The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-11 00:00:00

RoYAL LYCEUM THEATRE: THIS
EVENING, and every evenin durng the
week, the GRAND ELEUSINIAN SPECTACLE ofi MAGIC
MYSTERY, by Professor ANDERSON, the Great
Wizard of the North, in 12 acts, with ever-changing variety
of incidents continuous surprises, novel and extraordinary
fleets. ,
~,414,agic and Mystery is an entirely new entertainment, pos.
amusement,
distinctive characteristics and peculiar phases of
asereent. It is not a monologue, for the audience them-
them the principal actor, somo of
fa, onPerfoth stage andparts others in front ; it is not an exhibition,
eyesug everything becomes metamorphosed before the
liecorn-
Pant' thing ; but it is a comedy really performed by the cora-
;-"! ; a melodrama replete with startly positions and unex-
lewd denouements ; a magnificent spectacle, with 2,000 of
re Public every night
to appear as auxiliaries ; and an ex-
ravaganza in which all that seems to be is entirely beyond
the
bounds of probability.
Professor Anderson returns his thanks to thronged and
bhionable audiences which have nightly filled the Lyceum
eatre to overflow, and by means of whose generous aid he
a been
enabled to announce Magic and Mystery for con-
e has °,ls repetition. He believes that no professor of his art
' a., at any time or in anv place been honoured with au
11---,otint of success so extensive, so decided, and
.so-renustral.
ihcit.would attribute that success to three causes , first, that
-1, "a present entertainment he has placed before his visitors
the results of a life sedulously devoted to the attainment of
,Perfected skill in one peculiar art, and to perfect which be
°as travelled the globe in every clime ; secondly, that he has
shared no trouble nor expense to put this entertainment on
""ce stage in the mst elaborate manner, by the employment
that,
the first mechanicians and artists of the day ; and thirdly,
~'",hat, while endeavouring to provide amusement for those
o honour him with their presence, he has not forgotten that
itt is
possible to afford information also, and that the oppor-
„e4,nitY should not be neglected of exposing conjuring where-
er it has been used for nefarious purposes, or whenever by
tißert,ing to the conjuror's arts, in an illegitimate manner,
e designing
have succeeded in making dupes of the
redulons.
The 937 letters on the subject of spirit-rapping, which Pro-
fessor•
atre p
Aunderson has received, from the time of opening the
terest to the present date, bear witness to the great in-
•a-eu en the subject of this singular delusion ; whilst
-43" of them bear melancholy evidence to the dangers which
atttend a belief in the superstitious nonsense of the " Spiri-
ualists." Judging simply by the correspondence which has
resulted,
ii Professor Anderson's expose of spirit-rapping and
s illustration of the so-called table phenomena, have pro-
duced a sensation unequalled by any previous attempt to ex-
fose a mischievous and impudent juggle. It is impossible
or Professor Anderson to reply at length to a tithe of the
that• many of these should come from ladies and gentlemen
tell Ircim their posiion in socety and thir well-kon in-
is_ectual attainments,t he wouldi least have expectedn tow have
been converts to a belief so preposterous in itself, and so
easily susceptible of being controverted and disproved. Every
eallning, from the Lyceum stage, Mr. Anderson's opinions on
ilhe at-rapping are expressed, and every evening, within the
Yeenm how tables can be made to rap is exhibited
and elucidated. It is respectfully requested that this
public exposition will be accepted generally as Professor
Anderson's only mode of replying at full length to his
multitudinous correspondents. He regrets that the
names_ of the great and learned of the land should
thave been made to figure in the documents emanating
r4,robe the. spirit-rappers, as for instance the following, ex-
acted from the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, Septem-
ber 20, and taken by that journal from the New York Spiri-
"ka Telegraph. It purports to emanate from an American
spirit-
rapper, Mr. D. D. Hume :—" Sir David Brewster
