The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 96

Nine Holes

Nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance; or the holes are made in a board with a number over each, through one of which the ball has to pa.s.s.-Forby's _Vocabulary_.

"A rural game," says Nares, "played by making nine holes in the ground, in the angles and sides of a square, and placing stones and other things upon, according to certain rules." Moor (_Suffolk Words and Phrases_) says: "This is, I believe, accurate as far as it goes, of our Suffolk game. A hole in the middle is necessary." In Norfolk, Holloway (_Dict.

Prov._) says that nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance. A second game is played with a board having nine holes, through one of which the ball must pa.s.s. Nares quotes several authors to show the antiquity of the game. He shows that the "Nine Men's Morris" of our ancestors was but another name for "Nine Holes." Nine, a favourite and mysterious number everywhere, prevails in games.

Strutt (_Sports_, p. 384) also describes the game as played in two ways-a game with bowling marbles at a wooden bridge; and another game, also with marbles, in which four, five, or six holes, and sometimes more, are made in the ground at a distance from each other, and the business of every one of the players is to bowl a marble, by a regular succession, into all the holes, and he who completes in the fewest bowls obtains the victory. In Northamptonshire a game called "Nine Holes," or "Trunks," is played with a long piece of wood or bridge with nine arches cut in it, each arch being marked with a figure over it, from one to nine, in the following rotation-VII., V., III., I., IX., II., IIII., VI., VIII. Each player has two flattened b.a.l.l.s which he aims to bowl edgeways under the arches; he scores the number marked over the arch he bowls through, and he that attains to forty-five first wins the game (Baker's _Northamptonshire Glossary_). In _Arch. Journ._, xlix. 320, in a paper by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, this game is described, and diagrams of the game given which had been found by him cut in a stone bench in the church of Ardeley, Hertfordshire, and elsewhere. He has also seen the game played in London. It is evidently the same game as described by Nares and Moor above.

See "Bridgeboard," "Nine Men's Morris."

Nine Men's Morris

In the East Riding this game is played thus: A flat piece of wood about eight inches square is taken, and on it twenty-four holes are bored by means of a hot skewer or piece of hot iron.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.]

Each of the two players has nine wooden pegs, which are either coloured or shaped differently, and the object of each player is to get three of his own pegs in a straight line (fig. 1). It is called "Merrils."-Sheffield (S. O. Addy).

Cotgrave's _Dictionarie_, 1632, says: "_Merelles_, le jeu de merelles, the boyish game called merrils, or fiue-pennie morris. Played here most commonly with stones, but in France with p.a.w.ns or men made of purpose, and termed merelles." Strutt (_Sports_, p. 317) says: "This was why the game received this name. It was formerly called 'Nine Men's Morris' and 'Five-penny Morris,' and is a game of some antiquity. It was certainly much used by the shepherds formerly, and continues to be used by them and other rustics to the present hour." An ill.u.s.tration of the form of the merelle table and the lines upon it, as it appeared in the fourteenth century, is given by him, and he observes that the lines have not been varied. The black spots at every angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid upon. The men are different in form and colour for distinction's sake, and from the moving these men backwards and forwards, as though they were dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the name of "Nine Men's Morris," but why it should have been called "Five-penny Morris" I do not know. The manner of playing is briefly thus:-Two persons, having each of them nine pieces or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots, and the business of either party is to prevent his antagonist from placing three of his pieces so as to form a row of three without the intervention of an opponent piece. If a row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his compet.i.tor's pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage, excepting he has made a row, which must not be touched, if he have another piece upon the board that is not a component part of that row. When all the pieces are laid down they are played backwards and forwards in any direction that the lines run, but can only move from one spot to another at one time. He that takes off all his antagonist's pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not materials at hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the ground and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and play the game by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over the dots on the table. Hence Shakespeare, describing the effects of a wet and stormy season, says-

"The folds stand empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrain flock- The Nine Men's Morris is filled up with mud."

-_Midsummer Nights Dream_, act ii. sc. 2.

Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_), in describing "Merell" or "Morris," says:-"On the inclosing of open fields this game was transferred to a board, and continues a fireside recreation of the agricultural labourer. It is often called by the name of 'Mill' or 'Shepherd's Mill.'" She says the mode of playing now observed is this.

