_THE GREAT BOTTLE-TRICK SWINDLE._
At the close of the year 1748, or in the beginning of 1749, the Duke of
Montague, Lord Portman, and some other noblemen were talking about the
gullibility of the people, and the Duke offered to wager that, let a man
advertise the most impossible thing in the world, he would find fools
enough in London to fill a playhouse, and pay handsomely for the
privilege of being there. “Surely,” said the Earl of Chesterfield, “if a
man should say that he would jump into a quart bottle, nobody would
believe that.” The Duke was somewhat staggered at this, but for the sake
of the jest determined to make the experiment. Accordingly the following
advertisement was inserted in the papers of the first week in January
1749:--
AT the New Theatre in the Hay market, on Monday next, the 12th
instant, is to be seen a Person who performs the several most
surprising things following, viz.--1st. He takes a common walking Cane
from any of the Spectators, and thereon plays the music of every
Instrument now in use, and likewise sings to surprising
perfection.--2dly. He presents you with a common Wine Bottle, which
any of the spectators may first examine; this Bottle is placed on a
Table in the middle of the Stage, and he (without any equivocation)
goes into it, in the sight of all the Spectators, and sings in it;
during his stay in the bottle, any Person may handle it, and see
plainly that it does not exceed a common Tavern Bottle.--Those on the
Stage, or in the Boxes, may come in masked habits (if agreeable to
them); and the Performer, if desired, will inform them who they
are.--Stage, 7s. 6d. Boxes, 5s. Pit, 3s. Gallery, 2s. Tickets to be
had at the Theatre:--To begin at half an hour after six o’clock. The
performance continues about two hours and a half.
_Note._-If any Gentlemen or Ladies (after the above Performance)
either single or in company, in or out of mask, is desirous of seeing
a representation of any deceased Person, such as Husband or Wife,
Sister or Brother, or any intimate Friend of either sex, upon making a
gratuity to the Performer, shall be gratified by seeing and conversing
with them for some minutes, as if alive; likewise, if desired, he will
tell you your most secret thoughts in your past Life, and give you a
full view of persons who have injured you, whether dead or alive. For
those Gentlemen and Ladies who are desirous of seeing this last part,
there is a private Room provided.
These performances have been seen by most of the crowned Heads of
Asia, Africa, and Europe, and never appeared public any where but
once; but will wait on any at their Houses, and perform as above, for
five Pounds each time. A proper guard is appointed to prevent
disorder.
On the appointed day the theatre was crowded to excess, but as there was
not even a single fiddle provided to keep the audience in good-humour,
signs of impatience soon began to manifest themselves. When the hour was
past at which the conjuror had to make his appearance, there arose a
horrible uproar, and the loud cat-calls, heightened by cries and beating
of sticks, soon brought a person on the stage, who, amidst endless
bowing and scraping, declared that if the performer did not appear
within a quarter of an hour, the money should be returned. At the same
time a wag in the pit exclaimed that if the ladies and gentlemen would
give double prices he would creep into a pint bottle. Scarcely was the
quarter of an hour’s grace elapsed, when a gentleman in one of the boxes
seized a lighted candle and threw it on the stage. This was the signal
for a general outbreak, the benches were torn up and everything that
could be moved was thrown about. The greater part of the audience made
the best of their way out of the house, the rush to the doors being so
dreadful that wigs, hats, cloaks, and dresses, were left behind and
lost. Meantime the mob remained and almost gutted the building: the wood
was carried into the street and made into a mighty bonfire, whilst the
curtain was hoisted upon a pole by way of a flag. Of the conjuror
nothing was ever heard, but the affair gave rise to a number of curious
advertisements. The Duke of Cumberland having lost his sword in the
general panic, it was advertised in the following manner:--
LOST, last Monday night at the Little Play house in the Hay market, a
Sword with a gold Hilt and cutting Blade, with a crimson and gold
Swordknot tied round the Hilt. Whoever brings it to Mr Chevenix’s Toy
shop, over against Great Suffolk Street, near Chearing Cross, shall
receive thirty Guineas reward, and no Questions asked.
It was probably a Jacobite who answered this by the following:--
FOUND entangled in the slit of a Lady’s demolished smock Petticoat, a
gold hilted Sword, of martial length and temper, nothing worse for
wear, with the Spey curiously wrought on one side of the blade, and
the Scheldt on the other; supposed to have been stolen from the plump
side of a great General, in his precipitate retreat from the Battle of
Bottle-Noodles, at Station Foote. Enquire at the Quart Bottle and
Musical Cane in Potter’s Row.
_N.B._--Every word of a certain late advertisement is true, except all
the advertisement.
