contest was who should first 
 pass the port, "and herein much pains is taken, and all the art and cunning 
 possible used to do it." The king had to be "touched finely and gently 
 without throwing it down. Breaking the king was subject to a fine of is., 
 for the stick 5s., and for the port los. Some of the instructions to players 
 given in The School of Recreation, 1684, are sufficiently quaint, as may be 
 instanced by citing number five : — 
 
 " Be careful that you lay not your hand on the Table when you strike ijor 
 let your sleeve drag upon it, if you do it is a loss ; or if you smoke a pipe of 
 Spanish or Virginia, being so wedded to that Fume, that were you sure to 
 smother all the rest of the Company you are insensible of the Indecency, be 
 careful that the ashes fall not on the Table, lest the cloth be burnt which many 
 times falls out : In these two cases, let the mulcts and forfeitures of both, but 
 especially the hinderance the last gives a man in the skilfuU managing his game, 
 deter you from the lolling slovenly posture of the first, and the stinking in- 
 decency of the latter; because this Pastime being of a neat and cleanly 
 composition, will not admit any such Irregularities and Indecorums, without an 
 absolute Violation of its Laws and a Punishment attending such unhandsome 
 offences." 
 
 *Cotton's Compleat Gamester was reprinted in 1676, 1680, 1709, 1721, and 
 1725. In all these editions, the original account of billiards was simply 
 reproduced verbatim. 
 
 *French Billiards. — In the seventh edition of this work, which was issued 
 i" 1734. "French Billiards" is described, "so called from their manner of 
 
 ' Mn Strutt's short account of this game, which we have omitted, the strange mistake is made of saying that, at the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, the table was square with only three pockets all on one side. This blunder arose 
 from misunderstanding a small illustration on the frontispiece of The School of Recreatum, first published in 1684, and 
 which is a poor reduced copy of the wood-cut in Cotton's book. 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 241 
 
 playing the game, which is now only with masts and balls, port and king being 
 now wholly laid aside." The rules show that cues were then permitted ; but for 
 many years after this date, only known good players were allowed to use the 
 cue on public tables, the proprietors being alarmed at the risk of damage to the 
 cloth. By the beginning of the nineteenth century cues had come into general 
 use by all good players. The leather tip to the cue, which worked a revolution 
 in play, was invented in 1807, by a French professional player named 
 Mingaud.^ 
 
 *T RUCKS. — The Compleat Gamester, of 1674, gives several pages to an 
 account of a game called Trucks. It is described as an Italian game, much 
 used in Spain and Ireland, and not very unlike billiards, " but more boisterous 
 and less gentill." Tables were rarely met with in England, but one was at 
 Tower Hill, though bunglingly composed and irregularly formed. A truck 
 table was at least three feet longer than a billiard table ; it had three holes at 
 each end besides the corner holes, and ten holes at each side. The argolio was 
 a strong hoop of iron fixed to the table in the place where the port stood at 
 billiards. The sprigg was another piece of iron, driven into the board at the 
 spot where the king stood at billiards. The balls were ivory of the size of 
 tennis balls, "The tacks with which they play are much bigger than billiard 
 sticks, and are headed at each end with iron ; the small end is round from the 
 middle, or farther running taperwise, but the great end is flat beneath, though 
 rounding atop ; good gamesters play for the most part with the small end." 
 This description of Trucks was repeated in the editions of 1676, 1680, and 17 10, 
 but not in the later issues of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Mississipi. — Mississipi is played upon a table made in the form of a 
 parallelogram. It much resembles a modern billiard-table, excepting that, 
 instead of pockets, it has a recess at one end, into which the balls may 
 fall ; and this recess is faced with a thin board equal in height to the ledge 
 that surrounds the table ; and in it are fifteen perforations, or small arches, 
 every one of them surmounted by a number from one to fifteen inclusive, the 
 highest being placed in the middle, and the others intermixed on either side. 
 The players have four or six balls at pleasure. These balls, which are usually 
 made of ivory, and distinguished from each other by their colour, some being 
 red and some white, they cast alternately, one at a time, against the sides of the 
 table, whence acquiring an angular direction, and rolling to the arches, they 
 strike against the intervening parts, or pass by them. In the first instance the 
 cast is of no use ; in the second the value of the number affixed to the arches 
 through which they run is placed to the score of the player ; and he who first 
 attains one hundred and twenty wins the game. This pastime is included in 
 the statute above mentioned relating to billiards, and the same penalty is 
 imposed upon the publican who keeps a table in his house for the purpose of 
 playing. 
 
 1 * Bennett's Billiards (4th edit.), p. 9. 
 
242 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 The Rocks of Scilly. — This diversion requires a table oblong in its form, 
 and curved at the top, which is more elevated than the bottom. There is a 
 hollow trunk affixed to one side, which runs nearly the whole length of the 
 table, and is open at both ends. The balls are put in singly at the bottom, and 
 driven through it by the means of a round batoon of wood. When a ball quits 
 the trunk it is impelled by its own gravity towards the lower part of the table, 
 where there are arches similar to those upon the mississipi-table, and numbered 
 in like manner ; but it is frequently interrupted in its descent by wires inserted 
 at different distances upon the table, which alter its direction, and often throw it 
 entirely out of the proper track. The game is reckoned in the same manner as 
 at mississipi, and the cast is void if the ball does not enter any of the holes. 
 
 Shove-Groat, etc, — Shove-groat, named also Slyp-groat, and Slide-thrift, 
 are sports occasionally mentioned by the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries, and probably were analogous to the modern pastime called Justice 
 Jervis, or Jarvis, which is confined to common pot-houses, and only practised 
 by such as frequent the tap-rooms.^ It requires a parallelogram to be made 
 by chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of a table, about twelve or fourteen 
 inches in breadth, and three or four feet in length : which is divided, latitudinally, 
 into nine equal partitions, in every one of which is placed a figure, in regular 
 succession from one to nine. Each of the players provides himself with a 
 smooth halfpenny, which he places upon the edge of the table, and striking it 
 with the palm of his hand, drives it towards the marks ; and according to the 
 value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein the halfpenny rests, his game 
 is reckoned ; which generally is stated at thirty-one, and must be made pre- 
 cisely : if it be exceeded, the player goes again for nine, which must also be 
 brought exactly, or the turn is forfeited ; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of 
 the marks that separate the partitions, or overpasses the external boundaries, 
 the go is void. It is also to be observed, that the players toss up to determine 
 who shall go first, which is certainly a great advantage. Some add a tenth 
 partition, with the number ten, to the marks above mentioned ; and then they 
 play with four halfpence, which are considered as equivalent to so many cards 
 at cribbage ; and the game is counted, in like manner, by fifteens, sequences, 
 pairs, and pairials, according to the numbers appertaining to the partitions 
 occupied by the halfpence. 
 
 *This game is nearly akin to shovel-board. It will be remembered that 
 Shakespeare's Falstafif says — 
 
 " Quoit him down, Baudolph, like a shove-groat shilling.'' 
 
 Swinging is a childish sport, in which the performer is seated upon the 
 middle of a long rope, fastened at both ends, a litde distance from each other, 
 and the higher above his head the better. The rope we call the Swing, but 
 
 * *Now (1902) better known and occasionally practised as "shove-halfpenny." 
 
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES 243 
 
 formerly it was known by the name of Meritot, or Merry-trotter,' This simple 
 pastime was not confined to the children, at least in the last century, but prac- 
 tised by grown persons of both sexes, and especially by the rustics. Hence 
 Gay : 
 
 On two near elms the slacken'd cord I hung, 
 Now high, now low, my Blouzalinda swung. 
 
 It was also adopted at the watering-places by people of fashion, and the innova- 
 tion is justly ridiculed in the Spectator."^ 
 
 Of late years a machine has been introduced to answer the purpose of the 
 swing,^ It consists of an axletree, with four or six double arms inserted into it, 
 like the spokes of a large water-wheel ; every pair of arms is connected at the 
 extremities by a round rod of iron, of considerable thickness, and upon it a box 
 is suspended, resembling the body of a post-chaise, which turns about and 
 passes readily between the two spokes, in such a manner as to continue upright 
 whatever may be the position of its supporters. These carriages usually contain 
 two or three persons each, and being filled with passengers, if I may be allowed 
 the term, the machine is put into action, when they are successively elevated 
 and depressed by the rotatory motion. This ridiculous method of riding was in 
 vogue for the space of two summers, and was exhibited at several places in the 
 neighbourhood of London ; and the places where the machines were erected 
 frequented by persons of both sexes, and by some whose situation in life, one 
 might have thought, would have prevented their appearance in such a mixed, 
 and generally speaking, vulgar company ; but the charms of novelty may be 
 pleaded in excuse for many inadvertencies. 
 
 TiTTER-ToTTER. — To the foregoing we may add another pastime well 
 known with us by the younger part of the community, and called Titter-totter. 
 It consists in simply laying one piece of timber across another, so as to be 
 equipoised ; and either end being occupied by a boy or a girl, they raise or 
 depress themselves in turn. This sport was sometimes played by the rustic lads 
 and lasses, as we find from Gay : 
 
 Across the fallen oak the plank I laid. 
 
 And myself pois'd against the tott'ring maid ; 
 
 High leap'd the plank, adown Buxoma fell, etc. 
 
 *This children's sport is now almost universally known as See- Saw ; but 
 the name " Tittermetotter " lingers in Norfolk. 
 
 Shuttle- Cock is a boyish sport of long standing. It is represented on the 
 thirty-seventh plate, the original of which occurs in Mr Douce's MS. of the 
 fourteenth century. 
 
 • The first occurs in Chaucer ; the second in the vocabulary called Orbis Sensualium Ptctus, as translated by 
 Hoole, chap, cxxxvi. In Latin it is called Oscillwn, and is described by an old author as a sort of game played with a 
 rope depending from a beam, in which a boy or girl being seated, is driven backwards and forwards. Speght's Glossary 
 to Chaucer. 
 
 ° Vol. viii. No. 496 ; and again No. 492 in the same volume. 
 
 '^ "A picture of one is given in a chap-book of a fair, primed in 1778, where it is called an " Up and Down." 
 
244 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 " Shuttlecocks " are named by Spenser in Mother Hubbard. 
 
 It appears to have been a fashionable pastime among grown persons in the 
 reign of James I. In the Two Maids of Moreclacke, a comedy printed in 1609, 
 it is said, " To play at shuttle-cock methinks is the game now." And among 
 the anecdotes related of Prince Henry, son to James I., is the following : " His 
 highness playing at shittle-cocke, with one farr taller than himself, and hittyng 
 him by chance with the shittle-cocke upon the forehead, ' This is,' quoth he, 
 'the encounter of David with Goliath.' "^ 
 
 ' Harl. MS. 6391. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Sedentary Games— Dice-playing— Its Prevalency and bad Effects— Ancient Dice-box— Dicing Games without Tables- 
 Dicing Games within Tables— Backgammon— Its former and present Estimation— Chess— Its Antiquity— The 
 Morals of Chess— Early Chess-play in France and England— The Chess-Board— The Pieces and their Form— 
 The various Games of Chess— Ancient Games similar to Chess— The Philosopher's Game— Draughts, French 
 and Polish— Merelles, or Nine Men's Morris— Boy-Games in Cloisters— Fox and Geese— The Solitary Game- 
 Dominoes— Cards— When Invented— Card-playing in England— Primero and Maw— Ombre— Whist and other 
 Games— Ancient Cards— The Game of Goose— and of the Snake— Cross and Pile. 
 
 SEDENTARY Games. — This chapter is appropriated to sedentary games, and in 
 treating upon most of them I am under the necessity of confining myself 
 to very narrow limits. To attempt a minute investigation of their 
 properties, to explain the different manners in which they have been played, or 
 to produce all the regulations by which they have been governed, is absolutely 
 incompatible with my present design. Instead, therefore, of following the 
 various writers upon these subjects, whose opinions are rarely in unison, through 
 the multiplicity of their arguments, I shall content myself by selecting such of 
 them as appear to be most cogent, and be exceedingly brief in my own 
 observations. 
 
 Dice- Play — Its Prevalency and Bad Effects. — There is not, I believe, 
 any species of amusement more ancient than dice-playing ; none has been more 
 universally prevalent, and, generally speaking, none is more pernicious in its con- 
 sequences. It is the earliest, or at least one of the most early pastimes in use 
 among the Grecians. Dice are said to have been invented, together with chess, by 
 Palamedes, the son of Nauplius, King of Eubcea. Others, agreeing to the time 
 of the invention of dice, attribute it to a Greek soldier named Alea, and there- 
 fore say that the game was so denominated. But Herodotus attributes both 
 dice and chess to the Lydians, a people of Asia ; in which part of the world, it 
 is most probable, they originated at some very remote but uncertain period. We 
 have already seen that the ancient Germans, even in their state of barbarism, 
 indulged the propensity for gambling with the dice to a degree of madness, not 
 only staking all they were worth, but even their liberty, upon the chance of a 
 throw, and submitted to slavery if fortune declared against them. The Saxons, 
 the Danes, and the Normans, their descendants, were all of them greatly 
 addicted to the same infatuating pastime. One would not, at first sight, imagine 
 that the dice could afford any great variety of amusement, especially if they be 
 abstractedly considered ; and yet John of Salisbury, in the twelfth century, 
 speaks of ten different games of dice then in use ; but as he has only given us 
 the names, their properties cannot be investigated. He calls it,^ " The damnable 
 
 ' De Nug. Curialium, lib. i. cap. S- * JDe alley et usu, et abusu ejus. The names given are tessara, calculus, 
 tabula, dardana pugna, tricolus, serio, monarchus, orbiculi, ialiorchus, and milpes, 
 
 "45 
 
246 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 art of dice-playing." Another author, contemporary with him, says, " The 
 clergymen and bishops are fond of dice-playing."^ 
 
 *It was customary to use a Dice-board in some forms of dice throwing. 
 The board was divided by diagonal lines into ten spaces, and the value of the 
 cast depended not only upon the upper markings of the dice, but upon the 
 particular space into which they fell. One of these Dice-boards is figured on 
 the top of a most beautifully inlaid Elizabethan games table, which was made 
 for Bess of Hardwick, and is still to be seen at Hardwick Hall. It measures 
 15 inches by ig^. Upon the board, in one of the divisions, are the representa- 
 tions of three dice. On the same table, which is 10 feet in length, there are 
 also inlaid representations of full-sized chess and backgammon boards.^ 
 
 Ancient Dice- Box — Anecdote Relating to False Dice. — The common 
 method of throwing the dice is with a hollow cylinder of wood, called the dice- 
 box, into which they are put, and thence, being first shaken together, thrown 
 out upon the table ; but in one of the prints which occur in the Vocabulary of 
 Commenius^ we meet with a contrivance for playing with the dice that does not 
 require them to be numbered upon their faces. This curious machine * appears 
 on plate thirty-three. 
 
 The dice are thrown into the receptacle at the top, whence they fall upon 
 the circular part of the table below, which is divided into six compartments, 
 numbered as the dice usually are ; and according to the value of the figures 
 affixed to the compartments into which they fall the throw is estimated. The 
 inner part of the circle, with the apparatus above it, was so constructed as to 
 move round with great rapidity when the dice were put into the funnel.' It 
 would thus be analogous to the E O tables of the present day, wherein a ball 
 is used, and the game is determined by the letters E or O being marked 
 upon the compartment into which it falls. The E O tables may have derived 
 their origin from the above contrivance. 
 
 Dice-playing has been reprobated by the grave and judicious authors of 
 this country for many centuries back ; the legislature set its face against it at a 
 very early period ; « and in various statutes promulgated for the suppression of 
 unlawful games, from Richard II. to Elizabeth, it is constantly particularised 
 and strictly prohibited. 
 
 *In Northbrooke's treatise against dicing, etc., published in 1579, the most 
 unrestrained language is used against dicing, of which the following sentence is 
 but a brief specimen : — " This arte is the mother of lies, of perjuries, of theft, of 
 debate, of injuries, of manslaughter, the verie invention of the Divels of hell." 
 It must, however, be remembered that this strenuous condemnation was directed 
 
 1 Orderic. Vital, p. 550. 2 Reliquary, 1st series, vol. xxiii. 128. 
 
 ' Orbis Sensttalium Pictus, translated by Hoole, 1658. ■• In Latin, Pyrgus, Turricula, et Frittilhis. 
 
 5 *ln the diary of Count Kilmanseg, who came over to the coronation of George III. in 1760 (published in 1902), 
 is an account of a dicing machine of this description, used by the postilions at a Hanover posting-house, to decide 
 which of them should take the next job. 
 
 ' "Nee ludant ad aleas vel taxillos." Decret. Concil. Vigorn. a.d. 1240, directed to the clergy. 
 
J\Ic/ef/f<f. 
 
 a S 4 5 6 
 The Philosafjhers (fame. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 :»;);:-;■■ ■■■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^|v'S».. 
 
 1 H 
 
 : -'O •: 
 
 1 o> 
 
 .■•■:HV:. 
 
 i 
 
 
 ■,,Oi' 
 
 ■■/CO ■, 
 
 ..;-.oo..:;- 
 
 ;■,»« ; 
 
 /"■.e»'j> 
 
 .,-'. T-( ,■ 
 
 Reference to the ChefifMcn . 
 ]L.TIuKiiii;. 
 Z.The Queen orRrce. 
 S.TIieMock 
 
 6.TheKnyht . 
 e.TheJPawn. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 247 
 
 against mere dice-throwing, and not against "tables," by which was implied 
 such a game as backgammon, wherein the dice were thrown within a limited 
 space to direct certain moves. " Playing at tables," says Northbrooke, "is far 
 more tollerable (although in all respects not allowable) than Dice and Cardes 
 are, for that it leaneth partlie to chance, and partlie to Industrie of the 
 minde." 
 
 Supposing the play to be fair on either side, the chances upon the dice are 
 equal to both parties ; and the professed gamblers being well aware of this, will 
 not trust to the determination of fortune, but have recourse to many nefarious 
 arts to circumvent the unwary ; hence we hear of loaded dice, and dice of the 
 high cut. The former are dice made heavier on one side than the other by the 
 insertion of a small portion of lead ; and the latter may be known by the 
 following anecdote in an anonymous MS. written about the reign of James I., and 
 preserved in the Harleian Collection.^ " Sir William Herbert, playing at dice 
 with another gentleman, there rose some questions about a cast. Sir William's 
 antagonist declared it was a four and a five ; he as positively insisted that it was 
 a five and a six ; the other then swore, with a bitter imprecation,^ that it was as 
 he had said : Sir William then replied, ' Thou art a perjured knave ; for give 
 me a sixpence, and if there be a four upon the dice, I will return you a thousand 
 pounds ' ; at which the other was presently abashed, for indeed the dice were 
 false, and of a high cut, without a four." The dice are usually made of bone or 
 ivory, but sometimes of silver, and probably of other metals. The wife of the 
 unfortunate Arden of Feversham, sent to Mosbie, her paramour, a pair of silver 
 dice, in order to reconcile a disagreement that had subsisted between them, and 
 occasioned his abstaining from her company.^ 
 
 *DiciNG Games without "Tables." — Under the general head of Dicing 
 used to be included two distinct sets of games that were termed "games within 
 the tables" and "games without the tables," The latter were of a purely 
 gambling character; in the Compleat Gamester, of 1674, three games of this 
 nature are described. Inn and Inn is named as very much used in an ordinary, 
 and could be played by two or three, each having a box in his hand. It was 
 played with four dice, the players depositing sixpences, shillings, or guineas. 
 For an Inn throw nothing was scored, for an Out throw the adversary or 
 adversaries won ; for an Inn and Inn throw all was swept by the thrower. An 
 Inn throw was doublets of any sort ; an Out throw had no doublets ; an Inn and 
 Inn was all doublets, whether of a sort or otherwise. The battle point was 
 fixed beforehand, from twenty shillings to twenty pounds, or on to a thousand ; 
 " the battail is not ended till every penny of that money agreed upon for the 
 battail be won." 
 
 •Passage was played by two with three dice. The caster threw continually 
 
 ' No. 6395, Art. 69. 
 
 " " As false as dicers' oaths," is a proverbial expression, and used by Slialcspeare in Hamlet, act iii. scene 4. 
 
 ' HoUinshed, vol. iii. p. 1062, 
 
248 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 till he had thrown doublets under ten, when he was out and lost ; or doublets 
 over ten, when he passed and won. 
 
 *Hazard was played with two dice, but as many could play it as could 
 stand round the largest round table. Cotton dilates on "main," "chance," 
 "nick," "ames-ace," "deuce-ace," and the like, describing it as "the most 
 bewitching game that is plaid on the dice " ; nevertheless he somewhat 
 illogically thus ends his long explanation : — " To conclude, happy is he that 
 having been much inclined to this time-spending, money-wasting Game, hath 
 took up in time, and resolved for the future never to be concerned with it more ; 
 but more happy is he that hath never heard the name thereof." 
 
 *DiciNG Games within Tables. — Of " Games within the Tables " Cotton 
 names seven, of which backgammon is the most important, and has proved the 
 most enduring, /rts^ is described as an ingenious game requiring much skill, 
 and not to be learned without much observation and practice. From the 
 description given it seems to have been much like backgammon, save that it 
 was slower, inasmuch as doublets were not reckoned fourfold. In Tick-tack all 
 the men stood on the ace-point, and from thence played forward. If you hit 
 your adversary and neglected the advantage you lost a man. At Doublets 
 fifteen men were used. At Sice-ace five could play with six men a piece. At 
 Ketch-dolt the men were laid down according to the throw from the heap of men 
 without the tables. 
 
 *Backgammon. — In Howell's Letters, circa 1645, occur these words, cited 
 in the Oxford Dictionary : — " Though you have learnt to play at Baggammon, 
 you must not forget Irish, which is a more serious and solid game." Tables 
 was the term always employed for these dice games of mixed chance and skill, 
 until the seventeenth century, when the word backgammon came gradually 
 into general use. The name is apparently derived from back-game or back- 
 play, because the men, under certain circumstances, are hit or taken up and 
 obliged to go back and re-enter the table. 
 
 The ancient form of the backgammon-table may be seen at the 
 bottom of plate thirty-four ; the original occurs in a beautifully illuminated 
 manuscript of the fourteenth century.^ The table, as here delineated, is 
 not divided in the middle, but the points, on either side, are contained 
 in a single compartment. If we turn to the thirty- third plate we 
 shall find a table of fifteenth century date. In this the division is 
 fairly made, but the points are not distinguished by different colours, ac- 
 cording to the present, and indeed more ancient usage. The writer of the 
 manuscript, from which the latter table is taken, says, " There are many 
 methods of playing at the tables with the dice. The first of these, and 
 the longest, is called the English game, Ludus Anglicorum, which is thus per- 
 formed : he who sits on the side of the board marked i — 12 has fifteen men 
 (homines) in the part marked 24, and he who sits on the side marked 1 3 — 24 
 
 • Harl. MSB. 1527. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 249 
 
 has a like number of men in the part i. They play with three dice, or else 
 with two, allowing always six for a third die. Then he who is seated at i— 12 
 must bring all his men placed at 24 through the partitions (paginas), from 24 to 
 19, from 18 to 13, and from 12 to 7, into the division 6—1, and then bear them 
 off; his opponent must do the same from i to 7, thence to 12, thence to 18, 
 into the compartment 19—24; and he who first bears off all his men is 
 conqueror." Here we may observe, that the most material circumstances in 
 which the game differed, at this remote period, from the present method of 
 playing it, are, first, in having three dice instead of two, or reckoning a certain 
 number for the third ; and secondly, in placing all the men within the antagonist's 
 table, which, if I do not mistake the author, must be put upon his ace-point. 
 But to go on : " There is," says he, " another game upon the tables called 
 Paume Carte, which is played with two dice, and requires four players, that is, 
 two on either side ; or six, and then three are opposed to three." He then 
 speaks of a third game, called Ludus Lumdardorum, the Game of Lombardy, 
 and thus played : he who sits on the side marked 13—24 has his men at 6, and 
 his antagonist has his men at 19"; which is changing the ace point in the 
 English game for the size point: and this alteration probably shortened the 
 game. He then mentions the five following variations by name only ; the 
 Imperial game, the Provincial game, the games called Baralie, Mylys, and Faylis.^ 
 
 *The various table games given in the 1674 edition of the Compleat 
 Gamester continued to be reprinted in subsequent issues until 1721, when 
 " The Famous Game called Verqnere " was placed first among " Games within 
 the Tables." It came from Holland, where they are said to practise it from 
 infancy; the chief feature of it was that "all the table-men are placed on the 
 ace-point, where you set two men at backgammon." The description of Tick- 
 tack is repeated, and that is followed by " The Noble and Courriy Game at Tables 
 called Grand Trick-track" played after the same fashion as Tick-tack, but with 
 three other pieces, in addition to the table-men, which were termed markers. 
 
 Its Former and. Present Estimation. — At the commencement of the 
 eighteenth century backgammon was a very favourite amusement, and pursued 
 at leisure times by most persons of opulence, and especially by the clergy, which 
 occasioned Dean Swift, when writing to a friend of his in the country, sarcastically 
 to ask the following question : "In what esteem are you with the vicar of the 
 parish ; can you play with him at backgammon ? " But of late years (1800) this 
 pastime is become unfashionable, and of course it is not often practised. The 
 tables, indeed, are frequently enough to be met with in the country mansions ; 
 but upon examination you will generally find the men deficient, the dice lost, or 
 some other cause to render them useless. Backgammon is certainly a diversion 
 by no means fitted for company, which cards are made to accommodate in a 
 more extensive manner ; and therefore it is no wonder they have gained the 
 ascendancy. 
 
 ' Roy. Lib. 13 A. xviii. 
 
250 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Chess — Its Antiquity.— This noble, or, as it is frequently called, royal 
 pastime, is said, by some authors, to have originated, together with dice-playing, 
 at the siege of Troy ; and the invention of both is attributed to Palamedes, the 
 son of Nauplius, king of Eubcea ; ^ others make Diomedes, and others again, 
 Ulysses, the inventor of chess.^ The honour has also been attributed to Ledo 
 and Tyrrhene, two Grecians, and brothers, who being much pressed by hunger, 
 sought to alleviate their bodily sufferings by diverting the mind.» None of these 
 stories have any solid foundation for their support ; and I am inclined to follow 
 the opinion of Dr Hyde and other learned authors, who readily agree that the 
 pastime is of very remote antiquity, but think it first made its appearance in 
 Asia. 
 
 The Morals of Chess. — John de Vigney wrote a book which he called 
 The Moralisation of Chess, wherein he assures us that this game was invented 
 by a philosopher named Xerxes in the reign of Evil Merodach, king of Babylon, 
 and was made known to that monarch in order to engage his attention and 
 correct his manners. "There are three reasons," says de Vigney, "which 
 induced the philosopher to institute this new pastime : the first, to reclaim a 
 wicked king ; the second, to prevent idleness ; and the third, practically to 
 demonstrate the nature and necessity of nobleness." He then adds, " The game 
 of chess passed from Chaldea into Greece, and thence diffused itself all over 
 Europe." I have followed a MS. copy at the Museum in the Harleian Library.* 
 Our countryman Chaucer, on what authority I know not, says it was 
 
 — Athalus that made the game 
 First of the chesse, so was his name.^ 
 
 The Arabians and the Saracens, who are said to be admirable players at 
 chess, have new-modelled the story of de Vigney and adapted it to their own 
 country, changing the name of the philosopher from Xerxes to Sisa.^ 
 
 Early Chess-Play in France and England. — It is impossible to say 
 when the game of chess was first brought into this kingdom ; but we have good 
 reason to suppose it to have been well known here at least a century anterior to 
 the Conquest, and it was then a favourite pastime with persons of the highest 
 rank. 
 
 *The Emperor Charlemagne is known to have had much taste for chess, 
 and his chessmen are celebrated. The English scholar Alcuin was on the 
 most intimate terms with the emperor and his family ; he visited his native 
 country from 790 to 793, and it is at the least highly probable that he was the 
 first to introduce chess into this country.^ 
 
 ' Falamed. de AUatoribus, cap. i8. 
 
 "^ Lepistre Othea, MS. "Ulixes fu un baron de Grece de grant soubtillete, et en temps du siege de Troye il 
 trouva le gieu des esches," etc. Ulysses was a baron of Greece, exceedingly wise, and during the siege of Troy invented 
 the game of chess. Harl. Lib. 4431. 
 
 5 Ency. Brit, word Chess. * No. 1275. » Dream of Love. 
 
 " Encyclop. Frattfoise, in voce Echecs. 
 
 ' *Bird's Chess History and Reminiscences (1893), pp. 55-7. 
 
'^AeM ^ty^it/ ,ya^tgd . 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 25, 
 
 Canute the Dane, who ascended the throne of England a.d. 1017, was 
 partial to this pastime.^ The following story is told of William, duke of 
 Normandy, afterwards king of England. When a young man, he was invited 
 to the court of the French king, and during his residence there, being one day 
 engaged at chess with the king's eldest son, a dispute arose concerning the 
 play; and William, exasperated at something his antagonist had said, struck 
 him with the chess-board, which obliged him to make a precipitate retreat from 
 France, in order to avoid the consequences of so rash an action. ^ A similar 
 circumstance is said by Leland to have happened in England.^ John, the 
 youngest son of Henry II., playing at chess one day with Fulco Guarine, a 
 nobleman of Shropshire, a quarrel ensued, and John broke the head of Guarine 
 with the chess-board, who in return struck the prince such a blow that he 
 almost killed him. It seems, however, that Fulco found means of making his 
 peace with King Henry, by whom he was knighted, with three of his brethren, 
 a short time afterwards. John did not so easily forgive the affront ; but, on the 
 contrary, showed his resentment long after his accession to the English throne, 
 by keeping him from the possession of Whittington Castle, to which he was the 
 rightful heir,* It is also said of this monarch, that he was engaged at chess 
 when the deputies from Rouen came to acquaint him that the city was besieged 
 by Philip, king of France, but he would not hear them out till he had finished 
 the game. In like manner Charles I. was playing at chess when he was told that 
 the final resolution of the Scots was to sell him to the parliament ; and he was 
 so little discomposed by the alarming intelligence, that he continued the game 
 with great composure.* Several other instances to the same purpose might be 
 produced, but these may suffice ; and in truth, I know not what interpretation 
 to put upon such extraordinary conduct ; it proves at least that the fascinating 
 powers of this fashionable diversion are very extensive upon the minds of those 
 who pursue it earnestly. 
 
 The Chess-Board. — The number of the pieces and the manner in which 
 they are placed do not appear to have undergone much, if any, variation for 
 several centuries. If the reader will turn to plate thirty- four, he will find the 
 most ancient representation of the pastime that I have met with.^ On the 
 thirty-third plate he will see two boards with the manner of placing the pieces 
 upon them, taken from a MS. of the thirteenth century, and one of them, a 
 perfect singularity, is of circular form.' 
 
 ' See the Introduction. ^ See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. ^ Collect, vol. i. p. 264. 
 
 ^ Ibid. = Ency. Brit, word Chess. 
 
 ' This engraving is from a drawing in a beautifully illuminated MS. preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MSB. 
 4431.) This MS. was written at the close of the fourteenth century, and bears every mark of being the very copy 
 presented to Isabel of Bavaria, the queen of Charies VI. of France. Her portrait, very neatly finished, occurs 
 twice, and that of the king her husband once. The author of this MS. makes Ulysses to be the inventor of chess ; 
 and the painting is intended to represent that chieftain engaged with some other Grecian hero who is come to visit 
 and play the game with him, the two by-standers, I presume, are the umpires to decide the matter in case of any 
 dispute. 
 
 ' Cott. MSS. Cleop. B. ix. 
 
252 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 In this representation is exhibited the manner of placing the pieces, which 
 are thus called in Latin verse : 
 
 Miks et Alphinus, rex, roc, regina, pedinus. 
 
 Chess-Pieces, and their Form. — The names of the chess pieces, as they 
 are given in the foregoing manuscript, are these : Rey — Reyne, or Ferce — Roc 
 — Alfin — Chivaler — Poun : that is: i. The King — 2. The Queen, or Ferce ^ — 
 
 3. The Rock — 4. The Alfin — 5. The Knight — 6. The Pawn. Their forms are 
 copied on the thirtieth plate. 
 
 In more modern times the roc is corruptedly called a rook, but formerly 
 it signified a rock or fortress (now castle) ; the alfin was denominated by the 
 French^/, and with us an archer, and at last a bishop. 
 
 The Various Games of Chess. — In a manuscript in the Royal Library,* 
 written about the same time as that last mentioned, we find no less than forty- 
 four different names given to so many games of chess, and some of them are 
 played more ways than one, so that on the whole they may be said to amount to 
 fifty-seven ; ^ and under every title there are directions for playing the game, but 
 I apprehend they would be of little use to a modern player. I shall, however, 
 give the several denominations as they occur, with an attempt at a translation. 
 If the learned reader should find that I have mistaken the meaning of any of 
 these titles, which is very likely to be the case, he will consider the difficulty I 
 had to encounter, and remember I give the translation with diffidence. 
 
 I. Guy ds: ch\vdXQr, played three ways — 2. De dames — 3. De damoyseles — 
 
 4. De alfins, two ways — 5. De anel — 6. De covenant — 7. De propre confusion, 
 three ways — 8. Mai assis — 9. Cotidian, two ways — 10. Poynt estraunge, two 
 zvays — 1 1. Ky perde sey sauve — 12. Ky ne doune ces ke il eyme, ne prendrant 
 ke disire — 13. Bien trove — 14. Beal petit — 15. Mieut vaut engyn ke force — 
 16. Ky est larges est sages — 17. Ky doune ganye — 18. Ly enginous e ly 
 coveytous — 19. Covenaunt fet ley — 20. De pres seu joyst ke loyns veyt — 
 21. Meschief fet hom penser — 22. La chace de chivaler — 23. La chace de ferce 
 et de chivaler — 24. Bien fort — 25. Fol si prent — 26. Ly envoyns — 27. Le seon 
 sey envoye — 28. Le veyl conu — 29. Le haut enprise — 30. De cundut — 31. Ky 
 put se prenge — 32. La batalie sans array — 33. Le tret emble, two ways — 34. Ly 
 desperes — 35. Ly marvelious, two ways — 36. Ne poun ferce home fet — 7,^. Muse 
 vyleyn — 38. De dames et de damoyceles — 39. Fol si sey fie, two ways — 40. Mai 
 veysyn, two ways — 41. Je mat de ferces — 42. Flour de guys — 43. La batalie de 
 rokes — 44. Double eschec. 
 
