THE RUGBY MATCH. SEPTEMBER 28TH, 1881. WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, JULY 27th and 28th. The Rugby Match of 1881 is one that will not soon be forgotten by those who saw it. Turner with his usual luck won the toss, and Rowe and Leaf faced Cave and Arnall, bowling slow left hand from the pavilion end. Cave began short but successfully, for Rowe and Mahon had both retired before 10 runs had been scored, and it looked as if history was going to repeat itself. But the advent of Turner soon put matters in a different light; for the third time this year he came to the rescue at a critical point, and hit with a freedom and precision that called forth general cheering. The fields were too close in at first, and as the balls did not come to hand, boundary hits for 4 followed one another in rapid succession, and Leaf all the time was playing an admirably useful game, at times catching something of the fire of his captain, till at last he was well caught at the wicket for 21. 3 for 72. The fielding so far had not been up to the usual Rugby standard, there had been some smart things done, BowdenSmith's catch at point for example, but there was a want seen. PRICE 3d. of clean handling. Thompson was now snapped at the wicket, and at 89 the fifth wicket, Turner's, was got by a ball of Arnall's that kept low. It was an innings such as we don't often see played for us at Lords and well deserving of the impartial cheers that greeted its close. When Steel and Buckland got together the prettiest cricket in the match was There was a confidence and correctness about the play of both that well sustained the reputation of the names they bore. The runs came rapidly till Buckland was beaten by a good ball of Martin's. 6 for 126. Fellowes did more good service by getting rid of Windeler, Lascelles fell a victim to a long established evil habit, but Nott rattled up 17 in quick time, though as Steel took a liberty just before lunch and suffered for it, the innings was quickly brought to a close afterwards for 179. The bowling was not first-rate, but no chances, except one very hot one, were missed in the field, and considerable judgment was shown in the frequent changes. Rugby started with Kempson and Walker against Nott from the pavilion end and Leaf. The batting was steady and correct and as the fields were well out the boundary hits were few, and runs came but slowly. At 29 Lascelles, who took the wicket well throughout, secured Walker, and this let in Cave, who was at once strangely dropped by Buckland, though his stay was not long, as Steel soon bowled him with a good one, and Buckland having relieved Nott who had bowled well, though without luck, followed suit with Fellowes. 3 for 48; and 20 runs later Leaf, who did not seem able to get on the spot, bowled Cohen. 4 for 69. Inglis who was in several minds about the slows, now hit a high one to Rowe, which he unaccountably dropped, and the batsman in return hit vigourously, including one grand lift right over the covered seats. Kempson was at last easily caught by Prest for a most useful and patient 31, and Inglis was beaten by Steel. 6 for 108. Bowden-Smith was brilliantly thrown out by Leaf who backed up for an over-throw off Lascelles' pads. Steel, after a clever try for a catch at long-leg, clean bowled Arnall, and Martin carried out his bat for a capital 15. With the exception of the two catches dropped our fielding was decidedly good, it was always clean, and at times brilliant, and there was more life and dash than we have seen for some time. Leaf and Mahon covered a great deal of ground, and Prest continually elicited a cheer. Steel bowled with very great tact and got his 4 wickets all clean bowled for 39. There was still an hour and 10 minutes to play, and Rugby had the great disadvantage of starting bowling again at the end of a long day, but Rowe failed again at once, and Mahon after a smart 15 was taken by Fellowes. 2 for 20. If Turner surpassed himself in his first innings, he now surpassed his previous performance. With a noble disregard of all the proprieties he led off by sending a straight half-volley to leg for 4, and then did some grand hitting, which reminded us forcibly of a somewhat similar innings some years ago which left A. G. Steel not out 70 odd at the close of the day. Most of Turner's runs were got in front of the wicket by very bold play, which in the tired condition of the bowlers kept the telegraph moving fast. But the Rugby fielding did not fall to pieces, and at last a very brilliant hit ran Leaf out for another most useful innings. Thompson filled his place and opened well, while Turner went on hitting with even increasing power, and when stumps were drawn the score stood at 104, a burst of cheering all round the ground having just greeted a splendid drive for 5 by the Captain, which sent up the century. On Thursday morning there was a marked improvement in the Rugby fielding, our seven wickets only realized 70 runs, and not one oddly enough was bowled till Prest took a liberty. Turner was held at long-off, Steel who began well was well caught at long-leg, Buckland was also well held at forward short-leg, Windeler was caught short-slip from a ball which had no business there, Lascelles skied one just over the bowler's head, and Nott ought to have been run out at once, but escaped owing to a hot return. All this time Thompson was playing admirably his was a sound innings and a spirited one: a kind of innings that we don't see often enough at Marlborough. He was at last caught at cover-point. This let in Prest, and the play that followed is deserving of all the praise that can be bestowed upon it. Nott played most patiently, and Prest hit and played in the best form. It was the sort of game that one does not often see the last wicket in a public