Historical

Numerous theories have been broached respecting the origin and etymology of Piquet; but no positive conclusions have been arrived at.

First as to the origin of the game. By some writers, of indifferent weight, it is referred to the period of the reign of Charles VI. (1380-1422).

Haydn ( Dictionary of Dates ), giving Mézéray as his authority, states that Piquet was the first known game on the cards and that it was invented by Joquemin for the amusement of Charles VI of France. There is no such name as Joquemin to be found in any of the biographies. The person referred to is no doubt Jacquemin Gringonneur, to whom is erroneously ascribed the invention of playing cards in the reign of Charles VI. Some authorities are of opinion that Jacquemin was the name of a card maker, or gringonneur of that period, gringonneur signifying a maker of grangons ( certus tesserarum Ludus. Du Cange, Glossary, Supplement, Vol. ii., col. 651). Persius ( Rouge et Noir The Academicians of 1823."London. 1823.), says, "Of all the games at cards Piquet is the most ancient. [...] Its origins somewhat singular; a great Ballet executed at the Court of Charles VI. suggested the idea of it."

He then describes the ballet. His description is identical with that of the interlude in Le Triomphe des Dames printed in the Theatre Francois, and danced some three hundred years later. He probably confuses one with the other.

It is now well ascertained that Piquet is by no means the most ancient of card games. Paul Boiteau d'Ambly ( Les Cartes a jouer et la Cartomancie Paris. 1854.), rebuts the idea that Piquet could have been played in the time of Charles VI. He writes,

C'est à un jeu de tarots que jouait Charles VI. [...] le piquet ni, a plus forte raison le whist n'existaient. [...] Il n'y a de connu que le tarot.

The latest authorities are of opinion that tarot cards (ie., emblematic cards combined with numerals), were first used in Italy towards the end of the fourteenth century, and that soon afterwards the tarot game was subjected to the elimination of the emblematic series, leaving the numeral series to work by itself. It is, therefore, most unlikely that cards, with which Piquet could be played, were known in France as early as the time of Charles VI.

It is next attempted to fix the invention of Piquet on the period of Charles VII. (1422-1461); and as this date is commonly upheld, especially by French writers, it is advisable to give a detailed account of their views.

In the "Mémoire sur l'origine du Jeu de Piquet trouve dans l'histoire de France sous le Règne de Charles VII" by Le Père Daniel (Journal de Trevoux. May, 1720.), Piquet is credited with being a symbolic, allegorical, military, political, and historical game. From the names of the personages on the court cards of early French packs, and from the marks of the suits, the Père believed he had made out the origin of Piquet, which he supposed to have been devised about 1430.

Chatto, a careful and sound critic ( Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards. London. 1848.), speaks of Daniel's theories as "mere gratuitous conceits", and as the seethings of the father's imagination.

Saint-Foix ( Essais Historiques sur Paris Maestricht. 1778.), patronises the ballet theory. Referring to the interlude in Le Triomphe des Dames, he adds,

je crois que cet intermède n'etoit pas nouveau, et qu'il n'etoit que l'esquisse d'un grand ballet executé à la Cour de Charles VII, et sur lequel il eut idée du jeu du Piquet, qui certainement ne fut imaginé que vers la fin du règne de ce Prince.

Singer ( Researches into the History of Playing Cards London. 1816.), follows Saint-Foix, but with great caution. He observes, "The game of Piquet appears to have been invented in the reign of Charles VII. It has been said that its invention took rise from a Ballet danced at the court of that Monarch; but it seems quite as probable, that this game furnished the device for the Ballet, as it has done at a later period."

Leber ( Etudes historiques sur les Cartes a jouer. Paris. 1842.), agrees with Daniel in assigning a French origin to Piquet, in the time of Charles VII.

In Boiteau's Cartes a jouer there is a good deal of speculation as to the origin of Piquet.

Rien de certain ne peut être avancé au sujet de ces commencements des cartes aux couleurs françaises et du jeu de piquet qui semble être né en même temps qu'elles. Le nom même du jeu ne s'explique pas facilement. Quoi qu'il en soit, les cartes aux couleurs coeur, carreau, pique et trèfle existent sous Charles VII et ne paraissent pas avoir été connues sous Charles VI. De plus, la création du jeu de piquet semble se rattacher par plus d'un lien au règne de Charles VII. Maintenant, est-il possible d'admettre que tout à coup aient été inventés ce jeu et ces cartes ? [...] Dans les ces années qui vont de 1350 a 1450 il a du s'introduire au milieu des cartes antiques plus d'une modification qui nous échappe. [...] C'est l'opinion de quelques personnes, qu'il a existé un jeu intermédiaire entre le tarot meridional ou allemand et le piquet français. De ce jeu intermédiaire il n'y a pas de traces, comme il n'y en a pas du travail qui a fait naître le piquet. Il ne faut pas donc dire, comme M. Paul lacroix, que le jeu de piquet est dû a la Hire [the famous Stephen de Vignoles, a devoted adherent of Charles VII.] ou d'un semant d'armes de ce capitaine. [...] Il ne faut pas non plus accepter les prétendues explications des érudits du siècle dernier, qui ne sont, en general, que d'assez mauvaises conjectures. Ce sera dans les fêtes de Chinon, là où Charles VII perdait si gaiement son royaume, ce sera encore à Paris, après la victoire [1436] et dans la joie du.triomphe, que la cour galante et militaire du roi sauvé par Jeanne d'Arc aura imaginé et operé la reforme des cartes. [...] La France connaissait le tarot dans la seconde moitie du XIVe siècle. [...] La connaissance du jeu s'étant répandue, elle s'appliqua a approprier les cartes a son genie. La combinaison dite du jeu de piquet est née alors. C'est une simplification des élémens anciens. Les couleurs et le nombre des cartes, aussi bien que la création des règles fondamentales du jeu de piquet, datent de Charles VII et probablement du milieu de son règne, qui est aussi le milieu du XVe siecle. Jusqu'à ce moment, jusqu'au milieu du XVe siècle, l'histoire des cartes est enveloppée d'obscurité. La création du jeu français est la chose importante dans cette histoire.

