The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-08 00:00:00

HA TWA ZEIT.

TEN EvicErso.BACCHITEARTMADNE.—MADEMOISELLE
DE BELLEISLE. Messrs.Bowe and Barren : Mesdames Beatrice
and Angel.—And THE CASTLE Or ANDALUSIA. Meagre
Weise, nuckstune, Compton: Mies Keeley and Madame Weir.

PILNCIO33.

THIN ETIMING. BORN TO 4500 D—. LUCL Mr. D. Warm.
And THY annum OF LONDON. Hawn. Vining. I. W. Ply,
D. Fisher. D. Murray, J. Nem. H. Forrester, and H. Melba;
Mrs. H. Marston, Mum Zama and Gwynn*.

LYCZUM.
ON NATrIIDAT, Oct. 22, ♦ NEW DRAMA, to which Yr.
Pechter will sustain the priacipel chanciest.

Blt/TANMA.

TIM IMMO. TOM oFirDESSITIL. Miura. Cranford,
Drummond . MW 9. Milan - 8 by llama G. Tester, lota.
Lindsay, and Delfger ; Madame —And THE THRILL
LIAM. Mesdames Yarnold, Cranford, and Boca

HIGH WATZR AT LONDON!BRIDO6

Tins DAT Morning, Mi. 14m.....thentoon,
4b. 44w.
Tam Show Montag, Th. 11ia....Aftamoon. nu
nu.

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8.

THAT under the prevalent love of novelty and
excitement some enterprising speculators should
attempt to surround dexterous conjuring tricks
with an air of mystery, should seek to invest them
with semi-scientific pretensions, and even strive if
possible to raise them to the dignity of sp"itual
manifestations, is not by any means so veii sur-
prising. But it is both surprising and deplorable
that persona of education and standing should not
only countenance but welcome and applaud such
efforts, and that influential organs of opinion
should be found ready to give them indirect encou-
ragement, if not positive support. The so-called
" manifestations " of the DAVENPORT BEOthell
have nothing to distinguish them from the ordi-
nary feats of manual magic, beyond perhaps the
superior skill of the individual performers. Even
this, however, from the voluminous accounts that
have appeared, was open to some doubt.
Their experiments are all of the well-known
type—the majority of them, such as the rope-
tying, bell-ringing, and coat-changing tricks,
having been exhibited over and over again
by performers who do not condescend to
any mystification as to the source and
nature of their power. These triumphs of
manual dexterity were all successfully exhibited
in this country a few years since, and are at this
moment being repeated ou the other aide of the
Atlantic by public entertainers, who lay claim to
the possession of no gifts beyond that of practised
sleight of hand. Nor does there appear to be any-
thing very exceptional in the manner of their per-
formance by the DAVENPORT Brothers. They have
their own apparatus, their chosen confe-
derates, and the convenient shield of dark-
ness, to facilitate the execution of their un-
doubtedly ingenious tricks. It does not appear
that they avowedly claim to possess any peculiar
spiritual gifts ; but as they profess not to know the
source and nature of their power, they of course
directly suggest the inference, eagerly drawn by
willing dupes, that it must be of supernatural
origin.

But the question as to the oomparativeor positive
straightforwardness of a couple of clever conjurors
is far too insignificant to merit any serious or pro-
longed discussion. It is the kind of social recog-
nition and excited welcome which these men have
received, as the presumed representatives of thau-
maturgic spiritualism, which alone gives them and
their doings any accidental and temporary im-
portance. It is one more added to a recent series
of facts tending to show that there exists among
some even of the educated classes a morbid and
childish craving for empty marvels, which is among
the least satisfactory results of modern fashionable
culture, and may well excite the apprehension, if
not the dispst, of those who take a reflective
interest in the social signs of the times, and are
concerned to promote the cause of sound and
healthful progress. By a curious and instructive
Nemesis, moreover, this spurious spiritualism
not unfrequently finds its most eager disciples
amongst those who lightly assail the strong foun-
dations of reve.lcd religion, and seek to undermine
the supernatural supports of the Christian faith.
Many of the refined and fastidious, who have lost
all robust and rational belief in the deeper realities
of our moral and spiritual nature, and the Chris-
tian verities that appeal to them, become the
ready victims of any vulgar impostor who succeeds
in confusing their perceptions under the plea of
possessing peculiar spiritual power. It may, per-
haps, be said that this burlesque spiritualism is
simply a violent and temporary reaction, the ex-
treme of unreasoning scepticism having very natu-
rally produced the counter extreme of unreasoning
credulity. This is, no doubt, true, to some extent
at least; but as each extreme produces the most
mischievous results, it is important to look a little
more closely into the matter, in order to discover if
possible some of the common causes of both.
Amongst these must undoubtedly be reckoned the
disproportionate place which the gratification of
mere sentiment has of late been permitted to as-
sume in the scheme of individual action, and the
arrangements of social life. If mere feeling is
allowed to usurp the place of reason, and
duty is resolved into a question of per-
sonal taste, it is not surprising that
mountebanks should ne hailed as inspired
messenger!, and their clumsy jugglery looked upon
as revelations from on high. The excited febrile
flutter of blind sympathy and shallow enthusiasm
which greets these Baarrux revelations is but
another form of the vice which manifests itself in
different directions, and has become a characteristic
feature of the times—the passion for sensuous and
sentimental excitement, divorced from all sober