UC-NRLF 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
THE 
 
 tOLD SPORTS 
 
 v 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH WOOD-GUIS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHARLES KNIGHT, 22, LUDGATE-STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXXV. 
 
 35 
 
LONDON : 
 Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS, 
 
 Stamford-Street. 
 
 i 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 INTRODUCTION . . . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 HUNTING . . 7 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 HAWKING AND FOWLING . . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FISHING .... 34 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 HORSE -RACING .... 42 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 ARCHERY .... 49 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TOURNAMENTS .... 62 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 POETS OF THE OLDER AND MIDDLE AGES . J6 
 
 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 ~Pa.se 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS . .86 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 CHRISTMAS SPORTS NEW YEAR'S DAY MORRIS DANCE 91 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 CHRISTMAS SPORTS (continued) . . 100 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 SKAITING AND VARIOUS GAMES . . 110 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 SAINTS' DAYS, AND OTHER HOLY DAYS 120 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MAY DAY AND MIDSUMMER 129 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RURAL HOLIDAYS, WAKES, WATER-SPORTS, SUPER- 
 STITIONS . . . .139 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 SEDENTARY GAMES. CONCLUSION . 151 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. SAXONS UNEARTHING A FoX . . 11 
 
 2. HUNTING DRESSES OF THE 15TH CENTURY . 14 
 
 3. IZAAK WALTON ... 37 
 
 4. RACE-HORSE . . . .42 
 
 5. CROSS-BOWMAN ... 52 
 
 6. LONG-BOW ARCHERS . . .57 
 
 7. TOURNAMENTS ... 65 
 
 8. QUINTAIN . . . .67 
 
 9. TILTING .... 69 
 
 10. ANCIENT BRITISH BARD . . .77 
 
 11. COVENTRY PLAY ... 86 
 
 12. MORRIS DANCERS . . ,99 
 
 13. LORD OF MISRULE ... 101 
 
 14. QUARTER- STAFF . ,113 
 
 15. MAY-POLE .... 131 
 
 16. HARVEST.HOME, or COTSWOLD . . 139 
 
 17. SAXON SLINGERS . . . 143 
 
 18. NORMAN CHESS-PLAYERS * . 154 
 
THE 
 
 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I DARE say, my young friends,, that there are 
 few amongst you who, when fairly tired out by 
 a long and successful game of play, have not 
 sometimes sought the company of friends who,, 
 though older than yourselves, are still, perhaps, 
 fond of witnessing and encouraging in others the 
 fun in which they now no longer participate. 
 You will have enjoyed your pleasure over again 
 in relating to these kind friends all the wonders 
 you have achieved, your hair-breadth escapes, 
 and the dexterity you have displayed. After 
 telling your own exploits, you may have pro- 
 ceeded to ask them what they did when they 
 were young, and if the amusements of their day 
 were the same as those of the present. You 
 may likewise have asked their assistance in the 
 furtherance of any idea that might have struck 
 
2 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 you as an improvement of some favourite game, 
 grounding your request on the plea, " You must 
 have done this before, and therefore you can 
 tell us all about it." When you have received 
 all the assistance they were able to give, and 
 had discussed your own plays over and over, 
 you may have gradually fallen into conversations 
 of a more improving kind, and have listened with 
 some interest to what they were able to tell you 
 of the customs and sports of past times, and of 
 the origin and invention of many of those very 
 games which you had till then only thought- 
 lessly pursued. 
 
 If any of you have grandpapas and grand- 
 mammas who are yet able and willing to talk 
 with you about this, your good fortune is great, 
 and no doubt such of you often get more credit 
 among your wondering companions, and become 
 more important personages among them, by re- 
 tailing the information you gain in these plea- 
 sant chats, than you could possibly gain by 
 merely joining in their plays* Often, I dare 
 say, you have betaken yourself to grandpapa at 
 those hours when " nobody can interrupt us," 
 and, sitting down quite comfortably, have gone 
 over all the old ground., and asked every ques- 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 tion you could think of most likely a great 
 many more than he could answer but still he 
 has been able to tell you a great deal; and then, 
 perhaps, he has added accounts of customs and 
 manners long since gone by, but which, even in 
 disuse, have still influenced, though unmarked, 
 your own manners and thoughts. 
 
 This is the first step to history ; for what is 
 history but the account of what people said and 
 did long ago, related by them to their children, 
 and by them told again to others ? Inquiries 
 into the customs of our ancestors, which, from 
 length of time, have become obscure, constitute 
 a portion of the amusement and occupation of 
 the antiquary. It was to the ardour with which 
 he followed these researches, to his accurate 
 memory, and to the keen judgment which he 
 exercised about them, joined to the delightful 
 manner in which he imparted his knowledge to 
 others, that Sir Walter Scott owed his great cele- 
 brity as the poet and historian of chivalry, the 
 chronicler of ancient manners, and the devoted 
 lover of brown heath and shaggy wood. You 
 have all, perhaps, read some of his works, and 
 1 am sure they must have charmed you. 
 
 I well remember what I would sometimes, in 
 
 132 
 
4 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 my childhood, have given for advice how to dress 
 up such and such a character in proper costume, 
 or for a little information respecting some chival- 
 rous etiquette ; for the scenes of my pastimes 
 were generally laid among knights and warriors 
 and things of the olden time; and how often 
 was I obliged to give up the whole affair for 
 want of knowledge how to manage it. When I 
 was young, there were few books on such sub- 
 jects, except great works written in black 
 letter, which I could not read, and some very 
 learned books, which were a great deal too dear 
 for me to buy. Those days are now happily 
 gone by. But even my unsuccessful attempts 
 were the means of my acquiring some little in- 
 formation ; and though I no longer wish to dress 
 myself up like a character of past times, and am 
 now content with reading of the facts I once 
 wished to represent, yet I still take great plea- 
 sure in seeing those who are growing around 
 me amusing themselves in the same manner. 
 And as I have no grandchildren to drag from 
 me the little I know, I feel inclined to offer to 
 all those whom it may concern, my little stock 
 of knowledge respecting the diversions, games, 
 and ancient customs of England. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 Most games, if we had the means of tracing 
 them to their origin, would probably be found 
 to have been imitations of something of higher 
 importance ; and many practices which now seem 
 without meaning were first instituted for the 
 general advantage and protection of man or 
 beast. Many a condition found in old charters 
 is unintelligible to us, till a little reflection on the 
 habits of life of our ancestors, and the precau- 
 tions they were obliged to resort to for protec- 
 tion of their lives and properties, shows us the 
 wisdom that in those times dictated observances, 
 which, from the improved state of society, have 
 long been disused ; or, from the form only being 
 retained, have appeared frivolous and capricious 
 requisitions. 
 
 One of these, by no means the most striking, 
 but it is the only one which occurs to me at this 
 moment, may serve as an illustration to my re- 
 mark. In some enactment respecting territorial 
 rights, persons were forbidden " to dam the 
 water so high but that a bee may sit on the 
 head of the nail in the middle of the stake, and 
 drink, and enjoy the water, without wetting its 
 feet and wings." Now, it needs not much thought 
 to discover the injury that must result to pro- 
 
 B 3 
 
b OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 perty by the damming up a stream so as to cause 
 it to overflow ; and besides this, the bee may be 
 considered as the type of the care and protection 
 that ought to be extended even to the smallest 
 creature. 
 
 Having said thus much by way of introduc- 
 tion,, let us now proceed to my chief object, 
 which is to review the customs, sports, and di- 
 versions of our ancestors. In so doing, we shall, 
 perhaps, find light thrown upon many an appa- 
 rently unmeaning record ; and, at all events, I 
 hope we shall meet at least with present amuse- 
 ment. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 HUNTING. 
 
 As it would occupy more time and space than 
 we can afford to enumerate and then describe 
 all the various pastimes and customs of our 
 forefathers, it will perhaps be best to observe 
 some chronological order; and as hunting, in 
 its various forms,, appears to have been the one 
 which " the social savage, man/' first subjected 
 to laws, we cannot do better than begin by 
 examining a little into the different modes of 
 hunting and hawking. For this purpose, I 
 will first say a few words respecting the former 
 state of the country which is now called the 
 British Isles, comprehending England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, and Wales. 
 
 When the Romans first invaded Britain, they 
 found the inhabitants a bold and active people, 
 tenacious of liberty, and capable of bearing much 
 fatigue. To fatigue, indeed, they were accus- 
 tomed, from the nature of their amusements, 
 which consisted of hunting, running, leaping, 
 and swimming. The people of Devonshire and 
 
8 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Cornwall consider the skill they yet retain in 
 wrestling and hurling as a proof of their British 
 origin. The Britons lost a good deal of this 
 character after their country had been reduced 
 to the state of a Roman province ; but the arrival 
 of the Saxons many years afterwards caused a 
 total change in their manners, customs, and 
 habits. These conquerors introduced the pas- 
 times common to the northern nations, which 
 for the most part consisted in feats of bodily 
 prowess and skill. There was a king of Norway, 
 called Olaf Tryggveson, who was considered the 
 strongest and most skilful man in his dominions. 
 He could climb the tremendous rock Smalser- 
 horn, and fix his shield on the top of it; he 
 could walk round the outside of a boat on the 
 oars while the rowers were plying them; he 
 could play with three darts, alternately throwing 
 them in the air, and always keeping two up 
 while he held the third in his hand a feat 
 since emulated by the Indian jugglers; he 
 moreover surpassed all men in shooting with 
 the bow, and had not his equal in swimming. 
 In process of time, a little learning was added 
 to these accomplishments. We read of another 
 Northman who boasted that he could also en- 
 
HUNTING. 9 
 
 grave the Runic letters : what these were I may 
 tell you by and bye. 
 
 To the Saxons succeeded the Normans; but 
 no great change was introduced by them in the 
 games and amusements of the people. In fact, 
 the attention of the Norman nobles was almost 
 exclusively turned to the chace a diversion 
 which has been generally allowed to be the 
 most manly and honourable, perhaps from its 
 sort of resemblance to warfare, and which has, 
 therefore, obtained the precedence over all others. 
 
 In tracing the progress of this sport we need 
 not ascend higher than the time of the Roman 
 invasion, when the Britons were found to be ex- 
 pert hunters. And of their hunting it may be 
 enough to say that, in Caesar's time, the hare 
 was not esteemed an animal of the chace by the 
 Britons, who did not eat its flesh. But the 
 Northmen (by which term is understood Danes, 
 Swedes, Norwegians, and those of the sea-rovers 
 or piratical adventurers, sent out by those coun- 
 tries under their Sea-kings and Jarls, who settled 
 on the islands dotted about the northern seas) 
 were the great hunters of Europe. 
 
 In the ninth century the education of a noble- 
 man was not completed until he had acquired a 
 
10 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 certain degree of skill in this exercise. The 
 tribute of wolves' heads imposed by Edgar, and 
 the order of the payment of fines in hawks and 
 strong- scented dogs, put forth by Athelstan after 
 he had obtained the victory over Constantine, 
 King of Wales, at the battle of Brunansbugh, 
 are proofs of the esteem in which the chace was 
 held in those days ; and even Edward the Con- 
 fessor a king more fitted for the cloister than 
 the throne though he would join in no worldly 
 amusements, yet, we are told, took " delight to 
 follow a pack of swift dogs and cheer them with 
 his voice." There is an old illumination, as 
 the paintings that adorn ancient MSS. are tech- 
 nically called, representing the unearthing of a 
 fox, of which I shall give you a copy; for though 
 not quite in the style of Landseer, our great 
 modern painter of animals, yet it is curious, as 
 showing the state of the art at this time, as well 
 as the hunting scene. 
 
 The first Norman Kings of England made 
 very severe laws concerning the killing of game. 
 These despotic proceedings were not confined 
 to Royal hunters ; the nobles also esteeming the 
 right of chace their own, and enforcing it with 
 all their power. The New Forest, which had 
 
HUNTING. 13 
 
 been set apart for hunting in the Saxon time, 
 was greatly enlarged by William the Conqueror. 
 John Rous says, the first park made in England 
 was that of Woodstock, near Oxford, which was 
 inclosed by Henry I. within a stone wall of seven 
 miles in circumference : in this he is wrong, for 
 parks are several times mentioned in the Domes- 
 day Survey, though under the Normans they in- 
 creased, and Woodstock park was probably the 
 first which was surrounded by a wall of stone. 
 King John was famous for his love of hunting; 
 and he used to receive horses, hounds, and 
 hawks in payment for the renewal of grants, as 
 well as of fines, forfeitures, &c., to the crown. 
 
 In the time of Edward II. this pastime was 
 reduced to a perfect science, and rules esta- 
 blished for its practice; and his son, Edward III., 
 took with him to France, when he invaded that 
 country, sixty couples of stag-hounds. In the 
 famous Forest-charter of King Henry III., it is 
 decreed that no man shall lose life or limb for 
 killing the king's deer, which I think proves 
 pretty clearly the harshness with which such 
 offences had been visited before that clause was 
 introduced into this charter, and so made law. 
 The same charter also allows an archbishop, a 
 bishop, an earl, and a baron, when travelling 
 
14 
 
 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 through the king's forests,, to kill one or two 
 deer in sight of the forester ; and if this forest- 
 officer were not at hand, they are directed to 
 blow a horn first, that it might not appear as 
 though they had intended to steal the game. 
 The clergy at all times had the privilege of hunt- 
 ing on their own inclosures or parks. Queen 
 Elizabeth was very fond of the chace, and is said 
 to have been "disposed to hunting, for every 
 second day she is on horseback, and continues 
 the sport long." 
 
 Engraved from Strutt's Costumes. 
 
HUNTING. 15 
 
 The annexed drawing shows the hunting 
 dresses of the fifteenth century. The citizens 
 of London were allowed to hunt and hawk in 
 certain districts, but they appear to have been 
 formerly, as now, a little laughed at for their 
 field-sports. In 1226, Henry III. confirmed to 
 them free warren, or liberty to hunt, in a circuit 
 of a fixed extent about their city, including the 
 warren of Staines ; and in ancient times the 
 Lord Mayor, aldermen, and corporation, at- 
 tended by certain of their constituents, availed 
 themselves of this right of chace, "in solemn 
 guise." 
 
 Privileges to hunt in certain districts were fre- 
 quently granted to individuals, on various con- 
 ditions, some of which were fanciful enough. As 
 for instance, that by which Bert rand de Criol 
 held the manor of Seaton, in Kent, from Ed- 
 ward I. : he was to provide a man, called a vel- 
 trarius, or huntsman, to lead three greyhounds 
 when the king went to Gascony, and to do so as 
 long as a pair of shoes, valued at 4d. y should 
 last him. Fourpence, you know, was not then 
 so trifling a sum as it now is. 
 
 The animals to be pursued were divided into 
 two classes. The first class contained four, which 
 
16 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 were properly called beasts for hunting : namely, 
 the hare, the hart, the wolf, and the wild boar. 
 The second class of the beasts of chace was 
 divided again into two : the first division, called 
 beasts of sweet flight, contained the buck, the doe, 
 the bear, the rein-deer, the elk, and the spyland 
 (a hart of great age) ; the second division, 
 called beasts of stinking flight, comprehended 
 the fulimart, the fitch, the wild cat, the grey or 
 badger, the fox, the weasel, the martin, the 
 squirrel, the white rat, the otter, the stoat, and 
 the polecat. 
 
 You may perhaps wonder to see some animals 
 here mentioned which do not now exist in Eng- 
 land; but you must remember that the clearing 
 of woods and forests made a great change in the 
 face of the country. Many species of animals 
 perished in consequence, for want of the space 
 required by their roaming habits ; and others 
 were purposely destroyed on account of the mis- 
 chief they did, which, when domestic animals 
 were more attended to, became intolerable. 
 
 The swan was a royal bird, and in Edward 
 IV. *s time no one was permitted to keep one 
 who did not possess a freehold of five marks 
 yearly, excepting the king's son. Any person 
 
HUNTING. 17 
 
 taking the eggs of swans was liable to a fine at 
 the king's pleasure. It used to be a custom 
 among the citizens of London to go in array 
 swan-hopping, as it was called, as far as Barn 
 Elms, on the Thames, in their barges. The 
 word swan-hopping is a corruption of swan- 
 upping, which signifies the official duties of the 
 visiters to take up the swans and mark them. 
 As a proof of the esteem in which these grand 
 birds were held in former times, I may tell you 
 that, in an old tract, mention is made of a court, 
 certainly now no longer known, called fs The 
 King's Majesty's Justices of Sessions of Swans." 
 It appears in certain ancient swan-rolls, that the 
 King's swans were always doubly marked upon 
 the bills, and had what was called two nicks, 
 or notches. The term, in process of time, not 
 being understood, a double animal was invented, 
 unknown to the Egyptians and Greeks, with the 
 name of the Swan with two necks ; whence ori- 
 ginated the sign of the well-known inn in Lad 
 Lane. 
 
 The dangers of the chacehave no doubt added 
 to its charms, and those often form the most 
 striking part of the hunter's tales. It was gene- 
 rally admitted that a wound from a deer's horn 
 
18 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 was more dangerous than what was called a wild 
 boar's gaunct ; and an old rhyme that one often 
 meets with goes to this effect : 
 
 " If there be hurt with horn of hart 
 
 It brings thee to thy bier j 
 But tusk of boar shall leeches heal, 
 Thereof take lesser fear." 
 
 A peculiar language was invented by the 
 sportsmen of the middle ages, which it was 
 necessary for those who loved the chace to be 
 acquainted with ; and as these terms are not to 
 be met with in every book on the subject, I will 
 copy some of them, though many are now dis- 
 used. When beasts went together in companies, 
 there was said to be a pride of lions; a lepe of 
 leopards ; a herd of harts, bucks, and all kinds 
 of deer ; a beg of roes ; a sloth of bears ; a sin- 
 gular of boars ; a rounder of wild swine ; a drift 
 of tame swine ; a route of wolves ; a harras of 
 horses ; a stud of mares ; a rag of colts ; a pace 
 of asses ; a barren of mules ; a team of oxen ; a 
 drove of kine; a flock of sheep ; a tribe of goats ; 
 a sculk of foxes ; a cete of badgers ; a richess of 
 martens ; a ferynes of ferrets ; a huske or dozen 
 of hares ; a nest of rabbits ; a clowder of cats ; 
 a kendal of young cats ; a shrewdness of apes ; 
 
HUNTING. 19 
 
 and a labour of moles. When animals retired 
 to rest, a hart was said to be harboured ; a buck 
 to be lodged; a roe-buck bedded; a hare formed; 
 a rabbit set. Two greyhounds were called a 
 brace, three a leash ; but two spaniels or harriers 
 were called a couple ; a number of hounds were 
 called a mute ; to which may be added a litter 
 of whelps and a cowardice of curs. The same 
 technical language was applied to birds. When 
 they were assembled in companies, the terms of 
 art were, a rege of herons and bitterns ; a herd 
 of swans, cranes, and curlews; a dopping of 
 sheldrakes ; a spring of teals ; a covert of coots ; 
 a gaggle of geese ; a badelynge of ducks ; a sord 
 or sute of mallards ; a muster of peacocks ; a 
 nye of pheasants *; a bevy of quails ; a covey of 
 partridges ; a congregation of plovers ; a flight 
 of doves ; a dule of turtles ; a walk of snipes ; a 
 fall of woodcocks ; a brood of hens ; a clutch of 
 chicken ; a building of rooks ; a murmuration of 
 starlings; an exaltation of larks ; a flight of swal- 
 lows; a host of sparrows; a watch of nightingales; 
 and a charm of goldfinches. 
 
 It would occupy too much time to dwell on 
 
 * Observe how, by changing the n from one word to the other, 
 a nye has become the modern term, an eye. 
 
20 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the various modes of hunting, ancient and mo- 
 dern ; but I think a short account of a modern 
 day of sport, taken from Mr. Eraser's " Highland 
 Smuggling," will prove to you that the enjoyment 
 and excitement of hunting is not over in these 
 days of ours. 
 
