support of classical authority: its origin may be traced to the Icarian games, the celebration of which consisted in persons balancing themselves on cords, attached to two trees; or, in other words, in swinging. They were instituted in commemoration of the death of Erigone, who no sooner discovered the murder of her father Icarus, than she piously hung herself at his tomb."

"You are a most indefatigable antiquary, vicar; but to perpetuate and respect a custom which was instituted to commemorate an act of suicide is surely carrying your veneration for antiquity beyond the pale of morality; but never before this moment have I heard of these Icarian games," said Mr. Seymour.

"Icarus, the father of Erigone," replied the vicar, "having given some peasants a quantity of wine to drink, was slain by their companions, who, not being acquainted with its effects, concluded that he had supplied them with poison. Upon which, it is said, that the wives of the murderers were all seized with madness, which lasted till the oracle had ordained feasts in honour of Icarus; whence came the Icarian games, and which, divested of the

superstitions, continue at this very day to be celebrated throughout the country by the youths of every village, who are little aware of the tragedy from which the pastime originated."

"It is certainly very curious," said the major, "to observe how frequently a popular ceremony or custom has survived the tradition of its origin; it is thus, for instance, that the fond mother still suspends the coral toy around the neck of her infant, without being in the least aware of the superstitious belief from which the custom sprang (2); and I have little doubt but that we shall to-morrow hear the chorus of 'Derrydown' re-echoed by those who probably never heard of the Druids, and much less of the choral hymns with which their groves resounded, at the time of gathering the missletoe. But let us proceed; for what has yonder stage been erected?"

"That is the hoistings, sir," exclaimed Ned Hopkins, "from which Giles Gingerly, the celebrated American merry-andrew will exhibit his buffoonery, and vend his nostrums."

66

Hoistings! why, Ned, you pronounce the word as though your mouth were filled with hot pudding," said the major.

"I ask your pardon, sir,” replied Ned; " but my father would never suffer me to pronounce it in any other manner; for he always maintained that hustings was a corruption for hoistings, it being a stage upon which the actor is hoisted or elevated above the surrounding crowd."

"I believe he is right," muttered the vicar. "Papa," said Tom, “ pray tell me what is a merry-andrew.”

"Ask the vicar," replied his father.

"Ask the vicar," repeated Mr. Twaddleton, in a plaintive tone: "upon my word, the vicar's bank will soon become insolvent, if you thus draw upon it at sight. I am, however, happy that upon this occasion I can honour your draft. Know, then, that the Mountebank, who united the professions of joculator and physician, was of ancient date, and during the two last centuries has figured away with considerable success. He usually appears on a temporary stage, and prefaces the vending of his nostrums with a pompous harangue; and, the better to attract the notice of the gaping spectators, he displays some of the performances practised by the jugglers, while his inseparable companion, the bourdour,

exhibits numerous tricks, and puts the populace in good humour by wit and raillery. The medical fraternity, known in England by the name of Merry-andrews, and who are the companions of the mountebank, derived their foundation from Dr. Andrew Boorde, who lived in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary, and was constantly in the habit of frequenting fairs and markets, at which he harangued the populace: his speeches were extremely humorous, and occasioned considerable mirth; but, notwithstanding the infallibility of his nostrums, like Paracelsus, he died with a bottle of his elixir in his pocket. His successors in the same line naturally endeavoured to emulate the humour of their master, and hence this whole class of vagabond tinkers of flesh and bone acquired the generic appellation of 'Merryandrews.'

66 And pray what are nostrums?" asked Louisa.

"Nostrum,' my dear, signifies our own, and is applied to any medicine which is prepared by a secret process, and sold for the private advantage of an individual; but, since secrecy is never used on such occasions except as a cloak

for imposture, the word very generally conveys an expression of ridicule or contempt."

The company proceeded in their inspection. "What have we there, Ned Hopkins?" said Mr. Seymour, as he pointed to a booth of larger dimensions than those which surrounded it.

6

"In that booth, the Emperor of all the Conjurors' will perform his wonderful art of sleight-of-hand,'" replied Ned.

"A lineal descendant of the Tragetour of the fourteenth century," observed the vicar; " a class of artists who, with the assistance of dexterity of execution, and various kinds of machinery, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and produced such illusions as were usually supposed to be the effect of enchantment; on which account, they were frequently ranked with magicians, sorcerers, and witches. They were greatly encouraged in the middle ages, and travelled in large companies, carrying with them such machinery as was necessary for the performance of their deceptions."

"And what may be the etymology of tragetour?" asked Mr. Seymour.

"A late ingenious writer supposes it to be