The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs Part 4

The London fairs were not, therefore, neglected by metropolitan managers in quest of talent, who, by witnessing the performances in booths on Smithfield or Southwark Green, sometimes found and transferred to their own boards, actors and actresses who proved stars of the first magnitude.

It was in Bartholomew Fair that Booth found Walker, the original representative of Captain Macheath, playing in the _Siege of Troy_; and in Southwark Fair, in 1714, that the same manager saw Mrs. Horton acting in _Cupid and Psyche_, and was so pleased with her impersonation that he immediately offered her an engagement at Drury Lane, where she appeared the following season as Melinda, in the _Recruiting Officer_. She made her first appearance in 1713, as Marcia in _Cato_, with a strolling company then performing at Windsor; and is said to have been one of the most beautiful women that ever trod the stage.

Penkethman's company played the _Constant Lovers_ in Southwark Fair in the year that proved so fortunate for Mrs. Horton, the comedian himself playing Buzzard, and Bullock taking the part of Sir Timothy Littlewit. In the following year, as we learn from a newspaper paragraph "a great play-house" was erected in the middle of Smithfield for "the King's players," being "the largest ever built." In 1717 Bullock did not accompany Penkethman, but set up a booth of his own, in conjunction with Leigh; while Penkethman formed a partnership with Pack, and produced the new "droll," _Twice Married and a Maid Still_, in which the former personated Old Merriwell; Pack, Tim; Quin, Vincent; Ryan, Peregrine; Spiller, Trusty; and Mrs. Spiller, Lucia. Penkethman's booth received the honour of a visit from the Prince of Wales. On the evening of the 13th of September, the popular favourite and several of the company were arrested on the stage by a party of constables, in the presence of a hundred and fifty of the n.o.bility and gentry; but, pleading that they were "the King's servants," they were released without being subjected to the pains and penalties of vagrancy.

In 1719, Bullock's name appears alone as the proprietor of the theatrical booth set up in Birdcage Alley, for Southwark Fair, and in which the _Jew of Venice_ was represented, with singing and dancing, and Harper's representation of the freaks and humours of a drunken man, which, having been greatly admired at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he and Bullock were both then engaged, could not fail to delight a fair audience. It was in this year that Boheme made his first appearance, as Menelaus in the _Siege of Troy_, in a booth at Southwark, where he was seen and immediately engaged by the manager of Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he appeared the following season as Worcester in _Henry IV._, and subsequently as the Ghost in _Hamlet_, York in _Richard II._, Pisanio in _Cymbeline_, Brabantio in _Oth.e.l.lo_, etc.

The theatres at this time were closed during the continuance of Bartholomew Fair, the concourse of all cla.s.ses to that popular resort preventing them from obtaining remunerative audiences at that time, while the actors could obtain larger salaries in booths than they received at the theatres, and some realised large amounts by a.s.sociating in the ownership of a booth. The Haymarket company presented the _Beggar's Opera_, at Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs in 1720; and Penkethman had his booth at both fairs, this year without a partner.

May Fair, which had long been falling into disrepute, now ceased to be held. It was presented by the grand jury of Middles.e.x four years successively as a nuisance; and the county magistrates then presented an address to the Crown, praying for its suppression by royal proclamation.

Pennant, who says that he remembered the last May Fair, describes the locality as "covered with booths, temporary theatres, and every enticement to low pleasure." A more particular description was given in 1774, in a communication from Carter, the antiquary, to the "Gentleman's Magazine."

"A mountebank's stage," he tells us, "was erected opposite the Three Jolly Butchers public-house (on the east side of the market area, now the King's Arms). Here Woodward, the inimitable comedian and harlequin, made his first appearance as Merry Andrew; from these humble boards he soon after made his way to Covent Garden Theatre. Then there was 'beheading of puppets.' In a coal-shed attached to a grocer's shop (then Mr. Frith's, now Mr. Frampton's), one of these mock executions was exposed to the attending crowd. A shutter was fixed horizontally, on the edge of which, after many previous ceremonies, a puppet laid its head, and another puppet instantly chopped it off with an axe. In a circular stair-case window, at the north end of Sun Court, a similar performance took place by another set of puppets. In these representations, the late punishment of the Scottish chieftain (Lord Lovat) was alluded to, in order to gratify the feelings of southern loyalty, at the expense of that further north.

