On the outside was inscribed, “_To be seen alive_! The Prodigies of
Nature!--_The Wild Indian Woman and Child, with her Nurse from her own
country._--_The Silver-haired Lady and Dwarf._ _Only a Penny._”--The
showmaster made a speech: “Ladies and gentlemen, before I show you the
wonderful prodigies of nature, let me introduce you to the wonderful
works of art;” and then he drew a curtain, where some wax-work figures
stood. “This,” said he, “ladies and gentlemen, is the famous old Mother
Shipton; and here is the unfortunate Jane Shore, the beautiful mistress
of king Edward the Second; next to her is his majesty king George the
Fourth of most glorious memory; and this is queen Elizabeth in all her
glory; then here you have the princess Amelia, the daughter of his late
majesty, who is dead; this is Mary, queen of Scots, who had her head cut
off; and this is O’Bryen, the famous Irish giant; this man, here, is
Thornton, who was tried for the murder of Mary Ashford; and this is the
exact resemblance of Othello, the moor of Venice, who was a jealous
husband, and depend upon it every man who is jealous of his wife, will
be as black as that negro. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the two next are a
wonderful couple, John and Margaret Scott, natives of Dunkeld, in
Scotland; they lived about ninety years ago; John Scott was a hundred
and five years old when he died, and Margaret lived to be a hundred and
twelve; and what is more remarkable, there is not a soul living can say
he ever heard them quarrel.” Here he closed the curtain, and while
undrawing another, continued thus: “Having shown you the dead, I have
now to exhibit to you two of the most extraordinary wonders of the
living; this,” said he, “is the widow of a New Zealand Chief, and this
is the little old woman of Bagdad; she is thirty inches high, twenty-two
years of age, and a native of Boston, in Lincolnshire.” Each of these
living subjects was quite as wonderful as the waxen ones: the
exhibition, which lasted about five minutes, was ended by courteous
thanks for the “approbation of the ladies and gentlemen present,” and
an evident desire to hurry them off, lest they might be more curious
than his own curiosities.