Boiteau admits that nothing certain can be advanced on the subject of the origin of Piquet, and that just at the period of which he treats, the history of cards is wrapped in obscurity. After these admissions one may safely consign his theory to the region of guesses.

Dr. Willshire ("A descriptive Catalogue of Playing and other Cards in the British Museum." London. 1876.), the most recent, and probably the best, authority, remarks that, "There is not satisfactory evidence to show the date at which piquet was first played. [...] Endeavours have been made to associate the origin of this game with the epoch of Charles VII, but a decisive solution of the question cannot be obtained."

The supposition of Grosley (Mémoires historiques et critiques pour l'Histoire de Troyes. 1774) that Piquet was invented by a mathematician of Troyes, named Picquet, who lived in the reign of Louis XIII. (1610-1643), and the statement of Strutt ("Sports and Pastimes." London. 1801.), that Piquet was introduced into France in the middle of the seventeenth century, may be met by reciting the fact that, about a century earlier, Rabelais (1535) includes Piquet in the list of games played by Gargantua. Boiteau believes that the Piquet mentioned by Rabelais was a different game; but this original notion requires confirmation.

Complex card games, like Piquet, are not invented by, nor for, individuals. They grow out of earlier and simpler games, until at last, through the survival of the fittest modifications, a highly developed game is evolved. As Boiteau well observes,

Il est impossible de dire, prenant un jeu quelconque, qu'il a été inventé en telle année par intel. C'est tantôt l'un et tantôt l'autre qui s'avise d'ajouter quelques regles à un vieux Jeu, d'en changer le nom; des amis adoptent ; quelques societés à la suite, et voila une invention. It is therefore to the older card games that one should look for the origin of Piquet. The opinion of the latest writers on the history of playing cards is that France received her cards, and the games played with them, from Spain and Germany, and that these countries obtained them from Italy. If so, an examination of the early games and cards of Italy, Spain and Germany may throw some light on the question.

The ancient name of the point at Piquet was ronfle, and la Ronfle is one of the Gargantuan games mentioned by Rabelais (1535). There was also an Italian game called Ronfa, but it is not known how it was played. Ronfa, by some, is said to mean "ruff"; very likely this may be so, and the word ruffing may also mean discarding and taking in, as it did at the game of Ruff and Honours, an ancestor of whist. Berni ( Capitolo del Gioco delta Primiera col Commento di Messer Pietropaulo da San Chirico. Stampata in Roma nel Anno M.D.XXVL), includes Ronfa in a list of eleven card games, played at that time (1526).

In one place, the facetious commentator, who styles himself as above, thus refers to the invention of Ronfa. (The quotation is taken from Singer's translation.)

We have but little certainty who was the inventor, or who, in the first instance developed the game, nor is that little confirmed by authority to be relied on. Some say it was Lorenzo de Medici the Magnificent, and relate I know not what tale of an Abbot. [...] Others will have it that Ferdinand of Naples, who so distinguished himself, was the inventor. Others Matthias, King of Hungary; many Queen Isabella; some the Grand Seneschal. [...] We shall leave the research to those who are desirous of knowing how many barrels of wine Acestes gave to Aeneas; or what was the name of Anchises' nurse; and the like curiosities, worse than the Egg and Chicken.

Since ronfle was the point, and ronfa meant "ruff", and ruffing meant discarding and taking in from a stock, it is hardly too much to assume that Ronfa was a game in which discarding, taking in, and calling a point, were prominent features. Ronfa or la Ronfle may have been a simple form of Piquet; or, the similarity of the words ronfa, ronfle, and ruff may be mere coincidences.

When Italian cards, and the games played with them, travelled to Spain, a game called Cientos was played in that country. Singer says, "As this game was of Spanish origin, and has some appearance of having resembled Piquet [...] may not the French have adopted it, with some alterations, merely changing its name ? " Boiteau confirms the idea of the adoption thus : "Le cent (piquet). Le piquet s'appelle encore aujourd'hui le cent ou la grande brisque dans la Charente."

Singer assumes that the game originated in Spain. It is more probable that Cientos was a modified Italian game, possibly Ronfa with a change of name.

From Spain or France the game came to England, where it was called Cent.

There is no similar record of a game like Ronfa or Cientos having reached Germany, when Italian cards journeyed to that part of Europe. The material leading to the supposition that such a game was played in Germany, whence it is geographically and historically probable it travelled to France, is very slender. What little there is depends on the amount of reliance to be placed on Merlin ( Origine des Cartes a jouer. Paris. 1869). The following quotation is taken from Willshire :

We desired to be able to point out in a satisfactory manner what were the names and structure of the [early] German games, but have not met with information precise enough on the subject. We must be contented with communicating a few remarks with which the examination of the cards has furnished us.

For figures we meet with kings, superior and inferior valets [the superior knave, obermann, is the equivalent of the queen in French and English packs]. [...] The point cards are the ten, nine, eight,seven, six and two, a composition resembling our own Piquet [packs], in which the ace has been displaced by the two. This structure is [...] that of the Saxon game Schwerter Karte - cartes à l'épée.

What appears to confirm our conjecture as to the analogy of piquet with this jeu à l'épée is the fact that in the modern cards manufactured at Vienna for playing the German game, [...] the six is suppressed, as it is in the French piquet[pack] since the end of the seventeenth century.

It seems not improbable that an Italian game, bearing a likeness to Piquet, grew into Cientos in Spain and into le Cent in France; and, that a game played with sword packs, in which the number and value of the cards was the same as in piquet packs, was known in Germany; and that a modification of this Sword Game (to coin a name for it), afterwards found a home in France under the title of Picquet (the old spelling). But how, or when, the most advanced form of the older games finally established its supremacy as Piquet, history does not relate.

Next as to the etymology of Piquet.

