When with their battledores they force
The shuttlecock in airy course.
About you beat us as you please,
Till tir’d, we wish the game to cease;
And, when we fall upon the floor,
You pick us up to play, as you have done before.
When all the young ladies were tired of the game of see-saw, and that Adriana had taken, or tried in vain to take, a sufficient number of butterflies, the whole party united and continued to play at shuttlecock. It is not impossible for four or five people to amuse themselves together, when they have a sufficient number of battledores, but it is better to do it by turns, or in the following manner. When a player fails to send back the shuttlecock which is sent to her, she should give up her place to another, and if the new player fails, she also should in her turn yield her place to a fresh competitor, and so on, till each enjoys the amusement in rotation. Such was the method pursued by our young players; but we do not know whether disputes might not sometimes have arisen from it, had not Madame D’Hernilly, as we before observed, always mixed in the sports of the children, and, by her presence, prevented squabbles.
The famous Christina, queen of Sweden, was very fond of the game of Shuttlecock. One day, during this queen’s stay in France, in the time of Louis XIV., she asked the learned Bochart, whom she had attracted to her court, to play with her. He did not need much entreaty, but immediately taking off his cloak, began a game with her
Majesty. Some of his friends ridiculed his complaisance, but they were wrong; a refusal would have been at once pedantic and ill-bred.