“Will you, indeed, Miss Pert? I do not think so, after you have seen the operation of the toy I am now about to exhibit. Here, you perceive, is a horse, the centre of gravity of which would be somewhere about the middle of its body; it is, therefore, very evident that, if I were to place its hinder legs on the edge of the table, the line of _direction_ would fall considerably beyond the base, and the horse must be precipitated to the ground; you will, however, perceive that there is a stiff wire attached to a weight which is connected with the body of the horse, and by means of such an addition, the horse prances with perfect security at the edge of the precipice: so that the figure which was incapable of supporting itself is actually prevented from falling, by adding a weight to its unsupported end!” The children admitted the truth of this statement, and were not immediately prepared to explain it. “The weight, indeed, appears to be added on that side; but, in reality, it is on the opposite side,” said the vicar. “In order to produce the desired effect,” observed Mr. Seymour, “the wire must be bent, so as to throw the weight far back, under the table; by which contrivance, since the centre of gravity of the whole compound figure is thrown into the leaden weight, the hind legs of the horse thus become the point of suspension, on which the ball may be made to vibrate with perfect security.” “Now I understand it,” cried Tom; “instead of the weight supporting the horse, the horse supports the weight.” “Exactly so. You perceive, therefore, from these few examples, that the balancer, by availing himself of such deceptions, and combining with them a considerable degree of manual dexterity, may perform feats, which, at first sight, will appear in direct opposition to the laws of gravity. There is also another expedient of which the balancer avails himself, to increase the wonder of his performances, and that is the influence of rotatory motion, which, you will presently see, may be made to counteract the force of gravity.” “I remember that the most surprising of all the tricks I witnessed was one, in which a sword was suspended on a key, which turned round on the end of a tobacco-pipe; on the top of the sword a pewter-plate was, at the same time, made to revolve with great velocity.”