Yates and Shuter--Cat Harris--Mechanical Singing Birds--Lecture on
Heads--Pidcock's Menagerie--Breslaw, the Conjuror--Reappearance of the
Corsican Fairy--Gaetano, the Bird Imitator--Rossignol's Performing
Birds--Ambroise, the Showman--Brunn, the Juggler, on the Wire--Riot at
Bartholomew Fair--Dancing Serpents--Flockton, the
Puppet-Showman--Royal Visit to Bartholomew Fair--Lane, the
Conjuror--Hall's Museum--O'Brien, the Irish Giant--Baker's
Theatre--Joel Tarvey and Lewis Owen, the popular Clowns.
The relations between Yates and Shuter in the last two or three years of
their appearance as showmen at Bartholomew Fair are somewhat doubtful; but
all the evidence that I have been able to obtain points to the conclusion
that they did not co-operate subsequently to 1758. In 1761 they seemed to
have been in rivalry, for the former's name appears singly as the
director of the "company of comedians from both the theatres" that
performed in the concert-room at the Greyhound, while an advertisement of
one of the minor shows of the fair describes it as located in George Yard,
"leading to Mr. Shuter's booth." I have not, however, been able to find an
advertisement of Shuter's booth.
Yates's company performed _The Fair Bride_, which the bills curiously
describe as "containing many surprising Occurrences at Sea, which could
not possibly happen at Land. The Performance will be highly enlivened with
several entertaining Scenes between England, France, Ireland, and
Scotland, in the diverting Personages of Ben Bowling, an English Sailor;
Mons. Soup-Maigre, a French Captain; O'Flannaghan, an Irish Officer;
M'Pherson, a Scotch Officer. Through which the Manners of each Nation will
be characteristically and humorously depicted. In which will be introduced
as singular and curious a Procession as was ever exhibited in this Nation.
The objects that comprise the Pageantry are both Exotic and British. The
Principal Figure is the Glory and Delight of OLD ENGLAND, and Envy of our
ENEMIES. With Variety of Entertainments of Singing and Dancing. The whole
to conclude with a Loyal Song on the approaching Marriage of our great and
glorious Sovereign King GEORGE and the Princess CHARLOTTE of
Mecklenberg."
There were two shows in George Yard, in one of which "the famous learned
canary bird" was exhibited, the other consisting of a moving picture of a
city, with an artificial cascade, and "a magnificent temple, with two
mechanical birds which have all the exact motions of living animals; they
perform a variety of tunes, either singular or in concert. During the
performance, the just swelling of the throat, the quick motions of the
bills, and the joyous fluttering of the wings, strike every spectator with
pleasing astonishment."
Shuter seems to have been the last actor who played at Bartholomew Fair
while engaged at a permanent theatre. Some amusing stories are told of his
powers of mimicry. When Foote introduced in a comedy a duet supposed to be
performed by two cats, in imitation of Bisset's feline opera, he engaged
for the purpose one Harris, who was famous for his power of producing the
vocal sounds peculiar to the species. Harris being absent one day from
rehearsal, Shuter went in search of him, and not knowing the number of the
house in which Cat Harris, as he was called, resided, he began to perform
a feline solo as soon as he entered the court in which lived the man of
whom he was in search. Harris opened his window at the sound, and
responded with a beautiful _meeyow_.
"You are the man!" said Shuter. "Come along! We can't begin the cats'
opera without you."
There is a story told of Shuter, however, which is strongly suggestive of
his ability to have supplied Cat Harris's place. He was travelling in the
Brighton stage-coach on a very warm day, with four ladies, when the
vehicle stopped to receive a sixth passenger, who could have played
Falstaff without padding. The faces of the ladies elongated at this
unwelcome addition to the number, but Shuter only smiled. When the stout
gentleman was seated, and the coach was again in motion, Shuter gravely
inquired of one of the ladies her motive for visiting Brighton. She
replied, that her physician had advised sea-bathing as a remedy for mental
depression. He turned to the others, and repeated his inquiries; the next
was nervous, the third bilious--all had some ailment which the sea was
expected to cure.
"Ah!" sighed the comedian, "all your complaints put together are nothing
to mine. Oh, nothing!--mine is dreadful but to think of."
"Indeed, sir!" said the stout passenger, with a look of astonishment.
"What is your complaint? you look exceedingly well."
"Ah, sir!" responded Shuter, shaking his head, "looks are deceitful; you
must know, sir, that, three days ago, I had the misfortune to be bitten by
a mad dog, for which I am informed sea-bathing is the only cure. For that
purpose I am going to Brighton; for though, as you observe, I am looking
well, yet the fit comes on in a moment, when I bark like a dog, and
endeavour to bite every one near me."
