13 S.X.AFKCL 29,1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 331 ^career will be esteemed. He had two sons, Joel, d. at Louth, Lines, April, 1820, and Titus, cl. at Colne, Lines., April, 1832. L. H. CHAMBERS. Bedford. BACON. Charles Bacon and John Bacon -were admitted to Westminster School on -July 1, 1772, and William Bacon on Feb. 4, 1772. Any information about these iBacons is desired. G. F. R. B. GEORGE DIMSDALE BALDWIN was ad- mitted to Westminster School Jan. 13, 1823, aged 10. I should be glad to obtain any information about his parentage and career. G. F. R. B. " BESPOKE BOOTMAKING." -Perhaps you can tell me the meaning of this expression, which I find in a single display line over the cut of a low shoe, followed by the advertisement of Faulkner and Son (I believe) in the London Times of March 17. I had thought that I knew the meanings of common English verbs and their derivatives, but evidently I do not. C. E. HUTCHINGS. 3667, Shenandoah Avenue, Sto Louis, U.S.A. [This is a not uncommon use. The * N.E.D.' has " to speak for, to arrange for beforehand ; to order (goods)," with quotations from 1583 on- wards. The sense is "made to order; made to one's measure.] EXHIBITIONS OF AUTOMATA IN LONDON. (12 S. x. 269.) "WiNSTANLEY, who built the first Eddy- stone lighthouse, established " The Water Theatre," at the Hyde Park end of Piccadilly, about 1696. One of the attrac- tions was the " Wonderful Barrel," which " will entertain the spectators with several sorts of liquids, hot and cold, suitable to the season, and without mixture." In 1713 it was announced that there would be " six sorts of wine and brandy coming out of the famous barrel," which a year later was converted into a Dairy House, entertaining the Boxes and Pit with curds, several sorts of creams, milk, wheye, -cakes, cheese-cakes, sullibubs, new butter, butter- milk, which a woman will be seen to churn. A somewhat similar machine was exhibited -at the Black Horse Inn, in Hosier Lane, near West Smithfield, in 1710. It. was called a " New Mathematical Fountain " and Was described as being a tavern, a coffee-house, and a brandy-shop, which at command runs at one cock hot and cold liquor, as sack, white wine, claret, coffee, tea, ! content, plain, cherry and raspberry Brandy, Geneva, Usquebaugh and Punch. Mechanical " motions " were exhibited in London and elsewhere during the earlier decades of the eighteenth century by Christo- pher Pinchbeck, the Fleet Street clock- maker ; Jacob Morian, a German ; Pinketh- man, the actor ; Fawkes, the conjurer ; and, a little later, by John Pinchbeck and most of the itinerant showmen who attended the numerous fairs. In 1717 a "Moving Skeleton," that smoked a pipe, blew out a candle, and groaned like a dying man, was exhibited in Charles Court, near Hungerford Market. In 1738 Balducci, an Italian, brought to- the Red Lyon Tavern, in Pall Mall, a collection of alleged novelties, which in- cluded : A Druggist, which on the command of a man opens the door and shows himself to the spectators ; i he gives to any spectator liberty to order him to bring any sort of drug he sells, viz., coffee, tea, ! sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, &c., and brings ] it to the spectator that ordered it. A Country Lass with a Pigeon which gives
- White Wine and Bed, or mixed, as desired.
A Blackmoor, which by striking with a hammer on a bell does all that is commanded, and will guess the spectator's thought. Balducci's figures were exhibited up and down the country for at least 30 years. It is practically certain that they were not true automata, but were worked by con- cealed assistants. In 1742 Vaucauson's famous inventions, the Flute Player, the Tabor and Pipe Player, and the'Duck, were exhibited in the | Long Room over the Opera House in the Haymarket. In 1774 and subsequent years Peter i Jacquey Droz, the Swiss mechanic, showed his celebrated figure, the " Writing and Drawing Master," and other clockwork con- trivances, at No. 6, King Street, Covent Garden. Another writing and drawing figure was constructed by Thomas Denton, who made the famous " Celestial Bed " for Graham, the notorious quack. After Den- ton's death he was hanged for coining this figure was sold by auction in London, and may have been purchased by Haddock, who was for many years the leading exhibitor of mechanical figures. He sold his collection ! about 1800 to Pietro Bologna, the harlequin.
