[1] _Per contra_, see the article by Mary E. Pennington in the
_Year-book for 1907_ (1908) of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, pp.
197-206, with illustrations of chickens kept in cold storage for two
and three years. The results there shown cast considerable doubt on
the efficiency of even refrigeration so far as an "indefinite" period
is concerned; and it is suggested that the consumption of frozen meat
may really account for various modern diseases.
FOOL (O. Fr. _fol_, modern _fou_, foolish, from a Late Latin use of
_follis_, bellows, a ball filled with air, for a stupid person, a
jester, a wind-bag), a buffoon or jester.
The class of professional fools or jesters, which reached its
culminating point of influence and recognized place and function in the
social organism during the middle ages, appears to have existed in all
times and countries. Not only have there always been individuals
naturally inclined and endowed to amuse others; there has been besides
in most communities a definite class, the members of which have used
their powers or weaknesses in this direction as a regular means of
getting a livelihood. Savage jugglers, medicine-men, and even priests,
have certainly much in common with the jester by profession. There
existed in ancient Greece a distinct class of professed fools whose
habits were not essentially different from those of the jesters of the
middle ages. Of the behaviour of one of these, named Philip, Xenophon
has given a picturesque account in the _Banquet_. Philip of Macedon is
said to have possessed a court fool, and certainly these (as well as
court poets and court philosophers, with whom they have sometimes been
not unreasonably confounded) were common in a number of the petty courts
at that era of civilization. _Scurrae_ and _moriones_ were the Roman
parallels of the medieval witty fool; and during the empire the
manufacture of human monstrosities was a regular practice, slaves of
this kind being much in request to relieve the languid hours. The jester
again has from time immemorial existed at eastern courts. Witty stories
are told of Bahalul (see D'HERBELOT, s.v.) the jester of Harun
al-Reshid, which have long had a place in Western fiction. On the
conquest of Mexico court fools and deformed human creatures of all kinds
were found at the court of Montezuma. But that monarch no doubt hit upon
one great cause of the favour of monarchs for this class when he said
that "more instruction was to be gathered from them than from wiser men,
for they dared to tell the truth." Douce, in his essay _On the Clowns
and Fools of Shakespeare_, has made a ninefold division of English
fools, according to quality and place of employment, as the domestic
fool, the city or corporation fool, the tavern fool, the fool of the
mysteries and moralities. The last is generally called the "vice," and
is the original of the stage clowns so common among the dramatists of
the time of Elizabeth, and who embody so much of the wit of Shakespeare.
A very palpable classification is that which distinguishes between such
creatures as were chosen to excite to laughter from some deformity of
mind or body, and such as were so chosen for a certain (to all
appearance generally very shallow) alertness of mind and power of
repartee,--or briefly, butts and wits. The dress of the regular court
fool of the middle ages was not altogether a rigid uniform. To judge
from the prints and illuminations which are the sources of our knowledge
on this matter, it seems to have changed considerably from time to time.
The head was shaved, the coat was motley, and the breeches tight, with
generally one leg different in colour from the other. The head was
covered with a garment resembling a monk's cowl, which fell over the
breast and shoulders, and often bore asses' ears, and was crested with a
cockscomb, while bells hung from various parts of the attire. The fool's
bauble was a short staff bearing a ridiculous head, to which was
sometimes attached an inflated bladder, by means of which sham
castigations were effected. A long petticoat was also occasionally worn,
but seems to have belonged rather to the idiots than to the wits.
The fool's business was to amuse his master, to excite him to laughter
by sharp contrast, to prevent the over-oppression of state affairs, and,
in harmony with a well-known physiological precept, by his liveliness at
meals to assist his lord's digestion. The names and the witticisms of
many of the official jesters at the courts of Europe have been preserved
by popular or state records. In England the list is long between Hitard,
the fool of Edmund Ironside, and Muckle John, the fool of Charles I.,
and probably the last official royal fool of England. Many are
remembered from some connexion with general or literary history. Scogan
was attached to Edward IV., and later was published a collection of poor
jests ascribed to him, to which Andrew Boorde's name was attached, but
without authority.
Will Sommers, of the time of Henry VIII., seems to have been a
kind-hearted as well as a witty man, and occasionally used his influence
with the king for good and charitable purposes. Armin, who, in his _Nest
of Ninnies_, gives a full description of Sommers, and introduces many
popular fools, says of him--
"Only this much, he was a poor man's friend.
And helpt the widow often in her end.
The king would ever grant what he would crave.
For well he knew Will no exacting knave."
The literature of the period immediately succeeding his death is full of
allusions to Will Sommers.
Richard Tarleton, famous as a comic actor, cannot be omitted from any
list of jesters. A book of Tarleton's Jests was published in 1611, and,
together with his _News out of Purgatory_, was reprinted by Halliwell
Phillips for the Shakespeare Society in 1844. Archie Armstrong, for a
too free use of wit and tongue against Laud, lost his office and was
banished the court. The conduct of the archbishop against the poor fool
is not the least item of the evidence which convicts him of a certain
narrow-mindedness and pettiness. In French history, too, the figure of
the court-jester flits across the gay or sombre scene at times with
fantastic effect. Caillette and Triboulet are well-known characters of
the times of Francis I. Triboulet appears in Rabelais's romance, and is
the hero of Victor Hugo's _Le Roi s'amuse_, and, with some changes, of
Verdi's opera _Rigoletto_; while Chicot, the lithe and acute Gascon, who
was so close a friend of Henry III., is portrayed with considerable
justness by Dumas in his _Dame de Monsoreau_. In Germany Rudolph of
Habsburg had his Pfaff Cappadox, Maximilian I. his Kunz von der Rosen
(whose features, as well as those of Will Sommers, have been preserved
by the pencil of Holbein), and many a petty court its jester after
jester.
Late in the 16th century appeared _Le Sottilissime Astuzie di Bertoldo_,
which is one of the most remarkable books ever written about a jester.
It is by Giulio Cesare Croce, a street musician of Bologna, and is a
comic romance giving an account of the appearance at the court of Alboin
king of the Lombards of a peasant wonderful in ugliness, good sense and
wit. The book was for a time the most popular in Italy. A great number
of editions and translations appeared, and it was even versified. Though
fiction, both the character and the career of Bertoldo are typical of
the jester. That the private fool existed as late as the 18th century is
proved by Swift's epitaph on Dicky Pearce, the earl of Suffolk's jester.
