At the commencement of the seventeenth century, these pastimes seem to have lost their relish among the higher classes of the people, and for this reason Peacham, describing a complete gentleman, speaks of throwing the hammer as an exercise proper only for soldiers in camp, or for the amusement of the king's guard, but by no means "beseeming of nobility."
VIII.—THROWING OF SPEARS.
Throwing of spears and javelins being properly a military exercise, was not prohibited by the act above mentioned. It was sometimes practised as a trial of strength, when the attempt was to throw beyond a certain boundary, or to exceed a competitor in distance; and of skill, when the spear was cast at a quintain, or any other determined mark. According to Fitzstephen, it was one of the holiday sports of the young Londoners in the reign of Henry II. With them it seems to have been an exertion to cast the weapon farthest. The pastime is frequently mentioned by the writers of the middle ages. Charles VI. of France and the lords of his court, after a grand entertainment, were amused with "Wrastling, and casting of the bar, and the dart, by Frenchmen and the Gascoyns." [348]
IX.—QUOITS.
The game of quoits, or coits, as an amusement, is superior to any of the foregoing pastimes; the exertion required is more moderate, because this exercise does not depend so much upon superior strength as upon superior skill. The quoit seems evidently to have derived its origin from the ancient discus, and with us in the present day it is a circular plate of iron perforated in the middle, not always of one size, but larger or smaller to suit the strength or conveniency of the several candidates. It is further to be observed, that quoits are not only made of different magnitudes to suit the poise of the players, but sometimes the marks are placed at extravagant distances, so as to require great strength to throw the quoit home; this, however, is contrary to the general rule, and depends upon the caprice of the parties engaged in the contest.
To play at this game, an iron pin, called a hob, is driven into the ground, within a few inches of the top; and at the distance of eighteen, twenty, or more yards, for the distance is optional, a second pin of iron is also made fast in a similar manner; two or more persons, as four, six, eight, or more at pleasure, who divided into two equal parties are to contend for the victory, stand at one of the iron marks and throw an equal number of quoits to the other, and the nearest of them to the hob are reckoned towards the game. But the determination is discriminately made: for instance, if a quoit belonging to A lies nearest to the hob, and a quoit belonging to B the second, A can claim but one towards the game, though all his other quoits lie nearer to the mark than all the other quoits of B; because one quoit of B being the second nearest to the hob, cuts out, as it is called, all behind it: if no such quoit had interfered, then A would have reckoned all his as one each. Having cast all their quoits, the candidates walk to the opposite side, and determine the state of the play, then taking their stand there, throw their quoits back again and continue to do so alternately as long as the game remains undecided.
Formerly in the country, the rustics not having the round perforated quoits to play with, used horse-shoes, and in many places the quoit itself, to this day, is called a shoe.
X.—DUMB BELLS.
John Northbroke, in a Treatise against Diceing, Dancing, &c. written in the time of queen Elizabeth, advises young men, by way of amusement, to "labour with poises of lead or other metal;" this notable pastime, I apprehend, bore some resemblance to the Skiomachia, [349] or fighting with a man's own shadow, mentioned in one of the Spectators: [350] "It consisted," says the author, "in brandishing of two sticks, grasped in each hand and loaden with plugs of lead at either end;—this pastime opens the chest, exercises the limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure of boxing without the blows." It is sometimes practised in the present day, and called "ringing of the dumb bells."