Number Nineteen figures "An Ingenious Man
born Without Hands,"—and, indeed, with
nothing at all, from the scapula, which, when
his cocked-hat, periwig, and crimson breeches
are taken into consideration, give him very much
the air of Captain Macheath, pinioned for
execution. It is with his feet that this individual
(who was a German, named John Valerius)
performs all the extraordinary feats ascribed to him,
which, after a long enumeration of them, are such,
says J. P., as "it his Impossible to Express."

Number Twenty is "A Wild Mounstrous
Hairy Man," who was "Taken Naked in the
Black Forest in Germany, he was Six Foot and
Nine Inches High, his Ears were like them of a
Hair but Longer and Wider and very Pecked
and Stiff and" (a blot here) "of a Reddish Brown
Complection he was Thick sett with Long Black
Hair the Hairs of his Head and Beard were also
Black but Longer than those that Covered his
Body all over from Head to toe, Exsepting the
Inside of his Hands and the Soles of his feet
where their was no Hairs at all, he Spoke High
Dutch, very Unperfectly, and with a Rude and
Disagreable acscent, he had no manner of
Education" (where should he have got it?) "he Eat
Roots, Herbs and fruits, very Greedily, and also
Raw flech, he Slept better upon Boards than upon
a Soft Feather bed, he was never Baptized,
having no manner of Religion, he knew Nither
Father nor Mother nor the Place of his Nativity."
Pliny tells a curious story of a man with a hairy
heart, who would have delighted J. P. He says:
"It is reported of some men that they have hearts
all hairy: and those are held to be exceeding
strong and valorous. Such was Aristomenes the
Messenian, who slewe with his owne hands 300
Lacedæmonians." How it came to be discovered
that the heart of Aristomenes was hairy, was after
this fashion: "Himselfe being sore wounded
and taken prisoner, saved his own life once, and
made an escape out of the cave of a stone
quarrie, where he was kept as in a prison; for
he got forth by narrow fox-holes under the
ground. Being caught a second time, whiles
his keepers were fast asleep, he rolled himself
to the fire, bound as he was, and so, without
regard of his own bodie, burnt in sunder the
bonds wherewith he was tied. And at the third
taking, the Lacedæmonians caused his breast to
be cut and opened, because they would see what
kind of Heart he had; and there they found it
all overgrown with hair." J. P. speaks, in the
margin, of having seen two other hairy men, and
he also tells the story of Peter the wild boy,
who "was in all Respects like the a foard Said
man (John Valerius), Excepting his Long Ears
and Hariness." Numbers Twenty-one and
Twenty-two present nothing more remarkable
than the pictures of a young man seven feet five
inches and a woman seven feet high: the first
wears a long scarlet coat, reaching to his knees,
and the second is bedizened like the Queen of
Sheba. It suits the nature of the female giantess,
who is not generally a strong-minded woman, to
wear fine clothes. I remember to have seen a
French lady on the Boulevard du Temple, in Paris,
some years ago, who, besides being nearly seven
feet high, had a beard like a Sapeur. On my leaving
the room in which she was exhibited, her
showman presented his hat with the request of
"Quelque chose pour entretenir la parure de
Madame," gladly accepting coppers.

Number Twenty-three is called "A Second
Samson,"—a man, "born in the Dukedom of
Wirtemberg in the Year 1690, and was to be
Seen Publicly in London in 1720 being aged
30 years he was the Stronghest" (a good way of
signifying strength, spelling it so) "man that
Ever I have Seen." Then follows an enumeration
of all the things he could do, which is
the more marvellous when one looks upon the
miserable knock knees and shambling legs of
the strong man's effigy.—Number Twenty-four
I pass over, the subject being fitter for Sir
Hans Sloane's collection than its description for
insertion here.—Number Twenty-five represents
a child "born dead in St. Thomas is Parish in
Southwark, with a pair of Horns on its Head
like the Horns of a Young Lamb, of Three
Months old and Much of the Same Substance."
—Number Twenty-six exhibits "Two Children
born United Together," and Number Twenty-six
"A Child with a Frogs Face," that feature
being, by J. P., pronounced "Perfect."
Unfortunately no story—not even the legend of
Latona—is attached to the picture of this
prodigy, which was preserved in the cabinet of
curiosities of Mr. Claudius Du Puy. Number
Twenty-seven is "A Child with But one finger
to Each Hand and but one Toe to Each foot,"
—born in 1714 and "still alive in 1731, begging
its bread about the Streets of London." In
Number Twenty-eight we have the portrait ot
Hannah Warton, of Leeds, who, at twenty years
of age, was "but 2 foot 5 Inches High, very
Stright and well Shaped, she Could Sing,
Dance, and Play with the Castanets Exelently
well,"—and her attitude betokens the liveliness
of her disposition. Number Twenty-nine is "A
Mounstrous Child" which—like some of the
figures of whom Sir John Maundevile gives
pictures, "was born with no Nose and but one
Eye,"- which was "Directly over his Mouth,"
and to make assurance of description doublesure,
—"no other Eye but that one Eye." This
party also came from the cabinet of Mr. Claudius
Du Puy, whose tastes appear to have been
congenial with those of James Paris Du Plessis. In
Number Thirty we have "Four Children born
at a Birth," the offspring of "Phillis the Wife
of George Rockow a Tayler in Blackmoor Street
near Drury Lane, and were baptis'd by the
Rev. Mr. Spavan then Curate of St. Clement
Danes on the thirteenth Day of February 1714
by the following names, viz., George, Thomas,
Christian, Wilhelmina-Caroline" (an eye here
to a royal present; as in our own time), "and
are now to Be seen preserv'd in Spirits in Blackmoor
Street afores at Mr. Rockow's House,
who together with his Wife is still living and
have had several Children since, the last of
which was born in the present Year, 1731.
Seen there by me James Paris." To this