296 THE COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. 



' From fruitful A to unproductive Z.' 



Being so near the village, we seldom wanted 

 spectators, and a very pretty sprinkling of the fair 

 sex (for whom we always provided benches) gave 

 a liveliness and animation to the scene and to the 

 spirits of the performers : indeed, Hannah Barnes, 

 the baker's eldest daughter, whose brother was one 

 of our crack hands, could herself handle a bat, not 

 in the stile of the Goodwood lasses in Sussex, but 

 in a manner which showed what she would have 

 done, had she been born to breeches instead of 

 petticoats: I am sure she knew more of the bat 

 than the distaff, and if she was a constant spectator 

 of the game, it was not only to be attributed to her 

 attachment to young Firman, the gardener at the 

 lodge, to whom she is now married, but to her 

 acquaintance with the sport. She had a perfect 

 knowledge of what was a bad hit ; and when her 

 lover spooned a ball up into the air, which was of 

 course caught, he generally walked off to a distant 

 part of the field, till he knew that her laugh had 

 expired. 



4 A good cricket club ought to consist, at least, 

 of 25 or 30 members; as 22, besides umpires, 

 are wanted in the private matches, and an al- 

 lowance must always be made for the absent, 

 or sick. We had about that number, including 

 eight or nine largish boys, whom we were train- 

 ing up, and some of whom were as sharp in the 