 " Upon the appointed day a muster of the 
 country was held, for many of the neighbouring 
 gentlemen had been invited to partake of the 
 sport ; and so extensive were the woods, so in- 
 tricate the coveys, that the hunt was expected to 
 continue at least two full days. The weather 
 was fortunately fine and frosty, the gentlemen 
 talked high of their promised sport, calculated 
 the chances of success,, and laid bets on the 
 future exploits. The morning dawned at length ; 
 
 i O O 7 
 
 a hearty dram served as a preface to a most solid 
 breakfast. Dire was on this occasion the de- 
 struction of ham, pork, and mutton, steaks and 
 collops of venison, dipped salmon, smoked had- 
 docks, eggs, butter and cheese, bread, both oaten 
 and wheaten. At length the most persevering 
 were brought to a standstill; the sportsmen rose 
 from their repast, and shouldered their fowling 
 pieces ; game-bags were buckled on, smart game- 
 keepers and well-dressed Highlanders, kilted to 
 
HUNTING. 21 
 
 the knees, bustled about, and bare-legged boys 
 and lads ran hither and thither for clubs and 
 staves to beat the bushes ; and now there was a 
 shouting, and whooping, and roaring out ol 
 orders, and baying and howling of dogs. The 
 keepers, in the mean time, who were taking 
 some a higher, others a lower direction, pressed 
 round to the end of that portion of the cover 
 which was to be first beat, so as to inclose the 
 game, and drive it towards the sportsmen sta- 
 tioned in the passes. After a while, the deep 
 bay of a hound might be heard, and then another 
 and another, as in succession they struck the 
 scent of some animal ; and the foremost of the 
 party might hear the whiz of wings, as a black 
 cock or heath hen was roused; distant shouts 
 and the crashing of boughs were the next sounds 
 that struck upon the ear, and now the quick and 
 practised hunter might occasionally detect, among 
 the boles of the trees, the shrinking form of the 
 beautiful roe-deer; hares skirred about, and the 
 rush and the whistle of wings became more fre- 
 quent. At length a sharp report, ringing more 
 sharply in the frosty air, and rattled back by merry 
 echoes, proclaimed that the work of death had 
 begun. The attention is rapidly called to another 
 
22 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 quarter, where three or four dropping shots de- 
 clare that they have each been aiming at separate 
 objects. But all such speculations are now sus- 
 pended by the fast- coming claims to each man's 
 attention, as black cock, hare, or roe, now com- 
 pletely roused, sweep past with the swiftness of 
 lightning ; by and by, however, the game ceases 
 to press, and the firing decreases to a single shot 
 dropping now and then. The first of the beaters 
 are seen advancing through the copse-wood, and 
 the tongues which had been so long tied in 
 anxious silence are unloosed, and a hundred 
 rapid exclamations are heard, referring to the 
 success of each sportsman, in short and pithy 
 bursts." 
 
 From this they proceed to the deeper parts of 
 the glen after the red deer ; but it is impossible 
 to shorten the description, or give it in this little 
 space. I can, however, fancy that already I hear 
 you boys, who prefer hare-and-hounds to other 
 plays, exclaim, after reading this extract, that 
 though hunting may not be exactly as important 
 business in these days as it formerly was, yet it is 
 good enough for you ; that you long to try your 
 hand at what remains of it ; that by and by you 
 will revive all the old customs ; and that your 
 
HUNTING. ' 23 
 
 dogs and horses shall be talked of far and near ; 
 that your boast shall be, like that of Duke 
 Theseus in the " Midsummer Night's Dream/' 
 
 " My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
 So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung 
 With ears that sweep aw.ay the morning dew ; 
 Crook-kneed and dewlapped, like Thessalian bulls ; 
 Slow in pursuit, and matched in mouth like bells." 
 
 All this is very well; the amusement is manly; 
 and to it we owe our fine breeds of dogs and 
 horses ; but remember that the exclusive love of 
 hunting has brought uncounted evils with it. Our 
 early Norman kings were detested by their sub- 
 jects for their selfish pursuit of game, and their 
 tyrannical mode of preserving it to their own use ; 
 and while the feudal lord imitated their example, 
 the people suffered for the amusement of their 
 masters. Even in modern times the mere hunter 
 or sportsman is, to say the least of it, but a poor 
 character ; and is now, fortunately, less fre- 
 quently met with than formerly. There are, 
 however, even now many professed sportsmen 
 who carry the subject, and all its technicalities, 
 into mixed company, foolishly supposing that 
 what is their principal concern must be that also 
 of half the world. A little reflection, and a little 
 forbearance, will steer you clear from such ill 
 manners. 
 
24 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The undue devotion to any mere amusement, 
 and the unfitness of such conduct,, was never 
 more pointedly or playfully described than by 
 Sir Walter Scott in the " Bride of Lammer- 
 muir," where Bucklaw, one of those said despe- 
 rate hunters, cannot,, even in the presence of 
 ladies, keep from his woodland idiom. We are 
 told, " It was not without a feeling of pity, bor- 
 dering on contempt, that this enthusiastic hunter 
 observed Lucy Ashton refuse the hunter's knife 
 presented to her for the purpose of making the 
 first incision in the stag's breast, and thereby 
 discovering the quality of the venison.' 1 Upon 
 her complimenting him on his boldness in attack- 
 ing the stag at a dangerous moment, for she and 
 others had witnessed the close of the chace, 
 " It is all use and wont, Madam," he replied, in 
 hunter's phrase; " but I will tell you for all that, 
 it must be done with caution, and you will do 
 well, Madam, to have your hunting sword both 
 right sharp and double-edged, that you may 
 strike either forehanded or backhanded, as you 
 know a wound from a buck's horn is a perilous 
 and somewhat venomous matter." 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 HAWKING AND FOWLING. 
 
 To turn now from hunting, of which we have 
 said fully as much as our limits will allow, to 
 hawking, I think this sport is not traced much 
 beyond the fourth century ; but however that 
 may be, it had been practised abroad before it 
 became fashionable here. And wherever it was 
 known, to excel in it was one of the many accom- 
 plishments required of the young nobles of the 
 time. 
 
 Hawking might be practised either on foot or 
 on horseback. In following the hawk on foot, it 
 was customary to have a stout pole for the pur- 
 pose of leaping ditches or small streams. But 
 the bold barons and ladies gay of the feudal 
 times followed this sport on horseback ; and I 
 scarcely need point out to you the dangers they 
 thus incurred. Only fancy to yourselves the 
 hawking party mounted on high-mettled steeds, 
 galloping up hill and down hill; "Over brake, 
 bush, and scaur," as the song in "Marmion" 
 says; with their eyes constantly fixed upon the 
 
26 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 birds, that were battling or chasing each other 
 high overhead. No fox-chace, not even a 
 steeple-chace, can afford such chances of broken 
 necks. And the sight of the manoeuvres of the 
 keen-feathered enemies, of the heron trying to 
 spit the hawk upon his long bill, of the hawk 
 trying to avoid this formidable weapon and 
 swoop safely down upon the heron, must have 
 been far too interesting to let any lover of the 
 sport think of his horse's footing. 
 
 When the hawk was not flying at her game 
 she was hoodwinked, that is, her head was 
 covered with a cap provided on purpose, which 
 was worn at home as well as abroad. Hawks 
 taken "on the fist" (the term used for carrying 
 them on the hand) wore on their legs strings 
 of leather, called jesses, which were made long 
 enough to allow of the knots being brought out 
 between the middle and little fingers, so that 
 the lunes, or small thongs of leather, might be 
 fastened to them with two tyvvits or rings, and 
 these lunes were loosely wound round the little 
 finger. The hawk's legs were also adorned with 
 bells, and the leathers to which the bells were 
 attached were called be wits; to these was added 
 the creance, which is a long thread by which 
 
HAWKING AND FOWLING. 27 
 
 the bird was drawn back whilst she was in her 
 course of tutoring, and this was called reclaiming 
 the hawk. The next step was to accustom the 
 bird to obey the voice of the falconer; and if you 
 have read Shakspeare's play of " Romeo and 
 Juliet," you may remember that Juliet alludes 
 to this in the words, 
 
 "Oh for a falconer's voice, 
 To lure this tassel-gentle back again !" 
 
 The tassel-gentle was a hawk of the falcon kind. 
 The laws about hawking were as severe as 
 those about hunting, and people were as particu- 
 lar in the choice and breeding of their hawks as 
 they were with regard to their dogs. It was 
 customary to distinguish two classes of hawks, 
 the long-winged and the short-winged ; and of 
 these classes the various kinds were assigned to 
 different persons, according to their different 
 ranks. An emperor, for instance, was entitled to 
 carry the eagle, vulture, and merlin ; a king the 
 ger- falcon; a prince the falcon-gentle and tassel- 
 gentle (which Juliet calls Romeo) ; a duke the 
 falcon of the rock ; an earl the falcon-peregrine; 
 a baron the buzzard ; a knight the sacre and the 
 sacrel ; a squire the lanner ; a young man the 
 marlyon and the hobby ; a poor man the tercel ; 
 a priest the sparrow-hawk ; and a knave or 
 
28 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 servant the kestrel. Two hawks were called a 
 caste and three a case. It is on account of the 
 kind of hawk thus marking the bearer's rank, 
 probably, that in most of the old representations 
 of King Stephen, that monarch is represented 
 with a hawk on his fist thus to denote that he 
 was nobly, though not royally, born. Ladies of 
 high rank frequently bore representations of 
 themselves upon their seals, sometimes on horse- 
 back, carrying hawks. 
 
 That range of buildings which recently stood 
 near Charing Cross, called the King's Mews, 
 was formerly a place in which the king's hawks 
 were kept during the time of their moulting ; 
 and it derives its name from the word mew, 
 which then meant moulting. We hear of the 
 building being employed for this purpose in the 
 reign of Richard II., and Chaucer was once 
 Master of the Mews, but Henry VIII. converted 
 it into stables. 
 
 Since land has been more enclosed and the 
 gun used in sporting, hawking has gradually 
 been left off, though now and then we hear of 
 its being renewed by people devoted to that kind 
 of amusement. In a very entertaining book 
 called Bracebridge Hall, there is an account of 
 modern hawking, which may amuse you : I will 
 
HAWKING AND FOWLING. 29 
 
 give you part of it in conclusion of the subject of 
 hawking, which, unless we were to describe all 
 the various methods practised in former times, 
 becomes, in these days, rather a barren subject. 
 But now we will go to this account : 
 
 " The good squire had bestowed great atten- 
 tion on the noble art of falconry, and was 
 seconded by his indefatigable companion, master 
 Simon ; they had learnt almost by heart the 
 precious work on hawking of Dame Juliana 
 Berners and several others, and had studied well 
 the old tapestry of the house, whereon was re- 
 presented parties of cavaliers and stately ladies, 
 with doublets, caps, and flaunting feathers, 
 mounted on horseback, with attendants on foot, 
 all in animated pursuit of the game. The squire 
 had discountenanced killing hawks, and gave a 
 reward for those that were brought him alive, so 
 that the Hall was soon well stocked with all 
 kinds of birds of prey. On these he and master 
 Simon exhausted all their patience and ingenuity; 
 but their feathered school turned out the most 
 untractable and graceless of scholars, nor was 
 one of their least troubles that of teaching those 
 who were to have the care of these refractory 
 birds. The squire and master Simon and the 
 parson differed sometimes as to the manner of 
 
30 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 teaching and feeding; and the consequence was, 
 that between jarring systems the poor birds had 
 a most unhappy time of it; many died, others 
 were lost by being but half reclaimed,, others, 
 on being taken to the field, raked, as it is termed, 
 that is, went after the game out of hearing and 
 never returned to school. At length, after many 
 disappointments and long patience, they thought 
 themselves ready to show what they could do ; 
 and the day having arrived, at an early hour 
 the hall was all bustle and confusion preparing 
 for the sport of the day. Every thing being 
 finally settled, off' they set : the young men of 
 the family accompanied the lady of the house, 
 who sat lightly and gracefully on her saddle, 
 her plumes dancing and waving in the air, and 
 the whole group had a charming effect as they 
 appeared and disappeared among the trees, 
 canting along with the bounding animation of 
 youth. The squire and master Sinion rode 
 together, and a man they called Old Christy 
 bore the hawk on his fist, as he said the bird 
 knew him best. As they were talking and 
 beating about the river-banks in quest of a 
 heron, a flight of crows, alarmed at the approach 
 of the cavalcade, suddenly rose from a meadow ; 
 some of the people, who had been running along 
 
HAWKING AND FOWLING. 31 
 
 with them to look on, cried out ( Now is your 
 time ;' and the old man, confused with the noise, 
 in a flurry slipped off* the hood, cast off the 
 falcon, away flew the crows,, and away soared 
 the hawk ! It so happened, that the hawk singled 
 out one of the crows, and after many efforts, 
 got the upper hand; but the crow, plunging 
 downwards, and making for an old dry tree not 
 far off, the hawk, disappointed of her prey, 
 soared up again, and appeared to be ' raking.' 
 It was in vain Old Christy called ; she did not 
 hear, or, if she did, it is doubtful if she would 
 have minded him." 
 
 The sport was further disturbed by other 
 adventures, which I cannot enter upon here; 
 but I believe such is the conclusion of many a 
 modern hawking party. 
 
 Nearly connected with hawking, at least so 
 far as in its purposes of destruction, though re- 
 mote from it in the elegance and gallant appear- 
 ance of its paraphernalia, is the sport called 
 fowling. The agents and instruments used in 
 fowling are many and various ; guns, lime-twigs, 
 nets, gins, string baits, pitfalls, pipe-calls, stalk- 
 ing-horses, setting-dogs, decoy-ducks, are all 
 put in requisition in their turn. 
 
32 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 There is yet another amusement of the same 
 nature; but though I must give it a place here, 
 on the list of diversions,, I confess I should be 
 best pleased with those of my readers who would 
 rather refrain from pursuing such pleasures 
 than exercise them. I know I must not say all 
 I feel against hunting, shooting, &c. ; but I 
 honour the boy who, while seeking his own 
 amusement, has yet a thought to spare on the 
 sufferings of animals, and who would rather 
 forego what his less considerate companions call 
 fun, than join in an act of unnecessary cruelty. 
 I shall only speak of bat-fowling, bird-batting, 
 and low belling, as it is sometimes called. In 
 the terms of an old writer, " the way of it is to 
 go out at night with a great light of cressets 
 (that is, lights set on a beacon or stick) or rags 
 dipped in tallow,, and you must have a pan or 
 plate, like a lanthorn, to carry your light in, 
 which must have a great socket to hold the 
 light, and carry it before you on your breast, 
 with a bell in your other hand. If you carry 
 the bell, you must have two companions with 
 nets on each side of you, and you must ring the 
 bell after one order or way always; and what 
 with the bell and what with the light, the birds 
 
HAWKING AND FOWLING. 33 
 
 will be so amazed, that when you come near 
 them, your companions shall lay their nets 
 quietly upon them." Many birds are caught in 
 this manner, amongst which are larks and wood- 
 cocks; but the war is now generally waged on 
 sparrows, chaffinches, blackbirds, &c. 
 
 The last and lowest in the list of sportsmen 
 is the birdcatcher; you may see his nets and 
 little traps, and cages with call-birds, in most 
 places in the autumn. Perhaps the consequences 
 of his occupation are the saddest of all ; for the 
 birds are frequently sold to those who do not 
 take care of them, and confine them in miser- 
 able small cages, where, after living a few months 
 in unceasing efforts to get out, they die. Do 
 you remember Cowper's lines on a goldfinch 
 which had suffered that fate, and was starved 
 to death in its cage at last? It is the little 
 ghost of the bird who is supposed to tell his 
 story, which he concludes in these words : 
 
 " Thanks, gentle swuin, for all these woes, 
 And thanks for this effectual close, 
 More cruelty can none express ; 
 And I, if you had shown me less, 
 Had been your prisoner still.' ' 
 
34 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FISHING. 
 
 OF fishing I shall not have much to say, as the 
 modes of that amusement have varied but little 
 since our first knowledge of it, although the 
 kingdom of the waters has afforded as much 
 sport as those of the earth and air. Owing, 
 however, to its very nature, fishing, or at least 
 angling, is generally a more solitary pastime; 
 and it has been frequently observed, that per^ 
 sons much addicted to it are of a more medita- 
 tive cast of mind and of a milder disposition 
 than is usual with those who make the work of 
 destruction in other forms their delight. When 
 pursued on a larger scale, and as an object of 
 profit, it assumes, of course, a different character; 
 and perhaps no busier or more active scene can 
 be imagined than the great fisheries on our own 
 or foreign coasts. 
 
 This sport, taken and enjoyed in solitude, has 
 yet many perils to contend with ; and some of 
 its most vexatious disturbances arise from social 
 causes. What can be more desolating to the 
 
FISHING. 35 
 
 silence-loving angler than the notice of an otter- 
 hunt in his vicinity? Those base vermin, the 
 otters, do harm enough, it must be confessed, in 
 their way ; but then that is only in fair rivalry 
 for the same prey, and with the means nature 
 alone has given them. But when a pack of 
 otter dogs approach, headed by keen sportsmen, 
 what becomes of his quiet waters ? They are 
 mudded ; what of his reeds and rushes, which 
 served as a covert to the fish, and as a recrea- 
 tion for himself while resting, as he watches the 
 myriads of insects rising from them in all direc- 
 tions, and the birds which lodge and nestle 
 there, though he may perhaps view the king- 
 fisher and heron with a jealous eye ? These 
 reeds are torn up, and the ground so poached, 
 that every footstep is a pool, and there is no 
 more fishing for a time to come. 
 
 But besides these inconveniences, the chances 
 of disappointment are more prevalent in this 
 sport than in others ; for the business of the 
 angler is to entice and allure, rather than to 
 pursue or compel ; and all the world over, might 
 has been the weapon for success. But where 
 others command, he pleads, and how often all 
 in vain ! The fish swim by as unconcernedly as 
 
 c2 
 
36 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 if he had never touched a rod in his life, and 
 snap at a dun-fly instead of his peacock's wing. 
 On the other hand, it is said in favour of fishing 
 (at least with the rod and line) that reflection 
 may go hand in hand with amusement no had 
 union, and from thence, I suppose, arose such 
 moral thoughts as we find in Izaak Walton to 
 say nothing of the sports of the imagination in 
 the creation of naiads, water-sprites, and witches, 
 which were probably first invented, or supposed 
 to have been seen, by fishermen, who are reported 
 to have been often entrapped to their own de- 
 struction by the voices of these imaginary beings. 
 It is certainly rather singular that, from the 
 sirens down to the owners of the blue light under 
 the waters, all these aquatic supernatural beings 
 have been mischievously disposed " always for 
 evil, and never for good." I have fifty stories 
 now in my head of the arts by which these 
 watery powers have allured the fishermen to 
 jump into the waters, from whence they never 
 rose. I remember a pertinacious water- witch, 
 who completely spoiled an angler's pleasure, and 
 that, too, after holding out to him the most de- 
 lightful picture of what he would find under 
 the waters. She began by scolding him a little 
 
Izaak Walton ; from an original Drawing. 
 
FISHING, 39 
 
 for his cruelty in fishing at all. My story is in 
 German, but I must see if I cannot translate 
 her words : 
 
 " With witching voice she gently said, 
 
 Why wouldst thou lure my brood, 
 With man's device and man's deceit, 
 
 Forth from their native flood ? 
 Didst thou but know all I could tell 
 
 Of yonder azure home, 
 E'en now with me thou wouldst be there, 
 
 And oh ! how far we'd roam ! 
 Plunge not each morning moon and stars 
 
 Beneath the swelling main ? 
 And well thou know'st, with freshen'd grace, 
 
 How light they rise again !" 
 
