The pre­sti­di­gi­ta­teur makes things appear and disappear to our great wonderment, until finally Death, the greatest of all necromancers, waves his wand, and the mortal fades away from view, amid the shadows of the tomb. Tom Masson, that charming writer of verse de societé, says—

We are like puppets in some conjurer’s hands,

Who smiling, easy, nonchalantly stands

And says, amid the universal cheers:

“You see this man—and now he disappears!”[26]

[26] Munsey’s Magazine, August, 1905.

THE SECRETS OF SECOND SIGHT.

“Then second-sighted Sandy said,

‘We’ll do nae good at a’, Willie.’ ”

—Child’s Ballads, VII. 265.