Change of Performance each Day. “Ginger beer, apples, nuts, and a bill of the play,"were cried; the charge for a bill to RICHARDSON'S a person not provided with one was “ a penny.” The seats were rows of planks, THEATRE. rising gradually from the ground at the end, and facing the stage, without any disThis Day will be performed, an entire New tinction of “ boxes, pit, or gallery." The Melo-Drama, called the stage was elevated, and there was a WANDERING painted proscenium like that in a regular OU T L A W, theatre, with a green curtain, and the king's arms above, and an orchestra Or, the Hour of Retribution, lined with crimson cloth, and five violinGustavus, Elector of Saxony, Mr.Wright. players in military dresses. Between the Orsina, Baron of Holstein, Mr. Cooper. orchestra and the bottom row of seats, Ulric and Albert, Vassals to Orsina, was a large space, which, after the seats Messrs. Grove and Moore. were filled, and greatly to the discomSt.Clair, the WanderingOutlaw,Mr.Smith. fiture of the lower seat-holders, was nearly Rinalda, the Accusing Spirit,Mr. Darling. occupied by spectators. There were at Monks, Vassals, Hunters, &c. least a thousand persons present. Rosabella, Wife to the Outlaw, Mrs. Smith. The curtain drew up and presented the Nuns and Ladies. “Wandering Outlaw," with a forest scene and a cottage; the next scene was a The Piece concludes with the Death of castle; the third was another scene in the forest. The second act commenced with Orsina, and the Appearance of the a scene of an old church and a market. ACCUSING SPIRIT. place. The second scene was a prison, and a ghost appeared to the tune of the The Entertainments to conclude with a New evening hymn." The third scene was the Comic Harlequinade, with New Scenery, castle that formed the second scene in the Tricks, Dresses, and Decorations, called, first act, and the performance was here HARLEQUIN enlivened by a murder. The fourth scene was rocks, with a cascade, and there was FA U S T US! a procession to an unexecuted execution; for a ghost appeared, and saved the OR, THE “ Wandering Outlaw" from a fierce-lookDEVIL WILL HAVE HIS OWN. ing headsman, and the piece ended. Luciferno, Mr. Tuomas. Then a plump little woman sung, “ He Dæmon Amozor, afterwards Pantaloon, drew up to “ Harlequin Faustus," where loves and he rides away,” and the curtain Mr. Wilkinson.—Damon Ziokos, afterwards Clown, Mr. HAYWARD.–Vio in, after columbine and a clown, the most lencello Player, Mr. Hartem.- Baker, red face and hands, in a red Spanish flaming character was the devil, with a Mr. Thompson.Landlord, Mr. WilKINS.— Fisherman, Mr. Rae.-Doctor mantle and vest, red "continuations," Faustus, afterwards Harlequin, Mr. stockings and shoes ditto to follow, a red SALTER. Spanish hat and plume above, and a red Adelada, afterwards Columbine, “ brass bugle born." As soon as the fate Miss WILMOT. of “ Faustus" was concluded, the sound Attendant Dæmons, Sprites, Fairies, Bal- of a gong announced the happy event, and lad Singers, Flower Girls, &c. &c. these performances were, in a quarter of an hour, repeated to another equally inThe Pantomime will finish with telligent and brilliant audience. A SPLENDID PANORAMA, Show VII. ONLY A PENNY. There never was such times, indeed! BOXES, 2s. PIT, 18 GALLERY, 6d. NERO The lurgest Lion in the Fair for a HunThe theatre was about one hundred feet dred Guineas ! long, and thirty feet wide, hung all round These inscriptions, with figured showwith green baize, and crimson festoons. cloths, were in front of a really good ex ers. hibition of a fine lion, with leopards, and circle or ride was formed on the ground. various other“ beasts of the forest.” They The entertainment commenced by a man were mostly docile and in good condition. dancing on the tight-rope. The rope was One of the leopards was carried by his removed, and a lighi bay horse was keeper a pick-a-back. Such a show for mounted by a female in trowsers, with a only a penny” was astonishing. pink gown fully frilled, founced, and ribShow VIII. boned, with the shoulders in large puffs. “ SAMWELL'S COMPANY." While the horse circled the ring at full Another penny show : “ The Wonder- speed, she danced upon him, and skipped ful Children on the Tight Rope, and with a hoop like a skipping-rope; she Dancing Horse, Only a Penny!"' 