rtain the parlor,
rather than awe the boudoir. With this intent, as well as in offering
something of a literary curio, the present Editor assists it toward
the glimpses of--not the moon, but the electric chandelier. And its
Nineteenth-Century sponsor hopes that many curious and pleasant
"fortunes" may be read by it; and that in its pages the ominous
Spade, the mischief-working "Influencing-Card," the stern
"Master-Card," the evil "Female or Male Enemy," and the "Vain
and Amoratious Man" (who must be ever, indeed, a terrible
combination to endure) may not be frequently encountered--in any
case, that along with many other troubles and trials, such
unpleasing meetings may not come outside the vagaries of a pack
of cards.

E. IRENAEUS STEVENSON.

New York, 1896.

BRADAMANTE. But is this authentic? Is it an original? Is it a
true, original thing, sir?

GRADASSO (_making a leg_). Madam, 'tis as authentic as very
authenticity itself--'tis truth's kernel, originality's
core--provided you are but willing to believe it such.

BRADAMANTE. Sir, you quibble.

GRADASSO (_making a leg_). Madam, 'tis precisely in my
vocation to quibble,--and delicately.

From _The Superglorious Life and Death of Prince Artius: A
Tragedy_. Act LI., sc. li.

THE SQUARE OF SEVENS

_Of the Preparing of the "Square of Sevens" from which is made
the Parallelogram; with the due Shuffles, Deals, and Disposals
thereto_.

Take a Pack of Fifty-Two Cards, Shuffle the same well, Seven
times. Then present the Pack to the Person whose Queries you
seek to answer, who accordingly shall be called your _Querist_.
Therewith must your _Querist_ chuse from the Pack, without
seeing the cards in it--three several Cards, which are to be called
his _Wish-Cards_; the same being chosen with a Cut between each
Choice. The _Querist_ must not seek to see these same Wish-Cards;
they are to be laid apart on the Table, or left to Repose in
the _Querist's_ care, till all that followeth of the _Square_, the
_Parallelogram_, and the _Reading_ be ended.

Of the Dealing of a _First Seven_ Cards.

Again take in hand your Pack and Shuffle it yet smartly, there
being Forty-nine Cards now left in it. Proceed next earnestly to
Deal them forth on the table in the following Order and Manner,
and without first seeing their Faces. And be solicitous of laying
them down just as they shall come, Faces upward, in a Downward
and Oblique Line; taking them from the Topmo