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THE APPENDIX.
APPENDIX :
Containing five Letters explanatory of some Parts of the foregoing Work.
LETTER I.
From A. B. to W. F. P.
Sir,
Meditating one evening on the subjects of our correspondence, I became fully convinced that to derive advantages therefrom to ourselves, concealment would be indispensably important. Notwithstanding, as it will undeceive the ignorant, and gratify the inquisitive, I should advise you to publish the same to the world, knowing that it will be acceptable to all classes of people ; and although satisfied myself, that in teaching the Pig, patience and perseverance are the two essential requisites ; that Acoustics and Optics, as proceeding from the Invisible Lady, are the effects of human agency ; that the performance of the Deceptions principally depends on the adroitness of the Performer ; that Ventriloquism is not strictly a gift of nature, nor the
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wonder it produces depending on diabolical agency ; that the construction of your Penetrating Glasses is plainly represented ; yet at the same time, should it meet with your approbation to undertake the publication, I think it would increase the sale of the book, if you would explain more fully, how the Pig understands your meaning after the omission of his signal ; and make some further remarks on the Temple, and on some of the demonstrations, explanatory of the Deceptions. The observations on the construction of the other machines, as well as the demonstration of a principal part of the Deceptions, are fully and familiarly explained.
Please soon to convey by Letter how far my ideas correspond with yours, respecting the publication of your correspondence.
From your long absent friend,
A. B.
LETTER II.
From W. F. P. to A. B.
Sir,
I received your friendly letter, and after maturely deliberating on its contents, I must
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inform you that I am totally averse to becoming an Author. This Authorship places a man in a critical situation ; for the writer of any work, let it be of ever so great import, or little consequence, the moment he ventures to instruct or amuse his fellow-creatures, places his reputation in the hands of a cruel and unfeeling world. I candidly confess I feel no ambition to risque my pains and labours, fame and fortune, on the event of a mere bubble, liable to be dispersed by every blast of wind. Should there be any merit in the work, this will certainly be overlooked, and all faults, (which the best of performances naturally possess,) pointed out and exaggerated. Nor will the unravelled mysteries of which you speak, gratify him who may have strangely imbibed an idea that by purchasing this book he is to be made acquainted with moral impossibilities. Others will as inconsiderately suppose, they have nothing more than barely to peruse the contents, and without farther application, or giving themselves time to practise according to the rules there suggested, will inconsistently expect to become Ranies. Such unreasonable persons, (and there are such) would be of material injury to the sale of any publication, much more, one of this nature : And these are not the only obstacles I have to
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encounter : I have another to surmount still greater than these ; and that is, those persons in the practice of Legerdemain, and others exhibiting the curiosities, whose principles my book is obliged to unfold, will, no doubt, together with their friends, exert their strongest efforts in endeavouring to persuade mankind that the demonstrations mine contains are incorrect ; and some, for the want of actual practice, or proper calculation, be led to believe it ; and thus one person brought to this belief might persuade many others. Consequently, I should have my books lay upon my hands, as a reward for my great expense and labour, and that perhaps at the cost of my reputation. This is much to be feared ; for as a plagiarist has the faculty of new clothing the sentiments of other men, and thus pass them on the world for his own, so are all these Deceptions liable to be effected by a train of different appearances, notwithstanding the principle in itself remains still the same : As for instance, the experiment of the ball being fired from a gun, and caught on the point of a dagger. The Performer, in order to confute that demonstration, and destroy the credit of the book, might occasionally perform it in the following manner : Not having a gun
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with any extra preparations, excepting his ram-rod, which may be prepared as follows, —a hollow at the ramming end, sufficient to conceal a ball, within which hollow he may have a sharp-pointed instrument, and pretending to ram down the ball, by this means take it out again ; all which would be easily effected, by reason of the spectators expecting to see it done in the manner I have explained in the book, which demonstration is the only safe one, and the one practised. In this attempt he might also have a common dagger, and risque its striking a ball already concealed under the candlestick. Now, notwithstanding this is a very uncertain way, the performer, might possibly succeed, and the book be condemned. So it is with the Invisible Lady : I feel convinced there is one now exhibiting, where but one agent is employed ; but this principle is not perfect ; the agent is obliged to be so close in order to make the sight practicable, that supposing the answers should be returned from even a brick closet, the person afraid of being overheard is obliged to smother the voice, by pressing his head in the concave ; consequently the same kind of smothered voice proceeds from the trumpet, and the auditors are obliged to repeat their question several times, before they can understand
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the answer ; whereas the method I have explained enables the Agent to speak without fear, and as distinctly as he is capable. There is another thing to be observed : The bars mentioned, in which the holes are pricked in order to communicate the sound to the trumpet, may be covered with green baize or bound round with your handkerchief, as this will not prevent the sound issuing from the bar : The compressed air will force the sound between the threads of the baize or handkerchief. Now, this experiment being shewn a person who is unacquainted with the science of Acoustics, he might be led to think my demonstration false, and thus ruin the reputation of the book. Also, there might be no Girandoles, or Transparent Paintings, but something similar must be substituted through which the object presented to the globe is to be seen.
