^v UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OF LAW LIBRARY ^>-.o >«A^^s^^^.^^5^=^T<;i-c-«hy certain games became illegal by statutes passed for purposes and with objects which I point out, how in due course illejral irames became leoal, and I have wound up my little Book with a summary which will enable my readers to see at a glance what games are now legal and what still remain illegal. AMth the view of relieving the tediousness inseparable from any work which deals with legal subjects, I have at intervals introduced descriptions of the mode in which games, now obsolete and forgotten, were played, together with incidents and anecdotes con- PREFACE. riGCted uith the general subject of " Games and Gaming." I have also written a Chapter on the subject of Lotteries, touched upon Betting, and, in short, tried to make my little Treatise, so far as I am able, instructive to lawyers, though not a law book, and interesting to the general reader, though not strictly coming under the category of a contribu- tion to the, so-called, " liirlit literature" of the dav. rrvEDEKICK BKANDT Inner Tkmple. "^P^^^ i^*^-,,:!' TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Principally Introductory Games and Gaming in general Curious reasons for the unlawfulness of Guininj. All Games originally Legal PAGE 1 2 3 .. 4 CHAPTER ir. Op Cheating and Excessive Gaming . . . . . . 5 Cheating with Loaded and False Dice, the Case of Ilurris v. BoKclen .. . . . . • • . . . . 7 Action will lie for Cheating . . . . . . . . 9 Persons accused of Cheating may be indicted . . . . 9 Cases illustrating the Law . . . . . . . . 9 Playing for excessirely large Sums . . . . . . . . 10 The Case of Flrehrasse v. Brett . . . . . . 10, 1 1 Gaming discouraged in Equity and Common Law Courts . . 12 XU CONTEXTS. CHAPTES UL PAGE How. WKT AXD WHES CESXAJCS GAITES BECAME ILLEGAL . . 13 -. - ' - li^ (sdmiR^ u:z rn^^un in se .. •• -•• -- •• *•* Proclamicioa against Tain Spc«rts, 9 Edw. HE. . . . . 15 Early Statutes against Gaming and playing at — Bo-wla . • . - - - - • • • . . - . Cards .- •- •■ -• ■ -- l"* Claysh .. .. •- •• •• •• !« Dice, and . . . . • • ■ - ■ • . . 16 Tennis .. .. -- ■• •■ ..16 The Act 33 Hen. VUL e. l>, prcMbiting- • Bowls .. .. .- •• •• IT, IS Cards .. .. .. •. •• 11,18 Clash 17.18 Coyting .. -• •■ -• •• 17,18 mce .. .. .. - - i^'is Legating .. ■- -• •• 11,18 Tables, an i .. - -- •• 1^' 1^ Tennis .. •• •• '• 17,13 Placards and Licenses -. •• •- 18,19 Trial at Stafford of in i:.— ._^-: ior keeping, ic. Gaming House .. ■• •• •• -• "■ ^ CHAPTER IV. A SHORT DESCEIPTI03» OF THE MjDE IS WHICH GAitES MADE Illegal bt Statute wese plated Bowls, Qaoits, Tennis, Half Bowl, and RoHy-PoHy . . Croqnet in the time of ocr ancestors— Clash, Closh, Closh-cayfes, and Ka vies Loggatts, or Loggetts Billiards Old Billiard Tables Keeping a Cockpit against the Statate of Hen. VIH. . . 21 23 25 26 27 29 30 cosTEyrs. XUl CHAPTER V. PAGE now, WHY XSD WHEK CEKTAIX OTHER GAMES, BECAME ILLEGAL 31 PrrxLimation issued by James L, IfilS, legalizing Whitson Ales, Morris Dances, and other Sports and Pastimes. . . . . . 33 Confirmed bj Charles L, and extended to Wakes, Dedu'ation of Churches, &c. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 33 Corioos Anecdote of a Welsh Parson and his Bear . . ?A Statute, 3 James L, against Profanitj . . . . . . . . 35 Fraud and Cheaticg — ^Winning or Loang above 1(101. illegal, leCar. ILc. 7 36 Wager made in Guineas, Pope t. St. Leiger .. . . 37, 3S, 39 Curious arguments or. po:nt= rai=«'l >'r< lanro . . . . 40, 41 ShoTel Board 42,43 Shore Groat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 CHAPTEB VL Op Games abtd Gatiisg ts the Beigj? of Geoege IL Lotteries 2Geo. n.c. 28 12Geo. ILc. 28 Penalties to go to the Otj of Bath Pharaoh, Ace of Hearts, Basset, Hazard . . Ba^et played at Whitehall when King Charles II. The Game of Passage The Game of Bonlet or Boly-Polj . . Eojal Gambling in the time of George II. Ordinary Gambling same Beign Gaming Houses and the Officers employed therein 25Geo. ILc. 86 Disorderly Houses . . Keeping Gaming House indictable at Common Law The Groom Porter was dring 45 47 48 49 49 no 51 . 52 . 53 . 53 54 55 . 56 . 57 5i , 58 59,60 XIV CONTEXTS. CHAPTER VII. PAGE Of Games and Gamixg ix the Eeigx of George IV. and DOWN TO the Present Time . . 61 5Geo. IV. c. 83 63,04 Playing and Betting in Street, Road or Highway . . 63, Gi 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 59, prohibiting Cock-fighting, Bear-baiting, &c. G-t 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, legalizing Games of Skill, repealing Act of Henry VIII., prohibiting Bowling, Coyting, Tennis, &:c. 65, 66 Actions on Wagers and Gaming Contracts no longer maintain- able 67 Wagers and Curious Cases . . • • 68, 69, 70 Art Unions, Betting Houses, 9 & 10 Vict. c. 48; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119 71 Gambling Houses, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 38 72 CHAPTER Vni. The Last Vagrant Act, and a Report of an Important De cisioN upon one of its Clauses . . Statute 31 & 32 Vict. c. 52 .. Betting Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Case oi TolleU Y. Tliomas 77 — 83 Halfpence not Implements of Gaming . . . . . . . . 8i CHAPTER IX. Lotteries Lottery of Plate and Money. . Lottery of Armour . . . . . . Lottery for bringing Water to London Royal Oak Lottery Plate Lottery at the "Mermaid" .. 85 87,88 . . 88 .. 89 .. 89 ,. 89 CONTEXTS. XV CHAPTER I^.- continued. PAGE Lottery of Prince Enpert's Jewels -'0 Lottery for indigent Eoyalists 91 Progress and abuse of Lotteries 91,92 Lottery of Deer ^3 Lottery for building Westminster Bridge 91 12 Geo. II. c. 28, against Lotteries - . Oi, 95 Little-goes, Lottery of Young Ladies 96 Death of the State Lottery.. 99,100 Charles Lamb's view 100, 101, 102 Epitaph upon the last Lotteiy 102, 103 Concluding Eemarks on Lotteries 104, lOo CHAPTER X. Being a Summary of the Contexts of the Preceding Chapters Early Acts More recent Acts List of lawful Games List of unlawful Games 107 109 110 HI 112 CHAPTER XL Games which have become Illegal without the aid OF Statutory Enactments 113 Dangerous Games 110,117,118,119 Pugilistic Encounters 1-0 Sayers, Heenan, and King 121 Jousts and Tournaments 1-^ xn CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XII. TOUEXAMEXTS IN GENERAL ., The Origin of Tournaments. . Tournaments in Rome The Inveution of Tournaments The Troy Game Combat between King Eichard I. and Sir 'V\ Derivation of the word Tournament The Conqueror sometimes rewarded Contest between English and French Lists and Barriers illiam Ee Eaircs PAGE .. 123 .. 126 .. 127 .. 128 129, 130 131 132, 1.33 .. 134 .. 135 .. 136 CHAPTER XIII. Tournaments in England . . Tournaments, temp. Eichard I. Laws and Ordinances of Tournaments Ordeal Combats 141, 142, 14J .. 137 .. 140 144, 145 .. 146 Respect paid to Ladies at Tournaments .. 147 Ladies interceding for Culprits at Tournaments 148 CHAPTER XIV. Of Justs oe Joustes . . King Arthur and his Justs . . Round Tables (temp. Edw. I. & Edw, Justs superseding Tournaments Tricks in Justing The influence of Ladies in Justs Splendour of the Lists Instances of Jousts " Giving Point " with the Sword Decline of Tournaments Death of Tournaments III 14a 152 153 154 1.-5 156 1.-.7 158 159 100 161 CONTENTS. XV 11 CHAPTER XV. PAGE Op Combats with the Sword and Buckler, the Sword and Dagger, the Eapier, and other Dangerous Weapons . . 1C3 Swash Bucklers . . .. 166 Schools of Arms .. 167 Sword and Buckler 1 68, 16S) Sword and Target .. 170 Eapier . . 171, 172 Sword Play- 173,174,175,1 7(;, 177, 178 Cheating in Sword PI ly .. .. ITJ Challenges to Fight with Swords . .. 180 Description of Sword Playing .. 181 Brantome on Duels . . .. 182 Quarter-Staff . . 183, 184 Single Stick, Fencing, &c. .. 1S5 CHAPTER XVI. Combats with Fists at Venice in Olden Times Pugilism at Venice The Venetian Gondolier and Figg . . .. 187 189—201 202, 203 CHAPTER XVII. Games which have become obsolete, partly by reason op Statutable Prohibition, and partly by reason of their Intrinsic Cruelty . . . • . . . . . . 20c Cruel Pastimes . . Bear and Bull-Baiting Bear Whipping . . Bearwards Bear Gardens Bull-Baiting Bull-Baiting at Chester Cross Bull-Running Badger-Baiting . . 207, 208, 209, 210 211 212 213 2H 215 216 217, 218, 219, 220, 221 ,. ^, 222 b XVlil CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE CocK-riGHTiNG— Ancient and Modern .. .. ..223 Cock-Fighting .. .. .. .. 225,226,227,228,229 Quail-Fighting and Cricket-Fighting . . . . . . 230 CHAPTER XIX. Lion-Baiting . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Lion-Baiting in the days of James I. . . . . 233, 234 Baiting of Nero . . . . . . . . . . 234 to 256 Baiting of Wallace . . . . . . . . 257 to 259 CHAPTER XX. Summary and The Author's Farewell .. .. .. 2G1 Statutes against Cruelty to Animals . . . . 2C4, 205 The Author's Farc^vell . . . . . . . . . . 2GG CHAPTER I. IJriimp aKii Jntrobuttonr. (&Kmt$, (Sliming anir ^mmBtm i^afo. Chapter I. PEINCIPALLY INTRODUCTORY. Before tlie date of tlie issuing of any royal proclama- tion, or the passing of any statute prohibiting or regu- lating the sports and pastimes of our ancestors, aU games were perfectly legal at common law, pro^aded they were played fairly and without cheating. This seems to be admitted by all the old writers, and it is amusing to remark the difficulty which they find in assigning causes for the interference of king and parliament with the liberties of the people in this respect. One writer, who published a curious little work in the reign of Queen Anne, says : — " The generality of people are very in- " clinable to gaming and recreations, especially at some " stated times in the year, and some are imwarily drawn " in and imposed on by cheaters, and so lose their money " alamaine (a la main), and have been tricked out of good " estates, and others have won money fairly and on the " square by do^^airight gaming and betting." The same author adds, " It's true cards, dice, cockfightings, races, B. B 2 GAMES AND GAMING IN GENERAL. " and sucli like games, are allowed by oiir law duly " circumstantiated (whatever that may mean), and yet " they receive but little favour from the law, especially " when they rim into excess." The notion of classing cockfighting with cards and races seems in ova degenerate times singular, to say the least of it ; but that amusement, as well as bull, bear and badger baiting, was in vogue, as we shall see, up to a not very remote period. Our author's reason for the prevalence of gambling is probably sound. He says " It is not easily to be *' accounted for that many persons of good endowments " and of plentifid estates have been so eager, not to say " furious, in their gaming and bettmg. I cannot attri- *' bute it to a principle of mere avarice in many, though in " most I fear it is so, but rather think the contingency " of winning and losing and the expectations therefrom " are diverting. I conceive there would be no pleasiu'e " properly so called if a man were sure to vmx always. " It's the reconciling uncertainty to our desires that creates " the satisfaction." One more quotation from my quaint author, for which I make no excuse, and I will proceed with my main work. He commences a chapter, which is in fact an apology for the acts of kings, queens, and parliaments, thus — " That " exercise of the body is expedient and in some cases " necessary, all agree. The physicians are of opmion that " some recreations are more agreeable to some constitu- " tions than others, and therefore they prescribe ringing " to one, shooting to another, and to some bowling, and to WHY GAMi^'G UNLAWrUL. 3 " others shovel boards, &c., to open and dilate such parts " of the body as are conti-acted and straitened by viscous " and tenacious humours. But besides recreations of the " body there are other pastimes which seem more apt to *' releviate the mind and fancy when the thoughts have " been fatiguing upon some knotty and tedious problems, " and have been poring upon ra Suo-vorjTa — difficulties hard " to be mastered ; then to succeed with the mollia temp or a, " and to bestow some unbent hours in a sociable recrea- " tion may be very allowable and useful, such as cards, " dice, draughts, chess, and the like, and I should esteem " him a wise and temperate man who is induced to these " recreations by no other consideration or motive than " either of health of the body, or the sanity and relief of " the spirits. Now to say of gaming in general that it is " utterly unlawful and malum in se I dare not affirm, " though some divines do hold divers of the said recrea- " tions and pastimes to be utterly unlaAvful as being " actions wherein we neither bless God, nor look to " receive a blessing from Him, nay such as we dare not " pray to God for a blessing on them, nor ourselves in the " use thereof." Statutory restrictions upon games and gaming may be traced from so early a date as the reign of Richard II. ; but I hardly think that the chm-ch had anything to do with the prohibition of games and gaming which, in a modified degree, began even earlier in om- history, though I find it laid do^^^l that gaming may be unlawftd by reason of the " unreasonableness thereof," as in the case of those " who spent whole nights and part of Sundays in gaming, B 2 4 ALL GAMES ORIGINALLY LEGAL. " thougli it be after divine service." " So to frolique it in " gaming and sports in times of public calamity or danger" was held to be in bad taste. I find also that " lawful games *' may be followed imlawiully, intemperately, and un- *' seasonably, and so the gamesters are as great offenders, " in foro coeli at least, as any others. Such are those as " make a calling of gaming and their main business and " employment, and thereby endeavour to get other men's *' estates, and venture to lose their own to the ruin of " themselves and their families. The nature of commu- *^ tative justice requires that Avhen I receive that wliich is " another man's, I should part with something of my " own that is equivalent, and bears some due proportion " to it." The above quaint passages I quote word for word from the little work to which I have already alluded, and, to say the least of them, they are quaint. After some research, I think I may lay it down as an incontrovertible fact that all games Avere originally lawfiil if played fairly, but cheating was illegal at common law, as was also excessive gambling, as I shall, in the course of these papers, show, and I shall, I think, be able to point out the real moving cause to the passing of the statutes to which I shall have to refer. CHAPTER 11. -^^^^ --^^^0^ Chapter II. OF CHEATING AND EXCESSIVE GAMING. >-..>hers, the first half-croAvn Avas deposited " in exchange for a ticket bearing the number ' 1,' the " twist of the key would change the figures exhibited " beside number 1 fi-om 000 to 001 and at the same time " change the fio:ures exhibited beside ' total' so as there " also to show 1. " When the race was run, the holders of tickets which 80 BETTING MACHIXE. *' had on tliem the number appropriated to the winning " horse were entitled to divide among them the amount of " the total, less 10 per cent., which was to be retained by " the appellants, the proprietors of the machine. " Thus, with ingenuity worthy to be employed in a " better cause, it was contrived that each person who was " induced to bet might see at a glance what was the " amoimt of the odds offered if he bet on any particular " horse ; but (and this is material to be observed) the " state of the odds was liable to be changed before the " race was iim. " To illush-ate what is meant, let us suppose that at " some particular time the figures opposite ' total' iudi- " cated that 99 half-crowns had been deposited, and the " figures opposite nimiber 1 showed that, for some reason " or other, no ticket has been taken out for that horse, " anyone, seeing and understanding this, would know that " if he deposited his half-a-crown and took a ticket for " number 1, thus swellmg the total to 100, he Avould, if *' thino-s remained unaltered till the race was run, and the " horse designated by number 1 won the race, as holder of " his ticket receive 90 half-cro^-ns. But he woidd also " Icnow that the odds were liable to be altered ; for ex- " ample, if 100 persons subsequently deposited half-crowns " so as to swell the total to 200, and none took tickets for " number 1, he would, in the event of number 1 winning, " receive 180 half-crowns ; but if 19 of these new deposi- " tors took tickets for number 1, he Avould, in the event of "^ number 1 winning, only receive 9 half-crowns ; for the " total Avould have to be divided between the holders of BETTING MACHINE. 81 " number 1 tickets, by the supposition now 20 in number. *' The person therefore who, bj means of this machine, is *' induced to part with his lialf-crown does so on a specu- " lation, his chance of remuneration depending on two ** events : one, namely, whether his horse wins, determin- " ing whether he shall get back anything ; the other, " namely, how many other gamblers shall have deposited '' their half-crowns, and on what tickets, determining how " much he shall receive in the event of his Avinning. Over *' neither event could he by any skill or efforts of his own " exercise any control. " There is no doubt that what was done was done in a " public place. The question for our decision is whether " the machine referred to in the case is an ' instrument of ** ' w^agering or gaming at a game of chance,' within the " meaning of the Act, 31 & 32 Vict. c. 52, s. 3. This "again resolves itself into two questions: 1. Is the " machine an instrument of wagering or gaming ? 2. Is " the game on which the wagering took place under the " circumstances stated a game of chance ? " On the first question, it was argued, that the insti'u- " ment was not an instrument of wagering, inasmuch as " the wagering took place quite independently of it : the " use of the machine beino- confined to the reffisterinjx of " the bets made ; and that a book or large sheet of paper " might, though no doubt less conveniently, have been " made available for the same pui-pose. This argument, " though at first sight a specious one, Avill not in our " opinion hold. The machine in question is a mechanical " contrivance for enabling persons, w^illing to bet on the B. G 82 BETTING MACHINE. " event of a race, to ascertain the state of the bets already " made on the different horses about to rim, and to calcu- " late the chances of winning according as they may bet " on any particular horse. There can be no doubt that it " materially assists the parties resorting to it in the opera- *' tion of betting, and we cannot dovibt, therefore, that it " is used as an instriunent or means of betting. Whether *' some other contrivance might be resorted to which *' would not be ' an instrument or means of wagering,' *' within the statute, is a question we may have to decide " hereafter, but Avith Avhich we need not trouble om-selves " now. It is enough to say that the instrument in ques- " tion is intended to assist persons in wagering, and *' imdoubtedly has that effect. This being enough, we *' think, to bring it within the words, as it certainly is " within the mischief, of the statute. " The second question is, whether the wagering thus " carried on is wagering on a game of chance. It was " m-ged upon us in the argvonent that the betting here " being on the event of a horse-race, it could not be con- " sidered as wagering on a game of chance, a horse-race " not properly coming within such a definition. It is " unnecessary to determine whether, if this instriunent had " been used simply for registration of bets on the events of " a horse-race, the use of it would have been within the *' statute. Whether a horse-race be in itself a game of " chance or not, we can entertain no doubt that, if some " additional element of chance be introduced, the wagering " on a horse-race may be converted into a game of chance. " Thus, to use a familiar illustration, a lottery, in which BETTING MACIIIXE. 