[1] See L. Cayeux, "Les Lignes directrices des plissements de l'ile
de Crete," _C.R. IX. Cong. geol. internat. Vienna_, pp. 383-392
(1904).
[2] Among the features common to the two were the _syssitia_, or
public tables, at which all the citizens dined in common. Indeed, the
Cretan system, like that of Sparta, appears to have aimed at training
up the young, and controlling them, as well as the citizens of more
mature age, in all their habits and relations of life. The supreme
governing authority was vested in magistrates called Cosmi, answering
in some measure to the Spartan Ephori, but there was nothing
corresponding to the two kings at Sparta. These Cretan institutions
were much extolled by some writers of antiquity, but receive only
qualified praise from the judicious criticisms of Aristotle (_Polit._
ii. 10).
[3] The Mussulman population, 88,000 in 1895, had sunk to 40,000 in
1907, and the emigration was still continuing. The loss to the
country in wealth exported and land going out of cultivation has been
very serious.
CRETINISM, the term given to a chronic disease, either sporadic or
endemic, arising in early childhood, and due to absence or deficiency of
the normal secretion of the thyroid gland. It is characterized by
imperfect development both of mind and body. The thyroid gland is either
congenitally absent, imperfectly developed, or there is definite goitre.
The origin of the word is doubtful. Its southern French form _Chrestiaa_
suggested to Michel a derivation from _cresta_ (_crete_), the goose foot
of red cloth worn by the Cagots of the Pyrenees. The Cagots, however,
were not cretins. The word is usually explained as derived from
_chretien_ (Christian) in the sense of "innocent." But _Christianus_
(which appears in the Lombard _cristanei_; compare the Savoyard
_innocents_ and _gens du bon dieu_) is probably a translation of the
older _cretin_, and the latter is probably connected with _creta_
(_craie_)--a sallow or yellow-earthy complexion being a common mark of
cretinism.
The endemic form of cretinism prevails in certain districts, as in the
valleys of central Switzerland, Tirol and the Pyrenees. In the United
Kingdom cretins have been found in England at Oldham, Sholver Moor,
Crompton, Duffield, Cromford (near Matlock), and other points in
Derbyshire; endemic goitre has been seen near Nottingham, Chesterfield,
Pontefract, Ripon, and the mountainous parts of Staffordshire and
Yorkshire, the east of Cumberland, certain parts of Worcester, Warwick,
Cheshire, Monmouth, and Leicester, near Horsham in Hampshire, near
Haslemere in Surrey, and near Beaconsfield in Buckingham. There are
cretins at Chiselborough in Somerset. In Scotland cretins and cases of
goitre have been seen in Perthshire, on the east coast of Fife, in
Roxburgh, the upper portions of Peebles and Selkirk, near Lanark and
Dumfries, in the east of Ayrshire, in the west of Berwick, the east of
Wigtown, and in Kirkcudbright. The disease is not confined to Europe,
but occurs in North and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Wherever endemic goitre is present, endemic cretinism is present also,
and it has been constantly observed that when a new family moves into a
goitrous district, goitre appears in the first generation, cretinism in
the second. The causation of goitre has now been shown to be due to
drinking certain waters, though the particular impurity in the water
which gives rise to this condition has not been determined (see GOITRE).
The causation of the sporadic form of cretinism is, however, obscure.
Cretinism usually remains unrecognized until the child reaches some
eighteen months or two years, when its lack of mental development and
uncouth bodily form begin to attract attention. Occasionally the child
appears to be normal in infancy, but the cretinoid condition develops
later, any time up to puberty. The essential point in the morbid anatomy
of these cases is the absence or abnormal condition of the thyroid gland
(see METABOLIC DISEASES). It may be congenitally absent, atrophied, or
the seat of a goitre, though this last condition is very rare in cases
of sporadic cretinism. The skeleton shows arrested growth, most marked
in the case of the long bones. The skull in the endemic form of
cretinism is usually brachycephalic, but in the sporadic cases it is
more commonly dolichocephalic. The pathology of cretinism and its allied
condition myxoedema (q.v.) has now been conclusively worked out, and its
essential cause has been shown to be loss of function of the thyroid
gland.
The condition has existed and been described in far back ages, but
mingled with so many other entirely different deformities and
degenerations that it is now often almost impossible to classify them
satisfactorily. The following is a vivid picture by Beaupre
(_Dissertation sur les cretins_, translated in Blackie on _Cretinism_,
Edin., 1855):--
"I see a head of unusual form and size, a squat and bloated figure, a
stupid look, bleared hollow and heavy eyes, thick projecting eyelids,
and a flat nose. His face is of a leaden hue, his skin dirty, flabby,
covered with tetters, and his thick tongue hangs down over his moist
livid lips. His mouth, always open and full of saliva, shows teeth
going to decay. His chest is narrow, his back curved, his breath
asthmatic, his limbs short, misshapen, without power. The knees are
thick and inclined inward, the feet flat. The large head drops
listlessly on the breast; the abdomen is like a bag."
When fully grown the height rarely exceeds 4 ft., and is often less than
3 ft. The skin feels doughy from thickening of the subcutaneous tissues,
and it hangs in folds over the abdomen and the bends of the joints. Very
frequently there is an umbilical hernia. The hair has a far greater
resemblance to horse-hair than to that of a human being, and is usually
absent on the body of an adult cretin. The temperature is subnormal, and
the exposed parts tend to become blue in cold weather. The blood is
usually deficient in haemoglobin, which is often only 40-50% of the
normal. The mental capacity varies within narrow limits; an intelligent
adult cretin may reach the intellectual development of a child 3-4 years
of age, though more often the standard attained is even below this. The
child cretin learns neither to walk nor talk at the usual time. Often it
is unable even to sit without support. Some years later a certain power
of movement is acquired, but the gait is waddling and clumsy. Speech is
long delayed, or in bad cases may be almost entirely lacking. The voice
is usually harsh and unpleasant. Of the senses smell and taste are but
slightly developed, more or less deafness is generally present, and only
the sight is fairly normal. In the adult the genital organs remain
undeveloped. If the cretin is untreated he rarely has a long life,
thirty years being an exceptional age. Death results from some
intercurrent disease.
Cretinism has to be distinguished from the state of a Mongolian idiot,
in whom there is no thickening of the subcutaneous tissues, and much
greater alertness of mind; from achondroplasia, in which condition there
is usually no mental impairment; and from infantilism, which covers a
group of symptoms whose only common point is that the primary and
secondary sexual characteristics fail to appear at the proper time.
Before 1891 there was no treatment for this disease. The patients lived
in hopeless imbecility until their death. But in that year Dr George
Murray published his discovery of the effect of hypodermic injections of
thyroid gland extract in cases of myxoedema. In the following year Drs
Hector Mackenzie, E. L. Fox of Plymouth, and Howitz of Copenhagen, each
working independently, showed the equally potent effect of the gland
administered by the mouth. The remedy was soon after applied to
cretinism and its effects were found to be even more wonderful. It has
to be used, however, with the greatest care and discrimination, since
personal idiosyncrasy seems to be a very variable factor. Even small
doses, if beyond the patient's power, may produce fever, excitement,
headache, insomnia and vomiting. The administration must be persisted in
throughout life, otherwise myxoedematous symptoms appear. The first most
apparent results are those of growth, and this may supervene even in
patients up to 25-30 years of age. Once started, 4 to 6 in. may be
gained in stature in the first year's treatment, though this is usually
in inverse ratio to the age of the patient, and also diminishes in later
stages of treatment. In young adolescents it may be so rapid that the
patient has to be kept lying down to prevent permanent bending of the
long bones of the leg, softened by their rapid growth. A very typical
case under Dr Hector Mackenzie, showing what can be expected from early
treatment, is that of a cretin aged 11 years in 1893, when thyroid
treatment was started. He grew very rapidly and became a normal child,
passed through school, and in 1908 was at one of the universities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Sardinian Commission, "Relazione della commissione di
Sardegna per studiare il cretinismo" (Torino, 1848); C. Hilton Fagge,
"On Sporadic Cretinism occurring in England," _Med. Chir. Trans._
(London, 1870); Vincenzo Allara, "Sulla causa del cretinesimo," studio
(Milano, 1892); Victor Horsley, "Remarks on the Function of the
Thyroid Gland," _Brit. Med. Journ._ (1892); "The Treatment of
Myxoedema and Cretinism, being a Review of the Treatment of those
Diseases by Thyroid Gland," _Journ. Ment. Sc._ (London, 1893); W.
Osler, "On Sporadic Cretinism in America," _Am. Journ. of Med. Sc._
(1893); C. A. Ewald, _Die Erkrankungen der Schilddruse, Myxodeme und
Cretinismus_ (Wien, 1896); G. R. Murray, _Diseases of the Thyroid
Gland_, part i. (1900); R. Virchow, "Uber Cretinismus," _Wurzburger
Verhand._; Hector Mackenzie, "Organotherapy," _Textbook of
Pharmacology and Therapeutics_ (1901); Weygandt, _Der heutige Stand
der Lehre vom Kretinismus_ (Halle, 1903); Hector Mackenzie,
"Cretinism," Allbutt & Rolleston's _System of Medicine_, part iv.
(1908).
CRETONNE, originally a strong, white fabric with a hempen warp and linen
weft. The word is said to be derived from Creton, a village in Normandy
where the manufacture of linen was carried on. It is now applied to a
strong, printed cotton cloth, stouter than chintz but used for very much
the same purposes. It is usually unglazed and may be printed on both
sides and even with different patterns. Frequently the cretonne has a
woven fancy pattern of some kind which is modified by the printed
design. It is sometimes made with a weft of cotton waste.
CREUSE, a department of central France, comprising the greater portion
of the old province of Marche, together with portions of Berry,
Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Limousin and Poitou. Area, 2164 sq. m. Pop.
(1906) 274,094. It lies on the north-western border of the central
plateau and is bounded N. by the departments of Indre and Cher, E. by
Allier and Puy-de-Dome, S. by Correze and W. by Haute-Vienne. The
surface is hilly, with a general inclination north-westward in the
direction of the valley of the Creuse, sloping from the mountains of
Auvergne and Limousin, branches of which project into the south of the
department. The chief of these starts from the Plateau de Gentioux, and
under the name of the Mountains of Marche extends along the left bank of
the Creuse. The highest point is in the forest of Chateauvert (3050 ft.)
in the extreme south-east of the department. Rivers, streams and lakes
are numerous, but none are navigable; the principal is the Creuse, which
rises on the north side of the mass of Mount Odouze on the border of the
department of Correze, and passes through the department, dividing it
into two nearly equal portions, receiving the Petite Creuse from the
right, and afterwards flowing on to join the Vienne. The valleys of the
head-streams of the Cher and of its tributary the Tardes, which near
Evaux passes under a fine viaduct 300 ft. in height, occupy the eastern
side; those of the heads of the Vienne and its tributary the Thaurion,
and of the Gartempe joining the Creuse, are in the west of the
department. The climate is in general cold, moist and variable; the
rigorous winter covers the higher cantons with snow; rain is abundant in
spring, and storms are frequent in summer, but the autumn is fine.
Except in the valleys the soil is poor and infertile, and agriculture
is also handicapped by the dearness of labour, due to the annual
emigration of from 15,000 to 20,000 of the inhabitants to other parts of
France, where they serve as stonemasons, &c. The produce of cereals,
chiefly rye, wheat, oats and buckwheat, is not sufficient for home
consumption. The chestnut abounds in the north and west; hemp and
potatoes are also grown. Cattle-rearing and sheep-breeding are the chief
industries of the department, which supplies Poitou and Vendee with
draught oxen. Coal is mined to some extent, chiefly in the basin of
Ahun. There are thermal springs at Evaux in the east of the department,
where remains of Roman baths are preserved. The chief industrial
establishments are the manufactories of carpets and hangings and the
dyeworks of Aubusson and Felletin. Saw-mills and the manufacture of
wooden shoes and hats have some importance. Exports include carpets,
coal, live-stock and hats; imports comprise raw materials for the
manufactures and food-supplies. The department is served by the Orleans
railway company, whose line from Montlucon to Perigueux traverses it
from east to west. It is divided into the four arrondissements of
Gueret, the capital Aubusson, Bourganeuf, and Boussac, and further into
25 cantons and 266 communes. With Haute-Vienne, Creuse forms the diocese
of Limoges, where also is its court of appeal. It forms part of the
academie (educational division) of Clermont and of the region of the
XII. army corps. The principal towns are Gueret and Aubusson. La
Souterraine, Chambon-sur-Voueize and Benevent-l'Abbaye possess fine
churches of the 12th century. At Moutier-d'Ahun there is a church, which
has survived from a Benedictine abbey. The nave of the 15th century with
a fine portal, and the choir with its carved stalls of the 17th century,
are of considerable interest. The small industrial town of Bourganeuf
has remains of a priory, including a tower (15th century) in which
Zizim, brother of the sultan Bajazet II., is said to have been
imprisoned.