frankly confesses that be is ' sorely puzzled' at what he has
Witnessed, and Lord Brougham acknowledges himself to be
thoroughly nonplussed. Both of these noted men brought ,
the whole force of their keen discernment to bear upon the
solution of the phenomena ; but the presence of substantial,
actual hands, and the demonstrative strength of the spirits
Who thus clothed themselves for the time, and moved mate-
rial objects about the room, proved to be too much of a ques-
tion for them to master." Mr. D. D. Hume, the author of the
above, has recently left England, and the following account of
Who, and what he is, occurs in the Family Herald, No. 648:
se" This young man, who is a Scotchman by birth, and now
it, Italy, is a remarkable medium for all the manifestations
Without apparatus. Barnum, who is well-known throughout
tldhoeeiliAarnnglo-Saxon world as a splendid humbug, offered him 2,000
per annum if he would perform at his museum in New
b ,:k. Barnum then took it for granted that mediums could
,e,„°rought. Ho was somewhat astonished when his offer was
"aeuir Hume, on telling the fact in Loudon lately, simply
"aestly remarked, that the money would have been very
aeptable to him, for he was poor, young (under 20), an or-
and'ens in very bad health : but he would have been afraid
his• ilfthg his
Ri
power as a medium, and he would sooner lose
e e' The refusal, however, made Barnum thoughtful.
nquired into the subject; and now Barnum, one of the
greatest humbugs in the world, and withal a conjuror, is
nl4
en of the firmest believers in spiritualism." It is cer-
,l
eui IY surprising to find such a paragraph as this in the
torial article of an established journal, the editor of whom
lin 2a'ght be supposed to be sane. Even if Barnum does believe
aPirit-raPPing-- does spirit-rapping gain or lose by
this
accession to its adherents ? and, with Barnum's endorse-
'e
tn nt to it, is this bill, drawn on public credulity, more likely
be ,he negotiated ? Professor Anderson would believe not :
tnt, when he finds that educated clergymen of the Church of
Ingland have the temerity to subscribe their names to so gross
tswindle, when he finds that the incumbent of Wortley (the
mit7 N. J. Godfrey) positively asserts his belief in it, and
ts a book on the subject, he considers it t . be time for
state that which he knows of the mechanism by which
111.18 effected, and the mischief to which it tends. In the
("zing Advertiser of October 3 appears a letter from Sir
in avid Brewster, relative to that which he saw at Cox's Hotel,
10,_°10Pany with Lord Brougham. He distinctly states that
siTett the Wizard of the North proclaims every night—that
I:mat-Ml:ping is nothing more than conjuring applied to bad
I,„rses. In the Morning Advertiser of the following day
ws"ever, there is an answer to Sir David's letter from one
E6no was present when he and Lord Brougham had their
are with the spirits, in which the writer says, that " the
„ e(a large dinner-table, I believe) moved about in the most
'44raordinary manner, and, among other things, a large ac-
;rile% was conveyed by an invisible agency to my hand and
en to Lord Brougham's, in which, held by his lordship's
Light hand, apart from any person, it played an air through-
-040 ' -
the. a statement for edification of
• People With ofsuch the 19th century, , printed
with the factsthe before us that
e Most talented men of the day are permitting themselves
• be deluded by these juggling spirit-mongers--that the
grta,est novelist of the age is now engaged in making it the
I,lLJect of a new work, awl that a " spiritual convention"
,ae actually been advertised to be held in St. Martin's-ball,
frofessor Anderson trusts that his exposures of the spiritual-
.ll:tB of America, as given by him nightly at the Lyceum, will
t received by the people of England as genuine honest at-
•erePts to provide an antidote for the bane of the spiritual
aagglers.
In the course of the last five weeks 100,017 persons have
vi
visited the Lyceum Theatre,—a larger number, it is thanbelieved,
has ever before been assembled within its walls in so
• a period. Magic and Mystery is repeated every even.
