|
CLAIRVOYANCE AT TRING.
Ed.—Massey's first wife, Rosina Jane, was a noted clairvoyant ("Somnambule
Jane") who—"offered enquirers a crop of
Clairvoyant Phenomena every Monday and Thursday. Admission, 2s.
6d. cut price". Indeed, Massey first met Rosina at such a
demonstration in 1850.
The following report and correspondence, which are taken from
the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News, the local paper for
Massey's home town of Tring, relate to two 'lectures' the 25-year old
Massey gave there on clairvoyance and mesmerism. Money was forever
tight in the Massey household and, particularly in their early years
together, Rosina's clairvoyant consultations provided a necessary source
of income. Judging from the newspaper report the Tring audiences
received their money's-worth; but one cannot help feeling that the pair
were 'rumbled' by the local medical man, Edward Pope,* for as
Pope put it . . . .
"Why accept a shilling or
eighteen pence for exhibiting manifestations of a power which, skilfully
applied, would make them 'rich beyond the dream of avarice?'"
. . . . and Dr.
Pope was not the only sceptic ― see extract from
Punch Magazine.
Rosina's reactions to Dr. Pope's suggested experiments
brings Shakespeare to mind (Hamlet, Act 3 scene 2).....The lady doth
protest too much, methinks - indeed, some 20 years later the
Globe reports Massey making a candid and
touching confession to a large audience about one particular
clairvoyante demonstration. But for the moment the last word
should rest with the worldly James Robertson, who takes Dr. Pope to task
. . . . "Why, Sir, you mesmerise upon a large scale, and then
find fault with a poor soul that only trades now and then for a crust."
(letter below)
____________________
* Edward Pope, aged 39, is
listed in the 1851 census for Tring as a 'Medical and General
Practitioner MCSL LicAH'. He lived at 63 Akeman Street (in the
photo below, on the left hand side, just beyond the bend in the road -
now demolished) together with his wife Catherine, a daughter (aged
6) and son (aged 1), a 'medical assistant', James McCann, and three
female servants.
19th Century view of Akeman Street, Tring.
Photo: Wendy Austin Collection. |
|
Extract from the....
Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News,
21st January 1853.
Mesmerism. |
|
TRING ― Two lectures
have been delivered in mesmerism, on the evenings of Friday and Monday,
in the Commercial Hall, by Mr Massey, now resident in London, but being
a native of Tring, was known to the majority of the audience. The
statement in the bills was, that Mrs Massey possessed the faculty of
introvision, or seeing with the eyelids closed, and this drew together
two such audiences as have never been seen in the Commercial Hall
before. On the second evening the doors were besieged, long before the
time of opening. The first lecture was principally devoted to mesmerism;
its history and utility as a sanative art. Then followed some
interesting experiments on Mrs Massey, the clairvoyante [sic],
who had previously been thrown into a mesmeric sleep. The experiments
commenced by her reading from any and every book or paper given to her
from the audience, with her eyes effectively covered by the hands of
anyone who could hold them in not too rough a manner. The handbills
contained a request that the spectators "would provide themselves with
their own papers for the clairvoyante to read, in order to prevent the
supposition or collusion or deception, and in all cases the print is
legible." Now although some very small type was handed to Mrs Massey,
scarcely and instance occurred where she refused, but on the contrary,
read to the perfect satisfaction and astonishment of the majority of her
auditors. The first evening concluded with some experiments in
phrenomesmerism and catalepsy.
During the time elapsing between the first and second lecture
scepticism was on the alert, and many of those who were most satisfied
with what their eyes beheld and hands felt, on the Friday evening, were
persuaded that it was a mere trick, and prevailed upon others to think
so; imagining the clairvoyante, like themselves, read by looking between
the hands before her. At length Monday evening arrived when the
whole affair was to be exploded like the imposition recorded in Chambers
Journal, of Jan 8th. The lecturer upon this occasion entered into
an explanation of clairvoyance and ordinary somnambulism, relating a few
anecdotes in connection therewith. The conclusion of the lecture
was the time selected for the first blow in the shape of sundry
questions and propositions put to Mr Massey, all of which were fairly
answered. Then came the clairvoyante's turn to be tested, who
passed most successful; reading everything that was given her, although
two hands and once four were placed over her eyes. Even with this, one
gentleman was not satisfied, nor would he be, unless allowed to hold the
eyelids down in a manner proposed by himself; when he had arranged his
fingers a card was handed to Mrs Massey, who laid it upon her forehead,
who read it aloud to the satisfaction of the unbeliever. It
is only fair to state, that every means that could be thought of was
adopted in the endeavour to disconcert the youthful pair, and prove them
impostors in the word and deed. After giving some hearty cheers,
the majority left the hall well pleased with what they had beheld.
