In the reign of James II. "Hans Buling, a Dutchman, was well known in London as a mountebank. He was," says Granger, [752] "an odd figure of a man, and extremely fantastical in his dress; he was attended by a monkey, which he had trained to act the part of a jack-pudding, a part which he had formerly acted himself, and which was more natural to him than that of a professor of physic." The ignorance and the impudence of the mountebanks are ridiculed in the Spectator, and especially in that paper which concludes with an anecdote of one who exhibited at Hammersmith. [753] He told his audience that he had been "born and bred there, and, having a special regard for the place of his nativity, he was determined to make a present of five shillings to as many as would accept it: the whole crowd stood agape, and ready to take the doctor at his word; when, putting his hand into a long bag, as every one was expecting his crown-piece, he drew out a handful of little packets, each of which, he informed the spectators, was constantly sold for five shillings and sixpence, but that he would bate the odd five shillings to every inhabitant of that place. The whole assembly immediately closed with this generous offer, and took off all his physic, after the doctor had made them vouch that there were no foreigners among them, but that they were all Hammersmith men."
XXIX.—THE TINKER.
Another itinerant, who seems in some degree to have rivalled the lower classes of the jugglers, was the tinker; and accordingly he is included, with them and the minstrels, in the act against vagrants established by the authority of queen Elizabeth. [754] His performances were usually exhibited at fairs, wakes, and other places of public resort: they consisted in low buffoonery and ludicrous tricks to engage the attention and move the laughter of the populace. Some of them are specified in the following speech from The Two Maides of Moreclacke, an old dramatic performance, printed in 1609: "This, madame, is the tinker of Twitnam. I have seene him licke out burning firebrands with his tongue, drink two-pence from the bottome of a full pottle of ale, fight with a masty, [755] and stroke his mustachoes with his bloody-bitten fist, and sing as merrily as the soberest querester."
XXX.—THE FIRE-EATER.
The first article in the foregoing quotation brings to my recollection the extraordinary performances of a professed fire-eater, whose name was Powel, well known in different parts of the kingdom about forty years ago. Among other wonderful feats, I saw him do the following:—He ate the burning coals from the fire; he put a large bunch of matches lighted into his mouth, and blew the smoke of the sulphur through his nostrils; he carried a red-hot heater round the room in his teeth; and broiled a piece of beef-steak upon his tongue. To perform this, he lighted a piece of charcoal, which he put into his mouth beneath his tongue, the beef was laid upon the top; and one of the spectators blew upon the charcoal, to prevent the heat decreasing, till the meat was sufficiently broiled. By way of conclusion, he made a composition of pitch, brimstone, and other combustibles, to which he added several pieces of lead; the whole was melted in an iron ladle, and then set on fire; this he called his soup; and, taking it out of the ladle with a spoon of the same metal, he ate it in its state of liquefaction, and blazing furiously, without appearing to sustain the least injury. And here we may add the whimsical trickery of a contemporary artist, equal to the above in celebrity, who amused the public, and filled his pockets, by eating stones, which, it is, said he absolutely cracked between his teeth, and afterwards swallowed.
CHAPTER VI.
I. Animals, how tutored by the Jugglers.—Tricks performed by Bears.—II. Tricks performed by Apes and Monkeys.—III. By Horses among the Sybarites.—IV. In the thirteenth Century.—V. In Queen Anne's Reign.—VI. Origin of the Exhibitions at Astley's, the Circus, &c.—VII. Dancing Dogs.—VIII. The Hare beating a Tabor, and learned Pig.—IX. A Dancing Cock.—The Deserter Bird.—X. Imitations of Animals.—XI. Mummings and Masquerades.—XII. Mumming to Royal Personages.—XIII. Partial Imitations of Animals.—XIV. The Horse in the Morris-dance.—XV. Counterfeit Voices of Animals.—XVI. Animals trained for Baiting.—XVII. Paris Garden.—XVIII. Bull and Bear Baiting patronised by Royalty.—XIX. How performed.—XX. Bears and Bear-wards.—XXI. Baiting in Queen Anne's time.—XXII. Sword Play, &c.—XXIII. Public Sword Play.—XXIV. Quarter Staff.—XXV. Wrestling, &c. in Bear Gardens—XXVI. Extraordinary Trial of Strength.