CHAPTER I.
I.—SECULAR MUSIC FASHIONABLE
The national passion for secular music admitted of little or no abatement by the disgrace and dispersion of the minstrels. Professional musicians, both vocal and instrumental, were afterwards retained at the court, and also in the mansions of the nobility. In the sixteenth century, a knowledge of music was considered as a genteel accomplishment for persons of high rank. Henry VIII. not only sang well, but played upon several sorts of instruments; he also wrote songs, and composed the tunes [862] for them; and his example was followed by several of the nobility, his favourites. An author, who lived in the reign of James I. says, "We have here," that is, in London, "the best musicians in the kingdom, and equal to any in Europe for their skill, either in composing and setting of tunes, or singing, and playing upon any kind of instruments. The musicians have obtained of our sovereign lord the king, his letters patent to become a society and corporation." [863] To which we may add, that the metropolis never abounded more, if so much as at present, with excellent musicians, not such only as make a profession of music, but with others who pursue it merely for their amusement; nor must we omit the fair sex; with them the study of music is exceedingly fashionable; and indeed there are few young ladies of family who are not in some degree made acquainted with its rudiments. [864]
II.—PUBLIC BALLAD-SINGERS.
The minstrel being deprived of all his honours, and having lost the protection of the opulent, dwindled into a mere singer of ballads, which sometimes he composed himself, and usually accompanied his voice with the notes of a violin. The subjects of these songs were chiefly taken from popular stories, calculated to attract the notice of the vulgar, and among them the musical poets figured away at wakes, fairs, and church-ales. [865] Warton speaks of two celebrated trebles; the one called Outroaringe Dick; and the other Wat Wimbas, who occasionally made twenty shillings a day by ballad-singing; [866] which is a strong proof that these itinerants were highly esteemed by the common people.
III.—MUSIC HOUSES.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the professed musicians assembled at certain houses in the metropolis, called music houses, where they performed concerts, consisting of vocal and instrumental music, for the entertainment of the public; at the same period there were music booths at Smithfield during the continuance of Bartholomew fair. An author of the time, [867] however, speaks very contemptibly of these music meetings, professing that he "had rather have heard an old barber [868] ring Whittington's bells upon a cittern than all the music the houses afforded." There were also music-clubs, or private meetings for the practice of music, which were exceedingly fashionable with people of opulence. Hence, in The Citizen turned Gentleman, a comedy by Edw. Ravenscroft, published in 1675, the citizen is told that, in order to appear like a person of consequence, it was necessary for him "to have a music club once a week at his house." The music houses first mentioned were sometimes supported by subscription; and from them originated three places of public entertainment well known in the present day; namely, Vauxhall, Ranelagh, and Sadler's Wells.
IV.—ORIGIN OF VAUXHALL.
Spring Gardens, now better known by the name of Vauxhall Gardens, is mentioned in the Antiquities of Surrey, by Aubrey, who informs us, that sir Samuel Moreland "built a fine room at Vauxhall, (in 1667,) the inside all of looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant to behold; which," adds he, "is much visited by strangers. It stands in the middle of the garden, covered with Cornish slate, on the point whereof he placed a punchanello, very well carved, which held a dial; but the winds have demolished it." [869] "The house," says a more modern author, sir John Hawkins, [870] "seems to have been rebuilt since the time that sir Samuel Moreland dwelt in it; and, there being a large garden belonging to it, planted with a great number of stately trees, and laid out in shady walks, it obtained the name of Spring Gardens; and, the house being converted into a tavern, or place of entertainment, it was frequented by the votaries of pleasure." This account is perfectly consonant with the following passage in a paper of the Spectator, [871] dated May 20, 1712: "We now arrived at Spring Gardens, which is exquisitely pleasant at this time of the year. When I considered the fragrancy of the walks and bowers, with the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees, and the loose tribe of people that walked underneath their shades, I could not but look upon the place as a kind of Mahometan paradise." In 1730 the house and gardens came into the hands of a gentleman whose name was Jonathan Tyers, who opened it with an advertisement of a "ridotto al fresco;" [872] a term which the people of this country had till then been strangers to. These entertainments were several times repeated in the course of the summer, and numbers resorted to partake of them; which encouraged the proprietor to make his garden a place of musical entertainment for every evening during the summer season: to this end he was at great expense in decorating the gardens with paintings; he engaged an excellent band of musicians, and issued silver tickets for admission at a guinea each; and receiving great encouragement, he set up an organ in the orchestra; and in a conspicuous part of the gardens erected a fine statue of Handel, the work of Roubiliac, a very famous statuary, to whom we owe several of the best monuments in Westminster Abbey.
