The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs Part 3

"Thomas Appletree!" exclaimed Penkethman, aloud. "Thomas Devil! My name is Will Penkethman." Then, turning to the gallery, he addressed one of the audience thus:--"Hark you, friend; don't you know my name?"

"Yes, Master Pinkey," responded the occupant of a front seat in the gallery. "We know it very well."

The theatre was soon in an uproar: the audience at first laughed at the folly of Penkethman and the evident distress of Wilks; but the joke soon grew tiresome, and they began to hiss. Penkethman saw his mistake, and speedily changed displeasure into applause by crying out, with a loud nasal tw.a.n.g, and a countenance as ludicrously melancholy as he could make it, "Adzooks! I fear I am wrong!"

Barnes, the rope-dancer, had at this time lost his former partner, Appleby, and taken into partners.h.i.+p an acrobat named Finley. They advertised their show in 1701 at Bartholomew Fair as, "Her Majesty's Company of Rope Dancers." They had two German girls "lately arrived from France;" and it was announced that "the famous Mr. Barnes, of whose performances this kingdom is so sensible, Dances with 2 Children at his feet, and with Boots and Spurs. Mrs. Finley, distinguished by the name of Lady Mary for her incomparable Dancing, has much improved herself since the last Fair. You will likewise be entertained with such variety of Tumbling by Mr. Finley and his Company, as was never seen in the Fair before. Note, that for the conveniency of the Gentry, there is a back-door in Smithfield Rounds."

They were not without rivals, though the absence of names from the following advertis.e.m.e.nt renders it probable that the "famous company"

calculated upon larger gains from anonymous boasting than they could hope for from the announcement of their names:--

"At the Great Booth over against the Hospital Gate in Bartholomew Fair, will be seen the Famous Company of Rope Dancers, they being the Greatest Performers of Men, Women, and Children that can be found beyond the Seas, so that the world cannot parallel them for Dancing on the Low Rope, Vaulting on the High Rope, and for Walking on the Slack and Sloaping Ropes, out-doing all others to that degree, that it has highly recommended them, both in Bartholomew Fair and May Fair last, to all the best persons of Quality in England. And by all are owned to be the only amazing Wonders of the World in every thing they do: It is there you will see the Italian Scaramouch dancing on the Rope, with a Wheel-barrow before him, with two Children and a Dog in it, and with a Duck on his Head who sings to the Company, and causes much Laughter. The whole entertainment will be so extremely fine and diverting, as never was done by any but this Company alone."

Doggett, whom Cibber calls the most natural actor of the day, and whose name is a.s.sociated with the coat and badge rowed for annually, on the 1st of August, by London watermen's apprentices, was here this year, with a theatrical booth, erected at the end of Hosier Lane, where was presented, as the advertis.e.m.e.nts tell us, "A New DROLL call'd THE DISTRESSED VIRGIN or _the Unnatural Parents_. Being a True History of the _Fair Maid of the West_, or THE LOVING SISTERS. With the Comical Travels of _Poor Trusty_, in Search of his _Master's Daughter_, and his Encounter with _Three Witches_. _Also variety of Comick Dances and Songs, with Scenes and Machines never seen before. Vivat Regina._" Doggett was at this time manager of Drury Lane.

Miller, the actor, also had a theatrical booth in the fair, and made the following announcement:--

"Never acted before. At _Miller's Booth_, over against _the Cross Daggers_, near the _Crown Tavern_, during the time of _Bartholomew Fair_, will be presented an Excellent New Droll, call'd THE TEMPEST, or _the Distressed Lovers_. With the _English Hero_ and the _Island Princess_, and the Comical Humours of the Inchanted _Scotchman_; or _Jockey_ and the _Three Witches_. Showing how a n.o.bleman of England was cast away upon the Indian Sh.o.r.e, and in his Travel found the Princess of the Country, with whom he fell in Love, and after many Dangers and Perils, was married to her; and his faithful Scotchman, who was saved with him, travelling through Woods, fell in among Witches, when between 'em is abundance of comical Diversions. There in the Tempest is Neptune, with his Triton in his Chariot drawn with Sea Horses and Mair Maids singing. With variety of Entertainment, performed by the best Masters; the Particulars would be too tedious to be inserted here. _Vivat Regina._"

The similarity of the chief incidents in the dramas presented by Doggett and Miller is striking. In both we have the troubles of the lovers, the comical adventures of a man-servant, and the encounter with witches. We shall find these incidents reproduced again and again, with variations, and under different t.i.tles, in the plays set before Bartholomew audiences of the eighteenth century.

