410 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>'i S. VII. May 21. '59. 



variety of Scenes, Machines, Songs, and Dances. Vivat 

 Hex. 1691." 



Dogget was celebrated for bis dancing. Tony 

 Aston says, " He danced the Cheshire Round as 

 well as the famous Captain George, and with more 

 nature and nimbleness." There is a portrait^ of 

 him, the only one known, in the act of dancing 

 this famous round. 



Richard Leveridge, the bass singer, was a cele- 

 brity at the Fair before the close of the seven- 

 teenth century. I have a rare broadside, with 

 music, entitled 



"The Mountebank's Song, Sung by Dr. Leverigo (Le- 

 veridge), and his Men-y-Andrew Pinkanello (Penkelh- 

 man) at Bartholomew Fair." 



There is also a print of both these worthies on 

 a stage, probably in the act of singing this very 

 duet. 



Ben Jonson, the actor, is also entirely overlooked 

 by Mr. Morley. He was connected with the 

 booth before 1694, in which year he joined Gib- 

 ber's company. He was bred a sign-painter, but 

 took more pleasui'e in hearing the actors than in 

 handling his pencil or spreading his colours, and, 

 as he used to say, in his merry mood, left the 

 saint's occupation at last to take that of the sinner. 

 He was celebrated for his performance of the 

 Grave Digger in Hamlet, In which character he 

 introduced a song preserved in Durfey's Pills 

 (vol. v. p. 92.). Ben Jonson's booth at Bartho- 

 lomew Fair is frequently spoken of by contempo- 

 raries. Modern writers have confounded him with 

 his more celebrated namesake. He died in 1742, 

 aged seventy-seven. 



Tom Walker, the original Macheath, is another 

 Bartholomew hero, strangely overlooked by the 

 historian of the Fair. He was born in 1698, and 

 possessing an early inclination for the stage, joined 

 a strolling company. His talent was discovered by 

 Booth the actor, who witnessed his performance of 

 the part of Paris in the droll of The Siege of I'roy 

 at Mrs. Mynns' booth. He was the author of two 

 ballad-operas that deserve especial mention be- 

 cause they were written expressly for Bartholo- 

 mew Fair : — 



1. " The Quaker's Opera, as it is Perform'd at Lee and 

 Harper's Great Theatrical Booth in Bartholomew Fair ; 

 London, printed for J( ohn] W[atts], &c. 1728." 



2. " Robin Hood, an Opera, as it is Perform'd at Lee 

 and Harper's Great Tlieatrical Booth in Bartholomew 

 Fair; London, printed for John Watts, &c. 1730." 



My copies of these two rarities possess a pecu- 

 liar value, as they have the names of the actors in 

 MS. in a contemporary hand. 



Mrs.-Mynns' booth was no despicable school for 

 young actors. The author of the Anti-Theatre, 

 March 10, 1720, says: — 



" Whosoever will search into the annals of the Theatre 

 will find that many heroes of but low stations in a flying 

 company, and trained up under the discipline of Mrs. 

 Minns and others of itinerant fame, have afterwards 



made considerable figures when lifted to the service of 

 the Theatres, and entertained in a regular garrison." 



Harper, who, in conjunction with Lee, kept the 

 booth for which Walker wrote the plays we have 

 mentioned, was a very timid man, and in conse- 

 quence of this failing was selected for prosecution 

 in the celebrated quarrel between the actors and 

 the patentees of the Royal Theatre in 1733. When 

 Harper's case came on before the Chief Justice of 

 the King's Bench, many eminent lawyers were 

 heard on both sides. In Harper's favour it was 

 said that though he was a player, yet he did not 

 wander about from place to place like a vaga- 

 bond, nor was there any appearance of his being 

 chargeable to any parish; for that he was not 

 only a freeholder in Surrey, but a housekeeper in 

 Westminster : and, farther, that he was an honest 

 man, paid his debts, did no man any injury, and 

 was well-esteemed by many gentlemen of good 

 condition. Against Harper it was alleged that he 

 came under the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne, 

 and that he did wander from place to place, for 

 that he had formerly acted at Drury Lane, and 

 likewise at Bartholomew and Southwark Fairs. 

 The result was that Harper was discharged upon 

 his recognisance, and left Westminster Hall 

 amidst the acclamations of several hundred per- 

 sons who crowded it on that occasion. 



Bullock is spoken of as the proprietor of a booth, 

 but we are not informed that he was the cele- 

 brated actor, William Bullock. He came from 

 York about 1694, and was engaged at Drury Lane 

 Theatre, which establishment he quitted in 1714 

 to join Rich at the opening of Lincoln's-Inn- 

 Fieids. Steele frequently alludes to him in The 

 Taller, and sometimes censures him for his faci- 

 lity in "gagging." Thus, "you'll have PInkethman 

 and Bullock helping out Beaumont and Fletcher." 

 He died on Jan. 1742, not June, 1733, as fre- 

 quently stated. In 1739, he thus announces him- 

 self:— 



"At Bullock's Great Theatrical Booth, the 

 largest in the Fair ; during the short time of Bartholomew 

 Fair, the town will be agreeably diverted with varietj' of 

 humourous songs, dances, and extraordinary perform- 

 ances. To which will be added a New Entertainment, 

 call'd The Escapes of Haulequin by Sea and Land, 

 OR Columbine made Happy at Last. The part of 

 Harlequin by Waters; Columbine, Mrs. Waters; Judge 

 Ballance, Bullock ; the rest of the parts to the best ad- 

 vantage." 



In the year 1733, according to Mr. Morley, 

 " Cibber first came into tiie Fair." This was not 

 Colley, as he supposes, but Theophilus, Gibber's 

 vagrant son. The bill now before me expressly 

 says, " T, Cibber, Griffin, Bullock, and Hallam's 

 Great Theatrical Booth." The play was Rowe's 

 T'amerlane, and Theophilus played the part of 

 Bajazet. There is no evidence to show that Col- 

 ley Cibber ever appeared upon a stage at Smith- 

 field. 



