KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



369 



MODERN IMPOSTORS ,— 

 WOMEN, AND THE " SPIRITS." 



Try the Spirits.— Book of Wisdom. 



All the shelves, 

 The faithless winds, blind rocks, and sinking sands, 

 Are women all — the wreck of wretched men. 



. Lee. 



CrgJTJwNDEAVORS are now being 



£.tT) S1^-M so industriously put forth, 

 by those who ought to know bet- 

 ter, to mislead the Public and to 

 fright the town from its propriety 

 — that we feel called upon to step 

 in, and enter a formal caveat 

 against the reigning imposture of 

 the day. The world, we have said, is mad, ever 

 has been mad ; but it is going even beyond this ! 

 We will not be wearisome ; but as ours is avowedly 

 a Journal of Nature, we must vindicate what 

 is natural, and put down what is not. 



The Public need not now be told of what is 

 daily going on at the west end of the town, in the 

 way of humbug, — patronised, too, by the haut ton. 

 We allude to the sleight-of-hand performances of 

 a notorious female juggler. We would have left 

 this wide-awake, vulgar woman, to fleece her 

 visitors at her pleasure, — had she not secured to 

 herself the sanction of so great an " authority" 

 for her imposture as Dr. Ashburner. We regret, 

 with the rest of his friends, that this worthy and 

 very clever man should have been made the dupe 

 of such a shallow artifice ; for his was a fine mind. 

 We judge him, — not from hearsay, but from his 

 own printed Letter to G. J. Holyoake, Esq. Let 

 us join in the general remark, — " Alas, how are 

 the mighty fallen !" 



Festus said of St. Paul, the Apostle, — " Much 

 learning hath made thee mad." The remark was 

 not true in that instance, however applicable it 

 might be now. Nobody loves philosophy more 

 than we do. Nobody takes greater pleasure in 

 tracing every natural occurrence to its very 

 source ; but we deem it a mark of true wisdom 

 to let our inquiries have reference to the present 

 world only. All beyond this, we consider it 

 unlawful to pry into ; and when we mark the 

 " consequences" of doing so, we feel quite satisfied 

 of the correctness of our views. " Thus far shalt 

 thou come, — but no farther." 



We shall not attempt to analyse Dr. Ashburner's 

 Letter. Everybody should read it. But we will 

 offer one or two observations upon it. We pass 

 over his experiments in omnibuses — inducing cer- 

 tain passengers, " by the power of his will, to fall 

 asleep, and put their hands into his ; besides doing- 

 other ridiculous things." He says " he has often 

 done it." That may be. We certainly should 

 not like any of our woman-kind to journey by the 

 same conveyance as the worthy Doctor. We may 

 be singular, — but we speak our feeling on the 

 point. 



Dr. Ashburner then goes on to say, that he lost 

 his father fifty-five years ago; and he tells us 

 gravely how, by entering into a coalition with 

 Mrs. Hayden, the latter brought up the parental 

 ghost, — also, what the ghost said, totidem verbis. 

 We think we behold the vision now. " Oh, my 

 prophetic soul, — my Father /" 



The Doctor has, we fear, fallen into bad hands. 

 He is older than we are, and ought to know more 

 than we do of Woman's power. When good, she 



is an angel of mercy. When bad, she is the ; 



let the Doctor fill up the chasm ; for he must be 

 well aware of the " Media" by this time ! 



"Women first draw us in with flattering looks 

 Of summer calms, and a soft gale of sighs. 

 Sometimes, like Syrens, charm us with their songs, 

 Dance on the waves, and show their golden locks ; 

 But when the tempest comes, then, then they leave us, 

 Or rather help the new calamity. 



We throw this out as a kind hint, — for the 

 game cannot last very long. 



We have said, we love Philosophy. But can 

 any one bring a philosophical countenance to bear 

 upon such a ludicrous picture as we have brought 

 upon the tapis? We think not. That the Doctor 

 is sincere in his confession of faith, we readily 

 believe. This makes us feel his lost position in 

 society the more. His Letter is a great mistake. 

 It will be used against him, and against the good 

 cause he has until recently been so anxious to 

 promote — both far and near. 



To show the state of Dr. Ashburner's mind, we 

 will conclude with some few of his observations 

 at Page 8. He says, after recording his imaginary 

 conversations with certain ghosts, — " These are 

 only a small part of the numerous proofs I have 

 had of the identity of persons with whom I had 

 been acquainted years ago. I have, in subsequent 

 seances, had many opportunities of holding inter- 

 course with a score of other persons now in the 

 upper magnetic regions of space surrounding the 

 earth, — intelligences, some of whom were friends 

 here, and some of whom were individuals of whom 

 I had been desired to learn facts that turned out 

 to be marvellously true." 



It will be seen that the Doctor numbers his 

 interviews with ghosts " by the score," — like her- 

 rings. A few more, or a few less, are of little 

 consequence. He whistles to them, and, singing 

 sweetly — 



They come to his call, — 



like the birds in the song of " Home, sweet 

 Home." But we drop the curtain here ; lamenting 

 deeply the publication of such a document. 

 Liters scripta manet. 



No argument, now, can do away with what is in- 

 delibly impressed upon paper. 



Impiety like this ; and so supreme a contempt 

 for the Maker of Heaven and Earth, whose love 

 for his children, and their everlasting happiness, 

 is more boundless than the ocean, — needs only to 

 be brought into view to be received as it ought to 

 be, — with undisguised horror. 



Before quitting this sad subject — for it is sad to 

 see such a prostitution of time and intellect— may 

 we ask, how so very many respectable mothers of 

 families can persist in encouraging the impos- 

 ture ? If their own self-respect be of no con- 

 sequence, let them, — pray let them consider their 

 innocent children, and not initiate them in vice. 



When we lay aside this mortal coil, no fear 

 shall we have of being subject to exorcism by 

 strolling vagabonds, who can make spectres of us 

 at will. Oh — no ! The God we worship does 

 not deal after this fashion. So let us now leave the 

 whole crew to their meditations. 



Vol. III.— 24. 



B B 



