CHAPTER XI.

Successors of Scowton and Richardson--Nelson Lee--Crowther, the

Actor--Paul Herring--Newman and Allen's Theatre--Fair in Hyde

Park--Hilton's Menagerie--Bartholomew Fair again

threatened--Wombwell's Menagerie--Charles Freer--Fox Cooper and the

Bosjesmans--Destruction of Johnson and Lee's Theatre--Reed's

Theatre--Hales, the Norfolk Giant--Affray at Greenwich--Death of

Wombwell--Lion Queens--Catastrophe in a Menagerie--World's Fair at

Bayswater--Abbott's Theatre--Charlie Keith, the Clown--Robson, the

Comedian--Manders's Menagerie--Macomo, the Lion-Tamer--Macarthy and

the Lions--Fairgrieve's Menagerie--Lorenzo and the Tigress--Sale of a

Menagerie--Extinction of the London Fairs--Decline of Fairs near the

Metropolis--Conclusion.

The change in the proprietorship of the travelling theatres conducted

during so many years by Scowton and Richardson may be regarded as a stage

in the history of the people's amusements. The decline which showmen had

noted during the preceding years had not been perceptible to the public,

who had crowded the London fairs more densely than ever, and found as many

showmen catering for their entertainment as in earlier years. But while

the crowds that gazed at Wombwell's show-cloths, and the parades of

Richardson's theatre and Clarke's circus, became more dense every year,

the showmen found their receipts diminish and their expenses increase. The

people had more wants than formerly, and their means of supplying them had

not, at the time of the decadence of the London fairs, experienced a

corresponding increase. The vast and ever-growing population of the

metropolis furnished larger crowds, but the middle-class element had

diminished, and continued to diminish; and the showmen found reduced

charges to be a necessity, without resulting in the augmented gains which

follow a reduction of prices in trade.

Scowton's theatre was sold by private contract to Julius Haydon, who,

after expending a considerable sum upon it, making it rival Richardson's

in size, found the results so little to his advantage that he disposed of

the whole concern a year afterwards to the successors of Richardson.

These were the showman's old friends, John Johnson, to whom he left a

legacy of five hundred pounds, and Nelson Lee, who, after the unfortunate

speculation with his brother in the Old Kent Road, had travelled for a

time with Holloway's show, then gone to Scotland with Grey's _fantoccini_,

and, after a turn at Edinburgh with Dodsworth and Stevens's automatons,

had returned to London, and was at the time of Richardson's death managing

Sadler's Wells theatre for Osbaldiston. When he saw Richardson's property

advertised for sale, he conferred with Johnson on the subject of its

purchase by them, which they effected by private contract, Lee resigning

his post at Sadler's Wells to undertake the management.

The new proprietors furnished the theatre with a new front, and provided

new dresses for the ballet in _Esmeralda_, which was then attracting large

audiences to the Adelphi. They did not propose to open with this drama,

but they thought the ballet would be a success on the parade outside,

which managers of travelling theatres find it necessary to make as

attractive as possible, the public forming their anticipations of the

entertainment to be witnessed inside by what they see outside, as they do

of tenting circus performances by the extent and splendour of the parade

round the town and neighbourhood which precedes them. I once saw a very

pretty harvest-dance of reapers and gleaners on the parade of Richardson's

theatre, and on another occasion a fantastic dance of Indians, who held

cocoa-nuts in their hands, and struck them together, assuming every

variety of attitude, each dancer sometimes striking his own nuts together,

and sometimes his own against those of his _vis-à-vis_.

They were in time for the Whitsuntide Fair at Greenwich, where the theatre

stood at the extreme end of the fair, near the bridge at Deptford Creek.

The Esmeralda dance was a great success, and Oscar Byrne, who had arranged

the ballet for the Adelphi, visited the theatre, and complimented Lee on

the manner in which it was produced. The drama was _The Tyrant Doge_, and

the pantomime, arranged by Lee for the occasion, had local colour given to

it, and the local title of _One Tree Hill_. The season opened very

favourably, though both the management and the public experienced

considerable annoyance from a party of dissolute young men, of whom the

Marquis of Waterford was one, and who threw nuts at the actors, and talked

and laughed loudly throughout the performance.

Delamore had succeeded Lewis as stage-manager, scene-shifter, and

wardrobe-keeper, a few years before Richardson's death, and he was

retained in that position by the new proprietors. John Douglass and Paul

Herring were in the company at this time; also Crowther, who was

subsequently engaged at Astley's, and married Miss Vincent, who was for

so many years a popular favourite at the Victoria as the heroine of a

series of successful domestic dramas.

Among the minor shows attending the fairs of the southern counties at this

period was the portable theatre of Newman and Allen, which, towards the

end of the summer, was pitched upon a piece of waste ground at Norwood,

and remained there two or three weeks. The fortunes of the company seemed

at low ebb, and the small "houses" which they had nightly, with a charge

for admission of twopence to front seats, and a penny to the back, did not

place the treasury in a very flourishing condition. Small as the company

was, they aimed at a higher performance than was usually given in a

portable theatre, for on the two occasions that I patronised the canvas

temple of Thespis the plays were _Virginius_ and _John Bull_, considerably

cut down, as was to have been expected, the smallness of the company

rendering it necessary to excise some of the characters.

Only one performance was given each night, and a farce preceded the play,

the interval between the pieces being filled up with a comic song, sung by

the low comedy man, and an acrobatic performance by a young lady whose

name I learned was Sarah Saunders. Whether she was related to old Abraham

Saunders, I do not know; but the tendency of show-folks to make their

vocations hereditary renders it very probable. She was the first female

acrobat I ever saw, and an actress besides; and the peculiarity of her

acrobatic performance was, that she did not don trunks and tights for it,

like Madame Stertzenbach and others of her sex at the present day, but did

her "flips," etc., in her ordinary attire, like the little drabs from the

back slums of Westminster who may sometimes be seen turning heels over

head in St. James's Park.

When the brief season of the canvas theatre was brought to a close, and

the fittings, scenery, properties, etc., had left the village behind a

bony horse, it seemed that the proprietors had dissolved the partnership

which had existed between them; for a living carriage remained on the

ground, the occupants of which were old Newman, who had played the heavy

parts, and his nephew, Charles Little, the low comedy man. Whether the old

gentleman had realised a competency which satisfied his wants, or had some

small pension or annuity, or investment of some kind, never became known;

but there the wheeled abode of the two men stood for several years, Newman

cultivating a patch of the waste, and producing therefrom all the

vegetables they required for their own table, while his nephew

perambulated the neighbourhood with a basket, offering for sale tapes and

cottons, needles and pins, and other small wares of a similar description.

This new vocation seemed more lucrative than that of low comedian and

comic singer in a travelling theatre; for Charlie, as he was familiarly

called, dressed better every year, and, on the death of his uncle, took to

himself a wife, and, abandoning the living carriage, settled in a

neighbouring cottage.

From this episode of show-life I must return to Johnson and Lee, who,

after visiting Deptford and Camberwell Fairs, took their renovated theatre

to Smithfield, where it stood with its back to the George Inn. At Croydon

Fair it occupied its usual position between Clarke's circus and Wombwell's

menagerie; and there a singular and amusing adventure occurred to the

clown, who, however, did not find it so amusing himself. The first day

being very wet, and the fair in consequence very thinly attended, he

thought to divert the tedium of the situation by strolling through the

town, and for this purpose put on the uniform over-coat of a policeman, a

character then, as now, always diverting in the pantomime. Some short time

previously, several robberies had been committed in the town by a thief

similarly dressed; and a constable on duty in High Street, seeing a

seeming policeman whom he did not know, and who gazed about him as if he

was a stranger, took the astonished clown into custody on the charge of

personating a constable and loitering about for an unlawful purpose. On

being taken to the station-house, the clown made an explanatory statement,

and the inspector sent a constable to the theatre to ascertain its truth,

testimony to which was given by Lee. The clown was thereupon released from

custody, and hurried back to the fair, vowing that he would never

promenade in the garb of a policeman again.

In the following year, Johnson and Lee presented a memorial to the Home

Office, asking permission to hold a fair in Hyde Park, to celebrate the

coronation of the Queen. The Government acceded to the request, and

Superintendent Mallalieu was associated with the memorialists in the

organisation and management of the undertaking. A tent was pitched in the

centre of the ground selected for the purpose, and the three managers

attended daily to arrange the plan, classify the shows, stalls, etc., and

receive applications for space, which were so numerous that it became

necessary to post constables before the tent to maintain order. As each

applicant stated the nature of his business, the application was entered

in a book kept for the purpose, and a day was named for the allotment of

ground. Every foot of space granted for the purpose by the Commissioners

of Her Majesty's Woods and Forests was taken within a week, and every

intending exhibitor received a ticket in the following form:--

FAIR IN HYDE PARK.

No. ____ ALLOTMENT OF GROUND.

The Bearer ____, of ____, ____, is hereby entitled to ____ feet

frontage on the ____ side of the area for the purpose of erecting a

____.

__ June, 1838.

J. M. MALLALIEU,

_Supt._

Every ticket-holder was requested to fit up his show or stall in a

becoming manner, and to display as illumination some device suitable to

the occasion. The undertaking to this effect was adhered to in a

commendable manner, and a very pretty effect was thus produced when the

fair was opened, on the 28th of June, and the numerous shows, booths, and

stalls were illuminated at night with so many thousands of coloured lamps.

As the boom of the first gun announcing the departure of the Queen for

Westminster Abbey was heard, Nelson Lee, standing on the parade of his

theatre, struck the gong, and all the showmen unfurled their show-cloths,

and the keepers of booths and stalls rolled up their canvas fronts, and

commenced business.

The fair was a great success, the financial results being as satisfactory

as its organisation and management. Many of the nobility visited it, and

even patronised the amusements, as they had been wont to do at Bartholomew

Fair in the seventeenth century, and the first half of the eighteenth.

