She had a rival later on, in 1713. 'This is to acquaint all Jolly Lads and Lasses. That on Monday the 28th Instant, there will be a Meeting of several Gentlemen and Ladies at the Opening of Mr. Tucker's new House upon Epping Forest, where the Company will be provided with good Music and Dancing, and be likewise entertain'd by Country People with the following Diversions, viz. A Beaver Hat to be Cudgell'd for, A Pair of Buckskin Breeches to be wrestled for; and a lac'd Holland Smock to be danced for, by 6 young Women. N.B. The Sport begins at 10 a Clock in the Morning; and such care is taken that the Company may not return a hungry, One Ox will then be roasted and given gratis.'

Women raced for smocks, silk stockings, or topknots; whilst one would surely have won Sir John Astley's heart. 'This is to give Notice, That there is a young Woman, born within 30 Miles of London, will run, for Fifty or a Hundred Pounds, a Mile and an half, with any other Woman that has liv'd a Year within the same Distance; upon any good Ground, as the Parties concern'd shall agree to.'

Even a woman's suspected infidelity was turned into sport. 'At Hammersmith near Kensington, to morrow, being Friday, will be rode a Skimmington Triumph, according to the Manner described in Hudibras,' which the reader will find, if he be curious in the matter, in Part. II. Canto II. of Butler's immortal poem.

One harmless diversion should not be passed over. 'At Epsom Old Wells ... on Whitsun Tuesday will be Moris Dancing Set against Set, for Lac'd Hats, at 10 a Clock, with other Diversions.'

But the game, par excellence, which combined out-of-door sport with the minimum of fatigue, suitable alike to the mercurial young, and the steady middle-aged, was bowling; and the bowling greens multiplied exceedingly in this reign, especially (judging by the advertisements) after 1706. We hear of them starting up in all the suburbs: at Putney, Hoxton, Maribone, Hampstead, Stoke Newington, Ham Lane, etc.

That the bowls were the same as are now played with we see by the following advertisement: 'Lost out of the Bowl House belonging to Pemlico Green in Hogsdon near Shoreditch two pair of Lignum Vitæ Bowls and one pair of a reddish Wood.' It was not an expensive recreation. 'The New Green over against Bunhill fields will be open'd on Saturday next, and the Old Green to be Bowled on for Six Pence and One Penny for taking up.' Sometimes there were prizes bowled for, as 'At the Black Gray hound Dog at Bristow Causey, will be a Silver Tobacco Box Bouled for, value 30s.'

It was essentially a sober cit's amusement. 'I wonder how so many Fat Gentlemen can endure the Green all Day, tho' tis pleasant enough to look out o' the window and observe em—To see a Tun o' Grease, with a broad fiery Face, and a little black cap, waddle after a Bowl, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, and lose more Fat in getting a Shilling—Than wou'd yield him a Crown at the Tallow Chandler's.'[404] 'A Bowling Green is a Place where there are three Things thrown away besides Bowls, viz. Time, Money, and Curses; the last ten for one. The best Sport in it, is a sight of the Gamesters, and the looker on enjoys it more than him that Plays. It is the School of Wrangling, nay worse than the Schools, for Men will cavil here for a Hair's bredth, and make a Dispute, where a Straw might end the Controversie. No Antick screws his Body into such strange Postures; and you would think 'em mad, to hear 'em make Supplication to their Bowls, and exercise their Rhetorick to intreat a good Cast.'[405] A great nuisance in these public bowling-grounds were the people who betted on the players' skill. 'Cuff. Let's be sure to bet all we can. I have known a great Bowler whose Better's place was worth about 200l. a year, without venturing a farthing for himself.'[406]

'A Bowling Green is one of the most agreeable Compartments of a Garden, and, when 'tis rightly placed, nothing is more pleasant to the Eye. It's hollow Figure covered with a beautiful Carpet of Turf very Smooth, and of a lively green, most commonly encompassed with a Row of tall Trees with Flower bearing Shrubs, make a delightful composition; besides the Pleasure it affords us, of lying along upon its sloping Banks, in the Shade, during the hottest weather.'[407] It must have delighted a gardener's heart, in those days, to have had something which must, almost of necessity, be ornamented in a somewhat formal manner. There were no landscape gardeners then, they were all fettered by the precision style of elaborate parterres, terraces, cut trees, statuary; and although a more educated mind pined for a better state of things, as is evidenced throughout the Spectator whenever mention is made of a garden, the tyranny of custom and the gardeners prevailed. 'Our trees rise in Cones, Globes, and Pyramids. We see the Marks of the Scissors upon every Plant and Bush. I do not know whether I am singular in my Opinion, but, for my own part, I would rather look upon a Tree in all its Luxuriancy and Diffusion of Boughs and Branches, than when it is thus cut and trimmed into a Mathematical Figure; and cannot but fancy that an Orchard in flower looks infinitely more delightful than all the little Labyrinths of the most finished Parterre.'[408] These parterres were made in as elaborate devices as some of our specimens of leaf-gardening, and looked very formal.

In the Guardian (No. 173) this practice of clipping trees is ridiculed most unmercifully. 'I know an eminent cook, who beautified his Country seat with a Coronation dinner in greens; where you see the Champion flourishing on horseback at one end of the table, and the queen in perpetual youth at the other. For the benefit of all my loving Countrymen of this Curious taste, I shall here publish a Catalogue of greens to be disposed of by an eminent town gardener ... Adam and Eve in Yew; Adam a little Shattered by the fall of the Tree of Knowledge in the great Storm; Eve and the Serpent very flourishing.

'St. George in box; his arm scarce long enough, but will be in a Condition to Stick the dragon by next April.