Attempts to Suppress the Shows at Bartholomew Fair--A remarkable Dutch
Boy--Theatrical Booths at the London Fairs--Penkethman, the
Comedian--May Fair--Barnes and Finley--Lady Mary--Doggett, the
Comedian--Simpson, the Vaulter--Clench, the Whistler--A Show at
Charing Cross--Another Performing Horse--Powell and Crawley, the
Puppet-Showmen--Miles's Music-Booth--Settle and Mrs. Mynn--Southwark
Fair--Mrs. Horton, the Actress--Bullock and Leigh--Penkethman and
Pack--Boheme, the Actor--Suppression of May Fair--Woodward, the
Comedian--A Female Hercules--Tiddy-dol, the Gingerbread Vendor.
So early as the close of the seventeenth century, one hundred and fifty
years before the fair was abolished, we find endeavours being made, in
emulation of the Puritans, to banish every kind of amusement from
Bartholomew Fair, and limit it to the purposes of an annual market. In
1700, the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen resolved that no booths should
be permitted to be erected in Smithfield that year; but on the 6th of
August it was announced that "the lessees of West Smithfield having on
Friday last represented to a Court of Aldermen at Guildhall, that it would
be highly injurious to them to have the erection of all booths there
totally prohibited, the right honourable Lord Mayor and the Court of
Aldermen have, on consideration of the premises, granted licence to erect
some booths during the time of Bartholomew Fair now approaching; but none
are permitted for music-booths, or any that may be means to promote
debauchery." And, on the 23rd, when the Lord Mayor went on horseback to
proclaim the fair, he ordered two music-booths to be taken down
immediately.
On the 4th of June, in the following year, the grand jury made a
presentment to the following effect:--"Whereas we have seen a printed
order of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, the 25th June, 1700, to
prevent the great profaneness, vice, and debauchery, so frequently used
and practised in Bartholomew Fair, by strictly charging and commanding all
persons concerned in the said fair, and in the sheds and booths to be
erected and built therein or places adjacent, that they do not let, set,
or hire, or use any booth, shed, stall, or other erection whatsoever to be
used or employed for interludes, stage-plays, comedies, gaming-places,
lotteries, or music meetings: and as we are informed the present Lord
Mayor and Court of Aldermen have passed another order to the same effect
on the 3rd instant, we take this occasion to return our most hearty thanks
for their religious care and great zeal in this matter; we esteeming a
renewing of their former practices at the Fair a continuing one of the
chiefest nurseries of vice next to the play-houses; therefore earnestly
desire that the said orders may be vigorously prosecuted, and that this
honourable Court would endeavour that the said fair may be employed to
those good ends and purposes it was at first designed."
This presentment deserves, and will repay, the most attentive
consideration of those who would know the real character of the amusements
presented at the London fairs, and the motives and aims of those who
endeavoured to suppress them. The grand jury profess to be actuated by a
desire to diminish profanity, vice, and debauchery; and, if this had been
their real and sole object, nothing could have been more laudable. But,
like those who would suppress the liquor traffic in order to prevent
drunkenness, they confounded the use with the abuse of the thing which
they condemned, and sought to deprive the masses of every kind of
amusement, because some persons could not participate therein without
indulging in vicious and debasing pleasures. It might have been supposed
that Bartholomew Fair was pre-eminently a means and occasion of vice and
debauchery, and that its continuance was incompatible with the maintenance
of public order and the due guardianship of public morals, if the grand
jury had not coupled with their condemnation an expression of their
opinion that it was not so bad as the theatres. In that sentence is
disclosed the real motive and aim of those who sought the suppression of
the amusements of the people at the London Fairs.
That the morals and manners of that age were of a low standard is
undeniable; but they would have been worse if the fairs had been
abolished, and the theatres closed, as the fanatics of the day willed. Men
and women cannot be made pious or virtuous by the prohibition of theatres,
concerts, and balls, any more than they can be rendered temperate by
suppressing the public sale of beer, wine, and spirits. Naturally, a
virtuous man, without being a straight-laced opponent of "cakes and ale,"
would have seen, in walking through a fair, much that he would deplore,
and desire to amend; but such a man would have the same reflections
inspired by a visit to a theatre or a music-hall, or any other amusement
of the present day. He would not, however, if he was sensible as well as
virtuous, conclude from what he saw and heard that all public amusements
ought to be prohibited. To suppress places of popular entertainment
because some persons abuse them would be like destroying a garden because
a snail crawls over the foliage, or an earwig lurks in the flowers.
The London fairs were attended this year by a remarkable Dutch boy, about
eight or nine years of age, whose eyes presented markings of the iris in
which sharp-sighted persons, aided perhaps by a considerable development
of the organ of wonder, read certain Latin and Hebrew words. In one eye,
the observer read, or was persuaded that he could read, the words _Deus
meus_; in the other, in Hebrew characters, the word _Elohim_. The boy's
parents, by whom he was exhibited, affirmed that his eyes had presented
these remarkable peculiarities from his birth. Great numbers of persons,
including the most eminent physiologists and physicians of the day, went
to see him; and the learned, who examined his eyes with great attention,
were as far from solving the mystery as the crowd of ordinary sight-seers.