 He went in, honest man, after this tempting- in- 
 vitation, but no one ever heard anything of the 
 grace of his ascent ! Do you remember the 
 fright the Sacristan got (in the story of the 
 Monastery, by Sir W. Scott) when, coming home 
 one night, he heard the water-spirits about? As 
 1 have no old customs to relate of the art of 
 fishing, which is pretty much as it was, we will 
 have part of the song he heard one of them 
 singing : 
 
 " Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright, 
 Downwards we drift in shadow and light, 
 Under yon rock the eddies sleep 
 Calm and silent and dark and deep ; 
 
40 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The kelpy has risen from the fathomless pool, 
 He has lighted his candle of death and dool. 
 Look, only look, and you'll start to see 
 How he gapes and he glares with his eyes on thee !" 
 
 Dangers like these are passed with the times 
 in which they were invented. Yet others remain, 
 from which more certain peril may arise such 
 as getting wet and cold ; for the fisher is, like 
 the snipe and woodcock, an indefatigable wader; 
 and perhaps the regular commonplace drowning 
 and colds, and such like mischief of former 
 times, was attributed rather to evil spirits than 
 to personal imprudence. At the same time, we 
 are warned in the old stories of these water 
 ladies and gentlemen, never to get into their 
 power by going too deep into the water; and we 
 read of one of them who enforced this advice 
 justly observing 
 
 " They seldom land who go swimming with me." 
 
 I must refer you to old Izaak Walton again 
 for fitting baits, and the proper seasons for set- 
 ting about this pastime, if, after hare-and- hound 
 and kite-flying, you chance to go minnow-fishing 
 for a change. His rules are still followed, only, 
 01 course, more knowledge and experience have 
 improved the art ; you may then consult the 
 " Days of Fly-Fishing," by Sir H. Davy ; and it 
 
FISHING. 41 
 
 will be none of their faults if, after all, you are 
 obliged to buy a dish of fish instead of bringing 
 one home. Izaak Walton says, the angler must 
 not only bring an inquiring, searching, observing 
 wit, but he must bring a large measure of hope 
 and patience and a love and propensity to the 
 sport itself; and having once got these and prac- 
 tised the art, there is no doubt that angling will 
 prove most pleasant, and attractive, and reward- 
 ' ing. I must say of myself, that to me the quiet 
 motion of the waters, the noise of the leaves on 
 the trees, and the different notes and calls of the 
 birds and beasts, haunting those spots where 
 fishing is best carried on, have something very 
 delightful. The freshness of all around, the sky, 
 the air, all combine to teach one to make pa- 
 tience a pleasure. 
 
42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 HORSE-RACING. 
 
 Race-Horse. 
 
 FROM the contemplative amusement of the silent 
 angler we are going to rush at, once into the most 
 noisy, most unsatisfactory, and most ruinous 
 of all sports, I mean horse-racing ; and I do 
 think, after all due consideration, I had rather 
 fall into the hands of a kelpy than a jockey ! 
 
HORSE-RACING. 43 
 
 Neither must you expect that I shall be able to 
 give you a very great insight into this amusement, 
 which, however, like most others, originated in 
 the necessary habits of our forefathers. 
 
 Skill in riding and the management of the 
 horse, esteemed in our days a most desirable 
 and useful acquirement, was absolutely indis- 
 pensable to the gentlemen of other days, whose 
 lives were passed in hunting or in war, when 
 they always served on horseback. Consequently 
 swift running horses and fine horses were al- 
 ways in high request. When Hugh Capet asked 
 the sister of Athelstan in marriage, he accom- 
 panied his request by a present of many running 
 horses with saddles and bridles, the latter studded 
 with gold. From this it would seem that horse- 
 racing was not unknown to the Saxons ; but if 
 so, it was probably practised for the amusement 
 of the nobles alone. 
 
 The earliest notice of regular horse-racing is in 
 the reign of Henry II. In the middle ages there 
 were particular seasons for running the horses; 
 Easter and Whitsuntide were two of those fixed 
 on. The origin, and gradual increase in import- 
 ance, of the Easter races at Chester, is thus re- 
 corded: From a very early period it had been the 
 
44 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 custom at Chester for the Company of Saddlers 
 to present to the drapers, on Shrove Tuesday, a 
 wooden ball, embellished with flowers, and placed 
 on the point of a lance. In the reign of Henry 
 VIII., instead of the ball, they presented the Dra- 
 pers' Company with a bell, valued 3s. 6d., to be 
 given to whoever should run the best and farthest 
 on horseback before them. As this was done on 
 St. George's Day, both the race and the bells were 
 named after that saint. In process of time the 
 race was placed under the control of the mayor, 
 who determined the length of the course, and 
 gave the priz \ The bell was now brought 
 on the course with great pomp, and there was 
 generally a pageant, which represented some of 
 the actions of St. George's life. 
 
 Two centuries ago horse -racing was still 
 practised as an interesting and useful amuse- 
 ment, without any notion of making it a 
 gambling transaction. We are told of a puri- 
 tanical writer in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, who was very severe against dice, cards, 
 &c., but allowed horse-racing, " as yielding good 
 amusement and exercise," which he certainly 
 would not have done, had it been what it is now. 
 In the reign of James I. public races were esta- 
 
HORSE -RACING. 45 
 
 blished in many parts of the kingdom, and the 
 town of Enfield lays claim to having been the first 
 place so distinguished. Whether it was so or not 
 is a point difficult to be ascertained ; but that it 
 was, seems not at all improbable, on account of 
 its vicinity to his Majesty's palace of Theobalds. 
 Races were then called bell courses, because the 
 prize was a silver bell. They were held in 
 Christmas time, in Hyde-Park and Newmarket, 
 and sometimes at DatchetMead, by Charles II., 
 when he was at Windsor : about this period the 
 bells were converted into cups, or some other 
 piece of plate, the value of which was generally 
 estimated at a hundred guineas. 
 
 I do not know that I could better close this 
 short account of horse-racing than by giving you 
 a little account of the most celebrated horse 
 that has hitherto been bred, namely Eclipse. 
 Free of all weight, and galloping at his great- 
 est speed, Eclipse could cover an extent of 
 twenty-five feet at each complete action, and 
 could repeat this twice and one-third in each se- 
 cond of time. This horse was pre-eminent above 
 all other horses, by never having been beaten. 
 He was foaled during the great eclipse, and re- 
 ceived his name from that circumstance. He 
 
46 OLD .SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, brother of 
 George III., who, however, did not live to see the 
 performances he had himself predicted. Eclipse 
 was bought by Captain O' Kelly for seventeen 
 hundred guineas, and he won the king's plate, 
 and all he ever ran for, till the death of his owner, 
 who bequeathed him to his brother ; but he did 
 not survive his old master above one year. Be- 
 fore he died, he grew so feeble as to be unable to 
 stand, and was brought from Epsom to Can- 
 nons on a machine made on purpose for him ; he 
 died at the latter place, aged twenty-six. It is 
 pleasant to think that every care was taken of 
 him to the last, and that excellent Eclipse was 
 allowed to die a natural death in peace, without 
 having experienced those vicissitudes to which 
 old and even favourite horses are so often sub- 
 jected; a disgrace to the feelings and gratitude 
 of their owners. But, at least in this instance, 
 we are spared the pain of reflecting that, after 
 years of willing service and work cheerfully per- 
 formed, 
 
 " The high-mettled racer was food for the hounds !" 
 
 Of Eclipse it is said that though capable of 
 such action, he was neither handsome nor per- 
 
HORSE-RACING. 47 
 
 fectly well proportioned. The principal profes- 
 sor of the Veterinary School said, on dissect- 
 ing him, that his muscles were of unparalleled 
 size ; and Mr. Brookes, the lecturer, on showing 
 a plate to his pupils, remarked, that if he had 
 not told them it was the portrait of a racer, they 
 would have concluded it was one of a cart-horse. 
 He measured in height one- seventh more than 
 he ought, and his neck was one-third too long. 
 There have been on record other horses of great 
 note. Childers was one, and there are many 
 celebrated names in the Racing Calendar, but 
 there has been as yet no second Eclipse. 
 
 The animated scene presented by a race-course, 
 and the number of illustrious and frequently 
 Royal persons who give it their countenance, 
 all contribute to make it a place of great resort, 
 and apparently of amusement. But when we 
 call to mind that fortunes are staked on the suc- 
 cess of a horse, and that the crimes and miseries 
 inseparable from the vice of gambling abound 
 there, no less than in those places where the 
 gambling is carried on with cards and dice, we 
 must feel that those only who are ignorant of 
 the horrors that lurk among those brilliant 
 scenes can really enjoy what is passing before 
 
48 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 their eyes. May you who are now running guilt- 
 less races round your narrow boundaries, never 
 become the votaries or victims of the debasing 
 and dangerous passion for gambling, in any 
 shape. And now let us turn from the contem- 
 plation of what' is too closely connected with evil 
 to afford a well-regulated mind much pleasure, 
 to a diversion which has lately become once 
 more so prevalent among us, that few, if any, 
 of you can be wholly unacquainted with it. I 
 allude to archery. 
 
49 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 ARCHERY. 
 
 ARCHERY formerly held so distinguished a place, 
 as an amusement in peace and as a defence and 
 attack in war, that ' ' alas, alas, for Scotland, when 
 England's arrows fly !" was a very early lament- 
 ation in Scotch history. For the latter purpose 
 especially, or for hunting, the bow and arrow 
 have been known among almost every nation of 
 the world. The skill with which the South Sea 
 islanders use their poisoned arrows is well known; 
 the wild American depends on his bow, not less 
 for the defence of his life, than for its support ; 
 the ancient. Greeks were skilled in its use, as the 
 loss of Philip's right eye informs us. In modern 
 Europe the Swiss, the Genoese, and other na- 
 tions have been celebrated for their expertness in 
 the use of it; but perhaps in no country has 
 archery been practised so zealously and so suc- 
 cessfully as in England. On the bowmen, even 
 more perhaps than on the chivalry, were placed 
 the chief hopes of an English army in the middle 
 
 D 
 
50 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ages. In the address of Richard III. to his sol- 
 diers, he did not forget the bowmen : 
 
 " Fight, gentlemen of England fight, gallant yeomen, 
 Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head ! 
 Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood ; 
 Amaze the welkin with your broken staves." 
 
 But we, whose present pursuit is but amuse- 
 ment, will have no concern with the sanguinary 
 triumphs of hostile archery ; we will even pass 
 by achievements like that of William Tell, for 
 when he is spoken of, it should be remembered 
 that he is greater as a patriot than even as an 
 archer. The use of the bow was well known 
 among the Danes and Saxons ; and from the 
 poets of that time, and the Scandinavian scalds, 
 or bards, we find that it had been of very ancient 
 date. Under the Normans, the use of this 
 weapon became very generally diffused through- 
 out the country, and it continued to be fashion- 
 able long after those times, and even after the 
 introduction of gunpowder. We read of the 
 Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., 
 being very fond of archery ; and it is reported of 
 her that, when on her way to Scotland to marry 
 the king, she shot a buck with an arrow at Aln- 
 wick Castle. You are to understand that we 
 
D2 
 
Cross-bowman ; from an original Drawing. 
 
ARCHERY. 53 
 
 have here been speaking of the longbow. The 
 cross-bow, or arbalist, was much shorter; it was 
 fastened upon a stock, and discharged by means 
 of a catch or trigger, which probably gave the 
 first hint for the musket. It is not certain when 
 the cross-bow was first brought into this coun- 
 try ; but it is supposed to have been known on 
 the Continent before it was used here. It was 
 by a cross-bow that Richard I , while examining 
 the walls of the castle of Chalegun, was mor- 
 tally wounded. 
 
 Whenever we talk of sports, games, and active 
 amusements, we are invariably directed to that 
 king so renowned for strength and courage, 
 Richard Cceur de Lion. He was a great lover 
 of archery, and contemporary with him was 
 the famous Robin Hood, whom you must all 
 have heard of many and many a time. The 
 real name of this celebrated outlaw and archer 
 was Rob Fitzoot ; ^his grandfather was the Earl 
 of Kyme, who came over with William Rufus, 
 and married a daughter of the Earl of Lin- 
 coln. Our Robin, having spent all his money, 
 joined a band of men who had either spent 
 all theirs too, or else had never had any. This 
 wild set committed great depredations, and were 
 
 D3 
 
54 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 at length all outlawed. Robin Hood passed 
 a good deal of his time in Sherwood Forest, 
 and always entertained about him a band of 
 a hundred tall men and good archers, the 
 principal of whom was one called Little John,, a 
 sort of joke on his extraordinary stature. It must 
 be confessed that Robin Hood did stop and rob 
 people on the road, as his adventure with the 
 Bishop of Hereford tells us ; also that he did 
 kill the king's deer wherever he found them ; but 
 to make some amends for faults, then thought 
 less disgraceful than they are now, he was not 
 cruel, and generally gave away money to poor 
 people who had nothing. From this he got the 
 name of the " gentle theefe ; " in those times, 
 however, gentle meant of good family, a gentle- 
 man, and so the name might be given him in 
 either sense. It is uncertain in what year he 
 died : some say in 1247, but most likely it was 
 much earlier; he fell sick at the nunnery of 
 Bercklys, and desiring to be let blood, it was so 
 done, and he bled to death. He has sometimes 
 been called the Earl of Huntingdon, but I believe 
 that he never bore that title, neither is he so 
 called in the ballads written nearer his time. 
 There is indeed an epitaph made on him, which 
 
ARCHERY. 55 
 
 gives him that appellation, but I do not think it 
 is to be depended on, though I will give it you: 
 
 " Underneath this little stone 
 Lies Robert Earl of Huntingdon ; 
 He was an archer true and good, 
 And people called him Robin Hood. 
 Such archers as he and his men 
 Will England never see again." 
 
 Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William 
 of Cloudeslye were three other celebrated out- 
 laws and archers, who lived a little before the 
 time of Robin Hood, and you would be much 
 amused at the account given of them; but we 
 have not room for it here. 
 
 The use of the cross-bow was forbidden both 
 by Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and a very 
 severe penalty was exacted from persons con- 
 victed of keeping them in their houses. In the 
 sixteenth century, the long-bow fell very much 
 into disrepute, notwithstanding several attempts 
 were made to bring it again into fashion, and the 
 confirmation by Charles I. of the grant of apiece 
 of ground near London by Henry VIII. for an 
 archery ground. 
 
 Now that archery has again become so gene- 
 ral, that almost every village has its archery 
 meetings, most of you, no doubt, are aware of 
 
56 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the fanciful costumes adopted ; and you may 
 see, from the following description, how far they 
 resemble, in the essential points, that originally 
 worn ; but our archers of former times meant 
 their dress for earnest as well as play. First, 
 then, a bracer or close sleeve was laced upon the 
 left arm, made sufficiently stiff not to take any 
 hold by the motion of the arm* ; next came the 
 shooting glove to guard the fingers ; the bow 
 itself was to be made of well- seasoned wood. 
 Brazil wood was sometimes employed, as also 
 elm or ash ; but the yew was considered the 
 best, from its strength and toughness. The 
 strings at that time were always of hemp, flax, 
 or silk. The arrow was divided into three parts, 
 the stele or wand, the feathers, and the head. 
 Arrows used in war were commonly made of the 
 aspen, but those for amusement only, of the oak 
 and birch. It was customary for every archer 
 to have several arrows of one flight (that means 
 of one length, shape, and weight), and plumed 
 with feathers from the wings of different birds, 
 
 * An archer's brace, made of hardened leather, is still in 
 the possession of a London antiquary. It was found at Bol- 
 ton Castle, in Yorkshire, in which Henry VI. was taken 
 prisoner ; it is ornamented with gold, and hears the rose of 
 Lancaster, crowned, between the words " Jesus, helpe." 
 
ARCHERY. 59 
 
 to suit the diversity of the winds. Of Robin 
 Hood and his fellows at Sherwood Forest, it is 
 said that they had a hundred bows completely 
 furnished with strings, and a hundred sheaves 
 of good arrows with burnished heads, each ar- 
 row an ell long, adorned with peacock's feathers, 
 and bound with white silk at the notching. The 
 ell was a great length for an arrow, a quarter of 
 a yard longer than those reported to have been 
 used at Chevy Chace. The old ballad says of 
 the English archer, when he perceived that Lord 
 Percy was killed : 
 
 ft He had a bow bent in his hand 
 
 Made of a trusty tree, 
 An arrow of a cloth-yard long 
 
 Up to the head drew he : 
 Against Sir Hugh Montgomery 
 
 So right his shaft he set, 
 The grey goose wing that was thereon 
 
 In his heart's blood was wet." 
 
 The English arrows had forked heads and broad 
 heads, but some liked the round bodkin-shaped 
 head best. 
 
 There was likewise a manner of placing him- 
 self, with which it was necessary the archer 
 should be acquainted, and it is thus described 
 in a book that treats on this subject : " He 
 should stand fairly and upright, his left foot at 
 a convenient distance before his right, holding 
 
60 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the bow by the middle, with his left arm 
 stretched out, and with the three first fingers 
 and the thumb of the right hand upon the lower 
 part of the arrow affixed to the bow-string." 
 
 The application of the arrow to the string was 
 also an important part of the operation. This 
 was called nocking, "and the notch of the arrow 
 must rest between the fore and middle finger of 
 the right hand." 
 
 I need not enlarge any more on this subject ; 
 supposing, as a matter of course, that in these 
 days of revived archery, many of you are learning 
 to shoot scientifically : there is, however, one error 
 against which, as it has been committed by 
 better marksmen than yourselves, I may venture 
 to warn you ; I mean that of directing the eye 
 in taking aim to the end of the arrow rather 
 than to the mark itself. This was considered as 
 so great a fault, that, to cure it, the pupil was 
 made to shoot in the dark, with a light affixed 
 to the target only. 
 
 There were three modes of practising archery. 
 The first was by shooting at a butt, which was 
 a level mark, and required a strong arrow with 
 a broad feather. The second, by shooting at a 
 pricke, which was a mark of compass, but cer- 
 tain in its distance, and required a middling- 
 
ARCHERY. 61 
 
 sized feather. The third, by shooting at the 
 roaver, which was a mark of variable distance ; 
 and when this was aimed at, it was necessary 
 the archers should be furnished with different 
 sorts of arrows, to suit the changes that might 
 be made in the distance of the ground. 
 
 At a great archery match, held by Henry VIII. 
 at Windsor, a citizen of London, named Barlow, 
 carried off all the prizes, and the king jestingly 
 conferred on him the title of Duke of Shore- 
 ditch; which, in memory of him, was long borne 
 by the Captain of the London Archers. Prince 
 Arthur, son of Henry VII., was very expert in 
 this exercise, and out of compliment to his skill 
 the best archer was called Prince Arthur, and 
 the others his knights ; but in London, at least, 
 the Duke of Shoreditch was, I believe, the 
 favourite distinction. 
 
 The prizes bestowed on archers were never 
 very great ; and thus the London archers, it is 
 said, shot only for renown ; but archery never^ 
 became a gambling sport. The silver pencil- 
 cases, golden arrows, &c., distributed at the 
 present meetings, like the prizes of former days, 
 are meant only as acknowledgments of superior 
 skill. 
 
62 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TOURNAMENTS. 
 
 SUCH were some of the leading amusements 
 which occupied and entertained our ancestors ; 
 and though this slight sketch allows me to give 
 little more than a mere outline of them, yet from 
 this little you may perceive that they were 
 thought worthy to fix in some degree their 
 serious consideration. But in magnificence of 
 arrangement,, as well as in the importance at- 
 tached to them, all must yield the palrn to those 
 royal and chivalrous assemblies called tourna- 
 ments, in which the gallantry and acquirements 
 most prized in the warriors of those ages were 
 called into action. They were indeed so highly 
 considered, that the announcement of a tourna- 
 ment was a matter of interest to nations; and 
 the bravest knights were not less ardent to sig- 
 nalize their skill in a tournament than to display 
 their courage in the field of battle itself. There 
 are so many descriptions of them_, that there can 
 scarcely be one of my readers to whom the name 
 does not at once suggest a brilliant picture of 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 63 
 
 the lists prepared, filled with knights in bur- 
 nished armour, tilting against, each other, and 
 surrounded with balconies where sat the ladies 
 glittering in silk and jewels, with all the pomp 
 and pageantry attendant on these trials of skill 
 and courage. 
 
