Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 2Daniel, George
History
Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 2
Daniel, George
England -- Social life and customs
** A few seasons after appeared “The wonderful and
surprising English dwarf, two feet eight inches high, born
at Salisbury in 1709; who has been shewn to the Royal
Family, and most of the Nobility and Gentry of Great
Britain.”
And, as if we had not seen enough of “strange creatures alive? mark the
following “advertisement”:--
“Next door to the Golden Hart, in Smithfield, is to be seen a live
Turkey ram. Part of him is covered with black hair, and part with
white wool. He hath horns as big as a bull's; and his tail weighs sixty
pounds! Here is also to be seen alive the famous civet cat, and one of
the holy lambs curiously spotted all over like a leopard, that us'd to
be offered by the Jews for a sacrifice. Vivat Rex.”
This Turkey ram's tail is a tough tale, * even for the ad libitum of
Smithfield Rounds. Such a tail wagged before such a master must have
exhibited the two greatest wags in the fair.
* “A certain officer of the Guards being at the New Theatre,
behind the scenes, was telling some of the comedians of the
rarities he had seen abroad. Amongst other things, he had
seen a pike caught six foot long. 'That 's a trifle,' says
the late Mr. Spiller, the celebrated actor, 'I have seen
half a pike in England longer by a foot, and yet not worth
twopence!'”
The Roots were under ground, or planted in a cool arbour, quaffing--not
Bartlemy “good wines,” (doctors never take their own physic!)--but
genuine nutbrown. Their dancing-days were over; for “Root's booth”
(temp. Geo.I.) was now tenanted by Powell, the puppet-showman, and one
Luf-fingham, who, fired with the laudable ambition of maintaining the
laughing honours of their predecessors, issued a bill, at which we cry
“What next?” as the sailor did when the conjuror blew his own head off.
“At Root's booth, Powell from Russell Court, and Luffingham from the
Cyder Cellar, in Covent-Garden, now keep the King Charles's Head, and
Man and Woman fighting for the Breeches, in Bartholomew Fair, near
Long Lane: where two figures dance a Scaramouch after a new grotesque
fashion; a little boy, five years old, vaults from a table twelve foot
high on his head, and drinks the King's health standing on his head,
with two swords at his throat; a Scotch dance by three men and a woman;
an Irishwoman dances the Irish trot; Roger of Coventry is danced by one
in a countryman's habit; a cradle dance, being a comical fancy between a
woman and her drunken husband fighting for the breeches; a woman dances
with fourteen glasses on the back of her hands full of wine. Also
several entries, as Almands Pavans, Galliads, Gavots, English Jiggs, and
the Sabbotiers dance, so mightily admired at the King's Playhouse.
The company will be entertained with vocal and instrumental musick,
as performed at the late happy Congress at Reswick, in the presence of
several princes and ambassadors.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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