) Command of silence. (7.) The presence of the devotee at the sacred bush. All these are incidents of primitive well-worship (see Gomme s _Ethnology and Folk-lore_, pp. 82-103). Garland dressing is very general; cakes were eaten at Rorrington well, Shropshire (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 433); pins and portions of the dress are very general offerings; silence is strictly enforced in many instances, and a sacred tree or bush is very frequently found near the well. The tune of the Hampshire game (Miss Mendham s version) is practically the same as that of the Mulberry Bush. Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 90) gives a version of this game.
70. If any one play two cards to the same trick, or mix his trump, or other card, with a trick to which it does not properly belong, and the mistake be not discovered until the hand is played out, he is answerable for all consequent revokes he may have made. If, during the play of the hand, the error be detected, the tricks may be counted face downward, in order to ascertain whether there be among them a card too many; should this be the case, they may be searched, and the card restored; the player is, however, liable for all revokes which he may have meanwhile made. THE REVOKE. 71. Is when a player, holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays a card of a different suit. 72. The penalty for a revoke-- I. Is at the option of the adversaries, who at the end of the hand may either take three tricks from the revoking player or deduct three points from his score, or add three to their own score; II. Can be claimed for as many revokes as occur during the hand; III.
London Bridge is broken down, Broken down, broken down, London Bridge is broken down, My fair lady. [Other verses commence with one of the following lines, and are sung in the same manner--] Build it up with penny loaves. Penny loaves will melt away. Build it up with iron and steel. Iron and steel will bend and bow. Build it up with silver and gold. Silver and gold I have not got. What has this poor prisoner done? Stole my watch and broke my chain. How many pounds will set him free? Three hundred pounds will set him free. The half of that I have not got.
=_ If a player throws off men before all his men are at home, the men so thrown off must be placed on the bar, and re-entered in the adversary’s home table, just as if they had been captured in the course of play. The same penalty attaches to throwing off men while one is on the bar. RUSSIAN BACKGAMMON. In this variety of the game, no men are placed upon the board at starting, but each player enters his men by throws of the dice, and both players enter upon the same table, so that all the men on both sides move round the board in the same direction, and both players have the same home table, which is always the one opposite the entering table. After having entered two men on the first throw, the player is at liberty either to continue entering his men with any subsequent throws, or to play the men already entered. In moving or in entering a player may capture any blots left by his adversary; but he cannot enter upon a point covered by two or more of the adversary’s men. If a player cannot enter a fresh man with the throw made, he must play a man if he can. When a man is captured, he must be re-entered before any other man can be moved. Except on the first throw of the game, doublets give the player a great advantage. He can not only play the upper faces of the dice twice over, as in the ordinary game, but the faces opposite them also, and can then throw again before his adversary.
_=With Four Players=_, we can best describe the arrangement by numbering them 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, the lowest number, 1, having cut the lowest card, and the others having the right to play Vivant in their numerical order. The initial arrangement would be as follows:-- [Illustration: 4 4 +---------+ +---------+ | Mort. | | Mort. | 2 | | 3 or this:-- 3 | | 2 | Vivant. | | Vivant. | +---------+ +---------+ 1 1 ] For the three succeeding games the arrangement would be:-- [Illustration: 1 2 3 +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ | Mort. | | Mort. | | Mort. | 3 | | 4 4 | | 1 1 | | 2 | Vivant. | | Vivant.
X. I have a pigeon in my pocket, It peeps out and in, And every time that I go round I give it a drop of gin. Drip it, drop it, drip it, drop it. --Settle, Yorkshire (Rev W. S. Sykes). XI. I sent a letter to my love, I thought I put it in my glove, But by the way I dropped it. I had a little dog said Bow, wow, wow! I had a little cat said Mew, mew, mew! It shan t bite you, It _shall_ bite _you_. --Bexley Heath (Miss Morris).
Clapping of hands occurs in two other cases, and bell-ringing in one other case, not accompanied by the death incident. Now it is singular that the burial-rite which has just been quoted is called Dish-a-loof; and a reference to the game of Dish-a-loof [under that title], will show that it derives its name from the clapping of hands. In the ceremony, as described by Henderson, although songs and games are part of the burial-ceremony, there is no specific mention of hand-clapping; but it is conceivable that the action at one time formed part of the ceremony, and hence the name Dish-a-loof. This would not account for the promise of a duck, drake, &c., as in incidents Nos. 12 and 20; nor for the promise of a young prince or young man; but these incidents might very well be variants of some earlier forms which are not now discoverable, especially as love-games were played at funerals, and as the tendency, in the less complete forms of the game as they have come down to us, is in the direction of transposing the game into a complete love-game. The use of rushes in the Lanarkshire game might indicate the funeral garland (Aubrey s _Remaines_, pp. 109, 139). For clapping of hands to indicate bell-tolling or bell-ringing at times of death see Napier s _Folklore_, p. 66.
--Northamptonshire. (_c_) Halliwell does not include it among his games, but simply as a nursery paradox. The tune given is that to which I as a child was taught to sing the verses as a song. We did not know it as a game. The Quack, quack! was repeated as another line to the notes of the last bar given, the notes gradually dying away (A. B. Gomme). Duck Friar The game of Leap-frog. --_Apollo Shroving_, 1627, p. 83.
See Mulberry Bush, When I was a Young Girl. New Squat A ring is made by marking the ground, and a tin placed in the middle of it. One boy acts as keeper of the tin, the other players also stand outside the ring. One of these kicks the tin out of the ring, the others then all run to hide or squat out of sight. The keeper has to replace the tin before looking for the boys. If, after that, he can spy a boy, that boy must come out and stand by the ring. When another boy is spied, he endeavours to reach the ring before the keeper does so, and kick out the tin. If he is successful, any one of the boys who is standing by, having been previously spied, is released from the keeper, and again hides. The object of the keeper is to successfully spy all the boys. When this is accomplished the last boy becomes the keeper.
=_ Twelve cards are given to each player, two or three at a time, and the twenty-fifth is turned up for the trump. If this is an honour, the dealer marks one white counter for it. There are no discards. _=Impérials.=_ Certain combinations of cards are known as impérials, and the player marks one red counter for each of them. The best impérial is carte blanche, which is sometimes marked as a double impérial, and worth two reds. A sequence of K Q J A in any suit is an impérial. An impérial de retourne may be formed in the dealer’s hand if the turn-up trump completes his sequence or makes four of a kind. An impérial tombée, or de rencontre, is made when the player who holds the King and Queen of trumps catches the Jack and Ace from his adversary. Four Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces, or Sevens in one hand is an impérial; but the Eights, Nines and Tens have no value.
Rejoué, duplicate whist. Renege, failure to follow suit, having none. See Revoke. Renounce, same as renege. Rentrant, F., the player who takes the place of the loser in a previous game. Renvier, F., to raise the bet, to improve. Retourne, F., any card turned on the talon, or for a trump.