WE are glad to see that this year, at any rate, there is every prospect of these once popular matches being again played, though it appears they will be shorn of the glory that naturally attached to a match played in London, and on the eve of the aquatic Derby. We believe the first match that ever took place between the two Universities was in the year 1860, or the year before. Unfortunately, one of the best players, and who had the whole management of the affair, was called away on the eve of the match. The money-taker at the door disappeared with the proceeds, and the hire of the table, &c, was afterwards defrayed by subscription.
There can be no doubt that this question of money payment has always been a stumbling-block in the way of these matches, and we congratulate the present players on having avoided the difficulty; but, at the same time, we must say that we regret that some means were not found so that the match could be played in London. It should be remembered that any inter-university encounter is quite as interesting to old members as to resident undergraduates. Take, for instance, the boa trace. As the boats pass by, and the dark and light blue oars flash in the sunlight, many a grey-haired man who watches feels his heart swell and his eyes glisten as he recalls the old days when he himself was a boy, though now the Isis and the Cam know him no more. Take, again, the thousands, and even tens of thousands, who crowd round Lord's on the occasion of the annual University cricket match. Any one who has watched the faces will have observed that by far the deepest interest is taken in the game by middle-aged rather than young men; the latter, as a rule, generally preferring to perambulate the outer circle, many evidently proud of the numbers of men whom they meet, with whom they are on nodding terms. After all, the fast undergraduate is a rather foolish creature, but still he is almost invariably a gentleman, and we sincerely trust that this year none will be found weak enough to join the disreputable gang of well-dressed roughs who take advantage of the night before the race to make a sort of saturnalia in the various music halls and places of amusement in London. Unfortunately no large class of young men can exist without containing some black sheep, and the sweepings, for it is only the sweepings, of the London hospitals, have done much to bring most unmerited contempt upon a large body of gentlemen who will in a few years' time be members of the most useful and self-denying profession in the world. But we must return to the billiard matches. Now, we do not for one moment wish to compare these events to either the boa trace or the cricket match for interest, but still we do maintain that there are a considerable number of old University men who have always regarded the billiard match the night before the boa trace as one of the events of the week.
It is, too, somewhat to be regretted that some arrangement could not have been made with regard to the Oxford and Cambridge billiard match, similar to the one that used to take place between the Artillery and Engineers. The annual billiard match between these two bodies of men used to be played, like the racket match, at Prince's Club, and by this means that unpleasant money taken at the door was avoided. But there is a gleam of sunshine for the future. It is well known that the committee of management of the Amateur Athletic Club, at Lillie Bridge running ground, have done much for the promotion and encouragement of sport of all kinds. Rapid improvements of all kinds are going on at the grounds, and amongst others, we believe, a billiard-room will be shortly erected; if so, we trust it will be large enough for the Oxford and Cambridge Annual Billiard Match to take place there about the same time as the inter-university sports, when the grounds are crowded with present and past members of both Universities. The room could easily be sufficiently darkened to enable the game to take place by gaslight, for we consider a billiard match by daylight to be no test of play to some men.
The next Oxford and Cambridge match takes place at Brown's Billiard-rooms, on Tuesday next, the single match being played on the following evening. Now the old saying, that every cock fights best on his own dunghill, applies with considerable force in a game like billiards. Being accustomed, not only to a table, but to the room, is undoubtedly a great assistance. Many men, even professionals, have found out what a vast difference it makes to their play when for the first time they find themselves in a large and lofty room, surrounded by raised seats, instead of the ordinary billiard-room. Of course, to men like Cook, who is in the constant habit of playing matches, use has become a second nature, and no difference is felt; but to men who are unaccustomed the difference is considerable. The most unfortunate circumstance connected with the matches that take place next week will be, should Cambridge win, many persons will say, "Ah, but then they were playing on a table they knew well, and to which the other men were strange." Still, on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread, we are glad to see the Oxford and Cambridge billiard matches revived, and a match at Cambridge is certainly better than, none at all.