September 29, 1811. Rural Sports. A Milling Match which took place at Thisselton Gap, in the county of Rutland, September 28, 1811, betwixt Cribb and Molineaux, on a twenty-five foot stage, and was the second public contest between these two pugilists. It lasted nineteen minutes and ten seconds, and was decisive in favour of Cribb. Rowlandson del. Published by T. Tegg.—The point from which the picture is taken affords a good view of the combat, which is about concluded. Cribb, a massively-built boxer, is dealing the black champion such a felling blow as, judging from the dismay expressed in the faces of the two supporters of Molineaux, one of whom is also a man of colour, will leave the victory in the hands of the striker, whose backer and bottle-holder are in raptures. Round the raised platform which constitutes the ring is gathered a very animated throng, amidst which the artist has depicted the various popular incidents of pushing, struggling, climbing on shoulders, quarrelling, picking pockets, cheering, and resenting the encroachments of men on horseback. A prize-fight would seem to have been an institution in fashion at the beginning of the century; the streams of vehicles, coaches, tandems, curricles, and every contrivance 'on wheels' which surround the stage and line the background give the scene the appearance of a Derby course. The presence of the fair sex, who seem to appreciate the performance, keeps up the animation of the picture.
October 1, 1811. [Rural Sports. Smock Racing.] Published by T. Tegg.
RURAL SPORTS. SMOCK RACING.
October 2, 1811. [John Bull at the Italian Opera.] Republished. (See Oct. 2, 1805.) Designed and published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.
October, 1811. Rural Sports, or a Game at Quoits.—A village green, with an alehouse in the rear, is the scene of this diversion. Various loving couples are disporting themselves on benches and at round-tables by the alehouse door. The village cobblers, blacksmiths, tailors, butchers, &c., are neglecting their trades to follow the game; their injured wives have come to reduce the careless husbands to a proper sense of their duties. One shrewish spouse, leaning over the paling, is flourishing a broom with a force of arms that threatens to astonish her good man, whose attention is occupied in the game. Over the head of the victim is a board, Washing and mangling done here. Various convivial groups are scattered around.
October, 1811. Rural Sports, or how to show off a well-shaped Leg, introduces a rustic pleasure-ground. A rope thrown between two tall trees furnishes a swing for a well-developed and gaily apparelled hoyden; another maiden is working the rope which swings her friend; the attractions of the second lady have absorbed a young gentleman, whose attentions to the fair rope-puller are 'particular.' A group of wicked old roysterers are delighted with the prospect of the swinging hoyden—their pipes and bowls are neglected in their rapturous attention to the evolutions of the fair occupant of the swing, and their indignant wives are vainly endeavouring to recall them to a sense of propriety.
1811. Twelfth Night Characters, in twenty-four figures, by T. Rowlandson.
October, 1811. Rural Sports, or a Cricket Match Extraordinary. Published by T. Tegg (96).—On Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1811, a cricket match took place at Balls Pond, Newington. The players on both sides were women—11 Hampshire against 11 Surrey. The match was made between two noblemen amateurs of the respective counties for 500 guineas a side. The performers in the contest were of all ages and sizes. Such a subject in the hands of Rowlandson afforded almost unbounded opportunities for the exercise of his grotesque talents and his command of figure-drawing. The scene is a busy one, as may be conceived; a certain artistic freedom has been assumed, and there is a liberal display of limbs in all directions, the skirts of the cricketers being tucked up for convenience of motion; the performers, however, seem to enter into the contest with spirit, if not skill. Balls Pond, as seen in the engraving, is a fair open country, without a trace of a solitary habitation. A spacious tent, in the background, is erected for the Jolly Cricketers, wherein the noble patrons of the sport are fortifying the players with huge bowls of punch, restoratives which do not appear to promote the most orderly proceedings.