school match play. Rugby had now 219 to win, a big task, but they went to work in a spirit which if it could not ensure, at least deserved success. Kempson and Walker, and Fellowes, the first of whom played another sound innings, were out for 68 and the match was still ours, but when Cave and Cohen got together runs came fast. By luncheon time they had together put on 30, and after the interval they hit better than ever. Change after change was tried without result, every additional 10 on the board was cheered, and the bowling was mastered, but for all that there was no falling to pieces of bowlers or fields; it was a trying time, but an XI of men could not have kept their heads better; hardly an over was bowled without there being some smart thing done in the field. Thompson's clean picking up and smart return from long-leg, Mahon's obstructiveness at cover-point, Leaf's judgment in the long field, Windeler's neatness at point, Prest's quickness, and Lascelles' smartness at the wicket, were all the cause of cheer after cheer, and there was no one who did not add his share to the good work done. It was the most creditable performance we have seen on the part of the School for the last 11 years, and it had its reward. A storm of cheers greeted the 200: and then the change came. Mahon went on at the pavilion end and did some wonderful bowling. Cohen cut him hard to Thompson, who did not fail, and the long partnership was dissolved after producing no less than 133 runs. It was a great performance. Fellowes came in and Mahon bowled him first ball; 8 more runs were added and then he bowled Maxwell, at the same total he bowled Martin, 3 more runs came and then Cave drove him hard and strong over his head, but Rowe who had saved many a four that day brought the house down by a wonderful catch. 8 runs were still wanted, and Mahon was unplayable, but a 4 from Bowden-Smith and a leg-bye did the business, and Rugby won the match by 2 wickets. Mahon's bowling speaks for itself, it was a grand bid for victory, and he could scarcely have gained more credit if he had won us the match. The excitement during the last quarter of an hour was intense, and when the match was over there was seemingly but one feeling in the minds of all, that a hard fought game had been won and lost with honour. When we win, may we deserve to win as thoroughly as Rugby did this year, and when we lose, may we lose with as much credit to ourselves. Bowling analysis: MARLBOROUGH.-Fist Innings. Steel Nott RUGBY.-Second Innings. 127 RUGBY. First Innings. 4 0 12 0 E. H. Kempson, c Prest, b Leaf 31 o Leaf, b Mahon...... 34 7 3 13 0 H. Walker, o Lascelles, b c Rowe, b Mahon...... 79 b Mahon ............... 0 c Thompson, b Mahon 69 Runs. Wkts. E. Bowden-Smith, run out 3 2 G. Wright, b Mahon 7 B 8. 1.b 5, n.b 1......... 14 B 17, 1-b 4...... 21 In voice and feature: like the mighty Thor The spirits of your ancestors behold, Your fathers who have fallen, and brothers bold, Forward! let shouts of battle cleave the sky! Forward for Fatherland, and Liberty! A. THE MARLBOROUGH TRIENNIAL DINNER. THE Marlborough Triennial Dinner took place at Limmer's Hotel on the 27th of July, the evening of the first day of the Rugby Match. Above a hundred Old Marlburians sat down, including representatives of almost every generation in the past history of the school. Great thanks are due to the stewards, the committee, and most particularly to the Hon. Secretaries Messrs. E. Hume, and S. T. Fisher, for the very considerable exertions they had made to secure a good attendance, without which these celebrations would of course lose the greater part of their interest. The school is now old enough to have accumulated a very considerable body of tradition, although it is quite posssible for its very earliest generations to be strongly represented on these occasions, and readers of the new edition of the Marlborough Register can easily realise what a great variety of interests, experiences, and occupations, all united by the common tie which binds them to their Alma Mater, are gathered together at a triennial dinner. Old and perhaps long forgotten acquaintances are renewed, the well known names of former days, the heroes of the class list, the cricket field, and the foot-ball ground, are realised in the flesh to the most recent recruits in the ranks of Old Marlbarians; and these representatives of the past themselves in turn become acquainted with the later history and progress of the School. It had been hoped that the most distinguished of Old Marlburians, Sir Evelyn Wood, might be able to take the chair, but in his absence Mr. Bosworth Smith consented to preside. He was supported on the right by the Master, and on the left by Mr. R. H. Collins, C.B., and the Bursar. Canons Bradley and Farrar were unavoidably absent owing to the recent death of Dean Stanley. After the Chairman had proposed "the Queen," the "Army, Navy and Reserve Forces" was proposed by Mr. Ravenhill, who, after remarking on the distinguished services of Sir E. Wood, coupled with the toast the name of Col. Delafosse, who replied. The Chairman then gave the toast of the evening, "Success to Marlborough College." He said We now come to the toast of the evening, and it is one which will, I think, go straight to all our hearts, for it is that of "Prosperity to Marlborough College." We show by our presence here this evening that it is our wish, if possible, to go back for an hour or two to what was to all of us one of the happiest periods in our lives. An old Marlburian, indeed, who does not love Marlborough is, so far as my experience goes, something very like a contradiction in terms. A well-known school song we have at Harrow tells us that "Speeches are things we chiefly bless, When once we have got them over," and I for my part, certainly