1 paid performed other dexterous feats, and conmy penny to the money-taker, a slendercluded by dancing on the saddle with a “ fine lady," with three feathers in a flag in each hand, while the horse few “ jewelled turban,” and a dress of blue round the ring with great velocity. These and white muslin and silver ; and within- and the subsequent performances were side I saw the “ fat; contented, easy” enlivened by tunes from a clarionet and proprietor, who was arrayed in corres. horn, and jokes from a clown, who, when ponding inagnificence. If he loved she had concluded, said to an attendant, leanness, it was in his “ better half,” for Now, John, take the horse off, and himself had none of it. Obesity had dis- whatever you do, rub him well down with qualified him for activity, and therefore a cabbage.” Then a man rode and in his immensely tight and large satin danced on another horse, a very fine ani jacket, he was, as much as possible, the mal, and leaped from him three time active commander of his active perform- over garters, placed at a considerable He superintended the dancing of a height and width apart, alighting on the young female on the tight rope. Then he horse's back while he was going round. announced, “A little boy will dance a This rider was remarkably dexterous. In hornpipe on the rope,” and he ordered conclusion, the clown got up and rode his “band" inside to play; this was with many antic tricks, tiil, on the sudobeyed without difficulty, for it merely den, an apparently drunken fellow rushed consisted of one man, who blew a horn- from the audience into the ring, and bepipe tune on a Pan’s-pipe; while it went gan to pu!l the clown from the horse. on, the“little boy"danced on the tight rope; The manager interfered, and the people so far it was a hornpipe dance and no far- cried—“Turn him out;" but the man perther. “The little boy will stand on his sisted, and the clown getting off, offered head on the rope,” said the manager, and to help him up, and threw him over the the little boy stood on his head accord- horse's back to the ground. At length ingly Then another female danced on the intruder was seated, with his face to the slack-wire; and after her came a the tail, though he gradually assumed a horse, not a “ dancing horse,” but a proper position; and riding as a man “ learned” horse, quite as learned as the ihoroughly intoxicated would ride, fell off ; horse at Ball's theatre, in Show III. he then threw off his hat and great coat, There was enough for “ a penny.” and threw off his waistcoat, and then an Show IX. under-waistcoat, and a third, and a fourth, « CLARKE FROM ASTLEY'S." and more than a dozen waistcoats. Upon This was a large show, with the back taking off the last, his trowsers fell down against the side of “ Samwell's Company,” and he appeared in his shirt; whereupon and its front in a line with Hosier-lane, he crouched, and drawing his shirt off in and therefore looking towards Smithfield. a twinkling, appeared in a handsome bars. Large placards were pasted at the fancy dress, leaped into the saddle of the side, with these words,“ CLARKE'S FROM horse, rode standing with great grace, reAstiey's, Lighted with Real Gas, In and ceived great applause, made his bow, and Outside.” The admission to this show so the performance concluded. was sixpence. The platform outside was This show was the last in the line on at least ten feet high, and spacious above, the west side of Smithfield. and here there was plenty of light. The interior was very large, and lighted by Show X. only a single hoop, about two feet six The line of shows on the east of Smithinches in diameter, with little jets of gas field, commencing at Long-lane,began with about an inch and a half apart. A large “ The Indian Woman-Chinese Lady and Dwarf.” &c. A elow outside cried, ladies and gentlemen present,” and an Show XII. * Only a penny" was the price of adOn the oatside vis inscribed, “ To be mission to “ The Black Wild Indian Wo men alire: The Prodigies of Nature - man: --The White Indian Youth-and the The Trust Indian Women and Child, with Welsh Dwarf:-All Alive !” There was ker Vierre from her own country. The this further announcement on the outside, Sikrer-haired Lady and Drearf: Only & “ The Young American will Perform afPenny. —The showmaster made a speech: ter the Manner of the French Jugglers at - Ladies and gentlemen, before I show Paushali Gardens, with Balls, Rings, you the wonderful prodigies of nature, let Daggers," &c. When the “ Welsh me introduce you to the wonderful works dwarf” came on he was represented to of art;' and then he drew a curtain, where be Mr. William Phillips, of Denbigh, fifsome war-work figures stood. This," teen years of age. The "white Indian said he, “ ladies and gentlemen, is the youth was an Esquimaus, and the exfamous old Mother Saipton; and here is hibitor assured the visitors upon his verathe unfortunate Jane Shore, the beautiful city, that “the black wild Indian womistress of king Edward the Second; man" was “a court lady of the island Dext to her is his majesty king George the of Madagascar.” The exhibitor himself Fourth of most gionious