83 *' each individual di'aws a particular horse, on the success ** of which the winning of the stakes depends, would, we " cannot doubt, constitute as between the parties to such " a lottery a game of chance. " In the present instance, an element of chance is in- ** troduced, which, though not having any reference to the " main event, namely, the result of the race in the winning " of a particular horse, is yet essential to making the " wager laid upon the winning horse profitable to the " better. The winning of the horse betted upon is of " course the primary condition of the wager being won. *' But whether the winning of the wager shall be pro- " ductive of any profit to the winner, and more especially " what the amount of that profit shall be, dej)ends on the " state of the betting with reference to the number of bets " laid on or against the winning horse — a state of things '* fluctuating fi-om one minute to another throughout the " duration of the betting. Xoav this being something " wholly independent of the issue of the race, as w^ell as " of the vdll and judgment of the winner, depending, as it " does, on the will or caprice of the other persons betting, " is a matter obviously of imcertainty and chance to the " individual better, more especially in the earlier stages of " the betting. There being, then, this element of chance " in the transaction among the parties betting, we think " it may properly be termed, as amongst them, a game of " chance. " We quite agree that, though the case is ob\-iously " -wdthin the mischief contemplated by the statute, we " ought not imduly to strain the words of the statute in G 2 84 COIN, " order to bring tlie case within it. But, as here chance *' has, as has been explained, a material influence in " determining the result of the betting as a source of gain, " it appears to us that we may properly hold the wagering '' in question to have been wagering on a game of chance. " That being so, as there can be no doubt that the " race-course on which the betting was carried on was a " public place Avithin the meaning of the statute : we are *' of opinion that the con\4ction was right, and must be « affii-med." It is a ciurious fact that the word " coin " was introduced into 31 & 32 Vict. c. 52, to remedy a defect in the law, it having been decided that halfjpence, being Queen's coin of the realm, were not " implements of gaming," and so pitch and toss was held to be a legal pursuit. Watson v. Martin, 34 L. J., M. C. 50. CHAPTER IX. Chapter IX. LOTTEKIES. Having fomid it impossible to ti'eat of lotteries in the chronological form adopted by me in this book, I have thonght it best to dedicate a separate chapter to the sub- ject. In this view I am confirmed, because I hope that, from the very nature of such a subject, and ovring to the fact that I shall have to introduce a comparatively small amomit of pure legal matter, this chapter may be found less tedious than other portions of this -work, and even amusing to those who care little for the " quirks and quid- " dities " of the law. Lotteries, like games, with which indeed they were classed when mentioned m Acts of Par- liament, were originally perfectly legal. Having, how- ever, become very prevalent, .and being thought to work mischief, either to the public or to the revenue of the country, they were prohibited by several Acts of Parlia- ment, to which I shall in the proper place refer. The first lottery which we read of as ha^nng taken place in England was commenced in the year 1569 — in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is described as " A proposal for " a very rich lottery, general without any blankes, contayn- *' ing a great No. of good prizes, as well of rcdy money 88 LOTTERIES. " as of i^late and certain sorts of merchandises, lia-\dng " been v,alued and prised by the commandement of the " Queene's most excellent majestie's order, to the intent " that such commodities as may arise thereof after the " charges borne may be converted towards the reparations " of the Havens and strength of the realm, and towards *' such other publick good workes. The number of lotts " to be four hundred thousand and no more, and every lott *' shall be the summe of tenne shillings sterling only and " no more, to be filled by the feast of St. Bartholomew." Stow says that this lottery was begun to be drawn at the west door of St. Paul's Cath^^dral on the 11th Janu- ary, 1569, 11th Eliz., and that the di-a^ing continued incessantly day and night until the 6th of May following. At first it was intended that it shoidd be drawn at Mr. Dericke's, the Queen's jeweller, at whose shop the prizes were on view. This lottery is mentioned in Maitland's " London " and in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1778 ; and here, lest I should be accused of plagiarism A^athout acknowledgment, I may remark that in compiling this chapter I have been mate- rially assisted by the works of Mr. Hone, a man whose talent for picking up interesting mformation on almost every subject was in his time imri vailed. In 1586, 28 Eliz. " A lotterie of marvellous rich and " beautifidl armour was begimne to be dra"\\Ti at London in " S. Paide's churchyard at the great west gate (an house " of timber and boord being there erected for that pur- " pose) on St. Peter's day in the morning, which lotterie " continued in drawing day and night for the space of two LOTTERIES. 89 ** or three daics." This is said by Stow to have been the second lottery drawn in England. In 1619, 16 James I., a lottery was held at Reading for the piu'pose of raising a sum of money to be lent on cer- tain conditions to six poor tradesmen, one of these con- ditions was that they should not keep either inn or tavern. In 1630, 6 Charles I., the king granted a special license to Sir Edward Stradling and John Lyde to hold a lottery or lotteries in aid of a project to bring water from Hodsden to London ; but for this sole privilege of bringing the Avater in aqueducts they were to pay his majesty 4,000/. a-year. In 1653, dm'ing the Commonwealth, the Grocers' Com- pany held a lottery, or at all events advertised one to be held, at their hall for some object connected mth their property in Ireland. In the reign of Charles the Second, as may be easily conceived, lotteries became very rife and letters-patent were granted very fr-eely. The favourite excuse seems to have been the relief of poor and indigent Royalists. The most famous lottery seems to have been the Royal Oak Lottery; but amongst the poorer classes twelvepenny lotteries were much in vogue. A great plate lottery was held at the sign of the " INIer- maid," over against the Mews, in April, 1669, at which the King, the Duke of York, afterwards James IL, and many of the nobility were present, and Mr. Phillips, who kept the " Mermaid," advertised that those who wished for letters-patent to establish lotteries for indigent officers 90 LOTTERIES. might apply to him. The articles which furnished prizes were of every conceivable kind— plate, books, and especially valuable bibles, advowsons, land, jewellery, &c., &c. In 1683, Prince Kupert having died in reduced circum- stances, a lottery of his jewels was advertised in the Gazette. By this time, however, as a matter of com-se, some cheating had taken place, and the public would have nothing to do with this lotteiy imless the king himself would attend and see all fair, and unless Mr. Francis Child, the goldsmith at Temple Bar, would be answerable for the due delivery of the prizes. Accordingly, in the London Gazette of the 1st October, 1683, the following notice appeared : — " These are to give notice, that the jewels of his late " Royal Highness Prince Rupert had been particularly " valued and appraised by Mr. Isaac Legouch, Mr. Chris- " topher Rosse and Mr. Richard Beauvoir, jewellers, the " whole amoimting to twenty thousand pounds, and will " be sold by way of lottery, each lot to be five pounds. " The biggest prize will be a great pearl necklace, valued " at 8,000/., and none less than 100/. A printed particular " of the said appraisement, with their division into lots, wdll " be delivered gratis by Mr. Francis Child at TemjDle Bar, *' London, into whose hands such as are willing to be " adventurers are desired to pay their money on or before " the first day of November next. As soon as the whole " sum is paid in, a short day will be appointed (which it " is hoped will be before Christmas), and notified in the •" Gazette, for the drawing thereof, which will be done in " his Majesty's presence, who is pleased to declare that he LOTTERIES. 9 1 " himself will see all the prizes put in amongst the blanks, " and that the wliolc will be managed with equity and " fairness, nothing being intended but the sale of the said " jewels at a moderate value. And it is further notified " for the satisfaction of all as shall be adventurers, that " the said ]\Ir. Child shall and will stand obliged to each " of them for their several adventures. And that each " adventurer shall receive their money back if the said " lottery be not dra^vn and finished before the first day of ** February next." A subsequent notice says, " that the king will prol)ably " to-morrow, in the Banquetting-house, see all the blanks ** told over, that they may not exceed their number ; and *' that the paper on which the prizes are to be -oTitten shall " be rollen up in his presence ; and that a child, appointed ** either by his Majesty or the adventurers, shall di-aw the *' prizes." Letters-patent were ii'om time to time renewed in cases in which the object was to relieve indigent Loyalists or Royalists; and from the Gazette of October 11, lG7o, it appears that those dated June 19, and December 17, 1674, were granted for thirteen years to come imder the designa- tion of " lotteries invented or to be invented to several ** truly loyal and indigent officers in consideration of their " many faitliful sendees and sufferings, with prohibition to *' all others to use or set up the said lotteries." The indi- gent officers, however, might give deputations. And now the flood of lotteries became overwhelming. Penny lotteries, lucky adventures, Fortunatus lotteries, " *' marble board," the Whimsey board, the figure board, the 92 LOTTERIES. Wyre board, and lotteries bearing all possible names, and set up for all kinds of purposes. The main purpose, bow- ever, seems to bave been tlie extracting money from specu- lative gamblers. Hone says that the Royal Oak Lottery, as the rival, if not the parent of the various other demoralizmg schemes, obtained the largest share of the odium which was natm-ally provoked amongst reasonable men. Private and cheating lotteries had now become so general, not only in London but throughout England, and people, especially servants and even children, were defrauded to such an extent that the legislature was forced to interfere, and the Act intituled 10 & 11 Will. III. c. 17, was passed avowedly with the object of suppressing lotteries, "even although they might be set up under " colour of patents or grants under the great seal." In the preamble of this Act it is boldly stated that such grants or patents " are against the common good, welfare and " peace of the kingdom, and are void and against law." The proprietors of such lotteries were accordingly for- bidden to carry them on under a penalty of 5001., and the fine to be inflicted upon each "adventurer" was fixed at 201. All to no purpose ; lotteries flourished, and other statutes were launched against them from time to time, as I shall show, for more than 100 years with none efiect. In the space of two months, for a lottery at Mercers' Hall, 1,500,000/. was subscribed, a sum which, considering the value of money in those days, must be deemed absolutely fabulous. The newspapers of the day teemed with adver- LOTTERIES. 93 tisements of lotteries, and any adventurer who could scrape together a few articles of slight value, endeavoured to dispose of them in this way. Goods of every description were turned into prizes, neckcloths, snuff-boxes, tooth-pick cases, Hnen, muslin and plate. The prices of the tickets were as Ioav as sixpence, and gambling prevailed in small lotteries imder the designation of sales of gloves, fans and wares of every sort. This state of things became absolutely intolerable, for it may well be conceived that the pul^lic were cheated in many Avays, and by every possible contx'iv- ance. We find, therefore, that in the 10th year of the reign of Queen Anne an Act was passed siibjecting the keepers of these lotteries to a penalty" of 500/., and in 1716, by another statute, all lotteries and imdertakings resembling lotteries, or founded on the State lottery, were declared illegal and forbidden under a penalty of lOOZ. over and above the penalties imposed by previous Acts. (See " Anderson's History of Commerce," in which will ])e found many cm-ious details relating to lotteries.) In May, 1715, a year previous to the passing of the last-mentioned Act, the proprietors of Sion Gardens advertised a very curious scheme for disposing of the deer in their park. They appointed the afternoons of Mondays, Thiu'sdays and Saturdays for killing the animals. The public were admitted to witness the operation at a shilling a head, but those who took tickets to the amoimt of fi-om 4 to 10 shillings were entitled to different parts of the deer. The quantity killed was divided into sixteen lots, and the first choice depended on the numbers on the tickets. A ten shilling ticket holder was entitled to a fillet, an eight 94 LOTTERIES. shilling ticket holder to a shoiilder and so on. I have not been able to discover the exact mode in which the details of this quasi lottery were managed, but no doubt chance came in as an ingredient in the transaction. In the 9th year of the reign of George II., Parliament passed an Act for building Westminster Bridge by a lottery, and subsequently other lotteries were authorized for its completion. By the 12 Geo. II. c. 28, lotteries were again attacked. The first section describes at some length the object of the statute, and as it may be interesting to certain of my readers I give a portion of it verbatim. It provided : — " That if any person or persons shall, after the 24th " day of Jime, 1739, erect, set up, continue or keep any " office or place under the denomination of a sale or sales " of houses, land, advowsons, presentations to livings, " plate, jewels, ships, goods or other things by way of " lottery, or by lots, tickets, numbers or figures, cards, or " dice, or shall make, print, advertise or publish, or cause " to be made, printed, advertised, or published, proposals " or schemes for advancing small sirnis of money by several " persons amoimting in the whole to large sums, to be " divided among them by chances of the prizes in some " public lottery or lotteries established or allowed by Act " of Parliament, or shall deliver out, or cause or procure " to be delivered out tickets to the persons advancing such " simis, to entitle them to a share of the money so ad- " vanced according to such proposals or schemes ; or shall " expose to sale any houses, lands, advowsons, presenta- " tions to livings, plate, jewels, ships, or other goods by LOTTERIES. 95 " any game, method or device whatsoever depending upon « or to be determined by any lot or drawing, whether it « be out of a box or wheel, or by cards or dice, or by any " machine, engine or device of chance of any kind Avhatso- « ever, such person or persons, and every or either of them, " shall upon being convicted thereof, before any one jus- « tice of the peace for any county, riding or division, or " before the mayor or other justice or justices of the peace " for any city or town coqwrate, upon the oath or oaths " of one or more credible witness or witnesses (which said « oaths the said justices of the peace and mayor are hereby « authorized, empowered and required to admmister), or " upon the xie^v of such justice or justices, or the mayor, « justice or justices for any city or town corporate, or on « the confession of the party or parties accused, shaU « forfeit and lose the sum of t^vo himdred potmds, to be « levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods, by « warrant under the hands and seals of one or more jus- " tice or justices of the peace of such coimty, riding, " diA-ision, city or to\ra where the oflfence shall be com- " mitted." By the second section certain games were declared to be lotteries, but these have been aUuded to and described in a previous portion of this work, see ajite, pp. 49 and 50. By sect. 3 it was enacted, « That all and every person and persons who shall be " adventurers in any of the said games, lottery or lotteries, « sale or sales ; or shall play, set at, stake or punt at « either of the said games of the ace of hearts, pharaoh, « basset and hazard, and shaU be thereof convicted in 96 LOTTERIES. " sucli manner and form as in and by this Act is prescribed; " every such person or persons shall forfeit and lose the *' sum of fifty pounds, to be sued for and recovered as " aforesaid." One would have thought that the effect of all these statutes, inflicting such heavy penalties, in some cases cumulative, would have had the effect of suppressing private lotteries called " Little-goes," especially as we find that they were by no means allowed to remain dead letters, as appears from reports of actions tried before Lord Mansfield and other learned judges of the day. Such, however, was not the case. State lotteries flourished ; in the years 1778, 1779 and 1782, rules were laid down by Parliament and Acts passed for the regulation of lottery oflEices, and the conduct of those who kept them; and, it is almost needless to remark that, so long as lotteries of any kind were permitted, the temptation to make money fairly or unfairly, legally or illegally by this species of gambling was far too great to be resisted, and so other than state lotteries flourished. The mania extended even to India, for I find that a scheme was advertised in a Calcutta newspaper dated September 3, 1818, for raffling " six fair pretty young ladies imported from Europe, " ha\dng roses of health blooming in their cheeks, and joy *' sparkling in their eyes, possessing amiable manners, and *' highly accomplished, whom the most indifferent cannot " behold without expressions of rapture, twelve tickets at " twelve rupees each." Possibly this was an advertise- ment inserted by way of what now would be termed " a shave" or joke, but I give it for what it is worth. LOTTERIES. 97 An interesting book nilglit be compiled from tlie anec- dotes and stories with which the newspapers and other pubHcations overflowed in the pahiiy days of lotteries, showing how one man was lucky, another unlucky, how beggars became rich, and how ragged boys from the street on the turn of the wheel were raised high above their previous state of poverty. The advertisements in prose and doggrel verse became a literature by itself, and the squibs and epigrams of the day were tinged Avith a lottery colour, and flavoured with a lottery taste almost unin- tellicrible in these virtuous times. An account of the different modes in which lotteries Avere draAvn, the mstru- ments used, the precautions against imfairness, &c. Avould be interesting, but all out of place in this little Work. The tickets were di-awn from the wheel by Bluecoat boys, and it is a fact, that an order was issued from the Lords of his Majesty's Treasury, that the managers on duty shoidd see that " the bosoms and sleeves of his coat " be closely buttoned and his pockets sewed up, that he " shall keep his left hand in his girdle behind him and his " right hand open mth his fingers extended," together with other precautions calcvdated to render cheating by the concealment of tickets or otherwise impossible. When it is stated as a fact that poor medical practitioners used constantly to attend in Guildliall when a lottery was draAvn to be ready to let blood in cases where the sudden pro- claiming of the fate of tickets in the hearing of the holders was foimd to have an oveq^owering effect, I think it will be admitted that it was high time to put an end to these exciting but deleterious games. B. H 98 LOTTERIES. Incredible efforts were made to postpone the evil day, but in vain, and on AYednesdaj tlie IStli of October, 1826, the last state lottery was drawn. Dimng the summer of that year the lottery office keepers almost incessantly phed men, women, and childi'en tln-oughout the United Kingdom with petitions that they would " make a fortrme " in the last lottery that can be di-awn." Men paraded the streets with large placards on poles or pasted on their backs annoiincino; the imminent death of all lotteries. Bills containing the same information covered the walls, were thrown down areas and thrust into the hands of pas- sengers alono; the sti'eet. Prices of tickets were said to be rising, and in a word the inhabitants of the great metropolis were in a state of chronic ferment. One of the most im- portant of the " contractors" in this last lottery was a man whose name was or piu-ported to be BiSH. He organized processions of fantastically attired men, bands of music, vehicles outrageous in size and gorgeous in coloiu*. He had ballads (of some of which I am credibly informed the late Sam. Lover was the author) headed by rough woodcuts printed and cu'cidated, and advertisements of every sort and kind disseminated, all having the object of informing the public that the last lottery was about to be drawn, and that BiSH of 4, Comhill, and 9, Charing Cross, was the only man with Avhom they could safely deal. This was the system pxu'sued by all lottery contractors, but Bish we find out-Heroded Herod in this the last state lottery. Although it was said that shares in the last lottery went up to a premium, there seems considerable doubt whether in fact they were not arbitrarily raised, and whether in truth LOTTERIES. 