Tring High Street, ca 1890, viewed towards the
photographer's position in the first photograph.
The Bank of Tring ('Butcher's
Bank'), a bank of issue, is the gable-ended building, mid distance
on the right.
___________________
|
|
THE BUCKS ADVERTISER AND AYLESBURY NEWS.
SATURDAY, FEB.
5, 1853.
CLAIRVOYANCE AT TRING.
|
|
To the Editor of the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News
Sir,—Having read in your paper of Saturday last an incorrect and one-sided
statement relative to the late lectures and experiments in mesmerism and
clairvoyance, at Tring, I claim, in justice to myself and several other
gentlemen who were present, and who disapprove of your report, a space
in your forthcoming number.
|
 |
|
(1811-98)
Medical practitioner at Tring, and clairvoyance sceptic. |
A few days prior to the delivery of the first lecture, I
received a printed handbill, in which "all who desired to become acquainted with
the truth of a marvellous phenomenon were invited to a fair and faithful
investigation." I also received, a private invitation from the lecturer,
in which he stated that he "did not fear medical men, although they were the
greatest sceptics." Thinking, therefore, that if I did not attend it would
be said that I shrank from the enquiry, and knowing also that a morbid feeling,
with respect to this subject, prevailed in the minds of some who believed that
the wonders they had heard of were the actual works of Satanic power, a notion
full of ignorance and superstition, I determined to accept the invitation and to
make a fair and faithful investigation. I attended the first lecture and
witnessed the experiments, covering on one occasion the eyes of the clairvoyante
with my hands, in the way directed by the lecturer; thus, the palm of each hand
was placed immediately over the eye, the two hands crossing each other about the
centre of the nose at an acute angle. All the experiments thus conducted
were successful. But, although it was evident that no proof of the
truth of clairvoyance could result from experiments thus performed, I left (as
there was to be another lecture) without giving any opinion. On the
following day I tried several experiments, both on myself and others, and was
soon convinced that it is impossible for any one by placing his hands in the way
directed, over the eyes of another, to satisfy himself that the light is
entirely excluded from them, and that it is equally impossible for a spectator
in front to be so assured. On the conclusion, therefore, of the second
lecture I proposed certain experiments, which, if the clairvoyante should
succeed, I offered to move a resolution to the effect that, the truth of
clairvoyance had been proved. After explaining what natural vision is, and how
the images of things seen, are depicted by the action of the light proceeding
from them, on the expansion of the optic nerve or retina; and after deducing
from the, printed handbill what is meant by clairvoyance, which the eye is said
not to be used in a natural way; that is as a lens, and for which purpose,
therefore, light cannot be necessary, and the exclusion of which was of course
the object intended, by covering the eyes with the hands. I proposed—
1st. That the clairvoyante should read in the dark, putting out
the light altogether, being a much more simple and satisfactory way of excluding
it from the eyes than covering them with the hands, and this too in a room in
which were several strong gas-lights.
2nd. That she should read a printed paper, which was twice folded upon
itself, and enclosed within an envelope; and here I would remark that in such
experiments the envelope should be opaque, for in certain angles of light
ordinary vision is sufficient to read a word enclosed within several folds of
letter paper which is translucent.
3rd. That I should be permitted to close the eyes in any way that I might
consider necessary.
I then said these were the only experiments that would convince me of the
truth of clairvoyance. With respect to them Mr. Massey, after replying to
my observations relative to matters contained in his lectures, said, that after
my expression of scepticism, Mrs. Massey would not only not submit to them but
that she would not allow me to come near her. For I must tell you
that the mesmerists guard their experiments in every way; and thus, in order to
cover failures or avoid detection, they say that this wonderful power of
clairvoyance may be destroyed by the near approach even of a sceptic!