May Fair first a.s.sumed importance this year, when the multiplication of shows of all kinds caused it to a.s.sume dimensions which had not hitherto distinguished it. It was held on the north side of Piccadilly, in Shepherd's Market, White Horse Street, Shepherd's Court, Sun Court, Market Court, an open s.p.a.ce westward, extending to Tyburn Lane (now Park Lane), Chapel Street, Shepherd Street, Market Street, Hertford Street, and Carrington Street. The ground-floor of the market-house, usually occupied by butchers' stalls, was appropriated during the fair to the sale of toys and gingerbread; and the upper portion was converted into a theatre. The open s.p.a.ce westward was covered with the booths of jugglers, fencers, and boxers, the stands of mountebanks, swings, round-abouts, etc., while the sides of the streets were occupied by sausage stalls and gambling tables.

The first-floor windows were also, in some instances, made to serve as the proscenia of puppet shows.

I have been able to trace only two shows to this fair in 1702, namely Barnes and Finley's and Miller's, which stood opposite to the former, and presented "an excellent droll called _Crispin and Crispia.n.u.s: or, A Shoemaker a Prince_; with the best machines, singing and dancing ever yet in the fair." A great concourse of people attended from all parts of the metropolis; an injudicious attempt on the part of the local authorities to exclude persons of immoral character, which has always been found impracticable in places of public amus.e.m.e.nt, resulted in a serious riot.

Some young women being arrested by the constables on the allegation that they were prost.i.tutes, they were rescued by a party of soldiers; and a conflict was begun, which extended as other constables came up, and the "rough" element took part with the rescuers of the incriminated women. One constable was killed, and three others dangerously wounded before the fight ended. The man by whose hand the constable fell contrived to escape; but a butcher who had been active in the affray was arrested, and convicted, and suffered the capital penalty at Tyburn.

In the following year, the fair was presented as a nuisance by the grand jury of Middles.e.x; but it continued to be held for several years afterwards. Barnes and Finley again had a show at Bartholomew Fair, to which the public were invited to "see my Lady Mary perform such steps on the dancing-rope as have never been seen before." The young lady thus designated, and whose performance attracted crowds of spectators to Barnes and Finley's show, was said to be the daughter of a Florentine n.o.ble, and had given up all for love by eloping with Finley. By the companion of her flight she was taught to dance upon the tight rope, and for a few years was an entertainer of considerable popularity; but, venturing to exhibit her agility and grace while _enceinte_, she lost her balance, fell from the rope, and died almost immediately after giving birth to a stillborn child.

Bullock and Simpson, the former an actor of some celebrity at Drury Lane, joined Penkethman this year in a show at Bartholomew Fair, in which _Jephtha's Rash Vow_ was performed, Penkethman playing the part of Toby, and Bullock that of Ezekiel. Bullock is described in the pamphlet attributed to Gildon as "the best comedian who has trod the stage since Nokes and Leigh, and a fellow that has a very humble opinion of himself."

So much modesty must have made him a _rara avis_ among actors, who have, as a rule, a very exalted opinion of themselves. He had been six years on the stage at this time, having made his first appearance in 1696, at Drury Lane, as Sly in _Love's Last s.h.i.+ft_. His ability was soon recognised; and in the same year he played Sir Morgan Blunder in _The Younger Brother_, and Shuffle in _The Cornish Comedy_. Parker and Doggett also had a booth this year at the same fair, playing _Bateman; or, the Unhappy Marriage_, with the latter comedian in the part of Sparrow.

