Glig » Ga<p WA/^NGeir Deob- 
 
 OR THE 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF ENGLAND: 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 RURAL AND DOMESTIC RECREATIONS, MAY-GAMES, MUMMERIES, 
 PAGEANTS, PROCESSIONS, AND POMPOUS SPECTACLES, 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME: 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 CngtaWngs selected from ancient paintings; 
 
 IN WHICH ARE REPRESENTED MOST OP 
 
 THE POPULAR DIVERSIONS. 
 By JOSEPH STRUTT. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 PRINTED BY T. BENSLET, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET, 
 FOR WHITE AND CO.; LONGMAN, HURST, REES AND ORME ; LACKINGTON, ALLEN, 
 AND CO.; JOHN AND ARTHUR ARCH; JOHN MURRAY; JOHN HARDING ; 
 CROSBY AND CO.; AND CHARLES AND ROBERT BALDWIN. 
 
 1810. 
 
THE 
 
 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. 
 
 I. 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 con- 
 tingent circumstances, may effectually place men, at different times, in 
 different points of view ; but, when we follow them into their retire- 
 ments, 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 ac- 
 quainted with them as a people, and totally ignorant of their domestic 
 customs and amusements : the silence, therefore, of the contemporary 
 historians on these important subjects leaves us without the power of 
 tracing them with the least degree of certainty; and, as it is my inten- 
 tion, in the following pages, to confine myself as much as possible to 
 positive intelligence, I shall studiously endeavour to avoid all contro- 
 versial 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, frequent digressions, by way of 
 illustrations, must necessarily occur : these, however, I shall make it 
 my business to render as concise as the nature of the subject will per- 
 mit them to be. 
 
 a 
 
II 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 II. We learn, from the imperfect hints of ancient history, that, 
 when the Romans first invaded Britain, her inhabitants were a bold, 
 active, and warlike people, tenacious of their native liberty, and ca- 
 pable of bearing great fatigue ; to which they were probably inured by 
 an early education, 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 ef- 
 feminate 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 weak- 
 ness and puerility. 
 
 III. 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 Gale- 
 donians; 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 dan- 
 gerous and most inexorable enemies, and in process of time obtained 
 full possession of the largest and best part of the Island ; whence arose 
 a total 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 na- 
 tions; and most of them consisted of robust exercises. In an old 
 Chronicle of Norway, 5 we find it recorded of Olaf Tryggeson, a king 
 of that country, that he was stronger and more nimble than any maa 
 
 x Pontoppidan's History of Norway, p. 248. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 iii 
 
 m his dominions. He could climb up the rock Smalserhorn, and fix 
 his shield upon the top of it; he could walk round the outside 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; b he was am- 
 bidexter, and could 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. 
 Another Northern hero, whose name was Kolson, boasts of nine ac- 
 complishments in which he was well skilled : 6 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 scates 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/ d 
 The Reader will, I doubt not, anticipate me in my observation, 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 prominent feature in the education of a 
 young nobleman during the Saxon government: it is notorious, that 
 iElfred 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. 6 
 
 Indeed, it is not by any means surprising, under the Saxon govern- 
 
 b This monarch was outdone by the Anglo-Saxon s^man, represented on the xviiith 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 enchant- 
 ment. 
 
 c The famous Dunstan was also an excellent blacksmith. 
 d Olai, Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129; Bartholin, p. 420. 
 
 e He saw by chance a book adorned with paintings in the hands of his mother, that attracted his 
 notice j and he expressed his desire to have it. She promised 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. Asser. in Vit. JElfredi. 
 
iv. 
 
 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 ment, when the times were generally very turbulent, and the existence 
 of peace exceedingly precarious, and when the personal exertions 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 
 biased the mind to military pursuits, .should have constituted the chief 
 part of a young nobleman's education : accordingly, we find that hunt- 
 ing, 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 estima- 
 tion, the accomplishments of the mind ; and therefore literature, which 
 flourishes best in tranquillity and retirement, was considered as a pur- 
 suit 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 pro- 
 pensity to 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, s sub- 
 mits to servitude, though younger and stronger than his antagonist, 
 and patiently permits himself to be bound r 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 more- 
 over, that a large portion of the night was appropriated to the pursuit 
 of these sedentary amusements. In the reign of Cnut the Dane, this 
 practice was sanctioned by the example of royalty, and followed by 
 the nobility : s the clergy, however, were prohibited from playing at 
 games of chance, by the ecclesiastical canons established in the reign 
 of .Edgar.* 
 
 f Tacitus de Moribus Germ, 
 s Bishop iEtheric, having obtained admission to Cnut about midnight upon some urgent business> 
 found the king engaged with his courtiers at play, some at dice, and some at chess. Hist. Ramsien, 
 apud Gale, vol. I. an. 85. 
 
 h A. D. 960, can. 64, Johnson's Canons. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 V 
 
 IV. The popular sports and pastimes, prevalent at the close of the 
 Saxon aera, do not appear to have been subjected to any material 
 change by the advent 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. 1 By these re- 
 strictions the general practice of hunting was much confined, but by no 
 means prohibited in certain districts, and especially to persons of opu- 
 lence who possessed extensive territories of their own. 
 
 V. Among the pastimes introduced by the Norman nobility, none 
 engaged the general attention more than the tournaments k and the 
 justs. These amusements, in the middle ages, which may properly 
 enough be denominated 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 very an- 
 cient satirical poem, 1 which strongly marks the prevalence 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.™ 
 
 VI. While the principles of chivalry continued in fashion, the edu- 
 cation of a nobleman was confined to those principles, and every regu- 
 lation 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, de- 
 pendance may be placed upon their information. The authors of these 
 
 ' See the first chapter in the body of the work. 
 
 k The tournament, in its original institution, was a martial conflict, in which the combatants en- 
 gaged without any animosity, merely to exhibit their strength and dexterity ; but, at the same time, 
 engaged in great numbers to represent a battle. The just was when two knights, and no more, were 
 opposed to each other at one time. 
 
 1 MS. Harl. marked 2253, and written in the thirteenth century, fol. 108. 
 
 m In the original it is purry poume, that is, rotten apple. 
 
vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fictitious histories never looked beyond the customs of their own coun- 
 try; 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 himself, 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 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 4 all maner of good opera- 
 cyons, vertues, and manors ; and when in their adolescence they were 
 somwhat comen to the age of strengthe, they/ then' tutors, 6 began to 
 practyse them in shootinge with their bow and arbelstre, to playe with 
 the sworde and buckeler, to runne, to just, p to playe with a poll-axe, 
 and to wrestle ; and they began to bear harneys, q to runne horses, and 
 to approve them, as desyringe to be good and faythful knightes to sus- 
 teyne the faith of God.' We are not, however, to conceive, that mar- 
 tial exercises in general were confined to the education of young noble- 
 men: the sons of citizens and yeomen had also their sports resembling 
 
 * The Knight's Tale. The two last lines especially 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 cross-bow. 
 
 p That is, to practise with lances, two persons running one against the other. i Armour. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 military combats. Those practised at an early period by the young 
 Londoners seem to have been derived from the Romans: they consisted 
 of various attacks and evolutions performed on horseback, the youth 
 being armed with shields and pointless lances/ These amusements, 
 according to Fitz Stephen, 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 just; 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/ 8 The like kind of pastimes, no doubt, 
 were practised by the young men in other parts of the kingdom. 
 
 VII. 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 intituled 'The Death 
 of Arthur/ that ' he learned to be an harper, passing all other, that there 
 was none such called in any counlrey : and so in harping and on in- 
 struments 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 
 
 r Resembling the ludus Trojae, or Troy game, described by Virgil, JEn. v. See page 115 of this 
 Work. 
 
 s William Fitz Stephen, in his Description of London published by Sparkes-. This author lived in 
 the reign of Henry the Second. 
 
Vlll 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 himself therein ; and he began good measures of blowing blasts of ve- 
 nery, 1 and chase, and of all manner of vermains; u and all these terms 
 have we jet 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/ w 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. 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/ 2 
 
 VIII. 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 cham- 
 ber, 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 
 
 1 Hunting. 
 
 « In the first chapter, p. 15, the Reader will find the animals to be hunted divided into three classes ; 
 namely, beasts of venery, beasts of chase, and raskals, or vermin. The horn was sounded in a different 
 manner according to the class of the beasts pursued. 
 
 w < Morte Arthur,' translated from the French by sir Thomas Maleory, knight, and first printed by 
 Caxton, A. D. 1481. ' The English,' says a writer of our own country, f are so naturally inclined to 
 pleasure, that there is no countrie wherein gentlemen and lords have have so many and so large parkes, 
 only reserved for the purpose of hunting.' And again, ' Our progenitors were so delighted with hunt- 
 ing, 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 l6l7, part III. 
 book iii. cap. 3. 
 
 x To learn. * Written also paume; that is, hand-tennice. 
 
 z Romance of Three Kings' Sons and the King of Sicily, MS. Harl. 326. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ix 
 
 esquires. 3 Ipomydon, a king's son and heir, in the romance that bears 
 his name, 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 6 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 grete 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, in feld, and eke in ryvere ; 
 
 In woode to chase the wild dere, 
 
 And in feld to ryde a stede ; 
 
 That all men had joy of hys dede. b 
 
 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 Geste of King Home, another ancient metrical romance. 
 Young Horn is placed under the tuition of Athelbrus, the king's stew- 
 ard ; who is commanded to learn him the mysteries of hawking and 
 hunting, to play upon the harp, d 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 learn him singing and 
 music : 
 
 Tech him of harp and of song, 
 
 a Mem. Anc. Cheval. torn. i. p. 16. 
 b MS Harl. 2252, written probably at the commencement of the fourteenth century, 
 c MS. Hail. 2252. This poem seems to be rather more ancient than the former. 
 d 1 Ant toggen o' the harpe 
 With his nayles sharpe.' 
 
 b 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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 : e 
 
 There he araied him in scarlet red, 
 And set a chaplet upon his hedde j 
 A belte about his sydes two, 
 With brode barres to and fro ; 
 A home about his necke he caste j 
 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 yeardin 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 f to and fro. 
 Eche man hym loved in honeste, 
 Hye and lowe in their degre ; 
 So dyd the kyng — 8tc. 
 
 IX. Tournaments and justs were usually exhibited at coronations, 
 royal marriages, and other occasions of solemnity where pomp and pa- 
 geantry were thought to be requisite. 2 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 ribband from the hand of a favou- 
 
 e Printed by Copeland ; black letter, without date; Garrick's Collection, K. vol. ix. 
 f That is, all of the lords and other nobility who were seated in the hall. 
 £ Our historians abound with details of these celebrated pastimes. The reader is referred to Frois- 
 sart, Hall, Holinshed, Stow, Grafton, &e. 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.. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xi 
 
 rite female might have inspired the receiver with as zealous a wish for 
 conquest, as the abstracted love of glory ; though in general, I pre- 
 sume, both these ideas were united ; for, a knight divested of gallantry 
 would have been considered as a recreant, and unworthy of his 
 profession. 
 
 X. When the military enthusiasm which so strongly characterised the 
 middle ages had subsided, and chivalry was on the decline, a prodi- 
 gious 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 pro- 
 portionally more soft and delicate. This example of the nobility was 
 soon followed by persons of less consequence ; and the neglect of mili- 
 tary exercises prevailed so generally, that the interference of the legis- 
 lature was thought necessary, to prevent its influence from being uni- 
 versally 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 recrea- 
 tions as promoted idleness and dissipation, by which they lost their 
 money, and, what is worse, their reputation, entailing poverty and dis- 
 tress on themselves and their families. 
 
 XI. 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 could 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 gran- 
 deur, were thereby diverted from reflecting too deeply upon the griev- 
 ances they sustained. It is, however, certain that the justs and tour- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 naments of the latter ages, with all their pomp, possessed but little of 
 the primitive spirit of chivalry. 
 
 XII. Henry the Seventh patronized 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 : 4 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 hunting the red and fallowe deer with houndes, grey- 
 houndes, and with the bo we; also in hawking with hawkes of the 
 tower; and other pastimes of the field. And bycause it is well 
 knowen, that, in the months of Maie and June, all such disports be 
 not convenient: wherefore, in eschewing of idleness, the ground of all 
 vice/ and to promote such exercises as 4 shall be honourable, and also 
 healthfull and profitable to the body/ we 4 beseech your most noble 
 highness to permit two gentlemen, assosyatying to them two other 
 gentlemen to be their aides/ by 4 your gracious licence, to furnish 
 certain articles concerning the feates of armes hereafter ensuinge : ■ — 
 4 In the first place; On the twenty-second daye of Maie, there shall 
 be a grene tree sett up in the lawnde of Grenwich parke; whereupon 
 shall hange, by a grene lace, a vergescu h blanke ; upon which white 
 shield it shal he lawful for any gentleman that will answer the follow- 
 ing chalenge to subscribe his name. — Secondly; The said two gentle- 
 men, with their two aides, shal be redye on the twenty-thirde daie of 
 Maie, being Thursdaye, and on Mondaye thence next ensewinge, and 
 so everye Thursday and Monday until! the twentieth daye of June, 
 armed for the fbote, to answear 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 saie, from 
 sixe of the clocke in the forenoone till sixe of the clocke in the after- 
 noone during the time.— Thirdly ; And the said two gentlemen, with 
 their two aiders, or one of them^ shall be there redye at the said place, 
 
 11 For vierge escu, 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. 
 
 i A sword without edge or point, as it is explained in the following article- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 the daye and dayes before rehearsed, to deliver any of the gentlemen 
 answeares of one caste with the speare hedded with the morne, k 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 1 to his match, upon paine of 
 like punishment. — Fifthly; The challengers shall bringe into the fielde, 
 the said daies and tymes, all manner of weapons concerning the said 
 feates, that is to saye, casting speares hedded with monies, and bas- 
 tard swords with the edge and point rebated ; and the answerers to 
 have the first choise/ m 
 
 Xlll. Henry the Eighth not only countenanced the practice of mi- 
 litary 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 con- 
 tinued daily to amuse himself in archery, casting of the bar, wrestling, 
 or dancing, and frequently in tilting, tournaying, fighting at the bar- 
 riers with swords and battle-axes, and such like martial recreations, in 
 most of which there were few that could excel him. n He was also ex- 
 ceedingly fond of hunting, hawking, and other sports of the field; and 
 indeed his example so far prevailed, that hunting, hawking, riding the 
 great horse, charging dexterously with the lance at the tilt, leaping, 
 and running, were necessary accomplishments for a man of fashion. 9 
 The pursuits and amusements of a nobleman are placed in a different 
 point of view by an author of the succeeding century; p who, describ- 
 ing the person and manners of Charles lord Mountjoy, regent of Ire- 
 land, says, f He delighted in study* in gardens, in riding on a pad to 
 
 k That is, with heads without points, or blunted so that they could do no hurt. 
 1 Foyne, or foin., signifies to push or thrust with the sword, instead of striking, 
 m MS. Had. marked 69. 
 
 n His leisure time he spent in playing at the recorders, flute, and virginals, in setting of songs, 
 singing and making of ballads. Hall, in the Life of Henry the Eighth. 
 
 Arte of Rhetorike by Tho. Wilson, fol. 67. 
 
 p Fynes Moryson, in his Itinerary,, published A. I). 1617. Lord Mountjoy was regent of Ireland 
 A.D. 1599. 
 
xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 take the aire, in playing at shovel board, q at cardes, and in reading of 
 play-bookes for recreation, and especially in fishing and fish-ponds, 
 seldome useing any other exercises, and useing these rightly as pastimes, 
 only for a short and convenient time, and with great variety of change 
 from one to the other.' 
 
 XIV. We are by no means in the dark respecting the education of 
 the nobility in the reign of James the First: we have, from that mo- 
 narch'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 this remarkable publication I shall select such parts 
 as respect the recreations said to be proper for the pursuit of a noble- 
 man, without presuming to make any alteration in the diction of the 
 royal author. 
 
 ' Certainly,' he says, ' bodily exercises and games are very com- 
 mendable, as well for bannishing of Idleness, the mother of all vice; 
 as for making the body able and durable for travell, which is very ne- 
 cessarie for a king. But from this court I debarre all rough and vio- 
 lent exercises ; as the foote-ball, nieeter 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 becom- 
 meth a prince best of any man to be a faire and good horseman : use, 
 therefore, to ride and dan ton great and courageous horses; — and espe- 
 cially use such games on horseback as may teach you to handle your 
 armes thereon, such as the tilt, the ring, and low-riding for handling 
 of your sword. 
 
 q This game, 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 shovel -board, which was a fashionable piece of furniture. The great hall was usually 
 the place for its reception. 
 
 1 Intituled BAXIAIKON AilPON ; or, a Kinge's Christian Dutie towards God. The quotations 
 are from the third book. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 * 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 hunting to shoote with gunnes and bowes; and grey- 
 hound hunting 8 is not so martial a game. 
 
 ' As for hawkinge, I condemn it not; but I must praise it more 
 sparingly, because it neither resembleth the warres so neere as hunting 
 doeth in making a man hardie and skilfully ridden in all grounds, and 
 is more uncertain 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 idle- 
 ness — 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: 1 
 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 becommeth 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 : 4 Beware in making your sporters your councellors, and 
 delight not to keepe ordinarily in your companie comcedians or balla- 
 dines/ 
 
 XV. The discontinuation of bodily exercises afforded a proportion- 
 able 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. 11 Many of the pastimes that 
 
 3 Coursin'g, I presume, he means. 
 
 1 I here omit a long train of royal reasoning in confutation of the assertions of the learned men his 
 majestv alludes to in this passage. 
 
 u 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 per- 
 son of high rank, who said to Richard Pace, secretary to king Henry the Eighth, ' 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.' Biograph. Brit, p. 1236. 
 
XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 had been countenanced by the nobility, and sanctioned by their ex- 
 ample, 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 an author of the seven- 
 teenth century , w 6 I hold them exercises not so well beseeming nobility, 
 but rather the soldiers in the camp and the prince's guard/ On the 
 contrary, a poet of the preceding century , x 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. A more early poetic writer y 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 throwe 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. 
 
 XVI. Burton, in his 4 Anatomy of Melancholy/ gives us a general 
 view of the sports most prevalent in the seventeenth century. 2 ' Cards, 
 dice, hawkes, and hounds/ says he, 4 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 
 
 w Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, published in 1622. 
 x Sir William Forest, in his Poesye of Prineelye Practice, written in the year 1548 j MS. in the 
 Royal Library, marked \ J. D. iii. 
 
 7 Barclay's Egloges, first published in 1508. * In folio, published A. D. 1660. 
 
INTIIODUCTION. X \\i 
 
 wealth runs away with their hounds, and their fortunes riy away with 
 their hawks/ In another place he speaks thus : < Ringing, bowling, 
 shooting, playing with keel-pins, tronks, coits, pitching of bars, hull- 
 ing, wrestling, leaping, running, fencing, mustering, swimming, play- 
 ing 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, lilts 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, wed- 
 ding, 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' 
 ule-games, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches, cross purposes, questions' 
 and commands, merry tales of errant knights, queens, lovers, lords, 
 ladies, giants, dwarfs, thieves, cheaters, witches, fairies, goblins, and 
 friars/ To this catalogue he adds: < Dancing, singing, masking, mum- 
 ming, and stage-plays, are reasonable recreations, if in season ; as are 
 May-games, wakes, and Whitsonales, if not at unseasonable hours, are 
 justly permitted. Let them/ that is, the common people, * freely 
 feast, sing, dance, have puppet-plays, hobby-horses, labers, crowds/ 
 and bag-pipes;' let them 6 play at ball and b arley- brakes ; ' and after- 
 wards, ' plays, masks, jesters, gladiators, tumblers, and jugglers, are to 
 be winked at, lest the people should do worse than attend them/ 
 A character in a comedy written towards the conclusion of the same 
 
 a Crowd is an ancient name for the violin. 
 C 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 century b says, 6 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/ 
 XVII. In addition to the May-games, morris-dancings, pageants, 
 and processions, which were commonly exhibited throughout the king- 
 dom 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 
 lhe & practice of such pastimes as were not prohibited by the govern- 
 ment, and for those especially that were best calculated to render them 
 strong and healthy. We are told, by a very early writer/ that, on the 
 holidays during the summer season, the young men of London exer- 
 cised 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 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 
 
 b The Cornish Comedv, written by George Powell, and acted at Dorset Garden, A. D. \6qQ. This 
 character is supposed to be a young heir just come to his estate.-' My cocks/ says he, < are true cocks 
 of the garae-I make a match of cockfighting, and then an hundred or two pounds are soon won, for I 
 
 never fight a battle under.' 
 
 <= See the first and second chapters in the body of the work. 
 * Fitz Stephen j who wrote at the conclusion of the twelfth century, 
 e Survey of London, p. 77« 
 f The words of Fitz Stephen are, < Puellarum cithara ducit choros, et pede libero pulsatur tellus, 
 usque imminente luna.' The word cithara, Stow renders, but I think not justly, timbrels. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIX 
 
 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 during the whole of the performance. 6 
 This recital calls to my mind a passage in Spencer, 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." 
 
 XVIII. A general view of the pastimes practised by the Londoners 
 soon after the commencement of the last century occurs in Strype's 
 edition of Stow s Survey. 6 The modern sports of the citizens/ says the 
 editor, 6 besides drinking, are cock-fighting, bowling upon greens, play- 
 ing at tables, or backgammon, cards, dice, and billiards; also musical 
 entertainments, dancing, masks, balls, stage-plays, and club-meetings, 
 in the evening ; they sometimes ride out on horseback, 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, ninepins, 
 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 alehouses/ 1 To these are added, by an author of later date, 
 ' 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/ k 
 Duck-hunting was also a favourite amusement, but generally prac- 
 tised 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. 
 
 XIX. Before I quit this division of my subject, I shall mention the 
 annual celebration of games upon Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, 
 to which prodigious multitudes constantly resorted. Robert Dover, an 
 attorney, of Barton on the Heath, in the county of Warwick, was forty 
 
 t Hanged athwart the street, says Stow. h Spencer's Epithalamium. 
 
 i Strype's Additions to Stow's Survey of London, vol. i. p. 257, published in the year 1/20. 
 k Maitland, Hist. Lond. bookvi. chap. 7, published in 1?3Q. 
 
XX 
 
 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 years the chief director of these pastimes. They consisted of wrest- 
 ling, 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, :rom which 
 guns were frequently discharged. 6 Captain Dover received per- 
 mission from James the First 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 m the epigrammatist : 
 
 He fometh like a bore, the beaste should seeme bolde, 
 For he is as fierce as a lyon of Cotsolde. 
 
 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 ; 6 resorted to/ says my author, ' by thousands of people. 
 The sports and pastimes here held were so well liked by Charles the 
 Second, when he touched here in his way to Sicily, that he became a 
 brother of the jovial society. The custom of keeping this Carnival is 
 said to be as old as the Saxons.' n 
 
 XX. A foreign writer, who visited this country at the close of the 
 seventeenth century, says of the English, that they are 6 serious like 
 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/ p 
 This was no new propensity: the English nobility at all times affected 
 great parade, seldom appearing abroad without large trains of servitors 
 and retainers; and the lower classes of the people delighted in gaudy 
 shows, pageants, and processions. 
 
 1 Athen. Oxon. ii. col. 812; and see Grainger's Biographical History, vol. ii. p. 3Q8, 8vo. 
 r» In his Proverbs, part i. chap. 11. 
 " Description of Cornwall, by Heath, published in 1750. 
 • Paul Hentzner. See his Itinerary, written in \5gS. p Scuta ex argento facta. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxi 
 
 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. q It is unnecessary to multiply cita- 
 tions ; for which reason, I shall only add another. Cnut 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 completely 
 armed. These attendants, who were called house carles, 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 are best calculated to improve the mind were held in 
 little estimation. 
 
 XXI. 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, trea- 
 surers, marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, chaplains, heralds, 
 pursuivants, pages, henchmen, or guards, trumpeters, and all the other 
 officers of the royal court. 5 To these may be added whole companies 
 of minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers, rope-dancers, and players; and 
 especially on days of public festivity r when, in every one of the apart- 
 ments opened for the reception of the guests, were exhibited variety of 
 entertainments, according to the taste of the times, but in which pro- 
 priety had very little share ; the whole forming a scene of pompous 
 confusion, where feasting, drinking, music, dancing, tumbling, singing,, 
 
 •5 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. Eede, Eccl. Hist, 
 lib. ii. cap. l6, 
 
 t See Dr. Henry's British History, vol. ii. lib. v. cap. 7. 
 s See the Northumberland Family-Book. 
 
xxii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and buffoonery, were jumbled together, and mirth excited too often at 
 the expense of common decency. 1 If we turn to the third book of 
 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 great 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 plaj^ers upon 
 the harp, with others of inferior merit u 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, w 
 pipes of various kinds, and some of them made with green corn, x such 
 as are used by shepherds' boys; there were also Dutch pipers to assist 
 those who chose to dance either 4 love-dances, springs, or rayes/ y 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 absurd and 
 childish 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." 
 
 XXII. The pageantry and shows exhibited in great towns and 
 cities on occasions of joy and solemnity were equally deficient in taste 
 and genius. At London, where they were most frequently required, 3 
 
 1 Johan. Sarisburiensis, lib. i. c. viii. p. 34. u Smale harpers with ther glees, 
 
 w Cornmuse and shalmes — many a floyte and lytlyngehorne. 
 x Pypes made of grene corne are also mentioned in the Romance of the Rose. 
 y These are the author's own words. 
 z In the chapters on Minstrels, Jugglers, &c. pp. 155. 180. The plays and pageants exhibited at 
 court are described in the chapter treating on Theatrical Amusements, p. 136. 
 
 a That is to say, at the reception of foreign monarchs, at the processions of our own through the 
 city of London to Westminster previous to their coronation, or at their return from abroad, and on va- 
 rious other occasions ; besides such as occurred at stated times, as the lord-mayor's show, the setting of 
 the midsummer watch, and the like. See Stow's Survey of London. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 a considerable number of different artificers were kept, at the city's 
 expense, to furnish the machinery for the pageants, and to decorate 
 them. b 
 
 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 splendor. 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 ap- 
 pointed for the purpose, the pageants were erected, which were tem- 
 porary buildings representing castles, palaces, gardens, rocks, or forests, 
 as the occasion required, where nymphs, fawns, satires, gods, god- 
 desses, angels, and devils, appeared in company with giants," savages, 
 dragons, saints, knights, buffoons, and dwarfs, surrounded b}' minstrels 
 and choristers ; the Heathen mythology, the legends of chivalry, and 
 Christian divinity, were ridiculously jumbled together, without mean- 
 ing ; and the exhibitions usually concluded with dull pedantic 
 harangues, exceedingly tedious, and replete with the grossest adu- 
 lation. 
 
 Some faint traces of the processional parts of these exhibitions were 
 retained at London, about twenty or thirty years ago, in the lord- 
 mayor's show; but the pageants and orations have been long discon- 
 tinued, and the show itself is so much contracted, that it is in reality 
 altogether unworthy of such an appellation. 
 
 XXIII. In an old play d written during the reign of queen Eliza- 
 
 b 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. Survey of London. 
 
 c 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. 
 
 d ' The Historie of Promos and Cassandra,' part the second 3 by George Whetstone j printed A. D. 
 1578. Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, H. yol. iii. 
 
XXIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 beth, a carpenter, and others, employed in preparing the pageants for 
 a royal procession, are introduced. In one part of the city the arti- 
 ficer is ordered 4 to set up the frames, and to space out the rooms, that 
 the nine worthies 6 may be so instauled as best to please the eye.' In 
 another part, he is commanded to 6 errect a stage, that the wayghtes 1 
 in sight ma}- stand one of the city gates was to be occupied by the 
 fowre Virtues, together with 6 a consort of music ;' and one of the pa- 
 geants is thus whimsically described : 
 
 They have Hercules of monsters conquering; 
 
 Huge great giants, in a forrest, fighting 
 
 With lions, bears, wolves, apes, foxes, and graves, 
 
 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 fyre works whose 
 office we are told was to keep a clear passage in the street, 4 that the 
 kyng and his trayne might pass with ease.' — In another dramatic per- 
 formance of later date, g a city apprentice says, 4 By this light, I doe 
 not thinke but to be lord-mayor of London before I die; and have 
 three pageants carried before me, besides a ship and an unicorn/' 1 
 
 XXIV. In the foregoing quotations, w r e have not the least necessity 
 to make an allowance for poetical licence : the historians of the time 
 will justify the poets, and perfectly clear them from any charge of ex- 
 aggeration ; and especially Hall, Grafton, and Iiolingshed, who are 
 exceedingly diffuse on this and such like popular subjects. The latter 
 
 c They are thus named in an heraldical MS. in the Harleian library, 2220, fol. 7 : 'Duke Jossua; 
 Hector of Troy; kyng David; emperour Alexander; Judas Machabyes ; emperour Julyus Caesar 5 
 kyng Arthur; emperour Charlemagne ; 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 farther on. 
 
 f Or waits, the band of city minstrels, 
 s Green's ' Tu quoque, or the City Gallant,' by John Cooke, published in l6l4. 
 
 h The following passage occurs in Selden's ' Table Talk :' * 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.' Under the article Judge. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV 
 
 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 6 on the top thereof there stood foure pictures ; and 
 in the midst of them, and the highest, there stood an angel], 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. 1 ' And this author, 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, 
 6 the vaine pageants of London;' and he uses the same epithet twice 
 in the description immediately subsequent: 'Now/ says he, 4 as the 
 king came to London, and as he entered at the drawbridge/ 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 : 6 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 
 the Eighth was one. He was painted in harnesse," 1 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 the Sixth, who was painted in a corner by him/ 
 This device, it seems, gave great oflence; and the painter, at the 
 queen's command, was summoned before the bishop of Winchester, 
 
 i A similar deception, but on a more extensive scale, was practised at the gate of Kenelworth Castle 
 for the reception of queen Elizabeth. See farther on, p. xxix. 
 
 k On London Bridge. 
 
 1 These passages do not prove that the Historian was disgusted with the pageantry, abstractedly con- 
 sidered ; but rather with the occasion of its exhibition ; for, he speaks of the same kind of spectacles, 
 with commendation, both anterior and subsequent to the present show, which do not appear to have had 
 the least claim for superiority in point of reason or consistency. 
 
 m Armour. 
 
 »> ' The Word of God ; ' meaning the Bible published in English by his authority, which was prohi- 
 bited in the sanguinary reign of his fanatic daughter. 
 
 d 
 
xxvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 then lord chancellor ; where he met with a very severe reprimand, and 
 was ordered to erase the inscription ; to which he readily assented, and 
 was glad to have escaped at so easy a rate from the peril that threatened 
 him ; but, in his hurry to remove the offensive words, he rubbed out 
 * the whole booke, and part of the hand that held it/° 
 
 The Nine Worthies appear to have been favourite characters, and 
 were often exhibited in the pageants; those mentioned in the pre- 
 ceding 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 uncouthly habited, and sometimes 
 mounted on horseback. They also occasionally harangued the spec- 
 tators as they passed in the procession. 
 
 XXV. The same species of shows, but probably not upon so exten- 
 sive a scale, were exhibited in other cities and large towns throughout 
 the kingdom. I have now before me an ordinance for the mayor, al- 
 dermen, 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, p one camel, one ass, one dragon, six hobby-horses, and sixteen 
 naked boys. q In the time of the commonwealth this spectacle was dis- 
 continued, and the giants, with the beasts, were destroyed. At the re- 
 storation of Charles the Second, it was agreed by the citizens to re- 
 place the pageant; 1 " and, as the following computation of the charges 
 for the different parts of the show are exceedingly curious, I shall lay 
 
 ° Holinshed, vol. iii. pp. IO91, 1120, &c. 
 p Called below a flower-de-luce, an animal I am not in the least acquainted with, 
 q This ordinance is dated A. D. 1564, MS. Harl. marked 1968. In another MS. in the same- 
 library, it is said, ' A. D. 15QQ, 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, c And he caused a man in complete armour to go in their stead. He also caused the bull-ring to 
 be taken up,' &c. But in the year 1601, John RatclyfFe, beer-brewer, being mayor, ' sett out the gi- 
 aunts and midsommer show, as of oulde it was wont to be kept.' MS. Harl. 2125. 
 
 r To be exhibited, as usual, on the eve of the festival of St. John the Baptist, A. D. 1661. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxvii 
 
 them before the Reader without any farther 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 4 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, 5 which were to be coloured; 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 : 4 For arsnick to put 
 into the paste to save the giants from being eaten by the rats, one shil- 
 ling 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 hireing of bays for the same, and a man to carry it, three 
 pounds six shillings and eightpence/ The bays mentioned in this and 
 the succeeding article was hung round the bottom of the frame, and 
 extended to the ground, or 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 prin- 
 cipal article in the manufacturing of both the moveable mountains 
 it was turned by means of a swivel attached to an iron handle under- 
 neath the frame. 6 For making anew the elephant and castell, and a 
 cupid/ with his bow and arrows, 'suitable to it;' the castle was co- 
 vered with tinfoil, and the cupid with skins, so as to appear to be 
 
 8 One pair of the ' oulde sheets' were provided to cover the « father and mother giants.' Another 
 article specifies s 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. 
 
 1 In the bill of charges for 'the merchant's mount/ is ah entry of twenty pence paid to a joyner for 
 cutting the pasteboard into several images. 
 
xxviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 naked ; 6 and also for two men to carry them ; one pound sixteen shil- 
 lings 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 she- 
 riffs, 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 dra* 
 matic poet : u 
 
 L et nothing that's magnifical, 
 
 Or that may tend to London's graceful state, 
 Be unperformed, as showes and solemne feastes, 
 Watches in armour, triumphes, cresset lights,* 
 Bonefires,* belles, and peales of ordinaunce 
 And pleasure. See that plaies be published, 
 Mai-games and maskes, with mirthe and minstrelsie, 
 Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-plaies. 
 
 XXVI. These motley displays of pomp and absurdity, proper only 
 for the amusement of children, ox to excite the admiration of the po- 
 pulace, were, however, highly relished by the nobility, and repeatedly 
 exhibited by them, on extraordinary occasions. One would thinks 
 indeed, that the repetitions would have been intolerable : on the can- 
 
 u Whose name is not known. The performance is intituled, < A pleasant and stately Morall of the 
 Three Lordes of London ; ' black letter, no date. Garrick's Collection of Old Plays. 
 
 « The cresset light was a large lanthorn 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, com- 
 manding them to make bonfires, and to shew other mirks of rejoicing in the city, when the contract 
 was ratified for the marriage of his daughter Mary with the prince of Castile. MS. Cotton. 
 Titus, B. i. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxix 
 
 trary, for want of more rational entertainments, they maintained for 
 ages their popularity, and do not appear to have lost the smallest por- 
 tion of their attraction by the frequency of representation. 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. 2 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. 
 
 XXVII. Her majesty came thither on Saturday the ninth of July;* 
 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, b real trum- 
 peters being stationed behind them, who sounded as the queen ap- 
 proached; upon her entering the gateway, the porter in the character 
 of Hercules, made an oration, and presented to her the keys. Being 
 come into the base court, a lady ' came all over the pool, being so 
 conveyed, that it seemed she had gone upon the water; she was at- 
 tended 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, 
 
 r See the account of the court ludi in the chapter on Theatrical Exhibitions. 
 
 1 The reader may find accounts of most of these excursions in a work, intituled < the Progresses of 
 Queen Elizabeth/ in two volumes, 4to. published by Mr. Nichols. 
 
 a A. D. 1575. This account is chiefly taken from a small pamphlet called f Princely Pleasures at 
 Kenelworth Castle.' Progresses, vol. i. 
 
 b This pageant was childish enough, but not more so than the reason for its being placed there. 
 ' B y this dumb show >' sa >' s m Y author, ' it was meant that in the daies of king Arthur, men were of 
 that stature ; so that the castle of Kenelworth should seem still to be kept by king Arthur's heirs and 
 their servants.' Laneham says these figures were eight feet high. 
 
XXX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which was rallied on both sides, and the tops of the posts' were adorned 
 with 4 sundry presents and gifts/ as of wine, corn, fruits, fishes, fowls, 
 instruments of music, and weapons of war/ 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 
 as her majesty entered the inner court, where she alighted from her 
 horse, and went up stairs to the apartments prepared for her. 
 
 On Sunday evening, she was entertained with a grand display of fire- 
 works, as well in the air, as upon the water. 
 
 On Monday, after a great hunting, she was met on her return by 
 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, d to which 
 were added tumbling and fire-works. 
 
 On Priday, 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 panto- 
 mimical show called 6 the Old Coventry Play of Hock Thursday/ per- 
 formed by persons who came from Coventry for that purpose. In the 
 
 c Laneham calls these 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 paEr 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. 
 
 d Bear-beating and bull-baiting were fashionable at this period, and considered as proper pastimes 
 for the amusement of ladies of the highest rank. Elizabe th, though a woman, possessed a masculine 
 mind, and preferred, or affected to prefer, the exercises of the chace and other recreations pursued by 
 men, rather than those usually appropriated to her sex. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 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; e and he sung an admirable song, 
 accompanied with music performed by six musicians concealed in the 
 belly of the fish. Her majesty, it appears, was much pleased with this 
 exhibition. 
 
 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 worth. Various other pastimes were prepared upon this 
 occasion; but, for want of time and opportunity, they could not be 
 performed. 
 
 XXVIII. The English are particularized for their partiality to 
 strange sights ; uncommon beasts, birds, or fishes, are sure to attract 
 their notice, and especially such of them as are of the monstrous kind; 
 and this propensity of our countrymen is neatly satirised by Shake- 
 spear, in the Tempest; where Stephano, seeing Calaban lying upon 
 the stage, and being uncertain whether he was a fish, a beast, or one 
 of the inhabitants of the island, speaks in the following manner; 
 ' Were I in England now, as once I was, and had this fish painted, not 
 a holiday fool there but would give me a piece of silver. There would 
 this monster make a man: any strange beast there makes a man. 
 
 « This person, it is said, was Harry Goldingham, of whom the following anecdote is related : 
 • ' There was a spectacle presented to queen Elizabeth upon the water j and, among others, Harry Gold- 
 ingham 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 discoverie 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.' MS. Harl. 63Q5, intituled, Merry Passages and Jests, art. 221. This story has 
 been applied to the performance above mentioned, but I trust mistakenly ; it certainly must have hap- 
 pened on some other occasion ; for such a circumstance would not have escaped the observation of the 
 facetious Laneham 3 besides it appears in this instance that the part of Arion was performed without 
 defect, and the song well executed. 
 
xxxii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will 
 layout ten to see a dead Indian/ f Indeed, we may observe that a 
 cow with two heads, a pig with six legs, or any other unnatural pro- 
 duction, with proper management, are pretty certain fortunes to the 
 possessors 
 
 XXIX. They also take great delight in seeing men and animals 
 perform such feats as appear 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 one of the early papers of that 
 work. 5 The author pretends that he has received the following letter 
 irom a show-man who resided near Charing-Cross : 
 
 Honored 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 Mo - 
 gul. He is by birth a monkey, but swings upon a rope, takes a pipe of tobacco, and 
 drinks a glass of ale, like any reasonable creature. 11 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 pup- 
 pet-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 seni- 
 ority between Powel, a puppet-showman,' and the managers of the 
 Italian opera ; which is mentioned in a preceding paper k to this effect; 
 
 f Tempest, Act ii. Scene iv. s Dated the 3d of April, A. D. 1711. 
 
 h 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. 
 * Powel exhibited his wooden heroes under the little piazza in Covent-Garden. 
 k Spectator, vol. i. No. 14. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXiii 
 
 6 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 Whiltington and his 
 Cat against Rinaldo and Araiida/— * After some observations, which 
 are not immediately to the present purpose, the author proceeds : 6 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 intro- 
 ducing 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 gal- 
 leries, 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 be- 
 trayed ; 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 commencement of the last century. Our author has introduced a 
 projector, who produces a scheme for an opera intituled, The Expedi- 
 tion of Alexander the Great; and proposes to bring in * all the remark- 
 able 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 qua- 
 lity of late years, is to be introduced as telling his fortune ; at the same 
 time, Clench of Barnet m 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 peopled by the ingenious Mrs. Salmon, where Alex- 
 ander is to fall in love with a piece of waxwork that represents the 
 beautiful Statira. When Alexander comes to that country in which, 
 
 1 Spectator, vol.i. No. 31, dated Thursday April 5, If 11. 
 * A man famous at that time for imitating variety of musical instruments with his voice, and, among 
 others, the bells. See his bill of performance, in page 226. 
 
 e 
 
xxxiv 
 
 IKTRODUCTION. 
 
 Quintus Curtius tells us, the dogs were so exceedingly fierce, tRat 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 exhi- 
 bited 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 friendship 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 farther added, that, 6 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 4 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-master or a moving picture, with 
 many curiosities of the like nature.'" 
 
 XXX. The people of this country in all ages delighted in secular 
 
 n And all these pastimes the reader will find particularized, under their proper heads, in the body 
 of the Work. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 music, songs, and theatrical performances; which is abundantly evi- 
 dent 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, in- 
 flamed their pride, increased their avarice, and corrupted their man- 
 ners; so that at length they lost the favour they had so long enjoyed 
 among the higher classes of society; and, the donations of The popu- 
 lace not being sufficient for their support, they fell away from affluence 
 to poverty, and wandered about the country in a contemptible condi- 
 tion, dependant 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 excell in dancing and music, for they are active and 
 lively/ A little farther on he adds, 6 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/ q Poly d ore Vergil 
 mentions another remarkable singularity belonging to the English, who 
 celebrated the festival of Christmas with plays, masques, and magni- 
 ficent spectacles, together with games at dice and dancing/ whiclChe 
 tells us, was not customary with other nations ; s 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.' 
 
 XXXI. It were well if these singularities were the only vulnerable 
 parts of the national character of our ancestors; but it must be con- 
 
 o < 
 
 To pass over griefe,' says an author of our own, * the Ita3ians sleepe, the Germans drinke, the 
 English go to playes, the Spaniards lament, and the Irish ho wl,' &c. Fynes Morryson's Itinerary, 
 part iii. book i. cap. 3. published A. D. 1617. 
 
 P The reader will find this subject particularly treated on, in tlhe chapter that relates to minstrels and., 
 music, in the body of the work. 
 
 1 Hentzner's Itinerary, published by Ld. Orford. ed. SUrawberry-Hill, pp. 88, 89. 
 r Which custom, he tells us, was as ancient as the year 1 170. 
 « Hist. Angl. lib. 13. 1 De Rerunn Invent, lib. v. cap. 2. 
 
xxxvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fessed that there are other pastimes which equally attracted their at- 
 tention, and manifested a great degree of barbarism, which will admit 
 of no just defence. A modern author, reprobating the inhumanity of 
 throwing at cocks, makes these pertinent observations: 6 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/ u 
 
 The ladies of the present day will probably be surprized to hear, 
 that all, or the greater part of these barbarous recreations, were much 
 frequented by the fair sex, and countenanced by those among them 
 of the highest rank and most finished education, being brought by 
 degrees, no doubt, to sacrifice their feelings to the prevalency of a 
 vitious and vulgar fashion, which even the sanction of royalty, joined 
 with that of ancient custom,, can not reconcile with decency or pro- 
 priety. 
 
 XXXII. I know not of any objection that can have more weight in 
 ihe condemnation of these national barbarisms, than the time usually 
 appropriated for the exhibition of them ; which, it seems, was the after 
 part of the Sabbath-day. The same portion of time also was allotted 
 for the performance of play's, called, in the writings of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, 4 vaine playes and interludes;' w to which are 
 added * dice and card-playing, dancing, and other idle pastimes/ 
 Gosson, a very zealous, if not a very correct writer, declaiming vehe- 
 mently against plays and players, says of the latter, 6 because they are 
 permitted to play every Sunday, they make four or five Sundayes at 
 
 u Sir Richard Steele, in the Tatler, No, 134, dated Thursday, Feb. 16, l^Op. 
 w See a pamphlet written by John Northbrooke, published in the reign of queen Elizabeth, with- 
 out date. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXVU 
 
 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 which 
 means/ as he afterwards expresses himself, 6 they make the theatre a 
 place of assignation, and meet for worse purposes than merely seeing 
 the play/ y A contemporary writer, endeavouring to prove the impro- 
 priety of an established Form of Prayer for the church service, among 
 other arguments, uses the following: « He/ meaning the minister, 
 6 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 after- 
 noon, 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 horse- 
 backe, 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 ring- 
 ing after matins is done/ z 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 cards, or tables, still at home. a 
 
 XXXIII. Citations to this purpose might be made from infinity of 
 
 x School of Abuse, by Stephen Gosson, published A. D. 1579. • 
 y Ibid. Gosson, I hope, was acquainted with the vulgar part of the audience only, or, which is^ 
 more probable, spoke from report, and that exaggerated. 
 
 56 Admonition to Parliament, by Tho. Cartwright, published A. D. 1572. 
 a Still, for stay. The Popes' Kingdom, book iv. translated from the Latin of Tho. Neogeorgius^ , 
 by Barnabe Googe, and dedicated to Q. Elizabeth, A. D. 15/0. 
 
XXXVlll 
 
 INTRODUCTION:. 
 
 pamphlets, written professedly against the profanation 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 remonstrances 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 hea- 
 thenish playes and interludes should be banished upon Sabbath dayes;' b 
 but this restriction, I apprehend, was confined to the jurisdiction of the 
 lord mayor; for, it is certain that such amusements were publicly ex- 
 hibited in other districts, and especially at the Paris Gardens in South- 
 wark; where, three years afterwards, a prodigious concourse of people 
 being assembled together on a Sunday afternoon, to 6 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/ d 
 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 there- 
 fore published the following declaration : e 6 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 
 
 b John Field, in his Declaration of God's Judgment at Paris Garden, published A. D. 1503, fol. 9. 
 c A place where these sort of sports were usually exhibited. 
 d Field, ut supra. See also D. Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments, 
 e Dated May 24, 1018. 
 
INTRODUCTION". 
 
 xxxix 
 
 other holy dayes, after the afternoone sermon or service : It is our will, 
 that, after the end of divine service, our good people be not disturbed, 
 letted, or discouraged, from any lawful recreation, such as dauncing, 
 either for men or women ; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any 
 other such harmless recreation ; nor for having of May-games, Whit- 
 son-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 conve- 
 nient time, without impediment or neglect of divine service. But 
 withall, we doe here account still as prohibitted, 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, bowl- 
 ing/ This proclamation was renewed by Charles the First 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 church-man, endeavours to fine 
 away the objections of its opponents. In one part 2 he says, 4 those 
 recreations are the meetest to be used, which give the best refreshment 
 to the bodie, and leave the least impression in the minde. In this re- 
 spect, 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 prophanation of the Sab- 
 bath, but to the celebration of most of the established festivals and holy- 
 days, as we find from the following verses : 
 
 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 straunge attire arrai'd. h 
 
 f Intituled, « A Treatise concerning the Sabbath/ published A. D. 1636. e Page 25. 
 
 h The Pope's Kingdom, translated from the Latin of Thos. Neogeorgius by Barnabe Googe, and 
 dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1570. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXIV. But nothing seems to have excited their indignation more 
 than the church-ales, wakes, and may-games. An author I have 
 before me inveighs greatly against the erecting and decorating of the 
 may-poles ; ' among others, he uses the following arguments : 4 Most 
 of these may-poles are stollen ; yet they give out that the poles are 
 given to them; when, upon thorow examination, 'twill be found that 
 most of them are stollen. There were two may-poles set up in my 
 parish ; the one was stollen, and the other was given by a profest 
 Papist. That which was stollen was said to be given ; when it was 
 proved to their faces that it was stollen ; and they made to acknow- 
 ledge their offence: this pole was rated at five shilling. If all the 
 poles, one with another, were so rated which were stollen this May, 
 what a considerable summ it would amount to! ' So much for his rea- 
 soning. He then attempts to be witty; and arraigns the goddess Flora 
 at the bar : 6 Flora, hold up thy hand ; thou art here indited by the 
 name of Flora, of the city of Rome, in the county of Babylon, for that 
 thou, contrary to the peace of our sovereign Lord, his crown and dig- 
 nity, hast brought in a pack of practical fanaticks ; viz. ignorants, 
 atheists, papists, drunkards, swearers, swash-bucklers, maid-marrions, 
 morrice-dancers, maskers, mummers, may-pole stealers, health-drinkers, 
 gamesters, lewd men, light women, contemners of magistrates, af- 
 fronters of ministers, rebellious to masters, disobedient to parents, 
 jnispenders of time* and abusers of the creature, 1 " &c/ 
 
 1 Thomas Hall, B.D. Pastor of King's Norton. His pamphlet is intituled, c Funebria Florae) or. 
 The Downfall of May-Games ; * published A. D. 1660. 
 
 k This silly invective is concluded with a poem as dull and insipid as the prose; in which the May- 
 pole is supposed to be addressing itself to one who is passing by it. The last lines run thus. 
 
 Now traveller, learn more grace to shew 
 And see that thou thy betters know: 
 Thou hear'st what I say for myself, 
 I am no ape, I am no elf ; 
 I am no base one's parasite; 
 I am the great world's favorite; 
 And, sith thou must now past me fro, 
 Let this, my blessing with thee go : 
 There's not a knave in all the town, 
 Nor swearing courtier, nor base clown, 
 
IBTTIiODTJCTIOK. 
 
 These zealous reformists have extended their censures to the church- 
 men as well as to the laity ; they accuse them with strengthening, by their 
 example, the general depravation of manners and decay of religion : 
 how far the charge was just, I cannot take upon me to answer. It is 
 obvious enough that ignorant persons will not be induced to prize those 
 qualifications very highly, which they who have the reputation of wis- 
 dom and learning neglect to appreciate as they ought to do. 
 
 XXXV. The Saxons and the Danes, as we have observed already, 1 
 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 power- 
 ful interference of the legislature. 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 abso- 
 lutely necessary, to prevent its extension beyond the limits of subordi- 
 nation. Dice, and those games of chance dependant 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, productive 
 only of innocent amusement: they were, however, soon converted 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." 1 
 
 Nor dancing lob, nor mincing quean, 
 Nor popish clerk, be't priest or dean, 
 Nor knight debausht, nor gentleman 
 That follows drabs, or cup or cann, 
 That will give thee a friendly look 
 If thou a may-pole can'st not brook. 
 
 1 See page iv. 
 
 « That is supposing fair play on both sides ; but woful experience has convinced many that this is 
 not always the case. 
 
 f 
 
xlii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXVI. Towards the close of the twelfth century, we meet with a 
 very curious edict relative to gaming, and which shews how generally 
 it prevailed even among the lower classes of people at that period. 
 This edict was established, for the regulation of the Christian army 
 under the command of Richard the First of England and Philip of 
 France, during the Crusade:" 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. 
 
 XXXVII. The decrees established by the council held at Worcester, 
 in the twenty-fourth year of Henry the Third prohibited the clergy 
 from playing at dice, or at chess : p but neither the one nor the other 
 of these games are mentioned in the succeeding penal statutes, before 
 the twelfth year of Richard the Second, when diceing is particularised, 
 and expressly forbidden ; though perhaps they were both of them in- 
 cluded under the general title of games of chance, and dishonest games, 
 mentioned in the proclamation of Edward the Third, which, with other 
 pastimes therein specified, were generally practised to the great detri- 
 ment of military exercises, and of archery in particular. 
 
 n A. D. lipo. Benedict. Abbas, Vit. Ric. I. edit, a Hearne, torn. ii. p. 6l0. 
 
 p The words in the original, as quoted by Du Cange, are these : f nec ludant ad aleas vel taxillos, 
 nee sustineant ludos fieri de rege et regina,' &c. The game of king and queen he conceives to have 
 been some game with the cards ; but most authors who have written upon the subject of playing cards, 
 think they were not known at that period, at least in this country : it is certain, however, that in the 
 time of Elizabeth the game of king and queen was understood to mean the playing with cards. * John 
 Heywood, the great epigrammatist,' according to Camden, ' used to say he did not love to play at kinge 
 and queene, but at Christmasse, according to the old order of Englande 5 that few men plaiyed at cardes 
 but at Christmasse; and then almost all,, men and boyes.' Camden's Remains, p. 3/8. I have ven- 
 tured to substitute chess for cards, in which game the two principal pieces are the king and the queen ; 
 and are so denominated in a MS. nearly coeval with the edict. See the account of this game in- the 
 body of the work. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xliii 
 
 In the eleventh year of Henry the Seventh cards are first mentioned 
 among the games prohibited by the law ; q 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 4 from All-Hallows evening to 
 the day after Candlemas-day, 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/ s The recreations pro- 
 hibited by proclamation in the reign of Edward the Third, exclusive of 
 the games of chance, are thus specified ; throwing of stones, 1 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 4 bull-bait- 
 ing and cock-fighting' are included with < other dishonest games as tri- 
 vial and useless/ In f the reign of Edward the Fourth we find coits, 
 closh or claish, kayles or nine-pins, half-bowl, hand-in and hand-out, 
 with quick-borde, classed among the unlawful amusements ; w which list 
 was considerably augmented in the succeeding reigns, and especially 
 in the eighteenth year of Henry the Eighth, when bowling, loggating, 
 playing at tennice, dice, cards and tables, or back-gammon, were in- 
 cluded/ 
 
 In the preamble to the Parliamentary Statutes as early as the sixth 
 
 q An. 11 Hen. VII. cap. 2. 
 1 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. 3 Survey of London, p. 7g. 
 
 1 Pilam manualem, pedinam, et bacculoream, et ad cambucam, &c. 
 u Ret. Claus. 39 Ed. III. m.23. 
 w The magistrates are commanded to seize upon the said tables, dice, cards, boules, closhes, tea- 
 nice-balls, &c. and to burn them. x An. 17 Edw. II. cap. 3. 
 
xliv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 year of Edward the Third, 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. 
 
 XXXVIII. In modern times, the penal laws have been multiplied, 
 and much invigorated, in order to restrain the spirit of gambling; and 
 in some measure they have had a salutary effect; but the evil is so 
 fascinating and so general, that in all probability it will never be totally 
 eradicated from the minds of the people. The frequent repetition and 
 enforcement of the statutes in former times, proves that they were then, 
 as they are now, inadequate to the suppression of gaming for a long 
 continuance ; and, when one pastime was prohibited, another was pre- 
 sently invented to supply its place. I remember, about twenty years 
 back, the magistrates caused all the skittle-frames in or about the city 
 of London to be taken up, and prohibited the playing at dutch-pins, 
 nine-pins, or in long bowling allies, when in many places the game of 
 nine holes was revived as a substitute, with the new name of Bubble the 
 Justice, because the populace had taken it into their heads to imagine 
 that the power of the magistrates extended only to the prevention of 
 such pastimes as were specified by name in the public acts, and not to 
 any new species of diversion. 
 
 XXXIX. 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 al- 
 lotted to them are now covered with buildings, or shut up by enclo- 
 sures, 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 
 
 y Nul enfaunt ne autres juer a barres, ne a autres jues nicnt convenebles come a oustre chaperon 
 des gentz, ne a mettre mayn en eux, &c. Rot. Pari. an. 6 Eclw. III. MS. Harl. 7058. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlv 
 
 prelude to drunkenness and debauchery. 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. 4 Why/ says he, 6 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. 2 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 other parts of the city and its suburbs, 
 that this parent spot/ or, as he afterwards call it, ' the ancient and only 
 patron of misrule, is forsaken of its gamesters/ a And here we may 
 add the following remark from an author somewhat more ancient than 
 Stow: b ' common bowliug-alleyes are privy mothes that eat up the credit 
 of many idle citizens, whose gaynes at home are not able to weighe 
 downe theyr losses abroad ; whose shoppes arc so farre from maintain- 
 ing their play, that theyr wives and children cry out for bread, and go 
 to bedde supperless ofte in the yeere.' In another place, his reflections 
 are more general, and he exclams, 6 oh, what a wonderful change is 
 this! our wreastling at amies is turned to wallowing in ladies' laps, our 
 courage to cowardice, our running to royot, our bowes into bowls, and 
 our darts into dishes. 50 
 
 XL. The evils complained of by these writers were then in their in- 
 fancy: they have in the present day attained to a gigantic stature; and 
 
 z Slow's Survey of London, p. 85. 
 * It was afterwards converted into small cottages which were let, at large rents, to strangers and 
 others. Ibid. p. 158. 
 
 b Stephen Gosson, in The School of Abuse, published at London, A. D. 15/9. c Ibid. 
 
xlvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we may add to them E. O. tables, also other tables for gambling dis- 
 tinguished by the appellation of Noir et rouge ; 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 an- 
 ciently 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, be- 
 cause 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 disre- 
 pute through the prevalency of games of chance. His words are these: 
 
 Hulking, bunting, unci swift horse running 
 Are chungit ull in wrangus, wynning; 
 There is no play but cartes and clyce, &c. d 
 
 XLI. It now remains to say a few words in a general way respect- 
 ing the diversions of the English Ladies. In the early ages, our fair 
 countrywomen employed a large portion of their time in needle-work 
 and embroidery; and their acquirements in these elegant accomplish- 
 ments most probably afforded them little leisure for the pursuits of 
 trifling and useless amusements : 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 indulged beyond the bounds 
 of reason or decorum. I have already, on a former occasion, particu- 
 larly noticed the skilfulness of the Saxon and Norman ladies in hand- 
 ling the needle, embroidering, and working in tapestry; and that their 
 performances were not only held in very high estimation at home, but 
 were equally prized upon the continent, where none were produced 
 that could be placed in competition with them. 6 
 
 d That is cards and dice - } an old anonymous poem ' of Covetice/ cited by Warton, History of Poetry, 
 vol. ii. p. 3 l6\ 
 
 e In the Manners and Customs of the English; the Chronicle of England} and more particularly 
 in the View of the Dresses of the English j vol. i. p. 73, vol. ii. p. 140, &c. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 xlvii 
 
 XLTI. 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 licence to indulge them- 
 selves 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 amusements; and the ladies also frequently joined with the 
 men in such pastimes, as we find it expressly declared in the metrical 
 romance of Ipomydon. The passage alluded to runs thus : 
 
 When they had dyned, as I you saye, 
 Lordes and Jadyes yede to to playe ; 
 Some to tables, and some to chesse, 
 With other gamys more or lessee 
 
 In another poem a lover asks his mistress, when she is tired of 
 e dancing and caroling/ if she was willing to ' play at chesse, or on the 
 dyes to cast a chaunce. ' 
 
 XLIII. 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. 4 The women/ says he 
 * instead of laborious studies, have curious needle-works r cutworks, 
 spinning, bone-lace making, with other pretty devices to adorn houses, 
 
 f See page xviii. 
 
 s MS. Had. marked 2252. h Confess'io Amantis, by John Gower. 
 
 i Forrest, speaking in praise of Catharine of Arragon, first wife of Henry the Eighth, says that when; 
 she was young ; 
 
 With stoole and with needyl she was not to sceke,. 
 And o'her practiseings for ladyes meete; 
 To pastyme at tables, tick tacke or gleeke, 
 Cardis and dyce — &c. 
 
 See Warton'3 History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 311.. 
 
xlviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cushions, carpets, stool-seats/ &c. k Not but some of these masculine 
 females have occasionally made their appearance: and at the com- 
 mencement 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 by Addison; 
 6 I have/ says he, 4 very frequently the opportunity of seeing a rural 
 Andromache, who came up to town last winter, and is one of the 
 greatest fox-hunters 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/ 1 
 
 XLIV. 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 over- 
 look, especially when it is recollected, that in 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 he will meet with, which in 
 general I have given verbatim ; and this I have done for his satisfac- 
 tion, as well as my own, judging it much fairer to stand upon the au- 
 thority of others than to arrogate to myself the least degree of penetra- 
 tion to which I have no claim. 
 
 It is necessary to add that the plates which constitute an essential part 
 of this work, are not the produce of modern invention, neither do they 
 
 k Part II. sect. 2. cap. 4. 
 
 i Spectator, vol. i. No, 57. A.D. 17H- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlix 
 
 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 obscu- 
 rities in the history of former ages. 
 
 January J801. 
 
 g 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Hunting more antient than Hawking.. . State of Hunting among the Britons. . .The 
 Saxons expert in Hunting. . . The Danes also. . . And the Normans. . . Their tyrannical 
 Proceedings. . . The Progress of this Sport. . . Laws relating to Hunting. . . Hunting 
 followed by the Clergy. . .The Manner in which they pursued this Pastime. . .The 
 English Ladies fond of Hunting. .. The Privileges of the Citizens of London to 
 Hunt. . . Private Privileges for Hunting. . . Two Treatises on Hunting considered. . . 
 The Names of Beasts to be hunted. . . Wolves not all destroyed in ^Edgar's Time. 
 Dogs for Hunting... Various Methods of Hunting. . .Terms used in Hunting. 
 Times when to Hunt. p „„ a . 
 
 chap. n. 
 
 Hawking practised by the Nobility. . . Its Origin not well known. . . A favourite amuse- 
 ment with the Saxons. . . A romantic Story relative to Hawking. . .The Grand Fal- 
 coner of France, his State and Privileges. . . Edward the Third partial to Hawking. 
 . .The Ladies fond of Hawking. . . Its Decline. . . How it was performed. . .The Em- 
 bellishments of the Hawk... Treatises concerning Hawking. .. Laws respecting 
 Hawks. . .Their great Value. . .The different Species of these Birds, and their Ap- 
 propriation. .. Terms used in Hawking, Fowling, and Fishing. .. The Stalking 
 Horse described. . . Lowbelling. p afre j 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Horse-racing known to the Saxons. .. Races in Smithfield, and why. .. Races, when 
 practised. . . The Chester Races. . . Stamford Races. . . Value of Running- horses. . . 
 Highly prized by the Poets. . . Horse-racing commended as a liberal Pastime. . . 
 Charles the Second and other Monarchs encouragers of Horse-racing. . . Races upon 
 Coleshill-heath. Pa S e 36 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The English famous for their Skill in Archery. . .The Use of the Bow known to the 
 Saxons and the Danes. . .The form of the Saxon Bow. . . Archery improved by the 
 Normans... 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. . .The Price of Bows. . .The necessary Utensils 
 for Archery, and 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 Shore- 
 ditch, why so called. . .Grand Procession of the London Archers. . . A good Archer, 
 why called Arthur. . . Hand Guns and other Weapons of like kind. . . Prizes given 
 to the Archers. Pa g e 4 * 
 
 CHAP. 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... 
 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 . . . Swimming. . . Sliding. . . Skating . . . Rowing. . . 
 
 v Page 65 
 
 bailing. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Hand-ball an ancient Game. ..The Ball, where said to be invented. ... Used by the 
 Saxons and by the Schoolboys of London. .. Tennis Courts erected. .. Tennis 
 fashionable in England. . . A famous Woman-player. . . Hand-ball played for Tansy 
 Cakes. . . Fives . . . Balloon-ball. . . Stool-ball. . . Hurling. . . Foot-ball. . a Camp-ball. 
 . . Goff. . . Cambuc . . . Bandy-ball . . . Stow-ball . . . Pall-mall . . . Ring-ball . . . Club- 
 ball. . . Cricket. . . Trap-ball. . . Northern-spell. . . Tip-cat. Page 84 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR 
 PLACES ADJOINING TO THEM. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Tournament a general Name for several Exercises. . .The Quintain an ancient Mili- 
 tary Exercise. .. Various Kinds of Quintains. .. The Name, whence said to be 
 derived. .. The Water Quintain described. .. 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 Justs. . . Origin of the Tour- 
 nament. . . The Troy Game. . . The Bohordicum or Cane Game. . . Derivation of the 
 Word Tournament. . . How it was performed. . . When first practised in England. 
 . .Its Laws and Ordinances. . .Respect paid to the Ladies. . .Justs less honourable 
 than Tournaments. . .The Round Table. . .The Nature of the Justs. . . Made in ho- 
 nour of the fair Sex. . . Justs and Tournaments exhibited with great Splendour. . . 
 The Nobility partial to these Sports, and why. . . A Challenge for both. Page 103 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Ancient Plays called Miracles. . .Taken from Scripture. . . Continued several Days. . . 
 The Coventry Play. . . Mysteries described. . . How enlivened. . . Moralities described. 
 ..The Fool in Plays, whence derived. .. Secular Plays. .. Interludes. .. Chaucer's 
 Definition of the Tragedies of his Time. . .Plays performed in Churches. . . Cornish 
 Miracle Plays. . . Itinerant Players, their evil Characters. . . Court Plays. . . The Play 
 of Hock-Tuesday. . . Decline of Secular Plays. . . Origin of Puppet Plays. . . Nature 
 of the Performances., .Superseded by Pantomimes. . .Moving Pictures described. 
 
 Page 136 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 The British Bards. . . The Northern Scalds. . . The Anglo-Saxon Gleemen. . . The Na- 
 ture of their Performances. . . The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the 
 Saxons. . . TheNorman Minstrels. . . Their difFerentDenominations. . . and Professions 
 . . . greatly encouraged. . . their Privileges. . . their Insolence. . . their Decline. . . Flat- 
 terers of the great. . . Satirists. . . Women Minstrels. . . The Dress of the Minstrels. . . 
 The King of the Minstrels, why so called. .. Rewards given to the Minstrels... 
 Minstrels were sometimes Dancing Masters. Page lo5 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The Joculator. . . His different Denominations. . . His extraordinary Deceptions. . . 
 Chaucer's Thoughts concerning his Performances. . . Asiatic Jugglers. . . Remarkable 
 Story from Froissart. . . The Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the agency of the 
 Devil. . .More reasonably accounted for. . . John Rykell a celebrated Tragetour. . . 
 Various Performances. . . Privileges of the Joculators at Paris. . . The Juggler's Exhi- 
 bition in latter Times. . . The King's Joculator an Officer of Rank. . .The great Dis- 
 repute of modern Jugglers. Page 180 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's profession. . . performed by 
 Women... Dancing connected with Tumbling. .. Antiquity of Tumbling. .. much 
 encouraged. . .Various dances described. . .The Sword Dance. . . Rope Dancing. . . 
 Wonderful Performances on the Rope. ..Fool's Dance. .. Morris Dance. ..Egg 
 Dance. . .Ladder Dance. .. Jocular Dances ... Wire Dancing ... Grand Ballette 
 Dances. . . Leaping and Vaulting. . . Balancing of various kinds. . . The Posture Mas- 
 ter. . .The Mountebank. . .The Tinker. . .The Fire-Eater. Page ]Q0 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers. . .Tricks performed by Bears,. . .by Apes and 
 Monkeys,. . . by Horses. . . Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's and at the Circus. . . 
 Dancing Dogs. . . The Hare beating a Tabor. . . The Learned Pig. . . A Dancing Cock. 
 ..The Deserter Bird. .. Imitations of Animals. .. Mummings and Masquerades, 
 whence derived. .. Baiting of Bulls, Bears, Horses, &c. fashionable Sports. .. how 
 performed. . . Prize Fighting. . . Challenge and Answer of Two Prize Fighters. . . 
 Quarter Staff"; . . Extraordinary Trial of Strength. Page 215 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Ancient Specimens of Bowling. . . Poem concerning.. . Bowling-Greens first made by 
 the English. . . Bowling Alleys. . . Long-bowling. . . Supposed Origin of Billiards. . . 
 Kayles. . . Closh. . . Loggats. . . Nine-pins. . . Skittles. . . DutchPins. . . FourCorners. . . 
 Half-Bowl. . . Nine Holes. . . John Bull. . . Pitch and Hustle. . . Bull-running. . . Bad- 
 ger-baiting. . . Cock-fighting. . . Throwing at Cocks. . . Duck-hunting. . . Squirrel- 
 hunting. . . Rabbit-hunting. Page 235 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS; AND PASTIMES 
 APPROPRIATED TO PARTICULAR SEASONS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Secular Music fashionable. .. Ballad Singers encouraged by the Populace.. . Music 
 Houses. . . Origin of Vauxhall. . . Ranelagh. . . Sadler's Wells. . . Marybone Gardens. 
 . . Operas. . . Oratorios. . . Bell-ringing. . . Hand-bells. . . Burlesque Music. . . Danc- 
 ing . . . Shovel-board . . . Anecdote of Prince Henry . . . Billiards . . . Mississipi . . . 
 Swinging. . . Tetter- totter. . . Shuttle-cock. Page 253 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Sedentary Games. . . Dice-playing. . . Its Prevalency and bad Effects. . . An Anecdote re- 
 lating to false Dice. . . Chess, the Origin unknown. . . The Chess-board. . . The Pieces, 
 and their Form... The various Games of Chess... The Philosopher's Game... 
 Draughts, French and Polish. . . Merelles, or Nine Mens Morris. . . Fox and Goose. . . 
 Solitary Game. . . Backgammon, anciently called Tables. . . The different Manners of 
 Playing at Tables.. . Domino. . . Cards, when invented. . . Card-playing much prac- 
 tised. .. forbidden. .. A specimen of ancient Cards. ..The Games formerly played 
 with Cards. . , The Game of Goose. . . and of the Snake. . . Even and Odd. . . Cross 
 and Pile. Page 270 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 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 Cocknaies. . . of the Bean. . .whence originated. 
 . . The Festival of Fools.. . The Boy Bishop. . . The Fool-Plough. . . Easter-Games.. . 
 Hock-Tuesday... May-Games. . . Whitsun-Games. . . The Vigil of Saint John the 
 Baptist, how kept. . . Setting the Midsummer Watch. . . Processions on Saint Cathe- 
 rine's day. . .Wassails. . . Harvest-Home.. . Wakes, Church- Ales, and Fairs,, .their 
 Origin and Abuses.. . Sports usual at them. ..Bonfires. ..Fireworks... Illumina- 
 tions. Page 298 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The popular Pastimes among the Men imitated by the Children.. .A general descrip- 
 tion of the Children's Games. . .Various Pastimes, the names of which are un- 
 known. . .Amusements mentioned by different Writers, but not described. 
 