See Flogel, Geschichte der Hofnarren (Leipzig, 1789); Doran, The
History of Court Fools (1858). (W. He.)
FOOLS, FEAST OF (Lat. _festum stultorum_, _fatuorum_, _follorum_, Fr.
_fete des fous_), the name for certain burlesque quasi-religious
festivals which, during the middle ages, were the ecclesiastical
counterpart of the secular revelries of the Lord of Misrule. The
celebrations are directly traceable to the pagan Saturnalia of ancient
Rome, which in spite of the conversion of the Empire to Christianity,
and of the denunciation of bishops and ecclesiastical councils,
continued to be celebrated by the people on the Kalends of January with
all their old licence. The custom, indeed, so far from dying out, was
adopted by the barbarian conquerors and spread among the Christian Goths
in Spain, Franks in Gaul, Alemanni in Germany, and Anglo-Saxons in
Britain. So late as the 11th century Bishop Burchard of Worms thought it
necessary to fulminate against the excesses connected with it
(_Decretum_, xix. c. 5, Migne, _Patrologia lat_. 140, p. 965). Then,
just as it appears to have been sinking into oblivion among the people,
the clergy themselves gave it the character of a specific religious
festival. Certain days seem early to have been set apart as special
festivals for different orders of the clergy: the feast of St Stephen
(December 26) for the deacons, St John's day (December 27) for the
priests, Holy Innocents' Day for the boys, and for the sub-deacons
Circumcision, the Epiphany, or the 11th of January. The Feast of Holy
Innocents became a regular festival of children, in which a boy, elected
by his fellows of the choir school, functioned solemnly as bishop or
archbishop, surrounded by the elder choir-boys as his clergy, while the
canons and other clergy took the humbler seats. At first there is no
evidence to prove that these celebrations were characterized by any
specially indecorous behaviour; but in the 12th century such behaviour
had become the rule. In 1180 Jean Beleth, of the diocese of Amiens,
calls the festival of the sub-deacons _festum stultorum_ (Migne,
_Patrol_. _lat_. 202, p. 79). The burlesque ritual which characterized
the Feast of Fools throughout the middle ages was now at its height. A
young sub-deacon was elected bishop, vested in the episcopal _insignia_
(except the mitre) and conducted by his fellows to the sanctuary. A mock
mass was begun, during which the lections were read _cum farsia_,
obscene songs were sung and dances performed, cakes and sausages eaten
at the altar, and cards and dice played upon it.
This burlesquing of things universally held sacred, though condemned by
serious-minded theologians, conveyed to the child-like popular mind of
the middle ages no suggestion of contempt, though when belief in the
doctrines and rites of the medieval Church was shaken it became a ready
instrument in the hands of those who sought to destroy them. Of this
kind of retribution Scott in _The Abbot_ gives a vivid picture, the
Protestants interrupting the mass celebrated by the trembling remnant of
the monks in the ruined abbey church, and insisting on substituting the
traditional Feast of Fools.
This naive temper of the middle ages is nowhere more conspicuously
displayed than in the Feast of the Ass, which under various forms was
celebrated in a large number of churches throughout the West. The ass
had been introduced into the ritual of the church in the 9th century,
representing either Balaam's ass, that which stood with the ox beside
the manger at Bethlehem, that which carried the Holy Family into Egypt,
or that on which Christ rode in triumph into Jerusalem. Often the ass
was a mere incident in the Feast of Fools; but sometimes he was the
occasion of a special festival, ridiculous enough to modern notions, but
by no means intended in an irreverent spirit. The three most notable
celebrations of the Feast of the Ass were at Rouen, Beauvais and Sens.
At Rouen the feast was celebrated on Christmas Day, and was intended to
represent the times before the coming of Christ. The service opened with
a procession of Old Testament characters, prophets, patriarchs and
kings, together with heathen prophets, including Virgil, the chief
figure being Balaam on his ass. The ass was a hollow wooden effigy,
within which a priest capered and uttered prophecies. The procession was
followed, inside the church, by a curious combination of ritual office
and mystery play, the text of which, according to the _Ordo processionis
asinorum secundum Rothomagensem usum_, is given in Du Cange.
Far more singular was the celebration at Beauvais, which was held on the
14th of January, and represented the flight into Egypt. A richly
caparisoned ass, on which was seated the prettiest girl in the town
holding in her arms a baby or a large doll, was escorted with much pomp
from the cathedral to the church of St Etienne. There the procession was
received by the priests, who led the ass and its burden to the
sanctuary. Mass was then sung; but instead of the ordinary responses to
the _Introit_, _Kyrie_, _Gloria_, &c., the congregation chanted "Hinham"
(Hee-haw) three times. The rubric of the mass for this feast actually
runs: _In fine Missae Sacerdos versus ad populum vice, Ite missa est,
Hinhannabit: populus vero vice, Deo Gratias, ter respondebit Hinham,
Hinham, Hinham_ (At the close of the mass the priest turning to the
people instead of saying, _Ite missa est_, shall bray thrice: the
people, instead of _Deo gratias_, shall thrice respond Hee-haw, Hee-haw,
Hee-haw).
At Sens the Feast of the Ass was associated with the Feast of Fools,
celebrated at Vespers on the Feast of Circumcision. The clergy went in
procession to the west door of the church, where two canons received the
ass, amid joyous chants, and led it to the precentor's table. Bizarre
vespers followed, sung falsetto and consisting of a medley of extracts
from all the vespers of the year. Between the lessons the ass was
solemnly fed, and at the conclusion of the service was led by the
precentor out into the square before the church (_conductus ad ludos_);
water was poured on the precentor's head, and the ass became the centre
of burlesque ceremonies, dancing and buffoonery being carried on far
into the night, while the clergy and the serious-minded retired to
matins and bed.
