The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-26 00:00:00

Eton and Rugby Football Contrasted.

The grand characteristic of the Rugby game is the
carrying the ball in the hand. The football, taken
on the bound at Rugby—as, indeed, was of old the
custom in several of the North of England and
Scottish counties—may be carried through the
enemy's lines until it is taken by force from the
successful holder—and force in such a case includes
hacking, mauling, holding, and everything but
striking. The Eton play forbids carrying cff the
ball altogether. The ball never rests in the hand
at all; but at most passes through it to the ground.
As the ball is never carried otherwise than between
the feet, no personal violence is required, as at
Rugby, to take it from the holder. Hacking and
shinning, though not positively forbidden at Eton,
are' i;ttldoua seen for the simple reason that
they are not 2ecessary. Pushing is illegal, nor
may the ball be cauea, thrown, or even struck with
the hand. Between those tv;tl rival methods the
Harrow game halts, inclining main:; to Eton. At
Harrow, under certain limitations, catching is legi-
timate; but all shinning is strictly without the pale
of the law. Upon the minor peculiarities of all the
games, such as " rouges," " bullies," " bases," " nots''
—the various modes of preventing " sneaking" or
" offside" play, and other features of the kind, it is
not essential to dwell. While each school holds its
own, none can play a common game; but if it were
worth while, there is no doubt a common system
might be arranged, which would not seriously in-
jure sport at any public school—Rugby always
excepted;
With respect to the carrying system, or the hand
and foot game, and the non-carrying system, or the
foot game, the question wears another aspect. These,
in fact, are two different gaffes, not various modes
of playing the same game. Etonians insist, with
vehemence and plausibility, first, that the hand and
foot game is barbarous (for it involves hacking and
holding); and, secondly, that it is not football.
The second objection may be dismissed as frivolous.
History is against it, for, as above stated, the hand
and foot game is not an innovation, but an original
system indigenous in some parts of England.
Moreover, it is open to the conclusive answer, that
if it is:not football, it is something else which its
admirers think as good; and so interesting a matter
cannot be decided by an appeal to nomenclature.
The suggestion of barbarity may have more validity.
Yet even this point will carry weight if the game
in itself be a great one; and that it is a great game
is clear, from the fact that the modern schools, such
as Marlborough, Haileybury, Cheltenham, and
Clifton, are adopting it in preference to all others.

An essential reason why the carrying system must,
ever be popular is, that it is the only first-rate game
which a hundred or a hundred and fifty players can
play together. The non-carrying games by their
very nature can be practised only by smaller
numbers.

The Right Rev. Bishop Gillis, we understand, at
present lies seriously ill ; and on Sunday prayers were made
in all the Catholic churches of Edinburgh for his recovery
to health.