V.—RANELAGH.
The success of this undertaking was an encouragement to another of a similar kind. A number of persons purchased the house and gardens of the late earl of Ranelagh; they erected a spacious building of timber, of a circular form, and within it an organ, and an orchestra capable of holding a numerous band of performers. The entertainment of the auditors during the performance is, either walking round the room, or refreshing themselves with tea and coffee in the recesses thereof, which are conveniently adapted for that purpose. Sir John Hawkins [873] says, "The performance here, as at Vauxhall, is instrumental, intermixed with songs and ballad airs, calculated rather to please the vulgar than gratify those of a better taste."
VI.—SADLER'S WELLS.
We meet with what is said to be "a true account of Sadler's Well," in a pamphlet published by a physician at the close of the seventeenth century. [874] "The water," says he, "of this well, before the Reformation, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures performed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called Holy-well. The priests belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to attend there, made the people believe that the virtues of the water proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers; but at the Reformation the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of it was altogether superstitious; and so by degrees it grew out of remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out; when a gentleman named Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being surveyor of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden, in the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of stone." [875] After the decease of Sadler, one Francis Forcer, a musician and composer of songs, became occupier of the well and music-room; he was succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the diversion of rope-dancing and tumbling, [876] which were then performed abroad in the garden. There is now a small theatre appropriated to this purpose, furnished with a stage, scenes, and other decorations proper for the representation of dramatic pieces and pantomimes. The diversions of this place are of various kinds, and form upon the whole a succession of performances very similar to those displayed in former ages by the gleemen, the minstrels, and the jugglers.
VII.—MARY-BONE GARDENS—ORATORIOS.
To the three preceding places of public entertainment, we may add a fourth, not now indeed in existence, but which about thirty years back [877] was held in some degree of estimation, and much frequented; I mean Marybone Gardens; where, in addition to the music and singing, there were burlettas and fireworks exhibited. The site of these gardens is now covered with buildings. There were also other places of smaller note where singing and music were introduced, but none of them of any long continuance; for being much frequented by idle and dissolute persons, they were put down by the magistrates.
The success of these musical assemblies, I presume, first suggested the idea of introducing operas upon the stage, which were contrived at once to please the eye and delight the ear; and this double gratification, generally speaking, was procured at the expense of reason and propriety. Hence, also, we may trace the establishment of oratorios in England. I need not say that this noble species of dramatic music was brought to great perfection by Handel: the oratorios produced by him display in a wonderful manner his powers as a composer of music; and they continue to be received with that enthusiasm of applause which they most justly deserve. Under this title, oratorios, are included several of his serenatas, as Acis and Galatea, Alexander's Feast, &c.; but generally speaking, the subjects of the oratorios are taken from the Scriptures, and therefore they are permitted to be performed on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent when plays are prohibited.
VIII.—BELL-RINGING.
It has been remarked by foreigners that the English are particularly fond of bell-ringing; [878] and indeed most of our churches have a ring of bells in the steeple, partly appropriated to that purpose. These bells are rung upon most occasions of joy and festivity, and sometimes at funerals, when they are muffled, and especially at the funerals of ringers, with a piece of woollen cloth bound about the clapper, and the sounds then emitted by them are exceedingly unmelodious, and well fitted to inspire the mind with melancholy. Ringing of rounds; that is, sounding every bell in succession, from the least to the greatest, and repeating the operation, produces no variety; on the contrary, the reiteration of the same cadences in a short time becomes tiresome: for which reason the ringing of changes has been introduced, wherein the succession of the bells is shifted continually, and by this means a varied combination of different sounds, exceedingly pleasant to the ear, is readily produced. This improvement in the art of ringing is thought to be peculiar to the people of this country. [879] Ringing the bells backwards is sometimes mentioned, and probably consisted in beginning with the largest bell and ending with the least; it appears to have been practised by the ringers as a mark of contempt or disgust.
IX.—ANTIQUITY OF BELL-RINGING.
When bell-ringing first arose in England cannot readily be ascertained. It is said that bells were invented by Paulinas, bishop of Nola, [880] at the commencement of the fifth century. In 680, according to Venerable Bede, they were used in Brittany, and thence perhaps brought into this country. Ingulphus speaks of them as well known in his time, and tells us, "that Turketullus, the first abbot of Croyland, gave six bells to that monastery; that is to say, two great ones, which he named Bartholomew and Betteline; two of a middling size, called Turketulum and Beterine; and two small ones, denominated Pega and Bega; he also caused the greatest bell to be made, called Gudhlac, which was tuned to the other bells, and produced an admirable harmony not to be equalled in England." [881] Turketullus died in 875.