CREUTZ, GUSTAF FILIP, COUNT (1729-1785), Swedish poet, was born in
Finland in 1729. After concluding his studies in Abo he received a post
in the court of chancery at Stockholm in 1751. Here he met Count
Gyllenborg, with whom his name is indissolubly connected. They were
closely allied with Fru Nordenflycht, and their works were published in
common; to their own generation they seemed equal in fame, but posterity
has given the palm of genius to Creutz. His greatest work is contained
in the 1762 volume, the idyll of _Atis och Camilla_; the exquisite
little pastoral entitled "Daphne" was published at the same time, and
Gyllenborg was the first to proclaim the supremacy of his friend. In
1763 Creutz practically closed his poetical career; he went to Spain as
ambassador, and after three years to Paris in the same capacity. In 1783
Gustavus III. recalled him and heaped honours upon him, but he died soon
after, on the 30th of October 1785. _Atis och Camilla_ was long the most
admired poem in the Swedish language; it is written in a spirit of
pastoral which is now to some degree faded, but in comparison with most
of the other productions of the time it is freshness itself. Creutz
introduced a melody and grace into the Swedish tongue which it lacked
before, and he has been styled "the last artificer of the language."
See _Creutz och Gyllenborgs Vitterhetsarbeten_ (Stockholm, 1795).
CREUZER, GEORG FRIEDRICH (1771-1858), German philologist and
archaeologist, was born on the 10th of March 1771, at Marburg, the son
of a bookbinder. Having studied at Marburg and Jena, he for some time
lived at Leipzig as a private tutor; but in 1802 he was appointed
professor at Marburg, and two years later professor of philology and
ancient history at Heidelberg. The latter position he held for nearly
forty-five years, with the exception of a short time spent at the
university of Leiden, where his health was affected by the Dutch
climate. He was one of the principal founders of the Philological
Seminary established at Heidelberg in 1807. The Academy of Inscriptions
of Paris appointed him one of its members, and from the grand-duke of
Baden he received the dignity of privy councillor. He died on the 16th
of February 1858. Creuzer's first and most famous work was his _Symbolik
und Mythologie der alten Volker, besonders der Griechen_ (1810-1812),
in which he maintained that the mythology of Homer and Hesiod came from
an Eastern source through the Pelasgians, and was the remains of the
symbolism of an ancient revelation. This work was vigorously attacked by
Hermann in his _Briefen uber Homer und Hesiod_, and in his letter,
addressed to Creuzer, _Uber das Wesen und die Behandlung der
Mythologie_; by J. H. Voss in his _Antisymbolik_; and by Lobek in his
_Aglaophamos_. Of Creuzer's other works the principal are an edition of
Plotinus; a partial edition of Cicero, in preparing which he was
assisted by Moser; _Die historische Kunst der Griechen_ (1803); _Epochen
der griech. Literaturgeschichte_ (1802); _Abriss der romischen
Antiquitaten_ (1824); _Zur Geschichte altromischer Cultur am Oberrhein
und Neckar_ (1833); _Zur Gemmenkunde_ (1834); _Das Mithreum von
Neuenheim_ (1838); _Zur Galerie der alten Dramatiker_ (1839); _Zur
Geschichte der classischen Philologie_ (1854).
See the autobiographical _Aus dem Leben eines alten Professors_
(Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1848), to which was added in the year of his
death _Paralipomena der Lebenskizze eines alten Professors_
(Frankfort, 1858); also Starck, _Friederich Kreuzer, sein Bildungsgang
und seine bleibende Bedeutung_ (Heidelberg, 1875).
CREVASSE, a French word used in two senses. (1) In French Switzerland,
and thence universally in high mountain regions, it designates a fissure
in a glacier caused by gigantic cracks in the ice-mass, sometimes of
great depth, into which climbers frequently fall through a light bridge
of snow which conceals the crevasse. (2) Adopted from the French of
Louisiana, it signifies locally a wide crack or breach in the bank of a
canal or river, and particularly of the "levee" of the Mississippi.
CREVIER, JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS (1693-1765), French author, was born at
Paris, where his father was a printer. He studied under Rollin and held
the professorship of rhetoric in the college of Beauvais for twenty
years. He completed Rollin's _Histoire romaine_ by the addition of six
volumes (1750-1756); he also published two editions of Livy, with notes;
_L'Histoire des empereurs des Romains, jusqu'a Constantin_ (1749);
_Histoire de l'Universite de Paris_, and a _Rhetorique francoise_, which
enjoyed much popularity.
CREVILLENTE, a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Alicante, and
on the Murcia-Alicante railway. Pop. (1900) 10,726. Crevillente is a
picturesque old town built among the eastern foothills of the Sierra de
Crevillente. Its flat-roofed Moorish houses are enclosed by gardens of
cactus, dwarf palm, orange and other subtropical plants, interspersed
with masses of rock. The surrounding country, though naturally sterile,
is irrigated from two adjacent springs, which differ in temperature by
no less than 25 deg. F. The district is famous for its melons, and also
produces wine, olives, wheat and esparto grass. Local industries include
the manufacture of coarse cloth, esparto fabrics, oil and flour.
CREW, NATHANIEL CREW, 3RD BARON (1633-1721), bishop of Durham, was a son
of John Crew (1598-1679), who was created Baron Crew of Stene in 1661,
and a grandson of Sir Thomas Crew (1565-1634), speaker of the House of
Commons. Born on the 31st of January 1633, Nathaniel was educated at
Lincoln College, Oxford, and was appointed rector of the college in
1668. He became dean and precentor of Chichester in 1669, clerk of the
closet to Charles II. shortly afterwards, bishop of Oxford in 1671, and
bishop of Durham in 1674. He owed his rapid preferment to James, then
duke of York, whose favour he had gained by conniving at the duke's
leanings to the Roman Church. After the accession of James II. Crew
received the deanery of the Chapel Royal. He served in 1686 on the
revived ecclesiastical commission which suspended Compton, bishop of
London, and then shared the administration of the see of London with
Sprat, bishop of Rochester. In 1687 he was a member of another
ecclesiastical commission, which suspended the vice-chancellor of the
university of Cambridge for refusing the degree of M.A. to a monk who
would not take the customary oath. On the decline of James's power Crew
dissociated himself from the court, and made a bid for the favour of the
new government by voting for the motion that James had abdicated. He was
excepted from the general pardon of 1690, but afterwards was allowed to
retain his see. He left large estates to be devoted to charitable ends,
and his benefaction to Lincoln College and to Oxford University is
commemorated in the annual Crewian oration. In 1697 Crew succeeded his
brother Thomas as 3rd Baron Crew, He died on the 18th of September 1721,
when the barony became extinct.
CREW (sometimes explained as a sea term of Scandinavian origin, cf. O.
Icel. _kru_, a swarm or crowd, but now regarded as a shortened form of
_accrue_, _accrewe_, used in the 16th century in the sense of a
reinforcement, O. Fr. _acreue_, from _accroitre_, to grow, increase), a
band or body of men associated for a definite purpose, a gang who
jointly carry out a particular piece of work, and especially those who
man a ship, exclusive of the captain, and sometimes also of the
officers.
CREWE, ROBERT OFFLEY ASHBURTON CREWE-MILNES, 1st Earl of (1858- ),
English statesman and writer, was born on the 12th of January 1858,
being the son of Lord Houghton (q.v.), and was educated at Harrow and
Trinity, Cambridge. In 1880 he married Sibyl Marcia Graham, who died in
1887, leaving him with two daughters. He inherited his father's literary
tastes, and published _Stray Verses_ in 1890, besides other
miscellaneous literary work. A Liberal in politics, he became private
secretary to Lord Granville when secretary of state for foreign affairs
(1883-1884), and in 1886 was made a lord-in-waiting. In the Liberal
administration of 1892-1895 he was lord-lieutenant for Ireland, having
Mr John Morley as chief secretary. In 1895 he was created 1st earl of
Crewe, his maternal grandfather, the 2nd Baron Crewe, having left him
his heir. In 1899 he married Lady Margaret Primrose, daughter of the 5th
earl of Rosebery. In 1905 he became lord president of the council in the
Liberal government; and in 1908, in Mr Asquith's cabinet, he became
secretary of state for the colonies and Liberal leader in the House of
Lords.
CREWE, a municipal borough in the Crewe parliamentary division of
Cheshire, England, 158 m. N.W. of London, on the main line of the London
& North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 42,074. The town was built on an
estate called Oak Farm in the parish of Monk's Coppenhall, and takes its
name from the original stations having been placed in the township of
Crewe, in which the seat of Lord Crewe is situated. It is a railway
junction where lines converge from London, Manchester, North Wales and
Holyhead, North Stafford and Hereford. It is inhabited principally by
persons in the employment of the London & North-Western railway company,
and was practically created by that corporation, at a point where in
1841 only a farmhouse stood in open country. Crewe is not only one of
the busiest railway stations in the world, but is the locomotive
metropolis of the London & North-Western company, which has centred here
enormous workshops for the manufacture of the material and plant used in
railways. In 1901 the 4000th locomotive was turned out of the works. A
series of subterranean ways extending many miles have been constructed
to enable merchandise traffic to pass through without interfering with
passenger trains on the surface railways. The company possesses one of
the finest electric stations in the world, and electrical apparatus for
the working of train signals is in operation. The station is fitted with
an extensive suite of offices for the interchange of postal traffic, the
chief mails to and from Ireland and Scotland being stopped here and
arranged for various distributing centres. Its enormous railway
facilities and its geographical situation as the junction of the great
trunk lines running north and south, tapping also the Staffordshire
potteries on the one side and the great mineral districts of Wales on
the other, constitute Crewe station one of the most important links of
railway and postal communication in the kingdom. The railway company
built its principal schools, provided it with a mechanics' institute,
containing library, science and art classes, reading rooms, assembly
rooms, &c. Victoria Park, also the gift of the company, was opened in
1888. The municipal corporation built the technical school and school of
art. The borough incorporated in 1877, is under a mayor, 7 aldermen and
21 councillors. Area, 2185 acres.
CREWKERNE, a market town in the southern parliamentary division of
Somersetshire, England, 132 m. W.S.W. of London by the London &
South-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4226. It is
pleasantly situated in a wooded hollow, in the upper valley of the river
Parret. The church of St Bartholomew, one of the finest in the county,
is in the Perpendicular style characteristic of the district. The
ornamentation throughout is beautiful, and the west front especially
notable. The grammar school dates from 1499, but occupies modern
buildings. Sail-cloth, horsehair, cloth and webbing are manufactured.
CRIB (a word common to some Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch _krib_ and
Ger. _Krippe_; it has a common origin with the O. Eng. "cratch," a
manger or crib, cf. Fr. _creche_), a manger or framework receptacle for
holding fodder for cattle and horses, and so, from early times in
English, particularly the manger in which Jesus was laid. It is thus
used of a "cradle," from which in form it should be distinguished as
being a small bed with high closed-in sides. The word has many
transferred meanings, as a rough, small hut or dwelling, from which
comes the slang use of "crib" as a berth or situation, or, as a
burglar's term for a house to be broken into; also, technically, in
engineering for a timber framework for masonry constructed with a
caisson in laying foundations below water, or in mining for a timber
lining to a shaft. "Crib-biting" is a vicious habit in horses, probably
due in the first instance to indigestion; the horse seizes the manger or
other object in its teeth, and draws in the breath, known as
"wind-sucking"; the habit may be checked by the use of a throat-strap.
The slang meaning of the verb "crib," to steal, especially used of petty
thefts, is probably derived from an obsolete use of the substantive for
a small wicker basket; this meaning occurs in the expression
"time-cribbing," used of an illicit increase of the hours of labour in a
factory or workshop, especially by the running of machinery each day
slightly beyond the time of ceasing work. "Crib" and "cribbing" in this
sense are also applied to any unacknowledged appropriation or plagiarism
from an author, and particularly to the secret copying by a schoolboy of
another's work or from a book, and also to the secret use of a
translation and to such translation itself. "Crib," in the game of
cribbage, of which it is a shortened form, is the term for the cards
thrown away by each player and scored by the dealer.
CRIBBAGE, a game of cards. A very similar game called "Noddy" was
formerly played, the game being fifteen or twenty-one up, marked with
counters, occasionally by means of a noddy board. Cribbage seems to be
an improved form of Noddy. According to John Aubrey (_Brief Lives_) it
was invented by Sir John Suckling (1609-1642).