 I. The knights' game — 2. The ladies' game — 3. The damsels' game — ^4. 
 The game of the alfins — 5. The ring — 6. The agreement — 7. Self-confounded 
 — 8. Ill placed or bad enough — 9. Day by day — 10. The foreign point — 
 1 1. The loser wins — 12. He that gives not what he esteems, shall not take that 
 
 • In Chaucer's Dream this piece is called fers and feers. ^ Roy. Lib. 13 A. xviii. 
 
 ' *Strutt says 55, but reference to the MS. shows that he neglected to note that number 7 was played three ways. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 253 
 
 he desires — 13. Well found — 14. Fair and small — 15. Craft surpasses strength 
 — 16. He that is bountiful is wise — 17. Who gives gains — 18. Subtilty and 
 covetousness — 19. Agreement makes law — 20. He sees his play at hand who 
 sees it at a distance — 21. Misfortunes make a man think — 22. The chace of the 
 knight — 23. The chace of the queen and the knight — 24. Very strong — 25. He 
 is a fool if he takes — 26. The messengers — 27. Sent by his own party — 28, The 
 old one known — 29. The high place taken — 30. Perhaps for conduit, managed 
 or conducted — 31. Take if you can — 32. The battle without arrangement — 
 33. The stolen blow — 34. The desperates — 35. The wonder — 36. A pawn can- 
 not make a queen — 37. The clown's lurking place — 38. The ladies and the 
 damsels — 39. A fool if he trusts — 40. Bad neighbour — 41. I mate the queen — 
 42. The flower or beauty of the games — 43. The battle of the rooks — 44. Double 
 chess. 
 
 *So great a hold did the game of chess take upon England — a hold that 
 seems to strengthen with every decade of national life — that almost every 
 English writer of repute, from the earliest days, has made reference to this royal 
 pastime, or drawn similes and figures of speech from the chess-board. Such a 
 list includes the names of Chaucer, Lydgate, Gower, Skelton, Sir Philip Sidney, 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, Spenser, Shakespeare, Cowley, Beaumont, Fletcher, 
 Middleton and Dryden. 
 
 *The prolific dramatist Thomas Middleton wrote a satirical play called 
 Game at Chess, which was first acted at the Globe in 1624. Ignatius 
 Loyola, in the induction, discovers Error asleep, who had seen a strange game 
 of chess in a dream. Loyola expresses a desire to see the game, and the play 
 begins. The dramatis personae were the chessmen, the white being Protestants 
 and the black Papists. At the conclusion the blacks receive checkmate and are 
 put in a bag. The Spanish Ambassador complained to the authorities that the 
 king of Spain and others were being ridiculed and dishonoured on the stage, 
 with the result that the players were severely reprimanded, the play suppressed, 
 and the author imprisoned. Middleton, however, erelong secured his release 
 by presenting to the king the following rhymed petition : — 
 
 " A harmless game, coyned only for delight. 
 Was played betwixt the black house and the white. 
 The white bouse won — yet still the black doth brag, 
 They had the power to put me in the bag. 
 Use but your royal hand, 'twill set me free : 
 'Tis but removing of a man, that's me." * 
 
 Ancient Games similar to Chess. — The ancient pastimes, if more than 
 one be meant, which bear the names of ludus latrunculorum, ludus calculorum, 
 et ludus scrupulorum, have been generally considered as similar to chess, if not 
 precisely the same ; but the authors of the EncyclopMie Frangoise, assure us 
 they did not bear any resemblance to it, at least in those essential parts of the 
 
 ' *Genest's Hist, of the Stage, vol. ». pp Ii-I3- 
 
254 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 game which distinguish it from all others ; but were played with stones, shells, 
 or counters. The ancients, we are told, used little stones, shells, and nuts, in 
 making their calculations without the assistance of writing. These little stones 
 were called by the Greeks ■^n'poi, and calculi or scrupuli by the Romans ; and 
 such articles, it is supposed, were employed by them in playing the games 
 above mentioned. This method of reckoning passed from the Greeks to the 
 Romans, but when luxury introduced itself at Rome, the stones and shells were 
 laid aside, and counters made with ivory became their substitutes. If the fore- 
 going observations be well founded, we may justly conclude that the ludus 
 calculorum which Homer mentions as a pastime practised by his heroes, called in 
 Greek tstos or ■rsaaog, consisted in a certain arrangement and combination of num- 
 bers, every piece employed in the game being marked with an appropriate number, 
 and probably might resemble a more modern pastime, which still retains the 
 Greek name of Rithmomachia, from upiS/iog, numerus, et /i^x't pugna, expressive 
 of a battle with numbers, said by some to have been invented by Pythagoras,^ 
 and by others to be more ancient : with us it is called the Philosopher's Game, 
 and seems indeed to have been well calculated for the diversion of soldiers, 
 because it consists, not only in a contention for superiority by the skilful adjust- 
 ment of the numbers, but in addition, allows the conqueror to triumph and erect 
 his trophy in token of the victory ; this part of the game, we are told, requires 
 much judgment to perform with propriety, and if the player fails, his glories are 
 but half achieved. 
 
 The Philosopher's Game. — ^We have some account of the philosopher's 
 game, but very loosely drawn up, in a manuscript in the Sloan Library ^ at the 
 British Museum. It is called, says the author, "a number fight," because in it 
 men fight and strive together by the art of counting or numbering how one may 
 take his adversary's king and erect a triumph upon the deficiency of his calcu- 
 lations. It is then said, "you may make your triumph as well with your enemy's 
 men taken, as with your own not taken." 
 
 The board or table for playing this game is made in the form of a paral- 
 lelogram just as long again as it is broad ; it is divided into eight squares the 
 narrow way, and extended to sixteen the other, and bears the resemblance of two 
 chess-boards fastened together : the chequers in like manner being alternately 
 black and white, and two persons only at one time can properly play the game ; 
 to either party is assigned twenty-four soldiers, which constitute his army, 
 (hoste, in the original,) and one of them is called the Pyramis or king : one third 
 of these pieces are circular, which form two rows in the front of the army ; one 
 third are triangular, which are placed in the middle ; and one third are square, 
 which bring up the rear, and one of these situated in the fifth row is the Pyramis. 
 The men belonging to the two parties are distinguished by being black and 
 white, and every one of them is marked with an appropriate number. There 
 
 ' And revived by Claud. Bruxer and others, A.D. 1514, Burton's Descrip. of Leicestershire, p. 182. 
 
 -No. 451. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 25s 
 
 were sometimes added to these numbers certain signs or algebraic figures, called 
 cossical signings, which increased the intricacy of the game. The army that 
 presents a front of even numbers is called the even host, and the other the odd 
 host. The two armies at the commencement of the play are drawn up in the 
 order represented on plate thirty-three. 
 
 It was my wish to have subjoined a general outline of the method of playing 
 the game, but the author is so exceedingly obscure in his phraseology, and 
 negligent in his explanations, that I found it impossible to follow him with the 
 least degree of satisfaction. It is, however, certain, that the great object of each 
 player is to take the king from his opponent, because he who succeeds may make 
 his triumph and erect his trophy. 
 
 Burton, speaking of this pastime in his Anatomy of Melancholy^ calls it the 
 Philosophy Game, and thinks it " not convenient for students " ; to which he 
 adds, " the like I say of Dr Fulke's Metromachia, and his Ouronomachia, with 
 the rest of those intricate, astrological, and geometrical fictions, for such as are 
 mathematically given, and other curious games." 
 
 *Fulke's Metromachia eine Suden Geometricus, was dedicated to the Earl of 
 Leicester, and printed in 1578. It consists of fifty-two pages, and has an 
 elaborate folding plate at the end. 
 
 Draughts. — The pastime of draughts is well known in the present day ( 1 800) ; 
 and I believe there are now in London as excellent draught-players as ever 
 existed. Draughts, no doubt, is easier to be learnt than chess, because it is not so 
 intricate ; for the pieces are of equal value till they become kings, and can only 
 move one way, that is, diagonally; but, like chess, it depends entirely upon 
 skill, and one false move frequently occasions the loss of the game. 
 
 ♦Draughts has a far greater proved antiquity than chess, some of the 
 draughtsmen and part of the board belonging to Queen Hatasu of Egypt, who 
 flourished about 1600 B.C., were discovered in 1887.* The game was introduced 
 into Italy from Egypt, and is known in Latin as hidm latrunculorum, or the 
 game of the Little Soldiers. The name of draughts is derived from the verb to 
 draw or to move, and was at one time applicable to chess as well as to draughts. 
 The first known work on modern draughts proceeded from Spain in 1547. The 
 earliest French work was that of Pierre Malet, published in 1668. The old 
 French draughts was exactly like English draughts. The Polish game came 
 into fashion in 1727, and in France superseded for the most part the older game ; 
 it is played upon a board of a hundred squares with forty men ; it never obtained 
 much favour in England, but was occasionally played in London at the begin- 
 ning of the nineteenth century. Mr J. G. Pohlman brought out an illustrated 
 book on Polish Draughts in 1 8 1 1 . 
 
 *There are various casual seventeenth century references to this game as 
 distinct from chess in English writers ; but the English school of draught play- 
 ing did not really begin until Payne brought out the first printed account of it in 
 
 J Part ii. sect. 2, mem. 4. «*They ate described in The Times of June 22nd. 1887. 
 
256 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the vulgar tongue in 1756. Joshua Sturges first published his standard work in 
 1800, under the title Guide to the Game of Draughts, containing 500 seUct 
 games. In it he reproduced almost all Payne's work, but with considerable 
 amendments and new games. Since that date Sturges's book has been con- 
 tinually reproduced both in England and America.^ 
 
 Merelles — Nine Men's Morris. — Merelles, or, as it was formerly called 
 in England, nine men's morris, and also five-penny morris, is a game of some 
 antiquity. Cotgrave describes it as a boyish game, and says it was played here 
 commonly with stones, but in France with pawns, or men, made on purpose, 
 and they were termed merelles ; hence the pastime itself received that denomina- 
 tion. It was certainly much used by the shepherds formerly, and continues to 
 be used by them, and other rustics, to the present hour (1800). But it is very 
 far from being confined to the practice of boys and girls. The form of the 
 merelle-table, and the lines upon it, as it appeared in the fourteenth century, is 
 given upon plate thirty-three ; and these lines have not since been varied. The 
 black spots at every angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men 
 to be laid upon. The men are different in form or colour for distinction sake ; and 
 from the moving these men backwards or forwards, as though they were 
 dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the appellation of nine men's 
 morris ; but why it should have been called five-penny morris, I do not know. 
 The manner of playing is briefly this : two persons, having each of them nine 
 pieces, or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots ; and the 
 business of either party is to prevent his antagonist from placing three of his 
 pieces so as to form a row of three, without the intervention of an opponent 
 piece. If a row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his 
 competitor's pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage ; except- 
 ing he has made a row, which must not be touched if he have another piece 
 upon the board that is not a component part of that row. When all the pieces 
 are laid down, they are played backwards and forwards, in any direction that the 
 lines run, but only can move from one spot to another at one time : he that takes 
 off all his antagonist's pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not 
 materials at hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the 
 ground, and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect, as above- 
 mentioned, stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and play the game 
 by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over the 
 dots upon the table. Hence Shakspeare, describing the effects of a wet and 
 
 stormy season, says 
 
 The folds stand empty in the drowned field, 
 And crows are fatted with the murrain flock, 
 The nine men's morris is filled up with mud. 
 
 The last revision was published ,n 1895. The literature of draughts has of late years attained to astonishing 
 proportions; there were twenty-seyen distinct works on this one game, issued in England, between 1880 and 1895 
 This pastime also supports he following periodicals :-r-^. Draught World. The Tntemational Draught MagaJne, 
 The Draught Players' Quarterly Review, and The Draught Players' Weekly Magazine. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 257 
 
 *A correspondent of Notes and Queries, in 1875, wrote : — " The game is 
 known in Derbyshire as ' three mans' marriage,' and for this game three men 
 are used, and the board on which the game is played contains nine holes or 
 points. One ' board ' on which we played the game was generally a flat stone, 
 upon which, with chalk, we made a square, intersecting it with a horizontal and 
 a vertical line, which produced the nine holes or points. Two played the game, 
 laying their men alternately on any of the points of the board. The object of 
 each player was to get his men " all in a row,' and the game was won. ' Nine 
 men's marriage' is quite a different affair, and much more elaborate. Each 
 player uses nine men, and the 'board ' is three squares one inside the other, and 
 the squares are connected by four lines drawn through the sides of the squares. 
 This board contains twenty-four holes or points. The players in this game lay 
 their men alternately, each taking care that his opponent does not get a row 
 during the placing of the men. When the men have all been dealt the players 
 move a man in turn. Each player tries to get three of his men in a row, at the 
 same time striving to hinder his opponent from making a row. When a player 
 has made a row his three men are married and he may take a man from his 
 opponent. The game ' nine men's marriage ' is also called ' tink-track,' because 
 with good play, a player may get five of his men in such a position, that a ' tink- 
 track ' is formed, by means of which he can clear the board of the enemy, one by 
 one, in so many moves." ^ 
 
 *Boy-Games in Cloisters. — In 1892, Mr J. T. Micklethwaite read a most 
 interesting paper before the Archaeological Institute " On the Indoor Games of 
 School Boys in the Middle Ages." ^ He was able to prove that certain " cup 
 markings" arranged in squares of nine on the benches of the cloisters of 
 Westminster, Canterbury, Norwich, Salisbury, and Chichester were the work of 
 school boys and others in pre- Reformation times. Other instances have been 
 found in the porches of parochial churches. Some of these stone cut " boards " 
 are for Nine Men's Morris, others for Fox and Geese, and others for a simpler 
 game of In and Out. Mr Micklethwaite's remarks as to the age of these 
 interesting survivals are as follows : — 
 
 " For the last three centuries and a half cloisters everywhere in England have 
 been open passages, and there have generally been school-boys about. It is there- 
 fore not unlikely that they should have left behind them such traces as these play- 
 boards. But if they are of later date they would not be found to be distributed 
 in monastic cloisters with respect to the monastic arrangement, and we do find 
 them so. At Westminster Abbey they are only found in the north-west corner, 
 which if the arrangement agreed with that of Durham, as there is reason to 
 believe it did, was the place of the school. At Norwich, where the game boards 
 
 ' Other more recent correspondents of A'ffto a«rf C^'^'"*^^^ shown that Nine Men's Morris is still played by 
 rustics in Derbyshire, Wilts, Norfolk, and Dorset. It is also in limited use as a parlour game, and was played fairly 
 frequently in the " fifties " and " sixties " of last century under its Shakespeare title. It can now (1902) be obtained 
 at the Army and Navy Stores, as " Morelles, a Game of Skill for Railway Travellers and for Home Amusement." 
 
 " ArchaoLJoumal, vol. xlix. pp. 319-328. Plans are given of the different " boards." 
 
258 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 are very many, they are found in every part af the cloister except the north walk, 
 where the monks had their library and studies. At Gloucester the morris and 
 fox and geese boards are in the north walk and the simpler in and out boards 
 in the west walk and none is found in the south, which was the monks' side, or 
 in the east, which was most used by them as a passage way. At Canterbury 
 the play boards are found only in the south walk, which is that against the 
 church, and so according to the usual plan it would be the monks' place. But I 
 think it was not so there, as that walk was the passage between the Archbishop's 
 palace and the quire. We do not really know what the arrangement of the 
 cloister was at Canterbury. 
 
 "In the secular cloister of Salisbury the boards are only found in the east 
 walk between the Chapter House door and that towards the Bishop's Palace. 
 I can give no reason for this, unless it be that a school was kept there, which is 
 not unlikely. We know that till comparatively late times school was held in the 
 cloister at Winchester College during the summer. 
 
 " As the games themselves did not die out, it is remarkable that all the 
 boards noticed are cut upon stone or wood, which was wrought at the latest 
 before the middle of the sixteenth century, and this is a further confirmation of 
 their antiquity." 
 
 *The late Rev. R. S. Baker, rector of Hargrave, Northamptonshire, found 
 a Nine Men's Morris stone in the porch of his church during restoration in 
 1868. It was recognised by the labouring population as a "Peg Meryll" 
 stone. Sending an account of this to Land and Water produced an in- 
 teresting correspondence, by which he was able to show that the game was at 
 that time played in Essex as " Merelles or Merils " ; in Cambridgeshire as 
 " Morels or Murrells" ; in Lincolnshire as " Meg Merryleys " ; in Norfolk and 
 Cornwall as " Morris or Morrice " ; in Leicestershire as " Blind Men's Morris" ; 
 and in Oxfordshire as " Ninepenny."^ 
 
 Fox AND Geese. — This is a game somewhat resembling that of merelles in 
 the manner the pieces are moved, but in other respects, as well as in the form 
 of the table, it differs materially ; the intersection and angles are more numerous, 
 and the dots of course increased, which adds to the number of the moves. It 
 is certainly as old in this country as the thirteenth century. 
 
 To play this game there are seventeen pieces, called geese, which are placed 
 as we see them on plate thiry three, and the fox in the middle, distinguished 
 either by his size or difference of colour, as here, for instance, he is black. 
 The business of the game is to shut the fox up, so that he cannot move. 
 All the pieces have the power to move from one spot to another, in the 
 direction of the right lines, but cannot pass over two spots at one time. It is to 
 be observed, that this board is sometimes made with holes bored through It, 
 where the dots are made, and pegs equal to the number of geese put into them, 
 and the fox is distinguished by being larger and taller than the rest. The geese 
 
 ^ Journal of Assoe. Archil. Societies, vol. xi. pp. 127-13I. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 259 
 
 are not permitted to take the fox if he stands close to them, but the fox may 
 take a goose, in like case, if the spot behind it be unoccupied, or not guarded by 
 another goose ; and if all be taken, or the number so reduced that the fox 
 cannot be blocked, the game is won. The great deficiency of this game is, that 
 the fox must inevitably be blocked if the geese are played by a skilful hand ; for 
 which reason, I am told, of late some players have added another fox ; but this 
 I have not seen. 
 
 The Solitary Game. — This is so denominated because it is played by 
 one person only. It is said to have been invented by an unfortunate man who 
 was several years kept in solitary confinement at the Bastile in Paris. The 
 board for this pastime is of a circular form, and perforated with holes at half 
 an inch distance from each other, to the amount of fifty or sixty. A certain 
 number of pegs are then fitted to these holes, but not enough to fill them all ; 
 and the manner of playing the game is to pass one of the pegs over another 
 into a hole that is unoccupied, taking the peg so passed from the board, and to 
 continue doing so till all the pegs but one are taken away ; which is an 
 operation much more difficult to perform than any one could readily imagine 
 who had not made the attempt. It must be remembered that only one peg can 
 be passed over at a time, and that no peg can be put over another, unless it 
 stands close to it without an intervening hole.^ 
 
 Dominoes. — Dominoes seems to have been little known in England till 
 towards the end of the eighteenth century, when it was imported from France. 
 It consists of twenty-eight small oblong and flat pieces of ivory or bone, and all 
 of the same size and shape. The back of every piece is plain, and sometimes 
 black ; the face is white, divided into two parts by a line in the middle, and 
 marked with a double number, or with two different numbers, or with a number 
 and a blank, and one of them is a double blank. The numbers are the same 
 as those upon the dice, from one to six inclusive. When two play, the whole of 
 the pieces are hustled about the table with their faces downwards, and each of 
 them draw seven or nine, according to agreement, and the remaining pieces are 
 undiscovered until the hand is played, which is thus performed : the right of first 
 playing being cut for, he who obtains it lays down one of his pieces, and the 
 other is to match one of the numbers marked upon it with a similar number 
 marked upon a piece of his own, which he lays close to it ; the other then 
 matches one of the open numbers in like manner ', and thus they continue alter- 
 nately to lay down their pieces as long as they can be matched ; and he who 
 first gets rid of all his pieces wins the game ; but if it so happen, as it often 
 does, that neither of them have exhausted their pieces, nor can match the open 
 numbers on the table, they then discover what remains on both sides, and he 
 whose pieces contain the fewest spots obtains the victory. Sometimes four play, 
 
 > *The game of Solitaire, re-imported from France, and played with glass marbles on a board T^-ith suitable depres- 
 sions, came again suddenly into fashion in England in the late "fifties" and early "sixties" of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
260 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 in which case they deal out six cards to each, leaving only four upon the table, 
 and then play on in rotation. 
 
 *Dominoes is by no means a mere game of chance, and has of late received 
 much attention. In 1879, the special Spanish form of playing dominoes was 
 popularised in England, and is at present (1902) in commoner use than any 
 other form, particularly in City restaurants.^ 
 
 *Cards — When Invented. — So far as English card-playing is concerned, the 
 attempt made by Mr Barrington in the eighteenth century ^ to prove that Edward 
 I. played cards, because an entry, of 1278, in the wardrobe accounts, names his 
 playing at the Four Kings has been upset, and shown to be a form of chess. It 
 is generally admitted that playing cards came to Europe from the East. There 
 have been various more or less plausible suppositions as to the period when they 
 were first used on the continent or in England, but the positive history of cards 
 in Europe does not begin till the year 1393, when three packs of cards {jetix de 
 cartes), gilt and coloured, were purchased in Paris of one Jacquemin 
 Gringonneur, painter, for the amusement of King Charles VI., who had lost his 
 reason in the previous year. A French edict relative to games of chance in 
 1369 makes no reference to cards, but another edict of 1397 prohibits the 
 working people playing cards on working days. Between these two dates it is 
 safe to say that cards became popular in France. By the Synod of Langres, 
 1404, card-playing was forbidden to the clergy. Early in the fifteenth century 
 card-making and card-painting had become a regular industry in Germany, 
 particularly at Nuremberg. 
 
 *Card-Plaving in England. — Cards were well known in England in 1463, 
 for by an act of parliament of that year their importation was prohibited, in 
 order, apparently, to protect their home manufacture. A little later in that 
 century there is evidence that they were a common Christmas game. On 
 Christmas Eve, 1484, Margery Paston wrote to her husband to the following 
 effect : — " I sent your eldest sunne to my Lady Morlee to have knolage wat 
 sports were busyd in her hows in Kyrstemesse next folloyng aftyr the decysse 
 of my lord her husbond ; and sche seyd that ther wer non dysgysyngs, ner 
 harpyng, ner lutyng, ner syngyn, ner non lowde dysports, but pleyng at the 
 tabyllys, and schesse, and cards. Sweche dysports sche gave her folkys leve to 
 play and non odyr."* The privy purse expenses of Henry VII. show his losses 
 at cards on several occasions. 
 
 *When the sixteenth century is reached the references to card-playing 
 in England, and the proofs that it was popular among all classes, are most 
 abundant. Losses at cards occur in Henry VIII. privy purse expenses ; whilst 
 
 • Dominoes (1890) forms one of the "Club Series " of games issued by George Bell & Sons, The considerable 
 diversity of play to be found in modern dominoes is indicated by the mere titles of its varieties treated of in these 
 pages :— The Block Game, All Fives or Muggins, All threes, Domino Whist, The Four Game, Sebastopol, Cyprus, 
 Tiddle-a-Wink, The Draw Game, Domino Draw Pool, The Matadore Game, The Bergen Game, and Domino 
 Loo. 
 
 2 Arehaologia, vol. viii. 
 Paston Letters, vol. iii. p. 314. 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 261 
 
 those of his daughter Mary, afterwards Queen, from 1536 to 1544, show that 
 card-playing was her constant habit. A statute of 154 1 forbids card-playing by 
 the working-classes. Whole chapters could be filled with the notices of card- 
 playing that occur in the poems and plays of this century. One must suffice. 
 In the comedy of Gammer Gurton's Needle, first printed in 1551, old Dame 
 Chat thus invites two of her friends to a game of cards : — 
 
 " What, Diccon ? Come nere, ye be no stranger, 
 We be fast set a trump, man, hard by the fire ; 
 Thou shalt set on the king, if thou come a little nyer. 
 Come hither, Dol ; Dol, sit down and play this game. 
 And as thou sawest me do, see thou do even the same, 
 There is five trumps besides the queen, the hindmost thou shalt find her, 
 Take hede of Gim Glover's wife, she hath an eye behind her." 
 
 *Minister Northbrooke was most strenuous in his condemnation of card- 
 playing in Elizabeth's reign, stating that — " The plaie at Gardes is an invention 
 of the devill, which he founde out, that he might the easilier bring in idolatrie 
 amongest men : For the Kings and Coate cardes that we use nowe were in olde 
 time the images of idols and false Gods, which since they that woulde seeme 
 Christians have chaunged into Gharlemaine, Launcelot, Hector, and suchlike 
 names, because they would not seeme to imitate their idolatrie therein, and yet 
 mainteine the plaie itselfe, the verie invention of Saban the Devill and woulde 
 so disguise this mischiefe under the cloak of suche gaie names." ^ 
 
 *The knaves of that date, in English and French packs, were usually 
 known as Lancelot, Hogier, Rolant, and Valery ; the kings bore the names 
 of David, Alexander, Caesar, and Charlemagne ; and the queens, Rachael, 
 Argine, Pallas, and Judith. 
 
 *Primero and Maw. — Queen Elizabeth was fond of taking a hand at 
 Prwtero which was then the fashionable game of cards. The favourite game 
 of James I. was Maw which took the place of Primero during his reign ; it 
 afterwards became popular under the name of Five Cards. In 1643, on the 
 complaint of several poor cardmakers, parliament prohibited all importation of 
 foreign packs. With the restoration of Charles II., card-playing received a 
 great impetus, and their use became almost universal. 
 
 *Philip Kinder in his MS. History of Derbyshire,'^ written about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, says of the natives of that shire that " they 
 love y* Cards, and in this they imitate the Spaniard who instade of Kings, 
 Queens and Knaves, they have Kings, Knights and souldiers ; but in all y' rest 
 to y* Ace noe Tradesman, Lawyer, or Divines, signifying y' all other were but 
 asses to play at Cardes. But this Countrie hath Picts and Spades amongsd 
 y° Minors, and these men at Christmas tyme will carry tenn or twentie pound 
 about them, game freely, and returne home againe all y° yeere after very good 
 husbands." 
 
 ' Treatise against Diceing, etc. (1579), f. S4- 
 2 Bodleian, Ashm. MSS. 788. 
 
.262 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 *Ombre. — Ombre was the particular card game popularised by the court of 
 Charles II., and was the favourite play of his queen, Catherine of Portugal. 
 It is well to remember that the name " Ombre " for the once fashionable card 
 game is a misspelling arising from the non-pronunciation, of the h in Spanish ; 
 it should be " Hombre," a man, and has no connection with the French 
 " Ombre," a_ shadow. In this reign the trade of card-making flourished to a 
 remarkable extent, and every kind of eccentricity was used in their illustration 
 both of heraldic and historical character. 
 
 *Whist and other Games. — The first edition of Cotton's Compleat 
 Gamester, published in 1674, mentions the following card games : — 
 
 (i) Ruff and Honours, otherwise called Slam, described as so well known 
 in England that every child almost of eight years old hath a competent know- 
 ledge of it. 
 
 (2) Whist, which differed much from the modern game of that name; "it 
 is called Whist from the silence that is to be observed in the play"; "he that 
 can by craft overlook his adversary's game hath a great advantage." 
 
 (3) French Ruff, which could be played by either two, four, or six of a-side, 
 dealing to each five a piece. 
 
 (4) Gleek, which could be played only by three " neither more nor less." 
 It is styled by Cotton "a noble and delightful game or recreation." 
 
 (5) Ombre, described as a Spanish game of several sorts, " but that 
 which is the chief is called Renegado, at which three only can play." 
 
 (6) Lanterloo, a round game ; two distinct methods of playing are set 
 forth. 
 
 (7) Bankafelet, "the cheat lies in securing an ace or any other sure 
 winning card, and if you mark the cards aforehand, so as to know them by 
 the backside, you know how to make your advantage." 
 
 (8) Beast, " called by the French La Bet" a round game, with five dealt 
 to each player, and the remainder divided into three heaps, called the King, 
 the Play, and the Triolet. 
 
 (9) Basset, described as a French game, and "amongst all those on the 
 cards is accounted to be the most courtly, being properly by the understanders 
 of it, thought only fit for Kings and Queens, great princes, noblemen, etc., to 
 play at, by reason of such great losses or advantages, as may possibly be one 
 side or other during time of play." It was very fashionable towards the close 
 of the seventeenth century ; it was a round game with a banker, and resembled 
 baccarat. 
 
 (10) Bragg is described as "an ingenious and pleasant game in which each 
 gamester is to put down three stakes." 
 
 (11) Picquet ; the rules given are almost identical with those now in use. 
 
 (12) Primero, a Spanish game; though mentioned last by Cotton it is 
 considered the oldest game of cards played in England. It is described as 
 having a close resemblance to Ombre, by which it had been superseded. In 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 263 
 
 both the spadillo, or ace of spades, was reckoned the best card, but Primero was 
 played with six cards and Ombre with nine. 
 
 *Two years later the Compleat Gamester was republished. In the 1676 
 edition there were many changes particularly with reference to cards. The 
 card games not previously mentioned are : — Cribbidge ; All- Fours ; Five-Cards, 
 an Irish game for two, much resembling Maw of James I. reign ; Costly Colours, 
 for two; Bone- Ace, "trivial and very inconsiderable, but played by ladies and 
 persons of quality, and a licking (round) game for money" ; Putt, " the ordinary 
 rooking game"; Wit and Reason; the Art of Memory; Plain Dealing; 
 Queen Nazareen; Penneech; and Post and Pair, The same list of card 
 games was repeated in several other editions of the Compleat Gamester down 
 to 1725. 
 
 ♦Quadrille, which much resembled Ombre with the addition of a fourth 
 player, came into fashion in the first half of the eighteenth century. In 1737 
 Hoyle's Treatise on Whist made its first appearance, and speedily ran through 
 many editions. From that date Whist in its improved shape came rapidly 
 into fashion, and held its own as the essentially English game of English origin 
 throughout the nineteenth century. 
 
 Ancient Cards. — The early specimens of playing-cards that have been 
 produced, differ but little in their form from those now used. This form is cer- 
 tainly the most convenient for the purposes assigned to them, and has been 
 most generally adopted. The figures and devices, however, that constitute the 
 different suits of the cards seem anciently to have depended upon the taste and 
 invention of the card-makers and differed much in different countries. 
 
 It has been observed, that outlines made upon blocks of wood were stamped 
 upon the cards, and afterwards filled up by the hand ; but, soon after the inven- 
 tion of engraving upon copper, the devices were produced by the graver, and 
 sufficiently finished, so that the impressions did not require any assistance from 
 the pencil. It appears also, that the best artists of the time were employed for 
 this purpose. I am exceedingly happy to have it in my power to lay before my 
 readers a curious specimen of ancient engraved cards (plate thirty-five), in the 
 possession of Mr Douce, with whose permission they are added to this work. I 
 have chosen one from each of the different suits, namely, the King of Columbines, 
 the Queen of Hares, the Knave of Pinks, and the Ace of Roses ; which 
 answered to the spades, the clubs, the diamonds, and the hearts, of the moderns. 
 The annexed engravings are of the same size as the originals. They are nearly 
 square, and, originally, I have no doubt but they were perfectly so. 
 
 Upon the other cards belonging to the pack the number of the flowers or 
 animals answered to the pips at present, with the addition of numeral figures 
 corresponding with the devices, that they might be readily distinguished without 
 the trouble of counting them. The originals of these cards, I make no doubt, 
 are the work of Martin Schoen, a well-known and justly celebrated German 
 artist ; and Mr Douce is in possession of part of another set, which evidently 
 
264 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 appear to be the production of Israel Van Mecken, who was contemporary with 
 Schoen. Mecken outlived Martin Schoen a considerable time ; the latter died 
 in i486, and the former in 1523. The earliest print that I have seen by 
 Mecken with a date is 1480; but he practised the art of engraving some time 
 prior to that period. 
 
 A set or pack of cards, but not equally ancient with those above mentioned, 
 were in the possession of Dr Stukeley : the four suits upon them consisted of 
 bells, of hearts, of leaves, and of acorns ; by which, the doctor imagined, were 
 represented the four orders of men among us : the bells are such as are usually 
 tied to the legs of the hawks, and denoted the nobility ; the hearts were intended 
 for the ecclesiastics ; the leaves alluded to the gentry, who possess lands, woods, 
 manors, and parks ; the acorns signified the farmers, peasants, woodmen, park- 
 keepers, and hunters. But this definition will, I trust, be generally considered 
 as a mere effusion of fancy. It is remarkable that in these cards there are 
 neither queens nor aces ; but the former are supplied by knights, the latter have 
 no substitute. Dr Stukeley 's cards were purchased at his sale by Mr Tuttet, 
 and again at his sale by Mr Gough, in whose possession they now remain 
 (1800). The last gentleman has given a full desciption of them in a paper upon 
 the subject of card-playing, in the Archceologia} The figured cards, by us 
 denominated court cards, were formerly called coat cards ; and originally, I con- 
 ceive, the name implied coated figures, that is, men and women who wore coats, 
 in contradistinction to the other devices of flowers and animals not of the human 
 species. The pack or set of cards, in the old plays, is continually called a pair 
 of cards ; which has suggested the idea that anciently two packs of cards were 
 used, a custom common enough at present in playing at quadrille ; one pack 
 being laid by the side of the player who is to deal the next time. But this 
 supposition rests entirely upon the application of the term itself, without any 
 other kind of proof whatever : and seems, indeed, to be entirely overturned by 
 a passage in a very old play entitled The longer thou livest the more Foole 
 thou art; in which Idleness desires Moros the clown to look at "his booke," 
 and shows him "a paire of cardes." In a comedy called v4 Woman killed 
 with Kindness, a pair of cards and counters to play with are mentioned.* 
 
 *The earliest known specimens of the cards engraved on copper are the 
 German ones of circular pattern, with hares, parroquets, pinks, and columbines, 
 as the usual marks of the suits, illustrations of which have just been described. 
 In each suit of such cards there are four coat (or court) cards, namely King, 
 Queen, Squire, and Knave. The marks and names of the suits differed much 
 and still differ in different countries ; but from an early date English cards 
 corresponded with those of France, and were distinguished as cceurs, carreaux, 
 piques, et trefles, or hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. It would be unsatis- 
 factory to attempt, even in two or three pages, to give an account of the great 
 and interesting variety of English playing-cards, and of the moral, political, or 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 1^2 ei sej. ' Cf. /)atV of bellows, /atr of steps, /a>> of organs, etc. 
 
