Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/196

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. XL MAR. 6, 1915.

FURNITURE AT EASTON MAUDITT. An inventory of the goods of the Earl of Sussex at Easton Mauditt, quoted from recently in connexion with family portraits (ante, p. 63), contains the following particulars of the fur- nishing of the two drawing-rooms and the dining-room :

DRAWING ROOM.

I Japan Indja Cabinet

1 Japan India Chest

1 Japan Black Table

1 India Tea Table

I Peer Glasse w th Black Japan Frame

t Chimney Glass ditto

8 Arm'd Chairs, Crimson Velvet '2 Crimson Damask Stools

4 Matted Chairs

1 Iron Back to the Chimney

1 Brass Stove Grate w lh Fire (?) Shools and Tongs

2 Crimson Silk Wind Curtains 1 Marble Coffee Table

9 Pictures Tapestry Hangings

BLUE DRA\v G RooM. 1 India Cabinet

1 India Tea Table '2 Fire Screens

10 Blue Velvet Chairs

2 Glass Arms

GREAT DINING ROOM. 1 Large Settee of Cross Stitch Work laced w th a

Gold Orrace

1 Crimson Damask Couche 1 ditto Settee

1 Arm'd Chair Crimson Damask 14 Chairs of Crimson Damask

3 Yellow arid White Strip'd Cheney Wind- Curtains

L India Fire Screen, 6 Leaves 1 Work't Fire Screen 1 Marble Table w th a Black Frame I Black Japan Stands

1 Black Grate w th Fire Shovle, Tongs, Poker,

1< ender, and Brush

2 Glass Sconces w th Gilt Frames Tapestry Hangings

PERCY D. MUNDY. 49, -belborne Road, Hove.

A FORERUNNER OF THE LONDON SCOTTISH. This famous regiment was anticipated in the eighteenth century by the "Highland Armed Association," for which rules were drawn up at " The Shakespeare Tavern," 30 July, 1798. They wore a Highland bonnet, smartly surmounted by ostrich feathers "and a green hackle. They had a 42nd tartan plaid, and wore the kilt with

an ornamental hairy purse." There are two printed pamphlets of the Begulationa, 30 July and 13 Sept., 1798, and a (MS.) petition from the Adjutant, Capt. Philip <vodd, at the Public Record Office (HO 50 : 47 )- J. M. BULLOCH.

EVOLUTION OF THE GAME OF CRICKET. In former volumes of ' N. & Q.' there have been many communications on the origin of cricket. Perhaps, therefore, this note on its development will be thought worthy of insertion.

In one of the first pictures of the game, namely, that by Francis Hayman, afterwards R.A., entitled ' The Game of Cricket as played in the Artillery Ground, London ' (which was originally at Vauxhall Gardens, and is now in the Pavilion at Lord's), the curved bat is a good deal like a modern hockey club, the two stumps being apparently not more than a foot and a half high, and almost, if not quite, as wide. To stand a chance of hitting the wicket, except by a full pitch, the bowler had to keep the ball very low, and the batsman would have been obliged to " mow " at it, playing with a straight bat being im- possible.

Mr. Sydney H. Pardon, editor of ' Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack,' mentions having seen Cricket Rules for the year 1743, but apparently he is the only person who has had that privilege. The earliest copy of the ' Laws of the Game ' known to the present writer is that printed in The New Universal Magazine for 1753, which purports to give them " as settled by the Cricket Club in 1744, and played at the Artillery-Ground, London." The wicket had by that time become much higher and narrower, the stumps standing 22 in. out of the ground, with one bail 6 in. long. As the date is only one year after that which has been placed on "the frame of Hayman's picture (namely, 1743), it looks as if his representation were too archaic, unless a great change in the rules was made in 1744. Most likely, how- ever, the picture was painted some time before 1743, as a print from it, also at Lord's, was published 4 April of that year. If this be so, the date on the frame, which looks comparatively modern, was merely copied from the print.

By degrees the wickets were further heightened, and the curve of the bat modi- fied ; but it was not until about the year 1800 that the bat became straight. The exact- date of the third stump is doubtful. In the 'Laws of Cricket' "as established at the Star and Garter, Pall Mall," a copy of which is in The New Universal Magazine for 1787, is the following statement : " N.B. It is lately settled to use three stumps instead of two to each wicket, the bail the same length as above " (that is, six inches). An adver- tisement of 4 June, 1777, announced that, in