A complete pack of fifty-two cards is required, and a cribbage board for
scoring, drilled with sixty holes for each player and one hole (called
"the game hole") at each end, the players usually scoring from opposite
ends. Each player has two scoring pegs. The game is marked by inserting
the pegs in the holes, one after the other, as the player makes a fresh
score, commencing with the outer row at the game-hole end and going up
the board. When the thirtieth hole is reached the player comes down the
board, using the inner row of holes, until he places his foremost peg in
the game-hole. If the losing player fails to obtain half the holes, his
adversary wins a "lurch," or double game.
The game may be played by two players, five or six cards being dealt to
each, and each putting out two for what is called "crib"; or by three
players (with a triangular scoring board), five cards being dealt to
each, each putting out one for crib, and a card from the top of the pack
being dealt to complete the crib; or by four players (two being partners
against the other two, sitting and playing as at whist, and one partner
scoring for both), five cards being dealt to each, and each putting out
one card for crib.
Two-handed five-card cribbage was formerly considered the most
scientific game, but this verdict has now been reversed in favour of the
six-card game. In six-card cribbage both hands and crib contain four
cards, and 121 holes are scored.
The players cut for deal, the lowest dealing. If more than one game is
played, the winner of the last game deals. The cards rank from king
(highest) to the ace (lowest). At the two-handed five-card game, the
non-dealer scores three holes (called "three for last") at any time
during the game, but usually while the dealer is dealing the first hand.
This is not part of the six-card game, which we take as our example.
The dealer deals six cards to each, singly. The undealt cards are placed
face downwards on the table. The players then look at their hands and
"lay out," each putting two cards face downwards on the table, on the
side of the board nearest to the dealer, for the "crib." A player must
not take back into his hand a card he has laid out if the cards have
been covered, nor must the crib be touched during the play of his hand.
After laying out, the non-dealer (when more than two play, the player to
the dealer's left) cuts the pack, and the dealer turns up the top card
of the lower packet, called the "start," or "turn-up." If this is a
knave, the dealer marks two "for his heels." This score is forfeited if
not marked before the dealer plays a card.
The non-dealer plays first by laying face upwards on the table on his
side of the board any card from his hand; the dealer then does the same,
and so on alternately. When more than two play, the player to the
leader's left plays the second card, and so on. As soon as the first
card is laid down the player calls out the number of pips on it; if a
picture card, ten. When the second card is laid down, the player calls
out the sum of the pips on the two cards played, and so on until all the
cards are played, or until neither player can play without passing the
number thirty-one. If one player has a card or cards that will come in
and the other has not, he is at liberty to play them; at the six-card
game he must play as long as they can come in, and he can score runs or
make pairs, &c., with them. If one player's cards are exhausted, the
adversary plays out his own, and can score with them. When more than two
play, the player next in rotation is bound to play, and so on until no
one can come in. At the two-handed five-card game, when neither can come
in the play stops; at the other games the cards are played turned down,
and the remainder of the cards are played in rotation, and so on until
all are played out.
The object of the play is to make _pairs_, _fifteens_, _sequences_, and
the "go," and to prevent the adversary from scoring.
_Pairs._--If a card is put down of the same denomination as the one
last played, the player pairing scores two holes. If a third card of
the same denomination is next played, a "pair royal" (abbreviated to
"prial") is made, and the maker scores six holes. If a fourth card of
the same denomination is next played, twelve holes are scored for the
"double pair royal." Kings pair only with kings, queens with queens,
and so with knaves and tens, notwithstanding that they all count ten
in play.
_Fifteens._--If either player during the play reaches fifteen exactly,
by reckoning the values of all the played cards, he marks two.
_Sequences._--If during the play of the hand three or more cards are
consecutively played which make an ascending or descending sequence,
the maker of the sequence marks one hole for each card forming the
sequence or run. King, queen, knave and ten reckon in sequence in this
order, notwithstanding that they are all tenth cards in play; the
other cards according to the number of their pips. The ace is not in
sequence with king, queen. If one player obtains a run of three, his
adversary can put down a card in sequence and mark four, and so on.
And, if there is a break in the sequence, and the break is filled up
during the play, without the intervention of a card not in sequence,
the player of the card that fills the break scores a run. Thus the
cards are played in this order: A-4, B-3, A-2, B-ace, A gets a run of
three, B a run of four. Had B's last card been a five, he would
similarly have scored a run of four, as there is no break. Had B's
last card been a four, he would have scored a run of three. The cards
need not be played in order. Thus the cards being played in this
order, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-6, A-4, B-2, A-5, B-3, A-5, B-6, B takes
a run of four for the fourth card played, but there is no run for any
one else, as the second five intervenes. Again, if the cards at
six-card cribbage are thus played, A-4, B-2, A-3, B-ace, A-5, B-2,
A-4, B-ace, A takes a run of three, B a run of four, A a run of five.
B then playing the deuce has no run, as the deuce previously played
intervenes.
The "go," end hole or last card is scored by the player who approaches
most nearly to thirty-one during the play, and entitles to a score of
one. If thirty-one is reached exactly, it is a go of two instead of
one. After a go no card already played can be counted for pairs or
sequences.
_Compound Scores._--More than one of the above scores can be made at
the same time. Thus a player pairing with the last card that will come
in scores both pair and go. Similarly a pair and a fifteen, or a
sequence and a fifteen, can be reckoned together.
When the play is over, the hands are shown and counted aloud. The
non-dealer has first show and scores and marks first; the dealer
afterwards counts, scores and marks what he has in hand, and then
takes what is in crib. In counting both hands and crib the "start" is
included, so that five cards are involved.
The combinations in hand or crib which entitle to a score are fifteen,
pairs or pairs royal, sequences, flushes and "his nob."
_Fifteens._--All the combinations of cards that, taken together, make
fifteen exactly, count two. For example, a ten (King, Queen, Knave or
Ten) card and a five reckon two, called as "fifteen two." Another five
in the hand or turned up would again combine with the ten card, and
entitle to another fifteen ("fifteen four"); if the other cards were a
two and a three, two other fifteens would be counted ("fifteen six,"
"fifteen eight")--one for the combination of the three and two with
the ten card, and one for the combination of the two fives with the
three and two. Similarly two ten cards and two fives reckon eight; a
nine and three threes count six; and so on for other cards.
_Pairs._--Pairs are reckoned as in play.
_Sequences._--Three or more cards in sequence count one for each card.
If one sequence card can be substituted for another of the same
denomination, the sequence reckons again. For example, 3,4,5 and a 3
turned up reckon two sequences of three; with another 3 there would be
three sequences of three, and so on.
_Flushes._--If all the cards in hand are of the same suit, one is
reckoned for each card. If the start is also of the same suit, one is
reckoned for that also. In crib, no flush is reckoned unless the start
is of the same suit as the cards in crib.
_His Nob._--If a player holds the knave of the suit turned up for the
start he counts one "for his nob."
A dialogue will illustrate the technical conversation of the game, in
a game at six-card cribbage. The cards for crib having been discarded,
A holds knave of hearts, a four and a pair of twos: B holds a pair of
nines, a six and a four. Two of hearts is turned up by B. The hand
might be played thus. A lays down a two and says "Two": B plays a nine
and says "Eleven": A follows with a four, saying "Fifteen two";
pegging two holes at once: B plays his four and says "Nineteen; two
for a pair," and pegs: A putting on his knave, "Twenty-nine"; B says
"Go." A lays down his two, his last card, and says "Thirty-one; good
for two." B plays his nine and six, saying "Fifteen two, and one for
my last--three." The points are marked as they are made. A then counts
his hand aloud. "Six for a pair-royal" or "Three twos--good for six,"
and "One for his nob--seven," and throws down his hand for B's
inspection. B, "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight,
and a pair are ten." B then looks at his crib and counts it. It
contains, say, king, eight, three, ace and the "start" is also
reckoned. B counts "Fifteen two and a run of three--five."
After the points in hand and crib are reckoned, the cards are shuffled
and dealt again, and so on alternately until the game is won.
The highest possible score in hand is 29--three fives and a knave,
with a five, of the same suit as the knave, turned up.
CRICCIETH, a watering-place and contributory parliamentary borough of
Carnarvonshire, Wales, on Cardigan Bay, served by the Cambrian railway.
Pop. of urban district (1901) 1406. It is interesting for its high
antiquity and the ruined castle, a fortress on an eminence where a neck
of land ends, projecting into the sea. Portions of two towers are on the
very verge of the rock. A double fosse and vallum, with the outer and
inner court lines, can be traced. Apparently British, the castle was
repaired later, probably in the time of Edward I. Across the bay is seen
Harlech castle, backed by the Merionethshire hills. An old county-family
mansion near Criccieth is Gwynfryn (happy hill), the seat of the
Nanneys, situated near the stream Dwyfawr and within some 7 m. of
Pwllheli. Not far is a tumulus, _Tomen fawr_. At a distance of 5 m. is
Tremadoc (which owes its name. Town of Madocks--as does Portmadoc--to Mr
W. Madocks, of Morfa Lodge, who made the embankment here). Criccieth has
become a favourite watering-place, as well as a centre of excursions.
The neighbourhood is agreeable, and the Cardigan Bay shore is shelving
and suitable for safe bathing. Cantref y Gwaelod (the hundred of the
bottom) is the Welsh literary name of this bay, on the shores of which
geological depression has certainly taken place. Mythical history
relates how Seithennin's drunkenness inundated the land now covered by
the bay, and how King Arthur's ship was wrecked upon Meisdiroedd Enlli
near Bardsey. The _Mabinogion_ tell how Harlech was a port. Similarly,
in Carnarvon Bay, about 2 m. seaward, at low water, are visible the
ruins of Caerarianrhod (fortified town of the silver wheel), a submerged
town--due to another geological depression.
CRICHTON, JAMES (1560-? 1582), commonly called the "Admirable Crichton,"
was the son of Robert Crichton, lord advocate of Scotland in the reign
of Mary and James VI., and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Stewart
of Beath, through whom he claimed royal descent. He was born probably at
Eliock in Dumfriesshire in 1560, and when ten years old was sent to St
Salvator's College, St Andrews, where he took his B.A. in 1574 and his
M.A. in 1575. In 1577 Crichton was undoubtedly in Paris, but his career
on the continent is difficult to follow. That he displayed considerable
classical knowledge, was a good linguist, a ready and versatile writer
of verse, and above all that he possessed an astounding memory, seems
certain, not only from the evidence of men of his own time, but from the
fact that even Joseph Scaliger (_Prima Scaligerana_, p. 58, 1669) speaks
of his attainments with the highest praise. But those works of his which
have come down to us show few traces of unusual ability; and the
laudation of him as a universal genius by Sir Thomas Urquhart and Aldus
Manutius requires to be discounted. Urquhart (in his _Discovery of a
most exquisite jewel_) states that while in Paris Crichton successfully
held a dispute in the college of Navarre, on any subject and in twelve
languages, and that the next day he won a tilting match at the Louvre.
There is, however, no contemporary evidence for this, the only certain
facts being that for two years Crichton served in the French army, and
that in 1579 he arrived in Genoa. The latter event is proved by a Latin
address (of no particular merit) to the Doge and Senate entitled _Oratio
J. Critonii Scoti pro Moderatorum Genuensis Reipubl. electione coram
Senatu habita...._ (Genoa, 1579). The next year Crichton was in Venice,
and won the friendship of Aldus Manutius by his Latin ode _In appulsu ad
urbem Venetam de Proprio statu J. Critonii Scoti Carmen ad Aldum
Manuccium...._ (Venice, 1580). The best contemporary evidence for
Crichton's stay in Venice is a handbill printed by the Guerra press in
1580 (and now in the British Museum), giving a short biography and an
extravagant eulogy of his powers; he speaks ten languages, has a command
of philosophy, theology, mathematics; he improvises Latin verses in all
metres and on all subjects, has all Aristotle and his commentators at
his fingers' ends; is of most beautiful appearance, a soldier from top
to toe, &c. This work is undoubtedly by Manutius, as it was reprinted
with his name in 1581 as _Relatione della qualita di ... Crettone_, and
again in 1582 (reprinted Venice, 1831).
