The Sports And Pastimes Of The People Of England - free ebook by Joseph Strutt

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The Sports And Pastimes Of The People Of England

Joseph Strutt

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THE SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND:

THE SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND:

INCLUDING THE RURAL AND DOMESTIC RECREATIONS, MAY GAMES, MUMMERIES, SHOWS, PROCESSIONS, PAGEANTS, &amp; 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. H

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ADVERTISEMENT.

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.

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

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. Unfortunate

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II.—THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.

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 whi

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III.—THE SAXONS.

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 large

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IV.—THE NORMANS.

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

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V.—TOURNAMENTS AND JUSTS.

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

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

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 ca

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VII.—KNIGHTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

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

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VIII.—ESQUIRESHIP.

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.

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IX.—MILITARY SPORTS PATRONIZED BY THE LADIES.

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, &amp;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

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X.—DECLINE OF MILITARY EXERCISES.

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 [Pg xxviii] and delicate. This example of the nobility was soon followe

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XI.—DECLINE OF CHIVALRY.

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 c

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XII.—MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VII.

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

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XIII.—MILITARY EXERCISES UNDER HENRY VIII.

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 f

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XIV.—PRINCELY EXERCISES UNDER JAMES I.

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 p

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XV.—REVIVAL OF LEARNING.

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 opinio

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XVI.—RECREATIONS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

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

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XVII.—OLD SPORTS OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON.

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

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XVIII.—MODERN PASTIMES OF THE LONDONERS.

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, an

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XIX.—COTSWOLD AND CORNISH GAMES.

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 gen

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XX.—SPLENDOUR OF THE ANCIENT KINGS AND NOBILITY.

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 clas

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XXI.—ROYAL AND NOBLE ENTERTAINMENTS.

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

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XXII.—CIVIC SHOWS.

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 mi

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XXIII.—SETTING OUT OF PAGEANTS.

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

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XXIV.—PROCESSIONS OF QUEEN MARY AND KING PHILIP OF SPAIN IN LONDON.

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 befo

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XXV.—CHESTER PAGEANTS.

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 came

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XXVI.—PUBLIC SHOWS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

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 f

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XXVII.—QUEEN ELIZABETH AT KENELWORTH.

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 i

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XXVIII.—LOVE OF PUBLIC SIGHTS ILLUSTRATED FROM SHAKSPEARE.

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 wa

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XXIX.—ROPE-DANCING, TUTORED ANIMALS, AND PUPPET-SHOWS.

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 pretend

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XXX.—MINSTRELSY, BELL-RINGING, &c.

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, increas

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XXXI.—BAITING OF ANIMALS.

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 imp

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XXXII.—PASTIMES FORMERLY ON SUNDAYS.

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 ve

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XXXIII.—ROYAL INTERFERENCE WITH SUNDAY PASTIMES.

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 declamation

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XXXIV.—ZEAL AGAINST WAKES AND MAY-GAMES.

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

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XXXV.—DICE AND CARDS.

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 mank

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XXXVI.—REGULATION OF GAMES FOR MONEY, BY RICHARD CŒUR DE LION, &c.

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 p

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XXXVII.—STATUTES AGAINST DICE, CARDS, BALL-PLAY, &c.

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 E

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XXXVIII.—PROHIBITIONS OF SKITTLE-PLAY.

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, wh

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XXXIX.—ARCHERY SUCCEEDED BY BOWLING.

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 amuse

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XL.—MODERN GAMBLING.

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 conside

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XLI.—LADIES' PASTIMES—NEEDLE-WORK.

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 themse

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XLII.—DANCING AND CHESS PLAY.

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

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XLIII.—LADIES' RECREATIONS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

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, ha

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XLIV.—THE AUTHOR'S LABOURS—CHARACTER OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

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 constrai

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CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

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 c

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CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER II.

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 th

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CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.

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 mona

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CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

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 glorio

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CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER II.

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

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CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.

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

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CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

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.

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CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER II.

