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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL JUNE 29, 1907.
11 March, 1712, where Clarinda, a maiden
lady of good fortune, sets down in her diary
the manner in which she passes her time :
" Thursday. Old Lady Faddle promises
me her woman to cut my hair. Lost five
guineas at Crimp " ; and in No. 457,
14 March, 1712, he lays before his readers
a letter, where the writer says :
"Old Lady Blast is to communicate to me the private transactions of the Crimp Table with all the Arcana of the fair sex."
Hustle-cap. In the eleventh chapter of ' The Fortunes of Nigel ' Sir Walter Scott writes :
" ' He is by this time,' said Lord Balgarno, 'play- ing at hustle-cap and chuck-farthing with the most blackguard imps upon the wharf, unless he has forgotten the old customs.' "
Smollett (1751) in the fifteenth chapter of ' Peregrine Pickle ' speaks of Tom Pipes
"as master of the revels in the whole school ; he regulated their motions by his whistle ; instructed the young boys in the games of hustle-cap and chuck-farthing."
The Parson has lost his Cloak. There is a reference to this game in No. 268 of The Spectator, 7 Jan., 1712, contributed by Steele, where some correspondent writes :
" I desire to know in your next if the merry game of 'The Parson has lost his Cloak ' is not mightily in vogue amongst the fine ladies this Christmas, because I see they wear Hoods of all colours, which I suppose is for that purpose. If it is, I will carry some of these Hoods with me to our ladies in Yorkshire, because they enjoined me to bring them something from London that was very new."
Wild-goose chase. In ' Romeo and Juliet,' II. iv., Mercutio says to Romeo, " If thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done ; for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five." Burton in his ' Anatomy of Melancholy,' part ii. sec. ii. memb. iv., writes (A.D. 1621) of the many
"common recreations of the country folk : riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts arid tourna- ments, horse-races, wild - goose - chases, which are the disports of greater men and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by that means gallop quite out of their fortunes."
Drake in ' Shakespeare and his Times,' published in 1817, " believes this diversion entirely obsolete," and adds that
"this barbarous species of horse-race has been amed from its resemblance to the flight of wild geese. This elegant amusement consisted in two torses starting together, and he who proved the hindmost rider was obliged to follow the foremost over whatever ground he chose to carry him, that horse which could distance the other winning the
Draw Gloves. Robert Herrick (b. 1591,.
d. 1674) in ' The Hesperides ' refers at least
twice to this game. His poem on ' Draw-
Gloves ' consists of one stanza :
At Draw-Gloves we '1 play,
And prethee, lets lay
A wager, and let it be this ;
Who first to the Summe
Of twenty shall come.
Shall have for his winning a kisse.
The poem ' To the Maids to Walke-
Abroad ' commences with these lines :
Come sit we under yonder tree ; Where merry as the Maids we'l be, And as on Primroses we sit, We'l venter (if we can) at wit : If not, at Draw-Gloves we will play : So spend some minutes of the day.
How this game was played I do not know. F. H. ABNAUD.
Southsea.
The following occur in Shakespeare. Prisoner's Base.
He, with two striplings lads more like to run The country base than to commit such slaughter. 'Cymbeline,' V. iii. 19.
Cherry-pit, a game played with cherry- stones : " What, man ! 'tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit with Satan " (' Twelfth Night,' III. iv. 129).
Hoodman-blind. Blind man's buff.
What devil was't That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman blind ?
'Hamlet,' III. iv. 77.
Loggats. Nine pins : " But to play at loggats with 'em " (' Hamlet,' V. i. 100).
Nine men's morris. The nine men's morris is filled up with mud.
'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' II. i. 98. Novum, a game at dice : Abate throw at novum.
Love's Labour 's Lost,' V. ii. 547. Tables, backgammon : W T hen he plays at tables. /&., V. ii. 326.
Troll-my -dames, the game of trou-madame- or pigeon-holes : " To go about with troll- my-dames " (' Winter's Tale,' IV. iii. 92).
R. S. B.
Gleek. In Alexander Dyce's ' Works of John Webster,' 1857, p. 114, there is a note saying that full instructions how to play this game may be found in ' The Compleat Gamester,' ed. 1709, p. 67. K. P. D. E.
Gleek is described in Scott's ' Fortunes of Nigel,' and said by him to have been much played in Alsatia. M. N. G.
Shovel-board. A note on a ' Numismatic Question raised by Shakespeare,' giving an