In Venice Crichton met and vanquished all disputants except Giacomo
Mazzoni, was followed from place to place by crowds of admirers, and won
the affection of the humanists Lorenzo Massa and Giovanni Donati. In
March 1581 he went to Padua, where he held two great disputations. In
the first he extemporized in succession a Latin poem, a daring onslaught
on Aristotelian ignorance, and an oration in praise of ignorance. In the
second, which took place in the Church of St John and St Paul, and
lasted three days, he undertook to refute innumerable errors in
Aristotelians, mathematicians and schoolmen, to conduct his dispute
either logically or by the secret doctrine of numbers, &c. According to
Aldus, who attended the debate and published an account of it in his
dedication to Crichton prefixed to Cicero's "Paradoxa" (1581), the young
Scotsman was completely successful. In June Crichton was once more in
Venice, and while there wrote two Latin odes to his friends Lorenzo
Massa and Giovanni Donati, but after this date the details of his life
are obscure. Urquhart states that he went to Mantua, became the tutor of
the young prince of Mantua, Vincenzo di Gonzaga, and was killed by the
latter in a street quarrel in 1582. Aldus in his edition of Cicero's _De
universitate_ (1583), dedicated to Crichton, laments the 3rd of July as
the fatal day; and this account is apparently confirmed by the Mantuan
state papers recently unearthed by Mr Douglas Crichton (_Proc. Soc. of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, 1909). Mr Sidney Lee (_Dict. Nat. Biog._)
argued against this date, on the ground that in 1584 and 1585 Crichton
was alive and in Milan, as certain works of his published in that year
testified, and regarded it as probable that he died in Mantua c.
1585/6. But these later works seem to have been by another man of the
same name. The epithet "admirable" (_admirabilis_) for Crichton first
occurs in John Johnston's _Heroes Scoti_ (1603). It is probably
impossible to recover the whole truth either as to Crichton's death or
as to the extent of his attainments, which were so quickly elevated into
legendary magnitude.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Sir Thomas Urquhart's _Discovery of a most excellent
jewel_ (1652; reprinted in the Maitland Club's edition of Urquhart's
Works in 1834) is written with the express purpose of glorifying
Scotland. The panegyrics of Aldus Manutius require to be received with
some caution, since he was given to exaggerating the merits of his
friend, and uses almost the same language about a young Pole named
Stanilaus Niegosevski; see John Black's _Life of Torquato Tasso_, ii.
413-451 (1810), for a criticism. The _Life of Crichton_, by P. Fraser
Tytler (2nd ed., 1823), contains many extracts from earlier writers;
see also "Notices of Sir Robert Crichton of Cluny and of his son
James," by John Stuart, in _Proceedings Soc. of Antiquaries of
Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 103-118 (1855); and the article by Andrew
Lang, "The death of the Admirable Crichton," in the _Morning Post_
(London), Feb. 25, 1910. W. Harrison-Ainsworth in his novel _Crichton_
(new ed., 1892) reprints and translates some documents relating to
Crichton, as well as some of his poems.
CRICKET (_Gryllidae_), a family of saltatory Orthopterous Insects,
closely related to the Locustidae. The wings when folded form long
slender filaments, which often reach beyond the extremity of the body,
and give the appearance of a bifid tail, while in the male they are
provided with a stridulating apparatus by which the well-known chirping
sound, to which the insect owes its name, is produced. The abdomen of
the female ends in a long slender ovipositor, which, however, is not
exserted in the mole cricket. The house cricket (_Gryllus domesticus_)
is of a greyish-yellow colour marked with brown. It frequents houses,
especially in rural districts, where its lively, if somewhat monotonous,
chirp may be heard nightly in the neighbourhood of the fireplace. It is
particularly fond of warmth, and is thus frequently found in bakeries,
where its burrows are often sunk to within a few inches of the oven. In
the hot summer it goes out of doors, and frequents the walls of gardens,
but returns again to its place by the hearth on the first approach of
cold, where, should the heat of the fire be withdrawn, it becomes
dormant. It is nocturnal, coming forth at the evening twilight in search
of food, which consists of bread crumbs and other refuse of the kitchen.
The field cricket (_Gryllus campestris_) is a larger insect than the
former, and of a darker colour. It burrows in the ground to a depth of
from 6 to 12 in., and in the evening the male may be observed sitting at
the mouth of its hole noisily stridulating until a female approaches,
"when," says Bates, "the louder notes are succeeded by a more subdued
tone, whilst the successful musician caresses with his antennae the mate
he has won." The musical apparatus in this species consists of upwards
of 130 transverse ridges on the under side of one of the nervures of the
wing cover, which are rapidly scraped over a smooth, projecting nervure
on the opposite wing. The female deposits her eggs--about 200 in
number--on the ground, and when hatched the larvae, which resemble the
perfect insect except in the absence of wings, form burrows for
themselves in which they pass the winter. The mole cricket (_Gryllotalpa
vulgaris_) owes its name to the striking analogy in its habits and
structure to those of the common mole. Its body is thick and cylindrical
in shape, and it burrows by means of its front legs, which are short and
greatly flattened out and thickened, with the outer edge partly notched
so as somewhat to resemble a hand. It prefers loose and sandy ground in
which to dig, its burrow consisting of a vertical shaft from which long
horizontal galleries are given off; and in making those excavations it
does immense injury to gardens and vineyards by destroying the tender
roots of plants, which form its principal food. It also feeds upon other
insects, and even upon the weak of its own species in the absence of
other food. It is exceedingly fierce and voracious, and is usually
caught by inserting a stem of grass into its hole, which being seized,
is retained till the insect is brought to the surface. The female
deposits her eggs in a neatly constructed subterranean chamber, about
the size of a hen's egg, and sufficiently near the surface to allow of
the eggs being hatched by the heat of the sun.
CRICKET. The game of cricket may be called the national summer pastime
of the English race. The etymology of the word itself is the subject of
much dispute. The _Century Dictionary_ connects with O. Fr. _criquet_,
"a stick used as a mark in the game of bowls," and denies the connexion
with A.S. _crice_ or _cryce_, a staff. A claim has also been made for
_cricket_, meaning a stool, from the stool at which the ball was bowled,
while in the wardrobe account of King Edward I. for the year 1300 (p.
126) is found an allusion to a game called _creag_. Skeat, in his
_Etymological Dictionary_, states that the word is probably derived from
A.S. _crice_ (repudiated by the first authority quoted), the meaning of
which is a staff, and suggests that the "et" is a diminutive suffix; the
word is of the same origin as "crutch." Finally the _New English
Dictionary_ traces the O. Fr. _criquet_, defined by Littre as "_jeu
d'addresse_," to M. Flem. _Krick, Kruke, baston a s'appuyer, quinette,
potence_.
_History._--In a MS. of the middle of the 13th century, in the King's
library, 14 Bv, entitled _Chronique d'Angleterre, depuis Ethelberd
jusqu'a Hen. III._, there is found a grotesque delineation of two male
figures playing a game with a bat and ball. This is undoubtedly the
first known drawing of what was destined to develop into the scientific
cricket of modern times. The left-hand figure is that of the batsman,
who holds his weapon upright in the right hand with the handle
downwards. The right-hand figure shows the catcher, whose duty is at
once apparent by the extension of his hands. In another portion of the
same MS., however, there is a male figure pointing a bat towards a
female figure in the attitude of catching, but the ball is absent. In a
Bodleian Library MS., No. 264, dated the 18th of April 1344, and
entitled _Romance of the Good King Alexander_, fielders for the first
time appear in addition to the batsman and bowler. All the players are
monks (not female figures, as Strutt misinterprets their dress in his
_Sports and Pastimes_), and on the extreme left of the picture, the
bowler, with his cowl up, poises the ball in the right hand with the arm
nearly horizontal. The batsman comes next with his cowl down, a little
way only to the right, standing sideways to the bowler with a long
roughly-hewn and slightly-curved bat, held upright, handle downwards in
the left hand. On the extreme right come four figures--with cowls
alternately down and up, and all having their hands raised in an
attitude to catch the ball. It has been argued that the bat was always
held in the left hand at this date, since on the opposite page of the
same MS. a solitary monk is figured with his cowl down, and also holding
a somewhat elongated oval-shaped implement in his left hand; but it is
unsafe to assume that the accuracy of the artist can be trusted.
The close roll of 39 Edw. III. (1365), Men. 23, disparages certain games
on account of their interfering with the practice of archery, where the
game of cricket is probably included among the pastimes denounced as
"ludos inhonestos, et minus utiles aut valentes." In this instance
cricket was clearly considered fit for the lower orders only, though it
is evident from the entry in King Edward's wardrobe account, already
mentioned, that in 1300 the game of _creag_ was patronized by the
nobility. Judging from the drawings, it can only be conjectured that the
game consisted of bowling, batting and fielding, though it is known that
there was an in-side and an out-side, for sometime during the 15th
century the game was called "Hondyn or Hondoute," or "Hand in and Hand
out." Under this title it was interdicted by 17 Edw. IV. c. 3
(1477-1478), as one of those illegal games which still continued to be
so detrimental to the practice of archery. By this statute, any one
allowing the game to be played on his premises was liable to three
years' imprisonment and L20 fine, any player to two years' imprisonment
and L10 fine, and the implements to be burnt. The inference that hand in
and hand out was analogous to cricket is made from a passage in the Hon.
Daines Barrington's _Observations on the more Ancient Statutes from
Magna Charta to 21 James I. cap. 27_. Writing in 1766, he comments thus
on the above statute, viz.: "This is, perhaps, the most severe law ever
made against gaming, and some of these forbidden sports seem to have
been manly exercises, particularly the _handyn_ and _handoute_, which I
should suppose to be a kind of cricket, as the term hands is still
retained in that game."
The word "cricket" occurs about the year 1550. In Russell's _History of
Guildford_ it appears there was a piece of waste land in the parish of
Holy Trinity in that city, which was enclosed by one John Parish, an
innholder, some five years before Queen Elizabeth came to the throne. In
35 Elizabeth (1593) evidence was taken before a jury and a verdict
returned, ordering the garden to be laid waste again and disinclosed.
Amongst other witnesses John Derrick, gent., and one of H.M.'s coroners
for Surrey, _aetat._ fifty-nine, deposed he had known the ground for
fifty years or more, and "when he was a scholler in the free school of
Guildford, he and several of his fellowes did runne and play there at
_crickett_ and other plaies." In the original edition of Stow's _Survey
of London_ (1598) the word does not occur, though he says, "The ball is
used by noblemen and gentlemen in tennis courts, and by people of the
meaner sort in the open fields and streets."
Some noteworthy references to the game may be cited. In Giovanni
Florio's dictionary _A Worlde of Wordes most Copious and Exact_,
published in Italy in 1595 and in London three years later, _squillare_
is defined as "to make a noise as a cricket, to play cricket-a-wicket
and be merry." Sir William Dugdale states that in his youth Oliver
Cromwell, who was born in 1599, threw "himself into a dissolute and
disorderly course," became "famous for football, cricket, cudgelling and
wrestling," and acquired "the name of royster." In Randle Cotgrave's
_Dictionary of French and English_, dated 1611, _Crosse_ is translated
"crosier or bishop's staffe wherewith boys play at cricket," and
_Crosser_ "to play at cricket."
Among the earliest traces of cricket at public schools is an allusion to
be found in the _Life of Bishop Ken_ by William Lisle Bowles (1830).
Concerning the subject of this biography, who was admitted to Winchester
on the 13th of January 1650/1, it is said "on the fifth or sixth day,
our junior ... is found for the first time attempting to wield a cricket
bat." In 1688 a "ram and bat" is charged in an Etonian's school bill,
but it is possible this may only refer to a cudgel used for ram-baiting.
In _The Life of Thomas Wilson, Minister of Maidstone_, published
anonymously in 1672, Wilson having been born in 1601 and dying in or
about 1653, occurs the following passage (p. 40): "Maidstone was
formerly a very profane town, in as much as I have seen morrice-dancing,
cudgel-playing, stool-ball, crickets, and many other sports openly and
publicly indulged in on the Lord's Day." Cricket is found enumerated as
one of the games of Gargantua in _The Works of Rabelais_, translated in
1653 by Sir Thomas Urchard (Urquhart), vol. i. ch. xxii. p. 97. In a
poem entitled _The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence or the Arts of Wooing
and Complimenting_ (1658), by Edward Phillips, John Milton's nephew, the
mistress of a country bumpkin when she goes to a fair with him says
"Would my eyes had been beaten out of my head with a cricket ball." The
St Alban's Cricket Club was founded in 1661, one of its earliest
presidents being James Cecil, 4th earl of Salisbury (1666-1694).
In 1662 John Davies of Kidwelly issued his translation of Adam Olearius'
work entitled _The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors from the Duke
of Holstein to the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the King of Persia. Begun
in the year 1633 and finished in 1639_. On page 297 is a description of
the exercises indulged in by the Persian grandees in 1637, and the
statement is made that "They play there also at a certain game, which
the Persians call _Kuitskaukan_, which is a kind of _Mall_, or
_Cricket_." In the Clerkenwell parish book of 1668 the proprietor of the
Rum Inn, Smithfield, is found rated for a cricket field.
