MAMMALIA — MAN. 61 



furnished with a dwarf, a giant, and a jester. These, the king often took a 

 pleasure in opposing to each other, and often fomented quarrels among 

 them, in order to he a concealed spectator of their animosity. 



It was in the same spirit that Peter of Russia, in the year 1710, celebra- 

 ted a marriage of dwarfs. This monarch, though raised by his native genius 

 far above a barbarian, was, nevertheless, still many degrees removed from 

 actual refinement. His pleasures, therefore, were of the vulgar kind; and 

 this was among the number. Upon a certain day, which he had ordered 

 to be proclaimed several months before, he invited the whole body of his 

 courtiers, and all the foreign ambassadors, to be present at the marriage 

 of a pigmy man and woman. The preparations for this wedding were not 

 only very grand, but executed in a style of barbarous ridicule. He ordered, 

 that all the dwarf men and women, within two hundred miles, should repair 

 to the capital ; and also insisted, that they should be present at the cere- 

 mony. For this purpose, he supplied them Avith proper vehicles ; but so 

 contrived it, that one horse was seen carrying a dozen of them into the city 

 at once, while the mob followed shouting and laughing from behind. Some 

 of them were at first unwilling to obey an order, which they knew was 

 calculated to turn them into ridicule, and did not come ; but he soon obliged 

 them to obey ; and, as a punishment, enjoined that they should wait upon 

 the rest at dinner. The whole company of dwarfs amounted to seventy, 

 beside the bride and bridegroom, who were richly adorned, and in the ex- 

 tremity of the fashion. For this company in miniature, every thing was 

 suitably provided; a low table, small plates, little glasses, and, in short, 

 every thing was so fitted, as if all things had been dwindled to th'eir own 

 standard. 



But the most complete history of a dwarf is preserved by M. Daubenton, 

 in his Natural History. This dwarf, whose name was Baby, was well 

 known, having spent the greatest part of his life at Luneville, in the palace 

 of Stanislaus, the titular king of Poland. He was born in the village 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 labor. 

 Baby, when born, weighed but a pound and a quarter. We are not inform- 

 ed of the dimensions of his body at that time, but we may conjecture they 

 were very small, as he was presented on a plate to be baptized, and for a 

 long time lay in a slipper. His mouth, although proportioned to the rest 

 of his body, was not, at that time, large enough to take in the nipple ; and 

 he was, therefore, obliged to be suckled by a she-goat that was in the house, 

 and that served as a nurse, attending to his cries with a kind of maternal 

 fondness. He began to articulate some words when eighteen months old ; 

 and at two years he was able to walk alone. He was then fitted with 

 shoes that were about an inch and a half long. He was attacked with 

 several acute disorders ; but the small-pox was the only one which left any 

 marks behind it. Until he was six years old, he ate no other food but pulse, 



