Anecdotes of public men; by John W. Forney.

CONJURATION AND MIGHTY MAGIC. 417
joying himself to the full, "where he would laugh away dull
care," and, returning home refreshed, "would write till morning; for nothing so restores the brain as a good hearty laugh."
He met Millard Fillmore on a canal-boat in the West, and years
after saw him in Washington, when Mr. Fillmore said, "Little
did I expect, Signor, when traveling with you on the canal, I
should ever become President of the United States." His description of the great Automaton Chess Player, and of the two
players-Maelzel, the inventor, outside, and Schlomberg within
the figure-both masters of that scientific game, is full of interest. "Maelzel and Schlomberg were, in their time, the great
living representatives of chess; their hearts and feelings were
so identified with the game that they dreamed of it by night
and practiced it by day. At every meal and in all intervals a
portable chess-board was before them. They ate, drank, and
played, while not a word escaped their lips. It was a quiet,
earnest, mental combat, and the anxiety of every pause and
move was defined in each countenance, their features revealing
what the tongue could not express." Schlomberg died of a
fever, and poor Maelzel expired on his way from Havana to
Philadelphia, and was buried in the ocean. The Automaton
Chess Player was destroyed by fire with the Chinese Museum,
and the Automaton Trumpeter is now the property of Mr. E.
N. Scherr, the retired piano-maker of Philadelphia. He relates
a pleasing incident of the illustrious John Bannister Gibson,
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, one of his best friends, who was
surprised to find the Signor's wallet in his pocket, though he
sat at a distance from him. His interviews with Webster and
Clay, during John Tyler's administration, proved the respect
they had for him. "Give me," he said to Webster, "one hundred thousand Treasury notes to count, and watch closely, and
you will find only seventy-five thousand when I return them."
"Signor," responded Webster, with lively animation, "there is
no chance; there are better magicians here than you; there
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