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A naïve use to which the pictures at the top of the ballads were put is thus alluded to by Jonson in Bartholomew Fair. "O, sister, do you remember the ballads over the nursery chimney at home o' my pasting up?"

Ball games were played in great number and variety. Balloon ball, in its more commonly used variety, was played with a large ball, perhaps a bladder or foot-ball, but pushed about from place to place, either with the hands or with a sort of short wooden paddle. It is thus described by Strutt: "The balloon or wind-ball resembled the follis of the Romans; it was a large ball made of double leather, which being filled with wind by means of a ventil, was driven to and fro by the strength of men's arms; for this purpose every one of the players had a round hollow bracer of wood to cover the hand and lower part of the arm, with which he struck the ball. The pastime