was promised influential support if he succeeded. The Earl of Winchelsea and Col. the Hon. Lennox were the principal movers in the matter; and Lord, being a bit of an enthusiast, and realising that the speculation was likely to turn out well, at once proceeded to carry out the suggestion. By 1787 a suitable spot, now known as Dorset Square, was acquired, and Lord's Ground and the Marylebone Club became accomplished facts.
The Club must Jiave had an influential membership even at that date, for the following year we find it revising the laws of the game. At once it began to play matches with the White Conduit and other clubs; but the first recorded is M.C.C. v. White Conduit Club, on the 27th June, 1788, which the M.C.C. won by 83 runs. Everything went smoothly for a period of twenty-two years; then Lord, owing to a dispute with his landlord about an increase of rent, had to leave Dorset Square. North Bank, Regent's Park, was next chosen, in 1810: but that was to be a very short abiding place; for in 1812 the making of Regent's Canal caused the ground to be cut up.
Neither the Club nor Lord was disheartened; for in 1814 the present site in John's Wood was secured, and there the club has played ever since. A year or two previously the Homerton Club, the next in importance, amalgamated with the M.C.C., and the playing eleven became a very strong one. But it should be remembered that before this some of the members of the old Hambledon Club, which broke up in 1791, had played for the M.C.C., and consequently strengthened it. Matches against England, London, Kent, Middlesex, Hampshire, and other clubs, had been of frequent occurrence before the end of the eighteenth century, and the fame of the M.C.C. had gone over the land.
Lord and the club committee must have thought highly of the turf on which they played at Dorset Square; for
