"Peter Parley loves a little fun, and can laugh as loud as any one at innocent amusement, so he got close up to the booth to see how the clown acquitted himself.
"'Come along, old boy!—this way, this way, father Adam!' cried the fellow to Peter Parley, when he saw him advancing—'make way there, ladies and gentlemen!' he continued, leaping right over the head of a countryman who was gazing at him with intense delight, at the same time knocking his hat over his eyes so as completely to blindfold him. In an instant the clown stood beside Peter Parley, and was hurrying him up the steps of the theatre before he knew what he was about. Peter Parley, however, did not relish such a summary mode of introduction, so he disengaged himself from the fellow's grasp and moved to another part of the fair, amid the rude laughter of the by-standers.
"Peter Parley was amazed at the number of round-abouts and swings of every description, which beat the air and performed their evolutions with almost incessant rapidity. Some of them in the form of boats, which in the course of their movements rose and sunk alternately so as to imitate the motion of a vessel on the water, seemed particularly ingenious and appeared to be in constant request. Donkey races, too, lent their attractions, and altogether such a scene of gaiety Peter Parley never witnessed.
"As long as daylight lasted these out-of-door amusements seemed to lose little or none of their attractions. When it became too dark for their performance people crowded into the theatres and tents, or waited patiently for the grand display of fireworks which was to take place at a late hour in the evening.
"By way of making the most of his time Peter Parley got into a hackney coach and drove through the principal parts of the town to see the illuminations, which it was expected were to be on a grand scale.
"All along the line of the procession the display was most splendid, and though many of the exhibitions of private individuals were beautiful and tasteful, the public offices certainly carried off the palm. Peter Parley thinks he never saw such a brilliant display as that at the Ordnance Office, in Pall Mall, the whole front of which was one blaze of light. Peter Parley was told that there were no fewer than sixty thousand lamps employed in the devices!
"The Admiralty, Somerset House, and the Horse Guards, shared, with the Ordnance Office, the attention of the evening. The former displayed a magnificent imperial crown surmounting an anchor, with the union flag on each side in coloured lamps. It had also an inscription, 'God save the Queen.'
"Somerset House, in which are several of the public offices, excited a good deal of attention from a novelty in the art of illumination. Instead of being lighted up with oil, the coloured lamps were illuminated with gas, which added greatly to their brilliancy and effect. The Horse Guards was, also, lit up in the same manner, and was equally attractive.
"There were, besides these, hundreds of others well worth looking at and remembering too; but so many attractions offered themselves to his notice on every side, that Peter Parley does not know which to tell you about.
"After being satisfied with gazing at the illuminations, Peter Parley again proceeded to the Park, as the time approached for the grand display of fireworks.