Pig in a poke while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick. This taught many scammed people the phrase "Caveat Emptor", or "buyer beware" as translated from Latin. In the past, it was common for small farmers to put a pig in a cloth sack to bring it to market for sale. A "poke" is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as "poque" and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding "-ette" or "-et" — hence "pocket" began life with the meaning "small bag". "Poke" is still in use in several English-speaking places, including
A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors and later texts often describe Blunt as an Upright Man, which Harman does not in his text. See also examples in Thieves' cant The "Caveat" is available online to subscribers to EEBO, and at Google Book Search. (The latter comprises page-images of an 1814 reprint of the 1573 edition.) The text is included in: A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds was first published in 1566 by Thomas Harman, and although no copies of that edition survive, it must have been popular, because two printers were punished by the Stationers'