be got out of this demoniac toy, which we recommend as somewhat of a novelty to our young friends.

And now we hope that we have redeemed our pledge by enumerating some ways in which even a rainy holiday may be made to pass off pleasantly. One observation we must, however, still make, and then we hope our young friends will be able to say, as Cicero said to the tailor, in the senate house, "Rem acu teligisti" (Thou hast touched the matter sharply), i.e., WITH A NEEDLE. The secret of the whole matter of passing a dull day happily lies in the one word, good humour. Even wet weather may be made indirectly agreeable by becoming the occasion for the exercise of wit and invention in our amusements.

"There is some touch of goodness in things evil, If men observingly distil it out,"

said Shakespeare; and the remark applies just as strongly to boys. But our tempers on a wet day ought not to be influenced by the weather, except, by way of contrast, they appear all the brighter. If a boy is testy and impracticable, let him be first reasoned with, then snubbed; and then, if refractory, banished for a season to her Majesty's good town of Coventry; for, as one bad egg will spoil the pudding-as one little rift within the lute will spoil all the melody of music-as one falsehood will destroy confidence that has taken months, and perhaps years to establish-as one wasted opportunity will sometimes destroy the prospects of a whole career, and prevent the success that would have crowned the efforts of a lifetime-so a whole merry party may have a disagreeable flavour imparted to it, merely by the presence of that very objectionable boy,

LE DIABLE.

Joung Quarrelsome.

THE games chosen as evening amusements are generally rather an exercise for the wits than for the arms and legs, and afford mental rather than bodily amusement; for our young friends of both sexes generally assemble for evening fun in apparel and in rooms which are both alike unfitted for the rougher kind of sports. Still, we shall have to introduce games enough in which bodily as well as mental activity will be called into question, and thus we hope to please all parties by offering something acceptable for each.

In the majority of evening games, the penalty exacted for a blunder is a forfeit; some ribbon, or glove, or trinket, is given up by the delinquent, and kept by the forfeit holder until the game is over, when it must be redeemed by some penalty exacted from the owner. The redeeming of the forfeits may be made productive of much fun; and a number of penalties will be given in due course. In the meantime let us proceed to describe some of the games

themselves.

TWIRLING THE TRENCHER.-The players sit round in a circle, and one stands in the middle, with a wooden or metal plate, or trencher. He sets this up on its edge, and gives it a spin, and, as he does so, calls out the name of one of the players. The player thus called upon must catch the trencher before it has done spinning; failing this, he pays a forfeit. He then sets the trencher spinning in his turn, calling upon some other player

to stop its gyrations, and the game proceeds, name after name being called; forfeits in plenty are exacted from the clumsy and inattentive,

"And all goes merry as a marriage bell."

HOW D'YE LIKE YOUR NEIGHBOUR.-The company must be seated in a circle round the room, with a clear space in the middle. The chairs are placed close together, and the number of chairs is one less than that of the players; for instance, if thirteen players, twelve chairs. The chairless person stands in the middle of the room, and addressing one of the company, says, "Master Jones, how do you like your neighbour?" Jones may either answer, "Very well indeed; or, singling out two of the company, he may say, "I prefer Master A. to Miss B.," or "Miss A. to Mr. R." If, being of a contented disposition, he likes both his neighbours "very much indeed," all the players must change places; if on the contrary, he prefers Master A. to Miss B., the two whom he names must change, the others sitting still; in either case it is the object of the person in the middle to get into one of the vacant chairs while the changing is going on; and if he can succeed in doing this, the person thus left seatless must stand in the middle, and ask the players how they like their neighbours; if not, the first player has to take up his position in the centre again, and the game goes on.

ONE OLD OX OPENING OYSTERS. - This is a capital round game, and will tax the memory and the gravity of the youngsters. The company being seated, the fugleman says, "One old ox opening oysters," which each must repeat in turn with perfect gravity. Any one who indulges in the slightest giggle is mulcted of a forfeit forthwith. When the first round is finished, the fugleman begins again :-"Two toads, totally tired, trying to trot to Tedbury;" and the others repeat in turn, each separately, "One old ox opening oysters; Two toads, totally tired," &c. The third round is, "Three tawny tigers tickling trout," and the round recommences:-" One old ox, &c.; Two toads, totally, &c.; Three tawny tigers, &c." The fourth round, and up to the twelfth and last, given out by the fugleman successively, and repeated by the other playors, are as follows:-" Four fat friars fanning a fainting fly; Five fair flirts flying to France for fashions; Six Severn salmon setting suil for Southampton; Seven Scottish soldiers successfully shooting snipes; Eight elegant elephants embarking for Europe; Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nonpareils; Ten tipsy tailors teasing a titmouse; Eleven early earwigs eagerly eating eggs; and Twelve twittering tomtits on the top of a tall tottering tree." Any mistake in repeating this legend, or any departure from the gravity suitable to the occasion, is to be punished by the infliction of a forfeit; and the game has seldom been known to fail in producing a rich harvest of those little pledges. Of course, a good deal depends on the serio-comic gravity of the fugleman.