 Though tournaments were in such esteem as 
 to be thus looked on as matters of high import- 
 ance, yet in fact they were only intended as 
 diversions, in which to exercise the valour and 
 skill in arms of the nobles; and blunted weapons 
 
 were therefore generally used. The knights did 
 
 j 
 
 not indeed wholly confine themselves to such 
 harmless arms ; but when swords and lances, the 
 points of which had not been taken off, were em- 
 ployed, these games were said to be played with 
 arms of outrance, because they scarcely ever 
 were terminated without bloodshed. These arms 
 of outrance distinguished contests fought with 
 offensive weapons. 
 
 In these combats the number of blows was 
 limited, and the combatants were obliged to 
 strike the body between the arms and legs. The 
 word tournay was the expression used for com- 
 bats which were fought by companions, repre- 
 senting a battle ; but those who were anxious still 
 
64 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 further to display their address, offered single 
 combat with the lance or sword to any one who 
 would accept the challenge. The strokes on 
 these occasions likewise were commonly limited 
 to three ; and when this was the case, they were 
 called jousts or justs. It was held more honour- 
 able to combat at tournaments than at justs ; for 
 he who fought the first time at a tournament 
 was obliged to give his helmet to the kings and 
 heralds at arms as a perquisite, which was also 
 done at justs ; but those who had been at a 
 tournament, if he justed afterwards, was not 
 called on a second time to give his helmet. 
 
 The pas d'armes was a species of combat 
 supported by one or more knights, who, having 
 chosen an open plain, undertook to defend it 
 against all assailants. The arms of the knights 
 were attached to pillars, with plain shields of 
 different colours, on which were inscribed the 
 conditions of the combat and the arms to be 
 employed. So that he who chose to engage 
 signified which mode of battle he preferred, by 
 touching that shield on which it was specified. 
 
 After fighting either at justs or tournaments, 
 the knights disarmed and washed, preparatory 
 to meeting at the banquet the lord or prince 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 
 
 67 
 
 who gave the warlike entertainment. Each 
 knight was attended by his own squire, and the 
 table at which they sat was round, in order to 
 avoid all disputes as to precedency. 
 
 The Behard was a sort of wooden bastion, or 
 castle, which the givers of the tournament un- 
 dertook to defend against all comers. 
 
 The Quintain was another military exercise 
 of high antiquity, and has been supposed by 
 
 Quintain ; from Pluvenal. 
 
 some to have derived its name from that of 
 Quinctus, the inventor; but who he was is in- 
 volved in doubt ; others think it is derived from 
 gwyn tyn, which is Welch for a vane, or any 
 thing that turns. The quintain is considered as 
 older than either tournaments or tilting. The 
 
68 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 manner of the game was this : upon a post of 
 wood, placed firmly in the ground, was fixed the 
 half figure of an armed man ; this figure, called 
 the pel, turned on a pivot. The assailant 
 was to hit the pel in the middle of the breast 
 with his lance; but if he failed in his object, 
 and struck it on the extremities, the impulse 
 caused the figure to whirl round, when the awk- 
 ward assailant received a smart blow from the 
 staff or sword with which the pel was armed. 
 This game was generally played on horseback, 
 but not always. Sometimes a man, fully-armed, 
 took the place of the pel, and then it was his 
 business to parry the blows of the assailants. 
 
 The young Londoners used to have a water- 
 quintain at Easter. For this form of the game, 
 a pole was driven into the ground in the middle 
 of the Thames, with a shield fixed to it. Towards 
 this pole a boat was rapidly impelled by force 
 of oars, with the tide, whilst a youth, standing 
 at the prow, endeavoured to strike the shield 
 with a lance. If he broke his lance against it, 
 he was victor ; if not, he was sure to be thrown 
 into the water by the violence of the effort made 
 while the boat pursued its course. The unfor- 
 tunate champion was, however, rescued from the 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 
 
 69 
 
 stream by two other boats,, which followed for 
 that purpose. 
 
 The exercise of the quintain might be prac- 
 tised by burghers and yeomen, whereas no one 
 under the rank of an esquire could enter the 
 lists at either tournament or just. In the reign 
 of Henry III., a peacock was the prize given to 
 the winner at the quintain. In 1827, the game 
 of quintain was revived at the house of Lord 
 Gage with much splendour. 
 
 Tilting, or, as it was generally called, running 
 at the ring, used to be much in fashion among 
 the gallants of the old time. In some respects, 
 
 Tilting j from Pluvenal. 
 
70 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 it resembled the quintain; a person riding at 
 full speed was to carry off, on the point of his 
 lance, a ring, which was supported in a case, or 
 sheath, by means of two springs ; but so lightly, 
 that it might easily be driven out by the stroke, 
 and remained on the top of the lance. 
 
 There were many other games and exercises 
 of this sort, which we cannot now enter into ; 
 but as you may like to know how a tournament 
 was conducted, I will endeavour briefly to de- 
 scribe the process. The following are the cus- 
 toms of a tournament, as we find them in the 
 old writers upon these matters. 
 
 On the morning of the day appointed, the 
 arms, banners, and helmets of the combatants 
 are exposed, and examined by persons who are 
 called the speakers of the tournament, or the 
 governor and the lord of parade, and rejected or 
 approved as they think fit. Then the arms are 
 returned to their owners, and the baron who is 
 the challenger has his banner placed at the be- 
 ginning of the parade, and his arms nailed to 
 the roof of his pavilion ; his example is followed 
 by the rest, and those who neglect to do so lose 
 their privilege, and are not permitted to tournay. 
 The kings-at-arms and the heralds then go from 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 71 
 
 pavilion to pavilion, crying aloud, (f To achieve- 
 ment, knights and squires, to achievement!" 
 This ceremony is again performed by the com- 
 pany of heralds, saying, " Come forth, knights, 
 come forth!" When the two barons or knights 
 have taken places in the lists, each of them 
 facing his own parade (that is the place before 
 his own pavilion, or tent, which he must have 
 set up two days before), the champions of both 
 parties arrange themselves, each by the side of 
 his banner. Then two cords are stretched be- 
 tween them, and so they remain till the speakers 
 command the commencement of the sports. 
 Each knight is to be armed with a pointless 
 sword, the edge of which is turned, and a 
 truncheon or staff hanging from their saddles ; 
 and they may use either the one or the other so 
 long as the speakers permit them to go on. 
 When it is considered that enough has been 
 done, the speakers call the heralds, and order 
 them to fold up the banners, which is the signal 
 for the conclusion of the tournament. 
 
 For the representation of all this and a great 
 deal more in the true spirit of chivalry, I refer 
 you to the novel of Ivanhoe, which affords, per- 
 haps, one of the best and most animated pictures 
 
72 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 that can be given of our ancient military games. 
 Our limits allow merely of naming them. 
 
 I must,, however,, request you, in reading ac- 
 counts of these things, and of the customs and 
 ceremonies incident to them, not to let your en- 
 thusiasm for the active amusements and occupa- 
 tions of your ancestors lead you into the error 
 of wishing to revive the old times in which such 
 gay and gallant feats, combined with the ani- 
 mating chace, were followed to the exclusion of 
 the more enduring and the more gratifying 
 pleasures that result from the cultivation of the 
 intellectual powers. All those active pursuits 
 are good and useful in their turn ; but those 
 who are wholly devoted to them little know the 
 enjoyments they renounce. Fill up your leisure 
 hours, if you will, with the accounts of them 
 which have employed the most eloquent pens 
 of the former, and even of the present times; 
 make yourselves acquainted with what has been 
 done long ago ; but, as you read, reflect, and ask 
 yourselves whether, in point of use, goodness, or 
 rationality, those times can be preferable to ours? 
 Even the greatest of all writers on the subject of 
 chivalry, M. de Ste. Palaye, makes the follow- 
 ing remarks, which I shall translate from the 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 73 
 
 French, as this book may fall into the hands of 
 those who are too young to understand French, 
 but not too young to comprehend the writer's 
 meaning : 
 
 " In this history is to be found a truth, of 
 which we have always been convinced namely, 
 that the manners of * the good old times,' as they 
 have been constantly called, of the heroic and 
 chivalrous age, do not deserve our regrets. Those 
 knights, those nobles, whose probity, frankness, 
 and generosity, have been the theme of so much 
 eulogy, how do we find them represented ? Op- 
 pression of subjects and dependents, perjury and 
 bad faith towards neighbours, frequent and un- 
 called-for cruelty, continual rapacity, and the 
 wildest manners, under the name of gallantry, 
 these are the leading features of the chivalrous 
 age. But you will say, this is the exaggeration 
 of satirical modern writers. By no means ; it 
 is the picture of the times, as handed down to 
 us by those who lived in them. Did not the 
 troubadours themselves, in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, regret the olden time, and censure their 
 own ? Yet history has no expression equal to 
 the honours of the two preceding centuries." 
 
 Go and read the history of those times. You 
 
74 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 will find many instances of heroism and gal- 
 lantry, of honour and justice combined. You 
 will find men whose names have been trans- 
 mitted with admiration from age to age. Ad- 
 mire them, and what was to be admired in the 
 spirit of their institutions ; but do not wish to 
 recall them. Had the famous Captal de Buch, 
 Du Guesclin, and many others lived in more 
 civilized times, they might have been what Sir 
 Philip Sydney and Lord Surrey were ; how far 
 they will now bear comparison with such men, ask 
 yourselves when you have read all their actions. 
 Few of these earlier heroes could even claim the 
 doubtful fame of Sylla, of whom, after all his 
 bloody excesses, we are told that 
 
 u The Roman, when his burning heart 
 
 Was slaked with blood of Rome, 
 Threw down the dagger, dared depart, 
 In savage grandeur, home." 
 
 But these heroes, when no longer fighting for 
 fame, or when the object of their ambition was 
 obtained, still continued their predatory warfare 
 on their neighbours till they were too old to 
 mount a horse or throw a lance. Some few, it 
 is true, did exchange the warlike for the monas- 
 tic habit; but that was not very usual, and I 
 
TOURNAMENTS. 75 
 
 doubt if even then it could be justly said of them 
 that " they made a good end." 
 
 Now I dare say some among you will be very 
 angry with me, and wonder what can induce 
 me to speak thus of the whole body of knights- 
 errant, together with page,, squire, or groom; 
 but years will do for you what I shall not effect ; 
 they will teach you, that is to say, if you will let 
 them do so, a little wisdom, and thus enable 
 you to form a juster estimate of what is good 
 and great than you can now. But still I would 
 not, even in the minds of my youngest readers, 
 lie under the imputation of being a cold lover of 
 all that chivalry aimed at being, or professed to 
 be. Let us, therefore, now give a few moments' 
 attention to those to whom these mirrors of 
 knighthood have been most indebted, namely, 
 the poets. 
 
76 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 POETS OF THE OLDER AND MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 DURING the periods we are speaking of, the 
 minstrels and poets were in high repute, and 
 the entertainment they afforded by their skill in 
 music and poetry was scarcely inferior to that 
 derived from the sports which often formed the 
 theme of their song. Let us pause, therefore, for 
 a moment to trace their origin, and to observe 
 some of the characteristics of this class of persons, 
 who so greatly contributed to the amusement of 
 all other classes. 
 
 The Britons, in common with all the northern 
 nations, were passionately fond both of poetry 
 and of vocal and instrumental music ; and so 
 generally were these accomplishments cultivated 
 among them, that we find many of the ancient 
 heroes celebrated also for their poetical compo- 
 sitions. The poets and musicians of the more 
 northern nations were called scalds, an appella- 
 tion which is nearly equivalent to that of bards, 
 given to those who exercised the same profession 
 in Britain. The bards, or scalds, were held in 
 
POETS. 
 
 77 
 
 high estimation by their countrymen, and most 
 especially by our German ancestors,, as well as 
 by the Danes and other Scandinavians. The 
 word scald, or skiald, in the old Norse tongue, 
 signifies the smoother and polisher of language ; 
 and the scalds were supposed to owe their skill 
 in song to the immediate inspiration of the god 
 Odin or Woden. 
 
 Ancient British Bard ; from an original Drawing-. 
 
78 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 This Odin was the chief of the many deities 
 worshipped by the northern nations previous to 
 the introduction of Christianity : he was styled 
 by them the Father of Gods and Men, or the 
 Father of All. He was probably some powerful 
 chieftain and lawgiver,, whose institutions and 
 laws might have conferred a more lasting benefit 
 on his countrymen than the warlike achieve- 
 ments which, in those times of ignorance, were 
 thought to exceed all others in value ; and his 
 being raised to the dignity of a deity after his 
 death was a very natural consequence* of the 
 veneration with which his unenlightened coun- 
 trymen were accustomed to regard him. To him 
 is ascribed the invention of the Runes, or Runic 
 letters, which constituted the alphabet of the 
 north, and which are sixteen in number. Some of 
 these characters were especially set apart to serve 
 as spells and charms. The simple laws of those 
 days were cut on tablets of wood, whence a body 
 of laws is still called by the Swedes Balk, which 
 means a wooden inclosure, or, simply, a beam of 
 wood. 
 
 After the establishment of the Saxons in Eng- 
 land, the excessive reverence in which the bards 
 were held by the people was in some degree 
 
POETS. 79 
 
 diminished ; and it was not long before the pro- 
 fessions of poet and minstrel were exercised by 
 separate persons. The cultivation of poetry oc- 
 cupied the leisure of men of letters, of secular 
 professions, as well as in monasteries, where 
 it probably beguiled many an hour of otherwise 
 tedious seclusion. The minstrel, on the con- 
 trary, who gained his livelihood by the arts of 
 music and poetry, led a wandering life, dependent 
 on the hospitality of the rich and powerful, whose 
 houses he frequented, and to whose entertain- 
 ment he contributed by singing to his harp the 
 verses of others, and sometimes also his own 
 composition. The profession of minstrelsy still 
 continued to flourish in England after the Nor- 
 man conquest. You probably recollect that the 
 Normans were a colony, or rather band, of 
 pirates, from Scandinavia, whose original name 
 of Northmen was softened into Normans. 
 One band of these pirates, under the guidance 
 of their Chieftain Rollo, had settled in that pro- 
 vince of France now called, after them, Nor- 
 mandy ; and as the scalds were at the height of 
 their reputation at the period of Hollo's expe- 
 dition, it is natural to conclude that some of 
 them accompanied the adventurers, and carried 
 
80 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 on their profession in their newly -acquired coun- 
 try. We are told, that at the battle of Hastings, 
 the minstrel Taille Fer, who accompanied the 
 Norman army, when mounted on his war-horse, 
 excited the courage of the soldiers by singing 
 the ballad of the famous fight of Roncesvalles, 
 called the song of Roland, if the name be not a 
 mistake for the less-known song of Rollo ; then 
 plunging into the English ranks, the, singer met 
 his death. 
 
 There were many subordinate departments in 
 the art, and those who practised them had dif- 
 ferent names such as gleemen, conteurs or tale- 
 tellers, and jesters, who narrated amusing anec- 
 dotes and sang songs at public entertainments. 
 They were also called japers, jugglers, and 
 janglers of jests. Though it might be amusing 
 to examine all these various branches of min- 
 strelsy, our limits do not allow our dwelling 
 longer on the subject, except to advert to a set. 
 of minstrels called the troubadours, who dwelt 
 in the south of France and the north of Spain 
 and Italy, whence it has been supposed that a 
 new kind of language called the Romance lan- 
 guage was first formed. This was evidently a 
 corruption of or derivation from the Latin, and 
 
POETS. 81 
 
 is believed by some scholars to be the founda- 
 tion of the present French, Spanish, and Italian 
 languages. 
 
 These troubadours were general favourites, 
 and they celebrated, often in very smooth and 
 glowing verses, the praises of beauty and valour. 
 Kings and princes did not disdain to exercise 
 this art ; and some of the chiefs of Flanders and 
 Provence, as also a King of Navarre, were cele- 
 brated for their proficiency in it. Our English 
 Richard I. was a troubadour as well as a great 
 patron of the minstrels ; and there is a pretty 
 story that attributes the discovery of the prison 
 in which he was confined by the Duke of Austria 
 to the exertions and skill of his favourite minstrel, 
 Blondell de Nesle, and to the singing of a song, 
 the joint composition of the king and the minstrel. 
 
 In the reign of King John, mention is made 
 of a curious stratagem, in which the minstrel 
 played an important part, being employed by 
 the Lord de Lacy, for the relief of Hugh Lupus, 
 the first Earl of Chester, who was besieged by 
 the Welsh in his castle of Rohelan. De Lacy 
 having been applied to by the earl for succours, 
 and being at a loss how to evade the watchfulness 
 of the besiegers, caused a great number of min- 
 
82 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 strels, under the guidance of Button , his stew- 
 ard, to assemble at Chester fair,, when, under 
 pretence of exercising their profession, it was 
 very easy to collect great numbers of persons to 
 hear them, without any suspicion being excited. 
 The crowds then advanced towards the castle; 
 and the Welsh army, mistaking them for regular 
 troops, sent to the aid of the earl, took the alarm, 
 and raising the siege, hastily departed. In gra- 
 titude for this service, charters of protection were 
 granted to the minstrels and singers of this dis- 
 trict ; and so late even as the time of Elizabeth, 
 when the profession had fallen into disrepute, 
 the minstrels under the protection of the Dutton 
 family were exempted from the penalties im- 
 posed on others. I will conclude this subject 
 with a description of their usual dress, which, 
 as it was peculiar, you may probably like to hear. 
 
 The description I shall give you is that of the 
 dress of an ancient minstrel who was brought 
 before Queen Elizabeth by the Earl of Leicester. 
 In one of the many pageants he devised for her 
 entertainment, one of the characters was sup- 
 posed to be a minstrel of times prior to her reign, 
 and dressed as they had then been. 
 
 "His cap was off, and t hjs head, seemly rounded 
 
POETS. 83 
 
 tonsure-wise, fair combed, that with a sponge 
 daintily dipped in a little capon's grease was 
 finely smoothed to make it shine like a mallard's 
 wing. His head simply shaven, and yet his shirt 
 after the new fashion, with ruffs fair starched, 
 sleeked and glistering like a pair of new shoes, 
 marshalled in good order with a setting stick, 
 that every ruff stood up like a wafer. A long 
 gown of Kendal green, after the freshness of the 
 year, gathered at the neck with a narrow gorget, 
 fastened before with a white clasp and a keeper 
 close up to the chin, but easily for heat to undo 
 when he list. Seemly girded with a red girdle, 
 from that a pair of capped Sheffield knives 
 hanging at the two sides ; out of his bosom was 
 drawn forth a lappet of his handkerchief edged 
 with a blue lace, and marked with a true love- 
 knot, a heart, and a D for Damian, for he was 
 but a bachelor yet. His gown had long sleeves 
 down to the middle of his leg, from the shoulder 
 to the hand, and lined with white cotton, his 
 doublet sleeves of black worsted, upon them a 
 pair of points of tawny camlet, laced along the 
 wrist with thin thread. A pair of red leather 
 stocks, a pair of pumps on his feet, with a cross 
 cut at the toes for corns not new, indeed, yet 
 cleanly blacked with soot, and shining as a shoeing 
 
 E 2 
 
84 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 horn. About his neck a red riband, suitable to 
 his girdle. His harp in good grace, and dependent 
 before him ; his harp-key tied to a green lace, 
 and hanging by. Under the gorget of his gown 
 a fair flaggon chain (pewter for silver, for you 
 must remember he was not a real minstrel, only 
 dressed up to look like one), as a squire minstrel 
 of Middlesex, that travelled the country this 
 summer season unto fair and worshipful men's 
 houses. From his chain hung a scutcheon or 
 shield, with metal and colour, resplendent on 
 his breast, of the ancient arms of Islington, 
 which it was to be supposed he belonged to, as 
 they always wore the badges of their patrons." 
 
