SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Same Day. 



A footrace for a hat, by lads not exceeding 1 6 years 

 of age, three to start, or no race. 



Tuesday. 



A Jackass race for a purse of gold value ^^50 — the 

 best of heats : each to carry a feather — the racers to 

 be shewn in the bull ring at 12, and to start at 2. 

 Nothing to be paid for entrance, but bringers of each 

 steed to have a good dinner gratis, and a quart of 

 strong ale to moisten his clay. 



Same Day. 



A footrace for a hat by lads that have never won a 

 hat for a prize before Monday ; three to start or no 

 race. 



Same Day. 



An apple dumpling eating by ladies and gentlemen 

 of all ages. The person who finishes repast first to 

 have 5^., the second 2S., third, is. 



Wednesday. 



A pony race by tits not to exceed 1 2 hands high, 

 for a cup value ^50 — the best of heats, three to 

 start or no race. 



Same Day. 



A footrace for a hat value l os. 6d. by men of every 

 description ; three to start or no race. 



Same Day. 



A race for a good hoUand smock by ladies of all 

 ages — The second best to have a handsome satin 

 riband ; three to start or no race. 



Thursday. 

 A game at prison bars. 



Also 



A grinning match thro' a collar for a piece of fat 

 bacon — no crabs to be used on this occasion. 



Same Day. 



A young pig will be turned out, with its ears and 

 tail well soaped. The first person catching and 

 holding him by either will be entitled to same. 



Smoking matches by ladies and gentlemen of all 

 ages. 



To conclude with a grand fiddling match by all 

 fiddlers that attend the Wake, for a purse of silver. 



A note adds that there were several small 

 trees from which the ladies and gentlemen could 

 watch the bull baiting in safety. 



Golf is played a great deal, and although the 

 Royal Liverpool Golf Club has its links in 

 Cheshire at Hoylake, yet Lancashire can boast 

 of being the second club in England to have 

 made sea-side links,* and Hoylake is now reckoned 

 to be the premier course in England. Among 

 other noted clubs are Lytham and St, Annes, 

 Formby, Preston, and Manchester. 



Another game which Lancashire favours is 

 Lacrosse. This game is still in its infancy in 

 England, and until the great public schools take 

 it up — which might be easily done in the Lent 

 term — it will never become a national game, 

 though perhaps the visit of the Canadian team 

 in 1907 will give it a start. 



It is interesting to recall that The Book of 

 Sports, published in 1618 by order of James I, 

 was written chiefly on account of the people 

 of Lancashire, as may be seen from the follow- 

 ing extract : ' — On Sunday, 1 6 August, 1 6 1 7, 

 the king being at Hoghton, a petition was pre- 

 sented to the king signed principally by Lanca- 

 shire peasants, tradespeople, and servants, repre- 

 senting that they were debarred from lawful 

 recreation on Sunday until after evening prayer, 

 and upon holy days, and praying that the restric- 

 tions might be withdrawn. The king assented, 

 and in the following year the bishops were 

 ordered to cause this Book of Sports to be read 

 and published in all parish churches, of their 

 respective dioceses, on pain of punishment. 



HUNTING 



In the olden days the north and north-east 

 parts of the county of Lancaster were covered 

 with vast forests. In these forests all kinds of 

 game existed, but as the population of the 

 county increased these forests were cleared, and 

 the beasts in them destroyed, and now only in 

 the direction of Clitheroe does the wild deer 

 remain. 



It is strange but true that there is not a 

 single pack of foxhounds whose kennels are in 

 Lancashire, though Mr. Gerard's staghounds 



* The Royal North Devon was the first to do so 

 at Westward Ho ! 



occasionally hunt fox. There are three packs 

 of staghounds, and eight of harriers ; there is 

 also one pack of beagles. 



The relatively large number of harriers is due 

 to the fact that Lancashire is such a wonderful 

 county for hares. The diflSculty as a rule is 

 not to find a hare, but to kill her, as the pack so 

 frequently after running their hare change on to 

 a fresh one. The record of the Rochdale 

 harriers in the season or 1 896-7 of having 

 killed 133 hares with meets on only two days a 

 week is therefore exceptionally good. 



' Baines, Hist, of County Palatine (1836). 



469 



