Other luminaries shed a radiance on the "Rounds." Bullock (who, in a merry epilogue, tripped up Pinkethman by the heels, and bestrode him in triumph, Pinkey returning the compliment by throwing him over his head). Mills (familiarly called "honest Billy Mills!" from his kind disposition).
* "Down with your marrow-bones and cleavers all, And on your marrow-bones ye butchers fall! For prayers from you, who never pray'd before, Perhaps poor Jemmy may to life restore. What have we done? the wretched bailiffs cry, That th' only man by whom we liv'd, should die! Enrag'd, they gnaw their wax, and tear their writs, While butchers' wives fall in hysteric fits; For sure as they're alive, poor Spiller's dead; But, thanks to Jack Legar! we've got his head. He was an inoffensive, merry fellow, When sober, hipp'd; blythe as a bird, when mellow."
For Spiller's benefit ticket, engraved by Hogarth, twelve guineas have been given! There is another, of more dramatic interest, with portraits of himself and his wife in the Cobbler of Preston.
Harper (a lusty fat man, with a countenance expressive of mirth and jollity, the rival of Quin in Falstaff, and the admirable Job-son to Kitty Clive's inimitable Nell). Hippisley (whose first appearance the audience always greeted with loud laughter and applause). Chapman (the Pistol and Touchstone of his day). Joe Miller * (whose name is become synonymous with good and bad jokes; a joke having ironically been christened a Joe Miller, to mark the wide contrast between joking and Joel).
* This reputed wit was, after all, a moderately dull fellow. His book of Jests is a joke not by him, but upon him: a joke by Joe being considered la chose impossible. As an actor, he never rose to particular eminence. His principal parts were Sir Joseph Wittol and Teague. There are two portraits of him. One, in the former character, prefixed to some editions of his Jests; and a mezzotinto, in the latter, an admirable likeness, full of force and expression. The first and second editions of "Joe Miller's Jests" appeared in 1739. They are so scarce that four guineas have been given for a copy at book auctions. From a slim pamphlet they have increased to a bulky octavo! He died August 15, 1738, at the age of 54, and was buried on the east side of the churchyard of St. Clement Danes. We learn from the inscription on his tombstone (now illegible) that he was "a tender husband, a sincere friend, & facetious companion, and an excellent comedian." Stephen Duck, the favourite bard of "good Queen Caroline." wrote his epitaph.