Freytag; and after graduating at K'o'nigsberg in 1840, he proceeded to Paris, where he heard the lectures and enjoyed the friendship of Burnouf, and where in 1842 he edited a German translation of the Praboclha C'ha-ndrodaya. From 1846 to 1850 he resided at Berlin, where his talents and scholarship were recognized by A. von Humboldt; in the latter year he was induced, for the further prosecution of his Sanskrit researches, to remove to London, where in 1851 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit in University College. He now began to devote himself to the execution of a new Sanskrit dictionary, of which the first instalment appeared in 1856. In 1861 he published an important monograph, entitled Pan-{al.- his Place in Literature ; and from 1866 he was one of the chief promoters of the Sanskrit Text Society, which had been founded in that year; he was also an active member of the Philological Society, and of other learned bodies. His literary produc- tiveness was not, however, proportionate to the extent and accuracy of his reading 3 he had “ allowed his learning to stifle his creative faculty,” and a morbid dread of the risk of making inaccurate or defective statements made him unduly reluctant to communicate to the world the results of his laborious collecting and collating. The dictionary, —so copious as almost to deserve the name of a cyclopaedia of Indian archteology,—was never advanced further than to about the middle of the first letter (1864) ; and whatever else he may have written was published anonymously in various periodicals and works of reference. He died on the
6th of March 1872.GOLF (in its older forms Goff, Gouff, or Gowff, the last of which gives the genuine old pronunciation) is an amusement so peculiar to Scotland and so prevalent there that—unless curling may be held to dispute the place with it—it may be called, par excellence, the national game. There seems little doubt the word is derived from the German holbe, a club—in Dutch, holf,—which last is nearly in sound identical, and might give inference for the game of a Dutch origin.[1]
Golf may be practised on any good stretch of meadow-land, where the grass is not too rank 3 but the ground best suited for the purpose is a reach of undulating down-country, such as is common on the seaboard,—sandy in soil, and as such covered with a short crisp turf, occasionally broken up by sandholes or “ bunkers,” and provided, in addition, with a fair supply of gorse or whin. These “bunkers” and whins constitute the main “ hazards ” of the game, in the avoidance of which skill in it is specially shown ; and without a fair provision of them, no golfing “links” or “ green” can be held to approach the ideal standard. Small holes, of about 4 inches diameter, are punched in the turf at distances indefinitely variable, but ranging from about 100 to 400 or 500 yards; and from one of these holes into the next in order, a ball of gutta percha of about 12— oz. weight has to be driven with implements (clubs) of some variety, devised for the purpose. Their variety is deter- mined by this, that while, in starting from the hole, the hall may be teed (Le, placed where the player chooses, with a little pinch of sand under it called a tee), it must in every other case be played strictly from its place as it chances to lie,——in sand, whin, or elsewhere,—a different club being necessary in each particular difficulty. These clubs may generally be defined as shafts of wood, with so called heads of wood or iron attached.[2] Starting from the one hole, it is the immediate aim of the player to drive his ball as far towards the next as he can. Having got within some moderate distance of it, he proceeds to make his “ approach shot,” carefully selecting the appropriate imple- ment. When he has reached the “ putting green,"—a smooth space carefully chosen for the purpose,——he essays to put (or putt) his ball into the hole ; and generally, if he does it in two strokes, he may be held skilful or fortunate. The player who holes his ball in the smallest number of strokes is, as matter of course, winner of the hole. The “ approach ” and the “ putting ” are by far the most difficult, critical, and important parts of the game 3 though no one who is not fairly competent in his driving also is ever in the least likely to take rank as a first—class player. The maximum length of a good driving stroke for a first— class player, not favoured by any exceptional circumstances, may perhaps fairly be stated as something over 180 yards, and under 200. For further details as to the mode and order of playing, the reader is referred to the set of “rules” appended to this article.
The game, in description as above, may not seem very lively or entertaining ; and it is to be admitted that, seen for the first time, more especially if played by bungling or indifferent performers, it does not look of much promise. No game, however, stirs a keener enthusiasm in its votaries ; and very few people who have ever fairly committed them- selves to serious practice of it will be found to deny its extreme fascination. It is a manly and eminently healthful recreation, pursued as it is mostly amid the fresh sea- breezes ; while, as exercise, it has this peculiar merit, that, according to pace, it may be made easy or smart at pleasure, and thus equally adapts itself to the overflowing exuberance of youth, the matured and tempered strength of manhood, and the gentler decays of age.
It is uncertain at what date golf was introduced into Scotland. but in 1457 the popularity of the game had already become so great as seriously to interfere with the more important pursuit of archery, and cause the rulers of the realm to sound a note of alarm. In March of that year, it is recorded that the Scottish parliament “deereted and ordained that wapinshawingis be halden be the lordis and baronis spirituale and temporale, four times in the zeir ; and that the fute-ball and golf be utterly cryil dozm, and nocht usit ; and that the bowe-merkis be maid at ilk paroche kirk a pair of buttis, and schult-i-n be usit ilk Smulay.” It does not appear, however, that to this patriotic decree of their parliament the people paid much attention; and fourteen years afterwards, in May 1471, it was judged necessary to pass another Act ‘ ‘anent wapenshawings," and for opposing “ our auld enimies of England.” But it seems to have been pretty much as before ; schullin was no more usit, nor golf the less steadily played because of these decrees of parlia- ment ; and accordingly in 1491 a final and evidently angry fulmination is issued on the general subject, with pains and penalties annexed. It runs thus—“ Futeball and Golfe forbidden. Item, it is statut and ordainit that in na place of the realme there be usit futeball, golfc, or ulhcrsik Improfilabz'll sportz's, but for the commoun gude of the realme, and defence thereof, that bowis and schullin be hauled, and bow-markis maid therefor, ordainit in ilk parochin under the pain of fourtie shillinges, to be raisit be the schirefle and baillics foresaid," &c. This, be it noted, is an edict of James IV. ; and it is not a little curious presently to find the monarch himself breaking his own behest, and setting an ill example to his com- mons, by practice of this “ nnprofitabill sport,” as is shown by various entries in the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland (1503–6).
- ↑ From an enactment of James VI. (then James I. of England), bearing date 1618, we find that a considerable importation of golf balls at that time took place from Holland, and as thereby “na small quantitie of gold and silver is transported zierly out of his Hienes’ kmgdome of Scoteland” (see letter of his Majesty from Salisbury, 5th Aug. 1618), he issues a royal prohibition, at once as a wise economy of the national monies, and a protection to native industry in the article. From this it might almost seem that the game was at that date still known and practised in Holland, though it has long smce entirely disappeared there.
- ↑ A complete set of them may number about a dozen :—a driving club, a long, a middle, and a short “spoon” (so called from the face of the club being spooned, or bevelled, to lift a bad-lying ball), and a “putter” (the use of which is explained below) are the clubs formed wholly of wood, while of iron there are—a heavy and a light “iron,” a driving and a lifting “ cleek," possibly also a ” putting" cleek, finally a “niblick,” constructed to pick a ball out of some such hole as no other iron can reach.
