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between the parts of the conjuring performances.
Anderson had now realised a considerable fortune, a large portion of which he invested in a
theatrical speculation upon which his mind had long been set, namely the erection of a theatre at
Glasgow for dramatic performances. The result was most unfortunate, the theatre being
destroyed by fire before its owner had recovered the money he had expended in its construction.
Rendered desperate by the heavy loss with which he was threatened, Anderson, who was only
partially insured, would have rushed into the flames in the hope of saving some of his property if
he had not been restrained. Becoming calmer, he hurried to the bridge, from which he watched
the progress of the conglagation until the flames sank to a dull glow for the want of combustible
materials to maintain them.
As soon as his mind had recovered its equanimity, he set out for full, whence after performing
there with success for several nights, he embarked for Hamburg. From that city he proceeded to
St. Petersburg, performing on his way at Copenhagen and Stockholm. Arrived in the Russian
capital, he engaged the Alexandrisky theatre, where he had a very successful season.
He had not been long in St. Petersburg when, being one night at a mask ball at the Bolshoi
theatre, accompanied by Mr. Maynard, he happened, in the crowd, to jostle a gentleman in the
uniform of a Russian general, to whom he immediately offered an apology.
It was very coldly received, and Anderson experienced a vague feeling of uneasiness on learning
from his companion that the gentleman he had jostled was the Czar, and that he had increased
the offence by the apology, it being contrary to Russian court etiquette to address the Czar on
such occasions. He wondered whether he should be arrested on leaving the theatre, or taken
from his hotel in the dead of night, clapped into a kibitka, and hurried off to Siberia; and when,
on the following morning, a letter, sealed with the imperial arms, was brought to him by a
gorgeously liveried lacquey, he thought the dreaded moment had arrived.
The letter contained the Emperor's command for a private performance at the Winter Palace, at
which the Empress, and all the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses then in St. Petersburg, were
present.
Nicholas was more perplexed by the exhibition of the so-called second sight than by any other of
the conjuror's feats, and more so than at first after requiring Anderson to describe the watch
which he had in his pocket, and being told that it was ornamented with a circle of one hundred
and twenty brilliants round the face and a portrait in enamel of the Emperor Paul at the back,
which he acknowledged to be correct. Anderson added, that the watch carried by the Empress
did not go, which was also the fact, it being a very old one, a relic of the first Czar Peter, and
worn only as a horological curiosity. On the conclusion of the performance, Nicholas examined
the conjuring apparatus, expressed admiration of the ingenuity displayed in its construction, and,
observing that he had in his youth been an amateur conjuror, exhibited a trick, which he had
learned while travelling among the Khirgis.
On the termination of his engagement in St. Petersburg, Anderson proceeded to Moscow, and
afterwards to Vienna, Berlin, and all the principal cities of central Europe. Returning to England,
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Lives of Conjurors--Chapter XII
he performed in 1846 at Covent Garden and in 1848 at the Strand Theatre, with several new
deceptions. He had, at the latter period, a formidable competitor in the famous Robert-Houdin,
who was performing at the St. James's Theatre, and the rivalry prompted him to the use of
extraordinary means of publicity. Having long ago exhausted language in advertising, he now
appealed to the eyes of the public by sending through the streets a cavalcade, consisting of four
cars covered with coloured bills and pictorial representations of his principal feats, followed by
twenty-four men bearing banners, on each of which was a letter three feet high the series
forming the words, "The celebrated Anderson," on one side, and "The Great Wizard of the North"
on the other.
He did not attract, however, as he had done before, and terminating his London season earlier
than on previous occasions, he set out for the provinces. After visiting most of the large towns,
he embarked at Liverpool for a professional tour of the United States, which he carried out, with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]