The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-07-05
ANCIENT TRICKSTERS
QUEER CoNJuRING FEATS OF THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

/ Little Experiments In Which Boiling the
Heads on Living Animals Was Neces-
sary Adjunct-How They Killed Horse
and Cured Him Again.
Oonjurers in ancient times were not
very respectable members of society
when successful, they enjoyed the repu-
tation Of having sold their souls to the
evil one, and when of inferior ability
they gained notoriety by being either
drowned or burned The medieval ma
gicians as well as the Egyptian magi
and the Chaldean sages were only a
strange mixture Of chemist, conjurer
and charlatan, and as these gentlemen
were in the habit Of using their sup
posed occult powers to their own advan-
tage they were naturally unpopular.
The feats of jugglery performed by
these craftsmen were intended for the
mystifcation and not the amusement Of
the public, and for centuries conjuring
had to it only black side.
The amateur conjurer of today is not
always popular individual, save with
children and the msophistocated yolzel.
! To the general public he Is merely a
bore Of greater or less magnitude, whose
no ons. 1t is hard to realize that this
perscn is no mere mushroom growth of
modern society, but in point Of fact his
role is one Of a respectable antiquity,
for he is to be found treading close upon
the heels Of the magicians and in the
days when witchcraft was still rampant.
This is significant Of his reputation
even in those early times, for had any
one taken his tricks seriously he would
doubtless have been run to earth and
done to death as wizard.
In the middle of the seventeenth CEN
tury, in the earliest years Of the res
toration, a number Of tricks were pub
nshed in one of those facetious books
which seem to have occupied the press
to a great extent at this time but
which, owing to their popularity, have
for the most part persisted The chief
recommendation to the greater number
of these tricks is that no apparatus be-
yond the utensils of everyday life is
necessary. Also it is suggested to the
performer that he can make some
small profit out of his entertainment by
prevailing on his audience to bet with
him on the result of the trick.
"To set a horses or an asses head
upon mans head and shoulders"
seems impossible out of the land of
Faery, but we are informed that by
! boiling the head cut off from living
animal, ''the flesh boyl'd may rune
into oyle, " and then by mingling the
hair beaten into powder with this oil
and amounting the heads of the ISLANDERS
by, "they shah seem 60 nave horses or
asses heads costly experiment and
fearsome if successful
But, besides THIS, v.~e can 'make peo-
pie seem headlesse, and this without
bloodshed and by the following simple
receipt: Break arsenick very fine, and
boyle it with sulphur in a cover'd pot,
and kindle it with new candle, and
the standers-by will seem to be head
Jesse. Doubtless a strong imagination
is necessary for success.
Some of the tricks are such as would
nowadays cause the performer to be
disliked, to put it mildly. For instance,
''have nut filled with ink, and give
this unto another and bid him crack it
and see what he can find in that"
which being done Twill cause much
laughter .
fTo keep Tapster from frothing his
Pots" must have been an amusement to
the wags of the period, and for this
provide in readinesse the skin of a red
Herring, and when the Tapster is absent
do but rub little on the inside of his
pots, and he will not be able to froth
them, do what he can, in good while
after.
"To counterfeit a diamond with
white saphir' is most useful accom-
plishment, but the fraud is likely in
these days to be discovered and is more
a chemical experiment. than trick
Several tricks are recommended which
have animals as their subject and are
for the most part brutal to our modern
ideas Perhaps the least Objectionable
is "to seem to kill Horse and cure him
again." which may be thus accom-
pDSneQ:
Take the seed of henbane and give
it the Horse in his Provender, and it
will cast him into such deep sleep
that he will seem dead. If you will re-
cover him again, rub his Nostrils with
Vinegar, and he will seem to be re-
vived. " The "seem to be revived
sounds rather ominous, and it is to be
noted that the correct quantity of hen
bane is not mentioned, so that it might
be best to try this experiment on some
one else's horse.
'To make shoal of Goslings draw
Timber logge" sounds interesting, but
unfortunately the directions are vague.
"To make shoal of Goslings or Gag
gle of Geese to seem to draw Timber
logge is done by the verie means that
is us'd when a Dat draws fool through
a Pond, but handled somewhat further
off from the Beholders. {" = London
Standard.