The Practical Magician and Ventriloquist's Guide / A practical manual of fireside magic and conjuring illusions, containing also complete instructions for acquiring and practising the art of ventriloquism.

by Anonymous

TRICK 22.

Having the fictitious ring in the palm of your hand, commence by requesting any lady present to oblige you by lending you a plain gold ring, and borrow also from some gentleman a colored silk handkerchief. Appear to place the borrowed ring in that handkerchief, but in reality place in it the rounded fictitious ring. Doubling the centre of the handkerchief round it, request some gentleman to hold it, so as to be sure he has got the ring in the handkerchief—while you fetch a slight cord to fasten it. While going to your table to fetch this cord, you slip the real ring into a slit in the orange which you had prepared, and which closes readily over it. You then tie the cord round the handkerchief, about two inches from the ring, and, calling the spectators to notice how it is secured, take hold of that part of the handkerchief which incloses the fictitious ring in your own hand, and tell the gentleman to place one by one the four corners of the handkerchief over your hand. Directly he has begun to do this, your fingers must proceed to unbend and open the fictitious ring, and to press it by its pointed end through the silk, and conceal it in your own palm. You tell your assistant to blow upon the handkerchief and open it—the ring is gone, and you return the handkerchief to the owner. Fetch the orange from your table, and ask some one to cut it open, and he will find the lady’s ring in the centre of the orange.

TRICK 23.

You are now to proceed immediately to the next development of the mysterious powers of the plain ring, which ladies so much admire. You may commence by remarking that “you have little doubt that this symbol of love and obedience will at your command pass through the table, solid as it is. Let us try.”

Place the tumbler on the table—produce your own silk handkerchief, to the centre of which a plain ring is already fastened by a doubled silk thread of about 4 inches length.

Use Pass 1 with the real ring, as if passing it into the handkerchief: conceal that ring, and substitute for it the fictitious ring.

Then addressing the spectators, say:

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will drop this ring into the glass, so as you shall hear it fall.” Do so. Let the handkerchief rest over the glass for a minute or two. “Now I must place this bowl under the table to receive the ring.” In so placing the bowl, you must silently place the real ring in it. Then say aloud, “Change, ring; pass from the glass through the table into the bowl below.” Lift up the handkerchief, and while inviting one or two to come and examine the glass and the bowl, smooth your forehead with the handkerchief as if heated, and pass it into your pocket. Your young friends will be astonished to find the ring not in the glass, where they heard it tinkle, but in the bowl underneath the table.

TRICK 24.

“Now, ring, you have amused us so well, that you shall, like Mahomet, be sustained in the air without visible support.”