IN AT A RUINOUS EXPENSE!!
FOR A LIMITED NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIONS,
TO PERFORM
HIS EXTRAORDINARY AND INTENSELY INTERESTING FEATS
BEFORE THE
HIGHLY-DISCRIMINATING PUBLIC
OF CANEVILLE!!!

The highly-discriminating being thus prepared, assembled in the great
square, the place chosen for the exhibition, long before the appointed
hour. The ladies were arranged in the foremost rank, with a politeness
that was perfectly edifying, whilst knots of fashionable dogs and cats
got as near as possible to the reigning favourites; curs of inferior
degree occupied the outermost ranks, and a bird or two got gallery
places above the heads of the animal spectators. It was when expectation
was raised to that pitch which usually finds vent in the most discordant
cries, that Bruin, carrying a bag, followed by Tom with the drum, made
his appearance,--a sight which caused universal approbation. Some
praised his evident strength, others admired his dress, and some again
criticised his figure; but when he drew out from his bag a quantity of
singular objects, and Tom struck up an extraordinary extempore air with
variations on the pipes, accompanied by sundry vicious blows on the
drum, public curiosity was strained to the utmost.

[Illustration: MAKING AN IMPRESSION.]

When the music ceased, Bruin imperatively waved the spectators back, and
the performance began. He handled a pair of knives in a way which made
the beholders tremble; for those implements were swallowed and appeared
again at the tips of his paws or the end of his nose, without doing him
any injury, and they were forced into his arms and drawn furiously
across his throat without causing the slightest wound; and then they
were tucked into his waistband, and after sundry contortions and leaps,
and affected attitudes, they were pulled from out his capacious jaws,
where they had stuck fast, to the wonder and delight of the spectators.
Then he took up three balls of polished brass, which seemed too heavy
for any fashionable puppy present to lift, and commenced a wonderful
series of exploits with them. Now they leaped a great height into the
air, one after another, with a rapidity which made the crowd's eyes
water; then they ran over his shoulders, and down his back, and between
his legs, and over his shoulders again in a continuous stream; and then
they went bumping over every projecting part of his bo