{"id":503,"date":"2022-11-18T08:37:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T08:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earlycricket.uk\/?page_id=503"},"modified":"2025-01-17T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:42:19","slug":"cricket","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/cricket\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket – The Rev Mr Cotton of Winchester (1775)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A famous poem about Hambledon cricket, in effect their club song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assist, all ye Muses, and join to rehearse\nAn old English sport, never praised yet in verse;\n'Tis Cricket I sing, of illustrious fame,\nNo nation e'er boasted so noble a game.\n\u2060Derry down, down, down, derry down\n\nGreat Pindar has bragg'd of his heroes of old\nSome were swift in the race, some in battles were bold;\nThe brows of the victor with olives were crown'd:\nHark! they shout, and Olympia returns the glad sound!\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nWhat boasting of Castor and Pollux his brother\nThe one famed for riding, for boxing the other;\nCompared with our heroes, they'll not shine at all\nWhat were Castor and Pollux to Nyren and Small?\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nHere's guarding and catching, and throwing and tossing,\nAnd bowling and striking, and running and crossing;\nEach mate must excel in some principal part\nThe Pentathlum of Greece could not show so much art.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nThe parties are met, and array'd all in white\nFamed Elis ne'er boasted so pleasing a sight;\nEach nymph looks askew at her favourite swain,\nAnd views him, half stript, both with pleasure and pain.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nThe wickets are pitched now, and measured the ground;\nThen they form a large ring, and stand gazing around\nSince Ajax fought Hector, in sight of all Troy,\nNo contest was seen with such fear and such joy.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nYe bowlers, take heed, to my precepts attend:\nOn you the whole fate of the game must depend;\nSpare your vigour at first, now exert all your strength,\nBut measure each step, and be sure pitch a length.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nYe fieldsmen, look sharp, lest your pains ye beguile;\nMove close like an army, in rank and in file;\nWhen the ball is returnee!, back it sure, for I trow\nWhole states have been ruined by one overthrow\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nYe strikers, observe when the foe shall draw nigh;\nMark the bowler, advancing with vigilant eye;\nYour skill all depends upon distance and sight,\nStand firm to your scratch, let your bat be upright.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nAnd now the game's o'er, IO victory! rings,\nEcho doubles her chorus, and Fame spreads her wings;\nLet's now hail our champions all steady and true,\nSuch as Homer ne'er sung of, nor Pindar e'er knew.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nBuck, Curry, and Hogsflesh, and Barber and Brett,\nWhose swiftness in bowling was ne'er equalled yet;\nI had almost forgot, they deserve a large bumper;\nLittle George, the long-stop, and Tom Sueter, the stumper.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nThen why should we fear either Sackville or Mann,\nOr repine at the loss both of Boyton and Lann?\u2014\nWith such troops as those we'll be lords of the game,\nSpite of Minshull and Miller, and Lumpy and Frame.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nThen fill up your glass, he's the best that drinks most.\nHere 's the Hambledon Club!\u2014who refuses the toast?\nLet's join in the praise of the bat and the wicket,\nAnd sing in full chorus the patrons of cricket.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n\nAnd when the game's o'er, and our fate shall draw nigh\n(For the heroes of cricket, like others, must die),\nOur bats we'll resign, neither troubled nor vexed,\nAnd give up our wickets to those that come next.\n\u2060Derry down, &c.\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
To be sung to the tune of King John and the Abbot<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n