 In the course of time, when the art of reading 
 became more cultivated, although books still 
 continued scarce even some time after printing 
 was invented, the amusement derived from min- 
 strels ceased to be so much sought after by 
 people in general, and especially by the great ; 
 and though the wandering minstrel still met 
 
 O o 
 
 with hospitality, he no longer occupied that 
 station of honour which had been possessed by 
 his predecessors. Often now 7 he 
 
 " Tuned to please a peasant's ear 
 Lays a king had loved to hear !" 
 
 And the appeals for shelter and protection which 
 
POETS. 85 
 
 we sometimes meet with make a sad contrast, 
 to the brilliancy of former days : 
 
 " The night is cold, oh let me in, 
 And dinna let your minstrel fa', 
 And dinna let his winding sheet 
 Be naething but a wreath of snaw." 
 
 The last remnant of minstrelsy, though so 
 changed as to be scarcely recognised as having 
 been part of the same art, is to be found in the 
 ballad-singers of the present day. So late as 
 the reign of Charles II., there is a curious ad- 
 vertisement in the London Gazette, 1682, by 
 which it is required of all ballad-singers that 
 they take out licenses at the Office of the Revels, 
 Whitehall, for singing and selling ballads and 
 small books. You may have seen, in your walks 
 about the streets, the little marts still existing in 
 London for ballads, where they are exposed in 
 great numbers, hung very neatly on strings, and 
 fastened against the wall. In these places one 
 may sometimes find very curious ballads, which 
 cannot be procured elsewhere. 
 
86 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS. 
 
 Coventry Play ; from an original Drawing. 
 
 DRAMATIC representations have always been a 
 very popular species of amusement; and al- 
 though the first attempts at theatrical exhibi- 
 tions differ so widely from the sublime composi- 
 tions and splendid spectacles now so familiar to 
 
THE DRAMA. 87 
 
 all, that we can scarcely perceive any analogy 
 between them,, it is yet interesting to trace, in 
 the rude and irregular productions of our ances- 
 tors, the germ of an art that has since attained 
 to so high a degree of perfection. 
 
 The first theatrical exhibitions in London 
 seem to have been about the twelfth century ; 
 and these rude performances were called mi- 
 racles, from their being generally intended to 
 represent some portion of sacred history, taken 
 from the Old or New Testament, or the actions 
 and sufferings of the saints and martyrs, who 
 were objects of religious veneration* Such being 
 the subjects of these compositions, they were 
 considered rather in the light of solemn and 
 edifying gratifications, than as mere empty 
 amusements; and they were generally performed 
 in churches, and during the time of Lent. Some 
 of these dramas were so long, and the subjects 
 so complicated, that they could not be acted all 
 at once, but required several days for their com- 
 pletion. When they represented only one event, 
 and were acted through in one representation, 
 they were called " mysteries." 
 
 When these miracles and mysteries ceased to 
 be popular, they were succeeded by moral dia- 
 
88 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 logues, in praise of virtue or condemnation of 
 vice; and plays of this new kind were called 
 moralities. The dialogue was carried on by 
 allegorical characters, personifying the various 
 virtues, vices, and accidents incidental to man- 
 kind such as charity, prudence, avarice, death; 
 and great care was taken to make the dress and 
 language correspond to the respective charac- 
 ters of these embodied qualities. Moralities 
 were considered as belonging to the highest 
 class of dramatic representations. 
 
 But there were, at the same time, other thea- 
 trical exhibitions of a different kind, acted by 
 minstrels, jugglers, and others, who wandered 
 about the country, much in the same manner as 
 the strolling players of the present day. These 
 companies were patronized by the higher classes, 
 as well as by the more humble part of the com- 
 munity ; but the clergy did their utmost to dis- 
 courage them, because they thought such amuse- 
 ments tended both to injure the morality of the 
 people, and to lessen the popularity of their own 
 sacred dramas. We read of a remonstrance 
 made to Richard II. by the scholars of Paul's 
 Church against these secular performers, for 
 having acted plays, the subjects of which were 
 
THE DRAMA. 89 
 
 taken from Scripture, greatly to the detriment 
 of the clergy. 
 
 The words tragedy and comedy, in the sense 
 in which they are now employed, were unknown 
 in the days of which we have been speaking. 
 The mysteries, moralities, and performances of 
 the wandering juggler supplied their place. 
 And in addition to these, shows, representing 
 battles, sieges, and various pageants, were often 
 exhibited in the open air, and very much ad- 
 mired. Even so late as the reign of queen 
 Elizabeth, when dramatic composition was about 
 to burst forth in its full splendour, such enter- 
 tainments continued to be much in fashion ; and 
 we have numerous accounts of many which were 
 got up with great magnificence, in honour both 
 of that queen and of her father, Henry VIII. 
 
 There were figures, also, much in fashion at 
 one time, which were made of wood, and which 
 performed several motions. The famous rood, 
 or crucifix at Boxley, in Kent, was a figure of 
 this kind, that moved its eyes, and turned its 
 head about. Another automaton, called Jack 
 of the Clock House, is likewise often mentioned ; 
 it either struck the hours upon the bell in their 
 right number, or it showed by its gestures what 
 
90 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 o'clock it was. Such figures were not uncommon 
 
 o 
 
 ill the sixteenth century. 
 
 When these automatons w r ere used, several 
 together, and made to act any story, or part of 
 a story, they were called puppets, and used to 
 be exceedingly admired. They were made to 
 act scenes from the Bible, such as Noah's Flood, 
 Lazarus and Abraham, and the like; together 
 with the Conceits of Squire Punch and Sir John 
 Spendall; and we are told that sometimes this 
 odd mixture was concluded by singing and 
 dancing. In addition to all this, in a bill of 
 these exhibitions, so late as 1711, is advertised 
 ( ' the ball of little dogs ;" and it is said they 
 performed before Queen Anne, much to her 
 amusement. Pantomimes, however, have proved 
 the ruin of puppet-shows, and few are now to 
 be met with excepting Punch, who still goes 
 squalling about the streets as gay as ever. 
 
91 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHRISTMAS SPORTS NEW YEARNS DAY- 
 MORRIS DANCE. 
 
 WE have now treated of most of the national 
 diversions of England ; but there are others to 
 notice, in the way of sports and amusements, 
 which, although on a smaller scale, and confined 
 more to the narrow circle of friends and kindred, 
 are yet, perhaps, more interesting, as they afford 
 a better insight into the private habits and tastes 
 of our forefathers. In most countries, and in all 
 periods, certain times were set apart especially 
 dedicated to rejoicing ; and it is worthy of re- 
 mark, that almost all festivals and holidays were 
 originally instituted to commemorate some event 
 connected with the national religion. There 
 are few, if any, perhaps, among you, who do not 
 anxiously look forward to Christmas, as a period 
 when you hope for more fun and pleasure than 
 at ordinary times ; and though I trust you are 
 all too well instructed and too well disposed to 
 forget the inestimable blessing it is designed to 
 celebrate, yet long-established custom has con- 
 
92 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 nected this season so closely with the idea of 
 your merriment and feasting, that I fear there 
 is but too much probability that many, whose 
 superior age renders this forgetfulness of it yet 
 more criminal, are apt to set an example of 
 thoughtlessness which I would rather not see 
 any of you imitate. Not that I would prohibit 
 you from innocent amusements, or check the un- 
 alloyed enjoyment of fun which is the property 
 of your age ; and therefore, with a friendly re- 
 commendation to you always to let gratitude to 
 God for every blessing, great and small, that he 
 bestows on you, mingle with your enjoyment of 
 them, I will proceed to examine these customs 
 and diversions, and, for the sake of regularity, 
 begin with the new year. 
 
 You all, perhaps, know the custom of ringing 
 out the old year ; and this custom of ringing is 
 so prevalent in all cases of rejoicing, and espe- 
 cially in England, which long ago obtained the 
 name of the ringing-island, that I will digress a 
 little for the sake of telling you something about 
 bells. 
 
 Bells were quite an object of superstitious at- 
 tention among our ancestors,, who seem to have 
 thought that they had an attachment to the 
 
CHRISTMAS. 93 
 
 church to which they belonged. To such a 
 pitch did they carry this belief, that when they 
 had occasion to remove bells from one church 
 to another, they chained them in their new places, 
 lest they should take a trip back to their old 
 quarters. 
 
 With respect to the different modes of ringing 
 and chiming bells, I will only say that they were 
 numerous, and it required much practice to ac- 
 quire skill in the art. The baptism of bells 
 for it was the custom to confer names on them 
 was a very solemn ceremony ; and there is an 
 account of it in a Latin book, printed at Venice 
 in 1698, and translated into English, in which 
 it is said that " at the baptism of a bell there 
 are more prayers used and (excepting for salva- 
 tion) greater things prayed for, and more bless- 
 ings besought on the bell than on the child." 
 
 The custom of tolling a bell, called " the 
 passing bell," on the death of any person, had 
 its origin in the idea that bells had the power of 
 driving the evil spirit away from the soul of the 
 departed Christian. They were also thought to 
 be efficacious in dispelling storms. You know 
 what the Curfew bell was rung for; and as that, 
 like the passing bell, certainly was not the com- 
 
94 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 panion of merriment, it would be out of place to 
 say more of either here; but though in some 
 places the Curfew bell is still rung, yet it is no 
 longer the signal for the unpleasant necessity of 
 putting out fire and candle. 
 
 I think the account given of the bell-ringing 
 at Sherbourne, in Dorsetshire, by a person who 
 passed one Saturday within hearing of it, will 
 amuse you ; and with that we will take our 
 leave of bells. He says 
 
 " At four in the morning I was awakened by 
 the ringing of the church treble bell ; at six the 
 church chimes were all in play ; at a quarter -past 
 eight the same bell began again to summon the 
 alms-house people to prayers ; at nine came the 
 chimes ; at eleven, the wholesale market bell ; 
 at twelve the chimes ; at one the school-bell for 
 dinner ; at half-past one the retail market bell ; 
 at three the chimes and the church great bell 
 (which is said to weigh 3 tons 5 cwt., and was 
 a treble of a ring Cardinal Wolsey brought from 
 Tournay) tolled twice, when what is called the 
 tanging-bell rang to call the minister and people 
 to prayers; at four we again had our friend the 
 alms-house bell; at six the chimes ; at seven the 
 school-bell for supper; at eight the church-bell, 
 
CHRISTMAS. 95 
 
 which rang a quarter of an hour, and then gave 
 eight strokes ; at nine, the chimes and the 
 school-bell for bed." 
 
 Besides the ceremony of ringing bells to usher 
 in the new year, it was customary also to par- 
 take of the wassail bowl in its honour, which, 
 even to this day, is in some places carried from 
 door to door, with singing and merriment. 
 Wass hail and drink heil were the words by 
 which the inhabitants of this island used to in- 
 vite each other to drink, when, on the eve of the 
 new year, they assembled round the glowing 
 hearth to rejoice together; and, if there had 
 existed any dispute between neighbours, to drown 
 every hostile feeling in the spicy wassail bowl. 
 The important word wassal, wassail, was re- 
 echoed by each guest, as he received the bowl 
 from his neighbour; and no thoughts were ad- 
 mitted but those of jollity and good fellowship. 
 
 We first hear of the wassail-bowl in England 
 at a banquet given to Vortigern, king of Britain, 
 by the Saxon Hengist, when he commanded his 
 daughter Rowena to present a bowl of wine to 
 the king, with the words " Lord King, was heil;'' 
 to which he, by the help of an interpreter, re- 
 plied, " Drinc heile" The word heil still, in 
 
96 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND 
 
 modern German, means welfare or prosperity, 
 and this was, in fact, only the Saxon mode of 
 drinking to each other's health in a hob-nob. 
 
 In later times, this season of the year was 
 particularly selected for the performance of the 
 moralities and mysteries of which I told you 
 some pages back; and in Scotland, their daft 
 days, as days of frolic and merry-making are 
 there called, began then. Among the many 
 remnants of religious festive observances which 
 have been retained among us, not one has caused 
 more discussion than that called Hogmany, which 
 seems to have been a kind of morality, but the 
 explanation of the name has pretty well baffled 
 those who are fond of finding out the derivation 
 of words. The word Hogmany was used as a 
 cry upon those occasions, when, in the sixteenth 
 century, companies of actors, fantastically dressed 
 up, used to present themselves with great uproar 
 to the houses, asking for money, &c. They said 
 or sang 
 
 " Hogmenay trololay, 
 Gie us your white bread, and nane o' your grey I" 
 
 Some persons have supposed this odd word to 
 be of Gothic origin, because mm^ewas the name 
 of one of the cups drunk at the feast of Yule, or 
 
CHRISTMAS. 97 
 
 midwinter, our present Christmas, as celebrated 
 in times of Heathenism ; and the night before 
 Yule was called Hoggin nott, meaning slaughter 
 night, and referring, no doubt, to the sacrifices 
 in honour of Thor, one of the Scandinavian 
 deities. This is all possible; but it does not 
 make Hogmany, at least the name, much more 
 intelligible to us. The thing itself appears to 
 have somewhat resembled the French fete des 
 fous, and to have been a kind of dramatic repre- 
 sentation, of which but little vestige now remains. 
 I merely mentioned it to you because you are 
 not likely, perhaps, to meet with it very gene- 
 rally adverted to; and I will now describe to 
 you the Morris dancers and other personages of 
 this description, who performed a very active 
 part in the pageants which formed a consider- 
 able portion of Christmas amusements. 
 
 The Morris dance, which was one of the most 
 popular amusements in this country, has been 
 supposed to have derived its name originally 
 from Morisco, whence we should conclude that 
 it had its origin in Spain. But there is much 
 to be said against this idea, and, amongst other 
 things, that the Spanish dances are accompanied 
 with castanets attached to the fingers, and not 
 
98 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 with bells to the different parts of the dress. 
 The Morris dance was sometimes a separate 
 performance, but was much oftener attached to 
 pageants, and most especially to those of May 
 games. But as Morris dancers also presented 
 themselves in company with the mummers who 
 exhibited at Christmas, I will describe them 
 together here. 
 
 The dress of the Morris dancers, as was said 
 above, was ornamented with bells, which were 
 sounded as they danced. These bells were of 
 different sizes, and called by different names, as 
 the fore bell, the second bell, the treble, the 
 tenor or great bell, and double bells are also 
 spoken of. The dance was sometimes performed 
 by five men and a boy in girl's clothes; they 
 wore parti- coloured ribands round their hats, 
 arms, and knees; and to these ribands the 
 bells were generally fixed. The principal dancer 
 was dressed much finer than his companions. 
 
 The mummers were a kind of comedians, 
 who even now are met with in some places. 
 They go about from door to door, asking if " the 
 mummers are wanted ;" they are dressed in the 
 most grotesque fashion, their heads adorned with 
 high paper caps, gilt and spangled, and their 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 99 
 
 bodies with ribands of various colours ; while 
 St. George and the Princes, two characters 
 among them, but of very little meaning, are 
 armed with ten swords. The affair ends with a 
 song, and a collection of money is made. 
 
 In later times, the hobby-horse always accom- 
 panied the Morris dancers ; this was a com- 
 pound figure, resembling a horse in the head 
 and tail, with a light wooden frame for the body 
 of the person who was to play the character to 
 go into, and covered with trappings reaching to 
 the ground to cover the feet. Thus equipped, 
 the hobby-horse was to prance and caper about, 
 imitating the curvetting of a real steed. This 
 hobby-horse is often alluded to in the writings 
 of the time as a common amusement at festivities. 
 
 Morris Dancers ; from Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare. 
 
 F 2 
 
100 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 CHRISTMAS SPORTS (continued). 
 
 IT has always been said of the English that 
 they were remarkable for their Christmas sports 
 and pastimes,, and that they celebrated that fes- 
 tival in many ways unknown to other countries ; 
 and yet one of the many popular pageants of 
 former times was, it is supposed, originally 
 brought from the Continent, though possibly 
 laid aside there long before it was in England 
 I mean that of the Lord of Misrule. This 
 pastime was, however, in its nature so childish, 
 that one cannot wonder at its being obsolete, as 
 soon as the people were more enlightened. 
 
 Wherever the King's court was held at Christ- 
 mas, there a Lord of Misrule was appointed ; 
 and the same merry mortal made his appear- 
 ance at every house of distinction at the same 
 time. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs had theirs; 
 and there was always a kind of friendly dispute 
 as to who should make the greatest show on 
 these occasions. This queer lord began his 
 misrule on Allhallow Eve (the last day of Oc- 
 
Lord of Misrule ; from an original Drawing. 
 
 F3 
 
CHRISTMAS. 103 
 
 tober), and it lasted till the Purification, that is 
 to say, to the 2nd of February. In the reign of 
 Edward VI ., George Ferrers, a poet and lawyer, 
 was appointed to that calling ; and we may hope 
 that he freed it from some of its absurdities, as 
 he discharged his office under the name of 
 " master of the King's pastimes." 
 
 I will give you an extract of an account of 
 the proceedings of a Lord of Misrule, and I do 
 not think you will much wish to add him to 
 your Christmas amusements. The writer I am 
 about to quote lived in the sixteenth century, 
 and he thus describes the affair : 
 
 ee First of all, the wild heads of the parish 
 flock together, and choose them a grand captain 
 of mischief, whom they ennoble with the title 
 of Lord of Misrule, and him they crown with 
 great ceremony. He then chooseth twenty, forty, 
 sixty, or a hundred as merry fellows as himself 
 for his guards, and they are all clothed in some 
 light gay colour, and, as if this was not being 
 fine enough, they bedeck themselves with scarfs, 
 ribands, and laces, hung all over with gold rings, 
 precious stones, and jewels. This done, they 
 tie about their legs twenty or forty bells, with 
 rich handkerchiefs and scarfs, sometimes laid 
 
104 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 across their shoulders. Thus, all things being 
 set in order, they have their hobby-horses, dra- 
 gons, and other fancies, together with their 
 pipers and drummers to strike up music ; then 
 they march in this manner to church, their bells 
 jingling, their ribands flying, &c., and, entering 
 the church like madmen, whether the minister 
 be at service or no, they dance about, and make 
 such a noise, that a man cannot hear his own 
 voice speak. They jostle among all the people, 
 who stand staring and laughing, and distribute 
 among them certain papers, on which are 
 painted the silliest things imaginable ; and these 
 are called the badges of my Lord of Misrule. 
 They give these to all those who will give them 
 money ; to those who will not, they give evil 
 words, and indeed sometimes throw them into 
 the water ; and so besotted are the people, that 
 they not only take these badges, but wear them 
 in their hats and caps ; others give them bread, 
 cheese, meat, or cakes, creams, and custards." 
 
 Now I do think you will call all this silly 
 enough, but it did not stop at being foolish, for 
 often more mischief was done than could be 
 easily repaired. 
 
 There was another custom, which will remind 
 
CHRISTMAS. 105 
 
 you of your own Twelfth Day King and Queen 
 drawing. This custom was what was called 
 choosing the King of the Bean, whose reign 
 commenced on the vigil or eve of Epiphany, 
 January 5th, or on the day itself; and it was a 
 common custom to give the name of King or 
 Queen to that person who was so very lucky as 
 to have hit on that part of a divided cake which 
 was honoured ahove the others by having a 
 bean in it. 
 
