Fix this mirror against a partition, through which two strings are to go, by which an assistant in an adjoining room can easily move the glass in the grooves, and make the card appear or disappear at pleasure. Or it may be done without an assistant, if a table be placed against the partition, and a string from the glass be made to pass through a leg of it, and communicate with a small trigger, which you may easily push down with your foot, and at the same time wiping the glass with your handkerchief, under the pretence that the card may appear more conspicuous; which will also serve most effectually to disguise the operation.
Having every thing thus arranged, you contrive to make a person draw the same sort of card as that fixed to the mirror; if you do not succeed in this with a stranger, make some pretence for shuffling the cards again, and present the pack to a confederate, who, of course, will draw the card you wish, and who is to show it to two or three persons next to him, under the pretence that it might slip his memory. This card you place in the middle of the pack, then make the pass, and bring it to the bottom. Direct the person to look for his card in the mirror, which the confederate behind the partition is to draw slowly forward; or if you perform the operation yourself, press the trigger with your foot, and the card will appear as if placed between the glass and the quicksilver. While the glass is drawing forward, you slide off the card from the bottom of the pack, and convey it away.
The Card in the Opera Glass.
Procure an opera-glass, two inches and a half long; the tube to be made of ivory, so thin that it may appear transparent. Place it in a magnifying glass, of such a power, and at such a distance, that a card, three-quarters of an inch long, may appear like a common-sized card. At the bottom of the tube lay a circle of black pasteboard, to which fasten a small card, with the pips, or figures, on both sides, and in such a manner, that by turning the table, either side of the glass may be visible.
You then offer two cards to two persons, similar to the double card in the glass. You put them in the pack again, or convey them to your pocket; and after a few flourishing motions you tell the persons you have conveyed their cards into the glass; then you show each person his card in the glass, by turning it in the proper position.
You may easily induce the parties to draw the two cards you wish, by placing them first on the top of the pack, and then, by making the pass, bringing them to the middle.
When you can make the pass in a dexterous manner, it is preferable to the long card, which obliges the operator to change the pack frequently, as, if the same card is always drawn, it may excite suspicion.
To separate the two Colours of a Pack of Cards by one Cut.
To perform this amusement, all the cards of one colour must be cut something narrower at one end than the other. You show the cards, and give them to any one, that he may shuffle them; then holding them between your hands, one hand being at each extremity, with one motion you separate the hearts and diamonds from the spades and clubs.