Having now stood through three winters, Hood's publication 'may therefore
lay claim, by
Mr Loudon'sLoudon, John Claudius
(1783–1843)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
permission, to the designation of a "Hardy Annual"' (vii). 'The beautiful
fronispiece I owe to the kindness and pencil of
HarveyHarvey, William
(1796–1866)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>,—a name to which my blood and my
book owe equal acknowledgement. One
HarveyHarvey, William
(1578–1657)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>
discovered my circulation, and the other will assuredly increase it'
(ix–x). States that 'a Gentleman who has perused the papers relative to
the
Farm of
the Zoological SocietyZoological Society of London—Farm
CloseView the register entry >>, assures me, on the honour of a Fellow,
there is no such person as Stephen Humphreys on that establishment' (x).
A striking-looking man is the only passenger on a vessel bound from the Bay
of Naples to Leghorn, and when a terrific storm blows up, he shows no sign of
fear. After the storm is over, the compass points in random directions, so as
to be 'past the whole philosophy of
NewtonNewton, Sir Isaac
(1642–1727)
DSB CloseView the register entry >> or of
BaconBacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban
(1561–1626)
DSB
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>' (9). The
stranger's presence is discovered to be the cause of the erratic behaviour of
the compass, and the seamen conclude him to be 'Michael ScottScot (Scott), Michael
(d. in or after 1235)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>—the Wizard!' (11). Instead,
the stranger confesses to be
Walter ScottScott, Sir Walter, 1st Baronet
(1771–1832)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>, which
solves the magnetic puzzle, since in him 'the North / Has lodged its main
attraction!' (12). The illustration captioned 'A Star of the First Magnetude'
(12) depicts a horseshoe-shaped magnet in the sky, casting beams of light
through dark clouds.
The narrator is in a coach; a hugely corpulent man reminiscent of
Daniel LambertLambert, Daniel
(1770–1809)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
struggles to join him, but only succeeds in doing so after 'repeated
experiments on material substances'. They are then joined by another man
reminiscent of 'the dwarf
Count
BoruwlaskiBoruwlaski (or Boruslawski), Joseph
(1739–1837)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>'. The narrator fancies that the coach is their
'travelling caravan' and he is their showman. (65) The dwarf announces:
'"Prodigious preponderance of caloric in the atmosphere," [...] by way of big
talk' (66). The giant had visited the 'Exhibition of Fleas, in Regent-Street,
and thought them "prodigious!"'; the dwarf had visited the 'Great Whale at
Charing-CrossCross's Menagerie, King's Mews, Charing Cross CloseView the register entry >>, and "thought little of it"'
(67).
Epidemiology, Medical Treatment, Government, Religion
Discusses the Irvingite Perceval's call for days of national fasting in
response to the spread of cholera. 'The best of our physicians, when they con
it, / Depose the malady is in the air: / Oh, Mr. Spencer!—if the ill
is there— / Why should you bid the people live upon it?' (71).
The illustration captioned 'I Wish You a Happy New Ear' (facing 81) depicts
a woman bellowing through an ear trumpet to a man who has been reading
'Curtis on Dogs Ears'Curtis, John
Harrison 1817. A Treatise on the Physiology and Diseases of the
Ear: Containing a Comparative View of its Structure and Functions, and of its
Various Diseases, Arranged According to the Anatomy of the Organ, or as they
Affect the External, the Intermediate, and the Internal Ear, London:
Sherwood, Neely, & Jones
CloseView the register entry >>.
The editor of the Comic Annual has purportedly received two reports
of the
Farm of the Zoological SocietyZoological Society of London—Farm
CloseView the register entry >>:
one printed and the other hand-written by a servant. Reproduces some 'elegant
extracts' from the printed report (97). Notes that 'while the aristocracy of
the present age is displaying its powers in the way of retrenchment, the
Zoological
SocietyZoological Society of London
CloseView the register entry >> does not show much breeding in its economy'. The society is
frank about the failure of many species to breed: 'and considering that so much
money is received at the doors through orders—a case unparalleled in
other theatrical exhibitions—it is only to be wondered at that so little
should be expended in, and so much be suffered from the default of, mending
gaps and broken rails, and widening coops and cages'. Considers it cruel not to
let 'the little Zebra have a shed to fit easily'. (98) The short extracts are
chosen to illustrate the society's failure to keep the animals in appropriate
accommodation to facilitate breeding, and the apparent consumption of some of
the animals as food. The illustration captioned 'A Report on the Farm' (104)
depicts exotic animals of various kinds being flung into the air by an
explosion in a building.
Letter written as if by the former head gardener of 'Harvey Williams'
[perhaps meant to be
William
HarveyHarvey, William
(1796–1866)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>], who has been made a fellow of the
Zoological
SocietyZoological Society of London
CloseView the register entry >>. Provides an account of his observations while at the
Farm of the Zoological SocietyZoological Society of London—Farm
CloseView the register entry >>
'with a Pekin elefunt for chainges of Hair' (106). He writes: 'Honnerd Sur, the
Satiety is verry rich in Assis, boath Commun assis and uncommun assis, and as
the
ReportZoological Society of London 1832. A
Report on the Farm of the Zoological Society at Kingston Hill, March, 1832,
London: Taylor
CloseView the register entry >>
recummends will do my Inndever to git the Maltese Cross for your Honner' (107).
The infant zebu died owing to 'Atempts with a backbord to prevent groing out of
the sholders, boath parrents being defourmed with umphs' (107). Discusses a
scheme being aggitated by 'Femail Fellers' of the society 'to make the Farm a
Farm Ornay' in which, for instance, 'the Buffloo and Fallo dears and cetra to
have their horns Gildid and the Mufflons and Sheaps is to hav Pink ribbings
round there nex' (111). The illustration captioned 'Cross's Zebra'
(112)—perhaps an allusion to menagerie-keeper
Edward
CrossCross, Edward
(1774?–1854)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>—depicts a zebra with both vertical and horizontal
stripes.
Depicts a flask with a smiling face, sitting on a table, with a flame rising
from it towards a street lamp, also with a smiling face. Smiling lamplighters
stand on ladders, one on either side of the lamp, while a beaming audience
looks on.