If°g, the programme being continually changed. Grand
a-shionable Day Performance, or Saturday, October 13, at 2
o'clock
; the programme being thus arranged ;
Part 1---Act 1. The Mesmeric Couch : or, the Clinical
baPabilities of the Atmosphere : in which the Wizard will do
ll,nlagic that which some suppose to be effected by mesmer-
,:', and illustrate the possibility of sleeping unsupported in
ne
o
_Act 2. The Aqua.Avial Paradox ; exemplifying the power
the Possibility of eliciting from the simplest elements the, most
"ninlex forms of ornithological existence.
P Act 3 Le Livre des Reeueile Choisies : or, Puck's Own
ocket Book, with Puck himself within it. Typifying the
evening's entertainment in the production of the very volu-
011uous from a small volume, in the extraction of magnitude
Pit of minuteness, in developing bulk where no space appears
jor its existence, in discovering odd things in odd places, and
bringing forth unexpected wonders from the most unlikely
Place for to be found.
Act 4. Magical Locomotion ; or, Transition without Trou-
ble. In which will be comprised—the Adventures of a Wed-
ding Ring, the Peregrinations of a Bank Note, the Transfor-
mation—black into white, and the Discovery of every Article
in the position which would seem the most inappropriate.
Act 5. L'Ecrin de Verre ; or, the Casket of Crcesus. Into
which, though made entirely of glass perfectly transparent,
and suspended so as to be visible to the eyes of all present,
the Wizard will cause tho money of his visitors to transport
itself, and rain into the casket, though its lid be closed,
locked, and the key in the possession of the audience.
Act 6. Clairvoyance Extraordinary ; or, the Transparenc
of Opacity. y
Act. 7. A New Bottle of Bacchus ; or, the Novel Wine
and Spirit Store. An improvement upon the " inexhaustible
bottle," inasmuch as the Wizard's bottle will not only be in-
exhaustible, but will change its contents, ad infinitum, at the
Word of command, producing soda-water, butter-milk,
!Nora salts, Port, Sherry, brandy, gin, rum, whisky,
eYeau, or any other wine or spirit required; and finally
Proving to be filled with pocket handkerchiefs perfectly dry,
and occupying the whole space when tightly packed.
4., Act 8. Half au Hour with the Spirits ; or, an Expose ofd
spirit-rapping. Introducing the spirit-rapping an
table
tocsin of the invisibles.
t,Act. 9. Grand Mystic Amalgam, in which the property of
Wizard's patrons will undergo some strange metamor-
'""es, and, amongst others their handkerchiefs become
transformed into the flags of 'victory—the banners of Eng-
land, Prance, Turkey, and Sardinia.
Act. 10. The Enchanted Chair of Comus, in which he who
!?ats himself will be under the magic spell, and appear to
re audience, under circumstances least expected, in a posi-
tion
as peculiar as perplexing.
11. The Mystery of the Charmed Chest ; or, the
o_l ens of the Night's Wonders. To comprehend which the
n.ulence will have the goodness to observe, in an earlier part
iln the
Long the chest suspended (like Mahommed's coffin)
into which all things will travel, and out of which
411 will produced.
ittt. 12. The Homological Evaporation ; or, the Shortest
te to the Antipodes. Illustrating the easiest mode of
a, adding„ ourselves of a troublesome friend, and the advantages
tele
CS
newly _discovered dia-terrestrial passage from the west. % to the eastern hemisphere.
tDivoaotersboolx)eons,each evening at half-past 7 ; commence at 8.
1/. lls. 6d. and 1/. is., to be obtained at the
• boxes,
or at the principal libraries ; stalls, 4s. ; dress
r_ete,upper boxes, 2s. ; pit,gallery, 6d. The
er-office is open daily, from 11 till 5, under the direction
fe
'lll '• Chatterton, jun. Grand fashionable Morning Per-
iortee on Saturday, October 13, at 2 o'clock. Doors open
Vaint 1.