A charlatan's assistant, whose job was to eat (or pretend to eat) a toad, so his master can demonstrate an aptitude for saving people from poisoning.
‘So you know Khustov too?’
‘I saw him at your office yesterday, but a single glance at him is enough to see that he is a scoundrel, a gossip, a toady, and parasite.’
‘How true!’ Styopa thought, amazed at this brief, sharp, and accurate description of Khustov.”
Mikhael Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (1928-1940).
In Japan, the owner of an inn or restaurant specializing in serving teas.
"Here was the highway to the capital, and a road running along the mountainside wide enough for two horses to pass each other. Here too was a teahouse thatched with straw and built up of cryptomeria branches woven together. A sign said 'Finest Home-brew Here,' but the rice paste was many days old and dust had deprived it of its whiteness. On a side counter were tea brushes, clay dollas, and dancing-drummer dolls—and reminiscent of Kyoto and therefore a tonic to the weary travelers, who rested there awhile. Moemon and Osan enjoyed it so that, upon leaving they offered the old innkeeper one piece of gold. But he scowled unappreciatively, like a cat that is shown an umbrella. 'Please pay me for the tea,' he demanded, and they were amused to think that less than fifteen miles from the capital there should be a village which had not yet heard of gold pieces."
Ihara Saikaku, Five Women Who Loved Love (1686).
A wood cutter. Someone who cuts down trees.
"The rooted oaks would fly, Before th' approaching fellers."
Robert Burns, Epistle to R. Graham (1790).
A photographer whose pictures are printed on a thin piece of tin rather than paper.
“I watched a talented and persuasive individual who was operating in front of a tintype gallery, and he had only the most marvelously infrequent opportunities to display his oratory and finesse. The occasional stragglers always managed to free themselves before he could drag them into the gallery and take their pictures. In the long intervals he gazed about him with a bewildered air, as if he felt his world dropping from under his feet. Once I saw him spy a promising youth afar off. He lurked with muscles at a tension, and then at the proper moment he swooped. ‘Look-a-here,’ he said, with tears of enthusiasm in his eyes, ‘the best picture in the world! An’ on’y four fer a quarter. O’ny jest try it, an’ you’ll go away perfectly satisfied!’ ‘I’lll go away perfectly satisfied without trying it,’ replied the promising youth, and he did. The tintype man wanted to dash his samples to the ground and whip the promising youth. He controlled himself, however, and went to watch the approach of two women and a little boy who were nothing more than three dots, away down the board walk.”
Stephen Crane, Other Writings About New York, “Coney Island’s Failing Days” (1894-6).
An expert player of the piano or pianoforte.
“I wish some pianiste of the thundering school would attack the piano now."
Mabel Collins, Prettiest Woman (1885).
A magician, juggler, or conjurer. One skilled in sleight-of-hand.
“The more sombre Tregetour promised to cut off and refix the head of a sad-faced little boy.”
Edward Lytton, The Last of the Barons (1843).
Someone who pilfers. A petty thief.
“The poore and petty pilferers you see on wheeles, on gibbets and the gallow tree.”
George Wither, A collection of emblemes, ancient and modern (1634).
