antiquary who, moreover-what was more to the point-was a keen collector of coins. It is clear indeed that his antiquarian knowledge must have been drawn on for the crowns and crosses as well as the coins and medals.

Mr. Jastrébov, who was at that time engaged on his contributions to the history of the Serbian Church, and who made a collection of Macedonian folk-songs, seems to have been not only a strong pro-Serb, but to have regarded it as his special mission to push the "Great Serbian " claims in the Aegean direction, where Tsar Dushan had once asserted them. The glorification of this emperor seen on such a medallion as that reproduced above, the recovery of a series of royal and imperial crowns and crosses, all fell into line with his special propaganda. In the case of another large medal, published by Ljubich, the great Tsar is seen on horseback above his victorious troops, receiving the keys of a surrendered town. A long inscription on the reverse records that “ many towns gave themselves " up, and two Byzantine leaders are mentioned together with the city of Salonica ("grad Solun "), which Dushan certainly besieged but never took. The names of these otherwise unknown commanders are taken from the Byzantine historian Cantecuzenus, but both appear in a blundered form. The inspiration was learned, but it was carried out by an ignorant hand-the same hand which, in the case of the "Jastrébov" medal, ventured on an independent effort.

The persuasion on my part that the name of Jastrébov lurked in this cryptic inscription gave me an " which open sesame served in the end to lay bare the whole mystery of the "Royal Treasure." It was not long before I had the desired opportunity of testing my conviction on this head. While at Skopia (Skoplje), in the course of another journey up-country, I met Consul Jastrébov himself, and at once tackled him on the subject.

"You know, of course," I began, " of this huge imposturethe discovery of false gold coins and medallions and the regalia of old Serbian kings near Prishtina ? When he hesitated and

* Podatzi za Istoriju Srpske Tsrkve. Published at Belgrade in 1879. Na Obranu, etc., pp. 21-22; and No. 12 of the Plates.

Hist. I, 437; and II, 256. The names of the Byzantine commanders were Arsenios and Braktos.

made an evasive reply I seized the bull by the horns and added, "I saw your name inscribed on one of the medallions."

This brought him down. The Consul confessed that he did know something, in fact a good deal, about the mystification. It appeared that the two goldsmiths, Ilija Apostol and Petar Simich, had been in the habit of bringing him coins found in the district. On one occasion the younger of the two brought him some silver pieces-"grossi" of the usual module, evidently belonging to the great Kosovo hoard-of the old Serbian kings, together with one of Tsar Dushan. He had remarked on that occasion " that is all very well, silver coins like these are continually turning up; if you could only find gold coins like these you would make your fortune."

Petar had replied, "I am a poor man, your honour, with no book-learning; how can I know about such things?" As, later, the enthusiastic Dr. Morlet of Vichy, who supplied young Fradin at Glozel with archæological manuals, Mr. Jastrébov had an illuminating thought. He lent the Simiches Professor Ljubich's great work on the South Slavonic coinages,* containing plates of 444 representative specimens of different types, and a description of 4,118 pieces.

Will it be believed? A few weeks later one of the Simiches reappeared bringing four gold "perpers of medieval Serbian kings. Others followed, and Mr. Jastrébov himself sent some specimens to the Metropolitan at Belgrade, who, like all other connoisseurs, accepted them as genuine. It was apparently through his instrumentality that a series was purchased for the Royal Serbian Academy.

From

Chance now led me to a truly dramatic dénouement. Skopia I had made an excursion to visit the beautiful old Serbian church of Gratchanitsa, in a glen some hours off. While there the sacristan came up to me and said there was a person outside who wanted to see me about an urgent matter, but who seemed to have some particular objection to coming inside the church. Outside the door I found a young man, whom being very shortsighted—I did not myself at first recognize, though his identity was shortly borne in on me. He led me mysteriously to a secluded corner at the back of the church, beside the apse, and

* Opis Jugoslavenskih Novaca. (Zagreb, 1875.)

with great precaution, glancing here and there to see that we were not overlooked, took a leather case out of a capacious pocket. Opening this, he handed over to me what purported to be a medieval gold cross.

An inscription on its face stated that it had been made in the year 1360 A.D.,* by a monk of the monastery of Chilandari, in Mount Athos for the Tsar Stjepan Urosh. On seeing the cross, I perceived at once from the character of the lettering and the tone of the metal that it was a forgery of the same class as the coins and medals; indeed it was evidently one of those described to me previously as having been found in the vault with the Royal Treasure.

