the custom of keeping dwarfs as retainers to ornament the homes of princes, and to provide amusement—which was much in fashion in the old days of the roman empire—has survived at most courts until a comparatively recent period. according to suetonius, augustus, in order to forget the cares of state, would play with his dwarfs for nuts, and laugh at their childish prattle, whilst for his special amusement domitian kept a band of dwarf gladiators.

charles ix. of france and his mother had a strong partiality for dwarfs, and in 1573 three were sent to him by the emperor of germany; and the same year a large sum was paid for bringing some dwarfs from poland for the king: one of these, majoski, being given to the queen-mother, and an entry in her accounts tells how thirty livres were paid for “little disbursements for the said majoski, as well as clothes, books, pens, paper, and ink.” it may be remembered how the famous dwarf, joseph boruwlaski—who at fifteen years of age was only twenty-five inches high—was presented to the empress maria theresa by the countess humiecka, who took him on her lap and kissed him.{240} she then asked him what struck him as most curious at vienna, to which he replied, “that which he then beheld.” “and what is that?” inquired her majesty.

“to see so little a man on the lap of so great a woman,” answered boruwlaski. he then besought the permission of the empress to kiss her hand, whereupon she took from the finger of marie antoinette, then a child, a ring, and put it on his finger.

afterwards boruwlaski visited luneville, where he was introduced to stanislaus leczinski, the dethroned king of poland, who kept a dwarf, nicknamed bébé, a native of france, his real name being nicholas feny, or ferry. bébé quickly became jealous of boruwlaski, and on the first opportunity tried to push him into the fire. but the noise occasioned by the scuffle brought the king on the scene, who ordered bébé to have corporal punishment, and never to appear in his presence again. boruwlaski won the favour of stanislaus ii., who for a time took him under his protection, and eventually visited this country, when he was introduced to the prince of wales, afterwards george iv.; and on may 23, 1782, he was presented by the countess of egremont to the king and queen and the junior members of the royal family.

when king christian ii. of denmark fell into the hands of his enemy frederick i., he was imprisoned with his dwarf in the castle of s?ndeborg in holstein. having entered his gloomy cell with

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{241}

the sole companion of his misery, the door was at once walled up; but after a time the king, according to one account, induced his dwarf to counterfeit sickness, and to solicit his removal from prison, when, if he should be successful, he was to try and make his escape from the danish dominions to the court of the electress. the dwarf feigned illness and was liberated, but was recaptured on his attempting to leave the danish territory.

peter the great kept a dwarf whom he used to call his puppet; and in 1710 he celebrated a marriage of two dwarfs at st. petersburg with great ceremony, when he invited all his courtiers and the foreign ambassadors, and ordered that all dwarfs residing within 200 miles of his capital should be present. but some would not consent to come for fear of ridicule, an act of disobedience which peter punished by compelling them to wait on the rest at dinner. for this miniature company “everything provided was suitable in size. a low table held small plates, dishes, glasses, and other necessary articles, diminished to the standard of the guests”—the banquet being followed by a dance, opened with a minuet by the bridegroom, who was three feet two inches high.[109]

marie anne, wife of philip iv. of spain, having laughed once at the eccentric antics of a dwarf clown, was sternly reproved for her bad taste in so doing, upon which she sensibly replied that they should take the clown away if they did not mean her to laugh—so austere was spanish etiquette.{242}

a favourite dwarf of charles v. of spain was corneille, a portrait of whom, by francesco torbido, in the louvre at paris, represents him dressed as a knight, with his left hand resting on the back of a large dog; and velasquez has painted some dwarfs which were once attached to the spanish court, “where the most ugly of such deformities were most valued.”[110] at madrid there is a painting by this artist representing the infanta margarita with her two dwarfs, maria borbola and nicolasico pertusano, who are teasing a good-natured dog. some years ago a dwarf named don francisco hidalgo held his levees in the cosmorama rooms, regent street, having previously for eighteen years, it was stated, been attached to the court of madrid, in the reign of ferdinand vii.

the first wife of joachim frederick, elector of brandenburg, assembled together a number of dwarfs of both sexes, in order to marry them with a view of multiplying their species—an experiment said to have been practised also by catherine de medicis, but in each case the attempt was fruitless. and at the castle of ambras, in the tyrol, was a wooden image, “only three spans high, representing a dwarf who lived in the archduke ferdinand’s court.”

