66

saw the sport," and again afterwarde to St. James's Park, seeing the people play at pall-mall." 15th May, 1663, "I walked in the parke discoursing withe the keeper of the Pell Mell, who was sweeping of it; who told me of what the earth is mixed that do floor the Mall, and that over all there is cockle-shells powdered and spread to keep it fast; which however in dry weather turns to dust and deads the ball."

Nothing authentic regarding the rules of the game of bowls, down to a comparatively recent period, seems to be available; or whether the ground was specially prepared In Coriolanus (Act v. Scene 2) is the following"Sometime like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,

I have tumbled past the throw."

Here there is an indication of a peculiar character of the ground, where a knowledge of the surface would be essential to success; and that the early Romans played the game on greens (or grounds) that were not dead level. Ben Jonson uses the expression "the subtlest bowling-green in all Tartary" (Ogilvie).

English greens are raised in the centre, which causes the bowl, having little or no bias, to run in a curved line. This peculiarity may be a perpetuation of the subtlety alluded to.

In Country Contentments, a book published about 1615, is this reference to bowling as a pastime, “in which a man shall find great art in chusing out his ground, and preventing the winding, hanging, and many turning advantages of the same, whether it be in open wilde places or in close allies; and for his sport, the chusing of the bowle is the greatest cunning; your flat bowles' being best for allies, your round biazed bowles 1 The skittle-bowle probably.

D

for open grounds of advantage, and your round bowles, like a ball, for green swathes that are plain and level." Some marked differences are here indicated of both

bowls and ground. The ground of advantage being probably uneven, with obstacles which would mar the course of a bowl not biazed.

In Scotland the greens are, or ought to be, dead level. In England (differing from the Scotch game) the jack or kitty is thrown from the last finishing place in any direction. The leader has a jack with the same bias as his bowls, thus enabling him, by observing the course of the jack, to profit by any irregularity of the surface. Rink playing, if played at all, is comparatively a recent introduction. The Scotch game is gradually growing in favour.

Morris

Dancers

15 Centr

HIP

Four of the twelve panes in ancient window at Batley in Staffordshire

The morris-green was, in all probability, the bowlinggreen; about the time of Queen Elizabeth and earlier. It was certainly a green set apart for games and revelry.

"If it be not too rough for some that know little but bowling," is a quotation that brings the morris-dance 2

1 Winter's Tale.

2 Nine-men's-morris is a game played on squares deeply marked in the

and bowling in conjunction. The morris-dancers were invariably masculine.

as applied to individuals. We have the terms jack-ass and jack-pudding, describing a merry andrew or clown; jack, a cunning fellow; jack-o'-lantern, an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp; jack-a-napes, a coxcomb; and jacka-lent, a puppet or butt thrown at for sport, in Lent on Ash Wednesday—

"When thou didst stand six weeks the jack-a-lent,

For boys to hurl three throws a penny at thee."
Ben Jonson.

In French it is cochonnel, a butt or mark, and cochonner means to work clownishly. As the living jack was the butt or centre to which gravitated all the fooling, or was the main attraction of a convivial company in the middle

turf or ground. The men were stones, wooden pins, bits of crockery, etc. The moves on the squares, resembling somewhat the motions of the morrisdancers, gave the game its name.

"The nine-men's-morris is filled up with mud."

Midsummer Night's Dream.

"I take these wise men, that crow so at these kind of fools,

No better than the fool's zanies."

Twelfth Night.

"According to Cotgrave, there formerly existed in France a game called carrean-like bowles-the jack or mark being set up on a square stone at the end of an alley (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

ages, so the jack in the game of bowls is the point round which all the interest of the game is centred. The analogy of the terms is both close and ancient.

A Jack-Pudding

jester

14th Cent

HE passage in Cymbeline, Act ii. Scene 1, which has already been alluded to, hints at a "ruction during a game of bowls, in which jack is mentioned.

"Cloten, loq.-Was there ever man had such luck! when I kissed the jack, upon an up-cast to be hit away! I had a hundred pound on't and then a jackanapes must take me up for swearing; as if I borrowed mine

oaths of him, and might not spend them at my pleasure.'

X111. Century.
M.S. Royal Library..

Club-Ball.

Strutt.

from

Genealogical roll of the Kings of England the time of Henry III

"First Lord-What got he by that? You have broke his pate with your bowl.'"1

1 Cervantes, in Don Quixote, mentions the jack-pudding of the morrisdance.

Under the Plantagenets, archery was the principal out-door amusement of the lower orders, being specially encouraged by the authorities; and was practised on Sundays and holy days after divine service. On these occasions quoits, cock-fighting, games of ball, etc., were strictly forbidden.

The citizens of London "went outside the walls to play (at bowls), though there were also alleys inside the walls, which were such scenes of riot that they were forbidden by Richard II. and Edward IV."1

The aristocratic and wealthy had, however, the privilege of bowling; at all events the incident in Richard II., Act iii. Scene 4, indicates it. The young girl-queen,

Isobel of France, is ennui and low-spirited.

While

walking with one of her ladies in the Duke of York's

garden, she asks—

"What sport shall we devise here in this garden,

To drive away the heavy load of care?"

The lady answers

"Madam, we'll play at bowls."

1 1 Stow's Survey of London.