having considered the Representation and Petition of the Gentlemen Bowlers in Edinburgh, craving a Lease of the present Bowling Green behind the Hospital and the Inner Garden to the East of it commonly called the wilderness, for twenty-one years, to be levelled and laid down by them in two Bowling Greens for such adequate rent as the Governors should judge reasonable . . . that an exercise so beneficial to the health of the inhabitants might not be totally lost for want of proper Bowling greens. That the inhabitants

Gardens,

shall have free access to the walks of the outer garden, but shall not have access to the walks of the Inner without the without the consent of the Tacksmen. Octavo, The Tacksmen should be obliged to prevent the use of Keill's Bowling Ring and such like diversions within any part of the Gardens"; they were also to "prevent the smuggling and running of goods," and "that no musical or other public Entertainment whatsoever is to be carried on in any part of the Gardens without the consent of the governors is first obtained." On the 20th June the tack was signed by "Mr. Joseph Williamson, Advocate, and Thomas Mabane, one of the clerks in the Post Office."1

Allan Ramsay, in The Gentie Shepherd, published 1725, makes Mause say to Baldy

"I'll try my art to gar the bowls run right,"

from which it may be assumed he was one of the 1 This was known later as the "Waverley Club" green.

"gentlemen bowlers" of his time or had knowledge of the game at least.

The author of Waverley has many allusions to the game in his works, and it is by no means unlikely that he, Robert Burns, "North," and Hogg, had visited the green in Heriot's Gardens.

"Perhaps if bowls row right, and right succeeds,

Ye yet may follow where a Douglas leads."

Burns.1

The Ettrick Shepherd in Noctes Ambrosianae, 1828, speaking of a skull remarks

"There's nae reason for ca'in apon't for a sang, true as its ear ance was, and its tongue like silver ony mair than there is for playin' bowls wi't on the green."

It is much to the credit of the Edinburgh authorities, that public bowling-greens, recently constructed and financed by them, have been so successful. The "second city" must wake up, and if some of the sentimental "faddists" would spare a little of their valuable time to the promotion of the solid good of the community, public bowling-greens would soon be an accomplished fact not only in Glasgow, but in every centre of industry and commerce.

2

According to Bishop Pocock, Lanark had a bowlinggreen on the site of the old castle. He saw the people of the town playing when he visited it in 1750.3

Tom Bicket's Bowling-Green, Kilmarnock, "under the patronage of the gentry," dates back to 1740. In a Minute of Council, 5th March, 1764, mention is

1

2

1 Quoted from additional lines in Cromek's Reliques.

"A map of Peebles, 1775, shows a bowling-green on the Castle Hill. 3 Brown's Manual.

made of "a shooting prize of £5 having been placed, about the year 1740, in the hands of Mr. Paterson, towards erecting (?) a Bowling-green and purchasing bowls, as being thought a more agreeable diversion than shooting." W. W. Mitchell," "guide, philosopher, and friend" of bowlers for thirty years or more, had much to say of this green. He played his first bowl on it in 1814, at the age of eleven. It was the custom then, he tells us, to play with three bowls each, the

bowls graduated in their bias by means of lead-loading at the centre inside.

Ayrshire and Glasgow (in good-humoured rivalry, as becometh all good bowlers) run one another very hard for first honours. By reference to table on page 88 of Appendix, it will be seen that, of clubs established prior to 1850 inclusive, Glasgow and Perhaps to this equality is

Ayrshire are about equal. due the keen rivalry which has existed since 1855;

2 Mitchell's Manual of Bowl-Playing was first published in 1864, and contained rules and laws of the game, etc., drawn up by him in 1849, and which have hitherto been generally adopted as a standard, wherever the Scotch style of game is played. The Scottish Bowling Association rules will, of course, supersede them.

when the annual matches were first instituted under the immediate patronage of the then Earl of Eglinton.

Two matches were played that year; one on the 2nd August, in Ayrshire, with 32 rinks, the other on the 9th August, in Glasgow, with 36 rinks. Glasgow won on both occasions by 282 and 460 points respectively. The matches were played by time, viz., three hours; since then "31 heads" has been the rule. Unfortunately, the weather was so inclement the following year,-in Ayrshire,-that no win was scored. for either side.

€

$13

"Earl of ECLINTON.

VER memorable will be the year 1857 in the annals of Ayrshire and Glasgow bowling, when Archibald William, thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, presented for competition. that beautiful trophy, yclept "The Eglinton Cup." The first contest for it took place on Tuesday, 11th August, in

Glasgow, the earl taking part in the game on Willowbank green as driver of the middle rink; 5 rinks played on this green.' Glasgow won by 335 shots; and Wellcroft, having the "highest up" rink, had the

1 The following incident during this game is related by Mitchell. His lordship having played his bowl, as instructed by a demonstrative admirer, the latter, as the bowl coursed up the green, began exclaiming with increasing emphasis, "I like you, my lord! I like you, my lord!! I like you, my lord!!!" but as the bowl passed without doing any good, he suddenly exclaimed, "O lord, you're too strong."

honour of being the cup-holders for the first time, the earl making the presentation.

This same year, the earl also presented a Gold Bowl to be competed for annually, between clubs on his estates and clubs in the county of Ayr, with a view to training, and being better prepared to meet their opponents in future. Tabulated results show the wisdom of this course. Three years previously, he had given a Silver Bowl to be competed for by clubs on his estates.

These several gifts, along with his going in and out among the bowlers as a player, show very definitely how his practice and precept regarding outdoor sports of a sound nature went hand in hand. Ayrshire may well be proud to claim Burns, bonnie lassies, and a bowling patron, who are hard to equal. To quote the earl, when speaking of outdoor games-bowls especially-he said he might refer to other games, but "this class of outdoor amusements was, in this country, to be prized; not more for their exhilarating and healthful character, than for the humanising influence they exert on all who take part in them, and the occasion they afford for neighbourly and agreeable meetings." "Without compromising my own loyalty, I can assure you that however delighted and dignified I may have felt myself amongst royal personages, I am at all times more happy and more content amongst the curlers and bowlers of my own country." "Much as I value the game for the pleasure there is in playing it, I value it still more for the way in which it brings classes of the community together, and promotes good fellowship between the town and the country." "I feel certain that the encouragement of such games as