 Page 335 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANUSCRIPTS FROM WHICH THE 
 SUBJECTS OF THE PLATES ARE TAKEN. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Hunting more ancient than Hawking,— State of Hunting among the Britons— The 
 Saxons expert in Hunting.— The Danes also.— And the Normans.— Their tyrannical 
 Proceedings— The Progress of this Sport— Laws relating to Hunting— Hunting 
 followed by the Clergy— The Manner in which they pursued this Pastime— The 
 English Ladies fond of Hunting— The Privileges of the Citizens of London to hunt. 
 — Private Privileges for Hunting— Two Treatises on Hunting considered— The 
 
 Names of Beasts to be hunted— Wolves not all destroyed in Edgar's Time. Dou-s 
 
 for Hunting— Various Methods of Hunting— Terms used in Hunting— Times 
 when to hunt. 
 
 J. We have several English treatises upon the subject of Hunting, but 
 none of them very ancient; the earliest I have met with was written at 
 the commencement of the fourteenth century. 8 These compositions 
 bear great resemblance to each other, and consist of general rules for 
 the pursuit of game ; together with the names and nature of the ani- 
 mals proper for hunting, and such other matters as were necessary to 
 be known by sportsmen. Hawking most commonly forms a part of 
 these books ; and, though this pastime can only be considered as a 
 modern invention, when it is put in competition with that of hunting, 
 yet it has obtained the precedency, notwithstanding the sanction of an- 
 tiquity is so decidedly against it. I shall, however, in the following 
 pages, revert the arrangement of those amusements, and begin with 
 hunting, which naturally, in my opinion, claims the priority of place. 
 
 a MS. in the Cotton Lib. at the British Museum, marked Vespasianus, B. xii. There are also three 
 copies of this MS. but more modern, in the Royal Library. 
 
 B 
 
2 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK I. 
 
 II. Dio Nicaeus, an ancient author, speaking of the inhabitants of 
 the northern parts of this island, tells us, they were a fierce and barba- 
 rous 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 informa- 
 tion 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 free- 
 booters, and totally neglected by the more civilised inhabitants of the 
 southern parts of the island. We are well assured that venison con- 
 stituted a great portion of their food, d and as they had in their pos- 
 session 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 fre- 
 quently have rendered hunting an act of absolute necessity. 
 
 If it be granted that the Britons, generally speaking, were expert in 
 hunting, it is still uncertain what animals were obnoxious to the chase; 
 we know, however, at least that the hare was not anciently included ; 
 for Caesar tells us, ' the Britons did not eat the flesh of hares, notwith- 
 standing the island abounded with them/ And this abstinence, he 
 adds, arose from a principle of religion; 8 which principle, no doubt, 
 prevented them from being worried to death : a cruelty reserved for 
 more enlightened ages. 
 
 We do not find, that, during the establishment of the Romans in Bri- 
 tain, 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 
 
 * Pio Nicseus ex Xiphilin. c Lib. iv. d Caesar Bel. Gal. Lib. vi. e Ibid. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 3 
 
 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 his- 
 torians. 
 
 III. The Germans, and other northern nations, were much more 
 strongly attached to the sports of the field than the Romans, and ac- 
 cordingly 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, 
 hunting constituted an essential part of the education of a young noble- 
 man. Asserius assures us, that iElfred 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/ f It is certain that, whenever a temporary 
 peace gave leisure for relaxation, hunting was one of the most favourite 
 pastimes followed by the nobility and persons of opulence at that pe- 
 riod. It is no wonder, therefore, that dogs proper for the sport should 
 be held in the highest estimation. When iEthelstan, the grandson of 
 iElfred, had obtained a signal victory at Brunanburgh over Constan- 
 tine 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/ 5 His successor, 
 iEdgar, remitted the pecuniary payment on condition of receiving an- 
 nually 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 
 
 f Asserius in Vit. ^Elfredi. s Will. Malmsbury. Hist. Reg. Anglorum, Lib. ii. cap. vi. 
 
 h Ibid. cap. viii. 
 
4 
 
 SPORTS AND FASTI MES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 does not seem reasonable that iEdgar, who, like his predecessor, was ex- 
 tremely fond of the sports of the field, should have given up that part 
 of the tribute. 
 
 IV. 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 re- 
 strictions 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 this favourite pas- 
 time, for, in other respects, his edicts breathed an appearance of mild- 
 ness and regard for the comforts of the people. 
 
 V. After the expulsion of the Danes, and during the short restora- 
 tion 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 
 Malmsbury, 6 to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of game, and 
 to cheer them with his voice. ,k He. was equally pleased with hawking, 
 and every day, after divine service, he spent his time in one or other of 
 these favourite pastimes. 1 Harold, who succeeded him, was so fond of 
 his hawk and his hounds, that he rarely travelled without them; 110 
 which, indeed, was not a singular trait in the character of a nobleman 
 at this period. 
 
 Upon the first Plate of this work the reader will find the representa- 
 tion of a Saxon chieftain, attended by his huntsman and a couple of 
 hounds, pursuing the wild swine in a forest, taken from a manuscriptal 
 painting of the ninth century." At the top of the same Plate is the 
 
 1 Generally written Canute. k Malmsbury, ut sup. cap. xiii. 
 
 1 Will. Malmsbury, Hist. Ang. lib. ii. cap. 13. 
 m Harold is represented upon the famous Tapestry of Bayeux, with his hounds by his side and a hawk 
 npon his hand, when brought before William duke of Normandy. Montfaucon Monarch, Fran, and 
 Dr. Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities. 
 
 n In the Cotton library, marked Tiberius., B. y. 
 
COOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 
 
 manner of attacking the wild boar, from a more modern manuscript; 
 and at the bottom, the unearthing of a fox, from another manuscript^ 
 written about the same time as the latter.? 
 
 VI. During the tyrannical government of William the Norman, and 
 his two sons who succeeded 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 depopulated, and places of di- 
 vine worship overthrown ; not the least regard being paid to the mise- 
 ries of the suffering inhabitants, or the cause of religion/ These des- 
 potic proceedings were not confined to royalty, as may be proved from 
 good authority ; and this subject is delineated, with great force of co- 
 louring, by a writer of the twelfth century, when the severity of the 
 game laws was somewhat abated. * In our time/ says the author,. 
 4 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 di- 
 versions ; accordingly they prepare for them with more solicitude, ex- 
 pence, 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: 4 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/ 
 And adds, addressing himself to his unfortunate countrymen, ' If one 
 of these great and merciless hunters shall pass by your habitation, bring 
 
 ° Written about the commencement of the 14th century. This Manuscript is in the possession of 
 F. Douce, esq. 
 
 p In the royal library, marked 2, B. vii. 
 s 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. W. Malms, lib. iv. This park, Stowe tells us, was the first made in England. The royal ex- 
 ample 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 ge- 
 neral among persons of opulence. 
 
6 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 forth hastily, all the refreshment you have in your house, or that you 
 canreadily buy, or borrow from your neighbours; that } r ou 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 suf- 
 ferings to which the lower classes of the people were exposed; in short, 
 it appears lhat 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. 
 
 King John was particularly attached to the sports of the field ; and 
 his partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his fre- 
 quently 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 the Second, this favourite amusement was 
 reduced to a perfect science, and regular rules established for its prac- 
 tice; these rules were afterwards extended by the master of the game 
 belonging to king Henry the Fourth, and drawn up for the use of his 
 son, Henry prince of Wales. Both these tracts are preserved, and we 
 shall have occasion to speak a little fuller concerning them in the course 
 of this chapter. 
 
 Edward the Third 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 wit- 
 ness to the fact, that Gaston earl of Foix, a foreign nobleman contem- 
 porary with king Edward, kept upwards of six hundred dogs in his cas- 
 tle for the purpose of hunting." 
 
 ' Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curialium, lib. 1. cap iv. 
 8 Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 135. 
 * ' Fort Chiens et Chiens de levries/ Froissart. Chron. vol. i. cap. 210. 
 u Froissart, vol. iv. That nobleman had four greyhounds called by the romantic "names of Tristram, 
 Hector, Brute, and Roland. 
 
BOOK I. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 7 
 
 James the first preferred this amusement to hawking or shooting.* 
 One time when he was on a hunting party near Bury St. Edmunds, he 
 saw an opulent townsman, who had joined the chase, 6 very brave in 
 his apparel, and so glittering and radiant, that he eclipsed all the court/ 
 The king was desirous of knowing the name of this gay gentleman, and 
 being informed by one of his followers, that it was Lamrae, he face- 
 tiously replied, ' Lamb, call you him ? I know not what kind of lamb 
 he is, but I am sure he has got a good fleece upon his back/ y Thus it 
 seems that even the puns of royalty are worthy of record. 
 
 VII. 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 had lost no- 
 thing of its relish in the modern times ; on the contrary, it seems to have 
 been more generally practised. Sir Thomas More, who wrote in the 
 reign of Henry the Eighth, 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 fede 
 
 The greyhounde to the course, the hawke to th' flight, 
 
 And to bestryde a good and lusty stede.* 
 
 These pursuits are said by latter writers to have been destructive ft* 
 the fortunes of many inconsiderate young heirs, who, desirous of emu- 
 lating 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. Others again, not having it in their power 
 to proceed so far, contented themselves more prudently with joining the 
 parties that were hunting, and partook with them the pleasure of fol- 
 lowing the game. 
 
 VIII. Laws for punishing such as hunted, or destroyed the game, in 
 the royal forests, and other precincts belonging to the crown, were, as 
 
 * It is said of tins 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. Wellwood's Memoirs, p. 35. 
 y MS. anonymous, entitled « Mery Passages and Jeasts.' Harl. Lib. 6305. 
 * Sir Thomas Mores Poems. See also Warton's History of English Poetry, vol, iii. p. 101. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 we have just hinted above, established with unprecedented severity by 
 Cnut the Dane, when he ascended the throne of England. By these 
 edicts the great thanes, bishops, and abbots, were permitted to hunt 
 in the king's chases: but all unqualified persons were subjected to very 
 heavy fines, not only for hunting, but even for disturbing of the game* 
 If a gentleman, or an inferior thane, killed a stag in the king's forests, 
 he was degraded from his rank ; if a ceorl, or husbandman, committed 
 the same offence, he was reduced to slavery ; and if a slave killed one, 
 he suffered death. Magistrates were appointed, in every county, or 
 shire, to put these laws in execution, and under them were appointed 
 inferior officers, or gamekeepers, whose province it was to apprehend 
 the offenders/ By another law enacted by the same monarch, every 
 proprietor of land had the privilege to hunt game within his own fields 
 and woods ; but might not pursue them into the royal forests. b This 
 prince -also prohibited the exercise of hunting, or hawking, upon the 
 sabbath daj 7 . c 
 
 The severity of the game laws was rather increased, than abated, 
 under the governance of the four first Norman monarchs. Henry the 
 Second 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 expi- 
 ration of that time, find surety for his good behaviour, or be banished 
 the land. d This charter was afterwards confirmed by his son Henry the 
 Third, and the succeeding monarchs. 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, 
 
 a Constitut. Cnut. Reg. de Forest, apud Spelm. Gloss, et Wilkins, Leg. Sax. p. 146. 
 b Lejes Cnuti, apud Lombard, cap. '//. c Ibid. cap. 15. d Carta de Foresta, cap. 11. 
 
BOOK I. Of THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. Q 
 
 they were commanded to cause an 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 per- 
 mission 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 : thev 
 could not however, at any rate, adds he, mean, 6 that the ecclesiastics 
 are to hunt the deer themselves, for they suppose them to be no hun- 
 ters, 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 se- 
 cular pastimes, and especially those of hunting and hawking, is fre- 
 quently reprobated by the poets and moralists of the former times. 
 Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, makes the monk 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. g The prevalence of these excesses occasioned the re- 
 strictions, contained in an edict established in the thirteenth year of 
 Richard the second, which prohibits any priest, or other clerk, not 
 possessed of a benefice to the yearly amount often pounds, from keep- 
 ing 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. 11 The dignified clergy were not affected by this sta- 
 tute, but retained their ancient privileges, which appear to have been very 
 extensive. By the game laws of Cnut, the Dane, they were permitted 
 to hunt in the forests belonging to the crown ; and these prerogatives 
 
 e Facial Cornare, ibid. cap. If. f Spelman's Answer to the Apology for Archbishop Abbot, 
 
 g Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Numerous quotations might be made from other writers hi addition 
 to those above : but they are sufficient for my purpose. 
 
 h Statut. 13 Rich. II. 
 
 C 
 
10 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 were not abrogated by the Normans. Henry the second, 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 lime 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. 1 The establish- 
 ment of this edict was probably more to shew his power, than really to 
 restrain them from hunting. 
 
 X. 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. k In the succeeding century an abbot of Leicester surpassed all 
 the sportsmen of the time in the art of hare hunting; 1 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. Eitz- 
 stephen assures us, that Thomas Becket, being sent as ambassador from 
 Henry the second to the court of France, assumed the state of a secu- 
 lar potentate ; and took with him dogs and hawks of various sorts, 
 such as were used by kings and princes." 1 
 
 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 pre- 
 vented from following this favourite pastime, they took care to have 
 such receptacles for game belonging to their priories. 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. n 
 
 i An. 21 Hen. II. A. D. 1157. See Spelman's Answer to the Apology for Archbishop Abbot, 
 k P. Blensens. epist. lvi. p. 81 . 1 Knyghton, apucl decern script, p. 203. 
 
 m Stephanid. vit. S. Thom. 
 n Vide Spelman ut supra. At the end of a book of Homilies in MS. written about the reign 
 of Henry the sixth, is a poem containing instructions to priests in general, and requiring them, 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 11 
 
 XI. The ladies often accompanied the gentlemen in hunting parties; 
 upon these occasions it was usual to draw the game into a small com- 
 pass by means of inclosures, and temporary stands were 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. Agree- 
 able to these manners, which custom reconciled to the fair sex, most of 
 the heroines of romance are said to be fond of the sporls of the field. 
 In an old poem entitled the ' Squyer of lowe degre/ the king of Hun- 
 gary promises his daughter that in the morning she shall go with him 
 on a hunting party, arrayed most gorgeously and riding in a chariot co- 
 vered 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 
 
 among other things, not to engage in hawkynge,. huntynge, and dawnsynge. Cotton library marked 
 Claudius A. 2. 
 
 ° Garrick's Collection of Old Plays marked K. vol. g. 
 p The following extracts prove King John to have been exceedingly partial to this kind of dogs. Rot. 
 Pip. iv. Reg. Johan. A. D. 1203, Rog. constab. Cestrice debet. D marcas et X palfridos et X laiss; s Lepc- 
 rariorum, &c. that is, five hundred marks, ten horses, and ten leashes of greyhounds. — An. xi. Johan. 
 1210. Rog. de Mallvell redd. comp. de 1 palfrido velociter currente et 2 laissitis Leporariorum, one 
 swift running horse and six greyhounds. 
 
12 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 appears to have been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another 
 metrical romance, probably more ancient than the former, called 6 Sir 
 Eglamore/ q 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 them- 
 selves, and we find them upon the second Plate in the open fields wind- 
 ing the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other 
 assistance : this delineation, which is by no means singular, is taken 
 from a manuscript written and illuminated early in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury/ We may also observe, upon these occasions, that the female 
 Nimrods dispensed with the method of riding best suited to the mo- 
 desty 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 these masculine 
 exercises. An author of the seventeenth century, speaks of another 
 fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town of Bury in Suffolk. 
 4 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 re- 
 creations/ 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, 1 and very fre- 
 
 *J Garrick's Collec. K. vol. 10. 1 In the royal lib. marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 1 MS anonymous, entitled * Merry Passages and Jeasts.' Bib. Harl. 6395. Art. 354. 
 ! For this reason the nobility who entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting 
 parties, which she usually joined when the weather was favourable. 
 
I'l .11 
 
BOOK I. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 13 
 
 quently indulged herself in following of the hounds. « Her majesty/ 
 says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, < is well and excellently 
 disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on horseback and con- 
 tinues the sport long/" 
 
 The hunting dresses, as they appeared at the commencement of the 
 fifteenth century, are given from a manuscript of that time, upon the 
 top part of the second plate/ 
 
 XII. 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 the first, runs to this purport : 6 The citizens of Lon- 
 don 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 the second, says, that the 
 Londoners delight 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, y which differs somewhat from the statement 
 in the charter. These exercises were not much followed by the citi- 
 zens 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 the first, reckons among the 
 modern amusements of the Londoners, « Riding on horseback and hunt- 
 ing with my Lord Mayor's hounds, when the common-hunt goes out/ 
 
 This common-hunt of the citizens is ridiculed in an old ballad" pub- 
 lished in D'Urfey's collection. I shall select the three following 
 stanzas only. 
 
 Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney, dated September 12, A. D. L6GO. It is to be remembered 
 at this time her majesty had just entered the seventy -seventh year of her age. She was then at her palace 
 at Oatlands. And frequently, when she was not disposed to hunt herself, she was entertained with the 
 sight of the pastime 5 as at Cowdrey, in Sussex, the seat of lord Montecute, A. D. 15Q1, 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.' Nichols's Progresses, vol. 2. 
 
 w In the Harleian lib. marked 4431. **Maitland's Hist. London. Book i. chap. vi. 
 
 y Stephanides descript. London. 1 Stow's Survey of London. Vol. i. p. 157. 
 
 a Called the ' London Customs.' This collection is entitled, ' Pills to Purge Melancholy,' and was pub- 
 lished A. D. 1719. vol. iv. p. 42. 
 
14 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 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 indi- 
 viduals, either from favour, or as a reward for their services. Richard 
 the first, 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 be- 
 longing to the crown, excepting only the king's own desmean parks ; 
 and this special mark of the royal favour was confirmed by his brother 
 John, when he succeeded to the throne. b 
 
 Others obtained grants of land, on condition of their paying an an- 
 nual tribute in horses, hawks, and hounds. And here I cannot help 
 noticing a curious tenure, by which Bertram de Criol held the manor 
 of Selene, or Seaton, in Kent, from Edward the first ; he was to pro- 
 vide 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. d 
 
 XIII. I have mentioned two treatises upon hunting, in a former part 
 of this chapter ; the earliest of them was originally written in French, 
 by William Twici, or Twety, grand huntsman to king Edw T ard the se- 
 
 b Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 c Or vautrarius, which Blount derives from the French vaultre, a mongrel hound, and supposes the 
 name to signify an inferior huntsman j and this opinion I have adopted. 
 
 d E c. An. 34 Edwardus I. No. 37. Richard Rockesley held the same land by the same tenure, in 
 the second year of Edward the second. Blount ut supra. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 15 
 
 cond. e I have never seen the French tract, but the manuscript I spoke 
 of is in English, and from its appearance nearly coeval with the origi- 
 nal, hut the name of John Gyfford is joined to that of Twety, and both 
 of them are are said to be * maislers of the game' to king Edward/ and 
 composed this treatise upon 6 the crafte of Huntynge.' The other, as 
 before observed, was written by the master of the game to Henry the 
 fourth, for the use of prince Henry his son, and is little more than an 
 enlargement of the former tract. 8 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. h It is however evidently 
 compiled from the two tracts above mentioned, notwithstanding the le- 
 gendary authority of sir Tristram, quoted in the beginning. 
 
 XIV. 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. 1 
 
 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. k 
 
 In the third class we find three, that are said to afford ' greate dy- 
 sporte' in the pursuit, and they are denominated, the grey or badger, 
 the wild-cat, and the otter. 
 
 e Entitled ' Art de venerie le quel Maistre Guillame Twiei venour le Roy dangleterre fist en son 
 temps per aprandre Autres, or the art of hunting, which Mr. Wm. Twici, huntsman to the king of 
 England, made for the instruction of others.' See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221. 
 f MS. Cotton library, marked Vespasianus, B. xii. 
 s MS. Had. This book is entitled ' The Maister of the Game.' 
 
 * It 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 con- 
 tains 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. 
 
 * The Book of St. Alban's, T fancy, by mistake, places the wild roe for the wild boar. 
 
 k The Book of St. Alban's adds, that all other kinds of beasts subject to hunting are to be called 
 Easkall, derived, I suppose, from the Saxon word parcal, which signifies a lean beast, or one of no 
 worth. 
 
16 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 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. 1 In the second 
 class, are placed the fulimart, the fitchat, or fitch, the cat, the grey, the 
 fox, the wesel,the martin, the squirrel, the white-rat, the otter, the stoat, 
 and the pole-cat ; and these are said to be beasts of stinking flight. 1 " 
 
 XV. 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 iEdgar. It is generally admitted 
 that /Edgar gave up the fine of gold and silver imposed by his uncle 
 iEthelstan, 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 exceed- 
 ingly 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 those ferocious animals, without putting his 
 subjects to the least expense; but, if this record be taken in its full la- 
 titude, and the supposition established that the wolves were totally ex- 
 terminated in Britain during the reign of iEdgar, more will certainly be 
 admitted than is consistent with the truth," as the documents quoted 
 below will clearly prove. 
 
 1 The spytard, as the author himself informs us, is an hart one hundred years old. 
 
 m The word in the original MS. is written fute and fuite, which I conceive to be French, and then 
 the interpretation I have given of flight will be proper. The meaning is, that the latter leave a scent 
 behind them when they are chased. 
 
 n The words of Malmsbury are to this purport: 'He, iEdgar, 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.' Hist. Reg. Angl. lib. ii. chap. 8. That is, in Wales, for it can hardly be sup- 
 posed that he was permitted to hunt them out of his own dominions. 
 
 In the tenth year of William I. Robert de Umfranville, knight, held the lordship, &c. of Riddes- 
 dale, in the county of Northumberland, by service of defending that part of the country from enemies 
 
BOOK I. OF THE- PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. IJ 
 
 XVI. 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 grey- 
 hounds, 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 6 a good hounde' for hunting the wild boar; the spaniel 
 was of use in hawking,— < hys crafte/ says the author, < is for the per- 
 drich or patridge, 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. In the 
 sixteenth century the list is enlarged; besides those already named, we 
 find bastards and mongrels, lemors, kenets, terrours, butcher s hounds, 
 dunghill dogs, trindel-tail'd dogs, 6 pryckereard' curs, and ladies small 
 puppies. p 
 
 There formerly existed a very cruel law, which subjected all the dogs 
 that were found in the royal chases and forests, excepting such as be- 
 longed to privileged persons, to be maimed, by having the left claw cut 
 from their feet, unless they were redeemed by a fine ; this law probably 
 originated with the Normans, and certainly was in force in the reign of 
 Henry the first. q 
 
 XVII. Several methods of hunting were practised by the sportsmen 
 of this kingdom, as well on horseback as on foot. Sometimes this ex- 
 ercise took place in the open country ; sometimes in woods and thick- 
 ets; and sometimes in parks, chases, and forests, where the game was 
 usually enclosed with a haye or fence-work of netting, supported by 
 
 and wolves. Testa Nevelli. In the forty-third year of Edward III. Thomas Engaine held lands -in 
 Pitchley, in the county of Northampton, by service of finding at his own cost certain dogs for the de- 
 struction of wolves, foxes, &c. in the counties of Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and Bucking- 
 ham. Memb. 13 ; and as late as the 1 1th year of Hen. VI. 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. Memb. 13 . See more in Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 
 p Booke of hauking and hunting, without date, reprinted with the title of « A Jewell for Gentrie ' 
 Lond. 1614. 
 
 1 Sec Blount's Antient Tenures, under the article Sutton, kc. 
 
 T> 
 
18 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 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 above; the 
 substance of which is as follows: 6 When the king shall 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, shall see that everything be provided ne- 
 cessary for the purpose. It is 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 are directed to be covered with green boughs, 8 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, ought 
 to see that the greyhounds were properly placed, and the person nomi- 
 nated 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 grey- 
 hounds, 1 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. 
 
 r 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, &c. 
 
 1 Chastised greyhcundes, MS. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 1.0 
 
 When the loyal family and the nobility were conducted to the places 
 appointed for their reception, the master of the game, or his lieutenant, 
 sounded th ee long mootes" for the uncoupling of the hart hounds. The 
 game was then driven from the cover, and turned by the huntsmen and 
 the hounds so as to pass by the stands belonging to the king and queen, 
 and such oJ the nobility as were permitted to have a share in the pas- 
 time ; 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 princes or princesses, slew with 
 their own hows, 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 k lied they had certain parts assigned to them by the master 
 of the game, according to the ancient custom. w 
 
 XVIII. 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 com- 
 panies, 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 bears ; 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 richess of martins ; a fesynes of ferrets ; a huske or 
 a down of hares ; a nest of rabbits ; a clowder of cats, and a kendel 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, &c. Two 
 greyhounds were called a brace, three a leash, but two spaniels or har- 
 riers were called a couple. We have also a mute of hounds for a num- 
 ber, a kenel of raches, a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of curs. It is 
 
 u Or blasts with the horn, 
 w 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. See Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 
20 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 well worthy notice, that this sort of phraseology was not confined to 
 birds and beasts, and other parts of the brute creation, but it was ex- 
 tended to the various ranks and professions of men, as the specimen, 
 which I cannot help adding in the margin, will sufficiently demon- 
 strate, and the application of some of them will, I trust, be thought apt 
 enough/ I shall now conclude this long, and, I fear, tedious chapter, 
 with * the seasons for alle sortes of venery/ and the ancient books upon 
 hunting, seem to be agreed upon this point. 
 
 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 ; y 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. 
 
 x A state of princes, a skulk of friars, a skulk of thieves ; an observance of hermits ; a lying of par- 
 doners ; a subtiltie of Serjeants ; an untruth of sompnersj a multiplying of husbands j 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 j a drunkenship of coblers ; a disguising 
 of taylors; a wandering of tinkers ; a malepertness of pedlars j a fighting of beggars ; a rayful, that is 
 a netful of knaves j a blush of boys ; a bevy of ladies j a nonpatience of wives ; a gagle of women 5 a ga~ 
 gle of geese 5 a superfluity of nuns, and a herd of harlots ; and also applied to inanimate things, as a 
 taste of bread, a cluster of grapes, a cluster of nuts, &c. 
 
 y See the Encyclopedia Britannica upon this subject, under the article hunting. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 21 
 
 CHAP. IL 
 
 Hawking practised by the Nobility. — Its Origin not well known.— A favourite Amuse- 
 ment with the Saxons. — A romantic Story relative to Hawking. — The Grand Fal- 
 coner of France, his State and Privileges. — Edward the Third partial to Hawking. — 
 The Ladies fond of Hawking.- — Its Decline. — How it was performed. — The Embel- 
 lishments of the Hawk. — -Treatises concerning Hawking. — Laws respecting Hawks. 
 -—Their great Value. — The different Species of these Birds, and their Appropria- 
 tion. — Terms used in Hawking, Fowling, and Fishing. — The Stalking Horse de- 
 scribed. — Low belling. 
 
 I. Hawking, or the art of training, and flying of hawks, for the pur- 
 pose of catching other birds, 8 is generally placed at the head of those 
 amusements that can only be practised in the country, and probably it 
 obtained this precedency 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, 15 and sometimes even when they went to battle, and 
 would not part with them to procure their own liberty when taken prison- 
 ers. 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. c 
 
 Sebastian Brant, a native of Germany , d accuses his countrymen of 
 
 a It is also very frequently called falconry or fauconry ; and the person who had the care of the hawks 
 is denominated the falconer, but never I believe the hawker. 
 
 b Upon the tapestry of Bayeaux, Harold is represented approaching the duke of Normandy with his 
 hawk upon his hand. Montfaucon Monarch. Fran, and Dr. Ducarrel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities. 
 Sometimes they formed part of the train of an ecclesiastic ; Becket had hounds and hawks of every kind 
 with him when he went to the court of France, ?s ambassador from England. See page 10 of this 
 work. 
 
 c Memoirs des Inscrip. torn. ix. p. 542. The ancient English illuminators have uniformly distin- 
 guished 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. The same reason will hold good respecting the 
 representation of Harold, mentioned in the preceding note. See the Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities 
 of England. 
 
 d The author of a work entitled Stultifera Navis, the ship of fools, published towards the conclusion 
 of the fifteenth century. 
 
22 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 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 translated by Alexander 
 Barclay. 6 
 
 Into the church then comes another sotte, 
 Withouten devotion, jetting up and down, 
 Or to be seene, 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. 
 
 II. I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earlier period than 
 the middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about 
 that time, is the first Latin author f that speaks of falconers, and the art 
 of teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others. 55 An Eng- 
 lish writer, upon what authority I know not, says, that hawking was 
 first invented and practised by Frederic Barbarossa, when he besieged 
 Rome." 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, Wini- 
 fred, or Boniface, archbishop of Mons, who was himself a native of 
 England, presented to Ethelbert, king of Kent, one hawk and two fal- 
 cons; and a king of the Mercians requested the same Winifred to send 
 to him two falcons that had been trained to kill cranes. 1 In the suc- 
 ceeding century, the sport was very highly esteemed by the Anglo-Saxon 
 
 c And printed by Pynson A. D. 1508. 
 f 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 dependance to be placed upon them. Natural History, 
 lib. X. cap. 8. 
 
 s Lib. V. cap. 8. k Peacham's Complete Gentleman, page 183. 
 
 » Epist. Winifred. See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. Vol. II. p. 221. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 23 
 
 nobility ; and the training and flying of hawks became one of the es- 
 sentials 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 fashion- 
 able 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 pas- 
 time of hawking must, no doubt, at this period, have been very gene- 
 rally followed, to call for the prohibition inserted in a chapter granted 
 to the Abbey of Abington, by Kenulph, king of the Mercians ; which 
 restrains all persons from carrying of hawks, and thereby trespassing 
 upon the lands belonging to the monks who resided therein. 1 This 
 amusement continued to be a fashionable one to the end of the Saxon 
 aera. m We have already seen that Edward the confessor was highly 
 pleased with the sports of the field, and pursued them constantly every 
 day, allotting the whole of his leisure time to hunting or hawking.' 
 
 III. The monkish writers, posterior to the conquest, not readily ac- 
 counting for the first advent 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. A Danish chieftain, 
 of high rank, 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 
 
 * See page 3. 1 This charter was granted A. D. 821. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. 1. p. 100. 
 
 ,n Byrhtric, a Saxon nobleman, who died towards the end of the tenth century., among other valua- 
 ble articles, left, by will, to earl iElfric, two hawks, and all his heabop. hunter, which Lambarde renders 
 hedge hounds ; spaniels, I suppose, for the purpose of flushing the game. See the whole of the 
 curious will in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, p. 540. 
 
 « See page 4. Some say of the royal blood. 
 
24 
 
 8 PORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 ]>OOK I. 
 
 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 htm 
 very favourably, and soon became particularly attached to him, upon 
 account of his great skill in the training and flying of hawks. The 
 partiality which Edmund manifested for this unfortunate stranger, ex- 
 cited the jealousy of Beoric, the king's falconer, who took an opportu- 
 nity 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 appre- 
 hended, and, it seems, convicted of the murder ; for he was condemned 
 to be put into an open boat, p 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 appre- 
 hended 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 mur- 
 der 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 false- 
 hood, to revenge the murder of their father, by force of arms, they in- 
 vaded 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 Ed- 
 mund's Bury, has given it a place, with the addition of several miracu- 
 lous circumstances, in his poetical life of king Edmund, who was the 
 tutelar saint of the abbey to which he belonged. q On the other hand, 
 
 P Some say the very boat in which the Danish chieftain came to England. 
 i Lidgate presented this poem to king Henry the sixth, when that monarch held his court at Bury. 
 The presentation MS. is yet extant, and preserved in the Harleian library, marked 2278. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 25 
 
 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. 
 
 IV. Hawking is often mentioned, says a modern author, in the capi- 
 tularies 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 assist- 
 
 • ant- falconers ; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks, he li- 
 censed 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 3 is returned among the most valu- 
 able articles of property; which proves the high estimation these 
 birds were held in at the commencement of the Norman government; 
 and probably some establishment, like that above mentioned, was made 
 for the royal falconer in England. 
 
 V. Edward the third, according to Froissart, had with him in his 
 army, when he invaded France, thirty falconers on horseback, who had 
 charge of his hawks; 1 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 he- 
 ron, and the earl another. In the poetical romance of the < Squire of 
 low Degree/ the king of Hungary promises his daughter that, at her re- 
 turn from hunting, she should hawk by the river-side, with gos hawk, 
 
 r Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 221. 3 Aira Accipilris. 
 
 1 Trente fauconniers a cheval, chargez d'oiseaux. Froissart's Chron. vol. i. cap. 210. 
 u Ou on riviere. Ibid, w Tous jours en riviere. Ibid. cap. 140. 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 gentle falcon, and other well-tutored birds ; x 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 handed 
 
 An anonymous writer, of the seventeeth century, records the follow- 
 ing anecdote: 'Sir Thomas Jermin, going out with his servants, and 
 brooke hawkes one evening, at Bury, z they were no sooner abroad, but 
 fowle were found, and he called out to one of his falconers, Off with 
 your jerkin ; the fellow being into the wind a did not heare him; at 
 which he stormed, and still cried out, Off with your jerkin, you knave, 
 off with your jerkin; now it fell out that there was, at that instant, a 
 plaine townsman of Bury, in a freeze jerkin, stood betwixt him and his 
 falconer, who seeing sir Thomas in such a rage, and thinking he had 
 spoken to him, unbuttoned himself amaine, threw off his jerkin, and be- 
 sought his worshippe not to be offended, for he would off with his 
 doublet too, to give him content/ b 
 
 On the third plate, the reader will find the representation of a Saxon 
 nobleman and his falconer, with their hawks, upon the bank of a river, 
 waiting for the rising of the game; c and at the bottom of the same 
 plate, we see a party of both sexes hawking by the water-side, the fal- 
 coner is frightening the fowls to make them rise, and the hawk is in the 
 act of seizing upon one of them. 
 
 VI. We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied 
 the gentlemen in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by 
 themselves ; and, if we may believe a contemporary writer," in the thir- 
 
 * Garriek's Collect, of old Plays, K. vol. x. y Canterbury Tales, 
 
 f Bury St. Edmund's, in Suffolk. a That is to the windward ; I use the author's own words. 
 
 l> MS. Hail. lib. 6395, entitled ' Merry Passages and Jeasts,' art. 223. 
 c This engraving is taking from a Saxon manuscript, written at the close of the ninth century, or at 
 the commencement of the tenth; in the Cotton library, and marked Tiberius C. vi. another drawing 
 upon the same subject, with a little variation, occurs in Julius A. vi. a Saxon manuscript, somewhat 
 more modern } the other two delineations, copied upon the same plate, are from a manuscript written 
 early in the fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal library, and marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 A Johan. Sarisburiensis, lib, i. cap. 4. 
 
BOOK I. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 teenth 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 prohibi- 
 tion 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 hunt- 
 ing also/ 
 
 VII. The practice of hawking declined, from the moment the musket 
 was brought to perfection/ which pointed out a method more ready 
 and more certain of procuring game; and, at the same time, afforded 
 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. 
 
 VIII. Hawking was performed on horseback r or on foot, as occasion 
 required. On horseback, when in the fields, and open country; and 
 on foot, when in the woods and coverts. In following the hawk on foot, 
 it was usual for the sportsman to have a stout pole with him, to assist 
 him in leaping over little rivulets and ditches, which might otherwise 
 prevent him in his progress ; and this we learn from an historical fact 
 related by Hall ; who informs us, that Henry the eighth, pursuing his 
 hawk on foot, at Hitchen in Hertfordshire, attempted with the assist- 
 ance of his pole to jump over a ditch that was half full of muddy watery 
 the pole broke, and the king fell with his head into the mud, where he 
 would have been stifled had not a footman, named John Moody, who 
 was near at hand, and seeing the accident, leaped into the ditch, and re- 
 
 e See page 4. 
 
 Its fal1 waj5 ver - v ra P icl > at the commencement of the seventeenth century, it seems to have been in 
 the zenith of its glory. Hentzner,. who wrote his Itinerary, A.D. 15 9 8, 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 ; and, at the close of the same century, the sport was rarely practised, and a few years after- 
 wards hardly known. 
 
§Q SPOUTS AftD PASTIMES BOOK I» 
 
 teased his majesty from his perilous situation ; ' and so/ says the honest 
 historian, 6 God of hys goodnesse preserved him/ s 
 
 IX. 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 6 the fist/ the term used for carrying them upon the 
 hand, had straps of leather called jesses, 11 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; 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 ' wind- 
 ing 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; 1 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 Saint 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, k and charged for accordingly. But we have good 
 
 S Hall in the life of Henry viii. sub an. xvi. 
 h Though it sometimes appears that the jesses were made of silk, 
 i These observations are taken from 'The Boke of Saint Albans j' a subsequent edition says, 'at least 
 a note under.' 
 
 k I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal, when the bells are cast, adds much to the sweet- 
 aess of the sound j and hence probably the allusion of Shakespear, when he says, 
 ' How silver sweet sound lovers tongues by night.' 
 
UOOK I. OP THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 bells brought from Dordreght, 1 which are well paired, and produce a 
 very shrill, but pleasant sound. 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. m 
 
 So much for the birds themselves ; but the person who carried the hawk 
 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 the Eighth, such articles frequently occur; at Hampton 
 Court, in the jewel house, were seven hawkes' gloves embroidered." 
 
 We have a poetical fragment, written in old Norman French, as early 
 as the thirteenth century, containing some general observations re- 
 specting 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 mis- 
 take in the name ; and that this fragment is really part of a treatise 
 upon hawking, which he tells us was written by king iElfred ; 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/ It ap- 
 pears to me, that the original treatise, referred to by both the above 
 authors, should be attributed to Edward the confessor; not perhaps 
 written by him, but at his command; which supposition is partly jus- 
 tified by the extreme partiality he had for this diversion. 9 In the last 
 mentioned manuscript we find not only the general rules relative to 
 
 1 Dort in Holland. 
 
 m < A. Woman killed with Kindness,' the third edition, printed A. D. l6lf. Garrick's collection 
 •of old plays, E. vol. iv. 
 
 « MS. Harl. Lib. insig. 141 9. 
 " ' Ke en escriVtrove, si cum jo lis, el livere al bon Rei Edward.' MS. Harl. insig. 
 p MS. Harl. 2340. 1 See page 4. 
 
30 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK 1. 
 
 frawkitig, but an account of the diseases incident to the birds them- 
 selves, and the medicines proper to be administered to them upon such 
 occasions. I shall only mention the following superstitious ceremonies: 
 after an 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 the name of the Lord, 
 the birds of Heaven shall be beneath thy feet; r 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 ope- 
 rated, I shall leave the reader to judge; the coupling of texts of scrip- 
 ture with such an amusement, seems also in favour of the supposition, 
 that the book w r as composed for the monkish monarch, Edward the 
 confessor. 
 
 XL 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 the third, 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 com- 
 manded 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 an hawk in 
 his custody, and that the nobleman to whom it belonged, or his fal- 
 coner, might ascertain the same to be his properly, 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 
 
 r In nomine domini volatilia coeli erunt sub pedibus tuis. 
 • Vicit Leo de tribu Juda radix David. Alleluya. 
 1 Quem iniquus homo ligavit, Dominus per adventum suum solvQt. 
 u Carta de Forresta A cap., xj, 
 
BOOK X. Or THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 31 
 
 costs to the sheriff; on the contrary, if lie 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, con- 
 cealed 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 surfer two 
 years imprisonment; and if he was unable to pay the fine, his impri- 
 sonment 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 an 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 Ber- 
 mondsey, 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 the seventh, a restrictive act was established, 
 prohibiting any man from bearing a hawk bred in England, called a 
 nyesse, 2 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. 
 
 As the hawk was a bird so highly esteemed by the nobility of Eng- 
 land, there will be no wonder, if we find the royal edicts established for 
 the preservation of their eggs ; accordingly, in the eleventh year of 
 Henry the seventh, it was decreed, that if any person was convicted of 
 taking from the nesls, or destroying the eggs of a falcon, a gos-hawk, a 
 laner, or a swan, he should suffer imprisonment 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 
 
 w Rot. Pari. 34 Ed. III. * Ibid. 3/ Ed. III. 
 
 y A. D. 1337. Regist. Adami Orleton. Epis. Wint. fol. 50. 
 z An hawk was called a nyesse, or an eyesse, from her having watery ej.es, 
 a Stat. xi. Hen VII. 
 
32 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I* 
 
 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 obli- 
 gated to find security for his good behaviour for seven years, or remain 
 
 in prison until he did* 
 
 XII. The severity of the above-mentioned laws may probably 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 ; and 
 the price is by no means mentioned as singular, or extravagant; for, on 
 the contrary, the author insinuates, that the parting from the birds was 
 considered as a favour : and no doubt it was so, if the hawks in train- 
 ing required such incredible pains and watchfulness, both by night and 
 by day, as he declares are absolutely necessary." It is further said,, 
 that in the reign of James the First, Sir Thomas Monson gave one 
 thousand pounds for a cast of hawks. 6 
 
 XIII. 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 
 ihe 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. 
 
 b Stat. xi. Hen. VII. 
 
 „ Edmund Best, who himself trained and sold them, published a treatise upon hawks and hawking, 
 
 printed at London, 1619. 
 
 a And upon this account 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 re- 
 warded the falconer who brought it with the donation of forty shillings ; a proof how highly the bird 
 was valued. Expen. Hosp. Reg. Ed. III. MS. Cott. Nero C. viii. p. 275. 
 
 e A cast of hawks of toure, says an old book on hawking, signifies two, and a lese three. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 33 
 
 The lanere, and the laneret, for an esquire. 
 
 The marlyon, for 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. 
 And this list includes, I presume, the greater part, if not all, of the 
 names appertaining to the birds used in hawking/ 
 
 XIV. As in hunting, so in hawking, the sportsmen had their pe- 
 culiar expressions, and therefore the tyro in the art of falconry is re- 
 commended to learn the following arrangement of terms as they were lo 
 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;' 1 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 
 dule of turtles; a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; 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. 
 
 XV. The arts of Fowling and Fishing are usually added to the more 
 modern treatises upon hunting and hawking. I shall select a few ob- 
 servations that occur respecting the former; but wilh 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. 
 
 f Between this and the next line the author makes the following observation : 'These ben hawkes 
 of toure, and ben bothe illured to be called and reclaymed.' Jewel for Gentrie. Lond. 1614. 
 
 e The Mews at Charing Gross, Westminster, 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 ]377, an. 1 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. See Stow's Survey of London. 
 
 h The sheldrake is a species of wild fowl. 
 F 
 
34 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK I.. 
 
 Fowling, says Burton, may be performed with guns, lime-twigs, nets, 
 glades, gins, strings, bails, pit falls, pipe calls, stalking horses, setting 
 doo-s, and decoy ducks ; or with chaffnets 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 trap- 
 pings, 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 in- 
 convenient, and often impracticable, the fowler had recourse to art, and 
 caused a canvass figure to be stuffed, and painted like an horse graz- 
 ing, but sufficiently light, that it might be moved at pleasure with one 
 hand. These deceptions were also made in the form of oxen, cows, 
 and stags, either for variety, or for conveniency sake. In the in- 
 ventories of the wardrobes belonging to king Henry the eighth, we 
 frequently find the allowance of certain quantities of stuff for the pur- 
 pose of making ' stalking coats, and stalking hose for the use of his. 
 majesty/* 
 
 There is also another method of fowling, which, says my author, fop 
 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.— 4 This sport we 
 call in England, most commonly bird-batting, and some call it low- 
 belling; 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 bigness, 
 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 com- 
 
 i Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, book v. chapter 8. edit. Lond. l660, 
 k Harleian, M. S. marked 2284. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 35 
 
 panions 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/ — 6 This is/ continues the author, 6 an excellent method to 
 catch larks, woodcocks, partridges, and all other land birds/ 1 
 
 The pipe-call, mentioned by Burton^ is noticed under a different de- 
 nomination by Chaucer ; 4 Lo/ says he, 6 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." 1 
 
 l Jewel for Gentrie. Lond. 1614. 
 m Testament of Love, book ii. I shall just observe, that there are twelve prints upon the popular 
 subjects of hunting, hawking, and fishing, &c. engraved by Hollar, from designs by Francis Barlow, 
 which perfectly exemplify the manner in which those pastimes were practised, somewhat more than a 
 century biack ; published by John Overton. 
 
36 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Horse-racing known te the Saxons. — Races in Smithfield, and why. — Races when 
 practised. — The Chester Races. — Stamford Races. — Value of Running-horses.. — 
 Highly prized by the poets. — Horse-racing commended as a liberal Pastime. — 
 Charles the Second and other Monarchs encouragers of Horse-racing. — Races upon 
 Coleshill-heath. 
 
 I. 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 mo- 
 narchs of France, solicited the hand of Edelswitha, the sister of JEthel- 
 stan, he sent to that prince, among other valuable presents, several run- 
 ning horses, b with their saddles and their bridles, the latter being em- 
 bellished with bits of yellow gold. It is hence concluded, and indeed 
 with much appearance of truth, that horse-racing was known and prac- 
 tised by the Anglo-Saxons, but most probably confined to persons of 
 rank and opulence, and practised only for amusement sake. 
 
 II. The first indication of a sport of this kind occurs in the descrip- 
 tion of London, written by Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of Henry 
 the Second. He tells us, that horses were usually exposed for sale in 
 West Smithfield ; and, in order to prove the excellency of the most va- 
 luable hackneys and charging steeds, they were matched against each 
 other ; his words are to this effect, 6 When a race is to be run by this 
 
 a Knight of the Swan, Garrick's collect. K. vol. x. 
 b Equos cursores. Malmsb. de gest. Reg. Angl. Lib. ii. cap. 6. 
 c I have followed the translation published by Mr. White, of Fleet Street, A.D. 1772. See Stow's 
 Survey of London, and republished with additions by Strype. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 37 
 
 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 jockies, 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 judg- 
 ment : 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 jockies, inspired with the thoughts of ap- 
 plause and the hopes of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, bran- 
 dish their whips, and cheer them with their cries.' 
 
 III. 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 6 Sir Bevis of Southampton/ 11 it is said, 
 
 In somer at Whitsontyde, 
 "Whan knightes most on horsebacke ride; 
 A cours, let they make on a daye, 
 Steedes, and Patfraye, 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. e 
 
 A writer of the seventeenth century f 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. 
 
 IV. It is certain, that horse-races were held upon various holidays, 
 at different parts of the kingdom, and in preference to other pastimes. 
 
 d ' Syr Bevys of Hampton/ black letter, without date, printed by Win. Copland. Garrick's 
 collect. K. vol. ix. 
 
 c Commenius in his vocabulary, entitled ' Orbis Sensualium Pictus,' published towards the conclu- 
 sion 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, e are grown out of use.' 
 
 f Bourne Antiq. Vulgares, chap. xxiv. 
 
58 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 4 It had been customary/ says a Chester antiquary/ 4 time out of mind, 
 upon Shrove-tuesday,' for the company of saddlers belonging to the city 
 of Chester, to present to the diapers a wooden ball, embellished with 
 flowers, and placed upon the point of a lance; this ceremony was per- 
 formed in the presence of the mayor, at the cross in the 6 Rodhee/ or 
 Roody, an open place near the city ; 4 but this year,' h 4 continues he, the 
 ball was changed into a bell of silver, valued at three shillings and six- 
 pence, or more, to be given to him who shall run the best, and the 
 farthest on horseback, before them upon the same day/ 1 These bells 
 were afterwards denominated Saint Ceorge's bells; and we are told 
 that in the last year of James the First, John Brereton, inn-keeper, 
 mayor of Chester, first caused the horses entered for tnis 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/ 4 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 for ever ; which moneyes were collected of the citizens, to a sum for 
 that purpose.' 1 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 indica- 
 tion 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 pro- 
 digious sums are usually dependent upon the event of a horse-race, that 
 these apparently trivial matters, are become indispensably necessary. 
 Forty-six years afterwards," 1 according to the same writer, the sheriffs of 
 Chester 4 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 
 
 s Probably the elder Randel Holmes of Chester, one of the city heralds. MS. Harl. 2150. fol. 235. 
 h The thirty-first of Henry VIII. * That is Shrove-tuesday. 
 
 k Probably the younger Randel Holmes. 
 1 MS. Harl. 2125. 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 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. 
 
 » A. D. 1605. and 5 Charles II. 
 
BOOK T. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 3Q 
 
 high-sheriff borrowed a Barbary horse of sir Thomas Mid die ton, which 
 won him the plate ; and being master o>f 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 afler 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/ 
 
 V. Races something similar to those above-mentioned, are described 
 by Butcher," as practised in the vicinity of the town of Stamford, in Lin- 
 colnshire. 4 A concourse/ says he, « of noblemen and gentlemen meet 
 together, in mirth, peace, and amity, for the exercise of their swift run- 
 ning 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 mo- 
 ney is raised out of the interest of a stock formerly made up by the no- 
 bility and gentry, which are neighbours, and well wishers to the town/ 
 
 VI. 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 the Third, 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 twenty-five m;arks. p 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/ 
 
 VII. If we appeal to the poets, we shall find, that swift running-hor- 
 
 n In his Survey of the Town of Stamford, first printed A. D. 1G46. chap. 10. 
 ° See the chapter upon huntting, page 6. 
 P « Bernado de Nictum pro uno cursorio hardo empto de eodem, xxv. marc. Compot. Garderoba. Am 
 xi. Ed. iii. MS. Cot. Nero. c. viii. fo], 219.' 
 
 * ' Michali de la Were Scut. Regis Navarr. present domiino Regi duos equos cursores ex parte dono 
 Domini sui, de dono Regis, C sol.' Ibid. 
 
40 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK I. 
 
 ses were greatly esteemed by the heroes who figure in their romances ; 
 and rated at prodigious prices; for instance, in an ancient poem, r 
 which celebrates the warlike actions of Richard the First, 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 pere 
 Dromedary, neither destrere, 1 
 Stede, rabyte, ne cammele, u 
 Goeth none so swyfte withoute fayle ; 
 For a thousand pownd of golde, 
 Ne sholde the one be solde. 
 
 And though the rhymist may be thought to have claimed the poeti- 
 cal 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 ? 
 
 Says' t thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed, 
 
 Onely because a Jennet did him breed? 
 
 Or says't thou this same horse shall win the prize, 
 
 Because his dam was swiftest Trunchefice 
 
 Or Runeevall his syre ; himself a gallaway ? 
 
 While like a tireling jade, he lags half way. w 
 
 VIII. Two centuries back hore-racing was considered as a liberal 
 pastime, practised for pleasure rather than profit, without the least idea 
 
 r MS. Harl. 4690, written early in the fourteenth century. * Peer or equal, 
 
 t A French word, signifying a large powerful horse. Steed, rabbit nor camel. 
 
 wLib. iv. fat. 3. Edit. \5Qg. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 41 
 
 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 : x one of the puritanical writers^ in the reign of Elizabeth, who, 
 though he is very severe against cards, dice, vain plays, interludes, and 
 other idle pastimes, allows of horse-racing as 6 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, 2 who 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 spe- 
 cies of gambling. The following lines are from a ballad, in D'Urfey's 
 collection of songs. It is called 6 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 - 3 
 
 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 . a 
 
 IX. From what has been said, it seems clear enough, that this pas- 
 time was originally practised in England for the sake of 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 
 
 x Poem of Covetice, quoted by Warton. Hist. English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 316. 
 
 y John Northbrooke. 
 z Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. Sect. 2, chap. 4, printed A. D. 1660. 
 a Pills to purge Melancholy, fourth edition, A. D. 17 1 9, vol. ii. page S3. 
 
 G 
 
42 s Ports and pastimes book ft 
 
 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^ 
 
 In the reign of James the First public races were established in many 
 parts of the kingdom ; and 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. c 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 the First, races were held in 
 Hyde Park, and at New Market. After the Restoration, horse-racing 
 was revived and much encouraged by Charles the Second, who fre- 
 quently 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 New Market, where it is said he entered horses 
 and run them in his name, he established a house for his better accom- 
 modation;' 1 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, 6 for he hardly deserves the name of poet, speaking of Burford 
 Downs, makes these remarks : 
 
 Next for the glory of the place, 
 Here has heen rode many a race, — 
 
 King Charles the Second I saw here ;. 
 
 But I've forgotton in what year. 
 The duke of Monmouth here also, 
 Made his horse to swete and blow ; 
 Lovelace, Pembrook, and other gallants 
 Have been ventring ihere their talents, 
 And Nicholas Bainton 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 
 
 b The prize was usually a silver cup, or some other piece of plate, about eight or ten pounds value. 
 
 c Encyclopaedia Britannica, undler Race. d Ibid. 
 
 « Probably Matthew Thomas Baskervile, whose mame appears at the end ; it was written about the 
 year 169O. MS. Harl. 4/16. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 43 
 
 hundred guineas each ; and upon these trophies of victory the exploits 
 and pedigree of the successful horses were most commonly engraved. 
 William the Third 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. 
 George the First, instead of a piece of plate, gave an hundred guineas 
 to be paid in specie. 
 
 In one of the Spectators, we meet with the following advertisement, 
 extracted, as we are told, from a paper called the Post Boy, f ' On the 
 ninth of October next will be run for on Coleshill Heath, in Warwick- 
 shire, a plate of six guineas value, three heats, by any horse, mare or 
 gelding, that hath not won above the val ue 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 . 
 
 f Dated Sept. ll, A. D. 171 1. Spectator, vol. iii. No. 173. 
 
44 
 
 8 PORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The English famous for their Skill in Archery.— The Use of the Bow known to the 
 Saxons and the Danes.— The form of the Saxon Bow.— Archery improved by the 
 
 Normans. 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.— The Price of Bows.— The necessary Utensils for Archery, and 
 Directions for its Practice.— The Marks to shoot at.— The Length of the Bow and 
 Arrows.— Extraordinary Performances of the Archers.— The modern Archers in- 
 ferior to the ancient in long shooting.— The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called.— 
 Grand Procession of the London Archers.— A good Archer, why called Arthur.— 
 Hand Guns and other Weapons of like kind.— Prizes given to the Archers. 
 
 I. Among the arts that have been carried to a high degree of perfec- 
 tion 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 mention their wonderful performances 
 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 ad- 
 miration of posterity. I shall therefore consider this subject in a ge- 
 neral point of view, and confine myself, as much as possible, to such 
 parts of it as relate to amusement only. 
 
 II. The Anglo-Saxons, and the Danes, were certainly well ac- 
 quainted with the use of the bow; a knowledge they derived at an 
 early period from their progenitors. The Scandinavian scalds, speak- 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 45 
 
 ing 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. a It 
 does not, however, appear, that this skill was extended beyond the pur- 
 pose of procuring food or for pastime, either by the Saxons or by the 
 Danes, in times anterior to the conquest. b 
 
 III. Representations of the bow occur frequently in the Saxon ma- 
 nuscripts; and from one of them, written about the eighth century, I 
 have selected two archers, which the reader will find upon the fourth 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 same plate contains a Saxon bow and arrow, 
 upon a larger scale, taken from a manuscript of the tenth century. 6 
 The bow is curiously ornamented, having the head and tail of a ser- 
 pent 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. 
 
 IV. It is well known that the Normans used the bow as a military wea- 
 pon; and, under their government, the practice of archery was not only 
 much improved, but generally diffused throughout the kingdom. 
 
 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 
 
 a Olaii Worm. Lit. Run. p. 129. Barthol. p. 420. Pontoppidan's History of Norway, p. 248. 
 b It is indeed said that Edmund, king of the East Angles, was shot to death with arrows by the 
 Danes ; but, if this piece of history be correct, it is no proof that they used the bow as a weapon of 
 war. The action itself might be nothing more than a wanton piece of cruelty ; and cruelty seems to 
 have been a prominent feature in the character of those lawless plunderers. 
 
 c In the Cotton Library, marked Claudius, B. iv. 
 d The first represents Esau going to seek venison for his father, and the second, Jshmael, after his 
 expulsion from the house of Abraham, and residing in the desart. 
 
 e Cotton Library. Tiberius, C. vi. 
 
46 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 their skill in archery ; and Chaucer, with propriety, says of sir Thopas. 
 4 He was a good archere/ f 
 
 V. In the seventeenth century archery was much commended as an 
 exercise becoming a gentleman to practise, and greatly conducive to 
 health. 5 The ladies also were fond of this amusement, and upon the 
 fifth plate, we see it practised by one who has shot at a deer, and 
 wounded it with great adroitness ; the original drawing occurs in a ma- 
 nuscript of the fourteenth century and upon the second plate are re- 
 presented the hunting equipments of the female archers at a latter pe- 
 riod. 4 It was usual when the ladies exercised the bow for the beasts to 
 be confined by large inclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven 
 in succession from the covers to the stands, were the fair sportswomen 
 were placed ; so that they might readily shoot at them, without the 
 trouble and fatigue of rousing and pursuing them. k It is said of Mar- 
 garet, the daughter of Henry the Seventh, that when she was on her way 
 towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amusement in Aln- 
 wick Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow. 1 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 Sus- 
 sex, on the Monday , m ' 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/ n 
 
 VI. The foregoing observations refer chiefly to the long-bow, so 
 called, to distinguish it from the arbalist, or cross-bow, which was not 
 
 f Rhyme of sir Thopas ; Canterbury Tales. 
 8 Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, p. 187- edit. 1622. 
 h MS Royal Lib. marked 2. B. vii. 
 » From a MS. written about the middle of the fifteenth century. Harl. Lib. marked 4431. 
 k See page 19. 1 Leland's collect, vol. iv. p. 278. 
 
 m August. 17. A. D. 1591. n Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii. 
 
 Arciibalista in Latin, and also frequently steel bow in English, because the horns were usually made 
 v ith steel. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 47 
 
 only much shorter than the former, but fastened also upon a stock, 
 and discharged by the means of a catch or trigger, which probably 
 gave rise to the lock on the modern musket. p I cannot pretend to de- 
 termine at what period the cross-bow was first brought into this coun- 
 try, 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, where probably it origi- 
 nated, its appearance might be somewhat earlier. Our historians assure 
 us, that Richard the First was wounded by an arrow from a bow of 
 this kind, while he was reconnoitering the walls of the castle of Chale- 
 zun ; which wound was the occasion of his death . q 
 
 In the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward the First, 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. 8 
 
 From this period we hear but little concerning the cross-bows, as mi- 
 litary weapons, until the battle of Creasy ; r at which time they were 
 used by a large body of Genoese soldiers;, who were particularly expert 
 in the management of these weapons, and assisted the French upon 
 that memorable occasion ; but their efforts were ineffectual when op- 
 posed to the archery of the English. Previous to the commencement 
 of the battle 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 ; u but the strings of the long- 
 
 p 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 bj a dwarf or a <riant.' 
 
 9 William Brito seems to attribute the introduction of the cross-bow to this monarch, who, he says, 
 tirst shewed it to the French. Camden's Remains. 
 
 ' Nichol. Trivet. Annal. « See the Manners and customs of the English, vol. i. 
 
 1 A. D. 1346. 
 
 u Serres, and also most of our own historians. Froissart praises the skill of the Genoese cross-bow- 
 men upon another occasion, saying, ' They shot so surely, that lightly they myst not of their level.' Vol. 
 iv. chap. 38. fol. 47. English translation, and in several other places. 
 
48 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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 dif- 
 ferent 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. u 
 
 In the succeeding annals the cross-bow is continually spoken of as a 
 weapon of war. The year alter the celebrated victory was obtained at 
 Cressy, Charles, earl of Blois, at the siege of le Roche de Rien, had no 
 le>ss than two thousand cross-bow men in his army. x 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 ac- 
 quired by our countrymen in archery, was derived from their practice 
 with tho long-bow : and to this instrument they gave the preference. 
 
 VII. The reader may see the manner in which the cross-bow was 
 formerly used, upon the fifth plate ; the representation given at the bot- 
 tom is taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century ; y and upon 
 the same plate, copied from a painting of another manuscript much 
 more modern," we find exhibited a school for practice ; and the man- 
 ner in which the archers shot at the butts, or dead marks, a pastime 
 frequently alluded to by the authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
 turies. 
 
 In the reign of Henry the Seventh the cross-bow was forbidden by 
 law to be used; a and, soon after his son ascended the throne, it was 
 found necessary to renew the prohibition ; b yet, notwithstanding the in- 
 terference of the legislator, in less than twenty years afterward, the usage 
 of cross-bows and hand-guns was so prevalent, that a new statute was 
 judged necessary, which forbad the use of both, and inflicted a penalty 
 of ten pounds for keeping a cross-bow in the house." This severe fine 
 might probably produce a temporary reformation ; which certainly was 
 not of long continuance, for cross-bows were commonly used again in 
 
 u See Ascham's Treatise on Archery. * A. D. 1347. 
 
 Y MS. Royal Lib. marked 2. B. vii. z MS. Royal Lib. marked 19. C. viii. dated 1496. 
 
 » Stat. 29 Hen. VII. A. D. 1508. b Stat. 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. 
 
 c Stat. 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 17. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 49 
 
 the succeeding reigns. In the present day, the cross-bow is seldom to 
 be met with unless in the public armories. d 
 
 VIII. But to return from this digression : as far back as the thir- 
 teenth century, every person not having a greater annual revenue in 
 land than one hundred pence, was obligated 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. 6 It was also ordained that proper officers should be 
 appointed to see that these weapons were kept in good order, and 
 ready for immediate service. 
 
 IX. 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 the Third ; which occasioned that mo- 
 narch to send a letter of complaint upon this subject to the sheriffs of 
 London, declaring that the skill in shooting with arrows was almost to- 
 tally 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 time upon 
 
 d Hentzner tells us, that in the year 15Q8, 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, says 
 he, they used to shoot for games at the Popinjay, which, Maitland tells us, was an artificial parrot. His- 
 tory of London, Book ii. p. 482. 
 
 I have seen the cross-bow used in the country, for the purpose of shooting at the young rooks, to 
 beat them out of their nests. 
 
 e ' Ark et setes hors de foreste et en foreste ark et piles.' Stat. temp. Ed. ii. apud Winton. The 
 word pile I believe is derived from the Latin, pila, a ball; and I suppose these arrows were used to pre- 
 vent 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, f 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 Heywood, in his Epigrams and Proverbs, black letter. 
 Lond. A.D. 1566. No. 185. 
 
 A fooles bolte is soone shot, and fleeth oftymes fer, 
 But the fooles bolte, and the marke, cum few times ner. 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II,. 
 
 holidays was spent in recreations with bows and arrows/ The same 
 command was repeated in the twelfth year of the reign of Richard the 
 Second; but probably its good effects were merely temporary. And 
 in the fifth year of Edward the Fourth an ordinance was made, com- 
 manding every Englishman and Irishman 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, g upon all feast days, under the penalty of one halfpenny 
 for every time they omitted to perform this exercise. 
 
 In the sixteenth century we meet with heavy 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 Bar- 
 tholomew 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 ;' h and this ex- 
 ercise 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. 5 
 
 The same writer attributes the decay of archery among the Lon- 
 doners 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 the First k 
 to many persons of quality ; in which were recited and established the 
 good statutes, ordinances, and proclamations, that had been previously 
 made at different times in favour of archery. This commission ex- 
 tended to the prevention of enclosures in the grounds formerly used for 
 the practice of the bow. 
 
 f In the thirty-ninth year of this reign, A.D. 1349, the penalty incurred by the offenders was impri- 
 sonment 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. 
 
 g Called in the poetical legends, ' shooting about/ 
 
 k I do not clearly understand the author's meaning in this passage, unless the word games may signify 
 for sport sake. 
 
 i Stow's Survey of London, by Strype, vol. ii. page. 257. Stow died A. D. 1605. 
 t Ann. 8 Jacobi prim. Ibid. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. ol 
 
 The commissioners were also impowered to survey the lands adjoin- 
 ing 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 the 
 Eighth ; and where they found any encroachments, to cause the banks 
 to be thrown down, the ditches filled up, and the open spaces to be 
 made level. Charles the First confirmed this commission, or granted 
 another to the same purpose. 1 
 
 X. In the reign of Henry the Eighth three several acts were made 
 for promoting the practice of shooting with the long-bow ; one, as wc 
 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, statino- that 
 many unlawful games were practised in the open fields, to the detri- 
 ment of the public morals, and great decay of archery. Those games 
 were therefore strictly prohibited by parliament ; and a third act fol- 
 lowed, which obliged every man, being the king s subject," 1 to exercise 
 himself in shooting with the long-bow; and also to keep a bow with 
 arrows continually in his house. Fathers and guardians were also com- 
 manded to teach the male children the use of the long-bow, and to 
 have at all times bows provided for them; "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 
 
 1 Ann. 8 Jacobi prim. Ibid. 
 m Excepting such as were sixty years old, or by lameness or any other reasonable impediment claimed 
 an exemption j and also all ecclesiastics, the justices of the two benches, or of the assizes, and the barons 
 of the exchequer. 
 
 n That is., as soon as they arrived at the age of seven years. 
 
52 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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 conve- 
 nient places. 
 
 I may just add, that in addition to the hand-guns, I meet with other 
 instruments of like kind mentioned in the reign of Elizabeth, namely, 
 demy hags, or hag butts ; they shot with these engines not only at butts 
 and other dead marks, but also at birds and beasts, using sometimes 
 bullets and sometimes half shot; p but in the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century the word artillery was used in a much more extensive 
 sense, and comprehended long-bows, cross-bows, slur-bows, and stone- 
 bows ; also scorpions, rams, and catapults, which, the writer tells us, 
 were formerly used ; he then names the fire-arms as follows, cannons, 
 basilisks, culverins, jakers, faulcons, minions, fowlers, chambers, har- 
 guebusses, calivers, petronils, pistols, and dags. ' This/ says he, ' is the 
 artillerie which is nowe in the most estimation, and they are divided 
 into great ordinance, and into shot or guns/ which proves that the 
 use of fire-arms had then in great measure superseded the practice of 
 archery. 
 
 XI. In the reign of Edward the Fourth 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 the Seventh, and in the thirty-third year of his son Henry 
 the Eighth ; but these acts were repealed in the third year of queen 
 Mary, and the following prices were settled by the parliament : for a 
 
 ° 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, immediately before the discharge of the weapon, cried out, fast, 
 the signal usually given upon such occasions.' Stow's Survey of London by Strype, vol. i. p. 250. 
 P Gesta Grayorum, fol. 18, printed 1594. Garrick's collect. C. vol. 14. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 53 
 
 bow made of the best foreign yew, six shillings and eightpence ; for an 
 inferior sort, three shillings and four pence ; and for one made of Eng- 
 lish yew, two shillings. q 
 
 Notwithstanding the interference of the legislature in favour of ar- 
 chery, it gradually declined, and at the conclusion of the seventeenth 
 century was nearly, if not altogether, discontinued. Yet, if we may 
 credit a dull poem, written in the reign of Charles the Second, 1- some 
 attempts were then made by the nobility to revive this manly pastime. 
 I shall only quote the four following lines. 
 
 Forsake your lov'd Olympian games awhile,' 
 With which the tedious minutes you beguile ; 
 Leave quoits and nine-pins, those bear-garden sports, 
 And follow shooting/ often used at courts. 
 
