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The general rule is to win the trick as cheaply as possible, by playing the lowest of the high cards which form the combination from which a high card would be led. Such are the following:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂭 🂫 | 🂾 🂽 🂻 🂸 🂱 🂾 🂽 🂳 | 🃞 🃝 🃘 🃔 🃑 🃞 🃕 🃒 | 🃎 🃋 🃊 🃅 🃁 🃍 🃋 🃂 | 🂭 🂫 🂪 🂣 ] The beginner must be careful with these:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂮 🂫 🂢 | 🃎 🃍 🃊 🃆 ] The combination which makes the first of these a high-card lead is the A K, and the King must be played Second Hand. The Jack has nothing to do with it. In the second, the Ten does not form any part of the combination, and the Queen is the card to play Second Hand. Some players will not play a high card second hand with K Q x x unless weak in trumps. An exception is generally made with these combinations, from which the proper lead is the Ace. [Illustration: 🃑 🃝 🃘 🃔 🃓 | 🂡 🂩 🂨 🂧 🂤 ] Many will not play Ace Second Hand in any case, and will play the Queen with the first combination only when they are weak in trumps. The reason for this exception is the importance of retaining command of the adverse suit as long as possible. _=On the Second Round=_, the Second Hand should follow the usual rule for playing the best of the suit if he holds it; or one of the second and third best, if he holds them. He should also be careful to estimate, by the eleven rule, how many cards are out against the leader, which will sometimes guide him to a good finesse.
=_ In France, the game is always marked with the ordinary round chips or counters, never with a marker. As five points is the game, four of these counters are necessary for each player. _=PLAYERS.=_ Écarté is played by two persons, who sit opposite each other. One is known as the dealer, and the other as the pone, the adversary, the elder hand, the non-dealer, the leader, or the player. _=THE GALLERY.=_ In clubs that make a feature of Écarté, and in which there is a great deal of betting on the outside by the spectators, it is not usual to allow more than one game between the same players, the loser giving place to one of those who have been backing him, and who is called a _=rentrant=_. This is known as playing the _cul-levé_. Any person in the gallery is allowed to draw attention to errors in the score, and may advise the player he is backing, or even play out the game for him, if he resigns. The player need not take the advice given him, which must be offered without discussion, and by pointing only, not naming the suit or cards.
If any player can show triplets, he receives one white counter from each of the other players, and the hands are then abandoned. If more than one triplet is shown, the inferior does not pay the higher. If no triplet is shown, the cards are redealt. A misdeal does not lose the deal. The deal passes to the right; but should the player whose turn it is to deal have lost everything on the previous deal, and have just purchased another stake, the deal passes to the player beyond him. If a player withdraws from the table when it is his turn to deal, the deal passes any newcomer who may take his place. _=Betting.=_ The cards dealt, each player in turn, beginning with the one to the right of the dealer, or to the right of the last straddler, if any, can do one of three things: Equal the amount of the ante; increase it as much as he pleases within the limits of his cave; or pass, retaining his cards but betting nothing. If any player _=opens=_ the game by making a bet, the player on his right may equal or raise it; but he cannot pass after the game is opened, unless he withdraws from the pool. Any player may call for a sight for the amount in front of him, but that does not prevent the others from continuing the betting.
Red s position is altogether hopeless. He has four men left alive by his rightmost gun, and their only chance is to attempt to save that by retreating with it. If they fire it, one or other will certainly be killed at its tail in Blue s subsequent move, and then the gun will be neither movable nor fireable. Red s left gun, with four men only, is also in extreme peril, and will be immovable and helpless if it loses another man. Very properly Red decided upon retreat. His second gun had to be abandoned after one move, but two of the men with it escaped over his back line. Five of the infantry behind the church escaped, and his third gun and its four cavalry got away on the extreme left-hand corner of Red s position. Blue remained on the field, completely victorious, with two captured guns and six prisoners. There you have a scientific record of the worthy general s little affair. V EXTENSIONS AND AMPLIFICATIONS OF LITTLE WAR Now that battle of Hook s Farm is, as I have explained, a simplification of the game, set out entirely to illustrate the method of playing; there is scarcely a battle that will not prove more elaborate (and eventful) than this little encounter.
If the third hand has not played, and the fourth hand plays before the second, the latter may be called upon by the third hand to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led or, if he has none, to trump or not to trump the trick. In _=Boston=_, and in _=Solo Whist=_, should an adversary of the single player play out of turn, the bidder may call upon the adversary who has not played to play his highest or lowest of the suit led, or to win or not to win the trick. If the adversary of a Misère player leads or plays out of turn, the bidder may immediately claim the stakes. In Solo Whist, the individual player in fault must pay for himself and for his partners. ABANDONED HANDS. 27. If all four players throw their cards on the table, face upwards, no further play of that hand is permitted. The result of the hand, as then claimed or admitted, is established, provided that, if a revoke is discovered, the revoke penalty attaches. In _=Solo Whist=_, should the bidder abandon his hand, he and his partner, if any, must pay the stakes and settle for all over-tricks as if they had lost all the remaining tricks. If a player, not the bidder, abandons his hand, his partner or partners may demand the hand to be played out with the abandoned hand exposed, and liable to be called by the adversary.
