Much about this time another Bladder-man was in high estimation, whose portrait has been handed down to us in an etching by Miller, from a most spirited drawing by Gravelot. The following verses, which set forth his woful situation, are placed at the foot of the Plate: 1. "No musick ever charm'd my mind So much as bladder fill'd with wind; But as no mortal's free from fate, Nor nothing keeps its first estate, A pamper'd prodigal unkind One day with sword let out the wind! My bladder ceas'd its pleasing sound, While boys stood tantalizing round. 2. "They well may laugh who always win, But, had I not then thought on tin, My misery had been compleat; I must have begg'd about the street: But none to grief should e'er give way: This canister, ne'er fill'd with tea! Can please my audience as well, And charm their ears with, O Brave Nell." Some few years since a whimsical fellow attracted public notice by passing strings over the skull of a horse, upon which he played as a fidler. Another man, remarkably tall and thin, made a square violin, upon which he played for several years, particularly within the centre arches of Westminster Bridge. To the eternal honour of the street-players of former times, it will ever be remembered that the great Purcell condescended to set one of their elegies to music. "Thomas Farmer, in 1684, lived in Martlet Court, in Bow Street, Covent Garden. He was originally one of the London street waits, and his elegy was set to music by Purcell." See Hawkins's History of Music, Vol. V. p. 18. The Guardian, No. 1, March 12, 1713, notices the famous John Gale. "There was, I remember, some years ago, one John Gale, a fellow that played upon a pipe, and diverted the multitude by dancing in a ring they made about him, whose face became generally known, and the artists employed their skill in delineating his features, because every man was judge of the similitude of them." A sort of guitar or cittern, and also the fiddle, were used in this country so early as the year 1364, and may be seen upon a brass monumental plate to the memory of Robert Braunche and his two wives, in the choir of St. Margaret's Church at Lynn. The subject alluded to is the representation of a Peacock feast, consisting of a long table with twelve persons, besides musicians and other attendants. Engravings of this very curious monument may be seen in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. i. p. 115; in Carter's Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, vol. ii. plate 15; and in Cotman's Norfolk Brasses, Pl. III. p. 4. POSTSCRIPT. BY THE EDITOR. The interest of the Plates in Mr. Smith's "Antient Topography of London," is much increased by numerous spirited little sketches of remarkable characters well known in the streets of the Metropolis; several of whom would have formed valuable additions, either to his work on the London Beggars, intituled, "Vagabondiana," or the present volume: a few of these shall be here noticed.