MAGIC MUSIC.-One of the players is sent out of the room, and a hankerchief, a pair of gloves, a brooch, or other small article, is hidden in some cunning nook. The signal is then given for the banished one to return; and a lady or gentleman acquainted with music takes up a position at the piano. It is for the musician to indicate, by the strains of the piano, when the seeker is approaching the object hidden. As he recedes from it, the music falls to a low tone, and a mournful cadence; as he approaches it, the notes swell out loud and clear, and burst into a triumphal strain as he lays his hand on the prize. If properly managed, the magic music may be made to have almost magnetic power in drawing the seeker toward it.

Another way of playing the game, and an improved one, is to set the seeker some task to perform, instead of finding the handkerchief. Say, for instance, he is to take a book from the bookcase, and present it to a lady. As he walks round the room, the music increases in sound as he approaches the bookcase, but falls as he passes it. This tells him in what locality his task is. He takes a book, and the music sounds loudly and joyously. He begins to read-no! the music falls at once; he is faltering in his task. He carries the book round the room. As he approaches the lady, the notes burst forth loudly again, concluding with a triumphant flourish as he presents the

volume to her with a gallant bow. In case of failure, a forfeit is exacted, and each player must have a task set him, or her, in turn.

HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? WHEN DO YOU LIKE IT? AND WHERE DO YOU LIKE IT?-This is a guessing game. One of the company retires, while the rest fix on some article, or object--for instance, light, an apple, money, &c. The person who has gone out is then recalled, and proceeds round the circle, asking each player in succession, "How do you like it?" Supposing the thing thought of to be money, the first may answer, "In abundance," the second "Ready," and so on. The questioner tries to gain from the answers thus given some clue to the nature of the thing thought of. The second question, "When do you like it?" will probably help him. One of the players may reply, "When I've to pay my bills;" another, "When I want a new coat," and so on. The third question is almost certain to help a judicious questioner out of his puzzlement. "Where?" "In my pocket," one of the players will reply; another, "At my banker's," and so on. Some one is almost sure to drop a hint which will set the guesser upon the right track. Three guesses are allowed him. If he succeeds, he must point out the player whose answer gave him the clue, and the latter pays a forfeit, and goes out to be puzzled in his turn. Failing to guess in three trials, the first player must try another question. The art of the game consists in choosing words with more meanings than one, such as cord (chord); for then the answers may be varied in a very puzzling manner. One will like a cord round his box; another a c(h)ord in a piece of music; another on the piano, &c.; thus key (quay), bark, vessel, are good words to choose.

WHAT IS MY THOUGHT LIKE? The party sitting round as usual, one of them thinks of some person, place, or thing; the Emperor Napoleon (the first or third will do), London, a coal-scuttle, the island of Tahiti-anything, in fact, that first occurs to him; and then he asks each of the company in turn, "What is my thought like?" They, in complete ignorance as to the nature of the said thought, reply at random. One says, for instance, "like a steam-engine;" another, "like a cavern;" a third, "like a tea-kettle." When an opinion has thus been collected from each one, the questioner tells what his thought was, and each player, under penalty of a forfeit, has to give a reason for the answer made to the first question. We will suppose, continuing the instance just began, that the questioner says to the first in the company, "My thought was Napoleon III. Now, why is Napoleon III. like a steam engine?" The answer is ready enough: "Because he goes at an uncommonly fast pace." "Why is he like a cavern?" "Because his depth is one of his distinguishing qualities," replies the second. "Why is he like a teakettle?" "Of course, because he boils over occasionally," says the third player, triumphantly; and so the game goes merrily on through the circle. There is an anecdote told of the poet Moore, which is worth repeating. Moore was once at Lord Holland's house at Kensington, among a distinguished circle of guests, and "What is my thought like?" was the game of the evening. When the question came to him, the poet replied, "a pump." thought happened to be "Lord Castlereagh," a statesman famous for the absurd speeches he made in Parliament. Among other strange assertions, he had said of an opposition member, "The honourable gentleman came down to the house like a crocodile, with his hands in his pockets." Well, every one thought Tom Moore was posed; but the poet, with a merry smile, gave not only an answer, but a poetical answer to the query; he replied :

"Because it is an empty thing of wood,

Which up and down its awkward arın doth sway,
And coolly spout, and spout, and spout away,
In one weak, washy, everlasting flood!"

