English women; and that more authentic records describe the crowds passing up and down the Rhine on their route, with rather equivocal characters. Saxon kings, and even Welsh sovereigns and dignitaries of the church, went repeatedly to Rome, on pilgrimage or on business, riding either horses or mules. It is impossible, therefore, that horseshoes should not have been known and used; though, as the Anglo Saxon is not shown to have been essentially a horseman, it is likely that the practice was confined to the nobility, as indeed it was, and almost still is, partially in the greater part of France.

We have seen in Plymouth the half of a horse-shoe imbedded in an indurated clay pebble, no doubt so formed by the oxide of the iron. It is flat, with rounded edges, evidently chafed by many years rolling on the sea beach; when split open, the part of the shoe was found unworn, but broken, broad, and heavy, certainly as old as the fourteenth century, and may be much older; though, from the great size of the form, it must have belonged to a large-boned horse of the Flemish breed, such as the high horses of heavy men-at-arms wear, and therefore long after the Norman Conquest.

Horse-shoes have varied little in Europe, retaining now very nearly the form even of that figured in the mosaic before mentioned. But the most ancient Circassian horse-shoe appears to have been round; and if the figure of it remaining in a brand be correct, it had only three nails or clamps secured on the outside of the hoof. Another round horse-shoc is in use among the modern Egyptians, and partly the Syrians; it is a round plate with a hole in the middle; the common shoe, also used, has the ends turned against the heel. In other parts of Turkey, the plate is square behind, and rounded at the toe. On the continent of Europe the ends, particularly in winter, are cocked; and when there is ice on the ground, both are frequently pointed. Rough shoeing, if confined to making the nail-heads prominent, we know, from ample experience, to be of very little service, and often dangerous; for the heads snap off, and the shoe is without power of holding on the ice; nay, it is then liable to come off altogether. The great difficulty in the management of a horse's foot seems always to have been how to combine the preservation of the corneous substance without contracting the heel. Iron shoes, with a hinge at the toe, have been tried, it appears, in vain. Veterinarians, after infinite experiments, have certainly succeeded in designing an im proved shoe; but after all, it seems that, like the ladies' shoes of China, cramping the feet to some extent is inherent in the material; and, in sandy countries, unshod horses have many advantages. We have known India-rubber shoes successfully adopted to restore the feet of horses seriously injured; and it may still be a question whether a composition of the same gum and coarse hair or felt, mixed with iron filings, might not be made to answer the most requisite qualities of iron shoes, without producing their defects.

THE UNIVERSAL ANGLER.

BY JOHN MAJOR, ESQ.,* EDITOR OF " WALTON'S ANGLER ILLUS TRATED," PUBLISHED BY MR. BOGUE, FLEET-STREET

Oh, we're all anglers! cunning, cunning anglers!
Yes; we're all anglers! time out of mind.

I've a song about angling; come listen, then, I pray;
May it prove very catching-and that's all that I can say.

If not very much accustom'd in verse to indite;

Yet the maggot, p'raps for once, you'll say, the fisherman may bite.(?)
For we're all anglers! gentle-minded, &c.

Take the first man you meet-if he'll say what he's wishing,
And tell his inmost thoughts-why, he's setting off a fishing.
His meaning is the same, and it can't be mistook;

For he'll come at his object by hook or by crook.

For we're all anglers! persevering, &c.

"At it, early and late," some queer fish" to outmatch,
Your merchant's intent on some "wonderful great catch;"
See him bent o'er his desk, till he groans or he grunts;
D'ye think that there is patience, sirs, in nothing else but punts?
No; we're all anglers! cool, determined, &c.

What are they who've successfully worshipped old Mammon?
Bank-fishers; who catch gudgeons first-leave off with noble salmon.
I needn't move the wrath of a Rothschild or a Baring;
For where's the man that wouldn't give a sprat to catch a herring?
For they're all fishermen ! poor, contented, &c.

E'en that monarch is an angler, to very great perfection,
That lays the firmest hold of a people's best affection ;

While that statesman is a fisher, sirs, beyond the smallest doubt,
That finds the best of" methods" how to" tickle up his trout."
For they're all anglers! cunning, coaxing, &c.

