This name is of French origin, but it seems to have no special
adaptation to the game. It may have been applied to it from some old
royalist, who solaced his years of exile with the company of mimic
kings and queens. It requires close attention, but is not otherwise
difficult.
Take a king and place it at the left. Then, having shuffled your cards
well together, begin to lay them off. You place in succession, in a
horizontal row, next the king, the queen, the knave, ten, nine, eight,
seven, and six, as they appear from the pack. On these you form the
families of thirteen cards each, piling downwards, not following suit,
and ending each family with the number next to the bottom card, so that
you will finish, if successful, with a row of piles, whose top cards
number from the ace to the seven, inclusive. Put the cards that you
cannot immediately use in stock. You can take up this stock, re-shuffle
it, and re-lay it twice.
You must be very careful to observe when your families are complete,
for as each one ends with a different number, you will be likely to put
on too many cards if you are inattentive.