Some of them regarded the case as an imposture, but they were unable to
suggest any means by which such a fraud could be accomplished. Others
regarded it as "almost" supernatural, a qualification not very easy to
understand. The supposed characters were probably natural, and only to be
seen as Roman and Hebrew letters by imaginative persons, or those who
viewed them with the eye of faith. Whatever their nature, the boy's sight
was not affected by them in the slightest degree.
The theatrical booths attending the London fairs began at this time to be
more numerous, and to present an entertainment of a better character than
had hitherto been seen. The elder Penkethman appears to have been the
first actor of good position on the stage who set the example of
performing in a temporary canvas theatre during the fairs, and it was soon
followed by the leading actors and actresses of the royal theatres. In a
dialogue on the state of the stage, published in 1702, and attributed to
Gildon, Critick calls Penkethman "the flower of Bartholomew Fair, and the
idol of the rabble; a fellow that overdoes everything, and spoils many a
part with his own stuff." He had then been ten years on the stage, having
made his first appearance at Drury Lane in 1692, as the tailor, a small
part in _The Volunteers_. Four years later, we find him playing, at the
same theatre, such parts as Snap in _Love's Last Shift_, Dr. Pulse in _The
Lost Lover_, and Nick Froth in _The Cornish Comedy_.
What the author of the pamphlet just quoted says of this actor receives
confirmation and illustration from an anecdote told of him, in connection
with the first representation of Farquhar's _Recruiting Officer_ at Drury
Lane in 1706. Penkethman, who played Thomas Appletree, one of the rustic
recruits, when asked his name by Wilks, to whom the part of Captain Plume
was assigned, replied, "Why, don't you know my name, Bob? I thought every
fool knew that."
"Thomas Appletree," whispered Wilks, assuming the office of prompter.
"Thomas Appletree!" exclaimed Penkethman, aloud. "Thomas Devil! My name is
Will Penkethman." Then, turning to the gallery, he addressed one of the
audience thus:--"Hark you, friend; don't you know my name?"
"Yes, Master Pinkey," responded the occupant of a front seat in the
gallery. "We know it very well."
The theatre was soon in an uproar: the audience at first laughed at the
folly of Penkethman and the evident distress of Wilks; but the joke soon
grew tiresome, and they began to hiss. Penkethman saw his mistake, and
speedily changed displeasure into applause by crying out, with a loud
nasal twang, and a countenance as ludicrously melancholy as he could make
it, "Adzooks! I fear I am wrong!"
Barnes, the rope-dancer, had at this time lost his former partner,
Appleby, and taken into partnership an acrobat named Finley. They
advertised their show in 1701 at Bartholomew Fair as, "Her Majesty's
Company of Rope Dancers." They had two German girls "lately arrived from
France;" and it was announced that "the famous Mr. Barnes, of whose
performances this kingdom is so sensible, Dances with 2 Children at his
feet, and with Boots and Spurs. Mrs. Finley, distinguished by the name of
Lady Mary for her incomparable Dancing, has much improved herself since
the last Fair. You will likewise be entertained with such variety of
Tumbling by Mr. Finley and his Company, as was never seen in the Fair
before. Note, that for the conveniency of the Gentry, there is a back-door
in Smithfield Rounds."
They were not without rivals, though the absence of names from the
following advertisement renders it probable that the "famous company"
calculated upon larger gains from anonymous boasting than they could hope
for from the announcement of their names:--
"At the Great Booth over against the Hospital Gate in Bartholomew Fair,
will be seen the Famous Company of Rope Dancers, they being the Greatest
Performers of Men, Women, and Children that can be found beyond the Seas,
so that the world cannot parallel them for Dancing on the Low Rope,
Vaulting on the High Rope, and for Walking on the Slack and Sloaping
Ropes, out-doing all others to that degree, that it has highly recommended
them, both in Bartholomew Fair and May Fair last, to all the best persons
of Quality in England. And by all are owned to be the only amazing Wonders
of the World in every thing they do: It is there you will see the Italian
Scaramouch dancing on the Rope, with a Wheel-barrow before him, with two
Children and a Dog in it, and with a Duck on his Head who sings to the
Company, and causes much Laughter. The whole entertainment will be so
extremely fine and diverting, as never was done by any but this Company
alone."
Doggett, whom Cibber calls the most natural actor of the day, and whose
name is associated with the coat and badge rowed for annually, on the 1st
of August, by London watermen's apprentices, was here this year, with a
theatrical booth, erected at the end of Hosier Lane, where was presented,
as the advertisements tell us, "A New DROLL call'd THE DISTRESSED VIRGIN
or _the Unnatural Parents_. Being a True History of the _Fair Maid of the
West_, or THE LOVING SISTERS. With the Comical Travels of _Poor Trusty_,
in Search of his _Master's Daughter_, and his Encounter with _Three
Witches_. _Also variety of Comick Dances and Songs, with Scenes and
Machines never seen before. Vivat Regina._" Doggett was at this time
manager of Drury Lane.
