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valour, to become in his turn the despised object of the very states he had so valiantly defended; and their representatives, in the mythic characters of Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown, delighted in degrading Venice, by beating and insulting her under the guise of that old and decrepit buffoon, designated Signor Pantaloon. "The characteristic. costume of the Venetian standard-bearer," added the vicar, was tight parti-coloured trousers, whence the name of 'Pantaloons;' a dress which long survived the memory of the fact from which it derived its origin."

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"It is very curious," observed the major, "that a popular ceremony, a custom, or even a dress, should for so many ages survive, their origin."

66 You may well say so," replied the vicar; "and, thanks to the antiquary, the memory of customs long forgotten have even been recalled from oblivion by the ingenious interpretation of a sentiment, a proverb, or even a word; as, indeed, we have just witnessed in the instance of Merry-andrew. I could greatly amuse you by many interesting examples (59), but amidst them all, I know not one more striking than that of Pantaloons."

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.

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"In that booth the Emperor of all the Conjurors' will perform his wonderful art of sleight of hand,'" replied Ned. "Look at his card of invitation," continued the wag-"WALK IN-WALK IN— LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. HERE ARE MIRACLES IN ANY QUANTITY TO BE SEEN FOR TWOPENCE, AND BELIEVED IN FOR NOTHING! ! !'"

"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."

The company passed to the next booth.

"There," said Ned, " will be exhibited vaulting, tumbling, jumping through hoops, balancing, grotesque dances by the clown, and dancing upon the tight rope."

"The tragetour rarely executed this part of the performance himself," said the vicar, "but left it to some of his confederates.”

"And yet I should have thought it the most profitable department of the art," observed the major; "for it was so patronised as to

secure the reception of its professors into the houses of the nobility. In the reign of Edward II. a tumbler rode before the king, and so delighted his majesty that he rewarded him with a gratuity of twenty shillings, a very considerable sum in those days."

The whole party, having expressed their satisfaction at the genius which Ned Hopkins had displayed in selecting and arranging the various kinds of amusement, were conducted by the vicar to a small enclosure at a short distance from the fair, which he had appropriated to the youths of the village, who had been trained to perform the "Ludus Troja," according to the description left us by Virgil in the fifth Æneid.

"I shall be curious to witness the sport," said the major; "for Lazius asserts, in his commentaries upon the Roman Republic, that the jousts and tournaments, so much in fashion about two or three hundred years ago, were indebted for their origin to this game; and that Tournamenta' is but a corruption of Trojamenta.

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"Undoubtedly," replied the vicar; "and the learned and noble Du Fresne entertains the same opinion; by some the word has been derived from the French tourner, to turn round with agility: yet the exercises have so much resemblance, as to prove the one an imitation of the other."

"I am pleased to find that the vicar has not been frightened out of his propriety by the Peace Congress,' who, in fear of creating a future race of Rolandos, have denounced the introduction of warlike toys into the playground. All these preparations are highly laudable, and will no doubt afford satisfaction to the spectators, for whose amusement they have been designed; but," continued the gallant major, on hospitable thoughts intent"- "there are other senses, my dear friend, besides the eye and ear, to be gratified upon this joyful occasion. I have not yet observed any arrangements for the dinner."

66

"Fear not, major; the awning which has been erected for that purpose is within sight: observe you not the banners which are floating yonder?" said the vicar.

66 Ay, ay, to be sure I do; and let me tell you that you have taken up a very snug position."

Tables had been arranged, under an awning of canvas in the form of a cross, and were capable of accommodating about two hundred persons. On a platform, somewhat elevated, was another table appropriated to the major and his guests, on which covers were laid for forty."

"You perceive, major," said Mr Twaddleton, as they approached the scene of future action, "that the fare which has been provided is simple but substantial, and I trust will be considered as no less according with English hospitality than with classical propriety."

"The beef certainly predominates," said the major ;

that most of the joints are roasted."

" and I observe

"Quite correct, Sir; the ox is the animal most frequently spoken of as furnishing food for ancient heroes; and you will remember that Homer rarely mentions any other than roasted meat."

"I perceive that you have been more miscellaneous in your arrangement of the upper table."

"I have placed before you a chine of beef, because Menelaus set that dish before Telemachus at the marriage-feast of his son."

"And I rejoice to see a salad for its neighbour," said the major. 66 Ay, truly, an Attic salad, with garlic, leeks, and cheese: you no doubt remember that the poetical salad served up in the comedy of the Peace of Aristophanes was of this composition," added the vicar.

"I wish to know what seats are to be appropriated to my young friends, the little Seymours," said the major.

"I regret extremely to say, that they cannot with propriety join our party," replied the vicar, gravely.

"Not join the party! zounds, Sir, but I insist upon it;—not join the party!"

"Be calm, major; and believe me that I shall feel the privation as keenly as yourself; but would you countenance a measure which is decidedly in opposition to every classical authority? Never, as Suetonius has expressly declared, did the young Cæsars, Caius and Lucius, eat at the table of Augustus, until they had assumed the toga virilis."

"A fig for Suetonius! he is not to be trusted: has it not been said, that, while he exposed the deformities of the Cæsars, he wrote with all the licentiousness and extravagance with which they lived? Besides, I appeal to your gallantry, and ask whether we ought to trust the opinion of a man, on a subject of etiquette, who was banished from the court for want of attention and respect to the Empress Sabina? You must produce some better authority, my dear Mr Twaddleton search the Grecian writers; depend upon it that some direct or implied sanction to the plan is to be discovered; the oracles of old may generally be so interpreted as to meet the wishes of the translator."