Johnson and Lee's theatre filled on the opening day in five minutes, and

the time occupied by the performances was reduced to fifteen minutes. The

drama was _The Mysterious Stranger_, which, thus contracted, became more

mysterious than ever. All the principal avenues were crowded from noon

till night, and the demand upon the resources of the refreshment booths

was so great that Algar and other principal booth-keepers charged, and had

no difficulty in obtaining, a shilling for a pot of beer, and sixpence for

a lettuce or a penny loaf, other articles being sold at proportionate

rates.

During the fair, the wife of a gingerbread vendor gave birth to a child,

which, in commemoration of the occasion was registered by the name of Hyde

Park. The stall was, in consequence of this event, allowed to remain

several days after the time by which the promoters of the fair had

undertaken to have the ground cleared, and it was visited by many ladies,

who made presents to the child and its parents. Though the ground had been

let at a low rate, a surplus of sixty pounds remained after defraying all

expenses, and this sum was awarded to Johnson and Lee; but they did not

apply for it, and it was divided among the constables who did police duty

in the fair. The services of Johnson and Lee in promoting and organising

the fair, and of Superintendent Mallalieu in supervising the arrangements

and maintaining order, were so well appreciated by the showmen and the

keepers of booths and stalls, that they joined in presenting each with a

silver cup, at a dinner which took place at the Champion Tavern,

Paddington.

At the ordinary fairs visited during the latter part of this year, Johnson

and Lee exhibited a panorama of the coronation, painted by Marshall, which

proved very attractive. Enfield Fair being spoiled by wet weather,

application was made to the local magistrate for an extra day, which at

Croydon was always conceded in such circumstances; but it was refused, the

Enfield justice seeming to be of opinion that actors and acrobats were

vagabonds who ought to be discouraged by every possible means. Resolved

not to be disappointed, Johnson and Lee issued a bill in the name of

Jones, a man who sold refreshments in the theatre, announcing that, in

consequence of the wet weather having prevented him from clearing his

stock of nuts, the proprietors had given him the use of the theatre for an

extra day, when the usual performances would be given without charge, but

prices ranging from a shilling to three shillings would be charged for

nuts to be supplied to the persons admitted.

Haydon's theatre made its last appearance at Croydon Fair, where great

exertions were made to render it as attractive as Johnson and Lee's, but

it was not patronised to near the same extent as the latter; and Johnson

and Lee's offer to purchase the concern being entertained by the

proprietor, it from that time ceased to exist, being absorbed into the

more popular establishment.

Croydon Fair used, at this time, to be visited by large numbers of

persons, not only from the surrounding villages, but even from the

metropolis. All the inhabitants of the town prepared for visitors, for

everyone who had a relative or acquaintance in Croydon was sure to make

the fair an occasion for a visit. Two time-honoured customs were connected

with the October fair, everybody commencing fires in their sitting-rooms

on the first day of the fair, and dining on roast pork or goose. The

latter custom was observed even by those who, having no friends to visit,

dined in a booth; and the number of geese and legs of pork to be seen

roasting before glowing charcoal fires in grates of immense width, in the

rear of the booths, was one of the sights of the fair.

There were two entrances to the fair from the town, one at the gate which

gave access at ordinary times to the foot-path across the field, leading

to Park Hill; and the other, made for the occasion, farther southward, for

the accommodation of those who approached the field from the avenues on

the east side of High Street. Each was bordered for a short distance by

the standings of itinerant vendors of walnuts, oysters, and fried

sausages, beyond which was a long street of gingerbread stalls,

terminated, in the one case, by the shows of the exhibitors of wax-work,

living curiosities, and pictorial representations of great historical

events, and in the other by the smaller and less pretentious

drinking-booths. At right angles to these canvas streets, and opening from

them near their commencement, was a third, covered over with an awning,

and composed of the stalls of the dealers in toys and fancy goods. This

was called Bond Street.

Parallel with this avenue, and connecting the further ends of the two

streets of gingerbread stalls, was one broader than the others, bordered

on the side from which it was approached with gingerbread stalls, and on

the further side with the principal shows and booths. First in order, on

the latter side, stood Clarke's circus, with the proprietor on the steps,

in a scarlet coat and white breeches, smacking a whip, and shouting, "This

way for the riders! the riders!" Three or four spotted and cream-coloured

horses, gaily caparisoned, stood on the platform, and a clown cracked his

"wheeze" with a couple of young fellows in tights and trunks, in their

intervals of repose from acrobatic feats of the ordinary character.

Next to the circus stood a portable theatre, usually Scowton's, in rivalry

with the neighbouring show of the famous Richardson, which was always the

largest, and was worked by the strongest company. On the exterior

platforms of both, practical jokes were played upon the pantaloon by the

harlequin and the clown; young ladies in short muslin skirts danced to the

lively strains of the orchestra, and broad-sword combats were fought in

the approved one! two! three! over and under style. Next to Richardson's

show stood the menagerie of Wombwell or Atkins, where a broad array of

pictorial canvas attracted a wondering crowd, and the brazen instruments

of musicians, attired in uniforms copied from those of the royal

"beef-eaters," brayed and blared from noon till night.

Then came the principal booths, wherein eating and drinking was the order

of the day, and dancing that of the night. The largest and best appointed

of these was the Crown and Anchor, well known to fair-goers for half a

century, the name of Algar being "familiar in their mouths as household

words," as that of an experienced caterer for their entertainment. There

was a tolerable quadrille band in attendance from eve till midnight, and,

in the best days of the fair, the sons and daughters of the shopkeepers of

the town and the farmers of the surrounding neighbourhood mingled in the

dance in the "assembly room" of Algar's booth without fear of scandal or

loss of caste. There was dancing in the other booths, but they were

smaller, the music and the lighting were inferior, and the company less

select. Among those that stood in a line with Algar's were the Fives

Court, kept by an ex-pugilist, and patronised chiefly by gentlemen of the

"fancy;" and the gipsies' booth, which had no other sign than the ancient

one of a green bough, and was resorted to for the novelty of being waited

upon by dark-eyed and dusky-complexioned Romanies, wearing bright-coloured

silk handkerchiefs over their shoulders, and long gold pendants in their

ears.

Within the area enclosed by these avenues were swings and round-abouts,

while the "knock 'em downs," the "three shies a penny" fellows, the

predecessors of the Aunt Sallies of a later day, occupied the vacant

spaces on the skirts of the pleasure fair, wherever the ground was not

covered, on the first day, with horses, sheep, and cattle.

At midnight on the 1st the fair was opened by the ceremony of carrying an

enormous key through it, and the booth-keepers were then allowed to serve

any customers who might offer. By daylight next morning the roads leading

to the fair-field were thronged with sheep and cattle, thousands of which,

with scores of horses, changed owners before sunset. There was little

movement in the long avenues of shows, booths, and stalls, until near

noon, when nursery maids led their charges through Bond Street, and

mothers took their younger children there to buy toys. About mid-day the

showmen unfurled their pictures, which appealed so strongly to the

imaginations of the spectators, the bands of the larger shows began to

play, and clowns and acrobats, dancers and jugglers, appeared upon the

exterior platforms. From this time till sunset the throng of visitors

increased rapidly, and on fine days the crowd before the principal shows

was so dense as to offer considerable impediment to locomotion.

When darkness began to descend upon the field, lamps flared and flickered

on the fronts of the shows, smaller lights glimmered along the toy and

gingerbread stalls, and thousands of tiny lamps, blue, and amber, and

green, and ruby, arranged in the form of crowns, stars, anchors, feathers,

etc., illuminated the booths. Then the showmen beat their gongs with

redoubled vigour, and bawled through speaking-trumpets till they were

hoarse; the bands brayed and blared louder than before; and the sounds of

harps and violins showed that dancing had commenced in the booths.

In those days it sometimes happened that two circuses attended the fair,

when the larger of the two was pitched in a field on the west side of the

road, and bounded on the south side by Mint Walk, one of the avenues by

which the fair was approached from High Street. In a circus thus

located--I think it was Clarke's--Miss Woolford, afterwards the second

wife of the great equestrian, Andrew Ducrow, exhibited her grace and

agility on the tight-rope in a blaze of fireworks, in emulation of the

celebrated Madame Saqui's performance at Vauxhall Gardens. The equestrian

profession still numbers Ducrows in its ranks, two young men of that name

belonging at the present time to Newsome's circus company; but I have not

met with the name of Woolford since 1842, when a young lady of that name,

and then about twelve or thirteen years of age, danced on the tight-rope

in a small show pitched at the back of the town-hall at Croydon, during

the July Fair.

The October fair at Croydon closed the season of the shows which confined

their perambulations to a distance of fifty miles from the metropolis,

where, or in the provincial towns possessing theatres, the actors, clowns,

acrobats, etc., obtained engagements for the pantomime season. This year,

the entire company of Johnson and Lee's theatre was engaged for the

Marylebone.

In 1839, this theatre, with John Douglass and Paul Herring still in the

company, stood next to Hilton's menagerie at Greenwich, where the season

commenced with most of the shows which made London their winter quarters.

It was about this time that James Lee, who was then manager of Hilton's

menagerie, suggested the certain attractiveness of the exhibition by a

young woman of the performances with lions and tigers which had been found

so productive to the treasuries of the Sangers, Batty, and Howes and

Cushing, when exhibited by a man. It was proposed to bring out as a "lion

queen" the daughter of Hilton's brother Joseph, a circus proprietor; and

the young lady, being familiar with her uncle's lions, did not shrink

from the distinction. She made her first public appearance with the lions

at Stepney Fair, and the performance proved so attractive that the example

was contagious. Edmunds had at this time a fine group of lions, tigers,

and leopards, and a young woman named Chapman (now Mrs. George Sanger)

volunteered to perform with them, as a rival to Miss Hilton.