 In the present day the use of the musket is become so general, that 
 archery, though it continues to be partially practised, has little chance 
 of recovering its former popularity. 
 
 XII. An author well versed in the subject of archery, who lived in 
 the reign of queen Elizabeth," 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 sometimes 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- 
 
 M aitland's history of London, Book v. chapter J . 
 * ' Archerye revived,' by Robert Shotterel and Thomas D'Urfey j printed 16*76, page 53. 
 8 Alluding, I presume, to tennice, or the baloon ball. 
 * That is, with the bow. It is to be observed, that the office of bow-bearer of Sherwood forest was 
 continued to the year 1633; but it appears to have been a mere sinecure. Archaeologia. vol. vii. 
 page 58. 
 
 B Roger Ascham. This work is entitled Toxophilus, or the schole of shooting, written A. D, 1544* 
 and first published A. D. 1571, and re-published by Mr. James Bennet A. D. 1761. 
 
54 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 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 essen- 
 tial parts in the composition 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 pas- 
 time, 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 prefer- 
 able to any others for the pluming of an arrow/ 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," plumed with feathers from different 
 wings, to suit the diversity of the winds. We are not from these direc- 
 tions to conclude, that the goose alone afforded the plumage for the ar- 
 rows ; 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 good arrows, with 
 bright burnished heads ; every arrow was an ell long, adorned with pea- 
 cocks feathers, and bound at the notching with white silk/ y 
 
 v 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, vol. i. 
 
 * I presume the author means of one shape, length, and weight. 
 ' * Geste of Robyn Hode.' Garrick's collect. K. vol. x. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 55 
 
 With them they had an hundred bowes, 
 The stringes were well ydight ; 
 An hundred shefe of arrows good 
 With hedes burnish'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 6 squyers yeomen/ 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. a 
 
 The adornment of these arrows with peacocks feathers is not to be 
 considered as a mere poetical flourish, for we have sufficient testimony, 
 that such plumage was actually used. a 
 
 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. 
 
 XIII. Having thus furnished the archer with his necessary accoutre- 
 ments, our author proceeds to instruct him how they ought to be ma- 
 naged ; 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 
 
 z Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. 
 a Lib, Compotis Garderobae sub. an. 4. Ed. ii. page 53, is this entry, Pro duodecim flecchiis cum 
 pennis de pavonae emptis pro rege, de 12 den. that is, For twelve arrows plumed with peacocks fea- 
 thery bought for the king, twelve pence. MS. Cott. lib. Nero, C. viii. 
 
56' 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 affixed to the string of the bow. b In the second place, a proper atten- 
 tion 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. c 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 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 advan- 
 tage 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 6 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; 6 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. d 
 
 XIII. 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 
 
 * Country Contentments, printed at London, A.D. 1615, chap. viii. page 107. c Ibid. 
 
 - Ascham, p. 129, et infra. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. oj 
 
 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 dif- 
 ferent 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, 6 well skilled in near shoot- 
 ing, 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.' f 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. 5 I have not met w r ith such 
 a mark in any manuscript delineation ; but, upon the upper part of the 
 fifth plate, the reader will find a cock substituted for the parrot,* 1 and 
 the archer has discharged his arrow very skilfully.' 1 
 
 XIV. 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 the Fourth, commanding every man to have a bow hi& 
 own height ; and they might, upon the average, be something short of 
 six feet long. The arrows used by the English archers at the memo- 
 rable battle of Agincourt were a full yard in length. 1 Carew, in his Sur- 
 vey of Cornwall, says, 'The Cornish archers for long shooting, used arrows 
 a cloth yard long/ k 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. 
 
 e Country Contentments, 
 f Survey of Cornwall, by Richard Carew, esq. Lond. 1602. Book i. fol. /3. 
 
 £ Maitland's Hist, of London. See page 52 of this work. x 
 h 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, marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 i See most of our historians. k Published 1602. 
 
.58 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IX, 
 
 Hall 1 mentions a company of archers, who met king Henry the 
 Eighth at Shooter's Hill, on a May-day morning, where they dis- 
 charged their bows in his presence, and the arrows made a loud whist- 
 ling in their flight, 6 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" 1 assures 
 us, this sound was occasioned by holes being made in the arrow heads, 
 and that such weapons were used upon military occasions, and espe- 
 cially as signals ; but not, I presume, before the time mentioned by the 
 historian ; for had not those arrows been newly introduced, there is no 
 reason why the king, who was well acquainted with every branch of ar* 
 chery, should have been surprised at the sound they made or pleased 
 at the sio;ht of them. 
 
 XV. 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 Hoode." Ac- 
 cording to the story, the king thought proper to pay Robyn Hood a 
 visit, disguised in the habit of ah 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. 
 
 l An. 7 Hen. VIII. fol. 56. 
 
 m Hon. Daines Barrington. Observations on the Practice of Archery. Achaeologia, vol. vii. p. 5S. 
 
 n Black letter, without date. Imprinted at London upon the Three Crane Wharfe, by Willyam Cop* 
 land. Garrick's Collect. Old Plays, K. vol. x. Dr. Percy, now bishop of Dromore, says, 'There is a 
 more ancient copy printed by Wynkin de Worde, preserved in the archives of the public library at 
 Cambridge.' Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. S3, last edition. 
 
 King Edward the Fourth, 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. 
 
BOOK II« 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 59 
 
 Whoso failetli of the rose garland, said Robyn, 
 
 His takyll he shal tyne;? 
 
 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 4 taknT was forfeited, which he presented to the king, 
 saying, 
 
 Syr abbot, I deliver thee rayne arrowe. 
 
 The second poem is also of the ballad kind, and apparently as old 
 as the former,* 1 wherein Adam Bell, Gym 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 dis- 
 tance of four hundred yards 1 from each other; his first attempt in 
 shooting at them, contrary to the expectation of the king, was success- 
 ful, for it is said, 
 
 Cloudesle with a bearyhg arowe 5 
 Clave the wand in two. 
 
 [r That is, he shall lose it, or rather, it shall be forfeited, 
 q Black letter, without date, and printed also by Copland, who then lived in Lothbury. Its title is, 
 The Names of the three Archers; and the whole ballad, with some small variations, is given in the Re- 
 liques of Ancient Poetry, quoted in the preceding note, vol. i. p. 154, fee. This copy is bound up in 
 the same volume of Old Plays with the Geste of Robyn Hoode. 
 
 r Twenty score paces, says the song. 
 * I rather think the poet meant an arrow shot < compass,' for the pricke or wand was a < mark of 
 sompass/ that is, the arrow in its flight formed the segment of a circle. See page 57. 
 
60 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 The king being much surprised at the performance, told him he was 
 the best archer he ever saw. Cloudesle then proposed to shew 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 ; 
 one hundred and twenty yards 1 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, w sayde the kynge, 
 
 That thou sholde shote at me. 
 
 XVI. 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 poeti- 
 cal eulogiums would appear to be entirely fictitious. There are no 
 such distances now assigned for the marks as are mentioned above, nor 
 such precision even at short lengths in the direction of the arrows. I 
 believe few, if an}% of the modern archers in long shooting, reach four 
 hundred yards ; or in shooting at a mark, exceed the distance of eighty 
 or an hundred/ 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 
 
 1 1 Six score paces.' Song. 
 u When he bound his son to the stake,, the song informs us, 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. 
 
 w God forbid. 
 
 x By an act estabished 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. Archaeologia, 
 vol. vii. p. 58. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. , 6l 
 
 skill ; which proves what Ascham has asserled, that an archer should be 
 well taught early in life, and confirm the good leaching by continual 
 practice afterwards. We may also recollect, that archery is now fol- 
 lowed 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 ambas- 
 sador 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 shew 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 rhy- 
 mist 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 dis- 
 tance/ which the ambassador did not ; he had no mark, and his arrows 
 fell exceedingly wide of each other. Carew, speaking of the Cornish 
 archers two centuries back, says, c 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 ; z this puts me in mind of a curious 
 anecdote related by Flail : 4 There came to hys grace, king Henry the 
 Eighth, a certayn man, with a bowe and arrowc, and he desyred his 
 grace to take the muster of hym, and to see him shoote ; for that tyme 
 hys grace was contented ; the man put hys one fote in hys bosome, and 
 so dyd shoote, and shote a very good shote, and well towardes hys 
 marke ; whereof, not onely his grace, but all others greatly merveyled ; 
 so the kynge gave him a rewarded and for this curious feat he after- 
 wards obtained the by-name of Fote in Bosome. 
 
 y See page 
 
 z Survey of Cornwall. Lond. 1602. 
 
 * In vita Hen. VIII. fol. viii. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 XVII. The same monarch having appointed a great match of ar- 
 chery 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 the 
 reign of Elisabeth** a grand shooting match was held in London, and 
 the captain of the archers assuming his title of Duke of Shoreditch, sum- 
 moned a suit of nominal nobility, under the titles of marquis of Barlo, 
 of Clerkenwell, of Islington, of Hoxton, of Shacklewell, and earl of 
 Pancrass, &c. and these meeting together at the appointed time, with 
 their different companies, proceeded in a pompous march from Mer- 
 chant Taylors' Hall, consisting of three thousand archers, sumptuously 
 apparelled ; c nine hundred and forty-two of them having chains of gold 
 about their necks. This splendid company was guarded by four thou- 
 sand whifflers and billmen, 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 per- 
 formed several evolutions, they shot at a target for honour/ 
 
 Another cavalcade of like kind was made by the London archers in 
 the reign of Charles the Second/ and the king himself was present; but 
 being a wet day, his majesty was obliged to leave the field soon after 
 the arrival of the bowmen. 
 
 XVIII. Kings and princes have been celebrated for their skill in ar- 
 chery, and among those of our own country may be placed king Henry 
 the Seventh, who in his youth was partial to this exercise, and therefore 
 it is said of him in an old poem, 1 
 
 b A. D. 1583. 
 
 c Strype says, * odly habited/ 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.' Stow's Survey of Lon- 
 don by Strype, vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 d Strype's London, vol. i. page 250. e A. D. 1682. Archaeologia, vol. vii. 
 
 f Written in praise of the princess Elizabeth, afterwards queen to Hen. VII. MS. Harl. 3(55, 
 fol. Q<5. 
 
eook ir. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 63 
 
 See where lie slioteth 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: 6 Lost to my lord Morging at buttes, six shillings 
 and eightpence and again, 6 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 expertness 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 Ar- 
 thur, 11 and the other archers were styled his knights.' 
 
 After the death of prince Arthur, his brother Henry continued to ho- 
 nour the meeting at Mile-end with his presence. We have seen al- 
 ready, that he was exceedingly fond of archery, and if Hall may be 
 credited at the time of his coming to the crown, 4 He shotte as strong, 
 and as greate a lengthe as any of his garde. k> 
 
 King Edward the Sixth, though not so conspicuous as his father or 
 his uncle, was nevertheless an encourager of archery, and frequently 
 amused himself with the bow. 1 
 
 Charles the First was an archer, as appears from the -dedication of a 
 treatise, called the Bowman's Glory ; and Catherine of Portugal, queen 
 to Charles the Second, was probably much pleased with seeing the 
 pastime of archery practised; for in compliment to her, a badge of 
 silver weighing twenty-two ounces, was made for the marshal of the fra ? 
 
 S An. 7. et 9. Hen. VII. MS. in the remembrancer's office. See also appendix to Dr. Henry's 
 Hist. Brit. vol. vi. 
 
 h This title seems to have been superseded by the creation of the duke of Shoreditch. JSee the pre- 
 ceding page. 
 
 » Archaeologia, vol. vii. k i n the life of Hen. VIII. A.D. 1511, fol. 8. 
 
 1 This appears from his own diary. Archaeologia ut supra. 
 
64 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 ternity of bowmen, having upon it the representation of an archer with 
 his bow drawn in the action of shooting, and inscribed with her 
 name.™ 
 
 XIX. I find but little said respecting the rewards bestowed upon the 
 best bowmen ; the London fraternity are said to have shot for pastime 
 or for honour; however, I make no doubt, upon particular trials of 
 skill, rewards sufficient to excite the emulation of the archers were 
 proposed : they might sometimes consist of money, and perhaps more 
 frequently of some other valuable article, as the following lines may 
 testify, extracted from an old legend of Robin Hood," and the prize is 
 judiciously appropriated to the purpose. The poet tells us, that the 
 sherif of Notyngham, 
 
 Did crye a ful fayre playe 
 
 That all the hest archyres of the north 
 
 Should come upon a daye j 
 
 And they that shote, al of the hest, 
 
 The prize should hear away. 
 
 And he that shoteth al of the best, 
 
 Furthest, fayre and lowe, 
 
 At a payre of goodly buttes, 
 
 Under the grene wood shawe, 
 
 A ryght good arrowe he shal have, 
 
 The shaft of sylver whyte, 
 
 The head, and fethers of riche red gold, 
 
 In Englande is none lyke. — 
 
 And when they came to Notyngham, 
 
 The buttes were fayre and longe. — 
 
 Thrise Robin shot about, 
 
 And alway he cleft the wand. 
 
 It is added, that to him was delivered the 6 goode arrowe, for best wor- 
 thie was he.' 
 
 m ' Reginse Catharinae Sagittarii.' This badge was made in the year 1676, by the contribution of sir 
 Edward Hungerford and others. Encyclop. Brit. 
 
 n A Mery Geste of Robyn Hode, mentioned above. See page 58. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 65 
 
 CHAP. 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. — Cast- 
 ing 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.— Swimming. — Sliding. — Skating. — Rowing. — Sailing. 
 
 I. The art of Slinging or casting of stones with a sling, is of high an- 
 tiquity, and probably antecedent to that of archery, though not so ge- 
 nerally 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 Benja- 
 mites who all of them used their left hands, and in the figurative lan- 
 guage of the scripture it is said, they 6 could sling stones at an hair- 
 breadth and not miss,' a that is, with exceedingly great precision. Again 
 w r e 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. b 
 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 attack 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. c 
 
 II. The art of slinging of stones was well known and practised at a 
 very early period in Europe, but we have no authority to prove that it 
 was carried to so high a pitch of perfection in this part of the globe, as 
 
 a Judges, chap. xx. ver. 16, b 1 Chron. chap. xii. ver. 2. 
 
 « l Samuel., chap. xvii. and xviiij In Barclay's Eclogues an English shepherd boasts of his skill in 
 using of the sling. 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 it appears to have been among the Asiatic nations. It is altogether un 
 certain, whether the ancient inhabitants of Britain were acquainted 
 with the use of the sling or not; if the negative be granted, which 
 hardly seems reasonable, we must admit the probability of their being 
 taught the properties of such an instrument by the Romans, who cer- 
 tainly used it as a military weapon. We can speak more decidedly on 
 the part of our ancestors the Saxons, who seem to have been 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 , d may be seen upon the fourth plate. It is there 
 represented with one of the ends unloosed from the hand and the stone 
 discharged. In other instances we see it depicted with both the ends 
 ±e\d in the hand, 8 the figure being placed in the action of taking his 
 aim, and a bird is generally the object of his exertion. Sometimes the 
 sling is attached to a staff or truncheon, about three or four feet in 
 length, and wielded with both hands; f it is then used as a weapon of 
 war, and charged with a stone of no small magnitude, if compared with 
 the size of the person who is throwing it. These slings appear to have 
 been chiefly used in besieging of cities, and on board of ships in en- 
 gagements by sea. 
 
 III. We have sufficient testimony to prove that men armed with 
 slings, formed a part of the Anglo-Norman soldiery/ and the word Ba- 
 listarii, used by our early historians, may, I doubt not, be more pro- 
 perly rendered slingers than cross-bow-men; though indeed, upon the 
 introduction of the cross-bow, these men might take the place of the 
 slingers. h The sling, however, was not entirely superseded by the bow 
 
 d From a MS. of that age in the Cotton Library, marked Claudius, B. iv. In the original the figure 
 is throwing the stone at a bird upon the wing, which is represented at some distance from him. 
 
 e See a sling in this form upon the fourth plate, taken from a parchment roll containing a genealogi- 
 cal account of the kings of England, to the time of Henry the Third. Royal Library, marked 14. B. v, 
 
 f On the fourth plate is represented a sling of this kind, from a drawing supposed to have been made 
 by Matthew Paris the historian, in a MS. at Bennet's College, Cambridge, marked C. v. 16. 
 
 g See the first volume of the Manners and Customs of the English. 
 
 * 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 appellations Balistarius and Arcubalistarius were both of 
 them latterly applied to the same person. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 67 
 
 at the commencement of the fifteenth century, as the following verses 
 plainly indicate : they occur in a poem written about that time, which 
 professedly treats upon the duties and exercises necessary to constitute 
 a good soldier. 1 
 
 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 myghty 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 cumber- 
 some to the 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 indiscriminately recommends the acquirement of 
 skill in the casting of stones, to every individual who followed the pro- 
 fession of a warrior. 
 
 IV. 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 cer- 
 tainty, 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 considerable distance 
 and with much precision. In the present day, the use of all these en- 
 gines seems to be totally discontinued. 
 
 V. 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. 
 
 i Its title is, « Of Knyghthode and Batayle.' MS. Cotton Library, Titus A, xxiii. part 1. fol. 8. 
 
t)8 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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 . k ' The discus of the antients/ says a modern author, 1 ' is some- 
 times called in English, quoit, but 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/ 
 
 VI. In the twelfth century we are assured, that among the amuse- 
 ments practised by the young Londoners on holidays, was casting 
 of stones," 1 darts, and other missive weapons. Bars of wood and iron 
 were afterwards used for the same purpose, and the attention of the po- 
 pulace was so much engaged by this kind of exercise, that they neg- 
 lected in great measure the practice of archery, which occasioned an 
 edict to be passed in the thirty-ninth year of Edward the Third, prohi- 
 biting the pastimes of throwing of stones, wood, and iron, and recom- 
 mending the use of the long-bow upon all convenient opportunities." 
 
 VII. Casting of the bar is frequently mentioned by the romance wri- 
 ters as one part of an hero's education, and a poet of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury thinks it highly commendable for kings and princes, by way of 
 exercise, to throw ' the stone, the barre, or the plummet/ Henry the 
 Eighth, after his accession to the throne, according to Hall and Ho- 
 lingshead, retained * the casting of the barre' among his favourite amuse- 
 ments. 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 axle- 
 tree. 
 
 At the commencement of the seventeenth century, these pastimes 
 seem to have lost their relish among the higher classes of the people, 
 and for this reason Peacham, describing a complete gentleman, speaks 
 of throwing the hammer as an exercise proper only for soldiers in camp, 
 or for the amusement of the king's guard, but by no means 6 beseeming 
 of nobility/ 
 
 VIII. Throwing of spears and javelins being properly a military exer- 
 
 * Homer's Iliad, Book xxiii. 
 1 Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary. See under the word quoit, 
 m Fitzstephen's Description of London. n Rot. claus. Memb. 23-. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 69 
 
 cise, was not prohibited by the act above mentioned. It was sometimes 
 practised as a trial of strength, when the attempt was to throw beyond 
 a certain boundary, or to exceed a competitor in distance ; and of skill, 
 when the spear was cast at a quintain, or any other determined mark. 
 This pastime is frequently mentioned by the writers of the middle ages, 
 and according to Fitzstephen, was one of the holiday sports of the young 
 Londoners in the reign of Henry the Second. 11 
 
 IX. The game of quoits q 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 conveniency of the several candidates/ 
 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, and two or more persons, 5 who 
 are to contend for the victory, stand at one 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.' 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 
 
 ° 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.' Froissart, vol. iv. 
 chapter 140,, fol. 184. Lord Berners's translation. 
 
 p "With them it seems to have been an exertion to cast the weapon farthest. 
 1 Or coits, for it is written both ways. 
 r It is to be observed that coits 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 coit home ; this, however, is contrary to the general rule, and depends upon the caprice of 
 the parties engaged in the contest. 
 
 s As four, six, eight, or more at pleasure, who are divided into two equal parties. 
 * But the determination is discriminatory made : for instance, if a quoit belonging to a lies nearest to 
 the hob, and quoit belonging to b the second, a can claim but one towards the game, thougti all his 
 other quoits lie nearer to the mark than all the other quoits of b, because one quoit of b being the se- 
 cond 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. 
 
70 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 back again, and continue to do so alternately as long as the game re- 
 mains 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. 
 
 X. An author of the sixteenth century" advises young men, by way 
 of amusement, to ' labour with poises of lead or other metal this no- 
 table pastime I apprehend bore some resemblance to the Skiomachia, w 
 or fighting with a man's own shadow, mentioned in one of the Specta- 
 tors ; x '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. 
 
 XI. 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 edu- 
 cation, 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, be- 
 cause it will readily occur to every one, that variety of occasions con- 
 tinually 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 pro- 
 cess of time the rewards were magnified, and contests of this kind were 
 instituted as public amusements ; the ground marked out for that pur- 
 pose, and judges appointed to decide upon the fairness of the race, to 
 ascertain the winner, and to bestow the reward. 
 
 In former times, according to Commenius/ it was customary for the 
 
 » John Northbrooke, in a Treatise against Diceing, Dancing, &c. written in the time of queen Elizabeth. 
 
 V Sxio/xap^ia. x Vol. ii. No. 115. 
 
 Y In the little vocabulary called ' Orbis sensualium Pictus.' I suppose he means at the Olympic 
 games, among which foot-racing was one. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 71 
 
 places appropriated to pedal races to be railed in on either side, and 
 the prize-giver stood at the goal, to deliver the reward to the person who 
 should first touch it. In the present day foot-races are not much en- 
 couraged 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. 
 
 Two centuries back running was thought to be an exercise by no 
 means derogatory to the rank of nobility, 2 and a poetical writer upon 
 military tactics still more ancient, recommends it strongly to the practice 
 of the soldiery : a his words are these, 
 
 In rennynge the exercise is good also, 
 To smyte first in fight, and also whenne, 
 To take a place our foemen will forrenne 
 • And take it erst, also, to serche or sture, 
 Lightly to come and go, rennynge is sure. 
 Rennyng is also right good at the chase, 
 And for to lepe a dike is also goodj 
 For mightily what man may renne and lepe, 
 May well devict, and safe is party kepe. 
 
 XII. There is a rustic game called base or bars, b 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 pro- 
 perly enough be introduced here. It was much practised in former 
 times, and some vestiges of the game are still remaining in 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 parlimentary proceed- 
 ings, early in the reign of Edward the Third, where it is spoken of as a 
 
 * Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, pub. 1G22. 
 a In MS. anon, with this title, ' Of Knyghthode and Batayle,' written early in the fifteenth century. 
 Cottonian Library, Titus A. xxiii. part i. page 6. 
 
 b And sometimes written Bays. See Johnson's Dictionary, under the word Base. 
 
72 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 childish amusement, 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 Shake- 
 spear as a game practised by the boys. 
 
 He with two striplings, lads more like to run 
 The country hase, than to commit such slaughter, 
 Made good the passage. d 
 
 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 num- 
 ber, 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 se- 
 cond 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, e 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 lam told rarely exceeds twenty. About 
 thirty years back, I saw a grand match at base played in the fields be- 
 hind Montague house/ 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 
 
 c 'Nul enfaunt ne autres ne jue' — a barres. Eot. Pari. MS. Harl. 7 05 7» d Cymbeline; 
 
 « 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. 
 
 f Now better known by the name of the British Museum. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 7$ 
 
 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 a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance. The ad- 
 dition of the prisons occasions a considerable degree of variety in the 
 pastime, and is frequently productive of much pleasantry. 
 
 XIII. 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 Olym- 
 pic games. In the ages of chivalry, to wrestle well was counted one of 
 the accomplishments which an 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 civi- 
 lised. It was probably well known in this country long before the in- 
 troduction 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. 5 They learned the art at an early period of 
 life, for you shall hardly find, says Carew, an assembly of boys in De- 
 von and Cornwall, where the most untowardly among them will not as 
 readily give you a muster 1 ' of this exercise as you are prone to re- 
 quire it.' 
 
 The citizens of London, in times past, are said to have been expert 
 
 g 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. Worthies of England in Cornwall, page \QJ. 
 
 h Meaning a trial, I presume. i Survey of Cornwall, published A. D. 1602, page ?5. ' 
 
 L 
 
74- 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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 the Third, 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 Westminster, 
 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 Westminster: 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 unjustifiable petu- 
 lance of the bailiff gave rise to a more serious tumult, and it was several 
 days before the peace could be restored." 
 
 In old time, says a very accurate historian, 1 wrestling was more used 
 than it has been of later years. In the month of August, adds he, about 
 the feast of St. Bartholomew, there were divers days spent in wrestling ; 
 the lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, being present in a large tent 
 pitched for that purpose near Clerken well ; m upon this occasion the of- 
 ficers of the city, namely, the sheriffs, Serjeants, and yeomen, the por- 
 ters 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, 4 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 
 
 *■ Matthew Paris. Hist. Ang. sub. an. 1222. Stow informs us, that in the thirty-first year of Henry 
 VI. 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. 
 
 1 Stow. Survey of London, p. 78, 85. m The margin says, < at Skinner's Well." 
 
 * There are now, says the author, no such men, meaning ' the Porters of the King's beam,' that is, 
 at the commencement of the seventeenth century. 
 
 ° Survey of London, fol. 85. p I presume he means the mace. 
 
300K II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 75 
 
 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 also adds a circumstance not recorded by the historian ; 6 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. q 
 
 From the time that wrestling became unfashionable and was rarely 
 practised by persons of opulence, it declined also among the populace, 
 but by slower degrees ; and at present is seldom seen except at wakes 
 and fairs, where it still continues to be partially exhibited. 
 
 XIV. We may have observed, that 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 shulcle stonde. r -j 
 
 and again, in his character of the miller, 
 
 • — for over al ther lie cam, 
 At wrastlyng he wolde have away the Ram.* 
 
 Other rewards, no doubt, were sometimes proposed, as we may see upon 
 the sixth plate, where two men are wrestling for a cock, and the original 
 drawing is certainly more ancient than the time of Chaucer. 1 In mo- 
 dern times, the prizes were not only much varied, but were occasionally 
 of higher value. If we may believe the author of an old poem, entitled 
 6 A mery geste of Robyn Hoode/ there were several prizes put up at 
 once. The poet, speaking of a knight who was going to Robin Hood, says, 
 
 * Hentzner's Itinerary, first published A,D. 1598. I have followed lord Orford's translation, from 
 the Edition at Strawberry Hill, page 36. •• 
 
 r Canterbury Tales. * Prologues to the Canterbury Tales. 
 
 . ,. « MS. Royal Lib. 2 B. vhi. 
 
76 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Unto Bernisdale, 
 
 As he went, by a bridge was a wrastjing, 
 
 And there taryed was he, 
 And there was all the best yemen, 
 
 Of all the west eountrey. 
 A full fay re 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 golde ringe, 
 
 A pipe of wyne, good faye : 
 What man bereth him best, ywis, 
 
 The prise shall bear away." 
 
 A humorous description is given in one of the Spectators of a coun- 
 try wake ; the author there mentions 6 a ring of wrestlers ; the squire/ 
 jsays 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/ w 
 
 XV. The manner in which this pastime was exhibited in the western 
 parts of England, at the distance of two centuries, is thus described by 
 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 
 
 * This poem consists of seven fits, or parts j and this passage occurs in the second fit. Garrick's 
 Collect. Old Plays. K. vol. x. 
 
 w Vol. ii. No. 161. Pub. A..D. 17H- ' 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 77 
 
 playing again with the taker, but bound to answer his successor. Sil- 
 ver 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, 4 hath now worn them out of use.'* 
 
 The Greeks had a pastime called hippas/ which, we are told, was one 
 person riding upon the shoulders of another, as upon an horse ; z a sport 
 of this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of the four- 
 teenth century, but generally performed by two competitors who strug- 
 gled one with the other, and he who pulled his opponent from the 
 shoulders of his carrier was the victor. Representations of this curious 
 pastime taken from different manuscripts 3 are given at the bottom of 
 the sixth plate ; it 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. 
 
 XVI. Swimming is an exercise of great antiquity, and, no doubt, fa- 
 miliar to the inhabitants of this country, at all times. The heroes of 
 the middle ages are sometimes praised for their skill in swimming ; and 
 it is said of Olaf Fryggeson, a king of Norway, that he had no equal 
 in this art. b A modern author/ 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 somraer leson. 
 Men fynde not a bridge, so often as a flood, 
 Swymmyng to voyde; and chase an hoste vvil eson» 
 Eke after rayne the rivers goeth wood, c 
 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. 
 
 x Carew's Survey of Cornwall, published 1602, page 7/5. y litTtoLS. 
 
 % Pollux, Lib. ix. ehap. 7. 
 a The one is in the Royal Library, marked 2. B. vii. and the other in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, 
 dated 1344, and marked 2464, Bod. 264. 
 
 b Pontoppidan's History of Norway, page 148. c Peacham. 
 
 d MS. Cott. Titus. A. xxiii. 
 e The word wood, or wode, signifies wild or mad, and here that the rain makes the rivers swell and 
 over ass their bounds. 
 
78 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 meaning thereby, that the art of swimming ought to be learned by every 
 elass of persons belonging to an army: and, perhaps, it may not be im- 
 proper 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 h 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 can of swymmyng, 
 
 Or the swymmer that is safe if he himself lyke? 
 
 Boys in the country usually learn to swim with bundles of bull-rushesj 
 and with corks where the rushes cannot readily be procured, particu- 
 larly 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/ 1 
 
 I am sorry to add, that swimming is by no means so generally prac- 
 tised with us in the present day as it used to be in former times." 
 
 XVII. 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, 1 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 
 
 ( Edit. 1550, page 13. * The river Thames. 
 
 h Sikerer, surer, safer j that is, neither the one nor the other should have any extraneous assistance, 
 but depend entirely upon their own exertions to escape from the water. 
 
 i History of all the schools and colleges in and about London, printed A. D. 1615. 
 k We have several treatises on the art of swimming and diving, and in the Encyclopedia Britannica 
 are many excellent directions relating to it, under the article swimming. 
 
 1 Description of London. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. ?(> 
 
 our own time ; but he adds another kind of pastime upon the ice that 
 is not now in practice : his words are to this effect, 4 Others make a 
 seat of ice as large as a milstone, and having placed one of their com- 
 panions 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 ex- 
 tensive circle. Sledges of this kind were set upon the Thames in the 
 time of a hard frost, at the commencement of the last century," 1 as the 
 following couplet taken from 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. 
 
 XVIII. Skating is by no means a recent pastime, and probably the 
 invention proceeded rather from necessity than the desire of amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 It is the boast of a northern chieftain, that he could traverse the snow 
 upon skates of wood. I cannot by any means ascertain at what time 
 skating made its first appearance in England, but we find some traces 
 of such an exercise in the thirteenth century, at which period, accord- 
 ing to Mtzstephen, it was customary in the winter, when the ice would 
 bear them, for the young citizens of London to fasten the leg bones of 
 animals under the soles of their feet by tying them round their ancles, 
 and then taking a pole shod with iron into their hands, they pushed 
 themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and moved with cele- 
 rity equal, says the author, to a bird flying through the air, or an arrow 
 from a cross-bow ; — but some allowance I presume must be made for 
 the poetical figure : he then adds, 4 at times, two of them thus furnished 
 agree to start opposite one to another, at a great distance ; they meet, 
 elevate their poles, attack, and strike each other, when one or both of 
 
 * A. D. 171& 
 
 n In D'Urfey's Collection of Songs, vol. Hi, page 4. published A.D. 171$. 
 Olai. Worm. Lit. Run, page 12Q. 
 
80 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK II, 
 
 them fall, and not without some bodily hurt; and, even after their fall, 
 are carried a great distance from each other by the rapidity of the mo- 
 tion, and whatever part of the head comes upon the ice, it is sure to be 
 laid bare. ,p 
 
 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. In Hoole's translation of the Vocabulary by Commenius, q 
 the skates are called scrick-shoes from the German, and in the print at 
 the head of the section, they are represented longer than those of the 
 present day, and the irons are turned up much higher in the front. 
 
 Some modern writers' have asserted, that ' the metropolis of Scot- 
 land 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 contributed not a little to the improvement of this 
 amusement/ I have, however, seen, some >ears back, when the Ser- 
 pentine 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. 
 
 XIX. 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. 8 
 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 
 
 p Description of London. I have chiefly followed the translation published by Mr. White, 1772. 
 
 q Called Orbis sensualium pictus. 
 1 The authors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, under the article skating. 
 3 Caesar Bell. Gall. Lib. v. chapter 12. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OP THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 81 
 
 or steer a boat with dexterity and judgment. 1 The reader may possibly 
 call to his recollection the popular story related by our historians con- 
 cerning iEdgar, surnamed 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 ma- 
 naged by eight kings, and himself, the ninth, sat at the stern of the 
 barge and held the helm. u This frolick, 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 proba- 
 bly much of the success of the champion depended upon the skilfulness 
 of those who managed the boat. If we refer to the plates whereon 
 both these sports are represented, we shall see that the rowers are 
 seated contrary to the usual method, and face the head of the vessel 
 instead of the stern. x 
 
 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 above the bridge/ and gave occasion to the introduction of 
 many pleasure boats, which in the modern times have been greatly 
 increased. 
 
 When tilting at the quintain and justing one against another in boats 
 upon the water were discontinued in this country, Rowing Matches 2 
 were substituted, and are become exceedingly popular: we may see 
 them frequently exhibited upon the Thames during the summer season ; 
 
 * Kolson, a northern hero, boasting of his qualifications, declares, that ' he was expert in handling 
 the oar.' Bartholin, page 420. 
 
 u Will. Malms. Mat. West, in the reign of TEdgar. 
 ■w Fitzstephen. Description of London. See Stow's Survey. 
 x See plates X. and XV. 
 
 y The first procession to Westminster by water was made A. D. 1453, by John Norman, then lord 
 mayor, for which he was highly commended by the watermen. 
 
 2 This pastime, though very ancient, and frequently practised upon solemn occasions by the Greeks 
 and the Roman?, does not seem to have attracted the notice of our countrymen in former times. 
 
 M 
 
 ■ 
 
S3 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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, plea- 
 sure boats, and barges, decorated with flags and streamers, and some- 
 times accompanied with bands of music. 
 
 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 last century, which provides three prizes to 
 be claimed by three young watermen, on condition they prove victo- 
 rious in rowing, from the Old Swan Stairs near London Bridge, to the 
 White Swan at Chelsea. The contest takes place upon the first of Au- 
 gust ; 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; 3 the second and the third candidates have small pecuniary 
 rewards, but the other three get nothing for their trouble. 
 
 Of late years 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. 
 
 XX. Another popular amusement upon the water is sailing, and 
 many persons have pleasure boats for this purpose ; 1 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 dependant upon the 
 swiftness of these boats, and the contest is sometimes determined at sea. 
 
 8 And therefore the match is usually called Rowing for the Coat and Badge, 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 83 
 
 A society, generally known by the appellation of the Cumberland 
 Society, 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 Black Friars, 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 re- 
 turn obtains the victory. 
 
84 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK II. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Hand-ball an ancient Game.— The Ball, where said to be invented —Used by the 
 Saxons and by the Schoolboys of London. — Tennis Courts erected. — Tennis fa- 
 shionable in England.— A famous Woman-Player.— Hand-ball played for Tansy 
 Cakes.— Fives. — Balloon-ball.— Stool-ball.— Hurling.— Foot-ball —Camp-ball.— 
 Goff.— Cambuc— Bandy-ball.— Stow -ball.— Pall-mall.— Ring-ball.— Club-ball.— 
 Cricket.— Trap-ball— Northern-spell.— Tip-cat. 
 
 I. 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 amuse- 
 ment 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 destruc- 
 tion of Troy. Herodotus attributes the invention of the ball to the 
 Lydians; a succeeding writers have affirmed, that a female of distinc- 
 tion named Anagalla, a native of Corey ra, 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 ; b this piece of history is partly derived from Homer, who 
 introduces the princess of Corcyra with her maidens, amusing them- 
 selves 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. c 
 
 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. 
 
 » Lib. i. b ./Elian, lib. ii. Volaterranus, lib. xxix. 
 
 c Odyssey, lib. v. Pope's translation. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 85 
 
 II. It is altogether uncertain at what period the ball was brought 
 into England ; the author of a manuscript written in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, and containing the life of Saint Cuthbert, d 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, running, 
 wrestling, and such exercises as required great muscular exertion, 6 and 
 among them, indeed, it is highly probable that of the ball might be 
 included. 
 
 III. 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 
 game of ball; f 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 each school diverted themselves apart. 
 Some difficulty has been started by those who have translated this 
 passage, respecting the nature of the game at ball here mentioned. 
 Stowe considering it as a kind of goff or bandy-ball, has, without the 
 least sanction from the Latin, added the word bastion, 8 meaning a bat 
 or cudgel ; others again have taken it for foot-ball, h 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 sup- 
 port an argument on either side, I see no reason why it should not be 
 rendered hand-ball. 1 
 
 IV. The game of hand-ball is called by the French, palm-play, ,; 
 because, says a modern author, originally 4 this exercise consisted in re- 
 ceiving the ball and driving it back again with the palm of the hand. 
 
 d Trinity College Library, Oxford, marked lvii. 
 e ' Sive enim saltu, sive cursu, sive luctatu,' &c. Vita Sancti Cudbereti, cap. i. 
 { ' Lusum pilae celebrem Stephanides de ludis. 
 s ' The scholars of every school have their ball or bastion in their hands.' Survey of London^ • 
 h Lord Lyttelton, History of Henry the Second, vol. iii. page 275 ; and the anonymous translator of 
 Fitzstephen, published by Mr. White, A. D. ] 772. 
 
 i By the word celebrem, the author might advert to the antiquity of the pastime. 
 k Jue de paume, and in Latin pila palmar ia. 
 
86 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 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/ 1 During the reign of Charles the 
 Fifth palm-play, which may properly enough be denominated hand- 
 tennis, was exceedingly fashionable in France, being played by the no- 
 bility 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 Bur- 
 gundy, according to an old historian," 1 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. 
 
 V. At the time when tennis-play was taken up seriously by the no- 
 bility, new regulations were made in the game, and covered courts 
 erected, wherein it might be practised without any interruption from 
 the weather. In the sixteenth century tennis courts were common in 
 England, and the establishment of such places countenanced by the ex- 
 ample of the monarchs. In the V ocabulary of Commenius," we see a 
 rude representation of a tennis-court divided by a line stretched in the 
 middle, and the players standing on either side with their rackels ready 
 to receive and return the ball, which the rules of the game required to 
 be stricken over the line. 
 
 VL We have undoubted authority to prove that Henry the Seventh 
 was a tennis-player, p and his son Henry, who succeeded him, in the 
 
 1 Essais historiques sur Paris, par Saint Foix, vol. i. page 160. 
 m Laboureur. Sub. an. 13C8. 
 « Orbis sensualium pictus, published by Hoole, A.D. l65S. 
 • Hence the propriety of Heywoode's proverb, < Thou hast stricken the ball under the line j' mean- 
 ing he ftad failed in his purpose, John Heywoode's works, London, 1566. 
 
 p In a MS. register of his expenditures made in the thirteenth year of his reign, and preserved in the 
 Remembrancer s Office, this entry occurs: * Item, for the king's loss at tennis twelvepence, for the loss 
 of balls there threepence.' Hence one may infer, that the game was played abroad, for the loss of the 
 balls would hardly have happened in a tennis-court. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 87 
 
 early part of his reign was much attached to this diversion ; which pro- 
 pensity, as Hall assures us, being perceived by 6 certayne craftie persons 
 aboute him, they brought in Frenchmen and Lombards to make wa- 
 gers with hym, and so he lost muche money ; but when he perceyved 
 theyr crafte, he eschued the company and let them goe/" 1 He did not 
 however give up the amusement, for we find him, according to the same 
 historian, in the thirteenth year of his reign, playing at tennis with the 
 emperor Maximilian for his partner against the prince of Orange and 
 the marquis of Brandenborow; 6 the earl of Devonshire stopped on the 
 prince's side/ says my author, ' and the lord Edmond on the other side, 
 and they departed even handes on both sides after eleven games fully 
 played/ Among the additions that king Henry made to Whitehall, if 
 Stowe be correct, were * divers fair tennis-courts, bowling-allies, and a 
 cock-pit.' 3 
 
 James the First, if not himself a tennis-player, speaks of the pastime 
 with commendation, and recommends it to his son as a species of exer- 
 cise becoming a prince;' Charles the Second frequently diverted him- 
 self with playing at tennis, and had particular kind of dresses made for 
 that purpose." 
 
 VII. A French writer speaks of a damsel named Margot, who re- 
 sided at Paris, and played at hand-tennis with the palm, and also with 
 the back of her hand, better than any man ; and what is most surprising, 
 adds my author, at that time the game was played with the naked 
 hand, or at best with a double glove. w 
 
 VIII. Hand-ball was formerly a favourite pastime among the youn« 
 persons of both sexes, and in many parts of the kingdom it was cus- 
 tomary for them to play at this game during the Easter holidays for tansy 
 cakes; but why, says Bourne, they should prefer hand-ball at this time 
 to any other pastime, or play it particularly for a tansy cake, I have 
 not been able to find out.* The learned Selden conceives the tnstitu- 
 
 * In the life of Henry VIII. the second year of his reign, fol; 1 J , r f ] g 8< 
 
 8 Survey of London, page 496. t Basilicon Doron, lib. iii. 
 
 " So had Henry VIII. In the Wardrobe rolls we meet with tenes-cotes for the king, also tennis- 
 drawers and tennis-slippers. MSS, Harl. 2248 and 627 1. 
 
 w A. D. 1424. Saint Foix Essais Historiques sur Paris, vol. i. page 1<>0. 
 x Antiquities of the Common People, chapter xxiy. 
 
88 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II, 
 
 lion of this- reward to have originated from the Jewish custom of eating 
 bitter herbs at the time of the passover. y 
 
 Anciently the mayor, aldermen, and sheriff of Newcastle, accompa- 
 nied with a great number of burgesses, used to go every year at the 
 feasts of Easter and Whitsuntide to the Forth, 2 with the mace, the 
 sword, and the cap of maintenance carried before them. The young 
 people still continue to assemble there at those seasons particularly, and 
 play at hand- ball, or dance, but are no longer countenanced by the 
 presence of their governors/ 
 
 Fuller mentions the following proverbial saying used by the citizens 
 of Chester, * when the daughter is stolen shut Pepper Gate/ which he 
 thus explains : ' The mayor of the city had his daughter, as she was 
 playing at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street, stolen away 
 by a young man through the same gate, whereupon he caused it to 
 be shut up/ b 
 
 IX. Hand-tennis still continues to be played, though under a differ- 
 ent 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 indi- 
 cate : When queen Elizabeth was entertained at Elvetham in Hamp- 
 shire, 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 crosse line in the middle ; in this square 
 they played five to five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tear me 
 it, to the great liking of her highness/' 1 
 
 X. The balloon or wind-ball resembled the follis of the Romans ; e it 
 
 7 Table Talk, under the article Christmas, z The little mall ef the town 
 
 «. Mr. Brand in his additions to Bourne. b Fuller's Worthies, published H3o2, page 18&. 
 
 c ' Being stript out of their dublets.' 
 A Progresses of Q. Eliz. published by Mr. Nichols, vol. ii. page 19. This circumstance occurred 
 
 .a. b. 1591. 
 
 c The follis was a large ball of leather, blown full of wind, and beaten backwards and forwards with 
 the fist, and seems to have been much played with. 
 
 ' Polle decet puerds ludere, folle senes.' Martial, Lib. iv. Epig. 45, 
 
 « 
 
BOOK IT. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 89 
 
 was a large ball made of double leather, which being filled with wind 
 by means of a ventil, says Commenius/ was driven to and fro by the 
 strength of mens arms ; and for this purpose every one of the players 
 had a round hollow bracer of wood to cover the hand and lower part of 
 the arm, with which he struck the ball. This pastime was usually prac- 
 tised in the open fields, and is much commended for the healthiness of 
 the exercise it afforded. The balloon-ball seems certainly to have ori- 
 ginated from the hand-ball, and was, I apprehend, first played in Eng- 
 land without the assistance of the bracer; this supposition will be 
 perfectly established if it be granted, and I see no reason why it should 
 not, that the four figures represented upon the middle of the seventh 
 plate, are engaged in the balloon-ball play : the original delineation 
 occurs in a manuscript of the fourteenth century . g On the top of the 
 same plate we see a gentleman and lady playing at hand-ball, and as 
 far as one can judge from the representation, the pastime consisted in 
 merely beating the ball from one to the other : these figures are taken 
 from a different manuscript, but nearly, if not altogether, coeval in point 
 of antiquity with the former. 11 The balls are unlike each other ; that 
 in the middle of the plate is the largest and bears the marking of the 
 seams. 
 
 XI. Stool-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers of the three last 
 centuries, but without any proper definition of the game. Doctor 
 Johnson tells us, it is a play where balls are driven from stool to stool," 
 but does not say in what manner or to what purpose. I have been in- 
 formed, that a pastime called stool-ball, is practised to this day in the 
 northern parts of England, which consists in simply 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 
 
 f Orbis sensualium pictus, chap. 133. g In the Royal Library, marked 20. D. iv. 
 
 h In the Harleian Library, marked 6503. i Dictionary, under the word stool. 
 
 K 
 
90 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 and touch the stool, the players change places; 14 the conqueror at this 
 game is he who strikes the ball most times before it touches the stool. 
 Again, in other parts of the country a certain number of stools are set 
 up in a circular form, and at a distance from each other, and every one 
 of them is occupied by a single player ; when the ball is struck, which 
 is done as before with the hand, they are every one of them obliged 
 to alter his situation, running in succession from stool to stool, and if he 
 who threw the ball can regain it in time to strike any one of the players, 
 before he reaches the stool to which he is running, he takes his place, 
 and the person touched must throw the ball, until he can in like manner 
 return to the circle. 
 
 Stool-ball seems to have been a game more properly appropriated 
 to the women than to the men, but occasionally it was played by the 
 young persons of both sexes indiscriminately ; as the following lines 
 from a song written by D'Urfey for his play of Don Quixote 1 suffici- 
 ently indicate. 
 
 Down in a vale on a summer's day, 
 All the lads and lasses met to be merry ; 
 A match for kisses at stool -ball to play, 
 And for cakes, and ale, and sider, and perry. 
 
 Chorus. Come all, great small, short tall, away to stool-ball. 
 
 XII. 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,™ which the contending parties endeavoured to 
 force the 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 cen- 
 
 k 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. 
 
 1 Acted at Dorset Gardens, A. D. l6g4. See also his Pills to purge Melancholy, vol. i. page 01. 
 m The word is probably derived from harpago, to snatch or take by violence. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 91 
 
 tury, and both are particularly described by a contemporary writer;" 
 his words are these, « Hurling taketh his denomination 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 themselves to their slightest apparell and then join hands in ranke 
 one against another ; out of these rankes they match themselves by 
 pay res, 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 terme 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 thrustesth 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 once. 
 The hurler against the ball must not but nor hand-fast 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 no- 
 tice, crying ' ware east,' ' ware west,' as the same is carried. The hurlers 
 take their next way over hilles, dales, hedges, ditches ; yea, and thorow 
 
 n Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, published 1602, book i. page /3. 
 
Og SPORTS AND PASTIMES <- B0OK II, 
 
 bushes, briars, mires, plashes, and rivers whatsoever, so as you shall 
 sometimes see twenty or thirty lie tugging together in the water scram- 
 bling and scratching for the ball/ 
 
 About five and twenty years back, the hurling to the goals was fre- 
 quently 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 com- 
 panions, who generally followed and were ready to receive it. In other 
 respects, I do not recollect that the game differed 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.? 
 
 XIII. Foot-ball : this pastime 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, and is but little practised. I can- 
 not pretend to determine at what period the game of foot-ball origi- 
 nated; it does not however, to the best of my recollection, appear among 
 the popular exercises before the reign of Edward the Third, and then it 
 was prohibited by a public edict ; q 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 foot-ball is made, two parties, each containing an 
 equal number of competitors, take the field, and stand between two 
 goals, r placed at the distance of eighty or an hundred yards the one 
 from the other ; the ball, which is commonly made of a blown bladder, 
 
 Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, published 1 602, book i. page 74. 
 p Entitled ' Philogamus,' black letter, without date ; it is there called a clubbe or hurle-batte. 
 
 q A. D. 1349. See page 49. 
 r The goal is usually made with two sticks driven into the ground, about two or three feet apart. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 93 
 
 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 per- 
 formers are best displayed in attacking and defending the goals :' when 
 the exercise becomes exceeding violent, the players kick each others 
 shins without the least ceremony, and some of them are overthrown at 
 the hazard of their limbs. 
 
 Barclay in his fifth eclogue 1 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," 
 
 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 the First 
 to say, 6 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 foot-ball, 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 for no payne.* 
 
 * Hence the pastime was more frequently called a goale at foot-ball than a game at foot-ball. 
 1 At the end of his translation of the Ship of Fools, first printed A. D. 1508. 
 u Waller. w Basilicon Doron, Book iii. x Barclay ut supra. 
 
Q4t SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK II. 
 
 * It had been the custom/ says a Chester antiquary/ 6 time out of 
 mind, for the shoe-makers yearly on the Shrove Tuesday, to deliver to 
 the drapers, in the presence of the mayor of Chester, at the cross on 
 the Rodehee, 2 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, 3 by consent of the parties con- 
 cerned, 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 Rodehee/ 
 
 In an old comedy, b one of the characters speaks thus of himself ; 6 1 
 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. 
 
 XIV. 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 goff. In the northern 
 parts of the kingdom goff 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 Paganica, d and the goff-ball is composed of the 
 same materials to this day. 6 In the reign of Edward the Third, the 
 Latin name Cambuca f was applied to this pastime, and it derived the 
 denomination, no doubt, from the crooked 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 
 
 y I rather think the elder Randel Holmes, one of the city heralds, MS. Harl. 2150, fol. 235. 
 * An open place near the city. See page 38. a A. D. 1540. 
 
 » Called the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, written by John Day, and acted A. D. \65Q. 
 c And may probably be a contraction of the word campaign. 
 * Because it was used by the country people, 
 e I have been told it is sometimes, though rarely, stuffed with cotton. 
 i Cambuta vel cambuca. Baculus incurvatus, a crooked club or staff; the word cambuca was also 
 used for the virga episcoparum, or episcopal crosier, because it was curved at the top. Du Cange 
 Glossary in voce cambuta. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 95 
 
 the bottom of the seventh plate, the reader will find two figures engaged 
 at bandy-ball, and the form of the bandy as it was used early in the 
 fourteenth century. 5 
 
 GofT, 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 ee- 
 nerally 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, 
 which he who achieves the soonest, or in the fewest number of strokes, 
 obtains the victory. The goff-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 goff 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 the First, occa- 
 sionally amused himself, as we learn from the following anecdote re- 
 corded by a person who was present : h 'At another time playing at 
 goff, a play not unlike to pale-maille, whilst his schoolmaster stood talk- 
 ing with another and marked not his highness warning him to stand 
 further 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 nand, said, 
 ' Had I done so, I had but paid my debts.* 
 
 XV. A pastime called stow-ball is frequently mentioned by the wri- 
 ters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which, I presume, was 
 
 * Taken from a MS. book of prayers beautifully illuminated and written about that time, in the pos- 
 session of Francis Douce, Esq. 
 
 h An anonymous author of a MS. in the Harleian Library, marked 6391. 
 
96 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK II. 
 
 a species of goff, at least it appears to have been played with the same 
 kind of ball. 1 
 
 XVI. According to the author just now quoted, pall-mall was a pas- 
 time not unlike goff, k but if the definition of the former given by Cot- 
 grave be correct, it will be found to differ materially from the latter, at 
 least as it was played in modern times. ' Pale-maille/ says he, 6 is a 
 game wherein a round box ball is struck with a mallet through a high 
 arch of iron, which he that can do at the fewest blows, or at the number 
 agreed upon, wins/ It is to be observed, that there are two of these 
 arches, that is, 6 one at either end of the alley/ 1 The game of mall was 
 a fashionable amusement in the reign of Charles the Second, and the 
 walk in Saint James's Park, now called the Mall, received its name from 
 having been appropriated to the purpose of playing at mall, where. 
 Charles himself and his courtiers frequently exercised themselves in the 
 practice of this pastime. The denomination mall given to the game, is 
 evidently derived from the mallet or wooden hammer used by the 
 players to strike the ball. 
 
 XVII. Commenius" 1 mentions a game which he attributes indeed to 
 the children, and tells us, it consisted in striking a ball with a bandy 
 through a ring fastened into the ground ; a similar kind of pastime I 
 am informed exists to this day in the north of England ; it is played in 
 a ground or alley appropriated to the purpose, and a ball is to be driven 
 from one end of it to the other with a mallet, the handle of which 
 is about three feet three or four inches in length, and so far it resembles 
 pall-mall ; but there is the addition of a ring," which is placed at an equal 
 distance from the sides of the alley, but much nearer to the bottom than 
 the top of the ground, and through this ring it is necessary for the ball 
 to be passeS in its progress ; the ring is made to turn with great facility 
 upon a swivel, and the two flat sides are distinguished from each other: if 
 
 i In Littleton's Latin and English Dictionary the goff-ball and the stow-ball are the same. See his 
 explanation of the Latin word paganica. 
 
 k See preceding page; 
 1 French and English dictionary, under pale-maille. 
 m Orbis sensualium pictus, chap, cxxxvi. 
 « At least the ring is not mentioned by Cotgrave ; I have however been told, that it was sometimes 
 used in the game of mall. 
 
PI .YIU. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 97 
 
 the ball passes through the one it is said to be lawful, and the player 
 goes on ; but if through the other, it is declared to be unlawful, and he 
 is obliged to beat the ball back, and drive it through again until such 
 time as he causes it to pass on the lawful side ; this done, he proceeds 
 to the bottom of the ground, where there is an arch of iron through 
 which it is also necessary for the ball to be passed, and then the game 
 is completed. The contest is decided by the blows given to the ball in 
 the performance, and he who executes his task with the smallest number 
 is the victor. 
 
 XVIII. Club-ball is a pastime clearly distinguished from cambuc or 
 goff, in the edict above mentioned established by Edward the Third, 
 and the difference seems to have consisted in the one being played with 
 a curved bat and the other with a straight one. Upon the eighth plate 
 are two specimens of club-ball ; the first exhibits a female figure in the 
 action of throwing the ball to a man who elevates his bat to strike it;° 
 behind the woman at a little distance appear in the original delineation 
 several other figures of both sexes, waiting attentively to catch or stop the 
 ball when returned by the batsman: these figures have been damaged, and 
 are very indistinct in many parts, for which reason I did not think it 
 proper to insert them upon the plate. The second specimen of club- 
 ball, which indeed is taken from a drawing more ancient than the for- 
 mer, 1 ' presents to us two players only, and he who is possessed of the 
 bat holds the ball also, which he either threw into the air and struck 
 with his bat as it descended, or cast forcibly upon the ground, and 
 beat it away when it rebounded ; the attention of his antagonists to 
 catch the ball need not to be remarked. q 
 
 XIX. From the club-ball originated, I doubt not, that pleasant and 
 manly exercise, distinguished in modern times, by the name of cricket ; 
 I say in modern times, because I cannot trace the appellation beyond 
 
 ° From a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344, and marked Bodl. 264. 
 9 From a genealogical roll of the kings of England to the time of Henry III. in the Royal Library, 
 marked 14. B. v. 
 
 * It does not appear in either of these instances how the game was determined. 
 
 O 
 
98 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 the commencement of the last century, where it occurs in one of the 
 songs' published by D'Urfey ; the first four lines run thus, 
 
 Her was the prettiest fellow 
 At foot-ball or at cricket, 
 At hunting chase, or nimble race, 
 How featly her could prick it. 
 
 Cricket of late years is become exceedingly fashionable, being much 
 countenanced by the nobility and gentlemen of fortune, who frequently 
 join in the diversion ; this game, which is played with the bat and the 
 ball, consists of single and double wicket;' the formor requires five 
 players on each side, and the latter eleven ; but the number in both 
 instances may be varied at the pleasure of the two parties. At single 
 wicket the striker with his bat is the protector of the wicket, the oppo- 
 nent party stand in the field to catch or stop the ball, and the bowler, 
 who is one of them, takes his place by the side of a small batton or 
 stump 1 set up for that purpose two and twenty yards from the wicket, 
 and thence delivers the ball with the intention of beating it down. If 
 he proves successful the batsman retires from the play, and another of 
 his party succeeds ; if, on the contrary, the ball is struck by the bat 
 and driven into the field beyond the reach of those who stand out to 
 stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the bowler's station, which he 
 touches with his bat and then returns to his wicket. If this be per- 
 formed before the ball is thrown back, it is called a run, and one notch 
 or score is made upon the tally towards his game ; if, on the contrary, 
 the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten down with it by the op- 
 
 r f, Of a noble race was Shenkin.' Pills to purge Melancholy, vol. ii. page 1/2, the fourth edition, 
 published 1719. 
 
 ' The wicket was formerly two straight thin battons called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which 
 were fixed into the ground perpendicularly six inches apart, and over the top of both was laid a small 
 round piece of wood called the bail, but so situated as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by 
 the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two bails; the middle stump is added 
 to prevent the bail from passing through the wicket without beating it down. The external stumps are 
 now 6even inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. 
 
 ' It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail across, which the batsman when he runs must 
 beat off before he returns home. 
 
BOOK II. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 99 
 
 ponent party before the striker is at home, or can ground his bat 
 within three feet ten inches of the wicket," he is declared to be out of 
 the play, and the run is not reckoned : he is also out if he strikes the 
 ball into the air, and it be caught by any of his antagonists before it 
 reaches the ground, and retained long enough to be thrown up again. 
 When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in w at the same time, 
 one at each wicket ; there are also two bowlers, who usually bowl four 
 balls in succession alternately. Both parties have two innings, and the 
 side that obtains the most runs in the double contest claims the vic- 
 tory. These are the general outlines of this noble pastime, but there 
 are many other particular rules and regulations by which it is governed ; 
 and those rules are subject to frequent variations, according to the joint 
 determination of the players. 
 
 XX. Trap-ball* is anterior to cricket, and probably coeval with 
 most of the early games played with the bat and the ball ; we trace it 
 as far back as the commencement of the fourteenth century, and a cu- 
 rious specimen of the manner in which it was then played is given 
 upon the eighth plateJ Here are only two players, but the game is 
 not restricted to any particular number, though I think it seldom ex- 
 ceeds six or eight on a side. The size of the bat indicates the holder 
 to have possessed no great judgment in striking the ball, but the trap 
 is sufficiently elevated to preclude the necessity of the batsman's stoop- 
 ing when he raises the ball in order to strike it away, which gives it a 
 decided advantage over the machine now used for the same purpose. 55 
 It is usual, in the present modification of the game, to place two boun- 
 
 u A mark is there made in the ground called the popping crease. 
 
 * The batsmen are said to be in as long as they remain at their wickets and their party the — in party j 
 On the contrary, those who stand in the field with the bowlers are called the — out party. 
 
 * So called from the trap used to elevate the ball when it is to be stricken by the batsman. 
 y Taken from a beautiful MS. in the possession of F. Douce, esq. See note 5, page Q5. 
 
 * Which is generally made in the form of a shoe, the heel part being hollowed out for the reception 
 of the ball. But boys and the common herd of rustics who cannot readily procure a trap, content 
 themselves with making a round hole in '^ie ground, and, byway of a lever, use the brisket bone of an 
 ox, or a flat piece of wood of like size and shape, which is placed in a slanting position, one half .in the 
 hole with the ball upon it, and the other half out of it; the elevated end being struck smartly with the 
 bludgeon occasions the ball to rise to a considerable height, and all the purposes of a trap are thus an- 
 swered, especially if the ground be hard and dry. 
 
100 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II* 
 
 claries at a given distance from the trap, between which it is necessary 
 for the ball to pass when it is struck by the batsman, for if it falls 
 withoutside of either, he gives up his bat and is out ; he is also out if 
 he strikes the ball into the air and it is caught by one of his adversaries 
 before it grounds ; and again, if the ball when returned by the oppo- 
 nent party touches the trap, or rests within one bat's length of it; on 
 the contrary, if none of these things happen, every stroke tells for one 
 towards the striker's game. 
 
 Trap-ball, when compared with cricket, is but a childish pastime ; 
 but I have seen it played by the rustics in Essex in a manner differing 
 materially from that now practised in the vicinity of the metropolis, 
 and which required much more dexterity in the performance, for 
 instead of a broad bat with a flatted face, they used a round cudgel 
 about an inch and a half diameter and three feet in length, and those 
 who had acquired the habit of striking the ball with this instrument 
 rarely miss their blow, but frequently drive it to an astonishing distance ; 
 the ball being stopped by one of the opponent party, the striker forms 
 his judgment of the ability of the person who is to throw it back, and 
 calls in consequence for any number of scores towards his game that 
 he thinks proper ; it is then returned, and if it appears to his antagonist 
 to rest at a sufficient distance to justify the striker's call, he obtains his 
 number ; but when a contrary opinion is held, a measurement takes 
 place, and if the scores demanded exceed in number the lengths of the 
 cudgel from the trap to the ball, he loses the whole, and is out ; while, 
 on the other hand, if the lengths of the bat are more than the scores 
 called for, the matter terminates in the strikers favour, and they are 
 set up to his account. 
 
 XXI. Northen-spell is played with a trap, and the ball is stricken 
 with a bat or bludgeon at the pleasure of the players, but the latter I 
 believe is most commonly used. The performance of this pastime 
 does not require the attendance of either of the parties in the field to 
 catch or stop the ball, for the contest between them is simply who 
 shall strike it to the greatest distance in a given number of strokes ; the 
 length of each stroke is measured before the ball is returned, by the 
 means of a cord made fast at one end near the trap, the other being 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 101 
 
 stretched into the field by a person stationed there for that purpose, who 
 adjusts it to the ball wherever it may lie ; the cord is divided into yards, 
 which are properly numbered upon it in succession, so that the person 
 at the bottom of the ground can easily ascertain the distance of each 
 stroke by the number of the yards which he calls to the players, who 
 place it to their account, and the ball is thrown back. This pastime 
 possesses but little variety, and is by no means so amusing to the by- 
 standers as cricket or trap-ball. 
 
 XXII. Tip-cat, or perhaps more properly, the game of Cat, is a rustic 
 pastime well known in many parts of the kingdom. Its denomination 
 is derived from a piece of wood called a cat, with which it is played ; 
 the cat is about six inches in length and an inch and a half or two in- 
 ches in diameter, and diminished from the middle to both the ends in 
 the shape of a double cone ; by this curious contrivance the places of 
 the trap and of the ball are at once supplied, for when the cat is laid 
 upon the ground the player with his cudgel 3 strikes it smartly, it 
 matters not at which end, and it will rise with a rotatory motion, high 
 enough for him to beat it away as it falls, in the same manner as he 
 would a ball. 
 
 There are various methods of playing the game of cat, but I shall 
 only notice the two that follow. The first is exceedingly simple, and 
 consists in making a large ring upon the ground, in the middle of which 
 the striker takes his station ; his business is to beat the cat over the 
 ring. If he fails in so doing he is out, and another player takes his 
 place ; if he is successful he judges with his eye the distance the cat is 
 driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number at pleasure to be 
 scored towards his game: if the number demanded be found upon measure- 
 ment to exceed the same number of lengths of the bludgeon, he is out; 
 on the contrary, if it does not, he obtains his call. The second method 
 is to make four, six, or eight holes in the ground in a circular direction, 
 and as nearly as possible at equal distances from each other, and at 
 every hole is placed a player with his bludgeon : one of the opposite 
 party who stand in the field, tosses the cat to the batsman who is nearest 
 
 a This game is always played with a cudgel or bludgeon resembling that used for trap-ball 
 
102 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 him, and every time the cat is struck the players are obliged to change 
 their situations, and run once from one hole to another in succession ; 
 if the cat be driven to any great distance they continue to run in the 
 same order, and claim a score towards their game every time they quit 
 one hole and run to another; but if the cat be stopped by their oppo- 
 nents and thrown across between any two of the holes before the player 
 who has quitted one of them can reach the other, he is out. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 103 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR 
 PLACES ADJOINING TO THEM. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Tournament a general Name for several Exercises. — The Quintain an ancient Military 
 
 Exercise. — Various Kinds of Quintains. — The Name, whence said to be derived. 
 
 The Water Quintain described.— 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 Justs.— Origin of the Tournament.— The Troy Game.— 
 The Bohordicum or Cane Game.— Derivation of the Word Tournament.— How it 
 was performed.— When first practised in England.— Its Laws and Ordinances.— 
 Respect paid to the Ladies.— Justs less honourable than Tournaments.— The Round 
 Table.— The Nature of the Justs.— Made in Honour of the fair Sex— Justs and 
 Tournaments exhibited with great Splendour.— The Nobility partial to these 
 Sports, and why. — A Challenge for both. 
 
 I. 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 
 frequently differed materially from each other, and have been distin- 
 guished accordingly by various denominations in the modern times. 
 They may however, I think, be all of them included under the four foil 
 lowing heads; tilling and combating at the quintain, tilling at the ring, 
 tournaments, and justs. 
 
 All these, and especially the two last, were favourite pastimes with 
 the Kobdity of the middle ages. The progress and decline of tourna- 
 
104 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 ments in ttiis country has already been mentioned in a general way; 3 I 
 shall in this place be a little more particular with respect to the nature 
 and distinction of these celebrated diversions. 
 
 II. Tilting or combating at the quintain is certainly a military ex- 
 ercise of high antiquity, and antecedent I doubt not to the justs and 
 tournaments. The quintain originally was nothing more than the trunk 
 of a tree or post set up for the practice of the tyros in chivalry , b Af- 
 terward a staff or spear was fixed in the earth, and a shield, being hung 
 upon it, was the mark to strike at: c the dexterity of the performer con- 
 sisted 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 im- 
 proved, and instead of the staff and the shield, the resemblance of a 
 human figure carved in wood was introduced. To render the appear- 
 ance of this figure more formidable, it was generally made in the like- 
 ness of a Turk or a Saracen armed at all points,* 1 bearing a shield upon 
 his left arm, and brandishing a club or a sabre with his right. 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 disgrace- 
 ful to the performer, while it excited the laughter and ridicule of the 
 spectators. 6 
 
 a See the introduction to this work. b Vegetius de re militari, Lib. i. cap. xi. et xiv. 
 
 e « Terrae infixis sudibus scuta apponuntur— Quintanae ludus scilicet equestris exerceretur— in equis 
 lusitari solitum appensis sudes in terram impactas scutis.' Robertus Monach. Hist. Hierosol. Lib. v. 
 
 d Hence called by the Italians ' Running at the armed man, or at the Saracin.' Traite des Tournois, 
 Joustes, &c. par Claude Fran. Menestrier, page 264. 
 
 e Menestrier ut supra j Du Cange Gloss, in voce quintana; Pluvinel sur l'exercise de monter a che- 
 val, part 3, page 177. When many were engaged in running at the Saracin, the conqueror was de- 
 clared 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 j if below the eyes, 
 upon the nose, for two 5 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 
 
F1.3X.. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 105 
 
 III. 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 manu- 
 script, written early in the fourteenth century, entitled ' The esta- 
 blishments of Chivalry ;' f the author of this tract, who appears to have 
 been a man of science in the military tactics of his time, strongly re- 
 commends a constant and attentive attack of the pel, g 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 upon the ninth 
 plate, and immediately opposite is the quintain in the form of a Sara- 
 cen, from Pluvinel. An English poet who has taken up the subject of 
 chivalry, under the title of < knighthood and battle," 1 describes the at, 
 lack 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,k thus writeth olde and wise; 
 
 Therewith a bacheler, or a yong knyght, 
 
 Shal first he taught to stonde and lerne to fight.— 
 
 again upon the same day, but forfeited his courses as a punishment for his unskilfulne SS . Menestrier 
 p. 112, et Pluvinel ut supra. 
 
 f Les etob ^smentz des chevalerie, MS. in the Royal Library, marked 20. B. xi. 
 
 s From the Latin palus. 
 
 ' Set U P- k Of man's height. 
 
 P 
 
106 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 And fanne of doubil wight, tak him his shelde 
 Of doubil wight, a mace of trel 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 m firste grete exercise, 
 Thus writeth Werrouris olde and wyse. 
 
 Have eche his pile or pale upfixed fast, 
 
 And as it were uppou 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. 
 
 EmpecheP his head, his face, have at his gorge/ 5 
 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. 
 
