of August, nearly 800 well-dressed persons assembled to witness one of the best pyrotechnical displays which up to that time had ever been seen in Hastings. A large number engaged in quadrille, polkas and other dances to the well marked time of Brett’s Hastings and St. Leonards Brass Band. The concluding amusement was a repetition of the caldron(sic) scene in Macbeth, with the wierd(sic) sisters celebrating their orgies ‘mid fumes of unearthly appearance. This was greatly applauded as a master-piece of representation.
Edmond’s Menagerie (late Wombswell’s) entered the borough on Saturday Aug. 25th, and left on the following Wednesday. In addition to the show, its band was very attractive.
Another Grand Pyrotechnic Display, with illuminations, dancing, and other amusements, took place at the Tivoli Tea gardens on the evening of Oct. 7th, on this occasion for the benefit of the Hastings and St. Leonards Brass and Quadrille Bands, conducted by T. B. Brett.
The St. Leonards Choral Society gave, on the 30th of October, another enjoyable concert in the Assembly Rooms, to a crowded company. Mr. Hayden conducted, and Mr. Jacob presided at the piano.
The “Wizard of the South” was not the Mr. F. K. Jacob, of St. Leonards, who assisted at the Choral Society’s concerts, but a Mr. Jacob, a Kentish man, who many times performed in the same Assembly Rooms as a mesmerist, ventriloquist and illusionist, with musical accompaniments by the present writer and a portion of his band. He was also an extraordinary composer of impromptu verse and song from any number of topics given him by his audience. He traveled in nearly all parts of the civilised world, and when in Australia (as reported in a Sydney paper), he was one day walking up George street and saw a mischievous fellow tearing down his (Mr. J’s) bills from the walls. He observed to a friend who was with him, “Just mark how I’ll punish that scoundrel.” He then walked up to the man, who was just raising his arm to tear down another bill, and looked straight in his face, when an instantaneous mesmeric effect took place. The offender stood motionless and fixed erect to the spot, stiff as a statute(sic) and utterly powerless. Now stand there, said Mr. Jacob, till I release you, for no one else can. And he left him there, the ridicule of a vast crowd (who had gathered round this practical illustration of biology) for upward of half an hour, when the wizard returned and released him, warning him not to again attempt to pull down either his or any other person’s bills, or he would serve him a worse trick than that, for committing an outrage on common honesty and industry.
The Annual Christmas Ball was held in the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms on the 26th of December, at which there was, as usual, a very numerous and fashionable gathering. (For Hastings amusements see next chap.)
