CHAPTER IV.
I.—Popular manly Pastimes imitated by Children.— II. Horses.—III. Racing and Chacing.—IV. Wrestling and other Gymnastic Sports.—V. Marbles, and Span-counter.—VI. Tops, &c.;—The Devil among the Taylors.—VII. Even or Odd—Chuck-halfpenny;—Duck and Drake.—VIII. Baste the Bear;—Hunt the Slipper, &c.—IX. Sporting with Insects;—Kites;—Windmills.—X. Bob-cherry.—XI. Hoodman-blind;—Hot-cockles.—XII. Cock-fighting.—XIII. Anonymous Pastimes;—Mock Honours at Boarding-schools.—XIV. Houses of Cards;—Questions and Commands;—Handy-dandy;—Snap-dragon;—Push-pin;—Crambo;—Lotteries.—XV. Obsolete Pastimes.—XVI. Creag;—Queke-board;—Hand in and Hand out;—White and Black, and Making and Marring;—Figgum;—Mosel the Peg;—Hole about the Church-yard;—Penny-prick;—Pick-point, &c.;—Mottoes, Similes, and Cross-purposes;—The Parson has lost his Cloak.
I.—POPULAR MANLY PASTIMES IMITATED BY CHILDREN.
Most of the popular pastimes mentioned in the preceding pages were imitated by the younger part of the community, and in some degree, at least, became the sports of children. Archery, and the use of missive weapons of all kinds, were formerly considered as an essential part of a young man's education; for which reason the bow, the sling, the spear, and other military instruments, were put into his hands at a very early period of his life; he was also encouraged in the pursuit of such sports as promoted muscular strength, or tended to make him acquainted with the duties of a soldier. When the bow and the sling were laid aside in favour of the gun, prudence naturally forbad the putting an instrument of so dangerous a nature into the hands of children; they however provided themselves a substitute for the gun, and used a long hollow tube called a trunk, in which they thrust a small pointed arrow, contrived to fit the cavity with great exactness, and then blowing into the trunk with all their might, the arrow was driven through it and discharged at the other end by the expansion of the compressed air. Sometimes pellets of clay were used instead of the arrows. Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary, under the article trunk, has this quotation from Ray: "In a shooting trunk, the longer it is to a certain limit, the swifter and more forcibly the air drives the pellet." The trunks were succeeded by pot-guns made with hollow pieces of elder, or of quills, the pellets being thrust into them by the means of a ramrod. These were also called pop-guns; and perhaps more properly, from the popping noise they make in discharging the pellets. Big bouncing words are compared to pot-gun reports in a comedy called The Knave in Graine, printed in 1640. [1094]
II.—HORSES.
Most boys are exceedingly delighted with riding, either on horses or in carriages, and also upon men's shoulders, which we find to be a very ancient sport; [1095] and I trust there are but few of my readers who have not seen them with a bough or a wand substituted for a horse, and highly pleased in imitating the gallopping and prancing of that noble animal. [1096] This is an amusement of great antiquity, well known in Greece; and if report speaks truth, some of the greatest men have joined in it, either to relax the vigour of their own minds for a time, or to delight their children. The Persian ambassadors found Agesilaus, the Lacedemonian monarch, employed in this manner. [1097] Socrates also did the same, for which it seems his pupil Alcibiades used to laugh at him. [1098] If we turn to the engraving No. 45, [1099] we shall see two boys, each of them having two wands, the one serves for a horse, and the other for a spear, and thus equipped they are justing together. The engraving No. 30, [1100] represents a boy mounted upon a wooden horse, drawn by two of his companions, and tilting at the quintain; and here we may remark that the bohourts, the tournaments, and most of the other superior pastimes have been subjected to youthful imitation; and that toys were made on purpose to train up the young nobility in the knowledge and pursuit of military pastimes, as may be seen by the engravings Nos. 43 and 44. [1101] Nay, some writers, and not without the support of ancient documents, derive the origin of all these splendid spectacles from the sportive exercises of the Trojan boys. [1102]
III.—RACING AND CHACING.
Contending with each other for superiority in racing on foot is natural to children; [1103] and this emulation has been productive of many different amusements, among which the following seem to be the most prominent.
Base, or Prisoners' Bars, is described in a preceding part of this work. [1104]