Untitled

Circus and Nature in Late Georgian England
and Society, 1793–1815 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995); Kwint, “Legitimization of the
Circus.”
19. Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England, 1500–
1800 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).
20. Philip Astley, The Modern Riding Master; Or, A Key to the Knowledge of the Horse
and Horsemanship, with Several Necessary Rules for Young Horsemen (London, 1775),
introduction.
21. The stereotyping of tailors seems to have had varied origins, some perhaps because
they were perceived as slippery purveyors of social identities as well as being prominent
radical agitators. See George Speaight, “Some Comic Circus Entrées,” Theatre Notebook
32 (1978), pp. 24–7; John Towsen, “The Clown to the Ring: The Evolution of the Circus
Clown, 1770–1975” (Ph.D. thesis, New York University, 1976), pp. 1–26.
22. George Townshend, c.1802, source untraced, quoted in Joanna Innes, letter to the
author (November 30, 1999).
23. Leach, “Animal Categories.”
24. [William Clarke], The Every Night Book; Or, Life After Dark (London, 1827),
pp. 22–3; see also Saxon, Enter Foot and Horse, p. 8.
25. Saxon, Life and Art of Ducrow, p. 179.
26. On the graphic rendition of the horse see Kwint, “Astley’s Amphitheatre”, pp.
169–90.
27. Astley’s playbill, June 8, 1829: TM.
28. Astley’s playbill, April 10, 1820: TM; see also Saxon, Enter Foot and Horse,
pp. 73–6.
29. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 34, quoted in Bratton and Traies, Astley’s
Amphitheatre, p. 60; see also Dickens, Sketches by “Boz,” p. 301.
30. See Kwint, “Astley’s Amphitheatre,” p. 244.
31. Clarke, Every Night Book, p. 24; for a discussion of the symbolism of flight and
lightness in the circus, which some have argued betrays shamanistic archetypes, see Kwint,
“Astley’s Amphitheatre,” pp. 268–72; also Stoddart, Rings of Desire, ch. 8.
32. See Astley’s conjuring manual: Philip Astley, Natural Magic; Or, Physical Amusements
Revealed (London, 1785).
33. See, for instance, Barbara M. Benedict, Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early
Modern Enquiry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), esp. ch. 5.
34. See Thomas, Man and the Natural World, p. 184.
35. Ct., Morning Post, 1807: BL, C. 103.k.11 (Lysons Collection), vol. 5, fo. 64.
36. Ct., September 15, 1791: BL, Th. Cts. 36, item 56 D; ct., April 10, 1770: BL, Th.
Cts. 35, item 27; ct., Morning Post, November 27, 1810: BL, C. 103.k.11, vol. 5, fo. 64.
37. See Philip Astley, Astley’s System of Equestrian Education, Exhibiting the Beauties
and Defects of the Horse; With Serious and Important Observations on his General
Excellence, Preserving it in Health, Grooming, etc. (London, 1801).
38. Quoted in Maurice Willson-Disher, Greatest Show on Earth: Astley’s (Afterwards
Sanger’s) Royal Amphitheatre of Arts (London: G. Bell, 1937), 13.
39. Ct., November 2, 1818: BL, Th. Cts. 37, item 738.
40. Astley’s playbill, April 10, 1826: TM.
41. Astley’s playbill, November 25, 1844, for W.T. Moncrieff’s The Royal Fox Hunt
and the Race Horse, and Life’s Course of Man and Steed!: Bodleian Library (hereafter Bod.
Lib.,) John Johnson Collection, “Theatres A–C” portfolio.
42. BL, Th. Cts. 35, item 1112 (June 10, 1789), 692 ( October 1, 1785).
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