99 many tickets did not remain in the hands of speculators unsold to the last. However this may be, lotteries in England expired on the 18th October, 1826. The fact was annoimced in the daily newspapers in the followmg terms : — " State Lottery. " Yesterday afternoon, at about half-past six o'clock, that " old servant of the state, the lottery, breathed its last, " having for a long period of years, ever smce the days of " Queen Anne, contributed largely towards the public re- « venue of the country. This event took place at Cooper's " Hall, Basinghall Street ; and such was the anxiety on the " part of the public to witness the last drawing of the lot- " tery, that great niunbers of persons were attracted to the " spot, independently of those who had an interest in the " proceedings. The gallery of Cooper's Hall was crowded " to excess, long before the period fixed for the drawing « (five o'clock), and the utmost anxiety was felt by those " who had shares in the lottery for the arrival of the ap- " pointed horn-. The annihilation of lotteries, it vriR be " recollected, was detei-mincd on in the session of parliament " before last ; and thus a source of revenue bringmg into the " treasmy the sums of 250,000/. and 300,000/. per annum '' ^vill be di'ied up. This determination on the part of the « legislature is hailed by far the greatest portion of the « public Avith joy, as it will put an end to a system which " many believe to have fostered and encom-aged the late " speculations, the effects of which have been and are still " severely felt. A deficiency in the public revenue to the h2 100 LOTTERIES. " extent of 250,000/., annually, will however be the conse- " quence of the annihilation of lotteries, and it must remain " for those who have strenuously supported the putting a " stop to lotteries to provide for the deficiency." See Hone's Every-day Book, vol. 2, 1502. This is certainly one way of looking at the matter ; but Charles Lamb puts the abolition of lotteiies in another and very ingenious point of view, which, as like all that he has ever written it is most clever and amusing, I lay before my readers. Writing in " The New Monthly JNIagazine" under his well-known nojii de j)lume of Elia, he says : — " The tnie mental epicure always purchased his ticket " early, and postponed mquiry into its fate to the last " possible moment, during the whole of wliich intervening ** period he had an imaginary twenty thousand locked up " in his desk. And was not this Avell worth all the " money ? AVlio woidd scruple to give twenty pounds " mterest for even the ideal enjoyment of as many " thousands dm-ing t^vo or three months ? ' Crede quod " hahes, et habes,^ and the usufruct of such a capital is " surely not dear at such a price. Some years ago a ** gentleman, in passing along Cheapside, saw the figures *' 1,069, of which nmnber he was the sole proprietor, *' flaming on the window of a lottery office as a capital " prize. Somewhat flurried by this discovery, not less " welcome than unexpected, he resolved to walk round " St. Paul's that he might consider in what Avay to com- " mmiicate the happy tidings to his "wife and family ; but " upon repassing the shop he observed that the number " was altered to 10,069 ; and, upon inquiry, had the mor- LOTTERIES. 101 tificatlon to learn that liis ticket was blank, and had only been stuck up in the window by a mistake of the clerk. This effectually calmed his agitation ; but he always speaks of himself as ha^'ing once possessed twenty thousand pounds, and maintains that his ten minutes' ■walk round St. Paul's Avas worth ten times the pur- chase-money of the ticket. A prize thus obtained has, moreover, this special advantage ; it is beyond the reach of fate, it cannot be srpiandered, baula-nptcy cannot lay siege to it, friends cannot piill it do^m, nor enemies blow it up ; it bears a charmed life, and none of woman-born can break its integrity even by the dissipation of a single fraction. Show me the property in these perilous times that is equally compact and im- pregnable. We can no longer become enriched for a quarter of an hour ; Ave can no longer succeed in such splendid faihues ; all our chances of making such a miss have vanished with the last of the lotteries. " Life Avill noAv become a flat, prosaic routine matter- of-fact; and sleep itself, erst so prolific of numerical configuration and mysterious stimulants to lottery ad- venture, will be disfiu-nished of its figm-es and figments. People will cease to harp upon the one lucky number suggested in a dream, and Avhich forms the exception, while they are scrupidously silent upon the ten thousand falsified dreams Avhich constitute the rule. Morpheus Avill stifle Cocker with a handfid of poppies, and our pillows will be no longer haunted by the book of num- bers. " And who, too, shall maintain the art and mystery of 102 LOTTERIES. " puffing in all its pristine glory Avlien tlie lottery pro- *' fessors shall have abandoned its cultivation ? They ** were the first, as they will assuredly be the last, who *' fully developed the resources of that ingenious art ; " who cajoled and decoyed the most suspicious and wary " reader into a perusal of their advertisements, by devices *' of endless variety and cunning ; who baited their lurk- *' ing schemes with midnight murders, ghost stories, crim.- " cons., bon-mots, balloons, dreadful catastrophes, and " every diversity of joy and sorrow to catch newspaper " gudgeons. Ought not such talents to be encouraged ? " Verily the Abolitionists have much to answer for ! " I do not think I can finally dismiss my subject without transcribing a composition which appeared contempora- neously with the so-called " Death of the Lottery," in the following form and communicated to Mr. Hone, and printed in his Every-day Book, November 15, 1826 : — (Bpitap^. In Memory of THE STATE LOTTERY, the last of a long line, whose origin in England commenced in the year 1569, which, after a series of tedious complaints, EXPIEED on the 18th day of October, 1826. LOTTERIES. 103 During a pcricxl of 257 years, the family flourished under the powerful protection of the British Parliament ; the Minister of the day continuing to give thera his supiwrt for the improvement of the Kevenue. As they increased, it was found that their continuance corrupted the morals, and encouraged a spirit of Speculation and Gambling among the lower classes of the people; thousands of whom fell victims to their insinuating and tempting allurements. Many philanthropic individuals in the Senate, at various times for a series of j'ears, pointed out their baneful influence without effect, His Majesty's IMinisters still affording them their countenance and protection. The British Parliament being at length convinced of their mischievous tendency, HIS MAJESTY GEORGE IV. on the 9th July, 1823, pronounced sentence of condemnation on the whole race; from which time they were almost neglected by the British Public. Very groat efforts were made by the partisans and friends of the family to excite the public feeling in favour of the last of the race, in vain ! It continued to linger out the few remaining moments of its existence without attention or sympathy, and finally terminated its career unregretted by any- Virtuous Mind. 104 LOTTERIES. The 9th July, 1823, was the date of the royal assent to the Act for the suppression of State lotteries, and I may here remark that, however mischievous these State lotteries may have been, they were strictly legal, and, as a rule, held for the purpose of increasing the revenue. The Acts which from time to time were passed to pro- hibit other lotteries were therefore passed for the pui-pose of preventmg any interference with the State lotteries, tlireatened by schemes called " Little-goes," which may be described as little lotteries on the plan of the great State lotteries, and drawn m the same manner. There were generally five or six "little goes" in the year, and they were actually set up and conducted by two or three of the licensed lottery office keepers. The state lottery was the parent of these " little-goes." Persons who had not patience to Avait till another State lottery, gambled in the meantime in a little-go, and a little-go was never heard of during the State lotteries. This appears fi-om the report of a committee of the House of Commons on lotteries in the year 1808. Much more might be Avritten on this interesting subject, but, as this is a mere sketch, I must not lay myself open to the accusation of having attempted to write a complete history of lotteries and of having failed. In the year 182G the State lottery in England came to an end. It added to the revenue just as on the Continent lotteries are or were, rmtil very recent times, profitable to the governments of the countries Avhich authorized them as sources of revenue. LOTTERIES. 105 In Great Britain lotteries for State purposes are now at an end, — probably for ever. On lotteries from the year 1826 to the present time I have little to say. In the present reign three Acts were passed, 7 & 8 Vict. c. 109, "to indemnify persons " connected with Art Unions and others against penalties ;" 8 & 9 Vict. c. 74, pi'ohibiting the advertising of lotteries; and 9 & 10 Vict. c. 48, for regulating Art Union lotteries, — with the exception of Avhich all schemes of this nature are illegal. CHAPTER X. gcinig a Summarn of tbc Contents of tbc prcccbin^ Cljaptcrs. ClIArXER X. BEING A SUiSniARY OF THE CONTENTS OF THE PKECEDING CHAPTERS. I HAVE now finislied my account of games and gaming affected by statutory enactments solely; and a short sum- mary of the law as it Avas and as it now is relatmg to such games and gaming may be here aptly introduced. Firstly, I may repeat that there is nothing in the ab- stract illegal in gaming, and that all the prohibitions against it are the work of statutes. Excessive gaming was looked upon with jealous eyes, and cheating was un- lawful at common law, as it now is by statute. Certain games were forbidden by some old Acts passed in the days of the Edwards (notably in the 17th year of the reign of King Edward IV.); but for all usefid pm- poses we need go no flirther back than the reign of Henry VIII., who, by the statute passed m the thirty- third year of his reign, prohibited tables, tennis, dice, cards, bowls, clash, quoits, loggats, and other unlawfid games, when played in certain places, at certam times, and by certain persons. This Act was passed for the pur- pose of encoiu-aging the practice of ai'tillery — in other Avords, bows and arrows ; and, for fiu-ther information, my readers are referred to my earlier chapters. 110 SUMMAEY OF STATUTES AFFECTING GAjMES. Bj statutes passed in tlie reigns of William III., Queen Anne, and George I., lotteries were forbidden, and by 2 Geo. II. c. 28, the pro\isions of those Acts were ren- dered more effectual. By 12 Geo. II. c. 28, lotteries were again attacked, and the game of ace of hearts, pharaoh, basset and hazard were placed on the same footing with lotteries, and the penalty imposed upon "the adventurers" was fixed at 50/. By 13 Geo. II. c. 19, the game of passage was prohibited, and " aU games invented, or to be invented, with one or " more die or dice," backgammon, and games played on a backgammon board, being excepted. By 18 Geo. II. c. 34, the game of roulet or roly-poly was forbidden. Then came the Act prohibiting playing or betting in any street, highway, or public place with any table or instru- ment of gaming at any game of chance. The next Act is 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, legalizing games of skiU, imposing penalties on the keepers of gaming houses, abolishmg all actions on wagers and gaming contracts, and making cheating a misdemeanor. By this Act justices may license billiard tables, and a complete revolution in the law of games and gaming is effected. Art Unions are by a special statute excepted fi-om the operation of the laws against lotteries. Two Acts for the suppression of betting and gaming houses were passed in two succes- sive years ; they are 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119, and 17 & 18 Vict. c. 38. The last Act passed relating to my subject is the Vagrant Act, 31 & 32 Vict. c. 52. This statute pro- hibited playing or bettmg with any insti'ument of gaming LAWFUL GAMES. Ill in a public place, and is fully rcfen-cd to in my eiglith chapter, in Avliicli I have given at some length a very im- portant decision on the constiaiction of the Act. Under these statutes, therefore, which, with all the others relating to my subject, have been commented on in the preceding pages, the question now finally to be answered is — What games are legal and what illegal? Having very carefiilly considered this qviestion, I have drawn up the following list, by reference to which my readers may see at a glance what my view of the matter is, at all events so far as modem games popular at the present time are concerned : — Lawful Games and Sports. Backgammon. Foot Ball. Bagatelle. Foot Races. Billiards. Golf. Boat Eaces. Knur and SpeU. Bowls. Putting the Stone. Chess. Quoits. Cricket. Eackets. Croquet. Rowing. Curling. Skittles. Dominoes. Tennis. Draughts. Whist. Fives. Wrestling. To these may be added aU games of skill, atliletic sports and pastimes, and games at cards, excepting those men- tioned below. Those emmaerated in the above list are now legal, subject always to the law relating to licences of 112 UNLAWFUL GAMES. billiard-rooms and public houses. The statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, hliving effected so great a revolution, one wonders why it did not proceed a little further, and legalize all games neither dangerous nor immoral. For my part I cannot see why two people should not in their own private room play at games with dice or cards, or any implements Avhatsoever. I can conceive the propriety of prohibiting public gambling, although it really is treating grown men like children ; but I cannot imagine what good can accrue from forbidding gaming in a man's own parlour, where no bad example can be set, no one's comfort inter- fered with, and no harm done to any but the players them- selves. However, the following games are absolutely Unlaavful Games. Ace of Hearts. Basset. Dice (except Backgammon). Hazard. Passage. Lotteries (except Art Union Lotteries). Pharaoh. Roulet, or Roly-poly. Such being the case, whatever we may think of the propriety of forbidding any games innocent in the absti-act, we must abstain fr-om the temptation of plajdng at those above mentioned. CHAPTER XL 6umcs t"obicb babe became Illegal kiitbaut i\n aib of <§tafutorn Enactments. B. Chapter XI. GAMES WHICH HAVE BECOME ILLEGAL WITHOUT THE AID OF STATUTOliY ENACTMENTS. In my former cliaptcrs I liavc ti'catcd of games wliicli, originally legal, were, for reasons considered perfectly satis- factory, rendered illegal by statute; and in process of time, for reasons considered equally satisfactory, restored to their pristine state by subsequent Acts of Parliament. My readers will have noticed that by degrees the bias of om* more modern legislation has been towards legalizing such games as have been found by experience to woi'k no mischief to the community, either by demoralizing the subject or by tiuTiing the attention of the people to such sports as were likely to interfere with their conduct as good citizens of the world. I now propose ti'eating of games, sports and pastimes which, independently of Acts of Parliament, have become obsolete or illegal, owing mainly to the progress of civiliza- tion and the natural changes Avhich have taken place in our manners and customs. Of these games I may firstly select jousts and tourna- ments as pastimes involving a greater degree of violence than is consistent Avith our modern ideas, which happily tend more to peaceful than warlike amusements. I 2 116 DANGEROUS GAMES. At one time war itself was a game or pastime, and any- popular sport or pursuit which seemed likely to wean loyal subjects from warlike practices was thought hmiiul to the well being and well doing of the nation, and was by degrees, as its popularity e\Tnced itself, prohibited by sta- tute. Hence it follows that warlike and athletic games would be encoiu'aged as tending to make men stronger, more com-ageous, and more likely to render services to the State as warriors. We are not, therefore, surprised to find that tourna- ments, sword plapng, cudgel playing, and sports of a similar natiu'e, were in the days of our ancestors very popular amusements, and, if illegal at common law, as- sm-edly not legislated against. It needs no argument to prove that toiu'naments, as for- merly conducted, Avoidd be in these so-called degenerate days utterly illegal. That two gentlemen should now be allowed and even encouraged to ride at full gallop against each other, armed Avith wooden poles, and by every means in their power endeavom- to unhorse and to do as much da- mage to each other as possible, woidd seem to us perfectly monstrous, even if we take into consideration the slight security that would be afforded them by the armour Avhich they wore. But when we remember that the gallant knights of old, who, unable to injm'e themselves or each other with com- paratively innocent arms, were permitted and encouraged to continue the contest with real sharp-pointed lances, and when those were broken or other-wise rendered useless, to draw their swords, and with all their miglit to belaljour DANGEROUS GAMES. 117 and in fact to woimcl, disaljlo, or kill each other, wc sec at once that this state of things would not in these civilized days be permitted. Thus it is clear the progress of civilization has effected an important change without recourse being had to any- special Acts of Parliament. Common sense tells us that violent games, such as tournaments and justs, or jousts, played with deadly weapons, are noAV illegal, as endan- gering the life, which in days of old was considered of less value than it now is thought to be. Still, I like to have chapter and verse for whatever I state, and so, haAing re- course to my law books, I find that it is laid down in " ArchbokPs Pleading and E^'idence in Criminal Cases," p. 521, in the last edition revised by my old friend the late Mr. "\Telsby, that " A tilt or tom-nament, the martial diver- " sions of om* ancestors, was nevertheless an imlawfld act ; " and so are boxing and sword playing, the succeeding " amusements of their posterity." In support of this \iev,', the cases E. v. Perkins (4 C. & P. 537) ; B. V. Harfjrave (5 C. & P. 170), and R. v. Murphy (6 C. & P. 103), are cited. But vath all defer- ence to the learned editor, I cannot help thinking that he has laid the law down somewhat too broadly, as I hope to prove in the course of this work. Notwithstandino; the halo of romance Avitli which the old chroniclers have suiTounded jousts or justs, tournays and tournaments, and the delightful glamom- which has been thro-vNTi over their accounts of these pastimes by the novel writers of the Sir Walter Scott school, I cannot but think that they must have been very "rough and tumble," 118 DANGEROUS GAMES. and certainly very dangerous sports, and that so carried out, and when the actual danger to the combatants formed the main pleasurable ingredient, they would no doubt be now considered illegal games; perfectly legal when, as was the case in the more recent Eglinton tournament, and those held at Cremome, the danger to life and limb was reduced to a minimum — toiu'naments only in name, but in fact mere pageants, intended as vehicles for the display of fine dresses, quaint garments, and old effete manners and customs. It seems to me that the question, danger or no danger, is the Lydius lapis — the Elenchus — the touchstone to be applied in determining the legality or illegality of all games savouring of violence in which two or more are engaged. The words "two or more" are important, for no attempt is made to prevent Blondin playing his games on an eighty feet high rope ; Lulu, whether boy or girl, taking his or her perilous jump and triple somersault ; or Leotard s^ving- ing at a fearfid height on his bars and ropes ; for their long practice has enabled the actors to go through their per- formances %vith tolerable safety to themselves ; but when a second and imtrained man, woman, or child is brought in as an agent in the game the case is widely altered, and M. Blondin may not wheel his innocent child across his rope without some more than ordinary precaution against the chance of danger accruing to the unconscious baby. There seems little doubt that games involving danger to life or limb, to be illegal, must be played by more than one person, and here I, in the pm'suit of my argument. DANGEROUS GAMES. 119 am met by a serious difticulty. Supposing two persons agree to play at a dangerous game in sucli a place and imder sucli circumstances that tliey "will not and cannot be guilty in so playing such game of a riot or a breach of the peace. What crime are they guilty of? Now I can easily understand that a toiu-nament, a fencing match, a boxing match, a XNTestling match, or even a rowing match may engender a riot or end in a breach of the peace. I can also understand that if any angry feelings are al- lowed to prevail, either at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of any of the above matches, each and aU of them may degenerate into illegal pastimes, but it is hard to imderstand how a friendly contest, if conducted in a friendly manner and imder such circumstances of time and place as not to be offensive to the public, can be illegal, imless indeed deadly weapons be used. The whole thing is a puzzle to me. It has been decided that a man may consent to an assault upon himself, in other words, that an assault is no assault if consented to by the person assaulted. R. v. Banks, 8 C. & P. 574 ; R. V. Martin, 9 C. & P. 213. And in Christopher son v. Bare (11 Q. B. 473), my Lord Denman says, " It is vain " to contend that an assaidt could exist except against the *' will of the party assaulted:" and Mr. Justice Patteson adds, " An assault must be an act done against the Avill of " the pai'ty assaidted." Mr. Justice Coleridge in the same case lays it do^wn that " The defendant might show " that the assault was no assaidt in point of law, but done " in the coui'se of sport and by the plaintiif 's leave." 