CHAPTER I.

THE

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

OF THE

PEOPLE OF ENGLAND:

INCLUDING THE

RURAL AND DOMESTIC RECREATIONS,

MAY GAMES, MUMMERIES, SHOWS, PROCESSIONS, PAGEANTS, & POMPOUS

SPECTACLES

FROM

THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BY JOSEPH STRUTT.

ILLUSTRATED BY

One Hundred and Forty Engravings.

IN WHICH ARE REPRESENTED

MOST OF THE POPULAR DIVERSIONS;

SELECTED FROM ANCIENT PAINTINGS.

A NEW EDITION, WITH A COPIOUS INDEX,

BY WILLIAM HONE,

AUTHOR OF THE EVERY-DAY BOOK, TABLE BOOK, YEAR BOOK, ETC.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG,

73, CHEAPSIDE.

1845.

J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THERE are two previous editions of Mr. STRUTT'S Sports and Pastimes

of the People of England. The first appeared in 1801; the second,

which was published in 1810, the year wherein the author died, was

an incorrect reprint, without a single additional line. Both were in

quarto, and as each of the plates, with few exceptions, contained

several subjects referred to in different parts of the work, and as

there were no paginal references on the plates, they were frequently

embarrassing to the reader.

The present edition is of a more convenient size, and at one-sixth of

the price of the former editions; and every engraving is on the page it

illustrates.

To a volume abounding in historical and other interesting facts, an

Index seemed indispensable; and a very copious one is annexed. The

_Two_ former editions were without.

If Mr. STRUTT had lived, I am persuaded he would have incorporated into

the body of the work some notes, which were needlessly placed on the

bottom margins. I have ventured to take them up into the pages; but

without any undue alteration of the author's language.

I hope, therefore, that my aim to render this edition generally

desirable and available, has been fully accomplished.

W. HONE.

_Newington Green_, 1830.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES,

AND MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES

OF MIRTH OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR

PRIVATELY, FOR THE SAKE OF AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT

PERIOD, IN ENGLAND.

PAGE

I. Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace

their Origin--II. The Romans in Britain--III. The Saxons--IV.

The Normans--V. Tournaments and Justs--VI. Other Sports of

the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen--VII. Knightly

Accomplishments--VIII. Esquireship--IX. Military Sports

patronized by the Ladies--X. Decline of such Exercises--XI.

and of Chivalry--XII. Military Exercises under Henry the

Seventh--XIII. and under Henry the Eighth--XIV. Princely

Exercises under James the First--XV. Revival of Learning--XVI.

Recreations of the Sixteenth Century--XVII. Old Sports of the

Citizens of London--XVIII. Modern Pastimes of the Londoners--XIX.

Cotswold and Cornish Games--XX. Splendour of the ancient Kings

and Nobility--XXI. Royal and noble Entertainments--XXII. Civic

Shows--XXIII. Setting out of Pageants--XXIV. Processions of

Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain in London--XXV. Chester

Pageants--XXVI. Public Shows of the Sixteenth Century--XXVII.

Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth Castle--XXVIII. Love of Public

Sights illustrated from Shakspeare--XXIX. Rope-dancing, tutored

Animals, and Puppet-shows--XXX. Minstrelsy, Bell-ringing,

&c.--XXXI. Baiting of Animals--XXXII. Pastimes formerly on

Sundays--XXXIII. Royal Interference with them--XXXIV. Zeal

against Wakes and May-Games--XXXV. Dice and Cards--XXXVI.

Regulation of Gaming for Money by Richard Cœur de Lion,

&c.--XXXVII. Statutes against Cards, Ball-play, &c.--XXXVIII.

Prohibitions of Skittle play--XXXIX. Archery succeeded

by Bowling--XL. Modern Gambling--XLI. Ladies' Pastimes,

Needle-work--XLII. Dancing and Chess-play--XLIII. Ladies'

Recreations in the Thirteenth Century.--XLIV. The Author's

Labours.--Character of the Engravings. xv

BOOK I.

RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK.

CHAPTER I.

I. Hunting more ancient than Hawking--II. State of Hunting among

the Britons--III. The Saxons expert in Hunting--IV. The Danes

also--V. The Saxons subsequently and the Normans--VI. Their

tyrannical Proceedings--VII. Hunting and Hawking after the

Conquest--VIII. Laws relating to Hunting--IX. Hunting and Hawking

followed by the Clergy--X. The manner in which the dignified

Clergy in the Middle Ages pursued these Pastimes--XI. The English

Ladies fond of these Sports--XII. Privileges of the Citizens

of London to hunt;--private Privileges for Hunting--XIII. Two

Treatises on Hunting considered--XIV. Names of Beasts to be

hunted--XV. Wolves not all destroyed in Edgar's Time--XVI. Dogs

for Hunting--XVII. Various Methods of Hunting--XVIII. Terms used

in Hunting;--Times when to hunt 1

CHAPTER II.

I. Hawking practised by the Nobility--II. Its Origin not

well known;--a favourite Amusement with the Saxons--III.

Romantic Story relative to Hawking--IV. Grand Falconer of

France, his State and Privileges--V. Edward III. partial to

Hawking;--Sir Thomas Jermin--VI. Ladies fond of Hawking--VII. Its

Decline--VIII. How it was performed--IX. Embellishments of the

Hawk--X. Treatises concerning Hawking;--Superstitious Cure of

Hawks--XI. Laws respecting Hawks--XII. Their great Value--XIII.

The different Species of Hawks, and their Appropriation--XIV.

Terms used in Hawking--XV. Fowling and Fishing;--the Stalking

Horse;--Lowbelling 24

CHAPTER III.

I. Horse-racing known to the Saxons--II. Races in Smithfield,

and why--III. Races, at what Seasons practised--IV. The Chester

Races--V. Stamford Races--VI. Value of Running-horses--VII.

Highly prized by the Poets, &c.--VIII. Horse-racing commended as

a liberal Pastime--IX. Charles II. and other Monarchs encouragers

of Horse-racing;--Races on Coleshill-heath 40

BOOK II.

RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED.

CHAPTER I.

I. The English famous for their Skill in Archery--II. The use of

the Bow known to the Saxons and Danes--III. Form of the Saxon

Bow, &c.--IV. Archery improved by the Normans--V. The Ladies fond

of Archery--VI. Observations relative to the Cross-Bow--VII. Its

Form and the Manner in which it was used--VIII. Bows ordered

to be kept--IX. The decay of Archery and why--X. Ordinances in

its Favour;--the Fraternity of St. George established--XI. The

Price of Bows--XII. Equipments for Archery--XIII. Directions

for its Practice--XIV. The Marks to shoot at--XV. The Length

of the Bow and Arrows--XVI. Extraordinary Performances of the

Archers--XVII. The modern Archers inferior to the ancient in long

Shooting--XVIII. The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called;--grand

Procession of the London Archers--XIX. Archery a royal Sport;--a

good Archer, why called Arthur--XX. Prizes given to the Archers 48

CHAPTER II.

I. Slinging of Stones an ancient Art--II. Known to the

Saxons--III. And the Normans--IV. How practised of late

Years--V. Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand--VI.

By the Londoners--VII. Casting of the Bar and Hammer--VIII.

Of Spears--IX. Of Quoits--X. Swinging of Dumb Bells--XI.

Foot Races--XII. The Game of Base--XIII. Wrestling much

practised formerly--XIV. Prizes for--XV. How performed--XVI.

Swimming--XVII. Sliding--XVIII. Skating--XIX. Rowing--XX. Sailing 71

CHAPTER III.

I. Hand-ball an ancient Game--The Ball, where said to have been

invented--II. Used by the Saxons--III. And by the Schoolboys of

London--IV. Ball Play in France--V. Tennis Courts erected--VI.

Tennis fashionable in England--VII. A famous Woman Player--VIII.

Hand-ball played for Tansy Cakes--IX. Fives--X. Ballon-ball--XI.

Stool-ball--XII. Hurling--XIII. Foot-ball;--Camp-ball--XIV.

Goff;--Cambuc;--Bandy-ball--XV. Stow-ball--XVI. Pall-mall--XVII.

Ring-ball--XVIII. Club-ball--XIX. Cricket--XX. Trap-Ball--XXI.

Northen-spell--XXII. Tip-cat 91

BOOK III.

PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES

ADJOINING TO THEM.

CHAPTER I.

I. Tournament a general Name for several Exercises--II. The

Quintain an ancient Military Exercise--III. Various Kinds of the

Quintain--IV. Derivation of the Term--V. The Water Quintain--VI.

Running at the Quintain practised by the Citizens of London; and

why--VII. The Manner in which it was performed--VIII. Exhibited

for the Pastime of Queen Elizabeth--IX. Tilting at a Water

Butt--X. The Human Quintain--XI. Exercises probably derived

from it--XII. Running at the Ring--XIII. Difference between the

Tournaments and the Justs--XIV. Origin of the Tournament--XV.

The Troy Game;--the Bohordicum or Cane Game--XVI. Derivation of

Tournament;--how the Exercise was performed--XVII. Lists and

Barriers--XVIII. When the Tournament was first practised--XIX.

When first in England--XX. Its Laws and Ordinances--XXI. Pages,

and Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, &c.--XXII. Preliminaries

of the Tournament--XXIII. Lists for Ordeal Combats--XXIV.

Respect paid to the Ladies--XXV. Justs less honourable than

Tournaments--XXVI. The Round Table--XXVII. Nature of the

Justs--XXVIII. Made in honour of the Fair Sex--XXIX. Great

Splendour of these Pastimes;--The Nobility partial to them--XXX.

Toys for initiating their Children in them--XXXI. Boat Justs, or

Tilting on the Water--XXXII. Challenges to all comers 111

CHAPTER II.

I. Ancient Plays--II. Miracle Plays, Dramas from Scripture, &c.

continued several Days--III. The Coventry Play--IV. Mysteries

described--V. How enlivened--VI. Moralities described--The

Fool in Plays, whence derived--VII. Secular Plays--VIII.

Interludes--IX. Chaucer's Definition of the Tragedies of his

Time--X. Plays performed in Churches--XI. Cornish Miracle

Plays--XII. Itinerant Players, their evil Characters--XIII.

Court-Plays--XIV. Play in honour of the Princess Mary's

Marriage--XV. The Play of Hock Tuesday--XVI. Decline of Secular

Plays--XVII. Origin of Puppet Plays--XVIII. Nature of the

Performances--XIX. Giants and other Puppet Characters--XX. Puppet

Plays superseded by Pantomimes--XXI. The modern Puppet-show

Man--XXII. Moving Pictures described 150

CHAPTER III.

I. The British Bards--II. The Northern Scalds--III. The

Anglo-Saxon Gleemen--IV. The Nature of their Performances--V.

A Royal Player with three Darts--VI. Bravery of a Minstrel in

the Conqueror's Army--VII. Other Performances by Gleemen--VIII.

The Harp an Instrument of Music much used by the Saxons--IX.

The Norman Minstrels, and their different Denominations and

Professions--X. Troubadours--XI. Jestours--XII. Tales and

Manners of the Jesters--XIII. Further Illustration of their

Practices--XIV. Patronage, Privileges, and Excesses of the

Minstrels--XV. A Guild of Minstrels--XVI. Abuses and Decline of

Minstrelsy--XVII. Minstrels were Satirists and Flatterers--XVIII.

Anecdotes of offending Minstrels, Women Minstrels--XIX. The

Dress of the Minstrels--XX. The King of the Minstrels, why so

called--XXI. Rewards given to Minstrels--XXII. Payments to

Minstrels--XXIII. Wealth of certain Minstrels--XXIV. Minstrels

were sometimes Dancing Masters 170

CHAPTER IV.

I. The Joculator--II. His different Denominations and

extraordinary Deceptions--III. His Performances ascribed

to Magic--IV. Asiatic Jugglers--V. Remarkable Story from

Froissart--VI. Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of

the Devil; but more reasonably accounted for--VII. John Rykell,

a celebrated Tregetour--VIII. Their various Performances--IX.

Privileges of the Joculators at Paris.--The King's Joculator an

Officer of Rank--X. The great Disrepute of modern Jugglers 197

CHAPTER V.

I. Dancing, Tumbling, and Balancing, part of the Joculator's

Profession--II. Performed by Women--III. Dancing connected

with Tumbling--IV. Antiquity of Tumbling--much encouraged--V.

Various Dances described--VI. The Gleemen's Dances--VII.

Exemplification of Gleemen's Dances--VIII. The Sword Dance--IX.

Rope Dancing and wonderful Performances on the Rope--X.

Rope Dancing from the Battlements of St. Paul's--XI. Rope

Dancing from St. Paul's Steeple--XII. Rope Dancing from All

Saints' Church, Hertford--XIII. A Dutchman's Feats on St.

Paul's Weathercock--XIV. Jacob Hall the Rope Dancer--XV.

Modern celebrated Rope Dancing--XVI. Rope Dancing at Sadler's

Wells--XVII. Fool's Dance--XVIII. Morris Dance--XIX. Egg

Dance--XX. Ladder Dance--XXI. Jocular Dances--XXII. Wire

Dancing--XXIII. Ballette Dances--XXIV. Leaping and Vaulting--XXV.

Balancing--XXVI. Remarkable Feats--XXVII. The Posture-Master's

Tricks--XXVIII. The Mountebank--XXIX. The Tinker--XXX. The

Fire-Eater 207

CHAPTER VI.

I. Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers--Tricks performed by

Bears--II. Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys--III. By Horses

among the Sybarites--IV. In the thirteenth Century--V. In Queen

Anne's Reign--VI. Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's, the

Circus, &c.--VII. Dancing Dogs--VIII. The Hare beating a Tabor,

and learned Pig--IX. A Dancing Cock--The Deserter Bird--X.

Imitations of Animals--XI. Mummings and Masquerades--XII.

Mumming to Royal Personages--XIII. Partial Imitations of

Animals--XIV. The Horse in the Morris dance--XV. Counterfeit

Voices of Animals--XVI. Animals trained for Baiting--XVII. Paris

Garden--XVIII. Bull and Bear Baiting patronised by Royalty--XIX.

How performed--XX. Bears and Bear-wards--XXI. Baiting in

Queen Anne's time--XXII. Sword Play. &c.--XXIII. Public

Sword Play--XXIV. Quarter Staff--XXV. Wrestling, &c. in Bear

Gardens--XXVI. Extraordinary Trial of Strength 239

CHAPTER VII.

I. Ancient Specimens of Bowling--Poem on Bowling--II.

Bowling-greens first made by the English--III.

Bowling-alleys--IV. Long-bowling--V. Supposed Origin of

Billiards--VI. Kayles--VII. Closh--VIII. Loggats--IX.

Nine-pins--Skittles--X. Dutch-pins--XI. Four-corners--XII.

Half-bowl--XIII. Nine-holes--XIV. John Bull--XV. Pitch and

Hustle--XVI. Bull-baiting in Towns and Villages--XVII.

Bull-running--At Stamford, &c.--XVIII. At Tutbury--XIX.

Badger-baiting--XX. Cock-fighting--XXI. Throwing at Cocks--XXII.

Duck-hunting--XXIII. Squirrel-hunting--XXIV. Rabbit-hunting 266

BOOK IV.

DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS; AND PASTIMES

APPROPRIATED TO PARTICULAR SEASONS.

CHAPTER I.

I. Secular Music fashionable--II. Ballad-singers encouraged

by the Populace--III. Music Houses--IV. Origin of

Vauxhall--V. Ranelagh--VI. Sadler's Wells--VII. Marybone

Gardens--Operas--Oratorios--VIII. Bell-ringing--IX. Its

Antiquity--X. Hand-bells--XI. Burlesque Music--XII.

Dancing--XIII. Its Antiquity, &c.--XIV. Shovel-board--XV.

Anecdote of Prince Henry--XVI. Billiards--XVII.

Mississippi--XVIII. The Rocks of Scilly--XIX. Shove-groat--XX.

Swinging--XXI. Tetter-totter--XXII. Shuttle-cock 286

CHAPTER II.

I. Sedentary Games--II. Dice-playing;--Its Prevalency and

Bad Effects--III. Ancient Dice-box;--Anecdote relating to

false Dice--IV. Chess;--Its Antiquity--V. The Morals of

Chess--VI. Early Chess-play in France and England--VII. The

Chess-board--VIII. The Pieces, and their Form--IX. The various

Games of Chess--X. Ancient Games similar to Chess--XI. The

Philosopher's Game--XII. Draughts, French and Polish--XIII.

Merelles, or Nine Mens' Morris--XIV. Fox and Geese--XV. The

Solitary Game--XVI. Backgammon, anciently called Tables;--The

different Manners of playing at Tables--XVII. Backgammon, its

former and present Estimation--XVIII. Domino--XIX. Cards, when

invented--XX. Card-playing much practised--XXI. Forbidden--XXII.

Censured by Poets--XXIII. A Specimen of ancient Cards--XXIV.

Games formerly played with Cards--XXV. The Game of Goose--and of

the Snake--XXVI. Cross and Pile 305

CHAPTER III.

I. The Lord of Misrule said to be peculiar to the English--II.

A Court Officer--III. The Master of the King's Revels--IV.

The Lord of Misrule and his Conduct reprobated--V. The King

of Christmas--of the Cockneys--VI. A King of Christmas at

Norwich--VII. The King of the Bean--VIII. Whence originated--IX.

The Festival of Fools--X. The Boy Bishop--XI. The Fool

Plough--XII. Easter Games--XIII. Shrove-Tuesday--XIV.

Hock-Tuesday--XV. May-Games--XVI. The Lord and Lady of the

May--XVII. Grand May-Game at Greenwich--XVIII. Royal May-Game at

Shooter's-hill-- XIX. May Milk-Maids--XX. May Festival of the

Chimney Sweepers--XXI. Whitsun-Games--XXII. The Vigil of Saint

John the Baptist, how kept--XXIII. Its supposed origin--XXIV.

Setting of the Midsummer Watch--XXV. Processions on Saint

Clement's and Saint Catherine's day--XXVI. Wassails--XXVII.

Sheep-shearing and Harvest-home--XXVIII. Wakes--XXIX Sunday

Festivals--XXX. Church Ales--XXXI. Fairs, and their Diversions

and Abuses--XXXII. Bonfires--XXXIII. Illuminations--XXXIV.

Fireworks--XXXV. London Fireworks--XXXVI. Fireworks on

Tower-hill, at Public Gardens, and in Pageants 339

CHAPTER IV.

I. Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children--II. Horses--III.

Racing and Chacing--IV. Wrestling and other Gymnastic

Sports--V. Marbles, and Span-counter--VI. Tops, &c.;--The Devil

among the Tailors--VII. Even or Odd--Chuck-halfpenny;--Duck

and Drake--VIII. Baste the Bear;--Hunt the Slipper,

&c.--IX. Sporting with Insects;--Kites;--Windmills--X.

Bob-cherry--XI. Hoodman-blind;--Hot-cockles--XII.

Cock-fighting--XIII. Anonymous Pastimes;--Mock Honours at

Boarding-schools--XIV. Houses of Cards;--Questions and

Commands;--Handy-dandy;--Snap-dragon;--Push-pin;--Crambo;--Lotteries

--XV. Obsolete Pastimes-XVI. Creag;--Queke-board;--Hand

in and Hand out;--White and Black, and Making and

Marring;--Figgum;--Mosel the Peg;-Hole about the

Church-yard;--Penny-prick;--Pick-point, &c.;--Mottoes, Similes,

and Cross-purposes;--The Parson has lost his Cloak 379

INTRODUCTION.

A GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE POPULAR SPORTS, PASTIMES, AND

MILITARY GAMES, TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS SPECTACLES OF MIRTH

OR SPLENDOUR, EXHIBITED PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, FOR THE SAKE OF

AMUSEMENT, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS, IN ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

I. Object of the Work, to describe the Pastimes and trace their

Origin.--II. The Romans in Britain.--III. The Saxons.--IV.

The Normans.--V. Tournaments and Justs.--VI. Other Sports of

the Nobility, and the Citizens and Yeomen.--VII. Knightly

Accomplishments.--VIII. Esquireship.--IX. Military Sports

patronized by the Ladies.--X. Decline of such Exercises--XI.

and of Chivalry.--XII. Military Exercises under Henry the

Seventh--XIII. and under Henry the Eighth.--XIV. Princely

Exercises under James the First.--XV. Revival of Learning.--XVI.

Recreations of the Sixteenth Century.--XVII. Old Sports

of the Citizens of London.--XVIII. Modern Pastimes of the

Londoners.--XIX. Cotswold and Cornish Games.--XX. Splendour

of the ancient Kings and Nobility.--XXI. Royal and noble

Entertainments.--XXII. Civic Shows.--XXIII. Setting out of

Pageants.--XXIV. Processions of Queen Mary and King Philip

of Spain in London.--XXV. Chester Pageants.--XXVI. Public

Shows of the Sixteenth Century.--XXVII. Queen Elizabeth at

Kenelworth Castle.--XXVIII. Love of Public Sights illustrated

from Shakspeare.--XXIX. Rope-dancing, tutored Animals, and

Puppet-shows.--XXX. Minstrelsy, Bell-ringing, &c.--XXXI. Baiting

of Animals.--XXXII. Pastimes formerly on Sundays.--XXXIII.

Royal Interference with them.--XXXIV. Zeal against Wakes and

May-Games.--XXXV. Dice and Cards.--XXXVI. Regulation of Gaming for

Money by Richard Cœur de Lion &c.--XXXVII. Statutes against Cards,

Ball-play, &c.--XXXVIII. Prohibitions of Skittle-play.--XXXIX.

Archery succeeded by Bowling.--XL. Modern Gambling.--XLI. Ladies'

Pastimes, Needle-work.--XLII. Dancing and Chess-play.--XLIII.

Ladies' Recreations in the Thirteenth Century.--XLIV. The Author's

Labours.--Character of the Engravings.

I.--OBJECT OF THE WORK, TO DESCRIBE THE PASTIMES AND TRACE THEIR ORIGIN.

In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular

people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the Sports and

Pastimes most generally prevalent among them. War, policy, and

other contingent circumstances, may effectually place men, at

different times, in different points of view, but, when we follow

them into their retirements, where no disguise is necessary, we are

most likely to see them in their true state, and may best judge of

their natural dispositions. Unfortunately, all the information that

remains respecting the ancient inhabitants of this island is derived

from foreign writers partially acquainted with them as a people,

and totally ignorant of their domestic customs and amusements: the

silence, therefore, of the contemporary historians on these important

subjects leaves us without the power of tracing them with the least

degree of certainty; and as it is my intention, in the following pages,

to confine myself as much as possible to positive intelligence, I

shall studiously endeavour to avoid all controversial and conjectural

arguments. I mean also to treat upon such pastimes only as have

been practised in this country; but as many of them originated on

the continent, frequent digressions, by way of illustrations, must

necessarily occur: these, however, I shall make it my business to

render as concise as the nature of the subject will permit them to be.

II.--THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.

We learn, from the imperfect hints of ancient history, that, when the

Romans first invaded Britain, her inhabitants were a bold, active,

and warlike people, tenacious of their native liberty, and capable of

bearing great fatigue; to which they were probably inured by an early

education, and constant pursuit of such amusements as best suited the

profession of a soldier; including hunting, running, leaping, swimming,

and other exertions requiring strength and agility of body. Perhaps

the skill which the natives of Devonshire and Cornwall retain to the

present day, in hurling and wrestling, may properly be considered

as a vestige of British activity. After the Romans had conquered

Britain, they impressed such of the young men as were able to bear

arms for foreign service, and enervated the spirit of the people by

the importation of their own luxurious manners and habits; so that the

latter part of the British history exhibits to our view a slothful and

effeminate race of men, totally divested of that martial disposition,

and love of freedom, which so strongly marked the character of their

progenitors; and their amusements, no doubt, partook of the same

weakness and puerility.

III.--THE SAXONS.

The arrival of the Saxons forms a new epoch in the annals of this

country. These military mercenaries came professedly to assist

the Britons against their incessant tormentors the Picts and the

Caledonians; but no sooner had they established their footing in the

land, than they invited more of their countrymen to join them, and

turning their arms against their wretched employers, became their most

dangerous and most inexorable enemies, and in process of time obtained

full possession of the largest and best part of the island; whence

arose a total change in the form of government, laws, manners, customs,

and habits of the people.

The sportive exercises and pastimes practised by the Saxons appear

to have been such as were common among the ancient northern nations;

and most of them consisted of robust exercises. In an old Chronicle

of Norway,[1] we find it recorded of Olaf Tryggeson, a king of that

country, that he was stronger and more nimble than any man in his

dominions. He could climb up the rock Smalserhorn, and fix his shield

upon the top of it; he could walk round the outside of a boat upon

the oars, while the men were rowing; he could play with three darts,

alternately throwing them in the air, and always kept two of them

up, while he held the third in one of his hands; he was ambidexter,

and could cast two darts at once; he excelled all the men of his

time in shooting with the bow; and he had no equal in swimming. In

one achievement this monarch was outdone by the Anglo-Saxon ᵹlıᵹman,

represented by the engraving No. 50,[2] who adds an equal number of

balls to those knives or daggers. The Norman minstrel Tallefer, before

the commencement of the battle at Hastings, cast his lance into the air

three times, and caught it by the head in such a surprising manner,

that the English thought it was done by the power of enchantment.

Another northern hero, whose name was Kolson, boasts of nine

accomplishments in which he was well skilled: "I know," says he, "how

to play at chess; I can engrave Runic letters; I am expert at my book;

I know how to handle the tools of the smith;[3] I can traverse the

snow on skates of wood; I excel in shooting with the bow; I use the

oar with facility; I can sing to the harp; and I compose verses."[4]

The reader will, I doubt not, anticipate me in my observation, that

the acquirements of Kolson indicate a much more liberal education

than those of the Norwegian monarch: it must, however, be observed,

that Kolson lived in an age posterior to him; and also, that he made

a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which may probably account in great

measure for his literary qualifications. Yet, we are well assured that

learning did not form any prominent feature in the education of a young

nobleman during the Saxon government: it is notorious, that Alfred the

Great was twelve years of age before he learned to read; and that he

owed his knowledge of letters to accident, rather than to the intention

of his tutors. A book adorned with paintings in the hands of his

mother, attracted his notice, and he expressed his desire to have it:

she promised to comply with his request on condition that he learned

to read it, which it seems he did; and this trifling incident laid the

groundwork of his future scholarship.[5]

Indeed, it is not by any means surprising, under the Saxon government,

when the times were generally very turbulent, and the existence of

peace exceedingly precarious, and when the personal exertions of the

opulent were so often necessary for the preservation of their lives

and property, that such exercises as inured the body to fatigue, and

biassed the mind to military pursuits, should have constituted the

chief part of a young nobleman's education: accordingly, we find that

hunting, hawking, leaping, running, wrestling, casting of darts, and

other pastimes which necessarily required great exertions of bodily

strength, were taught them in their adolescence. These amusements

engrossed the whole of their attention, every one striving to excel

his fellow; for hardiness, strength, and valour, out-balanced, in the

public estimation, the accomplishments of the mind; and therefore

literature, which flourishes best in tranquillity and retirement, was

considered as a pursuit unworthy the notice of a soldier, and only

requisite in the gloomy recesses of the cloister.

Among the vices of the Anglo-Saxons may be reckoned their propensity

to gaming, and especially with the dice, which they derived from their

ancestors; for Tacitus[6] assures us that the ancient Germans would

not only hazard all their wealth, but even stake their liberty, upon

the turn of the dice; "and he who loses," says the author, "submits

to servitude, though younger and stronger than his antagonist, and

patiently permits himself to be bound, and sold in the market; and

this madness they dignify by the name of honour." Chess was also a

favourite game with the Saxons; and likewise backgammon, said to have

been invented about the tenth century. It appears moreover, that a

large portion of the night was appropriated to the pursuit of these

sedentary amusements. In the reign of Canute the Dane, this practice

was sanctioned by the example of royalty, and followed by the nobility.

Bishop Ætheric, having obtained admission to Canute about midnight

upon some urgent business, found the king engaged with his courtiers

at play, some at dice, and some at chess.[7] The clergy, however, were

prohibited from playing at games of chance, by the ecclesiastical

canons established in the reign of Edgar.[8]

IV.--THE NORMANS.

The popular sports and pastimes, prevalent at the close of the Saxon

era, do not appear to have been subjected to any material change by the

coming of the Normans: it is true, indeed, that the elder William and

his immediate successors restricted the privileges of the chase, and

imposed great penalties on those who presumed to destroy the game in

the royal forests, without a proper licence.[9] By these restrictions

the general practice of hunting was much confined, but by no means

prohibited in certain districts, and especially to persons of opulence

who possessed extensive territories of their own.

V.--TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.

Among the pastimes introduced by the Norman nobility, none engaged

the general attention more than the tournaments and the justs. The

tournament, in its original institution, was a martial conflict, in

which the combatants engaged without any animosity, merely to exhibit

their strength and dexterity; but, at the same time, engaged in great

numbers to represent a battle. The just was when two knights, and

no more, were opposed to each other at one time. These amusements,

in the middle ages, which may properly enough be denominated the

ages of chivalry, were in high repute among the nobility of Europe,

and produced in reality much of the pomp and gallantry that we find

recorded with poetical exaggeration in the legends of knight-errantry.

I met with a passage in a satirical poem among the Harleian MSS. of the

thirteenth century,[10] which strongly marks the prevalence of this

taste in the times alluded to. It may be thus rendered in English:

If wealth, sir knight, perchance be thine,

In tournaments you're bound to shine

Refuse--and all the world will swear

You are not worth a rotten pear.[11]

VI.--OTHER SPORTS OF THE NOBILITY, AND THE CITIZENS AND YEOMEN.

While the principles of chivalry continued in fashion, the education

of a nobleman was confined to those principles, and every regulation

necessary to produce an accomplished knight was put into practice.

In order fully to investigate these particulars, we may refer to the

romances of the middle ages; and, generally speaking, dependence may

be placed upon their information. The authors of these fictitious

histories never looked beyond the customs of their own country;

and whenever the subject called for a representation of remote

magnificence, they depicted such scenes of splendour as were familiar

to them: hence it is, that Alexander the Great, in his legendary

life, receives the education of a Norman baron, and becomes expert in

hawking, hunting, and other amusements coincident with the time in

which the writer lived. Our early poets have fallen into the same kind

of anachronism; and Chaucer himself, in the Knight's Tale, speaking of

the rich array and furniture of the palace of Theseus, forgets that he

was a Grecian prince of great antiquity, and describes the large hall

belonging to an English nobleman, with the guests seated at table,

probably as he had frequently seen them, entertained with singing,

dancing, and other acts of minstrelsy, their hawks being placed upon

perches over their heads, and their hounds lying round about upon the

pavement below. The two last lines of the poem just referred to are

peculiarly applicable to the manners of the time in which the poet

lived, when no man of consequence travelled abroad without his hawk

and his hounds. In the early delineations, the nobility are frequently

represented seated at table, with their hawks upon their heads. Chaucer

says,

Ne what hawkes sytten on perchen above,

Ne what houndes lyggen on the flour adoun.

The picture is perfect, when referred to his own time; but bears

not the least analogy to Athenian grandeur. In the romance called

The Knight of the Swan, it is said of Ydain duchess Roulyon, that

she caused her three sons to be brought up in "all maner of good

operacyons, vertues, and maners; and when in their adolescence they

were somwhat comen to the age of strengthe, they," their tutors, "began

to practyse them in shootinge with their bow and arbelstre,[12] to

playe with the sword and buckeler, to runne, to just,[13] to playe

with a poll-axe, and to wrestle; and they began to bear harneys,[14]

to runne horses, and to approve them, as desyringe to be good and

faythful knightes to susteyne the faith of God." We are not, however

to conceive, that martial exercises in general were confined to the

education of young noblemen: the sons of citizens and yeomen had also

their sports resembling military combats. Those practised at an early

period by the young Londoners seem to have been derived from the

Romans; they consisted of various attacks and evolutions performed on

horseback, the youth being armed with shields and pointless lances,

resembling the ludus Trojæ, or Troy game, described by Virgil.[15]

These amusements, according to Fitz Stephen, who lived in the reign

of Henry II., were appropriated to the season of Lent; but at other

times they exercised themselves with archery, fighting with clubs and

bucklers, and running at the quintain; and in the winter, when the

frost set in, they would go upon the ice, and run against each other

with poles, in imitation of lances, in a just; and frequently one or

both were beaten down, "not always without hurt; for some break their

arms, and some their legs; but youth," says my author, "emulous of

glory, seeks these exercises preparatory against the time that war

shall demand their presence." The like kind of pastimes, no doubt, were

practised by the young men in other parts of the kingdom.

VII.--KNIGHTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

The mere management of arms, though essentially requisite, was not

sufficient of itself to form an accomplished knight in the times of

chivalry; it was necessary for him to be endowed with beauty, as well

as with strength and agility of body; he ought to be skilled in music,

to dance gracefully, to run with swiftness, to excel in wrestling, to

ride well, and to perform every other exercise befitting his situation.

To these were to be added urbanity of manners, strict adherence to the

truth, and invincible courage. Hunting and hawking skilfully were also

acquirements that he was obliged to possess, and which were usually

taught him as soon as he was able to endure the fatigue that they

required. Hence it is said of sir Tristram, a fictitious character

held forth as the mirror of chivalry in the romance entitled The

Death of Arthur, that "he learned to be an harper, passing all other,

that there was none such called in any countrey: and so in harping

and on instruments of musike he applied himself in his youth for to

learne, and after as he growed in might and strength he laboured ever

in hunting and hawking, so that we read of no gentlemen who more,

or so, used himself therein; and he began good measures of blowing

blasts of venery,[16] and chase, and of all manner of vermains;[17]

and all these terms have we yet of hunting and hawking; and therefore

the book of venery, and of hawking and hunting, is called the Boke of

Sir Tristram." In a succeeding part of the same romance, king Arthur

thus addresses the knight: "For all manner of hunting thou bearest the

prize; and of all measures of blowing thou art the beginner, and of all

the termes of hunting and hawking thou art the beginner."[18] We are

also informed, that sir Tristram had previously learned the language of

France, knew all the principles of courtly behaviour, and was skilful

in the various requisites of knighthood. Another ancient romance says

of its hero, "He every day was provyd in dauncyng and in songs that the

ladies coulde think were convenable for a nobleman to conne;[19] but

in every thinge he passed all them that were there. The king, for to

assaie him, made justes and turnies; and no man did so well as he, in

runnyng, playing at the pame,[20] shotyng, and castyng of the barre, ne

found he his maister."[21]

VIII.--ESQUIRESHIP.

The laws of chivalry required that every knight should pass through

two offices: the first was a page; and, at the age of fourteen, he was

admitted an esquire. The office of the esquire consisted of several

departments; the esquire for the body, the esquire of the chamber, the

esquire of the stable, and the carving esquire; the latter stood in the

hall at dinner, carved the different dishes, and distributed them to

the guests. Several of the inferior officers had also their respective

esquires.[22] Ipomydon, a king's son and heir, in the romance that

bears his name, written probably at the commencement of the fourteenth

century, is regularly taught the duties of an esquire, previous to his

receiving the honours of knighthood; and for this purpose his father

committed him to the care of a "learned and courteous knight called Sir

'Tholomew." Our author speaks on this subject in the following manner:

'Tholomew a clerke he toke,

That taught the child uppon the boke

Both to synge and to rede;

And after he taught hym other dede.

Afterward, to serve in halle

Both to grete and to smalle;

Before the kynge mete to kerve;

Hye and low fayre to serve.

Both of howndes and hawkis game,

After, he taught hym all; and same,

In sea, in feld, and eke in ryvere;

In woode to chase the wild dere,

And in feld to ryde a stede;

That all men had joy of hys dede.[23]

Here we find reading mentioned; which, however, does not appear to have

been of any great importance in the middle ages, and is left out in the

Geste of King Horne, another metrical romance,[24] which seems to be

rather more ancient than the former. Young Horne is placed under the

tuition of Athelbrus, the king's steward, who is commanded to teach him

the mysteries of hawking and hunting, to play upon the harp,

Ant toggen o' the harpe

With his nayles sharpe,

to carve at the royal table, and to present the cup to the king when

he sat at meat, with every other service fitting for him to know. The

monarch concludes his injunctions with a repetition of the charge to

instruct him in singing and music:

Tech him of harp and of song.

And the manner in which the king's carver performed the duties of his

office is well described in the poem denominated the Squyer of Lowe

Degree:[25]

There he araied him in scarlet red,

And set a chaplet upon his hedde;

A belte about his sydes two,

With brode barres to and fro;

A horne about his necke he caste;

And forth he went at the laste,

To do his office in the halle

Among the lordes both greate and small.

He toke a white yeard in his hand;

Before the kynge than gan he stande;

And sone he set hym on his knee,

And served the kynge ryght royally

With deynty meates that were dere.--

--And, when the squyer had done so,

He served them all[26] to and fro.

Eche man hym loved in honeste,

Hye and lowe in their degre;

So dyd the kyng--&c.

IX.--MILITARY SPORTS PATRONIZED BY THE LADIES.

Tournaments and justs were usually exhibited at coronations royal

marriages, and other occasions of solemnity where pomp and pageantry

were thought to be requisite. Our historians abound with details of

these celebrated pastimes. The reader is referred to Froissart, Hall,

Holinshed, Stow, Grafton, &c. who are all of them very diffuse upon

this subject; and in the second volume of the Manners and Customs of

the English are several curious representations of these military

combats both on horseback and on foot.

One great reason, and perhaps the most cogent of any, why the nobility

of the middle ages, nay, and even princes and kings, delighted so

much in the practice of tilting with each other, is, that on such

occasions they made their appearance with prodigious splendour, and had

the opportunity of displaying their accomplishments to the greatest

advantage. The ladies also were proud of seeing their professed

champions engaged in these arduous conflicts; and, perhaps, a glove

or riband from the hand of a favourite female might have inspired the

receiver with as zealous a wish for conquest, as the abstracted love

of glory; though in general, I presume, both these ideas were united;

for a knight divested of gallantry would have been considered as a

recreant, and unworthy of his profession.

X.--DECLINE OF MILITARY EXERCISES.

When the military enthusiasm which so strongly characterised the middle

ages had subsided, and chivalry was on the decline, a prodigious

change took place in the nurture and manners of the nobility. Violent

exercises requiring the exertions of muscular strength grew out of

fashion with persons of rank, and of course were consigned to the

amusement of the vulgar; and the education of the former became

proportionably more soft and delicate. This example of the nobility

was soon followed by persons of less consequence; and the neglect of

military exercises prevailed so generally, that the interference of

the legislature was thought necessary, to prevent its influence from

being universally diffused, and to correct the bias of the common mind;

for, the vulgar readily acquiesced with the relaxation of meritorious

exertions, and fell into the vices of the times, resorting to such

games and recreations as promoted idleness and dissipation, by which

they lost their money, and, what is worse, their reputation, entailing

poverty and distress on themselves and their families.

XI.--DECLINE OF CHIVALRY.

The romantic notions of chivalry appear to have lost their vigour

towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, especially in this

country, where a continued series of intestine commotions employed

the exertions of every man of property, and real battles afforded but

little leisure to exercise the mockery of war. It is true, indeed, that

tilts and tournaments, with other splendid exhibitions of military

skill, were occasionally exercised, and with great brilliancy, so far

as pomp and finery could contribute to make them attractive, till the

end of the succeeding century. These splendid pastimes were encouraged

by the sanction of royalty, and this sanction was perfectly political;

on the one hand, it gratified the vanity of the nobility, and, on the

other, it amused the populace, who, being delighted with such shows of

grandeur, were thereby diverted from reflecting too deeply upon the

grievances they sustained. It is, however, certain that the justs and

tournaments of the latter ages, with all their pomp, possessed but

little of the primitive spirit of chivalry.

XII.--MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VII.

Henry VII. patronized the gentlemen and officers of his court in the

practice of military exercises. The following extract may serve as a

specimen of the manner in which they were appointed to be performed:

"Whereas it ever hath bene of old antiquitie used in this realme of

most noble fame, for all lustye gentlemen to passe the delectable

season of summer after divers manner and sondry fashions of disports,

as in hunting the red and fallowe deer with houndes, greyhoundes,

and with the bowe; also in hawking with hawkes of the tower; and

other pastimes of the field. And bycause it is well knowen, that in

the months of Maie and June, all such disports be not convenient;

wherefore, in eschewing of idleness, the ground of all vice," and to

promote such exercises as "shall be honourable, and also healthfull

and profitable to the body," we "beseech your most noble highness to

permit two gentlemen, assosyatying to them two other gentlemen to be

their aides," by "your gracious licence, to furnish certain articles

concerning the feates of armes hereafter ensuinge:"--"In the first

place; On the twenty-second daye of Maie, there shall be a grene tree

sett up in the lawnde of Grenwich parke; whereupon shall hange, by a

grene lace, a vergescu[27] blanke; upon which white shield it shal

be lawful for any gentleman that will answer the following chalenge

to subscribe his name.--Secondly; The said two gentlemen, with their

two aides, shal be redye on the twenty-thirde daie of Maie, being

Thursdaye, and on Mondaye thence next ensewinge, and so everye Thursday

and Monday untill the twentieth daye of June, armed for the foote, to

answear all gentlemen commers, at the feate called the Barriers, with

the casting-speare, and the targett, and with the bastard-sword,[28]

after the manner following, that is to saie, from sixe of the clocke

in the forenoone till sixe of the clocke in the afternoone during the

time.--Thirdly; And the said two gentlemen, with their two aiders,

or one of them, shall be there redye at the said place, the daye and

dayes before rehearsed, to deliver any of the gentlemen answeares of

one caste with the speare hedded with the morne,[29] and seven strokes

with the sword, point and edge rebated, without close, or griping one

another with handes, upon paine of punishment as the judges for the

time being shall thinke requisite.--Fourthly; And it shall not be

lawfull to the challengers, nor to the answearers, with the bastard

sword to give or offer any foyne[30] to his match, upon paine of like

punishment.--Fifthly; The challengers shall bringe into the fielde,

the said daies and tymes, all manner of weapons concerning the said

feates, that is to saye, casting speares hedded with mornes, and

bastard swords with the edge and point rebated; and the answerers to

have the first choise."[31]

XIII.--MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VIII.

