------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: Children playing with paddles and a shuttlecock.] CHAPTER XIV. _A short discourse.--The Shuttlecock.--The solution of two problems connected with its flight.--The Windmill.--The Smoke-jack.--A toy constructed on the same principle.--The Bow and Arrow.--Archery.--The arrival of Isabella Villers._ Mr. Twaddleton, on his arrival at the lodge, on the following morning, was informed that Miss Villers was expected at Overton in the evening. “Your account of that young lady,” observed the vicar, “has greatly prepossessed me in her favour; I only hope that she is not too _blue_.” “I care not how blue the stockings of a lady may be,” said Mr. Seymour, “‘provided her petticoats be long enough to hide them;’ and from my knowledge of Miss Villers, I can assure you, exalted as are her attainments, they are so veiled by feminine delicacy and reserve, that they may insidiously win, but will never extort our homage.” “Ay, ay,” exclaimed the vicar; “I perfectly agree with you in your idea of feminine perfection--short tongues and long petticoats, Mr. Seymour.--But where are my little playmates?” “I left Tom and Fanny on the terrace, a short time since,” replied Mr. Seymour, “very busily engaged in the game of shuttlecock and battledoor.” “The shuttlecock is an ancient sport,” observed Mr. Twaddleton. “It is represented in a manuscript as far back as the fourteenth century: and it became a fashionable game amongst grown persons in the reign of James the First.” “It is a very healthy pastime,” said Mr. Seymour, “and, in my opinion, is admirably calculated for females; for, it expands the chest, while it creates a graceful pliancy of the limbs.” “I entirely agree with you; it is the only game with which I am acquainted, in which muscular exercise is gained without compromising gracefulness. But see, here come the two young rogues.” “Papa,” exclaimed Tom, “I have been considering whether there is any philosophy in the game of shuttlecock.” “There are two circumstances connected with its flight,” replied his father, “which certainly will admit of explanation upon scientific principles; and I should much like to hear whether you can apply them for that purpose. The first is its spinning motion in the air; the second, the regularity with which its base of cork always presents itself to the battledoor; so that, after you have struck it, it turns round, and arrives at your sister’s battledoor in a position to be again struck by her, and sent back to you.” “I perfectly understand what you mean; but I really am not able to explain the motions to which you allude,” said Tom. “The revolution of the shuttlecock, about its axis, entirely depends upon the impulse of the wind on the oblique surfaces of its feathers; so that it is often necessary to trim the feathers of a new shuttlecock, before it will spin.”