a narrow inclosure at nine-pins upon a square frame. They have been succeeded by the American bowling alley, sometimes in the cellar of the tavern.

Bowling-street, Westminster, commemorates the spot where the members of the Convent of St. Peter amused themselves at bowls. We have also Bowling-street in Marylebone and Turnmill-street; Bowling-green-lane in Clerkenwell and Southwark; Bowling-green-buildings, Bryanston-square; and Bowling-green-walk at Hoxton.

CARD-PLAYING would appear to have become early a favourite pastime with the Londoners; for in 1643 a law was passed on a petition of the cardmakers of the City, prohibiting the importation of playing-cards. It was a very fashionable Court amusement in the reign of Henry VII.; and so general, that it became necessary to prohibit by law apprentices from using cards, except in the Christmas holydays, and then only in their masters' houses. Agreeable to this privilege, Stow, speaking of the customs at London, says: "From Allhallow-eve to the day following Candlemas-day, there was, among other sports, playing at cards, for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gayne." Basset was a fashionable card-game at the end of the 17th century; and Basset-tokens are preserved :

"Who the bowl or rattling dice compares

To Basset's heavenly joys and pleasing cares?"-Pope's Eclogue-Basset-table. Whist, in its present state, was not played till about 1730, when it was much studied by a set of gentlemen at the Crown Coffee-house in Bedford-row. Gaming in public was formerly a royal pastime at Christmas: George I. and George II. played, on certain days, at hazard, at the Groom-porter's, in St. James's Palace; and this was continued some time in the reign of George III. The name of "hells," applied in our day to gambling-houses, originated in the room in St. James's Palace formerly appropriated to hazard being remarkably dark, and on that account called "hell.” (Theodore Hook.) A few years ago there were more of those infamous places of resort in London than in any other city in the world. The handsome gas-lamp and the green or red baize door at the end of the passage were conspicuous in the vicinity of St. James's; and of St. George's, Hanover-square; and the moral nuisances still linger about St. James's parish and Leicester-square.

COCK-FIGHTING was a London pastime 1190, and very fashionable from the reign of Edward III. almost to our time. Henry VIII. added a cock-pit to Whitehall Palace, where James I. went to see the sport twice a week; this pit being upon the site of the present Privy Council Office: hence the Cockpit Gate, built by Holbein, across the road at Whitehall. Besides this Royal Cockpit, there was formerly a Cockpit in Drury-lane, now corrupted to Pitt-place, and there was the Cockpit or Phoenix Theatre. There were other Cockpits, in Jewin-street, Cripplegate, Tufton-street, whence the Cockpit Yards there; another in Shoe-lane, temp. James I., whence Cockpit-court in that neighbourhood; and another noted Cockpit was "behind Gray's Inn." Hogarth's print best illustrates the brutal refinement of the Cock-fighting of the last century; and the barbarous sport was, we believe, last encouraged at Westminster, not far distant from the spot, where in kindred pastime, Royalty relieved the weighty cares of State. The famous Westminster cock-pit was in Park-street. Cock-fighting is now forbidden and punishable by statute.

CRICKET is stated to have been played at Finsbury, in the Royal Artillery Ground, before the year 1746. Some thirty years later, in 1774, a committee of noblemen and gentlemen was formed, under the presidency of Sir William Draper; they met at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall, and laid down the first rules of Cricket, which rules form the basis of the laws of Cricket to this day. The next great step was the establishment of the White Conduit Club, in the year 1799; and among its members, in addition to the before-named patron of the game, we find the names of Lord Winchilsea, Lord Strathaven, and Sir P. Burrell. Their place of meeting was still the Star and Garter, and their Ground was in White Conduit-fields. One of the attendants, Thomas Lord, was persuaded to take a ground; and under the patronage of the old White Conduit Club, a new club, called the Marylebone Club, was formed at "Lord's Cricket Ground," which was the site of the present Dorset-square. Lord's Ground is now in St. John's

