Sketcher. Billiards.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2084, 14 November 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher. Billiards.

"Ln it alone; let's to biU'tarda; cojae, Oharrutan." — Anthony asd CkEorATin. Shakespeare, in thus Fuggestiog that the magnificent Egyptian was familiar with the game of Ramos, most certainly took (all advantage of the license to whioh poett are popularly supposed to be entitled. Billiards had not been invented in her day, nor was the game thought of for many a long day theicafier. It ie indeed one of the more modern of all recreations, having in all probability no greater antiquity than dates back to the sixteenth century. Somewhere about the time that bluff King Hal wa» making matters warm for his wives, and generally playing sad havoa with the moralities, billiards was invented. But to whom the honor ol the creation of the noble game belongs is veiled in doubt. Some authorities contend for its French origin, others for ita English nativity. The best argued contention favors the belief that the game was invented by some stolid Dutchman, and ihat it wai rapidly adopted by all Europe. Johnson, naturally enongh, atoutly contends for its Eoglish birth ; Todd will have it that it was firet evolved from a Gallio brain. Be this as it may be, the iirat description of the game, now extant, is to be found in Cotton's "Complete Gamester," Ifi7t, in which the table upon whioh it was played is said to have neon longer than it is broad, and railed around— the rail or ledge being •' etoffc with fine flox or cotton." The table was level and coverod with green oloth, " the moro free from knots the better." The bad was of oak, and maces, or " masts " as they were called, took the place of our modern cue?. Bui long before the publication of Cotton's work, billiards had beoome n standard game in Europe. There is in existence an old document which runs as follows : — " To Henry Waller, our joyner, for one Bjlliarde boarde cont. Twelve foot long and four foot broade, the frame bsing walnuttre, well wrought, and caured with eight great skeweri and eighteen small 6kewers." This magnificpnt piece of furniture wa« made for His Most Christian Mijesty, King James Ist , and in »U probability Henry Waller was ne-rer paid for its construction. In the Memoiret romplete et «mfh*ntique dv due do St. Simon, in the reign of Liuis XtV. we read that the grand monarch was muoh attached to the game of billiaids; constantly playing with M. Legrand, M. de Vendome, Marechal de Villeroy or the Duo de Graramont. At this time one ChamUlart was the crack billiardist, and he owed to his skill, the King's favor and his advancement in the State. A satirist of the day thus writes M. Chamillard's epitaph :— " Ci-git le fameux Chamillard, Da ion roi le protonotaire ; Qji fut un heros au Billard, Et un zero au miniatere." The whioh we might roughly translate :— " Here lies the famous Camillard, The King's prothonotary ; Tho game of billiards he played well, With his office played Old Harry." The great peculiarity of the game as thon played was in the addition of a port (arch) and king, made of ivory, and placed on the table, one in the centre, and what would now be called the American baulk line nt each end of the table. The game was played with two balls, winning hazards only were played for (if a player holed his own ball he lost one, hence the term winning and losing ha/ardr) and certain fcores appsrtained to passing the port and hitting the king. In a fifth edition of Catton (1731) French billiards is added, "so called from their manner of playing the game, which is only with maceß and balls, port and king being now wholly laid aside." Cues might also bo used, but winning hazards were still the only game ; and only good players were allowed to use the cue for fear of " wounding" the cloth. Theoue did not oome into general dm until late in the eighteenth century, Meanwhile, however, while muoh alteration had been made in the gamo itself, up to a comparatively recent period, the table remained a vory primitive affair. List was ■übstituted for flock in staffing the cushions, and marble beds were sometimes employed instead of oak. It was not, however, until 1827 that slate beds were used, and indiarubber cushions were first introduced ten years afterwards. A Frenchman named Mignaud invented the cue-tip of leather, and Carr, a marker of billiards, at Bath in 1800, was the first to use chalk. Carrs employer discovered the " side" stroke, and between the two they made a rare thing by selling their chalk at balfa-crown a box, pretending that it possessed a peculiar virtue in imparting " side." Carr was tho best play erof his day ; and his score of 22 consecutive spot hazards created great exoitement in 1825, when he was backed against all comers for one hundred guineas aside. Kent field followed as champion, and was greatly eupcrior to Carr. Bat he had to give way in lfllfl to John Roberts, who was out here, by the way. Roberts remained