"Some run about the streets attired like monks, and some like
kings,
Accompanied with pomp, and guard, and other stately things.
Some like wild beasts do run abroad in skins that divers be
Arrayed, and eke with loathsome shapes, that dreadful are to
see,
They counterfeit both bears and wolves, and lions fierce in
sight,
And raging bulls; some play the cranes, with wings and stilts
upright."

But the great game for Shrove Tuesday was our time-honoured
football, which has survived so many of the ancient pastimes of our
land, and may be considered the oldest of all our English national
sports. The play might not be quite so scientific as that played by
our modern athletes, but, from the descriptions that have come down
to us, it was no less vigorous. "After dinner" (says an old writer)
"all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. The ancient
and worthy men of the city come forth on horseback to see the sport
of the young men, and to take part of the pleasure in beholding
their agility." There are some exciting descriptions of old football
matches; and we read of some very fierce contests at Derby, which
was renowned for the game. In the seventeenth century it was played
in the streets of London, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants,
who had to protect their windows with hurdles and bushes. At
Bromfield, in Cumberland, the annual contest on Shrove Tuesday was
keenly fought. Sides having been chosen, the football was thrown
down in the churchyard, and the house of the captain of each side
was the goal. Sometimes the distance was two or three miles, and
each step was keenly disputed. He was a proud man at Bromfield who