memory; and was “the young American,” an intellithis is queen Elizabeth in all her glory; gent and clever youth in a loose striped then here you have the princess Amelia, jacket or frock tied round the middle. the daughter of his late majesty, who is He commenced his performances by dead; this is Vary, queen of Scots, wha throwing up three balls, which he kept had her head cut off; and this is O Bryen, constantly in the air, as he afterwards the famous Irish giant; this man, here, iš did four, and then five, with great derThornton, who was tried for the murder terity, using his hands, shoulders, and of Mary Ashford; and this is the exact elbows, apparently with equal ease. He resemblance of Othello, the moor of afterwards threw up three rings, each Venice, who was a jealous husband, and about four inches in diameter, and then depend upon it every man who is jealous four, which he kept in motion with simi. of his wife, will be as black as that negro. lar success. To end his performance he Now, ladies and gentlemen, the two next produced three knives, which, by throware a wonderful couple, John and Mar- ing up and down, he contrived to pregaret Scott, natives of Dunkeld, in Scots serve in the air altogether. These feats land; they lived about ninety years ago; forcibly reminded me of the Anglo-Saxon John Scott was a hundred and five years Glee-man, who “ threw three balls and old when he died, and Margaret lived three knives alternately in the air, and to be a hundred and twelve; and what is caught them, one by one, as they fell; more remarkable, there is not a soul returning them again in regular rotaliving can say he ever heard them quar- tion."* The young American's dress and rel.” Here he closed the curtain, and knives were very similar to the Glee while undrawing another, continued thus : man's, as Strutt has figured them from a “ Having shown you the dead, have MS. in the Cotton collection. This now to exhibit to you two of the most ex- youth's was one of the best exhibitions in traordinary wonders of the living ; this," the Fair, perhaps the very best. The adsaid he, " is the widow of a New Zealand mission it will be remembered was “ only Chief, and this is the little old woman of a penny." Bagdad; she is thirty inches high, twentytwo years of age, and a native of Boston, Show XIII. in Lincolnshire." Each of these living subjects was quite as wonderful as the The inscriptions and paintings on the outside of this show were, “ The White waxen ones : the exhibition, which lasted about five minutes, was ended by court. eous thanks for the “ approbation of the • Strutt sec . Negro, who was rescued from her Black Little Man. I took my leave of this show pondering in a reverie concerning these beings when on“ the different ends our fates assign, the curtain was withdrawn, and there but the jostling of a crowd in Smithfield, stood confessed to sight, she whom the and the clash of instruments, were not showman called “the tall lady," and favourable to musing, and I walked into the next. “ the white negro, the greatest curiosity ever seen the first that has been Show XIV. exhibited since the reign of George the BROWN'S GRAND TROOP, Second-look at her head and hair, ladies and gentlemen, and feel it; there's no FROM' PARIS. deception, it's like ropes of wool.” There This was “only a penny” exhibition, certainly was not any deception. The notwithstanding that it'elevated the king's girl herself , who had the flat nose, thick arms, and bore a fine-sounding name. The lips, and peculiarly shaped scull of the performance began by a clown goin, negro, stooped to have her head examin- round and whipping a ring ; that is, maked, and being close to her I felt it. Her ing a circular space amongst the spectahair, if it could be called hair, was of a tors with a whip in his hand to force the dirtyish flaxen hue; it hung in ropes, of refractory. This being effected, a conjurer a clothy texture, the thickness of a quill, walked up to a table and executed seve. and from four to six inches in length. ral tricks with cups and balls; giving a Her skin was the colour of an European's. boy beer to drink out of a funnel, makAfterwards stepped forth a little person- ing him blow through it to show that it age about three feet high, in a military was empty, and afterwards applying it to dress, with top boots, who strutted his each of the boy's ears, from whence, tiny legs, and held his head aloft with not through the funnel, the beer appeared to less importance than the proudest gene- reflow, and poured on the ground: Afterral officer could assume upon his promo- wards girls danced on the single and dou. tion to the rank of field-martial. Mr. ble slack wire, and a melancholy looking