"The new World of Words" collected and published by E. Phillips (London. Ed. 1696.), states that Piquet is "perhaps so called as a diminutive of Pique, as it were a small Contestor Combat". The first edition is dated 1658, but Piquet does not occur in it, nor in the editions of 1662 and 1671.

Skeat ( Etymological Dictionary. Oxford. 1882.), remarks on E. P.'s proposed derivation,"This is ingenious and perhaps true."

According to the Abbe Bullet ( Recherches sur les Cartes a jouer Lyon. 1757) the word Piquet is derived from Celtic. Piquo he says, in Celtic signifies to choose, and pic and repic (the old spelling of pique and repique), have the sense of doubled and redoubled. The old spelling of pique was picq and of repique repicq but that is a trifle. The ancient name of the point, ronfle, Bullet compounds of two Celtic words rum, a gathering together, and bell (in composition, fell), a combat; hence rumfell, rumfle, ronfle, an assemblage of cards of the same suit.

"Pick" probably does belong to the Celtic languages, but there is no consequent reason for associating it with the game of Piquet. Skeat says of Celtic, "This is a particularly slippery subject to deal with," and "we must take care not to multiply the number [of borrowed Celtic words] unduly." Prior to the appearance of his "Recherches", the Abbe was engaged on a Celtic dictionary, and he refers many words of doubtful etymology to Celtic. The coincidences he points out are generally regarded as more curious than valuable.

Grosley's fable that the game was invented by a man named Picquet would hardly be worth notice, but that it has been repeated (guardedly, it is true), by others. Persius says, " It appears very probable that this game bears the name of its inventor." And Littre has, "The game is supposed to have been named after its inventor."

It has already been pointed out that games like Piquet are not invented by any one person.

In the absence of a better etymology, the suggestion that the name of the game may have been derived from the spade suit, is submitted for consideration.

In the oldest known playing cards, combined with tarots, the suit of spades was represented by bona fide swords, and was named spade in Italian, espadas in Spanish. The sword also obtained, as a suit mark, in cards used in Germany; but the Germans soon altered it into laub or grün the mark being shaped like a plum leaf.

In numeral cards, unconnected with tarots, the suit of spades was called picche in Italian, picas in Spanish, as early as the time of Charles VII of France.

The French appear to have adopted the German symbol, grün, and to have called it pique, after the Italian name. Leber, in a sentence translated by Chatto, says, "In the southern parts of Europe the French Pique is La Picca or La Spada.'"

Merlin asserts that a game was played in Germany with sword cards, which in their composition resemble piquet packs; and conjectures that the French Piquet was analogous to this nameless game.

The suggestion, offered with hesitation, is that Piquet may be a developed form of the analogous German game, and that, being played with pique cards in France, it may there consequently have obtained the name of Piquet.

Neither Cent nor Piquet are mentioned by Shakespeare. And it is somewhat remarkable that though Cent frequently occurs in English books of the Shakespearian period, Piquet, so far as is known, never does. In Nares (" Glossary of Words in Works of English Authors of the Time of Shakespeare "), Cent and many other games find a place, but Piquet does not appear. From this it may be concluded that Cent was played in England until about the middle of the seventeenth century, when the word Cent went out of use,and was replaced by the word Piquet.

That the two games were practically identical will presently be made evident. The change from Cent to Piquet, in England, may therefore be regarded as one of name only, and may perhaps be thus accounted for. From the time of the marriage of Mary with Philip of Spain (1554), the English equivalent of the Spanish name of the game was in vogue. In 1625, Charles I. married the daughter of Henry IV. of France. When a French Princess came on the scene the French name, Piquet, was contemporaneously substituted for the Spanish name.

Cent was sometimes corrupted into Saunt, Saint, Cente, Sent, and Sant; and the word occasionally has the prefix "Mount." So far as is known, the meaning of this prefix has never been explained. A few quotations from authors of the period (1532 to 1656), may prove of interest.

The earliest known reference to Cent is in "A Manifest Detection of the most vyle and detestable Use of Dice play, and other Practises like the same; A Myrour very necessary for all younge Gentilmanand others sodenly enabled by worldly Abiidance,to loke in. Newly set forth for theire Behoufe.", a very rare tract, printed in 1532, and said to be by Gilbert Walker. The Percy Society's reprint(1850.), is quoted:

After the table was removed, in came one of the waiters with a fair silver bowl, full of dice and cards. [...] Then each man choose his game.

The writer goes on to say, "Because I alleged ignorance [of dice] [...] we fell to Saunt, five games a crown." This looks as though the stake was on the old-fashioned partie, best of five games.

Another early reference is to be met with in Turberville's "Book of Faulconrie " (1575.) "At coses or at Saunt to sit, Or set their rest at prime."

In the " Book of Hows hold Charges and other Paiments laid out by the L. [ord] North and his Commandement" (Nichol's "Progresses of Queen Elizabeth"), there are several entries of losses at play. In the entry, 1578, May 15 to 17, there occurs, "Lost at Saint, xv.s."

This is interesting, as showing that at that time Cent was a fashionable game, and played at court.Lord North used frequently to play with the Queen,and there are several entries of money lost to her,but the names of the games are omitted.

North brooke calls the game Cente. In "A Treatise, wherein Dicing, Daucing, Vaine Plaies or Enterludes are reprooved ". (London. 1577.), the author thus addresses the reader :

What is a man now a dales if he knows not fashions ? [...] To plaie their twentie, fortie,or 100./. at Gardes, Dice, and Post, Cente, Glekeor such other games: if he cannot thus do he is called a miser, a wretch, a lobbe, a cloune, and one that knoweth no fellowship nor fashions, and less honestie.

The "honestie" is not apparent in all cases. In "Nobody and Somebody", an anonymous play (circa 1592.), Lord Sicophant confers with Somebody, the stage villain, as to introducing " Deceitfull Cards " at Court, the guilt to be made to rest with Nobody. During the conversation, Sicophant shows cards prepared for cheating at various games,and, (/. 1533), says, "These are for saunt."

