THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

of a dolphin in brass. On the two sides of this barrier, each of which is above four hundred feet in length, are built stands or lodges, as well for the riding horses as for the chariots, which are distributed by lot among the competitors in those races; and before all these lodges is stretched a cable, from one end to the other, to serve the purpose of a barrier. About the middle of the prow is erected an altar, built of unburnt brick, which every Olympiad is plastered over with fresh mortar; and

upon the altar stands a bronze eagle which spreads out its wings to a great length. This eagle, by means of a machine which is put in motion by the president of the horse-races, is made to mount up at once into the air to such a height as to become visible to all the spectators, and at the same time the brazen dolphin, before-named, sinks into the ground. Upon the signal, the cables, stretched before the lodges on either side of the portico of Agaptus, are first let loose, and the

horses there stationed, move out and advance, till they come over against the lodges of those who drew the second lot, which are then likewise opened. The same order is observed by all the rest, and in this manner they proceed through the beak or rostrum, before which they are drawn up in one line or front, ready to begin the races, and make trial of the skill of the charioteers, and the fleetness of the horses. On that side of the course, which is formed by a terrace raised with earth, and which is the longest of the two sides, near to the passage which leads out of the course across the terrace, stands an altar of a round figure, dedicated to Taraxippus -the terror of horses-as the name implies. The other side of the course is formed, not by a terrace of earth, but a hill of a moderate height, at the end of which is erected a temple consecrated to Ceres Chamyne, whose priestess has the privilege of seeing the Olympic games.'

This passage is certainly far less comprehensive than could be desired; for, while it affords information upon matters of little consequence-merely alluding to the shape and general nature of the Hippodrome at Elis, it leaves us wholly in the dark as to the manner and principle of the racing: the length and breadth of the course, the meta, round which both horses and chariots went, the distances between them, and in fact as to any understanding of the economy of the course. Of the actual size of the Olympic Hippodrome we are without any direct knowledge, but if we may venture to form a conclusion from analogy, we are enabled to draw our deductions from sufficiently clear premises. On the occasion of the appearance of Alcibiades as an actor in the Olympian ceremonies, he brought seven chariots to contend in the games, and no doubt he had many competitors opposed to him. In a description of a chariot-race by Sophocles, (I think in the Electra,) he speaks of ten as engaged at once; and Pindar tells us of forty that ran at one and the same time. Now the Romans never permitted more than four to contend together, and we may therefore reasonably conclude, that the Circus Maximus was far inferior in extent to the Elean Hippodrome. From Dionysius Halicarnassus, we derive accurate information of the dimensions of the Circus Maximus. He describes it as an oval building of three stadia, or fifteen hundred feet long, and four plethra, or four hundred feet broad. In the centre was a line of pillars, obelisks, and altars; at either end of which were the meta or goals, round which the chariots and horses made their turns.

Though we cannot, certainly, from these

data, arrive at any correct estimate of the space allotted to the course within the arena of the Grecian Hippodrome, we may fairly infer that it was considerably more extensive than that of the Roman Circus: upon the equally interesting questions, the lengths and classification of the Olympic races, we possess much clearer information. I do not think it convenient to mystify those who simply read for amusement or curiosity with quotations and conveyances from musty volumes of "Heathen Greek," but merely referring the curious in authorities to Pindar, Pausanias, and Hesychius, proceed to offer the essence extracted from the gleanings of their pages. The earliest description of chariot, which we find introduced into the Olympic games, was the "complete" chariot, from its being drawn by four horses of full age. In the 93rd Olympiad came the chariot drawn by two horses of full age: in the 99th that drawn by four colts, and in the 129th that drawn by two colts. Of the harness used by the Greeks; how their horses were attached to their chariots; indeed of almost any item of their horse-furniture, we know little or nothing. They used the rein and the trace, we are certain, but beyond that we can go little farther than surmise. We find, in the writers above-mentioned, long compound words relating to articles of equestrian caparison, but whether they bore resemblance to any now in use, or, indeed, whether we understand the uses to which they were applied by the ancients, is very doubtful. I made inquiry of Mr. Henning, the modeller of the Elgin and other ancient marbles, whose knowledge of the equestrian antiquities of early Greece constitutes him an authority on all matters relating to them, for some information respecting the bits of which he had discovered any traces. He could not assist me beyond the fact that, on some of the Elgin marbles, which had been exposed to the rain, he discovered the mouths of the horses stained as if from the effects of brass or copper, which led him to conclude that they at some period contained bits formed of either of those metals.

