THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



67 



Would any one think, on perusing the Antiquary, 

 that the " I" in this quotation was the erudite curator of 

 the Hartley Institution, and not a literary hack 

 who is trading upon other people's brains ? 



ST. BONIFACE. 



The Western Antiquary for February-March 

 (double number) contains an article by the Rev. H. 

 Barter, on St. Boniface and his shrine at Fulda. Boni- 

 face, or Winifrid of Crediton, as he was first known, 

 was educated at the monastic school of Nutschalling, 

 near Southampton, of which he became rector and 

 subsequently Abbot. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.. R.E. Lat. 50 

 54' 59" N.; long, i" 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



* Black bulb in vacuo. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, April 12, 16 



OLD WINCHESTER HILL. 



" Old Winchester" is a British oppidum, and has 

 no connection whatever with Winchester. In one of 

 the more recent volumes of the British Archaeological 

 Association I have fully described it, and to that I 

 refer your correspondent. c RQACH SMITH . 



AN OLD HAMPSHIRE CRICKET CLUB. 

 " Tuesday last, after two days' sport, ended the 

 grand cricket match at Guildford, between the Hamp- 

 shire lads, known by the name of the Hambledon 



Club, and eleven picked men from different counties, 

 when the former were beat by very considerable 

 odds. The Hambledon Club were reckoned the best 

 cricket players in England, and were never beat 

 before. Several thousand pounds were won and lost 

 on this occasion.'' The Salisbury Journal, Monday, 

 August 19, 1771. 



" We hear the Gentlemen of the Hambledon Club 

 have made two great cricket matches with the Buke 

 of Dorset and Sir Horace Mann for 500 guineas, on 

 the following terms : the Earl of Tankerville, with 

 ten Hampshire men, against any eleven in England ; 

 the first match to be played on Stoke Down, near the 

 Grainge, Hants ; the second at Seven-Oaks Vine. 

 The particulars of the match on Stoke Down will be 

 advertised in due time in this paper." The Salisbury 

 and Winchester Journal, May 24, 1779. 



The Rev. Canon Benham, who is a native of West 

 Meon, has contributed to the Newbery House Maga- 

 zine for April some very interesting and chatty 

 " Easter memories," chiefly of cricket in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Hambledon. But the Hambledon Club 

 of his youth was not the famous club, which broke up 

 in 1825, and which towards the close of the eighteenth 

 century several times defeated all England. The 

 Hambledon players, as old pictures show them, had 

 a uniform comprising knee breeches, buckled shoes 

 and a velvet cap. The beginning of cricket is in Mr. 

 Benham's memory indissolubly connected with Good 

 Friday, and he draws a pretty picture of the players 

 going to church on Sunday afternoon dressed in their 

 best, depositing their bats and stumps in the belfry 

 till afternoon service was over, and then, with the 

 parson and their sweethearts, adjourning to the field. 

 But a stricter Sabbatarian spirit has arisen, and play 

 on Good Fridays and Sundays is no longer known. 

 Nor is this all. For Canon Benham is of opinion that 

 " cricket is not so much cultivated as of yore ; volun- 

 teering and bicycling have both given it heavy 

 blows." It is a pleasant picture of the past that he 

 gives us, and we can hardly wonder that he looks 

 back upon it with a sigh. 



DEATH OF THE NEW FOREST HISTORIAN. 

 There passed away at Lyndhurst on Thursday 

 morning week, at the age of 60, a gentleman who was 

 well known in the New Forest some years ago, namely. 

 Mr. John R. Wise, author of the well-known work on 

 "The New Forest: its History and its Scenery. " 

 Anyone who has read this book, which is 

 considered a standard work on the Forest, will 

 appreciate Mr. Wise's love of the woodland, 

 glades and dells of this great public demesne, 

 and will not wonder at his coming to reside 

 in the midst of the scene of his literary labours to die. 

 He has been staying in the village for the past six 

 months, and lately underwent an operation from the 

 effects of which he never recovered. The funeral took 

 place at Lyndhurst on Saturday. 



