XXII.—TIP-CAT.
Tip-cat, or perhaps more properly the game of cat, is a rustic pastime well known in many parts of the kingdom, and is always played with a cudgel or bludgeon resembling that used for trap-ball. Its denomination is derived from a piece of wood called a cat, of about six inches in length, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, diminished from the middle, to both the ends, in the shape of a double cone; by this curious contrivance the places of the trap and of the ball are at once supplied; for when the cat is laid upon the ground, the player with his cudgel strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it will rise with a rotatory motion, high enough for him to beat it away as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball.
There are various methods of playing the game of cat, but I shall only notice the two that follow. The first is exceedingly simple, and consists in making a large ring upon the ground, in the middle of which the striker takes his station; his business is to beat the cat over the ring. If he fails in so doing he is out, and another player takes his place; if he is successful he judges with his eye the distance the cat is driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number at pleasure to be scored towards his game: if the number demanded be found upon measurement to exceed the same number of lengths of the bludgeon, he is out; on the contrary, if it does not, he obtains his call. The second method is to make four, six, or eight holes in the ground, in a circular direction, and as nearly as possible at equal distances from each other, and at every hole is placed a player with his bludgeon: one of the opposite party who stand in the field, tosses the cat to the batsman who is nearest him, and every time the cat is struck the players are obliged to change their situations, and run once from one hole to another in succession; if the cat be driven to any great distance they continue to run in the same order, and claim a score towards their game every time they quit one hole and run to another; but if the cat be stopped by their opponents and thrown across between any two of the holes before the player who has quitted one of them can reach the other, he is out.
BOOK III.
PASTIMES USUALLY EXERCISED IN TOWNS AND CITIES, OR PLACES ADJOINING TO THEM.
CHAPTER I.
I. Tournament a general Name for several Exercises.—II. The Quintain an ancient Military Exercise.—III. Various Kinds of the Quintain.—IV. Derivation of the Term.—V. The Water Quintain.—VI. Running at the Quintain practised by the Citizens of London; and why.—VII. The Manner in which it was performed.—VIII. Exhibited for the Pastime of Queen Elizabeth.—IX. Tilting at a Water Butt.—X. The Human Quintain.—XI. Exercises probably derived from it.—XII. Running at the Ring.—XIII. Difference between the Tournaments and the Justs.—XIV. Origin of the Tournament.—XV. The Troy Game;—the Bohordicum or Cane Game.—XVI. Derivation of Tournament;—How the Exercise was performed.—XVII. Lists and Barriers.—XVIII. When the Tournament was first practised.—XIX. When first in England.—XX. Its Laws and Ordinances.—XXI. Pages, and Perquisites of the Kings at Arms, &c.—XXII. Preliminaries of the Tournament.—XXIII. Lists for Ordeal Combats.—XXIV. Respect paid to the Ladies.—XXV. Justs less honourable than Tournaments.—XXVI. The Round Table.—XXVII. Nature of the Justs.—XXVIII. Made in Honour of the Fair Sex.—XXIX. Great Splendour of these Pastimes;—The Nobility partial to them.—XXX. Toys for initiating their Children in them.—XXXI. Boat Justs, or Tilting on the Water.—XXXII. Challenges to all comers.