success.

[Illustration: DISCOVERED!]

There are sure to be occasional mishaps when the lecturer is assisted by
the lantern; but as in my case, when one is not taken too seriously, it
is easy to turn the misfortune off with a joke.

A fly was the offender on one occasion in my experience. I was showing
some portraits of Mr. Gladstone in my entertainment "The Humours of
Parliament," and was doing my level best to rouse an appreciative North
Country audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm for the man they
worshipped so. I was telling them that at one moment he looks like this,
and at another moment he looks like that, when I was amazed to hear them
go into fits of laughter! In describing Mr. Gladstone I dilate upon him
first in a rhetorical vein, and then proceed to caricature my own
delineations, and it has always been flattering to me to find that the
serious portraits have been received with a grave attention only
equalled by the laughter with which the caricatures have been greeted.
But not so on this occasion. I spoke of his flashing eye (titters!), his
noble brow (laughter!), his patriarchal head (roars!), and a mention of
his commanding aquiline nose nearly sent them into hysterics! Now in my
lecturing days mishaps may have occurred which were due to some fault of
the lantern or operator provided by the society I lectured to; but with
the splendid set of lanterns I had made for my entertainment, engineered
by the infallible Professor who exhibited for me, I never troubled to
look round to see if the picture was all right. But for a second it
struck me that by some mischance he might be showing the caricatures in
place of the serious portraits. Quickly I turned round, and the sight
that met my eyes made me at once join in the general roar. There was a
gigantic fly promenading on the nasal organ of the Grand Old Man,
unheeding the attempts which were being made on its life by the
Professor, armed with a long pointed weapon. It had walked into the
Professor's parlour--that is to say, into his lantern--and taken up its
temporary residence between the lenses, whence it was magnified a
hundredfold on to the screen!

[Illustration: THE FLY IN THE CAMERA.]

If anything of this kind happens to a Professor lecturing on some
scientific subject, it is no laughing matter, especially to a gentleman
lecturing at a meeting of the British Association. At one of these
gatherings a well-known Professor was giving a most interesti