464 EUTHANASIA. - 



tuition and protection, commanding that a litter and two 

 horses be provided for him; also that a daughter-in-law 

 of his (named Lucy) should likewise attend him, and have 

 a horse for her own riding with him. And to cheer up the 

 old man and make him merry, there was an antique -faced 

 fellow called Jack, or John the Fool, that had also a horse 

 for his carriage. These all were to be brought out of the 

 country to London by easy journeys; the charges being 

 allowed by his lordship, and likewise one of his honour's 

 own servants, named Brian Kelley, to ride on horseback 

 with them, and to attend and defray all manner of reckon- 

 ings and expenses ; all of which was done as followeth.' 



Then comes the itinerary. How Master Parr was re- 

 ceived in this town and that is minutely recorded; how 

 Master Kelley ' had much to do to keep the people off that 

 pressed upon him in all places where he came; yet at 

 Coventry he was most opprest ; for they came in such mul- 

 titudes to see the old man, that those that defended him 

 were almost quite tired and spent, and the aged man in 

 danger to have been stifled.' 



Arrived at London, Master Parr was sumptuously lodged, 

 profusely and delicately fed. He became a court lion, di- 

 viding the regards of sight-seers of Charles I.'s court with a 

 giant and a dwarf, also under royal patronage ; all three, as 

 I gather from the curious old book from which these par- 

 ticulars are taken, court pensioners. There seems to have 

 been a court poet in those days, whose name has passed into 

 oblivion. He printed an effusion to celebrate the three court 

 prodigies ; the opening lines of this effort of genius are as 



follow : 



' Of subjects, my dread liege, 'tis manifest 

 You have the old'st, the greatest, and the least ; 

 That for an old, a great, and a little man, 

 No kingdom, sure, compare with Britain can.' 



They lodged Master Parr sumptuously, they fed him deli- 

 cately. It killed him. Abundant meat and generous wines 



