(For the _Mirror_.)
Fitzstephen, in his Description of London, 1282, gives the following
account of skating in Moor, or Finsbury Fields, which may afford
amusement to the inquisitive reader:--
"When that vast lake which waters the walls of the city towards the north
is hard frozen, the youths, in great numbers, go to divert themselves on
the ice--some, taking a small run for an increment of velocity, place
their feet at a proper distance, and are carried sideways a great
way; others will make a large cake of ice, and seating one of their
companions upon it, they take hold of one's hands, and draw him along,
when it happens that moving swiftly on so slippery a plane, they all
fall headlong; others there are who are still more expert in these
amusements on the ice--they place certain bones (the leg-bones of
animals) under the soles of their feet, by tying them round their
ankles, and then taking a pole, shod with iron, with their hands they
push themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and are carried
on with a velocity equal to the flight of a bird, or a bolt discharged
from a cross-bow."
This tract affords the earliest description of London; and Dr. Pegge, in
his preface to said Description, says, "I conceive we may challenge any
nation in Europe to produce an account of its capital, or any other of
its great cities, at so remote a period as the 12th century."