deceive the sight, and that in winter to catch themselves a heat." Poor Robin, in his Almanack for 1677, tells us, in the Fanatick's Chronology, it was then "1804 years since the first invention of town-tops." WRESTLING. MISSON, in his Travels, p. 306, says: "Wrestling is one of the diversions of the English, especially in the northern counties." The curious in this sport may consult the InnPlay or Cornish-Hugg Wrestler. Digested in a method which teacheth to break all Holds, and throw most Falls mathematically. By Sir Thomas Parkyns, of Bunny, Baronet, 4to. 1717. Prefixed to this work are Institutes for young wrestlers, by William Tunstall. POPULAR NOTICES OF CARDS. IN some parts of the north of England a pack of cards is called to this day, as it is in Shakespeare's Plays, a deck of cards. In the Gent. Mag. for Jan. 1791, lxi. 16, are several queries on cards. The writer informs us that "the common people in a great part of Yorkshire invariably call diamonds picks. This I take," he says, "to be from the French word piques, spades; but cannot account for its being corruptly applied by them to the other suit." The true reason, however, is to be gathered from the resemblance the diamond bears to a millpick, as fusils are sometimes called in heraldry. Hall, in his Horæ Vacivæ, 1646, p. 150, says: "For cardes, the philologie of them is not for an essay. A man's fancy would be sum'd up in cribbidge; gleeke requires a vigilant "A lady once requesting a gentleman to play at gleeke, was refused, but civilly, and upon three reasons: the first whereof, madam, said the gentleman, is, I have no money. Her ladyship knew that was so materiall and sufficient, that she desired him to keep the other two reasons to himself." Gayton's Festivous Notes upon Don Quixote, 1654, p. 14. memory; maw, a pregnant agility; pichet, a various invention; primero, a dexterous kinde of rashnesse," &c. Sir Thomas Urquhart, of Cromarty, in the Discovery of a most exquisite Jewel found in the Kennel of Worcester Streets the Day after the Fight, 1651, p. 237, says: "Verily, I thinke they make use of kings as we do of card-kings in playing at the hundred; any one whereof, if there be appearance of a better game without him (and that the exchange of him for another in-coming card is like to conduce more for drawing of the stake), is by good gamesters without any ceremony discarded." According to Mr. Singer, lansquenet, trappola, and minchiate are foreign games, unnoticed by English writers as in use here. Tarocco was played in England early in the reign of James I. Primero is supposed to have been introduced into England after the marriage of Mary with Philip of Spain. Shakespeare makes Falstaff say, "I never prospered since I forswore myself at primero." Mawe, another game, is described by Arthur Hall, about the year 1580, as "a playe at cards grown out of the country from the meanest, into credit at court with the greatest." It is also alluded to in Dekker's works, as well as in many other of the satirical tracts of the time of James I. Loadum, noddy, and macke, are mentioned as games at cards by Sir John Harrington. Gleek is described at large by Cotton, in the Complete Gamester. Post and paire is said by Cotton to be a game on the cards very much played in the West of England. Bankrout is supposed to have been the same as bank-a-fa-let, described in the same work. Al fours is described by Cotton as "a game very much played in Kent." The Spanish game of ombre is supposed by Barrington to have been introduced into this country by Catherine of Portugal, the Queen of Charles II., as Waller has a poem, "On a Card torn at Ombre by the Queen." Quadrille, which is a species of ombre, supplanted that game in England. Reversis is a French game. Basset, which is said by Dr. Johnson to have been invented at Venice, was certainly known in Italy as early as the end of the thirteenth century. It The following is in Herrick's Hesperides, p. 281: 66 At post and paire, or slam, Tom Tuck would play appears to have been a fashionable game in England at the end of the seventeenth century. Cent, or mount sant, which is a Spanish game, is alluded to in one or two of our old plays. Trump was a common game at the latter end of the sixteenth century. Whist is said to be a very ancient game amongst us: though not to have been played on principle before 1730. Piquet is of French origin, though the period which gave it birth is uncertain. [The following curious lines on divination by drawing cards, are extracted from an old chap-book : "This noble king of diamonds shews, Thou long shalt live where pleasure flows, He who can draw this duce shall be The man who gets hold of this tray, A woman that shall draw this sort, CHUMMING-UP. [A CUSTOM in prisons, the nature of which will be easily understood from the following newspaper report: "Cross-examined by Mr. Miller. He had been a gaoler of the Court of Requests prison about sixteen years. There was a practice there called 'chumming-up.' That practice had existed ever since he had been there, and a very long time before; it was an old custom. He could not tell when the custom of 'chumming-up' first began in the Court of Requests prison; it might be termed a time-immemorial custom. Mr. Miller. Be good enough, Mr. Boot, to describe the ceremony of 'chumming-up.' Boot. When a new prisoner comes in, he is welcomed by the prisoners, who are in the prison, and beat round with the chumming instruments. Mr. Miller. What are those chumming instruments? Boot. Old swords and staves. Mr. Miller. Is there a little music? Boot. They generally have a fife. Mr. Miller. Are there any masks? Boot. Yes; the prisoners put on masks. Mr. Miller. And after this ceremony of 'chumming-up' is over, do the prisoners demand from their new brotherprisoner any money? 7? Boot. Yes; they demand half-a-crown from him. Mr. Miller. And if he cannot pay the half-crown demanded of him, do they take his coat and waistcoat off him? Boot. I believe they do. Mr. Miller. And they keep it as a sort of pledge? Mr. Miller. So, if a poor man comes into your prison so poor that he cannot pay half-a-crown, his coat and waistcoat are taken from him, and he is compelled to remain without those garments to cover him? Boot. I have seen prisoners without their coats and waist coats. Mr. Miller. They are not very nice whom they chum up? Boot. Not very; they would as soon chum you up as anybody else. (Loud laughter.) Mr. Miller. They caught Mr. Weale, the Poor-Law Commissioner, the other day at this place? Boot. Mr. Weale visited the prison a few weeks ago. Mr. Miller. And they were going to chum him up, but he paid the half-crown? Boot. No: I don't think they would have chummed him."] 453 FAIRS. A FAIR is a greater kind of market, granted to any town by privilege, for the more speedy and commodious providing of such things as the place stands in need of. They are generally kept once or twice in a year. Proclamation is to be made how long they are to continue, and no person is allowed to sell any goods after the time of the fair is ended, on forfeiture of double their value. Warton tells us, that before flourishing towns were established, and the necessaries of life, from the convenience of communication and the increase of provincial civility, could be procured in various places, goods and commodities of every kind were chiefly sold at fairs: to these, as to one universal mart, the people resorted periodically, and supplied most of their wants for the ensuing year. Gay's account of the different articles exposed at fairs is a pleasant one, Past. vi. : "How pedlars' stalls with glitt'ring toys are laid, Here the tight lass, knives, combs, and scissors spies, The mountebank now treads the stage, and sells And pockets pick'd in crowds, and various cheats." In Poems by the Rev. Henry Rowe, 1796, i. 115, is another description of a rustic fair: "Next morn, I ween, the village charter'd fair, Foretelling day, before the day began, Then Jehu Ball' re-echoes down the lane, Crack goes the whip, and rattling sounds the chain. |