Various efforts were made during the middle ages to abolish the Feast of
Fools. Thus in 1198 the chapter of Paris suppressed its more obvious
indecencies; in 1210 Pope Innocent III. forbade the feasts of priests,
deacons and sub-deacons altogether; and in 1246 Innocent IV. threatened
those who disobeyed this prohibition with excommunication. How little
effect this had, however, is shown by the fact that in 1265 Odo,
archbishop of Sens, could do no more than prohibit the obscene excesses
of the feast, without abolishing the feast itself; that in 1444 the
university of Paris, at the request of certain bishops, addressed a
letter condemning it to all cathedral chapters; and that King Charles
VII. found it necessary to order all masters in theology to forbid it in
collegiate churches. The festival was, in fact, too popular to succumb
to these efforts, and it survived throughout Europe till the
Reformation, and even later in France; for in 1645 Mathurin de Neure
complains in a letter to Pierre Gassendi of the monstrous fooleries
which yearly on Innocents' Day took place in the monastery of the
Cordeliers at Antibes. "Never did pagans," he writes, "solemnize with
such extravagance their superstitious festivals as do they.... The
lay-brothers, the cabbage-cutters, those who work in the kitchen ...
occupy the places of the clergy in the church. They don the sacerdotal
garments, reverse side out. They hold in their hands books turned upside
down, and pretend to read through spectacles in which for glass have
been substituted bits of orange-peel."
See B. Picart, _Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les
peuples_ (1723); du Tilliot, _Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de la
fete des Fous_ (Lausanne, 1741); Aime Cherest, _Nouvelles recherches
sur la fete des Innocents et la fete des Fous dans plusieurs eglises
et notamment dans celle de Sens_ (Paris, 1853); Schneegans in Muller's
_Zeitschrift fur deutsche Kulturgeschichte_ (1858); H. Bohmer, art.
"Narrenfest" in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklop_. (ed. 1903); Du Cange,
_Glossarium_ (ed. 1884), s.v. "Festum Asinorum."
FOOLSCAP, the cap, usually of conical shape, with a cockscomb running up
the centre of the back, and with bells attached, worn by jesters and
fools (see FOOL); also a conical cap worn by dunces. The name is given
to a size of writing or printing paper, varying in size from 12 X 15 in.
to 17 X 13-1/2 in. (see PAPER). The name is derived from the use of a
"fool's cap" as a watermark. A German example of the watermark dating
from 1479 was exhibited in the Caxton Exhibition (1877). The _New
English Dictionary_ finds no trustworthy evidence for the introduction
of the watermark by a German, Sir John Spielmann, at his paper-mill at
Dartford in 1580, and states that there is no truth in the familiar
story that the Rump Parliament substituted a fool's cap for the royal
arms as a watermark on the paper used for the journals of parliament.
FOOL'S PARSLEY, in botany, the popular name for _Aethusa Cynapium_, a
member of the family _Umbelliferae_, and a common weed in cultivated
ground. It is an annual herb, with a fusiform root and a smooth hollow
branched stem 1 to 2 ft. high, with much divided (ternately pinnate)
smooth leaves and small compound umbels of small irregular white
flowers. The plant has a nauseous smell, and, like other members of the
order (e.g. hemlock, water-drop wort), is poisonous.
FOOT, the lower part of the leg, in vertebrate animals consisting of
tarsus, metatarsus and phalanges, on which the body rests when in an
upright position, standing or moving (see ANATOMY: _Superficial and
Artistic_; and SKELETON: _Appendicular_). The word is also applied to
such parts of invertebrate animals as serve as a foot, either for
movement or attachment to a surface. "Foot" is a word common in various
forms to Indo-European languages, Dutch, _voet_, Ger. _Fuss_, Dan.
_fod_, &c. The Aryan root is _pod_-, which appears in Sans. _pud_, Gr.
[Greek: pous, podos] and Lat. _pes_, _pedis_. From the resemblance to
the foot, in regard to its position, as the base of anything, or as the
lowest member of the body, or in regard to its function of movement, the
word is applied to the lowest part of a hill or mountain, the plate of a
sewing-machine which holds the material in position, to the part of an
organ pipe below the mouth, and the like. In printing the bottom of a
type is divided by a groove into two portions known as "feet." Probably
referring to the beating of the rhythm with the foot in dancing, the Gr.
[Greek: pous] and Lat. _pes_ were applied in prosody to a grouping of
syllables, one of which is stressed, forming the division of a verse.
"Foot," i.e. foot-soldier, was formerly, with an ordinal number
prefixed, the name of the infantry regiments of the British army. It is
now superseded by territorial designations, but it still is used in the
four regiments of the infantry of the Household, the Foot Guards. As a
lineal measure of length the "foot" is of great antiquity, estimated
originally by the length of a man's foot (see WEIGHTS AND MEASURES). For
the ceremonial washing of feet, see MAUNDY THURSDAY.
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE (Aphthous Fever, Epizootic Aphtha, Eczema
Epizootica), a virulent contagious and inoculable malady of animals,
characterized by initial fever, followed by the formation of vesicles or
blisters on the tongue, palate and lips, sometimes in the nostrils,
fourth stomach and intestine of cattle, and on parts of the body where
the skin is thin, as on the udder and teats, between the claws, on the
heels, coronet and pastern. The disease begins suddenly and spreads very
rapidly. A rise of temperature precedes the vesicular eruption, which is
accompanied by salivation and a peculiar "smacking" of the lips. The
vesicles gradually enlarge and eventually break, exposing a red raw
patch, which is very sensitive. The animal cannot feed so well as usual,
suffers much pain and inconvenience, loses condition, and, if a
milk-yielding creature, gives less milk, or, if pregnant, may abort.
More or less lameness is a constant symptom, and sometimes the feet
become very much diseased and the animal is so crippled that it has to
be destroyed. It is often fatal to young animals. It is transmitted by
the saliva and the discharges from the vesicles, though all the
secretions and excretions are doubtless infective, as well as all
articles and places soiled by them. This disease can be produced by
injecting the saliva, or the lymph of the vesicles, into the blood or
the peritoneal cavity.
If we were to judge by the somewhat vague descriptions of different
disorders by Greek and Roman writers, this disease has been a European
malady for more than 2000 years. But no reliance can be placed on this
evidence, and it is not until we reach the 17th and 18th centuries that
we find trustworthy proof of its presence, when it was reported as
frequently prevailing extensively in Germany, Italy and France. During
the 19th century, owing to the vastly extended commercial relations
between civilized countries, it has, like the lung-plague, become widely
diffused. In the Old World its effects are now experienced from the
Caspian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia,
Saxony and Prussia were invaded in 1834. Cattle in the Vosges and in
Switzerland were attacked in 1837, and the disease extending to France,
Belgium and Holland, reached England in 1839, and quickly spread over
the three kingdoms (see also under AGRICULTURE). At this time the
importation of foreign animals into England was prohibited, and it was
supposed that the infection must have been introduced by surplus ships'
stores, probably sheep, which had not been consumed during the voyage.
