The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-25 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

This theatre is taken up on alternate nights with the
performance of French plays and of Natural Magic, by
Herr Louis Dobler. Of the latter only it is our inten-
tion to speak on the present occasion, Herr Dobler's
performance is of the usual character implied under the
head of Natural Magic, consisting of " The Sympathetic
Fruit," " The Magic Looking-glass," " The Wandering
Handkerchief," &c. The whole of the tricks, however,
are performed in an exceedingly clever manner, so as to
render it impossible for the keenest observer to be able
to say positively, judging from his own senses, the
manner in which they have been performed, though he
may be morally certain that they must have been done
*in a peculiar way--by means of passes principally—yet
he is unable to say how or when those passes are made.
We will give an example in illustration of what we
ratan to convey. In the trick of " The Sympathetic
Fruit," the artist having procured a watch with seals
attached from some person present, wraps it in a piece
of thin paper, and covers it with a silver goblet; he then
produces an orange and a black ball ; through the
former he passes a knife, to prove that there is nothing
within it ; that he places on the table, and also covers
with a goblet ; the black ball he then folds in a hand.
kerchief, and gives to a lady in a private box, with
instructions in German to hold it fast ; this being
accomplished he proceeds to show the power of
his art, and removes the first goblet, under which
the watch had been placed ; but it has vanished ;
he then removes goblet number two under which
he had placed the orange ; but the orange also
has disappeared, and the black-ball has assumed its
place ; he lastly goes to the lady, who has all the while
held the handkerchief in which lie appeared to place the
black ball, and taking the handkerchief from her, in an
instant opens it out, when it is found to contain, not the
black ball, but the orange ; a knife is procured, the
artist divides the orange, and, snugly ensconced in its
.centre, appear the watch and seals, wrapped in the paper
as he first placed them under the goblet. Now this trick
was exceedingly well performed, and, though every one
must feel morally certain that, whilst folding these
several articles up and placing them under the goblets,
le must have made one or two sleight of-hand passes,
yet no one is able positively to say the precise time at
which those passes were made. The " Travelling Bottle"
is a similar trick, and was very neatly executed. The
artist procures a handkerchief and about a dozen rings
from various of the spectators, and having placed all the
rings upon the handkerchief, lie wraps it up and places
it under an opaque goblet, where, for the present, he
leaves it. He next takes a plain black bottle, and from
it he pours, at the desire of the audience, port, sherry,
champagne, ale, or Water, and even hands it to one of
the spectators, who is also enabled to pour out port and
sherry aiteranately ; the bottle being divested in this
manner of its liquid contents, the artist lays it on one
hand, and; with a small hammer in the other, smashes
it into a great quantity cf pieces, and from the interior
produces the handkerchief, with all the rings upon it as
lie originally placed it under the goblet. The enter-
tainments are interspersed with instrumental music per-
formed by a very efficient band. The house fills remark-
ably well with company of the most select order, and we
cannot conclude without expressing our gratification at
the civility and attention displayed by the officials to the
visitors. The house is richly decorated, and every part
of it, from the gallery to the orchestra stalls, is fitted
up with the greatest attention to ease and comfort.