According to the ritual of the Romish church, the bells were not only blessed and exorcised, but baptized as those above mentioned, and anointed with holy oil. [882] After these ceremonies had passed it was believed that the evil spirits lurking in the air might be driven away by their sound. The general use of bells is expressed in the two following Latin lines:
That is, to praise the true God—to call the people—to congregate the clergy—to bemoan the dead—to drive away pestilential disorders—to enliven the festivals.
I know not how far the pastime of bell-ringing attracted the notice of the opulent in former times; at present it is confined to the lower classes of the people, who are paid by the parish for ringing upon certain holidays. At weddings, as well as upon other festive occurrences, they usually ring the bells in expectance of a pecuniary reward.
X.—HAND-BELLS.
These, which probably first appeared in the religious processions, were afterwards used by the secular musicians, and practised for the sake of pastime. The joculator dancing before the fictitious goat, depicted by the engraving No. 85, has two large hand-bells, and nearly of a size; but in general, they are regularly diminished, from the largest to the least; and ten or twelve of them, rung in rounds or changes by a company of ringers, sometimes one to each bell, but more usually every ringer has two. I have seen a man in London, who I believe is now living, [883] ring twelve bells at one time; two of them were placed upon his head, he held two in each hand, one was affixed to each of his knees, and two upon each foot; all of which he managed with great adroitness, and performed a vast variety of tunes.
The small bells were not always held in the hand; they were sometimes suspended upon a stand, and struck with hammers, by which means one person could more readily play upon them. An example of this kind, taken from a manuscript in the Royal Library, [884] is given below.
The figure in the original is designed as a representation of king David, and affixed to one of his psalms.
XI.—BURLESQUE MUSIC.
The minstrels and joculators seem to have had the knack of converting every kind of amusement into a vehicle for merriment, and among others, that of music has not escaped them. Here we see one of these drolls holding a pair of bellows by way of a fiddle, and using the tongs as a substitute for the bow.
This, and such like vagaries, were frequently practised in the succeeding times; and they are neatly ridiculed in one of the papers belonging to the Spectator, [885] where the author mentions "a tavern keeper who amused his company with whistling of different tunes, which he performed by applying the edge of a case knife to his lips. Upon laying down the knife he took up a pair of clean tobacco pipes, and after having slid the small ends of them over a table in a most melodious trill, he fetched a tune out of them, whistling to them at the same time in concert. In short the tobacco pipes became musical pipes in the hands of our virtuoso, who," says the writer, "confessed ingenuously that he broke such quantities of pipes that he almost broke himself, before he brought this piece of music to any tolerable perfection." [886] This man also "played upon the frying-pan and gridiron, and declared he had layed down the tongs and key because it was unfashionable." I have heard an accompaniment to the violin exceedingly well performed with a rolling-pin and a salt-box, by a celebrated publican named Price, who kept the Green Man, formerly well known by the appellation of the Farthing Pye House, at the top of Portland Row, St. Mary-le-bone. I have also seen a fellow who used to frequent most of the public houses in and about the town, blow up his cheeks with his breath, and beat a tune upon them with his fists, which feat he seemed to perform with great facility. The butchers have a sort of rough music, made with marrow-bones and cleavers, which they usually bring forward at weddings; and in the Knave in Grain, a play first acted in 1640, [887] ringing of basons is mentioned. This music, or something like it, I believe, is represented by the engraving No. 57.
XII.—DANCING.
To what has been said upon this subject in a former chapter, [888] I shall here add a few words more, and consider it as performed for amusement only. In the middle ages dancing was reckoned among the genteel accomplishments necessary to be acquired by both sexes; and in the romances of those times, the character of a hero was incomplete unless he danced excellently. [889] The knights and the ladies are often represented dancing together, which in the MS. poem of Launfal, in the Cotton Collection, [890] is called playing:
The poet then tells us, they continued their amusement great part of a summer's day, that is, from the conclusion of dinner to the approach of night.
