The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-14 00:00:00

LAST FEW DAYS.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE. THIS
EVENING, and every evening during the
week, the GRAND ELEUSINIAN SPECTACLE of MAGIC
and MYSTERY, by Professor ANDERSON, the Great
Wizard of the North, in 12 acts, with ever-changing variety
of incidents, continuous surprises, novel and extraordinary
effects.

'Magic and Mystery is an entirely new entertainment, pos-
sessing distinctive characteristics and peculiar phases of
amusement. It is not a monologue, for the audience them-
selves perform their parts with the principal actor, some of
them on the stage and others in front ; it is not an exhibition,
for though everything becomes metamorphosed before the
eyes of the• visitors no one can be positive that he sees any
one thing; but it is a comedy really performed by the com-
pany ; a melodrama replete with startling positions aed unex-
pected denouements ; a magnificent spectacle, with '2,000 of
the public every night to appear as auxiliaries ; and au ex-
travaganza, in which all that seems to be is entirely beyond
the bounds of probability.
Professor Anderson returns his thanks to thronged and
fashionable audiences which have nightly filled the Lyceum
Theatre to overtime, and by =Milt of whose generous aid be
'"isblittetelbt 'eniblete IV atmeirliftirie )titirlifistery tee code
tinuoterrepetition. Ho believes that no professor of his net
has at any dine or in any place been honoured with an
amount of saccess so extensive, so decided, and so unusual.
He would attribute that success to three causes ; first, that
in his 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 he
has travelled the globe in every clime ; secondly, that he has
spared no trouble nor expense to put this entertainment on
the stage in the most elaborate manner, by the employment
of the first mechanicians and artists of the day ; and thirdly,
that, while endeavouring to provide amusement for those
who honour him with their presence, he has not forgetten the+
it is possible to afford information also, and that the oppor-
tunity should not be neglected of exposing conjuring wher-
ever it has been used for nefarious purposes, or whenever by
resorting to the conjuror's arts, in an illegitimate manner,
the designing have succeeded in making dupes of the
credulous.
The 937 letters on the subject of spirit-rapping, which Pr ,-
fessor Anderson has received, from the time of opening the
theatre up to the present date, bear witness to the great in-
terest taken on the subject of this singular delusion ; whilst
many of them bear melancholy evidence to the dangers which
ttend a belief in the superstitious nonsense of the " Spiri-
tualists." Judging simply by the correspondence which has
resulted, Professor Anderson's exposé of spirit-rapping and
his illustration of the so-called table phenomena, have pro-
duced a sensation unequalled by any previous attempt to ex-
pose a mischievous and impudent juggle. It is impossible
for Professor Anderson to reply at length to a tithe of the
communications which reach him on the subject. He regret,.
that many of these should come from ladies and gentlemen
who, from their position in society and their well-known in
I elleetual attainments, he would least' have expected to have
been converts to a belief so preposterous in itself, and so
easily susceptible of being controverted and disproved. Every
evening, from the Lyceum stage, Mr. Anderson's opinions o
spirit-rapping are expressed, and every evening, within th
Lyceum, how tables can be made to rap is exhibited
and elucidated. It is respectfully requested that thi
public exposition will be accepted generally as Professo'
Anderson's only mode of replying at full length to his
multitudinous correspondents. He regrets that th
names of the great and learned of the land should
have been made to figure in the documents emanatin
from the spirit-rappers, as for instance the following, ex-
tracted from the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, Septem
ber 20, and taken by that journal from the New York Spiri-
tual Telegraph. It purports to emanate from an American
spirit-rapper, Mr. D. D. Hume :—" Sir David Brewster
frankly confesses that he 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, li
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 o"
who, and what he is, occurs in the Family Herald, No. 648:
—" This young man, who is a Scotchman by birth, and now
in Italy, is a remarkable medium for all the manifestations
without apparatus. Barnum, who is well-known throughout
the Anglo-Saxon world as a splendid humbug, offered him 2,000
= dollars per annum if he would perform at his museum in New
York. Barnum then took it for granted that medium. could
be bought. He was somewhat astonished when his offer was
refused. Hume, on telling the fact in London lately, simply
and honestly remarked, that the money would have been very
acceptable to him, for ho was poor, young (under 20), an or-
phan, and in very had health : but he would have been afraid
of losing his power as a medium, and he would sooner lose
his life. The refusal, however, made Barnum thoughtful.
