17. 'Gainst a lone hand, ne'er lead a king, Or change the suit, whate'er betides. If, after all, you more would know, NOTES. Verse 4. If you have led off manille, followed by basto and other trumps, this must show your partner, if he know any thing of the game, that you have not spadille: consequently in this case, or in any other when your play has clearly informed your partner, that you do not hold the mat remaining in hand, you ought to ask him, or pass, as your hand may allow; for it rests with him, not to go on against the mat, since he must know whether he have it or no. V.5. Basto, of course, requires two trumps to guard it, as is observed in verse 7. To rules 5, 6, 8, and 9, there is an exception, noticed in verse 11. V. 6. This of course is only when you are the friend: for it is held unfair to lead a mat, when you are defending the pool, in order to deceive the ombre. So it is to lead a small trump, before the friend is declared. But as soon as the friend is known, you are at liberty to lead a mat, or any other trump, if you conceive it will be for your advantage. V. 12. As he who plays forced spadille may call upon a king to name a trump, it is often judicrous, if he have only one small card of a suit, or a renounce, to Ꮮ call the king of it to name the trump. This will give him the advantage of knowing his partner at once, and probably secure two, if not three tricks in the called suit. In all other cases, if the ombre have a queen guarded, he should call a king to it; if not, the king of his strongest suit. V. 13. For the same reason, if you have king and * queen only, put on the queen; or whatever sequence to the king you may have, play the lowest of it. If you have king and knave, and the ombre lead the queen, take it with the king, and return the knave; unless you hold a mat guarded, or spadille with or without other trumps, when you should leave it with the ombre, who will then play to get the trumps out. If the ombre have been obliged to call a king of a suit of which he has a renounce, he will in general lead a small trump, in order to discover his partner. Of course, when he does this, the friend will put on his best; and if he win the trick, immediately lead the called king, or the lowest card of a sequence to it. V. 15. When the called king is played, to return a card of the same suit is familiarly called playing the ghost of a departed king. In such a case, as the ombre will in all probability have called to a long suit, or a queen guarded, there is a great chance of one of the adversaries trumping it in the second round. If the trumps be out, however, and you have no good cards in any other suit, it may be advisable to lead the best you have left of the suit called. V. 16. If an adversary have only one or two very low cards of the called suit, he may suppose that it would be useless to keep these, as they could not win: but the throwing away of these will inform the ombre or friend how many of the suit remain in the house, and thus he may know to a certainty, that the knave, ace, or seven, must fall to his queen, and his 1 smaller cards be good, on which, without this knowledge, he would be afraid to venture for the vole. The two following games, recently played, may afford the reader some instruction, and not be found unentertaining. 1. C, being third hand, asked leave in diamonds, having a sequence from punto to the deuce, and also the five; the king of clubs; and the knave and two small hearts, of which he called the king. D, the dealer, did not venture to play alone, though he had the other six trumps, with three small hearts, and the queen of clubs; the cards having been running very irregularly. A, the elder hand, being the called king, and having also the queen, led it, and won the first trick. A then led a small spade: B put on the king: C trumped it with the five; and D overtrumped him with the four. D then led his queen of clubs, which C won with the king. Cled punto, which D won with spadille. D then led one of his hearts, which A won with the king. A, knowing D had no spade; and presuming, from his leading the queen of clubs, and the next time a small heart, that he had a renounce in clubs also, returned a heart, which C won with his knave. Thus D being left with manille, basto, trey and six of trumps; and C having four intermediate between basto and the trey; C could not be prevented from winning two more tricks, and consequently the game. 2. A, being elder hand, and forced, called on the king of clubs to name a trump. C, third hand, holding king, queen, and knave, of clubs; king and four small diamonds; and deuce and six of hearts; named hearts. A led a club, which C won with the knave. C returned the queen, which also won; and then the king, which was trumped by B, the last player. B then led the king of spades, which C won by trumping with his six. C then led his king of diamonds, which made: and A happening to have manille as well as spadille, the game was won, though he had only one small trump besides, while the opponents had basto, punto, king, queen, knave, and a small trump left between them. THE GAME OF PIQUET. 113 PIQUET is played by two persons, with thirtytwo cards: the ace, king, queen, knave, ten, nine, eight, and seven of each suit. The ace is the superior, and equal to eleven points; the king ranks above the queen, and the queen above the knave, &c. The three court cards are each equal to ten points; the ten, ten; the nine, nine; and so of the rest, each counting for as many points as it has pips, The game consists of 101 points. The players begin with shuffling the cards; then they are to cut; he who cuts the lowest deals, but the great advantage is in being elder hand. The dealer then shuffles the cards again, and presents them to his adversary, who may also shuffle, but the dealer must have the last shuffle. If the adversary should scatter the cards, or cut but one off, or leave but one at the bottom, the dealer may mix and shuffle them again. The dealer is to give twelve a piece, by two at a time, and the eight cards which remain must be placed upon the table, and are called the talon or stock. In this game there are three superior chances, viz. the repique, the pique, and the capot, all which may |