Le MeschaceÌbeÌ. [volume] ([Lucy] La.) 1853-1942, 1878-07-13

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Elizabeth. II is clear. we think,
that the game had an English origin
and originated, rs Strut suggests,
in one every similar to crOqnet.
played Mt first npon the ground and
afterwards transferred to the table.
The allnsions to it by old writer's
will throw some light on this quest
ion. We may note first the three all
nsiOns which are quoted in nearly
every article and hook on the anb-
ject, few writers having thOught it
worth while to search for any more.
First comes Shakespeare's "Let ns tO
billiards ;" then there is the allnsiOn
in "A Lament Of Charis," by Ben
Jonson, where lady's nose and
cheek are said tO le "smooth "a is
the billiard hall :" and thirdly. the
lines in Spencer's "MOthrr Huhh-
ards Tale" where billiards II classed
with dice, cards and shuttlecocks as
recreation "mis. seeming manly
wit" Other allusions. however, are
noticeable. Lock talkse Oi the hall
OMying the "stroke Of the billiard
stick" and Boyle of "ivory halls
meeting on:a billiartl.table ;"whiIe in
BnrtOr's "Anatomy Of Melancholy"
among the "ordinary recreatiOns" Of
winter we find mention of"billiards."
Nilsson, in his travels in England, al.
80 mentions the game and GaytOn.
in his notes tn "D0n QuixOte" (16jl),
refers to billiards as l'eing played in
the taverns of that period. Evelyn.
writing about twenty years after the
above date, Describes a table he saw
in the house Of the Portuguese Amh-
assador. and tells rs that the balls
were struck with q stick shOd with
brass ar silver. There il also a re-.
ference to billiards in note Of a
payment made in the reign Of James
l.. where a "ioyner' is credited
with the manufacture Of q table of
walnut wood. We have found alsO
an allnsiOn tn billiards in the play Of
"The woman's Prize" by Fletcher,
written somewhere abont lG(M,
which, like many other Of tho early
notices Of the game, IL not of q very
complimentary character. In the
memoirs Of the Duke de Saint-Si.
mon, by N. Chernel, We are fold that
Louis XIV. often amused himself
with billiards, and the wags Of the
time attributed the good fortune Of
Chan,illart to his skill at the game,
though probably he was vice enough
not tn beat His Majesty.
The old billiarl-tables were of Va.
rious sharcs-round, OblOng and ~.
al--sOme Of which exist at the pre-
sent day, and they sometimes had
pockets and sometimes were without
them. A cutious picture in the
School Of Recreation (I71O) shows rs
two gentlemen standing at n table
with four legs. and pro,lding at halls
with curved cnes held on the should
er, while there are arches ar "passesr
m the table something like crOqnet.
hoops. One If the earnest gnmes
was known as the fortification game,
the table being covered with forts O,
castles, and the players l,eing ranged
against each other, ms French and
English. Billiards was called nm nm
lawful game N an act of the thir-
ticth year Of G eorge H.. which prohib-
tied the playing of the gnme in
pnblic houses under a penalty Of
fIO. In 1901, Or thrrcab"uts, the
cue seems tO have superseded the
mace. and some Eve and twenty
years afterwards slate tables sncceed-
ed the old wooden one, while in due
course of time the vulcanized india.
rubber cushions now generally nscd
superseded those stuffed with list.
ITO Be c0WtiRMetl.)