I now come to Lewis Kilkenny, who was entirely unlike the general run of professional billiard players. Indeed, if arrayed in clerical costume, he would have made an ideal rector or vicar, and could have played the part on the stage without the slightest make-up. In fact, so strong was the impulse to prefix" Rev."to his name that it gave me the idea for a short story, in which Kilkenny figured as a clerical tutor, S. W. Stanley as his pupil, and I as the " mug "who lost more money than I could well afford in playing games with the tutor, and, unbeknown to"His Reverence"' as we called him, backing myself with the pupil. In one respect this was a gross libel on Kilkenny, who was as well conducted and honourable a player as I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and as to which I will relate a little episode in his career that reflects immense credit upon him.
It occurred in connexion with the first American Handicap that was ever played in England, and which took place in January, 1875. The heats were 500 up, and the players and starts were: Cook, Roberts, Junr., J. Bennett, scratch; Taylor 100, Stanley 120, Timbrell 140, Kilkenny and Alfred Bennett, 160. On the afternoon of the final day Roberts had won five games out of seven, and Alfred Bennett five out of six. In the evening the latter had to meet Kilkenny, and, as they both hailed from Birmingham, were very good friends, and a victory for Bennett would give him the first prize, whilst it meant little to Kilkenny (who, if my memory serves me, had only secured a solitary game), I am afraid that most of us considered the result to be a foregone one. To our great surprise, however, Kilkenny played by far the best game that he had done during the week, and won comfortably. This made a tie of it for first prize, and, when this was played, Roberts, who jumped off with a fine break of 213, won easily by 140 points. It would be well for present-day billiards if this sportsmanlike spirit were displayed by all professionals.
Kilkenny kept pace pretty well with the remarkable development of the game which took place between 1870 and 1880, and managed to hold his own, with a substantial start, from the rising stars. He possessed little power of cue, and no brilliancy of execution, but played a thoroughly sound, steady game.
Before spot-barred games became so universal, he could generally be relied upon for a pretty good run of spot strokes when he obtained a favourable position, but, once deprived of the strongest feature of his game, he soon fell out of the ranks.
So far as my memory goes, I never had a game of billiards with Kilkenny, but I have a vivid recollection of an afternoon at pool in which he took part. The gap that divides the best of the professionals from the pick of the amateurs at billiards is still nearly as wide as ever, but they have always been much more nearly on a par where pyramids and pool are concerned. The professional would always beat the amateur so far as hazard striking was concerned, but the trouble was that the former could rarely be persuaded to think about safety, but devoted himself to going out for lives in very reckless fashion.
The "hottest" pool in which I ever took part was one in which I was on Cook, and had Roberts, Junr., on me, and I remember being very proud of the feat of killing Cook before the champion put me out of the game. To return, however, to Kilkenny. We played six pool for some four hours. There were two other amateurs besides myself taking part in the game, and the professionals were represented by Kilkenny, Taylor, and Stanley. The first named of this trio played the correct game, never hesitating to go for safety when he had not a reasonable chance of taking a life, but the other two dashed out for everything, and neither touched a pool during the whole afternoon. Kilkenny won a little, but the bulk of the spoils fell to the three amateurs.