Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-27
SOME FAMOUS DWARFS.
They Were Generally The Favorites Of
Royalty.


Among the famous dwarfs of his
| tory was Jeffrey Hudson who was in
| troduced To Henrietta Maria, cOnsort
of Charles l.. in a big venison pie.
When the pie was opened" out step
ped Jeffrey In all the dignity of his
eighteen inches and made a courtly
Obeisance to the astonished and de-
lighted queen. who, in response to the
little mans appeal to he taken into her
service. promptly granted the request.
, Jeffrey Hudson was man Of stout
heart and adventurous spirit. He
fought two duels, one with a turkey
cock and one with a certain Crofts.
who faced the little fellow armed with
squirt" and was forthwith shot
dead" Twice Jeffrey saw the inside
of prison walls; once when he was
across the Channel, and again when he
was taken by Barbary corsairs. To
cap his career of adventure, he was
accused of completely in the popish
plot and spent the last of his days in
the Gate House i'm 1882.
Another notable dwarf was Borul-
waski, the Pole Of whose debut an in
teresting tale is told. AS a boy Of Is,
when he was just one inch higher than
twO-fOO rule, BOrulwaski was pre-
sented to the Empress Maria Theresa,
who was so charmed by his good looks
and grace that she seated him on her
lap and gave him hearty kiss. To
the queens question as to what he
considered the most interesting sight
i'm Vienna the dwarf replied: What I
now behold, so little a man on the lap
of so great lady" This speech rem
dered the little fellow a great favorite.
He became a special favorite Of
Stanislaus H.. who took him to England
and introduced him to George I'LL, and
for more than half century Borul-
waski made his home at the English
court.
This dwarf, who at his tallest was a
yard and three inches, had sister
whose head just reached her big
brothers shoulders. Borulwaski was
not only handsome and courtly man
but a scholar Of repute. He lived in
five reigns, and was laid to rest in
Dunham in 1887, side by side with the
Falstaffian Stephen Kemble.
Richard Gibson and his wife, who
flourished in the seventeenth century,
were a remarkable pair, quite apart
from their inches. which combined
barely made up feet. Both were
clever painters of miniatures, and Glib
son was drawing master to the daugh-
ters of James II. At their wedding,
which was arranged by Henrietta Ma
ria, Charles l. gave the bride away, the
queen placed a valuable diamond ring
on her finger, and Edmund Waller, the
court poet, wrote poem in honor Of
the occasion.
Philetas. who acted as tutor to Ptolemy
Philadelphus and who was said to be
50 light as we'll as short that he car
ried weights in his pockets to prevent
his being blown away! Then there
were COrOpas and Andromeda, two tiny
handmaidens of Julia, nieces of Angus
tus, each of whom was but 2S inches
high. Richebourg, who died in Paris
in 1858, was just one inch under 2 feet.
1t is a curious fact that most of the
famous dwarfs lived to ripe old ages.
Borulwaski was but two years short
of the century when he died; Richie
bourg was 80; Gibson was "A, while
his widow died at the advanced age of
SO years.
Among those in the service of the
late sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid,
who found themselves without a job
upon the abdication of that ruler, was
the clever dwarf Mehemmed Selim,
who stands twenty eight inches In his
stockings. Mehemmed Selim is said
To be a linguist of remarkable attain
ments and a musician of no mean abil-
ity.-Harper's Weekly.