the Mormolukeion, and all those other hideous specters which childhood associates with the idea of darkness, yielded to the discipline of the Spartan nurse. Her charge would remain alone or in the dark, without terror, and the same stern system, which overcame the first offspring of superstition, likewise subdued the moral defects of peevishness, frowardness, and the habit of whining and mewling, which, when indulged in, render children a nuisance to all around them. No wonder, therefore, these Doric disciplinarians were every where in request. At Athens it became fashionable among the opulent to employ them, and Cleinias, as is well known, placed under the care of one of these she-pedagogues that Alcibiades, whose ambitious character, to be curbed by no restraints of discipline or philosophy, proved the ruin of his country and the scourge of Greece.

Their cradles were of various forms, some of which, like our own, required rocking, while others were suspended like sailors' hammocks from the ceiling, and swung gently too and fro when they desired to pacify the child or lull it to sleep: as Tithonos is represented in the mythology to have been suspended in his old age. Other cradles there were in the shape of little portable baskets wherein they were carried from one part of the harem to another. It is probable, too, that as in the East the children of the opulent were rocked in their cradles wrapped in coverlets of Milesian wool.

All the world over the singing of the nurse has been proverbial. Music breathes its sweetest notes around our cradles. The voice of woman soothes our infancy and our age, and in Greece, where every class of the community had its song, the nurse naturally vindicated one to herself. This sweetest of all melodies

Redolent of joy and youth

was technically denominated Katabaukalesis, of which scraps and fragments only, like those of the village song which lingered in the memory of Rousseau, have come down to us.

The word baby, which we bestow familiarly on an infant, was, with little variation, in use many thousand years ago among the Syrians, in whose nursery dialect babia had the same signification. Tatta, too, pappa and mamma were the first words lisped by the children of Hellas. And from various hints dropped by ancient authors, it seems clear that the same wild stories and superstitions that still flourish there haunted the nursery of old. The child was taught to dread Empusa or Onoskelis or Onoskolon, the monster with one human foot and one of brass, which dwelt among the shades of night, and glided through dusky chambers and dismal passages to devour 'naughty children.'

Toys-Sports-Pastimes.

Amongst the Hellenese, the earliest toy consisted, as in most other countries, of the rattle, said to be the invention of the philosopher Archytas. To this succeeded balls of many colors, with little chariots, sometimes purchased at Athens in the fair held during the feast of Zeus. The common price of a plaything of this kind would appear to be an obolos. The children themselves, as without any authority might with certainty be inferred, employed their time in erecting walls with sand, in constructing little houses, in building and carving ships, in cutting carts or chariots out of leather, in fashioning pomegranate rinds into the shape of frogs, and in forming with wax a thousand diminutive images, which pursued afterward during school hours subjected them occasionally to severe chastisement.

Another amusement which the children of Hellas shared with their elders was that afforded by puppets, which were probably an invention of the remotest antiquity. Numerous women appear to have earned their livelihood by carrying round from village to village these ludicrous and frolicsome images, which were usually about a cubit in height, and may be regarded as the legitimate ancestors of Punch and Judy. By touching a single string, concealed from the spectators, the operator could put her mute performers in action, cause them to move every limb in succession, spread forth the hands, shrug the shoulders, turn round the neck, roll the eyes, and appear to look at the audience. After this, by other contrivances within the images, they could be made to go through many humorous evolutions, resembling the movements of the dance. These exhibitors, frequently of the male sex, were known by the name of Neurospastæ. This art passed, together with other Grecian inventions, into Italy, where it was already familiar to the public in the days of Horace, who, in speaking of princes governed by favorites, compares them to puppets in the hands of the showman.

The hoop, too, so familiar to our own school-boys, formed one of the playthings of Hellenic children. It was sometimes made of bronze, about three feet in diameter, and adorned with little spherical bells and movable rings, which jingled as it rolled. The instrument employed to urge

the rolling circle's speed,

as Gray expresses it, in his reminiscences of the Eton playground, was crooked at the point, and called a plectron.

Another less innocent amusement was spinning goldchafers, which appears to have afforded the Greek urchins the same delight as tormenting cockchafers does their successors of the north. This species of beetle, making its appearance when the apple-trees were in bloom, was therefore called Melolanthe, or apple-blossom. Having caught it, and tied a linen thread about its feet, it was let loose, and the fun was to see it move in spiral lines through the air as it was twisted by the thread.

