Frankin and Handy's circus came to the yard on the Angel Inn on the Borough Walls in 1788 where audiences were promised to be entertained by 'the unparalleled vaulting horseman Mr Handy'. The troupe was made up of selected performers from Astley's riding school who had performed in Bristol in 1772. Also on the bill was Handy's wife under the stage name 'Signora Riccardini' who could, the bill claimed, perform on 'One and Two Horses in a capital Manner’. Also in the show was Handy's daughter, Mary Ann, or 'The Child of Promise', who would ‘ride on Mr. Franklin's Shoulders, without the assistance of Hand or Rein, having nothing to keep her up but her perpendicular Balance, and which is allowed to be the greatest balance ever attempted.’