All moveables of wonder, from all parts,

Are here – albinos, painted Indians, dwarfs,

The horse of knowledge, and the learned pig,

The stone-eater, the man that swallows fire,

Giants, ventriloquists, the invisible girl,

The bust that speaks and moves its goggling eyes,

The wax-work, clock-work, all the marvellous craft

Of modern Merlins, wild beasts, puppet-shows,

All out-of-the-way, far-fetched, perverted things

All freaks of Nature, all Promethean thoughts

Of man, his dullness, madness, and their feats

All jumbled up together to compose

This parliament of monsters. Tents and booths

Meanwhile – as if the whole were one vast mill –

Are vomiting, receiving, on all sides,

Men, women, three-years' children, babes in arms …