Miss Chapman, who had the honour of appearing before the royal family at

Windsor Castle, had not long been before the public when a third "lion

queen" appeared in Wombwell's menagerie in the person of Helen Blight, the

daughter of a musician in the band. The career of this poor girl was as

brief as its termination was shocking. She was performing with the animals

at Greenwich Fair, when a tiger exhibited some sullenness or waywardness,

for which she very imprudently struck it with a riding-whip which she

carried. With a terrible roar, the infuriated beast sprang upon her,

seized her by the throat, and killed her before she could be rescued. This

melancholy affair led to the prohibition of such performances by women;

but the leading menageries have continued to have "lion kings" attached to

them to the present day.

It was in this year that the war against the shows was renewed by the

authorities of the City of London, who doubled the charges hitherto made

for space in Smithfield, Wombwell, for instance, having his rent raised

from forty to eighty pounds, Clarke's from twenty-five to fifty, and

others in the same proportion. After the fair, the London City Missions

Society presented a memorial to the Corporation, praying for the

suppression of the fair, and the City Lands Committee was instructed by

the Court of Aldermen to consider whether, and by what means, its

suppression could be legally accomplished. The committee referred the

question to the solicitor of the City, who was requested to report to the

Markets Committee "as to the right of the Corporation of London to

suppress Bartholomew Fair, or otherwise to remove the nuisances and

obstructions to trade to which it gives rise."

The solicitor accordingly examined the archives in the town-clerk's

office, as well as books in the City Library and the British Museum, for

the purpose of tracing the history of the fair, and of other fairs which

formerly existed in the metropolis, and the right to hold which was

likewise founded upon charters, and which had been abolished or fallen

into disuse. His researches led him to the conclusion that "the right to

hold both fairs having been granted for the purpose of promoting the

interests of trade, it is quite clear that no prescriptive right can be

set up to commit any nuisance incompatible with the purposes for which

they were established; if, therefore, the Corporation should be satisfied

that the interests of the public can be no otherwise protected than by

confining the fair to its original objects and purposes, they may

undoubtedly do so, and this would in fact, be equivalent to its entire

suppression."

This course was, however, that which had been adopted, without success, in

1735, and the legal adviser of the Corporation could not avoid seeing that

"it is at all times difficult, by law, to put down the ancient customs and

practices of the multitude." Both May Fair and Lady Fair had been

suppressed without the intervention of Parliament, however, and it seemed

probable that "old Bartlemy" would be extinguished before long by natural

decay, and that the best course would be to provide for its due regulation

during its decline.

"When we consider," said the report, "the improved condition and conduct

of the working classes in the metropolis, and reflect upon the

irrefragable proofs continually before us, that the humbler orders are

fast changing their habits, and substituting country excursions by

railroad and steamboat, and other innocent recreations, for vicious

amusements of the description which prevailed in Bartholomew Fair, it is,

perhaps, not too much to conclude that it is unnecessary for the

Corporation to apply to Parliament to abate the nuisance; but that, if

they proceed to lay down and enforce the observance of judicious

regulations in the fair, and to limit its duration and extent, it may be

permitted to continue, in the confident belief that many years will not

elapse ere the Corporation may omit to proclaim the fair, and thus

suppress it altogether, without exciting any of those feelings of

discontent and disapprobation with which its compulsory abolition would

probably be now attended."

When this report was submitted to the Court of Common Council, in July,

1840, considerable diversity of opinion was found to prevail as to the

course which should be adopted. The majority either adopted the view of

the London City Missions Society, or the more moderate sentiments of the

reporter, Mr. Charles Pearson; but the principles therein enunciated did

not pass without challenge. Mr. Anderton was "decidedly opposed to the

canting and Methodistical grounds for interfering with one of the only

amusements now remaining to the poor inhabitants of London." Mr. Wells

thought that the fair, under proper regulations for the prevention of

disorder, would be innoxious, and that the gaming-houses of the

metropolis were a fitter subject for suppression. Mr. Taylor regarded the

objections to the fair as "the wild chimeras of fanaticism." But after a

long discussion, the report was adopted by forty-three votes against

fourteen. The Market Committee declined, however, to limit the fair to two

days, or to exclude shows entirely, though they resolved to again raise

the rents of the shows that were admitted, to permit no disturbance of the

pavement, to continue the exclusion of swings and roundabouts, and to

admit no theatres for dramatic performances.

The policy resolved upon was, therefore, simply one of vexation and

annoyance, and contributed nothing to the promotion of morality and order.

Johnson and Lee's theatre, Clarke's circus, Frazer's acrobatic

entertainment, Laskey's giant and giantess, and Crockett's and Reader's

exhibitions of living curiosities, were refused space in Smithfield; and

the only shows admitted were the menageries of Wombwell, Hilton, and

Wright, and Grove's theatre of arts. Why the performances of lions and

tigers should be regarded with more favour than those of horses, Miss

Clarke on the tight-rope be considered a more demoralising spectacle then

Miss Hilton or Miss Chapman in a cage of wild beasts, and the serpents and

crocodile in Crockett's caravan more suggestive of immoral ideas than the

monkeys in the menageries, is a problem which does not admit of easy

solution, and which only an aldermanic mind could have framed.

The suburban fairs were declining so much at this time that Johnson and

Lee were deterred by their diminished receipts at Greenwich and Deptford

from visiting Ealing, Camberwell, and Enfield; and, on being excluded from

Smithfield, proceeded to Chatham, whence they moved to Croydon. The

decadence was still more manifest in the following year, and at Enfield an

attempt was made by the magistrate to prevent them from opening on the

third day, the more officious than learned administrator of the law being

ignorant of the fact that, though the fair had for many years been held on

two days only, the charter by which it was held allowed three days. Lee

had taken care to obtain a copy of the charter, and on the superintendent

of police going to the theatre with the magistrate's order for its

immediate removal, he positively refused obedience to the mandate, and

produced the charter. The superintendent thereupon apologised, and

returned to the magistrate with the news of his discomfiture.

At Bartholomew Fair, Wombwell's was the only show of any consequence. His

collection had at this time grown to be, not only the largest and best

travelling, but equal, and in some respects superior, to any in the world.

He had twelve lions, besides lionesses and cubs, and eight tigers, a

tigress, and cubs, in addition to a puma, a jaguar, a black tiger, several

leopards, an ocelot, a serval, and a pair of genets. There were also

striped and spotted hyenas, wolves, jackals, coati-mondies, racoons, a

polar bear, a sloth bear, black and brown bears, a honey bear, and a

couple of porcupines. The hoofed classes were represented by three

elephants, a fine one-horned rhinoceros, a pair of gnus, a white antelope,

a Brahmin cow, an axis deer, and three giraffes, which had lately been

brought from Abyssinia by M. Riboulet, a French traveller, and were the

first of their kind ever exhibited in the fair.

Croydon Fair was disturbed this year by a fight between the youths of the

East India Company's military college at Addiscombe, about a mile from the

town, and the members of Johnson and Lee's company. The _fracas_

originated with an insulting remark made by one of the cadets, as they

were generally called, to a young lady of the theatrical company,

promenading at the time on the parade. The insult was promptly resented by

a male member of the _troupe_, who hurled the offender down the steps. A

dozen of his companions immediately rushed up the steps, and assailed the

champion, who was supported by the rest of the company; and the

consequence was a sharp scrimmage, ending in the arrival of several

constables, and the removal to the station-house of as many of the cadets

as could not escape by flight. Next morning they were taken before the

magistrates, and, being proved to have been the aggressors, they were

fined; and from that time the military aspirants of Addiscombe were

forbidden to enter the town during the three days of the fair.

Charles Freer was the leading actor of the company at this time, and the

principal lady was Mrs. Hugh Campbell, whom I remember seeing a year or

two afterwards at the Gravesend theatre. She was subsequently engaged, as

was Freer also, at the Pavilion. Her successor on the Richardsonian boards

was Mrs. Yates, who was afterwards engaged at the Standard.

The harlequin was a nervous, eccentric, one-eyed young man named Charles

Shaw, who was dismissed from the company towards the close of the season

on account of his freaks reaching a pitch which at times raised a doubt as

to his sanity, besides threatening detriment to the interests of the

theatre. When the time approached at which the campaign of 1842 was to be

commenced, it was found necessary to advertise for a harlequin; and the

announcement of the want produced a response from Charles Wilson, who

stated that he had been engaged through the preceding pantomime season at

the Birmingham theatre. This gentleman seeming eligible, he was engaged,

but was not seen by Lee, or any of the company, until he presented himself

at the theatre on Easter Sunday, at Greenwich. Lee was immediately struck

with the new harlequin's remarkable resemblance to the old one, which

extended to every feature but the eyes; these were the same colour as

Shaw's, but he had two, while Shaw had lost one. On the second day of the

fair, however, it was discovered that the eye which had thus long puzzled

every one as to his identity was a glass one; and on his being charged

with being Shaw, he acknowledged the deception, observing that he had felt

sure that he would not be re-engaged if he applied in his proper name. The

deception was pardoned, and Shaw's subsequent freaks seem to have been

fewer, and of a milder character.

The effects of the policy resolved upon by the City authorities in 1840

became more perceptible every year. In 1842, only one of the few shows

that appeared in Smithfield issued a bill, which, as a curiosity, being

the last ever issued for Bartholomew Fair, I subjoin:--

EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON!!!

THE GREATEST WONDER IN THE WORLD

Now Exhibiting Alive,

_At the Globe Coffee House, No. 30, King Street_,

SMITHFIELD,

A FEMALE CHILD WITH TWO PERFECT HEADS,

Named Elizabeth Bedbury, Daughter of Daniel and Jane Bedbury, Born at

Wandsworth, Surrey, April 17th, 1842. The public is respectfully informed

that the Child is now LIVING; and hundreds of persons has been to see it,

and declares that it is the most Wonderful Phenomenon of Nature they'd

ever seen.

