New-York tribune., 1898-11-20
QUOIT'S.
A GAME THAT NEVER HAD A BOOM-rTs
ANCIENT RECORD
From Physical Culture.

From Physical Culture.
There are some games which have never hid
tLc BOOM and quOitS * one OF them. Sti1t, a.
nothing happens but the unexpected il may be
that the time is nearly ripe for quoits to bs
taken out Of its undeserved Obscurity, to be ex-
ated to the status Of a national game. to have
weekly papers named after 1t, and to have
columns in the sporting press devoted 70 the
doings of its champions. Stranger things have
happened. Who. for instance. would have said,
when at the end Of the sixties. a few energetic
sportsmen went wobbiing about on bone-shak-
ing BICYCLES which it would have been far
easier to push than to ride, that at the emo or
the century considerably more than nundren
thousand bicycles would be manufactured a1-
nualy in Great Britain alone. and that the vast
majority Of the population would ADOPT thls
means of lOcOmotinn? one cannot imashe ln.1i
o,Ints will ever attain such popularity d5 the
bicvcIe but the unprcjudiced person can SCI I'D
reason why it should not become as favorite
pactme golf, which very rev , years ago
was almost unheard of south or the l"efu-
Ouoits is a very fine game, especially IN the
winter time. 1t is splendid exercise. ana rams
the eye and the hand 10 act together ~ ~dy
that few other sports can do. TOT 'pe 'etJ
essence of it Is accuracy Of aim at marx
placed below the level of the hand IL mas oe@n
objected that throwing quoits makes tne payer
lopsided but after all that is easily ren'e1ien-
for there is nothing to prevent the prayer
throwing the QUOT with his left hand II ne 50
pleases. and such change would make
variation in the game and also aHofh an rA-
cellent method Of handicapping the men OF IN,
equal skill. Quots strengthens the arms ana
shoulders. but it is not Il pastlne "nlch pr
mary demands strength. great aiFthI@sr
of the game s that it can be played III any
small space. and that the ground need not o.
particularly level. Any rough Held or waste VI.
Of ground is good enough for quoltS pitcn ana
/ no rolling or cutting is required TO satlSty th'
demands of the most exigent- for cricket
you need carefully prepared wicket lor lor, iaw"
tennis and crOquet piece Of turf ike Oiilld'1,
raj hle and for golf the best part of a country al
To Yourself but for qu0its you only need Few
Yards of rough ground. and you nave as SC1u
IA
require - -,
People certainly might play auoits more than
they do but the taking up Of game Is usuaiiy
a matter of fancy. and perhaps TWO thihsS
stand in the way of auots. First. there Is an
idea that it is rustic sport. ana can oniy ne
played by the rough country lads anu SEC
oud there il the legend that the game Is de-
rived from the classical discus throwing SuS
pcion which il must De confessed is enough ";
throw a sur on any well-reguaied game. Nol
treatise on qlOits can begin without the tlme-
bonored pedigree Of the quot from the discus
Strutt who lived at the end Of the last century.i
! Of course dealt with it, and. equally Of course,
he dragged in the discus even If he dd not IN
vent the descent Of quOts from the sports OF
ancient Greece The thing. Of course. IS absurd
To make discus. the artisan dld not IN 'ne
words Of the immortal lrishman take hoIe
and nut some iron around it. The discus was
more like iattened Dutch cheese and was
solid missile. Moreover it was not held IN the
same manner rs i quot but was bowled under
hand in which, indeed il alone differs from put
i ting the weight. That quoIts is now payed
! chiefly in the country Is the iault OI lnoSt VINO
do not play it and bring it into fashion
II is no doubt very ancient f.nSllSn game,
and its BEGINNINGS are lost in the mist Of ages.
Uakluyt mentions 1t in his book Of voyages.
! sn il was we'll known in Queen Elizab";hs
time when it probably was one Of the faF pritr
snort, of Merrie England In some parts oi the
cc,utrv the ruSiics used 10 employ horS"shOnS
for want Of properly made quots. and there are
districts in which the QUOT Is called shoe
nVnn In This day This gives us the CleW TO
4 the most probable origin Of the sport ana hintS
. mat the first game OF QuOitS was started by
| throwing old hOrseShOrS at the hob pr mark,
ana from this gradually grew up the practice OF
bayiu, Gu0its specially made for throwing. So
. much for the discus legend. As fer the word
.nuoit" itself. its rtymOipEy is more than Doubt
f,;l and II gives Us no clew whatever to the
origin Of the game.
+ ;hakespeare who mentions everything oX-
cent tobacco of course has q reference 20 the
snort and a. Ilakluyt wa cpni'mp0taW Jt
his il may he hcu % show that tho fDac us
times Of Great Elijah Ia were the palmy period
nf nuoits Il is true that lac does not speak OF
the sport IN very reputable connection. Tor the
only mention Of it occurs in the scene in which
Prince Henry Falstaff. POins and the rest we're
IN the Boar'S Head Tavern in EaStchepe fal-
star in Giving A character sketch OF the young
Prince observes that ne plays quoits well. but
the context very clearly shows that in Queen
4 EliZabrthS time. at any rate, quOit Playing
was looked down upon "A the idle's man recrc-
alton much as skittes is with us. That fat
Jack Falstan disreputablc old fellow as ne
was meant to imply no good Of the Prince by
his reference To the game Is very evident ms
J Is the only reference to quOitS IN Shakespeare,
/ and it is a libel. though the sting is taken out
/ Of II 10y the fact that II Is put into the mouth