Page:Hocus pocus, or, The whole art of legerdemain in perfection (1).pdf/2



EGERDEMAIN is an operation whereby one may seem to work wonderful, impossible, and incredible things, by agility, nimbleness, and sleight of hand.

1. He must be one of a bold and undaunted resolution, so as to set a good face upon the matter

2. He must have strange terms, and emphatical words to grace and adorn his actions; and the more to amaze and astonish the beholders.

3. And lastly, He must use such gestures of body, as may take of the spectators' eyes from a strict and beholding his manner of performance.

Desire any one of the spectators to lend you a knife, which when you get hold of, so that you