The

CUPID'S COMING.-A letter must be taken, and the termination "ing." Say, for instance, that P is chosen. The first player says to the second, Cupid's coming." "How is he coming?" says the second. "Playing," rejoins the first. The second then says to the third, "Cupid's coming." "Prancing;" and so the question and reply go round, through

"How?"

all the words beginning with P, and ending with ing-piping, pulling, pining, praising, preaching, &c. Those who cannot answer the question on the spur of the moment, pay a forfeit.

CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS.The company sit round, and each one whispers a question to his neighbour on the right, and then each one whispers an answer; so that each answers the question propounded by some other player, and of the purport of which he is, of course, ignorant. Then every player has to recite the question he received from one player and the answer he got from the other, and the ridiculous incongruity of these random cross questions and crooked answers will frequently excite a good deal of sport. One, for instance, may say, "I was asked If I considered dancing agreeable?' and the answer was, 'Yesterday fortnight.' Another may declare, "I was asked 'If I had seen the comet?' and the answer was, 'He was married last year!"" A third, "I was asked 'What I liked best for dinner?' and the answer was, 'The Emperor of China!

CONSEQUENCES.-This is a round game, to play at which the company must be seated at a table. Each player has before him, or her, a long, narrow piece of writing-paper and a pencil. At the top of the paper each writes a quality of a gentleman. "The fickle," for instance, or "the insinuating," or "the handsome," "the ugly," or any epithet, in fact, that may occur to the mind at the moment. But nobody may see what the neighbours to the right and left have written. The top of each paper is then folded down, so as to hide what has been written, and each one passes his paper to his neighbour on the right, so that every player has now a new paper before him. On this he writes a gentleman's name; if that of one of the gentlemen in company, so much the better. Again the papers are passed to the right after being folded over; the beauty of the game being that no one may write two consecutive sentences on the same paper. The quality of a lady is now written. Fold, and pass the paper The lady's name-then where they met what he said to her what she said to him-the consequence-and what the world said. The papers are now unfolded in succession, and the contents read, and the queerest cross questions and crooked answers are almost sure to result. For instance, the following will be a specimen :-"The conceited Mr. Jones (one of the company) and the accomplished Miss Smith met on the top of an omnibus. He said to her, 'Will you love me then as now?' She said to him, 'How very kind you are;' the consequence was, 'they separated for ever,' and the world said, 'Serve them right."" Another strip, on being unfolded, may produce some such legend as this:-"The amiable Lord Palmerston and the objectionable Mrs. Grundy met on the pier at Margate. He said to her, 'How do I look?' She said to him, 'Do it;' the consequence was 'a secret marriage,' and the world said, 'We knew how it would be.""

I LOVE MY LOVE WITH AN A is a well-known game, but it must be kept up briskly; for if too much time be allowed the players for deliberation, the interest flags at once, and the sport becomes dull. "The very defect of the matter," as Launcelot Gobbo would say, lies in quickly finding epithets beginning with any given letter of the alphabet, such as A, B, or C, and the penalty for failure is a forfeit. The company sit round, and each has to love his or her love with a different letter. The first (we will say a lady) begins-"I love my love with an A, because he's amiable. I hate him with an A, because he's arrogant; he took me to the sign of the 'Artichoke,' and treated me with apples and ale." "I love my love with a B," continues the second, "because she's beautiful. I hate her with a B, because she's bounceable. I took her to the sign of the 'Brown Bear,' and treated her with bread and butter, and beer." "I love my love with a C," said a third, "because he's candid. I hate him with a C, because he's captious. He took me to the sign of the 'Carthorse,' and treated me to curds and cream." And so the game goes on through all the letters of the alphabet, with the exception of poor X, for the very good reason that no English word begins with that unfortunate letter. Instead of going regularly round the circle, it is better that each player should have the power, after "loving his