Mr. J. W. Myers, the proprietor of the largest Hippodrome in the world, was born in New York in 1828. Though still in the prime of life, he is a veteran in his profession, having commenced his public career at the early age of nine by apprenticing himself as an equestrian to Aaron Turner and Sons, partners of the celebrated Barnum. Ex nihilo nihil fit, and Mr. Myers thus early recognised the truth of the proverb by taking care to be provided with the small though substantial capital of one halfpenny, with which, as the nucleus of fortune, he fled from his home. He made rapid progress in his calling, and soon distinguished himself as being the first who ever did a double somersault over horses. A few years’ experience placed him foremost among equestrians, and at the age of twenty-one he started a Circus and Menagerie of his own, with which he travelled over the United States for seven years. He then sold his property to Mr. John Wilson (whose establishment was at the time the largest of its kind in America) and came to England, having, shortly after his arrival, the distinguished honour of performing before Her Majesty the Queen and the late Prince Consort, at Windsor Castle.

Mr. Myers was for seventeen months engaged with Messrs. Howes and Cushing, and at the expiration of that time he again formed a company of his own, and performed with great success at Birmingham and other English towns. Leaving England for the Continent he commenced the career which has culminated in the formation of an establishment of unprecedented magnitude.

The Mecca of Mr. Myers’ long pilgrimage was, of course, Paris; and a Paris journal gives a characteristic account of the interview in which the entrepreneur acquired possession of the Magasins RÉunis, which he has transformed into the vast establishment which has been the sensation of the capital of the world of pleasure during the last six months. The Paris Figaro states that on a certain day in last autumn the proprietor of the Magasins RÉunis, Baron E——, was visited by a stranger who expressed his desire to hire the structure, till then a drug in the market. Baron E—— was startled for a moment, but, soon recovering his self-possession, replied that he was willing to let, but only on a twenty years’ lease. “Be it so,” answered the applicant. The owner believed himself the sport of a dream, and could only feebly articulate “75,000 francs (£3,000) a year.” “I’ll give you 75,000 francs a year,” answered the visitor, “and here’s a year’s rent in advance.” The bargain was struck, and the applicant announced himself as Mr. J. W. Myers, the proprietor of a peripatetic hippodrome. Mr. Myers set himself with all possible speed to adapt his new acquisition to his purposes, and the great range of warehouses at the ChÂteau d’Eau was in a very few weeks transformed, at an outlay of not less than a million of francs, into a place of entertainment which has been one of the wonders of Paris since December 19, 1875, when it was first opened to the public. The great circus into which the central court was converted accommodates an audience of more than 8,000 persons, and the establishment is described by La France as a complete world in itself. In fact, the Paris press is singularly unanimous in pronouncing it to be not only the greatest hippodrome which has ever visited Paris, but (what is perhaps synonymous) the greatest in the world, unparalleled in grandeur and magnificence.

For the Hippodrome of Mr. Myers has attained its present unequalled proportions by gradual and steady growth. There is an eclecticism even in Circus business, and Mr. Myers has excelled the doings of his predecessors and contemporaries, not merely by employing nine elephants where they used to employ one performer and three or four “dummies”; by doubling the usual number of the band, of the horses, and other component parts of such an establishment: but he has taken care that his horses shall be the best bred; that his elephants shall be the most highly trained; that his equestrians shall be the most finished and daring; that his clowns shall be the most amusing; that his acrobats shall be the most graceful that have ever been seen in public. If the patronage of the great ones of the earth be a test of merit, Mr. Myers may claim to possess that merit in a supereminent degree. The Emperor William of Germany, the Empress Augusta, the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Empress of Austria, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, King Alfonso of Spain, the King and Queen of the Belgians, the King and Queen of the Netherlands, the King and Queen of Saxony, the Queen of Greece, the Khedive of Egypt, the President of Switzerland, the late Emperor Napoleon III., the Empress Eugenie, the ex-Queen Isabella of Spain, the King and Queen of Hanover, and the unfortunate Abdul Aziz of Turkey, have all, at various times and places, honoured Mr. Myers with their presence at his performances. Lyons, Bordeaux, Toulon, Dijon, Nimes, St. Étienne, Nice, Grenoble, Avignon, Toulouse, and all the great towns in France; Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfort, Breslau, Dresden, KÖnigsberg, Leipsic, Cologne, Mayence, Vienna, Nuremberg, Munich, Bremen, Dantzic, Stettin, Regensburg, Strasburg, Metz, in Germany; Rome, Turin, Milan, Florence, Genoa, Verona, Venice, Padua, in Italy; Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Utrecht, in Holland; Brussels, and other towns in Belgium; Berne, Aarau, Schaffhausen, Zurich, Lausanne, Geneva, Zug, Basle, St. Gallen, in Switzerland, have all been visited by Mr. Myers; and the press of these places has been unanimous in its laudatory notices of his establishment and its performances.