41 



an immortal record, far beyond the most sjilendid conquest. And I 

 most willingly conjoin these anecdotes of the honorable General, to have 

 the opportunity of inculcating, that mercy is grounded on the same 

 principle, and is the same feeling, whether it be exerted in favour of 

 man or beast. 



The military exercises on horse back, of the Romans, consisted of 

 those of the palus, or pillar; the quintana, so denominated from Quititus 

 their inventor, and of the Zmc??« trojanus, or Trojan game, in which 

 originated t\\Q jousts, carousels, lilts or tournaments of the middle ages. 



The palus stood about six feet from the ground, as an object of attack 

 for the young horsemen, who assaulted it in the various prescribed 

 military modes and attitudes, endeavouring so to preserve their 

 guard, that whilst they made their strokes, no part of their body might 

 be left uncovered or exposed. They also ran at the pillar with lances, 

 and threw javelins or darts, at particular parts, in order to acquire an 

 assured and habitual aim. 



The quintana was the body of a tree, or a post purposely fixed in the 

 ground, against which the young soldiers pushed with their lances or 

 pikes, thereby acquiring a facility in the use of their weapons and 

 increasing the muscular strength of their arms. This game subsisted 

 in modern times, until superseded by the general use of fire-arms, being 

 styled in the French academies qiiintaine. 



From the above exercises of the ancients, were derived the principles 

 and etiquette of the modern combats, of one or more horsemen against 

 an equal number, and of those performances by dififerent divisions of 

 horsemen, in which, by describing certain figures and evolutions, they 

 composed the dance styled by the Italians la jola, and by the French 

 la foide. 



The ludus trojanus, trojamentum, or Trojan game, appears to haA^e 

 been properly a sham fight between companies of young men, of 

 illustrious birth and considerable military rank. A beautiful descrip- 

 tion of the celebration of this game, is to be found in Virgil, in whose 

 poetic brain probably the idea originated. 



So winds delusive in a thousand ways, 

 Pcrplext and intricate the Cretan maze ; 



G Round, 



