The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs Part 5

"Note.--At a large room near his booth are to be seen, without any loss of time, two large ostriches, lately arrived from the Deserts of Arabia, being male and female."

Fawkes, the conjuror, was now dead, but Pinchbeck carried on the show, in conjunction with his late partner's son, and issued the following announcement:--

"_This is to give notice, that Mr._ Pinchbeck _and_ Fawkes, _who have had the honour to perform before the Royal Family, and most of the n.o.bility and Gentry in the Kingdom with great applause, during the time of_ Southwark Fair, _will divert the Publick with the following surprising Entertainments, at their great Theatrical Room, at the_ Queen's Arms, _joining to the_ Marshalsea Gate. First, the surprising Tumbler from Frankfort in Germany, who shows several astonis.h.i.+ng things by the Art of Tumbling; the like never seen before since the memory of man. Secondly, the diverting and incomparable dexterity of hand, performed by Mr.

Pinchbeck, who causes a tree to grow out of a flower-pot on the table, which blossoms and bears ripe fruit in a minute; also a man in a maze, or a perpetual motion, where he makes a little ball to run continually, which would last was it for seven years together only by the word of command. He has several tricks entirely new, which were never done by any other person than himself. Third, the famous little posture-master of nine years old, who shows several astonis.h.i.+ng postures by activity of body, different from any other posture-master in Europe."

The fourth and fifth items of the programme were Pinchbeck's musical clock and the Venetian machine. The advertis.e.m.e.nt concludes with the announcement that "while the booth is filling, the little posture-master will divert the company with several wonders on the slack rope. Beginning every day at ten o'clock in the morning, and ending at ten at night." As Pinchbeck now performed the conjuring tricks for which his former partner had been famous, and the latter's son does not appear as a performer, it is probable that young Fawkes was merely a sleeping partner in the concern, his father having acc.u.mulated by the exercise of his profession, a capital of ten thousand pounds.

It was in this year that Highmore, actuated by the spirit which in recent times has prompted the prosecution of music-hall proprietors by theatrical managers, swore an information against Harper as an offender under the Vagrancy Act, which condemned strolling players to the same penalties as wandering ballad-singers and st.u.r.dy beggars. Why, it may be asked, was Harper selected as the scape-goat of all the comedians who performed in the London fairs, and among whom were Cibber, Bullock, Hippisley, Hallam, Ryan, Laguerre, Chapman, Hall, and other leading actors of the theatres royal? There is no evidence of personal animosity against Harper on Highmore's part, but it is not much to the latter's credit that he was supposed to have selected for a victim a man who was thought to be timid enough to be frightened into submission.

Harper was arrested on the 12th November, and taken before a magistrate, by whom he was committed to Bridewell, as a vagrant, on evidence being given that he had performed at Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs, and also at Drury Lane. He appealed against the decision, and the cause was tried in the Court of King's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice, on the 20th.

Eminent counsel were retained on both sides, the prosecution insisting that the appellant had brought himself under the operation of the Vagrancy Act by "wandering from place to place" in the exercise of his vocation; and counsel for the appellant contending that, as Harper was a householder of Westminster and a freeholder of Surrey, it was ridiculous to represent him as a vagabond, or to pretend that he was likely to become chargeable as a pauper to the parish in which he resided. "My client," said his counsel, "is an honest man, who pays his debts, and injures no man, and is well esteemed by many gentlemen of good condition." The result was, that Harper was discharged on his own recognizances to be of good conduct, and left Westminster Hall amidst the acclamations of several hundreds of persons, whom his popularity had caused to a.s.semble.

In the following year, the managerial arrangements for the fairs again received considerable modification. The partners.h.i.+p of Miller, Mills, and Oates was dissolved, and the last-named actor again joined Fielding, while Hippisley joined Bullock and Hallam, and Hall formed a new combination with Ryan, Laguerre, and Chapman. Harper's partners.h.i.+p with Lee was dissolved by the latter's death, and the fear of having his recognizances estreated seems to have prevented him from appearing at the fairs.

Fielding and Oates presented _Don Carlos_ and the ballad opera of _The Constant Lovers_, in which Oates played Ragout, his daughter Arabella, and Mrs. Pritchard, in grateful remembrance of her Bartholomew Fair triumph of the preceding year, Chloe.