The fact is, Mr. Massey knew, that had the clairvoyante submitted she would
undoubtedly have failed, and a public failure would never do; a few such and
''Othello's occupation would be gone." In the remarks I made I was
careful not to say anything offensive, beyond the expression of my disbelief,
lest it should be said that my interference had spoiled the experiments. I was,
therefore, not a little surprised, on the clairvoyant being introduced, to see
her assume an air of the worst possible temper, and to hear her make rude and
vulgar personal remarks, the whole being wound up with a fit of feigned
hysteric. I say "assume" and ''feigned," it being evident the whole
thing was a sham, got up for the purpose of enlisting the sympathy of the
audience. On being thrown into the so-called mesmeric or somnambulic state
she continued her rude personalities, proceeding even to call names, and
directing occasionally towards me her countenance full of demoniacal expression,
but which, I will do her humanity the justice to believe, she did not really
feel. The experiments, as on the former evening, were then proceeded with,
but as those I had proposed had been refused, and no one pressed them, I, after
the treatment I had received, took no further part in the proceedings.
The experiments, as usual, were of course successful—and I believe many persons
present fully credited the powers of the clairvoyante—thus showing how easily
the "discerning public" will allow itself to be deluded. In the first place,
there was not the slightest proof that the clairvoyante was in the so-called
mesmerie or somnambulic state—her whole demeanour, after being roused from what
is called the state of coma, being that of a person awake, with the eye-lids
apparently closed—and such as any one could assume. 2nd. Fair crucial
experiments, not cruel, which two words Mr. Massey appeared to confound, were
objected to, and those only were tried which the clairvoyante and her husband
themselves proposed-that is, experiments with conditions attached. Why,
has not every conjuror his conditions, and is not his trick undetected?
With respect to the phrano-mesmeric phenomena, I pass these
over altogether, as at must be obvious that where husband and wife are the
operators, there can be no check against collusion. I may, however,
observe that Mr. Massey accounted for the susceptibility of the clairvoyante's
cerebral organs to "excitation without contact," by supposing her skull to be
very thin, and politely suggested a not very flattering contrast between it and
the skulls of some of the audience. And now, Sir, after what I have
stated, I think you will agree with me, that the question of the truth or
falsehood of clairvoyance will remain just what it was before the delivery of
the late lectures and experiments at Tring, in the minds of all such as are
acquainted with the laws of evidence, and whose previous prejudices have not
rendered them incapable of being guided by such laws.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
EDWD. POPE.
Tring, 2nd Feb., 1853.
Tring: Frogmore St., looking towards High St. and Akeman
St. |
|
________________________
BUCKS ADVERTISER AND AYLESBURY NEWS,
FEB. 12,
1853.
THE TRING POPE.
To the Editor of the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News
Mr. Editor,—A letter signed Edward Pope appeared in
your paper of last Saturday, and such a one that demands a spirited
reply. Respecting the Satanic agency ascribed by some people in Tring to
mesmeric influence I have only to say that where the Devil has the best
quarters the people seem most afraid of him. All honour to Mr.
Pope for his determination to expose quackery; but only let the public
see how the question of mesmerism and clairvoyance affects him, and they
will be enlightened upon his objections to the system pursued by Mr.
Massey. I believe Mr. Pope is one of the faculty practising in the
town of Tring, and therefore desirous that the present system of
medicine adopted by himself shall remain as lucrative as it is now.
Mr. Pope would endeavour to make the people that saw the experiments to
be blockheads, and take to himself the sole and exclusive judgment, as
if other people could not judge as well as himself. Now, Mr. Pope
may pronounce the experiments quackery if he chooses, but let him know
the mesmeric quackery is not the only quackery in the world. I will not
attempt, Mr. Editor, to enumerate the quackeries in existence, only beg
of Mr. Pope, before he condemns scientific experiments, to sweep his own
doorway clean before Othello's occupation is gone.
Mr. Pope's propositions are the following:—First, that the
clairvoyante should read in the dark; second, that she should read a
printed paper which was twice folded upon itself and enclosed in an
envelope; and thirdly, that he should be permitted to close her eyes in
any way he might think necessary.
