“There is a spirit brooding o’er these walls, That tells the records of a bygone day; When, midst the splendour of thy courtly halls, A pageant shone, whose gorgeous array, Like Pleasure’s golden dream, has passed away; Where Beauty’s smiles, and winning graces, lent The witching radiance of their love-lit ray; And from the scene a mingled strain was sent Of music, laughter, festive song, and merriment.”--_Raglan._ The game of bowls was unknown to the ancients, and bowling-greens are said to have originated in England; where, in the course of time, every castle, and most houses of the nobility, had each a bowling-green attached to them. The “greens” were in some places narrow strips turfed over; but if covered with gravel, they were called “Bares.” Bowling-alleys were so called from being roofed over for play when the weather was unfavourable; and these appear to have been the usual appendages to taverns, and other places of public resort, particularly in towns. In an old inventory we have--“To Sparke of Bury, Roper, for vi. li. etc., of herryng line for the <g>Bowling-alley</g>, iij_s._ iv_d._” At the same place [Hengrave Hall] a bowling-alley occupied the space between the north side of the moat, having the convenience of an open corridor communicating with the Hall. Flat bowls were best for a close alley; “round biassed bowls” for open ground, of advantage; bowls, round as a ball, for green swarths which were plain and level; and of the latter description is the Bowling-green of <g>Raglan</g>, now under notice. In a plate of “Strutt’s Sports,” two small cones are placed upright, at a distance from each other, and the players bowl at each alternately--the winner was he who could lay his bowl nearest to the mark. A small bowl or jack was also used as a mark; and only one bowl for each person--not two or three, as in the present day.[299] There were also ground-bowls, driven by a baton or mace through an arch. Half-bowl--so called because it was played with one half of a sphere--was prohibited by Edward the Fourth; and is the rolly-polly still practised in Herts.[300] <g>Tennis-Court.</g>--The site of this is still a question in the topography of Raglan, although “the practice” cannot be doubted. Henry the Seventh--who was a prisoner in Raglan Castle--his son Henry, and Charles the Second, were all tennis players. In the sixteenth century, tennis-courts were quite common in England. They were divided by a line stretched in the middle; and the players, standing on either side with their rackets, had to receive and return the ball, which the rules of the game required to be struck over the line.[301]