The Clyde is rarely frozen, and when it is, the ice is usually bad, from the rise and fall caused by the tidal influence breaking it.

Attempts have been made frequently, to invent skating that could dispense with frost, and be practised at any season.

I remember a Professor who undertook, for a consideration, to teach a mode of going on wheeled skates; and he certainly did wonders himself, but somehow his pupils made no progress, and then it ceased to pay. Probably the acquirement was found to resemble too much that of the clown at Astleys, who runs about the stage, up hill and down dale, perched on the top of a big round ball.

A few years ago, an artificial ice was invented, which was to put Jack Frost's nose out of joint completely, and be better than the original; but it turned out to be only "property" ice after all, produced in the climate of the footlights, and unfit for any other.

CHAPTER III.

THE SKATE.

The Common Skate; its defects; its proper fastenings; the Spring Skate; the Glasgow Club Skate; general considerthe Stock; the Iron; the Fastenings; the Boot.

ations;

THE ordinary skate is no doubt perfectly familiar to my Readers, and requires no description.

It is by no means a perfect implement, but in some respects very deficient. The principal of these defects is, that the wood does not sufficiently adapt itself to the shape of the foot, and is not broad enough to give a steady support, or to prevent its shifting.

The iron also projects beyond the foot in front, and falls short of it at the heel, and is therefore not so well under control as when it exactly follows the length of the foot both ways.

The price varies with the size and quality, running from 3s. 6d. to 15s. a pair.

I recommend the learner to begin with a very

cheap pair, and after he has made some progress in the art, to abandon this sort of skate entirely for one of the superior kind, which I shall hereafter describe.

In the sale shops, the quality of the fastenings is usually proportioned to that of the skate; but let the iron and wood be as common as the learner pleases, he should have the fastenings good; and they should consist of a good screw to go up into the heel, and a small bar of iron across the tread of the foot, an inch forward from the broadest place, and turned up at the ends to catch the sole of the boot. If the learner has these, the straps will never require to be painfully tightened. One long strap to go round the foot, through all the holes in the stock, will do very well, or a back heel strap may be used in addition.

In buying, let him look to the heel screw, and he must himself get the bar put on to fit his own foot; it must project more to one side of the wood than the other, for the outside of the foot,—and the skates are then right and left. It gives a broader foundation for the foot, and prevents the skate shifting from side to side; and a single day's skating with the three little pikes which are commonly found in its place, will do more damage to your boots, by cutting the soles across, than would

pay for the alteration four times over, besides the discomfort of constantly drawing the straps till the feet are cramped with them, and the skate shifting in spite of all.

The Patent Spring Skate of Messrs. Rodgers & Son, from its light and elegant appearance, was very much used for some years. The fastenings are simple, and quickly adjusted. Instead of a heel

screw, there is a pike; and the spring is solely used for keeping this pike in its place, not, as might be imagined, for causing any buoyancy of motion. I used this skate for some years, but considered it insecure. The iron has too little support, and vibrates while skating, to such a degree that I have known it break; and being, for the sake of strength, of a uniform thickness, the edge does not catch the ice so well as those irons which are thinner at the foot than at the ice. It is also, like the common skate, too long at the toe and too short at the heel.

I do think, however, that many of the objections I have named, might be obviated by some alterations in construction, so that this beautiful skate might become thoroughly practical, which it is not at present. The price, I think, runs from 20s. to 25s.

The Glasgow Club Skate is unquestionably

superior to any other in principle. Its peculiarities. are, a better form for the wooden stock or sole, which is made right and left, the exact size and shape of the boot sole, hollowed at the tread, and at the heel, so as to fit close to the foot.

Likewise, a better form for the iron, which does not extend in the least beyond the toe, where it is simply rounded up to the edge of the sole; and has therefore none of those fine points and twisted up ends, which our grandfathers esteemed necessary elegancies, but which are, in reality, just as useful as the long shoe toes, which, in days of yore, were looped up to the gallant's knee, and from which, I daresay, the long skate points were borrowed. The iron extends backwards to the extreme edge of the heel, instead of being cut off an inch within it; and the corner is rounded off, instead of ending in a sharp point, as in the old skate.

The advantages of the above form will be readily understood by any skater. The fitting of the wood enables the skate to attach more firmly, and the foot to be nearer the ice, which is an advantage. The iron being completely under the foot, is more within its control; and especially is the full length to the heel, and its rounded extremity, an advantage as the skater progresses towards proficiency, when he comes to practise the various evolutions