Cricket 1887

“ Toge ther joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— Byron. Registered foV^Transmia^oii^iroad. THURSDAY , APR IL 28, 1887. PRICE 2d. CRICKET. B y A n d re w L an g. Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. Mac­ millan & Co., from English Illustrated Magazine. “ D o u b tle s s Heaven might have made a better berrythan the strawberry, butcertainlyHeaven never did,” says the good English divine. Doubtless.we may alter thephrase—man might have developed a better game than cricket, but certainlyman never did. This we say without regard to the feelings of tennis - players. Their pastime is indeed “ the sport of princes,” but for that very reason we cannot deem it “ the prince of games.” Tennis, like the Game Laws, priva te property in land, theHouse of Lords, Covent Garden Market, and other notorious abuses, is a feudal survival of an exclusive and aristocratic char­ acter. The very disposition of the court, with its pent - house and grille, speaks of its origin in the court of the mediaeval castle. Nowmedi­ aeval castles have a notoriously bad character. “ Caste- las he let wyrcean, and earme men swencte;” “ castles he built, and made it rough for poor men.” says the P e t e r b o r o u g h Chronicle. While the villein was being sat upon by the baron, in a box half full of rough France. Even now there are probably not more than two or three hundred tennis players in England. It is a game of a closed-in court, and a stuffy smoky dedans , and, with all its excellent qualities, can never be popular. Cricket, on the other hand, is the game of the people. Wherever you see two or three English boys with a ball and a stick, their amusement naturally takes the shape of a rude A FAMILY GROUP. From a Drawing by J. D o w n m a n , A.R.A., in the British Museum. stones,* the baron’s sons were playing tennis in th$ castle court. Thus tennis,like highway rob­ bery, was the sport of princes such as Henry Y. in his salad days; Henry V. who received that famous present of tennis balls from the King of * SeeLingard, Freeman, Florence of Worcester, Peterborough Chronicle, Thaddeus of Warsaw, &c. kind of cricket. In the parks the little street- boys pile their coats up to make a wicket, and snow a fine natural tendency to hit to square leg. Even little girls make a wicket of a tree, in Kensington Gardens, and bowl slows with soft balls. Every open spacehas its own small match going on, and on all that is left of village greens you always see the worn marks of the wickets. I speak of the south of Eng­ land, the north has kicking and other diver­ sions—the north, that is, far from the influences of Sheffield and Manchester. “ How much are we to get by the hour for this? ” said the Northumbrian swains, when their squire presented them with a ground, wickets, bats, balls, and an oration explana­ tory of the rules. But even in Northumber­ land cricket is being planted chiefly by curates. Even in the remote parts of S cotland , “ the country of the wild Scots,” cricket is being introduced. Moral reformers hope that it will par­ tially take the place of the favourite local pastime, “ to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye come hame,” a diversion not found to elevate the character of the parish. Granting, then, the popularity and ' pre-excellence of the noble game, what is its origin, and what its history ? Of course no one in­ vent 3dcricket. Like almost everything else, cricket was evolved. We have but lately moved away from the state of mind of Hero­ dotus, who tells us that the Lydians invented games dur­ ing a famine to occupy their minds, and prevent them from feeling hungry. The Lydians could not have played cricket without hav­ ing their meals regularly. Look how the bowling always slackens before luncheon, and how, after luncheon, the bowlers, like men refreshed with beef and beer, mow down the wickets. Mr. George Meredith is not wrong—cricket requires beer and beef for its noble nurture. The writers on this topic have usually had the sportsman’s love of a bit of learning, of a bit of Latin, but they have not