ADMISSION 1_d._ Each.

No Deception; if dissatisfied, the Money Returned.

Nelson Lee played a trick at Croydon Fair this year which can only be

defended on the principle that "all is fair at fair time." Finding that

the Bosjesmans were being exhibited in the town, and were attracting great

numbers of persons to their "receptions," he hung out, on the second day

of the fair, a show-cloth with the announcement, in large black letters,

"_Arrival of the Real Bosjesmen_." to represent the strange specimens of

humanity which had lately been discovered in South Africa, and their

appearance on the parade in an antic dance produced a rush to witness the

further representations of the manners and sports of savage life to be

seen inside.

A startling event occurred on the following morning. One of Wombwell's

elephants escaped from confinement, and at the early hour of three in the

morning was seen, to the amazement and alarm of old Winter, the watchman,

walking in a leisurely manner down High Street. He was in the habit of

being taken every morning by his keeper to bathe in Scarbrook pond, a

small piece of water skirted by a lane connecting the modern and now

principal portion of the town with the Old Town; and on such occasions he

was regaled with a bun at a confectioner's shop at the corner which he had

to turn out of High Street, near the Green Dragon. While a constable ran

to the George the Fourth, where some of Wombwell's _employés_ were known

to be located, the elephant reached the confectioner's shop, and, finding

it closed, butted the shutters with his enormous head, and, amidst a crash

of wood and glass, proceeded to help himself to the delicacies inside. On

the arrival of his keeper, the docile beast submitted himself to his

guidance, and was led back to his stable; but Wombwell had to pay the

confectioner seven or eight pounds for the damage done to the shop window

and shutters.

Johnson and Lee commenced the season of 1843 with several members of the

Pavilion company in their fair _corps_; but they attended fewer fairs than

in any previous year, and in 1844 their theatre appeared only at

Greenwich, Enfield, and Croydon. In the following year, it was burned,

while standing in a field at Dartford, and the proprietors, not being

insured, suffered a loss of seventeen hundred pounds. Nothing was saved

but the parade waggon, which was dragged away before the flames reached

it, and, with the scene waggon and other effects which had been bought of

Haydon in 1838, formed the nucleus of the new theatre with which the

proprietors opened the fair campaign of 1847. Henry Howard joined the

travelling company in that year at Ealing Fair, on the closing of the

Standard.

During the latter part of their career as proprietors of a travelling

theatre, the successors of Richardson found it more profitable to conduct

their business on the system, since adopted by Newsome and Hengler with

their circuses, of locating the theatre for two or three weeks at a time

in some considerable town, than to wander from fair to fair, staying at

each place only three or four days. At the present day, the circuses just

named draw good houses, as a rule, for three months; but a quarter of a

century ago this was not thought practicable, and in 1849, when Johnson

and Lee erected their theatre at Croydon (in the Fair Field, but some time

before the fair), they did not deem it expedient to extend their stay

beyond three weeks. The company was drawn chiefly from the minor theatres

of the metropolis, and included Leander Melville, Billington, Seaman,

Phillips, Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Campbell, and Miss Slater. _The Stranger_ was

selected for the first night, and drew a good audience, as it invariably

does, wherever it is played. Under the able and judicious management of

Nelson Lee, and with a change of performances every night, good business

was done to the last. The experiment was repeated with equal success at

Uxbridge and Reading.

Another step towards the extinction of Bartholomew Fair was taken this

year by the exclusion from Smithfield of shows of every description; a

step which would have been at least consistent, if the civic authorities

had not made arrangements for the standing of shows of all kinds on a

large piece of ground adjoining the New North Road, called Britannia

Fields, near the site of the Britannia theatre. If the suppression of the

fair had been sought on the ground of its interference with the trade and

traffic of the city, this step would have been intelligible; but the moral

grounds upon which it was urged served to cover with ridicule the removal

of what was alleged to be a hot-bed of vice from Smithfield to Hoxton.

What right had the corporation to demoralise the dwellers in one part of

the metropolis, in order to preserve from further contamination the

inhabitants of another part?

Bartholomew Fair was reduced by this step to a dozen stalls, and from that

time may be considered as practically extinct. In Britannia Fields, what

was called New Bartholomew Fair was attended by the shows which of late

years had resorted to Smithfield and one or two others, among which was

Reed's theatre, the prices of admission to which ranged from sixpence to

two shillings. The performances consisted of _The Scottish Chieftain_, in

which Saker played Ronald, the principal character, and a pantomime called

_Harlequin Rambler_. Among the minor shows was that of Hales and his

sister, the Norfolk giant and giantess, who issued a bill containing the

following effusion of the Muse that inspired the poet of Mrs. Jarley's

wax-work:--

"Miss Hales and her Brother are here to be seen,

O come let us visit the sweet lovely Queen;

Behold she is handsome--in manners polite--

Both she and her brother near eight feet in height!

I have seen all the tallest in towns far and near,

But never their equal to me did appear!

All England and Scotland, and Ireland declare,

Their like was ne'er seen yet in them anywhere.

"Here's the smallest of women creation can show,

Complete in proportion from top to the toe;

And a Lady of rank from New Zealand secured,

Escap'd from the murder her husband endured!

And a fine youthful female presented to sight,

All spangled and spotted with brown and with white;

Large Crocodiles here, and a Boa behold,

With a fine Anaconda all glistening with gold.

"Here's a silver-haired Lady, with skin white as snow,

Whose eyes are like rubies that roll to and fro!

You will find her a species different from all,

The black and the whites, or the low and the tall!

But to sing all her beauties I need not begin,

Nor the fine azure veins that appear through her skin;

For these, mind, no poet or painter can show,

But when you behold her, O then you may know!

"Exhibitions like this may to us be of use--

What a contrast of creatures this world can produce!

See the tallest and smallest before us in state.

What a prodigy rare and phenomena great!

From such wonders eccentric presented to view

We now may our study of nature pursue;

And philosophy truly may draw from it then,

That Temp'rance produces the tallest of men."

Hales made enough money by the exhibition of himself to purchase the lease

and goodwill of a public-house in Drury Lane, where he lived several

years. Many persons visited the house purposely to see him, but he never

appeared in the bar before eleven o'clock, and was careful to avoid making

himself too cheap. I saw him once, in crossing the street towards his

house, stoop to raise in his arms a little girl, suggesting to my mind the

giant and fairy of a pantomime.

In pursuance of the policy indicated in the report of 1840, Bartholomew

Fair, now represented by a few stalls, was proclaimed in 1850 by deputy;

and this course was followed until 1855, when not a single stall-keeper

applied for space, and the ceremony of proclaiming the fair was omitted

altogether. The new fair in Britannia Fields was held only two or three

years, that concession to the showmen and to the fair-going portion of the

public having been designed only for the purpose of facilitating the

extinction of the old fair in Smithfield.

Greenwich Fair was the scene in 1850 of an outrageous and dastardly attack

on Johnson and Lee's theatre by a body of soldiers from Woolwich. It seems

to have originated in a practical joke played by a soldier upon a young

man in the crowd before the theatre, and which, being resented, was

followed by an assault. On the latter retreating up the steps of the

parade waggon, followed by his assailant, Nelson Lee interposed for his

protection, and was himself assaulted by the soldier, who was thereupon

ejected. A number of soldiers, witnessing the discomfiture of their

comrade, immediately rushed up the steps, and began an indiscriminate

attack upon everybody on the parade. The company, finding themselves

over-matched, took refuge in the interior, or jumped off the parade, and

fled as if for their lives.

An actor named Chappell stood by Nelson Lee after the rest had fled, but

he joined in the stampede ultimately, and the proprietor of the theatre

was left alone, defending himself and property against a swarm of foes.

The story told long afterwards of the harlequin of the company was, that

he ran without pause to the railway station, and jumped into a train just

starting for London. He then ran from London Bridge to Shoreditch, and

rushing, exhausted and excited, into a public-house adjoining the City of

London theatre, gasped, "Blood--soldiers--Mr. Lee--frightful affair--three

pen'orth o' brandy!"

The soldiers, having driven their opponents off the field, began

destroying the front of the theatre, and smashing the lamps, which,

fortunately, were not lighted. If they had been burning, the result would

probably have been a terrific conflagration, which might have swept the

fair, and destroyed many thousands of pounds' worth of property. Nelson

Lee, resisting with all his might the destruction of his property, had a

rope made fast round his body, and was about to be hoisted to the top of

the front, when a dozen constables arrived, and the assailants immediately

abandoned the field, and, leaping off the parade, mixed with the crowd.

Many of them were captured, however, and, being taken before a magistrate,

were committed for trial at the ensuing Old Bailey sessions. Johnson and

Lee withdrew from the prosecution, however, expecting that their

forbearance would be rewarded by pecuniary compensation for the

destruction of their property, which the Recorder had suggested should be

given by the officers of the regiment to which the offenders belonged;

but, on application being made to the officers, they informed Lee that

there were _no regimental funds_ available for the purpose, and I believe

not a penny was ever received by Johnson and Lee by way of compensation.

During the Whitsuntide Fair, the soldiers were confined to their barracks;

but, as many of them were in the habit of visiting the theatre with their

friends, this measure diminished the receipts, and thus added loss to

loss. Johnson and Lee attended no other fairs that year, but removed the

theatre to Croydon, where they erected it in a field adjoining the

Addiscombe Road, near the Brighton and South-Eastern railway stations.

Henry Howard and Mrs. Campbell played the leading characters here, and

afterwards at Hertford and Uxbridge.

Wombwell died this year in his living carriage at Richmond, at the age of

seventy-three. He was buried in Highgate cemetery, his coffin being made

of oak from the timbers of the _Royal George_, which sank off Spithead in

1782. As his executors were instructed by his will to have no nails used

in its construction, it was put together on the dove-tailing system. The

menagerie was divided in accordance with his will into three parts, which

were bequeathed respectively to his widow, a niece named Edmunds, and

another relative named Day.

