Under this head we intend to describe a variety of amusing sports and recreations, which could not, in strictness, be inserted among any of the preceding classes.

BASTE THE BEAR.

Lots are drawn for the first bear, who takes his seat on a stone, with one end of a rope, about three yards long, in his hand, the other end of which is held by the bear's master. The other players attack the bear with twisted handkerchiefs, and the master endeavours to touch one of them; if he can do so without letting the rope go, or pulling the bear from his seat, the player so touched takes the place of the bear. Each bear has the privilege of choosing his own master; being bear once, or even oftener, does not exonerate a player, if fairly touched, from becoming so again.

From this game comes the proverb which is frequently applied to a spendthrift, "He is making ducks and drakes of his money." It is played by skimming, or what boys call shying, bits of slate or flat stones along the surface of a river or pond. If the thing thrown touches the water and rebounds once, it is a dick; if twice, a duck; if thrice, a drake. He who makes his slate or pebble rebound the greatest number of times, wins the

game.

BLIND-MAN'S BUFF.

This popular, old-fashioned, and delightful pastime, is so well known, as to render any description of it unnecessary.

There is, however, a variation of it, called Shadow Buff, which is less known, but equally amusing. A large piece of-white linen is suspended smoothly at one end of a room; at a little distance from it, Buffy, with his face toward the linen, is seated on a low stool. Directly in a line, and about a yard behind him, a table is placed with a candle on it; all the other lights must be extinguished.

The players then walk one by one, between the table and Buffy, (who must not turn his head,) limping, hopping, and grimacing as they please, so as to distort their shadows on the linen. If Buffy can tell correctly to whom any shadow belongs, (guessing once only for each person,) the player, whom he so discovers, takes his place.

SLIDING,

Sliding is one of the diversions ascribed to young men of London by Fitzstephen, and, as far as one can judge from his description of the sport, it differed not in the performance from the method used by the boys of our own time. He mentions another kind of pastime upon the ice, which is even now practised by boys in several parts of England; his words are to this effect: "Others make a seat of ice, as large as a millstone, and having placed one of their companions upon it, they draw him along, when it sometimes happens, that moving on slippery places, they all fall down headlong." Sledges are, now-a-days, also used, which being extended from a centre by means of a strong rope, those who are seated in them are moved round with great velocity, and form an extensive circle. Sledges of this kind were set upon the Thames in the time of a hard frost at the commencement of the last century, as the following couplet, taken from a song written upon that occasion, plainly proves

"While the rabble in sledges run giddily round,

And nought but a circle of folly is found."

SKATING.

Skating is by no means a modern pastime, and probably the invention proceeded rather from necessity than the desire of amusement. It is a boast of a northern chieftain, that he could traverse the snow upon skates of wood. Strutt states that he cannot by any means ascertain at what time skating made its first appearance in England, but that some traces of such an exercise are found in the thirteenth century; at which period, according to Fitzstephen, it was customary in the winter, when the ice

would bear them, for the young citizens of London to fasten the leg bones of animals under the soles of their feet, by tying them round their ancles, and then taking a pole shod with iron into their hands, they pushed themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and moved with celerity, equal, says the author, to a bird flying through the air, or an arrow from a cross-bow; but some allowance, we presume, must be made for the poetical figure: he then adds, "at times, two

of them thus furnished agree to set opposite one to another at a great distance; they meet, elevate their poles, attack and strike each other, when one or both of them fall, and not without some bodily hurt, and even after their fall are carried a great distance from each other by the rapidity of the motion, and whatever part of the head comes upon the ice it is sure to be laid bare."

The wooden skates shod with iron or steel, which are bound about the feet and ancles like the talares of the Greeks and Romans, were, most probably, brought into England from the low countries, where they are said to have originated, and where, it is well known, they are almost universally used by persons of both sexes when the season permits. Some modern writers have asserted that "the metropolis of Scotland has produced more instances of elegant skaters than, perhaps, any other country whatever; and the institution of a skating club has contributed not a little to the improvement of this amusement.' Strutt, in noticing this, observes that when the Serpentine river in Hyde Park was frozen over, he saw four gentlemen there dance, if the expression may be allowed, a double minuet, in skates, with as much ease and, perhaps, more elegance, than in

a ball room; others again, by turning and winding with much adroitness, have readily in succession described upon the ice the form of all the letters in the alphabet.

all take hold of a rope, and the object of each party is to pull those belonging to the other across a chalk line on the ground, by means of the rope. When all the players on one side are thus pulled over or made prisoners, the other party wins the game. This is a very lively sport, any num

ber may join in it, and it affords capital exercise and much amusement.

TIP-CAT.

Tip-cat, or, perhaps, more properly, the game of cat, is a rustic pastime well known in many parts of the kingdom. Its denomination is derived from a piece of wood, called a cat, with which it is played; the cat is about six inches in length and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, and diminished from the middle to both the ends, in the shape of a double cone; by this curious contrivance, the places of the trap and ball are at once supplied, for when the cat is laid upon the ground, the player, with his cudgel, strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it will rise with a rotatory motion, high enough for him to beat it away as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball.

There are various methods of playing the game of cat, but we shall only notice the two that follow. The first is exceedingly simple, and consists in making a large ring upon the ground, in the middle of which the striker

takes his station; his business is to beat the cat over the ring. If he fail in so doing he is out, and another player takes his place; if he be successful, he judges with his eye the distance the cat is driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number, at pleasure, to be scored toward his game; if the number demanded be found, upon measurement, to exceed the same number of lengths of the cudgel, he out; on the contrary, if he do not, he obtains his call. The second method is to make four, six, or eight holes in the ground, in a circular direction, and as nearly as possible, at equal distances from each other, and at every hole is placed a player with his cudgel; one of the opposite party, who stud in the ueld, tosses the cat to the batsman who is nearest him, and every time the cat is struck, the players are obliged to change their situations, and run once from one hole to another in succession; if the cat be driven to any great distance. they continue to run in the same order, and claim a score toward their game, every time they quit one hole and run to another; but if the cat be stopped by their opponents, and thrown across between any two of the holes before the player who has quitted one of them can reach the other, he is out.

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HOP-SCOTCH.

In some parts of England this game is called Pottle. It is played with an oyster-shell, in the following manner:-Draw, with chalk, on the ground, a figure similar to the cut in the margin. Toss up for innings. He who wins stands at the and throws the shell into No. 1, which is called the first bed; he then steps with his right foot into that bed, and "scuffles," that is, jerks, with his right foot, the shell out towards the *. He now throws the shell into No. 2; steps, with his left foot into No. 1, and then, placing his right foot in No. 2, scuffles the shell out as before, and steps with one foot back to No. 1, and thence out. He must now throw the shell into No. 3, and step into 1, 2, and 3, scuffle the shell out, and step back through the beds alternately. He must then go to 4, 5, and 6, in succession, and, at each throw, step into every previous bed, with one foot only, and the like when coming back, reversing the numbers. After this, the player puts the shell into No. 1, hops into that bed, scuffles the shall into 2, and so on to 6, and back again in the same manner, bed by bed, to the *. Lastly, he places the shell into No. 1, puts his right foot in the bed, and scuffles the shell through all the beds, beyond the further line of 6, at one jerk. If the player who gets the innings do all this correctly, he

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