Cricket 1910

S e p t . 15, 1910. CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 4°3 The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in 7 he Evolution of a Cricket Bat, which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. ICRICKET jlMf ROVED MAKE- KEEP THEIR SHAPE-LAS LONGER' CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. BUSSEY S RACKETS CAIALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. IMPROVEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIR SHAPE-LASTLONGER!S CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. B U S # E Y ’S DEMON D R I V E R S THE ANTIQUARY. T e | ARE OUT AND OUT THE B E S T . - • a ' g - a -3 ' g 3 '-2 '6 -Z '- CATALOQUE UPON APPLICATION TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co., L td . 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills PECKIIAM , S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK, Agents all over the world. When the written history of cricket begins it bursts on us as a fashionable pastime, a new phase of an old-established sport whose origin was admittedly, even then, lost in antiquity. To ascertain whether that origin was British has been a fascinating quest with dozens of inquirers, but none has ever been able definitely to settle the point; and, unless one is dosed with lactic germs to the extent of being able to prolong life indefinitely, no single investigator is ever likely to be successful, save by accident. But the triumph that is denied to solitary research may well enough fall to organized co-operation; a sound theory, that is, be deducible from a mass of information gathered by a multitude of discoverers: a mass of material that would not only settle the matter of the game’s origin, but throw a number of interesting side lights on its development and early history. In any case, the commencement of cricket will probably have to be inferential—just as one has to reconstruct the beginnings of civilization or language from a quantity of evidence, for nobody is ever likely to be lucky enough to drop on an authentic document giving its prehistoric particulars in detail. The game was obviously derived by stages from the common stock of club and ball games, which has also produced billiards, golf, hockey and rounders among a host of varieties, and was gradually modified into a form in which it would be recognised as essentially cricket. At that stage it may have been known by quite another name, just as the word “ cricket ” itself may have been adopted at some period from an object that had only some partial relationship to the game. In other words, a reference to “ cricket ” in some ancient document might have no real allusion to the chief of bat and ball games, while a notice of some other-named sport might be directly germane to it. To resolve all these matters satisfactorily it would be necessary to have at hand more evidence than the most assiduous student could ever hope to glean unaided in a lifetime. If such a collection of evidence could be obtained ready made, how avidly the cricket student would welcome it ! And there is no reason why those who happen on stray references should not contribute them to one common store, and so assist by degrees in piling up such a scrap-heap of uncon­ sidered trifles. It is a remarkable fact that direct search in the most seemingly likely places for information is commonly fruitless, whilst anyone may stumble casually upon useful references in quite unexpected places. For instance, the writer has waded through file after file of old journals in the vain search for one of those treasured paragraphs beginn­ ing “ A Match at Cricket was Play’d,” &a., and yet when otherwise employed has occasionally come across such a pregnant passage as this in Guthrie’s “ Present State of the World,” 1801, p. 21-5:—“ The athletic diversion of cricket is still kept up in the southern and western parts of England, and is sometimes practised by people of the highest rank.” How eloquent is that little preposition “ still ” ! Or one may seek ineffectually for any new information through an old Encyclopedia under the heads of “ Cricket,” “ Games,” “ Bat,” &c., only to chance one day hap­ hazard on a significant reference to lads playing with staff and ball in some Latin verse. Such quotations the fortuitous dis­ coverer, if he be a cricket lover and a methodist in such things, may from time to time jot down only for them to be buried afresh in an inaccessible memorandum book. But how useful they would be if all contributed to a common store ! What hours of toil they would save the painstaking historian ! What pages of idle surmise spare his readers! One of the principal reasons for implying that cricket in its mature form was a game of English derivation is the lack of any record of its introduction. The novice will hunt unsatisfied through'Chaucer and More, Maundeville, Froissart, Malory, Bacon, Spenser, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, Browne, Pepys and Sam Butler for any reference to the game—and through many other delightful English classics, per- adventure. But that is not to say that cricket did not exist, any more than a hundred other commonplace affairs they do not mention. I doubt whether any Victorian poet refers to gasmeters or drain­ pipes, although they were undoubtedly in contemporary use. But if cricket, with its widespread popularity in the early eighteenth century, had been a recent innovation, we should certainly expect to meet with some allusion to its invention or introduction on account of its very novelty. James Love, indeed, in some footnotes to his Heroic Poem, written when the game was historically young, asserts that its origin was even then lost in oblivion. Love’s diligence as an antiquary may easily be over-rated, but he is at least a witness that the game could not possibly have been a new one. And scattered all over the country in unsuspected places are probably the records which, pieced together, would prove how old it is and whence it came. Now Cricket is particularly favoured, and has been for nearly thirty years, in possessing one organ solely devoted to the game, which, as such, is consulted by cricketers all the world over. (It is no empty advertisement to make this claim for Cricket, and I hope the Editor will let this passage stand). If, therefore, any of its readers has the luck to come across any piece of information of antiquarian interest, will he not be a benefactor to the game by peppering the Editor with it ? Editor’s feelings do not count—when one’s worn out you can soon get another—aud I am sure the present director of Cricket desires bis charge to be as complete and abiding a record of the game as can be : as full of usefulness as an egg of meat. Pity the poor old antiquary hunting over the well-beaten ground in the Museum to make one or two paltry finds per annum. You who, unseeking it, meet with some mention of a cricketing ground in an ancient title deed or register he is never likely to consult ; or who find any reference* by word or implication in picture, brass or tombstone, to cricket or its implements, or to games resembling it, copy out your in­ formation (with a literal translation if from a foreign source) and send the copy along with the date of the original and other particulars for verification. Always re­ membering that no information already enshrined in published works on the game is required, and that if your discovery is not very old—at least a hundred and fifty years— it needs to be very curious indeed to be of interest or service. If this invitation meets with a justificatory response, the Editor has promised to spare a column, whenever he can conveniently do so,