Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
Dined with Mr. Grierson. In the evening; we went to see Hughes's Royal Circus, or exercises of equitation, which are not equal to those performed by Astley at Paris which I saw some time agone.1
Both Charles Hughes and Philip Astley were English equestrian performers who set up rival shows (Raymond Toole-Scott, Circus and Allied Arts: A World Bibliography, 1500–1970, 4 vols., Derby, England, 1958–1971, 4:95;
DNB
).