“It is the vicar!” exclaimed Louisa. It was, indeed, a portrait of that most excellent character, represented in the costume in which he usually appeared. “Turn it round,” said Mrs. Seymour. Louisa twirled the cord, and the effect of the rotation was to convert the humble vicar into the dignified bishop; his meagre form was instantly changed into a corpulent figure, which was still farther inflated by the addition of the episcopal robe and lawn sleeves, while his angular features were softened by the graceful curves of an immense wig. “I will give you a motto for it,” said the major, “and may it be prophetic!--RAPID PREFERMENT.” “I will now show you the improvement which has been effected in the construction and use of this toy,” said Mr. Seymour. “It consists in altering the axis of rotation while the card is in the act of revolving, in order that the images on its opposite sides may be brought in different positions with respect to each other.” “There cannot be any doubt that such would be the effect, were it possible to change the axis in the way you propose, but how is this to be effected?” asked the vicar. “At first I attempted to produce the change by the addition of several other strings, but I soon found, that, in order to avail myself of this expedient, I should be obliged to stop the card before I could alter the axis, whereas my great object, as I have just stated, was to produce the change while the card was in the act of spinning,” answered Mr. Seymour. “And I shrewdly suspect that such must necessarily be the case, adopt whatever expedient you may,” observed the major. “No indeed; I have at length succeeded to my entire satisfaction, and that too by a most simple scheme, after having tried without success many very complicated contrivances.” The party were very desirous of witnessing this triumph of skill, and Mr. Seymour produced the card, with its appendages, of which we shall here present our readers with an engraving:-- [Illustration: Fig. 1. Circular card with bottle and another with man’s torso.] In all respects the card is constructed like the common Thaumatrope; the subject, it will be perceived, is that of a man drinking, the bottle being placed on one side, and the head on the other; upon revolving the card, in the ordinary manner, the two images will appear together as represented in: [Illustration: Fig. 2. Man with bottle halfway to his mouth.]