This invasion was followed at intervals by eleven distinct outbreaks,
and since 1902 Great Britain has been free of foot-and-mouth disease.
From the observations of the best authorities it would appear to be an
altogether exotic malady in the west of Europe, always invading it from
the east; at least, this has been the course noted in all the principal
invasions. It was introduced into Denmark in 1841; and into the United
States of America in 1870, from Canada, where it had been carried by
diseased cattle from England. It rapidly extended through cattle traffic
from the state first invaded to adjoining states, but was eventually
extinguished, and does not now appear to be known in North America. It
was twice introduced into Australia in 1872, but was stamped out on each
occasion. It appears to be well known in India, Ceylon, Burma and the
Straits Settlements. In 1870 it was introduced into the Andaman Islands
by cattle imported from Calcutta, where it was then prevailing, and in
the same year it appeared in South America. In South Africa it is
frequently epizootic, causing great inconvenience, owing to the bullocks
used for draught purposes becoming unfit for work. These cattle also
spread the contagion. It is not improbable that it also prevails in
central Africa, as Schweinfurth alludes to the cattle of the Dinkas
suffering from a disease of the kind.
Though not usually a fatal malady, except in very young animals, or when
malignant, yet it is a most serious scourge. In one year (1892) in
Germany, it attacked 150,929 farms, with an estimated loss to the owners
of L7,500,000 sterling. It is transmissible to nearly all the domestic
animals, but its ravages are most severe among cattle, sheep, goats and
swine. Human beings are also liable to infection.
The treatment of affected animals comprises a laxative diet, with
salines, and the application of antiseptics and astringents to the
sores. The preventive measures recommended are, isolation of the
diseased animals, boiling the milk before use, and thorough disinfection
of all places and substances which are capable of conveying the
infection.
FOOTBALL, a game between two opposing sides played with a large inflated
ball, which is propelled either by the feet alone or by both feet and
hands.
Pastimes of the kind were known to many nations of antiquity, and their
existence among savage tribes, such as the Maoris, Faroe Islanders,
Philippine Islanders, Polynesians and Eskimos, points to their primitive
nature. In Greece the [Greek: episkyros] seems to have borne a
resemblance to the modern game. Of this we read in Smith's _Dictionary
of Antiquities_--"It was the game at football, played in much the same
way as with us, by a great number of persons divided into two parties
opposed to one another." Amongst the Romans the _harpastum_, derived
from the Greek verb [Greek: harpazo], I seize, thus showing that
carrying the ball was permissible, bore a certain resemblance. Basil
Kennett, in his _Romae antiquae notitia_, terms this missile a "larger
kind of ball, which they played with, dividing into two companies and
striving to throw it into one another's goals, which was the conquering
cast." The _harpastum_ was a gymnastic game and probably played for the
most part indoors. The real Roman football was played with the inflated
_follis_, which was kicked from side to side over boundaries, and thus
must have closely resembled the modern Association game. Tradition
ascribes its introduction in northern Europe to the Roman legions. It
has been played in Tuscany under the name of _Calcio_ from the middle
ages down to modern times.
Regarding the origin of the game in Great Britain the Roman tradition
has been generally accepted, although Irish antiquarians assert that a
variety of football has been played in Ireland for over 2000 years. In
early times the great football festival of the year was Shrove Tuesday,
though the connexion of the game with this particular date is lost in
obscurity. William Fitzstephen, in his _History of London_ (about 1175),
speaks of the young men of the city annually going into the fields after
dinner to play at the well-known game of ball on the day _quae dicitur
Carnilevaria_. As far as is known this is the first distinct mention of
football in England. It was forbidden by Edward II. (1314) in
consequence of "the great noise in the city caused by hustling over
large balls (_rageries de grosses pelotes_)." A clear reference is made
"ad pilam ... pedinam" in the Rotuli Clausarum, 39 Edward III. (1365),
memb. 23, as one of the pastimes to be prohibited on account of the
decadence of archery, and the same thing occurs in 12 Richard II. c. 6
(1388). Both Henry VIII. and Elizabeth enacted laws against football,
which, both then and under the Stuarts and the Georges, seems to have
been violent to the point of brutality, a fact often referred to by
prominent writers. Thus Sir Thomas Elyot, in his _Boke named the
Governour_ (1531), speaks of football as being "nothyng but beastely
fury and extreme violence, whereof proceedeth hurte and consequently
rancour and malice to remayne with thym that be wounded, wherefore it is
to be put in perpetual silence." In Stubbes' _Anatomie of Abuses_ (1583)
it is referred to as "a develishe pastime ... and hereof groweth envy,
rancour and malice, and sometimes brawling, murther, homicide, and great
effusion of blood, as experience daily teacheth." Fifty years later
(1634) Davenant is quoted (in Hone's _Table-Book_) as remarking, "I
would now make a safe retreat, but methinks I am stopped by one of your
heroic games called football; which I conceive (under your favour) not
very conveniently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and
narrow roads as Crooked Lane. Yet it argues your courage, much like
your military pastime of throwing at cocks, since you have long allowed
these two valiant exercises in the streets."
An evidence of its old popularity in Ireland is that the statutes of
Galway in 1527 forbade every other sport save archery, excepting "onely
the great foot balle." In the time of Charles II. football was popular
at Cambridge, particularly at Magdalene College, as is evidenced by the
following extract from the register book of that institution under the
date 1679:--
"That no schollers give or receive at any time any treat or collation
upon account of ye football play, on or about Michaelmas Day, further
than Colledge beere or ale in ye open halle to quench their thirsts.
And particularly that that most vile custom of drinking and spending
money--Sophisters and Freshmen together--upon ye account of making or
not making a speech at that football time be utterly left off and
extinguished."
