with these manifestations, Mr. Home moved
on, leaving the stage clear for the next novelty,
which was the rope-tying of the Davenports.
Meantime, the new doctrine had taken strong
hold of many persons in this country, and,
strange to say, the believers were chiefly persons
moving in the upper circles of society, some of
them distinguished for their high intellectual
attainments. Half a dozen years ago, spirit
inquiry was pursued with almost devotional
earnestness in West-end drawing-rooms, at the
receptions of celebrated literary characters, and
at private midnight meetings at clubs. I am
telling a plain unvarnished truth, when I state
that I have seen a circle of literary men and
journalists, instructors of the people, sitting
round a table, for hours, waiting for rap-
messages from their dead relatives. One conversed
with the spirit of his father, and the spirit of his
father told him to burn what he had in his
pocket. What he had in his pocket was a piece
which he had written (to order) for one of the
theatres. Acting on the advice of his father's
spirit, he withdrew the piece, and solemnly
counselled all his fellow-authors not to venture on
the same subject. One of his fellow-authors,
however, had a communication from a spirit
telling him that he might use the subject; and
he did use it! The first mentioned author is
now dead, and I am not alone in the belief that
the excitement of spirit rapping séances
aggravated his disease and accelerated his death.
One of this circle of rappers (an instructor of
the people) was troubled by an evil spirit, who
distinguished himself by using obscene language.
Whenever this spirit began to rap out bad
words, the instructor of the people endeavoured
to lay him by holding up a little gold cross
which he carried at his watch-guard.

Mr. Home did not depart from England until
he had appointed a band of apostles to preach
the gospel which he came to found and proclaim.
I trust I am not uncharitable in suspecting
that, in his selection of persons, he aimed at
a sort of parody of the original constitution of
the Christian Mission. His chosen disciples
were humble folks, flower-makers, and menders
of shoes. These disciples, with the aid of
converts in a higher sphere, have written his
Testament in the pages of two periodicals
devoted to spiritualism. In these journals we are
presented with a record of Home's miracles,
and those of his disciples. When Mr. Home
took leave of his disciples, he was lifted up to
the ceiling in their presence. Is this also a
parody of a certain event in sacred history?
When I come to notice the lecture which Mr.
Home delivered the other evening at Willis's
Rooms, the reader will be able to answer the
question for himself.

We come now to the Davenport Brothers.
They professed to be bound and unbound by
spirit hands, and they made an affidavit, upon
oath, that they had been released from prison by a
spirit. They followed Home as a sort of twin
Apostle Paul of the new doctrine. For some time
previous to the appearance of these mediums,
faith in spiritualism had been growing languid,
and the practice was falling into disuse. But
the moment the fame of the Davenports reached
this country, the "circles" were stirred to new
life, and the pretensions of the new apostles
were admitted before they gave any proof of
their powers. They were received by the
"circles" with open arms, and their wonderful
performances were hailed as a most triumphant
attestation of the truths of spiritualism. The
triumph of the faithful, however, was of short
duration. The practices of the Davenports
were exposed again and again, and exposed
more thoroughly than those of any of their
predecessors. When Mr. Addison, who was
said by the spiritualists to be a medium in spite
of himself, offered Mr. Home fifty pounds if he
could float in the air in his presence, Mr.
Home escaped from the dilemma by declining
the challenge; but the Davenports, too confident
of their skill, submitted to a test and were
found out. The complete exposure of this
last form of spiritualism has worked a great
change in the tactics of the apostles. Finding
it no longer possible to cope with the band of
detectors, who have made it their mission to
meet and expose them on all occasions, they
have dropped miracle working, and now confine
themselves to preaching spiritualism as a new
faith.

It may seem incredible, but it is nevertheless
a fact, that Mr. D. Home is now representing
himself as the apostle of a divine mission
founded on table-turning and spirit-rapping.
He declares that he received his commission, as
St. Paul received his, in a voice from Heaven,
saying:

"Daniel, fear not, my child, God is with
you; be truthful, and God shall be with you
always, cure the sick," &c.

On Thursday, the fifteenth of February, I
attended Willis's Rooms to hear the apostle
preach; but before I could bring myself under the
influence of the new gospel, I was called upon to
pay ten shillings and sixpence. "Are there no
five-shilling seats?" I asked. The answer was
"No; they are all gone; only a few half-guinea
seats left." I paid my half guinea and entered
the room; and found that there were plenty of
five-shilling seats vacant, but only a few half-
guinea ones. On coming out I accused the man
at the door of having (to use the mildest term)
deceived me. "He did not deny it; but said, in
excuse, that it was not his fault; he had been
told to say there were no five-shilling seats.
Was it Daniel who told him to say so, "Daniel,
my child," sacredly enjoined by the voice from
Heaven to be truthful?

There was a full congregation, and the
lecturer informed us that it comprised many
persons eminent in the world of letters and
believers. Hearing the lecturer quoting Scripture
in support of his views, and seeing those eminent
persons humbly and submissively sitting under
him, bowing their heads as he bowed his, at the
mention of a sacred name, I was disposed—
notwithstanding the ten-and-sixpenny transaction—