^ClAVUt . 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES 265 
 
 historical use to which it was the custom for two or three centuries to apply their 
 pictures.^ 
 
 The Game of Goose — and of the Snake. — In addition to the pastimes men- 
 tioned in the preceding pages, I shall produce two or three more ; and they are 
 such as require no skill in the performance, but depend entirely upon chance for 
 the determination of the contest. 
 
 We have a childish diversion usually introduced at Christmas time, called 
 the Game of Goose. This game may be played by two persons ; but it will 
 readily admit of many more ; it originated, I believe, in Germany, and is well 
 calculated to make children ready at reckoning the produce of two given numbers. 
 The table for playing at goose is usually an impression from a copper-plate 
 pasted upon a cartoon about the size of a sheet almanack, and divided into sixty- 
 two small compartments arranged in a spiral form, with a large open space in 
 the midst marked with the number sixty-three ; the lesser compartments have 
 singly an appropriate number from one to sixty-two inclusive, beginning at the 
 outmost extremity of the spiral lines. At the commencement of the play, every 
 one of the competitors puts a stake into the space at No. 63. There are also 
 different forfeitures in the course of the game that are added, and the whole 
 belongs to the winner. At No. 5 is a bridge which claims a forfeit at passing ; 
 at 19, an alehouse where a forfeit is exacted and to stop two throws ; at 30, a 
 fountain where you pay for washing ; at 42, a labyrinth which carries you back 
 to 23 ; at 52, the prison where you must rest until relieved by another casting 
 the same throw ; at 58, the grave whence you begin the game again ; and at 61, 
 the goblet where you pay for tasting. ^ The game is played with two dice, and 
 every player throws in his turn as he sits at the table : he must have a counter 
 or some other small mark which he can distinguish from the marks of his 
 antagonists, and according to the amount of the two numbers thrown upon the 
 dice he places his mark ; that is to say, if he throws a four and a five, which 
 amount to nine, he places his mark at nine upon the table, moving it the next 
 throw as many numbers forward as the dice permit him, and so on until the game 
 be completed, namely, when the number sixty-three is made exactly ; all above 
 it the player reckons back, and then throws again in his turn. If the second 
 thrower at the beginning of the game casts the same number as the first, he 
 takes up his piece, and the first player is obliged to begin the game again. If 
 the same thing happens in the middle of the game, the first player goes back to 
 the place the last came from. It is called the game of the goose, because at 
 every fourth and fifth compartment in succession a goose is depicted, and if 
 the cast thrown by the player falls upon a goose, he moves forward double the 
 number of his throw. 
 
 We have also the Game of Snake, and the more modern Game of Matri- 
 
 ' "See Willshire's Descriptive Catalogue of Playing andothet Cards in the Brit. Museum (1876) ; and Supplement 
 (1877) ; also Chatto's Hist, of Playing Cards (1848). 
 
 ' See Des Lust und Spiel Houses, published at Buda, 1680, 
 
266 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 mony, with others of the like kind ; formed upon the same plan as that of the 
 goose, but none of them, according to my opinion, are the least improved by the 
 variations.^ 
 
 Cross and Pile. — Cross and pile, or with us heads or tails, is a silly pastime 
 well enough known among the lowest and most vulgar classes of the community, 
 and to whom it is at present very properly confined ; formerly, however, it held 
 a higher rank, and was introduced at the court. Edward II. was partial to this 
 and such like frivolous diversions, and spent much of his time in the pursuit of 
 them. In one of his wardrobe rolls we meet with the following entries : " Item, 
 paid to Henry, the king's barber, for money which he lent to the king to play at 
 cross and pile, five shillings. Item, paid to Pires Barnard, usher of the king's 
 chamber, money which he lent the king, and which he lost at cross and pile ; 
 to Monsieur Robert Watte wille eightpence." ^ 
 
 A halfpenny is generally now used in playing this game ; but any other coin 
 with a head impressed on one side will answer the purpose : the reverse of the 
 head being called the tail without respect to the figure upon it, and the same if 
 it was blank. Anciently the English coins were stamped on one side with a 
 cross. One person tosses the halfpenny up and the other calls at pleasure head 
 or tail ; if his call lies uppermost when the halfpenny descends and rests upon 
 the ground, he wins ; and if on the contrary, of course he loses. Cross and pile 
 is evidently derived from a pastime called Ostrachinda, oarpaxivda, known in 
 ancient times to the Grecian boys, and practised by them upon various occasions ; 
 having procured a shell, it was seared over with pitch on one side for distinction 
 sake, and the other side was left white ; a boy tossed up this shell and his 
 antagonist called white or block, Nug et vM'ipa, (literally night and day), as he 
 thought proper, and his success was determined by the white or black part of the 
 shell being uppermost. 
 
 ' *Varieties of this game, requiring the use of either dice or tee-totum to fix the numbers are continually being put 
 forth. 2 Aniii^. Repert. , vol. ii. p. $8. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Lord of Misrule said to be peculiar to the English— A Court Officer— The Master of the King's Revels— The Lord 
 of Misrule and his Conduct reprobated— The King of Christmas— of the Cockneys— A King of Christmas at 
 Norwich— The King of the Bean— Whence originated— Christmastide in Charles I. Reign— The Boy-Bishop— 
 Plough Monday— Shrove Tuesday— Easter Game— Hock-Tide— May-Games— The Lord and Lady of the May 
 —Grand May-Game at Greenwich— Royal May-Game at Shooter's-hill— May Poles— May Milk-Maids— May 
 Festival of the Chimney Sweepers— Whitsun-Games— Lamb Ale— The Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, how 
 kept— Its supposed origin— Setting of the Midsummer Watch— Processions on Saint Clement's and Saint 
 Catherine's day — Wassails— Sheep-shearing and Harvest-home— Wakes— Sunday Festivals— Church Ales- 
 Funds raised by Church Ales — Fairs, and their diversions and abuses — Bonfires — Illuminations — Fireworks — 
 Books on Fireworks— A Fiery Drake or Fiery Kite— London Fireworks— Fireworks on Tower-hill- at Public 
 Gardens, and in Pageants. 
 
 THE Lord of Misrule Peculiar to England. — It is said of the English, 
 that formerly they were remarkable for the manner in which they 
 celebrated the festival of Christmas ; at which season they admitted 
 variety of sports and pastimes not known, or little practised in other countries.^ 
 The mock prince, or lord of misrule, whose reign extended through the greater 
 part of the holidays, is particularly remarked by foreign writers, who consider 
 him as a personage rarely to be met with out of England ; ^ and, two or three 
 centuries back, perhaps this observation might be consistent with the 
 truth ; but I trust we shall upon due examination be ready to conclude, that 
 anciently this frolicksome monarch was well known upon the continent, where 
 he probably received his first honours. In this kingdom his power and his 
 dignities suffered no diminution, but on the contrary were established by royal 
 authority, and continued after they had ceased to exist elsewhere. But even 
 with us his government has been extinct for many years, and his name and his 
 offices are nearly forgotten. In some great families, and also sometimes at 
 court, this officer was called the Abbot of Misrule. Leland says, "This 
 Christmas ^ I saw no disguiseings at court, and right few playes ; but there 
 was an abbot of misrule that made much sport, and did right well his office." * 
 In Scotland he was called the Abbot of Unreason, and prohibited there in 1555 
 by the parliament.^ 
 
 The Lord of Misrule a Court Officer. — Holingshed, speaking oT 
 Christmas, calls it, " What time there is alwayes one appointed to make sporte 
 at courte called commonly lorde of misrule, whose office is not unknowne to such 
 as have bene brought up in noblemen's houses and among great housekeepers, 
 which use liberal feasting in the season." « Again : " At the feast of Christmas," 
 says Stow, "in the king's court wherever he chanced to reside, there was 
 
 1 See Introduction. ^ Polydore Vergil de Rerum Invent, lib. v. cap. 2. 
 
 3 An. 4 Hen. VII. a.d. 1489. * Collect, vol. iii. Append, p. 256. 
 
 ' See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 381. ' Chron. of Brit. vol. iii. fol. 1317. 
 
 967 
 
268 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 appointed a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports ; the same merry fellow 
 made his appearance at the house of every nobleman and person of distinction, 
 and among the rest the lord mayor of London and the sheriffs had severally of 
 them their lord of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who 
 should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders ; this pageant potentate 
 began his rule at All-hallow eve, and continued the same till the morrow after 
 the Feast of the Purification ; in which space there were fine and subtle 
 disguisings, masks, and mummeries." ^ 
 
 The Master of the King's Revels. — In the fifth year of Edward VI., at 
 Christmas time, a gentleman named George Ferrers, who was a lawyer, a poet, 
 and an historian, was appointed by the council to bear this office; "and he," 
 says Holingshed, "being of better calling than commonly his predecessors had 
 been before, received all his commissions and warrauntes by the name of 
 master of the kinge's pastimes ; which gentleman so well supplied his office, 
 both of shew of sundry sights, and devises of rare invention, and in act of 
 divers interludes, and matters of pastime, played by persons, as not only 
 satisfied the common sorte, but also were verie well liked and allowed by the 
 council, and others of skill in lyke pastimes ; but best by the young king 
 himselfe, as appeared by his princely liberalitie in rewarding that service." 
 
 The Lord of Misrule — His Conduct Reprobated. — This master of 
 merry disports was not confined to the court, nor to the houses of the opulent, 
 he was also elected in various parishes, where, indeed, his reign seems to have 
 been of shorter date. Philip Stubbs, who lived at the close of the sixteenth 
 century, places this whimsical personage, with his followers, in a very degrading 
 point of view.^ I shall give the passage in the author's own words, and leave 
 the reader to comment upon them. " First of all, the wilde heades of the parish 
 flocking togither, chuse them a graund captaine of mischiefe, whom they innoble 
 with the title of Lord of Misrule; and him they crowne with great solemnity, 
 and adopt for their king. This king annoynted chooseth forth twentie, fourty, 
 threescore, or an hundred lustie guttes, like to himself, to waite upon his lordly 
 majesty, and to guarde his noble person. Then every one of these men he 
 investeth with his liveries of greene, yellow, or some other light wanton colour, 
 and as though they were not gawdy ynough, they bedecke themselves with 
 scarffes, ribbons, and laces, hanged all over with gold ringes, pretious stones, 
 and other jewels. This done, they tie aboute either legge twentie or fourtie 
 belles, with riche handkerchiefes in their handes, and sometimes laide acrosse 
 over their shoulders and neckes, borrowed, for the most part, of their pretie 
 mopsies and loving Bessies. Thus all thinges set in order, then have they their 
 hobby horses, their dragons, and other antiques, together with their baudie 
 pipers, and thundring drummers, to strike up the devil's daunce with all. 
 Then march this heathen company towards the church, their pypers pyping, 
 their drummers thundring, their stumpes dauncingf, their belles jyngling, their 
 
 • Survey of London, p. 79. » Anatomic of Abuses, first printed, a.d. 1585. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 269 
 
 handkerchiefes fluttering aboute their heades like madde men, their hobbie 
 horses and other monsters skirmishing amongst the throng : and in this sorte 
 they go to the church, though the minister be at prayer or preaching, dauncing 
 and singing like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can 
 heare his owne voyce. Then the foolish people they looke, they stare, they 
 laugh, they fleere, and mount upon the formes and pewes to see these goodly 
 pageants solemnized. Then after this, aboute the church they go againe and 
 againe, and so fourthe into the churche yard, where they have commonly their 
 sommer-halls, their bowers, arbours, and banquetting-houses set up, wherein they 
 feast, banquet, and daunce all that day, and parad venture all that night too ; 
 and thus these terrestrial furies spend the sabbath day. Then, for the further 
 innobling of this honourable lurdane, lord I should say, they have certaine 
 papers wherein is painted some babelerie or other of imagerie worke, and these 
 they call my Lord of Misrule's badges or cognizances. These they give to every 
 one that will give them money to maintain them in this their heathenage devilrie, 
 whordbm, dronkennesse, pride, and whatnot. And who will not show himself 
 buxome to them and give them money, they shall be mocked and flouted shame- 
 fully ; yea, and many times carried upon a cowlstaffe, and dived over heade and 
 eares in water, or otherwise most horribly abused. And so assotted are some, 
 that they not only give them money, but weare their badges or cognizances in 
 their hates or cappes openly. Another sorte of fantasticall fooles bring to these 
 helhounds, the Lord of Misrule and his complices, some bread, some good ale, 
 some new cheese, some old cheese, some custardes, some cracknels, some cakes, 
 some flauns, some tartes, some creame, some meat, some one thing, and some 
 another ; but if they knewe that as often as they bring any to the maintenance 
 of these execrable pastymes, they offer sacrifice to the Devill and Sathanas, they 
 would refeus and withdrawe their handes, whiche God grant they maie." Hence 
 it should seem the Lord of Misrule was sometimes president over the summer 
 sports. The author has distinguished this pageantry from the May-games, the 
 wakes, and the church-ales, of which, I should otherwise have thought, it might 
 have been a component part. 
 
 *As a set-off to the extravagant condemnation of Stubbs, it may be well 
 to state that the old English custom of the Christmas Lord of Misrule, with his 
 twelve days of sovereignty, was maintained and supported by gentle folk of the 
 highest position, who doubtless did their best to suppress the coarser elements. 
 For instance, Richard Evelyn, a most worshipful squire and deputy-lieutenant 
 of the counties of Surrey and Sussex, father of the author of the Diary, drew 
 up regulations for appointing and defining the functions of this Christmas official 
 on his Surrey estate at Wotton : — Imprimis, I give free leave to Owen Flood, 
 my trumpeter, gentleman, to be Lord of Misrule of all good orders during the 
 twelve days. And also I give free leave to the said Owen Flood to command 
 all and every person or persons whatsoever, as well servants as others to be at 
 his command whensoever he shall sound his trumpet or music, and to do him 
 
270 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 good service, as though I were present myself, at their perils. . . . I give full 
 power and authority to his lordship to break up all locks, bolts, bars doors and 
 latches, and to fling up all doors out of hinges, to conie at those who presume 
 to disobey his lordship's commands. God save the King." 
 
 *The various colleges both at Oxford and Cambridge elected a Christmas 
 Lord, or Lord of Misrule, to preside over the sports, plays and pageants of the 
 on.^ 
 
 The King of Christmas. — The society belonging to Lincoln's Inn had 
 anciently an officer chosen at this season, who was honoured with the title of 
 King of Christmas Day, because he presided in the hall upon that day. This 
 temporary potentate had a marshal and a steward to attend upon him. The mar- 
 shal, in the absence of the monarch, was permitted to assume his state, and upon 
 New Year's Day he sat as king in the hall when the master of the revels, during 
 the time of dining, supplied the marshal's place. Upon Childermas Day they had 
 another officer, denominated the King of the Cockneys, who also presided on 
 the day of his appointment, and had his inferior officers to wait upon him.^ 
 
 A King of Christmas at Norwich. — In the history of Norfolk,* mention 
 is made of a pageant exhibited at Norwich upon a Shrove Tuesday, which 
 happened in the month of March, " when one rode through the street, having 
 his horse trapped with tyn foyle and other nyse disgysynges, crowned as King 
 of Christmas, in token that the season should end with the twelve moneths of 
 the year ; and afore hym went yche moneth dysgysyd as the season requlryd." 
 
 The King of the Bean. — The dignified persons above mentioned were, 
 I presume, upon an equal footing with the King of the Bean, whose reign com- 
 menced upon the vigil of the Epiphany, or upon the day itself.* We read that, 
 some time back, " it was a common Christmas gambol in both our universities, 
 and ^continued," at the commencement of the last century, "to be usual 
 in other places, to give the name of king or queen to that person whose 
 extraordinary good luck it was to hit upon that part of a divided cake which 
 was honoured above the others by having a bean in it." ^ The reader will readily 
 trace the vestige of this custom, though somewhat differently managed, and 
 without the bean, in the present method of drawing, as it is called, for king and 
 queen upon Twelfth-day. I will not pretend to say in ancient times, for the 
 title is by no means of recent date, that the election of this monarch, the King 
 of the Bean, depended entirely upon the decision of fortune : the words of an 
 old kalendar belonging to the Romish church® seem to favour a contrary 
 opinion ; they are to this effect : On the fifth of January, the vigil of the 
 Epiphany, the Kings of the Bean are created ; ^ and on the sixth the feast of 
 
 ' Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. ii. 378-80 ; Wood's Athena, ii. 239. '^ Dugdale's Origines Juridiciaks, fol. 247. 
 
 ' Blomfield, vol. ii. p. 3. 
 
 * *The Christinas Lord of Misrule, elected in November by the fellows of Merton College, Oxford, is termed in the 
 registers Rex Fabarum, or Rex Regni Fabarum. 
 '' Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. chap. xvii. 
 ° Cited by Mr Brand, notes to Bourne, p. 205. ' Keges Fabis creantur. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 271 
 
 the kings shall be held, and also of the queen ; and let the banqueting be 
 continued for many days. At court, in the eighth year of Edward III., this 
 majestic title was conferred upon one of the king's minstrels, as we find by an 
 entry in a computus so dated, which states that sixty shillings were given by the 
 king, upon the day of the Epiphany, to Regan the trumpeter and his associates, 
 the court minstrels, in the name of King of the Bean.^ 
 
 Whence these Mock Dignities were Derived, — Selden asserts,* and 
 in my opinion with great justice, that all these whimsical transpositions of 
 dignity are derived from the ancient Saturnalia, or Feasts of Saturn, when the 
 masters waited upon their servants, who were honoured with mock titles, and 
 permitted to assume the state and deportment of their lords. These fooleries 
 were exceedingly popular, and continued to be practised long after the establish- 
 ment of Christianity, in defiance of the threatenings and the remonstrances of 
 the clergy, who, finding it impossible to divert the stream of vulgar prejudice, 
 permitted their occasional exercise. The most daringly impious of such 
 practices was the Festival of Fools, in which the most sacred rites and cere- 
 monies of the church were turned into ridicule ; but as this festival had happily 
 very little and only short-lived hold on any part of England, it may be 
 passed by. 
 
 *An interesting condensed account of England's Christmastide in the days 
 of Charles I. is worth citing : 
 
 " It is now Christmas, and not a Cup of drinke must passe without a Caroll, 
 the Beasts, Fowle, and Fish come to a generall execution, and the Corne is 
 ground to dust for the Bakehouse and the Pastry. Cards and Dice purge many 
 a purse, and the Youth show their agility in Shoeing of the Wild Mare.^ Now 
 good cheere and welcome, and God be with you and I thanke you. And 
 against the new yeare provide for the presents. The Lord of Mis- Rule is no 
 meane man for his time, and the ghests of the High Table must lacke no Wine. 
 The lusty bloods must looke about them like men, and piping and dauncing puts 
 away much melancholy. Stolen Venison is sweet, and a fat Coney is worth 
 money. Pitfalles are now set for small Birdes, and a Woodcocke hangs himselfe 
 in a gynne. A good fire heats all the house, and a full Almesbasket makes the 
 Beggars Prayers. The Masters and the Mummers make the merry sport ; but 
 if they lose their money, their Drumme goes dead. Swearers and Swaggerers 
 are sent away to the Alehouse, and unruly Wenches goe in danger of Judgment. 
 Musicians now make their Instruments speake out, and a good song is worth 
 the hearing. In summe, it is a holy time, a duty in Christians, for the remem- 
 brance of Christ, and custome among friends, for the maintenance of good 
 fellowship. In briefe, I thus conclude of it, I hold it (Christmas) a memory of 
 
 ' In nomine Regis de Fabl MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii. " Table Talk, London, 1689, title Christmas. 
 
 3 *" From scattered notices in several old works, I collect that Shoeing the Wild Mare was a diversion among our 
 ancestors, more particularly intended for the young, and that the Wild Mare was simply a youth so called, who was 
 allowed a certain start, and who was pursued by his companions with the object of being shoed, if he did not succeed in 
 outstripping them. "— Hailitt's edit, of Brand's Popular Antiquities, ii. 332-3. 
 
272 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the Heaven's Love, and the world's peace, the myrth of the honest, and the 
 meeting of the friendly. Farewell." ^ 
 
 *The Boy- Bishop. — The election and the investment of the Boy- Bishop, a 
 general English custom, was probably derived from the festival of fools. It 
 does not appear at what period this curious ceremony was first established, but 
 apparently it was ancient, at least we can trace it back to the thirteenth century. 
 It had been long established at Salisbury in 13 19, when Bishop Roger de 
 Mortival specially regulated its observance. 
 
 *0n the eve of St Nicholas's Day (December 5th), the most deserving 
 chorister or scholar was appointed the bishop of boys until the end of the day of 
 the Holy Innocents or Childermas (December 28th). The custom seems to 
 have prevailed in all our cathedral churches, in the larger minster and monastic 
 churches to which schools were attached, and in such purely scholastic founda- 
 tions as those of the colleges of Winchester and Eton. Dean Colet, in his 
 foundation of St Paul's School, desired to perpetuate this custom, as a stimulus 
 to Christian ambition, and expressly orders that the scholars "shall, every 
 Childermas, that is, Innocents' Day, come to Paule's churche, and hear the 
 Childe Byshop's sermon, and after be at hygh masse, and each of them offer a 
 penny to the childe byshop ; and with them the maisters and surveyors of the 
 schole."^ Full episcopal vestments were provided for the Boy-Bishop, and 
 copes for his companions ; they occur in a great variety of inventories. At 
 Salisbury, the Boy- Bishop and his fellows completely reversed the usual order 
 of procession. The dean's residentiaries went first, followed by the chaplains, 
 the bishops, and petty prebendaries. The choristers and their bishop came 
 last ; they sat in the upper stalls, the residentiaries furnished the incense and 
 book, and the petties were the taper-bearers. The Boy- Bishop gave the bene- 
 diction. Full Rubrical directions are given in the Sarum Processional for the 
 Boy- Bishop during the few days that he held office. There is not the slightest 
 touch of farce or ribaldry.^ After divine service, the Boy- Bishop and his asso- 
 ciates went about to different parts of the town, and visited the religious houses, 
 collecting money. These ceremonies and processions were formally abrogated by 
 proclamation from the king and council, in 1 542, the thirty-third year of Henry 
 VIII. The concluding clause of the ordinance runs thus : " Whereas heretofore 
 dyvers and many superstitious and chyldysh observances have been used, and 
 yet to this day are observed and kept in many and sundry places of this realm 
 upon St Nicholas, St Catherines, St Clements, and Holy Innocents, and such 
 like holydaies ; children be strangelie decked and apparayled to counterfeit 
 priests, bishops, and women, and so ledde with songs and dances from house to 
 house, blessing the people, and gathering of money ; and boyes do singe masse, 
 and preache in the pulpits, with such other unfittinge and inconvenient usages, 
 which tend rather to derysyon than enie true glorie to God, or honor of his 
 
 * Nicholas' Fantasies, 1626. " Knight's Lift of Colet, p. 362. 
 
 ' *Wordsworth's Salisbury Processional Ceremonies, 1901. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 273 
 
 sayntes."^ This idle pageantry was revived by his daughter Mary ; and in the 
 second year of her reign an edict, dated November 13, 1554, was issued from 
 the Bishop of London to the clergy of his diocese, to have a Boy- Bishop in 
 procession. * The year following, " the child bishop, of Paules church, with his 
 company," were admitted into the queen's privy chamber, where he sang before 
 her on Saint Nicholas' Day and upon Holy Innocents' Day.* Again the next year, 
 says Strype, " on Saint Nicholas-even, Saint Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a 
 bishop in pontificalibus,* went abroad in most parts of London, singing after the 
 old fashion ; and was received with many ignorant but well-disposed people into 
 their houses, and had as much good cheer as ever was wont to be had before." 
 
 *0n the death of Mary this ancient custom was finally abandoned. The 
 expression in Henry VHI.'s proclamation and elsewhere as to the Boy-Bishop 
 "singing mass" must not be taken too literally; for though he aped much of 
 the offices, the canon of the mass was certainly not sung by him, but only 
 certain parts, such as the prose and offertory at Rouen. 
 
 *The elaborate account rolls of the great abbey of Durham for the four- 
 teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries show that the institution of Boy- Bishop 
 was regularly observed there, year by year, with but few exceptions. It is stated 
 in the hostillar's roll of 1405 that there was no Boy- Bishop that year 
 because of the wars ; the insurrection of the Percys had not then come to a 
 close. There was an almery school at Durham in connection with the 
 Infirmary, where the boys were daily fed and taught. The Boy- Bishop seems 
 to have been chosen from these children, and is usually described in the accounts 
 as Episcopus Elemosinarice. He received gratuities from almost all the officers 
 of the abbey, who entered the amount on their different rolls. These sums 
 varied from 2od. to 5s.^ 
 
 *Richard Berde, doctor of laws, by will of May 2nd, 1501, left to the abbey 
 church of the Austin Canons of St James, Northampton, his " mousterdevile 
 hoode, with the lynyng of grene silk, for the cross-bearer on Seynt Nicholas- 
 night." Doubtless the doctor, who had long had a chamber within the pre- 
 cincts, had often in his lifetime lent his parti-coloured hood for the festival of the 
 monastery school.* 
 
 *Plough Monday. — There were three special seasons for the performance 
 of what is termed English folk-drama, and traces of all three survive. They 
 are the Christmas Mumming play, the Plough Monday play, and the Easter or 
 Pace-Egg play. In all three the sword dance was usually introduced. The 
 character of St George, and various forms of his legend, formed part of the 
 Christmas and Easter play, but not of the intermediate one. Plough Monday, 
 the Monday after Twelfth Day, was formerly kept throughout most parts of 
 agricultural England by the ploughmen yoking themselves together and draw- 
 
 > MS. Cott. Tiberius, B. i. " Strype's Eccl. Mem. vol. iii. chap, xxxix. p. 310. 
 
 ' Ibid. chap. XXXV. p. 202. * Ibid. chap, xxxix. p. 310. 
 
 ' Durham Aciount Rolls (Surtees Society), 3 vols., 1898-1900. ' Wills of Northampton Probate Court. 
 
274 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 ing about a plough, accompanied by mummers and music. Their original 
 object was to gather supplies in kind or money for the support of the Plough or 
 Labourers' light in the parish church, and doubtless to use some part of the 
 gathering for their own festivity or for a general Plough- Ale. But after the 
 Reformation, when these special lights and gilds were suppressed, the tribute 
 collected was spent entirely upon themselves. When the ploughboys came to 
 any house of substance in the parish or district, the sword dance was executed, 
 when one of the combatants was usually killed, and revived by a " doctor." 
 Beelzebub or a fool, and one dressed extravagantly as a woman, and usually 
 termed " Bessy," were two other of the characters. At the end of the mumming 
 the money-box was rattled and the music played, and if neither refreshment nor 
 money was forthcoming, the ground in front of the house, whether grass-plot or 
 gravel walk, was roughly ploughed up, and the mummers departed. This last 
 feature used to be vigorously carried out as late as the " forties " in the Peak of 
 Derbyshire.^ Plough Monday was observed in Huntingdonshire in i860, where 
 the mummers were termed " Plough- Witchers."^ A Plough Monday play was 
 acted at Wiverton Hall, Nottinghamshire, in 1893; no plough was brought 
 round, but the mummers' clothes were ornamented with paper ploughs in red 
 and black.* 
 
 *Shrove Tuesday. — Cock-fighting, and throwing at cocks on Shrove 
 Tuesday, have been already mentioned, with other trifling sports which are com- 
 prised under their appropriate heads, and need not to be repeated. The day before 
 Lent began used to be a universal holiday given up to a variety of sports.* 
 
 *Easter Games. — Easter, as has been already stated, was the usual season 
 for an Easter play or mumming, which is still sometimes called the Pace-Egg 
 play, a corruption oi pasche or passover. The ^^^ was always held to be an apt 
 symbol of the Resurrection, hence Easter eggs and various customs that yet 
 linger connected with 4;hem. This Easter play is still occasionally printed,^ and 
 occasionally acted by village players. The characters are much the same as 
 they probably were in pre- Reformation days, namely, St George, Fool, Slasher, 
 Doctor, Prince of Paradine, King of Egypt, Hector, Beelzebub, and Devil- 
 Doubt. Occasionally the King of Egypt's daughter is introduced in character 
 and not only mentioned. The play doubtless had a crusading origin. 
 
 HocK-TiDE. — The popular holidays of Hock-tide, mentioned by Matthew 
 Paris and other early writers, were kept on the Monday and Tuesday following 
 the second Sunday after Easter Day ; and distinguished, according to John 
 Rouse, the Warwickshire historian of the fifteenth century, by various sportive 
 
 ' I have o. vivid recollection of seeing the Plough Monday mummers with their plough, when a small boy, at 
 Tarwich, near Ashborne, in 1847-1848, and being taken in the latter year to see the havoc made by the plough in the 
 small front garden of a well-to-do but niggardly resident.— J. C. C. 
 
 2 Notes and Queries, Ser. II. ix. 381. 
 
 ^ Mr Ordish on the "English Folk Drama," Folk Lore Quarterly, vol. iv. pp. 149-174. 
 
 * Can it be any survival of Shrove Tuesday cock-throwing that makes this day at the present time (1902), in 
 several English towns, the season for children to begin playing with shuttlecocks in the streets. 
 
 " I bought copies in Sheffield market-place in 1S69 and again in 1878.— J. C. C. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 275 
 
 pastimes, in which the towns-people, divided into parties, were accustomed to 
 draw each other with ropes. Spelman is more definite, and tells us, "they con- 
 sisted in the men and women binding each other, and especially the women the 
 men," and hence it was called Binding-Tuesday.^ Cowel informs us that it was 
 customary in several manors in Hampshire for " the men to hock the women on 
 the Monday, and the women the men upon the Tuesday ; that is, on that day 
 the women in merriment stop the ways with ropes and pull the passengers to 
 them, desiring something to be laid out in pious uses in order to obtain their 
 freedom."^ Such are the general outlines of this singular institution, and the 
 pens of several able writers have been employed in attempting to investigate its 
 origin.* Some think it was held in commemoration of the massacre of the 
 Danes, in the reign of Ethelred the Unready, on Saint Brice's Day;* others, 
 that it was in remembrance of the death of Hardicanute, which happened on 
 Tuesday the 8th of June, 1041, by which event the English were delivered from 
 the intolerant government of the Danes : and this opinion appears to be most 
 probable. The binding part of the ceremony might naturally refer to the abject 
 state of slavery in which the wretched Saxons were held by their imperious 
 lords; and the donations for "pious uses," may be considered as tacit acknow- 
 ledgments of gratitude to heaven for freeing the nation from its bondage. In 
 the churchwarden's accounts for the parish of Lambeth for the years 1 5 1 5 and 
 1 5 16, are several entries of hock monies received from the men and the women 
 for the church service. And here we may observe, that the contributions 
 collected by the fair sex exceeded those made by the men.^ 
 
 Hock-day was generally observed as lately as the sixteenth century. We 
 learn from Spelman that it was not totally discontinued in his time. Dr Plott, 
 who makes Monday the principal day, has noticed some vestiges of it at the 
 distance of fifty years, but now it is totally abolished. 
 
 *The derivation of the word Hock is still a puzzle to etymologists.* The 
 roughly humorous games of this season, when the men extorted payment from 
 the women on the Monday, and the women from the men on the Tuesday, are 
 peculiar to England, whatever may be their historic origin, and were certainly 
 in general use in the fourteenth century, and probably much earlier. The 
 ransom money in olden times was usually handed over to the churchwardens. 
 The large majority of extant parish accounts of pre- Reformation date have 
 entries relative to Hock-tide payments. 
 
 May-Games. — The celebration of the May-games, at which we have only 
 glanced in a former part of the work,^ will require some enlargement in this 
 chapter. " On the calends or first of May," says Bourne,^ " commonly called 
 May-day, the juvenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a little after midnight 
 
 > Gloss, under the title Hock-day. ^ Hist. Hampshire. 
 
 ' See a Memoir by the Rev. Mr Jenne, Archceologia, vol. vii. p. 244. 
 
 * A.D. 1002. But the time of the year does not agree. St Brice's Day is the 13th of November. 
 
 " Memoir, ut supra. ° See Oxford Dictionary, sub. voc. 
 
 ' Page 223, and Introduction. ' Antig. Vulgaris, chap. 25. 
 
276 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and blowing of 
 horns, where they break down branches from the trees, and adorn them with 
 nosegays and crowns of flowers ; when this is done, they return with their booty 
 homewards about the rising of the sun, and make their doors and windows to 
 triumph with their flowery spoils ; and the after part of the day is chiefly spent 
 in dancing round a tall pole, which is called a May-pole ; and being placed in a 
 convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were, consecrated to the 
 Goddess of Flowers, without the least violation being offered to it in the whole 
 circle of the year." 
 