Now, upon the first proposition, can Mr. Pope read in the
dark? If he cannot how can he expect Mrs. Massey to do it.
Secondly, not only in the dark but have a printed paper twice folded in
an envelope; now how would Mr. Pope like to be told to read a letter
without opening it, or how would he like it to be folded in an envelope?
Oh, says he, I do not profess to be able. No, Sir, it would
be all the same if he did. For even Mr. Pope cannot do
everything. Thirdly, that he should be permitted to close
her eyes in any way he thought necessary. How would he like a man
to close the eyes of his wife in any way that man may like, or how would
he like his wife to be submitted for an examination even by a brother
member of the faculty? Was you not ashamed of yourself, Sir,
to interrupt a meeting to question a lady's sincerity or even venture to
propose to touch her eyes? Is not your wife your property?
Is not Mr. Massey's his property also? And how dare you,
Sir, if you are a gentleman, to think of such a thing?
You say that Mr. Massey and his wife acted in concert.
Well, Sir, and what of that ? A blessed thing when they can do so.
Do not say any more on that point or the public will think that Mr. and
Mrs. Pope do not.
You say that every conjuror has his conditions, and his trick
remains undetected. Do you dare, Sir, to call Mr. Massey a
conjuror and his wife a trick? Bald language, to be sure, for a
man that works with mesmeric influence every day. How many poor
souls have gone to the grave because you have shaken your head, to say
nothing of your compounds? How many have got well because you have
smiled and kept the physic-bottle away ? Why, Sir, you mesmerise
upon a large scale, and then find fault with a poor soul that only
trades now and then for a crust.
Trusting I have made myself understood, and hoping that Mr.
Pope will not be found blacking the aspirations of the youthful pair,
I subscribe my name without hesitation,
JAMES ROBINSON.
Leighton Buzzard, Feb. 8, 1853.
Tring: Frogmore Street, from the opposite direction to the
previous photo.
Photo: Wendy Austin Collection.
|
|
________________________
BUCKS ADVERTISER AND AYLESBURY NEWS,
FEB. 12, 1853.
CLAIRVOYANCE AND THE POPE.
To the Editor of the Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News.
DEAR Sir,—Do not be startled at
the heading of my article, I do not allude to Pio Nono who lately put
down sham clairvoyance in Rome, because he thought the trick so
infernally clever, but to the Pope in miniature, who lately extinguished
"Clairvoyance in Tring." I see by your paper of the 5th inst.,
that we are snuffed out irrecoverably. I little thought that after
convincing millions of people of the genuineness of our pretensions, it
was reserved for the good people of Tring to detect the humbug of them.
But Sir, will you bear one word from the condemned on his way to
execution? In the meanwhile perchance a reprieve may come.
Mr. Pope commences to correct an incorrect statement
which appeared in your paper, and which he does not correct in any one
particular. In this respect he reminds me forcibly of the
Dutchman, who having to leap a dyke, ran a preliminary two miles in
order that he might get a good start, and when he arrived at the edge of
it, had run himself out of breath, and could not take the leap at all.
I shall endeavour to answer Mr. Pope's letter seriatim.
(The Clairvoyante looking over my shoulder, construes that into " Sir! I
hate him;" and begs to endorse the sentiment. Of course, Mr. Pope will
"do her humanity the justice to believe she does not feel it.")
Mr. Pope speaks of the "several gentlemen" who disprove
of your previous report. I presume he reckons on the principle
that one of them being the landlord of an inn, he constituted a whole
Host in himself! At our seace they were a minority of
two. Mr. Pope informs you that "fair crucial experiments
were objected to, and those only were tried which the clairvoyante and
her husband themselves proposed." Indeed! Did we propose the
experiments and tests of Messrs. Parkes and Sherman, the clergyman, and
others, who held the clairvoyante's eyes with the tips of their fingers?
