Pyg

by Russell Potter

  This most singular phenomenon is one of the many surprising instances of the ingenuity of Mr Nicholson—a man who is possessed of an exclusive and peculiar power over the most irrational part of animated nature. Many of the first personages in the three kingdoms have been witnesses to his persevering temper and patience in the tuition of beasts, birds, etc., in a degree that has seldom fallen to the lot of human infirmity. As to his Pig, this singular creature may justly be deemed the greatest curiosity in the kingdom, and the proprietor makes no doubt but he will give that satisfaction, and receive that approbation, from the ladies and gentlemen of this city, &c., &c., which he has done in London and Edinburgh.

  As to the later career of Mr Nicholson, we possess only the most slender evidence; although the records of the University of Edinburgh confirm that he studied there, there appears to be no record of his having taken a degree at the time. Regarding the country school that he is said to have established, we have only TOBY’S account. And yet, curiously, there is a record of one ‘Samuel Nicholson’ receiving a medical qualification at Edinburgh in September of 1835; we can only suppose that this may have been a son or perhaps even a grandson.

  (28) Mr Silas Bisset

  It should be noted that there is some uncertainty in the historical record as to Mr Bisset’s given name: during his lifetime, his name was most often printed as ‘S. Bisset’, and later sources give both Silas and Samuel (the latter due to confusion with Mr Nicholson). By far the most extensive account of Mr Bisset’s life and career is that related by Henry Wilson in his collection Wonderful characters: comprising memoirs and anecdotes of the most Remarkable Persons of Every Age and Nation, Collected from the most authentic sources, (1821); Wilson sums up Bisset’s career thus:

  Perhaps no period ever produced a more singular character than Bisset; though in the age of apathy in which he lived, his merit was but little rewarded. At any former era of time, the man who could assume a command over dumb creation, and make them act with a docility which far exceeded mere brutal instinct, would have been looked upon as possessed of supernatural powers, according to the pagan notions; or would have been burned as a wizard, according to the Christian system.

  Wilson states that Bisset was born at Perth, Scotland, about the year 1721, and had originally worked as a shoemaker in London. He hit upon the ‘notion of teaching quadrupeds’ later in life, after reading an account of a remarkable horse, which had appeared at the fair of St Germain’s. His first trials were said to be with dogs, and ‘two monkies [sic] were the next pupils he took in hand’; then came hares, canaries, linnets, the infamous turkeys, and even a goldfish (though what this fish was taught to do is left to the reader’s imagination). Bisset’s association with TOBY is said to have been a response to a sort of challenge: ‘A doubt being stated to him, whether the obstinacy of a pig could be conquered, his usual patient fortitude was practised to try the experiment; in the course of sixteen months, he made an animal, supposed the most obstinate and perverse in nature, to become the most tractable and docile.’

  Wilson mentions Bisset’s appearance in Dublin, and briefly describes the incident with the nameless constable:

  Bisset was thus in a fair way of bringing his pig to a good market when a Constable, whose ignorance and insolence disgraced his authority, broke into the room; with that brutality which the idea of power gives (what Shakespeare calls) a ‘pelting petty officer’, he assaulted the unoffending man, broke and destroyed every thing by which the performance was directed, and drew his sword to kill the swine, which might justly have been called a half-reasoning, instead of a grovelling animal, that in the practice of good manners, was at least the superior of the assailant. The injured Bisset pleaded, without any avail, the permission he obtained from the chief magistrate; he was threatened to be dragged to prison, if he was found any more offending in the same manner.

  This account agrees in nearly every particular with that of TOBY, save that the incident with the Constable is supposed to have happened in Dublin, a very slight discrepancy when all other details are considered.

  Finally, we have an Obituary notice from a Chester newspaper, which confirms his death there, and the high estimate of his abilities he earned in that city:

  Last week at Chester the celebrated Mr S. BISSET, the most remarkable man that probably ever lived for cultivating an intimacy with the dumb creation. He made a figure in London several years ago, as conductor of the Cats Opera; since which time he has instructed, in the most curious tricks and deceptions, several dogs, horses, turtles, birds &c., and latterly a Pig, which was lately shewn in the North and in this city, and with which he was on his way to London when he died.

