Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber’s note: The etext attempts to replicate the printed book as closely as possible. Many obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected. Certain consistently used archaic spellings have been retained (i.e. secresy, boquet, unforseen, caligraphy, caligrapher, conjuror, etc.) A list of corrections made follows the etext.

Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text body.]

MEMOIRS

OF

ROBERT-HOUDIN

AMBASSADOR, AUTHOR, AND CONJURER.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

EDITED BY

DR. R. SHELTON MACKENZIE.

PHILADELPHIA:
GEO. G. EVANS, PUBLISHER,
NO. 439 CHESTNUT STREET.
1859.

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by

G. G. EVANS,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY RINWALT & CO.,
34 SOUTH THIRD STREET.

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

A man may not only “take his own life,” by writing his autobiography, without committing _felo de se_, but may carry himself into future time by producing a book which the world will not willingly let die. This is what M. Robert-Houdin, the greatest artist in what is called Conjuring, has lately done in the remarkable book _Confidences d’un Prestigiteur_, a faithful translation of which is here presented to the American reading public. The work has had the greatest success in Europe, from its lively style as well as the various information it contains, historical and philosophical, on the practice and principles of sleight-of-hand, and the other details, mental as well as mechanical, which unite to make perfect the exhibition of White Magic, the antipodes of what our forefathers knew, persecuted, and punished as the Black Art.

Houdin has been considered of such importance and interest in France, that in Didot’s _Nouvelle Biographie Générale_, now in course of publication at Paris, a whole page is given to him. From this memoir, and from his own account in the pages which follow, we learn that he was born at Blois, on the 6th December, 1805,--that his father, a watchmaker in that city, gave him a good education at the College of Orleans,--that his inclination for _escamotage_ (or juggling) was so decided as to make him averse to pursue his father’s trade,--that he early exhibited great taste for mechanical inventions, which he so successfully cultivated that, at the Paris Exhibition of 1844, he was awarded a medal for the ingenious construction of several automata,--that, having studied the displays of the great masters on the art of juggling, he opened a theatre of his own, in the Palais Royal in Paris, to which his celebrated _soirées fantastiques_ attracted crowds,--that, in 1848, when the Revolution had ruined all theatrical speculations in Paris, he visited London, where his performances at St. James’s Theatre were universally attractive and lucrative,--that he made a tour through Great Britain with equal success, returning to Paris when France had settled down quietly under the rule of a President,--that he subsequently visited many other parts of Europe, every where received with distinction and applause,--that at the Great Parisian Exhibition of 1855, he was awarded the gold medal for his scientific application of electricity to clocks,--that, shortly after, he closed ten years of active public life by relinquishing his theatre to Mr. Hamilton, his brother-in-law, retiring with a well-earned competency to Blois,--and that, in 1857, at the special request of the French Government, which desired to lessen the influence of the Marabouts, whose conjuring tricks, accepted as actual magic by the Arabs, gave them too much influence, he went to Algeria, as a sort of Ambassador, to play off his tricks against theirs, and, by greater marvels than they could shew, destroy the _prestige_ which they had acquired. He so completely succeeded that the Arabs lost all faith in the miracles of the Marabouts, and thus was destroyed an influence very dangerous to the French Government.

In his retirement, to which he has returned, Houdin wrote his _Confidences_, and is now devoting himself to scientific researches connected with electricity. Before the appearance of his own work, M. Hatin had published, in 1857, _Robert-Houdin, sa vie, ses œuvres, son théâtre_.

The French and English critics have generally and warmly eulogized M. Houdin’s _Confidences_, and I am persuaded that, on this side of the Atlantic, it will be considered an instructive as well as an amusing volume.