Penkethman at this time, from his salary as an actor at Drury Lane, his gains from attending Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs with his show, and the profits of the Richmond Theatre, which he either owned or leased, was in the receipt of a considerable income. "He is the darling of Fortunatus," says Downes, writing in 1708, "and has gained more in theatres and fairs in twelve years than those who have tugged at the oar of acting these fifty." He did not retire from the stage, however, until 1724.

Some of the minor shows of this period must now be noticed. A bill of this time--the date cannot always be fixed--invites the visitors to Bartholomew Fair to witness "the wonderful performances of that most celebrated master Simpson, the famous vaulter, who being lately arrived from Italy, will show the world what vaulting is." The chroniclers of the period have not preserved any record, save this bill, of this not too modest performer. A more famous entertainer was Clench, a native of Barnet, whose advertis.e.m.e.nts state that he "imitates horses, huntsmen, and a pack of hounds, a doctor, an old woman, a drunken man, bells, the flute, and the organ, with three voices, by his own natural voice, to the greatest perfection," and that he was "the only man that could ever attain so great an art." He had a rival, however, in the whistling man, mentioned in the 'Spectator,' who was noted for imitating the notes of all kinds of birds.

Clench attended all the fairs in and around London, and at other times gave his performance at the corner of Bartholomew Lane, behind the old Exchange.

To this period also belongs the following curious announcement of "a collection of strange and wonderful creatures from most parts of the world, all alive," to be seen over against the Mews Gate, Charing Cross, by her Majesty's permission.

"The first being a little _Black Man_, being but 3 foot high, and 32 years of age, straight and proportionable every way, who is distinguished by the Name of the _Black Prince_, and has been shewn before most Kings and Princes in Christendom. The next being his wife, the _Little Woman_, NOT 3 foot high, and 30 years of Age, straight and proportionable as any woman in the Land, which is commonly called the _Fairy Queen_; she gives general satisfaction to all that sees her, by Diverting them with Dancing, being big with Child. Likewise their little _Turkey Horse_, being but 2 foot odd inches high, and above 12 years of Age, that shews several diverting and surprising Actions, at the Word of Command. The least Man, Woman, and Horse that ever was seen in the World Alive. _The Horse being kept in a box._ The next being a strange Monstrous Female Creature that was taken in the woods in the Deserts of aeTHIOPIA in Prester _John's_ Country, in the remotest parts of Africa. The next is the n.o.ble _Picary_, which is very much admir'd by the Learned. The next being the n.o.ble _Jack-call_, the Lion's Provider, which hunts in the Forest for the Lion's Prey. Likewise a small _Egyptian Panther_, spotted like a _Leopard_. The next being a strange, monstrous creature, brought from the _Coast of Brazil_, having a Head like a Child, Legs and Arms very wonderful, with a Long Tail like a Serpent, wherewith he Feeds himself, as an _Elephant_ doth with his Trunk.

With several other Rarities too tedious to mention in this Bill.

"And as no such Collection was ever shewn in this Place before, we hope they will give you content and satisfaction, a.s.suring you, that they are the greatest Rarities that ever was shewn alive in this Kingdom, and are to be seen from nine o'clock in the Morning, till 10 at Night, where true Attendance shall be given during our stay in this Place, which will be very short. _Long live the_ QUEEN."

The proprietors of menageries and circuses are always amusing, if not very lucid, when they set forth in type the attractions of their shows. The owner of the rarities exhibited over against the Mews Gate in the reign of Queen Anne was no exception to the rule. The picary and the jack-call may be readily identified as the peccary and the jackal, but "a strange monstrous female creature" defies recognition, even with the addition that it was brought from Prester John's country. The Brazilian wonder may be cla.s.sified with safety with the long-tailed monkeys, especially as another and shorter advertis.e.m.e.nt, in the 'Spectator,' describes it a little more explicitly as a satyr. It was, probably, a spider monkey, one variety of which is said, by Humboldt, to use its prehensile tail for the purpose of picking insects out of crevices.

The Harleian Collection contains the following announcement of a performing horse:--

"To be seen, at the s.h.i.+p, upon Great Tower Hill, the finest taught horse in the world. He fetches and carries like a spaniel dog. If you hide a glove, a handkerchief, a door-key, a pewter basin, or so small a thing as a silver two-pence, he will seek about the room till he has found it; and then he will bring it to his master. He will also tell the number of spots on a card, and leap through a hoop; with a variety of other curious performances."

