a great age for an ordinary man, and quite without example in the
history of dwarfs. He died at Bank's Cottage, near Durham, on the 5th
of September, 1837, and his remains were placed near those of Stephen
Kemble, in the Nine Altars of Durham Cathedral. It is stated in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ (October, 1837), that the cottage was the gift
of some of the prebendaries of Durham, who also allowed him a handsome
income. They may have given him the cottage, but the income came,
as Boruwlaski himself informs us, from the Misses Metcalfe. In the
parish church of St. Mary-the-Less is a mural tablet of white stone,
with an inscription erected in memory of the Count, who long resided
in the city, and has, indeed, given his name to a bend in the river,
known as "Count's Corner."--(Walker's _Brief Sketch of Durham_, 4th
edition, 1865.) If the reader attentively considers the story we have
narrated, he will perceive that the Count, although an anomaly in
respect of size, was in all other respects a perfectly formed man,
and is distinguished from most other dwarfs by longevity, paternity,
and intelligence. The anomaly, therefore, could not have been deeply
seated. He was a perfect copy of nature's finest work in duodecimo.
A full-length portrait of him may be seen in the Hunterian Museum,
life-size, leaning against a chair.
It may be interesting to narrate a few more examples of dwarf life,
from accredited sources.
M. St. Hilaire relates from the _Philosophical Transactions_, 1751-2,
the case of a dwarf named Hopkins, who, at fifteen years of age, stood
only 2 ft. 7 in., and weighed between 12 and 13 lbs. He had all the
signs of old age. He was bent, deformed, and troubled with a dry cough.
His hearing and sight were bad; his teeth almost all decayed. He was
very thin, and so weak as scarcely to be able to stand. Till the age
of seven he had been gay, healthy, and active; nor at that age did he
show any indications of stopped growth. He was well formed, and weighed
nineteen pounds, _i.e._ six pounds more than he weighed at fifteen.
From that period his health declined, and his body wasted. He came
from healthy parents of ordinary stature, and was the second of six
children, another of whom also was a dwarf.
Dantlow, the Russian dwarf, was only thirty inches high; he was without
arms, and had only four toes on each foot. With his feet he made
pen-and-ink sketches rivalling etchings; and knitted stockings with
needles made of wood. He fed himself with his left foot; learned with
great facility, and was eager to learn.
M. Virey describes a German girl, exhibited in Paris in 1816. She was
of parents above the average height, who had previously produced a male
dwarf. At eight years old she weighed no more than an ordinary infant;
her height was eighteen inches. In temper she was gay, restless, and
excitable. Her pulse normally was at ninety-four.
M. Virey also relates the following example; Thérèse Souvray, was
destined to become the bride of Bébé, to whom she was solemnly
affianced in the year 1761; but death snatched the bridegroom from her,
and as the _fiancée_ of this celebrated man, she was exhibited in Paris
during the year 1821. She was then seventy-three years of age; gay,
healthy, lively, and danced with her sister, two years her senior, and
measuring only three feet and a half, French measure.
In 1865, there died in Paris the dwarf Richebourg, who was an
historical personage. Richebourg, who was only 60 centimètres high, was
in his sixteenth year placed in the household of the Duchess of Orleans
(the mother of King Louis-Philippe). He was often made useful for the
transmission of dispatches. He was dressed up as a baby, and important
State papers placed in his clothes, and thus he was able to effect a
communication between Paris and the _émigrés_, which could hardly have
taken place by any other means. The most suspicious of _sans culottes_
never took it into his head to stop a nurse with a baby in her arms.
For the last thirty years he lived in Paris in one of the houses in the
remotest part of the Faubourg St. Germain. He had a morbid dread of
appearing in public, and it is recorded that during this long period
he never put his foot outside the house. He received from the Orleans
family a pension of 3,000 francs per annum. He had attained the ripe
age of ninety-two.
