A favourite dwarf of Charles V. of Spain was Corneille, a portrait of whom, by Francesco Torbido, in the Louvre at Paris, represents him dressed as a knight, with his left hand resting on the back of a large dog; and Velasquez has painted some dwarfs which were once attached to the Spanish Court, “where the most ugly of such deformities were most valued.”[110] At Madrid there is a painting by this artist representing the Infanta Margarita with her two dwarfs, Maria Borbola and Nicolasico Pertusano, who are teasing a good-natured dog. Some years ago a dwarf named Don Francisco Hidalgo held his levees in the Cosmorama Rooms, Regent Street, having previously for eighteen years, it was stated, been attached to the Court of Madrid, in the reign of Ferdinand VII.
The first wife of Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, assembled together a number of dwarfs of both sexes, in order to marry them with a view of multiplying their species—an experiment said to have been practised also by Catherine de Medicis, but in each case the attempt was fruitless. And at the castle of Ambras, in the Tyrol, was a wooden image, “only three spans high, representing a dwarf who lived in the Archduke Ferdinand’s Court.”
From an early period dwarfs were kept in Turkish palaces, an amusing reference to this custom being given by Lord Byron, who, describing the Sultan’s palace in Turkey, says:—
“This massy portal stood at the wide close
Of a huge hall, and on its either side
Two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose,
Were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied
In mockery to the enormous gate which rose
O’er them in almost pyramidic pride;
The gate so splendid was in all its features,
You never thought about those little creatures,
Until you nearly trod on them, and then
You started back in horror to survey
The wondrous hideousness of those small men,
Whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey,
But an extraneous mixture, which no pen
Can trace, although perhaps the pencil may;
They were misshapen pigmies, deaf and dumb—
Monsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum,” &c.
Dwarfs formed part of the retinue of William, Duke of Normandy, at which period it was customary for them to hold the bridle of the King’s horse in State processions. Although it is commonly said Queen Elizabeth detested as ominous all dwarfs and monsters, yet among the New Year’s gifts presented by her on January 1, 1584-85, at Greenwich, was the following: “To Mrs. Tomysen, the dwarf, two ounces of gilt plate.”
Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of Charles I., had a great fancy for dwarfs. And on the occasion of a royal progress, during which Charles I. and herself were entertained by the Duchess of Buckingham, the Queen was induced to partake of a noble venison pasty in the centre of the table, when, on the removal of the crust, the dwarf Jeffrey Hudson, only eighteen inches high, rose out of the pie, entreating to be taken into her service, a favour she granted. He seems to have proved a valuable acquisition to the Court household, being sent to France to fetch a midwife for Queen Henrietta Maria; but the homeward journey was disastrous, for “a Dunkirk privateer captured both the midwife and Jeffrey, plundered them of all the rich presents they were bringing to the Queen from her mother, Marie de Medicis, and what was worse, detained the midwife till her office was no longer needed by the royal patient.”
About 1615 was born Richard Gibson, who became Court dwarf to Charles I., and married Anne Shepherd, who was Court dwarf to Queen Henrietta Maria. Her Majesty was present at the marriage, Charles I. giving away the bride, and the Queen presenting her with a diamond ring as a bridal present. These married dwarfs both attained celebrity as miniature painters; they had the honour of teaching Mary II. and Princess Anne drawing, and they died in the service of the former.
And coming down to modern times, it may be mentioned that the dwarf Matthew Buchinger was patronised by George I. And the London Gazette for January 10, 1752, records that “on Wednesday evening Mr. John Coan, the Norfolk dwarf, was sent for to Leicester House by her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales, and was immediately introduced before her, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, Princess Augusta, and all the other princes and princesses being present, where he stayed upwards of two hours; and we are assured by the pertinency of his answers, actions, and behaviour, their Royal Highnesses were most agreeably entertained the whole time, and made him a very handsome present.”
On March 23, 1844, Charles S. Stratton, popularly known as General Tom Thumb, visited the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Kent at Buckingham Palace, where he went through his performances, repeating them again on April 2 before her Majesty, when there also were present the Queen of the Belgians, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice. At the conclusion of the entertainment her Majesty presented the General with a souvenir of mother-of-pearl, set with rubies, and bearing the crown and the initials V.R., and subsequently she presented him with a gold pencil-case. On April 19 he appeared for the third time before the Queen, Prince Albert, the King and Queen of the Belgians, and Prince Leiningen at Buckingham Palace, and sang on this, as on previous occasions, a comic song to the air of “Yankee Doodle,” in which he introduced the royal personages.