- Young lady walking in the countryside
- Young girl with a fan
- Young girl taking a cookie
- Young girl reading to old lady
- Young girl looking in mirror by candelight
- Young girl looking in a mirror
- Young girl in winter coat
- Young girl in bed
- Young girl holding a jar
- Young girl curtseying
- Young girl crying
- Young girl carrying a bag
- Young girl
- Young girl
- Young children playing outside
- Young boy sitting on a gate
- Young boy picking an apple
- Young boy eyeing fruit on a tree
- Young boy and girl looking in the bush
- Young boy
- XIV. Century
A man balancing a wheel on his shoulder - William Ewing
The accompanying cut of Ewing is an excellent representation of a batter, in the act of hitting. He not only swings the bat with the arms, but pushes it with the weight of the shoulders. The position is a picture of strength. In hitting at a high ball the bat should be swung overhand, in an almost perpendicular plane, and so, also, for a low ball, the batter should stand erect and cut underhand. If the bat is swung in a horizontal plane the least miscalculation in the height of the ball will be fatal. If it strikes above or below the centre line of the bat, it will be driven either up into the air or down to the ground. Whereas, if the bat is swung perpendicularly, the same mistake will only cause it to strike a little farther up or down on the bat, but still on the centre line, and if it misses the centre line it will be thrown off toward first or third, instead of up or down. - Water-Tub Quintain—XIV. Century
Below is a representation from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, dated 1343, of three boys tilting jointly, at a tub full of water, which is to be struck in such a manner as not to throw it over them. I presume they are learners only, and that therefore they are depicted without their clothes; they undressed themselves, I apprehend, in order to save their garments from being wetted in case the attempt should prove unsuccessful. - Want another sandwich
- Waiting for the coach to come
- Viola da gamba
The player on the viola da gamba, shown in the engraving, is a reduced copy of an illustration in “The Division Violist,” London, 1659. It shows exactly how the frets were regulated, and how the bow was held. The most popular instruments played with a bow, at that time, were the treble-viol, the tenor-viol, and the bass-viol. It was usual for viol players to have “a chest of viols,” a case containing four or more viols, of different sizes. Thus, Thomas Mace in his directions for the use of the viol, “Musick’s Monument” 1676, remarks, “Your best provision, and most complete, will be a good chest of viols, six in number, viz., two basses, two tenors, and two trebles, all truly and proportionably suited.” The violist, to be properly furnished with his requirements, had therefore 119to supply himself with a larger stock of instruments than the violinist of the present day. - Vielle
The woodcut represents a very beautiful vielle; French, of about 1550, with monograms of Henry II. This is at South Kensington. The contrivance of placing a string or two at the side of the finger-board is evidently very old, and was also gradually adopted on other instruments of the violin class of a somewhat later period than that of the vielle; for instance, on the lira di braccio of the Italians. It was likewise adopted on the lute, to obtain a fuller power in the bass; and hence arose the theorbo, the archlute, and other varieties of the old lute. - Unknown sport
The following engraving from a manuscript book of prayers of the fourteenth century, in the possession of Mr. Douce, represents two men with a pole or headless spear, who grasp it at either end, and are contending which shall dispossess the other of his hold. - Unknown sport
The contest between the two figures, seems to depend upon the breaking of the stick which both of them hold, or is a struggle to overthrow each other. - Unhappy girl
- Two young girls dressed the same
- Two Saxon Archers—VIII. Century
Two Saxon Archers The one accompanied by his dog, is in search of the wild deer; the other has no companion, but is depicted in the act of shooting at a bird; and from the adornment of his girdle, appears to have been no bad marksman. The first represents Esau going to seek venison for his father, and the second, Ishmael, after his expulsion from the house of Abraham, and residing in the desert. - Two old ladies preparing a cup of tea
- Two noisy boys
- Two ladies talking
- Two girls playing with their dolls
- Two girls kneeling
- Two girls giving to boy and girl
- Two girls dancing
- Two girls and a boy talking to old lady
- Two girls and a boy skipping in the garden
- Two girls and a boy playing with a cat and kitten
- Two girls and a boy looking at baby ducks
- Two boys challenging each other
- Tutored Bear.—XIV. Century
One great part of the joculator's profession was the teaching of bears, apes, horses, dogs, and other animals, to imitate the actions of men, to tumble, to dance, and to perform a variety of tricks, contrary to their nature; and sometimes he learned himself to counterfeit the gestures and articulations of the brutes. - Tutored Bear.—XIV. Century
One great part of the joculator's profession was the teaching of bears, apes, horses, dogs, and other animals, to imitate the actions of men, to tumble, to dance, and to perform a variety of tricks, contrary to their nature; and sometimes he learned himself to counterfeit the gestures and articulations of the brutes. - Tumbling.—XIV. Century
This representation of a girl turning over upon her hands, is from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is not by any means my intention to insinuate, from what has been said, that there were no dances performed by the Saxon gleemen and their assistants, but such as consisted of vaulting and tumbling: on the contrary, I trust it may be proved, that their dances were varied and accommodated to the taste of those for whom the performance was appropriated; being calculated, as occasion required, to excite the admiration and procure the applause of the wealthy or the vulgar. - Tumbling.—XIII. Century
This engraving represents a woman bending herself backwards, from a MS. of the thirteenth century, in the Cotton Library - Trap-Ball.—XIV. Century
Trap-ball, so called from the trap used to elevate the ball when it is to be stricken by the batsman, is anterior to cricket, and probably coeval with most of the early games played with the bat and ball: we trace it as far back as the commencement of the fourteenth century, and a curious specimen of the manner in which it was then played is here presented from a beautiful MS. in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq - Title Frame
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Title - Tilting at the Ring
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pastime of running at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats this subject at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked out according to the properties of the horses that were to run: for one of the swiftest kind, one [Pg 125]hundred paces from the starting place to the ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary; but for such horses as had been trained to the exercise, and were more regular in their movements, eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond it, were thought to be sufficient. The ring, says the same author, ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat higher than the left eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his horse; because it was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it - Three little girls
- Three girls looking in the mirror
- Three girls in the garden
- Three girls and old lady