Records of real life in the palace & the cottage

Latest flea find on google books, is some Industrious fleas and also our friend Bertolotto. Given that the book is in the public domain, I'll quote the whole section.

Records of real life in the palace and the cottage, by Harriet Henriette Pigott revised by J. Galt, 1839, Page 234 - 237



Close on the steps of these royal visitors from Belgium, arrives Signor Bertolotti, in pompous terms announcing " Les puces travailleuses," and himself, as having been the charm, " the enthusiastic enjouement" of the brilliant receptions in stirring high-life, during the London season. Well I recollect these sea lions engrossing the conversation alternately with the agitating question of the Reform-bill; il Signor Bertolotti, et ses enfans cheris, following close after the reforming senatorial elders and their aspiring eleves, as they mounted to the drawing-room, from the convivial banquet below; the groom of the chambers in the rear, carrying hot Mocha coffee. The wise men from the east, north, south and west, assembled with intellectual aspects round the table, and eventually held out their hands for the fleas to crawl thereon, " with what appetite they may;"—the signal recompense awarded by il Signor for industry in actively mounting their little ladders, carrying buckets. Oh! it was a pleasant sight, to see the senators of Great Britain thus amused ; whose hands had wielded the pen that signed a reform and emancipation bill, that have placed all England, and her church, in a pleasant chaos of thoughts, actions and creed; making time pass too rapidly, fraught with inteli lectual experiments.

But this charming little caravan of amusing parvenus,—(because before the rapidity of intellect these animals were disdained, chased away by vulgar, uneducated chamber-maidens;) —are now, like many a youth, who by dint of pretending liberal principles and manoeuvres, obtains introduction into drawing-room circles, and dubbed by us conservatives " illiberals," (Oh! howunjustly !) "Parvenus."

Before the front of the Bourse of Grecian architecture, they now stand in competition with a spurious race of fleas—an opposition! But like thorough-bred tories, they valiantly face the enemy; for tories are fearless, having naught to conceal; and few of them ought to gain,—being high in their country's annals, for patriotism; rich by commerce or husbandry, or by ancestral descent; and some of them in valourous deeds, displayed in rightful causes on the battle-field. Thus, in France, we have usurpers even amongst the insect tribe. There they stand, in contact with cracked fiacres, deltas, venders of tribunal discourses, and of attempts to assassinate the reigning King of the French:—for in life, the little will imitate the great.

This classic edifice, which is of pure white stone, in the Grecian style of architecture, is a strange contrast, — a potent satire, on the ostensible purpose for which it was erected. French taste has not, in this instance, united the appropriate with the beautiful, by selecting the model of a classic Grecian temple, for the mercenary assignations of money-changers, and Jews' speculations; and amidst incongruous buildings.—They play a high game, amassing enormous riches by the credulity and ruin of others less adroit; sustaining or lowering, by false intelligence, (per telegraph,) les emprunts of revolutionary governments; their ignoble figures and hurried gait, their countenance inflated, convulsed with the avaricious agitations of their minds; while without, every adventurer is playing his game, by exhibiting his Punchinello, his industrious fleas, his games of hazard, and many inventive twopenny traffic, before the august elegance, before the pure colouring of its finely chiselled columns.

Industrious Fleas, Sloane Street Gallery 1851

Another 19th Century British Library Newspapers search for the Industrious Fleas performance has produced the following from the Morning Post.



It is still not know if this was one of L.Bertolotto's performances or one of his rivals.

ref: The Morning Post (London, England), Monday, April 29, 1851; pg. [1]; Issue 24144.
Magic Puk Old Exhibition in London.

Industrious Fleas in the news

News just in.... well from 1832 so I'm a little late.

Thanks to the British Library British Newspapers 1800-1900 archive, I've been chasing down those pesky Industrious Fleas. The great advantage of newspapers as a source is that they are dated and detail locations too. There is one drawback which is that the papers of the time liked to print snippets from other regional papers so there's a bit of duplication between the articles. I'm currently working through 40+ articles and will be updating the L.Bertolotto Flea Circus History page over the next few month.

A large range of newspapers have reported on L. Bertolotto's Industrious Fleas over the years, in locations such as:

Star Inn, Oxford,
No 4. Castle Street, Liverpool,
Exchange Ante-Room, Manchester,
Gallery of Arts Drawbridge, Bristol,
Assembly Room, Exchange, Belfast,
The Crown Hotel, High Street, Portsmouth,
The Subscription Rooms, Exeter,
11 Castle Square, Brighton,
6 Lune Street, Preston,
Somerset Gallery 151 Strand, London
Bordelese Gallery, London?

A couple of the adverts have an amusing poem.

The Fleas, the Fleas, the merry Fleas:
Let us flea to see the Fleas;
Over land and over seas,
The cry is, Have you seen the Fleas?



The articles also report of Giuseppe Paris at 63 Prince Street Edinburgh in 1834 and Kitchingman with a performance on the corner of Maddox Street and Regent Street in 1869.

Some interesting tangents to investigate too such as a court report on "Mr Augustus Rynam, who previous to 1854 kept on exhibition called the Industrious Fleas" and a few red herrings such as a ship called "Bertolotto" from Odessa.

More Industrious Fleas

In this latest find of industrious fleas from 1832, the writer is not in anyway impressed by the exhibition. The Athenaeum was a weekly periodical published in London between 1828 and 1923. Thanks to google books for their digitisation of this paper.



The Athenaeum
Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, and the fine arts
No 219 London, Saturday, January 7, 1832 Price four pence.

