] Open the gates as wide as the sky, And let King George and his lady go by. --Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, (Burne s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 522). XVI. 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.
Mr J. K. J., his more urgent needs satisfied and the coffee imminent, drew a chair to this little table, sat down, examined the gun discreetly, loaded it warily, aimed, and hit his man. Thereupon he boasted of the deed, and issued challenges that were accepted with avidity.... He fired that day a shot that still echoes round the world. An affair--let us parallel the Cannonade of Valmy and call it the Cannonade of Sandgate--occurred, a shooting between opposed ranks of soldiers, a shooting not very different in spirit--but how different in results!--from the prehistoric warfare of catapult and garter.
These 12 points can be made by winning six by cards with spades for trumps; three by cards with clubs; or two by cards with diamonds or hearts. But if the hand can be played without a trump, the odd trick wins the game. It is hardly necessary to say that a player would be very foolish to engage himself to win six by cards if the odd trick would equally answer his purpose; nor would he undertake to win three by cards with clubs for trumps, if he had as good a chance of making two by cards with diamonds or hearts. In other words, the player should not make the trump which promises the greatest number of tricks, but should select that which will yield the largest number of points. It is for this reason that every good player first considers the advisability of making it “no-trump,” and if he thinks that injudicious, hearts or diamonds, leaving the black suits as a last resort. It is the custom invariably to make it no-trump with three Aces, unless the hand is strong enough for a heart make, or holds great honour value in red. In estimating the probabilities of trick-taking, it is usual to count the partner for three tricks on the average. Conservative players do not depend on him for more than two. Generally speaking, the maker of the trump should have four pretty certain tricks in his own hand. The dealer should seldom announce a black trump unless he has a certainty of the game in his own hand, without any assistance from his partner, or unless he has such a poor hand that he must make it a “defensive spade.
He was told that thirty years ago such a thing was unknown in the country districts of Dorset, when the game then usually indulged in was known merely as Drop the Handkerchief (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 212). In other cases the rhymes are used for a purely kissing game, for which see Kiss in the Ring. Dropping the Letter An undescribed Suffolk boys game.--Moor s _Suffolk Words_, p. 238. Duck under the Water Each child chooses a partner, and form in couples standing one before the other, till a long line is formed. Each couple holds a handkerchief as high as they can to form an arch. The couple standing at the end of the line run through the arch just beyond the last couple standing at the top, when they stand still and hold their handkerchief as high as possible, which is the beginning of the second arch; this is repeated by every last couple in succession, so that as many arches as are wanted can be formed.--East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss K.
Spade Queen and diamond Jack, _=Bézique=_ 40 Two spade Queens and diamond Jacks, _=Double Bézique=_ 500 CLASS C. Any _=four Aces=_ 100 Any _=four Kings=_ 80 Any _=four Queens=_ 60 Any _=four Jacks=_ 40 The four court cards in class C may be all of different suits, or any two of them may be of the same suit. A great many misunderstandings arise with respect to the manner and order of making declarations, most of which may be avoided by remembering the following rules: The player making the declaration must have won the previous trick, and must make his announcement before drawing his card from the stock. When the stock is exhausted, so that there is no card to be drawn, no announcement can be made. Only one declaration can be scored at a time, so that a trick must be won for every announcement made, or the combination cannot be scored. This does not prevent a player from making two or more announcements at the same time, but he can score only one of them. A player cannot make a lower declaration with cards which form part of a higher one already made in the same class. For instance: Marriages and sequences belong to the same class. If the sequence has been declared, a player cannot take from it the King and Queen and score a marriage; neither can he add a new Queen to the King already in the sequence, and announce a marriage; because the higher combination was scored first. But if the marriage is first announced, the A 10 J may be added and the sequence scored, after winning another trick.
There is no score for the last trick when the game is closed, because the number of tricks played will then be less than twelve. As closing gives peculiar advantages to the closer, there are certain forfeits if a person closes and fails to reach 66. There are three varieties of closing, which are as follows:-- If, during the play of the hand, either player thinks he has reached 66, he closes, and turns over the tricks he has already won. If he is correct, he scores one, two, or three points, according to the condition of his adversary’s count. But if he is not correct, and has not quite reached 66, his adversary scores two points in any case, and if the non-closer had not won a trick up to the time the stock was closed, he scores three; because that is the number the closer would have won if he had been correct in his count. If a player thinks he would have a better chance to reach 66 first if his adversary was compelled to follow suit, he may close the stock. For instance: A’s mental count is 35, and he holds in his hand a marriage, and the Ace of another plain suit; but no trumps. If he closes at once, and leads the Ace, his adversary will have to follow suit, and the 11 points will put the closing player to 46. He can then show his marriage, without leading it, and claim 66. But if the adversary should turn out to have none of the suit led, and should trump the Ace, A might never reach 66, and B would count two points.
Take out any aces showing, and place them in a row by themselves for “foundations.” Build up on these aces in sequence and suit to kings. On the layout, build in descending sequence, red on black, black on red, turning up the top card when any pile is left without a faced card upon it. If there is more than one card face up on any pile, they must be removed together or not at all. Spaces may be filled only with kings. The stock is run off three cards at a time, and any card showing can be used. The pack can be run through in this manner until no cards showing can be used, but there must be no shuffling or rearrangement of the cards. Sometimes it is the rule to run through the pack once only, turning up one card at a time. The object of the game is to see how many cards can be built on the ace row. A better average can usually be obtained when the pack is run off three at a time with the privilege of running through again and again as long as any card can be used.
