but nothing was found upon him, though the packet was discovered under a chair at a distant part of the room. As none of the parties had gone out; they were the more puzzled the more they thought how it could have been lost. The fact is, briefly, that the female carried it off; the loser having been mistaken in saying, he had felt it since he entered the room;—a warning to people how cautious they should be in stating unnecessary particulars, too hastily.
Here was a very neat and clean job done, and all safe and right; and is that sort of practice which for distinction's sake is termed "picking of pockets," simply; though hustling, and knocking down, or tripping up are the same thing prastised with more violence. We will, therefore, describe all those methods as carried on against single persons.
The pickpocket who does the thing "neatly," as the phrase is, goes alone; or, at most, two together. His intention is not to use violence, and he even avoids being felt at work; for which reason the law has made it capital felony to execute his task so adroitly as not to be discovered in the act of taking; notwithstanding which law, he always endeavours to incur the highest crime,