wood-road, and is about 74 acres in extent, and devoted almost exclusively, in May, June, and July, to the matches and practice of the Marylebone Club; at the annual meeting, early in May, the Laws of Cricket are revised, and matches for the season arranged. Attached to Lord's Ground are a Tennis Court and Baths. Here is an old painting of the game, in which the bat has the bend of the club, which, it is thought, denotes Cricket to have been a gradual improvement of the Club and Ball. Amongst the other principal Cricket-grounds are the Oval (larger than Lord's) at Kennington: the Royal Artillery Ground, Finsbury, is, perhaps, the oldest ground in London; for here a match was played between Kent and All England in 1746. There was formerly a ground in Copenhagen-fields; there is one at the Brecknock Arms, Camdentown; at Brixton, near the church; the Middlesex County, Islington Cattle Market, Tufnell Park, Highbury; Victoria Park, Battersea Park; Rosemary Branch, Peckham ; Crystal Palace, Sydenham; Sluice House, Hornsey; Primrose Hill; Vincent-square, Westminster; and at Bow, Millwall, and Putney. Of the younger London clubs is the Civil Service, consisting exclusively of members of the Civil Service.

DUCK-HUNTING with dogs was a barbarous pastime of the last century in the neighbourhood of London, happily put an end to by the want of ponds of water. St. George's Fields was a notorious place for this sport; hence the infamous Dog and Duck Tavern and Tea Gardens, from a noted dog which hunted ducks on a sheet of water there: Hannah More makes it a favourite resort of her Cheapside Apprentice. The premises were afterwards let to the School for the Indigent Blind, and were taken down in 1812, when Bethlem Hospital was built upon the site; in its front wall is preserved the original sign-stone of the tavern-a dog with a duck thrown across its back. Ingenious lesson this-in setting up a memorial of profligacy and cruelty upon a site devoted to the restoration of reason! Duck-hunting was also one of the low sports of the butchers of Shepherd's Market, at May Fair, where, to this day, is a spot known as the "duck-hunting pond;" and within memory, on the site of Hertfordstreet, was the Dog and Duck publichouse, with its ducking-pond, boarded up kneehigh and shaded by willows.

EQUESTRIANISM appears to have been a favourite amusement with the Londoners for more than a century past. One of the first performers was Thomas Johnson, who exhibited in a field behind the Three Hats, at Islington, in 1758; he was succeeded by one Sampson, in 1767, whose wife was the first female equestrian performer in England. In the same year, rode one Price at D'Aubigny's, or Dobney's Gardens, nearly opposite the Belvedere Tavern, Pentonville, and where Wildman exhibited his docile bees, in 1772; the site is at this day marked by Dobney's-place.

About this time Hughes established himself in St. George's Fields, and Astley in Westminster-bridge-road; the latter was succeeded by Ducrow and Batty. Horses in England were taught dancing as early as the 13th century; but the first mention of feats on horseback occurs in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VIII.

FAIRS.-The three great Fairs of old London belonged, in Catholic times, to the heads of religious houses: Westminster to its abbot; and St. Bartholomew and Southwark (or St. Mary Overie, as it is oftener called), to the Priors of those monasteries. Westminster, or St. Edward's Fair (held on that Saint's Day), was commanded by proclamation of Edward III., in 1248; it was first held in St. Margaret's churchyard, and then was removed to Tothill-fields, where the Fair continued to be held, but of considerably less extent, so lately as 1823.

Two Fairs were held in Smithfield at Bartholomew-tide: that within the Priory precincts was one of the great Cloth Fairs of England: the other, Bartholomew Fair, was held in the Field, and granted to the City of London, for cattle and goods. The latter was proclaimed, for the last time, in the year 1855.

Southwark Fair was held on St. Margaret's-hill, on the day after Bartholomew Fair; and was by charter limited to three days, but usually lasted fourteen. Evelyn records among its wonders, monkeys and asses dancing on the tight rope; and the tricks of an Italian wench, whom all the Court went to see. Pepys tells of its puppet-shows, especially that of Whittington; and of Jacob Hall's dancing on the ropes. The Fair was suppressed in 1762; but it lives in one of Hogarth's prints.

