The death of Charles on the scaffold, the history of the Long Parliament, Cromwell with his spot of blood upon his collar, the steeple-crowned hats, and the sad-coloured cloaks touch us not at all. But the influence which the Puritans exercised in determining the pastimes of the nation is a serious matter. From an athletic point of view, the Puritan creed is this--“Be always morose, always ponderous, absorbed in continual thought and everlasting sermonizing concerning your latter end. Now, if you play football or cricket, or indulge in any English pastimes, you will unquestionably forget your latter end, and will develop such a healthy energy as will be fatal to despondent bitterness of spirit, which makes the true Puritan.” The result was simple. Exercise was a waste of time, innocent pleasure an unwarrantable pampering of the flesh, an unholy coaxing of the old Adam. Now we all know the result of insufficient exercise to be derangement of the liver, the spleen, and all organs and functions of the body. Upon this follows loss of temper, which passes from the condition of casual irritability to that of unrelenting and constitutional rancour. Thus men of dispositions naturally bitter and gloomy, not only took steps to develop their naturally ungracious tendencies, but also sought to run the rest of the nation into the same mould. They did their endeavour to convert merry England,--for we were once, in very truth, the merriest of nations,--into a melancholy country; and it may well be believed that the Restoration was due as much to weariness of the Puritan discipline in matters of daily life and amusement, as to any strong political feeling. The rule of politics which the Puritans seem to have forgotten, is the practical one, that the first principle of good government is to keep the people who are governed in a good humour. The natural result of a system which inculcated bitterness of thought, fostered ill-humour, and encouraged conceit, was, that it should perish at the hands of the bitterness, the ill-humour, and conceit which it had itself engendered. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER III. _History of Football from the Puritan Era until the Present Century._