to take a wherry at Westminster Bridge, and to give a waterman a guinea to row against him to Chelsea, where should the waterman arrive first (which was seldom the case), he had an additional reward for his dexterity. 7 WHEEL RUNNING. Lord March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry, of sporting celebrity, having observed the uncommon speed with which a coach-maker's journeyman was able to run with a wheel on the pavement, thought it a good subject for a wager. A waiter in Betty's fruit shop, in St. James's Street, was famous for running, and Lord March laid a bet that a coach-maker's journeyman should run with the wheel of his lordship's carriage, faster than the waiter. The wager was accepted; but before the time of decision, Lord March discovered that the wheel with which the man was to run, was much lower than that to which he had been accustomed, and he was well assured that he could not run so well with a small wheel as with a large one. The dilemma was mentioned to Sir Francis Blake Delaval, who procured planks sufficient to cover a path on the course, which, by being laid on blocks, raised the nave of the low wheel to the height to which the journeyman had been accustomed. The jocke y club allowed the expedient, and Lord March won the wager. In 1817, Blumsell, a painter, for a wager of forty guineas, run a coach wheel the distance of thirty miles, in six minutes less than six hours. THE SHROPSHIRE HILLS. Sir John Hill, and three of his sons, (includ ing Lord Hill) in a fox chase in 1818, which fasted two hours, pursued the fox into the town of Whitchurch. In the Green End he was met by several persons, who drove him back over the Town Pool Meadow, whence he took refuge in the garden of John Knight, Esq. Here the hounds inet with a check, and the sportsmen not being able to get into the garden, were obliged to ride up the White Lion Yard, through the town into Doddington. Sly Reynard was, howerer, soon driven from his hiding place by the huntsmen; he gained the garden of Miss E. Langford, and finding the back door of the house open, entered the hall, ran up stairs, and got into the cupboard, whither he was pursued by the dogs and taken. The consternation of Miss L. who is an elderly maiden lady, may be more easily conceived than described, in having a fox and a whole pack of hounds in her house, and about fifty red coats assailing it without, headed by the gallant Lord Hill. CUNNING OF THE FOX. At the Golden Bear Inn, Reading, a young fox had a few years since been taught to go into the wheel and turn the Jack. After he had thus officiated for some time, he escaped, and regained his native woods. Here he met the fate common to his species; he was pursued by the hounds, and in his flight ran through the town of Reading, reached the Inn, and springing over the half door of the kitchen, jumped into the wheel and resumed his occupation, in the very place where he had been brought up, by which means he saved his life. TALLY HO! The notes of hounds have a powerful influence on any horse that has been accustomed to follow the chase. An instance of this occurred in 1917, when the Liverpool mail was changing horses at the inn at Monk's Heath, between Congleton and Newcastle under Line. The horses which had performed the stage were taken off and separated, when Sir Peter Warburton's fox hounds were heard in full ery. The horses immediately started after them, with their harness on, and followed the chase until the last. One of them, a blood mare, kept the track with the whipper in, and gallantly followed him for about two hours, over every leap he took, until Reynard ran to earth in a neighboring plantation. These spirited horses were led back to the inn at Monk's Heath, and performed their stage back to Congleton, on the same evening. SALMON HUNTING. A fisherman of the name of Graham, who resides at Whitehaven, possesses singular skill in what is called salmon hunting. When the tide recedes, what fish are left in the shallows, are discovered by the agitation of the water, and this man, with a three pointed barbed spear, fixed to a shaft fifteen feet long, plunges into the pools at a trot, up to the belly of his horse. He then makes ready his spear, and when he overtakes the salmon, strikes it with almost unerring aim; that done, by a turn of the hand he raises the salmon to the surface, wheels his horse towards the shore, and runs the fish on dry land without dismounting. He has, by this means, killed from forty to fifty fish in a day. His father, who is said to have been the first person that ever made salmon killing an equestrian pastime, was living in 1811; and though then ninetyeight years of age, was so active and dexterous, that armed with his trident, and on horseback, he could strike and bring out of the water a salmon of considerable weight. CARDS. It has been asserted, that cards, as well as dice, were invented by the Lydians, during the time of a famine in the reign of Atys; but among all the games mentioned by the ancient Greek and Roman writers, there is not one which can with good foundation be supposed to designate cards; we may therefore safely conclude, that they were unknown to them. St. Cyprian has been quoted as making mention of cards, and asserting that they formerly contained the images of Pagan idols, which the Christians transformed into the modern figures; but there is nothing in his works to bear out the assertion. Count de Gebelin has attempted