_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.