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The great Robert Houdin, one of the master wizards of modern times, quitted Petrograd by two gates at the same hour according to credible witnesses; but his performance sinks into insignificance beside that of a Chinese predecessor who flourished under one of the Ming emperors. The palace of this potentate was approached by gates, each having twelve locks, and each being watched by twelve guards.
But pray, who or what is that God, who has a will, and what can be the subject of his divine will? Are the stories of witches, ghosts, wizards, hobgoblins, etc., more absurd and difficult to believe than the magical or impossible action of mind upon matter? When we admit such a God, fables and reveries may claim belief.
Witches and wizards operate and prosper among the Hottentots and negroes and barbarous Indians, among the Siberians and Kirgishes and Lapps, of course. Everybody knows that they are poor ignorant creatures! Yes: but are the French and Germans and English and Americans poor ignorant creatures too?
To this his wife answered: "Do not kill me yet, but wait a little, and first seek out one who can ask counsel of the spirits." And now the husband began eagerly to search for such a one. He came home bringing wizards with him, and bade them try what they could do, and when they could not find the child, he let them go without giving them so much as a bite of meat.
The priestly presence deprives an idol of all its powers, the sacerdotal power annihilates all charms and devices, "thereby showing that the performances of Christ's ministers are always above those of the devil's." The "great ugly wizards" are "sent martyrs to the devil" on all possible occasions.
Cotton Mather, a very learned and eminent clergyman, believed that the whole country was full of witches and wizards, who had given up their hopes of heaven, and signed a covenant with the evil one. Nobody could be certain that his nearest neighbor or most intimate friend was not guilty of this imaginary crime.
But he replied: 'Long ago three Lapland wizards tried to bewitch me, and employed their strongest spells against me, but I stood unmoved. Then I began my own magic songs, and before long I overcame them and sank them to the bottom of the sea, where they are still sleeping and the seaweed is growing through their hair and beards.
Tshaka shared to the fullest extent those superstitions which form such a salient characteristic of all the Bantu tribes. Now, all savages believe that persons whose wits are affected are wizards, whom it is good policy to propitiate, and whom he may be dangerous to offend. Therefore the king signified that the strangers might approach. Two men were then led before Tshaka.
I am not a magician, King, but I know some things that you do not know, and I trust in One whom I shall lead you to trust also." "We will talk of this more hereafter," said the king hurriedly, "for one day, I have heard and seen enough. Also I do not believe your words, for I have noted ever that those who are the greatest wizards of all say continually that they have no magic power.
"Don't say a word, Barney to whom the medicos of mythology and all the wizards of antique story are clowns and mountebanks you shall have the guinea or its equivalent." "Twenty-one shillings gold, bear in mind. Yer father's a banker, ye ought to know that!" "I do. You shall have the twenty-one shillings in the shinplasters of the republic." The colonel had been routed none too soon.
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