Why it was one of the very tests Mr. Pope himself proposed; only, mark
you! The condition he stipulated for was, that "he should be the
person who was to hold her eyes in the proposed way." That, in a
great measure, explains why she would not read for Mr. Pope, and why she
did read for any one beside, in the way Mr. Pope himself proposed; and
she was perfectly successful in every instance. He states that no
proof of the truth of clairvoyance could result from the experiments as
performed at Tring. Now, sir, I stated distinctly that what we had
to show was little or no evidence for the existence of clairvoyance; and
that the subtler experiments could not be induced before a public
audience. We went to Tring to demonstrate more particularly that
in the somnambulic state, and in certain persons, a transfer of vision
takes place, and that they can see without the ordinary use of the eyes.
Such a power has existed in the natural somnambulist, and they have met
Mr. Pope’s conditions by seeing in the dark. Clairvoyance does
exist where this change, or intensifying of the physical sight does not
occur. Indeed, I am not aware that any living clairvoyante
possesses this faculty in such a degree as Mrs. Massey does, and this is
the great fact we have to demonstrate publicly. This is what we
ask your opinion upon, and not something else. Mrs. Massey's
reputation as a clairvoyante is not staked on this reading faculty; but
whatever else she may be able to do in clairvoyance would not help you
or any one to a belief in this sight. As regards the way we prefer
the eyes being held, we choose it because it is found by experience to
be the most generally convincing; and because, if we had not conditions,
we should be at the mercy of an audience, who would furnish probably 20
different tests in one night, and each person would have as legitimate a
right to insist on trying his test as Mr. Pope. But if that
gentleman will read one line for me in the way we propose the
clairvoyante's eyes shall be held, at any of our lectures, I will hand
over to him the proceeds of the evening, and I will neither crush his
head, pinch his nose, or dig my fingers into his eyes. We invite
persons to place their hands over the eyes of the clairvoyante for their
own satisfaction; not that she would be able to see naturally if they
did not, for she is totally unable to use the eyes at all in the normal
way so long as she continues in the mesmeric state. Mr. Pope
demands that the clairvoyante shall read in the dark, to prove to him
that she can do what she professes to do in the light. He might
just as philosophically demand that a given steam-engine should blow him
up at a given time and spot, to demonstrate to him the extraordinary
power of steam! But the impossible could in no wise enable him to
grasp the possible. And if she were to read in the dark?
That would not convince the sceptic that it was done by clairvoyance,
not in the least. He would probably admit the fact that it was
done, that he, the sceptic, was done, that the “discerning public" was
done, and that we were all done together. But as to clairvoyance.
No; anything but that. There are chemical compositions that are
luminous in the dark. Beside, perhaps the clairvoyante might have
smuggled in a glow-worm or a fire-fly. We could not see what she
did in the dark. We know the sceptics, Sir, better than they know
themselves: they do not mistrust us alone; they cannot trust themselves.
Again, he demands that she read through an opaque envelope to prove to him
that she can see the letters of a book. We never contended for any
such powers. I never denied that light was an essential condition
for our success, nor did I assert that she could see more with the eyes
held than I or Mr. Pope can see without. I have heard of both
these things being done, and believe that Mrs. Massey could do them; but
the one would demand too great an excitement of the brain, the other
would only prove to me a transmission of thought, and not actual sight.
Mr. Pope remarks, "the mesmerists say that this wonderful power of
clairvoyance may be destroyed by the near approach of a sceptic."
In illustration, take the following extract from the Coventry Herald
of Feb. 4th, relative to our lectures in that place:—"There was one very
remarkable circumstance connected with the reading on this evening.
One lady present held the clairvoyante's eyes, when she complained
that the lady's influence was so dark she could not see; but if some
gentleman would place his hand over, in addition to the lady's, she
should be able to read. This was done, and she then read fluently."
That does not look like seeing through the fingers, does it? Mr.