Dancing was constantly put in practice among the nobility upon days of festivity, and was countenanced by the example of the court. After the coronation dinner of Richard II., the remainder of the day was spent in the manner described by the foregoing poem; for the king, the prelates, the nobles, the knights, and the rest of the company, danced in Westminster Hall to the music of the minstrels. [892] Sir John Hawkins mentions a dance called pavon, from pavo, a peacock, which might have been proper upon such an occasion. "It is," says he, "a grave and majestic dance; the method of dancing it anciently was by gentlemen dressed with caps and swords, by those of the long robe in their gowns, by the peers in their mantles, and by the ladies in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof in dancing resembled that of a peacock." [893] Several of our monarchs are praised for their skill in dancing, and none of them more than Henry VIII., who was peculiarly partial to this fashionable exercise. In his time, and in the reign of his daughter Elizabeth, the English, generally speaking, are said to have been good dancers; and this commendation is not denied to them even by foreign writers. Polydore Virgil praises the English for their skill in dancing, [894] and Hentzner says, "the English excell in danceing." [895]
XIII.—ANTIQUITY, &c. OF DANCING.
The example of the nobility was followed by the middling classes of the community; they again were imitated by their inferiors, who spent much of their leisure time in dancing, and especially upon holidays; which is noticed and condemned with great severity by the moral and religious writers, as we may find by turning to the Introduction. Dancing is there called a heathenish practice, and said to have been productive of filthy gestures, for which reason it is ranked with other wanton sports unfit to be exhibited. An old drama without date, but probably written early in the reign of Elizabeth, entitled A new Interlude and a Mery, of the Nature of the four Elements, [896] accuses the people at large, with "loving pryncypally disportes, as daunsynge, syngynge, toys, tryfuls, laughynge, and gestynge; for," adds the author, "connynge they set not by." [897] But Sebastian Brant, in his Ship of Fooles, is much more severe upon this subject. I shall give the passage as it is paraphrased by Barclay: [898]
He derives the origin of dancing from the Jews, when they worshipped the golden calf:
The damsels of London, as far back as the twelfth century, spent the evenings on holidays in dancing before their masters' doors. Stow laments the abolition of this "open pastime," which he remembered to have seen practised in his youth, [899] and considered it not only as innocent in itself, but also as a preventive to worse deeds "within doors," which he feared would follow the suppression. The country lasses perform this exercise upon the greens, where it is said they dance all their rustic measures, rounds, and jiggs. [900] We read also of dancing the Raye, [901] or Reye, as it is written by Chaucer, and which appears to have been a rustic dance, and probably the same as that now called the Hay, where they lay hold of hands, and dance round in a ring. A dance of this kind occurs several times in the Bodleian MS., [902] dated A. D. 1344, whence many of the engravings which elucidate this work are taken. Chaucer speaks also of love-dances, and springs, as well known in his time; [903] but none of them are described. Of late years dancing is generally thought to be an essential part of a young female's education, and is commonly taught her at the boarding-school; and perhaps, when used with moderation, may not be improper. But some of the dances that the girls are permitted to perform are justly to be censured; among these may be ranked one called Hunt the Squirrel, in which, while the woman flies the man pursues her, but as soon as she turns, he runs away, and she is obliged to follow; and the Kissing-dance, the same, I suppose, as the Cushion-dance mentioned by Heywood at the commencement of the seventeenth century: [904] both of them are discommended in a paper of the Spectator. [905]
XIV.—SHOVEL-BOARD.
Among the domestic pastimes, playing at shovelboard claims a principal place. In former times the residences of the nobility, or the mansions of the opulent, were not thought to be complete without a shovelboard table; and this fashionable piece of furniture was usually stationed in the great hall. [906] The tables for this diversion were sometimes very expensive, owing to the great pains and labour bestowed upon their construction. "It is remarkable," says Dr. Plott, in his History of Staffordshire, "that in the hall at Chartley the shuffle-board table, though ten yards one foot and an inch long, is made up of about two hundred and sixty pieces, which are generally about eighteen inches long, some few only excepted, that are scarce a foot, which, being laid on longer boards for support underneath, are so accurately joined and glewed together, that no shuffle-board whatever is freer from rubbs or casting.—There is a joynt also in the shuffle-board at Madeley Manor exquisitely well done."