Each of the players has nine pieces, or men, differing in colour, or material, from his adversary, for distinction's sake; which they lay down on the spots alternately, one by one, each endeavouring to prevent his opponent from placing three of his pieces in a line, as whichever does so is ent.i.tled to take off any one of his antagonist's men where he pleases, without breaking a row of three, which must not be done whilst there is another man on the board. After all the pieces are placed on the board, they are moved alternately backwards and forwards along the lines; and as often as either of the players succeeds in accomplishing a row of three, he claims one of his antagonist's men, which is placed in the pound (the centre), and he who takes the most pieces wins the game.

It is played on a board whereon are marked three squares, one being denominated the pound. It is sometimes played with pegs, bits of paper, or wood, or stone. It is called "Peg Morris" by Clare, the Northamptonshire poet.

The ancient game of "Nine Men's Morris" is yet played by the boys of Dorset. The boys of a cottage, near Dorchester, had a while ago carved a "Marrel" pound on a block of stone by the house. Some years ago a clergyman of one of the upper counties wrote that in the pulling down of a wall in his church, built in the thirteenth century, the workmen came to a block of stone with a "Marrel's" pound cut on it. "Merrels" the game was called by a mason.-Barnes' _Additional Glossary; Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 233.

"'Nine Men's Morris,' in Gloucestershire called 'Ninepenny Morris,'

was," says a correspondent in the _Midland Garner_, "largely practised by boys and even older people over thirty years ago, but is now, as far as I know, entirely disused. Two persons play. Each must have twelve pegs, or twelve pieces of anything which can be distinguished. The Morris was usually marked on a board or stone with chalk, and consists of twenty-four points. The pegs are put down one at a time alternately upon any point upon the Morris, and the first person who makes a consecutive row of three impounds one of his opponent's pegs. The pegs must only be moved on the lines. The game is continued until one or other of the players has only two pegs left, when the game is won" (1st ser., i. 20). Another correspondent in the same journal (ii. 2) says, "The game was very generally played in the midland counties under the name of 'Merrilpeg' or 'Merelles.' The twelve pieces I have never seen used, though I have often played with nine. We generally used marbles or draught pieces, and not pegs."

The following are the accounts of this game given by the commentators on Shakespeare:-

"In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists of a square, sometimes only a foot diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to take up each other's men, as they are called, and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country people called _nine men's morris_, or _merrils_; and are so called because each party has nine men. These figures are always cut upon the green turf, or leys as they are called, or upon the gra.s.s at the end of ploughed lands, and in rainy seasons never fail to be choked up with mud" (Farmer). "_Nine men's morris_ is a game still played by the shepherds, cow-keepers, &c., in the midland counties, as follows:-A figure (of squares one within another) is made on the ground by cutting out the turf; and two persons take each nine stones, which they place by turns in the angles, and afterwards move alternately, as at chess or draughts. He who can play three in a straight line may then take off any one of his adversary's, where he pleases, till one, having lost all his men, loses the game" (Alchorne).

The following is the account of this game given by Mr. Douce in the _Ill.u.s.trations of Shakespeare and of Ancient Manners_, 1807, i.

184:-"This game was sometimes called the _nine mens merrils_ from _merelles_, or _mereaux_, an ancient French word for the jettons, or counters, with which it was played. The other term, _morris_, is probably a corruption suggested by the sort of dance which, in the progress of the game, the counters performed. In the French _merelles_ each party had three counters only, which were to be placed in a line in order to win the game. It appears to have been the _tremerel_ mentioned in an old fabliau. See _Le Grand_, _Fabliaux et Contes_, ii. 208. Dr.

Hyde thinks the morris, or merrils, was known during the time that the Normans continued in possession of England, and that the name was afterwards corrupted into _three men's morals_, or _nine men's morals_.

If this be true, the conversion of _morrals_ into _morris_, a term so very familiar to the country people, was extremely natural. The Doctor adds, that it was likewise called _nine-penny_ or _nine-pin miracle_, _three-penny morris_, _five-penny morris_, _nine-penny morris_, or _three-pin_, _five-pin_, and _nine-pin morris_, all corruptions of _three-pin, &c, merels_" (Hyde's _Hist. Nederluddi_, p. 202). Nares says the simpler plan here represented (fig. 2), which he had also seen cut on small boards, is more like the game than the one referred to in the variorem notes of Shakespeare.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.]