The Muïnda was our 'Blindman's-buff,' 'Blind Hob,' 'Hobble 'em-blind,' and 'Hood-man-blind,' in which, as with us, a boy moved about with his eyes bandaged, spreading forth his hands and crying 'Beware!' If he caught any of those who were skipping around him, the captive was compelled to enact the blind-man in his stead. Another form of the game was for the seers to hide, and the blind-man to grope round till he found them; the whole probably being a rude representation of Polyphemos in his cave searching for the Greeks who had blinded him. A third form was, for the bystanders to strike or touch the blindfolded boy until he could declare who had touched him, when the person indicated took his place. To this the Roman soldiers alluded when they blindfolded our Saviour and smote him, and cried, 'Prophesy who struck thee.' In the Kollabismos, the Capifolèt of the French, one person covered his eyes with his own hands, the other then gave him a gentle blow, and the point was, for the blindfolded man to guess with which hand he had been stricken. The Brazen Fly was a variety of Blindman's-buff, in which a boy, having his eyes bound with a fillet, went groping round, calling out, 'I am seeking the Brazen Fly.' His companions replied, 'You may seek, but you will not find it'—at the same time striking him with cords made of the inner bark of the papyros; and thus they proceeded till one of them was taken. Apodidraskinda (‘hide and seek,' or 'whoop and holloa!') was played much as it is now. One boy

shut his eyes, or they were kept closed for him by one of his suspicious companions, while the others went to hide. He then sallied forth in search of the party who lay concealed, while each of them endeavored to gain the post of the seeker; and the first who did this turned him out and took his place.

Another game was the Ephedrismos, in which a stone called the Dioros was set up at a certain distance, and aimed at with bowls or stones. The one who missed took the successful player upon his back, and was compelled to carry him about blindfolded, until he went straight from the standing-point to the Dioros.

The variety called Encotyle,-the 'Pick-back,' or 'Pick-a-back,' of English boys, consisted in one lad's placing his hands behind his back, and receiving therein the knees of his conqueror, who, putting his fingers over the bearer's eyes, drove him about at his pleasure. This game was also called the Kubesinda and Hippas, though, according to the conjecture of Dr. Hyde, the latter name signified rather our game of 'Leap-frog,'—the 'mazidha' of the Persians, in which a number of boys stooped down with the hands resting on the knees, in a row, the last going over the backs of all the others, and then standing first. In the game called Chytrinda, in English 'Hot-cockles,' 'Selling of pears,' or 'How many plumbs for a penny,' one boy sat on the ground, and was called the chytra or pot, while his companions, forming themselves into a ring, ran round, plucking, pinching, or striking him as they went. If he who enacted the chytra succeeded in seizing upon one of the buffeters, the captive took his place. Possibly it was during this play that a mischievous foundling, contrary to rule, poking, as he ran round, the boy in the center with his foot, provoked from the latter the sarcastic inquiry, 'What! dost thou kick thy mother in the belly?' alluding to the circumstance of the former having been exposed in a chytra. Another form of the Chytrinda required the lad in the center to move about with a pot on his head, where he held it with his left hand, while the others struck him, and cried out, 'Who has the pot?' To which he replied, 'I Midas,' endeavoring all the while to reach some one with his foot,-the first whom he thus touched being compelled to carry round the pot in his stead.

The Kynitinda was so called from the verb xvvéw to kiss, as appears from Crates in his 'Games,' a play in which the poet contrived to introduce an account of this and nearly all the other juvenile pastimes. The form of the sport being little known, the learned have sometimes confounded it with a kind of salute called the chytra in antiquity, and the 'Florentine Kiss' in modern Italy, in which the person kissing took the other by the ears. Giraldi says he remembers, when a boy, that his father and other friends, when kissing him, used sometimes to take hold of both his ears, which they called giving a Florentine kiss.' He afterward was surprised to find that this was a most ancient practice, commemorated both by the Greek and Latin authors. It obtained its name, as he conjectures, from the earthen vessel called chytra, which had two handles, usually laid hold of by persons drinking out of it, as is still the practice with similar utensils in Spain.

The Epostrakismos was what English boys call 'Ducks and Drakes,' and sometimes, among our ancestors at least, 'A duck and a drake and a white penny cake,' and was played with oyster-shells Standing on the shore of the sea at the Piraeus, for example, they flung the shells edgeways over the water so that they should strike it and bound upward again and again from its surface. The boy whose shell made most leaps before sinking, won the game. Minucius Felix gives a very pretty description of this juvenile sport. 'Behold,' he says,

'boys playing in frolicsome rivalry with shells on the sea-shore. The game consists in picking up from the beach a shell rendered light by the constant action of the waves, and standing on an even place, and inclining the body, holding the shell flat between the fingers, and throwing it with the greatest possible force, so that it may rase the surface of the sea or skim along while it moves with gentle flow, or glances over the tops of the waves as they leap up in its track. That boy is esteemed the victor whose shell performs the longest journey or makes the most leaps before sinking.'

The Akinetinda was a contention between boys, in which some of them endeavored to maintain his position unmoved. Good sport must have been produced by the next game called Schoenophilinda, or 'Hiding the Rope.' In this a number of boys sat down in a circle, one of whom had a rope concealed about his person, which he endeavored to drop secretly beside one of his companions. If he succeeded, the unlucky wight was started like a bare round the circle, his enemy following and laying about his shoulders. But on the other hand, if he against whom the plot was laid detected it, he obtained possession of the rope and enjoyed the satisfaction of flogging the plotter over the same

course.