The chaplain of H.M.S., "Assistance," Rev. Henry Teonge, states in his
diary that during a visit to Antioch on the 6th of May 1676, several of
the ship's company, accompanied by the consul, rode out of the city
early and amongst other pastimes indulged in "krickett." During the
first half of the 18th century the popularity of the game increased and
is frequently mentioned by writers of the time, such as Swift, who
alludes sneeringly to "footmen at cricket," D'Urfey, Pope, Soame
Jenyns, Strype in his edition of Stow's _Survey of London_, and
Arbuthnot in _John Bull_, iv. 4, "when he happened to meet with a
football or a match at cricket."
In 1748 it was decided that cricket was not an illegal game under the
statute 9 Anne, cap. 19, the court of king's bench holding "that it was
a very manly game, not bad in itself, but only in the ill use made of it
by betting more than ten pounds on it; but that was bad and against the
law." Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, died in 1751 from internal
injuries caused by a blow from a cricket ball whilst playing at Cliefden
House. Games at this period were being played for large stakes, ground
proprietors and tavern-keepers farming and advertising matches, the
results of which were not always above suspicion. The old Artillery
Ground at Finsbury was one of the earliest sites of this type of
fixture. Here it was that the London Club--formed about 1700--played its
matches. The president was the prince of Wales, and many noblemen were
among its supporters. It flourished for more than half a century. One of
the very earliest full-scores kept in the modern fashion is that of the
match between Kent and All England, played on the Artillery Ground on
the 18th of June 1744.
Cricket, however, underwent its most material development in the
southern counties, more especially in the hop-growing districts. It was
at the large hop-fairs, notably that of Weyhill, to which people from
all the neighbouring shires congregated, that county matches were
principally arranged.
The famous Hambledon Club lasted approximately from 1750 to 1791. Its
matches were played on Broad Half-Penny and Windmill Downs, and in its
zenith the club frequently contended with success against All England.
The chief players were more or less retainers of the noblemen and other
wealthy patrons of cricket. The original society was broken up in 1791
owing to Richard Nyren, their "general," abandoning the game, of which
in consequence "the head and right arm were gone." The dispersion of the
players over the neighbouring counties caused a diffusion of the best
spirit of the game, which gradually extended northward and westward
until, at the close of the 18th century, cricket became established as
the national game, and the custom became general to play the first game
of each year on Good Friday.
The M.C.C. (or Marylebone Cricket Club), which ranks as the leading club
devoted to the game in any part of the globe, sprang from the old
Artillery Ground Club, which played at Finsbury until about 1780, when
the members migrating to White Conduit Fields became the White Conduit
Cricket Club. In 1787 they were remodelled under their present title,
and moved to Lord's ground, then on the site of what is now Dorset
Square; thence in 1811 to Lord's second ground nearer what is now the
Regent's Canal; and in 1814, when the canal was cut, to what is now
Lord's ground in St John's Wood. Thomas Lord, whose family were obliged
to leave their native Scotland on account of their participation in the
rebellion of 1745, was born in Thirsk, Yorkshire, in 1757, and is first
heard of as an attendant at the White Conduit Club, London, in 1780.
Soon afterwards he selected and superintended a cricket ground for the
earl of Winchilsea and other gentlemen, which was called after his name.
He died in 1832 on a farm at West Meon, Hampshire, of which he took the
management two years before. Lord took away the original turf of his
cricket-ground at each migration and relaid it. In 1825 the pavilion was
burnt down, invaluable early records of the game being destroyed; and in
the same year the ground would have been broken up into building plots
had not William Ward purchased Lord's interest. Dark bought him out in
1836, selling the remainder of his lease to the club in 1864. Meanwhile,
in 1860, the freehold had been purchased at public auction by a Mr
Marsden--_ne_ Moses--for L7000, and he sold it to the club six years
later for nearly L18,500, a similar sum being paid in 1887 for
additional ground. In 1897 the Great Central railway company conveyed a
further portion to the club, making the ground complete as it now is;
the total area is about 20 acres, including the site of various villas
adjoining the ground which are part of the property. The number of
members now considerably exceeds five thousand.
_Laws._--The oldest laws of cricket extant are those drawn up by the
London Club in 1744. These were amended at the "Star and Garter" in Pall
Mall, London, in 1755, and again in 1774, and were also revised by the
M.C.C. in 1788. From this time the latter club has been regarded as the
supreme authority, even though some local modifications have in recent
years been effected in Australia. Alterations and additions have been
frequently made, and according to the present procedure they have to be
approved by a majority of two-thirds of the members present at the
annual general meeting of the whole club; the administration being in
the hands of a president, annually nominated by his outgoing
predecessor, a treasurer and a committee composed of sixteen members,
four annually retiring, in conjunction with a secretary and a large
subordinate staff.
_Implements._--Concerning the implements of the game, in the 1744 rules
it was declared that the weight of the ball must be "between five and
six ounces," and it was not until 1774 that it was decided that it
"shall weigh not less than five ounces and a half nor more than five
ounces and three-quarters," as it is to the present day. Not until 1838
however came the addition, "it shall measure not less than nine inches
nor more than nine inches and a quarter in circumference." The materials
out of which the old balls were made are not on record. At present a
cube of cork forms the foundation, round which layers of fine twine and
thin shavings of cork are accumulated till the proper size and shape are
attained, when a covering of red leather is sewn on with six parallel
seams. Various "compositions" have been tried as a substitute for cork
and leather, but without taking their place.
For the bat, English willow has been proverbially found the best wood.
The oldest extant bats resemble a broad and curved hockey stick, and it
has been claimed to be an evolution of the club employed in the Irish
game of "hurley." The straight blade was adopted as soon as the bowler
began to pitch the ball up, an alteration which took place about 1750,
but pictures show slightly curved bats almost to the time of the battle
of Waterloo. The oldest were all made in one piece and were so used
until the middle of the 19th century, when handles of ash were spliced
into the blade, and the whole cane-handle was introduced about 1860. No
limit was set to the length of the bat until 1840, though the width was
restricted to 4-1/4 in. "in the widest part" by the laws of 1788, and a
gauge was made for the use of the Hambledon Club. The length of the bat
is now restricted to 38 in., 36 being more generally used, as a rule the
handle being 14 in. long and the blade 22 in. As to weight, though there
is no restriction, 2 lb. 3 oz. is considered light, 2 lb. 6 oz. fairly
heavy; but W. Ward (1787-1849) used a bat weighing 4 lb.
At present the wicket consists of three stumps (round straight pieces of
wood) of equal thickness, standing 27 in. upright out of the ground. On
the top are two "bails," short pieces of wood which fit into grooves
made in the top of the stumps so as not to project more than half an
inch above them. But the evolution of the wicket has been very gradual,
and the history of it is very obscure, since different types of wickets
seem to have existed simultaneously. If early pictures are to be
trusted, no wicket was required in primitive times: the striker was
either caught out, or run out, the fieldsman having to put the ball into
a hole scooped in the ground, before the batsman could put his bat into
it. A single stump, it is supposed, was sometimes substituted for the
hole to save collision between the bat and the fieldsman's fingers. In
due course, but at an unknown date, a wicket--a "skeleton gate"--was
raised over the hole; it consisted of two stumps each 12 in. high, set
24 in. apart, with a third laid on the top of them. John Nyren, however,
writing in 1833, and discussing some memoranda given him by Mr W. Ward,
says apropos of these dimensions, "There must be a mistake in this
account of the width of the wicket." Undoubtedly such wickets were all
against the bowler, who must have bowled over or through the wicket
twenty times for every occasion when he succeeded in hitting either the
uprights or the cross stump. In pictures of cricket played about 1743 we
find only two stumps and a cross stump, or bail, the wicket varying
apparently both in height and width. In a picture, the property of H.M.
the King, entitled "A Village Match in 1768," three stumps and a bail
are distinctly shown. Two stumps are shown as used in 1779, afterwards
three always with one exception. Two prints, advertisements,
representing matches played between women on consecutive days in 1811,
show, one of them a wicket of three stumps, the other a wicket of two.
The addition of the third stump, as is universally agreed, was due to an
incident which occurred in a match of the Hambledon Club in 1775. "It
was observed at a critical point in the game, that the ball passed three
times between Mr Small's two stumps without knocking off the bail; and
then, first a third stump was added, and seeing that the new style of
balls which rise over the bat also rise over the wicket, then but 1 ft.
high, the wicket was altered to the dimensions of 22 in. by 8, and to
its present dimensions of 27 in. by 8 in 1817." So writes the Rev. J.
Pycroft (1813-1895), quoting fairly closely from Nyren, who wrote many
years after the event; but Pycroft is wrong in writing 22 by 8, which
should really be 22 by 6. It is hard to believe that the 12 by 24 wicket
lasted as long as 1775, for in the laws issued after the meeting held at
the "Star and Garter," Pall Mall, where many "noblemen and gentlemen"
attended "finally to settle" the laws of the game, we read that the
stumps are to be 22 in. and the bail 6. "N.B.--It is lately settled to
use three stumps instead of two to each wicket, the bail the same length
as before." Regarding all the circumstances one is tempted to believe
that Small defended a wicket of two stumps, 22 in. high and 6 in. apart,
strange as is the circumstance that the ball should thrice in a short
innings--for Small only made 14 runs--pass through them without
dislodging the bail, even though the diameter of the ball is a trifle
less than 3 in. Allusion is also found to a wicket 12 in. by 6, but it
is hard to believe in its existence, unless it was used as a form of
handicap. It should be recorded that in advertisements of matches about
this time (1787) the fact that three stumps will be used "to shorten the
game" is especially mentioned, and that the _Hampshire Chronicle_ of the
15th of July 1797 records that "The earl of Winchilsea has made an
improvement in the game of cricket, by having four stumps instead of
three, and the wickets 2 in. higher. The game is thus rendered shorter
by easier bowling out." In 1788, however, when the M.C.C. revised the
laws, reference is made to stumps (no number given, but probably three)
22 in. high and a bail of 6 in. Big scoring in 1796 caused the addition
next year of 2 in. to the height and of 1 to the breadth, making the
wicket 24 in. by 7. That three stumps were employed is shown by a print
of the medallion of the Oxfordshire County C.C. 1797, forming the
frontispiece to Taylor's _Annals of Lord's_ (1903). In 1817 the
dimensions now in use were finally settled, three stumps 27 in. high,
and a wicket 8 in. wide. Larger wickets have occasionally been used by
way of handicap or experiment. The distance between the wickets seems
always, or at least as far back as 1700, to have been 22 yds.--one
chain.
_The Game._--Cricket is defined in the _New English Dictionary_ as "an
open-air game played with bats, ball and wickets by two sides of eleven
players each; the batsman defends his wicket against the ball which is
bowled by a player of the opposing side, the other players of this side
being stationed about the field in order to catch or stop the ball." The
laws define that the score shall be reckoned by runs. The side which
scores the greatest number of runs wins the match. Each side has two
innings taken alternately, except that the side which leads by 150 runs
in a three days' match or by 100 runs in a two days' match or by 75 runs
in a one day match shall have the option of requiring the other side to
"follow their innings." In England cricket is invariably played on turf
wickets, but in the Colonies matting wickets are often employed, and
sometimes matches have taken place on sand, earth and other substances.
The oldest form of the game is probably single wicket, which consists of
one batsman defending one wicket, but this has become obsolete, though
it was very popular in the time when matches were played for money with
only one or two, or perhaps four or five, players on a side. Matches
between an unequal number of players are still sometimes arranged, but
mainly in the case of local sides against touring teams, or "colts"
playing against eleven experienced cricketers. In any case two umpires
are always appointed, and for English first-class county cricket these
are now annually chosen beforehand by the county captains. Two scorers
are officially recognized. All the arrangements as to scoreboards, and
accommodation for players, members of the club and general spectators,
vary considerably according to local requirements. Between six and seven
acres forms the most suitable area for a match, but the size of a
cricket ground has never been defined by law.
The wickets are pitched opposite and parallel to one another at a
distance of 22 yds.; the "bowling crease" being marked with whitewash on
the turf on a line with the stumps 8 ft. 8 in. in length, with short
"return creases" at right angles to it at each end; but the "popping
crease," marked parallel to the wicket and 4 ft. in front of it, is
deemed of unlimited length. The captains of the opposing sides toss for
choice of innings, and the winner of the toss, though occasionally,
owing to the condition of the ground or the weather prospects, electing
to put his adversaries in first, as a general rule elects for his own
side to bat first. The captain of the batting side sends his eleven (or
whatever the number of his team may be) in to bat in any order he thinks
best, and much judgment is used in deciding what this order shall be.
