horsemanship had much to do with
establishing the traditions of the circus, which were perpetuated by
Hengler's and Sanger's celebrated shows in a later generation. In
America a circus-actor named Ricketts is said to have performed before
George Washington in 1780, and in the first half of the 19th century the
establishments of Purdy, Welch & Co., and of van Amburgh gave a wide
popularity to the circus in the United States. All former
circus-proprietors were, however, far surpassed in enterprise and
resource by P.T. Barnum (q.v.), whose claim to be the possessor of "the
greatest show on earth" was no exaggeration. The influence of Barnum,
however, brought about a considerable change in the character of the
modern circus. In arenas too large for speech to be easily audible, the
traditional comic dialogue of the clown assumed a less prominent place
than formerly, while the vastly increased wealth of stage properties
relegated to the background the old-fashioned equestrian feats, which
were replaced by more ambitious acrobatic performances, and by
exhibitions of skill, strength and daring, requiring the employment of
immense numbers of performers and often of complicated and expensive
machinery. These tendencies are, as is natural, most marked in shows
given in permanent buildings in large cities, such as the London
Hippodrome, which was built as a combination of the circus, the
menagerie and the variety theatre, where wild animals such as lions and
elephants from time to time appeared in the ring, and where convulsions
of nature such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been
produced with an extraordinary wealth of realistic display. At the
Hippodrome in Paris--unlike its London namesake, a circus of the true
classical type in which the arena is entirely surrounded by the seats of
the spectators--chariot races after the Roman model were held in the
latter part of the 19th century, at which prizes of considerable value
were given by the management.

CIRENCESTER (traditionally pronounced _Ciceter_), a market town in the
Cirencester parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, on the
river Churn, a tributary of the Thames, 93 m. W.N.W. of London. Pop. of
urban district (1901) 7536. It is served by a branch of the Great
Western railway, and there is also a station on the Midland and
South-Western Junction railway. This is an ancient and prosperous market
town of picturesque old houses clustering ro