 The last lines 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 m ester/ 
 
 Take hym in honde and teche him it to stere - 7 
 
 And cast it at the pile as at his foo, 
 
 So that it conte and right uppon him go. 
 
 i A mace or club of wood. 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 j to which the poet adds, page Q, 
 
 ' And sixty pounds of weight 'tis good to bear.' 
 m Hath not. n Close. Prompt, swift, ready. 
 
 P From the French word empecher, to hinder or withstand, here used for attack. 
 * Throat. r Power, strength. • Than is required, that is, in time of real action . 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 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 1 the bowis bigge up hale, 
 Smyte in the face, or breste, or back or side, 
 Compelle to fle, or falle, yf that he bide. 
 
 IV. This exercise is said to have received the name of quintain from 
 Quinctus or Quintas the inventor," but who he was, or when he lived, 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 ; w he tells us 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. x 
 
 In the code of laws established by the emperor Justinian, the quin- 
 tain is mentioned as a well known sport ; and permitted to be conti- 
 nued, upon condition that it should be performed with pointless spears, 
 contrary to the ancient usage, which it seems required them to have 
 heads or points/ 
 
 V. To the best of my recollection, Fitzstephen is the first of our wri- 
 ters 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, says he, 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 
 
 f It Is the same. 
 
 u A quincto auctore nomen habebat, vide Joan Meursi, de Ludis Graecorum in tit. Kovtag Kvvlscvts. 
 w And from him the substance of what the two authors above quoted have said upon the subject is 
 evidently taken. 
 
 * Non tantum mane sed etiam post meridiem exercebantur ad Palos. He also adds, that they used 
 clubs and javelins, heavier than common, and fought at the pel as if they were opposing an adver- 
 sary, &c. Vegetius de re militari, Lib. i. cap. xi. et xiv. 
 
 y Kuvlavov %oy7a£ %a>pi£ fys nv%tf\;, quintanum contacem sine fibuh. Cod. de aleatoribus, Lib. iii.- 
 tit. 43. 
 
108 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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 per- 
 sons 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 occa- 
 sion, who come, says the author, to see the sports and make them- 
 selves merry. 2 A representation of the water quintain, taken from a 
 manuscript of the fourteenth century, is given upon the tenth plate, 
 where a square piece of board is substituted for the shield. 3 
 
 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 it, had not the following circumstance given him the 
 occasion. In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Henry the Third, 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 keeping 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, b which they 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. c 
 
 VI. We may here observe, that the rules of chivahy, at this time, 
 would not admit of any person, under the rank of an esquire., to enter 
 the lists as a combatant at the justs and tournaments ; for which reason, 
 the burgesses and yeomen had recourse to the exercise of the quintain, 
 which was not prohibited to any class of the people : but, as the per- 
 
 ? Stephanides Descrip. Lond. a MS. Royal Lib. marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 b Calling them cowardly knaves and rascally clowns. Some have thought, these fellows were sent 
 thither purposely to promote a quarrel, it being known that the king was angry with the citizens of 
 Loudon for refusing to join in the crusade. Strype's edit, of Stow's Survey, &c. 
 
 c Matthew Paris. Hist. Angl. sub. an 1253. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 109 
 
 formers were generally young men whose finances would not at all times 
 admit of much expence, 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. d 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, the reader will find upon the ninth 
 and tenth plates of this work, where both the quintains are represented 
 and marked, I know not why, with the figure of an horseshoe. 6 
 
 VII. But to return : Stow, in his Survey of London, having related 
 the above-mentioned disturbance from Matthew Paris, goes on as fol- 
 lows : 4 This exercise of running at the quintain, was practised at Lon- 
 don, as well in the summer as in the winter, but especially at the feast 
 of Christmas. I have seen/ continues my author, 6 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 end : ,f but the form of the modern quin- 
 tain is more fully described by Dr. Plott : ' They first/ says he, 6 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, s as I saw it at Deddington in this 
 
 d On the ninth plate we see a lad mounted on a wooden horse with four wheels, and drawn by two 
 of his comrades tilting at the immoveable quintain. From a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, 
 marked Bod. 264. 
 
 e From the MS. mentioned in the preceding note, which is dated 1344. 
 f Survey of London, page 77- 
 s His History of Oxfordshire was first published A. D. 1677. 
 
110 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 county , h 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/ adds he, 6 only in request at mar- 
 riages, 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.' 1 
 
 VIII. Among other sports exhibited for the amusement of queen 
 Elizabeth, during her residence at Kenel worth, Castle, k was, says Lane- 
 ham, * 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 lassess, the bridegroom had the first course at the quintane, and 
 broke his spear ' tres hardiment/ 1 But his mare in his manage did a 
 little stumble, that much adoe 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 judg- 
 ment 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/" 1 This whimsical description may possibly be somewhat exag- 
 
 h Oxfordshire. 5 Natural Hist. Oxford, page 200. 
 
 k In Warwickshire, then the seat of the earl of Leicester, who entertained her majesty there for se- 
 veral days, A. D. 1575. 
 
 1 Very boldly, or with much courage, 
 m Laneliam's account of the entertainment of queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth. See her Progresses, 
 published by Mr. Nichols, vol. i. fol. 240. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OP THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Ill 
 
 gerated, but no doubt the inexpertness of the riders subjected them to 
 many laughable accidents. 
 
 IX. At the bottom of the ninth plate, are 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 are learners only, and therefore 
 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 Me- 
 nestrier, was practised occasionally in Italy, where, says he, a large 
 bucket filled with water is set up, against which they tilt with lances ; 
 and if the stroke be not made with great dexterity, the bucket is over- 
 set and the lanceman thoroughly drenched with the contents. 
 
 X. 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 the tenth 
 plate, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century," and the 
 painting is justified by the concurrent testimony of an ancient 
 author, cited by Ducange, who introduces one knight speaking to 
 another in this manner : 6 I do not by any means esteem you suffici- 
 cently valiant q 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/ r The satirist Hall, who 
 wrote in the time of Elizabeth, 5 evidently alludes to a custom of this 
 kind, when he thus says, 
 
 Pawne thou no glove for challenge of the deed,, 
 Nor make thy quintaine other's armed head. 
 
 n Taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1343. 
 Traite de Tournois, published 1669, page 347. 
 p In the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344. 1 Si bons chevalier. 
 
 r Le Roman de Giron le courtois Da Cange Gloss, in voce quintana. 
 » The Satire referred to above, was first printed A. D. 1599, in the author's life time, who was then 
 25 years of age, Lib. iv. Sat. 3. 
 
H% SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 XI. The living quintain, according to the representation here given, 
 is seated upon a stool with three legs without any support behind; and 
 the business, I presume, of the tilter, was to overthrow him ; while, on 
 his part, he was to turn the stroke of the pole or lance on one side with 
 his shield, and by so doing with adroitness might occasion the fall of 
 his adversary. 
 
 Something of a similar kind of exercise, though practised in a dif- 
 ferent way, appears upon the eleventh plate, where a man seated, holds 
 up one of his feel, opposed to the foot of another man, who standing 
 upon one leg endeavours to thrust him backwards, and again below 
 where his opponent is seated in a swing and drawn back by a third 
 person, so that the rope being left at liberty in the swing, the man of 
 course descended With great force, and striking the foot of his antago- 
 nist with much violence, no doubt very frequently overthrew him. 
 The two last sports were probably never exhibited by military men, 
 but by rustics and others in imitation of the human quintain: 1 and 
 upon the top of the twelfth plate are two men with a pole or headless 
 spear, who grasp it at either end, and are contending which shall dispos- 
 sess the other of his hold : this feat the single figure annexed seems to 
 have done, and is bearing it away in triumph." 
 
 XII. Tilting, or, as it is most commonly called, running at the ring, 
 was also a fashionable pastime in former days; the ring is evidently 
 derived from the quintain, and indeed the sport itself is frequently 
 called running or tilting at the quintain ;* thus Commenius, in his vo- 
 cabulary," says, 6 At this day tilting at the quintain is used where a 
 hoop or ring is struck with a lance :' hence it is clear, that the ring was 
 put in the place of the quintain. The excellency of the pastime was 
 to ride at full speed, and thrust the point of the lance through the ring, 
 
 t The contest between the two figures at the bottom of the same plate, seems to depend upon the 
 breaking of the stick which both of them hold, or a struggle to overthrow each other. 
 
 « The two contending figures arc from a MS. Book of Prayers in the possession of F. Douce, 
 esq< t he single figure from the Oxford MS. referred to, note ri , page 109, both of the fourteenth century. 
 
 w With the Italians, says Du Cange, quintano sometimes signifies a ring, hence the Florentines say, 
 * correr alia quintana,' which with us is called running at the ring; the learned author produces several 
 quotations to the same purpose, to which the reader is referred. Gloss, in voce quintana. 
 
 x Orbis Sensualium Pictus, published by Hoole, 1658. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 1 13 
 
 which was supported in a case or sheath, by the means of two springs, 
 but might be readily drawn out by the force of the stroke, and remain 
 upon the top of the lance. The form of the ring, with the sheath, and 
 the manner in which it was attached to the upright supporter, taken 
 from Pluvinel/ are given upon the twelfth plate, 2 and also the method 
 of performing the exercise. At the commencement of the seventeenth 
 century, the pastime of running at the ring was reduced to a science; 
 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, as Pluvinel informs us, one hundred paces from the starting place 
 to the ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed neces- 
 sary ; 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 besufficient. The ring, says the same author, 
 ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat 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. a 
 
 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 vic- 
 tor : 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 re- 
 peated until such time as the superiority of one put an end to the 
 contest. 5 
 
 XIII. Tournaments and Justs, though often confounded with each 
 other, differed materially. The tournament w r as a conflict with many 
 knights, divided into parties and engaged at the same time. The just 
 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 
 
 y Art de monter a cheval, published 1-628. 
 z The letter a indicates the ring detached from the sheath j b represents the sheath with the ring in- 
 serted and attached to the upright post, in which there are several holes to raise or lower the ring to 
 suit the conveniency of the performer. 
 
 * Art de monter a cheval, part iii. page 156, where the reader will find this subject treated at large. 
 b Menestrier. Traite de Tournois, page 112. 
 
 Q 
 
114 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 exceptions; for the just, 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 the example of the 
 nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire ; but at the 
 same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the tour- 
 naments ; 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 de- 
 mand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means 
 exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament. 11 
 
 XIV. It is an opinion generally received, that the tournament origi- 
 nated from a childish pastime practised by the Roman youths called 
 the Troy game, 6 said to have been so named because it was derived from 
 the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by Ascanius the son of iEneas. 
 Virgil has given us a description of this pastime, according to the man- 
 ner, I presume, in which it was then practised at Rome, and if he be 
 accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of evolu- 
 tions performed on horseback. The poet tells us, that the youth were 
 each of them armed with two little cornal spears, headed with iron, f 
 and having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, 
 they divided themselves into three distinct companies ; and each com- 
 pany consisted of twelve champions exclusive of its appropriate 
 leader, when 
 
 ■ Epityden g from far 
 Loud with a shout, aad with his sounding lash 
 The signal gave : they equally divide, 
 The three commanders open their brigades 
 In sep'rate bodies : straight recalPd they wheel 
 Their course, and onward bear their hostile darts. 
 Then diff'rent traverses on various grounds, 
 
 c Du Cange. Gloss, in voce justa. 
 A As the reader will rind by the laws relative to the lance, the sword, and the helmet, a little 
 further on. 
 
 e Ludus Troiae. f 'Cornea bina ferunt praefixa hastilia ferro.' iEneid. v. ver. 55(5. 
 
 g The tutor of Ascanius and overseer of the sports. I have followed Trapp's translation, which, if 
 not so poetical as Dryden's, is certainly more literal. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 115 
 
 And different counter traverses they form 5 
 
 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 denomination of the first emperors, these games were pub- 
 licly practised by the young nobility in the circus at Rome. h 
 
 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. An author then living informs us, 6 that every 
 Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner, it was customary for great 
 crowds of young Londoners mounted on war horses, well trained, to per- 
 form the necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride into the fields in dis- 
 tinct bands, armed with shields and headless lances ; k where they exhi- 
 bited the representation of battles, and went through a variety of war- 
 like 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 prac- 
 tice of this exercise must have learned them, insensibly as it were, to 
 become excellent horsemen. 
 
 XV. I am clearly of opinion, that the justs and tournaments arose by 
 slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of the mi- 
 litary tyros in using their arms, but which of the two had the preemi- 
 
 h Tacitus Annal. Lib. xi. Et Suetonius in vit. Claud. 
 » William Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of Henry the Second, 
 k ' Hastilibus ferro dempto.' 
 1 f Nunc Spicula vertunt infensi.' ^Eneidos, Lib. v. lin. 586. 
 
116 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III* 
 
 nence in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined ; we know that 
 both of them were in existence at the time the Troy game was prac- 
 tised by the citizens of London, and also that they were not permitted 
 to be exercised in this kingdom. 
 
 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, behordicum, and in French, bohourt or behourt, m and was a kind 
 of lance game, in which the young nobility exercised themselves, to ac- 
 quire address in handling of their arms, and to prove their strength. 
 The word bebordicum will, however, admit of a more enlarged signifi- 
 cation ; from a quotation which is given by Du Cange, we find it was 
 occasionally used for running at the quintain;" in fact, I apprehend, it 
 might be applied to any of the military exercises performed by the 
 young men, either for pastime or improvement. Menestrier says, they 
 formerly used hollow canes instead of lances, and for that reason it was 
 also called the cane game. I find no authority to place the cane game at 
 an earlier period than the twelfth century, when probably it originated 
 from the following circumstance related by Hoveden. He tells us, 
 that Richard the First of England, being at Messina, the capital of Si- 
 cily, on his way to the Holy Land, went with his cavalcade one Sunday 
 afternoon, to see the popular sports exhibited without the walls of the 
 city, and upon their return they met in the street a rustic driving an ass 
 loaded with hollow canes. p The king and his attendants took each of 
 them a cane, and began, by way of frolick, to tilt with them one against 
 another: it so happened, that the kings opponent was William de 
 
 m Some authors, and with great appearance of troth, derive this word from burdis or bordis, to jest, 
 joke, or make game, and therefore it will properly signify a playful pastime, or combat, such as youth 
 might engage in. Du Cange, Gloss, in voce bohordicum. The word somewhat differently spelt, oc- 
 curs in Mandat. Reg. Angl. cited by Du Cange, and in Rymer Feed. torn. v. page 223, et alia. 
 
 n Emmi le pre ot quintaine levee. 
 Li jouvencel behordent par la pree. 
 Which will run thus in English, They raised a quintain in the midst of a meadow, and the youth tilted ] 
 at it with their lances. Roman D' Aubrey, MS. apud Du Cange ut supra. 
 
 Annal. pars posterior sub an. 1 19] . P Arundinas quas cannas vocant. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 117 
 
 Barres, a knight of high rank in the household of the French king. q In 
 the encounter they broke both their canes, and the monarch's hood was 
 torn by the stroke he received, which made him angry ; when riding 
 with great force against the knight, he caused his horse to stumble with 
 him, and while he was attempting to cast him to the ground, his own 
 saddle turned round and he himself was overthrown. The king was 
 soon provided with another horse, stronger than the former, which he 
 mounted, and again assaulted de Barres, endeavouring by violence to 
 throw him from his horse, but he could not, because the knight clung, 
 fast to the horse's neck. Robert de Bretuil, newly created earl of Lei- 
 cester, laid hold upon de Barres to assist the king, but Richard forbad 
 him to interfere, desiring that they might be left to themselves. When 
 they had contended a long time, adding threats to their actions,' the 
 king was much provoked, and commanded him to leave the place and 
 appear no more before him, declaring at the same time, that he would 
 ever afterwards consider him as an enemy ; but through the mediation 
 of the king of France, a reconciliation was effected, and the knight was. 
 again restored to the favour of the monarch. 
 
 XVI. The derivation of the French word tournoy,* from the Latin 
 troja, according to the generality of authors, does not appear consistent 
 w T ith any reasonable analogy : I am therefore rather 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 respect- 
 able 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 combatted 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, 
 
 q Quidam miles optimus de familia regis Francis:. 
 r Fracta est cappa regis. * Et dictis et fhctis. 
 
 * Or tournoyement, whence our word tournament, which signifies to turn or wheel about in. a cir- 
 cular manner, &c. Cotgrave. 
 
 v Origines des chevaliers, Sec. fol. g. 
 
118 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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." It was 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 without some disastrous accident ; x 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 re- 
 specting the consequences, especially when any advantage gave them 
 an opportunity of securing the conquest. 
 
 The following quotation from an ancient romance, entitled Ipomy- 
 don, y 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 more- 
 over, that the champion who remained unhorsed at the conclusion of 
 the sports, besides the honour he attained, sometimes received a pecu- 
 niary 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 ; 
 Knyghtis began togedre to ryde, 
 Some were unhorsyd on every side, 
 Ipomydon that daye was victorius, 
 And there he gaff many a eours ; 
 For there was none that he mette, 
 But he hys spere on hym woulde sette : 
 Then after within a lytell stounde, 2 
 Horse and man both went to grounde. 
 
 ■w And this, says Fauchet, was possibly the cause of the ordinance, that 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 the Second, who, unfortunately for 
 France, was killed at the justs he made in honour of his daughter's marriage. Ibid. 
 
 * Therefore interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees. * MS. Harl. insig. 2252. fol. 61. 
 
 * A lytell stounde signifies a small space of time. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 119 
 
 The Hera tides 1 gaff the child the gree,f> 
 A thousand pound he had to fee ; 
 Mynstrellys had glftes of golde, 
 And fourty dayes this fest was holde. 
 
 In some instances the champions depended upon their military skill 
 and horsemanship, and frequently upon their bodily strength; but at 
 all times it was highly disgraceful to be unhorsed, by whatever exertion 
 it might be effected. 
 
 One of our own historians tells us, when Edward the First returned 
 from Palestine to England, and was on his passage through Savoy, the 
 earl of Chabloun d invited him to a tournament, 6 in which himself and 
 many other knights were engaged. The king with his followers ac- 
 cepted 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 6 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 re- 
 signation of the earl put an end to the conflict, in all probability the 
 consequences would have been very serious. 
 
 XVII. It was a considerable time after the establishment of justs 
 
 * Heralds, whose office it was to superintend the ceremonious parts of the tournaments. 
 Reward. ( c Tho. Walsingham. Hist. Angl. fol. 3. A.D. 1274. 
 
 d Comes Kabilanensis. Ibid, 
 e Ludum militarum (qui vulgo torneamentum dicitur). Ibid, 
 f The historian adds, licet longa peregrinatione vexatis 5 although fatigued by the length of their 
 journey. Ibid. 
 
120 
 
 •SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 and tournaments, before the combatants thought of making either lists 
 or barriers; they contented themselves, says Menestrier, 5 with being 
 stationed at four angles of an open place, whence they run in parties 
 one against another;* 1 but 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 con- 
 tact, except with their lances ; other nations followed the example of 
 the French, and the usage of lists and barriers soon became universal. 
 
 XVXJI. It is impossible to ascertain the precise period when tour- 
 ments first made their appearance ; nor is it less difficult to determine 
 by whom they were invented.' The French and the Germans, 1 " how- 
 ever, both claim the honour: most of the German writers make the 
 emperor, Henry the First, 1 the institutor of these pastimes ; but olhers 
 attribute their origin to another Henry, at least a century posterior to 
 the former. The French, on their side, quote an ancient history," 1 
 which asserts, that Geofry, lord of Previlli in Anjou, who was slain at 
 Gaunt," was the inventor of the tournament. 
 
 XIX. 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 
 
 8 Tracte deTournois, printed A.D. l66g. 
 h 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: * All these thinges 
 donne thei were embatailed eche ageynste the othir, and the corde drawen before eche partie, and whan 
 the tyme was, the cordes were cult, mid 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 eache stake two 
 ikyngs of armes, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the names of all them that were yolden, 
 for they shold no more tournay.' MS. Harl. 320". 
 
 i Peacham, on the authority of Nicetas, tells us, that the emperor Emanuel Comminus, at the siege 
 of Constantinople, invented ' tilts and tournaments.' Complete Gent, page 178. But this is certainly 
 a mistake, as the succeeding notes will prove. 
 
 k- 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 5 for he speaks of many knights of different nations, divided into parties equal in num- 
 ber, and running at each other with great velocity, as though they were in battle. Veluti invicem ad- 
 .versari sibi vellent, alter in alteram veloci cursu ruebat. See more upon this subject in the Encyclo- 
 pedic Francois, under the article Tournoi. 
 
 J Surnamed L'oiseleur, who died A. D. 936 «■ Chronique de Tours. * A.D. 106'6\ 
 
BOOK HI. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 121 
 
 sixty years posterior to that event. The manner of performing the 
 tournament, as then used, says Lambarde, 4 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 de- 
 cree ; 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 indifferent 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 the Second/ but his son Richard the First, 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 pos- 
 session, two ; but all foreigners were particularly excluded. q How long 
 these imposts continued to be collected does not appear ; but tourna- 
 ments were occasionally exhibited with the utmost display of magnifi- 
 cence in the succeeding reigns, being not only sanctioned by royal au- 
 thority, but frequently instituted at the royal command, until the con- 
 clusion of the sixteenth century ; from that period they declined rapidly, 
 and fifty years afterwards were entirely out of practice. 
 
 ° Perambulation of Kent, page 492. 
 
 p And therefore, I presume, the young king Henry, son of Henry the Second, went every third 
 year, as Matthew Paris assures us he did, over the seas, and expended vast sums of money ' in con- 
 fiictibus Gallicis,' or French combats, meaning tournaments. Hist. Angl. A. D. 1179- 
 
 q He appointed five places for the holding of tournaments in England j namely, between Sarum and 
 Wilton ; — between Warwick and Kenelworth ; — between Stamford and Wallingford j — between 
 Brakely and Mixebwg ; — and between BUe and Tykehill. The act also specifies, that the peace should 
 not be broken thereby, nor justice hindered,, nor damage done to the royal forests. MS. Harl. 
 marked 6g. 
 
 B 
 
122 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 XX. All military men, says Fauchet, who bore ihe title of knights 
 or esquires, were not indiscriminately received at these tournaments: 
 there were certain laws to which those who presented themselves be- 
 came subject, and which they swore to obey before they were per- 
 mitted to enter the lists/ 
 
 In one of the Harleian manuscripts 5 I met with the following ordi- 
 nance for the conducting of the justs and tournaments according to the 
 ancient establishment. 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 gentlewomen; 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 Norrais, king 
 at arms. The regulations that follow are these : The two barons on 
 whose parts the tournament is undertaken, shall be at their pavilions" 
 two days before the commencement of the sports, when each of them 
 shall cause his arms to be attached x to his pavilion, and set up his 
 banner in the front of his parade ; and all those who wish to be ad- 
 mitted 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/ 
 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 ad- 
 versary, and return them with most adroitness on the party of Claren- 
 
 r Origines des chevaliers, &c. page Q. ' At the British Museum, marked 69. 
 
 1 Or ovez, for Oui'r, more literally Hear now; and the words are repeated, 
 u Marche, part of the lists I presume, or portion of ground appropriated to the tournament. 
 
 w Loges. 
 
 x Feront clouer leurs armes, literally nail them j the clouage or nail money, as we shall see after- 
 wards, was the perquisite of the heralds. 
 
 r And then/ says the ordinance, 'they may depart to make merry, dance, »nd live well.' 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 123 
 
 cieux, shall receive a very rich sword, and he who shall perform in like 
 manner the best on the part of Norroys, 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 achieve- 
 ment, knights and esquires, to achievement ;' a being the notice, I trust, 
 for them to arm themselves ; and soon afterwards the company of he- 
 ralds shall repeat the former ceremony, having the same authority, say- 
 ing, 4 Come forth, knights and esquires, come forth :' b 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 com- 
 batants shall each of them be armed with a pointless sword, having the 
 edges rebated, and with a 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, 6 Let them go on.' d 
 After they have sufficiently performed their exercises, the speakers are 
 to call to the heralds, and order them to fold up the banners, 6 which is« 
 
 z f Mettra sa barrier, au commencement dedits bastons et clouera la blason de ses armes, a lautre 
 vout.' The passage is by no means clear; I have therefore given the words of the oiiginal. 
 
 a A l'aschevier, chevaliers, &c. b Hors chevaliers, &c. c Baston. 
 
 d Laisseir les aler. e Ployer vos baniers. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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. 
 
 XXI. Every knight or esquire performing in the tournament, was 
 permitted to have one page, armed, within the lists, but without a trun- 
 cheon 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.' 
 
 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 hel- 
 met 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 expences defrayed during 
 the continuation of the tournament: by the law of arms they had a right 
 to the helmet of every knight when he made his first essay at the tour- 
 nament, which became their perquisite as soon as the sports were con- 
 cluded ; 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. 
 
 XXII. Upon the fourteenth plate, we find a representation of the 
 manner in which the two chief barons anciently entered the lists at the 
 commencement of a tournament: 5 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. 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 
 
 f In after times, three servitors were allowed for this purpose, 
 g Taken from a romance, entitled St. Graal, written and illuminated in the thirteenth century. MS. 
 .Royal Lib. marked 14. E. iii. 
 
■ 
 
BOOK HI. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 125 
 
 protect them, and no inclination to make use of any unlawful means to 
 secure the conquest. 11 
 
 In the reign of Henry the Fifth, a statute was enacted by the parlia- 
 ment, containing the following regulations relative to the tournaments. 1 
 It prohibits any combatants from entering the lists with more than three 
 esquires to bear his arms, and wait upon him for that day ; k 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, 1 or carry a trun- 
 cheon, or any other weapon excepting a large sword used in the tour- 
 nament : and that all the combatants who bore lances, should be armed 
 with breast-plates, thigh-pieces, shoulder-pieces, and bacinets, without 
 any other kind of armour. No earl, baron, or knight, might presume 
 to infringe upon the regulations of this satute, 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;' 11 but 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." The 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 which be- 
 longed to them. Respecting those who came as spectators on horse- 
 back, they were strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of armour, 
 or to bear any offensive weapons, under the penalty that was appointed 
 
 h Which I believe was a ceremony usually practised upon such occasions, 
 i Said to have been made and established by Parliament, at the request of all the nobility of England. 
 MS. Harl. marked 69. 
 
 k In another clause it is said, < If any of the great lords, or others Tient Mangerie, keep a public table, 
 for such I trust is implied by the term, they shall not be llowed any additional esquires, excepting 
 those who trencheront, carve for them. 
 
 1 Coutel, literally a knife. 
 
 m 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 ex- 
 pressed 5 nor bear a sword, pointed knife, mace, or other weapon, except the sword for the tourna- 
 ment.' In case of transgression, he forfeited his horse, and was obnoxious to imprisonment for one 
 year. 
 
 n 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. 
 
 Hoys des harnoys. 
 
126 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 to the esquires; and no boy, or man on foot coming for the same 
 purpose, might appear with a sword, dagger, cudgel, or lance, and 
 to be punished with one year's imprisonment in case of disobedience 
 to the statute. 
 
 XXIII. 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 Glocester, uncle to Richard the 
 Second, were as follows : 6 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/ p 
 
 XXIV. 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 feast- 
 ing, dancing, singing, and making merry. But, 4 after the noble sup- 
 per 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 award- 
 ment of the prizes ; q 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 ; 
 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 
 
 f MS. in the Cotton Library, marked Nero D. vi. and MS. Harl. 69. ut supra^ 
 9 ' Avec une grele de coups,' Encyclop. Fran, in voce tournpi. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 127 
 
 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 learn him to respect the honour of the 
 ladies and the rights of chivalry ; the unfortunate 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 de- 
 pended entirely upon their intercession. 
 
 XXV. The J ust or lance-game, 5 as before observed, differed mate- 
 rially 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 justs 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 permission to just, was not thereby 
 exempted from the fees of the tournament ; but, on the contrary, if he 
 had discharged his dues at the tournament, he was privileged to just 
 without being liable to any further demand ; and this distinction seems 
 to have arisen from the weapons used, the sword being appropriated to 
 the tournament, and the lance to the just, 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, notwithstanding his having justed 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 he who has paid his helmet at the 
 tournament is freed from the payment of a second helmet at the just; 
 but the helmet paid at justing, does not exclude the claim of the heralds 
 when a knight first enters the lists at the tournament/ 1 
 
 r The statutes and ordinances for justs and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, at 
 the command of Edward the Fourth, in the sixth year of his reign, conclude thus: ' Reserving always 
 to the queenes highness and theladyes there present, the attribution and gift of the prize after the man- 
 lier and forme accustomed.' MS. Harl. 6g. 
 
 s In Latin justa, and in French jouste, which some derive from jocare, because it was a sort of spor- 
 tive combat, undertaken for pastime only 
 
 ' Du Cange. Glossary in voce, justa. 
 
1<28 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III, 
 
 XXVI. The just as a military pastime, is mentioned by William of 
 Malmsbury, and said to have been practised in the reign of king Ste- 
 phen." During the government of Henry the Third, the just assumed 
 a different appellation, and was also called the round table game ; w this 
 name was derived from a fraternity of knights who frequently justed 
 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." 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 the First, Roger de Mor- 
 timer/ a nobleman of great opulence, established a round table at Ke- 
 nelworth, for the encouragement of military pastimes ; where one hun- 
 dred knights, with as many ladies, were entertained at his expence. 
 The fame of this institution occasioned, we are told, a great influx of 
 foreigners, who came either to initiate themselves, or make some pub- 
 lic proof of their prowess. About seventy years afterwards, Edward 
 the Third 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 expence 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 
 Erance. 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 
 
 * ' Pugnse facere quod justam vocant. Hist. Novellae, fol. 106. sub. an. 1142. 
 w Matthew Paris properly distinguishes it from the tournament. Non hastiludio, quod torneamen- 
 tum dickur, sed— ludo militari, qui mensa rotunda dicitur. Hist. Angl. sub an. 1252. 
 
 * Anthenaeus, cited by Du Cange, says, the knights sat round the table, eorum scuta ferentes a tergo, 
 bearing their shields at their backs. I suppose for safety sake. Gloss, in voce mensa rotunda. 
 
 y Rogerus de Mortuo Mari. Tho. Walsingham. Hist. Angl. sub an. 1280. fol. 8. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 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. 2 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. 
 
 XXVII. The cessation of the round table occasioned little or no al- 
 teration respecting the justs which had been practised by the knights 
 belonging to it ; they continued to be fashionable throughout the an- 
 nals of chivalry, and latterly superseded the tournaments, which is by 
 no means surprising, 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 justs the combatants most commonly used spears without 
 heads of iron, and the excellency of the performance consisted in strik- 
 ing the opponent upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him back- 
 wards from his horse or break the spear. 8 In the middle compartment 
 of the fifteenth plate is a representation of the just, taken from a ma- 
 nuscript of the thirteenth century," where two knights appear in the ac- 
 
 z Ibid, sub an. 1344. fol. 154. 
 a 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 re- 
 ceived 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, but at the same time declared, that for his part, he should 
 prefer a contrary practice, and have his helmet fastened as strongly as possible. Vol. III. chap. 5Q. 
 And again the same historian, speaking of a justing between Thomas Harpingham and sir John de 
 Banes, says, f As me thought the usage was thanne, their helmes wer tied but with a lace, to the en- 
 tente the spere should take no hold;' by which it seems the trick became more common afterwards. 
 Ibid, chapter cxxxiii. fol. 148. lord Berners's translation. 
 
 b Or early at the commencement of the fourteenth. Royal Library, marked 14. E, iii. 
 
 S 
 
130 SPOETS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 tion of tilting at each other with the blunted spears ; this delineation was 
 made before the introduction of the barrier, which was a boarded rail- 
 ing erected in the midst of the lists, but open at both ends, and be- 
 tween four and five feet in height. In performing the justs, the two 
 combatants rode on separate sides of the barrier, and were thereby pre- 
 vented from running their horses upon each other. 
 
 XXVIII. We have seen that the privilege of distributing the prizes 
 and remitting the punishment of offenders, was by the laws of the tour- 
 nament invested with the fair sex, but at the justs their authority was 
 much more extensive. In the days of chivalry the justs 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 vows and addressed himself in the day of 
 peril ; for it seems to have been an established doctrine, that love made 
 valour perfect, and incited the heroes to undertake great enterprizes. 
 « 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. c 
 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/ 
 
 XXIX. At the celebration of these pastimes, the lists were superbly 
 decorated, and surrounded by the pavilions belonging to the champions 
 
 c Essais Hist, sur Paris, by St. Foix, vol. hi. page 263. In another place he «ays, < 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. Ibid. vol. i. page 32~. 
 
 " As the ladies, say some modern authors, were l'ame, the soul of the justs, it was proper that they 
 should be therein distinguished by some peculiar homage ; accordingly at the termination of a just with 
 lances the last course was made in honour of the sex, and called the lance of the ladies •, the same de- 
 ference was paid to them in single combats with the sword, the axe, and the dagger. Encyclop. Fran, 
 under the article joute. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 131 
 
 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 magnifi- 
 cence : we may also add the splendid appearance of the knights en- 
 gaged in the sports; themselves and their horses most gorgeously 
 arrayed, as well as their esquires and pages, together with the min- 
 strels and heralds who superintended the ceremonies, all of them being 
 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 beholders ; 
 hence the popularity of these exhibitions may be easily accounted for. 
 
 The tournament and the just, 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 probably for the same reason they were pro- 
 hibited to the commoners. 
 
 XXX. Persons of rank were taught in their childhood to relish such 
 exercises as were of a martial nature, and the very toys that were put 
 into their hands as playthings, were calculated to bias the mind in 
 their favour. Upon the thirteenth plate the reader will find two views 
 of a knight on horseback, completely equipped for the just; four wheels 
 originally were attached to the pedestal, which has a hole in the front 
 for the insertion of a cord. 6 The man may be readily separated from 
 
 « The knight and his horse are both made with brass 5 the spear and the wheels are wanting in the 
 original, but the hole in which the former was inserted, still remain's under the right arm, and it is sup- 
 plied upon the plate by something like it placed in the proper situation ; this curious figure, which pro- 
 
132 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 the horse, and is so contrived as to be thrown backwards 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; each of them 
 having a string made fast in the front of the pedestal, being then placed 
 at a distance in opposition the one to the other, they were violently 
 drawn together in imitation of two knights tilting, and by the concus- 
 sion of the spears against the shields, if dexterously managed, one or 
 both of the men were cast to the ground. Sometimes, as we may see 
 upon the twelfth plate, these toys were made without wheels, and 
 pushed by the hand upon a table towards each other : f but in both 
 cases the effect was evidently the same. 
 
 XXXI, It has been previously observed, that all persons below the 
 rank of an esquire, were excluded from the justs 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, 8 and justing upon the ice by the young 
 Londoners;" and here we may also add the boat justs, or tilting upon 
 the water. The representation of a pastime of this kind is given at the 
 bottom of the fifteenth plate, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth 
 century. 1 The conqueror at these justs was the champion who could 
 dexterously turn aside the bow of his antagonist with his shield, and at 
 the same time strike him with his lance in such a manner as to over- 
 throw him into the river, himself remaining unmoved from his sta- 
 
 bably was made in the fifteenth century, is in the possession of sir Frederic Eden, with whose permis- 
 sion this copy, about the same size as the original, makes its appearance here. 
 
 f Taken from a curious engraving on wood by Hans Burgmair, which makes one of a series of print* 
 representing the history and achievements of the emperor Maximilian the First, in the possession of 
 Francis Douce, esq. 
 
 s See page 1(K). 
 
 11 Page 79. The early inclination to join in such kind of pastimes is strongly indicated by the two 
 boys represented upon the top of the fifteenth plate,, where the place of the horse is supplied by a long- 
 switch, and that of a lance by another. The original delineation occurs in a beautiful MS. book, 
 ^grayers, written in the fourteenth century, in the possession of F. Douce, esq. 
 
 5 In the Royal Library, marked l B. vii. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 133 
 
 tion. k When queen Elizabeth visited Sandwich, 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 toge- 
 ther, with either of them a staff and a shield of wood ; and one of them 
 did overthowe another, at which the queene had good sport/ 1 The 
 same kind of laughable pastime was practised at London, as we learn 
 from Stow ; i I have seen/ says he, 6 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/ 111 
 
 XXXII. I shall now conclude this long chapter with the two fol- 
 lowing extracts." Six gentlemen challenged e all commers at the just 
 roial, to runne in osting harnies alonge 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 the Seventh created his second son Henry prince of 
 Wales, four gentlemen offered their service upon the occasion. First, 
 they make a declaration that they do not undertake this enterprise in 
 any manner of presumption, but only 6 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 promise to be ready at Westminster on a given day, p to 
 keep the justs in a place appointed for that purpose by the king. To 
 be there by c 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 
 
 k And perhaps not a little depended upon the skill of the rowers. See what has been said respecting 
 the quintain upon the water, page 107. 
 
 1 Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. page 56, in the year 1573. m Survey of London. 
 
 n From a MS. in the Harleian Library, marked 6g, 
 Son to king Edward the Fourth, who lost his life with his brother Edward in the Tower, 
 p The twenty-fourth of November. 
 
134 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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 q 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 eigh- 
 teen 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 r only excepted, 
 and the commers shall have their choice of the swords. 
 
 'Whosoever/ add they, 6 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 justs 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 readye to answer him or them after 
 their owne minde, the king's licence obteyned in that behalf/ 
 
 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 promised to reward the 
 best performer at the justs royal with a ring of gold set with a ruby ; 
 
 s The twenty-ninth of November. 
 r To foyne, that is, to thrust as in fencing, which was exceedingly dangerous when the swords were 
 pointed. The author of a MS. poem, frequently referred to in the course of this work, entitled, 
 JCnyghthode and Batayle, says, in fighting with an enemy, ' to foyne is better than to smyte/ and after- 
 wards two inches, ' entre foyned/ hurteth more than a broader wound with the edge of a sword. 
 Cottonian Library, Titus. A. xxiii. part i. fol. 7. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 135 
 
 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, having gene- 
 rally a barrier of wood breast-high between the champions. 
 
136 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Ancient Plays called Miracles.— Taken from Scripture.— Continued several Days.— 
 The Coventry play. — Mysteries described. — How enlivened. — Moralities described. 
 
 The Fool in Plays, whence derived. — Secular Plays. — Interludes. — Chaucer's 
 
 Definition of the Tragedies of his Time. — Plays performed in Churches. — Cornish 
 Miracle Ploys.— Itinerant Players, their evil Characters.— Court Plays.— The Play 
 of Hock Tuesday.— Decline of Secular Plays.— Origin of Puppet Plays.— Nature of 
 the Performances. — Superseded by Pantomimes.— Moving Pictures described. 
 
 I. 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. 
 
 II. The theatrical exhibitions at London, in the twelfth century, 
 were called miracles, because they consisted of sacred plays, or repre- 
 sentations of the miracles wrought by the holy confessors, and the 
 sufferings by which the perseverance of the martyrs was manifested. 3 
 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, I believe, is called Saint Catharine, 1 ' 
 and according to Matthew Paris, was written by Geofrey, a Norman, 
 afterwards abbot of Saint Albans; he was sent over into England by 
 abbot Richard, to take upon him the direction of the school belonging 
 to that monastery, but coming too late, he went to Dunstable and 
 
 a Fitzstephen, in his Description of London. 
 bQuendam ludum de sancta Katerina (quara miracula vulgariter appellamus) fecit. Vitse 
 Abbat. p. 35. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 137 
 
 taught there, where he caused his play to be performed, and borrowed 
 from the sacrist of Saint Albans some of the ecclesiastical vestments' 1 
 of the abbey to adorn the actors. In latter times, these dramatical 
 pieces acquired the appellation of mysteries/ 
 
 III. The miracle plays in Chaucer's days were exhibited during the 
 season of Lent/ and sometimes a sequel of scripture histories was car- 
 ried on for several days. In the reign of Richard the Second, the pa- 
 rish clerks of London put forth a play at Skinners Wells, near Smith- 
 field, which continued three days; the king, queen, and many of the 
 nobility, being present at the performance/ In the succeeding reign h 
 another play was acted 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. The last of these 
 performances, no doubt, bore a close analogy to the well known mys- 
 tery entitled Corpus Christi, or Ludus Coventriae, the Coventry Play ; 
 transcripts of this play, nearly, if not altogether coeval with the time of 
 its representation, are yet in existence.' 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 re- 
 presented seated on his throne by himself ; after a speech of some 
 length,* the angels enter singing from the church service, * To Thee all 
 
 e About the year 1110. d Caps chorales. Mat. Paris, ut sup. 
 
 « Because, as the learned editor of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, supposes, the most mysterious 
 subjects of the scripture were frequently chosen for their composition. Essay on the Origin of the 
 English Stage, vol. i. 
 
 f Wife of Bath's prologue in the Canterbury Tales. 
 $ A. D. 1391. Stow's Survey of London, page 76. * A. D. 1409. An. 10 Henry IV, 
 
 i One in particular, preserved in the Cotton Library, marked Vespasianus, D. viii, 
 * Forty lines : take the first four by way of specimen. 
 ' Ejo sura de Alpha et Omega principium et finis,' 
 
 T 
 
138 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein ; To Thee the 
 Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy Lord 
 God of Hosts/ Lucifer then 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 an- 
 gels 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. 1 
 
 IV. The mysteries often consisted of single subjects, and made but 
 one performance. In the Bodleian Library at.Oxford 1 " 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 ihe 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, 6 Here outeyth Saul, goodly besene in the best 
 wyse lyke an adventrous knyth, thus sayynge, 
 
 Most dowtyd man, [ 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, 
 
 < My name is knowyn God and Kynge, 
 My werke for to make now wyl I wende, 
 In myself restyth my reyneyege, 
 It hath no gynnyg ne non ende.' 
 
 1 1 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. Dugdale says, for the 
 performance of these plays they had theatres for the several scenes very large and high, placed upon 
 wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the spectators. 
 Warwickshire, page 11 6". 
 
 m Digby, 113, 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 139 
 
 are Caiphas, Ananias, first and second soldiers ; the 4 Stabularyus,' or 
 hostler, the servant and Belial. 
 
 V. Notwithstanding the seriousness of the subjects that constituted 
 these mysteries, it seems clear that they were not exhibited without a 
 portion of pantomirnical 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." 
 
 VI. When the mysteries ceased to be played, the subjects for the 
 drama were not taken from historical facts, but consisted of moral rea- 
 sonings in praise of virtue and condemnation of vice, on which account 
 they were called moralities ; and these performances requiring some de- 
 gree of invention, laid the foundation for our modern comedies and tra- 
 gedies. 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 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 ;° and even when regular tragedies and comedies were intro- 
 
 n See the Manners and customs of the English, wheie this subject is treated upon more largely. 
 ° 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 Staple of Newes, acted A.D. 1(525, it is said, * Iniquity came in like Hokos-pokos in a jug- 
 ler'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 ' Anatomie 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, 
 
140 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 book in- 
 
 duced upon the stage, we may trace the decendants 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 cha- 
 racter into the most serious parts of one of his best tragedies ; the pro- 
 pensity to laugh at the expence of good sense and propriety, is well 
 ridiculed in the 4 Intermeane' at the end of the first act of the Staple of 
 Newes, by Jonson, and again in the Preludium to the Careless She- 
 herdess, p 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 cry'd again, to see what faces 
 
 The rogue will make : Oh 1 it does me good 
 
 To see him hold out's chin, hang down his hands y 
 
 And twirle his hawble. There is nere a part 
 
 About him but breaks jests. I heard a fellow 
 
 Once on the stage, cry doodle doodle dooe 
 
 Beyond compare; l'de give th' other shilling. 
 
 To see him act the Changling once again. 
 
 To this another character replies, 
 
 And so would I; his part has all the wit, 
 
 For none speakes, carps, and quibbles besides him y 
 
 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, 
 
 '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 
 ©ver the other with great noise and riot, ' for dysport sake.' 
 
 E A pastoral tragi-comedy by Thomas Goffe, A. D. 1656. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 141 
 
 Well, since there will be nere a fool i'th' play, 
 I'll have my money again j the comedy 
 Will be as tedious to me as a sermon. 
 
 VII. 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 min- 
 strels, jugglers, tumblers, dancers, bourdours or jesters, and other per- 
 formers 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 re- 
 lished not only by the vulgar part of the people, but also by the nobi- 
 lity. 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; 11 vast 
 sums of money were lavishly bestowed upon these secular itinerants, 
 which induced the monks and other ecclesiastics to turn actors them- 
 selves, in order to obtain a share of the public bounty. But to give 
 the better colouring to their undertaking, they took the subjects of 
 their dialogues from the holy writ, and performed them in the churches. 
 The secular showmen, however, retained their popularity notwith- 
 standing the exertions of their clerical rivals, who diligently endea- 
 voured to bring them into disgrace, by bitterly inveighing against the 
 filthiness and immorality of their exhibitions/ On the other hand, the 
 itinerant players sometimes invaded the province of the churchmen, 
 and performed their mysteries or others similar to them, as we find 
 from a petition presented to Richard the Second by the scholars of 
 Saint Paul's school, wherein complaint is made against the secular ac- 
 tors, because they took upon themselves to act plays composed from, 
 the scripture history, to the great prejudice of the clergy, who had been 
 at much expence to prepare such performances for public exhibition 
 
 i See more upon this subject in the following chapter. 
 1 By writing and preaching against them. A monkish author of the twelfth century says of them, 
 'Etiam ill i qui obscaenio partibus corporis oculis omnium earn ingerunt turpitudinem, quam erubescat. 
 vsidere vel cynicus, &c.' Joh. Sarisburensis de nugis curialium, Lib. I. chap, viii, p. 34. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 at the festival of Christmas. 5 But, generally speaking, the secular 
 plays had nothing to do with religion, and if an early writer of our own 
 country 1 may be fully credited, but little with morality ; they consisted 
 of comic tales, dialogues, and stories, to which were added coarse and 
 indecent jests, intermixed with instrumental music, singing, dancing, 
 tumbling, gesticulation, and mimicry, to excite laughter, without the 
 least regard to decency ; and for this reason, the clergy were prohibited 
 from going to see them. Cardinal Wolsey, in his regulations for the 
 monastery of the canons regular of Saint Austin, forbad the brethren 
 to be players, or mimics ; but the prohibition meant, that they should 
 not go abroad to exercise those talents in a secular and mercenary 
 capacity." 
 
 VIII. 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 to promote mirth, and therefore they are censured as ' vain 
 pastimes' by Matthew Paris/ Something of this kind was the repre- 
 sentation made before king Henry the Eighth at Greenwich, thus re- 
 lated 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 cham- 
 bre, 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 berd, 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 enter- 
 tainment, but also ingeniously made the vehicles for the introduction 
 
 * A.D. 1378. an. 2 Rich. II. 1 John of Salisbury. See the last note but one. 
 
 " A. D. 1519. Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. page 568. '* Vitae Abbatum., page 6. 
 
 * Hall. Vit. Hen. VIII. sub an. 1528. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 143 
 
 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 fol- 
 lowing dialogue, taken from the author just now quoted : 4 On Sonday 
 at night the fifteenth, of June, in the great halle at Wyndsore/ the 
 emperor Maximilian and Henry the Eighth being present, ' was a dis- 
 guisiyng or play ; the effect of it was, that there was a proud horse 
 which would not be tamed nor brideled ; but Amitie sent Prudence 
 and Policie which tamed him, and Force and Puissance brideled him. 
 This horse was meant by the Frenche kyng, y and Amitie by the kynge 
 of England, and the emperor and the other persons were their coun- 
 sail and power/ 2 
 
 IX. Comedies were not known, nor tragedies according to the mo- 
 dern acceptation of the word in Chaucer's time ; for what he calls trage- 
 dies, are simply tales of persons who have fallen from a state of pros- 
 perity or worldly grandeur to great adversity, as he himself tells us in 
 the following line : 
 
 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.* 
 
 X. The ecclesiastical plays, as we observed before, were usually per- 
 formed in churches, or chapels, upon temporary scaffolds erected for 
 that purpose; and sometimes, when a sufficient number of clerical 
 actors were not to be procured, the churchwardens and chief parish- 
 ioners caused the plays to be acted by the secular players, in order to 
 collect money for the defraying of the church expences ; and in many 
 instances they borrowed the theatrical apparel from other parishes when 
 they had none of their own. The acting of plays in churches was 
 
 y Or rather we should say, The French king was meant by the horse, &c. 
 * Hall, ut sup sub. an. 14. A.D. 1523. 
 * Prologues 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. 
 
144 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 much declaimed against by the religious writers of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury ; and Bonner, bishop of London, in the thirty-third year of the 
 reign of Henry the Eighth, issued a proclamation to the clergy of his 
 diocese, prohibiting all manner of common plays, games, or interludes, 
 to be played, set forth, or declared, within their churches or chapels. b 
 
 XI. 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 : 4 The guary-miracle, in English, a miracle play, 
 is a kind of enterlude compiled in Cornish out of some scripture his- 
 tory, with that grossness which accompanied the Romanes vetus co- 
 media. 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.' c 
 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. 
 
 XII. The itinerant players often exhibited their performances upon 
 temporary scaffolds as late as the reign of queen Elizabeth ; a writer 
 of that time, who is very severe against them, says, * they are called 
 histriones, or rather histrices, which play, upon scaffolds and stages, en- 
 terludes and comedies he then launches out most furiously, calling 
 
 t> Dated A. D. 1542. 
 
 e Survey of Cornwall, by Richard Carew, esq. Lond. 1602. See page J\. In the Harleian Library 
 is preserved a miracle play of this kind in the Cornish language, written by William Gordon, A. D. 
 l6ll, accompanied with an English translation by John Keygwyn, A.D. 1693. It begins with the 
 creation and ends with Noah's flood. Noah himself concludes the play, with an address to the spec- 
 tators, 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.' Such a ridiculous jumble of religion and buffoonery might well excite the indig- 
 nation of serious people. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 145 
 
 them 6 jugglers, scoffers, jeasters, and players/ and ranks them with 
 the lowest and most vicious of mankind/ 
 
 XIII. 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 the Third ; the pre- 
 parations made for them at that time are mentioned without the least 
 indication of novelty, which admits of the supposition that they were 
 still more ancient. From the numeration of the dresses appropriated 
 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 ; e how far they 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 the Eighth, 
 no doubt, originated from the ludi above mentioned. These mumme- 
 ries, as a modern writer justly observes, were destitute of character 
 and humour, their chief aim being to surprise the spectators 4 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 pro- 
 priety. Frequently the masque was attended with an exhibition 
 of gorgeous machinery, resembling the wonders of a modern pan- 
 tomime.^ 
 
 The reader may form some judgment of the appearance the actors 
 
 d A treatise against dicing, dancing, vain plays, or interludes, &c. by John Northbrooke. 
 « Wardrobe roll of Edward III. dated A. D. 1348. 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 SO tunics of 
 buckram of various colours j 42 visors of different similitudes, namely, 14 of faces of women, 
 14 of faces of men, and 14 heads of angels made with silver; 28 crests; 14 mantles embroi- 
 dered with heads of dragons, 14 white tunics wrought with the heads and wings of peacocks, 14 with 
 the heads of swans with wings, 14 tunics painted with the eyes of peacocks, 14 tunics of English linen 
 painted, and 14 other tunics embroidered with stars of gold. Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. i. 
 page 238. 
 
 f Warton's Hist. Poet. vol. iii page 156. See also Dr. Henry, Hist. Brit. vol. vi. book vi. cap. 7. 
 
 U 
 
146 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 made upon these occasions, from the masquerade figures at the top and 
 the bottom of the sixteenth plate, which are taken from a beautiful 
 manuscript written and illuminated in the reign of Edward the Third. 8 
 The performance seems to have consisted chiefly in dancing, and the 
 mummers are usually attended by the minstrels playing upon several 
 different kinds of musical instruments. 
 
 Many of these stately shows are described at length by Hall and Ho- 
 linshed ; and, as some of my readers may not have those authors near at 
 hand, I will subjoin the account of two of them in Hall's own words. 
 In the fifth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, his majesty kept his 
 Christmas at Greenwich ; and on twelfth night h 4 there came,' says the 
 historian, ' into the great hall, a mount called the riche mount. This 
 mount was set full of riche flowers of silke, and especially of brome' 
 slippes full of poddes, the branches were grene sattin, and the flowers 
 flat gold of damaske which signified Plantagenet : on the top stood a 
 goodly bekon k giving light, rounde above the bekon sat the kyng and 
 five other al in coales and cappes of right crimosin velvet, einbroudered 
 with fiat gold of damaske, their coates set full of spangelles of gold ; 
 and foure woodhouses 1 drew the mount 'till it came before the queen, 
 and then the kyng and his compaigne discended and daunced ; then 
 suddainly the mount opened, and out came six ladies all in crimosin 
 satin and plunket, einbroudered with golde and perle, with Frenche 
 hoodes on their heddes, and they daunced alone. Then the lordes of 
 the mount tooke the ladies and daunced together, and the ladies 
 
 * In the Bodleian Library at Oxford, marked Bod. 264. This MS. was completed in the year 1343. 
 
 h In another part of his history, Hall tells us, that these shows were made upon twelfth night * ac- 
 cording to olde custome,' Vita Hen. VIII. fol. 5Q. 
 
 i Broom. k Beacon. 
 
 1 The woodhouses or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called, were wild or savage men ; and in 
 this instance, men dressed up with skins, or rugs resembling skins, so as to appear like savages. These 
 pageants were frequently moveable 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. MS. Harl. 69. page 31. 
 
Tl. XVI . 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 147 
 
 re-entered, and the mount closed, and so was conveyed out of the 
 hall. ,ra 
 
 XIV. 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, 6 a rock ful 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 amies of the 
 church of Rome ; the second was a pyne aple tree, with the arms of 
 the emperor ; the third was a rosyer, p 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 q was after the fashion of Inde, with kerchiefes of plea- 
 saunce hached r with fynegold, 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 faugh te 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.' 8 
 
 XV. Among the pastimes exhibited for the entertainment of queen 
 
 ,n Hall's Union. Vita Hen. VIII. p. 22. n October the eighth. 
 
 ° Pine apple. p A rose tree. i Head dress. 
 
 ' Pleasaunce was a fine thin species of gauze, which was striped with gold. 
 • Hall, ut sup. fol. 59. 
 
148 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Elizabeth during her stay at Kenelworth Castle, Warwickshire, was a 
 kind of historical play, or old storial show, 1 performed by certain per- 
 sons who came for that purpose from Coventry. The subject of this 
 show was the massacre of the Danes, a memorable event in the English 
 history 11 which w T as 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, pa- 
 pistry, or any superstition/ w The rhimes originally belonging to the 
 play, I presume, were omitted upon the abovementioned 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 6 hosts 
 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/ y 
 
 XVI. The secular plays, as we have seen, consisted of a medley of 
 different performances, calculated chiefly to promote mirth without 
 
 * 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 above, to which it did not bear the least 
 analogy. 
 
 « On St. Brice's night, November 13, A. D. 1002. 
 
 w Account of the sports at Kenelworth Castle, by Robert Laneham, re-printed by Mr. Nichols in 
 the Progresses of queen Elizabeth, vol. i. page 22. 
 
 *■ Owing to the discontinuance of the play they might have been lost, and probably the time did not 
 permit them to be written anew. Reliq. Anc. Poet, vol. i. page 142. 
 
 r Her majesty was much pleased with this performance, ' whereat,' says my author, ' she laughed 
 well,' and rewarded the actors with two bucks, and five marks in money j and with this munificence 
 they were highly satisfied. Laneham, ut supra, page 24. 
 
BOOK. III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 149 
 
 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 only relished by the vulgar ; the law set her face 
 against them, the performers were stigmatised with the names of rogues 
 and vagabonds, and all access was denied them at the houses of the 
 opulent ; they depended of course upon the precarious support derived 
 from the favours of the lower classes of the people, which was not 
 sufficient to enable them to appear with their former credit; their 
 companies were necessarily divided, and their performances became 
 less worthy of notice, every one of them endeavouring to shift for him- 
 self in the best manner that he could ; or a few of them uniting their abili- 
 ties as occasion might serve, exhibited at wakes and fairs, and lived 
 upon the contributions of rustics and children. The tragitour novr 
 became a mere juggler, and played a few paltry tricks occasionally, 
 assisted by the bourdour, or 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 distin- 
 guished by the appellation of a droll, or a puppet-play ; wherein a fa- 
 cetious performer, well known by the name of Punchinello, 2 supplied 
 the place of the vice, or mirth-maker, a favourite character in the mo- 
 ralities. The first appearance of a company of wooden actors excited, 
 no doubt, the admiration of the populace, and the novelty of such an 
 
 2 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 con- 
 clusion of the drama. See note (°), page 139; an ^j> i n 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,' re- 
 verses 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. 
 
150 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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, 3 but the puppets were originally called motions: 
 we find them mentioned in Gammer Gurton's Needle, and there the 
 master of the puppet-show seems to have been considered as no better 
 than an idle vagrant. b 
 
 XVII. Previous to the invention of puppets, or rather to the incor- 
 porating of them into companies, there were automatons that per- 
 formed variety of motions ; the famous rood, or crucifix, at Boxley in 
 Kent, described by Lambarde, was a figure of this kind, which moved 
 its eyes, and turned its head whenever the monkish miracle workers 
 required its assistance. 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 signi- 
 fied by its gestures that the clock was about to strike." From these 
 figures, I doubt not, originated the more modern heroes of the 
 puppet-show. 
 
 XVIII. The Puppet-shows usually made their appearance at great 
 fairs, and especially at those in the vicinity of the metropolis ; they still 
 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.* 1 
 
 a 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. 
 
 b One of the characters says, he will go ' and travel with j'oung goose, the motion-man, for a pup- 
 pet-player.* The comedy, it is said, was written A.D. 151/. 
 
 c 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.' The name of Jack of the Clock-house was also given to a certain 
 description of thieves. 
 
 * See the Introduction upon this subject. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 151 
 
 Powel, a famous puppet-show man, is mentioned in one of the early 
 papers of the Spectator, 6 and his performances are humorously con- 
 trasted with those at the Opera House. At the same time there was 
 another motion-master, who also appears to have been of some cele- 
 brity, named Crawley ; I have before me two bills of his exhibition, 
 one for Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair/ The 
 first runs thus : 4 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 present Noah and 
 his family coming out of the ark, with all the beasts two by 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 : more- 
 over, 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 de- 
 scend 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 specta- 
 tors ; with the merry conceits of squire Punch and sir John Spendall/ 
 This curious medley was, we are toldj 4 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 4 the ball of little dogs \ it is also added, that these celebrated per- 
 formers had danced before the queen 8 and most of the quality of 
 England, and amazed every body. 
 
 XIX. 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 an old comedy : 4 They had 
 
 e No. xiv. vol. i. first published A. D. YJ\\\ 
 f These bills are preserved in a miscellaneous collection of advertisements and title-pages among the 
 Harleian MSS. marked 5931. 
 
 * Queen Anne. 
 
152 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 like to have frighted me with a man dressed up like a gyant in a 
 puppet-show.' h 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 communicated 
 the motion to them appeared at the tops of their heads, and the man- 
 ner in which they were made to move evinced the ignorance and inat- 
 tention of the managers; the dialogues were mere jumbles of absurdity 
 and nonsense, intermixed with low immoral discourses passing between 
 Punch and the fiddler, 1 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. 
 
 XX. The introduction, or rather the revival of pantomimes, which 
 indeed have long disgraced the superior theatres, proved the utter un- 
 doing of the puppet-show men; in fact, all the absurdities of the pup- 
 pet-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 music, in the pantomimes, 
 are great improvements upon the humble attempts of the vagrant 
 motion-master. 
 
 XXI. In the present day, 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 de- 
 pends entirely on the voluntary contributions of the spectators, which, 
 
 h ' The Humorous Lovers/ printed in l@lf*. 
 i In the reign of James the Second, there was a noted merry-andrew, named Philips ; this man, says 
 Grainger, '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 afterwards with the mountebank doctor, his master 0:1 
 the stage. This zany, being regularly educated, had confessedly the advantage of his brethren.' 
 Biogr. Hist. vol. iv. p. 350. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 153 
 
 as far as one may judge from the squalid appearance he usually makes, 
 is very trifling. k 
 
 XXII. Another species of scenic exhibition with moving figures, 
 bearing some distant analogy to the puppets, appeared at the com- 
 mencement of the last century. Such a show is thus described by the 
 manager : ' To be seen, 1 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 arti- 
 ficially done as to seem to drive the water before them. The city and 
 citadel are very fine, with all its outworks, ravelins, hornworks, coun- 
 ter-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 com- 
 pany 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 ad- 
 mirable curiosities too tedious to be inserted here/ He then modestly 
 adds, 4 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 Flocton, some 
 few years back, had an exhibition of this kind, which he called a 
 
 k A few years back, a puppet-show was exhibited at the court end of the town, with the Italian 
 title fantoccini, which greatly attracted the notice of the public, and was spoken of as an extraordinary 
 performance : it was, however, no more than a puppet-show, with the motions constructed upon 
 better principles, dressed with more elegance, and managed with greater art, than they had for- 
 merly been. 
 
 1 This bill was put forth in the reign of queen Anne. The show was exhibited at the great house 
 in the Strand, over against the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market j the best places at one shilling, 
 and the others at sixpence each. 
 
 X 
 
154 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 grand piece of clock-work. In this machine the combination of many 
 different motions, and tolerably well contrived, were at one time pre- 
 sented to the eye. 
 
 Pinkethmans Pantheon, mentioned in the Spectator, was, I pre- 
 sume, an exhibition something similar to that above described, and 
 probably the heathen deities were manufactured from pasteboard, and 
 seated in rows one over the other upon clouds of the same material ; 
 at least, I have seen them so fabricated, and so represented, at a show 
 in the country, about forty years ago, which was contrived m such a 
 manner, that the whole group descended and ascended with a slow 
 motion, to the sound of music. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OP THE PEOPLE 01? ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 The British Bards. — The Northern Scalds. — The Anglo-Saxon Gleemen. — The Na- 
 ture of their Performances. — The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the 
 Saxons. — The Norman Minstrels.— Their different Denominations — and Pro- 
 fessions — greatly encouraged — their Privileges — their Insolence — their decline. — <- 
 Flatterers of the great. — Satirists. — Women Minstrels. — The Dress of the Min- 
 strels. — The King of the Minstrels, why so called. — Rewards given to Minstrels. — 
 Minstrels were sometimes Dancing Masters. 
 
 I. 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. 6 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; a 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/ b Their songs 
 and their music are said to have been so exceedingly affecting, that 
 ' sometimes when two armies were standing in order of battle, with 
 their swords drawn, and their lances extended upon the point of en- 
 gaging 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 barba- 
 rians/ adds the author, 4 rage gave way to wisdom, and Mars sub- 
 mitted to the Muses/ 
 
 II. The Scalds d were the poets and the musicians of the ancient 
 Northern nations ; they resembled the bards of the Britons, and were 
 
 *' Ammlanus Marcell. Lib. xv. cap. 9. b Diodorus Siculus, Lib. v. cap. 31. 
 
 clbid. 
 
 * Bartholin de causis contemp. a Danis Mortis, Lib. i. cap. 2. et Wormii Lit. Run. ad finim, 
 
156 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 held in equal veneration by their countrymen. The Scalds were 
 considered as necessary appendages to royalty, and even the infe- 
 rior chieftains had their poets to record their actions and indulge 
 their vanity. 
 
 Upon the establishment of the Saxons in Britain, these poetical mu- 
 sicians were their chief favourites ; the courts of the kings, and the re- 
 sidences of the opulent afforded them a constant asylum ; their per- 
 sons 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, 6 and the other harpers/ derived from the harp, an instru- 
 ment they usually played upon. The gleemen added mimicry, and 
 other means of promoting mirth to their profession, as well as dancing 6 
 and tumbling, with sleights of hand, and variety of deceptions to amuse 
 the spectators : it was therefore necessary for them to associate them- 
 selves 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 : but upon this subject we shall 
 have occasion to speak more fully hereafter. 
 
 III. Representations of some of these pastimes are met with occa- 
 sionally in the early Latin and Saxon 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 communicators of much valuable informa- 
 tion. The following observations upon two very early paintings will, I 
 doubt not, in great measure confirm the truth of this assertion. Upon 
 
 e Ghp or Gli^man ; hence Gli^amen, glee-games, are properly explained in Somner's Lexicon, by 
 merry tricks, jests, sports, and gambols, which were expressive of their new acquirements. 
 
 f Qeappene-, the appellation of harper, was long retained by the English rhymists. 
 
 g In ^Edgar's Oration to Dunstan, the mimi, or minstrels, are said to sing and dance ; and, in the 
 Saxon canons made in that king's reign, A.D. 960, can. 58, it is ordered that no priest shall be a poet, 
 j-ceop, or exercise the mimical or histrionical art, in any degree, public or private. Spel. Concil. torn. i. 
 page 455. Lye renders the words ' ne semse ^r an S^S 6 / nec ullo modo scurram agat. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 157 
 
 the seventeenth plate 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 the j are engaged ; on the contrary, their attitudes are such as 
 must have rendered it very difficult to perform : and upon the same 
 plate the reader will find a curious specimen of the Saxon glee-man's 
 art. We there see a man throwing three balls and three knives alter- 
 nately into the air, and catching them one by one as they fall, but re- 
 turning them again in a regular rotation. To give the greater appear- 
 ance 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 mentioned, 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 addition to the four figures upon 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 preserved, was written as early as the eighth cen- 
 tury. 14 The second painting, which is more modern than the former 
 by full two centuries, 1 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 wind- 
 ing a crooked horn. In a short prologue, immediately preceding 
 the psalms, we read as follows: ' David, Alius Jesse, in regno suo qua- 
 tuor elegit qui psalmos fecerunt, id est Asaph, iEman, iEthan, et 
 Idithun which may be thus translated literally, ' David, the son of 
 
 i The king in both paintings is depicted considerably larger than the other performers, a compli- 
 roent 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. 
 
 k It is in the Cotton Library at the British Museum, and marked Vespasianus, A. L 
 1 In another MS. in the same library, marked Tiberius, C. vi. 
 
158 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 Jesse, in his reign elected four persons who composed psalms, that is 
 to say, Asaph, iEman, iEthan, and Idilhun/ In the painting these 
 four names are separately appropriated, one to each of the four per- 
 sonages there represented; the player upon the violin is called Idi- 
 thun, 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 pas- 
 times, 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 
 gTeenien ; 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 concluded 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 ve- 
 nerated by persons of the highest rank, and their company requested 
 fey kings and princes, who richly rewarded them for the exercise of 
 their talents, and for this reason, conceived that they were proper con>. 
 panions for the royal psalmist. 
 
 V'. 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. m Our 
 Saxon joculator, however, has the advantage of the monarch by 
 adding the three balls, which of course must have made the trick more 
 difficult to be performed. 
 
 VI. The celebrated minstrel Taillefer, who came into England with 
 
 m Pontoppidan. Hist. Norway, p. 148. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 159 
 
 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 con- 
 queror's army, singing the songs of Charlemagne and of Roland ; but 
 previous to the commencement of the action, he advanced on horse- 
 back 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 dex- 
 terity, 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. 
 
 VII. One part of the gleeman's profession, as early as the tenth cen- 
 tury, was, teaching animals to dance, to tumble, and to put themselves 
 into variety of attitudes, at the command of their masters. Upon the 
 twenty-second plate we see the copy of a curious though rude deli- 
 neation, 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 concourse are standing round it in a semicircle as spec- 
 tators 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 
 
 n L'un dit al altre ki co veit, 
 Ke co esteit enchantement. 
 TVace's Hist, de tut les Reys de Brittaigne, continued by Geoffrai Gaimer, MS. in the Royal Library, 
 marked 13 A. xxi. 
 
160 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK m. 
 
 them upon the seventeenth plate, where 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: but we shall have occasion farther on to speak more largely 
 concerning all these kinds of diversions. 
 
 VIII. The bards and the scalds most assuredly used the harp to ac- 
 company their songs and modulate their voices ; the Saxon gleemen 
 and joculators followed their example, and are frequently called har- 
 pers 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 popular, and frequently exer- 
 cised by persons who did not follow the profession of gleemen. We 
 learn from unquestionable authority, that, as early as the seventh cen- 
 tury, 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; p 
 but probably this was not the practice when the professional harper 
 was present, whose province it was to amuse the company. 
 