Henry VIII. not only countenanced the practice of military pastimes by

permitting them to be exercised without restraint, but also endeavoured

to make them fashionable by his own example. Hall assures us, that,

even after his accession to the throne, he continued daily to amuse

himself in archery, casting of the bar, wrestling, or dancing, and

frequently in tilting, tournaying, fighting at the barriers with

swords, and battle-axes, and such like martial recreations, in most of

which there were few that could excel him. His leisure time he spent in

playing at the recorders, flute, and virginals, in setting of songs,

singing and making of ballads.[32] He was also exceedingly fond of

hunting, hawking, and other sports of the field; and indeed his example

so far prevailed, that hunting, hawking, riding the great horse,

charging dexterously with the lance at the tilt, leaping, and running,

were necessary accomplishments for a man of fashion.[33] The pursuits

and amusements of a nobleman are placed in a different point of view by

an author of the succeeding century;[34] who, describing the person and

manners of Charles lord Mountjoy, regent of Ireland, in 1599, says, "He

delighted in study, in gardens, in riding on a pad to take the aire, in

playing at shovelboard, at cardes, and in reading of play-bookes for

recreation, and especially in fishing and fish-ponds, seldome useing

any other exercises, and useing these rightly as pastimes, only for

a short and convenient time, and with great variety of change from

one to the other." The game of shovelboard, though now considered as

exceedingly vulgar, and practised by the lower classes of the people,

was formerly in great repute among the nobility and gentry; and few

of their mansions were without a shovelboard, which was a fashionable

piece of furniture. The great hall was usually the place for its

reception.

XIV.--PRINCELY EXERCISES UNDER JAMES I.

We are by no means in the dark respecting the education of the nobility

in the reign of James I.; we have, from that monarch's own hand, a set

of rules for the nurture and conduct of an heir apparent to the throne,

addressed to his eldest son Henry, prince of Wales. From the third book

of this remarkable publication, entitled ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟΝ ΔΩΡΟΝ, or, a Kinge's

Christian Dutie towards God," I shall select such parts as respect the

recreations said to be proper for the pursuit of a nobleman, without

presuming to make any alteration in the diction of the royal author.

"Certainly," he says, "bodily exercises and games are very commendable,

as well for bannishing of idleness, the mother of all vice; as for

making the body able and durable for travell, which is very necessarie

for a king. But from this court I debarre all rough and violent

exercises; as the foote-ball, meeter for lameing, than making able,

the users thereof; as likewise such tumbling trickes as only serve for

comœdians and balladines to win their bread with: but the exercises

that I would have you to use, although but moderately, not making a

craft of them, are, running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and

playing at the caitch, or tennise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like

other fair and pleasant field-games. And the honourablest and most

recommendable games that yee can use on horseback; for, it becometh a

prince best of any man to be a faire and good horseman: use, therefore,

to ride and danton great and courageous horses;--and especially use

such games on horseback as may teach you to handle your armes thereon,

such as the tilt, the ring, and low-riding for handling of your sword.

"I cannot omit heere the hunting, namely, with running houndes, which

is the most honourable and noblest sort thereof; for it is a theivish

forme of hunting to shoote with gunnes and bowes; and greyhound

hunting[35] is not so martial a game.

"As for hawkinge, I condemn it not; but I must praise it more

sparingly, because it neither resembleth the warres so neere as hunting

doeth in making a man hardie and skilfully ridden in all grounds, and

is more uncertain and subjec. to mischances; and, which is worst of

all, is there through an extreme stirrer up of the passions.

"As for sitting, or house pastimes--since they may at times supply the

roome which, being emptie, would be patent to pernicious idleness--I

will not therefore agree with the curiositie of some learned men of

our age in forbidding cardes, dice, and such like games of hazard:[36]

when it is foule and stormie weather, then I say, may ye lawfully play

at the cardes or tables; for, as to diceing, I think it becommeth best

deboshed souldiers to play at on the heads of their drums, being only

ruled by hazard, and subject to knavish cogging; and as for the chesse,

I think it over-fond, because it is over-wise and philosophicke a

folly."

His majesty concludes this subject with the following good advice to

his son: "Beware in making your sporters your councellors, and delight

not to keepe ordinarily in your companie comœdians or balladines."

XV.--REVIVAL OF LEARNING.

The discontinuation of bodily exercises afforded a proportionable

quantity of leisure time for the cultivation of the mind; so that

the manners of mankind were softened by degrees, and learning, which

had been so long neglected, became fashionable, and was esteemed an

indispensable mark of a polite education. Yet some of the nobility

maintained for a long time the old prejudices in favour of the

ancient mode of nurture, and preferred exercise of the body to mental

endowments; such was the opinion of a person of high rank, who said to

Richard Pace, secretary to king Henry VIII., "It is enough for the sons

of noblemen to wind their horn and carry their hawke fair, and leave

study and learning to the children of meaner people."[37] Many of the

pastimes that had been countenanced by the nobility, and sanctioned

by their example, in the middle ages, grew into disrepute in modern

times, and were condemned as vulgar and unbecoming the notice of a

gentleman. "Throwing the hammer and wrestling," says Peacham, in his

Complete Gentleman, published in 1622, "I hold them exercises not so

well beseeming nobility, but rather the soldiers in the camp and the

prince's guard." On the contrary, sir William Forest, in his Poesye of

Princelye Practice, a MS. in the Royal Library,[38] written in the year

1548, laying down the rules for the education of an heir apparent to

the crown, or prince of the blood royal, writes thus:

So must a prince, at some convenient brayde,

In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence:

Too ryde, runne, leape, or caste by violence

Stone, barre, or plummett, or suche other thinge,

It not refusethe any prince or kynge.

However, I doubt not both these authors spoke agreeably to the taste of

the times in which they lived. Barclay, a more early poetic writer, in

his Eclogues, first published in 1508, has made a shepherd boast of his

skill in archery; to which he adds,

I can dance the raye; I can both pipe and sing,

If I were mery; I can both hurle and sling;

I runne, I wrestle, I can well throwe the barre,

No shepherd throweth the axeltree so farre;

If I were mery, I could well leape and spring;

I were a man mete to serve a prince or king.

XVI.--RECREATIONS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, published in 1660, gives us a

general view of the sports most prevalent in the seventeenth century.

"Cards, dice, hawkes, and hounds," says he, "are rocks upon which men

lose themselves, when they are imprudently handled, and beyond their

fortunes." And again, "Hunting and hawking are honest recreations,

and fit for some great men, but not for every base inferior person,

who, while they maintain their faulkoner, and dogs, and hunting nags,

their wealth runs away with their hounds, and their fortunes fly

away with their hawks." In another place he speaks thus: "Ringing,

bowling, shooting, playing with keel-pins, tronks, coits, pitching

of bars, hurling, wrestling, leaping, running, fencing, mustering,

swimming, playing with wasters, foils, foot-balls, balowns, running at

the quintain, and the like, are common recreations of country folks:

riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments,

horse-races, and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men,

and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by such means gallop

quite out of their fortunes." Speaking of the Londoners, he says, "They

take pleasure to see some pageant or sight go by, as at a coronation,

wedding, and such like solemn niceties; to see an ambassador or a

prince received and entertained with masks, shows, and fireworks.

The country hath also his recreations, as May-games, feasts, fairs,

and wakes." The following pastimes he considers as common both in

town and country, namely, "bull-baitings and bear-baitings, in which

our countrymen and citizens greatly delight, and frequently use;

dancers on ropes, jugglers, comedies, tragedies, artillery gardens,

and cock-fighting." He then goes on: "Ordinary recreations we have

in winter, as cards, tables, dice, shovelboard, chess-play, the

philosopher's game, small trunks, shuttle-cock, billiards, music,

masks, singing, dancing, ule-games, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches,

cross purposes, questions and commands, merry tales of errant knights,

queens, lovers, lords, ladies, giants, dwarfs, thieves, cheaters,

witches, fairies, goblins, and friars." To this catalogue he adds:

"Dancing, singing, masking, mumming, and stage-plays, are reasonable

recreations, if in season; as are May-games, wakes, and Whitson-ales,

if not at unseasonable hours, are justly permitted. Let them," that

is, the common people, "freely feast, sing, dance, have puppet-plays,

hobby-horses, tabers, crowds,[39] and bagpipes:" let them "play at ball

and barley-brakes;" and afterwards, "Plays, masks, jesters, gladiators,

tumblers, and jugglers, are to be winked at, lest the people should do

worse than attend them."

A character in the Cornish Comedy, written by George Powell, and

acted at Dorset Garden in 1696, says, "What is a gentleman without

his recreations? With these we endeavour to pass away that time

which otherwise would lie heavily upon our hands. Hawks, hounds,

setting-dogs, and cocks, with their appurtenances, are the true marks

of a country gentleman." This character is supposed to be a young

heir just come to his estate. "My cocks," says he, "are true cocks of

the game--I make a match of cock-fighting, and then an hundred or two

pounds are soon won, for I never fight a battle under."

XVII.--OLD SPORTS OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON.

In addition to the May-games, morris-dancings, pageants and

processions, which were commonly exhibited throughout the kingdom in

all great towns and cities, the Londoners had peculiar and extensive

privileges of hunting, hawking, and fishing:[40] they had also large

portions of ground allotted to them in the vicinity of the city for the

practice of such pastimes as were not prohibited by the government,

and for those especially that were best calculated to render them

strong and healthy. We are told by Fitz Stephen, in the twelfth

century, that on the holidays during the summer season, the young men

of London exercised themselves in the fields with "leaping, shooting

with the bow, wrestling, casting the stone, playing with the ball, and

fighting with their shields." The last species of pastime, I believe,

is the same that Stow, in his Survey of London, calls "practising with

their wasters and bucklers;" which in his day was exercised by the

apprentices before the doors of their masters. The city damsels had

also their recreations on the celebration of these festivals, according

to the testimony of both the authors just mentioned. The first tells

us that they played upon citherns,[41] and danced to the music; and

as this amusement probably did not take place before the close of

the day, they were, it seems, occasionally permitted to continue it

by moonlight. We learn from the other, who wrote at the distance of

more than four centuries, that it was then customary for the maidens,

after evening prayers, to dance in the presence of their masters and

mistresses, while one of their companions played the measure upon a

timbrel; and, in order to stimulate them to pursue this exercise with

alacrity, the best dancers were rewarded with garlands, the prizes

being exposed to public view, "hanged athwart the street," says Stow,

during the whole of the performance. This recital calls to my mind a

passage in Spenser's Epithalamium, wherein it appears that the dance

was sometimes accompanied with singing. It runs thus:

----The damsels they delight,

When they their timbrels smite,

And thereunto dance and carol sweet.

XVIII.--MODERN PASTIMES OF THE LONDONERS.

A general view of the pastimes practised by the Londoners soon after

the commencement of the last century occurs in Strype's edition of

Stow's Survey of London, published in 1720.[42] "The modern sports of

the citizens," says the editor, "besides drinking, are cock-fighting,

bowling upon greens, playing at tables, or backgammon, cards, dice,

and billiards; also musical entertainments, dancing, masks, balls,

stage-plays, and club-meetings, in the evening; they sometimes ride

out on horseback, and hunt with the lord-mayor's pack of dogs when the

common hunt goes out. The lower classes divert themselves at foot-ball,

wrestling, cudgels, nine-pins, shovelboard, cricket, stow-ball, ringing

of bells, quoits, pitching the bar, bull and bear baitings, throwing at

cocks, and, what is worst of all, lying at alehouses." To these are

added, by an author of later date, Maitland, in his History of London,

published in 1739, "Sailing, rowing, swimming and fishing, in the river

Thames, horse and foot races, leaping, archery, bowling in allies, and

skittles, tennice, chess, and draughts; and in the winter scating,

sliding, and shooting." Duck-hunting was also a favourite amusement,

but generally practised in the summer. The pastimes here enumerated

were by no means confined to the city of London, or its environs: the

larger part of them were in general practice throughout the kingdom.

XIX.--COTSWOLD AND CORNISH GAMES.

Before I quit this division of my subject, I shall mention the annual

celebration of games upon Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, to which

prodigious multitudes constantly resorted. Robert Dover, an attorney,

of Barton on the Heath, in the county of Warwick, was forty years

the chief director of these pastimes. They consisted of wrestling,

cudgel-playing, leaping, pitching the bar, throwing the sledge, tossing

the pike, with various other feats of strength and activity; many of

the country gentlemen hunted or coursed the hare; and the women danced.

A castle of boards was erected on this occasion, from which guns were

frequently discharged. "Captain Dover received permission from James

I. to hold these sports; and he appeared at their celebration in the

very clothes which that monarch had formerly worn, but with much more

dignity in his air and aspect."[43] I do not mean to say that the

Cotswold games were invented, or even first established, by captain

Dover; on the contrary, they seem to be of much higher origin, and

are evidently alluded to in the following lines by John Heywood the

epigrammatist:[44]

He fometh like a bore, the beaste should seeme bolde,

For he is as fierce as a lyon of Cotsolde.

Something of the same sort, I presume, was the Carnival, kept every

year, about the middle of July, upon Halgaver-moor, near Bodmin in

Cornwall; "resorted to by thousands of people," says Heath, in his

description of Cornwall, published in 1750. "The sports and pastimes

here held were so well liked by Charles II. when he touched here in

his way to Sicily, that he became a brother of the jovial society. The

custom of keeping this carnival is said to be as old as the Saxons."

XX.--SPLENDOUR OF THE ANCIENT KINGS AND NOBILITY.

Paul Hentzner, a foreign writer, who visited this country at the close

of the sixteenth century, says of the English, in his Itinerary,

written in 1598, that they are "serious like the Germans, lovers

of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of

servants, who wear their master's arms in silver."[45] This was no

new propensity: the English nobility at all times affected great

parade, seldom appearing abroad without large trains of servitors and

retainers; and the lower classes of the people delighted in gaudy

shows, pageants, and processions.

If we go back to the times of the Saxons, we shall find that, soon

after their establishment in Britain, their monarchs assumed great

state. Bede tells us that "Edwin, king of Northumberland, lived in much

splendour, never travelling without a numerous retinue; and when he

walked in the streets of his own capital, even in the times of peace,

he had a standard borne before him. This standard was of the kind

called by the Romans tufa, and by the English tuuf: it was made with

feathers of various colours, in the form of a globe, and fastened upon

a pole."[46] It is unnecessary to multiply citations; for which reason,

I shall only add another. Canute the Dane, who is said to have been

the richest and most magnificent prince of his time in Europe, rarely

appeared in public without being followed by a train of three thousand

horsemen, well mounted and completely armed. These attendants, who

were called house carles, formed a corps of body guards, or household

troops, and were appointed for the honour and safety of that prince's

person.[47] The examples of royalty were followed by the nobility and

persons of opulence.

In the middle ages, the love of show was carried to an extravagant

length; and as a man of fashion was nothing less than a man of letters,

those studies that were best calculated to improve the mind were held

in little estimation.

XXI.--ROYAL AND NOBLE ENTERTAINMENTS.

The courts of princes and the castles of the great barons were daily

crowded with numerous retainers, who were always welcome to their

masters' tables. The noblemen had their privy counsellors, treasurers,

marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, chaplains, heralds,

pursuivants, pages, henchmen or guards, trumpeters, and all the other

officers of the royal court.[48] To these may be added whole companies

of minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers, rope-dancers, and players;

and especially on days of public festivity, when, in every one of the

apartments opened for the reception of the guests, were exhibited

variety of entertainments, according to the taste of the times, but in

which propriety had very little share; the whole forming a scene of

pompous confusion, where feasting, drinking, music, dancing, tumbling,

singing, and buffoonery, were jumbled together, and mirth excited too

often at the expense of common decency.[49] If we turn to the third

Book of Fame, a poem written by our own countryman Chaucer, we shall

find a perfect picture of these tumultuous court entertainments, drawn,

I doubt not, from reality, and perhaps without any exaggeration. It

may be thus expressed in modern language: Minstrels of every kind

were stationed in the receptacles for the guests; among them were

jesters, that related tales of mirth and of sorrow; excellent players

upon the harp, with others of inferior merit[50] seated on various

seats below them, who mimicked their performances like apes to excite

laughter; behind them, at a great distance, was a prodigious number of

other minstrels, making a great sound with cornets, shaulms, flutes,

horns,[51] pipes of various kinds, and some of them made with green

corn,[52] such as are used by shepherds' boys; there were also Dutch

pipers to assist those who chose to dance either "love-dances, springs,

or rayes,"[53] or any other new-devised measures. Apart from these

were stationed the trumpeters and players on the clarion; and other

seats were occupied by different musicians playing variety of mirthful

tunes. There were also present large companies of jugglers, magicians,

and tregetours, who exhibited surprising tricks by the assistance of

natural magic.

Vast sums of money were expended in support of these absurd and

childish spectacles, by which the estates of the nobility were

consumed, and the public treasuries often exhausted. But we shall have

occasion to speak more fully on this subject hereafter.[54]

XXII.--CIVIC SHOWS.

The pageantry and shows exhibited in great towns and cities on

occasions of joy and solemnity were equally deficient in taste and

genius. At London, where they were most frequently required, that

is to say, at the reception of foreign monarchs, at the processions

of our own through the city of London to Westminster previous to

their coronation, or at their return from abroad, and on various

other occasions; besides such as occurred at stated times, as the

lord-mayor's show, the setting of the midsummer watch, and the like, a

considerable number of different artificers were kept, at the city's

expense, to furnish the machinery for the pageants, and to decorate

them. Stow tells us that, in his memory, great part of Leaden Hall was

appropriated to the purpose of painting and depositing the pageants for

the use of the city.

The want of elegance and propriety, so glaringly evident in these

temporary exhibitions, was supplied, or attempted to be supplied, by

a tawdry resemblance of splendour. The fronts of the houses in the

streets through which the processions passed were covered with rich

adornments of tapestry, arras, and cloth of gold; the chief magistrates

and most opulent citizens usually appeared on horseback in sumptuous

habits and joined the cavalcade; while the ringing of bells, the sound

of music from various quarters, and the shouts of the populace, nearly

stunned the ears of the spectators. At certain distances, in places

appointed for the purpose, the pageants were erected, which were

temporary buildings representing castles, palaces, gardens, rocks,

or forests, as the occasion required, where nymphs, fawns, satyrs,

gods, goddesses, angels, and devils, appeared in company with giants,

savages, dragons, saints, knights, buffoons, and dwarfs, surrounded

by minstrels and choristers; the heathen mythology, the legends of

chivalry, and Christian divinity, were ridiculously jumbled together,

without meaning; and the exhibition usually concluded with dull

pedantic harangues, exceedingly tedious, and replete with the grossest

adulation. The giants especially were favourite performers in the

pageants; they also figured away with great applause in the pages of

romance; and, together with dragons and necromancers, were created by

the authors for the sole purpose of displaying the prowess of their

heroes, whose business it was to destroy them.

Some faint traces of the processional parts of these exhibitions

were retained at London in the lord mayor's show about twenty or

thirty years ago;[55] but the pageants and orations have been long

discontinued, and the show itself is so much contracted, that it is in

reality altogether unworthy of such an appellation.

XXIII.--SETTING OUT OF PAGEANTS.

In an old play, the Historie of Promos and Cassandra, part the second,

by George Whetstone, printed in 1578,[56] a carpenter, and others,

employed in preparing the pageants for a royal procession, are

introduced. In one part of the city the artificer is ordered "to set

up the frames, and to space out the rooms, that the Nine Worthies may

be so instauled as best to please the eye." The "Worthies" are thus

named in an heraldical MS. in the Harleian Library:[57] "Duke Jossua;

Hector of Troy; kyng David; emperour Alexander; Judas Machabyes;

emperour Julyus Cæsar; kyng Arthur; emperour Charlemagne; and syr

Guy of Warwycke;" but the place of the latter was frequently, and I

believe originally, supplied by Godefroy, earl of Bologne: it appears,

however, that any of them might be changed at pleasure: Henry VIII. was

made a "Worthy" to please his daughter Mary, as we shall find a little

farther on. In another part of the same play the carpenter is commanded

to "errect a stage, that the wayghtes[58] in sight may stand;" one

of the city gates was to be occupied by the fowre Virtues, together

with "a consort of music;" and one of the pageants is thus whimsically

described:

They have Hercules of monsters conquering;

Huge great giants, in a forrest, fighting

With lions, bears, wolves, apes, foxes, and grayes,

Baiards and brockes----

----Oh, these be wondrous frayes!

The stage direction then requires the entry of "Two men apparelled

lyke greene men at the mayor's feast, with clubbs of fyreworks;" whose

office, we are told, was to keep a clear passage in the street, "that

the kyng and his trayne might pass with ease."--In another dramatic

performance of later date, Green's Tu Quoque, or the City Gallant, by

John Cooke, published in 1614, a city apprentice says, "By this light,

I doe not thinke but to be lord mayor of London before I die; and have

three pageants carried before me, besides a ship and an unicorn." The

following passage occurs in Selden's Table Talk, under the article

Judge, "We see the pageants in Cheapside, the lions and the elephants;

but we do not see the men that carry them we see the judges look big

like lions; but we do not see who moves them."

XXIV.--PROCESSIONS OF QUEEN MARY AND KING PHILIP OF SPAIN IN LONDON.

In the foregoing quotations, we have not the least necessity to make an

allowance for poetical licence: the historians of the time will justify

the poets, and perfectly clear them from any charge of exaggeration;

and especially Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, who are exceedingly

diffuse on this and such like popular subjects. The latter has recorded

a very curious piece of pantomimical trickery exhibited at the time

that the princess Mary went in procession through the city of London,

the day before her coronation:--At the upper end of Grace-church-Street

there was a pageant made by the Florentines; it was very high; and

"on the top thereof there stood foure pictures; and in the midst of

them, and the highest, there stood an angell, all in greene, with a

trumpet in his hand; and when the trumpetter who stood secretlie within

the pageant, did sound his· trumpet, the angell did put his trumpet

to his mouth, as though it had been the same that had sounded." A

similar deception but on a more extensive scale, was practised at the

gate of Kenelworth Castle for the reception of queen Elizabeth.[59]

Holinshed, speaking of the spectacles exhibited at London, when Philip

king of Spain, with Mary his consort, made their public entry in the

city, calls them, in the margin of his Chronicle, "the vaine pageants

of London;" and he uses the same epithet twice in the description

immediately subsequent; "Now," says he, "as the king came to London,

and as he entered at the drawbridge, [on London Bridge,] there was a

vaine great spectacle, with two images representing two giants, the

one named Corineus, and the other Gog-magog, holding betweene them

certeine Latin verses, which, for the vaine ostentation of flatterye,

I overpasse."[60] He then adds: "From the bridge they passed to the

conduit in Gratious-street, which was finely painted; and, among other

things," there exhibited, "were the Nine Worthies; of these king Henry

VIII. was one. He was painted in harnesse,[61] having in one hand a

sword, and in the other hand a booke, whereupon was written Verbum

Dei.[62] He was also delivering, as it were, the same booke to his

sonne king Edward VI. who was painted in a corner by him." This device,

it seems, gave great offence; and the painter, at the queen's command,

was summoned before the bishop of Winchester, then lord chancellor,

where he met with a very severe reprimand, and was ordered to erase the

inscription; to which he readily assented, and was glad to have escaped

at so easy a rate from the peril that threatened him; but in his hurry

to remove the offensive words, he rubbed out "the whole booke, and part

of the hand that held it."[63]

The Nine Worthies appear to have been favourite characters, and were

often exhibited in the pageants; those mentioned in the preceding

passage were probably nothing more than images of wood or pasteboard.

These august personages were not, however, always degraded in this

manner, but, on the contrary, they were frequently personified by human

beings uncouthly habited, and sometimes mounted on horseback. They also

occasionally harangued the spectators as they passed in the procession.

XXV.--CHESTER PAGEANTS.

The same species of shows, but probably not upon so extensive a scale,

were exhibited in other cities and large towns throughout the kingdom.

I have now before me an ordinance for the mayor, aldermen, and common

councilmen of the city of Chester, to provide yearly for the setting

of the watch, on the eve of the festival of Saint John the Baptist, a

pageant, which is expressly said to be "according to ancient custome,"

consisting of four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, one luce,[64]

one camel, one ass, one dragon, six hobby-horses, and sixteen naked

boys. This ordinance among the Harleian MSS.[65] is dated 1564. In

another MS. in the same library, it is said, "A. D. 1599, Henry

Hardware, esq. the mayor, was a godly and zealous man;" he caused "the

gyauntes in the midsomer show to be broken," and "not to goe; the devil

in his feathers," alluding perhaps to some fantastic representation not

mentioned in the former ordinance, "he put awaye, and the cuppes and

cannes, and the dragon and the naked boys." In a more modern hand it is

added, "And he caused a man in complete armour to go in their stead. He

also caused the bull-ring to be taken up," &c. But in the year 1601,

John Ratclyffe, beer-brewer, being mayor, "sett out the giaunts and

midsommer show, as of oulde it was wont to be kept."[66] In the time

of the Commonwealth this spectacle was discontinued, and the giants,

with the beasts, were destroyed. At the restoration of Charles II. it

was agreed by the citizens to replace the pageant as usual, on the eve

of the festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1661; and as the following

computation of the charges for the different parts of the show are

exceedingly curious, I shall lay them before the reader without any

farther apology. We are told that "all things were to be made new, by

reason the ould modells were all broken." The computist then proceeds:

"For finding all the materials, with the workmanship of the four great

giants, all to be made new, as neere as may be lyke as they were

before, at five pounds a giant the least that can be, and four men to

carry them at two shillings and six pence each." The materials for the

composition of these monsters are afterwards specified to be "hoops of

various magnitudes, and other productions of the cooper, deal boards,

nails, pasteboard, scaleboard, paper of various sorts, with buckram,

size cloth, and old sheets for their bodies, sleeves, and shirts, which

were to be coloured." One pair of the "olde sheets" were provided to

cover the "father and mother giants." Another article specifies "three

yards of buckram for the mother's and daughter's hoods;" which seems

to prove that three of these stupendous pasteboard personages were the

representatives of females. There were "also tinsille, tinfoil, gold

and silver leaf, and colours of different kinds, with glue and paste

in abundance." Respecting the last article, a very ridiculous entry

occurs in the bill of charges, it runs thus: "For arsnick to put into

the paste to save the giants from being eaten by the rats, one shilling

and fourpence." But to go on with the estimate. "For the new making

the city mount, called the maior's mount, as auntiently it was, and

for hireing of bays for the same, and a man to carry it, three pounds

six shillings and eight pence." The bays mentioned in this and the

succeeding article was hung round the bottom of the frame, and extended

to the ground, or near it, to conceal the bearers. "For making anew the

merchant mount, as it aunciently was, with a ship to turn round, the

hiring of the bays, and five men to carry it, four pounds." The ship

and new dressing it, is charged at five shillings; it was probably made

with pasteboard, which seems to have been a principal article in the

manufacturing of both the moveable mountains; it was turned by means of

a swivel attached to an iron handle underneath the frame. In the bill

of charges for "the merchant's mount," is an entry of twenty pence paid

to a joyner for cutting the pasteboard into several images. "For making

anew the elephant and castell, and a Cupid," with his bow and arrows,

"suitable to it," the castle was covered with tinfoil, and the Cupid

with skins, so as to appear to be naked, "and also for two men to carry

them, one pound sixteen shillings and eightpence. For making anew the

four beastes called the unicorne, the antelop, the flower-de-luce, and

the camell, one pound sixteen shillings and fourpence apiece, and for

eight men to carry them, sixteen shillings. For four hobby-horses, six

shillings and eightpence apiece; and for four boys to carry them, four

shillings. For hance-staves, garlands, and balls, for the attendants

upon the mayor and sheriffs, one pound nineteen shillings. For makinge

anew the dragon, and for six naked boys to beat at it, one pound

sixteen shillings. For six morris-dancers, with a pipe and tabret,

twenty shillings."

The sports exhibited on occasions of solemnity did not terminate with

the pageants and processions: the evening was generally concluded with

festivity and diversions of various kinds to please the populace. These

amusements are well described in a few lines by an early dramatic

poet, whose name is not known; his performance is entitled A pleasant

and stately Morall of the Three Lordes of London, black letter, no

date:[67]--

--------Let nothing that's magnifical,

Or that may tend to London's graceful state,

Be unperformed, as showes and solemne feasts,

Watches in armour, triumphes, cresset lights.

Bonefires, belles, and peales of ordinaunce

And pleasure. See that plaies be published,

Mai-games and maskes, with mirthe and minstrelsie.

Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppet-plaies.

The "cresset light" was a large lanthorn placed upon a long pole, and

carried upon men's shoulders. There is extant a copy of a letter from

Henry VII. to the mayor and aldermen of London, commanding them to make

bonfires, and to show other marks of rejoicing in the city, when the

contract was ratified for the marriage of his daughter Mary with the

prince of Castile.[68]

XXVI.--PUBLIC SHOWS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

These motley displays of pomp and absurdity, proper only for the

amusement of children, or to excite the admiration of the populace,

were, however, highly relished by the nobility, and repeatedly

exhibited by them, on extraordinary occasions. One would think, indeed,

that the repetitions would have been intolerable; on the contrary, for

want of more rational entertainments, they maintained for ages their

popularity, and do not appear to have lost the smallest portion of

their attraction by the frequency of representation. Shows of this kind

were never more fashionable than in the sixteenth century, when they

were generally encouraged by persons of the highest rank, and exhibited

with very little essential variation; and especially during the reign

of Henry VIII.[69] His daughter Elizabeth appears to have been equally

pleased with this species of pageantry; and therefore it was constantly

provided for her amusement, by the nobility whom she visited from

time to time, in her progresses or excursions to various parts of

the kingdom.[70] I shall simply give the outlines of a succession of

entertainments contrived to divert her when she visited the earl of

Leicester at Kenelworth castle, and this shall serve as a specimen for

the rest.

XXVII.--QUEEN ELIZABETH AT KENELWORTH.

Her majesty came thither on Saturday the ninth of July, 1575;[71] she

was met near the castle by a fictitious Sibyl, who promised peace and

prosperity to the country during her reign. Over the first gate of the

castle there stood six gigantic figures with trumpets, real trumpeters

being stationed behind them, who sounded as the queen approached.

This pageant was childish enough, but not more so than the reason for

its being placed there. "By this dumb show," says my author, "it was

meant that in the daies of king Arthur, men were of that stature; so

that the castle of Kenelworth should seem still to be kept by king

Arthur's heirs and their servants." Laneham says these figures were

eight feet high. Upon her majesty entering the gateway, the porter, in

the character of Hercules, made an oration, and presented to her the

keys. Being come into the base court, a lady "came all over the pool,

being so conveyed, that it seemed she had gone upon the water; she was

attended by two water nymphs, and calling herself the Lady of the Lake,

she addressed her majesty with a speech prepared for the purpose." The

queen then proceeded to the inner court, and passed the bridge, which

was railled on both sides, and the tops of the posts were adorned with

"sundry presents and gifts," as of wine, corn, fruits, fishes, fowls,

instruments of music, and weapons of war. Laneham calls the adorned

posts "well-proportioned pillars turned:" he tells us there were

fourteen of them, seven on each side of the bridge; on the first pair

were birds of various kinds alive in cages, said to be the presents of

the god Silvanus; on the next pair were different sorts of fruits in

silver bowls, the gift of the goddess Pomona; on the third pair were

different kinds of grain in silver bowls, the gift of Ceres; on the

fourth, in silvered pots, were red and white wine with clusters of

grapes in a silver bowl, the gift of Bacchus; on the fifth were fishes

of various kinds in trays, the donation of Neptune; on the sixth were

weapons of war, the gift of Mars; and on the seventh, various musical

instruments, the presents of Apollo. The meaning of these emblematical

decorations was explained in a Latin speech delivered by the author

of it. Then an excellent band of music began to play as her majesty

entered the inner court, where she alighted from her horse, and went up

stairs to the apartments prepared for her.

On Sunday evening she was entertained with a grand display of

fireworks, as well in the air as upon the water.

On Monday, after a great hunting, she was met on her return by

Gascoigne the poet, so disguised as to represent a savage man, who paid

her many high-flown compliments in a kind of dialogue between himself

and an echo.

On Tuesday she was diverted with music, dancing, and an interlude upon

the water.

On Wednesday was another grand hunting.

On Thursday she was amused with a grand bear-beating, to which were

added tumbling and fireworks. Bear-beating and bull-baiting were

fashionable at this period, and considered as proper pastimes for the

amusement of ladies of the highest rank. Elizabeth, though a woman,

possessed a masculine mind, and preferred, or affected to prefer, the

exercises of the chace and other recreations pursued by men, rather

than those usually appropriated to her sex.

On Friday, the weather being unfavourable, there were no open shows.

On Saturday there was dancing within the castle, and a country

brideale, with running at the quintain in the castle yard, and a

pantomimical show called "the Old Coventry Play of Hock Thursday,"

performed by persons who came from Coventry for that purpose. In the

evening a regular play was acted, succeeded by a banquet and a masque.

On the Sunday there was no public spectacle.

On the Monday there was a hunting in the afternoon, and, on the queen's

return, she was entertained with another show upon the water, in which

appeared a person in the character of Arion, riding upon a dolphin

twenty-four feet in length; and he sung an admirable song, accompanied

with music performed by six musicians concealed in the belly of the

fish. Her majesty, it appears, was much pleased with this exhibition.

The person who entertained her majesty in the character of Arion is

said to have been Harry Goldingham, of whom the following anecdote is

related: "There was a spectacle presented to queen Elizabeth upon the

water, and among others, Harry Goldingham was to represent Arion upon

the back of a dolphin; but finding his voice to be very hoarse and

unpleasant when he came to perform his part, he tears off his disguise,

and swears that he was none of Arion, not he, but even honest Harry

Goldingham; which blunt discoverie pleased the queen better than if it

had gone thorough in the right way. Yet he could order his voice to an

instrument exceedingly well."[72] This story has been applied to the

performance above mentioned, but I trust mistakenly; it certainly must

have happened on some other occasion, for such a circumstance would

not have escaped the observation of the facetious Laneham; besides it

appears in this instance that the part of Arion was performed without

defect, and the song well executed.

On Tuesday the Coventry play was repeated, because the queen had not

seen the whole of it on Saturday.

On Wednesday, the twentieth of the same month, she departed from

Kenelworth. Various other pastimes were prepared upon this occasion;

but, for want of time and opportunity, they could not be performed.

XXVIII.--LOVE OF PUBLIC SIGHTS ILLUSTRATED FROM SHAKSPEARE.

The English are particularised for their partiality to strange sights;

uncommon beasts, birds, or fishes, are sure to attract their notice,

and especially such of them as are of the monstrous kind; and this

propensity of our countrymen is neatly satirised by Shakspeare in the

Tempest; where Stephano, seeing Calaban lying upon the stage, and being

uncertain whether he was a fish, a beast, or one of the inhabitants of

the island, speaks in the following manner: "Were I in England now, as

once I was, and had this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but

would give me a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man:

any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to

relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."[73]

Indeed, we may observe that a cow with two heads, a pig with six legs,

or any other unnatural production, with proper management, are pretty

certain fortunes to the possessors.

XXIX.--ROPE-DANCING, TUTORED ANIMALS, AND PUPPET-SHOWS.

They also take great delight in seeing men and animals perform such

feats as appear to be entirely contrary to their nature; as, men

and monkeys dancing upon ropes, or walking upon wires; dogs dancing

minuets, pigs arranging letters so as to form words at their master's

command; hares beating drums, or birds firing off cannons. These

exhibitions, for all of them have in reality been brought to public

view, are ridiculed by the Spectator, in a paper dated the 3d of April,

1711. The author pretends that he received the following letter from a

sho-man who resided near Charing-Cross:

"Honoured Sir,--Having heard that this nation is a great

encourager of ingenuity, I have brought with me a rope-dancer

that was caught in one of the woods belonging to the great

Mogul, he is by birth a monkey, but swings upon a rope, takes a

pipe of tobacco, and drinks a glass of ale, like any reasonable

creature.[74] He gives great satisfaction to the quality; and if

they will make a subscription for him, I will send for a brother

of his out of Holland, that is a very good tumbler; and also for

another of the same family whom I design for my merry-andrew, as

being an excellent mimic, and the greatest droll in the country

where he now is. I hope to have this entertainment in readiness

for the next winter; and doubt not but it will please more than

the opera or the puppet-show. I will not say that a monkey is a

better man than some of the opera heroes; but certainly he is a

better representative of a man than any artificial composition of

wood and wire."

The latter part of this sarcasm relates to a feigned dispute for

seniority between Powel, a puppet-showman, who exhibited his wooden

heroes under the little piazza in Covent-garden, and the managers of

the Italian opera; which is mentioned in a preceding paper[75] to this

effect: "The opera at the Haymarket, and that under the little piazza

of Covent-garden, are at present the two leading diversions of the

town; Powel professing in his advertisements to set up Whittington and

his Cat against Rinaldo and Armida."--After some observations, which

are not immediately to the present purpose, the author proceeds: "I

observe that Powel and the undertakers of the opera had both of them

the same thought, and I think much about the same time, of introducing

animals on their several stages. though indeed with different success.

The sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket fly as yet very

irregularly over the stage, and instead of perching on the trees,

and performing their parts, these young actors either get into

the galleries, or put out the candles; whereas Powel has so well

disciplined his pig, that in the first scene he and Punch dance a

minuet together. I am informed that Powel resolves to excel his

adversaries in their own way, and introduce larks into his opera of

Susanna, or Innocence betrayed; which will be exhibited next week with

a pair of new elders."

From the same source of information, in a subsequent paper,[76] we may

find a catalogue of the most popular spectacles exhibited in London

at the commencement of the last century. Our author has introduced a

projector, who produces a scheme for an opera entitled The Expedition

of Alexander the Great; and proposes to bring in "all the remarkable

shows about the town among the scenes and decorations of his piece;"

which is described in the following manner: "This Expedition of

Alexander opens with his consulting the Oracle at Delphos; in which

the Dumb Conjurer, who has been visited by so many persons of quality

of late years, is to be introduced as telling his fortune; at the same

time Clench of Barnet[77] is represented in another corner of the

temple, as ringing the bells of Delphos for joy of his arrival. The

Tent of Darius is to be peopled by the ingenious Mrs. Salmon, where

Alexander is to fall in love with a piece of waxwork that represents

the beautiful Statira. When Alexander comes to that country in which,

Quintus Curtius tells us, the dogs were so exceedingly fierce, that

they would not loose their hold, though they were cut to pieces limb by

limb, and that they would hang upon their prey by their teeth when they

had nothing but a mouth left, there is to be a scene of Hockley in the

Hole, in which are to be represented all the diversions of that place,

the Bull-Baiting only excepted, which cannot possibly be exhibited in

the theatre by reason of the lowness of the roof. The several Woods

in Asia, which Alexander must be supposed to pass through, will give

the audience a sight of Monkies dancing upon ropes, with many other

pleasantries of that ludicrous species. At the same time, if there

chance to be any strange animals in town, whether birds or beasts,

they may be either let loose among the woods, or driven across the

stage by some of the country people of Asia. In the last Great Battle,

Pinkethman is to personate king Porus upon an Elephant, and is to

be encountered by Powel, representing Alexander the Great upon a

Dromedary, which, nevertheless, he is desired to call by the name of

Bucephalus. On the close of this great Decisive Battle, when the two

Kings are thoroughly reconciled, to show the mutual friendship and

good correspondence that reigns between them, they both of them go

together to a puppet-show, in which the ingenious Mr. Powel junior may

have an opportunity of displaying his whole art of machinery for the

diversion of the two monarchs." It is further added, that, "after the

reconciliation of these two kings, they might invite one another to

dinner, and either of them entertain his guest with the German artist,

Mr. Pinkethman's Heathen Gods, or any of the like Diversions which

shall then chance to be in vogue."

The projector acknowledged the thought was not originally his own,

but that he had taken the hint from "several Performances he had seen

upon our stage; in one of which there was a Raree Show, in another a

Ladder-Dance, and in others a posture or a moving picture with many

curiosities of the like nature."[78]

XXX.--MINSTRELSY, BELL-RINGING, &c.

The people of this country in all ages delighted in secular music,

songs, and theatrical performances;[79] which is abundantly evident

from the great rewards they gave to the bards, the scalds, the gleemen,

and the minstrels, who were successively the favourites of the opulent,

and the idols of the vulgar. The continual encouragement given to these

professors of music, poetry, and pantomime, in process of time swelled

their numbers beyond all reasonable proportion, inflamed their pride,

increased their avarice, and corrupted their manners; so that at

length they lost the favour they had so long enjoyed among the higher

classes of society; and, the donations of the populace not being

sufficient for their support, they fell away from affluence to poverty,

and wandered about the country in a contemptible condition, dependent

upon the casual rewards they might occasionally pick up at church-ales,

wakes, and fairs.[80]

Hentzner, who wrote at the conclusion of the sixteenth century, says,

"the English excel in dancing and music, for they are active and

lively." A little further on he adds, "they are vastly fond of great

noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, beating of

drums, and the ringing of bells; so that it is common for a number of

them that have got a glass in their hands to get up into some belfry

and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise."[81]

Polydore Vergil mentions another remarkable singularity belonging to

the English, who celebrated the festival of Christmas with plays,

masques, and magnificent spectacles, together with games at dice and

dancing, which, he tells us, was as ancient as the year 1170, and not

customary with other nations;[82] and with respect to the Christmas

prince, or lord of the misrule, he was, as the same author informs us,

a personage almost peculiar to this country.[83]

XXXI.--BAITING OF ANIMALS.