Miller, the actor, also had a theatrical booth in the fair, and made the
following announcement:--
"Never acted before. At _Miller's Booth_, over against _the Cross
Daggers_, near the _Crown Tavern_, during the time of _Bartholomew Fair_,
will be presented an Excellent New Droll, call'd THE TEMPEST, or _the
Distressed Lovers_. With the _English Hero_ and the _Island Princess_, and
the Comical Humours of the Inchanted _Scotchman_; or _Jockey_ and the
_Three Witches_. Showing how a Nobleman of England was cast away upon the
Indian Shore, and in his Travel found the Princess of the Country, with
whom he fell in Love, and after many Dangers and Perils, was married to
her; and his faithful Scotchman, who was saved with him, travelling
through Woods, fell in among Witches, when between 'em is abundance of
comical Diversions. There in the Tempest is Neptune, with his Triton in
his Chariot drawn with Sea Horses and Mair Maids singing. With variety of
Entertainment, performed by the best Masters; the Particulars would be too
tedious to be inserted here. _Vivat Regina._"
The similarity of the chief incidents in the dramas presented by Doggett
and Miller is striking. In both we have the troubles of the lovers, the
comical adventures of a man-servant, and the encounter with witches. We
shall find these incidents reproduced again and again, with variations,
and under different titles, in the plays set before Bartholomew audiences
of the eighteenth century.
May Fair first assumed importance this year, when the multiplication of
shows of all kinds caused it to assume dimensions which had not hitherto
distinguished it. It was held on the north side of Piccadilly, in
Shepherd's Market, White Horse Street, Shepherd's Court, Sun Court, Market
Court, an open space westward, extending to Tyburn Lane (now Park Lane),
Chapel Street, Shepherd Street, Market Street, Hertford Street, and
Carrington Street. The ground-floor of the market-house, usually occupied
by butchers' stalls, was appropriated during the fair to the sale of toys
and gingerbread; and the upper portion was converted into a theatre. The
open space westward was covered with the booths of jugglers, fencers, and
boxers, the stands of mountebanks, swings, round-abouts, etc., while the
sides of the streets were occupied by sausage stalls and gambling tables.
The first-floor windows were also, in some instances, made to serve as the
proscenia of puppet shows.
I have been able to trace only two shows to this fair in 1702, namely
Barnes and Finley's and Miller's, which stood opposite to the former, and
presented "an excellent droll called _Crispin and Crispianus: or, A
Shoemaker a Prince_; with the best machines, singing and dancing ever yet
in the fair." A great concourse of people attended from all parts of the
metropolis; an injudicious attempt on the part of the local authorities to
exclude persons of immoral character, which has always been found
impracticable in places of public amusement, resulted in a serious riot.
Some young women being arrested by the constables on the allegation that
they were prostitutes, they were rescued by a party of soldiers; and a
conflict was begun, which extended as other constables came up, and the
"rough" element took part with the rescuers of the incriminated women. One
constable was killed, and three others dangerously wounded before the
fight ended. The man by whose hand the constable fell contrived to escape;
but a butcher who had been active in the affray was arrested, and
convicted, and suffered the capital penalty at Tyburn.
In the following year, the fair was presented as a nuisance by the grand
jury of Middlesex; but it continued to be held for several years
afterwards. Barnes and Finley again had a show at Bartholomew Fair, to
which the public were invited to "see my Lady Mary perform such steps on
the dancing-rope as have never been seen before." The young lady thus
designated, and whose performance attracted crowds of spectators to Barnes
and Finley's show, was said to be the daughter of a Florentine noble, and
had given up all for love by eloping with Finley. By the companion of her
flight she was taught to dance upon the tight rope, and for a few years
was an entertainer of considerable popularity; but, venturing to exhibit
her agility and grace while _enceinte_, she lost her balance, fell from
the rope, and died almost immediately after giving birth to a stillborn
child.
Bullock and Simpson, the former an actor of some celebrity at Drury Lane,
joined Penkethman this year in a show at Bartholomew Fair, in which
_Jephtha's Rash Vow_ was performed, Penkethman playing the part of Toby,
and Bullock that of Ezekiel. Bullock is described in the pamphlet
attributed to Gildon as "the best comedian who has trod the stage since
Nokes and Leigh, and a fellow that has a very humble opinion of himself."
So much modesty must have made him a _rara avis_ among actors, who have,
as a rule, a very exalted opinion of themselves. He had been six years on
the stage at this time, having made his first appearance in 1696, at Drury
Lane, as Sly in _Love's Last Shift_. His ability was soon recognised; and
in the same year he played Sir Morgan Blunder in _The Younger Brother_,
and Shuffle in _The Cornish Comedy_. Parker and Doggett also had a booth
this year at the same fair, playing _Bateman; or, the Unhappy Marriage_,
with the latter comedian in the part of Sparrow.
