fort, attacked and defended by gay
soldiers, whose gaiety extended even to
the wounded and to the dead. There was
a gay tournament, and a gay bull-fight,
and a gay Swiss farm, and a gay zoological
garden, and there were many gay shops.
There were sumptuous drawing-rooms,
unfurnished, or stocked with exquisite furniture.
There were tea-sets and dinner-sets
so large, that they could scarcely be called
toys at all. There were dolls of all sizes,
who could do everything but improvise a
speech. There were models of ships, and
locomotives that could be really worked by
steam, and there were cats, mice, and
carriages that ran about with clockwork. In
short, what was there not?

The reader probably thinks that by this
question I merely mean to affirm, in an
interrogating form, that my shop contained
everything; everything, that is to say, in
the toy line. And, certainly, when I put the
question to myself, I expected an answer
to that effect. But when I fell a- thinking,
I perceived that there were very many toys
which were not to be found in that glittering
window.

Hoffmann's Peregrine doubtless amused
himself when a man with toys of a kind that
had been the delight of his childhood. But
beyond the mere fact that they were toys,
there was nothing in the objects before me
to recal even the days of youth. My
hair must have been grey when most of
them were invented. If I wanted to
celebrate my birthday in juvenile fashion, and
recal the birthdays of many, many years
ago, I should buy——

Buy what, and where buy it? What
were the toys known to children some forty
years ago? I was obliged to rub my
memory to bring them once more before
my mind's eye, and when I asked myself
where I should buy them, I found that I
did not know. The quantity of toys that
have passed away from the consciousness of
the juvenile world is amazing. No doubt
the articles exist somewhere, and may be
purchased somewhere, but they are clearly
out of society, and are in no better predicament
than those unfortunate people who
finish a disastrous career by hiding
somewhere on the Continent.

I do not speak of those implements of
youthful sport which demand a certain
degree of bodily exertion, such as hoops,
peg-tops, balls, battledores, &c. These
belong to the utilities of boyhood, and are
as independent of fashion as the ordinary
implements of agriculture. I speak of toys
which are to be leisurely played with, arid
which may distinctively be termed
playthings. The rocking-horse and the doll
are not of one age but for all time, because
they typify the equestrian instinct in one
sex, and the sentiment of maternity in the
other. Noah's Ark, too, holds its own,
having survived a deluge of changes that
has swept away many favourites. This
may be attributed partly to its perfectly
inoffensive connexion with Scripture, partly
to the opportunity which it affords for
the introduction of the greatest possible
number of those carved animals in which
children take especial delight. Bible-
pictures have always been popular, and the
Noah's Ark may be regarded as a sort of
Bible-sculpture, with this advantage, that
figures too sacred for familiarity are not
introduced. I believe that intelligent
children can distinguish the wooden sons
of Noah from their father and from each
other, in spite of a family likeness so strong
that it approaches identification, and I well
remember that I was taught to look upon
the gentleman in the red coat as the
representative of Ham, probably on the ground
that his colour somewhat recalled that of
the comestible which bears his name. My
notions as to Shem and Japheth are vague,
but I have a strong impression that Noah
ought to be clad in brown.

Those huge tournaments, battles,
bullfights, &c., which are packed in large boxes,
and which, when set up in shop- windows,
prove an attraction to loungers, are but
the development of the simple box of toys
which satisfied the wants of our childhood,
and which generally contained a sheepfold,
a handful of soldiers, or a so-called
city, the houses of which were all white,
with scarlet roofs, the principal edifices
being a church and a town- hall. The
soldiers used to perform military evolutions
by means of a framework composed of
small pieces of wood, on which they were
fixed by means of pegs, and which, by a
simple movement of the hand, brought
them close together, or forced them into a
sort of irregular file. A similar machine,
made of polished steel, and called a " lazy,"
was used by our grandmothers to pick up
wandering balls of cotton, without the
trouble of rising from their chairs.
Indeed, several luxuries were known to our
grandmothers which are now out of date.
On the spouts of their teapots they
suspended little silver baskets, which retained
the leaves, while the fluid ran clear into
the cup. If they would give an additional