As I was at that time sufficiently master of the Serbian language to make verbally some changes in the figures and nomenclature of the inscription on this "relic," the happy idea occurred to me to do so to the confusion of the impostor, and it is certain that whatever else he may have afterwards forged in the course of a promising career he never tried his hand again on the Holy Cross.

L

Holding up the cross close to my eyes I began to read the inscription with every sign of amazement: THIS CROSS WAS MADE IN THE YEAR . . here I hesitated, as if I could not believe my eyes, and looked at the figures again. Yes, there could be no doubt:| IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR. Its owner started violently, but I continued, hesitating over every syllable as if still doubting the evidence of my eyes-BY PETAR SIMICH. He turned as white as a sheet, snatched the cross out of my hands and literally bolted.

The cross had denounced him! He was Petar Simich.

ARTHUR EVANS

* I give the date approximately, from memory.

THE DECLINE OF THE EQUESTRIAN EMPIRE

1. Le Vray Théâtre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie, ou le Miroir Héroïque de la Noblesse. Par M. de WLSON. Paris. 1648.

2. Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. By JOSEPH STRUTT. Second Edition.

1810.

3. The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis L. Verulam. J. HAVILAND for HANNA BARRET. 1625.

4. Astley's System of Equestrian Education, Exhibiting the Beauties and Defects of the Horse. Creed. Fifth Edition.

SINCE

N.D.

INCE need shapes thought, the horse is now as frequently dubbed stupid as he was once termed noble and wise. Obviously he has not changed, but our use for him has to such an extent that the idea of the "faithful steed" as ally, friend, comrade-in-arms and rescuer seems to be extinct. Now that even in war his place is being taken by machines, perhaps his part in shaping the destinies of mankind may be over. After many centuries of power and several centuries of decline, the equestrian empire, or so it seems, is about to fall. To-day saddle horses are kept for pleasure, whereas in the remote age when riding was discovered, whether a man rode or walked determined whether he was noble or common. While fighting was the lordliest of trades, equestrian was the dividing rank; the knight praised his horse as he prized it and held its dignity as dear as his own. The legend of its loyalty and sagacity was a tenet of the social creed. In everything but name the horse was sacred.

In tracing the origin of the decline of the social significance of the saddle, we must go much farther back than the invention of steam and petrol engines. It was not the unworthiness of the horse which brought about the fall of the equestrian empire, but the unworthiness of the rider. As long as knights were fearless, their right to rule over their pedestrian vassals was plain to every peasant who owned cattle or crops which, without the protection of their lord, might be raided. As soon as gay cavaliers contented themselves with spending the revenue wrung from starving wretches upon empty pageants of horsemanship, their class was brought into bitter contempt. Shows hastened the ruin of autocracy in modern Europe as surely as they had undermined

the power of Rome. But the rulers of the ancient world did not drag the horse down with them in their fall. Though the idea of the horse as the symbol of human rank was sacrificed to the passion for speed in the chariot races, the saddle, figuratively speaking, was respected. The desultor was a youth of noble blood who risked his neck in the circus while leaping from one horse to another (so, incidentally, giving us the word desultory). Similarly only the sons of patricians could take part in the military evolutions of the Troy Game, although it was included in the public shows.

Long after the abolition of the ancient games, Roman carnivals were graced by a tilt and tournament of noble youths. Thus the ancient show contributed to the formation of the Gothic show. In name the two are not dissimilar, for the circus was a place where horses circled and the tourney where they turned. Probably the one grew out of the other, for the Franks had enjoyed the right of celebrating at Arles the games of the circus before the foundation of the French monarchy (A.D. 536). But the tourney was not essentially a show. Trials by single combat are supposed to be the germ of the idea. Both in civil and criminal proceedings, the accuser, defendant, and even witnesses were exposed to mortal challenge from an antagonist destitute of legal proofs. They fought on foot until a memorable duel at Aix-la-Chapelle in 820, before the Emperor Lewis the Pious, when combats on horseback were introduced.

Chivalry, by aggrandising the joust of one knight against another into the tourney (fought by bands of knights in the manner of the Troy Game) began the process which turned such combats into shows and degraded the knight. At first the aim was more than mere exhibition, no doubt. Instead of naked spectacles, which banished from the stadium the virgin and matron, "the pompous decoration of the lists "to use Gibbon's words" was crowned with the presence of chaste and highborn beauty, from whose hands the conqueror received the prize of his dexterity and courage." The tournaments, as they were invented in France, and eagerly adopted both in the east and west, presented a lively image of the business of the field. The single combats, the general skirmish, the defence of a pass or castle, were rehearsed as in actual service; and the contest both in real and mimic war, was decided by the superior management of the horse and lance." They were, in fact, an extension of the