XVII.—RING-BALL.
Commenius [433] mentions a game which he attributes indeed to the children, and tells us, it consisted in striking a ball with a bandy through a ring fastened into the ground. A similar kind of pastime, I am informed, exists to this day in the north of England; it is played in a ground or alley appropriated to the purpose, and a ball is to be driven from one end of it to the other with a mallet, the handle of which is about three feet three or four inches in length; and so far it resembles pall-mall; but there is the addition of a ring, which is not mentioned by Cotgrave; I have however been told, that it was sometimes used in the game of mall. This ring is placed at an equal distance from the sides of the alley, but much nearer to the bottom than the top of the ground, and through this ring it is necessary for the ball to be passed in its progress. The ring is made to turn with great facility upon a swivel, and the two flat sides are distinguished from each other: if the ball passes through the one it is said to be lawful, and the player goes on; but if through the other, it is declared to be unlawful, and he is obliged to beat the ball back, and drive it through again until such time as he causes it to pass on the lawful side; this done, he proceeds to the bottom of the ground, where there is an arch of iron through which it is also necessary for the ball to be passed, and then the game is completed. The contest is decided by the blows given to the ball in the performance, and he who executes his task with the smallest number is the victor.
XVIII.—CLUB-BALL.
Club-ball is a pastime clearly distinguished from cambuc or goff, in the edict above mentioned established by Edward III. The difference seems to have consisted in the one being played with a curved bat and the other with a straight one. The following engravings represent two specimens of club-ball; the first, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1344, [434] exhibits a female figure in the action of throwing the ball to a man who elevates his bat to strike it.
24. Club-Ball.—XIV. Century.
Behind the woman at a little distance appear in the original delineation several other figures of both sexes, waiting attentively to catch or stop the ball when returned by the batsman: these figures have been damaged, and are very indistinct in many parts, for which reason I did not think it proper to insert them. The next specimen of ball, taken from a drawing more ancient than the former, a genealogical roll of the kings of England to the time of Henry III. in the Royal Library, [435] presents two players only, and he who is possessed of the bat holds the ball also, which he either threw into the air and struck with his bat as it descended, or cast forcibly upon the ground, and beat it away when it rebounded; the attention of his antagonist to catch the ball need not be remarked, it does not appear in either of these instances how the game was determined.