It were well if these singularities were the only vulnerable parts of

the national character of our ancestors; but it must be confessed that

there are other pastimes which equally attracted their attention, and

manifested a great degree of barbarism, which will admit of no just

defence. Sir Richard Steele, reprobating the inhumanity of throwing

at cocks, makes these pertinent observations: "Some French writers

have represented this diversion of the common people much to our

disadvantage, and imputed it to a natural fierceness and cruelty of

temper, as they do some other entertainments peculiar to our nation; I

mean those elegant diversions of bull-baiting, and prize-fighting, with

the like ingenious recreations of the bear-garden. I wish I knew how

to answer this reproach which is cast upon us, and excuse the death

of so many innocent cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as have been set

together by the ears, or died an untimely death, only to make us

sport."[84]

The ladies of the present day will probably be surprised to hear, that

all, or the greater part of these barbarous recreations, were much

frequented by the fair sex, and countenanced by those among them of the

highest rank and most finished education, being brought by degrees, no

doubt, to sacrifice their feelings to the prevalency of a vicious and

vulgar fashion, which even the sanction of royalty, joined with that of

ancient custom, cannot reconcile with decency or propriety.

XXXII.--PASTIMES FORMERLY ON SUNDAYS.

I know not of any objection that can have more weight in the

condemnation of these national barbarisms, than the time usually

appropriated for the exhibition of them; which, it seems, was the

after part of the Sabbath-day. The same portion of time also was

allotted for the performance of plays, called, in the writing's of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, "vaine playes and interludes;"[85]

to which are added, "dice and card-playing, dancing, and other idle

pastimes." Stephen Gosson, a very zealous, if not a very correct

writer, declaiming vehemently against plays and players, says of the

latter, "because they are permitted to play every Sunday, they make

four or five Sundayes at leaste every weeke."[86] Nor is he less severe

upon those who frequented such amusements: "To celebrate the Sabbath,"

says he, "they go to the theatres, and there keepe a general market of

bawdrie; by which means," as he afterwards expresses himself, "they

make the theatre a place of assignation, and meet for worse purposes

than merely seeing the play."[87] A contemporary writer, endeavouring

to prove the impropriety of an established form of prayer for the

church service, among other arguments, uses the following: "He,"

meaning the ministers "posteth it over as fast as he can galloppe;

for, eyther he hath two places to serve; or else there are some games

to be playde in the afternoon, as lying for the whetstone, heathenishe

dauncing for the ring, a beare or a bull to be baited, or else a

jackanapes to ride on horsebacke, or an interlude to be plaide; and,

if no place else can be gotten, this interlude must be playde in the

church. We speak not of ringing after matins is done."[88] To what

has been said, I shall add the following verses, which made their

appearance rather earlier than either of the foregoing publications;

and they describe, with much accuracy I doubt not, the manner of

spending the Sunday afternoons according to the usage of that time: but

it is proper previously to observe, that such amusements on holidays

were by no means peculiar to the young gallants of this country, but

equally practised upon the continent.

Now, when their dinner once is done, and that they well have fed,

To play they go; to casting of the stone, to runne, or shoote;

To tosse the light and windy ball aloft with hand or foote;

Some others trie their skill in gonnes; some wrastell all the day;

And some to schooles of fence do goe, to gaze upon the play;

Another sort there is, that doe not love abroad to roame,

But, for to passe their time at cardes, or tables, still at

home.[89]

XXXIII.--ROYAL INTERFERENCE WITH SUNDAY PASTIMES.

Citations to this purpose might be made from infinity of pamphlets,

written professedly against the profanation of the Sabbath: it was

certainly an evil that called loudly for redress; and the pens of

various writers, moral and religious, as well of the clergy as the

laity, have been employed for that purpose. There are some few

treatises on this subject that do honour to their authors; but far

the larger part of them are of a different description, consisting of

vehement and abusive declamations wherein the zeal of the writers is

too frequently permitted to run at random, without the least restraint

from reason and moderation, and, what is still worse, without that

strict adherence to the truth which the seriousness of the subject

necessarily required. It must be granted, however, that the continued

remonstrances from the grave and religious parts of the community

were not without effect. In the twenty-second year of the reign of

Elizabeth, the magistrates of the city of London obtained from the

queen an edict, "that all heathenish playes and interludes should be

banished upon Sabbath days;"[90] but this restriction, I apprehend,

was confined to the jurisdiction of the lord mayor; for, it is certain

that such amusements were publicly exhibited in other districts, and

especially at the Paris Garden in Southwark, a place where these sort

of sports were usually exhibited; and where three years afterwards a

prodigious concourse of people being assembled together on a Sunday

afternoon, to "see plays and a bear-baiting, the whole theatre gave way

and fell to the ground; by which accident many of the spectators were

killed, and more hurt."[91] This lamentable misfortune was considered

as a judgment from God, and occasioned a general prohibition of all

public pastimes on the Sabbath-day. The wise successor of Elizabeth,

on the other hand, thought that the restrictions on the public sports

were too generally and too strictly applied, and especially in the

country places; he therefore published on the 24th of May, 1618, the

following declaration: "Whereas we did justly, in our progresse through

Lancashire, rebuke some puritanes and precise people, in prohibiting

and unlawfully punishing of our good people for using their lawfull

recreations and honest exercises on Sundayes and other holy dayes,

after the afternoone sermon or service: It is our will, that after

the end of divine service, our good people be not disturbed, letted,

or discouraged, from any lawful recreation, such as dauncing, either

for men or women; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other

such harmless recreation; nor for having of May-games, Whitson-ales,

and morris-daunces, and the setting up of May-poles, and other sports

therewith used; so as the same be had in due and convenient time,

without impediment or neglect of divine service. But withall, we doe

here account still as prohibitted, all unlawfull games to be used

upon Sundayes onely, as beare and bull-baitings, interludes, and, at

all times in the meaner sort of people by law prohibited, bowling."

This proclamation was renewed by Charles I. in the eighth year of his

reign; which occasioned many serious complaints from the puritanical

party; but, three years afterwards, a pamphlet was published which

defended the principles of the declaration;[92] wherein the author, who

was a high church-man, endeavours to fine away the objections of its

opponents. In one part[93] he says, "those recreations are the meetest

to be used, which give the best refreshment to the bodie, and leave

the least impression in the minde. In this respect, shooting, leaping,

pitching the barre, stool-ball, and the like, are rather to be chosen

than diceing or carding." This publication was immediately answered by

the other party, who certainly had the best end of the argument, and

were not sparing in their severity, but wounded the ordinance itself

through the sides of its defender. The more precise writers objected

not only to the profanation of the Sabbath, but to the celebration of

most of the established festivals and holidays, as we find from the

following verses:

Their feastes, and all their holydayes they keep throughout

the yeare,

Are full of vile idolatry, and heathen like appeare.

I shew not here their daunces yet with filthy gestures mad,

Nor other wanton sports that on the holydayes are had.

In some place solemne sights and showes, and pageants faire

are play'd

With sundry sorts of maskers brave, in straunge attire arrai'd.[94]

XXXIV.--ZEAL AGAINST WAKES AND MAY-GAMES.

But nothing seems to have excited their indignation more than the

church-ales, wakes, and May-games. An author I have before me inveighs

greatly against the erecting and decorating of the May-poles;[95] among

others, he uses the following arguments: "Most of these May-poles are

stollen; yet they give out that the poles are given to them; when, upon

thorow examination, 'twill be found that most of them are stollen.

There were two May-poles set up in my parish; the one was stollen, and

the other was given by a profest papist. That which was stollen

was said to be given; when it was proved to their faces that it was

stollen, and they made to acknowledge their offence: this pole was

rated at five shillings. If all the poles, one with another, were so

rated which were stollen this May, what a considerable summ it would

amount to!" So much for his reasoning. He then attempts to be witty;

and arraigns the goddess Flora at the bar: "Flora, hold up thy hand;

thou art here indited by the name of Flora, of the city of Rome, in

the county of Babylon, for that thou, contrary to the peace of our

sovereign lord, his crown and dignity, hast brought in a pack of

practical fanaticks; viz. ignorants, atheists, papists, drunkards,

swearers, swash-bucklers, maid-marrions, morrice-dancers, maskers,

mummers, May-pole stealers, health-drinkers, gamesters, lewd men, light

women, contemners of magistrates, affronters of ministers, rebellious

to masters, disobedient to parents, mispenders of time, and abusers of

the creature, &c." This silly invective is concluded with a poem as

dull and insipid as the prose; in which the May-pole is supposed to be

addressing itself to one who is passing by it. The last lines run thus:

Now, traveller, learn more grace to shew

And see that thou thy betters know:

Thou hear'st what I say for myself,

I am no ape, I am no elf;

I am no base one's parasite;

I am the great world's favourite;

And, sith thou must now past me fro,

Let this my blessing with thee go:

There's not a knave in all the town,

Nor swearing courtier, nor base clown,

Nor dancing lob, nor mincing quean,

Nor popish clerk, be't priest or dean,

Nor knight debausht, nor gentleman

That follows drabs, or cup or cann,

That will give thee a friendly look

If thou a May-pole can'st not brook.

These zealous reformists have extended their censures to the church-men

as well as to the laity; they accuse them with strengthening, by their

example, the general depravation of manners and decay of religion:

how far the charge was just, I cannot take upon me to answer. It is

obvious enough that ignorant persons will not be induced to prize those

qualifications very highly, which they who have the reputation of

wisdom and learning neglect to appreciate as they ought to do.

XXXV.--DICE AND CARDS.

The Saxons and the Danes, as we have observed already,[96] were much

addicted to gaming; and the same destructive propensity was equally

prevalent among the Normans. The evil consequences arising from the

indulgence of this pernicious pleasure have in all ages called loudly

for reprehension, and demanded at last the more powerful interference

of the legislature. The vice of gambling, however, is by no means

peculiar to the people of this country: its influence is universally

diffused among mankind; and in most nations the same strong measures

that have been adopted here are found to be absolutely necessary to

prevent its extension beyond the limits of subordination. Dice, and

those games of chance dependent upon them, have been most generally

decried; and cards, in latter times, are added to them as proper

companions. Cards, when compared with dice, are indeed of modern

invention, and originally, I doubt not, were productive only of

innocent amusement; they were, however, soon converted into instruments

of gambling equally dangerous as the dice themselves, and more enticing

from the variety of changements they admit of, and the pleasing mixture

of chance with skill, which often gives the tyro an advantage over the

more experienced player; that is, supposing fair play on both sides;

but woeful experience has convinced many that this is not always the

case.

XXXVI.--REGULATION OF GAMES FOR MONEY, BY RICHARD CŒUR DE LION, &c.

Towards the close of the twelfth century, we meet with a very curious

edict relative to gaming, and which shows how generally it even

prevailed among the lower classes of the people at that period. This

edict was established for the regulation of the Christian army under

the command of Richard I. of England, and Philip of France, during the

crusade in 1190: It prohibits any person in the army beneath the degree

of a knight from playing at any sort of game for money: knights and

clergymen might play for money, but no one of them was permitted to

lose more than twenty shillings in one whole day and night, under the

penalty of one hundred shillings, to be paid to the archbishops in

the army; the two monarchs had the privilege of playing for what they

pleased; but their attendants were restricted to the sum of twenty

shillings; and, if they exceeded, they were to be whipped naked through

the army for three days.[97]

XXXVII.--STATUTES AGAINST DICE, CARDS, BALL-PLAY, &c.

The decrees established by the council held at Worcester, in the

twenty-fourth year of Henry III. prohibited the clergy from playing at

dice, or at chess:[98] but neither the one nor the other of these games

are mentioned in the succeeding penal statutes, before the twelfth

year of Richard II., when diceing is particularised, and expressly

forbidden; though perhaps they were both of them included under the

general title of games of chance, and dishonest games, mentioned in

the proclamation of Edward III. which, with other pastimes therein

specified, were generally practised to the great detriment of military

exercises, and of archery in particular.

In the eleventh year of Henry VII. cards are first mentioned among the

games prohibited by the law;[99] and at that time they seem to have

been very generally used; for, the edict expressly forbids the practice

of card-playing to apprentices, excepting the duration of the Christmas

holidays, and then only in their masters' houses.[100] We learn from

Stow, that these holidays extended "from All-Hallows evening to the day

after Candlemas-day, when," says the historian, "there was, among other

sports, playing at cards for counters, nailes, and points in every

house, more for pastime than for gain."[101] The recreations prohibited

by proclamation in the reign of Edward III., exclusive of the games of

chance, are thus specified; throwing of stones,[102] wood, or iron;

playing at hand-ball, foot-ball, club-ball, and cambucam, which I take

to have been a species of goff, and probably received its name from the

crooked bat with which it was played. These games, as before observed,

were not forbidden from any particular evil tendency in themselves,

but because they engrossed too much of the leisure and attention of

the populace, and diverted their minds from the pursuits of a more

martial nature. I should not forget to add, that "bull-baiting and

cock-fighting" are included with "other dishonest games as trivial

and useless." In[103] the reign of Edward IV. we find coits, closh or

claish, kayles or nine-pins, half-bowl, hand-in and hand-out, with

quick-borde, classed among the unlawful amusements;[104] which list was

considerably augmented in the succeeding reigns, and especially in the

eighteenth year of Henry VIII., when bowling, loggating, playing at

tennice, dice, cards and tables, or backgammon, were included.[105]

In the preamble to the Parliamentary Statutes as early as the sixth

year of Edward III., there is a clause prohibiting of boys or others

from playing at barres, or snatch-hood,[106] or any other improper

games, in the king's palace at Westminster during the sitting of the

parliament; neither might they, by striking, or otherwise, prevent any

one from passing peaceably about his business.

XXXVIII.--PROHIBITIONS OF SKITTLE-PLAY.

In modern times, the penal laws have been multiplied, and much

invigorated, in order to restrain the spirit of gambling; and in some

measure they have had a salutary effect; but the evil is so fascinating

and so general, that in all probability it will never be totally

eradicated from the minds of the people. The frequent repetition and

enforcement of the statutes in former times, proves that they were

then, as they are now, inadequate to the suppression of gaming for

a long continuance; and, when one pastime was prohibited, another

was presently invented to supply its place. I remember, about twenty

years back,[107] the magistrates caused all the skittle-frames in or

about the city of London to be taken up, and prohibited the playing at

dutch-pins, nine-pins, or in long bowling allies, when in many places

the game of nine-holes was revived as a substitute, with the new name

of Bubble the Justice, because the populace had taken it into their

heads to imagine, that the power of the magistrates extended only to

the prevention of such pastimes as were specified by name in the public

acts, and not to any new species of diversion.

XXXIX.--ARCHERY SUCCEEDED BY BOWLING.

The general decay of those manly and spirited exercises, which formerly

were practised in the vicinity of the metropolis has not arisen from

any want of inclination in the people, but from the want of places

proper for the purpose: such as in times past had been allotted to

them are now covered with buildings, or shut up by enclosures, so

that, if it were not for skittles, dutch-pins, four-corners, and the

like pastimes, they would have no amusements for the exercise of the

body; and these amusements are only to be met with in places belonging

to common drinking-houses, for which reason their play is seldom

productive of much benefit, but more frequently becomes the prelude to

drunkenness and debauchery. This evil has been increasing for a long

series of years; and honest Stow laments the retrenchments of the

grounds appropriated for martial pastimes which had begun to take place

in his day. "Why," says he, "should I speak of the ancient exercises

of the long bow, by the citizens of this city, now almost clean left

off and forsaken? I overpass it; for, by the means of closeing in of

common grounds, our archers, for want of room to shoot abroad, creep

into bowling-alleys and ordinarie diceing-houses neer home, where they

have room enough to hazard their money at unlawful games."[108] He also

tells us, that "Northumberland house, in the parish of St. Katherine

Coleman, belonging to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the

thirty-third year of Henry the Sixth; but of late, being deserted by

that noble family, the gardens were converted into bowling-alleys, and

the other parts of the estate into diceing houses. But bowling-alleys

and houses for the exercise of diceing and other unlawful games are at

this time so greatly increased in the other parts of the city and its

suburbs, that this parent spot," or, as he afterwards calls it, "the

ancient and only patron of misrule, is forsaken of its gamesters."[109]

And here we may add the following remark from an author somewhat more

ancient than Stow:[110] "common bowling-alleyes are privy mothes that

eat up the credit of many idle citizens, whose gaynes at home are not

able to weigh downe theyr losses abroad; whose shoppes are so farre

from maintaining their play, that theyr wives and children cry out

for bread, and go to bedde supperlesse ofte in the yeere." In another

place, his reflections are more general, and he exclaims, "Oh, what

a wonderful change is this! our wreastling at armes is turned to

wallowing in ladies' laps, our courage to cowardice, our running to

royot, our bowes into bowls, and our darts into dishes."

XL.--MODERN GAMBLING.

The evils complained of by these writers were then in their infancy;

they have in the present day attained to a gigantic stature; and

we may add to them E. O. tables, as also other tables for gambling

distinguished by the appellation of Rouge et Noir, Pharo-banks, and

many more fashionable novelties, equally as detrimental to morality,

and as equally destructive to the fortunes of those who pursue them,

as any of the recreations of the former times. Even horse-racing,

which anciently was considered as a liberal sport, and proper for

the amusement of a gentleman, has been of late years degraded into

a dangerous species of gambling, by no means the less deserving of

censure, because it is fashionable and countenanced by persons of the

highest rank and fortune. The good old Scotch poet little dreamed of

such an innovation, when he lamented that horse-racing was falling into

disrepute through the prevalency of games of chance. His words are

these:

Halking, hunting, and swift horse running

Are changit all in wrangus, wynning;

There is no play but cartes and dyce, &c.[111]

XLI.--LADIES' PASTIMES--NEEDLE-WORK.

It now remains to say a few words in a general way respecting the

diversions of the English ladies. In the early ages, our fair

countrywomen employed a large portion of their time in needle-work and

embroidery; and their acquirements in these elegant accomplishments

most probably afforded them little leisure for the pursuits of trifling

and useless amusements; but, though we are not acquainted with the

nature of their recreations, there is no reason to suppose that they

were unbecoming in themselves, or indulged beyond the bounds of reason

or decorum. I have already, on a former occasion, particularly noticed

the skilfulness of the Saxon and Norman ladies in handling the needle,

embroidering, and working in tapestry; and that their performances were

not only held in very high estimation at home, but were equally prized

upon the continent, where none were produced that could be placed in

competition with them.[112]

XLII.--DANCING AND CHESS PLAY.

Dancing was certainly an ancient and favourite pastime with the women

of this country: the maidens even in a state of servitude claimed, as

it were by established privilege, the license to indulge themselves in

this exercise on holidays and public festivals; when it was usually

performed in the presence of their masters and mistresses.[113]

In the middle ages, dice, chess, and afterwards tables, and cards,

with other sedentary games of chance and skill, were reckoned among

the female amusements; and the ladies also frequently joined with the

men in such pastimes, as we find it expressly declared in the metrical

romance of Ipomydon. The passage alluded to runs thus:

When they had dyned, as I you saye,

Lordes and ladyes yede to playe;

Some to tables, and some to chesse,

With other gamys more or lesse.[114]

In another poem, by Gower,[115] a lover asks his mistress, when she

is tired of "dancing and caroling," if she was willing to "play at

chesse, or on the dyes to cast a chaunce." Forrest, speaking in praise

of Catharine of Arragon, first wife of Henry VIII., says, that when she

was young,

With stoole and with needyl she was not to seeke,

And other practiseings for ladyes meete;

To pastyme at tables, tick tacke or gleeke,

Cardis and dyce--&c.[116]

XLIII.--LADIES' RECREATIONS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

The English ladies did not always confine themselves to domestic

pastimes, they sometimes participated with the other sex in diversions

of a more masculine nature; and engaged with them in the sports of the

field. These violent exercises seem to have been rather unfashionable

among them in the seventeenth century; for Burton, in his Anatomy of

Melancholy, speaks of their pastimes as much better suited to the

modesty and softness of the sex. "The women," says he, "instead of

laborious studies, have curious needle-works, cutworks, spinning,

bone-lace making, with other pretty devices to adorn houses, cushions,

carpets, stool-seats," &c.[117] Not but some of these masculine females

have occasionally made their appearance: and at the commencement of the

last century, it should seem that they were more commonly seen than in

Burton's time, which gave occasion for the following satirical paper

in one of the Spectators,[118] written by Addison: "I have," says he,

"very frequently the opportunity of seeing a rural Andromache, who came

up to town last winter, and is one of the greatest fox-hunters in the

country; she talks of hounds and horses, and makes nothing of leaping

over a six-bar gate. If a man tells her a waggish story, she gives him

a push with her hand in jest, and calls him an impudent dog; and, if

her servant neglects his business, threatens to kick him out of the

house. I have heard her in her wrath call a substantial tradesman a

lousie cur; and I remember one day when she could not think of the name

of a person, she described him, in a large company of men and ladies,

by the fellow with the broad shoulders."

XLIV.--THE AUTHOR'S LABOURS--CHARACTER OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

Having laid before my readers a general view of the sports and pastimes

of our ancestors, I shall proceed to arrange them under their proper

heads, and allot to each of them a separate elucidation. The task in

truth is extremely difficult; and many omissions, as well as many

errors, must of necessity occur in the prosecution of it; but none,

I hope, of any great magnitude, nor more than candour will overlook,

especially when it is recollected, that in a variety of instances, I

have been constrained to proceed without any guide, and explore, as

it were, the recesses of a trackless wilderness. I must also entreat

the reader to excuse the frequent quotations which he will meet with,

which in general I have given verbatim; and this I have done for his

satisfaction, as well as my own, judging it much fairer to stand upon

the authority of others than to arrogate to myself the least degree of

penetration to which I have no claim.

It is necessary to add, that the engravings, which constitute an

essential part of this work, are not the produce of modern invention,

neither do they contain a single figure that has not its proper

authority. Most of the originals are exceedingly ancient, and all the

copies are faithfully made without the least unnecessary deviation. As

specimens of the art of design they have nothing to recommend them to

the modern eye, but as portraitures of the manners and usages of our

ancestors, in times remote, they are exceedingly valuable, because they

not only elucidate many obsolete customs, but lead to the explanation

of several obscurities in the history of former ages.

_January, 1801._

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

OF THE

PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

BOOK I.

RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK.

CHAPTER I.

I. Hunting more ancient than Hawking.--II. State of Hunting

among the Britons.--III. The Saxons expert in Hunting.--IV. The

Danes also.--V. The Saxons subsequently;--The Normans.--VI.

Their tyrannical Proceedings.--VII. Hunting and Hawking after

the Conquest.--VIII. Laws relating to Hunting.--IX. Hunting and

Hawking followed by the Clergy.--X. The Manner in which the

dignified Clergy in the Middle Ages pursued those Pastimes.--XI.

The English Ladies fond of these Sports.--XII. Privileges

of the Citizens of London to Hunt;--Private Privileges for

Hunting.--XIII. Two Treatises on Hunting considered.--XIV.

Names of Beasts to be hunted.--XV. Wolves not all destroyed in

Edgar's Time.--XVI. Dogs for Hunting.--XVII. Various Methods of

Hunting.--XVIII. Terms used in Hunting;--Times when to hunt.

I.--HUNTING MORE ANCIENT THAN HAWKING.

We have several English treatises upon the subject of Hunting, but none

of them very ancient; the earliest I have met with is a MS. in the

Cotton Library at the British Museum,[119] written at the commencement

of the fourteenth century. These compositions bear great resemblance

to each other, and consist of general rules for the pursuit of game;

together with the names and nature of the animals proper for hunting,

and such other matters as were necessary to be known by sportsmen.

Hawking most commonly forms a part of these books; and, though this

pastime can only be considered as a modern invention, when it is put in

competition with that of hunting, yet it has obtained the precedency,

notwithstanding the sanction of antiquity is so decidedly against it. I

shall, however, in the following pages, revert the arrangement of those

amusements, and begin with hunting, which naturally, in my opinion,

claims the priority of place.

II.--HUNTING AMONG THE BRITONS.

Dio Nicæus, an ancient author, speaking of the inhabitants of the

northern parts of this island, tells us, they were a fierce and

barbarous people, who tilled no ground, but lived upon the depredations

they committed in the southern districts, or upon the food they

procured by hunting.[120] Strabo also says, that the dogs bred in

Britain were highly esteemed upon the continent, on account of their

excellent qualities for hunting; and these qualities, he seems to hint,

were natural to them, and not the effect of tutorage by their foreign

masters.[121] The information derived from the above-cited authors,

does not amount to a proof that the practice of hunting was familiar

with the Britons collectively; yet it certainly affords much fair

argument in the support of such an opinion; for it is hardly reasonable

to suppose that the pursuit of game should have been confined to the

uncultivated northern freebooters, and totally neglected by the more

civilised inhabitants of the southern parts of the island. We are well

assured that venison constituted a great portion of their food,[122]

and as they had in their possession such dogs as were naturally prone

to the chase, there can be little doubt that they would exercise them

for the purpose of procuring their favourite diet; besides, they kept

large herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, both of which required

protection from the wolves, and other ferocious animals, that infested

the woods and coverts, and must frequently have rendered hunting an act

of absolute necessity.

If it be granted that the Britons, generally speaking, were expert

in hunting, it is still uncertain what animals were obnoxious to the

chase; we know however, at least, that the hare was not anciently

included; for Cæsar tells us, "the Britons did not eat the flesh of

hares, notwithstanding the island abounded with them." And this

abstinence, he adds, arose from a principle of religion;[123] which

principle, no doubt, prevented them from being worried to death: a

cruelty reserved for more enlightened ages.

We do not find, that, during the establishment of the Romans in

Britain, there were any restrictive laws promulgated respecting the

killing of game. It appears to have been an established maxim, in the

early jurisprudence of that people, to invest the right of such things

as had no master with those who were the first possessors. Wild beasts,

birds, and fishes, became the property of those who first could take

them. It is most probable that the Britons were left at liberty to

exercise their ancient privileges; for, had any severity been exerted

to prevent the destruction of game, such laws would hardly have been

passed over without the slightest notice being taken of them by the

ancient historians.

III.--HUNTING AMONG THE SAXONS.

The Germans, and other northern nations, were much more strongly

attached to the sports of the field than the Romans, and accordingly

they restricted the natural rights which the people claimed of

hunting. The ancient privileges were gradually withdrawn from them,

and appropriated by the chiefs and leaders to themselves; at last they

became the sole prerogative of the crown, and were thence extended to

the various ranks and dignities of the state at the royal pleasure.

As early as the ninth century, and probably long before that period,

hunting constituted an essential part of the education of a young

nobleman. Asser assures us, that Alfred the great, before he was twelve

years of age, "was a most expert and active hunter, and excelled in

all the branches of that most noble art, to which he applied with

incessant labour and amazing success."[124] It is certain that,

whenever a temporary peace gave leisure for relaxation, hunting was one

of the most favourite pastimes followed by the nobility and persons of

opulence at that period. It is no wonder, therefore, that dogs proper

for the sport should be held in the highest estimation. When Athelstan,

the grandson of Alfred, had obtained a signal victory at Brunanburgh

over Constantine king of Wales, he imposed upon him a yearly tribute of

gold, silver, and cattle; to which was also added a certain number of

"hawks, and sharp-scented dogs, fit for hunting of wild beasts,"[125]

His successor, Edgar, remitted the pecuniary payment on condition of

receiving annually the skins of three hundred wolves.[126] We do not

find, indeed, that the hawks and the hounds were included in this new

stipulation; but it does not seem reasonable that Edgar, who, like his

predecessor, was extremely fond of the sports of the field, should have

given up that part of the tribute.

IV.--HUNTING AMONG THE DANES.

The Danes deriving their origin from the same source as the Saxons,

differed little from them in their manners and habitudes, and perhaps

not at all in their amusements; the propensity to hunting, however, was

equally common to both. When Canute the Dane had obtained possession

of the throne of England, he imposed several restrictions upon the

pursuit of game, which were not only very severe, but seem to have

been altogether unprecedented; and these may be deemed a sufficient

proof of his strong attachment to this favourite pastime, for, in other

respects, his edicts breathed an appearance of mildness and regard for

the comforts of the people.

V.--HUNTING DURING THE RESTORATION OF THE SAXONS.

After the expulsion of the Danes, and during the short restoration of

the Saxon monarchy, the sports of the field still maintained their

ground. Edward the Confessor, whose disposition seems rather to have

been suited to the cloister than to the throne, would join in no other

secular amusements; but he took the greatest delight, says William of

Malmsbury, "to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of game, and to

cheer them with his voice."[127] He was equally pleased with hawking,

and every day, after divine service, he spent his time in one or other

of these favourite pastimes.[128] Harold, who succeeded him, was so

fond of his hawk and his hounds, that he rarely travelled without

them. He is so represented upon the famous tapestry of Bayeux, with

his hounds by his side and a hawk upon his hand, when brought before

William duke of Normandy.[129] Travelling thus accompanied, was not a

singular trait in the character of a nobleman at this period.

[Illustration: 1. SWINE HUNTING--IX. CENTURY.]

The above engraving represents a Saxon chieftain, attended by his

huntsman and a couple of hounds, pursuing the wild swine in a forest,

taken from a manuscriptal painting of the ninth century in the Cotton

Library.[130]

[Illustration: 2. SPEARING A BOAR--XIV. CENTURY.]

The above is a representation of the manner of attacking the wild boar,

from a manuscript written about the commencement of the fourteenth

century, in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq.

[Illustration: 3. THE UNEARTHING OF A FOX.]

The preceding engraving is from a manuscript in the Royal Library,[131]

written about the same time as the latter.

VI.--HUNTING AMONG THE NORMANS OPPRESSIVELY EXERCISED.

During the tyrannical government of William the Norman, and his two

sons who succeeded him, the restrictions concerning the killing of game

were by no means meliorated. The privileges of hunting in the royal

forests were confined to the king and his favourites; and, to render

these receptacles for the beasts of the chase more capacious, or to

make new ones, whole villages were depopulated, and places of divine

worship overthrown; not the least regard being paid to the miseries of

the suffering inhabitants, or the cause of religion. These despotic

proceedings were not confined to royalty, as may be proved from good

authority. I need not mention the New Forest, in Hampshire, made by the

elder William, or the park at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, seven miles

in circumference, and walled round with stone by Henry his son.[132]

This park, Stowe tells us, was the first made in England. The royal

example was first followed by Henry earl of Warwick, who made a park

at Wedgenoke, near Warwick, to preserve his deer and other animals for

hunting; after this the practice of park-making became general among

persons of opulence.

This subject is delineated, with great force of colouring, by John of

Salisbury, a writer of the twelfth century, when the severity of the

game laws was somewhat abated. "In our time," says the author, "hunting

and hawking are esteemed the most honourable employments, and most

excellent virtues, by our nobility; and they think it the height of

worldly felicity to spend the whole of their time in these diversions;

accordingly they prepare for them with more solicitude, expense, and

parade, than they do for war; and pursue the wild beasts with greater

fury than they do the enemies of their country. By constantly following

this way of life, they lose much of their humanity, and become as

savage, nearly, as the very brutes they hunt." He then proceeds in this

manner: "Husbandmen, with their harmless herds and flocks, are driven

from their well cultivated fields, their meadows, and their pastures,

that wild beasts may range in them without interruption." He adds,

addressing himself to his unfortunate countrymen, "If one of these

great and merciless hunters shall pass by your habitation, bring forth

hastily all the refreshment you have in your house, or that you can

readily buy, or borrow from your neighbours: that you may not be

involved in ruin, or even accused of treason."[133] If this picture

of Norman tyranny be correct, it exhibits a melancholy view of the

sufferings to which the lower classes of the people were exposed; in

short, it appears that, these haughty Nimrods considered the murder of

a man as a crime of less magnitude than the killing of a single beast

appointed for the chase.

VII.--HUNTING AND HAWKING AFTER THE CONQUEST.

King John was particularly attached to the spoils of the field; and his

partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his

frequently receiving such animals, by way of payment, instead of money,

for the renewal of grants, fines, and forfeitures, belonging to the

crown.[134]

In the reign of Edward I. this favourite amusement was reduced to a

perfect science, and regular rules established for its practice; these

rules were afterwards extended by the master of the game belonging to

king Henry IV. and drawn up for the use of his son, Henry prince of

Wales. Both these tracts are preserved, and we shall have occasion to

speak a little fuller concerning them in the course of this chapter.

Edward III. took so much delight in hunting, that even at the time he

was engaged in war with France, and resident in that country, he had

with him in his army sixty couple of stag hounds, and as many hare

hounds,[135] and every day he amused himself with hunting or hawking.

It also appears that many of the great lords in the English army had

their hounds and their hawks, as well as the king; to this may be

added, from the same author, that is, Froissart, who was himself a

witness to the fact, that Gaston earl of Foix, a foreign nobleman

contemporary with king Edward, kept upwards of six hundred dogs in his

castle for the purpose of hunting. He had four greyhounds called by the

romantic names of Tristram, Hector, Brute, and Roland.[136]

James I. preferred the amusement of hunting to hawking or shooting. It

is said of this monarch that he divided his time betwixt his standish,

his bottel, and his hunting; the last had his fair weather, the two

former his dull and cloudy.[137] One time when he was on a hunting

party near Bury St. Edmunds he saw an opulent townsman, who had joined

the chase, "very brave in his apparel, and so glittering and radiant,

that he eclipsed all the court." The king was desirous of knowing the

name of this gay gentleman, and being informed by one of his followers,

that it was Lamme, he facetiously replied, "Lamb, call you him? I know

not what kind of lamb he is, but I am sure he has got a fleece upon his

back."[138] Thus it seems that even the puns of royalty are worthy of

record.

It would be an endless, as well as a needless task, to quote all the

passages that occur in the poetical and prose writings of the last

three centuries, to prove that this favourite pastime had lost nothing

of its relish in the modern times; on the contrary, it seems to have

been more generally practised. Sir Thomas More, who wrote in the reign

of Henry VIII., describing the state of manhood, makes a young gallant

to say,

Man-hod I am, therefore I me delyght

To hunt and hawke, to nourishe up and fede

The greyhounde to the course, the hawke to th' flight,

And to bestryde a good and lusty stede.[139]

These pursuits are said by latter writers to have been destructive

to the fortunes of many inconsiderate young heirs, who, desirous of

emulating the state of their superiors, have kept their horses, hounds,

and hawks, and flourished away for a short time, in a style that

their income was inadequate to support. Others again, not having it

in their power to proceed so far, contented themselves more prudently

with joining the parties that were hunting, and partook with them the

pleasure of following the game.

VIII.--LAWS RELATING TO HUNTING.

Laws for punishing such as hunted, or destroyed the game, in the royal

forests, and other precincts belonging to the crown, were, as we have

just hinted above, established with unprecedented severity by Canute

the Dane, when he ascended the throne of England. By these edicts the

great thanes, bishops, and abbots, were permitted to hunt in the king's

chases: but all unqualified persons were subjected to very heavy fines,

not only for hunting, but even for disturbing of the game. If a

gentleman, or an inferior thane, killed a stag in the king's forests,

he was degraded from his rank; if a ceorl, or husbandman, committed the

same offence, he was reduced to slavery; and if a slave killed one,

he suffered death. Magistrates were appointed, in every county, or

shire, to put these laws in execution, and under them were appointed

inferior officers or gamekeepers, whose province it was to apprehend

the offenders.[140] By another law enacted by the same monarch, every

proprietor of land had the privilege to hunt game within his own fields

and woods; but might not pursue them into the royal forests.[141] This

prince also prohibited the exercise of hunting, or hawking, upon the

sabbath day.[142]

The severity of the game laws was rather increased, than abated, under

the governance of the four first Norman monarchs. Henry II. is said

to have relaxed their efficacy; rather, I presume, by not commanding

them to be enforced with rigour, than by causing them to be abrogated;

for they seem to have virtually existed in the reign of king John;

and occasioned the clause in the Forest Charter, insisting that no

man should forfeit his life, or his limbs, for killing the king's

deer;--but, if he was taken in the fact of stealing venison belonging

to the king, he should be subjected to a heavy fine; and, in default

of payment, be imprisoned for one year and one day; and after the

expiration of that time, find surety for his good behaviour, or be

banished the land.[143] This charter was afterwards confirmed by his

son Henry III. and the succeeding monarchs.

IX.--HUNTING BY THE CLERGY.

Another clause in the same charter grants to an archbishop, bishop,

earl, or baron, when travelling through the royal forests, at the

king's command, the privilege to kill one deer or two in the sight of

the forester, if he was at hand; if not, they were commanded to cause

a horn to be sounded,[144] that it might not appear as if they had

intended to steal the game.

It is evident that this privilege was afterwards construed into a

permission for the personages named therein to hunt in the royal

chases; but the words of the charter are not to that amount, and ought,

says Spelman, to be taken literally as they stand in the translation:

they could not however, at any rate, adds he, mean, "that the

ecclesiastics are to hunt the deer themselves, for they suppose them to

be no hunters, as the earls and barons might be; and therefore it is

not said, that he who claims the venison shall blow the horn, but only

that he shall cause it to be sounded."[145]

The propensity of the clergy to follow the secular pastimes, and

especially those of hunting and hawking, is frequently reprobated by

the poets and moralists of the former times. Chaucer, in his Canterbury

Tales, makes the monk much better skilled in riding and hunting, than

in divinity. The same poet, afterwards, in the Ploughman's Tale, takes

occasion to accuse the monks of pride, because they rode on coursers

like knights, having their hawks and hounds with them. In the same

tale he severely reproaches the priests for their dissolute manners,

saying, that many of them thought more upon hunting with their dogs,

and blowing the horn, than of the service they owed to God.[146]

The prevalence of these excesses occasioned the restrictions, contained

in an edict established in the thirteenth year of Richard II. which

prohibits any priest, or other clerk, not possessed of a benefice to

the yearly amount of ten pounds, from keeping a greyhound, or any other

dog for the purpose of hunting; neither might they use ferrits, hayes,

nets, hare-pipes, cords, or other engines to take or destroy the deer,

hares, or rabbits, under the penalty of one year's imprisonment.[147]

The dignified clergy were not affected by this statute, but retained

their ancient privileges, which appear to have been very extensive.

By the game laws of Canute the Dane they were permitted to hunt in

the forests belonging to the crown; and these prerogatives were not

abrogated by the Normans. Henry II., displeased at the power and

ambition of the ecclesiastics, endeavoured to render these grants of

none effect; not by publicly annulling them, but by putting in force

the canon law, which strictly forbade the clergy to spend their time in

hunting and hawking: and for this purpose, having obtained permission

from Hugo Pertroleonis, the Pope's legate, he caused a law to be made,

authorising him to convene the offenders before the secular judges, and

there to punish them.[148] The establishment of this edict was probably

more to show his power, than really to restrain them from hunting.

X.--HUNTING AND HAWKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES BY BISHOPS, &c.

The bishops and abbots of the middle ages hunted with great state,

having a large train of retainers and servants; and some of them are

recorded for their skill in this fashionable pursuit. Walter bishop

of Rochester, who lived in the thirteenth century, was an excellent

hunter, and so fond of the sport, that at the age of fourscore he made

hunting his sole employment, to the total neglect of the duties of his

office.[149] In the succeeding century an abbot of Leicester surpassed

all the sportsmen of the time in the art of hare hunting;[150] and

even when these dignitaries were travelling from place to place, upon

affairs of business, they usually had both hounds and hawks in their

train. Fitzstephen assures us, that Thomas à Becket, being sent as

ambassador from Henry II. to the court of France, assumed the state of

a secular potentate; and took with him dogs and hawks of various sorts,

such as were used by kings and princes.[151]

The clergy of rank, at all times, had the privilege of hunting in

their own parks and inclosures; and therefore, that they might not be

prevented from following this favourite pastime, they took care to have

such receptacles for game belonging to their priories. At the time

of the Reformation, the see of Norwich, only, was in the possession

of no less than thirteen parks, well stocked with deer and other

animals for the chase.[152] At the end of a book of Homilies in MS.,

in the Cotton Library,[153] written about the reign of Henry VI., is

a poem containing instructions to priests in general, and requiring

them, among other things, not to engage in "hawkynge, huntynge, and

dawnsynge."

XI--HUNTING AND HAWKING BY LADIES.

The ladies often accompanied the gentlemen in hunting parties; upon

these occasions it was usual to draw the game into a small compass

by means of inclosures, and temporary stands were made for them to be

spectators of the sport; though in many instances they joined in it,

and shot at the animals as they passed by them, with arrows. Agreeable

to these manners, which custom reconciled to the fair sex, most of the

heroines of romance are said to be fond of the sports of the field.

In an old poem entitled the "Squyer of lowe degre,"[154] the king of

Hungary promises his daughter that in the morning she shall go with him

on a hunting party, arrayed most gorgeously and riding in a chariot

covered with red velvet, drawn by

Jennettes of Spayne that ben so white,

Trapped to the ground with velvet bright.

In the field, says he, the game shall be inclosed with nets, and you

placed at a stand so conveniently that the harts and the hinds shall

come close to you--

Ye shall be set at such a tryst,

That hert and hynde shall come to your fyst.

He then commends the music of the bugle-horn--

To here the bugles there yblow

With theyr bugles in that place,

And seven score raches at his rechase

He also assures her that she should have--

A lese of herhounds with her to strake.

The harehound, or greyhound, was considered as a very valuable present

in former times,[155] and especially among the ladies, with whom it

appears to have been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another

metrical romance, probably more ancient than the former, called "Sir

Eglamore,"[156] a princess tells the knight, that if he was inclined

to hunt, she would, as an especial mark of her favour, give him on

excellent greyhound, so swift that no deer could escape from his

pursuit--

Syr yf you be on huntynge founde,

I shall you gyve a good greyhounde

That is dunne as a doo:

For as I am trewe gentylwoman,

There was never deer that he at ran,

That myght yscape him fro.

It is evident, however, that the ladies had hunting parties by

themselves.

[Illustration: 4. LADIES HUNTING--XIV. CENTURY.]

We find them, according to this representation, in the open fields

winding the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other

assistance: this delineation, which is by no means singular, is taken

from a manuscript in the Royal Library, written and illuminated early

in the fourteenth century.[157] We may also observe, that, upon these

occasions, the female Nimrods dispensed with the method of riding best

suited to the modesty of the sex, and sat astride on the saddle like

the men; but this indecorous custom, I trust, was never general, nor

of long continuance, even with the heroines who were most delighted

with these masculine exercises. An author of the seventeenth century

speaks of another fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town

of Bury in Suffolk. "The Bury ladies," says he, "that used hawking and

hunting, were once in a great vaine of wearing breeches" which it seems

gave rise to many severe and ludicrous sarcasms. The only argument in

favour of this habit, was decency in case of an accident. But it was

observed that such accidents ought to be prevented, in a manner more

consistent with the delicacy of the sex, that is, by refraining from

those dangerous recreations.[158]

Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and the nobility

who entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting

parties, which she usually joined when the weather was favourable.

