_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ When four play it is sometimes permissible for one to pass out, each in turn to the left having the right. The first thing is for the holder of the six of trumps to exchange it for the turned-up trump. The player to the left of the dealer then leads any card he pleases, and each player in turn must follow suit and must head the trick if he can; by trumping if he has none of the suit led. As soon as a card is played, the player makes his meld, announcing its pip value. The winner of the last trick scores five points for it. _=SCORING.=_ Sometimes 1,000 points is a game, as in pinochle, and the first player to call out wins if he is correct; if not he loses. Sometimes in three or four-hand, it is agreed to play some number of deals divisible by four, usually 12 or 16. These are indicated by cross marks on the slate, each arm representing a deal.
When the gentleman says the lines commencing, Stab me, he pretends to stab the lady, who falls on the ground. Then he walks round the lady and sings the last verse, Rise up, and lifts up the lady. In the Derbyshire game only three children play, the lover, lady, and fairy. The girl stands a little distance off. The lover says the first four lines, then approaches the lady, falls on one knee, and says the next line. The lady replies, and retires further away. The lover then falls on the ground and says the next line. As this is said the good fairy appears, touches the fallen lover with her hand, and he is immediately well again. (_c_) This is a curious game, and is perhaps derived from a ballad which had been popular from some more or less local circumstance, or more probably it may be a portion of an old play acted in booths at fair times by strolling players. It is not, as far as I can find out, played in any other counties.
The boys sit down in rows, hands locked beneath their hams. Round comes one of them, the honey merchant, who feels those who are sweet and sour, by lifting them by the arm-pits and giving them three shakes. If they stand these without the hands unlocking below they are then sweet and saleable, fit for being office-bearers of other ploys.--Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_. In Ross and Stead s _Holderness Glossary_ this is described as a girls game, in which two carry a third as a pot of honey to market. It is mentioned by Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) and by Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_). Mr. Holland adds, If the hands give way before twenty is reached it is counted a bad honey pot; if not, it is a good one. In Dublin the seller sings out-- Honey pots, honey pots, all in a row, Twenty-five shillings wherever you go-- Who ll buy my honey pots? --Mrs. Lincoln.
Clement Day custom (Poole s _Staffordshire Customs, &c._, p. 36) and the northern Hallowe en custom (Brockett s _North-Country Words_) probably indicate the origin of this game from an ancient rite. Boggle about the Stacks A favourite play among young people in the villages, in which one hunts several others (Brockett s _North-Country Words_). The game is alluded to in one of the songs given by Ritson (ii. 3), and Jamieson describes it as a Scottish game. See Barley-break. Boggle-bush The child s play of finding the hidden person in the company.--Robinson s _Whitby Glossary_. See Hide and Seek.
To remedy this it is the custom in some clubs to allow a player to bid the full value of his hand. If the seller accepts, he scores to within one of game; but if he refuses, he must make as many as bid, even if he does not actually want them. It is one of the fine points of the game for the seller to refuse when the number of points offered would put the bidder out if he was successful. There is no penalty for bidding out of turn. If a player chooses to expose to a preceding player what he is prepared to bid, that is usually to his own disadvantage. _=Bidding to the Board.=_ Modern players usually adopt the practice of bidding to the board, eldest hand having the first bid. In this form of the game the points bid count to no one, and anyone can bid up to four, no matter what the scores are. No one can claim the privilege of pitching the trump for as many as bid, as each in turn must bid higher or pass. _=Playing.
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