Piluris-the Fives of the Romans, as described by Seneca-there would seem to have been required an immense amount of energy; as the players were not encumbered with the least particle of dress! In our degenerate days such a style would scarcely be accepted; though certainly our gallant oarsmen, cricketers, and athletes, go as nearly as possible to the costume once fashionable in the Garden of Eden!

So much for Lawn Tennis, Badminton, Racquets, Fives, and Croquet. Several minor ball-games seem to have sprung from, or to be allied to them; just as Rounders, Base-ball, Trap - bat-and-ball, Golf, and Northern Spell run side by side, and more or less resemble Cricket.

NURR AND SPELL

seems of what we may call the outdoor games of our ancestors, to have been least affected by change. What it was in the primitive days, it is now-a simple contest between two or more players, as to which of them can strike a ball the greatest distance in a given number of strokes. It is played with a bat, a ball, and a kind of trap, or spring of steel for raising the ball in the air. As the ball rises it is struck by the player, and the length of each stroke is measured by a cord marked off in yards, feet, and inches.

On the Yorkshire and Northumberland moors, and generally throughout the North of England, Nurr (or as some incorrectly write it, Knur) and Spell is a favourite pastime. Originally the trap was a slip of wood, one end of which lay in a depression of the ground. On this end was placed the ball, which the player raised by tapping at the other end, and then struck at with a stick or broad-ended bat. At Dewsbury, Batley, Newcastle, and other places, an iron trap is now commonly used; balls of boxwood, or baked pot-clay are used, and regular rules are observed for the conduct of the game.

In the most thoroughly-played games the ground is marked off in divisions, by little sticks placed twenty yards apart. These sticks are called Bobs, and when the ground is completely marked off it presents an appearance something like the diagram on next page.

Each Bob is twenty yards distant from its neighbour upward.

Each player has five rises, or strokes, and counts one point for every twenty yards to which the ball is struck.

Two hundred yards is considered a fine distance.

Should the ball split a new one is allowed. When the ball falls between the Bobs the distance is measured from the Bob nearest to

the player's trap. If struck out of the line of Bobs, the player may have another try, but the distance is first measured.

Unless previously agreed to, a change of wind does not affect the score; the player who makes the greatest distance within the allotted number of rises, winning the game.. Although the name of the game is clearly enough of Anglo-Saxon origin, and means Game of the North Northern Spell, or Northern Speil-some clever people have attempted to prove that the Knur or Nurr, means a knotty or knarled piece of wood; and spell means to spill or cast off; and hence have severally called the ball and the trap the Knur and the Spell! What will not clever people do?

On the Newcastle Town Moor and at other places in the Northerns, they have a game which may be considered a sort of first-cousin to Nurr and Spell. It is called

BOWLING.

The game-which must not be confounded with Bowls-from which it is entirely dis

tinct, is of very ancient origin. It consists simply of bowling a ball along the ground, the player who goes the greatest distance within a certain agreed number of tries winning the game.

The bowl or ball is of potshare, or potsherd-the crucible in which glass is melted -and weighs from a few ounces to three pounds, according to agreement. Any number of players may join in the game. The leader begins by bowling his ball as far into the field as he can, and the other players follow alternately. The first player may make an upward cast, but all the succeeding throws must be made underhand along the ground. A piece of tape or a straight stick -called in Northumberland a "trig"--is used for measuring the distances; and as each player completes his bowl, he follows to the place to which it goes, no matter the nature of the ground to traverse. In those regions it is sometimes soft and muddy! If the bowl happens to fall into a bog or ditch, a fresh throw may be taken from his last trig, or stopping place. The player must not take a run, but throw from a standing position. A small indent for the thumb of the player is usually made in the bowl.

I am not aware of the game having been played in the south of England, but in Corn