He inquired into the subject; and now Barnum, one of th•
greatest humbugs in the world, and withal a conjuror, is
one of the firmest believers in spiritualism." It is cer
taiuly surprising to find such a paragraph as this in the
editorial article of an established journal, the editor of whom
might be supposed to be sane. Even if Barnum does believ,
in spirit-rapping-- does spirit-rapping gain or lose les
this accession to its adherents? and, with Barnum's endorse
ment to it, is this bill, drawn on public credulity, more likely
to be negotiated ? Professor Anderson would believe not ;
but, when he finds that educated clergymen of the Church of
England have the temerity to subscribe their names to so gross
a swindle, when he finds that the incumbent of Wortley (the
Bev. N. J. Godfrey) positively asserts his belief in it, and
writes a book on the subject, he considers it t . be time for
him to state that which he knows of the mechanism by which
it is effected, and the mischief to which it tends. In the
Morning Advertiser of October 3 appears a letter from Sir
David Brewster, relative to that which he saw at Cox's Hotel
in company with Lord Brougham. He distinctly states that
which the Wizard of the North proclaims every night—that
spirit-rapping is nothing more than conjuring applied to bad
purposes. In the Morning A dvertiser of the following day
however, there is an answer to Sir David's letter from one
who was present when he and Lord Brougham had their
séance with the spirits, in which the writer says, that " the
table (a large dinner-table, I believe) moved about in the most
extraordinary manner, and, among other things, a large ac-
cordion was conveyed by an invisible agency to my hand and
then to Lord Brougham's, in which, held by his lordship's
right hand, apart from any person, it played an air through-
out." With such a statement, printed for the edification of
the people of the 19th century, with the facts before us that
the most talented men of the day are permitting themselves
to be deluded by these juggling spirit-mongers—that the
greatest novelist of the ago is now engaged in making it the
subject of a new work, and that a " spiritual convention"
has actually been advertised to be held in St. Martin's-hall,
Professor Anderson trusts that his exposures of the spiritual-
ists of America, as given by him nightly at the Lyceum, will
be received by the people of England as genuine honest at-
tempts to provide an antidote for the bane of the spiritual
jugglers.
In the course of the last five weeks 100,017 persons have
visited the Lyceum Theatre,—a larger number, it is believed,
than has ever before been assembled within its walls in se
short a period. Magic and Mystery is repeated every even-
ing, the programme being continually changed. Grand
fashionable Day Performance, or Saturday, December 15, at
2 o'clock ; the programme being thus arranged ;
Part 1. —Act 1. The Mesmeric Couch : or, the Clinica'
Capabilities of the Atmosphere : in which the Wizard will do
by magic that which some suppose to be effected by mesmer-
ism, and illustrate the possibility of sleeping unsupported in
the air.
Act 2. The Aqua-Avial Paradox ; exemplifying the power
of producing animated nature from fire and water only, and
the possibility of eliciting from the simplest elements the most
complex forms of ornithological existence.
Act 3. Le Livre des Reeueils Choisies : or, Puck's Own
Pocket Book, with Puck himself within it. Typifying the
evening's entertainment in the production of the very volu-
minous from a small volume, in the extraction of magnitude
out of minuteness, in developing bulk where no space appears
for its existence, in discovering odd things in odd places, and
In bringing forth unexpected wonders from the most unlikely
place for to be found.
Act 4. Magical Locomotion ; or, Transition withent 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 Verse; 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 the 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 Transparency
of Opacity.
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,
Epsom salts, Port, Sherry, brandy, gin, rum, whisky,
noyean, or any other wino or spirit required ; and finally
proving to be filled with pocket handkerchiefs perfectly dry,
and occupying the whole space when tightly packed.
Act 8. Half an Hour with the Spirits ; or, an Exposé of
Spirit-rapping. Introducing the spirit-rapping table and
tocsin of the invisibles.
