enses, and then to inquire into the cause and
manner in which the phenomena were produced.

After some preparatory and necessary steps (for Monsieur St. Gille had
been told he did not chuse to gratify the curiosity of every one), the
Abbe waited upon him, informed him of his design, and was very cordially
received. He was taken into a parlour on the ground floor; when
Monsieur St. Gille and himself sat on the opposite sides of a small
fire, with only a table between them, the Abbe keeping his eyes
constantly fixed on Monsieur St. Gille all the time. Half an hour had
passed, during which that gentleman diverted the Abbe with a relation of
many comic scenes which he had given occasion to by this talent of his;
when, all on a sudden, the Abbe heard himself called by his name and
title, in a voice that seemed to come from the roof of a house at a
distance. He was almost petrified with astonishment: on recollecting
himself, however, he asked Monsieur St. Gille whether he had not just
then given him a specimen of his art? He was answered only by a smile.
But while the Abbe was pointing to the house from which the voice had
appeared to him to proceed, his surprise was augmented on hearing
himself answered, "It was not from that quarter," apparently in the same
kind of voice as before, but which now seemed to issue from under the
earth, at one of the corners of the room. In short, this factitious
voice played, as it were, every where about him, and seemed to proceed
from any quarter or distance from which the operator chose to transmit
it to him. The illusion was so very strong, that, prepared as the Abbe
was for this kind of conversation, his mere senses were absolutely
incapable of undeceiving him. Though conscious that the voice proceeded
from the mouth of Monsieur St. Gille, that gentleman appeared absolutely
mute while he was exercising this talent; nor could the author perceive
any change whatever in his countenance. He observed, however, at this
first visit, that Monsieur St. Gille contrived, but without any
affectation, to present only the profile of his face to him, while he
was speaking as a ventriloquist.

The next experiment made was no less curious than the former, and is
related as follows--

Monsieur St. Gille, returning home from a place where his business had
carried him, sought for shelter from an approaching thunder-storm, in a
neighbouring convent. Finding the whole community in mourning, he
inquires the