The expectation of such results as attended the Hyde Park Fair of 1838

from the concourse of people flocking into the metropolis during the

summer of 1851, when the first great international exhibition was held,

caused arrangements to be made for a "world's fair" on a large scale, to

be held during the same time at Bayswater. A committee was formed for its

organisation and management, consisting of Johnson and Lee, Algar,

Mussett, Mills, Trebeck, and Young. Algar was the proprietor of the Crown

and Anchor refreshment and dancing booth, well-known to the frequenters of

Greenwich and Croydon Fairs; Mussett and Mills were almost as well known

as leading names among the stall-keepers attending the great fairs;

Trebeck was a toy-dealer in Sun Street, Bishopsgate.

The undertaking was as complete a failure, however, as the fair of 1838

had been a success. The ground was in bad condition, and its softness was

a difficulty at the commencement. Mrs. Wombwell's elephant waggon stuck in

the mud, and had to be left there until the next day; and the elephant

extricated himself with difficulty by lifting one leg at a time, and

stepping upon trusses of straw laid down to give him a firm footing.

Edmunds would not venture to the ground which he had taken for his

menagerie, but arranged his caravans at the entrance of the field. The

weather was cold and cheerless when the fair was opened, and the railway

companies had not begun running trains at low fares. When the fine weather

and the excursion trains did come, the fair had come to be regarded as a

failure, and it never recovered from the chill and blight of its

commencement.

Johnson and Lee's theatre appeared at Greenwich Fair for the last time in

1852, and proceeded thence to Uxbridge, where the company was joined by

James Robson, afterwards so famous as a comedian at the Olympic. In the

following year, the property was sold by auction, and, as a memorial of

an event which has seldom occurred, and will never occur again, I subjoin

the advertisement:--

"Notice.--To Carmen, Builders, Proprietors of Tea Gardens, Exhibitors, Van

Proprietors, Travelling Equestrians, Providers of Illuminations, &c.--The

Travelling Theatrical Property known as Richardson's Theatre, comprising

Covered Vans and Parade Waggons, Scenery, Wings, Stage Front, Orchestra,

with a double stock of beautiful scenery, waterproof covering, draperies,

massive chandeliers, a great quantity of baize, flags, &c. Large coat of

arms, variegated lamps and devices, eight capital 6-inch wheels, parade

waggons, with two large flaps to each, two capital excursion vans, trucks,

double stock of new scenery, shifting flies, fourteen long forms, large

stock of book-cloths and baize of large dimensions, battened

dancing-boards, erection of booths, handsome imitation stone front, two

capital money-takers' boxes, with fittings up, handsome ornamental urns,

large figures on pedestals, four guns and carriages, handsome pilasters,

machinery, flooring throughout the building, with numerous scenery and

stage devices, and every other article connected with the stage, a

quantity of quartering, iron, old wheels, &c., &c., &c. Which will be sold

by auction by Mr. Lloyd, on the premises, Richardson's Cottage,

Horsemonger-lane, Boro'. May be viewed, and catalogues had on the

premises, and of the Auctioneers, 5, Hatfield-street, Blackfriars-road."

The property was completely dispersed; the timber and wood-work being

purchased by builders, the waggons by wheelwrights, the canvas and

tilt-cloths by farmers, and the green baize, curtains, fittings, etc., by

Jew dealers. There is not the shadow of a pretence, therefore, for the use

of the name, "Richardson's theatre," by any showman of the present day.

The shows travelling after the sale and dispersion of Johnson and Lee's

were, exclusive of menageries and exhibitions, Abbott's theatre, Jackman's

theatre, and Fossett's circus. I am not sure that Reed's theatre was still

in existence. Abbott's theatre was at the Easter fair at Greenwich in

1852, when Charlie Keith, since famous all over Europe as "the roving

English clown," was fulfilling his first engagement in it as an acrobat.

Robson, the comedian, was at the same time performing in Jackman's

theatre, from which he transferred his services to Johnson and Lee's.

Fossett's circus was pitched that summer at Primrose Hill for a few days,

when one of the irregular fairs which are occasionally held in the

neighbourhood of London was held. It is a small concern, with only two or

three horses. Miss Fossett, the proprietor's daughter, is a tight-rope

performer, in which capacity she appeared a few years ago in Talliott's

circus, when the company and stud appeared one winter in a temporary

building at the rear of some small houses in New Street, Lambeth Walk.

James Talliott, to whom the houses belong, was then well known to the

frequenters of the London music-halls, and may be remembered as a trapeze

performer in conjunction with Burnett, who called himself Burnetti, but

was known among the professional fraternity as Bruiser. He afterwards

performed singly at the Strand Music-hall, now the Gaiety Theatre, and

other places of amusement in the metropolis, and has since owned a small

circus, with which he travels during the summer within a circle of a dozen

miles from London.

Hilton's menagerie had at this time passed into the possession of Manders,

and the lion-tamer of the show was an Irishman named James Strand, who had

formerly kept a gingerbread-stall, and had been engaged to perform with

the beasts when those attractive exhibitions had been threatened with

temporary suspension by the abruptness with which his predecessor,

Newsome--a brother, I believe, to the circus-proprietor of that name--had

terminated his engagement. Strand's qualifications for the profession were

not equal to his own estimate of them, however, and Manders had to look

out for his successor.

One day, when the menagerie was at Greenwich Fair, a powerful-looking

negro accosted one of the musicians, saying that he was a sailor just

returned from a voyage, and would like a berth in the show. The musician

communicated the man's wish to Manders, and the negro was invited to enter

the show. His appearance and confident manner impressed the showman

favourably, and, on his being allowed to enter the lion's cage, at his own

request, he displayed so much address and ability to control the animals

that he was engaged at once, and "the gingerbread king," as Strand was

called, was informed that his services could, for the future, be dispensed

with. This remarkable black man was the famous Macomo, who for several

years afterwards travelled with the menagerie, exhibiting in his

performances with lions and tigers as much daring as Van Amburgh, and as

much coolness as Crockett.

One of the finest tigers ever imported into this country, and said to be

the identical beast that escaped from Mr. Jamrach's premises in St.

George's Street (better known by its old name of Ratcliffe Highway), and

killed a boy before it was recaptured, was purchased by Manders, and

placed in a cage with another tiger. The two beasts soon began fighting

furiously, upon which Macomo entered the cage, armed only with a

riding-whip, and attempted to separate them. His efforts caused both the

tigers to turn their fury upon him, and they severely lacerated him; but,

covered with blood as he was, he continued the struggle for supremacy

until the beasts cowered before him, and he was able, with the assistance

of the keepers, to separate them.

It is worthy of remark, in connection with the causes of accidents with

lions and tigers, that Macomo, like Crockett, was a strictly sober man,

never touching intoxicating liquors of any kind. "It's the drink," said

the ex-lion king, who was interviewed by the special commissioner of a

London morning journal two years ago; "It's the drink that plays the

mischief with us fellows. There are plenty of people always ready to treat

the daring fellow that plays with the lions as if they were kittens; and

so he gets reckless, lets the dangerous animal--on which, if he were

sober, he would know he must always keep his eye--get dodging round behind

him; or hits a beast in which he ought to know that a blow rouses the

sleeping devil; or makes a stagger, and goes down, and then they set upon

him."

Macomo's fight with the two tigers was not the only occasion on which he

received injuries, the scars of which he bore upon him to the day of his

death, which, contrary to the expectation of every one who witnessed his

performances, was a peaceful one. He died a natural death in 1870, when he

was succeeded by an Irishman named Macarthy, who had previously been

attached in a similar capacity to the circus of Messrs. Bell and Myers.

While performing, in 1862, with the lions belonging to that establishment,

he had had his left arm so severely mangled by one of the beasts that

amputation became necessary. This circumstance seems to have added to the

_éclat_ of his performances; but he had neither the nerve of Macomo, nor

his resolution to abstain from stimulants. Unlike his predecessor, he

frequently turned his back upon the lions, though he had frequently been

cautioned against the danger he thereby incurred; and it was believed that

his disregard of the warning was one of the causes of the terrible

encounter which terminated his existence.

Macarthy was bitten on two occasions while performing with Manders's

lions, prior to the disaster at Bolton. The first time was while

performing at Edinburgh, when one of the beasts made a snap at his

remaining arm, but only slightly grazed it. The second occasion was a few

days before the fatal accident occurred, when one of the Lions bit him

slightly on the wrist. He lost his life in representing a so-called "lion

hunt," an exhibition which was introduced by Macomo, and consists in

chasing the animals about the cage, the performer being armed with a sword

and pistols, and throwing into the mimic sport as much semblance of

reality as the circumstances allow. The exhibition is acknowledged by

lion-tamers themselves to be a dangerous one, and it should never be

attempted with any but young animals. For their ordinary performances,

most lion-tamers prefer full-grown animals, as being better trained; but a

full-grown lion does not like to be driven and hustled about, as the

animals are in the so-called "lion hunt," and when such are used for this

exhibition they are frequently changed.

Macarthy was driving the animals from one end of the cage to the other

when one of them ran against his legs, and threw him down. He soon

regained his feet, however, and drove the animals into a corner. Whilst

stamping his feet upon the floor, to make the animals run past him, one

of them crept stealthily out from the group, and sprang upon him, seizing

him by the right hip and throwing him down upon his side. For a moment the

spectators imagined that this was part of the performance, but Macarthy's

agonised features soon convinced them of the terrible reality of the scene

before them. As he struggled to rise, three other lions sprang upon him,

one of them seizing his arm, from which he immediately dropped the sword.

