THE VILLAGE CRICKET CLUB. 301 



liant batters and that he was both deaf and 

 dumb ! ! 



6 During the vacation at Cambridge, a young 

 friend of Mr. Browne's used to join us, whom 

 we admitted as an honorary member of the club. 

 His name was Frederick Collier; he was a very 

 gentlemanly clever person, and a fair player, though 

 a little nervous : but he was too much the scientific 

 student, and endeavoured to bring a practical game 

 within the rules of geometrical accuracy. Often 

 have I smiled, and am afraid more than smiled, 

 when sitting down by my side, waiting his turn of 

 going in, he would take out his silver pencil and 

 tablets, and proceed to show me how impossible it 

 was, by the infallible rules of science, that he ever 

 should be bowled out. He would draw diagrams of 

 the angles of incidence and reflexion : shew the exact 

 angle at which the ball should be met ; the allow- 

 ance for the fore-shortening of the advancing bat ; 

 the exact length which he could cover in a forward 

 drive ; or if he played back, he would compare the 

 time which at such a speed, a ball would pass a cer- 

 tain space, with the time required for the descent of 

 his bat to arrest its progress. This he used to do 

 most neatly and ingeniously, and I fancied at first, 

 that we had discovered the Archimedes of cricket. 

 Then he would calculate the exact increase of mus- 

 cular exertion requisite for every additional ounce 

 to the weight of a bat, taking two pounds six ounces 