It nevertheless remained for the most part a game for the masses, and
never took root, except in educational institutions, among the upper
classes until the 19th century. No clubs or code of rules had been
formed, and the sole aim seems to have been to drive the ball through
the opposing side's goal by fair means or foul. So rough did the game
become that James I. forbade the heir apparent to play it, and describes
the exercise in his _Basilikon Doron_ as "meeter for laming than making
able the users thereof." Both sexes and all ages seem to have taken part
in it on Shrove Tuesday; shutters had to be put up and houses closed in
order to prevent damage; and it is not to be wondered that the game fell
into bad repute. Accidents, sometimes fatal, occurred; and Shrove
Tuesday "football-day" gradually died out about 1830, though a relic of
the custom still remained in a few places. For some thirty years
football was only practised at the great English public schools, many of
which possessed special games, which in practically all cases arose from
the nature of the individual ground. Thus the rough, open game, with its
charging, tackling and throwing, which were features of football when it
was taken up by the great public schools, would have been extremely
dangerous if played in the flagged and walled courts of some schools,
as, for example, the old Charterhouse. Hence at such institutions the
dribbling style of play, in which Mr Montague Shearman (_Football_, in
the "Badminton Library") sees the origin of the Association game, came
into existence. Only at Rugby (later at some other schools), which from
the first possessed an extensive grass field, was the old game preserved
and developed, including even its roughness, for actual "hacking" (i.e.
intentional kicking of an opponent's legs) was not expressly abolished
at Rugby until 1877. The description of the old school game at Rugby
contained in _Tom Brown's School Days_ has become classic.
1. _Rugby Union._--We have seen that from early times a rudimentary game
of football had been a popular form of sport in many parts of Great
Britain, and that in the old-established schools football had been a
regular game among the boys. In different schools there arose various
developments of the original game; or rather, what, at first, must have
been a somewhat rough form of horse-play with a ball began to take shape
as a definite game, with a definite object and definite rules. Rugby
school had developed such a game, and from football played according to
Rugby rules has arisen Rugby football. It was about the middle of the
19th century that football--up till that time a regular game only among
schoolboys--took its place as a regular sport among men. To begin with,
men who had played the game as schoolboys formed clubs to enable them to
continue playing their favourite school game, and others were induced to
join them; while in other cases, clubs were formed by men who had not
had the experience of playing the game at school, but who had the energy
and the will to follow the example of those who had had this experience.
In this way football was established as a regular game, no longer
confined to schoolboys. When football was thus first started, the game
was little developed or organized. Rules were very few, and often there
was great doubt as to what the rules were. But, almost from the first,
clubs were formed to play football according to Rugby rules--that is,
according to the rules of the game as played at Rugby school. But even
the Rugby rules of that date were few and vague, and indeed almost
unintelligible to those who had not been at Rugby school. Still, the
fact that play was according to Rugby rules produced a certain
uniformity; but it was not till the establishment of the English Union,
and the commencement of international matches, that a really definite
code of rules was drawn up.
It is an interesting question to ask why it was that the game of Rugby
school became so popular in preference to the games of other schools,
such as Eton, Winchester or Harrow. It was probably very largely due to
the reputation and success of Rugby school under Dr Arnold, and this
also led most probably to its adoption by other schools; for in 1860
many schools besides Rugby played football according to Rugby rules. The
rapidity with which the game spread after the middle of the 19th century
was remarkable. The Blackheath club, the senior club of the London
district, was established in 1860, and Richmond, its great rival,
shortly afterwards. Before 1870, football clubs had been started in
Lancashire and Yorkshire; indeed the Sheffield football club dates back
to 1855. Likewise, in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Rugby
football clubs had been formed before 1870, and by that date the game
had been implanted both in Ireland and South Wales; while in Scotland,
before 1860, football had taken a hold. Thus by 1870 the game had been
established throughout the United Kingdom, and in many districts had
been regularly played for a number of years. Rapid as, in some ways, had
been the spread of the game between the years 1850 and 1870, it was as
nothing to what happened in the following twenty years; for by 1890
Rugby football, together with Association football, had become the great
winter amusement of the people, and roused universal interest; while
to-day on any fine Saturday afternoon in winter there are tens of
thousands of people playing football, while those who watch the game can
be counted by the hundred thousand. The causes that led to this great
increase in the game and interest taken in it were, undoubtedly, the
establishment of the various national Unions and the international
matches; and, of course, the local rivalry of various clubs, together
with cup or other competitions prevalent in certain districts, was a
leading factor. The establishment of the English Union led to a
codification of the rules without which development was impossible.
In the year 1871 the English Rugby Union was founded in London. This
Union was an association of some clubs and schools which joined together
and appointed a committee and officials to draw up a code of rules of
the game. From this beginning the English Rugby Union has become the
governing body of Rugby football in England, and has been joined by
practically all the Rugby clubs in England, and deals with all matters
connected with Rugby football, notably the choosing of the international
teams. In 1873 the Scottish Football Union was founded in Edinburgh on
the same lines, and with the same objects, while in 1880 the Welsh
Football Union, and in 1881 the Irish Rugby Football Union, were
established as the national Unions of Wales and Ireland, though in both
countries there had been previously Unions not thoroughly representative
of the country. All these Unions became the chief governing body within
their own country, and one of their functions was to make the rules and
laws of the game; but as this had been done to start with by the English
Union, the others adopted the English rules, with amendments to them
from time to time. This state of affairs had one element of
weakness--viz. that since all the Unions made their own rules, if ever a
dispute should arise between any of them, a dead-lock was almost certain
to ensue. Such a dispute did occur in 1884 between the English and
Scottish Unions. This dispute eventually turned on the question of the
right of the English Union to make and interpret the rules of the game,
and to be the paramount authority in the game, and superior to the other
Unions. Scotland, Ireland and Wales resisted this claim, and finally, in
1889, Lord Kingsburgh and Major Marindin were appointed as a commission
to settle the dispute. The result was the establishment of the
International Board, which consists of representatives from each
Union--six from England, two from each of the others--whose duties were
to settle any question that might arise between the different Unions,
and to settle the rules under which international matches were to be
played, these rules being invariably adopted by the various Unions as
the rules of the game.
