Cricket 1907

84 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p e il 25, 1907. Full details of the construction of the Demon-Drivers and other information of interest to GricKeters, will be found in the booklet entitled The Evolution of a Cricket Bat, which may be obtained upon application, and from which the following extracts are taKen s— D OUBTLESS buyers frequently wonder why it is that some "bats are sold as low as 5o., while others cannot be bought for less th»n 27s. 6d., both being made of similar material. The reason is very simple. The higher-priced bats, which must relatively be few in number, have to provide for the loss incurred in manufacturing the lower- priced bats, which are necessarily numerous. The figures here given approximately show the proportions of the various grades for 1,000 bats. They are based upon the average results produced in the ordinary course of manufacture. First or Best Division. 1st grade 2nd grade 3rd grade 4th grade 20 50 100 150 Second or Common Division. 5th grade Lower grades 250 430 1,000. It will thus be seen that the manufacturer who intends to meet the ever-increasing demand for really good cricket bats must carry an enormous stock of timber. The stock held by Geo. G. Bussey & Co., Ltd., represents 100,000 bats. The question is sometimes asked why the “ Demon Drivers” are not more associated with the names of leading cricketers. It may be said, without presumption, that the answer involves a question of ethics which it is not intended to enter into beyond mentioning the fact that Geo. G. Bussey & Co., Ltd. (oi* their predecessors, Geo. G. Bussey & Co.) have never published a testi­ monial relating to a cricket bat not purchased and paid for in the ordinary way of business. Cricketers all over the world are informed that orders for Bussey’s goods should be placed with Dealers on the spot. Their manufactures are graded according to a properly devised system, which provides for cricieters purchasing from the dealers in the provinces or colonies receiving the same beleelion as if sent direct from the Factory. GEO. 6. BUSSEY & CO. , L TD . , 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory : Timber Mills : PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F . S. A shlby -C oopbb . S ome P oets and P oetry or C hicxet . That cricket poems should, with but few exceptions, be deemed unworthy of their subject is by no means surpris­ ing when it is remembered how many and great are the merits of the game. Not one of the great English poets has sung the praises of cricket. Pope and Cowper, Hood and Tennyson all refer to the game, but neither shows much knowledge of the subject, although Cowpar suggests that he was a good player whilst at Westminster School, and might have gained distinction as a player. There are few things more remarkable than the unanimity with which the national game has been slighted by our Poets Laureate: perhaps each recognised how futile his efforts to do the subject justice wojld be. Mr. Charles Box has said- that “ With regard to cricket, little or nothing of its early career would have been known but for the pen of the poet.” But few students of the game—if, in fact, any— will be found to agree with this. The works of Love, Duncombe, and Burnby are interesting on account of their antiquity, but it cannot be said that they are so valuable from an historical point of view as to be deemed worthy of the praise Box bestowed upon them. The authors, however, are very in­ teresting personages, as being the most noticeable cricket poets of the eighteenth century. Some particulars concerning the career of each may, therefore, not be considered out of place. James Love, the author of “ Cricket: an Heroic Poem,” which describes the match between Kent and England, played in the Artillery-Ground, London, on June 18th, 1744, was born on March 17th, 1722, and died in 1774, aged fifcy-two. He was, therefore, but twenty-two years of age at the time the first edition of his poena was published. His real name was Dance, his father being George Dance, architect and designer of the Mansion House. He was educated at Mei chant Taylors’ School and St. John’s College, Oxford. Becoming bankrupt, he betook himself to the stage and to the composition of light comedies. The first edition (undated) of his famous poem, ‘ 1Cricket: anHeroic Poem,” was published anonymously in London in 1744, and dedicated to the 4th Earl of Sandwich; the second edition was issued at Edin­ burgh in 1754, in a volume entitled “ Poems on Several Occasions,” and the tbird, dated 1770, was dedicated to the members of the Richmond Cricket Club, in Surrey, of which Love was a member. Some of the remarks made in his verses (Book II., lines 47-54) evidently gave offence, for in the first week in July, 1744, we hear that the Company “ are determined to prosecute in the severest manner the author of *Cricket: a Poem,’ * “ The English Game of Cricket,” p. 403. for presuming to jest upon that service­ able society.” The Company’s threats, however, appear to have been as harmless as Love’s remarks, for no action was taken in the matter. For some years Love was manager of the theatre at Edinburgh, and, whilst there, Boswell, the famous biographer, studied with him in order to purify his pronunciation from the Scotch accent. In 1762 he was in­ vited to Drury Lane Theatre, and he retained his connection with that place during the rest of his life, part of which was spent at Richmond, where, with his brother’s help, he built a new theatre, involving him in considerable loss. The character in which Love gained most success was that of Falstaff. “ His at­ tempts to improve Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher were wretched.” [A portion of Love’s poem—commencing “ While others ” and finishing with the line “ And often grasps the well-disputed prize ” —appeared in the old Snorting Magazine for May, 1803,. Newland’s name being omitted and Beauclerck’s substituted. The poem was signed “ J. J. B., July 4th,” and was dedicated to Lord Frederick! A more fl igrant example of plagiarism can seldom have been known.] The Rav. John Duncombe, author of “ Surry Triumphant, or the Kentish- men’s Defeat,” published in 1773, was born in London on September 29th, 1729, and was educated in Essex ani at Oxford. In 1773 he was appointed by Archbishop Cornwallis to the living of Herne, near Canterbury, “ which afforded him a pleasant recess in the summer months,” and to be Master of St. John’s Hospital, at Canterbury; he had formerly been Curate of Sundridge, near Seven- oaks. He died at Canterbury on July 19th, 1786. He was a friend of Mr. John Burnby. Mr. John Burnby, attorney-at-law and author of “ The Kentish Cricketers : a Poem,” published in 1773, was a native of Canterbury, aud died there on March 8th, 1805, aged tifty-eight. He has been described * as “ A man of very eccentric character, imprudent, intemperate, and, of late years, in distressed circumstances.” In 1772 he published “ An Historical Description of the Cathedral Churc'i at Canterbury,” which was afterwards re­ printed with corrections and additions by the R9V. John Duncombe. In 1783 Burnby brought out his “ Summer Amusement; or Miscelltneous Poems,” a work now very seldom met with. One of his less well-known poems was reproduced in the last issue of Oricket (page 68). The first half of the nineteenth century failed to yield any cricket verse of more than average merit, though many of old Mr. Aislabie’s effusions are of interest owing to the allusions found therein to many of the great players of his time. The death of Alfred Mynn, in 1861, how­ ever, produced from the pen of 8. Maunder — W. J. Prowse — some verses which deservedly rank as the best ever written * “ The Gentleman’s Magazine” (LXXV. 385).