Hippisley, Bullock, and Hallam presented _Fair Rosamond_, followed by _The Impostor_, in which Vizard was played by Hippisley, Balderdash by Bullock, and Solomon Smack by Hallam's son. During the last week of the fair, Hippisley gave, as an interlude, his diverting medley in the character of a drunken man, for which impersonation he was long as celebrated as Harper was for a similar representation.

Ryan, Laguerre, Chapman, and Hall gave what appears a long programme for a fair, and suggests more than the ordinary amount of "cutting down." The performances commenced with _Don John_, in which the libertine prince was played by Ryan, and Jacomo by Chapman. After the tragedy came a ballad opera, _The Barren Island_, in which Hall played the boatswain, Laguerre the gunner, and Penkethman the c.o.xswain. The performances concluded with a farce, _The Farrier Nicked_, in which Laguerre was Merry, Penkethman the farrier's man, and Hall an ale-wife.

At Southwark Fair this year, Lee's booth, now conducted by his widow, stood in Axe and Bottle Yard, and presented the _Siege of Troy_, "which,"

says the advertis.e.m.e.nt, "in its decorations, machinery, and paintings, far exceeds anything of the like kind that ever was seen in the fairs before, the scenes and clothes being entirely new. All the parts to be performed to the best advantage, by persons from the theatres. The part of Paris by Mr. Hulett; King Menelaus, Mr. Roberts; Ulysses, Mr. Aston; Simon, Mr.

Hind; Captain of the Guard, Mr. Mackenzie; Bustle the Cobler, Mr. Morgan; Butcher, Mr. Pearce; Taylor, Mr. Hicks; Ca.s.sandra, Mrs. Spiller; Venus, Mrs. Lacy; Helen, Mrs. Purden; Cobler's Wife, Mrs. Morgan. With several Entertainments of Singing and Dancing by the best masters.

"N.B. There being a puppet-show in Mermaid Court, leading down to the Green, called _The Siege of Troy_; These are to forewarn the Publick, that they may not be imposed on by counterfeits, the only celebrated droll of that kind was first brought to perfection by the late famous Mrs. Mynns, and can only be performed by her daughter, Mrs. Lee."

Mrs. Lee seems to have had a formidable rival in another theatrical booth, which appeared anonymously, and from this circ.u.mstance, combined with the fact of its occupying the site on which Lee and Harper's canvas theatre had stood for several successive years, may not unreasonably be regarded as the venture of Harper. All I have found concerning it is the bill, which, as being a good specimen of the announcements issued by the proprietors of the theatrical booths attending the London fairs, is given entire.

"_At the Great_ THEATRICAL BOOTH

On the Bowling-Green behind the Marshalsea, down Mermaid-Court next the Queen's-Arms Tavern, during the Time of Southwark Fair, (which began the 8th instant and ends the 21st), will be presented that diverting Droll call'd,

_The True and Ancient History of_ Maudlin, _the Merchant's Daughter_ of Bristol, AND _Her Constant Lover_ Antonio,

Who she follow'd into Italy, disguising herself in Man's Habit; shewing the Hards.h.i.+ps she underwent by being s.h.i.+pwreck'd on the coast of Algier, where she met her Lover, who was doom'd to be burnt at a Stake by the King of that Country, who fell in Love with her and proffer'd her his Crown, which she despised, and chose rather to share the Fate of her Antonio than renounce the Christian Religion to embrace that of their Impostor Prophet, Mahomet.

With the Comical Humours of _Roger_, Antonio's Man,

And variety of Singing and Dancing between the Acts by Mr. Sandham, Mrs. Woodward, and Miss Sandham.

"Particularly, a new Dialogue to be sung by Mr. Excell and Mrs.

Fitzgerald. Written by the Author of _Bacchus one day gaily striding_, &c. and a hornpipe by Mr. Taylor. To which will be added a new Entertainment (never perform'd before) called

The INTRIGUING HARLEQUIN OR Any Wife better than None.

With Scenes, Machines, and other Decorations proper to the Entertainment."

Pinchbeck and Fawkes had a booth this year on the Bowling Green, where the entertainments of the preceding year were repeated, the little posturer being again announced as only nine years of age. Pinchbeck had a shop in Fleet Street at this time, (mentioned in the thirty-fifth number of the 'Adventurer'), and, perhaps, an interest in the wax figures exhibited by Fawkes at the Old Tennis Court, as "the so much famed piece of machinery, consisting of large artificial wax figures five foot high, which have all the just motions and gestures of human life, and have been for several years shewn at Bath and Tunbridge Wells, and no where else, except this time two years at the Opera Room in the Haymarket; and by them will be presented the comical tragedy of _Tom Thumb_. With several scenes out of _The Tragedy of Tragedies_, and dancing between the acts. To which will be added, an entertainment of dancing called _The Necromancer: or, Harlequin Dr. Faustus_, with the fairy song and dance. The clothes, scenes, and decorations are entirely new. The doors to be opened at four, and to begin at six o'clock. Pit 2s. 6d. Gallery 1s. Tickets to be had at Mr.

