silver groat. The
broad shilling of Edward VI. came afterwards to be used in this game,
which was, no doubt, the same as shovel-board, with the exception that
the latter was on a larger scale. Master Slender, in the "Merry Wives of
Windsor" (i. 1), had his pocket picked of "two Edward shovel-boards,
that cost me two shilling and two pence a-piece." Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps,
in describing the game in his "Archaic Dictionary," says that "a shilling
or other smooth coin was placed on the extreme edge of the shovel-board,
and propelled towards a mark by a smart stroke with the palm of the
hand." It is mentioned under various names, according to the coin
employed, as shove-groat,[816] etc. The game of shove-halfpenny is
mentioned in the _Times_ of April 25, 1845, as then played by the lower
orders. According to Strutt, it "was analogous to the modern pastime
called Justice Jervis, or Jarvis, which is confined to common
pot-houses."

[816] According to Douce, "Illustrations of Shakespeare" (1839,
p. 280), it was known as "slide-groat," "slide-board,"
"slide-thrift," and "slip-thrift." See Strutt's "Sports and
Pastimes," 1876, pp. 16, 394, 398; Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii.
p. 791; Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. p. 441.

_Snowballs._ These are alluded to in "Pericles" (iv. 6), and in the
"Merry Wives of Windsor" (iii. 5).

_Span-counter._ In this boyish game one throws a counter, or piece of
money, which the other wins, if he can throw another so as to hit it, or
lie within a span of it. In "2 Henry VI." (iv. 2), Cade says: "Tell the
king from me, that, for his father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose
time boys went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he shall
reign." It is called in France "tapper;" and in Swift's time was played
with farthings, as he calls it "span-farthing."[817]

[817] See Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," 1876, p. 491.

_Stool-ball._ This game, alluded to in the "Two Noble Kinsmen" (v. 2),
was formerly popular among young women, and occasionally was played by
persons of both sexes indiscriminately, as the following lines, from a
song written by Durfey for his play of "Don Quixote," acted at Dorset
Gardens, in 1694, show:[818]

"Down in a vale on a summer's day,
All the lads and lasses met to be merry;
A match for kisses at stool-ball to play,
And for cakes, and ale, and sider, and perry.

_Chorus_--Come all, great, small, short, tall,