Foote having been blamed by many for the occurrence of this disgraceful
hoax, excused himself by an advertisement, in which he threw the blame
upon Potter, the proprietor of the playhouse, whom Foote had warned that
he thought a fraud on the public was intended. To this Potter replied by
a counter-advertisement, explaining the precautions he had taken: how he
had not allowed the conjuror or any of his men to take the money, but
placed his own servants at the door, and how he would have returned it
all, but that the house was sacked and the takings stolen. On the 20th
of January there appeared an advertisement of Potter’s, which ran as
follows:--
WHEREAS a letter signed S. M. dated the 18th instant, was sent
yesterday by the Penny Post, directed to Mr Potter, in the Hay market;
which by the contents seems to come from the person who took Mr
Potter’s Theatre, for Monday last; wherein he complains of much ill
usage, and insists that the Man can perform the things he advertised,
and would have performed them, and was actually in a Coach in order to
come, but was intimidated by two Gentlemen who came from the Gun
Tavern, who told him he would be taken up if he performed: and in his
Letter he threatens, that in case Mr Potter will not give him £22,
which he says he was out of pocket, that he will apply to some Court
of Law or Equity, for justice: He also desires an answer in this
Paper--In answer to which, S. M. is desired to appear personally and
to give an Account of his Name and place of Abode; and he shall have
such Satisfaction as in justice deserves.
JOHN POTTER.
The same paper also contained the following exculpation:--
WHEREAS the Public was on Monday last basely abused by an Impostor,
who pretended to perform what was impracticable, at the Theatre in the
Hay market; the same imposition some evil-minded villains imagined
John Coustos, Lapidary, to be the author of: This is to assure the
Public that the said John Coustos had never such Design, nor ever
hired or caused to be hired, the House on any occasion whatever; and
to caution those his Enemies, who are the Authors of this Report, not
to assert a thing which they know to be a gross Falsity: And there are
those who are ready to attest on Oath that he was in their company
that Evening, and was at the Theatre as a spectator only.
JOHN COUSTOS.
Many attempts were made to fathom the depth and discover the origin of
this hoax, and several humorous explanations were given in the papers,
among them being the following:--
WHEREAS various stories have been told the Public, about the Man and
the Bottle, the following account seems to be the best as yet given of
that odd Affair; viz. A Gentleman went to him the same evening he was
to perform in the Haymarket, and asking him what he must have to
perform to him in private, he said £5, on which they agreed; and the
Conjuror getting ready to go into the Bottle, which was set on a
Table, the gentleman having provided a Parcel of Corks, fitted one to
the Bottle; then the Conjuror, having darkened the Room as much as was
necessary, at last with much squeezing got into the Bottle, which, in
a moment the Gentleman corked up, and whipt into his Pocket, and in
great haste and seeming confusion, went out of the House, telling the
Servants who waited at the door, that their Master had bewitched him,
and bid them go in and take care of him. Thus the poor Man being bit
himself, in being confined in the Bottle and in a Gentleman’s Pocket,
could not be in another Place; for he never advertised he would go
into two Bottles at one and the same time. He is still in the
Gentleman’s custody, who uncorks him now and then to feed him; but his
long Confinement has so damped his Spirits, that instead of singing
and dancing, he is perpetually crying and cursing his ill Fate. But
though the Town have been disappointed of seeing him go into the
Bottle, in a few days they will have the pleasure of seeing him come
out of the Bottle; of which timely notice will be given in the daily
Papers.
Pamphlets ridiculing the public for its gullibility issued from the
press with alarming rapidity, and advertisements of performances equally
impossible as the bottle-hoax continued to be inserted in the papers for
several weeks after. Among them were the following:--
_Lately arrived from Italy,_
SIGNOR CAPITELLO JUMPEDO a surprising Dwarf, no taller than a common
_Tavern Tobacco Pipe_: who can perform many wonderful Equilibres on
the slack or tight Rope: likewise he will transform his Body in above
ten thousand different Shapes and Postures, and after he has diverted
the Spectators two hours and a half, _he will open his Mouth wide_ and
jump down his own Throat! He being the most wonderfullest Wonder of
Wonders, as ever the World wondered at, would be willing to join in
performance with that surprising Musician, on Monday next in the Hay
market. He is to be spoke with at the Black Raven in Golden Lane,
every day from seven till twelve, and from two to all day long.
This was also an emanation caused by the current excitement, and was
published January 27, 1749:--
DON JOHN DE NASAQUITINE, sworn Brother and Companion to the Man that
was to have jumped into the Bottle at the Little Theatre in the Hay
market, on Monday the 16th past; hereby invites all such as were then
disappointed to repair to the Theatre aforesaid on Monday the 30th;
and _that_ shall be exhibited unto them, which never has heretofore,
nor ever will be hereafter seen. All such as shall swear upon the Book
of Wisdom that they paid for seeing the Bottle Man will be admitted
gratis; the rest at Gotham prices.