Chenevix's toy-shop, over against Suffolk Street, Charing Cross; at the Tennis Court Coffee House; at Mr. Edward Pinchbeck's, at the Musical Clock in Fleet Street; at Mr. Smith's, a perfumer, at the Civet Cat in New Bond Street near Hanover Square; at the little man's fan-shop in St. James's Street."

Fawkes and Pinchbeck seem to have speculated in exhibitions and entertainments of various descriptions, for besides this marionette performance and the conjuring show, there seems to have been another show, which appeared at Bartholomew Fair this year, as their joint enterprise, and for which Fielding wrote a dramatic trifle called _The Humours of Covent Garden_. It was probably a performance of puppets, like that at the Old Tennis Court.

The licences granted by the Corporation for mountebanks, conjurors, and others, to exercise their avocations at Bartholomew Fair had hitherto extended to fourteen days; but in 1735 the Court of Aldermen resolved--"That Bartholomew Fair shall not exceed Bartholomew eve, Bartholomew day, and the next morrow, and shall be restricted to the sale of goods, wares, and merchandises, usually sold in fairs, and no acting shall be permitted therein." There were, therefore, no shows this year; and, as the Licensing Act had rendered all unlicensed entertainers liable to the pains and penalties of vagrancy, and Sir John Barnard was known to be determined to suppress all such "idle amus.e.m.e.nts" as dancing, singing, tumbling, juggling, and the like, the toymen, the vendors of gingerbread, the purveyors of sausages, and the gin-stalls had the fair to themselves.

There seems no evidence, however, that there was less disorder, or less indulgence in vice, in Bartholomew Fair this year than on former occasions. "Lady Holland's mob," as the concourse of roughs was called which antic.i.p.ated the official proclamation of the fair by swarming through the streets adjacent to Smithfield on the previous night, a.s.sembled as usual, shouting, ringing bells, and breaking lamps, as had been the annual wont from the time of the Long Parliament, though the a.s.sociation of Lady Holland's name with these riotous proceedings is a mystery which I have not been able to unravel. Nor is there any reason for supposing that drunkenness was banished from the fair with the shows; for, though it is probable that a much smaller number of persons resorted to Smithfield, it is certain that gin-stalls const.i.tuted a greater temptation to excessive indulgence in alcoholic fluids, in the absence of all means of amus.e.m.e.nt, than the larger numbers that visited the shows were exposed to. The idea of promoting temperance by depriving the people of the choice between the public-house and the theatre or music-hall is the most absurd that has ever been conceived.

It was on the 15th of March, in this year, that Ryan, the comedian and Bartholomew Fair theatrical manager, was attacked at midnight, in Great Queen Street, by a footpad, who fired a pistol in his face, inflicting injuries which deprived him of consciousness, and then robbed him of his sword, which, however, was afterwards picked up in the street. Ryan was carried home, and attended by a surgeon, who found his jaws shattered, and several teeth dislodged. A performance was given at Covent Garden for his benefit on the 19th, when he had a crowded house, and the play was the _Provoked Husband_, with Hallam as Lord Townly, and the farce the _School for Women_, which was new, in the Robertsonian sense, being adapted from Moliere. Hippisley played in it. The Prince of Wales was prevented by a prior engagement from attending, but he sent Ryan a hundred guineas. The wounded actor was unable to perform until the 25th of April, when he re-appeared as Bellair in a new comedy, Popple's _Double Deceit_, in which Sir William Courtlove was personated by Hippisley, Gayliffe by Hallam, and Jerry by Chapman.

Smithfield presented its wonted fair aspect on the eve of Bartholomew, 1736, the civic authorities having seen the error of their ways, and testified their sense thereof by again permitting shows to be erected.

Hippisley joined Fielding this year, and they presented _Don Carlos_ and the _Cheats of Scapin_, Mrs. Pritchard re-appearing in the character of Loveit. Hallam and Chapman joined in partners.h.i.+p, and produced _Fair Rosamond_ and a ballad opera.