One error which M. Houdin makes must not be passed over. His account of M. de Kempelen’s celebrated automaton chess-player (afterwards Maëlzel’s) is entirely wrong. This remarkable piece of mechanism was constructed in 1769, and not in 1796; it was the Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria who played with it, and not Catherine II. of Russia; it was in 1783 that it first visited Paris, where it played at the Café de la Régence; it was not taken to London until 1784; and again in 1819; it was brought to America in 1825, by M. Maëlzel, and visited our principal cities, its chief resting-place being Philadelphia; M. Maëlzel’s death was in 1838, on the voyage from Cuba to the United States, and not, as M. Houdin says, on his return to France; and the automaton, so far from being taken back to France, was sold by auction here, finally purchased by the late Dr. J. K. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, reconstructed by him, and finally deposited in the Chinese Museum, (formerly Peale’s,) where it was consumed in the great fire which destroyed the National Theatre, (now the site of the Continental Hotel, corner of Ninth and Chestnut streets,) and extending to the Chinese Museum, burnt it down on July 5th, 1854. An interesting account of the Automaton Chess-Player, written by Professor George Allen, of this city, will be found in “The Book of the First American Chess Congress,” recently published in New York.

M. Houdin is engaged now in writing a volume explaining the manner in which sleight-of-hand and other conjuring tricks and deceptions are performed.

I have added an Index to this volume, which I trust will be accepted as useful.

R. SHELTON MACKENZIE.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 26, 1859.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

.....PAGE

My Birth and Parentage--My Home--The Lessons of Colonel Bernard--Paternal Ambition--My first Mechanical Attempts--Had I but a Rat!--A Prisoner’s Industry--The Abbé Larivière--My Word of Honor--Farewell to my darling Tools......17

CHAPTER II.

A Country Idler--Dr. Carlosbach, Conjurer and Professor of Mystification--The Sand-bag and the Stirrup Trick--I turn Lawyer’s Clerk, and the Minutes appear to me very long--A small Automaton--A respectful Protest--I mount a Step in the Office--A Machine of Porter’s Power--The Acrobatic Canaries--Monsieur Roger’s Remonstrances--My Father decides that I shall follow my bent......26

CHAPTER III.

My Cousin Robert--The most important Event in my Life--How a Man becomes a Sorcerer--My first Sleight-of-Hand Feat--An utter Failure--Practising the Eye and the Hand--Curious Experiment in Prestidigitation--Monsieur Noriet--An Action more ingenious than delicate--I am Poisoned--Influence of Delirium......42

CHAPTER IV.

I return to Life--A strange Doctor--Torrini and Antonio: a Conjurer and a Fanatic for Music--A Murderer’s Confession--A perambulating House--The Fair at Angers--A portable Theatre--I witness for the first Time a Conjuring Performance--The blind Man’s Game at Piquet--A Dangerous Rival--Signor Castelli eats a Man alive......55

CHAPTER V.

Antonio’s Confessions--How to gain Public Applause--The Count de ----, Mountebank--I repair an Automaton--A Mechanician’s Shop on Wheels--Nomadic Life--Happy Existence--Torrini’s Lessons--His Opinions about Sleight-of-Hand--A Fashionable Greek, Victim of his own Swindling--The Conjurer Comus--A Duel at Piquet--Torrini proclaimed Conqueror--Revelations--New Catastrophe--Poor Torrini!.....73

CHAPTER VI.

Torrini relates his Life--Treachery of Chevalier Pinetti--A Conjurer through Malice--A Race between two Magicians--Death of Pinetti--Exhibits before Pius VII.--The Cardinal’s Chronometer--Twelve Hundred Francs spent on a Trick--Antonio and Antonia--The most bitter of Mystifications--Constantinople......90

CHAPTER VII.

Continuation of Torrini’s History--The Grand Turk orders a Performance--A marvellous Trick--A Page cut in two--Pitying Protest of the Harem--Agreeable Surprise--Return to France--Torrini’s Son Killed--Madness--Decay--My first Performance--An annoying Accident--I return Home......121

CHAPTER VIII.

The Prodigal Son--Mademoiselle Houdin--I go to Paris--My Marriage--Comte--Studies of the Public--A skillful Manager--Rose-colored Tickets--A Musky Style--The King of Hearts--Ventriloquism--The Mystifiers Mystified--Father Roujol--Jules de Rovère--Origin of the word _prestidigitateur_......136

CHAPTER IX.

