^1 -/; i 7S Sk3 / ^mM)X %mm\% pibatg THE GIFT OF ^.1 ^.JdaypJu^... kMnxx.. U-Uc^y... 1287 Cornell University Library GV75 .S63 Character and history of the book of spo olln 3 1924 029 932 500 Cfie Moffk of %fiitt&. i6 1 8—1643 Cornell University Library The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029932500 THE CHARACTER AND HISTORY, y OP THE BOOK OF SPORTS, 1618-1643. A PAPER READ AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY ON FEBRUARY 9, 1905. BY A THE EEV. EDMUND F. SLAFTEK, Di.D. RESIDENT UBMBEB OF THK SOCIETy; HOBORARY MUMBEK OP THE BOYAIi HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIS, ETC., ETC., ETC. BOSTON: 1905. ,/\J^Sl-^l^ RKPRINTKD FEOM THB PROCEEDINGS OF THK MASSACHUSETTS HISTOHlCAl, SOCIETY. THE BOOK OF SPORTS. After a careful examination of the principal histories of England and the histories of the Church of England, I find no accurate, exact, and complete statement of what really con- stitutes the Book of Sports. It will be my purpose in this paper to give a description, as clear, definite, and comprehensive as I am able, of this some- what remarkable publication. In the year 1617 James I. made a visit to his native Scotland. A Royal Progress at that time was attended with no little circumstance. The king was accompanied by a brilliant and imposing cavalcade. The people were gathered in masses at different points to catch a glimpse of their sovereign. Some- times petitions were presented asking for special favors or for redress of wrongs. On this occasion the laboring class, those who worked for their daily bread, petitioned the king, as he passed through Lancashire, to grant them liberty for recreation on Sundays. Anterior to this, in the reigns of Elizabeth, Mary, Edward VI., Henry VIII., and earlier, recreations and entertainments on Sunday were common and general through- out the kingdjOm. The Reformation, which had then been in progress in England not far from eighty years, brought a change of sentiment and practice. The thoughts of men under its influence were given less to outward forms and cere- monies and more to self-inspection and the workings of the mind, the conscience, and the heart. " Know thou thyself " might properly be said to be the motto of the English Pro- testant. This introversion doubtless sometimes led them into errors and excesses. They modelled their conduct and edu- cated their consciences with extraordinary strictness after the principles of the Jewish theocracy as delineated in thri Old Testament. There had consequently grown up, in the time of James I., a party in the Church of England called Puri- tans ; they were sometimes denominated Precisionists. They adopted a standard for their conduct which they regarded as absolutely faultless, and they demanded that all others should conform to it to the very letter. They were austere and intensely intolerant, approaching even to bigotry. They had, nevertheless, many shining virtues. They were devout, warm-hearted, sincere, spiritually minded, and in fact con- stituted the most distinctly religious class at that time in the Church of England. They had become numerous and in- fluential, and consequently the administration of local affairs was almost entirely under their influence and control. They especially insisted that the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, should be observed absolutely according to the letter of the fourth commandment in the Jewish decalogue. Sheriffs, bailiffs, and justices were eager to arraign delin- quents, and infractions of the Mosaic law were sought out and promptly punished. In answer to the petition of the common people, to which we have referred, the class who earned their bread by labor six days in the week and had no opportunity for recreation, James I. issued a temporary proclamation to the petitioners in Lancashire, and the next year he issued to all his subjects throughout the kingdom what he called a " Declaration " granting to them under specified conditions the privilege of engaging in certain games of recreation and entertainment on Sunday.^ ^ The class of games or sports thus allowed was limited, and none of them could be engaged in on that day unless they were similar in character to six distinctly named by thfe king. The first mentioned in the royal manifesto was Dancing, in which both men and women participated. It was a very simple entertainment, in which the movements of the body were determined by precise and exact rules, and was gen- erally accompanied and regulated by some kind of music, 1 Vide The Kings' Majesties Declaration to his Subjects concerning Lawful Sports to be Used. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majestey ; and by the Assigns of John Bill, MDCXXXIII. This is called a " Book." But it is far from a bulky one. It consists of less than three pages of the size of our Proceedings. and was therefore necessarily conducted with decorum. The possible accessories in the entertainment were almost infinite. On great occasions, in royal palaces and baronial halls, clad in sumptuous dresses, of rare fabrics, in brilliant coloring, none could engage in England, except those who belonged to the opulent class, and who could well bear the excessive expense of a gaudy, spectacular entertainment. But the proclamation of James I. was intended exclusively for the laboring class. The dance allowed by the proclamation was therefore of the simplest kind, and the plain folk engaged in it in their usual Sunday apparel, requiring neither adorn- ment nor extra expense. The second Sunday entertainment allowed by the proclama- tion was Archery. This was practised under two forms, the long bow and the cross-bow. The former consisted of a rod of elastic wood carefully and delicately bent in a slight degree, with a cord attached at