“Mr. Twaddleton,” cried Mr. Seymour, “you look at every sport with the eye of a classic or antiquary; I, on the other hand, as you well know, cautiously examine every action, to discover whether some scientific principle may not find an illustration. On the present occasion, I am desirous of directing the attention of the children to the manner in which yonder skilful player hurls his quoit.” “I do not exactly comprehend the object they have in view in throwing the quoits,” said Louisa. “Do you not perceive that two iron pins, or _hobs_, are driven into the ground, at the distance of eighteen or twenty yards asunder?” asked her father. “To be sure, and I suppose that each player attempts to hit one of those pins.” “The players stand at one of the _hobs_, and throw an equal number of quoits at the other; the nearest of them to the hob are reckoned towards the game. When they have cast all their quoits, the candidates go over to the point at which they have been throwing, and when they have determined the state of the game, they throw their quoits back again at the hob where they had before stood; and thus continue to act, on alternate sides, till the game is ended.” “I now understand it,” cried Louisa. “You doubtless know, Mr. Twaddleton,” said Mr. Seymour, “that the casting of stones, darts, and other missiles, was among the amusements practised in the twelfth century by the young Londoners.” “_Casting of the bar_,” replied the vicar, “was formerly a part of a hero’s education; and kings and princes were admired for their agility and grace in throwing ‘the stone, the bar, and the plummet.’ Henry the Eighth, even after his accession to the throne, retained the casting of the bar among his favourite amusements. The sledge-hammer, and, among rustics, an axle-tree, were also used for the same purpose as the bar and the stone.” “The game of quoits is certainly far superior to such pastimes,” said Mr. Seymour, “on account of its depending less on mere strength, and more upon superior skill.” “Did not you say, papa, that its action would illustrate some principle of science? I have been looking at the quoit, which I perceive is a circular piece of iron with a hole in the middle, but I cannot discover in what manner any scientific principle can be connected with its motion.” “If you will attentively observe a skilful player, you will perceive that he steadies the flight of the quoit, by imparting to it a spinning motion; were he not thus to _rifle_ it, you would find that it would fly very far from the mark.” “Upon the same principle, I suppose, that we impart to the ball a spinning motion at the game of _bilboquet_?” “Precisely so,” replied her father, who also stated that the body was made to rotate on its shortest axis, for the reasons before explained.[80]