pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 207
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 207 | THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN target revolve, or, if the frame is used, by having a black velvet curtain pulled up by rapid springs or strong rubbers. While all this is going on, some one has brought on the stage the loaded bottle, and as no attention is called to this, by the time the watches have been restored to the owners the conjurer introduces the bottle trick, pours out the various liquors, and eventually breaks the bottle and reproduces the borrowed article tied about the neck of the guinea-pig or dove. Many names have been given to this trick. The old- time magicians who remained for months in one theatre had to change their programmies frequently, so for one night they would present the bottle without breaking it, and on the next they would break the bottle, so as to vary the trick. This bottle trick originated in "The Inexhaustible Barrel." The first trace that I can find of this wonder- ful barrel is in "Hocus Pocus, Jr., The Anatomie of Legerdemain," written by Henry Dean in 1635 (Second Edition). On page 2I is described a barrel with a single spout, from which can be drawn three different kinds of liquors. This was worked precisely on the same principle as was the inexhaustible bottle trick centuries. later, by shutting up the air-holes of compartments from which liquors were not flowing. Its first public appearance, according to the data in my collection, clipped from London papers of 1707 and I7I2, was when the "famous water-works of the late ingenious Mr. Henry Winstanly" were exhibited by his servants for the benefit of his widow; and the exhibition included [180] |