St. James's Fair, held in the month of May, in Brook Field, acquired the name of "May Fair." It was abolished in 1709; but was revived, and was not finally sup pressed until late in the reign of George III. It gave the fashionable quarter in which it was held the name of May Fair; and the Brook to Brook-street.

FIREWORKS, for pastime, are rarely spoken of previous to the reign of Elizabeth; when the foyste, or galley, with a great red dragon, and "wilde men casting of fire," accompanied the Lord Mayor's barge upon the Thames. A writer in the reign of James I. assures us there were then "abiding in the City of London men very skilful in the art of pyrotechnie, or of fireworkes;" which were principally displayed by persons fantastically dressed, and called Green Men. In the last century, the train of Artillery displayed annually a grand firework upon Tower-hill on the evening of his Majesty's birthday. Fireworks were exhibited regularly at Marybone Gardens and at Ranelagh; not at Vauxhall until 1798, and then but occasionally. At Bermondsey Spa, and various tea-gardens, they were also displayed, but in inferior style. Fireworks were first exhibited at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, in illustration of picture-models; and similar galas at Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea, have been very successful.

There have been some grand Firework displays at the Government expense: as in the Green Park at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748; and on August 1, 1814, in celebration of the general Peace, and the Centenary of the accession of the Brunswick family to the British throne, these fireworks being by Sir William Congreve, of rocket celebrity. There have been similar firework galas in Hyde Park at coronations and Peace celebrations. At the coronation of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide, Sept. 1831, the amount expended for fireworks, and for keeping open the public theatres, was 30347. 18s. 7d.

FOOTBALL was played in the twelfth century by the youth of the City in the fields; and five centuries later, we find football players in Cheapside, Covent Garden, and the Strand; Moorfields and Lincoln's Inn Fields. There is an old print of football play in Fleet-street.

HUNTING." The Common Hunt" dates from a charter granted by Henry I. to the citizens to "have chaces, and hunts:" and Strype, so late as the reign of George I., reckons among the modern amusements of the Londoners "riding on horseback, and hunting with my Lord Mayor's hounds, when the Common Hunt goes out." The Epping Hunt was appointed from a similar charter granted to the citizens. Strype describes a visitation of the Lord Mayor Harper, and other civic authorities, to the Tyburn Conduits, in 1562, when "afore dinner they hunted the hare and killed her," at the end of St. Giles's, with great hallooing and blowing of horns. Much later, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen enjoyed this sport on Easter Monday, when a stag was turned out. The kennel for the hounds, and a house adjoining, was rebuilt about 1800. The officer of the Common Hunt has not long been abolished in the Lord Mayor's household; the "hunt" exists but in the verse of Tom D'Urfey, or Thomas Hood.

Poaching was common in the metropolis three centuries since; for, in a proclamation of Henry VIII., 1546 (preserved in the library of the Society of Antiquaries), the King is desirous to have the "Games of Hare, Partridge, Pheasant, and Heron," preserved from Westminster palace to St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, &c.

MASQUERADES were introduced into England from Italy in 1512-13, by Henry VIII. They were frequent among the citizens at the Restoration. In 1717-18, a very splendid masquerade was given at the Opera House by Heidegger, at which there was high play with heaps of guineas. Soon after the bishops preached against these amusements, which led to their suppression, 9 George I., 1723. They were, however, revived, and carried to shameful excess by connivance of the Government, and in direct violation of the laws. During the food-riots, in 1772, there was given at the Pantheon, Oxford-street, a masquerade, in which 10,000 guineas were expended by the revellers in dress and other luxuries: Oliver Goldsmith masqueraded there in "an old English dress." At the Pantheon, in 1783, a masquerade was got up by Delpini, the famous clown, in celebration of the Prince of Wales attaining his majority; tickets, three

guineas each. In the same year Garrick attended a masked fête at the Pantheon as King of the Gipsies. But the most eccentric entrepreneur was Madame Teresa Cornelys, "the Heidegger of the age," who, at Carlisle House, Soho-square, gave masquerades in extravagant style, and was soon ruined. These entertainments were never encouraged by George III., at whose request Foote abstained from giving a masquerade at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket. At Ranelagh they were given occasionally. At the Opera House and Argyle Rooms, masquerades were given; and at Drury-lane and Covent Garden Theatres: towards the close of a masquerade, or masked ball, May 5, 1856, the latter theatre was entirely destroyed by fire.

