Jarley stands in front, and delivers her descriptive orations, directing
her men to bring forward each figure before she describes it. After
having been duly described, the figure is "wound" up, and goes through
its peculiar movement, and when it stops it is moved back to its place.

If the stage is small, or it is desired that the same actors shall
appear in various characters in succession, the figures may be exhibited
in successive groups or compartments, the curtain being lowered to
permit one party to retire and another to take their places. After the
whole of the figures of a given chamber have been described, the
assistants wind them all up, and they go through their various movements
simultaneously, to a pianoforte accompaniment, which should gradually
go faster, coming at last to a sudden stop, when the figures become
motionless and the curtain falls.

Mrs. Jarley may be made a silent character, sitting on one side, and
occasionally making believe to dust or arrange a figure, while the
"patter" is delivered by a male exhibitor. Or Mrs. Jarley may, if
preferred, be suppressed altogether, and the exhibitor appear as (say)
Artemus Ward, or in ordinary evening costume, without assuming any
special character. A good deal of fun may be made of the supposed
tendency of any particular figure to tip over, and the application,
by John and Peter, of wooden wedges, penny pieces, etc., under its
feet to keep it upright. Supposed defective working, causing the figure
to stop suddenly in the middle of its movements, and involving the
rewinding or oiling of its internal mechanism, will also produce a
good deal of amusement. The "winding up" may be done with a bed-winch,
a bottle-jack key, or the winch of a kitchen range, the click of the
mechanism being imitated by means of a watchman's rattle, or by the
even simpler expedient of drawing a piece of hard wood smartly along