With the establishment of the International Board the organization of
the game was complete. Still harmony did not prevail, and in 1895
occurred a definite disruption. A number of leading clubs in Yorkshire
and Lancashire broke off from the English Union and formed the Northern
Union, which since that date has had many accessions, and has become the
leading body in the north of England. The question in dispute was the
payment of players. Football was originally played by men for the sheer
love of the game, and by men who were comparatively well-to-do, and who
could give the time to play it; but with the increasing popularity of
the game it became the pastime of all classes of the people, and clubs
began to grow rich by "drawing big gates,"--that is, large numbers of
spectators, frequently many thousands in number, paid for the privilege
of witnessing the match. In these circumstances the temptation arose to
reimburse the player for any out-of-pocket expenses he might be put to
for playing the game, and thus it became universally recognized as
legitimate to pay a player's expenses to and from a match. But in the
case of working men it often meant that they lost part of their weekly
wage when they had to go a distance to play a match, or to go on tour
with their club--that is, go off for a few days and play one or two
matches in different parts of the country--and consequently the claim
was made on their behalf to recoup them for their loss of wage; while at
the same time rich clubs began to be willing to offer inducements to
good players to join their club, and these inducements were generally
most acceptable in the form of money. In Association football (see
below) professionalism--i.e. the hiring and paying of a player for his
services--had been openly recognized. A large section of the English
Union--the amateur party--would not tolerate anything that savoured of
professionalism, and regarded payments made to a player for broken time
as illegitimate. The result was the formation of the Northern Union,
which allowed such payments, and has practically recognized
professionalism. This body has also somewhat altered the laws of the
game, and reduced the number of players constituting a team from fifteen
to thirteen. In Scotland and Ireland Rugby footballers are strongly
amateur; but wherever Rugby football is the popular game of the artisan
the professional element is strong.
Besides legislation, one of the functions of the Unions is to select
international teams. On the 27th of March 1871 the first international
match was played between England and Scotland in Edinburgh. This was a
match between teams picked from English and Scottish players. These
matches from the first roused widespread interest, and were a great
stimulus to the development of the game. With the exception of a few
years, when there were disputes between their respective Unions, all the
countries of the United Kingdom have annually played one
another--England having played Scotland since 1871, Ireland since 1875
and Wales since 1880. Scotland commenced playing Ireland in 1877 and
Wales in 1883, while Ireland and Wales met first in 1882 and then in
1884, and since 1887 have played annually. The qualifications of a
player for any country were at first vaguely considered to be birth; but
they were never definitely settled, and there has been a case of a
player playing for two countries. In 1894, however, the International
Board decided that no player was to play for more than one country, and
this has been the only pronouncement on the question; and though birth
is still looked upon as the main qualification, it is not essential.
Though international matches excite interest throughout the United
Kingdom, the matches between two rival clubs arouse just as much
excitement in their district, particularly when the clubs may be taken
as representatives of two neighbouring rival towns. But when to this
rivalry there is added the inducement to play for a cup, or prize, the
excitement is much more intense. Among Rugby players cup competitions
have never been so popular as among Association, but the competition for
the Yorkshire Cup was very keen in the days before the establishment of
the Northern Union, and this undoubtedly was the main cause of the
popularity of the game in that county. Similarly the competition for the
South Wales Cup from 1878 to 1887 did a great deal to establish the game
in that country. The method of carrying on these competitions is, that
all the clubs entered are drawn by lot, in pairs, to play together in
the first round; the winners of these ties are then similarly drawn in
pairs for the next round, until for the final round there is only one
pair left, the winner of which takes the cup. An elaboration of this
competition is the "League system" of the Association game. This,
likewise, has not been popular with Rugby players. Still it exists in
some districts, especially where clubs are anxious to draw big gates. In
the League system a certain number of clubs form a league to play one
another twice each season; two points are counted for a win and one for
a draw. The club which at the end of the season comes out with most
points wins the competition. The advantage of this system over a cup
competition is, that interest is kept up during the whole season, and
one defeat does not debar a club from eventually coming out first.
It is said that wherever Britons go they take their games with them, and
this has certainly been the case with Rugby football, especially in New
Zealand, South Africa and Australia. An interchange of football visits
between these colonies and the motherland is now an important feature in
the game. These tours date from 1888, when an English team visited
Australia and New Zealand. In the following season, 1889, a team of New
Zealanders, some of whom were native Maories, came over to England, and
by their play even then indicated how well the grammar of the game had
been studied in that colony. Subsequently several British teams visited
at intervals New Zealand and Australia, and in 1905 New Zealand sent
home a team which eclipsed anything previously accomplished. They played
altogether thirty-three matches, including fixtures with England,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and only sustained one defeat, viz. by a
try in their match with Wales, a record which speaks for itself. In 1908
a combined team of English and Welsh players toured in New Zealand and
Australia, and also visited Canada on their way home. The team was not
so strong as could have been wished, and though they did fairly well in
Australia, they lost all three "test matches" against New Zealand. In
South Africa the game is followed with equal enthusiasm, and the play is
hardly inferior, if at all, to that of the New Zealanders. The first
British team to visit the Cape went in 1891 through the generosity of
Cecil Rhodes, who guaranteed the undertaking against loss. Teams were
also sent out in 1896 and 1903; the result of matches played in each
visit showing the steady improvement of the colonists. In 1906 the South
Africans paid their first visit to England, and the result of their tour
proved them to be equally formidable with the New Zealanders. England
managed to draw with them, but Scotland was the only one of the home
Unions to gain a victory. The success of these colonial visits, more
especially financially, created a development very foreign to the
intentions of their organizers. The Northern Union as a professional
body had drifted into a somewhat parlous state, through suffering on the
one hand from a lack of international matches, and on the other from the
competition of Association professional teams. The great financial
success resulting from the New Zealand tour of 1905 roused the attention
of the Northern Union authorities, and they quickly entered into
negotiations with New Zealand players to collect a team who would come
over and play the Northern Union clubs, the visiting players themselves
taking a share of the gate-money. For this purpose a team of New
Zealanders toured the north of England in 1907, and their action caused
the introduction of professional or Northern Union football in both New
Zealand and Australia.
The spread of the game has not, however, been confined to
English-speaking races. In France it has found fruitful soil, and
numerous clubs exist in that country. Since 1906 international matches
have been played between France and England, and the energy of French
players, coupled with their national _elan_, makes them formidable
opponents. The Rugby code has also obtained a firm footing in Canada,
India, Ceylon and the Argentine.
