find Sir Walter making inquiry regarding
this Arabian conjurer, and writing to Mr. Lockhart, on Nov. 1831, in the
following terms:--

"I have got a key to the conjuring story of Alexandria and Grand Cairo.
I have seen very distinct letters of Sir John Stoddart's son, who
attended three of the formal exhibitions which broke down, though they
were repeated afterwards with success. Young Stoddart is an excellent
Arabian scholar--an advantage which I understand is more imperfectly
enjoyed by Lord Prudhoe and Colonel Felix. Much remains to be explained,
but the boldness of the attempt exceeds anything since the days of the
Automaton chess-player, or the Bottle conjurer. The first time
Shakespeare was evoked he appeared in the complexion of an Arab. This
seems to have been owing to the first syllable of his name, which
resembled the Arabian word _Sheik_, and suggested the idea of an Arabian
chief to the conjurer. A gentleman named Galloway has bought the secret,
and talks of being frightened. There can be little doubt that, having so
far interested himself, it would become his interest to put the conjurer
more up to the questions likely to be asked. So he was more perfect when
consulted by Lord Prudhoe than at first, when he made various blunders,
and when we must needs say _falsum in uno falsum in omnibus_. As all
this will come out one day, I have no wish to mingle in the
controversy.... There are still many things to explain, but I think the
mystery is unearthed completely."

See also Lane's _Egyptians_ for an account of what appears to be the
same man in 1837. Also _Quarterly Review_, No. 117, pp. 196-208, for an
examination of this "Magic Mirror" exhibition.

[474] A hoard of seventy-eight chessmen found in the island of Lewis in
1831. The greater number of the figures were purchased for the British
Museum, and formed the subject of a learned dissertation by Sir
Frederick Madden; see _Archaeologia,_ xxiv. Eleven of these very
interesting pieces fell into the hands of Scott's friend, C.K. Sharpe,
and afterwards of Lord Londesborough. More recently these identical
pieces were purchased for the Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, where
they now are. See _Proc. Soc. Antiq.,_ vol. xxiii.

[475] Sir John Malcolm, who was at this time M.P. for Launceston. His
last public appearance was in London, at a meeting convened for the
purpose of raising a monument of his friend Sir Walter, and his
concluding words were, that when he h