The Old Showmen and the Old London FairsFrost, Thomas
History
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs
Frost, Thomas
Fairs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
"Miss Hipson, only twelve years of age, is," he says, "remarkably
gigantic, or rather corpulent, for her age, pretty, well-behaved, and
well-informed; she weighed sixteen stone a few months before, and has
since increased in size; she has ten brothers and sisters, nowise
remarkable in appearance: her father, who is dead, was a bargeman at
Brentford. The name of the 'little lady' is Lydia Walpole; she was born at
Addiscombe, near Yarmouth, and is sociable, agreeable, and intelligent.
The fair Circassian is of pleasing countenance and manners. The Persian
giant is a good-natured, tall, stately negro. The two Malays could not
speak English, except three words, 'drop o' rum,' which they repeated with
great glee. One of them, with long hair reaching below the waist,
exhibited the posture of drawing a bow. Mr. Maughan described them as
being passionate, and showed me a severe wound on his finger which the
little one had given him by biting, while he endeavoured to part him and
his countryman, during a quarrel a few days ago. A 'female giant' was one
of the attractions of this exhibition, but she could not be shown for
illness: Miss Hipson described her to be a very good young woman.
"There was an appearance of ease and good condition, with content of mind,
in the persons composing this show, which induced me to put several
questions to them, and I gathered that I was not mistaken in my
conjecture. They described themselves as being very comfortable, and that
they were taken great care of, and well treated by the proprietor, Mr.
Maughan, and his partner in the show. The 'little lady' had a thorough
good character from Miss Hipson as an affectionate creature; and it seems
the females obtained exercise by rising early, and being carried out into
the country in a post-chaise, where they walked, and thus maintained their
health. This was to me the most pleasing show in the fair."
Between this show and Richardson's theatre was a small temporary stable,
in which was exhibited a mare with seven feet: the admission to this sight
was threepence. The following is a copy of the printed bill:--
"To Sportsmen and Naturalists.--Now exhibiting, one of the greatest living
natural curiosities in the world; namely, a thorough-bred chesnut MARE,
with seven legs! four years of age, perfectly sound, free from blemish,
and shod on six of her feet. She is very fleet in her paces, being
descended from that famous horse Julius Cæsar, out of a thorough-bred race
mare descended from Eclipse, and is remarkably docile and temperate. She
is the property of Mr. J. Checketts, of Belgrave hall, Leicestershire; and
will be exhibited for a few days as above."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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