1.—Don't be biassed, or be as little biassed as you can. Applaud each man's good play impartially. Be a sportsman.
2.—Don't cry out:" What is the game, marker? "whilst a player is in the act of striking.
3.—Don't rise from your seat and cross the line of play. Wait until the shot is finished. Your thirst will keep.
4.—Don't call out:"Rotten, "hen a player fails to bring off a shot.
5.—Don't remark" Why didn't you play in-off or pot the red "—or any shot other than the one played (because missed). Spectators always are the best players.
6.—Don't call" Waiter "in the midst of a stroke.
7.—Don't say "Whitechapel" when a man sees fit to "pot the white." You should long ago have got over that exploded and fallacious idea that it is mean or wrong to pot the white.
8.—Don't, however well you know the players, jeer at and deride them. It is not humorous or funny and does not improve their game. They are playing to amuse them selves and you need not make it a circus.
9.—Don't, in the height of your superior wisdom, tell a beaten man, in an important game, just how he lost the game and just where you could have won it.
10.—Don't, when a man is a long way behind, tell him in a comforting way that he is "funking" or "has lost his nerve." That is the comfort of Job—Job never played billiards.
11.—Don't say sarcastically when a man is badly beaten "I thought you could play billiards?" There is a difference between ridicule and humour.
12.—Don't advise the player as to which is the best shot to play. He is the performer and sees with a different, and possibly more correct, eve.
13.—Don't bring in the ancient chestnut: "Is this the same game?"
14.—Don't make audible (to the players) remarks, especially during shots, as you don't intend to put them off— perhaps.
15.— Don't, if you happen to have a small bet on, ceaselessly applaud your man's shots—often of the simplest character— and forget to give just due to his opponent's good play.
16.—Don't let avariciousness blind you. Be a sportsman, again I say.
17.—Don't stand conversing near the table. There are seats.
18.—Don't strike lights or lift your glass and say" Good health "across the table to your own man, just as the other is playing.
19.—Don't unduly applaud the winner. Remember the loser, who does not feel at his best when beaten in, say, a "final."
20.—Don't say "Fluke" in an audible tone. It may have been an excellent shot.
21.—Don't criticise each and every stroke in a loud tone. It is not a football match and there is not usually a referee to kill.
22.—Don't call out, when the other man is playing, "What will you have, Jack?" or "What will you take. Harry?" or "Will you have a drink, Charlie?" Wait until he finishes his stroke and then have the hospitality to ask the other man as well.
23.—Don't keep whispering in your man's ear, when he is away behind and having no luck and everything is going against him," Buck up, George; we're backing you. "e is doing his best.
24.—Don't do any of these things and a much more pleasant and agreeable game, for both players and spectators, will ensue.