Our weekly gossip on literature and art

"But our fashionable friends are spending their wonder on 'The Industrious Fleas' in Regent Street; a strange mania, for there is really nothing in the exhibition worthy a moment;s admiration the fleas have not been taught and trainedl there has been no patient labour bestored on their schooling; they are simply fastened ny a hind leg to a little car, modelled out of the pith of elder, and the struggles of the creatures to escape give motion to the carriage. A flea just caught would do the same thing."

More locations for Industrious Fleas

A couple of book references found via google books indicate that L. Bertolotto also performed at 100 Piccadillyin London and also in Plymouth. There is also some clarification on which of the Royals patronised the exhibition.

Passages in Foreign Travel
By Isaac Appleton Jewett
Published 1838
C.C. Little and J. Brown

Page 75 "The industrious Fleas, patronized by their Royal Highnesses, the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, may now be seen at No. 100, Piccadilly"


A history of Plymouth By Llewellynn Frederick W. Jewitt, Llewellynn Jewitt
Published 1873
W.H.Luke

Page 409 "Signor Bertolotto's exhibition of the Industrious Fleas opened in Plymouth, and cause a good deal of attraction"

The travels of L. Bertolotto

Thanks to two other researchers I have found out two more places where L. Bertolotto performed with his Industrious Fleas.

On his tour of the UK Bertolotto stopped in Cheltenham, the 'Cheltenham Journal' for 15 Sept 1834 advertised the performance at "No. 22 Pittville Street, where his wonderful little menagerie will go through all the feats which have, for the last three years, astonished and delighted the lovers of curiosity in the Metropolis."

Further afield Bertolotto advertises his Industrious Fleas at "1 door north of the Marvin House, over the bookstore". This performance in Saratoga Springs, NY contained fleas mascarading as the Presidential candidates Buchanan, Fillmore and Fremont. This dates the performance to be around 1856.

Puces Industrieuses

Thanks to La Bibliothèque nationale de France I now have yet more translation work to complete. They have sent me a copy of L. Bertolotto's "Histoire De La Puce avec Notes et Observations" with an introduction by Mon. Barillon, a lawyer. There appears to be some interesting additional notes here that are not in the London version that I have from the British Library

Sala, Monck, Bertolotto and loss of the Industrious Fleas

In my previous blog entry I mentioned that I had found a reference to the Industrious Fleas in a book by George Augustus Sala and wonder if it was connected to my research into L.Bertolotto. A trip to the Westminster Archives proved fruitful and after a little light reading I found the relevant section of the second volume and was both glad to see this strong connection between the world of the Flea Circus and the genealogical research linking Bertolotto in London and Canada. Sala mentions that Governor Monck's butler was the owner of the Industrious Fleas. However there is also a sad story to tell as Sala describes the destruction of the fleas in a fire.

Life and Adventures of George Augustus Sala written by himself
In Two Volumes
Vol II
Third Edition
Cassell and Company, Ltd 1895
Page 45

Across the Atlantic
"It was not until the summer of 1864 that I visited Quebec. Travelling, in the first instance, by steamer on the beautiful St. Laurence, and by the Thousand Islands, the romantic, old-fashioned aspect of the ancient capital of Lower Canada pleased me hugely. Quebec was then the residence of a Governor-General of Canada, Viscount Monck, and we were hospitably entertained at his Excellency's summer quarters near Quebec. I specially remember these viceregal dinners, for two very different reasons. Lord Monck's butler had been the proprietor of the original Industrious Fleas; and his talented troupe, includig the flea that drew the cannon, the flea that rode in the sedan-chair, and the flea that impersonated Napoleon Bonaparte's charger Marengo, had all been burnt - poor little insects! - in a terrible fire at the Governor's country seat."

The Governor and his family

Related links:

• A History of the Governor General in Canada
• Governors of Canada
• Happy Dominion Day
• George Augustus Sala
• Bertolotto Genealogy from Port Hope
  

Arthur, Odo and tutors visit the Industrious Fleas

From: Lord William Russell and his wife, 1815-1846
by Georgiana Blakiston
Publisher: London, J. Murray, 1972.
ISBN: 0719522420 9780719522420

Oakley, Dec 3rd, 1839

"During their first weeks in London Arthur and Odo with the two tutors pursued a course of sightseeing that took them from the Tower of London to the British Museum and the Polytechnic Institute, and included a visit to the Industrious Fleas, while their evenings were often spent at the play when the ducal boxes at Drury Lane and Covent Garden were available."

Arthur and Odo were Natural History enthusiasts and the diary goes on to tell how they had a large amount of pets, visited the snake shops in Cannon Street and a taxidermists in Bank.

These two went on to become an MP, Lord Arthur John Edward Russell and the first British ambassador to the German Empire, Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill.

There is also tenuous Bertolotto connection because Lord Russell died on 16 July 1846 at age 56 in Genoa, Italy which was where Bertolotto was born.

http://www.thepeerage.com/p2760.htm#i27600

Chasing the Industrious Fleas

Whilst researching the history of the Flea Circus, I perioducally do a search for "Flea Circus", "L Bertolotto" or "Industrious Fleas" in both the google search and the google books search. The book search returns an increasing number each time I run it. Many of these are simply references to politics or cheap jokes about badly run guest houses.

However, today I found a couple of new links including

The diary of Lord William Russell and his wife, 1815-1846
The life and adventures of George Augustus Sala

Which are present in local libraries to me. So there could be some intersting progressions soon....