Powell, the famous puppet-showman mentioned in the 'Spectator,' in humorous contrast with the Italian Opera, never missed Bartholomew Fair, where, however, he had a rival in Crawley, two of whose bills have been preserved in the Harleian Collection. Pinkethman, another "motion-maker,"

as the exhibitors of these shows were called, and also mentioned in the 'Spectator,' introduced on his stage the divinities of Olympus ascending and descending to the sound of music. Strutt, who says that he saw something of the same kind at a country fair in 1760, thinks that the scenes and figures were painted upon a flat surface and cut out, like those of a boy's portable theatre, and that motion was imparted to them by clock-work. This he conjectures to have been the character also of the representation, with moving figures, of the camp before Lisle, which was exhibited, in the reign of Anne, in the Strand, opposite the Globe Tavern, near Hungerford Market.

One of the two bills of Crawley's show which have been preserved was issued for Bartholomew Fair, and the other for Southwark Fair. The former is as follows:--

"At Crawley's Booth, over against the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, during the time of Bartholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called the _Old Creation of the World_, yet newly revived; with the addition of _Noah's flood_; also several fountains playing water during the time of the play. The last scene does present Noah and his family coming out of the ark, with all the beasts two by two, and all the fowls of the air seen in a prospect sitting upon trees; likewise over the ark is seen the sun rising in a most glorious manner: moreover, a mult.i.tude of angels will be seen in a double rank, which presents a double prospect, one for the sun, the other for a palace, where will be seen six angels ringing of bells.

Likewise machines descending from above, double, with Dives rising out of h.e.l.l, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's bosom, besides several figures dancing jiggs, sarabands, and country dances, to the admiration of the spectators; with the merry conceits of _Squire Punch and Sir John Spendall_." This curious medley was "completed by an entertainment of singing, and dancing with several naked swords by a child of eight years of age." In the bill for Southwark Fair we find the addition of "the ball of little dogs," said to have come from Louvain, and to perform "by their cunning tricks wonders in the world of dancing. You shall see one of them named Marquis of Gaillerdain, whose dexterity is not to be compared; he dances with Madame Poucette his mistress and the rest of their company at the sound of instruments, all of them observing so well the cadence that they amaze everybody;" it is added that these celebrated performers had danced before Queen Anne and most of the n.o.bility, and amazed everybody.

James Miles, who has been mentioned in the last chapter, promised the visitors, in a bill preserved in the Harleian Collection, that they should see "a young woman dance with the swords, and upon a ladder, surpa.s.sing all her s.e.x." Nineteen different dances were performed in his show, among which he mentions a "wrestlers' dance" and vaulting upon the slack rope.

Respecting this dancing with swords, Strutt says that he remembered seeing "at Flockton's, a much noted but very clumsy juggler, a girl about eighteen or twenty years of age, who came upon the stage with four naked swords, two in each hand; when the music played, she turned round with great swiftness, and formed a great variety of figures with the swords, holding them overhead, down by her sides, behind her, and occasionally she thrust them in her bosom. The dance generally continued ten or twelve minutes; and when it was finished, she stopped suddenly, without appearing to be in the least giddy from the constant reiteration of the same motion."

The ladder-dance was performed upon a light ladder, which the performer s.h.i.+fted from place to place, ascended and descended, without permitting it to fall. It was practised at Sadler's Wells at the commencement of the last century, and revived there in 1770. Strutt thought it originated in the stilt-dance, which appears, from an illumination of the reign of Henry III., to have been practised in the thirteenth century.

Mrs. Mynn appears as a Bartholomew Fair theatrical manageress in 1707, when Settle, then nearly sixty years of age, and in far from flouris.h.i.+ng circ.u.mstances, adapted to her stage his spectacular drama of the _Siege of Troy_, which had been produced at Drury Lane six years previously.

