gingerbread baker at Farnham, of the name of Harry Hall....

"He would get in at the balls, and hit them away in a gallant style;
yet, in this single feat, I think I have seen him excelled; but when
he could cut them at the point of the bat he was in his glory; and
upon my life, their speed was as the speed of thought."

[Illustration: _The King's Oak, Tilford._]

When were the great days of Surrey cricket? When Surrey could lend All
England William Beldham, and still win--which they did twice--a Tilford
man might answer. At all events, they were days in which cricketers
lived to heroic ages. Abarrow, who lies at Hambledon over the Hampshire
border, lived to be 88; James Aylward, "rather a bulky man for a
cricketer," was buried close to Lord's ground, aged 86; Barber, who
kept the Bat and Ball on Broad Halfpenny Down, was 71; William Fennex,
at the age of 75, walked ninety miles in three days, carrying an
umbrella, clothes, and three cricket bats (but he died soon after);
William Lambert, almost the greatest of Surrey hitters, and the first
player who ever made two centuries in the same match, died at 72; Lumpy
Stevens, who won L100 for Lord Tankerville by hitting a feather once in
four balls, and lies in Walton churchyard, was 84; John Small, who saved
his life by playing his violin to a ferocious bull, to the "admiration
and perfect satisfaction of the mischievous beast," lived to be 89; Tom
Sueter--"I have never seen a handsomer man than Tom Sueter," wrote
Nyren--lived to be 77; "Shock" White, with his bat as broad as his
stumps, "a short and rather stoutly-made man," was buried at Reigate,
aged 91; Yalden of Chertsey,--he jumped over a fence and then on his
back caught the ball--was 84; and John Wells, buried at Farnham, died at
the age of 76. John Wells shared with "Silver Billy" a curious
distinction. He was Beldham's brother-in-law, and an admiring publican
at Wrecclesham put up a sign to draw thirsty wayfarers to Wrecclesham's
best beer. It was "The Rendezvous of the Celebrated Cricketers, Beldham
and Wells." If it were still standing, it would attract a pilgrimage.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV

WAVERLEY ABBEY AND MOOR PARK

Jonathan Swift, Secretary.--A new Tale of a Tub.--Sir William
Temple, Essayist.--Swift's "Stella."--A heart under a
sundial.--Dorothy Osborne.--Mother Ludlam's Cave--Waverley
Abbey.--Two tons of wine.--Comfort from Cromwell.--A Surrey
Landma