 Twelfth Day, as we call it, which is the 6th 
 of January, and twelve days after Christmas 
 Day, was instituted, as you know, in remem- 
 brance of the Eastern kings, or wise men, who 
 paid their homage to the infant Jesus. A very 
 grand religious ceremony (or shall I not say a 
 parody of one?) took place in the cathedral 
 churches at this time, in which there was a 
 Bishop or an Archbishop of Fools elected, and 
 in churches which immediately belonged to the 
 papal See, a Pope of Fools. These strange 
 elections were frequently performed in England, 
 but not with the excess of extravagance and ap- 
 parent mockery that disgracefully distinguished 
 them abroad. 
 
 The ceremony of choosing the Boy Bishop 
 
106 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 was likewise well known here. On the fast of 
 St. Nicholas, or Innocent's Day, it was cus- 
 tomary for one of the children of the choir, com- 
 pletely dressed in the episcopal vestments, with 
 a mitre and crosier, to take the title and state of 
 a Bishop. His companions were dressed like 
 priests, and paid him the same reverence that 
 real priests pay to real Bishops. They took 
 possession of the church, and there performed 
 all the ceremonies of divine worship, just as had 
 been done by a Bishop and his prebendaries. 
 They even went so far as to say mass; and 
 people used to flock to the church to hear the 
 child Bishop's sermon. After that was over, the 
 Bishop and his companions went about different 
 parts of the town, and to religious houses, col- 
 lecting money. This was principally done in 
 London, at St. Paul's Church. Henry VIII. 
 put this down, as being childish and supersti- 
 tious ; but it was still practised even after his 
 time. 
 
 Up to this day, in some places in the north, 
 the fool's plough goes about. This is a proces- 
 sion that consists of a number of sword-dancers 
 dragging about a plough, with music, and one 
 
CHRISTMAS. 107 
 
 or two of the people are fancifully dressed. One 
 character, called Bessie, is dressed in the habit 
 of an old woman, and the Fool is almost covered 
 with skins, having a hairy cap on his head, and 
 the tail of some creature hanging down his back. 
 They dance about, and rattle a box to have 
 money put in it ; and it is said that they some- 
 times plough up the ground before a house if 
 the owner has not given anything. In general, 
 Plough Monday, or the ploughman's holiday, 
 is the first Monday after Twelfth Day. 
 
 At this time of the year it was usual, in the 
 Scilly Isles, to go about goore dancing, as it 
 was called, the men in women's clothes and the 
 women in men's, and they were entertained with 
 music and dancing, first at one house and then 
 at another. 
 
 In those good old times, the times of chivalry, 
 of which we spoke not long ago, Twelfth Day 
 was celebrated in England with great entertain- 
 ments. Justings were continued at this season 
 long after they were given over at other times; 
 and it was then that the minstrels appeared 
 with the wassail bowl. In many parts of Devon- 
 shire, even now on Twelfth Night, the farmer 
 
108 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 brings out his largest pitcher of cider, and then,, 
 going out with his company into the orchard, 
 and encircling the best bearing tree, the whole 
 party testify their gratitude, by drinking three 
 times to its welfare, and singing the following 
 rhymes : 
 
 M Here's to the old apple tree, 
 
 Whence thou may'st bud and whence thou may'st blow, 
 And whence may'st thou bear us apples enow ; 
 Hats full, caps full, 
 Bushell, bushell, sacks full, 
 And my pockets too full ! ? ' 
 
 Though the Christmas festival was generally 
 supposed to be ended on the twelfth day after 
 Christmas, it was, in some places, kept on till 
 Candlemas Day, the 2nd of February. If I 
 had wider limits, I should like to carry you back 
 to the time of King Arthur and his knights ; 
 and I believe I could entertain you very well 
 for a time with the account of the festivities of 
 his court at this season. But I must, for want 
 of room, dismiss the subject with some lines of 
 Thomas Tusser, a poet of the sixteenth century, 
 who wrote on husbandry and housekeeping in 
 all its branches, and who was fond of intro- 
 ducing a little good advice into his poems : 
 
CHRISTMAS. 109 
 
 " When Christmas is ended, 
 
 Bid feasting adieu, 
 Go, play the good husband* 
 
 Thy stock to renew ; 
 Be mindful of rearing, 
 
 In hope of a gain, 
 Dame Profit shall give thee 
 
 Reward for thy pain." 
 
 * Husband here means a careful man, and we still say " to 
 husband one's money," or mtans, for making the most of 
 them. 
 
110 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 SKAITING AND VARIOUS GAMES. 
 
 MIDWINTER is now passed, and we are beginning 
 to look forward to next Christmas ; but there is 
 much to be done both for profit and amusement 
 before that comes. And first of winter pleasures. 
 You must all know something of the pleasures 
 of sliding and skaiting, though the last two or 
 three winters have been so mild that the oppor- 
 tunities for pursuing these amusements have not 
 been quite so numerous as in seasons of greater 
 severity. 
 
 The earliest notice of skaiting that I remem- 
 ber to have met with is in an old picture of 
 London, in which the exercise is described as 
 having been practised in Moorfields, but not 
 under the name of skaiting, nor by means of 
 those things we call skaits. The writer tells 
 us 
 
 fe Some people tye bones to their feet and 
 under their heels, and shoving themselves along 
 by means of a little picked (or pointed) stick, 
 
SWORD-DANCE. Ill 
 
 do glide as swiftly as a bird flieth through the 
 air." 
 
 This certainly can be nothing else than 
 skaiting, though not performed in so com- 
 modious and scientific a manner as in our days. 
 
 I believe we owe the improvement of skaits to 
 the Hollanders, who, on account of the coldness 
 of their climate, and the multitude of canals by 
 which their country is intersected, have found 
 skaiting highly important, as a rapid mode of 
 travelling from one place to another, and have 
 naturally carried the art to a higher degree of 
 perfection than if it had been merely practised 
 as an amusement. The Icelanders, we are told, 
 used to fasten to their feet the shank-bone of a 
 deer or sheep, about a foot in length, which 
 they greased, in order to prevent the drops of 
 water from adhering to them. 
 
 Another exercise, very well adapted to the 
 cold weather we are treating of, was the sword- 
 dance, or rather combat, which was performed 
 in ancient times by the gleemen and jugglers, 
 with whom I have already brought you ac- 
 quainted. Our Saxon ancestors were much ad- 
 dicted to this diversion, which bore some resem- 
 blance to the combats of the Roman gladiators ; 
 
112 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 and in older historians we find those who prac- 
 tised it mentioned under this appellation. In 
 the reign of Edward I., an edict was issued, 
 prohibiting the establishment of schools and 
 theatres for the exercise of this and similar 
 species of amusements, which might, perhaps, 
 by this time, have degenerated from mere exhi- 
 bitions of skill and dexterity into real combats. 
 But it does not appear that the edict availed 
 much, as schools were still kept open, where 
 youths were publicly instructed in the exercise. 
 
 The places where these exhibitions of skill 
 and trials of strength were made, were called 
 bear-gardens, from their having been first ap- 
 propriated to the cruel sport of baiting bears 
 with dogs. The amusements, as they were 
 called, carried on at those places present a 
 melancholy and disgusting picture of the degra- 
 dation of which human nature is capable when 
 men, and unfortunately not always those lowest 
 and most ignorant, could derive pleasure from 
 the savage cruelties practised both on man and 
 beast. I will not even enumerate the names of 
 those disgraceful pleasures ; it is gratifying to 
 think that many of them have now fallen into 
 disuse , 
 
QUARTER-STAFF. 1 13 
 
 We will rather turn our attention to some 
 >ther old English games. One of the first of 
 these shall be that called quarter-staff, or the 
 staff of defence ; so named from the manner of 
 
 Quarter-Staff; from the old Ballad of Robin Hood and 
 the Tanner. 
 
 using the staff, one hand being placed at the 
 middle, and the other equally between the end 
 and the middle. Encounters with the quarter- 
 staff were mostly practised in the west of Eng- 
 land, where great skill in its management was 
 acquired. Of this we have a striking proof in 
 the account of a combat of three to one, being " an 
 English-Spanish combat, fought by a western 
 gentleman, of Tavistock, in Devonshire, with an 
 
114 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 English quarter-staff, against three Spanish 
 champions, armed with rapiers and poignards, 
 at Xeres, in Spain, in presence of the Dukes, 
 Condfes, and other great Dons of Spain." Besides 
 the written account, there is, as I have heard, a 
 print of this combat, representing the hero with 
 his quarter- staff in the act of fighting with three 
 Spaniards, who are armed with long swords and 
 daggers. 
 
 Not only the west of England, but Westmore- 
 land and Cumberland likewise are celebrated for 
 their skill in this game, as also for wrestling. I 
 would willingly describe this last to you, but the 
 terms of art are difficult to explain. It is enough 
 to say that, by some persons, the Cornish mode 
 of wrestling is called play, but that of Devon- 
 shire barbarous; for the pitch, the heave, the 
 struggle, and the Cornish hug are incomprehen- 
 sible things to those who have not witnessed and 
 appreciated them. Wrestling is, however, one 
 of the oldest pastimes on record. 
 
 Games with the ball were prevalent at all 
 seasons, and were in use in England at a very 
 early period ; for a writer who lived in the four- 
 teenth century alludes to St. Cuthbert playing 
 at ball. Now, whether or not that fact is to be 
 
TENNIS. 115 
 
 relied on, the circumstance of its being mentioned 
 by still older writers proves the antiquity of the 
 game. It was customary, in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, for the London school-boys to assemble in 
 the fields on Shrove Tuesday, directly after din- 
 ner, to play at the famous game of ball. Our 
 modern game of Fives was anciently called hard 
 tennis. Henry VII. of England was a tennis 
 player; and there is an old picture of the six- 
 teenth century, in which a tennis-court is repre- 
 sented, divided by a line stretched across the 
 centre, the players standing on each side of it, 
 with their rackets ready to receive and strike 
 back the ball over the line, as the rules of the 
 game required. But we have a still earlier 
 notice of tennis, for Shakspeare's play of Henry 
 V., in which history is closely followed, opens 
 with the affronting present of tennis-balls from 
 the King of France to the King of England on 
 his accession to the throne, as if the former con- 
 ceived that the English king and his nobles were 
 unfitted for more important occupation. The 
 reply sent to the Dauphin of France is expressed 
 in the terms of tennis playing " When we have 
 matched our rackets to these balls, we will in 
 France, by God's grace, play a set shall strike 
 his father's crown into the hazard." 
 
116 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Among the additions made by Henry VIII, 
 to Whitehall palace, tennis-courts and bowling- 
 alleys are mentioned. 
 
 Hand-ball was a game played by both men 
 and women, and at Easter the prize for the 
 victors was a tansy-cake. This is supposed by 
 some persons to have been an imitation of the 
 Jews eating bitter herbs at their passover ; but 
 such was the abhorrence entertained for the 
 Jews by our forefathers, that their borrowing 
 any custom from them would seem improbable, 
 had they not devised a way of showing their 
 hatred at the same time,, and of showing it in a 
 way that proves the custom to have been so bor- 
 rowed. This device was to eat part of a gammon 
 of bacon with the cake. The prevalence of this 
 game of hand-ball is recorded by a saying still 
 familiar at Chester, viz., " when the daughter is 
 stolen shut Pepper Gate;" which seems to be 
 nonsense, but means the same thing as the more 
 general expression of ' e shutting the stable door 
 when the steed is stolen." It originated in the 
 fact, that the daughter of the mayor of that city 
 was carried off by a young man from Pepper 
 Gate, while she was amusing herself, in company 
 with other maidens, by playing at ball in Pepper 
 
FOOT-BALL. 117 
 
 Street, whereupon the gate was closed up by 
 order of the mayor. 
 
 The balloon or wind-ball was a large ball 
 made of doubled leather; and being filled with 
 air, it was driven to and fro by the players. 
 This exercise required considerable strength, 
 and each person was provided with a hollow 
 bracer of wood, which defended the hand and 
 lower part of the arm when he struck the ball. 
 
 Stool-ball is still played in some parts of the 
 North. A stool is placed on the ground, and 
 one of the players standing before it, endeavours 
 to beat back the balls which are aimed at it by 
 the others. 
 
 Hurling was a Cornish game, but also in use 
 formerly amongst the Irish. The ball was 
 hurled forwards by some one of the players, and 
 then all the rest pursued it over bushes, briars, 
 mires, plashes, and streams; and sometimes it 
 would happen that thirty or forty men might be 
 seen struggling at once in the water, scrambling 
 for the ball, and snatching it one from the other. 
 
 Foot-ball you have all heard of, but it was 
 considered so dangerous a play by King James 
 I., that he prohibited it in a proclamation that 
 said, <c From this court I debar all rough and 
 
118 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 violent exercises, as the foot-ball, meeter for 
 laming than making able the practitioners 
 thereof." Some foot-balls are made of bladders 
 distended with air, and peas are put in them to 
 make a rattling as they roll. The most ancient 
 of all the games at ball played with a bat, is 
 that now called golf. I will not stop to describe 
 it, as you are most likely familiar with it. It 
 was a favourite amusement of Prince Henry, 
 son of James I. A game much resembling it, 
 and called stow-ball, was common in the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries, and is still 
 played in the southern counties of England. 
 Club- ball, trap-ball, and cricket, you are also 
 well acquainted with. The mode of playing 
 them differs slightly in different counties, and 
 they have also different appellations, such as 
 northern spell, tip cat, &c., &c. 
 
 Bowling, whether on open greens or on bowl- 
 ing alleys, is believed to have been first practised 
 in the middle ages. The most ancient way of it 
 was to set up two small cones, at some distance 
 from each other, as marks for the players to aim 
 at. Bowling-greens are said to have been first 
 used in England. 
 
 In the game of kayles, called also cayles and 
 
NINE-PINS. 119 
 
 keiles, we may trace the origin of nine pins, 
 though played in rather a different manner. 
 Club-kales were so called from a club being 
 thrown at them when they were placed in this 
 order, that is in a single row. When a bowl 
 was made use of instead of a club, the game was 
 called cloisk or closs. Sometimes bones were 
 used by the common people instead of pins,, and 
 then it was called loggats. Dutch pins, skittles, 
 and four-corners, were varieties of the same 
 game. 
 
 The game now known in Herts by the name 
 of rolly-polly, was formerly called half-bowl, 
 from being played with half a ball, or sphere of 
 wood; it was prohibited by Edward IV. But 
 we have had enough of games with balls ; and I 
 will only add that the game of billiards is de- 
 rived from what was called shovel -board, and 
 was a great favourite with Prince Henry, who 
 was indeed a proficient in all kinds of games, as 
 well as of better things. 
 
120 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SAINTS' DAYS, AND OTHER HOLY DAYS. 
 
 BESIDES the Christmas festival and other great 
 Church festivals, there were many days in the 
 year marked by observances and amusements 
 peculiar to each. Our space will not allow of 
 enumerating them all, but I must at least notice 
 some of them, and first the mode of celebrating 
 the festivals of the patron saints of our own 
 country. 
 
 St. David^s day is kept early in the year, namely 
 March 1. St. David is supposed to be uncle 
 of the famous King Arthur, and at a great battle 
 he caused the Britons, who were led on by Cad- 
 wallader, to wear leeks in their caps, as a dis- 
 tinguishing mark. This is assigned by some 
 writers as the reason of the estimation in which 
 the Welsh hold the leek ; others however deny 
 this, and various other reasons are given, but 
 none very satisfactory or convincing. The leek, 
 either real or artificial, and made of jewels, 
 silver, or foil, is worn by all Welshmen on St. 
 David's day; and the Welsh hold an annual 
 meeting also on that day. 
 
SAINTS' DAYS. 121 
 
 The 17th of March is dedicated to St. Patrick, 
 and although he is the especial saint of Ireland, 
 the honour of having given him birth is claimed 
 both by Scotland and Wales. Many legends 
 are related of him; and to him the Irish are 
 indebted for the first introduction of Christianity 
 among them, A.D. 433. His well-known badge, 
 the shamrock, is assigned him owing to his 
 having made use of that plant as an illustration 
 of the Trinity, when he was explaining the doc- 
 trines of his creed to his new converts. The Irish 
 celebrate his festival with rejoicings and obser- 
 vances, which differ in various parts of the 
 country. 
 
 The festival of the English, St. George's, is 
 held on the 23rd of April. Who this saint really 
 was has been much disputed; but he is most 
 generally allowed to have been born in Capa- 
 docia. He was no less a soldier than a saint, 
 and did wonders in both characters, as the old 
 ballad says: 
 
 " Look into old historians, and there it is you'll see 
 How St. George, St, George, St. George the dragon made 
 to flee." 
 
 That part of his history is familiar to most of 
 you; but the pictures of his fight with the 
 
122 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 dragon are supposed to be emblematical of his 
 zeal for religion, and originally meant to represent 
 the combat of St. Michael with the fallen angel 
 alluded to in scripture. St. George lived and 
 flourished in the reign of the emperor Dioclesian. 
 St. Michael's day, Michaelmas, or, as you 
 may have heard it called, goose-day, is another 
 festival in honour of a saint ; it is kept upon the 
 29th of September. Much obscurity involves 
 the origin of the custom of eating geese on that 
 day ; some people say it is merely an old Lan- 
 cashire custom for the farmers to have a goose 
 roasted on that day, possibly because about that 
 time these birds acquire their full growth, and 
 are in the best condition. It has been attributed 
 by others, though with little probability, to the 
 circumstance of Queen Elizabeth having been 
 engaged in eating goose, when the news of the 
 defeat of the Spanish Armada was first brought 
 to her ; but that is not very well authenticated, 
 and the custom seems older than her reign. 
 The Protestant inhabitants of the Isle of Skye, 
 who observe the festivals of Christmas, Easter, 
 Good Friday, and St. Michael, on the latter day 
 have a cavalcade in each parish, and several fami- 
 lies bake the cake called St. Michael's bannock. 
 
SAINTS' DAYS. 123 
 
 On the 30th of November comes St. Andrew's 
 day. St. Andrew was one of the apostles,, and 
 was put to death at Patra in Achaia. He was 
 crucified on a cross of this form (X) called a cross 
 decussate ; a portion of the cross upon which he 
 suffered was said to have been carried to Brus- 
 sels by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and 
 Brabant, who instituted the order of the Golden 
 Fleece in honour of it ; the badge of which 
 order is a St. Andrew's cross, or a cross of Bur- 
 gundy. As it is not easy to conceive any con- 
 nexion that could exist between St. Andrew's 
 cross and the golden fleece, the supposition that 
 this part of the badge was selected in compli- 
 ment to the lady of a great cloth merchant of 
 Brussels seems more reasonable than this story. 
 St. Andrew was held in great reverence both by 
 the Scotch and Russians ; and the latter profess 
 to be indebted to him for the first preaching of 
 Christianity. Many ceremonies were performed 
 in his honour, differing in mode according to the 
 habits of those who practised them. Squirrel 
 hunting begins on this day; and at Duddington, 
 near Edinburgh, the citizens partake upon this 
 occasion of one of the homeliest dishes of Scot- 
 land, a singed sheep's head. 
 
124 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The 26th of December is the festival of St. 
 Stephen. Whether St. Stephen was the patron 
 of horses I do not know ; but on his day it was 
 the custom of our ancestors to have their horses 
 examined by the horse doctors ; and it was usual 
 to bleed them. Probably it was because several 
 holidays came together at this time, with St. 
 Stephen's Day in the middle, and afforded lei- 
 sure for the operation. A peculiar procession 
 in honour of the wren took place on this day, 
 and does so even now in some parts of both Ire- 
 land and England. Though one of the smallest 
 amongst the birds, the wren has always been 
 held in great respect, and in most languages, 
 excepting our own, a regal title is conferred on 
 him : as Rostelet in French ; Re di siefe, the 
 king of the hedges, in Italian ; and Zaun konig 
 in German, which has the same meaning as the 
 Italian. A wren was carried about in proces- 
 sion, a collection was made, and verses were 
 sung, of which I remember only these lines: 
 
 " The wren, the wren, the king of the birds, 
 Was caught on St. Stephen's Day in the furze ; 
 Although he is little, his family's great, 
 So pray, good people, give us a treat." 
 