 This custom, no doubt, is a relic of one more ancient, practised by the 
 Heathens, who observed the last four days in April, and the first of May, in 
 honour of the goddess Flora. An old Romish calendar, cited by Mr Brand, 
 says, on the 30th of April, the boys go out to seek May-trees, " Maii arbores a 
 pueris exquirunter." Some consider the May-pole as a relic of Druidism ; but I 
 cannot find any solid foundation for such an opinion. 
 
 It should be observed, that the May-games were not always celebrated upon 
 the first day of the month ; and to this we may add the following extract from 
 Stow : " In the month of May the citizens of London of all estates, generally in 
 every parish, and in some instances two or three parishes joining together, had 
 their several mayings, and did fetch their may -poles with divers warlike shows ; 
 with good archers, morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime, all day long ; 
 and towards evening they had stage-plays and bonfires in the streets. These 
 great mayings and May-games were made by the governors and masters of the 
 city, together with the triumphant setting up of the great shaft or principal May- 
 pole in Cornhill before the parish church of Saint Andrew," ^ which was thence 
 called Saint Andrew Undershaft. 
 
 No doubt the May-games are of long standing, though the time of their 
 institution cannot be traced. Mention is made of the May-pole at Cornhill, in 
 a poem called the " Chaunce of the Dice," attributed to Chaucer. In the time 
 of Stow, who died in 1605, they were not conducted with so great splendour as 
 they had been formerly, 6wing to a dangerous riot which took place upon May- 
 day, 1 5 17, in the ninth year of Henry VIII., on which occasion several foreigners 
 were slain, and two of the ringleaders of the disturbance were hanged. 
 
 Stow has passed unnoticed the manner in which the May-poles were usually 
 decorated ; this deficiency I shall supply from Philip Stubs, a contemporary 
 writer, one who saw these pastimes in a very different point of view, and some 
 may think his invectives are more severe than just ; however, I am afraid the 
 conclusion of them, though perhaps much exaggerated, is not altogether without 
 foundation. He writes thus -J " Against Maie-day, Whitsunday, or some other 
 time of the year, every parish, towne, or village, assemble themselves, both men, 
 women, and children ; and either all together, or dividing themselves into com- 
 panies, they goe some to the woods and groves, some to the hills and mountaines, 
 
 ^Survey of London, p. 80. 2 In his Anatomic of Aduses, printed in 1595. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 277 
 
 some to one place, some to another, where they spend all the night in pleasant 
 pastimes, and in the morning they return, bringing with them birche boughes 
 and branches of trees to deck their assemblies withal. But their chiefest jewel 
 they bring from thence is the Maie-pole, which they bring home with great 
 veneration, as thus — ^they have twentie or fourtie yoake of oxen, every oxe 
 having a sweete nosegaie of flowers tied to the tip of his homes, and these oxen 
 drawe home the May-poale, their stinking idol rather, which they covered all 
 over with flowers and hearbes, bound round with strings from the top to the 
 bottome, and sometimes it was painted with variable colours, having two or three 
 hundred men, women, and children following it with great devotion. And thus 
 equipped it was reared with handkerchiefes and flagges streaming on the top, they 
 strawe the ground round about it, they bind green boughs about it, they set up 
 summer halles, bowers, and arbours hard by it, and then fall they to banquetting 
 and feasting, to leaping and dauncing about it, as the heathen people did at the 
 dedication of their idolls. I have heard it crediblie reported, by men of great 
 gravity, credite, and reputation, that of fourtie, threescore, or an hundred maides 
 going to the wood, there have scarcely the third part of them returned home 
 againe as they went." 
 
 In the churchwarden's account for the parish of St Helen's in Abingdon, 
 Berks, dated 1566, the ninth of Elizabeth, is the following article : " Payde for 
 setting up Robin Hoode's bower, eighteenpence ; " that is, a bower for the recep- 
 tion of the fictitious Robin Hood and his company, belonging to the May-day 
 pageant.^ 
 
 The Lord and Lady of the May. — It seems to have been the constant 
 custom, at the celebration of the May-games, to elect a Lord and Lady of the 
 May, who probably presided over the sports. On the thirtieth of May, 1557, 
 in the fourth year of Queen Mary, "was a goodly May-game in Fenchurch 
 Street, with drums, and guns, and pikes ; and with the nine worthies who rode, 
 and each of them made his speech, there was also a morrice dance, and an 
 elephant and castle, and the Lord and Lady of the May appearing to make up 
 the show." ^ We also read that the Lord of the May, and no doubt his Lady also, 
 was decorated with scarfs, ribbands, and other fineries. Hence, in the comedy 
 called The Knight of the Burning Pestle, written by Beaumont and Fletcher in 
 161 1, a citizen, addressing himself to the other actors, says, "Let Ralph come 
 out on May-day in the morning, and speak upon a conduit, with all his scarfs 
 about him, and his feathers, and his rings, and his knacks, as Lord of the May." 
 His request is complied with, and Ralph appears upon the stage in the assumed 
 character, where he makes his speech, beginning in this manner : 
 
 With gilded staff and crossed scarf the May Lord here I stand. 
 
 The citizen is supposed to be a spectator, and Ralph is his apprentice, but per- 
 mitted by him to play in the piece. 
 
 ^ Archxologia, vol. i. cap. 4, p. 11. ''Strype's Bcclts. Mem. vol. iii, cap. 49, p. 377. 
 
278 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 At the commencement of the sixteenth century, or perhaps still earlier, the 
 ancient stories of Robin Hood and his frolicsome companions seem to have been 
 new-modelled, and divided into separate ballads, which much increased their 
 popularity ; for this reason it was customary to personify this famous outlaw, 
 with several of his most noted associates, and add them to the pageantry of the 
 May-games, He presided as Lord of the May; and a female, or rather, 
 perhaps, a man habited like a female, called the Maid Marian, his faithful 
 mistress, was the Lady of the May. His companions were distinguished by the 
 title of " Robin Hood's Men," and were also equipped in appropriate dresses ; 
 their coats, hoods, and hose were generally green. Henry VHI., in the first 
 year of his reign, one morning, by way of pastime, came suddenly into the 
 chamber where the queen and her ladies were sitting. He was attended by 
 twelve noblemen, all apparelled in short coats of Kentish kendal, with hoods and 
 hosen of the same ; each of them had his bow, with arrows, and a sword, and a 
 buckler, "like outlawes, or Robyn Hode's men." The queen, it seems, at first 
 was somewhat afrighted by their appearance, of which she was not the least 
 apprised. This gay troop performed several dances, and then departed. ^ 
 
 Bishop Latimer, in a sermon which he preached before king Edward VI., 
 relates the following anecdote, which proves the great popularity of the May 
 pageants. " Coming," says he, " to a certain town on a holiday to preach, 
 I found the church door fast locked. I taryed there half an houre and more, 
 and at last the key was found, and one of the parish comes to me and sayes, 
 Syr, this is a busy day with us, we cannot hear you ; it is Robin Hoode's day ; 
 the parish are gone abroad to gather for Robin Hood ; I pray you let^ them not. 
 I was fayne, therefore, to give place to Robin Hood. I thought my rochet 
 would have been regarded ; but it would not serve, it was faine to give place to 
 Robin Hoode's men." ^ In Garrick's Collection of Old Plays * is one entitled 
 "A new Playe of Robyn Hoode, for to be played in the May-games, very 
 pleasaunte and full of Pastyme," printed at London by William Copland, black 
 letter, without date. This playe consists of short dialogues between Robyn 
 Hode, Lytell John, Fryer Tucke, a potter's boy, and the potter. Robyn fights 
 with the friar, who afterwards becomes his chaplain ; he also breaks the boy's 
 pots, and commits several other absurdities. The language of the piece is 
 somewhat low, and full of ribaldry. ^ 
 
 Grand May-game at Greenwich. — It has been observed that the May- 
 games were not confined to the first day of the month, neither were they always 
 concluded in one day ; on the contrary I have now before me a manuscript,* 
 written apparently in the reign of Henry VII., wherein a number of gentlemen, 
 professing themselves to be the servants of the Lady May, promise to be in the 
 
 1 Hall, in Vit. Hen. VIII. fol. vi. a Hinder or prevent. 
 
 ^ Latimer's Sermons, printed 1589. * K. vol. x. 
 
 ^ *On the whole subject of Robin Hood Plays and Ballads, see Child's Ballads, iii. pp. 39-333. 
 ' Harl. Lib. 69 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 279 
 
 royal^ park at Greenwich, day after day, from two o'clock in the afternoon till 
 five, in order to perform the various sports and exercises specified in the agree- 
 ment ; that is to say. 
 
 On the 14th day of May they engage to meet at a place appointed by the 
 king, armed with the " harneisi thereunto accustomed, to kepe the fielde, and to 
 run with every commer eight courses." Four additional courses were to be 
 granted to any one who desired it, if the time would permit, or the queen was 
 pleased to give them leave ; agreeable to the ancient custom by which the ladies 
 presided as arbitrators at the justs. 
 
 On the 15th the archers took the field to shoot at " the standard with flight 
 arrows." 
 
 On the 1 6th they held a tournament with "swords rebated to strike with 
 every commer eight strokes," according to the accustomed usage. 
 
 On the 1 8th, for I suppose Sunday intervened, they were to be ready to 
 " wrestle with all commers all manner of ways," according to their pleasure. 
 
 On the 19th they were to enter the field, to fight on foot at the barriers, 
 with spears in their hands and swords rebated by their sides, and with spear and 
 sword to defend their barriers : there were to be eight strokes with the spear, 
 two of them " with the foyne," or short thrust, and eight strokes with the sword ; 
 " every man to take his best advantage with gript or otherwise." 
 
 On the 20th they were to give additional proof of their strength by casting 
 " the barre on foote, and with the arme, bothe heavit and hight." I do not clearly 
 understand this passage, but suppose it means by lifting and casting aloft. 
 
 On the 2 1st they recommenced the exercises, which were to be continued 
 daily, Sundays excepted, through the remaining part of May, and a fortnight in 
 the month of June. 
 
 Royal May-game at Shooter's Hill. — Henry VIH., when young, 
 delighted much in pageantry, and the early part of his reign abounded with 
 gaudy shows ; most of them were his own devising, and others contrived for 
 his amusement. Among the latter we may reckon a May-game at Shooter's 
 Hill, which was exhibited by the officers of his guards ; they in a body, amounting 
 to two hundred, all of them clothed in green, and headed by their captain, who 
 personated Robin Hood, met the King one morning as he was riding to take 
 the air, accompanied by the queen and a large suite of the nobility of both sexes. 
 The fictitious foresters first amused them with a double discharge of their arrows ; 
 and then, their chief approaching the king, invited him to see the manner in 
 which he and his companions lived. The king complied with the request, and 
 the archers, blowing their horns, conducted him and his train into the wood 
 under the hill, where an arbour was made with green boughs, having a hall, a 
 great chamber, and an inner chamber, and the whole was covered with flowers 
 and sweet herbs. When the company had entered the arbour, Robin Hood 
 
 ' I suppose the author mea|is tilting armour, for the purpose of justing, here called running of courses. 
 
280 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 excused the want of more abundant refreshment, saying to the king, " Sir, we 
 outlaws usually breakfast upon venison, and have no other food to offer you." 
 The king and queen then sat down, and were served with venison and wine ; 
 and after the entertainment, with which it seems they were well pleased, they 
 departed, and on their return were met by two ladies riding in a rich open 
 chariot, drawn by five horses. Every horse, according to Hollingshed, had his 
 name upon his head, and upon every horse sat a lady, with her name written. 
 On the first horse, called Lawde, sat Humidity ; on the second, named Memeon, 
 sat Lady Vert, or green ; on the third, called Pheton, sat Lady Vegitive ; on the 
 fourth, called Rimphon, sat Lady Pleasaunce ; on the fifth, called Lampace, sat 
 Sweet Odour. 1 Both of the ladies in the chariot were splendidly apparelled ; 
 one of them personified the Lady May, and the other Lady Flora, " who," we 
 are told, " saluted the king with divers goodly songs, and so brought him to 
 Greenwich." 
 
 We may here just observe that the May-games had attracted the notice of 
 the nobility long before the time of Henry ; and agreeable to the custom of the 
 times, no doubt, was the following curious passage in the old romance called The 
 Death of Arthur : " Now it befell in the moneth of lusty May, that queene 
 Guenever called unto her the knyghtes of the round table, and gave them warn- 
 ing that, early in the morning, she should ride on maying into the woods and 
 fields beside Westminster." The knights were all of them to be clothed in 
 green, to be well horsed, and every one of them to have a lady behind him, 
 followed by an esquire and two yeomen, etc.^ 
 
 *May-poles. — By an ordinance of the Long Parliament in April, 1644, 
 all May-poles were to be taken down as "a heathenish vanity." The constables 
 and churchwardens were to be fined 5s. weekly until the poles were removed. 
 After the Restoration their use naturally revived. Hall wrote indignantly on 
 the subject, in the bitterest Puritan vein, in a treatise that he called Funebria 
 Flora, The Downfall of May Games, published in 1660. At the end he 
 versifies, in "A May Pooles Speech to a Traveller," as follows: — 
 
 " I have a mighty retinue 
 The scum of all the raskal crew 
 Of fidlers, pedlars, jayle-scapt slaves, 
 Of tinkers, turncoats, tospot knaves, 
 Of theeves and scape-thrifts many a one, 
 With bouncing Besse, and jolly Jone, 
 With idle boyes, and journeyman, 
 And vagrants that their country run ; 
 Yea, hobby-horse doth hither prance, 
 Maid Marrian and the morrice dance, 
 My summons fetcheth, far and near, 
 All that can swagger, roar, and swear, 
 All that can dance, and drab, and drink, 
 They run to me as to a sink. 
 These me for their commander take. 
 And I do them my blackguard make. 
 » Hall, in Vit. Hen. VHI. an 2, p. vi. s See an account of this book in the Introduction. 
 
MUMMtNGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 281 
 
 The honour of the Sabbath day 
 My dancing greens have ta'en away, 
 Let preachers prate till they grow wood, 
 Where I am they can do no good." 
 
 The author states that " most of these May-poles are stollen, yet they give out 
 that the poles are given them." In another place he says : — " If Moses were 
 angry when he saw the people dancing about a golden calf, well may we be 
 angry to see people dancing the morrice about a post in honour of a whore, as 
 you shall see anon." 
 
 May Milk-maids. — " It is at this time," that is, in May, says the author of 
 one of the papers in the Spectator,^ " we see the brisk young wenches, in the 
 country parishes, dancing round the May-pole. It is likewise on the first day of 
 this month that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a most sprightly 
 manner under a pyramid of silver tankards, and like the virgin Tarpeia, 
 oppressed by the costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her. These 
 decorations of silver cups, tankards, and salvers, were borrowed for the purpose, 
 and hung round the milk-pails, with the addition of flowers and ribbands, which 
 the maidens carried upon their heads when they went to the houses of their 
 customers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of them. 
 In a set of prints called Tempest's Cryes of London, there is one called the 
 merry milk-maid's, whose proper name was Kate Smith. She is dancing with 
 the milk-pail, decorated as above mentioned, upon her head.^ Of late years the 
 plate, with the other decorations, were placed in a pyramidical form, and carried 
 by two chairmen upon a wooden horse. The maidens walked before it, and 
 performed the dance without any incumbrance. I really cannot discover what 
 analogy the silver tankards and salvers can have to the business of the milk- 
 maids. I have seen them act with much more propriety upon this occasion, 
 when in place of these superfluous ornaments they substituted a cow. The 
 animal had her horns gilt, and was nearly covered with ribbands of various 
 colours, formed into bows and roses, and interspersed with green oaken leaves 
 and bunches of flowers. 
 
 May Festival of the Chimney-Sweepers. — The chimney-sweepers of 
 London have also singled out the first of May for their festival ; at which time 
 they parade the streets in companies, disguised in various manners. Their 
 dresses are usually decorated with gilt paper, and other mock fineries ; they 
 have their shovels and brushes in their hands, which they rattle one upon the 
 other ; and to this rough music they jump about in imitation of dancing. Some 
 of the larger companies have a fiddler with them, and a Jack in the Green, as 
 well as a Lord and Lady of the May, who follow the minstrel with great 
 stateliness, and dance as occasion requires. The Jack in the green is a piece of 
 pageantry consisting of a hollow frame of wood or wicker-work, made in the 
 
 ' Vol. V. No. 365, first published a. d. 17 12. ^ See Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 354. 
 
282 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 form of a sugar-loaf, but open at the bottom, and sufficiently large and high to 
 receive a man. The frame is covered with green leaves and bunches of flowers 
 interwoven with each other, so that the man within may be completely con- 
 cealed, who dances with his companions, and the populace are mightily pleased 
 with the oddity of the moving pyramid. 
 
 Whitsun Games. — The Whitsuntide holidays were celebrated by various 
 pastimes commonly practised upon other festivals ; but the Monday after the 
 Whitsun week, at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, a fat lamb was provided, and the 
 maidens of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, were permitted to 
 run after it, and she who with her mouth took hold of the lamb was declared 
 the Lady of the Lamb, which, being killed and cleaned, but with the skin hang- 
 ing upon it, was carried on a long pole before the lady and her companions to the 
 green, attended with music^ and a morisco dance of men, and another of women. 
 The rest of the day was spent in mirth and merry glee. Next day the lamb, 
 partly baked, partly boiled, and partly roasted, was served up for the lady's 
 feast, where she sat, " majestically at the upper end of the table, and her com- 
 panions with her," the music playing during the repast, which, being finished, 
 the solemnity ended." ^ 
 
 *Lamb-ale. — Mr G. A. Rowell, in 1886, gave the following interesting and 
 corrected account of this lamb-ale, which was held annually at Kirtlington (not 
 Kidlington), a village about nine miles north of Oxford : ^ 
 
 " The name of Kidlington is given for Kirtlington, the two villages being 
 about four miles apart : the story of the maidens catching the lamb with their 
 teeth is doubtless a mere made up tale, and I can only account for its having 
 passed so long without contradiction from its apparent absurdity rendering it 
 unnecessary for those of the neighbourhood. However, a description of the 
 Kirtlington lamb-ale, and how it was conducted, may be interesting and set this 
 question in a proper light. This I hope to do fairly, as my remembrance will go 
 back over seventy years ; and I am kindly assisted by a native, and long resident 
 of the village, an observer, and well qualified to aid in the task. 
 
 The lamb-ale was held in a large barn, with a grass field contiguous for 
 dancing, etc. ; this was fitted up with great pains as a refreshment room for 
 company (generally numerous) and was called 'My Lord's Hall' The lord 
 and lady, being the ruling persons, attending with their mace-bearers, or pages, 
 and other officers. All were gaily and suitably dressed, with a preponderance 
 of light blue and pink, the colours of the Dashwood family, the lady appearing in 
 white only, with light blue or pink ribands on alternate days. 
 
 The lamb-ale began on Trinity Monday, when — and on each day at 1 1 
 A.M. — the lady was brought in state from her home, and at 9 p.m. was in like 
 manner conducted home again ; the sports were continued during the week, but 
 Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday were the especial days. 
 
 The refreshments, as served, were not charged for ; but a plate was after- 
 
 ' Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 49. " Folk Lore Society Journal (1886), vol. iv. pp. 107-9. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 283 
 
 wards handed round for each to give his donation. This seems strikingly to 
 accord with Aubrey's account of the Whitsun-ales of his grandfather's time. 
 
 The Morisco dance was not only a principal feature in the lamb-ale, but one 
 for which Kirtlington was noted. No expense was spared in getting up as 
 described in the paper on that subject ; and with the liveries of the whitest and 
 ribands of the best, the display of the Dashwood colours was the pride of the 
 parish, and in my early times it was generally understood that the farmers' sons 
 did not decline joining the dancers, but rather prided themselves on being 
 selected as one of them. The simple tabor and pipe was their only music, but 
 by degrees other instruments came into use in the private halls, and dancing on 
 the green, and besides these the surroundings of stalls made up a sort of 
 fair. 
 
 On opening the lamb-ale a procession was formed to take the lamb around 
 the town and to the principal houses. It was carried on a man's shoulders or 
 rather on the back of his neck with two legs on each side of it ; the lamb being 
 decorated with blue or pink ribands in accordance with the lady's colour of the 
 day. 
 
 The great house was first visited, when after a few Morisco dances (as 
 generally supposed) two guineas were given, and thus within the week every 
 farm or other house of importance within the parish was visited. During the 
 week there were various amusements ; many hundreds visited the place from all 
 sides, with a very general display of generosity and good will amongst all. 
 
 From about sixty or seventy years ago, the lamb used in the lamb-ale has 
 been borrowed and returned ; but previous to that time — for how long I cannot 
 say — the lamb was slaughtered within the week, made into pies and distributed 
 — but in what way is uncertain. It would be interesting if some light could be 
 thrown on the lamb-ale. There is much which seems to connect it with the 
 Whitsun-ale of early times ; but, from the differences in the days and the 
 possession of the lamb, there seems to be a wide distinction between the festivals. 
 
 As the lamb-ale appears to be unique, at least in this part of the country, 
 an examination of the parish-registers might be interesting and throw some light 
 on the subject." 
 
 Midsummer Eve Festival. — On the Vigil of St John the Baptist, com- 
 monly called Midsummer Eve, it was usual in most country places, and also in 
 towns and cities, for the inhabitants, both old and young, and of both sexes, to 
 meet together, and make merry by the side of a large fire made in the middle of 
 the street, or in some open and convenient place, over which the young men 
 frequently leaped by way of frolic, and also exercised themselves with various 
 sports and pastimes, more especially with running, wrestling, and dancing. 
 These diversions they continued till midnight, and sometimes till cock-crowing ; ^ 
 several of the superstitious ceremonies practised upon this occasion are contained 
 in the following verses, as they are translated by Barnabe Googe from the 
 
 1 Bourne's Atitiq. vol. ix, chap, 27. 
 
284 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 fourth book of The Popish Kingdome, written in Latin by Tho. Neogeorgus : 
 the translation was dedicated to queen Elizabeth, and appeared in 1570. 
 
 " Then doth the joyful! feast of John the Baptist take his turne, 
 When bonfiers great, with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne : 
 And yong men round about with maides doe daunce in every streete, 
 With garlands wrought of IVI other- wort, or else with Vervaine sweete 
 And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes 
 Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoever stands, 
 And thorow the flowres beholds the flame, his eyes shall feele no paine. 
 When thus till night they daunced have, they through the fire amaine 
 With striving mindes doe run, and all their hearbes they cast therin. 
 And then, with wordes devout and prayers, they solemnely begin. 
 Desiring God that all their illes may there confounded bee, 
 Whereby they thinke through all that yeare, from Agues to be free." 
 
 At London, in addition to the bonfires, " on the eve of this saint, as well as 
 upon that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, every man's door was shaded with 
 green birch, long fennel. Saint John's wort, orpin, white lilies, and the like, 
 ornamented with garlands of beautiful flowers. They, the citizens, had also 
 lamps of glass with oil burning in them all night ; and some of them hung out 
 branches of iron, curiously wrought, containing hundreds of lamps lighted at 
 once, which made a very splendid appearance." This information we receive 
 from Stow, who tells us that, in his time. New Fish Street and Thames Street 
 were peculiarly brilliant upon these occasions. 
 
 Supposed Origin of the Midsummer Vigil. — The reasons assigned for 
 making bonfires upon the vigil of St John the Baptist in particular are various, 
 for many writers have attempted the investigation of their origin ; but unfortun- 
 ately all their arguments, owing to the want of proper information, are merely 
 hypothetical, and of course cannot be much depended upon. Those who sup- 
 pose these fires to be a relic of some ancient heathenish superstition engrafted 
 upon the variegated stock of ceremonies belonging to the Romish church, are 
 not, in my opinion, far distant from the truth. The looking through the flowers 
 at the fire, the casting of them finally into it, and the invocation to the Deity, 
 with the effects supposed to be produced by those ceremonies, as mentioned 
 in the preceding poem, are circumstances that seem to strengthen such a 
 conclusion. 
 
 According to some of the pious writers of antiquity, they made large fires, 
 which might be seen at a great distance, upon the vigil of this saint, in token 
 that he was said in holy writ to be "a shining light." Others, agreeing with 
 this, add also, these fires were made to drive away the dragons and evil spirits 
 hovering in the air ; and one of them gravely says, in some countries they burned 
 bones, which was called a bone-fire ; for " the dragons hattyd nothyng mor than 
 the styncke of brenyng bonys." This, says another, habent ex gentilibus, they 
 have from the heathens. The author last cited laments the abuses committed 
 upon these occasions. "This vigil," says he, "ought to be held with cheerful- 
 ness and piety, but not with such merriment as is shewn by the profane lovers of 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 285 
 
 this world, who make great fires in the streets, and indulge themselves with 
 filthy and unlawfiil g3.mes, to which they add glotony and drunkenness, and the 
 commission of many other shamefijl indecencies." ^ 
 
 Setting of the Midsummer Watch. — In former times it was customary in 
 London, and in other great cities, to set the Midsummer watch upon the eve of 
 St John the Baptist ; and this was usually performed with great pomp and 
 pageantry.^ The following short extract from the faithful historian, John Stow, 
 will be sufficient to show the childishness as well as the expensiveness of this idle 
 spectacle. The institution, he assures us, had been appointed, " time out of 
 mind ; " and upon this occasion the standing watches " in bright harness." There 
 was also a marching watch, that passed through all the principal streets. In 
 order to furnish this watch with lights, there were appointed seven hundred 
 cressets ; the charge for every cresset was two shillings and fourpence ; every 
 cresset required two men, the one to bear it, and the other to carry a bag with 
 light to serve it. The cresset was a large lanthorn fixed at the end of a long 
 pole, and carried upon a man's shoulder. The cressets were found partly by the 
 different companies, and partly by the city chamber. Every one of the cresset- 
 bearers was paid for his trouble ; he had also given to him, that evening, a 
 strawen hat and a painted badge, besides the donation of his breakfast next 
 morning. The marching watch consisted of two thousand men, most of them 
 being old soldiers of every denomination. They appeared in appropriate habits, 
 with their arms in their hands, and many of them, especially the musicians and 
 the standard-bearers, rode upon great horses. There were also divers pageants 
 and morris-dancers with the constables, one half of which, to the amount of one 
 hundred and twenty, went out on the eve of Saint John, and the other half on 
 the eve of Saint Peter. The constables were dressed in " bright harnesse, some 
 over gilt, and every one had a joinet of scarlet thereupon, and a chain of gold ; 
 his henchman following him, and his minstrels before him, and his cresset-light 
 at his side. The mayor himself came after him, well mounted, with his sword- 
 bearer before him, in fair armour on horseback, preceded by the waits, or city 
 minstrels, and the mayor's officers in liveries of worsted, or say jackets party- 
 coloured. The mayor was surrounded by his footmen and torch-bearers, and 
 followed by two henchmen on large horses. The sheriffs' watches came one 
 after the other in like order, but not so numerous ; for the mayor had, besides 
 his giant, three pageants ; whereas the sheriffs had only two besides their giants, 
 each with their morris-dance and one henchman : their officers were clothed in 
 jackets of worsted, or say party-coloured, but differing from those belonging to 
 the mayor, and from each other : they had also a great number of harnessed 
 men." * This old custom of setting the watch in London was maintained until 
 the year 1539, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it was discontinued on 
 
 iMSS. Karl. 2354 and 2391. 
 
 " The midsummer pageants at Chester are lully described in the Introduction. 
 
 ' Survey of London, pp. 84, 85. 
 
286 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 account of the expense, and revived in the year 1548, the 2d of Edward VI. and 
 soon after that time it was totally abolished. 
 
 On Midsummer eve it was customary annually at Burford, in Oxfordshire, 
 to carry a dragon up and down the town, with mirth and rejoicing ; to which 
 they also added the picture ^ of a giant. Dr Plott tells us, this pageantry was 
 continued in his memory, and says it was established, at least the dragon part of 
 the show, in memory of a famous victory obtained near that place, about 750, by 
 Cuthred, king of the west Saxons, over Ethebald, king of Mercia, who lost his 
 standard, surmounted by a golden dragon,^ in the action. 
 
 Processions on St Clement's and St Catherine's Days. — The Anni- 
 versary of Saint Clement, and that of Saint Catherine, the first upon the 23rd, 
 and the second upon the 25th, of November, were formerly particularised by 
 religious processions which had been disused after the Reformation, but again 
 established by Queen Mary. In the year she ascended the throne, according to 
 Strype, on the evening of Saint Catherine's Day, her procession was celebrated 
 at London with five hundred great lights, which where carried round Saint Paul's 
 steeple ; ' and again three years afterwards, her image, if I clearly understand 
 my author, was taken about the battlements of the same church with fine singing 
 and many great lights.* But the most splendid show of this kind that took 
 placei n Mary's time was the procession on Saint Clement's Day, exhibited in 
 the streets of London ; it consisted of sixty priests and clerks in their copes, 
 attended by divers of the inns of court, who went next the priests, preceded by 
 eighty banners and streamers, with the waits or minstrels of the city playing 
 upon different instruments.^ 
 
 Wassails.— Wassail, or rather the wassail bowl, which was a bowl of spiced 
 ale, formerly carried about by young women on New-year's eve, who went from 
 door to door in their several parishes singing a few couplets of homely verses 
 composed for the purpose, and presented the liquor to the inhabitants of the 
 house where they called, expecting a small gratuity in return. Selden alludes 
 to this custom in the following comparison : " The Pope, in sending reliques to 
 princes, does as wenches do by their wassails at New-year's tide, they present 
 you with a cup, and you must drink of a slabby stuff; but the meaning is, you 
 must give them monies ten times more than it is worth." The wassail is said 
 to have originated from the words of Rowena, the daughter of Hengist ; who, 
 presenting a bowl of wine to Vortigern, the king of the Britons, said, Waes 
 hsel, or. Health to you, my lord the king; (Faer hael lappS cynning). If this 
 derivation of the custom should be thought doubtful, I can only say that it has 
 the authority at least of antiquity on its side. The wassails are now (1800) 
 quite obsolete ; but it seems that fifty years back, some vestiges of them were 
 remaining in Cornwall ; but the time of their performance was changed to 
 twelfth-day.^ 
 
 ^ Perhaps it should be image, and resembled those commonly used in other pageants. 
 
 ^Nat. Hist. Oxford, p. 343, and Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 154. ' Eccl. Memoirs, vol. iii. chap, xxxix. p. 51. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 309. ° Eccl. Memoirs, iii. 377. « Heath's Cornwall, 445. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 287 
 
 *The custom of carrying round the wassail bowl at Christmastide seems to 
 have long ago disappeared, though the following verse is still (1902) occasionally 
 sung by children when "carolling" in the west of England: 
 
 " Wassail, wassail, all o'er the town, 
 Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown ; 
 Our bowl it is made of the mapling tree. 
 With the wassailing bowl we will drink unto thee." 
 
 •Wassailing the orchards may possibly survive in the apple-growing districts, 
 but it seems doubtful if it is anything more than boys shouting rhymes round 
 the trees on Twelfth Night. In the " fifties " of the last century, it was not 
 infrequent on the Somersetshire side of Exmoor. A great bowl of cider was 
 placed in one of the biggest trees after dark. When the verses of incantation 
 had been sung, each of the company drank from the bowl, and the remainder 
 was flung up into the tree.^ 
 
 *A correspondent oi Notes and Queries contributed the following in 1852 : 
 " In this neighbourhood (Chailey, Sussex) the custom of wassailing the 
 orchards still remains. It is called apple-howling. A troop of boys visit the 
 different orchards, and encircling the apple-trees they repeat the following 
 words : 
 
 Stand fast root, bear well top, 
 
 Pray the God send us a good howling crop. 
 
 Every twig, apples big, 
 
 Every bough, apples enow. 
 
 Hats full, caps full. 
 
 Full quarters, sacks full. 
 
 They then shout in chorus, one of the boys accompanying them on the cow's 
 horn ; during the ceremony they rap the trees with their sticks.* 
 
 *In Hazlitt's edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities, published in 1870, the 
 shouting of the boys in the orchards is said to still prevail in several counties. 
 
 Sheep-Shearing and Harvest-Home. — There are two feasts annually 
 held among the farmers of this country, which are regularly made in the spring, 
 and at the end of the summer, or the beginning of autumn, but not confined 
 to any particular day. The first is the sheep-shearing, and the second the 
 harvest-home ; both of them were celebrated in ancient times with feasting and 
 variety of rustic pastimes ; at present (1800), excepting a dinner, or more fre- 
 quently a supper, at the conclusion of the sheep-shearing and the harvest, we 
 have little remains of the former customs. 
 
 The particular . manner in which the sheep-shearing was celebrated in old 
 time is not recorded ; but respecting the harvest-home we meet with several 
 curious observations. Hentzner, a foreign gentleman, who was in England at 
 the close of the sixteenth century, and wrote an account of what he saw here, 
 
 ^ I have witnessed this in Luccombe parish on several occasions when a boy. — J. C. C. 
 2 Notes and Queries, Ser. I. v. 293. 
 
