86 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



keep his fingers off it. It now remains for the 

 judges to support public opinion, and set the seal 

 of their condemnation upon the malpractice, by 

 disqualifying every flagrant example that appears 

 before them in the show-pen. 



It may not be uninteresting to give here a 

 brief biographical account of Mr. Gellett, father 

 of the Almond Tumbler Fancy. Mr. Gellett is, I 

 believe, of Huguenot descent. Residing in the 

 midst of the district where the busy weavers 

 plied their shuttle and reared their birds, he is 

 also associated with the honourable and ancient 

 craft which once gave glory to Spitalfields. Mr. 

 Gellett is well into years, but is still ardent in 

 his old hobby. Charles Lamb said of himself, 

 " Our spirits showed grey before our years ; " 

 but of our juvenile veteran we may say age 

 creeps upon the core while the dew is yet upon 

 the leaf. Mr. Gellett wears the mantle which 

 fell from his friend and master in the Fancy, 

 George Chapman. Mr. Gellett says : " My 

 recollection carries me back more than sixty 

 years. A very curious pigeon came into the 

 possession of a gentleman who wished to know 

 its value. I was sent with the bird to an old 

 Fancier for his judgment. He gave it the name 

 of a dun Barb, but of little value. This afforded 