Penkethman at this time, from his salary as an actor at Drury Lane, his
gains from attending Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs with his show, and
the profits of the Richmond Theatre, which he either owned or leased, was
in the receipt of a considerable income. "He is the darling of
Fortunatus," says Downes, writing in 1708, "and has gained more in
theatres and fairs in twelve years than those who have tugged at the oar
of acting these fifty." He did not retire from the stage, however, until
1724.
Some of the minor shows of this period must now be noticed. A bill of this
time--the date cannot always be fixed--invites the visitors to Bartholomew
Fair to witness "the wonderful performances of that most celebrated
master Simpson, the famous vaulter, who being lately arrived from Italy,
will show the world what vaulting is." The chroniclers of the period have
not preserved any record, save this bill, of this not too modest
performer. A more famous entertainer was Clench, a native of Barnet, whose
advertisements state that he "imitates horses, huntsmen, and a pack of
hounds, a doctor, an old woman, a drunken man, bells, the flute, and the
organ, with three voices, by his own natural voice, to the greatest
perfection," and that he was "the only man that could ever attain so great
an art." He had a rival, however, in the whistling man, mentioned in the
'Spectator,' who was noted for imitating the notes of all kinds of birds.
Clench attended all the fairs in and around London, and at other times
gave his performance at the corner of Bartholomew Lane, behind the old
Exchange.
To this period also belongs the following curious announcement of "a
collection of strange and wonderful creatures from most parts of the
world, all alive," to be seen over against the Mews Gate, Charing Cross,
by her Majesty's permission.
"The first being a little _Black Man_, being but 3 foot high, and 32 years
of age, straight and proportionable every way, who is distinguished by
the Name of the _Black Prince_, and has been shewn before most Kings and
Princes in Christendom. The next being his wife, the _Little Woman_, NOT 3
foot high, and 30 years of Age, straight and proportionable as any woman
in the Land, which is commonly called the _Fairy Queen_; she gives general
satisfaction to all that sees her, by Diverting them with Dancing, being
big with Child. Likewise their little _Turkey Horse_, being but 2 foot odd
inches high, and above 12 years of Age, that shews several diverting and
surprising Actions, at the Word of Command. The least Man, Woman, and
Horse that ever was seen in the World Alive. _The Horse being kept in a
box._ The next being a strange Monstrous Female Creature that was taken in
the woods in the Deserts of ÆTHIOPIA in Prester _John's_ Country, in the
remotest parts of Africa. The next is the noble _Picary_, which is very
much admir'd by the Learned. The next being the noble _Jack-call_, the
Lion's Provider, which hunts in the Forest for the Lion's Prey. Likewise a
small _Egyptian Panther_, spotted like a _Leopard_. The next being a
strange, monstrous creature, brought from the _Coast of Brazil_, having a
Head like a Child, Legs and Arms very wonderful, with a Long Tail like a
Serpent, wherewith he Feeds himself, as an _Elephant_ doth with his Trunk.
With several other Rarities too tedious to mention in this Bill.
"And as no such Collection was ever shewn in this Place before, we hope
they will give you content and satisfaction, assuring you, that they are
the greatest Rarities that ever was shewn alive in this Kingdom, and are
to be seen from nine o'clock in the Morning, till 10 at Night, where true
Attendance shall be given during our stay in this Place, which will be
very short. _Long live the_ QUEEN."
The proprietors of menageries and circuses are always amusing, if not very
lucid, when they set forth in type the attractions of their shows. The
owner of the rarities exhibited over against the Mews Gate in the reign of
Queen Anne was no exception to the rule. The picary and the jack-call may
be readily identified as the peccary and the jackal, but "a strange
monstrous female creature" defies recognition, even with the addition that
it was brought from Prester John's country. The Brazilian wonder may be
classified with safety with the long-tailed monkeys, especially as another
and shorter advertisement, in the 'Spectator,' describes it a little more
explicitly as a satyr. It was, probably, a spider monkey, one variety of
which is said, by Humboldt, to use its prehensile tail for the purpose of
picking insects out of crevices.
The Harleian Collection contains the following announcement of a
performing horse:--
"To be seen, at the Ship, upon Great Tower Hill, the finest taught horse
in the world. He fetches and carries like a spaniel dog. If you hide a
glove, a handkerchief, a door-key, a pewter basin, or so small a thing as
a silver two-pence, he will seek about the room till he has found it; and
then he will bring it to his master. He will also tell the number of spots
on a card, and leap through a hoop; with a variety of other curious
performances."