The keepers now hurried to the unfortunate man's assistance, some of them

endeavouring to beat off the infuriated lions, while others inserted a

partition between the bars of the cage, with a view to driving the animals

behind it. This was a task of considerable difficulty, however, for as one

beast was obliged to relinquish its hold of the unfortunate man, another

rushed into its place. Heated irons were then brought, and by their aid,

and the discharge of fire-arms, four of the lions were driven behind the

partition. Macarthy was lying in the centre of the cage, still being torn

by the lion that had first attacked him. A second partition was attempted

to be inserted, but was found to be too large; and then one of the keepers

drew the first one out a little, with the view of driving the fifth lion

among the rest. More blank cartridges were fired, without effect, and it

was not until the hot irons were applied to the nose of the infuriated

brute that it loosed its hold, and ran behind the partition.

Even then, before the opening could be closed, the lion ran out again,

seized the dead or dying man by one of his feet and dragged him into the

corner, where four of the beasts again fell upon him with unsatiated

thirst of blood. The terrible scene had now been going on for a quarter of

an hour, and, even when all the animals were at length secured, it was

found that they were next the entrance of the cage, the opposite end of

which had to be broken open before the mangled corpse of the lion-tamer

could be lifted out.

As lion-tamers are well paid, and this was only the second fatal accident

in the course of half a century, it is not surprising that, as soon as the

catastrophe became known, there were several candidates for the vacancy

created by Macarthy's death. Mrs. Manders had resolved to discontinue the

exhibition, however, and the applicants for the situation received an

intimation to that effect.

Mrs. Wombwell retired from the menagerie business in 1866, and was

succeeded in the proprietorship by Fairgrieve, who had married her niece.

Fairgrieve retired from the occupation in the spring of 1872, when his

fine collection of animals was sold by auction at Edinburgh. As the

public sale of a menagerie is a rare event, and Mr. Jamrach and Mr. Rice

do not publish prices current, the reader may be glad to learn the prices

realised.

The first lot was a racoon--"a very pleasant, playful pet," the auctioneer

said--which was knocked down to the Earl of Roseberry for one pound. Mr.

Bell Lamonby, another private collector, became the possessor of a pair of

agoutis; which he was assured were "sharp, active little animals, and

could sing like canaries," for an equally moderate sum. Then came a

strange-looking and ferocious animal called the Tasmanian devil, of which

there is a specimen in the gardens of the Zoological Society, and which

the auctioneer assured his hearers was as strong in the jaw as a hyena,

but not to be recommended for purchase as a domestic pet. Bids were slow,

and even the prospect of purchasing the devil for three pounds did not

render buyers enthusiastic; so that Mrs. Day bought the animal for five

shillings more.

Then came the baboons and monkeys. The Diana monkey, a white and

rose-breasted little animal, was purchased by Dr. Mackendrick for seven

pounds; while the Capuchin monkey, full of intelligence, and belonging to

a kind fancied by Italian organ-grinders, was knocked down to Mr. Rice

for thirty shillings. Mr. Jamrach purchased the drill, "a playful little

drawing-room pet, worth twenty pounds to put on the kitchen shelf to look

at," for five guineas; and Mr. Rice paid thirty pounds for a male

mandrill, five for a female of the same species, eighteen guineas for a

pair of Anubis baboons, and fifteen pounds for five dog-faced baboons.

Passing on to the bird carriage, the first specimen submitted to

competition was the black vulture, one of the largest birds of the

species, and in excellent plumage. Mr. Rice bought this bird for three

pounds ten shillings, and the condor, which had been forty years in the

show, for fifteen pounds. Next came the emu, "a very suitable bird for a

gentleman's park, and a nice show thing for the ladies in the morning,

after breakfast," which Mrs. Day secured for her collection at seven

pounds. Mr. Jamrach gave thirteen pounds for the pair of pelicans, bought

at the sale of the Knowsley collection, and which had been trained to run

races. The fine collection of parrots, macaws, and cockatoos was dispersed

among a number of local fanciers of ornithological beauties.

Proceeding to the larger mammals, the auctioneer knocked down a male

nylghau to Mr. Van Amburgh, the great American menagerist, for twenty-six

pounds, and a female of the same species to the proprietor of the

Manchester Zoological Gardens for ten guineas; while Mr. Jamrach secured a

llama for fifteen pounds, and Mr. Rice a young kangaroo for twelve pounds.

Professor Edwards, who had come over from Paris to pick up a few good

specimens for the Jardin des Plantes, purchased the white bear, "young,

healthy, and lively as a trout," for forty pounds, and a jackal for three

pounds. A Thibet bear and three performing leopards were knocked down to

Mr. Jamrach for five guineas and sixty pounds respectively. Another

leopard, advanced in years, realised only six guineas. Mr. Van Amburgh

secured the spotted hyena for fifteen pounds; while a performing striped

hyena brought only five shillings above three pounds. Among objects of

minor interest, a pair of wolves were sold for two guineas, an ocelot for

six pounds ten shillings, three porcupines for ten pounds more, a wombat

for seven pounds, a Malabar squirrel for five pounds, and a pair of boa

constrictors for twelve pounds.

The large carnivora excited much attention, and fair prices were realised,

though in some instances they were less than was expected. Mr. Rice gave a

hundred and eighty-five pounds for the famous lion with which Signor

Lorenzo used to represent the well-known story of Androcles, two other

lions for a hundred and forty pounds each, two young ones for ninety

pounds each, and a lioness for eighty pounds. A black-maned lion, said to

be the largest and handsomest lion in Britain, was sold to Mr. Jackson,

for the Bristol Zoological Gardens, for two hundred and seventy pounds;

and his mate, in the interesting condition of approaching maternity, to

Mr. Jennison, of the Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester, for a hundred guineas.

Mr. Jamrach gave two hundred pounds for a fine lion, and a hundred and

fifty-five pounds for the magnificent tigress that used to figure

conspicuously in the performances of Signor Lorenzo.

Mr. Rice, who was the largest purchaser, bought the gnu for eighty-five

pounds, and the zebra for fifty pounds. The camels and dromedaries, bought

principally for travelling menageries, realised from fourteen to thirty

pounds each, with the exception of a young one, bought by Dr. Mackendrick

for nine pounds ten shillings. Menagerists restrict the word "camel" to

the two-humped or Bactrian variety, and call the one-humped kind

dromedaries; but the dromedary, according to naturalists, is a small

variety of the Syrian camel, bearing the same relation to the latter as a

pony does to a horse. The dromedaries of Mr. Fairgrieve's collection were,

on the contrary, taller than the Bactrian camels.

There was a spirited competition for the two elephants, ending in the

magnificent full-tusked male, seven feet six inches in height, being

knocked down to Mr. Jennison for six hundred and eighty pounds, and the

female, famous for her musical performances, to Mr. Rice for a hundred and

forty-five pounds. The former animal was described as the largest and

cleverest performing elephant ever exhibited. In stature he is exceeded,

it is said, by the elephant kept by the Emperor of Russia at the gardens

of Tsarski-Seloe; but, while the performances of that beast have been

confined to the occasional killing of a keeper, the animal now in the

Belle Vue Gardens at Manchester, besides performing many tricks evincing

great docility and intelligence, was accustomed to draw the band carriage,

would pull a loaded waggon up a hill, and had for the last eighteen months

preceding the sale placed all the vans of the menagerie in position, with

the assistance of a couple of men. The entire proceeds of the sale were a

little under three thousand pounds.

I do not remember ever visiting a travelling menagerie that afforded me

greater pleasure than one of the smaller class which I saw some thirty

years ago at Mitcham Fair, and subsequently at Camberwell Fair. There were

no lions or tigers in the collection, but it included four performing

leopards, a tame hyena, and a wolf that seemed equally tame, if such an

inference could be drawn from the presence of a lamb in its cage. The

showman, who wore neither spangled trunks, nor a coat of chain-mail, but

corduroy breeches and a sleeved vest of cat's skin, entered the leopard's

cage, with a riding whip in one hand and a hoop in the other. The animals

leaped over the whip, through the hoop, and over the man's back,

exhibiting throughout the performance as much docility as dogs or cats.

The whip was used merely as part of the "properties." The man afterwards

entered the cage of the hyena, which rubbed its head against him, after

the manner of a cat, and allowed him to open its mouth. The hyena has the

reputation of being untameable; but, in addition to this instance to the

contrary, Bishop Heber had a hyena at Calcutta which followed him about

like a dog.

Tigers are little used as performing animals, partly perhaps from being

less easily procured, but also, I believe, from greater distrust of them

on the part of brute-tamers. There was a splendid tigress in Fairgrieve's

menagerie, however, with which Signor Lorenzo used to do a wonderful

performance; and I saw, some five-and-thirty years ago, in a show pitched

upon a piece of waste ground at Norwood, a tiger that played a prominent

part in a sensational drama, the interest of which was evolved from the

hair-breadth escapes of a British traveller in the wilds of Africa. The

author did not seem to have been aware that there are no tigers in that

part of the world, the animals so called by the Cape colonists being

leopards; but, as the old woman who took money replied to my remonstrance

that one tiger could not, without an outrage upon Lindley Murray, be

called performing _animals_, "what can you expect for a penny?"

The old showmen are now virtually extinct, and the London fairs have all

ceased to exist. "Old Bartlemy" died hard, but its time must soon have

come, in the natural order of things. Its extinction was followed closely

by that of all the other fairs formerly held in the suburbs of the

metropolis. Camberwell Fair was abolished in 1856, and the Greenwich Fairs

in the following year. I cannot better express my opinion as to the causes

which have led to the decline of fairs generally, but especially of those

held within half an hour's journey from the metropolis, and the

suppression of most of those formerly held within a shorter distance, than

by quoting a brief dialogue between a showman and an acrobat in 'Bob

Lumley's Secret,' a story which appeared anonymously a few years ago in a

popular periodical:--

"'Fairs is nearly worked out, Joe,' said the red-faced individual,

speaking between the whiffs of blue smoke from his _dhudeen_. 'Why, I can

remember the time when my old man used to take more money away from this

fair with the Russian giant, and the Polish dwarf, and the Circassian

lady, than I can make now in a month. Them was the times, when old Adam

Lee, the Romany, used to come to this fair with his coat buttons made of

guineas, and his waistcoat buttons of seven-shilling pieces. Ah, you may

laugh, Joey Alberto; but I have heard my old man speak of it many's the

time.'

