The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-07-24

very fatiguing, and occasions frequent
coughing on the part of the performer.
The influence over the human mind
which the ventriloquist derives from the
skillful practice of his art is greater
than which is exercised by any other
species of oonjurer. The ordinary ma
gician requires the theater, his accom-
plices and the Instruments of art, and
he enjoys but local sovereignty within
the prescincts of his own magic circle.
The ventriloquist, on the contrary, has
the supernatural always in command.
In the open fields as well as in the
crowded city, in the private apartment,
as well as in the public hall /; he can
summon up innumerable spirits; and
though the persons of his fictitious dia-
logue are not visible to tho eye, yet
they are unequivocally present to the
imagination of his auditors, rs if they
had been shadowed forth in the silence
of spectral form.
Mr.. Daugald Stewart, in some re-
marks upon the subject of ventrilo-
quism, has stated severel instances in
which deceptions of this kind were very
frequent. He mentions having seen a
person who, by counterfeiting the ges-
ticulations of a performer on the violin,
while he initiated the music with his
voice, rivited tho eyes of his audience
upon the instrument, though every
sound they heard proceeded from his
mouth. He tells also of another person
who initiated the whistling of the wind
through narrow cihnk, and who often
practiced the deception in the corner of
coffee house. He declares that he sell
dom failed to see some of the company
rise to examine the tightness of the win
dows, while others more intent Oh their
newspapers, contented themselves with
putting on their hats and buttoning
their coats. Mr.. Stewart likewise men
tions an exhibition formerly common in
Europe, where a performer on the stage
displayed the dumb show of singing
with his lips and eyes and gestures,
while another person, unseen, supplied
the music with his voice. The decep-
ton in this case he found to BE- so COM
plete as to impose upon the incest ear
and the quickest eye; but in the pro-
gress of the entertainment he became
distinctly sensible of the imposition,
and sometimes wonderei that it should
have misled him for moment. In this
case there can be no doubt that the de-
ception was at first the work of the i'm
agination and was not sustained by the
acoustic principle. The real and
the mock singer were too distant
and when the influence of the i'm
agination subsidized, the true direction
of the sound was discovered.
One of the most remarkable ventrilo-
quis is that ever lived was M. st. Gille
of st. Germain en- Laye, France, whose
performances have been recorded by
the able dc Ia Chapelle. Once, when
overtaken by storm, st. Gille took
shelter in a neighboring convent where
tie monks were in deep mourning over
the recent death of much esteemed
member of their community. While
lamenting over the tomb of their de-
ceased brother the slight honors which
had been paid to his memory, voice
was suddenly heard to issue from the
roof of the choir, bewailing the condi-
ton of the deceased in purgatory, and
reproving the brotherhood for want OF
zeal. The tidings of the extraordinary
event brought the entire fraternity to
the church. The voice from above re-
peated its lamentations and reproaches,
and the whole company fell upon their
face and vowed to make reparation for
their error. They accordingly chanted
in full choir de profurdis, during the
intervals OF which the spirit of the de-
parted monk expressed his satisfaction
at their pious exercises. The prior al
terwsri inveighed against modern skep-
ticism on the subject of apparitions,
and st. Gille had great difficulty in
convincing the fraternity that the whole
thing was deception.
Another famous ventriloquist was
Louis de Brabant, at one time valet de
chambre to Francis 1. Rejected by the
parents of very rich heiress as an un-
suitable match for their daughter,
Louis, on the death Of the father, paid
q visit to the widow; and, as soon as
he entered the room, the voice of her
deceased husband WAS heard thus to
address her: "Give my daughter in
marriage to Louis Brabant he is man
of fortune and character, and | endure
the pains OF purgatory for having re-
fused her to him. Obey this admoni-
tion, and give repose to the soul of
your departed husband" OF course
the widow complied. But Brabant's
difficulties were not yet overcome, He
wanted money to defray the wedding
expenses, and resolved to work on the
fears of an old banker, NJ. Conu OF Ly-
ons, who had amassed immense wealth
by usury and extortion. Having OBJ
tanned an evening interview, he con-