| Citation |
VGW(PA.737.009
21-28 Jan 1737:22 (26)
[In the fourteen of 21 paragraphs discussing the
shortcomings of storytellers, is found the following line]
. . . Did not the famous Dr. Burney, whose history is much
of the same stamp with his travels, affirm, that he say an
elephant play at ball? And that grave gentleman Ysbrant
Ides in his travels through Muscovy, to China, assures us,
that he saw elephants, which were taught to low like cows,
to yell like tigers, and to mimick the sounding of a
trumpet; but their highest perfection, as he relates it, was
that of singing like canary birds. However this is not so
marvellous (for Pliny relates wonderful things of their
docility) as what a gentleman told a full company, in my
hearing within this fortnight. That he had seen a show at
Bristol, which was a hare, taught to stand upon her hind
legs and bow to all the company, to each person in
particular, with a very good grace, and then proceed to beat
several marches on the drum. After this, a dog was set upon
the table. His master, the show-man, made many grievous
complaints against him, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The hare knits her brows, kindles her eyes like a lady,
falls in a passion, attacks the dog with all her rage and
fury, as if she had been his wife, scratches, bites, and
cuffs him round the table, till the spectators had enough
for their money.
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