--Gainford, Durham (Miss Eddleston). IX. Green gravels, green gravels, The grass is so green, And all the pretty maidens Are not to be seen, Except ---- (said twice), And she s not [?] to be seen, So I send you a letter to turn round your head. --Hampshire (Miss E. Mendham). X. Green gravels, green gravels, the grass is so green, Fine pencils, fine pencils, as ever were seen. O Mary! O Mary! your true love is dead, And he s sent you a letter to turn round your head. --Wales (_Byegones_, 1890). XI.
_=Fourth Hand=_ bids on the bidding much more than on his cards. He should never take the dealer out of a spade that both second and third hand have passed unless he can go game. If the dealer bids a losing suit, second and third hands passing, leave him in unless you can go game and are not afraid of a shift. If the dealer bids a winning suit, second and third hands passing, make any sound declaration. If the dealer starts with no trumps, show any suit that might save the game if led at once by your partner. _=Subsequent Bids.=_ Any suit bid on the second round but not on the first, shows length without the tops. When a winning suit is taken out by the partner, a losing suit bid on the second round shows tops in it. Any suit rebid on the second round, without waiting for the partner’s assistance, shows six or seven sure tricks in hand. Never bid a hand twice, unless its strength is greater than indicated by the first bid.
| -- | -- | |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. | | |26.| -- | -- | |27.
EARL OF COVENTRY. This game is sometimes called Snip Snap Snorem, by those who are not of a poetical turn of mind. Any number of persons may play, and a full pack of cards is dealt out, one at a time. If some players have a card more than others, it does not matter. The eldest hand lays upon the table any card he pleases, and each player in turn pairs or matches it, if he can, with another of the same denomination, accompanying the action with a rhyme. Suppose the first card played is a King; the person playing it would say: “There’s as good as King can be.” The first player to lay down another King would say: “There is one as good as he.” The player holding the third King would say: “There’s the best of all the three,” and the holder of the fourth would then triumphantly exclaim: “And there’s the Earl of Coventry.” The fortunate holder of the Earl of Coventry in each round has the privilege of leading a card for the next trick, and the first player to get rid of all his cards wins one counter from the others for every card they hold. The words, “Snip, Snap, Snorem,” may be substituted for the foregoing rhymes if time is short.
Fox and Geese (2) A game known by this name is played with marbles or pegs on a board on which are thirty-three holes, or on the pavement, with holes scraped out of the stones. To play this game there are seventeen pieces called Geese, and another one either larger or distinguished from the Geese by its colour, which is called the Fox. The Fox occupies the centre hole, and the Geese occupy nine holes in front, and four on each side of him. The vacant holes behind are for the Geese and Fox to move in. The game is for the Geese to shut up the Fox so that he cannot move. All the pieces can be moved from one spot to another in the direction of the lines, but cannot pass over two holes at once. The Geese are not permitted to take the Fox. The Fox s business is to take all, or as many of the Geese as will prevent him from being blockaded. The Fox can take the Geese whenever there is a vacant space behind them, which he passes to, then occupies. This game has been very popular among schoolboys in all ages.
When all the counters, four red and six white, have been passed over, the game is won. _=Dealing.=_ 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.
The players on the dealer’s right and left are known as the pone, and the eldest hand respectively. _=Cutting.=_ The players draw from an outspread pack for positions at the table, the lowest card having the choice and dealing the first hand. If the first cut does not decide, those tying must cut again. If a player exposes more than one card he must cut again. The ace is low. _=Stakes.=_ Cassino may be played for so much a game, or so much a point; and it may be agreed that the game shall be a certain number of points, or shall be complete in one deal, or that the player making the majority of points on each deal shall score one, and the one first making a certain number in this manner, such as five, shall be the winner. If points are played for, the lower score is usually deducted from the higher, and the difference is the value of the game. It is sometimes agreed that if the winner has twice as many points as his adversary, he shall be paid for a double game.
