, AND PRIZE-FIGHTING--THE
BUTCHER AND THE BARONET, AND OTHER CHAMPIONS.

Among winter recreations skating was hardly known, and not at all as an
amusement for ladies, but then what a glorious pastime was that of
sliding! Very few young people can slide on the ice now as the boy in
1800-20 could do. In summer cricket was played, but, as in all the
multiplied facilities for acquiring skill and knowledge, to-day the
youthful cricketers have the best of tools, while their grandfathers
had a home-made bat, or even a pale, and as for stumps, they generally
grew in the neighbouring hedge till wanted, and the scoring book, in
the form of a notched stick, came from the same quarter! But even at
that time some "grand matches" sometimes came off, and nearly always
for high stakes, as the following notice will show.

The earliest announcement of a grand match in this district, I have met
with, is the following for the year 1771--

"Tuesday, se'n night, a match at Cricket was played between the
gentlemen of Saffron Walden and Stanstead Abbots, for 44 guineas, when
the latter were bungle beat, that is, 51 notches in one innings."

What is the precise meaning which the old chronicler meant to attach to
the phrase "bungle beat" in this instance, I must leave to lovers of
the game to determine for themselves. But it was customary to play for
much higher stakes than the above. Thus, in the memorable year of
scarcity of 1801 when people were longing for the deliverance of
harvest--

"A cricket match was played at Stanstead Marsh, Herts., between 11
gentlemen of Homerton and 11 of Stanstead, for 500 guineas. The
Homerton side won by 15 runs."

Another thing these old cricketers did which may be commended to the
modern clubs--they set about the game as if they meant to finish it.
"Stumps to be pitched at _nine o'clock_" says the announcement of a
fifty-guinea match between Hertford and Hoddesdon in 1812. I have
found no record of a match of this description for high stakes on
Royston Heath, but cricket was undoubtedly played there, especially a
few years later than the above dates.

{131}

Of other forms of sport, the meets of Squire Wortham's harriers were
notable events, and especially on such occasions as "The Little Fair
Day"--the second day of Royston Fair--when they were taken to the top
of the "One Hill" on the Heath, where the meet attracted not only a
large number of the regular followers of the hounds, but a great