2"aS. VI. 145., Oct. 9. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



289 



Fire-eating. — 



" 0, ■nho can hold a fire in his hand. 

 By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? " 



Rich. II. Act I. Sc. 3. 



By this quotation it would appear Shakspeare had 

 no idea of anyone eating fire; but it seems a little 

 more than half a century after his time, there were 

 pretenders to the performance of this phenomenon. 

 Madame de Sevigne, in one of her delectable let- 

 ters dated 30 June, 1680, describes a man who 

 waited upon her from Vitrc, who dropped into his 

 mouth and upon his hand ten or twelve drops of 

 nielted cire cCEspagne (sealing-wax), as if it had 

 been so much cold water, and without the slightest 

 semblance of pain ; nor did his tongue or hand 

 show the least sign of burn or injury whatever. 

 She seems to consider it as a miracle ; but, in a 

 half-bantering mood, asks what will become of the 

 proofs of innocence, so much depended upon in 

 former ages, from the ordeal by fire ? 



Some years after, an adept in this science was 

 practising in this country, as is shown by the fol- 

 lowing extract from Applebee's Journal of Satur- 

 day, Sept. 6, 1718 : — 



" The famous Fire-eater performed before the Prince 

 (George Augustus, postea George II. ) and Princess at 

 Richmond, and gave great satisfaction to their Koyal 

 Highnesses, and many of the Nobility who were present, 

 on Tuesday, 2nd inst." 



This man was named Heiterkeit, and his portrait 

 was taken. 



I suppose all these cases would come under the 

 category of deceptio insus, nor do I conceive that 

 any antidote to the injuries resulting from contact 

 with the burning element can be found; but perhaps 

 some reader of " N. & Q." will have the goodness 

 to elucidate the subject. E. 



[It cannot be denied that theire have been, at different 

 times, itinerants who have displayed some singular feats 

 with fire, such as eating red-hot coals, broiling steaks 

 upon the tongue, swallowing draughts of liquid fire as 

 greedily as a farmer does roast beef and strong beer. An 

 Englishman of the name of Richardson attracted great 

 ilotice in Paris about 1677, bj' his feats with fire, which 

 obtained for him the title of the incombustible man and 

 the fire-eater. M. Panthot, in the Journal des Si:avans 

 tor 1G80, communicates to the editor what he calls the 

 secret of fire-eating. He says that "this secret was re- 

 vealed by the servant of Ricbardson, who was the first 

 to exhibit, about three years ago, this -wonderful experi- 

 ment, which many ascribed to his dexterity only. It con- 

 sists merely in rubbing with jmre spirit of sulphur the 

 hands and other parts to be exposed to the fire. This 

 spirit does not act, as commohlj' believed, in checking the 

 activity of the fire, but it renders the persoii on whoiii it 

 it applied less susceptible of its .iction, because it burns 

 and scorches tlie scarf-skin particularly, which it renders 

 33 hard as Icatlier, so that, for the first or second time, 

 the experiment is not so well borne as afterwards, be- 

 cause, the more it is tried, the more the skin becomes 

 hard and callous, as liappens to farriers and blacksmiths, 

 whose skins become so hard, by frequently handling hot 

 iron, that tliey are often seen to carry it quite red from 

 one anvil to another, without being burnt. However, if, 

 after several repetitions of the experiment with this 



spirit of sulphur, the person washes with warm water or 

 wine, the scorched epidermis is removed along with what 

 is hardened, and he has no longer the same power of 

 handling fire, until the same application has again scorched 

 and hardened the skin. To this secret Richardson added 

 some sleight-of-hand, which could never be discovered, in 

 respect to the live coals which he placed on his tonguei 

 and on which he dressed a bit of meat, because he ap- 

 plied immediately next his tongue another very thin slice 

 of veal, so that the coal, which was between two layers of 

 meat, could not burn him at first, and was soon extin- 

 guished by the moisture with which his mouth gradually 

 filled. Richardson's servant also confessed that the re- 

 medy might be strengthened by mixing equal parts of 

 spirit of sulphur, sal ammoniac, essence of rosemary, and 

 onion juice. With regard to the effect of the coals, wax, 

 sulphur, and other substances which he swallowed so often 

 upon his stomach, it is certain that he would not long 

 have had the trouble of making this experiment upon 

 substances so injurious to the stomach, if he had not pos- 

 sessed a facilit)' of vomiting these calcined substances by 

 the help of warm water and oil, which he took immedia- 

 tely afteir retiring from the company." For some account 

 of Powel, the professed fire-eater, see Strutt's Sports and 

 Pastimes, book iii. chap. v. sect. 30. ; and Gent. Maq. 

 XXV. 59.] 



The Pctston Letters. — Living almost entirely in 

 the country it is only by accident that now aUd 

 then I hear of discoveries with which others are 

 probably well acquainted. It was with much 

 surprise I heard lately, from a very high authority, 

 that there was good reason to believe the Paston 

 Letters, that great storehouse of antiquarian re- 

 cords, to be mere forgeries. You will much oblige 

 me by stating how this matter stands, and whether 

 there is any substantial reason to doubt their 

 genuine character. X. Y. Z. 



[We were not aware that the authenticity of these cele- 

 brated Letters had ever been questioned. They were care- 

 fully preserved in the Paston family for several descents, 

 and -vere in the possession of the Earl of Yarmouth of that 

 house, till the decease of the second and last Earl, 1732. 

 They then became the property of that great antiquary and 

 collector Peter Le Neve; fronx him they devolved, by 

 marriage with his widow, to Mr. Th.omas Martin, and 

 were a part of his collections purchased by Mr. Worth of 

 Diss, from whom they came to Sir John Fenn. The ori- 

 ginal documents were publicly exhibited in literary cir- 

 cles, and some of them facsimiled ; and although they 

 are now supposed to be lost, we have never heard a 

 doubt expressed as to their genuineness. ] 



The Swiss Family Robinson. — This book is full 

 of charms for childhood, but does not bear the 

 scrutiny of maturer years ; in this respect unlike 

 its great prototype Robinson Crusoe. A certain 

 mawkishness and heavy didactiveness, peculiarly 

 German, which pervade it are sufiicient to destroy 

 the illusion, independently of other defects. It 

 has, however, infinitely more life and interest 

 than Campe's Robinson, which is dubiess itself. 

 An advertisement by Messrs. Simpkin and Mar- 

 shall, &c. of " The Swiss Fumily Robinson, con- 

 taining the First and Second Series in one volume 

 without any abridgement Of the narrative," which 

 has just caught my eye, reminds me of my old 