to prove, that a kind of cards were in use among the Egyptians in the seventh century before our present era, the figures of which he supposed to have been transmitted from age to age, and have reached us. It would, however, be an extraordinary circumstance, that cards should have existed in Egypt at so early a period, and yet that the Greeks and Romans should not have brought them to Europe, nor the Carthaginian armies have introduced them into Spain and Italy; and still more, that this should only have been effected by the Arabians, who did not reach Egypt before the seventh century after Christ, about the year 635. It has been generally supposed, that playing cards were first made for the amusement of Charles the Sixth of France, in 1392, at which time he was afflicted with mental derangement; it has, however, been proved, that cards were known in France half a century before that time. The striking analogies and strong resemblances between the games of chess and cards in their first simple form, are strong proofs of their both being of eastern origin; and it is most probable, that the game of cards, like the game of chess, travelled from India to the Arabians, and trayersing the north of Asia and Africa, thus reached Europe. When cards were first introduced into England, seems uncertain; there is a probability that they were known here soon after the second Crusade, at the latter end of the thirteenth century; but there is no positive evidence of their use here until the middle of the fifteenth. BLIND MAN'S BUFF. In ancient Rome, a custom was observed on the manumission of slaves, precisely similar to one of the ceremonies of the game of blind man's buff; and this coincidence, coupled with the analogy between the condition of the slave, and the supposed state of the person bound in the game, leads to the conclusion that this sport is of Romau origin. On the manumission of a slave, the master or lictor turning him round in a circle, and giving him a blow on the cheek, let him go, signifying that he was thenceforward free. Persius alludes to this custom in one of his Satires, where, to adopt the English version of Owen, he says, "See there that Dama! view a worthless slave, MOCK FIGHT ON THE BRIDGE OF PISA. A mock fight occasionally exhibited on the bridge of Pisa, is the only remaining vestige of those martial games so famous among the Greeks and Romans. The amusement consists in a battle fought by nine hundred and sixty combatants, who, clothed in coats of mail, and armed with wooden clubs, dispute for three quarters of an hour the passage of the bridge. The strongest combatants possess themselves of the field of battle; and when stratagem can be employed with success, it is resorted to, but to fight in earnest is forbidden. This mock encounter, however, frequently costs lives, and is therefore seldom permitted, though one of the most attractive exhibitions in Italy. Some authors state this pastime to have been instituted by Pelops, son of Tantalus, King of Phrygia; others think that it was established by Nero; while there are some who attribute it to the year 1005, when it was celebrated in honor of the defeat of Muselto, King of Sardinia, which happened that year upon a bridge of Pisa. Whoever may have instituted this custom, it is entered into with great spirit by the Pisans. When a man stands candidate for the honor of being a combatant, he is encased in armor, and then beat for half an hour with wooden clubs. Should he happen to flinch or cry out during this ceremony, he is rejected; but if he bears it without a murmur, he is chosen a candidate. OMAI. Omai, the native of Otaheite, learnt to play at chess while in London, and became a considerable proficient in the game, in which he once defeated Mr. Baretti; a circumstance only to be noticed on account of its having been the cause of breaking off an acquaintance between that gentleman and Dr. Johnson, which had existed for upwards of thirty years. The doctor used frequently to rally Mr. Baretti on the subject, and sometimes unmercifully. "At length," says Mr. Baretti," he pushed his banter on at such a rate, that he chafed me, and made me so angry, that not being able to put a stop to it, I snatched up my hat and stick, and quitted him in a most choleric mood." When the doctor heard how much he had offended his friend, he invited him to his house; but Mr. Baretti was then in the country, and before he returned town, the doctor was dead. SPANISH FOX CHASE. The During the Peninsular War in 1813, the foxhounds of General Sir Rowland Hill unkennelled a fox in the neighborhood of Corja, in Spain. run was severe for the space of thirty minutes, when the fox, being sharply pressed by the leading hounds, leaped down a precipice of sixty yards perpendicular; seven couple of the hounds immediately dashed after him, six couple of which were killed on the spot! the remainder of the pack (twentytwo couple) would have shared the same fate, had not the most forward riders, among whom were Sir R. Hill, Col. Delancey, and Col. Rooke, arrived in time to flog them off; which they did with difficulty, being scarcely able to restrain their impetuosity. The fox was found in the bottom dead, and covered with the bodies of the hounds. 