Powell, the famous puppet-showman mentioned in the 'Spectator,' in
humorous contrast with the Italian Opera, never missed Bartholomew Fair,
where, however, he had a rival in Crawley, two of whose bills have been
preserved in the Harleian Collection. Pinkethman, another "motion-maker,"
as the exhibitors of these shows were called, and also mentioned in the
'Spectator,' introduced on his stage the divinities of Olympus ascending
and descending to the sound of music. Strutt, who says that he saw
something of the same kind at a country fair in 1760, thinks that the
scenes and figures were painted upon a flat surface and cut out, like
those of a boy's portable theatre, and that motion was imparted to them by
clock-work. This he conjectures to have been the character also of the
representation, with moving figures, of the camp before Lisle, which was
exhibited, in the reign of Anne, in the Strand, opposite the Globe Tavern,
near Hungerford Market.
One of the two bills of Crawley's show which have been preserved was
issued for Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair. The former
is as follows:--
"At Crawley's Booth, over against the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, during
the time of Bartholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called the
_Old Creation of the World_, yet newly revived; with the addition of
_Noah's flood_; also several fountains playing water during the time of
the play. The last scene does present Noah and his family coming out of
the ark, with all the beasts two by two, and all the fowls of the air seen
in a prospect sitting upon trees; likewise over the ark is seen the sun
rising in a most glorious manner: moreover, a multitude of angels will be
seen in a double rank, which presents a double prospect, one for the sun,
the other for a palace, where will be seen six angels ringing of bells.
Likewise machines descending from above, double, with Dives rising out of
hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's bosom, besides several figures dancing
jiggs, sarabands, and country dances, to the admiration of the
spectators; with the merry conceits of _Squire Punch and Sir John
Spendall_." This curious medley was "completed by an entertainment of
singing, and dancing with several naked swords by a child of eight years
of age." In the bill for Southwark Fair we find the addition of "the ball
of little dogs," said to have come from Louvain, and to perform "by their
cunning tricks wonders in the world of dancing. You shall see one of them
named Marquis of Gaillerdain, whose dexterity is not to be compared; he
dances with Madame Poucette his mistress and the rest of their company at
the sound of instruments, all of them observing so well the cadence that
they amaze everybody;" it is added that these celebrated performers had
danced before Queen Anne and most of the nobility, and amazed everybody.
James Miles, who has been mentioned in the last chapter, promised the
visitors, in a bill preserved in the Harleian Collection, that they should
see "a young woman dance with the swords, and upon a ladder, surpassing
all her sex." Nineteen different dances were performed in his show, among
which he mentions a "wrestlers' dance" and vaulting upon the slack rope.
Respecting this dancing with swords, Strutt says that he remembered seeing
"at Flockton's, a much noted but very clumsy juggler, a girl about
eighteen or twenty years of age, who came upon the stage with four naked
swords, two in each hand; when the music played, she turned round with
great swiftness, and formed a great variety of figures with the swords,
holding them overhead, down by her sides, behind her, and occasionally she
thrust them in her bosom. The dance generally continued ten or twelve
minutes; and when it was finished, she stopped suddenly, without appearing
to be in the least giddy from the constant reiteration of the same
motion."
The ladder-dance was performed upon a light ladder, which the performer
shifted from place to place, ascended and descended, without permitting it
to fall. It was practised at Sadler's Wells at the commencement of the
last century, and revived there in 1770. Strutt thought it originated in
the stilt-dance, which appears, from an illumination of the reign of Henry
III., to have been practised in the thirteenth century.
Mrs. Mynn appears as a Bartholomew Fair theatrical manageress in 1707,
when Settle, then nearly sixty years of age, and in far from flourishing
circumstances, adapted to her stage his spectacular drama of the _Siege of
Troy_, which had been produced at Drury Lane six years previously.
Settle, who was a good contriver of spectacles, though a bad dramatic
poet, reduced it from five acts to three, striking out four or five of the
_dramatis personæ_, cutting down the serious portions of the dialogue, and
giving greater breadth as well as length to the comic incidents, without
which no Bartholomew audience would have been satisfied. As acted in her
theatrical booth, it was printed by Mrs. Mynn, with the following
introduction:--
"_A Printed Publication of an_ Entertainment _performed on a_ Smithfield
Stage, _which, how gay or richly soever set off, will hardly reach to a
higher Title than the customary name of a_ DROLL, _may seem somewhat new.
But as the present undertaking, the work of ten Months' preparation, is so
extraordinary a Performance, that without Boast or Vanity we may modestly
say, In the whole_ several Scenes, Movements, _and_ Machines, _it is no
ways Inferiour even to any one_ Opera _yet seen in either of_ the Royal
Theatres; _we are therefore under some sort of Necessity to make this
Publication, thereby to give ev'n the meanest of our audience a full Light
into all the Object they will there meet in this_ Expensive Entertainment;
_the_ Proprietors _of which have adventur'd to make, under some small
Hopes, That as they yearly see some of their happier Brethren Undertakers
in the_ FAIR, _more cheaply obtain even the Engrost Smiles of the_ Gentry
_and_ Quality _at so much an easier Price; so on the other side their own
more costly Projection (though less Favourites) might possibly attain to
that good Fortune, at least to attract a little share of the good graces
of the more Honourable part of the Audience, and perhaps be able to
purchase some of those smiles which elsewhere have been thus long the
profuser Donation of particular Affection and Favour._"
In the following year, Settle arranged for Mrs. Mynn the dramatic
spectacle of _Whittington_, long famous at Bartholomew Fair, concluding
with a mediæval Lord Mayor's cavalcade, in which nine different pageants
were introduced.