MAYINGS AND MAY-GAMES were celebrated by "the citizens of London of all estates" with Maypoles and warlike shows, "with good archers, morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime, all day long; and towards evening they had stage-plays and bonfires in the streets." The games were presided over by the Lord and Lady of the May, decorated with scarves, ribbons, and other finery; to which were added Robin Hood and Maid Marian. May-poles were regularly erected in many parts of London on Mayday morning; as in Leadenhall-street, before the south door of St. Andrew's Church, therefore called Under Shaft; this pole being referred to by Chaucer as "the great Shaft of Cornhill:" it was higher than the church-steeple (91 feet). After Evil Mayday, 1517, this pole was, in 1549, sawn into pieces, and burnt as "an idol." Another celebrated Maypole was that placed in the Strand, upon the site of the present church of St. Mary: this pole was 134 feet high, and was set up with great pomp and festivity in 1661; it was broken with a high wind a few years after. Opposite is Maypolealley, at the top of which and over against the gate of Craven House, were the lodgings of Nell Gwyn; and Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his piquant Story of Nell, says :-"This Maypole, long a conspicuous ornament to the West-end of London, rose to a great height above the surrounding houses, and was surmounted by a crown and vane, and the royal arms richly gilded." Stow tells us that this pole was put up by the farrier, Clarges, to commemorate his daughter's good fortune of arriving to the dignity of Duchess of Albemarle, by being married to General Monk, when he was a private gentleman. The Maypole being grown old and damaged, was, in 1717, obtained by Sir Isaac Newton (who then lived in St. Martin's-street, Leicester-fields), and being taken down was carried away to Wanstead, in Essex; there it was placed in Sir Richard Child's park, for raising a telescope, the largest in the world, stated to have belonged to Newton's friend, Mr. Pound, rector of Wanstead, to whom it had been presented by M. Hugon, a French member of the Royal Society. Another famous Maypole stood in Basing-lane: Stow described it as a large fir-pole, which reached to the roof of Gerard's Hall Inn, and was fabled to be the justice-staff of Gerard the giant, of whom a carved wood figure stood by the gate until the demolition of the inn in 1852. There are other places in London which indicate the site of Maypoles: as Maypole-alley, St. Margaret's-hill, Southwark; and Maypole-alley, from the north side of Wych-street into Stanhope-street. In the Beaufoy Collection are two tokens: one Nat. Child, “near y* May poal, in ye Strand, Grocer;" and Philip Complin, “at the Maypole in the Strand, Distiller," and the Maypole, with some small building attached.

THE PARKS had their pastimes upwards of two centuries ago. The French game of Paille-mail (striking a ball with a wooden mallet through an iron ring) was introduced in the reign of Charles I. Skating was first brought into vogue in England on the new canal in St. James's Park: Evelyn enters it, 1st Dec., 1662, "with scheets after the manner of the Hollanders." Pepys records, 10th Aug. 1664, Lords Castlehaven and Arran running down and killing a stout buck in St. James's Park, for a wager, before the King; and Evelyn enters, 19th Feb. 1666-67, a wrestling-match for 10007. in St. James's Park, before his Majesty, a world of lords, and other spectators, 'twixt the western and northern men, when the former won. At this time there were in the

park flocks of wild-fowl breeding about the Decoy, antelopes, an elk, red-deer, roebacks, stags, Guinea fowls, Arabian sheep, &c. and here Charles II. might be seen playing with his dogs and feeding his ducks. Birdcage Walk was named from the aviary established there in the reign of James I., and the decoy made there in tho reign of Charles II.

Hyde Park was formerly much celebrated for its deer-hunts, foot and horse races, musters and coach-races, boxing-matches, and Mayings.

PRISON BARS, OR BASE, is as old as the reign of Edward III., when it was, by proclamation, prohibited to be played in the avenues of the Palace at Westminster during the session of Parliament, from its interruption of the members and others in passing to and fro. About 1780, a grand match at base was played in the fields behind Montagu House, by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable stake.

