FIVES.
It is impossible to play at this excellent game unless there be a high wall, free from abutments, and a smooth, dry, paved ground before it. When this can be procured, a line is drawn on the wall, about 38 inches from the ground; another line is drawn on the ground, about 10 feet from the wall, A; and two others are drawn on each side as boundaries, B C. The instruments used in the play are a ball of tightly-sewn leather and a fives-bat. It has a long handle, and an oval bowl of wood. The ball is hard, rebounding, small, and white. The game may be played by two or four people; in the last case, two on each side. The method of play is as follows:—The game may be played either single-handed or with partners. When it is played with partners, the players toss up for innings. The first player takes the ball, and strikes it against the wall with his bat above the line on the wall, and so that it may fall without the line on the ground. The other then strikes it, and the players continue to hit it against the wall, either before it comes to the ground or at the first bounce, until one of them missing it, or driving it out of bounds, or beneath the wall-line, loses or goes out. Of course the ball may fall anywhere within the side boundaries, after being once struck up by the player who is in. The game is usually fifteen, but is sometimes extended to twenty-five. The game above described is that known as bat-fives, and differs little from the game of rackets, except that it may be played in any open court, and that a differently-shaped bat and a larger ball are employed. Fives was originally played with the hand, instead of a racket, and in the fourteenth century was called Hand Tennis in England, and in France, Palm Play. It is said to have obtained the name of Fives, from ten of the Earl of Hertford’s servants having played before Queen Elizabeth, five of a side; but more probably on account of the five fingers of the hand. This game of “hand-fives” is the one ordinarily played by boys, and known technically as “fives.” The ball is hit against the wall entirely by the hand, and no bat of any description is used. The game may be played by two or more people, and is usually fifteen. Players with tender hands usually play with an ordinary kid or padded glove, either of which is quite admissible. There are variations of the game at different schools, owing to peculiarities in the shape of the courts. At Eton, for instance, a buttress of the chapel abuts into the court, and the Eton courts at Oxford are made on a similar plan. But the game as ordinarily played is that as described above.
FOOT-BALL.
Uncertain as to the date of its origin, there is no English game which is at once so popular and about which so much difference of opinion exists. All agree as to its manly character, its capabilities for endurance, activity, hardihood, and strategical skill, but there are very few who agree entirely as to the rules by which the game should be played.
In ancient records there is no mention of the game before the reign of Edward III.; and at that period it seems to have been so popular that by royal edict it was put down, as being antagonistic to the royal amusement of archery. But that it flourished, and flourished considerably, beyond that date, there is no doubt. In many market-towns of England and Scotland, and notably in that of Kingston-on-Thames, all business is suspended on Shrove Tuesday, and a great game of foot-ball is played in the market-place. All is officially conducted, and the mayor is honoured with the privilege of “kick-off.”
It would seem a pity at first sight that there is no authority like that of the Marylebone Club to revise the laws of foot-ball and insist upon their being observed in all places where the game is played. Foot-ball as now constituted is not, and cannot be, a national game. There are hardly two schools in England that agree in its first principles, and that are not continually wrangling and disputing as to how the game should be played. To touch the ball with the hands is in some eyes a heresy, and in others an uncommon virtue. Some schools advocate running with the ball, while others consider such licence as antagonistic to the proper principles and well-being of the game. And, indeed, looking round at the various head-quarters of foot-ball in England, it really does seem a difficult matter to reconcile the games as now played so as to suit all tastes. Rugby and Eton foot-ball can hardly be looked upon as the same game.