120 PUGILISTIC ENCOUNTERS. Here I may remark that at one time I was half persuaded that even a prize fight might be so arranged and carried out as to be legal, but contests of this nature have become so utterly disreputable, and have fallen into such low and blackguard hands, that I am compelled to discard them entirely from my notice, and once for all I must be taken to ignore this sport or pastime, if such it can be called, and to place it in the same category with bull, bear, and badger baiting, and other brutal pastimes, to be alluded to in their proper places hereafter. Even if this were not so, I am silenced by the late Mr. Justice Patteson, who decided, in the case of R. v. Perkins (4 C. & P. 537), that a prize fight was illegal as constituting a breach of the peace, and that not only the principals but all taking part therein were indictable. That learned judge laid down the law thus — " It is clear " there is no doubt that prize fights are altogether illegal, " indeed just as much so as that persons should go out to " fight with deadly weapons. It is not at all material " which party struck the first blow. It is proved that all *' the defendants were assisting in this breach of the peace^ " and there is no doubt that persons who are present on *' such an occasion, and taking any part in the matter, are " aU equally guilty as principals. There is no distinction *' between those who concur in the act and those who " fight." As over tournaments, so over prize fights, a mantle of romance has been thrown. Argimients have been used to show that ''the fist"' is a more English weapon than "the " knife," and some there are noAv livina; who remember SAYERS, HEENAN AND KING. 121 Avlien fights took place on a stage in Hyde Park, patro- nized by Royalty itself. Encouragement was given to the study of the " noLle " art of self-defence," as it Avas called, in order to improve the stamina of the youth of Great Britain, and that such improvement, to a certain extent, was the residt, is true, just as encoiu-agement given to horse racing was supposed to improve, and, for a time, did improve, om: breed of horses. But in both cases, I fear, a parallel may be draA\Ti little favourable to the \ieyv that the hopes originally formed have been fully realized. When Sayers fought Heenan all England was excited. AVhen Ileenan fought Tom King there was scarcely less excitement. But all that is over and ended. Prize-fio-htinfr has, thanks to the folly of the pugUists and their Mends, gone for ever as a sport, pastime, or game, such as can or ought to be commented on in a respectable book, such as I hope this will prove to be. One thing is tolerably certain, that, as in the case of prize-fighting, so in that of the holding of tomiiaments or jousts, little privacy can be hoped for or expected. Therefore, if even it be perfectly lawful for two men to batter each other about the head or body, or, in short, to contend in a tom-nament or joust, as was the usage of oiu' ancestors, their combats would be public, and, because public, probably illegal as constituting a breach of the peace, and, if dangerous weapons were used, most as- suredly such contests Avould be utterly unlawful. Some account of the origin and mode of conducting such games or pastimes mU come within the scope of this 122 JOUSTS AND TOUKNAISIENTS. little work, and be interesting to my readers. So, in my next chapters, to wliicli tliis is only an introduction, I pm-- pose to give a sketchy history of jousts and toiu^naments, compiled from dear old Strutt, whose language and ar- rangement of subjects I have here and there interfered with, but whose admirable treatise on the sports and pas- times of our coimtry I have taken as a foimdation, and a very large and important foundation, for remarks of my own, in which I have inti'oduced verifications of the autho- rities quoted by Strutt, and to which I have added a few discoveries of my own in the literature, both ancient and modem, bearing on my subject. CHAPTER XII. ^oxintaiiunls tit (Suurnl Chapter XII. TOURNAMENTS IN GENERAL. In this chapter I propose to treat of tournaments and jousts ; and for the better enabling mc to do so I must, as I have before stated, have rccoiu'se to Strutt, who lays it do^vn authoritatively that tomniaments and justs (some- times spelt jousts), though often confounded mth each other, differ materially. The tournament was a conflict Avith many knights, di^-ided into parties, and engaged at the same time. The just was a separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed to another, and it Avas frequently included in the fomier, but not without many exceptions; for the just, according to the laws of chivalry, might be made exclusive of the tournament. — (Du Cange's Glossary, under the head " Justa.") In the romantic ages both these diversions were held in the highest esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esrpxire; but at the same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the tournaments ; for the knight who had paid his fees and been admitted to 126 THE ORIGIN OF TOURNAMENTS. the latter, liad a right to engage in the former without any fm-ther demand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will be found in the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, to which I shall allude a Kttle further on. Some information as to the origin of the tournament, properly so called, may be acceptable to my readers. I therefore proceed to give a sketch of such origin, inter- spersed with facts and matters connected with my subject, which I trust will be, if not very interesting, at all events not over tedious. Strutt is of opinion that the tom-nament originated from a pastime practised by the Koman youths, called Ludus Troja3 (the Troy game), so named because it was derived fi-om the Trojans, and first introduced into Italy by As- canius, the son of iEneas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, as it was practised at Rome. If he be accurate, it seems to have consisted simply of a varied series of evolutions performed on horseback. He tells us that the youth were each of them armed with two little spears, headed with iron : — Cornea bina ferunt prsefixa hastilia ferro. ^neicl, lib. v. 556. Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given they di\dded themselves into tlu-ee distinct companies ; and each company consisted of twelve cham- pions, exclusive of its leader ; when, according to Trapp's TOURNAMENTS IN R03IE. 127 translation, (which is more Kteral tlian that given iis by Dryden,) the tutor of Ascanius, and overseer of the sports: — Epityclen, from far Loud with a shout, and witli his sounding lash The signal gave : they equally divide, The three commanders open their brigades In sep'rate bodies ; straiglit reeall'd they -wheel Their course, and onward bear their hostile darts. Then diff'rent traverses on various grounds And diff'rent counter traverses they form ; Orbs wathin 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. (See the original quotation, Avliich I give at page 129.) Under the rule of the first emperors these games were publicly practised by the young nobility in the circus at Rome. But, search as we will, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the precise period at which games which partook of the natiu-e of tournaments ripened, as it were, into tournaments proper ; and it is still more diffi- cult to determine by whom they were invented. ISIost likely, to adopt an illustration of which I am ashamed, but w^hich may be excused as being appropriate, they *' growed " out of other games. Peacham, in the " Complete Gentleman," p. 178, on the authority of Kicetas, tells us that the Emperor Emanuel Comminus, at the siege of Constantinople, invented lists and tournaments, but the French and the Germans both 128 THE INVENTION OF TOURNAMENTS. claim the honour. The historian, Nithard, mentions a military game frequently exhibited in Germany before the Emperor Louis and his brother Charles the Bald, about the year 842, which bears great resemblance to the tom- nament, for he speaks of many knights of different nations, divided into parties equal in number, and rimning at each other with great velocity, as though they were in battle : Veluti invicem adversari sibi vellent, alter in alterum veloci cursu ruebat. Most of the German writers, how- ever, aver that the Emperor Henry I., sumamed I'Oiseleur, who died in 936, was the "insti tutor" of these pastimes; others, however, attribute their origin to another Henry, at least a century later. The French, on their side, quote an ancient history, which asserts that Geofry, Lord of Pre\dli in Anjou, who was slain at Gaunt, Ghent or Gand, in the country noAv called Belgium, in 1066, was the inventor of the tournament. Tournaments, or sports bearing close resemblance to them, were established in England in the twelfth century, and probably at a much earlier period. Fitzstephen tells us " that every Smiday in Lent, immediately after dinner, *' it was customary for great crowds of young Londoners, " mounted on war horses, well trained, to perform the *' necessary turnmgs and evolutions, to ride into the fields " in distinct bands, armed, ' hastilibus ferro dempto,' with " headless lances, w^here they exhibited the representation " of battles, and Avent through a variety of warlike exer- " cises ; at the same time many of the yomig noblemen who *' had not received the honour of knighthood, came from THE TROY GAME. 129 " the king's court, and fi-om the liouscs of tlie great barons, " to make ti'ial of their skill in arms, the hope of victoiy " animating their minds. The youth being di\'ided into " opposite companies encountered one another ; in one " place they fled and others pursued, -wathout being able " to overtake them ; in another place, one of the bands " overtook and overtm-ned the other." The lioman youth, as I have previously stated, pre- sented their lances towards their opponents in a menacing position, but without strilving ^\itli them : Inde alios ineunt cursus aliosque recursl^s Adversis spatiis, alternosque orbibiis orbes Impediunt, pugnseque cient simulacra sub armis : Et nunc tcrga fuga, nudant ; nunc sjjicula vertunt lufensi ; facta paritcr nunc pace feruntur. ^Eneid, lib. v. 58G. (This passage Avill be found translated into the ver- nacidar at page 127, sujrra.) The young Londoners no doubt went further, and actually tilted one against the other. At any rate, the fi'equent practice of this exercise must have taught them, insensibly, to become excellent horsemen. Whether or not, the " Troy game" Avas the origin of tournaments and jousts, it seems tolerably clear that they arose by slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of the military tyros in the art of using arms ; but which of the two had the pre-eminence in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined. ^Ye know that both of them were B. K 130 THE TKOY GAME. in existence at the time the Troj game Avas practised by the citi'zens of London, and also that they were not pemiitted in England. In the middle ages, Trhen toimiaments were in their splendonr, the Troy game was still in existence, though in a transition state of improvement, and distmguished by a different denomination. It was then called in Latin behordicum, and in French bohort or behort, and was a kind of lance game, in which the yoimg nobility exer- cised themselves to acquire address in handling ai*ms and proAang their strength. Some authors derive this word from bm-dir, or bordir, to jest, joke, or make game, and therefore it may mean a playful pastime or combat, such as youth might engage in. The word behordicmn wiU, however, admit of a more enlarged signification ; from a quotation which is given by Du Cange, we find it was occasionally used for running at the quintain. Emmi le pre ot quintaine levee. Li jouvencel beliordcnt par la pree. Which may be fi-eely translated : They raised a quaintain in the midst of a meadow, and the youth tilted at it along the meadow. In fiict it might be applied to any of the military exercises performed by the young men, either for pastime or improvement. — (Roman D' Aubrey, ajmd Du Cange.) Menesti-ier says " they formerly used hollow canes in- stead of lances, and for that reason it was also called the cane game;" but if the sport of tilting with such harmless K. lilCIIARD I. AND Sill AVJI. DE BAIIKES. 131 weapons ever arrived at the diguitj of being so called, there is no authority for placing it at an earlier period than the twelfth centiny. Hoveden, who wrote his "Annals" about the year 1191, tells us that Richard I. of England, being at Messina, the capital of Sicily, on his way to the Holy Land, went with his cavalcade one Simday afternoon to see the popular sports exliibited Avithout the walls of the city, and upon then' return they met in the street a rustic driA-ing an ass loaded with hollow canes, " anmdines quas " cannas vocant." The king and his attendants took each of them a cane, and began by Avay of frolic to tilt with them one against another. It so happened that the kmg's opponent Avas "William de BaiTCS, a knight of high rank in the household of the French king, " quidam miles " optimus de familia regis Francis." In the encounter they broke both their canes, and the monarch's hood Avas torn by the stroke he received, " fracta est cappa regis," Avhich made him angry;, when, riding Avith great force against the knight, he caused his horse to stumble AAdth him, and while he was attempting to cast him to the irround his OAvn saddle turned round and he himself Avas OA^erthroAvn. The king was soon provided with another horse, sti-onger than the fonner, which he movmted, and again assaulted de Barres, endeavom-ing by violence to throAV him from his horse, but he could not, because the knight clung fast to the horse's neck. Eobert de Bretuil, ncAvly-created Eai-1 of Leicester, laid hold upon de Barres to assist the king, but Richard forbade him to interfere, desiring that they might be left to themselves. AYhen they had contended a long time, adding thi-eats to K 2 132 DERIVATION OF THE WOED TOURNAMENT. their actions (" et dictis et factis"), 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 woidd ever after consider him as an enemy ; bnt through the mediation of the King of France, a reconcilia- tion was effected, and the knight was again restored to the favour of the monarch. So much for the magnanimity of the king and the sup- posed origin of tournaments. As to the derivation of the name of this pastime, Strutt says :— " The word tom^nament in English, in French (old " French) toumoyement, points to a game or S2)ort in " which the main feature was that the players or com- ** batants shoidd wheel or turn about in a circular manner, " and comes from the French word toumoy, which, ac- " cording to the generality of authors, is derived from the *' Latin troja. This does not appear consistent with any " reasonable analogy. I am rather led to adopt the " opinion of Fauchet, who thinks it came fi'om the prac- " tice of the knights nmning par tour, that is, by turns " at the quintain, and wheeling about successively in a " circle to repeat their course ; but, says he, in process of " time they improved upon this pastime, and to make it " more respectable ran one at another, which certainly " bore a much greater similitude to a real engagement, *' especially when they were divided into large parties, and *' meeting together combatted with clubs or maces, beat- DERIVATION OF TUE WORD TOURNAMENT. 133 " ing cacli other soundly Avithout any favoiu* or paying the " least respect to rank or dignity. " In one of these encounters, Robert, Earl of Clare- " mont, son of St. Louis, and head of the house of " Bourl)on, was so severely bruised by the blows he re- " ceived from his antagonist that he was never well after- " wards. This, sa}S Fauchet, was possibly the cause of " the ordinance, that the kings and princes should not " afterwards enter the lists as combatants at these toiu- " naments ; which law, indeed, continues he, has been " ill-observed by the succeeding kings, and in our time by " Henry II., avIio, imfortunately for France, Avas killed at *' the justs he made in honoiu* of his daughter's marriage. " It was, in fact, very common for some of the combatants *' to be beat or thrown from theii- horses, ti-ampled upon, " and killed upon the spot or hurt most grievously. In- " deed, a tournament at this period was rarely finished " without some disastrous accident ; and it was an esta- " blished law, that if any one of the combatants killed or " woimdcd another he should be indemnified, which made " them less carefrd respecting the consequences, especially " when any advantage gave them an opportimity of secur- " ing the conquest. Tournaments were consequently " interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees." — (See Fauchet's " Origines des Chevaliers.") The following quotation fi-om an ancient manuscript romance, in the Harleian collection, entitled Ipomydon, plainly indicates that tournaments took place in an open field ; and also that great numbers of the combatants were 134 THE CONQUEROR SOMETIMES REWARDED. engaged at one time, promiscuously encountering each other. -We learn, moreover, that the champion who re- mained unhorsed at the conclusion of the sports, besides the honour he attained, sometimes received a pecimiary reward : — The kynghis soune a knyght gan make, And many another for his sake ; Justes were cryed ladyes to see, Thedyr came lordes gi-ete plente. Tournementis atyred in the felde, A thousand armed with spere and shelde; Knyghtis began togedre to ryde, Some were unhorsyd on every side, Ijjomydon that daye was victorious. And there he gaff many a cours ; For there was none that he mette, But he hys spere on hym woukle setter Then after within a lytell stounde, Horse and man both went to grounde. The Heraudcs gaff the cliild the gree A thousand pounds he had tofce^ IMynstrellys had giftes 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 Avas higlily dis- gracefid to be unhorsed, by Avhatever exertion it might be effected. Thomas of Walsingham, Hist. Ang. a.d. 1274, tells us that Avhen Edward I. returned from Palestine to Eng- land, and was on his passage through Savoy, the Comes CONTEST BETAVEEN ENGIJSH AND FRENCH. 135 Kabilancnsis, Earl of Cliablouii, invited him to a tounia- ment, in Avhicli himself and many other knights "were en- gaged. The king, with his followers, althongh fatigued Avith the length of their journey, accepted the challenge. On the day api)ointed both jjarties met, and, being armed Avith swords, the engagement commenced. The earl singled out the king, and on his approach, throwing aAvay his sword, cast his anus about the neck of the monarch, and used his utmost endeavour to pull him fi'om his horse. Edward, on the other hand, finding the earl woidd not qidt his hold, put spm-s to liis horse and drew liim from his saddle, hanging upon his neck, and then shaking him A'iolently, threw him to the ground. The earl having re- covered liimself and being remounted, attacked the king a second time, but finding his hand " too heavy," he gave up the contest and acknowledged him to be the conqueror. The knights of the earl's party Avere angry Avhen they saAv their leader draA^ii from his horse, and ran upon the English Avith so much violence, that the pastime assumed the tumultuous appearance of a real battle, the English on their side repelled force by force, and had not the resigna- tion of the earl put an end to the conflict, in all probability the consequences Avould have been very serious. A Avord or tAvo here on the subject of lists and ban-iers used as the necessary concomitants of tom-naments may not be out of place, but some time elaj^sed after the esta- blishment of justs and tournaments before the combatants thought of constructing these. They contented them- selves, says Menestrier (" Tracte dc Tournois*'), Avith being 136 LISTS AND BARRIERS. stationed at four angles of an open place, wlience tliey ran in .parties one against another. There were cords stretched before the different companies, previous to the commencement of the toiu^naments, as we learn from the following passage in an old English romance to be found among the Harleian manuscripts. No. 326. " All these " thinges doune thei were embatailed eche ageynste the " other, and the corde drawen before eche partie, and " when the tyme was, the cordes were cutt, and the trum- *' pettes blew up for every man to do his devoir, dufj/. " And for to assertapie the more of the tourney, there " was on eche side a stake, and at eche stake tAvo kjTigs " of arms, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the " names of all them that were yolden, for they should no " more toiu'ney." As these pastimes were accompanied with much danger, they invented in France the double lists, where the knights mio-ht run from the one side to the other without coming- in contact, except with their lances. Other nations fol- lowed the examples of the French, and the usage of lists and barriers soon became universal. --H^^'^'=^^ CHAPTER XIII. Chapter XIII. TOURNAMEXTS IN ENGLAND. I TROPOSE to dedicate this chapter to the subject of the tournament in our own cotnitry, and here again Sti'utt must l)e my ouide, and his works the soin'ce of much of my information. That tournaments Avcre lickT in France and Noraiandy before the Conquest seems tolerably clear; ]n\t, according to our 0"\\Ti "^^Titers, they were not permitted in this coimtry for upwards of sixty years after that event. " The manner of performing the tournament, as then used," says Lam- barde, in his " Perambulation of Kent," p. 492, " not being at the tilt, as I think, but at random and in the oj)en field, was accounted so dangerous to the persons having to do therein, that sundry popes forbad it by decree ; and the kings of this realm, before King- Stephen, Avoidd not suffer it to be fi-equented within their land, so that such as for exercise of this feat of arms were desirous to prove themselves, Avere driven to pass over the seas, and to perform it in some different place in a foreign coimtry." However, in the reign of King Stephen, the rigour of the laws was much relaxed, and tournaments, to a certain extent and TAdtli certain limitations, were per- mitted. They Avere, however, again sup])rcsscd by Henry II., and ])ro1)al)ly that is the reason why the young King Henry, son of Henry II., went every third year, as 140 TOURNAMENTS, TEMP. RICHARD I. Matthew Paris (a.d. 1179) says lie did, over the seas, and expended vast sums of money " m conflictibus Gallicis," French combats, or tournaments. But Richard I. having, it is said, observed that the French, practising frequently in the tom^naments, were more expert in the use of their arms than the English, permitted his o-wn knights to establish similar sports in his ovm 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 havmg a landed estate fom-, and a knight without such possession two ; but all foreigners were ex- cluded. He appointed five places for the holdhig of tournaments in England, namely, between Sarum and Wilton, between Warwick and Kenihvorth, between Stam- ford and WaUingford, between Brakely and Mixberge, and between Blie and Tykehill. The act, which to a certain extent legalized tom-na- ments, specifies that the peace shoidd not be broken thereby, nor justice hindered, nor damage done to the royal forests.