In some places it is the custom to remove the Eight of diamonds, as at Commit, to form an extra and known stop. The player first getting rid of his cards takes the pool on Game, and the holder of Pope takes that pool if he can get rid of the card in the course of play, if not, he must double the pool, just as with the honours in trumps. NEWMARKET, OR STOPS. This game, which is sometimes called Boodle, is Pope Joan without the pope. The four cards forming the layout are the ♡A, ♣K, ♢Q, ♠J; but there is no ♢7. The dealer names any number of counters that he is willing to stake, which must be at least four, and each player at the table must stake a similar amount. The counters are placed on the layout to suit the players, either all upon one card, or distributed among the four. The cards are dealt as at Pope Joan, and the same number must be left in the talon. Instead of the player being at liberty to begin a sequence with any card he pleases, he must begin with the lowest card in his hand of the suit which he selects. He is not restricted as to suit, but must play all he has in sequence, and then name the card that he fails on.
Suppose the pipe should fall and break? We ll give him a bag of nuts to crack. Suppose the nuts were rotten and bad? We ll give him a horse to gallop around, &c. --Enborne School, Berks (M. Kimber). VIII. London Bridge is broken down, Gran says the little D, London Bridge is broken down, Fair la-dy. Build it up with lime and stone, Gran says the little D, Build it up with lime and stone, Fair la-dy. [Then follow verses beginning with the following lines--] Lime and stone would waste away. Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves would be eaten away.
7. The checks are separately pushed out of the ring. 8. Each check in turn is taken up and knocked against the ground. 9. Each check is taken up and tapped upon another. 10. The checks are first arranged three in a line, touching each other, and the fourth placed at the top of that at one end of the row. This is called the Cradle. It has to be taken down check by check, and if, in taking one, another is moved, the player is out.
Elworthy does not mention any words being used, and it is therefore probable that this is the Drop-handkerchief game, which generally has no kissing. It also, in the way it is played, resembles French Jackie. In the Wolstanton game, Miss Keary says: If the owner of the handkerchief overtakes the one who is bitten as they run round, they shake hands and go into the middle of the ring, while the others sing the marriage formula. In Berkshire (_Antiq._ xxvii. 255) the game is played without words, and apparently no handkerchief or other sign is used. Miss Thoyts says the young man raises his hat when he embraces the young woman of his choice. To throw (or fling) the handkerchief is a common expression for an expected proposal of marriage which is more of a condescension than a complimentary or flattering one to the girl. Kiss in the Ring is probably a relic of the earliest form of marriage by choice or selection. The custom of dropping or sending a glove as the signal of a challenge may have been succeeded by the handkerchief in this game.
O. Addy). (_b_) The tree is the alder. It abounds in the North of England more than in any other part of the kingdom, and seems always to have been there held in great respect and veneration. Many superstitions also attach to the tree. It is possible from these circumstances that the game descends from an old custom of encircling the tree as an act of worship, and the allusion to the rags bears at least a curious relationship to tree worship. If this conclusion is correct, the particular form of the game preserved by Mr. Addy may be the parent form of all games in which the act of winding is indicated. There is more reason for this when we consider how easy the notion of clock-winding would creep in after the old veneration for the sacred alder tree had ceased to exist. [Illustration] See Bulliheisle, Wind up the Bush Faggot, Wind up the Watch.
(_b_) In the Lancashire version, one child represents the Miller. The rest of the children stand round in a circle, with the Miller in the centre. All dance round and sing the verses. When it comes to the spelling part of the rhyme, the Miller points at one child, who must call out the right letter. If the child fails to do this she becomes Miller. In the Shropshire version, a ring is formed with one player in the middle. They dance round and sing the verses. When it comes to the spelling part, the girl in the middle cries B, and signals to another, who says I, the next to her N, the third G, the fourth O! his name was Bobby Bingo! Whoever makes a mistake takes the place of the girl in the middle. In the Liphook version, at the fourth line the children stand still and repeat a letter each in turn as quickly as they can, clapping their hands, and at the last line they turn right round, join hands, and begin again. In the Tean version, the one in the centre points, standing still, to some in the ring to say the letters B.
If he sees one he must call the name, and run to strike the tin with his foot. He does this until each one has been discovered. As they are seen they must stand out. The one who was first found has to guard the tin next time. Should one of the players be able to strike the tin while the keeper is absent, that player calls out, Hide again. They can then all hide until the same keeper discovers them again.--Beddgelert (Mrs. Williams). See New Squat. Mouse and the Cobbler One girl stands up and personates a mother, another pretends to be a mouse, and crouches behind a chair in a corner.