"In a fore one-pair room, on the west side of Sun Court, a Frenchman submitted to the curious the astonishing strength of the 'strong woman,'

his wife. A blacksmith's anvil being procured from White Horse Street, with three of the men, they brought it up, and placed it on the floor. The woman was short, but most beautifully and delicately formed, and of a most lovely countenance. She first let down her hair (a light auburn), of a length descending to her knees, which she twisted round the projecting part of the anvil, and then, with seeming ease, lifted the ponderous weight some inches from the floor. After this, a bed was laid in the middle of the room; when, reclining on her back, and uncovering her bosom, the husband ordered the smiths to place thereon the anvil, and forge upon it a horse-shoe! This they obeyed, by taking from the fire a red-hot piece of iron, and with their forging hammers completing the shoe, with the same might and indifference as when in the shop at their constant labour.

The prostrate fair one appeared to endure this with the utmost composure, talking and singing during the whole process; then, with an effort which to the bystanders seemed like some supernatural trial, cast the anvil from off her body, jumping up at the same moment with extreme gaiety, and without the least discomposure of her dress or person. That no trick or collusion could possibly be practised on the occasion was obvious, from the following evidence:--the audience stood promiscuously about the room, among whom were our family and friends; the smiths were utter strangers to the Frenchman, but known to us; therefore, the several efforts of strength must have proceeded from the natural and surprising power this foreign dame was possessed of. She next put her naked feet on a red-hot salamander, without receiving the least injury; but this is a feat familiar with us at this time.

"Here, too, was 'Tiddy-dol.' This celebrated vendor of gingerbread, from his eccentricity of character, and extensive dealings in his way, was always hailed as the king of itinerant tradesmen. In his person he was tall, well made, and his features handsome. He affected to dress like a person of rank; white gold-laced suit of clothes, laced ruffled shirt, laced hat and feather, white silk stockings, with the addition of a fine white ap.r.o.n. Among his harangues to gain customers, take this as a specimen:--'Mary, Mary, where are you _now_, Mary? I live, when at home, at the second house in Little Ball Street, two steps underground, with a wisc.u.m, risc.u.m, and a why-not. Walk in, ladies and gentlemen; my shop is on the second-floor backwards, with a bra.s.s knocker at the door. Here is your nice gingerbread, your spice gingerbread; it will melt in your mouth like a red-hot brick-bat, and rumble in your inside like Punch and his wheelbarrow.' He always finished his address by singing this f.a.g-end of some popular ballad:--Ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, tid-dy, did-dy, dol-lol, ti-tid-dy, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, tid-dy, tid-dy, dol. Hence arose his nick-name of 'Tiddy-dol.'"

In Hogarth's picture of the execution of the idle apprentice at Tyburn, Tiddy-dol is seen holding up a cake of gingerbread, and addressing the crowd in his peculiar style, his costume agreeing with the foregoing description. His proper name was Ford, and so well-known was he that, on his once being missed for a week from his usual stand in the Haymarket, on the unusual occasion of an excursion to a country fair, a "catch-penny"

account of his alleged murder was sold in the streets by thousands. In 1721, as appears from a paragraph in the 'London Journal' of May 27th, "the ground on which May Fair formerly stood is marked out for a large square, and several fine streets and houses are to be built upon it."

CHAPTER V.

Bartholomew Fair Theatricals--Lee, the Theatrical Printer--Harper, the Comedian--Rayner and Pullen--Fielding, the Novelist, a Showman--Cibber's Booth--Hippisley, the Actor--Fire in Bartholomew Fair--Fawkes, the Conjuror--Royal Visit to Fielding's Booth--Yeates, the Showman--Mrs. Pritchard, the Actress--Southwark Fair--Tottenham Court Fair--Ryan, the Actor--Hallam's Booth--Griffin, the Actor--Visit of the Prince of Wales to Bartholomew Fair--Laguerre's Booth--Heidegger--More Theatrical Booths--Their Suppression at Bartholomew Fair--Hogarth at Southwark Fair--Violante, the Rope-Dancer--Cadman, the Flying Man.