  (54) Mr James Blackburn, Mayor of LIVERPOOL. His name is given as ‘James Blackburn, the Younger’ in Liverpool records, where his occupation is listed as ‘cloth manufacturer’. Little else appears to be known about the weave and weft of the man.

  (59) Astley’s AMPHITHEATRE, Dublin. Philip Astley (8 January 1742–27 January 1814) is regarded by many as the ‘father of the modern circus’. The concept of a ‘circus’, based around a circular riding track and featuring trick-riders along with interludes by acrobats, jugglers, rope-walkers and other entertainers, was inaugurated by Astley in London in 1768; it was later greatly expanded and enclosed in a purpose-built wooden structure. Flush with the success of this London establishment, Astley erected a second ‘Amphitheatre’ in Dublin in 1773, making use of the house and grounds formerly the residence of the Molyneux family in Peter Street; it was here that TOBY made his Dublin début.

  (66) Monsieur Bussart, Monsieur Redigé, Signor Scaglioni, La Belle Espagnole, Herr Hautknochen. The troupe is undoubtedly that of Alexandre Placide Bussart who, together with his wife, led a famous company of tight-rope performers and dancers in the 1790s. He was said to have been the most graceful rope-dancer and gymnast of his day, performing with much success in both Paris and London. In 1792, he travelled with his company to the United States, where they performed before President George Washington. In England, they often appeared with Monsieur Redigé, who was also known as the ‘Little Devil’. A treatise of the time noted that ‘At Sadler’s Wells, the performances, other than music or dancing, consisted of posturing by a boy called the Infant Hercules, and tight-rope dancing by Madame Romaine, another female artiste known as La Belle Espagnole, and two lads, one of whom was a son of Richer, the other known as the “Little Devil”.’ According to Richard Findlater’s 1978 book Joe Grimaldi, His Life and Theatre, La Belle Espagnole did indeed dance ‘with two swords tied to her feet, and two eggs under them, while she carried two baskets on a board’, much as TOBY has described. As for Signor Scaglioni and his Dogs, we have a 1788 handbill from Salisbury which declares that,

  On MONDAY, August 11, 1788, will be exhibited the real Original DANCING DOGS, And other ENTERTAINMENTS, Particularly the imitation of various Song Birds; likewise Singing, Dancing, and a variety of novel Amusements, Under the Direction of Signor SCAGLIONI and Mr HERMAN. Boxes 2s.– Pit 1s.—Gallery 6d. The doors to be opened at half past six and begin at eight. Performances every evening this week, Saturday excepted.

  Herr Hautknochen, whose stage-name is German for ‘skin and bones’, has not been identified.

  (71) Mr Robinson of the Freeman’s Journal. The Freeman’s Journal, founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas, began as a strident platform for Irish nationalism, but this changed in 1784 when Francis Higgins gained control of the paper, after which it took a decidedly pro-British stance. Mr Robinson has not been identified.

  (77) DRUMCONDRA, Mr Bellows. Drumcondra (Irish: Droim Conrach, meaning ‘Conra’s Ridge’) is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council. The river Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area. The editor has visited the place, and its character is remarkably unaltered—though far more densely populated—from its state in TOBY’S day. Mr Bellows has not been identified.

  (81) ‘The VAU
LTS’, Belfast, Mr Atkins. According to John C. Greene, in his invaluable treatise Theatre in Belfast: 1736–1800, a theatre of this name opened in disused wine cellars in Belfast in 1731 under the management of a ‘Mr Johnes’. There is some confusion as to the exact location of this venue, but in any case, according to Mr Greene’s study, the last recorded performance was in 1766, which would mean that TOBY’S appearance there extends its known life by two decades or more. Mr Atkins is most likely the same man who was noted as the manager of the Belfast Theatre in 1785, when Mrs Siddons—whom TOBY was later to meet in Lancaster—visited Belfast and praised Mr Atkins for his ‘probity and excellent management’. (George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, Vol. II).

