(Sax. dwerg, dwerg), a general name for an animal or a plant greatly inferior in size to that which is usual in their several kinds. Thus there are dwarfs of the human species, dwarf dogs, dwarf trees, &c.

The Romans, in their admiration of dwarfs, whom they called mani or names, sometimes employed artificial means to check the growth of children whom they designed for dwarfs, by the use of bandages, &c. Dwarfs were also held in high estimation during the middle ages, when they were employed to carry the messages of the knights, and to wait as pages on the feudal nobility. In France, in particular, they shared with the court-jesters the intimacy and favour of the reigning monarch. At Constantinople they are to this day held in much esteem in the seraglio. Augustus's niece, Julia, greatly prized a dwarf called Coropas, who was only two feet and a handbreadth in height, and Andromeda, one of her freed maids was of the same stature. But the most famous of all the ancient dwarfs was Philetus of Cos, who was remarkable, not only for his diminutive size, but in a far higher degree for his learning. He was likewise distinguished as one of the best poets of his day, and his general character was so high, that he was chosen to superintend the studies of Ptolemy Philadelphus. His person was so light and tiny, that he was obliged to carry leaden weights in his pockets to prevent himself from being blown away by the wind. We have many other accounts of remarkable human dwarfs, but most of them have been deformed in addition. Many relations concerning dwarfs must necessarily be regarded as not less fabulous than those concerning giants. The following remarkable history, however, which there is reason to regard as authentic, is deserving of notice:

Jeffery Hudson, the famous English dwarf, was born at Oakham in Rutlandshire, in 1619; and about the age of seven or eight, being then but 18 inches high, he was retained in the service of the Duke of Buckingham, who resided at Burleigh-on-the-Hill. Soon after the marriage of Charles I., at an entertainment given to the king and queen at Burleigh, little Jeffery was served up at table in a cold pie, and presented by the duchess to the queen, who retained him as her dwarf. From seven years of age till thirty he never grew taller; but after thirty he shot up to 3 feet 9 inches, and there remained fixed. Jeffery afforded much entertainment at court. Sir William Davenant wrote a poem called *Jeffreidor*, on a battle between him and a turkey-cock; and in 1638 was published a very small book called the *New Year's Gift*, presented at court by the Lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, commonly called *Little Jeffery*, Her Majesty's servant, written by Microphilus, with a little print of Jeffery prefixed. Before this period Jeffery was employed on a negotiation of great importance—he was sent to France to fetch a midwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman and Her Majesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her mother Mary de Medici, he was taken by the Dunkirkers. Jeffery, being thus made of consequence, began to think himself really an important personage. He had borne with little temper the teasing of the courtiers and domestics, and had had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter. At last, being provoked by Mr Crofts, a young gentleman of family, a challenge ensued; and when Mr Crofts came to the rendezvous armed only with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged that a real duel was the consequence. The appointment was on horseback with pistols, to put them more on a level; and Jeffery, with the first fire, shot his antagonist dead. This happened in France, whither he had attended his mistress in the troubles of the times. He was again taken prisoner by a Turkish rover, and sold into Barbary. But he probably did not remain long in slavery; for at the beginning of the civil war he was made a captain in the royal army; and in 1644 he attended the queen to France, where he remained till the Restoration. At last, upon suspicion of his being concerned in the Popish plot, he was seized in 1682, and confined in the Gatehouse, Westminster, where he died in the sixty-third year of his age. This little hero cuts a considerable figure in Sir Walter Scott's novel of *Peveril of the Peak*.

In the *Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences*, a relation is given by the Count de Tressan of a dwarf called *Bébé*, retained by Stanislaus, king of Poland, and who died in 1764 at the age of twenty-three, when he measured only 32 inches. At the time of his birth he measured only between 8 and 9 inches. Diminutive as were his dimensions, his reasoning faculties were not less scanty, appearing, indeed, not to have been superior to those of a well-taught pointer. But that the size and strength of the intellectual powers are not affected by the diminutiveness or tenuity of the corporeal organs, is evident from a still more striking instance of littleness, given us by the same nobleman, in the person of M. Borulawski, a Polish gentleman, whom he saw at Luneville. This miniature of a man, considering him only with reference to his bodily dimensions, appeared a giant with regard to his mental powers and attainments. He is described by the count as possessing all the graces of wit, united with a sound judgment and an excellent memory; so that we may with justice say of M. Borulawski, in the words of Seneca, and nearly in the order in which he has used them, *posse ingenium fortissimum ac beatissimum sub quodlibet corpuculo latere*. His growth was at one year of age, 14 inches; at six, 17 inches; at twenty, 33 inches, and at thirty, 39 inches. He had a sister named Anastasia, so much shorter in stature than himself that she could stand under his arm. Borulawski visited many of the courts of Europe, and finally died in England in 1837 at the advanced age of ninety-eight.

There is preserved to this day in the Louvre at Paris a picture by Francesco Torbido of a favourite dwarf of Charles V., of Spain, by name Cornicelle. He is represented on foot, dressed in the costume of a knight, his left hand resting on the back of a large dog, which serves to indicate the stature of the dwarf.

Another remarkable dwarf was Jean d'Estrix, a native of Malines, who was exhibited to the Duke of Parma in 1592. He was at that time thirty-five years of age, and measured barely three feet in height. He did not, however, show any traces of the stupidity usually attributed to dwarfs, but was remarkable for his general intelligence, and especially for his skill in the languages of modern Europe. But the smallest of all the dwarfs of whom any record has been preserved, was an Englishman name Birch, who when full-grown measured only twenty inches.