She very frequently indulged herself in following of the hounds. "Her

majesty," says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, "is well

and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on

horseback and continues the sport long."[159] At this time her majesty

had just entered the seventy-seventh year of her age, and she was then

at her palace at Oatlands. Often, when she was not disposed to hunt

herself, she was entertained with the sight of the pastime. At Cowdrey,

in Sussex, the seat of lord Montecute, A. D. 1591, one day after dinner

her grace saw from a turret, "sixteen bucks all having fayre lawe,

pulled downe with greyhounds in a laund or lawn."[160]

The hunting dresses, as they appeared at the commencement of the

fifteenth century, are given from a manuscript of that time, in the

Harleian Collection.[161]

[Illustration: 5. HUNTING DRESSES.--XV. CENTURY.]

XII.--PRIVILEGES OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON TO HUNT AND HAWK.

The citizens of London were permitted to hunt and hawk in certain

districts. And one of the clauses, in the royal charter granted to them

by Henry I., runs to this purport: "The citizens of London may have

chases, and hunt as well, and as fully, as their ancestors have had;

that is to say, in the Chiltre, in Middlesex, and Surry."[162] Hence we

find, that these privileges were of ancient standing. They were also

confirmed by the succeeding charters. Fitzstephen, who wrote towards

the close of the reign of Henry II., says, that the Londoners delight

themselves with hawks and hounds, for they have the liberty of hunting

in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all Chilton, and in Kent to the waters of

Grey,[163] which differs somewhat from the statement in the charter.

These exercises were not much followed by the citizens of London at the

close of the sixteenth century, not for want of taste for the

amusement, says Stow, but for leisure to pursue it.[164] Strype,

however, so late as the reign of George I., reckons among the modern

amusements of the Londoners, "Riding on horseback and hunting with my

Lord Mayor's hounds, when the common-hunt goes out."

This common-hunt of the citizens is ridiculed in an old ballad called

the "London Customs," published in D'Urfey's Collection,[165] I shall

select the three following stanzas only.

Next once a year into Essex a hunting they go;

To see 'em pass along, O 'tis a most pretty shew;

Through Cheapside and Fenchurch-street, and so to Aldgate pump,

Each man with 's spurs in's horses sides, and his back-sword cross

his rump.

My lord he takes a staff in hand to beat the bushes o'er;

I must confess it was a work he ne'er had done before.

A creature bounceth from a bush, which made them all to laugh;

My lord, he cried, a hare a hare, but it prov'd an Essex calf.

And when they had done their sport, they came to London where

they dwell,

Their faces all so torn and scratch'd, their wives scarce knew

them well;

For 'twas a very great mercy, so many 'scap'd alive,

For of twenty saddles carried out, they brought again but five.

Privileges to hunt in certain districts, were frequently granted to

individuals either from favour, or as a reward for their services.

Richard I. gave to Henry de Grey, of Codnor, the manor of Turroe, in

Essex, with permission to hunt the hare and the fox, in any lands

belonging to the crown, excepting only the king's own demesne parks;

and this special mark of the royal favour was confirmed by his brother

John, when he succeeded to the throne.[166]

Others obtained grants of land, on condition of their paying an annual

tribute in horses, hawks, and hounds. And here I cannot help noticing

a curious tenure, by which Bertram de Criol held the manor of Setene,

or Seaton, in Kent, from Edward I.; he was to provide a man, called

"veltarius," or huntsman,[167] to lead three greyhounds when the king

went into Gascony so long as a pair of shoes, valued at fourpence,

should last him.[168]

XIII.--TWO EARLY TREATISES ON HUNTING.

I have mentioned two treatises upon hunting, in a former part (the

first section) of this chapter; the earliest of them was originally

written in French, by William Twici, or Twety, grand huntsman to king

Edward II.[169] I have never seen the French tract, but the manuscript

I spoke of is in English, and from its appearance nearly coeval with

the original, but the name of John Gyfford is joined to that of

Twety, and both of them are said to be "maisters of the game" to king

Edward,[170] and to have composed this treatise upon "the crafte of

huntynge." The other, as before observed, was written by the master

of the game to Henry IV. for the use of prince Henry his son, and is

little more than an enlargement of the former tract.[171] The Book of

St. Albans, so called because it was printed there, contains the first

treatise upon the subject of hunting that ever appeared from the press.

It is however evidently compiled from the two tracts above mentioned,

notwithstanding the legendary authority of Sir Tristram, quoted in

the beginning. The Book of St. Albans is said to have been written by

Juliana Barnes, or Berners, the sister of lord Berners, and prioress

of the nunnery of Sopewell, about the year 1481, and was printed soon

afterwards. This book contains two other tracts, the one on hawking,

and the other on heraldry. It has been reprinted several times, and

under different titles, with some additions and amendments, but the

general information is the same.

XIV.--NAMES OF BEASTS OF SPORT.

Twici introduces the subject with a kind of poetical prologue, in which

he gives us the names of the animals to be pursued; and these are

divided into three classes.

The first class contains four, which, we are informed, may be properly

called beasts for hunting; namely, the hare, the hart, the wolf, and

the wild boar.[172]

The second class contains the names of the beasts of the chase, and

they are five; that is to say, the buck, the doe, the fox, the martin,

and the roe.[173]

In the third class we find three, that are said to afford "greate

dysporte" in the pursuit, and they are denominated, the grey or badger,

the wild-cat and the otter.

Most of the books upon hunting agree in the number and names of the

first class; but respecting the second and third they are not so clear.

The beasts of the chase in some are more multifarious, and divided into

two classes: the first called beasts of sweet flight, are the buck,

the doe, the bear, the rein deer, the elk, and the spytard, which, as

the author himself informs us, is a hart one hundred years old. In the

second class, are placed the fulimart, the fitchat, or fitch, the cat,

the grey, the fox, the wesel, the martin, the squirrel, the white rat,

the otter, the stoat, and the pole-cat; and these are said to be beasts

of stinking flight.[174]

XV.--WOLVES.

The reader may possibly be surprised, when he casts his eye over the

foregoing list of animals for hunting, at seeing the names of several

that do not exist at this time in England, and especially of the

wolf, because he will readily recollect the story so commonly told of

their destruction during the reign of Edgar. It is generally admitted

that Edgar gave up the fine of gold and silver imposed by his uncle

Athelstan, upon Constantine the king of Wales, and claimed in its stead

the annual production of three hundred wolves' skins; because, say the

historians, the extensive woodlands and coverts, abounding at that time

in Britain, afforded shelter for the wolves, which were exceedingly

numerous, and especially in the districts bordering upon Wales. By

this prudent expedient, add they, in less than four years the whole

island was cleared from those ferocious animals, without putting his

subjects to the least expense; but, if this record be taken in its full

latitude, and the supposition established, that the wolves were totally

exterminated in Britain during the reign of Edgar, more will certainly

be admitted than is consistent with the truth, as certain documents

clearly prove.

The words of William of Malmsbury relative to wolves in Edgar's time

are to this purport. "He, Edgar, imposed a tribute upon the king of

Wales exacting yearly three hundred wolves. This tribute continued to

be paid for three years, but ceased upon the fourth, because _nullum se

ulterius posse invenire professus_; it was said that he could not find

anymore;"[175] that is, in Wales, for it can hardly be supposed that he

was permitted to hunt them out of his own dominions.

As respects the existence of wolves in England afterwards, and till a

much later period; it appears, that in the tenth year of William I.

Robert de Umfranville, knight, held the lordship, &c. of Riddlesdale,

in the county of Northumberland, by service of defending that part of

the country from enemies and "wolves."[176] Also in the forty-third

year of Edward III. Thomas Engaine held lands in Pitchley, in the

county of Northampton, by service of finding at his own cost certain

dogs for the destruction of wolves, foxes, &c. in the counties of

Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and Buckingham.[177] As late as

the eleventh year of Henry VI. Sir Robert Plumpton held one bovate of

land, in the county of Nottingham, called Wolf hunt land, by service of

winding a horn, and chasing or frighting the wolves in the forest of

Shirewood.[178]

XVI.--DOGS OF THE CHASE.

In the manuscripts before mentioned we find the following names for the

dogs employed in the sports of the field; that is to say, raches, or

hounds; running hounds, or harriers, to chase hares; and greyhounds,

which were favourite dogs with the sportsmen; alauntes, or bull-dogs,

these were chiefly used for hunting the boar; the mastiff is also said

to be "a good hounde" for hunting the wild boar; the spaniel was of

use in hawking; "hys crafte," says the author, "is for the perdrich

or patridge, and the quaile; and, when taught to couch, he is very

serviceable to the fowlers, who take those birds with nets." There

must, I presume, have been a vast number of other kinds of dogs known

in England at this period; these, however, are all that the early

writers, upon the subject of hunting, have thought proper to

enumerate. In the sixteenth century the list is enlarged; besides those

already named, we find bastards and mongrels, lemors, kenets, terrours,

butcher's hounds, dunghill dogs, trindel-tail'd dogs, "pryckereard"

curs, and ladies small puppies.[179]

There formerly existed a very cruel law, which subjected all the dogs

that were found in the royal chases and forests, excepting such as

belonged to privileged persons, to be maimed by having the left claw

cut from their feet, unless they were redeemed by a fine; this law

probably originated with the Normans, and certainly was in force in the

reign of Henry I.[180]

XVII.--DIFFERENT MODES OF HUNTING.

Several methods of hunting were practised by the sportsmen of this

kingdom, as well on horseback as on foot. Sometimes this exercise

took place in the open country; sometimes in woods and thickets; and

sometimes in parks, chases, and forests, where the game was usually

enclosed with a haye or fence-work of netting, supported by posts

driven into the ground for that purpose. The manner of hunting at large

needs no description; but, as the method of killing game within the

enclosures is now totally laid aside, it may not be amiss to give the

reader some idea how it was performed, and particularly when the king

with the nobility were present at the sport. All the preparations and

ceremonies necessary upon the occasion are set down at large in the

manuscript made for the use of prince Henry, mentioned before;[181] the

substance of which is as follows.

When the king should think proper to hunt the hart in the parks or

forests, either with bows or greyhounds, the master of the game, and

the park-keeper, or the forester, being made acquainted with his

pleasure, was to see that every thing be provided necessary for the

purpose. It was the duty of the sheriff of the county, wherein the

hunting was to be performed, to furnish fit stabling for the king's

horses, and carts to take away the dead game. The hunters and officers

under the forester, with their assistants, were commanded to erect a

sufficient number of temporary buildings[182] for the reception of the

royal family and their train; and, if I understand my author clearly,

these buildings were directed to be covered with green boughs,[183]

to answer the double purpose of shading the company and the hounds

from the heat of the sun, and to protect them from any inconveniency

in case of foul weather. Early in the morning, upon the day appointed

for the sport, the master of the game, with the officers deputed by

him, was to see that the greyhounds were properly placed, and the

person nominated to blow the horn, whose office was to watch what

kind of game was turned out, and, by the manner of winding his horn,

signify the same to the company, that they might be prepared for its

reception upon its quitting the cover. Proper persons were then to be

appointed, at different parts of the enclosure, to keep the populace

at due distance. The yeomen of the king's bow, and the grooms of his

tutored greyhounds,[184] had in charge to secure the king's standing,

and prevent any noise being made to disturb the game before the arrival

of his majesty. When the royal family and the nobility were conducted

to the places appointed for their reception, the master of the game,

or his lieutenant, sounded three long mootes, or blasts with the horn,

for the uncoupling of the hart hounds. The game was then driven from

the cover, and turned by the huntsmen and the hounds so as to pass by

the stands belonging to the king and queen, and such of the nobility as

were permitted to have a share in the pastime; who might either shoot

at them with their bows, or pursue them with the greyhounds, at their

pleasure. We are then informed that the game which the king, the queen,

or the prince or princesses, slew with their own bows, or particularly

commanded to be let run, was not liable to any claim by the huntsmen or

their attendants; but of all the rest that was killed they had certain

parts assigned to them by the master of the game, according to the

ancient custom.

This arrangement was for a royal hunting, but similar preparations

were made upon like occasions for the sport of the great barons and

dignified clergy. Their tenants sometimes held lands of them by the

service of finding men to enclose the grounds, and drive the deer to

the stands whenever it pleased their lords to hunt them.[185]

XVIII.--HUNTING TERMS--SEASONS FOR HUNTING.

There was a peculiar kind of language invented by the sportsmen of the

middle ages, which it was necessary for every lover of the chase to be

acquainted with.

When beasts went together in companies, there was said to be a pride

of lions; a lepe of leopards; an herd of harts, of bucks, and of all

sorts of deer; a bevy of roes; a sloth of bears; a singular of boars;

a sownder of wild swine; a dryft of tame swine; a route of wolves; a

harras of horses; a rag of colts; a stud of mares; a pace of asses;

a baren of mules; a team of oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep;

a tribe of goats; a sculk of foxes; a cete of badgers; a richess of

martins; a fesynes of ferrets; a huske or a down of hares; a nest of

rabbits; a clowder of cats, and a kendel of young cats; a shrewdness of

apes; and a labour of moles.

And also, of animals when they retired to rest; a hart was said to be

harbored, a buck lodged, a roebuck bedded, a hare formed, a rabbit set,

&c.

Two greyhounds were called a brace, three a leash, but two spaniels

or harriers were called a couple. We have also a mute of hounds for a

number, a kenel of raches, a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of curs.

It is well worthy notice, that this sort of phraseology was not

confined to birds and beasts, and other parts of the brute creation,

but it was extended to the various ranks and professions of men, as the

specimen, which I cannot help adding, will sufficiently demonstrate;

the application of some of them, will, I trust, be thought apt enough:--

A state of princes; a skulk of friars; a skulk of thieves; an

observance of hermits; a lying of pardoners; a subtiltie of serjeants;

an untruth of sompners; a multiplying of husbands; an incredibility

of cuckolds; a safeguard of porters; a stalk of foresters; a blast

of hunters; a draught of butlers; a temperance of cooks; a melody of

harpers; a poverty of pipers; a drunkenship of coblers; a disguising of

taylors; a wandering of tinkers; a malepertness of pedlars; a fighting

of beggars; a rayful, (that is, a netful,) of knaves; a blush of boys;

a bevy of ladies; a nonpatience of wives; a gagle of women; a gagle

of geese; a superfluity of nuns; and a herd of harlots. Similar terms

were applied to inanimate things, as a caste of bread, a cluster of

grapes, a cluster of nuts, &c.

I shall now conclude this long, and, I fear, tedious chapter with "the

seasons for alle sortes of venery;" and the ancient books upon hunting,

seem to be agreed upon this point.

The "time of grace" begins at Midsummer, and lasteth to Holyrood-day.

The fox may be hunted from the Nativity to the Annunciation of our

Lady;[186] the roebuck from Easter to Michaelmas; the roe from

Michaelmas to Candlemas; the hare from Michaelmas to Midsummer; the

wolf as the fox; and the boar from the Nativity to the Purification of

our Lady.

CHAPTER II.

I. Hawking practised by the Nobility.--II. Its Origin not well

known;--A favourite Amusement with the Saxons.--III. Romantic

Story relative to Hawking.--IV. Grand Falconer of France, his

State and Privileges.--V. Edward III. partial to Hawking;--Sir

Thomas Jermin.--VI. Ladies fond of Hawking.--VII. Its

Decline.--VIII. How it was performed.--IX. Embellishments of the

Hawk.--X. Treatises concerning Hawking;--Superstitious Cure of

Hawks.--XI. Laws respecting Hawks.--XII. Their great Value.--XIII.

The different Species of Hawks, and their Appropriation.--XIV.

Terms used in Hawking.--XV. Fowling and Fishing;--The Stalking

Horse;--Lowbelling.

I.--HAWKING BY THE NOBILITY.

Hawking, or the art of training and flying of hawks, for the purpose

of catching other birds, is very frequently called falconry or

fauconry; and the person who had the care of the hawks is denominated

the falconer, but never I believe the hawker. The sport is generally

placed at the head of those amusements that can only be practised in

the country, and probably it obtained this precedency from its being

a pastime so generally followed by the nobility, not in this country

only, but also upon the continent. Persons of high rank rarely appeared

without their dogs and their hawks; the latter they carried with them

when they journeyed from one country to another,[187] and sometimes

even when they went to battle, and would not part with them to procure

their own liberty when taken prisoners. Sometimes they formed part

of the train of an ecclesiastic.[188] These birds were considered as

ensigns of nobility: and no action could be reckoned more dishonourable

to a man of rank than to give up his hawk.[189] The ancient English

illuminators have uniformly distinguished the portrait of king Stephen

by giving him a hawk upon his hand, to signify, I presume, by that

symbol, that he was nobly, though not royally born.[190]

Sebastian Brant, a native of Germany, the author of a work entitled

Stultifera Navis, the Ship of Fools, published towards the conclusion

of the fifteenth century, accuses his countrymen of bringing their

hawks and hounds into the churches, and interrupting the divine

service; which indecency he severely reprobates and with the greatest

justice. The passage is thus translated by Alexander Barclay:[191]

Into the church then comes another sotte,

Withouten devotion, jetting up and down,

Or to be seene, and showe his garded cote.

Another on his fiste a sparhawke or fawcone,

Or else a cokow; wasting so his shone;

Before the aulter he to and fro doth wander,

With even as great devotion as doth a gander.

In comes another, his houndes at his tayle,

With lynes and leases, and other like baggage;

His dogges barke, so that withouten fayle,

The whole church is troubled by their outrage.

II.--ORIGIN OF HAWKING.

I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earlier period than the

middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about that

time, is the first Latin author that speaks of falconers, and the art

of teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others.[192]

Pliny is thought to have attributed a sport of this kind to the

inhabitants of a certain district in Thrace, but his words are too

obscure for much dependance to be placed upon them.[193] An English

writer, upon what authority I know not, says, that hawking was first

invented and practised by Frederic Barbarossa, when he besieged

Rome.[194] It appears, however, to be very certain that this amusement

was discovered abroad, where it became fashionable, some time before

it was known in this country: the period of its introduction cannot

be clearly determined; but, about, the middle of the eighth century,

Winifred, or Boniface, archbishop of Mons, who was himself a native

of England, presented to Ethelbert, king of Kent, one hawk and two

falcons; and a king of the Mercians requested the same Winifred to

send to him two falcons that had been trained to kill cranes.[195]

In the succeeding century, the sport was very highly esteemed by the

Anglo-Saxon nobility; and the training and flying of hawks became one

of the essentials in the education of a young man of rank. Alfred

the great is commended for his early proficiency in this, as well

as in other fashionable amusements;[196] he is even said to have

written a treatise upon the subject of hawking, but there is no such

work at present in existence, that can with any degree of certainty

be attributed to him. The pastime of hawking must, no doubt, at this

period, have been very generally followed, to call for the prohibition

inserted in a charter granted to the Abbey of Abington, by Kenulph,

king of the Mercians; which restrains all persons from carrying of

hawks, and thereby trespassing upon the lands belonging to the monks

who resided therein.[197] This amusement continued to be a fashionable

one to the end of the Saxon æra. Byrhtric, a Saxon nobleman, who died

towards the end of the tenth century, among other valuable articles,

left by will, to earl Ælfric, two hawks, and all his heaꝺoꞃ hunꝺaꞅ

which Lambarde renders hedge-hounds; spaniels, I suppose, for the

purpose of flushing the game.[198] We have already seen that Edward the

confessor was highly pleased with the sports of the field, and pursued

them constantly every day, allotting the whole of his leisure time to

hunting or hawking.[199]

III.--ROMANTIC STORY RELATIVE TO HAWKING.

The monkish writers, after the conquest, not readily accounting for the

first coming of the Danes, or for the cruelties that they committed

in this country, have assigned several causes; and, among others,

the following story is related, which, if it might be depended upon,

would prove that the pastime of hawking was practised by the nobility

of Denmark at a very early period; such a supposition has at least

probability on its side, even if it should not be thought to derive

much strength from the authority of this narrative.

A Danish chieftain, of high rank, some say of royal blood, named

Lothbroc, amusing himself with his hawk near sea, upon the western

coasts of Denmark, the bird, in pursuit of her game, fell into the

water; Lothbroc, anxious for her safety, got into a little boat that

was near at hand, and rowed from the shore to take her up, but before

he could return to the land, a sudden storm arose, and he was driven

out to sea. After suffering great hardship, during a voyage of

infinite peril, he reached the coast of Norfolk, and landed at a port

called Rodham: he was immediately seized by the inhabitants, and sent

to the court of Edmund, king of the East Angles; when that monarch was

made acquainted with the occasion of his coming, he received him very

favourably, and soon became particularly attached to him, on account

of his great skill in the training and flying of hawks. The partiality

which Edmund manifested for this unfortunate stranger, excited the

jealousy of Beoric, the king's falconer, who took an opportunity of

murdering the Dane, whilst he was exercising of his birds in the midst

of a wood, and secreted the body: which was soon afterwards discovered

by the vigilance of a favourite spaniel. Beoric was apprehended, and,

it seems, convicted of the murder; for he was condemned to be put into

an open boat (some say the very boat in which the Danish chieftain

came to England) without oars, mast, or rudder, and in that condition

abandoned to the mercy of the ocean. It so chanced, that the boat was

wafted to the very point of land that Lothbroc came from; and Beoric,

escaped from the danger of the waves, was apprehended by the Danes, and

taken before two of the chieftains of the country, named Hinguar and

Hubba; who were both of them the sons of Lothbroc. The crafty falconer

soon learned this circumstance, and, in order to acquire their favour,

made them acquainted with the murder of their father, which he affirmed

was executed at the command of king Edmund, and that he himself had

suffered the hardship at sea, from which he had been delivered by

reaching the shore, because he had the courage to oppose the king's

order, and endeavoured to save the life of the Danish nobleman. Incited

by this abominable falsehood to revenge the murder of their father, by

force of arms, they invaded the kingdom of the East Angles, pillaged

the country, and having taken the king prisoner, caused him to be tied

to a stake, and shot to death with arrows.

This narration bears upon the face of it the genuine marks of a

legendary tale. Lidgate, a monk of Saint Edmund's Bury, has given it a

place, with the addition of several miraculous circumstances, in his

poetical life of king Edmund, who was the tutelar saint of the abbey to

which he belonged.[200] On the other hand, every one who is acquainted

with the history of the Anglo-Saxons must know, that the Danish pirates

had infested the coasts of England, and committed many dreadful

depredations, long before the time assigned for the above event; and

the success of the first parties encouraged others to make the like

attempts.

IV.--GRAND FALCONER OF FRANCE.

Hawking is often mentioned, says a modern author, in the capitularies

of the eighth and ninth centuries. The grand fauconnier of France was

an officer of great eminence; his annual salary was four thousand

florins; he was attended by fifty gentlemen, and fifty assistant

falconers; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks, he licensed

every vender of hawks in France, and received a tax upon every bird

sold in that kingdom, and even within the verge of the court; and the

king never rode out upon any occasion of consequence without this

officer attending upon him.[201]

In Doomsday-book, a hawk's airy[202] is returned among the most

valuable articles of property; which proves the high estimation these

birds were held in at the commencement of the Norman government; and

probably some establishment, like that above mentioned, was made for

the royal falconer in England.

V.--FONDNESS OF EDWARD III. &c. FOR HAWKING.

Edward III., according to Froissart, had with him in his army when he

invaded France, thirty falconers on horseback, who had charge of his

hawks;[203] and every day he either hunted, or went to the river[204]

for the purpose of hawking, as his fancy inclined him. From the

frequent mention that is made of hawking by the water-side, not only

by the historians, but also by the romance writers of the middle ages,

I suppose that the pursuit of water-fowls afforded the most diversion.

The author last quoted, speaking of the earl of Flanders, says, he was

always at the river,[205] where his falconer cast off one falcon after

the heron, and the earl another. In the poetical romance of the "Squire

of low Degree," the king of Hungary promises his daughter, that, at her

return from hunting, she should hawk by the river-side, with gos hawk,

gentle falcon, and other well-tutored birds;[206] so also Chaucer, in

the rhime of sir Thopas, says that he could hunt the wild deer,

And ryde on haukynge by the ryver,

With grey gos hawke in hande.[207]

An anonymous writer, of the seventeenth century, records the following

anecdote: "Sir Thomas Jermin, going out with his servants, and brooke

hawkes one evening, at Bury,[208] they were no sooner abroad, but fowle

were found, and he called out to one of his falconers, Off with your

jerkin: the fellow being into the wind[209] did not heare him; at which

he stormed, and still cried out, Off with your jerkin, you knave, off

with your jerkin: now it fell out that there was, at that instant, a

plaine townsman of Bury, in a freeze jerkin, stood betwixt him and his

falconer, who seeing sir Thomas in such a rage, and thinking he had

spoken to him, unbuttoned himself amaine, threw off his jerkin, and

besought his worshippe not to be offended, for he would off with his

doublet too, to give him content."[210]

[Illustration: 6. SAXON HAWKING--IX. CENTURY.]

This engraving represents a Saxon nobleman and his falconer, with their

hawks, upon the bank of a river, waiting for the rising of the game.

The delineation is from a Saxon manuscript written at the close of

the ninth century, or at the commencement of the tenth; in the Cotton

Library.[211] Another drawing upon the same subject, with a little

variation, occurs in a Saxon manuscript, somewhat more modern.[212] The

two following engravings are from drawings in a manuscript, written

early in the fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal Library.[213]

We see a party of both sexes hawking by the water side; the falconer

is frightening the fowls to make their rise, and the hawk is in the

act of seizing upon one of them.[214]

[Illustration: 7. HAWKING--XIV. CENTURY.]

[Illustration: 8. LADIES HAWKING--XIV. CENTURY.]

VI.--FONDNESS OF LADIES AND THE CLERGY FOR HAWKING.

We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied the

gentlemen in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by

themselves; and, if we may believe a contemporary writer,[215] in

the thirteenth century, they even excelled the men in knowledge and

exercise of the art of falconry, which reason, he very ungallantly

produces, in proof that the pastime was frivolous and effeminate.

Hawking was forbidden to the clergy by the canons of the church; but

the prohibition was by no means sufficient to restrain them from the

pursuit of this favourite and fashionable amusement. On which account,

as well as for hunting, they were severely lashed by the poets and

moralists; and, indeed, the one was rarely spoken of without the other

being included; for those who delighted in hawking were generally

proficients in hunting also.[216]

VII.--DECLINE OF HAWKING.

The practice of hawking declined, from the moment the musket was

brought to perfection, which pointing out a method more ready and

more certain of procuring game, and, at the same time, affording an

equal degree of air and exercise, the immense expense of training, and

maintaining of hawks became altogether unnecessary; it was therefore no

wonder that the assistance of the gun superseded that of the bird; or

that the art of hawking, when rendered useless, should be laid aside.

Its fall was very rapid. Hentzner, who wrote his Itinerary A. D. 1598,

assures us that hawking was the general sport of the English nobility;

at the same time, most of the best treatises upon this subject were

written. At the commencement of the seventeenth century, it seems to

have been in the zenith of its glory. At the close of the same century,

the sport was rarely practised, and a few years afterwards hardly known.

VIII.--METHOD OF HAWKING.

Hawking was performed on horseback, or on foot, as occasion required.

On horseback, when in the fields, and open country; and on foot, when

in the woods and coverts. In following the hawk on foot, it was usual

for the sportsman to have a stout pole with him, to assist him in

leaping over little rivulets and ditches, which might otherwise prevent

him in his progress; and this we learn from an historical fact related

by Hall; who informs us, that Henry VIII. pursuing his hawk on foot, at

Hitchen in Hertfordshire, attempted, with the assistance of his pole,

to jump over a ditch that was half full of muddy water, the pole broke,

and the king fell with his head into the mud, where he would have been

stifled had not a footman, named John Moody, who was near at hand, and

seeing the accident, leaped into the ditch, and released his majesty

from his perilous situation; "and so," says the honest historian, "God

of hys goodnesse preserved him."[217]

IX.--CAPARISON OF A HAWK.

When the hawk was not flying at her game, she was usually hood-winked,

with a cap or hood provided for that purpose, and fitted to her head;

and this hood was worn abroad, as well as at home. All hawks taken

upon "the fist," the term used for carrying them upon the hand, had

straps of leather called jesses, put about their legs. The jesses were

made sufficiently long for the knots to appear between the middle and

the little fingers of the hand that held them, so that the lunes, or

small thongs of leather, might be fastened to them with two tyrrits,

or rings; and the lunes were loosely wound round the little finger.

It appears that sometimes the jesses were of silk. Lastly, their legs

were adorned with bells, fastened with rings of leather, each leg

having one; and the leathers, to which the bells were attached, were

denominated bewits; and to the bewits was added the creance, or long

thread, by which the bird in tutoring, was drawn back, after she had

been permitted to fly; and this was called the reclaiming of the hawk.

The bewits, we are informed, were useful to keep the hawk from "winding

when she bated," that is, when she fluttered her wings to fly after her

game.

Respecting the bells, it is particularly recommended that they should

not be too heavy, to impede the flight of the bird; and that they

should be of equal weight, sonorous, shrill, and musical; not both of

one sound, but the one a semitone below the other;[218] they ought

not to be broken, especially in the sounding part, because, in that

case, the sound emitted would be dull and unpleasing. There is, says

the Book of Saint Albans, great choice of sparrow-hawk bells, and they

are cheap enough; but for gos-hawk bells, those made at Milan are

called the best; and, indeed, they are excellent; for they are commonly

sounded with silver, and charged for accordingly. But we have good

bells brought from Dordreght (Dort), which are well paired, and produce

a very shrill, but pleasant sound.

I am told, that silver being mixed with the metal when the bells are

cast, adds much to the sweetness of the tone; and hence probably the

allusion of Shakespear, when he says,

How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues by night.

I cannot help adding in this place a passage from an old play, written

by Thomas Heywood; wherein one of the characters, speaking of a hawk

flying, says

Her bels, Sir Francis, had not both one waight.

Nor was one semitune above the other.

Mei thinkes these Millane bels do sound too full,

And spoile the mounting of your hawke.[219]

So much for the birds themselves; but the person who carried the hawk

was also to be provided with gloves for that purpose, to prevent their

talons from hurting his hand. In the inventories of apparel belonging

to king Henry VIII. such articles frequently occur; at Hampton Court,

in the jewel house, were seven hawkes' gloves embroidered.[220]

X.--EARLY TREATISES ON HAWKING--SUPERSTITIOUS CURE OF HAWKS.

We have a poetical fragment, written in old Norman French, as early as

the thirteenth century, containing some general observations respecting

the management of hawks, which the author informs us he found in a book

made for, or by, the good king Edward.[221] Wanley, in his catalogue of

the Harleian manuscripts, suspects there is some mistake in the name;

and that this fragment is really part of a treatise upon hawking, which

he tells us was written by king Alfred; but I rather think the author

is correct in this particular; for another manuscript[222] in English,

and about a century more modern, treating upon the same subject, has

the following indication at the close, "Here endith the booke of

haukyng, after Prince Edwarde, kynge of Englande." It appears to me,

that the original treatise referred to by both the above authors,

should be attributed to Edward the confessor; not perhaps written by

him, but at his command; which supposition is partly justified by the

extreme partiality he had for this diversion.[223]

In the last-mentioned manuscript we find not only the general rules

relative to hawking, but an account of the diseases incident to the

birds themselves, and the medicines proper to be administered to them

upon such occasions. I shall only mention the following superstitious

ceremonies: after a hawk has been ill, and is sufficiently recovered

to pursue the game, the owner has this admonition given to him; "On

the morrow tyde, when thou goest oute to haukyng, say, In the name of

the Lord, the birds of heaven shall be beneath thy feet: also, if he

be hurt by the heron, say, The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of

David, has conquered; Hallelujah: and if he be bitte of any man, say,

He that the wicked man doth bind, the Lord at his coming shall set

free."[224] These sentences, I suppose, were considered as charms, but

how far they operated, I shall leave the reader to judge; the coupling

of texts of scripture with such an amusement, seems also in favour of

the supposition that the book was composed for the monkish monarch,

Edward the confessor.

XI.--LAWS RESPECTING HAWKING.

No persons but such as were of the highest rank were permitted under

the Norman government to keep hawks, as appears from a clause inserted

in the Forest Charter: this charter king John was compelled to sign;

and by it the privilege was given to every free man to have airies

of hawks, sparrow-hawks, falcons, eagles, and herons in his own

woods.[225] In the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Edward III. a

statute was made, by which a person finding a falcon, tercelet, laner,

laneret, or any other species of hawk, that had been lost by its owner,

was commanded to carry the same to the sheriff of the county wherein

it was found; the duty of the sheriff was to cause a proclamation to

be made in all the principal towns of the county, that he had such a

hawk in his custody, and that the nobleman to whom it belonged, or his

falconer, might ascertain the same to be his property, and have it

restored to him, he first paying the costs that had been incurred by

the sheriff; and, if in the space of four months no claimant appeared,

it became the property of the finder, if he was a person of rank,

upon his paying the costs to the sheriff; on the contrary, if he was

an unqualified man, the hawk belonged to the sheriff: but the person

who found it was to be rewarded for his trouble. If the person who

found the hawk concealed the same from the owner or his falconer, he

was liable upon discovery to pay the price of the bird to the owner,

and to suffer two years' imprisonment; and if he was unable to pay

the fine, his imprisonment was extended to a longer term.[226] In the

thirty-seventh year of the same monarch this act was confirmed, with

additional severity; and the stealing and concealing of a hawk, was

made felony.[227] In the same reign the bishop of Ely excommunicated

certain persons for stealing a hawk that was sitting upon her perch in

the cloisters of Bermondsey, in Southwark; but this piece of sacrilege

was committed during divine service in the choir, and the hawk was the

property of the bishop.[228]

In the reign of Henry VII. a restrictive act was established,

prohibiting any man from bearing a hawk bred in England, called a

nyesse,[229] a gos-hawk, a tassel, a laner, a laneret, or a falcon,

upon pain of forfeiting the same to the king, but that he should use

such hawks as were brought from abroad;[230] what good purpose this

ordinance was to promote, I am at a loss to say. The laws respecting

these birds were frequently varied in the succeeding times, and

the alterations seem, in some instances, to have been exceedingly

capricious.

As the hawk was a bird so highly esteemed by the nobility of England,

there will be no wonder if we find the royal edicts established for the

preservation of their eggs; accordingly, in the eleventh year of Henry

VII. it was decreed, that if any person was convicted of taking from

the nests, or destroying the eggs of a falcon, a gos-hawk, a laner, or

a swan, he should suffer imprisonment for one year and one day, and be

liable to a fine at the king's pleasure; one half of which belonged to

the crown, and the other half to the owner of the ground whereon the

eggs were found; and, if a man destroyed the same sort of eggs upon his

own ground, he was equally subject to the penalty.[231] This act was

somewhat meliorated in the reign of Elizabeth, and the imprisonment

reduced to three months: but then the offender was obligated to find

security for his good behaviour for seven years, or remain in prison

until he did.

XII.--VALUE OF HAWKS.

The severity of the above-mentioned laws may probably excite the

surprise of such of my readers, as are not informed how highly this

kind of birds was formerly appreciated. At the commencement of the

seventeenth century, we find, that a gos-hawk and a tassel-hawk were

sold for one hundred marks, which was a large sum in those days; and

the price is by no means mentioned as singular or extravagant; for, on

the contrary, an author, Edmund Best, who published a treatise upon

hawks and hawking, printed at London, 1619, and who himself trained and

sold them, insinuates, that the parting from the birds was considered

as a favour: and no doubt it was so, if the hawks in training required

such incredible pains and watchfulness, both by night and by day, as

he declares are absolutely necessary. And upon this account such as

were properly trained and exercised were esteemed presents worthy the

acceptance of a king or an emperor. In the eighth year of the reign of

Edward III. the king of Scotland sent him a falcon gentle as a present,

which he not only most graciously received, but rewarded the falconer

who brought it with the donation of forty shillings; a proof how

highly the bird was valued.[232] It is further said, that in the reign

of James I. Sir Thomas Monson gave one thousand pounds for a cast of

hawks. A cast of hawks of toure, says an old book on hawking, signifies

two, and a lese three.

XIII.--DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HAWKS.

The books of hawking assign to the different ranks of persons the

sort of hawks proper to be used by them: and they are placed in the

following order--

The eagle, the vulture, and the merloun, for an emperor.

The ger-faulcon, and the tercel of the ger-faulcon, for a king.

The faulcon gentle, and the turcel gentle, for a prince.

The faulcon of the rock, for a duke.

The faulcon peregrine, for an earl.

The bastard, for a baron.

The sacre, and the sacret, for a knight.

The lanere, and the laneret, for an esquire.

The marlyon, for a lady.

The hobby, for a young man.[233]

The gos-hawk, for a yeoman.

The tercel, for a poor man.

The sparrow-hawk, for a priest.

The musket, for a holy water clerk.

The kesterel, for a knave or servant.

This list includes, I presume, the greater part, if not all, of

the names appertaining to the birds used in hawking. The Mews at

Charing-cross, Westminster, is so called, from the word mew, which in

the falconers' language, is the name of a place wherein the hawks are

put at the moulting time, when they cast their feathers. The king's

hawks were kept at this place as early as the year 1377, an. 1 Richard

II.; but A. D. 1537, the 27th year of Henry VIII., it was converted

into stables for that monarch's horses, and the hawks were removed.[234]

XIV.--TERMS USED IN HAWKING.

As in hunting, so in hawking, the sportsmen had their peculiar

impressions, and therefore the tyro in the art of falconry is

recommended to learn the following arrangement of terms as they were

to be applied to the different kinds of birds assembled in companies.

A sege of herons, and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes, and

of curlews; a dopping of sheldrakes;[235] a spring of teels; a covert

of cootes; a gaggle of geese; a badelynge of ducks; a sord or sute of

mallards; a muster of peacocks; a nye of pheasants; a bevy of quails;

a covey of partridges; a congregation of plovers; a flight of doves; a

dule of turtles; a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; a brood of

hens; a building of rooks; a murmuration of starlings; an exaltation

of larks; a flight of swallows; a host of sparrows; a watch of

nightingales; and a charm of goldfinches.

XV.--FOWLING AND FISHING--THE STALKING HORSE--LOWBELLING.

The arts of Fowling and Fishing are usually added to the more modern

treatises upon hunting and hawking. I shall select a few observations

that occur respecting the former; but with regard to the latter, I have

not met with any particulars sufficiently deviating from the present

methods of taking fish to claim a place in this work.

Fowling, says Burton, may be performed with guns, lime-twigs, nets,

glades, gins, strings, baits, pit-falls, pipe-calls, stalking horses,

setting dogs, and decoy ducks; or with chaff-nets for smaller

birds;[236] there may also be added bows and arrows, which answered the

purpose of guns before they were invented and brought to perfection.

The Stalking Horse, originally, was a horse trained for the purpose and

covered with trappings, so as to conceal the sportsman from the game

he intended to shoot at. It was particularly useful to the archer, by

affording him an opportunity of approaching the birds unseen by them,

so near that his arrows might easily reach them; but as this method

was frequently inconvenient, and often impracticable, the fowler had

recourse to art, and caused a canvass figure to be stuffed, and painted

like a horse grazing, but sufficiently light, that it might be moved

at pleasure with one hand. These deceptions were also made in the form

of oxen, cows, and stags, either for variety, or for conveniency sake.

In the inventories of the wardrobes, belonging to king Henry VIII., we

frequently find the allowance of certain quantities of stuff for the

purpose of making "stalking coats, and stalking hose for the use of his

majesty."[237]

There is also another method of fowling, which, says my author, for

I will give it nearly in his own words, is performed with nets, and

in the night time; and the darker the night the better.--"This sport

we call in England, most commonly bird-batting, and some call it

lowbelling; and the use of it is to go with a great light of cressets,

or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make a good light; and

you must have a pan or plate made like a lanthorn, to carry your light

in, which must have a great socket to hold the light, and carry it

before you, on your breast, with a bell in your other hand, and of a

great bigness, made in the manner of a cow-bell, but still larger; and

you must ring it always after one order.--If you carry the bell, you

must have two companions with nets, one on each side of you; and what

with the bell, and what with the light, the birds will be so amazed,

that when you come near them, they will turn up their white bellies:

your companions shall then lay their nets quietly upon them, and take

them. But you must continue to ring the bell; for, if the sound shall

cease, the other birds, if there be any more near at hand, will rise up

and fly away."--"This is," continues the author, "an excellent method

to catch larks, woodcocks, partridges, and all other land birds."[238]

The pipe-call, mentioned by Burton, is noticed under a different

denomination by Chaucer; "Lo," says he, "the birde is begyled with

the merry voice of the foulers' whistel, when it is closed in your

nette,"--alluding to the deceptive art of the bird-catchers in his

time.[239]

I shall just observe, that there are twelve prints, published by John

Overton, upon the popular subjects of hunting, hawking, and fishing,

&c. engraved by Hollar, from designs by Francis Barlow, which perfectly

exemplify the manner in which those pastimes were practised, somewhat

more than a century back.

CHAPTER III.

I. Horse-racing known to the Saxons.--II. Races in Smithfield,

and why.--III. Races, at what Seasons practised.--IV. The Chester

Races.--V. Stamford Races.--VI. Value of Running-horses.--VII.

Highly prized by the Poets, &c.--VIII. Horse-racing commended as a

liberal Pastime.--IX. Charles II. and other Monarchs Encouragers

of Horse-racing;--Races on Coleshill-heath.

I.--HORSE-RACING KNOWN TO THE SAXONS.

It was requisite in former times for a man of fashion to understand the

nature and properties of horses, and to ride well; or, using the words

of an old romance writer, "to runne horses and to approve them."[240]

In proportion to the establishment of this maxim, swift running-horses

of course rose into estimation; and we know that in the ninth century

they were considered as presents well worthy the acceptance of kings

and princes.

