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DWARF (A.S. dweorg, D. dwerg, Icel. dvergr) , the See also: term generally used to describe an extraordinarily under-sized individual of a See also: race of normal stature (for dwarf-races see PYGMY.) In Scandinavian See also: mythology the word connoted smallness and deformity, and was used of the elfins and goblins who were supposed to live on the mountains or in the bowels of the See also: earth, and to be See also: kings of metals and mines
.
The later use of the word certainly does not imply deformity, for many of the dwarfs of See also: history have been singularly graceful and well formed
.
Dwarfishness is, however, often accompanied by disproportion of the limbs
.
From the earliest historic times dwarfs attracted See also: attention, and there was much competition on the See also: part of kings and the wealthy to obtain the little folk as attendants
.
It is certain that members of the tiny See also: Akka race of See also: Equatorial See also: Africa figured at the courts of the Pharaohs of the early dynasties and were much valued
.
See also: Philetas of Cos, poet and grammarian (circa 330 B.C.), tutor of See also: Ptolemy Philadelphus, was alleged to be so tiny that he had to See also: wear leaden shoes lest he should be blown away
.
The See also: Romans practised artificial dwarfing, and the Latin nanus or pumilo were terms alternatively used to describe the natural and unnatural dwarf
.
Julia, the niece of See also: Augustus, had a dwarf named Coropas 2 ft
.
4 in. high, and a freed-maid See also: Andromeda who measured the same
.
Various recipes for dwarfing See also: children have been from See also: time to time in vogue
.
The most effective, according to report, was to anoint the backbone with the grease of moles, bats and dormice
.
The stunting of the growth of See also: stable-boys who aspire to See also: jockey's honours is in no sense true dwarfing
.
In later days there have been many dwarf-favourites at See also: European courts
.
See also: British tradition has its earliest dwarf mentioned in the old ballad which begins " In Arthur's See also: court Tom Thumb did live "; and on this evidence the prototype of the See also: modern Tom Thumb is alleged to have lived at the court of See also: King Edgar
.
Of authentic
See also: English dwarfs the first appears to be See also: John
See also: Jarvis (2 ft. high), who was page to See also: Queen Mary I
.
Her See also: brother See also: Edward VI. had his dwarf Xit
.
But the first English dwarf of whom there is anything like an authentic history is Jeffery Hudson (1619-1682)
.
He was the son of a See also: butcher at See also: Oakham, Rutlandshire, who kept and baited bulls for See also: George See also: Villiers, first duke of See also: Buckingham
.
Neither of Jeffery's parents was under-sized, yet at nine years he measured scarcely 18 in., though he was gracefully proportioned
.
At a See also: dinner given by the duke to See also: Charles I. and his queen he was brought in to table in a
See also: pie out of which he stepped, and was at once adopted by Henrietta Maria
.
The little See also: fellow followed the fortunes of the court in the See also: Civil War, and is said to have been a captain of See also: horse, earning the See also: nickname of " strenuous Jeffery " for his activity
.
He fought two duels—one with a See also: turkey-See also: cock, a See also: battle recorded by Davenant, and a second with Mr Crofts, who came to the meeting with a squirt, but who in the more serious encounter which ensued was shot dead by little Hudson, who fired from horseback, the saddle putting him on a level with his antagonist
.
Twice was Jeffery made prisoner—once by the Dunkirkers as he was returning from See also: France, whither he had been on homely business for the queen; the second time was when he See also: fell into the hands of See also: Turkish pirates
.
His sufferings during this latter captivity made him, he declared, grow, and in his thirtieth See also: year, having been of the same height since he was nine, he steadily increased until he was 3 ft
.
9 in . At the Restoration he returned to See also: England, where he lived on a pension granted him by the duke of Buckingham
.
He was later accused of participation in the Popish See also: Plot," and was imprisoned in the See also: Gate See also: House
.
He was released and shortly after died in the sixty-third year of his age
.
Contemporary with Hudson were the two other dwarfs of Henrietta Maria, See also: Richard See also: Gibson and his wife See also: Anne
.
They were married by the queen's wish; and the two together measured only 2 in. over 7 ft
.
They had nine children, five of whom, who lived, were of ordinary stature
.
Edmund Waller celebrated the nuptials, See also: Evelyn designated the See also: husband as the " compendium of a See also: man," and See also: Lely painted them See also: hand in hand
.
Gibson was See also: miniature painter to Charles I., and See also: drawing-master to the daughters of See also: James II., Queens Mary and Anne, when they were children
.