Echoing, showing the number of trumps held when partner leads or calls; in plain suits, showing the number held when a high card is led. Edge, a corruption of the word “age,” the eldest hand. Eldest Hand, the first player to the left of the dealer in all English games; to his right in France. Encaisser, F., to hand the stakes to the banker. Entamer, F., to lead. Established Suits, a suit is established when you or your partner can take every trick in it, no matter who leads it. Étaler, F., to expose a card.
As soon as the board is filled, each man counts up his colour, and the one that has the majority wins the game. HALMA. This is played on a board with 256 squares, each player having nineteen men of distinguishing colours. At the start the men are placed in an enclosure at the corner of the board, called a “yard.” The object of the player is to get his men out of his own yard and into his adversary’s. The men move one square at a time, like a king at chess, unless a man gets to the square adjoining that occupied by another man with a space beyond it. Whether the adjoining man is his own or his adversary’s, the player can hop over it into the vacant space beyond, and he can make as many hops as there are men and spaces. This being so, a player will try to make “ladders” with his own men, placing them in a line diagonally, with a space between each, and will then hop his men over them all. As soon as he gets all his men into his adversary’s yard the game is ended. Special directions always come with the apparatus.
The connecting link seems to have been a game called Five Fingers, which is described in the “_Compleat Gamester_,” first published in 1674. The Five Fingers was the five of trumps, and also the best, the ace of hearts coming next. In Spoil Five, the Jack of trumps comes between these two. _=CARDS.=_ Spoil Five is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards. The rank of the cards varies according to the colour of the suit, and the trump suit undergoes still further changes, the heart ace being always the third best trump. In the plain suits, the K Q J retain their usual order, the King being the best. The rank of the spot cards, including the aces of diamonds, clubs, and spades, is generally expressed by the phrase: _=Highest in red; lowest in black=_. That is to say, if several cards of a suit, not including a King, Queen or Jack, are played to a trick, the highest card will win if the suit is red; and the lowest if the suit is black. This will give us the following order for the plain suits, beginning with the highest card in each:-- No change.
Well, this we wouldn t stand for. I didn t give a care if every gambling house in Nevada went broke. But Smythe was in the Lodge. And it finally made sense that the Lodge had sent me to bail him out. I gave old Maragon my mental apology. The Grand Master wouldn t stand still for _anybody s_ making a fool out of the Lodge. Still: Nobody that good is out of captivity, I snapped. I don t believe it. It s not TK that s robbing you. Oh, ridiculous, Rose said, showing his teeth.
Widow, any extra hand dealt in any game. Wimmeln, G., to bunch the points together; to fatten a trick for the partner. Wimmelfinte, G., leading a card which is calculated to induce the second hand to fatten the trick for his partner. Winning Hazards, pocketing the object ball. Winning Out, a card that wins four times in the same deal at Faro. Yarborough, a hand at Whist containing no card higher than a Nine; the odds against it are 1827 to 1. Younger Hand, the one not the leader in two-handed games. Zange, G.
Then, as the bidder fell short by two tricks of making good, his adversaries score these two tricks at 3,000 points each, penalty, in the honour column. _=Honours.=_ The honours are the A K Q J 10 of trumps and the four Aces, the Aces being always honours; but when there is a no-trump declaration they are the only honours. This makes the Ace of trumps count double, when there is a trump suit; once as one of the five honours in trumps, and once as an Ace. Each honour is worth ten times as much as a trick. If the bid was three in clubs, the tricks would be worth 30 each and the honours 300 each. The side that has the majority of Aces and of honours scores for all they hold; not for the majority or difference. Suppose the bidder’s side has three honours in clubs and three Aces; the other side must have only two honours and one Ace; therefore the bidder scores for six honours, at 300 each. If the Aces and honours in trumps are so divided that each side has a majority of one or the other, they offset. Suppose the bidder to hold four Aces and two honours.
This play is distinguished from Hy-spy only by the use of the Gegg. One of the Ins who is touched by one of the Outs is said to be taken, and henceforth loses his right to hold the Gegg. If he who holds the Gegg gets in the den, the Outs are winners, and have the privilege of getting out again. The Outs, before leaving the den, shuffle the Gegg, or smuggle it so between each other that the Ins do not know which person has it. He who is laid hold of, and put to the question, is supposed to deny that he has the Gegg: if he escapes with it, he gets out again.--Jamieson. Genteel Lady A player begins thus:-- I, a genteel lady (or gentleman) came from that genteel lady (or gentleman) to say that she (or he) owned a tree. The other players repeat the words in turn, and then the leader goes over them again, adding, with bronze bark. The sentence goes round once more, and on the next repetition the leader continues, with golden branches. He afterwards adds, and silver leaves, and purple fruit, and on the top a milk-white dove, and, finally, mourning for the loss of his lady-love.
| -- | -- | -- | |28.| -- | -- | -- | |29.| -- | -- | -- | |30.| -- | -- | -- | |31.| -- | -- | -- | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ |No.| Wales. | Isle of Wight. | Isle of Man. | +---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1.|Green gravel.