was a good number entertained with good cheer by the chamberlain, and after dinner they went to hunting the fox. There was a great cry for a mile, and at length the hounds killed him at the end of St. Giles's. Great hallowing at his death, and blowing of hornes; and thence the lord maior, with all his company, rode through London to his place in Lombard street."

The same authority records the names of several individuals, who by donation or bequest promoted the erection of conduits; two persons gave one hundred pounds each, and one gave the sum of nine hundred pounds. These and many other similar benefactions show how highly the public conduits were esteemed before better means were adopted for supplying the metropolis with water. But when the New River was completed the conduits came gradually to be neglected, and many of them were actually removed as incumbrances. A writer of the year 1633 says:

Of the fore-mentioned conduits of fresh water that serve the city, the greater part of them do still continue where first erected; but some, by reason of the great quantity of ground they took up, standing in the midst of the principal and high streets of the city, were a great hindrance, not only to foot passengers, but to porters, coaches, and cars, and therefore thought fit to be taken down, and to be removed to places more convenient, and not of that resort of people, so that the water is still the same.

The conduits taken away and removed, with their cisterns, are the great conduit at the east end of Cheapside; the great conduit, called the Great Tun, in Cornhill; the Standard, in Cheapside; the little conduit at the west end of Cheapside; the conduit in Fleet Street; the great conduit in Gracechurch Street; the small conduit in Stocke's Market; the conduit at Dowgate.

The rest of the conduits before-mentioned are still remaining; so that, what with the spring water coming from the several spring heads through the streets of the city to these cisterns, the New River water from Chadwell and Amwell, and the Thames water raised by several engines or water houses, there is not a street in London but one or other of these waters runs through it in pipes conveyed underground; and from these pipes there is scarce a house whose rent is fifteen or twenty pounds but hath the convenience of water brought into it by small leaden pipes laid into the great ones. And for the smaller tenements, such as are in courts and alleys, there is generally a cock or pump common to the inhabitants; so that I may boldly say, there is never a city in the world so well served with water.

reception of the water. This house was a handsome building, but it was suffered to fall into decay when the conduits were no longer esteemed, and no longer annually visited by "his lordship, with his brethren the aldermen on horseback, accompanied by their ladies, in waggons." The house was taken down in 1737, and the cisterns were arched over. Mr. Matthews states that the hotel at the south-western corner of Stratford place, in Oxford street, is erected over these cisterns; and that during a flood, which happened a few years since, some of the arches were broken, and the lower part of the house was inundated.

The great fire of 1666 destroyed several of the London conduits. Rolle, in his account of that calamity, says quaintly, "Methinks these several conduits of London stood like so many little, but strong forts, to confront and give check to the great enemy, fire, as occasion should be. There, methinks, the water was intrenched and ingarrisoned. The several pipes and vehicles of water that were within these conduits, all of them charged with water, till by turning off the cock they were discharged again, were as so many soldiers within these forts, with their musquetry charged, ready to keep and defend these places. And look how enemies are wont to deal with these castles, which they take to be impregnable, and despair of ever getting by them; that is, by attempting to storm them by a close siege; so went the fire to work with these little castles of stone, which were not easy for it to burn down (witness their standing to this day); spoiled them, or almost spoiled them, it hath for the present, by cutting off those supplies of water, which had vent to flow to them, melting those leaden channels in which it had been conveyed; and thereby, as it were, starying those garrisons, which it could not take by storm. if the fire had been angry with the poor old tankard-bearers, both men and women, for propagating that element which was contrary to it, and carrying it upon their shoulders, as it were, in state and triumph; it hath even destroyed their trade, and threatens to make them perish by fire who had wont to live by water."

As

The sources of the various conduits of London, formerly kept with so much care, have for the most part entirely disappeared. That at Paddington, however, still exists, though probably not in its original form; and Mr. Matthews says, that, up to a recent period, it afforded a plentiful supply of water to some houses in Oxford street. The conduit, or spring, is situate in a

Water was obtained from the conduits by means of garden about half a mile to the west of the Edgeware

men, who made it a business to sell it to the different houses; or by servants sent to fetch it. It was conveyed in vessels that were made wider at the bottom than the top, having hoops like a pail, also an iron handle at the upper end, in form like that of a common pewter pot, and fitted with a cork or bung. Each contained about three gallons, so that they might easily be carried either by a man or a woman on the head or shoulders. They were called tankards, and resembled the vessels now used by milkmen when they convey the milk home in their carts.