from an early period dwarfs were kept in turkish palaces, an amusing reference to this custom being given by lord byron, who, describing the sultan’s palace in turkey, says:{243}—

“this massy portal stood at the wide close

of a huge hall, and on its either side

two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose,

were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied

in mockery to the enormous gate which rose

o’er them in almost pyramidic pride;

the gate so splendid was in all its features,

you never thought about those little creatures,

until you nearly trod on them, and then

you started back in horror to survey

the wondrous hideousness of those small men,

whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey,

but an extraneous mixture, which no pen

can trace, although perhaps the pencil may;

they were misshapen pigmies, deaf and dumb—

monsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum,” &c.

dwarfs formed part of the retinue of william, duke of normandy, at which period it was customary for them to hold the bridle of the king’s horse in state processions. although it is commonly said queen elizabeth detested as ominous all dwarfs and monsters, yet among the new year’s gifts presented by her on january 1, 1584-85, at greenwich, was the following: “to mrs. tomysen, the dwarf, two ounces of gilt plate.”

henrietta maria, queen consort of charles i., had a great fancy for dwarfs. and on the occasion of a royal progress, during which charles i. and herself were entertained by the duchess of buckingham, the queen was induced to partake of a noble venison pasty in the centre of the table, when, on the removal of the crust, the dwarf jeffrey hudson, only eighteen inches high, rose out of the pie, entreating to be taken into her{244} service, a favour she granted. he seems to have proved a valuable acquisition to the court household, being sent to france to fetch a midwife for queen henrietta maria; but the homeward journey was disastrous, for “a dunkirk privateer captured both the midwife and jeffrey, plundered them of all the rich presents they were bringing to the queen from her mother, marie de medicis, and what was worse, detained the midwife till her office was no longer needed by the royal patient.”

about 1615 was born richard gibson, who became court dwarf to charles i., and married anne shepherd, who was court dwarf to queen henrietta maria. her majesty was present at the marriage, charles i. giving away the bride, and the queen presenting her with a diamond ring as a bridal present. these married dwarfs both attained celebrity as miniature painters; they had the honour of teaching mary ii. and princess anne drawing, and they died in the service of the former.

and coming down to modern times, it may be mentioned that the dwarf matthew buchinger was patronised by george i. and the london gazette for january 10, 1752, records that “on wednesday evening mr. john coan, the norfolk dwarf, was sent for to leicester house by her royal highness the princess dowager of wales, and was immediately introduced before her, his royal highness the prince of wales, prince edward, princess augusta, and all the other princes and princesses being present, where he stayed upwards of two hours; and we are assured by the pertinency of his{245} answers, actions, and behaviour, their royal highnesses were most agreeably entertained the whole time, and made him a very handsome present.”

on march 23, 1844, charles s. stratton, popularly known as general tom thumb, visited the queen, prince albert, and the duchess of kent at buckingham palace, where he went through his performances, repeating them again on april 2 before her majesty, when there also were present the queen of the belgians, the prince of wales, the princess royal, and the princess alice. at the conclusion of the entertainment her majesty presented the general with a souvenir of mother-of-pearl, set with rubies, and bearing the crown and the initials v.r., and subsequently she presented him with a gold pencil-case. on april 19 he appeared for the third time before the queen, prince albert, the king and queen of the belgians, and prince leiningen at buckingham palace, and sang on this, as on previous occasions, a comic song to the air of “yankee doodle,” in which he introduced the royal personages.

on may 21, 1846, three highland dwarfs performed their national dances, and sang at buckingham palace before the queen, prince albert, and the duchess of kent; and in 1848 a dwarf, called admiral van tromp, was patronised by her majesty, prince albert, the duchess of kent, the duchess of gloucester, the duke and duchess of cambridge, the prince and princess of parma, the prince of orange, and the king and queen of holland. and lastly, in 1853, the two aztec children appeared{246} before the queen, prince albert, and the prince of wales at buckingham palace; and subsequently before the emperor napoleon and his family at the tuileries, the emperors of austria and russia, the kings and queens of prussia, bavaria, holland, hanover, and denmark, and other illustrious personages.