Untitled

Marius Kwint
43. Ct., October 20, 1785: BL, Th. Cts. 35, item 698.
44. Advertisement for Mlle Lefort, with a beard, h.d. 1818: BL, C. 103.k.11, vol. 1, fo.
75. During the eighteenth century scientific orthodoxy moved from the theory of “sports
of nature” (lusus naturae) induced by God for our puzzlement and edification, to a more
secular view of natural error. See, for example, Joseph Levine, Dr. Woodward’s Shield:
History, Science and Satire in Augustan England (Berkeley, CA: University of California
Press, 1977), ch. 1.
45. Robert Bogdan, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988) 206, ch. 4, passim.
46. Astley’s playbill, 1770: BL, 1879 c. 13 (“Miscellanea Collection”).
47. See Public Records Office, London, Patent Rolls, IND:16806.
48. See Gerald Stanley Eames, “The Freaks of Learning: Learned Pigs, Musical Hares,
and the Romantics,” transcript of lecture, Toronto Public Library, February 4, 1980: Bod.
Lib., John Johnson Collection, “Animals on Show,” box 2; also Ricky Jay, Learned Pigs
and Fireproof Women (London: Robert Hale, 1986), pp. 8–21; Richard Altick, The Shows
of London (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1978); Stallybrass and White, Transgression, ch. 1.
49. Sarah Trimmer, Fabulous Histories Designed for the Instruction of Children,
Respecting their Treatment of Animals, 3rd edn (1788), p. 71, quoted in Thomas, Man and
the Natural World, p. 92.
50. William Pinchbeck, The Expositor; or Many Mysteries Unravelled ... comprising
The Learned Pig, ...Invisible Lady [etc.] (Boston, MA, 1805), p. 26, quoted in Eames,
“The Freaks of Learning”, p. 14.
51. Astley’s playbill, 1770: BL, 1879 c. 13; ct., May 2, 1799: BL, Th. Cts. 36, item 176
C.
52. Ct., August 9, 1768: BL, Th. Cts. 35, item 863; see also Thomas, Man and the
Natural World, p. 37.
53. Morning Herald, September 5, 1785, Morning Post, April 17, 1785: BL, C.
103.k.11, vol. 2, fo. 127.
54. Astley, Natural Magic, pp. 27, 36; for later evidence of Astley’s alleged training
methods see Report from the Select Committee on Performing Animals, Together with the
Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence (London: HMSO, 1921), p. 22,
min. 641.
55. On this issue see Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures
in the Victorian Age (Harmondworth: Penguin, 1990), p. 27, chs. 2 and 3; Thomas, Man
and the Natural World, ch. 4; Brian Harrison, Peaceable Kingdom: Stability and Change
in Modern Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), ch. 2.
56. Ct., April 16, 1785: BL, Th. Cts. 35, item 648.
57. October 6, 1785: BL, Th. Cts. 35, item 750.
58. Advertisment, quoted in Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities (London,
1875), p. 33.
59. Astley’s playbill, January 10, 1848: Bod. Lib., John Johnson Collection, “Theatres
A–C” portfolio.
60. Saxon, Enter Foot and Horse, p. 212; Astley’s playbills, September 14, 1829, “Third
Week! ... Oscar & Malvina,” 1812: TM.
61. Ct., November 24, 1780; playbill, September 25, 1822: both TM.
62. William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1816), 8.11. 685–723.
63. Dublin Morning Post, March 15, 1788: BL, C. 103.k.11, vol. 4, fo. 30.
60