To return to the business of the racing. -I have spoken already of the meta, which were situated at the two extremities of the line of statues and altars that occupied the centre of the area of the Hippodrome. These two pillars (one of which served for the starting post, and round both of which the course ran,) divided the circuit of the arena into two equal parts, and were two stadia distant from each other. Now the race between the "complete" chariots, or those drawn by aged horses, consisted of twelve rounds, or forty-eight stadia, and that of the chariots drawn by colts, of

eight rounds, or thirty-two stadia-the former equal to six, and the latter to four Grecian miles, or one-fifth less than the same distance according to our measurement. Here we have the length of course performed by the equipages according to the classes to which they belonged; and to this simple expedient all attempt to bring them together appears to have been limited. Lots, indeed, were drawn for places, but in a race extending to a dozen rounds, the constant changes must have rendered that a precaution of little consequence."

Glancing at the object of the chariotrace, it is well observed:

"If we look carefully into the old system of the contests between chariots, as well as those between mounted horses in the Elean Hippodrome, we shall soon discover that they were by no means intended as mere trials of speed. Courage and ardour, in both men and horses, were the first and infinitely the most essential properties. Let us for an instant imagine the start for a chariot-race. They draw up abreast, perhaps forty-even suppose twenty-constituting a field of eighty horses! not a quarter of a mile before them is the pillar round which all must turn, and on which the eyes of the charioteers are eagerly intent. The trumpet peals, and away they burst with a crash like the artillery of heaven. The barrier has fallen, and they press for the one point. What courage, what skill must they possess, who steer this fearful passage! What perfect obedience, what training, what strength and speed should distinguish the coursers chosen for so desperate an encounter! But the dangers and difficulties they had to contend with were not confined to such as were incidental to the race itself. Artificial annoyances and perplexities of various kinds were placed at different points of the course, such as called for a high degree of training in animals exposed to them. In the description of the Olympian Hippodrome by Pausanias, already quoted, mention is made of one of these artificial obstacles-the altar of Taraxippus. It is not necessary to go the whole way with the Grecian, and suppose that some supernatural horror affected such horses as were compelled to pass that ill-omened shrine. We can easily conceive that, it being deemed necessary to devise some means of subjecting the horses, engaged in the chariot-races, to a sudden and violent alarm, those who were chosen to conduct the business of the games were at no loss to accomplish it. Some artifice, and one as powerful as ingenious, no doubt, was practised, by which, in many cases, as we are told by Pausanius, "the consternation of

the coursers was so great, that, regarding no longer the rein, the whip, or the voice of their master, they broke and overturned the chariot, and wounded the driver. The charioteers, therefore, failed not to offer sacrifice to Taraxippus, in order to deprecate his wrath and render him favourable to them."

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In conclusion, the author maintains, that Racing, as a sport whose end was to contrast the speed of horses only, was unknown to the Greeks ;" and that it did not, as is generally supposed, form a part of the Olympic games.

"The chariot-races at Elis were essentially warlike exercises, and nothing else. Ardour, spirit, strength, and courage, combined all the physical properties required of the animal about to engage in them. And even did not the character of those contests convince us of this, the construction of the Grecian horse, handed down to us by her living marbles, would be proof past gainsaying. The courser of the frieze of the Parthenon, is a highly artificial creation; a perfect union of those particular qualities, the possession of which constituted the degree of his excellence. Peace was all but unknown to the Greeks. War was the great concern of their lives, and to it their pleasures were made to apply and administer. Their social code may, indeed, be regarded as typified in Lucian's celebrated dialogue between Solon and Anacharsis. To fit her citizens for the field, was the object and sole purpose of those who first gave to Greece the renowned festival at Olympia. So long as it endured, throughout the whole civilized world there was an incentive to improve the original species of the horse."

