The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1894-05-12
THE GAME or sc.<EA
How the Great American Institution Was
Managed In shal<espeare's 'yijVa.

Managed In ShalSespeare's yiJoa.
The claim is made that poker. whether
II be straight or ''draw, = is. % far as a
game at cards is concerned, an essentially
American institution. 1t il to be fesre@
that this claim must be abandoned. This
Is the age of the iconoclast He Is CON
tinually discovering that what we believe
is the new is in reality the old, and it will
really go near TO be thought that, as the
wise King Solomon hath it, "There is no
new thing under the sun"
BY the old writers the game Of "prime-
TO" Is frequently made mention of, and
Shakespeare had two illusions TO it, In
the fifth scene of the fourth act of "Merry
Wives OF Windsor Sir John Falstaff ex-
claims, 81 have never prospered since !
foreswore myself at primero''-tied as to
the value Of his hand it is TO be presumed.
In king Henry VIII, " act 5, scene l, this
occurs:
Lovell-Came you from the king. my lord7
Gardiner did, Sir Thomas and left him at
primero with the Duke OF Suffolk.
The Duke OF Suffolk, it will be remem-
bered, was the brother-in-law Of the king,
having married his sister Mary, "the
French queen" as she was called, the
widow Of Louis XII of France.
This game OF primero was favorite,
though at the same time quite complicated,
and went quickly out of fashion after the
introduction of the game of omber. IL was
played with six cards, although there were
several forms of it, as there are of poker.
One of the most curious accounts of prime
70 Is given in work entitled "NIinsheu's
Dialogues" published in London in 1899,
the author Of the book, John Minsheu, be
ing contemporary with Shakespeare. Here
- an extract from one of the dialogues:
O.-Now. to take away all occasion Of strife,
will give meane, and let it be primero.
M.-Nou have saide very well, for IL Is a
meane between extremes.
LII take 1t that it is called primero because
II hath the first place at the play at cardes.
R.-Let us goe. What is the summe that we
play for2
M.-Two shillings stake and shillings rest.
L.-Then shuttle the cardes well.
o. lift to see who shall deale. II must be a
coats card. / would not be Il coat with never
a blanke In my purse.
RI did lift an ace.
LII fower
NJ a sixe whereby l am the eldest hand.
O.-Let the cardes come to me. for deal
them. One, two, three. fower; one. two, three.
Tower.
M.-Passe.
R.-Passe.
L.-Passe.
o. set so much.
Nj will none.
R.-Ile none.
LII must of force see it. Deal the cardes.
M.-Give me fower cardes. lie see as much
as he sets.
R.-See heere my rest. Let every one be in.
M.-Iam come to passe again.
rand | too.
LII do the self same.
o. set my rest
Mile see Il.
RI also.
LII cannot give 1t over.
MI was a small prime.
LII am flush.
M would you were not.
LIS this good neighborhood7
M.-Charitie, well placed, doth first begin
with ones selfe.
o. made five and hftie, with which was
his prime.
LII flush, whereby draw
RI play no more at this play.
But that the language is antiquated, we
might almost regard this as the talk at
the poker table of the present day, and
how redolent of that game the whole dia-
logue is We may assume that the ante
was shillings and the limit of the bet s
shillings-the "staken being the ante and
the crest the limit. o. deals the cards.
and all pass except the dealer, who 'sets, :"
or bets, so much. l.. sees the bet, and then
they all come in and "the hands are help
ed" o., who has "opened the pot, I"
again "bets, " and they all see him. M
thinks TO win on "a small prime"-a
small pair perhaps, upon which he was
blufiing while NJ. had "ilush, " and so
raked the pile. 1t is an every day and ev-
cry night occurrence; nothing but the old
thing over again. Call IL by whatever
name we will, "primero" or "poker," be
it ancient or modern, it is one and the
same. Let us "put on sullen black, =" for
we can no longer regard the game as strict
ly national. Boston Herald.