CHAP. XV.
To guess the Thoughts of any Person, assuring him, that you will write before-hand on a piece of Paper the Amount of the Parcel of Cards he shall happen to chuse out of the two placed on the Table.
Take some cards, divide them into two parcels, taking care that in one there are only two or three sevens, and in the other seven court cards; call for a pen and ink, and write on a bit of paper the sevens; then turn the bit of paper down, that what you have written may not be seen; then tell the person to make his choice. Let him chuse whatever he pleases, your number will be good, since if he should chuse the greatest parcel, you may shew him your paper on which is written the sevens; then desire him to count the number of cards contained in the parcel he has chosen, and he will find it to be seven, as you had guessed. This will appear astonishing to him and to the company: but they will easily recover from their surprise when, on raising the other parcel, you will shew that it contains only sevens, and consequently whatever parcel he had chosen, your number, which you had set down was good, since one parcel contained seven cards, and the other nothing but sevens.
This trick must not be done twice before the same company, for then it would become tiresome.
But generally whenever you do a trick before a company, you must never begin it again before the same.