Pope seems to suppose that he was the only person in Tring knowing
enough to detect the trick and to cause us to fail, that we went to
Tring especially to convince him, and that, failing to do so, therefore
clairvoyance does not exist. Very amusing, but by no means logical
or conclusive. Mr. Pope complains of the demeanour of the
clairvoyante. I suppose he thinks a clairvoyante should have no
feeling, and that she should hear herself set down as an impostor and
humbug, and bear the sneer, the taunt, and the insult with the most
seraphic meekness. Mr. Pope may find his wife thus docile, but
mine is'nt; she's not made in that mould. He says the clairvoyante
assumed ill-temper and feigned hysteric, which assertion is unwarranted
and untrue: I should add ungentlemanly and cowardly; but I suppose I
must credit him with the cruel consistency of believing that the whole
of our exhibition was humbug. Just as he pleases. Only I
think she felt too much to "feign" and was far too ill to
"assume," which, as regards the miserable motive he assigns for the
"sham," he knows well enough that the "sympathy of the audience" was
entirely with us from first to last, and that he was one in a minority
of two or three.
Mr. Pope also states that "There was not the slightest proof that the
clairvoyante was in the so-called mesmeric or somnambulic state."
A Daniel come to judgment, say I! Now, I should like to know what
would constitute sufficient evidence for the truth of something, the
very existence of which the sceptic denies? He does not believe
that the thing exists, consequently he cannot be competent to reason on
its proofs. But, Sir, we are too intimately acquainted with
scepticism to marvel at any of its manifestation. It is the same
blind, cold, wilful thing it ever was—no matter whether it stands
mocking the dying Christ, thrice-crowned on Calvary—torturing Galileo,
and refuting him by the sharp logic of the rack—or putting its squinting
constructions on mesmerism and clairvoyance. It is with
clairvoyance, as with most other things, the eyes of the beholder can
only see just so much as they bring with them the power of seeing, and
if persons have not the faculty for believing that things may exist
which they cannot reason upon, and mathematically demonstrate, we may
never convince them of the truth of clairvoyance. Credence depends
upon capacity as well as evidence. We measure things according to
our organization, and I cannot help looking suspiciously on the person
who, where an alternative exists between honesty and roguery, comes
immediately to the rogueish conclusion. But there are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in medical science, and
clairvoyance does exist although some persons have not the capacity for
believing it, and Mrs. Massey's faculty for reading with the eyes closed
is genuine, independent of Mr. Pope's belief or disbelief.
In conclusion, Mr. Pope mentions my invitation to him. I did not
intend it as a personal challenge, but I here subscribe a challenge,
personal to him or any one beside, if any of those persons, who cannot
credit what they see with their own eyes and feel with their own hands,
would be inclined to back their scepticism with a sum of money worth
trying a crucial experiment for, say from £20 to £60, I shall be very
happy to wager its equivalent, that Mrs. Massey shall read with her eyes
covered by as many plasters as there may be of pounds staked, and the
sceptic may have the assistance of all the medical men in Tring in
laying the plasters on securely. Not that that would be sufficient
evidence to some sceptics, but because their only vulnerable point is
the breeches-pocket. I shall lecture in Tring again, and shall be
glad to hear from any one who will accept my offer.
I regret having inflicted so lengthy a letter on your readers,
uninteresting to the majority of them; but I promise them that we shall
shortly give them a better opportunity of judging of the truth of our
experiments, and of deciding between clairvoyance and the Pope.
I am, dear Sir, your's faithfully,
GERALD MASSEY.
Photo: Wendy Austin Collection.
|
|
________________________
BUCKS ADVERTISER AND AYLESBURY NEWS,
FEB. 12, 1853.
CLAIRVOYANCE AT TRING.
To the Editor of the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News.
Sir—I thank you for the insertion of my letter in your last week's paper,
relative to the above subject, and will beg the same favour for the
following remarks, which an unwillingness to make my former
communication too lengthy prevented me adding to it.
You will observe, that in the handbill, which I enclose, the public are
invited " to a fair and faithful investigation," and that it is also
stated that the clairvoyante has been "satisfactorily tested by numerous
persons of all classes."
Relying on the good faith of this invitation, I attended for the purpose
of making such "investigation" and I proposed to apply such tests as I
considered would prove "satisfactory." For, in a matter altogether
so contrary to the order of nature, and in which, as the lecturer
himself admitted, so much imposition has prevailed, I consider it is our
duty not to take for granted any assertions of parties exhibiting, and
not to receive anything as true, unless it be proved to be so.
Now, in the present case, when I proposed my tests, not a word was said
about their unfairness or inapplicability; they were simply rejected,
the lecturer stating they were there to perform their own experiments
and not those of other people; and, instead of meeting my arguments with
others, he permitted the clairvoyante to assail me with personalities.