Act. 9. Grand Mystic Amalgam, in which the property of
the Wizard's patrons will undergo some strange metamor-
phoses, and, amongst others, their handkerchiefs become
transformed into the flags of victory—the banners of Dig-
land, France, Turkey, ancrSardinia.
Act. 10. The Enchanted Chair of Comus, in which he who
seats himself will be under the magic spell, and appear to
the audience, under circumstances least expected, in a posi-
tion as peculiar as perplexing.
Act. 11. The Mystery of the Charmed Chest ; or, the
Nucleus of the Night's Wonders. To comprehend which the
audience will have the goodness to observe, in an earlier part
of the evening, the chest suspended (like Mahommed's coffin)
in mid-air, into which all things will travel, and out of which
all will be produced.
Act. 12. The Homological Evaporation ; or, the Shc.test
Route to the Antipodes. Illustrating the easiest mode of
ridding ourselves of a troublesome friend, and the advantages
of the newly-discovered dia-terrestrial passage from the west-
ern to the eastern hemisphere.
Doors open each evening at half-past 7 ; commence at 8.
Private boxes, 1/. lls. 6d. and 1/. ls., to be obtained at the
Box-office, or at the principal libraries ; 4s. ; dress
circle, 3s. ; upper boxes, 2s. ; pit, ls. ; gallery, 6d. The
Box-office is open daily, from 11 till 5, under the direction
of Mr. Chattcrton, jun. Grand fashionable Morning Per-
formance on Saturday, December 15, at 2 o'clock. Doors open
at half•pftst

The Post Office London Directory is indeed a triumph of
energy, enterprise, and combined talents of many orders, to
which, upon reflection, every one will be ready to assign the
merit it deserves."—Morning Advertiser, Nov. 12, 1855.
" There has been competition, but it has passed away ; for
the Post Office Directory has been too carefully and sedu-
lously edited, too prompt in its intelligence, too simple in its
plan, and too judicious in its classifications, to admit of suc-
cessful rivalry."—Morning Herald, Nov. 12, 1855.
"An indispensable necessity, not only in the counting-
houses of the mercantile part of the community, but also in
the halls of the great and fashionable."—Morning Chronicle,
Nov. 16, 1855.
" The Post-Office Directory' has made its appeal anee this
year without a rival in the field ; but the absence of compe-
tition does not appear to have led the publishers to bestow
less care upon the preparation of the work."—Morning Post,
Nov. 30, 1855.
" A wonderful work, becoming every successive year more
and more wonderful—altogether the hugest and the most
accurate of all our popular compilations— at once official, com-
mercial, postal, legal, political, and topographical !"—Sun,
Nov. 10, 1855.
" On the whole, the extent and quality of the information
contained in the volume has, as far as we know, never been
equalled in a publication of the kind."—Globe, Nov. 15, 1855.
" The Post Office London Directory —The annual wonder,
the title of which we have prefixed, has just appeared, and,
on the present:occasion, it has appeared without a rival, hav-
ing ils-thisiiakir driven every competitor fenfis the field. lien
they who, like ourselves, dislike monopoly, acknowledge the
justice of monopoly fairly won by decided excellence."—Stan-
dard, Nov. 16, 1855.
" The fame of Kelly's London Directory is too well esta-
blished, its pretensions to what it professes too thoroughly
justified, and its comprehensiveness too immense, to admit of
any other consequence than disastrous loss to the speculator
who would blindly hope to supplant it."—Shipping and
Mercantile Gazette, Nov. 23, 1855,
" Even as there is no city in the world which can compare
with the metropolis as the abode of aristocracy and com-
merce, so it is equally 'beyond dispute that there is but one
Directory.' "—Church and State Gazette, Nov. 16, 1855.
" The whole work exhibits a mass of accurate information
that is truly wonderful to contemplate."--Atlas, November
17, 1855.
"There is an old joke about the man who sat down pa-
tiently to read through a dictionary, and complained of the
variety of its subjects. What would he have said to the
Post Office Directory of 1856,' with its pregnant line about
everybody, every trade, every profession, and every idler in
this huge wen of mortality who can write himself down re-
spectable !"—Bell's Weekly Messenger, Nov. 17, 1855.
