Refused to have any Animals above
deck, however crated or Constrained; we must be in the Hold . No amount of Cajoling would change his mind, neither any Sum —and Mr Bisset made a most Generous offer, more than Twice the fare of a human Passenger—induce him to Budge so much as a Fraction. I was therefore hauled down Below by a pair of stout young Sailors, and my enclosure Packed with
all the others, alongside a slatted crate of half-starved Cattle, and several boxes of laying Hens . It took some ingenuity, but Sam, of course, eventually managed to Find me and,
though his Visits were brief, he brought me morsels of his own Food , and News from above Decks, such that I considered myself not much less Comfortable than I would have been Above. The
crossing was a lengthy one, with an intervening Call at the Isle of Man , and it was very late indeed that I learnt—by Sam’s shout—that the distant lights of Dublin could be
seen.
As we drew up along the stone Quays of the River Liffey , I could hear the shouts of the Stevedores as they readied their ropes and nets, and before long I was at last restored to
Fresh air. As I was hauled out on a Pallet, I caught my first Glimpse of that vast City , which was the dim outline of the Custom House, and behind it the lamplit streets of a bustling
Metropolis. So here we were: at the peak of our Fame, doubtless soon to be the Talk of the Town —and yet, for some reason I could not Fathom , I felt nothing within my heart but a
sort of cold, containing darkness that I could neither penetrate nor shake off.
8
O ur Lodgings in Dublin were of the Best sort imaginable, with my Master and Sam in a suite of Rooms, with a door opening right into the Inn-yard, a
portion of which had been fenced off for the accommodation of myself and Mr Bisset’s other Animal companions. The very next morning, we met with a Mr Sweet , who introduced himself as
the chief Trainer at Astley’s, and spent some time looking over the Horses. They went through all their paces, but Mr Sweet seemed strangely Displeased by their performance, although he gave
their Abilities his grudging Admiration. ‘They may do Tricks, sure, but these Horses aren’t properly Trained —we’ll have to keep them apart from the others in the
Ring,’ he declared. From what I could gather, his idea of training had a good deal to do with the use of a Whip , and he considered Horses trained in any other Manner to be a great
Hindrance to him as he could not rely upon their Obedience to his commands. He did not bother very much about the other Animals, but did take a good long look at Me , and I felt at
once a sort of Chill in his regard. He would just as soon see me cut into Rashers as have me cut Capers on his Stage, I thought, but since there was said to be some Money in it, he
snorted, turned, and strode alongside Mr Bisset into his rooms.
Sam told me later that there had been some quite Heated discussion between them as to the Order of the Acts, and their Placement upon the Bills. There was a great number of human and animal
Performers, who together filled the stage at Astley’s, and just as in Liverpool, few of them were willing to share their Billing with a Pig . Never the less, the Attraction having been
such a success, I was to be given at least a Place , and a by-Line, stating that I had ‘just arrived from France’ (this was meant, I suppose, to lend a sort of Continental cachet
to my Appearance), and that, having been examined by the foremost Academicians, I had been declared to be ‘the greatest production of Nature ’ as well as ‘The Chief
Philosopher of the Swinish Race’. Now I will say that I did not mind these Sobriquets half so much as one might think, but that they were not Honest , gave me considerable Pause.
For what kind of Establishment, I wondered, would put in print such claims, so Patently and demonstrably False to anyone of knowledge or Means , unless it were simply to deceive
deck, however crated or Constrained; we must be in the Hold . No amount of Cajoling would change his mind, neither any Sum —and Mr Bisset made a most Generous offer, more than Twice the fare of a human Passenger—induce him to Budge so much as a Fraction. I was therefore hauled down Below by a pair of stout young Sailors, and my enclosure Packed with
all the others, alongside a slatted crate of half-starved Cattle, and several boxes of laying Hens . It took some ingenuity, but Sam, of course, eventually managed to Find me and,
though his Visits were brief, he brought me morsels of his own Food , and News from above Decks, such that I considered myself not much less Comfortable than I would have been Above. The
crossing was a lengthy one, with an intervening Call at the Isle of Man , and it was very late indeed that I learnt—by Sam’s shout—that the distant lights of Dublin could be
seen.
As we drew up along the stone Quays of the River Liffey , I could hear the shouts of the Stevedores as they readied their ropes and nets, and before long I was at last restored to
Fresh air. As I was hauled out on a Pallet, I caught my first Glimpse of that vast City , which was the dim outline of the Custom House, and behind it the lamplit streets of a bustling
Metropolis. So here we were: at the peak of our Fame, doubtless soon to be the Talk of the Town —and yet, for some reason I could not Fathom , I felt nothing within my heart but a
sort of cold, containing darkness that I could neither penetrate nor shake off.
8
O ur Lodgings in Dublin were of the Best sort imaginable, with my Master and Sam in a suite of Rooms, with a door opening right into the Inn-yard, a
portion of which had been fenced off for the accommodation of myself and Mr Bisset’s other Animal companions. The very next morning, we met with a Mr Sweet , who introduced himself as
the chief Trainer at Astley’s, and spent some time looking over the Horses. They went through all their paces, but Mr Sweet seemed strangely Displeased by their performance, although he gave
their Abilities his grudging Admiration. ‘They may do Tricks, sure, but these Horses aren’t properly Trained —we’ll have to keep them apart from the others in the
Ring,’ he declared. From what I could gather, his idea of training had a good deal to do with the use of a Whip , and he considered Horses trained in any other Manner to be a great
Hindrance to him as he could not rely upon their Obedience to his commands. He did not bother very much about the other Animals, but did take a good long look at Me , and I felt at
once a sort of Chill in his regard. He would just as soon see me cut into Rashers as have me cut Capers on his Stage, I thought, but since there was said to be some Money in it, he
snorted, turned, and strode alongside Mr Bisset into his rooms.
Sam told me later that there had been some quite Heated discussion between them as to the Order of the Acts, and their Placement upon the Bills. There was a great number of human and animal
Performers, who together filled the stage at Astley’s, and just as in Liverpool, few of them were willing to share their Billing with a Pig . Never the less, the Attraction having been
such a success, I was to be given at least a Place , and a by-Line, stating that I had ‘just arrived from France’ (this was meant, I suppose, to lend a sort of Continental cachet
to my Appearance), and that, having been examined by the foremost Academicians, I had been declared to be ‘the greatest production of Nature ’ as well as ‘The Chief
Philosopher of the Swinish Race’. Now I will say that I did not mind these Sobriquets half so much as one might think, but that they were not Honest , gave me considerable Pause.
For what kind of Establishment, I wondered, would put in print such claims, so Patently and demonstrably False to anyone of knowledge or Means , unless it were simply to deceive
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