She did, however, state that at a private sitting, and for a proper
consideration, the clairvoyante would submit to other experiments.
But, if in private, why not in public? Because, in the event of
failure, its effect upon the fortunes of the clairvoyante in the former
case would be comparatively harmless. On the face, then, of the
handbill there is a fraud; in it, the lecturer invites to "a fair
investigation," which in the lecture-room he declines. The only
test he will allow is his own: the exclusion of light from the eyes by
the unsatisfactory and clumsy expedient of covering them with the hands,
and this, too, applied in his own way. And here I should observe
that everything that was read was held within the range of ordinary
vision. Of course, experiments thus conducted and thus tested must
be successful. But what inference, I ask, would any reasonable and
reasoning person deduce from them? The whole thing is absurd.
But perhaps the best test of the trick or falsehood of clairvoyance is
that which was proposed about six years since by Sir Philip Crampton,
the Irish surgeon-general. This gentleman placed in the hands of
one of the Dublin bankers the sum of £100, in the form of a note.
This was folded in a slip of paper, on which was written three English
words, and enclosed in a sealed envelope. On this was an
endorsement to the effect that any person describing the particulars of
the note and reading the three words should have it for their pains.
It is, perhaps, needless to remark the note was never claimed. Sir
Philip, too, in the communication to the newspaper in which he published
this offer observed that the professors of, and believers in,
clairvoyance exhibited a wonderful forbearance in not turning their
powers to a more profitable account. Why accept a shilling or
eighteen pence for exhibiting manifestations of a power which, skilfully
applied, would make them "rich beyond the dream of avarice?" and he
related a story which he had somewhere read of "an ingenious gentleman
of the last age" who, lying violently afflicted with the gout, a person
came and offered his service to cure him by a medicine which, he assured
him, was infallible. The servant carried the message up to his
master, who inquired whether the person came on foot or in a chariot,
and being informed that he came on foot, said, "Go, send the knave about
his business; were his method as infallible as he pretends, he would,
long before now, have been in his coach and six."
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
Tring, Feb. 9, 1853. EDWD. POPE.
_________________________
The Pope family grave, The Parish Church, Tring.
In Loving Memory
of
EDWARD POPE
SURGEON IN THIS TOWN
FOR SIXTY
YEARS
WHO DIED MARCH
2ND. 1898
AGED 86 YEARS
AND CATHERINE
ELIZA,
HIS WIFE
DAUGHER OF JOHN
FOSTER OF KNARESBOROUGH
WHO DIED SEPTEMBER
16TH. 1875
AGED 60 YEARS
AND THEIR CHILDREN
ELIZA MARY
THACHRAH
AGED 5 MONTHS
CATHERINE GRACE
MATILDA
AGED 9 YEARS
AND TWO INFANT
SONS
Obituary, British Medical Journal, 26th March, 1898.
|
|
Photo: Wendy Austin Collection. |
|
The GLOBE
13th May 1872
(page 3)
AMONG THE SPIRITUALISTS. |
|
Mr. Gerald Massey has commenced a course of four lectures on
subjects connected with Spiritualism. "Facts of my own personal
experience narrated and discussed, together with various theories of the
alleged phenomena"—this was his subject yesterday afternoon, and some
two or three hundred people, mostly spiritualists, assembled to hear
him. It is to be presumed that Mr. Massey's object is to promote
the cause of spiritualism by establishing those who are in the faith and
convincing those who are not. As to what may have been the effect
of his first lecture upon believers, we cannot venture to express any
opinion. People who are occasionally found to be so entirely
independent of physical laws cannot safely be regarded as at all times
amenable to ordinary mental influences. But if the experience Mr.
Gerald Massey related yesterday be the standard and ordinary experience
of spiritualists, then people may exclaim, "Heaven preserve us from
conversion."
