Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/192

154 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.x. FEB. 25, 1922.  (12 S. x. 91, 138).—When compiling the history of the old Newcastle-on-Tyne Race Meeting I spent a good deal of time in research regarding the Fenwick family and their connexion with bloodstock. The date of the following letter (1610) will reconcile the dates mentioned by with the death of Sir John Fenwick. The writer was Robert Delaval, who, to the Earl of Northumberland, communicated the following:—

Sir John Fenwick—a staunch Royalist—was stud-master both to Charles I. and Charles II., and did much to lay the foundation of the thoroughbred as we know it to-day.

(12 S. x. 65).—With reference to the article under the above heading, I am not aware if this description of the game therein contained as given by an American sculptor still stands good for Rome, but I can say that, as regards the game as played in Piedmont and Tuscany, the description is very incorrect. The game has always been more essentially a Piedmontese and Tuscan one than Roman. As played in Piedmont (where it may truly be called the national game) there are two chief varieties; one being played with a soft india-rubber ball slightly larger than a cricket ball, the ball being struck with the hand, round which is wound a handkerchief; and the other variety played with a hard ball as described. The gauntlets of wood with the projecting bosses resemble nothing so much as pineapples, and cover the hand as far as the wrist only, not to the elbow.

I do not imagine that the subject is sufficiently interesting to English readers to merit taking up much of your space to point out all the inaccuracies of the article; the principal points are that the sides are invariably composed of four players and that the scoring is identical with that of lawn tennis, even to "advantage" and "deuce."

I agree with the American narrator that it is a game requiring much agility and strength, but to rank it above cricket is silly in the extreme and worthy only of one to whom the niceties of the greatest athletic game the world has ever known are a closed book. Still, with some amplification of the rules, it might be worth while giving it a trial in England.

(12 S. x. 353, 394, 491, 535).—My copy of the first edition of the 'Squibob Papers' in my library being mislaid, I cannot now refer to it, so accept X. T. R.'s authority for his statement. It must be noted, however, that Capt. Derby died in 1861 and that the 'Squibob Papers' were first published in 1865. The notes, therefore, may have been those of the editor.

"Squibob" was another nom de plume of Capt. Derby, and many of the letters in 'Phœnixiana ' (1856) are signed "Squibob." A representation in gilt of "Squibob" is on the front cover of the book, and the frontispiece is a portrait of "Yours respectfully John P. Squibob" (John Phœnix Squibob). I find no reference in articles in 'Phœnixiafina' connecting "Squibob" with George WshingtonWashington [sic].

I was a member of the publication, committee of the Caxton Club, Chicago, under whose supervision the 1897 edition of 'Phœnixiana ' was published. This issue was edited by John Vance Cheney, at that time head Librarian of the Newbury Library, and a member of the committee. Mr. Cheney was acquainted with the family of Capt. Derby, and the facts incorporated in his Introduction were obtained from them, Mrs. Derby and her son, Capt. George McClennan Derby, placed at the disposal of our committee an album of the original sketches of Capt. Derby. Mr. Cheney, in his Introduction, refers to the portrait of "Squibob" (referring to vol. ii. of the Caxton Club edition) as follows:—