  (88) The constable has not been identified.

  (93) Edward Dobbs. Mr Dobbs has proven difficult to identify. If we suppose him to have been long-lived, however, he may be identical with the man of that name awarded five pounds as the First Prize for ‘Fat Pigs, not exceeding nine months old’ in Birmingham in 1835 (Farmer’s Magazine, Vol. 21).

  (97) THEATRE-ROYAL, Chester; Messrs Banks & Ward, Mr Dawes. Michael Kelley, in his Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King’s theatre, and Theatre royal (1826), speaks of meeting ‘Banks and Ward, the proprietors of the Chester and Manchester Teatres’. Mr Dawes has not been identified.

  (97) Mrs Cowley’s ‘More Ways than One’. Hannah Cowley (14 March 1743–11 March 1809) was a successful English dramatist and poet. Legend has it that, on attending the theatre with her husband, she remarked to him that she could write as good a piece as the one being performed, and within a fortnight she had finished her first play, The Runaway, which was produced at Drury Lane by David Garrick in 1776. Many more followed, most notably The Belle’s Stratagem in 1782, which was her most successful. More Ways Than One, the play within which TOBY’S interlude was featured, had opened at Covent Garden in 1783 and was, at the time of our narrative, nearing the end of its subsequent provincial tour.

  (99) Mr Edwin as ‘Sir Marvell Mushroom’. A ‘Mr Edwin’ is indeed mentioned in this role in the dramatis personae in the 1813 edition of the Plays of Mrs Cowley; he apparently appeared in many productions of her plays. We have been unable to find out much else about him.

  (109) Sir William Dunkinfield, Baronet, High Sheriff of CHESHIRE. A person of this name held that office from 1751 to 1774; although he was (apparently) no longer Sheriff by the time his name was invoked by Mr Nicholson, he must have retained something of the mantle of that office, at least among the hoi-polloi.

  (119) ST GILES’S FAIR. St Giles’s Fair is an annual fair held in St Giles, a wide thoroughfare in central north Oxford, in September of each year. It was, just as TOBY describes it, very much an affair of town and not of gown. Never the less, it has been warmly and richly recalled by at least one undergraduate, who in an essay for the Magdalen College School Journal described it thus:

  The next excitement is St Giles’s FAIR, when the whole length of the street from the Church to the Martyr’s Memorial is occupied by four rows of booths, tenanted by the fat woman, the thin child, the pig with two heads, and similar wonders; penny peepshows and roundabouts, waxworks and cake stalls, cheapjacks, ‘theatres’ and shooting galleries make up the rest. All the villagers round flock to this their holiday: infant Oxford devotes itself for a couple of days to gingerbread, drums and whistles; youthful Oxford gives itself up entirely to ‘scratch-backs’, weapons to which we, not being Scotchmen, have a decided objection; staider Oxford, who are above such trifles, retire to the public-house in the vicinity of the fair.

  It should be noted that that description dates to some years after the present narrative, and to a time when—learned pigs being apparently no longer available—those with two heads were the best that could be obtained.

  (125) Dr William Adams, Master of PEMBROKE COLLEGE, Oxon. William Adams DD (c. 1706–13 January 1789) was Fellow and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. A brief Life is given by Charles Partington in his British Cyclopedia of 1837:

  Dr Adams was born at Shrewsbury, and at the age of thirteen was entered at Pembroke College, where he remained to take his master’s degree, and obtained a fellowship. It has generally been reported that he was afterwards tutor to the celebrated Dr Johnson; but Dr Adams very handsomely contradicted this report, by saying that had Johnson returned to College after Jordan’s (his tutor’s) death, he might have been his tutor: ‘I was his nominal tutor, but he was above my mark.’

