Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-09-18

AltOgctucT, lllcll, dIu dlldiu WO mus"
let practical joking, at least among edu-
Gated adults, go to limbo; but surely there
can be no harm in liking to hear about it:
hope not; for to hear or read OF good
trick amuses me vastly. Who can read
the life of that emperor of practical joking,
Theodore Hook, without enjoyment?
Who would not have liked to be in the
secret Of the great Berners Street Hoax,
or But l must steer clear OF anecdotes
which the reader has by heart. This one
is not so generally known
In the year IT'S, nephew of the EN-
peror of Morocco visited Paris as his
uncle's ambassador. He was received with
great pomp at the court, and all the no.
| bility We'd with one another in giving him
| feteS. Certain young men thought this
| afforded them good opportunity for play
| ing trick upon very pretentious man
named Septenville, rich householder
They began by persuading him that he
ought to invite the Moorish prince to a
fste at his country-house which was one
| of the most beautiful in the environs
of Paris; they assured him that
they had sufficient influence to persuade
| His Excellency to accept the invitation and
honor the affair with his presence. They
pointed out to him that the money it cost
wsuld be we'll spent in the end; that a
connection of this description would give
great notoriety to his business. and enable
| him to extend it considerably, and that
| very likely His Excellency would, out of
gratitude, send him some Barbs. Septen-
Vile calculated all these advantages, and
decided without much struggle to receive
the ambassador, with all the expense and
show proper on the occasion. Some days
| afterwards, he was informed that His Elk
| cellency consented to do him the honor of
| passing day at his place, to which he
| would come on such day, at such an
hour. The merchant Immediately began
doing all he could think of to render his
house worthy of receiving such a guest:
| he ordered fireworks of Tore, the great
man of the age in that line; he had his
| grounds and the front of his house bril-
| liantly illuminated; he engaged the most
| celebrated musicians at a great expense
he sent out invitations to all the nobility.
and people of fashion whose names and
addresses he could get hold of, to the
court to the most distinguished foreign
ers, to all the handsomest actresses. OF
course, the arrangements for the banquet
were on a scale corresponding with all the
other preparations.
On the appointed day, after having al
| lowed himself to be waited for for some
time, the ambassador, accompanied by all
his court, arrived in a magnificent car
riage. He was received with fattering
address, to which he replied by
means of an interpreter. He was
asked to sing, and consented with
the utmost affability. The tete went on
capitally, and Septenville was out of his
wits with joy. At the banquet, he refused
to sit at table with 50 lllustrious guest,
but insisted on standing behind his chair
with a napkin under his arm. The ball
opened, and the guests enjoyed themselves
thoroughly without expecting any trick,
| till three o'clock in the morning, when q
body of soldiers and police appeared in
| the ballroom. They had come to take
| the sham ambassador into custody; and
Septenville found he had been duped.
The man who played the ambassador was
the sen of bookseller named Prault. He
was precisely of the same age and shape
as the Moorish Prince, and was SO well
| got up as to deceive everybody
That was as carefully prepared hoax
as any Hook was ever guilty of, and the
French used to be quite as much addicted
| to practical Joking as ourselves; indeed, l
fancy that the palm for ingenuity in such
| matters must be awarded to them, for the
plots of some of our best nystifications
| have come from the same country that
supplies us so literally with the framework
| of our plays.
The idea of sending innumerable cofins,
hearses, wedding carriages, pictures, beds,
tables, &c. at a given day and hour, to an
unfortunate individuals house, was origi-
nally French. UJ 8c9 goEA4
But, after all, these elaborate jokes are,
4, ,toI1
taneous, such as the following:
A young French gentleman, who led a
| very gay life, going to bed late and getting
| up late, lodged in an e7tresol. A milkwo-
man took up her position under his win
dow, and the chattering of her customers,
with the braying of her donkey, efectual-
| ly destroyed his slumbers In vain he re-
monstrated the milkwoman said she had
right to the pavement, and that
place suited her. He got up, went
| out, and reasoned with her. No good.
What, then, would she take to select an
| other station? Nothing; he was an aris-
tocrat, and she made it point of honor
| to stand upon her rights. "Weli, them"
| he said at last, "since you will not listen
| to reason, must appeal to your donkey;"
and he whispered in Neddy's ear, the
crowd which had gathered round laughing
at him till he ran in. Presently, however,
| the donkey began to kick and plunge as if
it were possessed, spilling all the milk,
butter, cheese, &c The woman cried
| out Witchcraft;" )" the crowd took up the
| cry; and there was such 9 riot that the
| police came.
"What is the matUer?" asked the COM
| missary. f g
"a young man who lives on the entire
sol has bewitched my ass" replied the
milkwoman.
"Pooh, pooh!" said the commissary;
but the woman would not be pooh,
pooh-ed, and he had to take her up to the
gentleman's apartments and confront him
with the complainant
She told her story at length. The young
man waited patiently till she had quite
done, and then said (" Sir, the woman has
spoiled my nights rest for this month past.
| have complained, have entreated; she
has scorned my requests and my prayers.
1 could not revenge myself upon a
woman; but her donkey, who is mascu-
line, had no such claim upon my forbear-
ance; besides, the peculiar cries of the
animal are what is most distressing to me.
This ass, as avaricious as his mistress, has
sister upon whose succession he count
ed, but who is going to marry again; it
was this news, whispered by me in his
ear, which exasperated him to such
degreee that he conducted himself in so
violent a manner"
The commissary, who could hardly keep
his countenance, said that the Young man