A writer in _Fraser's Magazine_, August, 1856, from the above and
other examples of dwarfs quoted by him, sets down these few general
conclusions upon the question of their organization:--"In doing so,"
he remarks, "it will be well to bear in mind that the very fact of
dwarfs being _anomalies_, renders any generalization respecting them
subject to many qualifications in each particular instance. Thus,
although it is true, as a general fact, that they are short-lived and
unintelligent, we see examples of more than ordinary intelligence in
Boruwlaski and his brother, and Jeffrey Hudson, and of longevity in
them. One may assert, indeed, that longevity and intelligence are
intimately allied in the dwarf organization; for, whenever the anomaly
of growth is not profound enough to affect the health, it is presumably
too superficial to affect the intelligence; and, _vice versâ_, when
we see a being passing rapidly from childhood to old age, we may be
certain that the organization is too aberrant from the normal type to
permit the free development of intelligence. Another general fact about
dwarfs, and one to which we know of no exception, is that they are very
excitable, and consequently, irascible; when in good health, lively,
restless, and turbulent. This, indeed, is a characteristic of men and
animals of the small type."
The Irish Giant.
This extraordinary person, whose height was eight feet seven-and-a-half
inches, was born at Kinsale, in Ireland. His real name was Patrick
Cotter. He was of obscure parentage, and originally laboured as a
bricklayer. His uncommon size rendered him a mark for the cunning of a
showman, who, for the payment of 50_l._ per annum, had the privilege
of exhibiting Cotter for three years in England. Not contented with
his bargain, the huckster underlet to another speculator the liberty
of showing him; and poor Cotter, through resisting this nefarious
transaction, was saddled with a fictitious debt, and thrown into a
spunging-house in Bristol. In this situation he was visited by a
gentleman of the city, who, compassionating his distress, and having
reason to think that he was unjustly detained, generously became
his bail, and investigated the affair; and not only obtained Cotter
his liberty, but freed him from all kind of obligation to serve his
taskmaster any longer. He was then but eighteen years old. He retained,
to his last breath, a due sense of the good offices of the Bristol
stranger, conferred upon him when he was sorely in need; and the giant
did not forget his benefactor in his will.
It happened to be September when Cotter was liberated; and by the
further assistance of his benefactor, he was enabled to exhibit himself
in the St. James's fair at Bristol; and in three days he found himself
possessed of thirty pounds, English money. He now commenced a regular
exhibition of his person, which he continued until within two years
of his death, when having realized sufficient money to enable him to
keep a carriage, and live in good style, he declined to exhibit any
more, which was always irksome to his feelings. He was unoffending and
amiable in his manners; was possessed of good sense, and his mind was
not uncultivated; he long kept a journal of his life, which a whim
of the moment induced him to commit to the flames. He died in his
forty-sixth year, September 8th, 1806, at the Hotwells, Bristol. He was
buried in the Roman Catholic chapel, Trenchard Street, at six o'clock
in the morning, this early hour being fixed on to prevent as much as
possible the assemblage of a crowd; but it is stated that at least
2,000 persons were present. The coffin, of lead, measured nine feet two
inches in the clear, and the wooden case four inches more; it was three
feet across the shoulders. No hearse could be procured long enough to
contain the coffin, the projecting end of which was draped with black
cloth. Fourteen men bore it from the hearse to the grave, into which
it was let down with pulleys. To prevent any attempt to disturb his
remains, of which Cotter had, when living, the greatest horror, the
grave was made twelve feet deep, in a solid rock. A plaster cast of his
right hand may be seen at the College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Birth Extraordinary.
On Sunday, the 23rd of October, 1836, occurred an event interesting
to physiologists. The wife of a dwarf, Don Santiago de los Santos
(herself a dwarf), was delivered of a well-formed male infant, at their
residence, No. 167, High Holborn, near Museum Street. The accoucheurs
were Mr. Bowden, of Sloane Street, Chelsea, who had before attended
Donna Santiago on a similar occasion; and Dr. Davis of Savile Row. Both
gentlemen had for some time been very assiduous in their attentions to
the little lady; but the infant, though it came into the world alive,
did not survive above half-an-hour. Its length was thirteen and a half
inches: its weight one pound four ounces and a half (avoirdupois); it
was in every respect well-formed; and the likeness of the face to that
of its father was very striking. It was carried in a coffin to St.
George's Church, Bloomsbury; but being there refused sepulture, it was
taken home, preserved in spirits, and subsequently exhibited. Dr. Davis
was anxious to have it submitted to dissection, and to lecture upon
it in the theatre of University College; this, however, was objected
to by the Lilliputian parents, who appeared poignantly to feel the
proposition.
