MEXICAN TENNIS.
The Mexicans had one singular law in their play with the ball. In the walls of the court where they played certain stones, like mill-stones were fixed, with a hole in the middle, just large enough to let the ball pass through; and whoever drove it through, which required great skill, and was, of course, rarely effected, won the cloaks of the lookers-on. They, therefore, took to their heels to save their cloaks, and others pursued to catch them, which was a new source of amusement.
CURIOUSLY-SHAPED VESSEL.
There is a singular class of Northern relics, of the Christian Period, of which analogous types have been found in Scotland, which well deserve our attention. The relics of which we speak consist of a curious variety of vessels, presumed to have been designed for holding liquors, but invariably made in the form of some animal or monstrous hybrid. The annexed figure represents one of these, in the collection of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp, Esq., and found by him among a hoard of long-forgotten family heirlooms, in a vault of his paternal mansion of Hoddam Castle, Dumfriesshire. Of its previous history nothing is known. It is made of bronze. The principal figure is a lion, without a tail, measuring fourteen inches in length, and nearly fourteen inches in greatest height. On the back is perched a nondescript animal, half greyhound, half fish, apparently intended for a handle to the whole, while from the breast projects a stag's head with large antlers. This has a perforation in the back of the neck, as if for the insertion of a stop-cock, and it appears probable was designed for running off the liquid contained within the singular vessel to which it is attached. A small square lid on the top of the lion's head, opening with a hinge, supplies the requisite aperture for whatever liquor it was designed to hold. A similar relic, possessed by Sir John Maxwell, Bart., was dug up a few years since on the Pollock estate; and another, in the collection of the late E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., was also in the form of a lion.
A SENSIBLE DOG.
Professor Owen was walking with a friend, the master of the dog, by the side of a river, near its mouth, on the coast of Cornwall, and picked up a small piece of seaweed. It was covered with minute animals, and Mr. Owen observed to his companion, throwing the weed into the water,—"If this small piece afforded so many treasures, how microscopically rich the whole plant would be! I should much like to have one!" The gentleman walked on; but hearing a splashing in the water, turned round and saw it violently agitated. "It is Lion!" both exclaimed. "What can he be about? He was walking quietly enough by our side a minute ago." At one moment they saw his tail above the water, then his head raised for a breath of air, then the surrounding element shook again, and at last he came ashore, panting from his exertions, and laid a whole plant of the identical weed at Mr. Owen's feet. After this proof of intelligence, it will not be wondered at, that when Lion was joyfully expecting to accompany his master and his guest on an excursion, and was told to go and take care of and comfort Mrs. Owen, who was ill, that he should immediately return to the drawing-room, and lay himself by her side, which he never left during the absence of his owner; his countenance alone betraying his disappointment, and that only for a few minutes.
THE CROWN OF CHARLEMAGNE.
As the emblem of sovereignty which once adorned the brows of one of earth's mightiest men, and as a unique specimen of the state at which the goldsmith's art had arrived as early as the ninth century, we here present our readers with an engraving of the crown of Charlemagne.