It is a piece of pastime to country lads of the same nature as Hard Knuckles (Mactaggart s _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_). This is a well-known game for small children in London. After each child s hands have been withdrawn and replaced on top as many times as possible without deranging the order, a general scramble and knocking of hands together ends the game (A. B. Gomme). Jamieson (_Etymological Dict._) gives this as a sport of children. [Illustration: Fig. 1. Fig.
Over the head of a girl who stood in the centre of a ring was held a shawl, sustained by four others grasping the corners. The game then proceeded as follows-- King William was King George s son, From the Bay of Biscay O! Upon his breast he wore a star-- Find your way to English schools. Down on the carpet you must kneel; As the grass grows in the field, Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, And rise again upon your feet. Then followed the game-rhyme, repeated with each stanza-- Go choose you east, go choose you west, apparently the same as last four lines of Sheffield version. King William is then supposed to enter-- The first girl that I loved so dear, Can it be she s gone from me? If she s not here when the night comes on, Will none of you tell me where she s gone? He then recognises the disguised girl-- There s heart beneath the willow tree, There s no one here but my love and me. He had gone to the war, and promised to marry her when he came back. She wrapped a shawl about her head to see if he would recognise her. This was all the reciter could recollect; the lines of the ballad were sung by an old woman, the ring answering with the game-rhyme. This version seems to indicate clearly that in this game we have preserved one of the ceremonies of a now obsolete marriage-custom--namely, the disguising of the bride and placing her among her bridesmaids and other young girls, all having veils or other coverings alike over their heads and bodies. The bridegroom has to select from among these maidens the girl whom he wished to marry, or whom he had already married, for until this was done he was not allowed to depart with his bride.
Each player in rotation has one throw, and no matter what he throws, the player whose number appears on the upper face of any die thrown counts one point toward game. If No. 2 should throw a four and two sixes, for instance, he would count nothing himself, but No. 4 would count 1, and No. 6 would count 2 points toward game. PASSE DIX. Any player can be the banker for the first round, and he holds his position as long as he wins. When he loses, he passes the box to the player on his left hand. He has three dice, which he throws in one cast, after the players have made their bets. If he gets ten or more, he wins.
The following is the account of this game given by Mr. Douce in the _Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Ancient Manners_, 1807, i. 184:-- This game was sometimes called the _nine mens merrils_ from _merelles_, or _mereaux_, an ancient French word for the jettons, or counters, with which it was played. The other term, _morris_, is probably a corruption suggested by the sort of dance which, in the progress of the game, the counters performed. In the French _merelles_ each party had three counters only, which were to be placed in a line in order to win the game. It appears to have been the _tremerel_ mentioned in an old fabliau. See _Le Grand_, _Fabliaux et Contes_, ii. 208. Dr. Hyde thinks the morris, or merrils, was known during the time that the Normans continued in possession of England, and that the name was afterwards corrupted into _three men s morals_, or _nine men s morals_.
Seven. Eight. Nine.] When proper markers are not obtainable, many persons cut eight slits in a visiting card, and turn up the points. [Illustration: Visiting-Card Marker.] Whatever the apparatus employed, it should be such that every player at the table can distinctly see the state of the score without drawing attention to it. _=METHODS OF CHEATING.=_ Whist offers very few opportunities to the card-sharper. When honours are counted, he may be able to keep one on the bottom of the pack until the completion of the deal by _=making the pass=_ after the cards have been cut. A _=greek=_ who possessed sufficient skill to do this without detection would be very foolish to waste his talents at the whist table; for, however large the stakes, the percentage in his favour would be very small.
He then held either his own or the victim top and knocked the other against the wall, the object being to split the victim. He was allowed three grudges. If the top did not give way, the other players tried in turn. If the top did not split, it was returned to its owner, but any boy who succeeded in splitting it through the middle, so that the peg fell out, took possession of the peg. I have seen a top split at the side in such a way as to be quite useless as a top, though no peg was gained. I remember, too, a schoolfellow of mine drawing from his pocket some seven or eight pegs, the trophied memorials of as many tops.--London (J. P. Emslie). See Hoatie, Hoges, Peg-top.