It is not my design to enter deeply upon the origin and progress of scenic exhibitions in England: this subject has already been so ably discussed, that very little new matter can be found to excite the public attention: I shall, therefore, be as brief as possible, and confine myself chiefly to the lower species of comic pastimes, many of which may justly claim the sanction of high antiquity. The theatrical exhibitions in London, in the twelfth century, were called Miracles, because they consist

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CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.

The Britons were passionately fond of vocal and instrumental music: for this reason, the bards, who exhibited in one person the musician and the poet, were held in the highest estimation among them. "These bards," says an early historian, "celebrated the noble actions of illustrious persons in heroic poems which they sang to the sweet sounds of the lyre;" [574] and to this testimony we may add another of equal authority; "The British bards are excellent and melodious poets, and sing their poems,

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CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER IV.

The joculator, or the jugglour of the Normans, was frequently included under the collective appellation of minstrel. His profession originally was very comprehensive, and included the practice of all the arts attributed to the minstrel; and some of the jugglers were excellent tumblers. Joinville, in the Life of St. Louis and Charpentier, quotes an old author, who speaks of a joculator, qui sciebat tombare. [654] He was called a gleeman in the Saxon era, and answers to the juggler of the more mod

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CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER V.

Dancing, tumbling, and balancing, with variety of other exercises requiring skill and agility, were originally included in the performances exhibited by the gleemen and the minstrels; and they remained attached to the profession of the joculator after he was separated from those who only retained the first branches of the minstrel's art, that is to say, poetry and music. The joculators were sometimes excellent tumblers; yet, generally speaking, I believe that vaulting, tumbling, and balancing, w

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CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.

One great part of the joculator's profession was the teaching of bears, apes, horses, dogs, and other animals, to imitate the actions of men, to tumble, to dance, and to perform a variety of tricks, contrary to their nature; and sometimes he learned himself to counterfeit the gestures and articulations of the brutes. The engravings which accompany this chapter relate to both these modes of diverting the public, and prove the invention of them to be more ancient than is generally supposed. The tu

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CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.

The pastime of bowling, whether practised upon open greens or in bowling-alleys, was probably an invention of the middle ages. I cannot by any means ascertain the time of its introduction; but I have traced it back to the thirteenth century. The earliest representation of a game played with bowls, that I have met with, occurs in a MS. in the Royal Library, [826] as here represented. Here two small cones are placed upright at a distance from each other; and the business of the players is evidentl

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CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

The national passion for secular music admitted of little or no abatement by the disgrace and dispersion of the minstrels. Professional musicians, both vocal and instrumental, were afterwards retained at the court, and also in the mansions of the nobility. In the sixteenth century, a knowledge of music was considered as a genteel accomplishment for persons of high rank. Henry VIII. not only sang well, but played upon several sorts of instruments; he also wrote songs, and composed the tunes [862]

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CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

This chapter is appropriated to sedentary games, and in treating upon most of them I am under the necessity of confining myself to very narrow limits. To attempt a minute investigation of their properties, to explain the different manners in which they have been played, or to produce all the regulations by which they have been governed, is absolutely incompatible with my present design. Instead, therefore, of following the various writers upon these subjects, whose opinions are rarely in unison,

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CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.

It is said of the English, that formerly they were remarkable for the manner in which they celebrated the festival of Christmas; at which season they admitted variety of sports and pastimes not known, or little practised in other countries. [984] The mock prince, or lord of misrule, whose reign extended through the greater part of the holidays, is particularly remarked by foreign writers, who consider him as a personage rarely to be met with out of England; [985] and, two or three centuries back

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CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER IV.

Most of the popular pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages were imitated by the younger part of the community, and in some degree, at least, became the sports of children. Archery, and the use of missive weapons of all kinds, were formerly considered as an essential part of a young man's education; for which reason the bow, the sling, the spear, and other military instruments, were put into his hands at a very early period of his life; he was also encouraged in the pursuit of such sports as p

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