162 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"i S. VIII. Aug. 27. '59. 



identifjr Phillips as the hero of a poem of Prior's, 

 the writer goes on to say : — 



" If Phillips was indeed the subject of the whipping 

 and the actor of the jest crystallized by Prior into coup- 

 lets, it is not difficult to believe that the prince of the 

 Merry Andrews may have been the man who, at the 

 same period, and under the same name, by which no 

 other man has been identified, is known as the writer of 

 two tragedies, a comedy, and the Bartholomew Fair 

 farce Britoiis Strike Home. If he be really their author, 

 the plays probably were all written for a booth to which 

 be was attached, since it was in the dramatic companies 

 that Merry Andrews served." 



Now for all this there is not the slightest foun- 

 dation. Poor Phillips, the Merry Andrew, was 

 certainly innocent of the authorship of two trage- 

 dies, a comedy, and a farce ! Grander tells us, no 

 doubt upon good authority, that this Phillips was 

 " some time fiddler to a puppet-show, in which 

 capacity he held many a dialogue with Punch, in 

 much the same strain as he did afterwards with 

 the Mountebank Doctor, his master, on the stage." 

 He adds, which is the highest praise that can be 

 awarded to the subject of his notice, " This Zany 

 being regularly educated, had confessedly the ad- 

 vantage of his brethren." 



William Phillips, the author of the Revengeful 

 Queen (a tragedy founded upon a passage in 

 Macbiavel's History of Florence), and perhaps of 

 several other plays, was a native of Ireland, and 

 for some years attached to the Customs in Dublin. 

 He was a scholar, at least, if not a successful 

 dramatist. He died Dec. 12, 1732. A glance at 

 the plays attributed to him will convince the 

 most sceptical that they are bona fide plays, 

 written for a regular theatre, and not drolls 

 acted in a booth. 



As regards the farce J^ritons Strike Home, Me. 

 MoRLEY is more correct. It certainly was written 

 for the Fair, but unfortunately not by William 

 Phillips, but by Edward Philips, whose name is 

 printed in full in the title-page to Watts's edition 

 of 1739. 



It is worth knowing that Kitty Clive was an 

 actress in the Fair, and played in this very farce : 



" At the Booth of Fawkes Pinchbeck, &c. will be per- 

 formed Britons Strike Home; Don Superbo Hispaniola 

 Pistole by Mr. Cibber [Theophilus] ; Donna Americana 

 by Mrs. Clive, the favourite of the town ! " 



Concerning Harlequin Phillips, of whom Mr. 

 MoRLEY merely quotes a bill, a few words ought 

 to have been said. Gilliland tells us, " he was 

 originally in the company of a Mrs. Lee, who fre- 

 quented Bartholomew and Southwai'k Fairs." 

 Chetwood informs us that " he was a pupil of the 

 stupendous Mr. Fawkes, and out-did his master 

 in naany tricks." He was the projector of the 

 Capel Street Theatre in Dublin, and afterwards 

 became the celebrated harlequin at Drury Lane 

 Theatre when under the management of Fleet- 



WO'.d. 



There are scores of Bartholomew celebrities 

 whose names we vainly look for in Mr. Morley's 

 volume — actors, mummers, tumblers, conjurors, 

 and exhibitors of various grades. Where is Hans 

 Buling and his " famous monkey " ? — William 

 Joy " the English Sampson"? — Francis Battalia 

 " the Stone Eater " ? — Topham " the Strong 

 Man"?— Hale " the Piper " ? — " The Auctioneer 

 of Moorfields " who regularly, for a series of years, 

 transferred his book-stall to Sinithfield-Rounds ? 

 — James Spiller, the original Mat o' the Mint of 

 the Beggar's Opera, at one time the " glory of 

 the Fair " ? — Higman Palatine, and Breslau, 

 " the surprising Juglers," &c. &c. ad infinitum. 



Of the latter a capital joke is told. Being- at 

 Canterbury with his troop, he met with such bad 

 success that they were almost starved. He re- 

 paired to the churchwardens, and promised to 

 give the profits of a night's conjuration to the 

 poor, if the parish would pay for hiring a room, 

 &c. The charitable bait took, the benefit proved 

 a bumper, and next morning the churchwardens 

 waited upon the wizard to touch the receipts. 

 " I have already disposed of dem," said Breslau ; 

 " de profits were for de poor. I have kept my 

 promise, and given de money to my own people, 

 who are de poorest in dis parish ! " " Sir ! " ex- 

 claimed the churchwardens, " this is a trick." — " I 

 know it," replied the conjuror, — "I live by my 

 tricks!" 



But what shall we say to Mr. Morley's omis- 

 sion of all mention of Punchinello, that most im- 

 portant feature of the Smithfield revels ? — 

 " 'Twas then, when August near was spent, 

 That Bat, the grilliado'd saint. 

 Had usher'd in his Smithfield revels, 

 Where Punchinelloes, popes and devils 

 Are by authority allowed. 

 To please the giddy, gaping crowd." 



Hudibras Eedivivus, 1707. 



Powell too, the " Puppet-show man," was a 

 great card at the Fair, especially when his pup- 

 pets played such incomparable dramas as Whit- 

 tington and his Cat, The Children in the Wood, 

 Dr. Faustus, Friar Bacon, Robin Hood and 

 Little John, Mother Shipton, "together with 

 the pleasant and comical humours of Valentini, 

 Nicoliui, and the tuneful warbling pig of Italian 

 race." No wonder that such attractions thinned 

 the theatres, and kept the churches empty. 



Steele makes mention of "Powell's books." 

 If they were books of his performances, what a 

 treasure they would be in our day ! A representa- 

 tion of his puppet show is given as the frontispiece 

 to A Second Tale of a Tub, 1715, which would 

 have afforded Mr. Morley a legitimate illustra- 

 tion for his Memoirs. This would have been far 

 better than the portrait of Jacob Hall, which is 

 well known to be " efiigies " of somebody else. 



After thus briefly pointing out a few of Mr. 

 Morley's shortcomings, I shall conclude (for 



