402 
■\VYBANI) LOLKF-S, THE DUTCH DWARF. 
Norfolk, in 1728, and has been shewn in this city for some W'eeks 
past. 1 weighed him myself, April 3, 1750, and his w'eight with all his 
clothes was no more than thirty-four pounds. I likewise measured 
him, and found his height, with his hat, shoes, and wig on, to be 
thirty-eight inches. His limbs are no bigger than a child of three 
or four years old ; his body is perfectly straight, the lineaments of his 
face answerable to his age, and his brow has some wrinkles in it 
when he looks attentively at any thing. He has a good com])lexion, is 
of a sprightly temper, discourses readily and pertinently considering 
his education, and reads and writes English well. His speech is a little 
hollow, though not disagreeable ; he can sing tolerably, and amuses 
the company that come to see him, with mimicking a cock’s crowing!, 
which he imitates very exactly. In 1744 he was thirty-six inches 
high, and weighed twenty-seven pounds and a half ; his father says, 
w hen about a year old he was as large as children of that age usually 
are, but grew very little and slowly afterwards. 
Wyband Lolkes, the Dutch Dwarf. 
This personage was born at Jelst in IVest Friesland, in the year 
1730. His parents were in low circumstances ; his father being a 
fisherman, and having eight children to support. The parents were 
of ordinary stature, and so were seven of the children, but Wybrand 
was a mere dw^arf. This little creature at an early age exhil>ited 
proofs of a taste for mechanism ; and when he arrived at a proper age, 
was bound apprentice to an eminent watch and clock maker in Am- 
sterdam : he worked for this master four years after the expiration of 
his apprenticeship, and removed from thence to Rotterdam, where he 
began business for himself, and where he first became connected with, 
and afterwards married, the person who accompanied him to England. 
His trade of a watch-maker, however, failing, he came to the reso- 
lution of exhibiting his person publicly as a show, and by attending 
the several Dutch fairs obtained a handsome competency. Impelled by 
curiosity, and in hopes of gain, he came to England, and was visited 
at Harwich (where he first landed) by crowds of people: encouraged 
by this early success, he proceeded to London, and on applying to 
the late Mr. Philip Astley, obtained an engagement at a weekly sa- 
lary of five guineas. He first appeared at the Amphitheatre, West- 
minster Road, on Easter Monday, 1790, and continued to exhibit 
every evening during the whole season. He always was accompanied 
by his wife, who came on the stage with him hand in hand ; but 
though he elevated his arm, she was compelled to stoop considerably 
to meet the preferred honour. 
Mynheer Lolkes was a fond husband; he well knew the value of 
his partner, and repaid her care of him with the most fervent affec- 
tion ; for he was not one of those men, who 
Are April when they woo, 
December when they wed. 
He bad by his wife three children, one of whom, a son, lived to the 
age of twenty-three, and was five feet seven inches in height. — This 
little man, notwithstanding his clumsy and awkw^ard appearance. 