" If any one would really understand in what consists the
strength of London, let him study the Post Office Directory.' "
—Britannia, November 17, 1855.
"The opponent of the production before us has ceased to
exist, it appearing that, even after the callectiou of the infor-
mation for next year, and the work being in type, the sale
would be insufficient to repay the mere expense of feinting
The Post Office Directory' is now alone in the field, but
we are glad to see that the exertions of the proprietors are
undiminished."- -Court Journcl, November 17, 1855.
" The ' Post Office Directory' has become a work of na-
tional importance. It has been said we could not afford to
lose our limes —the same observation applies to our Post
Office Directory.' " erapares Journal, Nov. 17, 1855.
" The proprietors of this work have now the field to them-
selves ; but that they have not relaxed in their exertions on
that account is fully evident from the completeness of the
Directory for the coming year."—lllustrated London News,
November 17, 1855.
" Still swelling its dimensions as the ever-increasing area
of the vast metropolis increases, this bulky volume presents
itself as an annual visitor on our library table."—John Bull
November 17, 1855.
" In noticing in all its details, in the most favourable man-
ner, this valuable and highly successful volume, we may
casually remark that the year 185 i will witness its publica-
tion unopposed by attempted competition—a work of similar
character, though by no means equal in correctness of ar-
rangement and detail, having, after an ephemeral existence,
entailing enormous loss to its projectors, been at length aban-
doned. This was a result which, we think, might have been
easily foreseen ; for it appears to us beyond question that the
sale of so exclusive and peculiar a work as the London Di-
rectory will never repay the expense of preparing two such
publications, which, if accurate, must be counterparts of each
other."—MiningJournal, November 17, 1855.
" E, tent, variety, and accuracy of information, so far as
we have had occasion to test it, is not the only feature of
the book. Its production is a typographical curiosity."—
Spectator, November 17, 1855.
" This wonderful volume is a proof that the work of orga-
nisation and administration can be performed by Englishmen
with such admirable completeness as to amount to perfection
itself. Kelly's Directory was always unrivalled, but it is now
without a competitor, and we never expect to see another
nter the lists."—Era, November 18, 1855.
" The Post Office London Directory for the year 1856, a
copy of which we have just received, is certainly one of the
literary phenomena of the age. For an increase in its bulk
we have no wish. It is now a gigantic tome, although its
style of binding renders it easy of use."—Sunday Times,
November, 18, 1855.
" The fine map that accompanies it embraces an increased
area, and considerable additions have been-made to the book.
It e. joys a deserved reputation never achieved by any work
of its class, and Lendes may be proud of its standard di-
rectory."— Weekly Times, November 18, 1,55.
" Every householder in London, whether in trade, and
every person belonging to any profession, or employed in the
service of the Crown, has an opportunity of testing for him-
self the accuracy of the work, and we believe that the result
of their inquiry will lead them to concur with us in the
opinion that the Post 001ce Directory is one of the marvels
of the present age."—Observer, November 19, 1855.
" We can conceive of no better representation of the super-
ficies, as there is certainly no better guide to the contents of
London than the Directory just named, now the only publica-
tion of the kind."--Nonconformist, Nov. 21, 1855.
"As we, in common with most people, prophesied would
happen, so it has come to pass. The rival Directory has given
up a battle in which victory was scarcely to be won. But
what of the future of this wonderful book ? As it lies on its
side it stands already some two hands high, and to spread
out the map implies the covering of an ordinary table."—
Examiner, November 24, 1855.
" Since last year, a fruitless attempt to establish a second
' London Directory' has been wisely abandoned!. There is no
room for a rival work of this magnitude being published with
profit ; and this publication has the prestige of having been
established above half a century."—Literary Gazette, No-
vember 24, 1855.
It is a wonderful achievement, however we regard it, and
its daily and hourly utility alone is sufficient to recommend
it to every hotel, office, shop, and place of business."—
Weekly Dispatch, November 25, 1855.
" Wo have tested the lateness of the period up to which it
has been corrected, by referring to changes within our own
knowledge, and we are bound to say that in every case we
have found that the Directory has recorded the change, al-
though some of them have been of very recent occurrence."
—Leader, December 1, 1855.