Samuel Williams,whose versatile and able clown, among other things, said they were pencil has frequently enriched this work, “as clever as the barber and blacksmith visited the Fair after me, and was equally who shaved magpies at twopence a struck by his appearance. He favours dozen.” The show concluded with a me with the subjoined engraving of this learned horse. Show XV. sions of agony in his tears and moans Another, and a very good menagerie were most pitious and affecting. A fresh the admission “only a penny!" It was horse having been procured, the mail “George Ballard's Caravan,” with three quarters of an hour. As the mail drove on, after having been detained “ The Lioness that attacked the Exeter drew up it stood exactly abreast of the camail.— The great Lion.-Royal Tiger. ravan from which the lioness made the Large White Bear.— Tiger Owls," with assault. The coachman at first proposed monkies, and other animals, the usual accessories to the interior of a managerie. to alight and stab the lioness with a The chief attraction was “ the Lion- knife, but was prevented by the remoness.” Her attack on the Exeter Mail strance of the guard; who observed, was on a Sunday evening, in the year destruction, as the animal if attacked that he would expose himself to certain 1816. The coach had arrived at Winterslow-hui, seven miles on the London side him to pieces. The prudence of the ad. would naturally turn upon him and tear of Salisbury. In a most extraordinary manner, at the moment when the coach vice was clearly proved by the fate of the an pulled up to deliver his bags, one of him and the lioness that afforded time for dog. It was the engagement between the leaders was suddenly seized by soine ferocious animal . This produced a great engaged herself from the horse, she did the keepers to rally. After she had disconfusion and , alarm; two passengers who were inside the mail got out, ran not seem to be in any immediate hurry to into the house, and locked themselves up with her, as prey, the dog she had killed, move; for, whether she had carried off in a room above stairs; the horses kicked or from some other cause, she continued and plunged violently, and it was with difficulty the coachman could prevent the growling and howling in so loud a tone, as to be heard for nearly half a mile. Al carriage from being overturned. It was soon perceived by the coachman and had called out loudly to the guard to guard, by the light of the lamps, that the he appeared disposed to do, but the owner despatch her with his blunderbuss, which animal which had seized the horse was a huge lioness. A large mastiff dog came cried out to him, “For God's sake do not up and attacked her fiercely, on which she be as quiet as a lamb if not irritated.” kill her-she cost me 5001., and she will quitted the horse and turned upon him. The dog fled, but was pursued and killed This arrested his hand, and he did not by the lioness, within forty yards of the fire. She was afterwards easily enticed place. It appears that the beast had by the keepers, and placed in her usual confinement. escaped from its caravan which was stand The collection of animals in Ballard's ing on the road side with others belonging to the proprietors of the menagerie, menagerie is altogether bighly intereston their way to Salisbury Fair. An alarming, but it seems impossible that the probeing given, the keepers pursued and prietor, could exhibit them for “ only a hunted the lioness into a hovel under a fomew Fair," where the people assemble any other place than “Barthogranary, which served for keeping, agri: in great multitudes, and the shows are cultural implements. About half-past eight they had secured her so effectually, thronged the whole day. by barricading the place, as to prevent Show XVI. her escape. The horse, when first attacked, fought with great spirit, and if at • Exhibition of Real Wonders." liberty, would probably have beaten This announcement, designed to asdown his antagonist with his fore feet, tonish, was inscribed over the show with but in plunging he embarrassed himself the usual notice, “ Only a Penny!"—the in the harness. The lioness attacked him “Wonders of the Deep!" the “Prodigies in the front, and springing at his throat, of the Age!” and “the Learned Pig!" it fastened the talons of her fore feet on large letters. The printed bill is a curi each side of his neck, close to the head, osity :while the talons of her hind feet were forced into his chest. In this situation To be Seen in a Commodious Pavilion in this Place. she hung, while the blood was seen flowing as if a vein had been opened by a fleam. He was a capital horse, the off REAL WONDERS! leader, the best in the set. SEE AND BELIEVE. The expres |