He began by declaring that either with the pitchfork, or the
pen, he had been all his life long accustomed to hard work. The
circumstances which led him first to believe in clairvoyancy, and then
to become a spiritualist, were very interesting, and might perhaps
afford a subject for a painter, or a situation for a novelist. He
was in the company of a young lady clairvoyante, [Ed.―Rosina
Jane, who became Massey's first wife in 1850; she died in 1866] who
undertook to read a book without seeing it, and he was appointed to hold
her eyes. This, it must be confessed, was a very delicate office
for a young man and a poet. He frankly confessed yesterday that
his anxiety for the young lady's success overcame for once his love of
sincerity and truth, and that he purposely opened his fingers to enable
her to see through. Although this proved to be a very unnecessary
display of partiality, it was of course a very unmistakable one, and we
cannot be surprised that Mr. Massey ran away with the young clairvoyante
and made her his wife.
The lecturer proceeded to give the facts of his married life
in connection with spiritualism. We really cannot bring ourselves
to recount them. We have read them over—the spirits that nibble
like a rat, and rap like a telegraph, and whisk like a dog's tail—ad
nauseam. Here and there Mr. Massey certainly ran somewhat
above the ordinary level. It is not every spiritualist who can
relate from his own experience such a hideous ghost story as that with
which he yesterday delighted his audience, nor is it every one who has
occasionally found his wife ghastly and convulsed, and possessed by the
spirit of a murderer, who cries, "Give me back my bones." It is,
too, only fair to add that unlike most spiritualistic experiences, Mr.
Massey's are not entirely void of a practical utility. The spirit
of Shakespeare has occasionally communicated with him, and on one
occasion gave him a genuine hint about the interpretation of one of
those perplexing sonnets of his. Now, this is something like what
we have so long been demanding. There really is some sort of sense
in a manifestation of this kind. An edition of Shakespeare edited
by himself would be absolutely priceless.
If all the facts of our experience lead us to believe, for
instance, that ceilings must be impervious to Mrs. Guppy, why should Mr.
Massey be severe upon us it we hold on by our facts and maintain that
Mrs. Guppy can't come through, and that those who say she can must be
lunatics? It was impossible to hear this lecture and remain
serious. Trashy ghost stories might have been all very well when
Mr. Massey wielded the pitchfork; but to hear them soberly delivered in
terse, vigorous English, and with the racy, humorous good sense which is
characteristic of his style, suggests the idea of a man of real
intellectual power degenerated into a hopeless craze.
|
|
Tring: Brook Street.
Photo: Wendy Austin Collection.
―――♦――― |
|
Come and See, and prove it for Yourselves!
MAGNETISM THE UNIVERSAL MYSTERY DEMONSTRATED TO BE A
LAW OF NATURE.
CLAIRVOYANCE Explained! GERALD MASSEY, will Lecture
on MONDAY Evening, OCTOBER 25th, 1852, on the subject of—
MESMERISM AND CLAIRVOYANCE ! !
In the Literary and Scientific Institution, John Street,
Fitzroy Square.
SYLLABUS OF LECTURE. |
|
Mesmerism too generally accepted to demand its martyrs
now.—A brief sketch of its history.—Its various manifestations.—Its
curative powers.—A Contagion of Health as well as of Disease.—Different
methods of Mesmerism.—Natural Somnambulism.—Instances of Spontaneous
Clairvoyance.—Dangers of Sleepwalking.—Somnambulism Artificially
Induced.—The Effects of Attraction and Repulsion.—Endeavours to account
for Phenomenon.—The Sceptics and Commonscensical.—The Visible and
Invisible.
__________
The
Lecture will be illustrated by various interesting and marvellous
experiments in Phreno-Mesmerism, Catalepsy, and Clairvoyance. The
Clairvoyante—Mrs Gerald Massey—will read any book, or paper, printed in
the English language, produced by any of the audience, who can perfectly
close the eyes of the Clairvoyante, and hold them with their own hands.
She will also endeavour to ascertain and describe any internal disease
from which any one person present may be suffering. The Mesmeriser
will also answer any questions of the audience, if directly bearing upon
the subject.
Doors open at 8 o'clock. Lecture at half past 8.
Admission: Hall and gallery, 3d. : Platform 6d.
Tickets may be had at the Institution, and at 56, Upper Charlotte-Street,
Fitzroy Square.
―――♦―――
. . . . and from PUNCH, 9April, 1853. . . .
 |
|
