with his wife and daughter. The inscription is as follows:—
also the above,
WILLIAM WARD,
For some years M. P. for the city of London,
Born July 24, 1787,
Died JUNE 30, 1849.'
Mr. Wheeler, in Sportascrapiana, gives from Mr. Budd's lips this account of Mr. Ward's purchase of the Lord's lease: (It was reported that the ground was for sale, and Mr. Ward remarked to Lord, "It's said you are going to sell us." Lord said he would dispose of the ground if he could get his price. "What is your price"? said Ward; and having the reply, £5,000, Mr. Ward said, "Give me pen and ink." A cheque was at once drawn for the amount, and the purchase was thought a good investment. " I have heard," said Mr. Budd, "that he settled it on his sisters."' 'He often used,' says Mr. Wheeler, 'to back Mr. Budd thus: according to who was bowling against Mr. Budd, Mr. Ward would give £20 to £25 to any one who would give him £1 for every run scored by Mr. Budd at the one innings, knowing that he was making a pretty safe thing, Mr. Budd's average being twenty-nine in all the great matches.'
And here is an anecdote of Mr. Ward from Mr. Pycroft:—'Caldecourt, who had a plain, though judicious, style of bowling, once observed a weak point in Mr. Ward's play, and levelled his stumps three times in about as many balls. Many men boasting, as Mr. Ward then did, of nearly the first average of his day, would have blamed the bowler, the ground, the wind, and, in short, anything but themselves; but Mr. Ward, a liberal patron of the game, in the days of his prosperity, gave Caldecourt a guinea for his judgement in the game and his useful lesson.'