" Any commendation on our part of this invaluable and
universally-known volume would be utterly superfluous.
The accuracy, fulness, clear and careful printing are beyond
all praise ; and it thoroughly deserves the monopoly it has
achieved. A large and excellent snap of London is prefixed,
adding not a little to its general usefulness."— Economist,
December 8, 1855.

" The attempt to establish a rival Directory, though pro-
secuted with great enterprise, has failed. The undertaking
was a hopeless, almost an impossible,.one. Publications of
this magnitude can rarely be produced at a start-- they re-
quire years for their growth and developmezt."—Press, De-
cember 8, 1855.

- - -
Kelly and Co., 19, 20, and 21, Old Boswell-court; and all
Booksellers.

The Third Edition.—Just published, price 55., by post, free, Se. 6d.
ON TRUE tiz FALSE SPERMATORRI(EA,
with the View of distinguishing the Imaginary from the
Real Sufferers under this disease, and Ciu•recting of wide-spread
Errors in relation to their Treatment and Cure. From he German
of Dr. PICKFORD. With an Introluction by the Editor, containing
a complete exposure of the system of terrorism and extortion pursued
by the advertising quacks of the metropolis towards those who are
credulous enough to seek their aid.

" lir. Ficktord 's known to English readers by his frequent pracu-
al to German medical literature. This is the first
.me, he informs as, that he has addressed himself to the nore-medi-
onl reader. We trust this may not be the last, if he shall tetect any
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rect." —London Medical Gazette. " The tribe of Quiet Sympathisers,'
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empirical system of treating Spermatorrhcea, and to place the treat-
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likely to do much good."
I.ondon: H. Balliere, 219, Regent-street.

tiE SECRET INTIRSIITIEs4 OF YOUTiI AN 1, vie 1 U.h.i .
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V ERVOUS DEBILITY;
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-uccesstul mode of treatment of the diseases of the Generative
yetem, obtained by the use of the Microscope in detecting and
iistinguistiing, by urinary examination, the real cause and effect of
,very variety of complaint. whether arising from solitary habits,
excesses, accident, or climate, followed by practical remarks, founded
M twenty years' experience in the treatment of Impuissance,
Nervous Debility, Local Weakness, Spermatorrhcea. &c. To which
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cautionary hints on the evils emanating from empirical prr etice,
And on the dangerous remedies advocated by various writers on
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By tail:WL LA' M.D.
87, REDFORD-ESQUMERTA LE, LONDON,
Doctor of Medicine, Matriculated Member of the University of Edin-
burgh, Honorary Member of the London Hospital Medical Society,
Licentiate of Apothecaries' Hall, London, ke„ &c.
rite essential obi act of this treatise is to point out the fearful con-
sequences resulting from certain habits, irregularities, and excesses,
vine, have produced more misery in Youth, degradation in Man-
nood, and premature decay at all stages of Life, than, perhaps, any
other class of disease known to modern pathologists. Its perusal is
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the health, happiness, and Privileges to which every human being is
that all men should knew, that there are
entitled.
It
elispiaeobsooflti tely necessary
personal management which cannot be violated without
Incurring grievous penalties, and when wisdom and regret succeed
,rin
the heyday of inconsiderate self-indulgence, how these penalties
may be mitigated, hew the sting of their bitterness may be removed,
and how the evil and its consequences maybe avoided, and above all,
that there is scarcely nal infirmity or fur -Atonal
derangement to which the timely aid of science cannot apply a cure.
any degree of physi
The Author has for a series of years been engaged in an extensive
practice in the treatment of these delicate complaints, which have
unfortunately been too generally confided tc the care of ignoraat
emoirics, who inflict great itajni7 on those wLo are induced to place
faith in their pretensions.
NERVOUS DEBILITY Mal re had price 2s. of Messrs. Sher-
wood and Co., 23, Paternoster.row; Hannay, 63, Oxford-street;
Horne, 19, Leicester-square; Mann, 39, Cornhill ; or free by post for
26 stamps to any address from
the Author's residenc3, 37, Red-
ford-smare.
At ileum tbr consultation daily:from eleven till two, acct from six
till eight,
•