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Sportascrapiana

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Sportascrapiana PORTASCRA'PI WITH HITHERTO UNPUBL3SHED ANECDOTES OFTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY FROM GEORGE IV TO THE SWEEP. SB^' lis*' viK MORY UNIVERSITY Robert VT Woodruff Library Thomas H. English LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FL'ND -^Sfet i SPORTASCBAPIANA. FACTS IN ATHLETICS, WITH HITHEKTO UNPUBLISHED ANECDOTES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, FBOM (JEOBGE IV. TO THE SWEEP. ffi&itrtf bg SECOND EDITION. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT, E.C. 1868. : LONDON FEINTED BY W. H. COLLINflKIDGE, ALDEr.SSATE STREET, E.C. ; INTRODUCTION. " As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth." Cicero. Whex I began the compilation of " Sportascrapiana," I had no idea of anything more than a pamphlet for distri- bution among the immediate friends and acqiiaintance of the gentleman to whom this introduction chiefly refers sources of information, however, presented themselves in quarters I little anticipated, and thus, as my rough copy progressed, the whole feature of the affair changed ; and as my little volume will now partially describe other gen- tlemen, some apology is due to my readers for my com- promise, by prefacing the general reminiscences with a short biographical sketch of Mr. Edward Hayward Budd. Born the twenty-third day of February, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, he has resided some- what more than half of his eighty-three years at his present abode, Elcombe House. When, in 1829, I first took up my abode at Swindon, I found Mr. Budd the cricket-king, and right happy seemed those subjected to his dominion. When he had reached fourscore years, I have often known him play the game in good style, on his own ground at Elcombe, though for some ten years before he had declined i>laying in matches. I have IV INTBODUCTION. heard him say he could never recollect having lain awake half an hour from any vexation, having made up ;" his mind that " what can't be cured must be endured and after he had seen eighty summers, he has stated to me that he has never lain a-bed a day in his life through positive illness. Much of his exemption from disturb- ance may be attributed to his great love for, and indul- gence in, athletic out-door amusements, in most of which his iron frame, muscular power, steady nerve, and quick eye, made him au fait. Though fond of hunting, he never liked coursing. In shooting, as well as cricket, I shall have something to say hereafter ; but it may be as well here to state, that though he never actually published a challenge, it was well known among his sporting friends that he was prepared to back him- self against any man in England (and it may, therefore, be said the world) for five manly sports— cricket, shoot- ing, running, jumping, and sparring. Though his cele- brity was more especially for the first of the five, I have heard him say, "If there is one thing I can do better than another, it is the last-named." And I have good reason to believe that, rather than have missed a chance, he would have accommodated any gentleman by adding tennis and billiards, and thus make it seven events. In fact, he seemed to so excel in all he took in hand, that he was not averse to " go in" for almost anything in the "ring." When not engaged in any of the amusements referred to, he might for many years past, and still may, be found superintending his pets—canine, ovine, bovine, or porcine. In the latter he has much excelled. As a florist he has had great local celebrity. His wallflower INTRODUCTION. V varieties have been notorious ; while in forty years he had collected 20,000 tulips, tending them carefully and protecting the beds with awnings and other devices. At length the " sporting "* he prized so much in his wallflowers, much to his annoyance, set in with his tulips, while many of them failed to put in an appear- ance. It occurred to the owner that the failure in the tulips might be attributable to the vine and apricot roots, the trees of which, trained against the house- walls, had in the course of many years run out their roots to the tulip beds. Unwilling to sacrifice the splendid crops of fruit which were generally produced, the tulips had to be removed. Mr. Budd has since then cared less for the tulip hobby he had so long ridden. Like many other portions of my little work, this may seem out of place. I, however, venture to name it with the chance that some of my readers may have suffered similar loss. I remember his telling me, that sixty years back there were no more than three varieties of geranium in Great Britain. They were, he thought, the oak-leaf, the Bath scarlet, and the variegated. "At about that period," said Mr. Budd, "the Duke of Marlborough had a famed floral collection at White Knight's. His Grace was one day inspecting the choice collection of a cele- brated Chelsea florist, when, seeing some marvellously beautiful flower, he inquired the price, and was informed seven guineas. Finding the dealer had but two more, he purchased the three for twenty-one guineas, de- stroyed two of the flowers, and said, ' Now the Duke of " Marlborough has the only one in England.' * Changing colour. VI INTRODUCTION. Mr. Budd's cricket celebrity was such, a few years since, that there was scarcely a school-boy but knew him and envied his prowess. Until 1845, I was but par- tially acquainted with him ; from that period, however, my means of estimating his character have increased, and I can assuredly say I believe him incapable of an ungentlemanly act. It may be asked by those who know us both, why I take upon myself to chronicle the old gentleman's sayings and doings. I reply, That pos- sibly, through my having a tolerable memory for past events, if of an amusing nature, or, may be, from a knack of describing them in a way which took with him, our acquaintance has ripened into, I believe, a very sincere friendship. Of late years he has made it a rule not to be out after dark ; and as a brisk walk of an hour across the fields takes me to his hospitable abode, I fre- quently enjoy an afternoon with the sturdy old gentle- man, and a moon-lit stroll home. In vain have I often endeavoured to persuade him into writing a history of his life and experience. Few of us but have noticed that, although many a man will give clear descriptions of " auld lang syne," it often occurs that remembrance of recent events will be very deficient. Such, I am glad to say, is not the case with Mr. Budd ; recent things are fresh in his memory, as with young men, while his recollection of events of sixty years back is surprising. With all his capabilities for the task, knowing his aversion to in-door occupation, I have long given up as hopeless the wish that he would compile his own memoirs. When I have suggested it to him, I have generally been met with some such expression as, " Why, Wheeler, I have nothing to tell;" adding his opinion that INTRODUCTION. Vll I ought to publish the anecdotes he has heard me relate. Mistaken as I believe him as to our mutual capabilities, I set about throwing together what I could call to mind of the many things he has at various times related to me, interspersed with a few only of those given by myself during our chit-chat indulgences. My recollection of what the old gentleman has told me must, however, of necessity, be meagre in comparison with what a person constantly resident with him would have compiled. Several gentlemen, intimately acquainted with Mr. Budd before I had ever seen him, having been appealed to by me for particulars which he was uncertain about, have in a most handsome manner volunteered me matter that will be read with more pleasure, and detailed by me with greater satisfaction, than would have been my own little experiences, which I had roughly put together for publication before I had the assistance already named. Under these propitious circumstances, therefore, I have arranged for present publication very little but what I have had from Mr. Budd or his friends. Behoving, as I do, that such sources have supplied me with what will be most acceptable, I leave the reception of this volume to decide whether the notes I have still in the " rough," together with what I am anticipating from sporting celebrities, shall warrant me in issuing a companion volume, wherein many interesting anecdotes of Mr. Budd would be given, which I have now ventured to shelve, in order that he might have more to read about valued friends of bygone days. When I laid before Mr. Budd an outline of the mere pamphlet first contemplated, he readily consented to assist me in the matter for posthumous publication ; but, vni introduction; finding I have collected a tolerable bulk of what he is very desirous to read, he has written me permission for immediate publication, as the only means by which he can secure perusal (at his leisure) of what he has heard me read scraps of, as I have from time to time been supplied with them by his old friends. At the same time that I crave the indulgent forgive- ness of my reader for the disjointed way in which my scraps have been strung together, and the absence of that "bridging over" which a practised author would effect, I ask pardon of those noblemen and gentlemen associated with or referred to by Mr.
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