— (Harl. MS. 69.) How long these fines or fees contmued to be collected does not appear, but tournaments were occasionally held with much " display of magnificence " in the succeeding reigns, being not only sanctioned by royal authority, but fi-equently instituted at tlie royal command, until the con- clusion of the sixteenth centmy. From that period they declined rapidly, and fifty years afterwards had entirely fallen into disuse. LAAVS AND ORDIXAXCES OF TOURNAMENTS. 141 The proviso that "the peace sliould not be broken" is cnrions ; for, as I have preAdously stated, tom-naments as practised when legal, conld not in these days be held witli- out what we call " a breach of the peace," and for that very reason woidd now be illegal. ** All military men," says Fanchet, in his " Origines des Chevaliers," " avIio bore the title of knights or esqnires, " were not indiscriminately received at tournaments. There " were certain laws to Avhicli those who presented them- " selves became subject, and which they swore to obey " before they were 23ermitted to enter the lists." In one of the Harlcian manuscripts ( Xo. 69), Ave meet ^\-ith the folloAAdng ordinance for the conducting of justs and tournaments according to the ancient establishment. A proclamation was to be prcAuously made, which is couched in these terms : " Be it kno"s\Ti (or more correctly " oyeZi now corrupted into oh, yes I), lords, knights, and *' esquires, ladies and gentlemen, you are hereby acquainted ** that a superb achievement at aiTas and a grand and " noble tom-nament will be held in the parade of Claren- *' cieux, 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 Xorrais, kuig-at- " arms." The regulations that follow are these : The two barons on whose parts the tournament is undertaken " shall be at " their lodges (pavilions) two days before the commence- " ment of the sports, Avhen each of them shall cause his " arms to be attached to his pavilion, and set up his banner " in the front of his parade ; and all those who wish to be 142 LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF TOURNAIVIENTS. " admitted as combatants on either side must in like man- " ner 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 \dew at the windows of their pavilions ; " and then they may depart to make meny, dance, and " live well. On the morrow the champions shall beat " their parade by the hour of ten in the mornmg to await " the commands of the lord of the parade and the governor, " who are the speakers of the tom-nament. At this meet- " mg the prizes of honour shall be determined as thus : " Who shall best resist the strokes of his adversary and " return them with most adroitness on the party of Claren- " cieux shall receive a very rich sword ; and he who shaU " perform in like manner the best on the part of Norroys " shall be rewarded with a helmet equally valuable." " On the morning of the day appointed for the touma- " ment the arms, banners, and helmets of all the combat- " ants shaU 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 theii- OAvners, the baron who is the " challenger shaU 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 pa^dlion ; his example is " to be followed by the baron on the opposite side, and all " the Iviiights of their party who are not in their stations " before the nailing up of the arms shall forfeit their pri- " vileges, and not be permitted to tourney. The king- LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF TOURN^OIENTS. 143 " at-arms and the lieralds arc then commanded by the " speakers to go from ])a\illon to pa^dlion crying aloud, " ' To achievement, kniglits and esquires, to achievement I' " the notice for them to arm themselves ; and soon after- " wards the company of heralds shall repeat the fonner " ceremony, having the same authority, saying, ' Come " ' forth, knights and esquires, come forth ;' and when the " two barons have taken their places in the lists, each of " them facing his OAvn parade or ground, the champions " on both sides shall aiTange themselves, every one by the " side of his banner ; and then two cords shall be stretched " between them, and remain in that ]iosition until it shall " please the speakers to command the commencement of " the sports. The combatants shall each of them be " ai-med with a pointless sword, having the edges rebated, « and with a baston or trvmcheon hanging from their " saddles, and they may use either the one or the other so " long as the speakers shall give them permission, l3y re- " peating the sentence, ' Laissez les aller' — Let them go " on. After they have sufficiently perfonned their exer- " cises, the speakers are to call to the heralds, plorjer vos " haniers, fold up your banners, which is the signal for " the conclusion of the movement. The banners being « rolled up, the knights and the squires are permitted to " return to their dwellings." Every knight or esquire performing in the tournament was pei-mitted to have one page, armed, mthin the lists, to wait upon him and give him sword or tinmchcon, as occasion may require; and also in case of any accident happening to his armour, to amend the same. In after 144 LAWS AXD ORDIXANCES OF TOURNAMENTS. times, and I am liere alluding to the very early days of tourrtaments, tlu'ee servitors were allowed for tliis purpose. The laws of the tournament permitted any one of the combatants to imhelm himself at pleasure if he was in- commoded by the heat ; none being suffered to assault him in any way imtil he had replaced his helmet at the command of the " speakers." The kings-at-arms and the heralds who proclaimed the tom-nament, had the pri^-ilege of wearing the blazon of arms of those by whom the sport was instituted, besides which they were entitled to six ells of scarlet cloth as their fee, and had all their expenses defrayed during the con- tinuance of the tournament ; also by the law of arms they had a right to the helmet of every knight when he made his first essay at the tournament, which became their perquisite as soon as the sports were concluded; they also claimed eveiy one of them six crowns as nail money, for affixing the blazon of anns to the pa^■ilions. The kings-at-arms held the banners of the t^vo chief barons on the day of the tournament, and the other heralds the banners of their confederates according to their rank. When tournaments became as it were naturalized in England, an Act was passed in the reign of Henry IV., containing the following regulations relative to their con- duct, which regulations were said to have been established at the request of all the nobility of England. Here let me remark, that in those very early days the acts passed were so feAV and so short that I have seen no LAWS AXD ORDINANCES OF TOURXAMENTS. 145 reason for referring to tlicm by chapter and section, as they may be easily found in the statutes at large without any special indication from my })en. The Act of Henry IV. prohibits any combatant fi-om entering the lists Avith more than three esquires to bear his arms, and wait upon liim for that day ; and it fiu-ther enacts that, " If any of the great lords, or others, ' tient " ' mangerie,' that is, keep a public table, for eating or the " supply of food, they shall not be allowed any additional " esquires, excepting those who * trencheront,' or carve for " them." It further specifies that no knight or squire, who was appointed to attend in the lists as a ser\-itor, should wear a swoi-d or a dagger, or carry a tnuicheon, or any other weapon, excepting a large SAvord used in the tour- nament, and that all the combatants who bore lances shoidd be armed with breast-plates, thigh-pieces, shoidder- pieces, and bacinets, without any other kind of armoiu*. No earl, baron, or knight, might presume to infi-ingc upon the regulations of this statute, under the forfeiture of his horse and his arms, and the pain of imprisonment for a certain space of time, at the pleasure of the governors of the tournament. Another clause Avhich probably refers to such as were not combatants for the day, runs thus : " Xo one except " the great body, that is to say, earls or barons, shall be " armed otherwise than as above expressed ; nor bear a " sword, pointed knife, mace, or other weapon except the " sword for the tournament." In case of ti'ansgression, he forfeited his horse, and was liable to imprisonment for one year. If an esquire ti'ansgressed the law, he not only lost B. L 1-46 OllDEAL COMBATS. his horse and his arms, but was sent to prison for tliree years. But if the knights or esquires in the above cases were possessed of lands, and appeared in arms for the service of their lords, it seems they might recover their horses. The "Eoys des harnoys," kings-at-arms, the heralds, and the minsti-els, were commanded not to wear any kind of sharp weapons, but to have the swords without points which belonged to them. Those who came as spectators on horseback were strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of armour, or to bear offensive weapons, imder the penalty that Avas appointed to the esquires : and no boy or man on foot, coming for the same purpose, might appear with a sword, dagger, cudgel, or lance ; they were to be pimished ^vith one year's imprisonment in case of disobedience to the statute. (For flu-ther information on this cvu'ious lore, see the Harl. MS. 69.) I need scarcely say that toui-naments so long as they were practised as games or pastimes were comparatively unattended AAdth danger to life or limb. So much cannot be said of ordeal combats. However, the lists seem to have been very similar in their constitution, and the rules established by Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, micle to Richard II., were as follows : " The king shall fuid the field to fight in, and the list 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, with- out any great stones or other impediments ; also that the RESPECT PAID TO LADIES AT TOURNAMENTS. 147 lists must be uitli one door to the east, and anotlicr to tlic west, and sti-ongly barred about -wdth good bars seven feet high or more, so tliat a horse may not be able to leap over them."— (Cotton MS. XEIiO:D. ^d. and Ilarl. MS. 69.) By way of conclusion to this chapter I may be excused for touching shortly on the " respect paid to ladies in the tournament." After the conclusion of the tournament, the combatants, as we have seen above, return to their dwellings; but in the evening they met again in some place appropriated for the puq^osc, where they Avere joined by the ladies, and others of the nobility who had been spectators of the sports ; and the time, we are told, Avas passed " in feasting, dancmg, singing, and making meny. But, after the noble supper and dancing, 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 de- cision was referred to them respecting the awardment of the prizes ; who selected one name for each party, and, as a peculiar mark of their esteem, the favourite champions received the rewards of their merits fi-om the hands of tAvo young virgins of quality." — (Encyclop. Fran., in voce TOURNOI.) The statutes and ordinances for justs and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., in the sixth year of his reign, concludes thus — " Kcscrv-ing always to the queen's highness and the ladyes there present, the attribution and gift of the prize, L 2 148 LADIES INTERCEDING FOR CULPRITS AT TOURNAMENTS. after the manner and forme accustomed." — (Harl. MS. No. 69.) But this was not the only deference that was paid to the fair sex by the laws of the tournament, for we are told that " if a knight conducted himself with any impropriety, or transgressed the ordinances of the sport, he was excluded from the lists with a sound beating, which was liberally bestowed upon him by the other knights with their truncheons, and to punish his temerity and to teach him to respect the honom- of the ladies and the rights oi chivaby ; the unfortunate culprit had no other resom'ce in such case for escaping without mischief, but by supplicat- ing the mercy of the fair sex, and humbly intreating them to mterpose their authority on his behalf, because the suspension of his pimishment depended entirely upon their intercession." CHAPTER XIV. d}f Justs i3r Joustcs. Chapter XIV. OF JUSTS OR JOUSTES. Justs, joustes, and toumaments liavc been and arc con- sidered by those ^vlio have really not tbouglit about the matter identical in their nature. I however find that Avhen in vogue justs Avere always ranked as inferior to tournaments. The just or lance game, termed in the Latin of the day justn, and in French jouste, was originally a sort of sportive combat, undertaken for pastime only, differing materially, as before observed, fi.-om the touma- ment. The former was often included in the latter, and usually took place when the grand conflict Avas finished. But at the same time it Avas perfectly consistent with the rules of chivalry for the justs to be held separately : it was, however, considered inferior to the tournament. As a proof of this proposition, a knight, who had paid his fees for permission to just, was not thereby exempted fi-om the fees of the tournament ; but, on the contrary, if he had discharged his duties (in other words paid his fees) at the tournament, he was privileged to just Avithout any fm-ther demand. This distinction seems to have arisen fi-om the weapons used, the sword l)eing allowed as well as the lance in the tournament, and the lance alone in the just. In an old document, cited l)y Du Gauge, I find the follow- ing passage, " AVhen a nobleman makes his first appearance 152 KIKG ARTHUR AND HIS JUSTS. " in tlie tournament, liis helmet is claimed by the heralds, " notwithstanding his having justed before, because the " lance cannot give the freedom of the sword, Avhich 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 knigljt first enters the lists at the " tournament." ISlarvellously quaint were the argimients and deductions of our ancestors, and no wonder that posterity clings to the memory of what are termed the " good old times." Strutt traces the pastime of joustes to the days of King Arthur of blessed memory. He says "The just, as a military 'i pastime, is mentioned by William of Malmesbmy, and *' said to have been practised in the reign of King Stephen. *' (Pugnas facere quod Justam vocant. Hist. Novellae, " A.D. 1142.) Dm-ing the reign of Henry III. the just " assumed a different a^^pellation, and was also called the *' round-table game. This name was derived fi-om a fi'a- " ternity of knights Avho frequently justed with each other, " and accustomed themselves to eat together in one apart- " ment, and, in order to set aside all distinction of rank " or quality, seated themselves at a circular table, Avhere " every place was equally honourable." Athenasus, cited by Du. Cange, says, " The knights sat " romid the table, eorum scuta ferentes a tergo, bearing " their shields at their backs, no doubt for safety sake. " Our historians attribute the institution of the roimd " table to Arthur, the son of liter Pendragon, a celebrated ROUND TABLES (XEMP. EDW. I. AND EDW. III.). lo3 " Brltisli licro, Avliose acliicvcmcnts arc so disguised Avitli " legendary wonders that it has been doubted if sucli a " person ever existed in reality." Since the publication of " The Idylls of the King," who, having a grain of poetry or chivalrous feeling in his composition, can entertain a doubt that Arthur, the Arthur of Tennyson, existed, flourished and was borne away to some remote spot, once more to appear when the exi- gencies of a degenerate time require his interference ? Without going too dec])ly into the question never to be solved, whether or no King Arthur is a fabulous personage, it is certain that in the eighth year of the reign of Edward I., Roger De INIortimcr, a nobleman of great opulence, esta- blished a roiuid table at Kenilworth, for the encourage- ment of military pastimes, where one hundred knights, Avith as many ladies, were entertained at his expense. The fame of this institution occasioned a great influx of foreigners, who came either to initiate themselves or to make some public proof of their prowess. About seventy years afterwards Edward III. erected a splendid table of the same kind at Windsor, but upon a more extensive scale. It contained the area of a circle two hundred feet in diameter, and the weekly expense for the maintenance of this table, when it was first established, amounted to one hundred pounds, which afterAvards was reduced to tAventy pounds, on account of the large sums of money required for the prosecution of the war Avith France. This receptacle for military men gave continual occasion for the exercise of arms, and affbrded to the yoimg nobility an opportimity of learnmg, by the AA-ay of pastime, all the 154 JUSTS SUPERSEDING TOUliNAMENTS. requisities of a soldier. The example of King Edward was followed by PhiliiD of Valois, King of France, who also instituted a round table at his com-t, and by that means drew thither many German and Italian knights who were coming to England. (Walsingham, a.d. 1344.) 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. Strutt says, that in England the roimd table was suc- ceeded by the Order of the Garter, the ceremonial parts of which order are, he says, " retained to this day, but the " spirit of the institution ill accords with the present " manners." It seems pretty clear that when the institu- tion of the round table was abolished, little or no alteration took place in the mode of carrying out jousts, or in the forms and ceremonies observed by the knights belonging to it. These continued in force so long as jousts Avere practised, which form of tilting eventually seems to have superseded tournaments, a fact by no means wonderful, when we recollect that the one w\as a confused enffag-ement 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 perform- ance consisted in striking the opj^onent upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him backwards fi-om his horse or break the spear. Froissart mentions a trick used by TKICKS IN JUSTING. 155 Rcyiiaud do Ivoye at a tilting- match between liiiii and John de Holland. He fastened his helmet so slightly upon his head that it gave way, and "was beaten off by every stroke that was made upon the vizor with the lance of John of Holland, and of course the shock he received was not so great as it would have been had he made the helmet fast to his 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 " Tise his pleasure, though he at the same time declared " that for his part he should prefer a contrary practice, and " have his helmet fastened as strongly as possible." The same historian, speaking of a justing between Thomas Harpingham and Sir John de Barres, says, " As methought the usage Avas thanne, their helmcs wer " tied but with a lace, to the entente the si)ere slioidd take " no hold ;" by which it seems the trick being appreciated soon became no longer a secret artifice. As in tomnia- ments so also in jousts, but for obAaous reasons especially in the latter, what was called the " Honom- of the ladies" was the great moving power or force. We have seen that the privilege of distributing the prizes and remitting the punishment of offenders, was by the laws of the tournament entrusted to the fair sex, but at the justs their authority was much more extensive. In the days of chivalry the justs Avcre 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 156 THE i:!