"'There's good fairs now down in the shires,' observed the younger man;

'but this town is too near the big village.'

"'That's it!' exclaimed the showman. 'It's all along o' them blessed

railways. They brings down lots o' people, it is true; but, lor'! they

don't spend half the money the yokels used to in former times.'

"'Besides which,' rejoined he of the spangled trunks, 'the people about

here can run up to London and back for a shilling any day in the week, all

the year round, and see all the living curiosities in the Zoo, and the

stuffed ones in the Museum, and go in the evening to a theatre or a

music-hall.'"

The fair referred to was the October fair at Croydon; and I may add that

views similar to those which I have put into the mouths of the acrobat and

the showman were expressed to me in 1846 by a showman named Gregory, who

exhibited various natural curiosities and well-contrived mechanical

representations of the falls of Niagara and a storm at sea. He had just

received from the printer five thousand bills, which he carefully stowed

away.

"This fair don't pay for bills," said he. "I want these for Canterbury

Fair, where there's more money to be taken in one day than in this field

in three."

"Which do you reckon the best fair in your circuit?" I inquired.

"Sandwich," he replied. "That's a good distance from London, you see, and

though it's a smaller town than this, there's plenty of money in it. This

is too near London, now the rail enables people to go there and back for a

shilling, see all the sights and amusements, and get back home the same

night."

The fairs within half an hour's journey from London which are still held

are in a state of visible decadence. I walked through Kingston Fair last

year, about three o'clock in the afternoon, at which time Croydon Fair

would, even twenty or thirty years ago, have been crowded. The weather was

unusually fine, the sun shining with unwonted brilliance for the season,

and the ground in better condition for walking than I had ever seen the

field at Croydon on the 2nd of October. Yet there were fewer people

walking through the fair than I had seen in the market-place. The

gingerbread vendors and other stall-keepers looked as if they were weary

of soliciting custom in vain; the swings and the roundabouts stood idle;

some of the showmen had not thought the aspect of the field sufficiently

promising to be encouraged to unfurl their pictorial announcements, and

those who had done so failed to attract visitors.

Day's menagerie was there, and was the principal show in the fair; but the

few persons who paused to gaze at the pictures passed on without entering,

and even the beasts within were so impressed with the pervading

listlessness and inactivity that I did not hear a sound from the cages as

I walked round to the rear of the show to observe its extent. There was no

braying of brass bands, no beating of gongs or bawling through

speaking-trumpets. One forlorn showman ground discordant sounds from a

barrel-organ with an air of desperation, and another feebly clashed a pair

of cymbals; but these were all the attempts made to attract attention,

and they were made in vain.

This was on Saturday afternoon, too, when a large number of the working

classes are liberated who could not formerly have attended the fair at

that time without taking a holiday. There was a good attendance in the

evening, I heard; but, however well the shows and stalls may be patronised

after six o'clock, it is obvious that their receipts must be less than

half what they amounted to in the days when they were thronged from noon

till night.

Fairs are becoming extinct because, with the progress of the nation, they

have ceased to possess any value in its social economy, either as marts of

trade or a means of popular amusement. All the large towns now possess

music-halls, and many of them have a theatre; the most populous have two

or three. The circuses of Newsome and Hengler are located for three months

at a time in permanent buildings in the larger towns, and the travelling

circuses visit in turn every town in the kingdom. Bristol and Manchester

have Zoological Gardens, and Brighton has its interesting Aquarium. The

railways connect all the smaller towns, and most of the villages, with the

larger ones, in which amusements may be found superior to any ever

presented by the old showmen. What need, then, of fairs and shows? The

nation has outgrown them, and fairs are as dead as the generations which

they have delighted, and the last showman will soon be as great a

curiosity as the dodo.

