anecdotal biography of Mr. Budd and his two friends Mr. Osbaldeston and Captain Ross, published in 1867, referring to the foregoing passage, says: 'We wished to fully understand Mr. Py croft's description of Mr. Budd's attitude in batting, and the latter at once took a bat from a corner of the dining-room, and, with all the vigour of the most powerful athlete in the prime of life, he threw himself into the attitudes for his "slashing hits", the "cut", and each possible change. The bat was one of Lord Frederick's, with his name written at full length by the noble lord himself; and we take this opportunity to remark that the name is spelt "Beauclerck," though we are now accustomed to always see it minus the "k". Seeing the action and attitude of our worthy friend, and fully aware of the tremendous strength he used to and does (even now) possess, and the enthusiasm of his character, we could at once feel the justice of Lord Frederick's remark given in next page.'[1]
Apropos of Mr. Budd's own bat, Mr. Pycroft, in his Oxford Memories, writes as follows:—'Being a man of great strength and quickness, with fine wrist-play, five feet ten inches in height, and twelve stone in weight, no wonder he was a hard hitter, especially in days when bats were heavy. Mr. Budd's bat weighed three pounds, but there were heavier bats than his. Mr. Ward used one that weighed four pounds. When I was at Oxford (1832-6) two pounds ten was a common weight for a bat. Light bats with cane handles were then unknown.
'It was from playing Mr. Budd's bowling that I derived my practical knowledge of what the old bowling was. Mr. Budd bowled, like Clarke, from his hip, with good elevation, and could make the ball rise very high, even when much past his best, above fifty years of age; and his power of spin, which is the characteristic of all
- ↑ 'Budd always wanted to win the game off a single ball.' It should be added that at the time Mr. Budd was thus exhibiting his method of batting he was eighty years of age. E.V.L.