The Basilinda was a game in which one obtained by lot the rank of a king, and the vanquished, whether one or many, became subject to him, to do whatever he should order. It passed down to the Christians, and was more especially practiced during the feast of the Epiphany. It is commonly known under the name of Forfeits, and was formerly called 'One penny,' 'One penny come after me,' 'Questions and commands,' 'The choosing of king and queen on Twelfth night.' In the last mentioned sense it is still prevalent in France, where it is customary for bakers to make a present to the families they serve, of a large cake in the form of a ring, in which a small kidney bean has been concealed. The cake is cut up, the pieces are distributed to the company, and the person who gets the bean is king of the feast. This game entered in Greece likewise into the amusements of grown people, both men and women, as well as of children, and an anecdote, connected with it, is told of Phryne, who happened one day to be at a mixed party where it was played. By chance it fell to her lot to play the queen; upon which, observing that her female companions were rouged and lilied to the eyes, she maliciously ordered a basin and towel to be brought in, and that every woman should wash her face. Conscious of her own native beauty, she began the operation, and only appeared the fresher and more lovely. But alas for the others! When the anchusa, psimmuthion, and phukos had been removed by the water, their freckled and coarse skins exposed them to general laughter.

The Ostrakinda was a game purely juvenile. A knot of boys, having drawn a line on the ground, separated into two parties. A small earthenware disk or ostrakon, one side black with pitch, the other white, was then produced, and each party chose a side, white or black. The disk was then pitched along the line, and the party whose side came up was accounted victorious, and prepared to pursue while the others turned round and fled. The boy first caught obtained the name of the ass, and was compelled to sit down, the game appar ently proceeding till all were thus caught and placed hors de combat. He who threw the ostrakon cried 'night or day,' the black side being termed night, and the opposite day. It was called the 'Twirling the ostrakon.' Plato alludes to it in the Phædros.

The Dielkustinda, 'French and English,' was played chiefly in the palæstra, and occasionally elsewhere. It consisted simply in two parties of boys laying. hold of each other by the hand, and pulling till one by one the stronger had drawn over the weaker to their side of the ground.

The Phryginda was a game in which, holding a number of smooth and delicate fragments of pottery between the fingers of the left hand, they struck them in succession with the right so as apparently to produce a kind of music.

There was another game called Kyndalismos, played with short batons, and requiring considerable strength and quickness of eye. A stick having been fixed upright in a loose moist soil, the business was to dislodge it by throwing at it other batons from a distance; whence the proverb, 'Nail is driven out by nail, and baton by baton.' A person who played at this game was called by some of the Doric poets Kyndalopactes. A similar game is played in England, in which the prize is placed upon the top of the upright stick. The player wins when the prize falls without the hole whence the upright has been dislodged. The game of Ascoliasmos branched off into several varieties, and afforded the Athenian rustics no small degree of sport. The first and most simple form consisted in hopping on one foot, sometimes in pairs, to see which in this way could go furthest. On other occasions the hopper undertook to overtake certain of his companions who were allowed the use of both legs. If he could touch one of them he came off conqueror. This vairety of the game appears to have been the Empusæ ludus of the Romans. 'Scotch hoppers,' or 'Fox to thy hole,' in which boys, hopping on one leg, beat one another with gloves or pieces of leather tied at the end of strings, or knotted handkerchiefs, as in the diable boiteux of the French. At other times victory depended on the number of hops, all hopping together and counting their springs,—the highest of course winning. But the most amusing variety of the game was that practiced during the Dionysiac festival of the Askolia. Skins filled with wine or inflated with air, and extremely well oiled, were placed upon the ground, and on these the shoeless rustics leaped with one leg and endeavored to maintain a footing, which they seldom could on account of their slipperiness. However, he who succeeded carried off the skin of wine as his prize.

Playing at ball was common, and received various names. Episkyros, Phæninda, Aporraxis, and Ourania. The first of these games was also known by the names of the Ephebike and the Epikoinos. It was played thus: a number of young men, assembling together in a place covered with sand or dust, drew across it a straight line, which they called Skyros, and at equal distances, on either side, another line. Then placing the ball on the Skyros, they divided into two equal parties, and retreated each to their lines, from which they immediately afterward rushed forward to seize the ball. The person who picked it up, then cast it toward the extreme line of the opposite party, whose business it was to intercept and throw it back, and they won who by force or cunning compelled their opponents to overstep the boundary line.

The Phæninda is a game in which the player, appearing as though he would throw a ball at one person, he immediately sent it at another, thus deluding the expectation of the former. It appears at first to have been played with the small ball called Harpaston, though the game with the large soft one may afterward, perhaps, have also been called Phæninda. The variety named Aporraxis consisted in throwing the ball with some force against the ground and repelling