The different sources which supplied the conduits of London are enumerated by Maitland. They were Conduit head, which now forms the site of Conduit street, New Bond street, and several of the adjoining streets: Tyburn, Paddington, White Conduit Fields, Highbury Barn, and Hackney. The place where the hunting party dined on the occasion of visiting the conduits was the lord mayor's banqueting-house, then situated on a part of the site at present occupied by Stratford place, Oxford street. It is also recorded that at that period, and in its immediate vicinity, the ancient church and village of Tyborne (now Mary-le-bone) was also situated; and the rivulet of Tyborne then flowed openly towards Tothill Fields, having over it a small bridge which derived its name from the banqueting-house standing near to it on the north-east side. In the neighbourhood of this ridge nine fountains or conduits were first erected in 1238, for the supply of the city, and under the banqueting-house were two cisterns for the

road, and at the same distance from Bayswater, within two hundred or three hundred yards of the Grand Junction Water Company's reservoirs. It is covered by a circular building in good condition, and some of the pipes continue in a sound state, although several centuries have elapsed since they were laid down. From the sington received a part of its supply, which was effected same source, about a century ago, the palace at Kenby the aid of a water-wheel placed at Bayswater bridge, but on the establishment of the Chelsea water-works, it became useless and was removed.

Mr.

The public conduits were sometimes made subservient to the purposes of moral instruction. When James I. passed through the city on his accession to the English crown, the conduits were decked out with verses. curious black-letter duodecimo, printed in 1607, and Brayley gives a selection of these from a scarce and entitled, Strange Histories, or Songs and Sonnets of Kings, Princes, Dukes, Lordes, Ladyes, Knights, and and a most excellent warning for all Estats, are the Gentlemen; very pleasant either to be read or songe, following transcripts of moral Sentences, which were set upon Conduits in London against the day King James came through the Citie at his first coming to the Crowne.

Upon the Conduit in Grateous (Gracechurch) Street, were

these verses:

Let money be a slave to thee,

Yet keepe his service if you can:
For if thy purse no money have,
Thy person is but half a man,

In Cornewall (Cornhill) :-
:-

To be wise and wealthy too,

Is sought of all, but found by few.

All on this world's Exchange do meete,

But when death's burse-bell rings, away ye fleete.

When a kinge's head but akes,
Subjects should mourne,

For under their crownes

A thousand cares are worne.

Bread earned with honest labouring hands,
Tastes better than the fruite of ill-got lands.

He that wants bread and yet lyes still,
It's sinne his hungry cheekes to fill.

As man was first framed, and made out of clay,
So must he at length depart hence away.

A man without mercy of mercy shall misse
And he shall have mercy that merciful is.

In Cheapside:-

Life is a dross, a sparkle, a span,
A bubble: yet how proude is man!

Life is a debt, which at that day
The poorest hath enough to pay.

The world's a stage, whence to-day,
Kings and meane men parts do play.
To-morrow others take their roomes,
While they do fill up graves and toomes.

Learning lives and Vertue shines,
When Follie begs, and Ignorance pines.

To live well is happinesse,
To die well is blessednesse.

PUBLIC SPECTACLES AND GAMES AMONG
THE ROMANS.

II.

THE SHOWS OF THE GLADIATORS.

WE spoke, in the former paper, of the bloody encounters of the pugilists. Deeply do we regret that the practice of hired pugilism, or prize-fighting, should still exist among us; but it must, at the same time, be acknowledged that the more improved tone of society has checked, and in a great measure put down, the revolting and brutalising spectacle of human beings beating and bruising each other for little or no cause, or perhaps only for the gratification of bystanders. In this latter condition of the question, we may fairly refer this relic of barbarism to the gladiatorial combats, which we are now about to give an account of.

The gladiators were in process of time kept and maintained in schools, under a master who purchased and trained them, and accordingly let them out to hire. His pupils were termed his "family." They were plentifully fed on strong food, and received their instructions from the master in writing. When they exercised, they fenced with wooden swords.

Gladiators were at first taken from captives, refractory slaves, or condemned malefactors. Of these, some were sentenced to be dispatched within a twelvemonth; but Augustus Cæsar forbade that any gladiator should be deprived of the privilege of asking his life of the people. But we read, also, that in the degenerate times of the empire, free-born citizens, induced by hire or inclination, fought as gladiators; and some even of noble birth; and, worst of all, women of rank!

The gladiators were distinguished by their armour and manner of fighting, which depended upon the country they came from. As the Romans had gladiators from all countries of their dominions, people of different nations were matched together in fight, that national animosity, added to their skill, courage, and strength, might make the contest more brisk, determined, and bloody. We proceed now to detail the several specimens of fighting which were practised to excite the curiosity and attention of the amphitheatre.

