He was burning something called tobacco in it. It was a dirty sort of habit, but it made him look very dashing and adventurous. Look here, youngster. You don t have to worry about that stuff. Pinlighting is getting better all the time. The Partners are getting better. I ve seen them pinlight two Rats forty-six million miles apart in one and a half milliseconds. As long as people had to try to work the pin-sets themselves, there was always the chance that with a minimum of four hundred milliseconds for the human mind to set a pinlight, we wouldn t light the Rats up fast enough to protect our planoforming ships. The Partners have changed all that. Once they get going, they re faster than Rats.
(_c_) The first verse of the Shropshire version is also sung at Metheringham, near Lincoln (C. C. Bell), and Cowes, I. W. (Miss E. Smith). The Staffordshire version of the words is sung in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews), West Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 58), Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy), Hexham, Northumberland (Miss Barker), Leicester (Miss Ellis). Miss Peacock says, A version is known in Lincolnshire.
Fiddler: They must come to, they shall come to, And tell them I say so. The cushion-holder then goes to the girl he fancies most, and drops the cushion at her feet. She kneels down with him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then go through the same thing, saying, young men, and then a young man, &c., until the whole company have gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement. The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple Kiss in the Ring game, with the following verse:-- Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Yet the punishment you must bear If you touch the cushion there. --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). (_c_) Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to this game:-- The Court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing first you have the grave measures, then the Cervantoes and the Golliards, and this is kept up with ceremony. At length to Trenchmore and the _Cushion Dance_; and then all the company dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction.
If he is strong enough to lead trumps under ordinary circumstances, he may be deterred from so doing if the adversaries have declared a strong suit against him. The same consideration may prevent his leading trumps in the hope of making a suit of his own, as the adversaries might reap the benefit by bringing in their suit instead. On the contrary, when the Second or Fourth Hand holds command of the adverse suit, they may often risk a trump lead which would otherwise be injudicious. Having once started a suit, it should not be changed, except for one of the reasons already given for the guidance of the First Hand. _=When the Adversaries Lead Trumps=_, and the Second Hand has a chance either to establish a suit against them or to force his partner, he should stop the trump lead if he can. If his partner has led trumps, the Second Hand should generally play his winning cards on his right hand opponent’s plain-suit leads, to stop them; and continue the trumps. These are about all the conventionalities necessary for the beginner. After at least a year’s practice with them, he will either discover that he has no aptitude for the game, or will be ready to go into further details. A beginner who attempts to handle the weapons of the expert simply plays with edged tools, which will probably cut no one but himself and his partner. * * * * * _=THE SIGNAL GAME.
The contest between the players is simply who shall strike the ball to the greatest distance in a given number of strokes. The length of each stroke is measured before the ball is returned, by means of a cord made fast at one end near the trap, the other being stretched into the field by a person stationed there for that purpose, who adjusts it to the ball wherever it may lie. In a work entitled the _Costumes of Yorkshire_ this game is described and represented as Nor and Spell. The little wooden ball used in this game is in Yorkshire called the Nor, and the receptacle in which it is placed the Spell. Peacock (_Manley and Corringham Glossary_) gives knur, (1) a hard wooden ball, (2) the head. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says knur is a small round ball, less than a billiard ball. It is put into a cup fixed on a spring which, being touched, causes the ball to rise into the air, when it is struck by a trip-stick, a slender stick made broad and flat at one end. The knur is struck by the broad part. The game is played on Shrove Tuesday. Brogden (_Provincial Words of Lincolnshire_) gives it under Bandy.
H. Low). This game belongs apparently to the ball games used for purposes of divination. Mr. Newell (_Games_, p. 181) describes a similar game to this, in which the player whose name is called drops the ball; he must pick it up as quickly as possible while the rest scatter. He then calls Stand! upon which the players halt, and he flings it at whom he pleases. If he misses his aim, he must place himself in a bent position with his hands against a wall until every player has taken a shot at him. The idea of naming children after the days of the week occurs also in the games of Gipsy, Witch, and Mother, Mother, the Pot boils over. See Ball, Burly Whush, Keppy Ball.
Original Lead, the opening lead of a hand at Whist. Pair, F., the even numbers at Roulette. See Impair. Pairs, in Duplicate Whist, the partners sitting N and S, or E and W. Any two cards of the same denomination. Pairs Royal, any three cards of the same denomination. Partie, F., a game which requires a number of deals to decide it. Pass, to decline any undertaking in a game.
Gregor). XIII. I had a little dog, it shan t bite you, Shan t bite you, shan t bite you, Nor you, nor you, nor you. I had a little cat, it shan t scratch you, Shan t scratch you, nor you, nor you. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. And one of you have picked it up and put it in your pocket. It wasn t you, it wasn t you, nor you, nor you, but it was _you_. --London (A. B. Gomme).