Settle, who was a good contriver of spectacles, though a bad dramatic poet, reduced it from five acts to three, striking out four or five of the _dramatis personae_, cutting down the serious portions of the dialogue, and giving greater breadth as well as length to the comic incidents, without which no Bartholomew audience would have been satisfied. As acted in her theatrical booth, it was printed by Mrs. Mynn, with the following introduction:--

"_A Printed Publication of an_ Entertainment _performed on a_ Smithfield Stage, _which, how gay or richly soever set off, will hardly reach to a higher t.i.tle than the customary name of a_ DROLL, _may seem somewhat new.

But as the present undertaking, the work of ten Months' preparation, is so extraordinary a Performance, that without Boast or Vanity we may modestly say, In the whole_ several Scenes, Movements, _and_ Machines, _it is no ways Inferiour even to any one_ Opera _yet seen in either of_ the Royal Theatres; _we are therefore under some sort of Necessity to make this Publication, thereby to give ev'n the meanest of our audience a full Light into all the Object they will there meet in this_ Expensive Entertainment; _the_ Proprietors _of which have adventur'd to make, under some small Hopes, That as they yearly see some of their happier Brethren Undertakers in the_ FAIR, _more cheaply obtain even the Engrost Smiles of the_ Gentry _and_ Quality _at so much an easier Price; so on the other side their own more costly Projection (though less Favourites) might possibly attain to that good Fortune, at least to attract a little share of the good graces of the more Honourable part of the Audience, and perhaps be able to purchase some of those smiles which elsewhere have been thus long the profuser Donation of particular Affection and Favour._"

In the following year, Settle arranged for Mrs. Mynn the dramatic spectacle of _Whittington_, long famous at Bartholomew Fair, concluding with a mediaeval Lord Mayor's cavalcade, in which nine different pageants were introduced.

In 1708, the first menagerie seems to have appeared at Bartholomew Fair, where it stood near the hospital gate, and attracted considerable attention. Sir Hans Sloane cannot be supposed to have missed such an opportunity of studying animals little known, as he is said to have constantly visited the fair for that purpose, and to have retained the services of a draughtsman for their representation.

The first menagerie in this country was undoubtedly that, which for several centuries, was maintained in the Tower of London, and the beginning of which may be traced to the presentation of three leopards to Henry III. by the Emperor of Germany, in allusion to the heraldic device of the former. Several royal orders are extant which show the progress made in the formation of the menagerie and furnish many interesting particulars concerning the animals. Two of these doc.u.ments, addressed by Henry III. to the sheriffs of London, have reference to a white bear. The first, dated 1253, directs that fourpence a day should be allowed for the animal's subsistence; and the second, made in the following year, commands that, "for the keeper of our white bear, lately sent us from Norway, and which is in our Tower of London, ye cause to be had one muzzle and one iron chain, to hold that bear without the water, and one long and strong cord to hold the same bear when fis.h.i.+ng in the river of Thames."

Other mandates, relating to an elephant, were issued in the same reign, in one of which it is directed, "that ye cause, without delay, to be built at our Tower of London, one house of forty feet long, and twenty feet deep, for our elephant; providing that it be so made and so strong that, when need be it may be fit and necessary for other uses." We learn from Matthew Paris that this animal was presented to Henry by the King of France. It was ten years old, and ten feet in height. It lived till the forty-first year of Henry's reign, in which year it is recorded that, for the maintenance of the elephant and its keeper, from Michaelmas to St.

Valentine's Day, immediately before it died, the charge was nearly seventeen pounds--a considerable sum for those days.

Many additions were made to the Tower menagerie in the reign of Edward III.; and notably a lion and lioness, a leopard, and two wild cats. The office of keeper of the lions was created by Henry VI., with an allowance of sixpence a day for the keeper, and a like sum "for the maintenance of every lion or leopard now being in his custody, or that shall be in his custody hereafter." This office was continued until comparatively recent times, when it was abolished with the menagerie, a step which put an end likewise to the time-honoured hoax, said to have been practised upon country cousins, of going to the water side, below London Bridge, to see the lions washed.