When Hugh, the head of the house of the Capets, afterwards monarchs

of France, solicited the hand of Edelswitha, the sister of Athelstan,

he sent to that prince, among other valuable presents, several

running-horses,[241] with their saddles and their bridles, the latter

being embellished with bits of yellow gold. It is hence concluded, and

indeed with much appearance of truth, that horse-racing was known and

practised by the Anglo-Saxons, but most probably confined to persons of

rank and opulence, and practised only for amusement sake.

II.--RACES IN SMITHFIELD.

The first indication of a sport of this kind occurs in the description

of London, written by Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of Henry

II. He tells us, that horses were usually exposed for sale in West

Smithfield; and, in order to prove the excellency of the most valuable

hackneys and charging steeds, they were matched against each other; his

words are to this effect,[242] "When a race is to be run by this sort

of horses, and perhaps by others, which also in their kind are strong

and fleet, a shout is immediately raised, and the common horses are

ordered to withdraw out of the way. Three jockeys, or sometimes only

two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest; such

as being used to ride know how to manage their horses with judgment:

the grand point is, to prevent a competitor from getting before them.

The horses, on their part, are not without emulation, they tremble and

are impatient, and are continually in motion: at last the signal once

given, they strike, devour the course, hurrying along with unremitting

velocity. The jockeys, inspired with the thoughts of applause and the

hopes of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their

whips, and cheer them with their cries."

III.--HORSE-RACING SEASONS.

In the middle ages there were certain seasons of the year when the

nobility indulged themselves in running their horses and especially in

the Easter and Whitsuntide holidays. In the old metrical romance of

"Sir Bevis of Southampton,"[243] it is said,

In somer at Whitsontyde,

Whan knightes most on horsebacke ride;

A cours, let they make on a daye,

Steedes, and Palfraye, for to assaye;

Whiche horse, that best may ren,

Three myles the cours was then,

Who that might ryde him shoulde

Have forty pounds of redy golde.

Commenius in his vocabulary, entitled "Orbis Sensualium Pictus,"

published towards the conclusion of the sixteenth century, indeed says,

"At this day, tilting, or the quintain is used, where a ring is struck

with a truncheon, instead of horse-races, which," adds he, "are grown

out of use."

A writer of the seventeenth century[244] tells us, that horse-racing,

which had formerly been practised at Easter-tide, "was then put

down, as being contrary to the holiness of the season;" but for this

prohibition I have no further authority.

IV.--CHESTER RACES.

It is certain, that horse-races were held upon various holidays, at

different parts of the kingdom, and in preference to other pastimes.

"It had been customary," says a Chester antiquary,[245] "time out of

mind, upon Shrove Tuesday, for the company of saddlers belonging to the

city of Chester, to present to the drapers a wooden ball, embellished

with flowers, and placed upon the point of a lance; this ceremony was

performed in the presence of the mayor, at the cross in the 'Rodhee,'

or Roody, an open place near the city; but this year,"[246] continues

he, "the ball was changed into a bell of silver, valued at three

shillings and sixpence, or more, to be given to him who shall run

the best, and the farthest on horseback, before them upon the same

day."[247] These bells were afterwards denominated Saint George's

bells; and we are told that in the last year of James I. John Brereton,

inn-keeper, mayor of Chester, first caused the horses entered for

this race, then called Saint George's race, to start from the point,

beyond the new tower: and appointed them to run five times round the

Roody: "and he," says my author,[248] "who won the last course or

trayne, received the bell, of a good value, of eight or ten pounds, or

thereabout, and to have it for ever; which moneyes were collected of

the citizens, to a sum for that purpose."[249] By the author's having

added, that the winner at this race was to have the bell, and have it

for ever, is implied, that it had formerly been used as a temporary

mark of honour, by the successful horseman, and afterwards returned to

the corporation; this alteration was made April 23, A.D. 1624.

Here we see the commencement of a regular horse-race, but whether the

courses were in immediate succession, or at different intervals, is not

perfectly clear; we find not, however, the least indication of distance

posts, weighing the riders, loading them with weights, and many other

niceties that are observed in the present day. The Chester races were

instituted merely for amusement, but now such prodigious sums are

usually dependent upon the event of a horse-race, that these apparently

trivial matters, are become indispensably necessary. Forty-six years

afterwards,[250] according to the same writer, the sheriffs of Chester

"would have no calves-head feast, but put the charge of it into a

piece of plate, to be run for on that day, Shrove Tuesday; and the

high-sheriff borrowed a Barbary horse of sir Thomas Middleton, which

won him the plate; and being master of the race, he would not suffer

the horses of master Massey, of Puddington, and of sir Philip Egerton,

of Oulton, to run, because they came the day after the time prefixed

for the horses to be brought, and kept in the city; which thing caused

all the gentry to relinquish our races ever since."

V.--STAMFORD RACES.

Races something similar to those above mentioned, are described by

Butcher,[251] as practised in the vicinity of the town of Stamford,

in Lincolnshire. "A concourse," says he, "of noblemen and gentlemen

meet together, in mirth, peace, and amity, for the exercise of their

swift running-horses, every Thursday in March. The prize they run for

is a silver and gilt cup, with a cover, to the value of seven or eight

pounds, provided by the care of the alderman for the time being; but

the money is raised out of the interest of a stock formerly made up by

the nobility and gentry, which are neighbours, and well-wishers to the

town."

VI.--VALUE OF RUNNING-HORSES.

Running-horses are frequently mentioned in the registers of the royal

expenditures. It is notorious, that king John was so fond of swift

horses and dogs for the chase, that he received many of his fines in

the one or the other;[252] but at the same time it does not appear that

he used the horses for any purposes of pleasure, beyond the pursuits of

hunting, hawking, and such like sports of the field.

In the reign of Edward III. the running-horses purchased for the king's

service, were generally estimated at twenty marks, or thirteen pounds,

six shillings, and eightpence each; but some few of them were prized as

high as twenty-five marks.[253] I met with an entry, dated the ninth

year of this king's reign, which states, that the king of Navarre

sent him as a present two running-horses, which I presume were very

valuable, because he gave the person who brought them no less than one

hundred shillings for his reward.[254]

VII.--RUNNING-HORSES OF THE HEROES OF ROMANCE.

If we appeal to the poets, we shall find, that swift running-horses

were greatly esteemed by the heroes who figure in their romances; and

rated at prodigious prices; for instance, in an ancient poem,[255]

which celebrates the warlike actions of Richard I., it is said, that in

the camp of the emperor, as he is called, of Cyprus,

Too stedes fownde kinge Richarde,

Thatt oon favell, thatt other Lyard:

Yn this worlde, they hadde no pere;[256]

Dromedary, neither destrere,[257]

Stede, rabyte, ne cammele,[258]

Goeth none so swyfte without fayle

For a thousand pownd of golde,

Ne sholde the one be solde.

And though the rhymist may be thought to have claimed the poetical

licence for exaggeration, respecting the value of these two famous

steeds, the statement plainly indicates that in his time there were

horses very highly prized on account of their swiftness. We do not find

indeed, that they were kept for the purpose of racing only, as horses

are in the present day; but rather, as I before observed, for hunting

and other purposes of a similar nature; and also to be used by heralds

and messengers in cases of urgency.

Race-horses were prized on account of their breed, in the time of

Elizabeth, as appears from the following observations in one of bishop

Hall's Satires.--

----dost thou prize

Thy brute beasts worth by their dams qualities?

Says't thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed,

Onely because a Jennet did him breed?

Or says't thou this same horse shall win the prize,

Because his dam was swiftest Trunchefice

Or Runcevall his syre; himself a gallaway?

While like a tireling jade, he lags half away.[259]

VIII.--HORSE-RACING A LIBERAL PASTIME.

Two centuries back horse-racing was considered as a liberal pastime,

practised for pleasure rather than profit, without the least idea of

reducing it to a system of gambling. It is ranked with hunting

and hawking, and opposed to dice and card playing by an old Scotch

poet, who laments that the latter had in great measure superseded

the former.[260] One of the puritanical writers[261] in the reign

of Elizabeth, though he is very severe against cards, dice, vain

plays, interludes, and other idle pastimes, allows of horse-racing as

"yielding good exercise," which he certainly would not have done, had

it been in the least degree obnoxious to the censure which at present

it so justly claims.

Burton,[262] who wrote at the decline of the seventeenth century says

sarcastically, "Horse-races are desports of great men, and good in

themselves, though many gentlemen by such means gallop quite out of

their fortunes;" which may be considered as a plain indication, that

they had begun to be productive of mischief at the time he wrote: and

fifty years afterwards, they were the occasion of a new and destructive

species of gambling. The following lines are from a ballad in D'Urfey's

collection of songs: it is called "New Market," which place was then

famous for the exhibition of horse-races.

Let cullies that lose at a race

Go venture at hazard to win,

Or he that is bubbl'd at dice

Recover at cocking again;

Let jades that are founder'd be bought,

Let jockeys play crimp to make sport.--

----Another makes racing a trade,

And dreams of his projects to come;

And many a crimp match has made,

By bubbing another man's groom.[263]

IX.--ROYAL PATRONS OF HORSE-RACING--RACES ON COLESHILL HEATH, &c.

From what has been said, it seems clear enough, that this pastime was

originally practised in England for the sake of the exercise, or by

way of emulation, and, generally speaking, the owners of the horses

were the riders. These contests, however, attracted the notice of the

populace, and drew great crowds of people together to behold them;

which induced the inhabitants of many towns and cities to affix certain

times for the performance of such sports, and prizes were appointed as

rewards for the successful candidates. The prize was usually a silver

cup or some other piece of plate, about eight or ten pounds value.

In the reign of James I. public races were established in many parts of

the kingdom; and it is said that the discipline and modes of preparing

the horses upon such occasions, were much the same as are practised in

the present day.[264] The races were then called bell courses, because,

as we have seen above, the prize was a silver bell.

At the latter end of the reign of Charles I. races were held in Hyde

Park, and at New Market. After the restoration, horse-racing was

revived and much encouraged by Charles II. who frequently honoured

this pastime with his presence; and, for his own amusement, when he

resided at Windsor, appointed races to be made in Datchet mead. At New

Market, where it is said he entered horses and run them in his name,

he established a house for his better accommodation;[265] and he also

occasionally visited other places where horse-races were instituted. I

met with the following doggerel verses in a metrical Itinerary, written

at the close of the seventeenth century. The author,[266] for he hardly

deserves the name of poet, speaking of Burford Downs, makes these

remarks:

Next for the glory of the place,

Here has been rode many a race,--

--King Charles the Second I saw here;

But I've forgotten in what year.

The duke of Monmouth here also,

Made his horse to swete and blow;

Lovelace, Pembrook, and other gallants

Have been ventring here their talents,

And Nicholas Bainton on black Sloven,

Got silver plate by labor and drudging, &c.

At this time it seems, that the bells were converted into cups, or

bowls, or some other pieces of plate, which were usually valued at one

hundred guineas each; and upon these trophies of victory the exploits

and pedigree of the successful horses were most commonly engraved.

William III. was also a patroniser of this pastime, and established an

academy for riding, and his queen not only continued the bounty of her

predecessors, but added several plates to the former donations. George

I. instead of a piece of plate, gave a hundred guineas to be paid in

specie.

In one of the Spectators, we meet with the following advertisement,

extracted, as we are told, from a paper called the Post Boy:[267]

"On the ninth of October next will be run for on Coleshill Heath, in

Warwickshire, a plate of six guineas value, three heats, by any horse,

mare, or gelding, that hath not won above the value of five pounds: the

winning horse to be sold for ten pounds, to carry ten stone weight if

fourteen hands high: if above, or under, to carry or be allowed weight

for inches, and to be entered on Friday the fifth, at the Swan, in

Coleshill, by six in the evening. Also a plate of less value, to be run

for by asses;" which, though by no means so noble a sport as the other,

was, I doubt not, productive of the most mirth.

BOOK II.

RURAL EXERCISES GENERALLY PRACTISED.

CHAPTER I.

I. The English famous for their Skill in Archery.--II. The Use of

the Bow known to the Saxons and the Danes.--III. Form of the Saxon

Bow, &c.--IV. Archery improved by the Normans.--V. The Ladies fond

of Archery.--VI. Observations relative to the Cross-Bow.--VII. Its

Form, and the Manner in which it was used.--VIII. Bows ordered to

be kept.--IX. The Decay of Archery, and why.--X. Ordinances in

its Favour;--The Fraternity of St. George established.--XI. The

Price of Bows.--XII. Equipments for Archery.--XIII. Directions

for its Practice.--XIV. The Marks to shoot at.--XV. The Length

of the Bow and Arrows.--XVI. Extraordinary Performances of the

Archers.--XVII. The modern Archers inferior to the ancient in long

Shooting.--XVIII. The Duke of Shoreditch, why so called;--Grand

Procession of the London Archers.--XIX. Archery a royal Sport;--A

good Archer, why called Arthur.--XX. Prizes given to the Archers.

I.--SKILL OF THE ENGLISH IN ARCHERY.

Among the arts that have been carried to a high degree of perfection in

this kingdom, there is no one more conspicuous than that of Archery.

Our ancestors used the bow for a double purpose: in time of war, it

was a dreadful instrument of destruction; and in peace it became an

object of amusement. It will be needless to insist upon the skill of

the English archers, or to mention their wonderful performances in

the field of battle. The victories they obtained over their enemies

are many and glorious; they are their best eulogiums, and stand upon

record in the histories of this country for the perusal, and for the

admiration of posterity. I shall therefore consider this subject in a

general point of view, and confine myself, as much as possible, to such

parts of it as relate to amusement only.

II.--THE BOW KNOWN TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES.

The Anglo-Saxons, and the Danes, were certainly well acquainted with

the use of the bow; a knowledge they derived at an early period

from their progenitors. The Scandinavian scalds, speaking in praise

of the heroes of their country, frequently add to the rest of their

acquirements a superiority of skill in handling of the bow.[268] It

does not, however, appear, that this skill was extended beyond the

purpose of procuring food or for pastime, either by the Saxons or by

the Danes, in times anterior to the conquest. It is indeed said that

Edmund, king of the East Angles, was shot to death with arrows by

the Danes; but, if this piece of history be correct, it is no proof

that they used the bow as a weapon of war. The action itself might be

nothing more than a wanton piece of cruelty; and cruelty seems to have

been a prominent feature in the character of those lawless plunderers.

III.--FORM OF THE SAXON BOW

Representations of the bow occur frequently in the Saxon manuscripts;

and from one of them in the Cotton Library, written about the eighth

century,[269] I have selected the following.

[Illustration: 9. TWO SAXON ARCHERS--VIII. CENTURY.]

The one accompanied by his dog, is in search of the wild deer; the

other has no companion, but is depicted in the act of shooting at a

bird; and from the adornment of his girdle, appears to have been no

bad marksman. The first represents Esau going to seek venison for his

father, and the second, Ishmael, after his expulsion from the house of

Abraham, and residing in the desert.

[Illustration: 10. SAXON BOW AND ARROW.--X. CENTURY.]

This engraving is made from a manuscript of the tenth century in the

Cotton Library.[270] The bow is curiously ornamented having the head

and tail of a serpent carved at the ends; and was, probably, such a one

as was used by the nobility. In all these bows we may observe one thing

remarkable, that is, the string not being made fast to the extremities,

but permitted to play at some distance from them. How far this might be

more or less advantageous than the present method, I shall not presume

to determine.

IV.--NORMAN ARCHERY.

It is well known that the Normans used the bow as a military weapon;

and, under their government, the practice of archery was not only much

improved, but generally diffused throughout the kingdom.

In the ages of chivalry the usage of the bow was considered as an

essential part of the education of a young man who wished to make a

figure in life. The heroes of romance are therefore usually praised for

their skill in archery; and Chaucer, with propriety, says of sir Thopas

"He was a good archere."[271]

V.--ARCHERY PRACTISED BY LADIES.

In the seventeenth century archery was much commended as an exercise

becoming a gentleman to practise, and greatly conducive to health.[272]

The ladies also were fond of this amusement, and by a previous

representation[273] from an original drawing in a manuscript of the

fourteenth century, we see it practised by one who has shot at a deer,

and wounded it with great adroitness; and in another previous

engraving[274] the hunting equipments of the female archers about the

middle of the fifteenth century are represented.

It was usual, when the ladies exercised the bow, for the beasts to be

confined by large inclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven in

succession from the covers to the stands, where the fair sportswomen

were placed; so that they might readily shoot at them, without the

trouble and fatigue of rousing and pursuing them.[275] It is said of

Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII., that when she was on her way

towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amusement in Alnwick

Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow.[276] It is not specified

whether the long-bow or the cross-bow was used by the princess upon

this occasion; we are certain that the ladies occasionally shot with

both, for when queen Elizabeth visited lord Montecute at Cowdrey, in

Sussex, on the Monday, August 17, 1591, "Her highness tooke horse,

and rode into the park, at eight o'clock in the morning, where was a

delicate bowre prepared, under the which were her highness musicians

placed; and a cross-bow, by a nymph, with a sweet song, was delivered

into her hands, to shoote at the deere; about some thirty in number

were put into a paddock, of which number she killed three or four, and

the countess of Kildare one."[277]

VI.--THE CROSS-BOW.

The foregoing observations refer chiefly to the long-bow, so called,

to distinguish it from the arbalist,[278] or cross-bow, which was not

only much shorter than the former, but fastened also upon a stock, and

discharged by the means of a catch or trigger, which probably gave rise

to the lock on the modern musket. Bayle, explaining the difference

between testimony and argument, uses this simile, "Testimony is like

the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the

shooter; argument is like the shot of a cross-bow, equally forcible,

whether discharged by a dwarf or a giant."

I cannot pretend to determine at what period the cross-bow was

first brought into this country, but I believe not long before the

commencement of the thirteenth century; at least, I have never met with

any representation of such an engine prior to that period. On the

continent, where probably it originated, its appearance might be

somewhat earlier. Our historians assure us that Richard I. was wounded

by an arrow from a bow of this kind, while he was reconnoitring

the walls of the castle of Chalezun; which wound was the occasion

of his death. William Brito seems to attribute the introduction of

the cross-bow to this monarch, who, he says, first showed it to the

French.[279]

In the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward I. the earl of Warwick

had in his army a number of soldiers called Ballistarii,[280] and this

word is translated cross-bow men by our chronological writers, but

certainly it may with equal propriety be rendered slingers, or casters

of stones, who frequently formed a part of the Anglo-Norman armies.[281]

From this period we hear but little concerning the cross-bows, as

military weapons, until the battle of Cressy in 1346; at which

time they were used by a large body of Genoese soldiers, who were

particularly expert in the management of these weapons, and assisted

the French upon that memorable occasion; but their efforts were

ineffectual when opposed to the archery of the English. Previous to

the commencement of the battle there fell a sharp shower of rain,

which wetted the strings of the cross-bows; and, we are told, in great

measure prevented the archers from doing their usual execution;[282]

but the strings of the long-bows used by the Englishmen do not appear

to have been damaged in the least by the rain; this might arise from

their being made with different materials; or more probably, from their

being kept with the bows, in the bow-cases, during the continuance

of the shower; for every man had a case of canvass, or of some such

material, to draw over his bow when he had done using of it.[283]

In the succeeding annals the cross-bow is continually spoken of as

a weapon of war. In 1347, the year after the celebrated victory was

obtained at Cressy, Charles, earl of Blois, at the siege of le Roche

de Rien, had no less than two thousand cross-bow men in his army.

The cross-bow was used by the English soldiery chiefly at sieges of

fortified places, and on shipboard, in battles upon the sea. But the

great fame acquired by our countrymen in archery, was derived from

their practice with the long-bow: and to this instrument they gave the

preference.

VII.--FORM AND USE OF THE CROSS-BOW.

The reader may see the manner in which the cross-bow was formerly

used, upon the following representation taken from a manuscript of the

fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[284]

[Illustration: 11. PRACTISING WITH THE CROSS-BOW.]

Below is an engraving from a painting on another manuscript in the

Royal Library much more modern.[285]

[Illustration: 12. CROSS-BOW SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS.--XVI. CENTURY.]

Here we find exhibited a school for practice; and the manner in which

the archers shot at the butts, or dead marks, a pastime frequently

alluded to by the authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the reign of Henry VII. the cross-bow was forbidden by law to

be used;[286] and, soon after his son ascended the throne, it was

found necessary to renew the prohibition;[287] yet, notwithstanding

the interference of the legislature, in less than twenty years

afterwards, the usage of cross-bows and hand-guns was so prevalent,

that a new statute was judged necessary, which forbad the use of

both, and inflicted a penalty of ten pounds for keeping a cross-bow

in the house.[288] This severe fine might probably produce a

temporary reformation; which certainly was not of long continuance,

for cross-bows were commonly used again in the succeeding reigns.

Hentzner tells us, that in the year 1598, he saw in the armory of

the tower of London, cross-bows, and bows and arrows: of which, says

he, to this day, the English make great use in their exercises. Stow

speaks of a large close, called the Tazell, let in his time to the

cross-bow-makers, wherein, he says, they used to shoot for games at the

popinjay, which, Maitland tells us, was an artificial parrot.[289] In

the present day, the cross-bow is seldom to be met with unless in the

public armories. I have seen the cross-bow used in the country, for the

purpose of shooting at the young rooks, to beat them out of their nests.

VIII.--BOWS AND ARROWS ORDERED TO BE KEPT.

But, to return from this digression: as far back as the thirteenth

century, every person not having a greater annual revenue in land than

one hundred pence, was obligated to have in his possession a bow and

arrows, with other arms offensive and defensive; and all such as had no

possessions, but could afford to purchase arms, were commanded to have

a bow with sharp arrows, if they dwelt without the royal forests, and a

bow with round-headed arrows, if they resided within the forests. The

words of the statute are, "Ark et setes hors de foreste et en foreste

ark et piles."[290] The word pile I believe is derived from the Latin,

pila, a ball; and I suppose these arrows were used to prevent the

owners from killing the king's deer. The round-headed arrows were also

called bolts, and also used with the cross-bow; hence the old adage,

"A fool's bolt is soon shot," where the retort of an ignorant man is

compared to the blunted arrow of an unskilful archer, shot off hastily,

and without any aim. The proverb is thus versified by John Heywood,

A fooles bolte is soone shot, and fleeth oftymes fer

But the fooles bolte, and the marke, cum few times ner.[291]

It was also ordained by the forementioned statute that proper officers

should be appointed to see that these weapons were kept in good order,

and ready for immediate service.

IX.--DECAY OF ARCHERY.

Notwithstanding the manifest advantages accruing to the nation from

the practice of archery, it seems to have been much neglected even at

a time when the glory of the English archers was in its zenith, I mean

in the reign of Edward III.; which occasioned that monarch to send

a letter of complaint upon this subject to the sheriffs of London,

declaring that the skill in shooting with arrows was almost totally

laid aside, for the pursuit of various useless and unlawful games. He

therefore commanded them to prevent such idle practices within the city

and liberties of London; and to see that the leisure time upon holidays

was spent in recreations with bows and arrows. In the thirty-ninth

year of this reign, A. D. 1349, the penalty incurred by the offenders

was imprisonment at the king's pleasure; the words of the letter are,

"arcubus et sagittis vel pilettis aut boltis," with bow and arrows, or

piles or bolts. The same command was repeated in the twelfth year of

the reign of Richard II.; but probably its good effects were merely

temporary. And in the fifth year of Edward IV. an ordinance was made,

commanding every Englishman and Irishman dwelling in England, to have

a long-bow of his own height; the act directs, that butts should be

made in every township, at which the inhabitants were to shoot at up

and down, upon all feast days, under the penalty of one halfpenny for

every time they omitted to perform this exercise. This in the poetical

legends is called "shooting about."

In the sixteenth century we meet with heavy complaints respecting the

disuse of the long-bow, and especially in the vicinity of London. Stow

informs us, "that before his time it had been customary at Bartholomew

tide, for the lord mayor, with the sheriffs and aldermen, to go into

the fields at Finsbury, where the citizens were assembled, and shoot

at the standard, with broad and flight arrows, for games." I do not

clearly understand the author's meaning in this passage, unless the

word games may signify for sport sake. This exercise was continued

for several days; but at the period in which our author lived it was

practised only one afternoon, three or four days after the festival of

Saint Bartholomew.[292]

The same writer attributes the decay of archery among the Londoners to

the enclosures made near the metropolis, by which means the citizens

were deprived of room sufficient or proper for the purpose; and his

observations appear to have been justly founded, for a few years

posterior to his death, a commission was granted by James I.[293] to

many persons of quality; in which were recited and established the

good statutes, ordinances, and proclamations, that had been previously

made at different times in favour of archery. This commission extended

to the prevention of enclosures in the grounds formerly used for the

practice of the bow.

The commissioners were also impowered to survey the lands adjoining to

the city of London, its suburbs, and within two miles circuit; and to

reduce them to the same state and order for the use of the archers,

as they stood at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII.; and where

they found any encroachments, to cause the banks to be thrown down, the

ditches filled up, and the open spaces to be made level. Charles I.

confirmed this commission, or granted another to the same purpose.

X.--ORDINANCES IN FAVOUR OF ARCHERY.--CROSS-BOWS, &c.

In the reign of Henry VIII. three several acts were made for promoting

the practice of shooting with the long-bow; one, as we have already

seen, prohibited the use of cross-bows and hand-guns: another was

occasioned by a complaint from the bowyers, the fletchers, or

arrow-makers, the stringers, and the arrow-head-makers, stating that

many unlawful games were practised in the open fields, to the detriment

of the public morals and great decay of archery. Those games were

therefore strictly prohibited by parliament; and a third act followed,

which obliged every man, being the king's subject, to exercise himself

in shooting with the long-bow; and also to keep a bow with arrows

continually in his house. From this obligation were excepted such as

were sixty years old, or by lameness or any other reasonable impediment

claimed an exemption; and also all ecclesiastics, the justices of

the two benches, or of the assizes, and the barons of the exchequer.

Fathers and guardians were also commanded to teach the male children

the use of the long-bow, and to have at all times bows provided for

them as soon as they arrived at the age of seven years; and masters

were ordered to find bows for their apprentices, and to compel them to

learn to shoot with them upon holidays, and at every other convenient

time. By virtue of the same act, every man who kept a cross-bow in his

house was liable to a penalty of ten pounds.

Soon afterwards, that is, in the twenty-ninth year of the same king's

reign, the use of cross-bows under certain restrictions was permitted,

a patent being then granted by him to sir Christopher Morris, master

of his ordinance, Anthony Knevyt and Peter Mewtas, gentlemen of his

privy chamber, for them to be overseers of the science of artillery,

by which was meant long-bows, cross-bows, and hand-guns. Others were

appointed to be masters and rulers of the same science, with power to

them and their successors, to establish a perpetual corporation, called

the Fraternity of Saint George, and to admit such persons as they found

to be eligible. The members of this society were also permitted, for

pastime sake, to practise shooting at all sorts of marks and butts, and

at the game of the popinjay, and other games, as at fowls and the like,

in the city and suburbs of London, as well as in any other convenient

places. There is the following remarkable proviso in this charter; "In

case any person should be wounded, or slain in these sports, with an

arrow shot by one or other of the archers, he that shot the arrow was

not to be sued or molested, if he had, immediately before the discharge

of the weapon, cried out, 'fast,' the signal usually given upon such

occasions."[294]

I may just add, that in addition to the hand-guns, I meet with other

instruments of like kind mentioned in the reign of Elizabeth, namely,

demy hags, or hag butts. They shot with these engines not only at

butts and other dead marks, but also at birds and beasts, using

sometimes bullets and sometimes half shot;[295] but in the beginning

of the seventeenth century the word artillery was used in a much more

extensive sense, and comprehended long-bows, cross-bows, slur-bows,

and stone-bows; also scorpions, rams, and catapults, which, the writer

tells us, were formerly used; he then names the fire-arms as follows,

cannons, basilisks, culverins, jakers, faulcons, minions, fowlers,

chambers, harguebusses, calivers, petronils, pistols, and dags. "This,"

says he, "is the artillerië which is nowe in the most estimation, and

they are divided into great ordinance, and into shot or guns," which

proves that the use of fire-arms had then in great measure superseded

the practice of archery.

XI.--PRICES ORDAINED FOR BOWS.

In the reign of Edward IV. an ordinance was established, which

compelled the bowyers of London to sell the best bow-staves at three

shillings and fourpence each; which was confirmed in the third year

of Henry VII., and in the thirty-third year of his son Henry VIII.;

but these acts were repealed in the third year of queen Mary, and the

following prices were settled by the parliament: for a bow made of the

best foreign yew, six shillings and eightpence; for an inferior sort,

three shillings and fourpence; and for one made of English yew, two

shillings.[296]

Notwithstanding the interference of the legislature in favour

of archery, it gradually declined, and at the conclusion of the

seventeenth century was nearly, if not altogether, discontinued. Yet,

if we may credit a dull poem, written in the reign of Charles II.[297]

some attempts were then made by the nobility to revive this manly

pastime. I shall only quote the four following lines:--

Forsake your lov'd Olympian games awhile,[298]

With which the tedious minutes you beguile

Wave quoits and nine-pins, those bear-garden sports,

And follow shooting, often used at courts.

The "shooting," in the last line, means with the bow. It is to be

observed, that the office of bow-bearer of Sherwood-forest was

continued to the year 1633; but it appears to have been a mere

sinecure.[299]

In the present day the use of the musket is become so general, that

archery, though it continues to be partially practised, has little

chance of recovering its former popularity.

XII.--EQUIPMENT FOR ARCHERY.

Roger Ascham, an author well versed in the subject of archery, who

lived in the reign of queen Elizabeth, informs us,[300] that it was

necessary for the archer to have a bracer, or close sleeve, to lace

upon the left arm; it was also proper for this bracer to be made

with materials sufficiently rigid to prevent any folds which might

impede the bow-string when loosed from the hand; to this was to be

added a shooting-glove, for the protection of the fingers. The bow,

he tells us, ought to be made with well-seasoned wood, and formed

with great exactness, tapering from the middle towards each end. Bows

were sometimes made of Brazil, of elm, of ash, and of several other

woods; but eugh, or yew, had the sanction, from general experience,

of superiority. Respecting the bow-string, the author was not decided

which to prefer; those made with good hemp, according to the common

usage of the time in which he lived, or those manufactured with

flax, or silk; he therefore thinks the choice ought to be left to

the string-maker. There are, he tells us, three essential parts in

the composition of the arrow, that is to say, the stele or wand, the

feathers, and the head. The stele was not always made with the same

species of wood, but varied as occasion required, to suit the different

manners of shooting practised by the archers; he commends sound ash

for military arrows, and preferred it to asp, which in his day was

generally used for the arrows belonging to the army; but for pastime,

he thought that none were better than those made of oak, hard-beam, or

birch; but after all, says he, in this point I hold it best to trust to

the recommendation of an honest fletcher. The feathers from the wing of

a goose, and especially of a grey-goose, he thought were preferable to

any others for the pluming of an arrow. Thus in the popular ballad of

Chevy Chace, an English archer aimed his arrow at sir Hugh

Mountgomerye, with such skill, that it hit him on the breast, and the

poet elegantly says,

The grey-goose-winge that was thereon

In his hearts blood was wett.

The more ancient ballad upon this subject, given in the first volume of

the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, reads, the "swane-feathers."

There was, it seems, but little difference between the two wings of

one bird; but, according to the opinion of the best arrow-makers, the

second feather was best in some cases and the pinion in others. It was

necessary for an archer to have several arrows of one flight (I presume

Ascham means of one shape, length, and weight), plumed with feathers

from different wings, to suit the diversity of the winds. We are not

from these directions to conclude, that the goose alone afforded the

plumage for the arrows; the feathers of many other birds were used

for the same purpose, and are mentioned in the metrical romances of

the middle ages. An old ballad of Robin Hood says, that he and his

followers had an hundred bows furnished with strings, and an hundred

sheafs of goose arrows, with bright burnished heads; every arrow was an

ell long, adorned with peacocks' feathers, and bound at the notching

with white silk.[301]

With them they had an hundred bowes,

The stringes were well ydight;

An hundred shefe of arrows good

With hedes burnish'd full bryght;

And every arrowe an ell longe,

With peacocke well ydight,

And nocked they were with white silk,

It was a semely syght.

And Chaucer, in his description of the "squyers yeomen," says,

And he was clad in cote and hode of grene,

A shefe of pecocke arrowes bryght and shene;

Under his belt he bare ful thriftely

Well coude he dresse his tackle yomanly;

His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe,

And in hande he bare a myghty bowe.[302]

The adornment of these arrows with peacocks' feathers is not to

be considered as a mere poetical flourish, for we have sufficient

testimony, that such plumage was actually used.[303]

But, returning to our author, he informs us, that the English arrows

had forked heads and broad-heads, yet he thought, that round pointed

heads resembling a bodkin were the best. The notch, or small hollow

part at the bottom of the arrow, made for the reception of the

bow-string, was varied as occasion required, or at the will of the

archer, being sometimes deep and narrow, and sometimes broad and not

deep.

XIII.--DIRECTIONS FOR ARCHERY.

Having thus furnished the archer with his necessary accoutrements,

Ascham proceeds to instruct him how they ought to be managed; but

first of all he recommends a graceful attitude. He should stand, says

another writer, fairly, and upright with his body, his left foot at a

convenient distance before his right; holding the bow by the middle,

with his left arm stretched out, and with the three first fingers and

the thumb of the right hand upon the lower part of the arrow affixed to

the string of the bow.[304] In the second place, a proper attention was

to be paid to the nocking, that is, the application of the notch at the

bottom of the arrow to the bow-string; we are told that the notch of

the arrow should rest between the fore-finger and the middle finger of

the right hand.[305] Thirdly, our attention is directed to the proper

manner of drawing the bow-string: in ancient times, says Ascham, the

right hand was brought to the right pap; but at present it is elevated

to the right ear, and the latter method he prefers to the former. The

shaft of the arrow below the feathers, ought to be rested upon the

knuckle of the fore-finger of the left hand; the arrow was to be drawn

to the head, and not held too long in that situation, but neatly and

smartly discharged, without any hanging upon the string. Among the

requisites necessary to constitute a good archer, are a clear sight,

steadily directed to the mark; and proper judgment, to determine the

distance of the ground; he ought also to know how to take the advantage

of a side wind, and to be well acquainted with what compass his arrows

would require in their flight: courage is also an indispensable

requisite, for whoever, says our author, shoots with the least

trepidation, he is sure to shoot badly. One great fault in particular

he complains of, which young archers generally fall into, and that

is, the direction of the eye to the end of the arrow, rather than

to the mark; to obviate this evil habit he advises such, as were so

accustomed, to shoot in the dark, by night, at lights set up at a

proper distance for that purpose. He then concludes with observing,

that "bad tutorage" was rarely amended in grown-up persons; and

therefore he held it essentially necessary, that great attention should

be paid to the teaching an archer properly, while he was young; "for

children," says he, "if sufficient pains are taken with them at the

onset, may much more easily be taught to shoot well, than men," because

the latter have frequently more trouble to unlearn their bad habits,

than was primitively requisite to learn them good ones.[306]

XIV.--MARKS FOR SHOOTING AT.

The marks usually shot at by the archers for pastime, were, "butts,

prickes, and roavers." The butt, we are told, was a level mark, and

required a strong arrow, with a very broad feather; the pricke was a

"mark of compass," but certain in its distance; and to this mark strong

swift arrows, of one flight, with a middling sized feather, were best

suited; the roaver was a mark of uncertain length; it was therefore

proper for the archer to have various kinds of arrows, of different

weights, to be used according to the different changements made in the

distance of the ground.[307]

The Cornish men are spoken of as good archers, and shot their

arrows to a great length; they are also, says Carew, "well skilled

in near shooting, and in well aimed shooting;--the butts made them

perfect in the one, and the roaving in the other, for the prickes,

the first corrupters of archery, through too much preciseness, were

formerly scarcely known, and little practised."[308] Other marks are

occasionally mentioned, as the standard, the target, hazel wands, rose

garlands, and the popinjay, which, we are told, was an artificial

parrot.[309] I have not met with such a mark in any manuscript

delineation; but, in the following engraving, the reader will find a

cock substituted for the parrot, and the archer has discharged his

arrow very skilfully.

[Illustration: 13. ARCHERY.--XIV. CENTURY.]

I am by no means certain, whether the draughtsman designed to represent

an artificial, or a living cock: the manner of its being placed on the

post, may favour the first idea; but the mouth being open, and the

elevation of the head, as if in the last gasp of life, will justify the

latter. It is taken from a MS. written early in the fourteenth century,

preserved in the Royal Library.[310]

XV.--LENGTH OF BOWS AND ARROWS.

The length of the bow is not clearly ascertained; those used by the

soldiery appear, in the manuscript drawings, to have been as tall, at

least, as the bearers; agreeable to an ordinance made in the fifth

year of Edward IV. commanding every man to have a bow his own height;

and they might, upon the average, be something short of six feet long.

The arrows used by the English archers at the memorable battle of

Agincourt, were a full yard in length.[311] Carew, in his survey of

Cornwall, says, "The Cornish archers for long shooting, used arrows a

cloth yard long." The old and more modern ballads of Chevy Chace speak

of the arrow as being the length of a cloth yard, but some of these

poetical legends extend it an ell.

Hall[312] mentions a company of archers, who met king Henry VIII. at

Shooter's Hill, on a May-day morning, where they discharged their

bows in his presence, and the arrows made a loud whistling in their

flight, "by crafte of the heade." The strangeness of the noise, we

are informed, surprised his Majesty, though at the same time he was

much pleased with the contrivance. A modern author, the Hon. Daines

Barrington, assures us, this sound was occasioned by holes being made

in the arrow heads, and that such weapons were used upon military

occasions, and especially as signals;[313] but not, I presume, before

the time mentioned by the historian; for had not those arrows been

newly introduced, there is no reason why the king, who was well

acquainted with every branch of archery, should have been surprised at

the sound they made, or pleased at the sight of them.

XVI.--FEATS IN ARCHERY.

If the metrical romances and ballads of the former ages may be depended

upon, the strength of our English archers in drawing of the bow, and

their skill in directing the arrow to its mark, were justly the objects

of admiration.

The reader, I trust, will pardon the insertion of the following

extracts from two old poetical legends, which convey, at least, some

idea of the practice of archery in times anterior to our own; the first

is a ballad in eight fyttes or parts, entitled, "A mery Geste of Robyn

Hode."[314] According to the story, the king[315] thought proper to pay

Robin Hood a visit, disguised in the habit of an abbot: and the outlaw,

by way of entertaining his guest, proposed a shooting match. Two wands

were then set up, but at so great a distance from each other, that,

By fyfty space our kyng sayde

Tho markes were to longe.--

On every syde a rose garlande,

The shot under the lyne.

Whoso faileth of the rose garland, said Robyn,

His takyll he shal tyne;[316]

And yelde it to his maister,

Be it never so fine.--

Twyse Robyn shot about,

And ever he cleved the wande.--

And so did Gilbert, Little John, and Scathelocke, his companions; but,

At the last shot, that Robyn shot,

For all his frendes fore,

Yet he fayled of the garland.

Three fyngers and more--

of course his "takill" was forfeited, which he presented to the king,

saying,

Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne arrowe.

The second poem is also of the ballad kind, and apparently as old as

the former,[317] wherein Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe, and William

Cloudesle, are introduced to shoot before the king. The butts, or dead

marks set up by the king's archers, were censured by Cloudesle, saying,

I hold hym never no good archer,

That shoteth at buttes so wide--

and having procured two "hasell roddes," he set them up at the

distance of four hundred yards[318] from each other; his first attempt

in shooting at them, contrary to the expectation of the king, was

successful, for it is said,

Cloudesle with a bearyng arowe[319]

Clave the wand in two.

The king, being much surprised at the performance, told him he was the

best archer he ever saw. Cloudesle then proposed to show him a more

extraordinary proof of his skill, and tied his eldest son, a child only

seven years old, to a stake, and placed an apple upon his head. When he

bound his son he charged him not to move, and turned his face from him,

that he might not be intimidated by seeing the arrow directed towards

him: one hundred and twenty yards[320] were measured from the stake,

and Cloudesle went to the end of the measurement; he first entreated

the spectators to be silent,

And then drew out a fayre brode arrowe;

Hys bow was great and longe,

He set that arrowe in his bowe

That was both styffe and stronge.

Then Cloudesle cleft the apple in two,

As many a man myght se,

Over Gods forbode,[321] sayde the kynge,

That thou sholde shote at me.

XVII.--SUPERIORITY OF ANCIENT BOWMEN.

If we were to judge of the merits of the ancient bowmen from the

practice of archery as it is exercised in the present day, these

poetical eulogiums would appear to be entirely fictitious. There are no

such distances now assigned for the marks as are mentioned before, nor

such precision, even at short lengths, in the direction of the arrows.

By an act established An. 33 Hen. VIII., no person who had reached the

age of twenty-four years, might shoot at any mark at less than two

hundred and twenty yards distance.[322] I believe few, if any, of the

modern archers, in shooting at a mark, exceed the distance of eighty

or a hundred yards, or, in long shooting, reach four hundred yards. I

have seen the gentlemen who practise archery in the vicinity of London,

repeatedly shoot from end to end, and not touch the target with an

arrow; and for the space of several hours, without lodging one in the

circle of gold, about six inches diameter in the centre of the target:

this, indeed, is so seldom done, that one is led to think, when it

happens, it is rather the effect of chance than of skill: which proves

what Ascham has asserted, that an archer should be well taught early in

life, and confirm the good teaching by continual practice afterwards.

We may also recollect, that archery is now followed for amusement only,

and is to be commended as a manly and gentleman-like exercise.