The success of the theatrical booths at the London fairs induced Lee, a theatrical printer in Blue Maid Alley, Southwark, and son-in-law of Mrs.

Mynn, to set up one, which we first hear of at Bartholomew Fair in 1725, when the popular drama of the _Unnatural Parents_ was represented in it.

Lee subsequently took into partnership in his managerial speculation the popular comedian, Harper, in conjunction with whom he produced, in 1728, a musical drama with the strange t.i.tle of the _Quakers' Opera_, which, as well as the subject, was suggested by the extraordinary popularity of Gay's _Beggars' Opera_, the plot being derived from the adventures of the notorious burglar made famous in our time by Mr. Ainsworth's romance of 'Jack Sheppard.' It was adapted for the fairs from a drama published in 1725 as _The Prison-breaker_, "as intended to be acted at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln's Inn Fields."

Fielding, the future novelist, appeared this year, and in several successive years, as a Bartholomew Fair showman, setting up a theatrical booth in George Yard. He was then in his twenty-third year, aristocratically connected and liberally educated, but almost dest.i.tute of pecuniary resources, though the son of a general and a judge's daughter, and the great grandson of an earl, while he was as gay as Sheridan and as careless as Goldsmith. On leaving Eton he had studied law two years at Leyden, but was obliged to return to England through the failure of the allowance which his father had promised, but was too improvident to supply. Finding himself without resources, and becoming acquainted with some of the company at the Haymarket, he found the means, in conjunction with Reynolds, the actor, to set up a theatrical booth in the locality mentioned, and afterwards, during Southwark Fair, at the lower end of Blue Maid Alley, on the green.

Fielding and Reynolds drew their company from the Haymarket, and produced the _Beggars' Opera_, with "all the songs and dances, set to music, as performed at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields." Their advertis.e.m.e.nts for Southwark Fair inform the public that "there is a commodious pa.s.sage for the quality and coaches through the Half Moon Inn, and care will be taken that there shall be lights, and people to conduct them to their places."

In the following year Fielding and Reynolds had separate shows, the former retaining the eligible site of George Yard for Bartholomew Fair, and producing Colley's _Beggars' Wedding_, an opera in imitation of Gay's, which had been originally acted in Dublin, and afterwards at the Haymarket.

Reynolds, one of the Haymarket company, set up his booth between the hospital gate and the Crown Tavern, and produced the same piece under the t.i.tle of _Hunter_, that being the name of the princ.i.p.al character. He had the Haymarket band and scenery, with Ray, from Drury Lane, in the princ.i.p.al part, and Mrs. Nokes as Tippit. Both he and Fielding announced Hulett for Chaunter, the king of the beggars, and continued to do so during the fair; but the comedian could not have acted several times daily in both booths, and as he did not return to the Haymarket after the fair, but joined the Lincoln's Inn Fields company, he was probably secured by Fielding.

Bullock, who had now seceded from the Lincoln's Inn Fields company and joined the new establishment in Goodman's Fields, under the management of Odell, also appeared at Bartholomew Fair this year without a partner, producing _Dorastus and Faunia_, and an adaptation of Doggett's _Country Wake_ with the new t.i.tle of _Flora_, announcing it, in deference to the new taste, as being "after the manner of the _Beggars' Opera_." Rayner and Pullen's company performed, at the Black Boy Inn, near Hosier Lane, an adaptation of Gay's opera, the dashing highwayman being personated by Powell, Polly by Mrs. Rayner, and Lucy by Mrs. Pullen.

In 1730, Fielding had a partner in Oates, a Drury Lane comedian, and again erected his theatre in George Yard, which site was retained for him during the whole period of his Bartholomew Fair experience. They produced a new opera, called the _Generous Free-mason_, which was written by William Rufus Chetwood, many years prompter at Drury Lane. Oates personated Sebastian, and Fielding took the part of Clerimont himself. Miss Oates was Maria. After the opera there were "several entertainments of dancing by Mons. de Luce, Mademoiselle de Lorme, and others, particularly the Wooden Shoe Dance, Perrot and Pierette, and the dance of the Black Joke."