 IX. Soon after the Conquest, these musicians lost the ancient Saxon 
 appellation of gleemen, and were called ministraulx, in English min- 
 strels,' 1 a term well known in Normandy some time before. As the 
 minstrel's art consisted of several branches, the professors were distin- 
 guished by different denominations, as ' rimours, chanterres, conteours, 
 
 Both these drawings occur in a MS. psalter 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. It is preserved in the Harleian Library, and marked 603. 
 
 p Bede's Eccles. Hist. Lib. iv, cap. 24. Bede says, Omnes per ordinem cantare debent j and king 
 Alfred translates the word cantare be heanpan rmxan, sing to the harp. The historian adds, that 
 Caedmon, not being acquainted with such sort of songs, gat up when he saw the harp, eytharam, 
 brought near him, and went home j the king adds the reason, Sonne anap he pon rceome, then arose he 
 for shame, not being able to comply with the general practice; 
 
 1 They were, however, called harpers by the English rhymists ; but the Norman name minstrel was 
 -much more commonly used. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. l6l 
 
 jugleours or jongleurs, jestours, lecours, and troubadours or trouvers; r 
 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. An eminent French antiquary 
 says of the minstrels, that some of them composed themselves 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 productions with rhyme, while the conteours related 
 their histories in prose: the jugleours, who in the middle ages were 
 famous for playing upon the vielle, 8 accompanied the songs of the 
 trouvers ; they 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. 
 
 X. The Norman rhymers appear to have been the genuine descend- 
 ants 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. 11 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 
 
 r In the Latin, ministerellus, or ministrallus, is also called mimus, mimicus, histrio, joculator, versi- 
 ficator, cantor, and scurra. 
 
 s A stringed instrument, sounded by the turning of a wheel within it, resembling that we frequently 
 see about the streets played by the Savoyards, and vulgarly called a hurdy-gurdy. 
 
 1 Claude Fauchet, Origine de la Langue et Poesie Franchise, printed A. D. 1581, lib. i, chap. viii. 
 fol. /2. 
 
 " And trouvers, that is, finders, probably from the fertility of their invention, 
 ■w Le Grand, Fables, oucontes des 12. 13. Siecles, torn. v. 
 
162 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK HI. 
 
 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 the First, who, being closely confined in a castle 
 belonging the duke of Austria, was discovered by his favourite minstrel 
 Elondel, a celebrated troubadour, through the means of a poem com- 
 posed by the poet, in conjunction with his royal master.? 
 
 XI. The conteurs and the jestours, who are also called dissours, and 
 seggers, or sayers 2 in English, were literally tale-tellers, who recited 
 either their own compositions or those of others, consisting of popular 
 tales and romances, for the entertainment 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, we read of a king who kept 
 
 * Dr. Henry, Hist. Brit. vol. viii. sect. 3. cap. 5. page 502. 
 y 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 deter- 
 mined 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 himself 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 ad- 
 venture, and they, by means of a large sum of money, procured the liberty of the monarch. Claude 
 Fauchet des ancient Poets Francoises liv. ii. chap. vii. p. Q2; and see Wal pole's Royal and Noble 
 Authors, vol. i. p. 6. 
 
 % And, in the Latin of that time, fabulatores, and naratores, 
 a Confessio AmantiSj lib. vii. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 163 
 
 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. b 
 
 XII. 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. c 
 
 And jestours that tellen tales, 
 Bothe of wepyng 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 gestours, whose powers 
 were chiefly employed in the hours of conviviality, finding by expe- 
 rience 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 mis- 
 chiefs 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/ d He de- 
 scribes them also as haunters of taverns and common ale-houses, 
 amusing the lower classes of the people with 6 myrth of minstrelsy and 
 losels tales ; e and calls them tale-tellers and tutors of idleness/ occa- 
 sioning 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, 
 
 b MS. Harl. c The thirde boke of Fame. . 
 
 * From the edition printed A. D. 1550. e ' Loose vulgar tales.' Ibid, 
 
 f ' Tutelers in ydell.* Ibid 
 
164 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III* 
 
 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 J — 
 
 He then blames the opulent for rewarding these ' devils dissours,' as 
 lie 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 rybau* 
 ders, 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 ; and they are well described by the poet s 
 
 As japers and janglers, Judas children, 
 
 Fayneth them fantasies, and fooles them maketh.k 
 
 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. 
 
 XIII. The different talents of the minstrels are sarcastically de- 
 scribed by an ancient French poet; 1 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 most merriment, 
 
 8 The ale here evidently implies the place where ale was sold. Ibid. pass. vi. 
 b Meaning a reward. Ibid. pass. xi. 
 » 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. 
 
 k P. Ploughman, pass, primus. 
 I Fabiliaux et Conies, edit. Par. torn. 2, page i6i c 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 165 
 
 either by ridiculous words or by actions." 1 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 under- 
 stood the jugglers art played upon the vielle ;° and others depended 
 on the narration of quaint fables, which were productive of much 
 laughter. So far the poet ; and, if his statement be not very distant 
 from the truth, we shall not wonder at the outcry of our moral and re- 
 ligious writers against such a mean and mercenary set of men, who 
 were ready at command to prostitute their abilities to the worst of 
 purposes, and encourage the growth of immorality and dissipation : 
 the charge indeed is heavy, but I fear it will be found to stand upon a 
 strong and permanent foundation. 
 
 XIV. 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 per- 
 mitted 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 previous invitation, and there exhi- 
 bited their performances for the entertainment of the lord of the man- 
 sion and his guests. They were, it seems, admitted without any diffi- 
 culty, and handsomely rewarded for the exertion of their talents. 
 
 m La meillor truffe — dire ne faire. 
 
 n Li autre note, which properly signifies the pricking, or writing of musical notes; but it is also ap- 
 plied to the playing upon pipes and other musical instruments by note. 
 
 Cil qui sevent la jouglerie vielant. The vielle seems to have been an instrument of music chiefly; 
 used by the jugglers, 
 
166 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 It was no uncommon thing with the itinerant minstrels to find ad- 
 mission into the houses of the opulent. The Saxon and the Danish glee- 
 men followed the armies in the time of war, and had access to both the 
 camps without the least molestation. The popular story of king 
 iElfred, 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, p and entered the Danish camp, where he 
 made such observations as w r ere of infinite service. This stratagem 
 was afterwards repeated by Anlaff, or AulafF, the Dane, who was 
 equally successful. 4 
 
 The extensive privileges enjoyed by the minstrels, and the long con- 
 tinuance 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 the Second 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 man- 
 date ordains, that no persons should resort to the houses of prelates, 
 earls, or barons, to eat, or lb drink, who was not a professed minstrel ; 
 nor more than three or four minstrels of honour r at most in one 
 
 P Sub specie mimi — ut joculatoriae professor artis. Malmsb. Lib. ii. cap. 4. To this we may add the 
 authority of Ingulphus, whose words are, fingens se joculatorem, assumpta cithara, &c. Hist, page 86g. 
 
 q He assumed, says the historian, professionem mimi, 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.' Malmsb. Lib. ii. cap. 6. 
 
 r Meaning, I presume, the king's minstrels and those retained by the nobility. Thus we read in. 
 the old romance of Launfel, 
 
BOOK III, Or THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 1^7 
 
 day, except they came by invitation from the lord of the house. It 
 also prohibits a professed minstrel from going to the house of any per- 
 son below the dignity of a baron, unless he was 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/ 
 
 XV. In little more than a century afterwards, the same grievances 
 became again the subject of complaint; and in the ninth year of 
 Edward the Fourth, 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, 1 to be governed by a marshal 11 
 appointed for life, 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/ 
 
 XVI. It does not appear that much good was effected by the fore- 
 going institution : it neither corrected the abuses practised by the fra- 
 ternity, nor retrieved their reputation, which declined apace from this 
 period. In the reign of queen Elizabeth, the minstrels had lost the 
 protection of the opulent, and their credit was sunk so low in the 
 
 They had menstrelles of moche honours, 
 Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompoters, 
 
 8 Dated from Langley, 6, an. 9. Edward II. A.D. 1315. For the first offence the minstrel lost his 
 minstrelsy, and for the second he was obliged to forswear his profession, and was never to appear again 
 as a minstrel. Appendix to Leland's Collect, vol. vi. page 36. 
 
 1 Such as the king understood the brothers and sisters of the fraternity of minstrels to have possessed 
 in former time. The minstrel's art, or part of it at least, was practised by females in the time of the 
 Saxons, as we shall see a little farther on. 
 
 u The same office as that anciently possessed by the king of the minstrels. At this time there was- 
 also a sergeant of the minstrels. See the Essay on Ancient Minstrels prefixed to the Reliques of An- 
 cient Poetry vol. i. 
 
 w The minstrels of Chester, who had by charter several peculiar privileges, are excepted in this 
 act. Ibid. 
 
168 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 public estimation, that, in an act against vagrants, they were included 
 among the rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and subjected to 
 the like punishments. This edict also affected all fencers, beanvards, 
 common players of interludes, 5 " 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 mu- 
 sicians, whose miserable state is thus described by a contemporary au- 
 thor : y 6 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 tale of sir Topas, Bevis of Southampton, Guy of War- 
 wick, Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough, and such other old ro- 
 mances 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 low estate of the minstrels at this time, in the two 
 last 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 ineales meat. 21 
 
 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 ap- 
 pellation seems to have been confined to the instrumental performers, 
 and such of them as were placed upon a regular establishment ; the 
 
 * With the exception of such players as belonged to great personages, and were authorised to play 
 under the hand and seal of their patrons. Stat. 3Q Eliz. cap. 4. 
 
 * Putenhanij in his Arte of English Poesie, printed A.D. 1589, book ii. cap. 9. 
 
 z Lib. iv, sat. 1 . 
 
BOOK III. * 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 169 
 
 musicians of the city of London, for instance, were called indifferently 
 waits and minstrels. 3 
 
 We hear of the itinerant musicians again in an ordinance from Oli- 
 ver Cromwell during his protectorship, which prohibits ' all persons 
 commonly called fidlers, or minstrells/ from 6 playing, fidling, and 
 making music, in any inn, alehouse, or tavern;' and also from 6 proffer- 
 ing 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. c 
 
 XVII. 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 punish- 
 ment on the other. The Scandinavian Scalds celebrated the valiant 
 actions of their countrymen in appropriate verses ; and sometimes ac- 
 companied 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 predecessors, and attached themselves to the 
 persons of princes and chieftains, and retained their favour by conti- 
 nual adulation. The minstrels of the Normans Irod in the same steps, 
 but seem to have been more venal, and ready at all times to flatter or 
 to satirize, as best suited their interest, without paying much regard to 
 justice on either side. 
 
 XVIII. It is said of William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, chancellor 
 and justiciary of England, 11 and a great favourite of Richard the First, 
 that he kept a number of poets in his pay, to make songs and poems 
 
 a Stow's Survey of Lond. p. 84. and 8.5. In the reign of Henry the Seventh, there were musicians 
 belonging to the royal household, called stryng minstrels. . See the quotations lower down respecting 
 the rewards of the minstrels. 
 
 b This edict was published A. D. 1656. 
 c 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 fourteenth century : it occurs, 
 in the Vision of Pierce the Ploughman, pass. xi. 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 Launfal. See note ( r ), page 166, 
 
 A He was also the Pope's legate. 
 7, 
 
170 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 'BOOK III, 
 
 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. 6 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 Luke de Barra, a celebrated Norman minstrel ; 
 who, in his songs having made very free with the character of Henry 
 the First 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 : 6 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 re- 
 ceived in struggling with the executioner/ The gratification of a mean 
 revenge is a strong mark of a little mind; and this inhumanity reflects 
 great discredit upon the king: it would have been noble in him to have 
 pardoned the unfortunate culprit. — Again, in the reign of king Edward 
 the Second, at the solemnization 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, 8 and at length mounted the steps to the royal 
 table, upon which she deposited a letter ; and, having so done, she 
 
 e Benedict. Abbas, sub an. lipo. Hoveden writes thus: Cantores et joculatores; de illo canerent 
 in plateisj ut jam dicebator ubique quod non erat talis in orbe ; declaring every where that his equal 
 was not in the world. Hist. p. 103. 
 
 f Orderic. Vitalis, Eccles. Hist. pp. 880, 881. 
 
 s The author uses these words : ' Intravit quaedam mulier ornata histrionali habitu, equum bonnm 
 insidens histrionaliter phaleratum, quae mensas more histrionem circuivit,' &c. Tho. Walsingham, 
 Hist. Anglise sub an. 1317, page 85, 
 
BOOK Til. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 171 
 
 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. 11 This woman had probably assumed 
 the habit of a man, and a female was chosen on this occasion, accord- 
 ing to the opinion of an eminent modern author, 1 because, upon detec- 
 tion, 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, k or female minstrels, in the Saxon re- 
 cords ; and I believe, that their province in general was to dance 
 and to tumble ; whence they acquired the name of tomblesteres, 1 
 and saylours, m in the time of Chaucer, who uses both these deno- 
 minations." 
 
 XIX. It is very clear, that the minstrels wore a peculiar kind of dress 
 by which they might readily be distinguished : the woman above men- 
 tioned is expressly said to have been habited like a mimic or a min- 
 strel, and by that means obtained admission without the least difficulty 
 to the royal presence. I remember also a story recorded in a manu- 
 script, written about the reign of Edward the Third, of a young man 
 of family, who came to a feast, where many of the nobility were pre- 
 sent, in a vesture called a coat bardy, cut short in the German fashion, 
 and resembling the dress of a minstrel. The oddity of his habit at- 
 
 h Non esse moris domus regiae histriones ab ingressu quemlibet prohibere. 
 ' Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in his Essay upon Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to the Reliques 
 of Ancient Poetry; to which I am indebted for the greater part of my information oh 'this curious 
 subject. 
 
 k From jlip-me'&en and slypien'De-ma'oen. i From the Saxon mmbian, to dance or tumble. 
 
 m From salio, to leap or dance, 
 n The first in the Pardoner's Tale, and the last in the Romance of the Rose. See the article of 
 tumbling and dancing in a succeeding section. 
 
 * 
 
172 
 
 SPORTS AND JPASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 tracted 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/ 4 Then/ returned the knight, 4 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 Bever- 
 ley in Yorkshire is the following inscription: 6 This pillar made the 
 mynstrylls ;' its capital is decorated with five men in short coats, and 
 one of them holds an instrument like a lute. p 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 the Fourth 
 against the pretended minstrels, mentioned above, expressly says, that 
 they assumed the name, and the livery or dress, of the king's own min- 
 strels. q 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 : s 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 y 
 In a fayre gowne of cloth of gold, and of tilshewe, 
 Lyke no comon 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/ it is said, ' They had not sitten long, but in comes a 
 
 MS. Harl. 1704. * Sir John Hawkins's History of Music, vol. ii. p. 298. 
 
 1 See page 167. 
 
 r In a computus of expences, an. 11 Edw. III. is this entry: ' Jchanni de Mees de Lorem. & Petro 
 de Wurgund. ministrallis dominae reginae, facientibus ministralsias suas coram domino rege apud Ebo- 
 racum;' for which they received from the king's own hand six shillings and eight pence each. MS. 
 Cott. Nero, C. viii. 
 
 • In MS. It treats upon the Stanley Family. Bibl. Harl. 541. 
 * Usually called Jack of Newbury. 
 
BOOK. III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 173 
 
 noise" of musicians in tawnie coats ; who, putting off their caps, asked 
 if they would have any music ? 
 
 It appears that the minstrels sometimes shaved the crowns of their 
 heads like the monks, and also assumed an ecclesiastical habit; this was 
 probably an external garment only, and used when they travelled from 
 place to place. The succeeding anecdote will prove that the eccle- 
 siastics and the mimics were not always readily distinguished from each 
 other : Two itinerant priests coming towards night to a cell of the Be- 
 nedictines near Oxford; where, upon the supposition of their being 
 mimics, or minstrels, they gained admittance : but the cellarer, the sa- 
 crist, and others of the brethren, disappointed in the expectation they 
 had formed of being entertained with their mirthful performances, and 
 finding them to be nothing more than two indigent ecclesiastics, beat 
 them, and turned them out of the monastery." 
 
 XX. The king's minstrel x 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 be- 
 longing to the household ; 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 
 the First ; 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 re- 
 cord, dated the fourth year of Edward the Second ; when he, in com- 
 pany with various other minstrels, exhibited their performances 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. 2 
 
 « The word noise signifies a company. The reader will find the application of many such terms to 
 different trades and professions in the note ( x ), page 20, where this was accidentally omitted. 
 
 w Hist. & Antiq. Oxon. lib. i. p. 67, sub an. 1224. 
 * Frequently in Latin called joculator regis, or the king's juggler. 
 r 'Regi Roberto ministrallo, scut, ad arma commoranti ad vadia regis, capientur per diem 12 den.' 
 &c. MS. Cott. Vespasianus, C. xvi. 
 
 z 'Regi Roberto, & aliis ministrallis diversis, facientibus ministralsias suas coram rege & aliis mag- 
 
174 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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 
 to * his well beloved the king of the minstrels ; a and concedes 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 man- 
 ner that they had been accustomed to be done in ancient times. b In a 
 ballad intituled ' The marriage of Robin Hood and Clorinda the Queen 
 of Tutbury Feast/ C 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 re- 
 lates ; 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. 
 
 A French author of eminence/ speaking concerning the title of king, 
 formerly given to many officers belonging to the court, makes these 
 observations : 6 I am well assured, the word king signifies comptroller, 
 or head, as the chief heralds are called kings at arms, because it be- 
 longed solely to them to regulate the ceremonies of the justs and tour- 
 naments/ He then applies this reasoning to the roy des ribaulx, an 
 officer in the ancient court of France; 6 and says, his charge was to 
 clear the palace of indolent and disorderly persons, who followed the 
 court, and had no business there ; and had his title as kino: of vaga- 
 
 natibus, de dono ipsius regis, per manus dicti regis Roberti, recipientis denarios ad participandum inter 
 eosdem, apud Eboracum, 20 die Feb. 40 marc.' MS. Colt. Nero, C, viii. 
 
 a ' Nostre bene a me le roy des ministraulx.' 
 b Given under his seal, at the Castle of Tutbury, Aug. 22, 4 Ric. II. Dugd. Monast. vol. i. fol. 355. 
 c Printed in a small Collection of Old Ballads, published at London in 1723. 
 
 d Claude Fauchet. 
 
 e Chaucer, in the Romance of the Rose, where the title roy des ribaulx occurs in the original, trans- 
 lates it ' king of harlotes.' 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 175 
 
 bonds, 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 the Fourth, and that of 
 marshal became its substitute. 
 
 XXI. 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 the First, is said to have 
 lavished away the greater part of her revenue upon poets and minstrels, 
 and oppressed her tenants to procure more. 6 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 without ex- 
 pressing 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 
 patronizing 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 pur- 
 suits, and corrupted their morals J 1 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 in- 
 solence contributed more to their downfall, than all the defamatory de- 
 clamations of their opponents. The ecclesiastics were mightily pleased 
 with the conduct of the emperor Henry the Third, because, at his mar- 
 riage with Agnes of Poictou, he disappointed the poor minstrels who had 
 assembled in great multitudes on the occasion, giving them neither 
 food nor rewards, but 4 sent them away,' says a monkish author, 6 with 
 empty purses, and hearts full of sorrow/ 1 But to go on. 
 
 f Origines des Dignitez & Magistrate de France, fol. 43. s Will. Malmsb. p. Q3, col. 1, 
 
 h Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curial. lib. i. cap. 8 j lib iii. cap. 7« Matt. Paris, in Vit. Hen. III. 
 sub an. 1251, &c. 
 
 1 ' Infinitum histrionum & joculatorum multitudinern, sine cibo & muneribus, vacuam & moerentum 
 abire permisit.' Chron. Virtziburg. 
 
176 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 The rewards given to the minstrels did not always consist in monej r , 
 but frequently in rich mantles and embroidered vestments : they re- 
 ceived, says Fauchet, great presents from the nobility, who would some- 
 times give them even the robes with which they were clothed. k 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 Jpomedon, where the poet speaks of 
 the Knight's marriage, he says, 
 
 Jpomydon gaff, in that stound, 
 
 To mynstrelles five hundred pound. 1 
 
 The author of Pierce the Ploughman, who lived in the reign of Ed- 
 ward the Third, 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 wyt ; and serve many lordes, 
 And lew robes I get, or faire furred gownes. 
 Could I lye, to do men laugh ; then lachen p I should 
 Nother mantill, nor money, amonges lords minstrels : 
 And, for 1 ! I can neither taber, ne trumpe, ne tell no gestes, 
 Fartin ne fislen, at feastes, ne harpen ; 
 
 k 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 Va- 
 vaser, that is, one who, holding of a superior lord, has tenants under him, reproaches her husband for 
 accepting a robe'; ' such gifts,' say she, ■* belong to jugglers, and other singing men, who receive garments 
 from the nobility, because it is their trade. 
 
 S'appartieut a ces jongleours, 
 
 Et a ces autres chanteours, 
 
 Quils ayent de ces chevaliers, 
 
 Les robes car c'est lor mestier.' 
 
 Origine de la Langue & Poesie Franccis, lib. i. cap. 4. 
 
 1 MS Harl. 2252. m All idleness I hate. B In modern language, a confectioner. 
 
 That is, if he could tell falsehoods to make men laugh. 
 P Lack, or want. i Because. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 177 
 
 Jape, ne juggle, ne gentilly pype, 
 
 Ne neither saylen ne saute, r 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 in- 
 correct 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 hys own, as of straungers ; and 
 each of them dyd their devoyre, in their faculties. 3 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 Touraj^n'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, daugh- 
 ter of Edward the First, to John earl of Holland, every king's minstrel 
 received forty shillings. 11 In the fourth year of Edward the Second, 
 Perrot de la Laund, minstrel to lord Hugh de Nevill, received twenty 
 shillings for performing his minstrelsy before the king. w In the same 
 year, Janino le Cheveretter, who is called Le Tregettour, x was paid at 
 one time forty shillings, and at another twenty, for the same service ; 
 and John le Mendlesham, the boy y of Robert le Foil, 2 twenty shillings; 
 the same sum was also given to John le Boteller, the boy of Perrot 
 Duzedeys, for his performances ; and, again, Perrot Duzedeys, Roger 
 
 r Dance, nor jump. Pass. xiv. 
 8 Duty in their several stations. I have followed lord Berners' translation. 
 * Froissart, vol. iv. cap. 41. u Anstis, Ord. Gart. vol. ii. p. 303. 
 
 w Liber de Computis Gardercbae, MS. Cott. Lib. Nero C. viii. fol. 82. 
 x Cheveretter, or bagpiper ; from chevre, a bagpipe, and tregettor, or juggler, a slight of hand player j 
 ibid. See more on this subject in the section relating to the joculator. 
 
 y Garcionis ; from the French gargon, a boy, or lad. In this instance it probably means an appren- 
 tice, or servant, lb. p. S3. 
 
 z Another entry specifies twenty shillings paid to Robert le Foil to buy himself a buckler (boclarium) 
 to play, (ad ludendum) before the king. Ibid. p. 85. 
 
 2 A 
 
178 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 the Trumpeter, and Janino le Nakerer, all of them kings minstrels, re- 
 ceived from the king sixty shillings for the like service. 
 
 XXII. In the eighth year of Edward the Third, licence was granted 
 to Barbor the Bagpiper, to visit the schools for minstrels in parts be- 
 yond the seas, 3 with thirty shillings to bear his expences. Licence was 
 also granted to Morlan the Bagpiper, to visit the minstrels' schools ; 
 and forty shillings for his expences.' A little lower we find a present 
 of five shillings made by the king to a minstrel, for performing his min- 
 strelsy before the image of the Blessed Virgin. In the eleventh year 
 of the same reign, John de Hoglard, minstrel to John de Fulteney, was 
 paid forty shillings for exhibiting before the king at Hatfield, and at 
 London ; d and to Roger the Trumpeter, and to the minstrels his asso- 
 ciates, performing at the feast for the queen s delivery, held at Hatfield, 
 ten pounds. 6 In the ninth year of Henry the Seventh, 6 Pudesay the 
 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 4 straunge taberer, in reward, sixty-six shillings and eight 
 pence/ 2 
 
 XXIII. In the middle ages, the professors of minstrelsy had the op- 
 portunity of amassing much wealth ; and certainly some of them were 
 men of property. In Domesday Book, it appears that Berdic, the 
 king's joculator, had lands in Gloucestershire ; h Raher, or Royer, the 
 mimic, or minstrel, belonging to Henry the First, was the founder of the 
 hospital and priory of Saint Bartholomew, in West Smithfield and the 
 
 a ' Scolas mimstrallis in partibus trans mare.' Ibid. p. 276. b Ibid, 
 
 c < Facienti ministralsiaai suam coram imagine Beatse Mariaa in Veltam, rege presente, 5 sol. 
 Jbid. p. 2/7. 
 
 d Ibid, p, 29O. e Ibid 
 
 f MS. in the Remembrancer's Office. See the extract in Dr. Henry's British History, vol.. vi. 
 Appendix, No, V, 
 
 s From another MS. in the same Office. Ibid. 
 h See the next chapter, under the account of the joculators. 
 i He is called mimus regis. Leland's Collectania, pp. 61. 99. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OE THE PEOPLE OE ENGLAND. 
 
 179 
 
 minstrels contributed towards building the church of Saint Mary, at 
 Beverley in Yorkshire, as the inscription on one of the pillars plainly 
 indicates;" though, it must be owned, their general character does not 
 bear the marks of prudence, as the reader must have observed in the 
 perusal of this section. 
 
 XXIV. It has already been observed, that the name of minstrels 
 w as frequently applied to instrumental performers, who did not profess 
 any other branch of the minstrelsy. In an old Morality called Lusty 
 Juventus, it is said, 
 
 Who knoweth where is ere a mynstrel ? 
 
 By the Masse, I would fayne go daunce a fit. 1 
 
 This passage calls to my memory a circumstance recorded by Fauchet, 
 which proves that the minstrels were sometimes dancing masters. ' 1 
 remember/ says he, * to have seen Martin Baraton, an aged minstrel of 
 Orleans, who was accustomed to play upon the tambourine at wed- 
 dings, and on other occasions of festivity. His instrument was silver* 
 decorated with small plates of the same metal,'" on which were engraved 
 the arms of those he had learned to dance/ 
 
 k See page 172. 1 Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, 
 
 m < Un tabourin d'argent seme de plaques aussi d'argent/ Origine de la Langue 5c Poesie Francois, 
 lib. i. cap. viii. fol. J1. 
 
180 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The Joculator. — His different Denominations. — His extraordinary Deceptions. — 
 Chaucer's Thoughts concerning his Performances. — Asiatic Jugglers. — Remarkable 
 Story from Froissart. — The Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of the 
 Devil. — More reasonably accounted for. — John Rykell a celebrated Tregetour. — 
 Various Performances. — Privileges of the Joculators at Paris. — The Juggler's Exhi- 
 bition in latter Times. — The King's Joculator an Officer of Rank. — The great Dis- 
 repute of modern Jugglers. 
 
 I. The joculator, or the jugglour of the Normans, was frequently in- 
 cluded under the collective appellation of minstrel;* he was called a 
 gleeman in the Saxon aera, and answers to the juggler of the more mo- 
 dern times. In the fourteenth century, he was also denominated a 
 tregetour, or tragetour, at which time, he appears to have been sepa- 
 rated from the musical poets, who exercised the first branches of the 
 gleeman's art, and are more generally considered as minstrels. 
 
 II. The name of tregetours was chiefly, if not entirely, appropriated 
 to those artists who, by slight 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 enchant- 
 ment; for which reason they were frequently ranked with magicians, 
 sorcerers, and witches ; b and, indeed, the facts they performed, accord- 
 ing 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 ex- 
 hibited by the tregetours in his time, speaks of them in a style that 
 
 a The profession of the joculator 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. 
 Supplement to the Glossary of Du Cange. 
 
 b 'There I saweplayenge jogelours, magyciens, trageteours, phetonysses, charmeresses, olde witches, 
 and sorceresses,' &c. Chaucer, House of Fame, book iii. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 181 
 
 may well excite our astonishment : 4 There are/ says he, 4 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. c 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 4 a learned 
 clerk/ who, for the amusement of his friend, shewed to him c 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, 4 the resemblance of his beloved 
 lady dancing ; which occasioned him to dance also/ But, when 4 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, 
 Playe an uncouthe thynge to tell ; 
 I sawe hym cary a wynde-mell 
 Under a walnote shale. e 
 
 III. Chaucer attributes these illusions to the practice of natural 
 magic ; f meaning, I suppose, an artful combination of different powers 
 
 c In the library of sir Hans Sloane, at the British Museum, is a MS. numbered 1315, which con- 
 tains e 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 bason 
 of water in the place where the trick is to be performed. The tregetours, no doubt, had recourse to a 
 surer method. 
 
 d Frankeleyn's Tale. e House of Fame, book iii. 
 
 f 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, 
 
182 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III S 
 
 of nature in a manner not generally understood ; and therefore he 
 makes the Devil say to the Sompner in the Friars tale, 4 1 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. 
 
 IV. Sir John Mandevile, who wrote about the same period as Chau- 
 cer, speaks thus of a similar exhibition performed before the Great 
 Chan : « And the ncomen 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 (lay-li^ht, with the sun shining 
 brightly ; then they 4 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 divers animals, and 
 give drink to the lords and ladies ; and then 6 they make knyghts to 
 jousten in amies fulle lustyly/ 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 enchantments, that are 4 marvellous to see/ In another 
 part he says, 4 And be it done by craft, or by nicromancy, I wot 
 not." 1 
 
 V. The foregoing passages bring to my recollection a curious piece 
 of history related by Froissart, which extends the practice of these de- 
 ceptions far beyond the knowledge of the modern jugglers. 4 When/ 
 says that author, 4 the duke of Anjou and the earl of Savoy were lying 
 
 And clerkes eke which conne well 
 All this magyke naturell. 
 
 £ The original runs thus : ' And they runnen. togidre a great randoum; and^they frunchen togidre 
 full fiercely, and they breken thare speres so rudely, that the tronchouns flen in sprotes and peces alle 
 about the halle.' Mandevile's Travels, p. 285. — I have modernized the English in many places, for 
 sometimes it is hardly intelligible. 
 
 b Ibid. p. 26l. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 183 
 
 with their army before the city of Naples, there was * an enchaimter, 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, 4 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 art- 
 fully replied, 4 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 
 Mm, 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, 4 1 know welH 
 it is the same enchaimter, by whom the queene of Naples and syr 
 Othes of Bresugeth were taken in this castle; for he caused, by his crafte r 
 the sea to seeme so high, that they within were sore abashed, and wend 
 all to have died but no confidence/ continued he, 4 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 en- 
 chanter to be brought before him ; when he boasted that, by the power 
 of his ai t, 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 : 4 Syr, I am the man of the world that syr Charles re- 
 puteth most, and is most in fear of/ 4 By my fay th/ replied the earl of 
 Savoy, 4 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 decey ve hym, nor yet any other/ 
 So saying, he ordered him to be beheaded ; and the sentence was in- 
 stantly put into execution before the door of the earl's tent. Thus,'' 
 
 i That is, they were frighted, expecting to be drowned by the rising of the water.. 
 
184 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 adds our author, ' ended the mayster enchantour : and so he was payed 
 hys wages according to his desertes/ k 
 
 VI. Our learned monarch James the First, was perfectly convinced 
 that these, and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours, could 
 only be performed by the agency of the Devil, ' who/ says he, ' will 
 learne them many juglarie trickes, at cardes and dice, to deceive men's 
 senses thereby, and such innumerable false practiques, which are 
 proved by over-many in this age/ 1 It is not, however, very easy to 
 reconcile with common sense the knowledge the king pretended to have 
 had of the intercourse between Satan and his scholars the conjurers, 
 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 tra- 
 velled in large companies, and carried with them, no doubt, such ma- 
 chinery 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 lan thorn will produce appearances 
 almost as wonderful as some of those described by sir John Mandevill 
 to persons totally ignorant of the existence and nature of such a ma- 
 chine. 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 ex- 
 cited much astonishment ; such as an image of wax, suspended by a 
 ribband in the middle of a large room, which answered questions in va- 
 rious languages ; an automaton chess-player, that few professors of the 
 game could beat ; m and men ascending the air without the assistance of 
 
 k Froissart's Chronicle, vol. Hi. cap. 392, fol. 2/2, Lord Berners' translation, which I have followed 
 literally in the parts marked as quotations. 
 
 1 Daemonologie, lib.. 
 
 "» See a small pamphlet, called 'The Conjuror Unveiled/ translated from the French; which gives 
 a full account of these curious pieces of mechanism, and of several others equally surprising. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 185 
 
 wings : yet these phenomena are considered as puerile, now the secrets 
 upon which their performance depends have been divulged. — But, re- 
 turning to the tregetour, we shall find that he often performed his feats 
 upon a scaffold erected for that purpose ; and probably, says a late in- 
 genious writer," received his name from the trebuchet, or trap-door, 
 because he frequently made use of such insidious machines in the dis- 
 playment of his operations. Chaucer has told us, that Coll the tregetor 
 exhibited upon a table; and other authors speak of 'juggling upon the 
 boardes/ which clearly indicates the use of a stage or temporary scaf- 
 fold. Now, let us only add the machinery proper for the occasion, 
 and all the wonders specified in the foregoing passages may be re- 
 duced to mere pantomimical deceptions, assisted by slight of hand, 
 and the whole readily accounted for, without any reference to super- 
 natural agency. 
 
 VII. 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, and of 
 course became less consequential. — Lidgate, in one of his poems, in- 
 troduces Death speaking to a famous tregetour belonging to the court of 
 king Henry the Fifth 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 lond, 
 Is not desceyved by no illusions.? 
 
 To this summons the sorrowful juggler replies : 
 
 n Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his excellent edition of Chaucer's ' Canterbury Tales,' vol. iii. p. 2Qg. 
 ° 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. John Lydgate was a monk of 
 St. Edmondsbury Abbey. MS. Harl. marked 1 16. 
 
 p The meaning is, that Death will come shortly, and not be deceived by any false appearances. 
 
 2 B 
 
186 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 What may availe inanity nde naturale? 
 
 Not any crafte schevid q by apparance, 
 Or course of steres above celestial/ 
 
 Or of heavens all the influence, 
 
 .Ageynst Deth to stonde at defence. 
 Lygarde-de-mayne s now helpith me right noughte : 
 
 Farewell, my craft and all such sapience ; 
 For Deth hath mo masteries 1 than I have wroughte. 
 
 In an old morality, or interlude, written in the reign of queen Eliza- 
 beth, a servant, describing the sports at his master's wedding, says, 
 
 What juggling was there upon the boardes ! 
 
 What thrustyng of knyves through many a nose ! 
 What bearynge of formes ! what holdinge of swordes ! 
 
 What puttynge of botkyns throughe legge and hose ! u 
 
 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. 
 
 XIII. Originally, as we have before observed, the profession of the 
 joculator included all the arts attributed to the minstrels ; and accord- 
 ingly his performance was called his minstrelcey in the reign of Edward 
 the Second, and even after he had obtained the appellation of a tregetour. v ' 
 
 q Schevid, for atchieved, that is to say, performed. 
 r Or any astrological judgement derived from the stars or their influence ; for, the jugglers usually 
 pretended to be astrologers and soothsayers. See the Essay on Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to the Re- 
 liques of Ancient Poetry, by the Bishop of Dromore. 
 
 s Legerdemain ; a corrupted word, derived from the French, signifying properly slights of hand, 
 such as are usually performed by the modern jugglers. 
 
 1 More cunning tricks. 
 
 " 'The Disobedient Child,' written by Tho. Ingelandj Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, K. vol. ii. 
 
 w * Janino le tregettor, facienti ministralsiam suam coram rege,' &c. ; that is, to Janino the iregetour, 
 for performing his minstrelsy before the king, in his chamber near the priory of Swineshead, twenty 
 shillings. Lib. Comput. Garderobse, an 4 Edw. II, fol. 86. MS. Cott. Nero, C. viii. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 187 
 
 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 probably so they might in the days of 
 Chaucer. Another part of the juggler's profession, and wtiich consti- 
 tuted a prominent feature in his character, was teaching bears, apes, 
 monkeys, dogs, and various other animals, to tumble, dance and coun- 
 terfeit 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 a modern French author, 2 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 ; bur, if an ape be- 
 longed 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, 
 4 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 ex- 
 hibition, as it was displayed a century and a half back, in a short 
 chapter entitled Prestigire, or Sleights/ It consists of four divertise- 
 ments, including the joculators own performances ; and the other three 
 are, tumbling and jumping through a hoop ; the grotesque dances of 
 
 x The same as the modern hurdy-gurdy. 
 r Their performances are thus described by a French poet who wrote in the year 1230 : 
 C'il juggleurs in pies esturent, 
 S'ont vielles & harpes prisses 
 Chansons, sons, vers, & reprises, 
 Et gestes chante nos ont. 
 
 Du Cange, in voce Joculator. 
 
 See also Sir John Hawkins's History of Music, vol. ii. 44. 
 z St. Foix's Essais Hist, sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 39. 
 a ' Orbis sensualium Pictus,' translated by Charles Hoole, and published in 1658; see chap. 131; 
 
188 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 the clown, or mimic, who, it is said, appeared with a mark upon his 
 face; and dancing upon the tight rope. b In modern times, the juggler 
 has united songs and puppet-plays to his show. 
 
 XIV. The joculator regis, or king's juggler, was anciently an officer 
 of note in the royal household ; and we find, from Domesday Book, 
 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 controul. The king's juggler continued to have 
 an establishment in the royal household till the time of Henry the 
 Eighth ; d and in his reign the office and title seem to have been 
 discontinued. 
 
 XV. The profession of the juggler, 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 4 ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds 
 but also with ' Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sorcerers ;' e 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. f 
 
 In another passage, he speaks of a disguised juggler, and a vile jester, 
 
 h The print at the head of the 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 represented ; but the artist is practising with caps 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 re- 
 presented hanging by one leg, with his head downwards. 
 
 c « Glowecesterscire. Berdic, joculator regis, habet iij villas, & ibi v car.; nil redd.' Extract from 
 Domesday. 
 
 d Essay on Ancient Minstrels, prefixed to the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. xciii. 
 
 e A Treatise against Dicing, Dauncing, vaine Playes, or Enterludes, &c. by John Northbrooke, printed 
 at London in the time of Elizabeth. 
 
 f Egloge the third, at the end of Brant's ' Ship of Fools,' translated by Barclay, and printed 
 A. D, 1509. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 189 
 
 or bourder; 6 by the word disguised he refers perhaps to the clown, or 
 mimic, who, as Comenius has just informed us, danced 4 disguised 
 with a vizard/ In more modern times, by way of derision, the juggler 
 was called a hocus-pocus, h a term applicable to a pick-pocket, or a 
 common cheat; and his performances were denominated juggelling 
 castes. 1 
 
 g < Mirrour of Good Manners/ translated from the Latin by Barclay. Ibid. Barclay was a priest 
 and monk of Ely. 
 
 »> Or hokos-pokos, as by Ben Jonson, in 'The Staple for Newes.' See note (°), P« 13 9- 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.' 
 
 i f Playes confuted/ by Stephen Gosson j no date, but written about 1580. 
 
190 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's profession — performed by 
 Women. — Dancing connected with Tumbling. — Antiquity of Tumbling — much 
 encouraged. — Various Dances described. — The Sword Dance. — Rope Dancing. — 
 Wonderful Performances on the Rope. — Fool's Dance. — Morris Dance. — Egg 
 Dance. — Ladder Dance. — Jocular Dances. — Wire Dancing.. — Grand Ballette 
 Dances. — Leaping and Vaulting. — Balancing of various kinds. — The Posture-Mas- 
 ter's Tricks.— The Mountebank.— The Tinker.— The Lire-Eater. 
 
 I. Dancing, tumbling, and balancing, with variety of other exer- 
 cises requiring skill and agility, were originally included in the per- 
 formances exhibited by the gleemen and the minstrels ; and they re- 
 mained attached to the profession of the joculator after he was sepa- 
 rated from those who only retained the first branches of the minstrel's 
 art, that is to say, poetry and music. 
 
 II. The joculators were sometimes excellent 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 3 by the Saxons, and tum- 
 bling women b and balancing women in the modern language. 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. 
 
 III. Dancing, in former times, was closely connected with those 
 
 a CDaben-slypienb. 
 
 *> Tomblesteres, and tombesteres, in Chaucer, derived from the Saxon word tomban, to dance, vault, 
 or tumble. The same poet, in the Romance of the Rose, calls them saylours, 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.' 
 
 c Tymbestres, players upon the tymbre), which they also balanced occasionally, as we shall find 
 a little farther on. 
 
Pi.xvni. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 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, 1 
 instead of danced before king Herod. 6 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 at- 
 tention of the monarch so potently, or extorted from him the promise 
 of a reward so extensive as that they found stated in the record, there- 
 fore referred the performance to some wonderful displayments of acti- 
 vity, resembling those themselves might have seen exhibited by the 
 glee-maidens, on occasions of solemnity, in the courts of the Saxon po- 
 tentates. We may also observe, that the like explication of the pas- 
 sage 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 represented the damsel in the action of tumbling, or, at 
 least, of walking upon her hands ; { and thus we find her drawn in two 
 examples given on the middle of the eighteenth plate ; the first, where 
 her servant is standing by her side, is taken from a series of Scripture 
 histories, written and illuminated at the commencement of the thirteenth 
 
 d In a translation of the seventh century, it says she plsesebe, ~j selica'ee perto'se ; she jumped, or 
 leaped, and pleased Herod. MS. Cott. Nero, D. iv. In another Saxon version of the eleventh cen- 
 tury, she rumbebe, -j hit lico&e penobej she tumbled, and it pleased Herod. MS. in the Royal Library, 
 marked 1. A. xiv. And a third reads, Herodias' daughter *umbot>e f>sene, tumbled there, &c. 
 
 e St. Mark, chap. vi. ver. 22. 
 
 f 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 tombylde and pleside Harowde.' I 
 have before me a MS. in French, of 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 con- 
 sidered as paragons of virtue any more than they are in the present day. He says of her, ' Bien saveit 
 treschier e lumber j' which may be rendered,, « She was well skilled in tumbling and cheating tricks," 
 MS. Harl. 2253. fol. 45, 
 
192 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 century ; g and the second, from a book of prayers, more modern than 
 the former by almost one hundred and fifty years. h 
 
 IV. The exhibition of dancing, connected with leaping 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, 1 and moved about to the measure of a song, for 
 the diversion of Menelaus and his courtiers, at the celebration of his 
 daughters nuptials. It seems that the astonishment, excited by the 
 difficulty of such performances, 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, 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 were then, as in the present day, an immoral 
 and dissolute set of beings, who, to promote merriment, frequently de- 
 scended to the lowest kinds of buffoonery. We read, for instance, of a 
 tumbler in the reign of Edward the Second, who rode before his ma- 
 jesty, and frequently fell from his horse in such a manner, that the king 
 was highly diverted, and laughed exceedingly/ and rewarded the per- 
 former with the sum of twenty shillings, 1 which at that period was a 
 very considerable donation; and it should seem that these artists were 
 really famous mirth-makers ; for, one of them had the address to excite 
 the merriment of that solemn bigot queen Mary. ' After her majesty/ 
 observes a late writer, ' had reviewed the royal pensioners in Green- 
 
 g MS. Harl. marked 1527. h MS. in the Royal Library, marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 » Odyssey, lib. iv. lin. 18. The original word is xvgig ij7>jp£, saltatores qui se in capita dejiciunt. 
 
 k < De queux le roi rya grantement.' Roll of Expences in the reign of king Edward II. in the pos- 
 session of Thomas Astle, esq. 
 
 1 F*om a MS. in the Remembrancer's Office, an. 13 Hen. VIII. A like reward of 20 shil- 
 lings was given, by the king's order, 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. 
 
P1.XTX. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 wich park, there came a tumbler, and played many pretty feats, the 
 queen and cardinal Pole looking" on; whereat she was observed to 
 laugh heartily/" 1 
 
 V. Among the pastimes exhibited for the amusement of queen Eli- 
 zabeth at Kenilworth castle, there were shewn, as Laneham says, 
 before her highness, surprising feats of agility, by an Italian, 6 in go- 
 ings, turnings, tumblings, castings, hops, jumps, leaps, skips, springs, 
 gambauds, somersaults, 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 1/ 
 adds the author, 6 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/ n 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 : ' 1 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 the 
 nineteenth plate ; p and these feats of activity were then, as at present, 
 enlivened with music. 
 
 VI. It is not by any means my intention to insinuate, from what has 
 been said in the foregoing pages, that there were no dances performed 
 by the Saxon glee-men and their assistants, but such as consisted of 
 vaulting and tumbling : on the contrary, I trust it may be proved, that 
 
 m Strype, Eccles. Mem. vol. iii. p. 312., cap. 3p. 
 " Laneham's Letter describing the Sports exhibited at Kenel worth, re -printed by Mr. Nichols in the 
 Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, pp. 16, 17. 
 
 N° 115, ckted Jan. 3, 1709. 
 p The first is a woman bending herself backwards, from a MS. of the 13th century in the Cotton 
 Library, marked Domitian, A. 2 ; the second a man performing the same feat, but in a more extraordi- 
 nary manner, the original of which is contained in a MS. in the Library of Sir Hans Sloane marked 
 335 ; and the girl at the bottom, turning over upon her hands, is from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at 
 Oxford, marked Bodl. 264. The two last MSS. are of the 14th century. 
 
 2 C 
 
jg4 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 their dances were varied and accommodated to the taste of those for 
 whom the performance was appropriated; being calculated, as occasion 
 required, to excite the admiration and procure the applause of the 
 wealthy or the vulgar. 
 
 VII. We have already noticed the dance represented on the seven- 
 teenth plate, which is taken from a painting the most ancient of the 
 kind that I have met with. q The crouching attitudes of the two dan- 
 cers point out great difficulty in the part they are performing; but do 
 not convey the least indication of vaulting or tumbling. Again, on the 
 eighteenth plate, 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. 8 The dance on the top of 
 the twenty-second plate, in which the musician bears a part, I take to 
 be of the burlesque kind, and intended to excite laughter by the absur- 
 dity of the gestures practised by the performers; 1 but that at the bot- 
 tom of the same plate has more appearance of elegance ; it 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 ex- 
 ceedingly desirous of effecting, being unmuzzled for the purpose, and 
 irritated by the scourge of the juggler." 
 
 VIII. There is a dance which was probably in great repute among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, because it was derived from their ancestors the an- 
 cient Germans; it is called the sword-dance; and the performance is 
 thus described by Tacitus : w 6 One public diversion was constantly ex- 
 
 q See page 156. 
 
 r Attitudes somewhat similar I have seen occur in some of the steps of a modern hornpipe. 
 » It is evident that this delineation was intended for the representation of part of the gkeman's exhi- 
 bition j for the designer has crowded into the margin a number of heads and parts of figures., necessa- 
 rily 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. This drawing oc- 
 curs in a Latin and Saxon MS. of the ninth century, Cott. Lib. Cleopatra, C. viii. 
 
 1 From a MS. of the ninth century. See p. 159; where this delineation is more fully described. 
 
 u From a MS. of the 14th century in the Royal Library, marked, 2. B. vii. 
 w Tacit, de Morib. Germ. c.ip. 24. The reader may find a more particular account of the various 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 195 
 
 hibited 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 agi- 
 lity, and even with the most elegant and graceful motions. They do 
 not perform this dance for hire, but for the entertainment of the spec- 
 tators, esteeming their applause a sufficient reward/ This dance con- 
 tinues to be practised in the Northern parts of England about Christ- 
 mas time, when, says a modern author, x s the fool-plough goes about ; 
 a pageant that consists of a 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 
 Saxon manuscript of the ninth century, 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 
 the eighteenth plate ; y where two men, equipped in martial habits, and 
 each of them armed with a sword and a shield, are engaged in a com- 
 bat ; the performance is enlivened by the sound of an horn ; the musi- 
 cian 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, consti- 
 tuted 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 c dancing with several naked 
 
 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. 
 
 x Mr. Brand, in his Edition of Bourne ; see the preceding note. 
 f This curious drawing occurs in a Latin MS. of Prudentius, with Saxon notes, written in the nintk 
 century j Cott. Lib. marked Cleopatra, C. viii. 
 
196 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 swords, performed by a child of eight years of age which, the show- 
 man assures us, had given * satisfaction to all persons/ The other, put 
 forth, it seems, by one who belonged to Sadlers Wells, promises the 
 company, that they shall see 6 a young woman dance with the swords, 
 and upon a ladder, surpassing all her sex/ z About thirty years back, 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 va- 
 riety of figures with the swords, holding them over 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. 
 
 IX. The rope-dance. This species of amusement is certainly very 
 ancient. Terence, in the prologue to Hecyra, complains that the at- 
 tention of the public was drawn from his play, by the exhibitions of a 
 rope-dancer. 3 We are well assured, that dancing upon the rope con- 
 stituted a part of the entertainments presented to the public by the 
 minstrels and joculators ; and we can trace it as far back as the thir- 
 teenth 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 agi- 
 lity 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 the Sixth of France, made 
 her public entry into Paris, among other extraordinary exhibitions pre- 
 pared for her reception was the following, recorded by Froissart, who 
 
 z Both these bills were printed in the reign of queen Anne; the first belonged to a showman 
 named Crawley, see page 131 ; and the second to James Miles, from Sadlers Wells, who calls his 
 theatre a music-booth, and the exhibition consisted chiefly of dancing. The originals are in the Har- 
 leian Library, and the volume containing them is marked 5Q',\. 
 
 a f Ita populus studio stupidus in funambulo 
 Animum occuparat.' 
 
BOOK III- 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 197 
 
 was himself a witness to the fact : 6 There was a mayster b 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 c candelles in hys handes, 
 issued out of a littel stage that he had made on the heyght of our Lady's 
 tower, synginge d 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 light nesse was greatly praised/ 6 
 
 X. A performance much resembling the foregoing was exhibited 
 before king Edward the Sixth, at the time he passed in procession 
 through the city of London/ previous to his coronation. ' When the 
 king/ says the author, 6 was advanced almost to St. George's church, 8 
 in Paul's church-yard, 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 for- 
 ward, casting his arms and legs abroad, running on his breast on the 
 
 b I have followed the old English translation by lord Berners. The French is raaistre engigneur, which > 
 may be rendered master juggler ; vol. iv. chap. 38, fol. 47. 
 
 c Burning or lighted candles, in the French chierges ardans. d Singing; 
 
 e In the French, ' Molt fist d'appertices tant que la legierete de lui, & toutes ses ceuvres furent molt 
 prisees ;' '■' He gave them many proofs of his skill, so that his agility and all his performances were 
 highly esteemed.' The manner 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 are, S'asbit sur eel corde, &— il vint tout au long de la rue; that is, literally, he 
 seated himself upon the cord, and he came all along the street; which indicates his sliding down, and 
 then the trick will bear a close resemblance to those that follow : but St. Foix, on the authority of ano- 
 ther 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. Essais sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 42. 
 
 f Friday 19 Feb. A. D. 1546. 
 
 s It should be St. Gregory's church, which stood on the South side of St.- Paul's, nearly opposite to 
 the Dean's Gateway,. 
 
198 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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 the king's ma- 
 * jest y, 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 church-yard ; 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 reco- 
 vered 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.' 11 
 
 XI. 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 4 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, 4 shortlie after cost him his 
 life/ 1 
 
 XII. A similar exploit was put in practice, about fifty years back, 
 in different parts of this kingdom ; and I received the following account 
 of the manner in which it was carried into execution at Hertford from 
 a Friend of mine, k 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 forescore 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 
 
 *» Archaeologia, vol. vii. i Holinshed, Chron. vol. iii. p. 1 121. 
 
 * Mr. John Carrington, of Bacon's, in the parish of Eramfield, near Hertford. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 199 
 
 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. 1 
 
 XIII. To the foregoing extraordinary exhibitions we may add an- 
 other 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," 1 and is thus described by Holinshed : e When 
 she came to Saint Paule's church-yard 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 an- 
 other over the ball of the cross, likewise set with streamers and torches, 
 which could not burn, the wind was so great/" 
 
 XIV. In the reign of Charles the Second, 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 re- 
 ceived a salary from her Grace. 
 
 XV. Soon after the accession of James the Second to the throne, a 
 Dutch woman made her appearance in this country ; and 6 when/ says 
 
 1 He performed this three times in the same day ; the first time, he descended without holding any 
 thing 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. 
 
 m A. D. 1553, the day before her coronation. 
 
 n 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.' Holinshed, Chron. vol. iiL 
 p. 1091. 
 
 ° Granger,, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 34Q. 
 
200 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 a modern author, 6 she first danced and vaulted upon the rope in Lon- 
 don, the spectators beheld her with a pleasure mixed with pain, as she 
 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 Jess excellent as a rope-dancer. The spectators were 
 astonished, in the late reign, p 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 admiration was conside- 
 rably abated when one of the oranges happened to fall, and appeared 
 by the sound to be a ball of painted lead. Signor and Signora Spina- 
 cuta were not inferior to the Turk. The former danced on the rope not 
 long since, q 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/ 1 " 
 
 XVI. During the last century, Sadlers Wells was a famous nur- 
 sery 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 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. ;n a little print affixed to one of the 
 chapters of a vocabulary, written by Commenius, and translated by 
 Hoole ; 8 where a woman is depicted dancing upon the tight rope, and 
 
 p George the Second's. i A. D. 1768. 
 
 r Granger, ut sup. vol. iv. pp. 352, 353. 
 * Oibis Sensualium Pictus, Latin and English, published A. D. 1658. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 holding a balance charged with lead at both ends, according to the 
 common usage of the present day ; l and behind her we see a man, with 
 his hand downward, and hanging upon the same rope by one of his 
 legs. u 
 
 XVII. 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 Christ- 
 mas time ; and consisted of various ceremonial mockeries, not only 
 exceedingly ridiculous, but shameful and impious, w A vestige of the 
 fool's dance is preserved in a manuscript written and illuminated in the 
 reign of king Edward the Third/ and is copied upon the middle of the 
 sixteenth plate. In this representation of the dance, it seems con- 
 ducted 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 after- 
 wards became exceedingly popular in this country, originated from the 
 fool's dance ; and thence we trace the bells which characterised the 
 morris-dancers. The word morris applied to the dance is usually de- 
 rived from Morisco, which in the Spanish language signifies a Moor, 
 as if the dance had been taken from the Moors ; but I cannot help 
 considering this as a mistake, for it appears to me that the Morisco 
 or Moor dance is exceedingly different from the morris-dance formerly 
 practised in this country ; it being performed with the castanets, or rat- 
 
 £ Richer dances with great Facility without any balance, and walks down the rope into the pit, and 
 ascends again. Pie also adds variety of other performances. 
 
 ■ 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. 
 
 w An account of this festival may be found in the chapter on Christmas Games, &c, 
 * This MS. was completed in 1344. Bodl. Lib. Oxford, marked Bodl. 964. 
 
 2 I> 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK nr. 
 
 ties, at the end of the fingers/ and not with bells attached to various 
 parts of the dress. 2 
 
 XVIII. The morris-danee was sometimes performed by itself, but 
 was much more frequently joined to processions and pageants, and 
 especially to those appropriated for the celebration of the May-games. 
 Gn 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. 3 
 
 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 se- 
 cond bell, the treble, the tenor or great bell, and mention is also made 
 of double bells. b The principal dancer in the morris was more superbly 
 habited than his companions, as appears from a passage in an old play 
 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 amorris/ c 
 
 I do not find that the morris-dancers were confined to any particular 
 number : in the ancient representation of this dance given upon the six- 
 
 y In a comedy called Variety, printed in 164$, we meet with this passage: 'Like a Bacchanal ian,. 
 dancing the Spanish Morisco, with knackers at his fingers.' This dance was usually, I believe, per- 
 formed by a single person ; which by no means agrees with the morris-dance. Sir John Hawkins, in 
 his History of Music, vol. iv. p. 388, observes that, within the memory of persons living, a saraband 
 danced by a Moor constantly formed part of the entertainment at a puppet-show ; and this dance was 
 always performed with the castanets. 
 
 z I shall not pretend to investigate the derivation of the word morris ; though probably it might be 
 found at home : it seems, however, to have been applied to the dance in modern times, and, I trust, 
 long after the festival to which it originally belonged was done away and had nearly sunk into 
 oblivion. 
 
 a Stephen Gosson, in a little tract intituled Playes Confuted, speaks of ' dauncing of gigges, galiardes, 
 and morisces, with hobbi-horses,' as stage performances. He wrote about the year 1579- 
 
 b In the third year of queen Elizabeth, two dozen of morris-bells were estimated at one shilling. 
 Archaeologia, vol. i. p. 15. See also the \ Witch of Edmonton/ a tragi-comedy by William Rowley, 
 printed 1658. 
 
 c Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, by Jn* Day, l65g. 
 
SOOK TIT. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 203 
 
 teenth plate, there are five, exclusive of the two musicians. A modern 
 wriier 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. d 
 
 The hobby-horse, which seems latterly to have been almost insepa- 
 rable from the morris-dance, was a compound figure : the resemblance 
 of the head and 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 4 the Vow-breaker ; e ' Have I not practised my 
 reines, my carreeres, my prankers, rny 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 fri- 
 zelled. — 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: 6 Alas, 
 Sir! I come only to borrow a few ribbandes, bracelets, ear-rings, wyer- 
 tyers, and silk girdles, and handkerchers, for a morris and a show before 
 the queen — I come to furnish the hobby-horse/ 
 
 XIX. 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 f written in the reign of queen Elizabeth, where we meet with 
 these lines : 
 
 Upon my one foote pretely I can hoppe, 
 And daunce it triraley about an egge.. 
 
 Dancing upon one foot was exhibited by the Saxon glee-men, and 
 
 d See Johnson's Dictionary, under morris-dance, 
 e Or Fair Maid of Clifton^ by William Sampson, A.D. l636\ 
 f Intituled, ' The longer thou livest, the more foole thou art j' by William Wager. Garrick's Col- 
 lection of Old Plays, I vol. l8mo. 
 
204 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 probably by the Norman minstrels, but more especially by the women- 
 dancers, who might thence acquire the name of hoppesteres, g which is 
 given by Chaucer. A representation of this dance, taken from a ma- 
 nuscript of the tenth century, appears upon the top of the seventeenth 
 plate, where the glee-man is performing to the sound of the harp. h 
 
 Hopping matches for prizes were occasionally made in the sixteenth 
 century, as we learn from John Heywoode the epigrammetist. In his 
 Proverbs' 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 a play by the same author," one of the characters is di- 
 rected 6 to hop upon one foot 3* and another says, 
 
 Here were a hopper to hop for the ring. 
 
 But to return to the egg-dance. This performance was common 
 enough about thirty years back, and was well received at Sadlers 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 withou touch- 
 ing one of them . 
 
 XX. The Ladder- dance ; so called, because the performer stands 
 upon a ladder, which, he shifts from place to place, and ascends or de- 
 scends without losing the equilibrium, or permitting it to fall. This 
 dance was practised at Sadlers Wells at the commencement of the last 
 
 s A vestige of this denomination is still retained, and applied to dancing, though somewhat con- 
 temptuously j for, an inferior dancing-meeting is generally called a hop. 
 
 h MS. Harl. marked 603. i Printed at London, A. D. 15§6; part i. chap. 3. 
 
 k Called the ' Four P's.' Hence it appears a ring was usually the prize,, and given to him who could: 
 hop best, and continue to do so the longest. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 205 
 
 century, 1 and revived about thirty years back. It is still 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. I apprehend the ladder-dance originated from the ancient pas- 
 time of walking or dancing upon very high stilts. A specimen of such 
 an exhibition is given upon the twentieth plate ; and the actor is exer- 
 cising a double function, that is, of a musician, and of a dancer. 1 " 
 
 XXI. 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." 
 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 to- 
 gether, in a playsome manner they turned their faces about, so that 
 they seemed continually to kiss each other. 
 
 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 repre- 
 sented upon the twenty-second plate, 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*. p 
 
 Many of the ancient dances were of a jocular kind, and sometimes 
 
 * In the reign of queen Anne, James- Miles, who declared himself to be a performer from Sadlera 
 Wells, kept a music-booth in Bartholomew Fair, where he exhibited nineteen different kinds of dances j 
 among them were a wrestler's dance, vaulting upon the slack rope, and dancing upon the ladder 5 the 
 last, he tells us, as well as the sword-dance, was performed by < a young woman surpassing all her sex. 1 
 Harl. Lib. 5931.— An Inventory of Playhouse Furniture, quoted in the Tatler under the article ' Mate- 
 rials for dancing, specifies masques, castanets, and a ladder of ten rounds;' vol. i. N° 42. 
 
 * Taken from a MS. Roll, written and illuminated in the reign of Henry the Third, Royal Library, 
 marked 14. B. v. 
 
 " The original reads, < Qui estoient en pure cottes, & tresses a menu tresse ; which Chaucer ren- 
 ders ' 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 
 aow upon like Occasions, to shew their persons to greater advantage. 
 
 < _ 'They threw yfere 
 
 Ther mouther,, so that, through ther play,- 
 It semed as they kyste alway. 
 
 Chaucer's translation. 
 
 p See page 194. ) 
 
* 
 
 206 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 executed by one person : we have, for instance, an account of a man 
 who danced upon a table before king Edward the Second. The par- 
 ticulars of the dance are not specified ; but it is said that his majesty 
 laughed very heartily at the performance: 13 it probably consisted of 
 quaint attitudes and ridiculous gesticulations. The king, however, was 
 so delighted, that he gave a reward of fifty shillings to the dancer, which 
 was a great sum in those days. A few years ago, there was a fellow 
 that used to frequent the different public-houses in the metropolis, who, 
 mounting a table, would stand upon his head with his feet towards the 
 ceiling, and make all the different steps of an hornpipe upon it for the 
 diversion of the company/ An exhibition nearly as ridiculous is repre- 
 sented upon the twentieth plate, where a girl is dancing upon the 
 shoulders of the joculator, w ho at the same time is playing upon the 
 bagpipes, and appears to be in the action of walking forwards. 5 
 
 XXII. Wire-dancing, at least so much of it as I have seen exhi- 
 bited, 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 for- 
 wards ; 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 ba- 
 lancing upon the wire. 
 
 XXIII. The grand figure-dances, and ballettes 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 multifa- 
 rious, to be described in a general work like this : suffice it to say, they 
 are pantomimical representations of historical and poetical subjects, 
 
 i ' Et lui fist tres grandement rire.' Rot. Comput. temp. Edw. ii. penes T. Astle, Esq. 
 ' His method o f P^forming was to place a porter-pot upon the table, raised high enough for his feet 
 to touch the deling, when his head was upon the pot. I have been told that many publicans would 
 not permit him to come into their houses, because he had damaged the cieling, and in some places 
 danced part of it down. 
 
 8 Taken from a MS. of the 13th century, in the Royal Library, marked 14. E. iii. 
 
P1.XX . 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 207 
 
 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. 
 
 XXIV. There are certain feasts of tumbling and vaulting that have 
 no connection with dancing, such as leaping and turning with the heels 
 over the head in the air, which is called the Somersault; 1 also turning 
 round with great rapidity, alternately bearing upon the hands and the 
 feet, denominated the fly-flap ; u and leaping through barrels without 
 heads, and through hoops, especially the latter, which is an exploit of 
 long standing : we find it represented upon the twentieth plate, taken 
 from a manuscript of the fourteenth century ; wherein two boys are de- 
 picted holding the hoop, and the third preparing to leap through it r 
 having deposited his cloak upon the ground to receive him. 
 
 A vaulting master of the seventeenth century boasted that he had 
 reduced 4 vaulting to a method ;' w and in a book published by him on 
 this subject, he has subjoined several plates containing different speci- 
 mens 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 performed 
 at Astley's, and at the Circus in St. George's Fields, with many addi- 
 tional acquirements ; and the horses gallop round the ride while the 
 actor is going through his manoeuvres : on the contrary, the horses be- 
 longing 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, x 
 
 *' Corruptly called a somerset. Mrs. Piozzi, speaking of Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, and favour- 
 ite of James the First, says, ' — And the sommerset, still used by tumblers, taken from him.' Retro- 
 spection of Eighteen Hundred Years, vol. ii. p. 224. The word, however, was in use, and applied by 
 the tumblers to the feat above mentioned, before the birth of Carr. 
 
 ulna satirical pamphlet, intituled, 'The Character of a Quack Doctor,' published at London, \6y6 t . 
 the empiric, boasting of his cures, says, ' The Sultan Gilgal, being violently afflicted with a spasmus^ 
 came 600 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 flyflaps and somersets,' &c. But this is evidently conjoin- 
 ing the three for the sake of ridicule. 
 
 w William Stokes, in a publication called « The Vaulting Master,' &c. printed at Oxford in 1652. 
 * In a volume of Miscellaneous Papers, Bibl. Harl. 5931. 
 
208 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III, 
 
 announces 4 The wonderful performances of that most celebrated master 
 Simpson, the famous vaulter, who, being lately arrived from Italy, 
 will shew the world what vaulting is!' The bill speaks pompously; 
 but how far his abilities coincided with the promise, I cannot deter- 
 mine; for, none of his exertions are specified. — But the most extraor- 
 dinary vaulter that has appeared within my memory was brought for- 
 ward last year at the Circus. He was then about eighteen years of 
 age, exceedingly well made, and upwards of six feet high/ He leaped 
 over nine horses standing side by side and a .man seated upon the mid- 
 horse ; he jumped over a garter held fourteen feet high ; and at another 
 jump kicked a bladder .hanging six teen feet at least from the ground ; 
 and, for his own benefit, he leaped over a temporary machine repre- 
 senting a broad wheeled waggon with the tilt. These astonishing speci- 
 mens of strength and agility were performed, without any trick or decep- 
 tion, by a fair jump, and not with the somersault, which is usually 
 practised on such occasions. After a run of ten or twelve yards, he 
 ascended an inclined plane, constructed with thick boards, and about 
 three feet in height at one end ; from the upper part of this plane he 
 made his spring; 2 and, having performed the leap, was received into a 
 carpet held by six or eight men. It may readily be supposed that 
 exertions of such an extraordinary nature could not be long continued 
 without some disastrous accident ; and accordingly, in the first season 
 of his engagement, he sprained the tendon of his heel so violently, that 
 he could not perform for a considerable time afterwards. 3 
 
 XXV. Balancing. Under this head perhaps may be included se- 
 veral of the performances mentioned in the preceding pages, and espe- 
 cially the throwing of three balls and three knives alternately into the 
 air, and catching them as they fall. b This trick, in my memory, com- 
 monly constituted a part of the puppet-showman's exhibition ; but I 
 do not recollect to have seen it extended beyond four articles ; for in- 
 
 y A native of Yorkshire ; and his name is Ireland. The performance took place A. D. 1 799- 
 Z T examined this apparatus very minutely, and am well persuaded that he received no assistance 
 from any elasticity in the boards, they being too thick to afford him any, and especially at the top, where 
 they were made fast to the frame that supported them ; nor from any other kind of artificial spring. 
 * That is, nearly two years. b Represented on plate xvii^ see page 157 . 
 
P3.3X1. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 209 
 
 stance, two oranges and two forks ; and the performer, by way of con- 
 clusion, 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 Chau- 
 cer, stands thus : 
 
 There was manye a tymbestere — 
 — Couthe her crafte full parfytly : 
 The tymbres up full subtelly 
 They cast, and hent full ofte 
 Upon a fynger fayre and softe, 
 That they fayled never mo.c 
 
 Towards the close of last summer, I saw three itinerant musicians pa- 
 rading 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 men- 
 tioned, 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 accompaniment without 
 losing time, or occasioning the least interruption. 
 
 XXVI. The twenty-first plate contains some few specimens of the 
 ancient balance-master's art; d three of which need no explanation ; but 
 one of them at the top and another at the bottom are not so clear : the 
 
 c In the original French it is said, 
 
 * et timberesses, 
 
 Qui moult savoient bien juer, 
 Qu i ne finoient de ruer 
 Le timbre en haut, si recueilloient 
 Sus un doi conques enfailloient.' 
 d The originals are all of the fourteenth century ; the figure with the swords, at the bottom, is from 
 a MS. book of prayers, in the possession of F. Douce, Esq.; the boy balancing the spear, from a MS. 
 Psalter, formerly belonging to J. Ives, Esq. of Yarmouth; and the other three from a MS. in the Bod- 
 leian Library, marked Bod. 264. 
 