288 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 says, "as we were returning to our inn (in or near Windsor), we happened to 
 meet some country people celebrating their harvest-home : their last load of corn 
 they crown with flowers, having besides an image richly dressed, by which, 
 perhaps, they signify Ceres ; this they keep moving about, while the men and 
 women, and men and maid-servants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout 
 as loud as they can till they arrive at the barn." Moresin, another foreign 
 writer, also tells us that he saw " in England, the country people bring home," 
 from the harvest field, I presume he means, "a figure made with corn, round 
 which the men and the women were promiscuously singing, and preceded by a 
 piper or a drum." ^ " In the north," says Mr Brand, " not half a century ago, 
 they used everywhere to dress up a figure something similar to that just 
 described, at the end of harvest, which they called a kern-baby, plainly a 
 corruption of corn-baby, as the kern, or churn supper, is of corn-supper." ^ 
 
 The harvest-supper in some places is called a mell-supper, and a churn- 
 supper. Mell is plainly derived from the French word mesler, to mingle 
 together, the master and servant promiscuously at the same table.* At the 
 mell-supper. Bourne* tells us, "the servant and his master are alike, and every 
 thing is done with equal freedom. They sit at the same table, converse freely 
 together, and spend the remaining part of the night in dancing and singing, 
 without any difference or distinction." "There was," continues my author, "a 
 custom among the heathens much like this at the gathering of their harvest, 
 when the servants were indulged with their liberty, and put upon an equality 
 with their masters for a certain time. Probably both of them originated from 
 the Jewish feast of tabernacles." * 
 
 Wakes. — The wakes, when first instituted in this country, were established 
 upon religious principles, and greatly resembled the agapae, or love feasts of the 
 early Christians. It seems, however, clear that they derived their origin from 
 some more ancient rites practised in the times of paganism. Hence Pope 
 Gregory, in his letter to Melitus, a British abbot, says, "whereas the people 
 were accustomed to sacrifice many oxen in honour of daemons, let them celebrate 
 a religious and solemn festival, and not slay the animals, diabolo, to the devil, 
 but to be eaten by themselves, ad laudem Dei, to the praise of God."" These 
 festivals were primitively held upon the day of the dedication of the church in 
 each district, or the day of the saint whose relics were therein deposited, or to 
 whose honour it was consecrated ; for which purpose the people were directed 
 to make booths and tents with the boughs of trees adjoining to the churches,' 
 and in them to celebrate the feast with thanksgiving and prayer. In process of 
 time the people assembled on the vigil, or evening preceding the saint's day, 
 and came, says an old author, " to churche with candellys burnyng, and would 
 
 ' Prcecedente tihicine aut tympana. Moresin, Deprav. Reliq. Orig, in verbo vacina. 
 
 * Brand's Observations on Bourne's Vulg. Antiq. chap. xxxi. p. 303. *As to tlie occasional later survival of the 
 "kern-baby," or "mell-doll" at harvest celebrations, see the various publications of the Folk-lore Society. 
 
 • Ibid. * Vulg. Antiq. ut supra. ' Ibid. 
 « Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. i, cap. 30. ' Ibid. 
 
MUMMINOS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 289 
 
 wake, and come toward night to the church in their devocion,"^ agreeable to 
 the requisition contained in one of the canons established by King Edgar, 
 whereby those who came to the wake were ordered to pray devoutly, and not 
 to betake themselves to drunkenness and debauchery. The necessity for this 
 restriction plainly indicates that abuses of this religious institution began to 
 make their appearance as early as the tenth century. The author above cited 
 goes on, " and afterwards the pepul fell to letcherie, and songs, and daunses, 
 with harping and piping, and also to glotony and sinne ; and so tourned the 
 holyness to cursydness ; wherefore holy faders ordeyned the pepuU to leve that 
 waking and to fast the evyn, but it is called vigilia, that is waking, in English, 
 and eveyn, for of eveyn they were wont to come to churche." In proportion as 
 these festivals deviated from the original design of their institution, they became 
 more popular, the conviviality was extended, and not only the inhabitants of the 
 parish to which the church belonged were present at them, but they were joined 
 by others from the neighbouring towns and parishes, who flocked together upon 
 these occasions, and the greater the reputation of the tutelar saint, the greater 
 generally was the promiscuous assembly. The pedlars and hawkers attended 
 to sell their wares, and so by degrees the religious wake was converted into a 
 secular fair, and the time was spent in festive mirth and vulgar amusements. 
 
 Sunday Festivals. — " In the northern parts of this nation," says Bourne, 
 " the inhabitants of most country villages are wont to observe some Sunday in 
 a more particular manner than the other common Sundays of the year, namely, 
 the Sunday after the day of dedication of their church," that is, the Sunday 
 after the saint's day to whom the church was dedicated. " Then the people 
 deck themselves in their gaudiest clothes, and have open doors and splendid 
 entertainments for the reception and treating of their relations and friends, who 
 visit them on that occasion from each neighbouring town. The morning is 
 spent for the most part at church, though not as that morning was wont to be 
 spent, with the commemoration of the saint or martyr ; nor the grateful 
 remembrance of the builder and endower." Being come from church, the 
 remaining part of the day is spent in eating and drinking, and so is a day or 
 two afterwards, together with all sorts of rural pastimes and exercises, such as 
 dancing on the green, wrestling, cudgelling, and the like. " In the northern 
 parts, the Sunday's feasting is almost lost, and they observe only one day for 
 the whole, which among them is called hopping, I suppose from the dancing 
 and other exercises then practised. Here they used to end many quarrels 
 between neighbour and neighbour, and hither came the wives in comely 
 manner, and they which were of the better sort had their mantles carried with 
 them, as well for show as to keep them from the cold at the table. These 
 mantles also many did use at the churches, at the morrow masses, and at other 
 times." 2 
 
 Church-Ales. — The Church-ales, called also Easter-ales, and Whitsun- 
 
 ' Homily for the Vigil of St John Baptist. MS. Karl. ' Antiq, Vulg. chap. 30. 
 
290 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 ales from their being sometimes held on Easter-Sunday, and on Whit-Sunday, 
 or on some of the holidays that follow them, certainly originated from the 
 wakes. The churchwardens and other chief parish officers, observing the 
 wakes to be more popular than any other holidays, rightly conceived, that by 
 establishing other institutions somewhat similar to them, they might draw 
 together a large company of people, and annually collect from them, such 
 sums of money for the support and repairs of the church, as would be a 
 great easement to the parish rates. By way of enticement to the populace 
 they brewed a certain portion of strong ale, to be ready on the day appointed 
 for the festival, which they sold to them ; and most of the better sort, in addition 
 to what they paid for their drink, contributed something towards the collection ; 
 but in some instances the inhabitants of one or more parishes were mulcted in a 
 certain sum according to mutual agreement, as we find by an ancient stipulation,^ 
 couched in the following terms : " The parishioners of Elvaston and those of 
 Okebrook in Derbyshire agree jointly to brew four ales, and every ale of one 
 quarter of malt between this, and the feast of Saint John the Baptist next 
 comming, and every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook shall be at the 
 several ales ; and every husband and his wife shall pay two pence, and every 
 cottager one penny. And the inhabitants of Elvaston shall have and receive 
 all the profits comming of the said ales, to the use and behoof of the church of 
 Elvaston ; and the inhabitants of Elvaston shall brew eight ales betwixt this 
 and the feast of Saint John, at which ales the inhabitants of Okebrook shall 
 come and pay as before rehearsed ; and if any be away one ale, he is to pay at 
 t'oder ale for both." In Cornwall the church-ales were ordered in a different 
 manner ; for there two young men of a parish were annually chosen by their 
 foregoers to be wardens, " who, dividing the task, made collections among the 
 parishioners of whatever provision it pleased them to bestow ; this they 
 employed in brewing, baking, and other acates, against Whitsontide, upon 
 which holidaies the neighbours meet at the church-house, and there merely feed 
 on their own victuals, contributing some petty portion to the stock. When the 
 feast is ended, the wardens yield in their accounts to the parishioners ; and such 
 money as exceedeth the disbursements, is layed up in store to defray any 
 extraordinary charges arising in the parish."" 
 
 To what has been said upon this subject, I shall only add the following 
 extract from Philip Stubbs, an author before quoted, who lived in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, whose writings * are pointed against the popular vices and 
 immoralities of his time. " In certaine townes," says he, " where drunken 
 Bacchus bears swaie against Christmass and Easter, Whitsunday, or some other 
 time, the churchwardens, for so they call them, of every parish, with the consent 
 of the whole parish, provide half a score or twentie quarters of mault, whereof 
 some they buy of the church stocke, and some is given to them of the 
 
 ' Dodsworth's MSS., vol. 148, fol, 97. ^ Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 1602, book i. p. 68. 
 
 ' The Anatomie of Abuses, 1595. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 291 
 
 parishioners themselves, every one conferring somewhat, according to his 
 ability ; which mault being made into very strong ale, or beer, is set to sale, 
 either in the church or in some other place . assigned to that purpose. Then, 
 when this nippitatum, this huffe-cappe, as they call it, this nectar of life, is set 
 abroach, well is he that can get the soonest to it, and spends the most at it, for 
 he is counted the godliest man of all the rest, and most in God's favour, 
 because it is spent upon his church forsooth. If all be true which they say, 
 they bestow that money which is got thereby for the repaire of their churches 
 and chappels ; they buy bookes for the service, cupps for the celebration of the 
 sacrament, surplesses for Sir John, and such other necessaries," etc. He then 
 proceeds to speak upon " the manner of keeping wakesses (wakes) in England," 
 in a style similar to that above cited, and says they were " the sources of 
 gluttonie and drunkenness " ; and adds, " many spend more at one of these 
 wakesses than in all the whole years besides." 
 
 The ingenious researcher into the causes of melancholy on the contrary 
 thinks that these kinds of amusement ought not to be denied to the commonalty.^ 
 Chaucer, in the Ploughman's Tale, reproves the priests because they were more 
 attentive to the practice of secular pastimes than to the administration of their 
 holy functions, saying they were expert 
 
 " At the wrestlynge and at the wake, 
 And chefe chauntours at the nale, 
 Markette beaters, and medlyng make, 
 Hoppen and houters with heve and hale." 
 
 Fairs. — The church-ales have long been discontinued ; the wakes are still 
 kept up in the northern parts of the kingdom ; but neither they nor the fairs 
 maintain their former importance ; many of both, and most of the latter, have 
 dwindled into mere markets for petty traffic, or else they are confined to the 
 purposes of drinking, or the displayment of vulgar pastimes. These pastimes, 
 or at least such of them as occur to my memory, I shall mention here in a cursory 
 manner, and pass on to the remaining part of this chapter. In a paper belong- 
 ing to the Spectator'^ there is a short description of a country wake. " I found," 
 says the author, " a ring of cudgel-players, who were breaking one another's 
 heads in order to make some impression on their mistresses' hearts." He then 
 came to "a foot-ball match," and afterwards to "a ring of wrestlers." Here he 
 observes, "the squire of the parish always treats the company every year with 
 a hogshead of ale, and proposes a beaver hat as a recompence to him who gives 
 the most falls." The last sport he mentions is pitching the bar. But he might, 
 and with great propriety, have added most of the games in practice among the 
 lower classes of the people that have been specified in the foregoing pages, and 
 perhaps the whistling match recorded in another paper. " The prize," we are 
 told, " was one guinea, to be conferred upon the ablest whistler ; that is, he that 
 could whistle clearest, and go through his tune without laughing, to which at 
 
 > Burton, Anat. Melancholy, part ii. sect. 2, cap. 4. ^ Vol, ii. No. 161, first printed 171 1. 
 
292 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the same time he was provoked by the antic postures of a merry-andrew, who 
 was to stand upon the stage, and play his tricks in the eye of the performer. 
 There were three competitors ; the two first failed, but the third, in defiance of 
 the zany and all his arts, whistled through two tunes with so settled a counten- 
 ance that he bore away the prize, to the great admiration of the spectators." 
 This paper was written by Addison, who assures us he was present at the 
 performance, which took place at Bath about the year 1708. To this 
 he adds another curious pastime, as a kind of Christmas gambol, which 
 he had seen also ; that is, a yawning match for a Cheshire cheese : the 
 sport began about midnight, when the whole company were disposed to be 
 drowsy ; and he that yawned the widest, and at the same time most naturally, 
 so as to produce the greatest number of yawns from the spectators, obtained 
 the cheese. 
 
 The barbarous and wicked diversion of throwing at cocks usually took place 
 at all the wakes and fairs that were held about Shrovetide, and especially at 
 such of them as were kept on Shrove-Tuesday. Upon the abolition of this 
 inhuman custom, the place of the living birds was supplied by toys made in the 
 shape of cocks, with large and heavy stands of lead, at which the boys, on 
 paying some very trifling sum, were permitted to throw as heretofore ; and he 
 who could overturn the toy claimed it as a reward for his adroitness. This 
 innocent pastime never became popular, for the sport derived from the torment 
 of a living creature existed no longer, and its want was not to be compensated 
 by the overthrowing or breaking a motionless representative ; therefore the 
 diversion was very soon discontinued. 
 
 At present, snuff-boxes, tobacco-boxes, and other trinkets of small value, or 
 else halfpence or gingerbread, placed upon low stands, are thrown at, and some- 
 times apples and oranges, set up in small heaps ; and children are usually 
 enticed to lay out their money for permission to throw at them by the owners, 
 who keep continually bawling, " Knock down one you have them all." A half- 
 penny is the common price for one throw, and the distance about ten or twelve 
 yards. 
 
 The Jingling Match is a diversion common enough at country wakes and 
 fairs. The performance requires a large circle, enclosed with ropes, which is 
 occupied by as many persons as are permitted to play. They rarely exceed 
 nine or ten. All of these, except one of the most active, who is the jingler, 
 have their eyes blinded with handkerchiefs or napkins. The eyes of the jingler 
 are not covered, but he holds a small bell in each hand, which he is obliged to 
 keep ringing incessantly so long as the play continues, which is commonly 
 about twenty minutes, but sometimes it is extended to half an hour. In some 
 places the jingler has also small bells affixed to his knees and elbows. His 
 business is to elude the pursuit of his blinded companions, who follow him, by 
 the sound of the bells, in all directions, and sometimes oblige him to exert his 
 utmost abilities to effect his escape, which must be done within the boundaries 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 293 
 
 of the rope, for the laws of the sport forbid him to pass beyond it. If he be 
 caught in the time allotted for the continuance of the game, the person who 
 caught him claims the prize : if, on the contrary, they are not able to take him, 
 the prize becomes his due. 
 
 Hunting the Pig is another favourite rustic pastime. The tall of the 
 animal is previously .cut short, and well soaped, and in this condition he is 
 turned out for the populace to run after him ; and he who can catch him with 
 one hand, and hold him by the stump of the tail without touching any other 
 part, obtains him for his pains. 
 
 Sack Running, that is, men tied up in sacks, every part of them being 
 enclosed except their heads, who are in this manner to make the best of their 
 way to some given distance, where he who first arrives obtains the prize. 
 
 Smock Races are commonly performed by the young country wenches, and 
 so called because the prize is a hoUand smock, or shift, usually decorated with 
 ribbands.^ 
 
 The Wheelbarrow Race requires room, and is performed upon some open 
 green, or in a field free from encumbrances. The candidates are all of them 
 blindfolded, and every one has his wheelbarrow, which he is to drive from the 
 starting-place to a mark set up for that purpose, at some considerable distance. 
 He who first reaches the mark of course is the conqueror. But this task is 
 seldom very readily accomplished ; on the contrary, the windings and wander- 
 ings of these droll knights-errant, in most cases, produce much merriment. 
 
 The Grinning Match is performed by two or more persons endeavouring to 
 exceed each other in the distortion of their features, every one of them having 
 his head thrust through a horse's collar. 
 
 Smoking Matches are usually made for tobacco-boxes, or some other 
 trifling prizes, and may be performed two ways : the first is a trial among the 
 candida> "= who shall smoke a pipe full of tobacco in the shortest time : the 
 second is precisely the reverse ; for he of them who can keep the tobacco alight 
 within his pipe, and retain it there the longest, receives the reward. 
 
 To these we may add the Hot Hasty -pudding Eaters, who contend for 
 superiority by swallowing the greatest quantity of hot hasty-pudding in the 
 shortest time ; so that he whose throat is widest and most callous is sure to be 
 the conqueror. 
 
 The evening is commonly concluded with singing for laces and ribbands, 
 which divertisement indiscriminately admits of the exertions of both sexes. 
 
 Bonfires. — It has been customary in this country, from time immemorial, 
 for the people, upon occasions of rejoicing, or by way of expressing their 
 approbation of any public occurrence, to make large bonfires upon the close of 
 the day, to parade the street with great lights, and to illuminate their houses. 
 
 1 *In Hazlitt's edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities (i. 119), it is stated that :— "Tlie smock race, run by young 
 girls in their chemises only, was formerly used on Ascension Day in the north of England. The sport, not a very 
 delicate one, is described in the Poetical Miscellanies, published by Steele, I7I4." 
 
294 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 These spectacles may be considered as merely appendages to the pageants and 
 pompous shows that usually preceded them ; and they seem to have been 
 instituted principally for the diversion of the populace. In the reign of Henry 
 VII. a letter was sent from the king to the lord mayor and aldermen of London, 
 commanding them to cause bonfires to be made, and to manifest other signs of 
 rejoicing, on account of the espousals of his daughter Mary.^ And within these 
 forty years 2 bonfires continued to be made in London at the city expense, 
 and in certain places at Westminster by order from the court, upon most of 
 the public days of rejoicing ; but of late they have been prohibited, and very 
 justly, on account of the mischief occasioned by the squibs and crackers thrown 
 about by the mob who assembled upon these occasions. 
 
 In London, and probably in other large cities, bonfires were frequently 
 made in the summer season, not only for rejoicing sake, but to cleanse the air. 
 Hence Stow, writing upon this subject, says, " In the months of June and July, 
 on the vigils of festival days, and on the evenings also of those days after sunset, 
 bonfires were made in the streets. The wealthy citizens placed bread and 
 good drink upon the tables before their doors upon the vigil of the festival ; but 
 on the festival evening the same tables were more plentifully furnished with 
 meat and drink, to which not only the neighbours but passengers were also 
 invited to sit and partake, with great hospitality. These were called bonfires, 
 as well of amity among neighbours that, being before at controversie, were, at 
 these times, by the labour of others, reconciled, and made of bitter enemies 
 loving friends ; and also for the virtue that a great fire hath to purge the infection 
 of the air." 
 
 *Bonfires were in very general use as a token of national rejoicing at the 
 time of the restoration of the monarchy. In the Household Books of Sir Miles 
 Stapleton of Carlton there are entries of village bonfire expenses on his various 
 estates to celebrate the arrival of Charles II. The Northampton Borough 
 Records contain various bonfire entries. The earliest is for the coronation of 
 William of Orange, when 7s. was paid "for halfe c. of faggots." In 1690 
 1 2s. 6d. was spent on a bonfire to celebrate the battle of the Boyne ; sixty 
 faggots were consumed at the taking of Limerick in October of the following 
 year, whilst the like number, together with a pitch barrel, were burnt on 
 November 5th. On the evening of the Thanksgiving Day for victories in the 
 Spanish Netherlands in 1693, the Northampton account include the following 
 particulars : — 
 
 s. D. 
 
 Pd. John Bradshaw for five score Faggots . . . . . 10 S 
 
 Pd. Thomas Dunckle for 12 c. of woode . . . . . 12 o 
 
 Pd. Wilby for an Oyll Barrell on Thanksgiving night to place on a pole . 2 o 
 
 The taking of Namur, the peace of Ryswick, the coronation of Queen Anne, 
 all Marlborough's victories, the union of England and Scotland, the peace of 
 
 ^ See the Introduction. a Reckoning from 1800. 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 295 
 
 Utrecht, the coronation of George II., and "The Defeat of the Rebels" in 
 1746 were all celebrated by a great bonfire in the market place, round which ale 
 was always drunk at the town's expense. There is no record of a bonfire for 
 the victory of the Nile in 1798, but the Town Hall was illuminated with candles 
 to celebrate the event. ^ 
 
 Illuminations. — I do not know at what period illuminations were first 
 used as marks of rejoicing. They are mentioned by Stow, in his Survey of 
 London, who tells us that lamps of glass, to the amount of several hundreds, 
 were hung upon branches of iron curiously wrought, and placed at the doors of 
 the opulent citizens upon the vigils of Saint John the Baptist, and of Saint 
 Peter and Saint Paul.^ The historian does not speak of these lights as any 
 novelty, neither is there any reason to conclude that similar illuminations were 
 not made in other great towns and cities as well as in London ; so that the 
 custom might have been of long standing, and probably originated from some 
 religious institution. But the lights, for I can hardly call them illumina- 
 tions, most generally used at this period, were the cressets, or large 
 lanthorns, which were carried in procession about the street. When they were 
 laid aside, the windows of the houses were decorated with lighted candles, or 
 the outsides ornamented with lamps of various colours, and placed in variety of 
 forms ; to which may be added, transparent paintings, inscriptions, and variety 
 of other curious and expensive devices, that seem to be almost peculiar to the 
 present age ; and certainly the grand illuminations exhibited on the 23d of April 
 1789, upon the happy occasion of his Majesty's recovery, far surpassed, not only 
 in the number and brilliancy of the lights, but also in the splendour and beauty 
 of the transparencies, every other spectacle of the like kind that has been made 
 in this country, or perhaps in any other. 
 
 Fireworks. — Fireworks, for pastime, are little spoken of previous to the 
 reign of Elizabeth, and seem to have been of a very trifling nature. We are 
 told, when Ann Bullen was conveyed upon the water from Greenwich to 
 London, previous to her coronation, in 1533, "there went before the lord- 
 mayor's barge, a foyste ^ for a wafter full of ordinance ; in which foyste was a 
 great red dragon, continually moving and casting forth wild-fire ; and round 
 about the said foyste stood terrible, monstrous, and wilde men, casting of fire, 
 and making a hideous noise." This vessel with the fireworks, I apprehend, 
 was usually exhibited when the lord mayor went upon the water, and especially 
 when he went to Westminster on the lord mayor's day. Hence Morose, in 
 Jonson's comedy of The Silent Woman, says to his visitors, who come with 
 drums and trumpets, " Out of my dores, you sonnes of noise and tumult, begot 
 on an ill May-day, or when the gally-foist is afloate to Westminster ; a trumpetter 
 could not be conceived till then."* 
 
 ' Cox's Northampton Borough Records, ii. pp. 478-485. 
 
 ' It does not appear that these lamps were made with glass of various colours, according to the present fashion 
 (1800). I rather think this improvement is perfectly modern. 
 
 • A galley, or small vessel. * Act iv. scene 2. 
 
296 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Among the spectacles prepared for the diversion of Queen Elizabeth at 
 Kenelworth Castle in 1575, there were displays of fireworks, which are thus 
 described by Laneham, who was present.^ " On the Sunday night," says he^ 
 "after a warning piece or two, was a blaze of burning darts flying to and fro, 
 beams of stars coruscant, streanis and hail of fire sparks, lightnings of wildfire 
 on the water ; and on the land, flight and shot of thunderbolts, all with such 
 continuance, terror, and vehemence, the heavens thundered, the waters surged, 
 and the earth shook." Another author, Gascoyne, speaks thus : "On the Sunday 
 were fireworks showed upon the water, passing under the water a long space ; 
 and when all men thought they had been quenched, they would rise and mount 
 out of the water again and burne furiously until they were utterlie consumed."^ 
 On the Thursday following, according to Laneham, " there was at night a shew 
 of very strange and sundry kinds of fireworks compelled by cunning to fly to 
 and fro, and to mount very high into the air upward, and also to burn unquench- 
 able in the water beneath." And again, sixteen years afterwards, the same 
 queen was entertained by the earl of Hertford at Elvetham in Hampshire, and 
 after supper there was a grand display of fireworks, preceded by " a peale of 
 one hundred chambers, discharged from the Snail Mount " ; with " a like peale 
 discharged from the ship Isle, and some great ordinance withal. Then was 
 there a castle of fireworkes of all sorts which played in the fort ; answerable to 
 that there was, at the Snail Mount, a globe of all manner of fireworkes, as big 
 as a barrel. When these were spent there were many running rockets upon 
 lines, which passed between the Snail Mount and the castle in the fort. On 
 either side were many fire-wheelesj pikes of pleasure, and balles of wildfire, which 
 burned in the water." 
 
 *Early Books on Fireworks. — Considerable attention was given in 
 England to the manufacture of fireworks in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries. The Arte of Warre, by Nicholas Machiavell, was first set forth in 
 English, by Peter Whitehouse, in 1560. To this Whitehouse published a 
 supplement in 1562, the concluding part of which deals with "fireworks," but 
 chiefly from a military standpoint, such as " Howe to make certayn fyreworkes 
 to tye to the poinctes of pykes or horsemen-staves." Some of his receipts, 
 however, were equally applicable for peaceful displays. The treatise was 
 reprinted in 1573 and 1588. 
 
 *In 1588 Cyprian Lucar translated the Three Bookes of Colloquies on the art 
 of gunnery, written by Nicholas Tartaglia in Italian and dedicated to Henry 
 VIII. To the original work Lucar added a considerable appendix, a large 
 portion of which relates to " fireworks," though the term was used by him 
 to denote warlike " Firewoorkes which may be shotte out of great Peeces of 
 Artillerie or throne out of men's handes " — or "divers sortes of Fireworkes, 
 which being shotte in a darke night out of a morterpeece . . . will give so 
 great a light that you may discerne by the same light whether or no any 
 
 ' Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. i. " Princely Pleasures at Kenelworth Castle, p. 62. 
 
qMc (Mmy ^rr//re orc/li/e 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 297 
 
 enemies are in or neare unto that place." But numbers ninety to ninety- 
 three of Lucar's short chapters deal with fireworks that may be used in 
 "triumphes." The last of these chapters is concerned with the making of 
 " Rockettes or Squibbes, which being throne up into the ayre wil cast foorth 
 flames of fire, and in coming downe towards the ground will shew like starres 
 falling from heaven." 
 
 *The Gunner, " written by Robert Norton, one of his Majesties Gunners 
 and Engineers," and printed in 1628, shows that considerable advance had 
 been made in the art of artificial fireworks for triumphs and displays. Full 
 directions are given for the making of rockets, coloured fires, serpents, 
 " shewers of gold," elaborate wheels, and set pieces such as castles " with 4 
 Towers and 4 Curtins and a Cavalaria or domineering Turret in the midst." 
 Chapter seventy-seven deals with " How to make flying Dragons and Rockets 
 that will runne upon a Lyne and returne againe, and of Nocturnall Combates 
 in Fireworkes." 
 
 *A "FiER Drake" or Fiery Kite. — In 1634 John Bate put forth the first 
 edition of his Mysteries of Nature and Art in four parts, the second of which, 
 covering pages 79 to 116, is entitled "The composing of all manner of Fier- 
 Works for Triumph and Recreation." The numerous illustrations and 
 descriptions show that this art had by that date attained to considerable 
 proportions and displayed much ingenuity. One of the most curious cuts is 
 that which represents a man flying a " Fier Drake," which was a kite with 
 crackers for the tail, reproduced on plate thirty-six. It has usually been stated 
 that kites were not introduced into Europe, or at all events into England, from 
 the East, until early in the eighteenth century ; but this picture of a kite proves 
 that it was not only in use but well known early in the seventeenth century. 
 The name kite, taken from the bird, had not however been then given to this 
 flying machine.^ 
 
 Fireworks on Tower Hill, at Public Gardens, and in Pageants. — 
 It was customary, in my memory, for the train of artillery annually to display a 
 grand firework upon Tower Hill on the evening of his Majesty's birthday. This 
 spectacle has been discontinued for several years in compliance with a petition 
 for that purpose made by the inhabitants on account of the inconveniences they 
 sustained thereby. 
 
 Fireworks were exhibited at Marybone Gardens while they were kept 
 open for public entertainment ; and about five-and-twenty years ago,^ Torre, a 
 celebrated French artist, was employed there, who, in addition to the usual 
 displayment of fire-wheels, fixed stars, figure pieces, and other curious devices, 
 introduced pantomimical spectacles, which afforded him an opportunity of bring- 
 ing forward much splendid machinery, with appropriate scenery and stage 
 decoration, whereby he gave an astonishing effect to his performances, and 
 excited the admiration and applause of the spectators. I particularly remember 
 
 > See "Kite" in next chapter. ' Reckoning from 1800. 
 
298 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 two, the Forge of Vulcan, and the Descent of Orpheus to Hell in search of his 
 wife Eurydice. The last was particularly splendid : there were several scenes, 
 and one of them supposed to be the Elysian fields, where the flitting backwards 
 and forwards of the spirits was admirably represented by means of a transparent 
 gauze artfully interposed between the actors and the spectators. 
 
 Fireworks have for many years been exhibited at Ranelagh Gardens ; they 
 are now ( 1 800) displayed occasionally at Vauxhall ; and, in an inferior style, at 
 Bermondsey Spa. 
 
 *The current advertisements of the illuminations and fireworks at Ranelagh 
 Gardens in the eighteenth century are sufficiently curious to warrant the insertion 
 of two of them as specimens. The following is an advertisement at the begin- 
 ning of the season of 1 764 : — 
 
 " This Evening at Ranelagh, besides the customary entertainment and 
 a superb Firework in a stile which has been once already honoured with 
 universal applause, will be exhibited a grand transparent view of the following 
 scenes as large as life and under separate arches. 
 
 " Poetry, Music, Painting, Architecture — and on a large Obelisk fifty feet 
 high — erected over the Pediment of the great arch at the end of the Canal — 
 three Medalions finely illuminated — the one a crown, the other a plume of 
 feathers, and the third a mitre, alluding to his Majesty, the Prince of Wales, and 
 the Bishop of Osnaburgh with other Prospects, which the Proprietors from the 
 very favourable reception hitherto given to their additional exhibitions, flatter 
 themselves will be equally worthy of public approbation." 
 
 *A much more elaborate advertisement, of the same year, appeared in the 
 daily press for the last time of the opening of the Gardens for that season : — 
 
 " The music composed by Mr Handel for the grand Firework of 1748 will 
 be performed in the new orchestra lately erected in the Garden which will be 
 elegantly illuminated. 
 
 " The order of firing. 
 
 " First Firing. — i. Eight half-pound Sky- Rockets. 2. Two Tourballoons. 
 3. Two-air- Balloons. 4. A new piece of three Vertical Wheels with brilliant 
 and white fires intersecting each other. 5. A Pyramid of twenty-one Boxes 
 and Chinese Fires. 6. A Horizontal and vertical Wheel illuminated. Second 
 Firing.— 7. Eight half-pound Sky-Rockets. 8. Two Tour-balloons. 9. Two 
 air -Balloons. 10. A regulation Piece of three mutations: first, a brilliant 
 Wheel illuminated ; second, a Sun and Glory ; third. Six Branches representing 
 Ears of Corn. 1 1. A new Piece with a Vertical Brilliant Wheel and yellow fires 
 in the Centre and eight Turilloni Wheels at the extreme. 12. A regulating 
 piece of three mutations : first, a Brilliant Wheel illuminated ; second, a fixed 
 Sun; third, a Brilliant Star with eight points. Third Firing. 13. Eight half- 
 pound Sky-Rockets. 14. Two Tour-balloons. 15. Two-air-balloons. 16. A 
 large new piece : first, a large Brilliant Wheel moved by four fires illuminated 
 
MUMMINGS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS 299 
 
 in the centre with tires of various colours ; second, a large Brilliant Sun whose 
 rays extend 50 feet. 17. A large horizontal Wheel moved by six fires, with 
 six vertical Wheels and a globe illuminated. 18. A Piece called the Fort, with 
 brilliant Fountains, Roman Candles and Chinese Fires. 19. Twelve Water 
 Rockets. 20. A grand Buffette of three mutations extending across the Canal, 
 consisting of illuminated Wheels, Palm Branches, Fire-Trees of Chinese Fires, 
 and six pont d'argette. 24. Twelve air-balloons." 
 
 At the bottom of the thirty-seventh plate is one of the Green Men 
 flourishing his fire club, which is taken from Bate's treatise on fireworks issued 
 in 1634. At the top of the same plate is a Wild Man or Woodwose or Wode- 
 house, a character very common and popular in the pageants of former times. 
 It was in a dress like this, I suppose, that Gascoyne appeared before Queen 
 Ehzabeth in 1575, as already narrated. The figure itself is taken from a 
 ballad, in black letter, entitled " The mad, merry pranks of Robin Good Fellow." 
 Bishop Percy, probably with great justice, supposes it to have been one of the 
 stage-disguisements for the representation of this facetious spirit. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children— Horses— Racing and Chacing— Wrestling and other Gymnastic Sports 
 — Marbles and Span-counter — Tops, etc. — The Devil among the Tailors — Even or Odd — Chuck-halfpenny — 
 Duck and Drake— Baste the Bear — Hunt the Slipper, etc.— Sporting with Insects— Kites— Windmills— 
 Bob-cherry — Hoodman-blind — Hot-cockles — Cock-fighting — Anonymous Pastimes — Mock Honours at 
 Boarding-schools — Houses of Cards — Questions and Commands — Handy-dandy — Snap-drj^on — Push-pin — 
 Crambo — Lotteries — Creag — Queke-board, and other minor games. 
 
 POPULAR Manly Pastimes Imitated by Children. — Most of the popular 
 pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages were imitated by the younger 
 part of the community, and in some degree, at least, became the sports 
 of children. Archery, and the use of missive weapons of all kinds, were 
 formerly considered as an essential part of a young man's education ; for which 
 reason the bow, the sling, the spear, and other military instruments, were put 
 into his hands at a very early period of his life ; he was also encouraged in the 
 pursuit of such sports as promoted muscular strength, or tended to make him 
 acquainted with the duties of a soldier. When the bow and the sling were laid 
 aside in favour of the gun, prudence naturally forbad the putting an instrument 
 of so dangerous a nature into the hands of children ; they however provided 
 themselves a substitute for the gun, and used a long hollow tube called a trunk, 
 in which they thrust a small pointed arrow, contrived to fit the cavity with great 
 exactness, and then blowing into the trunk with all their might, the arrow was 
 driven through it and discharged at the other end by the expansion of the 
 compressed air. Sometimes pellets of clay were used instead of the arrows. 
 Dr Johnson in his Dictionary, under the article trunk, has this quotation from 
 Ray : " In a shooting trunk, the longer it is to a certain limit, the swifter and 
 more forcibly the air drives the pellet." The trunks were succeeded by pot- 
 guns made with hollow pieces of elder, or of quills, the pellets being thrust into 
 them by the means of a ramrod. These were also called pop-guns ; and perhaps 
 more properly, from the popping noise they made in discharging the pellets. 
 Big bouncing words are compared to pot-gun reports in a comedy called The 
 Knave in Graine, printed in 1640.^^ 
 
 Horses. — Most boys are exceedingly delighted with riding, either on 
 horses or in carriages, and also upon men's shoulders, which we have already 
 seen to be a very ancient sport ; and I trust there are but few of my readers 
 who have not seen them with a bough or a wand substituted for a horse, and 
 highly pleased in imitating the galloping and prancing of that noble animal. 
 This is an amusement of great antiquity, well known in Greece ; and if report 
 speaks truth, some of the greatest men have joined in it, either to relax the 
 
 Garrick's Collection, G. vol. ii. 
 
