Yes, but it's a concrete noun, as in trickster, scammer, swindler.
So your line could read:
The loss of our Horace, a source of great trickster
Or:
The loss of our Horace, a source of great scammer
I believe you were flailing clumsily for the abstract noun, only to discover not only that it doesn't exist (bilkery?) but also that it doesn't rhyme with ilk, except perhaps in one of Acker's songs.