 2 E 
 
210 SPORTS AXD PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 first 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 re- 
 sembling a trowel, but I neither know its name nor its use. The man 
 at the bottom of the plate is performing a very difficult operation : he 
 has placed one sword upright upon the hilt, and is attempting to do the 
 like with a second ; at the same time his attitude is altogether as sur- 
 prising as the trick itself. Feats similar to the other three I have seen 
 carried into execution, and especially that of balancing a wheel; which 
 was exhibited two years back at Sadlers Wells by a Dutchman, who 
 not only supported it upon his shoulder, but also upon his forehead and 
 his chin ; and he afterwards extended the performance to two wheels 
 tied together, with a boy standing upon one of them. In the middle 
 of the last 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 forehead. 6 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. 
 
 XXVII. The posture-master ; the display of his abilities consisted in 
 twisting and contorting his body into strange and unnatural attitudes. 
 This art was, no doubt, practised by the jugglers in former ages ; and a 
 singular specimen of it, delineated in the reign of Edward the Third, is 
 given at the bottom of the twentieth plate ; f the performer has bent 
 himself backwards, with his head turned up between his hands, so as 
 nearly to touch his feet; in this situation he hangs by his hams upon a 
 pole supported by two of his confederates. 
 
 e His fame was celebrated by a song set to music, intituled < Balance a Straw/ which became ex- 
 eeedingly popular. 
 
 f From a MS. in the Bodleian Library, referred to in the last note but one. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 211 
 
 The posture-master is frequently mentioned by the writers of the two 
 last centuries ; but his tricks are not particularised. The most extra- 
 ordinary artist of this kind that ever existed, it is said, was Joseph 
 Clark, 5 who, 4 though a well-made man, and rather gross than thin, ex- 
 hibited in a most natural manner almost every species of deformity and 
 dislocation; 11 he could also assume all the uncouth faces that he had 
 seen at a Quakers meeting, at the theatre, or any other public place/ 
 To this man a paper in the Guardian 1 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 taylor's 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 unfor- 
 tunate in a hump-back. In short, this wandering tumor puzzled all 
 the workmen about town, who found it impossible to accommodate so 
 changeable a customer/* In the present day, the unnatural perform- 
 ances 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. 
 
 XXVIII. 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 
 
 g He resided in Pall Mall, and died about the beginning of king William's reign. — Granger, from 
 whom the above account of this man is extracted, tells us he was dead in the year \6gj ; Biograph. 
 Hist. vol. iv. See also Philos. Trans. N° 242, for July, 1698. 
 
 h He could dislocate his vertebras so as to render himself a shocking spectacle. Ibid. 
 
 i N° 102, July 8, 1713. 
 
 k 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 Haymarket, and exhibited ' many wonder- 
 ful postures,' as his own bill declares. Miscell. Collect. Hark Lib. marked 593 1. — I know no farther 
 of him. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 physic made his appearance in England : it is clear, however, that he 
 figured away with much success in this country during the two last 
 centuries : he called to his assistance some of the performances prac- 
 tised by the jugglers; and the bourdour, or merry-andrew, seems to have 
 been his inseparable companion ; hence it is said in an old ballad 
 
 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. Shakespeare 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 the Second, ' Hans Buling, a Dutchman, was 
 well known in London as a mountebank. He was/ says a modern 
 writer, ' 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/" 1 The ig- 
 norance and the impudence of the mountebanks are ridiculed in the 
 Spectator, and especially in that paper which concludes with an anec- 
 dote 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 
 
 1 Its title is, ' Sundry Trades and Callings.' 
 m Granger's Biographical History, vol. iv. p. 350. 
 n Vol. viii. N° 572; see also vol. vi. N° 444. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 213 
 
 drew out a handful of little packets, each of which, he informed the 
 spectators, was constantly sold for five shillings and six pence, but that 
 he would bate the odd five shillings to every inhabitant of that place. 
 The whole assembly immediately 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 Hammer- 
 smith men/ 
 
 XXIX. Another itinerant, who seems in some degree to have rivalled 
 the lower classes of the jugglers, was the tinker; and accordingly he is 
 included, with them and the minstrels, in the act against vagrants 
 established by the authority of queen Elizabeth. His performances 
 were usually exhibited at fairs, wakes, and other places of public re- 
 sort: they consisted in low buffoonery and ludicrous tricks to engage 
 the attention and move the laughter of the populace. Some of them 
 are specified in the following speech from an old dramatic perform- 
 ance:? 'This, madame, is the tinker of Twitnam. 1 have seene him 
 licke out burning firebrands with his tongue, drink twopence from the 
 bottome of a full pottle of ale, fight with a masty 9 and stroke his 
 mustachoes with his bloody-bitten fist, and sing as merrily as the so- 
 berest querester/ 
 
 XXX. The first article in the foregoing quotation brings to my 
 recollection the extraordinary performances of a professed fire-eater, 
 whose name was Powel, well known in different parts of the kingdom 
 about forty years ago. Among other wonderful facts, I saw him do 
 the following. He eat the burning coals from the fire ; he put a large 
 bunch of matches lighted into his mouth, and blew the smoke of the 
 sulphur through his nostrils ; he carried a red-hot heater round the 
 room in his teeth ; and broiled a piece of beef-steak upon his tongue/ 
 By way of conclusion, he made a composition of pitch, brimstone, 
 and other combustibles, to which he added several pieces of lead ; the 
 
 See page 167. p 'The Two Maides of Moreclacke, printed in 1609. 
 
 1 Or mastiff dog. 
 
 * To perform this, he lighted a piece of charcoal, which he put into his mouth beneath his tongue j 
 the beef was laid upon the top ; and one of the spectators with a pair of bellows blew upon the char- 
 coal, to prevent the heat decreasing, till the meat was sufficiently broiled. 
 
214 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 whole was melted in an iron ladle, and then set on fire ; this he called 
 his soup ; and, taking it out of the ladle with a spoon of the same 
 metal, he ate it in its state of liquefaction, and blazing furiously, with- 
 out appearing to sustain the least injury. — And here we may add the 
 whimsical trickery of a contemporary artist, equal to the above in ce- 
 lebrity, who amused the public, and filled his pockets, by eating stones, 
 which it is said he absolutely cracked between his teeth, and after- 
 wards swallowed. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 215 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers. — Tricks performed by Bears, — by Apes and 
 Monkeys,' — by Horses. — Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's and at the Circus. — 
 Dancing Dogs. — The Hare beating a Tabor. — The Learned Pig. — A Dancing Cock. 
 • — The Deserter Bird. — Imitations of Animals. — Mummings and Masquerades, 
 whence derived. — Baiting of Bulls, Bears, Horses, &c. fashionable Sports — how 
 performed. — Prize Fighting.. — Challenge and Answer of Two Prize Fighters. — 
 Quarter Staff. — Extraordinary Trial of Strength. 
 
 I. One great part of the joculator's profession 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 counterfeit the 
 gestures and articulations of the brutes. The engravings which ac- 
 company this chapter relate to both these modes of diverting the pub 
 lie, and prove the invention of them to be more ancient than is gene- 
 rally supposed. The tutored bear lying down at the command of his 
 master, represented on the top of the twenty-second plate, is taken 
 from a manuscript of the tenth century; 3 and the three dancing bears 
 beneath it are as early as the fourteenth. b I have already had occasion 
 to mention two of these delineations ; c and the other two require no 
 explanation. On the twenty-third plate we find a bear standing upon 
 his head, and another dancing with a monkey upon his back ; the ori- 
 ginals occur in a book of prayers written towards the close of the thir- 
 teenth 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 
 
 a Harl. Lib. marked 603. 
 b The two in the middle are taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, marked Bod. 
 264 j that at the bottom from a MS. in the Royal Library, marked 2. B. vii. 
 
 c See pages 15g, ig4. 4 Harl. Lib. marked 6563. 
 
216 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 to the present lime, 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. 
 
 II. Apes and monkeys seem always to have been favourite actors in 
 the joculator's troop of animals. 6 A specimen of the performance of 
 both, as far back as the fourteenth century, is given on the twenty- 
 third plate/ Leaping or tumbling over a chain or cord held by the 
 juggler, as we there see it depicted, was a trick well received at Bar- 
 tholomew fair in the time of Ben Jonson ; and in the induction, or pro- 
 logue, to a comedy written by him, which bears that title, 5 it is said, 4 He,' 
 meaning the author, 4 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. In the reign of queen Anne, there was exhibited at 
 Charing Cross 4 a wild hairy man/ who, we are told, danced upon the 
 tight rope 4 with a balance, true to the music / he also 4 walked upon 
 the slack rope while it was swinging, and drank a glass of ale ; he 
 4 pulled off his hat, and paid his respects to the company and 
 4 smoaked tobacco/ according to the bill, 4 as well as any Christian/ 11 
 
 e Thomas Cartwright, in his Admonition to Parliament against the Use of the Common Prayer, pub- 
 lished 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 noble- 
 men and knights, kept open court ; and the palace was crowded on such occasions with cheats, buf- 
 foons, 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.' 
 Essais Hist, sur Paris, vol. ii. p. 178. 
 
 f The ape tumbling over the cord is from a MS. at Oxford, mentioned in the preceding note, marked 
 Bod. 264 } the monkey riding upon the bear is in the Harleian Library, 6503. 
 
 e 'Bartholomew Fayre' was acted in l6l4. 
 b From a Miscellaneous Collection of Papers, Harl. Lib. 5931. 
 
P1.XXIJI. 
 
"PI. XXIV. 
 
^BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 217 
 
 But all these feats were afterwards outdone by a brother monkey, who 
 performed many wonderful tricks at the Haymarket theatre, both as a 
 rope-dancer and an equilibrist. 1 
 
 III. The people of Sybaris, a city in Calabria, are proverbial on 
 account of their effeminacy .; and it is said that they taught their horses 
 to dance to the music of the pipe; for which reason, their enemies the 
 Crotonians, at a time when they were at war with them, brought a 
 great number of pipers into the field, and, at the commencement of the 
 battle, they played upon their pipes ; the Sybarian horses, hearing the 
 sound of the music, began to dance ; and their riders, unable to ma- 
 nage them as they ought to have done, were thrown into confusion, and 
 defeated with prodigious slaughter. This circumstance is mentioned 
 by Aristotle ; and, if not strictly true, proves, at least, that the teaching 
 of animals to exceed the bounds of action prescribed by nature was 
 not unknown to the ancients. k 
 
 IV. 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. 1 If we refer to the twenty-fourth 
 plate, we shall find the representation of several surprising tricks per- 
 formed by horses, far exceeding those displayed in the present day. At 
 the top is depicted the cruel diversion of baiting a horse with dogs ; im- 
 mediately under it is a horse dancing upon his hinder feet to the music 
 of the pipe and tabor; and opposite to him 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 constantly regulated by some kind of musical instrument 
 The two performances delineated at the bottom of the plate are more 
 astonishing than those above them : in one instance, the horse is stand- 
 ing upon his hinder feet, and beating with his fore feet upon a kind of 
 tabor or drum held by his master; in the other, he is exhibiting a si- 
 milar trick with his hinder feet, and supports himself upon his fore feet, 
 
 « Grainger, Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 353. See also page 200 of this Work. 
 Ainsworth's Latin and English Dictionary, under the word Sybaris. 
 1 Mem. sur Anc. Cheval. torn. i. p. 247. 
 2 F 
 
£18 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 The original drawings, copied on this plate, are all of them upwards 
 of four hundred and fifty years old ; m and at the time in which they 
 were made, the joculators were in full possession of the public favour. 
 
 V. Horses are animals exceedingly susceptible of instruction* and 
 their performances have been extended so far as to bear the appearance 
 of rational discernment. I have before me 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 statement of this advertisement; 
 for, a horse equally scientific is to be seen in the present day at Astley's 
 amphitheatre ; this animal is so small, that he and his keeper frequently 
 parade the streets in a hackney coach. 
 
 VI. 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 exhibi- 
 tion, introduced to public notice about forty years back 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 ap- 
 pearance; and he again was succeeded by Astley. The latter esta- 
 blished a riding-school near Westminster-bridge, and has been a sue- 
 
 m The horse baited, at the top of the plate, is from b royal MS. of the fourteenth century, marked 
 2. B. vii ; the horse dancing to the pipe and tabor is from another MS. in the same library, more an- 
 cient by at least half a century j the other three are from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, 
 dated 1344, and marked Bod. 264. — In the year \6l2, 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. Menestrier, Trait, de Tournois, p. 218. 
 Something of the same kind is done 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 on the plate. 
 
 n Miscellaneous Collection of Bills and Advertisements, Harl. Lib. marked 59§8. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 219 
 
 eessful candidate for popular favour. These performances originally 
 took place in the open air, and the spectators were exposed to the wea- 
 ther, which frequently proving unfavourable 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 exhi- 
 bited there in the present day are far more splendid than those of any 
 other of the minor theatres. 
 
 VII. I know no reason why the joculators should not have made the 
 dog one of their principal brute performers: the sagacity of this crea- 
 ture 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. 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/ P there is mention 
 made of ' dogges that dance the morrice/ without any indication of the 
 performance being a novelty. Dancing dogs, in the present day, make 
 their appearance in the public streets of the metropolis ; but their mas- 
 ters meet with very little encouragement, 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 pup- 
 pet-showman named Crawley. He called this exhibition 6 The ball of 
 
 Three specimens are given ; one on the twenty-third, and two on the twenty- fifth plate j take^ 
 from the MS. at Oxford mentioned in the preceding note, which is dated 1344. 
 
 p First acted in 1614. 
 
no 
 
 SPORTS AUD PASTTIMTJS 
 
 BOOK ITfv 
 
 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 mar- 
 quis of Gaillerdain, whose dexterity is not to be compared ; q 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 the queen 1 " and most of the nobility of 
 England. But many other 4 cunning tricks/ and greatly superior to 
 those practised by Crawley's company, have been performed by dogs/ 
 some few years ago, at Sadlers Wells, and afterwards at Astley's, to the 
 great amusement and disport of the polite spectators. 
 
 VIII. It is astonishing what may be effected by. constant exertion 
 and continually tormenting even the most timid and un tractable ani- 
 mals ; 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 Sadlers Wells/ Neither, is this whimsical spectacle a recent 
 invention. A hare is mentioned that beat the tabor, by Jonson, in his 
 comedy of 6 Barthlomew Fayre,' acted at the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century ; u and a representation of the feat, itself, taken from 
 a drawing upwards of four hundred years old, is given on the twenty- 
 third plate. w — And here I cannot help mentioning a very ridiculous 
 show, of a learned pig, x which of late days attracted much of the public 
 
 i I give the author's own words; and his meaning, I suppose, is that the performance of this dog 
 was not to be equalled. 
 
 r Queen Anne. 
 
 s One 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, en- 
 tirely performed by dogs. 
 
 1 And, if I mistake not, in several other places in and about the metropolis. 
 u A. D. 1614. w MS. Had. marked 6563. 
 
 * One would not have thought that a hog had been an animal capable of learning : the fact, how- 
 ever, is another proof of what maybe accomplished by assiduity; for, the showmen assured a friend of 
 mine, that he had lost three very promising brutes in the course of training, and that the phenomenoa 
 then exhibited had often given him reason to despair of success. 
 
600K nr. 
 
 OF THE PEOPXE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 221 
 
 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 satisfac- 
 tion to all who saw him, and filled his tormenter's pocket with money/ 
 IX. 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 the twenty-third plate, where a cock 
 is represented dancing on stilts to the music of a pipe and tabor. In 
 the present day, this may probably be considered as a mere effort of the 
 illuminators 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, shewn at Breslaw's, a celebrated jug- 
 gler, who performed at London* 2 somewhat more than twenty years ago*. 
 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 pre- 
 sence of the spectators ; and there they formed themselves into ranks 
 like a company of soldiers : small cones of paper bearing some resem- 
 blance 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 moment the explosion took place, the deserter fell 
 
 y It was first shown in tile vicinity of Pall Mall, A. D. 17S9, at five shillings each person j the price 
 was af terwards reduced to half a crown ; and finally to one shilling. 
 
 z Tn Cockspur Street, opposite the Haymarket. His prices of admission were five shillings, and half 
 a crown. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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. 
 
 X. Among the performances dependant on imitation, that of assum- 
 ing 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 muminings and dis- 
 guisements ; 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 fel- 
 lows 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, a 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. b What effect his preaching may have had at the 
 time, I know not: the custom, however, was not totally suppressed, but 
 may be readily traced from vestiges remaining of it, to the modern 
 times. c The ancient court ludi described in a former chapter" 1 are cer- 
 tainly off-shoots from the Saturnalian disfigurements; and from the 
 same stock we may pertinently derive the succeeding masquings and 
 
 a This prelate lived in the ninth century. 
 b Du Cange, Gloss, in vocibus Cervula & Kalendae. 
 c Dr. Johnson, in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, says a gentleman informed him, 
 that, e 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 re-admission obtained after their pretended terror, but by the repetition of a verse 
 of poetry, which those acquainted with the custom are provided with.' Sec also Bourne's Vulgar Er- 
 rors, edited by Brand, p. 175. 
 
 A See page 145. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 2&5< 
 
 n 
 
 disguisements of the person frequently practised at certain seasons of 
 the year ; and hence also came the modern masquerades. 6 
 
 XI. In the middle ages, mummings were very common ; f and at 
 court, as well as in the mansions of the nobility, on occasions of festi- 
 vity, it frequently happened that the whole company appeared in bor- 
 rowed characters ; and, full licence of speech being granted to every- 
 one, the discourses were not always kept within the bounds of decency. 6 
 These spectacles were exhibited with great splendour in former times, 
 and particularly during the reign of Henry the Eighth:" 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 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 6 Ship of Fools/ alluding to this cus- 
 tom, 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 r 
 
 That what he is, himself is scantily sure.* 
 
 I t appears that many abuses were committed under the sanction of these 
 disguisements; and for this reason an ordinance was established, by 
 
 e Warton says, that certain theatrical amusements were called mascarades very anciently in France, 
 These were probably the court ludi. History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 237- 
 
 f Murara 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 j which is properly defined by Dr. Johnson to be a 
 masker, one who performs frolics in a personated dress. The following verse occurs in Milton's Samson 
 Agonistes, line 1325 : 
 
 * Jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics.' 
 
 s-Mem. Anc. Cheval. torn. ii. p. (18. h See a description of two of them,, pp. 124, 12&, 
 
 » Translated by Alexander Barclay, and printed by Pynson in 1508. 
 
224 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 which a man was liable to punishment who appeared in the streets of 
 London with ' a painted visage.' k 
 
 Bourne, in his ' Vulgar Antiquities/ speaks of a kind of mumming 
 practised in the North about Christmas time, which consisted in 
 4 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." 
 
 XII. 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. Frois- 
 sart tells us, that, after the coronation of Isabel of Bavaria, the queen 
 of Charles the Sixth 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." 1 
 
 When queen Elizabeth was entertained at Kenilworth castle, various 
 spectacles were contrived for her amusement, and some of them pro- 
 duced without any previous notice, to take her as it were by surprize. 
 It happened about nine o'clock one evening, as her majesty returned 
 from hunting, and was riding by torch-light, 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." 
 
 k Stow's Survey, fol. 680. — An. 3 Hen. 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 in their houses for 
 the purpose of mumming. Northbrooke's Treatise, p. 105. 
 
 1 Chap. xvi. m Chron. torn. i. iv. chap. 157, Lord Berners' translation. 
 
 n This man was Thomas Gascoyne the poet; and the verses he spoke on the occasion where his own 
 .composition. The circumstance took place on the 10th of July, 1575. See Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 225 
 
 The savage men, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called, fre- 
 quently made their appearance in the public shows; they were some- 
 times clothed entirely with skins, and sometimes they were decorated 
 with oaken leaves, or covered, as above, with ivy. 
 
 XIII. 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 the twenty-fifth plate are three specimens of their perform- 
 ances. One of them presents to us the resemblance of a stag ; another 
 that of a goat walking erectly on his hinder feet. Neither of these fic- 
 titious animals have any fore legs ; but to the first the deficiency is sup- 
 plied 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 advan- 
 tage, 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. p 
 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. There 
 are two more boys in the original, who are following, disguised in a si- 
 milar manner, and each of them holding a like scroll of parchment. The 
 wit of this performance I protest I cannot discover. 
 
 XIV. The prancing and curveting of horses was counterfeited in the 
 hobby-horse, the usual concomitant of the morris-dance. I have already 
 spoken on this subject ; q and shall only add in this place an anecdote 
 of prince Henry, the eldest son of James the First. — e Some of his high- 
 nesses young gentlemen, together with himself,' says my author, 6 imi- 
 tating in sport the curveting and high-going of horses, one that stood 
 by said that they were like a company of horses ; which his highness 
 noting, answered,' ' Is it not better to resemble a horse, which is a gene- 
 
 Taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1344, marked Bod. 264. 
 v And probably the neck was made pliable for that purpose. 1 Page 202. 
 
 2 G 
 
226 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 rous and courageous beast, than a dull slow-going ass as you are?' 
 The prince, we are told, was exceedingly young at the time he made 
 this reply/ 
 
 XV. I have not been able to ascertain how 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 : 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 pro- 
 fesses himself to ' be the only man that could ever attain to so great an 
 art/ 8 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 per- 
 formance 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, w 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 back- 
 wards and forwards over a stringless violin. His performance was re- 
 ceived 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, I heard a poor rustic, a native of St. 
 
 T The author, whose name does not appear, declares himself to have been witness to the facts he 
 records. MS. Harl. 6391. 
 
 * He perfoimed at the corner of Bartholomew Lane behind the Royal Exchange. His price for ad- 
 mittance was one shilling each person. Miscell. Collect. Harl. Lib. marked 115. 
 
 1 Vol. viii. N° 570. * See page 221. w Literally, nightingale. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 227 
 
 Alban's, imitate, with great exactness, the whole assemblage of ani- 
 mals belonging to a farm-yard ; but especially he excelled in counter- 
 feiting the grunting of swine, the squeaking of pigs, and the quarrel- 
 ling of two dogs. 
 
 XVI. Training of bulls, bears, horses, and other animals, for the pur- 
 pose of baiting them with dogs, was certainly practised by the jugglers ; 
 and this vicious pastime has the sanction of high antiquity. Fitz Ste- 
 phen, who lived in the reign of Henry the Second, tells us that, in the 
 forenoon of every holiday, during the winter season, the young Lon- 
 doners were amused with boars opposed to each other in battle, or 
 with bulls and full-grown bears baited by dogs. x 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, par- 
 tially performed ; and the manner in which it was carried into execu- 
 tion appears on the twenty-fourth plate J Asses also were treated with 
 the same inhumanity ; but probably the poor beasts did not afford suf- 
 ficient sport in the tormenting, and therefore were seldom brought for- 
 ward as the objects of this barbarous diversion. 
 
 XVII. There were several places in the vicinity of the metropolis set 
 apart for the baiting of beasts, and especially the district of Saint Sa- 
 viour's parish 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 : z and this indulgence, we are told, they paid for in the fol- 
 lowing manner: ' Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or 
 Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, en terludes, or fence-play, must not ac- 
 count 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/ 3 
 
 XVIII. Bull and bear-baiting is not encouraged by persons of rank 
 
 * Description of London. See also Stow's Survey, p. 78. 
 y From a MS. of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library, marked 2. B. vii. 
 2 Survey of London, ubi supra.— One Sunday afternoon, A.D. 1582, the scaffolds being overcharged 
 with spectators, fell down during the performance ; and a great number of persons were killed or 
 maimed by the accident. Ibid. See the Introduction to this Work. 
 
 8 Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, published A.D. 1570, p. 248. 
 
228 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 and opulence in the present day ; 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 pre valency of humanity among the moderns ; on the contrary, this 
 barbarous pastime was highly relished by the nobility in former ages, b 
 and countenanced by persons of the most* exalted rank, without excep- 
 tion even of the fair sex. 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/ The same princess, soon after her accession to the 
 throne, gave a splendid dinner to the French ambassadors, who after- 
 wards were entertained with the baiting of bulls and bears, and the 
 queen herself stood with the ambassadors looking on the 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 ; d 
 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, 4 tempered/ says Holinshed, * with other merry 
 disports ;' e 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 6 their inward-conceived joy and delight with shrill shouts and 
 variety of gestures.' f 
 
 XIX. The manner in which these sports were exhibited towards the 
 close of the sixteenth century, is thus described by a foreign writer/ 
 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 
 
 b Erasmus, who visited England in the reign of Henry VIII. says, there were ' many herds of bears 
 maintained in this country for the purpose of baiting.' Erasmi Adagia, p. 3(5l. 
 
 c Life of Sir Tho. Pope, sect. iii. p. 85. 
 d The 25th and 26th of May, 1559. Nichols's Progresses, vol. i, p. 40. 
 c Chronicle of Eng. vol. iii. fol. 1552. 
 f Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. ii. p. 228. 
 e Hentzner's Itinerary, printed in Latin A. D. 1598. I have followed Lord Orford's translation, 
 from the edition of Strawberry Hill, p. 42. 
 
BOOK TIT. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 229 
 
 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 stand- 
 ing 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/ A writer of our own, h speak- 
 ing of a bear-baiting exhibited before queen Elizabeth, says, 4 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 ad- 
 vantage ; 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/ In the foregoing relations, we find no mention made of 
 a ring put into the nose of the bear when he was baited ; which cer- 
 tainly Avas the more modern practice ; hence the expression in the Hu- 
 morous Lovers,' 4 1 fear the wedlock ring more than the bear does the 
 ring in his nose/ 
 
 XX. 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 preceded by a minstrel or two, and carried a monkey or 
 baboon upon his back. In the play just now quoted, 1 " 4 Tom of Lin- 
 
 h Laneham, in his account of the reception of queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth-Castle, A.D. 1575. 
 He tells us that thirteen bears were provided for this occasion, and they were baited with a great sort of 
 ban-dogs. Nichols's Progresses, vol. i. fol. 24Q. 
 
 i By the duke of Newcastle, printed A.D. 1617. 
 k The Humorous Lovers, see the preceding note. 
 
230 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK nr. 
 
 coin' is mentioned as the name of 'a famous bear;' and one of the 
 characters pretending to personate a bear- ward, says, 4 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.' 
 
 XXI. The two following advertisements, 1 which were published in 
 the reign of queen Anne, may serve as a specimen of the elegant man- 
 ner in which these pastimes were announced to the public : 
 
 c 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 Smithfield 
 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. Like- 
 wise there are two bear-dogs to jump three jumps apiece at the bear, 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 col- 
 lar ; and the dog that runs farthest and fairest wins the collar ; with other di- 
 versions of bull and bear-baiting. Beginning at two of the clock.' 
 
 XXII. The sword-dance, or, more properly, a combat with swords 
 and bucklers, regulated by music, was exhibited by the Saxon glee- 
 men. We have spoken on this subject in a former chapter, and re- 
 sume it here, because the jugglers of the middle ages were famous for 
 their skill in handling the sword. The combat represented on the 
 twenty-sixth plate, taken from a manuscript of the thirteenth century," 1 
 varies, in several respects, from that on the eighteenth plate ; though 
 both, I presume, are different modifications of the same performance, 
 as well as that on the top of the twenty-sixth plate," which is carried 
 into execution without the assistance of a minstrel. These combats 
 
 l In a Miscellaneous Collection of Bills and Title-pages, Harl. Lib. marked 15. 
 m In the Royal Library, marked 14 E. iii. 
 n Ibid, marked 20 D. vi. contained in a MS. of the thirteenth century. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 231 
 
 bore some resemblance to those performed by the Roman gladiators r 
 for which reason the jugglers were sometimes called Gladiators, by the 
 early historians. It also appears that they instituted schools for teach- 
 ing the art of defence in 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 inter- 
 fere; and, in the reign of Edward the First, p an edict was published 
 by royal authority, which prohibited the keeping of such schools, and 
 the public exercise of swords and bucklers, q which had been practised 
 by day and by night to the great annoyance of the peaceable inhabit- 
 ants of the city: the offenders were subjected to the punishment of im- 
 prisonment 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 ; s but these most probably were licensed by the city gover- 
 nors, and under their controul. * In this city/ meaning London, says 
 an author well acquained with the subject,' * there be manie professors 
 
 ° ' Mimi, salii, balatrones, semiliani, gladiatores, palaestritae — et tota joculatorum copia,' &c. Johan^ 
 Sarisbnriensis de Nugis Curialium, lib. i. cap. viii. p. 34. 
 
 p In the fourteenth year of his reign, A.D. 1286. 
 
 q Eskirmer au bokeler. It is said that many robberies and murders were committed by these gladi- 
 ators ; 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 thrust- 
 ing with rapiers, swords and bucklers are disused.' Worthies of England, published A.D. \QQ2. 
 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 A.D. 1599, we have the following observation : f Sword and buckler fight begins to grow out 
 of use; I am sorry for it ; I shall never 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.' 
 
 r Maitland's History of London, book i. chap, xi. 
 
 » 'The art of defence and use of weapons,' says Stow, ' is taught by professed masters.' Survey of 
 London, chap. ii. 
 
 1 In a description of the colleges and schools in and about London, which he calls ' The third Univer- 
 sity of England,' black letter; dated 1615, fol. 9S5. 
 
232 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 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 the Eighth made the professors of this 
 art a company, or corporation, by letters patent, wherein the art is in- 
 tituled The Noble Science of Defence. The manner of the proceeding 
 of our fencers in their schools is this ; first, they which desire to be 
 taught 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 suffici- 
 ently performed, they do proceed to be maisters of the science of de- 
 fence, or maisters of fence, as we commonly call them/ The king or- 
 dained, 6 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 
 take it, is represented at the bottom of the twenty-sixth plate, x where 
 clubs or bludgeons are substituted for swords. 
 
 The bear-gardens were the usual places appropriated by the masters 
 of defence for public trials of skill. These exhibitions were outrageous 
 to humanity, and only fitted for the amusement of ferocious minds ; it 
 is therefore astonishing that they should have been frequented by fe- 
 males ; for, who could imagine that the slicing of the flesh from a man's 
 cheek, the scarifying of his arms, or laying the calves of his legs upon 
 his heels, were spectacles calculated to delight the fair sex, or suffici- 
 ently attractive to command their presence/ 
 
 u I apprehend he means the quarter staff. 
 x Taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1344, marked Bod. 264. 
 y The manner of performing a prize-combat, at the commencement of the last century, is well 
 described, and the practice justly reprobated, in one of the papers belonging to the Spectator, Vol. vi. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 233 
 
 XXIII. The following show-bill contains the common mode of chal- 
 lenging and answering used by the combatants ; it is selected from a 
 great number now lying before me ; 2 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, 3 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 ! 
 
 XXIV. In another challenge the quarter-staff 13 is added to the list of 
 weapons named on these occasions. The quarter-staff was formerly 
 used by the English, and especially in the western parts of the kingdom. 
 I have seen a small pamphlet with this title : 4 Three to One; being an 
 English-Spanish combat, performed by a western gentleman of Tavy- 
 stock, 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, 4 The author of this booke, and actor in this en- 
 counter, being R. Peecke.' On the same page there is a rude wooden 
 
 N° 436 : but these exhibitions were not without their trickery, as we may find by another paper, N° 449, 
 in the same volume. 
 
 * Contained in a Miscellaneous Collection of Title-pages, Bills, &c. in the Harleian Library, 
 marked 115. 
 
 a Dated July 13, 1709. 
 
 b 'A staff of defence,' says Dr. Johnson, ' so called, I believe, from the manner of using it 5 one 
 hand being placed at the middle, and the other equally between the end and the middle.' Diet, in voce 
 quarter-staff. 
 
 c Nov. 15, 1625. 
 2 H 
 
234 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 print representing the hero with his quarter-staff, in the action of fight- 
 ing with the three Spanyards, who are armed with long swords and 
 daggers/ 
 
 XXV. Wrestling, and such other trials of strength and activity as 
 had formerly been exhibited in the spectacles of the minstrels and 
 jugglers, were at this period transferred to the bear-gardens, where 
 they continued in practice till the total abolition of those polite places 
 of amusement. 
 
 XXVI. I shall conclude this chapter with the two following in- 
 stances of bodily power, recorded by our historians. The first is of- 
 Courcy earl of Ulster ; who, in the presence of John king of England and 
 Philip of France, cut through a helmet of steel with one blow of his 
 sword, and struck the weapon so deeply into the post upon which the 
 helmet was placed, that no one but himself was able to draw it out 
 again, 6 The second is mentioned by Eroissart; 1 who tells us that, one 
 Christmas-day, the earl of Eoix, according to his usual custom, 4 held a 
 great feast; and, after dyner, he deperted out of the hall, and went up 
 into a galarye, of twenty-four stayres of heyght. It being exceed- 
 ingly cold, the erle complained that the fire was not large enough; 
 when a person named Ervalton, of Spayne, went down the stayres, and 
 beneth in the court he sawe a great meny of asses laden with woode, to 
 serve the house; than he went, and tooke one of the greatest asses, 
 with all the woode, and layde hym on hys backe, and went up al the 
 stayres into the galary ; and dyd caste downe the asse, with al the 
 woode, into the chimney, and the asse's fete upward: whereof the erle 
 of Foix had greate joye; and so hadde all thy that wer ther, and had 
 mervele of his strength/ 
 
 d Caulfield has copied this print in his Assemblage of Noted persons, 
 c Fuller's Worthies in Somersetshire, 
 f Vol. iv. chap. 23, fol. 24, Lord Berners' translation, which is here followed. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 235 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Ancient Specimens of Bowling. — Poem concerning. — Bowling Greens first made by 
 the English. — Bowling Alleys. — Longbowling. — Supposed origin of Billiards. — 
 Kayles, — Closh,. — Loggats. — Nine-pins. — Skittles. — Dutch Pins. — Four Corners. — 
 Half-bowl.- — Nine Holes. — John Bull. — Pitch and Hustle. — Bull-running. — Badger- 
 baiting. — Cock-fighting. — Throwing at Cocks. — Duck-hunting — Squirrel-hunting. 
 — Ra bit-hunting. 
 
 I. 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, that I have met with, occurs on the twenty- 
 seventh plate, 3 where 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 successful candidate being he who could lay his 
 bowl the nearest to the mark. b At the top of the same plate are 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. The following little poem, called s A Parallel betwixt Bowling 
 
 a From a MS. of the 13th century in the Royal Library, marked 20 Ed. iv. 
 
 b 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.' 
 
 c From a beautiful MS. Book of Prayers of the 14th century, in the possession of F. Douce, Esq. 
 
236 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 and Preferment/ which I found in one of the manuscripts at the British 
 Museum, d expresses happily enough the turns and chances of the game 
 of bowls : 
 
 Preferment, like a game at boules, 
 
 To feede our hope hath divers play r 
 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 others 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 own true bias cutts the way. 
 
 In the three delineations above mentioned, we may observe that the 
 players have only one bowl for each person : the modern bowlers have 
 usually three or four. 
 
 II. Bowling-greens are said to have originated in England, 6 and 
 bowling upon them in my memory was a very popular amusement. In 
 most country towns of any note they are to be found, and some few are 
 
 d Harl. Lib. marked 1026, intituled, ' Justin Pagitt's Memorandum Book.' The verses occur in 
 g. 41, and are the production of William Stroad ; at least his name is assigned to. them. 
 
 c Encyclopaedia Britannica, in voce. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 237 
 
 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. 
 
 III. The inconveniency to which the open greens for bowling were 
 necessarily obnoxious, suggested, I presume, the idea of making bowl- 
 ing-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 ; f wherein if the 
 ladies were not themselves performers,. they certainly countenanced the 
 pastime by being spectators ; hence the king of Hungary, in an old 
 poem entitled 4 The Squyer of Low Degree/ says to his daughter, 'to 
 amuse you in your garden, 
 
 4 An hundredth knightes, truly tolde, 
 Shall play with bowles in alayes colde.' 
 
 It appears that soon after the introduction of bowling-alleys they were 
 productive of very evil consequences ; for they became not only ex- 
 ceedingly numerous, 8 but were often attached to places of public resort, 
 which rendered them the receptacles of idle and dissolute persons, and 
 were the means of promoting a pernicious spirit of gambling among 
 the younger and most unwary part of the community. In the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries these nurseries of vice are universally decried, 
 and especially such of them as were established within the city and 
 suburbs of London," where the ill effects arising from them were most 
 extensive. 
 
 IV. Bowling-alleys, I believe, were totally abolished before I knew 
 London ; but I have seen there a pastime which might originate from 
 them, called long-bowling. It was performed in a narrow enclosure, 
 about twenty or thirty yards in length, and at the farther end was 
 
 f Andrew Borde, in his ' Dictarie of Helthe,' describing a nobleman's mansion, supposes it not to be 
 complete without f a bowling-alley.' Among the additions made by Henry the Eighth at Whitehall 
 were 'divers fair tennice-courtes, bowling-alleys, and a cock-pit.' Stow's Survey, p. 4Q6. 
 
 s The little room required for making these bowling-alleys was no small cause of their multiplication, 
 particularly in great towns and cities. 
 
 h Stow's Survey, pp. 85, 158. 
 
338 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III-. 
 
 placed a square frame with nine small pins upon it; at these pins the 
 players bowled in succession ; and a boy, who stood by the frame to 
 set up the pins that were beat down by the bowl, called out the 
 number, which were placed to the account of the player ; and the 
 bowl was returned by the means of a small trough placed, with a gra- 
 dual descent from the pins to the bowlers, on one side of the enclosure. 
 Some call this game dutch-rubbers. 
 
 Bowling, according to an author of the seventeenih century, is a 
 pastime ' 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 [he 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/' 
 
 V. On the top of the twenty-eighth plate is the representation of a 
 very curious ancient pastime, which seems to bear some analogy to 
 bowling; but 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 bil- 
 liards, which formerly was played with a similar kind of arch and a 
 mark called the king, but placed upon a 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. 
 
 VI. Kayles, written also cayles and keiles, derived from the French 
 word quilles, was played with pins, and no doubt gave origin to the 
 modern game of nine-pins ; though primitively the kale-pins do not 
 appear to have been confined to any certain number, as we may 
 observe by referring to the twenty-eighth plate, where the pastime of 
 kayles playing is twice represented; in one instance there are six 
 pins, and in the other eight; the form of these pins is also different, 
 
 i * Country Contentments/ published A. D. 1615. 
 
P1.XXVTI1. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 239 
 
 but that might depend entirely upon the fancy of the makers. 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 kale-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 are from 
 two manuscripts of the fourteenth century," and represent that species 
 of the game called Club Kayles, 1 so denominated from the club or cud- 
 gel that was thrown at them. 
 
 VII. The game of cloish, or clossh, ...mentioned frequently in the an- 
 cient statutes," 1 seems to have been the same as kayles, or at least ex- 
 ceedingly 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. 
 
 VIII. Loggats, I make no doubt, was a pastime analogous to kales 
 and cloish, but played chiefly by boys and rustics, who substituted 
 bones for pins. 6 Loggats/ says Hanmer," 4 is the ancient name of a 
 play or game, which is one of the unlawful games enumerated in the 
 thirty- third statute of Henry the Eighth : 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 where a dunce boasts of 
 his skill 
 
 At skales,P and the playing with a sheepes-joynte. 
 
 k That in the middle of the plate is taken from a book of prayers, in the possession of F. Douce, 
 Esq; and that at the bottom from a MS. in the Loyal Library, 2 B. vii. 
 
 1 'Jeux de quilles a baston.' 
 
 Jn An. 17 Edw. IV. cap. 3j — again 18 and 20 Hen. VIII. &c; in both which acts this game is 
 prohibited. 
 
 n One of the editors of Shakespeare. 
 Intituled, 'The longer thou livest the more fool thou art published in the reign of queen Eliza- 
 beth 3 Garrick's Collection, vol. i. 18. 
 
 P For kayles, the sheepes-joynte was probably the bone used instead of a bowl. 
 
240 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 IX. 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 dis- 
 tance 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 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 reck- 
 oned 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 skit- 
 tles 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 an old dramatic writer, who makes one of his cha- 
 racters speak thus to another: ' I'll cleave you from the skull to the 
 twist, and make nine skittles of thy bones/ 11 
 
 X. 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. r 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 
 
 1 The 'Merry Milk-maid of Islington,' published in 1680. 
 f If this pin be taken out singly, when the bowl is thrown from a distance, the game is won 3 this 
 t anc« excepted, it reckons for no more than the other pins. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 241 
 
 stands at a certain distance from the frame, and throws his bowl at the 
 pins, which is improperly enough called bowling ; afterwards lie ap- 
 proaches 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. 
 
 XI. Four-corners, so called from four large pins which are placed 
 singty at each angle of a square frame. The players stand at a dis- 
 tance, which may be varied by joint consent, and throw a large heavy 
 bowl 5 at the pins ; and the excellency of the game consists in beating 
 them down by the fewest casts of the bowl. 
 
 XII. Half-bowl is one of the games prohibited by Edward the 
 Fourth; 1 and received its denomination from being played with one 
 half of a sphere of wood. Half-bowl is practised to this day in Hert- 
 fordshire, where it is commonly called rolly-polly ; and it is best per- 
 formed 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 re- 
 maining pins occupies the centre ; and the other two are placed with- 
 out 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 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 
 
 s It sometimes weighs six or eight pounds. 
 * An. 17 Edw. IV. cap. 8. the prohibition extends also to closh and kayles. 
 
 2 I 
 
242 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 singly is but one. Thirty-one chalks complete the game ;. u which he 
 who first obtains is the conqueror. 
 
 XIII. Nine-holes is mentioned as a boyish game, played at the com- 
 mencement of the seventeenth century. I have not met with any de- 
 scription 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 twenty years back, as 
 a succedaneum for skittles, w when the magistrates caused the skittle 
 grounds in and near London to be levelled, and the frames removed. 
 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 ac- 
 cording to the value of the figures belonging to the holes into which 
 they roll, his game is reckoned ; and he who obtains the highest num- 
 ber is the winner. A modern writer" confounds this pastime w r ith that 
 of kayles, and says, 4 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 school-boys, 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 be- 
 came the property of the boy to whom the board belonged ; but, if it 
 
 " But, if this number be exceeded, it is a matter of no consequence : the game is equally won. 
 w Hence some say it -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 deno- 
 mination to a different game : the name by which it is now most generally known, is, ' bumble-puppy j' 
 and the vulgarity of the term is well adapted to the company by whom it is usually practised. 
 
 x Dr. Johnson, Diet, in voce kayles. 
 
BOOK III- 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 245 
 
 went through any one of them, the bowler claimed a number of mar- 
 bles equal to the number upon the arch it passed through. 
 
 XIV. John Bull is the name of a modern 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 num- 
 ber 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/ A mark is then 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 compartment in which the halfpenny rests. 2 
 Two thousand is usually the game ; but this number is extended or di- 
 minished at the pleasure of the gamesters. 
 
 XV. Pitch and hustle ; 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 pri- 
 vilege 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 a 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 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. b 
 
 y 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. 
 
 » 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. 
 
 * Sometimes they are put into the hands of the player, instead of a hat, who shakes them, and casts 
 them up into the air; but in both instances the heads become his property. 
 
 b 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. 
 
244 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 XVI. I have already informed my readers, that bull-baiting, or wor- 
 rying of bulls with dogs, was one of the spectacles exhibited by the 
 jugglers and their successors." It is also necessary to observe, that this 
 cruel pastime was not confined to the boundaries of the bear-gardens, 
 but was universally practised on various occasions, in almost every 
 town or village throughout the kingdom, and especially in market 
 towns, where we find it was sanctioned by the law; d and in some of 
 them, I believe, the bull-rings, to which the unfortunate animals were 
 fastened, are remaining to the present hour. It may seem strange that 
 the legislature should have permitted the exercise of such a barbarous 
 diversion, which was frequently productive of much mischief by draw- 
 ing together a large concourse of idle and dissipated persons, and 
 affording them an opportunity of committing many gross disorders with 
 impunity. Indeed a public bull-baiting rarely ended without some 
 riot and confusion. A circumstance of this sort is recorded in the an- 
 nals of the city of Chester. The author 6 tells us, that < a bull was 
 baited at the high-cross, on the second of October/ according to the 
 ancient custome for the mayor's farewell out of his office; it chaunced 
 a contention fell out betwixt the butchers and the bakers of the cittye 
 aboute their dogges then fyghtynge ; they fell to blowes ; and in the 
 tumult of manye people woulde not be pacifyed ; so that the mayor, 
 seeing there was greate abuse, being citezens, could not forbeare, but 
 he in person hymself went out amongst them, to have the peace kept; 
 but they in their rage, lyke rude and unbroken fellowes, did lytill 
 regarde hym. In the ende, they were parted ; and the begynners of 
 the sayde brawle, being found out and examined, were commytted to 
 the northgate. The mayor smotte freely among them and broke his 
 white staff; and the cryer Thomas Knowstley brake his mase; and the 
 brawle ended/ 
 
 XVII. Bull running is another barbarous diversion somewhat dif- 
 
 c See page 227, &c. 
 
 * One of the city laws however prohibits the baiting a bull, a bear, or a horse in the open streets of 
 London, under the penalty of 20 shillings. Stow's Survey, p. 666. 
 
 e Probably the first Randal Holmes, a native of that city. MS. Harl. 2125. 
 
 f A. D. 1619. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 245 
 
 ferent from bull-baiting, and much less known : I do not recollect that 
 it was regularly practised in any part of the kingdom, excepting at 
 Stamford, in Lincolnshire, and at Tutbury, in Staffordshire. The tra- 
 ditionary origin of the bull-running at Stamford, and the manner in 
 which it was performed in the seventeenth century, are given by 
 Butcher, in his Survey of that town; 5 and this account I shall lay 
 before my readers, in the author's own words. ' The bull-running is 
 a sport of no pleasure, except to such as take a pleasure in beastliness 
 and mischief: it is performed just the day six weeks before Christmas. 
 The butchers of the town, at their own charge, against the time provide 
 the wildest bull they can get. This bull over night is had into some 
 stable or barn belonging to the alderman. The next morning, proclama- 
 tion is made by the common bellman of the town, round about the same, 
 that each one shut up their shop-doors and gates, and that none, upon 
 pain of imprisonment, offer to do any violence to strangers ; for the 
 preventing whereof, the town, being a great thoroughfare, and then 
 being term-time, a guard is appointed for the passing of travellers 
 through the same, without hurt; that none have any iron upon their 
 bull-clubs, or other staff, which they pursue the bull with. Which pro- 
 clamation made and the gates all shut up, the bull is turned out of the 
 alderman's house ; and then, hivie-skivy, tag and rag, men, women, and 
 children, of all sorts and sizes, with all the dogs in the town, promiscu- 
 ously running after him with their bull-clubs, spattering dirt in each 
 other s faces, that one would think them to be so many furies started 
 out of hell for the punishment of Cerberus, &c. And, which is the 
 greater shame, I have seen persons of rank and family, of both sexes, h 
 following this bulling-business. I can say no more of it, but only to set 
 forth the antiquity thereof as tradition goes. William earl of Warren, 
 the first lord of this town in the time of king John, standing upon his 
 castle walls in Stamford, saw two bulls fighting for a cow in a meadow 
 under the same. A butcher of the town, owner of one of the bulls, set 
 " a great mastiff-dog upon his own bull, who forced him up into the 
 
 e First published A. D. 1646. This transcript is from the edit, of 1717. cap. 10. pp. 76, 77. 
 h This passage he has Latinized in these words: ' Senatores majorum gentium et matrons; de eodem 
 gradu. 
 
U6 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 town ; when all the butchers' dogs, great and small, followed in pursuit 
 of the bull, which, by this time made stark mad with the noise of the 
 people and the fierceness of the dogs, ran over man, woman, and child, 
 that stood in his way. This caused all the butchers and others in the 
 town to rise up, as it were, in a kind of tumult/ The sport so highly 
 diverted the Earl, who, it seems, was a spectator, that * he gave all 
 those meadows in which the two bulls had been fighting, perpetually as 
 a common to the butchers of the town, after the first grass is eaten, to 
 keep their cattle in till the time of slaughter, upon the condition that, 
 on the anniversary of that day, they should yearly find, at their own 
 expense, a mad bull for the continuance of the sport/ 
 
 XVIII. The company of minstrels, belonging to the manor of Tut- 
 bury, had several peculiar privileges, granted to them by a charter from 
 John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster. 1 In this charter, it is required of 
 the minstrels, to perform their respective services, upon the day of the 
 assumption of our Lady, k at the steward's court, held for the honor of 
 Tutbury, according to ancient custom ; they had also, it seems, a pri- 
 vilege, exclusive of the charter, to claim upon that day a bull from the 
 prior of Tutbury. 1 In the seventeenth century, these services were per- 
 formed the day after the assumption ; and the bull was given by the 
 duke of Devonshire, as the priors representative. The historian of 
 Staffordshire" 1 informs us, that a dinner was provided for the minstrels 
 upon this occasion, which being finished, they went anciently to the 
 abbey gate, but of late years to ' a little barn by the town side, in ex- 
 pectance of the bull to be turned forth to them/ The animal, provided 
 for this purpose, had his horns sawed off, his ears cropped, his tail cut 
 short, his body smeared over with soap, and his nose blown full of 
 beaten pepper, in order to make him as mad as it was possible for him 
 to be. Whence, e after solemn proclamation first being made by the 
 steward, that all manner of persons should give way to the bull, and 
 
 i See page 1?4. k The 15th of August 
 
 l Histriones — habebunt unum Taururn de Priore de Tutebury, Inspex. temp. Hen. VI. Dugdale's 
 Monast. vol. ii. p. 355. 
 
 m Dr. Plott.— In his natural history of this county the reader will find a full account of the services, 
 &c. performed by the minstrels upon this day, pp. 437, 438, 430. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 247 
 
 not come near him by forty feet, nor by any means to hinder the min- 
 strels, but to attend to his or their own safeties, every one at his peril ; 
 he was then put forth, to be caught by the minstrels, and none other, 
 within the county of Stafford, between the time of his being turned out 
 to them, and the setting of the sun, on the same day ; which if they cannot 
 doe, but the bull escapes from them untaken, and gets over the river 
 into Derbyshire, he continues to be lord Devonshire's property: on the 
 other hand, if the minstrels can take him, and hold him so long as to 
 cut off but some small matter of his hair, and bring the same to the 
 market cross, in token that they have taken him ; the bull is brought 
 to the bailiff's house inTulbury, and there collared and roped, and so 
 conveyed to the bull-ring in the High-street, where he is baited with 
 dogs ; the first course allotted for the king, the second for the honor of 
 the town, and the third for the king of the minstrels ; n this done, the 
 minstrels claim the beast, and may sell, or kill and divide him amongst 
 them according to their pleasure/ The author then adds, 6 this rustic 
 sport, which they call hull-running, should be annually performed by 
 the minstrels only; but now a-days, they are assisted by the promiscu- 
 ous multitude, that flock thither in great numbers, and are much pleased 
 with it ; though sometimes, through the emulation in point of manhood 
 that has been long cherished between the Staffordshire and Derbyshire 
 men, perhaps as much mischief may have been done, as in the bull- 
 fighting, practised at Valentia, Madrid, and other places in Spain.'? 
 The noise and confusion occasioned by this exhibition is aptly described 
 in a popular ballad published early in the last century : q 
 
 Before we came to it, we heard a strange shouting, 
 And all that were in it looked madly, 
 For some were a bull-back, some dancing a morrice,. 
 And some singing Arthur O'Bradley ! 
 
 n A title conferred upon the chief minstrel . See page. 174. ' Jeu de Taureau.' 
 
 p Whence he derives this sport; to which however it bears but little analogy. See Mr. Pegge's dis- 
 sertation upon bull-baiting. Arehaelogia, vol. ii. 
 
 1 Bearing this title, The Marriage of Robin Hood and Clorinda, Queen of Titbury feast. Collect, 
 of Old Ballads pub. London 1723. 
 
248 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 XIX. Badger-bailing 1 may also be placed in this chapter. In order 
 to give the better effect to this diversion, a hole is dug in the ground for 
 the retreat of the animal ; and the dogs run at him singly in succession ; 
 for it is not usual, I believe, to permit any more than one of thein to 
 attack him at once ; and the dog which approaches him with the least 
 timidity, fastens upon him the most firmly, and brings him the soonest 
 from his hole, is accounted the best. 
 
 XX. Cock-fighting. — This barbarous pastime, which claims the sanc- 
 tion of high antiquity, was practised at an early period by the Gre- 
 cians, 5 and afterwards by the Romans : l 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 -tuesd ay, 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 ; x the cock-pit was the school, and 
 the master the controller and director of the pastime. This custom, 
 according to a modern author/ * was retained in many schools in 
 Scotland, within the last century, and perhaps may be still in use 
 there ; the schoolmasters claimed the run-away cocks as their per- 
 quisites ; and these were called fugees, corrupt I suppose, says he, of 
 refugees/ 
 
 In the reign of Edward the third cock-fighting became a fashionable 
 
 1 The badger was formerly called the grey, hence the denomination of grey-hounds applied to a well 
 known species of dogs, on account of their having been generally used in the pursuit of this animal. 
 
 s And probably still more anciently in Asia. It is a very common sport, and of very long standing 
 in China. Philos. Transact, vol. xix. p. 5Q1. 
 
 1 For a full explanation of the manner of cock-fighting among the ancient Greeks and Romans, see a. 
 memoir upon that subject by the late Rev. Mr. Pegge, Archaelogia, vol. jii. p. 132. 
 
 11 In his Description of London ; this author lived in the reign of Henry II. 
 w And probably the same custom prevailed in other cities and great towns. 
 
 x Stow having cited this 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.' Survey of 
 London, p. JQ. 
 
 y Mr. Brand, in his additions to the 23d chap, of Bournes' Antiq. Vulgares, p. 233. 
 
BOOK III. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 24$ 
 
 amusement ; 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 by a public proclamation, in which it was ranked 
 with other idle and unlawful pastimes. 2 But notwithstanding it was 
 thus degraded, and discountenanced, it still maintained its popularity, 
 and in defiance of all temporary opposition has descended to the mo- 
 dern times. Among the additions made by Henry the Eighth to the 
 palace at Whitehall, was a cock-pit; a which indicates his relish for the 
 pastime of cock-fighting; and James the first was so partial to this di- 
 version, that he amused himself in seeing it twice a week. b Exclusive 
 of the royal cock-pit, we are told there was formerly one in Drury-lane, 
 another in Jewin-slreet, and a third in Shoe-lane, if the following story 
 be founded on fact: ' 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 Jermins 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 shewed 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 
 divertisement ; 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 judi- 
 cious author justly says, < a disgrace to us as Englishmen.'* It consists 
 of a certain number of pairs of cocks, suppose sixteen, 6 which fight with 
 each other until one half of them are killed ; the sixteen conquerors 
 
 * A. D. 1366. in the 39th year of Edw. Ilf . a stow's Survey of London, p. 496. 
 
 b Mons. de la Boderie's Letters, vol. i. p. 56. 
 c MS. Harl. 6395. written in the reign of James the First, and bearing this title 'Merry Passages 
 and Jeasts.' 
 
 d Rev. Mr. Pegge, in his Memoir on Cock fighting, Archsel. vol. iii. p.- 132. 
 « The auther properly gives this as a supposed number. I am informed that the welch main usually 
 consists of fourteen pairs of cocks, though sometimes the number might be extended. 
 
 2 K 
 
g50 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK III. 
 
 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 mur- 
 dered, for the sport and pleasure of the spectators/ 
 
 In the old illuminated manuscripts, we frequently meet with paint- 
 ings, 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 
 ayjes to our ancestors. 
 
 In addition to what has been said, I shall only observe, that the an- 
 cients fought partridges and quails as well as cocks ; in like manner, 
 says Burton, as the French do now ; g how far, if at all, the example has 
 been followed in England, I know not. 
 
 XXI. 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 linger- 
 ing death? I know not at what time this unfortunate animal became 
 the object of such wicked and wanton abuse ; the sport, if such a de- 
 nomination may be given to it, is certainly no recent invention, and 
 perhaps is alluded to by Chaucer, h in the Nonnes Priests' Tale, when 
 he says, 
 
 < , There was a cocke, 
 
 For that a Priestes' sonne gave hym a knocke 
 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 at the cock-crowing ; upon which the 
 malicious bird forbore to crow at the usual time, and owing to this ar- 
 tifice 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,' and universally practised upon 
 
 f I have been told the artificial spurs are sometimes made with silver. 
 s Anatomy of Melancholy, published A. D. 1660. h Canterbury Tales. 
 
 » 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. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 251 
 
 Shrove-tuesday. k 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 reiteration of its torment. The magistrates, 
 greatly to their credit, have for some years past put a stop to this wicked 
 custom, and at present it is nearly, if not entirely, discontinued in every 
 part of the kingdom. 
 
 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 posi- 
 tion 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 ; two-pence 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 forty years ago, 
 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. 
 
 XXII. Duck-hunting is another barbarous pastime, and for the 
 performance it is necessary to have recourse to a pond of water 
 sufficiently extensive to give the duck plenty of room for making 
 
 k 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 controul, 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 to- 
 leration, break the doors and window shutters, &c. sometimes making a job for the surgeon as well as 
 for the smith, glazier, and carpenter.' Published at London, 1750. 
 
SFORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 R 00 K 1 1 1 r 
 
 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 amendment in the nature and inclinations of the populace. 
 
 Sometimes the duck is tormented in a different manner, without the 
 assistance 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 repetitions 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. 
 
 XXIII. Squirrel-hunting is a rustic pastime, and commonly prac- 
 tised 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. 
 
 XXIV. Rabbit-hunting. — Hentzner, who visited England at the close 
 of the sixteenth century, mentions this diversion, and assures us that 
 he saw it performed in the presence of the Lord Mayor of London, 
 when the annual wrestling was concluded ; his words are as follow, 1 
 * 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 ta 
 catch them with all the noise they can make/ 
 
 l That is according to the translation of Lord Orford, printed at Strawberry -hill, p. 30* 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 255 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS ; AND PASTIMES 
 APPROPRIATED TO PARTICULAR SEASONS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Secular Music fashionable— Ballad Singers encouraged by the Populace. — Music 
 Houses.— Origin of Vauxhall — Ranelagh— Sadler's Wells — Marybone Gardens — 
 
 Operas Oratorios - — Bell-ringing — Hand-bells — Burlesque Music — Dancing — . 
 
 Shovel board. — Anecdote of Prince Henry. — Billiards. — Mississi pi.— Swinging. — 
 Tetter-totter. — Shuttle-cock. 
 
 I. The national passion for secular music admitted of little or no 
 abatement by the disgrace and dispersion of the minstrels. Profes- 
 sional 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 accomplish- 
 ment for persons of high rank. Henry the Eighth not only sang well, 
 but played upon several sorts of instruments ; he also wrote songs, and 
 composed the tunes 3 for them, and his example was followed by several 
 of the nobility, his favourites. An author, who lived in the reign of 
 James the First, says, 6 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 sove- 
 reign lord the king, his letters patent to become a society and corpora- 
 tion/ 13 To which we may add, that the metropolis never abounded 
 
 a Hall, in the Life of that Monarch. 
 t» A. D. 1604, in the second year of the reign of James the First. Treatise on Colleges and Schools 
 in and about London, printed \Q\5. 
 
254 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 more, if so much as at 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. 
 
 II. 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. d Warton speaks of two celebraled trebles j the 
 one called Outroaringe Dick ; and the other Wat Wimbas, who oc- 
 casionally made twenty shillings a day by ballad-singing; 6 which is a 
 strong proof that these itinerants were highly esteemed by the common 
 people. 
 
 III. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the professed musi- 
 cians 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 Bartholo- 
 mew r fair. An author of the time/ however, speaks very contemptibly 
 of these music meetings, professing that he * had rather have heard an 
 old barber 1 ring Whittinglon's bells upon a cittern, than all the music 
 
 c Some time ago the spinnet was a favourite instrument among the ladies; afterwards the guitar; 
 and now the harpsichord, or forte-piano. . . 
 
 6 See page 1 69. 
 
 e At Braintree fair in Essex. His-t. Eng. Poet. vol. iii. p. 292. This was a century and a halfback, 
 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. 
 
 f Edward Ward, author of the London Spy, part xi. p. 255. 
 
 £ The barbers formerly were often musicians, and usually kept a lute, a viol, or some other musical 
 instrument, in their shops, to amuse their customers while waiting; at present, the newspaper is substi- 
 tuted for the instrument of music. 
 
BOOK TV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 255 
 
 the houses afforded/ There were also music-clubs, or private meetings 
 for the practice of music, which were exceedingly fashionable with 
 people of opulence/ The music-houses above mentioned were some- 
 times supported by subscription ; and from them originated three places 
 of public entertainment well known in the present day, namely, Vaux- 
 hall, Ranelagh, and Sadler's Wells. 
 
 IV. Spring Gardens, now better known by the name of Vauxhali 
 Gardens, is mentioned by Aubrey, in his < Antiquities of Surrey who 
 informs us, that Sir Samuel Moreland 6 built a fine room at Vauxhali/ 
 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 punchanello, very well carved, which held a dial ; but the 
 winds have demolished it/ k ' The house/ says a more modern author/ 
 ' 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 great number of stately trees, and laid out in shady walks, it ob- 
 tained the name of Spring Gardens ; and, the house being converted 
 into a tavern, or place of entertainment, it was frequented by the vota- 
 ries of pleasure/ This account is perfectly consonant with the follow- 
 ing passage in a paper of the Spectator:" 1 ' 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/ Some time afterwards, the house and gar- 
 dens came into the hands of a gentleman whose name was Jonathan 
 Tyers, who opened it with an advertisement of a 4 ridotto al fresco ; ,p a 
 term which the people of this country had till then been strangers to. 
 
 h Hence, in ' The Citizen turned Gentleman/ a comedy by Edw. Ravenscroft, published A. D. 16/5, 
 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.* 
 
 i A. D. 1667. k Vol. i. p. 12. 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins, Hist. Music, vol. v. p. 352. ra Vol. v. N° 3E3. 
 
 n The paper is dated May 20th, 1 712. A. D. 1 /SO 
 
 p Or entertainment of music in the open air. 
 
256 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 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 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. 9 
 
 V. The success of this undertaking was an encouragement to another 
 of a similar kind. A number of persons purchased the house and gar- 
 dens of the late earl of Ranelagh ; they erected a spacious building of 
 timber, of a circular form, and within it an organ, and an orchestra ca- 
 pable of holding a numerous band of performers. 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/' 
 
 VI. We meet with what is said, * to be a true account of Sadlers 
 well ;' in a pamphlet published by a physician at the close of the seven- 
 teenth century. 5 'The water/ says he, ? of this well, before the refor- 
 mation, 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 
 
 q A very famous statuary, to whom we owe several of the best monuments in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 T Sir John Hawkins, Hist, of Music, vol. v. pp. 352, 353. He further 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.' 
 
 * It is said to be written by T. G. Doctor in Physic, and was published A, D. 1684. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 <5F THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 257 
 
 midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of 
 stone/' After the decease of Sadler, one Francis Forcer, a musician 
 and composer of songs, became occupier of the well 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. There is now a small theatre appropriated to this purpose, 
 furnished with a stage, scenes, and other decorations proper for the re- 
 presentation 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. 
 
 VII. To the three preceding places of public entertainment, we may 
 add a fourth, x not now indeed in existence, but which about thirty years 
 back was held in some degree of estimation, and much frequented, I 
 mean Mary-bone Gardens; where, in addition to the music and sing- 
 ing, there were burlettas and fire-works exhibited. The site of these 
 gardens is now covered with buildings. 
 
 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 gratifica- 
 tion, 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^ produced 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. 
 
 VIII. It has been remarked by foreigners, that the English are par- 
 
 1 A. D. 1683. u Hawkins, ut supra. 
 
 x 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 frequented by idle and dissolute persons, ihey were 
 put down by the magistrates. 
 
 t Under this title are included several of his serenatas, as ' Acis and Galatea, Alexander's Feast,' &c. 
 but generally speaking, 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. 
 
258 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 ticularly fond of bell-ringing ; z and indeed most of our churches have 
 a ring of bells in the steeple, partly appropriated to that purpose. 
 These bells are rung upon most occasions of joy and festivity, and 
 sometimes at funerals/ when they are muffled, with a piece of woollen 
 Cloth bound about the clapper, and the sounds then emitted by them are 
 exceeding unmelodious, and well fitted to inspire the mind with melan- 
 choly. 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 con- 
 tinually ; and by this means, a varied combination of different sounds, 
 exceeding 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 . b Ringing the bells backwards is sometimes mentioned, and 
 probably consisted in beginning with the largest bell, and ending with 
 the least : it appears to have been practised by the ringers as a mark 
 of contempt or disgust. 
 
 IX. The antiquity of bell-ringing in England cannot readily be as- 
 certained : it re said that bells were invented by Paulinus Bishop of 
 Nola, c at the commencement of the fifth century : they were afterwards 
 used in Brittany," and thence perhaps brought into this country. In- 
 gulphus speaks of them as well known in his lime, and tells us, ' that 
 Turketullus, the first abbot of Croyland, 6 gave six bells to that monas- 
 tery ; that is to say, two great ones, which he named Bartholomew 
 and Betteline ; two of a middling size, called Turketulum and Bete- 
 rine; and two small ones, denominated Pe^ga and Bega; he also caused 
 the greatest bell to be made, called Gudliiac ; which was tuned to the 
 other bells, and produced an admirable harmony, not to be equalled 
 in England/' 
 
 z See the Introduction, 
 a And especially at the funeral of one of the ringers. 
 * Hawkins' Hist, of Music, vol . iv, p. 21 1 . c A. city of Campania— about the year 400; 
 
 d A. D. 680. according to Ven. Bede. e He died A.D. 875. 
 
 SHist. Abat. Croyland. Ingulphus died A.D. 1109. According to the ritual of the Romish 
 
Pl.XYTX. 
 
BOOK IV. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 259 
 
 I know not how far the pastime of bell-ringing attracted the notice 
 of the opulent in former times; at present it is confined to the lower 
 classes of the people, who are paid by the parish for ringing upon cer- 
 tain holydays. At weddings, as well as upon other festive occurrences, 
 they usually ring the bells, in expectance of a pecuniary reward. 
 
 X. Hand bells, 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 upon the twenty-fifth plate, 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 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 some- 
 times suspended upon a stand, and struck with hammers, by which 
 means one person could more readily play upon them. An example 
 of this kind, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century , g is 
 given upon the twenty-ninth plate. The figure in the original is de- 
 signed as a representation of king David, and affixed to one of his 
 psalms. 
 
 XI. The minstrels and joculators seem to have had the knack of con- 
 verting every kind of amusement into a vehicle for merriment, and, 
 
 Church, the bells were not only blessed and exorcised, but baptized as those above mentioned, and 
 anointed with holy oil. See Chauncy's Hist, of Hertfordshire, p. 383. After these ceremonies had 
 passed it was believed that the evil spirits lurking in the air might be driven away by their sound. The 
 general use of bells is expressed in the two following Latin lines : 
 
 ' Laudo Deum verum — plebem voco — congrego clerum 
 Defunctos ploro — pestum fugo — festa decoro.' 
 That is, to praise the True God— to call the people — to congregate the clergy — to bemoan the dead — 
 to drive away pestilential disorders— to enliven the festivals. 
 
 * In the Royal Library, marked 20. B. xi. 
 
260 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I TV 
 
 among others, that of music has not escaped them ; at the bottom of the 
 twenty-ninth plate 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. Th\s r 
 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 f a tavern keeper who amused 
 his company 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 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 vir- 
 tuoso/ 1 he 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 per- 
 formed with a rolling pin and a salt box; k 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 a play of the seventeenth 
 century 1 ringing of basons is mentioned. This music* or something like 
 it, I believe, is represented at the bottom of the nineteenth plate. 
 
 XII. Dancing. — To what has been said upon this subject, in a for- 
 mer chapter," 1 I shall here add a few words more, and consider it as 
 performed for amusement only. In the middle ages dancing w r as reck- 
 oned among the genteel accomplishments necessary to be acquired by 
 both sexes ; and in the romances of those times, the character of an 
 hero was incomplete unless he danced excellently." The knights and 
 
 h Vol. V. No. 570. 
 
 i ' Who/ says the writer, confessed ingenuously, that he had broke such quantities of pipes that he 
 almost broke himself, before he brought this piece of music to any tolerable perfection.' Ibid. 
 
 k By a celebrated publican, named Price, who kept the Green Man, formerly well known by the ap- 
 pellation of the Farthing Pye House, at the top of Portland Row, St. Mary-le-bone. 
 