champion up to 1870. His greatest break record was 346, including no less than 101 consecutive spot hazards. Uowever, in I*7o William Cook wrested the sceptre from the doughty old Brighton player. Cook may be esteemed the most wonderful player we have seen. His break of 752 points, including 'J2O hazards, plaoe him as the best all-round billiard pUyer — but he has been hard pushed by John Roberts, junior, and Joseph Bonnef, eaoh of whom has beaten him in various matches. At the present day the game of billiards may be laid to be not merely a luxury but a necessity of civilised life. When we oomo to consider that this admirable gamo plays such an important part in the social development"! of modern life, we may readily understand what an important position it tnkes in its contribution to the manufactures of the day. After watchmaking, it is probable that the manufacture of billiard tables comes next in importance among those articles which in these times, am regarded as essentials of cultivated existence. And a very little reflection will show us that there is nothing very wonderful in tho firm hold which the game baa taken upon tbe public taste of all nation?. It ia essentially a social game, and most certainly does not present those provocations to hatrod and malice and base passions generally by which unhappily most games at cards or hazard arc usually attended. Billiards is essentially whelesomo in its influence. Many a love match has been fostered over a game of billiards played in some cosy country mansion between a pretty girl and an admirer. Miny tho friendship has been struck over a game of pyramids, or a mild contest in general pool. You oannot degrade billiards to the level of games of chance, and the man who is swindled in a billiard-room cannot in oandour blame the game itself for any special facility it presents for dishonesty. It is essentially a manly, honest, and intellectual game, and hence its wide spread popularity among all classes. At this moment m I write, I wonder how many games are in full course ! All over Europe, in France and Germany, Holland and Belgium, in l>us<«ia, in Italy, in Spain, in EDglaud, in Ireland, in Scotland, all ovor Asia, Africa and America ; all over Australasia—wherever the European hath set his foot und Eojourns for a while, the click of billiard ball* now scho. In elegant r«J< and humbla uihu.n, in lager beer saloons and wine halls, in Emperors' palaces and noblcß' mansions in country house and seaside hotel, the game which some honest fellow who lived some two or three hundred years ago, gave to the world, is being phyed. Consider the depth and breadth and incalculable height of human enjiynirnt which arose out of that happy invention. It licet upon the kindly influences, the laughter, the gratitied sense of skill, the pleasant mental exercise which have boenand are still being experienced by millions, which

this fortunate discovery ot the game of billiards has brought about 1 And having done this, come along with me and I will still further impress jou with tho oonviction — hitherto undeveloped in your miad— of the important part the game of billiards plays as a factor in the groat eutn of human enjoyment. Hore wo are in tho great establishment of M<3esr3. Alcock and Co. Heading Cotton's description of the billiard board of his day, with its oaken bed, " the more free from knot 3 the better," and its cushions "stoffed with flox, ' the contrast which is exhibited by the most superficial inopoction of thia remarkable factory, is almost ludicrous. It is oertainly as marked in_ its impression, as that wbioh might bo excited by the printing press used bj bravo old Gixton, beside a magnifioent Hoe machine ; or between the old shuttles of tho elder Peri's day and tho delioate spinning jennies of our time. For here in this establishment devoted to the cause of humanity's recreation, is exhibited the outcome of human thought, and experiment and experience, prompted by that enthusiasm with which, from its inception, the noble game of billiards has inspired all men. We have many matters to offer to the consideration of visitors as exemplifying the singular vitality and progressivenena of Victorian energies and enterprise. I question whether any is more likely to excite surprise, and induce correspondent appreciative reflection than is presented by Meaara/Alcock'a Billiard Faotory. For look you — one may gnsge the measure of a poo[.lo'a resources with an easier rapidity by observing their expenditure upon domestio or social pleasures, than by the more laborious process of noting their modes of making money. With a community like ourc, in which the liesured classes of the old world are hardly known, and in which, at any rate, one must sing for his sapper, or go without it, observation of the expenditure of society upon its medes of recreation affords a very fair index to it^s resouroes of revenue. And so, considered philosophically, an inspection of Aloock's factory presents a gratifying evidence of