The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-14 00:00:00

ANECDOTES OF AMUSEMENTS IN ENGLAND.

The invading Normans, and their immediate
successors, it is well known, were adepts chiefly
in the rougher sports, though the games of Chess
and Dice found also general encouagement
amongst them, when the usual gymnastic exer-
cises were prevented by the weather or night ;
otherwise they recreated themselves in shooting
the arrow, racing, leaping, throwing stones, bait-
ing bulls and boars, horse-racing, and even cock-
fighting, exclusively of their excellence in hawk-
ing and hunting. The lowest gradation of amuse-
ment calculated to promote military purposes is
described by Fitz-Stephen, and. was of a ludi.
crous and rather dangerous nature. A post was
set upright in the Thames, on which a shield
had been formerly fastened ; a boat, with a plat-
form on the bow, which supported a young man
armed with a spear, was rowed with great vio-
lence towards the post ; when arrived within
reach, the man strained every muscle to break
his weapon against the shield, that he might thus
gain the prize, and avoid a severe ducking, the
inevitable consequence of failure. Every pre-
caution was used to prevent drowning on these
occasions, and Fitz-Stephen says their immer-
sion caused infinite merriment to the spectators.
THE QUINTAIN, mentioned by Stowe, had its
origin from a whimsical idea, and those who
practised with it were compelled to exert no
trifling degree of agility to avoid the heavy blows
it inflicted. In this instance, a strong post was
placed erect in the ground, on which was a piece
of wood, turned by means of a spindle ; at one
extremity a bag of sand was suspended, and the
other presented a surface sufficiently broad to
make it practicable to strike it with a spear
when on full gallop on horseback; the pressure
from the spear caused an instantaneous whirl of
the wood, which was increased by the weight of
the sand, and that saluted the back of the horse-
man in no very gentle manner, if the speed of
his courser happened to be less than that of the
quintain. So " that hee," says our author,
" that hit not the broad end of the quinten was
of all men laughed to scorne ; and hee that hit
it full, if he rid not the faster, had a sound blow
in his necke with a bagge full of sand hanged on
the other end." A more costly and elaborate
machine, resembling an armed human figure, and
which required still superior agility in attacking
it, is alluded to by Shakspeare in As You Like
It, where Urluado says,

my better parts
Are all thrown down ; and that which here stands up
Is but a quintain,' a mere lifeless block.
This game of the quintain, Vegetius informs us,
was familiar to the Romains, and derived its
name from Quintus, one of that people. A par-
ticular description of this game, as it was re-
presented before Queen Elizabeth, is given
in the work intitled the Princely Pleasures of
Kenilworth ; and it continued to amuse our rus-
tic forefathers for more than a century after-
wards. It is supposed to have given origin to—
TILTS AND TOURNAMENTS, which being more
elegant and splendid in their costume, superseded
it during the prevalence of chivalry. These were
the most dignified and expensive of all, entertain-
ments, and for that reason were confined to
inces, Barons, and Knights, as even the Esquires
were forbidden to enter the lists at them. A
modern can hardly imagine the interest and splen-
dour of these martial exhibitions, which, in many
respects, equalled, and in some excelled, those
of the Roman Circus. The area of the Tourna-

_meat was the theatre on which Emperors, Kings,
and their Nobles of every rank, who were
Knights, contended for the prize due to supe-
rior skill in arms ; and when we consider that
.the spectators, both male and female, were com-
posed of all that was powerful, honourable, and
beautiful from every part of Europe, we may
readily conceive the magnificence of the scene,
the polished armour, the dazzling display of rich
silks, embroidered with gold and silver, and the
Jewellery of the ladies.
One of the methods contrived to amuse the
domestic hours of the Monarch and his Court in
these times, and which continued, in fact, long
afterwards, was the custom of retaining.
FOOLS Olt JESTERS.—This kind of amuse-
ment was, according to the opinion of a late
writer, the device of a some sage politician, who,
originally deceiving his king by presenting him
with a supposed fool to bear every indignity of
language, procured in reality a shrewd fellow,
whose inclination and abilities rendered him
competent to censure and ridicule all the vices
and follies around him with impunity. Since the
custom of retaining a person bearing the outward
appearance of idiotism has been discontinued in
the Court of England, and in the houses of great