Reynolds was there again, with the historical drama of _Scipio's Triumph_ and the pantomime of _Harlequin's Contrivance_. Lee and Harper presented _Robin Hood_, and Penkethman and Giffard the historical drama of _Wat Tyler and Jack Straw_. Penkethman had retired from the stage in 1724, and it is doubtful whether he lent his name on this occasion to Giffard, who was then lessee of Goodman's Fields, or the latter had taken the younger Penkethman into partnership with him.

Among the minor shows this year was a collection of natural curiosities, advertised as follows:--

"These are to give notice to all Ladies, Gentlemen, and others. That at the end of Hosier Lane, in Smithfield, are to be seen, during the Time of the Fair, TWO RATTLE SNAKES, one a very large size, and rattles that you may hear him at a quarter of a mile almost, and something of Musick, that grows on the tails thereof; of divers colours, forms, and shapes, with darts that they extend out of their mouths, about two inches long. They were taken on the Mountains of Leamea. A Fine CREATURE, of a small size, taken in Mocha, that burrows under ground. It is of divers colours, and very beautiful. The TEETH of a DEAD RATTLE SNAKE, to be seen and handled, with the Rattles. A SEA SNAIL, taken on the Coast of India. Also, the HORN of a FLYING BUCK. Together with a curious Collection of Animals and Insects from all Parts of the World. To be seen without Loss of Time."

Bullock did not appear as an individual manager in the following year, having a.s.sociated himself with Cibber, Griffin, and Hallam. The theatrical booth of which they were joint proprietors stood near Hosier Lane, where the tragedy of _Tamerlane the Great_ was presented, the hero being played by Hallam, and Bajazet by Cibber. The entertainment must have been longer than usual, for it comprised a comedy, _The Miser_, adapted from _L'Avare_ of Moliere, in which Griffin played Lovegold, and Bullock was Cabbage; and a pantomime or ballet, called a _Ridotto al fresco_. Miller, Mills, and Oates, whose theatre was over against the hospital gate, presented the _Banished General_, a romantic drama, playing the princ.i.p.al parts themselves.

Oates having joined Miller and Mills, Fielding had for partners this year Hippisley and Hall, the former of whom appeared at Bartholomew Fair for the first time. He kept a coffee-house in Newcastle Court, Strand, which was frequented by members of the theatrical profession. Chetwood wrote for them a romantic drama called _The Emperor of China_, in which the pathetic and the comic elements were blended in a manner to please fair audiences, whose sympathies were engaged by the sub-t.i.tle, _Love in Distress and Virtue Rewarded_. Hippisley played Shallow, a Welsh squire on his travels; Hall, his servant, Robin b.o.o.by; young Penkethman, Sir Arthur Addleplot; and Mrs. Egleton, a chambermaid, Loveit.

A fire occurred this year in one of the smaller booths, and, though little damage was done, the alarm caused so much fright to the wife of Fawkes, the conjuror, whose show adjoined the booth in which the fire broke out, as to induce premature parturition. This is the only fire recorded as having occurred in Bartholomew Fair during the seven centuries of its existence.

I have found no Bartholomew Fair advertis.e.m.e.nt of Lee and Harper for this year; but at Southwark Fair, where their show stood on the bowling green, behind the Marshalsea Prison, they presented _Bateman_, with a variety of singing and dancing, and a pantomimic entertainment called the _Harlot's Progress_. A change of performance being found necessary, they presented the "celebrated droll" of _Jephtha's Rash Vow_, in which Harper played the strangely incongruous part of a Captain Bl.u.s.ter.

"To which," continues the advertis.e.m.e.nt, "will be added, a new Pantomime Opera (which the Town has lately been in Expectation to see perform'd) call'd

"The Fall of PHAETON. Wherein is shown the Rivalship of Phaeton and Epaphus; their Quarrel about Lybia, daughter to King Merops, which causes Phaeton to go to the Palace of the Sun, to know if Apollo is his father, and for Proof of it requires the Guidance of his Father's Chariot, which obtain'd, he ascends in the Chariot through the Air to light the World; in the Course the Horses proving unruly go out of their way and set the World on Fire; Jupiter descends on an Eagle, and with his Thunder-bolt strikes Phaeton out of the Chariot into the River Po.