We scarcely know how far the recent displays in Vauxhall Gardens, by the most accomplished equestrian artiste of our times, can be identified with the sports of the Grecian Hippodrome: but the subject, per se, has attractions of such classic interest for every educated mind, that we have gladly taken the opportunity of borrowing from the pages of the Sporting Review the annexed engraving, (by Landells, from a drawing by Henning,) and the accompanying judicious illustration by the Editor.

New Books.

A DIARY IN AMERICA, BY CAPTAIN MARRYAT, C. B.

[THE announcement of three volumes of a "Diary" and "Remarks," by the author of Peter Simple, promised much amusement to thousands of readers who were weary of the fallacies and common-places of

English writers on America. The promise is here fulfilled to the letter, and with the entertainment comes very welcome information; the author's object being "to examine and ascertain what were the effects of a democratic form of government and climate upon a people which, with all its foreign admixture, may still be considered as English." In a lively Introduction, the Captain tells us that upon close observation he found there was a great deal to reflect upon and investigate, and that America and the American people were indeed an enigma: he ascribes the errors of writers upon America to their representing the Americans as a nation; whereas, they are not yet, nor will they for many years be, a nation-they are a mass of people cemented together, to a certain degree, by a general form of government; but they are in a constant state of transition, and no amalgamation has as yet taken place: not only are the populations of the various states distinct, but even those of cities; and it is hardly possible to make a remark which may be considered as general to a country, where the varieties of soil and climate are so extensive. Hence, America should be examined and portrayed piecemeal, every state separately; for every state is different, running down the scale from refinement to a state of barbarism almost unprecedented. We are next told that the Americans are often the cause of their being misrepresented, from their love of hoaxing travellers.] "Another difficulty and cause of misrepresentation is, that travellers are not aware of the jealousy existing between the inhabitants of the different states and cities. The eastern states pronounce the southerners to be choleric, reckless, regardless of law, and indifferent as to religion; while the southerners designate the eastern states as a nursery of over-reaching pedlars, selling clocks and wooden nutmegs. This running into extremes is produced from the clashing of their interests as producers and manufacturers. Again, Boston turns up her erudite nose at New York; Philadelphia, in her pride, looks down upon both New York and Boston; while New York, chinking her dollars, swears the Bostonians are a parcel of puritanical prigs, and the Philadelphians a would-be aristocracy. A western man from Kentucky, when at Tremont House in Boston, begged me particularly not to pay attention to what they said of his state in that quarter. Both a Virginian and Tenessean, when I was at New York, did the same. -At Boston, I was drinking champagne at a supper. 'Are you drinking champagne?' said a young Bostonian. That's New Yorktake claret; or, if you will drink cham

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pagne, pour it into a green glass, and they will think it hock; champagne's not right.' How are we to distinguish between right and wrong in this queer world? At New York, they do drink a great deal of champagne; it is the small beer of the dinnertable. Champagne becomes associated with New York, and therefore is not right. I will do the New Yorkers the justice to say, that as far as drinks are concerned, they are above prejudice; all's right with them, provided there is enough of it."

[Captain Marryat acknowledges the ingratitude of certain English writers for American hospitality, but complains of being himself insulted and annoyed from nearly one end of the Union to the other: he considers too, that the Americans can no longer expect lenity from the English traveller, they having latterly so deeply committed themselves. The three last works upon the Americans, written by English authors, were, on the whole, favourable to them; Mr. Power's and Mr. Grund's decidedly so; and Miss Martineau's, filled as it is with absurdities and fallacies, was intended, at all events, to be favourable: whereas Mr. Cooper has been unfairly severe upon England, and Mr. Carey, of Philadelphia, has the self-satisfaction to assert that, in security of person and property, morals, education, religion, industry, invention, credit, and consequently, honesty, “America is in advance of England and every other nation of Europe !!" The tables then are turned: it is no longer the English, but the Americans, who are the assailants. As a specimen of the writer's comprehensive and enlightened views, we take the following remarks on the

Prospects of America.]