Celebrated Automata--A Brazen Fly--The Artificial Man--Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas d’Aquinas--Vaucanson--His Duck--His Flute-Player--Curious Details--The Automaton Chess-Player--Interesting Episode--Catherine II. and M. de Kempelen--I repair the Componium--Unexpected Success......155

CHAPTER X.

An Inventor’s Calculations--One Hundred Thousand Francs a Year by an Inkstand: Deception--My new Automata--The First Magician in France: Decadence--I meet Antonio--Bosco--The Trick with the Cups--An Execution--Resurrection of the Criminals--Mistake in a Head--The Canary rewarded......176

CHAPTER XI.

A Reverse of Fortune--Cookery and Clockwork--The Artist’s Home--Invention of an Automaton--Voluntary Exile--A modest Villa--The Inconveniences of a Speciality--Two August Visitors--The Throat of a mechanical Nightingale--The Tiou and the Rrrrrrrrouit--Seven Thousand Francs earned by making Filings......192

CHAPTER XII.

The Inventive Genius of a Sugar-baker--Philippe the Magician--His Comic Adventures--Description of his Performance--Exposition of 1844--The King and Royal Family visit my Automata......221

CHAPTER XIII.

My proposed Reforms--I build a Theatre in the Palais Royal--Formalities--General Rehearsal--Singular Effect of my Performance--The Largest and Smallest Theatre in Paris--Tribulation--My first Performance--Panic--Discouragement--A Fallible Prophet--Recovery--Success......234

CHAPTER XIV.

New Studies--A Comic Journal--Invention of Second Sight--Curious Experiments--An enthusiastic Spectator--Danger of being a Sorcerer--A Philter or your Life--Way to get rid of Bores--An Electric Touch--I perform at the Vaudeville--Struggles with the Incredulous--Interesting Details......253

CHAPTER XV.

Seductions of a Theatrical Agent--How to gain One Hundred Thousand Francs--I start for Brussels--A lucky Two-Sou Piece--Miseries of professional Travelling--The Park Theatre--Tyranny of a Porter--Full House--Small Receipts--Deceptions--Return to Paris......273

CHAPTER XVI.

Reopening of my Fantastic Soirées--Minor Miseries of Good Luck--Inconvenience of a small Theatre--My Room taken by Storm--A gratuitous Performance--A conscientious Audience--Pleasant Story about a Black Silk Cap--I perform at the Château of St. Cloud--Cagliostro’s Casket--Holidays......294

CHAPTER XVII.

New Experiments--Aërial Suspension, &c.--A Performance at the Odéon--A Friend in Need--1848--The Theatre deserted--I leave Paris for London--Manager Mitchell--Publicity in England--The Great Wizard--A Butter-mould used as a Puff--Singular Bills--A Prize for the best Pun......312

CHAPTER XVIII.

The St. James’s Theatre--Invasion of England by French Performers--A Fête patronised by the Queen--The Diplomatist and the Sleight-of-Hand Man--Three Thousand Pounds taken at one Haul--I perform at Manchester--The Spectators in the Pillory--What capital Curaçoa!--A Torrent of Wine--A Catastrophe--Performance at Buckingham Palace--A Wizard’s Repast......330

CHAPTER XIX.

An Optimist Manager--Three Spectators in a Room--A Magical Collation--The Colchester Public and the Nuts--I return to France--I give up my Theatre--A Farewell Tour--I retire to St. Gervais--An Academician’s Predictions......359

CHAPTER XX.

Travels in Algeria--Convocation of the Chieftains--Performances before the Arabs--A Kabyle rendered powerless--Invulnerability--A Moor disappears--Panic and Flight of the Audience--Reconciliation--The Sect of Aïssaoua--Their pretended Miracles......371

CHAPTER XXI.

Excursion in the Interior of Africa--The Abode of a Bash-Aga--A comical Repast--A Soirée of Arab Dignitaries--A Marabout mystified--Tent-life in Algeria--I return to France--A terrible Storm--Conclusion......398