The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-12 00:00:00

THE PATENT GHOST.

Modern researches in spiritualism have led to one
practlcal result—the discovery of a ghost. Not of
an ordinary old-fashioned ghost, appearing in the
midnight hour to people with a weak digestion,
haunting graveyards and old country mansions, and
inspiring romance-writers into the mischief of
three-volume novels; but of a well-behaved, steady
regular, and respectable ghost, going through Et
prescribed round of duties, punctual to a minute—
a patent ghost, in fact. This admirable ghost is the
offspring of two fathers, of a learned member of the
Society of Civil Engineers, Henry Dircks, Esq.,
and of Professor Pepper, of the Polytechnic. To
Mr. Dircks belongs the honour of having invented
him, or, as the disciples of Hegel would express it,
evolved him from out of the depths of his own
consciousness; and Professor Pepper has the merit
of having improved him considerably, fitting,
him for the intercourse of mundane society, and
even cdneating him for the stage. After having
bowed to the public at the Polytechnic institution,
he some weeks ago made his debut upon the boards
of the Britannia Theatre in a new and highly engi-
ne; drama, entiled, "The Widow and Orphans,.
Faith, Hope, and Charity," in which piece he con-
tinues to present himself nightly to crowded
audiences with the highest imaginable success. It
is a domestic drama, with three murders, one suicide
two conflagrations, four robberies, one virtuous law-
yer, i
n2e3s
ina thengels, pi and
e, Faith,
agithho,sHop
ghost. There ere are three
h and Charity.._
the first, an elderly lady, widow of a clergyman,
ec
and in straitened circumstances; and the other
two, her daughters, pretty and poor, and, of
course, models of perfection, as indicated by the
label. The plot turns upon the possession of the lease
of a house, which Sir Gilbert Northlaw, a proud
and scheming baronet, class representative of the
bloated aristocracy, has acquired by fraud from the
clerical widow. Before the parchment is restored to
the right owner, a number of violent incidents take
Place, which, although in no perceptible connection
with the story, yet seem to charm the audience to an
immense degree, as evinced by frequent thundering
applause. A burning house, in particular, gives
rise to tremendous excitement in the gallery, The
scene shows a woman getting out of the window
and walking along the outer ledge to a tree, where
a man takes her in his arms, after which the tree,
by some magic means, bows to the ground with its
human burthen. Various minor accidents, murders
and manslaughter, follow, till at length the lease is
stolen by an honest man from the pocket of
the wicked baronet. With a fine feeling
of virtue, the audience show their appreciation
of this act of pick-pocketing by three rounds
of applause. But the aristocratic villain
is not yet defeated, for it tarns out that the lease
which the honest man has stolen is but a duplicate
after all, and that the fiendish nobleman remains in
possession of the original. This discovery breaks
the heart of Faith, and sets Hope and Charity
a-crying so loud that all the bystanders get into
convulsions. The question of the lease appears still
as undecided as ever when the curtain falls over
the terrestrial part of the drama, to open again,
after a few minutes interval, for the spiritual por-
tion. All the souls of all the people murdered,
slain, burned, and bruised in the new and original
drama are now carried up to heaven by a regiment
of little angels, in flaxen hair and short petticoats.
Midway between heaven and earth they make a
halt, which allows time for the inspection of
the tableau, and the due seasoning of the
mind in its contemplation. It is evident that
the impression created upon the audience is of the
deepest, preparing all eyes and ears for the still
greater things to come. There are now no more
discharges of ginger-beer artillery from above and
behind, the sucking of oranges and cracking of
nuts has entirely ceased, and even the numerous
babies have left off crying, Presently the vast
house sinks into obscurity, only a few flickering gas
jets being left here and there to create a faint twi-
light. Once again Sir Gilbert Northlaw steps on
the stage, closely followed by—a skeleton. The
apparition is certainly striking. It gradually and
almost imperceptibly evolves itself out of the air,
and after various movements vanishes with the
rapidity of a flash of lightning. A second time, it
comes and goes as before, and immediately after
appears a female form, the exact counterpart of
Faith, the widow. Closely as the eye may watch
the operation of the whole proceeding, it is impos-
sible to detest the source of the fine optical delusion.
There the figure certainly stands, walks, and talks,
but disappears as instantaneously as if fashioned out
of the mere vapour of the air. On the second appear..
ance of widow Faith, or rather widow Faith's
ghost, Sir Gilbert Northlaw takes courage, and,
rising from his seat, attacks her with the sword
But the sharp steel, aimed at a walking and speak.
ing human figure, meets no resistance but the empty
air, and the would- be murderer is mocked by a loud
sardonic ha, ha, ha ! This is the crisis of the spec-
tacle, While the baronet is making desperate
efforts to grasp the widow, the spectre vanishes in
the twinkling of an eye, leaving the echo of a mock-
ing voice resounding from afar. 'Whatever the
means by which this curious scene is effected, it is
undoubtedly a most clever and wonderfully striking
bit of stage effect. Those in want of a new sensa-
tion can do nothing better at the present moment
than pay a visit to the Britannia Theatre and to
the "Patent Ghost."—Spectator.