243 COMMERCE. THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE. THE Hanseatic League is the most powerful commercial confederacy known in history; and the vigorous efforts of this society, attentive only to commercial objects, diffused over Europe new and more liberal ideas concerning justice and order, wherever they settled. It was towards the close of the twelfth century, and while the Italians in the South of Europe were cultivating trade with such industry and success, that a commercial spirit awakened in the North. As the nations around the Baltic were at that time extremely barbarous, and infested that sea with their piracies, it obliged the cities of Hamburg and Lubeck, soon after they began to open some trade with these people, to enter into a league of mutual defence. They derived such advantages from this union, that other towns acceded to the confederacy, and in a short time, seventytwo of the most considerable cities scattered through those vast countries which stretch from the bottom of the Baltic to Cologne on the Rhine, joined in the famous Hanseatic League, which became so formidable, that its alliance was courted, and its enmity dreaded, by the greatest monarchs. The members of this powerful association formed the first systematic plan of commerce known in the middle ages, and conducted it by common laws, enacted in their general assemblies. They supplied the rest of Europe with naval stores, and fixed on different towns where they established staples, in which their commerce was regularly carried on. The Hanseatic League, in the height of its power and commerce, gave laws in commercial concerns to the whole northern world, and they were often but too apt to make an unjust use of their power for the ruining of any trade not confederated with them, by making an arbitrary order at their general assemblies, that none of their cities should traffic or correspond with any city not in the League. Such conduct could not fail to stir up many princes to be their enemies, who were therefore continually thwarting their commercial interests; and towards the declension of this confederacy, we find even some German princes inveighing bitterly against them, as the monopolizers and engrossers of all commerce. The first source of wealth to the towns situated on the Baltic sea, seems to have been the herring fishery; shoals of herrings at that time frequented the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, in the same manner as they now resort to the British coasts. The effects of this fishery are thus described by an author of the thirteenth cestury. "The Danes," says he, "who were formerly clad in the poor garb of sailors, are w clothed in scarlet, purple, and fine linen, for they abound with wealth, flowing from their an nual fishery on the coast of Schonen; so that all nations resort to them, bringing their gold, silver, and precious commodities, that they may purchase herrings which the divine bounty bestows upon them." THE LOMBARDS. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the commerce of Europe was almost entirely in the hands of the Italians, more commonly known by the name of Lombards. Companies or Societies of Lombard merchants settled in every different kingdom. They were taken under the immediate protection of the several governments; and enjoyed extensive privileges and immunities. The operation of the ancient barbarous laws concerning strangers, was suspended with re spect to them; and in France they were exempted from the droit d'aubaine. The As the Lombards engrossed the trade of every kingdom in which they settled, they soon be-. came masters of its cash. Money, of course, was in their hands not only a sign of the value of their commodities, but became an object of commerce itself. They dealt largely as bankers; and in an ordinance in the year 1295, we find them styled mercatores and campsores. Lombards carried on this as well as some other branches of their commerce, with somewhat of that rapacious spirit which is natural to monopolizers, who are not restrained by rivalship. An absurd opinion which prevailed in the middle ages, was, however, in some measure the cause of their exorbitant demands, and may be pleaded in apology for them. Commerce cannot be carried on with advantage, unless the persons who lend a sum are allowed a certain premium for the use of their money, and as a compensation for the risk which they run in permitting another to traffic with their stock. This premium is fixed by law in all commercial countries, some of the states of America excepted, and is called the legal interest of money. But the fathers of the church preposterously applied the prohibitions of usury in scripture to the payment of legal interest, and condemned it as a sin. The schoolmen misled by Aristotle, whose sentiments they followed implicitly, and without examination, adopted the same error, and enforced it. Thus the Lombards found themselves engaged in a traffic which was deemed criminal and odious, and subject to punishment if detected. They were not satisfied, therefore, with that moderate premium which they might have claimed, if their trade had been open and authorised by law. They exacted a sum proportionate to the danger and infamy of a discovery. The Lombards were established in England in the thirteenth century, and carried on an extensive commerce, particularly as bankers, in a street which still bears their name. The three gilt balls which now adorn the shops of pawnbrokers, were the arms of the Lombards, and were generally attached to their respective houses in England. ANTWERP. Two centuries ago, the commerce of Antwerp was superior to that of