. William Shakespere : a biography. s there shall be no morecakes and ale ?§ Crossing the Avon by the ancient mill of Welford, we descend the stream forabout a mile, till we reach the rising ground upon which stands the hamlet ofHillborough. This is the haunted Hillborough of the lines which traditionascribes to Shakspere. || Assuredly the inhabitants of that fine old farm-house,still venerable in its massive walls and its muUioned windows, would be at thewake at Welford. They press the neighbours from Stratford to go a little outof their way homewards to accept their own hospitality. There is
. William Shakespere : a biography. s there shall be no morecakes and ale ?§ Crossing the Avon by the ancient mill of Welford, we descend the stream forabout a mile, till we reach the rising ground upon which stands the hamlet ofHillborough. This is the haunted Hillborough of the lines which traditionascribes to Shakspere. || Assuredly the inhabitants of that fine old farm-house,still venerable in its massive walls and its muUioned windows, would be at thewake at Welford. They press the neighbours from Stratford to go a little outof their way homewards to accept their own hospitality. There is dance andmerriment within the house, and shovel-board and tric-trac for the the evening is brilliant; for the sun is not yet setting behind Bardon Hill,and there is an early moon. There will be a game at Barley-Break in the fieldbefore the old House. The lots are cast ; three damsels and three youths are • Spectator, Noh. 2 and 517. + Anatomy of Abuses. J Ibid. § Twelfth Night, Aft ii., Scene in. ;] See p. 6G 101. [Great Hillborough. Barley-break.] chosen for the sport; a plot of ground is marked out into three compartnicnls,in each of wliich a couple is placed,—the middle division bearing the name ofhell. In that age the word was not used profanely nor vulgarly. Sidney andBrowne and Massinger describe the sport. The couple who are in this con-demned place try to catch those who advance from the other divisions, and wemay imagine the noise and the laughter of the vigorous resistance and the coyyieldings that sounded on Hillborough, and scared the pigeons from their olddovecote. The difficulty of the game consisted in this—that the couple in themiddle place were not to separate, whilst the others might loose hands when-ever they pleased. Sidney alludes to this peculiarity of the game : — There you may see, soon as the middle twoDo, coupled, towards either couple make,They, false and fearful, do their hands undo.* But half a century after Sidney, the spri
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