The game itself is essentially a winter pastime, as two requisite
conditions for its enjoyment are a cool atmosphere and a soft though
firm turf. The field of play is an oblong, not more than 110 yds. long
nor more than 75 yds. broad, and it usually approximates to these
dimensions. The boundaries are marked by lines, called touch-lines, down
the sides, and goal-lines along the ends. The touch-lines are continued
beyond the goal-lines for a distance of not more than 25 yds.; and
parallel to the goal-line and behind it, at a distance of not more than
25 yds., is drawn a line called the dead-ball line, joining the ends of
the touch-lines produced. On each goal-line, at an equal distance from
the touch-lines, are erected two posts, termed goal-posts, exceeding 11
ft. in height, and generally much more--averaging perhaps from 20 to 30
ft. from the ground, and placed 18 ft. 6 in. apart. At a height of 10
ft. from the ground they are joined by a cross-bar; and the object of
the game is to kick the ball over the cross-bar between the upright
posts, and so obtain a goal. The ball is egg-shaped (strictly an oblate
spheroid), and the official dimensions are--length, 11 to 11-1/4 in.;
length circumference, 30 to 31 in.; width circumference, 25-1/2 to 26
in.; weight, 13 to 14-1/2 oz. It is made of india-rubber inflated, and
covered with a leather case. Halfway between the two goal-lines there is
generally drawn the half-way line, but sometimes it is marked by flags
on the touch-line; and 25 yds. from each goal-line there is similarly
marked the 25-yds. line. In the original game the side that had gained
the majority of goals won the match, and if no goal had been scored, or
an equal number, the game was said to be left drawn; but a modification
was adopted before long. A goal can be kicked from the field in the
ordinary course of play; but from the very first a try goal could be
obtained by that side one of whose players either carried the ball
across his opponents' goal-line and then touched it down (i.e. on the
ground), or touched it down after it had been kicked across the
goal-line, before any of his opponents. The "try" is then proceeded with
as follows: the ball is taken out by a member of the side obtaining the
try in a straight line from the spot where it was "touched down," and is
deposited in a selected position on the ground in the field of play, the
defending side being all confined behind their own goal-line until the
moment the ball is so placed on the ground, when another member of the
attacking side endeavours to kick it from the ground (a "place kick")
over the bar and between the goal-posts. Frequently a goal is kicked;
very often not. The modification first allowed was to count that side
the winner which had gained the majority of tries, provided no goal or
an equal number of goals had been scored; but a majority of one goal
took precedence of any number of tries. But this, too, was afterwards
abolished, and a system of points instituted by which the side with the
majority of points wins. The numerical value, however, of goals and
tries has undergone several changes, the system in 1908 being as
follows:--A try counts 3 points. A goal from a try (in which case the
try shall not count) 5 points. A dropped goal (except from a mark or a
penalty kick) 4 points; a dropped goal being a goal obtained by a player
who drops the ball from his hands and kicks it the moment it rises off
the ground, as in the "half-volley" at cricket or tennis. A goal from a
mark or penalty kick 3 points. Under the Northern Union code any sort of
goal counts 2 points, a try 3 points; but if a try be converted into a
goal, both try and goal count, i.e. 5 points are scored.
In the game itself not only may the ball be kicked in the direction of
the opponents' goal, but it may also be carried; but it must not be
thrown forward or knocked on--that is, in the direction of the
opponents' goal--though it may be thrown back. Thus the game is really a
combination of football and handball. The main principle is that any one
who is not "offside" is in play. A player is offside if he gets in front
of the ball--that is, on the opponents' side of the ball, nearer than a
colleague in possession of the ball to the opponents' goal-line; when in
this position he must not interfere with an opponent or touch the ball
under penalty. The leading feature of the game is the "scrummage." In
old days at Rugby school there was practically no limit to the numbers
of players on each side, and not infrequently there would be a hundred
or more players on one side. This was never prevalent in club football;
twenty a-side was the usual number to start with, reduced in 1877 to
fifteen a-side, the number still maintained. In the old Rugby big sides
the ball got settled amidst a mass of players, and each side attempted
to drive it through this mass by shoving, kicking, and otherwise forcing
their way through with the ball in front of them. This was the origin of
the scrummage.
The game is played usually for one hour, or one hour and ten minutes,
sometimes for one hour and a half. Each side defends each goal in turn
for half the time of play. Of the fifteen players who compose a side,
the usual arrangement is that eight are called "forwards," and form the
scrummage; two "half-backs" are posted outside the scrummage; and four
"three-quarter-backs," a little behind the halves, stretch in a line
across the field, their duties being mainly to run and kick and pass the
ball to other members of their own side, and to prevent their opponents
from doing the same. In recent years, owing to the development of
"passing," the field position of the half-backs has undergone a change.
One stands fairly close to the scrummage and is known as the
"scrum-half," the other takes a position between the latter and the
three-quarters, and is termed the "stand-off-half." Behind the
three-quarters comes the "full-back" or "back," a single individual to
maintain the last line of defence; his duties are entirely defensive,
either to "tackle" an opponent who has managed to get through, or, more
usually, to catch and return long kicks. Play is started by one side
kicking the ball off from the centre of the field in the direction of
the opponents' goal. The ball is then caught by one of the other side,
who either kicks it or runs with it. In running he goes on until he is
"tackled," or caught, by one of his opponents, unless he should choose
to "pass" or throw it to another of his own side, who, provided he be
not offside, may either kick, or run, or pass as he chooses. The ball in
this way is kept moving until it crosses the touch-line, or goal-line,
or is tackled. If the ball crosses the touch-line both sides line up at
right angles to the point where it crossed the line, and the ball is
thrown in straight either by one of the same side whose player carried
the ball across the touch-line, or, if the ball was kicked or thrown
out, by one of the opposite side. If the ball crosses the goal-line
either a try is gained, as explained above, or if the defending side
touch it down first, the other side retire to the line 25 yds. from the
goal-line, and the defending side kick it up the field. If the ball is
tackled the player carrying the ball gets up from the ground as soon as
possible, and the forwards at once form the scrummage by putting down
their heads and getting ready to shove against one another. They shove
as soon as the ball is put down between the two front rows. In the
scrummage the object is, by shoving the opponents back or otherwise
breaking away with the ball in front, to carry the ball in the direction
of the opponents' goal-line by a series of short kicks in which the
players run after the ball as fast as possible, while their opponents
lie in wait to get the ball, and either by a kick or other device stop
the rush. Instead, however, of the forwards breaking away with the ball,
sometimes they let the ball come out of the scrummage to their
half-backs, who either kick or run with it, or pass it to the
three-quarter-backs, and so the game proceeds until the ball is once
more "dead"--that is, brought to a standstill. The scrummage appears to
be an uninteresting manoeuvre, and a strange relic of bygone times; but
it is not merely a manoeuvre in which weight and strength alone tell--it
also needs a lot of dexterity in moving the ball with the feet, applying
the weight to best advantage, and also in outflanking the opposing side,
as it were--usually termed wheeling--directing all the force to one side
of the scrummage and thus breaking away. As a rule the game is a lively
one, for the players are rarely at rest; if there is much scrummaging it
is called a slow game, but, if much running and passing, a fast or an
open game. The spectator, unless he be an expert, prefers the open
game; but in any case the game is always a hard and exciting struggle,
frequently with the balance of fortune swaying very rapidly from one
side to the other, so that it is a matter of no surprise to find the
British public so ardently attached to it. (C. J. N. F.; C. J. B. M.)
