s always a little box, about two feet six inches
high, into which, by long practice, he can just manage to get, by
doubling himself up like a boot-jack; this box is painted outside like a
six-roomed house, and as the crowd see him ring a bell, or fire a pistol
out of the first-floor window, they verily believe that it is his
ordinary town residence, divided like other mansions into drawing-rooms,
dining-parlour, and bedchambers. Shut up in this case, the unfortunate
little object is brought out to delight the throng by holding a facetious
dialogue with the proprietor: in the course of which, the dwarf (who is
always particularly drunk) pledges himself to sing a comic song inside,
and pays various compliments to the ladies, which induce them to 'come
for'erd' with great alacrity. As a giant is not so easily moved, a pair
of indescribables of most capacious dimensions, and a huge shoe, are
usually brought out, into which two or three stout men get all at once,
to the enthusiastic delight of the crowd, who are quite satisfied with
the solemn assurance that these habiliments form part of the giant's
everyday costume.

The grandest and most numerously-frequented booth in the whole fair,
however, is 'The Crown and Anchor'--a temporary ball-room--we forget how
many hundred feet long, the price of admission to which is one shilling.
Immediately on your right hand as you enter, after paying your money, is
a refreshment place, at which cold beef, roast and boiled, French rolls,
stout, wine, tongue, ham, even fowls, if we recollect right, are
displayed in tempting array. There is a raised orchestra, and the place
is boarded all the way down, in patches, just wide enough for a country
dance.

There is no master of the ceremonies in this artificial Eden--all is
primitive, unreserved, and unstudied. The dust is blinding, the heat
insupportable, the company somewhat noisy, and in the highest spirits
possible: the ladies, in the height of their innocent animation, dancing
in the gentlemen's hats, and the gentlemen promenading 'the gay and
festive scene' in the ladies' bonnets, or with the more expensive
ornaments of false noses, and low-crowned, tinder-box-looking hats:
playing children's drums, and accompanied by ladies on the penny trumpet.

The noise of these various instruments, the orchestra, the shouting, the
'scratchers,' and the dancing, is perfectly bewildering. The dancing,
itself, beggars description--every figure las