"I would not have Martin as yet to scourge a Top, till I am better informed whether the Trochus which was recommended by Cato be really our present Top, or rather the Hoop which the boys drive with a stick. Neither Cross and Pile, nor Ducks and Drakes, are quite so ancient as Handy-dandy, though Macrobius and St. Augustine take notice of the first, and Minutius Felix describes the latter; but Handy-dandy is mentioned by Aristotle, Plato, and Aristophanes.

"The Play which the Italians call Cinque, and the French Mourre, is extremely ancient; it was played at by Hymen and Cupid at the Marriage of Psyché, and termed by the Latins, digitis micare.

"Julius Pollux describes the Omilla, or Chuckfarthing; though some will have our modern Chuckfarthing to be nearer the Aphetinda of the Ancients. He also mentions the Basilinda, or King I am; and Myinda, or Hoopers-Hide.

"But the Chytrindra described by the same Author is certainly not our Hot-cockle; for that was by pinching and not by striking; though there are good authors who affirm the Rathapygismus to be yet nearer the modern Hot-cockles. My son Martin may use either of them indifferently, they being equally antique.

"Building of Houses, and Riding upon Sticks, have been used by Children in all ages; Edificare casas, equitare in arundine longa. Yet I much doubt whether the Riding upon Sticks did not come into use after the age of the Centaurs.

"There is one Play which shews the gravity of

ancient Education, called the Acinetinda, in which children contended who could longest stand still. This we have suffered to perish entirely; and, if I might be allowed to guess, it was certainly first lost among the French.

"I will permit my Son to play at Apodidascinda, which can be no other than our Puss in a Corner.

"Julius Pollux in his ninth book speaks of the Melolonthe or the Kite; but I question whether the Kite of Antiquity was the same with ours: and though the 'OpruуOкоTía or Quail-fighting is what is most taken notice of, they had doubtless Cockmatches also, as is evident from certain ancient Gems and Relievos.

"In a word, let my son Martin disport himself at any Game truly Antique, except one, which was invented by a people among the Thracians, who hung up one of their Companions in a Rope, and gave him a Knife to cut himself down; which if he failed in, he was suffered to hang till he was dead; and this was only reckoned a sort of joke. I am utterly against this, as barbarous and cruel.

"I cannot conclude, without taking notice of the beauty of the Greek names, whose Etymologies acquaint us with the nature of the sports; and how infinitely, both in sense and sound, they excel our barbarous names of Plays."

Notwithstanding the foregoing Injunctions of Dr. Cornelius, he yet condescended to allow the Child the use of some few modern Play-things; such as might prove of any benefit to his mind, by instilling

an early notion of the Sciences. For example, he found that Marbles taught him Percussion and the Laws of Motion; Nut-crackers the use of the Lever; Swinging on the ends of a Board, the Balance; Bottlescrews the Vice; Whirligigs the Axis in Peritrochia; Bird-cages the Pulley; and Tops the Centrifugal motion.

Others of his sports were carried farther to improve his tender soul even in Virtue and Morality. We shall only instance one of the most useful and instructive, Bob-cherry, which teaches at once two noble Virtues, Patience and Constancy; the first in adhering to the pursuit of one end, the latter in bearing a disappointment.

This passage is equalled in humour by the Oxford Guide,

p. 11.

"The schools of this university are also more numerous than is commonly supposed; among which we must reckon three spacious and superb edifices, situated to the southward of the Highstreet, one hundred feet long, by thirty in breadth, vulgarly called Tennis Courts; where exercise is regularly performed both morning and afternoon. Add to these, certain schools, familiarly denominated Billiard Tables, where the laws of motion are exemplified, and which may be considered as a necessary supplement to our courses of experimental philosophy. Nor must we omit the many nine-pin and skittle-alleys, open and dry, for the instruction of scholars in geometrical knowledge, and particularly for proving the centripetal principle.

"Other schools, and places of academical discipline, not generally known as such, may be mentioned. The Peripatetics execute the courses proper to their system upon the Parade; Navigation is learnt on the Isis, Gunnery on the adjacent hills, Horsemanship on Port-meadow, Bullington-green, the Henley, Wycombe, Woodstock, Abingdon, and Banbury Roads. The Axis in Peritrochia is admirably illustrated by a scheme in a phaeton; the doctrine of the screw is practically explained most evenings in the private rooms, together with the motion of fluids."

Besides all these, he taught him as a diversion, an odd and secret manner of Stealing, according to the Custom of the Lacedemonians; wherein he succeeded so well, that he practised it to the day of his death.

CHAP. VI.

OF THE GYMNASTICS, IN WHAT EXERCISES MARTINUS WAS EDUCATED; SOMETHING CONCERNING MUSIC, AND WHAT SORT OF A MAN HIS UNCLE WAS.

NOR was Cornelius less careful in adhering to the rules of the purest Antiquity, in relation to the Erercises of his Son. He was stripped, powdered, and anointed, but not constantly bathed, which occasioned many heavy complaints of the Laundress about dirtying his linen. When he played at Quoits, he was allowed his Breeches and Stockings; because the Discoboli (as Cornelius well knew) were naked to the middle only. The Mother often contended for modern Sports, and common Customs; but this was his constant reply, "Let a Daughter be the care of her Mother, but the Education of a Son should be the delight of his Father."

It was about this time he heard, to his exceeding content, that the Harpastus of the Ancients was yet in use in Cornwall, and known there by the name of Hurling. He was sensible the common Foot-ball

was a very imperfect imitation of that exercise; and thought it necessary to send Martin into the West, to be initiated in that truly ancient and manly part of the Gymnastics. The poor boy was so unfortunate as to return with a broken leg. This Cornelius looked upon but as a slight ailment, and promised his Mother he would instantly cure it. He slit a green Reed, and cast the knife upward, then tying the two parts of the Reed to the disjointed place, pronounced these words, Daries, daries, astataries, dissunapiter; huat, hanat, huat, ista, pista, fista, domi abo, damnaustra. But finding, to his no small astonishment, that this had no effect, in five days he condescended to have it set by a modern Surgeon.

Mrs. Scriblerus, to prevent him from exposing her Son to the like dangerous Exercises for the future, proposed to send for a Dancing-Master, and to have him taught the Minuet and Rigadoon. "Dancing (quoth Cornelius) I much approve, for Socrates said the best Dancers were the best Warriors; but not those species of Dancing which you mention: They are certainly Corruptions of the Comic and Satiric Dance, which were utterly disliked by the sounder Ancients. Martin shall learn the Tragic Dance only, and I will send all over Europe, till I find an Antiquary able to instruct him in the Saltatio Pyrrhica. "Scaliger, from whom

Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xvii. in fine. Carmen contra luxata membra cujus verba inserere non equidem serio ausim, quanquam a Catone prodita. Vid. Caton. de re rust. c. 160. P.

Scalig. Poetic. 1. i. c. 9. Hanc saltationem Pyrrhicam, nos