CHIIJ)REN'S GAMES 301 
 
 vigour of their own minds for a time, or to delight their children. The Persian 
 ambassadors found Agesilaus, the Lacedemonian monarch, employed in this 
 manner.^ Socrates also did the same, for which it seems his pupil Alcibiades 
 used to laugh at him.^ If we turn to the eighteenth plate we shall see two 
 boys, each of them having two wands, the one serves for a horse, and the other 
 for a spear, and thus equipped they are justing together. Again upon the 
 fourteenth plate a boy is mounted upon a wooden horse, drawn by two of his 
 companions, and tilting at the quintain; and here we may remark that the 
 bohourts, the tournaments, and most of the other superior pastimes have been 
 subjected to youthful imitation, and that toys were made on purpose to train up 
 the young nobility in the knowledge and pursuit of military pastimes. Nay, 
 some writers, and not without the support of ancient documents, derive the 
 origin of all these splendid spectacles from the sportive exercises of the 
 Trojan boys. 
 
 Racing and Chacing. — Contending with each other for superiority in 
 racing on foot is natural to children ; and this emulation has been productive of 
 many different amusements, among which the following seem to be the most 
 prominent. 
 
 Base, or Prisoners' Bars, is described in a preceding part of this work. 
 
 Hunt the Fox. — In this game one of the boys is permitted to run out, and 
 having law given to him, that is, being permitted to go to a certain distance 
 from his comrades before they pursue him, their object is to take him if possible 
 before he can return home. We have the following speech from an idle boy in 
 The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art, an old comedy, written towards 
 the close of the sixteenth century ; ^ 
 
 " And also when we play and hunt the fox, 
 I outrun all the boys in the schoole." 
 
 Hunt the Hare is the same pastime under a different denomination. 
 
 Harry-racket, or Hide and Seek, called also Hoop and Hide ; where one 
 party of the boys remain at a station called their home, while the others go out 
 and hide themselves ; when they are hid one of them cries hoop, as a signal for 
 those at home to seek after them. If they who are hidden can escape the 
 vigilance of the seekers and get home uncaught, they go out to hide again ; but 
 so many of them as are caught, on the contrary, become seekers, and those who 
 caught them have the privilege of hiding themselves. 
 
 *There are various references to the common sport of Hide and Seek, 
 usually under the title All-hid, in late Elizabethan and Stuart days. It is thus 
 referred to in Decker's Satiromastix : — "Our unhandsome-faced poet does play 
 at Bo-peep with your Grace, and cries All-hid, as boys do." 
 
 Thread the Tailor's Needle. — In this sport the youth of both sexes 
 
 ' Plut. in Apophthegm. Laced, et iElian. Var. Hist. lib. xii. cap. 15. Val. Max. lib. viii. cap. 8. 
 
 ' Garrick's Collect. I. vol. xviii. 
 
302 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 frequently join. As many as choose to play lay hold of hands, and the last in 
 the row runs to the top, where passing under the arms of the two first, the rest 
 follow : the first then becoming the last, repeats the operation, and so on 
 alternately as long as the game continues. 
 
 Cat after Mouse ; performed indiscriminately by the boys and the girls. 
 All the players but one holding each other's hands form a large circle ; he that 
 is exempted passes round, and striking one of them, immediately runs under 
 the arms of the rest ; the person so struck is obliged to pursue him until he be 
 caught, but at the same time he must be careful to pass under the arms of the 
 same players as he did who touched him, or he forfeits his chance and stands 
 out, while he that was pursued claims a place in the circle. When this game is 
 played by an equal number of boys and girls, a boy must touch a girl, and a 
 girl a boy, and when either of them be caught they go into the middle of the 
 ring and salute each other ; hence is derived the name of kiss in the ring. 
 
 Barley-brake. — The excellency of this sport seems to have consisted in 
 running well. 
 
 *Barley-brake is supposed to have its name from being originally played 
 in a field amid the barley mows or small stacks, one of which was fixed on as 
 the goal, whilst another was the prison or (as usually termed in this pastime) 
 the " hell." In Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, Herrick's Hesperides, and 
 Suckling's poems there are accounts of this game, all of which refer to the 
 " hell." Barley-brake is also several times named in Massinger's plays. The 
 game much resembled a certain form of Prisoners' Base. In the Tragedy of 
 Hoffmann, 1632, the two games are named together as though equivalents : — 
 
 " I'll run a little course at Base, or Barley-brake." 
 
 Puss in the Corner. — A certain number of boys or girls stand singly at 
 different distances ; suppose we say for instance one at each of the four corners 
 of a room, a fifth is then placed in the middle ; the business of those who occupy 
 the corners is to keep changing their positions in a regular succession, and of 
 the out-player, to gain one of the corners vacated by the change before the 
 successor can reach it : if done he retains it, and the loser takes his place in the 
 middle. 
 
 Leap Frog. — One boy stoops down with his hands upon his knees and 
 others leap over him, every one of them running forward and stooping in his 
 turn. The game consists in a continued succession of stooping and leaping. 
 It is mentioned by Shakspeare in King Henry the Fifth ; " If I could win a 
 lady at leap-frog, I should quickly leap into a wife " : by Jonson in the comedy 
 of Bartholomew Fair, "A leap-frogge chance now" ; and by several other more 
 modern writers. 
 
 Wrestling and Other Gymnastic Sports. — To the foregoing pastimes we 
 may add Wrestling, which was particularly practised by the boys in the counties 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 303 
 
 of Cornwall and Devon. Upon the sixth plate we find two lads contending for 
 mastery at this diversion. 
 
 Hopping and standing upon one leg are both of them childish sports, but 
 at the same time very ancient, for they were practised by the Grecian youth • 
 one they called aktnetinda,^ which was a struggle between the competitors who 
 should stand motionless the longest upon the sole of his foot ; the other 
 denominated ascohasmos, was dancing or hopping upon one foot,^ the conqueror 
 being he could hop the most frequently, and continue the performance longer 
 than any of his comrades ; and this pastime is alluded to by the author of the 
 old comedy, The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art, wherein a boy 
 boasting of his proficiency in various school games, adds, 
 
 " And I hop a good way upon my one legge." 
 
 Among the school-boys in my memory there was a pastime called Hop- 
 Scotch,8 which was played in this manner : a parallelogram about four or five 
 feet wide, and ten or twelve feet in length, was made upon the ground and 
 divided laterally into eighteen or twenty different compartments, which were 
 called beds ; some of them being larger than others. The players were each of 
 them provided with a piece of a tile, or any other flat material of the like 
 kind, which they cast by the hand into the different beds in a regular succession, 
 and every time the tile was cast, the player's business was to hop upon one leg 
 after it, and drive it out of the boundaries at the end where he stood to throw 
 it ; for, if it passed out at the sides, or rested upon any one of the marks, it was 
 necessary for the cast to be repeated. The boy who performed the whole of 
 this operation by the fewest casts of the tile was the conqueror. 
 
 Skipping. — This amusement is probably very ancient. It is performed by 
 a rope held by both ends, that is, one end in each hand, and thrown forwards 
 or backwards over the head and under the feet alternately. Boys often contend 
 for superiority of skill in this game, and he who passes the rope about most 
 times without interruption is the conqueror. In the hop season, a hop-stem 
 stripped of its leaves is used instead of a rope, and in my opinion it is 
 preferable. 
 
 Trundling the hoop is a pastime of uncertain origin, but much in practice 
 at present, and especially in London, where the boys appear with their hoops in 
 the public streets, and are sometimes very troublesome to those who are passing 
 through them. 
 
 Swimming, sliding, and of late years skating, may be reckoned among 
 the boys' amusements ; also walking upon stilts, swinging, and the pastime of 
 the meritot and see-saw, or tetter-totter, which have been mentioned already, 
 together with most of the games played with the ball, as well as nine-pins and 
 skittles. 
 
 • Joan. Meursi, de Lud. Grsec. ^ Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
 ' *The second half of the name of this undying game comes from scotch, an incised line or scratch. 
 
304 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 Marbles and Span-Counter. — Marbles seem to have been used by the 
 boys as substitutes for bowls, and with them they amuse themselves in many 
 different manners. I believe originally nuts, round stones, or any other small 
 things that could be easily bowled along, were used as marbles. Those now 
 played with seem to be of more modern invention. It is said of Augustus when 
 young, that by way of amusement he spent many hours in playing with little 
 Moorish boys with nuts.^ The author of one of the Tatlers calls it " a game of 
 marbles not unlike our common taw."^ 
 
 Taw, wherein a number of boys put each of them one or two marbles in a 
 ring and shoot at them alternately with other marbles, and he who obtains the 
 most of them by beating them out of the ring is the conqueror. 
 
 Nine holes ; which consists in bowling of marbles at a wooden bridge with 
 nine arches. There is also another game of marbles where four, five, or six 
 holes, and sometimes more, are made in the ground at a distance from each 
 other ; and the business of every one of the players is to bowl a marble by a 
 regular succession into all the holes, which he who completes in the fewest 
 bowls obtains the victory. 
 
 Boss out, or boss and span, also called hit or span, wherein one bowls a 
 marble to any distance that he pleases, which serves as a mark for his antagonist 
 to bowl at, whose business it is to hit the marble first bowled, or lay his own 
 near enough to it for him to span the space between them and touch both 
 the marbles ; in either case he wins, if not, his marble remains where it lay and 
 becomes a mark for the first player, and so alternately until the game be won. 
 
 Span-counter is a pastime similar to the former, but played with counters 
 instead of marbles. I have frequently seen the boys for want of both perform 
 it with stones. This sport is called in French tapper, a word signifying to 
 strike or hit, because if one counter is struck by the other, the game is won. 
 
 *The following is a list of the present (1902) best known marble games : 
 — Bounce About, Bounce Eye, Conqueror, Die Shot, Fortifications, Handers, 
 Increase Pound, Knock Out, Long Taw, Picking the Plums, Pyramid, Rising 
 Taw, Spanners, Three Holes, and Tip- Shears. 
 
 Tops, etc. — The Devil among the Tailors. — The top was used in 
 remote times by the Grecian boys. It is mentioned by Suidas, and called in 
 Greek '■^oj/os, and in Latin turbo. It was well known at Rome in the days of 
 Virgil,^ and with us as early at least as the fourteenth century, when its form 
 was the same as it is now, and the manner of using it can admit of but little if 
 any difference. Boys whipping of tops occur in the marginal paintings of the 
 MSS. written at this period.* It was probably in use long before. 
 
 In a manuscript at the Museum ^ I met with the following anecdote of 
 Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I., and the author assures us it is 
 
 ' Sueton., in Vita Aug. cap. 83. 2 jjo. 112. 
 
 ' The poet has drawn a simile from this pastime. yEneid, vii. 378. 
 
 * An example of this is given at the bottom of plate eleven. » Harl. Lib. No. 6391. 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 305 
 
 perfectly genuine;! his words are these: "The first tyme that he the prince 
 went to the towne of Sterling to meete the king, seeing a little without the gate 
 of the towne a stack of come in proportion not unlike to a topp wherewith he 
 used to play ; he said to some that were with him, ' loe there is a goodly topp ' ; 
 whereupon one of them saying, 'why doe you not play with it then?' he 
 answered, ' sett you it up'for me and I will play with it.' " 
 
 *In Northbrooke's Treatise against Dicing, etc., printed in 1579, the young 
 are urged to follow Cato's advice, namely, " playe with the Toppe and flee Dice- 
 playing." 
 
 We have hitherto been speaking of the whip-top ; for the peg-top, I 
 believe, must be ranked among the modern inventions, and probably originated 
 from the tee-totums and whirligigs, which seem all of them to have some 
 reference to the tops, saving only that the usage of the tee-totum may be 
 considered as a kind of petty gambling, it being marked with a certain number 
 of letters : and part of the stake is taken up, or an additional part put down, 
 according as those letters He uppermost. The author of Martin Scriblerus 
 mentions this toy in a whimsical manner : " He found that marbles taught him 
 percussion, and whirligigs the axis and peritrochia, and tops the centrifugal 
 motion." When I was a boy the tee-totum had only four sides, each of them 
 marked with a letter ; a T for take all ; an H for half, that is of the stake ; an 
 N for nothing ; and a P for put down, that is, a stake equal to that you put 
 down at first. Toys of this kind are now made with many sides and letters. 
 
 There is a childish pastime which may well be inserted here, generally 
 known by the ridiculous appellation of the Devil among the Tailors ; it consists 
 of nine small pins placed like skittles in the midst of a circular board, surrounded 
 by a ledge with a small recess on one side, in which a peg-top is set up by 
 means of a string drawn through a crevice in the recess ; the top when loosed 
 spins about among the pins and beats some, or all of them, down before its 
 motion ceases ; the players at this game spin the top alternately, and he who 
 first beats down the pins to the number of one-and-thirty is the conqueror. 
 This game, I am told, is frequently to be seen at low public-houses, where 
 many idle people resort and play at it for beer and trifling stakes of money. 
 
 Even or Odd — Chuck-halfpenny — Duck and Drake. — Even or Odd is 
 another childish game of chance well known to the ancients, and called in Greek 
 kfTM^in, and in hatin par velimpar. 
 
 The play consists in one person concealing in his hand a number of any 
 small pieces, and another calling even or odd at his pleasure ; the pieces are 
 then exposed, and the victory is decided by counting them ; if they correspond 
 with the call, the hider loses ; if the contrary, of course he wins. The Grecian 
 boys used beans, nuts, almonds, and money ; in fact anything that can be easily 
 concealed in the hand will answer the purpose. 
 
 Cross and Pile is mentioned some pages back. Here we may add Chuck- 
 
 1 Harl. Lib. No. 6391. 
 
306 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 farthing, played by the boys at the commencement of the last century; it 
 probably bore some analogy to pitch and hustle. There is a letter in the 
 Spectator supposed to be from the father of a romp, who, among other complaints 
 of her conduct, says, " I catched her once at eleven years old at chuck-farthing 
 among the boys." ^ I have seen a game thus denominated played with half- 
 pence, every one of the competitors having a like number, either two or four, 
 and a hole being made in the ground with a mark at a given distance for the 
 players to stand, they pitch their halfpence singly in succession towards the 
 hole, and he whose halfpenny lies the nearest to it has the privilege of coming 
 first to a second mark much nearer than the former, and all the halfpence are 
 given to him ; these he pitches in a mass towards the hole, and as many of 
 them as remain therein are his due ; if any fall short or jump out of it, the 
 second player, that is, he whose halfpenny in pitching lay nearest to the first 
 goer's, takes them and performs in like manner ; he is followed by the others so 
 long as any of the half-pence remain. 
 
 Duck and Drake, is a very silly pastime, though inferior to few in point of 
 antiquity. It is called in Greek, 'E.nrosTfo.x.tgiioi,^ and was anciently played with flat 
 shells, which the boys threw into the water, and he whose shell rebounded most 
 frequently from the surface before it finally sunk, was the conqueror. With us 
 a part of a tile, a potsherd, or a flat stone, are often substituted for the shells. 
 
 To play at ducks and drakes is a proverbial expression for spending one's 
 substance extravagantly. In the comedy called Green's Tu Quogue, one of 
 the cha;racters, speaking of a spendthrift, says, " he has thrown away as much 
 in ducks and drakes as would have bought some five thousand capons." 
 
 *In Butler's Hudibras occur the lines : 
 
 " What figur'd slates are best to make, 
 On watery surface Duck or Drake." 
 
 Baste the Bear — Hunt the Slipper, etc. — Baste, or buffet the bear 
 with hammer and block, are rather appendages to other games than games by 
 themselves, being punishments for failures, that ought to have been avoided ; 
 the first is nothing more than a boy couching down, who is laden with the 
 clothes of his comrades and then buffeted by them ; the latter takes place when 
 two boys have offended, one of which kneeling down bends his body towards 
 the ground, and he is called the block ; the other is named the hammer, and 
 taken up by four of his comrades, one at each arm and one at each leg, and 
 struck against the block as many times as the play requires. 
 
 Hunt the Slipper. — In this pastime a number of boys and girls indiscrimin- 
 ately sit down upon the ground in a ring, with one of their companions standing 
 on the outside ; a slipper is then produced by those seated in the ring, and 
 passed about from one to the other underneath their clothes as briskly as 
 possibly, so as to prevent the player without from knowing where it is ; when 
 
 > Vol. vi. No. 466. a Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 307 
 
 he can find it, and detain it, the person in whose possession it was, at that time, 
 must change place with him, and the play recommences. 
 
 Shuttle-cock has been spoken of in a former chapter ; an ancient representa- 
 tion of the game is given upon the thirty-eighth plate. 
 
 Sporting with Insects. — On the thirty-eighth plate we see a boy playing 
 with some large insect to which is fastened a string or thread. It is from a 
 manuscript of early fourteenth century date.^ 
 
 This barbarous sport is exceedingly ancient. We find it mentioned by 
 Aristophanes in the comedy of The Clouds.^ It is called in the Greek 
 ■mXoKwh, rendered in the Latin scarabaeus, which seems to have been the name 
 of the insect. But the Grecian boys were less cruel in the operation than those 
 of modern times, for they bound the thread about the legs of the beetle, instead 
 of thrusting a pin through its tail, as is the custom of English boys with 
 cockchafers. We are also told that the former frequently amused themselves 
 in the same manner with little birds, substituted for the beetles.* 
 
 The Kite is a paper machine well known in the present day, which the 
 boys fly into the air and retain by means of a long string. It received its 
 denomination from having originally been made in the shape of a bird called a 
 kite. Paper kites are not restricted to any particular form ; they appear in a 
 great diversity of figures, and not unfrequently in the similitude of men and 
 boys. I have been told, that in China the flying of paper kites is a very ancient 
 pastime, and practised much more generally by the children there than it 
 is in England. From that country perhaps it was brought to us, but the time 
 of its introduction is uncertain. 
 
 *In the Oxford Dictionary, the earliest references to Kite, as applied to the 
 toy from its hovering in the air like the bird, is from Butler's Hudibras (1664) : 
 
 "As a Boy one night did flie his Tarsel of a Kite, 
 The strangest long-wing'd Hawk that flies." 
 
 It was evidently well known in England, though not by that name, in 1634, 
 when John Bate gave directions for flying a kite to carry fireworks, " raising 
 it against the wind in an open field." Two lively cuts are given of it (one is 
 reproduced on plate thirty-six), with directions how to make it, but no name is 
 assigned to the aerial machine.* 
 
 The Paper Windwill, which appears upon the thirty-eighth plate, is taken 
 from a painting which is nearly five hundred years old ; though it differs very 
 little in its form from those used by the children at present. 
 
 Bob-Cherry. — This is " a play among children," says Johnson, " in which 
 the cherry is hung so as to bob against the mouth," or rather so high as to 
 oblige them to jump in order to catch it in their mouth, for which reason the 
 candidate is often unsuccessful. Hence the point in the passage which Johnson 
 
 ' Roy, Lib. No. 2, B, vii. "^ Act ii, scene the last, ' Pollux, lib, ix, cap, 7. 
 
 *■ Bate's Mysteries of Nature and Art, pp. 100- loa. 
 
308 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 quotes from Arbuthnot. " Bob-cherry teaches at once two noble virtues, 
 patience and constancy ; the first in adhering to the pursuit of one end, the 
 latter in bearing a disappointment." 
 
 At the bottom of the thirty-eighth plate we see a sport of this kind of 
 fourteenth century date, where four persons are playing, but the object they are 
 aiming at is much larger than a cherry, and was probably intended to represent 
 an apple.^ " It was customary," we are told by Mr Brand, on the eve of All- 
 Hallows, for the young people in the north to dive for apples, or catch at them 
 when stuck at one end of a kind of hanging beam, at the other extremity of 
 which is fixed a lighted candle, and that with their mouths, only having their 
 hands tied behind their back." ^ 
 
 HooDMAN Blind — Hot Cockles. — Hoodman Blind, more commonly 
 called Blind Man's Buff, is where a player is blinded and buffeted by his 
 comrades until he can datch one of them, which done, the person caught is 
 blinded in his stead. This pastime was known to the Grecian youth, and called 
 by them Mu/a ^aXx/.^ It is called Hoodman's Blind because the players formerly 
 were blinded with their hoods. In the Two Angry Women of Abington, a 
 comedy, this pastime is called the Christmas-sport of Hobman- Blind. 
 
 The manner in which Hoodman Blind was anciently performed with us 
 appears from three different representations, given upon the fortieth plate, all 
 from the same Bodleian MS. 
 
 The players who are blinded have their hoods reversed upon their heads 
 for that purpose, and the hoods of their companions are separately bound in a 
 knot to buffet them. 
 
 *Gay says concerning this pastime : 
 
 " As once I played at Blindman's Buff, it hapt 
 About my Eyes the Towel thick was wrapt. 
 I miss'd the Swains, and seized on Blouzelind, 
 True speaks that antient Proverb, ' Love is blind.' " 
 
 Hot Cockles, from the French hautes-coquilles, is a play in which one 
 kneels, and covering his eyes lays his head in another's lap and guesses who 
 struck him. Gay describes this pastime in the following lines : 
 
 " As at Hot Cockles once I laid me down, 
 And felt the weighty hand of many a clown, 
 Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I 
 Quick rose, and read soft mischief in her eye." 
 
 " The xurp/vSa, of the Grecians," says Arbuthnot, " is certainly not our hot 
 cockles, for that was by pinching, not by striking " ; but the description of the 
 chytrinda, as it is given by an ancient writer, bears little or no resemblance to 
 the game of hot cockles, but is similar to another equally well known with us, 
 and called frog in the middle. The chytrinda took place in this manner :— A 
 
 > Roy. Lib. No. 2, B. vii. 2 Addition to Bourne's Vulg. Antiq. « Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
<yCoav^//iany /fUfK^-^. 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 309 
 
 single player, called ;torpa, kotra, and with us the frog, being seated upon the 
 ground, was surrounded by his comrades who pulled or buffeted him until he 
 could catch one of them ; which done the person caught took his place, and was 
 buffeted in like manner.^ I scarcely need to add, that the frog in the middle, as 
 it is played in the present day, does not admit of any material variation. There 
 was another method of playing this game, according to the same author ; but it 
 bears no reference to either of those above described. Upon the thirty-ninth 
 plate the reader will find both the pastimes above mentioned, which are also 
 taken from the Bodleian MS. 
 
 Cock- Fighting. — I have already spoken at large upon cock-fighting, and 
 throwing at cocks. I shall only observe that the latter, especially, was a very 
 common pastime among the boys of this country till within these few years ; 
 and at the bottom of the thirty-fourth plate we have the copy of a curious 
 delineation, which I take to represent a boyish triumph. 
 
 The hero supposed to have won the cock, or whose cock escaped unhurt 
 from the danger to which he had been exposed, is carried upon a long pole by 
 two of his companions ; he holds the bird in his hands, and is followed by a 
 third comrade, who bears a flag emblazoned with a cudgel, the dreadful 
 instrument used upon these occasions. The original painting occurs in the 
 manuscript mentioned in the preceding article. 
 
 Anonymous Pastimes — Mock Honours at Boarding Schools. — Upon 
 the forty-first plate are two representations of a pastime, the name of which is 
 unknown to me ; but the purpose of it is readily discovered. 
 
 At the top we see a young man seated upon a round pole which may 
 readily turn either way, and immediately beneath him is a vessel nearly filled 
 with water ; he holds a taper in each hand, and one of them is lighted, and his 
 business, I presume, is to bring them both together and light the other, being 
 careful at the same time not to lose his balance, for that done, he must inevitably 
 fall into the water. This is from the Bodleian MS. 
 
 In the representation in the centre of the same plate, taken from a beautiful 
 fourteenth century book of prayers in the possession of Mr F. Douce, the task 
 assigned to the youth is still more difficult, as well from the manner in which he 
 is seated, as from the nature of the performance, which here he has completed : 
 that is, to reach forward and light the taper held in his hands from that which is 
 affixed to the end of the pole, and at a distance from him. 
 
 At the bottom of the plate, also from a drawing in Mr Douce's book of 
 prayers, is a representation of two boys seated upon a form by the side of a water- 
 tub ; both of them with their hands fixed below their knees, and one bending 
 backwards in the same position, intending, I presume, to touch the water with- 
 out immerging his head, or falling into it, and afterward to recover his position. 
 
 This trick being done by the one was probably imitated by the other ; I 
 speak however from conjecture only. If it be necessary for him who stoops to 
 
 * Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
310 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 take any thing out of the water, the pastime will bear some analogy to the just- 
 mentioned diving for apples. 
 
 In some great Boarding Schools for the fair sex, it is customary, upon the 
 introduction of a novice, for the scholars to receive her with much pretended 
 solemnity, and decorate a throne in which she is to be installed, in order to hear 
 a set speech, addressed to her by one of the young ladies in the name of the rest. 
 The throne is wide enough for three persons to sit conveniently, and is made 
 with two stools, having a tub nearly filled with water between them, and the 
 whole is covered by a counterpane or blanket, ornamented with ribands and 
 other trifling fineries, and drawn very tightly over the two stools, upon each of 
 which a lady is seated to keep the blanket from giving way when the new 
 scholar takes her place ; and these are called her maids of honour. The speech 
 consists of high-flown compliments calculated to flatter the vanity of the stranger ; 
 and as soon as it is concluded, the maids of honour rising suddenly together, the 
 counterpane of course gives way, and poor miss is unexpectedly immerged in 
 the water. 
 
 Houses of Cards — Questions and Commands — Handy-dandy — Snap- 
 dragon — Push-pin — Crambo — Lotteries. — Building of houses with cards, and 
 such like materals, is a very common amusement with children, as well as draw- 
 ing little waggons, carts, and coaches ; and sometimes boys will harness dogs and 
 other animals, and put them to their waggons in imitation of horses. Something 
 of this kind is alluded to by Horace, who writes thus in one of his satires : ^ 
 
 " ^dificare cassus, plostello adjungere mures." 
 To build little houses, and join mice to the diminutive waggons. 
 
 Questions and Commands, a childish pastime, which though somewhat 
 different in the modern modification, most probably derived its origin from the 
 basilinda, Baff/X/v3a,2 of the Greeks, in which we are told a king, elected by lot, 
 commanded his comrades what they should perform. 
 
 Handy-dandy, a " play," says Johnson, " in which children change hands and 
 places " ; this seems clear enough according to the following quotation from 
 Shakspeare {King Lear, act iv. sc. 6) : " See how yond justice rails upon yond 
 simple thief! hark in thine ear; change places ; and handy-dandy which is the 
 justice and which is the thief" ; to which is added another from Pope's Scriblerus, 
 "neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so ancient as handy-dandy." 
 
 *A truer explanation is that it is a childish play, still (1902) practised, 
 wherein something is placed or shaken in one or other of the hands, and a guess 
 is made as to the hand in which it is retained. 
 
 Snap-dragon. This sport is seldom exhibited but in winter, and chiefly at 
 Christmas-time ; it is simply heating of brandy or some other ardent spirit in a 
 dish with raisins ; when the brandy being set on fire, the young folks of both 
 
 > Lib. ii. sat. 3, line 47. 2 Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 3" 
 
 sexes standing round it pluck out the raisins.and eat them as hastily as they can, 
 but rarely without burning their hands, or scalding their mouths. 
 
 Push-pin is a very silly sport, being nothing more than simply pushing one 
 pin across another. 
 
 Crambo is a diversion wherein one gives a word, to which another finds a 
 rhyme ; this, with other trifling amusements, is mentioned in a paper belonging 
 to the Spectator} "A little superior to these," that is, to persons engaged in 
 cross-purposes, questions, and commands, "are those who can play at crambo, 
 or cap-verses." In this we trace some vestige of a more ancient pastime, much 
 in vogue in the fourteenth and fifteeth centuries, called the A B C of Aristotle ; 
 which is strongly recommended by the author, one " Mayster Bennet," not 
 only to children, but also to persons of man's estate, if ignorant of letters. 
 The proem to this curious alliterative alphabet is to the following effect : 
 
 " Whoever will be wise and command respect let him learn his letters, and 
 look upon the A B C of Aristotle, against which no argument will hold good : 
 It is proper to be known by clerks and knights, and may serve to amend a mean 
 man, for often the learning of letters may save his life. No good man will take 
 offence at the amendment of evil, therefore let every one read this arrangement 
 and govern himself thereby. 
 
 Hearkyn and heare every man and child how that I begynne. 
 
 A to amerous, to adventurous ; ne anger the too much. 
 
 B to bold, to busy, and board thou not too brode. 
 
 C to curtes, to cruel, and care not too sore. 
 
 D to dull, to dreadfuU, and drynk thou not too oft. 
 
 E to ellynge, to excellent ; ne to ernestfuU neyther. 
 
 F to fierce, ne to familier but frendely of chere. 
 
 G to glad, to gloryous, and gealosy thou shalt hate. 
 
 H to hasty, to hardy, ne too hevy yn thyne herte. 
 
 I to jettyng, to jangling, and jape not too oft. 
 
 K to keeping, to kynd, and ware knaves taches among. 
 
 L to lothe, to Ipvyng, to lyberall of goods. 
 
 M to medlurs, to merry but as manner asketh. 
 
 N to noyous, to nyce, ne nought to newe fangle. 
 
 O to orpyd, to oveyrthwarte, and othes do the hate. 
 
 P to preysyng, to prevy, ne peerless with prynces. 
 
 Q to queynt, to querelous, but quyene wele thee may. 
 
 R to ryetous, to revelyng, ne rage not too moche. 
 
 S to strange, ne to stervyng, nor stare not too brode. 
 
 T to taylours, ne tayle wyse, for temperance yt hatyth. 
 
 V to venemous, to violent, and waste nat too mych. 
 
 W to wyld, ne wrathful, and ne too wyse deeme thee. 
 For fear of a fall. 
 A measurable meane way is best for us all. Exphcit." ' 
 
 Lotteries, in which toys and other trifling prizes were included to be drawn 
 for by children, were in fashion formerly, but by degrees, and especially since 
 
 1 Vol. vii. No. 504. ' Harl. MSB. 1706, S4'' 
 
312 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 the establishment of the State Lottery, they have been magnified into a 
 dangerous species of gambling, and are very properly suppressed by the legisla- 
 ture. They were in imitation of the State Lotteries, with prizes of money, 
 proportionable to the value of the tickets, and drawn in like manner. These 
 lotteries are called little goes. 
 
 Creag — QuEKE-BOARD, AND OTHER MINOR GAMES. — Creag is a game men- 
 tioned in a computus dated the twenty-eighth of Edward L, a.d. 1300, and said 
 to have been played by his son Prince Edward. 
 
 *It was a form of nine pins. 
 
 Queke Borde, with Hand yn and Hand oute, are spoken of as new games, 
 and forbidden by a statute made in the seventeenth year of Edward IV. 
 
 *The former of this was probably a gambling game with a checker or chess 
 board. 
 
 White and Black, and also Making and Marrying are prohibited by a 
 public act established in the second and third years of Philip and Mary. 
 
 Figgum is said to be a juggler's game in the comedy of Bartholomew 
 Fayre by Ben Jonson, acted in 1614 ; to which is added, "the devil is the author 
 of wicked Figgum." In the same play mention is made of crambe (probably 
 crambo), said to be " another of the devil's games." 
 
 Mosel the Pegge, and playing for the hole about the churchyard, are spoken 
 of as boys' games, in a comedy called The longer thou livest the more Fool 
 thou art, written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 *This may have been the same as Pegge Morrell, described on page 258. 
 
 Penny-Pricke appears to have been a common game in the fifteenth century, 
 and is reproved by a religious writer of that period.^ 
 
 *The game consisted in throwing at pence, which were placed on pieces of 
 stick called holes, with a piece of iron. It is thus named in 161 6 : — 
 
 " Their idle hours (I meane all houres beside 
 Their hours to eatt, to drinke, drab, sleepe, and ride) 
 They spend at shove-board, or at penny-pricke." ^ 
 
 Pick-point, Venter-point, Blow-point, and Gregory, occur in a description of 
 the children's games in the sixteenth century.^ Blow-point was probably blow- 
 ing an arrow through a trunk at certain numbers by way of lottery. To these 
 may be added another pastime, called Drawing Dun out of the Mire. Chaucer 
 probably alludes to this pastime in the Manciple's Prologue, where the host 
 seeing the cook asleep, exclaims, " Syr, what dunne is in the mire." 
 
 *Brand quotes the following lines from " Humors Ordinaire " (1600) : — 
 
 " At shove-groatt. Venter-point, or Bord and Pile, 
 At leaping o'er a Midsummer Bone-fier, 
 Or at the drawing Dun out of the myer." 
 
 ' Harl. MS. 2391. = Scot's Philomythil. 3 Harl. MS. 2125. 
 
t/xi//iie<) j(/W\:'/io/{Jn''. 
 
