Eleven Inches high.—Two Wild Indians from the Malay
Islands in the East,"
and other wonders. One of these
"Exhibition of Real Wonders."
This announcement, designed to astonish, was inscribed
over the show with the usual notice, "Only a Penny!"—the
"Wonders of the Deep!" the "Prodigies of the Age!" and
"the Learned Pig!" in large letters. The printed bill is
a curiosity:—
To be Seen in a Commodious Pavilion in this Place.
REAL WONDERS!
SEE AND BELIEVE.
Have you seen
THE BEAUTIFUL DOLPHIN,
The Performing Pig & the Mermaid?
If not, pray do! as the exhibition contains more variety
than any other in England. Those ladies and gentlemen
who may be pleased to honour it with a visit will be
truly gratified.
TOBY,
The Swinish Philosopher, and Ladies' Fortune Teller.
That beautiful animal appears to be endowed with the
natural sense of the human being. He is in colour the
most beautiful of his race; in symmetry the most
perfect; in temper the most docile; and far exceeds any
thing yet seen for his intelligent performances. He is
beyond all conception: he has a perfect knowledge of the
alphabet, understands arithmetic, and will spell and
cast accounts, tell the points of the globe, the
dice-box, the hour by any person's watch, &c.
the Real Head of
MAHOWRA,
THE CANNIBAL CHIEF.
At the same time, the public will have an opportunity of
seeing what was exhibited so long in London, under the
title of
THE MERMAID:
The wonder of the deep! not a facsimile
or copy, but the same curiosity.
Admission Moderate.
* * * Open from Eleven in the Morning till
Nine in the Evening.
The great "prodigies" of this show were the "performing
pig," and the performing show-woman. She drew forth the
learning of the "swinish philosopher" admirably.
He told his letters, and "got into spelling" with his
nose; and could do a sum of two figures "in addition."
Then, at her desire, he routed out those of the company
who were in love, or addicted to indulgence; and
peremptorily grunted, that a "round, fat, oily"-faced
personage at my elbow, "loved good eating, and a pipe,
and a jug of good ale, better than the sight of the
Living Skeleton!" The beautiful dolphin was a
fish-skin stuffed. The mermaid was the last
manufactured imposture of that name, exhibited for
half-a-crown in Piccadilly, about a year before. The
real head of Mahowra, the cannibal chief, was a
skull that might have been some English clodpole's, with
a dried skin over it, and bewigged; but it looked
sufficiently terrific, when the lady show-woman put the
candle in at the neck, and the flame illuminated the
yellow integument over the holes where eyes, nose, and a
tongue had been. There was enough for "a penny!"