This is no mere effort of imagination on the part of the playwright. The use of "Deceitfull Cards" at Saunt, about this time, was unfortunately a fact.They are mentioned in "Dice Play"; and the action of Baxter vers. Woodyard and others", brought in 1605, was for cheating at this game with prepared cards, as the following extract from Moore's "Reports" (1688.) shows:

Accor sur le case sur deceit enter eux practise pluy disceaver al Cards, al un game le Mountsant, per inducer d'un Carde appel le Bumcarde per queils devise que le [plaintiff] qu' aveoit que tiels games que ils pleroit, ...

In Minsheu's "Pleasant and delightfull Dialogues, Spanish and English " (London. 1599.), the game is also called Mount Sant. In the third Dialogue between "five gentlemen friendes," Rodricke, Sir Lorenzo and Mendoza converse thus:

R. Here are the cards. What shall we play at?
L. At Mount Sant.
M. It makes my head to be in a swoune to be always counting.

In A Woman kilde with Kindnesse, a play by Thomas Hey wood, acted before the year 1604, Cent is called Saint: "Husband, shall we play at Saint?" and in Gervas Markham's Famous or Noble Curtezan (1609), Cent is called Mount-cent :-

Were it Mount-cent, primero, or at chesse,I wan with most, and lost still with the lesse."

Brewer ( Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongueand five Senses. 1607.), reverts to the older spelling Saunt.

As for Memory, he's a false hearted fellow, he always deceives them; they respect nothing, except it be to play a Game at Chests, Primero, Saunt, Maw, or such like."

In The Dumb Knight (1608), by Lewis Machin, there is a direct statement that the name of the game was derived from a hundred. The play also contains, in punning allusions to the love affairs of two of the characters, important materials for establishing the great similarity of Cent to Piquet.

Enter aloft to cards the Queen and Phylocles.
Q. Come, my Lord, take your place, here are cards, and here are my crowns.
P. And here are mine; at what game will your Majesty play ?
Q. At Mount-Saint.
P. A royal game, and worthy of the name And meetest even for Saints to exercise;Sure it was of a woman's first invention.
Q. It is not Saint, but Cent, taken from hundreds.
P. True, for 'mongst millions hardly is found one saint.
Q. Indeed you may allow a double game.But come, lift for the dealing: it is my chance to deal.
P. An action most, most proper to your sex.
Q. What are you, my Lord ?
P. Your Highness' servant, but misfortune's slave.Q. Your game, I mean.
P. Nothing in show, yet somewhat in account :Madam, I am blank.
Q. You are a double game, and I am no less.There's an hundred, and all cards made but one knave.
What's your game now ?
P. Four king's, as I imagine.
Q. Nay, I have two, yet one doth me little good.
P. Indeed, mine are two queens, and one I'll throw away.
[...]
P. Can you decard, madam ? Q. Hardly, but I must do hurt."

Here the mention of showing, of the blank (carte blanche), of double games (counted in the old fashioned partie), of four kings, of throwing away, and of the decard (discard) prove conclusively the likeness of the two games.

In Taylor's Motto (1621.), Cent, under the spelling Sant, is enumerated among the games at which the prodigal "flings his money free with carelessnesse": "Ruffe, Slam, Trump, Nody, Whisk, Hole, Sant, New Cut."

In the Annalia Dubrensia. Upon the yerely celebration of Mr, Robert Dover's Olimpick games upon Cotswold Hills (1636.), a very rare book of which a copy is preserved in the Grenville Library,contributed to by thirty-two authors of the period,including Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, Trussell,and others of less note, the game is spelt Cent.In the eulogium on Dover by William Denny this passage occurs :

Cent for those Gentry, who their states have marr'd.That Game befitts them, for they must discard.

This again shows that discarding was part of the game.

Sir William Davenant, Poet Laureate after Ben Jonson, in The Witts, a Comedy present'd at the Private House in Black Fryers (1636), spells the game Sent:

While their glad sons are left seven for their chance at hazard: hundred and all made at Sent.

The inference is, as before, that "Sent" was played a hundred up.

The following quotation from The Discovery of a most Exquisite Jewel, found in the Kennel of Worcester Streets, the Day after the Fight (1651), by Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, shows that the name of the game was sometimes anglicised into Hundred:

Verily I think 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 incoming card is likely to conduce more for drawing the stake), is by good gamesters without any ceremony discarded.

If further evidence is required that the game of Cent was so called from its being played a hundred up, it may be obtained from a little book, published in 1656, entitled The Scholer's Practicall Cards, by F. Jackson, M.A. It is chiefly occupied with instructions how to spell, write, cypher, and cast accounts, by means of cards. Several games are mentioned in it, and among them Saunt which the author explains by centum, a hundred.

Probably the earliest mention of Piquet, in print, is by Rabelais (1535). As already stated, he includes it in the list of games played by Gargantua; and it is to be noted that le Cent and la Ronfle are also to be found there.

It is not until after the lapse of rather more than a hundred years that Piquet appears with any frequency in French books, or at all in English books. It will be convenient first to take a few of the most interesting French references of the seventeenth century, and then to review Piquet in England from that time to the present.

The earliest work on Piquet extant is, probably," Royal lev dv Piqvet plaisant et recreatif. Reveu et corrige en cette dernière Edition, pour le contentement de ceux qui font Profession d'en observer les règles." (Rouen. 1647). This is the earliest edition to be met with in the British Museum. The book was translated into English in 1651, with the following title : The Royall and delightful game of Picquet written in French and now rendered into English out of the last French edition. London. Printed for J. Martin and J. Ridley, and are to be sold at the Castle in Fleet-street nere Ram alley.

