Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 1 — John Shaqi
Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 1Daniel, George
General
Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 1
Daniel, George
England -- Social life and customs
“To the lovers of living curiosities. To be seen during the time of
_Peckham Fair_, a Grand Collection of Living Wild Beasts and Birds,
lately arrived from the remotest parts of the World.
“1. The _Pellican_ that suckles her young with her heart's, blood, from
Egypt.
“2. The Noble _Vultur Cock_, brought from _Archangell_, having the
finest talions of any bird that seeks his prey; the fore part of his
head is covered with hair, the second part resembles the wool of a
Black; below that is a white ring, having a Ruff, that he cloaks his
head with at night.
“3. An _Eagle of the Sun_, that takes the loftiest flight of any bird
that flies. There is no bird but this that can fly to the face of the
Sun with a naked eye.
“4. A curious Beast, bred from a _Lioness_, like a foreign _Wild Cat_.
“5. The He-_Panther_, from Turkey, allowed by the curious to be one of
the greatest rarities ever seen in _England_, on which are thousands of
spots, and not two of a likeness.
“6 & 7. The two fierce and surprising _Hyaenas_, Male and female, from
the River _Gambia_. These Creatures imitate the human voice, and so
decoy the Negroes out of their huts and plantations to devour them. They
have a mane like a horse, and two joints in their hinder leg more than
any other creature. It is remarkable that all other beasts are to be
tamed, but Hyaenas they are not.
“8. An _Ethiopian Toho Savage_, having all the actions of the human
species, which (when at its full growth) will be upwards of five feet
high.
“Also several other surprising Creatures of different sorts. To be seen
from 9 in the morning till 9 at night, till they are sold. Also, all
manner of curiosities of different sorts, are bought and sold at the
above place by John Bennett.”
The grand focus of attraction was in the immediate vicinity of the
“_Kentish Drovers_.” This-once merry hostelrie was a favourite suburban
retreat of Dicky Suett. Cherub Dicky! who when (to use his own
peculiar phrase) his “copper required cooling,” mounted the steady,
old-fashioned, three mile an hour Peckham stage, and journeyed hither to
allay his thirst, and qualify his alcohol with a refreshing draught of
Derbyshire ale. The landlord (who was quite a character) and he were old
cronies; and, in the snug little parlour behind the bar, of which Dicky
had the entrée, their hob-and-nobbings struck out sparks of humour that,
had they exhaled before the lamps, would have set the theatre in a roar.
Suett was a great frequenter of fairs. He stood treat to the conjurors,
feasted the tragedy kings and queens, and many a mountebank did he make
muzzy. Once in a frolic he changed clothes with a Jack Pudding, and
played _Barker_ and _Mr. Merriman_ to a precocious giantess; when he
threw her lord and master into such an ecstacy of mirth, that the fellow
vowed hysterically that it was either the _devil_, or (for his fame had
travelled before him) _Dicky Suett_. He was a piscator, *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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