The Halifax Comet. — 1894-09-08 (Halifax, West Yorkshire, England)

THE SIGHTS OF LONDON. AMONG those sights of London which have, by. reason of age and popularity, almost become national institutions, may be mentioned Madame Tussaud and Sons' Waxworks in \ Marylebone Road, near Baker Street Station. To visit London on pleasure bent, and to leave without paying this famous exhibition a visit, is to be guilty of an act of injustice both to one's self and to "the queen city of the world." It may not be generally known that the Exhibition originated inParis during the latter part of the eighteenth century. More than 120 years ago there lived in France a subtle thinker named John Christopher Curtius. He had practised as a physician in Switzerland, and came to Paris at the suggestion of the Prince de Conti who justly thought that the admitted skill of M. Curtius as a modeller in wax—a skill hitherto employed by him only in the preparation of anatomical demonstrations—would, when applied to the purposes of fine art, be highly appreciated by the Parisians. And so M. Curtius's ceroplastic studio quickly became the resort of the most celebrated painters sculptors and musicians, wits and philosophers of his time. A silent but attentive admirer of these notabilities was one Marie Gresholtz, neice and adopted daughter of the Swiss physician, destined in after years to attain enduring renown under her married name of Tussaud. Marie showed great natural talent for modelling in wax, and under the tuition of her gifted uncle, quickly excelled in the practice of the ceroplastic art. Shortly after the death of M. Curtius, Mdlle. Gresholtz became the wife of M. Tussaud, and boldly transported the idea of her uncle's "Cabinet de Cire," including the "Chamber of Horrors," to British shores, where it has enjoyed unrivalled popularity for a period of more than ninety years. During the 44 years which have elapsed since the death of this talented lady, considerable progress has been made by her sons in enhancing the variety, the historical accuracy, and the general interest of the exhibition. The spacious building is  now literally crowded by wonderfully lifelike representations ef celebrities of all epochs. All kinds and conditions of famous men and women confront the spectator at every turn, and so real and artistic are these reproductions that at times far more than a passing glance seems necessary before one one can distinguish "the living visitors from the waxwork dead." Many and varied are the ways in which the exhibition points its moral and strikingly illustrates the rewards and honours given to merit, and the horrors and punishments attending the committal of crime. In this latter connection I was much impressed by a wonderfully realistic tableaux of the "road to ruin" description. The story is told in four set scenes. The .first of these represents the entrance of a young gentleman into a brilliantly-lighted gaming-house, to which he has been lured by a lovely woman and her male companion, a card-sharper. In the second scene the young man appears to have lost heavily, and to have incurred -liabilities to discharge which he finds it necessary to murder a wealthy relative and rifle his safe. This is shown in scene 3, and the last of the series depicts the procession to the scaffold. It was all very sad and very true to life; and so impressed was I by the whole thing that I found myself mentally deploring the fact that it had not been in my power to present the unhappy young gentleman in question with a copy of J. N. Mask elyne's recently-published work, entitled "Sharps and Flats," a complete revelation of the secrets of cheating at games of chance and skill. Had he perused this work before entering the gaming-house, mused I, he would not have been so easily tempted to his doom. But seriously, every young man afflicted with the gambling fever should read this book with the utmost care, and thus be doubly forewarned and forearmrd against the cunning and treachery of cardsharpers and their kind. Why half-an-hour's reading of "Sharps and Flats" considerably opened the oyes even of