"PUNCH" has for nearly two centuries delighted the Londoner; there being entries of Punchinello's Booth at Charing-cross, 1666, in the Overseers' Books of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. (Cunningham's Handbook, 2nd edit.) Punch's costume closely resembles the Elizabethan peasecod-bellied doublets. Covent Garden was another of Punch's early "pitches," where Powell's performances thinned the congregation in St. Paul's Church, as we learn from No. 14 of the Spectator; and in 1711-12, he lessened the receipts at the Opera and the national theatres: the showman worked the wires, and "by a thread in one of Punch's chops, gave to him the appearance of animation." Such was the olden contrivance: at present the puppets are played by putting the hand under the dress, and making the middle finger and thumb serve for the arms, while the forefinger works the head. Mr. Windham, when one of the Secretaries of State, on his way from Downing-street to the House of Commons, was seen to stop and enjoy the whimsicalities of Punch.

"We are never ashamed of being caught gazing at Punch," wrote Albert Smith. In 1828, George Cruikshank produced his grotesque etchings of Punch, to illustrate Mr. Payne Collier's very agreeable volume, Punch and Judy. Haydon painted Punch, with Hogarthian humour, in 1829; and Webster, R.A., painted with equal humour "Punch in the Country," in 1810.

Street Shows and Performers have become very numerous in the present day. Such are Punch, Fantoccini, Chinese Shades, and Galantee Shows; jugglers, conjurors, balancers, posturers, stiff tumblers, pole-balancers, salamanders or fire-eaters, and sword and snake followers; street dancers; and performances of trained animals, as dancing dogs, acting birds, and mice. The street musicians include brass and other bands, Ethiopians, farm-yard fiddlers, horse organs, Italian organ-boys, hurdygurdy players, blind and crippled fiddlers, and violoncello and clarionet players. Next are the peepshowmen and the proprietors of giants, dwarves, industrious fleas, alligators, "happy families," and glass ships; together with street telescopes, microscopes, thaumascopes, and weighing, lifting, and measuring machines. Porsini and Pike were celebrated Punch exhibitors; the former is said to have frequently taken 101. a day; but he died in St. Giles' workhouse. A set of Punch figures costs about 15., and the show about 31. The speaking is done by a "call," made of two curved pieces of metal about the size of a knee-buckle, bound together with black thread, and between them is a thin metal plate. Porsini used a trumpet. The present artists maintain that "Punch is exempt from the Police Act." The most profitable performance is that in houses; and Punch's best season is in the spring, and at Christmas and Midsummer: the best "pitches" in London are Leicester-square, Regentstreet (corner of New Burlington-street), Oxford Market, and Belgrave-square. There are sixteen Punch and Judy frames in England, eight of which work in London. Fantoccini are puppets, which, with frame, cost about 101. Chinese Shades consist of a frame like Punch's, with a transparent curtain and movable figures; shown only at night, with much dialogue.-Selected from a Letter by Henry Mayhew; Morning Chronicle, May 16, 1850.

Punch has not, however, been always a mere puppet: for we read of a farce called "Punch turned Schoolmaster;" and in 1841, was commenced "Punch; or, the London Charivari," which under excellent editorship has effected considerable moral service.*

PUPPET-SHOWS were common at the suburban fairs in the early part of the last century; they also competed with the larger theatres, until they were superseded by the revival of Pantomimes. But the Italian Fantoccini was popular early in the present century. The puppet-showman, with his box upon his back, is now rarely seen in the street, but we have the artist of Punch, with his theatre. Clockwork figures appeared early in the last century. In the reign of Queen Anne, a celebrated show of this kind was exhibited at the great house in the Strand over against the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market. A saraband, danced with castanets, and throwing balls and knives alternately into the air and catching them as they fall, with catching oranges upon forks, formed part of the puppet-showman's exhibition.

In a 14th-century manuscript of the French romance of Alexander, in the Bodleian Library, is an illumination of Punch's show, the figures closely resembling the modern Punch and Judy.