taunts they proceeded to blows. The Giovedi grasso (Fat Thursday, a famous holiday in Venice) was always eagerly taken advantage of by the rival clans, and was invariably the occasion of a grand fight between them, the field of battle being the bridge which we have mentioned as communicating between the hostile quarters. The fray took place at its middle point, whither each side rushed from the bank which formed the boundary of its quarter, and the question to be decided was which faction should force a passage to the territory of the other. It was never concluded without the shedding of blood; and as the bridge had no parapet, the day after the encounter was generally employed in fishing out the dead bodies from the canal.

The Forze d'Ercole had no such bloody consequences. For the Guerra dei Pugni (fistic encounters) any one would do; but for these Labours of Hercules only the very best men were selected. The feat which received this name was the formation of pyramids of human beings, thirty in mumber, and all of great strength. The base was composed of about twenty men, and the tiers that rose above went on successively diminishing up to the summit, which was formed of a single young athlete, who, upon his dangerous perch, performed endless evolutions. After this youth had done all he knew, he bowed to the Doge and the assembled grandees, and then leapt down from the top of the pyramid upon a mattress or cushion which was spread for him on the ground. The men who had supported him then bowed and followed him in his perilous descent, and so on, one after the other, to the lowest tier. When one faction had finished its feats, the other came upon the arena. The victory was won by the troupe that formed the highest pyramid, or maintained its balance for the longest space of time.

F

Their skill did not, however, end here, for other feats which they practised were in the highest degree astonishing, the more so that the performers were simple artisans, and I did not make athletics their trade. It is said that they could form wide spanning arches, erect colonnades, pile up pediments-in short, realise the wonders of architecture, imitating, for example, the designs of Palladio, without stone, mortar, or any material but their own bodies.

To Jean Cousin, a celebrated painter of the French school, who had a great reputation during the reigns of Francis I., Henri II., and Charles IX., is attributed a painting on enamel, illustrative of these games, or at least it is so explained by Landon in his "Annales du Musée." The picture, which then belonged to a distinguished collector, M. Cambry, the author of numerous archæological works, represents, according to Landon, "a variety of gymnastics, known in Italy as the 'Forzi,' and practised in Venice. The six figures which form this composition are remarkable for the boldness and grace of their attitudes. If the drawing is not absolutely correct, at least it is distinguished by a certain grandeur, and that sort of elegance which connects it with the Florentine school." The composition, at all

events, is original, and we are not astonished that this work has been, as the same critic says, "prized for its originality and the manner of its execution."

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CHAPTER VIII.

SCANDERBERG AND THE TURKS.

The Grand Turk's Wrestlers in the Fifteenth Century-Scanderberg and the Scythian Giant-Persian Horsemen-A Good Swordsman -Men Beheaded by Sabre Strokes.

AT the time when the Venetian games, which did not go out of fashion till the end of the eighteenth century, were still in their glory, there lived not far from the territory of the republic of the lagunes, a man who could alone perform all the "Labours of Hercules." Few men, in point of physical strength, have surpassed this hero of the middle ages, who became the terror of the Turks, after having been their protégé.

This was the famous Scanderberg, King of Albania, whose real name was Georges Castriota. Born in 1414 he was delivered as a hostage by his father, the King of Albania and Epirus, to Sultan Amurath II., who brought him up at his court. Castriota, remarkable for his personal beauty, excelled in all equestrian exercises and in the management of the sword and bow. His delight was to compete with the young Turkish nobles in their jousts and tourneys, and on almost every occasion he bore away the palm.

Feats of physical strength were always held in high esteem by the Turks. No sooner had the Sultans become masters of Constantinople than they began to maintain at their court a troupe of professional athletes, who performed in their presence from time to time. These athletes, who