itly making up a parcel resembling the one laid down, steals the
latter, leaving the former.

Mr Barrow calls this _hokkeny baro_, the great swindle. I may remark, by
the way, that among jugglers and "show-people" sleight of hand is called
_hanky panky_. "Hocus-pocus" is attributed by several writers to the
Gipsies, a derivation which gains much force from the fact, which I have
never before seen pointed out, that _hoggu bazee_, which sounds very much
like it, means in Hindustani legerdemain. English Gipsies have an
extraordinary fancy for adding the termination _us_ in a most irregular
manner to words both Rommany and English. Thus _kettene_ (together) is
often changed to _kettenus_, and _side_ to _sidus_. In like manner,
_hoggu_ (_hocku_ or _honku_) _bazee_ could not fail to become _hocus
bozus_, and the next change, for the sake of rhyme, would be to hocus-po-
cus.

I told my ancient rambler of an extraordinary case of "huckeny pokee"
which had recently occurred in the United States, somewhere in the west,
the details of which had been narrated to me by a lady who lived at the
time in the place where the event occurred.

"A Gipsy woman," I said, "came to a farmhouse and played huckeny pokee on
a farmer's wife, and got away all the poor woman's money."

"Did she indeed, rya?" replied my good old friend, with a smile of joy
flashing from his eyes, the unearthly Rommany light just glinting from
their gloom.

"Yes," I said impressively, as a mother might tell an affecting story to
a child. "All the money that that poor woman had, that wicked Gipsy
woman took away, and utterly ruined her."

This was the culminating point; he burst into an irrepressible laugh; he
couldn't help it--the thing had been done too well.

"But you haven't heard all yet," I added. "There's more covvas to well."

"Oh, I suppose the Rummany chi prastered avree (ran away), and got off
with the swag?"

"No, she didn't."

"Then they caught her, and sent her to starabun" (prison).

"No," I replied.

"And what did they do?"

"THEY BURNT HER ALIVE!"

His jaw fell; a glossy film came over his panther-eyes. For a long time
he had spoken to me, had this good and virtuous man, of going to America.
Suddenly he broke out with this vehement answer--

"I won't go to that country--_s'up mi duvel_! I'll never go to America."

It is told of a certain mother, that on showing her darling boy a picture
in the Bible representing Daniel in th