each end. This the archer drew back, and by the force of the return of the elastic rod the arrow was driven with great force, and by the skilful with great accuracy. The experienced archer generally as- pired to the use of the long bow, as it bore testimony more distinctly to his superior attainment in the art. The cross- bow was less difficult in its use. The elastic rod was attached to a stock which controlled largely the direction of the arrow. It is supposed by some to have been the antitype or forerunner of our modern musket. Its use required very little strength, and a less degree of skill and experience than the long bow. Both were doubtless used in the Sunday games. The third specification in the king's proclamation was Leaping and Vaulting. These were simple competitive exer- cises. The winner in the former made the greatest distance on a horizontal line, the latter the greatest altitude without regard to distance. This diversion, at once simple and attrac- tive, has apparently been common at all times, among all classes of people, primitive or modern, civilized or savage. The fourth entertainment allowed on Sunday was May Games. These were such diversions as were common on the first day of May.^ This day in England, from a very early 1 " In the month of May, the citizens of London of all estates lightly in every parish or sometimes in two or three parishes joining together, had their several mayings, and did fetch in Maypoles, with divers warlike shows, with good arch- 6 period, was set apart and made a popular and entertaining festival. It was emphatically the people's day. The young men and the young women went together to the forest, and selected a May-pole which was brought home with imposing ceremony and planted in a suitable place chosen for the pur- pose. 'It was profusely decorated with garlands of wild- flowers and green boughs, and a flag covered over with royal emblems was usually seen Abating from the top. An old writer informs us that this May -pole "being placed in a con- venient 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." Around this May-pole the common people were permitted by the royal proclamation to engage on Sunday in dances or such other amusements as were usual on the May-day festival. The next privilege granted by the proclamation was the use of Whitsun Ales. This was one of the Church ales of three hundred years ago. It was customary at that period, more or less generally, for the churchwardens to have brewed a generous quantity of ale, to be sold at the Whitsun festivals, which took place on the week following Whitsun- day. The income derived from these sales was appropriated to the support and repairs of the church. It was not unlike, in principle, to the church fairs or sales organized and con- ducted by ladies in many of our parishes at the present The last entertainment on Sunday granted by the king was the Morris Dance. This, as the name implies, was a Moorish dance, the word Morris being derived from Morisco, signi- fying a Moor. It was performed by a single person, and usu- ally accompanied by castanets with which the dancer marked the time. It was a favorite entertainment among the Moors and Spaniards, and in the seventeenth century was exceed- ingly popular in England. It will be observed that the foregoing games or sports allowed on Sunday were all of them athletic in their char- acter, and were well suited to develop physical energy and muscular strength ; and the king himself in his proclamation era, morris dancers, and other devices, for pastime all the day long, and toward evening they had stage plays and bonfires in the Streets." Vide Stow's Survey of London, 1598, ed. 1842, p. 38. expresses the belief that these exercises would make the bodies of the common people " more able for war " whenever he or his successors should have occasion to use them. In addition to these athletic games the proclamation pro- vided that women should be permitted on Sunday to decorate the churches with rushes, agreeably to their ancient custom.^ It was the practice in England, long before the Church was severed from the dominion of Rome by Henry VIII., to deco- rate the churches on Sundays with rushes, and probably with such green boughs and flowers as could be obtained in the immediate neighborhood. Harmless, innocent, and appropriate as this custom was, the Puritans in the Church of England did not give it their approbation. They associated with it a secular and worldly element unsuited to the sobriety and solemnity of a place of Christian worship. The restoration of- this practice cannot be regarded as a mark of the king's want of good taste. The preceding enumeration includes the games or enter- tainments which were permitted on Sunday, but four others were designated in the proclamation which were strictly and absolutely forbidden. The first two, Bear baiting and Bull baiting, were similar in character. Both had been popular in England as early as the reign of Henry II., and had been practised down through that of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, James,^ and in fact continued to the time of Queen Anne. Cruelty of a brutal character was the leading feature of these exhibitions. The harmless animals were first chained and securely fastened, and then English bull-dogs, bred and trained for the purpose, were set upon them, and large assemblies of men and women in the time of James I. took apparent pleasure in ' witnessing the bloody and revolting encounters. But this brutality was 1 The exact words of the Declaration are that " women have Leave to carry Bushes to Church for the decorating of it according to their old custom." It was customary formerly to " strew floors with rushes," perhaps for orna- ment or cleanliness. This was probably what the women were permitted to do for the decoration of churches on Sunday. There was a great variety of rushes. The Butomus umbellatus bears an umbel of rosy blossoms. From this may have come the now almost universal custom of decorating churches with flowers on Sundays. In New England the custom is modern. The writer well remembers when it was rare and was looked upon by some with disapprobation. 