Fielding had at this time an income of two hundred a year, besides what he derived from translating and adapting French plays for the London stage, and the profits of his annual speculation in Smithfield. But, if he had had three times as much, he would have been always in debt, and occasionally in difficulties. Besides being careless and extravagant in his expenditure, he was generous to a fault. His pocket was at all times a bank upon which friends.h.i.+p or distress might draw. One ill.u.s.tration of this trait in his character I found in an old collection of anecdotes published in 1787. Some parochial taxes for his house in Beaufort Buildings, in the Strand, being unpaid, and repeated application for payment having been made in vain, he was at last informed by the collector that further procrastination would be productive of unpleasant consequences.

In this dilemma, Fielding, having no money, obtained ten or twelves guineas of Tonson, on account of some literary work which he had then in hand. He was returning to Beaufort Buildings, jingling his guineas, when he met in the Strand an Eton chum, whom he had not seen for several years.

Question and answer followed quickly as the friends shook each other's hands with beaming eyes, and then they adjourned to a tavern, where Fielding ordered dinner, that they might talk over old times. Care was given to the winds, and the hours flew on unthought of, as the showman and his old schoolfellow partook of "the feast of reason, and the flow of soul." Fielding's friend was "hard up," and the fact was no sooner divulged than his purse received the greater part of the money for which the future novelist had pledged sheets of ma.n.u.script as yet unwritten.

It was past midnight when Fielding, raised by wine and friends.h.i.+p to the seventh heaven, reached home. In reply to the questions of his sister, who had anxiously awaited his coming, as to the cause of his long absence, he related his felicitous meeting with his former chum. "But, Harry," said Amelia, "the collector has called twice for the rates." Thus brought down to earth again, Fielding looked grave; it was the first time he had thought of the rates since leaving Tonson's shop, and he had spent at the tavern all that he had not given to his friend. But his gravity was only of a moment's duration. "Friends.h.i.+p," said he, "has called for the money, and had it; let the collector call again." A second application to Tonson enabled him, however, to satisfy the demands of the parish as well as those of friends.h.i.+p.

It was in this year that the Act for licensing plays was pa.s.sed, the occasion--perhaps I should say, the pretext--being the performance of Fielding's burlesque, _Pasquin_. Ministers had had their eyes upon the stage for some time, and it must be admitted that the political allusions that were indulged in on the stage were strong, and often spiced with personalities that would not be tolerated at the present day. It is doubtful, however, whether the Act would have pa.s.sed the House of Commons, but for the folly of Giffard, manager of Goodman's Fields, and sometimes of a booth in Bartholomew Fair. He had a burlesque offered him, called the _Golden Princess_, so full of gross abuse of Parliament, the Privy Council, and even the King, that, impelled by loyalty, and suspecting no ulterior aims or sinister intention, he waited upon Sir Robert Walpole, and laid before him the dreadful ma.n.u.script. The minister praised Giffard for his loyalty, while he must have inwardly chuckled at the egregious folly and mental short-sightedness that could be so easily led into such a blunder. He purchased the ma.n.u.script, and made such effective use of it in the House of Commons that Parliament was as completely gulled as Giffard had been, and the Dramatic Licensing Bill became law.

In the following year, Hallam appeared at Bartholomew Fair without a partner, setting up his show over against the gate of the hospital, and presenting a medley entertainment, comprising, as set forth in the bills, "the surprising performances of M. Jano, M. Raynard, M. Baudouin, and Mynheer Vander Huff. Also a variety of rope-dancers, tumblers, posture-masters, balance-masters, and comic dancers; being a set of the very best performers that way in Europe. The comic dances to be performed by M. Jano, M. Baudouin, M. Peters, and Mr. Thompson; Madlle. De Frano, Madlle. Le Roy, Mrs. Dancey, and Miss Dancey. To which will be added, the Italian Shadows, performed by the best masters from Italy, which have not been seen these twenty years. The whole to conclude with a grand ballet dance, called _Le Badinage Champetre_. With a complete band of music of hautboys, violins, trumpets, and kettle-drums. All the decorations entirely new. To begin every day at one o'clock, and continue till eleven at night." Close to this booth was Yeates's, in which _The Lover his own Rival_ was performed by wax figures, nearly as large as life, after which Yeates's son performed some juggling feats, and a youth whose name does not appear in the bills gave an acrobatic performance.

