Evening star., 1941-12-28

The suggestion has been made In
bridge circles in Washington that If
it were not for the prevailing war
conditions the coming new year
would be an appropriate time for
celebration to commemorate the
birth of their favorite pastime. 1t
was just 200 years ago. in 1742, that
whist, the great-granddaddy Of con-
tract bridge as it Is now played,
had its beginning.
Few Of the millions who now enjoy
the game have anything but a
meager knowledge of how it started.
Just before the opening Of the 18th
century there had been game
called ruff and honors" played
chiefly by gamblers in the coffee
houses of London. which were then
very numerous and patronized by
the lowly as well as by those in the
higher brackets. In a few respects
it had a vague resemblance to what
afterwards came to be known as
whist. Edmund Hoyle and his COL
laborator, Lord Folkstone, saw in it
possibilities for honest and pleas
urable entertainment and they un-
dertook to develop it and soon in
troduced it into polite society, In
doing so. Hoyle enlarged the deck to
50 cards by restoring the lowly
deuces. which had been eliminated
from ruff and honors." This pro-
vided the thirteenth. or odd trick,
which became, as 1t is now, the crux
of the game.
It was in 1742 that Hoyle pub
lished his first book on the sub
ject. "Hoyle on Whist" in which he
described the game and the method
of playing it and also set out the
rules governing it. This he found
necessary to do because people in
London and throughout all Eng
land were becoming interested in it.
The popularity of the new game
soon spread to the continent and
was also brought to the colonies in
America. where it was played in the
days before the Revolution. George
Washington played it at Mount Yer
non, but as his account books show
he was generally unsuccessful at 1t,
for he was as unlucky at cards as
he was in love until he met the
winsome widow Custis.
Benjamin Franklin. who has been
called "the first civilized American"
was very fond of cards and played
with the ladies, who greatly ad-
mired his wit and wisdom. He
learned to play whist while on
mission to France and as early as
1767. writing to his wife from Paris,
he said, Let me tell you that QUA
drille is quite out of fashion and
English whist all the mode at Paris
and the court"
Hoyle's Whist ran through many
editions and has been used as
fundamental basis by scores of
writer's who have written on the
subject Early in the development
of the game it was subject to satire.
A play entitled The Humors of
Whist" was placed on the boards
and sought to ridicule it, but it only
served to increase its popularity.
1t was not long after Hoyles book
was published that the English for
got their other card games and
we're concentrating on whist. Hoyle
was requested by many prominent
and wealthy persons to give instruc-
ton in his method of playing,
especially to young ladies, and there
grew up in London a group of
instructors comparable with the
bridge teachers of today. Society
played whist as society plays con-
tract now. A London paper COM
mented upon the fact that FAM
lilies of the well-to-do were employ
ing gaming masters the same as
they engaged French masters and
dancing masters These gaming
masters taught the young men and
women to play whist.
Of the life of Edmund Hoyle very
little is known except that he was
London barrister, but whether or
not he ever achieved any distinction
in the law the annals do not record.
He did, however, give to the world
q form of indoor entertainment
which has added greatly to the
social enjoyment Of many millions.
For a century and a half whist
continued to be the gaming vogue.
only Q few Of the old-timers OF
more than 30 years aso now con-