First then, He that would rightly understand this excellent Pastime, must be very careful of the Form and Make of the Table, and the right ordering, framing, and fitting it for the Game, which is known by these ensuing Marks.
1. The Form of a Billiard Table ought to be Oblong, that is to say, somewhat longer than it is broad; Both the length and breadth being left to your Discretion to make; proportionable to the Room you design it for; It ought to be railed round, and this Rail or Ledge a little swelled or stufft with fine Flox or Cotton, that may yield to the Ball when struck against it, and expedites rather than deads the Flight of the Ball; though that happens according to the Violence of the Stroke or Push: The Superficies of the Table ought to be covered with Green fine Cloath, clean and free from Knots: The Board must be levelled as exactly as is possible for the Eye and Hand of the most curious Joyner to Level, to the end your Ball may run true upon any part of the Table, without leaning or declining to any side of it: I must confess I do believe there are few have been so careful in this last thing, as they ought, because they have not timely foreseen, if the Boards, whereof the Table is made, be well-seasoned, and not subject to Warp, and that the Floor whereon it stands be even and level; so that through the Ill-seasonedness of the one, or Unevennes of the other, as likewise in time by the weight of the Table, and the Gamesters yielding and giving way, there are very few found true. And indeed without a Table be exactly true, a good Gamester can never shew the Excellency of his Skill and Art, but a very Bungler sometimes, by being well acquainted with the Turnings and Windings of a false Table, may beat a good Gamester with great vexation and shame, who otherwise would have given him any odds whatsoever. Therefore let me tell you, it will conduce as much to the Interest of the Master of the House, where a Billiard Table is kept, to see that it be well and truly levelled and kept, as it does to the Pleasure and satisfaction of a good Gamester, whose Skill is best seen and exhibited on such Tables, and never comes unattended with Company and Profit to the House, by his Recommendation he gives abroad of it. And now let us proceed to the rest of its parts, and fit it for our Play; and then let’s to’t as you list.
2. The four Corners of the Table must be furnished with four Holes, and exactly in the middle of each side one Hole, and these Holes must be hung at the bottoms with Nets, Which Holes are named Hazards, because if either by Skill or Chance one Gamester strikes anothers Ball into these Holes, or Hazards, as we will now call them, he wins One; the Nets are made to receive the Ball, and keep them from falling to the Ground when hazarded; and indeed is a very commendable way, far better than Wooden Boxes which some use, these being apt to let a Ball to fly out again, when they are struck in by a stiff stroke, whereas the Nets keep them safe, and makes it impossible for them to rebound.
3dly. The other Utensils and Instruments belonging to this first part of our Observations of the Billiard Table, are 1. An Ivory Port, this must be placed at one end of the Table. 2. An Ivory King, which must stand at the other end. 3. Two Ivory Balls, which must be compleatly round, or no good proof of your Play can be expected. 4. and Lastly, Two Sticks made of Brasile, Lignum-Vitæ, or some other weighty Wood, to make them heavy, and at the broad end tipt with Ivory: And be sure to observe narrowly, if the Heads be tight and fast, for if they should be loose you will never strike a smart stroke; and therefore if you fear this Defect, see if your stroke be hollow and dead, and your Ball run faintly, these are infallible Tokens that your Play will come to nothing without a fresh supply of other Sticks, or the heads of these fixt.
Thus much for the Table, and all the other Implements belonging to it, which are necessary for our first Enquiry for the right understanding of this Game, I come next to those Rules and Measures which are to be observed for the rendring one a Gamester at this gentile Game.
Secondly, This Game in its Number is, according to the Place and Time, when and where it is play’d; for in Gentlemens Houses they do not oblige themselves to a certain Number, but make as many as they please to admit up without any Restriction: But in Houses where part of their Subsistence has a Dependance upon a Billiard Table, the Game is Five by Day-light or Seven, if odds be given, and Three by Candle-light, or more, as the Rule of the House is. Now then having agreed upon what number we play, let us learn next how to manage our Game skillfully and with Art, and this we may understand by these following Rules.
1. Let us know who must lead, which thus is resolved: You must stand on the one side of the Table opposite to the (so called) King, with your Ball laid near the Cushion, and your Adversary on the other placed in the like posture; and thus He of the two, that comes nearest the King, leads first.
2ly. Having gotten the Lead, have a Care how you strike your Ball, that at the first stroke you touch not with your Ball the end of the Table, leading from the King to the Port, for if you touch it you lose One, as you shall observe hereafter in the Orders. But after the first Stroke you need not fear doing it: And you Leader be sure to lead so, that you may be in a possibility of passing the Port the next Stroke; or else to lye so cunningly, that you may probably hazard your Adversaries Ball the very Stroke you play after him.
3ly. Generally the first Contest is who shall pass first the Port, and herein much Pains is taken, and all the Art and Cunning possible used to do it, and sometimes, nay frequently, an Opportunity of a Hazard ends the Controversy: Sundry and various, as well as very pleasant, are the Policies and Tricks which are here used to obstruct each others Pass, as; By turning the Port by a strong clever stroke (the Sticks turning it, it is nothing, but to set aright again is the amends, though some would have the severity of the Orders inflicted on such an Offence by the Loss of One:) Next by laying your Ball (when you see it impossible to pass) in the Port, or before your Adversaries Ball, for then let him do his utmost, he must Pass after you; if he has Past first, and you dare not venture to follow him, as fearing he should in the mean time touch the King, and so carry away the End; then you must wait upon him, and watch every Opportunity how you may hazard, or king him: Kinging of him is, when his Ball lyes in so advantageous a manner, as that if you strike his Ball, he must inevitably strike down the King, then you win, and prevent the Loss of that End: But with this Caution however, That you be careful how you strike, for if you do king him, and your Ball happens to fly over the Table, or into a Hazard, you shall lose One notwithstanding you have King’d him; and therefore a skillful Precaution must ever be had in this, and he that would prevent any such Chance, must
4ly. Have a curious Eye, and a good Judgment, to take and quarter just so much of the Ball, that when he intends either to King or Hazard his Adversaries Ball, he may with Facility & Dexterity effect either. Which Observation must be noted, in passing on your Antagonists Ball, or corner of the Port: And indeed some are curious Effectors of this part of the Recreation, who with less than a fifth part of a Ball, will rarely miss a King or Hazard; which I must confess is an excellent part of a compleat Gamester in this Sport.