"Ventriloquist" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... fitted up. The puppets are about half of the natural size of man, and Girolamo, aided by one or two others, works them and gives them gesture, by means of strings, which are, however, so well contrived as to be scarcely visible; and Girolamo himself speaks for all, as, besides being a ventriloquist, he has a most astonishing faculty of varying his voice, and adapting it to the role of each puppet, so that the illusion is complete. The scenery and decorations are excellent. Sometimes he gives operas as well as dramas, and there is always a ballo, with ...
— After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 • Major W. E Frye
... company of Mr. Kemble, and married one of his daughters, who afterwards proved the heroine of the stage. Another well-known character was also a native of this town, viz, Thomas Haskey, the celebrated ventriloquist, who was by trade a bridle bit maker; but whilst an apprentice he left his master, and entered into the army, where he lost a leg and obtained a pension. When young, he did not know the abilities he possessed, but hearing O'Burn, he endeavoured to imitate ...
— A Description of Modern Birmingham • Charles Pye
... was a misanthrope, and to italicize his misanthropy he had made himself a juggler. To live, also; for the stomach has to be consulted. Moreover, this juggler-misanthrope, whether to add to the complexity of his being or to perfect it, was a doctor. To be a doctor is little: Ursus was a ventriloquist. You heard him speak without his moving his lips. He counterfeited, so as to deceive you, any one's accent or pronunciation. He imitated voices so exactly that you believed you heard the people themselves. All alone he simulated the murmur of a crowd, and this gave him a right to the ...
— The Man Who Laughs • Victor Hugo
... great wit and literary attainments, and was intimate with Handel, and many noblemen. Probably he would not have obtained a place in this Magazine but for the circumstances of his death. There was, it seems, one Honeyman, a blacksmith, who was a ventriloquist, and could speak with his mouth closed. He was introduced to Britton, and, by way of a joke, told him in a sepulchral voice that he should die in a few hours. Britton never recovered the shock, but died a few days afterwards in 1714. Among the humorous pieces ...
— History of English Humour, Vol. 2 (of 2) • Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange
... ventriloquism was made use of in the ancient oracles? Was the [Greek: pneuma puthonos] (Acts, xvi. 16.) an example of the exercise of this art? Was the Witch of Endor a ventriloquist? or what is meant by the word [Greek: eggastrimuthos] at Isai. xix. 3., in ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 36. Saturday, July 6, 1850 • Various |