INDEX

Abbott's theatrical booth, 358

Adams, the dancer, 154

African dwarfs, 80

Albinoes, 295, 310, 313

Albion dancing-booth, 263

Algar's dancing-booth, 263, 328, 333, 355

Allen, the dwarf, 205

Ambroise, the showman, 189

Amburgh, Van, the lion-tamer, 260

American juggler, 294

Annesley, Mrs., the dancer, 164

Appleby, the showman, 63

Arthur, the comedian, 144

Astley, the equestrian, 211

Aston, the comedian, 109, 121

Atkins's menagerie, 258, 277, 302, 304

Baker, Mrs., the theatrical manageress, 196

Ball, the showman, 271, 303, 309

Ballard's animal comedians, 169

" menagerie, 232, 241, 287, 303, 305

Banks and his performing horse, 23

Barnes, the showman, 63

" " pantaloon, 246

Barnett, Mrs., the actress, 349

Basil, the showman, 191

Baudouin, the comic dancer, 131

Bearded women, 33, 47

Belzoni's feats of strength, 216

Berar's _optikali illusio_, 311

Biffin, Miss, the armless portrait painter, 210, 231

Billington, the comedian, 349

Birds, performing, 178, 182, 188

Bisset, the animal trainer, 177

Blacker, the dwarf, 167

Blight, Helen, the lion-performer, 337

Boheme, the tragedian, 96

Booth, the theatrical manager, 94

Bradshaw, Miss, the actress, 144

Breslaw, the conjuror, 187, 192

Bridge's theatrical booth, 152, 163

Broomsgrove, the showman, 313

Brown, the showman, 272, 300

Brown's theatre of arts, 315

Brunn, the juggler, 189

Bullock, the comedian, 78, 95, 105, 107, 114, 119, 132

Burchall, the showman, 314

Burnett, the trapezist, 359

Cadman, the flying man, 145

Campbell, Mrs., the actress, 344, 349, 355

Canterel, Mrs., the actress, 110

Capelli, the conjuror, 307

Carey, the actor, 223, 230

Cartlitch, the actor, 246

Cats, performing, 178, 307

Chapman, Mary Anne, the albino, 314

" Miss, the lion-performer, 337

" the comedian, 114, 119, 127, 132, 138, 143

Chappell, the actor, 353

" the showman, 272

Charke, Mrs., the actress, 114

Cheshire girl, wonderful, 49

Chettle's theatrical booth, 151

Chetwood, the prompter, 105

Chinese jugglers, 302, 309

" lady, 292

Christoff, the rope-dancer, 20

Cibber, the tragedian, 107, 114

Circassian lady, 290

Clancy, the giant, 313

Clark, the posturer, 59

Clarke's circus, 268, 307, 332, 341

Clarke, Miss, the rope-dancer, 308

Clarkson, the showman, 191

Clench, the whistling man, 80

Coan, the dwarf, 167

Cooke's circus, 249

Corder, the murderer, head of, 303

Cornwell, the showman, 61

Corsican dwarf, 155, 188

Cousins's theatrical booth, 154

Cow, a double, 161

Cox, the comedian, 37

Crawley, the puppet-showman, 83

Crockett, the showman, 341

Crocodile, the first exhibited, 167

Crowther, the actor, 322

Cushings, the pantomimists, 150, 165

Dale's music booth, 64

Dancey, Mrs. and Miss, the dancers, 131

Day, the showman, 298

Day's menagerie, 355, 375

Dawson, the dwarf, 313

Derrum, Miss, the female tumbler, 115

Doggett, the comedian, 74, 79

Dogs, performing, 85, 169, 178, 307

Drury's menagerie, 310

Ducrow, Madame, the rope-dancer, 335

Dunstall's theatrical booth, 175

Dupain, the showman, 313

Dutch boy, wonderful, 70

" rope-dancer, 53, 150

Dwarf family, 298

Dyan, Ursula, the bearded woman, 47

Edmunds, the menagerist, 337, 355

Egleton, Mrs., the actress, 108

Elephant, performing, 284

" escape of an, 288, 347

Elliston, the theatrical manager, 236

England, the flying pieman, 240

Esquimaux youth, 294

Evans, the wire-walker, 172

Ewing's wax-work exhibition, 306, 310

Excell, the duettist, 123

Fairgrieve's menagerie, 365

Farnham, the dwarf, 313

Faucit, the actor, 221

Fawkes, the conjuror, 110, 112, 117

" " showman, 116, 123, 139, 150

Ferguson's wax-work exhibition, 310

Fielding, the novelist, 103, 107, 110, 113, 119, 124, 127

Finch, the posturer, 313

Finley, the acrobat, 73

" Mary, the rope-dancer, 73, 78

Fitzgerald, Mrs., the actress, 110, 123

Fives Court drinking booth, 333

Flemish giantess, 47

Flockton, the juggler and showman, 191, 200, 202, 206

Ford, the gingerbread vendor, 99

Fossett's circus, 358

Frano, Mdlle. de, the dancer, 131

Frazer, the conjuror, 303

Frazer's acrobatic entertainment, 341

Freer, the tragedian, 344

French, the single-stick player, 158

Gaetano, the bird imitator, 187

Garrick, the actor, 165

German rope-dancers, 50, 63, 73

Giffard, the theatrical manager, 106, 130

Gipsies' drinking booth, 333

Girardelli, Josephine, the fire-eater, 235

Glee-men and glee-maidens, 19

Gobert, Madame, the athlete, 244

Godwin, the showman, 151

Goodwin's theatrical booth, 143

Gouffe, the man-monkey, 306

Gregory, the showman, 374

Griffin, the actor, 107, 114, 137

Grosette, the actor, 225

Grove's theatre of arts, 341

Gyngell, the showman, 207, 238, 254

Haines, the fire-eater, 311

Hales, the Norfolk giant, 350

Hall, the rope-dancer, 43, 45

" " actor, 108, 119

Hall's museum, 192

Hallam, the tragedian, 107, 114, 119, 127, 131, 138, 143

Harper, the comedian, 96, 103, 109, 111, 114, 118, 137

Harris, the cat imitator, 182

Harris, the showman, 313

Haydon's theatrical booth, 320

Heads, lecture on, 186

Heidegger, Master of the Revels, 139

Herring, the pantomimist, 322, 336

Hewet, the comedian, 109

Hilton's menagerie, 336, 341, 359

Hilton, Miss, the lion-performer, 336

Hind, the actor, 121

Hippisley, the tragedian, 108, 110, 113, 119, 127, 132, 138, 143

" Miss, the actress, 162

Hipson, Miss, the fat girl, 289

Hoare, the showman, 243

Hocus Pocus, the King's conjuror, 30

Hog, enormous, 154

Holden's glass-blowing exhibition, 299, 301

Holland's, Lady, mob, 125, 201, 256

Horses, performing, 20, 23, 43, 83, 164, 178, 202, 305

Horton, Mrs., the actress, 94

Howard, the actor, 348, 355

Hoyo's wax-work exhibition, 310

Hulett, the comedian, 105, 109, 114, 120

Hussey's theatrical booth, 145, 151, 153, 156

Hyenas, tame, 308, 371

Inchbald, Elizabeth, the actress, 196

Irish giant, 52

Italian rope-dancer, 40

" sword-dancers, 154

Ives, the showman, 191

Jack, Manchester, the lion-keeper, 260

Jackman's theatrical booth, 358

Jano, the rope-dancer, 115, 130

Jefferies, the actor, 225

Jobson, the puppet-showman, 191, 202, 208

Johnson, the showman, 317, 320

" and Lee's theatrical booth, 321, 325, 336, 341, 343, 348, 352,

356

Kean, the tragedian, 214, 221

Keith, the clown, 358

Keyes and Laine, the conjurors, 303

Killigrew, Charles, Master of the Revels, 50

" Thomas, the King's jester, 49

Lacy, Mrs., the actress, 121

Ladder dance, 85

Laguerre, the actor, 119

Lane, the conjuror, 191

Laskey, the showman, 341

Lee, Nelson, the theatrical manager, 247, 254, 320, 346

Lee's theatrical booth, 102, 106, 108, 111, 114, 119, 121, 132, 138,

152, 163

" unlicensed theatre, 255

Legar, the actor, 132

Leigh, the comedian, 95

Leopard, escape of a, 232

" a tame, 287, 310

Leopards, performing, 368, 371

Lincolnshire dwarf, 294

Lion, a tame, 32, 274, 285

" baiting with dogs, 261

Lioness, escape of a, 241

Lion-tiger cubs, 277, 285, 304

Little, the comedian-hawker, 324

Living skeleton, the, 305

Lorenzo, the lion performer, 368

Lorme, Madlle. de, the dancer, 106

Luce, the dancer, 106

Macarthy, the lion performer, 362

Mackenzie, the hermit, 314

Macklin, the comedian, 144

Macomo, the lion performer, 360

Madagascar woman, 294

Mahoura, the cannibal chief, head of, 298

Malay savages, 290

Manchester Jack, the lion keeper, 260

Manders's menagerie, 359

March, the clown, 50

Maori woman, 292, 351

Mare with seven feet, 291

Master of the Revels, office of, 30

Matthews, the dancer, 164

Maughan, the showman, 289

Melville, the actor, 349

Menagerie, the first, 88

Mermaids, 162, 298

Miles's music booth, 64, 85

" menagerie, 209

Miller, the comedian, 75, 77, 107, 114, 119

Mills, the comedian, 107, 114, 119

Monkeys, performing, 20, 23, 40, 169, 178, 314

Monstrosities, 22, 32, 60, 161, 204, 217, 291, 310, 314, 346

Morgan, the comedian, 121

" Miss, the dwarf, 205

Morgan's menagerie, 287, 302

Morosini, the rope-dancer, 115

Mullart, the tragedian, 111

Mussulmo, the rope-dancer, 151

Mynn's theatrical booth, 86

Negro, wonderful, 168

Newman and Allen's theatrical booth, 323

Newsome, the lion performer, 359

Nichols, the comedian, 109

Nokes, Mrs., the actress, 104

Oates, the comedian, 105, 114, 119, 134, 162

" Miss, the actress, 114, 120

O'Brien, the Irish giant, 194, 229

Ogden, Mrs., the dancer, 154

Oronutu savage, 154

Orsi, the singer, 204

Owen, the clown, 196

Oxberry, the comedian, 221

Paap, the dwarf, 236

Pack, the comedian, 95

Palmer, the theatrical bill-sticker, 165

Parker's theatrical booth, 79

Peep-shows, 289, 305, 307

Penkethman, the elder, comedian, 71, 79, 95, 106

" " younger, comedian, 106, 108, 113, 120, 132

Penley, the showman, 200

Perry's menagerie, 159

Persian giant, 290

Peters, the comic dancer, 131

Petit, the showman, 115

Phantasmagorial exhibitions, 311

Philips, the fiddler and clown, 54, 57

Phillips, the posturer, 113

" " showman, 164

" " comedian, 133

" Mrs., the dancer, 134

" the Welsh dwarf, 294

Pidcock's menagerie, 186

Pierce, the gigantic Shropshire youth, 313

Pig-faced lady, 303, 305

Pigs, learned, 178, 243, 297, 301, 314

Pike's theatrical booth, 303

Pinchbeck, the mechanist, 110, 116, 123, 134, 139

Pinkethman, the puppet showman, 83

Polito's menagerie, 187, 209

Powell, the comedian, 105

" " fire-eater, 179

" " puppet showman, 83

Price, the equestrian, 309

Pritchard, Mrs., the actress, 113, 120, 127

Pullen's theatrical booth, 105

Punch and Judy shows, 27

Punchinello, the puppet showman, 29

Purden, Mrs., the actress, 121

Quin, the comedian, 95

Rapinese, the posturer, 131

Ray, the comedian, 104

Rayner's theatrical booth, 105

" the tumbler, 149

" Miss, the rope-dancer, 149

Reader, the showman, 341

Reed, the actor, 225, 317

Reed's theatrical booth, 350

Reverant, Madlle. de, the rope-dancer, 115

Reynolds, the comedian, 104, 106

" " showman, 151, 154

Richardson, the fire-eater, 48

" " showman, 217, 230, 235, 239, 248, 264, 302, 306, 316

River, the tumbler, 115

Roberts, the tragedian, 121

Roberts, Mrs., the actress, 114

Robinson, the conjuror, 191

Robson, the comedian, 356, 358

Rose's, Miss, imitations of actresses, 187

Rossignol, the bird trainer, 188, 193

Roy, Madlle. le, the dancer, 131

Rudderford, the mountebank, 50

Ryan, the comedian, 95, 119, 127

Saffery, the rope-vaulter, 308

Saffry's theatrical booth, 50

Saker, the comedian, 256, 350

Salway, the comedian, 113

Samwell, the showman, 270, 309

Saunders, Sarah, actress and acrobat, 323

" the showman, 209, 219, 221, 231

Scotch dwarf, 61

" giant, 303

Scowton's theatrical booth, 230, 316

Seaman, the actor, 349

Serpents, performing, 190

Settle, the dramatist, 86

Shaw, Miss, the beautiful albino, 310

" the harlequin, 344

Shuter, the comedian, 174, 179, 182

Silver-haired lady, 301, 351

Simmett, the showman, 313

Simpson, the vaulter, 80

Skeleton, the living, 305

Slater, Miss, the columbine, 349

Smith, the hand-bell ringer, 179

Spanish youth, wonderful, 61

Spellman, Mrs., the actress, 110

Spiller, the comedian, 95

" Mrs., the actress, 109, 111, 121

Spotted boy, 301

" girl, 351

Steward, the slack-wire performer, 168

Stock, Elizabeth, the giantess, 300

Stokes, the vaulter, 58

Strand, the lion performer, 359

Strength, feats of, 40, 98, 168, 244

Sword dancers, 64, 85

Talliott's circus, 359

Tarvey, the clown, 197

Taylor, the dancer, 123

Terwin, the showman, 134

Thwaites, the actor, 225

Thompson, the comic dancer, 131

Tiger, a tame, 159, 283

Tigers, performing, 371

Tarbutt, the comedian, 138, 143

Turkish rope-dancer, 33, 151

" wire-walker, 144, 188

Vanbeck, Barbara, the bearded woman, 33

Vaughan, the actor, 225

Vidina, Signora, the singer, 204

Violantes, the, rope-walkers, 144

Walker, the comedian, 94

Wallack, the actor, 221

Walpole, Lydia, the dwarf, 290, 313

Warner's theatrical booth, 150, 163, 174

Waterloo giant, 299

Wax-work exhibition, the first, 31

Webber, Eliza, the dwarf, 313

Wells, the actor, 225

Welsh dwarf, 167

Weston, Priscilla and Amelia, the twin giantesses, 313

Whitehead, the fat boy, 298

Whiteland, the dwarf, 203

Wignell, the poet, 179

Williamson, Mrs., the actress, 109

Wombwell's Menagerie, 257, 273, 302, 305, 307, 310, 337, 341, 347, 355,

365

Woodward, harlequin and actor, 97, 138, 144

Woolford, Miss, the rope-dancer, 336

Wright's menagerie, 341

Yates, the comedian, 134, 138, 143, 162, 174, 180

" Mrs., the actress, 144

" Miss, the actress, 164

Yeates, the showman, 116, 131, 163, 168

" the conjuror, 116, 131, 133, 149, 151, 153, 157, 163, 168

" Mrs., the actress, 157

Yorkshire giantess, 299

THE END.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND CO.,

LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

The original text includes an asterism symbol that is represented as

[Asterism] in this text version.

The original text includes a right pointing hand symbol that is

represented as [Pointing Hand] in this text version.