For a penny you may see a fine puppet play, And for twopence a rare piece of art; And a penny a cann, I dare swear a man May put zix of 'em into a quart. Their zights be so rich, is able to bewitch The heart of a very fine man-a; Here's Patient Grizel here, and Fair Rosamond there, And the history of Susanna. At Pye-corner end, mark well, my good friend, 'Tis a very fine dirty place; Where there's more arrows and bows, the Lord above knows, Than was handled at Chevy Chase. Then at Smithfield Bars, betwixt the ground and the stars, There's a place they call Shoemaker's-Row, Where that you may buy shoes every day, Or go barefoot all the year, I tro. In 1715 the largest booth ever erected was in the centre of Smithfield, "for the King's Players;" and, in later times, we read of Garrick going to see the pieces at Yates' and Shuter's booth. Hogarth in his youth painted scenes for a famous woman who kept a droll in the fair; and the old lady refused to pay because Dutch metal was used instead of real gilding with leaf-gold. Pidcock and Polito exhibited their finest animals; Astley his troop of horse, succeeded by Saunders. Puppet-shows, or motions, as they were called, were also always popular here; and giants, dwarfs, and whatever was singular in nature, or could be made to seem so by art, have from time immemorial been the wonders and favourites of Bartholomew Fair. Having now brought "_the_ Showman" to the management of what he might have designated the National Theatre, with the long-established Jonases, Penleys, Jobsons, _et hoc genus omne_ as his rivals,--the commencement of a career of half a century's duration,--may we not pause to point towards him the finger of admiration? What are the lessees of Drury Lane or Covent Garden when compared to him? What have they done, or what are they likely to do, for the legitimate drama, when compared to him? He was a manager who paid his performers weekly on the nail; meaning by "the nail" the drum-head. On the Saturday evening, assembling them all, willing and buoyant, around him, he spread the sum total of their salaries upon the drum,--not double base, like the frauds of modern managers,--and then there was a roll-call of the most agreeable description. Sometimes the merry vagabonds would shove one another up against their paymaster; but the worst of his resentment was to detect the _larker_, if he could, and pay him last; or, if sorely annoyed, forget to invite him to the following supper: punishments severe, it must be acknowledged; but still the sufferers had their money to comfort themselves withal, and were not obliged to wait, like the waits in the streets at midnight, till after Christmas for the chance of their hard-earned wages. And he was grateful, too. When marked success attended any performer or performance, a marked requital was sure to follow.