The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-02-03
TIE ORTGIN DE IYIIrsr


Whist Is well-known game at cards.
winch requires great attention and 81
ience !; hence the name. To be a good
"Ais' payer requires not only very
iigh mental and intellectual power, but
considerable study and long practice.
Inns line game has always commanded
Tie attention Of men Of the first order
OF mind. Whist is unauestionably of
English origin, though as to the time
and place OF its birth we do not posseSs
any precise evidence. Whist is not men,
toned by Shakespeare, nor by any writer
OF the Elizabethan era, from which we
may infer that the game was scarcely
then in existence. Tho game seems to
have manifested seductive powers in
1880, for Taylor, the water poet, men
tons whist rs inducing the prodigal TO
fling his money free with carelessness. :"
1t is probable that at this periol the
character and friends of whist were de
cidedly low. Whist even appeGra in the
lookup" in tho questionable company
OF Jonathan Wild. Fielding record,
That when the ingenious Count L. i;us,
was domiciled with Geoffroy onapp (wbt
enjoyed office under the Sheriff of Ion
dom his Countship sought to bcguil
the tedium Of his indoor existence J.,
recourse to the amusements OF the G.ay
Mr.. Snaps two daughters beneyolcntly
aided him, and chose J. Wild to make
up their parties.
Whist and swabbers (Which is ONLY
whist under an alias) was then GG82
greatly in vogue, and the ladies were.
consequently, obliged to look ont for ::
fourth person. In the Memoirs of the
Lives, Intrigues and Comical Advent
ures of the Most Famous Gamesters."
from the time of Charles III. to that of
Queen Anne, we come across sharper
named johnson, whose last adventure
was that he was hanged in 1899. OF
him il is written that he excelled in the
art OF securing" honors for himself
and partner while playing ut whist.
We next hear of whist frcqucntino
public houses in London, bat it con
trived after time to escape from it,
tavern acquaintance, and early in tn
eighteenth century, though not as yet
fashionable, it had, at least, become
respectable. It's principal friends n,
this epoch were country Squres and
country parsons. Alexander Pope il
l7l5 alludes to whist in conjunction
with the sqnirearchy ; and Swift, in BIZ
Essay on the Fates of Clergymon, ="
in 172S, says the clergy INDUCED in the
society of whist. This patronage does
not seem to have been equal to the task
of altogether retrieving whist from the
character OF vulgarity.
Better days, however, were in store
for it. About 1870 Il party of gentle
men, Of whom the first Lord Folkestone
was one, freQuented the Crown coffee
house in Bedford Row, and introduced
whist. studied the game, and, it is be-
lieved, discovered some of It's principles.
In 1915 whist WAS adopted by Emanuel
Hoyle, who is called the father of the
game. Under his auspices whist made
the acquaintance Of all the rank and
fashion of England, and travelled across
che channel during the Angomania
which prevailed in France in the latter
part of the eighteenth century. 1t was
even represented at Versailles. It was
welcomed nj al The chocoiate-houses,
club and fashionable assemblies. 1t be-
came the lion Of the day 1t was talked
about and written about. Once really
known, it was esteemed universal IA
vorite, admired and respected by all,
and has retained its asccnlcncy until
now