  In 1732, he obtained the curacy of St Chad’s in Shrewsbury, and left the college. Never the less, when, forty-three years later, John Ratcliffe, master of Pembroke, died, Dr Adams was elected to take his place. His term commenced on 26 July 1775, and he presided over the college with universal approbation, earning the affections of the students by his courteous demeanour and affability, mixed with the firmness necessary for the preservation of discipline. In his apartments here, he frequently cheered the latter days of his old friend Dr Johnson, whom he survived but a few years; dying at his house at Gloucester, 13 January 1789, aged eighty-two. He was interred in Gloucester Cathedral, where a monument was erected, with an inscription celebrating his ingenuity, learning, eloquence, piety and benevolence.

  It was doubtless to the fund for this last-mentioned memorial that TOBY contributed.

  (125) Dr Samuel Johnson. Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [OS 7 September]–13 December 1784), often referred to simply as ‘Dr Johnson’, was widely regarded as the most distinguished man of letters of his day. He is best known for his Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, as well as for his essays, poems and other writings, particularly the romance Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia (1759), a copy of which TOBY tells us was among his most prized possessions. After a year as a student at Pembroke College, he was obliged to leave due to lack of funds just prior to Dr Adams’s appointment as a Fellow; although they had not in fact been pupil and master, they never the less developed a strong friendship that lasted until Johnson’s death.

  During the time described in the book, Dr Johnson was in the throes of what was to be his final illness; he had recently undergone surgery for gout and had been confined to his bed for much of the latter part of 1783. By the summer of 1784, his condition seemed to have improved somewhat, and that season he made his final visit to Oxford, which gives a definite date to his appearance in the present narrative. That autumn, his health in rapid decline, Johnson expressed a desire to die in London and arrived there on 16 November. His final days were painful in the extreme, although he still managed at times to display his characteristic spirit; when his physician, Dr Warren, asked him in his usual manner whether he was feeling better, Johnson replied, ‘No, Sir; you cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance towards death.’ He was buried at Westminster Abbey in ‘Poets’ Corner’, not far from the graves of Chaucer and Spenser.

  (134) Miss Anna Seward. Anna Seward (12 December 1747–25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often referred to as the Swan of Lichfield. Born at Eyam in Derbyshire, she spent nearly all her life in Lichfield, beginning at an early age to write poetry, partly at the instigation of Erasmus Darwin. Her verses include numerous elegies—so many that Sir Walter Scott was said to have been reluctant to edit her works while she yet lived, lest she end up composing one for him. After her death, Scott edited Seward’s Poetical Works in three volumes (1810). To these he prefixed a memoir of the author, along with extracts from her literary correspondence. He declined, however, to include the bulk of her letters, and these were published in six volumes by A. Constable as Letters of Anna Seward 1784–1807 (Edinburgh, 1811). Her connections with Dr Johnson are documented in a variety of sources, but see especially Margaret Ashmun’s The Singing Swan: An Account of Anna Seward and her Acquaintance with Dr Johnson, Boswell, and others of their Time (1931).

  (140) ‘Invidia gloriae comes’: Envy is a companion to glory.

  (141) Reverend Mr Chapman, Vice-Chancellor of OXFORD UNIVERSITY. Joseph Chapman, graduate o
f Trinity College (1763); DD, 1777, served as Proctor (1775), President (1776–1808), and Vice-Chancellor (1784–8).

  (141) THE EAGLE AND CHILD. The Eagle and Child is a public house in St Giles’s, Oxford, which is owned by St John’s College, Oxford. It had been part of an endowment belonging to University College since the seventeenth century. The first record of its name is from 1684, and is said to derive from the crest of the Earl of Derby. The image is alleged to refer to a story of a noble-born baby having been found in an eagle’s nest. The pub’s long-standing nickname is ‘the Bird and Baby’.

  (142) ‘O tempora, o mores!’: ‘Oh, the times! Oh, the customs!’ This sentence by Cicero in found in his First Oration against Catiline, which TOBY mentions having studied with Dr Adams.

  (144) ‘aut disce aut discede’: one must either ‘learn or leave’; this was the motto of the old Cathedral School at St Paul’s, as well as of various later educational establishments.

  (145) ‘Docendo discimus, mi alme sus’: ‘By your pupils you are taught, my dear pig!’ The first part of this is a well-known Latin saw.