wish that my speech had arrived at that happy consummation. There is one danger which I feel strongly on an occasion of this kind. It is that when we are all met together, moved by one common impulse, and looking back with one common affection to the place to which we owe so much, we may be tempted to blow our own trumpet a little too loudly. For it is well to remember in the words of the immortal Mr. Macey in "Silas Marner," that there are "two 'pinions about everything, the 'pinion a man has of himself, and the 'pinion other people have of him. If a cracked bell could speak there would be two 'pinions about the sound it makes." I am therefore sometimes disposed to wish that some one unfortunate Etonian or Wykhamist or Rugbeian might be admitted to the splendid misery of taking part in our entertainment, and so in some measure play the part of the skeleton at the Egyptian feast, or of the slave in the triumphal chariot of the Roman general, reminding us that even we have faults, that even we must die. I recollect a story which will aptly illustrate my meaning. You know how Scotchmen all the world over cling together and how much of their national success is due to this national characteristic. On a certain St. Andrew's Day there was the usual festive gathering of Scotchmen, and by some accident or other a few strangers were admitted to the sacred precincts. The usual toasts of Scotch literature, Scotch art, Scotch agriculture, Scotch commerce had been duly honoured with, perhaps something more thad the usual amount of selflaudation. At last came the toast of "the visitors," and the most distinguished of their number rose to reply. To the intense surprise of the audience he began his speech with the words, "Gentlemen, I am a Scotchman." For the moment there was the silence of surprise and incredulity, and then cheers loud and long rose from the audience when they found that even their most distinguished stranger laid claim to be of the most favoured nation. At last the applause died away and the speaker was able to finish his sentence, "Gentlemen, I am a Scotchman-neither by birth, nor by inclination." Now, gentlemen, happily for my own peace of mind, to a certain extent I am myself the skeleton at the banquet and myself the slave at the triumphal procession on this occasion. For during seventeen years past it has been my happiness to be working at another school, to whose interests I am, I hope, heart and soul devoted. Therefore anything I say in praise of Marlborough will be tempered by the salutary recollection that there may be other schools which are fit to hold a candle to it. And first I would remark that though each great school in the country has something that is peculiar to itself, all good schools must to a great extent resemble one another. The points of resemblance are many more than the points of difference. And why is this ? We Owe it, first, to the great man who lies buried in Rugby Chapel. We owe it second, and hardly second, to the most illustrious of his pupils, who two days ago was buried amidst the regrets, the unutterably tender regrets, of all that is good and great in England, in the venerable abbey which will henceforward for ever be bound up indissolubly with his name. Had there been no Arthur Stanley, Dr. Arnold's influence would no doubt have filtered gradually through the men whom he influenced,— and two of the most famous of whom have been successively head masters of Marlborough-into other schools. But the process would have been very gradual indeed. It was the publication of his biography by his favourite pupil which almost instantaneously made his influence to be felt wherever the English language was known, and held up before every school-master, and every school, the ideal of what a Christian school ought to be, and to which they have ever since been attempting, with more or less success, to approximate. How much directly Marlborough owes to Arthur Stanley, who was on its Council from the beginning, was the dearest friend of two or even three of its head masters, and has always taken a keen interest in its success, I will not now pause to enquire. What England Owes to him, the whole Press of England and all the most distinguished preachers of England have, during the past week, been doing their utmost to express. The pride and glory of every place with which he has been connected, of Rugby and of Canterbury, of Oxford, of Westminster, he has given his whole life to others; and by his example and his precept, by his services to English literature and to Biblical literature, by his simplicity, his charity, and his chivalry, has helped to make Christendom more worthy of itself, more worthy of its Divine founder. But in spite of the general resemblance of which I have spoken, there are three main points which, as it seems to me, eminently characterise Marlborough as a school, and of each of these I will say a few words. First and foremost, is its simplicity and manliness. To what it owes this I cannot fully explain, partly perhaps to its distance from London, to that delightful number of railway stations, Aldermaston, Theale, Kintbury, Newbury and Hungerford, which gives us such ample time as we re-visit our old school to reflect at length upon the perfections of the destination at which, at some hour unknown, we hope ultimately to arrive; partly to something which it has, I am sorry to say, to some extent, already lost, its cheapness. But happily it is still comparatively cheap. The majority of parents, who send their sons there still send them, not that they may make fashionable acquaintances, or may show how much money they have to throw away, but that they may make their own way in the world and do their duty. Anyhow, the fact remains that simplicity and manliness are characteristics of |