In 1708, the first menagerie seems to have appeared at Bartholomew Fair,
where it stood near the hospital gate, and attracted considerable
attention. Sir Hans Sloane cannot be supposed to have missed such an
opportunity of studying animals little known, as he is said to have
constantly visited the fair for that purpose, and to have retained the
services of a draughtsman for their representation.
The first menagerie in this country was undoubtedly that, which for
several centuries, was maintained in the Tower of London, and the
beginning of which may be traced to the presentation of three leopards to
Henry III. by the Emperor of Germany, in allusion to the heraldic device
of the former. Several royal orders are extant which show the progress
made in the formation of the menagerie and furnish many interesting
particulars concerning the animals. Two of these documents, addressed by
Henry III. to the sheriffs of London, have reference to a white bear. The
first, dated 1253, directs that fourpence a day should be allowed for the
animal's subsistence; and the second, made in the following year, commands
that, "for the keeper of our white bear, lately sent us from Norway, and
which is in our Tower of London, ye cause to be had one muzzle and one
iron chain, to hold that bear without the water, and one long and strong
cord to hold the same bear when fishing in the river of Thames."
Other mandates, relating to an elephant, were issued in the same reign, in
one of which it is directed, "that ye cause, without delay, to be built at
our Tower of London, one house of forty feet long, and twenty feet deep,
for our elephant; providing that it be so made and so strong that, when
need be it may be fit and necessary for other uses." We learn from Matthew
Paris that this animal was presented to Henry by the King of France. It
was ten years old, and ten feet in height. It lived till the forty-first
year of Henry's reign, in which year it is recorded that, for the
maintenance of the elephant and its keeper, from Michaelmas to St.
Valentine's Day, immediately before it died, the charge was nearly
seventeen pounds--a considerable sum for those days.
Many additions were made to the Tower menagerie in the reign of Edward
III.; and notably a lion and lioness, a leopard, and two wild cats. The
office of keeper of the lions was created by Henry VI., with an allowance
of sixpence a day for the keeper, and a like sum "for the maintenance of
every lion or leopard now being in his custody, or that shall be in his
custody hereafter." This office was continued until comparatively recent
times, when it was abolished with the menagerie, a step which put an end
likewise to the time-honoured hoax, said to have been practised upon
country cousins, of going to the water side, below London Bridge, to see
the lions washed.
The building appropriated to the keeping and exhibition of the animals was
a wide semi-circular edifice, in which were constructed, at distances of a
few feet apart, a number of arched "dens," divided into two or more
compartments, and secured by strong iron bars. Opposite these cages was a
gallery of corresponding form, with a low stone parapet, and approached
from the back by a flight of steps. This was appropriated exclusively to
the accommodation of the royal family, who witnessed from it the feeding
of the beasts and the combats described by Mr. Ainsworth in the romance
which made the older portions of the Tower familiar ground to so many
readers.
The menagerie which appeared in Smithfield in 1708, and the ownership of
which I have been unable to discover, was a very small concern; but with
the showman's knowledge of the popular love of the marvellous, was
announced as "a Collection of Strange and Wonderful Creatures," which
included "the Noble _Casheware_, brought from the Island of Java in the
East Indies, one of the strangest creatures in the Universe, being half a
Bird, and half a Beast, reaches 16 Hands High from the Ground, his Head is
like a Bird, and so is his Feet, he hath no hinder Claw, Wings, Tongue,
nor Tail; his Body is like to the Body of a Deer; instead of Feathers, his
fore-part is covered with Hair like an Ox, his hinder-part with a double
Feather in one Quill; he Eats Iron, Steel, or Stones; he hath 2 Spears
grows by his side."
There is now no difficulty in recognising this strange bird as the
cassowary, the representative in the Indian islands of the ostrich. There
was also a leopard from Lebanon, an eagle from Russia, a "posoun"
(opossum ?) from Hispaniola, and, besides a "Great Mare of the Tartarian
Breed," which "had the Honour to be show'd before Queen Anne, Prince
George, and most of the Nobility," "a little black hairy _Monster_, bred
in the _Desarts of Arabia_, a natural Ruff of Hair about his Face, walks
upright, takes a Glass of Ale in his Hand and drinks it off; and doth
several other things to admiration." This animal was probably a specimen
of the maned colobus, a native of the forests of Sierra Leone, and called
by Pennant the full-bottomed monkey, in allusion to the full-bottom
periwig of his day.
