Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

675
BILLIARDS
the player to kneel or stoop exceedingly when he struck
the bowl, and accommodated the game to the limits of a
chamber.” Whatever its origin, and whatever the manner
in which it was originally played, it is certain that it was
common in the time of Shakespeare, who makes Cleopatra,
in the absence of Antony, invite her attendant to join in
the pastime—
“ Let us to billiards :
Come, Charmian.”—Ant. and Cleo. Act. ii. sc. 5.
Billiards was originally played, it seems, in a method
even now adopted in the rustic game of Rural Billiards, by
driving a ball through a ring which revolved on a pin or
stick fixed to the table or floor. In Cotton’s Compleat
Gamester, published in 1674, we are told that this “most
gentile, cleanly, and ingenious game ” was first played in
Italy, though in another page he mentions Spain as its
birthplace. At that date billiards must have been well
enough known, for we are told that “for the excellency of
the recreation, it is much approved of and played by most
nations of Europe, especially in England, there being few
towns of note therein which hath not a public billiard table,
neither are they wanting in many noble and private
families in the country.” Since Cotton every compiler of
books on games has had more or less to say about billiards;
though, curiously enough, Hoyle, who is often quoted as an
authority, makes no mention whatever of the game. It is
only in the later editions and continuations of Hoyle that
billiards, bagatelle, cricket, &c., find place. It is not,
indeed, till our own day that anything like a scientific
treatise on billiards has appeared, or that the game itself
has been lifted out of the tavern—whence, in spite of its
historians’ praises, it gradually descended—to its present
more favoured position as a harmless and amusing indoor
game.
The Table.—The shape of the table has varied from
time to time, probably to suit the dimensions of the room
in which it was placed. At first it was square, with a
hole or pocket at each corner to receive the balls driven
forward with a cue or mace ; then it was lengthened and
provided with two other pockets; and occasionally it has
been made round, oval, triangular, or octagonal, with or
without pockets according to the game required. The
cannon game in France is played on a pocketless table 8 feet
by 4 ; the same game of the United States is played on a
table 10 feet by 6, commonly made without pockets; but
in England the regular table of the clubs and public rooms
is a massive structure of timber, with a bed or surface of
slate or metal 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, or two equal
squares of 5 feet 10£ inches across within the cushions.
It is covered by a fine green cloth, and surrounded by
elastic india-rubber cushions, at the junctions of which
are netted pockets—one at each corner, and one midway at
each of the longer sides. The table must be perfectly level
and sufficiently firm to prevent vibration; and its usual
height from the floor to the surface is 3 feet. The space
required between table and wall is at least four feet.
Smaller tables for use in private houses have lately been
introduced. Whether large or small, each table is provided
with a baulk line and semicircle and several marks or spots
to regulate the mode of play. The baulk line is drawn
straight across the table 28 inches from the bottom or
lower cushion, and from it is struck a semicircle of from
21 to 23 inches in diameter. In the middle of the baulk
line is the baulk spot, and in the middle of the table the
centre spot. Thirteen inches from the top cushion is the
red-ball spot, and half-way between the centre and the top
cushion is the pyramid spot,—all these spots being on a line
which, if drawn from end to end, would divide the table
into two oblong halves.
Games.—-The principal games are three in number,—
billiards proper, pyramids, and pool; and from these spring
a variety of others. The object of the player in each game,
however, is to drive one or other of the balls into one or
other of the pockets, or to cause the striker’s ball to come
into successive contact with two other balls. The one
stroke is known as a hazard, the other as a cannon; and
from hazards and cannons, together with misses, forfeitures,
and foul strokes, are reckoned the points of the game.
When the ball is forced into a pocket the stroke is called a
winning hazard ; when the striker’s ball falls into a pocket
after contact with the object ball, the stroke is a losing
hazard; and these hazards count two or three to the
player’s score according as they are made from the white
or the red ball—two points for the white, three for the
red. Two points are scored for the cannon, three for a cozip
—a term used when the player’s ball runs into a pocket
without striking a ball; and one point for a miss, whether
given purposely or accidentally. These strokes are all made
with a cue, which is a long stick of ash, or other hard
wood, gradually tapering to the end, which is tipped with
leather and rubbed with chalk to prevent it slipping off the
surface of the ball struck. The mace or hammer-headed
cue, once common, is no longer used, even by ladies. The
cue is taken in the right hand, generally between the fingers
and thumb, and not grasped in the palm; and with the
left hand the player makes a bridge, by resting the wrist
and the tips of the fingers on the table, arching the latter,
and extending the thumb in such a way as to allow a
passage in which the cue may slide. The player then
proceeds with his game, according to the following rules :—
Billiards proper, or the English game, consists of winning and
losing hazards, cannons, and forfeitures. It is usually played 50 or
100 points, reckoned as already explained, three for each red hazard,
two for each white hazard, and two for each cannon. Public matches
between adepts are played 100, 500, or 1000 up, hut the rules which
govern them are the same. The remarks within brackets are ex¬
planatory.—1. The game of billiards proper commences by stringing
for the lead and choice of halls. [The players standing behind the
baulk line, strike each a hall from the semicircle up to the top
cushion, and he whose ball on its return stops nearest the bottom
cushion has the choice of lead and halls.] 2. The red hall is placed
on the spot at the commencement of the game, and replaced when
it is pocketed or forced over the table. [“Breaking the halls” is
the replacing them as at the beginning of a game. The balls are
said to be “broken” when the first player has struck the red or
given a miss ; and the player’s ball when off the table is said to
be “in hand.”] 3. The player who makes one stroke in a game
must finish that game or consent to lose it. [Intended to meet cases
of dispute.] 4. In the case of foul strokes, the adversary has the
option of either allowing the striker to proceed, of having the hall
replaced, or of breaking the balls. No score can be reckoned for a
foul stroke. [The following are foul strokesIf the player move
a ball in the act of striking ; if he play with the wrong ball ; if he
touch a hall twice in making a stroke ; if he play at a ball while it is
running ; if he touch a ball with his hand, cue, or person, otherwise
than is necessary for the stroke ; if he in any way touch his oppo¬
nent’s ball.] 5. If the adversary neglect to observe or to claim a
foul stroke, the player proceeds with his game, and all the points
he makes are marked. 6. If a ball spring from the table and hit
a bystander, so as to prevent it falling to the floor, it is considered
off the table. [The penalty in such a case is that the other player
goes on, or if the ball has not struck another ball before flying off
the table, the loss of three points, as for a coup.] 7. Balls lying
within the baulk line cannot be played at with a ball in hand, ex¬
cept the player whose ball is in hand first play at a cushion beyond
or outside the baulk line. 8. A line-ball cannot be played at by
the striker whose ball is in hand, other than by playing his ball
out of baulk against a cushion. [A line-hall is when the centre of
the ball’s surface lies exactly on the line across the table. The
marker or umpire must decide as to whether such ball is within or
without the line.] 9. A ball in hand striking a ball in baulk with¬
out having been first played out of baulk, must be replaced and
played over again. 10. All misses must be given with the point of
the cue. [This rule is sometimes neglected, and the player allowed
to give his miss with the butt end of his cue.] 11. Should the spot
be occupied so that the red ball cannot be placed on it after being
pocketed, it must be placed on the centre spot, or, if that also be
occupied, on the pyramid spot. [In some clubs the custom is to
place the red ball on the centre spot, or on the baulk line spot, ac-