Hand-in-hand skating is another most delightful branch of the art, and has been very strikingly developed in the last few years in England. A number of new scuds have been elaborated by the ingenuity of experts, many of which are most fascinating to do, and in many cases they have the great advantage of being performed either with one or two companions. The advance in this department of the art is largely due to the number of covered rinks that have been started lately in England and France, these being particularly adapted to the practice of this style of skating. Another accomplishment, to which the practice of covered rinks is specially suited is waltzing on skates--which merely consists in a series of turns of threes, and outside-edge forwards and outside-edge backwards. The important point to remember about waltzing is, that the partners must accommodate their steps, and the woman must take care not to drag. When gracefully and neatly done by two people, well used to each other, and to the sound of a good band, this sensation surpasses anything that can be enjoyed in ordinary dancing. For my own part I have concentrated my energies on combined figures and hand-in-hand skating, and have never given much attention to the great variety of difficult turns that are to be done alone, though I do not by any means wish to depreciate the beauty of these, or the skill needed to perform them. But, under the conditions that prevail in England, it is difficult to get enough space in which to practice elaborate figures alone, so I am inclined to think that my course has been a wise one. [Illustration: _SKATING IN HOLLAND._ _From an unpublished Drawing by A. Van de Velde, Circa 1650, A.D._ (_By permission of Lawrence B. Phillips, Esq._)]