The following is the translation of the preface:

There comming to my hands, not long since, a small treatise, concerning the game of PICQUET, and having perused the same ; I have since thought fit to communicate it to the World ; as being a game approved of everywhere,especially among the Gentry, and persons of Honour. It is a kind of Divertion, so sweet, and pleasing, as that it makes the houres slide away insensibly: it easeth the Gouty person ; cleares up the melancholicke spirit; and refresheth the pensive Lover. These considerations are of sufficient force to put in any one a desire to the Play: But that which should most stir you up to the purchasing of this Booke, is,that you have here laid downe before you, an absolute, and exact account of the whole Game, and have all the difficulties, that may arise therein, fully resolved. If you therefore but observe the Rules and Maximes here delivered ; you shall avoid all the quarrells, which usually arise amongst Gamesters, for want of being thoroughly informed in the Game; and shall preserve mutuall Society, which is the Bond that unites all things. Be sure, therefore, that you purchase this Booke : For in so doing, you shall not only much advantage your selves, but me also.

According to this treatise the game was played with thirty-six cards, the sixes remaining in the pack; the set or number up was a matter of agreement, but was usually fixed at a hundred,it being "in the choice of the Gamesters to make it more or lesse." In cutting for deal, more than one card must be "lifted", as the top one might be known by the back. In this remark is seen the reason for several of the severe rules which formerly obtained at Piquet, such, for instance, as allowing no change of discard after touching - not looking at, but touching- the stock. In the days when cards were not so well manufactured as now, it is easy to understand that a pack might frequently contain marked cards, and, therefore, no one was allowed even to touch the stock without penalty.

In cutting for deal, "whichsoever of the two dips the least card " deals. The deal was either by two at a time, or by three or four at a time,to each player, at the option of the dealer; but he was bound to continue dealing through the game as he began, or, at least, to announce,before the cut, that he would change his method.The same object is apparent here as before, viz.,that no advantage should be taken of a marked card. Twelve cards were given to each player,and twelve were left in the stock, of which the elder hand might take eight, the younger, four; each player being bound to discard one card.With thirty-six cards it was possible for both players to hold a carte blanche, and this case is provided for, the two annulling each other. The point was called the ruffe, in the French Treatise, ronfle. The description of the way of counting the point explains why points ending in a four counted one less than the number of cards. The point was not formerly reckoned by cards but by tens: dixaines); and

For every Ten that he can reckon, he is to set up One. As, for example,for Thirty, he is to reckon Three, for Fourty,Foure: and so upward. Where, by the way, it is to be noted, that you are to reckon as much for Thirty five as for Forty; and as much for Forty five as for Fifty: and so of the rest: but for thirty six, thirty seven, Thirty eight, or Thirty nine, you are to reckon no more than for Thirty five: in like manner as for Thirty one. Thirty two, Thirty three or Thirty four, you are to reckon no more than for Thirty.

When the game came to be played with thirty-two cards, points ending in a two or in a three could no longer be held, but those ending in a four could, and, the old method of reckoning being continued, it seemed as though a point ending in a four was an arbitrary exception to the rule of reckoning one for each card.

A curious expression is used in respect of the highest sequence making good all lower ones in the same hand, notwithstanding the adversary may hold intermediate ones. The best sequence is said to "drown" all the sequences held by, the opponent. Cards under a ten did not reckon in play. It seems that in Paris it was permitted to amend incorrect calls of point or sequence,but not in Provence or Languedoc, where "the First word is always to stand."

A few years later was published Maison Academie pique (Paris. 1654.), in which appears "lev dv Picqvet" as then played. The general directions for play are almost identical with those in "Royal lev dv piqvet" That Piquet was much played in France about this time is made evident by the publication of these books, by its repeated mention in Moliere's plays, and by its having been chosen as the title of the ballet, already referred to.

Les Fâcheux by Moliere (1661), contains an interesting Piquet hand, which deserves more than a passing notice. The description, freely translated, runs thus:

Console me, Marquis, for the extraordinary partie at Piquet I lost yesterday against St. Bouvain, a man to whom I could deal and give fifteen points. It is a maddening coup which crushes me, and which makes me wish all players at the devil; a coup enough to make a man go and hang himself. I only wanted two points; he required a pique. I dealt; he proposed a fresh deal. I having pretty good cards in all suits, refused. He takes six cards. Now observe my bad luck : I carry ace of clubs; ace, king,knave, ten, eight of hearts; and throw out (as I considered it best to keep my point), king, queen of diamonds, and queen, ten of spades. I took in the queen to my point, which made me a quint major. To my amazement, my adversary showed the ace and a sixième minor in diamonds, the suit of which I had discarded king and queen. But, as he required a pique, I was not alarmed, expecting to make at least two points in play. In addition to his seven diamonds he had four spades, and, playing them, he put me to a card, for I did not know which of my aces to keep. I thought it best to throw the ace of hearts, but he had discarded all his four clubs, and capoted me with the six of hearts! I was so vexed I could not say a word. Confound it! why do I have such frightful luck ?

Supplying the unnamed cards, St. Bouvain's hand would be knave, ten, nine, eight, seven,six of diamonds; king, queen, nine, seven of clubs; and nine, seven of hearts. He discards the four clubs and the two hearts; he takes in ace of diamonds; six of hearts; and ace, king,knave, eight of spades.

Alcippe (his adversary), deals himself king,queen of diamonds; queen, ten of spades; ace,king, knave, ten, eight of hearts; and ace, knave,eight of clubs. He discards the diamonds, spades,and knave, eight of clubs; he takes in nine, seven,six of spades; queen of hearts; and ten, six of clubs.

St. Bouvain's point and sixieme are good for twenty-three; he plays the diamonds and spades,which include six counting cards, making him twenty-nine; and there is one card to be played. Alcippe reckons nothing, and has to play eleven cards. He must keep either ace of hearts or ace of clubs. He elects to keep the club. St. Bouvain wins the last trick with the six of hearts (this is a non counting card; but, if it wins, it reckons one for the last trick), and piques and capots his opponent.

