“True,” replied Mr. Seymour; “and the ambassadors found Henry the Fourth playing on the carpet with his children; and it is said, that Domitian, after he had possessed himself of the Roman empire, amused himself by catching flies; but these were kings: now I admit that philosophers are monarchs, but monarchs are not always philosophers; you must, therefore, produce some less objectionable authority, if you stand in need of such a sanction. Let me see whether I cannot assist you; there was Socrates, if tradition speaks truly, who was partial to the recreation of riding on a wooden horse, for which, as Valerius Maximus tells us, his pupil Alcibiades laughed at him.” “I care not who laughs at me,” exclaimed the vicar; “I enjoy the amusements of youth, and agree with Dr. Paley, in regarding the pleasure which they are made to afford, as a striking instance of the beneficence of the Deity; and should you so far relax as to put your plan into execution, of writing a work upon juvenile sports, I hope you will call upon me to compose a eulogy, by way of preface.” “I shall not forget your offer, depend upon it.” “Did not Archytas,” resumed the vicar, “‘He who would scan the earth, and ocean’s bound, And tell the countless sands that strew the shore,’ as Horace says, invent the children’s rattle?--Toys, my dear sir, have served to unbend the wise, to occupy the idle, to exercise the sedentary, to moralize the dissipated,”-- “And,” interrupted Mr. Seymour, “to instruct the ignorant.” “I will also convince you,” continued the vicar, “that the tournaments were indebted for their origin to the Troy game (_ludus Trojæ_), first introduced into Italy by young Ascanius.” The foregoing episode having been concluded, the party proceeded, without any farther interruption, to the Lodge. On their arrival, Mr. Seymour produced a piece of apparatus, for the purpose of exhibiting the experiment he had promised, in illustration of the doctrine of the Collision of Elastic Bodies. [Illustration: Two balls, labeled A and B, hanging by strings from a rod and bouncing against each other.] “Here are two ivory balls,” said he, “suspended by threads; I shall draw one of them, A, a little on one side; now I let it go, it strikes, you see, against the other ball, B, and drives it off to a distance equal to that through which the first ball fell; but the motion of A is stopped, because, when it struck B, it received in return a blow equal to that it gave, and its motion was consequently destroyed. To extend the experiment, here are six ivory balls hanging in a row; I will draw the first out of the perpendicular, and let it fall against the second; see! see! none of the balls appear to move except the last, which you perceive flies off as far as the first ball fell. I should like to hear you explain this.”