 Easter Day was kept with great solemnity as 
 a religious festival, and many civil observances 
 
SAINTS' DAYS. 125 
 
 were also dependent on it. A question respect- 
 ing the proper season for celebrating it was the 
 occasion of many dissensions, and sometimes 
 even of wars. You all know the event it com- 
 memorates among Christians ; but our Saxon 
 ancestors, before the introduction of Christianity, 
 used to hold a festival at this period in honour 
 of the goddess Eastor, who has, by some writers 
 upon mythology, been supposed to be the Astarte 
 of Eastern nations, and who appears to have be- 
 queathed her name to the festival among the 
 descendants of the Saxons. 
 
 Easter was the period selected for opening the 
 courts of law, and many of the festivals of the 
 Church depended on it. Easter Day is always 
 the first Sunday after the first new moon follow- 
 ing the 21st of March. There are too many 
 rites and practices belonging to this period to 
 be all enumerated here, but I will mention that 
 the day before Easter Day, which is sometimes 
 called Holy Saturday, is in some places, espe- 
 cially in Ireland, considered as a very great day. 
 At twelve o'clock on this Holy Saturday night, 
 the joyous cry of " out with Lent" is heard, and 
 for a few hours all is merriment. The people 
 then go to bed, but soon rise again to see the 
 
126 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 sun dance in honour of the Resurrection. We 
 need not pause to consider the probability of 
 this assertion respecting the sun, which is a 
 point you can, no doubt, settle for yourselves ; 
 but the truth, perhaps, is, no one looks at the 
 sun so attentively at other times as, in expecta- 
 tion of this dancing, they do on the Easter Day; 
 and therefore they assert that the sun, on his 
 rising, plays more on Easter Day than on any 
 other day. This word playing may need expla- 
 nation. In some parts of England it is called 
 lamb playing, when, as soon as the sun rises, its 
 reflection is looked for, and seen dancing on some 
 stream or river. 
 
 There is another custom, called lifting, at 
 Easter. This is thus described in a letter 
 quoted in Brand's antiquities : 
 
 " While I was sitting alone in the inn at 
 Shrewsbury on Easter Tuesday, I was surprised 
 by the entrance of all the female servants of the 
 house, handing in an arm-chair lined with white, 
 and decorated with ribands and favours of dif- 
 ferent colours. I asked them what they wanted ; 
 they replied that they came to heave me; it was 
 the custom of the morning, and they hoped I 
 would take a seat in their chair. I did so, and 
 
SAINTS* DAYS. 127 
 
 they lifted me up from the ground, turned the 
 chair round about, and I had the honour of a 
 salute from each. I told them I supposed there 
 was a fee due for all this, and having satisfied 
 them with a gift, they went away to heave others, 
 I suppose." 
 
 There is another remnant of ancient times, 
 which is a good deal kept up in Cumberland 
 and Westmoreland to this day to wit, " the 
 Easter eggs." There are various ways of orna- 
 menting the eggs : some with names on them, 
 but the prettiest, I think, are those which are 
 marbled with different colours ; this is done by 
 binding coloured ribands round the eggs, and 
 boiling them, and this is the simplest way. They 
 are boiled very hard, and the boys who play 
 with them strike each other's eggs, each holding 
 his own ; one must be broken, and the trium- 
 phant egg is called the cock of one, two, or three, 
 or so many as it has broken. These are called 
 also pace eggs, a corruption of the word pasques 
 or paschall. Though it does not belong to our 
 subject, I cannot leave these Easter eggs with- 
 out telling you that in the Greek Church such 
 Easter eggs are presented by everybody to their 
 friends, with the words " Christ is risen." 
 
128 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Corporations used formerly to go out in pomp, 
 and play at ball at Easter. Hand-ball, dancing, 
 and other amusements used to be carried on on 
 that day, in which ladies joined, or else attended 
 as spectators ; one instance of which you have 
 had in the Mayor of Chester's daughter. Easter 
 Monday in London and at Greenwich, arid the 
 Easter hunt, have been so often described, that 
 we will not touch on them any more than on 
 the religious ceremonies. We must now turn 
 to May Day and May Day games, which, if we 
 were to say half that there is to say about them, 
 would take up volumes instead of pages. 
 
129 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MAY DAY AND MIDSUMMER. 
 
 MAY Day was the great rural festival of our 
 forefathers. The Anglo-Saxons called the month 
 of May Trimilki, because in that month they 
 began to milk the kine three times in a day. On 
 the 1st of May it was customary for the youth 
 of both sexes to rise a little after midnight, and 
 walk, accompanied by music, to some neigh- 
 bouring wood, where they broke off branches 
 from the trees, and adorned them with nosegays 
 and crowns of flowers. Then, by sunrise, they 
 returned, and ornamented their doors and win- 
 dows with what they had brought home. After 
 this, they spent most part of the day in dancing 
 round a tall pole in the village, called a May- 
 pole, which remained untouched all the rest of 
 the year. 
 
 At the north-west corner of Aldgate-street, 
 and in Leadenhall- street, at the church of St. 
 Andrew's, London, the May- pole used to stand, 
 which, it is said, was higher than the church 
 steeple. This high shaft was not raised after 
 
 G 
 
130 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 what was called evil May day, which was so 
 called from an insurrection among the appren- 
 tices against aliens, or foreigners,, in 1517; but 
 the shaft was laid along over the doors and under 
 the pentices, or sloping roofs, of one row of 
 houses, in ally gate, called from this circum- 
 stance Shaft Alley. It was one of the first aims 
 of the early Reformers to suppress these May- 
 poles, beyond almost any other amusements ; 
 and in 1644 there was an order from the Lords 
 and Commons that ie all and singular May-poles 
 be taken down, and none suffered to be erected 
 in the kingdom of England or dominion of 
 Wales." 
 
 It was a constant custom in celebration of 
 May games to elect a hand and leg of May. At 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century, and, in- 
 deed, still earlier, the old stories of Robin Hood 
 and his companions were re-written, and put 
 into separate ballads, and thence it was cus- 
 tomary to personate this famous outlaw with 
 several of his well-known companions, and add 
 them to the pageantry of the May games and 
 their Morris dance. Robin Hood now paraded 
 as Lord of May, and a man dressed like a 
 woman was called maid Marian, his sweetheart. 
 
MAY DAY. 
 
 131 
 
 The rest, properly attired, were called Robin 
 Hood's men. Of the manner in which a May 
 game was set forth formerly, you may form some 
 notion from an extract which I will give you 
 from a book called " Queen Hoo Hall:" the 
 time is supposed to be in the fifteenth century, 
 and the place the baronial residence of a noble- 
 
 May- Pole; from an original Drawing. 
 
 man addicted to those kind of amusements; and 
 
 G2 
 
132 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 when you know that the book was written by 
 Strutt, the author of " The Customs and Pastimes 
 of England/' you will feel that you could not 
 have a better description,, as no one,, perhaps, is 
 so well versed in ancient manners as he was : 
 " First of all, in front of the tent or pavilion 
 from whence all was to be seen and done, a 
 large square was marked out and fenced with 
 ropes to keep the crowd off, and there were 
 spaces left where the actors came in and out. 
 Six young men first entered, clothed with jer- 
 kins of leather, having axes on their shoulders, 
 like woodmen, and their heads bound with gar- 
 lands of ivy and hawthorn. Then followed six 
 maidens, dressed in blue mittes, with garlands 
 of primroses on their heads, leading a fine sleek 
 cow, dressed in ribands of all colours, and her 
 horns tipped with gold. After them came in 
 six foresters in green tunics and green hoods 
 and hose; each bore a bugle horn fixed to a 
 baldric of silk, and he blew a blast as he passed 
 the barrier. Then came Peter Laneret, the 
 Baron's chief falconer, who acted Robin Hood 
 himself; he wore a bright green tunic fringed 
 with gold, his hood and hose were blue and 
 white ; he wore on his head a garland of rose- 
 
MAY DAY. 133 
 
 buds, a bow bent in his hand, a sheaf of arrows 
 at his girdle, and a bugle-horn hanging from a 
 baldric of light blue tarantine, embroidered with 
 silver : his sword and dagger were embossed 
 with gold. Fabian, the page, walked at his 
 right hand as Little John, and Cecil Cellerman, 
 the butler, as Will Stukely on his left. Then 
 appeared ten men of the gallant outlaw's band, 
 with bows in their hands and arrows at their 
 girdles ; then two maidens in orange-coloured 
 kirtles and white petticoats, and immediately 
 after Maid Marian, beautifully dressed in a 
 watchet-coloured tunic, over which she wore a 
 white socket with loose sleeves figured with 
 silver ; her girdle was silver, and her long flaxen 
 hair was divided into many ringlets ; the top of 
 her head was covered with a net-work caul of 
 gold, on which was placed a wreath of silver, 
 mixed with blue violets; she had two bride- 
 maids in sky blue sockets and white violets on 
 their heads. Then came four more females 
 dressed in green, with garlands of violets and 
 cowslips, followed by Sampson, the smith, as 
 Friar Tuck, bearing a huge quarter-staff on his 
 shoulder; and Morris, the mole-taker, repre- 
 senting Muck, the miller, with a long pole in 
 
134 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 his hand, at each end of which hung an inflated 
 bladder. At length the may-pole made its ap- 
 pearance drawn by eight oxen, decorated with 
 ribands, scarfs, and flowers, their horns tipped 
 with gold. The hobby-horse and dragon brought 
 up the rear. While the ground was preparing 
 for the reception of the may-pole, the barrier at 
 the bottom of the enclosure was thrown open to 
 admit the villagers, who advanced to adorn it 
 with flowers and ribands. It was then raised 
 amid the shouts of the spectators, and the wood- 
 men and milk-maids danced around it in rustic 
 fashion, and the measure was played by Penetto 
 Chevrette, the baron's chief minstrel, accom- 
 panied by the pipe and tabor. At the con- 
 clusion of the dance, Gregory, the jester, came 
 forward on the hobby-horse, frisking up and 
 clown, ambling, trotting, and curvetting, in fact 
 imitating all the motions of a horse. He was 
 followed by Peter Parker, the ranger, who enacted 
 the dragon, hissing, yelling, and shaking his 
 wings, with wonderful dexterity. Between these 
 two, Morris, as Muck, with bells attached to his 
 elbows and knees, capered about to the great 
 amusement of all beholders ; next came Friar 
 Tuck, walking about with gravity, and occa- 
 
MAY DAY. 135 
 
 % 
 
 sionally letting fall his heavy staff on the toes of 
 such of the crowd as he thought advanced too 
 forward. After this followed the archers,, and 
 having set up the target, they shot in regular 
 succession. Both Robin Hood and Will Stukely 
 placed an arrow in the centre of the golden 
 circle, though it could not be decided which was 
 the victor until Robin Hood sent his second 
 arrow again in the centre, while that of Will 
 Stukely only pierced the edge.'' 
 
 The year after the restoration of Charles II., 
 the may-pole was erected in the Strand with 
 great pomp and rejoicings. I have read an ac- 
 count of the ceremony, but as it much reserpbles 
 that which I have already described, it is un- 
 necessary to repeat it here. In addition to the 
 usual pageant, a morris-dance was performed, 
 the dancers gaily decked with purple scarfs over 
 their half-shirts, accompanied also by a pipe and 
 tabor, while the royal standard streamed from 
 the top of the may-pole. 
 
 The festivals of May were not confined wholly 
 to the 1st of May. An account has been pre- 
 served of the sports in honour of May, performed 
 in the Royal Park of Greenwich, in the time of 
 Henry VII., by a company of gentlemen who 
 
136 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 styled themselves the servants of the Lady 
 May ; and the days of the month destined to 
 each are specified. 
 
 On Midsummer eve, " the eve of the good St. 
 John," it was customary for all the inhabitants 
 of the towns and villages,, not even excepting old 
 women and men, to assemble and make merry 
 round a large fire, kindled on an open and con- 
 venient spot; the young men showed their skill 
 and activity by leaping over the fire, wrestling, 
 dancing, and running races. In London, be- 
 sides these fires, the doors of the houses were 
 shaded with branches of green birch, long fennel, 
 St. John's rush, and orpin, called at that time 
 Midsummer men ; and glass lamps were kept 
 burning through the night: what is now the 
 ordinary lighting of our streets, being then, you 
 see, an extraordinary illumination. 
 
 There is no very satisfactory account of the 
 origin or meaning of these observances. The 
 bonfires are by some writers supposed to have 
 been in honour of the sun, who at this period 
 attains his greatest height ; and the idea is 
 partly confirmed by Midsummer being the 
 second great festival of the Heathen Scandina- 
 vians. They celebrated mid-winter and mid- 
 
MIDSUMMER. 137 
 
 summer. The custom of making these summer 
 bonfires is greatly observed in Ireland ; and 
 there the fires are called Baal fires, Baal being 
 the name under which the several heathen na- 
 tions worshipped the sun. In Scotland and 
 Wales these fires were called Baal teinidh, and 
 Bal dan, and Beltan. This last name is al- 
 luded to in the ballad of Glenfinlas, by Sir 
 Walter Scott. When speaking of the hospi- 
 talities and feasting of the chieftain, among other 
 things he says : 
 
 " But o'er his hills on festal day 
 How blazed Lord Ronald's Beltane-tree, 
 When youths and maids the light strathspey 
 So nimbly danced with Highland glee." 
 
 We know so little of the Druidical religion 
 and observances, that whatever is said of them 
 must be conjecture ; but some inquirers believe 
 that, the god Bel, or Belus, was worshipped by 
 the Britons : and it seems pretty certain that in 
 May, or probably nearer to Midsummer, the 
 Druids were wont to put out all the fires in the 
 district, and not to suffer them to be re-kindled 
 till that portion of the produce of the ground., 
 which they claimed as their due, was respec- 
 tively paid. Then, as each family paid, the fire 
 was re-kindled in their house; but never till then. 
 
138 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 At Nottingham an old custom, called setting 
 the watch, was carried on with much ceremony on 
 St. John's eve, even so late as the reign of Charles 
 I. A very fine procession, called the marching 
 watch, took place at the same time of the year 
 in London. The origin of the last was, that in 
 the early part of Henry III.'s reign, till about 
 the year 1253, the city of London was subject to 
 be dreadfully disturbed by robberies and other 
 acts of violence committed within its walls; and 
 that king, in order to remedy this evil, com- 
 manded watches to be kept in London, and in 
 all cities and borough towns, for the preserva- 
 tion of the peace. In commemoration of this 
 benefit, the procession of the marching watch 
 was instituted. It took place once a year, and 
 was a very popular pageant. This Midsummer 
 watch was regularly marched through the city, 
 from its first establishment, till the year 1539, 
 when Henry VIII. forbade this meeting of armed 
 men, and prohibited the marching watch alto- 
 gether. It was accordingly left off till, in the 
 year 1548, Sir John Gresham, then lord mayor, 
 revived it on St. John's eve. But after this it 
 again fell into disuse, and was at last totally 
 discontinued. 
 
139 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RURAL HOLIDAYS, WAKES, WATER SPORTS, 
 SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 Harvest-Home, or Cotswold; from an original Drawing. 
 
 WE have no very particular records of the mode 
 in which the sheep-shearing of former days was 
 
140 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 conducted; but both that, and harvest-home, 
 were then, as now, very joyful times. Of the 
 latter there are many descriptions ; the method 
 doubtless varied in different places. The last 
 load of corn was usually crowned with flowers, 
 and upon it was placed a figure richly dressed, 
 probably intended to represent Ceres, the god- 
 dess of agriculture. All the men and women 
 servants of the farm followed in another cart, 
 loudly shouting and rejoicing. In the North, it 
 was customary, about fifty years ago, to dress up 
 a similar figure at the close of the harvest, to 
 which they gave the name of kern-baby, kern 
 signifying corn. The supper also was there 
 called the kern or churn-supper ; in some places 
 it is called a mell-supper ; but what this word 
 means I cannot tell you. 
 
 Festivals of another kind, called wakes when 
 first introduced into this country, were sup- 
 posed to have been derived from certain festivals 
 observed among the early Christians, and called 
 love-feasts. These wakes were held on the day 
 of the dedication of the church belonging to any 
 district, or on the day sacred to some saint, 
 whose relics were deposited there. Booths were 
 erected, and places of shelter constructed with 
 
RURAL HOLIDAYS. 141 
 
 oranches and boughs for the people who assem- 
 bled in great numbers, to wake or watch, as they 
 called it, through the night, while prayers and 
 thanksgivings were offered up in the church. 
 But these meetings often degenerated into 
 riotous assemblies, in which the people feasted 
 and drank, instead of fasting and praying ; and 
 King Edgar found it necessary to make some 
 very strict laws to prevent such irregularities. 
 
 The Church ales, also called Easter ales, 
 were derived from the wakes. The churchwar- 
 dens, perceiving that the wakes were very popu- 
 lar, and were the means of drawing together a 
 great number of people, resolved to institute 
 something similar, by which they hoped to col- 
 lect money sufficient to enable them to keep the 
 churches in repair, and in some measure to re- 
 duce the parish rates. They took care to brew 
 a quantity of strong ale, to be ready for distribu- 
 tion on the appointed festival, whether Easter or 
 any other festival. The people collected to 
 drink the ale, and not only paid for what they 
 drank, but gave some trifle to the collector. 
 These church ales have long been left off, but 
 the wakes are still common in some of the 
 northern counties. 
 
142 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Neither wakes nor fairs, however, are in as 
 high esteem now as they were formerly; and 
 many which were once thought highly import- 
 ant have now dwindled into small marts for 
 lesser traffic, and offering the idle opportunities 
 for indulgence in drinking and in vulgar pas- 
 times. The following is an extract from the 
 Spectator, giving a short account of a country 
 wake : 
 
 " I found (says the author) a ring of cudgel- 
 players, who were breaking each other's heads 
 in order to make some impression on their mis- 
 tresses' hearts. I then came to a foot-ball 
 match, and then to a ring of wrestlers, and the 
 last sport was pitching the bar. Then a prize 
 was held out to the ablest whistler, one who 
 could whistle clearest, and go through his time 
 without laughing, to which, at the same time, 
 he was provoked by the antics of a Merry An- 
 drew, who was to play his tricks opposite to the 
 whistler." 
 
 The jingling match is very common at fairs. 
 The players are all blindfolded except the jingler, 
 who goes about incessantly ringing a bell, while 
 -his blinded companions follow him, as the sound 
 directs, and endeavour to catch him. Sack- 
 
RURAL HOLIDAYS. 
 
 143 
 
 running and wheelbarrow races are favourite 
 amusements at fairs and wakes., as well as the 
 eating hot hasty pudding, when the person who 
 can swallow most of the hot pudding is the 
 winner. Towards evening, singing for laces and 
 ribands is a common practice,, -and in this trial 
 of skill the women as well as the men can take 
 their share. 
 
 Another amusement often practised at fairs 
 and wakes was slinging stones. This art, you 
 know, is of very ancient date ; for you must all 
 
 Saxon Slingers; from Strutt's Sports. 
 
 be familiar with the history of David and 
 Goliath in the Scripture, and know that the 
 
144 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 tribe of Benjamin was reckoned peculiarly skil- 
 ful in this exercise. It has been practised 
 throughout Europe from the earliest period. 
 The Saxons were expert at it, and many repre- 
 sentations of slingers are to be found in their 
 ancient paintings. Slings were much employed 
 as warlike implements in early times, but we 
 hear little of them, either in war or peace, from 
 the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
 
 Throwing weights and casting the bar were 
 amusements once much in fashion, especially 
 among military men, and those who wished to 
 attain to a great degree of bodily strength. To 
 be skilful at throwing the stone, the bar, and 
 the plummet, was considered desirable in the 
 sixteenth century. Henry VIII. excelled in 
 them greatly. Quoits is a game of this descrip- 
 tion, and of rather a superior order, inasmuch 
 as it requires skill and dexterity as well as mere 
 physical strength ; it is evidently derived from 
 the discus of the ancients, and, as you know, is 
 played with a circular plate of iron with a hole 
 in the centre, the plate being larger or smaller 
 according to the strength of the person who uses 
 it. An iron pin, called a hob, is driven into the 
 ground to within a few inches of the top ; at the 
 
RURAL HOLIDAYS. 145 
 
 distance of about eighteen or twenty yards,, 
 another is similarly driven in, and those who 
 play stand at the one and throw an equal num- 
 ber of quoits at the other. Those who come 
 nearest to the hob are, of course, the winners. 
 