A pamphlet was published in 1710, with the title, _The Wonders of
England_, purporting to contain "Doggett and Penkethman's dialogue with
Old Nick, on the suppression of Bartholomew Fair," and accounts of many
strange and wonderful things; but it was a mere "catch-penny," as such
productions of the Monmouth Street press were called, not containing a
line about the suppression of the fair, and the title, as Hone observes,
"like the showmen's painted cloths in the fair, pictures monsters not
visible within."
The lesser sights of a fair in the first quarter of the eighteenth century
are graphically delineated by Gay, in his character of the ballad singer,
in "The Shepherd's Week," bringing before the mind's eye the stalls, the
lotteries, the mountebanks, the tumblers, the rope-dancers, the
raree-shows, the puppets, and "all the fun of the fair."
"How pedlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid,
The various fairings of the country maid.
Long silken laces hang upon the twine,
And rows of pins and amber bracelets shine;
How the tight lass knives, combs, and scissors spies,
And looks on thimbles with desiring eyes.
Of lotteries next with tuneful note he told,
Where silver spoons are won, and rings of gold.
The lads and lasses trudge the street along,
And all the fair is crowded in his song.
The mountebank now treads the stage, and sells
His pills, his balsams, and his ague-spells;
Now o'er and o'er the nimble tumbler springs,
And on the rope the venturous maiden swings;
Jack Pudding, in his party-coloured jacket,
Tosses the glove, and jokes at every packet.
Of raree-shows he sung, and Punch's feats,
Of pockets picked in crowds, and various cheats."
The theatrical booths, of which we have only casual notices or records
during the seventeenth century and the first dozen years of the
eighteenth, became an important feature of the London fairs about 1714,
from which time those of Bartholomew and Southwark were regularly attended
by many of the leading actors and actresses of Drury Lane, Covent Garden,
the Haymarket, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Goodman's Fields theatres, down
to the middle of the century, excepting those years in which no theatrical
booths were allowed to be put up in Smithfield. The theatrical companies
which attended the fairs were not, however, drawn entirely from the London
theatres. Three or four actors associated in the proprietorship and
management, or were engaged by a popular favourite, and the rest of the
company was recruited from provincial theatres, or from the strolling
comedians of the country fairs.
The London fairs were not, therefore, neglected by metropolitan managers
in quest of talent, who, by witnessing the performances in booths on
Smithfield or Southwark Green, sometimes found and transferred to their
own boards, actors and actresses who proved stars of the first magnitude.
It was in Bartholomew Fair that Booth found Walker, the original
representative of Captain Macheath, playing in the _Siege of Troy_; and in
Southwark Fair, in 1714, that the same manager saw Mrs. Horton acting in
_Cupid and Psyche_, and was so pleased with her impersonation that he
immediately offered her an engagement at Drury Lane, where she appeared
the following season as Melinda, in the _Recruiting Officer_. She made her
first appearance in 1713, as Marcia in _Cato_, with a strolling company
then performing at Windsor; and is said to have been one of the most
beautiful women that ever trod the stage.
Penkethman's company played the _Constant Lovers_ in Southwark Fair in the
year that proved so fortunate for Mrs. Horton, the comedian himself
playing Buzzard, and Bullock taking the part of Sir Timothy Littlewit. In
the following year, as we learn from a newspaper paragraph "a great
play-house" was erected in the middle of Smithfield for "the King's
players," being "the largest ever built." In 1717 Bullock did not
accompany Penkethman, but set up a booth of his own, in conjunction with
Leigh; while Penkethman formed a partnership with Pack, and produced the
new "droll," _Twice Married and a Maid Still_, in which the former
personated Old Merriwell; Pack, Tim; Quin, Vincent; Ryan, Peregrine;
Spiller, Trusty; and Mrs. Spiller, Lucia. Penkethman's booth received the
honour of a visit from the Prince of Wales. On the evening of the 13th of
September, the popular favourite and several of the company were arrested
on the stage by a party of constables, in the presence of a hundred and
fifty of the nobility and gentry; but, pleading that they were "the King's
servants," they were released without being subjected to the pains and
penalties of vagrancy.
In 1719, Bullock's name appears alone as the proprietor of the theatrical
booth set up in Birdcage Alley, for Southwark Fair, and in which the _Jew
of Venice_ was represented, with singing and dancing, and Harper's
representation of the freaks and humours of a drunken man, which, having
been greatly admired at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he and Bullock were
both then engaged, could not fail to delight a fair audience. It was in
this year that Boheme made his first appearance, as Menelaus in the _Siege
of Troy_, in a booth at Southwark, where he was seen and immediately
engaged by the manager of Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he appeared the
following season as Worcester in _Henry IV._, and subsequently as the
Ghost in _Hamlet_, York in _Richard II._, Pisanio in _Cymbeline_,
Brabantio in _Othello_, etc.
