Page:Hocus pocus, or, The whole art of legerdemain in perfection (2).pdf/10



Lay three cards at a little distance, and bid a stander-by be true and not waver, but think on one of the three, and by his eye you shall assuredly perceive which he thinketh; and you shall do the like if you cast down a whole pack of cards with the faces upwards, whereof there will be few or none plainly perceived, and they also court cards: but as you cast them down suddenly, so must you take them up presently marking both his eyes, and the card whereon he looketh.

This is a wonderful fancy if it be well handled: as thus:

Take a-pack of cards and let any one draw any card that they fancy best, and afterwards take and put it into the pack, but so as you know where to find it at pleasure: for by this time, I suppose you know how to shuffle the cards, and where to find any card when it is put into the pack; then take a piece of wax and put it under the thumb-nail of your hand, and there fasten a hair to your thumb, and the other end of the hair to the card, then spread the pack of cards open on the table, then say, "If you are a pure virgin that card will jump out of the pack," then by your words or charms seem to make it jump on the table.