text:  Had we been anxious to give a factitious interest to our narrative we should certainly have avoided a description of the above cases which could not at the same time be made to possess graphic interest and to relate accurately the real facts as presented; but we have selected them as having happened to ourselves and as being shown not by public exhibitors but by parties both holding a highly respectable station in life and being as we believe among the best examples to be found of English mesmerisers