MISCELLANEOUS.

Press, Volume VIII, Issue 840, 10 July 1865, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Baenttk. —An English paper gives the following amusing account of what befel Professor Anderson, the " Wizard of the North," when on an expedition to discover the source of the Nile. It says : —" Bamum is everywhere recognised as the Prince of Humbugs. The public have been " taken in " in every 4 conceivable manner by this audacious charlatan. General Tom Thumb was shown, and and the exhibition caused a profound sensation. A book was written by Barnum, exposing General Tom Thumb, and the volume passed through five editions in as many weeks. If -i Barnum ever dies —and quacks (with the exception of old Parr), alas! are not immortal — the mantle will fall upon the shoulders of Professor Anderson. This gentleman is a epeci • 1 men of what a man may be reduced to when he has to live by his wits. It is eight years . since our old friend the Wizard of the North lias shown his face in London. His last appearance was in the midst of the flames of Covent Garden Theatre, after which, but one j course presented itself—a voyage round the world. So the Wizard packed his carpet bag, tied his umbrella and magic wand together, and with a van containing his apparatus, started on his travels. He has returned, after surprising the savage world with his won* derful illusions. A second Captain Speke, he has attempted to discover the source of the Nile that he might offer for inspection to that venerable his gun trick. He visited the Sphinx, and was asked by that mysterious personage an entirely and original cpnnundrum, which, with the aid of Miss Anderson and her second eight, he readily answered. Arrived at the Pyramids, he produced from these ancient monuments feathers tfnd bowls of gold fish. He has nrtade cakes in the head-dress woYn by the Australian savages, and has turned the scalping knife of a North - American Indian into two pigs and half-a-crown. On one occasion he- tells us he was " travelling throngh the Desert, in company with a group of Arabs, who declared him, after they had seen him perform the inexhaustible bottle trick, to be Mahomet. Parched - and hungry, they paused, with the sun pouring its molten rays upon their heads; when the Professor, who had given one of his followers a few days before a box, coutainining apparantly nothing but the week's dirty linen and some beans, requested its production. The Arab took it out of his turban (this Arab wore a turban), and upon opening the casket, found to his surprise ten watches, a rumpsteak, a key with a piece of blue ribbon tied round it, and some green and yellow flags. With the aid of the steak and the inexhaustible bottle, the part made a hearty meal. On the West Coast of Africa Professor Anderson is worshipped as a god. The untutored Indians of North America, after calling frequently for " rum" during the bottle trick, hailed him as Hiawatha, the great " medicine man," who has lead the tribes to the hunting fields beyond GongGong, the silver-faced milkmaid (we presume the moon). The prevalence of this belief nearly | cost him his life. Put-ney and Bromp-Ton, two chiefs, known as the Savage-eyed Cow and the Little Throat biting out Monkey," anxious to visit these realms of delight, and coveting a portfolio, from which they had seen the Professor produce a birdcage and a portmanteau, after taking it by turns to paint each other a bright blue with yellow spots, concealed themselves behind a hedge, and waited hie arrival tomahawk in hand Fortunately for the public, his life was saved by a friendly savage, and the Professor now relates his adventures to crowded audiences in St. James's Hall. An Ikdias Lovb Stoet.— One of the muta wives of the king, who had been betrothed to a fellow-villager, a playmate of hen, in infancy, escaped once in disguise from the palace. Direful was the commotion in consequence. Guards and attendants were flogged, and the shrieks resounded through the courtyards and corridors. Messengers were despatched in various directions to bring back the fugitive. She was found and brought back on the third day. I saw her after that for the first time. She had large black eyes, an oval face, and a fair complexion. Her features were regular, but wanted expression—all except the eyes, which seemed to look through one, so piercing and lustrous were they, swimming as if in a sea of passion. Instead of punishing her terribly, as we all expected he would, the king seemed to pay her more attention than usual on her return ; indeed so much so, that one day the queen, my mistress, remonstrated with him. "She is but,a Tillager," said the queen : " instead of indulgence, she deserves punishment; and, you grant her all she desires. ,, "I grant her none of her desires," was the king's reply "she will not express a wish for anything. I cannot make her but. Her eyes are fall of fire, and all the rest is as a marble statue. Bbc interests mc. I offer her jewels and ornaments; she does not v sat them. I get dancing girls fer her amusement; she looks on and •mileelot. A villager j

Yes, she is a villager. But, by the beard of the Prophet, she knows how to act the queen!" The queen, my mistress, said no more. When the king, her son, swtjre by the board of the Prophet she was not pleased, for she was pious, and liked not profane oaths. A month rolled on, and still this miita wife, the villager, was made much of. She wn9 not liked. She had made no friends in the court, for she apoke scarcely at all. At the end of about a month after the conversation I have related, she disappeared altogether—but this time it was the king's vengeance caused her disappearance, not her own flight. I forget her name, and cannot tell what her fate was, but T im sure it was dreadful. The king had done his best to please and amuse her, and she ■vould not be pleased or amused. I heard, too, that she openly told him she loved the village youth to whom she had been betrothed, and did not love him the king! If so, what could she expect ? Kings will not be treated in that way by village girls. The young man to whom she had been betrothed suffered with her. I do not know what his fault was. Perhaps he had enticed her to leave the palace when she escaped disguised. I do not know. I only know that his mother came to the queen to complain of the loes of her son, and for nearly a month sat at the gate wailing, with ashes on her head, and demanding justice and mercy. She gave a great deal of trouble, poor thing. I could not help pitying her. Whether the queen asked the king, her son, anything about the young man, Ido not know. She did not talk of the matter before mc. Perhaps she knew all about the case beforehand. Whatever was the true explanation, all I know about it is this, that she ordered money to be given to the poor woman, and that she should be sent back to her village.—"Elihu Jan's Story."