^FLUENCE OF LADIES IN JUSTS. was not only held up by liim as tlie paragon of beauty and of virtue, but supplied tlie place of a tutelar saint, to wbom he paid his vows and addressed himself in the day of peril ; or it seems to have been an established doctrine, that love made valour perfect, and incited the heroes to imdertake great enterprizes. " Oh that my lady saw me," said one of them as he was moimting a breach at the head of his men, and dri\'ing the enemy before him. St. Foix, who mentions this (Essais sur Paris, Vol. 3, p. 263), says in another place, " It is astonishing that no author has re- *' marked the origin of this devotion in the manners of " the Germans, our ancestors, as drawn by Tacitus, who," " he tells us, " attributed somewhat of divinity to the fair " sex." Sometimes it seems the knights were armed and un- armed by the ladies, but this must have been a peculiar mark of their favour, and only used upon particular occa- sions, as, for instance, when the knight undertook some particular achievement on thek* behalf, or fought in defence of their beauty or their honour, or in \'indication of some slur, real or imaginary, cast upon them by his opponent. " As the ladies, say some modern authors, were Tame, " the soul of the justs, it was proper that they should be " therein distinguished by some pecidiar homage ; and " accordingly, at the termination of a just with lances, " the last course was made in honoiu' of the sex, and called " the lance of the ladies. The same deference was paid " to them in single combats with the sword, the axe, " and the dagger." — (Encyclopedic Fran^aise, Article " Joute.") SPLENDOUR OF THE LISTS. 157 Both at tournaments and at justs there was a great display of jewels and dresses, and although the innate fondness of the ladies for gorgeous garments and general splendour of decoration no doubt prevailed in the so- called days of chivalry, as most assuredly it does in our degenerate times, yet the dames and demoiselles of the past had the delight of seeing those near and dear to them in danger of losing life or limb, an addition to their pleasure wliich the ladies of om- period are unhappily dejjrived of. At the celebration of these pastimes, the lists were superbly decorated, and surrounded by the pavilions be- longing to the champions, ornamented A^dth 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 Avitli tapestry and embroideries of gold and silver. Every person, upon such occasions, appeared to the greatest advantage, decked in sumptuous array, and every part of the field presented to the eye a rich display of magnificence. The appearance of the knights engaged in the sports was very splendid, they and their horses were most gorgeously aiTayed, and their esquires and pages, together with the minstrels and heralds Avho superintended the ceremonies, Avere all of them clothed in glittering and costlv apjiarel. Such a show of pomp, Avliere Avealth, beauty, and grandeur Avere concentrated as it Avere in one focus, must altogether have formed a Avonderful spectacle, and made a sti'ong impression on the mind, Avhich impression no doubt Avas not a little heightened by the cries of the heralds, the 158 INSTANCES OF JOUSTS. clangour of the trumpets, the clashing of the arms, the rushing together of the combatants, and the shouts of the beholders ; and hence the popularity of these exhibitions may be easily accounted for. The tournament and the 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 elegance of their apparel and their proAvess as warriors; therefore these pastimes became fashionable among the nobility, and it Avas probably for this very reason that they were prohibited to the commoners. On the subject of tournaments and jousts much quaint information may be derived from the Harleian Manu- scripts. By way of specimens I select the following ex- tracts (Harl. MSS., No. 69): — " Six gentlemen challenged " all comers at the just roiale, to run in josting hamies " along a tilte, and to strike thirteen strokes "with swordes " in honour of the marriage of Richard, duke of York, " son to King Edward 4, (who is said to have lost his life " with his brother Edward in the Tower,) with the lady " Anne, daughter to the duke of Norfolk." The next runs thus: — "When Henry the 7th created " his second son Henry Prince of Wales, four gentlemen " offered their service upon the occasion. First, they had " a declaration that they do not undertake this enterprise " in any manner of presumption, but only for the laude " and honour of the feaste, the pleasm-e of the ladyes, and " their owne learning and exercise of deeds of arms, and to " cusewe the ancient laudable customs. They then pro- " GIVING rOlXX" WITH THE SWORD. 159 " mised to be ready at Westminster on a given day, the *' twenty-fourth of November, to keep tlie justs in a place " appointed for tliat pui'])0se by the king. To be thereby " eleven of the clock before noon to answer all gentlemen " commers and to run with every commer one after another " six courses ensewingly, and to continue that day as long " as it shal like the kinge's grace, and to tilt with such *' speares as he shall ordejTi, 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 lawftd for the said " commers to begin six other courses, and so continue one " after another as long as it shall be at the Idng's pleasm'e. " If it shall happen to any gentleman that his horse *' fayleth him, or himself be imanned in such wise as " he cannot conveniently accomplish the whole courses, ** then it shall be lawfid for his felowe to finish up the *' courses." They promise upon a second day, the tAventy-ninth of November, to be in readiness to moimt their horses, at the same place and hoiu* as before, to tourney with foiu' other gentlemen, with such swordes as the king shall ordain, imtil eighteen strokes be given by one of them to the other ; and add that " it shall be lawfid to strike all manner of " ways, the fo}Tie only excepted, and the commers shall " have the choice of the swords." I may here explain that "to fo}Tie" means to thrust or " give ])oint," and the author of a MS. poem, in the Cotton Collection (Titus A. 23, part 1, fol. 7), entitled 160 DECLINE OF TOURNAMENTS. " Knyghtode and Batayle," says, in fighting with an enemy, " to fo;)Tae is better than to smyte. Two inches, ' entre " ' foyned,' hurteth more than a broader wound with the " edge of the sword." " Whosoever," continues the Harleian Manuscript, " shall " certifye and give knowledge of his name and of his com- " ming to one of the three kings of arms, whether it be to " the justs or to the tourney, he shall be first answered, " the stakes alwayes reserved, which shaU have the pre- *' heminence. If any one of the said commers shall think " the swordes or spears be too easy for him, the said four " gentlemen wiU be redye 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 siifficient licence for the heralds to publish the same in such places as might be thought requisite. The king accepted the offer, and granted their petition ; at the same time he promised to reward the best performer at the justs royal with a ring of gold set with a ruby; and the best performer at the tournament with another golden ring set with a diamond, equal in value to the former. Upon some particular occasions the strokes with the sword were performed on foot, and so were the combats with the axes ; the champions having, generally, a ban'ier of wood, breast-high, between them. I have now, I think, given my readers as much infor- mation on the subject of tournaments, tomrnays, joustes, justs, and jousting, as they va^ be able to assimilate. DEATH OF TOUKNAMENTS. IGl There is little reason to doubt that these games, sports, pastimes, call them what you ])lease, were practised chiefly on the occasions of royal marriages, coronations and so forth, and that in early da}s they were far more dan- gerous in their nature than they subsequently became. Towards the close of the 15th centiuy they were mere ceremonies and pageants, affording an opportimity for the display of pomp and gorgeous dresses and costimies ; but about that period decline they did, and very soon sank into disuse, and became dull and lifeless as the danger and violence with which they were caiTied on decreased. Sentimentalists will say chivalry died out, I say " and a *' good thing too." Such of my readers as AA-isli to elaborate for themselves my outlines, have only to consult the pages of Stow, HoUinshed, Hall, Grafton, and above every author Frois- sart, and they will there find all the information which they can possibly desire on the subject. With reference to the law of the matter, I can only advise those who take a part in such pastimes to use no dangerous weapons, and not to lose their temper, otherwise a breach of the peace is very likely to ensue. As, however, in these days we do not require impossibilities, I think I may safely predict that tournaments and jousts have had their day. Requiescant in pace ^vitli the heroes who fell in the good old days of chivalry. B. M CHAPTER XV. Of Cumbuts l\)itb the .Sluovb anb Jiuthlcr, the ^Iviorb auir guqgcr, the Jiapicr, anb oil^tx g aiT0cro us Mca p n s . m2 ^^^^^ r=b^^"^' Chapter XV. OF COMBATS WITH THE SWORD AXD BUCKLER, THE SWORD AXD DAGGER, THE RAPIER, AXD OTHER DAXGEROUS WEAPONS. I xow come to sword and buckler plapng, sword and dagger, and other games and amusements invohnng vio- lence, and possibly consequent danger to the life or limb of those engaged in such sports. This subject, so far as the legal aspect of these games is concerned, may be dismissed with but few remarks. The question of legality or illegality now dej)ends upon the amount of violence used in these combats, and the intrinsic danger involved in the reckless manipidation of weapons likely to inflict serious injury if wielded with vigour by men actuated with a wish to conquer in the strife. X o doubt, in early times, the good old days, as they are tei'med, of chivalry, a sword fight, especially under certain circrmi- stances, was a dtiel a mort, but now-a-days, if such a contest exceeded the bounds of safety, it would be utterly illegal. Sword playing was originally a pastime presented for the amusement of lords and ladies, by professional comba- tajits, gleemen, "jongleurs," and others, who during and 166 S W ASII-BUCKLERS. before tlie mlclcUe ages were celebrated for tlieir skill in tliis and other similar pastimes. The performers, for obvions reasons, were by the early historians called " Gla- diatores." John of Salisbury speaks — (Book 1, cap. 8, page 34) of Mimi, Salii, Balatrones, Gladiatores, et tota jaculatorum copia. These " gladiatores " seem to have set up schools for teaching 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 outi-ageous that it was necessary for the legislature to interfere, and in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward I., a.d. 1286, an edict was published by Royal authority, which pro- hibited the keeping of such schools and the public exercise of swords and bucklers, "eskermir au bokeler." It is said that many robberies and murders were com- mitted by these gladiators, hence the appellation of swash buckler, a term of reproach, " from swashing," says Fuller, *' and making a noise on the buckler ; and ruffian, which " is the same as swaggerer. West Smithfield Avas formerly " called Ruffian Hall, where such men usually met, " casually or otherwise, to try masteries with sword and " buckler. More were frightened than hui"ti, hurt than " killed therewith, it being accounted unmanly to sti-ike " beneath the knee. But since that desperate traytor, " Rowland Yorke, first used thrusting Avith rapiers, " swords and bucklers are disused." (Worthies of Eng- land A.D. 1662.) Jonson, in the introduction to his play called "Bartholomew Fair," speaks of "the SAvord and buckler age in Smithfield ;" and again, in the " Two Angry SCHOOLS OF ARMS. 1G7 "Women of Abbington," a comedy by Ilemy Porter, printed in 1599, we have tlie follo-oing- obsers'ation : — " Sword and buckler figlit 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, A^dll be spitted " like a cat or rabbit." Such exercises as those above referred to had been prac- tised by day and by night to the great annoyance of the peaceable inhabitants of the city ; and by tlic statute of Edward I. tlie offenders were subject to the punishment of imprisonment for forty days, to which was afterAvards added a mulct of forty marks. (jNIaitland's " History of London," book 1, chap. 11.) These resti-ictions certainly admitted of some exceptions, for it is well knoA\Ti that there were seminaries in London wherein youth Avere taught the use of arms, held publicly after the institution of this ordinance. " The art of defence and use of weapons," says Stow, " is taught by professed masters," (" Survey of London," chap. 2,) but these most probably were licensed by the city governors and imder their control. The author of a description of the colleges and schools in and about London, which he calls *' The " Third University of England," printed in black letter in 1615, says : — " In this city," meaning London, '* there be manic professors of the science of defence, " and very skilful men in teaching the best and most " offensive and defensive use of verie many weapons, as of " the long sword, back-sword, rapier and dagger, single 168 SWOED AND BUCKLER. " rapier, the case of rapiers, the sword and buckler or " targate, the pike, the halberd, the long staff and others. ** Henry VIII. made the professors of this art a company, " or corporation, by letters-patent, wherein the art is " intituled * The Noble Science of Defence.' The manner " of the 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 \aew of many himdreds of people ; and ** at their next and last prize well and sufficiently performed " they do proceed to be maisters of the science of defence, " or maisters of fence, as we commonly call them." The king ordained, " That none but such as have thus orderly " proceeded by public act and trial, and have the approba- *' tion of the principal masters of the company, may profess " or teach tliis art of defence publicly in any part of Eng- *' land." StoAv informs us that the young Londoners, on holydays after the evening prayer, were permitted to exer- cise themselves with their wasters and bucklers before their masters' doors. They, however, seem to have used clubs or bludgeons instead of SAvords. (See Bodleian MS., A.D. 1344, No. 264.) A few remarks on the games of sword playing, and the manner in which they were practised, may prove interest- ing to my readers, and, firstly, I will take the sword and buckler game, the former, viz., the sword, being, as I ap- prehend, the same as what is termed the backsword. SWORD AND ]$L"CKLER. 1G9 This contest or game Avas of course played, as the name denotes, "wdth swords, probably not very sharp, and that only on one edge or side, and bucklers or shields for the puq)ose of warding off serious blows. Of this we may 1)G tolerably siu*e, that it Avas not a very dangerous sport, especially when played by experienced performers. I find in Hudibras (Part 1, canto 3, line 1361 ; vol. 1, page 282, of a very good edition which I possess), the following couplet : — "For as in sword and buckler figlit, All blows do on the target light." Shakspeare seems to have been of this opinion, for he puts into Hotspur's mouth the folloA\dng passage : — "All studies here I solemnly defy, Save how to pinch and gall this Bolingbroke, And that same sword-and-bucklei* Prince of Wales." This is the only allusion to sword and buckler play Avhich I can find in Shakspeare's works. It occurs in the play of " King Henry the Foiu-th," part 1, act 1, scene 3 ; and my notion that this was a comparatively safe mode of fighting is confirmed by Fuller's suggestion that the players with sword and buckler rather ten-ified than hiu't each other. Some light is throA\ii upon the subject of contests with sword and shield, target or buckler, by the ainiotator of Scott's " Lady of the Lake," in the 5th canto of which poem the following passage occurs : — " Til fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw, Whose brazen studs and tougli bull-hide Had death so often dash'd aside. 170 SWORD AND TARGET. For, train'd abroad his arms to wield, " Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield. He practised every pass and ward, To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard." From tlie note to tliis quotation, it seems that the shield, targe, or buckler was a round target of light wood covered with thong leather studded with brass or iron, and that it was a necessary equipment of a fighting Higlilander. In charging regidar troops they received the thrust of the bayonet on this buckler, t^^dsted it aside, and used their broadsword against the encumbered soldier. I find fi-om Grose's " Military Antiquities," vol. 1, p. 164, that in 1745 most of the fi;ont rank of the clans were armed mtli bucklers, and in 1747 the privates of the 42nd regiment in Flanders Avere for the most part permitted to carry targets. In certain verses published by Dr. Barrett, there occurs a humorous account of an encounter between a Highlander and a Frenchman, each using his favourite weapons. It rmis thus : — " A Highlander once fought a Frenchman at Margate, The weapon a rapier, a back sword, and target. Brisk monsieur advanced as fast as he could. But all his fine pushes were caught in the wood ; And Sawney Avith back sword did slash him and nick him, While t'other, enraged that he could not once prick him, Cried ' Sirrah, you rascal, you son of a , 'Me will fight you, begar, if you'll come from your door.' " The buckler or target seems to have been in common use in the time of Queen Elizabeth in England, but the rapier Avas more popidar on the continent ; and if indeed \ R-VriER. 171 the sword aud buckler Avas ever used to any great extent abroad, it was in very early times superseded by the rapier. It seems clear that om* teachers of the noble science of self-defence with the weapons in vogue at different periods were either Italians or Frenchmen,— who made a groat mystery of their art and mode of instruction, and never permitted any person to be present but the scholar who was to be taught. They even examined, previous to giving a lesson, closets, beds, and other places of possible concealment. Their lessons, as appears in Bi-antome's " Discourse on Duels," often gave the most treacherous advantages, for the challenger ha\dng the choice of weapons frequently selected some sti'ange or miusual arm, the use of which he practised under his instructor, and thus killed at his ease his antagonist, to whom the mode of combat was presented for the first time on the field of battle. The name of the rapier or small sword seems to have been derived fi-om the French Avord rapicre, from the quickness of its motion when imparted by a clever per- former. Johnson designates it as "a small sword, used " only in thrusting," and this definition is borne out by several passages to be found in this chapter, in which the superiority of a thrusting over a cutting weapon is alluded to, the former being said to be far more dangerous than the latter. The term "rapier," as applied to a thrusting arm, is used by Shakspcare, (" King Eichard the Second," act 4, scene 1:) "I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, where it Avas forged, ^\i\\\ my rapier's point." That the rapier was considered a dangerous weapon, Avhen pitted against a 172 RAriER. broad or back SAvord, or any mere " cutting and slashing" weapon, appears both from the authorities which I have abeady alluded to, and also fi-om a passage in Pope's " Essay on Homer's Battles:" in which he states that "A "«oldier of far inferior strength may manage a rapier " or firearms so expertly as to be an overmatch for his " adversary." The bear-gardens were the usual places appointed by the masters of defence for public tiials of skill. " These " exliibitions," says Strutt, " became outi-ageous to hu- " manity, and only fitted for the amusement of ferocious " minds;" he fm-ther remarks " that it is astonishing that " they should have been frequented by females, for who " could imagine that the slicing of the flesh fr-om a man's " cheek, the scarifjdng of his arms, or laying the calves of " his legs upon his heels, Avere spectacles calculated to " delight the fair sex, or sufficiently attractive to command " their presence ? " No doubt sword and buckler play was conducted at some period in such a way as to be illegal on account of the danger involved in the exercise. Perhaps it might not be so perilous to life as the rapier game, in which all was thrust and the point alone iised, but sword play without the buckler must have been very dangerous and brutal; in proof of which suggestion I may be excused for giA'ing an extract from Tlie Spectator, or rather an abstract of one of the papers contamed in that charming series of articles, which convey to our minds such admi- rable and coiTCct notions of the manners and customs of the days in which they were published. Such sword SWORD TLAY. 173 play as is described in tlie paper Avhicli I am about to transcribe savours moi'e of modern prize figliting than of an innocent and harmless game, and most assmredly would, if conducted as described by " jNIr. Spectator," be now utterly and entirely illegal — more illegal, if there be any