When the card is consumed, you say that you do not wish to fix upon any particular person in company to choose an egg, lest it might be suspected that he was a confederate; you therefore request any two ladies in company to volunteer to choose each an egg, and having done so, to decide between themselves which shall contain the card; when this is done, take a second saucer, and in it receive the rejected egg, break it with your wand, and shew the egg round to the company; at the same time drawing their attention to the fact of those two eggs having been chosen from among a number of others, and of its not being possible for you to have told which of them would be the chosen one. You now receive the chosen egg in the saucer containing the ashes, and having rolled it about until you have blacked it a little, blow the ashes from around it into the grate; you then break the egg with the same wand, when, on touching the spring, the card will be found in the egg. The method of preparing the paper, mentioned in the above feat, is as follows:-Take a piece of letter paper, about six inches in length and three quarters of an inch in breadth, fold it longitudinally, and with a knife cut it in the crease about five inches down; then take one of the sides which are still connected at the bottom, and with the back of the knife under it, and the thumb of · the right hand over it, curl it outwards as a boy would the tassels of his kite; repeat the same process with the other side, and lay them by for use. When about using them (but not till then, as the papers will soon lose their curl if stretched), draw them up so as to make them their original length, and turn the ends over a little, in order that they may remain so; when set on fire, they will burn for a minute or two, until the turn-over is burnt out, when the lighted ends will turn over quickly, burning the fingers of the holder; this part of the trick never fails to excite the greatest merriment. THE INGENIOUS CONFEDERACY. A B 2 5 6 Lay sixteen cards on the table in four divisions, four cards in each, with the faces upwards. You then state that you will leave the room, and, on your return, will name any one card which may have been touched in your absence, on one of the company (your confederate) pointing out a passage from any author to be read to you, on your return, by any person present. To perform this trick, the cards should be placed in the order in which they appear in the annexed cut, you previously making your confederate acquainted with your mode of proceeding, which is thus:-The cards are supposed to be divided into four classes, as A, B, C, D; you likewise agree to class every thing in the world under the four denominations of biped, quadruped, vegetable, and mineral: class A stands for bipeds, B for quadrupeds, C for vegetables, and D for minerals; each class must now be subdivided in the same manner: in class A No. 1 is the biped, 2 the quadruped, 3 the vegetable, and 4 the mineral, and so with the other classes; when performing the trick, your confederate must take care to select an appropriate passage; for example, we will suppose the card No. 4 to have been touched, and that a volume of Moore having been presented to your confederate to select from, he gives the following lines to be read :— 3 4 7 8 9 10 13 11 12 15 D 14 16 "Breathes there the slave so lowly, Who, could he burst his bonds at first, The first word which can be classed as above is slave, you may thus be certain that the card touched is in class A, a slave being a biped; the next word you can fix upon is chains, which being commonly made of some metal, you rank in the mineral class, and know that card No. 4 was the one touched, it being the mineral of the biped class, Supposing the trick to be repeated, as is very likely, and that a volume of Byron is given to your confederate, who selects the passage commencing "Know ye the land, where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime," &c. You know "cypress" being the first word that can be classed, the card touched must be in class C (vegetable), and the next word "myrtle" being also a vegetable, the card touched must have been No. 11, which is the vegetable of the vegetable class. Many appropriate passages may be easily selected, and your confederate should select a long passage to be read, as it gives greater scope, and helps to mislead the rest of the company; for should they imagine that the card is discovered by the number of lines read, and they touch the same card again, he can select another passage, desiring them to read only as many lines as they choose. THE CHANGEABLE CARDS. Having shuffled a pack, select the eight of each suite, and the deuce of diamonds; hold the four eights in the left hand, and the deuce in the right, and having shewn them, take in the deuce among the four in the left hand, and throw out one of the eights; give them to be blown upon, when they will be turned into four deuces; you now exchange one of the deuces for the eight, and giving them again to be blown upon, they will appear all black cards; you again take in the deuce, and discard the eight, when, by blowing on them, they will all turn red; you now, for the last time, take in the eight, and throw away a deuce, when they will be found to be four eights and a deuce, as they were at first. To perform this ingenious deception you procure five plain cards, the size of playing cards, which you paint to resemble the five cards as under, and mixing them with a common pack, you next, under the pretence of selecting the eight of each suite, and the deuce of diamonds, take out your false cards (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4), which hold you as under; and taking No. 5 in your right hand, you shew your company that there are the four eights and the deuce of diamonds; you should likewise hold them up to the light, to let them see that they are not double, which you may do without fear of detection, as the lower parts of the cards will be so opaque, that the deficiency of spots will not be perceived; you now place the deuce of diamonds between Nos. 3 and 4, the latter of which you withdraw and throw on the table, but take care not to do so until you have first taken in No. 5 (the deuce of diamonds), else the deficiency of spots on No. 3 will cause the trick to be discovered: you then close those four cards together, and taking them by the top, with the fingers and thumb of the right hand, having the thumb on the face of the cards and the fingers on the back, hold them out with their faces turned towards the floor, and desire some person to blow upon them; when this has been done, give your wrist a turn, so that the top part of the cards will now be the bottom; in fact, you turn the cards upside down; hold them up to your mouth, pretending to breathe on them, which not only tends to deceive your company, but gives you time to arrange your cards, which you do by opening them out to the right hand, when they will appear to be four deuces, in the order represented in the following figure: you may again hold them up to the light, to shew that they are single cards. The next change, although rather more difficult to accomplish, is decidedly the best of the whole, inasmuch as the cards are never shut up, nor removed for one moment from under the eye. Having shewn them to be four deuces, you take in the eight of clubs, and place it between Nos. 3 and 5; withdraw No. 5, and holding it up to the light, you desire the ' company to observe that the cards are not double, and while all eyes are turned to this card, turn your left hand, containing the other four, with its back towards the ceiling, and the faces of the cards towards the floor, keeping them in a horizontal position; throw down the deuce of diamonds, and continue your remarks on the cards not being double, by saying, "You perceive any of them will bear examination;" at the same time take hold of the card next but one to your right hand, with the fingers and thumb of that hand, taking care to have the thumb above and the fingers under |