Sports of a country fair

Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827 · 1810

The sport in this case is accidental, and the amusement verges on peril of a terrible character. A temporary theatre, Cockburns Company, is on fire, and the spectators are escaping as best they may. The entrance is from a balcony reached by a flight of steps, and the frightened spectators are pouring out of the building, which is burning furiously, and throwing themselves pellmell down the steps, at the bottom of which they are sprawling, kicking, and plunging in fright and confusion. Certain buxom damsels are climbing over the balustrade and dropping from the balcony, with the musicians, into the arms of those below. A bill on the booth announces the Last Night, Pizarro and Don Juan, A Shower of Real Fire, and A View of the Infernal Regions. Crowds are scudding away in the distance, and the other attractions of the fair are at a standstill.