degrees in illegality, than a prize fight, for the simple reason that weapons were used not furnished by nature ; and the account would supply a thesis or text for a disquisition on the moot point, sword or fist. The article in Tlie Spectator is dated INIonday, July 21, and is to be found in the edition published by Tousou in 1749, vol. vi., p. 156, No. 436. It is headed by the well-kno^-n allusion to the custom amongst the Romans of turning do"\\Ti (or back) the thumb when the spectators of combats of gladiators wished that the fight should end by the death of one of the unfortunate men. Verso poUice vulgi Quemlibet occiduut popular iter. Juvenal, Sat. 3, v. 3G. Translated by Dryden — " Witli tliumbs bent back they popularly kill." The paper in Tlie Spectator runs thus: — " Being a person of insatiable cimosity, I could not " forbear going on Wednesday last to a place of no small *' renown for the gallantry of the lower order of Britons, " namely, to the Bear Garden at IIockley-in-the-Hole, " where (as a whitish-bro^Aii paper, put into my hands in " the street, informed me) there was to be a ti'ial of skill " to be exhibited between two masters of the noble science 174 SWORD PLAY. " of defence, at two of tlie clock precisely. I was not a " little charmed ^ntli the solemnity of the challenge, " which ran thus: 'I, James Miller, sergeant (lately come " ' from the fi-ontiers of Portugal), master of the noble " ' science of defence, hearing in most places where I have " ' been of the great fame of Timothy Buck, of London, " ' master of the said science, do invite him to meet me, " ' and exercise at the several weapons following, viz. : " * Back-sword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, " ' single falchon, case of falchons, quarter-staff.' If the " generous ardour in James' Miller to dispute the reputa- " tion of Timothy Buck had something resembling the old " heroes of romance, Timothy Buck retiu-ned answer in the " same paper with the like spirit, adding a little indigna- " tion at being challenged, and seeming to condescend to " fight James jNliUer, not in regard to ISIiller himself, but " in that, as the fame went about, he had fought Parkes, of " Coventry. The acceptance of the combat ran in these " words: * I, Timothy Buck, of Clare Market, master of " Uhe noble science of defence, hearing he did fight « ' Mr. Parkes, of Coventry, will not fail (God willmg) to « ' meet this fair inviter at the time and place appointed, " ' desiring a clear stage and no favour. Vivat Regina.' " I shall not here look back on the spectacles of the " Greeks and Romans of this kind, but must believe this " custom took its rise fi'om the ages of knight-en-antry ; " fr^om those who lov'd one woman so well, that they hated " all men and women else; from those who would fight " you, Avhether you were or were not of their mind ; from " those who demanded the combat of thefr contemporaries, SWORD PLAY. 175 " both for admiring their mistress or cliscommencling her. " I cannot, therefore, but lament that the ten-ible part of " the ancient fight is preserved, when the amorous side of " it is forgotten. AVe have retained the barbarity but lost " the gallantly of the old combatants. I could wish, me- " thinks, these gentlemen had consulted me in the promul- " gation of the conflict. I was obliged by a fair young " maid whom I understood to be called Elizabeth Preston, " daughter of the keeper of the garden, with a glass of " Avater, who I imagined might have been, for form's sake, *' the general representative of the lady fought for, and ** from her beauty the proper Amarillis on these occasions. " It woidd have ran better in the challenge — ' I, James ** ' IVliller, sergeant, who have travelled parts abroad, and " * came last from the frontiers of Portugal, for the love of " * Elizabeth Preston, do assert that the said Elizabeth is " * the fairest of women.' Then the answer — ' I, Timothy " ' Buck, who have stay'd in Great Britain dm-ing all the ** ' war in foreign parts, for the sake of Susanna Page, do *' * deny that Elizabeth Preston is so fair as the said " ' Susanna Page. Let Susanna Page look on, and I " ' desire of James Miller no favour.' " This Avould give the battle quite another tm-n ; and a " proper station for the ladies whose complexion was dis- " puted by the sword, would animate the disputants with " a more gallant incentive than the expectation of money " fi-om the spectators; though I Avould not have that neg- *' lected, but thrown to that fair one Avhose lover was *' approved by the donor. " Yet, considering the thing wants such amendments. 176 SWOED PLAY. " it was carried with great order. James Miller came on " jEirst, preceded by two disabled di-ummers, to show, " I suppose, tliat the prospect of maimed bodies did not " in the least deter him. There ascended with the daring " Miller, a gentleman, whose name I could not leam, with " a dogged air, as unsatisfied that he was not principal. " This son of anger lowered at the whole assembly, and " weighing himself as he march'd around from side to " side, mth a stiff knee and shoulder, he gave intimations " of the xjm-pose he smothered till he saw the issue of this " encounter. IMiller had a blue ribbon tied round the " SAVord arm, which ornament I conceive to be the remains " of that custom of wearing a mistress's favour on such " occasions of old. " Miller is a man of six foot eight inches height, of " a kind but bold aspect, well fashioned, and ready of his " limbs, and such readiness, as spoke his ease in them, was " obtained from a habit of motion in military exercise. " The expectation of the spectators was now almost at its " height, and the crowd pressing in, several active persons " thought they were placed rather according to their fortune " than their merit, and took it in their heads to prefer them- " selves from the open area or pit to the galleries. This " dispute between desert and property brought many to the " ground, and raised others in proportion to the highest " seats by turns, for the space of ten minutes, till Timothy " Buck came on, and the whole assembly giving up their " disputes, tm-ned their eyes upon the champions. Then it " was that every man's affection tmTied to one or the other " irresistibly. A judicious gentleman near me said, '1 SWOltD PLAY. 177 " 'covild, metliinks, be Miller's second, but I bad ratber " *have Buck for mine.' jNIiller bad an audacious look " tbat took tbe eye, Buck a perfect composure that engaged " tbe judgment. Buck came on in a plain coat and kept " all bis air till tbe instant of engaging, at wbicb time " he undressed to his shirt, his arm adorned with a bandage " of red ribbon. " No one can describe the sudden concern in tbe whole ** assembly ; the most tumultuous crowd in nature was as " still and as much engaged as if all their lives depended " on tbe first blow. Tbe combatants met in the middle of " the stage, and shaking hands as remo'S'ing all malice, " they retired with much grace to tbe extremities of it ; " from whence they immediately faced about and ap- " proached each other, Miller with a heart ftdl of reso- " lution. Buck with a watchful, imtroubled countenance ; " Buck regarding principally bis own defence, INIiiler " chiefly tbouglitful of annopng his opponent. " It is not easy to describe the many escapes and im- " perceptible defences between two men of quick eyes and " ready limbs ; but Miller's heat laid him open to the rebuke " of tbe calm Buck, by a large cut on the forehead. INIucb " effusion of blood covered his eyes in a moment, and the " huzzas of tbe crowd undoubtedly quickened the anguish. " The assembly was divided into parties upon their diffei-ent " ways of fighting ; while a poor n}Tnpb in one of the gal- " leries apparently suffered for Miller, and bm-st into a flood *' of tears. As soon as his wound was wrapped vip he came *' on again with a little rage, which still disabled him fur- " ther. But what brave man can be wounded into more B. N 178 SWOIID PLAY. " patience and caution ? The next Avas a warm, eager " onset, which ended in a decisive stroke on the left leg " of Miller. The ladj in the gallery, during this second " strife, covered her face ; and, for my part, I could not *' keep my thoughts from being mostly employed on the " consideration of her unhappy circumstance that moment, " hearing the clash of swords, and apprehending life or " Adctory concerned her lover in every blow, but not daring *' to satisfy herself on whom they fell. The womid was " exposed to the view of all who covdd delight in it, and *' sewed up on the stage. The surly second of Miller de- " clared at this time that he would that day fortnight " fight Mr. Buck at the same weapons, declaring himself " the master of the renowned Gorman ; but Buck denied " him the honour of that courageous disciple, and assert- " ing that he himself had taught that champion, accepted " the challenge. " There is something m natm^e very unaccountable on " such occasions, when we see the people take a certain " painfiil gratification in beholding these encounters. Is " it cruelty that administers this sort of delight ? Or is ** it a pleasm-e which is taken in the exercise of pity ? It " was, methought, jjretty remarkable that, the business of " the day being a trial of skill, the populai'ity did not run " so high as one would have expected on the side of Buck. " Is it that people's passions have their rise in self-love, " and thought themselves (in spite of all the courage they " had) liable to the fate of Miller, but could not so easily " thiiik themselves qualified like Buck." The article in The Spectator concludes with a quotation CHEATIXG IN SWOllD I'LAY. 179 from Cicero, or, as it was the fasliion then, to call that eminent writer and orator " Tally." Without troiibling my readers with the Latin version, I give the following free translation: — " The shows of gladiators may be thought barbarous and " inhumane, and I know not but it is so, as it is now prac- " tised ; but in those times, Avhen only criminals were com- " batants, the ear perhaps might receive many better in- " structions, but it is impossible that anything which affects " our eyes should fortify us so Avell against pain and death." That what is now called a cross, so common I regret to say, in the present time, both in horse racing and other popular pastimes, was not entirely unknown in the days of Queen Anne of blessed memory, seems clear from a letter in The Spectator, which is to be found in the same volume from which the above extract is taken. In Xo. 449 the folloTidng letter appears : — " Mr. Spectator, — " I was the other day at the Bear Garden, in hopes to ' have seen your short face, but not being so fortunate, ' I must tell you, by way of letter, that there is a mystery ' among the gladiators which has escaped yom- Specta- ' torial penetration. For being in a box at an alehouse, ' near that renowned seat of honoiu' above mentioned, ' I overheard tAvo masters of the science agreeing to ' quarrel on the next opportimity. This was to happen ' in the company of a set of the fraternity of Basket Hilts, ' who were to meet that evening. A^^len this was settled, ' one asked the other, ' AVill you give cuts or receive ? ' The other answered, ' Eeceive.' It was replied, ' Are X 2 ] 80 CHALLENGES TO FIGHT WITH SWORDS, *' ' jou a passionate man ? ' ' No, provided jou cut no " ' more nor no deeper than we agree.' I tliouglit it my " duty to acquaint you ^^At\\ tliis, tliat tlie people may not " pay their money for fighting and be cheated. " Yom' humble servant, " Scabbard Rusty." The following show bill, as advertising placards were then called, dated Jiily 13, 1709, is selected from a miscel- laneous collection of title pages, bills, &c. in the Harleian Collection, marked 115, and is so cm-ious that I shall transcribe it verbatim. It rmis thus : — " At the Bear Garden, in Hockley-m-the-Hole, near " Clerkenwell Green, a trial of skill shall be performed " between two masters of the noble science of defence, on *' Wednesday next, at two of the clock precisely. "I, George Gray, born in the city of Norwich, who " have fought in most parts of the West Indies, namely, *' Jamaica and Barbadoes, and several other parts of the " world, in all twenty-five times, and upon a stage, and *' never yet was worsted, and being now lately come to " London, do invite James Harris to meet and exercise " at these following weapons, namely, back- sword, sword " and dagger, sword and buckler, single falchon, and case "offalchons." " I, James Harris, master of the said noble science of " defence, who formerly rid in the Horse Guards, and " hath fought a hundi-ed and ten prizes, and never left a " stage to any man, will not fail, God Moiling, to meet *' this brave and bold inviter at the time and place ap- DESCIlirXION OF SWOllD PLAYING. 181 " pointed ; desiring sliarp swords, and fi'om him no favour. *' No person to be upon the stage hut the seconds. Vivat " Kegina !" Sword and dagger, alhidcd to in the list of accomplish- ments set forth by Mr. Sergeant Miller and George Gray, is mentioned by Shakspeare in the "Meny Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 1," in which INIaster Slender says, " I bruised my shin the other day in playuig at sword and " dagger Avitli a master of fence." " Back sword" and " falchion" are both described by Dr. Johnson, who says that: — "Back sword is fl-om back " and sword, a sword A\ath one sharp edge." An allusion to it is made by Arbuthnot in the follow- ing line: — Bull dreaded not old Lewis at backsword. He (Dr. Johnson) describes "the falchion" as " ensis " falcatus ; in French fauclion, a short crooked sword, a " c)Tneter:" and Shakspeare alludes to it thus: — I've seen the day with my good biting falchion, I would have made them skip ; I am old now. King Lear, act 5, scene 3. Drydcn, in his translation of the iEneid, mentions the arm : — Old falchions are new tempered in the fires ; The sounding trumpet every soul inspires. Ambrose Philips, an author, who gained some credit in the year 1712 by his play called "The Distrest Mother," 1 82 BRANTOME OX DUELS. which, afti3r all, is a mere adaptation of Raciue^s "Andro- " maque,'" also alludes to the falchion, — " "What siglis and tears Hath Eugene caused; how many widows curse His cleaving falchion." Dr. Johnson, who has thought Philips's name worthy of a place in his " Lives of English Poets," savs, " He has " added nothing to English poetry, yet at least half his " book deserves to be read." So much for the back sword, the sword and dagger, the sword and buckler, and the falchion. Of the rapier, or small sword, I have written in a some- what desultory manner, but I may refer those who are curious on the subject of this, the weapon with which the real true duel was and is fought, to the charming work of De Brantome, from which I would gladly quote whole passages, nay, pages and chapters, in the quamt old French of the original, if my space would allow the intro- duction of so much additional matter. At the same time, let me advise those who A^dsh to cull flowers of chivalrie from the doings of the brave knights whose feats are in his treatise Sur le Duello, chronicled, and especially such as relate to "Feu M. de la Chastaigneraye mon oncle," to turn to the book, to read it fi-om beginning to end, and then to ask themselves whether they were ever so much amused by the pervisal of a modern sensational tale as by "Les Memoires touchant les Duels," "par Le Seigneur " De Brantome." In the compilation of this little work I have kept QUARTER STAFF. 183 steadily before my eyes the question of legality or ille- gality as applied to the games of Avliicli I have given any account. Xo dou1)t when, as I have stated, danger or no danger is the test, it must be clear that weapons of steel or iron prima facie are more deadly, more Hkely to work mischief, than arms made of Avood. Still I have a vivid recollection of the performances ol a certain M. Lc Boucher, avIio came over to England some years ago to show us Avhat the Savate was as practised in France, and he most assuredly Adelded the quarter staff in such a way that unless his adversary was pretty much as skilfid as he was, there would be a very poor chance of his avoiding Avhat is called a " grele de coups," and, as it seemed to me, one fair crack on the head Avould have felled him to the gromid never to rise again ; as Bp'on did or did not write, it would be a case of " There let him lay." HoAvever, a fcAv words on the quarter staff as being almost as dangerous, when savagely manipulated, as the sword, whether used for thrusting or cutting, wiU satisfy the exigencies of this chapter. Dr. Johnson describes the quarter staff as " a staff of defence," and adds, that it is called quarter staff fi-om the manner of using it, one hand being placed at the middle, and the other equally between the end and the middle. He quotes the foUoAving passages under the head " Quarter Staff" :— " His quarter staff wliicli he could ne'er forsake, Hung half before and lialf behind his back." Dnjdcn. " Immense riches he squandered away at qitartcr staff 184 QUARTER STAFF. " and cudgel play, at wliicli he cliallenged all the coimtry " (^Arhuthnot). Johnson, in his Dictionary, frequently quotes Arbuthnot, and I trust that I shall not be considered impertinent for reminding my readers that he was a celebrated writer, physician to Prince George of Denmark and to Queen Anne, a cotemporary with and an ally of Pope and Swift, and that he is described as being a great "ndt, mthout ill- nature, and a most humane and amiable man. He was born in 1675, and died m 1735. I believe that quarter staff was and still is played in Devonshire and Cornwall, and I know that there is in existence a pamplilet, of the title page to which the follow- ing copy may be amusing : — " Tlu'ee to one, being an English- Spanish combat per- " formed by a western gentleman, of Ta\astock, in Devon- " shire, with an English quarter staff, against three rapiers " and poniards, at Sherries (Xeres), in Spain, in the *' presence of the dukes, condes, marquises and other " great dons of Spain, being the council of Avar ; the " author of this booke and actor in this encounter being " R. Peecke." On the same page is a rude woodcut re- presenting the hero with his quarter staff in the act of fighting with the three Spaniards, who are armed with long SAvords and daggers. To these my observations on this weapon I will only add that, notwithstanding the proverbial " perils which do " environ The man who meddles with cold iron," a six foot quarter staff in vigorous hands is a very formidable arm. I think I have now pretty well exhausted the subject of SINGLE STICK, FENCING, ETC. 185 sword playing and games or pastimes rendered illegal on account or by reason of the danger involved to life or limb. Of course a book might be -written, and, in fact, books have been written, on duels, whether with swords, pistols, or as that " recreation " is said to be practised m certain countries, bowie knives and nfles, l)ut sufficient it is to know that all duelling is utterly illegal in England, and that all fighting, with or Avithout dangerous weapons, with or without angry motives is, and ever will be, if I may be permitted to prophesy on a subject which needs no prophet, entirely offensive to our laws. Innocent play with weapons, such as fencing, and single stick playing, and boxing carried on without rancour — fairly and in moderation, is permitted to the full extent, but when the issue involves the maiming or disabling of the vanquished man, I may safely lay it down that the game, sport, pastime, or whatever it is called, is illegal, and that the offender is liable, either at common law or by statute, or by some judge-made law, to pimishment for haA-ing so conducted himself as to endanger the life or injm-e the body or limb of any one living under the rule of her Majesty the Queen of Great Britam and Ireland. CHAPTER XVI. Combats tnitlj gx^U at ^tnm in €bm (Linus. Chapter XVI. COMBATS WITH FISTS AT VENICE IN OLDEN TIMES. Having disposed of the subject of A^olent and illegal sports in which dangerous Aveapons are used, my attention has naturally been turned to violent and illegal sjiorts in Avhich the performers used only the Aveapons furnislied to them by nature. For reasons given in my eleventh chapter, I have determined to exclude all notice of prize-fighting in Eng- land. In the coiu'se of my researches, however, I have met with a curious accoimt of the combats with fists which for- merly prevailed, and which Avere A'ery popular, in Venice. It occurs in a Avork entitled " The City and Republick of " Venice. Originally AATitten in French by M. de S. " Desdier. London : Printed for Chas. Brome, at the " Gun, at the Avest end of St. Paul's, 1699." The chapter, AA'hich I think well worth the pervisal of my readers, is headed : — " OF THEIR B0XIN9, OR FIGHTS AT CUFFS," and rmis as follows : — " The City is diA'ided, as it has been obsei-A-ed, into Six " scA'eral Quarters, three being on this side, and as many " on the other side, of the Great Canal. Yet the Peoj)le 1 90 PUGILISM AT VENICE. " are divided,, only into Two Factions, each of wMcli lias " three Wards or Quarters in their Parties. The Castelani " are the first, who have that name from the quarter of " Castelo, in which is the Patriarchal Church at one of " the extremities of this City. The others are the Nico- '• letti, so called fi'om the Church of St. Kicholas at the " farthest end of the quarter, which has the greatest " number of Common People and Fishermen, Avho are the " bravest and those that make the best Sport in these " Engagements. So the Party of the Nicolettos has " commonly the Advantage over their Adversaries, the " Castelans. The Animosity of the People seems so " great in these Occasions which I am at present upon " describing, that one would think a People brought up in " these Partialities and in this manner so strangely divided " should never be able to live in that Union and Tran- " quillity which is necessary to the preservation of the " State. " There are among these sorts of People several Heads " of the Factions, who really believe that they cannot be " esteemed as Men of Worth if they engage into the op- " posite Party. Insomuch that they had rather miss a " good Opportunity of providing for their Daughters than " to marry them to a Man of the contrary Side. These " Partialities are not found to affect the Common People " only, but in some measure to reach the Nobility, avIio " declare themselves of the Faction of the Quarter they " live in. Yet Avith this Difference, that they esteem " these Boxing Matches for Diversions, which the meaner " People convert into an Affair of Importance and Kepu- PUGILISM AT VENICE. 