Page 5 Advertisements Column 3

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9115, 21 December 1907, Page 5

The invention of billiards is generally attributed -to Henrique Devigne, a French artist, about 1571, certainly during the reign of Charles IX. Who brought it to England is not known, but toe time of its introduction seems to have been about the close of ta& eixteenth century. Spenoer 'alludes to it in "Mother Hubbard's Tale":— " With dice, with cards, with billiards farre unfit:" and Shakespeare in " Antony and Cleopatra." The existence of the game in Shakespeare's time may bo looked on as assured 3 but we must certainly regard the mention of " billiards " — " Let it alone ; lef s to billiards " — by the lovely " Serpent of old Nile," as sin anachronism. Evelyn (1620-1706) speaks of a new sort of billiards, which has more hazards than ours usually have. Slate billiard tables -wm** jM^*wa»»Aocl. in England in 1827.