America is a wonderful country, endowed by the Omnipotent with natural advantages which no other can boast of; and the mind can hardly calculate upon the degree of perfection and power to which, whether the states are eventually separated or not, it may in the course of two centuries arrive. At present all is energy and enterprise; every thing is in a state of transition, but of rapid improvement--so rapid, indeed, that those who would describe America now would have to correct all in the short space of ten years; for ten years in America is almost equal to a century in the old continent. Now, you may pass through a wild forest, where the elk browses and the panther howls. In ten years, that very forest, with its denizens, will, most likely, have disappeared, and in their place you will find towns with thousands of inhabitants; with arts, manufactures, and machinery, all in full activity. In reviewing America, we

must look upon it as shewing the development of the English character under a new aspect, arising from a new state of things. If I were to draw a comparison between the English and the Americans, I should say that there is almost as much difference between the two nations at this present time, as there has long been between the English and the Dutch. The latter are considered by us as phlegmatic and slow; and we may be considered the same, compared with our energetic descendants. Time to an American is every thing,* and space he attempts to reduce to a mere nothing. By the steam-boats, rail-roads, and the wonderful facilities of water-carriage, a journey of five hundred miles is as little considered in America, as would be here a journey from London to Brighton. "Go ahead" is the real motto of the country; and every man does push on, to gain in advance of his neighbour. The American lives twice as long as others; for he does twice the work during the time that he lives. He begins life sooner: at fifteen he is considered a man, plunges into the stream of enterprise, floats and struggles with his fellows. In every trifle an American shews the value he puts upon time. He rises early, eats his meals with the rapidity of a wolf, and is the whole day at his business. If he be a merchant, his money, whatever it may amount to, is seldom invested; it is all floating-his accumulations remain active; and when he dies, his wealth has to be collected from the four quarters of the globe.

Now, all this energy and activity is of English origin; and were England expanded into America, the same results would be produced. To a certain degree, the English were in former times what the Americans are now; and this it is which has raised our country so high in the scale of nations; but since we have become so closely packed-so crowded, that there is hardly room for the population, our activity has been proportionably cramped and subdued. But, in this vast and favoured country, the very associations and impressions of childhood foster and ripen the intellect, and precociously rouse the energies. The wide expanse of territory already occupied-the vast and magnificent rivers -the boundless regions, yet remaining to be peopled the rapidity of communication -the dispatch with which every thing is effected, are evident almost to the child. To those who have rivers many thousand miles in length, the passage across the

The clocks in America-there rendered so famous by Sam Slick—instead of the moral lessons inculcated by the dials of this country, such as "Time flies," &c., teach one more suited to American feeling :"Time is money!"

America is, indeed, well worth the study of the philosopher. A vast nation forming, society ever changing, all in motion and activity, nothing complete, the old continent pouring in her surplus to supply the loss of the eastern states, all busy as a hive, full of energy and activity. Every year multitudes swarm off from the East, like bees: not the young only, but the old, quitting the close-built cities, society, and refinement, to settle down in some lone spot in the vast prairies, where the rich soil offers to them the certain prospect of their families and children being one day possessed of competency and wealth.

THE BRITISH ANGLER'S MANUAL. BY T. C. HOFLAND, ESQ.

[THIS work, by one of our favourite landscape painters, is a plain, straightforward treatise upon the Art of Angling, with little or none of the pedantry or coxcombry which usually distinguishes professional books upon the same subject. For example, fellow-anglers are called "brothers of the angle" occasionally; but the conventional familiarity, we believe, proceeds no further. There is none of the slang of the art, or rather of its literature; for Mr. Hofland, though alive to its countless poetical associations, does not allow himself to be led into rhapsodies and mad ecstasies, such as have disfigured almost every work written upon angling since the time of Isaak Walton. These puerilities may delight weak persons, who are content to spend a lifetime in collecting books upon one especial art or amusement, and to leave behind them the very equivocal merit of exercising industry, but directing it to no useful purpose; in short, of hoarding information, (scarcely to be called knowledge), instead of spreading it abroad-of putting the candle under the bushel, instead of allowing all to benefit from its light. Happily, the class of persons to whom we allude, is gradually passing from among us; and their hoarded treasures produce less money than they did, on the average, a few years since; men having now resolved to estimate things by their utility and actual worth rather than their rarity: it is no longer the genius of the age to overrate" decayed intelligence," but to explore, to weigh, and consider, before they venerate and take for granted; and those who are unwilling to join this onward march must