Two years later Du Maurier satirized the social importance attached to the stars of the "Lawn-Tennis world." Football was not yet regarded, by _Punch_ at any rate, as a serious competitor. Professionalism was as yet in its infancy. _Punch_ greeted the Maori team which visited England in 1888, and complimented them on their successes over Surrey and Kent:-- Your kicking, brother Maoris, Has given us the kick; You're well matched all, well "on the ball," And strong, and straight, and quick. By Jove, this is a rum age, When a New Zealand team Licks Bull at goal and scrummage! It beats Macaulay's dream. You're welcome, brother Maoris, Here's wishing you good luck! With you there pace and power is, And skill, and lots of pluck. A trifle "rough." Why, just so! But that you'll mend, no doubt, And win, all Sportsmen trust so, In many a friendly bout. [Sidenote: _Baseball Arrives_] The allusion to rough play is not an isolated mention; John Bull is shown protesting in the same month (October, 1888) against "this brutal sort of thing," in a cut in which the players are arrayed in knee-breeches and long stockings; and a year later two football players, after losing the match, are shown carrying off the referee in a bag. Lacrosse was already acclimatized in England in the early 'eighties, and the visit of the Toronto Club in 1888 gave impetus to a fine game which has never seriously threatened the popularity of cricket and football. The American baseball team who came over in the spring of 1889 not only failed to impress _Punch_, they excited him to hostile and unsympathetic comment on a game which he didn't understand and didn't want to. Still, he had the grace to admit that he was a prejudiced spectator; also that the players were as agile as cats and threw like catapults. He had not the vision to foresee a time when "baseball results" would be a daily feature of the tape and an Exalted Personage would be credited with the confession that he thought it was a better game to watch than cricket, adding, however, "for goodness' sake, don't say that I said so, or there might be a Revolution." [Illustration: "NOUVELLES COUCHES SOCIALES!" "I say, Uncle, that was Young Baldock that went by--Wilmington Baldock, you know----!" "Who the dickens is _he_?" "What! Haven't you heard of him? Hang it! He's making himself a very first-rate position in the _Lawn-Tennis_ world, I can tell you!"] [Sidenote: _Lawn Tennis v. Golf_]