"Lord have mercy on us!" ejaculated the stout passenger, with a look of
alarm. "But, sir, you are not in earnest--you--"
"Bow-wow-wow!"
"Coachman! coachman! Let me out!--let me out, I say!"
"Now, your honour, what's the matter?"
"A mad dog is the matter!--hydrophobia is the matter! open the door!"
"Bow-wow-wow!"
"Open the door! Never mind the steps. Thank God, I am safe out! Let those
who like ride inside; I'll mount the roof."
So he rode to Brighton outside the coach, much to the satisfaction of
Shuter and his fair companions who were very merry at his expense, the
former repeating at intervals his sonorous _bow-wow-wow_!
Theatrical booths and puppet-shows were again prohibited in 1762, and, as
the jugglers, the acrobats, and the rope-dancers who attended the fairs
did not advertise their performances, only casual notices are to be found
in the newspapers of the period of the amusements which that generation
flocked into Smithfield in the first week of September to witness, and
which lead them somewhat earlier to the greens of Camberwell and Stepney.
Some of the entertainers of the period are mentioned in an anonymous poem
on Bartholomew Fair, which appeared in 1763. The names are probably
fictitious.
"On slender cord Volante treads;
The earth seems paved with human heads:
And as she springs aloft in air,
Trembling they crouch below for fear.
A well-made form Querpero shows,
Well-skilled that form to discompose;
The arms forget their wonted state;
Standing on earth, they bear his weight;
The head falls downward 'twixt the thighs,
The legs mount upward to the skies;
And thus this topsy-turvy creature
Stalks, and derides the human nature.
Agyrta, famed for cup and ball,
Plays sleight of hand, and pleases all:
The certainty of sense in vain
Philosophers in schools maintain;
This man your sharpest wit defies,
He cheats your watchful ears and eyes.
Ah, 'prentice, well your pockets fence,
And yet he steals your master's pence."
In 1765, "the celebrated lecture on heads" was advertised to be given,
during the time of Bartholomew Fair, "in a large and commodious room near
the end of Hosier Lane." The name of the lecturer was not announced, but
the form of the advertisement implies that the lecture was Steevens's. The
lecturer may, however, have been only an imitator of that famous humorist;
for the newspapers of the preceding week inform us that a similar
announcement was made at Alnwick, where the audience, finding that the
lecturer was not Steevens, regarded him as an impostor, and demanded the
return of their money, with a threat of tossing him in a blanket. The
lecturer attempted to vindicate himself, but the production of a blanket
completed his discomfiture, and he surrendered, returning to the
disappointed audience the money which they had paid for admission.
In 1769, the chief attraction of the London fairs was Pidcock's menagerie,
which was the largest and best which had ever been exhibited in a
temporary erection, the animals being hired from Cross's collection at
Exeter Change. Pidcock exhibited his animals at Bartholomew Fair for
several successive years, and was succeeded by Polito, whose zoological
collection attracted thousands of spectators every year.
Breslaw, the conjuror, appeared in 1772, in a large room in Cockspur
Street, where his tricks of legerdemain were combined with a vocal and
instrumental concert by three or four Italians, imitations by a young lady
announced as Miss Rose of "many interesting parts of the capital actresses
in tragedy and comedy," and imitations by an Italian named Gaetano of the
notes of the blackbird, thrush, canary, linnet, bull-finch, sky-lark, and
nightingale. In 1774, the entertainment was given on alternate days in the
large ball-room of the King's Arms, opposite the Royal Exchange. In 1775,
it was given in Cockspur Street only, and in the following year at
Marylebone Gardens. He then appears to have been absent from London for a
couple of years, as he always was during a portion of each year, when he
made a tour through the provinces.
Caulfield says that Breslaw was superior to Fawkes, "both in tricks and
impudence," and relates an anecdote, which certainly goes far to bear out
his assertion. Breslaw, while exhibiting at Canterbury, requested
permission to display his cunning a little longer, promising the Mayor
that if he was indulged with the required permission, he would give the
receipts of one night for the benefit of the poor. The Mayor acceded to
the proposition, and Breslaw had a crowded house; hearing nothing about
the money collected on the specified evening, the Mayor called upon
Breslaw, and, in as delicate a manner as possible, expressed his surprise.
"Mr. Mayor," said the conjuror, "I have distributed the money myself."
"Pray, sir, to whom?" inquired the Mayor, still more surprised.
"To my own company, than whom none can be poorer," replied Breslaw.
"This is a trick!" exclaimed the Mayor indignantly.
"Sir," returned the conjuror, "we live by tricks."