any state in Europe, two thousand five hundred merchant vessels arriving in its port annually. It is recorded, that the value of the merchandize imported in 1550, amounted to one hundred and thirtythree millions of gold; and one of its merchants lent the Emperor, Charles V., a million of money, and at an entertainment which he gave to him, burnt the bond in a fire of cinnamon. When the United Provinces threw off the yoke of the Spanish government, and Antwerp became the scene of civil war, forts were built on each side of the Scheldt, and obstructions sunk in the Channel, to prevent a free navigation; in consequence of which the commerce of Antwerp was ruined, and grass grew before the warehouses of those who were once the greatest merchants in the world. When Antwerp was in the zenith of its prosperity, and possessing an immense commerce, the inhabitants built their celebrated Bourse or Exchange, the noblest in Europe at the time, for the daily resort of merchants of all nations. Upon the front of the edifice was the following inscription in Latin: "The Senate and People of Antwerp erected this Structure for the accommodation of Merchants of all nations and languages, and for an ornament to their City, in the year 1531." The original name of Bourse, given to such edifices in several cities of Europe, is thus stated by Guicciardini. There was, it seems before this time, a square commodiously situated in the middle of the city of Bruges, in which stood a large building that had been erected by the noble family of La Bourse, whose coat of arms, on its wall, was three purses. The merchants of Bruges made this old house the place of their daily assemblies; and when afterwards they went to the fairs of Antwerp and Mons, they called the places they found there for the assembling of the merchants, by the name of La Bourse, or the Bourse; which name was generally adopted, except in England for similar edifices. JACQUES CŒUR. Jacques Coeur, Intendant General of Finances under Charles VII. of France, was at the same time one of the richest merchants who perhaps ever existed. When the king undertook the reconquest of Normandy, Jacques Cœur raised an army at his own expense, and lent several millions to his sovereign for the purpose of this expedition. While he occupied the place of Minister of Finances, he traded with his own ships to the Levant, Egypt, and Barbary. He imported into Europe furs, silk stuffs, and silver. In all the towns of France, and in every capital of Europe, he had agents for the sale of these foreign commodities on his account; and his profits annually are said to have exceeded those of all the merchants of France beside. MERCHANTS OF THE STAPLE. The merchants of the Staple were the first and most ancient, and were so called from their exporting the staple wares of the kingdom, namely, wool and skins, lead and tin. The grower of wool contented himself at first with the sale of it at his own door, or at the next town. Thence arose a class of men who bought it from him, and became a medium between the grower and the foreign cloth merchants. In 1319, the company had the legal form of a corporation with all its proper titles, and was the oldest mercantile corporation in England. Edward II. had, for the better collecting his duty on wool, ordained, that the staple for it should be fixed at one certain place or fort in the Netherlands, and Antwerp was fixed; it was afterwards successively removed to St. Omer's, Bruges, Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, Calais. In 1353, the staple was fixed at Westminister, which caused so great a resort of traders, that from a village it was raised to the dignity of a town; and in 1378, it was removed to the place still named Staple Inn, in Holborn, where it continued principally until it was superseded by the company of Merchant Adventurers. THE MEDICI FAMILY From the bosom of commerce sprung the llustrious family of Medici, which in celebrity has eclipsed those of almost all the sovereigns of Eu rope. John de Medici, whose influence and ascendency in the councils of the commonwealth arose not more from his vast possessions, than from his virtue and beneficence, was the first banker and merchant of Italy. Cardinal Colonna, after his elevation to the chair of St. Peter, by the name of Martin the Fifth, when reduced to apply to him for pecuniary assistance, scrupled not to pledge to him the pontifical crown; and afterwards created him Duke of Monteverdi. At his death, notwithstanding the immense treasures which he bequeathed to his family, yet so boundless had been his largesses and donations to the necessitous among his fellow citizens, that he was attended to the grave by a prodigious concourse of his weeping countrymen, and honored with the title of "Father of the Poor." Cosino, his eldest son, succeeded to his virtues, and far excelled him in strength of genius, power, and reputation. Banished from Florence by a triumphant faction, he was recalled only to enjoy an augmented degree of public confidence. His influence, always exerted to produce the most beneficial and laudable effects, attained a strength and solidity which no despotism could have conferred. Constantly engaged in commerce, he employed and enriched a multitude of persons, who in return sustained his own greatness His ves sels traded to every port; and his factors at Constantinople, Cairo, and along the coasts of Lesser Asia, enjoyed the most distinguished