Forby has, "_Morris_, an ancient game, in very common modern use. In Shakespeare it is called 'nine men's _morris_,' from its being played with nine men, as they were then, and still are called. We call it simply _morris_. Probably it took the name from a fancied resemblance to a dance, in the motions of the men. Dr. Johnson professes that he knew no more of it than that it was some rustic game. Another commentator speaks of it as common among shepherds' boys in some parts of Warwickshire. It cannot well be more common there than here, and it is not particularly rustic. Shepherds' boys and other clowns play it on the green turf, or on the bare ground; cutting or scratching the lines, on the one or the other. In either case it is soon filled up with mud in wet weather. In towns, porters and other labourers play it, at their leisure hours, on the flat pavement, tracing the figure with chalk. It is also a domestic game; and the figure is to be found on the back of some draught-boards. But to compare _morris_ with that game, or with chess, seems absurd; as it has a very distant resemblance, if any at all, to either, in the lines, or in the rules of playing. On the ground, the men are pebbles, broken tiles, sh.e.l.ls, or potsherds; on a table, the same as are used at draughts or backgammon. In Nares it is said to be the same as nine-holes. With us it is certainly different." Cope (_Hampshire Glossary_) says that "Nine Men's Morrice" is a game played with counters. He does not describe it further. Atkinson (_Glossary of Cleveland Dialect_) says under "Merls," the game of "Merelles," or "Nine Men's Morris." Toone (_Etymological Dictionary_) describes it as a game played on the green sward, holes being cut thereon, into which stones were placed by the players. Stead's _Holderness Glossary_ calls it "Merrils," and describes it as a game played on a square board with eighteen pegs, nine on each side, called in many parts "Nine Men's Morrice." See also _Suss.e.x Arch. Collections_, xxv. 234, and a paper by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite (_Arch. Journ._, xlix. 322), where diagrams of this game are given which have been found cut in several places on the benches of the cloisters at Gloucester, Salisbury, and elsewhere.

See "Noughts and Crosses."

Nip-srat-and-bite

A children's game, in which nuts, pence, gingerbread, &c, are squandered.-Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.

Nitch, Notch, No-Notch

Children cut a number of slices from an apple, extending from the eye to the tail, broader on the outside than on the inner, which reaches nearly to the core; one piece has a part cut out, making a notch-this is called "Notch;" another is not cut at all-this is called "No-Notch;"

while a third has an incision made on it, but not cut out-this is called "Nitch." The pieces when thus marked are replaced, and the game consists in one child holding the apple, and pointing to one of the pieces, asking another child which he will have, "Nitch, Notch, or No-Notch;" if he guesses right, he has it and eats it; if wrong, the other eats it.-Suss.e.x (Holloway's _Dict. of Provincialisms_).

Not

A game where the parties, ranged on opposite sides, with each a bat in their hands, endeavour to strike a ball to opposite goals. The game is called "Not," from the ball being made of a knotty piece of wood.-Gloucestershire (Holloway's _Dict. of Provincialisms_).

See "Hawkey."

Noughts and Crosses

[Ill.u.s.tration]

This game is played on slates by school-children. The accompanying diagram is drawn on the slate, and a certain figure (generally twenty) is agreed upon as "game." There are two players, one takes noughts [o], the other crosses [x]. The three places drawn on the slate above the diagram are for the players each to put down marks or numbers for the games they win, the centre place being for "Old Nick," or "Old Tom." The object of the game is for each player to occupy three contiguous places in a row or line with either noughts or crosses, and to prevent his opponent from doing so. The diagram is of course empty when play begins. One player commences by putting his mark into either of the vacant places he prefers, the other player then places his in another, wherever he thinks he has the best opportunity to prevent his opponent getting a "three," and at the same time to get a three himself; then the first player plays again, and so on alternately until all the squares are occupied, or until one of the players has a "three" in line. If neither player gets a "three," the game is won by "Old Nick," and one is scored to his name. In the diagram the result of the game is shown when won by "Old Nick." Whichever player first wins a game adds "Old Nick's"

score to his own. In some games "Old Nick" keeps all he wins for himself, and then most frequently wins the game.-London (A. B. Gomme).

See "Corsicrown," "Kit-Cat-Cannio," "Nine Men's Morris."

