MERRY ANDREW, who is
resting between the afternoon and evening performances, with his clown's
hat lying beside him, wears a crimson wig, and a baggy suit of
orange-coloured cotton, patterned with purple cats. His face is chalked
dead-white, and painted with a set grin, so that it is impossible to see
what manner of man he is. In the back-ground are camels and elephants
feeding, dimly visible in the steamy dusk of the tent.]
Gentleman John:
And then consider camels: only think
Of camels long enough, and you'ld go mad--
With all their humps and lumps; their knobbly knees,
Splay feet, and straddle legs; their sagging necks,
Flat flanks, and scraggy tails, and monstrous teeth.
I've not forgotten the first fiend I met:
'Twas in a lane in Smyrna, just a ditch
Between the shuttered houses, and so narrow
The brute's bulk blocked the road; the huge green stack
Of dewy fodder that it slouched beneath
Brushing the yellow walls on either hand,
And shutting out the strip of burning blue:
And I'd to face that vicious bobbing head
With evil eyes, slack lips, and nightmare teeth,
And duck beneath the snaky, squirming neck,
Pranked with its silly string of bright blue beads,
That seemed to wriggle every way at once,
As though it were a hydra.
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