Don Santiago, who was only twenty-five inches high, was at this time
in his fiftieth year. He was a native of the Spanish settlement of
Manilla, in one of the forests of which he was exposed and deserted,
on account of his diminutive size. He was, however, miraculously
saved by the Viceroy, who was hunting in that quarter, and humanely
ordered him to be taken care of, and nursed with the same tenderness
as his own children, with whom the little creature was brought up and
educated, until he had attained the age of _manhood_. His birth dated
from the period of his exposure, which was in 1786. His parents, it was
ascertained, were farmers; and were with their other children (sons,
daughters), of robust frame, and rather above the usual height.
When the Don was twenty years of age, his humane protector died; and
attachment to the place of his birth prevented his accompanying his
foster brother and sisters to Old Spain. This wilfulness cost him
dearly; neglected by his parents and family, he suffered hardships and
privations of the most afflicting nature. At length he found his way to
Madras, and was, in the year 1830, brought to England by the captain of
a trading vessel. During the voyage he was washed overboard by a heavy
sea; but hencoops and spars being thrown out, and other assistance
afforded, his life was saved.
On his arrival in northern latitudes, he suffered severely from cold,
and even when accustomed to the climate, he could not swallow cold
water. Still, he never went near a fire, although he felt sensibly
if his room was not kept warm. He was stoutly built, and generally
in cheerful spirits and good health. His complexion was of a slight
copper colour, and the expression of his countenance was pleasing and
intelligent. His habits were temperate, and he seldom drank anything
but warm water; but on birthdays and other anniversaries, he indulged
in a few glasses of wine. He was fond of music and dancing, and gallant
to the ladies; but his ruling passion appeared to be a fondness for
jewellery and silver-plate, to which ornaments he had been accustomed
in the house and at the table of the Viceroy of Manilla. His mind
appeared to be deeply impressed with the tenets of the Roman Catholic
church, in which his foster-father took care to have him instructed.
He read his prayer-book and psalter morning and evening, very devoutly
crossing himself, and performing his genuflexions and the other
ceremonies inculcated by the teachers of that faith. Once or twice a
month, he went to the Spanish Ambassador's chapel, where, secluded
from observation, he worshipped with the sincerity and devotion of a
good Catholic. Besides his native tongue, he spoke an Indian _patois_,
conversed freely in Portuguese, and in English indifferently well.
He became acquainted with his little wife in Birmingham, of which town
she was a native. Her name was Ann Hopkins; her height was thirty-eight
inches, or thirteen inches taller than her dwarf spouse. She was
thirty-one years of age, and was a pretty little creature possessing
much symmetry and grace. Her father stood six feet one inch and a half
out of his shoes; her mother was of middle size, and her brothers and
sisters, nine in number, were all tall and robust. The little Don and
Donna lived together very affectionately, their attachment having been
mutual and at first sight; their only difference of opinion being, that
she being of the Protestant faith, they did not worship together. They
were married on the 6th of July, 1834, in the Roman Catholic chapel at
Birmingham; and two days after, at St. Martin's church, in the same
town, by the Rev. Mr. Foy; the high bailiff giving away the bride. The
crowd of spectators was so great that the assistance of the police was
necessary to secure the ingress and egress of the little couple into
and out of the church. Much uneasiness was caused to the bridegroom by
the refusal of one clergyman to ratify his marriage in the Protestant
church, on the supposition that it was contrary to the canon law; but
this difficulty was ultimately arranged.--_Abridged from the Morning
Advertiser._
William Hutton's "Strong Woman."
William Hutton, the Birmingham manufacturer, was accustomed to take a
month's tour every summer, and to note down his observations on places
and people. Some of the results appeared in distinct books, some in
his autobiography, and some in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, towards the
close of the last century and the beginning of the present. One year
he would be accompanied by his father, a tough old man, who was not
frightened at a twenty-mile walk; another year he would go alone; while
on one occasion his daughter went with him, she riding on horseback,
and he trudging on foot by her side. Various parts of England and Wales
were thus visited, at a time when tourists' facilities were slender
indeed. It appears from his lists of distances that he could "do"
fifteen or twenty miles a day for weeks together; although his mode of
examining places led to a much slower rate of progress.