I remember about four or five years back,[323] at a meeting of the

society of archers, in their ground near Bedford Square, the Turkish

ambassador paid them a visit; and complained that the enclosure was

by no means sufficiently extensive for a long shot: he therefore went

into the adjacent fields to show his dexterity; where I saw him shoot

several arrows more than double the length of the archery ground, and

his longest shot fell upwards of four hundred and eighty yards from his

standing. The bow he used was much shorter than those belonging to the

English archers; and his arrows were of the bolt kind, with round heads

made of wood. This distance rather exceeds the length our rhymist has

given to the wands set up by Cloudesle and his companions, but then we

are to recollect they shot with vast precision to that distance,[324]

which the ambassador did not, he had no mark, and his arrows fell

exceedingly wide of each other.

Carew, speaking of the Cornish archers two centuries back, says,

"For long shooting, their shaft was a cloth yard in length, and their

prickes twenty-four score paces, equal to four hundred and eighty

yards; and for strength, they would pierce any ordinary armour;" he

then adds, "and one Robert Arundell, whom I well knew, could shoot

twelve score paces with his right hand, with his left, and from behind

his head."[325] This puts me in mind of a curious anecdote related by

Hall: "There came to his grace, king Henry the Eighth, a certayn man,

with a bowe and arrowe, and he desyred his grace to take the muster

of hym, and to see him shoote; for that tyme hys grace was contented;

the man put hys one fote in his bosome, and so dyd shoote, and shote

a very good shote, and well towardes hys marke; whereof, not onely

his grace, but all others greatly merveyled; so the kynge gave him a

rewarde,"[326] and for this curious feat he afterwards obtained the

by-name of "Fote in Bosome."

XVIII.-THE DUKE OF SHOREDITCH.

The same monarch, Henry VIII., having appointed a great match of

archery at Windsor, a citizen of London, named Barlow, an inhabitant

of Shoreditch, joined the archers, and surpassed them all in skill;

the king was so much pleased with his performance, that he jocosely

gave him the title of "Duke of Shoreditch;" and this title the captain

of the London archers retained for a considerable time afterwards.

In 1583, in the reign of Elizabeth, a grand shooting match was held

in London, and the captain of the archers assuming his title of Duke

of Shoreditch, summoned a suit of nominal nobility, under the titles

of marquis of Barlo, of Clerkenwell, of Islington, of Hoxton, of

Shacklewell, and earl of Pancrass, &c. and these meeting together at

the appointed time, with their different companies, proceeded in a

pompous march from Merchant Taylors Hall, consisting of three thousand

archers, sumptuously apparelled; Strype says, "odly habited;" every

man had a long-bow, and four arrows. With the marquis of Barlo and the

marquis of Clerkenwell were "Hunters who wound their horns."[327] Nine

hundred and forty-two of the archers had chains of gold about their

necks. This splendid company was guarded by four thousand whifflers and

billmen, besides pages and footmen. They passed through Broad-street,

the residence of their captain, and thence into Moorfields, by

Finsbury, and so on to Smithfield, where having performed several

evolutions, they shot at a target for honour.[328]

Another cavalcade of like kind was made by the London archers in 1682,

the reign of Charles II., and the king himself was present; but being

a wet day, his majesty was obliged to leave the field soon after the

arrival of the bowmen.[329]

XIX.--ROYAL SPORT--A GOOD ARCHER WHY CALLED ARTHUR.

Kings and princes have been celebrated for their skill in archery, and

among those of our own country may be placed king Henry VII. who in his

youth was partial to this exercise, and therefore it is said of him in

an old poem, written in praise of the princess Elizabeth, afterwards

queen to Henry VII.[330]

See where he shoteth at the butts,

And with hym are lordes three;

He weareth a gowne of velvette blacke,

And it is coted above the knee.

He also amused himself with the bow after he had obtained the crown, as

we find from an account of his expenditures,[331] where the following

memorandums occur: "Lost to my lord Morging at buttes, six shillings

and eightpence:" and again, "Paid to sir Edward Boroughe thirteen

shillings and fourpence, which the kynge lost at buttes with his

cross-bowe." Both the sons of king Henry followed his example, and

were excellent archers; and especially the eldest, prince Arthur, who

used frequently to visit the society of London bowmen at Mile-end,

where they usually met, and practised with them. From his expertness

in handling of the bow, every good shooter was called by his name. The

captain also of the fraternity was honoured with the title of Prince

Arthur, and the other archers were styled his knights.[332] The title

of Prince Arthur seems to have been superseded by the creation of the

"Duke of Shoreditch."

After the death of prince Arthur, his brother Henry continued to

honour the meeting at Mile-end with his presence. We have seen already,

that he was exceedingly fond of archery, and if Hall may be credited,

at the time of his coming to the crown, "he shotte as strong, and as

greate a lengthe as any of his garde."[333]

King Edward VI., though not so conspicuous as his father or his uncle,

was nevertheless an encourager of archery, and frequently amused

himself with the bow. This appears from his own diary.[334]

Charles I. was an archer, as appears from the dedication of a treatise,

called the "Bowman's Glory;" and Catherine of Portugal, queen to

Charles II., was probably much pleased with seeing the pastime of

archery practised; for in compliment to her, a badge of silver,

weighing twenty-two ounces, was made for the marshal of the fraternity

of bowmen, having upon it the representation of an archer with his bow

drawn in the action of shooting, and inscribed with her name, "Reginæ

Catharinæ Sagittarii." This badge was made in the year 1676, by the

contribution of sir Edward Hungerford and others.[335]

XX.--PRIZES FOR ARCHERY.

I find but little said respecting the rewards bestowed upon the best

bowmen; the London fraternity are said to have shot for pastime or

for honour; however, I make no doubt, upon particular trials of

skill, rewards sufficient to excite the emulation of the archers were

proposed; they might sometimes consist of money, and perhaps more

frequently of some other valuable article, as the following lines may

testify, extracted from the Mery Geste of Robyn Hode, and the prize is

judiciously appropriated to the purpose. The poet tells us, that the

sherif of Notyngham,

Did crye a ful fayre playe

That all the best archyres of the north

Should come upon a daye;

And they that shote, al of the best,

The prize should bear away.

And he that shoteth al of the best,

Furthest, fayre and lowe,

At a payre of goodly buttes,

Under the grene wood shaw

A ryght good arrowe he shal have,

The shaft of sylver whyte,

The head, and fethers of riche red gold,

In England is none lyke.--

And when they came to Notyngham,

The buttes were fayre and longe.--

Thrise Robin shot about

And alway he cleft the wand.

It is added, that to him was delivered the "goode arrowe, for best

worthie was he."

CHAPTER II.

I. Slinging of Stones an ancient Art.--II. Known to the

Saxons.--III. And the Normans.--IV. How practised of late

Years.--V. Throwing of Weights and Stones with the Hand.--VI.

By the Londoners.--VII. Casting of the Bar and Hammer.--VIII.

Of Spears.--IX. Of Quoits.--X. Swinging of Dumb Bells.--XI.

Foot Races.--XII. The Game of Base.--XIII. Wrestling much

practised formerly.--XIV. Prizes for.--XV. How performed.--XVI.

Swimming.--XVII. Sliding.--XVIII. Skating.--XIX. Rowing.--XX.

Sailing.

I.--SLINGING OF STONES.

The art of slinging, or casting of stones with a sling, is of high

antiquity, and probably antecedent to that of archery, though not so

generally known nor so universally practised. The tribe of Benjamin

among the Israelites is celebrated in holy writ for the excellency

of its slingers. In the time of the judges there were seven hundred

Benjamites who all of them used their left hands, and in the figurative

language of the Scripture it is said, they "could sling stones at

an hair-breadth and not miss,"[336] that is, with exceedingly great

precision. Again we are told, that when David fled to Ziklag, he was

joined by a party of valiant men of the tribe of Benjamin, who could

use both the right and the left in slinging of stones and shooting

arrows out of a bow.[337] David himself was also an excellent marksman,

as the destruction of Goliath by the means of his sling sufficiently

testifies. It was, perhaps, an instrument much used by the shepherds in

ancient times, to protect their flocks from the attacks of ferocious

animals: if so, we shall not wonder that David, who kept his father's

sheep, was so expert in the management of this weapon.[338] In

Barclay's Eclogues an English shepherd boasts of his skill in using of

the sling.

II.--SLINGING BY THE ANGLO-SAXONS.

The art of slinging of stones was well known and practised at a very

early period in Europe, but we have no authority to prove that it was

carried to so high a pitch of perfection in this part of the globe, as

it appears to have been among the Asiatic nations. It is altogether

uncertain, whether the ancient inhabitants of Britain were acquainted

with the use of the sling or not; if the negative be granted, which

hardly seems reasonable, we must admit the probability of their

being taught the properties of such an instrument by the Romans, who

certainly used it as a military weapon. We can speak more decidedly on

the part of our ancestors the Saxons, who seem to have been skilful in

the management of the sling; its form is preserved in several of their

paintings, and the manner in which it was used by them, as far back as

the eighth century, may be seen below, from a manuscript of that age

in the Cotton Library.[339] It is there represented with one of the

ends unloosened from the hand and the stone discharged. In the original

the figure is throwing the stone at a bird upon the wing, which is

represented at some distance from him.

[Illustration: 14. SLINGING--VIII. CENTURY.]

In other instances we see it depicted with both the ends held in the

hand, the figure being placed in the action of taking his aim, and

a bird is generally the object of his exertion, as in the following

engraving from a parchment roll in the Royal Library, containing a

genealogical account of the kings of England, to the time of Henry

III.[340]

[Illustration: 15. MANNER OF HOLDING THE SLING.]

Sometimes the sling is attached to a staff or truncheon, about three

or four feet in length, wielded with both hands, and charged with a

stone of no small magnitude. Those slings appear to have been chiefly

used in besieging of cities, and on board of ships in engagements by

sea. The following engraving represents a sling of this kind, from a

drawing supposed to have been made by Matthew Paris, in a MS. at Bennet

College, Cambridge.[341]

[Illustration: 16. SLINGS OF WARFARE.]

III.--SLINGING BY THE ANGLO-NORMANS.

We have sufficient testimony to prove that men armed with slings formed

a part of the Anglo-Norman soldiery,[342] and the word Balistarii, used

by our early historians, may, I doubt not, be more properly rendered

slingers than cross-bowmen; though indeed, upon the introduction of

the cross-bow, these men might take the place of the slingers. In fact

the cross-bow itself was modified to the purpose of discharging of

stones, and for that reason was also called a stone-bow, so that the

appellation Balistarius and Arcubalistarius were both of them latterly

applied to the same person. The sling, however, was not entirely

superseded by the bow at the commencement of the fifteenth century, as

the following verses plainly indicate: they occur in a manuscript poem

in the Cotton Library,[343] entitled, "Knyghthode and Batayle,"

written about that time, which professedly treats upon the duties and

exercises necessary to constitute a good soldier.

Use eek the cast of stone, with slynge or honde:

It falleth ofte, yf other shot there none is,

Men harneysed in steel may not withstonde,

The multitude and mighty cast of stonys;

And stonys in effecte, are every where,

And slynges are not noyous for to beare.

By the two last lines the poet means to say, that stones are every

where readily procured, and that the slings are by no means cumbersome

to the bearers, which were cogent reasons for retaining them as

military weapons; neither does he confine their use to any body or

rank of soldiers, but indiscriminately recommends the acquirement of

skill in the casting of stones, to every individual who followed the

profession of a warrior.

IV.--MODERN MODES OF SLINGING.

I remember in my youth to have seen several persons expert in slinging

of stones, which they performed with thongs of leather, or, wanting

those, with garters; and sometimes they used a stick of ash or hazel, a

yard or better in length, and about an inch in diameter; it was split

at the top so as to make an opening wide enough to receive the stone,

which was confined by the re-action of the stick on both sides, but not

strong enough to resist the impulse of the slinger. It required much

practice to handle this instrument with any great degree of certainty,

for if the stone in the act of throwing quitted the sling either sooner

or later than it ought to do, the desired effect was sure to fail.

Those who could use it properly, cast stones to a considerable distance

and with much precision. In the present day, the use of all these

engines seems to be totally discontinued.

V.--THROWING WITH THE HAND.

Throwing of heavy weights and stones with the hand was much practised

in former times, and as this pastime required great strength and

muscular exertion, it was a very proper exercise for military men.

The Greeks, according to Homer, at the time of the siege of Troy,

amused themselves with casting of the discus, which appears to have

been a round flat plate of metal of considerable magnitude and very

heavy.[344] "The discus of the ancients," says Dr. Johnson,[345] "is

sometimes called in English quoit, but improperly. The game of quoits

is a game of skill; the discus was only a trial of strength, as among

us to throw the hammer."

VI.--THROWING BY THE LONDONERS.

In the twelfth century we are assured, that among the amusements

practised by the young Londoners on holidays, was casting of

stones,[346] darts, and other missive weapons. Bars of wood and iron

were afterwards used for the same purpose, and the attention of the

populace was so much engaged by this kind of exercise, that they

neglected in great measure the practice of archery, which occasioned an

edict to be passed in the thirty-ninth year of Edward III. prohibiting

the pastimes of throwing of stones, wood, and iron, and recommending

the use of the long-bow upon all convenient opportunities.[347]

VII.--CASTING OF THE BAR AND HAMMER.

Casting of the bar is frequently mentioned by the romance writers as

one part of a hero's education, and a poet of the sixteenth century

thinks it highly commendable for kings and princes, by way of exercise,

to throw "the stone, the barre, or the plummet." Henry VIII., after his

accession to the throne, according to Hall and Holinshead, retained

"the casting of the barre" among his favourite amusements. The sledge

hammer was also used for the same purpose as the bar and the stone; and

among the rustics, if Barclay be correct, an axletree.

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, these pastimes seem

to have lost their relish among the higher classes of the people, and

for this reason Peacham, describing a complete gentleman, speaks of

throwing the hammer as an exercise proper only for soldiers in camp, or

for the amusement of the king's guard, but by no means "beseeming of

nobility."

VIII.--THROWING OF SPEARS.

Throwing of spears and javelins being properly a military exercise, was

not prohibited by the act above mentioned. It was sometimes practised

as a trial of strength, when the attempt was to throw beyond a certain

boundary, or to exceed a competitor in distance; and of skill, when

the spear was cast at a quintain, or any other determined mark.

According to Fitzstephen, it was one of the holiday sports of the young

Londoners in the reign of Henry II. With them it seems to have been

an exertion to cast the weapon farthest. The pastime is frequently

mentioned by the writers of the middle ages. Charles VI. of France and

the lords of his court, after a grand entertainment, were amused with

"Wrastling, and casting of the bar, and the dart, by Frenchmen and the

Gascoyns."[348]

IX.--QUOITS.

The game of quoits, or coits, as an amusement, is superior to any

of the foregoing pastimes; the exertion required is more moderate,

because this exercise does not depend so much upon superior strength

as upon superior skill. The quoit seems evidently to have derived its

origin from the ancient discus, and with us in the present day it is

a circular plate of iron perforated in the middle, not always of one

size, but larger or smaller to suit the strength or conveniency of the

several candidates. It is further to be observed, that quoits are not

only made of different magnitudes to suit the poise of the players,

but sometimes the marks are placed at extravagant distances, so as

to require great strength to throw the quoit home; this, however, is

contrary to the general rule, and depends upon the caprice of the

parties engaged in the contest.

To play at this game, an iron pin, called a hob, is driven into

the ground, within a few inches of the top; and at the distance of

eighteen, twenty, or more yards, for the distance is optional, a second

pin of iron is also made fast in a similar manner; two or more persons,

as four, six, eight, or more at pleasure, who divided into two equal

parties are to contend for the victory, stand at one of the iron marks

and throw an equal number of quoits to the other, and the nearest of

them to the hob are reckoned towards the game. But the determination

is discriminately made: for instance, if a quoit belonging to A lies

nearest to the hob, and a quoit belonging to B the second, A can claim

but one towards the game, though all his other quoits lie nearer to the

mark than all the other quoits of B; because one quoit of B being the

second nearest to the hob, cuts out, as it is called, all behind it: if

no such quoit had interfered, then A would have reckoned all his as

one each. Having cast all their quoits, the candidates walk to the

opposite side, and determine the state of the play, then taking their

stand there, throw their quoits back again and continue to do so

alternately as long as the game remains undecided.

Formerly in the country, the rustics not having the round perforated

quoits to play with, used horse-shoes, and in many places the quoit

itself, to this day, is called a shoe.

X.--DUMB BELLS.

John Northbroke, in a Treatise against Diceing, Dancing, &c. written in

the time of queen Elizabeth, advises young men, by way of amusement,

to "labour with poises of lead or other metal;" this notable pastime,

I apprehend, bore some resemblance to the Skiomachia,[349] or fighting

with a man's own shadow, mentioned in one of the Spectators:[350] "It

consisted," says the author, "in brandishing of two sticks, grasped in

each hand and loaden with plugs of lead at either end;--this pastime

opens the chest, exercises the limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure

of boxing without the blows." It is sometimes practised in the present

day, and called "ringing of the dumb bells."

XI.--FOOT-RACING.

There is no kind of exercise that has more uniformly met the

approbation of authors in general than running. In the middle ages,

foot-racing was considered as an essential part of a young man's

education, especially if he was the son of a man of rank, and brought

up to a military profession.

It is needless, I doubt not, to assert the antiquity of this pastime,

because it will readily occur to every one, that variety of occasions

continually present themselves, which call forth the exertions of

running even in childhood; and when more than one person are stimulated

by the same object, a competition naturally takes place among them to

obtain it. Originally, perhaps, foot-races had no other incitement

than emulation, or at best the prospect of some small reward: but in

process of time the rewards were magnified, and contests of this kind

were instituted as public amusements; the ground marked out for that

purpose, and judges appointed to decide upon the fairness of the race,

to ascertain the winner, and to bestow the reward.

In former times, according to Commenius,[351] it was customary for

the places appropriated to pedal races to be railed in on either side,

and the prize-giver stood at the goal, to deliver the reward to the

person who should first touch it. I suppose he means at the Olympic

games, among which foot-racing was one. In the present day foot-races

are not much encouraged by persons of fortune, and seldom happen but

for the purpose of betting, and the racers are generally paid for their

performance. In many instances the distance does not exceed one hundred

yards. At fairs, wakes, and upon many other occasions where many

people are assembled together, this species of amusement is sometimes

promoted, but most frequently the contest is confined to the younger

part of the concourse.

Two centuries back running, according to Peacham, was thought to be an

exercise by no means derogatory to the rank of nobility;[352] and a

poetical writer in the Cotton manuscript, "Of Knyghthode and Batayle,"

before cited,[353] written early in the fifteenth century, recommends

it strongly to the practice of the soldiery: his words are these,

In rennynge the exercise is good also,

To smyte first in fight, and also whenne,

To take a place our foemen will forrenne

And take it erst, also, to serche or sture,

Lightly to come and go, rennynge is sure.

Rennyng is also right good at the chase,

And for to lepe a dike is also good;

For mightily what man may renne and lepe,

May well devict, and safe is party kepe.

XII.--BASE, OR PRISONERS' BARS.

There is a rustic game called Base or Bars, and sometimes written

Bays,[354] and in some places Prisoners' Bars; and as the success of

this pastime depends upon the agility of the candidates and their skill

in running, I think it may properly enough be introduced here. It was

much practised in former times, and some vestiges of the game are still

remaining in many parts of the kingdom. The first mention of this sport

that I have met with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the

parliamentary proceedings, early in the reign of Edward III., where it

is spoken of as a childish amusement, and prohibited to be played in

the avenues of the palace at Westminster,[355] during the sessions of

Parliament, because of the interruption it occasioned to the members

and others in passing to and fro as their business required. It is also

spoken of by Shakespear as a game practised by the boys:

He with two striplings, lads more like to run

The country base, than to commit such slaughter,

Made good the passage.[356]

It was, however, most assuredly played by the men, and especially in

Cheshire and other adjoining counties, where formerly it seems to have

been in high repute.

The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal number,

each of them having a base or home, as it is usually called, to

themselves, at the distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The

players then on either side taking hold of hands, extend themselves in

length, and opposite to each other, as far as they conveniently can,

always remembering that one of them must touch the base; when any one

of them quits the hand of his fellow and runs into the field, which

is called giving the chase, he is immediately followed by one of his

opponents; he again is followed by a second from the former side, and

he by a second opponent; and soon alternately, until as many are out

as choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed, and

no other; and if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party

claims one toward their game, and both return home. They then run forth

again and again in like manner, until the number is completed that

decides the victory; this number is optional, and I am told rarely

exceeds twenty. It is to be observed, that every person on either side

who touches another during the chase, claims one for his party, and

when many are out, it frequently happens that many are touched.

About 1770, I saw a grand match at base played in the fields behind

Montague House, now the British Museum, by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire

against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable sum of money, which

afforded much entertainment to the spectators. In Essex they play this

game with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the

ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from

them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase,

is sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till

the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his

associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which

is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful

players, because the prison belonging to either party is always much

nearer to the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the

person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist

before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in

equal need of deliverance. The addition of the prisons occasions a

considerable degree of variety in the pastime, and is frequently

productive of much pleasantry.

XIII.--WRESTLING.

The art of wrestling, which in the present day is chiefly confined to

the lower classes of the people, was, however, highly esteemed by the

ancients, and made a very considerable figure among the Olympic games.

In the ages of chivalry, to wrestle well was accounted one of the

accomplishments which a hero ought to possess.

Wrestling is a kind of exercise that, from its nature, is likely to

have been practised by every nation, and especially by those the least

civilised. It was probably well known in this country long before the

introduction of foreign manners. The inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon

have, we are well assured, from time immemorial, been celebrated for

their expertness in this pastime, and are universally said to be the

best wrestlers in the kingdom. To give a Cornish hug is a proverbial

expression. The Cornish, says Fuller, are masters of the art of

wrestling, so that if the Olympian games were now in fashion, they

would come away with the victory. Their hug is a cunning close with

their fellow-combatants, the fruits whereof is his fair fall or foil at

the least.[357] They learned the art at an early period of life, for

you shall hardly find, says Carew, an assembly of boys in Devon and

Cornwall, where the most untowardly among them will not as readily give

you a muster (or trial) of this exercise as you are prone to require

it.[358]

The citizens of London, in times past, are said to have been expert

in the art of wrestling, and annually upon St. James's day they were

accustomed to make a public trial of their skill. In the sixth year of

Henry III. they held their anniversary meeting for this purpose near

the hospital of St. Matilda, at St. Giles's in the fields, where they

were met by the inhabitants of the city and suburbs of Westminster,

and a ram was appointed for the prize; the Londoners were victorious,

having greatly excelled their antagonists, which produced a challenge

from the conquered party, to renew the contest upon the Lammas day

following at Westminster: the citizens of London readily consented, and

met them accordingly, but in the midst of the diversion, the bailiff

of Westminster and his associates took occasion to quarrel with the

Londoners, a battle ensued, and many of the latter were severely

wounded in making their retreat to the city. This unjustifiable

petulance of the bailiff gave rise to a more serious tumult, and it was

several days before the peace could be restored.[359] Stow informs us,

that in the thirty-first year of Henry VI., A. D. 1453, at a wrestling

match near Clerkenwell, another tumult was excited against the lord

mayor, but he does not say upon what occasion it arose.

In old time, says Stow, wrestling was more used than it has been of

later years.[360] In the month of August, about the feast of St.

Bartholomew, adds this very accurate historian, there were divers

days spent in wrestling; the lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs,

being present in a large tent pitched for that purpose near

Clerkenwell;[361] upon this occasion the officers of the city, namely,

the sheriffs, serjeants, and yeomen, the porters of the king's beam or

weighing-house,[362] and others of the city, gave a general challenge

to such of the inhabitants of the suburbs as thought themselves expert

in this exercise; but of late years, continues he, the wrestling is

only practised on the afternoon of St. Bartholomew's day.[363] The

latter ceremony is thus described by a foreign writer, who was an

eye-witness to the performance: "When," says he, "the mayor goes out

of the precincts of the city, a sceptre,[364] a sword, and a cap, are

borne before him, and he is followed by the principal aldermen in

scarlet gowns with golden chains; himself and they on horseback. Upon

their arrival at a place appointed for that purpose, where a tent is

pitched for their reception, the mob begin to wrestle before them two

at a time." He adds a circumstance not recorded by the historian:

"After this is over, a parcel of live rabbits are turned loose among

the crowd, which are pursued by a number of boys, who endeavour to

catch them with all the noise they can make."[365]

From the time that wrestling became unfashionable and was rarely

practised by persons of opulence, it declined also among the populace,

but by slower degrees; and at present is seldom seen except at wakes

and fairs, where it still continues to be partially exhibited.

XIV.--PRIZES FOR WRESTLING.

We may have observed, that the reward proposed for the best wrestlers

in the contest between the Londoners and the inhabitants of

Westminster, as mentioned above, was a ram. Anciently this animal was

the prize most usually given upon such occasions, and therefore in the

rhyme of sir Thopas, Chaucer says of the Knight,

Of wrastling was there none his pere,

Where any Ram shulde stonde.[366]

And again, in his character of the miller,

--------for over al ther he cam,

At wrastlyng he wolde have away the Ram.[367]

Other rewards, no doubt, were sometimes proposed, as we may see upon

the engraving below, where two men are wrestling for a cock: the

original drawing, from a manuscript in the Royal Library,[368] is

certainly more ancient than the time of Chaucer.

[Illustration: 17. ANCIENT WRESTLING.]

In modern times the prizes were not only much varied, but were

occasionally of higher value. If we may believe the author of the old

poem, entitled "A mery Geste of Robyn Hode," there were several prizes

put up at once. The poet, speaking of a knight who was going to Robin

Hood, says,[369]

----Unto Bernisdale,

As he went, by a bridge was a wrastling,

And there taryed was he,

And there was all the best yemen,

Of all the west countrey.

A full fayre game there was set up;

A white bull, up ypyght;

A great courser with sadle and brydle,

With gold burnished full bryght:

A payre of gloves, a red gold ringe,

A pipe of wine, good faye:

What man bereth him best, ywis,

The prise shall bear away.

A humorous description is given in one of the Spectators of a country

wake: the author there mentions "a ring of wrestlers; the squire," says

he, "of the parish always treats the whole company, every year, with a

hogshead of ale, and proposes a beaver hat, as a recompence to him who

gives the most falls."[370]

XV.--WRESTLING, HOW PERFORMED.

[Illustration: 18. ANOTHER REPRESENTATION.]

The manner in which this pastime was exhibited in the western parts of

England, at the distance of two centuries, is thus described by Carew,

an author then living. "The beholders then cast, or form themselves

into a ring, in the empty space whereof the two champions step forth,

stripped into their dublets and hosen, and untrussed, that they may so

the better command the use of their lymmes; and first shaking hands, in

token of friendship, they fall presently to the effect of anger; for

each striveth how to take hold of the other with his best advantage,

and to bear his adverse party downe; wherein, whosoever overthroweth

his mate, in such sort, as that either his backe, or the one shoulder,

and contrary heele do touch the ground, is accounted to give the fall.

If he be only endangered, and makes a narrow escape, it is called a

foyle."

He then adds, "This pastime also hath his laws, for instance; of taking

hold above the girdle--wearing a girdle to take hold by--playing three

pulls for trial of the mastery, the fall giver to be exempted from

playing again with the taker, but bound to answer his successor. Silver

prizes, for this and other activities, were wont to be carried about,

by certain circumferanci, or set up at bride ales; but time, or their

abuse," perhaps I might add both, "hath now worn them out of use."[371]

The Greeks had a pastime called Hippas,[372] which, we are told, was

one person riding upon the shoulders of another, as upon a horse;[373]

a sport of this kind was in practice with us at the commencement of

the fourteenth century, but generally performed by two competitors who

struggled one with the other, and he who pulled his opponent from the

shoulders of his carrier was the victor.

[Illustration: 19.]

The representations of this curious pastime are taken from different

manuscripts; one in the Royal Library,[374] and the other in the

Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344.[375]

[Illustration: 20.]

This seems to bear more analogy to wrestling than to any other sport,

for which reason I have given it a place in the present chapter.

XVI.--SWIMMING.

Swimming is an exercise of great antiquity; and, no doubt, familiar

to the inhabitants of this country, at all times. The heroes of the

middle ages are sometimes praised for their skill in swimming: it is

said of Olaf Fryggeson, a king of Norway, that he had no equal in his

art.[376] Peacham, describing the requisites for a complete gentleman,

mentions swimming as one; and particularly recommends it to such as

were inclined to follow a military profession. In this he seems to have

followed an old poetical writer,[377] who speaks in this manner:--

To swymme, is eke to lerne in sommer leson.

Men fynde not a bridge, so often as a flood,

Swymmyng to voyde; and chase an hoste wil eson.

Eke after rayne the rivers goeth wood,[378]

That every man in t'host can swymme, is good:

Knyght, squyer, footman, cook, and cosynere.

And grome, and page, in swymmyng is to lere.

Meaning thereby, that the art of swimming ought to be learned by every

class of persons belonging to an army: and, perhaps, it may not be

improper to add, by every other person also.

Swimming and diving are mentioned by the author of the Visions of

Pierce Ploughman,[379] in the following manner:--

Take two strong men and in Temese[380] cast them,

And both naked as a needle, ther non sikerer[381] than other;

The one hath cunnynge and can swymme and dyve,

The other is lewed of that laboure, lerned never to swym,

Which trowest of these two in Temese is most in dred,

He that never dived ne nought can of swymmyng,

Or the swymmer that is safe if he himself lyke?

Boys in the country usually learn to swim with bundles of bulrushes,

and with corks where the rushes cannot readily be procured;

particularly in the neighbourhood of London, where we are told, two

centuries back, there were men who could teach the art of swimming

well, and, says the author, "for commoditie of river and water for that

purpose, there is no where better."[382]

I am sorry to add, that swimming is by no means so generally practised

with us in the present day as it used to be in former times. We have

several treatises on the art of swimming and diving, and in the

Encyclopædia Britannica are many excellent directions relating to it,

under the article Swimming.

XVII.--SLIDING.

Sliding upon the ice appears to have been a very favourite pastime

among the youth of this country in former times; at present the use of

skates is so generally diffused throughout the kingdom, that sliding is

but little practised, except by children and such as cannot afford to

purchase them.

Sliding is one of the diversions ascribed to young men of London by

Fitzstephen, and, as far as one can judge from his description of the

sport, it differed not in the performance from the method used by the

boys of our own time; but he adds another kind of pastime upon the ice

that is not now in practice: his words are to this effect, "Others make

a seat of ice as large as a millstone, and having placed one of their

companions upon it, they draw him along, when it sometimes happens

that moving on slippery places they all fall down headlong." Instead

of these seats of ice, among the moderns, sledges are used, which

being extended from a centre, by the means of a strong rope, those who

are seated in them are moved round with great velocity, and form an

extensive circle. Sledges of this kind were set upon the Thames during

the hard frost, in the year 1716, as the following-couplet in a song

written upon that occasion[383] plainly proves:

While the rabble in sledges run giddily round,

And nought but a circle of folly is found.

XVIII.--SKATING.

Skating is by no means a recent pastime, and probably the invention

proceeded rather from necessity than the desire of amusement.

It is the boast of a northern chieftain, that he could traverse the

snow upon skates of wood.[384] I cannot by any means ascertain at what

time skating made its first appearance in England, but we find some

traces of such an exercise in the thirteenth century, at which period,

according to Fitzstephen, it was customary in the winter, when the ice

would bear them, for the young citizens of London to fasten the leg

bones of animals under the soles of their feet by tying them round

their ancles, and then taking a pole shod with iron into their hands,

they pushed themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and

moved with celerity equal, says the author, to a bird flying through

the air, or an arrow from a cross-bow; but some allowance, I presume,

must be made for the poetical figure: he then adds, "at times, two of

them thus furnished agree to start opposite one to another, at a great

distance; they meet, elevate their poles, attack, and strike each

other, when one or both of them fall, and not without some bodily hurt;

and, even after their fall, are carried a great distance from each

other, by the rapidity of the motion, and whatever part of the head

comes upon the ice, it is sure to be laid bare."

The wooden skates shod with iron or steel, which are bound about the

feet and ancles like the talares of the Greeks and Romans, were most

probably brought into England from the Low Countries, where they are

said to have originated, and where it is well known they are almost

universally used by persons of both sexes when the season permits.

In Hoole's translation of the Vocabulary by Commenius, called Orbis

Sensualium Pictus, the skates are called scrick-shoes from the German,

and in the print at the head of the section, in that work, they are

represented longer than those of the present day, and the irons are

turned up much higher in the front.

Some modern writers have asserted, that "the metropolis of Scotland

has produced more instances of elegant skaters than perhaps any other

country whatever, and the institution of a skating-club, about forty

years ago, has contributed not a little to the improvement of this

amusement."[385] I have, however, seen, some years back, when the

Serpentine river in Hyde Park was frozen over, four gentlemen there

dance, if I may be allowed the expression, a double minuet in skates,

with as much ease, and I think more elegance, than in a ball room;

others again, by turning and winding with much adroitness, have readily

in succession described upon the ice the form of all the letters in the

alphabet.

XIX.--ROWING.

I shall not pretend to investigate the antiquity of boat-rowing.

This art was certainly well understood by the primitive inhabitants

of Britain, who frequently committed themselves to the mercy of the

sea in open boats, constructed with wicker work, and covered with

leather.[386] The Saxons were also expert in the management of the oar,

and thought it by no means derogatory for a nobleman of the highest

rank to row or steer a boat with dexterity and judgment. Kolson, a

northern hero, boasting of his qualifications, declares, that "he was

expert in handling the oar."[387] The reader may possibly call to his

recollection the popular story related by our historians concerning

Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, who they tell us was conveyed in great

state along the river Dee, from his palace in the city of West Chester,

to the church of St. John, and back again: the oars were managed by

eight kings, and himself, the ninth, sat at the stern of the barge and

held the helm.[388] This frolic, for I cannot consider it in any other

light, appears to be well attested, and is the earliest record of a

pastime of the kind.

The boat-quintain and tilting at each other upon the water, which were

introduced by the Normans as amusements for the summer season,[389]

could not be performed without the assistance of the oars, and probably

much of the success of the champion depended upon the skilfulness of

those who managed the boat. If we refer to two engravings[390] whereon

both these sports are represented, we shall see that the rowers are

seated contrary to the usual method, and face the head of the vessel

instead of the stern.

The institution of the water pageantry at London upon the lord mayor's

day, was of an essential service to the professed watermen, who plied

about the bridge; and gave occasion to the introduction of many

pleasure boats, which in the modern times have been greatly increased.

The first procession to Westminster by water was made A. D. 1453, by

John Norman, then lord mayor, for which he was highly commended by the

watermen.

When tilting at the quintain and justing one against another in boats

upon the water were discontinued in this country, rowing matches were

substituted, and are become exceedingly popular: we may see them

frequently exhibited upon the Thames during the summer season; and as

these contests, which depend upon skill as well as upon strength, are

rarely productive of any thing further than mere pastime, they are in

my opinion deservedly encouraged. When a rowing-match takes place near

London, if the weather be fine, it is astonishing to see what crowds of

people assemble themselves upon the banks of the Thames as spectators,

and the river itself is nearly covered with wherries, pleasure

boats, and barges, decorated with flags and streamers, and sometimes

accompanied with bands of music. This pastime, though very ancient,

and frequently practised upon solemn occasions by the Greeks and the

Romans, does not seem to have attracted the notice of our countrymen in

former times.

It may be thought unnecessary for me to mention the well-known

annual legacy of Thomas Dogget, a comedian of some celebrity at the

commencement of the last century, which provides three prizes to be

claimed by three young watermen, on condition they prove victorious

in rowing from the Old Swan Stairs near London Bridge, to the White

Swan at Chelsea. The contest takes place upon the first of August; the

number of competitors upon this occasion is restricted to six, who

must not have been out of their times beyond twelve months. Every man

rows singly in his boat, and his exertions are made against the tide;

he who first obtains his landing at Chelsea receives the prize of

honour, which is a waterman's coat, ornamented with a large badge of

silver, and therefore the match is usually called "Rowing for the Coat

and Badge." The second and the third candidates have small pecuniary

rewards, but the other three get nothing for their trouble.

Of late years the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Astley the rider,

give each of them in the course of the summer a new wherry, to be rowed

for by a certain number of watermen, two of which are allowed to row

in one boat; and these contests are extended to two or three heats or

trials before the successful candidates are determined.

XX.--SAILING.

Another popular amusement upon the water is sailing, and many persons

have pleasure boats for this purpose; I do not mean the open boats

which are usually let out for hire by the boat-builders for the purpose

of sailing, but vessels of much greater magnitude, that are covered

with a deck, and able with skilful management to weather a rough storm;

many large bets are frequently dependant upon the swiftness of these

boats, and the contest is sometimes determined at sea.

A society, generally known by the appellation of the Cumberland

Society, consisting of gentlemen partial to this pastime, give yearly

a silver cup to be sailed for in the vicinity of London. The boats

usually start from the bridge at Blackfriars, go up the Thames to

Putney, and return to Vauxhall, where a vessel is moored at a distance

from the stairs, and the sailing boat that first passes this mark upon

her return obtains the victory.

CHAPTER III.

I. Hand-ball an ancient Game.--The Ball, where said to have

been invented.--II. Used by the Saxons--III. And by the

Schoolboys of London.--IV. Ball Play in France.--V. Tennis Courts

erected.--VI. Tennis fashionable in England.--VII. A famous

Woman Player.--VIII. Hand-ball played for Tansy Cakes.--IX.

Fives.--X. Balloon-ball.--XI. Stool-ball.--XII. Hurling.--XIII.

Foot-ball;--Camp-ball.--XIV. Goff;--Cambuc;--Bandy-ball.--XV.

Stow-ball.--XVI. Pall-mall.--XVII. Ring-ball.--XVIII.

Club-ball.--XIX. Cricket.--XX. Trap-ball.--XXI.

Northen-spell.--XXII. Tip-cat.

I.--HAND BALL.

The ball has given origin to many popular pastimes, and I have

appropriated this chapter to such of them as are or have been usually

practised in the fields and other open places. The most ancient

amusement of this kind, is distinguished with us by the name of

hand-ball, and is, if Homer may be accredited, coeval at least with the

destruction of Troy. Herodotus attributes the invention of the ball

to the Lydians;[391] succeeding writers have affirmed, that a female

of distinction named Anagalla, a native of Corcyra, was the first who

made a ball for the purpose of pastime, which she presented to Nausica,

the daughter of Alcinous, king of Phœacia, and at the same time taught

her how to use it;[392] this piece of history is partly derived from

Homer, who introduces the princess of Corcyra with her maidens, amusing

themselves at hand-ball:

O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play,

Their shining veils unbound, along the skies,

Tost and retost, the ball incessant flies.[393]

Homer has restricted this pastime to the young maidens of Corcyra, at

least he has not mentioned its being practised by the men; in times

posterior to the poet, the game of hand-ball was indiscriminately

played by both sexes.

II.--ANGLO-SAXON BALL PLAY.

It is altogether uncertain at what period the ball was brought into

England: the author of a manuscript in Trinity College, Oxford, written

in the fourteenth century, and containing the life of Saint

Cuthbert,[394] says of him, that when he was young, "he pleyde atte

balle with the children that his fellowes were." On what authority this

information is established I cannot tell. The venerable Bede, who also

wrote the life of that saint, makes no mention of ball play, but tells

us he excelled in jumping, running, wrestling, and such exercises as

required great muscular exertion,[395] and among them, indeed, it is

highly probable that of the ball might be included.

III.--LONDON BALL PLAY.

Fitzstephen, who wrote in the thirteenth century, speaking of the

London school-boys, says, "Annually upon Shrove Tuesday, they go into

the fields immediately after dinner, and play at the celebrated game of

ball;[396] every party of boys carrying their own ball;" for it does

not appear that those belonging to one school contended with those of

another, but that the youth of each school diverted themselves apart.

Some difficulty has been stated by those who have translated this

passage, respecting the nature of the game at ball here mentioned.

Stowe, considering it as a kind of goff or brandy-ball, has, without

the least sanction from the Latin, added the word bastion,[397] meaning

a bat or cudgel; others again have taken it for foot-ball,[398] which

pastime, though probably known at the time, does not seem to be a very

proper one for children: and indeed, as there is not any just authority

to support an argument on either side, I see no reason why it should

not be rendered hand-ball.[399]

IV.--BALL PLAY IN FRANCE.

The game of hand-ball is called by the French palm play,[400] because,

says St. Foix, a modern author, originally "this exercise consisted in

receiving the ball and driving it back again with the palm of the hand.

In former times they played with the naked hand, then with a glove,

which in some instances was lined; afterwards they bound cords and

tendons round their hands to make the ball rebound more forcibly, and

hence the racket derived its origin."[401] During the reign of Charles

V. palm play, which may properly enough be denominated hand-tennis, was

exceedingly fashionable in France, being played by the nobility for

large sums of money; and when they had lost all that they had about

them, they would sometimes pledge a part of their wearing apparel

rather than give up the pursuit of the game. The duke of Burgundy,

according to an old historian,[402] having lost sixty franks at palm

play with the duke of Bourbon, Messire William de Lyon, and Messire Guy

de la Trimouille, and not having money enough to pay them, gave his

girdle as a pledge for the remainder; and shortly afterwards he left

the same girdle with the comte D'Eu for eighty franks, which he also

lost at tennis.

V.--TENNIS-COURTS.

At the time when tennis play was taken up seriously by the nobility,

new regulations were made in the game, and covered courts erected,

wherein it might be practised without any interruption from the

weather. In the sixteenth century tennis-courts were common in

England, and the establishment of such places countenanced by the

example of the monarchs. In the Vocabulary of Commenius,[403] we see

a rude representation of a tennis-court divided by a line stretched

in the middle, and the players standing on either side with their

rackets ready to receive and return the ball, which the rules of the

game required to be stricken over the line. Hence the propriety of

Heywoode's proverb, "Thou hast stricken the ball under the line;"

meaning he had failed in his purpose.[404]

VI.--TENNIS FASHIONABLE IN ENGLAND.

