The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1867-02-23
on BILLIARDS
Interesting Eeeia1Eyc Facts.

Interesting Relative Facts.
From the Billiard Cue.
The origin of the game Of billiards, like
the antiquity of Stonehenge, has thus far
evaded all investigation Hitherto, although
it was deemed highly probable that the Temp>
lars brought it with them from the Holy
Land, al the close of the twelfth century. the
belief has obtained, more particularly III
Europe, that it was not known until Genius
ries afterwards, when il was invented by
Henri DevigGe, i French artist. Shakespeare
causes Cleopatra TO eXclalm: "Charmian,
let Us to billiards - but this has been held
10 be one of the several anachronismg. or
- anteda,es with which natures great expos
itor'' stands charged. Yet, were archaeology
@ be closely studied by the student of bill,
lizards, We doubt not it would appear that
Shakespeare, instead % being guilty of pro-
chronism, committed no error at all, or at
least came centuries nearer the real time in
fixing the age OF billiards, than the French,
who, according to the literary remains of
much earlier epoch than that which Witnessed
the triumI hs OF tie CID or the exploits of
Richard Goeur de Lion, have perpetrated the
equally gross error OF parachronism, in
making the sixteenth century serve rs the
birthtime of what Louis the Fourteenth
designated The Noble Game and what in
Germany has been called The King Of
Games and the Game OF Kings
In the letter we append, written by gem
tleman who up TO 1864 occupied the distiE7
guished position of Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, there
is what may be regar led as conclusive eri>
dence that the game OF billiards was known
prior TO \. ID. AS; and as CleoPatr. lived
B. c. thirty years, there Is but little latitude
- Il. IL
been well yersed in classic lore-his famous
solloquy, TO be. or not to be" having been
taken almost word for word ffom Plato
found in the earlier authors frequent alu>
sions to billiards. Plutarch, whose "Liyes'
are reproduced. 50 to speak. in Shakespeare
works, does not, that We remember, mention
billiards. Blu: it is not likely that, had the
play been known, he would have referred 10
it as he treats mainly, if not wholly, OF the
important dOings and achievsmments OF the
ancients. Ii not in support of the extract
from the Able McGeorghegau's History of
Ireland" then Ger, ainly in proof that bill
liards was one Of the auusemeuts Il in Europe
centuries anterior to TIE return of the Tens
plarS. we have the statement Of the late Rev.
Archbishop Hughes, who was himself bill
lizard PLAYER, that he remembered reading in
the Confessions Of It. Augustine, born y. y.
43O. an allusion to billiards.
We shall row give the letter Of the eX
Chief Justice, which is doubly valuable to
the student of billiards. first Tor the informa
ton per Sc that It contains, and next for It's
tendency TO direct the attention Of antigua
ries to Il closer examination into the subject.
And as tournaments at billiards and chess.
Indicating as they do that intellect reigns to-
day. have troddeI. under foCt the sanguinary
iousts Of the middle sges, it cannot but
awaken the pride Of ancestry inherent in the
Celtic race, to be reminded through the me-
dunn of this letter that the intellectual pas
time of billiards was possibly earliest prac-
tsed by people whose pregnant and
instructive history the world can now learn
only by piecemeal:
OTTAWA, H., Jan. 3, 1867.
MICHAEL PHEL4x, EsQ.:
Dear Sir: take tue liberty of calling
your attention to a passage in the English
translation, By O'Aelly, OF the Able Mac.
Georghegan's History of Ireland page
So, as furnishing pretty authentic evidence
that the game Of billiards was in use, at
least in Ireland, nearly = thousand years
before the return Of the knights Tempars TO
Europe from the first or jsade, which you
give i'll your admirable work on Billiards as
the first authentic date of the introduction
OF the game into Europe.
~ Our author, on the page referred TO, as he
says, 'merely TO show The singular tastes Of
those early times" gives the substance of
the VIII of Cathire More, sub>king of
Ireland who reigned over the district of
Leinster. and who died in the year \. d. l48.
I quote: "To Crimothan he bequeathed
fifty billiard balls Of brass, with the pools
and cues OF the same material; ten Tric-
Tracs, of exquisite workmanship twelve
chess>boards, with chess>men.'
By the way, can you inform what is
"Tlc-Tac"? Does Dryden refer to it when
he says play at tick and lose the Indies
as we would say, "Play at pin and lose a
kingdom" to show a violent contrast?
| confess to feeling much interested in
being carried back more than seventeen huns
dred years and shown the amuscments Of a
people so far removed from the centres OF
civilization. though undoubtedly more learn-
cd and refined than any other of the northern
nations. Here We find them practising biz
lizards ana chess, which can interest those
only of cultivated minds and tastes.
Yours, truly, j. D. CATox.
'.Tic-tac'-or tick tack and trick track,
according TO modern photography a
game somewhat similar to our back kgammen
aud played with pins and men" Dryden
undoubtedly refers to this game; and it i:
more than likely, Judging from the comment:
of contemp0raneous writers, that Dryder
himself had a practical knowledge Of it
Tric-trac is indeed the French same fol
backgammon; the Germans also know it By
this nar:e : and the Italians call it 'Tavol;
reale,'' tn royal table. !; was a f,vori;c
diversion of the clergy IL the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries; and I'VE quot
from the American Hoyle," published b,
Dick & Fitzgerald. Of this city, 1T is relate'
of Sir Roger de Coverly, of immortal mem
ory, that, wIshful to obtain from the Uniyer
sty chaplain of piety, learning and urban
ity. he made it a condition that the candidat
should, AT least, know something OF back
CANNON =
i SINGULAR PREACHER. The Wytheville
q. C.) Dispatch says that Mr. Peter Butne