There is one way to prove my demonstration true : —Take the blade of a knife, and go round the eight posts, between the floor and the posts, and you will certainly find four of the posts are connected to the floor. If the Lady speaks from all four of the trumpets, and the posts are those that contain the tubes in order to convey the found, when the Lady
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is requested to breathe or blow, instead of putting your hand in the trumpet, as will be the advice of the Proprietor, hold the inside of your hand to the inside of the bar, opposite the trumpet, at the distance of two inches, and you will feel the breath or wind issuing from the bar ; or you may clap one hand around the centre of the same, putting the other hand in the trumpet, and the Lady’s breath from that trumpet will not be felt. To obstruct the light, hold an handkerchief about a foot from the Incomprehensible Mirror, (so called) within this handkerchief hold the things to be defined, moving the same around the Mirror, every time shewing a different thing. The Lady must fail, though perhaps not on the first or second trials, because the handkerchief may not come opposite, so as to intercept the sight of the person secreted.
I will conclude this Letter with a few tragic Sentiments on the Death of a Mouse, which I drew from reality ; comprised in the following
LINES.
WHAT vast misfortunes men are born to bear !
Here trouble calls a sigh, there drops a tear ;
At every turn, affliction new appears,
To goad our feelings, and awake our cares.
No common loss invokes the tragic muse,
To share my grief, and mitigate my woes ;
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No merchant’s tales of ships o’erwhelm’d by seas
Inquires the Muse like loss of bread and cheese
Happy the morn that gave my sorrows ease ;
And blest the chance my vengeance did appease :
Plague on all mice that have for food desire ;
Thanks to the man who first invented wire.
A roguish mouse to whom I lay my grief ;
In trap secur’d, I thus address’d the thief : —
Hard ’tis to live ! yet thy abandon’d mob
Our cupboards plunder, and our pantries rob.
Thou little monster, cloth’d in jacket grizzle,
Why did you steal my bread, and sugar nibble ;
Drink up my milk, and trample on my butter ;
Invade my cheese, and interrupt my supper ?
Now round the trap, the captive seems to fly,
And now sagacious beams his brilliant eye ;
To pant and beg is vain, you must not live,
And Puss shall punish what I can’t forgive.
The Cat, possessing not the tenderest heart,
Soon made the little quaking captive smart :
He’s now releas’d, and now again confin’d,
Now is he shook, and now his life’s resign’d.
With frowning heart I view’d the little slain,
And, quick relenting, thus I spoke in vain : —
Poor little Grizzle, thou hast dearly paid
For being thyself, and just what Nature made.
What has thy cravings altogether ta’en ?
No matter what : Mankind are all, in grain,
Churlish and cruel ! Abandon’d human kind ;
For they are not what Nature first design’d.
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But Mouse thou art ! where was my sense of feeling,
No way liast thou t’obtain thy food but stealing ;
This should have mov’d my heart to let thee go ;
This thought have fav’d thee from the purring foe.
Revenge revolts ! quick fetch primeval flame ;
Save me the deed, and hide me from the shame :
It will not be ; and I in future times
May find this added to my page of crimes.
Condemn my haste ! I would that thou could’st live,
All trespasses in future I’d forgive ;
Free to my cupboard e’en to what might please,
To eat with me my bread, and share my cheese.
With sentiments of esteem and respect,
Your friend, &c. W. F. P.
LETTER III.
From A. B. to W. F. P.
Sir,
I received yours, and coincide with your sentinients as they relate to becoming an Author. Notwithstanding your surmises, I advise you to venture : There is nothing to be done without making a trial. Believe me, I am so well convinced of the success of this publication, that no argument will persuade me to the contrary. Remember you are not
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a stranger to the people of America ; they are already convinced that you possess a variety of talents, and their good opinion is, as Richard says in the play, “a tower of strength.”
A work of this kind will, I am pursuaded, be acceptable, and meet with a rapid sale. And I shall expect to hear in your next that the work is in the press.
I am with cordial sentiments,
Yours, &c. A. B.
LETTER IV.
From W F. P. to A. B.
Sir,
Being convinced that you would not knowingly injure me, and relying on your former professions of friendship, I place confidence in your sound judgment. In order to gratify you, and (as you say) satisfy the public curiosity, I submit our correspondence to their investigation ; taking into consideration that unravelling the seeming mysteries contained in the Letters may in some measure help to disperse the clouds of superstition, which is in my opinion of all evils the most dangerous to society, as it not only cramps but tramples on
