The Cruise of the Branwen

INTRODUCTORY glories, so the Olympic Games of I 896were a revival of those classical ideals which had done so much not only to unite the scattered members of the old Hellenic community, but also to inspire some of the most notable expressions of the best Hellenic art ; and it is again a most significant fact that this modern renaissance of world-wide athleticism was not directly due to England," Mother of interna– tional sport," as she has sometimes been called; for as a nation we are not given to initiative-we prefer to let things grow and shape them slowly to our liking. It is to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a distinguished citizen of France, that the world owes the new series of Olympiads ; and if his ambition is ever fully materialised, there is no reason why the year 1896 should not hold as large a place in future history as does that famous point in time 2672 years before it. In 1896 the dreams of Baron de Coubertin were translated into fact by the first Olympic Games of modern times in Athens. That locality was an inevitable choice. To the world as we know it Athens represents all that is left of the splendours of old Greece. The Altis of ancient Elis is in ruins. The munificence of a private citizen has built for modern Athens a marble arena greater than Olympia had ever known. At Athens, then, the new cycle was definitely begun, and every country made engagement to continue these Games every four years, in one great city after another of the various competing nations. So they were held next in Paris, in I 900 ; and after that in St. Louis, in 1904. The difficulties of organisation and a 3