191 " tation. And among; the rest even tlic strangers are " engaged into the parties, for such as come to Venice " from Chiosa are esteemed as Castelans, and those " who arri^-e here by ISIestre, or by Fucine, are reputed " Nicholettis. " There is no doubt but that the Republick can, vAih- " out much trouble, disperse these Partialities by con- " tinually preventing the two Parties from coming to " blows, as it sometimes happens. But the Senate is of the " Opinion, That if the People form a Conspiracy against " the State, or the Nobility, that it woidd be almost " impossible, for two such Opposite Factions, to unite so " far as to join in a Design of this nature. By Avhicli " means they think themselves seciu:e of one-half, or at " least to oppose the Designs of the other, by the ready " succom-s they might expect from the Contrary Party : " And the rather by reason that the Castelans esteem " themselves for a more civilized People than the Nico- " lettis ; as also more engaged to the Xobility and zealous " to the Government : Therefore the liepublick does not " only tolerate this Division already reigning in the " People but they like^vise increase it by permitting of it " to be obsem^ed, in that manner it is acted. " If the Presidents of the Council of Ten, who are the " principal Officers of the Civil Government, should per- " mit the fidl Liberty of these Fights to the People, so " great is the Animosity as likemse the desire of acquir- " ing the Reputation of being a Man tliat uses his Fists " icell, so strong among the Gondoliers and Populace : " that these Exercises woidd not only happen upon 192 PUGILISM AT VENICE. " every Holv-Day, as tliey frequently do upon certain " Bridges of the City ; but they would undoubtedly become " common to the Day, even throughout all Seasons of the " year. The difficulty which is found, in preventing these " Fights, when any of the Presidents of the Coimcil of " Ten are against it ; may be admitted as a very good " Instance of what is here said. For the Captain of *' Sbirris and his People are scarce able to get those " Orders obeyed ; being the Guard that is placed upon " St. Barnaby's Bridge, which is the usual Field of " Battel, and does only prevent them at that Place ; for " they are sure to seek others more remote, rather than " to be deprived of the Pleasure of Fighting. " Such of the Gondoliers as have acquired the Reputa- " tion of Good Boxers will not hire themselves, unless " they are permitted, by the Agreement, to signalize *' themselves in these Famous Occasions. Even the " little Children, that accidentally meet in the Streets, do " demand of each other, who they are for, and if they are " of Contrary Factions, they are certain not to part with- " out Blows. The Humour rims strangely upon this " rough Exercise, for the People do ever stop to behold " and encoiuage them ; even to such a Degree, that the " most general Diversion of this City, is the sight of the " ' Pugni,' as they are practised in almost all seasons of " the year ; being sometimes seen when the Ice is in the " Canals. The order that I did propose to myself has " not permitted me to speak of it in any other Place ; so *' I shall Conclude the Description of the Public Recrea- " tions with that of these Fights, which are of three diffe- PUGILISM AT VENICE. 193 " rent sorts, viz., La ISIontre, La Frotte, and tlie Battcl- " An-aj. " La Moxtre is that sort of Figlit wliicli is performed " hand to hand between two ]\Ien, l)ut with very singular " circumstances. The Bridge of St. Barnaby is usually " the Theater of these Tragy-Comedies; for this Bridge " hath an equal number of Steps on each side, as likewise " tAvo Keys, almost of an ecpial Bigness, Avhicli is pos- *' sessed by the Parties of the two Factions ; so that the ** Advantages in all respects are equal on both sides ; " Moreover, the Canal is long and directly straight, " whose Houses are for this means, conveniently situated *' for the great number of Spectators that flock hither " from all Parts of the Town, so soon as these Boxing " Matches are known. The Houses and Windows are " not only filled Avith them, but likewise the tops of the " Houses; the Keys and Neighbouring Bridges are " covered with them, as also the Barques and Gondolos " in the Canals. " Yet the particular Matches are not begun imtil the " Godfathers are come to the Bridge. These are two " serious and notable Burgers, who have by their Valour " in these sorts of Exercises, raised themselves to the " Dignity of Arbiters of Victory, and Judges of the " Bravery of the Combatants. These Worthies lay by " their Cloaks, and after several Conferences on both " sides for the Regulation of such things as miglit other- " wise occasion a Difference, they go up to the Top of the " Bridge which is built like others ; that is, flat about " fom' or five Paces in length, and three or four in li. o 194 PUGILISM AT VENICE. " breadth, Paved ^\atli Brick, and raised on eacli side " with Free Stone, but without any Rails or other " Secm-ity. These are the principal Articles of the Fight. " 1. They are not to strike their Adversary when they " have tin-own him upon the ground, without passing for " mean spirited and rmAvorthy the Honour of Fighting ; " therefore the Judges do immediately part them. " 2. That the Victory shall be declared in his behalf " that first draws Blood of his Adversary, at the Nose, " Mouth, or the Face, which is called * romper il mustaccio " et esser rotte.' But as the Combatants are not obliged " to open their Mouths and to show if those slaps on the " Chops have not moved the Blood ; so it is most " ridicidously pleasant to see them keep their Lips close " shut, and making signs to the Judges, that they are not " out of Heart, but resolved to dispute the Victory to ** their utmost. " 3. That in case there is no blood shed on either side " in the first three Heats, the Combatants shall go off and " make way for others, but they are made to Embrace by " the Judges, and so part good Friends. " 4. He that throws his Adversary into the Canal, is to " have a double Victory adjudged to him. " 5. And Lastly, If one of either Party presents *' himself, and none of the other dare to dispute it with " him, as it sometimes happens, that this Advantage shall " not be less esteemed, than if he had Vanquished his " Rival. So he that meets with this Piece of good " Fortmie, shows himself not a little proud of it ; for " ha^inff for some time stood to offer himself to all that rUGILlS3I AT VENICE. 195 " are willing to Answer tlie Challenge, lie salutes tlie " Company Avitli a Leg and his Cap, and retires. *' When Matters are thus order'd the Endeavours on " both Sides are equal, to go fii-st up to the Bridge, for to " show themselves the first Beginners of these Exercises, " who get immediately free of their Shoes and Waistcoats, " and sli2)ping their Shirts down to the AYaist, they roll it " about them, with the long Sashes which they usually " wear. They have a Glove on their Kight Hand, to the " end the Fist may be firmer, and their Hair being " tucked up under their Caps, they place themselves at " the two Angles opposite to the Platform of the Bridge ; " and the two Godfathers take their Standings on the other " two Sides ; leading to them the fiJl Liberty of the Field "of Battel " It is no small matter of Admiration to see with what " Strength and Fiuy the stoutest of These fellows do " accompany the Blows they give their Adversaries ; the " Soimd of which may be almost as far heard as seen, " which are commonly made at the Face or the small of " the Bibbs ; insomuch, that sometimes one of them is " knocked down with the fu'st stroke of his Enemy, when " it chances to light flill upon his Chin or Temple, which " lays him as flat as if he were Thunder-Struck. To see " them thus tumble manimate, and frequently brealdng " their Heads in the Fall ; one Avoidd not imagine that it " should pass for a trifle, and they recover again. " Others are so vigorous and sure of their Strokes, " which they repeat with so much Dexterity and Agility, " without ever commg to closing, or giving time to their O 2 196 PUGILISM AT VENICE. " Adversaries to look about tliem, but quickly oblige them " to seek their Safety, by leaping into the Canal ; imme- " diately expressing the Joy of so complete a Victory, " with their rebounding Capers, which are accompanied " by the repeated Huzzas of the People of that Faction. " The Venetian Gentry who are at the Windows on that " side of the Bridge vnth. their Party, are usually those " who make the most noise, and that show themselves " most affected with these Advantages ; who stretcliing " themselves out of the Windows, flom-ish their Handker- " chiefs in Testimony of the Victory's being on their side ; " as likewise to animate the remaining Combatants to an " ample Performance of their Parts. However, those " Accidents are no sooner over, and the Combatants " retired to their respective Parties, but their Places are *' instantly possessed by two others, who, that they may " not lose time, do generally stand ready stripped and in " a Posture of Engaging. This usually continues a whole " Afternoon before the Victory becomes determinable ; " upon which the Successful, have no other Prize, than " the Reputation and Glory of their brave Actions ; " which they are sufficiently careful to perpetuate even to " Posterity. For many of them will have themselves " painted in the Posture they are accustomed to Fight, " with their Names and the Particulars of their mighty " Deeds. " The latter end of the Day is concluded with reckoning " up the Kumber of Battels won and lost of each side, " which is ever very honourable to the superior Party : *' But what is the most regarded is the number of those PUGILISM AT VENICE. 197 " tliat are throAvn into the Canal ; as being what the " Combatants do most endeaA-onr to avoid, after thev arc " come to Closing by using their utmost efforts to pre- " serve themselves from the dis-i-ejiutation of such an " Overthrow ; rather choosing the worst of Conseqiiences, " from those terrible Falls that sometimes happen to " them bv lighting npon the steps of the Bridge, than " to be thrown into the A^'ater, where they meet with no " Contusions. But the pleasantest sight of all, is to behold " one of these Fellows throAvn over the Bridge, yet hang- " ing by his Adversary's Hair, and the other endeavom-ing " to avoid being drawn into the Water by him, who is most " an end finally obliged to follow him into the Canal, " where the AA^ater parts them ; for no sooner are they " over the Bridge, and from the Ground, but all Ani- " mosities cease ; each of them sti-uggling for himself; " and they the same good Friends they were before the « Fight. " La Frotte is an engagement of several that begins " accidentally and without design, but proceeds from the " impatience Avhicli the crowd of combatants show, when " they are once got to the B,endezvous, and the judges not " come regularly to receive the several parties, according to " the way of the ]Montre. The children being got first iij) " to the Bridge in imitation of the men, do commonly " begin to skirmish. The great boys insensibly mingling " themselves Avith them, render the dispute so wai'm until *' at length the men thinking their honours concerned for " to be ^Masters of the Bridge, do likewise engage in the " same fray. Then is tlie fight at tlie highest pitch, for 198 PUGILISM AT VENICE. " each party endeavours their iitmost to drive off the " enemy. This controversy is maintained with so much " obstinacy and heat, that great numbers of them are *' tumbled into the canal, who, notwithstanding their being " cloathed, do seem no more concern'd than if they had " fell upon straw. " Such as do not fight on these occasions use their utmost " endeavours to excite their parties to behave themselves " gallantly. The Venetian gentlemen encourage the " contenders, by sometimes promising them to rcAvard " their coui'age. It has several times happened that some " of these nobles have been so zealous for the reputation " of their factions that through indignation to those of " their party that have not behav'd themselves to their " minds, they have gone from the bridge, and sti-ipping *' themselves of their vests, have espoused the party with " the best of their endeavours, by their example inspiring " courage to the vanquish'd, and bringing them off with " victory, or at least by having more honorably contended " for it. " The Battel -Array is a general engagement that is *' made between the tAvo factions ; but with all the neces- " sary precautions that can be taken between the parties, " to render the fight more equal, that so the glory may be " entire to the victorious. " When Cardinal Cliigi was at Venice, Cardinal Delfino " that entertain'd him was very desirous to have shown " him this diversion, and was accordingly a considerable " time negotiating with the heads of both the parties, to " induce them to a general and famous Battel. The diffi- rUGILISM AT VENICE. 1 99 " culties were so great that the Cardinal in person solicited " those of the Artisans that had the greatest authority in " their factions. He went to their shops, caress' d, in- " treated and promis'd them to bestow a considerable *' prize on the victorious. " INIatters were at length agreed on, a bridge was chosen " upon the Key of the Incurables, which is very spacious. " The steps were made larger that were something smaller " than those on the other side of the Bridge ; and certain " places of the Key were taken in with planks which " otherwise would have permitted more space to the " Nicoletti's, than it was possible for the Castelans to " have. The fiu-y of the combat wholly possess'd the " thoughts of the people, nothing else was discoiu-s'd " among them : — insomuch that it seem'd as if the entire " overthrow of one of the parties was at hand. But the " Presidents of the Comicil of Ten, with much reason " fearing that this animosity, which had hitherto never *' appear'd so great, might be attended Avitli dangerous " consequences, thought it absolutely requisite to forbid " the Battel. So, imless these parties do secretly agree " between themselves there is no general Battel, or Guerra " ordinota to be seen, yet when it happens the greatest " part of the combatants provide themselves with Back " and Breast Pieces of Gilt Pasteboard, Avliich they put " over their naked bodies, both for the finery of the show, *' as also to break the force of their adversaries stroaks. " The victory of this Battel, consists in getting posses- " sion of the Bridge, for which reason it do's not so much " depend upon the dint of Blows, as upon the endeavours 200 PUGILISM AT YExMCE. " of both parties to drive away tlieir adversaries. Yet " that the dispute may begin upon equal terms, the com- " batants put themselves in order. The first ranks are " brought close to each other, upon the very center of the " brido-e. Then they begin to break each others ranks " with the greatest fuiy, but they being well supported, " and each side alternatively push'd by the other, such " violent efforts are usually made by the great number of " contenders that they in the first ranks are of com-se " borne from the groimd, or the main bodies being closer " joined than the flanks, those of both the right and left " sides are consequently so violently press'd by the center, " as they are sometimes forc'd to leap into the water, by " fifties and sixties at a time. " In this condition only the first ranks of the two parties " are able to fight who are yet obliged to hold their " hands up to have the free exercise of them : the hind- " most are sure to get upon their companions, and passing " over their heads go to attack their enemies whose noses *' and faces woidd imdoubtedly suffer without any danger " to the assailants if they of the contrary party did not " take the same method, insomuch that the fight of this " second story becomes more ten'ible than the other. In *' which occasions the utmost endeavours being repeated " with all imaginable fury to bring each others flanks into " disorder, the greatest confusions happen at which time " they are borne by crowds into the Canal. Insomuch " that it is really wonderful that these fights are not " terminated with the death of a great many of the com- " batants. Besides the heat of their contention do's so PUGILISM AT VENICE. 201 " animate this multitude of people, and the indignation of " the inferior jiarty is so great that they would undoubtedly " betake themselves to their arms ; if the order was not " very exact and rigorous in preventing the danger of " these accidents. However it has sometimes happened " that the pavement of the Key has been torn up, to make " use of the stones for want of other arais ^\hereby it is " not Avithout some reason that this fight is called by the ** Venetians, una stragrje di Christiani. The rejoycings " of the victorious are continu'd for three days after the " fight, for which purpose a boat is adorn'd mth garlands, " and a great crown hung in the middle, which they con- " duct with beat of di'um, through all the Canals and " quarters of their party as likeAvise to the houses of the " nobles as most espous'd their cause, who always bestow " some money or baiTels of wine on them to solemnize " the glory of the victory. By night they walk up and " down with flambeaus of straw, foUow'd by the boys who " run after them on the Keys, perjjetually huzzaing the " name of their faction. The vanquished on the conti'ary " are so mortifi'd, as some of them dare not retm-n to " their habitations; for their wives have sometimes not " only refus'd them entrance, but driven them away : " regaling their cowardize with the most injurious terms, " Via di qua infami, por chi vituperosi, ^c." The above chapter fi.*om a not very well-known work A^-ill be interestmg to my readers, and at the same time a sub- stitute for any account of our ovm. prize-fighting and prize- fighters, of wdiich and of whom, for reasons previously given, I have determined to say nothing. Lest, however, it 202 THE VENETIAN GONDOLIER AND FIGG. might be sugs^ested tliat tliese famous gondoliers were able to meet us on our o^vn soil, and to beat us at our own pecu- liar game, I may be excused for quoting a passage from a work by Captain Godfrey, who was the first author who wrote on the science of self-defence Avith nature's weapons on anything like a reasonable plan, and in anything like a readable form. I find in his treatise the follo^^dng passage : — " It was about this period that the whole boxing hemi- " sphere was up in arms, occasioned by insolent thi-eats of ** the English laiu'els being torn from their native soil and " transplanted into a foreign land. A Venetian gondolier " threw do^vn the gauntlet, boasting that he would break " the jaw-bone of any one who might have the temerity to " meet him. He was a man of prodigious strength, pos- *' sessing an arm not only very large and muscular, but *' sui'prisingly long. His fame ran before him, and his " impetuosity Avas described to be irresistible. He was " considered a good subject for winning. He was matched " against Figg, Avhose superiority was at once manifested, " and the gondolier became an easy Aactory." Figg died in 1740, so that this combat must have taken place about the period dm-ing which the Venetian gondo- liers are said to have been so formidable, according to the work fi'om wliich I have extracted the main substance of this chapter. I find that a man who fought under the name of the Venetian Gondolier was beaten in the prize ring in three roimds by Bob Whittaker in the year 1733. The respect- able Bob was afterwards, and in the same year, beaten by THE VENETIAN GONDOLIER AND FIGG. 203 a man bearing the name of Xat. Pearti-ce, so that the Venetian who came over to represent the j^rowess of his fellows, if he be the same man who was so unceremoniously treated by Figg, "took nothing by his motion," as the lawyers would say. CHAPTER XVII. 6amcs ixibiclj babe irccomc obsolete, pirriliT bn reitsoii jof ^tututablc |)robibitioit rnxti purib bjr xt