CHILDREN'S GAMES 313 
 
 *It was a mere Christmas gambol with a great log of wood.^ 
 Mottoes, Similes, and Cross Purposes, are placed among the children's 
 games in a paper belonging to the Spectator.^ And the Parson has lost his cloak, 
 in another, where a supposed correspondent writes thus : " I desire to know if 
 the merry game of the parson has lost his cloak is not much in vogue amongst 
 the ladies this Christmas, because I see they wear hoods of all colours, which I 
 suppose is for that purpose."* 
 
 1 •Hazlitt's edit, of Brand's Popular Antiquities, iii. 308. '^ Vol. iii. No. 245. ' Vol. iv. 278. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A B C of Aristotle, 311 
 
 Abbot of Misrule, 267 
 
 Abingdon, 22, 236, 277 
 
 Ace of Roses, 263 
 
 Addington Cricket Club, 102 
 
 Addison, 292 
 
 ^Ifric, Earl, 22 
 
 Agesilaus, 301 
 
 Agincourt, 51 
 
 Agnes of Poictou, 162 
 
 Alauntes, or bull-dogs, 16 
 
 Albans, St, 130, 204 
 
 Alcibiades, 301 
 
 Alcinous, 80 
 
 Alcuin, 250 
 
 Alc^ate pump, 10 
 
 Alea, 245 
 
 Ales (Church and Whitsun), 367 
 
 Alexander the Great, xix 
 
 Alfred, 2, 23, 27, 40, 156 
 
 All-Fours, 263 
 
 All-Hallows, 268. 308 
 
 Alleys (Bowling), 216-219 
 
 Alnwick Park, 41 
 
 Althorp, 219 
 
 Amelia, Princess, 235 
 
 Animals — baiting, teaching, imitating, 
 etc., xlvii, 195-209 
 
 Anjou, Duke of, 169 
 
 Anne, Queen, 37, 146, 176, 178, 
 186, 188, 190, 196, 198, 199, 204, 
 207, 294 
 
 Boleyn, 46, 62, 218, 295 
 
 Lady, daughter of Duke of 
 
 Norfolk, 128 
 
 of Bohemia, 9 n 
 
 Apes, 18, 19, 172, 195, 196, 206, 
 208 
 
 Apples, diving for, 310 
 
 Arabians, 250 
 
 Arbalist, 41. See Archery 
 
 Archery, 39 ; bow known before the 
 advent of the Romans, 39 ; to Saxons 
 and Danes, 39 ; archery of the 
 Normans, 40 ; by ladies, 40 ; forms 
 of Saxon bows, 40 ; use and practice 
 of the cross-bow, 41, 42 ; bows and 
 arrows to be kept, 43 ; decay of 
 archery, 43 ; ordinances in fevour 
 of archery, 45 ; Henry VHI. as an 
 archer, 45 ; early treatises on archery, 
 47 ; prices for bows, 47 ; equipment 
 of an archer, 48 ; directions for 
 archery, 49 ; marks for shooting 
 *'> So> 57 ; feats in archery, 51 ; 
 length of bow and arrows, 51 ; 
 ancient bowmen's superiority, 53 ; a 
 good archer called Arthur, 54 ; 
 Duke of Shoreditch, S4 ; archery at 
 Buxton, 55 ; Elizabethan archers, 
 55 ; archery in the Civil War, 55 ; 
 revival at Restoration, 56; Sir 
 William Wood, 56, 57 ; The Toxo- 
 philites, 58 
 
 Arcubalistarians, 60 
 
 Arden of Feversham, 247 
 
 Aristotle, A B C of, 311 
 
 Arran, Lord, 66 
 
 Arrows, 41. See Archery 
 
 Art of Memory, 263 
 
 Arthur, a good archer, why called, 54 
 
 Prince of Wales, 139, 205 
 
 round table of, 123 
 
 Artillery Company, The, 57, 58 
 gardens, 212 
 
 Arundell, Robert, a good slinger, 
 
 S3 
 Ascanius, 113 
 Ascham, 47, 48, 49, 53, 63 
 Ashford, 13 
 
 Asia and Asiatics, 224, 245, 250 
 Asser, 2 
 
 Asses, Ass-racing, 19, 37, 204 
 Astley (Amphitheatre), 78, 188, 197, 
 
 198, 199 
 Athelstan, 2, 12, 32 
 AthoU, Earl, 86 
 Atkinson, Canon, 67 
 Augusta, Princess, 232 
 Augustus, 304 
 Austria, Duke of, 153 
 Axes, combats with. See Justs 
 
 Babylon, 250 
 
 Backgammon, 86, 248, 249 
 
 Badger, 11, 15, 19 
 
 Badminton Library, 19 «, 20, 66 «, 
 
 73 «. 77 ». 90, 104 
 Bagpipes, 187 
 Baines, Henry, 34 
 Baiting animals with dogs, xlvii, 204- 
 
 208 
 Baker, Rev. R. S., 258 
 Balancing, 188, 189, 190 
 Balistarii, 41, 60 
 Ball, games with, 80-104 
 
 of little dogs, 145, 199 
 
 Ballad-singers, 230. See Joculators 
 
 Ballet-dances, 187 
 
 Balloon-ball, 90 
 
 Ban-dogs, 206 
 
 Bandy-ball, 84, 92, 98 
 
 Bankafelet, 262 
 
 Banstead Downs, 65 
 
 Bar, throwing of, 62, 291 
 
 Barbarossa, Frederic, 22 
 
 Barclay, Alexander, 21, 61, 62 
 
 Bards, 148. See Minstrels 
 
 Barley-brake, 302 
 
 Barlo, Marquis of, 54 
 
 Barlow, Francis, 31 
 
 Barnard, Pires, 266 
 
 Bamet, 204 
 
 Barra, Luke de, 159 
 
 Barrington, Daines, 51 
 
 Bartholomew tide, 44 
 
 Base, or Prisoners' Bars, 67, 301 
 
 Basque, 82 
 
 Basset, 262 
 
 Bassingboume, 131 
 
 Bastard dogs, 17 
 
 Baste the Bear, 306 
 
 Bastile, 259 
 
 Bath, 131, 292 
 
 Lord, 176 
 
 Batting (Bird), 31 
 
 Baumer Fields, 57 
 
 Bayeaux tapestry, 3 
 
 Bayle, 41 
 
 Beagles, 16 
 
 Bears, bear-baiting, bear-garden, etc., 
 II, 18, 151, 19s, 196, 204, 205, 
 206 
 
 game of " Baste the Bear," 306 
 
 Beast, a game at cards, 262 
 
 Beasts for hunting, 1 1 
 
 of chase, 1 1 
 
 of flight, II, 12 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of, 20 
 
 Beaumont, 253, 277 
 
 Becket, Thomas k, J 
 
 Beckford, 20 
 
 Bedale, 207 
 
 Bede, the Venerable, 80, 152 
 
 Bedfordshire, 69, 72 
 
 Bedingfield, Thomas, 86 
 
 Beelzebub, 274 
 
 Beggars, 19 
 
 Bell, Adam, 52, 158 
 
 Bell Savage, shows at the, 205, 212 
 
 Bells for ringing, hawk-bells, prize- 
 bells, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36, 236 
 
 (Dumb), 64 
 
 Bemerton, 100 
 
 Benjamites, slingers, 59 
 
 Beoric, king's falconer, 23 
 
 Berdic, king's joculator, 172 
 
 Bermondsey, Southward, 28, 298 
 
 Bemers, Juliana, 1 1 
 
 Lord, 1 1 
 
 Bernwood, forest of, 13 
 
 Bert, Edmund, 27 
 
 Bertie, Peregrine, 66 
 
 Bess of Hardwick, 246 
 
 "Bessy," 274 
 
 Bethersden, 131 
 
 Beverley, 131, 157, 160, 236 
 
 Bevis of Southampton, 33, 158 
 
 Bewits, 26 
 
 Billiards, 102, 219, 239 
 
 Binding Tuesday, 275 
 
 Birds, bird-batting, bird-catching, 31. 
 
 See Hawking 
 Birds, imitating, 204 
 
 performing, 200 
 
 Birmingham, 208 
 Bishop (Boy), 272, 273 
 Bitterns, 30 
 
 Blackburnshire, Forest of, 12 
 Blackfriars, 75, 79, 85 
 Blackheath, 99 
 Blechesdon, 13 
 
 315 
 
3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Blind Man's BuflF, 308 
 
 Blois, Charles, Earl of, 42 
 
 Blome, Richard, 20 
 
 Blondel, a minstrel, 153 
 
 Blow Point, 312 
 
 Blyth, 118 
 
 Boar-hunting, fighting, etc., II, 13, 14, 
 
 IS, 16, 19, 20 
 Boar spears, 13, 14 
 Boats, 77 
 Bob-cherry, 307 
 Bone Ace, 263 
 Bonfires, 293-295 
 Boniface, or Winifred, Archbishop of 
 
 Mons, 22 
 Borough, Sir Ed., 54 
 Boss-out, or Boss and Span, 304 
 Bothwell, Earl of, 99 
 Bourbon, Duke of, 81 
 Bow and Arrows, 41, 43 
 Bowland, Forest of, 12 
 Bowling, 86, 216-219 
 Boy Bishop, 272, 273 
 Boy-games in cloisters, 257, 258 
 Brackley, n8 
 Brading, 208 
 Bragg, 262 
 
 Brant, Sebastian, 21, 202 
 Braybrooke, Robert, 82 
 Breeches formerly worn by ladies, 9 
 Brentford, 66 
 Brereton, John, 33 
 Breslaw, juggler, 200, 204 
 Brington, iii 
 
 British Museum, 68, 192, 103, 2II 
 Brito, William, 41 
 Brock, Loftus, 75 
 Brockenhurst, 228 
 Brooke, Lord, 216 
 Brunanburgh, victory at, 2 
 Bubble the justice, 222 
 Buckingham, 12, 13 
 Buckler-play, 209 
 Bucklersbury, 75 
 Buling, Hans, a mountebank, 191 
 Bull-baiting and BuU-rurming, 196, 
 
 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209 
 
 dogs, 206, 207 
 
 Bumble-puppy, 222 
 
 Bunny Park, Nottingham, 73 
 
 Burford, Ox., 36, 286 
 
 Burgundy, old Duke of, 81 
 
 Burlesque Music, 237 
 
 Burrell, Sir Peter, 89 
 
 Burton, 30, 31, 36, 226, 255, xxvii 
 
 Bury St Edmunds, 9, 23 
 
 Busby, Dr, 72 
 
 Butchers' hounds, 17 
 
 Butlers, 19 
 
 Butts, archery, 50, 55 
 
 Buxton, 55, 91, 218 
 
 Byrhtric, a Saxon, 22 
 
 Cadmon, a rope-dancer, 181 
 
 Caedman, 152 
 
 Calvert, John, 15 
 
 Cambridge, 72, 87, 97, 131, 236, 270 
 
 shire, 132, 258 
 
 Cambuc, 100 
 
 Camp-ball, 91, 93. 9S 
 
 Canterbury, 157, 212, 236, 257, 258 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, 138 
 
 Canute. See Cnut 
 
 Capet, Hugh, 32 
 
 Car, Robert, Earl of Somerset, 187 
 
 Cards, 1, 80, 260-264 
 
 Houses of, 310 
 
 Carew, 50, 51, 53, 69, 73. 9i. "34 
 
 Carlisle, 34 
 
 Carole Dance, 193 
 
 Caroline, Princess, 235 
 
 Castile, King of, 85 
 
 Casting the bar, 62 
 
 Castlehaven, Lord, 66 
 
 Cat after mouse, 302 
 
 Cat, pole-cat, wild-cat, 11, 12, 15, 16, 
 
 19, 199 
 Catherine of Arragon, 1 39 
 
 of Portugal, 262 
 
 Cavendish, 46 
 
 Caxton, 84 
 
 Cerlee, Christina, 63 
 
 Chaffnets, 30 
 
 Chafrins, ambassador, 62 
 
 Chailey, Sussex, 287 
 
 Chaldea, 250 
 
 Chalezun, castle of, 41 
 
 Chan (Great), 168 
 
 Changes, ringing of, 65, 236 
 
 Charing-cross, a mews, 30, 196 
 
 Charlemagne, 151, 250 
 
 Charles I., 36, 45, 87, 212, 219, 230, 
 
 251, 271 
 
 IL, 14, 25, 36, 65, 87, 97. 99. 
 
 182, 190, 212, 219, 261, 262, 294 
 
 V. of France, 62, 81 
 
 VI. of France, 63, 179, 203, 260 
 
 VH. of France, 311 
 
 Chartley, 14, 238 
 
 Chaucer, xix, xxxi, 6, 31, 40, 49, 71, 
 83. 131. 137. 154, 167. 170, 172, 
 174, 188, 226, 250, 253, 276, 291, 
 
 312 . 
 Cheapside, 10 
 Chelmsford, 137, 212 
 Chelsea, 78 
 
 Cheltenham school, 90 
 Cheney, John, 38 
 Cheshire, 55, 68 
 Cheshunt, 15 
 Chess, liv, 250-253 
 Chester, xxxvii, 33, 77, 95, 131, 133, 
 
 IS7 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 88, loi 
 
 Cheveretter, Janino de, 163 
 
 Chevy Chase, 48, 51 
 
 Chichester, 257 
 
 Childermas, 270, 272 
 
 Children's plays, 30Q-313 
 
 Chilton, 10 
 
 Chiltre (The), 9 
 
 Chimney-sweepers, 281 
 
 China, 224, 307 
 
 Christmas, 109, 137, 1 38, 141, 158, 
 165, 183, 193, 202, 217, 228, 260, 
 265, 267-273, 287, 290, 292, 308, 
 
 310, 313 
 Chuck-farthing, 306 
 Churn, or com, supper, 288 
 Circus in St George's Fields, 188, 197, 
 
 198 
 Civic Shows, xxxi 
 Clarencieux king-at-arms, 118 
 Clark, Joseph, 190 
 Claypole, Lord, 65 
 Clench of Bamet, 204 
 Clermont, Earl of, 115 
 Clergy, 2, 6, 7, 25, 45, 201, 236, 246, 
 
 260, 271 
 Clerkenwell, 56, 70, 207, 213, 234, 239 
 
 Clerkenwell, Marquis of, 54 
 
 Cleveland, Duchess of, 182 
 
 Cloisters Games, 257, 258 
 
 Closh, game of, 220 
 
 Cloudesle, William, an archer, 52, 53 
 
 Clown, 172 
 
 Club-ball, 100 
 
 Clubs, suit of, 324 
 
 Clym of the Cloughe,S2, 158 
 
 Cnut, XXX, 2, 3, 6, 7,251 
 
 Coat and Badge, rowing for the, 78 
 
 Coblers, 19 
 
 Cochloeus, 62 
 
 Cock — cock-fighting, cock-throwing, 
 
 etc., 200, 208, 224-227, 292, 309 
 Cock -pit, The, 225 
 Cocksale, 137 
 Coits. See Quoits 
 Colchester, 208 
 
 Coleshill Heath, Warwickshire, 37 
 Colts, 19 
 
 Columbines, king of, 263, 264 
 Commenius, 33, 75, 172, 183 
 Common-Hunt, 10 
 " Complete Gentleman," 62 
 Constantine of Wales, 2, 12 
 Cooks, 19 
 Coots, 30 
 Corcyra, 80 
 Combury, 13 
 Comhill, 109, 276 
 Cornish and Cornwall, xxix, 50, 51, 
 
 53. 69. 72, 91. 93. 258, 286, 290, 
 
 303 
 Corpus Christie, mystery called, 131 
 Cotswold, game of, xxix 
 Coursing, 18, 19 
 Court Plays, 138. See Plays 
 Covent Garden theatre, 204 
 Coventry, 137, 140 
 " Coventry Contentments," 20 
 Coventry Play, the, 132, 133 
 Cowdry, in Suss., 9, 41 
 Cowley, 253 
 
 Coxford Priory, Norfolk, 96 
 Crambo, 311 
 Cranes, 22, 30 
 
 Crawley, a showman, 144, 178, 199 
 Creag, 311 
 Creance, 26 
 Cressy, battle of, 42 
 Cribbage, 263 
 Cricket, 100-104 
 Criol, Bertram de, 10 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 158 
 Crooked Lane, 97 
 Cross bow, 41. See Archery 
 
 Purposes, 313 
 
 Cross-and-Pile, 266 
 
 Croyden, 36 
 
 Cuckolds, 19 
 
 Cudgel-players, 291 
 
 Cumberland, 16, 69 
 
 Cumberland sailing society, 78, 233 
 
 Curlews, 30 
 
 Curs, 19. See Dogs 
 
 Cushion dance, 193 
 
 Cuthred, King of W. Saxons, 286 
 
 Cyprus, 35 
 
 Danby-in-Cleveland, 67 
 
 Dances, Dancers, Dancing Animals, 
 
 and Rope-dancing, xliv, 174-194,1283 
 Danes, 22, 23, 39, 40, 95, 140, 206, 
 
 245. 275 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Darts, 62 
 
 Datchet-mead races, 36 
 
 David, 59, 149, 237 
 
 D'Eu, Count, 81 
 
 Deddington, Oxfordshire, no 
 
 Dee River, 77 
 
 Deer, 4, 17, 18, 19, 24, 195 
 
 Defence, science of, 210-215 
 
 Derby, 181, 226 
 
 Derbyshire, 12, 13, 16, 39, 55, 66, 
 
 68i 9S) 97. 208, 228, 257, 274 
 Derrick, John, loi 
 Deserter acted, 200 
 Devonshire, 69, 93, 214, 303 
 
 Duke of, 209 
 
 Dice, 1, 2, 86, 245, 246, 247 
 
 Digby, Everard, 74 
 
 Dijon, 124 
 
 Dillon, Viscount, 125 
 
 Diomedes, 250 
 
 Dio Nicseus, I 
 
 Discus, 61 
 
 Doe. See Dee 
 
 Dogget's Coat and Badge, 78 
 
 Dogs, a ball of little dogs, 145, 199 
 
 of the Chase, 16, 17, 18 
 
 performing, 195, 196, 198, 199. 
 
 See Hounds, etc. 
 Domino, 259, 260 
 Dorchester, 208 
 Dorking, 97, 232 
 Dorset, 15, 257 
 
 Duke of, 102 
 
 Marquis of, 85 
 
 Doublets, 248 
 
 Douce, Francis, 3 
 
 Doves, 30 
 
 Draughts, 255, 256 
 
 Drawing Dun out of the Mire, 312 
 
 Dresses, caparison of a hawk, 26 
 
 equipment for an archer, 48 
 
 hunting, 8, 9 
 
 Minstrels', 158, 159 
 
 Drury-lane, 143, 225 
 Dryden, 253 
 Dubois, 186 
 Duck-Hunting, 227, 228 
 
 and Owl, 228 
 
 Ducks and Drakes, 306 
 
 Duffield, 228 
 
 Dumb Bells, 64 
 
 Dunghill dogs, 17 
 
 Dunstable, 130 
 
 Dunstan, St, 149 
 
 D'Urfey, loi 
 
 Durham, 14, 152, 164, 205, 257, 273 
 
 Dutch, 182, 189, 191 
 
 Dutch-Pins, 221 
 
 Eagles, 28, 29 
 
 Easter, 33, 108, 14I, 165, 273, 274, 
 
 290 
 Eccles, 208 
 Edelswitha, 32 
 Edinburgh, 86, 99 
 Edgar, 2, 12, 77, 149 
 Edmund, King of East Angles, 23, 40 
 Edward the Confessor, 3, 13, 22, 27 
 
 I., 4, 7, 10, 16, 21, 100, 123, 
 
 161, 210, 260, 312 
 
 II., II, 95. 100. 156. 159, i6i> 
 
 171, 176, 187, 266 
 
 III., 12, 13, 28, 29, 34, 41, 43> 
 
 62, 63, 68, 94, 96. 97. 123, 138, 
 184, 202, 224, 271 
 
 Edward IV., 44, 47, 51, 84, 85, loi, 
 122, 137, 157, 160, 162 
 
 VI., loi, 179, 268, 278 
 
 Edwin, King of Northumberland, 39 
 
 Egbert, Archbishop, 2, 195, 236 
 
 Egerton, Sir P., 34 
 
 Egg dance, 185 
 
 Egypt, 25s 
 
 Elizabeth, xxxix-xlii, 9, 19, 29, 35, 
 41. 54, 55, 64, 82, 83, 86, 92, 96, 
 no, ni, 127, 138, 140, 157, 171, 
 173, I76,( 184, 185, 192, 203, 205, 
 206, 211, 220, 229, 230, 246, 261, 
 284, 290, 295, 296, 299, 312 
 
 daughter of Ed. I., 16^ 
 
 Elk, II 
 
 Eltham, Hants, 46 
 
 Elvaston, 290 
 
 Elvetham, Hants, 82, 296 
 
 Ely, Bishop of, 28, 159 
 
 Elyot, Sir Thomas, 47, 62, 65, 96 
 
 Enfield Chase, 36 
 
 Engaine, Thomas, 12 
 
 E. O. tables, 246 
 
 Epiphany, 270 
 
 Ereismus, 62, 205 
 
 Esau, 40 
 
 Eslington, 15 
 
 Essex, 10, 12, 68, 93, 132, 258 
 
 Essex House, 87 
 
 Ethelbald, King of Mercia, 286 
 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent, 22 
 
 Ethelred the Unready, 2, 375 
 
 Eton, 82, 88, 102 
 
 Eubcea, 244, 250 
 
 Euston, SufiTolk, 93 
 
 Evelyn, 76, 196, 197, 199, 207 
 
 Richard, 269 
 
 Even or Odd, 305 
 
 Evil Merodac, 250 
 
 Evreux, 40 
 
 Exeter, 84, 236 
 
 Exmoor, 16, 287, 230 
 
 Fairs, 291 
 
 Falcon, Falconer, Falconry, 21. See 
 
 Hawking 
 Fantoccini, 146 
 Feathers, 48, 49 
 Fenchurch Street, 10, 85, 277 
 Fencing, 209-215 
 Ferguson, Chancellor, 64 
 Ferrers, George, 268 
 Ferrets, 7, 19 
 Festival of Fools, 271 
 Fiddlers, 158 
 Figgum, 312 
 Finsbury Fields, 57 
 Fireworks, 233, 295-299 
 Firmicus, Julius, 22 
 Fishing and Fowling, 30 
 Fitchat or Fitch, II 
 Fitzstephen, 7, 9, 32, 40, 74, 75, 108, 
 
 114, 224, XX, xxviii 
 Five-Cards, 263 
 Fives, 81 
 Fletcher, 277 
 Flight, beasts of sweet and of stinking, 
 
 II, 12 
 Flora, 280 
 Foix, Earl of, 5, 163 
 Folejambe, Thomas, 13 
 Fool's dance, 183, 184 
 
 plough, 177 
 
 Football, 83, 93, 291 
 
 Foot racing, 65, 66, 67 
 
 staniUng on one, 303 
 
 Forcer, Francis, musician, 235 
 
 Forest, Sir William, 62 
 
 Four Comers, 221 
 
 Kings, 260 
 
 Foursome (Golf), 99 
 
 Fowling-piece, 25 
 
 Fowling and Fishing, 30 
 
 Fownes, Thomas, 15 
 
 Fox, 10, 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 195, 301 
 
 and Geese, 257, 258 
 
 France and French, 5, 7, 11, 24, 27, 
 32. 41. 42, 44. 63, 81, 82, 83, 123, 
 140, 153, 205, 216, 223, 225, 250, 
 256. 259. 260, 264 
 
 Frederic Barbarossa, 22 
 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales, 89 
 
 French Billiards, 240 
 
 Draughts, 255 
 
 Ruff, 262 
 
 Friar Tuck, 278 
 
 Friars, 19 
 
 Froissart, 63, 124, 169, 179, 202 
 
 Frying-pan music, 238 
 
 Fulimart, 11 
 
 Gahorty, 36 
 
 Galway, 92, 97 
 
 Game laws, 2, 3, 28 
 
 Gaming, lii - liii, 219, 247, 260, 
 
 262 
 Gardens, Marybone, 29, 235 
 
 Paris Garden, 215, 216 
 
 Ranelagh, 231, 233, 295 
 
 Vauxhall, 78, 231-233, 298 
 
 Garnerin, 233 
 
 Garter, Order of, 123 
 
 Gascony, 10, 63 
 
 Gascoygne, Thomas, poet, 203, 299 
 
 Gaunt, John of, 124, 161, 208, 209 
 
 Geese, 19, 30 
 
 Genoese, 42 
 
 Gent, William Pearcey, 74 
 
 "Gentleman's Recreation, The," 20 
 
 Geoffry, a Norman, 130 
 
 George I., 10, 37, 213 
 
 II., 38, 183, 295 
 
 III., 295 
 
 Germans, Germany, 2, 21, 66, 75, 123, 
 
 126, 245, 264, 265 
 Gilbertines, 95 
 Gilds, xxxii-xxxv 
 Gleek, 262 
 
 Gleemen, 148, 149, 174, 209 
 Globe Tavern, near Hungecford- 
 
 raarket, 146 
 Gloves, hawks', 27 
 Gloucester, 258 
 Gloucestershire, 42 
 Goats, 19 
 GofF, game of, 97 
 Goldfinches, 30 
 Goliath, 59 
 Gower, 253 
 
 Gray, George, fencer, 213 
 Gray's Inn, 72 
 Great Mell Fell, 16 
 Greeks, 61, 73, 75, 78, 224, 245, 250, 
 
 254, 266, 300, 303, 304, 305, 306, 
 
 307, 308 
 Greene, Gregorye, 211 
 Greenwich, 14, 46, 47, 85, 125, 136, 
 
 140, 176, 206, 278, 29s 
 Gregory, Pope, 131, 288 
 
3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Grey, or Badger, ii, 12 
 
 (Henry de), of Codnor, 10 
 
 hounds, S, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 
 
 18, 19, 208 
 
 waters of, 10 
 
 Gridiron music, 238 
 Gringonneur, Jacquemin, 260 
 Grinning-match, 293 
 Guarine, Fulco, 251 
 Guenever, Queen, 280 
 Guilford, loi, 139 
 
 Guy of Warwick, 158 
 Gyfford, John, 1 1 
 
 Half-bowl, 221 
 
 Haliday, Walter, 157 
 
 Hall, Jacob, rope-dancer, 182 
 
 Hambledon, 102 
 
 Hamilton, Lord Spencer, 76 
 
 Hammersmith, 191 
 
 Hammer-throwing, 61, 62 
 
 Hampshire, 82, 102, 275 
 
 Hampstead, 207 
 
 Hampton Court, 27, 46, 56, 89,125,212 
 
 Hand-ball, 80 
 
 bells, 237 
 
 tennis, 81 
 
 Handel, 235, 298 
 Handy-dandy, 310 
 
 Handyn and Handout, loi, 312 
 
 Hardicanute, 275 
 
 Hare, 11, 15, l6, 18, 19,20,27, 199, 301 
 
 Hargrave, 258 
 
 Harleston Heath Races, 38 
 
 Harpers, 1 9, 149 
 
 Harpsichord, introduction of the, 230 
 
 Harriers, 9, l6 
 
 Harris, James, 213 
 
 Harrow, go 
 
 Harting, 16 
 
 Harvest-home, 287 
 
 Hastings, 60, 150 
 
 Hasty-pudding, eating, 293 
 
 Hatasu, Queen, 255 
 
 Hatfield, Yorkshire, 39 
 
 House, 205 
 
 Hathersedge, 56 
 
 Hawking, xxii, xxiii ; travelling 
 with hawks, etc., 3, 7i 21; how 
 hawking conducted for ladies, 7, 8, 
 9 ; hawks paid in tribute, 2 ; early 
 treatise on hawking, etc., 11, 22, 
 27 ; value of hawks, 29 ; hawks, 
 ensigns of nobility, 21 ; origin of 
 hawking, 22 ; hawks and hounds 
 taken to church, 21 ; training hawks 
 essential to the education of a gentle- 
 man, 22 ; romantic story about hawk- 
 ing, 20 ; Grand Falconer of France, 
 23 ; fondness of Edward III. for 
 hawking, 24 ; among Saxons, 24 ; 
 decline of hawking, 25 ; method of 
 hawking, 25, 26; caparison of 
 hawks, 26 ; hawk-bells, 26 ; diseases 
 of hawks, 27 ; laws respecting hawk- 
 ing, 28 ; law against having any but 
 foreign ones, 28 ; their value, 29 ; 
 different species of hawks, 29 ; terms 
 used in hawking, 30 
 
 Haye, a fence- work of netting, 7, 17 
 
 Hayman, Francis R. A., 103 
 
 Haymarket Theatre, 183, 190, 197 
 
 Hazard, 248 
 
 Hazel wands, 50 
 
 Hedgehog, 18 
 
 Hedon, 208 
 Henry I., 13, 159 
 
 n., 6, 7, 32, 40, 7S, IIS, 251 
 
 III., S, 6, 69, loo, 109, 186 
 
 IV., 4, 83, 131 
 
 v., 4, 83, 120, 171 
 
 VI., 7, 12, 70, 84, 137 
 
 Vn., xxiii, 12, 28, 41, 42, 47, 
 
 54, 85, 128, 137, 260, 278, 294 
 
 VIII., xxiv, 14, 27, 29, 30, 31 
 
 44, 47, 5h S3> 54, SS, 57, 62, 85, 86, 
 96, 125, 136, 137, 172, 176, 192, 202, 
 205, 210, 211, 212, 217, 224, 229, 
 239, 260, 272, 276, 278, 279, 285 
 
 son of James I., 244, 304 
 
 Hentzner, 25, 43 
 
 Heralds and Heraldry, 1 1 
 
 Herbert, Sir W., 247 
 
 Hermits, 19 
 
 Herodias, 175 
 
 Herons, 28, 30 
 
 Hertford, 180, 221 
 
 Earl of, 82, 296 
 
 Hertfordshire, 9, 10, 15 
 Heybridge, 131 
 
 Heywood, Master of St Paul's School, 
 
 182 
 John, 43, 185 
 
 Thos., 26, 143 
 
 Hide and Seek, 301 
 
 Higgins, a posture-master, 190 
 
 Hinguar, 23 
 
 Hippas, 73 
 
 Hisham, Nicholas, 44 
 
 Hob, an iron pin, 63 
 
 Hobijy (hawk), 29 
 
 Hobby-horses, 184, 268 
 
 Hock Tuesday and Hocking, 274, 275 
 
 Hockey, 91, 98 
 
 Hockley in the Hole, 207, 213 
 
 Hognaston, 13 
 
 Holdenby, 219 
 
 Holinshead, 62, 83 
 
 Holland, 75, 76, 249 
 
 John, Earl of, 163 
 
 Hollis, Su: Fretcheville, 213 
 
 Hoodman-blind, 308 
 
 Hooke, John, 87 
 
 Hoole, Charles, 87 
 
 Hoops, leaping through, etc., 172, 
 
 188, 303 
 Hopping, 303 
 Hop-Scotch, 303 
 Horse-collar, grinning through, 293 
 
 racing and horses, 32 - 38 ; 
 
 tribute in horses, etc., 10; a harras 
 of horses, 19 ; horses trained to 
 conceal sportsmen, 30 ; racing in 
 Smithfield, 30 ; seasons for racing, 
 33 ; Chester races, 33 ; Stamford 
 races, 34 ; Barbary horses, 34 ; value 
 of racers, 34 ; racers of romance, 
 35 ; racing, a liberal pastime, 35 ; 
 breed of horses attended to, 35 ; 
 royal patrons of racing, 36 ; Hyde 
 Park races, 37 ; Coleshill Heath 
 races, 37 ; Corporation Plates, 38 ; 
 tricks and performances by horses, 
 197, 198 ; horses baited with dogs, 
 etc., 197, 204, 205 
 
 (Stalking), 38 
 
 Horse Guards Parade, 125 
 Horsleydown, 207 
 Hot-cockles, 308 
 Hounds, 2, 3, 5, 18, 19 
 
 Houses (card), 310 
 
 Hoxton, Marquis of, 54 
 
 Hubba, 23 
 
 Hughes's Royal Circus, 198 
 
 Hugo Petroleonis, 7 
 
 Human Quintain, 11 1 
 
 Hungary, King of, 8, 24, 218 
 
 Hungerford, Sir Ed., 56 
 
 Hunting, 1-20; among the Britons, 
 Saxons, Danes and Normans, 1-6; 
 prohibited on Sunday, 2 ; forbidden 
 to clergy, 2 ; hunting swine and the 
 wild boar, 3-5; hunting after the 
 Conquest, 4, 5; htmtingby the clergy, 
 6 ; by bishops in the Middle Ages, 
 7 ; how conducted for ladies, 7, 8, 9 ; 
 hunting dresses, 8, 9 ; hunting privi- 
 leges of Londoners, 9; early treatises 
 on hunting, 10; beasts of sport, 11; 
 hunting wolves, 12, 13 ; wild boars, 
 13-15 ; foxes, IS ; wild cats, 15, 16 ; 
 otters, 16; Royal hunting, 17 ; in 
 enclosures, 17; hunting terms, 19; 
 seasons for hunting, 19 ; later hunting 
 treatises, 20; "Thoughts upon Hunt- 
 ing," 20 
 
 " Hunt the Fox," 301 
 
 " Hunt the Slipper," 306 
 
 " Hunt the Squirrel," 297 
 
 the Pig, 293 
 
 Huntingdonshire, 274 
 
 Hurdy-gurdy, 152 
 
 Hurling, 91 
 
 Husbands, 19 
 
 Hustle (Pitch and), 223 
 
 Hyde Park, 36, 56, 65, 66, 77 
 
 Illuminations, 295 
 Imitations of animals, 201, 203, 204 
 In and Out, 257 
 Inde, 140 
 Ingoldstadt, 74 
 Innocents' day, 272, 273 
 Interludes, 136. See Plays 
 Inverness, 96 
 Ipswich, 13 
 
 Ireland, 13, 59, 92, 99, 211, 241 
 Irish, a dicing game, 246 
 Ironmongers' Company, 84 
 Isabel of Bavaria, 179, 203 
 Ishmael in the desert, 40 
 Islington, 54 
 
