WITH NOTES. 523 



John Bate, in his u Mysteries of Nature and Art,&quot; 

 1634, page 151, or the edition of 1635, page 242, gives 

 directions, &quot; How to make five or six dice of the ordi 

 nary bigness of dice, such as you may game withal, 

 and such as would be taken by their looks to be 

 ordinary dice, and yet all of them to weigh not above 

 one grain.&quot; To effect this : u Take a piece of elder, 

 and pith it, lay the pith to dry, and then make thereof 

 with a sharp knife five or six dice, and you shall find 

 it true that I have said.&quot; 



So far as the deceptive part goes, we have an example 

 in reference to another game, afforded by Van Etten, 

 in his &quot; Mathematical Kecreations,&quot; Problem XVII. 

 &quot; Of a deceitfull Bowie to play withall.&quot; The whole 

 trick consists simply in producing an undue bias by 

 means of a secretly inserted pellet of lead. 



Walpole says of the &quot; Century,&quot; that &quot; It is a very 

 small piece in which he (the Marquis) affirms having, 

 in the presence of Charles the First, performed many of 

 the feats mentioned in the Book.&quot; As however only two 

 are named, No. 56 and No. 64, the foregoing mis-state 

 ment requires no stronger refutation. He proceeds : 

 &quot; The work itself, which is but a table of contents ; being 

 a list of one hundred projects, most of them impossibilities, 

 but all of which he affirms having discovered the art of 

 performing.&quot; Consequently, either the Marquis, or 

 Walpole occupies a most unenviable position : for one 

 or the other, alone speaks the truth. u Some of the 

 easiest (lie adds) seem, (among others) how to form an 

 universal character 5 how to converse by jangling of 

 bells out of tune 5 how to take towns, or prevent their 

 being taken ; how to write in the dark how to cheat 

 with dice ; and in short how to fly.&quot; He then proceeds 

 to comment on them, observing : &quot; Of these wonderful 

 inventions (but why wonderful if the easiest?), the last 



