Among the spectacles prepared for the diversion of queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth Castle in 1575, there were displays of fireworks, which are thus described by Laneham, who was present. [1083] "On the Sunday night," says he, "after a warning piece or two, [1084] was a blaze of burning darts flying to and fro, beams of stars coruscant, streams and hail of fire sparks, lightnings of wildfire on the water; and on the land, flight and shot of thunderbolts, all with such continuance, terror, and vehemence, the heavens thundered, the waters surged, and the earth shook." Another author, Gascoyne, speaks thus: "On the Sunday were fireworks showed upon the water, passing under the water a long space; and when all men thought they had been quenched, they would rise and mount out of the water again and burne furiously until they were utterlie consumed." [1085]
On the Thursday following, according to Laneham, "there was at night a shew of very strange and sundry kinds of fireworks compelled by cunning to fly to and fro, and to mount very high into the air upward, and also to burn unquenchable in the water beneath." And again, sixteen years afterwards, the same queen was entertained by the earl of Hertford at Elvetham in Hampshire, and after supper there was a grand display of fireworks, preceded by "a peale of one hundred chambers, [1086] discharged from the Snail Mount;" with "a like peale discharged from the ship Isle, and some great ordinance withal. Then was there a castle of fireworkes of all sorts, which played in the fort; answerable to that there was, at the Snail Mount, a globe of all manner of fireworkes, as big as a barrel. When these were spent there were many running rockets upon lines, which passed between the Snail Mount and the castle in the fort. On either side were many fire-wheeles, pikes of pleasure, and balles of wildfire, which burned in the water." [1087]
XXXV.—LONDON FIREWORKS.
A writer, who lived in the reign of James I., assures us there were then "abiding in the city of London men very skilful in the art of pyrotechnie, or of fireworkes." [1088] But, so far as one can judge from the machinery delineated in the books formerly written upon the subject of firework making, these exhibitions were very clumsily contrived, consisting chiefly in wheels, fire-trees, jerbs, and rockets, to which were added, men fantastically habited, who flourished away with poles or clubs charged with squibs and crackers, and fought with each other, or jointly attacked a wooden castle replete with the same materials, or combated with pasteboard dragons running upon lines and "vomitting of fire like verie furies." These men fantastically habited were called green men. Thus, in The Seven Champions of Christendom, a play written by John Kirke, and printed 1638, it is said, "Have you any squibs, any green men, in your shows, and whizzes on lines, Jack-pudding upon the rope, or resin fireworks?"
I am decidedly of opinion that the fireworks displayed within these last fifty years [1089] have been more excellent in their construction, more neatly executed, and more variable and pleasing in their effects, than those produced at any former period. It is certain that the early firework makers were totally unacquainted with the nature and properties of the quick-match, which is made with spun cotton, soaked in a strong solution of saltpetre, and rolled, while wet, in pounded gunpowder, and which, being enclosed in small tubes of paper, communicates the fire from one part of the apparatus to another with astonishing celerity. The old firework makers were obliged to have recourse to trains of corned gunpowder, conveyed by grooves made in the wood-work of the machinery, when they were desirous of communicating the fire to a number of cases at once, and especially if they were at a distance from each other, which was not only a very circuitous process, but liable to a variety of unpleasant accidents; and to this cause is attributed the failure of the tremendous firework exhibited in the Green Park in the reign of George II., when the performance was interrupted, and the grandeur of the general effect totally destroyed, by the timbers belonging to one of the wings taking fire through the explosion of the gunpowder trains communicated by the wooden channels. This unfortunate accident, in all probability, would not have happened had the communications from one part of the machinery to the other been made with quick-match. I received the above information from a very skilful firework maker belonging to the train of artillery, who had an opportunity of seeing the manner in which the trains were laid, and was present at the exhibition.
XXXIV.—FIREWORKS ON TOWER-HILL, AT PUBLIC GARDENS, AND IN PAGEANTS.
It was customary, in my memory, for the train of artillery annually to display a grand firework upon Tower-hill on the evening of his Majesty's birth-day. This spectacle has been discontinued for several years in compliance with a petition for that purpose made by the inhabitants on account of the inconveniences they sustained thereby.
Fireworks were exhibited at Marybone Gardens while they were kept open for public entertainment; and about five-and-twenty years ago, [1090] Torre, a celebrated French artist, was employed there, who, in addition to the usual displayment of fire-wheels, fixed stars, figure pieces, and other curious devices, introduced pantomimical spectacles, which afforded him an opportunity of bringing forward much splendid machinery, with appropriate scenery and stage decoration, whereby he gave an astonishing effect to his performances, and excited the admiration and applause of the spectators. I particularly remember two, the Forge of Vulcan, and the Descent of Orpheus to Hell in search of his wife Eurydice. The last was particularly splendid: there were several scenes, and one of them supposed to be the Elysian fields, where the flitting backwards and forwards of the spirits was admirably represented by means of a transparent gauze artfully interposed between the actors and the spectators.
Fireworks have for many years been exhibited at Ranelagh Gardens; they are now [1091] displayed occasionally at Vauxhall; and, in an inferior style, at Bermondsey Spa.
In speaking upon this subject I have mentioned some of the actors formerly concerned in the pyrotechnical shows. Those said above to have been on board the city foyst, or galley, are called monstrous wilde men; [1092] others are frequently distinguished by the appellation of green men; [1093] and both of them were men whimsically attired and disguised with droll masks, having large staves or clubs, headed with cases of crackers. Annexed is