 Italy and Italians, 27, 82, 112, 123, 
 176, 188, 241, 2SS 
 
 Jack in the Green, 281 
 
 of the Clock-house, 144 
 
 Pudding, 375 
 
 Jacob, Giles, 25 
 
 James I., xxv, 5, 14, 16, 29, 33, 36, 
 44, 65, 87, 94, 99, 170, 187, 212, 
 224, 229, 230, 244, 247, 261 
 
 IL, 87, 99, 145, 182, 191 
 
 Janglers, 154. See Minstrels 
 
 Japers, 154. See Minstrels 
 
 Jermin, Sir T., 225 
 
 Jervis (Justice), 242 
 
 Jesses, a hawk's, 26 
 
 Jestors, Jestours, 152, 154. See Min- 
 strels 
 
 Jewin Street, 225 
 
 Jews, 192 
 
 Jingling-match, 292 
 
 Joculators, 161, 167; their perform- 
 ances ascribed to magic, 168 ; Asiatic 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 jugglers, 168 ; their tricks accounted 
 for, 170; Rykell, a tregetour, 170 ; 
 privileges of king's jugglers, 172; 
 disrepute of modem jugglers, 172 ; 
 dancing, tumbling and balancing by 
 joculators, 174 ; women dancers and 
 tumblers, 174; Herodias' daughter 
 tumbling, 174, 175 ; antiquity of 
 tumbling, 175; various modes of 
 dancing and tumbling, 176 ; re- 
 presentations of tumbling, 176, 177 ; 
 gleemen's dances, 177 ; sword-danc- 
 ing, rope-dancing, 177-183; Morris- 
 dance, 184 ; balancing, 188 ; the 
 posture-master, 189, 190; mounte- 
 banks, 190 ; animals trained for 
 baiting, etc., byjjoculators, 195-209 ; 
 sword-play, 209-213 
 John Bull, game called, 223 
 
 (King), 4, 6, 10, 28, 34, 209 
 
 de Holland, 124, 163 
 
 of Gaunt, 124, 161, 208, 209 
 
 of Salisbury, 4, 209, 245 
 
 Johnson, Dr, 61, 201, 213, 222, 300 
 Jones, Dr, 91, 213, 223 
 
 Jones, Robert, 76 
 
 Jugglers, 152, 1S4, 167 
 
 Julyano, Dam, 16, 20 
 
 Justice Jervis, 242 
 
 Justinian, 108 
 
 Jousts, xviii, 105-129 ; difference from 
 tournaments, 113; law for, 118; 
 jousts represented, 124; peculiarly in 
 honour of the ladies, 125 ; the lance 
 of the ladies, 126 ; great splendour 
 of jousts, etc., 126; toys for children, 
 126; boat jousts, 127 
 
 Kayles, 219 
 
 Kedlestone, 228 
 
 Kendal, 131 
 
 Kenilworth, xxxix, 83, no, ii8, 140, 
 
 176, 203, 296 
 Kenneltys, hounds called, 17 
 Kent, 10, 22, 84, 102, 132 
 Kenulph, King of the Mercians, 22 
 Kem-baby, or Corn-baby, 288 
 Kestrel, 29 
 
 Kidlington, Oxon., 282 
 Kildare, Countess ofj 41 
 Kinder, Philip, 66 
 King of the Bean, 270 
 
 of the Cockneys, 270 
 
 Kingsthorpe, in 
 Kingston, 97, 137 
 Kirtlington, 282 
 Kite-flying, 297, 307 
 Knave of pinks, 263 
 Knevyt, Anthony, 45 
 Knowle, 64 
 Knur and Spell, 104 
 Kolson, a northern hero, 77 
 
 Ladder-dance, 186 
 
 Ladies, xxii, liii-liv, 7, 8, 9, 19, 4°. 279 
 
 Lady of the Lamb, 282 
 
 Lambale, 282 
 
 Lambeth, 275 
 
 Lamps (Glass), 295 
 
 Lancashire, 12, 14, 5S 
 
 Lancaster, 131 
 
 Lance of the Ladies, 126 
 
 Lances, 122 
 
 Laner, Laneret, 28, 29 
 
 Lanterloo, 262 
 
 Lapdogs, 16 
 
 Larks, 30, 31 
 
 Latham, Symon, 27 
 
 Latimer, Bishop, 46, 278 
 
 Laund, Perrot de la, 163 
 
 Lavenham, 137 
 
 Laverstock, 63 
 
 Lawn Tennis, 90 
 
 Leadenhall, 109 
 
 Leap-frog, 302 
 
 Leaping and Vaulting, 187, 188 
 
 Learning, revival of, xxvi 
 
 Ledo, a Greek, 250 
 
 Leeds, 131 
 
 Leicester, Leicestershire, 73, 258 
 
 Earl of, 86, no, 255 
 
 Leith, 99 
 
 Leland, 61 
 
 Lemors, dogs called, 17 
 
 Lent, 83, n4, 131, 236 
 
 Leopards, 19 
 
 Leufe Castle, 169 
 
 Levar, Sir Aston, 58 
 
 Lichfield, 216, 226 
 
 Lidgate, 23 
 
 Liege, 76 
 
 Lincoln, 131 
 
 Lincolnshire, 34, 258 
 
 Lindsey, Earl of, 66 
 
 Linstead Park, 104 
 
 Lions, 19 
 
 Lists and Barriers. See Tournaments 
 
 Little Longford, 13 
 
 Loggats, 220 
 
 Lombardy, game of, 249 
 
 London and Londoners ; exercises, 
 pastimes, privileges, etc., 9, 10, 43, 
 44. 45. S3. 54. 56, 62, 69, 70, 74. 75. 
 77, 79, 80, 82, 85, 86, 87, 96, 102, 108, 
 109, n4, n8, 127, 131, 137, 179, 
 182, 193, 207, 210, 211, 222, 229, 
 230, 239, 255, 273, 276, 284, 285, 
 294, 295 
 
 Long Bow, 41. See Archery 
 
 Longchamp, Bishop, 159 
 Lord and Lady of the May, 277 
 
 Mayor, 10, 44, 70, 77. 78, 138, 
 
 235, 268, 294, 295 
 
 of Misrule, 267-270 
 
 Thomas, 103 
 
 Lothbroc, story about, 23 
 Lotteries, childrens', 311 
 Louviers, 46 
 
 Lovain, 199 
 Love, James, 102 
 Lowbelling, 30 
 Loyola, Ignatius, 253 
 Luk, John, 100 
 Lunes, 26 
 Lydd, 84 
 Lydgate, 253 
 Lydians, 80, 245 
 Lyon, William de, 81 
 Lytell, John, 278 
 
 M.C.C., 103 
 
 Macaulay, 66 
 
 Maces, 240 
 
 Macpherson, Rev. H. A., 16 
 
 Madely /Manor, 238 
 
 Maid Marian, 184, 278 
 
 Maitland, 43 
 
 Making and Marring, 312 
 
 Mallards, 30 
 
 Mandeville, SirJ.,68, 170 
 
 Mann, Sir Horace, 89, 102, 104 
 
 Marbles, 222, 304 
 
 Margaret, daughter of Hetury VII., 41 
 
 Marian (Maid), 184, 278 
 
 Markam, Gervase, 20, 87, 90 
 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 38 
 
 Marlyon, 29 
 
 Martins, n, 12, 15, 16, 19 
 
 Mary, xxxvi, 47, 138, 176, 180, 182, 
 
 205, 261, 273, 277, 286, 312 
 Marybone Gardens, 235, 297 
 Masquerades, 139, 201 
 Massey, Master, 34 
 Master of Defence, 211 
 
 of the Bears, 205 
 
 of the Game, 17, 20, 21 
 
 of King's revels, xli-xliv, 141, 
 
 268 
 Mastier, 13, 14, 16, 17, 208 
 Matilda, Queen of Hen. II., 162 
 Matrimony, game of, 266 
 Mattocks, balance-master, 189 
 Maw, 261 
 
 Maximilian, Emperor, 127, 136 
 May-games, May-day, and May-poles, 
 
 184, 275-282 
 Melitus (Abbot), 288 
 Menelaus, 175 
 Merchant Taylors' Hall, 54 
 
 School, 102 
 
 Mercia, Mercians, 22, 286 
 
 Merelles, or nine men's morris, 256, 
 
 257. 258 
 
 Meritot, or Merrytrotter, a swing, 
 242 
 
 Merlin, Joseph, 76 
 
 Merloun, 29 
 
 Merry Aiidrew, 145, 190 
 
 " Merry England," xxxii-xxxv 
 
 Mews at Charing Cross, 30 
 
 Mewtas, Peter, 45 
 
 Micklethwaite, J. T., 257 
 
 Middlesex, 9, 10 
 
 Middleton, SirT., 34, 253 
 
 Midsummer Eve, 283, 284 
 
 Milan, 26 
 
 Mile-end players, 137 
 
 Miles, James, performer, 178, 186 
 
 Milk-maids (May), 281 
 
 Mimes, or Mimics, 149 
 
 Minstrels, Merrymakers, etc., 148- 
 166 ; British Bards, 148 ; northern 
 scalds, 148 ; Saxon gleemen, 
 148, 149 ; plays with balls and 
 knives, 149 ; a very distinguished 
 minstrel, 150; Saxon harpers, 151 ; 
 jestours, 154, 155 ; Norman min- 
 strels, 152 ; troubadours, 153 ; 
 patronE^e, privileges of minstrels, 
 155; g'l'l'i °f minstrels, 157; 
 abuses and decline of minstrelsy, 
 157 ; minstrels, satyrists, and flat- 
 terers, 158; anecdotes and dress of 
 minstrels, 158, 159 ; King of the 
 minstrels, 161 ; their profligacy, 
 162 ; rewards to them, 162, 164 ; 
 at Durham, 164; at parish fes- 
 tivals, 165 ; other notices, 229. 
 See Joculators 
 
 Miracle plays, 130. See Plays 
 
 Misrule, Lord of, 267-270 
 
 Mississippi, 24 1 v 
 
 Mixbury, n8 
 
 Moles, 19 
 
 Mongrels, 16, 17 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Monmouth, Duke of, 66 
 
 Mons, Wini&ed, Archbishop of, 22 
 
 HoDson, Sir T., 29 
 
 Montacute, Lord, 9, 41 
 
 Montague House, 68 
 
 Moore, Sir Thomas, 227 
 
 Moorfields, 54, 75, 76 
 
 Moors, 203, 304 
 
 Moralities, plays called, 1 34. See Plays 
 
 More, SirT., J 
 
 Morebattle, 131 
 
 Moreland, S., founder of Vauxhall, 
 
 231 
 Morisco, Spanish, 184, 283 
 Morris, Sir Chr., 45 
 Morris-dancing, 184, 1 85 
 Mosbie, a paramour, 247 
 Moselle the Peg^e, 312 
 Mottoes, 313 
 Moving pictures, 146 
 Mountebanks, 190 
 Mountjoy, Charles, Lord, xxv 
 Mules, a baren of, 19 
 Mummings, or Disguisements, 139, 
 
 201, 267. See Plays 
 Music and Musicians, 148, 229-238. 
 
 See Minstrels 
 
 houses, 230 
 
 Musket (hawk), 29 
 Muskets, 25, 41 
 Mynours, Henry, 16 
 Mysteries, plays called, 130 
 
 Naples, 169 
 
 Nauplius, King of Euboea, 244, 250 
 
 Nausica, 80 
 
 Navarre, King of, 35 
 
 Needle-work, liii 
 
 New Forest, 4, 228 
 
 New Year, 286 
 
 Newbury, 160 
 
 Newcastle, 131, 164 
 
 Newmarket races, 36 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 72 
 
 Nigell, a huntsman, 13 
 
 Nightingales, 30 
 
 Nine holes, 222, 304 
 
 men's morris, 256, 257 
 
 pins, 56, 220, 303 
 
 Norfolk, 14, 23, 69, 72, 93, 218, 243, 
 
 257, 258 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 18, 86, 137 
 Norman, John, Lord Mayor, 78 
 Normans, xviii, 40, 158, 161, 175, 185, 
 
 245 
 North Bank, 103 
 Northbroke, John, 64, 261 
 Norroy King at Arms, 1 10 
 North Walsham, 227 
 Northampton, 12, 38, 131, 273, 294 
 Northumberland, 15, 39 
 Northumberland House and gardens, 
 
 Uv 
 Norway, 73 
 
 Norwich, 7, 131, 213, 257, 270 
 Nottinghamshire, 12, 72, 73, 274 
 Nuns, 19 
 Nuremberg, 260 
 Nyesse, 28 
 
 Ockbrook, Derb., 290 
 Offham Green, no 
 Of&id, 39 
 
 Olaf, Trygesson, xvi, 73, 150 
 Ombre, 262, 263 
 
 Oratorios, 235 
 
 Osmund, Bishop, 63, lOO 
 
 Ostrachinda, 266 
 
 Othes of Bresugeth, Sir, 169 
 
 Otter, II, 12, 16 
 
 Outlands, 9 
 
 Outroaring Dick, 230 
 
 Overton, John, 31 
 
 Oxen, 19 ; docility and adornment of, 
 
 197 
 Oxford, Earl of, 25 
 
 64, 80, 87, 131, 270 
 
 Oxfordshire, 12, 13, no, 258 
 
 Pace-egg Play, 273 
 
 Pageants, xxxv - xli, 133, 139, 
 
 177, 182, 269, 270, 279, 28s, 286, 
 
 294 
 Pall-mall, a game, 97 
 Fancrass, Earl of, 54 
 Pantomimes, 145 
 Paper windmill, 307 
 Pardoners, 19 
 
 Paris, 125, 172, 179, 259, 260 
 Paris, Garden, 205, 206 
 Paris, Matthew, 60, 70 n, 108, 130, 
 
 136, 274 
 Parkyns, Sir Thomas, 72 
 Parrot (Popinjay), 43 
 Parry, John, 1 6 
 
 Parson has lost his cloak, 313, 225 
 Partridges, 16, 27, 30, 31 
 Parwich, 13 
 Passage, 247 
 Paston, Margery, 260 
 Pau, 99 
 
 Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, 201 
 Paume Carie, 249 
 Pavone, a dance, 192 
 Paye, Sir Charles de la, 169 
 Peacham, 62, 73 
 Peacocks, 30, 49, 109 
 Pedlers, 19 
 Pel-quintain, 106 
 Penneech, 263 
 Penny Pricke, 313 
 Pentecost, 159 
 Pepys, Samuel, 65, 76, 87, 97, 142, 
 
 199, 207, 212, 219, 225, 230, 231, 
 
 28s 
 Peregrine falcon, 29 
 Persian Ambassador, 301 
 Peter the Dutchman, 182 
 Petersfield, 219 
 Petworth, 87 
 Pheacia, 80 
 Pheasants, 27, 30 
 Philip and Mary, xxxvi. See Mary 
 
 of France, 123, 251 
 
 Philips, a Merry- Andrew, 145 
 
 Phillips, Edward, loi 
 
 Philosopher's game, 254 
 
 Pick-point, 312 
 
 Picquet, 262 
 
 Pigs, 199 
 
 Pimlico, 234 
 
 Pinkethman, Mr, 147 
 
 Piaks, Knave of, 263 
 
 Fins, wooden, games with, 219-221 
 
 Pipers, 19 
 
 Pitch and Hustle, 223 
 
 Pitch and Toss, 266 
 
 Fitchley North, 19 
 
 Pitt-Rivers, General, 16 
 
 Plain dealing, 263 
 
 Plays and Players, 130, Intr. ; 
 ancient plays, 130 ; their long dura- 
 tion, 130; plays performed in 
 churches, 131 ; Coventry play, 132 ; 
 mysteries described, 133 ; Cornish 
 miracle-plays, 134; secular plays, 
 136 ; interludes, 136 ; plays on Holy 
 Days, 137 ; royal companies of 
 players, 137 ; Puritans, 138 ; court 
 plays, 138 ; character of old itin- 
 erant players, 138, 139 ; repre- 
 sentations of mummers, 139 ; play 
 in honour of Princess Mary, 140 ; 
 of Hock Tuesday, 140; decline of 
 secular plays, 141 ; Sir Miles Staple- 
 ton, 141 ; origin of puppet-plays, 
 144 ; pantomimes and puppet char- 
 acters, 14S ; moving pictures, 146. 
 See also Minstrels. 
 
 Pliny, 22 
 
 Plovers, 30 
 
 Plough Fool and Plough Monday, 
 
 273, 274 
 Plumpton, Sir Rob., 12 
 Pole, Cardinal, 176 
 Poles, May -poles, balancing - poles, 
 
 etc., 188-190, 276, 277 
 Polish Draughts, 255 
 Pope, 23s 
 Pop-guns, 300 
 
 Popinjay (Parrot), 43, 45, 50 
 Porters, 19 
 Portland, 61 
 Post and Pair, 263 
 Posture-master, 189, 190 
 Powel, a puppet-showman, 144 
 Premonstratensian Canons, 89 
 Preston, 131 
 
 Price, a burlesque musician, 238 
 Prices ordained for bows, 58 
 Pricke, archery mark, 50 
 Pride, Colonel, 87 
 Priests. See Clergy 
 Prime and Primero, 261, 262 
 Prisoners' bars, 67, 301 
 Prussia, 44 
 Pryckeared curs, 17 
 Pugilism, 213 
 
 Punch, Punchinello, 143, 145 
 Puppets and Puppet-shows, xliv- 
 
 xlvi, 144, 14s, 146 
 Puppies, ladies', 17 
 Push-pin, 311 
 Puss in the corner, 302 
 Putney, 79 
 Putt, 263 
 Pytchley, 12 
 
 Quadrille, 263 
 Quails, 16, 30, 225 
 Quarter-staff, 213 
 Queen Nazareen, 263 
 
 of Hares, 263 
 
 Questions and Commands, 310 
 Quick-borde, 312 
 Quidhampton, 100 
 Quinctus, or Quintas, 108 
 Quintain, 33, 63, 105-129 
 Quoits, 56, 61, 63, 64 . 
 
 Rabbits, 7, 19 
 
 Races. See Horse-racing, Foot, etc. 
 
 Raches, hounds called, 16, 17, 19 
 
 Rackets, 81, 83, 87 
 
 Raher, or Royal Minstrel, 190 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 253 
 
 Ram, ancient prize for wrestling, 70 
 
 Randolphe, Thomas, 86 
 
 Ranelagh Gardens, 231, 233, 298 
 
 Rapiers, 210 
 
 Rat (White), 12 
 
 Ravensworth, Lord, 15 
 
 Rayles, 27 
 
 Reading, 131, 165, 207 
 
 Redbourne, 15 
 
 Regan, King's trumpeter, 271 
 
 Reindeer, 11 
 
 Raynaud de Roy, 124 
 
 Richard I., 10, 35, 41, 118, 153, 159 
 
 II., 6, 30, 44, 63, 96, 131, i6l, 
 
 192, 246 
 
 III., 13, 137 
 
 Richer, a rope-dancer, 183 
 Richmond, Duke of, 65 
 
 85, 102 
 
 Roaver, archery mark, 50 
 
 Robin Hood, 48, 51, 71, 161, 184, 
 
 214, 277, 278, 279 
 Roche de Rien, 42 
 Rochester, Walter, Bishop of, 7 
 Rocks of Scilly, 242! 
 Rodham, Norfolk, 23 
 Roe and roebuck, 11, 19, 20 
 Roland, 151 
 Roller skates, 76 
 
 Rolling-pin and salt-box music, 238 
 RoUy-poUy, 221 
 Rome and Romans, xv, 22, 39, 75, 
 
 78, 91. 9S> 108, 113. 196, 209, 224, 
 
 254. 304 
 Rooks, 30 
 
 Rope-dancing, etc., xliv, 172, 178, 179 
 Rosignol, imitator of birds' singing, 204 
 Rotherley, 16 
 Rouen, 251, 273 
 Round Table (The), 123 
 Rowena, daughter of Hengist, 286 
 Rowing, 77 
 Royal entertainments, xxx 
 
 Exchange, 202 
 
 hunting, 17, 18 
 
 Royston, 5 
 
 RuflF, game of, 262 
 
 Ruffian Hall, Smithfield called, 210 
 
 Rugby football, 95 
 
 School, 90 
 
 Ruiming at the ring, 112 
 Rushmore, 16 
 Rutlandshire, 12 
 
 Sack running, 293 
 Sackville, Lord, 64 
 
 Lord John, 102 
 
 Sacre, 29 
 Saddlers, 42 
 
 Sadler's Wells, 178, 183, 186, 189, 
 
 199, 231, 234 
 Sailing, 78 
 Saint Albans, Book of 11, 20, 26, 27 
 
 Andrews Links, 99 
 
 AndrewsUndershaft(church),276 
 
 Austin, 156 
 
 Barnabas, 13 
 
 Bartholomew, Fair, Hospital, 
 
 etc., 44, 70, 144, 178, 186, 188, 196, 
 230 
 
 — ^ Benet's Church, 75 
 
 Brice's Day, 140, 275 
 
 Catherine, 272, 286 
 
 Clement, 272, 286 
 
 X 
 
 Saint Cuthbert, 80, 152, 164, 165 
 
 George, 45, i88, 274 
 
 Giles' Fields, 66, 69 
 
 James' Day, 69 
 
 James' Park, 66, 76 
 
 John, 283, 290, 29s 
 
 Katherine, 130 
 
 Margaret's Fair, 196 
 
 Mark's Day, 63 
 
 Matilda's Hospital, 69 
 
 Matthew's Day, 165 
 
 Nicholas, 13, 272, 273 
 
 Paul's Church, dean, etc., 82, 
 
 179, 182, 272, 284, 286, 29s 
 
 Peter, 284, 295 
 
 Saviour's 205 
 
 Salisbury, 63, loo, [18, 257, 258, 272 
 
 Lady, 9 
 
 Sandwich, 127 
 
 Saracens, 106, 203, 250 
 
 Saturnalia, 201, 271 
 
 Savoy, Earl of, 169 
 
 Saxons, xvi-xviii 
 
 Scalds (Northern), 39, 148, 151 
 
 Scandinavians, 39, 153, 158 
 
 Scilly Islands, 227 
 
 Scotland, 12, 15, 29, 41, 55, 77, 92, 
 
 98, 99, 100, 165, 224, 251, 267 
 Scripture dramas, 130. See Plays 
 Seaton, manor of, Kent, 10 
 Secular music and plays, 229. See 
 
 Music, Plays 
 Sedentary games, 245-266 
 See-saw, 243 
 Serjeants, 19 
 Serpentine River, 77 
 Sevenoaks, 103 
 Shacklewell, 54 
 Shakespeare, 26, 65, 68, 83, 108, 144, 
 
 191, 218, 220, 239, 242, 253, 256, 
 
 302, 310 
 Sheen, 85 
 
 Sheep-shearing, 287 
 Sheldrake, 30 
 Sherwood Forest, 12 
 Shinty, 92 
 
 Shoeing the Wild Mare, 271 
 Shoes, quoits sometimes called, 64 
 Shooters' Hill, 51, 279 
 Shoreditch, Duke of, 54, 55 
 Shouldham, Norfolk, 95/^ 
 Shove-Groat, 242 ,x 
 Shovel-board, 238 '' 
 Shrewsbury, 131, 181 
 Shropshire, 251 
 Shrove Tuesday, or Tide, 33, 34, 80, 
 
 95. 96. 97, 225, 227, 270, 274, 292 
 Shuttle-cock, 243, 307 
 Sice-Ace, 248 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, 253, 302 
 
 Sir R., 9 
 
 Sieges, cross-bows used at, 52 
 
 Similes, 313 
 
 Simpson, Master, a vaulter, 188 
 
 Skating, 75-77, 303 
 
 Skeleton, 253 
 
 Skinner's Well, near Smithfield, 131 
 
 Skiomackia, 64 
 
 Skipping, 303 
 
 Skittles, 220, 303 
 
 Slam, 262 
 
 Sleaford, 131 
 
 Sleights of jugglers, 172. See Jocu- 
 
 lators 
 Slide-thrift, 242 
 
 Sliding on ice, 74, 303 
 
 Slingely, Sir Arthur, 88 
 
 Slinging, 41-59; by Assyrians, Persians, 
 British, Romans, Anglo - Saxons, 
 Irish, 59; Anglo-Normans, 60; 
 Greeks, 61 ; modern modes of sling- 
 ing, 61 
 
 Slyp-groat, 242 
 
 Smith, Roach, 75 
 
 Smithfield, 32, 54, 118, 131, 144, 207, 
 230 
 
 Smock-racing, 293 
 
 Smoking matches, 293 
 
 Snake, game of, 265 
 
 Snap-dragon, 310 
 
 Snipes, 30 
 
 Socrates, 301 
 
 Solitary Game (The), 259 
 
 Somersault, 187, 188 
 
 Somersetshire, 82, 132, 287 
 
 Sompners, 19 
 
 Songsters. See Minstrels 
 
 Sopewell, II 
 
 Southwark fair, 144, 199, 207 
 
 Southwell, 236 
 
 Southwold, 144 
 
 Spain and Spaniards, 140, 184, 214, 
 241, 255, 262 
 
 Spalding, William de, 95 
 
 Span (Counter), 304 
 
 Spaniels, 16, 17, 22, 23 
 
 Spanish Ambassador, 76, 253 
 
 Sparrows, 30 
 
 Spears, throwing, balancing, etc. , 62 
 
 Speed, 41 
 
 Spelman, 6 
 
 Spencer, Earl, 219 
 
 Spenser, the poet, 253 
 
 Spendall, Sir J., 145 
 
 Spinacuta, 183 
 
 Spring Gardens, 219, 231 
 
 Spytard (the), a centenarian hart, 1 1 
 
 " Squire of Low Degree," 24 
 
 Squirrel, 12, 228 
 
 Staff-sling, 60 
 
 Staffordshire, 14, 16, 82, 208 
 
 Stalking-horse, 30 
 
 Stamford, 1 18, 208 
 
 Stamford Races, 34 
 
 Stanley, Sir John, 85 
 
 Stapleton, 15 
 
 Stapleton, Sir Miles, 141, 294 
 
 Starlings, 30 
 
 Steadman, Fabian, 236 
 
 Stephen, King, 21, 123 
 
 Stilts, 66 
 
 Stinking flight, beasts of, 12 
 
 Stoat, 12 
 
 Stone bows. See Bow 
 
 Stool-ball, loi 
 
 Stowe, 4, 10, 43, 44, 70, 81, 109, 127, 
 193, 205, 210, 211, 224, 267, 276, 
 285, 294 
 
 Strabo, I 
 
 Strype, 10 
 
 Stukeley, Dr, 264 
 
 "StultiferaNavis," 21 
 
 Suffolk, 93 
 
 Duke of, 125 
 
 Sunday, xlvii-xlix, 288, 289 
 
 Surrey, 9, 269 
 
 Sussex, 9, 41 
 
 Swallows, 30 
 
 Swans, 29, 30 
 
 Swash-buckler, 210 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Sweet flight, beasts of, ii 
 
 Swift, Dean, 249 
 
 Swimming, 73, 303 
 
 Swinging, 242, 303 
 
 Swords in dances, swordplay, 145, 
 
 177, 209-213, 273 
 Sylvanus, god, 13 
 Syria, 153 
 
 Tabors beat by hares and horses, 197, 
 
 199 
 Taillefer, a minstrel, 150 
 Talbot, Sir Gilbert, 56 
 Tankerville, Lord, 102 
 Targets, 50, 53 
 Tarpeia, 281 
 Tassel-hawk, 28, 29 
 Tavistock, 214 
 Taw, 304 
 Taylors, 19 
 
 (the devil among the), 305 
 
 Tazel, place called, 43 
 
 Teels, 30 
 
 Tee-totum, 305 
 
 Tennis and Tennis-Conrts, 82 
 
 Tercelet, 28, 29 
 
 Terriers, 15, 16, 17 
 
 Tewkesbury, 131 
 
 Thames, the, 75, 76, 78, 108, 127 
 
 Theobalds Park, 5, i6 
 
 Theodore, Archbishop, 2 
 
 Th^venot, 74 
 
 Thieves, 19 
 
 Thopas, Sir, 24, 40 
 
 Thrace, 22 
 
 Thread the needle, 301 
 
 Three mans' marriage, 257 
 
 Throckmorton, Sir Nicholas, 86 
 
 Throwing the hammer, stones, spears, 
 
 etc., 61, 62 
 Tickhill, 118 
 Tick-tack, 248 
 Tilting, 33, 105 
 
 at a water butt, III 
 
 on the water, 77, 78, 108, 127 
 
 Tinkers, or Buffoons, 19 
 
 Tintinhall, 131 
 
 Tiptoft, John, Earl of Worcester, 122 
 
 Titter-totter, 243 
 
 Topas, Sir, 158 
 
 Tops, boys', 304, 30s 
 
 Torre, a fire-work maker, 297 
 
 Tothill-fields, 46 
 
 Tournaments, xviii, 105, 115; different 
 from jousts, 113; origin of tourna- 
 ments, 113; fatal violence at, 115; 
 interdicted by the church, 115 ; laws 
 for, 118; first practice of tourna- 
 ments, IIS; pagss and perquisites 
 of Kings at Arms, 120 ; preliminaries 
 of the tournament, 120 ; lists for 
 ordeal combats, 121 ; respect paid 
 to ladies, 121 ; their great splendour. 
 
 126 ; toys for imitating them, 126 ; 
 
 challenges for them, etc., 127-129 
 Tower-hill, 297 
 Tower of London, 14, 43, 47, 55, 125, 
 
 226 
 ' ' ToxophJlus, the Schole of Shootinge," 
 
 47.63 
 Tragedies, definition of, etc., 137. See 
 
 Plays 
 Trap-ball, 104 
 
 Tregetours, 167. See Joculators 
 Troubadours, 153 
 Troul in Madame, a game, 223 
 Troy Game, xx, 113, 114 
 Trucks, a game, 241 
 Tryndeltaylles, hounds called, 17 
 Tumbling, 172, 175-194 
 Tunbridge, 219 
 
 Turberville, George, 14, 15, 18, 27 
 Turkish ambassador, 53 
 Turks, 106, 183, 203 
 Turre, Essex, Manor of, 10 
 Turtles, 30 
 Tutbury, 161, 208 
 Tuttlefields, 56, 207 
 Twelfth Eve, etc., 270, 287 
 Twicy, orTwety, William, xi 
 Tyers, Jonathan, 232 
 Tyrrheno, a Greek, 250 
 Tyrrits, 26 
 
 Ulysses, 40, 250 
 Urban IV., Pope, 131 
 Utrecht, Peace of, 295 
 
 Vaux, Lord, 219 
 
 Vauxhall Gardens, 78, 231, 232, 233, 
 
 298 
 Venerie. See Hunting 
 Venice, 44 
 Venter Point, 312 
 Vergnere, 249 
 
 Vice, a dramatic character, 143 
 Victoria County Histories, 20 
 Violante, Signora, 183 
 Virgil, Polydore, 40 
 Vortigern, 286 
 Vulture, 29 
 Vyner, Sir Robert, $6 
 
 Wakes, 288, 289 
 
 Wales, Constantine, King of, 12 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 89, 102 
 
 Waring, 58 
 
 Warmington, llS 
 
 Warren, Earl of, 209 
 
 Warwick, 4, 118 
 
 Earl of, 4, 41 
 
 Warwickshire, 275 
 Wassails, 286, 287 
 Wat Wimbas, 230 
 Water-fowl, 24 
 
 tilting, 77, 78, 108 
 
 Watteville, M. Robert, 266 
 
 Weasel, 12 
 
 Weatherby's " Racing Calendar,'' 38 
 
 Weddings, foot-racing at, 67 
 
 Wedgenoke Park, 4 
 
 Welch-main, 225 
 
 Wells, William, bear-garden, of, 207 
 
 Westminster, 14, 30, 47, 69, 70, 78, 
 
 85, 86, 109, 125, 128, 183, 207, 219 
 
 280, 294, 29s 
 
 Abbey, 232, 257 
 
 Hall, 139, 159, 192 
 
 Palace, 68 
 
 School, 72, 90 
 
 Westmoreland, 6, 69 
 
 Westward Ho, 99 
 
 Wheelbarrow-racing, 293 
 
 Whirligig, 305 
 
 Whist, 262, 263 
 
 Whistling, 204, 291, 292 
 
 White and Black, 312 
 
 Whitehall, 85, 87, 141, 213, 217, 219, 
 
 224, 225, 231 
 White Conduit Club, 103 
 Whitsuntide, 33, 165, 166, 282, 290 
 Wilberforce, 208 
 William I., 3, 40, 150, 251 
 
 HL, 37, 89, 294 
 
 IV., 233 
 
 William of Malmsbury, 3, 12, 156 
 Wiltshire, 13, 14, 257 
 Wimbledon, 99 
 Winchester, 131, 236, 258 
 Windsor, 14, 54, 85, 123, 136, 288 
 Windmill (paper), 307 
 
 Street, 77 
 
 Wintone, James, 56 
 
 Wire-dancing, 187 
 
 Wirksworth, 208 
 
 Wit and Reason, 263 
 
 Wodehouse, or Woodhouses, 203 
 
 Wodewell, Richard, 63 
 
 Wolfhtmt, 12, 13 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 46 
 
 Wolves, 2, II, 12, 13, 19, 20, 195 
 
 Women, 19. See also Ladies 
 
 Woodcocks, 30, 31 
 
 Woodkirk, 131 
 
 Woodstock Park, 4, 13, 85 
 
 Worcester, 131 
 
 Wotton, 269 
 
 Wrestling, 69-73, 291, 302. 303 
 
 Wycombe, 8$, 137 
 
 Wymondham, 131 
 
 Wynmari, N., 74 
 
 Xerxes, 250 
 
 Yawning-match, 292 
 York, 37, 44, 131, 157, 161 
 
 Duke of, 65, 129 
 
 Yorkshire, 12, 39, 138, 141, 142 
 
 Yorke, Rowland, 210 
 
 Yule Plough, or Fool Plough, 348 
 
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