The

The pursuers were matched with the net-men. arms of the former were a helmet and shield, with a club or sword. The latter were dressed in short tunics, and carried in one hand a trident, or three-pointed lance, and in the other a net. The bearer of the net attempted to entangle his adversary by casting it over his head and suddenly drawing it together, and then he pierced him behind with his trident. If, however, he missed his aim by throwing the net too short or too far, he instantly betook himself to flight, and endeavoured to prepare his net for a second cast; while his antagonist as swiftly pursued, to prevent his design by dispatching him.

The net-man often had opposed to him a gladiator armed like a Gaul, with a buckler and hooked cutlass; who had also the image of a fish on his helmet, which gave rise to the jocular observation of the net-man, "I do not aim at you: I aim at your fish. Why do you shun me, O Gaul?"

Some gladiators were made to fight with two swords. Some employed a cord with a noose to entangle their adversaries. Some fought on horseback; others from chariots; and to give the zest of novelty to the deeply depraved curiosity of the Roman people, some gladiators were made to fight to the death blindfold.

Such as manifested great courage and skill in fighting under the emperors, were asked by the people of the emperor, and were accordingly maintained ever after at the emperor's charge, and called Cæsar's Own.

They commonly fought in pairs; oftentimes as many as five hundred pairs at one time; but they occasionally engaged in bands, promiscuously. Those who fought in the middle of the day were less trained and expert than the others, and were termed meridian gladiators.

When any distinguished person in the Roman state intended to exhibit a show of gladiators, which was usually done to serve some ambitious purpose, such as the being elected to some office, he would announce the show before-hand by an advertisement, or bill, pasted up in public, in which were stated the names of the most distinguished gladiators. Sometimes these things were represented in a picture. It is believed that the Roman people, by the pernicious influence of these sights, became so demoralised, that the tyranny of the emperors was established with facility.

A gladiator was a person who fought for the amusement of the populace, and was so named from gladius, the Latin for a sword. The shows of gladiators fighting with each other, seem to have taken their rise from the custom of slaughtering captives, at the tombs of those who had been slain in battle, to appease their departed spirits, as the ancient superstition enjoined. These spectacles were first publicly exhibited at Rome, by two brothers called Bruti, at the funeral of their father, B.C. 263; and for some time they were exhibited only on such occasions; but afterwards also by the magistrates, particularly when they had some motive for entertaining the people. Incredible numbers of men were destroyed in this manner. After the triumph of Trajan over the Dacians, a people of Germany, shows were exhibited for one hundred and twenty-three days, in which eleven thousand animals of different kinds were When the show of gladiators was exhibited at the killed, and ten thousand gladiators fought. The Em-funeral-pile of a deceased person, it took place anciently peror Claudius, although naturally of a gentle disposition, is said to have been rendered cruel by often attending these spectacles.

in the Forum, which was then adorned with statues and pictures; but, ander the emperors, those shows were confined to the Amphitheatre, so called because it had

seats all round, like two theatres joined together. These buildings were at first of a temporary nature, and were made of wood. Augustus Cæsar, in accordance with the increasing taste of the people for these amusements, had one built partly of wood and partly of stone; but the largest and grandest, whose ruins exist to our times, was the COLISEUM, of which a view and historical description have been given in the seventy-seventh number of this magazine*.

That part of the Coliseum where the gladiators fought was called arena, because it was covered with sand, or saw-dust, to absorb the blood, and to prevent the combatants from slipping. There was a splendid pavilion with a canopy set apart for the accommodation of the emperor, and also for the grandee at whose expense the games were afforded; also for the senators, and the ambassadors of foreign nations. This part of the building was elevated above the wall which surrounded the arena, and secured with a breast-work or parapet against the irruptions of wild beasts. The arena was also surrounded with an iron rail and a canal, with the same view.

The knights sat behind the senators; the seats for both of which orders were covered with cushions. The rest of the people sat behind on the bare stone. There were officers belonging to the building, who regulated the taking of seats. It was a practice with some of the poorer sort of people to go very early and secure a good seat, which they afterwards sold to some wealthier individual.

There were in the amphitheatre secret tubes, by which the spectators were besprinkled with perfumes, which were made to issue from certain figures. In rain, or excessive heat, there were coverings to draw over the spectators; and when these could not be used on account of the wind, they wore broad-brimmed caps, or umbrellas.