One of the odd characters which Hutton met with at Matlock, in
Derbyshire, in July 1801, is worth describing in his own words. After
noticing the rocks and caves at that town, he said, "The greatest
wonder I saw was Miss Phœbe Bown, in person five feet six, about
thirty, well-proportioned, round-faced and ruddy; a dark penetrating
eye, which, the moment it fixes upon your face, stamps your character,
and that with precision. Her step (pardon the Irishism) is more manly
than a man's, and can easily cover forty miles a day. Her common dress
is a man's hat, coat with a spencer about it, and men's shoes; I
believe she is a stranger to breeches. She can lift one hundred-weight
with each hand, and carry fourteen score. Can sew, knit, cook, and
spin, but hates them all, and every accompaniment to the female
character, except that of modesty. A gentleman at the New Bath recently
treated her so rudely, that 'she had a good mind to have knocked him
down.' She positively assured me she did not know what fear is. She
never gives an affront, but will offer to fight anyone who gives her
one. If she has not fought, perhaps it is owing to the insulter being
a coward, for none else would _give_ an affront [to a woman]. She has
strong sense, an excellent judgment, says smart things, and supports
an easy freedom in all companies. Her voice is more than masculine,
it is deep toned; the wind in her face, she can send it a mile; has
no beard; accepts any kind of manual labour, as holding the plough,
driving the team, thatching the ricks, &c. But her chief avocation is
breaking in horses, at a guinea a week! always rides without a saddle;
and is supposed the best judge of a horse, cow, &c., in the country;
and is frequently requested to purchase for others at the neighbouring
fairs. She is fond of Milton, Pope, Shakespeare, also of music; is
self-taught; performs on several instruments, as the flute, violin,
harpsichord, and supports the bass-viol in Matlock church. She is an
excellent markswoman, and, like her brother-sportsmen, carries her gun
upon her shoulder. She eats no beef or pork, and but little mutton:
her chief food is milk, and also her drink--discarding wine, ale, and
spirits."--_From the Book of Days._
Wildman and His Bees.
In Winchester Place, now Pentonville Road, near to the south-east
corner of Penton Street, stood "Prospect House," so called from the
fine view which it commanded over London and the circumjacent country.
In the British Museum is a fine pen-and-ink drawing of a view of London
from Pentonville, by Antonio Canaletti; and we find "Prospect House"
in the rate-books in 1669; there were bowling-greens attached to it
"for gentleman bowlers." Subsequently the house was named from its
proprietor, and became popularly known as Dobney's, or D'Aubigny's.
Mrs. Dobney, who kept the house for many years, died in 1760, at the
age of eighty-six. It then passed to a new proprietor, a Mr. Johnson,
who built on the bowling-green, which was near the corner of Penton
Street, an amphitheatre for equestrian performances, _al fresco_, and
engaged one Price, who had been starring at the Three Hats, a rival
house close by, to exhibit his original feats of horsemanship. In 1769,
the house was the scene of Philip Jonas's exhibition of "dexterity of
hands;" and about this time was shown here the skeleton of a whale
sixty feet long. In 1770, the house was taken for a boarding school,
but was soon closed. It was then re-opened as the Jubilee Tea Gardens
(from the Jubilee got up at Stratford-upon-Avon, by Garrick, in honour
of Shakespeare); the interiors of the boxes were painted with scenes
from some of his plays.
In 1772, the celebrated Daniel Wildman exhibited here his bees every
evening (wet evenings excepted). He made several new and amazing
experiments; he rode standing upright, one foot on the saddle, and the
other on the horse's neck, with a curious _mask of bees_ on his head
and face. He also rode standing upright on the saddle with the bridle
in his mouth, and by firing a pistol, made one part of the bees march
over a table, and the other part swarm in the air and return to their
proper hive again. Wildman's performances of the "Bees on Horseback"
were also thus described:--
He with uncommon art and matchless skill
Commands those insects, who obey his will;
With bees others cruel means employ,
They take their honey and the bees destroy;
Wildman humanely, with ingenious ease,
He takes the honey, but preserves the bees.
