_When his estates are all entails_ (hen-tails).
[EVERY MAN KNOWS WHERE HIS OWN SHOE PINCHES.]
57. Cryptography, or secret writing
from the Greek _cryptos_, a secret, and _graphein_, to write--has been
largely employed in state despatches, commercial correspondence, love
epistles, and riddles. The telegraphic codes employed in the
transmission of news by electric wire, partakes somewhat of the
cryptographic character, the writer employing certain words or
figures, the key to which is in the possession of his correspondent.
The single-word despatch sent by Napier to the Government of India,
was a sort of cryptographic conundrum--_Peccavi_, I have sinned
(Scinde); and in the agony column of the 'Times' there commonly appear
paragraphs which look puzzling enough until we discover the key-letter
or figure. Various and singular have been the devices adopted--as, for
instance, the writing in the perforations of a card especially
prepared, so as only to allow the real words of the message to be
separated from the mass of writing by means of a duplicate card with
similar perforations; the old Greek mode of writing on the edges of a
strip of paper wound round a stick in a certain direction, and the
substitution of figures or signs for letters or words. Where one
letter is always made to Stand for another, the secret of a
cryptograph is soon discovered, but when, as in the following example,
the same letter does not invariably correspond to the letter for which
it is a substitute, the difficulty of deciphering the cryptograph is
manifestly increased:
Ohs ya h sych, oayarsa rr loucys syms
Osrh srore rrhmu h smsmsmah emshyr snms.
The translation of this can be made only by the possessor of the key.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
h u s h m o n e y b y c h a r l e s h r o s s e s q
"Hush Money, by Charles H. Ross, Esq."--twenty-six letters which, when
applied to the cryptograph, will give a couplet from Parnell's
"Hermit":
"Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew."
The employment of figures and signs for letters is the most usual form
of the cryptograph. From the following jumble we get a portion of
Hamlet's address to the Ghost:
9 a 6 2 x # 9 a 1 | 3 a 3 # 2 \ # * 7 6 \
9 5 2 1 2 7 2 a 1 ; #
4 2 8 * ; # ( 3 \ 3 , * 7 8 2 9 x , 1 * \
6 * 4 x 3 a 1 9 | a 2 1
With the key
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
9 4 5 1 2 7 6 8 3 + - x | a * ( ) \ # , ; : . o $ /
it is easy to write and not very hard to read the entire speech. The
whole theory of the cryptogram is that each correspondent possesses
the key to the secret. To confound an outside inquirer the key is
often varied. A good plan is to take a line from any ordinary book and
substitute the first twenty-six of its letters for those of the
alphabet. In your next cryptogram you take the letters from another
page or another book. It is not necessary to give an example. Enough
will be seen from what we have written to instruct an intelligent
inquirer.
58. Decapitations and Curtailments
are riddles somewhat of the nature of the Logogriph, which _see_.
In the first, the omission of the successive initials produces new
words, as--Prelate, Relate, Elate, Late, Ate. In the curtailment the
last letter of the word is taken away with a similar result,
as--Patent, Paten, Pate, Pat, Pa. Of like kind are the riddles known
as variations, mutilations, reverses, and counterchanges. A good
example of the last-named is this:
Charge, Chester, Charge: on, Stanley, on!
Were the last words of Marmion.
Had I but been in Stanley's place,
When Marmion urged him to the chase,
A tear might come on every face.
The answer is onion--On, I, on.
[MOCK NOT A COBBLER FOR HIS BLACK THUMB.]
59. Enigmas
are compositions of a different character, based upon _ideas_,
rather than upon words, and frequently constructed so as to mislead,
and to surprise when the solution is made known. Enigmas may be
founded upon simple catches, like Conundrums, in which form they are
usually called RIDDLES, such as:
"Though you set me on foot,
I shall be on my head."
The answer is, _A nail in a shoe_. The celebrated Enigma on the
letter H, by Miss Catherine Fanshawe, but usually attributed to Lord
Byron, commencing:
"'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell,
And echo caught faintly the sound as it fell;"
and given elsewhere in this volume (See _par_. 215, page 77), is an
admirable specimen of what may be rendered in the form of an Enigma.
