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And since ye Monarch's head's too small to holde With comfort to himselfe ye crowne of gold, Why not enwax and hooke ye goatee rare, And lette ye British crown hang down from there?" Whether or no the Baron of Peddlington was guilty of this traitorous effusion no one, not even the king, could ever really make up his mind.
There are five of us here of the first eleven to form a nucleus with: Charley Bates whom I mention first, not by reason of his superior skill with the willow," the captain slily put in, "as that is known to all of us, but on account of his being the oldest member of the Little Peddlington Cricket Club present, with the exception of myself Jack Limpet, who is a very good all-round player if he didn't brag quite so much," this was one at me "Tom Atkins, John Hardy, and last, though by no means least, my worthy self.
My desire was unreasonable; but I swear to you, by all my ancestral Bangletops, that I am hungry as a pit full of bears, and if there's one thing I can't eat, it is lobster and apples. Can't you scare up a snack of bread and cheese and a little cold larded fillet? If you'll supply the fillet, I'll provide the cold." At this sally the Baron of Peddlington laughed and the quarrel was over.
I may be poor, sir, but I'm just as much of a baron as you are, and I will take the liberty of saying right here, in what would be the shadow of your beard, if you had one, sir, that a man who insists on receiving cable messages when no such things exist is rather rushing business." "Pardon my haste, Peddlington, old chap," returned the baron, softening. "You are quite right.
I fancy that was something like a feather in the cap of the Little Peddlington Cricket Club, although it was all owing to young Jemmy Black, whose bowling, when the Inimitables went in to make their final effort, was on a par with his magnificent batting.
These were drawn up in a sort of semicircle around our cricket ground a charmingly situated spot with a very wide area, and nicely sheltered by rows of waving elms from the hot August sun and besides the "carriage folk," as the rustics termed them, came on foot everybody in the neighbourhood, besides all Little Peddlington itself.
The Piccadilly Inimitables arrived early in the morning, having stopped overnight at Brighton, where they had scored their last victory over the Sussex eleven, and which place was not so remote from Little Peddlington as you might suppose, consequently we were able to commence the match in good time, and as our club won the toss for first innings we buckled to at once for the fray, sending in John Hardy, who had the reputation with us of being a "sticker," and the grumbling Charley Bates, to the wickets punctually at eleven o'clock.
Besides being our best bat, he was the captain of the Little Peddlington Cricket Club, which, as it was far into the month of August, had got somewhat dispersed through some of the team having gone off on those cheap excursions to London, to the Continent, and elsewhere, that are rife at most of the seaside places on the south coast during the season.
Young Black, with two other juniors, and three of the best men we could pick out from the visitors that were at Little Peddlington for the season that year and there were some first-rate cricketers, too, amongst them made up our scratch eleven, Charley Bates relenting when he found that we would have played without him.
And then, it is well worth fourpence to laugh once a week. I do recommend 'Punch' to you. Douglas Jerrold is the editor, I fancy, and he has a troop of 'wits, such as Planché, Titmarsh, and the author of 'Little Peddlington, to support him.... Now I have written enough to tire you, I am sure. May God bless you both!
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