The length of these tables, if they be perfectly smooth and level, adds to their value in proportion to its increase; but they rarely exceed three feet or three feet and a half in width. At one end of the shovelboard there is a line drawn across parallel with the edge, and about three or four inches from it; at four feet distance from this line another is made, over which it is necessary for the weight to pass when it is thrown by the player, otherwise the go is not reckoned. The players stand at the end of the table, opposite to the two marks above mentioned, each of them having four flat weights of metal, which they shove from them one at a time alternately: and the judgment of the play is, to give sufficient impetus to the weight to carry it beyond the mark nearest to the edge of the board, which requires great nicety, for if it be too strongly impelled, so as to fall from the table, and there is nothing to prevent it, into a trough placed underneath for its reception, the throw is not counted; if it hangs over the edge, without falling, three are reckoned towards the player's game; if it lie between the line and the edge without hanging over, it tells for two; if on the line, and not up to it, but over the first line, it counts for one. The game, when two play, is generally eleven; but the number is extended when four or more are jointly concerned. I have seen a shovelboard-table at a low public-house in Benjamin-street, near Clerkenwell-green, which is about three feet in breadth and thirty-nine feet two inches in length, and said to be the longest at this time in London.
XV.—ANECDOTE OF PRINCE HENRY.
There certainly is not sufficient variety in this pastime to render it very attractive, but in point of exercise it is not inferior to any of the domestic amusements; for which reason it was practised by the nobility in former ages, when the weather would not admit of employment abroad. Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I., occasionally exercised himself in this manner, as the following anecdote may prove: it is recorded by one of his attendants, who declares that he was present at the time, and that he has not attributed to him a single sentence not uttered by him in this or any other of the anecdotes related by him; [907] and therefore I will give it in the author's own words:—"Once when the prince was playing at shoffleboard, and in his play changed sundry pieces, his tutor, being desirous that even in trifles he should not be new-fangled, said to him, that he did ill to change so oft; and therewith took a piece in his hand, and saying that he would play well enough therewith without changing, threw the piece on the board; yet not so well but the prince, smileing thereat, said, Well throwne, Sir. Whereupon Master Newton telling him, that he would not strive with a prince at shoffleboard, he answered, You gownsmen should be best at such exercises, being not meete for those that are more stirring. Yes, quoth Master Newton, I am meete for whipping of boyes. And hereupon the prince answered, You need not vaunt of that which a ploughman or cartdriver can doe better than you. Yet I can doe more, said Master Newton, for I can governe foolish children. The prince respecting him, even in jesting, came from the further end of the table, and smiling, said, while he passed by him, Hee had neede be a wise man himselfe that could doe that."
XVI.—BILLIARDS.
This pastime, which in the present day has superseded the game of shovelboard, and is certainly a more elegant species of amusement, admits of more variety, and requires at least an equal degree of skill in the execution. The modern manner of playing at billiards, and the rules by which the pastime is regulated, are so generally known, that no enlargement upon the subject is necessary. The invention of this diversion is attributed to the French, and probably with justice; but at the same time I cannot help thinking it originated from an ancient game played with small bowls upon the ground; or indeed that it was, when first instituted, the same game transferred from the ground to the table. [908] At the commencement of the last century, the billiard-table was square, having only three pockets for the balls to run in, situated on one of the sides; that is, at each corner one, and the third between them. About the middle of the table was placed a small arch of iron, and in a right line, at a little distance from it, an upright cone called the king. A representation of the billiard-table, according to this description, may be found in the frontispiece to a little duodecimo treatise called The School of Recreation, published in 1710. At certain periods of the game it was necessary for the balls to be driven through the one and round the other, without beating either of them down; and their fall might easily be effected because they were not fastened to the table; this is called the French game; and much resembled the Italian method of playing, known in England by the name of Trucks, which also had its king at one end of the table. Billiards are first mentioned as an unlawful game towards the close of the last reign, when billiard-tables were forbidden to be kept in public-houses, under the penalty of ten pounds for every offence. [909]
XVII.—MISSISSIPI.
This is played upon a table made in the form of a parallelogram. It much resembles a modern billiard-table, excepting that, instead of pockets, it has a recess at one end, into which the balls may fall; and this recess is faced with a thin board equal in height to the ledge that surrounds the table; and in it are fifteen perforations, or small arches, every one of them surmounted by a number from one to fifteen inclusive, the highest being placed in the middle, and the others intermixed on either side. The players have four or six balls at pleasure. These balls, which are usually made of ivory, and distinguished from each other by their colour, some being red and some white, they cast alternately, one at a time, against the sides of the table, whence acquiring an angular direction, and rolling to the arches, they strike against the intervening parts, or pass by them. In the first instance the cast is of no use; in the second the value of the numbers affixed to the arches through which they run is placed to the score of the player; and he who first attains one hundred and twenty wins the game. This pastime is included in the statute above mentioned relating to billiards, and the same penalty is imposed upon the publican who keeps a table in his house for the purpose of playing.
XVIII—THE ROCKS OF SCILLY.
