If the man either hid his face
or turned his back upon the auditor when he was executing his imitation, a
suspicion would immediately arise, the auditor would attend more
diligently to the circumstances of the exhibition, and would speedily
detect the imposition. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that the
ventriloquist shall possess another art, namely, that of speaking without
moving his lips or the muscles of his face: how this is effected, and how
the art is acquired, we do not certainly know; but we believe that it is
accomplished by the muscles of the throat, assisted by the action of the
tongue upon the palate, the teeth, and the inside of the lips--all of them
being movements which are perfectly compatible with the immutability of
the lips themselves, and the absolute expression of silence in the
countenance. The sounds thus uttered are necessarily of a different
character from those which are produced by the organs of speech when
unimpeded, and this very circumstance gives double force to the deception,
especially when the ventriloquist artfully presents the contrast to his
auditor by occasionally speaking with his natural voice. If he carries in
his hand those important personages Punch and Judy, and makes their
movements even tolerably responsive to the sentiment of the dialogue, the
spectator will be infinitely more disposed to refer the sounds to the
lantern jaws and the timber lips of the puppets than to the conjurer
himself, who presents to them the picture of absolute silence and repose.
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