The theatres at this time were closed during the continuance of
Bartholomew Fair, the concourse of all classes to that popular resort
preventing them from obtaining remunerative audiences at that time, while
the actors could obtain larger salaries in booths than they received at
the theatres, and some realised large amounts by associating in the
ownership of a booth. The Haymarket company presented the _Beggar's
Opera_, at Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs in 1720; and Penkethman had his
booth at both fairs, this year without a partner.
May Fair, which had long been falling into disrepute, now ceased to be
held. It was presented by the grand jury of Middlesex four years
successively as a nuisance; and the county magistrates then presented an
address to the Crown, praying for its suppression by royal proclamation.
Pennant, who says that he remembered the last May Fair, describes the
locality as "covered with booths, temporary theatres, and every enticement
to low pleasure." A more particular description was given in 1774, in a
communication from Carter, the antiquary, to the "Gentleman's Magazine."
"A mountebank's stage," he tells us, "was erected opposite the Three Jolly
Butchers public-house (on the east side of the market area, now the King's
Arms). Here Woodward, the inimitable comedian and harlequin, made his
first appearance as Merry Andrew; from these humble boards he soon after
made his way to Covent Garden Theatre. Then there was 'beheading of
puppets.' In a coal-shed attached to a grocer's shop (then Mr. Frith's,
now Mr. Frampton's), one of these mock executions was exposed to the
attending crowd. A shutter was fixed horizontally, on the edge of which,
after many previous ceremonies, a puppet laid its head, and another
puppet instantly chopped it off with an axe. In a circular stair-case
window, at the north end of Sun Court, a similar performance took place by
another set of puppets. In these representations, the late punishment of
the Scottish chieftain (Lord Lovat) was alluded to, in order to gratify
the feelings of southern loyalty, at the expense of that further north.
"In a fore one-pair room, on the west side of Sun Court, a Frenchman
submitted to the curious the astonishing strength of the 'strong woman,'
his wife. A blacksmith's anvil being procured from White Horse Street,
with three of the men, they brought it up, and placed it on the floor. The
woman was short, but most beautifully and delicately formed, and of a most
lovely countenance. She first let down her hair (a light auburn), of a
length descending to her knees, which she twisted round the projecting
part of the anvil, and then, with seeming ease, lifted the ponderous
weight some inches from the floor. After this, a bed was laid in the
middle of the room; when, reclining on her back, and uncovering her bosom,
the husband ordered the smiths to place thereon the anvil, and forge upon
it a horse-shoe! This they obeyed, by taking from the fire a red-hot piece
of iron, and with their forging hammers completing the shoe, with the
same might and indifference as when in the shop at their constant labour.
The prostrate fair one appeared to endure this with the utmost composure,
talking and singing during the whole process; then, with an effort which
to the bystanders seemed like some supernatural trial, cast the anvil from
off her body, jumping up at the same moment with extreme gaiety, and
without the least discomposure of her dress or person. That no trick or
collusion could possibly be practised on the occasion was obvious, from
the following evidence:--the audience stood promiscuously about the room,
among whom were our family and friends; the smiths were utter strangers to
the Frenchman, but known to us; therefore, the several efforts of strength
must have proceeded from the natural and surprising power this foreign
dame was possessed of. She next put her naked feet on a red-hot
salamander, without receiving the least injury; but this is a feat
familiar with us at this time.
"Here, too, was 'Tiddy-dol.' This celebrated vendor of gingerbread, from
his eccentricity of character, and extensive dealings in his way, was
always hailed as the king of itinerant tradesmen. In his person he was
tall, well made, and his features handsome. He affected to dress like a
person of rank; white gold-laced suit of clothes, laced ruffled shirt,
laced hat and feather, white silk stockings, with the addition of a fine
white apron. Among his harangues to gain customers, take this as a
specimen:--'Mary, Mary, where are you _now_, Mary? I live, when at home,
at the second house in Little Ball Street, two steps underground, with a
wiscum, riscum, and a why-not. Walk in, ladies and gentlemen; my shop is
on the second-floor backwards, with a brass knocker at the door. Here is
your nice gingerbread, your spice gingerbread; it will melt in your mouth
like a red-hot brick-bat, and rumble in your inside like Punch and his
wheelbarrow.' He always finished his address by singing this fag-end of
some popular ballad:--Ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, ti-tid-dy,
ti-ti, tid-dy, did-dy, dol-lol, ti-tid-dy, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, tid-dy,
tid-dy, dol. Hence arose his nick-name of 'Tiddy-dol.'"
In Hogarth's picture of the execution of the idle apprentice at Tyburn,
Tiddy-dol is seen holding up a cake of gingerbread, and addressing the
crowd in his peculiar style, his costume agreeing with the foregoing
description. His proper name was Ford, and so well-known was he that, on
his once being missed for a week from his usual stand in the Haymarket, on
the unusual occasion of an excursion to a country fair, a "catch-penny"
account of his alleged murder was sold in the streets by thousands. In
1721, as appears from a paragraph in the 'London Journal' of May 27th,
"the ground on which May Fair formerly stood is marked out for a large
square, and several fine streets and houses are to be built upon it."