him. On either hand, the croupier, as before, now wielding the
rakes and plying them to bring in the money, now balancing them,
now shouldering them, as soldiers do their muskets, half-pay
officers their canes, and dandies their silk umbrellas. The
banker's cards are, as throughout all the Rhenish gaming-places,
of French design; the same that were invented, or, at least,
first used in Europe, for crazy Charles the Simple. These
cards are placed on an inclined plane of marble, called a
_talon_.

`The dealer first takes six packs of cards, shuffles them, and
distributes them in various parcels to the various punters or
players round the table, to shuffle and mix. He then finally
shuffles them, and takes and places the end cards into various
parts of the three hundred and twelve cards, until he meets with
a _court card_, which he must place upright at the end. This
done, he presents the pack to one of the players to cut, who
places the pictured card where the _dealer_ separates the pack,
and that part of the pack beyond the pictured card he places at
the end nearest him, leaving the pictured card at the bottom of
the pack.

`The dealer then takes a certain number of cards, about as many
as would form a pack, and, looking at the first card, to know its
colour, puts it on the table with its face downwards. He then
takes two cards, one red and the other black, and sets them back
to back. These cards are turned, and displayed conspicuously, as
often as the colour varies, for the information of the company.

`The gamblers having staked their money on either of the colours,