IV. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to-day? As many as you catch and carry away. --Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy). (_b_) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite, facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the second line, and so with the third and fourth lines. The two sides then rush over to each other, and the second set are caught. The child who is caught last becomes one of the first set for another game. This is the Earls Heaton version. The Lancashire game, as described by Miss Dendy, is: One child stands opposite a row of children, and the row run over to the opposite side, when the one child tries to catch them. The prisoners made, join the one child, and assist her in the process of catching the others.
Halliwell gives the words used in the game both formerly and at the present day. If the stone emerges only once it is a duck, and increasing in the following order:-- 2. A duck and a drake, 3. And a halfpenny cake, 4. And a penny to pay the old baker, 5. A hop and a scotch is another notch, 6. Slitherum, slatherum, take her. --Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Hen-pen, Duck and mallard, Amen. --Somersetshire (Holloway s _Dict.
| -- | -- | |20.| -- | -- | |21.| -- | -- | |22.|Last to stoop down |We ll all cow down | | |shall be married. |together. | |23.| -- | -- | |24.| -- | -- | |25.|He came to inquire, |They shall be married | | |down she came, so off |with gold ring. | | |with glove and on with| | | |ring, to-morrow the | | | |wedding begins.
=_ It is better to score all points as soon as they are made. The game is usually 1000 points. Some players do not count the brisques until the last trick has been played, but the practice is not to be recommended. Scores erroneously marked must be taken down, and the adversary may add the points to his own score. _=Suggestions for Good Play=_ will be found in Binocle. FOUR-HANDED BÉZIQUE. In this variation, four persons may play; each for himself or two against two, partners sitting opposite each other. Four packs of thirty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one. Triple bézique counts 1500. When a player wins a trick, either he or his partner may declare everything in the hand, but only one combination can be scored at a time.
The old Spanish game of Triomphe, now obsolete, seems to have undergone several changes after its introduction to France. At first it was played either by two persons, or by two pairs of partners. If one side had bad cards, they could offer to abandon the hand, and allow the adversaries to count a point without playing. If the adversaries refused, they were obliged to win all five tricks or lose two points. It was compulsory to win the trick if possible, and to trump, over-trump, or under-trump if the player had none of the suit led. This peculiarity survives in the games of Rams and Loo, which also belong to the euchre family. After a time we find a variation introduced in which any number from two to six could play, each for himself, and the player first winning two tricks out of the five marked the point. Later still we find the ace ranking above the King, thus becoming the best trump. If the ace was turned up, the dealer had the privilege of robbing it, or the holder of the ace of trumps could rob the turn-up, discarding any card he pleased, just as in Spoil Five. But in Triomphe the dealer turned up another card, and if that was of the trump suit the holder of the ace could rob that also, and so on until he turned a card of a different suit.
_=SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.=_ Chinese Whist very closely resembles Dummy, and the chief element of success is the skilful use of tenace. Memory also plays an important part, it being especially necessary to remember what cards are still unplayed in each suit. While the down cards are held a player cannot be sure of taking a trick by leading a card higher than any his adversary has exposed, because one of the down cards may be better. If a player is short of trumps, but has as many and better than those of his adversary, it is often good play to lead and draw the weaker trumps before the adversary turns up higher ones to protect them. For instance: one player may have 10 8, and his adversary the 9 alone. If the 10 is led the 9 will probably be caught, unless one of the adverse down cards is better. If the 10 is not led the adversary may turn up an honour, and will then have major tenace over the 10 and 8. The end game always offers some interesting problems for solution by the expert in tenace position, and in placing the lead. WHIST FAMILY LAWS.
Any number of persons may play Vingt-et-un, and a full pack of fifty-two cards is used. The _=cards=_ have no rank, but a counting value is attached to each, the ace being reckoned as 11 or 1, at the option of the holder, all court cards as 10 each, and the others at their face value. The cards are thrown round for the first deal, and the first ace takes it. The dealer is also the banker. Each player is provided with a certain number of _=counters=_, usually 25 or 50, and a betting limit is agreed on before play begins. The players on the dealer’s right and left are known as the pone and the eldest hand respectively. The _=object=_ of the game is to get as near 21 as possible in the total pip value of the cards held. _=Stakes.=_ Before the cards are dealt, each player except the dealer places before him the amount he bets upon his chances for that deal. This amount may be either at the option of the player, within the betting limit, or it may be a fixed sum, such as one counter.