Moliere has skilfully heaped up the various small worries that may annoy an irritable player during a hand. The score is one source of annoyance : St. Bouvain wants a pique, Alcippe only wants two points, and has such cards that,though a pique is not impossible it is in the highest degree improbable. As Fielding ("Tom Jones") truly remarks, "The gamester who loses a party at Piquet by a single point, laments his bad luck ten times as much as he who never came within a prospect of the game." Again, Alcippe has the chance offered him of a fresh deal, which implies that his adversary has very bad cards.The fresh deal is refused, and, notwithstanding, St. Bouvain wins. Then the elder hand, having a right to take eight cards, only takes six, which is a disagreeable surprise after proposing a fresh deal, as Alcippe would naturally wonder how it could be that, notwithstanding the bad hand, St. Bouvain can afford to leave two cards; and,lastly, Alcippe is put to a card, which is by no means pleasant at any time, but is most unpleasant of all to a player with two aces, who only requires one trick to win the partie, and who loses it if he keeps the wrong one.

Alcippe, though he boasts his superior play, and declares that he lost by bad luck, really makes two mistakes which lose him the game. First, he does not discard to the score. His game, when wanting to score only two, is to protect himself from a capot by throwing out his point. If he discards ace, knave, ten, eight of hearts, and knave, eight of clubs, he is morally certain to win. Next, he plays badly in throwing the ace of hearts. It is evident that, in order to save the game, St. Bouvain's last card must be a non counting card. Now, he may hold any one of three non counting hearts, or either of two non counting clubs. This being so, it is three to two in favour of keeping the heart.

In 1676 was produced " Triomphe des Dames" with the ballet interlude, about which so much has been written by Piquet historians. As it has often been stated that this play was never printed, it maybe as well to give the title and publisher's name in full:

Triomphe des Dames. Comedie mêlée d'Ornmnents avec Explication ou Combat à la Barriere et de toutes les Devises, par Thomas Comeille, representee par la Trouppe du Roy. Etablie au Faurbourg S. Germain. Paris. Jean Ribon. 1676.

The Theatre Francois describes the ballet thus:

En 1676, on represente sur le Theâtre de l'Hotel Guenegaud une Comédie de Thomas Corneille, en cinq actes, intitulée le Triomphe des Dames, qui n'a point été imprimée, et dont le Ballet du Jeu de Piquet etoit un des intermedes. [...] Les Rois, les Dames et les Valets, apres avoir forme, par leurs danses, des tierces et des quatorzes; apres s'etre rangés, tous les noirs d'un cdte, les rouges de l'autre, finirent par une contre danse, ou toutes les couleurs etoient mêlées confusément, et sans suite.

La Maison Academique after several editions, gave place to the more comprehensive Academie Universelle des Jeux. This work, variously edited and augmented, was the French authority on games for about a century and a half The later editions are mainly reprints of the previous ones ; and,probably owing to the book's not keeping pace with the times, it gradually lost its prestige. Modern "Academie" there are still; but they are no more like the older ones than modern "Hoyles" are like the "Short Treatises" of Hoyle.

The Academies properly so called, nearly all agree on two points. They give Piquet the first or second place among card games; and they derive a good deal of their Piquet inspiration from "Royal lev dv Piqvet."

The French Academic was translated into English about 1768. The title of the book is : The Academy of Play; Containing a full Description of and the Laws of Play, Now observed in the several Academies of Paris, Relative to The following Games, viz. [Here follow the names of thirty-three card games.] From the French of the Abbe Bellecour. London: Printed for F. Newbery, the Corner of St. Paul's Church-Yard Ludgate-Street

The preface says, "The Game of Piquet is [...] here treated in a manner more clear, and more conformable to the present Practice, as in all the Rules here given, we have followed the determinations of the most able Players."

The " Determinations of the most able Players " enable the reader to trace the origin of the proverb that "Piquet is not a game of surprise", a saying not always true of the game. It refers to changing the suit when playing the cards :

You have to observe that as there is no advantage to be taken by surprise, at the Game of Piquet he that in playing, changes his Suit, is to name the Suit in which he then leads; in default of which, the other Party, supposing that he still continues to lead in the former Suit, has a right to take up the Card that he has played, even tho' it should be in the Suit in which he then leads.

And this is the penalty, when "surprises" of a more serious nature are detected :

Qui reprend des cartes dans son écart, est surpris a en changer, ou fait d'autres tours de fripon, perd la partie, et doit être chasse comme un coquin avec qui on ne doit plus jouer. La peine de cet article ne saurait être assez forte, puisque c'est pour punir un fripon avéré.

This is quaintly translated as follows :-

He who takes in any part of his Discard, or is detected in changing his Cards, or in any other kind of fraud ; loses the party, and ought to be drove out as a cheat; with whom no one ought to play. The punishment here cannot be sufficiently severe, as it is intended to chastise a manifest scoundrel.

The only points of importance in which the Abbe's Academy differs from The Royall and delightfull game of Picquet, (the same alterations being present in the corresponding French editions), are that thirty-two cards are substituted for thirty-six, and consequently that the number taken after discarding is five instead of eight elder hand, and three instead of four younger hand: that dealing by four cards at a time is no longer permitted; that the ronfle or ruffe is called the point; that sometimes every card of the point is allowed to reckon; and that the counting in play of cards below a ten is optional.

The above changes in the mode of play were introduced about the end of the seventeenth century.

Piquet, according to popular belief, was imported into England from France.

Vat have you oi grand plaisir in dis towne,Vidout it come from France, dat vill go down ? Picquet, basset; your vin, your dress, your dance ;'Tis all you see, tout a la mode de France."

Farquhar. Epilogue to Sir Harry Wildair (1701)

But, as has been seen, the game first came to this country as Cent; and there is nothing to show whether it was of French or of Spanish importation.

Be this as it may, Cent was deposed in England,in favour of Piquet, about the middle of the seventeenth century. One of the earliest writers to refer to Piquet under its new name is John Hall, in his" Horae Vacivse" (1646). He says:

For Cardes,the Philologil of them is not for an essay; a man's fancy would be sum'd up at Cribbidge; Gleeke requires a vigilant memory: Maw, a pregnant agility;Picket a various invention; Primero, a dexterous kinde of rashness."