We have undoubted authority to prove that Henry VII. was a tennis

player. In a MS. register of his expenditures made in the thirteenth

year of his reign, and preserved in the Remembrancer's Office, this

entry occurs: "Item, for the king's loss at tennis, twelvepence; for

the loss of balls, threepence." Hence one may infer, that the game was

played abroad, for the loss of the balls would hardly have happened in

a tennis-court. His son Henry, who succeeded him, in the early part of

his reign was much attached to this diversion; which propensity, as

Hall assures us,[405] "being perceived by certayne craftie persons

about him, they brought in Frenchmen and Lombards to make wagers with

hym, and so he lost muche money; but when he perceyved theyr crafte,

he eschued the company and let them go." He did not however give up

the amusement, for we find him, according to the same historian, in

the thirteenth year of his reign, playing at tennis with the emperor

Maximilian for his partner, against the prince of Orange and the

marquis of Brandenborow: "the earl of Devonshire stopped on the

prince's side, and the lord Edmond on the other side; and they departed

even handes on both sides, after eleven games fully played."[406]

Among the additions that king Henry VIII. made to Whitehall, if Stowe

be correct, were "divers fair tennis-courts, bowling-allies, and a

cock-pit."[407]

James I., if not himself a tennis player, speaks of the pastime with

commendation, and recommends it to his son as a species of exercise

becoming a prince.[408] Charles II. frequently diverted himself

with playing at tennis, and had particular kind of dresses made for

that purpose. So had Henry VIII. In the wardrobe rolls we meet with

tenes-cotes for the king, also tennis-drawers and tennis-slippers.[409]

VII.--A FAMOUS WOMAN PLAYER.

A French writer speaks of a damsel named Margot, who resided at Paris

in 1424, and played at hand-tennis with the palm, and also with the

back of her hand, better than any man; and what is most surprising,

adds my author, at that time the game was played with the naked hand,

or at best with a double glove.[410]

VIII.--HAND-BALL PLAY FOR TANSY CAKES.

Hand-ball was formerly a favourite pastime among the young persons

of both sexes, and in many parts of the kingdom it was customary for

them to play at this game during the Easter holidays for tansy cakes;

but why, says Bourne, they should prefer hand-ball at this time to

any other pastime, or play it particularly for a tansy cake, I have

not been able to find out.[411] The learned Selden conceives the

institution of this reward to have originated from the Jewish custom of

eating bitter herbs at the time of the passover.[412]

Anciently the mayor, aldermen, and sheriff of Newcastle, accompanied

with a great number of burgesses, used to go every year at the feasts

of Easter and Whitsuntide to the Forth, the little Mall of the town,

with the mace, the sword, and the cap of maintenance carried before

them. The young people still continue to assemble there at those

seasons particularly, and play at hand-ball, or dance, but are no

longer countenanced by the presence of their governors.[413]

Fuller mentions the following proverbial saying used by the citizens of

Chester, "when the daughter is stolen shut Pepper Gate," which he thus

explains: "The mayor of the city had his daughter, as she was playing

at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street, stolen away by a young man

through the same gate, whereupon he caused it to be shut up."[414]

IX.--FIVES.

Hand-tennis still continues to be played, though under a different

name, and probably a different modification of the game; it is now

called fives, which denomination perhaps it might receive from having

five competitors on each side, as the succeeding passage seems to

indicate. In 1591, when queen Elizabeth was entertained at Elvetham in

Hampshire, by the earl of Hertford, "after dinner, about three o'clock,

ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire men, in a square

greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, squaring

out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle;

in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to

five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great

liking of her highness."[415]

X.--BALLOON-BALL.

The balloon or wind-ball resembled the follis of the Romans. The follis

was a large ball of leather, blown full of wind, and beaten backwards

and forwards with the fist, and seems to have been much played with.

"Folle decet pueros ludere, folle senes."[416]

The balloon-ball, was a large ball made of double leather, which being

filled with wind by means of a ventil, says Commenius,[417] was driven

to and fro by the strength of men's arms; and for this purpose every

one of the players had a round hollow bracer of wood to cover the hand

and lower part of the arm, with which he struck the ball. This pastime

was usually practised in the open fields, and is much commended for

the healthiness of the exercise it afforded. The balloon-ball seems

certainly to have originated from the hand-ball, and was, I apprehend,

first played in England without the assistance of the bracer; this

supposition will be perfectly established if it be granted, and I see

no reason why it should not, that the four figures represented below

are engaged in the balloon-ball play: the original delineation occurs

in a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[418]

[Illustration: 21. BALLOON-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

The following engraving represents a gentleman and lady playing at

hand-ball, and as far as one can judge from the representation, the

pastime consisted in merely beating the ball from one to the other.

[Illustration: 22. HAND-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

These figures are taken from a manuscript in the Harleian Library,[419]

nearly, if not altogether, coeval in point of antiquity with the

former. The balls are unlike each other; that in the engraving No. 20

is the largest, and bears the marking of the seams.

XI.--STOOL-BALL.

Stool-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers of the three last

centuries, but without any proper definition of the game. Doctor

Johnson tells us,[420] it is a play where balls are driven from stool

to stool, but does not say in what manner or to what purpose. I have

been informed, that a pastime called stool-ball is practised to this

day in the northern parts of England, which consists in simply setting

a stool upon the ground, and one of the players takes his place before

it, while his antagonist, standing at a distance, tosses a ball with

the intention of striking the stool; and this it is the business of the

former to prevent by beating it away with the hand, reckoning one to

the game for every stroke of the ball; if, on the contrary, it should

be missed by the hand and touch the stool, the players change places.

I believe the same also happens if the person who threw the ball can

catch and retain it when driven back, before it reaches the ground. The

conqueror at this game is he who strikes the ball most times before

it touches the stool. Again, in other parts of the country a certain

number of stools are set up in a circular form, and at a distance from

each other, and every one of them is occupied by a single player; when

the ball is struck, which is done as before with the hand, every one

of them is obliged to alter his situation, running in succession from

stool to stool, and if he who threw the ball can regain it in time to

strike any one of the players, before he reaches the stool to which he

is running, he takes his place, and the person touched must throw the

ball, until he can in like manner return to the circle.

Stool-ball seems to have been a game more properly appropriated to the

women than to the men, but occasionally it was played by the young

persons of both sexes indiscriminately; as the following lines from a

song written by D'Urfey for his play of Don Quixote, acted at Dorset

Gardens in 1694,[421] sufficiently indicate:

Down in a vale on a summer's day,

All the lads and lasses met to be merry;

A match for kisses at stool-ball to play,

And for cakes, and ale, and sider, and perry.

_Chorus._ Come all, great small, short tall, away to stool-ball.

XII.--HURLING.

Hurling is an ancient exercise, and seems originally to have been a

species of the hand-ball; it was played by the Romans with a ball

called harpastum, a word probably derived from harpago, to snatch or

take by violence. The contending parties endeavoured to force the ball

one from the other, and they who could retain it long enough to cast it

beyond an appointed boundary were the conquerors. The inhabitants of

the western counties of England have long been famous for their skill

in the practice of this pastime. There were two methods of hurling in

Cornwall, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, and both are

particularly described by Carew, a contemporary writer,[422] whose

words are these: "Hurling taketh his denomination from throwing of the

ball, and is of two sorts; in the east parts of Cornwall to goales, and

in the west to the country. For hurling to goales there are fifteen,

twenty, or thirty players, more or less, chosen out on each side, who

strip themselves to their slightest apparell and then join hands in

ranke one against another; out of these rankes they match themselves by

payres, one embracing another, and so passe away, every of which couple

are especially to watch one another during the play; after this they

pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten feet asunder, and

directly against them, ten or twelve score paces off, other twain in

like distance, which they terme goales, where some indifferent person

throweth up a ball, the which whosoever can catch and carry through his

adversaries goale, hath woune the game; but herein consisteth one of

Hercules his labours, for he that is once possessed of the ball, hath

his contrary mate waiting at inches and assaying to lay hold upon him,

the other thrusteth him in the breast with his closed fist to keep him

off which they call _butting_." According to the laws of the game,

"they must hurle man to man, and not two set upon one man at once.

The hurler against the ball must not _but_ nor _hand-fast_ under the

girdle, he who hath the ball must _but_ only in the other's breast, and

deale no fore ball, that is, he may not throw it to any of his mates

standing nearer to the goale than himself." In hurling to the country,

"two or three, or more parishes agree to hurl against two or three

other parishes. The matches are usually made by gentlemen, and their

goales are either those gentlemen's houses, or some towns or villages

three or four miles asunder, of which either side maketh choice after

the nearnesse of their dwellings; when they meet there is neyther

comparing of numbers nor matching of men, but a silver ball is cast up,

and that company which can catch and carry it by force or slight to the

place assigned, gaineth the ball and the victory. Such as see where the

ball is played give notice, crying 'ware east,' 'ware west,' as the

same is carried. The hurlers take their next way over hilles, dales,

hedges, ditches; yea, and thorow bushes, briars, mires, plashes, and

rivers whatsoever, so as you shall sometimes see twenty or thirty lie

tugging together in the water scrambling and scratching for the ball."

About the year 1775, the hurling to the goals was frequently played

by parties of Irishmen, in the fields at the back of the British

Museum, but they used a kind of bat to take up the ball and to strike

it from them; this instrument was flat on both sides, and broad and

curving at the lower end. I have been greatly amused to see with what

facility those who were skilful in the pastime would catch up the ball

upon the bat, and often run with it for a considerable time, tossing

it occasionally from the bat and recovering it again, till such time

as they found a proper opportunity of driving it back amongst their

companions, who generally followed and were ready to receive it. In

other respects, I do not recollect that the game differed materially

from the description above given. The bat for hurling was known and

probably used in England more than two centuries ago, for it is

mentioned in a book published in the reign of queen Elizabeth,[423] and

is there railed "a clubbe" or "hurle batte."

XIII.--FOOT-BALL--CAMP-BALL.

Foot-ball is so called because the ball is driven about with the feet

instead of the hands. It was formerly much in vogue among the common

people of England, though of late years it seems to have fallen into

disrepute, and is but little practised. I cannot pretend to determine

at what period the game of foot-ball originated; it does not however,

to the best of my recollection, appear among the popular exercises

before the reign of Edward III., and then, in 1349, it was prohibited

by a public edict;[424] not, perhaps, from any particular objection to

the sport in itself, but because it co-operated, with other favourite

amusements, to impede the progress of archery.

When a match at foot-ball is made, two parties, each containing an

equal number of competitors, take the field, and stand between two

goals, placed at the distance of eighty or an hundred yards the one

from the other. The goal is usually made with two sticks driven into

the ground, about two or three feet apart. The ball, which is commonly

made of a blown bladder, and cased with leather, is delivered in the

midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to drive it

through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved the game is

won. The abilities of the performers are best displayed in attacking

and defending the goals; and hence the pastime was more frequently

called a goal at foot-ball than a game at foot-ball. When the exercise

becomes exceeding violent, the players kick each other's shins without

the least ceremony, and some of them are overthrown at the hazard of

their limbs.

Barclay in his fifth eclogue[425] has these lines.

----The sturdie plowmen lustie, strong and bold,

Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,

Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall.

And a more modern poet, Waller,

As when a sort of lusty shepherds try

Their force at foot-ball; care of victory

Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast,

That their encounter seems too rough for jest.

The danger attending this pastime occasioned king James I. to say,

"From this court I debarre all rough and violent exercises, as the

foot-ball, meeter for lameing than making able the users thereof."[426]

The rustic boys made use of a blown bladder without the covering of

leather by way of foot-ball, putting peas and horse beans withinside,

which occasioned a rattling as it was kicked about:

--And nowe in the winter, when men kill the fat swine,

They get the bladder and blow it great and thin,

With many beans and peason put within:

It ratleth, soundeth, and shineth clere and fayre,

While it is throwen and caste up in the ayre,

Eche one contendeth and hath a great delite

With foote and with hande the bladder for to smite;

If it fall to grounde, they lifte it up agayne,

And this waye to labour they count it no payne.[427]

"It had been the custom," says a Chester antiquary,[428] "time out of

mind, for the shoemakers yearly on the Shrove Tuesday, to deliver to

the drapers, in the presence of the mayor of Chester, at the cross on

the Rodehee,[429] one ball of leather called a foote-ball, of the value

of three shillings and fourpence or above, to play at from thence to

the Common Hall of the said city; which practice was productive of

much inconvenience, and therefore this year (1540), by consent of the

parties concerned, the ball was changed into six glayves of silver

of the like value, as a reward for the best runner that day upon the

aforesaid Rodehee."

In an old comedy, the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, by John Day,[430]

one of the characters speaks thus of himself: "I am Tom Stroud of

Hurling, I'll play a gole at camp-ball, or wrassel a fall a the hip

or the hin turn." Camp-ball, I conceive, is only another denomination

for foot-ball, and is so called, because it was played to the greatest

advantage in an open country. The term may probably be a contraction of

the word campaign.

XIV.--GOFF--CAMBUC--BANDY-BALL.

There are many games played with the ball that require the assistance

of a club or bat, and probably the most ancient among them is the

pastime now distinguished by the name of goff. In the northern parts of

the kingdom goff is much practised. It requires much room to perform

this game with propriety, and therefore I presume it is rarely seen

at present in the vicinity of the metropolis. It answers to a rustic

pastime of the Romans which they played with a ball of leather stuffed

with feathers, called paganica, because it was used by the common

people: the goff-ball is composed of the same materials to this day:

I have been told it is sometimes, though rarely, stuffed with cotton.

In the reign of Edward III. the Latin name cambuca[431] was applied

to this pastime, and it derived the denomination, no doubt, from the

crooked club or bat with which it was played; the bat was also called

a bandy, from its being bent, and hence the game itself is frequently

written in English bandy-ball. Below are two figures engaged at

bandy-ball, and the form of the bandy, as it was used early in the

fourteenth century, from a MS. book of prayers beautifully illuminated

and written about that time, in the possession of Francis Douce Esq.

[Illustration: 23. BANDY-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Goff, according to the present modification of the game, is performed

with a bat, not much unlike the bandy: the handle of this instrument

is straight, and usually made of ash, about four feet and a half in

length; the curvature is affixed to the bottom, faced with horn and

backed with lead; the ball is a little one, but exceedingly hard, being

made with leather, and, as before observed, stuffed with feathers.

There are generally two players, who have each of them his bat and

ball. The game consists in driving the ball into certain holes made in

the ground; he who achieves it the soonest, or in the fewest number of

strokes, obtains the victory. The goff-lengths, or the spaces between

the first and last holes, are sometimes extended to the distance of two

or three miles; the number of intervening holes appears to be

optional, but the balls must be struck into the holes, and not beyond

them; when four persons play, two of them are sometimes partners, and

have but one ball, which they strike alternately, but every man has his

own bandy.

It should seem that goff was a fashionable game among the nobility at

the commencement of the seventeenth century, and it was one of the

exercises with which prince Henry, eldest son to James I., occasionally

amused himself, as we learn from the following anecdote recorded by

a person who was present:[432] "At another time playing at goff, a

play not unlike to pale-maille, whilst his schoolmaster stood talking

with another, and marked not his highness warning him to stand farther

off, the prince thinking he had gone aside, lifted up his goff-club to

strike the ball; mean tyme one standing by said to him, 'beware that

you hit not master Newton:' wherewith he drawing back his hand, said,

'Had I done so, I had but paid my debts.'"

XV.--STOW-BALL.

A pastime called stow-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers

of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which, I presume, was a

species of goff, at least it appears to have been played with the same

kind of ball. In Littleton's Latin and English Dictionary, under the

word _paganica_, the goff-ball and the stow-ball are the same.

XVI.--PALL-MALL.

According to the author, in the reign of James I., quoted above,

pall-mall was a pastime not unlike goff, but if the definition of

the former given by Cotgrave be correct, it will be found to differ

materially from the latter, at least as it was played in modern times.

"Pale-maille," says he, "is a game wherein a round box ball is struck

with a mallet through a high arch of iron, which he that can do at

the fewest blows, or at the number agreed upon, wins." It is to be

observed, that there are two of these arches, that is, "one at either

end of the alley." The game of mall was a fashionable amusement in the

reign of Charles II., and the walk in St. James's Park, now called the

Mall, received its name from having been appropriated to the purpose

of playing at mall, where Charles himself and his courtiers frequently

exercised themselves in the practice of this pastime. The denomination

mall given to the game, is evidently derived from the mallet or wooden

hammer used by the players to strike the ball.

XVII.--RING-BALL.

Commenius[433] mentions a game which he attributes indeed to the

children, and tells us, it consisted in striking a ball with a bandy

through a ring fastened into the ground. A similar kind of pastime, I

am informed, exists to this day in the north of England; it is played

in a ground or alley appropriated to the purpose, and a ball is to be

driven from one end of it to the other with a mallet, the handle of

which is about three feet three or four inches in length; and so far it

resembles pall-mall; but there is the addition of a ring, which is not

mentioned by Cotgrave; I have however been told, that it was sometimes

used in the game of mall. This ring is placed at an equal distance from

the sides of the alley, but much nearer to the bottom than the top of

the ground, and through this ring it is necessary for the ball to be

passed in its progress. The ring is made to turn with great facility

upon a swivel, and the two flat sides are distinguished from each

other: if the ball passes through the one it is said to be lawful, and

the player goes on; but if through the other, it is declared to be

unlawful, and he is obliged to beat the ball back, and drive it through

again until such time as he causes it to pass on the lawful side; this

done, he proceeds to the bottom of the ground, where there is an arch

of iron through which it is also necessary for the ball to be passed,

and then the game is completed. The contest is decided by the blows

given to the ball in the performance, and he who executes his task with

the smallest number is the victor.

XVIII.--CLUB-BALL.

Club-ball is a pastime clearly distinguished from cambuc or goff, in

the edict above mentioned established by Edward III. The difference

seems to have consisted in the one being played with a curved bat and

the other with a straight one. The following engravings represent two

specimens of club-ball; the first, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library,

dated 1344,[434] exhibits a female figure in the action of throwing the

ball to a man who elevates his bat to strike it.

[Illustration: 24. CLUB-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Behind the woman at a little distance appear in the original

delineation several other figures of both sexes, waiting attentively

to catch or stop the ball when returned by the batsman: these figures

have been damaged, and are very indistinct in many parts, for which

reason I did not think it proper to insert them. The next specimen of

ball, taken from a drawing more ancient than the former, a genealogical

roll of the kings of England to the time of Henry III. in the Royal

Library,[435] presents two players only, and he who is possessed of

the bat holds the ball also, which he either threw into the air and

struck with his bat as it descended, or cast forcibly upon the ground,

and beat it away when it rebounded; the attention of his antagonist to

catch the ball need not be remarked, it does not appear in either of

these instances how the game was determined.

[Illustration: 25. CLUB-BALL.--XIII. CENTURY.]

XIX.--CRICKET.

From the club-ball originated, I doubt not, that pleasant and manly

exercise, distinguished in modern times by the name of cricket; I say

in modern times, because I cannot trace the appellation beyond the

commencement of the last century, where it occurs in one of the songs

published by D'Urfey.[436] The first four lines, "Of a noble race was

Shenkin," run thus:

Her was the prettiest fellow

At foot-ball or at cricket,

At hunting chase, or nimble race,

How featly her could prick it.

Cricket of late years is become exceedingly fashionable, being much

countenanced by the nobility and gentlemen of fortune, who frequently

join in the diversion. This game, which is played with the bat and the

ball, consists of single and double wicket. The wicket was formerly

two straight thin battons called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which

were fixed into the ground perpendicularly six inches apart, and over

the top of both was laid a small round piece of wood called the bail,

but so situated as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by

the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two

bails; the middle stump is added to prevent the ball from passing

through the wicket without beating it down. The external stumps are now

seven inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. Single

wicket requires five players on each side, and double wicket eleven;

but the number in both instances may be varied at the pleasure of the

two parties. At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector

of the wicket, the opponent party stand in the field to catch or stop

the ball, and the bowler, who is one of them, takes his place by the

side of a small batton or stump set up for that purpose two-and-twenty

yards from the wicket, and thence delivers the ball with the intention

of beating it down. It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail

across, which the batsman, when he runs, must beat off before he

returns home. If the bowler proves successful the batsman retires from

the play, and another of his party succeeds; if, on the contrary, the

ball is struck by the bat and driven into the field beyond the reach of

those who stand out to stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the

bowler's station, which he touches with his bat and then returns to

his wicket. If this be performed before the ball is thrown back, it is

called a run, and one notch or score is made upon the tally towards his

game; if, on the contrary, the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten

down with it by the opponent party before the striker is at home, or

can ground his bat within three feet ten inches of the wicket, at which

distance a mark made in the ground is called the popping-crease, he is

declared to be out of the play, and the run is not reckoned: he is also

out if he strikes the ball into the air, and it be caught by any of

his antagonists before it reaches the ground, and retained long enough

to be thrown up again. When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in

at the same time, one at each wicket; there are also two bowlers, who

usually bowl four balls in succession alternately. The batsmen are said

to be in as long as they remain at their wickets, and their party is

called the in-party; on the contrary, those who stand in the field with

the bowlers are called the out-party. Both parties have two innings,

and the side that obtains the most runs in the double contest claims

the victory. These are the general outlines of this noble pastime, but

there are many other particular rules and regulations by which it is

governed; and those rules are subject to frequent variations, according

to the joint determination of the players.

XX.--TRAP-BALL.

Trap-ball, so called from the trap used to elevate the ball when it is

to be stricken by the batsman, is anterior to cricket, and probably

coeval with most of the early games played with the bat and ball: we

trace it as far back as the commencement of the fourteenth century,

and a curious specimen of the manner in which it was then played is

here presented from a beautiful MS. in the possession of Francis Douce,

Esq.[437]

[Illustration: 26.: TRAP-BALL.--XIV. CENTURY.]

Here are only two players, but the game is not restricted to any

particular number, though I think it seldom exceeds six or eight on

a side. The size of the bat indicates the holder to have possessed

no great judgment in striking the ball, but the trap is sufficiently

elevated to preclude the necessity of the batsman's stooping when he

raises the ball in order to strike it away, which gives it a decided

advantage over the machine now used for the same purpose. This is

generally made in the form of a shoe, the heel part being hollowed out

for the reception of the ball; but boys and the common herd of rustics,

who cannot readily procure a trap, content themselves with making a

round hole in the ground, and, by way of a lever, use the brisket bone

of an ox, or a flat piece of wood of like size and shape, which is

placed in a slanting position, one half in the hole with the ball upon

it, and the other half out of it: the elevated end being struck smartly

with the bludgeon occasions the ball to rise to a considerable height,

and all the purposes of a trap are thus answered, especially if the

ground be hard and dry. It is usual, in the present game of trap-ball,

when properly played, to place two boundaries at a given distance from

the trap, between which it is necessary for the ball to pass when it

is struck by the batsman, for if it falls withoutside of either, he

gives up his bat and is out; he is also out if he strikes the ball into

the air and it is caught by one of his adversaries before it grounds;

and again, if the ball when returned by the opponent party touches

the trap, or rests within one bat's length of it: on the contrary, if

none of these things happen, every stroke tells for one towards the

striker's game.

Trap-ball, when compared with cricket, is but a childish pastime; but

I have seen it played by the rustics in Essex in a manner differing

materially from that now practised in the vicinity of the metropolis,

and which requires much more dexterity in the performance; for, instead

of a broad bat with a flatted face, they use a round cudgel about an

inch and a half diameter and three feet in length, and those who have

acquired the habit of striking the ball with this instrument rarely

miss their blow, but frequently strike it to an astonishing distance.

The ball being stopped by one of the opponent party, the striker forms

his judgment of the ability of the person who is to throw it back,

and calls in consequence for any number of scores towards his game

that he thinks proper; it is then returned, and if it appears to his

antagonist to rest at a sufficient distance to justify the striker's

call, he obtains his number; but when a contrary opinion is held, a

measurement takes place, and if the scores demanded exceed in number

the lengths of the cudgel from the trap to the ball, he loses the

whole, and is out; while, on the other hand, if the lengths of the

bat are more than the scores called for, the matter terminates in the

striker's favour, and they are set up to his account.

XXI.--NORTHEN SPELL.

Northen-spell is played with a trap, and the ball is stricken with

a bat or bludgeon at the pleasure of the players, but the latter, I

believe, is most commonly used. The performance of this pastime does

not require the attendance of either of the parties in the field to

catch or stop the ball, for the contest between them is simply who

shall strike it to the greatest distance in a given number of strokes;

the length of each stroke is measured before the ball is returned,

by the means of a cord made fast at one end near the trap, the other

being stretched into the field by a person stationed there for that

purpose, who adjusts it to the ball wherever it may lie; the cord is

divided into yards, which are properly numbered upon it in succession,

so that the person at the bottom of the ground can easily ascertain

the distance of each stroke by the number of the yards which he calls

to the players, who place it to their account, and the ball is thrown

back. This pastime possesses but little variety, and is by no means so

amusing to the bystanders as cricket or trap-ball.

XXII.--TIP-CAT.

Tip-cat, or perhaps more properly the game of cat, is a rustic pastime

well known in many parts of the kingdom, and is always played with a

cudgel or bludgeon resembling that used for trap-ball. Its denomination

is derived from a piece of wood called a cat, of about six inches in

length, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, diminished

from the middle, to both the ends, in the shape of a double cone; by

this curious contrivance the places of the trap and of the ball are at

once supplied; for when the cat is laid upon the ground, the player

with his cudgel strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it

will rise with a rotatory motion, high enough for him to beat it away

as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball.

There are various methods of playing the game of cat, but I shall

only notice the two that follow. The first is exceedingly simple, and

consists in making a large ring upon the ground, in the middle of which

the striker takes his station; his business is to beat the cat over

the ring. If he fails in so doing he is out, and another player takes

his place; if he is successful he judges with his eye the distance the

cat is driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number at

pleasure to be scored towards his game: if the number demanded be found

upon measurement to exceed the same number of lengths of the bludgeon,

he is out; on the contrary, if it does not, he obtains his call. The

second method is to make four, six, or eight holes in the ground, in a

circular direction, and as nearly as possible at equal distances from

each other, and at every hole is placed a player with his bludgeon:

one of the opposite party who stand in the field, tosses the cat to

the batsman who is nearest him, and every time the cat is struck the

players are obliged to change their situations, and run once from

one hole to another in succession; if the cat be driven to any great

distance they continue to run in the same order, and claim a score

towards their game every time they quit one hole and run to another;

but if the cat be stopped by their opponents and thrown across between

any two of the holes before the player who has quitted one of them can

reach the other, he is out.

BOOK III.

PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES ADJOINING TO

THEM.

CHAPTER I.

I. Tournament a general Name for several Exercises.--II.

The Quintain an ancient Military Exercise.--III. Various

Kinds of the Quintain.--IV. Derivation of the Term.--V. The

Water Quintain.--VI. Running at the Quintain practised by

the Citizens of London; and why.--VII. The Manner in which

it was performed.--VIII. Exhibited for the Pastime of Queen

Elizabeth.--IX. Tilting at a Water Butt.--X. The Human

Quintain.--XI. Exercises probably derived from it.--XII. Running

at the Ring.--XIII. Difference between the Tournaments and the

Justs.--XIV. Origin of the Tournament.--XV. The Troy Game;--the

Bohordicum or Cane Game.--XVI. Derivation of Tournament;--How

the Exercise was performed.--XVII. Lists and Barriers.--XVIII.

When the Tournament was first practised.--XIX. When first

in England.--XX. Its Laws and Ordinances.--XXI. Pages, and

Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, &c.--XXII. Preliminaries

of the Tournament.--XXIII. Lists for Ordeal Combats.--XXIV.

Respect paid to the Ladies.--XXV. Justs less honourable than

Tournaments.--XXVI. The Round Table.--XXVII. Nature of the

Justs.--XXVIII. Made in Honour of the Fair Sex.--XXIX. Great

Splendour of these Pastimes;--The Nobility partial to them.--XXX.

Toys for initiating their Children in them.--XXXI. Boat Justs, or

Tilting on the Water.--XXXII. Challenges to all comers.

I.--TOURNAMENT.

Every kind of military combat made in conformity to certain rules, and

practised by the knights and their esquires for diversion or gallantry,

was anciently called a tournament: yet these amusements frequently

differed materially from each other, and have been distinguished

accordingly by various denominations in the modern times. They may

however, I think, be all of them included under the four following

heads; tilting and combating at the quintain, tilting at the ring,

tournaments, and justs.

All these, and especially the two last, were favourite pastimes

with the nobility of the middle ages. The progress and decline of

tournaments in this country has already been mentioned in a general

way;[438] I shall in this place be a little more particular with

respect to the nature and distinction of these celebrated diversions.

II.--THE QUINTAIN.

Tilting or combating at the quintain is certainly a military exercise

of high antiquity, and antecedent, I doubt not, to the justs and

tournaments. The quintain, originally, was nothing more than the

trunk of a tree or post set up for the practice of the tyros in

chivalry.[439] Afterward a staff or spear was fixed in the earth,

and a shield being hung upon it, was the mark to strike at:[440] the

dexterity of the performer consisted in smiting the shield in such

a manner as to break the ligatures and bear it to the ground. In

process of time this diversion was improved, and instead of the staff

and the shield, the resemblance of a human figure carved in wood was

introduced. To render the appearance of this figure more formidable,

it was generally made in the likeness of a Turk or a Saracen armed at

all points,[441] bearing a shield upon his left arm, and brandishing a

club or a sabre with his right. Hence this exercise was called by the

Italians, "running at the armed man, or at the Saracen." The quintain

thus fashioned was placed upon a pivot, and so contrived as to move

round with facility. In running at this figure it was necessary for the

horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke

upon the forehead between the eyes or upon the nose; for if he struck

wide of those parts, especially upon the shield, the quintain turned

about with much velocity, and, in case he was not exceedingly careful,

would give him a severe blow upon the back with the wooden sabre

held in the right hand, which was considered as highly disgraceful

to the performer, while it excited the laughter and ridicule of the

spectators.[442] When many were engaged in running at the Saracen, the

conqueror was declared from the number of strokes he had made, and the

value of them; for instance, if he struck the image upon the top of the

nose between the eyes, it was reckoned for three; if below the eyes,

upon the nose, for two; if under the nose to the point of the chin, for

one; all other strokes were not counted; but whoever struck upon the

shield and turned the quintain round, was not permitted to run again

upon the same day, but forfeited his courses as a punishment for his

unskilfulness.[443]

III.--VARIOUS QUINTAINS.

The quintain in its original state was not confined to the exercise

of young warriors on horseback: it was an object of practice for

them on foot, in order to acquire strength and skill in assaulting

an enemy with their swords, spears, and battle-axes. I met with a

manuscript in the Royal Library,[444] written early in the fourteenth

century, entitled "Les Etablissmentz des Chevalerie," wherein the

author, who appears to have been a man scientifically skilled in the

military tactics of his time, strongly recommends a constant and

attentive attack of the pel (from the Latin palus), for so he calls the

post-quintain. The pel, he tells us, ought to be six feet in height

above the ground, and so firmly fixed therein as not to be moved by the

strokes that were laid upon it. The practitioner was then to assail

the pel, armed with sword and shield in the same manner as he would

an adversary, aiming his blows as if at the head, the face, the arms,

the legs, the thighs, and the sides; taking care at all times to keep

himself so completely covered with his shield, as not to give any

advantage supposing he had a real enemy to cope with: so far my author;

and prefixed to the treatise is a neat little painting representing the

pel, with a young soldier performing his exercise, which is here copied.

[Illustration: 27. THE PEL QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

Below is the quintain in the form of a Saracen, from Pluvinel.

[Illustration: 28. THE SARACEN QUINTAIN.]

An English poet who has taken up the subject of chivalry under the

title of "Knighthood and Battle,"[445] describes the attack of the pel

in the following curious manner:

Of fight, the disciplyne, and exercise

Was this. To have a pale or pile upright[446]

Of mannys hight,[447] thus writeth olde and wise;

Therewith a bacheler, or a yong knyght,

Shal first be taught to stonde and lerne to fight.--

And fanne of doubil wight, tak him his shelde

Of doubil wight, a mace of tre[448] to welde.

This fanne and mace whiche either doubil wight,

Of shelde, and swayed in conflicte, or bataile,

Shal exercise as well swordmen, as knyghtes.

And noe man, as they sayn, is seyn prevaile,

In field, or in castell, thoughe he assayle,

That with the pile, nathe[449] firste grete exercise,

Thus writeth Werrouris olde and wyse.

Have eche his pile or pale upfixed fast,

And as it were uppon his mortal foe;

With mightyness and weapon most be cast

To fight stronge, that he ne skape hym fro.

On hym with shield, and sword avised so,

That thou be cloos,[450] and preste[451] thy foe to smyte,

Lest of thyne own dethe thou be to wite.

Empeche[452] his head, his face, have at his gorge,[453]

Beare at the breste, or sperne him one the side.

With myghte knyghtly poost,[454] ene as Seynt George

Lepe o thy foe; looke if he dare abide:

Will he not flee? wounde him; make woundis wide,

Hew of his honde, his legge, his theyhs, his armys,

It is the Turk, though he be sleyn noon harm is.

Both the treatises commend the use of arms of double weight upon these

occasions, in order to acquire strength, and give the warrior greater

facility in wielding the weapons of the ordinary size; to which the

poet adds,

And sixty pounds of weight 'tis good to bear.

The lines just now quoted evidently allude to the quintain in the form

of a Turk or Saracen, which, I presume, was sometimes used upon this

occasion. The pel was also set up as a mark to cast at with spears, as

the same poet informs us:

A dart of more wight then is mester,[455]

Take hym in honde and teche him it to stere;

And cast it at the pile as at his foo,

So that it conte and right uppon him go.

And likewise for the practice of archery:

Set hert and eye uppon the pile or pale,

Shoot nyghe or onne; and if so be thou ride

On horse, is eck[456] the bowis bigge up hale,

Smyte in the face, or breste, or back or side,

Compelle to fle, or falle, yf that he bide.

IV.--DERIVATION OF QUINTAIN.

This exercise is said to have received the name of quintain from

Quinctus or Quintas the inventor,[457] but who he was, or when he

lived, is not ascertained. The game itself, I doubt not, is of remote

origin, and especially the exercise of the pel, or post quintain, which

is spoken of at large by Vegetius; and from him the substance of what

the two authors above quoted have said upon the subject is evidently

taken. He tells us that this species of mock combat was in common use

among the Romans, who caused the young military men to practise at it

twice in the day, at morning and at noon; he also adds that, they used

clubs and javelins, heavier than common, and fought at the pel as if

they were opposing an adversary, &c.[458]

In the code of laws established by the emperor Justinian, the quintain

is mentioned as a well known sport; and permitted to be continued, upon

condition that it should be performed with pointless spears, contrary

to the ancient usage, which it seems required them to have heads or

points.[459]

V.--THE WATER QUINTAIN.

To the best of my recollection, Fitzstephen is the first of our writers

who speaks of an exercise of this kind, which he tells us was usually

practised by the young Londoners upon the water during the Easter

holidays. A pole or mast, he says, is fixed in the midst of the Thames,

with a shield strongly attached to it; and a boat being previously

placed at some distance, is driven swiftly towards it by the force of

oars and the violence of the tide, having a young man standing in the

prow, who holds a lance in his hand with which he is to strike the

shield: and if he be dexterous enough to break the lance against it

and retain his place, his most sanguine wishes are satisfied: on the

contrary, if the lance be not broken, he is sure to be thrown into the

water, and the vessel goes away without him, but at the same time two

other boats are stationed near to the shield, and furnished with many

young persons who are in readiness to rescue the champion from danger.

It appears to have been a very popular pastime; for the bridge, the

wharfs, and the houses near the river, were crowded with people on

this occasion, who come, says the author, to see the sports and make

themselves merry.[460] The water quintain, taken from a manuscript of

the fourteenth century, in the Royal Library,[461] where a square piece

of board is substituted for the shield, is represented below.

[Illustration: 29. THE WATER QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

VI.--RUNNING AT THE QUINTAIN PRACTISED BY THE LONDONERS, AND WHY.

Matthew Paris mentions the quintain by name, but he speaks of it in a

cursory manner as a well known pastime, and probably would have said

nothing about it, had not the following circumstance given him the

occasion. In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Henry III. A.D.

1254, the young Londoners, who, he tells us, were expert horsemen,

assembled together to run at the quintain, and set up a peacock as

a reward for the best performer. The king then keeping his court at

Westminster, some of his domestics came into the city to see the

pastime, where they behaved in a very disorderly manner, and treated

the Londoners with much insolence, calling them cowardly knaves and

rascally clowns, which the Londoners resented by beating them soundly;

the king, however, was incensed at the indignity put upon his servants,

and not taking into consideration the provocation on their parts, fined

the city one thousand marks.[462] Some have thought, these fellows were

sent thither purposely to promote a quarrel, it being known that the

king was angry with the citizens of London for refusing to join in the

crusade.[463]

We may here observe, that the rules of chivalry, at this time, would

not admit of any person, under the rank of an esquire, to enter the

lists as a combatant at the justs and tournaments; for which reason

the burgesses and yeomen had recourse to the exercise of the quintain,

which was not prohibited to any class of the people: but, as the

performers were generally young men whose finances would not at all

times admit of much expense, the quintain was frequently nothing better

than a stake fixed into the ground, with a flat piece of board made

fast to the upper part of it, as a substitute for the shield that

had been used in times remote; and such as could not procure horses,

contented themselves with running at this mark on foot. The following

representation of a lad mounted on a wooden horse with four wheels, and

drawn by two of his comrades tilting at the immoveable quintain, is

taken from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated 1344.[464]

[Illustration: 30. FIXED QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

Others, again, made use of a moveable quintain, which was also

very simply constructed; consisting only of a cross-bar turning

upon a pivot, with a broad part to strike against on one side, and

a bag of earth or sand depending from the other: there was a double

advantage in these kind of quintains, they were cheap and easily to be

procured. Their form, at an early period in the fourteenth century, is

represented in the engraving above, and by the following from the same

manuscript. Both these quintains are marked, I know not why, with the

figure of a horse-shoe.

[Illustration: 31. MOVEABLE QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

VII.--MANNER OF EXERCISING WITH THE QUINTAIN.

But to return: Stow, in his Survey of London, having related the

above-mentioned disturbance from Matthew Paris, goes on as follows:

"This exercise of running at the quintain, was practised in London,

as well in the summer as in the winter, but especially at the feast

of Christmas. I have seen," continues my author, "a quintain set upon

Cornhill by Leadenhall, where the attendants of the lords of merry

disports have run and made great pastime; for he that hit not the

board end of the quintain was laughed to scorn, and he that hit it

full, if he rode not the faster, had a sound blow upon his neck with

a bag full of sand hanged on the other end."[465] But the form of the

modern quintain is more fully described by Dr. Plott, in his History

of Oxfordshire:[466] "They first set a post perpendicularly into the

ground, and then place a slender piece of timber on the top of it on

a spindle, with a board nailed to it on one end, and a bag of sand

hanging at the other; against this board they anciently rode with

spears. Now I saw it at Deddington in this county, only with strong

staves, which violently bringing about the bag of sand, if they make

not good speed away, it strikes them in the neck or shoulders, and

sometimes knocks them off their horses; the great design of this sport

being to try the agility both of horse and man, and to break the board.

It is now," he adds, "only in request at marriages, and set up in the

way for young men to ride at as they carry home the bride; he that

breaks the board being counted the best man."

VIII.--THE QUINTAIN, A PASTIME BEFORE QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Among other sports exhibited for the amusement of queen Elizabeth,

during her residence at Kenilworth Castle, in Warwickshire, then the

seat of the earl of Leicester, who entertained her majesty there for

several days, A.D. 1575, there was, says Laneham, "a solemn country

bridal; when in the castle was set up a comely quintane for feats

at armes, where, in a great company of young men and lasses, the

bridegroom had the first course at the quintane, and broke his spear

'tres hardiment' (very boldly, or with much courage). But his mare in

his manage did a little stumble, that much adoe had his manhood to sit

in his saddle. But after the bridegroom had made his course, ran the

rest of the band, awhile in some order, but soon after tag and rag, cut

and long tail; where the speciality of the sport was to see how some

for his slackness had a good bob with the bag, and some for his haste

to topple downright, and come tumbling to the post: some striving so

much at the first setting out, that it seemed a question between man

and beast, whether the race should be performed on horseback or on

foot; and some put forth with spurs, would run his race byas, among the

thickest of the throng, that down they came together hand over head.

Another while he directed his course to the quintane, his judgment

would carry him to a mare among the people; another would run and miss

the quintane with his staff, and hit the board with his head."[467]

This whimsical description may possibly be somewhat exaggerated, but no

doubt the inexpertness of the riders subjected them to many laughable

accidents.

IX.--TILTING AT A WATER BUTT.

Below is a representation from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated

1343, of three boys tilting jointly, at a tub full of water, which is

to be struck in such a manner as not to throw it over them. I presume

they are learners only, and that therefore they are depicted without

their clothes; they undressed themselves, I apprehend, in order to

save their garments from being wetted in case the attempt should prove

unsuccessful.

[Illustration: 32. WATER-TUB QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

This farcical pastime, according to Menestrier, was practised

occasionally in Italy, where, he says, a large bucket filled with water

is set up, against which they tilt their lances; and if the stroke be

not made with great dexterity, the bucket is overset and the lanceman

thoroughly drenched with the contents.[468]

X.--THE HUMAN QUINTAIN.

I shall here say a few words concerning the human quintain, which has

escaped the notice of most of the writers upon this subject; it is,

however, very certain that the military men in the middle ages would

sometimes practise with their lances at a man completely armed; whose

business it was to act upon the defensive, and parry their blows with

his shield. A representation of this exercise is in the engraving

below, taken from a Bodleian manuscript, dated 1344.

[Illustration: 33. LIVING QUINTAIN--XIV. CENTURY.]

This representation is justified by the concurrent testimony of an

ancient author, cited by Ducange, who introduces one knight saying to

another, "I do not by any means esteem you sufficiently valiant (si

bons chevalier) for me to take a lance and just with you; therefore I

desire you to retire some distance from me, and then run at me with all

your force, and I will be your quintain."[469] The satirist Hall, who

wrote in the time of Elizabeth, evidently alludes to a custom of this

kind, in a satire[470] first printed in 1599, when he was twenty-five

years of age. He says:

Pawne thou no glove for challenge of the deed,

Nor make thy quintaine other's armed head.

