Tom Ellar was another famous Harlequin, first making his appearance at the Royalty, Goodman’s Fields, in 1808.  For several seasons he played Harlequin at Covent Garden.

Many years ago penny portraits of Mr. Ellar “In his favourite character of Harlequin,” were published by a Mr. Skelt, or a Mr. Park, of Long Lane, Smithfield, and were the delight of those, who, if living now, are old and gray.

Tom Ellar died April 8, 1842, aged 62.  Previous to his death he must have fallen upon evil days, as Thackeray, in 1840, wrote:  “Tom, who comes bounding home from school, has the doctor’s account in his trunk, and his father goes to sleep at the Pantomime to which he takes him. Pater infelix, you too, have laughed at Clown, and the magic wand of spangled Harlequin:  what delightful enchantment did it wave round you in the golden days ‘when George the Third was King?’ But our Clown lies in his grave; and our Harlequin Ellar, prince of many of our enchanted islands, was he not at Bow Street the other day, in his dirty, faded, tattered motley—­seized as a law breaker for acting at a penny theatre, after having well nigh starved in the streets, where nobody would listen to his old guitar?  No one gave a shilling to bless him:  not one of us who owe him so much!”

Another Pantomime family were the Ridgways.  Tom Ridgway was Clown under Madame Vestris’s management at Covent Garden.

There have been several Bradburys since the time of Grimaldi’s great rival, Robert Bradbury, died July 21, 1831, who wore on his person nine strong “pads,” in order to go through some extraordinary feats.

The Montgomerys; the Paynes, Harry and Fred; nor should the name of “Old Billy” Payne be omitted.  “Billy” Payne it was, it will be remembered, who, in 1833, helped, from the stage of Covent Garden, the dying Edmund Kean.

Then there were the Marshalls, Harry and Joseph; Charles and Richard Stilt; and a very original and amusing Clown, Richard Flexmore, died August 20, 1860, aged 36.  Tom Gray, a famous Clown of Covent Garden, died January 28th, 1768, aged upwards of 100 years; the Paulo family of Pantomimists; Dubois, Arthur and Charles Leclerq, Walter Hilyard, and many, many others.

In the ’twenties and ’thirties a popular and famous Pantaloon was “Jimmy” Barnes, died September 28th, 1838.  Barnes, in the summer of 1830, was engaged to play in an English company at Paris, but they had hardly commenced to perform when the Revolution of July broke out.  Some years afterwards Barnes published in “Bentley’s Miscellany,” from his old original M.S., an amusing and illustrated account of his wanderings.

Amongst other Pantaloons there have been—­Thomas Blanchard, died August 20, 1859, aged 72; William Lynch, died June 29, 1861, aged 78; R. Norman, died September 16, 1858, aged 70; George Tanner, died February 8, 1870; and Paulo, a member of Mr. Charles Kean’s Company at the Princess’s Theatre, had as Pantaloon appeared in many Pantomimes.  It is a notable fact that a good number of our Mimes were long-livers.