 I Called 'The Knave in Graine/ first acted 1640. Garrick's Col. old plays, G. vol. ii. 
 n Book iii. chap. v. p. 190. n See the Introduction. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 261 
 
 the ladies are often represented dancing together, which in the poem 
 of Launfal is called playing : ° 
 
 The Quene yede to the formeste ende, 
 Betweene Launfal and Gauweyn the hende, p 
 
 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.. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 the Second, 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. 9 
 Several of our monarchs are praised for their skill in dancing, and 
 none of them more than Henry the Eighth, 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. 1 
 
 XIII. The example of the nobility was followed by the middling 
 
 °_MS. Cotton. Lib; marked Caligula, A. 2. fol. 53. r Polite, Courteous. 
 
 s Rym. Feed. torn. vii. p. 1(50. col. 2. Sir John Hawkins mentions a dance called pavon, 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 gown* 
 with long trains, the motion whereof in dancing resembled that of a peacock.* Hist. Music, vol. iii. 
 p. 383. 
 
 * Polydore Virgil commends the English for their skill in dancing. Hist. Angl. and Hentzner say« 
 * the English excell in danceing.' Itinerary. 
 
262 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK, IV. 
 
 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 Intro- 
 duction. 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, 1 accuses 
 the people at large with * loving pryncypally disportes ; as daunsynge, 
 syngynge, toys, tryfuls, laughynge, and gestynge ; for/ adds the 
 author, 6 connynge they set not by/ u 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 : w 
 
 The priestes, and clerlces, 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 ydoll dauncing, both wife and man 
 Despised God; thus dauncing first began. 
 
 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 4 open pastime/ which he remembered to 
 have seen practised in his youth/ and considered it not only as inno- 
 cent in itself, but also as a preventative to worse deeds 6 within doors/ 
 which he feared would follow the suppression. The country lasses per- 
 form this exercise upon the greens, where it is said they dance all their 
 
 1 Its title is, ' A new Interlude, and a Mcry of the Nature of the four Elements. Garrick's Col- 
 lection, marked i, vol. iii. 
 
 u That is, Learning they esteem not. w First printed bvPinson, A. D. 1508. 
 
 * Stow died A. D. 1605, aged 80. Survey of London, published by Strype, vol. i. p. 251. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 263 
 
 rustic measures, rounds, and jiggs. y We read also of dancing the 
 Raye, z or Reye, as it is written by Chaucer, who adds love dances, 
 and springs, as well known in his time; a but none of them are de- 
 scribed. Of late years dancing is generally thought to be an essential 
 part of a young female's education, and is commonly taught her at the 
 boarding-school ; and perhaps, when used with moderation, may not 
 be improper. But some of the dances that the girls are permitted to- 
 perform are justly to be censured ; among these ma}' be ranked one 
 called 4 hunt the squirrel ; ' in which, while the woman flies the man 
 pursues her, but, as soon as she turns, he runs away, and she is ob- 
 liged to follow; and the kissing dance, the same, I suppose, as the 
 cushion dance, mentioned by Heywood at the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century: b both of them are discommended in a paper of 
 the Spectator.' 
 
 XIV. 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 usu- 
 ally stationed in the great hall. d The tables for this diversion were 
 sometimes very expensive, owing to the great pains and labour be- 
 stowed upon their construction. 4 It is remarkable/ says Dr. Plott, 
 • that in the hall at Chartley e 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 
 
 7 A woman killed with kindness. Trag. by Thomas Haywood, 3d edit. A. D. 1617, Garrick's 
 Collect. E. vol. iv. 
 
 * See the Introduction. This appears to have been a rustic dance, and probably the same as 
 that now called the Hay, where they lay hold of hands, and dance round in a ring. A dance of 
 this kind occurs several times in the MS. at Oxford, whence many of the engravings which elucidate 
 this work are taken. This MS. is dated A. D. 1344, and marked Bod. 204. 
 
 ^ House of Fame, book iii. b See note y, above. e Vol. I. N° 7.6. 
 
 d See the Introduction.- e In Staffordshire. 
 
264 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 is a joynt also in the shuffle-board at Madeley Manor exquisitely well 
 done.' f 
 
 The length of these tables, if they be perfectly smooth and level, 
 adds to their value, in proportion to its increase ; but they rarely ex- 
 ceed 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 play- 
 ers 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 theim, one at a time, alternately: and the judgment of the 
 play is, to 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 recep- 
 tion, the throw is not counted ; if it hangs over the edge, without fall- 
 ing, three are reckoned towards the players 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. 
 
 XV. There certainly is not sufficient variety in this pastime to render 
 it very attractive, but in point of exercise it is not inferior to any of 
 the domestic amusements ; for which reason it was practised by the 
 nobility, in former ages, when the weather would not admit of employ- 
 ment abroad. Prince Henry, the eldest son of James the First, occa- 
 sionally exercised himself in this manner, as the following anecdote 
 may prove: it is recorded by one of his attendants, who declares that 
 he was present at the time ; s and therefore I will give it in the author's 
 
 f Natural Hist, of Staffordshire, p. 383. 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 39 feet 2 inches in 
 length, and said to be the longest at this time in London. 
 
 s And he declares he has not attributed to him a single sentence not uttered by him in this or any 
 other of the anecdotes related by him. MS. Harl. 63Q1. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 265 
 
 own words: 6 Once when the prince was playing at shoffleboard, and 
 in his play changed sundry pieces, his tutor, being desirous that even 
 in trifles he should not be new-fangled, said to him, that he did ill to 
 change so oft; and therewith took a piece in his hand, and saying that 
 he would play well enough therewith without changing, threw the 
 piece on the board ; yet not so well but the prince, smileing thereat, 
 said, Well throwne, Sir. Whereupon Master Newton telling him, that 
 he would not strive with a prince at shoffleboard, he answered, You 
 gownsmen should be best at such exercises, being not meete for those 
 that are more stirring. Yes, quoth Master Newton, I am meete for 
 whipping of boyes. And hereupon the prince answered, You need 
 not vaunt of that which a ploughman or cartdriver can doe better than 
 you. Yet can I doe more, said Master Newton, for I can governe 
 foolish children. The prince respecting him, even in jesting, came 
 from the further end of the table, and smil ing, said, while he passed b}^ 
 him, Hee had neede be a wise man himselfe that could doe that/ 
 
 XVI. Billiards, which in the present day has superseded the game 
 of shovel board, is certainly a more elegamt species of amusement, ad- 
 mits 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. The invention of this 
 diversion is attributed to the French, and probably with justice ; but 
 at the same time 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. h At the commencement of the last century, the billiard-table 
 was square, having only three pockets for the balls to run in, situated 
 on one of the sides ; that is, at each corner one, and the third between 
 them. About the middle of the table was placed a small arch of iron, 
 and in a right line, at a little distance fromi it, an upright cone, called 
 the king. 1 At certain periods of the game; it was necessary for the balls 
 
 h See p 238, and the representation of the ground billiards upon the twenty-eighth plate. 
 • A representation of the billiard-table, according to the; above description, may be found in the 
 frontispiece to a little treatise called ' The School of Recreatiion,' published A. D. 17 10. 
 
 2 M 
 
266 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 to be driven through the one and round the other, without beating either 
 of them down ; and their fall might easily be effected, because they 
 were not fastened to the table : this is called the French Game; and 
 much resembled the Italian method of playing, known in England by 
 the name of Trucks, which also had its king at one end of the table. 
 Billiards are first mentioned, as an unlawful game, towards the close of 
 the last reign, when billiard-tables were forbidden to be kept in public- 
 houses, under the penalty of ten pounds for every offence. 1 * 
 
 XVII. Mississipi is played upon a table, made in the form of a pa- 
 rallelogram. 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, 1 at plea- 
 sure, which they cast alternately, one at a time, against the sides of the 
 table, whence they acquire an angular direction, and, rolling to the 
 arches, 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 
 numbers 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 men- 
 tioned relating to billiards, and the same penalty is- imposed upon the 
 publican who keeps a table in his house for the purpose of playing. 
 
 XVIII. The Rocks of Scilly. This diversion requires a table oblong 
 in its form, and curved at the top, which is more elevated than the bot- 
 tom. 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 battoon 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 
 
 k Act of Parliament 30 George II. 
 1 They are usually made of ivory,, and distinguished from each other by their colour, some being 
 red, and some white. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 267 
 
 arches similar to those upon the mississipi-table, and numbered in like 
 manner ; but it is frequently interrupted in its descent by wires in- 
 serted 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. 
 
 XIX. 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,™ which is confined to common pot-houses, and only 
 practised by such as frequent the tap-rooms. It requires a parallelo- 
 gram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of a 
 tabic, 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 precisely; 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." 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 man- 
 ner, by fifteens, sequences, pairs, and pairiais, according to the num- 
 bers appertaining to the partitions occupied by the halfpence. 
 
 XX. Swinging is a childish sport, in which the performer is seated 
 upon the middle of a long rope, fastened at both ends, a little distance 
 from each other, and the higher above his head the better. The rope 
 
 m Or Jarvis, for I know not the right orthography, 
 a It is also to be observed, that the players toss up to determine who shall go first, which is cer- 
 tainly a great advantage. 
 
268 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 we call the Swing, but 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 practised by grown persons of both 
 sexes, and especially by the rustics. Hence Gay; 
 
 On two near elms the slacken'tl cord 1 hung, 
 Now high, now low, ray Blouzalinda swung. 
 
 It was also adopted at the watering-places by people of fashion, and 
 the innovation is justly ridiculed in the Spectator. 11 
 
 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 consi- 
 derable 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 ele- 
 vated and depressed by the rotatory motion. This ridiculous method 
 of riding was in vogue for the space of two summers, q 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 speak- 
 ing, vulgar company; but the charms of novelty may be pleaded in ex- 
 cuse for many inadvertencies. 
 
 The Grecian boys had a game, which 1 have seen played by the 
 youth of our own country: r it was performed by the means of a rope 
 
 The first occurs in Chaucer ; the second in the vocabulary called Orbis Sensualium Pictus, as 
 translated by Hoole, chap, cxxxvi. In Latin it is called Oscillum, and thus described by an old au- 
 thor: Oscillum est genus ludi, &c. In English to this effect; Oscillum is a sort of game played with 
 a rope depending from a beam, in which a boy, or a girl, being seated, is driven backwards and for- 
 wards. Speight's Glossary to Ghaucer. 
 
 p Vol. viii. N 4g6; and again N° 492 in the same volume. 
 
 q And was exhibited at several places in the neighbourhood of London. 
 
 T Called in Greek EAKuoYjy&a. Eustatius ad Iliad. G. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 269 
 
 passed through a hole made in a beam, and either end held by a boy, 
 who pulls the rope, in his turn, with all his strength; and, by this 
 means, both of them are alternately elevated from the ground. 
 
 XXI. To the foregoing we may add another pastime, called Tetter- 
 totter, well known, with us, by the younger part of the community : 
 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, &c. 
 
 XXII. Shuttle-cock is a boyish sport of long standing. We find it 
 represented upon the thirty-third plate, the original of which occurs in 
 a manuscript of the fourteenth century. 3 It appears to have been a 
 fashionable pastime, among grown persons, in the reign of James the 
 First, and is mentioned as such in an old comedy ' of that time, wherein 
 it is said, 4 To play at shuttle-cock methinkes is the game now/ And 
 among the anecdotes related of Prince Henry, son to James the First, 
 is the following : * His highness playing at shittle-cocke, with one fan- 
 taller than himself, and hittyng him by chance with the shittle-cock 
 upon the forehead, 4 This is/ quoth he, 4 the encounter of David with, 
 Goliath/" 
 
 * In the possession of F. Douce, Esq. 1 The Two Maids of Moreclacke, printed A. D. 1 6*0<K 
 
 « MS. Harl. marked 6.391. See not z, p. 265. . 
 
270 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Sedentary Games. — Dice-playing. — Its Prevalency and bad Effects.r— An Anecdote re- 
 lating to false Dice. — Chess, the Origin unknown.— The Chess-board. — The Pieces, 
 and their Form. — The various Games of Chess. — The Philosopher's Game. — 
 Draughts, French and Polish. — Merelles, or Nine Mens Morris. — Fox and Geese. — 
 Solitary Game — Backgammon, anciently called Tables. — The different Manners of 
 Playing at Tables.- — Domino. — Cards, when invented. — Card-playing much prac- 
 tised — forbidden. — A specimen of ancient Cards. — The Games formerly played 
 with Cards. — The Game of Goose — and of the Snake. — Even and Odd. — Cross and 
 Pile. 
 
 I. 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 abso- 
 lutely 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. 
 
 II. Dice. There is not, I believe, any species of amusement more 
 ancient than dice-playing; 3 none has been more universally prevalent, 
 and, generally speaking, none is more pernicious in its consequences. 
 We have already seen that the ancient Germans, even in their state of 
 
 a 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 Euboea. 
 Palamed. de Alea, lib. i. cap. 18. Others, agreeing to the time of the invention of dice, attribute it to 
 a Greek soldier named Aleaj and therefore say that the game was so denominated. Isidorus Origi- 
 num, lib. xviii. cap. 60. But Herodotus, lib. i. 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 un- 
 certain period. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. ^71 
 
 barbarism, indulged the propensity for gambling with the dice to a de- 
 gree 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. b The Saxons y the Danes, and the Normans, 
 their descendants, were all of them greatly addicted to the same infa- 
 tuating pastime. One would not, at first sight, imagine that the dice 
 could afford any great variety of amusement, especially if they be ab- 
 stractedly considered; and yet an author of the twelfth century c speaks 
 of ten different games of dice then in use ; but as he has only given us 
 the names, their properties cannot be investigated. 
 
 III. The common method of throwing the dice is with a hollow cy- 
 linder 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/ 1 we meet with 
 a contrivance for playing with the dice that does not require them to 
 be numbered upon their faces. This curious machine is copied upon 
 the thirtieth plate. 6 The dice are thrown into the receptacle at the top, 
 whence they fall upon the circular part of the table below, which is di- 
 vided 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. Perhaps 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 tunnel. It would 
 then be analogous to the E O tables of the present day ; f and hence 
 they might derive their origin. 
 
 Dice-playing has been reprobated by the grave and judicious authors 
 of this country for many centuries back ; the legislature set its face 
 
 b See the Introduction. 
 
 c Johan. Sarisburiensis de Nug. Curialium, lib. i. cap. 5. calls it, 'The damnable art of dice play- 
 tog." Another author, contemporary with John of Salisbury, says, « The clergymen and b,shops are 
 fond of dice-playing.' Orderic Vital, p. 550. 
 
 * Intituled, ' Orbis Sensualium Pictus/ published in Latin and English, by Hoole, A. D. 1053. 
 e In Latin, Pyrgus, Turricula, et Frittillus. 
 f 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. 
 
272 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 against it at a very early period ; g and in the succeeding statutes pro- 
 mulgated for the suppression of unlawful games, it is constantly parti- 
 cularised, and strictly prohibited. 
 
 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 re- 
 course 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 anec- 
 dote. 11 * Sir William Herbert, playing at dice with another genlleman, 
 there rose some questions about a cast. Sir William's antagonist de- 
 clared 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, 1 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, k and probably of other metals. 
 
 IV. Chess. 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 Pala- 
 medes, the son of Nauplius, king of Eubcea; 1 others make Diomedes, 
 and others, again, Ulysses, the inventor of chess. m The honour has 
 
 s * Nee iudant ad aleas vel taxillos.' Decret. Concil. Vigorn. A. D. 1240, directed to the clergy, 
 h In an anonymous MS. written about the reign of James the First. Harl. Lib. 63Q5, Art. 69. 
 > ' As false as dicers oaths,' is a proverbial expression, and used by Shakespeare in Hamlet, act iii. 
 scene 4. 
 
 k 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 abstain- 
 ing from her company. An. 5 Ed. VI. A. D. 1551, Holingshed, vol. iii. p. 1062 
 
 1 Palamed. de Aleatoribus, cap. 18. 
 
 m Lepistre Othea, MS. 'Ulixes fa un baron de Grece de grant soubtillete, et en temps du siege de 
 Troye il trouva.le gieu des esches,' kc. Ulysses was a baron of Greece, exceedingly wise, and during 
 the siege of Troy invented the game of chess. Harl. Lib. 4431. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 273 
 
 also been attributed to Ledo and Tynheno, 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 Doctor Hyde and other learned authors, who readily agree that the 
 pastime is of very remote antiquity, but think it first made its appear- 
 ance in Asia. 
 
 V. John de Vigney wrote a book, which he called * The Moralization 
 of Chess/ wherein he assures us that this game was invented by a philo- 
 sopher 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, 4 The game of chess passed from Chaldea into Greece, 
 and thence diffused itself all over Europe. The Arabians and the Sa- 
 racens, who are said to be admirable players at chess, have new-mo- 
 delled the story of de Vigney, and adapted it to their own country, 
 changing the name of the philosopher from Xerxes to Sisa. p 
 
 VI. 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. q The follow- 
 ing story is told of William, duke of Normandy, afterwards king of 
 England; who, when a young man, was invited to the court of the 
 French king, and, during his residence there, being one day engaged 
 
 n See the Encyclop. Brit, under the word Chess. 
 
 I have followed a MS. copy at the Museum in the Harl. Lib. marked 1275.— 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. 
 
 Dream of Love. 
 ' Encyclop. Francois, in voce Echecs. 
 
 1 Cnute, the Dane, who ascended the throne of England A.D. 101?, was partial to this pastime. 
 See the Introduction, p. iv. 
 
 2 N 
 
274 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 at chess with the king's eldest son, a dispute arose concerning the play; 
 and William, exasperated at somewhat his antagonist had said, struck 
 him with the chess-board, which obliged him to make a precipitate re- 
 treat from France, in order to avoid the consequences of so rash an ac- 
 tion/ A similar circumstance is said, by Leiand, to have happened in 
 England. 5 John, the youngest son of Henry the Second, playing at 
 chess one day with Eulco 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, shewed his resentment upon an occassion that occurred 
 long after his accession to the English throne. 1 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 the First 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 
 diveibion are very extensive upon the minds of those who pursue it 
 earnestly. 
 
 VII. 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 the plate 
 fronting the title of the work, he will find ihe most ancient representa- 
 tion of chess-playing that I have met with.;* and upon the thirtieth 
 
 r S^e Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. s Collect, vol. i. p. 2^4. 
 
 1 By keeping him from the possession of Whittington Castle, to which he was the rightful heir. Ibid. 
 
 u Encyelop. Brit, under the word Chess, 
 a It is preserved in a- beautiful illuminated MS. containing ballads, poems, and prose histories, which 
 
PI XXX. 
 
 Reference to the Cheft-Men . 
 
 2-T/ic Queen orJ\rcc. 
 3. The Hock 
 
 4.7'/ 'ie Mftn . 
 
 O.T/ie Knight . 
 6. '/'he Pawn . 
 
BOOK |V. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 
 
 275 
 
 plate be will see two boards, with the manner of placing the pieces 
 upon them, taken from a manuscript of the thirteenth century ; y and 
 one of them a perfect singularity, is ot a circular form. 
 
 VIII. The names of the chess pieces as they are given in the fore- 
 going manuscript are these, Hey — Reyne, or ferce — Roc — Alfin — Chi- 
 valeiwPoun — that is king— queen or ferce" — rock — alfin— knight- 
 pawn. And their forms are copied upon the thirtieth plate. In mo- 
 dern times the roc is corruptedly called a rook, but formerly it signified 
 a rock or fortress, or rather, perhaps, the keeper of the fortress ; the 
 alfin was also denominated by the French fol, and with us an archer, 
 and at last a bishop. 
 
 IX- In another manuscript written about the same time as that last 
 mentioned, 3 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 in the whole they may be said to amount to fifty-five ; and 
 under every title there are directions for playing the game, but I ap- 
 prehend 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/ 
 
 was written at the close of the fourteenth century, and bears every mark of being the very copy pre- 
 sented to Isabel of Bavaria, the queen of Charles VI. of France. Her portrait very neatly finished oc- 
 curs twice, and that of the king her husband once. I may observe here that it is the author of this 
 MS. who 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. MS> 
 Harl. 4431. 
 
 y Cottonian Lib. marked Cleopatra, b. ix. They are also thus expressed in a Latin verse, 
 ' Miles et Alphinus, rex, roc, regina pedinus.' 
 z In Chaucer's Dream this piece is called fers and feers. 
 11 In the Royal Library, marked 13. A. xviii. 
 b And 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. 
 
 1. The knights' game— 2. The ladies' game— 3. The damsels' game— 4. The game of the alfins— 
 5. The ring— .0. The agreement— 7. Self confounded— 8, 111 plated or bad enough— 9. Day by day— 
 10. The foreign point— 11. The loser wins — 12. He that gives not what he esteems, shall not take 
 that he desires— 13. Well found— 14. Fair and small— 15. Craft surpasses strength— 1 6. He that is 
 -bounties .is w ise-r-J7. Who gives gains— 1.8. Subtilty and covetyusness— 1£. Agreement makes law— 
 
276 S PORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 1. Guy de chivaler, played three ways — 2. De dames — 3. De da- 
 moyseles— 4. De alfins, two ways— 5. De anel— 6. De covenant— 
 7. De propre confusion— 8. Mai assis — p. Colidian, two Avays— 10. 
 Poyntestraunge, two ways— 11. Ky pcrde sey sauve— 12. Ky ne doune 
 ces ke il eyme, ne prendrant ke desire — 13. Bien trove — 14. Beal 
 
 petit — 15. Mieut vaut engyn ke force — 16. Ky est larges est sages 
 
 3 7. Ky doune ganye— 18. Ly enginous e ly covey tous—ip. Cove- 
 naunt fet ley — 20. Ve prcs sen joyst ke loyns veyt — 21. Meschief fet 
 horn penser— 22. La chace de chivaler— 23. La chace de ferce et de 
 chivaler— 24. Bien fort— 25. Fol si prent— 26'. Ly envoyons— 27. Le 
 seon sey envoye— 28. Le veyl conu— 29. Le haut enprise— 30. De 
 cundut— 31. Ky put se prengc— 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 — 37. 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. 
 
 X. The ancient pastimes if more than one be meant which bear the 
 names of ludus latrunculorum, ludus calculorum, et ludus sciupulorum, 
 have been generally considered as similar to chess, if not precisely the 
 same ; but some modern writers c assure us they did not bear any re- 
 semblance to it, at least in those essential parts of die game which dis- 
 tinguish it from all others, but were played with stones, shells, or 
 counters. The ancients, we are told, used little stones, shells, and 
 nuts, d in making their calculations without the assistance of wriiino-; and 
 such articles it is supposed were employed by them in playing the 
 
 20. He sees his play at hand who sees it at a distance— 2 1 . 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 cannot 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 — 12. The flower or beauty of the games 
 — 43. The battle of the rooks — 44. Double chess. 
 
 c The authors of the Encyclopaedia Francois. 
 d These little stones were called by the Greeks ^poj, and calculi or scrupuli by the Romans. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 277 
 
 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 foregoing observations be well founded, 
 we may justly conclude that the ludus calculorum which Homer men- 
 tions as a pastime practised by his heroes, 6 consisted in a certain ar- 
 rangement and combination of numbers, 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 Rithmomaehia/ expressive of a battle with numbers, said by some 
 to have been invented by Pythagoras, 6 and by others to be more an- 
 cient: with us it is called the Philosopher's Game, and seems indeed to 
 have been well calculated for the diversion of soldiers, because it con- 
 sists, not only in a contention for superiority by the skilful adjustment 
 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. 
 
 XI. We have some account of the philosopher's game, but very 
 loosely drawn up, in a manuscript at the British Museum. 11 It is called, 
 says the author, 4 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 
 parallelogram 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 
 
 e Called in Greek italos or KB<r<ro;. f From a^(9'xo; numerus et p&yj pugna. 
 
 g And revived by Claud. Bruxer and others, A. D. 1514. Burton's Descrip. of Leicestershire, under 
 Loughborough, p. 182. 
 
 h In the Sloanian Lib. marked 451. 
 
278 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 1300 K IV, 
 
 twenty-four soldiers which constitute his army,' 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.* 
 The two armies at the commencement of the play are drawn up in the 
 order represented upon the thirtieth plate ; 1 and 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." 1 It is, however, certain, that the great object of 
 each player is to take the king from his opponent, because he who suc- 
 ceeds may make his triumph and erect his trophy. 
 
 Burton, speaking of this pastime, calls it the Philosophy Game, and 
 thinks it 'not convenient for students;' to which he adds, ' the like I 
 say of Dr. Fulke's" Mctromachia, and his Ouronomachia, with the rest 
 of those intricate, astrological, and geometrical fictions, for such as are 
 mathematically given, and other curious games/ 
 
 XII. Draughts. This pastime is well known in the present day ; 
 and I believe there are now in London as excellent draught-players as 
 ever existed. Draughts, no doubt, is a modern invention, and 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. There are 
 two methods of playing at draughts, the one commonly used in Eng- 
 
 i Hoste in the original. 
 
 k There were sometimes added to these numbers certain signs or algebraic figures, called cossical 
 eignings, which increased the intricacy of the game. 
 
 1 The army that presents a front of even numbers is called the Even hoste, and the other the Ode 
 hoste. 
 
 m The printed edition of Claud. Bruxer, who revived this play, in which no doubt it is fully ex- 
 plained, I have not seen. It is said to have been published by Hen. Stephanus, A.D. 1514. 
 n Dr. Fulke was a Cambridge man, and his book was .printed at London 1566. 
 8 Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. sect. 2. mem. 4. 
 
DOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 279 
 
 land, denominated the French Game, which is played upon a chess- 
 board, and the other called the Polish Game/ which requires a board 
 with ten squares, or chequers, in each row, and twenty men, q for so the 
 pieces are usually named. The men in the Polish game can only move 
 forwards as they do in the French game, but they have the privilege 
 of taking backwards as well as forwards; and the king, if not opposed 
 by two men close together, can move from one corner of the board to 
 the other/ 
 
 XIII. Merelles, or, as it was formerly called in England, nine mens 
 morris, and also fivepenny morris, is a game of some antiquity. Cot- 
 grave describes it as a boyish game, and says it was played here com- 
 monly with stones, but in France with pawns, or men, made on pur- 
 pose, and they were termed merelles; hence the pastime itself received 
 that denomination. It was certainly much used by the shepherds 
 formerly, and continues to be used by them, and other rustics, to the 
 present hour. But it is very far from being confined to the practice of 
 boys and girls. The form of the merclle-table, and the lines upon it, 
 as it appeared in the fourteenth century, is given upon the thirtieth 
 plate. ; and these lines have not been varied. The black spots at every 
 angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid 
 upon ; and the manner of playing is briefly this : two persons having 
 each of them nine pieces, or men, 5 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 
 
 f Because, I presume, the first was invented in France and the latter in Poland, 
 i The draught man is called in French dame. 
 
 r The Polish game admits of most variety, and is, in my opinion, infinitely the best; but it is little 
 known in this country; and rarely played, except by foreigners We have a recent publication upon 
 the French game of draughts, which fully explains the nature of the pastime, and points out most of 
 the important moves, published by Sturges, who, 1 am told, is an excellent player. . 
 
 ■ Which are different in form or colour for distinction sake; and fro n the moving these men back- 
 wards or forwards, as though they were dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the appella- 
 tion of Nine Mens Morris. But why it should have been called fivepenny morris, I do not know. 
 
280 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 COOK IV. 
 
 from any part he thinks most to his own advantage.' When all the 
 pieces are laid down, the}' are played backwards and forwards, in any 
 direction that the lines run, but can only move from one spot to an- 
 other 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 de- 
 positing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over 
 the dots upon the table. Hence Shakespeare, 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 mens morris is fill'd up with mud. 
 
 XIV. Fox and Geese is a game somewhat resembling that of me- 
 relles 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. To play this game there are seven- 
 teen pieces, called geese, which are placed as we see them upon the 
 thirtieth plate, 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. 
 The geese 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 un- 
 occupied, or not guarded by another goose; and if all be taken, or 
 
 * Excepting 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. 
 
 u Seethe table upon the thirtieth plate. But it is to be observed, 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. 
 
BOOK TV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 281 
 
 the number so reduced that the fox cannot be blocked, the oame is 
 won. w 
 
 XV. The solitary game is so denominated because it is plaj r ed by 
 one person only. x 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 un- 
 occupied, taking the peg so passed from the board, and to continue 
 doing so till all the pegs but one are taken away; 7 which is an opera- 
 tion much more difficult to perform than any one could readily imagine 
 who had not made the attempt. 
 
 XVI. The game of chess, and most of the pastimes derived from it, 
 depend entirety upon the skill of the players, and afford no chance of 
 success to an indifferent one if his antagonist be possessed of more 
 knowledge in moving the pieces than himself. Therefore, in order to 
 bring two players of unequal talents nearer to a level, other diversions 
 were invented, in which both chance and skill were united, as we see 
 they are in the game at tables, 2 better known, at present, by the name 
 of Backgammon. 3 The ancient form of the backgammon-table may 
 be seen at the bottom of the plate fronting the title of this work ; and 
 
 w 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 y 
 but this I have not seen. 
 
 * Said to have been invented by an unfortunate man who was several years kept in solitary confine- 
 ment at the Bastile in Paris. 
 
 y 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. 
 
 z In Latin it is called Tabularum Ludus, and in French Tables. Hence the following line in the 
 romance of Parise la Duchesse : 
 
 Puis aprist il as Tables et eschas joier; 
 
 then he learned to play at tables and at chess. Du Cange, Gloss, in voce Tabula. 
 
 a Said to have been discovered about the tenth century (see Introduction, p. iv), and the name de- 
 rived from two Welch words signifying f little battle.' But I trust, as before observed, the derivation 
 may be found nearer home, and the words are perfectly Saxon, as Bac, or Bsec, and jamen, that is, 
 Back Game; and so denominated because the performance consists in the players bringing their men 
 back from their antagonists tables into their own ; or because the pieces are sometimes taken up and 
 -obliged to go back, that is, re-enter at the table they came from. 
 
 2 O 
 
282 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 the original occurs in a beautifully illuminated manuscript written and 
 decorated at the commencement of the thirteenth century . b 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 
 thirtieth plate we shall find a backgammon-table at least a century 
 more modern. In this the division is fairly made, but the points are 
 not distinguished by different colours, according to the present, and 
 indeed more ancient usage. The writer of the latter manuscript says, 
 6 There are c many methods of playing at the tables with the dice. The 
 first of these, and the longest, is called the English Game/ which is 
 thus performed : he who sits on the side of the board marked 1 — 12 
 has fifteen men e in the part marked 24, and he who sits on the side 
 marked 13 — 24 has a like number of men in the part 1. They play 
 with three dice, or else with two, allowing always f six for the third die. 
 Then he who is seated at 1 — 12 must bring all his men placed at 24 
 through the partitions/ 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 1 to 7, thence to 12, thence to 18, into the com- 
 partment 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 Carie/ 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 f the Game of Lombardy, 1 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. 
 
 b Harl. Lib. marked 1527. e That is, early in the fourteenth century. 
 
 d Ludus Anglicorum. c Homines. * Semper, that is, at every throw. 
 
 s Paginas. >' I suppose for pomrae carie, rotten apple. > Ludus Lumbardorum. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 283 
 
 He then mentions the five following variations by name only, the Im- 
 perial game, the Provincial game, the games called Baralie, Mylys, 
 and Fay lis. k 
 
 XVII. At the commencement of the last century backgammon was 
 a very favourite amusement, and pursued at leisure times by most per- 
 sons 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 : 6 In what esteem are you with the vicar of 
 the parish ; can you play with him at backgammon ?' But of late years 
 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 ascen- 
 dencv. 
 
 XVIII. Domino is a very childish sport, imported from France a few 
 years back, and could have nothing but the novelty to recommend it 
 to the notice of grown persons in this country. 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 mid- 
 dle, 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, which are ridicu- 
 lously enough called cards, are hustled about the table with their faces 
 downwards, anil each of them draw seven or nine, according to agree- 
 ment, 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 
 
 k MS. in Bib. Regis, insig. 13. A. xviii. 
 
284 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK TV. 
 
 then matches one of the open numbers in like manner ; and thus they 
 continue alternately 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, in which case 
 they deal out six cards to each, leaving only four upon the table, and 
 then play on in rotation. 
 
 XIX. Cards. The general opinion respecting the origin of playing- 
 cards is, that they were first made for the amusement of Charles the 
 Sixth of France, at the time he was afflicted with a mental derange- 
 ment. 1 The proof of this supposition depends upon an article in the 
 treasury registers belonging to that monarch, which states that a pay- 
 ment" 1 was made to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs 
 of cards gilded and painted with divers colours and different devices, 
 to be carried to the king for his diversion. If it be granted, and I see 
 no reason why it should not, that this entry alludes to playing-cards, 
 the consequences that have been deduced from it, do not necessarily 
 follow ; 1 mean that these cards were the first that were made, or that 
 Gringonneur was the inventor of them ; it by no means precludes the 
 probability of cards having been previously uL:ed in France, but simply 
 states that those made by him were gilt and diversified with devices in 
 variegated colours, the better to amuse the unfortunate monarch. 
 
 Some, allowing that Gringonneur was the first maker of playing- 
 cards, place the invention in the reign of Charles the Fifth, upon the 
 authority of Jean de Saintre, who was page to that monarch ; he men- 
 tions card-playing in his chronicle ; for, he was an author ; and the 
 words he uses" would be sufficient evidence for the existence of cards 
 before the ascension of Charles the Sixth to the throne of France, if it 
 
 1 This event took place A.D. 1302, and the affliction continued for several years. 
 
 m Fifty-six sols of Paris. The whole passage runs thus : ' Donne a Jacqemin Gringonneur, peintre, 
 pour trois jeux de cartes, a or et a diverse couleurs de plusieurs devises, pour porter vers le dit Seigneur 
 Roy pour son abatement, cinquante-six sols Parisis.' St. Foix, Essais sur Paris, torn. i. p. 341. 
 
 n They are these : ' Et vous quietes noyseux joueux de cartes et de des.' ' And you who are con- 
 tentious play at cards and at dice," Chronic, de Petit Jean de Saintre, cap. 15. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 235 
 
 could be proved that the page did not survive his master ; but, on the 
 other hand, if he did, they may equally be applied to the amusements 
 of the succeeding reign. 
 
 XX. A prohibitory edict aginst the usage of cards was made in 
 Spain considerably anterior to any that have been produced in France; 
 which has inclined several modern writers upon this subject to refer the 
 invention of cards from France to Spain; and the names of some of the 
 cards, as well as of many of the most ancient games, being evidently 
 derived from the Spanish language, p are justly considered as strong cor- 
 roborating arguments in favour of such an opinion. 
 
 A very intelligent writer* 5 upon the origin of engraving asserts that play- 
 ing-cards were invented in Germany, where they were used towards the 
 latter end of the fourteenth century ; but his reasons are by no means 
 conclusive. 
 
 An author of our own country produces a passage cited from a ward- 
 robe computus made in the sixth year of Edward the First/ which 
 mentions a game entitled, 6 the four kings ;' s and hence with some de- 
 gree of probability he conjectures that the use of playing-cards was 
 then known in England, which is a much earlier period than any that 
 has been assigned by the foreign authors. It is the opinion of several 
 learned writers well acquainted with Asiatic history, that cards were 
 used in the eastern parts of the world long before they found their way 
 
 ° In Spain, as early as A. D. 1332, John I. king of -Castile, in an edict dated A. D. 1387, forbad 
 playing of cards and dice in his dominions. The provost of Paris, Jan. 22, A. D. 1397, published an 
 ordinance, prohibiting the manufacturing part of the people from playing at tennice, dice, cards, &rc. 
 Bullet, p. 18. See also Mr. Gough's Dissertation upon Card Playing, Archaeologia, vol. viii. p. 152, 
 et seq. 
 
 p As primero and the principal card in the game quinolaj ombre and the cards spadill, manill, 
 basto, punto, matador, quadrille, a species of ombre, &c. The suit of clubs upon the Spanish cards is 
 not the trefoils as with us, but positively clubs, or cudgels, of which we retain the name, though we 
 have lost the figures; the original name is bastos. The spades are swords, called in Spain espadas j 
 in this instance we retain the name and some faint resemblance of the figure. See the Dissertation 
 upon Card Playing by the Hon. Daines Barrington. Archaeologia, vol. viii. p. 135. et seq. 
 
 i Baron Heineken ; who says that they were known there as early as the year 1376. Idee gene- 
 rale d'une collection des estampes, pp. 237. 24 9. 
 
 r A. D. 1377. 
 
 ■ ' Waltero Sturton, ad opus Regis, ad ludendum ad quatuor reges/ viii s. y d, Anstis, History of 
 •the Garter. 
 
286 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 into Europe. 1 If this position be granted, when we recollect that 
 Edward the First before his accession to the throne resided nearly five 
 years in Syria, it will be natural enough to suppose that he might have 
 learned the game of' the four kings' in that country, and introduced it 
 at court upon his return to England. An objection, which indeed at 
 first sight seems to be a very powerful one, has been raised in opposi- 
 tion to this conjecture : it is founded upon the total silence of every 
 kind of authority respecting the subject of card -playing from the time 
 that the above mentioned entry was made to an early period in the 
 reign of Edward the Fourth," including an interval of one hundred and 
 eighty-six years. An omision so general it is thought would not have 
 taken place, if the words contained in that record alluded to the usage 
 of playing cards. A game introduced by a monarch could not fail of 
 becoming fashionable; and, if it continued to be practised in after 
 times, must in all probability have been mentioned occasionally in con- 
 junction with the other pastimes then prevalent. But this silence is by 
 no means a positive proof that the game of 4 the four kings' was not 
 played with cards, nor that cards did not continue to be used during 
 the whole of the above mentioned interval in the higher circles, though 
 not perhaps with such abuses as were afterwards practised, and which 
 excited the reprehension of the moral and religious writers. Besides, 
 at the time that cards were first introduced, they were drawn and 
 painted by the hand without the assistance of a slamp or plate; it fol- 
 lows of course that much time was required to complete a set or pack 
 of cards ; the price they bore no doubt was adequate to the labour be- 
 stowed upon them, which necessarily must have enhanced their value 
 beyond the purchase of the under classes of the people ; and for this 
 reason it is I presume that card playing, though it might have been 
 known in England, was not much practised until such time as inferior 
 sets of cards, proportionably cheap, were produced for the use of the 
 commonalty, which seems to have been the case when Edward the 
 
 1 Warton says it seems probable that the Arabians were the inventors of cards, which they commu- 
 nicated to the Constantinopolitan Greeks. Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 3 1 6. Indeed it is very likely 
 they were brought into the western parts of Europe during the crusades. 
 
 u A. D. 1464. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND* 
 
 28? 
 
 Fourth ascended the throne, for early in his reign an act was established 
 prohibiting the importation of playing cards;* and soon after that 
 period card-playing became a very general pastime. 
 
 The increasing demand for these objects of amusement it is said sug- 
 gested the idea of cutting the outlines appropriated to the different suits 
 upon separate blocks of wood and stamping them upon the cards/ the 
 intermediate spaces between the outlines were filled up with various 
 colours laid on by the hand. This expeditious method of producing 
 cards reduced the price of them so that they might readily be purchased 
 by almost every class of persons ; the common usage of cards was soon 
 productive of serious evils which all the exertions of the legislative 
 power have not been able to eradicate/ 
 
 Another argument against the great antiquity of playing-cards is 
 drawn from the want of paper proper for their fabrication. We cer- 
 tainly have no reason to believe that paper made with linen rags was 
 produced in Europe before the middle of the fourteenth century, and 
 even then the art of paper-making does not appear to have been car- 
 ried to any great perfection. It is also granted that paper is the most 
 proper material we know of for the manufacturing of cards ; but it will 
 riot therefore follow that they could not possibly be made with any 
 other ; and if we admit of any other the objection will fall to the 
 ground. 
 
 XXI. Card-playing appears to have been a very fashionable court 
 amusement in the reign of Henry the Seventh. In an account of money 
 disbursed for the use of that monarch, an entry is made of one hundred 
 shillings paid at one time to him for the purpose of playing at cards. 2 
 The princess Margaret his daughter, previous to her marriage with 
 
 w A. D. 1463, occasioned by a petition from the card makers of the city of London for that purpose. 
 See Dr. Henry's Hist. Brit. vol. v. book v. cap. vii. 
 
 x And hence originated the noble and beneficial art of Printing. These printing blocks are traced 
 back to the year 1423, and probably were produced at a much earlier period. Idee generale, d'un col- 
 lect, des estampes, ut sup. 
 
 y An Old Scotch poem cited by Warton, speaks of cards and dice as fashionable amusements, but 
 of evil tendency. Hist. Poet. vol. ii. p. 316. 
 
 * Extract from a MS. in the Remembrancer's Office, dated December 26, an. Q Hen VIL 
 
288 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 James the Fourth, king of Scotland, understood the use of cards ; a and 
 Catherine of Spain, the consort of Prince Arthur, afterwards married to 
 Henry the Eighth his brother, is said in her youth to have been well 
 acquainted with the art of embroidery and other works of the needle 
 proper for ladies to know, and also that she was expert in various 
 courtly pastimes, and could play at 4 tables, tick-tacke or gleeke, with 
 cardis and dyce/ b 
 
 The universality of card-playing in the reign of this monarch is 
 evident from a prohibitory statute being necessary to prevent appren- 
 tices from using cards except in the Christmas holidays, and then only 
 in their masters houses. Agreeable to this privilege, Stow, speaking 
 of the customs at London, says, 4 from All-Hallows eve to the day fol- 
 lowing Candlemas-da} r , there was, among other sports, playing at cards 
 for counters, nails and points, in every house, more for pastime than for 
 gain.' d But this moderation I apprehend was by no means general, 
 for several contemporary writers are exceedingly severe in their reflec- 
 tions upon the usage of cards, which they rank with dice, and consider 
 both as destructive to morality and good order. 6 
 
 Henry the Eighth preferred the sports of the field, and such pastimes 
 as promoted exercise, to sedentary amusements ; his attachment to dice 
 he gave up at an early part of his life, and I do not recollect that Hall 
 the historian, who is so minute in describing the various sources of en- 
 tertainment pursued by this athletic monarch, ever mentions cards as 
 one of them: I am, indeed, well aware that Shakespeare speaks of his 
 * playing at primero with the duke of Suffolk and it is very possible 
 that the poet might have had some authority for so doing. Sir William 
 
 a She played with her intended husband at Harbottle Castle j the celebration of the nuptials took 
 place A. D. 1503, she being only fourteen years of age. Addit. to Leiand's Collect, vol. iii. p. 285. 
 b Sir Will. Forrest. See Warton's Hist. Poet. vol. iii. sect. 36, p. 311. 
 
 c The same statute forbid any householder to permit card-playing in his house under the penalty of 
 six shillings and eight pence for every offence. Stat. an. 1 1 Hen. VII. cap. 2. 
 
 d Scow's Survey. By points he means narrow ribbons with which one part of the dress was at- 
 tached to the other. 
 
 e Especially Stephen Gosson, in his ( School of Abuse,' printed A. D. 157Q ; and John Northbrooke 
 in a Treatise against Diceing, Card-playing, Dancing, &c. without date, but apparently published soon 
 after the former. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OP THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 289 
 
 Forrest, who wrote at the close of Henry the Eighth's reign, and pre- 
 sented a poetical treatise entitled, ' the poesy e of princylye practice/ f to 
 his son Edward the Sixth, speaks therein of the pastimes proper for the 
 amusement of a monarch, and says, he may after dinner indulge him- 
 self with music, or otherwise 
 
 Att tables, chesse or cardis awhile tnmselfe repose ? 
 
 but adds, that syttynge pastymes are seldom found good, especially in 
 the day-time ; he therefore advises the pursuit of those that afforded 
 both air and exercise. 55 In another part of his poem he speaks in strong 
 terms against the practice of card-playing, as productive of idleness, 
 especially when it is followed by the labouring people, in places of 
 common resort: 
 
 Att ale howse too sit, at mack or at mall, 
 Tables or dyce, or that cardis men call, 
 Or what oother game owte of season dwe, 
 Let them be punysched without all rescue. 11 
 
 And the author of an Old Morality, entitled Hycke Scorner, 1 written 
 probably some time before this poem, by Forrest, has placed the card- 
 players with such company as evinces he had not a good opinion of 
 their morals : 
 
 Walkers by nyght, with gret murderers, 
 Overthwarte with gyle, and joly carders. k 
 
 It is not, however, necessary to produce any further evidence from the 
 writers of the former times to prove the evil tendency of card-playing,, 
 when it is indulged beyond the limits of discretion. Too many in- 
 
 f MS. in the Royal Library, marked 17. D. iij. At the commencement of the poem the author is 
 depicted presenting the same to king Edward the Sixth. 
 
 s Cap. ix. h Cap. xix. 
 
 i Black letter, without date, printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Garrick's Collection of Old Plays, 
 k And also in Alex. Barclay's Translation of the Ship of Fooles, by Sebastian Brant, printed by Pyn- 
 son, A.D. 1508, are these lines: 
 
 < The damnable lust of cardes and of dice, 
 And other games, prohibite by the lawe.' 
 2 P 
 
290 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 stances of ruin and destruction may be brought forward in the present 
 day to convince us of the justness of their censures. 
 
 XXIII. The early specimens of playing-cards that have been pro- 
 duced differ very little in their form from those now used. This form 
 is certainly the most convenient for the purposes assigned to them, and 
 has been most generally adopted. We shall, however, prove, that it 
 was subject to variation. 1 The figures and devices that constitute the 
 different suits of the cards seem anciently to have depended upon the 
 taste and invention of the card-makers; and they did not bear the least 
 resemblance to those in present use. 
 
 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 invention of engraving upon copper, the devices were 
 produced by the graver, and sufficiently finished, so that the impres- 
 sions 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." 1 I have chosen one from 
 each of the different suits, namely, the King of Columbines, the Queen 
 of Rabbits, the Knave of Pinks, and the Ace of Roses; which answered 
 to the spades, the clubs, the diamonds, and the hearts, of the moderns. 
 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 nume- 
 ral 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 the gentleman to 
 whom they belong" is in possession of part of another set, which evi- 
 dently appear to be the production of Israel Van Mecheln, who was 
 contemporary with Schoen. A set or pac,k of cards, but not equally an- 
 
 1 That the old cards sometimes differed from ours may be seen upon plate xxxi. where four are re- 
 presented nearly square; and originally I doubt not but they were perfectly so. 
 
 ,n See plate xxxi. They are the same size as the originals. 
 * Francis Douce, Esq ; with whose permission they are added to this work. 
 Mecheln outlived Martin Schoen a considerable time} the latter died A.D. 1480, and the former 
 
Yl. XXXI. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE 01' ENG LANE*. 
 
 291 
 
 cient with those above mentioned, were in the possession of Dr. Stuke- 
 ley : p 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 me.re 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. The figured cards, 
 by us denominated court cards, were formerly called coat cards ; and 
 originally, I conceive, 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 cus- 
 tom common enough at present in playing at quadrill ; 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, with- 
 out any other kind of proof whatever." 1 
 
 XXIV. Primero is reckoned among the most ancient games of cards 
 known to have been played in England ; each player we are told h ad 
 four cards dealt to him one by one, the seven was the highest card in point 
 of number that he could avail himself of, which counted for twenty- 
 one, the six counted for sixteen, the five for fifteen, and the ace for the 
 same, but the two, the three, and the four, for their respective points 
 
 A. D. 1523. The earliest print that I have seen by Mecheln with a date is 1480} but he practised 
 the art of engraving some time prior to that period. 
 
 p They were purchased at Dr. Stukeley's sale by Mr. Tuttet, and again at his sale by Mr. Gough, in 
 whose possession they now remain. The last gentleman has given a full description of them in a paper 
 upon the subject of card-playing, in the Archseologia, vol. vii. p. 152, et seq. 
 
 1 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 shews him ' a paier of cardes.' Garrick's Collect, vol. i. IS. In a comedy called ' A Woman killed 
 with Kindness/ a pair of cards and counters to play with are mentioned. 
 
292 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 only. The knave of hearts was commonly fixed upon for the qui- 
 nola, which the player might make what card or suit he thought pro- 
 per; if the cards were of different suits the highest number won 
 the primero, if they were all of one colour he that held them won the 
 flush/ 
 
 Prime, mentioned by Sir John Harrington in his satirical description 
 of the fashionable court games, 9 a modern writer thinks was not the 
 same as primero; 1 but he has not however specified the difference be- 
 tween them. The poet says, 
 
 The first game was the best, when, free from crime, 
 The courtly gamesters all were in their prime. 
 
 Trump. — A game thus denominated in the Old Plays is perhaps of 
 equal antiquity with primero, and at the latter end of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury was very common among the lower classes of people. Dame 
 Chat, in Gammer Gurtons Needle, says to Dicon, 6 we be set at trump, 
 man, hard by the fire, thou shalt set upon the king;' and afterwards 
 to her maid, 
 
 Come hither, Dol; Dol, sit down and play this game, 
 
 And as thou sawest me do, see thou do even the same ; 
 There are five trumps besides the queen, the hindmost thou shalt find her; 
 
 Take heed of Sim Glover's wife, she hath an eye behind her. u 
 
 Trump is thought to have borne some resemblance to the modern game 
 of whist. 
 
 Gresco is mentioned in conjunction with primero in the comedy of 
 Eastward Hoe; x 4 he would play his hundred pounds at gresco and 
 primero as familiarly as any bright piece of crimson of them all/ 
 
 Sir John Harrington, after having mentioned prime, proceeds to enu- 
 merate the games that succeeded, in the following manner : 
 
 r Mr. Barrington., in his papers upon card-playing, Archseologia, vol. viii. 
 5 Published 1615. 1 Mr. Barrington, ut supra. 
 
 * This play is said to have been first acted A. D.. 156l ; the edition I quote from is dated 1$?5. 
 *• Written by Johnson, Chapman, and Marlow, and printed A. D. 1605. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 293 
 
 The second game was post/ until with posting 
 
 They paid so fast, 'twas time to leave their bosting. 
 
 Then thirdly follow'd heaving of the maw, 
 
 A game without civility or law, 
 
 An odious play, and yet in court oft seen, 
 
 A saucy knave to trump both king and queen. 
 
 Then follow'd lodam. 2 
 
 Now noddy follow'd next. — 
 The last game now in use is banckerout," 
 Which will be plaid at still I stand in doubt, 
 Until lavalta turne the wheele of time 
 And makes it come aboute again to prime. 
 
 Gleek is mentioned with primero in Green s < Tu quoque/ where one 
 of the characters proposes to play at twelve-penny gleek, but the other 
 insists upon making it for a crown at least. 
 
 Coeval with gleek we find mount saint, or more properly cent. b 
 This game, which was played by counting, probably did not differ 
 much from pickquet, or picket as it was formerly written, said to 
 have been introduced in Trance about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 New cut is mentioned in an old play written by Thomas Heywood, c 
 where one of the characters says, 6 if you will play at new cut, I am 
 soonest hitter of any one heere for a wager/ 
 
 Knave out of doors occurs also in the same play, together with ruff, 
 which is proposed to be played with honours ; double ruff, and English 
 ruff, with honours, are mentioned in the Compleat Gamester, d and distin- 
 guished from French ruff. 
 
 y Called also post and pair. 
 2 Called Saint Lodam by Mr. Barrington, I know not upon what authority, Archaeologia, ut supra. 
 
 a Perhaps the same with Lankafalet mentioned in the Complete Gamester, 
 b In Spanish cientos, or hundred, the number of points that win the game. Thus in a play called the 
 Dumb Knight, the queen says of this game, ' the name is taken from hundreds and afterwards to 
 Philocles, ' you are a double game, and I am no less; there is an hundred, and all cards made but one 
 knave.' Written by Lewis Machin, printed A.D. 1608. See also Mr. Barrington, ut supra. Ticket 
 is mentioned in Flora's Vagaries, printed 16/0, and said to be played with counters. 
 
 « < A Woman killed with Kindness/ third edition 1617. d Published 1674. 
 
994 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 Lansquenet is a French game, and took its name from the Lansque- 
 nets, or light German troops, employed by the kings of France in the 
 fifteenth century. 6 
 
 Basset, said by Doctor Johnson to have been invented at Venice, 
 was a very fashionable game towards the close of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury; and ombre, brought into England by Catherine of Portugal 
 queen to Charles the Second. The modern game of quadrill bears 
 great analogy to ombre, with the addition of a fourth player, which is 
 certainly a great improvement. 
 
 Whist, or, as it was formerly written, whisk, is a game now held in 
 high estimation. At the commencement of last century, according to 
 Swift, it was a favourite pastime with clergymen, who played the game 
 with swabbers; these were certain cards by which the holder was en- 
 titled lo part of the stake, in the same manner that the claim is made 
 for the aces at quadrill. Whist, in its present stale of improvement, 
 may properly be considered as a modern game, and was not, says a 
 very intelligent writer/ played upon principles till about fifty years 
 ago, s when it was much studied by a set of gentlemen who frequented 
 the Crown coffee-house in Bedford-row. 
 
 To the games already mentioned we may add the following ; put, 
 and the high game; plain dealing, wit and reason, costly colours, five 
 cards, bone ace, h queen nazareen, lanterloo, penneech, art of me- 
 mory, beast, cribbage, and all fours. 1 Crimp, mentioned in the Spec- 
 iator, k I take to be a game played with the cards, and one might be 
 
 e Bullet, ' Recherches Hist, snr cartes a jour,' p. 152. 
 f Hon. Dailies Harrington, ut supra. 
 « This paper was published A.D. 1/87, and the author says that the first mention he finds of 
 the game of whist is in the Beaux Stratagem, a comedy by Geo. Farquhar, pub. A.D. 170/. He 
 also thinks that whist might have originated from the old game of trump. Cotgrave explains the 
 French word triomphe in this manner ; the game called ruff, or trump j also the ruff, or trump 
 in it. 
 
 h Perhaps this may be the same as the game called Ace of Hearts, prohibited with all lotteries by 
 cards and dice. An. 12 Geo. II. cap 38. sect. 2. 
 
 ' Nearly all the above-mentioned games may be found in a small book intituled the ' Complete 
 gamester,' with the directions how to play them. 
 
 k Vol. v. N» 323. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 295 
 
 led to think the same of roulet by the wording of the act by which it is 
 prohibited. 1 
 
 XXV. In addition to the pastimes mentioned in the preceding 
 pages, I shall produce two or three more; and they are such as re- 
 quire 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 Ger- 
 many, and is well calculated to make children ready at reckoning the 
 produce of two given numbers. The table for playing at goose is usu- 
 ally about the size of a sheet almanack," 1 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 compart- 
 ments have singly an appropriate number from one to sixty-two in- 
 clusive, beginning at the outmost extremity of the spiral lines. It 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. It is called the game of the goose, because at every 
 
 1 An. 18 Geo. II. The words are, ' And whereas a certain pernicious game, called Roulet, or Roly- 
 poly, is daily practised/ the act then states that « no place shall be kept for playing at the said game of 
 roulet, or roly-poly, or any other game with cards or dice,' &c. 
 
 m Generally an impression from a copper-plate pasted upon a cartoon. 
 
 n 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. 
 
 ° At the commencement of the play, every one of the competitors put 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 
 
296 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 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 ma- 
 trimony, 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 in the 
 least improved by the variations. 
 
 XXVI. Cross and pile, or with us head or tail, 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 the Second 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: 6 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 eight- 
 pence. 11 ' 
 
 An halfpenny is generally now used in playing this game; but any 
 other coin with an head impressed on one side will answer the pur- 
 pose. 9 One person tosses the halfpenny up and the other calls 
 at pleasure head or tail; if his call lies uppermost when the half- 
 penny 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/ known in ancient times to the Grecian 
 
 belongs to the winner. At No 5 is a bridge which claims a forfeit at passing; at \g, 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 56, the grave whence you begin the game again; and attfl, the 
 goblet where you pay for tasting. See a book intituled, ' Des Lustund Spiel Hauses,' published . t 
 Buda A. D. 1680. 
 
 p Antiq. Repert. vol. ii. p. 58. 
 i The reverse to 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. 
 
 r OtrlpccwSx. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 297 
 
 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 black 8 as he thought proper, and his suc- 
 cess was determined by the white or black part of the shell being up- 
 permost. 
 
 8 Ni>£ et rj^spsc, literally night and day. 
 
 2 Q 
 
298 
 
 SPORTS AND 
 
 PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 CHAP. 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 Cocknaies — of the Bean — whence originated. 
 — The Festival of Fools. — The Boy Bishop. — The Fool-Plough. — Easter- Games. — 
 Hock-Tuesday. — May-Games. Whitsun-Games. — The Vigil of Saint John the 
 Baptist, how kept. — Setting the Midsummer watch. — Processions on Saint Cathe- 
 rine's day. — -Wassails. — Harvest-Home. — Wakes, Church- Ales, and Fairs, — their 
 Origin and Abuses. — Sports usual at them. — Bonfires. — Fireworks. — Illumina- 
 tions. 
 
 I. 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 holydays, is par- 
 ticularly remarked by foreign writers, who consider him as a personage 
 rarely to be met with out of England ; b 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 
 
 a Introduction, p. xxxv. 
 
 b Polydore Vergil de Rerum Invent, lib. v. cap. 2. In some great families, and also sometimes at 
 court, this officer was called the Abbot of Misrule. ' This Christmas, an. 4 Hen. VII. A. D. 1489, 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.' Leland's Collect, vol. iii. Append, p. 256. In Scotland he was 
 called the Abbot of Unreason, and prohibited there by the Parliament, A. D. 1555. See Warton's Hist. 
 Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 381. 
 
BOOK IV. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. %99 
 
 extinct for many years, and his name and his offices are nearly forgot- 
 ten. No doubt in many instances the privileges allowed to this merry 
 despot were abused, and not unfrequently productive of immorality; 
 the institution itself, even if we view it in its most favourable light, is 
 puerile and ridiculous, adapted to the ages of ignorance, when more 
 rational amusements were not known, or at least not fashionable. 
 
 II. ' At the feast of Christmas/ says Stow, < in the king's court 
 wherever he chanced to reside, there was appointed a lord of misrule, 
 or master of merry disports; the same merry fellow made his appear- 
 ance at the house of every nobleman and person of distinction, and 
 among the rest the lord mayor of London and the sheriffs had seve- 
 rally of them their lord of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel 
 or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the be- 
 holders; 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 mum- 
 meries/ c 
 
 III. In the fifth year of Edward the Sixth, at Christmas time, d 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, 6 being of better calling than commonly his prede- 
 cessors had been before, received all his commissions and warrauntes 
 by the name of Maister of the kinges 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 liberalise in rewarding that service/ e It was certainly an 
 act of much policy in the council to appoint so judicious and respect- 
 
 e Survey of London, p. 79- 
 d f What time, ' according to Holingshed, ' 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 
 Robl. mens houses and among great housekeepers, which use liberal feasting in the season.' Chron. of 
 Bnt. vol. iii. fol. 131 7. e Ibid, 
 
3°° SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 able an officer for the department at this time, and was done in order 
 to counteract by shows and pastimes the discontent that prevailed, and 
 divert the mind of the king from reflecting too deeply upon the con- 
 demnation of his uncle the duke of Somerset. 
 
 IV. 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. A writer, 
 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, 
 nocking 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, to- 
 gether 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 dauncing, their belles jyngling, their 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 
 
 f Philip Stubs, iu his Anatomie of Abuses, printed A. D. 15Q5. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 301 
 
 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, s their 
 bowers, arbours, and banquetting-houses, set up, wherein they feast, 
 banquet, and daunce all that day, and paradventure all that night too; 
 and thus these terrestrial furies spend the sabbath day. Then, for 
 the further innobling of this honourable lardane, 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 heathenish devilrie ; — and 
 who will not show himself buxome to them and give them money, they 
 shall be mocked and flouted shamefully; yea, and many times carried 
 upon a cowlstaffe, and dived over heade and eares in water, or other- 
 wise most horribly abused. And so besotted are some, that they not 
 only give them money, but weare their badges or cognizances in their 
 hats 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/ 
 
 V. The society belonging to Lincolns-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 marshal, 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 
 
 e Hence it should seem the Lord of the 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. 
 
 h Childish, trifling. 
 
302 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 the King of the Cockneys, who also presided on the day of his appoint- 
 ment, and had his inferior officers to wait upon him. 1 
 
 VL In the history of Norfolk k mention is made of a pageant ex- 
 hibited at Norwich upon a Shrove Tuesday, which happened in the 
 month of March, 6 when one rode through the street, having his horse 
 trapped with tyn foyle and other nyse disgysynges, crowned as Kyng 
 of Christmas, in token that the season should end with the twelve 
 moneths of the year; and afore 1 hym went yche m moneth dysgysyd as 
 the season requiryd/ 
 
 VII. The dignified persons above mentioned were, I presume, upon 
 an equal footing with the King of the Bean, whose reign commenced 
 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 uni- 
 versities, and continued/ at the commencement of the last century, 6 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.' n 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 depended en- 
 tirely upon the decision of fortune ; the words of an old kalendar be- 
 longing to* the Romish church seem to favour a contrary opinion; 
 they are to this effect : On the fifth of January, the vigil of the Epi- 
 phany, the Kings of the Bean are created ; p and on the sixth the feast 
 of the kings shall be held, and also of the queen ; and let the banquet- 
 ing be continued for many days. At court, in the eighth year of Ed- 
 ward the Third, 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 Epi- 
 
 * Dngdale's Origines JuridiciaTes, fol. 24/. 
 k By Blomfield, vol. ii. p. 3. 1 For before. m For each. 
 
 " Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. chap. xvii. 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 Twtlfth-day. 
 
 Cited by Mr. Brand in his notes to the above chapter in Bournes Antiq. p. 205. 
 p Reges Fabis creantur. 
 
BOOK TV. OF THE PEOTLE OE ENGLAND. 303- 
 
 phany, to Regan the trumpeter and his associates, the court minstrels, 
 in the name of King of the Bean. q 
 
 VIII. 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, r who were honoured with mock titles, and permitted to as- 
 sume the state and deportment of their lords. These fooleries were ex- 
 ceedingly popular, and continued to be practised long after the esta- 
 blishment 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 them to be exercised, but 
 changed the primitive object of devotion; so that the same unhallowed 
 orgies, which had disgraced the worship of a heathen deity, were dedi- 
 cated, as it was called, to the service of the true God, and sanctioned 
 by the appellation of a Christian institution. From this polluted stock 
 branched out variety of unseemly and immoral sports ; but none of 
 them more daringly impious, and outrageous to common sense, than 
 the Festival of Fools, in which the most sacred rites and ceremonies 
 of the church were turned into ridicule, and the ecclesiastics themselves 
 participated in the abominable profanations. The following outlines 
 of this absurd diversion will no doubt be thought sufficient. 
 
 IX. In each of the cathedral churches there was a Bishop, or an 
 Archbishop of Fools, elected; and in the churches immediately de- 
 pendent upon the papal see a Pope of Fools. These mock pontiffs 
 had usually a proper suit of ecclesiastics who attended upon them, and 
 assisted at the divine service, most of them attired in ridiculous dresses 
 resembling pantomimical players and buffoons ; they were accom- 
 panied by large crowds of the laity, some being disguised with masks 
 of a monstrous fashion, and others having their faces smutted ; in one 
 instance to frighten the beholders, and in the other to excite their 
 laughter : and some, again, assuming the habits of females, practised 
 all the wanton airs of the loosest and most abandoned of the sex, 
 
 i In nomine Regis de Faba. MS. Cott. Nero. c. viii. 
 r Table Talk, London, 1689, under the title Christmas. 
 
304 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 During the divine service this motley crowd were not contented with 
 singing of indecent songs in the choir, but some of them eat, and drank, 
 and played at dice, upon the altar, by the side of the priest who cele- 
 brated the mass. After the service they put filth into the censers, and 
 ran about the church, leaping, dancing, laughing, singing, breaking 
 obscene jests, and exposing themselves in the most unseemly attitudes 
 with shameless impudence. 8 Another part of these ridiculous cere- 
 monies was, to shave the Precentor of Fools upon a stage erected 
 before the church, in the presence of the populace ; and, during the 
 operation, he amused them with lewd and vulgar discourses, 1 accom- 
 panied by actions equally reprehensible. The Bishop, or the Pope of 
 Fools, performed the divine service habited in the pontifical garments, 
 and gave his benediction to the people before they quitted the church. 
 He was afterwards seated in an open carriage, and drawn about to the 
 different parts of the town, attended by a large train of ecclesiastics 
 and laymen promiscuously mingled together ; and many of the most 
 profligate of the latter assumed clerical habits, in order to give their 
 impious fooleries the greater effect; they had also with them carts 
 filled with ordure, which they threw occasionally upon the populace 
 assembled to see the procession." These spectacles were always ex- 
 hibited at Christmas-time, or near to it, but not confined to one parti- 
 cular day. w When the ceremony took place upon St. Stephen's-day, 
 they sang, as part of the mass, a burlesque composition called The 
 Prose of the Ass, or The Fool's Prose. It was performed by a double 
 choir, and at intervals, in place of a burden, they imitated the braying 
 of an ass. Upon the festival of St. John the Evangelist they had an- 
 other arrangement of ludicrous sentences, denominated the Prose of 
 the Ox, equally reprehensible/ 
 
 X. Grotesque ceremonies, something similar to those above men- 
 
 8 Circular Letter addressed to the Clergy of France, by P. de Blois, published A. D. 1444. 
 1 Register de Eglise de S. Stephen de Dijon, A. D. 14p4. u P. de Blois, ut supra. 
 
 w It was sometimes on Christmas -day, and on the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John, the Innocents, 
 the Circumcision, the Epiphany, &c. Encyclopedic Francois, under the article Fete des Fous. 
 
 * Theoph. Raynaud. These exhibitions were highly relished by the populace at large, and crept 
 into the monasteries and nunneries, where they were practised by the female votaries of religion. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 305 
 
 tioned, certainly took place in England ; but probably they were not 
 carried to that extent of impiety, nor so grossly offensive to decency. 
 We had a King of the Fools, but his office was suppressed at an early 
 period/ and not, that I remember, revived in the succeeding times. 
 The election and the investment of the Boy-Bishop was certainly de- 
 rived from the Festival of Fools. 2 In all the collegiate churches, at the 
 feast of St. Nicholas, or of the Holy Innocents, and frequently at both, 
 it was customary for one of the children of the choir, completely ap- 
 parelled in the episcopal vestments, with a mitre and crosier, to bear 
 the title and state of a bishop. He exacted a ceremonial obedience 
 from his fellows, who, being dressed like priests, took possession of the 
 church, and performed all the ceremonies and offices a which might 
 have been celebrated by a bishop and his prebendaries. Colet, dean 
 of St. Paul's, though he was 'a wise and good man/ countenanced 
 this idle farce; and, in the statutes for his school b at St. Paul's, 
 expressly orders that the scholars 4 shall, every Childermas, that is, In- 
 nocents-day, come to Pauleys churche, and hear the Childe ByshopV 
 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/ d After having performed the divine service, the bishop and 
 his associates 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 the thirtj'-third year of Henry the Eighth ; e the concluding clause of 
 the ordinance runs thus : 4 Whereas heretofore dyvers and many super- 
 
 y Rex Stultorum, in Beverley church, prohibited A. D. 1391. Dugdale's- Monast. vol. iii Ap- 
 pendix vii. 
 
 1 It does not appear at what period this idle ceremony was first established, but probably it was an- 
 cient, at least we can trace it back to the fourteenth century. 
 
 a "Warton, and the author of the MS. he has followed, add, ' the mass excepted ; ' but the procla- 
 mation of Henry the Eighth for the abolition of this custom proves they did ' singe masse.' 
 
 b A. D. 1512. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 248 j and vol. iii. p. 3gO. 
 c Of St. Paul's cathedral. 
 d Knight's Life of Colet, p. 362 ; to which Wartoa adds, * I take this opportunity of intimating that 
 the custom at Eton of going ad montem, originated from the ancient and popular practice of these the- 
 atrical processions in collegiate bodies.' Hist. Poet, ut supra. c A. D. 1542. 
 
 2 It 
 
306 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 stitious 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 
 suchliek holydaies; children' be slrangelie 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 sayntes/ 2 This 
 idle pageantry was revived by his daughter Mary ; and in the second 
 year of her reign an edict was issued from the bishop of London to all 
 the clergy of his diocese, to have a boy-bishop in procession.* 1 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 pontifical ibus, k 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. 1 After the death of 
 Mary this silly mummery was totally discontinued. 
 
