One of the novel characters whom Richardson picked up in his wanderings was the once famous Gouffe, "the man-monkey," as he was called. His real name was Vale, and when the old showman became acquainted with him he was following the humble occupation of a pot-boy in a low public-house. Richardson, happening to enter the tap-room in which Master Vale waited, found the young gentleman amusing the guests by walking about on pewter pint measures, with his hobnailed boots turned towards the smoke-begrimed ceiling. The performance was a novel one, and Richardson, calling the lad aside on its conclusion, made him an offer too gratifying to be refused. After travelling with Richardson for some time, Vale appeared at several of the minor theatres of the metropolis, always in the part of an ape, and under the assumed name of Gouffe. His pantomimic powers were considerable, and his agility was scarcely inferior to that of the four-handed brutes whom he represented. The receipts of the shows were not always so large as in 1828. In 1831, which seems to have been a bad year for them, Richardson lost fifty pounds by Bartholomew Fair, though he had half the receipts of Ewing's wax-work exhibition in addition to those of the theatre, under an agreement with the proprietor, by which he paid for the ground and the erection of the show. Wombwell only cleared his expenses, though he had at that time acquired Morgan's menagerie, which stood at the corner of the Greyhound Yard, and by that means secured the pennies as well as the sixpences. In 1832, the charge for admission to Clarke's circus was reduced from sixpence to threepence. There was a novelty in Bartholomew Fair that year in the show of an Italian conjuror, named Capelli, namely, a company of cats, that beat a drum, turned a spit, ground knives, played the organ, hammered upon an anvil, ground coffee, and rang a bell. One of them understood French as well as Italian, obeying orders in both languages. Capelli's bills announce also a wonderful dog, to "play any gentleman at dominoes that will play with him." In 1833, the number of shows at this fair rose to thirty-two, Richardson's theatre, Clarke's circus, five for tumbling, rope-dancing, etc., three menageries, four wax-work exhibitions, three phantasmagorias, Holden's glass-blowing, two learned pigs, six exhibitions of giants, dwarfs, etc., and six peep-shows, in which the coronation of William IV., the battle of Navarino, the murder of Maria Martin, and other events of contemporary interest were shown. Only two shows charged so much as sixpence for admission, namely, Richardson's and Wombwell's. The threepenny shows were Ewing's and Clarke's, the latter giving "an excellent display for the money," according to a contemporary account, which continues as follows:--