60. Hidden Words.
A riddle in which names of towns, persons, rivers, &c., are hidden or
arranged, without transposition, in the midst of sentences which
convey no suggestion of their presence. In the following sentence, for
instance, there are hidden six Christian names:--Here is hid a name
the people of Pisa acknowledge: work at each word, for there are worse
things than to give the last shilling for bottled wine.--The names are
Ida, Isaac, Kate, Seth, Ethel, Edwin. Great varieties of riddles,
known as Buried Cities, Hidden Towns, &c., are formed on this
principle, the words being sometimes placed so as to read backwards,
or from right to left. The example given will, however, sufficiently
explain the mode of operation.
61. Lipogram
from _leipein_, to leave out, and _gramma_, a letter--is a riddle in
which a name or sentence is written without its vowels, as:
Thprffthpddngsthtng,
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Whnhnorslst ts--rlftd,
Dths bt--sr rtrt fm nfmy.
"When honour's lost 'tis a relief to die,
Death's but a sure retreat from infamy."
This riddle sometimes appears as a proverb.
"Fear's the white feather all cowards wear."
----s' th wht fthr ll cwrds----
62. Logogriph.
This is a riddle (_logos_, a word, and _griphos_, a riddle) in which a
word is made to undergo several changes. These changes are brought
about by the addition, subtraction, omission, or substitution of a
letter or letters. The following, by the late Lord Macaulay, is an
excellent example:
"Cut off my head, how singular I act:
Cut off my tail, and plural I appear.
Cut off my head and tail--most curious fact,
Although my middle's left, there's nothing there!
What is my head cut off?--a sounding sea!
What is my tail cut off?--a flowing river!
Amid their mingling deaths I fearless play
Parent of softest sounds, though mute for ever!"
The answer is _cod_. Cut off its head and it is _od_ (odd, singular);
its tail, and it is Co., plural, for company; head and tail, and it is
o, nothing. Its head is a sounding C (sea), its tail a flowing D
(river Dee), and amid their depths the cod may fearless play, parent
of softest _sounds_ yet mute for ever.
63. Metagram,
a riddle in which the change of the initial letter produces a series
of words of different meanings; from _meta_, implying change, and
_gramma_, a letter. Thus:
I cover your head; change my head, and I set you to sleep; change it
again and again, and with every change comes a new idea.--Cap, Nap,
Gap, Sap, Hap, Map, Lap, Pap, Rap, Tap. This kind of riddle is also
known as word-capping.
[GUNPOWDER MADE BY A MONK AT COLOGNE A.D.1330.]
64. Palindrome,
from the Greek _palin-dromos_, running back again. This is a word,
sentence, or verse that reads the same both forwards and
backwards--as, madam, level, reviver; live on no evil; love your
treasure and treasure your love; you provoked Harry before Harry
provoked you; servants respect masters when masters respect servants.
Numerous examples of Palindrome or reciprocal word-twisting exist in
Latin and French; but in English it is difficult to get a sentence
which will be exactly the same when read either way. The best example
is the sentence which, referring to the first banishment of the Great
Napoleon, makes him say, as to his power to conquer Europe:
"Able was I ere I saw Elba."
65. Puzzles
vary much. One of the simplest that we know is this:
Take away half of thirteen and let eight remain.
Write XIII on a slate, or on a piece of paper--rub out the lower
half of the figures, and VIII will remain.
Upon the principle of the square-words, riddlers form Diagonals,
Diamonds, Pyramids, Crosses, Stars, &c. These specimens will show
their peculiarities:
66. Oblique Puzzle.
Malice, eight, a polemical meeting, a Scottish river, what I write
with, a decided negative, the capital of Ireland. The initials
downward name a celebrated musician.
(solution in p.67 below.)
67. Diagonal Puzzle.
A direction, a singer, a little bird, a lady's ring, a sharp shaver.
Read from left to right and right to left, the centrals show two
famous novelists.
The following are answers to these two puzzles, and afford good
examples of their construction to any one who wishes to try his hand
at their manufacture.
OBLIQUE. DIAGONAL.
R E V E N G E L A B E L
O C T A V E T E N O R
S Y N O D D I V E R
S P E Y J E W E L
I N K R A Z O R
N O
I
68. Diamond Puzzle.
The head of a mouse, what the mouse lives in, the county of calves,
the city of porcelain, a German town, a Transatlantic stream, a
royal county, a Yorkshire borough, Eve's temptation, our poor
relation, myself. Centrals down and across, show a wide, wide, long
river.
The construction of the Diamond Puzzle is exhibited in the following
diagram, which is, at the same time, the answer to it.
DIAMOND.
