Note 61 — Chapter XVIII

The pantomime of "Harlequin and the Red Dwarf," notwithstanding the scenery was superb, and the changes and machinery entitled to great praise, was in no way so successful as several of the former similar productions brought out at Covent Garden; and yet the burlesques introduced by Joe were sufficiently droll to prompt several highly coloured prints of certain characters in the print-shops of that day. The scenes in which the Epping Hunt was represented, supplied one of the finest landscapes ever displayed in any theatre. Horses were introduced—a jolly fat Parson, Pantaloon, and the Clown, took part in the joys of the chase; Pantaloon on a little Shetland pony was followed by Grimaldi on a great cart-horse, aping the mammoth wonder for size; Joe with a long wagoner's whip in his hand, and a jockey-cap, the peak of prodigious extent, seemed as anxious to be in at the death as if nothing in the world was comparable to it; his eagerness created a doubt whether Barnes and his miniature horse would or would not be galloped over by Joe and his Bucephalus—or be trundled over, horse and man, for the popular diversion.

On February 8th, 1813, the comic burletta of "Poor Vulcan" was revived at Covent Garden—the bills stated, "not acted for many years." In this piece there was a pastoral ballet at Mount Ida, in which the characters were thus sustained: Silenus, Mr. Bologna; Bacchanals, Mr. Bologna, jun., and M. Montignani; Pan, Mr. Grimaldi; and Bacchante, Mrs. Parker. Joe's attachment to his old part of Pan in "Terpsichore's Return," was here again renewed; it was performed a sixth time on the 16th of the same month.