* "Old Harry with his Raree-show." A print by Sutton Nicholls, with the following lines.
"Reader, behold the Efigie of one Wrinkled by age, decrepit and forlorne, His tinkling bell doth you together call To see his Raree-show, spectators all, That will be pleas'd before you by him pass, To put a farthing, and look through his glass. 'Tis so long since he did himself betake To show the louse, the flea, and spangled snake. His Nippotate, which on raw flesh fed, He living shew'd, and does the same now's dead. The bells that he when living always wore, He wears about his neck as heretofore. Then buy Old Harry, stick him up, that he May be remember'd to posterity."
** "With a pair of French post boots, under the soles of which are fastened quart-bottles, with their necks downwards, Mr. Macdonald exhibits several feats of activity on the slack wire; after this he poises a wheel on his right toe, on the top of which is placed a spike, whereon is balanced by the edge a pewter-plate; on that a board with sixteen wine-glasses; and on the summit a glass globe, with a wheaten straw erect on the same. He then fixes a sharp- pointed sword on the tip of his nose, on the pommel of which he balances a tobacco-pipe, and on its bowl two eggs erect! With his left forefinger he sustains a chair with a dog sitting in it, and two feathers standing erect on the nobs; and to shew the strength of his wrist, there are two weights of l00 lbs. each fastened to the legs of the chair!" &c. &c.
But his empty quart bottles, with "their necks downwards," produced him not the price of a full one; his glass globe Louis Ragout valued not the straw that stood erect upon it; and his nose, sustaining on its tip a sharp-pointed sword, put not a morsel into his mouth; so that, finding his wire and trade equally slack, and that he could balance everything but his accounts, he took his French boots and French leave; left his board for his lodging, and his chair for his cheer, hoping to experience better luck at Bartholomew Fair! Posture-master Phillips, * pupil of Joseph Clarke, ** exercises his crooked calling, and becomes hunch-backed, pot-bellied, sharpbreasted, and crippled disjointing arms, shoulders, and legs, and twisting his supple limbs into bows and double knots!