M
A I R
E S S E X
D R E S D E N
G O T T I N G E N
M I S S I S S I P P I
B E R K S H I R E
H A L I F A X
A P P L E
A P E
I
69. Rebuses
are a class of Enigma generally formed by the first, sometimes the
first and last, letters of words, or of transpositions of letters, or
additions to words. Dr. Johnson, however, represents Rebus to be a
word represented by a picture. And putting the Doctor's definition and
our own explanation together, the reader may glean a good conception
of the nature of the Rebus of which the following is an example:
The father of the Grecian Jove;
A little boy who's blind;
The foremost land in all the world;
The mother of mankind;
A poet whose love-sonnets are
Still very much admired;--
The _initial_ letters will declare
A blessing to the tired.
Answer--_S_aturn; _L_ove; _E_ngland; _E_ve; _P_lutarch.
The initials form _sleep._
The excellent little work mentioned in para. 63, entitled "Philosophy
and Mirth united by Pen and Pencil," has this novelty, that many of
the Enigmas are accompanied by enigmatical pictures, so that the eye
is puzzled as well as the ear.
[GLASS FIRST BROUGHT TO ENGLAND A.D. 668.]
70. Square Words.
A comparatively modern sort of riddle, in which the letters of each
word selected reads both across and down. With four letters the
making of the riddle is easy, but with five or six the difficulty
increases. We give an example of each.
i. Inside, a thought, a liquid gem, a timid creature.
ii. To run out, odour, to boil, to loosen, unseen essence.
iii. Compensations, a court favourite, to assist, to bite slightly,
Spanish money, sarcasms.
i. ii.
P I T H I S S U E
I D E A S C E N T
T E A R S E E T H
H A R E U N T I E
E T H E R
iii.
A M E N D S
M I N I O N
E N A B L E
N I B B I E
D O L L A R
S N E E R S
With seven or eight letters the riddle becomes exceedingly difficult,
especially if the selected words are of like character and syllables.
71. Chess, Laws of.
The rules given below are those which are now universally accepted by
English players.
i. The board is to be so placed as to leave a white square at the
right hand of the player.
ii. Any mistake in placing the board or the men may be rectified
before the fourth move is completed, but not after.
iii. The players draw lots for the first move, and take the move
alternately.
[When odds are given, the player giving them moves first. White
generally moves first; therefore, if black win the move, the board
is turned. It is usual to play with the white and black men
alternately.]
iv. The piece touched must be moved. When the fingers of the player
have once left the man, it cannot be again removed from the square
it occupies.
[Except the move be illegal, when the opponent can insist on the
piece being moved in the proper manner, or for the opposing King to
be moved.]
v. In touching a piece simply to adjust it, the player must notify
to his adversary that such is his intention.
[It is usual, in such a case, to say _J'adoube_ (I adjust); but he
may not touch a piece with the intention of moving it, and then,
when he discover his mistake, say, _J'adoube._ The phrase is simply
intended to be used when a piece is displaced or overturned by
accident.]
vi. If a player take one of his own men by mistake, or touch a wrong
man, or one of his opponent's men, or make an illegal move, his
adversary may compel him to take the man, make the right move, move
his King, or replace the piece, and make a legal move.
vii. A pawn may be played either one or two squares at a time when
first moved.
[In the latter case it is liable to be taken _en passant_, with a
pawn that could have taken it had it been played only one square.]
viii. A player cannot castle under any of the following
circumstances:--1. If he has moved either King or Rook. 2. If the
King be in check. 3. If there be any piece between the King and the
Rook. 4. If the King, in moving, pass over any square commanded by
any one of his adversary's forces.
[You cannot castle to get out of check.]
ix. If a player give a check without crying "check," the adversary
need not take notice of the check. But if two moves only are made
before the discovery of the mistake, the pieces may be replaced, and
the game properly played.
x. If a player say check without actually attacking the King, and
his adversary move his King or take the piece, the latter may elect
either to let the move stand or have the pieces replaced and another
move made.
xi. If, at the end of a game, the players remain, one with a
superior to an inferior force, or even if they have equal forces,
the defending player may call upon his adversary to mate in fifty
moves on each side, or draw the game.
[If one player persist in giving perpetual check, or repeating the
same move, his opponent may count the moves for the draw; in which
case touching a piece if reckoned a move.]
xii. Stalemate, or perpetual check is a drawn game.
xiii. Directly a pawn reaches its eighth square it must be exchanged
for a piece.