"The whole intermix'd with Comic Scenes between Punch, Harlequin, Scaramouch, Pierrot, and Colombine.

"The Part of Jupiter by Mr. Hewet; Apollo, Mr. Hulett; Phaeton, Mr. Aston; Epaphus, Mr. Nichols; Lybia, Mrs. Spiller; Phathusa, Mrs. Williamson; Lampetia, Mrs. Canterel; Phebe, Mrs. Spellman; Clymena, Mrs. Fitzgerald.

"N.B. We shall begin at Ten in the Morning and continue Playing till Ten at Night.

"N.B. The true Book of the Droll is printed and sold by G. Lee in Bluemaid Alley, Southwark, and all others (not printed by him) are false."

Fawkes, the conjuror, whose show has been incidentally mentioned, located it, in the intervals between the fairs, in James Street, near the Haymarket, where he this year performed the marvellous flower trick, by which the conjuror, Stodare, made so much of his fame a few years ago at the Egyptian Hall. Fawkes had a partner, Pinchbeck, who was as clever a mechanist as the former was a conjuror; and no small portion of the attractiveness of the show was due to Pinchbeck's musical clock, his mechanical contrivance for moving pictures, and which he called the Venetian machine (something, probably, like the famous cyclorama of the Colosseum), and his "artificial view of the world," with dioramic effects.

Feats of posturing were exhibited between Fawkes's conjuring tricks and the exhibition of Pinchbeck's ingenious mechanism.

In 1732, Fielding had Hippisley alone as a partner in his theatrical enterprise, and presented the historical drama of _The Fall of Ess.e.x_, followed by an adapted translation (his own work) of _Le Medecin malgre Lui_ of Moliere, under the t.i.tle of _The Forced Physician_. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Fielding's theatre on the 30th of August, and were so much pleased with the performances that they witnessed both plays a second time.

Lee and Harper presented this year the _Siege of Bethulia_, "containing the Ancient History of Judith and Holofernes, and the Comical Humours of Rustego and his man Terrible." Holofernes was represented by Mullart, Judith by Spiller (so say the advertis.e.m.e.nts; perhaps the prefix "Mrs."

was inadvertently omitted by the printer), and Rustego by Harper. As this was the first year in which this curious play was acted by Lee and Harper's company, the earlier date of 1721, a.s.signed to Setchel's print of Bartholomew Fair, is an obvious error, as the t.i.tle of this play is therein represented on the front of Lee and Harper's show. It is not easy to understand how such an error can have obtained currency, it being further proclaimed by the introduction of a peep-show of the siege of Gibraltar, which occurred in 1728.

Setchel's print was a copy of one which adorned a fan fabricated for sale in the fair, and had appended to it a description, ascribed to Caulfield, the author of a collection of 'Remarkable Characters.' The authorship of the descriptive matter is doubtful, however, as it a.s.serts the portrait of Fawkes to be the only one in existence; while Caulfield, in his brief notice of the conjuror, mentions another and more elaborate one. Lee and Harper's booth is conspicuously shown in the print, with a picture of the murder of Holofernes at the back of the exterior platform, on which are Mullart, and (I presume) Mrs. Spiller, dressed for Holofernes and Judith, and three others of the company, one in the garb of harlequin, another dancing, and the third blowing a trumpet. Judith is costumed in a head-dress of red and blue feathers, laced stomacher, white hanging sleeves, and a flounced crimson skirt; while Holofernes wears a flowing robe, edged with gold lace, a helmet and cuira.s.s, and brown buskins.