theeasyeiroumetancesotaeommunity which can afford to support the manufacture of an Agent wholly devoted to the purpose of amusement. A big affair it is. A Frenchman onco told me that he thought this faotory the most magnificent outoome of our phenomenal progress. To bo sure he was an enthusiast as a billiardist, but there was no little truth in his remark. It is a surprising factory — for the reacons we have hinted at, no less than the eiroumstance that whether here or in Europe, there are few, if any, of the kind to compare with it. I have often watched the conveyance into the yards of this place of huge blocks of cedar and blaokwood, and marvelled in my ignorance of mechanics how and by what methods they were converted into those elegant billiard tables whioh all over Australasia, and indeed in many remote oountries, one beholds as made by this firm. But this wonder is soon set at rest, when upon entering, you note how these massive logs are cut and shaped under the aation of numberless saws, the teeth of whioh, even as a thankless son, are sharper than a serpent's. Hero again is room for fancy. The growth of a sapling, its development into tho proportions of a lordly tree, its fall under the strokes of the axeman, and then its seasoning, to be presently converted into elegant shapes and ourvea and polished surface?, in the cause of human enjoyment. Truly Hamlet's reflection upon tho possibilities ot a lump of olay has & wider significance than any that relates to Cro jar's fate. There is an instrument in this plaoe whioh is oalled tho veneer saw. In these days we are prepared for big matters— big guns, big battle?, big earthquakes, and so on. It is the ago of the Njgmjth hammer, and Krupp'a monster oannon. And worthy of these giants is this saw, whioh is twelve feet aoross and weighs three tons, and revolves 0000 times a minute. Yet, like the leviathan hammer to which I but now referred, its action can be so regulated that while it may be made to rip through the very heart of a monster log, it oan as readily be oalled upon to skin a shaving from its surfaoe as delioate as a damsel's curls. These shavings are the " veneers," and Messrs. Aloook and Go. supply all needed by the furniture trades of the colony. In the manufacture of these tablss and aooossories, the firm oalPupon Australia for their timber, Wales for the slates whioh compose the bed, India for the rubber whioh forms the ouabionn, and Africa for the ivory of which the billiard balls are oomposed. Here again is food for fanoy. Looking at a huge elephant tusk, whioh haply years ago had sent many a denizen of the jungle to the right about, and watching the operations under whioh it is ultimately changed into smooth round billiard balls, the mind is necessarily charged with an impression of tho mutability of all things. And here one is led to inquire — What becomes of all the billiard balls I just as ;tho question, " what beoomes of all the watches ?" puzzles, and oonfounds the understanding. 'Tis a pretty eight this ivory turning. To be sure every operation in the factory is a pretty sight. Indoed, it is essentially artistic this making ot billiard tables, and so far a<? I can learn, this element of the business has been specially studied by the proprietor?. I am sure that tho cabinet register one-stand, and tho billiard table which wore reoently exhibited at the Calcutta Exhibition are high art in every detail. Then the processes of carving, turning, polishing, etc., are all artistic. One of the most interesting sights is prosented by the operation of smoothing the elates. Covetousness is a vioe whioh rarely troubles me. But I own that this dainty "billiarddining " table makes me yearn for its possession. A most elegant matter this. By an ingenious oontrivance its height is regulated for playing billiards, or a knife and fork ; in the latter oaso it is oovered, and present! the features of an elegant dining table. Positively, in some matters wo approaoh the old Romans in the ingenuity with whioh we oontrive matters for our oomfort and reoreaJion. A great many of imported tables pass to Aloock and Co. for alteration and improvement, especially in respect of their cushions. Tbo rubber used by the Austrian makers, for example, is not suited to this climate, and so in many cases the firm is oalled upon to sabEtituto other and superior oushions. But bo far as I can learn, the firm is beating oat all competition. So true it is that, in the long run merit will win the race, even though handicapped by prejudioe and its own juvenility. A groat number of men is employed by this firm. I should like to have a cheque (or a year's wages. Thenceforward no trouble should oorrugate my brow. My own fig-tree ■hould shade me, my own roof-tree shelter me. And be sure of this that so soon, my friend, had you and I dined comfortably, my servant should whip oft the leaves from the table, turn a sorew and arrange its height, and we ■houldthere and then set to work to pit our skill— eaoh to each— at a game of billiard*.