The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-02 00:00:00

" ;PIIifTUALLIM."

Ta,. case of LI os u. HOME has been full of
popular interest. But amusement rather than in-
dignation has been the feeling provoked, and the
vulgar phrase, " diamond cut diamond" repre-
sents pretty accurately ti.a general opinion of its
merits. The strong meat furnished to the news-
paper reader during the last few days by our
Abyssinian successea, the dastardly attempt on the
Duke of ED;NdUltqa, the Fenian trials, and the
continued humiliation of the Government—has
been garnished, su to speak, by the farcical reve-
lations at the court of Vice-Chancellor GITYARD,
and " our son Deem." and " darling Jsica" have
been made as familiar to British households as
THEODORE Or (YFARRELL, as BANYLEYr Or as
HCRIRE. It is a miserable story. The defendant
Howe, with his claims to spiritual power, and
the plaintiff LYON with her credulity and her
vanity, are neither of them people one
wishes to know. Whatever else may be
I decided, it ia certain that Mrs. LYON, be-
lieving Mr. Hone to be a spiritualist, bestowed
upon him a large sum of money after an acquaint-
anceship of a few days ; that she now wants the
money back again, and that the recipient, perhaps
naturally, refuses to refund. Either the pressure
brought to bear upon "Mr. Set-nos the Medium"
was stronger, or that worthy was, under similar
circumstances more tolerant of vacillation ;

Oh Lord ! I little thought, sir, yesterday,
When your departed mother spoke those words
Of peace through me, and moved you, sir, so much,
You gave me—(very land it was of you)
These shirt-st:ds—(better take them back again,
Please sir !)

We do not gather from the evidence that Mrs.
LYON seeks to impugn Mr. Hors's peculiar claims
to revelations from another world, but that pin-
ning her faith to one of his rivals in the same
art, she maintains these powers to have been im-
properly exercised, and asks for restitution on this
ground. She brings the spirits into court, as it
were, and asks the Vres-CnArresx,Loa to adjudicate
between the mysterious stranger advising her to go
" to law and to be firm," and the supposed nearer
and dearer shade who adjured her to look after
" our DAN." The legal merits of the case may be
safely left in the hands of the Court, and
we cannot presume to anticipate its ver-
dict. Moreover, the real point of public
interest is not so much whether a foolish old
woman of 75 is to be protected from herself, or a
so-called "mystic " is to enjoy her bounty—as to
how far the strange faith professed by both has
spread, and the goal to which belief in it points.
It is as melancholy as true that " spiritualism "
as tapping on tables and turning chairs topsy-
turvy is politely called—has numerous adherents
among the weaker members of English society.
Just as there are few families without their
" black sheep," so there are few " sets " or circles
that cannot point from hearsay or personal knowledge
to some one who, sane on other points, believes in
grotesquely occult influences, and to burlesque
communications with the dead. Mr. SOTHERN,
the actor, took the trouble to hoax these people
for years ; and comical stories are told of the ease
with which their credulity is to be traded on.
Given an alphabet and intermittent knocks upon
or under a table, and an expert manipulator
. can make the spirits "reveal" whatever he
, thinks fit.

Mr. Horse's statement in open court that
spiritualism bus convinced doubters of the immor-
tality of the soul was but an echo of the words