Fawkes's show also occupies a conspicuous place with its pictured cloth, representing conjuring and tumbling feats, and Fawkes on the platform, doing a conjuring trick, while a harlequin draws attention to him, and a trumpeter bawls through his brazen instrument of torture an invitation to the spectators to "walk up!" Near this show is another with a picture of a woman dancing on the tight rope. The scene is filled up with the peep-show before mentioned, a swing of the four-carred kind, a toy-stall, a sausage-stall, and a gin-stall--one of those incentives to vice and disorder which were permitted to be present, perhaps "for the good of trade," when amus.e.m.e.nts were banished.

In 1733, Fielding and Hippisley's booth again stood in George Yard, where they presented the romantic drama of _Love and Jealousy_, and a ballad opera called _The Cure for Covetousness_, adapted by Fielding from _Les Fourberies de Scapin_ of Moliere. In this piece Mrs. Pritchard first won the popularity which secured her an engagement at Drury Lane for the ensuing season, as, though she had acted before at the Haymarket and Goodman's Fields, she attracted little attention until, in the character of Loveit, she sang with Salway the duet, "Sweet, if you love me, smiling turn," which was received with so much applause that Fielding and Hippisley had it printed, and distributed copies in the fair by thousands.

Hippisley played Scapin in this opera, and Penkethman, announced as the "son of the late facetious Mr. William Penkethman," Old Gripe. There was dancing between the acts, and the _Ridotto al fresco_ afterwards; and the advertis.e.m.e.nts add that, "to divert the audience during the filling of the booth, the famous Mr. Phillips will perform his surprising postures on the stage."

The newspapers of the time inform us that they had "crowded audiences,"

and that "a great number of the n.o.bility intend to honour them with their presence," which they probably did. All cla.s.ses then went to Bartholomew Fair, as in Pepys' time; the gentleman with the star on his coat in Setchel's print was said to be Sir Robert Walpole.

Cibber, Griffin, Bullock, and Hallam again appeared in partnership, and repeated the performances which they had found attractive in the preceding year. Cibber played Bajazet in the tragedy, and Mrs. Charke, his youngest daughter, Haly. This lady appeared subsequently on the scene as the proprietress of a puppet-show, and finally as the keeper of a sausage-stall. Griffin played Lovegold in the _Miser_, as he had done the preceding winter at Drury Lane; but none of the Drury actresses performed this year in the fairs, and Miss Raftor's part of Lappet was transferred to Mrs. Roberts.

Lee and Harper presented _Jephtha's Rash Vow_, in which Hulett appeared; and Miller, Mills, and Oates, the tragedy of _Jane Sh.o.r.e_, in which Miss Oates personated the heroine; her father, Tim Hampwell; and Chapman, Captain Blunderbuss. After the tragedy came a new mythological entertainment, called the _Garden of Venus_; and the advertis.e.m.e.nts state that, "To entertain the Company before the Opera begins, there will be a variety of Rope-Dancing and Tumbling by the best Performers; particularly the famous Italian Woman, Mademoiselle De Reverant and her Daughter, who gave such universal satisfaction at the Publick Act at Oxford; the celebrated Signor Morosini, who never performed in the Fair before; Mons.

Jano and others, and Tumbling by young River and Miss Derrum, a child of nine years old." De Reverant is not an Italian name, and it is to be hoped, for the sake of the lady's good name and the management's sense of decorum, that the prefix of Mademoiselle was an error of the printer. Jano was a performer at Sadler's Wells, and other places of amus.e.m.e.nt in the vicinity of the metropolis, where tea-gardens and music-rooms were now becoming numerous.

Tottenham Court fair, the origin of which I have been unable to trace, emerged from its obscurity this year, when Lee and Harper, in conjunction with a third partner named Pet.i.t, set up a show there, behind the King's Head, near the Hampstead Road. The entertainments were _Bateman_ and the _Ridotto al fresco_. The fair began on the 4th of August.

Pet.i.t's name is not in the advertis.e.m.e.nts for Southwark Fair, where Lee and Harper gave the same performance as at Tottenham Court. A new aspirant to popular favour appeared this year on Southwark Green, namely, Yeates's theatrical booth, in which a ballad opera called _The Harlot's Progress_ was performed, with "Yeates, junior's, incomparable dexterity of hand: also a new and glorious prospect, or a lively view of the installation of His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange.