score of four, and king not being in hand or turned up, any hand with one trump should be played, unless the plain cards are very small and of different suits. Further, the rule to ask for cards with the point certain does not hold at the adverse score of four, unless king is in hand or turned up.
If the non-dealer plays without proposing when he is four to three, and the dealer holds the king he ought not to mark it. The same rule applies to the non-dealer after a refusal, if the dealer is four to three.
At the score of non-dealer three, dealer four, the dealer should refuse on moderate cards, as the player proposing at this score must have a very bad hand.
At four a forward game should not be played in trumps, as there is no advantage in winning the vole.
Laws of Écarté.—The following laws are abridged from the revised code adopted by the Turf Club:—
Cutting.—1. A cut must consist of at least two cards. Card exposed in cutting, fresh cut. Dealing, 2. Order of distribution of cards, whether by three and two, or vice versa, once selected, dealer must not change it during game. If changed, or wrong number of cards dealt, non-dealer, before he looks at his hand, may claim fresh deal. 3. Dealer turning up more than one card, non-dealer, before looking at his hand, may select either for trump, or may claim fresh deal. If he has looked at his hand there must be a fresh deal. 4. Faced card discovered in pack before trump card is turned, fresh deal. 5. Dealer exposing own cards in dealing, no penalty ; exposing non-dealer s cards, non-dealer, before looking at his hand, has option of fresh deal. 6. Deal out of turn, discovered before trump turned up, void ; after, too late to rectify. 7. Misdeal discovered after trump card turned, and before proposing or playing, non-dealer has option of fresh deal. If deal stands, dealer cannot mark king turned up, and non-dealer having superfluous cards discards them ; dealer having superfluous cards, non-dealer draws and looks at them ; either having too few cards, hand is completed from stock. 8. Either player playing with wrong number of cards, adversary has option of fresh deal. Marking king. 9. King turned up may be marked any time before trump card of next deal is turned ; king in hand must be announced before playing first card, or if king is card first led by non-dealer before being played to, or cannot be marked ; if king is card first played by dealer, it must be announced before he plays again. 10. Player announcing king when he lias not got it, and playing a card without declaring error, adversary may correct score and have hand played over again. If offender wins point or vole that hand, he scores one less than he wins. Proposing. 11. Proposal, acceptance, or refusal made cannot be retracted. Discarding. 12. Cards discarded must not be looked at. 13. Either player taking too many cards, and mixing any with his hand, adversary may claim fresh deal. If deal stands, adversary draws superfluous cards, and may look at them if offender has seen any of the cards given. Non-dealer asking for less cards than he discards, dealer counts as tricks all cards that cannot be played to. Same rule for dealer, but if he discovers error before playing a card, he may complete hand from stock. 14. Dealer giving more or less cards than s,!>]red for, non-dealer may claim fresh deal. If deal stands, non-dealer with too many cards discards superfluous onesj; with too few, has hand completed from stock. 15. Faced card in stock after discarding, players may look at it; it is put aside and next card given. 16. Cards exposed in giving cards to non-dealer, he has option of taking them or of having next cards ; dealer ex posing his own cards, no penalty. 17. Dealer turning up top card after giving cards, cannot refuse second discard. 18. Dealer accept ing when too few cards in stock to supply both, non-dealer niay take cards, and dealer must play his hand. Playing. 19. Card led in turn cannot be taken up "again. Card played to a lead can only be taken up prior to another lead, to save revoke or to correct error of not winning trick. Card led out of turn may be taken up prior to its being played to. 20. Player naming one suit and leading another, adversary has option of requiring suit named to be led. If offender has none, no penalty. 21. Player abandon ing hand, adversary is deemed to win remaining tricks, and scores accordingly. Revoking, and not winning trick. 22. For either of these offences same penalty as in law 10. Incorrect packs. 23. Deal in which discovery nuide, void ; preceding deals good. By standers. 24. If players declare to play English ecarte, bystanders, betting or not, not allowed to make remarks or give advice, nor to play out game of player resigning. If bystander makes remark which affects score, player prejudiced may call on him to pay his stakes and bets. 25. At French ecarte, those betting may correct score, give advice (by pointing only), or play game of player who resigns.
See Acadc mie des Jeux (various editions after the first quarter of tlie 19th century); Hoyle s Garnet (various editions about same dates); Cli. Van-Tenac et Louis Dclauoue, TraiU du Jeu de l carie, Paris, 1S45 (translated in Bonn s Handbook of Games, London, 1850) ; " Cavendish, The Laics of carte, adopted ty the Turf Club, with a Treatise on the Game, London, 1878.
ECBATANA (Greek, B^arm/a), or, as it is found in ^Eschylus, Ayftdrava., a name applied by the classical writers to several and possibly to no fewer than seven dis tinct sites, the capital of Media Atropatene, the capital of Media Magna, the citadel of Persepolis, a Syrian city on Mount Carmel, the Assyrian castle of Amadiyah, the Arsacidan stronghold of Europus, and the city of Ispahan. This diversity of application doubtless arises from the fact that the word was a descriptive epithet ; but its derivation has not been ascertained, and it is even possible that under the Greek disguise we may have two totally distinct originals. According to the usual hypothesis the meaning is treasury or place of assemblage, from the Old Persian hagmatan. The Median use of the name is the only one of special moment, involving, as it does, a difficult question of identification. It has long been admitted on all hands that the modern Hamadan, a town of Persia at the foot of the Elvend Mountains, occupies the site and preserves the name of the great city of Ecbatana, which was the summer residence of the Persian kings from the time of Darius Hystaspis to the Greek conquest, and afterwards became the capital of the Parthian empire. But the further identification of this Ecbatana with the Ecbatana of Herodotus, still maintained by some authorities, has been disputed by Sir Henry Rawlinson, who locates the latter city at Takht-i-Suleiman, a conical hill about half-way between Hamadan and Tabriz, which agrees in its main topographical features with the Herodotean description, and is still covered with extensive ruins of ancient date. There it was at least possible for the Media-n monarch Deioces to surround his palace with seven concentric walls of different colours, rising one behind the other ; but, if the site of Hamadan be adopted, this part of the account, recently shown by the similar arrangement at Borsippa to be so probable in itself, must be relegated to the region of myths. One or other of the cities is possibly mentioned in the Old Testament as Achmatha or Amatha ; in the Apocrypha the name frequently occurs in the form of Ekbatana.
See Sir Henry Rawlinson s "Memoir on the site of the Atropa- tenian Ecbatana," in Journ. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc., 1841 ; Canon G. Rawlinson s Herodotus, vol. i. 1875, p. 226.
Unstrut, Prussia, in 1553. After having received his first musical instruction at home, he went, at the age of eighteen, to Munich, where he became the pupil of Orlando Lasso, one of the greatest masters of the Franco-Belgian school. In his company Eccard is said to have visited Paris, but in 1574 we find him again at Miihlhausen, where he resided for four years, and edited, together with Johatm von Burgk, his first master, a collection of sacred songs, called Crepundia sacra Helniboldi (1577). Soon afterwards he obtained an artistic appointment in the house of Jacob Fugger, the great Augsburg banker, and in 1583 he became assistant conductor, and twelve years later first chapel-master, at Konigsberg in Prussia. In 1608 he received a call to Berlin as chief conductor of the elector s chapel, but this post he held only for three years, owing to his premature death in 1611. Eccard s works consist exclusively of vocal compositions, such as songs, sacred cantatas, and chorales for four or five, and sometimes for seven, eight, or even nine voices. Their polyphonous structure is a marvel of art, and still excites the admiration of musicians. At the same time his works are instinct with a spirit of true religious feeling. They have indeed a religions and historic significance beyond their artistic value. The im portant position of music in the service of the Reformed churches is well known. It was derived from, and there fore appealed again to, the feelings of the people. Luther
himself recognized the elevating influence of the art by