men, we are at a loss to conjecture how it could
have continued from the Norman times (Rayhere

being minstrel or jester to Henry I.) until James
1., whose jester, A rchee, published his " Book
of Jests," and was, no doubt, a very shrewd
fellow. The manners of the higher ranks, it
has been observed, were certainly very different
from their present polisished state, as we now,
with difficulty, bear the absurdities of a Clown
in a pantomime. These fools, who wore a parti-
coloured or motley dress, are frequently men-
tioned in Shakspeare's dramas, and the office is

still remembered in the vulgar term of " the
Lord Mayor's fool."
DANCING.-Sir Thomas Elyot, in his work
called The Governour, written in the reign of
Henry VIII., traces the history of this amusement
with great ability, and, after describing many
modes of dancing, adds, " Instead of these, we
have now base dances, bargenettes, panyons,
turgyons, and rounds. And as for the special
names, they were taken as they he now, either
of the names of the first inventors, or of the mea-
sure and number which they do contain : or of
the first words of the ditty which the song corn-
prehendeth whereof the dance made. In every

of the said dances, there was a concinnity of
moving the foot and body, expressing some plea-
sant or profitable effects of motions of the mind."
In proceeding, he contrives to extract a moral

rorn every step in dancing, which we learn from

(dm was invariably commenced in his days by a
low reverence from the whole party, with a long
nterval between it and the first step.

A❑ odd %ray of arcusing themsaivez and the

spectators of their follies, was practised inci-n-•
by persons who styled themselves Mummers, ti*
• method of whose proceeding is partly explaine6
in the following passage of an Act of Parlianle°
of the reign of Henry VIII. " Forasmuch
.1)
lately within this realm divers persons have d'P
guised and apparelled themselves, and covered
themselves with visors and other things in such
manner as they should not be known ; and dilari
of them, in a company together, naming then'
selves Mummers, have come to the dwelling-Place
of divers men of honour, and substantial persoos,
and so departed unknown ; whereupon murdath
felony, rape, and other great hurts and iaconce;
[deuces have aforetime grown, and hereafter '"
like to come by, if the said disorder should call(i
tinue not reformed." This Act levied a fine and
three months imprisonment on future offenders'
and decreed a penalty of 225. for the sale 0'
single mask. It is extremely probable that the
Mummer was a product of Italy ; and, were le
it
inclined to penetrate into past ages, we alit
possibly discover him on the Roman stage, where
the actor invariably appeared in distorted mat!'
though, perhaps, otherwise habited in the or
racter he represented.
In the reign of James I and his successor, 3"f
cording to Burton, some of the amusements °e
our citizens, and their ladies particularly, oerf
derived from monkeys and a diminutive breed
dogs ; and those of winter, arose from cardh
tables and dice, shovel-board, chess, the
sopher's game, small trunks, shuttle-cock, bill
Bards, music, masks, singing, dancing, ule game
frolics, jests, riddles, catches, purposes, Wigs:
tions and commands, merry tales of Knight"
errant, Queens, lovers, Lords, Ladies, ginotji
dwarfs, thieves, cheaters, witches, fairies, gob'
line, friars, &c. " Some men's whole. delig":
also," he adds, " is to take tobacco, and ciro
all day long in a tavern or alehouse, to discourse,
sing, jest, roar, talk of a cock and a bull over ;
pot, &c.; or when three or four good companin°
meet, tell old stories by the fire-side, or in the
sun, as old folks usually do, quce aprici meminiri
seizes, remembering afresh, and with pleasure,
antient matters, and such like accidents as her
pened to them in their younger years."
TENsris was a great amusement of the reign °
Charles 11., and one at which his Majesty Ilit°,;
self frequently played : a newspaper of 16$'
tells its readers, that " on Tuesday morning,
there was a great match at tennis at Whitehall'
where his Majesty and his Royal Highness were
present. After which, his Majesty played ilhir
self, with one Lord of his side, against two m°ll
of the Nobility ; and his Majesty had the better
of it."