The clergy, as of old we know, are fishers to a man;
Poets fish for compliments, and catch 'em when they can;
The lawyer gets the flat fish, yet still amidst his revel,
You may catch him in "turn," just by spinning with
For we're all anglers! scientific, &c.

a

"devil."

*These words are copyright, and are published, with music, by Z. T. Purday, High Holborn.

The doctor is an angler, that oft "shifts his quarters,"

And he's not at all afraid to fish in very " troubled waters ;"
He's "fond of graves," and follows up the sport at such a sound-rate,
He uses his poor patients as a better sort of ground bait.
For they're all anglers! out-and-out, &c.

Ev'ry one finds some rare, cunning bait of their own,
And the whole art (confessedly) can ne'er be fully known;
As old beaux (in their way) to look killing will try,
And cach lass has a hook of her own-in her eye.

For we're all anglers! captivating, &c.

You may still make "game" of anglers, it's all vastly fine;
But it's plain enough that fishing is in everybody's line.

And pray where's the jolly fellow, sirs, with e'er so pamper'd throttle,
That won't be often "fishing" for " another jolly bottle?"

For we're all anglers! jolly, jolly anglers! &c.

"ONCE MORE UPON THE WATERS! YET ONCE MORE!"

BY HARRY HAWSER.

RAILWAY TRAVELLING-JUVENILE DECEPTION-RYDE AND COWES REGATTAS--THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE EMPEROR'S YACHTLAUNCH OF THE PRINCESS OLGA-THE ROYAL FIGURE-HEADSAILING REGULATIONS OF THE ROYAL YACHT SQUADRONMR. ACKER'S SCALE OF TIME AND TONNAGE-EARL FITZHARDINGE'S SQUADRON-HIS LIBERALITY-SAILING MATch for the FITZHARDINGE CUP-LIST OF WINNERS OF IT.

We doubt much whether the immortal Childe Harold ever experienced more heartfelt gratification than we did when again, early in the month of last August, we found ourself" once more upon the waters." The London season had been unusually hot; the dog-days were grilling enough to drive both quadruped and biped stark-staring mad; and our minds as well as our bodies had been kept in a continual state of ferment by the political squabbles that agitated every member of the community. Happy were we, then, to escape the broiling sun, as well as the broils of legislative leaders: delighted were we to depart from the troubled waters of contention to the peaceful ripples of the occan, to get rid of the eternal babblings upon free-trade and coercion bills for the freedom of the unfettered winds, and to enjoy the freshening breeze, nay, even the threatening storm, in delightful contrast to the breezes and storms of Protectionists and Leaguers.

It was early, then, in August, that having received a pressing invitation to pass three weeks with a friend, who is a distinguished yachter, and who keeps one of the best tables on board, that is

D D

to be found in or near the island, that I found myself at the Nine Elms station, waiting for the departure of the nine o'clock train. "The early bird finds the worm," is an old saying; and as I was anxious to arrive at Cowes in sufficient time to "cruize for a cutlet" for my Amphitrion had not yet arrived in the island—I thought the sooner I reached the point of my destination, the sooner I should arrange affairs, so as not to pass the first evening in all the horrors of an ill-dressed solitary dinner in a hot and crowded coffeeroom had I then known, as I afterwards did, the enjoyment of a snug repast at that excellent hostelrie, the "Globe," kept by Mr. Aris (formerly in the service of the late honest John Moore), I should not have been so anxious as I was to run into" a dinner. The journey, as is the case in almost all railway journeys, passed without the slightest incident; and the only feeling it produced in my mind was one of gratitude, when emancipated from the noise and odour of these locomotive conveyances, which indulge in the dirty habit of smoking, and in the vulgar trick of whistling. Happy was I, then, to see the man appear at the carriage-window for the tickets, and to find the engine with its "blustering railer" take leave of the now passive train.

