daughters—now living at Folkestone; and Miss Nyren was so good as to write out for me a little paper of memories of her grandfather, collected from various family sources, which carry the story of his life a little farther than Mr. J. W. Allen's excellent memoir in the Dictionary of National Biography. In Miss Nyren's notes, as well as in that article, John Nyren—to whom cricket was, as it ought to be, only a recreation stands forth a Roman Catholic gentleman of cultivated tastes, a good musician, a natural philanthropist, and the friend of very intelligent men, among them Charles Lamb's friends Leigh Hunt, Cowden Clarke, and Vincent Novello. These things were always known to the few; they ought to be known also to the many.
Part of the misunderstanding has been due to the description of Richard Nyren, his father, as the Hambledon 'ground-man' and the landlord of the now very squalid neighbouring inn called the 'Bat and Ball'. The story, whether true or not, began with Mr. Haygarth, who wrote thus: 'Richard Nyren, whose name appears first in this match, had played at cricket several seasons previously, being now about thirty-seven years of age. All his earliest, and most probably his best, performances are therefore lost. At first he kept the "Bat and Ball Inn", near Broad-Halfpenny Down, at Hambledon; but afterwards the "George Inn" in that village. He looked after the two famous cricket grounds there namely, Broad-Halfpenny and Windmill Downs, and also had a small farm near. During the great matches he always had a refreshment booth on the ground, and his advertisements, requesting the assistance and patronage of his friends, will be found in the Hampshire Chronicle of the last century. Though active, he was a very stout man for a cricketer, being about 5ft. 9in. in height; and he devoted much time to hunting, shooting, and fishing.
'The compiler of this notice was informed (by his maternal grandson) that Richard Nyren was born at, , in 1734 or 1735, and died at Lee, or Leigh, in