How many miles to Bethlehem? Three score and ten. Shall we get there by candle-light? Yes, there and back again. So open the gates and let King George and his family go through. --Hayton, near York (H. Hardy). XVII. How far is it to Babylon? Three score miles and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, there and back again. --Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews). XVIII.
This game is known in and near London as Cross Touch. Cry Notchil This is an old game where boys push one of their number into a circle they have made, and as he tries to escape push him back, crying, No child of mine! (Leigh s _Cheshire Glossary_). He adds, This may be the origin of the husband s disclaimer of his wife when he notchils her. To cry notchil is for a man to advertise that he will not be answerable for debts incurred by his wife. Cuck-ball A game at ball. The same as Pize-ball. It is sometimes called Tut-ball. --Addy s _Sheffield Glossary_. See Ball. Cuckoo A child hides and cries Cuckoo.
The two at one end question those at the other end alternately (fig. 1). At the last line the two that have been answering hold their hands up to form a bridge, and all the others thread through, still holding hands (the bridge advancing slowly) (fig. 2). The Louth version is also sometimes played as Oranges and Lemons. This is also the case with the Belfast, South Shields, Ellesmere, and Dublin versions. Miss Burne also gives a second method of playing this game at Ellesmere: she says, The whole number of players stand in two rows facing each other, each player joining hands with the one opposite. The pair at the lower end parley with the pair at the top, and then run under the extended arms of the others, receiving thumps on the back as they go, till they reach the upper end, and become the top couple in their turn. The Hanbury version is played in a similar way. Two lines stand close together holding handkerchiefs across.
--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. He also refers to a game called Robin-a-Ree, much like Preest Cat, only in passing the burnt stick round the ring the following rhyme is said-- Robin-a-Ree, ye ll no dee wi me, Tho I birl ye roun three times and three; O Robin-a-Ree, O Robin-a-Ree, O dinna let Robin-a-Reerie dee. Robin-a-Ree occurs in an old song.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. In Cornwall it is known as Robin s a-light, and is played around the fire. A piece of stick is set on fire and whirled around rapidly in the hand of the first player, who says, Robin s a-light, and if he go out I will saddle your back. It is then passed to the next, who says the same thing, and so on. The person who lets the spark die out has to pay a forfeit.--Scilly (Courtney s West _Cornwall Glossary_). A rhyme at Lostwithiel is known as follows-- Jack s alive, and likely to live; If he die in my hand a pawn (forfeit) I ll give.
Short suits should be discarded in preference to high cards in long suits, unless the cards in the short suit are very low. Discards give great information to the adversaries if the rule is followed to discard the highest of a suit; because all cards higher than those discarded must be between the two other adversaries and the caller, and each adversary is thus furnished with a guide. It is useless to discard a suit of which the caller is void; and it is best to keep discarding from one suit until it is exhausted, or only the deuce remains. The trump signal is frequently used in discarding to indicate that the signaller wishes to get into the lead. _=Returning Suits.=_ Whether or not to return a partner’s lead may often be decided by inferences from the fall of the cards. It is frequently an easy matter to locate the cards in the various suits, if it is borne in mind that adversaries who play after the caller get rid of their highest cards. For instance: Right leads the 9; caller plays the 5; left the 10; and the last player finds he holds K Q J 6 of the suit. He should know that the caller has nothing between the 5 and the 9, and must have the Ace; so his cards were probably A 5 4 3 2. While it is manifestly impossible to catch him on that suit, it may still be led three times, in order to give the partners discards, as both of them must be short.
Freak? I said, laying it on his mitral valve. After his heart had missed about eight beats, he started to sink, and I quit the lift. Be polite, Simonetti, I said to the panic in his yellowish face. Next time I ll pinch down tight. The coroner will call it heart failure. Tough. He wanted his stiletto. He needed it. He was sorry he had ever quit carrying it. A couple seconds of reflection told him I was too tough for him.
Any person who is tempted to bet on any game in the Euchre family should remember the advice of the worldly-wise Parisian to his son: “Until you have four eyes in your head, risk not your gold at Écarté.” _=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ The chief points for the beginner to understand are. When to order up; when to assist; when to take up; when to play alone; and what to make the trump if it is turned down. His decision in each case will be governed largely by his position at the table, and by the score. The following suggestions are for four players, two being partners against the other two, and playing without the Joker; that being the most common form of the game. The general principles underlying these suggestions for the four-handed game will be found equally valuable in any form of Euchre. _=ORDERING UP.=_ Although probabilities are of little practical value in Euchre, it may be well to remember that there are nine cards in the trump suit; but as only two-thirds of the pack is dealt out, the average number of trumps among four players will be six. Of these, the dealer always has the advantage of being sure of one more than his share, and it is safe to reckon upon the dealer to hold at least two trumps.
|blackbird. | | | 19.| -- | -- |For a pretty girl. | | 20.| -- | -- |You shall have a | | | | |drake. | | 21.| -- | -- | -- | | 22.| -- | -- | -- | | 23.| -- |All sorts of colours | -- | | | |lying by his side. | | |[8.