In 1659, a curious pamphlet (now rare) was pubhshed, entitled, Shufling, Cutting, and Dealings in A Game at Pickquet: being Acted from the Year, 1653. to 1658. By O. P. [Oliver Protector] And others; With great Applause.. It represents Cromwell, after the Long Parliament, playing cards with some old officers, friends, and opponents, the players expressing their political sentiments through allusions to the game of Piquet:

Oliver P. I am like to have a good beginning on't: I have thrown out all my best Cards, and got none buta Company of Wretched ones; so I may very vi^ell be capetted [capoted].

One of the characters says, "I am nothing buta Ruff" (Ronfle or point). Another, "I got more the last Game when I plaid Cent: for I had a hundred, and all made."

A similar squib was published in Melanges Historiques de Bois Jourdain, some half century later. It alludes to the state of France on the accession of Louis XV. The following is a specimen :

Le Jeu de Piquet, 1716. Les Exilés Un quatorze de roi [Louis XIV.] avait gâté notre jeu; une quinte de roi[Louis XV.] le rend plus beau.

In The Wild Gallant (1662.), Dryden's first acted play, there is drawn the singular picture of a man playing Piquet against an imaginary adversary who however arrives in time to pick up the stakes :

A Table set with Cards upon it.

Trice. [...] Ay, it shall be he : Jack Love by, what think'st thou of a game at Piquet, we two hand to fist? You and I will play one single game for ten pieces : 'Tis deep stake, Jack, but 'tis all one between us two : You shall deal.Jack : - Who I, Mr. Justice? That's a good one ; you must give me use for your hand then; that's six i' the hundred.[The advantage of the deal was formerly estimated at about seven points in a hundred..] -Come, lift, lift;-mine's a ten; Mr. Justice : Mine's a king ; oh, ho, Jack, you deal. I have the advantage of this, i' faith, if I can keep it. (He deals twelve a piece, two by two, and looks on his own cards. I take seven, and look on this-Now for you, Jack Loveby.
Enter Loveby, behind.
Lov. How's this ? Am I the man he fights with ?
Trice. I'll do you right, Jack ; As I am an honest man,you must discard this; There's no other way : If you were my own brother, I could do no better for you.-Zounds, the rogue has a quint-major, and three aces younger hand.-(Looks on the other cards.) Stay ; What am I for the point?But bare forty, and he fifty-one : fifteen, and five for the point, twenty, and three by aces, twenty-three; Well, I am to play first: one, twenty-three; two, twenty-three ; three,twenty-three ; four, twenty-three; now I must play into his hand : five : now you take it. Jack;-five, twenty-four,twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty and the cards forty.
Lov. [aside'] Hitherto it goes well on my side.
Trice. (Now I deal: How many do you take, Jack ? All.Then I am gone : what a rise is here ? Fourteen by aces,and a sixieme-major; I am gone, without looking into my cards.-[Takes up an ace and bites it.) Ay I thought so:If ever man play'd with such cursed fortune, I'll be hanged,and all for want of this damned ace. - There's your ten pieces, you rooking, beggarly rascal as you are.
Loveby enters.
Lov. What occasion have I given you for these words,Sir? Rook and Rascal! I am no more rascal than your-self. Sir !
Trice. How's this? How's this?
Lov. And though for this time I put it up because I am a winner- (Snatches the gold.)
Trice. What a devil dost thou put up ? Not my gold, I hope, Jack ?
Lov. By your favour, but I do ; and 'twas won fairly : a sixieme, and fourteen aces, by your own confession."

In Flora's Vagaries, a comedy printed in 1670, Piquet is again introduced :

Grimani, Well, lay by your work, we will have a game at cards. Giacomo, go fetch some cards and counters,picket you play well at.
Otrante [his daughter]. I am no Gamester, but if you please to play-
Gri. Sit down, come, lift, I deal. How many take you in? Otr. I take seven. Sir.
Gri. Take them and I will have all the rest. So now,what say you to the point ?
Otr. a little game, some three-and-fifty. Gri. 'Tis good, hunch out. Otr. Quart major. Gri. And that too.
Otr. Three kings.
Gri. No, that's not good.
Otr. Nine, and there's ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.
Gri. I had forgot my aces.
Otr. You have lost you aces, fourteen."

The action of the play then causes the game to stop.

It is interesting to observe that the score was marked with counters, and that the mode of play was as now, except that the pack was composed of thirty-six cards, otherwise Otrante could not take seven cards, and could not have a point of fifty-three, as with a thirty-two card pack this point cannot be made.

The occurrence of Piquet in dramatic and other writings of this period is very common.

About this time appeared, Wit's Interpreter: the English Parnassus The third edition, with many additions, by "J. C", is dated 1671. One part containing Games and Sports now used at this day among the Gentry of England, &c., has instructions for playing "The Ingenious Game called Picket". Picket is also included among the card games in Cotton's Compleat Gamester (1674). In both cases "The Royall and delightfull game of Picquet" has been plagiarised. In the edition of The Compleat Gamester of 1709 a note is added,that "These were the Rules of the Game when it was played with the sixes, but however the Rules hold for the Game as it is played at present without the Sixes, only when it is played without the Sixes the Elder Hand is to take Five of the Eight Cards in the Stock." This fixes the time when the alteration of the pack became generally recognised in England.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, card playing was the rage in all parts of Europe. The games most in favour, with people of fashion in England, were Ombre, Piquet and Basset (now called Faro). In The Confederacy by Vanbrugh (1705), Clarissa exclaims, "We'll play at Ombre, Piquet, Basset, and so forth, and close the evening with a handsome supper and ball. "Other games are referred to, but not so frequently. In Sir Harry Wildair, (1701), for example, the following conversation occurs :

Sir Harry. The capot at Piquet, the paroli at Basset,and then Ombre ! Who can resist the charms of Matadores ?
Lady Lurewell. Ay, Sir Harry ; and then the sept leva ! Quinze le vci! Trente le va I [Basset].
Sir H. Right, right, Madam !
Lady'Lure. Then the nine of diamonds at Comet [PopeJoan], three fives at Cribbage, and Pam [Knave of Chibs] in Lanterloo [Loo], Sir Harry !
Sir H. Ay, Madam, these are charms indeed. Then the pleasure of picking your husband's pocket over night to play at Basset next day.