2 John Stow, in his Survey of London, 1603, says, " As for the baiting of bulls and bears they are to this day mucli frequented." Vide ed. 1842, p. 36. 8 destined io disappear under a higher state of Christian civiliza- tion, and these exhibitions came at length to be attended only by the lowest and most degraded class of people, and finally were wholly set aside and abandoned. This discreditable and abhorrent spectacle under some changes of method may still be witnessed in all its essential characteristics in Spain and in the southern portion of the American continent, where the Spanish race is predominant. Interludes were also disallowed by the proclamation. They were farcical and secular plays, performed by strolling min- strels and jesters, and were obviously unsuited in the king's estimation for the sobriety of the Lord's Day. The fourth and last entertainment specially debarred by the proclamation was Bowling. This was a pastime early and long popular in England.^ It was practised on a level plot of grassy ground, denominated the Bowling Green. A small bowl or jack was placed at a given distance, and the winner dis- placed it, or laid his bowl nearer to it than any other players. The details were doubtless different at different periods. The bowls were biased, one side being made heavier than the other. As it was necessary to allow for the irregular move- ment of the bowl, on account of the centre of the weight not being identical with the centre of the bowl, great skill and long experience were required in the successful bowler. This uncertainty offered a temptation for betting and gambling, and naturally called together, in the process of time, a dissolute and profligate class of persons, and the game itself was brought into deserved disrepute. Not only were certain entertainments forbidden and en- tirely excluded, but there were numerous and important limitations and conditions imposed by the king's procla- mation. First, the spoi-ts were to take place at such hours on Sun- day as should not interfere with, or be an impediment to divine service. Second, they were to occur only at the" end of all the church services of the day in each parish. Third, no person was allowed to take part in these Sunday entertainments who had not attended the service of the 1 For valuable information on the sports common in England at this time, vide Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, by Joseph Strutt. 9 church the same day in the parish to which he belonged or within whose limits he resided. Fourth, no one was permitted to wear or carry any offensive weapons at these entertainments. Fifth, the officers of the law were strictly enjoined to bring to punishment all persons who ventured to abuse in any way the liberty granted by the proclamation. With these limitations and conditions the king anticipated that some important advantages would flow from his proclama- tion. He expected that the common people would be encour- aged to become Protestants,^ and that they would no longer be tempted to frequent alehouses and tippling-saloons on Sundays, and that they would be effectually preserved against the demoralizing influence of such resorts. We can hardly fail, I think, to obtain from the foregoing narrative a clear and distinct idea of what constitutes the Book of Sports. The conditions and limitations contained in it were so exacting that it is obvious that these Sunday exercises, if the Royal directions were observed, were neces- sarily performed with a certain degree of dignity and pro- priety, and that they did not in any way interrupt or disturb the public peace. It is obvious, I think, that James I., conceited, vain of his learning, pragmatical, and often unreasonable, nevertheless in this case intended Jo make his Declaration satisfactory to all parties. The moral question involved in these Sunday sports was, of course, what chiefly occupied the public attention. The dis- cussion, however, of their ethical bearing does not fall within the scope of my present purpose. The subject belongs to theology rather than to history, and has been amply treated by able and erudite writers in many bulky volumes.^ Order was given that the Declaration of the king be pub- lished in all the parishes throughout the realm, and the clergy were directed to read it in their several churches. It is 1 " In Lancashire the Romanists made advantage of this strictness to pervert many to popery, persuading thera, that the protestant religion was the school of Tyrannus, where no lawful liberty was allowed." Vide Church History of Britain, by Thomas Fuller, vol. iii. p. 274, 3d ed. 2 Vide a summary on this subject in Church History of Britain, by Thomas Fuller, vol. iii. pp. 373-375. Liliewise vide History of the Church of England by the Uev. George G. Perry, vol. i. p. 269. 10 hardly necessary to add that it met with serious and deter- mined opposition. The Archbishop of Canterbury forbade the reading of it in the parish church at Croydon, where he chanced to be when the order was received. His opposition to the Sunday sports doubtless modified and shaped the views of many of the clergy. The reading of the Declaration or the Book of Sports to their congregations, as required by the royal command, was especially distasteful and repulsive to those who favored a strict religious observance of the Lord's Day.