Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/230

210 dancing, masques, or other pastimes. Up to this time, Sunday had been the great day for games of all sorts: tennis and golf, cricket and the new game of pall mall and football were all played on Sunday, though the latter game in the time of the Commonwealth seems to have been very rough and to have incurred much displeasure. We hear of an apothecary, John Bishop, who with "force and arms did wilfully and in a violent and boisterous manner run to and fro and kick up and down in the common High Street of Maidstone a certain ball of leather commonly called a football unto the great annoyance and incumbrance of the said common highway and to the great disquiet and disturbance of the good people, and to the evil example of others."

But the clash of arms put an end to Puritan legislation, and the Civil War that burst out between Cavalier and Roundhead brought about an abnormal state of society. Both sides occupied themselves in raising volunteers, collecting subscriptions, and drilling raw recruits. Fire-arms were scarce, and the old long-bow and cross-bow were again brought into use. Old armour hanging in the ancestral halls was brought down and cleaned for use. The rustic labourer was changed