In 1738, Hallam's booth occupied the former site of Fielding's, in George Yard, the entertainment consisted of the operatic burlesque, _The Dragon of Wantley_, performed by the Lilliputian company from Drury Lane. During the filling of the booth a posturing performance was given by M.

Rapinese. "The pa.s.sage to the booth," says the advertis.e.m.e.nts, "is commodiously illuminated by several large moons and lanthorns, for the conveniency of the company, and that persons of quality's coaches may drive up the yard." Penkethman had this year a booth, where Hallam's had stood the preceding year, and presented _The Man's Bewitched_ and _The Country Wedding_.

Hallam's booth attended Tottenham Court Fair this year, standing near the turnpike, and presenting a new entertainment called _The Mad Lovers_. At Southwark Fair Lee's theatrical booth stood on the bowling-green, and presented _Merlin, the British Enchanter_, and _The Country Farmer_, concluding with a mimic pageant representing the Lord Mayor's procession in the old times.

In 1739, Bartholomew Fair was extended to four days, and there was a proportionately larger attendance of theatrical booths. Hallam's stood over against the hospital gate, and presented the pantomime of _Harlequin turned Philosopher_ and the farce of _The Sailor's Wedding_, with singing and dancing. Hippisley, Chapman, and Legar had a booth in George Yard, where they produced _The Top of the Tree_, in which a famous dog scene was introduced, and the mythological pantomime of _Perseus and Andromeda_.

Bullock, who had made his last appearance at Covent Garden in the preceding April, had the largest booth in the fair, and a.s.sumed the part of Judge Balance in a new pantomimic entertainment called _The Escapes of Harlequin by Sea and Land_, which was preceded by a variety of humorous songs and dances. Phillips, a comedian from Drury Lane, joined Mrs. Lee this year in a booth at the corner of Hosier Lane, where they presented a medley entertainment, comprising the "grand scene" of _Cupid and Psyche_, a scaramouch dance by Phillips and others (said to have been given, with great applause, on forty successive nights, at the Opera, Paris), a dialogue between Punch and Columbine, a scene of a drunken peasant by Phillips, and a pantomimic entertainment called _Columbine Courtesan_, in which the parts of Harlequin and Columbine were sustained by Phillips and his wife.

In 1740, Hallam, whose show stood opposite the hospital gate, presented _The Rambling Lover_; and Yeates, whose booth was next to Hallam's, the pantomime of _Orpheus and Eurydice_. The growing taste for pantomime, which is sufficiently attested by the play-bills of the period, induced Hippisley and Chapman, whose booth stood in George Yard, to present, instead of a tragedy or comedy, a pantomime called _Harlequin Scapin_, in which the popular embodiment of Moliere's humour was adapted with success to pantomimic requirements. Hippisley played Scapin, Chapman was Tim, and Yates, who made his first appearance at Bartholomew Fair, Slyboots. After the pantomime came singing and dancing by Oates, Yates, Mrs. Phillips, and others, "particularly a new whimsical and diverting dance called the Spanish Beauties." The performances concluded with a new musical entertainment called _The Parting Lovers_. Fawkes and Pinchbeck also had a theatrical booth this year in conjunction with a partner named Terwin.

This year the fair was visited again by the Prince of Wales, of which incident an account appeared many years afterwards in the 'New European Magazine.' The shows were all in full blast and the crowd at its thickest, when, says the narrator, "the mult.i.tude behind was impelled violently forwards; a broad blaze of red light, issuing from a score of flambeaux, streamed into the air; several voices were loudly shouting, 'room there for Prince George! Make way for the Prince!' and there was that long sweep heard to pa.s.s over the ground which indicates the approach of a grand and ceremonious train. Presently the pressure became much greater, the voices louder, the light stronger, and as the train came onward, it might be seen that it consisted, firstly, of a party of the yeomen of the guard, clearing the way; then several more of them bearing flambeaux, and flanking the procession; while in the midst of all appeared a tall, fair, and handsome young man, having something of a plump foreign visage, seemingly about four and thirty, dressed in a ruby-coloured frock-coat, very richly guarded with gold lace, and having his long flowing hair curiously curled over his forehead and at the sides, and finished with a very large bag and courtly queue behind. The air of dignity with which he walked, the blue ribbon and star and garter with which he was decorated, the small three-cornered silk court hat which he wore, whilst all around him were uncovered; the numerous suite, as well of gentlemen as of guards, which marshalled him along, the obsequious attention of a short stout person, who, by his flouris.h.i.+ng manner seemed to be a player,--all these particulars indicated that the amiable Frederick, Prince of Wales, was visiting Bartholomew Fair by torch-light, and that Manager Rich was introducing his royal guest to all the entertainments of the place.

