Note 358 — VI SOUTH LONDON GROUP (continued 2)

Among the curious characters of Vauxhall Gardens must be noticed a youth named Joseph Leeming, who called himself “the Aeriel” and “the Paragon of Perfection,” and offered himself for inspection to artists and surgeons as a model of bodily perfection. On 2 July, 1825, and on subsequent occasions he mingled with the other visitors at Vauxhall and created excitement by his extraordinary Spanish costume and by distributing three or four hundred “Challenges” to the people in front of the orchestra. One of these curious challenges is in my collection. It is a small card printed with the words “The Aeriel (sic) challenges the whole world to find a man that can in any way compete with him as such. No.—.” (cp. Hone’s Every Day Book, i. p. 1456, ff.).