Sporting notions of present days and past

Rill
101
fjyt.0"-
. ,.
yrtsemi
164 SPORTING NOTIONS
4
3
and the perspiring warriors' wants being mini-
stered to by their secretary and aids. Upon my
word! to think of it makes a body thirsty now.
It is easy to get back to old times. I can almost
hear Mr Burrup telling what he and the ground
landlord, now his Gracious Majesty King Edward
VII., thought on a certain subject, and see the
closing in of the ring (" Surrey mob " was a term
not yet invented) to the rails of the Pavilion when
a favourite was to be presented with talent
money, Mr Burrup carrying out the operation
with a little speech, after the fashion of giving
away prizes at sports.
The Hatfield was furnished by Mr Trotman.
He, you know, was for years refreshment con-
tractor at the Oval, also at the Zoo, and many a
hundred gallons did he purvey of the grateful
beverage. Mr P. J. Sheldrake, the Hertfordshire
scorer, sent me a recipe for concocting Hatfield,
otherwise the Surrey Cup, as in the " Gentleman's
Table Guide," published in
1873
on the authority
of "-- Troughton, Esq.," no doubt the good
cricketer many of us recollect. Somehow the
directions do not strike me as indicating the
flavour we used to appreciate when digestion
shied only at serious fences like brick-bats and
broken bottles, and a " head " was unrecognised
as possible follow to such light beverages as rum
punch with "flannel blanket" to top off with.
Still, probably I am wrong again, and here is
the prescription. Take a quart of ale, two
glasses of sherry, one glass of cloves, two bottles
of ginger beer; add a small quantity of nutmeg
grated on top and some lumps of pure block ice
before serving. That should not hurt anyone,
ought it, being shandy-gaff to all intents, barring