(Vol. ii., p. 135.)
Harwood's note in Erdeswick's _Staffordshire_, quoted by your
correspondent C.H.B., is incorrect, inasmuch as the writer has confused
the biographies of two distinct "giants"--WALTER PARSONS, porter to King
James I., and WILLIAM EVANS, who filled the same office in the
succeeding reign.
The best account of these two "worthies" is that found in Fuller, and
which I extract from the original edition now before me:--
WALTER PARSONS, born in this county [Staffordshire], was first
apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a
hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the
knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. He
afterwards was porter to King _James_; seeing as gates generally
are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that
the porter should be taller than other persons. He was
proportionable in all parts, and had strength equal to height,
valour to his strength, temper to his valour, so that he
disdained to do an injury to any single person. He would make
nothing to take two of the tallest _yeomen_ of the _guard_ (like
the _Gizard_ and _Liver_) under his arms at once, and order them
as he pleased.
"Yet were his parents (for aught I do understand to the
contrary) but of an ordinary stature, whereat none will wonder
who have read what _St. Augustine_ (_De Civitate Dei_, lib. xv.
cap. 23.) reports of a woman which came to _Rome_ (a little
before the sacking thereof by the _Goths_), of so giant-like a
height, that she was far above all who saw her, though infinite
troopes came to behold the spectacle. And yet he addeth, _Et hoc
erat maximæ admirationis, quod ambo parentes ejus, &c_. This
made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary
stature. This _Parsons_ is produced for proof, that all ages
afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no
general decay of mankind in their _dimensions_, which, if there
were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than _Pigmyes_,
not to instance in a lesse proportion. This _Parsons_ died Anno
Dom. 1620."--Fuller's _History of the Worthies of England_, 1662
(_Staffordshire_), p. 48.
"WILLIAM EVANS was born in this county [Monmouthshire], and may
justly be accounted the _Giant_ of our age for his stature,
being, full two yards and a half in height. He was porter to
King _Charles I._, succeeding, _Walter Persons_ [sic] in his
place, and exceeding him two inches in height, but far beneath
him in an equal proportion of body; for he was not onely what
the _Latines_ call _compernis_, knocking his knees together, and
going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little;
yet made a shift to dance in an antimask at court, where he drew
little Jeffrey, the dwarf, out of his pocket, first to the
wonder, then to the laughter, of the beholders. He dyed _Anno
Dom_. 1630." _Ibid. (Monmouthshire)_, p. 54.
From these extracts it will be seen that the Christian name of Parsons
was _Walter_, not William, as stated by Harwood. _William_ was the
Christian name of Evans, Parsons' successor. The bas-relief mentioned by
the same writer represents William Evans and Jeffrey Hudson, his
diminutive fellow-servant. It is over the entrance of _Bull-head Court_,
Newgate Street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. On the stone
these words are cut: "The King's Porter, and the Dwarf," with the date
1660. This bas-relief is engraved in Pennant.
There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court
but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the
Royal Collections.