The Spot Stroke, by Joseph Bennet. CHANCE AND PROBABILITY. In calculating the probability of any event, the difficulty is not, as many persons imagine, in the process, but in the statement of the proposition, and the great trouble with many of those who dispute on questions of chance is that they are unable to think clearly. The chance is either for or against the event; the probability is always for it. The chances are expressed by the fraction of this probability, the denominator being the total number of events possible, and the numerator the number of events favourable. For instance: The probability of throwing an ace with one cast of a single die is expressed by the fraction ⅙; because six different numbers may be thrown, and they are all equally probable, but only one of them would be an ace. Odds are found by deducting the favourable events from the total, or the numerator from the denominator. In the example, the odds against throwing an ace are therefore 5 to 1. The greater the odds against any event the more _=improbable=_ it is said to be, and the more _=hazardous=_ it is to risk anything upon it. When an event happens which is very improbable, the person to whom it happens is considered _=lucky=_, and the greater the improbability, the greater his luck.
_=STAKES.=_ Piquet is played for so much a game of 100 points; but if the loser has not reached 50 points he is lurched, and loses a double game. _=DEALING.=_ The cards shuffled, they are presented to the pone to be cut, and at least two cards must be left in each packet. Twelve cards are dealt to each player, either two or three at a time; but whichever method is first selected must be maintained throughout the game. In England the cards are always dealt by twos. No trump is turned. The remaining eight cards are placed face downward on the table, the five top cards being laid crosswise on the three at the bottom. These eight cards are called the _=talon=_ or stock. Each player deals in turn.
The name indicates the character of the game; kep is from _cepan_, Anglo-Saxon, kappan, Teut., to catch or capture; for when the game was played at by several, the ball was thrown into the air and kepped, or intercepted, in its descent by one or other of the girls, and it was then thrown up again to be caught by some other. But when the song was sung it was played out by one girl, who sent the ball against a tree and drove it back again as often as she could, saying the following rhymes, in order to divine her matrimonial future:-- Keppy ball, keppy ball, Coban tree, Come down the long loanin and tell to me, The form and the features, the speech and degree Of the man that is my true love to be. Keppy ball, keppy ball, Coban tree, Come down the long loanin and tell to me How many years old I am to be. One a maiden, two a wife, Three a maiden, four a wife, &c. The numbers being continued as long as the ball could be kept rebounding against the tree. The following from Halliwell s _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 298, is also used for ball divination. To cook is to toss or throw. Cook a ball, cherry tree; Good ball, tell me How many years I shall be Before my true love I do see? One and two, and that makes three; Thankee, good ball, for telling of me.
That seemed fair; but so desperate is the courage and devotion of lead soldiers, that it came to this, that any small force that got or seemed likely to get isolated and caught by a superior force instead of waiting to be taken prisoners, dashed at its possible captors and slew them man for man. It was manifestly unreasonable to permit this. And in considering how best to prevent such inhuman heroisms, we were reminded of another frequent incident in our battles that also erred towards the incredible and vitiated our strategy. That was the charging of one or two isolated horse-men at a gun in order to disable it. Let me illustrate this by an incident. A force consisting of ten infantry and five cavalry with a gun are retreating across an exposed space, and a gun with thirty men, cavalry and infantry, in support comes out upon a crest into a position to fire within two feet of the retreating cavalry. The attacking player puts eight men within six inches of his gun and pushes the rest of his men a little forward to the right or left in pursuit of his enemy. In the real thing, the retreating horsemen would go off to cover with the gun, hell for leather, while the infantry would open out and retreat, firing. But see what happened in our imperfect form of Little War! The move of the retreating player began. Instead of retreating his whole force, he charged home with his mounted desperadoes, killed five of the eight men about the gun, and so by the rule silenced it, enabling the rest of his little body to get clean away to cover at the leisurely pace of one foot a move.
