First, fill a glass of brandy, and put it on the farther end of the table, and have in readiness the crown of your hat blacked, then say to the company, gentlemen, whatever you see or hear, I desire you to say nothing; for this is done by the black art; now I desire every one of you to change hats one with another, and do as I do, and say as I say; now you must all turn the crowns of your hats towards your faces, and so speak as I do, saying, John of Basket; John of Basket! then rub your face, and he that hath your blacked hat, will laugh because the glass doth not move, and the others will laugh at his black face; and so you will make sport enough, then you must speak two or three bold words to the glass; as thus: glass of brandy, glass of brandy, come to me, if you will not, I will fetch you, and so take it up with your hand and drink it, then seem to fling the glass up against the cieling, and break it, and it will seem very strange. I have done this often.
How to command seven half-pence through a table.
This feat is one of the greatest that the jugglers have done, and is inferior to none. To do this, you must go to some tinman, or any body that knows how to make your holes room enough for a die to go in and out, and then let them clap a good half-penny upon them all, and so make them fast, and nobody can tell them from real ones; then you must get a cap to cover your half-pence, a cap and a die for the company to fling to amuse them; when you are thus provided with half-pence, a cap, and a die, the manner of performance is thus: desire any body in the company to lend you seven half-pence, telling them that you will soon return them their own again; then say, gentlemen, this is made just fit for your money; then clapping your cap on, desire somebody in the company to fling that die to see what they can fling, and in so doing, take off the cap and convey your false money into the cap, so that the company may not see you put it in, then with your cap cover the die, so with your right-hand take up the true money, and put it into the left under the table, saying, Vada, begone, I command the die to be gone, and the money to come in the place; so take up the cap, and the die is gone, and the money is come, covering the money again with the cap, so taking the true money in your right-hand, and knocking under the table, making a jingling as though the money was coming through the table, then flinging then on the table, say, there is the money, and with your right-hand take off the cap, saying, and there is the die; so convey the false money into your lap, and there is the cap likewise. This is an ingenious feat if well handled, here make the figure of a die, and the fashion of seven half-pence, and a cap to cover them.
How to turn a box of bird-seed into a living bird.
You must have a box made on purpose, with a false lid; for to describe it to you in words, is pretty hard, but you may have them ready made at my house. This box must be turned nearly like unto the egg-boxes, so that they cannot find out where it opens, and you must have a false lid to clap on and off, and on that lid glew some bird seed; so before you shew the box, to the company, put a bird in the box, and then the false lid, then shew the box to the company, and it will seem to be full of seed, then say to the company, ‘gentlemen you see my box is full of seed;’ which nobody can tell to the contrary, then put your true lid on, saying, Gentlemen, I will command all the seed out of my box, and command a living bird to appear; so taking off the covers the bird will appear. You may be furnished with all manner of instruments, cups, Dutch puddings, egg-boxes, globe-boxes, melting-boxes, sixpenny-boxes, bird-boxes, and bells and bushels.
How to command a sixpence out of a box.
You must go and get a box turned of box-wood or any other wood which you fancy; you must have it turned with two lids, one must be a false one, and there put a counter, so that it may rattle; and you must have a small pegg, or button, to your box, to hinder the counter from jingling, and at the bottom of the box, which you have neatly turned, there you must have a half notch made in your box, just fit for a sixpence to come out. So to perform this feat, you must desire any body to lend you a sixpence, and to mark it with what they please, then let them put it into the box themselves, afterwards then put the cover on, then by shaking the box, the sixpence will come into your hand; then you may dispose of it as you know how when you are shewing your feats. This feat is not inferior to any that is shewn with boxes.
Note, This box you may have of me ready made in the new fashion.
How to call for any card in the pack.
Take the cards and shuffle them, or let any body else shuffle them, or lay down the whole pack on the table before you, with their faces downwards, then drawing off the upper card say, Here I call for the card of good luck; and when you have seen what that card is, which you must do as privately as you can, and be sure not to let the company see him, then say, Here I call for ———, naming your card of good luck, and so take the next uppermost card, and then having seen him, say, Here I call for the ———, naming the card you took up last, and so take off the next uppermost card, and thus still calling for the card you last took up, you may call for as many as you please; or, if you will, you may thus go round the pack, and, in the mean time, cause one to write down the names of the cards, in the same order as you call for them, which they may do in brief, thus by writing a figure for the number of the spots, as 1 for the ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so to ten; and then kn. for the knave, q. for queen, and kg. for king, adding a letter for the suits viz. c. for clubs, s. for spades, h. for hearts, and d. for diamonds, e. g. is three or four cards; suppose the three first cards, called for, were, the ace of clubs, the tray of spades, and the five of diamonds, they be set down thus, 1 C——3 S—5 D, and so of any other: having thus gone round, with as many as you please, take them from the table, saying, Look now in your paper, see which card I call for first, which second, and which third, &c. and whilst he is looking, do you flip the card of good luck under the bottom of the pack, then holding the cards with their faces upwards, take them off one by one, and they will come in the same order as you called them, only the last card will not be set down in the paper, and it must be pretended he was the card of good luck.