2. _Association._--It is generally supposed that the English game of
Association football is the outcome of the game of football as played at
Cambridge University about the middle of the 19th century. In October
1863 a committee, consisting of representatives of the schools of Eton,
Harrow, Rugby, Marlborough, Shrewsbury and Westminster, drew up a code
of laws which settled the fundamental principle of the "Association"
game, as distinguished from other forms of the game which permitted of
handling and carrying the ball. In Association football the use of the
hands or arms, either for the purpose of playing the ball or impeding or
holding an opponent, is absolutely prohibited; "dribbling" or kicking
the ball with the feet, and propelling it by the head or body, are the
methods to be adopted. The Cambridge laws specially provided for
"kicking" the ball. Laws 13 and 14 provided that "the ball, when in
play, may be stopped by any part of the body, but may not be held or hit
by the hands, arms or shoulders. All charging is fair, but holding,
pushing with the hands, tripping up and shinning are forbidden."
The laws of Association football first took practical shape as the
outcome of a meeting held on the 26th of October 1863 at the Freemasons'
Tavern, London. The clubs which sent delegates were representative of
all classes of football then played. The meeting was a momentous one,
for not only was the foundation laid of the Football Association, the
national association which has since then controlled the game in
England, but as the outcome of the differences of opinion which existed
as to "hacking" being permissible under the laws, the representatives
who favoured the inclusion of the practice, which is now so roundly
condemned in both the Association and Rugby games, withdrew and formed
the Rugby Union.
The Cambridge laws were considered by the committee of the Football
Association at their meeting on the 24th of November 1863. They took the
view that those laws "embraced the true principles of the game with the
greatest simplicity"; the laws were "officially" passed on the 1st of
December 1863, and the first publication was made in _Bell's Life_ four
days later. These laws have from time to time been modified, but the
principles as laid down in 1863 have been adhered to; and the
Association game itself has altered very little since 1880. The usual
dimensions for a ground are 120 yds. long by 80 yds. wide, and the goals
are 8 yds. in width with a cross-bar from post to post 8 ft. from the
ground. The ball is about 14 oz. in weight, and must be a perfect sphere
from 27 to 28 in. in circumference, as distinguished from the elliptical
or egg-shaped Rugby ball. A rectangular space extending to 18 yds. in
front of the goals, and marked with lines on the ground, constitutes the
"penalty area"; within which, at a distance of 12 yds. opposite the
centre of the goal, is the "penalty kick mark." The boundary lines at
the sides of the field are called the "touch-lines"; those at the ends
(in the centre of which are the goals) being the "goal-lines." The game
is started by a place kick from the centre of the field of play, and
none of the opposite side is allowed to approach within 10 yds. of the
ball when it is kicked off. When the ball passes over the touch line it
has to be thrown in by one of the opposite side, and can be returned
into the field of play in any direction. If it passes over the goal-line
at any time without touching one of the defending side, it has to be
kicked out by the goalkeeper or one of the backs from a line marked in
front of goal, the spot selected being in front of the post nearest the
point where the ball left the field of play. But should it touch one of
the defending side in its transit over the goal-line the attacking side
has the privilege of a free kick from the corner flag (a "corner kick").
This is often a great advantage, but such free kick does not produce a
goal unless the ball touches one of the other players on its way to the
post. Ordinarily a goal is scored when the ball goes between the
goal-posts and under the cross-bar, not being thrown, knocked on or
carried. The regulation duration of a game is an hour and a half, and
ends are changed at forty-five minutes. The side winning the toss has
the choice of ends or kick-off, and the one obtaining the majority of
goals wins. A goal cannot be scored from a free kick except when the
free kick has been allowed by the referee as a penalty for certain
infringements of the rules by the opposite side; and if such
infringement take place within the penalty area on the part of a player
on the side then defending the goal, and in the judgment of the referee
be intentional, a "penalty kick" is awarded to the attacking side. The
penalty kick is a free kick from the penalty kick mark, all the players
of the defending side being excluded from the penalty area, except the
goalkeeper, who is confined to the goal-line; the result, therefore,
being an almost certain goal.
A player is always in play as long as there are three of the opposite
side between him and the opposite goal _at the time the ball is kicked_.
This "offside" rule gives much trouble to the young player, though why
it should do so it is not easy to say. The rule is simple if the words
in italics are remembered. The ball must not be carried, knocked or
wilfully handled under any pretence whatever, save by the goalkeeper,
who is allowed to use his hands in defence of his goal, either by
knocking on or throwing, within his own half of the field of play. Thus
far he is entitled to go in maintaining his goal, but if he carry the
ball the penalty is a free kick. There are other infringements of the
rules which also involve the penalty of a free kick, among them the
serious offences of tripping, hacking and jumping at a player. Players
are not allowed to wear nails in their boots (except such as have their
heads driven in flush with the leather), or metal plates or
gutta-percha, and any player discovered infringing this rule is liable
to be prohibited from taking further part in a match.