[It is usual to change the pawn for a Queen, but it may be replaced
by a Rook, Bishop, or Knight, without reference to the pieces
already on the board. In practice it would be changed for a Queen or
a Knight, seeing that the Queen's moves include those of the Rook
and Bishop. Thus you may have two or more Queens, three or more
Rooks, Bishops, or Knights on the board at the end of the game.]
xiv. Should any dispute arise, the question must be submitted to a
bystander, whose decision is to be considered final.
For information as to the best modes of play, the Openings and Endings
of Games, &c., read 'The Book of Chess', by G.H. Selkirk, published by
Messrs. Houlston and Sons.
72. Draughts, Rules of the Game.
The accepted laws for regulating the game are as follows:
i. The board is to be so placed as to have the white or black double
corners at the right hand of the player.
ii. The first move is taken by chance or agreement, and in all the
subsequent games of the same sitting, the first move is taken
alternately. Black generally moves first.
iii. Any action which prevents your adversary from having a full
view of the board is not allowed, and if persisted in, loses the
game to the offending player.
iv. The man touched must be moved, but the men may be properly
adjusted during any part of the game. After they are so placed, if
either player, when it is his turn to play, touch a man, he must
move it. If a man be so moved as to be visible on the angle
separating the squares, the player so touching the man must move it
to the square indicated.
[By this it is meant that a player may not move first to one square
and then to another. Once moved on to a square, the man must remain
there.]
v. It is optional with the player either to allow his opponent to
stand the huff, or to compel him to take the offered piece.
["Standing the huff" is when a player refuses to take an offered
piece, but either intentionally or accidentally makes another move.
His adversary then removes the man that should have taken the piece,
and makes his own move--huff and move, as it is called.]
vi. Ten minutes is the longest time allowed to consider a move,
which if not made within that time, forfeits the game.
vii. It is compulsory upon the player to take all the pieces he can
legally take by the same series of moves. On making a King, however,
the latter remains on his square till a move has been made on the
other side.
viii. All disputes are to be decided by the majority of the
bystanders present, or by an umpire.
ix. No player may leave the room without the consent of his
adversary, or he forfeits the game.
x. A false move must be remedied as soon as it is discovered, or the
maker of such move loses the game.
xi. When only a small number of men remain toward the end of the
game, the possessor of the lesser number may call on his opponent to
win in at least fifty moves, or declare the game drawn. With two
Kings to one, the game must be won in at most twenty moves on each
side.
xii. The player who refuses to abide by the rules loses the game. In
the losing game a player must take all the men he can by his move.
73. Whist.
(Upon the principle of Hoyle's games.)
Great silence and attention should be observed by the players. Four
persons cut for partners; the two highest are against the two
lowest. The partners sit opposite to each other, and he who cuts the
lowest card is entitled to the deal. The ace is the lowest in
cutting.
i. Shuffling---Each person has a right to shuffle the cards before
the deal; but it is usual for the elder hand only; and the dealer
after.
ii. Cutting.--The pack is then cut by the right hand adversary; and
the dealer distributes the cards, one by one, to each of the
players, beginning with the player on his left, until he comes to
the last card, which he turns up for trump, and leaves on the table
till the first trick be played.
iii. First Play.--The elder hand, the player on the left of the
dealer, plays first. The winner of the trick plays again; and so on,
till all the cards are played out.
iv. Mistakes.--No intimations, or signs are permitted between the
partners. The mistake of one party is the profit of the adversary.
v. Collecting Tricks.--The tricks belonging to each player should be
turned and collected by one of the partners only. All above six
tricks reckon towards game.
vi. Honours.--The ace, king, queen, and knave of trumps are called
honours; and when either of the partners hold three separately, or
between them, they count two points towards the game; and in case
they have four honours, they count four points.
vii. Game.--_Long Whist game consists of ten points, Short Whist of
five points._
74. Terms used in Whist.
i. _Finessing,_ is the attempt to gain an advantage; thus:--If you
have the best and third best card of the suit led you put on the
third best, and run the risk of your adversary having the second
best; if he has it not, which is two to one against him, you are
then certain of gaining a trick.
ii. _Forcing_, is playing the suit of which your partner or
adversary has not any, and which in order to win he must trump.
iii. _Long Trump,_ the one or more trumps in your hand when all the
rest are out.
iv. _Loose Card,_ a card of no value, and the most proper to throw
away.
v. _Points,_--Ten make the game; as many as are gained by tricks or
honours, so many points are set up to the score of the game.
vi. _Quarte_, four successive cards in suit.
vii. _Quarte Major_, a sequence of ace, king, queen, and knave.