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Gently, Major Snapwell; speak not thus irreverently of the luminaries of antiquity; nor expect me to distort passages from their original and intended significations. An idea, however, has just struck me, which may possibly be turned to your advantage; and yet there are many difficulties; for it cannot be said that this feast has been conducted with the utmost frugality; and, therefore, must not be compared with the Lacedæmonian 'Syssitia,' or public entertainments, whither the youths were obliged, by the lawgiver, to repair as to schools of temperance and sobriety, and where, by the example and

discourse of the elder men, they were trained to good manners and useful knowledge."

"A case exactly in point!" triumphantly exclaimed the major. "Must not the classical character of our entertainment convey instruction? I vow it runs parallel in every particular with the Syssitia of Lacedæmon; and I therefore affirm, that it would be illegal, according to the law of Lycurgus, to prevent the presence of the young Seymours."

"Your argument has colour, major; I certainly must admit that Mr Seymour's lessons are too valuable to be lost: well, I consent; it shall be regarded as a Lacedæmonian entertainment, and my young friends shall be accordingly accommodated with seats.”

On their return from the banqueting-tables, the party inspected the preparations for the fireworks, and the ships constructed for the naumachia; we shall, however, at present decline offering any description, as we prefer explaining them in operation.

The reader will now be pleased to imagine that the party, having returned to the mansion, had partaken of the hospitable repast which the major had provided for them; he may further suppose that tea had been served up, and the amusements of the evening commenced : for it is at this moment that the course of our narrative is resumed. Mrs Beacham was delighting the assembly by a splendid display of her musical talents; the major and Mr Seymour were wearing away the time by a game of chess.

"There you sit, gentlemen," exclaimed the vicar, "so absorbed in your game, as to have remained quite insensible to the sweet sounds with which Mrs Beacham has been charming us; but you stand excused, for Seneca admits the fascinating power of the 'ludus latrunculorum,' or game of chess. You no doubt remember the story that he tells us of one Canius Julius, who, having been sentenced to death by Caligula, was found by the centurion, when he came to conduct him to execution, so interested in a game of the 'latrunculi,' as at first to be insensible to the summons, and that he did not prepare to depart until he had counted his men, and desired the centurion to bear witness to his having one more piece on the board than his adversary, so that the latter might not boast of a victory after his death."

"Indeed!" said the major; "but unfortunately for your story, the ancients were not acquainted with the game of chess.”

"What absurd proposition am I next to expect?" cried Mr Twaddleton. "You surely cannot have read the poem to Piso, which some will have to be Ovid's, others Lucian's? but no matter; it is an ancient poem, and accurately describes the game of 'latrunculi? I myself believe, from a particular line in Sophocles, that chess was invented by Palamedes, at the siege of Troy; although Seneca attri

butes it to Chilon, one of the seven Grecian sages. My friend Mr Seymour, who is, upon all occasions, desirous of imparting wisdom through the medium of games, and of 'turning sport into science,' will no doubt agree with those who fancy that it was contrived by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, as a method of instructing his soldiers ir the military art; and I must admit that the game expresses the chance and order of war so very happily, that no place can lay so just a claim to its invention as the camp: 'ludimus effigiem belli,' * as Vida says."

“Check to your king!” cried the major; “while you are considering of the best way to get his majesty out of the scrape, I will endeavour to extricate the vicar out of the quagmire in which he is floundering. My dear Mr Twaddleton," continued the major, "you speak as if it were an admitted fact that the ludus latrunculorum' was synonymous with our chess. I admit that it was a game played with Tessera or squares, and Calculi or pieces; but it does not follow that it must have been chess; indeed the learned Dr Hyde, whose researches into Oriental games are as much distinguished for accurate discrimination as for profound scholarship, considers it to have resembled our draughts." +

"You are to move, major,” said Mr Seymour.

"Then I shall take your castle, and open a fresh battery upon the vicar," replied Major Snapwell.

"So you may," cried Mr Twaddleton, "but you will not easily drive me from my position, supported as I am by Vossius and Salmasius, and an army of valiant combatants."

"The learned Hyde has endeavoured to prove that chess was first invented in India, and passed from thence to Persia and Arabia (60). Fabricius considered it a Persian game, and I must say that I am inclined to coincide with him. The terms in present use may evidently be traced to an Oriental source. Schach, in the Persian language, signifies king, and schachmat, whence our check-mate, the king is dead, the original words having been transformed by progressive changes; thus we have schach, échecs, chess; and by a whimsical concurrence of circumstances have arisen the English words check and exchequer."

"I take your queen," cried Mr Seymour.

66 Ay;

and I take a bishop in return," said the major.

"Well," observed the vicar, "if an Oriental nation really gave origin to the game, it could not, at all events, have been China;

"War's harmless shape we sing,

and boxen trains

Of youth, encountering on the
cedar plains:

Traverse the field and combat for

renown.

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"Ludus Latrunculorum;" ludus, Anglice dicitur Draughts, a trahendo

How two tall kings, by different calculos.-HYDE, De Ludis Orientalium.

armour known,

Oxon, 1694.

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