XI.--EXERCISES PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE QUINTAIN.

The living quintain, according to the representation just given, is

seated upon a stool with three legs without any support behind; and the

business, I presume, of the tilter, was to overthrow him; while, on his

part, he was to turn the stroke of the pole or lance on one side with

his shield, and by doing so with adroitness occasion the fall of his

adversary.

Something of a similar kind of exercise, though practised in a

different way, appears in the following engraving, where a man seated,

holds up one of his feet, opposed to the foot of another man, who

standing upon one leg endeavours to thrust him backwards.

[Illustration: 34.]

And again where his opponent is seated in a swing and drawn back by a

third person, so that the rope being left at liberty in the swing, the

man of course descended with great force, and striking the foot of his

antagonist with much violence, no doubt very frequently overthrew him.

[Illustration: 35.]

The two last sports were probably never exhibited by military men, but

by rustics and others in imitation of the human quintain. The contest

between the two figures below, seems to depend upon the breaking of the

stick which both of them hold, or is a struggle to overthrow each other.

[Illustration: 36.]

The following engraving from a manuscript book of prayers of the

fourteenth century, in the possession of Mr. Douce, represents two men

with a pole or headless spear, who grasp it at either end, and are

contending which shall dispossess the other of his hold.

[Illustration: 37.]

This feat the single figure, represented below from the Oxford MS.

of 1344, seems to have achieved, and is bearing away the pole in

triumph.[471]

[Illustration: 38.]

XII.--RUNNING AT THE RING.

Tilting or, as it is most commonly called, running at the ring, was

also a fashionable pastime in former days; the ring is evidently

derived from the quintain, and indeed the sport itself is frequently

called running or tilting at the quintain. With the Italians, says

Du Cange, quintano sometimes signifies a ring, hence the Florentines

say, "correr alla quintana," which with us is called running at the

ring: the learned author produces several quotations to the same

purpose.[472] Commenius also, in his vocabulary,[473] says, "At this

day tilting at the quintain is used where a hoop or ring is struck

with a lance." Hence it is clear, that the ring was put in the place of

the quintain. The excellency of the pastime was to ride at full speed,

and thrust the point of the lance through the ring, which was supported

in a case or sheath, by the means of two springs, but might be readily

drawn out by the force of the stroke, and remain upon the top of the

lance.

[Illustration: 39. THE RING IN TILTING.]

Above is the form of the ring, with the sheath, and the manner in which

it was attached to the upright supporter, from Pluvinel. The letter A

indicates the ring detached from the sheath; B represents the sheath

with the ring inserted and attached to the upright post, in which there

are several holes to raise or lower the ring to suit the conveniency of

the performer. The following engraving, also from Pluvinel, represents

the method of performing the exercise.

[Illustration: 40. TILTING AT THE RING.]

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pastime of running

at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats this subject

at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked out

according to the properties of the horses that were to run: for one of

the swiftest kind, one hundred paces from the starting place to the

ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary;

but for such horses as had been trained to the exercise, and were more

regular in their movements, eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond

it, were thought to be sufficient. The ring, says the same author,

ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat higher than the left

eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his horse; because it

was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it.[474]

In tilting at the ring, three courses were allowed to each candidate;

and he who thrust the point of his lance through it the oftenest, or,

in case no such thing was done, struck it the most frequently, was the

victor: but if it so happened, that none of them did either the one or

the other, or that they were equally successful, the courses were to be

repeated until the superiority of one put an end to the contest.[475]

XIII.--DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.

Tournaments and justs, though often confounded with each other,

differed materially. The tournament was a conflict with many knights,

divided into parties and engaged at the same time. The just was a

separate trial of skill, when only one man was opposed to another. The

latter was frequently included in the former, but not without many

exceptions; for the just, according to the laws of chivalry, might be

made exclusive of the tournament.[476]

In the romantic ages, both these diversions were held in the highest

esteem, being sanctioned by the countenance and example of the

nobility, and prohibited to all below the rank of an esquire; but at

the same time the justs were considered as less honourable than the

tournaments; for the knight who had paid his fees and been admitted to

the latter, had a right to engage in the former without any further

demand, but he who had paid the fees for justing only, was by no means

exempted from the fees belonging to the tournament, as will be found in

the laws relative to the lance, sword, and helmet, a little further on.

XIV. ORIGIN OF THE TOURNAMENT.

It is an opinion generally received, that the tournament originated

from a childish pastime practised by the Roman youths called Ludus

Troiæ (the Troy game), said to have been so named because it was

derived from the Trojans, and first brought into Italy by Ascanius the

son of Æneas. Virgil has given a description of this pastime, according

to the manner, I presume, in which it was practised at Rome. If he

be accurate, it seems to have been nothing more than a variety of

evolutions performed on horseback. The poet tells us, that the youth

were each of them armed with two little cornal spears, headed with iron.

Cornea bina ferunt præfixa hastilia ferro.--_Æneid._ lib. v. l. 556.

Having passed in review before their parents, upon a signal given, they

divided themselves into three distinct companies; and each company

consisted of twelve champions exclusive of its appropriate leader,

when, according to Trapp's translation, which if not so poetical is

more literal than Dryden's, the tutor of Ascanius, and overseer of the

sports,

------Epityden, from far

Loud with a shout, and with his sounding lash

The signal gave: they equally divide,

The three commanders open their brigades

In sep'rate bodies: straight recall'd they wheel

Their course, and onward bear their hostile darts.

Then diff'rent traverses on various grounds,

And diff'rent counter traverses they form;

Orbs within orbs alternately involve,

And raise th' effigy of a fight in arms.

Now show their backs in flight--now furious turn

Their darts;--now all in peace together ride.

Under the denomination of the first emperors, these games were publicly

practised by the young nobility in the circus at Rome.[477]

The same kind of sports, or others bearing close resemblance to them,

were established in this kingdom in the twelfth century, and probably

at a much earlier period. Fitzstephen, an author then living, informs

us, "that every Sunday in Lent, immediately after dinner, it was

customary for great crowds of young Londoners mounted on war horses,

well trained, to perform the necessary turnings and evolutions, to ride

into the fields in distinct bands, armed hastilibus ferro dempto, with

shields and headless lances; where they exhibited the representation

of battles, and went through a variety of warlike exercises: at the

same time many of the young noblemen who had not received the honour of

knighthood, came from the king's court, and from the houses of the

great barons, to make trial of their skill in arms; the hope of victory

animating their minds. The youth being divided into opposite companies,

encountered one another: in one place they fled, and others pursued,

without being able to overtake them; in another place one of the bands

overtook and overturned the other." According to Virgil, the Roman

youth presented their lances towards their opponents in a menacing

position, but without striking with them:

Nunc spicula vertunt infensi.--_Æneid._ lib. v. l. 586.

The young Londoners in all probability went further, and actually

tilted one against the other. At any rate, the frequent practice of

this exercise must have taught them, insensibly as it were, to become

excellent horsemen.

XV.--THE TROY GAME.

I am clearly of opinion, that the justs and tournaments arose by

slow degrees from the exercises appointed for the instruction of the

military tyros in using their arms, but which of the two had the

preeminence in point of antiquity cannot easily be determined; we

know that both of them were in existence at the time the Troy game

was practised by the citizens of London, and also that they were not

permitted to be exercised in this kingdom.

In the middle ages, when the tournaments were in their splendour, the

Troy game was still continued, though in a state of improvement, and

distinguished by a different denomination it was then called in Latin,

behordicum, and in French, bohourt or behourt, and was a kind of lance

game, in which the young nobility exercised themselves, to acquire

address in handling of their arms, and to prove their strength. Some

authors, and with great appearance of truth, derive this word from

burdis or bordis, to jest, joke, or make game, and therefore it will

properly signify a playful pastime, or combat, such as youth might

engage in.[478] The word behordicum will, however, admit of a more

enlarged signification; from a quotation which is given by Du Cange, we

find it was occasionally used for running at the quintain:

Emmi le pre ot quintaine levée.

Li jouvencel behordent par la prée.

Which will run thus in English: They raised a quintain in the midst of

a meadow, and the youth tilted at it with their lances.[479] In fact,

I apprehend, it might be applied to any of the military exercises

performed by the young men, either for pastime or improvement.

Menestrier says, they formerly used hollow canes instead of lances, and

for that reason it was also called the cane game. I find no authority

to place the cane game at an earlier period than the twelfth century,

when probably it originated from the following circumstance related

by Hoveden.[480] He tells us, that Richard I. of England, being at

Messina, the capital of Sicily, on his way to the Holy Land, went

with his cavalcade one Sunday afternoon to see the popular sports

exhibited without the walls of the city, and upon their return they

met in the street a rustic driving an ass loaded with hollow canes,

"arundinas quas cannas vocant." The king and his attendants took each

of them a cane, and began, by way of frolic, to tilt with them one

against another: it so happened, that the king's opponent was William

de Barres, a knight of high rank in the household of the French king,

"quidam miles optimus de familia regis Franciæ." In the encounter

they broke both their canes, and the monarch's hood was torn by the

stroke he received, "fracta est cappa regis," which made him angry;

when riding with great force against the knight, he caused his horse

to stumble with him, and while he was attempting to cast him to the

ground, his own saddle turned round and he himself was overthrown.

The king was soon provided with another horse, stronger than the

former, which he mounted, and again assaulted de Barres, endeavouring

by violence to throw him from his horse, but he could not, because

the knight clung fast to the horse's neck. Robert de Bretuil, newly

created earl of Leicester, laid hold upon de Barres to assist the king,

but Richard forbad him to interfere, desiring that they might be left

to themselves. When they had contended a long time, adding threats

to their actions, "et dictis et factis," the king was much provoked,

and commanded him to leave the place and appear no more before him,

declaring at the same time, that he would ever afterwards consider

him as an enemy; but through the mediation of the king of France, a

reconciliation was effected, and the knight was again restored to the

favour of the monarch.

XVI.--TOURNAMENTS.

Our word tournament, or tournoyement, which signifies to turn or wheel

about in a circular manner,[481] comes from the French word tournoy,

which, according to the generality of authors, is derived from the

Latin troja. This does not appear consistent with any reasonable

analogy. I am rather led to adopt the opinion of Fauchet,[482] who

thinks it came from the practice of the knights running par tour, that

is, by turns, at the quintain, and wheeling about successively in a

circle to repeat their course; but, says he, in process of time they

improved upon this pastime, and to make it more respectable ran one

at another, which certainly bore a much greater similitude to a real

engagement, especially when they were divided into large parties, and

meeting together combatted with clubs or maces, beating each other

soundly, without any favour or paying the least respect to rank or

dignity. In one of these encounters, Robert earl of Cleremont, son

of Saint Louis, and head of the house of Bourbon, was so severely

bruised by the blows he received from his antagonist, that he was never

well afterwards. This, says Fauchet, was possibly the cause of the

ordinance, that the kings and princes should not afterwards enter the

lists as combatants at these tournaments; which law indeed, continues

he, has been ill observed by the succeeding kings, and in our time by

Henry II., who, unfortunately for France, was killed at the justs he

made in honour of his daughter's marriage. It was, in fact, very common

for some of the combatants to be beat or thrown from their horses,

trampled upon and killed upon the spot, or hurt most grievously.

Indeed, a tournament at this period was rarely finished without some

disastrous accident; and it was an established law, that if any one of

the combatants killed or wounded another, he should be indemnified;

which made them less careful respecting the consequences, especially

when any advantage gave them an opportunity of securing the conquest.

Tournaments were consequently interdicted by the ecclesiastical decrees.

The following quotation from an ancient manuscript romance, in the

Harleian collection, entitled Ipomydon,[483] plainly indicates the

performance of the tournament in an open field; and also, that great

numbers of the combatants were engaged at one time, promiscuously

encountering with each other: we learn moreover, that the champion who

remained unhorsed at the conclusion of the sports, besides the honour

he attained, sometimes received a pecuniary reward.

The kyng his sonne a knyght gan make,

And many another for his sake;

Justes were cryed ladyes to see,

Thedyr came lordes grete plente.

Tournementis atyred in the felde,

A thousand armed with spere and shelde;

Knyghtis began togedre to ryde,

Some were unhorsyd on every side,

Ipomydon that daye was victorius,

And there he gaff many a cours;

For there was none that he mette,

But he hys spere on hym woulde sette:

Then after within a lytell stounde,[484]

Horse and man both went to grounde.

The Heraudes[485] gaff the child the gree,[486]

A thousand pound he had to fee;

Mynstrellys had giftes of golde

And fourty dayes this fest was holde.

In some instances the champions depended upon their military skill and

horsemanship, and frequently upon their bodily strength; but at all

times it was highly disgraceful to be unhorsed, by whatever exertion it

might be effected.

Thomas of Walsingham, one of our own historians, tells us,[487] that

when Edward I. returned from Palestine to England, and was on his

passage through Savoy, the comes Kabilanensis, earl of Chabloun,

invited him to a tournament,[488] in which himself and many other

knights were engaged. The king with his followers, although fatigued

by the length of their journey, accepted the challenge. On the

day appointed both parties met, and, being armed with swords, the

engagement commenced; the earl singled out the king, and on his

approach, throwing away his sword, cast his arms about the neck of the

monarch, and used his utmost endeavour to pull him from his horse.

Edward, on the other hand, finding the earl would not quit his hold,

put spurs to his horse, and drew him from his saddle hanging upon his

neck, and then shaking him violently, threw him to the ground. The

earl having recovered himself and being remounted, attacked the king a

second time, but finding his hand "too heavy," he gave up the contest,

and acknowledged him to be the conqueror. The knights of the earl's

party were angry when they saw their leader drawn from his horse, and

run upon the English with so much violence, that the pastime assumed

the tumultuous appearance of a real battle, the English on their side

repelled force by force; and had not the resignation of the earl put

an end to the conflict, in all probability the consequences would have

been very serious.

XVII.--LISTS AND BARRIERS.

It was a considerable time after the establishment of justs and

tournaments, before the combatants thought of making either lists or

barriers; they contented themselves, says Menestrier,[489] with being

stationed at four angles of an open place, whence they run in parties

one against another. There were cords stretched before the different

companies, previous to the commencement of the tournaments, as we

learn from the following passage in an old English romance, among

the Harleian manuscripts:[490] "All these thinges donne thei were

embatailed eche ageynste the othir, and the corde drawen before eche

partie, and whan the tyme was, the cordes were cutt, and the trumpettes

blew up for every man to do his devoir, _duty_. And for to assertayne

the more of the tourney, there was on eche side a stake, and at eache

stake two kyngs of armes, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the

names of all them that were yolden, for they shold no more tournay."

As these pastimes were accompanied with much danger, they invented in

France the double lists, where the knights might run from one side to

the other, without coming in contact, except with their lances; other

nations followed the example of the French, and the usage of lists and

barriers soon became universal.

XVIII.--WHEN THE TOURNAMENT WAS FIRST PRACTISED.

It is impossible to ascertain the precise period when tournaments first

made their appearance; nor is it less difficult to determine by whom

they were invented. Peacham, on the authority of Nicetas, tells us,

that the emperor Emanuel Comminus, at the siege of Constantinople,

invented tilts and tournaments;[491] but this is certainly a mistake.

The French and the Germans both claim the honour. The historian,

Nithard, mentions a military game, frequently exhibited in Germany,

before the emperor Louis, and his brother Charles the bald, about the

year 842, which bears great resemblance to the tournament; for he

speaks of many knights of different nations, divided into parties equal

in number, and running at each other with great velocity, as though

they were in battle: Veluti invicem adversari sibi vellent, alter in

alterum veloci cursu ruebat.[492] Most of the German writers, however,

make the emperor Henry I., surnamed L'oiseleur, who died in 936, the

institutor of these pastimes; but others attribute their origin to

another Henry, at least a century posterior. The French, on their side,

quote an ancient history,[493] which asserts, that Geofry, lord of

Previlli in Anjou, who was slain at Gaunt in 1066, was the inventor of

the tournament.

XIX.--THE TOURNAMENT IN ENGLAND.

It seems to be certain, that tournaments were held in France and

Normandy before the conquest, and, according to our own writers, they

were not permitted to be practised in this country for upwards of sixty

years posterior to that event. The manner of performing the tournament,

as then used, says Lambarde, "not being at the tilt, as I think, but

at random and in the open field, was accounted so dangerous to the

persons having to do therein, that sundry popes forbad it by decree;

and the kings of this realm before king Stephen would not suffer it

to be frequented within their land, so that such as for exercise of

this feat of arms were desirous to prove themselves, were driven to

pass over the seas, and to perform it in some different place in a

foreign country."[494] This author's statement of the fact is perfectly

correct. In the troublesome reign of king Stephen, the rigour of the

laws was much relaxed, and tournaments, among other splendid species

of dissipation, were permitted to be exercised; they were, however,

again suppressed by Henry II.; and therefore it was, I presume, that

the young king Henry, son of Henry II., went every third year, as

Matthew Paris assures us he did, over the seas, and expended vast

sums of money "in conflictibus Gallicis," or French combats, meaning

tournaments.[495] But Richard I. having, as it is said, observed that

the French practising frequently in the tournaments, were more expert

in the use of their arms than the English, permitted his own knights

to establish the like martial sports in his dominions; but at the

same time he imposed a tax, according to their quality, upon such as

engaged in them. An earl was subjected to the fine of twenty marks

for his privilege to enter the field as a combatant; a baron, ten;

a knight having a landed estate, four; and a knight without such

possession, two; but all foreigners were particularly excluded. He

appointed five places for the holding of tournaments in England;

namely, between Sarum and Wilton; between Warwick and Kenelworth;

between Stamford and Wallingford; between Brakely and Mixeberg; and

between Blie and Tykehill. The act also specifies that the peace should

not be broken thereby, nor justice hindered, nor damage done to the

royal forests.[496] How long these imposts continued to be collected

does not appear; but tournaments were occasionally exhibited with the

utmost display of magnificence in the succeeding reigns, being not

only sanctioned by royal authority, but frequently instituted at the

royal command, until the conclusion of the sixteenth century. From that

period they declined rapidly, and fifty years afterwards were entirely

out of practice.

XX.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF JUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS.

All military men, says Fauchet,[497] who bore the title of knights or

esquires, were not indiscriminately received at these tournaments:

there were certain laws to which those who presented themselves became

subject, and which they swore to obey before they were permitted to

enter the lists.

In one of the Harleian manuscripts,[498] I met with the following

ordinance for the conducting of the justs and tournaments according to

the ancient establishment. It is preceded by a proclamation that was to

be previously made, which is couched in these terms. Be it known,[499]

lords, knights, and esquires, ladies, and gentlewomen; you are hereby

acquainted, that a superb achievement at arms, and a grand and noble

tournament will be held in the parade[500] of Clarencieux, king at

arms, on the part of the most noble baron, lord of T. C. B. and on the

part of the most noble baron, the lord of C. B. D. in the parade of

Norrais, king at arms. The regulations that follow are these: The two

barons on whose parts the tournament is undertaken, shall be at their

lodges (pavilions) two days before the commencement of the sports, when

each of them shall cause his arms to be attached[501] to his pavilion,

and set up his banner in the front of his parade; and all those who

wish to be admitted as combatants on either side, must in like manner

set up their arms and banners before the parades allotted to them.

Upon the evening of the same day they shall show themselves in their

stations, and expose their helmets to view at the windows of their

pavilions; and then "they may depart to make merry, dance, and live

well." On the morrow the champions shall be at their parades by the

hour of ten in the morning, to await the commands of the lord of the

parade, and the governor, who are the speakers of the tournament; at

this meeting the prizes of honour shall be determined.

In the document before us, it is said, that he who shall best resist

the strokes of his adversary, and return them with most adroitness on

the party of Clarencieux, shall receive a very rich sword, and he who

shall perform in like manner the best on the part of Norroys, shall be

rewarded with an helmet equally valuable.

On the morning of the day appointed for the tournament, the arms,

banners, and helmets of all the combatants shall be exposed at their

stations, and the speakers present at the place of combat by ten of the

clock, where they shall examine the arms and approve or reject them at

their pleasure; the examination being finished, and the arms returned

to the owners, the baron who is the challenger, shall then cause his

banner to be placed at the beginning of the parade, and the blazon of

his arms to be nailed to the roof of the pavilion:[502] his example is

to be followed by the baron on the opposite side, and all the knights

of either party who are not in their stations before the nailing up

of the arms, shall forfeit their privileges, and not be permitted to

tourney.

The kings at arms and the heralds are then commanded by the speakers to

go from pavilion to pavilion, crying aloud, "To achievement, knights

and esquires, to achievement;"[503] being the notice, I presume, for

them to arm themselves; and soon afterwards the company of heralds

shall repeat the former ceremony, having the same authority, saying,

"Come forth, knights and esquires, come forth:"[504] and when the two

barons have taken their places in the lists, each of them facing his

own parade, the champions on both parties shall arrange themselves,

every one by the side of his banner; and then two cords shall be

stretched between them, and remain in that position until it shall

please the speakers to command the commencement of the sports. The

combatants shall each of them be armed with a pointless sword having

the edges rebated, and with a baston, or truncheon, hanging from their

saddles, and they may use either the one or the other so long as

the speakers shall give them permission, by repeating the sentence,

"Laisseir les aler," Let them go on. After they have sufficiently

performed their exercises, the speakers are to call to the heralds, and

order them to "ployer vos baniers," fold up the banners, which is the

signal for the conclusion of the tournament. The banners being rolled

up, the knights and the esquires are permitted to return to their

dwellings.

XXI.--PAGES AND PERQUISITES OF THE KINGS AT ARMS, &c.

Every knight or esquire performing in the tournament, was permitted to

have one page, armed, within the lists, but without a truncheon or any

other defensive weapon, to wait upon him and give him his sword, or

truncheon, as occasion might require; and also in case of any accident

happening to his armour, to amend the same. In after times, three

servitors were allowed for this purpose.

The laws of the tournament permitted any one of the combatants to

unhelm himself at pleasure, if he was incommoded by the heat; none

being suffered to assault him in any way, until he had replaced his

helmet at the command of the speakers.

The kings at arms, and the heralds who proclaimed the tournament, had

the privilege of wearing the blazon of arms of those by whom the sport

was instituted; besides which they were entitled to six ells of scarlet

cloth as their fee, and had all their expenses defrayed during the

continuation of the tournament: by the law of arms they had a right to

the helmet of every knight when he made his first essay at the

tournament, which became their perquisite as soon as the sports were

concluded; they also claimed every one of them six crowns as nail

money, for affixing the blazon of arms to the pavilions. The kings

at arms held the banners of the two chief barons on the day of the

tournament, and the other heralds the banners of their confederates

according to their rank.

XXII.--PRELIMINARIES OF THE TOURNAMENT.

An illumination to a manuscript romance in the Royal Library,[505]

entitled St. Graal, written in the thirteenth century, represents the

manner in which the two chief barons anciently entered the lists at the

commencement of a tournament. The king at arms standing in the midst of

the ground holds both the banners, and the instruments of the minstrels

are ornamented with the blazonry of the arms.[506]

[Illustration: 41. PREPARATION FOR A TOURNAMENT]

The action of the two combatants, who have not yet received their

weapons, seems to be that of appealing to heaven in proof of their

having no charm to protect them, and no inclination to make use of any

unlawful means to secure the conquest; which I believe was a ceremony

usually practised upon such occasions.

In the reign of Henry V. a statute was enacted by the parliament,

containing the following regulations relative to the tournaments,

which regulations were said to have been established at the request

of all the nobility of England.[507] The act prohibits any combatant

from entering the lists with more than three esquires to bear his

arms, and wait upon him for that day. In another clause it is said,

If any of the great lords, or others Tient Mangerie, keep a public

table, for such, I presume, is implied by the term, they shall not

be allowed any additional esquires, excepting those who trencheront,

carve for them. It further specifies, that no knight or esquire, who

was appointed to attend in the lists as a servitor, should wear a sword

or a dagger,[508] or carry a truncheon, or any other weapon excepting

a large sword used in the tournament: and that all the combatants

who bore lances, should be armed with breastplates, thigh-pieces,

shoulder-pieces, and bacinets, without any other kind of armour. No

earl, baron, or knight, might presume to infringe upon the regulations

of this statute, under the forfeiture of his horse and his arms, and

the pain of imprisonment for a certain space of time, at the pleasure

of the governors of the tournament. Another clause, which probably

refers to such as were not combatants for the day, runs thus: No

one except the great lords, that is to say, earls or barons, shall

be armed otherwise than above expressed; nor bear a sword, pointed

knife, mace, or other weapon, except the sword for the tournament.

In case of transgression, he forfeited his horse, and was obnoxious

to imprisonment for one year. If an esquire transgressed the law in

any point, he not only lost his horse and his arms, but was sent to

prison for three years. But if the knights or esquires in the above

cases were possessed of lands, and appeared in arms for the service

of their lords, it seems they might recover their horses. The "Roys

des harnoys," kings at arms, the heralds, and the minstrels, were

commanded not to wear any kind of sharp weapons, but to have the swords

without points which belonged to them. Those who came as spectators on

horseback, were strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of

armour, or to bear any offensive weapons, under the penalty that was

appointed to the esquires; and no boy, or man on foot coming for the

same purpose, might appear with a sword dagger, cudgel, or lance;

they were to be punished with one year's imprisonment in case of

disobedience to the statute.

XXIII.--LISTS FOR ORDEAL COMBATS.

The lists for the tilts and tournaments resembled those, I doubt

not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according to the rules

established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., were

as follows: "The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists

shall be made and devised by the constable; and it is to be observed,

that the list must be sixty paces long and forty paces broad, set up

in good order, and the ground within hard, stable, and level, without

any great stones or other impediments; also that the lists must be made

with one door to the east, and another to the west, and strongly barred

about with good bars seven feet high or more, so that a horse may not

be able to leap over them."[509]

XXIV.--RESPECT PAID TO LADIES IN THE TOURNAMENT.

After the conclusion of the tournament, the combatants, as we have seen

above, returned to their dwellings; but in the evening they met again

in some place appropriated for the purpose, where they were joined by

the ladies, and others of the nobility who had been spectators of the

sports; and the time, we are told, was passed in feasting, dancing,

singing, and making merry. But, "after the noble supper and dancing,"

according to the ancient ordinance above quoted, the speakers of the

tournament called together the heralds appointed on both parties,

and demanded from them alternately, the names of those who had best

performed upon the opposite sides; the double list of names was then

presented to the ladies who had been present at the pastime, and

the decision was referred to them respecting the awardment of the

prizes;[510] who selected one name for each party, and, as a peculiar

mark of their esteem, the favourite champions received the rewards

of their merits from the hands of two young virgins of quality. The

statutes and ordinances for justs and tournaments made by John Tiptoft,

earl of Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., in the sixth year

of his reign, conclude thus: "Reserving always to the queenes highness

and the ladyes there present, the attribution and gift of the prize

after the manner and forme accustomed."[511]

Neither was this the only deference that was paid to the fair sex by

the laws of the tournament, for we are told, that if a knight conducted

himself with any impropriety, or transgressed the ordinances of the

sport, he was excluded from the lists with a sound beating, which was

liberally bestowed upon him by the other knights with their truncheons,

to punish his temerity, and to teach him to respect the honour of

the ladies and the rights of chivalry; the unfortunate culprit had

no other resource in such case for escaping without mischief, but by

supplicating the mercy of the fair sex, and humbly intreating them to

interpose their authority on his behalf, because the suspension of his

punishment depended entirely upon their intercession.

XXV.--JUSTS INFERIOR TO TOURNAMENTS.

The just or lance-game, in Latin justa, and in French jouste, which

some derive from jocare, because it was a sort of sportive combat,

undertaken for pastime only, differed materially, as before observed,

from the tournament, the former being often included in the latter, and

usually took place when the grand tournamental conflict was finished.

But at the same time it was perfectly consistent with the rules of

chivalry, for the justs to be held separately; it was, however,

considered as a pastime inferior to the tournament, for which reason a

knight, who had paid his fees for permission to just, was not thereby

exempted from the fees of the tournament; but, on the contrary, if he

had discharged his duties at the tournament, he was privileged to just

without being liable to any further demand. This distinction seems to

have arisen from the weapons used, the sword being appropriated to the

tournament, and the lance to the just, and so it is stated in an old

document cited by Du Cange:[512] "When," says this author, "a nobleman

makes his first appearance in the tournament, his helmet is claimed

by the heralds, notwithstanding his having justed before, because the

lance cannot give the freedom of the sword, which the sword can do of

the lance; for it is to be observed, that he who has paid his helmet at

the tournament is freed from the payment of a second helmet at the

just; but the helmet paid at justing, does not exclude the claim of

the heralds when a knight first enters the lists at the tournament."

XXVI.--THE ROUND TABLE.

The just, as a military pastime, is mentioned by William of Malmsbury,

and said to have been practised in the reign of king Stephen.[513]

During the government of Henry III. the just assumed a different

appellation, and was also called the Round Table game.[514] This name

was derived from a fraternity of knights who frequently justed with

each other, and accustomed themselves to eat together in one apartment,

and, in order to set aside all distinction of rank or quality,

seated themselves at a circular table, where every place was equally

honourable. Athenæus, cited by Du Cange,[515] says, the knights sat

round the table, "eorum scuta ferentes a tergo," bearing their shields

at their backs: I suppose for safety sake. Our historians attribute the

institution of the round table to Arthur, the son of Uter Pendragon,

a celebrated British hero, whose achievements are so disguised with

legendary wonders, that it has been doubted if such a person ever

existed in reality.

In the eighth year of the reign of Edward I., Roger de Mortimer,[516]

a nobleman of great opulence, established a round table at Kenelworth,

for the encouragement of military pastimes; where one hundred knights,

with as many ladies, were entertained at his expense. The fame of this

institution occasioned, we are told, a great influx of foreigners,

who came either to initiate themselves, or make some public proof of

their prowess. About seventy years afterwards Edward III. erected a

splendid table of the same kind at Windsor, but upon a more extensive

scale; It contained the area of a circle two hundred feet in diameter:

and the weekly expense for the maintenance of this table, when it was

first established, amounted to one hundred pounds; which, afterwards,

was reduced to twenty pounds, on account of the large sums of money

required for the prosecution of the war with France. This receptacle

for military men gave continual occasion for the exercise of arms, and

afforded to the young nobility an opportunity of learning, by the way

of pastime, all the requisites of a soldier. The example of king Edward

was followed by Philip of Valois king of France, who also instituted a

round table at his court, and by that means drew thither many German

and Italian knights who were coming to England.[517] The contest

between the two monarchs seems to have had the effect of destroying

the establishment of the round table in both kingdoms, for after this

period we hear no more concerning it. In England the round table was

succeeded by the order of the garter, the ceremonial parts of which

order are retained to this day, but the spirit of the institution ill

accords with the present manners.

XXVII.--NATURE OF THE JUSTS.

The cessation of the round table occasioned little or no alteration

respecting the justs which had been practised by the knights belonging

to it; they continued to be fashionable throughout the annals of

chivalry, and latterly superseded the tournaments, which is by no means

surprising, when we recollect that the one was a confused engagement of

many knights together, and the other a succession of combats between

two only at one time, which gave them all an equal opportunity of

showing individually their dexterity and attracting the general notice.

In the justs the combatants most commonly used spears without heads

of iron; and the excellency of the performance consisted in striking

the opponent upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him backwards

from his horse or break the spear. Froissart[2] mentions a trick used

by Reynaud de Roy, at a tilting match between him and John de Holland:

he fastened his helmet so slightly upon his head that it gave way,

and was beaten off by every stroke that was made upon the vizor with

the lance of John of Holland, and of course the shock he received was

not so great as it would have been, had he made the helmet fast to

the cuirass; this artifice was objected to by the English on the part

of Holland; but John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was present,

permitted Roy to use his pleasure; though he at the same time declared,

that for his part, he should prefer a contrary practice, and have his

helmet fastened as strongly as possible. And again the same historian,

speaking of a justing between Thomas Harpingham and sir John de

Barres, says, "As me thought the usage was thanne, their helmes wer

tied but with a lace, to the entente the spere should take no hold;" by

which it seems the trick became more common afterwards.[518]

Below is a representation of the just, taken from a manuscript in the

Royal Library,[519] of the thirteenth, or early in the fourteenth

century, where two knights appear in the action of tilting at each

other with the blunted spears.[520]

[Illustration: 42. JUSTING.--XIV. CENTURY.]

This delineation was made before the introduction of the barrier, which

was a boarded railing erected in the midst of the lists, but open at

both ends, and between four and five feet in height. In performing the

justs, the two combatants rode on separate sides of the barrier, and

were thereby prevented from running their horses upon each other.

XXVIII.--JUSTS, PECULIARLY IN HONOUR OF THE LADIES.

We have seen that the privilege of distributing the prizes and

remitting the punishment of offenders, was by the laws of the

tournament invested with the fair sex, but at the justs their authority

was much more extensive. In the days of chivalry the justs were usually

made in honour of the ladies, who presided as judges paramount over

the sports, and their determinations were in all cases decisive; hence

in the spirit of romance, arose the necessity for every "true knight"

to have a favourite fair one, who was not only esteemed by him as the

paragon of beauty and of virtue, but supplied the place of a tutelar

saint, to whom he paid his vows and addressed himself in the day of

peril; or it seems to have been an established doctrine, that love made

valour perfect, and incited the heroes to undertake great enterprises.

"Oh that my lady saw me," said one of them as he was mounting a breach

at the head of his troops and driving the enemy before him. The French

writer St. Foix, who mentions this,[521] says in another place, "It is

astonishing that no author has remarked the origin of this devotion in

the manners of the Germans, our ancestors, as drawn by Tacitus, who,"

he tells us, "attributed somewhat of divinity to the fair sex.[522]"

Sometimes it seems the knights were armed and unarmed by the ladies;

but this, I presume, was a peculiar mark of their favour, and only used

upon particular occasions, as, for instance, when the heroes undertook

an achievement on their behalf, or combating in defence of their beauty

or their honour.[523]

XXIX.--GREAT SPLENDOUR OF THESE SPORTS ATTRACTIVE TO THE NOBILITY.

At the celebration of these pastimes, the lists were superbly

decorated, and surrounded by the pavilions belonging to the champions,

ornamented with their arms, banners, and banerolls. The scaffolds for

the reception of the nobility of both sexes who came as spectators, and

those especially appointed for the royal family, were hung with

tapestry and embroideries of gold and silver. Every person, upon such

occasions, appeared to the greatest advantage, decked in sumptuous

array, and every part of the field presented to the eye a rich display

of magnificence. We may also add the splendid appearance of the

knights engaged in the sports; themselves and their horses were most

gorgeously arrayed, and their esquires and pages, together with the

minstrels and heralds who superintended the ceremonies, were all of

them clothed in costly and glittering apparel. Such a show of pomp,

where wealth, beauty, and grandeur were concentred, as it were, in one

focus, must altogether have formed a wonderful spectacle, and made a

strong impression on the mind, which was not a little heightened by the

cries of the heralds, the clangour of the trumpets, the clashing of the

arms, the rushing together of the combatants, and the shouts of the

beholders; and hence the popularity of these exhibitions may be easily

accounted for.

The tournament and the just, and especially the latter, afforded to

those who were engaged in them, an opportunity of appearing before the

ladies to the greatest advantage; they might at once display their

taste and opulence by the costliness and elegancy of their apparel, and

their prowess as soldiers; therefore, these pastimes became fashionable

among the nobility; and it was probably for the same reason that they

were prohibited to the commoners.

XXX.--TOYS FOR INITIATING CHILDREN IN THESE SPORTS.

Persons of rank were taught in their childhood to relish such exercises

as were of a martial nature, and the very toys that were put into their

hands as playthings, were calculated to bias the mind in their favour.

On the opposite page the reader will find two views of a knight on

horseback, completely equipped for the just; four wheels originally

were attached to the pedestal, which has a hole in the front for the

insertion of a cord. The knight and his horse are both made with brass;

the spear and the wheels are wanting in the original, but the hole

in which the spear was inserted, still remains under the right arm,

and it is supplied upon the print by something like it placed in the

proper situation. This curious figure, which probably was made in the

fifteenth century, is in the possession of sir Frederic Eden, with

whose permission this copy, about the same size as the original, makes

its appearance here.

[Illustration: 43. A JUSTING TOY.]

The man represented by the figures in the preceding engraving may be

readily separated from the horse, and is so contrived as to be thrown

backwards by a smart blow upon the top of the shield or the front of

his helmet, and replaced again with much ease: two such toys were

requisite; each of them having a string made fast in the front of

the pedestal, being then placed at a distance in opposition the one

to the other, they were violently drawn together in imitation of two

knights tilting; and by the concussion of the spears and shields, if

dexterously managed, one or both of the men were cast to the ground.

Sometimes, as we may see by the subjoined figure from a curious

engraving on wood by Hans Burgmair, which makes one of a series of

prints representing the history and achievements of the emperor

Maximilian the First, in the possession of Francis Douce, esq. these

toys were made without wheels, and pushed by the hand upon a table

towards each other; but in both cases the effect was evidently the same.

[Illustration: 44. TOYS, REPRESENTING KNIGHTS JUSTING.]

XXXI.--BOAT JUSTS, OR TILTING ON THE WATER.

It has been previously observed, that all persons below the rank of

an esquire were excluded from the justs and the tournaments; but the

celebration of these pastimes attracted the common mind in a very

powerful manner, and led to the institution of sports, that bore at

least some resemblance to them: tilting at the quintain was generally

practised at a very early period,[524] and justing upon the ice by the

young Londoners.[525] The early inclination to join in such kind of

pastimes is strongly indicated by the two boys represented on the next

page: the place of the horse is supplied by a long switch, and that of

a lance by another. The original delineation occurs in a beautiful MS.

book of prayers, written in the fourteenth century, in the possession

of F. Douce, esq.

[Illustration: 45. BOYS TILTING IN PASTIME.]

Here we may also add the boat justs, or tilting upon the water. The

representation of a pastime of this kind is given below, from a

manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Royal Library.[526]

[Illustration: 46. BOAT TILTING.]

The conqueror at these justs was the champion who could dexterously

turn aside the blow of his antagonist with his shield, and at the

same time strike him with his lance in such a manner as to overthrow

him into the river, himself remaining unmoved from his station; and

perhaps not a little depended upon the skill of the rowers.[527] When

queen Elizabeth visited Sandwich in 1573, she was entertained with a

tilting upon the water, "where certain wallounds that could well swym

had prepared two boates, and in the middle of each boate was placed a

borde, upon which borde there stood a man, and so they met together,

with either of them a staff and a shield of wood; and one of them did

overthrowe another, at which the queene had good sport."[528] The same

kind of laughable pastime was practised at London, as we learn from

Stow; "I have seen," says he, "in the summer season, upon the river of

Thames, some rowed in wherries, with staves in their hands flat at the

fore end, running one against another, and for the most part one or

both of them were overthrown and well ducked."

XXXII.--CHALLENGES TO ALL COMERS.

I shall now conclude this long chapter with the two following extracts

from a manuscript in the Harleian Collection.[529] Six gentlemen

challenged "all commers at the just roial, to runne in osting harnies

along a tilte, and to strike thirteen strokes with swordes, in honour

of the marriage of Richard duke of York[530] with the lady Anne,

daughter to the duke of Norfolk."

When Henry VII. created his second son Henry prince of Wales, four

gentlemen offered their service upon the occasion. First, they made a

declaration that they do not undertake this enterprise in any manner

of presumption, but only "for the laude and honour of the feaste, the

pleasure of the ladyes; and their owne learning, and exercise of deedes

of armes, and to ensewe the ancient laudable customs."

They then promised to be ready at Westminster on a given day, the

twenty-fourth of November, to keep the justs in a place appointed for

that purpose by the king. To be there by "eleven of the clock before

noone to answer all gentlemen commers, and to runne with every commer

one after another, six courses ensewingly; and to continue that daye as

long as it shal like the kynges grace, and to tilt with such speares

as he shall ordeyn, of the which speares, the commers shall have the

choise: but if the said six courses by every one of the commers shall

be performed, and the day not spent in pleasure and sport according

to the effect of these articles, it shall then be lawful for the said

commers to begin six other courses, and so continue one after another

as long as it shall be at the king's pleasure. If it shall happen to

any gentleman that his horse fayleth him, or himself be unarmed in such

wise as he cannot conveniently accomplish the whole courses, then it

shall be lawful for his felowe to finish up the courses."

Again, they promise upon a second day, the twenty-ninth of November,

to be in readiness to mount their horses at the same place and hour as

before, to tourney with four other gentlemen, with such swordes as

the king shall ordain, until eighteen strokes be given by one of them

to the other; and add that it shall be lawful to strike all manner of

ways, the foyne only excepted, and the commers shall have their choice

of the swords. Here it may be observed, that to foyne, is to thrust,

as in fencing, which was exceedingly dangerous when the swords were

pointed. The author of a MS. poem, in the Cotton Collection,[531]

frequently referred to in the course of this work, entitled Knyghthode

and Batayle, says, in fighting with an enemy, "to foyne is better than

to smyte," and afterwards two inches, "entre foyned," hurteth more than

a broader wound with the edge of a sword.

"Whosoever," continues the Harleian manuscript, "shall certifye and

give knowledge of his name and of his comming to one of the three

kings of arms, whether it be to the justs or at the tourney, he shall

be first answered, the states alwayes reserved which shall have the

preheminence. If any one of the said commers shall think the swordes or

spears be too easy for him, the said four gentlemen will be redye to

answer him or them after their owne minde, the king's licence obteyned

in that behalf."

The gentlemen then entreat the king to sign the articles with his own

hand, as sufficient licence for the heralds to publish the same in such

places as might be thought requisite. The king accepted their offer,

and granted their petition; at the same time he promised to reward the

best performer at the justs royal with a ring of gold set with a ruby;

and the best performer at the tournament with another golden ring set

with a diamond, equal in value to the former.

Upon some particular occasions the strokes with the sword were

performed on foot, and so were the combats with the axes; the champions

having, generally, a barrier of wood breast-high between them.