^ The objections offered were reasonable and conclusive, and the king found it good policy, under the circumstances, not to force the reading of his proclamation, and it was appar- ently not read to any great extent during the administration of Archbishop Abbott, which was terminated by his death, on August 4, 1633. Two days afterward William Laud, then Bishop of London, was elevated by Charles L to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a man of a different mould from his wiser and more discreet predecessor. He had a hard nature, into which ten- derness never entered. He took pleasure in the sufferings of the criminal, and to him no punishment ever seemed too severe.^ He was a man of learning, of great ability, of ex- traordinary enei'gy of purpose, highly conscientious, and in some ways advanced the interests of the Chiurch of England, to which he was thoroughly lofal. But nevertheless he was inconsiderate, irascible, narrow- minded, and despotic, and meddled too freely with political affairs which were outside and beyond the domain of his official duties. His methods were heroic. He made haste in his high office. In less than three months he had not only adjusted himself to his responsible duties, but had found time to per- suade the king to renew the privilege of Sunday sports. On 1 " Many moderate men are of opinion, that this abuse of the Lord's day was a principal procurer of God's anger, since poured-out on this land in a long and bloody civil war." Fi'afe Church Historyof Britain, by Thomas Fuller, vol. iii. p. 378, .3d ed. 2 "In the Star Chamber ... he was observed always to concur with the severest side and to infuse more vinegar than oil into his censures." Vide Church History of Britain, by Thomas Fuller, vol. iii. p. 472 ei passim. For a complete view of the character of Archbishop Laud, vide likewise " Appeal of Injured Innocence," by the same, London, 1840, p. 641 et passim. 11 October 18, 1633, the Declaration of James was ratified by Charles I., with the addition of the Feasts of the Dedication of Churches.! Order was at once given by Archbishop Laud to all the bishops that the king's proclamation or Book of Sports be read in all the parish churches throughout the kingdom. Provision was made that the order be strictly en- forced.2 By no subterfuge could it be evaded. The church- wardens of each parish were required to make oath that it had been read in their church, and the minister or incum- bent was also required to certify in writing to the same effect. Tt is not easy to determine to what extent the order to read the Book of Sports in the parish churches was carried out. It is highly probable that the order was generally obeyed. The clergy who complied, retained their places and stipends; those who refused, for the most part lost their office and their living. The reading to many was distasteful and repulsive ; but it was not a crime, and doubtless some of them chose the lesser of the two evils. The Revolution in England which terminated in the over- throw of the government was now in actual progress. The royal cause was daily losing ground. The Parliament had al- ready come into absolute control. The Archbishop of Cantei- bury had made himself exceedingly unpopular.^ His aggressive disposition and measures, his support of the king's unlimited prerogative, and his unwonted claims in his own office had become intolerable. The Parliament apparently thouglit it time to put an extinguisher upon the zeal and activity of both the archbishop and the king touching Sunday sports, and to bring this troublesome matter to a speedy determi- nation. 1 "This declaration . . . was not well received and gave to the people a further disgust at the administration ; and some of the clergy who scrupled the reading of it in their churches were suspended by their ordinaries, and prose- cuted in the High Commission." Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. viii, p. 77, ed. London, 1841. " Whoever has carefully read the preceding narrative will probably accept neither the opinion of the Puritan with his Mosaic Sunday, nor that of Arch- bishop Laud with his Sunday sports. The true course doubtless lies some- where between the two. Medio tutissimus ibis is often as sound in morals as it is safe amid the rocks and whirlpools of a dangerous sea. 3 His unpopularity was marked by numerous anonymous letters, and abusive censures posted on or near his residence. Vide Laud's Diary. 12 Accortlingly, on the fifth day of May, 1643j, an ord-er eawe forth fi'om the Parliament in the following words: — ." TTiat the Booh f of tolerating of Sport& On the' Lofd's day be burnt bp the common Hangman; and that the She'fvff' of London assist in iiopcut' ing this order, to whom^ ail, who hav» any <^ ikem^dre: to deliv&r titem" ' Henceforth English history on this subject' is necessa^rily sileiit. The stol*y has feeen told, and a" bonfire in the streets of London completed the eventful an'd melancholy history tff the Book of Spofts.2 For twenty-five years it had been a source of irritation and discomfort to many, and had yielded to few either pleasure oT satisfaction. 1 Vid& RuslTOortli's Historical CoUectionSi edi 1708, vol. v. p. 107. " There was no flxei? locality in London for burning obnoxious books, but it often took, place in Cheapeide and in Smithfleld. Great numbers were at different times subject to tfHis fate'. Eleven or twelve hundred objeetiona'ble bbofes of de- votion were- seized and publicly burnt by o*der. o£ Archbishop Lstod itt Sttlitliifieftl in. 1637. .■i^-»^t^,f^'.r- ■ DATE : DUE Mn\L_«». 7 lOR? F P rf^^ / IJO/ ■>■ J3EC_g-!, ^9o7Mii li.^iiMfai Will ~-m^^' ^\ j-i ■ CAYLORO PRINTEDINU.5.A. h<^^ .'A 11 ■jjf, m.: '/iv c 'J. '-Jo-i iC' ; >'«Xi£.? mm ^ijji \\ yU 0>j rc-r^ ■ w. rtr :^ Tit r^fi ►^->. I'^i^'Sl :% isyi!? 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