 XI. Cards, dice, tables, and most other games prohibited by the 
 public statutes at other seasons of the year, were tolerated during the 
 Christmas holidays, as well as disguisements and mummings ; and in 
 some parts of the kingdom vestiges of these customs are to be found to 
 the present day. ' In the north/ says a modern author," 1 at Christmas 
 
 f Boys. s MS. Cott. Tiberius B. i. 
 
 h Dated Nov. 13, 1554. Strype's Eccl. Mem. vol. iii. chap. 3Q. p. 310. 
 ' Ibid. chap. 35. p. 202. k Ibid. chap. 39. p. 310. 
 
 1 We may observe that most of the churches in which these mock ceremonies were performed, had 
 dresses and ornaments proper for the occasion, and suited to the size of the wearers, but in every other 
 respect resembling- those appropriated to the real dignitaries of the church ; hence it is we frequently 
 meet with entries of diminutive habits and ornaments in the church inventories, as una mitra parva 
 cum petris pro episcopo puerorum, that is, a small mitre, with jewels for the bishop of the boys, 
 Invent. York Cathedral. See also Dugdale's Hist, of St. Paul's, p. 205. 
 
 m Mr. Brand in his Additions to Bourne's Antirj. Vulg. chap. 14. p. 175, 
 
BOOK IV. OP THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 507 
 
 time 4 the fool-plough" goes about; a pageant that consists of a num- 
 ber of sword-dancers dragging a plough about with music, and one, or 
 sometimes two of them attired in a very antic dress; as the Bessy in 
 the grotesques habit of an old woman, and the Fool almost covered 
 with skins, a hairy cap on his head, and the tail of some animal hang- 
 ing down his back : the office of one of these characters is to go about 
 rattling a box among the spectators of the dance to collect their little 
 donations ;° and it is remarkable that in some places where this pageant 
 is retained they plough up the soil before any house where they receive 
 no reward/ But in general Plough-Monday, or the first Monday after 
 Twelfth-day, is the ploughmen's holiday, when they beg for the plough- 
 money to drink; and also in Essex and Suffolk, at Shrove-tide or upon 
 Shrove-Tuesday, after the confession, it was usual for the farmer to per- 
 mit his ploughman to go to the barn blindfolded, and 4 thresh the fat 
 hen/ saying, 4 if you can kill her then give it thy men ; and go you 
 and dine on fritters and pancakes/ p 
 
 XII. In the islands of Scilly it was customary of late years at this 
 season for 4 the young people to exercise a sort of gallantry called 
 goose dancing, when the maidens are dressed up for young men, and 
 the young men for maidens; thus disguised they visit their neighbours 
 in companies, where they dance, and make jokes upon what has hap- 
 pened in the island ; when every one is humorously told their own- 
 without offence being taken : by this sort of sport, according to yearly 
 custom and toleration, there is a spirit of wit and drollery kept up 
 among the people. When the music and dancing is done they are treated 
 with liquor, and then they go to the next house of entertainment/ 9 
 
 n Or perhaps yule plough: It is also called the white plough, because the gallant young men that 
 compose the pageant appear to be dressed in their shirts, without coats or waistcoats ; upon which great 
 numbers of ribbands folded into roses are loosely stitched. The author adds ' it appears to be a very 
 airy habit for this cold season, but they have warm waistcoats under it.' Ibid. 
 
 This pageant and the dance seem to be a composition of gleanings of several obsolete customs fol- 
 lowed anciently. The fool and the bessy are plainly fragments of the festival of fools. Ibid, see also 
 pp. 1Q5 and 222. 
 
 P See Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. i'ri. p. 307 . 
 "> Heath's Account of the Islands of Scilly, London 1750, page 125. See more upon the subject of 
 mumming and disguisements, pp. 123, 188, and 189of this work. 
 
308 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 XIII. Cock-fighting, and throwing at cocks on Shrove-Tuesday/ and 
 playing at hand-ball for tansy-cakes at Easter-tide, have been already 
 mentioned, 3 with other trifling sports which are comprised under their 
 appropriate heads, and need not to be repeated ; but the week before 
 Easter, according to Stow, * great shows were made by bringing a 
 twisted tree, or with, as they termed it, into the king's palace, and into 
 the houses of the nobility and gentry/' This custom is quite obsolete. 
 
 XIV. Hoke-day, or Hock-day ; a popular holiday mentioned by 
 Matthew Paris and other ancient writers. This day was usually kept 
 on the Tuesday w following the second Sunday after Easter-day, and 
 distinguished according to John Rouse" by various sportive 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 consisted in the men and women binding each other, ano^ espe- 
 cially the women the men/ and hence it was called Binding Tuesday . y 
 A third author 2 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 ; b others, that it was in remembrance of the death of 
 Hardicanute, c by which event the English were delivered from the in* 
 
 r Pages 249, 250. 3 Page 87- 
 
 1 1 am not certain whether the author means that this custom was confined to the city of London, or 
 whether it extended to other parts of England. Survey of Lond. p. 79- 
 
 w * Quindena Paschae/ M. Paris Hist. Ang. sub anno 1552. But sometimes there were two hock- 
 days, as appears below. Dr. Piott makes Monday the principal day. Other writers give the preference 
 to Tuesday. 
 
 x Or Ross the Warwickshire historian. Edita Hearne, p. 105. 
 y Gloss, under the title Hock-day. z Cowel in Hist. Hampshire. 
 
 a . See the Memoir on Hoke-day, by the Rev. Mr. Jenne, Archseologia, vol. vii. p. 224. 
 *> A. D k 1002. But the time of the year does not agree. St. Brice's-day is the 13th of November-. 
 c Hardicanute died on a Tuesday, the 8th of June 1041. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 309 
 
 tolerant 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 4 pious uses' d may be con- 
 sidered as tacit acknowledgements of gratitude to heaven for freeing 
 the nation from its bondage. 
 
 Hock-day was generally observed as lately as the sixteenth century. 
 We learn from Spelman that it was not totally discontinued in his time; 
 and Plott has noticed some vestiges of it at the distance of fifty years, 
 but now it is totally abolished. 
 
 XV. The celebration of the May-games, at which we have only 
 glanced in a former part of the work, 6 will require some enlargement in 
 this chapter. 4 On the calands or first of May/ says Bourne/ ' com- 
 monly called May-day, the juvenile part of both sexes were wont to 
 rise a little after midnight and walk to some neighbouring wood, ac- 
 companied with music and blowing of horns, where they brake 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 poll, which is called a may-poll ; 
 and being placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it 
 were, consecrated to the Goddess of Flowers, without the least viola- 
 tion being offered to it in the whole circle of the year/ 8 To this we may 
 add the following extract from Stow. b 4 In the month of May 1 the ci- 
 
 d In the churchwarden's accounts for the parish of Lambeth for the years 1515 and 15 1(5, 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. Me- 
 moir ut supra. 
 
 e Page 202, and Introduction p. xl. f Antiq. Vulgares, chap. 25. 
 
 s This custom no doubt is a relick 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 ca- 
 lendar, cited by Mr. Brand, says, on the 30th of April, ' the boys go out to seek may -trees — ' Maii ar- 
 bores a pueris exquirunter.' Ibid, page 225. Some consider the may-pole as a relique of Druidisni ; 
 but I cannot find any solid foundation for such an opinion. 
 
 h Survey of London. 
 » For the may-games were not always celebrated upon the first day of the month. 
 
310 
 
 SPORTS AND FASTTMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 tizens of London of all estates, generally in every parish, and in some 
 instances two or three parishes joining together, had their several may- 
 ings, and did fetch their may-poles with divers warlike shews ; 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 go- 
 vernors and masters of the city, together with the triumphant setting up 
 of the great shaft or principal maypole in Cornhill before the parish 
 church of Saint Andrew ;' x but in the lifetime of the historian they were 
 not conducted with so great splendor as they had been formerly. 111 
 Stow has passed over unnoticed the manner in which the may-poles 
 were usually decorated ; this deficiency I shall supply from a contem- 
 porary writer," but 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 ex- 
 aggerated, is not altogether without foundation. He writes thus, 
 ' 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 compa- 
 nies, they goe some to the woods and groves, some to the hills and 
 mountaines, 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 flow T ers tied to the tip of his homes, and these oxen drawe 
 
 k Survey of London, p. 80. 
 
 1 Thence called St. Andrew Undershaft. Ibid. p. 83. No doubt the may-games are of long stand- 
 ing, though the time of their institution cannot be traced. Mention is made of the may-pole at Corn- 
 hill, in a poem called the ' Chaunce of the Dice,' attributed to Chaucer. Ibid. 
 
 S1 Owing to a dangerous riot which took place upon May-day in the gth year of Hen. VIII. A. D. 
 15,17, called May-day, in which several foreigners were slain, and two of the ring-leaders of the dis- 
 turbance were hanged. Stow died A. D. 1605. 
 
 n Philip Stubs. The work is denominated ' the Anatomie of Abuses,' printed at London A. D, 
 1595, and is exceedingly rare. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 311 
 
 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 handker- 
 chiefes 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/ 
 
 XVI. 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 proba- 
 bly presided over the sports. On the thirtieth of May, in the fourth 
 year of queen Mary, q 1 was a goodly May-game in Fenchurch-streel, 
 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 a citizen, in the old comedy called The 
 Knight of the Burning Pestle/ addressing himself to the other actors, 
 says, ' Let Ralph 1 come out on May-day in the morning, and speak 
 upon a conduit, with all his scarfs about him, and his feathers, and his 
 
 °The may-pole is treated with little less ceremony by another reformist, cited in the Introduc- 
 tion, page xl. 
 
 p In the churchwarden's account for the parish of St. Helen's in Abingdon, Berks, dated A. D. l56o, 
 the 9th of Eliz. is the following article; * Payde for setting up Robin Hoode's bower, eighteenpence ; ' 
 that is, a bower for the reception of the fictitious Robin Hood and his company, belonging to the May- 
 day pageant. Archaeologia, vol. i. cap. iv. p. 11. 
 
 * A. D. 1557. r Strype's Eccles. Mem. vol. iii. cap. 4g, p. 377. 
 
 * By Beaumont and Fletcher, written A.D. 1611. 
 1 He is supposed to be a spectator, and Ralph is his apprentice, but permitted by him to play in 
 the piece. 
 
312 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 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. 
 
 At the commencement of the sixteenth century, or perhaps still 
 earlier, the ancient stories of Robin Hood and his frolicksome compa- 
 nions 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 also equipped in ap- 
 propriate dresses," and distinguished by the title of 6 Robin Hood's 
 Men/ W Bishop Latimer, in a sermon which he preached before king 
 Edward the Sixth, relates the following anecdote, which proves the 
 great popularity of these pageants. 4 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 x 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.^ 
 
 « Their coats, hoods, and hose, were generally green. 
 w Henry the Eighth, 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 affrighted by their appearance, of which she was not the least apprised. 
 This gay troop performed several dances, and then departed. Hall, in Tit. Hen. VIII. foL vi. 
 
 x Hinder or prevent. 
 
 y Latimer's Sermons, printed at Lond. 1589. I" Garrick's Collect, of Old Plays, K. vol. x. is one 
 entituled, 'A new Playe of Jtobyn Hoode, for to be played in the May-games, very pleasaunte and full 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 313 
 
 XVII. 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, 2 written 
 apparently in the reign of Henry the Seventh, wherein a number of 
 gentlemen, professing themselves to be the servants of the Lady May, 
 promise to be in the 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 agreement ; that is to say, 
 
 On the fourteenth day of May they engage to meet at a place ap- 
 pointed by the king, armed with the * harneis" 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. b 
 
 On the fifteenth the archers took the field to shoot at ' the standard 
 with flight arrows/ 
 
 On the sixteenth they held a tournament with 6 swords rebated to 
 strike with every commer eight strokes/ according to the accustomed 
 usage. 
 
 On the eighteenth, for I suppose Sunday intervened, they were to be 
 ready to 4 wrestle with all commers all manner of ways/ according to 
 their pleasure. 
 
 On the nineteenth 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/ 
 
 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 j he also breaks the boy's pots, and 
 commits several other absurdities. The language of this piece is extremely low, and full of ribaldry. 
 
 * Harl. Lib. 69. 
 
 a I suppose the author means tilting armour, for the purpose of justing, here called running of 
 courses. 
 
 b Agreeable to the ancient custom, by which the ladies presided as arbitrators at the justs. 
 See p. 130. 
 
 c This article specifies that there should be eight strokes with the spear, two of them * with the 
 foyne,' or short thrust, and eight strokes with the sword 5 ' every man to take his best advantage with 
 gript, or otherwise.' 
 
 2 S 
 
314 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 On the twentieth they were to give additional proof of their strength 
 by casting ' the barre on foote, and with the arme, bothe heavit and 
 hight/ d 
 
 On the twenty-first 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. 
 
 XVIII. Henry the Eighth, when young, delighted much in pagean- 
 try, and the early part of his reign abounded with gaudy shows ; most 
 of them were his own devising, and others contrived for his amuse- 
 ment ; among the latter we may reckon a May-game at Shooters-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 morn- 
 ing 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 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 de- 
 parted, and on their return were met by two ladies riding in a rich open 
 chariot, drawn by five horses. e Both of these ladies were splendidly 
 
 d I do not clearly understand this passage,, but suppose it means by lifting and casting aloft. 
 e Every horse, according to Holingshed, bad his name upon his head, and upon every horse sat a 
 lady, with her name written. On the first horse, called Lavvde, 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 j on the fifth, called Lampace, sat Sweet Odour. Hall, in Vit. Hen. 
 VIII. an. 2, p. vi. 
 
BOOK TV 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 
 
 315 
 
 apparelled, one of them personifying Lady May, and the other Lady 
 Flora; 4 who/ we are told, ' saluted the king with divers goodly songs, 
 and so brought him to Greenwich/ f 
 
 XIX. f It is at this time/ that is, in May, says the author of one of 
 the papers in the Spectator/ 6 we see the brisk young wenches, in the 
 country parishes, dancing round the maypole. It is likewise on the 
 first day of this month that we see the ruddy milkmaid exerting herself 
 in a most sprighly 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 11 when they went to the houses of their custom- 
 ers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of them. 
 Of late years the plate, with the other decorations, w r ere 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 tank- 
 ards and salvers can have to the business of the milkmaids. 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 va- 
 rious colours, formed into bows and roses, and interspersed with green 
 oaken leaves and bunches of flowers. 
 
 XX. The Chimney-sweepers of London have also singled out the 
 
 f We may, however, 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 curi- 
 ous 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 warning 
 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, &c. See an account of this book, 
 Introduct. p. viii. note w. 
 
 g Vol. v. N° 305, first published A. D. 1712. 
 11 In a set of prints called Tempest's Cryes of London, there is one called the merry milkmaid's, 
 whose proper name was Kate Smith. She is dancing with the milkpail, decorated as above mentioned, 
 upon her head. See Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. iv. p. 354. 
 
316 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 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 danc- 
 ing. 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. 
 
 XXL The Whitsontide Holydays were celebrated by various pas- 
 times commonly practised upon other festivals; but the Monday after 
 the Whitson week, at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, a fat lamb was pro- 
 vided, 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 l^dy of the Lamb, which, being 
 killed and cleaned, but with the skin hanging 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, e majestically at the upper end of the table, 
 and her companions with her,' the music playing during the repast, 
 which, being finished, the solemnity ended. k 
 
 XXII. On the Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, commonly 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 
 
 ? This piece of pageantry consists of a hollow frame of wood, or wicker-work, made in the 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 concealed, who dances with his companions, and the populace are mightily pleased 
 with the oddity of the moving pyramid. 
 
 k Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 4Q. 
 
COOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 317 
 
 till midnight, and sometimes till cock-crowing; 1 several of the super- 
 stitious ceremonies practised upon this occasion are contained in the 
 following verses : m 
 
 Then cloth the joyfull feast of ,1ohn the Baptist take his turne, 
 When bonfires great, with lofty flame, in every towne doe burne, 
 And young men round about with maydes doe daunee in every street, 
 With garlands wrought of mother-wort, or else of vervaine sweet, 
 And many other flowers faire, with violets in their hands ; 
 Where as they all doe fondly thinke that whosoever stands, 
 And thorow the flowers behold the flame, his eyes shall feele no paine. 
 When thus till night they daunced have, they throgh the fire amaine 
 With striving mindes doe run, and all their herbs they cast therein ; 
 And then, with words devout and prayers, they solemnly begin, 
 Desiring God that all their illes may there confounded be ; 
 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 pecu- 
 liarly brilliant upon these occasions. 
 
 XXI II. The reasons assigned for making bonfires upon the vigil of 
 Saint John in particular are various, for many writers have attempted 
 the investigation of their origin ; but unfortunately all their arguments, 
 owing to the want of proper information, are merely hypothetical, and 
 of course cannot be much depended upon. Those who suppose these fires 
 to be a relique of some ancient heathenish superstition engrafted upon 
 the variegated stock of ceremonies belonging to the Romish church, are 
 
 1 Bourne's Antiq. vol. ix. chap. 27. 
 m As they are translated by Barnabe Googe, from the 4th book of The Pope's Kingdom, written in 
 Latin by Iho. Neogeorgius. The translation was dedicated to queen Elizabeth, and appeared A. D. 15/0. 
 
318 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 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 invo- 
 cation 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." 
 
 XXIV. In former times it was customary in London, and in other 
 great cities, .to set the Mid summer Watch upon the eve of Saint John 
 the Baptist; and this was usually performed with great pomp and pa- 
 geantry. The following short extract from that faithful historian, John 
 Stow, will be sufficient to shew the childishness as well as the expen- 
 siveness of this idle spectacle. The institution, he assures us, had been 
 appointed 4 time out of mind ;' p and, upon this occasion, the standing 
 watches in every ward and street of the city and suburbs were habited 
 6 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 ; q 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. Everyone of these 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 
 
 " According to some of the pious writers of antiquity, they made large fires, w hich may 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 tires 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 bienyng 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 cheerfulness 
 and piety, but not with such merriment as is shown by the prophane lovers of this world, who make 
 great fires in the streets, and indulge themselves with filthy and unlawful game-, to which they add 
 glotony and drunkenness, and the commission of many other shameful indecencies.' MSS. Hail. 2354 
 and 2391 . 
 
 The Midsummer pageants at Chester are fully described in the Introduction, p. xxvi. - 
 p That is, until the year 1539, the 3 1st of Henry VIII. when it was discontinued on account of the 
 
 expence, and revived in the year 154S, 2d Edward VI. and soon after that time totally abolished. 
 1 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. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 319 
 
 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 con- 
 stables were dressed in 4 bright harnesse, some over gilt, and every one 
 had a jornet 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 them, 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 foot- 
 men 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 dan<ee and one henchman : their officers were clothed in jackets 
 of worsted J, or say party-coloured, but differing from those belonging 
 to the may(Or, and from each other : they had also a great number of 
 harnessed rnen/ r 
 
 On Midsummer eve it was customary annually at Burford, in Oxford- 
 shire, to carry a dragon up and down the town, with mirth and rejoic- 
 ing; to which they also added the picture 8 of a giant. Doctor 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 
 victosy obtained near that place* by Cuthred, king of the west Saxons, 
 over Ethebald king of Mercia, who lost his standard, surmounted by a 
 golden dragon," in the action. 
 
 XXV. The Anniversary of Saint Clement, and that of Saint Cathe- 
 rine, 3 ' were formerly particularized by religious processions which had 
 
 r Survey of London, pp. 84, 85. 
 8 Perhaps it should be image, and resembled those commonly used in other pageants. 
 4 About the year 750. u Nat. Hist. Oxford, p. 348, and Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 154. 
 
 * The first upon the 23d, and the second upon the 25th, of November. 
 
320 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK TV. 
 
 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 were carried round Saint 
 Paul's Steepler" 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; 2 but the most splendid 
 show of this kind that took place in 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 stream- 
 ers, with the waits or minstrels of the city playing upon different in- 
 struments. 3 
 
 XXVI. 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. b The wassail is said to have originated from 
 the w T ords of Rowena, the daughter of Hengist ; who, presenting a bowl 
 of wine to V ortigern, the king of the Britons, said, Waes ha?], or, Health to 
 you my lord the king. 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 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. d 
 
 XXVII. There are two feasts annually held among the farmers of 
 this country, which are regularly made in the spring, and at the end of 
 
 y Eccl. Memoirs, vol. iii. chap. 3Q. p. 51. z Ibid. p. 30p. 
 
 a Ibid. cap. 4Q. p. 377. 
 
 b Seldea 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.' Table Talk, under the article Pope, printed A. D. 1689. 
 
 c i 7 a?r hsel lar-orfs cyn 111115. d Heath's Description of Cornwall, p. 445. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 321 
 
 the summer, or the beginning of autumn, hut not confined to any par- 
 ticular 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, excepting a dinner, or more fre- 
 quently a supper, at the conclusion of the sheep-shearing and the har- 
 vest, we have little remains of the former customs. 
 
 The particular manner in which the sheep-shearing was celebrated in 
 old times is not recorded; but respecting the harvest-home we meet 
 with several curious observations. A foreign gentleman who was in 
 England at the close of the sixteenth century, and wrote an account of 
 what he saw here, 6 says, 6 as we were returning to our inn, f 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.' Another foreign writer also tells us that he saw 'in England, 
 the country people bring home' from the harvest field, I presume he 
 means, 6 a figure made with corn, round which the men and the women 
 were promiscuously singing, and preceded by a piper or a drum/ 5 
 ' In the north/ says a modern writer of our own country, ' not half a 
 century ago, they used every where to dress up a figure something si- 
 milar to that just described, at the end of harvest, which they called a 
 kern-baby, plainly a corruption of corn-baby/ h 
 
 The harvest-supper in some places is called a mell supper, and a 
 churn-supper; 1 at which, Bourne k tells us, 4 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 
 
 e Henlzner. His Itinerary is written in Latin, and translated by the late Lord Orford. 
 f In or near Windsor. Lord Orford's translation, p. 79. 
 s Prascedente tibicine aut tympano. Moresin Deprav. Reliq Orig. in verbo vacina. 
 h As the kern, or churn, supper is of corn-supper. Brand's Observations on Bourne s Vulg. Antiq. 
 chap. xxxi. p. 303. 
 
 1 For churn-supper, see the preceding note. Mell is plainly derived trom the French word mesler, 
 to mingle together, the master and servant promiscuously at the same table. Brand, ibid. 
 
 k Vulg. Antiq. et supra. 
 2 T 
 
3n> 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 of the night in dancing and singing, without any difference or dis- 
 tinction. 1 
 
 XXVIII. The wakes when first instituted in this country were esta- 
 blished upon religious principles, and greatly resembled the agapae, m 
 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." These festivals were primitively held upon the day of 
 the dedication of the church in each district, or the birth-day of the 
 saint whose reliques 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, 6 to churche with can- 
 dellys burnyng, and would wake, and come toward night to the church 
 in their devocion,' p 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 pepull 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 
 
 1 ' There was,' continues my author, ' a custom among the heathens much like this at the gather- 
 ing 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 taberna- 
 cles.' Ibid. 
 
 m kya.it ai. 
 
 n Hence Pope Gregory, in his letter to Melitus a British Abbot, says, « whereas the people were ac- 
 customed to sacrifice many oxen in honor 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.' Bcde's Eccl. Hist. lib. i. cap. 30. 
 
 ' Circa easdem Ecclesias.' Ibid, 
 p Homily for the Vigil of St. John Baptist. MS. Harl; 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OP THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 323 
 
 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. The riot and de- 
 baucheries which eventually took place at these nocturnal meetings, 
 became so offensive to religious persons that they were suppressed, and 
 regular fairs established, 11 to be held on the saint's-day, or upon some 
 other day near to it as might be most convenient ; and if the place did 
 not admit of any traffic of consequence, the time was spent in festive 
 mirth and vulgar amusements. 
 
 XXIX. ' In the northern parts of this nation/ says Bourne, 4 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/ 
 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 
 
 1 Which however still retain the ancient name of wakes, in many parts of the kingdom. 
 r That is, the Sunday after the saint's-day to whom the church was dedicated. 
 
3U 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK I V, 
 
 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/ 3 
 
 XXX. The church-ales, called also Easter-ales, and Witsun-ales, 1 
 certainly originated from the wakes. The church-wardens 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, gratuitously as it were, 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 po- 
 pulace 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 Elverton 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 
 Elverton shall have and receive all the profits comming of the said ales, 
 to the use and behoof of the church of Elverton ; and the inhabitants 
 of Elverton 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 
 
 s Antiq. Vulg. chap. 30. 
 
 x From their being sometimes held on Easter- Sunday, and on Whit-Sunday, or on some of the holy- 
 days that follow them. 
 
 w Dodsworth's MSS. Bid. Bob. vol. 148. fol. 97. 
 x That is, the time the contract was made. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 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 parishoners of whatever provision it pleased them to bestow ; 
 this they employed in brewing, baking, and other acates, against Whit- 
 sontide, 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/ Y To what has been said upon this subject, I 
 shall only add the following extract from an author who lived in the 
 reign of queen Elizabeth, 2 whose writings are pointed against the 
 popular vices and immoralities of his time. ' In certaine lownes/ 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 parishioners themsel ves, 
 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 3 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,' &c. b It has before been observed, 
 that this author is very severe upon most of the popular sports ; but in 
 
 y ' 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.' Carew's Survey of Cornwall, printed at London, 1002, book i. p. 68. 
 
 z Philip Stubbs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, printed at London, A.D. 15Q5. We have had occasion 
 to cite this author twice already in the course of the chapter. See pp. 300, 310; 
 
 a I rather think it should be churchyard. 
 
 1> He then proceeds to speak upon * the manner of keeping wakesses (that is, wakes) in England,' 
 in a style similar to that above cited, and says they were ' the sources of gluttonie and drunkenessj' and 
 adds, * many spend more at one of these wakesses than in all. the whole year besides.' Ibid. 
 
526 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 justice to him I may add, that similar complaints have been exhibited 
 against the church-ales and wakes in times greatly anterior to his exist- 
 ence. i\nd, indeed, if we look at the wakes and fairs as they are con- 
 ducted in the present day, I trust we shall not hesitate to own that they 
 are by no means proper schools for the improvement of the public 
 morals. 
 
 XXXI. 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 belonging to the 
 Spectator 11 there is a short description of a country wake. ' I found/ 
 says the author, ' a ring of cudgel- players, who were breaking one an-^ 
 others heads in order to make some impression on their mistresses 
 hearts/ He then came to 6 a foot-ball match,' and afterwards to • a ring 
 of wrestlers/ Here, he observes, 6 the squire of the parish always treats 
 the company every year with an 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 pro- 
 priety, 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. 6 4 The 
 prize/ we are told, 6 was one guinea, to be conferred upon the ablest 
 whistler; that is, he that could whistle clearest, and go through his 
 
 c The ingenious researcher into the causes of melancholy thinks that these kinds of amusement 
 ought not to be denied to the commonalty. Burton, Anat. Melancholy, part ii. sect. 2. cap. 4. Chau- 
 cer, 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, 
 Markettte beaters, and medlyng make, 
 Hoppen and houters with heve and hale. 
 d Vol. ii. N° 161, first printed IjNil. e Vol. iii. N° 179. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 327 
 
 tune without laughing, to which at 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 coun- 
 tenance that he bore away the prize to the great admiration of the 
 spectators/ f 
 
 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 pas- 
 time never became popular, for the sport derived from the torment of 
 a living creature existed no longer, and its want was not to be com- 
 pensated 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 sometimes 
 apples and oranges, set up in small heaps ; and children are usually 
 enticed to lay out their money for permission to throw at them 8 by 
 the owners, who keep continually bawling, 6 Knock down one you have 
 them all/ 
 
 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. 1 ' 
 
 * This paper was written by Addison, who assures us he was present at the performance, which 
 took place at Bath about the year 17O8. To this he adds another curious pastime, as a kind of Christ- 
 mas gambol, which he had seen also j 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 specta- 
 tors, obtained the cheese. Ibid. 
 
 -S An halfpenny is the common price for one throw, and the distance about ten or twelve yards. 
 
 * They rarely exceed nine or ten. 
 
338 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 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. 1 
 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 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 tail 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 with- 
 out touching any other part, obtains him for his pains. 
 
 Sack Running, that is, men tied up in sacks, every part of them be- 
 ing 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 ob- 
 tains the prize. 
 
 Smock Races are commonly performed by the young country 
 wenches, and so called because the prize is a holland smock, or shift, 
 usually decorated with ribbands. 
 
 The Wheelbarrow Race. This requires room, and is performed 
 upon some open green, or in a field free from incumbrances. The 
 candidates are all of them blindfolded, and every one has his wheel- 
 barrow, 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 
 fche mark of course is the conqueror. But this task is seldom very 
 readily accomplished ; on the contrary, the windings and wanderings 
 of these droll knights-errant, in most cases, produce much merri- 
 ment. 
 
 ' Com.mon.ly about twenty minutes, but sometimes it is extended to half an hour. In some jplaces 
 <the jingler has also small bells affixed to his knees and elbows. 
 
BOOK TV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 329 
 
 The Grinning Match ; that is, 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 candidates 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-pud- 
 ding 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 rib- 
 bands, which divertisement indiscriminately admits of the exertions of 
 both sexes. 
 
 XXXII. It has been customary in this country, from time immemo^ 
 rial, for the people, upon occasions of rejoicing, or by way of express- 
 ing 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. 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 diver- 
 sion of the populace. In the reign of Henry the Seventh a letter was 
 
 k 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 sun-set, 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, withgreat hospitality. These were called, bon -fires, as 
 well of amity among neighbours that, being before at con trovers ie, 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.' Survey of London. There are many fanciful derivations of the 
 compound word bon-fire; but I perfectly agree with Dr. Johnson, who thinks the first syllable origin 
 noted from the French word bon, good; because these fires were usually made upon the receipt of 
 some good news, or upon occasions of public rejoicing. 
 
 2. U 
 
330 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 sent from the king to the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, com- 
 manding them to cause bonfires to be made, and to manifest other 
 signs of rejoicing, on account of the espousals of his daughter Mary. 1 
 And within these forty years bonfires continued to be made in London 
 at the city expence, and in certain places at Westminster by order from 
 the court, upon most of the public days of rejoicing ; but of late years 
 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. 
 
 XXXIII. 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. m The historian 
 does not speak of these lights as any novelty, 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 lan- 
 thorns, 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 paint- 
 ings, 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 a few years back upon the happy occa- 
 sion 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 
 
 1 Introduction, p. xxix. and note ( x ). 
 m See p. 317- It does not appear that these lamps were made with glass of various colours, accord- 
 ing to the present fashion. I rather think this improvement is perfectly modern. 
 
 n Neither is there any reason to conclude that similar illuminations were not made in other great 
 towns and cities as well as in London. 
 
 The 23d day of April, A.D. 1789. 
 
BOOK IV. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. S3l 
 
 transparencies, every other spectacle of the like kind that has been 
 made in this country, or perhaps in any other. 
 
 XXXIV. 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/ f there went before 
 the lord-mayor's barge, a foyste q 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, mon- 
 strous, and wilde men, casting of fire, and making a hideous noise/ r 
 
 Among the spectacles prepared for the diversion of queen Elizabeth 
 at Kenelworth Castle 5 there were displays of fireworks, which are thus 
 described by a person who was present. 1 ' On the Sunday night/ says 
 he, 6 after a warning piece or two, u was a blaze of burning darts flying 
 to and fro, beams of stars coruscant, streams 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/*' On the 
 Thursday following, according to the same author, ' there was at night 
 a shew of very straunge 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 unquenchable 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 
 
 P A. D. 1533. q A galley, or small vessel. 
 
 r 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 Mo- 
 rose, in Johnson's comedy of the Silent Woman, says to his visitors, who come with drums and trum- 
 pets, ' Out of my dores, you sonnes of noise and tumult, begot on an ill Mayrday, or when the gaily- 
 foist is afloate to Westminster j a trumpetter could not be conceived till then.' Act. iv. scene 2. 
 s In the seventeenth year of her reign, A. D. 15/5. 
 * Laneham. See Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. r. 
 » I suppose he means the discharge of a cannon or two. 
 w Another author speaks thus: ' On the Sunday were fireworks shewed 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.' Princely Plea- 
 sures at Kenelworth Castle, p. 62. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 grand display of fireworks, preceded by < a peale of one hundred cham- 
 bers," 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 fiieworkes of all sorts, which played in the fort; answerable 
 to that there was, at the Snail Mount, a globe of all manner of fire- 
 workes, 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-wheeles, pikes 
 of pleasure, and balles of wildfire, which burned in the water. ,y 
 
 XXXV. A writer, who lived in the reign of James the First, assures 
 us there were then « abiding in the city of London men very skilful in 
 the art of Pyrotechnic, or of fireworkes/ 2 But, so far as one can judge 
 from the machinery delineated in the books formerly written upon the 
 subject of firework-making, these exhibitions were very clumsily con- 
 trived, consisting chiefly in wheels, fire-trees, jerbs, and rockets, to 
 which were added, men fantastically habited, who flourished away 
 with poles or clubs charged with squibs and crackers, and fought with 
 each other, 3 or jointly attacked a wooden castle replete with the same 
 materials, or combated with pasteboard dragons running upon lines and 
 ' vomitting of fire like verie furies/ 
 
 I am decidedly of opinion that the fireworks displayed within these 
 last fifty years have been much more excellent in their construction, 
 more neatly executed, and more variable and pleasing in their effects, 
 than those produced at any former period. It is certain that the early 
 firework-makers were totally unacquainted with the nature and pro- 
 perties of the quick-match, 1 ! and were obliged to have recourse to trains 
 of corned gunpowder, conveyed by grooves made in the wood-work of 
 the machinery, when they were desirous of communicating the fire to a 
 
 * Small kind of cannons. y Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. ii. p. 19. 
 
 z History of all the Colleges in and about London, printed A. D. 1(515. 
 a Called Green men. TJius, in * The Seven Champions of Christendom,* a play written by John 
 Kirke, and printed 1638, it is said, * Have you any squibs, any green men, in your shows, and whiz- 
 zes on lines, Jack-pudding upon the rope, or resin fireworks ? ' 
 
 b Made with spun cotton, soaked in a strong solution of saltpeter, and rolled, while wet, in pounded 
 gunpowder, which, being enclosed in small tubes of paper, communicates the fire from one part of the 
 apparatus to another with astonishing celerity. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 333 
 
 number of cases at once, and especially if they were at a distance from 
 each other, which was not only a very circuitous process, but liable to 
 variety of unpleasant accidents ; and to this cause is attributed the fail- 
 ure of the tremendous firework exhibited in the Green-Park in the late 
 king's reign, when the performance was interrupted, and the grandeur 
 of the general effect totally destroyed, by the timbers belonging to one 
 of the wings taking fire through the explosion of the gunpowder trains 
 communicated by the wooden channels. 
 
 XXXIV. It was customary, in my memory, for the train of artil- 
 lery annually to display a grand firework upon Tower-Hill on the 
 evening of his Majesty's birth-day. This spectacle has been discon- 
 tinued for several years in compliance with a petition for that purpose 
 made by the inhabitants on account of the inconveniencies they sus- 
 tained thereby. 
 
 Fireworks were exhibited at Marybone Gardens while they were 
 kept open for public entertainment ; and about five-and-twenty years 
 ago a celebrated French artist d 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 af- 
 forded him an opportunity of bringing forward much splendid machi- 
 nery, with appropriate scenery and stage decoration, whereby he gave 
 an astonishing effect to his performances, and excited the admiration 
 and applause of the spectators. 6 
 
 Fireworks have for many years been exhibited at Ranelagh Gardens; 
 they are now displayed occasionally at Vauxhall ; and, in an inferior 
 style, at Bermondsey Spa. 
 
 In speaking upon this subject I have mentioned some of the actors 
 
 « This unfortunate accident, in all probability, would not have happened had the communications 
 from one part of the machinery to the other been made with quick-match. I received the above in- 
 formation from a very skilful firework-maker belonging to the train of artillery, who had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the manner in which the trains were laid, and was present at the exhibition. 
 
 d His name was Torre. 
 
 « I particularly remember 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. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 formerly concerned in the pyrotechnical shows. Those said above to 
 have been on board the city foyst, <rt galley, are called monstrous 
 wilde men ; f others are frequently distinguished by the appellation 
 of green men; 8 and both of them were men whimsically attired and 
 disguised with droll masks, having large staves or clubs, headed with 
 cases of crackers. At the bottom of the thirty-second plate is one of 
 the green men, equipped in his proper habit, and flourishing his fire- 
 club ; b and at the top a savage man, or wode house, a character very 
 common in the pageants of the former times, and probably resembled 
 the wilde men.' 
 
 f See p. 331. 
 
 3ee note ( a ) p. 332 ; and the Introduction, p. xxiv; whence it appears these green men attended 
 the pageants, and preceded the principal persons in the procession to clear the way. 
 
 fc Taken from a book of fireworks written by John Bate, and published at London 1635. 
 1 These characters appeared on variety of occasions, and seem to have been very popular. In a dress 
 like this, I suppose, Gascoigne appeared before queen Elizabeth ; see p. 224. The figure itself is taken 
 from a ballad, in black letter, entitled, ' The mad, merry Pranks of Robin Good Fellow.' The bishop 
 of Dromore, probably with great justice, supposes it to have been one of the stage-disguisements for 
 ♦ihe representation of this facetious spirit. 
 
BOOK IV. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 535 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The popular Pastimes among the Men imitated by the Children. — A general 
 description of the Children's Games. — Various Pastimes, the names of which are 
 unknown. — Amusements mentioned by different Writers, but not described. 
 
 I. 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 essen- 
 tial part of a young man's education ; for which reason the bow, the 
 sling, the spear, and other military instruments were put in 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 blow- 
 ing 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; 1 the 
 trunks were succeeded by pot-guns b made with hollow pieces of elder, 
 or of quills, the pellets being thrust into them by the means of a 
 ramrod. 
 
 * Dr. Johnson's Dictionary under the article trunk, where he 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.' 
 
 b Called also pop-guns, and perhaps more properly from the popping noise they make in discharging 
 the pellets. Big bouncing words are compared to potgun reports in a comedy called, 'The Knave in 
 Graine,' printed 1640. Garrick's Collection, G. vol. ii. 
 
336 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 II. Most boys are exceedingly delighted with riding, either on horses 
 or in carriages, and also upon men's shoulders, which we find to be a 
 very ancient sport ; c and I trust there are but few of ray 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 vigour of their own minds for a time, or 
 to delight their children. 6 If we turn to the fifteenth 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 equipt they are justing together. 
 Again upon the ninth 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/ 
 Nay, some writers, and not without the support of ancient documents, 
 derive the origin of all these splendid spectacles from the sportive ex- 
 ercises of the Trojan boys. s 
 
 III. Contending with each other for superiority in racing on foot is 
 natural to children ; h and this emulation has been productive of many 
 different amusements, among which the following seem to be the most 
 prominent. 
 
 Base, or Prisoners Bars, described in a preceding part of this 
 work. 1 
 
 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 ob- 
 ject is to take him if possible before he can return home. We have 
 
 « See page J?. «J See page 225. 
 
 c The Persian ambassadors found Agesilatas, the Lacedemonian monarch, employed in this manner, 
 glut, in Apophthegm. Laced, et jElian. Var. Hist. lib. xii. cap. 15. Socrates also did the same, fo* 
 which it seems his pupil Alcibiades used to laugh at him. Val. Max. lib. viii. cap. 8. 
 
 f And toys were made on purpose to train up the young nobility in the knowledge and pursuit of 
 military pastimes. Page 1 3 i. 
 
 & See page 114. *> Page 70. » Page 71. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 33? 
 
 the following speech from an idle boy in an old comedy, written to- 
 wards the close of the sixteenth century, 1 ' 
 
 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 un- 
 caught, 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. 
 
 Thread the Taylor's Needle. — In this sport the youth of both sexes 
 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 plaj^ers but one holding each others hands form a large 
 circle ; he that is exempted passes round, and striking one of them, im- 
 mediately runs under the arms of the rest; the person so struck is 
 obligated 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 
 
 k With this title, * The longer thou livest, the more Fool thou art.' Garrick's Collect. I. vol. 18. 
 
338 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 in running well ; but I know not its properties. Johnson quotes these 
 lines from Sidney : 
 
 By neighbours prais'd, she went abroad thereby, 
 At barley-brake her sweet swift feet to tryJ 
 
 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 busi- 
 ness of those who occupy the corners is to keep changing their posi- 
 tions 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; where 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 Shakespeare in King 
 Henry the Fifth ; m by Jonson in the comedy of Bartholomew Fair," 
 and by several other more modern writers. 
 
 IV. To the foregoing pastimes we may add Wrestling, which was 
 particularly practised by the boys in the counties of Cornwall and 
 Devon. Upon the sixth plate we find two lads contending for mastery 
 at this diversion. 
 
 Hopping and Sliding upon one Leg are both of them childish sports, 
 but at the same time very ancient, for they were practised by the Gre- 
 cian youth ; one they called akinetinda, p which was a struggle between 
 the competitors who should stand motionless the longest upon the 
 sole of his foot; the other denominated ascoliasmos q was dancing or 
 hopping upon one foot/ the conqueror being he who could hop the 
 most frequently, and continue the performance longer than any of his 
 
 1 Dictionary, under the word barley-brake. 
 ™ ' If I could win a lady at leap-frog, 1 should quickly leap into a wife.' 
 n ' A leap-frogge chance now/ Act i. Scene I. ° See page 73. 
 
 p Amvrfivfa, Joan. Meursi, de Lud. Graec. * AcrxwAiair/xo;, Pollux, lib. ix. cap. y. 
 
 * See page 203. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OI< THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 339 
 
 comrades ; and this pastime is alluded to by an English author in an 
 old comedy,' wherein a boy boasting of his proficiency in various school 
 games, adds, 
 
 And I hop a good way upon ray one legge. 
 
 Among the school-boys in my memory there was a pastime called 
 Hop-Scotch, 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 com- 
 partments 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 players 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 per- 
 formed 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 alter- 
 nately. 1 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 trouble- 
 some to those who are passing through them. 
 
 Swimming, sliding, 11 and of late years skating, may be reckoned 
 among the boys amusements ; also walking upon stilts," swinging, and 
 the pastime of the meritot and se-saw, or tetter- totter, which have been 
 
 * See the title, page 337, note (t). 
 f Boys often contend for superiority of skill in this game, and he who passes the rope about most 
 times without interruption is the conqueror. 
 
 u See pages 77, 78. * Taken from the tricks of the jugglers. See page 205. 
 
340 
 
 SPOUTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 mentioned already/ together with most of the games played with the 
 ball, 2 as well as nine-pins and skittles. 3 
 
 V. Marbles seem to have been used by the boys as substitutes for 
 bowls, b and with them they amuse themselves in many different 
 manners. 
 
 Taw, wherein a number of boys put each of them one or two mar- 
 bles 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 dis- 
 tance 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 be- 
 tween 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 c 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. 
 
 VI. The top d was used in times remote by the Grecian boys ; it was 
 also well known at Rome in the days of Virgil, 6 and with us as early at 
 
 y Pages 267, 268. 1 See chap. iii. p. 84, et infra. a See p. 238. 
 
 b 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 modern invention. It is said of Augustus 
 when young, that by way of amusement he spent many hours in playing with little Moorish boys cum 
 nucibus, with nuts. Sueton, in Vita Aug. cap. 83. The author of one of the Tatlers calls it ' a game 
 of marbles not unlike our common taw.' N° 112. 
 
 c Called in French tapper, a word signifying to strike or hit, because if one counter was struck by 
 the other, the game was won. 
 
 d It is mentioned by Suidas, and called in Greek rf>o%o*, and in Latin turbo. 
 e The poet has drawn a simile from this pastime. iEneidos, lib. vii. line 378, et infra. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 341 
 
 least as the fourteenth century ; f at which period its form was the same 
 as it is now, and the manner of using it can admit of bat little if any 
 difference. In a manuscript at the Museum I met with the following 
 anecdote of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James the First, and the 
 author assures us it is perfectly genuine; 8 his words are these: 4 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 corne 
 in proportion not unlike to a topp wherwith lie used to play ; he said 
 to some that were with him, 4 loe there is a goodly topp whereupon 
 one of them saying, 4 why doe you not play with it then ¥• he answered, 
 4 set you it up for me and I will play with it/ 
 
 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 teetotums and whirligigs,' 1 which seem all of them 
 to have some reference to the tops, saving only that the usage of the 
 te-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 lie 
 uppermost." 
 
 There is a childish pastime which may well be inserted here, gene- 
 rally known by the ridiculous appellation of the devil among the tay- 
 lors; k 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 cre- 
 vice 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 
 
 f And probably long before. Boys whipping of tops occur in the marginal paintings of the MSS. 
 written at this period. 
 
 s Had. Lib. marked 63Q1. See note (s) p. 264. 
 
 h The authors of Martin. Scriblerus mentions this toy in a whimsical manner. ' He found that 
 marbles taught him percussion, and whirligigs the axis in peretrochio.' 
 
 » When I was a boy the te-totum had only four sides, each of them marked with a letter ; a T for 
 take all j an H for half, that is of the stake ; an Nfor 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. 
 
 k This silly 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. 
 
342 SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 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. 
 
 VII. Even or odd is another childish game of chance well known to 
 the ancients, and called in Greek artiazein. 1 The play consists in one 
 person concealing in his hand a number of any small pieces," 1 and an- 
 other 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. 
 
 Cross and pile is mentioned some pages back." Here we may add 
 chuck-farthing, played by the boys at the commencement of the last 
 century, and brobably 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/ p I have seen a 
 game thus denominated played with halfpence, every one of the com- 
 petitors 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 
 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 Jay 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, a very silly pastime, though inferior to few in point 
 of antiquity. It is called in Greek epostrakismos, q and was anciently 
 played with flat shells' which the boys threw into the water, and he 
 
 1 Afiafyiv, and in Latin par vel impar. Hence the following line in Horace, lib. ii. sat. 3. line 46. 
 Ludere par, impar j equitare in arundine longa. 
 To play at even or odd — to ride upon a long reed or cane. 
 m The Grecian boys used beans, nuts, almonds, and money; in fact any thing that can be easily con- 
 cealed in the hand will answer the purpose. 
 
 n See page 296. Page 243. p Vol. vi. No. 466. 
 
 * E7T9(r7pax«rpf, Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. r Testulam marinam. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OE ENGLAND. 
 
 343 
 
 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." 
 
 VIII. Baste, or buffet the bear with hammer and block, are rather 
 appendages to other games, than games by themselves, being punish- 
 ments 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 indis- 
 criminately sit down upon the ground in a ring, with one of their com- 
 panions standing on the outside ; a slipper is then produced by those 
 sealed in the ring, and passed about from one to the other underneath 
 their cloaths as briskly as possible, so as to prevent the player without, 
 from knowing where it is ; when he can find it, and detain it, the per- 
 son 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, 1 and an ancient 
 representation of the game is given upon the thirty-third plate. 
 
 IX. Spinning of chafers and of butterflies. I do not know a greater 
 fault in the nurture of children, than the conniving at the wanton acts 
 of barbarity which they practise at an early age upon innocent insects; 
 the judgment of that parent must be exceedingly defective or strangely 
 perverted who can proportion the degree of cruelty to the smallness of 
 the creature that unfortunately becomes the sufferer. It is but a fly, 
 perhaps he may say, when he sees his child pluck off its wings or its 
 legs by way of amusement ; it is but a fly, and cannot feel much pain ; 
 
 * To play at ducks and drakes is a proverbial expression for spending one's substance extravagantly. 
 In the comedy called ' Green's Tu quoque,' one of the characters, speaking of a spendthrift, says, ' he 
 has thrown away as much in ducks and drakes as would have bought some five thousand capons.' 
 
 * See page 26g. 
 
344 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 besides the infant would cry if I was to take it from him, and that 
 might endanger his health, which surely is of more consequence than 
 many flies ; w but I fear worse consequences are to be dreaded by 
 permitting it to indulge so vicious an inclination, for as it grows up, 
 the same cruelty will in all likelihood be extended to larger animals, 
 and its heart by degrees made callous to every claim of tenderness and 
 humanity. 
 
 The chafers, or may-flies ; a kind of beetles found upon the bloom of 
 hemlock in the months of May and June, are generally made the vic- 
 tims of youthful cruelty. These inoffensive insects are frequently caught 
 in great quantities, crammed into small boxes without food, and car- 
 ried in the pockets of school-boys to be taken out and tormented at 
 their leisure, which is done in this manner; a crooked pin having two 
 or three yards of thread attached to it, is thrust through the tail of the 
 chafer, and on its being thrown into the air it naturally endeavours to 
 fly away, but is readily drawn back by the boy, which occasions it to 
 redouble its efforts to escape, these struggles are called spinning, and 
 the more it makes of them, and the quicker the vibrations are, the more 
 its young tormentor is delighted with his prize." 
 
 Upon the thirty-third plate we see a boy playing with a butterfly 
 
 w . I have seen school-boys shooting of flies with a headless pin impelled through part of a tobacco- 
 pipe, by the means of a bent cane, and this instrument is commonly called a fly- gun ; from this they 
 have proceeded to truncing of frogs, and afterwards to tormenting of cats, with every other kind of 
 animal they dare to attack} but I have neither time to recollect, nor inclination to relate the various 
 wanton acts of barbarism that have been practised, arising from the want of checking this pernicious 
 inclination as soon as it begins to manifest in the minds of children. 
 
 x I am convinced that this cruelty, as well as many others above mentioned, arise from the perpetra- 
 tors not being well aware of the consequences, nor conscious that the practice of them is exceedingly 
 wicked. I hope the reader will excuse my introducing a story relating to myself ; but as it may serve 
 to elucidate the argument, I shall venture to give it. When a child I was caught by my mother, who 
 greatly abhorred every species of cruelty, in the act of spinning a chafer 5 I was so much delighted with 
 the performance that I did not observe her coming into the room, but when she saw what I was about, 
 without saying any thing previously to me, she caught me by the ear and pinched it so severely that I 
 cried for mercy; to the punishment she added this just reproof: 'That insect has its feelings as you 
 have ! do you not see that the swift vibrations of its wings are occasioned by the torment it sustains? 
 you have pierced its body without remorse, I have only pinched your ear, and yet you have cried out as 
 if I had killed you." I felt the admonition in its full effect, liberated the poor may-fly, and never im- 
 paled another afterwards. 
 
— 
 
 ■ 
 
PLxxxin. 
 
BOOK ITi OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 345 
 
 instead of a chafer: the original is contained in a manuscript of the 
 fourteenth century/ 
 
 This barbarous sport is exceedingly ancient. We find it mentioned 
 by Aristophanes in his comedy of The Clouds. 25 It is called in the 
 Greek melolonthe, a 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. We are also told that the 
 former frequently amused themselves in the same manner with little 
 birds, substituted for the beetles. b 
 
 The Kite -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 pro- 
 bably received its denomination from having originally been made in the 
 shape of the bird called a kite; c but now the 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 unknown to me ; however, I do 
 not find any reason to conclude that it existed here much more than a 
 century back. 
 
 The paper windmill, which appears upon the thirty-third plate, is 
 taken from a painting nearly five hundred years old ; though it differs 
 very little in its form from those used by the children at present. 
 
 X. Bob-cherry ; ' 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. 6 At the bottom of the 
 
 y Royal Lib. 2. b. vii. 1 Act ii. scene the last; 
 
 * MtjAoAov^. Rendered in the Latin Scarabaeus. b Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
 « In a short French and English Dictionary published by Miege, A.D. 169O, the words cerf volant, 
 are said among other significations to denote a paper kite, and this is the first time I have found it 
 mentioned. 
 
 d Dictionary under the article bob-cherry. 
 ' Hence the point in the passage he quotes from Arbuthnot. ' Bob-cherry teaches at once two 
 
 2 Y 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES BOOK IV. 
 
 thirty-third plate we see a sport of this kind where four persons are play- 
 ing, but the object they are aiming at is much larger than a cherry, 
 and was probably intended to represent an apple or an orange/ < It 
 was customary/ we are told, < 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.'* A pastime something resembling that 
 of diving for the apples, I take it, is represented upon the thirty- 
 seventh plate," and the business of the boy upon the form, with his head 
 over the vessel of water, is to catch some object contained therein, or 
 to avoid being ducked when the other end of the form is elevated' by 
 his companion. 
 
 XI. Hoodman Blind, 1 more commonly called blind man's buff; 
 where a player is blinded and buffeted by his comrades until he can 
 catch 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 myia chalki. k 
 
 The manner in which hoodman blind was anciently performed with 
 us, appears from three different representations given upon the thirty, 
 fourth plate. 1 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. 
 
 Hot Cockles" 1 is a play in which one kneels, and covering his eyes 
 lays his head in another's lap and guesses who struck him. Guy de- 
 scribes this pastime in the following lines; 
 
 noble virtues, patience and constancy , the first in adhering to the pursuit of one end, the latter in 
 bearing a disappointment.' 
 
 f Taken from a MS. in the Royal Library, written in the fourteenth century, marked 2. b. vii. 
 s Brand's Addition to Bourne's Vulg. Antiq. 
 h Taken from a MS. in the Bodl. Lib. dated 1344. marked Bod. 264. 
 i So called because the players formerly were blinded with their hoods. In the 'Two an«ry 
 Women of Abington,' a Comedy, this pastime is called, the Christmas-sport of Hobman-Blind. ' 
 
 k Mvia xa\Ktj Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 1 All of them taken from the MS. at Oxford, mentioned in a preceding note. 
 m From the French hautes coquilles. 
 
n. xx x v . 
 
PI. XXX IV. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 347 
 
 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 Chytrinda ,n of the Grecians, says Arbuthnot, 6 is certainly not 
 oar hot cockles, for that was by pinching, not by striking;' but the de- 
 scription 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 single player being seated 
 upon the ground was surrounded by his comrades, who pulled or buf- 
 feted 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. 
 
 Upon the thirty-fifth plate the reader will find both the pastimes 
 above mentioned, taken from a manuscript of the fourteenth century. 
 
 XII. I have already spoken at large upon cock-fighting, and throw- 
 ing 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-fifth 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 un- 
 hurt 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 same manuscript that is mentioned in 
 the preceding article/ 
 
 XIII. Upon the thirty-sixth plate there are two representations of a 
 pastime, the name of which is unknown to me ; but the purpose of it 
 
 n Xu7f<vSa. ° He was called xolpa, kotra, and with us, the frog. 
 
 p Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7- There was another method of playing this game, according to the same 
 author; but it bears no reference to either of those above described. 
 
 i Dated 1433, at Oxford, Bod. Lib. marked Bod. 2§4. ' MS. Bod. 264. 
 
348 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 is readily discovered. At the top we see a young man seated upon a 
 round pole which may readily turn either way, and immediately be- 
 neath 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. The task assigned to the youth below is still more difficult, as well 
 from the manner in which he is seated, as from the nature of the per- 
 formance, which here he has completed : that is, to reach forward and 
 Jight the taper held in his hands, from that which is affixed to the end 
 of the pole, and at a distance from him, The originals of both these 
 engravings were made in the fourteenth century. 5 
 
 At the bottom of the same plate 1 there are 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 is bending backwards in the same position, 
 intending, I presume, to touch the water without immerging his head;, 
 or falling into it, and afterwards 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 take any thing out of the water, the pastime will bear some analogy 
 to the diving for apples mentioned in a preceding page." 
 
 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 in- 
 stalled, 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, when the whole is co- 
 vered by a counterpane or blanket, ornamented with ribbands 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 
 
 8 That at the top is from the Oxford MS. see the last note but one, the other from a beautiful Book 
 of Prayers in the possession of F. Douce, Esq. 
 
 * Taken from the Prayer Book mentioned in the preceding note. * See page 34Q. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
 
 349 
 
 of honour. The speech consists of high-flown compliments calculated 
 to natter 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 im merged in the water. 
 
 XIV. Building of houses with cards, and such like materials, is a 
 very common amusement with children, as well as drawing little wag- 
 gons, carts, and coaches ; and sometimes boys will harness dogs and 
 other animals, and put them to their waggons in imitation of horses/ 
 
 Questions and Commands, a childish pastime, which though some- 
 what different in the modern modification, most probably derived its 
 origin from the basilinda y 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, 6 in which children change 
 hands and places;' this seems clear enough according to the following 
 quotation from Shakespeare : 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 Arbuthnot, 6 neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are 
 quite so ancient as handy-dandy/ 
 
 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 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 push- 
 ing 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. 2 ' A little superior to these/ that is, 
 
 x Something of this kind is alluded to by Horace, who writes thus in one of his Satires, lib. ii. 
 sat. 3. line 47. 
 
 iEdificare cassus, plostello adjungere mures. 
 
 To build little houses, and join mice to, the diminutive waggons. 
 
 y BxnXtvSa. Pollux, lib. ix. cnp. 7. z Vol. vii. N° 504. 
 
350 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 to persons engaged in cross-purposes, questions, and commands, 6 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 
 fifteenth centuries, called the A. 33. C. of Aristotle ; which is strongly re- 
 commended by the author 3 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 amend- 
 ment 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 dreadfull, and drynk thou not too oft. 
 E to ellynge, to excellent; ne to ernestfull neyther. 
 F to fierce, ne too 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 lovyng, to lyberall of goods. 
 Mto 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 thee 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 not 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. Explicit.* 
 
 ' Said to have been Mayster Bennet. MS. Harl. marked 1706, written in the fourteenth century. 
 
 b There are two copies of this alphabet in the Harl. Lib. one cited in the preceding note, and an- 
 other marked 541 ; whence the above is chiefly taken. At the end of the former we read XY wyth 
 esed and per se — Amen. 
 
BOOK IV. OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 351 
 
 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 the establishment of the State Lottery, they have been 
 magnified into a dangerous species of gambling, and are very properly 
 suppressed by the legislature. 
 
 XV. I have here attempted to give some account of the principal 
 sports practised by the children of this country. I am fully sensible 
 that the list will admit of very many additions, and also that the pas- 
 times which are included in it have been subject to numberless vari- 
 ations. I have, however, set down all that I can recollect, and de- 
 scribed them according to the manner in which I have seen the larger 
 part of them performed. It only remains for me to enumerate a few 
 more, which indeed are not well known to me, but may be elucidated 
 hereafter by some more able writer. 
 
 At the bottom of the thirty-seventh plate we see a kind of a mock 
 procession, where one of the company, equipped in a royal habk with 
 a crown upon his head, is walking with his mantle displayed by two 
 attendants, and preceded by a zany beating a tambourin with a knotted 
 thong. This painting I presume represents the installation of the king 
 of the bean, who has already been introduced to the reader. 
 
 Immediately above it are two figures, one of them blinded with his 
 hood, having a club upon his shoulder, and approaching towards an 
 iron cauldron, in order no doubt to strike it with his club. This may 
 probably refer to the amusement at wakes and fairs, where various 
 tasks for pastime sake are frequently assigned to blindfolded persons." 
 
 The sport upon the thirty-eighth plate is quite unknown to me, unless 
 it may be thought to bear some resemblance to the Greek game called 
 apodidraskinda, 6 where one being seated in the midst of his comrades 
 closed his eyes, or was blinded by the hand of another, while the rest 
 concealed themselves, and he who was found by him after he was per- 
 
 c They have been in imitation of the State Lotteries, with prizes of money, proportionable to the 
 value of the tickets, and were drawn in like manner. These lotteries are called little goes. 
 
 «* As the wheelbarrow race in particular, see page 328. Both these drawings occur in the MS. at 
 Oxford, marked Bod. 264, and dated 344. 
 
 e ATtohfycuntiySoL, Pollux, lib. ix. cap. 7. 
 
SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 mitted to rise, took his place ; this was evidently a species of the pas- 
 time called hide and seek. 8 
 
 I am equally at a loss respecting the other figures upon the same 
 plate. Those that are standing, and those that are seated below them, 
 are evidently engaged in a similar kind of pastime. The only game 
 within the compass of my knowledge that bears any resemblance to it, 
 I have seen played by two persons; one of them alternately holds up 
 the fingers of his right hand, varying the number at his pleasure, and 
 the other is obliged to answer promptly by exposing a like number of 
 his fingers, which is called by both, and the least variation on either 
 side loses. In these delineations there are three players, and he in the 
 middle seems to be alternately answering to the other two. h 
 
 Upon the thirty-ninth plate we see a rope apparently made fast at 
 both ends, and a man laying hold of it with his teeth, by which he 
 seems to support himself. 1 If this be the meaning of the delineator, the 
 trick ♦may properly be classed with those that were exhibited by the 
 amnstrels and the joculators. 
 
 With respect to the other two drawings copied upon the same plate, 
 I can hardly venture a conjecture. 11 
 
 XVI. Creag, is a game mentioned in a computus dated the twenty- 
 eighth of Edward the first, 1 and said to have been played by his son 
 prince Edward. 
 
 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 the Fourth. 
 
 " White and Black, and also making and marring, are prohibited 
 by a public act established in the second and third years of Philip and 
 Mary. 
 
 $ See page 337- The original of this engraving is in a MS. of the thirteenth century, in the Royal 
 Lib. marked 20. D. iv. 
 
 h These two drawings are in the Oxford MS. mentioned in a preceding note. 
 ' From a Book of Prayers written in the fourteenth century, in the possession of F. Douce, Esq. 
 k Unless we may suppose them to represent two of the ridiculous ceremonies belonging to the fes- 
 tival of fools, see page 303. And I suspect the monks with the nuns upon the middle of the plate are 
 lay people who have assumed the religious habits, for the former have not the tonsure, but their hair 
 is powdered with blue. These drawings are in a MS. at Oxford, marked Bod. 2(54. 
 
 1 A.D 1300. 
 
Fl. XXXIX. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OP ENGLAND. 
 
 353 
 
 Figgum is said to be a juggler's game in the comedy of * Bartho- 
 lomew Fayre' by Ben Jonson; to which is added, 6 the devil is the 
 author of wicked figgum/ In the same play mention is made of 
 crambe, said to be ' another of the devil's games/* 
 
 Mosel the Pegge, and playing for the hole about the church yeard, 
 are spoken of as boys games, in a Comedy written in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth." 
 
 Penny-pricke appears to have been a common game in the fifteenth 
 century, and is reproved by a religious writer of that period. 
 
 Pick-point, venter-point, blow-point, p and gregory, occur in a de- 
 scription of the children's games in the sixteenth century; to which 
 may be added another pastime, called drawing dun out of the mire. q 
 
 Mottos, Similes, and Cross Purposes, are placed among the chil- 
 dren'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 Christmass, because 
 I see they wear hoods of all colours, which I suppose is for that 
 purpose.' 3 
 
 m The same probably as crambo, see page 34Q. This play was acted A. D. 1614. 
 n With this title, ' the longer thou livest, the more fool thou art.' ° MS. Harl. 2391. 
 
 p MS. Harl. 2125. Blowpointj probably blowing an arrow through a trunk, at certain numbera 
 by way of lottery. 
 
 q Ibid. To this pastime probably Chaucer alludes in the Manciples Prologue, where the host seeing 
 ihe cook asleep, exclaims, ' Syr, what dunne is in the mire.' 
 
 r Vol. iii. N° 245. s Vol. iv. N° 278. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 WHICH ACCOMPANY THIS WORK ARE TAKEN 
 THE FOLLOWING MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 At Oxford, in the Bodleian Library, marked 2464. Bod. 264. 
 
 A Transcript of the legendary Life of Alexander the Great in folio, superbly 
 ilhuminated. At the end of the MS. we read as follows : 
 
 Romians du bom Roi Alixandre— qui fu perescript le xviii jor de Decembre 
 Tain M.ccc.xxxvui. a 
 
 Then follows in letters of gold: 
 
 Che livre fu perfais de la enluminure au xviii jour d'Avril per Johan de Guse 
 l'ain de grace m.cccxliiii. 13 
 
 At Cambridge in the Library of Bennet College. 
 
 A Transcript of Matthew Paris' History of England, said to be written 
 bw his own hand. It contains several curious marginal delineations, 
 miarked c. v. 16. 
 
 At the British Museum in the Cottonian Library. 
 
 An Astronomical MS. written in the Saxon Character of the ninth century, 
 
 amd marked Tiberius B. v. 
 A Psalter interlined with Saxon of the tenth century, Tiberius C. vi. 
 The; Pentateuch in Saxon, written in the eighth century, Claudius B. iv. 
 A Psalter written in the eighth century, Vespasianus A. i. 
 A Manuscript treating on several subjects of the thirteenth century. Domi- 
 
 tiianus A. ii. 
 
 * The romance of the good King Alexander, which was completely written the eighteenth day of 
 
 Deccember, in the year 1338. 
 
 b The illuminations of this book were perfected the seventeenth day of April, by John de Guse, in 
 
 the year of G race 1344. 
 
 THIE ENGRAVINGS 
 FROM 
 
,356 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A Treatise on the Game of Chess, of the thirteenth century. Cleopatra B. ix. 
 Aurelius Prudentiui in Latin, with Saxon notes, written in the ninth century. 
 Cleopatra C. viii. 
 
 In the Royal Library. 
 
 A Treatise upon Chiss and Tables, of the thirteenth century. 13. A. xviii. 
 A Missal most splerdidly illuminated, and adorned with marginal delineations, 
 
 written early in the fourteenth century, and marked 2. B. vii. 
 A Genealogy of the Kings of England to Hen. III. marked 14. B. v. 
 A Treatise on Knigithood of the fourteenth century. 20. B. xi. 
 Imaginacion de Vraye Noblesse. 19- C. viii. Dated 1496. 
 A beautiful Transcript of the Scholastick Bible, superbly illuminated, written 
 
 in the fourteenth century, and marked 15. D. iii. 
 The Romance of Lancelot of the Lake, written in the thirteenth century, 
 
 marked 20. D. iv. 
 
 The History of Saint Grael, written in the thirteenth century. 14. E. iii. 
 
 In the Harleian Library. 
 A Psalter written it the tenth century — 603. 
 
 An Abridgment of the Bible History, illustrated by many curious paintings, 
 written at the commencement of the thirteenth century, and marked 1527. 
 
 A beautiful Manusc ipt, containing various Songs, Poems, and Prose Histories 
 in French, superbly illuminated ; and seems to have been the book pre- 
 sented by the Authoress, to Isabella of Bavaria, the Queen to Charles the 
 Sixth of France, marked 4431. 
 
 A Book of Prayers of the fourteenth century, marked 6563. 
 
 In Sir Han Sloams Library. 
 A Book of Surgery of the fourteenth century, marked 335. 
 
 Private Libraries. 
 
 A beautiful Book of Prayers, written in the fourteenth century, and richly illu- 
 minated ; in the possession of Francis Douce, Esquire. 
 
 Another splendid Manuscript of Prayers of the fifteenth century, finely illu- 
 minated and adorned with marginal grotesques, and other ornaments belong- 
 ing to the same gentleman. 
 
APPENDIX. 357 
 
 A" Book of Prayers of the fourteenth century, formerly in the possession of 
 
 John Ives, Esquire, late of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. 
 The original Bronze Toy copied upon the thirteenth plate, is in the possession 
 
 of Sir Frederick Eden, Baronet. 
 The ancient Cards copied upon the thirty-first plate, are the property of Francis 
 
 Douce, Esquire. 
 
 Some few figures are taken from printed Books, and regularly referred to in 
 the Marginal Notes. 
 
 THE END. 
 
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 
 
 The Chess-Play ers to face the Title. 
 
 Plate I. 
 
 Page 4 
 
 Plate XXI. 
 
 Page 208 
 
 II. 
 
 12 
 
 XXII. 
 
 215 
 
 III. 
 
 26 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 216 
 
 IV. 
 
 45 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 217 
 
 V. 
 
 48 
 
 XXV. 
 
 224 
 
 VI. 
 
 76 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 230 
 
 VII. 
 
 88 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 235 
 
 VIII. 
 
 97 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 238 
 
 IX. - 
 
 105 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 259 
 
 X. 
 
 108 
 
 XXX. 
 
 274 
 
 XI. 
 
 112 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 290 
 
 XII. 
 
 ib. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 334 
 
 XIII. 
 
 131 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 345 
 
 XIV. 
 
 124 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 347 
 
 XV. 
 
 132 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 ibid 
 
 XVI. 
 
 146 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 348 
 
 XVII. 
 
 156 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 351 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 191 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 ibid 
 
 XIX. 
 
 193 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 352 
 
 XX. 
 
 206 
 
 
 
 T. Bensley, Printer, Eolt Court, Fleet-Street, London-