A complete report from the The Salisbury And Winchester Journal
and General Advertiser of Wilts, Hants, Dorset, and Somerset of Monday, August 2, 1819, records that a team of married women took on a team of single women, the later, presumably younger and fitter, winning comfortably. “One of them played particularly well, and seldom missed a hit.” (Unfortunately none of the players are named.)

And these were “professionals” – “we understand that a subscription amounting to £15 was divided amongst them, the winners of course having the greatest share”.

As a cricketer – without qualifier, although I am usually the only “Female” on the pitch – nice to read about my predecessors.

Thanks the C-18 poster for this reference, which also has a selection of interesting other articles, including of course the inevitable dog story, from the same journal, but on Monday, August 26, 1782 …

“Yesterday a young man leaped from the centre of Battersea-bridge, to swim up river against time for a wage of five guineas, but he was instantly followed by a Newfoundland dog, belonging to a casual passenger, who seized him by the arm, and without drawing blood, dragged him to shore, to the infinite merriment of a great number of spectators, who joined in paying a tribute of praise to this sagacious and generous animal.”

I was slogging away on a planned submission to an academic journal tonight, my first – deadline yesterday – when just a minute ago I popped on to its website and discovered submissions have been extended to November 20!!!! A slight feeling of anger, then relief that I will actually have time to read it properly. I have to ask any academic readers, is this standard? Do deadlines always get extended?

Anyway, while distracting myself this afternoon I started work on my personal, fully owned Georgian manuscript; I hope to post at least a partial transcript, probably with lots of question marks, in a day or so. The description as purchased is here, although I don’t think it was quite right.

The date is actually “the second year of the Reign of our Sovereigne Lord George the Second by Holy Grace of God of Greate Britain and France and ???? Defender of His Faithe or Anno Domini One thousand seven hundred and twenty nine”, not 1722.

The term “indenture ” made me think of an apprenticeship, which was probably my error: it is certainly a legal document concerning “by estimation eight acres” of “pasture land” and its “premises” – whether to lease or buy I haven’t quite worked out: while it is in English there are I suspect a few Latin legal words. The sum involved is “Eighty three pounds, three shillings of faithfull(?) money of great Britain” which is being paid by Amariah Impson (or Empson) to Elizabeth Heales, spinster. (At least I think that is her name; I might have to get some expert advice on this, or buy a book recently recommended on the Shakespeare listserv – Letitia Yeandle (Folger) and Jean Preston (Princeton) — English Handwriting 1400-1650:
An Introductory Manual, to be found at www.pegpress.org.)

I don’t usually have the patience to persevere with this sort of thing, but now I’ve promised I’ll have to – you might describe it as personal blackmail.

For those, like me, who weren’t around in the Sixties (or at least not in a state of development sufficient to take them in), or those who were, but as the old joke goes can’t remember them, an interesting (if very US-centric) piece on The Other Sixties. Found on Arts and Letters Daily, a website I’ve been reading for at least eight years.

I sometimes think it is not as good as it used to be, but that’s probably just a trick of perspective; when I was in Bangkok its updating was the intellectual highlight of my day. Now it has more competition.

“I meant to tell you that if you had a television, you’d approve of Channel 4. There are a lot of women on it. Well there are a lot more men, of course, but we must give thanks for small mercies. One documentary programme a week is entirely composed of women. The reviewers keep calling it ‘an all-woman team’. They do not call other programmes ‘all-man’. For ‘all-man’ read ‘all human beings’. Women, as S. de Beauvoir said so long ago, are still The Other, as in A Bit of The Other.” (p. 78)

(First published 1983, could have been published 2004.)

My copy of the second Jill Tweedie book, More from Martha: Further Letters from a Fainthearted Feminist arrived this morning, and surprise, surprise I’m already half-way through, but I am going to go to sleep soon, honest.

A small sample, proving my papal theme unusually persistent this week:
“I thought the picture of you and Mo as the Pill, in a yellow dinghy, was very novel …
Anyway, you’re right, the Pope has to be lobbied on behalf of women, though it’ll do no good. You can’t get at Infallibles, you see. They just turn around and say look, you horrible little person. I’m infallible and I’m wearing my infallible Hat, so shut up while I’m talking or I’ll excommunicate you. Josh has a fit of the infallibles once a week, so I know the symptoms…” (p. 51)

Prescient words, those “it’ll do no good”.

More about the Jill Tweedie.

Over at Random Acts of Reality, a wonderful bloggers’ hierarchy. Who looks down on who? Place yourself on each line – cat posts at the bottom.

And to complete the tale of the Australian election, little Johnie Howard now has control of the Senate, and hence complete, unfettered control of the country. There go any remaining human rights.