ANIMALS. 107 



were exhibited at our fairs about town, and have 

 ever found their intellects as contracted as their 

 persons. They in general seemed to me to have 

 faculties very much resembling those of children, 

 and their desires likewise of the same kind ; be- 

 ing diverted with the same sports, and best pleas- 

 ed with such companions. Of all those I have 

 seen, which may amount to five or six, the little 

 man, whose name was Coan, that died lately at 

 Chelsea, was the most intelligent and sprightly. 

 I have heard him and the giant, who sung at the 

 theatres, sustain a very ridiculous duet, to which 

 they were taught to give great spirit. But this 

 mirth, and seeming sagacity, were but assumed. 

 He had, by long habit, been taught to look cheer- 

 ful upon the approach of company ; and his con- 

 versation was but the mere etiquette of a person 

 that had been used to receive visitors. When 

 driven out of his walk, nothing could be more 

 stupid or ignorant, nothing more dejected or for- 

 lorn. But we have a complete history of a dwarf, 

 very accurately related by M. Daubenton, in his 

 part of the Histoire Naturelle ; which I will here 

 take leave to translate. 



This dwarf, whose name was Baby, was well 

 known, having spent the greatest part of his life 

 at Lunenville, in the palace of Stanislaus, the 

 titular king of Poland. He was born in the vil- 

 lage of Plaisne, in France, in the year 1741. His 

 father and mother were peasants, both of good 

 constitutions, and inured to a life of husbandry 

 and labour. Baby, when born, weighed but a 

 pound and a quarter. We are not informed of 



