68 MR HARDY ON BOWLING. 



lightened opinion by the mixture of dross that debases their more g;c- 

 norous qualities. Others, again, however important in the estimation 

 of the "rude forefathers of the hamlet," have been regarded as trifling, 

 degrading, and destitute of intrinsic worth, by their censorious or better 

 informed posterity. The sports of childhood are no longer relished ; 

 the vigour and bolder impulses of maturing manhood are beginning to 

 be experienced. 



" Nimirum sapere est, abjectis utile nugis, 

 Et tempestivum pueris concedere ludum." 



From these combined influences it has resulted, that such a depreciation 

 has befallen all robust exercises, that they lie very much under the dan- 

 ger of indiscriminate proscription by the sober part of the community, 

 as nuisances to society. It is principally owing to the operation of this 

 spirit, that beyond the games of foot-ball and curling,* and an occasional 

 exhibition of strength, Berwickshire can at present boast few relics of 

 the gymnastic feats of antiquity. To the rapidity with which the cus- 

 toms and sports of a date by no means distant are hastening into obli- 

 vion, it is, that witnessing the ^ew faint vestiges one of them has left, 

 I have been led to inquire, how came these things here ? 



And in the dim outline and indistinct picture of the past, trace we no 

 heralds of admonition, as to the vanity of earthly ambitions, and the 

 fleeting destiny of aims directed to matters of brief moment ? The exist- 

 ence of the generation gone by, slumbers in the memory of their suc- 

 cessorsj in a forgetfulness as dark and undefined as do the filmy uncer- 

 tain records of their deeds and most vaunted exploits. A few transi- 

 tory lineaments, and a track of shivered fragments, alone survive the 

 wreck of an age. The rest are " tossed upon the waves of time."f " Our 

 fathers find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how 

 we may be buried in our survivors." J "Nihil rerum mortalium tam 



instabile ac fluxum est, quam fama non sua vi nixa." — Taciti An- 



nal. Lib. xiii. 19. 



* This, " auld Scotia's manly game," has now, as far as Berwickshire is concerned, 

 met the fate of all perishable things. The last contest, attended with all the ancient 

 ceremonial, took place in 1810. Several attempts have been since made to revive it by 

 those who have joined the " roaring play," while " warmed with youth's blood in their 

 swelling veins" — but with ineffectual effort. The lapse of time had impaired many 

 of its venerable usages, and the light of other days had vanished never more to burn. 



t Lord Bacon. X ^'^ Thomas Browne. 