A quack who exhibited upon a stage in CO:
vent Garden the following year, amused his
spectators with taking 13 grains of some poisolv
ous drug. The German operator, as he was
termed, performed this experiment under the 111(1
spection of several surgeons and physicians ;
retiring, contrived, by means best known to hir.ll,;
self, to evacuate it, or prevent any visible 11;
effects from a dose that, I3enskin says, in his
Domestic Intelligence, would have killed twat!
men.

of certainFairing1709 ; and prize,
were offered of various descriptions, particular')
a t marksclasso formedfppl
epianr t o f the
one at Islington, of a pair of doe-skin breeches/
worth 31. The terms for the privilege of firing/
were a subscription a one shilling each by sill

men.

Matches of cricket were played for mail!
years, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdar
at the Duke of Ormond's Head, in Lambs, Con'
duit Fields.
The following notice was issued in August
1710, " that a gold ring is to be danced for 0°
the 31st instant, and a hat to be played for it
skittles the next day following, at the Greet'
gate, in Gray's Walk, near Lambeth Wells.
There was an established cock-pit at Prescot'
street, Goodman's Fields, 1712 ; there the ge°#
tlemen of the East entertained themselves, whip
the Nobles and others of the %Vest were enter;
tained by the edifying exhibition of the agility o'
their running footmen. His Grace of Grafton
declared his man was unrivalled in speed ; and
the Lord Cholmondeley betted him 500 ping o'
that his excelled even the unrivalled : accordingll
the ground was prepared for a two-mile heat in
Hyde Park ; the race was run, and one of the
parties was victor, but which, we are not informed'
In the same month a curious brass gun was
advertised to be shot for at Hoxton ; it was in
the shape of a walking cane, and might be
used as a gun or pistol; it contained a telex'
cope, a dial on the head, and a perpetual al'
manack.
The recent amusements afforded by riding
asses as ponies, and racing on them, although
strong efforts of modern sagacity, were antici-
pated by our forefathers. An ass-race attract-
ed vast crowds of people to Mayfair in 17367
where there was undoubtedly much good betting.
One of the most splendid masquerades which
has taken place in England, was that given Of
the King of Denmark at the Opera-house id
1768 ; 3,000 persons, or nearly that numl,ers
were present, and received an entertainment cou-
sisting of every delicacy in the utmost proi tl.'
sion. The nature of these and other moder"
species of amusement are too well known t°
need describing.

BIRTH.
Yesterday, the 13th, at his house In town, the Lad,' ?t.
Samuel Crawley, Esq. M.P., of a son.

MARRIED.
On the 4th inst., at St. Martin's Church, Stamford, Joeepll
Lamb,l Esq. of Lemington-House, Northumberland, to Ameiis
Mary, eldest daughter of Joseph Michael, Esq. of St. Martin's'
Stamford Baron.
On Wednesday, the 12th inst., at St. Mary's, Lambeth/
Charles W. Tabor, Esq., of Balham-hill, to Emma, eldest
daughter of William Shadbolt, Esq., of Stockwell-common.

DED.
On the 6th inst., at Bromptoln, in the 68th year of her agtr
Mrs. Mary Haines, formerly of Great Russell-street, Covent-
Garden.
• On Monday, the 10th inst., Mr. W. J. Wright, aged S 3, of
the firm of Venns and Wright, Bow-lane, Cheapside.
On Wednesday, the 12th inst., Robert Davidson, Esq., of
Islington-green, in the 67th year of his age.
On the 13th inst., at his lodgings in Thavies-inn, Robert
Munro, Esq., of Novar, St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica.
On the 13th inst., at Stoke, near Guildford, Jane, third
daughter of James Mangles, Esq.
P.

Tinted and Published for the PROPRIETORS, At die tir*
OFFIII, 112, strand, by J. B. CARSTAXIII.