Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-08-04
BILLIAR DS.
From Chambers Journal I


count Of their mOnOpolising all the chief Offices
OF the state, ii is certain that great number
OF them concern themselves with no other than
that board whose title heads this paper At
all the great clubs of London, and at almost
every country house of any distinction. n sits
or rather stands, en- permanence and around
II, all day long, and, at all events for the most
part OF the night, its indefatigabls members
are to be found. In this one department at
least, neither time nor health is grudgsd by
those concerned in it; and so different is it
IRON an institution Of government in other re-
spects, that he who, by assiduity and skill in
its concerns, has proved himself the most de-
serving, Is generally the best rewarded.
The board OF green cloth, which probably
originated in Italy, must have been in repute
at least ss early as the sixteenth century, since
Shakespeare alludes TO it; but there is doubt
less an anachrOnism in making Cleopatra one
OF its yOtaries. Let us to billiards." SAYS
the Queen Of Egypt to her attendant Char
nam but she can scarcely have meant to pro-
pose contest upon slate-table, with India
rubber cushions, and with cues with leathern
tops. At Afexandria, and at that early period,
none oil the modern requisites would have been
forthcoming, except perhaps, the ivory balls
We cannot imagine the naughty beauty en-
plOyed IN such paStme, any more than we
picture to ourselves Mark Antony las marker)
calling the score.
In Mr.. Thackeray's VEsmond'' we have
u
even at the period Of that tale and certainly
1t was not until a very recent period that il as
sumed the complicated and scientific character
which now distinguishes it. 1t was played for
more than two centuries with only a couple of
balls, and when the third or red ball was i'm
ported from France, the red winning hazard
that is to say, the holing of the red ball-was
almost the sole object Of the performers
When we consider the many and wealthy
hrms whose trade has become exclusively that
of making billiard tables, the enormous num-
ber of rooms where tables are let out for hire
In every POpulous town, and, in particular, the
large and influential class who make the prac-
tice OF this game, not so much their amuse-
ment as almost the very object of their lives
1t certainly seems to US that billiards has got
to be important enough to have a word or two
written about il 10 the general reader The
professional and the amateur have already a
score Of elaborate works about this science pre-
pared with all the Judgment and experience
that would be necessary for the investigation
OF the most abstruse subject, and illustrated
with accurate diagrams of what has been, and
can be effected upon a billiard table for the in
struction and ediicatiOn of tyros
1t would, OF course, be impossible to esti-
mate the vast sums which depend upon every
important match that chances to be- as the
newspapers say, upon the tapis-though, of
course, 1t is to take place upon the table-and
were we to mention the prices paid merely to
witness such contests, they would exceed be-
lief; but, as a proof Of the interest with which
great excellence at this game is regarded by
Its admirers, it may be stated that one guinea
Is habitually paid at the rooms Of q certain
professor for the privilege Of witnessing his or
binary aud extraordinary everyday play.
S'r Bulwer LyttOn, in his novel of The
CaxtOns, describes a penniless lad, who by
bis skill Mt this amusement in France, rapidly
acquires such considerable sums as he stands
IN need Of; nor in England, and in real life
does there appear to be any greater difficulty
In 50 doing What genius, what virtue, can
procure Its pOssessOr, In ten times the period
a remuneration such as skill at billiards can
IN few hours, and in almost any ~populous
place, command, Carr, the celebrated Bath
billiard-player. would have been immensely
rich but for his fOndneSs for another game at
which be was by NO means such a proficient.
by this latter pastime be was perpetuslly be-
ing ruined and on one occasion, having been
forced to try bis fortune in Spain, be returned
HOm mat country IN even greater straits than
those which OccasiOned his departure. Having
landed, however, III Portsmouth, nearly penni-
less, and indIterenty appareled he repaired
to his usual bank-the board of green cloth
IN that town, aud drew, from a respectable
stranger, whom be found there the sum of sew
enty pounds. By means Of a portion of this
he attIred himself very splendidIy and betOok
himself to the same table the next morning
another and better (dressed) man His ad-
Versary was also there and not recognising
him, after the metamOrphOsis, challenged him
fOr still higher stakes, but with no better for
tune When he had lost as much as be could
could afford, he informed Carr that he was
more unfortunate even than he seemed, for
that he Carr was the second stranger within
tWenty-fOur hours, To whom his really cOpsjd-
cradle skill had been obliged TO succumb. his
Bath player Is said to have been the diScOyerer
"f the slte-stroke," an requirement of great
Importance, the secret Of which it is surprising
that accident did not long before disclose, and
The numerous frequenters OF his rooms were
excessively anxious to acquire this magic power
OF living lateral impulse. After much sOlicita-
ton, Carr confessed that the wonder lay i'm the
particular kind of chalk which he was wont to
use for his cue. He then procured a number
Of pill-bOxes, and filling them with the powder
Of the chalk ordinarily used in the rooms dis
posed Of them to great numbers of the nobility
and gentry, his patrons, ut alf-a-crOwn the
box, as IbcIStiHg ChnLk.
The spectacle of the play of some very first
rate performers, To one who knows the difficult
ties Of billiards, Is certainly such az almost TO
induce him 10 believe in patents of this de-
seripuOn- The feats Of Mr. Kentfeld-the
celebrated Jonathan of Brighton for in
stance, are more like things produced by magic
than by natural skill. So continually are such
as he accustomed 10 score that himself and an
other excellent player finished thirty games of
tWenty-tOur up within the hour In a match
OF less than two hundred games he beat his op-
ponent eighty-fve "loye-games, those that
-, IN which the adversary does not score a
single hazard. With ordinarily good players,
this gentleman is accustomed to take one
pocket 10 his opponents FIVE; and, to convey a
notion OF his experience, he has played with
one individual alone fifty thousand games of
this kind; that is to say, estimating four games
TO be played within the hour-the one pocket
game being OF course, q very slow one-he has
spent nearly one year and half in knocking
about ivory balls in company with a single
fellOW-creature. One celebrated match be-
tween player still living (which one wonders
at and 4 French professor, lasted for two ell
tire days and night, during which the enthu-
sisstic foreigner tasted nothing but Iiauids
Mr.. kentield's principal excellence. accord |
ing to bis great pansgyrist, Mr.. MarCon. from
whose treatise upon billiards most of these
are taken, consists in his admirable judgment
Of the amount Of force TO be EMPLOYED in each