Two batsmen with strong defensive powers and good nerve are usually
selected to open the innings, the most brilliant run-getters immediately
following them, and the weakest batsmen going in last. As there must
always, except in the obsolete single-wicket cricket, be two batsmen in
together, it follows that when ten of the side (in a side of eleven)
have been put out, one of the final pair must be "not out"; that is to
say, his innings is terminated without his getting out because there is
none of his side left to become his partner. The batsman who is thus
"not out" is said to "carry his bat," a phrase that recalls a period
when two bats sufficed for the whole side, each retiring batsman leaving
the implement on the ground for the use of his successor, till at the
close of the innings the "not out" man carried it back to the tent or
pavilion. As the phrase is not also applied to the last batsman to get
out, who would of course have carried the second bat off the ground, it
was possibly at one time restricted to a player who going in first
survived through the whole innings. It should be observed that the term
"wicket" is used by cricketers in a number of different senses. Besides
being the name given to the set of three stumps with their two bails
when pitched for a match, it is in an extended sense applied to that
portion of the ground, also called the "pitch," on which the stumps are
pitched, as when it is described as being "a fast wicket," a "sticky
wicket" and so forth. It also in several idiomatic expressions signifies
the getting out of a batsman and even the batsman himself, as in the
phrases: "Grace lost his wicket without scoring," "Grace went in first
wicket down," "when Grace got out England lost their best wicket,"
"England beat Australia by two wickets."
The umpires are required to decide questions arising in the course of
play and to call the "overs," the "over" being a series of successive
deliveries of the ball (usually six) by the bowler from one end of the
pitch, the rest of the "out" side, or fielders, being stationed in
various positions in the field according to well-defined principles.
When an "over" has been bowled from one end a different bowler then
bowls an "over" from the opposite end, the alternation being continued
without interruption throughout the innings, and the bowlers being
selected and changed from time to time by the captain of their side at
his discretion. At the end of every over the fielders "change over" or
otherwise rearrange their places to meet the batting from the other end.
An over from which no runs are made off the bat is called a "maiden." A
"run" is made when the two batsmen change places, each running from his
own to the opposite wicket without being "run out." The aim of the
batting side is to make as many runs as possible, while the object of
the fielding side is to get their opponents out, and to prevent their
making runs while in.
There are nine ways in which the batsman, or "striker," can be put out.
Of these the following five are the most important. (1) The striker is
"bowled" out if the bowler hits the wicket with the ball, when bowling,
and dislodges the bail; (2) he is "caught" out if the ball after
touching his bat or hand be held by any member of the fielding side
before it touches the ground; (3) he is "stumped" out if the
wicket-keeper dislodges the bail with the ball, or with his hand holding
the ball, at a moment when the striker in playing at the ball has no
part of his person or bat in contact with the ground behind the popping
crease, i.e. when the batsman is "out of his ground"; (4) he is out
"l.b.w." (leg before wicket) if he stops with any part of his person
other than his hand, or arm below the elbow, a ball which in the
umpire's judgment pitched straight between the wickets, and would have
bowled the striker's wicket; (5) if when the batsmen are attempting to
make a run a wicket is put down (i.e. the bail dislodged) by the ball,
or by the hand of any fieldsman holding the ball, at a moment when
neither batsman has any part of his person or bat on the ground behind
the popping crease, the nearer of the two batsmen to the wicket so put
down is "run out." The remaining four ways in which a batsman may be
dismissed are (6) hit wicket, (7) handling the ball, (8) hitting the
ball more than once "with intent to score," and (9) obstructing the
field.
The positions of the fieldsmen are those which experience proves to be
best adapted for the purpose of saving runs and getting the batsmen
caught out. During the middle of the 19th century these positions became
almost stereotyped according to the pace of the bowler's delivery and
whether the batsmen were right or left handed. A certain number of
fielders stood on the "on" side, i.e. the side of the wicket on which
the batsman stands, and a certain number on the opposite or "off" side,
towards which the batsman faces. "Point" almost invariably was placed
square with the striker's wicket some ten or a dozen yards distant on
the "off" side; "cover point" to the right of "point" (as he is looking
towards the batsman) and several yards deeper; "mid on" a few yards to
the right of the bowler, and "mid off" in a corresponding position on
his left, and so forth. Good captains at all times exercised judgment in
modifying to some extent the arrangement of the field according to
circumstances, but in this respect much was learnt from the Australians,
who on their first visit to England in 1878 varied the positions of the
field according to the idiosyncrasies of the batsmen and other
exigencies to a degree not previously practised in England. The
perfection of wicket-keeping displayed by the Australian, McCarthy
Blackham (b. 1855), taught English cricketers that on modern grounds the
"long stop" could be altogether dispensed with; and this position, which
in former days was considered a necessary and important one, has since
been practically abolished. In many matches at the present day, owing to
the character of modern bowling, no more than a single fieldsman is
placed on the "on" side, while the number and positions of those "in the
slips," i.e. behind the wicket on the "off" side, are subject to no sort
of rule, but vary according to the nature of the bowling, the state of
the ground, or any other circumstances that may influence the judgment
of the captain of the fielding side. Charts such as were once common,
showing the positions of the fielders for fast, slow and medium bowling
respectively, would therefore to-day give no true idea of the actual
practice; and much of the skill of modern captaincy is shown in placing
the field.
The score is compiled by runs made by the batsman and by the addition of
"extras," the latter consisting of "byes," "leg-byes," "wides" and
"no-balls." All these are included in the designation "runs," of which
the total score is composed, though neither "wides" nor "no-balls"
involve any actual run on the part of the batsmen. They are called by
the umpire on his own initiative, in the one case if the bowler's
delivery passes the batsman beyond the reach of his bat ("wide"), and in
the other if he delivers the ball without having either foot touching
the ground behind the "bowling crease" and within the "return crease,"
or if the ball be jerked or thrown instead of being _bona fide_
"bowled." "Wides" and "no-balls" count as one "run" each, and all
"extras" are added to the score of the side without being credited to
any individual batsman. The batsman may, however, hit a "no-ball" and
make runs off it, the runs so made being scored to the striker's credit
instead of the "no-ball" being entered among the "extras." The batsman
may be "run out" in attempting a run off a "no-ball," but cannot be put
out off it in any other way. "Byes" are runs made off a ball which
touches neither the bat nor the person of the batsman, "leg-byes" off a
ball which, without touching the bat or hand, touches any other part of
his person. With the exception of these "extras" the score consists
entirely of runs made off the bat.
Batting.
Batting is the most scientific feature of the game. Proficiency in it,
as in golf and tennis, depends in the first instance to a great extent
on the player assuming a correct attitude for making his stroke, the
position of leg, shoulder and elbow being a matter of importance; and
although a quick and accurate eye may occasionally be sufficient by
itself to make a tolerably successful run-getter, good style can never
be acquired, and a consistently high level of achievement can seldom be
gained, by a batsman who has neglected these rudiments. Good batting
consists in a defence that is proof against all the bowler's craft,
combined with the skill to seize every opportunity for making runs that
the latter may inadvertently offer. If the batsman's whole task
consisted in keeping the ball out of his wicket, the accomplishment of
his art would be comparatively simple; it is the necessity for doing
this while at the same time he must prevent the ball from rising off his
bat into the air in the direction of any one of eleven skilfully-placed
fielders, each eager to catch him out, that offers scope for the science
of a Grace, a MacLaren or a Trumper. In early days when the wickets were
low and the ball was trundled along the ground, the curved bats of the
old pictures were probably well adapted for hitting, defence being
neglected; but when the height of the wickets was raised, and bowlers
began to pitch the ball closer to the batsman so that it would reach the
wicket on the first bound, defence of the wicket became more necessary
and more difficult. Hence the modern straight-bladed bat was produced,
and a more scientific method of batting became possible. Batting and
bowling have in fact developed together, a new form of attack requiring
a new form of defence. One of the first principles a young batsman has
to learn is to play with a "a straight bat" when defending his wicket
against straight balls. This means that the whole blade of the bat
should be equally opposite to the line on which the ball is travelling
towards him, in order that the ball, to whatever height it may bound
from the ground, may meet the bat unless it rises altogether over the
batsman's hands; the tendency of the untutored cricketer being on the
contrary to hold the bat sloping outwards from the handle to the point,
as the golf-player holds his "driver," so that the rise of the ball is
apt to carry it clear of the blade. Standing then in a correct position
and playing with a straight bat, the batsman's chief concern is to
calculate accurately the "length" of the ball as soon as he sees it
leave the bowler's hand. The "length" of the ball means the distance
from the batsman at which it pitches, and "good length" is the first
essential of the bowler's art. The distance that constitutes "good
length" is not, however, to be defined by precise measurement; it
depends on the condition of the ground, and on the reach of the batsman.
A "good-length ball" is one that pitches too far from the batsman for
him to reach out to meet it with the bat at the moment it touches the
ground or immediately it begins to rise, in the manner known as "playing
forward"; and at the same time not far enough from him to enable him to
wait till after it has reached the highest point in its bound before
playing it with the bat, i.e. "playing back." When, owing to the good
length of the ball, the batsman is unable to play it in either of these
two ways, but is compelled to play at it in the middle of its rise from
the ground, he is almost certain, if he does not miss it altogether, to
send it up in the air with the danger of being caught out. If through
miscalculation the batsman plays forward to a short-pitched ball, he
will probably give a catch to the bowler or "mid off," if he plays back
to a well-pitched-up ball, he will probably miss it and be bowled out.
The bowler is therefore continually trying to pitch balls just too short
for safe forward play, while the batsman defends his wicket by playing
forward or back as his judgment directs so long as the bowling is
straight and of approximately good length, and is ready the instant he
receives a bad-length ball, or one safely wide of the wicket, to hit it
along the ground clear of the fieldsmen so as to make as many runs as he
and his partner can accomplish before the ball is returned to the
wicket-keeper or the bowler. But even those balls off which runs are
scored are not to be hit recklessly or without scientific method. A
different stroke is brought into requisition according to the length of
the ball and its distance wide of the wicket to the "off" or "on" as the
case may be; and the greatest batsmen are those who with an almost
impregnable defence combine the greatest variety of strokes, which as
occasion demands they can make with confidence and certainty. There are,
however, comparatively few cricketers who do not excel in some
particular strokes more than in others. One will make most of his runs
by "cuts" past "point," or by wrist strokes behind the wicket, while
others, like the famous Middlesex Etonian C. I. Thornton, and the
Australian C. J. Bonnor, depend mainly on powerful "drives" into the
deep field behind the bowler's wicket. Some again, though proficient in
all-round play, develop exceptional skill in some one stroke which other
first-class players seldom attempt. A good illustration is the "glance
stroke" off the legs which K. S. Ranjitsinhji made with such ease and
grace. All great cricketers in fact, while observing certain general
principles, display some individuality of style, and a bowler who is
familiar with a batsman's play is often aware of some idiosyncrasy of
which he can take advantage in his attack.
Bowling.
Bowling is, indeed, scarcely less scientific than batting. It is not,
however, so systematically taught to young amateurs, and it may be
partly in consequence of this neglect that amateur bowling is
exceedingly weak in England as compared with that of professionals. The
evolution of the art of bowling, for it has been an evolution, is an
interesting chapter in the history of cricket which can only be briefly
outlined here. The fundamental law as to the proper mode of the bowler's
delivering the ball is that the ball must be bowled, not thrown or
jerked. When bowling underhand along the ground was superseded by
"length bowling," it was found that the ball might be caused, by
jerking, to travel at a pace which on the rough grounds was considered
dangerous; hence the law against jerking, which was administered
practically by chalking the inside of the bowler's elbow; if a chalk
mark was found on his side, the ball was not allowed as fair. The
necessity of keeping the elbow away from the side led gradually to the
extension of the arm horizontally and to round-arm bowling, the
invention of which is usually attributed to John Wills (or Willes; b.
1777) of Kent and Sussex. Nyren, however, says "Tom Walker (about 1790)
began the system of throwing instead of bowling now so much the
fashion"; and, "The first I recollect seeing revive this fashion was
Wills, a Sussex man," the date of the revival being 1807. Walker was
no-balled. Beldham (1766-1862) says, "The law against jerking was owing
to the frightful pace Tom Walker put on, and I believe that he
afterwards tried something more like the modern throwing-bowling. Willes
was not the inventor of that kind, or round-arm bowling. He only revived
what was forgotten or new to the young folk." Curiously enough, Beldham
also writes of the same Tom Walker that he was "the first lobbing slow
bowler" he ever saw, and that he "did feel so ashamed of such baby
bowling, but after all he did more than even David Harris himself."
