About 1770, I saw a grand match at base played in the fields behind Montague House, now the British Museum, by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable sum of money, which afforded much entertainment to the spectators. In Essex they play this game with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase, is sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful players, because the prison belonging to either party is always much nearer to the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance. The addition of the prisons occasions a considerable degree of variety in the pastime, and is frequently productive of much pleasantry.
XIII.—WRESTLING.
The art of wrestling, which in the present day is chiefly confined to the lower classes of the people, was, however, highly esteemed by the ancients, and made a very considerable figure among the Olympic games. In the ages of chivalry, to wrestle well was accounted one of the accomplishments which a hero ought to possess.
Wrestling is a kind of exercise that, from its nature, is likely to have been practised by every nation, and especially by those the least civilised. It was probably well known in this country long before the introduction of foreign manners. The inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon have, we are well assured, from time immemorial, been celebrated for their expertness in this pastime, and are universally said to be the best wrestlers in the kingdom. To give a Cornish hug is a proverbial expression. The Cornish, says Fuller, are masters of the art of wrestling, so that if the Olympian games were now in fashion, they would come away with the victory. Their hug is a cunning close with their fellow-combatants, the fruits whereof is his fair fall or foil at the least. [357] They learned the art at an early period of life, for you shall hardly find, says Carew, an assembly of boys in Devon and Cornwall, where the most untowardly among them will not as readily give you a muster (or trial) of this exercise as you are prone to require it. [358]
The citizens of London, in times past, are said to have been expert in the art of wrestling, and annually upon St. James's day they were accustomed to make a public trial of their skill. In the sixth year of Henry III. they held their anniversary meeting for this purpose near the hospital of St. Matilda, at St. Giles's in the fields, where they were met by the inhabitants of the city and suburbs of Westminster, and a ram was appointed for the prize; the Londoners were victorious, having greatly excelled their antagonists, which produced a challenge from the conquered party, to renew the contest upon the Lammas day following at Westminster: the citizens of London readily consented, and met them accordingly, but in the midst of the diversion, the bailiff of Westminster and his associates took occasion to quarrel with the Londoners, a battle ensued, and many of the latter were severely wounded in making their retreat to the city. This unjustifiable petulance of the bailiff gave rise to a more serious tumult, and it was several days before the peace could be restored. [359] Stow informs us, that in the thirty-first year of Henry VI., A. D. 1453, at a wrestling match near Clerkenwell, another tumult was excited against the lord mayor, but he does not say upon what occasion it arose.
In old time, says Stow, wrestling was more used than it has been of later years. [360] In the month of August, about the feast of St. Bartholomew, adds this very accurate historian, there were divers days spent in wrestling; the lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, being present in a large tent pitched for that purpose near Clerkenwell; [361] upon this occasion the officers of the city, namely, the sheriffs, serjeants, and yeomen, the porters of the king's beam or weighing-house, [362] and others of the city, gave a general challenge to such of the inhabitants of the suburbs as thought themselves expert in this exercise; but of late years, continues he, the wrestling is only practised on the afternoon of St. Bartholomew's day. [363] The latter ceremony is thus described by a foreign writer, who was an eye-witness to the performance: "When," says he, "the mayor goes out of the precincts of the city, a sceptre, [364] a sword, and a cap, are borne before him, and he is followed by the principal aldermen in scarlet gowns with golden chains; himself and they on horseback. Upon their arrival at a place appointed for that purpose, where a tent is pitched for their reception, the mob begin to wrestle before them two at a time." He adds a circumstance not recorded by the historian: "After this is over, a parcel of live rabbits are turned loose among the crowd, which are pursued by a number of boys, who endeavour to catch them with all the noise they can make." [365]
From the time that wrestling became unfashionable and was rarely practised by persons of opulence, it declined also among the populace, but by slower degrees; and at present is seldom seen except at wakes and fairs, where it still continues to be partially exhibited.
XIV.—PRIZES FOR WRESTLING.
We may have observed, that the reward proposed for the best wrestlers in the contest between the Londoners and the inhabitants of Westminster, as mentioned above, was a ram. Anciently this animal was the prize most usually given upon such occasions, and therefore in the rhyme of sir Thopas, Chaucer says of the Knight,
Of wrastling was there none his pere,