say, that either A or B are such curious workmen, and can make a sham
shuffle with a pack of cards so artfully, that you would believe they
were splitting them, when at the time they will not displace a single
card from its order! Such is the SHARPER'S shuffling.

'Now, to cut the cards, a BEND is prepared for you to cut to--the middle
is the best; and it is odds but you unwarily cut to it; if not, SLIP is
the word; but if you have no opportunity to do that neither, then deal
away at all hazards, it is but an equal bet that they come in your
favour; if right, proceed; if otherwise, miss a card in its course, and
it brings the cards according to your first design; it is but giving two
at last where you missed; and if that cannot be conveniently done, you
only lose the deal, and there is an end of it.

'But when A or B is to cut, they make it all safe; for then they make
the CORNER-BEND, which any one that knows may cut to, a hundred times
together.

'Piping at Whist. By piping I mean, when one of the company that does
not play, which frequently happens, sits down in a convenient place to
smoke a pipe, and so look on, pretending to amuse himself that way. Now,
the disposing of his fingers on the pipe whilst smoking discovers the
principal cards that are in the person's hand he overlooks; which was
always esteemed a sufficient advantage whereby to win a game. There is
another method, namely, by uttering words. "Indeed" signifies diamonds;
"truly," hearts; "upon my word," clubs; "I assure you," spades. But as
soon as these methods become known, new ones are invented; and it is
most curious that two persons may discover to each other what sort
of cards they have in hand, and which ought first to be played, many
different ways, without speaking a word.'

There can be no doubt that the act of sorting the cards is capable of
giving an acute observer a tolerably accurate idea of his partner's or
either of his opponents' hands; so that where cheating is suspected it
would be better to play the cards without sorting them. The number of
times a sorter carries a card to a particular part indicates so many of
a suit; your own hand and his play will readily indicate the nature of
the cards in which he is either strong or weak.

I now quote Robert-Houdin's account of

CARD TELEGRAPHY.

Although there are 32 cards in the game of Piquet, all of them may be
designated by twelve different signs, namely, eight for the nature of
the