THE "ROPE TRICK."

WE must surely have fallen on dull times-there must be a very remarkable dearth of subjects to interest or amuse, or we should not have given so much of our attention to the proceedings of the Davenport Brothers, and have our newspapers daily occupied with the attack or defence of these "Circulating mediums." It is hard to say whether credulity or incredulity comes best out of the controversy, or whether a calm bystander would incline to the side of those who see in these performances the dawn of a new era of discovery, or hastily put these men into the category of common conjurors.

For my own part, I think they deserve full credit for the way in which they have baffled discovery and evaded exposure. Just as some one said that the Great Duke had "6 a little more common sense than all the rest of the world," so have these men one

trick more than all mankind. The Hindoo and the Professed Juggler could do some, but neither of them could do all of the Davenport rogueries; and though this be a small bill with which to draw on Fame, let us not dishonour it.

The Rope trick, as it is called, would appear to be familiar to a large number of persons; at least there is scarcely a lecture-room in a provincial town, scarcely a mechanics' institute, which has not seen one or two amateur performers perfect adepts in this exploit. In this feat, after all, originated the great celebrity of these men. It was the fact that, being bound by persons thoroughly conversant with all the mysteries of knots, tied with the practised skill of sailor hands, their bonds crossed, recrossed, and interwoven with every device of subtlety, yet, as the newspapers say, "in an incredibly short space of time they were found to have released themselves, greatly astonishing a crowded audience, who cheered lustily."

Nor is this all. The lights being once more extinguished, and in a space equally brief, they were discovered to be once again involved in all the intricacies of their bonds, every knot and every crossing being exactly as at first, so that the most minute examination could not detect the slightest variation. To a man like myself, to whom a moder

ately tight coat is a strait-waistcoat, and who regards the commonest impediment to freedom as little short of a convict's fetter, this performance does indeed appear miraculous. I am consoled, however, for my own ineptness, by remembering what a number of specialities this world has room for, and that there are a variety of other tricks which I could not perform, and very probably never shall be called on to attempt. At first, therefore, my sympathies were in favour of these nimble fellows, and it was with a sort of impatience I read those letters to the 'Times' and the 'Post,' of people offering to perform the rope trick for the benefit of this or that charitable institution. I suppose drowsiness stole over me as I sat. I am naturally indignant at any imputation of being asleep, so that it could not have gone to the extent of slumber; but I certainly had reached the hazy stage, when sounds are murmurs and sights mere dissolving views in a foggy atmosphere. I fancied a friend was discoursing with me on these Davenport people, and that his arguments were a mere résumé of all these furious letters I had been reading. "It was an old trick-one of the stalest tricks; a trick that no conjuror of credit would have deemed it worth while to exhibit. The tying might be more expertly done in one case than another, and a few seconds more consequently employed in the act of

liberation; in the end, however, the conjuror was certain to succeed, with no other inconvenience than a certain flushed look and a slightly accelerated pulse. What I cannot comprehend," said he, "is your astonishment! Are you really amazed, Cornelius O'Dowd?" asked he; "or is this a got-up astonishment—one of those traits of youthful trustfulness I have seen you more than once perform before a too confiding public? Come, old fellow, none of these penny-a-liner affectations with me. You know well -ay, sir, you know well-that you have, as our neighbours say, 'assisted' at exhibitions of this kind scores of times."

For a moment I felt as if passion would suffocate me. My head, I believe, had got jammed into the corner of the chair, and I breathed with difficulty.

"If that grunt means dissent, sir," continued he, unsay it at once. I will stand no dissimulation." I felt choking, but he went on. "You claim to be a sort of 'own correspondent to all humanity;' you presume to say that you are eternally on the watch to report whatever goes on of new, strange, and remarkable in this world of ours; and here you stand with pretended astonishment at a feat of which even the last dozen years have offered us fully as many instances-ay, instances which called forth ample

discussion and noise enough to addle the whole kingdom. The first time I ever witnessed the trick myself," he went on, "it was done by Lord John Russell." I started with amazement, but he resumed. "The tying had been done by Cobden and John Bright, but very clumsily and very ineffectually. Whether it was their enormous self-confidence, or that they underrated the performer on account of his size, I cannot say; but the prevalent opinion was, none of the knots were drawn tight enough, nor was there sufficient cord employed. At all events, when the lights were produced, he was found seated with his bonds at his feet-a little flurried, as was natural, and with a heightened colour. The lights being extinguished—the House up'-after a very brief interval, we found him tied up exactly as before, every knot fastened just as Cobden and Bright had left it. The company 'cheered lustily,' some fully convinced there was more in it than our philosophy had yet fathomed; others, manifestly out of envy, alleging it was the simplest of all the rogueries in a conjuror's wallet. The discussion grew positively angry, and Mr Disraeli stepped forward and said that there was really nothing in the trick at all, that he had done it scores of times to amuse a family circle, and was quite ready to exhibit now, if it could

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