Cricket 1906

To the Editor of T he C ricketer . S ir ,—One of the most of many remarkable features of your current C rick eter Annual is the facsimile o f a broadsheet printed in 1712. It relates to the scandal of the Duke of M (arlborough)—who was also known by a foreign title a 3 the Prince,—and Lord. . . .having played at cricket with two boys in Windsor Forest that year. The quaint description of the incident does not complete its contribution to our knowledge of cricket history. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) had re­ cently been deprived of political power, and was supposed to be currying favour with the people in view o f the next election. At the age of 62 he accepts a challenge from another peer, borrows a bat from some boys playing cricket, and engages in a game he says he loved in his own schooldays. This in the public view, to ingratiate himself with the elector-j ate, the lampooner suggests. The Duke’ s biography statesl that “ his education seems to have been confined to a short residence at St. Paul’s School (then in the City of London). His career of military glory, mostly on the continent, ex­ tended from 1672 to 1711. What cricket he played was pre­ sumably in London in the 1660’s. Who “ the L o r d ” was is not directly indicated, but he must have been a great one. The satire describes cricket as one of “ the innocent Sports of their Inferiours in age and tfran d cu r.” For ascertained reasons he could not have been either (>f the Lords Sunderland, Godolphin, Stanhope, Wharton, ijalifax, Somers or Devonshire, who were relatives o f the I)uke or more or less under a cloud with him. But the