Round-arm bowling was long and vigorously opposed, especially in 1826
when three matches were arranged between England and Sussex, the Sussex
bowlers being round-arm bowlers. When England had lost the first two
matches, nine of the professionals refused to take part in the third,
"unless the Sussex bowlers bowl fair, that is, abstain from throwing."
Five of them did play and Sussex lost, but the new style of bowling had
indicated its existence. In 1844 the M.C.C.'s revised law reads, "The
ball must be bowled, not thrown or jerked, and the hand must not be
above the shoulder in delivery." Round-arm bowling was thenceforth
legal. In 1862 Willsher (1828-1885), the Kent bowler, was no-balled by
the umpire (Lillywhite) for raising his hand too high, amid a scene of
excitement that almost equalled a tumult. Overhand bowling was legalized
on the 10th of June 1864 after strenuous opposition. In early days much
importance was attached to great pace, but the success of the slow
lobbing bowling (pitched up underhand) led to its cultivation; in both
styles some of the best performers delivered the ball with a curious
high action, thrusting the ball, as it were, from close under the
arm-pit. When the advantages of bias (or twist, or break) were first
known is not closely recorded, but we read of one Lamborn who (about
1800) could make the ball break from leg so that "the Kent and Surrey
men could not tell what to make of that cursed twist of his." Whatever
the pace of bowling, accuracy is the essential point, or, more
correctly, the power of accurately varying pace, pitch and direction, so
that the batsman is never at peace. If the bowler is a mere machine, the
batsman soon becomes his master; but the question as to which of the two
is supreme depends very largely on the condition of the turf, whether it
be hard and true, soft and wet, hard and rough or soft and drying: the
first pair of conditions favour the batsmen, the second pair the bowler.
The immense amount of labour and expense devoted to the preparation and
care of cricket grounds has produced during the past quarter of a
century a perfection of smoothness in the turf which has materially
altered the character of the game. On the rough and fiery pitches of
earlier days, on which a "long stop" was indispensable, the behaviour of
the ball could not be reckoned upon by the batsman with any degree of
confidence. The first ball of an "over" might be a "shooter," never
rising as much as an inch off the ground, the next might bound over his
head, and the third pursue some equally eccentric course. But on the
best grounds of to-day, subject to the well-understood changes due to
weather, the bound of the ball is so regular as to be calculable with
reasonable certainty by the batsman. The result has been that in fine
weather, when wickets are true and fast, bowlers have become
increasingly powerless to defeat the batsmen. In other words the defence
has been strengthened out of proportion to the attack. Bowlers have
consequently to a great extent abandoned all attempt to bowl the wicket
down, aiming instead at effecting their purpose by bowling close to but
clear of the wicket, with the design of getting the batsman to give
catches. Many batsmen of the stubbornly defensive type, known in cricket
slang as "stonewallers," retaliated by leaving such balls alone
together, or stopping them deliberately with the legs instead of the
bat.
These tactics caused the game to become very slow; over after over was
bowled without an attempt being made to score a run and without apparent
prospect of getting a wicket. This not only injured the popularity of
the game from the spectator's point of view, but, in conjunction with
the enormous scores that became common in dry seasons, made it so
difficult to finish a match within the three days to which first-class
matches in England are invariably limited, that nearly 70% of the total
number of fixtures in some seasons were drawn. Cricketers of an older
generation have complained that the cause of this is partly to be found
in the amount of time wasted by contemporary cricketers. These critics
see no reason why half of a summer's day should be allowed to elapse
before cricket begins, and they comment with some scorn on the interval
for tea, and the fastidiousness with which play is frequently
interrupted on account of imperfect light or for other unimperative
reasons. Various suggestions have been made, including proposals for
enlarging the wicket, for enabling the attack to hold its own against
the increasing strength of the defence. But the M.C.C., the only
recognized source of cricket legislation, has displayed a cautious but
wise conservatism, due to the fact that its authority rests on no
sanction more formal than that of prestige tacitly admitted by the
cricketing world; and consequently no drastic changes have been made in
the laws of the game, the only important amendments of recent years
being that which now permits a side to close its innings voluntarily
under certain conditions, and that which, in substitution for the former
hard and fast rule for the "follow on," has given an option in the
matter to the side possessing the requisite lead on the first innings.
_Early Players._--If the era of the present form of cricket can very
properly be dated from the visit of the first Australian team to England
in 1878, some enumeration must be made of a few of the cricketers who
took part in first-class matches in the earlier portion of the 19th
century. Among amateurs should be noted the two fast bowlers, Sir F. H.
Bathurst (1807-1881; Eton, Hampshire), and Harvey Fellowes (b. 1826;
Eton); the batsman N. Felix (1804-1876; Surrey and Kent), who was a
master of "cutting" and one of the earliest to adopt batting gloves; the
cricketing champion of his time Alfred Mynn (1807-1861; Kent); and the
keen player F. P. Miller (1828-1875; Surrey). The three Marshams, Rev.
C. D. Marsham (b. 1835), R. H. B. Marsham (b. 1833) and G. Marsham (b.
1849), all of Eton and Oxford, were as famous as the Studds in the
'eighties; and R. Hankey (1832-1886; Harrow and Oxford) was a great
scorer. In the next generation one of the greatest bats of his own or
any time was R. A. H. Mitchell (1843-1905; Eton, Oxford, Hants). A very
attractive run-getter was C. F. Buller (b. 1846; Harrow, Middlesex); an
all too brief career was that of C. J. Ottaway (1850-1878; Eton, Oxford,
Kent and Middlesex); whilst A. Lubbock (b. 1845; Eton, Kent) was a sound
bat, and D. Buchanan (1830-1900; Rugby and Cambridge) a destructive
bowler, as was also A. Appleby (1843-1902; Lancashire).
Of the professionals, Fuller Pilch (1803-1870) and E. G. Wenman
(1803-1897) were great bats; T. Box (1808-1876) the most skilled
wicket-keeper of his time; W. Lillywhite (1792-1854), one of the first
round-arm bowlers, renowned for the accuracy of his pitch, and W. Clark
(1798-1856) possessed wonderful variety of pace and pitch. It was the
last-named who organized the All England Eleven, and he was not chosen
to represent the players until he had reached the age of forty-seven.
George Parr (1826-1891), the greatest leg-hitter in England, had no
professional rival until the advent of Richard Daft (1835-1900). J. Dean
(1816-1891) was the finest long-stop, Julius Caesar (1830-1878) a hard
clean hitter, as was G. Anderson (1826-1902), and T. Lockyer (1826-1869)
seems to have been the first prominent wicket-keeper who took balls wide
on the leg-side. Of bowlers, E. Willsher (1828-1885) would seem to have
been the most difficult, W. Martingell (1818-1897) being a very good
medium-paced bowler, and J. Wisden (1826-1884) a very fast bowler but
short in his length. Four famous bowlers of a later date are George
Freeman (1844-1895), J. Jackson (1833-1901), G. Tarrant (1838-1870) and
G. Wootton (b. 1834). With them must be mentioned the great batsmen, T.
Hayward (1835-1876) and R. Carpenter (1830-1901), as well as two other
keen cricketers, H. H. Stephenson (1833-1896) and T. Hearne (1826-1900).
Since the first half of the 19th century the sort of cricket to engage
public attention has very greatly changed, and the change has become
emphasized since the exchange of visits between Australian and English
teams has become an established feature of first-class cricket.
First-class cricket has become more formal, more serious and more
spectacular. The contest for the county championship has introduced an
annual competition, closely followed by the public, between standing
rivals familiar with each other's play and record; an increased
importance has become attached to "averages" and "records," and it is
felt by some that the purely sporting side of the game has been damaged
by the change. Professionalism has increased, and it is an open secret
that not a few players who appear before the public as amateurs derive
an income under some pretext or other from the game. Cricket on the
village green has in many parts of the country almost ceased to exist,
while immense crowds congregate to watch county matches in the great
towns; but this must no doubt be in part attributed to the movement of
population from the country districts; and some compensation is to be
found in league cricket (see below), and in the numerous clubs for the
employees of business firms and large shops, and for the members of
social institutes of all kinds, which play matches in the suburbs of
London and other cities. At an earlier period two great professional
organizations, "The All England," formed in 1846, and "The United All
England," toured the country, mainly for profit, playing local sides in
which "given men," generally good professional players, figured. They
did much good work in popularizing the game, and an annual match between
the two at Lord's on Whit-Monday was once a great feature of the season;
but the increase of county cricket led eventually to their disbandment.
At this period, and much later, the first-class matches of "M.C.C. and
ground" (i.e. ground-staff, or professionals attached to the club)
occupied a far greater amount of importance than is at present the case.
In recent years over 150 minor matches of the utmost value in
propagating the best interests of cricket are annually played by the
leading club. League cricket has of late become exceedingly popular,
especially in the North of England, a number of clubs--about twelve to
sixteen--combining to form a "League" and playing home-and-home matches,
each one with each of the others in turn; points are scored according as
each club wins, loses, or draws matches, the championship of the
"League" being thus decided.
_English County Cricket._--The first English inter-county match which is
recorded was played on Richmond Green in 1730 between Surrey and
Middlesex; but for very many years, though counties played counties,
there was no systematic organization, matches often being played at odds
or with "given" players, who had no county connexion with the side they
represented. This was the natural outcome of the custom of playing for
stakes. It was not till 1872 that any real effort was made to organize
county cricket. In that year the M.C.C. took the initiative by offering
a cup for competition between the counties, six of which were to be
selected by the M.C.C., the matches to be played at Lord's, but the
scheme fell through owing to the coolness of the counties themselves. It
was only in 1890 that the counties were formally and officially
classified, Notts (the county club dating from 1859), Lancashire (1864),
Surrey (1845), Kent (1842), Middlesex (1864), Gloucestershire (1869),
Yorkshire (1862), and Sussex (1839), being regarded as "first-class," as
indeed had been the case from the time of their existence; and by
degrees other counties were promoted to this class; Somerset in 1893;
Derbyshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Warwickshire in 1894; Hampshire in
1895; Worcestershire in 1899; Northamptonshire in 1905.
In 1887 the County Cricket Council had been formed, working with and not
against the Marylebone Club, for the management of county cricket, but
the council dissolved itself in 1890, and it was then arranged that the
county secretaries and delegates should meet and discuss such matters,
and request the M.C.C. to consider the result of their deliberations,
and practically to act as patron and arbitrator. In 1905 an Advisory
Cricket Committee was formed "with the co-operation of the counties,
with a view to improve the procedure in dealing with important matters
arising out of the development of cricket, the effect of which will be"
(the quotation is from the annual report of M.C.C. in 1905) "to bring
the counties into closer touch with the M.C.C." Various methods have
been tried as to the assignment of points or marks, the following being
the list of champion counties up to 1909:--
1864 Surrey | 1873 Surrey
1865 Notts | 1874 Gloucestershire
1866 Middlesex | 1875 Notts
1867 Yorkshire | 1876 Gloucestershire
1868 Yorkshire | 1877 Gloucestershire
1869 Notts | 1878 Notts
1870 Yorkshire | 1879 Lancashire \ equal
1871 Notts | Notts /
1872 Surrey \ equal | 1880 Notts
Gloucestershire / | 1881 Lancashire
1882 Lancashire \ equal | 1895 Surrey
Notts / | 1896 Yorkshire
1883 Yorkshire | 1897 Lancashire
1884 Notts | 1898 Yorkshire
1885 Notts | 1899 Surrey
1886 Notts | 1900 Yorkshire
1887 Surrey | 1901 Yorkshire
1888 Surrey \ equal | 1902 Yorkshire
Notts / | 1903 Middlesex
1889 Lancashire \ equal | 1904 Lancashire
Surrey / | 1905 Yorkshire
1890 Surrey | 1906 Kent
1891 Surrey | 1907 Notts
1892 Surrey | 1908 Yorkshire
1893 Yorkshire | 1909 Kent
1894 Surrey |
The Graces and Gloucestershire.
English county cricket is now the most firmly established cricketing
institution in the world, but in its earlier stages it owed much in
different counties to enthusiastic individuals and famous cricketing
families whose energies were devoted to its encouragement and support.
To Gloucestershire belongs the honour of the greatest name in the
history of the game. Dr W. G. Grace (q.v.) was not only the most
brilliant all-round cricketer in the world, but he remained supreme
after reaching an age when most cricketers have long abandoned the
game. He and his two famous brothers, E. M. Grace (b. 1841) and G. F.