LORD RUSSELL'S UNRULY AIEMBEr..—The sad
fate of the courageous man who was afflicted with
the possession of a pair of cowardly legs has often been the
subject of commiseration. It was very hard upon him. No
matter how boldly his heart beat, or what gallant resolu-
tions his brain might frame, his incorrigible legs always
would turn round and run away at the first report of fire •
arms. Lord Russell (says the Saturday Review), is just
at present the unhappy victim of a combination not per-
haps quite so humiliating, but almost as vexatious. In
himself he is the most peaceful and cautious of mankind
He never dreams of war, or, if he must wage it occasionally,
it is only with some of those barbarous Oriental nations who
have evidently been designed by a beneficent Provi-
dence to serve the special purpose of testing our Arm-
strong guns. But beyond his dealings with these
exceptional samples of humanity, he has always
shown himself to be possessed of an intensely pacific
nature. Indeed, it has shone forth in every period of his
political life, and in his domestic as well as in his foreign
policy. He has always been willing to sacrifice anything
for peace, especially upon those occasions on which he had
reason for thinking that his side was the weakest. Col-
leagues, principles, pledges, have more than once been left
hastily in the lurch by this sincere lover of peace, when he
saw that they were menaced, and that he might become in-
volved in conflict on their behalf. It must be a cruel mor-
tification to this tranquil and submissive spirit that he is en-
dowed with one of the most pugnacious pens in Europe.
During the few years that he has been in office he has
probably insulted more Governments than all his ten
immediate predecessors pat together. It this combative
bearing had been intentional, and had been borne out by the
policy which followed it, the result, though disagreeable
to the tax-payer, would not have reflected any igno-
miny upon the nation, or upon the
,Foreign Secretary
himself. But nothing is further from the thought of the
meek and gentle spirit that sits behind that pen than ever
to come to blows. If his true intentions could be mirrored
in his despatches, if the abundant discretion which tempers
his courage could only communicate itself to his words,
foreign Powers would have no ground for the irritation
which an English despatch usually excites in their minds.
But he has never yet been able to gain a complete mastery
over his pen. At present he has concluded a sort of com-
promise with it. The pen is to abstain, as a rule, from wan-
tonly insulting large Powers, at least when smaller Powers
can be found to receive the insults instead; and whenever.
from a small Power or a great, the insults shall have
provoked a sharp retort, the said pen is to accept the
affront in meekness, and not venture upon a dangerous
reply. Thanks to this happy arrangement, peace has,
up to this time, been maintained. The true character
of Lord Russell's bluster has been studied in many
striking examples by the Continental nations, and
is by this time thoroughly understood. His despatches are
no longer considered, either here or abroad, as provocative
of war. They are only looked upon as a challenge to a
scolding match, in which the foreign diplomatist, wielding
a more delicate weapon, usually wins an easy victory.
There is no harm in such an arrangement, provided that it
is thoroughly understood. Words, after all, are only con•
ventional symbols of thoughts; and if it is once settled that
angry menaces are to mean in reality only a determination
to give in, pusillanimous intentions can be expressed as
effectively in that mode as in any other. The only misfor-
tune is that foreigners assume that the English people
select for their Foreign Minister some one who suitably re-
presents their sentiments and character. They consequently
infer, with unimpeachable logic, that a taste for blustering
and a great dislike of fighting are the most conspicuous
characteristics of the English nation.
ANTIQUITY OF THE VIOLIN.—In MSS. of about
the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries there occur
pictures of men wielding the bow upon the strings; and we
still see among the sculptures of our early Gothic cathe-
drals carvings of celestial orchestras, in which saints and
seraphim are playing on various sorts of " fytheles" among
other instruments. Thenceforward, until the middle of the
sixteenth century, the fiddle appears in all sorts of shapes
and varieties—egg-shaped, pear. shaped, and spoon-shaped,
large and small, with two, three, and up to as many as
seven strings. Wo are told even of a " Viols do Bordone
with forty-four strings," and a " Sambuca Lyncea, in-
vented by Colonne, a Neapolitan, in the sixteenth century,
which, it is said, had five hundred strings." At
about this date, however, the now existing type
had become definitely established. Viols were still
made of many sizes ; but, in shape and structure, they were
commonly the same as our present violins. In those musi-
cal days, before keyed instruments became dominant in the
household, it was common in musical families to have a
chest of viols; containing two trebles, a tenor, and a bass-
viol, and occasionally there were duplicates of some of the
instruments; at Hengrave, for instance, there was a chest
of six viols, Sir Thomas More, who was fond of music,
kept viols and an organ in his house. The bass was called
"viol da gauaba" or leg-viol, the tenor, "viol da braccio,"
being played supported by the arms, (Is the German
liratsche a corruption of this name ?) The fact is that with
all our advance in practical skill we have been unable to
improve on the models known 300 years since, unless it be
in some of the minor details.

DR. MAINE'S PRIZE SILVER GOBLET BRIMMED
WITH GOLD.—By the will of the late Dr. Swiney
funds are vested in the Society of Arts for awarding, in
concert with the Royal College of Physicians, on every
fifth anniversary of Dr. Swiney's death, " to the author of
the best published treatise on Jurisprudence, a silver goblet
of the value of £lOO, with gold coin in it to the same
amount." The award of the judges appointed by the will
was made 031 the 20th instant in favour of Henry Sumner
Maine, Esq., D.C.L., late Regius Professor of Civil Law
in the University of Cambridge, and now member of the
Legislative Council of Ind a, the author of a work on
Jurisprudence entitled " Ancient Law." The goblet has
been executed by the Messrs. Garrard, after a design,
especially prepared for the Society of Arts, by Daniel
Maclise, Esq., R.A. The next award will bo made on the '
20th day of January, 1869, when a work on Medical
Jurisprudence will be selected.
A FRENCH MEMORIAL TO SHAKSPERE.—Victor
Hugo has a new work in the press upon Shakspere. It is
to appear towards the end of February, just before the
three hundredth anniversary of the great poet's birthday,
which it is intended to commemorate. The book is to be
dedicated to England, as the country in which. the great
French exile has established his home for so many years.
M. Louis Ulbach, in speaking of this work, says :—it is a
profound and exhaustive study, made with respect, with
reverent fear, but with independepce, of one of the
I of greatest
men."