Wildman also sold bees from one stock in "the common or newly-invented
hives." He published a "Guide for Bee Management" at his Bee and
Honey Warehouse, No. 326, Holborn. In 1774, the gardens were much
neglected, the walks not being kept in order, nor the hedges properly
cut; but there were several good apartments in the house, besides
handsome tea-rooms; but the ground was cleared about 1790, and the
present handsome dwelling-houses in Winchester Place were built upon
part of the site. The gardens, though much shorn of their beauty and
attractiveness, continued in existence until the year 1810, when they
disappeared; and the only memorial that remains on the site of this
once famed place of amusement, is a mean court in Penton Street, known
as Dobney's Court. Mr. Upcott, of the London Institution, had in his
collection a drawing of Prospect House, taken about 1780.--_Pinks'
History of Clerkenwell._
Lord Stowell's love of Sight-seeing.
Lord Stowell loved manly sports, and was not above being pleased
with the most rude and simple diversions. He gloried in Punch and
Judy--their fun stirred his mirth without, as in Goldsmith's case,
provoking spleen. He made a boast on one occasion that there was not a
puppet-show in London he had not visited, and when turned fourscore,
was caught watching one at a distance with children of less growth in
high glee. He has been known to make a party with Windham to visit
Cribb's, and to have attended the Fives Court as a favourite resort.
"There were curious characters," he observed, "to be seen at these
places." He was the most indefatigable sight-seer in London. Whatever
show could be visited for a shilling, or less, was visited by Lord
Stowell. In the western end of London there was a room generally let
for exhibitions. At the entrance, as it is said, Lord Stowell presented
himself, eager to see "the green monster serpent," which had lately
issued cards of invitation to the public. As he was pulling out his
purse to pay for his admission, a sharp but honest north-country lad,
whose business it was to take the money, recognised him as an old
customer, and knowing his name, thus addressed him: "We can't take
your shilling, my lord; 'tis the old serpent which you have seen twice
before in other colours; but ye shall go in and see her." He entered,
saved his money, and enjoyed his third visit to the painted beauty.
This love of seeing sights was, on another occasion, productive of the
following whimsical incident. Some thirty years ago, an animal, called
a "Bonassus," was exhibited in the Strand. On Lord Stowell's paying
it a second visit, the keeper very courteously told his lordship that
he was welcome to come, gratuitously, as often as he pleased. Within
a day or two after this, however, there appeared, under the bills of
the exhibition, in conspicuous characters, "Under the patronage of
the Right Hon. Lord Stowell;" an announcement of which the noble and
learned lord's friends availed themselves, by passing many a joke upon
him; all of which he took with the greatest good humour.
Lord Stowell was a great eater, and, says Mr. Surtees, "the feats
which he performed with the knife and fork were eclipsed by those
which he would afterwards display with the bottle." His habits were
slovenly and unclean. "The hand that could pen the neatest of periods
was itself often dirty and unwashed; and the mouth which could utter
eloquence so graceful, or such playful wit, fed voraciously, and
selected the most greasy food." Then again, he was an unquestionable
miser. He kept a very mean establishment. Fond as he was of his wine,
he would drink less at his own than at other tables. "He could drink
any _given_ quantity," as was wittily observed by his brother, Lord
Eldon, but was abstemious where he had to pay. The most painful fact
that remains to be recorded respecting him is, that when his only son
William had formed an attachment that was unexceptionable, he, though
it may be said he rolled in riches, would not make him a sufficient
allowance to enable him to marry. It has been stated that his son died
from the effects of intemperate habits; and it must be added, that but
for this disappointment the young man might have lived. In despair he
plunged into excesses. His father just survived him, and his great
wealth was gathered up by collaterals. Perhaps his fondness of poking
about London, visiting cheap shows, was connected more with his avarice
than with his curiosity. After his elevation to the peerage, he was
actually seen coming out of a penny show in London--cheap excitement!
Like Lord Eldon, though a great friend of the church, he never attended
public worship. What had been said of his brother might have been
said of him, that he was more properly a buttress of the church than
a pillar, for he was never seen inside it. At the same time, there is
no reason to doubt that he was a good Christian; probably, like many
other University men, he had a surfeit of chapels when at college, and
shuddered at the thought of again entering one. With all his failings,
and notwithstanding his avarice, which increased with his years, Lord
Stowell must be regarded as having been, after a peculiar sort, a
kindly, amiable man.
John Day and Fairlop Fair.