This match, which was played on Saturday, June 29th, ended in a hollow victory for the School. As the ground was in beautiful condition for run-getting, and the Nondescripts had brought down a fairly strong batting team, play was commenced rather earlier than usual to insure the finish of the game. Napier won the toss for the School and at quarter to 12 Hitchcock and Hayes appeared at the wickets to face the bowling of A. Ford (medium over-hand), and Young (lobs). Off the first ball of the second over Hitchcock succumbed to one of Young's lobs, Law

filled the vacant place, and but few runs were added when Hayes was clean bowled by Ford; Jacson, the new-comer, on trying to run a short run, succeeded in running out Law, who, however, was not backing up enough. Napier and Jacson now infused some life into the game, and the former quickly knocked up 22, and then after giving a bad chance to long-off, and another to the wicket keep, neither of which were accepted, he was caught by cover point without scoring any more runs. Matters began to look bad. for the school when Jacson was bowled by Francis and Womersley stumped off Ford without increasing the score. 4, 5 and 6 wickets for 54: but at this period Rogers, the hero of the day, came in, and led off with two pretty cuts for 4 and 3 respectively, and almost immediately began to score rapidly; Stanton, who was his partner, played carefully, but shewed. that he could hit if necessary by a magnificent hit over the bowler's head, which, however, owing to the long grass, realized only 4 runs. After lunch, off Blaker's second ball, Stanton was neatly caught by E. C. B. Ford at mid wicket. 7 for 78. Now the real stand of the day was made: Rogers and Costenhofer, before they were parted, scoring 136 runs. Both batsmen began to hit about merrily, defying all the efforts of the bowlers; numerous changes were brought on, but all alike were ineffectual: at length Gostenhofer was bowled for an excellent innings of 59. 8 for 214. Rogers, now partnered with Booth, was nothing daunted by the loss of his previous partner, and continued to hit about with untiring. energy till he completed a century amidst loud applause, Booth played steadily for 9 till he was well caught by E. C. B. Ford, whose excellent fielding throughout the game was a great contrast to that of his side generally. 9 for 253.

Peake then came in and received one ball only, for Rogers was then taken at point for a capital innings of 112, though not without some chances.

Between the two innings a violent storm of rain came on which cleared off in about half an hour, and with only two hours and a half to spare, the Nondescripts commenced their innings, represented by H. C. Blaker (O.M.) and A. W. Young; these first two batsmen gave a great deal of trouble and scored rapidly, so rapidly that Gostenhofer and Napier changed ends; this change was just what was wanted; off Gostenhofer's first ball Young was bowled.

A.

F. J. Ford, the new comer, did not remain at the wickets long, being bowled by Peake who had come on at Napier's end. A. S. Francis, their captain, next came in, and puzzled the slow bowler very much by walking out of his ground three or four yards, and there waiting for the ball; amongst his hits were two splendid leg hits for 4 and 5. Soon, however, he lost Blaker, his partner, who had played very carefully for 18. W. J. Ford, his next partner, contrary to his usual custom, made 5 singles, and then was bowled by Napier, who had again gone on in place of Peake; off his first ball, Pemberton, who succeeded him, shared his fate, two balls taken off the same bowler, who had found a "spot."

Francis' innings, by far the best of his side, was brought to a close by Gostenhofer, and the rest of the game calls for no comment, the whole side being out for 92, leaving the School victorious by 161 runs.

HOUSE GROUND MATCHES. FIRST TIES.

COTTON HOUSE v. SHARP'S (MITRE). This match resulted in a victory for Cotton House by eight wickets.

Sharp's in their first innings only reached 44, Griffith playing well for 22. G. E. Thompson got 7 wickets. Cotton House made 65, Ewart (24), and Whitaker (19) alone getting double figures. Sharp's second innings realised 48, Tatham playing steadily for 21. Curtler and Whitaker each took 4 wickets. Cotton House then went in and lost two wickets, but Whitaker 13 (not out) and Askwith 11 (not out) soon hit off the required runs. Sharp's 44 Cotton House 65

......

48

28 (no wickets down).

SECOND TIES.

UPCOTT'S (MALTESE CROSS) v. COTTON HOUSE.

This match was played on Upcott's ground and resulted in an easy victory for them, although on the second day they lost the services of Davidson and Adams (promoted into XXII). Cotton House went in first and scored 125 runs, mainly owing to the efforts of Askwith (25) and Charley (24). Upcott's then went in and did not leave the wickets till they had scored 238 runs, of which Gunner contributed 58, by some fine bitting, especially to leg, Birch and Denman each 36, Adams 21 (retired), and Craufurd 20.

Cotton House in their second innings only made 71 runs, of which Curtler made 13, Charley 19, and Whittaker 18. For Upcott's in the two innings Birch took seven wickets and Hartley five. Upcott's won in one innings by 42 runs. Upcott's.... 238

Cotton House 125 71=196

HORNER'S v. PRESHUTE.

Thus Score:

This match was won by Horner's by ten wickets. Preshute went in first, but were soon dispatched for the small total of 24, Tracy (11) alone reaching double figures. Horner's then scored 54 without a double figure or a 'duck.' In the 2nd innings Bengough and Cairnes (16) played very steadily, and after them Law hit about merrily for 22, but the

Only five houses competed for this cup on June 22nd, the remaining four being either too utterly bereft of energy or too fainthearted to provide representatives.

Baker's were hot favourites as no other house seemed to possess more than two good shots, but owing to the good shooting of Goddard and Dalton, respectably supported by Drake, Sankey's headed the list at each range and won by seven points, Baker's being second with 129, the winning score of last year. Horner's retired after securing third place, finding victory impossible: Cotton House and Sharp's had an exciting struggle for fourth, which ended in the victory of the former on their long range score.