Grace (1850-1880), rendered invaluable service to their county for
many years; and not to their county alone, for the great part they
played for a generation in first-class cricket did much to increase
the growing popularity of the county fixtures. A separate article is
devoted to Dr W. G. Grace, whose name as the champion of the game will
always be associated with its history. And of Dr E. M. Grace it may be
mentioned that, besides being the most daring field at "point" ever
seen, he altogether took 11,092 wickets and scored 75,625 runs. In
more recent years some excellent cricketers have been associated with
Gloucestershire, such as F. Townsend, and the professional Board; but
foremost stands G. L. Jessop, a somewhat "unorthodox" batsman famous
for his powers of hitting.
Kent.
What W. G. Grace did for Gloucestershire, Lord Harris (b. 1851) did
for Kent, and his services are not to be estimated by his performances
in the field alone, great as they were. His influence was always
exerted to impart a spirit of sportsmanship and honourable distinction
to the national game. Kent had been a home of cricket since the first
half of the 18th century, but it was Lord Harris more than any other
individual who made it a first-class county, celebrated for the number
of distinguished amateurs who have taken part in its matches. The Hon.
Ivo Bligh, afterwards Lord Darnley (b. 1859), and F. Marchant (b.
1864), both Etonians like Lord Harris himself; the two Harrovians, W.
H. Patterson (b. 1859) and M. C. Kemp (b. 1862), and the Wykehamist J.
R. Mason (b. 1874) are names that show the place taken by public
school men in the annals of Kent cricket, while the family of Hearnes
supplied the county with some famous professionals. Amateur batsmen
like W. Rashleigh, C. J. Burnup, E. W. Dillon and A. P. Day have been
prominent in the Kent eleven; and in Fielder and Blythe they have had
two first-class professional bowlers. The "Kent nursery" at Tonbridge
has proved a valuable institution for training young professional
players, and contributed not a little to the rising reputation of
Kent, which justified itself when the county won the championship in
1906, largely owing to the admirable batting of the amateur K. L.
Hutchings.
Middlesex and Lancashire.
Middlesex and Lancashire, not less than Kent, have been indebted to
the great public schools, and especially to Harrow, which provided
both counties with famous captains who directed their fortunes for an
uninterrupted period of over twenty years. I. D. Walker, the most
celebrated of seven cricketing brothers, all Harrovians, who founded
the Middlesex County Club, handed on the captaincy, after a personal
record of astonishing brilliancy, to a younger Harrow and Oxford
cricketer, A. J. Webbe, who was one of the finest leg-hitters and one
of the safest out-fielders of his day, and a captain of consummate
judgment and knowledge of the game. A. N. Hornby, a contemporary at
Harrow of I. D. Walker, was for many years the soul of Lancashire
cricket, and was succeeded in the captaincy of the county by the still
more famous Harrovian, A. C. MacLaren, one of the greatest batsmen in
the history of cricket, whose record for England in test matches
against Australia was almost unrivalled. In 1895, when he headed the
batting averages, MacLaren made the highest individual score in a
first-class match, viz. 424 against Somersetshire. Middlesex has also
the distinction of having produced the two greatest amateur
wicket-keepers in the history of English cricket, namely, the Hon.
Alfred Lyttelton (b. 1857) and Gregor MacGregor, both of whom, after
playing for Cambridge University, gave their services to the
Metropolitan county; while Lancashire can boast of the greatest
professional wicket-keeper in Richard Pilling (1855-1891), whose
reputation has not been eclipsed by that of the most proficient of
more recent years. Another famous Cambridge University cricketer, a
contemporary of Lyttelton, who was invaluable to Lancashire for some
years when he was one of the very finest all-round cricketers in the
country, was A. G. Steel (b. 1858), equally brilliant as a batsman and
as a slow bowler; and other names memorable in Lancashire cricket were
R. G. Barlow (b. 1859), whose stubborn batting was a striking contrast
to the rapid run-getting of Hornby and the perfect style of Steel;
John Briggs (1862-1902), whose slow left-hand bowling placed him at
the head of the bowling averages in 1890; John Crossland (1853-1903)
and A. Mold (b. 1865), both of whom were destructive fast bowlers; J.
T. Tyldesley and R. H. Spooner, both among the most brilliant batsmen
of a later generation; and W. Brearley, the amateur fast bowler.
Middlesex, like Kent, has been better served by amateurs than
professionals. Indeed, with the notable exceptions of J. T. Hearne,
who headed the bowling averages in 1891, 1896 and 1898, and of the
imported Australian A. E. Trott, few professionals of high merit are
conspicuously associated with the history of the county cricket.
Trott, in 1899 and again in 1900, performed the previously
unprecedented feat of taking over two hundred wickets and scoring over
one thousand runs in the same season. And in his "benefit match" in
May 1907 at Lord's he achieved the "hat trick" twice in one innings,
taking first four and then three wickets with successive balls. But if
there has been a dearth of professionals in Middlesex cricket, the
county has produced an abundance of celebrated amateurs. In addition
to the Walkers and A. J. Webbe, the metropolitan county was the home
of the celebrated hitter, C. I. Thornton, and of the Studd family, who
learnt their cricket at Eton and Cambridge University. C. T. Studd,
one of the most polished batsmen who ever played cricket, was at the
same time an excellent medium-paced bowler, and his brother G. B.
Studd is remembered especially for his fielding, though like his elder
brother, J. E. K. Studd, he was an all-round cricketer of the greatest
value to a county team. Sir T. C. O'Brien, who made his reputation by
a fine innings for Oxford University against the Australian team of
1882, sustained it in the following years by many brilliant
performances for Middlesex. A. E. Stoddart for several years was the
best run-getter in the Middlesex eleven; and W. J. Ford and his
younger brother, F. G. J. Ford, were conspicuous among many prominent
Middlesex batsmen. In more recent times the Oxonian P. F. Warner (b.
1873), both as captain and as batsman, did splendid work; and B. J. T.
Bosanquet, besides assisting powerfully with the bat, became famous
for inaugurating a new style of curly bowling ("googlies") of a very
effective type.
Surrey.
A glance at the table given above shows the high place occupied by
Surrey in the past. Surrey county cricket can be traced as far back as
1730. Pycroft observes that "the name of Surrey as one united county
club is quite lost in the annals of cricket from 1817 to 1845." But
before that date two of the most celebrated cricketers, William
Lillywhite and Fuller Pilch, had occasionally played for the county,
and so also had James Broadbridge (1796-1843) and W. Lambert
(1779-1851). Kennington Oval became the Surrey county ground in 1845,
the property being leased from the duchy of Cornwall; and in the years
immediately following the county team included H. H. Stephenson
(1833-1896), Caffyn (b. 1828), N. Felix, and Lockyer (1826-1869);
among a later generation appeared such well-remembered names as Jupp,
Southerton, Pooley and R. Humphrey. After being champion county in
1873, Surrey did not again attain the same position for fourteen
years, but for the next ten years maintained an almost uninterrupted
supremacy. The greatest credit was due to the energetic direction of
J. Shuter (b. 1855), who kept together a remarkable combination of
cricketers, such as W. W. Read (1855-1906), Maurice Read (b. 1859),
George Lohmann (1865-1901), and Robert Abel (b. 1859), all of whom
were among the greatest players of their period. Lohmann in 1885-1890
would alone have made any side famous; and in the same years when he
was heading the bowling averages and proving himself the most deadly
bowler in the country, W. W. Read was performing prodigies of batting.
No sooner did the latter begin to decline in power than Abel took his
place at the head of the batting averages, scoring with astonishing
consistency in 1897-1900. In 1899 he made 357 not out in an innings
against Somersetshire, and in 1901 his aggregate of 3309 was the
largest then compiled. The Oxonian K. J. Key was another famous
batsman whose services as captain were also exceedingly valuable to
the county. An almost inexhaustible supply of professionals of the
very highest class has been at Surrey's service. W. Lockwood (b. 1868)
became almost as deadly a bowler as Lohmann, and Tom Richardson (b.
1870) was the terror of all Surrey's opponents for several seasons
after 1893. Richardson took in all no less than 1340 wickets at the
cost of 20,000 runs. Tom Hayward (b. 1867), nephew of the renowned
Cambridge professional of the same name, succeeded Abel as the leading
Surrey batsman, his play in the test matches of 1899, when he averaged
65, being superb. During the following years his reputation was fully
maintained, and in 1906 he had a particularly successful season. Key
was followed in the captaincy by D. L. A. Jephson, but the county did
not in the opening years of the 20th century maintain the high place
it occupied during the last quarter of the 19th. It possessed some
excellent professionals, however, in Hayes, Hobbs and Lees, and the
season of 1906, under the captaincy of Lord Dalmeny, showed a revival,
a new fast bowler being found in N. A. Knox, and a fine batsman and
bowler in J. N. Crawford.
Sussex.
Several of the celebrated cricketers of early times already mentioned
as having played for the Surrey club were more closely associated with
the adjoining county of Sussex, whose records go back as far as 1734,
in which year a match was played against Kent, the chief promoters of
which were the duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage. One of the
earliest famous cricketers, Richard Newland (d. 1791), was a Sussex
man; and James Broadbridge, W. Lambert, Tom Box, and the great
Lillywhite family were all members of the Sussex county team. Lambert,
in a match against Epsom, played at Lord's in 1817, made a "century"
(one hundred runs) in each innings, a feat not repeated in first-class
cricket for fifty years; and the occasion was the first when the
aggregate of a thousand runs was scored in a match. Broadbridge played
for Sussex in five reigns, while Box (1808-1876) kept wicket for the
county for twenty-four years without missing a match. Notwithstanding
this distinguished history, Sussex never attained the highest place in
the county rivalry, and for a number of years towards the end of the
19th century the left-handed batting of F. M. Lucas (1860-1887) alone
saved the county from complete insignificance. A revival came when W.
L. Murdoch (b. 1855), of Australian celebrity, qualified for Sussex;
and at a still later date the fortunes of the county were raised by
the inclusion in its eleven of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, afterwards
H.H. the Jam of Nawanagar (b. 1872), the Indian prince, who had played
for Cambridge University. Ranjitsinhji's dexterity, grace and style
were unrivalled. He scored 2780 runs in 1896, averaging 57, while in
county matches in 1899 his aggregate was 2555, with an average of 75.
Even this performance was beaten in 1900 when he scored a total of
2563 runs, giving an average for the season of 83. In all matches his
aggregates were 3159 in 1899, and 3065 in 1900. Not less remarkable
was the cricket of C. B. Fry (b. 1872), who came from Oxford
University to become a mainstay of Sussex cricket, and who in 1901
performed the unparalleled feat of scoring in successive innings 106,
209, 149, 105, 140 and 105, his aggregate for the season being 3147
with an average of 78. In 1905 his average for Sussex was 86, but in
the following year an accident kept him out of the cricket field
throughout the season; and in 1909 he transferred his services to
Hampshire.
Notts.
If Kent and Middlesex may be described as the counties of amateurs,
Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire should be called the counties of famous
professionals. Between 1864 and 1889 Nottinghamshire was champion
county twelve times and the county eleven was as a rule composed
almost entirely of professional players, among whom have been many of
the greatest names in the history of the game. Richard Daft
(1835-1900), after playing as an amateur, became a professional in
preference to abandoning the game, scorning to resort to any of the
pretexts by which cricketers have been known to accept payment for
their services while continuing to cling to the status of the amateur.
William Oscroft (1843-1905) was one of Nottinghamshire's early batting
heroes, and in Alfred Shaw (b. 1842) and F. Morley (1850-1884) the
county possessed an invaluable pair of bowlers. William Gunn (b.
1858), besides being a magnificent fielder "in the country," was an
exceptionally able batsman; but his performances did not equal those
of his greater contemporary, Arthur Shrewsbury, who in six years
between 1885 and 1892 headed the English batting averages.
Shrewsbury's perfect style combined with inexhaustible patience placed
him in the front rank of the "classical" batsmen of English cricket.
Of the batsmen nicknamed "stonewallers," who at one time endangered
the popularity of first-class cricket, was W. Scotton (1856-1893); and
among the other numerous professionals whose cricket contributed to
the renown of Nottinghamshire were Barnes (1852-1899), at times a most
formidable bat; Flowers (b. 1856), always useful both with the bat and
the ball; W. Attewell (b. 1861), a remarkably steady bowler who bowled
an abnormal number of maiden overs; Mordecai Sherwin (b. 1851), an
excellent successor to T. Plumb (b. 1833) and F. Wild (1847-1893) as
wicket-keeper for the county; and among more recent players, J.
Iremonger (b. 1877) and John Gunn, both of whom proved themselves
cricketers worthy of the Notts traditions. J. A. Dixon (b. 1861), one
of the few amateurs of the Nottinghamshire records, was for some time
captain of the county team; and he was succeeded by A. O. Jones (b.
1873), a dashing batsman, who in 1899 was partner with Shrewsbury when
the pair scored 391 for the first wicket in a match against
Gloucestershire.
Yorkshire.