In 1773, the Corsican fairy reappeared, having probably made the tour of
Europe since her first exhibition in London in 1748, which has been
overlooked by some writers, though there is no doubt that the girl
exhibited at the latter date was the same person. Two years later, the
Turkish rope-dancer, who had displayed his feats in 1744, reappeared at
Bartholomew Fair. In the same year, Rossignol exhibited his performing
birds at Sadler's Wells, and afterwards at the Smock Alley theatre, in
Dublin. He returned to Sadler's Wells in 1776, where his clever feathered
company attracted as many spectators as before. Twelve or fourteen
canaries and linnets were taken from their cages, and placed on a table,
in ranks, with paper caps on their heads, and tiny toy muskets under their
left wings. Thus armed and accoutred, they marched about the table, until
one of them, leaving the ranks, was adjudged a deserter, and sentenced to
be shot. A mimic execution then took place, one of the birds holding a
lighted match in its claw, and firing a toy cannon of brass, loaded with
powder. The deserter fell, feigning death, but rose again at the command
of Rossignol.
Breslaw had formidable competitors this year in Ambroise and Brunn, who
gave a variety entertainment in a large room in Panton Street, of which we
have the following account in their advertisements:--
"On the part of Mr. Ambroise, the manager of the _Ombres Chinoises_, will
be performed all those scenes which, upon repeated trial, have had a
general approbation, with new pieces every day; the whole to be augmented
with a fourth division. By the particular desire of the company, the
_danses de caractère_ in the intervals are performed to the astonishment
of all, and to conclude with the comic of a magician, who performs
metamorphoses, etc. He had the honour to represent this spectacle before
his Most Christian Majesty Louis XVI. and the Royal Family; likewise
before His Serene Highness the Prince d'Orange and the whole Court, with
an approbation very flattering for the performer.
"The Saxon Brunn, besides various tricks of his dexterity, will give this
day a surprising circular motion with three forks and a sword; to-morrow,
with a plate put horizontally upon the point of a knife, a sword fixed
perpendicularly, on the top of which another plate, all turning with a
remarkable swiftness; and on Saturday the singular performance with a
bason, called the Clag of Manfredonia; all which are of his own invention,
being the _non plus ultra_ for equilibriums on the wire. The applause they
have already received makes them hope to give an equal satisfaction to the
company for the future. To begin at seven precisely. Admittance, five
shillings."
In 1778, a foreigner exhibited in Bartholomew Fair the extraordinary
spectacle of serpents dancing on silken ropes to the sound of music, which
performance has never, I believe, been repeated since. The serpents
exhibited by Arab and Hindoo performers, of whose skill an example was
afforded several years ago in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park,
dance on the ground. It was in this year that the fair was visited by the
Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who entered at Giltspur Street, and
passing the puppet-shows of Flockton and Jobson, the conjuring booths of
Lane and Robinson, and several other shows the names only of whose
proprietors--Ives, Basil, Clarkson,--have been preserved, rode through Cow
Lane into Holborn.
This year appears to have been the first in which puppet-shows were
allowed to be set up in Smithfield after being excluded for several years;
as in 1776 a more than ordinary degree of irritation was produced by their
exclusion, "Lady Holland's mob" proclaiming the fair without any
restriction, and a disturbance arising afterwards, in the course of which
the windows of nearly every house round Smithfield were broken by the
rioters. Flockton and Jobson attended the fair regularly for many years.
The former used to perform some conjuring tricks on the outside of his
show to attract an audience, but Strutt says that he was a very poor
conjuror. Lane's performances were varied by posturing and dancing by his
two daughters. The following doggrel appears in one of his bills:--
"It will make you laugh, it will drive away gloom,
To see how the egg it will dance round the room;
And from another egg a bird there will fly,
Which makes the company all for to cry,
'O rare Lane! cockalorum for Lane! well done, Lane!
You are the Man!'"
One of the chief shows of the fair in 1779 was the fine collection of
preserved animals of Hall, of the City Road, who was famous for his skill
in that art. This museum did not prove so attractive as Pidcock's
menagerie, however, the frequenters of the fair preferring to see the
animals living; and in the following year even the expedient of parading a
stuffed zebra round the fair did not attract spectators enough to induce
Hall to attend again. His museum remained open in the City Road, however,
for many years.
Breslaw, the conjuror, had a room in 1779 at the King's Head, near the
Mansion House, as well as in Cockspur Street (opposite the Haymarket), and
a bill of this year shows, better than any of his earlier announcements,
the nature of the tricks which he performed. His exposition of "how it is
done" was probably not more intelligible than Dr. Lynn's. "Between the
different parts," says the bill, "Mr. Breslaw will discover the following
deceptions in such a manner, that every person in the company shall be
capable of doing them immediately for their amusement. First, to tell any
lady or gentleman the card that they fix on, without asking any
questions. Second, to make a remarkable piece of money to fly out of any
gentleman's hand into a lady's pocket-handkerchief, at two yards distance.