 Foot-races and the game of bar, or prisoners' 
 bar, were much practised formerly. The first 
 of these is almost wholly laid aside, but the other 
 is still a rustic amusement. We find that Ed- 
 ward III. prohibited its being played in the 
 avenues of Westminster Palace during the sitting 
 of Parliament, as it impeded the passage of 
 Members to the House : it was also called a 
 childish game. 
 
 Swimming, which is both an amusement as 
 well as a most useful art, is known by name to 
 all, and practised by many of you, was a great 
 accomplishment in former days. Next to that 
 comes rowing. The ancient Britons were very 
 skilful in this art, and did not fear to rove about 
 on the open seas in their boats of wicker-work 
 covered with leather. The Saxons,, too,, were 
 fond of it ; and we have an account of a 
 pompous water excursion of Edgar the Peaceable. 
 He was conveyed in great state along the Dee, 
 from his palace in the city of West Chester to 
 the church of St. John and back again, upon 
 
 H 
 
146 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 which occasion the oars were managed by eight 
 kings, and he himself, the ninth, sat at the stern 
 and held the helm. Boating is still a matter of 
 great importance, even at the present day, as all 
 Eton and Westminster boys will testify. 
 
 The annual water procession of the Lord 
 Mayor on the Thames was first introduced in 
 the year 1453, by John Norman, who was then 
 Mayor. This made him, of course, very popu- 
 lar among the watermen, and brought the cus- 
 tom of excursions in pleasure-boats into fashion. 
 Thomas Doggett, an actor of some note about 
 a hundred and fifty years back, instituted by his 
 will an annual rowing match, to be performed 
 by six young watermen, from the old Swan Stairs, 
 near London Bridge, to the White Swan at 
 Chelsea ; and left a legacy, to be spent in be- 
 stowing prizes on the winners. Each man rows 
 singly in his boat, and he who arrives first re- 
 ceives a waterman's coat with a large silver 
 badge ; the two that follow next receive a small 
 sum of money, the next nothing. You may see 
 the account of this match, which is called rowing 
 for the coat and badge, in the newspapers in the 
 beginning of every August, as it takes place on 
 the 1st of that month. 
 
 Besides these sports and customs common 
 
RURAL HOLIDAYS. 147 
 
 throughout the kingdom, there are a few con- 
 fined to peculiar districts. Among these may 
 be reckoned the custom of carrying the holly at 
 Brough, a village in Westmoreland. On Twelfth 
 Night a procession of the inhabitants starts from 
 one of the two principal inns on alternate years, 
 and proceeds through the village ; a holly-bush 
 formerly, but I believe it is now an ash, as being 
 more plentiful, is carried in state, with a lighted 
 torch tied to each of the boughs, to the sound of 
 drums and fifes, many of those who accompany 
 it also bearing torches. The bearers stop when 
 they arrive at the town bridge, and cross, in 
 order to cheer the holly, and squibs and crackers 
 are let off abundantly. When the tree is nearly 
 burnt, it is thrown among the populace, who 
 again cheer it, and one part of the people try to 
 carry it to one inn and the other to the other. 
 At the inn to which it is carried they are plenti- 
 fully supplied with ale and spirits, and pass 
 what is called the merry night. 
 
 There are also superstitions peculiar to cer- 
 tain countries, of which you will find a very 
 curious and amusing account in Brand's Anti- 
 quities. They turn very much on what are sup- 
 posed to be warnings before death. In Ireland, 
 
 H2 
 
148 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 many families are thought to be visited by a 
 kind of spirit, called the Banshee, or white 
 woman, who gives notice, by loud cries, when 
 any person in the family is going to die. Not- 
 withstanding her appellation, she is said to ap- 
 pear sometimes as a dark figure sitting on the 
 ground in the attitude of sorrow. In " The 
 Irish Legends," you will find a full account of 
 her, and a very good likeness. There are also 
 Scotch families supposed to be attended by a 
 similar apparition, also called a Benshie, or the 
 farmer's wife, who performs the same kind of 
 office; and the latter was supposed to walk 
 along the path the future funeral was to take. 
 
 Lights, which really arise from damp and 
 morassy places, and consequently appear very 
 much in churchyards, were called corpse candles, 
 and in Wales, particularly, were considered as 
 certain tokens of approaching death. It is said, 
 indeed, that very few of the good people of Car- 
 marthen have died without having first seen their 
 corpse-candles, or death-lights. In other places 
 these lights have been considered as no other- 
 wise mischievous than as leading people astray, 
 and there they bore names less portentous than 
 corpse-lights : they are there called Will-with-a- 
 
RURAL HOLIDAYS. 149 
 
 whisp, Jack-a-lanthorn, Gyl burnt tail, or Sylham 
 lamp. When one of these lights appears on the 
 rigging of a ship, it is called by the sailors cor- 
 pusame, a corruption of cuerpo santo, which is 
 the name given by Spaniards to such little un- 
 accountable lights. In Bucks they are called 
 " the wat," and haunt prisons ; when seen on 
 men's hair and horses' manes they are called 
 the haggs. 
 
 In Northumberland people used to see theii 
 waff, or whiff f as a death token, which is much 
 the same as a wraith in Scotland, or the appear- 
 ance of a living person to himself or others. In 
 some parts of Scotland, even now, the belief in 
 a fetch or fye is very prevalent. I remember a 
 story of a woman of ninety-five, to whom some 
 one said she most likely would not be much 
 longer in this world. f< Ay," said she, <e what fye 
 token do you see about me ?" In Cumberland 
 the fetch is called a swarth. 
 
 The second-sight you have all heard of; it 
 was conceived to be a kind of foreknowledge ot 
 events. This presentiment was most commonly 
 the forerunner of evil. In some of the Western 
 Islands this superstition still prevails ; but of 
 course people endowed with good sense do not 
 
150 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 believe in this, any more than in the other things 
 I have been telling you of. Once, however, 
 they were very generally believed in, and mere 
 accidents and odd coincidences sometimes gave 
 them an appearance of credibility that, would not, 
 it is to be hoped, have deluded persons born in 
 more enlightened times. 
 
 In some parts of Scotland, the first Monday 
 after New- Year's Day is called Hansel Monday ; 
 and on this day are distributed such gifts as in 
 other places are given on New-Year's Day and 
 Christmas Day. Servants are hired from that 
 day, at fairs called statute fairs; and they re- 
 ceive a piece of money, which they call God's 
 penny, as an earnest of their being hired. Such 
 earnest is in many places called handsel or 
 hansel. 
 
151 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 SEDENTARY GAMES. CONCLUSION. 
 
 So much has been said on active amusement s r 
 that we must now turn from them, and devote 
 the few last pages to more quiet and sedentary 
 games ; some of which, though they may appear 
 less attractive, are yet known to prove such 
 powerful excitements to many persons, that in 
 alluding to them I would rather do so with a 
 view to warn you against indulging in them, even 
 to a degree which might be considered harmless, 
 than describe them to you as pleasures. 
 
 People in all ages have had a strong 
 propensity to gambling, in all its forms ; and 
 dice-playing, in particular, was so prevalent 
 among our German ancestors, that it almost 
 amounted to a kind of madness. When they 
 had played away all their property at this game, 
 they would even stake their liberty, and, if they 
 lost, become slaves to the winner. The Danes 
 and Normans were not less given to gaming. 
 The modes of playing were very numerous, but 
 
152 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 it will not be needful to enter here into minute 
 descriptions of them. The game afforded many 
 opportunities for cheating, and the expression in 
 Hamlet, " as false as dicers' oaths/' proves that 
 the character of gamblers was, in Shakspeare's 
 time, what it had been before, and is now. Dice, 
 as you know, are generally made of ivory, but 
 sometimes of bone, and occasionally even of 
 silver and other metals. 
 
 Next follow cards, respecting the invention of 
 which, and the period of their invention, a great 
 many stories are told. One opinion is, that 
 they were first devised for the amusement of 
 Charles VI., King of France, who was subject 
 at times to mental derangement, the recurrence 
 of which it was hoped might be prevented by 
 quiet amusements. Some writers assign them 
 to the Germans at an earlier period ; but the 
 most generally received opinion is, that the 
 game is of Eastern origin. In the reign of 
 Edward L, we hear of a game called the Four 
 Kings, which seems to indicate that cards were 
 at that time known in England. They were 
 much in fashion in the reigns of Henry VII. 
 and Henry VIII., and probably the evil conse- 
 quences of them were at that time known for 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES. 155 
 
 in the reign of the latter, apprentices were pro- 
 hibited by law from this diversion, except at 
 Christmas, and then only in their masters' 
 houses. Primero is one of the most ancient 
 games at cards known in England ; and Ombre 
 was introduced here by Catherine of Braganza, 
 Queen of Charles I. The various games, how- 
 ever, are so numerous, and most of their names 
 so familiar to those who are fond of cards, and 
 so uninteresting to those who are not, that I 
 shall not enumerate them here. 
 
 In point of antiquity, as well as of honour, 
 the game of chess is equal, if not superior, to all 
 others. It is said to have been invented by a 
 philosopher called Xerxes, in the reign of Evil 
 Merodach, King of Babylon, to whom it was 
 made known by some persons, in the hope that 
 it might engage his attention, and be rendered 
 thereby an instrument of improvement to him. 
 From Chaldea it passed to Greece, and thence 
 spread over Europe. The Arabs and Saracens, 
 who greatly excel in the game, give a similar 
 history of its origin, many transferring the facts 
 to a prince of their own nation, and changing 
 the name of the philosopher to Tisa. The period 
 of its introduction into England is uncertain; 
 
156 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 but it is well known that in the reign of William 
 the Conqueror it was by no means considered as 
 a novelty; and there is good ground for sup- 
 posing it to have been played here a century 
 before. 
 
 Draughts, which is a game pretty generally 
 played now, is of more modern invention. I 
 shall merely mention the name of a game called 
 merelles, formerly known in England under the 
 appellation of ninemen's morris and five-penny 
 morris : it is now obsolete, and if you wish for 
 further details concerning it, I must refer you 
 to Strutt's Pastimes, &c., to which excellent 
 book I am indebted for much of the information 
 on games that I have given you. The game of 
 fox and geese much resembles merelles. Seven- 
 teen pieces, called geese, are placed round an- 
 other, called the fox, which is distinguished from 
 them either in size or colour, and the object of 
 the game is so to place the pieces, subjected to 
 certain laws, that the fox cannot move. You 
 are probably acquainted with this game, as well 
 as with solitaire, which, as its name denotes, is 
 played by a single person. I need not describe 
 backgammon nor its origin ; for most of you, I 
 conclude, have had the advantage of reading 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES. 157 
 
 Mrs. Markham's excellent and entertaining 
 History of England, and you will remember her 
 account of it. Domino, which is a very childish 
 game, was brought from France, and is of 
 modern date. 
 
 The game of goose, which may be played by 
 two or more persons, was introduced first from 
 Germany. The table, which is not very large, 
 is divided into sixty-two compartments in a 
 spiral direction, a large space being left in the 
 centre. Each compartment is numbered, from 
 1 to 62, beginning from the outward compart- 
 ment of the spiral lines. Each player throws 
 dice alternately, and marks with a counter the 
 corresponding numbers in the compartment : if 
 he reaches sixty-three, he has won the game ; if 
 he gets beyond it, he must count so- many back, 
 and throw again in his turn. It has its name 
 because at every four or five compartments a 
 goose is painted, and if the numbers thrown 
 happen to be those on which the goose is 
 painted, the player counts double. 
 
 Cross and pile, or, as we call it, head and 
 tail, though so childish an amusement, was a 
 great favourite with our King Edward II., who 
 was indeed very partial to frivolous amusements. 
 
158 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 There is, in one of his wardrobe rolls, the fol- 
 lowing entry : " Paid to Henry, the King's 
 barber, for money he lent to the king to play at 
 cross and pile, five shillings." This game, as 
 we are informed, is of Greek origin. The 
 Grecian boys used a shell, covered on one side 
 with pitch, whilst the other side was left white, 
 and while one tossed up, the other guessed 
 whether black or white would fall uppermost. 
 
 On comparing the modes of life at the present 
 day with those of our ancestors, the activity of our 
 forefathers seems to have been greatly superior 
 to that of their modern representatives. We are 
 not, however, warranted, perhaps, to draw from 
 thence any conclusion unfavourable to the man- 
 liness of the present generation. Indeed, we 
 suspect that the present generation of English- 
 men is quite as manly and active as rational 
 beings need to be. As the intellectual tastes 
 and powers of a nation improve, the degree of 
 importance attached to feats of mere bodily 
 strength as naturally diminishes. These are 
 now resorted to only as recreations, whereas they 
 were formerly made the business of life. The 
 great increase of population, and consequently 
 of building, in large cities, is unfavourable to 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES. 159 
 
 the practice of such amusements, excepting in 
 places more especially appropriated to them ; 
 and many such, viz., tennis-courts, skittle- 
 grounds, &c., are to be met with both in the 
 town and its suburbs, though enclosed from 
 public view. 
 
 The idea that men have degenerated in 
 strength and activity, is riot however a new one,, 
 as the following quotation from Stow, a writer of 
 celebrity in the seventeenth century, will show : 
 " Why (he says) do I speak of the ancient 
 exercises of the long-bow by the citizens of 
 London, now almost clean left off and forgotten ? 
 I overpass this, for by the means of closing in 
 of common grounds, our archers, for want of 
 room to shoot abroad, creep into bowling-alleys 
 and ordinary dicing-houses nearer home, where 
 they have room enough to hazard their money 
 at unlawful game." If he so complained then, 
 what would he do now ? 
 
 If you feel inclined to join in the amusements 
 of "the good old times/' you must remember 
 that however attractive they may seem to you, 
 their loss is more than compensated by the 
 pleasures and advantages resulting from the 
 progress of science and literature ; and that these 
 
160 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 are now placed within your reach, by the labours 
 of many of the most enlightened persons of the 
 age, who have employed their talents in endea- 
 vouring to promote your improvement and con- 
 sequent happiness. 
 
 You will excuse me,, no doubt, if, in concluding 
 this little treatise, I pass very lightly over your 
 own individual games. I proposed to tell you 
 only that which you might not otherwise know, 
 and besides, these are generally imitations of 
 those sports which used to be the amusements 
 of men. After you have looked over this slight 
 and imperfect account, you will yourselves be 
 able to trace the origin of most of them. 
 
 There are some sports of great antiquity, cruel 
 in themselves, and disgraceful to those who prac- 
 tise them ; but I trust that you will never let 
 what is called thoughtlessness allow you to take 
 pleasure in that which gives either pain or un- 
 easiness to man or beast. I shall conclude with 
 a remark made on this subject by the excellent 
 author of the " Sports and Pastimes of England," 
 to whose work I have already so often alluded. 
 He says : 
 
 " I do not know any fault in the nurture of 
 children greater than the conniving at the wanton 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES. 161 
 
 acts of barbarity which they practise at an early 
 age on innocent insects. The judgment of that 
 parent must be exceedingly defective, or strangely 
 perverted, who can proportion the degree of 
 cruelty to the smallness of the creature that un- 
 fortunately becomes the sufferer. It is but a fly, 
 perhaps he may say,, when he sees his child 
 pluck off its wings or legs for its amusement. 
 It is but a fly, and cannot feel much pain ; be- 
 sides, he would say, if I were to take it from 
 him, he would cry, and that might endanger his 
 health, which surely is of more consequence than 
 many flies. I have neither time to recollect, nor 
 inclination to relate, the various wanton acts of 
 cruelty that have been practised, arising from 
 the want of checking this pernicious inclination 
 as soon as it begins to appear in the minds of 
 children. I am convinced that cruelty often 
 arises from the perpetrator not being aware of 
 the consequences, nor conscious that the prac- 
 tice of it is extremely wicked. I hope the reader 
 will excuse an anecdote of myself, tending to 
 elucidate this argument. When I was a child 
 I was caught by my mother, who abhorred every 
 species of cruelty, in the very act of spinning a 
 chafer. I was so delighted with the perform- 
 
162 OLD SPORTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ance, that I did not observe her coming into the 
 room ; but when she saw what I was about, she 
 took me by the ear, which she pinched most 
 severely, so that I cried very much ; and then 
 she added this just reproof: ' That insect has 
 its feelings as well as you have ! Do you not see 
 that the vibrations of its wings are occasioned by 
 the torments it suffers ? You have pierced its 
 body without remorse, and I have only pinched 
 your ear, and you have cried out as if I had 
 killed you.' I felt the admonition in its full 
 effect ; I liberated the poor chafer, and never 
 impaled another afterwards." 
 
 I shall take my leave of you with this extract, 
 for, after having gone slightly through (and 
 very slightly it has been) the customs, games, 
 and amusements of our ancestors, it is, as I have 
 said, quite unnecessary to detail to you those of 
 our own time, in which you are most likely much 
 better versed than I can now ever hope to be. I 
 have had much pleasure in recalling to my mind 
 books which I have formerly read with pleasure, 
 and I hope if you have been amused with what I 
 have laid before you, you will go to the same 
 sources for further information. The accounts 
 of former customs are not only amusing, but 
 
SEDENTARY GAMES. 163 
 
 they are of use to our historical knowledge. An 
 acquaintance with the customs and amusements 
 of past times tends to clear up and explain many 
 a peculiarity to be met with in lives and memoirs, 
 which might otherwise seem either ridiculous, 
 untrue, or arising from the habits of an indi- 
 vidual, when perhaps he was only conforming to 
 the manners of the age in which he lived. 
 
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 cloth. Vol. II., completing the work, will be published after 
 a very short interval. 
 
 3. HISTORIC SKETCHES of SPAIN and 
 PORTUGAL. Vol. I., with eight wood-cuts, price 2s. bound 
 in cloth. Vol. II., completing the work, will appear without 
 delay. 
 
 CONVERSATIONS on ARITHMETIC. By 
 
 Mrs. G. R. PORTER, Author of < Alfred Dudley,' &c. 12mo., 
 price 4s. 6d. in cloth boards. 
 
 KNIGHT'S PATENT BACK-SPRING PEN. 
 
 This Pen, by its hinge-like elasticity behind the axis, allows 
 the distance between the nibs and writer's fingers to vary 
 with the pressure of the hand, becoming thereby more pleas- 
 ingly soft and yielding, and easier to write with than even a 
 Quill Pen ; and giving to the running-hand the clearness, 
 uniformity, and beauty of slow, careful writing with any 
 other Pen. 
 
 It has in itself a degree of the longitudinal elasticity of 
 Knight's Spring Pen-holder, patented with it, and issued be- 
 fore it a year ago, for all other Pens. The number of attempts 
 made to copy and approximate to it, distant as tbey all are, 
 since the specification was enrolled, proves how important the 
 makers have deemed the new principle. 
 
 Each Pen is marked l C. KNIGHT'S PATENT,' and each Card 
 bears the signature CAas. Kniyht. 
 
 Twelve Pens, with Holder, 2s. 6d. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 -Doe" 
 
 I* 
 -O 
 
 end of SPRING Qua 
 subject to .recall after 
 
 fia% we, M 2 s 78 
 
 179 
 
 
YA 06444 
 
 
 JVJ329956