These are used in reckoning up the value of the tricks won by each side in counting toward 61 in all the “games,” but not in Nullo. The Seven, Eight and Nine have no counting value. The rank of the suits has no influence on their trick-taking powers, nor on the value of the Zahlkarten; but it increases or diminishes the value of the “game” played for. When any suit is made the trump, it takes the precedence of the three others only in so far as trumps will win other suits, and the suits which are not trumps are equal in value so far as trick-taking is concerned. As the four Wenzels are always the highest trumps, there will always be eleven cards in the trump suit, and seven in each of the plain suits; so that if clubs were trumps, the rank of the cards would be:-- [Illustration: 🃛 🂫 🂻 🃋 🃑 🃚 🃞 🃝 🃙 🃘 🃗 ] In any of the other suits the rank would be:-- [Illustration: 🂡 🂪 🂮 🂭 🂩 🂨 🂧 ] _=Matadores.=_ The club Jack is always the best trump, and every trump card in unbroken sequence with the club Jack is called a Matadore, provided the sequence is in the hand of the same player. This rule holds whether the sequence was in the hand originally dealt to him or part of it is found in the Skat, should he become possessed of the Skat cards. For instance: Clubs are trumps, and a player holds these cards:-- [Illustration: 🃛 🂻 🃋 🃑 🃚 🃘 🃗 ] He has only one Matadore; but as the Skat cards will belong to him if he has made the trump, he may find in them the spade Jack, which would complete his sequence, giving him six Matadores, instead of one. As one side or the other must have the club Jack in every deal, there must always be a certain number of Matadores, from one to eleven. If the player who makes the trump has them, he is said to play _=with=_ so many; if his adversaries hold them, he is said to play _=without=_ just as many as they hold.
All such leads are called _=forced=_, and are intended to assist the partner, by playing cards which may strengthen him, although of no use to the leader. The best card should be led from any such combinations as the following:-- [Illustration: 🃝 🃛 🃖 | 🃊 🃉 🃄 🃋 🃊 🃅 | 🃙 🃘 🃔 🂫 🂥 🂣 | 🂷 🂶 🂴 ] _=Small-card Leads.=_ If the suit selected for the lead does not contain any combination of high cards from which it would be right to lead a high card, good players make it a rule to begin with the fourth-best, counting from the top of the suit. This is called the “card of uniformity,” because it indicates to the partner that there are remaining in the leader’s hand exactly three cards higher than the one led. Should the player be forced to lead any of the undesirable combinations shown on the last page, he would begin with the Ace if he held it; otherwise he would lead the fourth-best. In each of the hands shown this would be the four, and this card would be led, even if there were five or six cards in the suit. From this hand, for instance, the five is the proper lead:-- [Illustration: 🃎 🃈 🃆 🃅 🃄 🃃 🃂 ] _=Rules for Leading Second Round.=_ If the leader wins the first trick, having the best of the suit in his hand, he should follow with the winning card; but if he has several cards which are equally winning cards, he should lead the lowest of them. This is an indication to the partner that the card led is as good as the best; therefore the leader must hold the intermediate cards. When a King wins, your partner knows you have the Ace, if he does not hold it.
Finally, the eldest daughter is taken off too. There is no one now to watch the pot, so it boils over, and makes so much noise that the Mother hears it and comes to see why it is. Finding her eldest daughter gone too, she goes after her children to the Witch s house. A dialogue ensues between the Witch and the Mother. The Mother asks-- Is this the way to the Witch s house? There s a red bull that way! I ll go this way. There s a mad cow that way! I ll go this way. There s a mad dog that way! She then insists on entering the house to look for her children. The Witch will not admit her, and says-- Your boots are too dirty. I ll take my boots off. Your stockings are too dirty.
Frincy-francy. Frog-lope. Frog in the Middle. GAP. Garden Gate. Gegg. Genteel Lady. Ghost at the Well. Giants. Giddy.
When one or more players belonging to an existing table aid in making up a new one, which cannot be formed without him, he or they shall be the last to cut out. 25. A player belonging to one table who enters another, or announces a desire to do so, forfeits his rights at his original table, unless the new table cannot be formed without him in which case he may retain his position at his original table by announcing his intention to return as soon as his place at the new table can be filled. 26. Should a player leave a table during the progress of a rubber, he may, with the consent of the three others, appoint a substitute to play during his absence; but such appointment becomes void upon the conclusion of the rubber, and does not in any way affect the rights of the substitute. 27. If a player break up a table, the others have a prior right of entry elsewhere. SHUFFLING. 28. The pack must not be shuffled below the table nor so the face of any card be seen.