Third, to change four or five cards in any lady's or gentleman's hand
several times into different cards. Fourth, to make a fresh egg fly out of
any person's pocket into a box on the table, and immediately to fly back
again into the pocket."
Breslaw had Rossignol in his company at this time, as will be seen from
the following programme:--"1. Mr. Breslaw will exhibit a variety of new
magical card deceptions, particularly he will communicate the thoughts
from one person to another, after which he will perform many new
deceptions with letters, numbers, dice, rings, pocket-pieces, &c., &c. 2.
Under the direction of Sieur Changee, a new invented small chest,
consisting of three divisions, will be displayed in a most extraordinary
manner. 3. The famous Rossignol, from Naples, will imitate various birds,
to the astonishment of the spectators. 4. Mr. Breslaw will exhibit several
new experiments on six different metals, watches, caskets, gold boxes,
silver machineries, &c., &c."
Rossignol (said to be an assumed name) afterwards obtained an engagement
at Covent Garden Theatre, where he attracted attention by an imitation of
the violin with his mouth; but, being detected in the use of a concealed
instrument, he lost his reputation, and we hear of him no more. Breslaw
filled up the vacancy in his company by engaging Novilli, who played "at
one time on the German flute, violin, Spanish castanets, two pipes,
trumpet, bassoon, bass, Dutch drum, and violin-cello, never attempted
before in this kingdom." I have not been able to discover anything that
would throw some light upon the manner in which this extraordinary
performance was accomplished. He engaged for his London season this year a
large room in Panton Street, probably the one in which Ambroise and Brunn
performed in 1775. The entertainment commenced, as before, with a vocal
and instrumental concert, between the parts of which lyrical and
rhetorical imitations were given by "a young gentleman, not nine years of
age;" the concluding portion consisting of the exhibition of Breslaw's
"new invented mechanical watches, sympathetic bell, pyramidical glasses,
magical card deceptions, &c., &c.," and particularly "a new grand
apparatus and experiments never attempted before in this kingdom."
It was in this year that the famous Irish giant, Patrick O'Brien, first
exhibited himself at Bartholomew Fair, being then nineteen years of age,
and over eight feet high. His name was Cotter, that of O'Brien being
assumed when he began to exhibit himself, to accord with the
representation that he was a descendant of the ancient royal race of
Munster. His parents, who were both of middle height only, apprenticed him
to a bricklayer; but, at the age of eighteen, his extraordinary stature
attracted the attention of a showman, by whom he was induced to sign an
agreement to exhibit himself in England for three years, receiving a
yearly salary of fifty pounds. Soon after reaching England, however, on
his refusing his assent to a proposed cession of his person to another
showman, his exhibitor caused him to be arrested at Bristol for a
fictitious debt, and lodged in the city goal.
Obtaining his release, and the annulment of the contract, by the
interposition of a benevolent inhabitant of Bristol, he proceeded to
London, and exhibited himself on his own account in Bartholomew Fair,
realising thirty pounds by the experiment in three days. He exhibited in
this fair four or five successive years, but, as he made money, he changed
the scene of his "receptions," as they would now be called, to public
halls in the metropolis, and the assembly-rooms of provincial hotels. He
attained the height of eight feet seven inches, and was proportionately
stout, but far from symmetrical; and so deficient in stamina that the
effort to maintain an upright attitude while exhibiting himself was
painful to him.
Theatrical booths again appeared at Bartholomew Fair in 1782, when Mrs.
Baker, manageress of the Rochester Theatre, took her company to
Smithfield. Tradition says that Elizabeth Inchbald was at this time a
member of Mrs. Baker's company, but I have not been able to discover any
ground for the belief. The diary of the actress would have set the matter
at rest; but she destroyed it before her death, and Boaden's memoirs of
her were based chiefly upon her letters. They show her to have performed
that year at Canterbury, and it is within the limits of probability that
she may have performed at Rochester also; though it would still remain
doubtful whether she accompanied Mrs. Baker to Bartholomew Fair. According
to Boaden, she proceeded to Edinburgh on the termination of her Canterbury
engagement.
Lewis Owen, who was engaged by Mrs. Baker as clown for her Bartholomew
Fair performances, was a young man of reputable family and good education,
who had embraced the career of a public entertainer from choice, as more
congenial to his tastes and habits than any other. His eccentric manners
and powers of grimace, joined with a considerable fund of natural wit,
caused him to be speedily recognised as a worthy successor of Joel Tarvey,
who, after amusing more than one generation, as the Merry Andrew of
various shows and places of amusements, had died at Hoxton of extreme old
age in 1777.