Nur and Spel

A boys' game in Lincolnshire, somewhat similar to "Trap Ball." It is played with a "kibble," a "nur," and a "spell." By striking the end of the spell with the kibble, the nur, of course, rises into the air, and the art of the game is to strike it with the kibble before it reaches the ground. He who drives it the greatest distance wins the game.-Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 109) describes this game as "Northern-spell," played with a trap, and the ball is stricken with a bat or bludgeon. The contest between the players is simply who shall strike the ball to the greatest distance in a given number of strokes.

The length of each stroke is measured before the ball is returned, by means of a cord made fast at one end near the trap, the other being stretched into the field by a person stationed there for that purpose, who adjusts it to the ball wherever it may lie.

In a work ent.i.tled the _Costumes of Yorkshire_ this game is described and represented as "Nor and Spell." The little wooden ball used in this game is in Yorkshire called the "Nor," and the receptacle in which it is placed the "Spell." Peac.o.c.k (_Manley and Corringham Glossary_) gives "knur," (1) a hard wooden ball, (2) the head. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says "knur" is a small round ball, less than a billiard ball.

It is put into a cup fixed on a spring which, being touched, causes the ball to rise into the air, when it is struck by a trip-stick, a slender stick made broad and flat at one end. The "knur" is struck by the broad part. The game is played on Shrove Tuesday. Brogden (_Provincial Words of Lincolnshire_) gives it under "Bandy." It is called "Knur, Spell, and Kibble" in S.-W. Lincolnshire.-Cole's _Glossary_.

The following letter relating to this game is extracted from the _Worcestershire Chronicle_, September 1847, in Ellis's edition of Brand:-"Before the commons were taken in, the children of the poor had ample s.p.a.ce wherein to recreate themselves at cricket, _nurr_, or any other diversion; but now they are driven from every green spot, and in Bromsgrove here, the nailor boys, from the force of circ.u.mstances, have taken possession of the turnpike road to play the before-mentioned games, to the serious inconvenience of the pa.s.sengers, one of whom, a woman, was yesterday knocked down by a _nurr_ which struck her in the head."

Brockett says of this game, as played in Durham: It is called "Spell and Ore," Teut. "spel," a play or sport; and Germ. "knorr," a knot of wood or ore. The recreation is also called "Buckstick, Spell, and Ore," the buckstick with which the ore is struck being broad at one end like the b.u.t.t of a gun (_North Country Words_). In Yorkshire it is "Spell and Nurr," or "Knur," the ore or wooden ball having been, perhaps, originally the knurl or knot of a tree. The _Whitby Glossary_ also gives this as "Spell and Knor," and says it is known in the South as "Dab and Stick." The author adds, "May not 'tribbit,' or 'trevit,' be a corruption of 'three feet,' the required length of the stick for pliable adaptation?"

Robinson (_Mid-Yorkshire Glossary_), under "Spell and Nur," says: "A game played with a wooden ball and a stick fitted at the striking end with a club-shaped piece of wood. The 'spell' made to receive and spring the ball for the blow at a touch, is a simple contrivance of wood an inch or so in breadth and a few inches long... . The players, who usually go in and out by turns each time, after a preliminary series of tippings of the spell with the stick in one hand, and catches of the ball with the other, in the process of calculating the momentum necessary for reach of hand, are also allowed two trial 'rises' in a striking att.i.tude, and distance is reckoned by scores of yards. The long pliable stick, with a loose club end, used in the game, is called the 'tribit' or 'trivit' stick... . The trevit is, in fact, the trap itself, and the trevit-stick the stick with which the trap is struck."

The tribbit-stick is elsewhere called "primstick," "gelstick,"

"buckstick," "trippit," and "trevit." Atkinson says that "spell" is O.N., "spill" meaning a play or game, and the probability is that the game is a lineal descendant from the Ball-play of the Old Danes, or Northmen, and Icelanders. "Spell and knor" is a corruption of "spell a'

knor," the play at ball. Nurspel is simply ball-play, therefore which name, taken in connection with the fact that the game is elsewhere called "Spell and Knor," and not "Knor and Spell," is significant. There is one day in the year, Shrove Tuesday, when the play is customarily practised, though not quite exclusively.-Atkinson's _Cleveland Glossary_.