758 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



move that too ? She answers, yes ; 

 and promises, for this purpose, to 

 pay him a visit in the evening. I 

 could wager that this girl has in- 

 vented a powder which yields more 

 profit, and costs less, than the 

 golden powder of the famous alchy- 

 mists. 



But what is that sailor doing Avith 

 his microscope ? where did he get 

 ihis dirty instrument, patched to- 

 gether with wire ? what does he 

 ifhew through it? Nothing more 

 or less than a flea: for this he gets 

 one sous. Only see his neighbour, 

 about one hundred yards farther, 

 knows likev/ise how to turn trifles 

 to the best account. ' The cunning 

 dog found means to get a few sheets 

 of the paper Avhich painters use to 

 draw transparen'-ies, and now shews 

 for one sous to the wondering crowd, 

 how pictures can be copied with 

 the utmost expedition. 



Let us enter this booth, where 

 the inscription announces a wonder. 

 He who will -not believe, let him 

 come and see ! What pray ? — A 

 flea drawing an elephant ; a flea 

 conducting a carriage with six 

 horses carrying ladies and gentle- 

 men : a flea on whose foot a mcial 

 T)all has been fastened with a golden 

 chain, with which he merrily leaps 

 to and fro. All this is not fiction. 

 A man has really taken the vast 

 trouble to make the elephant, car- 

 riage, chains, &o. oi gold so very 

 small, and t^i fasten them to the flea. 



But still more ludicrous and more 

 invcn!ive is the artist's prodticing 

 two flies fighting a duel with the 

 small sword. It is thus contrived: 

 two flics are fastened to two nee- 

 dles, placed perpendicularly behind 

 their wings, so that they keep their 

 six legs stretched out before them. 

 They arc fixed very nearly facing 



each other, and a little ball of cork 

 is then given to each of them, ia 

 which is fastened a small straw. As 

 soon as this ball touches their feet, 

 they endeavour to seize it to hold 

 themselves by: on this touch the 

 ball keeps moving backwards and 

 forwards, and consequently the 

 straw turns against the enemy. 

 Each party moving in the same man- 

 ner, the two straws often clash to- 

 gether like two swords; and this 

 constitutes the duel of the flies. 



Close by this fencing and hop- 

 ping-room, we are invited to un- 

 dertake a little journey of several 

 hundred leagues, on mechanical 

 horses, with thegreal promise, that 

 this great distance shall be travelled 

 in a time incredibly short. Well ; 

 we laugh sarcastically, and yet en- 

 ter. No sooner is the dirty curtaia 

 raised, than Tve are convinced, at 

 the first look, that we see nothing 

 before us but a kind of caroussel, 

 remarkable only for its requiring 

 no person to turn it ; as the rider, 

 by tightly pulling the bridle, sets 

 the centre wheel in motion, and 

 consequently turns himself with 

 great velocity. 



This fun costs only four sous. 

 But that you may not throw away 

 your money, I warn you against 

 yonder bald-pated fellow, who has 

 put up a large tube of paste-board, 

 directed towards the sky, and civilly 

 asks every body to look up. On 

 this occasion he makes a long speech, 

 which the crowd think very learned, 

 about dilferent vai)ours and their 

 properties : assuring them that the 

 glasses in his tube are so finely po- 

 lished, that the vapours before it 

 are concentrated into various ex- 

 traordinary forms. It cannot be 

 done in all weathers, but this par- 

 ticularly is a day to exhibit every 



thing 