The day was bright and very hot with a light breeze from the right.

Some three or four of the outsiders who completed the teams seem to promise well if they persevere, but it is surely disgraceful to some houses that they should not have three members, some not even one in an old school institution like the Rifle Corps. There are numerous fellows in the School, who can never even reach mediocrity in cricket, but who by displaying a slight amount of energy and perseverance, might do their school a great deal of good and immensely increase our chances of success at Wimbledon, which are chiefly marred by the utter absence of any keen competition for the last places in the VIII. It is useless to deplore this state of things without doing anything personally to remedy it, which seems to be the course the majority of the School prefer to take.

The following are the scores:

SANKEY'S (Star).
200 yds.

Sergt. Goddard.........

..... 3355353-27

Crecke

4333345-25 54442R2-21 46 4423353-24 0522522-18 42

71

58 129

HORNER'S (Crossed Arrows).

Col.-Sergt. Butcher

27

21

48

Pte. Hammond

18

3

21

Cross

25

25

This match, the first we believe that we have had with Rugby, was shot on June 18th, at 230 yds. Marlborough made the respectable total of 199, heading our opponents by five points: at 500 we were decidedly "on the spot," making our highest score at this range for the present year, 179, while Rugby made 166: we thus defeated then by 18 points, at the two ranges. From the subjoined scores it will be seen that our shooting was much more even than it usually has been, no one being particularly brilliant and no one very bad. Dalton made the highest score for us, 53, while none of the Rugby team reached over 50, which number three made. M.C.R.V.C. 200 yds. 2354345-26 2355135-27 4323355-25 52

GENERAL

The annual Prize-Meeting of the County Rifle Association was held at Roundway on June 25th and 26th, and was on the whole quite as successful and well attended as in former years. A small detachment from the College, with Hon. Capt. Harding, visited the range on Tuesday, and competed for various prizes, chiefly in Class C, which presented the most suitable ranges, 200 and 500 yards. The shooting as a practice on a strange range was good, though Goddard was the only one who managed to carry off a prize, coming in fifth, thus winning £2.

Natural History Society.

EETING, THURSDAY, JUNE 27TH.

After the minutes of the last Meeting had been read, the l'resident exhibited a specimen of Timothy Grass, and a curious monstrosity of a Geranium. The Botanical and Crnithological lists were then read the former giving evidence of increased activity amongst the smaller members. N. Masterman, Esq., read the second part of a paper on the " Antiquities of the neighbourhood of Marlborough," touching on British Camps and Villages, Roman Roads, and the Wansdyke.

The President, F. E. Hulme, Esq., L. E. Upcott, Esq., T. O. Harding Esq.,, and D. E. Olivier made some remarks on the paper, and a case of Implements found in Barbury Castle was exhibited.

It is our melancholy duty to record the death. of the much-respected and lamented Captain and Adjutant Bradford, which occurred at his residence in Chippenham, on Friday evening last, at the age of 63. Both past and present Marlburians must feel that the Rifle Corps have lost a true friend, in him who always took so much pains, sometimes even appearing severe, though not really so, to do his best for them at their drills, to make them present a respectable appearance with the other Corps at Battalion Drills. Not only did he always work most conscientiously in this way, but probably there are very few Adjutants in the kingdom at the present time, who know their drill and the various manoeuvres so thoroughly as Capt. Bradford did. Government were equally well aware of his merits, when on his retirement from the Royal Engineers, they pensioned him off, and made him Adjutant of the Volunteer force, with the title of Captain.

THE CHELTENHAM MATCH.

more

Once has fortune favoured the Blue and White, and we can boast of having now won our third consecutive victory over Cheltenham, and the last again on the enemy's ground. Our XI left Marlborough on the afternoon of Wednesday the 3rd inst., and arriving at their destination about 9.30 that evening, were most hospitably received in the various masters' houses. We woke up to the welcome sight of a sunny morning, but, as the day wore on, it became somewhat overclouded, though fortunately there was never any ain to speak of. The wickets were in the most perfect order imaginable, and the lively state of the ground was a great contrast to what we had been used to at Marlborough. At home, in spite of sundry presentiments at the beginning of the season that our XI was going to be unprecedentedly feeble, a victory was confidently expected, and though the expectations were justified, yet most undeniably our antagonists had been greatly underrated, since, though distinctly weak in bowling and fielding, they formed certainly the strongest batting team that we had encountered previously this year.

PRICE 3d.

The ill luck which attended us on the first day of the match first became apparent, when it was announced that Napier had lost the toss. Cheltenham of course chose innings. Accordingly, punctually at eleven o'clock, our fellows turned out to field. The Cheltonians were first represented by Francis and Tonge, who opposed the bowling of Napier (College end) and Gostenhofer, who bowled up the slope. Each bowler began with two maidens, then an over with one run, and then another maiden. Tonge then set to work, opening with a splendid leghit for 5 off Napier's 5th over. Runs then began to come much faster, though Gostenhofer still bowled very steadily, putting in 8 overs before anything above a single was made off him. Tonge was especially active, making two fours running, off Napier. At 39 Napier yielded the ball to Law, who only bowled two overs, when he in his turn gave place to Peake at 44. The few Marlborough partizans who were on the ground were beginning to look decidedly "blue," when the first 50 appeared on the telegraph for no wicket, but it was the omen of better things, for Tonge was almost immediately bowled by Napier, who had just resumed again, for an excellent free-hit innings of 31, including 1 five, 4 fours, 1 three and 2 twos; 1 for 52. Jackson who