And then the public were treated to this, for the purpose of keeping up
the interest:--
_Lately arrived from Ethiopia,_
THE most wonderful and surprising Doctor BENIMBE ZAMMANPOANGO, Oculist
and Body Surgeon to Emperor of Monoemungi, who will perform on Sunday
next, at the little T---- in the Hay market, the following surprising
Operations; viz. 1st, He desires any one of the Spectators only to
pull out his own Eyes, which as soon as he has done, the Doctor will
shew them to any Lady or Gentleman then present, to convince them
there is no Cheat, and then replace them in the Sockets, as perfect
and entire as ever. 2dly, He desires any officer or other, to rip up
his own Belly, which when he has done, he (without any Equivocation)
takes out his Bowels, washes them, and returns them to their place,
without the Person’s suffering the least hurt. 3dly, He opens the head
of a J---- of P----, takes out his Brains, and exchanges them for
those of a Calf; the Brains of a Beau for those of an Ass, and the
Heart of a Bully for that of a Sheep: which Operations will render the
Persons more sociable and rational Creatures than they ever were in
their Lives. And to convince the town that no imposition is intended,
he desires no Money until the Performance is over. Boxes, 5 guin. Pit
3. Gallery 2.
_N.B._--The famous Oculist will be there, and honest S---- F---- H----
will come if he can. Ladies may come masked, so may Fribbles. The
Faculty and Clergy gratis. The Orator would be there, but is engaged.
Money seems to have been at least as plentiful as wit in those days,
for, from a lot of other notices bearing on this subject, we take
this:--
_This is to inform the Public,_
THAT notwithstanding the great Abuse that has been put upon the
Gentry, there is now in Town a Man, who instead of creeping into a
Quart or Pint Bottle, _will change himself into a Rattle_; which he
hopes will please both young and old. If this Person meets with
encouragement to this Advertisement, he will then acquaint the Gentry
where and when he performs.
Strange as it may seem, and notwithstanding all the expenditure of wit
and humour upon the credulity of the times that had been made, one
showman still thought there was room left for a further attempt at
attracting the public with the tenant of a bottle. Very soon after the
great hoax he published the following advertisement, which shows the
desire some industrious people have to avail themselves of the general
disposition of the time. The faculty of imitation is very largely
developed nowadays, as witness what follows as soon as any enterprising
theatrical manager makes “a hit,” and so it is pleasant to find that an
honest penny was turned in humble imitation of the great bottle
swindle:--
_To be seen at_ MR LEADER’S, _the Old Horseshoe, in Wood Street,
Cheapside, from Nine till Twelve, and from Four to Seven o’Clock,
Lately brought from France_,
A FULL grown MOUSE alive, confined in a small two ounce Phial, the
Neck of which is not a quarter of an inch Diameter. This amusing
Creature has lived in the Phial three Years and a half without Drink
or any Sustenance but Bread only. It cleans out its little Habitation,
and hath many other pretty Actions, as surprising as agreeable; but
particularly creates wonderful diversion with a Fly, and is allowed to
be an extraordinary Curiosity, never before seen in England; at the
Expense of 6d. each Person.
_Note._--Gentlemen or Ladies who don’t chuse to come, it shall be
carried to them, by sending a line to MR LEADER.
Like everything else of its kind, the excitement in connection with the
bottle-hoax soon gave way to fresh topics of public interest. The trick
has, however, been revived occasionally with more or less effect; and
Theodore Hook’s cruel, and not particularly clever, hoax, which made a
house in Berners Street notorious and its occupants miserable, was but a
phase of the swindle just related; and being so, loses whatever merit it
possessed in the eyes of those who will sacrifice anything to a joke, so
long, of course, as it is original and does not interfere with their own
comfort or convenience. Deprived of its originality, Hook’s exploit
stands forth as a trick hardly excusable in a boy, and utterly at
variance with the character of a gentleman. Now in the bottle-hoax there
was quite a different element; people were invited to the theatre to see
that which they must have known was utterly impossible. In obedience to
the laws which govern human nature, they readily accepted the
invitation, and also, in accordance with the same laws, they resented
the affront they considered had been put upon them. A moral might be
deduced from this, were it not for the fact, that if any hoax analogous
to the bottle-trick were to be advertised to-morrow in a conspicuous
manner, the proportion of dupes would be at least as great as it was in
1749. Perhaps greater.