Elephants have, from a very early period in the history of circus entertainments, played a leading part in the performances. They were, in fact, the first animals (except, of course, horses) introduced into the ancient amphitheatre, Lucius Metellus having (as stated above) paraded them as part of the spoils of the Carthaginian war. In the time of Pompey’s rule at Rome there was an attempt on the part of the elephants to break down the barriers which separated them from the public, an act of insubordination which led Cæsar to alter the form of the circus. We hear of elephants as rope-walkers in the time of Galba and Nero, and, in the reign of the latter emperor, an elephant mounted an arch and thence walked on a rope with a man on his back. Pliny, in his “Natural History,” has an account of an exhibition given by Germanicus, in which elephants walked the tight-rope, fought with javelins, and executed the Pyrrhic dance; and Seneca, Suetonius, Dion Cassius, and Œlian bear testimony to their talents and high training. Pliny says that the elephant is able to walk up the rope backwards, and down it head foremost. Elephants are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of music, and the Romans took full advantage of this susceptibility. They were trained to march into the amphitheatre to the rhythm of musical instruments; and we have in Arrian an account of an elephant who, with cymbals fastened to his knees and trunk, beat time to which his comrades danced. They also took part in mimic representations of a banquet, reclining at which, in suitable costume of ladies and gentlemen of the period, they behaved very much like those they represented, eating and drinking with due decorum. Elephant performances have been a feature of modern hippodromes, but it was reserved for Mr. Myers’ coadjutor, John Cooper, to rediscover the lost art of elephant training and performing, as understood by the ancients. Music has played an important part in the education of Mr. Myers’ _troupe_ of elephants. They waltz with pachydermatous grace, and in perfect time; they execute complete ballets with an accuracy and confident knowledge of their respective _rôles_, which many a human performer might envy. They perform dramatic scenes with a perfect appreciation of the situation. An anecdote or two will illustrate their intelligence. It is recorded that, while performing in a certain town, the _troupe_ had each evening, while on the road from the stables to the place of representation, to pass in front of the tap of a brewery. One day, as they were _en route_, one of the drinkers held out his glass of beer to an elephant. The elephant gracefully accepted the compliment, took with the utmost delicacy the glass from the hand of the donor, poured the contents down its throat, and politely returned the empty vessel to its owner. The bystanders were so amused, that in an instant a crowd of glasses was tendered to the crowd of trunks,