Women were not allowed by right to see the contests of the gladiators, until Augustus Cæsar removed this restriction, and assigned them a particular place amongst the highest seats of the Coliseum.

On the day of an exhibition of gladiators, the combatants were led along the arena in procession. They were then matched in pairs, and their swords examined. As a prelude to the battle they first practised with wooden swords, to amuse the spectators with their dexterity. Then, upon a signal given with a trumpet, they threw these aside, and assumed their proper weapons. They adjusted themselves with great care, and stood in a suitable posture for attack or defence. Then they pushed at one another, and repeated the thrust. They not only pushed with the point, but struck with the edge of the sword. It was considered more easy to parry or avoid direct thrusts, than back or side strokes. They, therefore, took particular care to defend their sides. We are told that some gladiators had the faculty of not winking with their eyes, and that two such, belonging to the Emperor Claudius, were on that account invincible.

Rewards were given to the conquerors in the games; a palm; a palm-crown, adorned with variously coloured ribbons; and money. When a rod, or wooden sword, was given, it was a sign of discharge from fighting. This was often granted, at the desire of the people, to an old gladiator, or even to a young one who had shown some notable act of courage. Some were dismissed on account of age or weakness.

It appears that betting on the competitors, whether in the races or in the exhibitions of gladiators, was the order of the day in ancient Rome, as well as at modern Newmarket. People would remain throughout the whole of the day absorbed in interest and admiration of the bloody spectacle before them.

After these horrible combats were over, one of the servants of the games, in the character of Mercury, applied a red-hot iron to the bodies of the vanquished, to assure himself that they showed no signs of life. Another, disguised as Pluto, with a hook dragged away into the spoliarium those who were still alive, where he finished their sad existence with the blows of a hammer; or perhaps a cave opened, filled with wild beasts, which devoured them.

It is not to be supposed that a spirit of insubordination and revolt never arose among men, destined to be murdered for the sport of others. We read that about seventy years B.C., Spartacus, a Thracian shepherd, being one of the gladiators who were kept at Capua, in the house of Lentulus, escaped from the place of his confinement with thirty others, and took up arms against the Romans. In the course of time he had an army of seventy thousand men, fellow-sufferers, from his own class, and routed the Roman generals in the field of battle. He was, however, vanquished at the last, with forty thousand of his men, by Crassus. He was found dead upon a heap of Romans, whom he had sacrificed to his fury.

It forms a distinguishing feature in the progress of Christianity among the ancient Romans, that, in proportion as the true religion gained ground over the old superstition, the horrible and accursed practice of gladiatorial exhibitions fell into disuse. These were entirely opposed to the spirit of Christianity; and although Christ's religion, like wheat in the midst of tares, is appointed to co-exist with much that is evil in this world, one of its earliest effects in the reforming of the public character of the human race, is the denial and gradual abolition of the principle of cruelty. Public opinion among Christians favours not, but is outraged by, acts of cruelty. Hence, when cruelty was enacted, it took place in spite of the commands of the divine Founder of the Christian faith and practice, or by. perversion of his holy institutes. If, therefore, for a moment we were to set aside the consideration of the divine origin of the Christian religion, and the hopes it affords beyond the grave,—if we considered it only as a human invention, it would be worthy of the eternal honour of mankind for having opposed itself at once to When a gladiator was wounded, the ferocious people the gladiatorial combats,-the charm and delight of a exclaimed, "He has it;" meaning the wound. The deeply-depraved populace,―-and finally worked their exgladiator then lowered his arms, as a sign of his being tinction. But we believe that nothing less than manvanquished; but his fate depended on the pleasure of the dates, stamped with the authority of heaven, could have people, who, if they wished him to be saved, pressed exterminated this horrible pastime, and subverted the down their thumbs; if to be slain, they turned up their paganism of the old world in its highest and most thumbs, and ordered him to receive the sword of death, honourable seats. which the gladiators usually submitted to with wonderful fortitude. Sometimes, a gladiator was rescued by the entrance of the emperor, or by the pleasure of the person who exhibited the games; at other times the gladiator, having fled to the nearest benches of the Coliseum, would implore the pity of the spectators, when the dreaded thumb-signal would depend entirely upon whether, by his courage and activity he had, although ultimately vanquished, made them good sport.

See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III. p. 97.

If this great world of joy and pain
Revolve in one sure track;

If freedom, set, will rise again,
And virtue, flown, come back;
Woe to the purblind men, who fill
The heart with each day's care,
Nor gain, from past or future, skill
To bear and to forbear!-WORDSWORTH.

JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, LONDON.