"However strange this circ.u.mstance may appear to the present generation, yet it is nevertheless strictly true; for about 1740, when the drolls in Smithfield were extended to three weeks and a month, it was not considered as derogatory to persons of the first rank and fas.h.i.+on to partake in the broad humour and theatrical amus.e.m.e.nts of the place. It should also be remembered, that many an eminent performer of the last century unfolded his abilities in a booth; and that it was once considered as an important and excellent preparation to their treading the boards of a theatre royal."

The narrator then proceeds to describe the duties of the leading actor in a Bartholomew Fair theatre, from which account there is some deduction to be made for the errors and exaggerations of a person writing long after the times which he undertakes to describe, and who was not very careful in his researches, as the statement that the fair then lasted three weeks or a month sufficiently attests. The picture which he gives was evidently drawn from his knowledge of the Richardsonian era, which he endeavoured to make fit into the Bartholomew Fair experiences of the very different showmen of the reign of George II.

"I will," he says, a.s.suming the character of an actor of the period he describes, "as we say, take you behind the scenes. First, then, an actor must sleep in the pit, and wake early to throw fresh sawdust into the boxes; he must shake out the dresses, and wind up the motion-jacks; he must teach the dull ones how to act, rout up the idlers from the straw, and redeem those that happen to get into the watch-house. Then, sir, when the fair begins, he should sometimes walk about the stage grandly, and show his dress; sometimes he should dance with his fellows; sometimes he should sing; sometimes he should blow the trumpet; sometimes he should laugh and joke with the crowd, and give them a kind of a touch-and-go speech, which keeps them merry, and makes them come in. Then, sir, he should sometimes cover his state robe with a great coat, and go into the crowd, and shout opposite his own booth, like a stranger who is struck with its magnificence: by the way, sir, that's a good trick,--I never knew it fail to make an audience; and then he has only to steal away, mount his stage, and strut, and dance, and sing, and trumpet, and roar over again."

Griffin and Harper drop out of the list of showmen at the London fairs in this year. Griffin appeared at Drury Lane for the last time on the 12th of February, and died soon afterwards, with the character of a worthy man and an excellent actor. He made his first appearance at Lincoln's Inn Fields, as Sterling in _The Perplexed Lovers_, in 1714. Harper, the jolly, facetious low comedian, suffered an attack of paralysis towards the close of 1739, and, though he survived till 1742, he never appeared again on the stage.

In the following year, Hippisley and Chapman presented _A Devil of a Duke_; and Hallam relied for success upon _Fair Rosamond_. Lee and Woodward, whose booth stood opposite the hospital gate, produced _Darius, King of Persia_, "with the comical humours of Sir Andrew Aguecheek at the siege of Babylon." Anachronisms of this kind were common at theatrical booths in those days, when comic Englishmen of one type or another were constantly introduced, without regard to the scene or the period of the drama to be represented. Audiences were not sufficiently educated to be critical in such matters, and managers could plead the example of Shakspeare, who was then esteemed a greater authority than he is considered to be at the present day. Yates made his first appearance as a showman this year, in partners.h.i.+p with Turb.u.t.t, who set up a booth opposite the King's Head, and produced a pantomime called _Thamas Kouli Khan_, founded on recent news from the East. An epilogue, in the character of a drunken English sailor, was spoken by Yates, of whom Churchill wrote,--

"In characters of low and vulgar mould, Where nature's coa.r.s.est features we behold Where, dest.i.tute of every decent grace, Unmanner'd jests are blurted in your face; There Yates with justice strict attention draws, Acts truly from himself, and gains applause."

There was a second and smaller booth in the name of Hallam, in which tumbling and rope-dancing were performed; but whether belonging to the actor or to another showman of the same name is uncertain. Fawkes and Pinchbeck exhibited the latter's model of the Siege of Carthagena, with which a comic dramatic performance was combined.

The office of Master of the Revels was held at this time by Heidegger, a native of Zurich, who was also manager of the Italian Opera. He was one of the most singular characters of the time, and as remarkable for his personal ugliness as for the eccentricity of his manners. The profanity of his language was less notable in that age than his candour. Supping on one occasion with a party of gentlemen of rank, the comparative ingenuity of different nations became the theme of conversation, when the first place was claimed by Heidegger for his compatriots.