viii. _Quinte_, five successive cards in suit.
ix. _Quinte Major,_ is a sequence of ace, king, queen, knave, and
ten.
x. _See-saw,_ is when each partner trumps a suit, and when they play
those suits to each other for that purpose.
xi. _Score_, is the number of points set up. The following is a good
method of scoring with coins or counters:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
00 0 0 00 000 0
0 00 000 00 00 000 0 0 0
For Short Whist there are regular markers.
xii. _Slam,_ is when either side win every trick.
xiii. _Tenance,_ is possessing the first last and third best cards,
and being the player; you consequently catch the adversary when that
suit is played: as, for instance, in case you have ace and queen of
any suit, and your adversary leads that suit, you must win two
tricks, by having the best and third best of the suit played, and
being the last player.
xiv. _Tierce,_ three successive cards in suit.
xv. _Tierce Major,_ a sequence of ace, king, and queen.
[CHILDREN AND CHICKENS MUST ALWAYS BE PICKING.]
75. Maxims for Whist.
i. Lead from your strong suit, be cautious how you change suits, and
keep a commanding card to bring it in again.
ii. Lead through the strong suit and up to the weak; but not in
trumps; unless very strong in them.
iii. Lead the highest of a sequence; but if you have a quarte or
cinque to a king, lead the lowest.
iv. Lead through an honour, particularly if the game is against you.
v. Lead your best trump, if the adversaries be eight, and you have
no honour; but not if you have four trumps, unless you have a
sequence.
vi. Lead a trump if you have four or five, or a strong hand; but not
if weak.
vii. Having ace, king, and two or three small cards, lead ace and
king if weak in trumps, but a small one if strong in them.
viii. If you have the last trump, with some winning cards, and one
losing card only, lead the losing card.
ix. Return your partner's lead, not the adversaries'; and if you
hold only three originally, play the best; but you need not return
it immediately, when you win with a king, queen, or knave, and have
only small ones, or when you hold a good sequence, a strong suit, or
five trumps.
x. Do not lead from ace queen, or ace knave.
xi. Do not--as a rule--lead an ace, unless you have a king.
xii. Do not lead a thirteenth card, unless trumps be out.
xiii. Do not trump a thirteenth card, unless you be last player, or
want the lead.
xiv. Keep a small card to return your partner's lead.
xv. Be cautious in trumping a card when strong in trumps,
particularly if you have a strong suit.
xvi. Having only a few small trumps, make them when you can.
xvii. If your partner refuse to trump a suit, of which he knows you
have not the best, lead your best trump.
xviii. When you hold all the remaining trumps, play one, and then
try to put the lead in your partner's hand.
xix. Remember how many of each suit are out, and what is the best
card left in each hand.
xx. Never force your partner if you are weak in trumps, unless you
have a renounce, or want the odd trick.
xxi. When playing for the odd trick, be cautious of trumping out,
especially if your partner be likely to trump a suit. Make all the
tricks you can early, and avoid finessing.
xxii. If you take a trick, and have a sequence, win it with the
lowest.
[THERE ARE NONE SO WICKED AS REPRESENTED.]
76. Laws of Whist,
as accepted at the best Clubs.
i. The deal is determined by cutting-in. Cutting-in and cutting-out
must be by pairs.
[Less than three cards, above or below, is not a cut. Ace is lowest.
Ties cut again. Lowest deals. Each player may shuffle, the dealer
last. The right-hand adversary cuts to dealer.]
ii. If a card be exposed, a fresh deal may be demanded.
iii. Dealer must not look at bottom card; and the trump-card must be
left, face upwards, on the table till the first trick be turned, or
opponents may call a fresh deal.
iv. Too many or too few cards is a misdeal--an exposed or face card.
In either case, a fresh deal may be demanded.
[In cases of a misdeal, the deal passes to the next player.]
v. After the first round has been played, no fresh deal can be
called.
[If the first player hold fewer than thirteen cards, the other hands
being right, the deal stands.]
vi. If two cards be dealt to the same player, the dealer may rectify
his error before dealing another card.
[The dealer must not touch the cards after they have left his hands;
but he may count those remaining in the pack if he suspect a
misdeal, or he may ask the players to count their cards. One partner
may not deal for another without the consent of opponents.]
vii. If the trump-card be not taken into the dealer's hand at the
expiration of the first round, it may be treated as an exposed card,
and called.
[After this, no one has a right to ask what was the trump-card, but
he may ask "What are Trumps?"]