consideration. The Sultans of Egypt, the Emirs of Babylon, and the Turkish Emperors, were all connected with him by commercial ties. The Palæologi, in whose family expired the Empire of Constantinople, sold him the jewels and splendid furniture of the imperial palaces, during the state of depression to which they were reduced previous to their final destruction by Mahomet the Second. To the claims to the admiration of his contemporaries and of posterity which commerce and riches could confer, Cosmo added another by his princely protection of letters. The memorable era, distinguished by the name of the age of the Medici," commenced with Cosmo, and forms an epoch in the annals of literature. His house was the asylum of genius and talents, from every part of Italy, and Greece. The most precious manuscripts, preserved by his care from the barbarous rage of the Turks, and purchased by his order, were transmitted to future times. Numbers of learned men, driven by the Turkish Sultans to take refuge in Florence and other Italian states, received from his bounty a liberal provision, and repaid him by their grateful eulogiums. More fortunate in the close of life than Pericles, Cosmo, after having presided during thirty years over the republic, during which time he embellished the capital with monuments of utility and magnificence, expired at a very advanced age, free from the infirmities with which it is usually accompanied. His memory was inexpressibly dear to his countrymen, who, by a public decree, inscribed on his tomb the glorious title of "Father of his Country." BILLS OF EXCHANGE. The circumstance which gave rise to the introduction of bills of exchange in the mercantile world, was the banishment from France, in the reigns of Philip Augustus and Philip the Long, of the Jews, who, it is well known, took refuge in Lombardy. On their leaving the kingdom, they had committed to the care of some persons in whom they could place confidence, such of their property as they could not carry with them. Having fixed their abode in a new country, they furnished various foreign merchants and travellers, whom they had commissioned to bring away their fortunes, with secret letters, which were accepted in France by those who had the care of their effects. Thus the merit of the invention of exchanges, belongs to the Jews exclusively. They discovered the means of substituting impalpable riches for palpable ones, the former being transmissible to all parts, without leaving behind them any traces indicative of the way they have taken. THE FIRST MAN-STEALER. John de Castilla has the infamy of standing first on the list of those whose villanies have disgraced the spirit of commerce, and afforded the udest complaints against the progress of navi gation. Having made a voyage to the Canaries in 1447, he was dissatisfied with the value of tho cargo he procured; and by way of indemnification, ungratefully seized twenty of the natives of Gomera, who had assisted him, and brought them as slaves to Portugal. Prince Henry, however, resented this outrage; and after giving the captives some valuable presents of clothes, restored them to freedom and their native country. VASCO DE GAMA. The discovery of India, to which such great advances had been made by Prince Henry of Portugal, was, thirty-four years after his death, accomplished through the heroic intrepidity of the illustrious Vasco de Gama. The voyage of Gama has been called merely a coasting one, and therefore much less dangerous and heroical than that of Columbus and Magellan. But this, it is presumed, is an opinion hastily taken up, and founded on ignorance. Columbus and Magellan undertook to navigate unknown oceans, and so did Gama, who stood out to sea for upwards of three months of tempestuous weather, in order to double the Cape of Good Hope, hitherto deemed impassable. The tempests which afflicted Columbus and Magellan, are described by their different historians as far 'less tremendous than those which attacked Gama. The poet of the Seasons, in depicting a tempest at sea, selects that encountered by Gama, as za example of all that is most terrific in this confice of elements. "With such mad seas, the daring Gama fought, From every circumstance, it is evident that Gama had determined not to return unless he discovered India. Nothing less than such a resolution, to perish or attain his point, could have led him on. It was this resolution which inspired him, when, on the general mutiny of his crew, he put the chief conspirators and all the pilots in irons; whilst he himself, with his faithful brother, Coello, and a few others, stood night and day to the helm, until they doubled the Cape, and beheld the road to India before them. It was this which made him still persevere, when he fell into the strong current off Ethiopia, that drove him for a time he knew not whither. How different the conduct of Columbus! When steering southward in search of a continent, he met great currents, which he imagined were the rising of the sea, towards the canopy of heaven; which, for aught he knew, say the authors of the Universal History, he might touch towards the South; he therefore turned his course, and steered to the west; from which, after all, he returned without being certain whether the land he discovered at the mouth of the Oroonoko, was an island or a continent! AN AWKWARD PASSPORT. When the Portugese were lords of the Indian seas, they rmitted no ship to sail without a |