The building appropriated to the keeping and exhibition of the animals was a wide semi-circular edifice, in which were constructed, at distances of a few feet apart, a number of arched "dens," divided into two or more compartments, and secured by strong iron bars. Opposite these cages was a gallery of corresponding form, with a low stone parapet, and approached from the back by a flight of steps. This was appropriated exclusively to the accommodation of the royal family, who witnessed from it the feeding of the beasts and the combats described by Mr. Ainsworth in the romance which made the older portions of the Tower familiar ground to so many readers.

The menagerie which appeared in Smithfield in 1708, and the owners.h.i.+p of which I have been unable to discover, was a very small concern; but with the showman's knowledge of the popular love of the marvellous, was announced as "a Collection of Strange and Wonderful Creatures," which included "the n.o.ble _Casheware_, brought from the Island of Java in the East Indies, one of the strangest creatures in the Universe, being half a Bird, and half a Beast, reaches 16 Hands High from the Ground, his Head is like a Bird, and so is his Feet, he hath no hinder Claw, Wings, Tongue, nor Tail; his Body is like to the Body of a Deer; instead of Feathers, his fore-part is covered with Hair like an Ox, his hinder-part with a double Feather in one Quill; he Eats Iron, Steel, or Stones; he hath 2 Spears grows by his side."

There is now no difficulty in recognising this strange bird as the ca.s.sowary, the representative in the Indian islands of the ostrich. There was also a leopard from Lebanon, an eagle from Russia, a "posoun"

(opossum ?) from Hispaniola, and, besides a "Great Mare of the Tartarian Breed," which "had the Honour to be show'd before Queen Anne, Prince George, and most of the n.o.bility," "a little black hairy _Monster_, bred in the _Desarts of Arabia_, a natural Ruff of Hair about his Face, walks upright, takes a Gla.s.s of Ale in his Hand and drinks it off; and doth several other things to admiration." This animal was probably a specimen of the maned colobus, a native of the forests of Sierra Leone, and called by Pennant the full-bottomed monkey, in allusion to the full-bottom periwig of his day.

A pamphlet was published in 1710, with the t.i.tle, _The Wonders of England_, purporting to contain "Doggett and Penkethman's dialogue with Old Nick, on the suppression of Bartholomew Fair," and accounts of many strange and wonderful things; but it was a mere "catch-penny," as such productions of the Monmouth Street press were called, not containing a line about the suppression of the fair, and the t.i.tle, as Hone observes, "like the showmen's painted cloths in the fair, pictures monsters not visible within."

The lesser sights of a fair in the first quarter of the eighteenth century are graphically delineated by Gay, in his character of the ballad singer, in "The Shepherd's Week," bringing before the mind's eye the stalls, the lotteries, the mountebanks, the tumblers, the rope-dancers, the raree-shows, the puppets, and "all the fun of the fair."

"How pedlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid, The various fairings of the country maid.

Long silken laces hang upon the twine, And rows of pins and amber bracelets s.h.i.+ne; How the tight la.s.s knives, combs, and scissors spies, And looks on thimbles with desiring eyes.

Of lotteries next with tuneful note he told, Where silver spoons are won, and rings of gold.

The lads and la.s.ses trudge the street along, And all the fair is crowded in his song.

The mountebank now treads the stage, and sells His pills, his balsams, and his ague-spells; Now o'er and o'er the nimble tumbler springs, And on the rope the venturous maiden swings; Jack Pudding, in his party-coloured jacket, Tosses the glove, and jokes at every packet.

Of raree-shows he sung, and Punch's feats, Of pockets picked in crowds, and various cheats."

The theatrical booths, of which we have only casual notices or records during the seventeenth century and the first dozen years of the eighteenth, became an important feature of the London fairs about 1714, from which time those of Bartholomew and Southwark were regularly attended by many of the leading actors and actresses of Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the Haymarket, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Goodman's Fields theatres, down to the middle of the century, excepting those years in which no theatrical booths were allowed to be put up in Smithfield. The theatrical companies which attended the fairs were not, however, drawn entirely from the London theatres. Three or four actors a.s.sociated in the proprietors.h.i.+p and management, or were engaged by a popular favourite, and the rest of the company was recruited from provincial theatres, or from the strolling comedians of the country fairs.