This diversion requires a table oblong in its form, and curved at the top, which is more elevated than the bottom. There is a hollow trunk affixed to one side, which runs nearly the whole length of the table, and is open at both ends. The balls are put in singly at the bottom, and driven through it by the means of a round batoon of wood. When a ball quits the trunk it is impelled by its own gravity towards the lower part of the table, where there are arches similar to those upon the mississipi-table, and numbered in like manner; but it is frequently interrupted in its descent by wires inserted at different distances upon the table, which alter its direction, and often throw it entirely out of the proper track. The game is reckoned in the same manner as at mississipi, and the cast is void if the ball does not enter any of the holes.
XIX.—SHOVE-GROAT, &c.
Shove-groat, named also Slyp-groat, and Slide-thrift, are sports occasionally mentioned by the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and probably were analogous to the modern pastime called Justice Jervis, or Jarvis, which is confined to common pot-houses, and only practised by such as frequent the tap-rooms. It requires a parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of a table, about twelve or fourteen inches in breadth, and three or four feet in length: which is divided, latitudinally, into nine equal partitions, in every one of which is placed a figure, in regular succession from one to nine. Each of the players provides himself with a smooth halfpenny, which he places upon the edge of the table, and striking it with the palm of his hand, drives it towards the marks; and according to the value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein the halfpenny rests, his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at thirty-one, and must be made precisely: if it be exceeded, the player goes again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, or the turn is forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that separate the partitions, or overpasses the external boundaries, the go is void. It is also to be observed, that the players toss up to determine who shall go first, which is certainly a great advantage. Some add a tenth partition, with the number ten, to the marks above mentioned; and then they play with four halfpence, which are considered as equivalent to so many cards at cribbage; and the game is counted, in like manner, by fifteens, sequences, pairs, and pairials, according to the numbers appertaining to the partitions occupied by the halfpence.
XX.—SWINGING.
This is a childish sport, in which the performer is seated upon the middle of a long rope, fastened at both ends, a little distance from each other, and the higher above his head the better. The rope we call the Swing, but formerly it was known by the name of Meritot, or Merry-trotter. [910] This simple pastime was not confined to the children, at least in the last century, but practised by grown persons of both sexes, and especially by the rustics. Hence Gay:
It was also adopted at the watering-places by people of fashion, and the innovation is justly ridiculed in the Spectator. [911]
Of late years a machine has been introduced to answer the purpose of the swing. It consists of an axletree, with four or six double arms inserted into it, like the spokes of a large water-wheel; every pair of arms is connected at the extremities by a round rod of iron, of considerable thickness, and upon it a box is suspended, resembling the body of a post-chaise, which turns about and passes readily between the two spokes, in such a manner as to continue upright whatever may be the position of its supporters. These carriages usually contain two or three persons each, and being filled with passengers, if I may be allowed the term, the machine is put into action, when they are successively elevated and depressed by the rotatory motion. This ridiculous method of riding was in vogue for the space of two summers, and was exhibited at several places in the neighbourhood of London; and the places where the machines were erected frequented by persons of both sexes, and by some whose situation in life, one might have thought, would have prevented their appearance in such a mixed, and generally speaking, vulgar company; but the charms of novelty may be pleaded in excuse for many inadvertencies.
The Grecian boys had a game called in Greek Ελκυστινδα, [912] which I have seen played by the youth of our own country; it was performed by the means of a rope passed through a hole made in a beam, and either end held by a boy, who pulls the rope, in his turn, with all his strength; and by this means both of them are alternately elevated from the ground.
XXI.—TITTER-TOTTER.
To the foregoing we may add another pastime well known with us by the younger part of the community, and called Titter-totter. It consists in simply laying one piece of timber across another, so as to be equipoised; and either end being occupied by a boy or a girl, they raise or depress themselves in turn. This sport was sometimes played by the rustic lads and lasses, as we find from Gay:
XXII.—SHUTTLE-COCK.
This a boyish sport of long standing. It is represented by the following engraving from a drawing on a MS. in the possession of Francis Douce, esq.
It appears to have been a fashionable pastime among grown persons in the reign of James I. In the Two Maids of Moreclacke, a comedy printed in 1609, it is said, "To play at shuttle-cock methinkes is the game now." And among the anecdotes related of prince Henry, son to James 1., is the following: "His highness playing at shittle-cocke, with one farr taller than himself, and hittyng him by chance with the shittle-cocke upon the forehead, 'This is,' quoth he, 'the encounter of David with Goliath.'" [913]