The next entertainment was a display of ventriloquism, by a pupil of the celebrated Baron de Mengen.
“Now,” said the vicar, “we are to witness a deception upon the ear, such as we have just seen practised on the eye.”
Mr. Twaddleton was quite correct in this observation; for, notwithstanding all the mystery with which the subject has been invested by credulity, ventriloquism is nothing more than a skilful modulation of the voice, so as to imitate the gradations of sound, as they effect the ear in nature under all the circumstances of distance and obstruction; in short, imposing upon the ear as a perspective painting does upon the eye.
The crowd which had assembled round the spot was now dispersed by the appearance of a placard, announcing the suspension of all the performances for two hours; and informing the populace that the interval would be devoted to various sports and pastimes in the adjoining field.
The revellers accordingly hastened to the spot where the several sports were to take place, and to which they were directed by the sound of a bugle.
We have stated that a small enclosure had been prepared for the youths of the village, who were to perform the “ludus Trojæ,” or Troy game. The major and his party had taken possession of the seat, placed for their accommodation under an awning; and the boys, classically dressed, and furnished with little arms and weapons, were mustered in circo. Each youth was mounted on a pony; and the troop having rode round the ring, and surveyed the spectators, the vicar arose from his seat, and, like the sage Epytides, gave the signal of attack by a crack of the whip. They now arranged themselves in two battalions, and hurling their javelins with an air of proud defiance, wheeled and charged, and urged the sportive war; at the conclusion of the game, the vicar called the principal youth, or “princeps juventutis,” and presented him with a basket of fruit, which he desired him to divide amongst his companions.
The populace now separated into different groups; one party proceeded to witness a wrestling-match; another to see the foot-race; a third to be present at a match of quoits; for the vicar had provided all these games, in imitation of the ancient Penthalum or Quinquertium. While observing the game of quoits, the vicar displayed much classical erudition; he said that Homer had represented Ajax and Ulysses as greatly skilled in the sport; and that Ovid, when he brings in Apollo and Hyacinth playing at it, had given a very elegant description of the exercise.[[79]] Scaliger, he continued, is of opinion, that the throwing the discus, or quoit, is but an improvement of the old sport of casting the sheep-hook; a conjecture which, the vicar thought, received some support from a passage in the fourth Iliad.
“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.