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One remark I could not refrain from making, and that is with regard to the ages of children who travel by the rail. For a length of time it actually astounded me to see fine-grown boys and girls, who, to judge by the rest of the world, must have passed their four or five winters, declared to be under three years of age; while others, who, in the language of school, were regular "hobble-de-hoys" of thirteen and fourteen years of age, were pronounced to be under twelve. Two of these splendid specimens of humanity travelled in the same carriage with me to Southampton; and, upon the tickets being demanded, the anxious mother roundly asserted that Master Franky was only rising three, and that Master Billy was twelve next month.

"Fine specimens," said the man of authority. my boy?"

"How old are you,

The urchin, thrown off his guard, and somewhat cowed by the policeappearance of the inquirer, sheepishly responded: "Twelve, last birthday."

A cough, an angry look, and a slight pressure on the feet-fingers, as an Italian countess was wont to call them, showed Master Billy what a blunder he had made; and as he thought of the penalty attached to it, viz., no money to buy cakes and fruit with during his visit to the Isle of Wight, he burst out into a loud sob:

"I mean-oh, oh! Mamma says-oh, oh! I'm only twelve nex-next birthday."

But the railroad Chancellor of the Exchequer was not to be done; and, turning to the truth-telling parent, begged she would "unswaddle" the baby, and whose Brobdignag proportions immediately proved him to be beyond the prescribed age.

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Half-price for the youngest and full price for the eldest," said the fare-collector; calling the attention of the now disturbed mother to the following notice:-"Children under three years, no charge; above three years and under twelve, half-price; by all the trains.

From this time the mystery was solved, and I discovered that as much roguery went on with regard to juveniles in railway travelling as

exists among the "young-uns" upon the turf; and as the mouths of the former cannot be looked in, the deception is rarely discovered. What a parent must feel at thus teaching" the young idea to shoot"with a long bow, I will not pause to inquire. Proceed we with our travels.

The train having been unusually punctual upon this occasion, I had an opportunity of going over a new hotel, lately opened by Mr. Radley, near the terminus; and a more comfortable caravansary I never was in. The boat was then in readiness, and after an hour and a quarter's steam, I found myself safely landed at Cowes. Having established myself at a lodging procured for me by one of the most civil and attentive persons in the whole island, Mr. Barton, and whose own lodgings (being the most comfortable in the town) had, unfortunately for me, been previously engaged, I proceeded to the esplanade, with the view of "cruising for a cutlet;" but before I had time to "trip my anchor," I fell into two prizes, in the shape of duplicate invitations for the first, and one for the second day; this embarras des richesses placed me in the situation of the hero who exclaimed in the farce :

"As when two feasts, at which there's nought to pay,

Fall unpropitious on the self-same day;

The hungry cit each invitation views,

And knows not which to take or which refuse:

To stay from either he is very loth,

And sighs to think he cannot dine at both."

Independent of the above acts of courtesy, I had my name put down upon the platform list at the club-house; which was a privilege I most duly appreciated. Nothing could present a gayer appearance than Cowes did: the harbour was full of yachts and vessels. Here might be seen the royal yacht, The Victoria and Albert, a vessel worthy the Queen of the Seas, with her tender, The Fairy, as rakish a looking craft as any that ever floated on the ocean. There might be viewed a genuine American merchantman; her stars and stripes gaily fluttering to the breeze. Then a heavy-laden Spaniard, with her grim and swarthy crew; and, by way of contrast to the latter, the neat and well-trimmed schooner, The Zarifa, is anchored astern of her. The Pearl is getting under weigh, her gallant and veteran commander is at the helm ; while The Intrepid has just dropped her moorings, and the noble race of Plantagenets are upon the deck. Who can mistake the dignified form of the noble duke," the observed of all observers"? or the handsome features of his amiable duchess? or the aristocratic bearings of their youthful progeny? How applicable are the lines of Byron to one, nay, more than one, of this well-favoured race :—

"Her eye's dark charm 'twere vain to tell ;
But gaze on that of the gazelle,

It will assist thy fancy well."

But avast with our panegyrics, let us turn to the helm, where may be seen one of England's best practical sailors, one who in earlier life fought and bled for his country, and who is now, in the piping times of peace, devoting his extensive mind to the improvement of steamvessels. To his activity and perseverance may be attributed the rapid