This
See also: Cumberland pygmy, who began his career as a page, first in a " gentle," next in the royal See also: family, died in 169o, in his seventy-fifth year, and is buried in St See also: Paul's, Covent Garden
.
The last court dwarf in England was Coppernin, a lively little See also: imp in the service of the princess (See also: Augusta) of See also: Wales, the See also: mother of George III
.
The last dwarf retainer in a gentle-man's family was the one kept by Mr See also: Beckford, the author of Vathek and builder of Fonthill
.
He was rather too big to be flung from one See also: guest to another, as used to be the See also: custom at dinners in earlier days when a dwarf was a " See also: necessity " for every See also: noble family
.
Of European court dwarfs the most famous were those of See also: Philip IV. of
See also: Spain, the hunchbacks whose features have been immortalized by Velazquez
.
Stanislas, king of Poland, owned See also: Nicholas See also: Ferry (Bebe), who measured 2 ft
.
9 in
.
He was one of three dwarf children of peasant parents in the Vosges
.
He died in his 23rd year (1764)
.
But Bebe was not so remarkable as Richebourg, who died in See also: Paris in 1858, at the age of 9o
.
He was only 23 in. high
.
He began See also: life as a servant in the See also: Orleans family
.
In later years he was their pensioner
.
He is said to have been put to
See also: strange use in the Revolution—passing in and out of Paris as an infant in a nurse's arms, but with despatches, dangerous to carry, in the little man's baby-wrappings
!
Of dwarfs exhibited in England, the most celebrated was the See also: pole, Borulwaski (1739- 1R3;). six he measured 17 in., andhe finally in his thirtieth year reached 39 in
.
He had a See also: sister shorter than himself by the See also: head and shoulders
.
Borulwaski was a handsome man, a wit, and something of a See also: scholar
.
He travelled over all See also: Europe; and he—born in the reign of George II.—died in his well-earned retirement near Durham, in the reign of See also: Victoria
.
Borulwaski lies buried at Durham by the See also: side of the Falstaffian See also: Stephen Kemble
.
The companionship reminds one of that of the dwarf See also: skeleton of Jonathan See also: Wild by the side of that of the Irish Giant, at the Royal See also: College of Surgeons, See also: London
.
In the year in which Borulwaski died, Charles Stratton, better known as " General Tom Thumb," was See also: born
.
When twenty-five he was 31 in. high
.
In 1844 he appeared in England, where he had an extraordinary success
.
One result of his season at the See also: Egyptian See also: Hall, London, was to kill
See also: Haydon the painter
.
The latter presented his See also: great See also: work " The Banishment of See also: Aristides " for See also: exhibition in the same See also: building
.
The public rushed to see the dwarf
.
He took £600 the first week, while Haydon's master-piece See also: drew but £7, 13s
.
The result was that the artist committed suicide in despair . After extensive travel in both hemispheres, Stratton again visited England in 1857, but the dwarf man, despite manySee also: personal and intellectual qualities, was less attractive than the dwarf boy
.
In the year 1863 the " General " married the very minute See also: American lady, Lavinia See also: Warren (born in 1842)
.
He died on the 15th of See also: July 1883
.
Other modern dwarfs include Signor Hervio Nano, who played at the Olympic Theatre, London, in 1843; three Highlanders named MacKinlay, children of a Scots shepherd, the shortest of whom was 45 in.; a Spaniard, See also: Don Francisco See also: Hidalgo (29 in.); a Dutchman, See also: Jan Hannema (28 in.); and Mary Jane Youngman (See also: Australia), who at fifteen was 35 in. high
.
She was called the " dwarf-giantess " because she was 3 ft
.
6 in. round the shoulders, 4 ft
.
3 in. round the See also: waist, and 2 ft. round the See also: leg
.
Much See also: interest was aroused by the so-called Aztec dwarfs who were exhibited in London in 1853
.
In 1867 the pair were married, the ceremony being publicly performed, and the bride's robes are said to have cost no less than £2000
.
The See also: wedding-breakfast was held at Willis's Rooms
.
From time to time other dwarfs have been exhibited, among whom the most remarkable has been Che-mah, a See also: Chinese, 42 years old and 25 in. high, who appeared in London in 1880
.
George Prout (1774-1851), who was less than 3 ft. high, was a well-known character in London in the early VictorianSee also: period, as a messenger at the Houses of Parliament
.
See E
.
J
.
See also: Wood, Giants and Dwarfs (186o)
.
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