D E D I C A T E D J A B . M . ARSHAL L, ESQ HE LA SDOWN C I KE C MEMBERS OF T N R C T LUB, B Y ONE OF THEIR OLD EST MEMB ERS A ND SINCERE FRIEND , THE U HO A T R . PRE FACE T H E S E C O N D E D I T I O N. THIS Edition is greatly improved by various additions and corrections, for which we gratefully o ur . acknowledge obligations to the Rev. R . T . A King and Mr . Haygarth, as also once more . A . l . to Mr Bass and Mr. Wha t e ey Of Burton For our practical instructions on Bowling, Batting, i of and Field ng, the first players the day have o n t he been consulted, each point in which he respectively excelled . More discoveries have also been made illustrative o f the origin and early history o f Cricket and we trust nothing is want ing t o maintain the high character now accorded ” A u tho to the Cricket Field, as the Standard on f rity every part o ou r National Ga me . M a 1 8 . 1 85 4 y, . PRE FACE T H F E I R S T E D I T I O N. THE following pages are devoted to the history f and the science o o ur National Game . Isaac Walton has added a charm to the Rod and Line ; ‘ a nd Col. Hawker to the Dog and the Gun ; Nimrod and Harry Hieover to the Hunting : Field but, the Cricket Field is to this day untrodden ground . We have been long expecting to hear of some chronicler aided and abetted by the noblemen and gentlemen o f the Marylebone o ne who l Club, shou d combine, with all the o f t resources a ready writer, raditionary lore and practical experience . But, time is fast thinning o f the ranks the veterans . Lord Frederick Beau o nce Hon . clerk and the celebrated player, the o f Henry Tufton, afterwards Earl Thanet, have s o f i pa sed away ; and probably Sparkes, the Ed n . C burgh Ground, and Mr John oldham, herein A 4 viii P REFACE To v after mentioned, are the only sur iving players who have witnessed both the formation and the Of — jubilee the Marylebone Club following, as it o f o f has, the fortunes the Pavilion and the enter a prising Thomas Lord, liter lly through three ” removes and one fire, from White Conduit ’ Fields to the present Lord s . Ho w we , then, it will be asked, do presume to save from Oblivion the records o f Cricket ? o f o u r As regards the Antiquities the game, history is the result o f patient researches in Old English literature . As regards its changes and fo rt u chances and the play ers of olden time, it n a t el n we y happens that, some fiftee years ago, ’ furnished ourselves with Old Nyr en s account o f the Cricketers o f his time and the Hambledon ’ n o f Club, and, usi g Bentley s Book Matches from 1 7 8 6 to 1 8 2 5 to suggest questions and test the o f i truth answers, we passed many an interest ng hour in Hampshire and Surrey, by the peat fires o f the those villages which reared Walkers, David B eldha m o f Harris, , Wells, and some others the All England players of fifty years since . Bennett, Beldha m Harry Hampton, , and Sparkes, who first o f taught us to play, all men the last century, have at various times contribu ted to o u r earlier THE FIRST EDITION . ix s annals ; while Thoma Beagley, for some days o ur . landlord, the late Mr Ward, and especially H. Mr. E . Budd, often our antagonist in Lans down matches, have respectively assisted in the first twenty years o f the present century . we of o ne But, distinct mention must make ina ort ant w most p Chronicler, hose recollections were coextensive with the whole history of the game in its matured and perfect form—WILLIAM F o ur ENNEK . And here we must thank kind f l . o friend the Rev John Mitford, Benhal , for his ’ memoranda o f many a winter s evening with that old be fine player, papers especially valuable ’ Fennex s cause impressions were so distinct, and his Observation so correct , that, added to his t prac ical illustrations with bat and ball, no other ma n could enable us so truthfully to compare n Fennex a cient with modern times . Old , in his declining years , was hospitably appointed by i ffi Mr. M tford to a sinecure O ce, created ex o f pressly in his honour, in the beautiful gardens ll Benha and Pilch, and Box, and Bayley, and all Old his acquaintance, will not be surprised to hear that the o ld man would carefully water and roll his - o n little cricket ground summer mornings, and o n wet and wintry days would sit in the ! PREFACE TO - e chimney corn r, dealing over and over again by t he i n hour, to an imag nary part er, a very dark o f and dingy pack cards, and would then sally forth t o teach a long remembered lesson to some - o f - hob nailed frequenter the village ale house . So much for the History : but why should we venture o n the Science o f the game? u Many may be excellently q alified, and have o f a fund anecdote and illustration, still not one of o n the many will venture a book . Hundreds play without knowing principles ; many know what they cannot explain ; and some could ex f u and plain, but ear the certain labo r cost, with o f . the most uncertain return , authorship For o ur o wn o ur wa . part, we have felt y The wide ” circulation of our Recollections of College Days “ ” a nd Course o f English Reading promises a patient hearing o n s ubj ects within o ur proper t t i sphere ; and tha in his sphere l es Cricket , we may without vanity presume to assert . Fo r in ’ ’ at . August last, Mr Dark s Repository at Lord s, “ o ur little treatise o n the Principles o f Scientific : O f 1 835 o ut Batting (Slatter x ord, ) was singled ‘ as the book which contained as much o n Cricket be as all that had ever been written, and more a g sides . That same day did we proceed to rran e THE FIRST E DITION . xi W . n t o ith Messrs Longma , naturally desirous lead a we second advance movement, as led the first, n and to break the spell which, we had thus bee in assured, had for fifteen years chained down the vent io n o f literary cricketers at the identical point o ff or e where we left for, not a single rule principl has yet been published in advance o f o u r o wn ; though more than one author has been kind enough t o t adopt (thinking, no doub , the parents were d our ! ead) ideas, and language too w e r Shall eve make new books, asks T “ ristram Shandy, as apothecaries make new m o u t o f one ixtures, by pouring only vessel into ? ” No. another But so common is the failing, " that actually even this illustration of plagiarism Sterne stole from Burton ! Like solitary travellers from u nknown lands, we are naturally desirous to offer some co nfirma o f tion statements, depending otherwise too much o n r. our literary honou We, happily, have received — the following from we believe the oldest player o f“ the day who can be pronounced a good player —Mr still . E . H . Budd I return the proof-sheets o f the History o f my Contemporaries, and can truly say that they m f ld I one do indeed remind e o o times . find xii PREFACE TO t o I thing only correct, which hope you will be t o in time alter, for your accuracy will then, to o f exce the best my belief, be wholly without p ‘ twent twent ive tion write y guineas, and not yj , as ff old the sum o ered, by Thomas Lord, if any o ne should hit o ut o f his ground where no w is Dorset Square . Yo u invite me to note further particulars for your second edition : the only omission I can at - G present detect is this, the name of Lord eorge o f o f n Kerr, son the Marquis Lothia , should be added to your list o f the Patrons of the Old Surrey Players ; for, his lordship lived in the o f midst them at Farnham and, I have often B eldha m heard say, used to provide bread and cheese a nd beer for as many as would come ou t ’ and practise on a summer s evening : this is too s ubs ta ntia l a supporter o f the Noble Game to be forgotten . We must not conclude without grateful acknow ledgment s to some distinguished amateurs repre senting the science both o f the northern and the southern counties, who have kindly allowed us to “ compare Iiot es o n various points o f play .