About this date Piquet is sometimes spelt Piquette, as though the idea had gained ground that the word is a diminutive of pique. The first volume of Thomas D'Urfey's celebrated poems, Wit and Mirth: or Pills to purge Melancholy, (1719.), contains "A Poole at Piquette, The Words made and set to a Tune, by Mr. D'Urfey,made at Ramsbury Mannor."

" Within an Arbour of delight,
As sweet as Bowers Elisian
Where famous Sidney used to write
I lately had a Vision :
Methought beneath a Golden State, The Turns of Chance obeying,
Six of the World's most noted great.
At Piquette were a playing.
" The first two were the brave Eugene
With Vcndosme Battle waging ;
The next a Nymph who to be Queen,
Her MoiLusieur was Engaging ;
The Fleur de Lis Old Maintcnon
With sanctified Carero ;
And next above the scarlet Don,
Queen Anne, and Gallick Nero.
"The Game between the Martial braves,
Was held in diff'rent Cases ;
The French man got Quatorze of Knaves,
But Prince Eugene four Aces :
And tho' the 'tothers eldest Hand
Gave Hopes to make a Jest on't,
Yet now the Point who soonest gain'd
Could only get the best on't.
" From them I turned mine Eyes to see
The Church man and the Lady,
And found her pleas'd to high degree
Her Fortune had been steady,
The Saints that cram'd the Spanish Purse
She hop'd would all oblige her,
For he had but a little Terse
When she produc'd Quint-Major.
" And now betwixt the King and Queen
An Empire was depending ;
Within whose mighty Game was seen
The Art of State-contending :
The Mounsieur had three Kings to win't
And was o'er Europe roaming,
But her full Point Quatorze and Quint
Won all and left him foaming."

Again, in Pope's Moral Essays in four Epistles, (1733), in the first of which the character of Lord Godolphin is sketched, it is stated that

His pride is in Piquette,Newmarket fame, and judgment in a bet.

In 1719 Richard Seymour published The Court Gamester: or full and easy Instructions for [...] Ombre, Picquet, and the Royal Game of Chess. Much of the Piquet is derived from the original source; but there are considerable additions, and quaint remarks peculiar to this treatise which deserve quotation. Speaking of tierces and other sequences, Seymour observes, "These Terms may sound a little like conjuring,to Persons that don't understand them; but they are only the French Terms that we make use of, because we have not English whereby to express the same thing in one Word." Further on, after explaining the annulling of minor sequences by major ones, he adds, "Thus, among Cards as well as Men, the Great still overcome the Small."

The directions are repeated in seven editions up to 1750; in the fifth edition it is stated that "Piquet is now become so common that even the meanest people have become instructed, and let into all the Tricks and Secrets of it." This, however, is doubtful, for though Piquet was much played in the clubs, and in fashionable society, in the middle of the eighteenth century, it never appears, in this country, to have been the game of the masses, as it is in France.

Apropos of club play, about this time, a story is told in Walpole's Letters of Selwyn's walking into White's, in November, 1752, where he found James Jeffries playing Piquet with Sir Edward Falkener, who was at that time Joint Postmaster- General. "Oh," quoth Selwyn, "he is now robbing the mail!"

The Court Gamester was eventually amalgamated with the Compleat Gamester; and, in the eighth edition (1754) a number of Hoyle's rules and cases are plagiarised.

Bath was the head quarters of fashionable card-,playing about the middle of the eighteenth century. It is related of a notorious gambler, named Lookup, that he won large sums of money of Lord Chesterfield, chiefly at Piquet, and that, with his winnings, he built some houses at Bath, which he jocularly called " Chesterfield Row." Lookup died in 17705 with cards in his hand, while playing the game of humbug, or two-handed whist. Foote,on hearing this, said, "Lookup is humbugged out of the world at last."

The Bath play continued until about the year 1840, a coterie of distinguished Piquet players constantly meeting there during the early part of the present century; and the club play continued at White's and Graham's. When the Bath play declined, and Graham's club was broken up, Piquet pretty well died out in England, almost the only place where it was regularly played being the Portland Club. Recently Piquet has revived; and it is now (1890) so much played in England, that it may be called a popular game.

The last work on the game which calls for notice here is Hoyle's Short Treatise on the Game of Piquet. (1744.), This is original, and not, like the others, taken from the older books. Though somewhat obscure in style, it contains much valuable instruction, and also the laws of the game, which were the only authority in this country until the code of the Portland Club was published in 1873. Hoyle's laws were twenty-six in number,and were all observed by strict players. Editors of Hoyle, however, subsequent to 1800, took the liberty of adding nine other laws on their own account. These added laws had no weight, and,in several instances, the practice of club players was opposed to them.

Hoyle does not fix the number the game is to be played up, probably because it was still a matter of agreement in his day. His editors, however, in copies published after Hoyle's death, say the game is a hundred-and-one up. Piquet au cent is played a hundred-and-one up in some parts of France at the present day (1873); but the practice in this country, and in Paris when Piquet au cent is played, is to make the game a hundred up. Piquet au cent is now (1885), however, almost entirely superseded by the Rubicon Game. The introduction of this form of Piquet necessitated the redrawing of the Portland code. In this task the Turf Club assisted; and, since 1882, the joint code of these two clubs has ruled the game among English players.

It is somewhat remarkable that so fine a game as Piquet should have been almost entirely neglected by writers on games from 1744 to 1873 (nearly a hundred-and-thirty years), except by editors of Hoyle. This is the more singular, as it is generally admitted that Hoyle's laws and directions for play, though excellent as far as they go, are by no means complete. In the following pages an attempt has been made to supplement Hoyle's work, by giving a full description of the modern game (Piquet au cent being now seldom played), and by enlarging more thoroughly on the various points of play.